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diff --git a/39273-tei/39273-tei.tei b/39273-tei/39273-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..38b2af2 --- /dev/null +++ b/39273-tei/39273-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,21770 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> + +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd" [ + +<!ENTITY u5 "http://www.tei-c.org/Lite/"> + +]> + +<TEI.2 lang="en"> +<teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>History of European Morals From Augustus to Charlemagne (Vol. 1 of 2)</title> + <author><name reg="Lecky, William Edward Hartpole">William Edward Hartpole Lecky</name></author> + </titleStmt> + <editionStmt> + <edition n="9">Edition 9</edition> + </editionStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date>March 25, 2012</date> + <idno type="etext-no">39273</idno> + <availability> + <p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and + with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it + away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg + License online at www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + <sourceDesc> + <bibl> + Created electronically. + </bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + <encodingDesc> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en"></language> + <language id="la"></language> + </langUsage> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2012-03-25">March 25, 2012</date> + <respStmt> + <name> + Produced by Delphine Lettau, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. + </name> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> +</teiHeader> + +<pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + .boxed { x-class: boxed } + .shaded { x-class: shaded } + .rules { x-class: rules; rules: all } + .indent { margin-left: 2 } + .bold { font-weight: bold } + .italic { font-style: italic } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + </pgStyleSheet> + + <pgCharMap formats="txt.iso-8859-1"> + <char id="U0x2014"> + <charName>mdash</charName> + <desc>EM DASH</desc> + <mapping>--</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2003"> + <charName>emsp</charName> + <desc>EM SPACE</desc> + <mapping> </mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2026"> + <charName>hellip</charName> + <desc>HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS</desc> + <mapping>...</mapping> + </char> + </pgCharMap> +</pgExtensions> + +<text lang="en"> + <front> + <div> + <divGen type="pgheader" /> + </div> + <div> + <divGen type="encodingDesc" /> + </div> + + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <p rend="font-size: xx-large; text-align: center">History of</p> + <p rend="font-size: xx-large; text-align: center">European Morals</p> + <p rend="font-size: x-large; text-align: center">From Augustus to Charlemagne</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">By</p> + <p rend="font-size: x-large; text-align: center">William Edward Hartpole Lecky, M.A.</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Ninth Edition</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">In Two Volumes</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Vol. 1.</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">London</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Longmans, Green, And Co.</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">1890</p> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <head>Contents</head> + <divGen type="toc" /> + </div> + + </front> +<body> + +<pb n='v'/><anchor id='Pgv'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Advertisement To The Third Edition.</head> + +<p> +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> +<hi rend='italic'>January 1877.</hi> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='vii'/><anchor id='Pgvii'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Preface.</head> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='viii'/><anchor id='Pgviii'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='ix'/><anchor id='Pgix'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='x'/><anchor id='Pgx'/> +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 +<pb n='xi'/><anchor id='Pgxi'/> +the moral questions connected with the relations of +the sexes. +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='xii'/><anchor id='Pgxii'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='xiii'/><anchor id='Pgxiii'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='xiv'/><anchor id='Pgxiv'/> +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> +<hi rend='smallcaps'>London</hi>: <hi rend='italic'>March 1869</hi>. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='001'/><anchor id='Pg001'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter I. The Natural History Of Morals.</head> + +<p> +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> + +<pb n='002'/><anchor id='Pg002'/> + +<p> +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> +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 +<pb n='003'/><anchor id='Pg003'/> +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 <q>the greatest happiness +for the greatest number,</q> is therefore the highest aim of +the moralist, the supreme type and expression of virtue. +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='004'/><anchor id='Pg004'/> +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 <q>a moral sense,</q> 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 <q>moral sense.</q> +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.<note place='foot'>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:—<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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Enquiry Concerning +Morals</hi>, § 1. <q>The hypothesis we +embrace ... defines virtue to be +whatever mental action or quality +gives to the spectator the pleasing +sentiment of approbation.</q>—Ibid. +Append. I. <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.</q>—Ibid. <q>Reason instructs +us in the several tendencies +of actions, and humanity makes a +distinction in favour of those which +are useful and beneficial.</q>—Ibid. +<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.</q>—Ibid. +The two writers to whom Hume +was most indebted were Hutcheson +and Butler. In some interesting +letters to the former (Burton's +<hi rend='italic'>Life of Hume</hi>, vol. i.), he discusses +the points on which he differed +from them.</note> A similar +doctrine has more recently been advocated by Mackintosh. +<pb n='005'/><anchor id='Pg005'/> +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 <emph>ought</emph> to pursue, +but also what is the meaning of this word <q>ought,</q> and from +what source we derive the idea it expresses. +</p> + +<p> +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> +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 +<pb n='006'/><anchor id='Pg006'/> +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> +Perhaps the lowest and most repulsive form of this +theory is that which was propounded by Mandeville, in his +<q>Enquiry into the Origin of Moral Virtue.</q><note place='foot'><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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Enquiry +into the Origin of Moral +Virtue.</hi></note> 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 +<pb n='007'/><anchor id='Pg007'/> +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 <q>vice</q> whatever was injurious, and to eulogise +as <q>virtue</q> whatever was beneficial to society. +</p> + +<p> +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 <q>Fable of the Bees,</q> and in comments +attached to it, himself advocated a thesis altogether +inconsistent with that I have described, maintaining that +<q>private vices were public benefits,</q> 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> +According to these writers we are governed exclusively +by our own interest.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Hobbes <hi rend='italic'>On Liberty and +Necessity.</hi> <q>Good and evil are +names that signify our appetites +and aversions.</q>—Ibid. <hi rend='italic'>Leviathan</hi>, +part i. ch. xvi. <q>Obligation is the +necessity of doing or omitting any +action in order to be happy.</q>—Gay's +dissertation prefixed to King's <hi rend='italic'>Origin +of Evil</hi>, p. 36. <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.</q>—Brown <hi rend='italic'>On the +Characteristics</hi>, p. 159. <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.</q>—Helvétius <hi rend='italic'>De l'Esprit</hi>, +discours ii. <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.</q>—Bentham's <hi rend='italic'>Principles +of Morals and Legislation</hi>, ch. i. +<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.</q>—Ibid. +<q>Je regarde l'amour éclairé +de nous-mêmes comme le principe +de tout sacrifice moral.</q>—D'Alembert +quoted by D. Stewart, <hi rend='italic'>Active +and Moral Powers</hi>, vol. i. p. 220.</note> Pleasure, they assure us, is the only +<pb n='008'/><anchor id='Pg008'/> +good,<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Bentham's <hi rend='italic'>Principles +of Morals and Legislation</hi>, ch. x.</note> and moral good and moral evil mean nothing more +than our voluntary conformity to a law that will bring it to +us.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Locke's +<hi rend='italic'>Essay</hi>, book ii. +ch. xxviii. <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.</q>—Bentham's <hi rend='italic'>Springs +of Action</hi>, ch. i. § 15.</note> To love good simply as good, is impossible.<note place='foot'><q>Il lui est aussi impossible +d'aimer le bien pour le bien, que +d'aimer le mal pour le mal.</q>—Helvétius +<hi rend='italic'>De l'Esprit</hi>, disc. ii. +ch. v.</note> When we +speak of the goodness of God, we mean only His goodness to +<pb n='009'/><anchor id='Pg009'/> +us.<note place='foot'><q>Even the goodness which we +apprehend in God Almighty, is his +goodness to us.</q>—Hobbes <hi rend='italic'>On Human +Nature</hi>, ch. vii. § 3. So Waterland, +<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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Third +Sermon on Self-love.</hi></note> Reverence is nothing more than our conviction, that one +who has power to do us both good and harm, will only do us +good.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Hobbes <hi rend='italic'>On Human +Nature</hi>, ch. viii. § 7.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Bentham's <hi rend='italic'>Principles of +Morals and Legislation</hi>, ch. v. <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.</q>—Ibid.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Hobbes <hi rend='italic'>On +Hum. Nat.</hi> ch. ix. § 17. <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.</q>—Hobbes' +<hi rend='italic'>Leviathan</hi>, part i. ch. xv. +<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.</q>—Bentham's +<hi rend='italic'>Deontology</hi>, vol. +ii. p. 133.</note> 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 +<pb n='010'/><anchor id='Pg010'/> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Hobbes +<hi rend='italic'>On Hum. Nat.</hi> ch. ix. § 10. +<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.</q>—La +Rochefoucauld, <hi rend='italic'>Maximes</hi>, 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, <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Moral +Sentiments</hi>, part vii. ch. i. +§3.</note> Friendship is the sense of the +need of the person befriended.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—La +Rochefoucauld, <hi rend='italic'>Max.</hi> 83. See this +idea developed at large in Helvétius.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='011'/><anchor id='Pg011'/> +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.<note place='foot'><q>La science de la morale n'est +autre chose que la science même +de la législation.</q>—Helvétius <hi rend='italic'>De +l'Esprit</hi>, ii. 17.</note> 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 <q>the means of peaceable, sociable, and +comfortable living.</q><note place='foot'>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:—<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.</q>—Hobbes' +<hi rend='italic'>Leviathan</hi>, part i. ch. xvi. See, +too, a striking passage in Bentham's +<hi rend='italic'>Deontology</hi>, vol. ii. p. 132.</note> Such are justice, gratitude, modesty, +<pb n='012'/><anchor id='Pg012'/> +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.<note place='foot'>As an ingenious writer in the +<hi rend='italic'>Saturday Review</hi> (Aug. 10, 1867) +expresses it: <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.</q> See, too, +on this view, Hume's <hi rend='italic'>Inquiry concerning +Morals</hi>, § 4, and also <hi rend='italic'>note</hi> +x.: <q>To what other purpose do all +the ideas of chastity and modesty +serve? Nisi utile est quod facimus, +frustra est gloria.</q></note> 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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Bain +<hi rend='italic'>On the Emotions and Will</hi>, +p. 113.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='013'/><anchor id='Pg013'/> +imprudence or miscalculation.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Bentham's +<hi rend='italic'>Deontology</hi>, vol. i. p. 131.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Helvétius <hi rend='italic'>De l'Esprit</hi>, +ii. 22. <q>La justice de nos jugements +et de nos actions n'est +jamais que la rencontre heureuse +de notre intérêt avec l'intérêt public.</q>—Ibid. +ii. 7. <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.</q>—Bentham's +<hi rend='italic'>Deontology</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Bentham's +<hi rend='italic'>Deontology</hi>, vol. i. p. 142. +<q>Weigh pains, weigh pleasures, +and as the balance stands will +stand the question of right and +wrong.</q>—Ibid. vol. i. p. 137. +<q>Moralis philosophiæ caput est, +Faustine fili, ut scias quibus ad +beatam vitam perveniri rationibus +possit.</q>—Apuleius, <hi rend='italic'>Ad Doct. Platonis</hi>, +ii. <q>Atque ipsa utilitas, justi +prope mater et æqui.</q>—Horace, +<hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> I. iii. 98.</note> If it could be shown that +<pb n='014'/><anchor id='Pg014'/> +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.<note place='foot'><q>We can be obliged to nothing +but what we ourselves are to gain +or lose something by; for nothing +else can be <q>violent motive</q> 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.</q>—Paley's +<hi rend='italic'>Moral Philosophy</hi>, book ii. +ch. ii.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See Gassendi <hi rend='italic'>Philosophiæ +Epicuri Syntagma</hi>. These four +canons are a skilful condensation +of the argument of Torquatus in +Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>De Fin.</hi> i. 2. See, too, a +very striking letter by Epicurus +himself, given in his life by Diogenes +Laërtius.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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,<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Lactantius, +<hi rend='italic'>Div. Inst.</hi> vi. 9. Macaulay, in some +youthful essays against the Utilitarian +theory (which he characteristically +described as <q>Not much +more laughable than phrenology, +and immeasurably more humane +than cock-fighting</q>), maintains the +theological form of selfishness in +very strong terms. <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.</q>—Review of Mill's +<hi rend='italic'>Essay on Government</hi>. <q>Of this +we may be sure, that the words +<q>greatest happiness</q> 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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Answer +to the Westminster Review's +Defence of Mill.</hi></note> these +<pb n='015'/><anchor id='Pg015'/> +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,<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Waterland, +<hi rend='italic'>Third Sermon on +Self-love</hi>. <q>To risk the happiness +of the whole duration of our being +in any case whatever, were it +possible, would be foolish.</q>—Robert +Hall's <hi rend='italic'>Sermon on Modern +Infidelity</hi>. <q>In the moral system +the means are virtuous practice; +the end, happiness.</q>— Warburton's +<hi rend='italic'>Divine Legation</hi>, book ii. Appendix.</note> and virtue is +simply prudence extending its calculations beyond the grave.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Paley's <hi rend='italic'>Moral +Philosophy</hi>, ii. 3.</note> +<pb n='016'/><anchor id='Pg016'/> +This calculation is what we mean by the <q>religious motive.</q><note place='foot'><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.</q>—Brown's +<hi rend='italic'>Essays on the Characteristics</hi>, +p. 220.</note> +The belief that the nobility and excellence of virtue could +incite us, was a mere delusion of the Pagans.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Locke's +<hi rend='italic'>Essay</hi>, i. 3.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>Thus Paley remarks that—<q>The +Christian religion hath not +ascertained the precise quantity of +virtue necessary to salvation,</q> and +he then proceeds to urge the probability +of graduated scales of rewards +and punishments. (<hi rend='italic'>Moral +Philosophy</hi>, book i. ch. vii.)</note> 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 +<pb n='017'/><anchor id='Pg017'/> +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.<note place='foot'>This view was developed by +Locke (<hi rend='italic'>Essay on the Human Understanding</hi>, +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.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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,<note place='foot'>Cudworth, in his <hi rend='italic'>Immutable +Morals</hi>, 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 <hi rend='italic'>Essay on Intuitive Morals</hi>, +pp. 18, 19.</note> has in modern times found +many adherents,<note place='foot'>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 (<hi rend='italic'>Divine Legation</hi>, +i. 4). Waterland appears to +have held this view, and also Condillac. +See a very remarkable +chapter on morals, in his <hi rend='italic'>Traité +des Animaux</hi>, 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 <hi rend='italic'>Second Letter</hi> +to Professor Goldwin Smith (Oxford, +1862).</note> 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 +<pb n='018'/><anchor id='Pg018'/> +same time too firmly convinced of the total depravity of +human nature to admit the existence of any trustworthy +moral sense.<note place='foot'>Leibnitz noticed the frequency +with which Supralapsarian Calvinists +adopt this doctrine. (<hi rend='italic'>Théodicée</hi>, +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. (<hi rend='italic'>Whately's Life</hi>, +vol. ii. p. 339.)</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Austin's +<hi rend='italic'>Lectures on Jurisprudence</hi>, +vol. i. p. 31. <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.</q>—Ibid. p. 96. +So Paley's <hi rend='italic'>Moral Philosophy</hi>, book +ii. ch. iv. v.</note> 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. <q>The good of mankind,</q> he says, <q>is the subject, +the will of God the rule, and everlasting happiness the +motive and end of all virtue.</q><note place='foot'>Paley's <hi rend='italic'>Moral Philosophy</hi>, +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.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='019'/><anchor id='Pg019'/> + +<p> +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 <q>ought</q> +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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Moral Philosophy</hi>, ii. 3.</note> Locke +divided them into Divine rewards and punishments, legal +penalties and social penalties;<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Essay on the Human Understanding</hi>, ii. 28.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Principles of Morals and Legislation</hi>, +ch. iii. Mr. Mill observes +that, <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Dissertations</hi>, +vol. i. pp. 362-363.</note> +</p> + + +<pb n='020'/><anchor id='Pg020'/> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>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:—<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?</q>—Hume's +<hi rend='italic'>Enquiry concerning Morals</hi>, +Appendix II. Compare Butler, +<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?</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Sermon on Compassion.</hi></note> The two means by which this transformation +<pb n='021'/><anchor id='Pg021'/> +has been effected are the recognition of our unselfish or +sympathetic feelings, and the doctrine of the association of +ideas. +</p> + +<p> +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;<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Bentham's <hi rend='italic'>Principles of +Morals and Legislation</hi>, ch. vi. +<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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Deontology</hi>, vol. i. pp. +169-170.</note> 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,<note place='foot'><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</q>—Mill's +<hi rend='italic'>Dissertations</hi>, vol. i. +p. 137. See, too, Bain's <hi rend='italic'>Emotions +and the Will</hi>, pp. 289, 313; and especially +Austin's <hi rend='italic'>Lectures on Jurisprudence</hi>. +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.</note> though they +<pb n='022'/><anchor id='Pg022'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='023'/><anchor id='Pg023'/> +Aristotle,<note place='foot'>See a collection of passages +from Aristotle, bearing on the subject, +in Mackintosh's <hi rend='italic'>Dissertation</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De Finibus</hi>, i. 5. This +view is adopted in Tucker's <hi rend='italic'>Light +of Nature</hi> (ed. 1842), vol. i. p. 167. +See, too, Mill's <hi rend='italic'>Analysis of the +Human Mind</hi>, vol. ii. p. 174.</note> Among moderns Locke has the merit of having +devised the phrase, <q>association of ideas;</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Essay</hi>, book ii. ch. xxxiii.</note> 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 <q>secondary +desires,</q> may become as powerful as the former. <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.</q><note place='foot'>Hutcheson <hi rend='italic'>On the Passions</hi>, +§ 1. The <q>secondary desires</q> of +Hutcheson are closely related to the +<q>reflex affections</q> of Shaftesbury. +<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.</q>—Shaftesbury's +<hi rend='italic'>Enquiry concerning +Virtue</hi>, book i. part ii. § 3.</note> +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,<note place='foot'>See the preface to Hartley <hi rend='italic'>On +Man</hi>. Gay's essay is prefixed to +Law's translation of Archbishop +King <hi rend='italic'>On the Origin of Evil</hi>.</note> 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 +<pb n='024'/><anchor id='Pg024'/> +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 <q>secondary +desires.</q> 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 <q>means to happiness.</q> These <q>means to happiness</q> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Gay's +<hi rend='italic'>Essay</hi>, p. lii. <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.</q>—Ibid. +p. xxxi.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='025'/><anchor id='Pg025'/> +present century.<note place='foot'>Principally by Mr. James Mill, +whose chapter on association, in his +<hi rend='italic'>Analysis of the Human Mind</hi>, 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. +<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.</q>—Paley, <hi rend='italic'>Moral Philos</hi>. +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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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 +<q>translation</q> instead of <q>association</q> of ideas. See his curious +chapter on the subject, <hi rend='italic'>Light of +Nature</hi>, book i. ch. xviii.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='026'/><anchor id='Pg026'/> + +<p> +The same phenomenon may be traced, it is said, in a +multitude of other forms.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Tucker's +<hi rend='italic'>Light of Nature</hi>, vol. ii. (ed. 1842), +p. 281.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Mill's <hi rend='italic'>Analysis of the Human +Mind</hi>. The desire for posthumous +fame is usually cited by intuitive +moralists as a proof of a naturally +disinterested element in man.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Mill's <hi rend='italic'>Analysis</hi>.</note> 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, +<q>when several children are educated together, the pains, the +<pb n='027'/><anchor id='Pg027'/> +denials of pleasure, and the sorrows which affect one gradually +extend in some degree to all;</q> and thus the suffering of +others becomes associated with the idea of our own, and the +feeling of compassion is engendered.<note place='foot'>Hartley <hi rend='italic'>On Man</hi>, vol. i. pp. +474-475.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Hartley <hi rend='italic'>On Man</hi>, +vol. i. pp. 473-474. See too Mill's +<hi rend='italic'>Analysis</hi>, vol. ii. p. 252.</note> 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 +<pb n='028'/><anchor id='Pg028'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Mill's <hi rend='italic'>Analysis</hi>, vol. ii. pp. +244-247.</note> +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.<note place='foot'><q>With self-interest,</q> said Hartley, +<q>man must begin; he may end +in self-annihilation;</q> or as Coleridge +happily puts it, <q>Legality +precedes morality in every individual, +even as the Jewish dispensation +preceded the Christian in +the world at large.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Notes Theological +and Political</hi>, 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. <q>The happiness +of man,</q> he says, <q>is the end +of virtue, and truth is the knowledge +of the means.</q> (<hi rend='italic'>The Friend</hi>, +ed. 1850, vol. ii. p. 192.) <q>What +can be the object of human virtue +but the happiness of sentient, still +more of moral beings?</q> (<hi rend='italic'>Notes +Theol. and Polit.</hi> p. 351.) Leibnitz +says, <q>Quand on aura appris à faire +des actions louables par ambition, +on les fera après par inclination.</q> +(<hi rend='italic'>Sur l' Art de connaître les Hommes.</hi>)</note> +</p> + +<p> +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,<note place='foot'><p>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> +<q>He of mortal kind<lb/> +Wisest, the first who marked the ideal tribes<lb/> +Up the fine fibres through the sentient brain.</q> +</p> +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Religious Musings.</hi></p></note> 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 +<pb n='029'/><anchor id='Pg029'/> +sufficient to engender a feeling which is the proximate cause +of our decision.<note place='foot'>This position is elaborated in +a passage too long for quotation by +Mr. Austin. (<hi rend='italic'>Lectures on Jurisprudence</hi>, +vol. i. p. 44.)</note> Alone, of all the moralists of this school, +the disciple of Hartley recognises conscience as a real and +important element of our nature,<note place='foot'>Hobbes defines conscience as +<q>the opinion of evidence</q> (<hi rend='italic'>On Human +Nature</hi>, ch. vi. §8). Locke as +<q>our own opinion or judgment of +the moral rectitude or pravity of +our own actions</q> (<hi rend='italic'>Essay</hi>, book i. +ch. iii. § 8). In Bentham there is +very little on the subject; but in +one place he informs us that <q>conscience +is a thing of fictitious existence, +supposed to occupy a seat +in the mind</q> (<hi rend='italic'>Deontology</hi>, vol. i. p. +137); and in another he ranks <q>love +of duty</q> (which he describes as an +<q>impossible motive, in so far as +duty is synonymous to obligation</q>) +as a variety of the <q>love of power</q> +(<hi rend='italic'>Springs of Action</hi>, ii.) Mr. Bain +says, <q>conscience is an imitation +within ourselves of the government +without us.</q> (<hi rend='italic'>Emotions and Will</hi>, +p. 313.)</note> and maintains that it is +possible to love virtue for itself as a form of happiness +without any thought of ulterior consequences.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—J. +S. Mill's <hi rend='italic'>Utilitarianism</hi>, pp. 54, 55, +56, 58.</note> 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 +<pb n='030'/><anchor id='Pg030'/> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Mill's +<hi rend='italic'>Analysis</hi>, vol. ii. pp. 212, 213, &c. +Adam Smith says, I think with +much wisdom, that <q>the great secret +of education is to direct vanity +to proper objects.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Moral Sentiments</hi>, +part vi. § 3.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Tucker's <hi rend='italic'>Light of Nature</hi>, +vol. i. p. 355. <q>It is the privilege +of God alone to act upon pure, disinterested +bounty, without the least +addition thereby to His own enjoyment.</q>—Ibid. vol. ii. p. 279. On +the other hand, Hutcheson asks, +<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?</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Enquiry +concerning Moral +Good</hi>, § 2.</note> +There has been, indeed, one attempt to emancipate the +<pb n='031'/><anchor id='Pg031'/> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Mill's <hi rend='italic'>Logic</hi> +(4th edition), vol. ii. pp. 416, 417.</note> +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> +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 +<pb n='032'/><anchor id='Pg032'/> +greatest possible enjoyment. If this be so, the term selfish +is strictly applicable to all the branches of this system.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Bentham's +<hi rend='italic'>Springs of Action</hi>, ii. § 2.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Among others Bishop Butler, +who draws some very subtle distinctions +on the subject in his first +sermon <q>on the love of our neighbour.</q> +Dugald Stewart remarks +that <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Active and +Moral Powers</hi>, vol. i. p. 19.</note> 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, +<pb n='033'/><anchor id='Pg033'/> +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> +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> +<q>Psychology,</q> it has been truly said, <q>is but developed +<pb n='034'/><anchor id='Pg034'/> +consciousness.</q><note place='foot'>Sir W. Hamilton.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De Fin.</hi> lib. ii.</note> No man could consciously +make this—which according to the selfish theory is the only +rational and indeed possible motive of action—the deliberate +<pb n='035'/><anchor id='Pg035'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='036'/><anchor id='Pg036'/> +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 <q>greatest +happiness principle,</q> purchase this large amount of gratification +to ourselves by a slight injury to our neighbours. +The political economy involved in this very characteristic +<pb n='037'/><anchor id='Pg037'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='038'/><anchor id='Pg038'/> +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.<note place='foot'><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 <emph>sort</emph> of motive, there +is not any such thing as a bad +motive.</q>—Bentham's <hi rend='italic'>Springs of +Action</hi>, ii. § 4. The first clauses +of the following passage I have already +quoted: <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Principles of Morals and +Legislation</hi>, ch. ix. <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Deontology</hi>, +vol. i. p. 126. Mr. +Mill's doctrine appears somewhat +different from this, but the difference +is I think only apparent. He +says: <q>The motive has nothing to +do with the morality of the action, +though much with the worth of the +agent,</q> and he afterwards explains +this last statement by saying that +the <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Utilitarianism</hi>, +2nd ed. pp. 26-27.</note> +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 +<pb n='039'/><anchor id='Pg039'/> +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> +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 <q>the greatest possible happiness</q> +<pb n='040'/><anchor id='Pg040'/> +no one can precisely say. No two nations, perhaps no two +individuals, would find them the same.<note place='foot'>This truth has been admirably +illustrated by Mr. Herbert Spencer +(<hi rend='italic'>Social Statics</hi>, pp. 1-8).</note> And even if every +virtuous act were incontestably useful, it by no means follows +that its virtue is derived from its utility. +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Ch. +Comte, <hi rend='italic'>Traité de Législation</hi>, +liv. ii. ch. xii.</note> 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 +<pb n='041'/><anchor id='Pg041'/> +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.<note place='foot'>M. Dumont, the translator of +Bentham, has elaborated in a rather +famous passage the utilitarian notions +about vengeance. <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Principes +du Code pénal</hi>, 2<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>me</hi> partie, +ch. xvi. According to a very acute +living writer of this school, <q>The +criminal law stands to the passion +of revenge in much the same relation +as marriage to the sexual appetite</q> +(J. F. Stephen, <hi rend='italic'>On the Criminal +Law of England</hi>, p. 99). Mr. Mill +observes that, <q>In the golden rule +of Jesus of Nazareth, we read the +complete spirit of the ethics of utility</q> +(<hi rend='italic'>Utilitarianism</hi>, p. 24). It is +but fair to give a specimen of the +opposite order of extravagance. +<q>So well convinced was Father +Claver of the eternal happiness of +almost all whom he assisted,</q> says +this saintly missionary's biographer, +<q>that speaking once of some +persons who had delivered a criminal +into the hands of justice, he +said, God <emph>forgive</emph> them; but they +have secured the salvation of this +man at <emph>the probable risk of their +own</emph>.</q>—Newman's <hi rend='italic'>Anglican +Difficulties</hi>, p. 205.</note> 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 +<pb n='042'/><anchor id='Pg042'/> +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. +<q>Aufer meretrices de rebus humanis,</q> said St. Augustine, +<q>turbaveris omnia libidinibus.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Ordine</hi>, ii. 4. The experiment +has more than once been tried +at Venice, Pisa, &c., and always +with the results St. Augustine predicted.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='043'/><anchor id='Pg043'/> +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 <emph>because</emph> +it is useful, it can only be virtuous <emph>when</emph> it is useful. The +question of the morality of a large number of acts must +therefore depend upon the probability of their detection,<note place='foot'>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 <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?</q> (<hi rend='italic'>Lectures on Jurisprudence</hi>, +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.</note> +<pb n='044'/><anchor id='Pg044'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='045'/><anchor id='Pg045'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='italic'>Emotions and Will</hi>, p. 246.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='046'/><anchor id='Pg046'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='047'/><anchor id='Pg047'/> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><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 <q>immoral,</q> +let the morality of the principle of +utility be for ever condemned.</q>—Mill's +<hi rend='italic'>Dissert</hi>. vol. ii. p. 485. <q>We +deprive them [animals] of life, and +this is justifiable—their pains do +not equal our enjoyments. There +is a balance of good.</q>—Bentham's +<hi rend='italic'>Deontology</hi>, vol. i. p. 14. Mr. Mill +accordingly defines the principle of +utility, without any special reference +to man. <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Utilitarianism</hi>, +pp. 9-10.</note> +</p> + +<p> +The first reflection suggested by this theory is, that it +<pb n='048'/><anchor id='Pg048'/> +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<note place='foot'>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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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 <q>our +brothers and sisters,</q> the animals. +(<hi rend='italic'>On Man</hi>, 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. (<hi rend='italic'>Moral +Philos.</hi> 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, <q>is an indifferent reason +for killing fish.</q></note> And supposing that +<pb n='049'/><anchor id='Pg049'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='050'/><anchor id='Pg050'/> +freer social intercourse,<note place='foot'>In commenting upon the +French licentiousness of the eighteenth +century, Hume says, in a +passage which has excited a great +deal of animadversion:—<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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Dialogue.</hi></note> 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?<note place='foot'>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?—<q>The first and +great mischief, and by consequence +the guilt, of promiscuous concubinage +consists in its tendency to +diminish marriages.</q> (Paley's +<hi rend='italic'>Moral Philosophy</hi>, book iii. part +iii. ch. ii.) <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.</q> +(Wayland's <hi rend='italic'>Elements of +Moral Science</hi>, 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.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='051'/><anchor id='Pg051'/> +of slavish <q>fear of the gods,</q> 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 +<pb n='052'/><anchor id='Pg052'/> +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. +<q>Why is it,</q> said Luther's wife, looking sadly back +upon the sensuous creed which she had left, <q>that in our old +faith we prayed so often and so warmly, and that our +prayers are now so few and so cold?</q><note place='foot'>See Luther's <hi rend='italic'>Table Talk</hi>.</note> 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, <q>You have deprived me +of my God.</q><note place='foot'>Tillemont, <hi rend='italic'>Mém. pour servir +à l'Hist. ecclésiastique</hi>, tome x. p. 57.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='053'/><anchor id='Pg053'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Τό τε ἀληθεύειν καὶ τὸ +εὐεργετεῖν. (Ælian, <hi rend='italic'>Var. Hist.</hi> xii. +59.) Longinus in like manner +divides virtue into εὐεργεσία καὶ +ἀλήθεια. (<hi rend='italic'>De Sublim.</hi> § 1.) The +opposite view in England is continually +expressed in the saying, +<q>You should never pull down an +opinion until you have something +to put in its place,</q> 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.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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> +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?<note place='foot'>See this powerfully stated by +Shaftesbury. (<hi rend='italic'>Inquiry concerning +Virtue</hi>, 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.</note> 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> + +<pb n='054'/><anchor id='Pg054'/> + +<p> +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> +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 +<pb n='055'/><anchor id='Pg055'/> +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> +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> +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.<note place='foot'><q>The one great and binding +ground of the belief of God and a +hereafter is the law of conscience.</q>—Coleridge, +<hi rend='italic'>Notes Theological and +Political</hi>, p. 367. That our moral +faculty is our one reason for maintaining +the supreme benevolence of +the Deity was a favourite position +of Kant.</note> It is +<pb n='056'/><anchor id='Pg056'/> +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.<note place='foot'><q>Nescio quomodo inhæret in +mentibus quasi sæculorum quoddam +augurium futurorum; idque in +maximis ingeniis altissimisque animis +et exsistit maxime et apparet +facillime.</q>—Cic. <hi rend='italic'>Tusc. Disp.</hi> i. 14.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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, <q>to the heart,</q> by appealing not to self-interest, but to +that Divine element of self-sacrifice which is latent in every +soul.<note place='foot'><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 +<q>honour of a soldier,</q> 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.</q>—Carlyle's +<hi rend='italic'>Hero-worship</hi>, p. +237 (ed. 1858).</note> The reality of this moral nature is the one great +<pb n='057'/><anchor id='Pg057'/> +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> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>De Fin.</hi> i. 18.</note> 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 <q>moral hero</q> 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.<note place='foot'><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?</q>—Tucker's <hi rend='italic'>Light of +Nature</hi>, vol. i. p. 269. Mr. J. S. +Mill in his <hi rend='italic'>Utilitarianism</hi> dwells +much on the heroism which he +thinks this view of morals may +produce.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='058'/><anchor id='Pg058'/> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>See Lactantius, <hi rend='italic'>Inst. Div.</hi> vi. +9. Montesquieu, in his <hi rend='italic'>Décadence +de l'Empire romain</hi>, 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.</note> 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 +<pb n='059'/><anchor id='Pg059'/> +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, <q>In much wisdom is +much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth +sorrow.</q> 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> +Nor is it otherwise in the realm of morals.<note place='foot'><q>That quick sensibility which +is the groundwork of all advances +towards perfection increases the +pungency of pains and vexations.</q>—Tucker's +<hi rend='italic'>Light of Nature</hi>, ii. 16, +§ 4.</note> The virtue +which is most conducive to happiness is plainly that which +<pb n='060'/><anchor id='Pg060'/> +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.<note place='foot'>This position is forcibly illustrated +by Mr. Maurice in his fourth +lecture <hi rend='italic'>On Conscience</hi> (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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See Brown <hi rend='italic'>On the Characteristics</hi>, +pp. 206-209.</note> 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 +<pb n='061'/><anchor id='Pg061'/> +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> +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> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Hume's +Essays: <hi rend='italic'>The Sceptic</hi>.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='062'/><anchor id='Pg062'/> +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 +<pb n='063'/><anchor id='Pg063'/> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>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:—<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.</q>—Hume's <hi rend='italic'>Enquiry +Concerning Morals</hi>, Append. II.</note> +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 +<pb n='064'/><anchor id='Pg064'/> +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 <q>ought</q> 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> +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 +<pb n='065'/><anchor id='Pg065'/> +spoken of in the writings of moral philosophers,<note place='foot'><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</q> +(Hartley <hi rend='italic'>On Man</hi>, 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, <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Theory +of Moral Sentiments</hi>, +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. <q>Were +the perfect man to exist,</q> said that +good and great writer, Archer +Butler, <q>he himself would be the +last to know it; for the highest +stage of advancement is the lowest +descent in humility.</q> 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.</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='066'/><anchor id='Pg066'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='067'/><anchor id='Pg067'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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, <q>for all the things which +have evident final causes, are plainly +brought about by mechanical +means;</q> and he appeals to the milk +in the breast, which is intended for +the sustenance of the young, but +which is nevertheless mechanically +produced. (<hi rend='italic'>On Man</hi>, 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.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='068'/><anchor id='Pg068'/> + +<p> +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, +<pb n='069'/><anchor id='Pg069'/> +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> +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 <q>Man of Sorrows.</q> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='070'/><anchor id='Pg070'/> +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 +<pb n='071'/><anchor id='Pg071'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='072'/><anchor id='Pg072'/> +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 +<q>Pity is but the imagination of future calamity to ourselves, +produced by the sense of another man's calamity;</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>On Human Nature</hi>, chap. ix. +§ 10.</note> 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;<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Enquiry concerning Good and +Evil.</hi></note> 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;<note place='foot'>This theory is noticed by +Hutcheson, and a writer in the +<hi rend='italic'>Spectator</hi> (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' +<hi rend='italic'>Essays on Morality</hi>. Bishop Butler +notices (<hi rend='italic'>Second Sermon on Compassion</hi>), +that it is possible for the +very intensity of a feeling of compassion +to divert men from charity +by making them <q>industriously turn +away from the miserable;</q> 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: <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.</q> (<hi rend='italic'>On Human Nature</hi>, ch. ix. +§ 19.) Good Christians, according +to some theologians, are expected +to enjoy this pleasure in great +perfection in heaven. <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' +<hi rend='italic'>Suave mari</hi>,</q> etc. (<hi rend='italic'>Law's +notes to his Translation of King's +Origin of Evil</hi>, pp. 477, 479.)</note> each of these theories, +<pb n='073'/><anchor id='Pg073'/> +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> +And here I may observe that the term inductive, like +most others that are employed in moral philosophy, may give +<pb n='074'/><anchor id='Pg074'/> +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.<note place='foot'>See e.g. <hi rend='italic'>Reid's Essays on the +Active Powers</hi>, essay iii. ch. v.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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, <hi rend='italic'>History of Civilisation</hi>, +vol. ii. p. 429. Mr. Buckle maintains +that all the philosophers of +what is commonly called <q>the +Scotch school</q> (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. +<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.</q>—Cousin, +Hist. de la Philos. Morale +au xviii<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>me</hi> 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. of Civ.</hi> 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Examination +of Sir W. Hamilton</hi>) is at +issue with M. Cousin.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='075'/><anchor id='Pg075'/> + +<p> +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> +If this simple, but often neglected, consideration be borne +<pb n='076'/><anchor id='Pg076'/> +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 <q>a moral sense,</q> but what Shaftesbury had regarded as +a moral <q>taste.</q> 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 +<pb n='077'/><anchor id='Pg077'/> +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 <q>perfect obligation,</q> 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> +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 +<pb n='078'/><anchor id='Pg078'/> +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 +<pb n='079'/><anchor id='Pg079'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='080'/><anchor id='Pg080'/> +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;<note place='foot'>M. Ch. Comte, in his very +learned <hi rend='italic'>Traité de Législation</hi>, 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.</note> 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 +<pb n='081'/><anchor id='Pg081'/> +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, <q>blue being altogether ridiculous +for regimentals, except in the blue guards and artillery;</q> +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.<note place='foot'><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 <emph>puts you in mind of +nothing but a loathsome toad</emph>.</q>—Coleridge's +<hi rend='italic'>Table Talk</hi>, p. 181.</note> +</p> + +<p> +It has been said<note place='foot'>Mackintosh, <hi rend='italic'>Dissert.</hi> p. 238.</note> that <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.</q> 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, +<pb n='082'/><anchor id='Pg082'/> +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> +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 <q>beautiful</q> 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.<note place='foot'>Lord Kames' <hi rend='italic'>Essays on Morality</hi> (1st edition), pp. 55-56.</note> Besides +this, as the Stoics and Butler have shown, the position +<pb n='083'/><anchor id='Pg083'/> +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 +<q>if it had might as it has right, it would govern the world.</q><note place='foot'>See Butler's <hi rend='italic'>Three Sermons on Human Nature</hi>, and the preface.</note> +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> +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> +If we suppose a being from another sphere, who derived +his conceptions from a purely rational process, without the +<pb n='084'/><anchor id='Pg084'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Speaking of the animated +statue which he regarded as a representative +of man, Condillac says, +<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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Traité +des Sensations</hi>, 1<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>re</hi> partie ch. x.</note> 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 +<pb n='085'/><anchor id='Pg085'/> +taste lowers, and the second elevates him in his own eyes, +and in those of his neighbours. +</p> + +<p> +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 <emph>nobler</emph> character inclines him to the other. +</p> + +<p> +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> +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 +<pb n='086'/><anchor id='Pg086'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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. <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Pensées</hi> +(Misère de l'homme).</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='087'/><anchor id='Pg087'/> +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,<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Plin. +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> ii. 5.</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='088'/><anchor id='Pg088'/> +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,<note place='foot'>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. +<q>Health,</q> he says, <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.</q> On +the test of happiness he very fairly +says, <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Moral Philosophy</hi>, +i. 6.</note> 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 +<pb n='089'/><anchor id='Pg089'/> +causes from which most sufferings glance almost unfelt. +It is said that when an ancient was asked <q>what use is +philosophy?</q> he answered, <q>it teaches men how to die,</q> 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.<note place='foot'>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: +<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.</q>—Lauvergne, +<hi rend='italic'>De l'agonie de la Mort</hi>, +tome i. pp. 131-132.</note> 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> +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> +This distinction of kind has been neglected or denied by +most utilitarian writers;<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Paley's <hi rend='italic'>Moral Philosophy</hi>, +book i. ch. vi. Bentham in +like manner said, <q>Quantity of +pleasure being equal, pushpin is as +good as poetry,</q> 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Springs of Action</hi>). The +recognition of the <q>purity</q> 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 <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Morals +and Legislation</hi>, i. § 8. Mr. Buckle +(<hi rend='italic'>Hist. of Civilisation</hi>, vol. ii. pp. 399-400) +writes in a somewhat similar +strain, but less unequivocally, for +he admits that mental pleasures +are <q>more ennobling</q> 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.—<hi rend='italic'>Utilitarianism</hi>, +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 <hi rend='italic'>Examination +of the Utilitarian Philosophy</hi>, chap. +iii.</note> and although an attempt has recently +<pb n='090'/><anchor id='Pg090'/> +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 +<pb n='091'/><anchor id='Pg091'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='092'/><anchor id='Pg092'/> +constitute a very important part of the history of morals, I +shall make no apology for noticing them in some detail. +</p> + +<p> +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> +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 +<pb n='093'/><anchor id='Pg093'/> +legislations it is treated as a distinct being from the moment +of conception.<note place='foot'>Büchner, <hi rend='italic'>Force et Matière</hi>, pp. +163-164. There is a very curious +collection of the speculations of the +ancient philosophers on this subject +in Plutarch's treatise, <hi rend='italic'>De Placitis +Philos.</hi></note> 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> +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> +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, +<q>that the husband has an absolute authority over his wife; +it is for him to condemn and punish her, if she has been +<pb n='094'/><anchor id='Pg094'/> +guilty of any shameful act, such as drinking wine or committing +adultery.</q><note place='foot'>Aulus Gellius, <hi rend='italic'>Noctes</hi>, x. 23. +The law is given by Dion. Halicarn. +Valerius Maximus says, <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</q> +(Val. Max. ii. 1, § 5). This is +also noticed by Pliny (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> +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, <hi rend='italic'>Div. +Inst.</hi> i. 22.) The Milesians, also, +and the inhabitants of Marseilles +are said to have had laws forbidding +women to drink wine (Ælian, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Var.</hi> 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Aug. Conf.</hi> x. 8).</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='095'/><anchor id='Pg095'/> +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> +Another form of moral paradox is derived from the fact +that positive religions may override our moral perceptions in +<pb n='096'/><anchor id='Pg096'/> +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> +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 <q>pernicious superstition,</q> +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 +<pb n='097'/><anchor id='Pg097'/> +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 +<pb n='098'/><anchor id='Pg098'/> +enunciate a proposition which is palpably self-contradictory +they call it a mystery and an occasion for faith. +</p> + +<p> +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> +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 +<pb n='099'/><anchor id='Pg099'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='100'/><anchor id='Pg100'/> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Voltaire, <hi rend='italic'>Le Philosophe +ignorant</hi>.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='101'/><anchor id='Pg101'/> +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> +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,<note place='foot'>The feeling in its favour +being often intensified by filial +affection. <q>What is the most beautiful +thing on the earth?</q> said +Osiris to Horus. <q>To avenge a +parent's wrongs,</q> was the reply.—Plutarch <hi rend='italic'>De Iside et Osiride</hi>.</note> 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 +<pb n='102'/><anchor id='Pg102'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Hence the Justinian code and +also St. Augustine (<hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, +xix. 15) derived servus from <q>servare,</q> +to preserve, because the +victor preserved his prisoners alive.</note> +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,<note place='foot'><q>Les habitants du Congo +tuent les malades qu'ils imaginent +ne pouvoir en revenir; <emph>c'est, disentils, +pour leur épargner les douleurs +de l'agonie</emph>. Dans l'île Formose, +lorsqu'un homme est dangereusement +malade, on lui passe un +nœud coulant au col et on l'étrangle, +<emph>pour l'arracher à la douleur</emph>.</q>—Helvétius, +<hi rend='italic'>De l'Esprit</hi>, 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. <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, <emph>pour dégoûter les hommes d'un +amour plus déshonnête</emph>, crut devoir +employer toute la puissance de la +beauté.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De l'Esprit</hi>, ii. 14.</note> 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> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q> (Mill's <hi rend='italic'>Dissertations</hi>, 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.</note> To such +<pb n='103'/><anchor id='Pg103'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='104'/><anchor id='Pg104'/> +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> +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;<note place='foot'><q>Est enim sensualitas quædam +vis animæ inferior.... Ratio vero +vis animæ est superior.</q>—Peter +Lombard, <hi rend='italic'>Sent.</hi> ii. 24.</note> 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 +<pb n='105'/><anchor id='Pg105'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Helvétius, <hi rend='italic'>De l'Esprit</hi>, discours +iv. See too, Dr. Draper's +extremely remarkable <hi rend='italic'>History of +Intellectual Development in Europe</hi> +(New York, 1864), pp. 48, 53.</note> In the midst of +the sensuality of ancient Greece, chastity was the pre-eminent +attribute of sanctity ascribed to Athene and Artemis. <q>Chaste +daughter of Zeus,</q> prayed the suppliants in Æschylus, <q>thou +whose calm eye is never troubled, look down upon us! Virgin, +defend the virgins.</q> 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 +<pb n='106'/><anchor id='Pg106'/> +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 <q>to honour God by their continence.</q><note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>De Cohibenda Ira.</hi></note> +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.<note place='foot'>Lactantius, <hi rend='italic'>Div. Inst.</hi> 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 +(<hi rend='italic'>Origines du Théâtre</hi>, pp. 257-259).</note> <q>For altar and +hearth</q> 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.<note place='foot'>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.</note> We find it in the legend of Claudia, who, +<pb n='107'/><anchor id='Pg107'/> +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,<note place='foot'>As for example the Sibyls +and Cassandra. The same prophetic +power was attributed in +India to virgins.—Clem. Alexandrin. +<hi rend='italic'>Strom.</hi> iii. 7.</note> in the law which sheltered them +from the degradation of an execution,<note place='foot'>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 +<q>filia constuprata est prius a +carnifice, quasi impium esset virginem +in carcere perire.</q>—Dion +Cassius, lviii. 11. See too, Tacitus, +<hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> 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, <hi rend='italic'>De Vesta et Vestalibus</hi>.</note> in the language of +Statius, who described marriage itself as a fault.<note place='foot'><p>See his picture of the first +night of marriage:— +</p> +<p> +<q>Tacitè subit ille supremus<lb/> +Virginitatis amor, primæque modestia culpæ<lb/> +Confundit vultus. Tunc ora rigantur honestis<lb/> +Imbribus.</q> +</p> +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Thebaidos</hi>, lib. ii. 232-34.</p></note> 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 +<pb n='108'/><anchor id='Pg108'/> +of our being is a low and a degraded side, it reflects, I believe, +with perfect fidelity the feelings of our nature.<note place='foot'><p>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> +<q>Sic sine concubitu textis apis excita ceris<lb/> +Fervet, et audaci milite castra replet.</q> +</p> +<p> +Petron. <hi rend='italic'>De Varia Animalium +Generatione.</hi> +</p> +<p> +So too Virgil:— +</p> +<p> +<q>Quod neque concubitu indulgent nec corpora segnes<lb/> +In Venerem solvunt aut fœtus nixibus edunt.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Georg.</hi> iv. 198-99. +</p> +<p> +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> +<q>Nataque de fiamma corpora nulla vides:<lb/> +Jure igitur virgo est, quæ semina nulla remittit<lb/> +Nec capit, et comites virginitatis amat.</q> +</p> +<p> +<q>The Egyptians believed that there +are no males among vultures, and +they accordingly made that bird an +emblem of nature.</q>—Ammianus +Marcellinus, xvii. 4.</p></note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Maury, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. des Religions +de la Grèce antique</hi>, tome i. pp. +578-579.</note> If there have +<pb n='109'/><anchor id='Pg109'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='110'/><anchor id='Pg110'/> +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 <q>counsels +of perfection.</q> 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> +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 +<pb n='111'/><anchor id='Pg111'/> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Newman's <hi rend='italic'>Anglican Difficulties</hi>, +p. 190.</note> 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 +<pb n='112'/><anchor id='Pg112'/> +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.<note place='foot'>There is a remarkable dissertation +on this subject, called <q>The +Limitations of Morality,</q> in a very +ingenious and suggestive little +work of the Benthamite school, +called <hi rend='italic'>Essays by a Barrister</hi> (reprinted +from the <hi rend='italic'>Saturday Review</hi>).</note> 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. +<pb n='113'/><anchor id='Pg113'/> +Yet he will still pursue that enterprise, and mankind will +pronounce it to be good. +</p> + +<p> +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> +Ascetic practices are manifestly and rapidly disappearing, +and their decline is a striking proof of the evanescence of +<pb n='114'/><anchor id='Pg114'/> +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, +<pb n='115'/><anchor id='Pg115'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='116'/><anchor id='Pg116'/> +principles. Individual feeling or the general sentiment of +society must draw the application. +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='117'/><anchor id='Pg117'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='118'/><anchor id='Pg118'/> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>The following passage, though +rather vague and rhetorical, is not +unimpressive: <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.</q>—Barchou de Penhoen, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. de la Philos. allemande</hi>, +tome i. p. 295.</note> But the fact, that in these +cases considerations of extreme utility are suffered to override +<pb n='119'/><anchor id='Pg119'/> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>One of the best living authorities +on this question writes: <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.</q>—Tylor +on Primitive Society, <hi rend='italic'>Contemporary +Review</hi>, April 1873, p. 702.</note> They +<pb n='120'/><anchor id='Pg120'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='121'/><anchor id='Pg121'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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. (<hi rend='italic'>On +the Active Powers</hi>, 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: +<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.</q> +(<hi rend='italic'>On the Studies of the University</hi>, +p. 54.) Leibnitz says: <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Critique +de l'Essai sur l'Entendement.</hi></note> +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, +<pb n='122'/><anchor id='Pg122'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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. +(<hi rend='italic'>Moral Phil.</hi> book i. +ch. 5.) Dugald Stewart (<hi rend='italic'>Active +and Moral Powers</hi>, 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 +(<hi rend='italic'>Lectures on Jurisprudence</hi>, 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 <q>state of war</q> +with the foreign hunter. He has a +right to kill the hunter and the +hunter an equal right to kill him.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='123'/><anchor id='Pg123'/> +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,<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='italic'>Dissertation</hi>, by Professor +Webb in his <hi rend='italic'>Intellectualism +of Locke</hi>, and by Mr. Rogers in an +essay reprinted from the <hi rend='italic'>Edinburgh +Review</hi>.</note> 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 <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>a priori</foreign> and ideas which are received <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>a +posteriori</foreign>. 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 +<pb n='124'/><anchor id='Pg124'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='125'/><anchor id='Pg125'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='126'/><anchor id='Pg126'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='127'/><anchor id='Pg127'/> +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> +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> +In the next place, we may observe that the practical +<pb n='128'/><anchor id='Pg128'/> +consequences, so far as ethics are concerned,<note place='foot'>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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See the forcible passage in the +life of Epicurus by Diogenes Laërtius. +So Mackintosh: <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Dissertation on +Ethical Philosophy</hi>, p. 85, ed. 1836. +See, too, Tennemann (<hi rend='italic'>Manuel de la +Philosophie</hi>, ed. Cousin, tome i. p. +211).</note> On the other hand, in the +<pb n='129'/><anchor id='Pg129'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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, <hi rend='italic'>On the +best Plan of National Education</hi>, +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.</note> 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> +Having now considered at some length the nature and +<pb n='130'/><anchor id='Pg130'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='131'/><anchor id='Pg131'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>There are some good remarks +on this point in the very striking +chapter on the present condition +of Christianity in Wilberforce's +<hi rend='italic'>Practical View</hi>.</note> In savage life the animal +<pb n='132'/><anchor id='Pg132'/> +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> +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;<note place='foot'>See Reid's <hi rend='italic'>Essays on the Active +Powers</hi>, iii. i.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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.</note> 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 +<pb n='133'/><anchor id='Pg133'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='134'/><anchor id='Pg134'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='135'/><anchor id='Pg135'/> +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, <q>How guilty should <emph>I</emph> be, were I to perpetrate such +an act?</q> 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 +<pb n='136'/><anchor id='Pg136'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='137'/><anchor id='Pg137'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='138'/><anchor id='Pg138'/> +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 +<pb n='139'/><anchor id='Pg139'/> +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> +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 <q>fair play</q> +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> +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 +<pb n='140'/><anchor id='Pg140'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='141'/><anchor id='Pg141'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='142'/><anchor id='Pg142'/> +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, +<pb n='143'/><anchor id='Pg143'/> +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> +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,<note place='foot'>The principal exception being +where slavery, coexisting with +advanced civilisation, retards or +prevents the growth of industrial +habits.</note> 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> + +<pb n='144'/><anchor id='Pg144'/> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>See Mr. Laing's <hi rend='italic'>Travels in +Sweden</hi>. A similar cause is said +to have had a similar effect in +Bavaria.</note> 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> +In addition to the very important influence upon public +morals which climate, I think, undoubtedly exercises in +<pb n='145'/><anchor id='Pg145'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='146'/><anchor id='Pg146'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='147'/><anchor id='Pg147'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='148'/><anchor id='Pg148'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='149'/><anchor id='Pg149'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='150'/><anchor id='Pg150'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='151'/><anchor id='Pg151'/> +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> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>This has been, I think, especially the case with the Austrians.</note> +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 +<pb n='152'/><anchor id='Pg152'/> +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 +<pb n='153'/><anchor id='Pg153'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='154'/><anchor id='Pg154'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='155'/><anchor id='Pg155'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='156'/><anchor id='Pg156'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='157'/><anchor id='Pg157'/> +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> +Of the two elements that compose the moral condition of +mankind, our generalised knowledge is almost restricted to +<pb n='158'/><anchor id='Pg158'/> +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, +<pb n='159'/><anchor id='Pg159'/> +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,<note place='foot'>See some remarkable instances +of this in Cabanis, <hi rend='italic'>Rapports +du Physique et du Moral de +l'Homme</hi>.</note> 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 +<pb n='160'/><anchor id='Pg160'/> +would thus form the complement to the labours of the +historian. +</p> + +<p> +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> + +<pb n='161'/><anchor id='Pg161'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter II. The Pagan Empire.</head> + +<p> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>Diog. Laërt. <hi rend='italic'>Pythag.</hi></note> Plato, for the same reason, +banished the poets from his republic. Stilpo turned to +<pb n='162'/><anchor id='Pg162'/> +ridicule the whole system of sacrifices,<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>De Profectibus in +Virt.</hi></note> and was exiled from +Athens for denying that the Athene of Phidias was a goddess.<note place='foot'>Diog. Laërt. <hi rend='italic'>Stilpo.</hi></note> +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.<note place='foot'>Clem. Alexand. <hi rend='italic'>Strom.</hi> vii.</note> Diagoras and Theodorus are said to have denied, +and Protagoras to have questioned the existence of the gods,<note place='foot'>Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>De Nat. Deorum</hi>, i. 1.</note> +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.<note place='foot'>Lactant. <hi rend='italic'>Inst. Div.</hi> i. 5.</note> +The Stoics, reproducing an opinion which was supported by +Aristotle and attributed to Pythagoras,<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Ibid. +Lactantius in this chapter has collected +several other philosophic +definitions of the Divinity. See +too Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>De Placit. Philos.</hi> +Tertullian explains the stoical +theory by an ingenious illustration: +<q>Stoici enim volunt Deum sic per +materiem decucurrisse quomodo mel +per favos.</q>—Tert. <hi rend='italic'>De Anima</hi>.</note> 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> +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,<note place='foot'>As Cicero says: <q>Epicurus re +tollit, oratione relinquit, deos.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De +Nat. Deor.</hi> i. 44.</note> 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 +<pb n='163'/><anchor id='Pg163'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Sometimes, however, they restricted +its operation to the great +events of life. As an interlocutor +in Cicero says: <q>Magna dii curant, +parva negligunt.</q>—Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De Natur. +Deor.</hi> ii. 66. Justin Martyr notices +(<hi rend='italic'>Trypho</hi>, 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. (<hi rend='italic'>De +Provident.</hi> v.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See on this theory Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>De +Natur. Deor.</hi> i. 42; Lactantius, <hi rend='italic'>Inst. +Div.</hi> i. 11.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Diog. Laërt. <hi rend='italic'>Vit. Zeno.</hi> St. +Aug. <hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, iv. 11. Maximus +of Tyre, <hi rend='italic'>Dissert.</hi> x. (in some editions +xxix.) § 8. Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Beneficiis</hi>, +iv. 7-8. Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De Natur. Deor.</hi> +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, <hi rend='italic'>Evang. Præpar.</hi> lib. iii.</note> More than a hundred years before the Empire, +Varro had declared that <q>the soul of the world is God, and +that its parts are true divinities.</q><note place='foot'>St. Aug. <hi rend='italic'>De Civ.</hi> vii. 5.</note> Virgil and Manilius described, +in lines of singular beauty, that universal spirit, the +principle of all life, the efficient cause of all motion, which +<pb n='164'/><anchor id='Pg164'/> +permeates and animates the globe. Pliny said that <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.</q><note place='foot'>Plin. <hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat</hi>. ii. 1.</note> +Cicero had adopted the higher Platonic conception of the Deity +as mind freed from all taint of matter,<note place='foot'><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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Tusc. Quæst</hi>. i. 27.</note> while Seneca celebrated +in magnificent language <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.</q><note place='foot'>Senec. <hi rend='italic'>Quæst. Nat.</hi> ii. 45.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><p><q>Estne Dei sedes, nisi terra et pontus et aër.<lb/> +Et cœlum et virtus? Superos quid quærimus ultra?<lb/> +Jupiter est quodcumque vides, quodcumque moveris.</q> +</p> +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Pharsal.</hi> ix. 578-80.</p></note> 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 +<pb n='165'/><anchor id='Pg165'/> +would be all in all. The very children and old women ridiculed +Cerberus and the Furies<note place='foot'><p><q>Quæve anus tam excors inveniri +potest, quæ illa, quæ quondam +credebantur apud inferos portenta, +extimescat?</q>—Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De Nat. +Deor.</hi> ii. 2. +</p> +<p> +<q>Esse aliques Manes et subterranea regna ...<lb/> +Nec pueri credunt nisi qui nondum ære lavantur.</q> +</p> +<p> +Juv. <hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> ii. 149, 152. +</p> +<p> +See on this subject a good review +by the Abbé Freppel, <hi rend='italic'>Les Pères Apostoliques</hi>, +leçon viii.</p></note> or treated them as mere +metaphors of conscience.<note place='foot'>Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>De Leg.</hi> i. 14; Macrobius, +<hi rend='italic'>In. Som. Scip.</hi> i. 10.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See his works <hi rend='italic'>De Divinatione</hi> +and <hi rend='italic'>De Nat. Deorum</hi>, which form +a curious contrast to the religious +conservatism of the <hi rend='italic'>De Legibus</hi>, +which was written chiefly from a +political point of view.</note> +Before the time of Constantine, numerous books +had been written against the oracles.<note place='foot'>Eusebius, <hi rend='italic'>Præp. Evang.</hi> lib. iv.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. des Oracles</hi> (1st +ed.), pp. 292-293.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See the famous description of +Cato refusing to consult the oracle +of Jupiter Ammon in Lucan, <hi rend='italic'>Phars.</hi> +ix.; and also Arrian, ii. 7. Seneca +beautifully says, <q>Vis deos propitiare? +bonus esto. Satis illos +coluit quisquis imitatus est.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> +xcv.</note> Cato wondered that two augurs could +<pb n='166'/><anchor id='Pg166'/> +meet with gravity.<note place='foot'>Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>De Divin</hi>. ii. 24.</note> The Roman general Sertorius made the +forgery of auspicious omens a continual resource in warfare.<note place='foot'>Aulus Gellius, <hi rend='italic'>Noct. Att.</hi> xv. 22.</note> +The Roman wits made divination the favourite subject of +their ridicule.<note place='foot'>See a long string of witticisms +collected by Legendre, <hi rend='italic'>Traité de +l'Opinion, ou Mémoires pour servir +à l'Histoire de l'Esprit humain</hi> +(Venise, 1735), tome i. pp. 386-387.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>See Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>De Natura Deorum</hi>; +Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Brev. Vit.</hi> c. xvi.; Plin. +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> ii. 5; Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>De Superstitione</hi>.</note> +while Ovid made these fables the theme of his +mocking <hi rend='italic'>Metamorphoses</hi>, 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.<note place='foot'><p><q>Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum,<lb/> +Cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum,<lb/> +Maluit esse Deum.</q> +</p> +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> I. viii. 1-3.</p></note> 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,<note place='foot'>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 (<hi rend='italic'>Philos. Apoll. of +Tyana</hi>, vi. 19). Pliny shortly says, +<q>Effigiem Dei formamque quærere +imbecillitatis humanæ reor</q> (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. +Nat.</hi> 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, <hi rend='italic'>Life of +Numa</hi>). Dion Chrysostom said +that the Gods need no statues or +sacrifices, but that by these means +we attest our devotion to them +(<hi rend='italic'>Orat.</hi> xxxi.). On the vanity of rich +idols, see Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>De Superstitione</hi>; +Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xxxi.</note> well suited to aid the devotions +<pb n='167'/><anchor id='Pg167'/> +of the ignorant. Seneca<note place='foot'>1 Lact. <hi rend='italic'>Inst. Div.</hi> vi. 25.</note> and the whole school of Pythagoras +objected to the sacrifices. +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>Dion. Halic. ii.; Polyb. vi. 56.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>St. Aug. <hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, iv. 31.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Epictetus, <hi rend='italic'>Enchir.</hi> xxxix.</note> +</p> + +<p> +But the Roman religion, even in its best days, though an +<pb n='168'/><anchor id='Pg168'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Cicero, speaking of the worship +of deified men, says, <q>indicat omnium +quidem animos immortales +esse, sed fortium bonorumque +divinos.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De Leg.</hi> 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 (<hi rend='italic'>La Cité antique</hi>).</note> +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> +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 +<pb n='169'/><anchor id='Pg169'/> +enforced,<note place='foot'>On the minute supervision exercised +by the censors on all the +details of domestic life, see Aul. +Gell. <hi rend='italic'>Noct.</hi> ii. 24; iv. 12, 20.</note> was exchanged for a luxury which first appeared +after the return of the army of Manlius from Asia,<note place='foot'>Livy, xxxix. 6.</note> increased +to immense proportions after the almost simultaneous +conquests of Carthage, Corinth, and Macedonia,<note place='foot'>Vell. Paterculus, i. 11-13; +Eutropius, iv. 6. Sallust ascribed +the decadence of Rome to the destruction +of its rival, Carthage.</note> received +an additional stimulus from the example of Antony,<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>De Adulatore et +Amico</hi>.</note> +and at last, under the Empire, rose to excesses which the +wildest Oriental orgies have never surpassed.<note place='foot'>There is much curious information +about the growth of Roman +luxury in Pliny (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> lib. +xxxiv.). The movement of decomposition +has been lately fully +traced by Mommsen (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. of +Rome</hi>); Döllinger (<hi rend='italic'>Jew and Gentile</hi>); +Denis (<hi rend='italic'> Hist. des Idées morales +dans l'Antiquité</hi>); Pressensé (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. +des trois premiers Siècles</hi>); in the +histories of Champagny, and in the +beautiful closing chapters of the +<hi rend='italic'>Apôtres</hi> of Renan.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Aug.</hi> xvi.</note> +When Germanicus died, the populace stoned or overthrew +the altars of the gods.<note place='foot'>Ibid. <hi rend='italic'>Calig.</hi> v.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Persius, <hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> ii.; Horace, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> +i. 16, vv. 57-60.</note> Amid the corruption +of the Empire, we meet with many noble efforts of +reform made by philosophers or by emperors, but we find +<pb n='170'/><anchor id='Pg170'/> +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.<note place='foot'>See, on the identification of +the Greek and Egyptian myths, +Plutarch's <hi rend='italic'>De Iside et Osiride</hi>. 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, <hi rend='italic'>Jew and +Gentile</hi>, vol. ii. pp. 160-165.</note> +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.<note place='foot'><p><q>Ego deûm genus esse semper +dixi et dicam cœlitum; +Sed eos non curare opinor quid agat +hominum genus.</q> +</p> +<p> +Cicero adds: <q>magno plausu loquitur +assentiente populo.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De +Divin.</hi> ii. 50.</p></note> 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, +<q>May you have a daughter like her whom you have described!</q><note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>De Superstitione</hi>.</note> +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.<note place='foot'>St. Aug. <hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, vi. 6; +Tertul. <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 15; Arnobius, <hi rend='italic'>Adv. +Gentes</hi>, iv.</note> 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, +<pb n='171'/><anchor id='Pg171'/> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Hist. +Nat.</hi> 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. +(<hi rend='italic'>Ann.</hi> 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. (<hi rend='italic'>Suet. +Tib.</hi> lxix.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Ammianus Marcellinus, xxviii.</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='172'/><anchor id='Pg172'/> +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 +<foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>summum bonum</foreign> 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> +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 +<pb n='173'/><anchor id='Pg173'/> +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> +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, +<pb n='174'/><anchor id='Pg174'/> +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> +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> + +<pb n='175'/><anchor id='Pg175'/> + +<p> +<q>Whenever,</q> said Plutarch, <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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Profectibus in Virt.</hi> It was +originally the custom at Roman +feasts to sing to a pipe the actions +and the virtues of the greatest +men. (Cic. <hi rend='italic'>Tusc. Quæst.</hi> iv.)</note> +</p> + +<p> +Passages of this kind continually occur in the ancient +moralists,<note place='foot'>E.g. Epictetus, <hi rend='italic'>Ench.</hi> lii. +Seneca is full of similar exhortations.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>According to Cicero, the first +Latin work on philosophy was by +the Epicurean Amafanius. (<hi rend='italic'>Tusc. +Quæst.</hi> iv.)</note> 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 +<pb n='176'/><anchor id='Pg176'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='italic'>De Vita +Beata</hi>, c. xii. xiii. and <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xxi. +Gassendi, in a very interesting little +work entitled <hi rend='italic'>Philosophiæ Epicuri +Syntagma</hi>, 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 <hi rend='italic'>De +Finibus</hi>, 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.</note> 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 +<pb n='177'/><anchor id='Pg177'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='178'/><anchor id='Pg178'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='179'/><anchor id='Pg179'/> +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, <q>what one utility has created, +another will often destroy.</q> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>Mr. Grote gives the following +very clear summary of Plato's +ethical theory, which he believes +to be original:—<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 <hi rend='italic'>per se</hi>, 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.</q>—Grote's <hi rend='italic'>Plato</hi>, vol. +iii. p. 131. According to Plutarch, +Aristo of Chio defined virtue as +<q>the health of the soul.</q> (<hi rend='italic'>De +Virtute Morali.</hi>)</note> It was admitted, but only to a +subsidiary place, by the Stoics,<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Vita +Beata</hi>, c. iii.</note> and has passed more or less +<pb n='180'/><anchor id='Pg180'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='181'/><anchor id='Pg181'/> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>The famous paradox that <q>the +sage could be happy even in the +bull of Phalaris,</q> comes from the +writings not of Zeno but of Epicurus—though +the Stoics adopted and +greatly admired it. (Cic. <hi rend='italic'>Tusc.</hi> ii. +See Gassendi, <hi rend='italic'>Philos. Epicuri Syntagma</hi>, +pars iii. c. 1.)</note> 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, <q>virtue was a +sentence of death.</q> 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 +<pb n='182'/><anchor id='Pg182'/> +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.<note place='foot'><q>Sed nescio quomodo dum lego +assentior; cum posui librum et +mecum ipse de immortalitate +animorum cœpi cogitare, assensio +omnis illa elabitur.</q>—Cic. +<hi rend='italic'>Tusc.</hi> i.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Sallust, <hi rend='italic'>Catilina</hi>, cap. li.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><p>See that most impressive passage +(<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> vii. 56). That +the sleep of annihilation is the +happiest end of man is a favourite +thought of Lucretius. Thus: +</p> +<p> +<q>Nil igitur mors est, ad nos neque pertinet hilum,<lb/> +Quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur.</q>—iii. 842. +</p> +<p> +This mode of thought has been recently +expressed in Mr. Swinburne's +very beautiful poem on <hi rend='italic'>The Garden +of Proserpine</hi>.</p></note> 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 +<pb n='183'/><anchor id='Pg183'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Diog. Laërtius. The opinion +of Chrysippus seems to have prevailed, +and Plutarch (<hi rend='italic'>De Placit. +Philos.</hi>) speaks of it as that of the +school. Cicero sarcastically says, +<q>Stoici autem usuram nobis largiuntur, +tanquam cornicibus: diu +mansuros aiunt animos; semper, +negant.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Tusc. Disp.</hi> i. 31.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='italic'>Sadducees</hi>, in Smith's +<hi rend='italic'>Biblical Dictionary</hi>.</note> to +the denial of the existence of the reward.<note place='foot'>On the Stoical opinions about +a future life see Martin, <hi rend='italic'>La Vie +future</hi> (Paris, 1858); Courdaveaux +<hi rend='italic'>De l'immortalité de l'âme dans le +Stoïcisme</hi> (Paris, 1857); and Alger's +<hi rend='italic'>Critical Hist. of the Doctrine of a +Future Life</hi> (New York, 1866).</note> Panætius, the +founder of Roman stoicism, maintained that the soul perished +with the body,<note place='foot'>His arguments are met by +Cicero in the <hi rend='italic'>Tusculans</hi>.</note> and his opinion was followed by Epictetus,<note place='foot'>See a collection of passages +from his discourses collected by M. +Courdaveaux, in the introduction to +his French translation of that book.</note> +and Cornutus.<note place='foot'>Stobæus, <hi rend='italic'>Eclog. Physic.</hi> lib. i. +cap. 52.</note> Seneca contradicted himself on the subject.<note place='foot'>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.</note> +<pb n='184'/><anchor id='Pg184'/> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Degerando, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. de la Philos.</hi> +tome iii. p. 56.</note> +Pagan antiquity has bequeathed us few nobler treatises of +morals than the <q>De Officiis</q> of Cicero, which was avowedly +an expansion of a work of Panætius.<note place='foot'><q>Panætius igitur, qui sine controversia +de officiis accuratissime +disputavit, quemque nos, correctione +quadam adhibita, potissimum +secuti sumus.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De Offic.</hi> iii. 2.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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, <q>I +told you you would do so.</q> Celsus +quoted this in opposition to the +Christians, asking, <q>Did your leader +under suffering ever say anything +so noble?</q> Origen finely replied, +<q>He did what was still nobler—He +kept silence.</q> A Christian anchorite +(some say St. Nilus, who lived in +the beginning of the fifth century) +was so struck with the <hi rend='italic'>Enchiridion</hi> +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.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='185'/><anchor id='Pg185'/> + +<p> +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 <q>last infirmity of noble minds</q><note place='foot'>Tacitus had used this expression +before Milton: <q>Quando etiam sapientibus +cupido gloriæ novissima +exuitur.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> iv. 6.</note>—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.<note place='foot'>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 (<hi rend='italic'>Ep. ad +Divers.</hi> v. 12); and of the younger +Pliny to Tacitus (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> vii. 33). +Cicero has himself confessed that +he was too fond of glory.</note> 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;<note place='foot'><p><q>Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem;<lb/> +Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem.</q>—Ennius.</p></note> of men like Cato, who +remained unmoved among the scoffs, the insults, and the +ridicule of an angry crowd.<note place='foot'>See the beautiful description of +Cato's tranquillity under insults. +Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Ira</hi>, ii. 33; <hi rend='italic'>De Const. +Sap.</hi> 1, 2.</note> 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, <q>though it were concealed from the eyes of gods and +men,</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Officiis</hi>, iii. 9.</note> and that no deeds are more laudable than those which +are done without ostentation, and far from the sight of men.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Tusc.</hi> ii. 26.</note> +<pb n='186'/><anchor id='Pg186'/> +The writings of the Stoics are crowded with sentences to the +same effect. <q>Nothing for opinion, all for conscience.</q><note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Vit. Beat.</hi> c. xx.</note> <q>He +who wishes his virtue to be blazed abroad is not labouring +for virtue but for fame.</q><note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> cxiii.</note> <q>No one is more virtuous than +the man who sacrifices the reputation of a good man rather +than sacrifice his conscience.</q><note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> lxxxi.</note> <q>I do not shrink from praise, +but I refuse to make it the end and term of right.</q><note place='foot'>Persius, <hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> i. 45-47.</note> <q>If +you do anything to please men, you have fallen from your +estate.</q><note place='foot'>Epictetus, <hi rend='italic'>Ench.</hi> xxiii.</note> <q>Even a bad reputation nobly earned is pleasing.</q><note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Ira</hi>, iii. 41.</note> +<q>A great man is not the less great when he lies vanquished +and prostrate in the dust.</q><note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>Cons. ad Helv.</hi> xiii.</note> <q>Never forget that it is possible +to be at once a divine man, yet a man unknown to all the +world.</q><note place='foot'>Marc. Aur. vii. 67.</note> <q>That which is beautiful is beautiful in itself; the +praise of man adds nothing to its quality.</q><note place='foot'>Marc. Aur. iv. 20.</note> 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 <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.</q><note place='foot'>Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> i. 22.</note> +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. <q>Pleasure,</q> they +<pb n='187'/><anchor id='Pg187'/> +argued, <q>is the companion, not the guide, of our course.</q><note place='foot'><q>Non dux, sed comes voluptas.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De +Vit. Beat.</hi> c. viii.</note> +<q>We do not love virtue because it gives us pleasure, but it +gives us pleasure because we love it.</q><note place='foot'><q>Voluptas non est merces nec +causa virtutis sed accessio; nec quia +delectat placet sed quia placet delectat.</q>—Ibid., +c. ix.</note> <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.</q><note place='foot'>Peregrinus apud Aul. Gellius, +xii. 11. Peregrinus was a Cynic, +but his doctrine on this point was +identical with that of the Stoics.</note> <q>To ask to be paid for +virtue is as if the eye demanded a recompense for seeing, or +the feet for walking.</q><note place='foot'>Marc. Aurel. ix. 42.</note> In doing good, man <q>should be like +the vine which has produced grapes, and asks for nothing +more after it has produced its proper fruit.</q><note place='foot'>Marc. Aurel. v. 6.</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='188'/><anchor id='Pg188'/> +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 +<pb n='189'/><anchor id='Pg189'/> +nature of a disease<note place='foot'>Seneca, however, in one of his +letters (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> 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.</note>—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 +<pb n='190'/><anchor id='Pg190'/> +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. <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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Clem.</hi> ii. 6, 7.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Cicero, in a sentence which might be adopted as the +motto of Stoicism, said that Homer <q>attributed human +qualities to the gods; it would have been better to have +imparted divine qualities to men.</q> 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, +<pb n='191'/><anchor id='Pg191'/> +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,<note place='foot'><q>Peccantes vero quid habet cur +oderit, cum error illos in hujusmodi +delicta compellat?</q>—Sen. <hi rend='italic'>De Ira</hi>, +i. 14. This is a favourite thought +of Marcus Aurelius, to which he +reverts again and again. See, too, +Arrian, i. 18.</note> treated it as an involuntary +disease, and declared that the only legitimate ground of +punishment is prevention.<note place='foot'><q>Ergo ne homini quidem nocebimus +quia peccavit sed ne peccet, +nec unquam ad præteritum sed ad +futurum pœna referetur.</q>—Ibid. ii. +31. In the philosophy of Plato, +on the other hand, punishment was +chiefly expiatory and purificatory. +(Lerminier, <hi rend='italic'>Introd. à l'Histoire du +Droit</hi>, p. 123.)</note> 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, +<q>I never supposed that I had begotten an immortal;</q><note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Constant. Sap.</hi> 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. <q>Cease +your blasphemy,</q> he answered, <q>my +father is immortal.</q>—Socrates, +<hi rend='italic'>Eccl. Hist.</hi> iv 23.</note> 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 +<pb n='192'/><anchor id='Pg192'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Epictetus, <hi rend='italic'>Ench.</hi> 16, 18.</note> +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> +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,<note place='foot'>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 <q>goods</q> but as <q>preferables.</q> +See a long discussion on this matter +in Cicero (<hi rend='italic'>De Finib.</hi> 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.</note> though +<pb n='193'/><anchor id='Pg193'/> +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.<note place='foot'><p>See Seneca (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> 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, +<q>Omnium autem rerum natura +cognita levamur superstitione, +liberamur mortis metu, non conturbamur +ignoratione rerum</q> (<hi rend='italic'>De +Fin.</hi> i.); and Virgil expressed an +eminently Epicurean sentiment in +his famous lines:— +</p> +<p> +<q>Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,<lb/> +Quique metus omnes et inexorabile fatum<lb/> +Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque<lb/> +Acherontis avari.</q> +</p> +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Georg.</hi> 490-492. +</p></note> 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.<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Cato Major</hi>.</note> Brutus was one of the +most extortionate usurers of his time, and several citizens +<pb n='194'/><anchor id='Pg194'/> +of Salamis died of starvation, imprisoned because they could +not pay the sum he demanded.<note place='foot'>Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>Ad Attic.</hi> vi. 2.</note> 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 +<q>Pharsalia,</q> ranks with the Epigrams of Martial as probably +the extreme limit of sycophancy to which Roman literature +descended. +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='195'/><anchor id='Pg195'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='196'/><anchor id='Pg196'/> +and of the Greek poets.<note place='foot'>This contrast is noticed and +largely illustrated by M. Montée +in his interesting little work <hi rend='italic'>Le +Stoïcisme à Rome</hi>, and also by +Legendre in his <hi rend='italic'>Traité de l'Opinion, +ou Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire +de l'esprit humain</hi> (Venise, 1735).</note> 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, +<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?</q> +</p> + +<p> +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. <q>We boast justly of our +own virtue,</q> said the eclectic Cicero, <q>which we could not do +if we derived it from the Deity and not from ourselves.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='197'/><anchor id='Pg197'/> + +<p> +<q>All mortals judge that fortune is to be received from the gods +and wisdom from ourselves.</q><note place='foot'><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.</q>—Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>De Nat. +Deor.</hi> iii. 36.</note> 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. +<q>He gives life, he gives wealth; an untroubled mind I secure +for myself.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> i. 18.</note> <q>The calm of a mind blest in the consciousness +of its virtue,</q> was the expression of supreme felicity the +Epicureans had derived from their master.<note place='foot'>Seneca <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> lxvi.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Lucretius, v. It was a Greek +proverb, that Apollo begat Æsculapius +to heal the body, and Plato +to heal the soul. (Legendre, <hi rend='italic'>Traité +de l'Opinion</hi>, tome i. p. 197.)</note> <q>Pray,</q> said Juvenal, <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.</q><note place='foot'><p><q>Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano:<lb/> +Fortem posce animum, mortis terrore carentem....<lb/> +Monstro, quod ipse tibi possis dare.</q> +</p> +<p> +Juvenal, <hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> x. 356. +</p> +<p> +Marcus Aurelius recommends +prayer, but only that we may be +freed from evil desires. (ix. 11.)</p></note> <q>Misfortune, and losses, and calumny,</q> said Seneca, +<q>disappear before virtue as the taper before the sun.</q><note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> lxvi.</note> <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.</q><note place='foot'>Ibid. <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> liii.</note> <q>Except for immortality,</q> he elsewhere writes, <q>the +sage is like to God.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Const. Sap.</hi> viii.</note> <q>It is the characteristic of a wise man,</q> +<pb n='198'/><anchor id='Pg198'/> +added Epictetus, <q>that he looks for all his good and evil from +himself.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ench.</hi> xlviii.</note> <q>As far as his rational nature is concerned, he is +in no degree inferior to the gods.</q><note place='foot'>Arrian, i. 12.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 <q>a +detached fragment of the Deity,</q><note place='foot'>Arrian, ii. 8. The same doctrine +is strongly stated in Seneca, +<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xcii.</note> or as at least pervaded and +accompanied by a divine energy. <q>There never,</q> said Cicero, +<q>was a great man, without an inspiration from on high.</q><note place='foot'>Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>De Nat. Deor.</hi> ii. 66.</note> +<q>Nothing,</q> said Seneca, <q>is closed to God. He is present in +our conscience. He intervenes in our thoughts.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> lxxxiii. Somewhat similar +sentiments are attributed to Thales +and Bion (Diog. Laërt.).</note> <q>I tell +thee, Lucilius,</q> he elsewhere writes, <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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xli. There are some beautiful +sentiments of this kind in +Plutarch's treatise, <hi rend='italic'>De Sera Numinis +Vindicta</hi>. It was a saying +of Pythagoras, that <q>we become +better as we approach the gods.</q></note> <q>Offer to the God that is in thee,</q> said +Marcus Aurelius, <q>a manly being, a citizen, a soldier at his post +ready to depart from life as soon as the trumpet sounds.</q><note place='foot'>Marc. Aur. iii. 5.</note> <q>It is +sufficient to believe in the Genius who is within us, and to +honour him by a pure worship.</q><note place='foot'>Marcus Aurelius.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='199'/><anchor id='Pg199'/> +the Platonic maxim, <q>follow God,</q> 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. <q>To weep, to complain, to groan, is to rebel;</q><note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>Præf. Nat. Quæst.</hi> iii.</note> +<q>to fear, to grieve, to be angry, is to be a deserter.</q><note place='foot'>Marc. Aur. x. 25.</note> <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.</q><note place='foot'>Epict. <hi rend='italic'>Ench.</hi> xvii.</note> <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?</q><note place='foot'>Epict. <hi rend='italic'>Ench.</hi> xi.</note> <q>God does not keep a good man in prosperity; +He tries, He strengthens him, He prepares him for Himself.</q><note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Prov.</hi> i.</note> +<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.</q><note place='foot'>Ibid. iv.</note> With a +beautiful outburst of submissive gratitude, Marcus Aurelius +exclaims, <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.</q><note place='foot'>Marc. Aurel. ii. 2, 3.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='200'/><anchor id='Pg200'/> +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,<note place='foot'>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 (<hi rend='italic'>Noct. +Att.</hi> vi. 2) has preserved a passage +in which Chrysippus exerted his +subtlety in reconciling the two +things. See, too, Arrian, i. 17.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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. <q>Nullam capitaliorem +pestem quam corporis +voluptatem, hominibus a natura +datam.... Hinc patriæ proditiones, +hinc rerumpublicarum eversiones, +hinc cum hostibus clandestina +colloquia nasci,</q> etc.—Cicero, +<hi rend='italic'>De Senect.</hi> xii.</note> +Aristotle may be almost said to have made the difference +between Greek and barbarian the basis of his moral code. +<pb n='201'/><anchor id='Pg201'/> +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;<note place='foot'>Diog. Laërt. <hi rend='italic'>Anax.</hi></note> 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.<note place='foot'><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?</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De Offic.</hi> i. 17.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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;<note place='foot'>See Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>Consol. ad Helviam</hi> +and <hi rend='italic'>De Otio Sapien.</hi>; and Plutarch, +<hi rend='italic'>De Exilio</hi>. The first of these works +is the basis of one of the most +beautiful compositions in the English +language, Bolingbroke's <hi rend='italic'>Reflections +on Exile</hi>.</note> 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 +<pb n='202'/><anchor id='Pg202'/> +Cicero declared that <q>all virtue is in action.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Officiis</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Epist.</hi> i. 10.</note> 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> +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.<note place='foot'><q>Tota enim philosophorum +vita, ut ait idem, commentatio +mortis est.</q>—Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>Tusc.</hi> i. 30, +<hi rend='italic'>ad fin</hi>.</note> 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. <q>The Stoics,</q> as Bacon has said, +<q>bestowed too much cost on death, and by their preparations +<pb n='203'/><anchor id='Pg203'/> +made it more fearful.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Essay on Death.</hi></note> There is a profound wisdom in the +maxims of Spinoza, that <q>the proper study of a wise man is +not how to die, but how to live,</q> and that <q>there is no subject +on which the sage will think less than death.</q><note place='foot'>Spinoza, <hi rend='italic'>Ethics</hi>, iv. 67.</note> 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> +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.<note place='foot'>Camden. Montalembert notices +a similar legend as existing +in Brittany (<hi rend='italic'>Les Moines d'Occident</hi>, +tome ii. p. 287). Procopius (<hi rend='italic'>De +Bello Goth.</hi> 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.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='204'/><anchor id='Pg204'/> +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> +Such were the leading topics that were employed in that +beautiful literature of <q>Consolations,</q> 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 <q>Consolations,</q> and he based it not upon philosophical +grounds, but upon the testimonies of the oracles, and upon +the mysteries of Bacchus.<note place='foot'>In his <hi rend='italic'>De Sera Numinis Vindicta</hi> and his <hi rend='italic'>Consolatio ad Uxorem</hi>.</note> 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 +<pb n='205'/><anchor id='Pg205'/> +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,<note place='foot'>In the <hi rend='italic'>Phædo</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>passim</hi>. See, +too, Marc. Aurelius, ii. 12.</note> 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. <q>Accustom yourself,</q> said Epicurus, +<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?</q><note place='foot'>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.</note> <q>Souls either remain after death,</q> said Cicero, <q>or +they perish in death. If they remain they are happy; if they +perish they are not wretched.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Tusc. Quæst.</hi> i.</note> Seneca, consoling Polybius +concerning the death of his brother, exhorts his friend to +think, <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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Consol. ad Polyb.</hi> xxvii.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='206'/><anchor id='Pg206'/> +represent scenes of infernal torments, not unlike those of the +mediæval frescoes.<note place='foot'>Maury, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. des Religions de +la Grèce antique</hi>, tom. i. pp. 582-588. +M. Ravaisson, in his Memoir +on Stoicism (<hi rend='italic'>Acad. des Inscriptions +et Belles-lettres</hi>, 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.</note> 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 <q>On Superstition,</q> 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.<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Ad Apollonium</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Ibid.</note> The +swan was consecrated to Apollo because its dying song was +believed to spring from a prophetic impulse.<note place='foot'>Cic. <hi rend='italic'>Tusc. Quæst.</hi> i.</note> The Spanish +Celts raised temples, and sang hymns of praise to death.<note place='foot'><p>Philost. Apoll. of Tyan. v. 4. +Hence their passion for suicide, +which Silius Italicus commemorates +in lines which I think very +beautiful:— +</p> +<p> +<q>Prodiga gens animæ et properare facillima mortem;<lb/> +Namque ubi transcendit florentes viribus annos<lb/> +Impatiens ævi, spernit novisse senectam<lb/> +Et fati modus in dextra est.</q>—i. 225-228. +</p> +<p> +Valerius Maximus (ii. vi. § 12) +speaks of Celts who celebrated the +birth of men with lamentation, and +their deaths with joy.</p></note> No +<pb n='207'/><anchor id='Pg207'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Aulus Gellius, <hi rend='italic'>Noctes</hi>, i. 3.</note> 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 <q>the +most precious of his possessions, the image of his life.</q><note place='foot'>Tacitus, <hi rend='italic'>Annales</hi>, xv. 62.</note> Titus +on his deathbed declared that he could remember only a single +act with which to reproach himself.<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Titus</hi>, 10.</note> 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 +<q>æquanimitas.</q><note place='foot'>Capitolinus, <hi rend='italic'>Antoninus</hi>.</note> Julian, the last great representative of his +expiring creed, caught up the same majestic strain. Amid +<pb n='208'/><anchor id='Pg208'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='italic'>Discourses on +University Education</hi>, lect. ix.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 <q>a law +and not a punishment;</q><note place='foot'><q>Lex non pœna mors</q> was a +favourite saying among the ancients. +On the other hand, Tertullian +very distinctly enunciated +the patristic view, <q>Qui autem +primordia hominis novimus, audenter +determinamus mortem non ex +natura secutam hominem sed ex +culpa.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De Anima</hi>, 52.</note> 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 +<pb n='209'/><anchor id='Pg209'/> +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. <q>No funeral sacrifices</q> +said a great writer of the first school, <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.</q><note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Ad Uxorem</hi>.</note> +<q>Whosoever shall tell us,</q> said a distinguished exponent of +the patristic theology, <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, <q>by one man's offence condemnation came upon all +men to condemnation.</q> To which condemnation infants are +born liable as all the Church believes.</q><note place='foot'>St. Augustine, <hi rend='italic'>Epist.</hi> 166.</note> 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 +<pb n='210'/><anchor id='Pg210'/> +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;<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De Offic.</hi> iii. 28.</note> by +the priests the opposite opinion was deemed equally censurable.<note place='foot'>See the refutation of the +philosophic notion in Lactantius, +<hi rend='italic'>De Ira Dei</hi>.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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,<note place='foot'><q>Revelation,</q> as Lessing observes +in his essay on this subject, +<q>has made Death the <q>king of terrors,</q> +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.</q>—Coleridge's +<hi rend='italic'>Biographia Litteraria</hi>, cap. +xxii., note by Sara Coleridge.</note> its dogmatic +<pb n='211'/><anchor id='Pg211'/> +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> +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, +<pb n='212'/><anchor id='Pg212'/> +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> +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 <q>to depart from their guard or station +in life without the order of their commander, that is, of God.</q><note place='foot'><q>Vetat Pythagoras injussu +imperatoris, id est Dei, de præsidio +et statione vitæ decedere.</q>—Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De +Senec.</hi> xx. If we believe the very +untrustworthy evidence of Diog. +Laërtius (<hi rend='italic'>Pythagoras</hi>) the philosopher +himself committed suicide by +starvation.</note> +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.<note place='foot'>See his <hi rend='italic'>Laws</hi>, lib. ix. In his +<hi rend='italic'>Phædon</hi>, however, Plato went further, +and condemned all suicide. +Libanius says (<hi rend='italic'>De Vita Sua</hi>) that +the arguments of the <hi rend='italic'>Phædon</hi> 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 +<hi rend='italic'>Phædon</hi> that he forthwith cast +himself into the sea. Cato, as +is well known, chose this work +to study, the night he committed +suicide.</note> Aristotle condemned it on civic grounds, +as being an injury to the State.<note place='foot'>Arist. <hi rend='italic'>Ethic.</hi> v.</note> The roll of Greek suicides +is not long, though it contains some illustrious names, among +others those of Zeno and Cleanthes.<note place='foot'>See a list of these in Lactantius' +<hi rend='italic'>Inst. Div.</hi> iii. 18. Many of +these instances rest on very doubtful +evidence.</note> In Rome, too, where +suicide acquired a greater prominence, its lawfulness was by +no means accepted as an axiom, and the story of Regulus, +<pb n='213'/><anchor id='Pg213'/> +whether it be a history or a legend, shows that the patient +endurance of suffering was once the supreme ideal.<note place='foot'>Adam Smith's <hi rend='italic'>Moral Sentiments</hi>, +part vii. § 2.</note> Virgil +painted in gloomy colours the condition of suicides in the +future world.<note place='foot'><p><q>Proxima deinde tenent mœsti loca qui sibi lethum<lb/> +Insontes peperere manu, lucemque perosi<lb/> +Projecere animas. Quam vellent æthere in alto<lb/> +Nunc et pauperiem et duros perferre labores.</q><lb/> +—<hi rend='italic'>Æneid</hi>, vi. 434-437. +</p></note> Cicero strongly asserted the doctrine of +Pythagoras, though he praised the suicide of Cato.<note place='foot'>Cicero has censured suicide in +his <hi rend='italic'>De Senectute</hi>, in the <hi rend='italic'>Somn. +Scipionis</hi>, and in the <hi rend='italic'>Tusculans</hi>. +Concerning the death of Cato, he +says, that the occasion was such as +to constitute a divine call to leave +life.—<hi rend='italic'>Tusc.</hi> i.</note> Apuleius, +expounding the philosophy of Plato, taught that <q>the wise man +never throws off his body except by the will of God.</q><note place='foot'>Apuleius, <hi rend='italic'>De Philos. Plat.</hi> +lib. i.</note> Cæsar, +Ovid, and others urged that in extreme distress it is easy to +despise life, and that true courage is shown in enduring it.<note place='foot'><p>Thus Ovid:— +</p> +<p> +<q>Rebus in adversis facile est contemnere vitam,<lb/> +Fortiter ille facit qui miser esse potest.</q> +</p> +<p> +See, too, Martial, xi. 56.</p></note> +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 <q>the passion for suicide</q>, that had arisen among his +disciples.<note place='foot'>Especially <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> 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 <q>it is a folly to die through fear +of death;</q> 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' +<hi rend='italic'>Manuductio ad Stoicam Philosophiam</hi>, +lib. iii. dissert. 22, 23, +from which I have borrowed much.</note> Marcus Aurelius wavers a little on the subject, +sometimes asserting the right of every man to leave life when +<pb n='214'/><anchor id='Pg214'/> +he pleases, sometimes inclining to the Platonic doctrine that +man is a soldier of God, occupying a post which it is criminal +to abandon.<note place='foot'>In his <hi rend='italic'>Meditations</hi>, 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 <hi rend='italic'>Meditations</hi> 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, <hi rend='italic'>Hadrianus</hi>). +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, <hi rend='italic'>Arrian</hi>, +i. 9; and the latter is asserted in +the strongest manner, i. 24-25.</note> Plotinus and Porphyry argued strongly against +all suicide.<note place='foot'>Porphyry, <hi rend='italic'>De Abst. Carnis</hi>, ii. +47; Plotinus, 1st Enn. ix. Porphyry +says (<hi rend='italic'>Life of Plotinus</hi>) that +Plotinus dissuaded him from suicide. +There is a good epitome of +the arguments of this school against +suicide in Macrobius, <hi rend='italic'>In Som. +Scip.</hi> 1.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 <q>to weigh carefully, whether +they would prefer death to come to them, or would themselves +<pb n='215'/><anchor id='Pg215'/> +go to death;</q><note place='foot'>Quoted by Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xxvi. +Cicero states the Epicurean doctrine +to be, <q>Ut si tolerabiles sint +dolores, feramus, sin minus æquo +animo e vita, cum ea non placet, +tanquam e theatro, exeamus</q> (<hi rend='italic'>De +Finib.</hi> i. 15); and again, <q>De Diis +immortalibus sine ullo metu vera +sentit. Non dubitat, si ita melius +sit, de vita migrare.</q>—Id. i. 19.</note> and among his disciples, Lucretius, the illustrious +poet of the sect, died by his own hand,<note place='foot'>This is noticed by St. Jerome.</note> as did also +Cassius the tyrannicide, Atticus the friend of Cicero,<note place='foot'>Corn. Nepos, <hi rend='italic'>Atticus</hi>. He +killed himself when an old man, to +shorten a hopeless disease.</note> the +voluptuary Petronius,<note place='foot'>Petronius, who was called the +arbitrator of tastes (<q>elegantiæ +arbiter</q>), 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. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> +xvi. 18-19.) It has been a matter +of much dispute whether or not +this Petronius was the author of +the <hi rend='italic'>Satyricon</hi>, one of the most +licentious and repulsive works in +Latin literature.</note> and the philosopher Diodorus.<note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Vita Beata</hi>, xix.</note> 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,<note place='foot'><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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> +ii. 5.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> ii. 63. We need +not be surprised at this writer thus +speaking of sudden death, <q>Mortes +repentinæ (hoc est summa vitæ +felicitas),</q> vii. 54.</note> One of the most striking figures that a passing +notice of Cicero brings before us, is that of Hegesias, who +<pb n='216'/><anchor id='Pg216'/> +was surnamed by the ancients <q>the orator of death.</q> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Tusc. Quæst.</hi> lib. 1. Another +remarkable example of an epidemic +of suicide occurred among the +young girls of Miletus. (<hi rend='italic'>Aul. Gell.</hi> +xv. 10.)</note> +</p> + +<p> +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,<note place='foot'>Sir Cornewall Lewis, <hi rend='italic'>On the +Credibility of Early Roman History</hi>, +vol. ii. p. 430. See, too, on this +class of suicides, Cromaziano, <hi rend='italic'>Istorica +Critica del Suicidio</hi> (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.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>Senec. <hi rend='italic'>De Provid.</hi> ii.; <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> +xxiv.</note> 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 +<pb n='217'/><anchor id='Pg217'/> +other and still more horrible roads to freedom,<note place='foot'>See some examples of this in +Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> lxx.</note> the custom +of compelling political prisoners to execute their own sentence, +and, more than all, the capricious and atrocious tyranny +of the Cæsars,<note place='foot'>See a long catalogue of suicides +arising from this cause, in +Cromaziano, <hi rend='italic'>Ist. del Suicidio</hi>, pp. +112-114.</note> 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. <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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Consol. ad Marc.</hi> c. xx.</note> <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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Ira</hi>, iii. 15.</note> <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 +<pb n='218'/><anchor id='Pg218'/> +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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> lxx.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>See Donne's <hi rend='italic'>Biathanatos</hi> (London, +1700), pp. 56-57. Gibbon's +<hi rend='italic'>Decline and Fall</hi>, ch. xliv. Blackstone, +in his chapter on suicide, +quotes the sentence of the Roman +lawyers on the subject: <q>Si quis +impatientia doloris aut tædio vitæ +aut morbo aut furore aut pudore +mori maluit non animadvertatur in +eum.</q> 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, <q>on +account of old age and disease;</q> +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 (<hi rend='italic'>De +Bell. Jud.</hi> iii. 8) that in some +nations <q>the right hand of the suicide +was amputated, and that in +Judea the suicide was only buried +after sunset.</q> 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 +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. of the French Revolution</hi>, +book v. c. ii.)</note> It had +<pb n='219'/><anchor id='Pg219'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Compare with this a curious +<q>order of the day,</q> issued by Napoleon +in 1802, with the view of +checking the prevalence of suicide +among his soldiers. (Lisle, <hi rend='italic'>Du +Suicide</hi>, pp. 462-463.)</note> +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.<note place='foot'><p>See Suetonius, <hi rend='italic'>Otho.</hi> c. x.-xi., +and the very fine description in +Tacitus, <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> lib. ii. c. 47-49. +Martial compares the death of +Otho to that of Cato: +</p> +<p> +<q>Sit Cato, dum vivit, sane vel Cæsare major;<lb/> +Dum moritur, numquid major Othone fuit?</q><lb/> +—<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> vi. 32. +</p></note> 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.<note place='foot'>Xiphilin, lxviii. 12.</note> +On the death of Otho, some of his soldiers, filled with grief +and admiration, killed themselves before his corpse,<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> ii. 49. Suet. +<hi rend='italic'>Otho</hi>, 12. Suetonius says that, in +addition to these, many soldiers +who were not present killed themselves +on hearing the news.</note> as did +also a freedman of Agrippina, at the funeral of the empress.<note place='foot'>Ibid. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> xiv. 9.</note> +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.<note place='foot'>Plin. <hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> vii. 54. The +opposite faction attributed this suicide +to the maddening effects of the +perfumes burnt on the pile.</note> A Roman, unmenaced in his +<pb n='220'/><anchor id='Pg220'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> vi. 26.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Plin. <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> i. 12.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>This history is satirically and +unfeelingly told by Lucian. See, +too, Ammianus Marcellinus, xxix. +1.</note> Most frequently, +however, death was regarded as <q>the last physician of disease,</q><note place='foot'>Sophocles.</note> +and suicide as the legitimate relief from intolerable suffering. +<q>Above all things,</q> said Epictetus, <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.</q><note place='foot'>Arrian, i. 24.</note> +Seneca declared that he who waits the extremity of old age +is not <q>far removed from a coward,</q> <q>as he is justly regarded +as too much addicted to wine who drains the flask to the very +dregs.</q> <q>I will not relinquish old age,</q> he added, <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.</q><note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> lviii.</note> <q>Just as a +landlord,</q> said Musonius, <q>who has not received his rent, pulls +<pb n='221'/><anchor id='Pg221'/> +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.</q><note place='foot'>Stobæus. One of the most +deliberate suicides recorded was +that of a Greek woman of ninety +years old.—Val. Maxim. ii. 6, § 8.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>Plin. <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> iii. 7. He starved +himself to death.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> i. 22. Some of Pliny's +expressions are remarkable:—<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.</q> In +this case the doctors pronounced +that recovery was possible, and +the suicide was in consequence +averted.</note> 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 +<pb n='222'/><anchor id='Pg222'/> +together, plunged into a lake.<note place='foot'>Lib. vi. <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xxiv.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> lxxvii. On the former career of Marcellinus, see <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xxix.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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. +<pb n='223'/><anchor id='Pg223'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='224'/><anchor id='Pg224'/> +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> +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> +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, +<pb n='225'/><anchor id='Pg225'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='226'/><anchor id='Pg226'/> +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 +<pb n='227'/><anchor id='Pg227'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='228'/><anchor id='Pg228'/> +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 <q>no Athenian had ever +worn mourning on his account;</q> 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.<note place='foot'><p>See the very beautiful lines of +Statius:— +</p> +<p> +<q>Urbe fuit media nulli concessa potentum<lb/> +Ara Deum, mitis posuit Clementia sedem:<lb/> +Et miseri fecere sacram, sine supplice numquam<lb/> +Illa novo; nulla damnavit vota repulsa.<lb/> +Auditi quicunque rogant, noctesque diesque<lb/> +Ire datum, et solis numen placare querelis.<lb/> +Parca superstitio; non thurea flamma, nec altus<lb/> +Accipitur sanguis, lachrymis altaria sudant ...<lb/> +Nulla autem effigies, nulli commissa metallo<lb/> +Forma Deæ, mentes habitare et pectora gaudet.<lb/> +Semper habet trepidos, semper locus horret egenis<lb/> +Cœtibus, ignotæ tantum felicibus aræ.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Thebaid</hi>, xii. 481-496. +</p> +<p> +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 <q>Beneficentia</q> +on the Capitol. (Xiphilin, +lib. lxxi. 34.)</p></note> +</p> + +<p> +But while the Greek spirit was from a very early period +<pb n='229'/><anchor id='Pg229'/> +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 <q>Conquest of Miletus</q> +he had represented the triumph of barbarians over +Greeks.<note place='foot'>Herodotus, vi. 21.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>See Arrian's <hi rend='italic'>Epictetus</hi>, i. 9. +The very existence of the word +φιλανθρωπία shows that the idea was +not altogether unknown.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>Diog. Laërt. <hi rend='italic'>Pyrrho</hi>. There +was a tradition that Pythagoras +had himself penetrated to India, +and learnt philosophy from the +gymnosophists. (Apuleius, <hi rend='italic'>Florid.</hi> +lib. ii. c. 15.)</note> 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 +<pb n='230'/><anchor id='Pg230'/> +created in Alexandria a great centre both of commercial intercourse +and of philosophical eclecticism.<note place='foot'>This aspect of the career of +Alexander was noticed in a remarkable +passage of a treatise +ascribed to Plutarch (<hi rend='italic'>De Fort. +Alex.</hi>). <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.</q> +See on this subject the +third lecture of Mr. Merivale (whose +translation of Plutarch I have borrowed) +<hi rend='italic'>On the Conversion of the +Roman Empire</hi>.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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,<note place='foot'>They were both born about +<hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi> 250. See Sir C. Lewis, <hi rend='italic'>Credibility +of Early Roman History</hi>, +vol. i. p. 82.</note> and although the poems of +Ennius, and the <q>Origines</q> of Marcus Cato, contributed +largely to improve and fix the Latin language, the precedent +was not at once discontinued.<note place='foot'>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. (<hi rend='italic'>Noct. Att.</hi> xi. 8.)</note> After the conquest of Greece, +the political ascendancy of the Romans and the intellectual +ascendancy of Greece were alike universal.<note place='foot'>See a vivid picture of the +Greek influence upon Rome, in +Mommsen's <hi rend='italic'>Hist. of Rome</hi> (Eng. +trans.), vol. iii. pp. 423-426.</note> The conquered +<pb n='231'/><anchor id='Pg231'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Plin. <hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> vii. 31.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See Friedlænder, <hi rend='italic'>Mœurs romaines +du règne d'Auguste à la fin +des Antonins</hi> (French trans., 1865), +tome i. pp. 6-7.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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 (<hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> vi. lines 190-195). +Friedlænder remarks that there is +no special term in Latin for to ask +in marriage (tome i. p. 354).</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='232'/><anchor id='Pg232'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Aul. Gell. <hi rend='italic'>Noct.</hi> 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, <hi rend='italic'>Traité de l'Opinion</hi>, +tome ii. pp. 254-255.</note> which was also attained, +about 40 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, by the Spaniard Cornelius Balbus.<note place='foot'>Dion Cassius, xlviii. 32. Plin. +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> v. 5; vii. 44.</note> 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 +<pb n='233'/><anchor id='Pg233'/> +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.<note place='foot'>The history of the influence +of freedmen is minutely traced by +Friedlænder, <hi rend='italic'>Mœurs romaines du +règne d'Auguste à la fin des Antonins</hi>, +tome i. pp. 58-93. Statius and +Martial sang their praises.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>See Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Ann.</hi> vi. 23-25.</note> 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 +<pb n='234'/><anchor id='Pg234'/> +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.<note place='foot'>On the Roman journeys, see the almost exhaustive dissertation +of Friedlænder, tome ii.</note> 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 +<pb n='235'/><anchor id='Pg235'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Joseph. (<hi rend='italic'>Antiq.</hi> 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.</note> and their manners and creed spread widely +among the people.<note place='foot'>See the famous fragment of +Seneca cited by St. Augustin (<hi rend='italic'>De +Civ. Dei</hi>, vi. 11): <q>Usque eo sceleratissimæ +gentis consuetudo convaluit, +ut per omnes jam terras +recepta sit: victi victoribus leges +dederunt.</q> There are numerous +scattered allusions to the Jews in +Horace, Juvenal, and Martial.</note> The Carthaginian Apuleius,<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='italic'>Latin +Christianity</hi> (ed. 1867), vol. i. pp. +35-36.)</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='236'/><anchor id='Pg236'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Milo had emancipated some +slaves to prevent them from being +tortured as witnesses. (<hi rend='italic'>Cic. Pro +Milo.</hi>) This was made illegal. +The other reasons for enfranchisement +are given by Dion. Halicarn. +<hi rend='italic'>Antiq.</hi> lib. iv.</note> +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.<note place='foot'>This subject is fully treated +by Wallon, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. de l'Esclavage dans +l'Antiquité</hi>.</note> 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 +<pb n='237'/><anchor id='Pg237'/> +reveal to them their strength would be to place the city at +their mercy.<note place='foot'>Senec. <hi rend='italic'>De Clemen.</hi> i. 24.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See, on the prominence and +the insolence of the freedmen, Tacit. +<hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> iii. 26-27.</note> <q>There was,</q> as has been well said, <q>a circulation of +men from all the universe. Rome received them slaves, and +sent them back Romans.</q><note place='foot'>Montesquieu, <hi rend='italic'>Décadence des +Romains</hi>, ch. xiii.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>See the very curious speech +attributed to Camillus (Livy, v. 52).</note> +</p> + +<p> +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, +<pb n='238'/><anchor id='Pg238'/> +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 <q>line of cleavage,</q> 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> +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 +<pb n='239'/><anchor id='Pg239'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='240'/><anchor id='Pg240'/> +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 <q>charity to +the human race,</q><note place='foot'><q>Caritas generis humani.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De +Finib.</hi> So, too, he speaks (<hi rend='italic'>De Leg.</hi> +i. 23) of every good man as <q>civis +totius mundi.</q></note> 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,<note place='foot'>He speaks of Rome as <q>civitas +ex nationum conventu constituta.</q></note> 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. <q>This whole +world,</q> he tells us, <q>is to be regarded as the common city of +gods and men.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Legib.</hi> i. 7.</note> <q>Men were born for the sake of men, that +each should assist the others.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Offic.</hi></note> <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.</q><note place='foot'>Ibid. iii. 6.</note> <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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Offic.</hi> iii. 6.</note> <q>Nature has inclined us to love men, +and this is the foundation of the law.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Legib.</hi> i. 15.</note> 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 +<q>the human race will cast aside its weapons, and when all +nations will learn to love.</q><note place='foot'><p><q>Tunc genus humanum positis sibi consulat armis,<lb/> +Inque vicem gens omnis amet.</q><lb/> +—<hi rend='italic'>Pharsalia</hi>, vi. +</p></note> <q>The whole universe,</q> said +<pb n='241'/><anchor id='Pg241'/> +Seneca, <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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xcv.</note> +<q>What is a Roman knight, or freedman, or slave? These are +but names springing from ambition or from injury.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xxxi.</note> <q>I +know that my country is the world, and my guardians are +the gods.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Vita Beata</hi>, xx.</note> <q>You are a citizen,</q> said Epictetus, <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.</q><note place='foot'>Arrian, ii. 10.</note> <q>An Antonine,</q> said Marcus +Aurelius, <q>my country is Rome; as a man, it is the world.</q><note place='foot'>vi. 44.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'><p><q>Hæc duri immota Catonis<lb/> +Secta fuit, servare modum, finemque tenere,<lb/> +Naturamque sequi, patriæque impendere vitam,<lb/> +Nec sibi sed toti genitum se credere mundo.</q> +</p> +<p> +Lucan, <hi rend='italic'>Phars.</hi> ii. 380-383. +</p></note> And their +doctrine was perfectly consistent with the original principles +of their school. +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='242'/><anchor id='Pg242'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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:—<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.</q>—Plin. <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> vii. 26.</note> 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,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> viii. 16. He says: <q>Hominis +est enim affici dolore, sentire, +resistere tamen, et solatia admittere, +non solatiis non egere.</q></note> +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, +<pb n='243'/><anchor id='Pg243'/> +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:—<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.</q> +</p> + +<p> +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, +<pb n='244'/><anchor id='Pg244'/> +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> +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> +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,<note place='foot'>This characteristic of Stoicism +is well noticed in Grant's <hi rend='italic'>Aristotle</hi>, +vol. i. p. 254. The first volume of +this work contains an extremely +good review of the principles of the +Stoics.</note> +and Stoicism itself was only adapted to the Roman character +after it had been simplified by Panætius.<note place='foot'>Cie. <hi rend='italic'>De Finib.</hi> lib. iv.</note> Although the +system could never free itself altogether from that hardness +which rendered it so unsuited for an advanced civilisation, it +<pb n='245'/><anchor id='Pg245'/> +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> +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 <q>the gods favoured the conquering +cause, but Cato the conquered,</q> or when Seneca described +<q>the fortune of Sulla</q> as <q>the crime of the gods,</q> 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 +<pb n='246'/><anchor id='Pg246'/> +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. <q>The first thing to learn,</q> said the former, +<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.</q><note place='foot'>Arrian, <hi rend='italic'>Epict.</hi> ii. 14.</note> +<q>To have God for our maker and father and +guardian, should not that emancipate us from all sadness and +from all fear?</q><note place='foot'>Ibid. i. 9.</note> <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.<note place='foot'>Ibid. i. 14.</note> 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.</q><note place='foot'>Ibid. i. 16.</note> +</p> + +<p> +The same religious character is exhibited, if possible, +in a still greater degree in the <q>Meditations</q> of Marcus +Aurelius; but in one respect the ethics of the emperor differ +<pb n='247'/><anchor id='Pg247'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Arrian, ii. 8.</note> +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> +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 +<pb n='248'/><anchor id='Pg248'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>De Profect. in Virt.</hi> +This precept was enforced by +Bishop Sanderson in one of his +sermons. (Southey's <hi rend='italic'>Commonplace +Book</hi>, vol. i. p. 92.)</note> Pythagoras +urged his disciples daily to examine themselves when they +retired to rest,<note place='foot'>Diog. Laërt. <hi rend='italic'>Pythagoras</hi>.</note> and this practice soon became a recognised +part of the Pythagorean discipline.<note place='foot'>Thus Cicero makes Cato say: +<q>Pythagoreorumque more, exercendæ +memoriæ gratia, quid quoque +die dixerim, audiverim, egerim, +commemoro vesperi.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De Senect.</hi> +xi.</note> It was introduced into +Rome with the school before the close of the Republic. It +was known in the time of Cicero<note place='foot'>Ibid.</note> and Horace.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Sermon</hi>, i. 4.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>He even gave up, for a time, +eating meat, in obedience to the +Pythagorean principles. (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> cviii.) +Seneca had two masters of this +school, Sextius and Sotion. He +was at this time not more than +seventeen years old. (See Aubertin, +<hi rend='italic'>Étude critique sur les Rapports +supposés entre Sénèque et St. Paul</hi>, +p. 156.)</note> expressly tells us that it was from +Sextius he learnt the practice.<note place='foot'>See his very beautiful description +of the self-examination of +Sextius and of himself. (<hi rend='italic'>De Ira</hi>, +iii. 36.)</note> 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 +<pb n='249'/><anchor id='Pg249'/> +infirmities of character. Plutarch, in a beautiful treatise on +<q>The Signs of Moral Progress,</q> 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, <q>Happy her husband!</q><note place='foot'>Arrian, ii. 18. Compare the +<hi rend='italic'>Manual</hi> of Epictetus, xxxiv.</note> +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> +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.<note place='foot'><q>Quod de Romulo ægre creditum +est, omnes pari consensu +præsumserunt, Marcum cœlo receptum +esse.</q>—Aur. Vict. <hi rend='italic'>Epit.</hi> xvi. +<q>Deusque etiam nunc habetur.</q>—Capitolinus.</note> Very few men have ever lived concerning whose +<pb n='250'/><anchor id='Pg250'/> +inner life we can speak so confidently. His <q>Meditations,</q> +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,<note place='foot'>The first book of his <hi rend='italic'>Meditations</hi> +was written on the borders of +the Granua, in Hungary.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>i. 14.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>See his touching letter to +Fronto, who was about to engage +in a debate with Herod Atticus.</note> the careful gratitude with which, in +a camp in Hungary, he recalled every moral obligation he +<pb n='251'/><anchor id='Pg251'/> +could trace, even to the most obscure of his tutors,<note place='foot'>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.</note> his +anxiety to avoid all pedantry and mannerism in his conduct,<note place='foot'>E.g. <q>Beware of Cæsarising.</q> +(vi. 30.) <q>Be neither a tragedian +nor a courtesan.</q> (v. 28.) <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.</q> (xii. 27.)</note> +and to repel every voluptuous imagination from his mind,<note place='foot'>iii. 4.</note> +his deep sense of the obligation of purity,<note place='foot'>i. 17.</note> his laborious +efforts to correct a habit of drowsiness into which he had +fallen, and his self-reproval when he had yielded to it,<note place='foot'>v. 1.</note> +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. <q>Never +hope,</q> he once wrote, <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?</q><note place='foot'>ix. 29.</note> He promulgated many +laws inspired by a spirit of the purest benevolence. He +<pb n='252'/><anchor id='Pg252'/> +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. <q>Men were +made for men; correct them, then, or support them.</q><note place='foot'>viii. 59.</note> <q>If +they do ill, it is evidently in spite of themselves and through +ignorance.</q><note place='foot'>xi. 18.</note> <q>Correct them if you can; if not, remember +that patience was given you to exercise it in their behalf.</q><note place='foot'>ix. 11.</note> +<q>It would be shameful for a physician to deem it strange that +a man was suffering from fever.</q><note place='foot'>viii. 15.</note> <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?</q><note place='foot'>vii. 70.</note> <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.</q><note place='foot'>vii. 63.</note> +<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 +<pb n='253'/><anchor id='Pg253'/> +relations, and that it is through ignorance and involuntarily +that they sin—and then we all die so soon.</q><note place='foot'>vii. 22.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>Mr. Maurice, in this respect, +compares and contrasts him very +happily with Plutarch. <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Philosophy of the First +Six Centuries</hi>, p. 32.</note> 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 <q>Meditations</q> 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, +<pb n='254'/><anchor id='Pg254'/> +and been cheered by so little illusion of success. <q>There is +but one thing,</q> he wrote, <q>of real value—to cultivate truth +and justice, and to live without anger in the midst of lying +and unjust men.</q><note place='foot'>vi. 47.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>Capitolinus, Aurelius Victor.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>M. Suckau, in his admirable +<hi rend='italic'>Étude sur Marc-Aurèle</hi>, and M. +Renan, in a very acute and learned +<hi rend='italic'>Examen de quelques faits relatifs à +l'impératrice Faustine</hi> (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.</note> 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 +<pb n='255'/><anchor id='Pg255'/> +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.<note place='foot'><q>Quid me fletis, et non magis +de pestilentia et communi morte +cogitatis?</q> Capitolinus, <hi rend='italic'>M. Aurelius</hi>.</note> +Shortly before his death he dismissed his attendants, and, +after one last interview, his son, and he died as he long had +lived, alone.<note place='foot'>Ibid.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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> +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, +<pb n='256'/><anchor id='Pg256'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='257'/><anchor id='Pg257'/> +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> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='258'/><anchor id='Pg258'/> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>Many examples of this are given by Coulanges, <hi rend='italic'>La Cité antique</hi>, +pp. 177-178.</note> +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 +<pb n='259'/><anchor id='Pg259'/> +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.<note place='foot'>All this is related by Suetonius, +<hi rend='italic'>August</hi>.</note> An Asiatic +town, named Cyzicus, was deprived of its freedom by Tiberius, +chiefly because it had neglected the worship of Augustus.<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> iv. 36.</note> +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,<note place='foot'>See, e.g., the sentiments of +the people about Julius Cæsar, +Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>J. C.</hi> lxxxviii.</note> 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> +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, <q>I think I am becoming +a god.</q><note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Vesp.</hi> xxiii.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><q>Qualis artifex pereo</q> were +his dying words.</note> Caligula, +however, who appears to have been literally deranged,<note place='foot'>See Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Calig.</hi> 1.</note> +<pb n='260'/><anchor id='Pg260'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Calig.</hi> xxii. A statue +of Jupiter is said to have burst out +laughing just before the death of +this emperor.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Ira</hi>, i. 46; Sueton. +<hi rend='italic'>Calig.</hi> xxii.</note> +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.<note place='foot'>Lampridius, <hi rend='italic'>Heliogab.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +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,<note place='foot'>Senec. <hi rend='italic'>De Clemen.</hi> i. 18.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> iii. 36.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Senec. <hi rend='italic'>De Benefic.</hi> iii. 26.</note> A man in this reign was +accused of high treason for having sold an image of the emperor +with a garden.<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> i. 73. Tiberius +refused to allow this case to be proceeded +with. See, too, Philost. +<hi rend='italic'>Apollonius of Tyana</hi>, i. 15.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>Suet. <hi rend='italic'>Tiber.</hi> lviii.</note> +and at a later period a woman, it is said, was actually +<pb n='261'/><anchor id='Pg261'/> +executed for undressing before the statue of Domitian.<note place='foot'><q>Mulier quædam, quod semel +exuerat ante statuam Domitiani, +damnata et interfecta est.</q>—Xiphilin, +lxvii. 12.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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> + +<pb n='262'/><anchor id='Pg262'/> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='263'/><anchor id='Pg263'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='264'/><anchor id='Pg264'/> +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> +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 <q>those who thought only of liberty deserved to +be Romans.</q><note place='foot'><q>Eos demum, qui nihil præterquam +de libertate cogitent, dignos +esse, qui Romani fiant.</q>—Livy, viii. +21.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Valerius Maximus, iv. 3, § 14.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See the picture of this scene +in Tacitus, <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> iii. 83.</note> 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> +It must be remembered, too, that while public spirit had +<pb n='265'/><anchor id='Pg265'/> +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> +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,<note place='foot'>Dion. Halicarnass.</note> 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, <q>Divine Providence made the country, but human +art the town.</q><note place='foot'><q>Divina Natura dedit agros; ars humana ædificavit urbes.</q></note> The reforms of Vespasian consisted chiefly +<pb n='266'/><anchor id='Pg266'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='267'/><anchor id='Pg267'/> +most emphatic terms,<note place='foot'>See a collection of passages +from these writers in Wallon, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. +de l'Esclavage</hi>, tome ii. pp. 378-379. +Pliny, in the first century, noticed +(<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> xviii. 7) that the <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>latifundia</foreign>, +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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> xii. 43. The +same complaint had been made still +earlier by Tiberius, in a letter to +the Senate. (<hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> iii. 54.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Augustus, for a time, contemplated +abolishing the distributions, +but soon gave up the idea. (Suet. +<hi rend='italic'>Aug.</hi> xlii.) He noticed that it had +the effect of causing the fields to +be neglected.</note> Many serious efforts were made to remedy +the evil.<note place='foot'>M. Wallon has carefully traced +this history. (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. de l'Esclav.</hi> +tome iii. pp. 294-297.)</note> 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 +<pb n='268'/><anchor id='Pg268'/> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>Livy, iv. 59-60. Florus, i. 12.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Livy, xxiv. 49.</note> Marius abolished the property +qualification of the recruits.<note place='foot'>Sallust, <hi rend='italic'>Bell. Jugurth.</hi> 84-86.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Livy, xxxix. 6.</note> 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 +<pb n='269'/><anchor id='Pg269'/> +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.<note place='foot'><q>Primus Cæsarum fidem militis +etiam præmio pigneratus.</q>—Suet. +<hi rend='italic'>Claud.</hi> x.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See Tacitus, <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> xiii. 35; +<hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> ii. 69.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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: <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Hist. de la +Chute de l'Empire romain</hi>, tome i. +p. 221.</note> But other and still more powerful causes were in +<pb n='270'/><anchor id='Pg270'/> +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,<note place='foot'>See Gibbon, ch. v.; Merivale's +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. of Rome</hi>, ch. lxvii. It was +thought that troops thus selected +would be less likely to revolt. +Constantine abolished the Prætorians.</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='271'/><anchor id='Pg271'/> +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> +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> +These games, which long eclipsed, both in interest and in +influence, every other form of public amusement at Rome,<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='italic'>Saturnalia</hi> of Justus Lipsius, +Magnin, <hi rend='italic'>Origines du Théâtre</hi> (an +extremely learned and interesting +book, which was unhappily never +completed), and Friedlænder's +<hi rend='italic'>Roman Manners from Augustus to +the Antonines</hi> (the second volume of +the French translation). M. Wallon +has also compressed into a few +pages (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. de l'Esclavage</hi>, tome ii. +pp. 129-139) much information on +the subject.</note> +<pb n='272'/><anchor id='Pg272'/> +were originally religious ceremonies celebrated at the tombs +of the great, and intended as human sacrifices to appease the +Manes of the dead.<note place='foot'>Hence the old name of <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>bustuarii</foreign> +(from <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>bustum</foreign>, a funeral pile) +given to gladiators (Nieupoort, <hi rend='italic'>De +Ritibus Romanorum</hi>, p. 514). According +to Pliny (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> xxx. 3), +<q>regular human sacrifices were only +abolished in Rome by a decree of +the senate, <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi> 97,</q> and there are +some instances of them at a still +later period. Much information +about them is collected by Sir +C. Lewis, <hi rend='italic'>Credibility of Roman +History</hi>, vol. ii. p. 430; Merivale, +<hi rend='italic'>Conversion of the Roman Empire</hi>, +pp. 230-233; Legendre, <hi rend='italic'>Traité de +l'Opinion</hi>, vol. i. pp. 229-231. Porphyry, +in his <hi rend='italic'>De Abstinentia Carnis</hi>, +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, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. de +l'Esclav.</hi> 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.)</note> They were afterwards defended as a +means of sustaining the military spirit by the constant spectacle +of courageous death,<note place='foot'>Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>Tusc.</hi> lib. ii.</note> and with this object it was +customary to give a gladiatorial show to soldiers before their +departure to a war.<note place='foot'>Capitolinus, <hi rend='italic'>Maximus et Balbinus</hi>. +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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Much curious information on +this subject may be found in Friedlænder, +<hi rend='italic'>Mœurs romaines</hi>, 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.</note> The games +<pb n='273'/><anchor id='Pg273'/> +are said to have been of Etruscan origin; they were first +introduced into Rome, <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi> 264, when the two sons of a man +named Brutus compelled three pair of gladiators to fight at +the funeral of their father,<note place='foot'>Valer. Maximus, ii. 4, § 7.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><p>On the gladiators at banquets, +see J. Lipsius, <hi rend='italic'>Saturnalia</hi>, lib. i. c. +vi., Magnin; +<hi rend='italic'>Origines du Théâtre</hi>, +pp. 380-385. This was originally +an Etruscan custom, and it was +also very common at Capua. As +Silius Italicus says:— +</p> +<p> +<q>Exhilarare viris convivia cæde +Mos olim, et miscere epulis spectacula +dira.</q> +</p> +<p> +Verus, the colleague of Marcus +Aurelius, was especially addicted to +this kind of entertainment. (Capitolinus, +<hi rend='italic'>Verus</hi>.) See, too, Athenæus +iv. 40, 41.</p></note> 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.<note place='foot'>Senec. <hi rend='italic'>De Brevit. Vit.</hi> c. xiii.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>J. Cæsar</hi>, xxvi. Pliny +(<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> vi. 34) commends a friend for +having given a show in memory of +his departed wife.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> xxxiii. 16.</note> and drew so many gladiators into the city that the +Senate was obliged to issue an enactment restricting their +number.<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Cæsar</hi>, x.; Dion Cassius, +xliii. 24.</note> In the earliest years of the Empire, Statilius +Taurus erected the first amphitheatre of stone.<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Aug.</hi> 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. (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> xxxvi. +24.)</note> Augustus +<pb n='274'/><anchor id='Pg274'/> +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,<note place='foot'>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<hi rend='italic'>, Hist. de +l'Esclavage</hi>, tome ii. p. 133.</note> and Tiberius again fixed the +maximum of combatants,<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Tiber.</hi> xxxiv. Nero +made another slight restriction +(Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> xiii. 31), which appears +to have been little observed.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Martial notices (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> iii. 59) +and ridicules a spectacle given by +a shoemaker at Bologna, and by a +fuller at Modena.</note> 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 <q>lanistæ,</q> 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.<note place='foot'>Epictetus, <hi rend='italic'>Enchir.</hi> xxxiii. § 2.</note> The children +imitated them in their play.<note place='foot'>Arrian, iii. 15.</note> The philosophers drew from +<pb n='275'/><anchor id='Pg275'/> +them their metaphors and illustrations. The artists pourtrayed +them in every variety of ornament.<note place='foot'>See these points minutely +proved in Friedlænder.</note> The vestal +virgins had a seat of honour in the arena.<note place='foot'><p>Suet. <hi rend='italic'>Aug.</hi> xliv. This was +noticed before by Cicero. The +Christian poet Prudentius dwelt on +this aspect of the games in some +forcible lines:— +</p> +<p> +<q>Virgo modesta jubet converso pollice rumpi<lb/> +Ne lateat pars ulla animæ vitalibus imis<lb/> +Altius impresso dum palpitat ense secutor.</q> +</p></note> 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> +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.<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Tiberius</hi>, xl. Tacitus, +who gives a graphic description of +the disaster (<hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> iv. 62-63), +says 50,000 persons were killed or +wounded.</note> Under Nero, the Syracusans obtained, as a +special favour, an exemption from the law which limited the +number of gladiators.<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> xiii. 49.</note> Of the vast train of prisoners brought +by Titus from Judea, a large proportion were destined by the +conqueror for the provincial games.<note place='foot'>Joseph. <hi rend='italic'>Bell. Jud.</hi> vi. 9.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>See the very curious picture +which Livy has given (xli. 20) of +the growth of the fascination.</note> +and on a single occasion Agrippa caused 1,400 men to +fight in the amphitheatre at Berytus.<note place='foot'>Joseph. <hi rend='italic'>Antiq. Jud.</hi> xix. 7.</note> Greece alone was in +<pb n='276'/><anchor id='Pg276'/> +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, <q>You must first overthrow the altar of +Pity.</q><note place='foot'>Lucian, <hi rend='italic'>Demonax</hi>.</note> The games are said to have afterwards penetrated to +Athens, and to have been suppressed by Apollonius of +Tyana;<note place='foot'>Philost. <hi rend='italic'>Apoll.</hi> iv. 22.</note> but with the exception of Corinth, where a very +large foreign population existed, Greece never appears to +have shared the general enthusiasm.<note place='foot'>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. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> xiv. +17.) After the defeat of Perseus, +Paulus Emilius celebrated a show +in Macedonia. (Livy, xli. 20.)</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>These are fully discussed by +Magnin and Friedlænder. There +is a very beautiful description of a +ballet, representing the <q>Judgment +of Paris,</q> in Apuleius, <hi rend='italic'>Metamorph.</hi> x.</note> 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 +<pb n='277'/><anchor id='Pg277'/> +small influence in stimulating the orgies of sensuality which +Tacitus and Suetonius describe. +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>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, <q>ut in +illis [the Greeks] limæ, in hoc pœne +plus videatur fuisse sanguinis.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Hist. +Rom.</hi> ii. 9.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='278'/><anchor id='Pg278'/> + +<p> +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> +We now look back with indignation upon this indifference; +<pb n='279'/><anchor id='Pg279'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Thus, e.g., Hobbes: <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Leviathan</hi>, +pars i. c. vi.</note> 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 +<pb n='280'/><anchor id='Pg280'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Claudius</hi>, xxxiv.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><p><q>Et verso pollice vulgi<lb/> +Quemlibet occidunt populariter.</q>—Juvenal, <hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> iii. 36-37.</p></note> +</p> + +<p> +Besides this, the mere desire for novelty impelled the +people to every excess or refinement of barbarity.<note place='foot'>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, <hi rend='italic'>De Spectaculis</hi>, 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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>These are but a few of the many +examples given by Magnin, who +has collected a vast array of authorities +on the subject. (<hi rend='italic'>Origines +du Théâtre</hi>, pp. 445-453.) M. +Mongez has devoted an interesting +memoir to <q>Les animaux promenés +ou tués dans le cirque.</q> (<hi rend='italic'>Mém. de +l'Acad. des Inscrip. et Belles-lettres</hi>, +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 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi></note> Lions, tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses, +<pb n='281'/><anchor id='Pg281'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Capitolinus, <hi rend='italic'>Gordiani</hi>.</note> Eight hundred pair fought at the triumph of +Aurelian.<note place='foot'>Vopiscus, <hi rend='italic'>Aurelian</hi>.</note> Ten thousand men fought during the games of +Trajan.<note place='foot'>Xiphilin, lxviii. 15.</note> Nero illumined his gardens during the night by +Christians burning in their pitchy shirts.<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> xv. 44.</note> Under Domitian, +an army of feeble dwarfs was compelled to fight,<note place='foot'>Xiphilin, lxvii. 8; Statius, +<hi rend='italic'>Sylv.</hi> i. 6.</note> and, more +than once, female gladiators descended to perish in the arena.<note place='foot'>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, <hi rend='italic'>Sylv.</hi> i. 6; Sueton. +<hi rend='italic'>Domitian</hi>, iv.; Xiphilin, lxvii. 8. +Juvenal describes the enthusiasm +with which Roman ladies practised +with the gladiatorial weapons (<hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> +vi. 248, &c.), and Martial (<hi rend='italic'>De +Spectac.</hi> 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.</note> +A criminal personating a fictitious character was nailed to a +cross, and there torn by a bear.<note place='foot'>Martial, <hi rend='italic'>De Spectac.</hi> vii.</note> Another, representing +Scævola, was compelled to hold his hand in a real flame.<note place='foot'>Ibid. <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> viii. 30.</note> A +third, as Hercules, was burnt alive upon the pile.<note place='foot'>Tertullian, <hi rend='italic'>Ad Nation.</hi> 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Satyricon</hi>, +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, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> xxviii. 2; Tertul. +<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> ix.)</note> So intense +<pb n='282'/><anchor id='Pg282'/> +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 <q>he never supped without human blood.</q><note place='foot'><q>Nec unquam sine humano +cruore cœnabat</q>—Lactan. <hi rend='italic'>De Mort. +Persec.</hi> Much the same thing is +told of the Christian emperor Justinian +II., who lived at the end of +the seventh century. (Sismondi, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. de la Chute de l'Empire +Romain</hi>, tome ii. p. 85.)</note> +</p> + +<p> +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> +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 +<pb n='283'/><anchor id='Pg283'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Winckelmann says the statue +called <q>The Dying Gladiator</q> does +not represent a gladiator. At a +later period, however, statues of +gladiators were not uncommon, and +Pliny notices (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> xxxv. 33) +paintings of them. A fine specimen +of mosaic portraits of gladiators is +now in the Lateran Museum.</note> +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.<note place='foot'>Plutarch's <hi rend='italic'>Life of Cæsar</hi>.</note> A band of gladiators, faithful +even to death, followed the fortunes of the fallen Antony, +when all besides had deserted him.<note place='foot'>Dion Cassius, li. 7.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Faustina, the wife of Marcus +Aurelius, was especially accused of +this weakness. (Capitolinus, <hi rend='italic'>Marcus +Aurelius</hi>.)</note> We read of gladiators +lamenting that the games occurred so seldom,<note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Provident.</hi> iv.</note> complaining +bitterly if they were not permitted to descend into the arena,<note place='foot'>Arrian's <hi rend='italic'>Epictetus</hi>, i. 29.</note> +scorning to fight except with the most powerful antagonists,<note place='foot'>Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Provident.</hi> iii.</note> +laughing aloud as their wounds were dressed,<note place='foot'>Aulus Gellius, xii. 5.</note> and at last, +when prostrate in the dust, calmly turning their throats to +the sword of the conqueror.<note place='foot'>Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>Tusc.</hi> lib. ii.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>Some Equites fought under +Julius Cæsar, and a senator named +Fulvius Setinus wished to fight, +but Cæsar prevented him. (Suet. +<hi rend='italic'>Cæsar</hi>, 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> +viii. 197-210) with great indignation +on an instance of a patrician +fighting.</note> while the tranquil +<pb n='284'/><anchor id='Pg284'/> +courage with which they never failed to die supplied the +philosopher with his most striking examples.<note place='foot'><q>Quis mediocris gladiator ingemuit, +quis vultum mutavit unquam?</q>—Cic. +<hi rend='italic'>Tusc. Quæst.</hi> lib. ii.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>E.g. Clem. Alex. <hi rend='italic'>Strom.</hi> iii. +There is a well-known passage of +this kind in Horace, <hi rend='italic'>Ars Poet.</hi> 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Idées morales dans l'Antiquité</hi>, +tome ii. p. 240) that the +same comparison had been used, +before the rise of Christianity, by +Plato, Æschines, and Cicero.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Confess.</hi> vi. 8.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='285'/><anchor id='Pg285'/> +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 <q>a kind of +second human nature,</q><note place='foot'><q>[Servi] etsi per fortunam in +omnia obnoxii, tamen quasi secundum +hominum genus sunt.</q>—Florus, <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> iii. 20.</note> they perceived the atrocity of exposing +them in the games, and an edict of the emperor forbade +it.<note place='foot'>Macrinus, however, punished +fugitive slaves by compelling them +to fight as gladiators. (Capitolinus, +<hi rend='italic'>Macrinus</hi>.)</note> The third had been condemned to death, and as the +victorious gladiator was at least sometimes pardoned,<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> 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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><q>Ad conciliandum plebis favorem +effusa largitio, quum spectaculis +indulget, supplicia quondam +hostium artem facit.</q>—Florus, iii. +12.</note> +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, <q>that +the gladiatorial spectacles appear to some cruel and inhuman,</q> +and, he adds, <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 +<pb n='286'/><anchor id='Pg286'/> +presented to the eye.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Tusc. Quæst.</hi> ii. 17.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See his magnificent letter on +the subject. (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> vii.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'>In his two treatises <hi rend='italic'>De Esu +Carnium</hi>.</note> 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, <q>Would to Heaven it were +possible to abolish such spectacles, even at Rome!</q><note place='foot'>Pliny. <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> iv. 22.</note> and, +above all, Marcus Aurelius, who, by compelling the gladiators +to fight with blunted swords, rendered them for a time comparatively +harmless.<note place='foot'>Xiphilin, lxxi. 29. Capitolinus, +<hi rend='italic'>M. Aurelius</hi>. 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.)</note> 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 +<pb n='287'/><anchor id='Pg287'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Titus</hi>, viii.</note> and Pliny +especially eulogised Trajan because he did not patronise +spectacles that enervate the character, but rather those which +impel men <q>to noble wounds and to the contempt of death.</q><note place='foot'><q>Visum est spectaculum inde +non enerve nec fluxum, nec quod +animos virorum molliret et frangeret, +sed quod ad pulchra vulnera +contemptumque mortis accenderet.</q>—Pliny, +<hi rend='italic'>Paneg.</hi> xxxiii.</note> +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: <q>After so +general a request, to have refused would not have been +firmness—it would have been cruelty.</q><note place='foot'><q>Præterea tanto consensu +rogabaris, ut negare non constans +sed durum videretur.</q>—Plin. <hi rend='italic'>Epist.</hi> +vi. 34.</note> 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 +<q>impious hands,</q> but endeavoured to calm his feelings by +recalling the patience of Socrates and the precepts of philosophy.<note place='foot'>Symmach. <hi rend='italic'>Epist.</hi> ii. 46.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='288'/><anchor id='Pg288'/> + +<p> +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, +<pb n='289'/><anchor id='Pg289'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Domitian</hi>, 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. <hi rend='italic'>Dom.</hi> ix.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Colerus, <hi rend='italic'>Vie de Spinoza</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>This is noticed by George +Duval in a curious passage of his +<hi rend='italic'>Souvenirs de la Terreur</hi>, quoted by +Lord Lytton in a note to his <hi rend='italic'>Zanoni</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Essay on Goodness.</hi></note> 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.<note place='foot'>This contrast has been noticed +by Archbishop Whately in a lecture +on Egypt. See, too, Legendre, +<hi rend='italic'>Traité de l'Opinion</hi>, tome ii. p. 374.</note> The same contrast appears more or +<pb n='290'/><anchor id='Pg290'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> xiv. 45.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Senec. <hi rend='italic'>De Clemen.</hi> i. 14.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Val. Max. ii. 9. This writer +speaks of <q>the eyes of a mistress +delighting in human blood</q> with as +much horror as if the gladiatorial +games were unknown. Livy gives +a rather different version of this +story.</note> 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;<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> i. 76.</note> Caligula +was too curious in watching death;<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Calig.</hi> xi.</note> Caracalla, when a boy, +won enthusiastic plaudits by shedding tears at the execution +of criminals.<note place='foot'>Spartian. <hi rend='italic'>Caracalla.</hi> Tertullian +mentions that his nurse was a +Christian.</note> 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 +<pb n='291'/><anchor id='Pg291'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Capitolinus, <hi rend='italic'>Marcus Aurelius</hi>. +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 +<hi rend='italic'>Remarks on Ecclesiastical History</hi>, +ii. 71 (ed. 1846).</note> The standard of humanity +was very low, but the sentiment was still manifest, though +its displays were capricious and inconsistent. +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='292'/><anchor id='Pg292'/> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Ann.</hi> iii. 55.</note> 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 +<pb n='293'/><anchor id='Pg293'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Champagny, <hi rend='italic'>Les Antonins</hi>, +tome ii. pp. 179-200.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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, <q>that the sage should take part in public life,</q><note place='foot'>πολιτεύεσθαι.—Diog. +Laërt. <hi rend='italic'>Zeno</hi>.</note> +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,<note place='foot'>Thus Tigellinus spoke of +<q>Stoicorum arrogantia sectaque quæ +turbidos et negotiorum appetentes +faciat.</q>—Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Ann.</hi> 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. +<q>But,</q> answered Nero, <q>your favourite +Chrysippus wrote still more +numerous books.</q> <q>True,</q> rejoined +Cornutus, <q>but then they were of +use to humanity.</q> On the other +hand, Seneca is justly accused of +condescending too much to the +vices of Nero in his efforts to mitigate +their effects.</note> but they more +<pb n='294'/><anchor id='Pg294'/> +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> +A third and still more important service which Stoicism +rendered to popular morals was in the formation of Roman +jurisprudence.<note place='foot'>The influence of Stoicism on +Roman law has been often examined. +See, especially, Degerando, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. de la Philosophie</hi> (2nd ed.), +tome iii. pp. 202-204; Laferrière, +<hi rend='italic'>De l'Influence du Stoïcisme sur les +Jurisconsultes romains</hi>; Denis, +<hi rend='italic'>Théories et Idées morales dans +l'Antiquité</hi>, tome ii. pp. 187-217; +Troplong, <hi rend='italic'>Influence du Christianisme +sur le Droit civil des Romains</hi>; +Merivale, <hi rend='italic'>Conversion of the Roman +Empire</hi>, lec. iv.; and the great work +of Gravina, <hi rend='italic'>De Ortu et Progressu +Juris civilis</hi>.</note> 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. <q>To rule the nations</q> 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 +<pb n='295'/><anchor id='Pg295'/> +repeat by rote the code of the decemvirs.<note place='foot'>Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De Legib.</hi> ii. 4, 23.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>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.</note> +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. <q>As far as natural law is +concerned,</q> said Ulpian, <q>all men are equal.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Dig.</hi> lib. i. tit. 17-32.</note> <q>Nature,</q> +said Paul, <q>has established among us a certain relationship.</q><note place='foot'>Ibid. i. tit. 1-3.</note> +<q>By natural law,</q> Ulpian declared, <q>all men are born free.</q><note place='foot'>Ibid. i. tit. 1-4.</note> +<pb n='296'/><anchor id='Pg296'/> +<q>Slavery</q> was defined by Florentinus as <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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Dig.</hi> lib. i. tit. 4-5.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Laferrière, p. 32. Wallon, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. de l'Esclavage dans l'Antiquité</hi>, +tome iii. pp. 71-80. M. Wallon +gives many curious instances of +legal decisions on this point.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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;<note place='foot'>To prove that this is the correct +conception of law was the +main object of Cicero's treatise <hi rend='italic'>De +Legibus</hi>. Ulpian defined jurisprudence +as <q>divinarum atque humanarum +rerum notitia, justi atque +injusti scientia.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Dig.</hi> lib. i. tit. +1-10. So Paul <q>Id quod semper +æquum ad bonum est jus dicitur +ut est jus naturale.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Dig.</hi> lib. i. +tit. 1-11. And Gaius, <q>Quod vero +naturalis ratio inter omnes homines +constituit ... vocatur jus +gentium.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Dig.</hi> lib. i. tit. 1-9. The +Stoics had defined true wisdom as +<q>rerum divinarum atque humanarum +scientia.</q>—Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De Offic.</hi> i. 43.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>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. <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De Claris Oratoribus.</hi> A +very judicious historian of philosophy +observes: <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.</q>—Degerando, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. de la Philos.</hi> tome iii. +p. 196.</note> and the +<pb n='297'/><anchor id='Pg297'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='298'/><anchor id='Pg298'/> +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.<note place='foot'>See a very remarkable passage +in Aulus Gellius, <hi rend='italic'>Noct.</hi> ii. 15.</note> +It was the boast of the lawyers that in no other nation had +the parent so great an authority over his children.<note place='foot'><q>Fere enim nulli alii sunt homines +qui talem in filios suos habeant +potestatem qualem nos habemus.</q>—Gaius.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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.</note> +</p> + +<p> +There can, I think, be little question that this law, at +least in the latter period of its existence, defeated its own +<pb n='299'/><anchor id='Pg299'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Velleius Paterculus, ii. 67. A +great increase of parricide was noticed +during the Empire (Senec. +<hi rend='italic'>De Clem.</hi> 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.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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,<note place='foot'>Numerous instances of these +executions are collected by Livy, +Val. Maximus, &c.; their history +is fully given by Cornelius van +Bynkershoek, <q>De Jure occidendi, +vendendi, et exponendi liberos apud +veteres Romanos,</q> in his works +(Cologne, 1761).</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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, <q>Nam patria potestas +in pietate debet, non atrocitate, +consistere.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Digest.</hi> lib. xlviii. tit. +9, § 5.</note> Infanticide was forbidden, though +<pb n='300'/><anchor id='Pg300'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Valer. Max. vii. 7.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See, on all this subject, Gibbon, +<hi rend='italic'>Decline and Fall</hi>, ch. xliv.; Troplong, +<hi rend='italic'>Influence du Christianisme +sur le Droit</hi>, ch. ix.; Denis, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. +des Idées morales</hi>, tome ii. pp. +107-120; Laferrière, <hi rend='italic'>Influence du +Stoïcisme sur les Jurisconsultes</hi>, pp. +37-44.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='301'/><anchor id='Pg301'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Ælian, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. Var.</hi> vi. 7.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Livy, ii. 36; Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>De Divin.</hi> +ii. 26.</note> By the pontifical law, slaves were exempted +from field labours on the religious festivals.<note place='foot'>Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>De Legibus</hi>, ii. 8-12. +Cato, however, maintained that +slaves might on those days be employed +on work which did not require +oxen.—Wallon, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. de +l'Esclavage</hi>, tome ii. p. 215.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See the <hi rend='italic'>Saturnalia</hi> of Macrobius.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>See his <hi rend='italic'>Life</hi> by Plutarch, and +his book on agriculture.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='302'/><anchor id='Pg302'/> + +<p> +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<note place='foot'>The number of the Roman +slaves has been a matter of much +controversy. M. Dureau de la +Malle (<hi rend='italic'>Econ. politique des Romains</hi>) +has restricted it more than any +other writer. Gibbon (<hi rend='italic'>Decline and +Fall</hi>, chap. ii.) has collected many +statistics on the subject, but the +fullest examination is in M. Wallon's +admirable <hi rend='italic'>Hist. de l'Esclavage</hi>. +On the contrast between the character +of the slaves of the Republic +and those of the Empire, see <hi rend='italic'>Tac. +Ann.</hi> xiv. 44.</note> 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. <q>As many enemies as slaves,</q> 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.<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> xiii. 32; xiv. +42-45. Wallon, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. de l'Esclav.</hi> +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 (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> viii. 14) the banishment +of the freedmen of a murdered +man.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='303'/><anchor id='Pg303'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='304'/><anchor id='Pg304'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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.)</note> 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,<note place='foot'>Ibid. tome ii. pp. 211-213.</note> though some masters permitted their slaves to +dispose of it by will.<note place='foot'>Plin. <hi rend='italic'>Epist.</hi> 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.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Wallon, tome ii. p. 419. This +appears from an allusion of Cicero, +<hi rend='italic'>Philip.</hi> viii. 11.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Senec. <hi rend='italic'>De Clem.</hi> i. 18.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>Ibid. <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xlvii.</note> 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 +<pb n='305'/><anchor id='Pg305'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> viii. 16.</note> Epictetus passed at once from slavery +to the friendship of an emperor.<note place='foot'>Spartianus, <hi rend='italic'>Hadrianus</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Numerous and very noble instances +of slave fidelity are given by +Seneca, <hi rend='italic'>De Benefic.</hi> iii. 19-27; Val. +Max. vi. 8; and in Appian's <hi rend='italic'>History +of the Civil Wars</hi>. See, too, +Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> i. 3.</note> 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> +The duty of humanity to slaves had been at all times one +<pb n='306'/><anchor id='Pg306'/> +of those which the philosophers had most ardently inculcated. +Plato and Aristotle, Zeno and Epicurus, were, on +this point, substantially agreed.<note place='foot'>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 +(<hi rend='italic'>Economics</hi>, 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. <hi rend='italic'>Epicurus</hi>.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Benef.</hi> iii. 18-28; <hi rend='italic'>De Vita +Beata</hi>, xxiv.; <hi rend='italic'>De Clem.</hi> i. 18, and +especially <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xlvii. Epictetus, as +might be expected from his history, +frequently recurs to the duty. Plutarch +writes very beautifully upon +it in his treatise <hi rend='italic'>De Cohibenda Ira</hi>.</note> 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.'<note place='foot'>Diog. Laërt. <hi rend='italic'>Zeno</hi>.</note> 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> +Under all these influences many laws were promulgated +<pb n='307'/><anchor id='Pg307'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Bodin thinks it was promulgated +by Nero, and he has been +followed by Troplong and Mr. +Merivale. Champagny (<hi rend='italic'>Les Antonins</hi>, +tome ii. p. 115) thinks +that no law after Tiberius was +called <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>lex</foreign>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Claud.</hi> xxv.; Dion +Cass. lx. 29.</note> +It is possible that succour was afforded to the abandoned +slave in the temple of Æsculapius,<note place='foot'>See Dumas, <hi rend='italic'>Secours publics chez +les Anciens</hi> (Paris, 1813), pp. +125-130.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Senec. <hi rend='italic'>De Clem.</hi> i. 18.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Senec. <hi rend='italic'>De Benef.</hi> iii. 22.</note> 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 +<pb n='308'/><anchor id='Pg308'/> +tortured who were within hearing;<note place='foot'>Spartian. <hi rend='italic'>Hadrianus.</hi> Hadrian +exiled a Roman lady for five years +for treating her slaves with atrocious +cruelty. (<hi rend='italic'>Digest.</hi> lib. i. tit. 6, +§ 2.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See these laws fully examined +by Wallon, tome iii. pp. 51-92, +and also Laferrière, <hi rend='italic'>Sur l'Influence +du Stoïcisme sur le Droit</hi>. 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.)</note> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>Thus, e.g., Livia called in the +Stoic Areus to console her after +the death of Drusus (Senec. <hi rend='italic'>Ad +Marc.</hi>). 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Les Moralistes de l'Empire +Romain</hi>).</note> They had their special exhortations +<pb n='309'/><anchor id='Pg309'/> +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,<note place='foot'>We have a pleasing picture of +the affection philosophers and their +disciples sometimes bore to one another +in the lines of Persius (<hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> +v.) to his master Cornutus.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>Grant's <hi rend='italic'>Aristotle</hi>, vol. i. pp. +277-278.</note> while a system +of popular preaching was created and widely diffused. +</p> + +<p> +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 <q>monks of Stoicism,</q><note place='foot'>Champagny, <hi rend='italic'>Les Antonins</hi>, tome +i. p. 405.</note> +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,<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='italic'>Life of +Julian</hi> (London, 1850), p. 94.</note> 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 +<pb n='310'/><anchor id='Pg310'/> +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, <q>he should love those who beat him, for +he is at once the father and the brother of all men.</q> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>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, <hi rend='italic'>Satyricon</hi>, i. 2. Much +curious information about the rhetoricians +is collected in Martha, +<hi rend='italic'>Moralistes de l'Empire Romain</hi>, and +in Nisard, <hi rend='italic'>Etudes sur les Poëtes +Latins de la Dècadence</hi>, art. Juvenal.</note> They had cultivated the histrionic +<pb n='311'/><anchor id='Pg311'/> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Martha, <hi rend='italic'>Moralistes +de l'Empire Romain</hi> (ed. 1865), p. +275.</note> +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> + +<pb n='312'/><anchor id='Pg312'/> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>There is a good review of the +teaching of Maximus in Champagny, +<hi rend='italic'>Les Antonins</hi>, tome ii. pp. +207-215.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Orat.</hi> xv.; <hi rend='italic'>De Servitute</hi>.</note> 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 +<pb n='313'/><anchor id='Pg313'/> +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.<note place='foot'>See the singularly charming essay on Dion Chrysostom, in M. +Martha's book.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 <q>Attic Nights</q> +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 <q>Mind</q> +chiefly from the conversation of the drawing-rooms of Paris +at a time when that conversation had attained a degree of +<pb n='314'/><anchor id='Pg314'/> +perfection which even Frenchmen had never before equalled. +He wrote in the age of the <q>Encyclopædia,</q> 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;<note place='foot'>Mr. Buckle, in his admirable +chapter on the <q>Proximate Causes +of the French Revolution</q> (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. of +Civilisation</hi>, vol. i.), has painted this +fashionable enthusiasm for knowledge +with great power, and illustrated +it with ample learning.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>The saying of Mme. Dudeffand +about Helvétius is well known: +<q>C'est un homme qui a dit le secret +de tout le monde.</q> How truly Helvétius +represented this fashionable +society appears very plainly from +the vivid portrait of it in the +<hi rend='italic'>Nouvelle Hèloïse</hi>, part ii. letter +xvii., a masterpiece of its kind.</note> 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 +<pb n='315'/><anchor id='Pg315'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Musonius tried to stop this +custom of applauding the lecturer. +(Aul. Gell. <hi rend='italic'>Noct.</hi> 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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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).</note> 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.<note place='foot'>i. 10.</note> The study of etymologies had risen into +great favour, and curious questions of grammar and pronunciation +<pb n='316'/><anchor id='Pg316'/> +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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Noct. Att.</hi> vi. 13. They called +these questions <foreign rend='italic'>symposiacæ</foreign>, as being +well fitted to stimulate minds +already mellowed by wine.</note> 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:—<q>You have what you have not lost; you have not +lost horns, therefore you have horns.</q> <q>You are not what I +am. I am a man; therefore you are not a man.</q><note place='foot'>xviii. 2.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>We have a curious example of +this in a letter of Marcus Aurelius +preserved by Gallicanus in his +<hi rend='italic'>Life of Avidius Cassius</hi>.</note> Above all, they +<pb n='317'/><anchor id='Pg317'/> +delighted in cases of conscience, which they discussed with +the subtilty of the schoolmen. +</p> + +<p> +Lactantius has remarked that the Stoics were especially +noted for the popular or democratic character of their +teaching.<note place='foot'><q>Senserunt hoc Stoici qui servis +et mulieribus philosophandum esse +dixerunt.</q>—Lact. <hi rend='italic'>Nat. Div.</hi> iii. 25. +Zeno was often reproached for +gathering the poorest and most sordid +around him when he lectured. +(Diog. Laërt. <hi rend='italic'>Zeno</hi>.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. des Mœurs Romaines</hi>, +tome iv. 378-385.</note> The +very generation which saw Marcus Aurelius on the throne, +saw also the extinction of the influence of his sect. +</p> + +<p> +The internal causes of the decadence of Stoicism, though +very powerful, are insufficient to explain this complete +<pb n='318'/><anchor id='Pg318'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='319'/><anchor id='Pg319'/> +in favour of the latter, and the type of Stoicism was then +necessarily discarded. +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>This movement is well treated by Vacherot, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. de l'École +d'Alexandrie</hi>.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='320'/><anchor id='Pg320'/> +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 +<pb n='321'/><anchor id='Pg321'/> +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> +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. +<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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Superstitione.</hi></note> On the other hand, +<pb n='322'/><anchor id='Pg322'/> +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> +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 <q>Zeus is that most +ancient and guiding mind that begot all things—Athene is +prudence—Apollo is the sun.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Dissertations</hi>, x. § 8 (ed. Davis, London, 1740). In some editions +this is <hi rend='italic'>Diss.</hi> xxix.</note> 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. <q>The gods,</q> he assures us, <q>themselves +need no images,</q> but the infirmity of human nature requires +visible signs <q>on which to rest.</q> <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.</q> 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. <q>The God,</q> +he continues, <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 +<pb n='323'/><anchor id='Pg323'/> +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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Dissert.</hi> xxxviii.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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. <q>These dæmons,</q> he says, <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 +<q>Banquet,</q> 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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Dæmone Socratis.</hi></note> 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. <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 +<pb n='324'/><anchor id='Pg324'/> +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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Dæmone Socratis.</hi> See, on +the office of dæmons or genii, Arrian +i. 14, and a curious chapter in +Ammianus Marcell. xxi. 14. See, +too, Plotinus, 3rd <hi rend='italic'>Enn.</hi> lib. iv.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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. +<pb n='325'/><anchor id='Pg325'/> +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> +<q>The Egyptian deities,</q> it was observed by Apuleius, +<q>were chiefly honoured by lamentations, and the Greek +divinities by dances.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Dæmone Socratis.</hi></note> 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> +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,<note place='foot'>I should except Plotinus, however, +who was faithful in this +point to Plato, and was in consequence +much praised by the Christian +Fathers.</note> +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 +<pb n='326'/><anchor id='Pg326'/> +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. <q>To bring +the God that is in us into conformity with the God that is in +the universe,</q> 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. <q>The greatest of +all evils,</q> we are told, <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.</q><note place='foot'><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.</q>—Iamblichus, <hi rend='italic'>De Secta +Pythagor.</hi> (Romæ, 1556), p. 38. +Plotinus, 1st <hi rend='italic'>Enn.</hi> vi. 6.</note> <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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Sect. Pyth.</hi> pp. 36, 37.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='327'/><anchor id='Pg327'/> +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. +<q>The end of man,</q> said Pythagoras, <q>is God.</q> 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.<note place='foot'>Porphyry, <hi rend='italic'>Life of Plotinus</hi>.</note> The process of reasoning is +here not only useless, but pernicious. <q>An innate knowledge +of the gods is implanted in our minds prior to all reasoning.</q><note place='foot'>Iamblichus, <hi rend='italic'>De Mysteriis.</hi> 1.</note> +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 +<pb n='328'/><anchor id='Pg328'/> +him from material objects, overawe and elevate his mind, and +quicken his realisation of the Divine presence.<note place='foot'>See, on this doctrine of ecstasy, +Vacherot, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. de l'École d'Alexandrie</hi>, +tome i. p. 576, &c.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'><q>Sic habeto, omnibus qui patriam +conservaverint, adjuverint, auxerint, +certum esse in cœlo ac definitum +locum ubi beati ævo sempiterno +fruantur.</q>—Cic. <hi rend='italic'>Somn. Scip.</hi></note> +The Stoics had taught that all virtue was vain that did not +issue in action. Even Epictetus, in his portrait of the +<pb n='329'/><anchor id='Pg329'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Φῶς, which, according to Plutarch +(who here confuses two distinct +words), is poetically used for +man (<hi rend='italic'>De Latenter Vivendo</hi>). 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.</note> 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 <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.</q> 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. <q>What use,</q> he asked, <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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Diss.</hi> xxi. § 6.</note> +But the Neoplatonists, though they sometimes spoke of civic +<pb n='330'/><anchor id='Pg330'/> +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 <q>to contemplate the sun, the stars, and the +course of nature, and that this contemplation was wisdom,</q> +was accepted as an epitome of their philosophy.<note place='foot'>Iamblichus, <hi rend='italic'>De Sect. Pythagoræ</hi>, +p. 35.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Porphyry, <hi rend='italic'>Life of Plotinus</hi>, cap. +vii.; Plotinus, 1st <hi rend='italic'>Enn.</hi> iv. 7. See +on this subject Degerando, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. +de la Philos.</hi> iii. p. 383.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>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.—<hi rend='italic'>Philostr. +Apoll. of Tyana</hi>, +iv. 2. Cicero notices the aversion +the Pythagoreans of his time displayed +to argument: <q>Quum ex +iis quæreretur quare ita esset, respondere +solitos, Ipse dixit; ipse +autem erat Pythagoras.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De Nat. +Deor.</hi> i. 5.</note> 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 +<pb n='331'/><anchor id='Pg331'/> +transformation,<note place='foot'>See Vacherot, tome ii. p. 66.</note> resolved all moral discipline into theurgy, and +sacrificed all reasoning to faith.<note place='foot'>See Degerando, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. de la +Philosophie</hi>, tome iii. pp. 400, 401.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Plotinus, 1st <hi rend='italic'>Enn.</hi> ix.</note> 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 <q>a city of God</q> 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.<note place='foot'>See a strong passage, on the +universality of this belief, in Plotinus, +1st <hi rend='italic'>Enn.</hi> i. 12, and Origen, +<hi rend='italic'>Cont. Cels.</hi> vii. A very old tradition +represented the Egyptians as +the first people who held the doctrine +of the immortality of the soul. +Cicero (<hi rend='italic'>Tusc. Quæst.</hi>) 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.</note> The incredulity of Lucretius, Cæsar, and Pliny had +<pb n='332'/><anchor id='Pg332'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='333'/><anchor id='Pg333'/> +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> +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, +<pb n='334'/><anchor id='Pg334'/> +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> +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> +Such were the influences which acted in turn upon a +society which, by despotism, by slavery, and by atrocious +<pb n='335'/><anchor id='Pg335'/> +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> +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> + +<pb n='336'/><anchor id='Pg336'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter III. The Conversion Of Rome.</head> + +<p> +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 <q>an execrable superstition;</q> +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 +<pb n='337'/><anchor id='Pg337'/> +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> +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,<note place='foot'>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, +<hi rend='italic'>Life of Macrinus</hi>.—Tacitus is full +of beautiful episodes, describing +the manners and religion of the +people.</note> 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 +<pb n='338'/><anchor id='Pg338'/> +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> +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,<note place='foot'>The passages relating to the +Jews in Roman literature are collected +in Aubertin's <hi rend='italic'>Rapports supposés +entre Sénèque et St. Paul</hi>. +Champagny, <hi rend='italic'>Rome et Judée</hi>, tome i. +pp. 134-137.</note> who were notorious +<pb n='339'/><anchor id='Pg339'/> +as the most sordid, the most turbulent,<note place='foot'>Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>pro Flacco</hi>, 28; Sueton. +<hi rend='italic'>Claudius</hi>, 25.</note> and the most +unsocial<note place='foot'>Juvenal, <hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> xiv.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> v.</note> +Christianity, in the eyes of the philosopher, was simply a sect +of Judaism. +</p> + +<p> +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> +On the first of these theories it will not, I think, be +<pb n='340'/><anchor id='Pg340'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Lact. <hi rend='italic'>Inst. Div.</hi> vii. 3.</note> The humane character of the later Stoical teaching +<pb n='341'/><anchor id='Pg341'/> +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> +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;<note place='foot'>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 +(<hi rend='italic'>Inst. Div.</hi> vi. 24), distinctly spoke +of Seneca as a Pagan, as Tertullian +(<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 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.</note> 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 +<pb n='342'/><anchor id='Pg342'/> +to which this question had given rise,<note place='foot'>Fleury has written an elaborate +work maintaining the connection +between the apostle and the +philosopher. Troplong (<hi rend='italic'>Influence +du Christianisme sur le Droit</hi>) 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Rapports du Stoïcisme et +du Christianisme</hi>) has placed side +by side the passages from each +writer which are most alike.</note> 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 <q>from +every fear of God and man;</q> 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 <q>an accursed race.</q><note place='foot'>Quoted by St. Augustine.—<hi rend='italic'>De +Civ. Dei</hi>, vi. 11.</note> One man, indeed, there was +<pb n='343'/><anchor id='Pg343'/> +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 +<q>Meditations</q> his contempt for the Christian martyrs.<note place='foot'>xi. 3.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='italic'>Histoire +de la Philosophie</hi>.</note> While +the writers of one school apologised for the murder of Socrates, +described the martyred Greek as the 'buffoon of Athens,'<note place='foot'><q>Scurra Atticus,</q> Min. Felix, +<hi rend='italic'>Octav.</hi> This term is said by +Cicero to have been given to +Socrates by Zeno. (Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De Nat. +Deor.</hi> i. 34.)</note> +and attributed his inspiration to diabolical influence;<note place='foot'>Tertull. <hi rend='italic'>De Anima</hi>, 39.</note> while +they designated the writings of the philosophers as <q>the +schools of heretics,</q> 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 +<pb n='344'/><anchor id='Pg344'/> +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 <q>seminal Logos,</q> 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.<note place='foot'>See especially his <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> ii. 8, +12, 13. He speaks of the σπερματικὸς +λόγος.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>See, on all this, Clem. Alex. +<hi rend='italic'>Strom.</hi> v., and also i. 22.</note> the influence of which many of the early Christians +traced in every department of ancient wisdom. Plato had +<pb n='345'/><anchor id='Pg345'/> +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.<note place='foot'>St. Clement repeats this twice +(<hi rend='italic'>Strom.</hi> 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. (<hi rend='italic'>Præp. Evan.</hi> 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 +<q>Charge to the Clergy of Middlesex, +to prove that the wisdom of +the ancients was borrowed from +revelation; delivered in 1731.</q> It +is in the 8th volume of Waterland's +works (ed. 1731).</note> Pythagoras, moreover, had been +himself a circumcised Jew.<note place='foot'>St. Clement (<hi rend='italic'>Strom.</hi> 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, <hi rend='italic'>Traité de +l'Opinion</hi>, tome i. p. 164.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>This was the opinion of Julius +Firmicus Maternus, a Latin writer +of the age of Constantine, <q>Nam +quia Saræ pronepos fuerat ... +Serapis dictus est Græco sermone, +hoc est Σαρᾶς ἄπο.</q>—Julius Firmicus +Maternus, <hi rend='italic'>De Errore Profanarum +Religionum</hi>, cap. xiv.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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, +<pb n='346'/><anchor id='Pg346'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Justin Martyr, <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 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.</note> 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> +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, +<pb n='347'/><anchor id='Pg347'/> +it may be advisable to enter at some little length +into the broad question of the evidence of the miraculous. +</p> + +<p> +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,<note place='foot'>Suet. <hi rend='italic'>Vesp.</hi> 7; Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> 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.</note> their deliberate +<pb n='348'/><anchor id='Pg348'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='349'/><anchor id='Pg349'/> +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 <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>primâ facie</foreign> case, +and ensure a patient and respectful investigation of the +subject. +</p> + +<p> +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> +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 +<pb n='350'/><anchor id='Pg350'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='351'/><anchor id='Pg351'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='352'/><anchor id='Pg352'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='353'/><anchor id='Pg353'/> +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 +<pb n='354'/><anchor id='Pg354'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='355'/><anchor id='Pg355'/> +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> +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 <q>plagues of +rain and water</q> sent on account of our sins, and of <q>scarcity +and dearth, which we most justly suffer for our iniquity.</q> +Corresponding language is employed about the forms of +<pb n='356'/><anchor id='Pg356'/> +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 +<pb n='357'/><anchor id='Pg357'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='358'/><anchor id='Pg358'/> +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 +<pb n='359'/><anchor id='Pg359'/> +of the most manifest instances of special interposition on +record. +</p> + +<p> +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> +That such a method is not ordinarily adopted must be +manifest to all. As Bacon said, men <q>mark the hits, but +not the misses;</q> 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 +<pb n='360'/><anchor id='Pg360'/> +offered.<note place='foot'>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: <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.</q> (And +then the author adds, in a note): +<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.</q>—Pusey's <hi rend='italic'>Miracles +of Prayer</hi>, preached at Oxford, +1866.</note> 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> +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.<note place='foot'>E.g.: <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?</q>—Bishop +Hall, <hi rend='italic'>The Invisible +World</hi>, § vi.</note> 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 +<pb n='361'/><anchor id='Pg361'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='362'/><anchor id='Pg362'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='363'/><anchor id='Pg363'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Sir C. Lewis <hi rend='italic'>On the Credibility +of Roman Hist.</hi> vol. i. p. 50.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De Divin.</hi> lib. i. c. 1.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><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 <q>They shall lay +their hands on the sick and they +shall recover,</q> 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.</q>—Macaulay's +<hi rend='italic'>History of England</hi>, +c. xiv.</note> It was unshaken by +<pb n='364'/><anchor id='Pg364'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='italic'>Charisma Basilicon</hi> (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 <q>Atheists, Sadducees, +and ill-conditioned Pharisees</q> 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 +(<hi rend='italic'>Macbeth</hi>, 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.</note> Yet there is now +<pb n='365'/><anchor id='Pg365'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='366'/><anchor id='Pg366'/> +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.<note place='foot'><p>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> +The fountain of Jupiter Ammon, +and many others that were deemed +miraculous, are noticed by Pliny, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> ii. 106. +</p> +<p> +<q>Fly not yet; the fount that played<lb/> +In times of old through Ammon's shade,<lb/> +Though icy cold by day it ran,<lb/> +Yet still, like souls of mirth, began<lb/> +To burn when night was near.</q>—Moore's <hi rend='italic'>Melodies</hi>.</p></note> +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.<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> 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, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. des Auteurs sacrés</hi>, tome +xiv. p. 607.)</note> In obedience to dreams, the great Emperor +<pb n='367'/><anchor id='Pg367'/> +Augustus went begging money through the streets of Rome,<note place='foot'>Suet. <hi rend='italic'>Aug.</hi> xci.</note> +and the historian who records the act himself wrote to Pliny, +entreating the postponement of a trial.<note place='foot'>See the answer of the younger +Pliny (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> 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. (<hi rend='italic'>De Divinatione</hi>, 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.</note> The stroke of the +lightning was an augury,<note place='foot'>The augurs had noted eleven +kinds of lightning with different +significations. (Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> +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. <hi rend='italic'>De +Divinat.</hi> ii. 39.) When Constantine +prohibited all other forms of magic, +he especially authorised that which +was intended to avert hail and +lightning. (<hi rend='italic'>Cod. Theod.</hi> lib. ix. tit. +xvi. 1. 3.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Suet. <hi rend='italic'>Aug.</hi> xc.</note> Tiberius, who +professed to be a complete freethinker, had greater faith in +laurel leaves.<note place='foot'>Ibid. <hi rend='italic'>Tiber.</hi> lxix. The virtue +of laurel leaves, and of the skin of a +sea-calf, as preservatives against +lightning, are noticed by Pliny +(<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> 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.</note> Caligula was accustomed during a thunderstorm +to creep beneath his bed.<note place='foot'>Suet. <hi rend='italic'>Calig.</hi> ii.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>Suet. <hi rend='italic'>Jul. Cæs.</hi> lxxxviii.</note> and a temple was erected in its honour.<note place='foot'>Plin. <hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> ii. 23.</note> 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, +<pb n='368'/><anchor id='Pg368'/> +that the more prodigies are believed, the more they +are announced.<note place='foot'><q>Prodigia eo anno multa nuntiata +sunt, quæ quo magis credebant +simplices ac religiosi homines +eo plura nuntiabantur</q> (xxiv. 10). +Compare with this the remark of +Cicero on the oracles: <q>Quando +autem illa vis evanuit? An postquam +homines minus creduli esse +cœperunt?</q> (<hi rend='italic'>De Div.</hi> ii. 57.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'>This theory, which is developed +at length by the Stoic, in +the first book of the <hi rend='italic'>De Divinatione</hi> +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. +<hi rend='italic'>Ap. of Tyana</hi>, 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, <hi rend='italic'>Réponse à +l'Histoire des Oracles</hi>, p. 132), is +noticed by Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De Div.</hi> i. 19; Plin. +<hi rend='italic'>H. N.</hi> 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, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. des Oracles</hi>, pp. 220-222, first +ed.), attributed it to the second +cause. Iamblichus (<hi rend='italic'>De Myst.</hi> § iii. +c. xi.) combines both theories, and +both are very clearly stated in the +following curious passage: <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.</q>—Apuleius, +<hi rend='italic'>Apolog.</hi></note> Earthquakes +<pb n='369'/><anchor id='Pg369'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Aul. Gell. <hi rend='italic'>Noct.</hi> ii. 28. Florus, +however (<hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> i. 19), mentions a +Roman general appeasing the goddess +Earth on the occasion of an +earthquake that occurred during a +battle.</note> Pythagoras is said to have +attributed them to the strugglings of the dead.<note place='foot'>Ælian, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. Var.</hi> iv. 17.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> ii. 81-86.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Ibid. ii. 9.</note> A few chapters later he professes his unhesitating +belief in the ominous character of comets.<note place='foot'>Ibid. ii. 23.</note> The +notions, too, of magic and astrology, were detached from all +theological belief, and might be found among many who were +absolute atheists.<note place='foot'>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, +<hi rend='italic'>Les Antonins</hi>, tome iii. p. 46.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='370'/><anchor id='Pg370'/> +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;<note place='foot'>viii. 19. This is also mentioned +by Lucretius.</note> how elephants celebrate their religious ceremonies;<note place='foot'>viii. 1.</note> +how the stag draws serpents by its breath from their holes, +and then tramples them to death;<note place='foot'>viii. 50. This was one of the +reasons why the early Christians +sometimes adopted the stag as a +symbol of Christ.</note> 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;<note place='foot'>xxix. 23.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>xxxii. 1.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>vii. 2.</note> It is certain +that to anoint the eyes with spittle is a sovereign remedy +against ophthalmia.<note place='foot'>xxviii. 7. The blind man +restored to sight by Vespasian was +cured by anointing his eyes with +spittle. (Suet. <hi rend='italic'>Vesp.</hi> 7; Tacit. +<hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> iv. 81.)</note> If a pugilist, having struck his adversary, +spits into his own hand, the pain he caused instantly +<pb n='371'/><anchor id='Pg371'/> +ceases. If he spits into his hand before striking, the blow +is the more severe.<note place='foot'>Ibid. The custom of spitting +in the hand before striking still +exists among pugilists.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>ii. 101.</note> It was in 1727 and the two +following years, that scientific observations made at Rochefort +and at Brest finally dissipated the delusion.<note place='foot'>Legendre, <hi rend='italic'>Traité de l'Opinion</hi>, +tome ii. p. 17. The superstition +is, however, said still to linger in +many sea-coast towns.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 <q>Meditations</q> of Marcus Aurelius closed +the period of Stoical influence, and the <q>Dialogues</q> of Lucian +were the last solitary protest of expiring scepticism.<note place='foot'>Lucian is believed to have +died about two years before Marcus +Aurelius.</note> The +aim of the philosophy of Cicero had been to ascertain truth +<pb n='372'/><anchor id='Pg372'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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 <q>Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ +ἐκ Τυάνων, οὐκέτι φιλόσοφος ἀλλ᾽ +ἦν τι θεῶν τε καὶ ἀνθρώπου μέσον.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Lives +of the Sophists.</hi> 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Lampridius +Severus</hi>) 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, +<hi rend='italic'>Aurelian</hi>); 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.</note> A similar power, notwithstanding his own disclaimer, +was popularly attributed to the Platonist Apuleius.<note place='foot'>See his defence against the +charge of magic. Apuleius, who +was at once a brilliant rhetorician, +the writer of an extremely curious +novel (<hi rend='italic'>The Metamorphoses, or +Golden Ass</hi>), 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.</note> +<pb n='373'/><anchor id='Pg373'/> +Lucian has left us a detailed account of the impostures by +which the philosopher Alexander endeavoured to acquire the +fame of a miracle-worker.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Life of Alexander.</hi> There is +an extremely curious picture of the +religious jugglers, who were wandering +about the Empire, in the +eighth and ninth books of the +<hi rend='italic'>Metamorphoses</hi> of Apuleius. See, +too, Juvenal, <hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> vi. 510-585.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Porphyry's <hi rend='italic'>Life of Plotinus</hi>.</note> +Porphyry was said to have expelled an evil dæmon from a +bath.<note place='foot'>Eunapius, <hi rend='italic'>Porph.</hi></note> 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.<note place='foot'>Ibid. <hi rend='italic'>Iamb.</hi> Iamblichus himself +only laughed at the report.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Eunapius, <hi rend='italic'>Iamb.</hi></note> 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.<note place='foot'>See her life in Eunapius, +<hi rend='italic'>Œdescus</hi>. Ælian and the rhetorician +Aristides are also full of the +wildest prodigies. There is an interesting +dissertation on this subject +in Friedlænder (<hi rend='italic'>Trad. Franc.</hi> +tome iv. p. 177-186).</note> +</p> + +<p> +Christianity floated into the Roman Empire on the wave +of credulity that brought with it this long train of Oriental +<pb n='374'/><anchor id='Pg374'/> +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,<note place='foot'><q>Credat Judæus Apella.</q>—Hor. +<hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> v. 100.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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.</note> 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,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Origine ac Progressu Idolatriæ</hi> +(Amsterdam).</note> +<pb n='375'/><anchor id='Pg375'/> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>This characteristic of early +Christian apology is forcibly exhibited +by Pressensé, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. des trois +premiers Siècles</hi>, 2<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>me</hi> série, tome ii.</note> When +<pb n='376'/><anchor id='Pg376'/> +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,<note place='foot'>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. <hi rend='italic'>De Baptismo</hi>, 17.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> i.</note> Clement of +Alexandria preserved the tradition that St. Paul had urged +the brethren to study them.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Strom.</hi> vi. c. 5.</note> Celsus designated the Christians +Sibyllists, on account of the pertinacity with which they insisted +upon them.<note place='foot'>Origen, <hi rend='italic'>Cont. Cols.</hi> v.</note> Constantine the Great adduced them in +a solemn speech before the Council of Nice.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Oratio</hi> (apud Euseb.) xviii.</note> St. Augustine +notices that the Greek word for a fish, which, containing the +initial letters of the name and titles of Christ, had been +<pb n='377'/><anchor id='Pg377'/> +adopted by the Early Church as its sacred symbol, contains +also the initial letters of some prophetic lines ascribed to the +Sibyl of Erythra.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, xviii. 23.</note> The Pagans, it is true, accused their +opponents of having forged or interpolated these prophecies;<note place='foot'>Constantine, <hi rend='italic'>Oratio</hi> xix. <q>His +testimoniis quidam revicti solent +eo confugere ut aiant non esse illa +carmina Sibyllina, sed a nostris +conficta atque composita.</q>—Lactant. +<hi rend='italic'>Div. Inst.</hi> iv. 15.</note> +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.<note place='foot'>Antonius Possevinus, <hi rend='italic'>Apparatus +Sacer</hi> (1606), verb. <q>Sibylla.</q></note> 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> +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 +<pb n='378'/><anchor id='Pg378'/> +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,<note place='foot'>This subject is fully treated +by Middleton in his <hi rend='italic'>Free Enquiry</hi>, +whom I have closely followed.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Irenæus, <hi rend='italic'>Contr. Hæres.</hi> ii. 32.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Epiphan. <hi rend='italic'>Adv. Hæres.</hi> ii. 30.</note> 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 +<pb n='379'/><anchor id='Pg379'/> +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.<note place='foot'>St. Aug. <hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, xxii. 8.</note> +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.<note place='foot'>This history is related by St. +Ambrose in a letter to his sister +Marcellina; by St. Paulinus of +Nola, in his <hi rend='italic'>Life of Ambrose</hi>; and +by St. Augustine, <hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, xxii. +8; <hi rend='italic'>Confess.</hi> ix. 7.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Statements of this kind, which are selected from very +<pb n='380'/><anchor id='Pg380'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='italic'>Dissertation on +Miracles</hi>, pp. 129-140; and Fontenelle, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. des Oracles</hi>, pp. 26, +27. Porphyry speaks much of evil +dæmons.</note> 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 +<pb n='381'/><anchor id='Pg381'/> +devil, to prove that it had really left his victim, threw down +a cup of water which had been placed at a distance.<note place='foot'>Josephus, <hi rend='italic'>Antiq.</hi> viii. 2, § 5.</note> 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;<note place='foot'>This very curious subject is +fully treated by Baltus (<hi rend='italic'>Réponse à +l'Histoire des Oracles</hi>, 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 +(<hi rend='italic'>Antiquities of the Christian Church</hi>, +vol. i. pp. 316-324), who thinks +the Pagan and Jewish exorcists +were impostors, but not the Christians; +and by Middleton (<hi rend='italic'>Free +Enquiry</hi>, 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: +<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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Vindication +of the Miracles of +the First Three Centuries</hi>, p. 199. +So, also, Baltus: <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</q> (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. (<hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> +iv. 32.)</note> 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 +<pb n='382'/><anchor id='Pg382'/> +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 <q>Life of St. +Hilarion,</q> has given us a graphic account of the courage with +which that saint confronted, and the success with which +he relieved, a possessed camel.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Vit. Hilar.</hi> Origen notices +that cattle were sometimes possessed +by devils. See Middleton's +<hi rend='italic'>Free Enquiry</hi>, pp. 88, 89.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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, <q>Confounded +be all they that trust in +graven images.</q></note> 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 <q>Satan, return,</q> which was immediately obeyed, +and the priest, awe-struck by the miracle, was converted to +Christianity.<note place='foot'>See the <hi rend='italic'>Life of Gregory +Thaumaturgus</hi>, by Gregory of +Nyssa. St. Gregory the Great +assures us (<hi rend='italic'>Dial.</hi> 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.</note> 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 +<pb n='383'/><anchor id='Pg383'/> +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.<note place='foot'><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?</q>—Tert. +<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> xxiii.</note> +Justin Martyr,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> i.; <hi rend='italic'>Trypho</hi>.</note> Origen,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Cont. Cels.</hi> vii.</note> Lactantius,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Inst. Div.</hi> iv. 27.</note> Athanasius,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Life of Antony.</hi></note> and +Minucius Felix,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Octavius.</hi></note> 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> +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, +<pb n='384'/><anchor id='Pg384'/> +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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Superstitione.</hi></note> 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.<note place='foot'>i. 6.</note> +Lucian declares that every cunning juggler could make his +fortune by going over to the Christians and preying upon their +simplicity.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Mort. Peregrin.</hi></note> Celsus described the Christians as jugglers performing +their tricks among the young and the credulous.<note place='foot'>Origen, <hi rend='italic'>Adv. Cels.</hi> vi. Compare +the curious letter which Vopiscus +(Saturninus) attributes to +Hadrian, <q>Nemo illic [i.e. in Egypt] +archisynagogus Judæorum, nemo +Samarites, nemo Christianorum +presbyter, non mathematicus, non +aruspex, non aliptes.</q></note> +The most decisive evidence, however, we possess, is a law of +Ulpian, directed, it is thought, against the Christians, which +condemns those <q>who use incantations or imprecations, or (to +employ the common word of impostors) exorcisms.</q><note place='foot'><q>Si incantavit, si imprecatus +est, si (ut vulgari verbo impostorum +utor) exorcizavit.</q>—Bingham, +<hi rend='italic'>Antiquities of the Christian +Church</hi> (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 (<hi rend='italic'>Inst. Div.</hi> v. +11) says that Ulpian had collected +the laws against them.</note> Modern +criticism has noted a few facts which may throw some light +upon this obscure subject. It has been observed that the +<pb n='385'/><anchor id='Pg385'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Philostorgius, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. Eccl.</hi> viii. 10.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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> + +<pb n='386'/><anchor id='Pg386'/> + +<p> +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,<note place='foot'>See Juvenal, <hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> vi. 314-335.</note> the +<pb n='387'/><anchor id='Pg387'/> +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.<note place='foot'>See Juvenal, <hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> vi. 520-530.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Metamorphoses</hi>, book x.</note> Commodus, Caracalla, +and Heliogabalus were passionately devoted to them.<note place='foot'>See their <hi rend='italic'>Lives</hi>, by Lampridius +and Spartianus.</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='388'/><anchor id='Pg388'/> +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. <q>With the heart man believeth unto righteousness;</q> +<q>He that doeth the will of my Father will know the +doctrine, whether it be of God;</q> <q>Unless you believe you +cannot understand;</q> <q>A heart naturally Christian;</q> <q>The +heart makes the theologian,</q> 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 +<pb n='389'/><anchor id='Pg389'/> +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> +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, +<pb n='390'/><anchor id='Pg390'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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.</note> 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;<note place='foot'><q>Thura plane non emimus; si +Arabiæ queruntur scient Sabæi +pluris et carioris suas merces +Christianis sepeliendis profligari +quam diis fumigandis.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 42. +Sometimes the Pagans burnt the +bodies of the martyrs, in order to +prevent the Christians venerating +their relics.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Many interesting particulars +about these commemrative festivals +are collected in Cave's <hi rend='italic'>Primitive +Christianity</hi>, part i. c. vii. The +anniversaries were called <q>Natalia,</q> +or birth-days.</note> How, indeed, should he not be envied? +He had passed away into eternal bliss. He had left upon +earth an abiding name. By the <q>baptism of blood</q> the sins +of a life had been in a moment effaced. +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='391'/><anchor id='Pg391'/> +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 <q>the wheat of +God,</q> they panted for the day when they should be <q>ground +by the teeth of wild beasts into the pure bread of Christ!</q> +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.<note place='foot'>See her acts in Ruinart.</note> 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 +<pb n='392'/><anchor id='Pg392'/> +from thrusting themselves into the hands of the persecutors.<note place='foot'>St. Clem. Alex. <hi rend='italic'>Strom.</hi> iv. 10. +There are other passages of the +same kind in other Fathers.</note> +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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ad Scapul.</hi> v. Eusebius (<hi rend='italic'>Martyrs +of Palestine</hi>, 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> ii. 32), speaking +of the voluntary martyrs under +Diocletian, says that Christians +then <q>longed for death as they now +long for bishoprics.</q> <q>Cogi qui +potest, nescit mori,</q> was the noble +maxim of the Christians.</note> Two illustrious +Pagan moralists and one profane Pagan satirist have +noticed this passion with a most unpleasing scorn. <q>There +are some,</q> said Epictetus, <q>whom madness, there are others, +like the Galilæans, whom custom, makes indifferent to +death.</q><note place='foot'>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. <hi rend='italic'>Antiq.</hi> xviii. 1.</note> <q>What mind,</q> said Marcus Aurelius, <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.</q><note place='foot'>xi. 3.</note> <q>These wretches,</q> said Lucian, +speaking of the Christians, <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.</q><note place='foot'>Peregrinus.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I send against you men who are as greedy of death as +you are of pleasures,</q> were the words which, in after days, the +<pb n='393'/><anchor id='Pg393'/> +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;<note place='foot'>Zosimus.</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='394'/><anchor id='Pg394'/> +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> +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> +It is manifest that the reasons that may induce a ruler to +suppress by force some forms of religious worship or opinion, +<pb n='395'/><anchor id='Pg395'/> +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> +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> +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, +<pb n='396'/><anchor id='Pg396'/> +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> +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.<note place='foot'><q>Do I not hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?—yea, I hate them +with a perfect hatred.</q></note> +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> +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 +<pb n='397'/><anchor id='Pg397'/> +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 +<emph>ought</emph> 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 <emph>did</emph> +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> +They were partly political and partly religious. The +Governments in most of the ancient States, in the earlier +<pb n='398'/><anchor id='Pg398'/> +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,<note place='foot'>See Renan's <hi rend='italic'>Apôtres</hi>, p. 314.</note> 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> +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,<note place='foot'>M. Pressensé very truly says +of the Romans, <q>Leur religion était +essentiellement un art—l'art de +découvrir les desseins des dieux et +d'agir sur eux par des rites variés.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Hist. +des Trois premiers Siècles</hi>, +tome i. p. 192. Montesquieu has +written an interesting essay on the +political nature of the Roman religion.</note> and its principal ceremonies +were performed at the direct command of the Senate. The +national theory on religious matters was that the best religion +<pb n='399'/><anchor id='Pg399'/> +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,<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Claud.</hi> xxv.</note> and +whose fierce rebellions it was thought necessary to crush, the +teachers of all national religions continued unmolested by the +conqueror. +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>Plin. <hi rend='italic'>Hist. Nat.</hi> vii. 31.</note> For a similar reason +all rhetoricians had been banished from the Republic.<note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>De Orat.</hi> xxxv.; Aul. +Gell. <hi rend='italic'>Noct.</hi> xv. 11. It would appear, +from this last authority, that +the rhetoricians were twice expelled.</note> 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. +<q>Always,</q> he said, <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 +<pb n='400'/><anchor id='Pg400'/> +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.</q><note place='foot'>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.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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> +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,<note place='foot'>On the hostility of Vespasian +to philosophers, see Xiphilin, lxvi. +13; on that of Domitian, the <hi rend='italic'>Letters</hi> +of Pliny and the <hi rend='italic'>Agricola</hi> of +Tacitus.</note> but on their own subjects they were wholly untrammelled. +<pb n='401'/><anchor id='Pg401'/> +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.<note place='foot'>See a remarkable passage in +Dion Chrysostom, <hi rend='italic'>Or.</hi> lxxx. <hi rend='italic'>De +Libertate</hi>.</note> 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> +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,<note place='foot'>Cic. <hi rend='italic'>De Legib.</hi> ii. 11; Tertull. +<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> v.</note> and in the Republican days +and the earliest days of the Empire there are many instances +of its being enforced. Thus, in <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.u.c.</hi> 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.<note place='foot'>Livy, iv. 30</note> Lutatius, soon after the first Punic war, was +forbidden by the Senate to consult foreign gods, <q>because,</q> +said the historian, <q>it was deemed right the Republic should +be administered according to the national auspices, and not +according to those of other lands.</q><note place='foot'>Val. Maximus, i. 3, § 1.</note> During the second Punic +war, a severe edict of the Senate enjoined the suppression of +certain recent innovations.<note place='foot'>Livy, xxv. 1.</note> About <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.u.c.</hi> 615 the prætor +Hispalus exiled those who had introduced the worship of +the Sabasian Jupiter.<note place='foot'>Val. Max. i. 3, § 2.</note> The rites of Bacchus, being accompanied +by gross and scandalous obscenity, were suppressed, +<pb n='402'/><anchor id='Pg402'/> +the consul, in a remarkable speech, calling upon the people to +revive the religious policy of their ancestors.<note place='foot'>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:—<q>Judicabant +enim prudentissimi viri omnis +divini humanique juris, nihil æque +dissolvendæ religionis esse, quam +ubi non patrio sed externo ritu +sacrificaretur.</q> 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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Val. Max. i. 3.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See Dion Cassius, xl. 47; xlii. +26; xlvii. 15; liv. 6.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Joseph. <hi rend='italic'>Antiq.</hi> xviii. 3.</note> 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 +<pb n='403'/><anchor id='Pg403'/> +added, with a characteristic scorn, that if they died through +the unhealthiness of the climate, it would be but a <q>small loss.</q><note place='foot'>Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> ii. 85.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>Tacitus relates (<hi rend='italic'>Ann.</hi> 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.</note> 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 <q>Holy City.</q><note place='foot'><q>Sacrosanctam istam civitatem +accedo.</q>—Apuleius, <hi rend='italic'>Metam.</hi> lib. x. +It is said that there were at one +time no less than 420 ædes sacræ +in Rome. Nieupoort, <hi rend='italic'>De Ritibus +Romanorum</hi> (1716), p. 276.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='404'/><anchor id='Pg404'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Euseb. <hi rend='italic'>Præp. Evang.</hi> iv. 1. +Fontenelle says very truly, <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Hist. +des Oracles</hi>, p. 95. It was a saying +of Tiberius, that it is for the gods +to care for the injuries done to +them: <q>Deorum injurias diis curæ.</q>—Tacit. +<hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> i. 73.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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, <hi rend='italic'>Life of Hume</hi>, +vol. ii. pp. 187, 188.) The utilitarian +principles of the philosopher +were doubtless at the root of his +judgment.</note> The religious opinions of men had but +<pb n='405'/><anchor id='Pg405'/> +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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Divinat.</hi> ii. 33; <hi rend='italic'>De Nat. +Deor.</hi> ii. 3.</note> Seneca, having recounted in the most derisive +terms the absurdities of the popular worship, concludes his +enumeration by declaring that <q>the sage will observe all these +things, not as pleasing to the Divinities, but as commanded +by the law,</q> and that he should remember <q>that his worship +is due to custom, not to belief.</q><note place='foot'><q>Quæ omnia sapiens servabit +tanquam legibus jussa non tanquam +diis grata.... Meminerimus cultum +ejus magis ad morem quam ad +rem pertinere.</q>—St. Aug. <hi rend='italic'>De Civ. +Dei</hi>, vi. 10. St. Augustine denounces +this view with great power. +See, too, Lactantius. <hi rend='italic'>Inst. Div.</hi> ii. 3.</note> Epictetus, whose austere creed +rises to the purest monotheism, teaches as a fundamental +religious maxim that every man in his devotions should <q>conform +to the customs of his country.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Enchirid.</hi> xxxi.</note> 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> +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 <q>Sacred Majesty</q> 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> + +<pb n='406'/><anchor id='Pg406'/> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>This is noticed by Philo.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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> +The first cause of the persecution of the Christians was +the religious notion to which I have already referred. The +<pb n='407'/><anchor id='Pg407'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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. (<hi rend='italic'>Cic. De Nat. +Deor.</hi> iii. 37.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'>The vestal Oppia was put to +death because the diviners attributed +to her unchastity certain +<q>prodigies in the heavens,</q> 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.)</note> 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 +<pb n='408'/><anchor id='Pg408'/> +in some districts almost deserted.<note place='foot'>Pliny, in his famous letter to +Trajan about the Christians, notices +that this had been the case in +Bithynia.</note> 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. <q>If the +Tiber ascends to the walls,</q> says Tertullian, <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, <q>The Christians to the lions!</q></q><note place='foot'>Tert. <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> xl. See, too, Cyprian, +<hi rend='italic'>contra Demetrian.</hi>, and Arnobius, +<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> lib. i.</note> +<q>There is no rain—the Christians are the cause,</q> had become +a popular proverb in Rome.<note place='foot'>St. Aug. <hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, ii. 3.</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='409'/><anchor id='Pg409'/> +death, and their deaths were pronounced to be Divine punishments.<note place='foot'>Instances of this kind are given +by Tertullian <hi rend='italic'>Ad Scapulam</hi>, and the +whole treatise <hi rend='italic'>On the Deaths of the +Persecutors</hi>, 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. (<hi rend='italic'>Remarks +on Eccles. Hist.</hi> vol. i. p. 432.)</note> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Milman, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. of Early Christianity</hi> +(ed. 1867), vol. ii. p. 327. <q>It was +a standing argument of Athanasius, +that the death of Arius was a sufficient +refutation of his heresy.</q>—Ibid. +p. 382.</note> 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 +<pb n='410'/><anchor id='Pg410'/> +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 <q>the city of +God</q> 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.<note place='foot'>Socrates, <hi rend='italic'>Eccl. Hist.</hi>, vii. 30.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Greg. Tur. ii. 30, 31. Clovis +wrote to St. Avitus, <q>Your faith is +our victory.</q></note> +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.<note place='foot'>Milman's <hi rend='italic'>Latin Christianity</hi> +(ed. 1867), vol. ii. pp. 236-245.</note> A Bulgarian prince was driven into the Church by +the terror of a pestilence, and he speedily effected the conversion +of his subjects.<note place='foot'>Ibid. vol. iii. p. 248.</note> The destruction of so many +<pb n='411'/><anchor id='Pg411'/> +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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xl.</note> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Novell. lii. Theodos. +<hi rend='italic'>De Judæis, Samaritanis, et Hæreticis</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Milman's <hi rend='italic'>Latin Christianity</hi> +vol. ii. p. 354.</note> Bodin, +in a later age, considered that the early death of the sovereign +<pb n='412'/><anchor id='Pg412'/> +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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Démonomanie des Sorciers</hi>, p. +152.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See a curious instance in +Bayle's <hi rend='italic'>Dictionary</hi>, art. <q>Vergerius.</q></note> 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> +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.<note place='foot'>Pliny, Ep. x. 43. Trajan noticed +that Nicomedia was peculiarly turbulent. +On the edict against the +hetæriæ, or associations, see <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> +x. 97.</note> 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 +<pb n='413'/><anchor id='Pg413'/> +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> +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 <q>enemies</q> or <q>haters of the human race.</q> 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 +<pb n='414'/><anchor id='Pg414'/> +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> +But, in addition to the general charges, specific accusations<note place='foot'>All the apologists are full of +these charges. The chief passages +have been collected in that very +useful and learned work, Kortholt, +<hi rend='italic'>De Calumniis contra Christianos</hi>. +(Cologne, 1683.)</note> +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, +<pb n='415'/><anchor id='Pg415'/> +and emancipated the most depraved of mankind. +Noble lives, crowned by heroic deaths, were the best arguments +of the infant Church.<note place='foot'>Justin Martyr tells us it was +the brave deaths of the Christians +that converted him. (<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> ii. 12.)</note> 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,<note place='foot'>Peregrinus.</note> or the beautiful simplicity +of their worship than by Pliny,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> x. 97.</note> or their ardent +charity than by Julian.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> ii.</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='416'/><anchor id='Pg416'/> +were regarded as a sect of Jews; and the Jews, on account +of their continual riots, their inextinguishable hatred of the +Gentile world,<note place='foot'><p>Juvenal describes the popular +estimate of the Jews:— +</p> +<p> +<q>Tradidit arcano quodcunque volumine Moses;<lb/> +Non monstrare vias, eadem nisi sacra colenti,<lb/> +Quæsitum ad fontem solos deducere verpos.</q> +</p> +<p> +<hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> xix. 102-105. +</p> +<p> +It is not true that the Mosaic law +contains these precepts.</p></note> 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,<note place='foot'>See Merivale's <hi rend='italic'>Hist. of Rome</hi>, +vol. viii. p. 176.</note> whose cup of bitterness they were destined +<pb n='417'/><anchor id='Pg417'/> +through long centuries to fill to the brim, the Jews laboured +with unwearied hatred to foment by calumnies the passions +of the Pagan multitude.<note place='foot'>See Justin Martyr, <hi rend='italic'>Trypho</hi>, +xvii.</note> 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, +<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.</q><note place='foot'>Justin Martyr, <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> i. 26.</note> +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.<note place='foot'>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, <hi rend='italic'>Primitive +Christianity</hi>, part ii. ch. v.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Epiphanius, <hi rend='italic'>Adv. Hær.</hi> 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.</note> The +<pb n='418'/><anchor id='Pg418'/> +heretics, in their turn, gladly accused the Catholics;<note place='foot'>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. <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> i. 21-22.) They +also accused St. Athanasius of +murder and unchastity, both of +which charges he most triumphantly +repelled. (Ibid. i. 30.)</note> 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> +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.<note place='foot'>The great exertions and success +of the Christians in making +female converts is indignantly +noticed by Celsus (<hi rend='italic'>Origen</hi>) and by +the Pagan interlocutor in Minucius +Felix (<hi rend='italic'>Octavius</hi>), 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 <q>a prostitute +than a Christian.</q> (<hi rend='italic'>Ad Nationes</hi>, +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. (<hi rend='italic'>Ad +Scapul.</hi> 3.)</note> The graphic +title of <q>Earpicker of ladies,</q><note place='foot'><q>Matronarum Auriscalpius.</q> +The title was given to Pope St. +Damasus. See Jortin's <hi rend='italic'>Remarks +on Ecclesiastical History</hi>, 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. Eccl.</hi> ii. 17) gives +a curious account of the energetic +proceedings of the Roman ladies +upon the exile of Pope Liberius.</note> 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 +<pb n='419'/><anchor id='Pg419'/> +all religious matters, as the very foundation of domestic +morality, no character could appear more infamous or more +revolting. <q>A wife,</q> said Plutarch, expressing the deepest +conviction of the Pagan world, <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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Conj. Præcept.</hi> 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.</note> 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<note place='foot'>Pliny, in his letter on the +Christians, notices that their assemblies +were before daybreak. +Tertullian and Minucius Felix +speak frequently of the <q>nocturnes +convocationes,</q> or <q>nocturnes +congregationes</q> 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: <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Octavius.</hi> +Tertullian, in exhorting the Christian +women not to intermarry with +Pagans, gives as one reason that +they would not permit them to +attend this <q>nightly convocation.</q> +(<hi rend='italic'>Ad Uxorem</hi>, 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 <q>servant of the devil.</q></note> 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 +<pb n='420'/><anchor id='Pg420'/> +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: +<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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Civ. Dei</hi>, xix. 23.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>The policy of the Romans +with reference to magic has been +minutely traced by Maury, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. de +la Magie</hi>. 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, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. of +Church in the Second and Third +Cent.</hi> p. 26.) But this is mere conjecture.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See the picture of the sentiments of the Pagans on this matter, +in Plutarch's noble <hi rend='italic'>Treatise on +Superstition</hi>.</note> These fears +<pb n='421'/><anchor id='Pg421'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Thus Justin Martyr: <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 1. +18-19. Arnobius has stated very +forcibly the favourite argument +of many later theologians: <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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Adv. +Gentes</hi>, lib. i</note> Enquiry, among the early theologians, was much +less valued than belief,<note place='foot'>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, <q>Do not examine, +but believe only.</q> According to +the latter, <q>the sum of their wisdom +was comprised in this single precept, +believe.</q> 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 <hi rend='italic'>Free +Enquiry</hi>, Introd. pp. xcii, xciii.</note> 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 +<pb n='422'/><anchor id='Pg422'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='italic'>De Lapsis</hi>. +Persons, when excommunicated, +were also said to have been sometimes +visibly possessed by devils. +See Church, <hi rend='italic'>On Miraculous Powers +in the First Three Centuries</hi>, pp. +52-54.</note> To the indignation excited by such +teaching was probably due a law of Marcus Aurelius, which +decreed that <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.</q><note place='foot'><q>Si quis aliquid fecerit, quo +leves hominum animi superstitione +numinis terrerentur, Divus Marcus +hujusmodi homines in insulam +relegari rescripsit,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Dig.</hi> xlviii. +tit. 19, l. 30.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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, +<pb n='423'/><anchor id='Pg423'/> +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,<note place='foot'>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 +<hi rend='italic'>Primitive Christianity</hi>, part i. c. v.; +Kortholt, <hi rend='italic'>De Calumniis contra +Christianos</hi>; Barbeyrac, <hi rend='italic'>Morale des +Pères</hi>, c. xvii.; Tillemont, <hi rend='italic'>Mém. +ecclésiast.</hi> tome vii. pp. 354-355; +Ceillier, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. des Auteurs sacrés</hi>, +tome iii. pp. 531-533. The Council +of Illiberis found it necessary to +make a canon refusing the title of +<q>martyr</q> to those who were executed +for these offences.</note> 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 +<pb n='424'/><anchor id='Pg424'/> +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> +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, <q>My little children, love one another;</q> 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.<note place='foot'>The first of these anecdotes +is told by St. Jerome, the second +by St. Clement of Alexandria, the +third by St. Irenæus.</note> All that fierce hatred +<pb n='425'/><anchor id='Pg425'/> +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.<note place='foot'>The severe discipline of the +early Church on this point has +been amply treated in Marshall's +<hi rend='italic'>Penitential Discipline of the Primitive +Church</hi> (first published in 1714, +but reprinted in the library of +Anglo-Catholic theology), and in +Bingham's <hi rend='italic'>Antiquities of the Christian +Church</hi>, vol. vi. (Oxford, 1855). +The later saints continually dwelt +upon this duty of separation. Thus, +<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.</q>—Tillemont, <hi rend='italic'>Mém. +Ecclés.</hi> tome xii. p. 367.</note> +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!<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Cyprian, <hi rend='italic'>De Unit. +Eccles.</hi></note> Even +<pb n='426'/><anchor id='Pg426'/> +in the arena the Catholic martyrs withdrew from the Montanists, +lest they should be mingled with the heretics in +death.<note place='foot'>Eusebius, v. 16.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Confess.</hi> iii. 11. She was +afterwards permitted by a special +revelation to sit at the same table +with her son!</note> 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;<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xl.</note> 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,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xviii.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>Tertull. <hi rend='italic'>De Corona</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Milman's <hi rend='italic'>Hist. of Christianity</hi>, +vol. ii. pp. 116-125. It is remarkable +that the Serapeum of Alexandria +was, in the Sibylline books, +specially menaced with destruction.</note> 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 +<pb n='427'/><anchor id='Pg427'/> +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!<note place='foot'>Eunapius, <hi rend='italic'>Lives of the Sophists</hi>. +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. (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. +of Christianity</hi>, vol. iii. pp. 68-72.)</note> +</p> + +<p> +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. +<pb n='428'/><anchor id='Pg428'/> +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> +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> +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 +<pb n='429'/><anchor id='Pg429'/> +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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Apology</hi>, 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 <hi rend='italic'>Acts</hi> xxviii. 31.</note> An isolated +passage of Suetonius states that in the time of Claudius +<q>the Jews, being continually rioting, at the instigation of a +certain Chrestus,</q><note place='foot'><q>Judæos, impulsore Chresto, +assidue tumultuantes, Roma expulit.</q>—Sueton. +<hi rend='italic'>Claud.</hi> xxv. This +banishment of the Jews is mentioned +in <hi rend='italic'>Acts</hi> 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, <hi rend='italic'>Chrestus</hi>: +<q>Eum immutata litera Chrestum +solent dicere.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Div. Inst.</hi> iv. 7.</note> 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 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 64.<note place='foot'>This persecution is fully described +by Tacitus (<hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> xv. 44), +and briefly noticed by Suetonius +(<hi rend='italic'>Nero</hi>, xvi.).</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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 <q>haud +perinde in crimine incendii, quam +odio humani generis convicti;</q> and +it has been maintained that <q>hatred +of the human race</q> 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 +(<hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> 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 +<hi rend='italic'>Bulletino d'Archeologia Cristiana</hi> +(Roma, Dec. 1865), which, however, +should be compared with the very +remarkable <hi rend='italic'>Compte rendu</hi> of M. +Aubé, <hi rend='italic'>Acad. des Inscrip. et Belles-lettres</hi>, +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 +(<hi rend='italic'>Eccl. Hist.</hi> i. p. 71) adopts the +opposite view, and appeals to the +passage in Tertullian (<hi rend='italic'>Ap.</hi> v.), in +which he speaks of <q>leges istæ ... +quas Trajanus ex parte frustratus +est, vitando inquiri Christianos,</q> 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.</note> It had also this peculiarity, that, being +<pb n='430'/><anchor id='Pg430'/> +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<note place='foot'>Ecclesiastical historians maintain, +but not on very strong evidence, +that the Church of Rome +was founded by St. Peter, <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 42 +or 44. St. Paul came to Rome +<hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 61.</note> 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 +<pb n='431'/><anchor id='Pg431'/> +Nero's garden.<note place='foot'>On this horrible punishment +see Juvenal, <hi rend='italic'>Sat.</hi> i. 155-157.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Lactantius, in the fourth century, +speaks of this opinion as +still held by some <q>madmen</q> (<hi rend='italic'>De +Mort. Persec.</hi> cap. ii.); but Sulp. +Severus (<hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> lib. ii.) speaks of it +as a common notion, and he says +that St. Martin, when asked about +the end of the world, answered, +<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.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Dial.</hi> +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. <hi rend='italic'>Nero</hi>, lvii.).</note> +</p> + +<p> +Nero died <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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.<note place='foot'>See the full description of it +in Rossi's <hi rend='italic'>Bulletino d'Archeol. +Crist.</hi> Dec. 1865. Eusebius (iii. 17) +and Tertullian (<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 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.</note> 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 +<pb n='432'/><anchor id='Pg432'/> +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.<note place='foot'>See a pathetic letter of Pliny, +lib. iii. <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> xi. and also lib. i. <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> +v. and the <hi rend='italic'>Agricola</hi> of Tacitus.</note> No measures, however, appear to have been +taken against the Christians till <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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.<note place='foot'>Euseb. iii. 20.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Sueton. +<hi rend='italic'>Domit.</hi> 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.</note> Perhaps, however, the +simplest explanation is the truest, and the persecution may +be ascribed to the antipathy which a despot like Domitian +<pb n='433'/><anchor id='Pg433'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Euseb. iii. 18.</note> Numbers, +we are told, <q>accused of conversion to impiety or Jewish rites,</q> +were condemned. Some were killed, and others deprived of +their offices.<note place='foot'>See the accounts of these +transactions in Xiphilin, the abbreviator +of Dion Cassius (lxvii. +14); Euseb. iii. 17-18. Suetonius +notices (<hi rend='italic'>Domit.</hi> xv.) that Flavius +Clemens (whom he calls a man +<q>contemptissimæ inertiæ</q>) was +killed <q>ex tenuissima suspicione.</q> +The language of Xiphilin, who +says he was killed for <q>impiety +and Jewish rites;</q> 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Hist. of Rome</hi>, +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.</note> Of the cessation of the persecution there are +two different versions. Tertullian<note place='foot'><q>Tentaverat et Domitianus, +portio Neronis de crudelitate; sed +qua et homo facile cœptum repressit, +restitutis etiam quos relegaverat.</q> +(<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 5.) It will be observed +that Tertullian makes no +mention of any punishment more +severe than exile.</note> and Eusebius<note place='foot'>Euseb. iii. 20.</note> 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,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>De Mort. Persec.</hi> iii.</note> and +<pb n='434'/><anchor id='Pg434'/> +this latter statement is corroborated by the assertion of +Dion Cassius, that Nerva, upon his accession, <q>absolved +those who were accused of impiety, and recalled the exiles.</q><note place='foot'>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.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 96, to the death of +Marcus Aurelius, in <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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> +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 <q>had never before occurred,</q> and was the result +of <q>new and strange decrees;</q> that the ancestors of the +emperor were accustomed to honour the Christian faith +<pb n='435'/><anchor id='Pg435'/> +<q>like other religions;</q> and that <q>Nero and Domitian alone</q> +had been hostile to it.<note place='foot'>Euseb. iv. 26. The whole of +this apology has been recently +recovered, and translated into +Latin by M. Renan in the <hi rend='italic'>Spicilegium +Solesmense</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 5.</note> 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: <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.</q><note place='foot'>Lactant. <hi rend='italic'>De Mort. Persec.</hi> 3-4.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 +<pb n='436'/><anchor id='Pg436'/> +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> +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 <q>absolved those who had been convicted +<pb n='437'/><anchor id='Pg437'/> +of impiety,</q> and <q>permitted no one to be convicted of impiety +or Jewish rites.</q> 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, <q>not doubting that a pertinacious obstinacy +deserved punishment.</q> 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 <q>discovered +nothing but a base and immoderate superstition.</q> +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, +<pb n='438'/><anchor id='Pg438'/> +and that no anonymous accusations should be received against +them.<note place='foot'>Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> x. 97-98.</note> In this reign there are two authentic instances of +martyrdom.<note place='foot'>Euseb. lib. iii.</note> 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,<note place='foot'>There is a description of this +earthquake in Merivale's <hi rend='italic'>Hist. of +the Romans</hi>, vol. viii. pp. 155-156. +Orosius (<hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> vii. 12) thought it +was a judgment on account of the +persecution of the Christians.</note> 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> +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.<note place='foot'>Eusebius, iv. 8-9. See, too, +Justin Martyr, <hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> i. 68-69.</note> His disposition towards the Christians was so +pacific as to give rise to a legend that he intended to +<pb n='439'/><anchor id='Pg439'/> +enrol Christ among the gods;<note place='foot'>This is mentioned incidentally +by Lampridius in his <hi rend='italic'>Life of A. +Severus</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See this very curious letter in +Vopiscus, <hi rend='italic'>Saturninus</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Justin Mart. <hi rend='italic'>Ap.</hi> i. 31. Eusebius +quotes a passage from Hegesippus +to the same effect. (iv. 8.)</note> 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.<note place='foot'><q>Præcepitque ne cui Judæo +introeundi Hierosolymam esset licentia, +Christianis tantum civitate +permissa.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Oros.</hi> vii. 13.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'>A letter which Eusebius gives +at full (iv. 13), and ascribes to +Antoninus Pius, has created a good +deal of controversy. Justin Mart. +(<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> i. 71) and Tertullian (<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> +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.)</note> 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 +<pb n='440'/><anchor id='Pg440'/> +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,<note place='foot'>It is alluded to by Minucius Felix.</note> +while Justin Martyr is said to have perished by the machinations +of the Cynic Crescens.<note place='foot'>Eusebius, iv. 16.</note> It must be added, too, that, +<pb n='441'/><anchor id='Pg441'/> +while it is impossible to acquit the emperor of having issued +severe edicts against the Christians,<note place='foot'>St. Melito expressly states +that the edicts of Marcus Aurelius +produced the Asiatic persecution.</note> 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> +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.<note place='foot'>Eusebius, iv. 15.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See the most touching and +horrible description of this persecution +in a letter written by the +Christians of Lyons, in Eusebius, +v. 1.</note> +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 +<pb n='442'/><anchor id='Pg442'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Sulpicius Severus (who was +himself a Gaul) says of their martyrdom +(<hi rend='italic'>H. E.</hi>, lib. ii.), <q>Tum +primum intra Gallias Martyria +visa, serius trans Alpes Dei religione +suscepta.</q> 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 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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, <hi rend='italic'>Inscriptions +Chrétiennes de la Gaule</hi>.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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. +<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> 5.) The shower is mentioned +by Pagan as well as Christian +writers, and is portrayed on the +column of Antoninus. It was +<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.</q>—Merivale's +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. of Rome</hi>, vol. +viii. p. 338.</note> +</p> + +<p> +We may next consider, as a single period, the space of +time that elapsed from the death of Marcus Aurelius, in +<hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 180, to the accession of Decius, <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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, +<pb n='443'/><anchor id='Pg443'/> +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;<note place='foot'>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.</note> +yet a Christian philosopher named Apollonius, and at the +same time, by a curious retribution, his accuser, were in this +reign executed at Rome.<note place='foot'>Euseb. v. 21. The accuser, +we learn from St. Jerome, was a +slave. On the law condemning +slaves who accused their masters, +compare Pressensé, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. des Trois +premiers Siècles</hi> (2<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>me</hi> série), tome i. +pp. 182-183, and Jeremie's <hi rend='italic'>Church +History of Second and Third Centuries</hi>, +p. 29. Apollonius was of +senatorial rank. It is said that +some other martyrs died at the +same time.</note> 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 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 202 or 203, issued an +edict, forbidding any Pagan to join the Christian or Jewish +faith;<note place='foot'><q>Judæos fieri sub gravi pœna +vetuit. Idem etiam de Christianis +sanxit.</q>—Spartian. <hi rend='italic'>S. Severus</hi>. 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. (<hi rend='italic'>Ad Scapul.</hi> +4.)</note> and this edict was followed by a sanguinary persecution +<pb n='444'/><anchor id='Pg444'/> +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,<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Milman's <hi rend='italic'>Hist. +of Christianity</hi>, vol. ii. pp. 156-157.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Adv. Cels.</hi> iii. See Gibbon, +ch. xvi.</note> +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,<note place='foot'>Eusebius, vi. 28.</note> 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 +<pb n='445'/><anchor id='Pg445'/> +of the Jews and Christians in electing their clergy; he +ordered the precept <q>Do not unto others what you would not +that they should do unto you</q> 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.<note place='foot'>Lampridius, <hi rend='italic'>A. Severus</hi>. The historian adds, <q>Judæis privilegia +reservavit. Christianos esse passus est.</q></note> 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> +We have now reviewed the history of the persecutions to +the year <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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, +<pb n='446'/><anchor id='Pg446'/> +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.<note place='foot'>Compare Milman's <hi rend='italic'>History of +Early Christianity</hi> (1867), vol. ii. +p. 188, and his <hi rend='italic'>History of Latin +Christianity</hi> (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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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. <q>Rudibus +sæculis etiam in pace observata, +quæ nunc tantum in metu audiuntur.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> +i. 86.</note> In Christian times, the first objects +<pb n='447'/><anchor id='Pg447'/> +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.<note place='foot'>M. de Champagny has devoted +an extremely beautiful chapter (<hi rend='italic'>Les +Antonins</hi>, tome ii. pp. 179-200) to +the liberty of the Roman Empire. +See, too, the fifty-fourth chapter of +Mr. Merivale's <hi rend='italic'>History</hi>. 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.</note> Augustus, it is +true, had caused some volumes of forged prophecies to be +burnt,<note place='foot'>Sueton. <hi rend='italic'>Aug.</hi> xxxi. It appears +from a passage in Livy (xxxix. 16) +that books of oracles had been +sometimes burnt in the Republic.</note> 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 +<pb n='448'/><anchor id='Pg448'/> +literature was absolute.<note place='foot'>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. (<hi rend='italic'>Annal.</hi> iv. 34-35.) He +expressly terms this <q>novo ac tunc +primum audito crimine,</q> 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. <hi rend='italic'>Ad. +Marc.</hi> 1; Suet. <hi rend='italic'>Calig.</hi> 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. <hi rend='italic'>Aug.</hi> 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. <hi rend='italic'>De Ira</hi>, iii. 23.) +A similar magnanimity was shown +by most of the other emperors; +among others, by Nero. (Suet. +<hi rend='italic'>Nero</hi>, 39.) Under Vespasian, however, +a poet, named Maternus, was +obliged to retouch a tragedy on +Cato (Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>De Or.</hi> 2-3), and +Domitian allowed no writings opposed +to his policy. (Tacit. <hi rend='italic'>Agric.</hi>) +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 +<hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 321, those of Porphyry in <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> +388. Pope Gelasius, in <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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, +<hi rend='italic'>Essai historique sur la Liberté +d'Écrire</hi>; Villemain, <hi rend='italic'>Études de +Littèr. ancienne</hi>; Sir C. Lewis on +the <hi rend='italic'>Credibility of Roman Hist.</hi> vol. +i. p. 52; Nadal, <hi rend='italic'>Mémoire sur la +liberté qu'avoient les soldats romains +de dire des vers satyriques contre +ceux qui triomphoient</hi> (Paris 1725).</note> 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> +When we reflect that these were the circumstances of the +Church till the middle of the third century, we may readily +<pb n='449'/><anchor id='Pg449'/> +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.<note place='foot'>See a collection of passages +on this point in Pressensé, <hi rend='italic'>Hist. +des Trois premiers Siècles</hi> (2<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>me</hi> +série), tome i. pp. 3-4.</note> <q>There is no race of men, +whether Greek or barbarian,</q> said Justin Martyr, <q>among +whom prayers and thanks are not offered up in the name of +the crucified.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Trypho.</hi></note> <q>We are but of yesterday,</q> cried Tertullian, +<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.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> xxxvii.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Euseb. vi. 43.</note> +</p> + +<p> +The Decian persecution, which broke out in <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 249, and +was probably begun in hopes of restoring the Empire to +its ancient discipline, and eliminating from it all extraneous +<pb n='450'/><anchor id='Pg450'/> +and unpatriotic influences,<note place='foot'>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, <hi rend='italic'>De Paucitate Martyrum</hi>, +lii.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>St. Cyprian (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> vii.) and, at +a later period, St. Jerome (<hi rend='italic'>Vit. +Pauli</hi>), 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 +<q>Ad Lenonem</q> as substituted for +that of <q>Ad Leonem;</q> and St. Ambrose +recounts some strange stories +on this subject in his treatise <hi rend='italic'>De +Virginibus</hi>.</note> 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 +<pb n='451'/><anchor id='Pg451'/> +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.<note place='foot'>St. Cyprian has drawn a very +highly coloured picture of this general +corruption, and of the apostasy +it produced, in his treatise <hi rend='italic'>De +Lapsis</hi>, a most interesting picture +of the society of his time. See, +too, the <hi rend='italic'>Life of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus</hi>, +by Greg. of Nyssa.</note> 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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Tillemont, <hi rend='italic'>Mém. +d'Hist. ecclésiastique</hi>, tome iii. p. +324.</note> Its +<pb n='452'/><anchor id='Pg452'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>See St. Cyprian, <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> viii.</note> +The rage of the people was especially directed against the +bishop St. Cyprian, who prudently retired till the storm had +passed.<note place='foot'>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, <hi rend='italic'>De Fuga in Persecutione</hi>, +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 +<hi rend='italic'>Free Enquiry</hi>, pp. 101-105), +declared (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> ix.), and his +biographer and friend Pontius re-asserted +(<hi rend='italic'>Vit. Cyprianis</hi>), that his +flight was <q>by the command of +God.</q> 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 +<hi rend='italic'>Life</hi> by Gregory of Nyssa.)</note> In general, it was observed that the object of the +rulers was much less to slay than to vanquish the Christians. +<pb n='453'/><anchor id='Pg453'/> +Horrible tortures were continually employed to extort an +apostasy, and, when those tortures proved vain, great numbers +were ultimately released. +</p> + +<p> +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.<note place='foot'><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.</q>—Rossi, +<hi rend='italic'>Roma Sotterranea</hi>, tomo i. +p. 103.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>This is all fully discussed by +Rossi, <hi rend='italic'>Roma Sotterranea</hi>, tomo i. +pp. 101-108. Rossi thinks the +Church, in its capacity of burial +society, was known by the name of +<q>ecclesia fratrum.</q></note> 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 +<pb n='454'/><anchor id='Pg454'/> +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.<note place='foot'>See, on the history of early +Christian Churches, Cave's <hi rend='italic'>Primitive +Christianity</hi>, part i. c. vi.</note> 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> +The reign of Decius only lasted about two years, and +before its close the persecution had almost ceased.<note place='foot'>Dodwell (<hi rend='italic'>De Paucit. Martyr.</hi> +lvii.) has collected evidence of the +subsidence of the persecution in +the last year of the reign of Decius.</note> On the +accession of his son Gallus, in the last month of <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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.<note place='foot'>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 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> +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.</note> Two Roman bishops, Cornelius, who had succeeded +the martyred Fabianus, and his successor Lucius, were at +this time put to death.<note place='foot'>Lucius was at first exiled and +then permitted to return, on which +occasion St. Cyprian wrote him a +letter of congratulation (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> 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 (<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> li.) that +Decius would have preferred a +pretender to the throne to a +Bishop of Rome.</note> Valerian, who ascended the throne +<pb n='455'/><anchor id='Pg455'/> +<hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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 <q>the +Church of the Lord.</q><note place='foot'>Dionysius, Archbishop of +Alexandria; see Euseb. vii. 10.</note> 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 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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.<note place='foot'>Eusebius, vii. 10-12; Cyprian, +<hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> lxxxi. Lactantius says +of Valerian, <q>Multum quamvis +brevi tempore justi sanguinis fudit.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>De +Mort. Persec.</hi> c. v.</note> A sanguinary and general persecution +ensued. Among the victims were Sixtus, the Bishop +of Rome, who perished in the catacombs,<note place='foot'>Cyprian. <hi rend='italic'>Ep.</hi> lxxxi.</note> and Cyprian, who +was exiled, and afterwards beheaded, and was the first Bishop +of Carthage who suffered martyrdom.<note place='foot'>See his <hi rend='italic'>Life</hi> by the deacon +Pontius, which is reproduced by +Gibbon.</note> At last, Valerian, +having been captured by the Persians, Gallienus, in <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 260, +ascended the throne, and immediately proclaimed a perfect +toleration of the Christians.<note place='foot'>Eusebius, vii. 13.</note> +</p> + +<p> +The period from the accession of Decius, in <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 249, to +the accession of Gallienus, in <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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 +<pb n='456'/><anchor id='Pg456'/> +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. <q>So true +is this, that the Christians are never persecuted without the +sky manifesting at once the Divine displeasure.</q> The conception +of a converted Empire never appears to have flashed +across the mind of the saint;<note place='foot'>Tertullian had before, in a +curious passage, spoken of the impossibility +of Christian Cæsars. +<q>Sed et Cæsares credidissent super +Christo si aut Cæsares non essent +seculo necessarii, aut si et Christiani +potuissent esse Cæsares.</q>—<hi rend='italic'>Apol.</hi> +xxi.</note> 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. <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 +<pb n='457'/><anchor id='Pg457'/> +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.</q> 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.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Contra Demetrianum.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +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,<note place='foot'>Eusebius, vii. 30. Aurelian +decided that the cathedral at Antioch +should be given up to whoever +was appointed by the bishops of +Italy.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>Compare the accounts in Eusebius, +vii. 30, and Lactantius, <hi rend='italic'>De +Mort.</hi> c. vi.</note> 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 +<pb n='458'/><anchor id='Pg458'/> +were erected in every quarter, and they could scarcely contain +the multitude of worshippers.<note place='foot'>See the forcible and very candid description of Eusebius, viii. 1.</note> In Rome itself, before +the outburst of the Diocletian persecution, there were no less +than forty churches.<note place='foot'>This is noticed by Optatus.</note> 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> +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 +<pb n='459'/><anchor id='Pg459'/> +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> +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.<note place='foot'>See the vivid pictures in Lact. <hi rend='italic'>De Mort. Persec.</hi></note> +His strong attachment to Paganism made him at +<pb n='460'/><anchor id='Pg460'/> +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<note place='foot'>Lactant. <hi rend='italic'>De Mort. Persec.</hi> 15.</note>), 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.<note place='foot'>Eusebius, viii.</note> +</p> + +<p> +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 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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, +<pb n='461'/><anchor id='Pg461'/> +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.<note place='foot'>These incidents are noticed +by Eusebius in his <hi rend='italic'>History</hi>, and in +his <hi rend='italic'>Life of Constantine</hi>, and by +Lactantius, <hi rend='italic'>De Mort. Persec.</hi></note> 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 +<pb n='462'/><anchor id='Pg462'/> +fierceness till the abdication of Diocletian in 305. This +event almost immediately restored peace to the Western provinces,<note place='foot'><q>Italy, Sicily, Gaul, and whatever +parts extend towards the West,—Spain, +Mauritania, and Africa.</q>—Euseb. +<hi rend='italic'>Mart. Palest.</hi> 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.</note> +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 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 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.<note place='foot'>The history of this persecution +is given by Eusebius, <hi rend='italic'>Hist.</hi> lib. +viii., in his work on the <hi rend='italic'>Martyrs +of Palestine</hi>, and in Lactantius, +<hi rend='italic'>De Mort. Persec.</hi> The persecution +in Palestine was not quite continuous: +in <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 308 it had almost +ceased; it then revived fiercely, +but at the close of <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 309, and in +the beginning of <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 310, there +was again a short lull, apparently +due to political causes. See +Mosheim, <hi rend='italic'>Eccles. Hist.</hi> (edited by +Soames), vol. i. pp. 286-287.</note> +The era of persecution now closed. One brief +spasm, indeed, due to the Cæsar Maximian, shot through the +long afflicted Church of Asia Minor;<note place='foot'>Eusebius.</note> but it was rapidly +allayed. The accession of Constantine, the proclamation of +Milan, <hi rend='smallcaps'>a.d.</hi> 313, the defeat of Licinius, and the conversion of +<pb n='463'/><anchor id='Pg463'/> +the conqueror, speedily followed, and Christianity became the +religion of the Empire. +</p> + +<p> +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 <q>On the +Deaths of the Persecutors,</q> 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;<note place='foot'>See two passages, which Gibbon +justly calls remarkable. (<hi rend='italic'>H. E.</hi> +viii. 2; <hi rend='italic'>Martyrs of Palest.</hi> ch. +xii.)</note> 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 <q>a party pamphlet,</q> 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 +<pb n='464'/><anchor id='Pg464'/> +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.<note place='foot'>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 (<hi rend='italic'>Inst. Div.</hi> 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.</note> 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 +<pb n='465'/><anchor id='Pg465'/> +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> +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 +<pb n='466'/><anchor id='Pg466'/> +presidency of Torquemada alone,<note place='foot'>Mariana (<hi rend='italic'>De Rebus Hispaniæ</hi>, +xxiv. 17). Llorente thought this +number perished in the single year +1482; but the expressions of +Mariana, though he speaks of <q>this +beginning,</q> 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.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>This is according to the calculation +of Sarpi. Grotius estimates +the victims at 100,000.—Gibbon, +ch. xvi.</note> 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 +<pb n='467'/><anchor id='Pg467'/> +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.<note place='foot'>See some curious information +on this in Ticknor's <hi rend='italic'>Hist. of +Spanish Literature</hi> (3rd American +edition), vol. iii. pp. 236-237.</note> 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.<note place='foot'>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. (<hi rend='italic'>Eusebius</hi>, viii. 10.)</note> 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; +<pb n='468'/><anchor id='Pg468'/> +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> + +</body> +<back rend="page-break-before: right"> + <div id="footnotes"> + <index index="toc" /> + <index index="pdf" /> + <head>Footnotes</head> + <divGen type="footnotes"/> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: right"> + <divGen type="pgfooter" /> + </div> +</back> +</text> +</TEI.2> |