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diff --git a/39273.txt b/39273.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..58942be --- /dev/null +++ b/39273.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17176 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of European Morals From Augustus to +Charlemagne (Vol. 1 of 2) by William Edward Hartpole Lecky + + + +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 included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: History of European Morals From Augustus to Charlemagne (Vol. 1 of + 2) + +Author: William Edward Hartpole Lecky + +Release Date: March 25, 2012 [Ebook #39273] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS FROM AUGUSTUS TO CHARLEMAGNE (VOL. 1 OF 2)*** + + + + + + History of + + European Morals + + From Augustus to Charlemagne + + By + + William Edward Hartpole Lecky, M.A. + + Ninth Edition + + In Two Volumes + + Vol. 1. + + London + + Longmans, Green, And Co. + + 1890 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Advertisement To The Third Edition. +Preface. +Chapter I. The Natural History Of Morals. +Chapter II. The Pagan Empire. +Chapter III. The Conversion Of Rome. +Footnotes + + + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION. + + +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. + +_January 1877._ + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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 the moral questions connected +with the relations of the sexes. + +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 +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +LONDON: _March 1869_. + + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MORALS. + + +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, +Helvetius, and Bentham on the other. + +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. + +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 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 "the greatest happiness for the greatest number," is therefore +the highest aim of the moralist, the supreme type and expression of +virtue. + +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 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 "a moral sense," 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 "moral sense." 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.(1) A similar doctrine has more +recently been advocated by Mackintosh. 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 _ought_ to pursue, but also what is the meaning of this word "ought," +and from what source we derive the idea it expresses. + +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. + +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 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. + +Perhaps the lowest and most repulsive form of this theory is that which +was propounded by Mandeville, in his "Enquiry into the Origin of Moral +Virtue."(2) 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 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 "vice" whatever was injurious, and to eulogise as "virtue" +whatever was beneficial to society. + +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 "Fable of +the Bees," and in comments attached to it, himself advocated a thesis +altogether inconsistent with that I have described, maintaining that +"private vices were public benefits," 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. + +According to these writers we are governed exclusively by our own +interest.(3) Pleasure, they assure us, is the only good,(4) and moral good +and moral evil mean nothing more than our voluntary conformity to a law +that will bring it to us.(5) To love good simply as good, is +impossible.(6) When we speak of the goodness of God, we mean only His +goodness to us.(7) Reverence is nothing more than our conviction, that one +who has power to do us both good and harm, will only do us good.(8) 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.(9) 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.(10) 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 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.(11) Friendship is the sense of +the need of the person befriended.(12) + +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 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.(13) 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 "the means of +peaceable, sociable, and comfortable living."(14) Such are justice, +gratitude, modesty, 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.(15) 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.(16) + +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 imprudence or miscalculation.(17) 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.(18) 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.(19) If it could be shown that 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.(20) 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.(21) + +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,(22) these 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,(23) and virtue is simply prudence extending its +calculations beyond the grave.(24) This calculation is what we mean by the +"religious motive."(25) The belief that the nobility and excellence of +virtue could incite us, was a mere delusion of the Pagans.(26) + +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.(27) 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 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.(28) + +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,(29) has in modern times found many +adherents,(30) 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 same time too firmly convinced of the total +depravity of human nature to admit the existence of any trustworthy moral +sense.(31) + +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.(32) 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. "The good of mankind," he says, +"is the subject, the will of God the rule, and everlasting happiness the +motive and end of all virtue."(33) + +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 "ought" 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.(34) Locke divided them into +Divine rewards and punishments, legal penalties and social penalties;(35) +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.(36) + +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.(37) The two means by which this transformation has been effected +are the recognition of our unselfish or sympathetic feelings, and the +doctrine of the association of ideas. + +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 Helvetius 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;(38) 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,(39) though they 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. + +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 Aristotle,(40) 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.(41) Among moderns Locke has the merit of having +devised the phrase, "association of ideas;"(42) 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 "secondary desires," may +become as powerful as the former. "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."(43) +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,(44) 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 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 "secondary desires." 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 "means to happiness." These "means to happiness" 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.(45) + +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 present century.(46) 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.(47) + +The same phenomenon may be traced, it is said, in a multitude of other +forms.(48) 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.(49) 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.(50) 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, "when several children are educated together, the pains, the +denials of pleasure, and the sorrows which affect one gradually extend in +some degree to all;" and thus the suffering of others becomes associated +with the idea of our own, and the feeling of compassion is engendered.(51) +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.(52) 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 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,(53) 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.(54) + +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,(55) 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 +sufficient to engender a feeling which is the proximate cause of our +decision.(56) Alone, of all the moralists of this school, the disciple of +Hartley recognises conscience as a real and important element of our +nature,(57) and maintains that it is possible to love virtue for itself as +a form of happiness without any thought of ulterior consequences.(58) 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 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.(59) + +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.(60) There has been, indeed, +one attempt to emancipate the 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.(61) 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. + +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 greatest +possible enjoyment. If this be so, the term selfish is strictly applicable +to all the branches of this system.(62) 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.(63) +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, 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. + +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. + +"Psychology," it has been truly said, "is but developed +consciousness."(64) 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.(65) No man could consciously make +this--which according to the selfish theory is the only rational and indeed +possible motive of action--the deliberate 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 Moliere'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. + +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 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 "greatest happiness principle," purchase this large +amount of gratification to ourselves by a slight injury to our neighbours. +The political economy involved in this very characteristic 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. + +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 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.(66) 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 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. + +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 "the greatest +possible happiness" no one can precisely say. No two nations, perhaps no +two individuals, would find them the same.(67) And even if every virtuous +act were incontestably useful, it by no means follows that its virtue is +derived from its utility. + +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.(68) 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 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.(69) 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 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. "Aufer meretrices de rebus +humanis," said St. Augustine, "turbaveris omnia libidinibus."(70) + +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 +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 _because_ it is useful, it can +only be virtuous _when_ it is useful. The question of the morality of a +large number of acts must therefore depend upon the probability of their +detection,(71) 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. + +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 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.(72) + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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.(73) 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.(74) + +The first reflection suggested by this theory is, that it 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(75) +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.(76) And supposing that 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. + +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. + +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 freer social intercourse,(77) 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?(78) + +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 of slavish "fear of the gods," 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 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. +"Why is it," said Luther's wife, looking sadly back upon the sensuous +creed which she had left, "that in our old faith we prayed so often and so +warmly, and that our prayers are now so few and so cold?"(79) 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, "You have deprived me of my God."(80) + +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 +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.(81) + +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. + +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?(82) 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. + +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. + +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 fantastic +diseases that suggest irresistibly the notion of present daemons; 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. + +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? + +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.(83) +It is 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.(84) + +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, "to the heart," by +appealing not to self-interest, but to that Divine element of +self-sacrifice which is latent in every soul.(85) The reality of this +moral nature is the one great 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 archaeology, +and religion but an exercise of the imagination. + +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.(86) 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 "moral hero" 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.(87) + +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.(88) 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 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, "In much wisdom is much grief, and he that +increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." 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. + +Nor is it otherwise in the realm of morals.(89) The virtue which is most +conducive to happiness is plainly that which 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.(90) 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.(91) 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 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. + +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. + +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.(92) + +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 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 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. + +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.(93) 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 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 "ought" 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. + +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 spoken +of in the writings of moral philosophers,(94) 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. + +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 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. + +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 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.(95) + +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, 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. + +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 "Man of Sorrows." + +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 +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 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. + +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 Helvetius to assert that the +original faculties of all men were precisely the same, all the difference +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 "Pity is but the imagination of future calamity to +ourselves, produced by the sense of another man's calamity;"(96) 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;(97) 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;(98) each of these theories, +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. + +And here I may observe that the term inductive, like most others that are +employed in moral philosophy, may give 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.(99) 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.(100) + +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 aesthetic +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. + +If this simple, but often neglected, consideration be borne 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 "a +moral sense," but what Shaftesbury had regarded as a moral "taste." 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 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 "perfect obligation," 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 +aesthetical judgments. + +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 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 aesthetical 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 body were beautiful. Always, too, the objects of aesthetical +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. + +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. + +Many diversities, however, both of moral and aesthetical 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 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;(101) 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 +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, "blue being altogether ridiculous +for regimentals, except in the blue guards and artillery;" 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.(102) + +It has been said(103) that "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." This position I conceive to be +altogether untenable. Our aesthetical 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, +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. + +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 "beautiful" +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.(104) +Besides this, as the Stoics and Butler have shown, the position 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 +"if it had might as it has right, it would govern the world."(105) 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. + +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. + +If we suppose a being from another sphere, who derived his conceptions +from a purely rational process, without the 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.(106) 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 taste lowers, and the second elevates him in +his own eyes, and in those of his neighbours. + +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 _nobler_ character inclines him to +the other. + +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. + +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 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.(107) + +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 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,(108) 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. + +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 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,(109) 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 anaesthetic 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 causes +from which most sufferings glance almost unfelt. It is said that when an +ancient was asked "what use is philosophy?" he answered, "it teaches men +how to die," 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.(110) 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. + +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. + +This distinction of kind has been neglected or denied by most utilitarian +writers;(111) and although an attempt has recently 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 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. + +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 constitute a very important part of +the history of morals, I shall make no apology for noticing them in some +detail. + +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. + +Thus again the question of the criminality of abortion has been +considerably affected by physiological speculations as to the time when +the foetus 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 legislations it is +treated as a distinct being from the moment of conception.(112) It is +obvious that the solution of such questions, though affecting our moral +judgments, must be sought entirely outside the range of moral feelings. + +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. + +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, "that the husband +has an absolute authority over his wife; it is for him to condemn and +punish her, if she has been guilty of any shameful act, such as drinking +wine or committing adultery."(113) 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. + +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 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. + +Another form of moral paradox is derived from the fact that positive +religions may override our moral perceptions in 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. + +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 "pernicious superstition," 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 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 +daemonism, and daemonism 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 enunciate a proposition which is palpably +self-contradictory they call it a mystery and an occasion for faith. + +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. + +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 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 aesthetical 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. + +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 daemon 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 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.(114) + +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 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. + +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,(115) 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 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.(116) 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,(117) 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. + +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.(118) To such 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. + +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 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. + +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;(119) 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 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 Judaea, +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.(120) In the midst of the sensuality of ancient Greece, chastity +was the pre-eminent attribute of sanctity ascribed to Athene and Artemis. +"Chaste daughter of Zeus," prayed the suppliants in AEschylus, "thou whose +calm eye is never troubled, look down upon us! Virgin, defend the +virgins." 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 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 "to honour God by their continence."(121) 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.(122) "For altar and hearth" 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.(123) We find it in the legend of Claudia, who, 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,(124) in the law which sheltered them from the +degradation of an execution,(125) in the language of Statius, who +described marriage itself as a fault.(126) 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 of our +being is a low and a degraded side, it reflects, I believe, with perfect +fidelity the feelings of our nature.(127) + +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.(128) If there have +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. + +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 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 "counsels of perfection." 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. + +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 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.(129) +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 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.(130) 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. Yet he will still pursue that +enterprise, and mankind will pronounce it to be good. + +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. + +Ascetic practices are manifestly and rapidly disappearing, and their +decline is a striking proof of the evanescence of 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, 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? + +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 principles. Individual feeling or the general +sentiment of society must draw the application. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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.(131) But the fact, that in these cases considerations of +extreme utility are suffered to override 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. + +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.(132) 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.(133) +They 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 Helvetius 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. + +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 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.(134) 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, 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.(135) + +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 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,(136) 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 _a priori_ and ideas which are +received _a posteriori_. 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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +In the next place, we may observe that the practical consequences, so far +as ethics are concerned,(137) 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.(138) On the other hand, in +the 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.(139) 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. + +Having now considered at some length the nature and 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. + +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 +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.(140) 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.(141) In savage life the animal 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. + +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;(142) 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.(143) 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 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 Caesar 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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, "How guilty should _I_ be, were I to +perpetrate such an act?" 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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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 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. + +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 "fair play" 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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, 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 mediaeval 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. + +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,(144) 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. + +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.(145) 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 +aesthetical 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. + +In addition to the very important influence upon public morals which +climate, I think, undoubtedly exercises in 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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.(146) 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 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 oecumenical a genius, or +expounds so skilfully, or appreciates so generously, foreign ideas. In +hardly any other land 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. + +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 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 Fenelon, 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +Of the two elements that compose the moral condition of mankind, our +generalised knowledge is almost restricted to 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 +anaesthetics 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, 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 mediaeval 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,(147) +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 would thus form the complement to the labours of +the historian. + +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. + + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE PAGAN EMPIRE. + + +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. + +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.(148) Plato, for the same reason, banished the +poets from his republic. Stilpo turned to ridicule the whole system of +sacrifices,(149) and was exiled from Athens for denying that the Athene of +Phidias was a goddess.(150) Xenophanes remarked that each nation +attributed to the gods its distinctive national type, the gods of the +AEthiopians being black, the gods of the Thracians fair and blue-eyed.(151) +Diagoras and Theodorus are said to have denied, and Protagoras to have +questioned the existence of the gods,(152) 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.(153) The Stoics, reproducing +an opinion which was supported by Aristotle and attributed to +Pythagoras,(154) 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. + +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,(155) 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 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,(156) 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.(157) 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.(158) More than a hundred +years before the Empire, Varro had declared that "the soul of the world is +God, and that its parts are true divinities."(159) Virgil and Manilius +described, in lines of singular beauty, that universal spirit, the +principle of all life, the efficient cause of all motion, which permeates +and animates the globe. Pliny said that "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."(160) +Cicero had adopted the higher Platonic conception of the Deity as mind +freed from all taint of matter,(161) while Seneca celebrated in +magnificent language "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."(162) +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.(163) 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 +daemons. 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 +would be all in all. The very children and old women ridiculed Cerberus +and the Furies(164) or treated them as mere metaphors of conscience.(165) +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.(166) Before the time of Constantine, numerous books had been +written against the oracles.(167) 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.(168) 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.(169) Cato wondered that two +augurs could meet with gravity.(170) The Roman general Sertorius made the +forgery of auspicious omens a continual resource in warfare.(171) The +Roman wits made divination the favourite subject of their ridicule.(172) +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,(173) while Ovid made these fables the theme +of his mocking _Metamorphoses_, 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.(174) 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,(175) well suited to aid the devotions of the ignorant. Seneca(176) +and the whole school of Pythagoras objected to the sacrifices. + +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.(177) 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.(178) The Academic Cicero +and the Epicurean Caesar were both high officers of religion. The Stoics +taught that every man should duly perform the religious ceremonies of his +country.(179) + +But the Roman religion, even in its best days, though an 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,(180) 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. + +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 enforced,(181) was exchanged for a luxury which first +appeared after the return of the army of Manlius from Asia,(182) increased +to immense proportions after the almost simultaneous conquests of +Carthage, Corinth, and Macedonia,(183) received an additional stimulus +from the example of Antony,(184) and at last, under the Empire, rose to +excesses which the wildest Oriental orgies have never surpassed.(185) 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.(186) When Germanicus died, the populace stoned or +overthrew the altars of the gods.(187) 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.(188) Amid the corruption of the Empire, we meet with many noble +efforts of reform made by philosophers or by emperors, but we find +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.(189) 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.(190) 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, "May you have a daughter +like her whom you have described!"(191) 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.(192) 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, 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.(193) 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.(194) 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. + +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 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 _summum bonum_ 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. + +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 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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +"Whenever," said Plutarch, "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."(195) + +Passages of this kind continually occur in the ancient moralists,(196) 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,(197) 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 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.(198) 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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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, "what one +utility has created, another will often destroy." + +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.(199) It was admitted, but only to a subsidiary place, by the +Stoics,(200) and has passed more or less 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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.(201) 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, "virtue was a sentence of death." 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 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.(202) If Ennius could +elicit the plaudits of a theatre when he proclaimed that the gods took no +part in human affairs, Caesar could assert in the senate, without scandal +and almost without dissent, that death was the end of all things.(203) +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.(204) 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 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,(205) 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,(206) to the denial of the existence of the +reward.(207) Panaetius, the founder of Roman stoicism, maintained that the +soul perished with the body,(208) and his opinion was followed by +Epictetus,(209) and Cornutus.(210) Seneca contradicted himself on the +subject.(211) 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.(212) Pagan +antiquity has bequeathed us few nobler treatises of morals than the "De +Officiis" of Cicero, which was avowedly an expansion of a work of +Panaetius.(213) 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.(214) + +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 "last infirmity of noble +minds"(215)--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.(216) +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;(217) of men like Cato, who +remained unmoved among the scoffs, the insults, and the ridicule of an +angry crowd.(218) 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, "though it were concealed from the eyes of gods +and men,"(219) and that no deeds are more laudable than those which are +done without ostentation, and far from the sight of men.(220) The writings +of the Stoics are crowded with sentences to the same effect. "Nothing for +opinion, all for conscience."(221) "He who wishes his virtue to be blazed +abroad is not labouring for virtue but for fame."(222) "No one is more +virtuous than the man who sacrifices the reputation of a good man rather +than sacrifice his conscience."(223) "I do not shrink from praise, but I +refuse to make it the end and term of right."(224) "If you do anything to +please men, you have fallen from your estate."(225) "Even a bad reputation +nobly earned is pleasing."(226) "A great man is not the less great when he +lies vanquished and prostrate in the dust."(227) "Never forget that it is +possible to be at once a divine man, yet a man unknown to all the +world."(228) "That which is beautiful is beautiful in itself; the praise +of man adds nothing to its quality."(229) 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 "who did nothing for ostentation, but all for conscience; who sought +the reward of virtue in itself, and not in the praise of man."(230) 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. "Pleasure," they argued, "is +the companion, not the guide, of our course."(231) "We do not love virtue +because it gives us pleasure, but it gives us pleasure because we love +it."(232) "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."(233) "To ask to be paid for virtue is as if the +eye demanded a recompense for seeing, or the feet for walking."(234) In +doing good, man "should be like the vine which has produced grapes, and +asks for nothing more after it has produced its proper fruit."(235) 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. + +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 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 nature +of a disease(236)--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 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. "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."(237) + +Cicero, in a sentence which might be adopted as the motto of Stoicism, +said that Homer "attributed human qualities to the gods; it would have +been better to have imparted divine qualities to men." 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, 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,(238) treated it as an involuntary disease, +and declared that the only legitimate ground of punishment is +prevention.(239) 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, "I never supposed that I had +begotten an immortal;"(240) 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 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,(241) 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. + +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,(242) though 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.(243) 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.(244) Brutus was one of the most extortionate +usurers of his time, and several citizens of Salamis died of starvation, +imprisoned because they could not pay the sum he demanded.(245) 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 "Pharsalia," ranks with the Epigrams of Martial as probably +the extreme limit of sycophancy to which Roman literature descended. + +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 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. + +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 +and of the Greek poets.(246) Homer continually represents courage, anger, +and the like, as the direct inspiration of Heaven. AEschylus, 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 AEgisthus, 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, "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?" + +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. "We boast justly of our own virtue," said the eclectic Cicero, +"which we could not do if we derived it from the Deity and not from +ourselves." + +"All mortals judge that fortune is to be received from the gods and wisdom +from ourselves."(247) 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. "He gives life, he gives wealth; an untroubled mind I secure +for myself."(248) "The calm of a mind blest in the consciousness of its +virtue," was the expression of supreme felicity the Epicureans had derived +from their master.(249) 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.(250) "Pray," said Juvenal, "for a healthy mind in +a healthy body. Ask for a brave soul unscared by death.... But there are +things you can give yourself."(251) "Misfortune, and losses, and calumny," +said Seneca, "disappear before virtue as the taper before the sun."(252) +"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."(253) "Except for immortality," +he elsewhere writes, "the sage is like to God."(254) "It is the +characteristic of a wise man," added Epictetus, "that he looks for all his +good and evil from himself."(255) "As far as his rational nature is +concerned, he is in no degree inferior to the gods."(256) + +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 "a detached fragment of the +Deity,"(257) or as at least pervaded and accompanied by a divine energy. +"There never," said Cicero, "was a great man, without an inspiration from +on high."(258) "Nothing," said Seneca, "is closed to God. He is present in +our conscience. He intervenes in our thoughts."(259) "I tell thee, +Lucilius," he elsewhere writes, "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."(260) "Offer to the God that is in thee," said Marcus Aurelius, "a +manly being, a citizen, a soldier at his post ready to depart from life as +soon as the trumpet sounds."(261) "It is sufficient to believe in the +Genius who is within us, and to honour him by a pure worship."(262) + +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 the Platonic maxim, "follow God," 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. "To weep, to complain, to groan, is to +rebel;"(263) "to fear, to grieve, to be angry, is to be a deserter."(264) +"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."(265) "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?"(266) "God does not keep +a good man in prosperity; He tries, He strengthens him, He prepares him +for Himself."(267) "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."(268) With a beautiful outburst of submissive +gratitude, Marcus Aurelius exclaims, "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."(269) + +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 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,(270) 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.(271) +Aristotle may be almost said to have made the difference between Greek and +barbarian the basis of his moral code. 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;(272) 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.(273) + +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;(274) 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 Cicero declared that "all virtue is in +action."(275) 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.(276) 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. + +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.(277) 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. "The +Stoics," as Bacon has said, "bestowed too much cost on death, and by their +preparations made it more fearful."(278) There is a profound wisdom in the +maxims of Spinoza, that "the proper study of a wise man is not how to die, +but how to live," and that "there is no subject on which the sage will +think less than death."(279) 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. + +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.(280) + +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 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. + +Such were the leading topics that were employed in that beautiful +literature of "Consolations," 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 "Consolations," and he based it +not upon philosophical grounds, but upon the testimonies of the oracles, +and upon the mysteries of Bacchus.(281) 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 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,(282) 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. "Accustom +yourself," said Epicurus, "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?"(283) "Souls either remain after death," said +Cicero, "or they perish in death. If they remain they are happy; if they +perish they are not wretched."(284) Seneca, consoling Polybius concerning +the death of his brother, exhorts his friend to think, "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."(285) + +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 daemons, 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 represent scenes of infernal torments, not +unlike those of the mediaeval frescoes.(286) 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 "On Superstition," 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.(287) 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.(288) The swan was consecrated +to Apollo because its dying song was believed to spring from a prophetic +impulse.(289) The Spanish Celts raised temples, and sang hymns of praise +to death.(290) No 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.(291) 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 "the most precious of +his possessions, the image of his life."(292) Titus on his deathbed +declared that he could remember only a single act with which to reproach +himself.(293) 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 +"aequanimitas."(294) Julian, the last great representative of his expiring +creed, caught up the same majestic strain. Amid 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.(295) + +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 mediaeval 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 "a law and not a punishment;"(296) 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 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. "No funeral +sacrifices" said a great writer of the first school, "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."(297) "Whosoever shall tell us," said a distinguished +exponent of the patristic theology, "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, 'by one man's offence condemnation came upon all men to +condemnation.' To which condemnation infants are born liable as all the +Church believes."(298) 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 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;(299) by the priests the opposite opinion was +deemed equally censurable.(300) + +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,(301) its dogmatic 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. + +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, 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. + +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 "to depart from their guard or +station in life without the order of their commander, that is, of +God."(302) 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.(303) +Aristotle condemned it on civic grounds, as being an injury to the +State.(304) The roll of Greek suicides is not long, though it contains +some illustrious names, among others those of Zeno and Cleanthes.(305) In +Rome, too, where suicide acquired a greater prominence, its lawfulness was +by no means accepted as an axiom, and the story of Regulus, whether it be +a history or a legend, shows that the patient endurance of suffering was +once the supreme ideal.(306) Virgil painted in gloomy colours the +condition of suicides in the future world.(307) Cicero strongly asserted +the doctrine of Pythagoras, though he praised the suicide of Cato.(308) +Apuleius, expounding the philosophy of Plato, taught that "the wise man +never throws off his body except by the will of God."(309) Caesar, Ovid, +and others urged that in extreme distress it is easy to despise life, and +that true courage is shown in enduring it.(310) 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 "the passion +for suicide", that had arisen among his disciples.(311) Marcus Aurelius +wavers a little on the subject, sometimes asserting the right of every man +to leave life when he pleases, sometimes inclining to the Platonic +doctrine that man is a soldier of God, occupying a post which it is +criminal to abandon.(312) Plotinus and Porphyry argued strongly against +all suicide.(313) + +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 "to weigh +carefully, whether they would prefer death to come to them, or would +themselves go to death;"(314) and among his disciples, Lucretius, the +illustrious poet of the sect, died by his own hand,(315) as did also +Cassius the tyrannicide, Atticus the friend of Cicero,(316) the voluptuary +Petronius,(317) and the philosopher Diodorus.(318) 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,(319) 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.(320) +One of the most striking figures that a passing notice of Cicero brings +before us, is that of Hegesias, who was surnamed by the ancients "the +orator of death." 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.(321) + +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,(322) 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,(323) 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 other and still more +horrible roads to freedom,(324) the custom of compelling political +prisoners to execute their own sentence, and, more than all, the +capricious and atrocious tyranny of the Caesars,(325) 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. "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."(326) "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."(327) "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 +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."(328) + +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.(329) It had 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.(330) 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.(331) 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.(332) On the death of +Otho, some of his soldiers, filled with grief and admiration, killed +themselves before his corpse,(333) as did also a freedman of Agrippina, at +the funeral of the empress.(334) 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.(335) A Roman, unmenaced in his +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.(336) 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.(337) 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.(338) Most frequently, however, death was +regarded as "the last physician of disease,"(339) and suicide as the +legitimate relief from intolerable suffering. "Above all things," said +Epictetus, "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."(340) Seneca declared that +he who waits the extremity of old age is not "far removed from a coward," +"as he is justly regarded as too much addicted to wine who drains the +flask to the very dregs." "I will not relinquish old age," he added, "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."(341) "Just as a +landlord," said Musonius, "who has not received his rent, pulls 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."(342) + +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.(343) 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.(344) 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 +together, plunged into a lake.(345) 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.(346) + +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. 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, attracted partly by political events, and +partly by the patronage of Scipio AEmilianus, 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 Panaetius 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. + +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. + +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 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 Caesar 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 of the prevailing worship of enjoyment, it is only +in the passionate intensity with which they dwelt upon the tranquillity of +the tomb. + +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. + +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 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 "no Athenian had ever worn mourning on his account;" +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.(347) + +But while the Greek spirit was from a very early period 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 +"Conquest of Miletus" he had represented the triumph of barbarians over +Greeks.(348) His successor, AEschylus, 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,(349) 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,(350) 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 created in Alexandria a great centre both of commercial +intercourse and of philosophical eclecticism.(351) + +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,(352) and although the poems of Ennius, and the "Origines" +of Marcus Cato, contributed largely to improve and fix the Latin language, +the precedent was not at once discontinued.(353) After the conquest of +Greece, the political ascendancy of the Romans and the intellectual +ascendancy of Greece were alike universal.(354) The conquered 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.(355) 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.(356) The theatre, which now +started into sudden life, was borrowed altogether from the Greeks. Ennius +and Pacuvius imitated Euripides; Caecilius, Plautus, Terence, and Naevius +devoted themselves chiefly to Menander. Even the lover in the days of +Lucretius painted his lady's charms in Greek.(357) 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. + +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 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 +Caesar, 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 Caesar, and afterwards of Antony, rose from the +position of mule-driver to the command of a Roman army, and at last to the +consulate,(358) which was also attained, about 40 B.C., by the Spaniard +Cornelius Balbus.(359) 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 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.(360) + +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 Caesar, to the +amazement and scandal of the Romans, Gauls of this province obtained seats +in the senate.(361) 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 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.(362) The entrancing beauties +of Como and of Tempe, the luxurious manners of Baiae 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 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,(363) and their manners and creed +spread widely among the people.(364) The Carthaginian Apuleius,(365) 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. + +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 +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.(366) 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.(367) 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 reveal to them their strength would be to place the city at their +mercy.(368) 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.(369) "There was," as has been well said, "a +circulation of men from all the universe. Rome received them slaves, and +sent them back Romans."(370) + +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.(371) + +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, 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 "line of +cleavage," 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. + +It will appear evident, from the foregoing sketch, that the period which +elapsed between Panaetius 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 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. + +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 +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 "charity to the human race,"(372) 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,(373) 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. "This whole world," he tells us, "is to be regarded as the common +city of gods and men."(374) "Men were born for the sake of men, that each +should assist the others."(375) "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."(376) "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."(377) "Nature has inclined us to love men, and +this is the foundation of the law."(378) 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 "the human race will cast aside its weapons, and when all nations +will learn to love."(379) "The whole universe," said Seneca, "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."(380) "What is a Roman +knight, or freedman, or slave? These are but names springing from ambition +or from injury."(381) "I know that my country is the world, and my +guardians are the gods."(382) "You are a citizen," said Epictetus, "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."(383) "An +Antonine," said Marcus Aurelius, "my country is Rome; as a man, it is the +world."(384) + +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.(385) And their doctrine was perfectly consistent +with the original principles of their school. + +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 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.(386) 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,(387) 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, 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:--"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." + +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, 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. + +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. + +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,(388) and Stoicism itself was only adapted to the Roman character +after it had been simplified by Panaetius.(389) Although the system could +never free itself altogether from that hardness which rendered it so +unsuited for an advanced civilisation, it 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. + +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 "the gods favoured the conquering cause, but Cato the +conquered," or when Seneca described "the fortune of Sulla" as "the crime +of the gods," 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 +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. "The first thing to +learn," said the former, "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."(390) "To have God for our maker and +father and guardian, should not that emancipate us from all sadness and +from all fear?"(391) "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.(392) 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."(393) + +The same religious character is exhibited, if possible, in a still greater +degree in the "Meditations" of Marcus Aurelius; but in one respect the +ethics of the emperor differ 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.(394) 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. + +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 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.(395) Pythagoras urged his disciples daily to examine +themselves when they retired to rest,(396) and this practice soon became a +recognised part of the Pythagorean discipline.(397) It was introduced into +Rome with the school before the close of the Republic. It was known in the +time of Cicero(398) and Horace.(399) 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,(400) expressly tells us that it was from Sextius he learnt +the practice.(401) 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 infirmities of character. Plutarch, in a beautiful treatise on +"The Signs of Moral Progress," 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, "Happy her husband!"(402) 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. + +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.(403) Very few men have ever lived concerning whose inner +life we can speak so confidently. His "Meditations," 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,(404) 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.(405) 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,(406) the careful gratitude with which, in a camp in Hungary, +he recalled every moral obligation he could trace, even to the most +obscure of his tutors,(407) his anxiety to avoid all pedantry and +mannerism in his conduct,(408) and to repel every voluptuous imagination +from his mind,(409) his deep sense of the obligation of purity,(410) his +laborious efforts to correct a habit of drowsiness into which he had +fallen, and his self-reproval when he had yielded to it,(411) 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. "Never hope," he once wrote, "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?"(412) He promulgated many +laws inspired by a spirit of the purest benevolence. He 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. "Men were made for men; correct +them, then, or support them."(413) "If they do ill, it is evidently in +spite of themselves and through ignorance."(414) "Correct them if you can; +if not, remember that patience was given you to exercise it in their +behalf."(415) "It would be shameful for a physician to deem it strange +that a man was suffering from fever."(416) "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?"(417) "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."(418) "It is +right that man should love those who have offended him. He will do so when +he remembers that all men are his relations, and that it is through +ignorance and involuntarily that they sin--and then we all die so +soon."(419) + +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.(420) 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 "Meditations" do not display the keen +aesthetical 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, and been cheered by so little illusion +of success. "There is but one thing," he wrote, "of real value--to +cultivate truth and justice, and to live without anger in the midst of +lying and unjust men."(421) + +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.(422) 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,(423) 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 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.(424) Shortly before his +death he dismissed his attendants, and, after one last interview, his son, +and he died as he long had lived, alone.(425) + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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.(426) 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 dragged +forth by an unseen hand. A patrician named Laetorius, 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.(427) An +Asiatic town, named Cyzicus, was deprived of its freedom by Tiberius, +chiefly because it had neglected the worship of Augustus.(428) 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,(429) 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. + +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, "I think I am becoming a god."(430) +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.(431) Caligula, however, who appears to have been +literally deranged,(432) 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,(433) 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.(434) 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.(435) + +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,(436) 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.(437) 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.(438) A man in this reign was +accused of high treason for having sold an image of the emperor with a +garden.(439) 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,(440) and at a later period a woman, it is +said, was actually executed for undressing before the statue of +Domitian.(441) + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 "those who thought only of liberty +deserved to be Romans."(442) 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.(443) 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.(444) 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 Caesars. + +It must be remembered, too, that while public spirit had 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. + +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,(445) 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, "Divine Providence made the country, but human art +the town."(446) The reforms of Vespasian consisted chiefly 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. + +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. + +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 most emphatic terms,(447) 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.(448) 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.(449) Many serious efforts were made to +remedy the evil.(450) 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 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. + +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.(451) 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.(452) Marius abolished the +property qualification of the recruits.(453) 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.(454) 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 Praetorian guard, and +dignified with some special privileges, permanently in Rome, while the +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.(455) 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.(456) +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.(457) But other and still +more powerful causes were in 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 Praetorian guard, which was long exclusively Italian, was +selected after Septimus Severus from the legions on the frontiers,(458) +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +These games, which long eclipsed, both in interest and in influence, every +other form of public amusement at Rome,(459) were originally religious +ceremonies celebrated at the tombs of the great, and intended as human +sacrifices to appease the Manes of the dead.(460) They were afterwards +defended as a means of sustaining the military spirit by the constant +spectacle of courageous death,(461) and with this object it was customary +to give a gladiatorial show to soldiers before their departure to a +war.(462) 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.(463) The games are said to have +been of Etruscan origin; they were first introduced into Rome, B.C. 264, +when the two sons of a man named Brutus compelled three pair of gladiators +to fight at the funeral of their father,(464) 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.(465) The rivalry of +Caesar 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.(466) Caesar 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.(467) +Besides this innovation, Caesar 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,(468) and +drew so many gladiators into the city that the Senate was obliged to issue +an enactment restricting their number.(469) In the earliest years of the +Empire, Statilius Taurus erected the first amphitheatre of stone.(470) +Augustus ordered that not more than 120 men should fight on a single +occasion, and that no praetor should give more than two spectacles in a +single year,(471) and Tiberius again fixed the maximum of combatants,(472) +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.(473) 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 +"lanistae," 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.(474) The children imitated them in their play.(475) The +philosophers drew from them their metaphors and illustrations. The artists +pourtrayed them in every variety of ornament.(476) The vestal virgins had +a seat of honour in the arena.(477) 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. + +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 Fidenae.(478) Under +Nero, the Syracusans obtained, as a special favour, an exemption from the +law which limited the number of gladiators.(479) Of the vast train of +prisoners brought by Titus from Judea, a large proportion were destined by +the conqueror for the provincial games.(480) 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,(481) and on a single occasion Agrippa caused +1,400 men to fight in the amphitheatre at Berytus.(482) Greece alone was +in 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, "You must first +overthrow the altar of Pity."(483) The games are said to have afterwards +penetrated to Athens, and to have been suppressed by Apollonius of +Tyana;(484) but with the exception of Corinth, where a very large foreign +population existed, Greece never appears to have shared the general +enthusiasm.(485) + +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.(486) 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 small +influence in stimulating the orgies of sensuality which Tacitus and +Suetonius describe. + +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.(487) + +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. + +We now look back with indignation upon this indifference; 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.(488) 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 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.(489) 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.(490) + +Besides this, the mere desire for novelty impelled the people to every +excess or refinement of barbarity.(491) 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.(492) Lions, tigers, elephants, +rhinoceroses, 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.(493) Eight hundred pair fought at the triumph +of Aurelian.(494) Ten thousand men fought during the games of Trajan.(495) +Nero illumined his gardens during the night by Christians burning in their +pitchy shirts.(496) Under Domitian, an army of feeble dwarfs was compelled +to fight,(497) and, more than once, female gladiators descended to perish +in the arena.(498) A criminal personating a fictitious character was +nailed to a cross, and there torn by a bear.(499) Another, representing +Scaevola, was compelled to hold his hand in a real flame.(500) A third, as +Hercules, was burnt alive upon the pile.(501) So intense 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 "he never +supped without human blood."(502) + +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. + +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 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,(503) 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.(504) A band of +gladiators, faithful even to death, followed the fortunes of the fallen +Antony, when all besides had deserted him.(505) 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.(506) +We read of gladiators lamenting that the games occurred so seldom,(507) +complaining bitterly if they were not permitted to descend into the +arena,(508) scorning to fight except with the most powerful +antagonists,(509) laughing aloud as their wounds were dressed,(510) and at +last, when prostrate in the dust, calmly turning their throats to the +sword of the conqueror.(511) 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,(512) +while the tranquil courage with which they never failed to die supplied +the philosopher with his most striking examples.(513) 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.(514) 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.(515) + +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 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 "a kind of second human nature,"(516) they +perceived the atrocity of exposing them in the games, and an edict of the +emperor forbade it.(517) The third had been condemned to death, and as the +victorious gladiator was at least sometimes pardoned,(518) 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.(519) 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, "that the gladiatorial +spectacles appear to some cruel and inhuman," and, he adds, "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 presented to the eye."(520) 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.(521) 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.(522) 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, +"Would to Heaven it were possible to abolish such spectacles, even at +Rome!"(523) and, above all, Marcus Aurelius, who, by compelling the +gladiators to fight with blunted swords, rendered them for a time +comparatively harmless.(524) 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 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,(525) and Pliny especially eulogised Trajan +because he did not patronise spectacles that enervate the character, but +rather those which impel men "to noble wounds and to the contempt of +death."(526) 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: "After so general a request, to have refused would not +have been firmness--it would have been cruelty."(527) Even in the closing +years of the fourth century, the praefect 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 "impious hands," but endeavoured to calm his feelings by recalling +the patience of Socrates and the precepts of philosophy.(528) + +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, 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,(529) 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.(530) 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.(531) 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.(532) 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.(533) The same +contrast appears more or 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.(534) 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.(535) 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.(536) 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;(537) +Caligula was too curious in watching death;(538) Caracalla, when a boy, +won enthusiastic plaudits by shedding tears at the execution of +criminals.(539) 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 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.(540) The standard of +humanity was very low, but the sentiment was still manifest, though its +displays were capricious and inconsistent. + +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 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. + +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.(541) 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 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.(542) + +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, "that the sage should take part in public +life,"(543) 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,(544) +but they more 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. + +A third and still more important service which Stoicism rendered to +popular morals was in the formation of Roman jurisprudence.(545) 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. "To rule the nations" 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 repeat by rote the +code of the decemvirs.(546) 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,(547) 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. "As far as natural law is concerned," said Ulpian, +"all men are equal."(548) "Nature," said Paul, "has established among us a +certain relationship."(549) "By natural law," Ulpian declared, "all men +are born free."(550) "Slavery" was defined by Florentinus as "a custom of +the law of nations, by which one man, contrary to the law of nature, is +subjected to the dominion of another."(551) 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.(552) + +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;(553) 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,(554) and the 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. + +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. + +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 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.(555) It was the boast of the lawyers that in no other +nation had the parent so great an authority over his children.(556) 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.(557) + +There can, I think, be little question that this law, at least in the +latter period of its existence, defeated its own 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.(558) + +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,(559) 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.(560) Infanticide was +forbidden, though 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,(561) 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.(562) + +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 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.(563) 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.(564) By the pontifical law, +slaves were exempted from field labours on the religious festivals.(565) +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.(566) + +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.(567) + +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(568) 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. "As many enemies as slaves," 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.(569) + +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 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.(570) + +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 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.(571) 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,(572) though some masters permitted their slaves to dispose of it +by will.(573) 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.(574) 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.(575) 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,(576) 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 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.(577) +Epictetus passed at once from slavery to the friendship of an +emperor.(578) 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.(579) 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.(580) 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. + +The duty of humanity to slaves had been at all times one of those which +the philosophers had most ardently inculcated. Plato and Aristotle, Zeno +and Epicurus, were, on this point, substantially agreed.(581) 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.(582) +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.'(583) 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 Caesars. 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. + +Under all these influences many laws were promulgated 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.(584) +Under Claudius, some citizens exposed their sick slaves on the island of +AEsculapius 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.(585) It is +possible that succour was afforded to the abandoned slave in the temple of +AEsculapius,(586) 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.(587) 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.(588) +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 lanistae, or speculators in gladiators; +destroyed the ergastula, or private prisons; ordered that, when a master +was murdered, those slaves only should be tortured who were within +hearing;(589) 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.(590) 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. + +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.(591) They had their special +exhortations 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,(592) 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,(593) while a system of popular +preaching was created and widely diffused. + +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 "monks of Stoicism,"(594) 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,(595) 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 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, "he +should love those who beat him, for he is at once the father and the +brother of all men." + +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.(596) They +had cultivated the histrionic 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.(597) 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. + +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 daemon of Socrates, +the Platonic notions of the Divinity, the duty of prayer, the end of +philosophy, and the ethics of love.(598) 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.(599) 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 +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.(600) + +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 "Attic Nights" 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 Helvetius bear to the +Parisian society on the eve of the Revolution. Helvetius, it is said, +collected the materials for his great work on "Mind" chiefly from the +conversation of the drawing-rooms of Paris at a time when that +conversation had attained a degree of perfection which even Frenchmen had +never before equalled. He wrote in the age of the "Encyclopaedia," 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;(601) 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.(602) 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 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,(603) 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.(604) 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.(605) The study of +etymologies had risen into great favour, and curious questions of grammar +and pronunciation 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.(606) 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:--"You have +what you have not lost; you have not lost horns, therefore you have +horns." "You are not what I am. I am a man; therefore you are not a +man."(607) 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.(608) Above all, they delighted in cases of +conscience, which they discussed with the subtilty of the schoolmen. + +Lactantius has remarked that the Stoics were especially noted for the +popular or democratic character of their teaching.(609) 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.(610) The very +generation which saw Marcus Aurelius on the throne, saw also the +extinction of the influence of his sect. + +The internal causes of the decadence of Stoicism, though very powerful, +are insufficient to explain this complete 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. + +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. + +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 in favour of the latter, and the type of Stoicism was +then necessarily discarded. + +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.(611) + +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 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 daemons 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 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. + +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 daemons. 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. "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."(612) +On the other hand, 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. + +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 +"Zeus is that most ancient and guiding mind that begot all things--Athene +is prudence--Apollo is the sun."(613) Like Plutarch, he developed the +Platonic doctrine of daemons 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. "The gods," he assures us, "themselves need no images," but the +infirmity of human nature requires visible signs "on which to rest." +"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." 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. "The God," he +continues, "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 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."(614) + +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 daemons. "These daemons," he says, +"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 'Banquet,' 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."(615) 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. "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 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."(616) + +There are many aspects in which these attempts at religious reform are +both interesting and important. They are interesting, because the doctrine +of daemons, 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. 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. + +"The Egyptian deities," it was observed by Apuleius, "were chiefly +honoured by lamentations, and the Greek divinities by dances."(617) 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. + +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,(618) 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 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. "To bring the God that is in us +into conformity with the God that is in the universe," 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. "The greatest +of all evils," we are told, "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."(619) "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."(620) + +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 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. "The end of man," said Pythagoras, "is God." +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.(621) +The process of reasoning is here not only useless, but pernicious. "An +innate knowledge of the gods is implanted in our minds prior to all +reasoning."(622) 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 him from material objects, overawe and elevate his mind, and +quicken his realisation of the Divine presence.(623) + +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.(624) The Stoics had taught that +all virtue was vain that did not issue in action. Even Epictetus, in his +portrait of the 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,(625) 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 "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." 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. "What use," he asked, "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."(626) But the Neoplatonists, though they sometimes +spoke of civic 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 "to +contemplate the sun, the stars, and the course of nature, and that this +contemplation was wisdom," was accepted as an epitome of their +philosophy.(627) 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 +praetor, 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.(628) + +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.(629) 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 transformation,(630) resolved all moral +discipline into theurgy, and sacrificed all reasoning to faith.(631) +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 daemons 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.(632) 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 "a city +of God" 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.(633) The incredulity of Lucretius, Caesar, and Pliny had +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. + +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. + +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 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 Panaetius 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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +Such were the influences which acted in turn upon a society which, by +despotism, by slavery, and by atrocious 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. + +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. + + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE CONVERSION OF ROME. + + +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 "an +execrable superstition;" 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 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. + +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,(634) 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 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. + +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,(635) who were notorious as the most sordid, the most +turbulent,(636) and the most unsocial(637) 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.(638) Christianity, in +the eyes of the philosopher, was simply a sect of Judaism. + +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. + +On the first of these theories it will not, I think, be 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.(639) The humane character of the later Stoical teaching 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. + +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 +mediaeval 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;(640) 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 to which this +question had given rise,(641) 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 "from every fear of God and man;" 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 "an accursed race."(642) One man, +indeed, there was 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 "Meditations" his contempt for the Christian +martyrs.(643) + +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.(644) While the writers of one school apologised for the +murder of Socrates, described the martyred Greek as the 'buffoon of +Athens,'(645) and attributed his inspiration to diabolical influence;(646) +while they designated the writings of the philosophers as "the schools of +heretics," 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 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 "seminal Logos," which from the earliest times had +existed in the world, had inspired teachers like Socrates and Musonius, +who had been persecuted by the daemons, and had received in Christianity +its final and perfect manifestation.(647) 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,(648) the influence of which many of the +early Christians traced in every department of ancient wisdom. Plato had +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.(649) Pythagoras, moreover, had been himself a +circumcised Jew.(650) 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.(651) + +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, it was answered that the daemons 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.(652) 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. + +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, it may be advisable to enter at some little length into +the broad question of the evidence of the miraculous. + +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 +Abbe 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,(653) their deliberate 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 +mediaeval times, but nearly all the contemporary writers from whom we +derive our knowledge of those periods were convinced that they were. + +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. + +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 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 _prima facie_ case, and ensure a patient and +respectful investigation of the subject. + +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. + +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 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 aerolite, 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. + +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 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. + +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 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 daemons 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. + +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 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 animalculae; 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 +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 "plagues of rain and water" sent on account of our +sins, and of "scarcity and dearth, which we most justly suffer for our +iniquity." Corresponding language is employed about the forms of 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 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. + +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 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 Cannae, 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 of the most manifest instances of special interposition on +record. + +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. + +That such a method is not ordinarily adopted must be manifest to all. As +Bacon said, men "mark the hits, but not the misses;" 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 offered.(654) As the old philosopher observed, +the votive tablets of those who escaped are suspended in the temple, while +those who were shipwrecked are forgotten. + +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.(655) 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 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. + +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 +mediaeval 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 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 daemons to perplex and bewilder +us with unmeaning dreams. + +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 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.(656) 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.(657) 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.(658) It was unshaken by 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.(659) Yet there is now 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. + +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 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.(660) 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.(661) In +obedience to dreams, the great Emperor Augustus went begging money through +the streets of Rome,(662) and the historian who records the act himself +wrote to Pliny, entreating the postponement of a trial.(663) The stroke of +the lightning was an augury,(664) 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.(665) Tiberius, who professed to be a complete freethinker, had +greater faith in laurel leaves.(666) Caligula was accustomed during a +thunderstorm to creep beneath his bed.(667) During the games in honour of +Julius Caesar, a comet appearing for seven days in the sky, the people +believed it to be the soul of the dead,(668) and a temple was erected in +its honour.(669) 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, that the more prodigies are believed, the more they are +announced.(670) 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.(671) Earthquakes 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.(672) Pythagoras is said to have attributed them to the +strugglings of the dead.(673) 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.(674) 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.(675) A few chapters later he professes his unhesitating belief +in the ominous character of comets.(676) The notions, too, of magic and +astrology, were detached from all theological belief, and might be found +among many who were absolute atheists.(677) + +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 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;(678) how elephants celebrate their +religious ceremonies;(679) how the stag draws serpents by its breath from +their holes, and then tramples them to death;(680) 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;(681) 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.(682) 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.(683) It is certain that to anoint the eyes with spittle is +a sovereign remedy against ophthalmia.(684) If a pugilist, having struck +his adversary, spits into his own hand, the pain he caused instantly +ceases. If he spits into his hand before striking, the blow is the more +severe.(685) 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.(686) It was in 1727 and the two following years, that scientific +observations made at Rochefort and at Brest finally dissipated the +delusion.(687) + +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 "Meditations" of Marcus Aurelius +closed the period of Stoical influence, and the "Dialogues" of Lucian were +the last solitary protest of expiring scepticism.(688) The aim of the +philosophy of Cicero had been to ascertain truth 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.(689) A similar power, notwithstanding his own disclaimer, was +popularly attributed to the Platonist Apuleius.(690) Lucian has left us a +detailed account of the impostures by which the philosopher Alexander +endeavoured to acquire the fame of a miracle-worker.(691) When a magician +plotted against Plotinus, his spells recoiled miraculously against +himself; and when an Egyptian priest endeavoured by incantations to evoke +the guardian daemon of the philosopher, instead of a daemon the temple of +Isis was irradiated by the presence of a god.(692) Porphyry was said to +have expelled an evil daemon from a bath.(693) 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.(694) 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.(695) 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.(696) + +Christianity floated into the Roman Empire on the wave of credulity that +brought with it this long train of Oriental 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,(697) 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 daemons 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 +daemons had taken their places; and without a single exception the Fathers +maintained the reality of the Pagan miracles as fully as their own.(698) +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,(699) 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 Judaea 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. + +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.(700) When 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 Judaea, 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 +Irenaeus, 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,(701) 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 daemons that it had been made a capital offence +to read them.(702) Clement of Alexandria preserved the tradition that St. +Paul had urged the brethren to study them.(703) Celsus designated the +Christians Sibyllists, on account of the pertinacity with which they +insisted upon them.(704) Constantine the Great adduced them in a solemn +speech before the Council of Nice.(705) St. Augustine notices that the +Greek word for a fish, which, containing the initial letters of the name +and titles of Christ, had been adopted by the Early Church as its sacred +symbol, contains also the initial letters of some prophetic lines ascribed +to the Sibyl of Erythra.(706) The Pagans, it is true, accused their +opponents of having forged or interpolated these prophecies;(707) 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.(708) 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. + +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 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,(709) 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 mediaeval legends. Few things are more striking than the assertions +hazarded on this matter by some of the ablest of the Fathers. Thus, St. +Irenaeus 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.(710) 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.(711) 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 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.(712) +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 daemons, +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.(713) + +Statements of this kind, which are selected from very 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 daemon, 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 daemons +was known either to the Greeks or Romans till about the time of the advent +of Christ.(714) 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 daemon 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 devil, to prove that it had really left his +victim, threw down a cup of water which had been placed at a +distance.(715) 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;(716) 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 exorcists, to silence the +oracles, to compel the daemons to confess the truth of the Christian faith. +Sometimes their power extended still further. Daemons, we are told, were +accustomed to enter into animals, and these also were expelled by the +Christian adjuration. St. Jerome, in his "Life of St. Hilarion," has given +us a graphic account of the courage with which that saint confronted, and +the success with which he relieved, a possessed camel.(717) 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.(718) St. Gregory +Thaumaturgus having expelled the daemons 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 "Satan, return," which was +immediately obeyed, and the priest, awe-struck by the miracle, was +converted to Christianity.(719) 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 possessed by a +daemon 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 daemons 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.(720) Justin Martyr,(721) +Origen,(722) Lactantius,(723) Athanasius,(724) and Minucius Felix,(725) +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 daemons would not expel daemons, it was the +only miracle which was necessarily divine. + +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, 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 daemons, and who was +the most strenuous defender of the oracles, treats the whole class of +superstitions to which exorcism belongs with much contempt.(726) 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 daemons.(727) Lucian +declares that every cunning juggler could make his fortune by going over +to the Christians and preying upon their simplicity.(728) Celsus described +the Christians as jugglers performing their tricks among the young and the +credulous.(729) The most decisive evidence, however, we possess, is a law +of Ulpian, directed, it is thought, against the Christians, which condemns +those "who use incantations or imprecations, or (to employ the common word +of impostors) exorcisms."(730) Modern criticism has noted a few facts +which may throw some light upon this obscure subject. It has been observed +that the 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.(731) + +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. + +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 Poppaea 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,(732) the 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.(733) +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.(734) Commodus, Caracalla, and Heliogabalus were passionately +devoted to them.(735) 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. + +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 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. "With the +heart man believeth unto righteousness;" "He that doeth the will of my +Father will know the doctrine, whether it be of God;" "Unless you believe +you cannot understand;" "A heart naturally Christian;" "The heart makes +the theologian," 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 +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. + +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 daemons, 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, 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.(736) 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;(737) 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.(738) How, indeed, should he not be envied? He had passed away +into eternal bliss. He had left upon earth an abiding name. By the +"baptism of blood" the sins of a life had been in a moment effaced. + +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 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 "the wheat +of God," they panted for the day when they should be "ground by the teeth +of wild beasts into the pure bread of Christ!" 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.(739) 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 from thrusting themselves into the +hands of the persecutors.(740) 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.(741) Two illustrious Pagan moralists and one profane Pagan +satirist have noticed this passion with a most unpleasing scorn. "There +are some," said Epictetus, "whom madness, there are others, like the +Galilaeans, whom custom, makes indifferent to death."(742) "What mind," +said Marcus Aurelius, "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."(743) "These wretches," said Lucian, +speaking of the Christians, "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."(744) + +"I send against you men who are as greedy of death as you are of +pleasures," were the words which, in after days, the 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;(745) 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. + +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 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 Judaea 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. + +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. + +It is manifest that the reasons that may induce a ruler to suppress by +force some forms of religious worship or opinion, 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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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.(746) 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. + +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 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 _ought_ 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 _did_ 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. + +They were partly political and partly religious. The Governments in most +of the ancient States, in the earlier 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,(747) 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. + +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,(748) and its principal ceremonies were performed at the direct +command of the Senate. The national theory on religious matters was that +the best religion 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,(749) and whose +fierce rebellions it was thought necessary to crush, the teachers of all +national religions continued unmolested by the conqueror. + +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.(750) For a similar reason all +rhetoricians had been banished from the Republic.(751) The most +remarkable, however, and at the same time the extreme expression of Roman +intolerance that has descended to us, is the advice which Maecenas is +represented as having given to Octavius Caesar, before his accession to the +throne. "Always," he said, "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 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."(752) + +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. + +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,(753) but on their own subjects they were wholly untrammelled. 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.(754) 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. + +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,(755) and in the +Republican days and the earliest days of the Empire there are many +instances of its being enforced. Thus, in A.U.C. 326, a severe drought +having led men to seek help from new gods, the Senate charged the aediles +to allow none but Roman deities to be worshipped.(756) Lutatius, soon +after the first Punic war, was forbidden by the Senate to consult foreign +gods, "because," said the historian, "it was deemed right the Republic +should be administered according to the national auspices, and not +according to those of other lands."(757) During the second Punic war, a +severe edict of the Senate enjoined the suppression of certain recent +innovations.(758) About A.U.C. 615 the praetor Hispalus exiled those who +had introduced the worship of the Sabasian Jupiter.(759) The rites of +Bacchus, being accompanied by gross and scandalous obscenity, were +suppressed, the consul, in a remarkable speech, calling upon the people to +revive the religious policy of their ancestors.(760) 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 AEmilius Paulus dispelled +their fears by seizing an axe and striking the first blow himself.(761) +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.(762) 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.(763) +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 added, with a characteristic +scorn, that if they died through the unhealthiness of the climate, it +would be but a "small loss."(764) + +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.(765) 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 "Holy City."(766) + +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 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.(767) 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.(768) The +religious opinions of men had but 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.(769) +Seneca, having recounted in the most derisive terms the absurdities of the +popular worship, concludes his enumeration by declaring that "the sage +will observe all these things, not as pleasing to the Divinities, but as +commanded by the law," and that he should remember "that his worship is +due to custom, not to belief."(770) Epictetus, whose austere creed rises +to the purest monotheism, teaches as a fundamental religious maxim that +every man in his devotions should "conform to the customs of his +country."(771) The Jews and Christians, who alone refused to do so, were +the representatives of a moral principle that was unknown to the Pagan +world. + +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 +"Sacred Majesty" 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. + +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.(772) + +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. + +The first cause of the persecution of the Christians was the religious +notion to which I have already referred. The 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.(773) 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.(774) 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 in some districts almost deserted.(775) Besides this, the Jews simply +abstained from and despised the religions around them. The Christians +denounced them as the worship of daemons, 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. "If the Tiber ascends to +the walls," says Tertullian, "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, 'The +Christians to the lions!' "(776) "There is no rain--the Christians are the +cause," had become a popular proverb in Rome.(777) 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. + +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 death, and +their deaths were pronounced to be Divine punishments.(778) 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.(779) 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 +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 "the city of God" 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.(780) 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.(781) 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.(782) A Bulgarian prince was driven into the +Church by the terror of a pestilence, and he speedily effected the +conversion of his subjects.(783) The destruction of so many 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.(784) 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.(785) 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.(786) Bodin, in a +later age, considered that the early death of the sovereign 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.(787) 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.(788) 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. + +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.(789) 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 +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. + +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 "enemies" or "haters of the human race." 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 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. + +But, in addition to the general charges, specific accusations(790) 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, and emancipated the most depraved of mankind. Noble lives, +crowned by heroic deaths, were the best arguments of the infant +Church.(791) 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,(792) or the +beautiful simplicity of their worship than by Pliny,(793) or their ardent +charity than by Julian.(794) 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. + +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 Agapae 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 were +regarded as a sect of Jews; and the Jews, on account of their continual +riots, their inextinguishable hatred of the Gentile world,(795) 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,(796) whose cup of bitterness they were destined through long +centuries to fill to the brim, the Jews laboured with unwearied hatred to +foment by calumnies the passions of the Pagan multitude.(797) 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, "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."(798) In a few years the language of +doubt and insinuation was exchanged for that of direct assertion; and, if +we may believe St. Irenaeus 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.(799) 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.(800) The heretics, in their turn, gladly accused the +Catholics;(801) 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. + +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.(802) The +graphic title of "Earpicker of ladies,"(803) 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 all religious matters, as +the very foundation of domestic morality, no character could appear more +infamous or more revolting. "A wife," said Plutarch, expressing the +deepest conviction of the Pagan world, "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."(804) 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(805) 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 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: "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."(806) + +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.(807) 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.(808) +These fears 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.(809) +Enquiry, among the early theologians, was much less valued than +belief,(810) 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 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.(811) To the +indignation excited by such teaching was probably due a law of Marcus +Aurelius, which decreed that "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."(812) + +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 daemon, could restrain their zeal, 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,(813) 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 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. + +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, "My little children, love one another;" 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.(814) All that fierce hatred 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.(815) 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!(816) Even in the +arena the Catholic martyrs withdrew from the Montanists, lest they should +be mingled with the heretics in death.(817) 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.(818) 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;(819) 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,(820) 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,(821) 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.(822) 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 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!(823) + +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. 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. + +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. + +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 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.(824) An isolated passage of Suetonius +states that in the time of Claudius "the Jews, being continually rioting, +at the instigation of a certain Chrestus,"(825) 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 A.D. 64.(826) 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.(827) It had also this peculiarity, +that, being 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(828) 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 Nero's garden.(829) 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.(830) + +Nero died A.D. 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.(831) 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 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.(832) No measures, +however, appear to have been taken against the Christians till A.D. 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.(833) 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.(834) Perhaps, however, the simplest explanation is +the truest, and the persecution may be ascribed to the antipathy which a +despot like Domitian 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.(835) Numbers, we are told, "accused of +conversion to impiety or Jewish rites," were condemned. Some were killed, +and others deprived of their offices.(836) Of the cessation of the +persecution there are two different versions. Tertullian(837) and +Eusebius(838) 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,(839) and this latter +statement is corroborated by the assertion of Dion Cassius, that Nerva, +upon his accession, "absolved those who were accused of impiety, and +recalled the exiles."(840) + +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 A.D. +96, to the death of Marcus Aurelius, in A.D. 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. + +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 "had never before occurred," and was the +result of "new and strange decrees;" that the ancestors of the emperor +were accustomed to honour the Christian faith "like other religions;" and +that "Nero and Domitian alone" had been hostile to it.(841) 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.(842) 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: "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."(843) + +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 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. + +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 "absolved +those who had been convicted of impiety," and "permitted no one to be +convicted of impiety or Jewish rites." 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, "not doubting that a pertinacious obstinacy deserved +punishment." 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 "discovered nothing but a base and immoderate +superstition." 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, and that no anonymous accusations should be +received against them.(844) In this reign there are two authentic +instances of martyrdom.(845) 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,(846) 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. + +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.(847) His disposition towards the Christians was so pacific as to +give rise to a legend that he intended to enrol Christ among the +gods;(848) 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.(849) 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.(850) 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.(851) + +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.(852) 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 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,(853) while Justin Martyr is said to have perished by the +machinations of the Cynic Crescens.(854) It must be added, too, that, +while it is impossible to acquit the emperor of having issued severe +edicts against the Christians,(855) 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. + +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.(856) 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.(857) 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 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.(858) 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.(859) + +We may next consider, as a single period, the space of time that elapsed +from the death of Marcus Aurelius, in A.D. 180, to the accession of +Decius, A.D. 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, 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;(860) yet a Christian +philosopher named Apollonius, and at the same time, by a curious +retribution, his accuser, were in this reign executed at Rome.(861) 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 A.D. 202 or 203, issued an edict, forbidding any Pagan to join the +Christian or Jewish faith;(862) and this edict was followed by a +sanguinary persecution 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,(863) +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.(864) 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,(865) 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 of the Jews and Christians in electing their clergy; he +ordered the precept "Do not unto others what you would not that they +should do unto you" 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.(866) 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. + +We have now reviewed the history of the persecutions to the year A.D. 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, 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.(867) 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.(868) +In Christian times, the first objects 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.(869) Augustus, it is true, had caused +some volumes of forged prophecies to be burnt,(870) 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 literature was +absolute.(871) 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. + +When we reflect that these were the circumstances of the Church till the +middle of the third century, we may readily 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.(872) "There is no race of men, +whether Greek or barbarian," said Justin Martyr, "among whom prayers and +thanks are not offered up in the name of the crucified."(873) "We are but +of yesterday," cried Tertullian, "and we fill all your cities, islands, +forts, councils, even the camps themselves, the tribes, the decuries, the +palaces, the senate, and the forum."(874) 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.(875) + +The Decian persecution, which broke out in A.D. 249, and was probably +begun in hopes of restoring the Empire to its ancient discipline, and +eliminating from it all extraneous and unpatriotic influences,(876) 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.(877) 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 +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.(878) 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.(879) Its 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.(880) 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.(881) The rage of the people was especially +directed against the bishop St. Cyprian, who prudently retired till the +storm had passed.(882) In general, it was observed that the object of the +rulers was much less to slay than to vanquish the Christians. Horrible +tortures were continually employed to extort an apostasy, and, when those +tortures proved vain, great numbers were ultimately released. + +The Decian persecution is remarkable in Christian archaeology 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.(883) 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.(884) 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 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.(885) In serious persecution, however, they +would doubtless have to be abandoned; and, as a last resort, the catacombs +proved a refuge from the persecutors. + +The reign of Decius only lasted about two years, and before its close the +persecution had almost ceased.(886) On the accession of his son Gallus, in +the last month of A.D. 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.(887) Two Roman +bishops, Cornelius, who had succeeded the martyred Fabianus, and his +successor Lucius, were at this time put to death.(888) Valerian, who +ascended the throne A.D. 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 "the Church of the +Lord."(889) 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 A.D. 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.(890) A sanguinary and general persecution ensued. Among the +victims were Sixtus, the Bishop of Rome, who perished in the +catacombs,(891) and Cyprian, who was exiled, and afterwards beheaded, and +was the first Bishop of Carthage who suffered martyrdom.(892) At last, +Valerian, having been captured by the Persians, Gallienus, in A.D. 260, +ascended the throne, and immediately proclaimed a perfect toleration of +the Christians.(893) + +The period from the accession of Decius, in A.D. 249, to the accession of +Gallienus, in A.D. 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 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. "So +true is this, that the Christians are never persecuted without the sky +manifesting at once the Divine displeasure." The conception of a converted +Empire never appears to have flashed across the mind of the saint;(894) +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. "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 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." 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.(895) + +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,(896) 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.(897) 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 were +erected in every quarter, and they could scarcely contain the multitude of +worshippers.(898) In Rome itself, before the outburst of the Diocletian +persecution, there were no less than forty churches.(899) 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. + +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 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. + +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.(900) His strong attachment +to Paganism made him at 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 Caesar 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(901)), 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.(902) + +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 +A.D. 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, 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.(903) 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 fierceness till the abdication +of Diocletian in 305. This event almost immediately restored peace to the +Western provinces,(904) 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 A.D. 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 +foetid 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.(905) The era of persecution now closed. One +brief spasm, indeed, due to the Caesar Maximian, shot through the long +afflicted Church of Asia Minor;(906) but it was rapidly allayed. The +accession of Constantine, the proclamation of Milan, A.D. 313, the defeat +of Licinius, and the conversion of the conqueror, speedily followed, and +Christianity became the religion of the Empire. + +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 "On the Deaths of the +Persecutors," 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;(907) 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 +"a party pamphlet," 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 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.(908) 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 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. + +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 presidency of Torquemada alone,(909) +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.(910) 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 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.(911) 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.(912) 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; 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. + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + + 1 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:--"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."--_Enquiry Concerning Morals_, § 1. "The + hypothesis we embrace ... defines virtue to be whatever mental + action or quality gives to the spectator the pleasing sentiment of + approbation."--Ibid. Append. I. "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."--Ibid. "Reason instructs us in the several tendencies of + actions, and humanity makes a distinction in favour of those which + are useful and beneficial."--Ibid. "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."--Ibid. + The two writers to whom Hume was most indebted were Hutcheson and + Butler. In some interesting letters to the former (Burton's _Life of + Hume_, vol. i.), he discusses the points on which he differed from + them. + + 2 "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."--_Enquiry into the + Origin of Moral Virtue._ + + 3 "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."--Hobbes _On Liberty and + Necessity._ "Good and evil are names that signify our appetites and + aversions."--Ibid. _Leviathan_, part i. ch. xvi. "Obligation is the + necessity of doing or omitting any action in order to be + happy."--Gay's dissertation prefixed to King's _Origin of Evil_, p. + 36. "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."--Brown _On the + Characteristics_, p. 159. "En tout temps, en tout lieu, tant en + matiere de morale qu'en matiere d'esprit, c'est l'interet personnel + qui dicte le jugement des particuliers, et l'interet general qui + dicte celui des nations.... Tout homme ne prend dans ses jugements + conseil que de son interet."--Helvetius _De l'Esprit_, discours ii. + "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."--Bentham's + _Principles of Morals and Legislation_, ch. i. "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."--Ibid. "Je regarde l'amour eclaire de + nous-memes comme le principe de tout sacrifice moral."--D'Alembert + quoted by D. Stewart, _Active and Moral Powers_, vol. i. p. 220. + + 4 "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."--Bentham's _Principles of Morals and Legislation_, ch. x. + + 5 "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."--Locke's _Essay_, + book ii. ch. xxviii. "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."--Bentham's _Springs of Action_, ch. + i. § 15. + + 6 "Il lui est aussi impossible d'aimer le bien pour le bien, que + d'aimer le mal pour le mal."--Helvetius _De l'Esprit_, disc. ii. ch. + v. + + 7 "Even the goodness which we apprehend in God Almighty, is his + goodness to us."--Hobbes _On Human Nature_, ch. vii. § 3. So + Waterland, "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."--_Third Sermon on Self-love._ + + 8 "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."--Hobbes _On Human Nature_, ch. viii. § 7. + + 9 "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."--Bentham's _Principles of Morals and Legislation_, ch. v. "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."--Ibid. + + 10 "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."--Hobbes _On Hum. Nat._ ch. ix. § 17. "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."--Hobbes' _Leviathan_, part i. ch. xv. "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."--Bentham's + _Deontology_, vol. ii. p. 133. + + 11 "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."--Hobbes _On Hum. Nat._ ch. ix. + § 10. "La pitie est souvent un sentiment de nos propres maux dans + les maux d'autrui. C'est une habile prevoyance des malheurs ou nous + pouvons tomber. Nous donnons des secours aux autres pour les engager + a nous en donner en de semblables occasions, et ces services que + nous leur rendons sont, a proprement parler, des biens que nous nous + faisons a nous-memes par avance."--La Rochefoucauld, _Maximes_, 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, "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."--_Moral Sentiments_, + part vii. ch. i. §3. + + 12 "Ce que les hommes ont nomme amitie n'est qu'une societe, qu'un + menagement reciproque d'interets et qu'un echange de bons offices. + Ce n'est enfin qu'un commerce ou l'amour-propre se propose toujours + quelque chose a gagner."--La Rochefoucauld, _Max._ 83. See this idea + developed at large in Helvetius. + + 13 "La science de la morale n'est autre chose que la science meme de la + legislation."--Helvetius _De l'Esprit_, ii. 17. + + 14 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:--"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."--Hobbes' _Leviathan_, part i. ch. + xvi. See, too, a striking passage in Bentham's _Deontology_, vol. + ii. p. 132. + + 15 As an ingenious writer in the _Saturday Review_ (Aug. 10, 1867) + expresses it: "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." See, too, on this view, Hume's _Inquiry + concerning Morals_, § 4, and also _note_ x.: "To what other purpose + do all the ideas of chastity and modesty serve? Nisi utile est quod + facimus, frustra est gloria." + + 16 "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."--Bain _On the Emotions and Will_, p. 113. + + 17 "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."--Bentham's _Deontology_, vol. i. p. 131. + + 18 "La recompense, la punition, la gloire et l'infamie soumises a ses + volontes sont quatre especes de divinites avec lesquelles le + legislateur peut toujours operer le bien public et creer des hommes + illustres en tous les genres. Toute l'etude des moralistes consiste + a determiner l'usage qu'on doit faire de ces recompenses et de ces + punitions et les secours qu'on peut tirer pour lier l'interet + personnel a l'interet general."--Helvetius _De l'Esprit_, ii. 22. "La + justice de nos jugements et de nos actions n'est jamais que la + rencontre heureuse de notre interet avec l'interet public."--Ibid. + ii. 7. "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."--Bentham's _Deontology_. + + 19 "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."--Bentham's _Deontology_, vol. i. p. 142. "Weigh pains, weigh + pleasures, and as the balance stands will stand the question of + right and wrong."--Ibid. vol. i. p. 137. "Moralis philosophiae caput + est, Faustine fili, ut scias quibus ad beatam vitam perveniri + rationibus possit."--Apuleius, _Ad Doct. Platonis_, ii. "Atque ipsa + utilitas, justi prope mater et aequi."--Horace, _Sat._ I. iii. 98. + + 20 "We can be obliged to nothing but what we ourselves are to gain or + lose something by; for nothing else can be 'violent motive' 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."--Paley's _Moral Philosophy_, book ii. ch. + ii. + + 21 See Gassendi _Philosophiae Epicuri Syntagma_. These four canons are a + skilful condensation of the argument of Torquatus in Cicero, _De + Fin._ i. 2. See, too, a very striking letter by Epicurus himself, + given in his life by Diogenes Laertius. + + 22 "Sanus igitur non est, qui nulla spe majore proposita, iis bonis + quibus caeteri utuntur in vita, labores et cruciatus et miserias + anteponat.... Non aliter his bonis praesentibus abstinendum est quam + si sint aliqua majora, propter quae tanti sit et voluptates omittere + et mala omnia sustinere."--Lactantius, _Div. Inst._ vi. 9. Macaulay, + in some youthful essays against the Utilitarian theory (which he + characteristically described as "Not much more laughable than + phrenology, and immeasurably more humane than cock-fighting"), + maintains the theological form of selfishness in very strong terms. + "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."--Review of Mill's _Essay on Government_. "Of this we + may be sure, that the words 'greatest happiness' 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."--_Answer to the Westminster Review's Defence of Mill._ + + 23 "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."--Waterland, _Third + Sermon on Self-love_. "To risk the happiness of the whole duration + of our being in any case whatever, were it possible, would be + foolish."--Robert Hall's _Sermon on Modern Infidelity_. "In the moral + system the means are virtuous practice; the end, happiness."-- + Warburton's _Divine Legation_, book ii. Appendix. + + 24 "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."--Paley's _Moral Philosophy_, ii. 3. + + 25 "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."--Brown's _Essays on + the Characteristics_, p. 220. + + 26 "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."--Locke's _Essay_, i. 3. + + 27 Thus Paley remarks that--"The Christian religion hath not ascertained + the precise quantity of virtue necessary to salvation," and he then + proceeds to urge the probability of graduated scales of rewards and + punishments. (_Moral Philosophy_, book i. ch. vii.) + + 28 This view was developed by Locke (_Essay on the Human + Understanding_, 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. + + 29 Cudworth, in his _Immutable Morals_, 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 _Essay on Intuitive Morals_, pp. + 18, 19. + + 30 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 (_Divine + Legation_, i. 4). Waterland appears to have held this view, and also + Condillac. See a very remarkable chapter on morals, in his _Traite + des Animaux_, 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 _Second Letter_ to Professor Goldwin Smith + (Oxford, 1862). + + 31 Leibnitz noticed the frequency with which Supralapsarian Calvinists + adopt this doctrine. (_Theodicee_, 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. (_Whately's + Life_, vol. ii. p. 339.) + + 32 "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."--Austin's _Lectures on Jurisprudence_, + vol. i. p. 31. "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."--Ibid. p. 96. So Paley's _Moral Philosophy_, book ii. ch. + iv. v. + + 33 Paley's _Moral Philosophy_, 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 Fenelon the + unselfish side. The opinions of Fenelon 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. + +_ 34 Moral Philosophy_, ii. 3. + +_ 35 Essay on the Human Understanding_, ii. 28. + +_ 36 Principles of Morals and Legislation_, ch. iii. Mr. Mill observes + that, "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."--_Dissertations_, vol. i. pp. 362-363. + + 37 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:--"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?"--Hume's _Enquiry + concerning Morals_, Appendix II. Compare Butler, "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?"--_Sermon on Compassion._ + + 38 "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."--Bentham's _Principles of + Morals and Legislation_, ch. vi. "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."--_Deontology_, vol. i. pp. 169-170. + + 39 "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"--Mill's _Dissertations_, vol. i. p. 137. See, too, Bain's + _Emotions and the Will_, pp. 289, 313; and especially Austin's + _Lectures on Jurisprudence_. 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. + + 40 See a collection of passages from Aristotle, bearing on the subject, + in Mackintosh's _Dissertation_. + + 41 Cic. _De Finibus_, i. 5. This view is adopted in Tucker's _Light of + Nature_ (ed. 1842), vol. i. p. 167. See, too, Mill's _Analysis of + the Human Mind_, vol. ii. p. 174. + +_ 42 Essay_, book ii. ch. xxxiii. + + 43 Hutcheson _On the Passions_, § 1. The "secondary desires" of + Hutcheson are closely related to the "reflex affections" of + Shaftesbury. "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."--Shaftesbury's _Enquiry concerning Virtue_, book i. part + ii. § 3. + + 44 See the preface to Hartley _On Man_. Gay's essay is prefixed to + Law's translation of Archbishop King _On the Origin of Evil_. + + 45 "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."--Gay's _Essay_, p. lii. + "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."--Ibid. p. xxxi. + + 46 Principally by Mr. James Mill, whose chapter on association, in his + _Analysis of the Human Mind_, 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. "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."--Paley, _Moral Philos_. 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. + + 47 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 "translation" instead of + "association" of ideas. See his curious chapter on the subject, + _Light of Nature_, book i. ch. xviii. + + 48 "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."--Tucker's _Light of Nature_, vol. ii. (ed. 1842), + p. 281. + + 49 Mill's _Analysis of the Human Mind_. The desire for posthumous fame + is usually cited by intuitive moralists as a proof of a naturally + disinterested element in man. + + 50 Mill's _Analysis_. + + 51 Hartley _On Man_, vol. i. pp. 474-475. + + 52 "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."--Hartley _On + Man_, vol. i. pp. 473-474. See too Mill's _Analysis_, vol. ii. p. + 252. + + 53 Mill's _Analysis_, vol. ii. pp. 244-247. + + 54 "With self-interest," said Hartley, "man must begin; he may end in + self-annihilation;" or as Coleridge happily puts it, "Legality + precedes morality in every individual, even as the Jewish + dispensation preceded the Christian in the world at large."--_Notes + Theological and Political_, 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. "The happiness of + man," he says, "is the end of virtue, and truth is the knowledge of + the means." (_The Friend_, ed. 1850, vol. ii. p. 192.) "What can be + the object of human virtue but the happiness of sentient, still more + of moral beings?" (_Notes Theol. and Polit._ p. 351.) Leibnitz says, + "Quand on aura appris a faire des actions louables par ambition, on + les fera apres par inclination." (_Sur l' Art de connaitre les + Hommes._) + + 55 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:-- + + "He of mortal kind + Wisest, the first who marked the ideal tribes + Up the fine fibres through the sentient brain." + + _Religious Musings._ + + 56 This position is elaborated in a passage too long for quotation by + Mr. Austin. (_Lectures on Jurisprudence_, vol. i. p. 44.) + + 57 Hobbes defines conscience as "the opinion of evidence" (_On Human + Nature_, ch. vi. §8). Locke as "our own opinion or judgment of the + moral rectitude or pravity of our own actions" (_Essay_, book i. ch. + iii. § 8). In Bentham there is very little on the subject; but in + one place he informs us that "conscience is a thing of fictitious + existence, supposed to occupy a seat in the mind" (_Deontology_, + vol. i. p. 137); and in another he ranks "love of duty" (which he + describes as an "impossible motive, in so far as duty is synonymous + to obligation") as a variety of the "love of power" (_Springs of + Action_, ii.) Mr. Bain says, "conscience is an imitation within + ourselves of the government without us." (_Emotions and Will_, p. + 313.) + + 58 "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."--J. S. Mill's + _Utilitarianism_, pp. 54, 55, 56, 58. + + 59 "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."--Mill's + _Analysis_, vol. ii. pp. 212, 213, &c. Adam Smith says, I think with + much wisdom, that "the great secret of education is to direct vanity + to proper objects."--_Moral Sentiments_, part vi. § 3. + + 60 "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."--Tucker's _Light of Nature_, vol. + i. p. 355. "It is the privilege of God alone to act upon pure, + disinterested bounty, without the least addition thereby to His own + enjoyment."--Ibid. vol. ii. p. 279. On the other hand, Hutcheson + asks, "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?"--_Enquiry concerning Moral Good_, § 2. + + 61 "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."--Mill's _Logic_ (4th edition), vol. ii. pp. 416, 417. + + 62 "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."--Bentham's _Springs of Action_, + ii. § 2. + + 63 Among others Bishop Butler, who draws some very subtle distinctions + on the subject in his first sermon "on the love of our neighbour." + Dugald Stewart remarks that "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."--_Active and Moral Powers_, vol. i. p. 19. + + 64 Sir W. Hamilton. + + 65 Cic. _De Fin._ lib. ii. + + 66 "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 _sort_ of motive, there is not any such thing as a + bad motive."--Bentham's _Springs of Action_, ii. § 4. The first + clauses of the following passage I have already quoted: "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."--_Principles of Morals and Legislation_, ch. ix. "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."--_Deontology_, vol. i. p. 126. Mr. Mill's doctrine appears + somewhat different from this, but the difference is I think only + apparent. He says: "The motive has nothing to do with the morality + of the action, though much with the worth of the agent," and he + afterwards explains this last statement by saying that the "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."--_Utilitarianism_, 2nd ed. pp. 26-27. + + 67 This truth has been admirably illustrated by Mr. Herbert Spencer + (_Social Statics_, pp. 1-8). + + 68 "On evalue la grandeur de la vertu en comparant les biens obtenus + aux maux au prix desquels on les achete: l'excedant en bien mesure + la valeur de la vertu, comme l'excedant en mal mesure le degre de + haine que doit inspirer le vice."--Ch. Comte, _Traite de + Legislation_, liv. ii. ch. xii. + + 69 M. Dumont, the translator of Bentham, has elaborated in a rather + famous passage the utilitarian notions about vengeance. "Toute + espece de satisfaction entrainant une peine pour le delinquant + produit naturellement un plaisir de vengeance pour la partie lesee. + 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, resultat net d'une operation necessaire a + d'autres titres, c'est une jouissance a cultiver comme toute autre; + car le plaisir de la vengeance consideree abstraitement n'est comme + tout autre plaisir qu'un bien en lui-meme."--_Principes du Code + penal_, 2me partie, ch. xvi. According to a very acute living writer + of this school, "The criminal law stands to the passion of revenge + in much the same relation as marriage to the sexual appetite" (J. F. + Stephen, _On the Criminal Law of England_, p. 99). Mr. Mill observes + that, "In the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth, we read the complete + spirit of the ethics of utility" (_Utilitarianism_, p. 24). It is + but fair to give a specimen of the opposite order of extravagance. + "So well convinced was Father Claver of the eternal happiness of + almost all whom he assisted," says this saintly missionary's + biographer, "that speaking once of some persons who had delivered a + criminal into the hands of justice, he said, God _forgive_ them; but + they have secured the salvation of this man at _the probable risk of + their own_."--Newman's _Anglican Difficulties_, p. 205. + +_ 70 De Ordine_, ii. 4. The experiment has more than once been tried at + Venice, Pisa, &c., and always with the results St. Augustine + predicted. + + 71 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 "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?" (_Lectures on Jurisprudence_, 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. + + 72 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 + _Emotions and Will_, p. 246. + + 73 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. + + 74 "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 'immoral,' let the + morality of the principle of utility be for ever condemned."--Mill's + _Dissert_. vol. ii. p. 485. "We deprive them [animals] of life, and + this is justifiable--their pains do not equal our enjoyments. There + is a balance of good."--Bentham's _Deontology_, vol. i. p. 14. Mr. + Mill accordingly defines the principle of utility, without any + special reference to man. "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."--_Utilitarianism_, pp. 9-10. + + 75 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. + + 76 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 "our brothers and sisters," the animals. + (_On Man_, 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. (_Moral Philos._ 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, "is an indifferent reason for killing fish." + + 77 In commenting upon the French licentiousness of the eighteenth + century, Hume says, in a passage which has excited a great deal of + animadversion:--"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."--_Dialogue._ + + 78 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?--"The first and great mischief, and by consequence the guilt, + of promiscuous concubinage consists in its tendency to diminish + marriages." (Paley's _Moral Philosophy_, book iii. part iii. ch. + ii.) "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." + (Wayland's _Elements of Moral Science_, 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. + + 79 See Luther's _Table Talk_. + + 80 Tillemont, _Mem. pour servir a l'Hist. ecclesiastique_, tome x. p. + 57. + + 81 {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}. (AElian, _Var. Hist._ xii. 59.) + Longinus in like manner divides virtue into {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}. + (_De Sublim._ § 1.) The opposite view in England is continually + expressed in the saying, "You should never pull down an opinion + until you have something to put in its place," 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. + + 82 See this powerfully stated by Shaftesbury. (_Inquiry concerning + Virtue_, 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. + + 83 "The one great and binding ground of the belief of God and a + hereafter is the law of conscience."--Coleridge, _Notes Theological + and Political_, p. 367. That our moral faculty is our one reason for + maintaining the supreme benevolence of the Deity was a favourite + position of Kant. + + 84 "Nescio quomodo inhaeret in mentibus quasi saeculorum quoddam augurium + futurorum; idque in maximis ingeniis altissimisque animis et + exsistit maxime et apparet facillime."--Cic. _Tusc. Disp._ i. 14. + + 85 "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 'honour + of a soldier,' 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."--Carlyle's _Hero-worship_, p. 237 (ed. + 1858). + + 86 "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."--Cicero, _De + Fin._ i. 18. + + 87 "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?"--Tucker's _Light of + Nature_, vol. i. p. 269. Mr. J. S. Mill in his _Utilitarianism_ + dwells much on the heroism which he thinks this view of morals may + produce. + + 88 See Lactantius, _Inst. Div._ vi. 9. Montesquieu, in his _Decadence + de l'Empire romain_, 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. + + 89 "That quick sensibility which is the groundwork of all advances + towards perfection increases the pungency of pains and + vexations."--Tucker's _Light of Nature_, ii. 16, § 4. + + 90 This position is forcibly illustrated by Mr. Maurice in his fourth + lecture _On Conscience_ (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. + + 91 See Brown _On the Characteristics_, pp. 206-209. + + 92 "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."--Hume's Essays: _The Sceptic_. + + 93 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:--"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."--Hume's _Enquiry + Concerning Morals_, Append. II. + + 94 "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" (Hartley _On Man_, 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, "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."--_Theory of Moral Sentiments_, 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. "Were the perfect man to exist," said that good and + great writer, Archer Butler, "he himself would be the last to know + it; for the highest stage of advancement is the lowest descent in + humility." 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. + + 95 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, "for all the things which + have evident final causes, are plainly brought about by mechanical + means;" and he appeals to the milk in the breast, which is intended + for the sustenance of the young, but which is nevertheless + mechanically produced. (_On Man_, 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. + +_ 96 On Human Nature_, chap. ix. § 10. + +_ 97 Enquiry concerning Good and Evil._ + + 98 This theory is noticed by Hutcheson, and a writer in the _Spectator_ + (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' _Essays on Morality_. Bishop Butler notices (_Second + Sermon on Compassion_), that it is possible for the very intensity + of a feeling of compassion to divert men from charity by making them + "industriously turn away from the miserable;" 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: "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." (_On Human Nature_, ch. + ix. § 19.) Good Christians, according to some theologians, are + expected to enjoy this pleasure in great perfection in heaven. "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' _Suave mari_," etc. (_Law's notes to his Translation of + King's Origin of Evil_, pp. 477, 479.) + + 99 See e.g. _Reid's Essays on the Active Powers_, essay iii. ch. v. + + 100 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, _History of Civilisation_, vol. + ii. p. 429. Mr. Buckle maintains that all the philosophers of what + is commonly called "the Scotch school" (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. "Les philosophes + ecossais adopterent les procedes que Bacon avait recommande + d'appliquer a l'etude du monde physique, et les transporterent dans + l'etude du monde moral. Ils firent voir que l'induction baconienne, + c'est-a-dire, l'induction precedee d'une observation scrupuleuse des + phenomenes, est en philosophie comme en physique la seule methode + legitime. C'est un de leurs titres les plus honorables d'avoir + insiste sur cette demonstration, et d'avoir en meme temps joint + l'exemple au precepte.... Il est vrai que le zele des philosophes + ecossais en faveur de la methode d'observation leur a presque fait + depasser le but. Ils ont incline a renfermer la psychologie dans la + description minutieuse et continuelle de phenomenes de l'ame sans + reflechir assez que cette description doit faire place a l'induction + et au raisonnement deductif, et qu'une philosophie qui se bornerait + a l'observation serait aussi sterile que celle qui s'amuserait a + construire des hypotheses sans avoir prealablement observe."--Cousin, + Hist. de la Philos. Morale au xviiime Siecle, Tome 4, p. 14-16. + Dugald Stewart had said much the same thing, but he was a Scotchman, + and therefore, according to Mr. Buckle (_Hist. of Civ._ 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 (_Examination of Sir W. Hamilton_) is + at issue with M. Cousin. + + 101 M. Ch. Comte, in his very learned _Traite de Legislation_, 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. + + 102 "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 _puts you in mind of nothing but a loathsome + toad_."--Coleridge's _Table Talk_, p. 181. + + 103 Mackintosh, _Dissert._ p. 238. + + 104 Lord Kames' _Essays on Morality_ (1st edition), pp. 55-56. + + 105 See Butler's _Three Sermons on Human Nature_, and the preface. + + 106 Speaking of the animated statue which he regarded as a + representative of man, Condillac says, "Le gout peut ordinairement + contribuer plus que l'odorat a son bonheur et a son malheur.... Il y + contribue meme encore plus que les sons harmonieux, parce que le + besoin de nourriture lui rend les saveurs plus necessaires, et par + consequent les lui fait gouter avec plus de vivacite. La faim pourra + la rendre malheureuse, mais des qu'elle aura remarque les sensations + propres a l'apaiser, elle y determinera davantage son attention, les + desirera avec plus de violence et en jouira avec plus de + delire."--_Traite des Sensations_, 1re partie ch. x. + + 107 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. "C'est une bien grande misere que de pouvoir + prendre plaisir a des choses si basses et si meprisables ... l'homme + est encore plus a plaindre de ce qu'il peut se divertir a ces choses + si frivoles et si basses, que de ce qu'il s'afflige de ses miseres + effectives.... D'ou vient que cet homme, qui a perdu depuis peu son + fils unique, et qui, accable de proces et de querelles, etait ce + matin si trouble, n'y pense plus maintenant? Ne vous en etonnez pas; + il est tout occupe a voir par ou passera un cerf que ses chiens + poursuivent.... C'est une joie de malade et de + frenetique."--_Pensees_ (Misere de l'homme). + + 108 "Quae singula improvidam mortalitatem involvunt, solum ut inter ista + certum sit, nihil esse certi, nec miserius quidquam homine, aut + superbius. Caeteris quippe animantium sola victus cura est, in quo + sponte naturae benignitas sufficit: uno quidem vel praeferenda cunctis + bonis, quod de gloria, de pecunia, ambitione, superque de morte, non + cogitant."--Plin. _Hist. Nat._ ii. 5. + + 109 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. "Health," he says, "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." On the test of + happiness he very fairly says, "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."--_Moral Philosophy_, + i. 6. + + 110 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: + "A mesure qu'on s'eloigne des grands foyers de civilisation, qu'on + se rapproche des plaines et des montagnes, le caractere de la mort + prend de plus en plus l'aspect calme du ciel par un beau crepuscule + du soir.... En general la mort s'accomplit d'une maniere d'autant + plus simple et naturelle qu'on est plus libre des innombrables liens + de la civilisation."--Lauvergne, _De l'agonie de la Mort_, tome i. + pp. 131-132. + + 111 "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."--Paley's _Moral + Philosophy_, book i. ch. vi. Bentham in like manner said, "Quantity + of pleasure being equal, pushpin is as good as poetry," 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 (_Springs of Action_). The recognition of + the "purity" 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 "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."--_Morals and + Legislation_, i. § 8. Mr. Buckle (_Hist. of Civilisation_, vol. ii. + pp. 399-400) writes in a somewhat similar strain, but less + unequivocally, for he admits that mental pleasures are "more + ennobling" 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.--_Utilitarianism_, 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 _Examination of the Utilitarian + Philosophy_, chap. iii. + + 112 Buechner, _Force et Matiere_, pp. 163-164. There is a very curious + collection of the speculations of the ancient philosophers on this + subject in Plutarch's treatise, _De Placitis Philos._ + + 113 Aulus Gellius, _Noctes_, x. 23. The law is given by Dion. Halicarn. + Valerius Maximus says, "Vini usus olim Romanis feminis ignotus fuit, + ne scilicet in aliquod dedecus prolaberentur: quia proximus a Libero + patre intemperantiae gradus ad inconcessam Venerem esse consuevit" + (Val. Max. ii. 1, § 5). This is also noticed by Pliny (_Hist. Nat._ + 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, + _Div. Inst._ i. 22.) The Milesians, also, and the inhabitants of + Marseilles are said to have had laws forbidding women to drink wine + (AElian, _Hist. Var._ 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 (_Aug. Conf._ x. + 8). + + 114 "La loi fondamentale de la morale agit sur toutes les nations bien + connues. Il y a mille differences dans les interpretations de cette + loi en mille circonstances; mais le fond subsiste toujours le meme, + et ce fond est l'idee du juste et de l'injuste."--Voltaire, _Le + Philosophe ignorant_. + + 115 The feeling in its favour being often intensified by filial + affection. "What is the most beautiful thing on the earth?" said + Osiris to Horus. "To avenge a parent's wrongs," was the + reply.--Plutarch _De Iside et Osiride_. + + 116 Hence the Justinian code and also St. Augustine (_De Civ. Dei_, xix. + 15) derived servus from "servare," to preserve, because the victor + preserved his prisoners alive. + + 117 "Les habitants du Congo tuent les malades qu'ils imaginent ne + pouvoir en revenir; _c'est, disentils, pour leur epargner les + douleurs de l'agonie_. Dans l'ile Formose, lorsqu'un homme est + dangereusement malade, on lui passe un noeud coulant au col et on + l'etrangle, _pour l'arracher a la douleur_."--Helvetius, _De + l'Esprit_, 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. "C'est pareillement sous la + sauvegarde des lois que les Siamoises, la gorge et les cuisses a + moitie decouvertes, portees dans les rues sur les palanquins, s'y + presentent dans des attitudes tres-lascives. Cette loi fut etablie + par une de leurs reines nommee Tirada, qui, _pour degouter les + hommes d'un amour plus deshonnete_, crut devoir employer toute la + puissance de la beaute."--_De l'Esprit_, ii. 14. + + 118 "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." + (Mill's _Dissertations_, 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. + + 119 "Est enim sensualitas quaedam vis animae inferior.... Ratio vero vis + animae est superior."--Peter Lombard, _Sent._ ii. 24. + + 120 Helvetius, _De l'Esprit_, discours iv. See too, Dr. Draper's + extremely remarkable _History of Intellectual Development in Europe_ + (New York, 1864), pp. 48, 53. + + 121 Plutarch, _De Cohibenda Ira._ + + 122 Lactantius, _Div. Inst._ 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 + (_Origines du Theatre_, pp. 257-259). + + 123 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 + Abbe Nadal, in an extremely interesting and well-written memoir, + read before the Academie 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. + + 124 As for example the Sibyls and Cassandra. The same prophetic power + was attributed in India to virgins.--Clem. Alexandrin. _Strom._ iii. + 7. + + 125 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 "filia constuprata est prius a carnifice, quasi impium esset + virginem in carcere perire."--Dion Cassius, lviii. 11. See too, + Tacitus, _Annal._ 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, _De Vesta et Vestalibus_. + + 126 See his picture of the first night of marriage:-- + + "Tacite subit ille supremus + Virginitatis amor, primaeque modestia culpae + Confundit vultus. Tunc ora rigantur honestis + Imbribus." + + _Thebaidos_, lib. ii. 232-34. + + 127 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, + + "Sic sine concubitu textis apis excita ceris + Fervet, et audaci milite castra replet." + + Petron. _De Varia Animalium Generatione._ + + So too Virgil:-- + + "Quod neque concubitu indulgent nec corpora segnes + In Venerem solvunt aut foetus nixibus edunt."--_Georg._ iv. 198-99. + + 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:-- + + "Nataque de fiamma corpora nulla vides: + Jure igitur virgo est, quae semina nulla remittit + Nec capit, et comites virginitatis amat." + + "The Egyptians believed that there are no males among vultures, and + they accordingly made that bird an emblem of nature."--Ammianus + Marcellinus, xvii. 4. + + 128 "La divinite etant consideree comme renfermant en elle toutes les + qualites, toutes les forces intellectuelles et morales de l'homme, + chacune de ces forces ou de ces qualites, concue separement, + s'offrait comme un Etre divin.... De-la aussi les contradictions les + plus choquantes dans les notions que les anciens avaient des + attributs divins."--Maury, _Hist. des Religions de la Grece antique_, + tome i. pp. 578-579. + + 129 "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."--Newman's _Anglican Difficulties_, p. 190. + + 130 There is a remarkable dissertation on this subject, called "The + Limitations of Morality," in a very ingenious and suggestive little + work of the Benthamite school, called _Essays by a Barrister_ + (reprinted from the _Saturday Review_). + + 131 The following passage, though rather vague and rhetorical, is not + unimpressive: "Oui, dit Jacobi, je mentirais comme Desdemona + mourante, je tromperais comme Oreste quand il veut mourir a la place + de Pylade, j'assassinerais comme Timoleon, je serais parjure comme + Epaminondas et Jean de Witt, je me determinerais au suicide comme + Caton, je serais sacrilege comme David; car j'ai la certitude en + moi-meme qu'en pardonnant a ces fautes suivant la lettre l'homme + exerce le droit souverain que la majeste de son etre lui confere; il + appose le sceau de sa divine nature sur la grace qu'il + accorde."--Barchou de Penhoen, _Hist. de la Philos. allemande_, tome + i. p. 295. + + 132 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. + + 133 One of the best living authorities on this question writes: "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."--Tylor on Primitive + Society, _Contemporary Review_, April 1873, p. 702. + + 134 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. (_On the Active Powers_, 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: "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." (_On the Studies of the University_, p. 54.) + Leibnitz says: "L'esprit n'est point une table rase. Il est tout + plein de caracteres que la sensation ne peut que decouvrir et mettre + en lumiere au lieu de les y imprimer. Je me suis servi de la + comparaison d'une pierre de marbre qui a des veines plutot que d'une + pierre de marbre tout unie.... S'il y avait dans la pierre des + veines qui marquassent la figure d'Hercule preferablement a d'autres + figures, ... Hercule y serait comme inne en quelque facon, quoiqu'il + fallut du travail pour decouvrir ces veines."--_Critique de l'Essai + sur l'Entendement._ + + 135 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. + (_Moral Phil._ book i. ch. 5.) Dugald Stewart (_Active and Moral + Powers_, 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 (_Lectures on Jurisprudence_, 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 "state of war" with the foreign hunter. He has a right to kill the + hunter and the hunter an equal right to kill him. + + 136 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 _Dissertation_, by Professor Webb in his + _Intellectualism of Locke_, and by Mr. Rogers in an essay reprinted + from the _Edinburgh Review_. + + 137 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. + + 138 See the forcible passage in the life of Epicurus by Diogenes + Laertius. So Mackintosh: "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."--_Dissertation on Ethical Philosophy_, p. 85, ed. 1836. + See, too, Tennemann (_Manuel de la Philosophie_, ed. Cousin, tome i. + p. 211). + + 139 Thus e.g. the magnificent chapters of Helvetius 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, _On the best Plan of National Education_, + 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. + + 140 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. + + 141 There are some good remarks on this point in the very striking + chapter on the present condition of Christianity in Wilberforce's + _Practical View_. + + 142 See Reid's _Essays on the Active Powers_, iii. i. + + 143 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. + + 144 The principal exception being where slavery, coexisting with + advanced civilisation, retards or prevents the growth of industrial + habits. + + 145 See Mr. Laing's _Travels in Sweden_. A similar cause is said to have + had a similar effect in Bavaria. + + 146 This has been, I think, especially the case with the Austrians. + + 147 See some remarkable instances of this in Cabanis, _Rapports du + Physique et du Moral de l'Homme_. + + 148 Diog. Laert. _Pythag._ + + 149 Plutarch, _De Profectibus in Virt._ + + 150 Diog. Laert. _Stilpo._ + + 151 Clem. Alexand. _Strom._ vii. + + 152 Cicero, _De Nat. Deorum_, i. 1. + + 153 Lactant. _Inst. Div._ i. 5. + + 154 "Pythagoras ita definivit quid esset Deus: Animus qui per universas + mundi partes, omnemque naturam commeans atque diffusus, ex quo omnia + quae nascuntur animalia vitam capiunt."--Ibid. Lactantius in this + chapter has collected several other philosophic definitions of the + Divinity. See too Plutarch, _De Placit. Philos._ Tertullian explains + the stoical theory by an ingenious illustration: "Stoici enim volunt + Deum sic per materiem decucurrisse quomodo mel per favos."--Tert. _De + Anima_. + + 155 As Cicero says: "Epicurus re tollit, oratione relinquit, deos."--_De + Nat. Deor._ i. 44. + + 156 Sometimes, however, they restricted its operation to the great + events of life. As an interlocutor in Cicero says: "Magna dii + curant, parva negligunt."--Cic. _De Natur. Deor._ ii. 66. Justin + Martyr notices (_Trypho_, 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. (_De Provident._ v.) + + 157 See on this theory Cicero, _De Natur. Deor._ i. 42; Lactantius, + _Inst. Div._ i. 11. + + 158 Diog. Laert. _Vit. Zeno._ St. Aug. _De Civ. Dei_, iv. 11. Maximus of + Tyre, _Dissert._ x. (in some editions xxix.) § 8. Seneca, _De + Beneficiis_, iv. 7-8. Cic. _De Natur. Deor._ 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, _Evang. Praepar._ lib. iii. + + 159 St. Aug. _De Civ._ vii. 5. + + 160 Plin. _Hist. Nat_. ii. 1. + + 161 "Nec vero Deus ipse qui intelligitur a nobis, alio modo intelligi + potest nisi mens soluta quaedam et libera, segregata ab omni + concretione mortali, omnia sentiens et movens, ipsaque praedita motu + sempiterno."--_Tusc. Quaest_. i. 27. + + 162 Senec. _Quaest. Nat._ ii. 45. + + 163 "Estne Dei sedes, nisi terra et pontus et aer. + Et coelum et virtus? Superos quid quaerimus ultra? + Jupiter est quodcumque vides, quodcumque moveris." + + _Pharsal._ ix. 578-80. + + 164 "Quaeve anus tam excors inveniri potest, quae illa, quae quondam + credebantur apud inferos portenta, extimescat?"--Cic. _De Nat. Deor._ + ii. 2. + + "Esse aliques Manes et subterranea regna ... + Nec pueri credunt nisi qui nondum aere lavantur." + + Juv. _Sat._ ii. 149, 152. + + See on this subject a good review by the Abbe Freppel, _Les Peres + Apostoliques_, lecon viii. + + 165 Cicero, _De Leg._ i. 14; Macrobius, _In. Som. Scip._ i. 10. + + 166 See his works _De Divinatione_ and _De Nat. Deorum_, which form a + curious contrast to the religious conservatism of the _De Legibus_, + which was written chiefly from a political point of view. + + 167 Eusebius, _Praep. Evang._ lib. iv. + + 168 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, _Hist. des + Oracles_ (1st ed.), pp. 292-293. + + 169 See the famous description of Cato refusing to consult the oracle of + Jupiter Ammon in Lucan, _Phars._ ix.; and also Arrian, ii. 7. Seneca + beautifully says, "Vis deos propitiare? bonus esto. Satis illos + coluit quisquis imitatus est."--_Ep._ xcv. + + 170 Cicero, _De Divin_. ii. 24. + + 171 Aulus Gellius, _Noct. Att._ xv. 22. + + 172 See a long string of witticisms collected by Legendre, _Traite de + l'Opinion, ou Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire de l'Esprit humain_ + (Venise, 1735), tome i. pp. 386-387. + + 173 See Cicero, _De Natura Deorum_; Seneca, _De Brev. Vit._ c. xvi.; + Plin. _Hist. Nat._ ii. 5; Plutarch, _De Superstitione_. + + 174 "Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum, + Cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum, + Maluit esse Deum." + + _Sat._ I. viii. 1-3. + + 175 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 (_Philos. Apoll. of Tyana_, vi. + 19). Pliny shortly says, "Effigiem Dei formamque quaerere + imbecillitatis humanae reor" (_Hist. Nat._ 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, + _Life of Numa_). Dion Chrysostom said that the Gods need no statues + or sacrifices, but that by these means we attest our devotion to + them (_Orat._ xxxi.). On the vanity of rich idols, see Plutarch, _De + Superstitione_; Seneca, _Ep._ xxxi. + + 176 1 Lact. _Inst. Div._ vi. 25. + + 177 Dion. Halic. ii.; Polyb. vi. 56. + + 178 St. Aug. _De Civ. Dei_, iv. 31. + + 179 Epictetus, _Enchir._ xxxix. + + 180 Cicero, speaking of the worship of deified men, says, "indicat + omnium quidem animos immortales esse, sed fortium bonorumque + divinos."--_De Leg._ 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 (_La Cite antique_). + + 181 On the minute supervision exercised by the censors on all the + details of domestic life, see Aul. Gell. _Noct._ ii. 24; iv. 12, 20. + + 182 Livy, xxxix. 6. + + 183 Vell. Paterculus, i. 11-13; Eutropius, iv. 6. Sallust ascribed the + decadence of Rome to the destruction of its rival, Carthage. + + 184 Plutarch, _De Adulatore et Amico_. + + 185 There is much curious information about the growth of Roman luxury + in Pliny (_Hist. Nat._ lib. xxxiv.). The movement of decomposition + has been lately fully traced by Mommsen (_Hist. of Rome_); Doellinger + (_Jew and Gentile_); Denis (_ Hist. des Idees morales dans + l'Antiquite_); Pressense (_Hist. des trois premiers Siecles_); in + the histories of Champagny, and in the beautiful closing chapters of + the _Apotres_ of Renan. + + 186 Sueton. _Aug._ xvi. + + 187 Ibid. _Calig._ v. + + 188 Persius, _Sat._ ii.; Horace, _Ep._ i. 16, vv. 57-60. + + 189 See, on the identification of the Greek and Egyptian myths, + Plutarch's _De Iside et Osiride_. The Greek and Roman gods were + habitually regarded as identical, and Caesar and Tacitus, in like + manner, identified the deities of Gaul and Germany with those of + their own country. See Doellinger, _Jew and Gentile_, vol. ii. pp. + 160-165. + + 190 "Ego deum genus esse semper dixi et dicam coelitum; Sed eos non + curare opinor quid agat hominum genus." + + Cicero adds: "magno plausu loquitur assentiente populo."--_De Divin._ + ii. 50. + + 191 Plutarch, _De Superstitione_. + + 192 St. Aug. _De Civ. Dei_, vi. 6; Tertul. _Apol._ 15; Arnobius, _Adv. + Gentes_, iv. + + 193 "Pars alia et hanc pellit, astroque suo eventus assignat, nascendi + legibus; semelque in omnes futuros unquam Deo decretum; in reliquum + vero otium datum. Sedere coepit sententia haec pariterque et eruditum + vulgus et rude in eam cursu vadit. Ecce fulgurum monitus, oraculorum + praescita, aruspicum praedicta, atque etiam parva dictu, in auguriis + sternumenta et offensiones pedum."--_Hist. Nat._ 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. (_Ann._ 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. (_Suet. Tib._ lxix.) + + 194 Ammianus Marcellinus, xxviii. + +_ 195 De Profectibus in Virt._ It was originally the custom at Roman + feasts to sing to a pipe the actions and the virtues of the greatest + men. (Cic. _Tusc. Quaest._ iv.) + + 196 E.g. Epictetus, _Ench._ lii. Seneca is full of similar exhortations. + + 197 According to Cicero, the first Latin work on philosophy was by the + Epicurean Amafanius. (_Tusc. Quaest._ iv.) + + 198 See on the great perfection of the character of Epicurus his life by + Diogenes Laertius, and on the purity of the philosophy he taught and + the degree in which it was distorted and misrepresented by his Roman + followers. Seneca _De Vita Beata_, c. xii. xiii. and _Ep._ xxi. + Gassendi, in a very interesting little work entitled _Philosophiae + Epicuri Syntagma_, 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 _De Finibus_, 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. + + 199 Mr. Grote gives the following very clear summary of Plato's ethical + theory, which he believes to be original:--"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 _per se_, 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."--Grote's _Plato_, vol. iii. p. 131. + According to Plutarch, Aristo of Chio defined virtue as "the health + of the soul." (_De Virtute Morali._) + + 200 "Beata est ergo vita conveniens naturae suae; quae non aliter + contingere potest quam si primum sana mens est et in perpetua + possessione sanitatis suae."--Seneca, _De Vita Beata_, c. iii. + + 201 The famous paradox that "the sage could be happy even in the bull of + Phalaris," comes from the writings not of Zeno but of + Epicurus--though the Stoics adopted and greatly admired it. (Cic. + _Tusc._ ii. See Gassendi, _Philos. Epicuri Syntagma_, pars iii. c. + 1.) + + 202 "Sed nescio quomodo dum lego assentior; cum posui librum et mecum + ipse de immortalitate animorum coepi cogitare, assensio omnis illa + elabitur."--Cic. _Tusc._ i. + + 203 Sallust, _Catilina_, cap. li. + + 204 See that most impressive passage (_Hist. Nat._ vii. 56). That the + sleep of annihilation is the happiest end of man is a favourite + thought of Lucretius. Thus: + + "Nil igitur mors est, ad nos neque pertinet hilum, + Quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur."--iii. 842. + + This mode of thought has been recently expressed in Mr. Swinburne's + very beautiful poem on _The Garden of Proserpine_. + + 205 Diog. Laertius. The opinion of Chrysippus seems to have prevailed, + and Plutarch (_De Placit. Philos._) speaks of it as that of the + school. Cicero sarcastically says, "Stoici autem usuram nobis + largiuntur, tanquam cornicibus: diu mansuros aiunt animos; semper, + negant."--_Tusc. Disp._ i. 31. + + 206 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 _Sadducees_, in + Smith's _Biblical Dictionary_. + + 207 On the Stoical opinions about a future life see Martin, _La Vie + future_ (Paris, 1858); Courdaveaux _De l'immortalite de l'ame dans + le Stoicisme_ (Paris, 1857); and Alger's _Critical Hist. of the + Doctrine of a Future Life_ (New York, 1866). + + 208 His arguments are met by Cicero in the _Tusculans_. + + 209 See a collection of passages from his discourses collected by M. + Courdaveaux, in the introduction to his French translation of that + book. + + 210 Stobaeus, _Eclog. Physic._ lib. i. cap. 52. + + 211 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. + + 212 "Les Stoiciens ne faisaient aucunement dependre la morale de la + perspective des peines ou de la remuneration dans une vie future.... + La croyance a l'immortalite de l'ame n'appartenait donc, selon leur + maniere de voir, qu'a la physique, c'est-a-dire a la + psychologie."--Degerando, _Hist. de la Philos._ tome iii. p. 56. + + 213 "Panaetius igitur, qui sine controversia de officiis accuratissime + disputavit, quemque nos, correctione quadam adhibita, potissimum + secuti sumus."--_De Offic._ iii. 2. + + 214 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, "I told you you would + do so." Celsus quoted this in opposition to the Christians, asking, + "Did your leader under suffering ever say anything so noble?" Origen + finely replied, "He did what was still nobler--He kept silence." A + Christian anchorite (some say St. Nilus, who lived in the beginning + of the fifth century) was so struck with the _Enchiridion_ 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. + + 215 Tacitus had used this expression before Milton: "Quando etiam + sapientibus cupido gloriae novissima exuitur."--_Hist._ iv. 6. + + 216 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 (_Ep. ad + Divers._ v. 12); and of the younger Pliny to Tacitus (_Ep._ vii. + 33). Cicero has himself confessed that he was too fond of glory. + + 217 "Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem; + Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem."--Ennius. + + 218 See the beautiful description of Cato's tranquillity under insults. + Seneca, _De Ira_, ii. 33; _De Const. Sap._ 1, 2. + +_ 219 De Officiis_, iii. 9. + +_ 220 Tusc._ ii. 26. + + 221 Seneca, _De Vit. Beat._ c. xx. + + 222 Seneca, _Ep._ cxiii. + + 223 Seneca, _Ep._ lxxxi. + + 224 Persius, _Sat._ i. 45-47. + + 225 Epictetus, _Ench._ xxiii. + + 226 Seneca, _De Ira_, iii. 41. + + 227 Seneca, _Cons. ad Helv._ xiii. + + 228 Marc. Aur. vii. 67. + + 229 Marc. Aur. iv. 20. + + 230 Pliny, _Ep._ i. 22. + + 231 "Non dux, sed comes voluptas."--_De Vit. Beat._ c. viii. + + 232 "Voluptas non est merces nec causa virtutis sed accessio; nec quia + delectat placet sed quia placet delectat."--Ibid., c. ix. + + 233 Peregrinus apud Aul. Gellius, xii. 11. Peregrinus was a Cynic, but + his doctrine on this point was identical with that of the Stoics. + + 234 Marc. Aurel. ix. 42. + + 235 Marc. Aurel. v. 6. + + 236 Seneca, however, in one of his letters (_Ep._ 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. + +_ 237 De Clem._ ii. 6, 7. + + 238 "Peccantes vero quid habet cur oderit, cum error illos in hujusmodi + delicta compellat?"--Sen. _De Ira_, i. 14. This is a favourite + thought of Marcus Aurelius, to which he reverts again and again. + See, too, Arrian, i. 18. + + 239 "Ergo ne homini quidem nocebimus quia peccavit sed ne peccet, nec + unquam ad praeteritum sed ad futurum poena referetur."--Ibid. ii. 31. + In the philosophy of Plato, on the other hand, punishment was + chiefly expiatory and purificatory. (Lerminier, _Introd. a + l'Histoire du Droit_, p. 123.) + + 240 Seneca, _De Constant. Sap._ 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. "Cease + your blasphemy," he answered, "my father is immortal."--Socrates, + _Eccl. Hist._ iv 23. + + 241 Epictetus, _Ench._ 16, 18. + + 242 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 "goods" but as "preferables." See a long discussion on this + matter in Cicero (_De Finib._ 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. + + 243 See Seneca (_Ep._ 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, "Omnium autem rerum natura + cognita levamur superstitione, liberamur mortis metu, non + conturbamur ignoratione rerum" (_De Fin._ i.); and Virgil expressed + an eminently Epicurean sentiment in his famous lines:-- + + "Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, + Quique metus omnes et inexorabile fatum + Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque + Acherontis avari." + + _Georg._ 490-492. + + 244 Plutarch, _Cato Major_. + + 245 Cicero, _Ad Attic._ vi. 2. + + 246 This contrast is noticed and largely illustrated by M. Montee in his + interesting little work _Le Stoicisme a Rome_, and also by Legendre + in his _Traite de l'Opinion, ou Memoires pour servir a l'histoire de + l'esprit humain_ (Venise, 1735). + + 247 "Atque hoc quidem omnes mortales sic habent ... commoditatem + prosperitatemque vitae 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."--Cicero, _De Nat. Deor._ iii. + 36. + +_ 248 Ep._ i. 18. + + 249 Seneca _Ep._ lxvi. + + 250 Lucretius, v. It was a Greek proverb, that Apollo begat AEsculapius + to heal the body, and Plato to heal the soul. (Legendre, _Traite de + l'Opinion_, tome i. p. 197.) + + 251 "Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano: + Fortem posce animum, mortis terrore carentem.... + Monstro, quod ipse tibi possis dare." + + Juvenal, _Sat._ x. 356. + + Marcus Aurelius recommends prayer, but only that we may be freed + from evil desires. (ix. 11.) + + 252 Seneca, _Ep._ lxvi. + + 253 Ibid. _Ep._ liii. + +_ 254 De Const. Sap._ viii. + +_ 255 Ench._ xlviii. + + 256 Arrian, i. 12. + + 257 Arrian, ii. 8. The same doctrine is strongly stated in Seneca, _Ep._ + xcii. + + 258 Cicero, _De Nat. Deor._ ii. 66. + +_ 259 Ep._ lxxxiii. Somewhat similar sentiments are attributed to Thales + and Bion (Diog. Laert.). + +_ 260 Ep._ xli. There are some beautiful sentiments of this kind in + Plutarch's treatise, _De Sera Numinis Vindicta_. It was a saying of + Pythagoras, that "we become better as we approach the gods." + + 261 Marc. Aur. iii. 5. + + 262 Marcus Aurelius. + + 263 Seneca, _Praef. Nat. Quaest._ iii. + + 264 Marc. Aur. x. 25. + + 265 Epict. _Ench._ xvii. + + 266 Epict. _Ench._ xi. + + 267 Seneca, _De Prov._ i. + + 268 Ibid. iv. + + 269 Marc. Aurel. ii. 2, 3. + + 270 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 (_Noct. Att._ vi. + 2) has preserved a passage in which Chrysippus exerted his subtlety + in reconciling the two things. See, too, Arrian, i. 17. + + 271 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. "Nullam + capitaliorem pestem quam corporis voluptatem, hominibus a natura + datam.... Hinc patriae proditiones, hinc rerumpublicarum eversiones, + hinc cum hostibus clandestina colloquia nasci," etc.--Cicero, _De + Senect._ xii. + + 272 Diog. Laert. _Anax._ + + 273 "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?"--_De Offic._ i. 17. + + 274 See Seneca, _Consol. ad Helviam_ and _De Otio Sapien._; and + Plutarch, _De Exilio_. The first of these works is the basis of one + of the most beautiful compositions in the English language, + Bolingbroke's _Reflections on Exile_. + +_ 275 De Officiis_. + +_ 276 Epist._ i. 10. + + 277 "Tota enim philosophorum vita, ut ait idem, commentatio mortis + est."--Cicero, _Tusc._ i. 30, _ad fin_. + +_ 278 Essay on Death._ + + 279 Spinoza, _Ethics_, iv. 67. + + 280 Camden. Montalembert notices a similar legend as existing in + Brittany (_Les Moines d'Occident_, tome ii. p. 287). Procopius (_De + Bello Goth._ 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. + + 281 In his _De Sera Numinis Vindicta_ and his _Consolatio ad Uxorem_. + + 282 In the _Phaedo_, _passim_. See, too, Marc. Aurelius, ii. 12. + + 283 See a very striking letter of Epicurus quoted by Diogenes Laert. 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. + +_ 284 Tusc. Quaest._ i. + +_ 285 Consol. ad Polyb._ xxvii. + + 286 Maury, _Hist. des Religions de la Grece antique_, tom. i. pp. + 582-588. M. Ravaisson, in his Memoir on Stoicism (_Acad. des + Inscriptions et Belles-lettres_, 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. + + 287 Plutarch, _Ad Apollonium_. + + 288 Ibid. + + 289 Cic. _Tusc. Quaest._ i. + + 290 Philost. Apoll. of Tyan. v. 4. Hence their passion for suicide, + which Silius Italicus commemorates in lines which I think very + beautiful:-- + + "Prodiga gens animae et properare facillima mortem; + Namque ubi transcendit florentes viribus annos + Impatiens aevi, spernit novisse senectam + Et fati modus in dextra est."--i. 225-228. + + Valerius Maximus (ii. vi. § 12) speaks of Celts who celebrated the + birth of men with lamentation, and their deaths with joy. + + 291 Aulus Gellius, _Noctes_, i. 3. + + 292 Tacitus, _Annales_, xv. 62. + + 293 Sueton. _Titus_, 10. + + 294 Capitolinus, _Antoninus_. + + 295 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 _Discourses on + University Education_, lect. ix. + + 296 "Lex non poena mors" was a favourite saying among the ancients. On + the other hand, Tertullian very distinctly enunciated the patristic + view, "Qui autem primordia hominis novimus, audenter determinamus + mortem non ex natura secutam hominem sed ex culpa."--_De Anima_, 52. + + 297 Plutarch, _Ad Uxorem_. + + 298 St. Augustine, _Epist._ 166. + + 299 "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."--Cic. _De Offic._ iii. 28. + + 300 See the refutation of the philosophic notion in Lactantius, _De Ira + Dei_. + + 301 "Revelation," as Lessing observes in his essay on this subject, "has + made Death the 'king of terrors,' 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."--Coleridge's _Biographia Litteraria_, cap. xxii., note by + Sara Coleridge. + + 302 "Vetat Pythagoras injussu imperatoris, id est Dei, de praesidio et + statione vitae decedere."--Cic. _De Senec._ xx. If we believe the very + untrustworthy evidence of Diog. Laertius (_Pythagoras_) the + philosopher himself committed suicide by starvation. + + 303 See his _Laws_, lib. ix. In his _Phaedon_, however, Plato went + further, and condemned all suicide. Libanius says (_De Vita Sua_) + that the arguments of the _Phaedon_ 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 _Phaedon_ that he forthwith + cast himself into the sea. Cato, as is well known, chose this work + to study, the night he committed suicide. + + 304 Arist. _Ethic._ v. + + 305 See a list of these in Lactantius' _Inst. Div._ iii. 18. Many of + these instances rest on very doubtful evidence. + + 306 Adam Smith's _Moral Sentiments_, part vii. § 2. + + 307 "Proxima deinde tenent moesti loca qui sibi lethum + Insontes peperere manu, lucemque perosi + Projecere animas. Quam vellent aethere in alto + Nunc et pauperiem et duros perferre labores." + --_AEneid_, vi. 434-437. + + 308 Cicero has censured suicide in his _De Senectute_, in the _Somn. + Scipionis_, and in the _Tusculans_. Concerning the death of Cato, he + says, that the occasion was such as to constitute a divine call to + leave life.--_Tusc._ i. + + 309 Apuleius, _De Philos. Plat._ lib. i. + + 310 Thus Ovid:-- + + "Rebus in adversis facile est contemnere vitam, + Fortiter ille facit qui miser esse potest." + + See, too, Martial, xi. 56. + + 311 Especially _Ep._ 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 "it is a folly to die + through fear of death;" 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' _Manuductio ad + Stoicam Philosophiam_, lib. iii. dissert. 22, 23, from which I have + borrowed much. + + 312 In his _Meditations_, 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 _Meditations_ 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, _Hadrianus_). 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, _Arrian_, i. 9; and the latter is asserted in the + strongest manner, i. 24-25. + + 313 Porphyry, _De Abst. Carnis_, ii. 47; Plotinus, 1st Enn. ix. Porphyry + says (_Life of Plotinus_) that Plotinus dissuaded him from suicide. + There is a good epitome of the arguments of this school against + suicide in Macrobius, _In Som. Scip._ 1. + + 314 Quoted by Seneca, _Ep._ xxvi. Cicero states the Epicurean doctrine + to be, "Ut si tolerabiles sint dolores, feramus, sin minus aequo + animo e vita, cum ea non placet, tanquam e theatro, exeamus" (_De + Finib._ i. 15); and again, "De Diis immortalibus sine ullo metu vera + sentit. Non dubitat, si ita melius sit, de vita migrare."--Id. i. 19. + + 315 This is noticed by St. Jerome. + + 316 Corn. Nepos, _Atticus_. He killed himself when an old man, to + shorten a hopeless disease. + + 317 Petronius, who was called the arbitrator of tastes ("elegantiae + arbiter"), 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. _Annal._ xvi. + 18-19.) It has been a matter of much dispute whether or not this + Petronius was the author of the _Satyricon_, one of the most + licentious and repulsive works in Latin literature. + + 318 Seneca, _De Vita Beata_, xix. + + 319 "Imperfectae vero in homine naturae praecipua solatia, ne Deum quidem + posse omnia; namque nec sibi potest mortem consciscere si velit, + quod homini dedit optimum in tantis vitae poenis."--_Hist. Nat._ ii. 5. + +_ 320 Hist. Nat._ ii. 63. We need not be surprised at this writer thus + speaking of sudden death, "Mortes repentinae (hoc est summa vitae + felicitas)," vii. 54. + +_ 321 Tusc. Quaest._ lib. 1. Another remarkable example of an epidemic of + suicide occurred among the young girls of Miletus. (_Aul. Gell._ xv. + 10.) + + 322 Sir Cornewall Lewis, _On the Credibility of Early Roman History_, + vol. ii. p. 430. See, too, on this class of suicides, Cromaziano, + _Istorica Critica del Suicidio_ (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. + + 323 Senec. _De Provid._ ii.; _Ep._ xxiv. + + 324 See some examples of this in Seneca, _Ep._ lxx. + + 325 See a long catalogue of suicides arising from this cause, in + Cromaziano, _Ist. del Suicidio_, pp. 112-114. + +_ 326 Consol. ad Marc._ c. xx. + +_ 327 De Ira_, iii. 15. + +_ 328 Ep._ lxx. + + 329 See Donne's _Biathanatos_ (London, 1700), pp. 56-57. Gibbon's + _Decline and Fall_, ch. xliv. Blackstone, in his chapter on suicide, + quotes the sentence of the Roman lawyers on the subject: "Si quis + impatientia doloris aut taedio vitae aut morbo aut furore aut pudore + mori maluit non animadvertatur in eum." 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, "on + account of old age and disease;" 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 (_De Bell. Jud._ iii. 8) that in some + nations "the right hand of the suicide was amputated, and that in + Judea the suicide was only buried after sunset." 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 _Hist. of the French + Revolution_, book v. c. ii.) + + 330 Compare with this a curious "order of the day," issued by Napoleon + in 1802, with the view of checking the prevalence of suicide among + his soldiers. (Lisle, _Du Suicide_, pp. 462-463.) + + 331 See Suetonius, _Otho._ c. x.-xi., and the very fine description in + Tacitus, _Hist._ lib. ii. c. 47-49. Martial compares the death of + Otho to that of Cato: + + "Sit Cato, dum vivit, sane vel Caesare major; + Dum moritur, numquid major Othone fuit?" + --_Ep._ vi. 32. + + 332 Xiphilin, lxviii. 12. + + 333 Tacit. _Hist._ ii. 49. Suet. _Otho_, 12. Suetonius says that, in + addition to these, many soldiers who were not present killed + themselves on hearing the news. + + 334 Ibid. _Annal._ xiv. 9. + + 335 Plin. _Hist. Nat._ vii. 54. The opposite faction attributed this + suicide to the maddening effects of the perfumes burnt on the pile. + + 336 Tacit. _Annal._ vi. 26. + + 337 Plin. _Ep._ i. 12. + + 338 This history is satirically and unfeelingly told by Lucian. See, + too, Ammianus Marcellinus, xxix. 1. + + 339 Sophocles. + + 340 Arrian, i. 24. + + 341 Seneca, _Ep._ lviii. + + 342 Stobaeus. One of the most deliberate suicides recorded was that of a + Greek woman of ninety years old.--Val. Maxim. ii. 6, § 8. + + 343 Plin. _Ep._ iii. 7. He starved himself to death. + +_ 344 Ep._ i. 22. Some of Pliny's expressions are remarkable:--"Id ego + arduum in primis et praecipua laude dignum puto. Nam impetu quodam et + instinctu procurrere ad mortem, commune cum multis: deliberare vero + et causas ejus expendere, utque suaserit ratio, vitae mortisque + consilium suscipere vel ponere, ingentis est animi." In this case + the doctors pronounced that recovery was possible, and the suicide + was in consequence averted. + + 345 Lib. vi. _Ep._ xxiv. + +_ 346 Ep._ lxxvii. On the former career of Marcellinus, see _Ep._ xxix. + + 347 See the very beautiful lines of Statius:-- + + "Urbe fuit media nulli concessa potentum + Ara Deum, mitis posuit Clementia sedem: + Et miseri fecere sacram, sine supplice numquam + Illa novo; nulla damnavit vota repulsa. + Auditi quicunque rogant, noctesque diesque + Ire datum, et solis numen placare querelis. + Parca superstitio; non thurea flamma, nec altus + Accipitur sanguis, lachrymis altaria sudant ... + Nulla autem effigies, nulli commissa metallo + Forma Deae, mentes habitare et pectora gaudet. + Semper habet trepidos, semper locus horret egenis + Coetibus, ignotae tantum felicibus arae."--_Thebaid_, xii. 481-496. + + 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 "Beneficentia" on the Capitol. + (Xiphilin, lib. lxxi. 34.) + + 348 Herodotus, vi. 21. + + 349 See Arrian's _Epictetus_, i. 9. The very existence of the word + {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} shows that the idea was not altogether unknown. + + 350 Diog. Laert. _Pyrrho_. There was a tradition that Pythagoras had + himself penetrated to India, and learnt philosophy from the + gymnosophists. (Apuleius, _Florid._ lib. ii. c. 15.) + + 351 This aspect of the career of Alexander was noticed in a remarkable + passage of a treatise ascribed to Plutarch (_De Fort. Alex._). + "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." See on this subject the third lecture of Mr. Merivale + (whose translation of Plutarch I have borrowed) _On the Conversion + of the Roman Empire_. + + 352 They were both born about B.C. 250. See Sir C. Lewis, _Credibility + of Early Roman History_, vol. i. p. 82. + + 353 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. (_Noct. Att._ xi. 8.) + + 354 See a vivid picture of the Greek influence upon Rome, in Mommsen's + _Hist. of Rome_ (Eng. trans.), vol. iii. pp. 423-426. + + 355 Plin. _Hist. Nat._ vii. 31. + + 356 See Friedlaender, _Moeurs romaines du regne d'Auguste a la fin des + Antonins_ (French trans., 1865), tome i. pp. 6-7. + + 357 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 + (_Sat._ vi. lines 190-195). Friedlaender remarks that there is no + special term in Latin for to ask in marriage (tome i. p. 354). + + 358 Aul. Gell. _Noct._ 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, _Traite + de l'Opinion_, tome ii. pp. 254-255. + + 359 Dion Cassius, xlviii. 32. Plin. _Hist. Nat._ v. 5; vii. 44. + + 360 The history of the influence of freedmen is minutely traced by + Friedlaender, _Moeurs romaines du regne d'Auguste a la fin des + Antonins_, tome i. pp. 58-93. Statius and Martial sang their + praises. + + 361 See Tacit. _Ann._ vi. 23-25. + + 362 On the Roman journeys, see the almost exhaustive dissertation of + Friedlaender, tome ii. + + 363 Joseph. (_Antiq._ xvii. 11, § 1) says above 8,000 Jews resident in + Rome took part in a petition to Caesar. If these were all adult + males, the total number of Jewish residents must have been extremely + large. + + 364 See the famous fragment of Seneca cited by St. Augustin (_De Civ. + Dei_, vi. 11): "Usque eo sceleratissimae gentis consuetudo convaluit, + ut per omnes jam terras recepta sit: victi victoribus leges + dederunt." There are numerous scattered allusions to the Jews in + Horace, Juvenal, and Martial. + + 365 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 _Latin + Christianity_ (ed. 1867), vol. i. pp. 35-36.) + + 366 Milo had emancipated some slaves to prevent them from being tortured + as witnesses. (_Cic. Pro Milo._) This was made illegal. The other + reasons for enfranchisement are given by Dion. Halicarn. _Antiq._ + lib. iv. + + 367 This subject is fully treated by Wallon, _Hist. de l'Esclavage dans + l'Antiquite_. + + 368 Senec. _De Clemen._ i. 24. + + 369 See, on the prominence and the insolence of the freedmen, Tacit. + _Annal._ iii. 26-27. + + 370 Montesquieu, _Decadence des Romains_, ch. xiii. + + 371 See the very curious speech attributed to Camillus (Livy, v. 52). + + 372 "Caritas generis humani."--_De Finib._ So, too, he speaks (_De Leg._ + i. 23) of every good man as "civis totius mundi." + + 373 He speaks of Rome as "civitas ex nationum conventu constituta." + +_ 374 De Legib._ i. 7. + +_ 375 De Offic._ + + 376 Ibid. iii. 6. + +_ 377 De Offic._ iii. 6. + +_ 378 De Legib._ i. 15. + + 379 "Tunc genus humanum positis sibi consulat armis, + Inque vicem gens omnis amet." + --_Pharsalia_, vi. + +_ 380 Ep._ xcv. + +_ 381 Ep._ xxxi. + +_ 382 De Vita Beata_, xx. + + 383 Arrian, ii. 10. + + 384 vi. 44. + + 385 "Haec duri immota Catonis + Secta fuit, servare modum, finemque tenere, + Naturamque sequi, patriaeque impendere vitam, + Nec sibi sed toti genitum se credere mundo." + + Lucan, _Phars._ ii. 380-383. + + 386 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:--"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."--Plin. _Ep._ vii. 26. + +_ 387 Ep._ viii. 16. He says: "Hominis est enim affici dolore, sentire, + resistere tamen, et solatia admittere, non solatiis non egere." + + 388 This characteristic of Stoicism is well noticed in Grant's + _Aristotle_, vol. i. p. 254. The first volume of this work contains + an extremely good review of the principles of the Stoics. + + 389 Cie. _De Finib._ lib. iv. + + 390 Arrian, _Epict._ ii. 14. + + 391 Ibid. i. 9. + + 392 Ibid. i. 14. + + 393 Ibid. i. 16. + + 394 Arrian, ii. 8. + + 395 Plutarch, _De Profect. in Virt._ This precept was enforced by Bishop + Sanderson in one of his sermons. (Southey's _Commonplace Book_, vol. + i. p. 92.) + + 396 Diog. Laert. _Pythagoras_. + + 397 Thus Cicero makes Cato say: "Pythagoreorumque more, exercendae + memoriae gratia, quid quoque die dixerim, audiverim, egerim, + commemoro vesperi."--_De Senect._ xi. + + 398 Ibid. + +_ 399 Sermon_, i. 4. + + 400 He even gave up, for a time, eating meat, in obedience to the + Pythagorean principles. (_Ep._ cviii.) Seneca had two masters of + this school, Sextius and Sotion. He was at this time not more than + seventeen years old. (See Aubertin, _Etude critique sur les Rapports + supposes entre Seneque et St. Paul_, p. 156.) + + 401 See his very beautiful description of the self-examination of + Sextius and of himself. (_De Ira_, iii. 36.) + + 402 Arrian, ii. 18. Compare the _Manual_ of Epictetus, xxxiv. + + 403 "Quod de Romulo aegre creditum est, omnes pari consensu praesumserunt, + Marcum coelo receptum esse."--Aur. Vict. _Epit._ xvi. "Deusque etiam + nunc habetur."--Capitolinus. + + 404 The first book of his _Meditations_ was written on the borders of + the Granua, in Hungary. + + 405 i. 14. + + 406 See his touching letter to Fronto, who was about to engage in a + debate with Herod Atticus. + + 407 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. + + 408 E.g. "Beware of Caesarising." (vi. 30.) "Be neither a tragedian nor a + courtesan." (v. 28.) "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." (xii. 27.) + + 409 iii. 4. + + 410 i. 17. + + 411 v. 1. + + 412 ix. 29. + + 413 viii. 59. + + 414 xi. 18. + + 415 ix. 11. + + 416 viii. 15. + + 417 vii. 70. + + 418 vii. 63. + + 419 vii. 22. + + 420 Mr. Maurice, in this respect, compares and contrasts him very + happily with Plutarch. "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."--_Philosophy of the First Six Centuries_, p. 32. + + 421 vi. 47. + + 422 Capitolinus, Aurelius Victor. + + 423 M. Suckau, in his admirable _Etude sur Marc-Aurele_, and M. Renan, + in a very acute and learned _Examen de quelques faits relatifs a + l'imperatrice Faustine_ (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. + + 424 "Quid me fletis, et non magis de pestilentia et communi morte + cogitatis?" Capitolinus, _M. Aurelius_. + + 425 Ibid. + + 426 Many examples of this are given by Coulanges, _La Cite antique_, pp. + 177-178. + + 427 All this is related by Suetonius, _August_. + + 428 Tacit. _Annal._ iv. 36. + + 429 See, e.g., the sentiments of the people about Julius Caesar, Sueton. + _J. C._ lxxxviii. + + 430 Sueton. _Vesp._ xxiii. + + 431 "Qualis artifex pereo" were his dying words. + + 432 See Sueton. _Calig._ 1. + + 433 Sueton. _Calig._ xxii. A statue of Jupiter is said to have burst out + laughing just before the death of this emperor. + + 434 Seneca, _De Ira_, i. 46; Sueton. _Calig._ xxii. + + 435 Lampridius, _Heliogab._ + + 436 Senec. _De Clemen._ i. 18. + + 437 Tacit. _Annal._ iii. 36. + + 438 Senec. _De Benefic._ iii. 26. + + 439 Tacit. _Annal._ i. 73. Tiberius refused to allow this case to be + proceeded with. See, too, Philost. _Apollonius of Tyana_, i. 15. + + 440 Suet. _Tiber._ lviii. + + 441 "Mulier quaedam, quod semel exuerat ante statuam Domitiani, damnata + et interfecta est."--Xiphilin, lxvii. 12. + + 442 "Eos demum, qui nihil praeterquam de libertate cogitent, dignos esse, + qui Romani fiant."--Livy, viii. 21. + + 443 Valerius Maximus, iv. 3, § 14. + + 444 See the picture of this scene in Tacitus, _Hist._ iii. 83. + + 445 Dion. Halicarnass. + + 446 "Divina Natura dedit agros; ars humana aedificavit urbes." + + 447 See a collection of passages from these writers in Wallon, _Hist. de + l'Esclavage_, tome ii. pp. 378-379. Pliny, in the first century, + noticed (_Hist. Nat._ xviii. 7) that the _latifundia_, 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. + + 448 Tacit. _Annal._ xii. 43. The same complaint had been made still + earlier by Tiberius, in a letter to the Senate. (_Annal._ iii. 54.) + + 449 Augustus, for a time, contemplated abolishing the distributions, but + soon gave up the idea. (Suet. _Aug._ xlii.) He noticed that it had + the effect of causing the fields to be neglected. + + 450 M. Wallon has carefully traced this history. (_Hist. de l'Esclav._ + tome iii. pp. 294-297.) + + 451 Livy, iv. 59-60. Florus, i. 12. + + 452 Livy, xxiv. 49. + + 453 Sallust, _Bell. Jugurth._ 84-86. + + 454 Livy, xxxix. 6. + + 455 "Primus Caesarum fidem militis etiam praemio pigneratus."--Suet. + _Claud._ x. + + 456 See Tacitus, _Annal._ xiii. 35; _Hist._ ii. 69. + + 457 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: "Il est remarquable qu'en cinq ans, sept + pretendans au trone, tous bien superieurs a Honorius en courage, en + talens et en vertus, furent successivement envoyes captifs a Ravenne + ou punis de mort, que le peuple applaudit toujours a ces jugemens et + ne se separa point de l'autorite legitime, tant la doctrine du droit + divin des rois que les eveques avoient commence a precher sous + Theodose avoit fait de progres, et tant le monde romain sembloit + determine a perir avec un monarque imbecile plutot que tente de se + donner un sauveur."--_Hist. de la Chute de l'Empire romain_, tome i. + p. 221. + + 458 See Gibbon, ch. v.; Merivale's _Hist. of Rome_, ch. lxvii. It was + thought that troops thus selected would be less likely to revolt. + Constantine abolished the Praetorians. + + 459 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 _Saturnalia_ of Justus + Lipsius, Magnin, _Origines du Theatre_ (an extremely learned and + interesting book, which was unhappily never completed), and + Friedlaender's _Roman Manners from Augustus to the Antonines_ (the + second volume of the French translation). M. Wallon has also + compressed into a few pages (_Hist. de l'Esclavage_, tome ii. pp. + 129-139) much information on the subject. + + 460 Hence the old name of _bustuarii_ (from _bustum_, a funeral pile) + given to gladiators (Nieupoort, _De Ritibus Romanorum_, p. 514). + According to Pliny (_Hist. Nat._ xxx. 3), "regular human sacrifices + were only abolished in Rome by a decree of the senate, B.C. 97," and + there are some instances of them at a still later period. Much + information about them is collected by Sir C. Lewis, _Credibility of + Roman History_, vol. ii. p. 430; Merivale, _Conversion of the Roman + Empire_, pp. 230-233; Legendre, _Traite de l'Opinion_, vol. i. pp. + 229-231. Porphyry, in his _De Abstinentia Carnis_, 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, _Hist. de l'Esclav._ 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.) + + 461 Cicero, _Tusc._ lib. ii. + + 462 Capitolinus, _Maximus et Balbinus_. 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. + + 463 Much curious information on this subject may be found in + Friedlaender, _Moeurs romaines_, 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. + + 464 Valer. Maximus, ii. 4, § 7. + + 465 On the gladiators at banquets, see J. Lipsius, _Saturnalia_, lib. i. + c. vi., Magnin; _Origines du Theatre_, pp. 380-385. This was + originally an Etruscan custom, and it was also very common at Capua. + As Silius Italicus says:-- + + "Exhilarare viris convivia caede Mos olim, et miscere epulis + spectacula dira." + + Verus, the colleague of Marcus Aurelius, was especially addicted to + this kind of entertainment. (Capitolinus, _Verus_.) See, too, + Athenaeus iv. 40, 41. + + 466 Senec. _De Brevit. Vit._ c. xiii. + + 467 Sueton. _J. Caesar_, xxvi. Pliny (_Ep._ vi. 34) commends a friend for + having given a show in memory of his departed wife. + + 468 Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ xxxiii. 16. + + 469 Sueton. _Caesar_, x.; Dion Cassius, xliii. 24. + + 470 Sueton. _Aug._ xxix. The history of the amphitheatres is given very + minutely by Friedlaender, 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. (_Hist. + Nat._ xxxvi. 24.) + + 471 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_, Hist. de l'Esclavage_, tome ii. p. 133. + + 472 Sueton. _Tiber._ xxxiv. Nero made another slight restriction (Tacit. + _Annal._ xiii. 31), which appears to have been little observed. + + 473 Martial notices (_Ep._ iii. 59) and ridicules a spectacle given by a + shoemaker at Bologna, and by a fuller at Modena. + + 474 Epictetus, _Enchir._ xxxiii. § 2. + + 475 Arrian, iii. 15. + + 476 See these points minutely proved in Friedlaender. + + 477 Suet. _Aug._ xliv. This was noticed before by Cicero. The Christian + poet Prudentius dwelt on this aspect of the games in some forcible + lines:-- + + "Virgo modesta jubet converso pollice rumpi + Ne lateat pars ulla animae vitalibus imis + Altius impresso dum palpitat ense secutor." + + 478 Sueton. _Tiberius_, xl. Tacitus, who gives a graphic description of + the disaster (_Annal._ iv. 62-63), says 50,000 persons were killed + or wounded. + + 479 Tacit. _Annal._ xiii. 49. + + 480 Joseph. _Bell. Jud._ vi. 9. + + 481 See the very curious picture which Livy has given (xli. 20) of the + growth of the fascination. + + 482 Joseph. _Antiq. Jud._ xix. 7. + + 483 Lucian, _Demonax_. + + 484 Philost. _Apoll._ iv. 22. + + 485 Friedlaender, 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. _Annal._ xiv. + 17.) After the defeat of Perseus, Paulus Emilius celebrated a show + in Macedonia. (Livy, xli. 20.) + + 486 These are fully discussed by Magnin and Friedlaender. There is a very + beautiful description of a ballet, representing the "Judgment of + Paris," in Apuleius, _Metamorph._ x. + + 487 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, "ut in + illis [the Greeks] limae, in hoc poene plus videatur fuisse + sanguinis."--_Hist. Rom._ ii. 9. + + 488 Thus, e.g., Hobbes: "Alienae calamitatis contemptus nominatur + crudelitas, proceditque a propriae securitatis opinione. Nam ut + aliquis sibi placeat in malis alienis sine alio fine, videtur mihi + impossibile."--_Leviathan_, pars i. c. vi. + + 489 Sueton. _Claudius_, xxxiv. + + 490 "Et verso pollice vulgi + Quemlibet occidunt populariter."--Juvenal, _Sat._ iii. 36-37. + + 491 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, _De Spectaculis_, 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. + + 492 These are but a few of the many examples given by Magnin, who has + collected a vast array of authorities on the subject. (_Origines du + Theatre_, pp. 445-453.) M. Mongez has devoted an interesting memoir + to "Les animaux promenes ou tues dans le cirque." (_Mem. de l'Acad. + des Inscrip. et Belles-lettres_, tome x.) See, too, Friedlaender. + 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 + B.C. + + 493 Capitolinus, _Gordiani_. + + 494 Vopiscus, _Aurelian_. + + 495 Xiphilin, lxviii. 15. + + 496 Tacit. _Annal._ xv. 44. + + 497 Xiphilin, lxvii. 8; Statius, _Sylv._ i. 6. + + 498 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. (Athenaeeus, iv. + 39.) Under Nero and Domitian, female gladiators seem to have been + not uncommon. See Statius, _Sylv._ i. 6; Sueton. _Domitian_, iv.; + Xiphilin, lxvii. 8. Juvenal describes the enthusiasm with which + Roman ladies practised with the gladiatorial weapons (_Sat._ vi. + 248, &c.), and Martial (_De Spectac._ 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. + + 499 Martial, _De Spectac._ vii. + + 500 Ibid. _Ep._ viii. 30. + + 501 Tertullian, _Ad Nation._ 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 (_Satyricon_, 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, _Hist. Nat._ xxviii. 2; Tertul. + _Apol._ ix.) + + 502 "Nec unquam sine humano cruore coenabat"--Lactan. _De Mort. Persec._ + Much the same thing is told of the Christian emperor Justinian II., + who lived at the end of the seventh century. (Sismondi, _Hist. de la + Chute de l'Empire Romain_, tome ii. p. 85.) + + 503 Winckelmann says the statue called "The Dying Gladiator" does not + represent a gladiator. At a later period, however, statues of + gladiators were not uncommon, and Pliny notices (_Hist. Nat._ xxxv. + 33) paintings of them. A fine specimen of mosaic portraits of + gladiators is now in the Lateran Museum. + + 504 Plutarch's _Life of Caesar_. + + 505 Dion Cassius, li. 7. + + 506 Faustina, the wife of Marcus Aurelius, was especially accused of + this weakness. (Capitolinus, _Marcus Aurelius_.) + + 507 Seneca, _De Provident._ iv. + + 508 Arrian's _Epictetus_, i. 29. + + 509 Seneca, _De Provident._ iii. + + 510 Aulus Gellius, xii. 5. + + 511 Cicero, _Tusc._ lib. ii. + + 512 Some Equites fought under Julius Caesar, and a senator named Fulvius + Setinus wished to fight, but Caesar prevented him. (Suet. _Caesar_, + 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. + (Friedlaender, 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 (_Sat._ + viii. 197-210) with great indignation on an instance of a patrician + fighting. + + 513 "Quis mediocris gladiator ingemuit, quis vultum mutavit + unquam?"--Cic. _Tusc. Quaest._ lib. ii. + + 514 E.g. Clem. Alex. _Strom._ iii. There is a well-known passage of this + kind in Horace, _Ars Poet._ 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 + (_Idees morales dans l'Antiquite_, tome ii. p. 240) that the same + comparison had been used, before the rise of Christianity, by Plato, + AEschines, and Cicero. + +_ 515 Confess._ vi. 8. + + 516 "[Servi] etsi per fortunam in omnia obnoxii, tamen quasi secundum + hominum genus sunt."--Florus, _Hist._ iii. 20. + + 517 Macrinus, however, punished fugitive slaves by compelling them to + fight as gladiators. (Capitolinus, _Macrinus_.) + + 518 Tacit. _Annal._ xii. 56. According to Friedlaender, 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. + + 519 "Ad conciliandum plebis favorem effusa largitio, quum spectaculis + indulget, supplicia quondam hostium artem facit."--Florus, iii. 12. + +_ 520 Tusc. Quaest._ ii. 17. + + 521 See his magnificent letter on the subject. (_Ep._ vii.) + + 522 In his two treatises _De Esu Carnium_. + + 523 Pliny. _Ep._ iv. 22. + + 524 Xiphilin, lxxi. 29. Capitolinus, _M. Aurelius_. 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.) + + 525 Sueton. _Titus_, viii. + + 526 "Visum est spectaculum inde non enerve nec fluxum, nec quod animos + virorum molliret et frangeret, sed quod ad pulchra vulnera + contemptumque mortis accenderet."--Pliny, _Paneg._ xxxiii. + + 527 "Praeterea tanto consensu rogabaris, ut negare non constans sed durum + videretur."--Plin. _Epist._ vi. 34. + + 528 Symmach. _Epist._ ii. 46. + + 529 Sueton. _Domitian_, 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. _Dom._ ix.) + + 530 "Pendant qu'il restait au logis, il n'etait incommode a personne; il + y passait la meilleure partie de son temps tranquillement dans sa + chambre.... Il se divertissait aussi quelquefois a fumer une pipe de + tabac; ou bien lorsqu'il voulait se relacher l'esprit un peu plus + longtemps, il cherchait des araignees qu'il faisait battre ensemble, + ou des mouches qu'il jetait dans la toile d'araignee, et regardait + ensuite cette bataille avec tant de plaisir qu'il eclatait + quelquefois de rire."--Colerus, _Vie de Spinoza_. + + 531 This is noticed by George Duval in a curious passage of his + _Souvenirs de la Terreur_, quoted by Lord Lytton in a note to his + _Zanoni_. + +_ 532 Essay on Goodness._ + + 533 This contrast has been noticed by Archbishop Whately in a lecture on + Egypt. See, too, Legendre, _Traite de l'Opinion_, tome ii. p. 374. + + 534 Tacit. _Annal._ xiv. 45. + + 535 Senec. _De Clemen._ i. 14. + + 536 Val. Max. ii. 9. This writer speaks of "the eyes of a mistress + delighting in human blood" with as much horror as if the + gladiatorial games were unknown. Livy gives a rather different + version of this story. + + 537 Tacit. _Annal._ i. 76. + + 538 Sueton. _Calig._ xi. + + 539 Spartian. _Caracalla._ Tertullian mentions that his nurse was a + Christian. + + 540 Capitolinus, _Marcus Aurelius_. 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 _Remarks on Ecclesiastical History_, + ii. 71 (ed. 1846). + + 541 Tacit. _Ann._ iii. 55. + + 542 Champagny, _Les Antonins_, tome ii. pp. 179-200. + + 543 {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}.--Diog. Laert. _Zeno_. + + 544 Thus Tigellinus spoke of "Stoicorum arrogantia sectaque quae turbidos + et negotiorum appetentes faciat."--Tacit. _Ann._ 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. + "But," answered Nero, "your favourite Chrysippus wrote still more + numerous books." "True," rejoined Cornutus, "but then they were of + use to humanity." On the other hand, Seneca is justly accused of + condescending too much to the vices of Nero in his efforts to + mitigate their effects. + + 545 The influence of Stoicism on Roman law has been often examined. See, + especially, Degerando, _Hist. de la Philosophie_ (2nd ed.), tome + iii. pp. 202-204; Laferriere, _De l'Influence du Stoicisme sur les + Jurisconsultes romains_; Denis, _Theories et Idees morales dans + l'Antiquite_, tome ii. pp. 187-217; Troplong, _Influence du + Christianisme sur le Droit civil des Romains_; Merivale, _Conversion + of the Roman Empire_, lec. iv.; and the great work of Gravina, _De + Ortu et Progressu Juris civilis_. + + 546 Cic. _De Legib._ ii. 4, 23. + + 547 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. + +_ 548 Dig._ lib. i. tit. 17-32. + + 549 Ibid. i. tit. 1-3. + + 550 Ibid. i. tit. 1-4. + +_ 551 Dig._ lib. i. tit. 4-5. + + 552 Laferriere, p. 32. Wallon, _Hist. de l'Esclavage dans l'Antiquite_, + tome iii. pp. 71-80. M. Wallon gives many curious instances of legal + decisions on this point. + + 553 To prove that this is the correct conception of law was the main + object of Cicero's treatise _De Legibus_. Ulpian defined + jurisprudence as "divinarum atque humanarum rerum notitia, justi + atque injusti scientia."--_Dig._ lib. i. tit. 1-10. So Paul "Id quod + semper aequum ad bonum est jus dicitur ut est jus naturale."--_Dig._ + lib. i. tit. 1-11. And Gaius, "Quod vero naturalis ratio inter omnes + homines constituit ... vocatur jus gentium."--_Dig._ lib. i. tit. + 1-9. The Stoics had defined true wisdom as "rerum divinarum atque + humanarum scientia."--Cic. _De Offic._ i. 43. + + 554 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. "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."--_De Claris Oratoribus._ A very + judicious historian of philosophy observes: "En general a Rome le + petit nombre d'hommes livres a la meditation et a l'enthousiasme + prefererent Pythagore et Platon; les hommes du monde et ceux qui + cultivaient les sciences naturelles s'attacherent a Epicure; les + orateurs et les hommes d'Etat a la nouvelle Academie; les + juris-consultes au Portique."--Degerando, _Hist. de la Philos._ tome + iii. p. 196. + + 555 See a very remarkable passage in Aulus Gellius, _Noct._ ii. 15. + + 556 "Fere enim nulli alii sunt homines qui talem in filios suos habeant + potestatem qualem nos habemus."--Gaius. + + 557 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. + + 558 Velleius Paterculus, ii. 67. A great increase of parricide was + noticed during the Empire (Senec. _De Clem._ 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. + + 559 Numerous instances of these executions are collected by Livy, Val. + Maximus, &c.; their history is fully given by Cornelius van + Bynkershoek, "De Jure occidendi, vendendi, et exponendi liberos apud + veteres Romanos," in his works (Cologne, 1761). + + 560 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, "Nam patria potestas in + pietate debet, non atrocitate, consistere."--_Digest._ lib. xlviii. + tit. 9, § 5. + + 561 Valer. Max. vii. 7. + + 562 See, on all this subject, Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_, ch. xliv.; + Troplong, _Influence du Christianisme sur le Droit_, ch. ix.; Denis, + _Hist. des Idees morales_, tome ii. pp. 107-120; Laferriere, + _Influence du Stoicisme sur les Jurisconsultes_, pp. 37-44. + + 563 AElian, _Hist. Var._ vi. 7. + + 564 Livy, ii. 36; Cicero, _De Divin._ ii. 26. + + 565 Cicero, _De Legibus_, ii. 8-12. Cato, however, maintained that + slaves might on those days be employed on work which did not require + oxen.--Wallon, _Hist. de l'Esclavage_, tome ii. p. 215. + + 566 See the _Saturnalia_ of Macrobius. + + 567 See his _Life_ by Plutarch, and his book on agriculture. + + 568 The number of the Roman slaves has been a matter of much + controversy. M. Dureau de la Malle (_Econ. politique des Romains_) + has restricted it more than any other writer. Gibbon (_Decline and + Fall_, chap. ii.) has collected many statistics on the subject, but + the fullest examination is in M. Wallon's admirable _Hist. de + l'Esclavage_. On the contrast between the character of the slaves of + the Republic and those of the Empire, see _Tac. Ann._ xiv. 44. + + 569 Tacit. _Annal._ xiii. 32; xiv. 42-45. Wallon, _Hist. de l'Esclav._ + 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 (_Ep._ viii. 14) the banishment of the freedmen of a + murdered man. + + 570 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. + + 571 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.) + + 572 Ibid. tome ii. pp. 211-213. + + 573 Plin. _Epist._ 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.) + + 574 Wallon, tome ii. p. 419. This appears from an allusion of Cicero, + _Philip._ viii. 11. + + 575 Senec. _De Clem._ i. 18. + + 576 Ibid. _Ep._ xlvii. + + 577 Pliny, _Ep._ viii. 16. + + 578 Spartianus, _Hadrianus_. + + 579 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. + + 580 Numerous and very noble instances of slave fidelity are given by + Seneca, _De Benefic._ iii. 19-27; Val. Max. vi. 8; and in Appian's + _History of the Civil Wars_. See, too, Tacit. _Hist._ i. 3. + + 581 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 (_Economics_, 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. Laert. _Epicurus_.) + +_ 582 De Benef._ iii. 18-28; _De Vita Beata_, xxiv.; _De Clem._ i. 18, + and especially _Ep._ xlvii. Epictetus, as might be expected from his + history, frequently recurs to the duty. Plutarch writes very + beautifully upon it in his treatise _De Cohibenda Ira_. + + 583 Diog. Laert. _Zeno_. + + 584 Bodin thinks it was promulgated by Nero, and he has been followed by + Troplong and Mr. Merivale. Champagny (_Les Antonins_, tome ii. p. + 115) thinks that no law after Tiberius was called _lex_. + + 585 Sueton. _Claud._ xxv.; Dion Cass. lx. 29. + + 586 See Dumas, _Secours publics chez les Anciens_ (Paris, 1813), pp. + 125-130. + + 587 Senec. _De Clem._ i. 18. + + 588 Senec. _De Benef._ iii. 22. + + 589 Spartian. _Hadrianus._ Hadrian exiled a Roman lady for five years + for treating her slaves with atrocious cruelty. (_Digest._ lib. i. + tit. 6, § 2.) + + 590 See these laws fully examined by Wallon, tome iii. pp. 51-92, and + also Laferriere, _Sur l'Influence du Stoicisme sur le Droit_. 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.) + + 591 Thus, e.g., Livia called in the Stoic Areus to console her after the + death of Drusus (Senec. _Ad Marc._). 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 (_Les Moralistes de l'Empire + Romain_). + + 592 We have a pleasing picture of the affection philosophers and their + disciples sometimes bore to one another in the lines of Persius + (_Sat._ v.) to his master Cornutus. + + 593 Grant's _Aristotle_, vol. i. pp. 277-278. + + 594 Champagny, _Les Antonins_, tome i. p. 405. + + 595 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 _Life of Julian_ (London, 1850), p. 94. + + 596 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, _Satyricon_, i. 2. Much curious + information about the rhetoricians is collected in Martha, + _Moralistes de l'Empire Romain_, and in Nisard, _Etudes sur les + Poetes Latins de la Decadence_, art. Juvenal. + + 597 "Cependant ces orateurs n'etaient jamais plus admires que lorsqu'ils + avaient le bonheur de trouver un sujet ou la louange fut un tour de + force.... Lucien a fait l'eloge de la mouche; Fronton de la + poussiere, de la fumee, de la negligence; Dion Chrysostome de la + chevelure, du perroquet, etc. Au cinquieme siecle, Synesius, qui fut + un grand eveque, fera le panegyrique de la calvitie, long ouvrage ou + toutes les sciences sont mises a contribution pour apprendre aux + hommes ce qu'il y a non-seulement de bonheur mais aussi de merite a + etre chauve."--Martha, _Moralistes de l'Empire Romain_ (ed. 1865), p. + 275. + + 598 There is a good review of the teaching of Maximus in Champagny, _Les + Antonins_, tome ii. pp. 207-215. + +_ 599 Orat._ xv.; _De Servitute_. + + 600 See the singularly charming essay on Dion Chrysostom, in M. Martha's + book. + + 601 Mr. Buckle, in his admirable chapter on the "Proximate Causes of the + French Revolution" (_Hist. of Civilisation_, vol. i.), has painted + this fashionable enthusiasm for knowledge with great power, and + illustrated it with ample learning. + + 602 The saying of Mme. Dudeffand about Helvetius is well known: "C'est + un homme qui a dit le secret de tout le monde." How truly Helvetius + represented this fashionable society appears very plainly from the + vivid portrait of it in the _Nouvelle Heloise_, part ii. letter + xvii., a masterpiece of its kind. + + 603 Musonius tried to stop this custom of applauding the lecturer. (Aul. + Gell. _Noct._ 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. + + 604 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). + + 605 i. 10. + +_ 606 Noct. Att._ vi. 13. They called these questions _symposiacae_, as + being well fitted to stimulate minds already mellowed by wine. + + 607 xviii. 2. + + 608 We have a curious example of this in a letter of Marcus Aurelius + preserved by Gallicanus in his _Life of Avidius Cassius_. + + 609 "Senserunt hoc Stoici qui servis et mulieribus philosophandum esse + dixerunt."--Lact. _Nat. Div._ iii. 25. Zeno was often reproached for + gathering the poorest and most sordid around him when he lectured. + (Diog. Laert. _Zeno_.) + + 610 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 Friedlaender, _Hist. + des Moeurs Romaines_, tome iv. 378-385. + + 611 This movement is well treated by Vacherot, _Hist. de l'Ecole + d'Alexandrie_. + +_ 612 De Superstitione._ + +_ 613 Dissertations_, x. § 8 (ed. Davis, London, 1740). In some editions + this is _Diss._ xxix. + +_ 614 Dissert._ xxxviii. + +_ 615 De Daemone Socratis._ + +_ 616 De Daemone Socratis._ See, on the office of daemons or genii, Arrian + i. 14, and a curious chapter in Ammianus Marcell. xxi. 14. See, too, + Plotinus, 3rd _Enn._ lib. iv. + +_ 617 De Daemone Socratis._ + + 618 I should except Plotinus, however, who was faithful in this point to + Plato, and was in consequence much praised by the Christian Fathers. + + 619 "Omnium malorum maximum voluptas, qua tanquam clavo et fibula anima + corpori nectitur; putatque vera quae et corpus suadet, et ita + spoliatur rerum divinarum aspectu."--Iamblichus, _De Secta Pythagor._ + (Romae, 1556), p. 38. Plotinus, 1st _Enn._ vi. 6. + +_ 620 De Sect. Pyth._ pp. 36, 37. + + 621 Porphyry, _Life of Plotinus_. + + 622 Iamblichus, _De Mysteriis._ 1. + + 623 See, on this doctrine of ecstasy, Vacherot, _Hist. de l'Ecole + d'Alexandrie_, tome i. p. 576, &c. + + 624 "Sic habeto, omnibus qui patriam conservaverint, adjuverint, + auxerint, certum esse in coelo ac definitum locum ubi beati aevo + sempiterno fruantur."--Cic. _Somn. Scip._ + + 625 {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, which, according to Plutarch (who here confuses two distinct + words), is poetically used for man (_De Latenter Vivendo_). 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. + +_ 626 Diss._ xxi. § 6. + + 627 Iamblichus, _De Sect. Pythagorae_, p. 35. + + 628 Porphyry, _Life of Plotinus_, cap. vii.; Plotinus, 1st _Enn._ iv. 7. + See on this subject Degerando, _Hist. de la Philos._ iii. p. 383. + + 629 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.--_Philostr. Apoll. of Tyana_, iv. 2. Cicero notices the + aversion the Pythagoreans of his time displayed to argument: "Quum + ex iis quaereretur quare ita esset, respondere solitos, Ipse dixit; + ipse autem erat Pythagoras."--_De Nat. Deor._ i. 5. + + 630 See Vacherot, tome ii. p. 66. + + 631 See Degerando, _Hist. de la Philosophie_, tome iii. pp. 400, 401. + + 632 Plotinus, 1st _Enn._ ix. + + 633 See a strong passage, on the universality of this belief, in + Plotinus, 1st _Enn._ i. 12, and Origen, _Cont. Cels._ vii. A very + old tradition represented the Egyptians as the first people who held + the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Cicero (_Tusc. Quaest._) + 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. + + 634 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, _Life of Macrinus_.--Tacitus is full of + beautiful episodes, describing the manners and religion of the + people. + + 635 The passages relating to the Jews in Roman literature are collected + in Aubertin's _Rapports supposes entre Seneque et St. Paul_. + Champagny, _Rome et Judee_, tome i. pp. 134-137. + + 636 Cicero, _pro Flacco_, 28; Sueton. _Claudius_, 25. + + 637 Juvenal, _Sat._ xiv. + +_ 638 Hist._ v. + + 639 Lact. _Inst. Div._ vii. 3. + + 640 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 + (_Inst. Div._ vi. 24), distinctly spoke of Seneca as a Pagan, as + Tertullian (_Apol._ 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. + + 641 Fleury has written an elaborate work maintaining the connection + between the apostle and the philosopher. Troplong (_Influence du + Christianisme sur le Droit_) 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 Abbe Dourif (_Rapports du Stoicisme et du + Christianisme_) has placed side by side the passages from each + writer which are most alike. + + 642 Quoted by St. Augustine.--_De Civ. Dei_, vi. 11. + + 643 xi. 3. + + 644 The history of the two schools has been elaborately traced by + Ritter, Pressense, and many other writers. I would especially refer + to the fourth volume of Degerando's most fascinating _Histoire de la + Philosophie_. + + 645 "Scurra Atticus," Min. Felix, _Octav._ This term is said by Cicero + to have been given to Socrates by Zeno. (Cic. _De Nat. Deor._ i. + 34.) + + 646 Tertull. _De Anima_, 39. + + 647 See especially his _Apol._ ii. 8, 12, 13. He speaks of the + {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}. + + 648 See, on all this, Clem. Alex. _Strom._ v., and also i. 22. + + 649 St. Clement repeats this twice (_Strom._ 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. (_Praep. Evan._ 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 "Charge to the Clergy of Middlesex, to prove that the + wisdom of the ancients was borrowed from revelation; delivered in + 1731." It is in the 8th volume of Waterland's works (ed. 1731). + + 650 St. Clement (_Strom._ 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, _Traite de + l'Opinion_, tome i. p. 164. + + 651 This was the opinion of Julius Firmicus Maternus, a Latin writer of + the age of Constantine, "Nam quia Sarae pronepos fuerat ... Serapis + dictus est Graeco sermone, hoc est {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}."--Julius Firmicus + Maternus, _De Errore Profanarum Religionum_, cap. xiv. + + 652 Justin Martyr, _Apol._ 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. + + 653 Suet. _Vesp._ 7; Tacit. _Hist._ 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. + + 654 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: "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." (And then the author adds, in a note): + "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."--Pusey's _Miracles of + Prayer_, preached at Oxford, 1866. + + 655 E.g.: "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?"--Bishop Hall, _The Invisible + World_, § vi. + + 656 Sir C. Lewis _On the Credibility of Roman Hist._ vol. i. p. 50. + + 657 Cic. _De Divin._ lib. i. c. 1. + + 658 "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 'They shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall + recover,' 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."--Macaulay's _History of England_, + c. xiv. + + 659 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 _Charisma Basilicon_ (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 "Atheists, Sadducees, and ill-conditioned Pharisees" 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 + (_Macbeth_, 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. + + 660 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. + + The fountain of Jupiter Ammon, and many others that were deemed + miraculous, are noticed by Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ ii. 106. + + "Fly not yet; the fount that played + In times of old through Ammon's shade, + Though icy cold by day it ran, + Yet still, like souls of mirth, began + To burn when night was near."--Moore's _Melodies_. + + 661 Tacit. _Annal._ 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, + _Hist. des Auteurs sacres_, tome xiv. p. 607.) + + 662 Suet. _Aug._ xci. + + 663 See the answer of the younger Pliny (_Ep._ 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. (_De Divinatione_, 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. + + 664 The augurs had noted eleven kinds of lightning with different + significations. (Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ 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. _De + Divinat._ ii. 39.) When Constantine prohibited all other forms of + magic, he especially authorised that which was intended to avert + hail and lightning. (_Cod. Theod._ lib. ix. tit. xvi. 1. 3.) + + 665 Suet. _Aug._ xc. + + 666 Ibid. _Tiber._ lxix. The virtue of laurel leaves, and of the skin of + a sea-calf, as preservatives against lightning, are noticed by Pliny + (_Hist. Nat._ 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. + + 667 Suet. _Calig._ ii. + + 668 Suet. _Jul. Caes._ lxxxviii. + + 669 Plin. _Hist. Nat._ ii. 23. + + 670 "Prodigia eo anno multa nuntiata sunt, quae quo magis credebant + simplices ac religiosi homines eo plura nuntiabantur" (xxiv. 10). + Compare with this the remark of Cicero on the oracles: "Quando autem + illa vis evanuit? An postquam homines minus creduli esse coeperunt?" + (_De Div._ ii. 57.) + + 671 This theory, which is developed at length by the Stoic, in the first + book of the _De Divinatione_ 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. _Ap. of Tyana_, viii. + 5.) Among those who believed the oracles, there were two theories. + The first was that they were inspired by daemons 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 daemon. The second + theory, which appears to be due to Aristotle (Baltus, _Reponse a + l'Histoire des Oracles_, p. 132), is noticed by Cic. _De Div._ i. + 19; Plin. _H. N._ 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 daemons (who were believed to be mortal), and sometimes + to the exhaustion of the vapours. The oracles themselves, according + to Porphyry (Fontenelle, _Hist. des Oracles_, pp. 220-222, first + ed.), attributed it to the second cause. Iamblichus (_De Myst._ § + iii. c. xi.) combines both theories, and both are very clearly + stated in the following curious passage: "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, praesertim, puerilem et simplicem, seu carminum avocamento, + sive odorum delenimento, soporari, et ad oblivionem praesentium + externari: et paulis per remota corporis memoria, redigi ac redire + ad naturam suam, quae est immortalis scilicet et divina; atque ita + veluti quodam sopore, futura rerum praesagire."--Apuleius, _Apolog._ + + 672 Aul. Gell. _Noct._ ii. 28. Florus, however (_Hist._ i. 19), mentions + a Roman general appeasing the goddess Earth on the occasion of an + earthquake that occurred during a battle. + + 673 AElian, _Hist. Var._ iv. 17. + +_ 674 Hist. Nat._ ii. 81-86. + + 675 Ibid. ii. 9. + + 676 Ibid. ii. 23. + + 677 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, _Les + Antonins_, tome iii. p. 46. + + 678 viii. 19. This is also mentioned by Lucretius. + + 679 viii. 1. + + 680 viii. 50. This was one of the reasons why the early Christians + sometimes adopted the stag as a symbol of Christ. + + 681 xxix. 23. + + 682 xxxii. 1. + + 683 vii. 2. + + 684 xxviii. 7. The blind man restored to sight by Vespasian was cured by + anointing his eyes with spittle. (Suet. _Vesp._ 7; Tacit. _Hist._ + iv. 81.) + + 685 Ibid. The custom of spitting in the hand before striking still + exists among pugilists. + + 686 ii. 101. + + 687 Legendre, _Traite de l'Opinion_, tome ii. p. 17. The superstition + is, however, said still to linger in many sea-coast towns. + + 688 Lucian is believed to have died about two years before Marcus + Aurelius. + + 689 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, Pressense 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 "{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} + {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK KORONIS~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PSILI AND PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~} + {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}."--_Lives of the Sophists._ 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 + (_Lampridius Severus_) 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, _Aurelian_); 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. + + 690 See his defence against the charge of magic. Apuleius, who was at + once a brilliant rhetorician, the writer of an extremely curious + novel (_The Metamorphoses, or Golden Ass_), 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. Betolaud + prefixed to the Panckoucke edition of his works. + +_ 691 Life of Alexander._ There is an extremely curious picture of the + religious jugglers, who were wandering about the Empire, in the + eighth and ninth books of the _Metamorphoses_ of Apuleius. See, too, + Juvenal, _Sat._ vi. 510-585. + + 692 Porphyry's _Life of Plotinus_. + + 693 Eunapius, _Porph._ + + 694 Ibid. _Iamb._ Iamblichus himself only laughed at the report. + + 695 Eunapius, _Iamb._ + + 696 See her life in Eunapius, _OEdescus_. AElian and the rhetorician + Aristides are also full of the wildest prodigies. There is an + interesting dissertation on this subject in Friedlaender (_Trad. + Franc._ tome iv. p. 177-186). + + 697 "Credat Judaeus Apella."--Hor. _Sat._ v. 100. + + 698 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 daemons 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 daemons 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. + +_ 699 De Origine ac Progressu Idolatriae_ (Amsterdam). + + 700 This characteristic of early Christian apology is forcibly exhibited + by Pressense, _Hist. des trois premiers Siecles_, 2me serie, tome + ii. + + 701 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. _De Baptismo_, 17.) + +_ 702 Apol._ i. + +_ 703 Strom._ vi. c. 5. + + 704 Origen, _Cont. Cols._ v. + +_ 705 Oratio_ (apud Euseb.) xviii. + +_ 706 De Civ. Dei_, xviii. 23. + + 707 Constantine, _Oratio_ xix. "His testimoniis quidam revicti solent eo + confugere ut aiant non esse illa carmina Sibyllina, sed a nostris + conficta atque composita."--Lactant. _Div. Inst._ iv. 15. + + 708 Antonius Possevinus, _Apparatus Sacer_ (1606), verb. "Sibylla." + + 709 This subject is fully treated by Middleton in his _Free Enquiry_, + whom I have closely followed. + + 710 Irenaeus, _Contr. Haeres._ ii. 32. + + 711 Epiphan. _Adv. Haeres._ ii. 30. + + 712 St. Aug. _De Civ. Dei_, xxii. 8. + + 713 This history is related by St. Ambrose in a letter to his sister + Marcellina; by St. Paulinus of Nola, in his _Life of Ambrose_; and + by St. Augustine, _De Civ. Dei_, xxii. 8; _Confess._ ix. 7. + + 714 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 _Dissertation on Miracles_, pp. 129-140; and Fontenelle, + _Hist. des Oracles_, pp. 26, 27. Porphyry speaks much of evil + daemons. + + 715 Josephus, _Antiq._ viii. 2, § 5. + + 716 This very curious subject is fully treated by Baltus (_Reponse a + l'Histoire des Oracles_, 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 + (_Antiquities of the Christian Church_, vol. i. pp. 316-324), who + thinks the Pagan and Jewish exorcists were impostors, but not the + Christians; and by Middleton (_Free Enquiry_, 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: + "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."--_Vindication of the Miracles of the First Three + Centuries_, p. 199. So, also, Baltus: "De tous les anciens auteurs + ecclesiastiques, n'y en ayant pas un qui n'ait parle de ce pouvoir + admirable que les Chretiens avoient de chasser les demons" (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. (_Hist._ iv. 32.) + +_ 717 Vit. Hilar._ Origen notices that cattle were sometimes possessed by + devils. See Middleton's _Free Enquiry_, pp. 88, 89. + + 718 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, "Confounded be all they that trust in + graven images." + + 719 See the _Life of Gregory Thaumaturgus_, by Gregory of Nyssa. St. + Gregory the Great assures us (_Dial._ 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. + + 720 "Edatur hic aliquis sub tribunalibus vestris, quem daemone agi + constet. Jussus a quolibet Christiano loqui spiritus ille, tam se + daemonem confitebitur de vero, quam alibi deum de falso. AEque + producatur aliquis ex iis qui de deo pati existimantur, qui aris + inhalantes numen de nidore concipiunt ... nisi se daemones confessi + fuerint, Christiano mentiri non audentes, ibidem illius Christiani + procacissimi sanguinem fundite. Quid isto opere manifestius? quid + haec probatione fidelius?"--Tert. _Apol._ xxiii. + +_ 721 Apol._ i.; _Trypho_. + +_ 722 Cont. Cels._ vii. + +_ 723 Inst. Div._ iv. 27. + +_ 724 Life of Antony._ + +_ 725 Octavius._ + +_ 726 De Superstitione._ + + 727 i. 6. + +_ 728 De Mort. Peregrin._ + + 729 Origen, _Adv. Cels._ vi. Compare the curious letter which Vopiscus + (Saturninus) attributes to Hadrian, "Nemo illic [i.e. in Egypt] + archisynagogus Judaeorum, nemo Samarites, nemo Christianorum + presbyter, non mathematicus, non aruspex, non aliptes." + + 730 "Si incantavit, si imprecatus est, si (ut vulgari verbo impostorum + utor) exorcizavit."--Bingham, _Antiquities of the Christian Church_ + (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 (_Inst. Div._ v. 11) + says that Ulpian had collected the laws against them. + + 731 Philostorgius, _Hist. Eccl._ viii. 10. + + 732 See Juvenal, _Sat._ vi. 314-335. + + 733 See Juvenal, _Sat._ vi. 520-530. + +_ 734 Metamorphoses_, book x. + + 735 See their _Lives_, by Lampridius and Spartianus. + + 736 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. + + 737 "Thura plane non emimus; si Arabiae queruntur scient Sabaei pluris et + carioris suas merces Christianis sepeliendis profligari quam diis + fumigandis."--_Apol._ 42. Sometimes the Pagans burnt the bodies of + the martyrs, in order to prevent the Christians venerating their + relics. + + 738 Many interesting particulars about these commemrative festivals are + collected in Cave's _Primitive Christianity_, part i. c. vii. The + anniversaries were called "Natalia," or birth-days. + + 739 See her acts in Ruinart. + + 740 St. Clem. Alex. _Strom._ iv. 10. There are other passages of the + same kind in other Fathers. + +_ 741 Ad Scapul._ v. Eusebius (_Martyrs of Palestine_, 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 (_Hist._ ii. 32), speaking of the voluntary + martyrs under Diocletian, says that Christians then "longed for + death as they now long for bishoprics." "Cogi qui potest, nescit + mori," was the noble maxim of the Christians. + + 742 Arrian, iv. 7. It is not certain, however, that this passage alludes + to the Christians. The followers of Judas of Galilee were called + Galilaeans, and they were famous for their indifference to death. See + Joseph. _Antiq._ xviii. 1. + + 743 xi. 3. + + 744 Peregrinus. + + 745 Zosimus. + + 746 "Do I not hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?--yea, I hate them with a + perfect hatred." + + 747 See Renan's _Apotres_, p. 314. + + 748 M. Pressense very truly says of the Romans, "Leur religion etait + essentiellement un art--l'art de decouvrir les desseins des dieux et + d'agir sur eux par des rites varies."--_Hist. des Trois premiers + Siecles_, tome i. p. 192. Montesquieu has written an interesting + essay on the political nature of the Roman religion. + + 749 Sueton. _Claud._ xxv. + + 750 Plin. _Hist. Nat._ vii. 31. + + 751 Tacit. _De Orat._ xxxv.; Aul. Gell. _Noct._ xv. 11. It would appear, + from this last authority, that the rhetoricians were twice expelled. + + 752 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. + + 753 On the hostility of Vespasian to philosophers, see Xiphilin, lxvi. + 13; on that of Domitian, the _Letters_ of Pliny and the _Agricola_ + of Tacitus. + + 754 See a remarkable passage in Dion Chrysostom, _Or._ lxxx. _De + Libertate_. + + 755 Cic. _De Legib._ ii. 11; Tertull. _Apol._ v. + + 756 Livy, iv. 30 + + 757 Val. Maximus, i. 3, § 1. + + 758 Livy, xxv. 1. + + 759 Val. Max. i. 3, § 2. + + 760 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:--"Judicabant enim + prudentissimi viri omnis divini humanique juris, nihil aeque + dissolvendae religionis esse, quam ubi non patrio sed externo ritu + sacrificaretur." 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. + + 761 Val. Max. i. 3. + + 762 See Dion Cassius, xl. 47; xlii. 26; xlvii. 15; liv. 6. + + 763 Joseph. _Antiq._ xviii. 3. + + 764 Tacit. _Annal._ ii. 85. + + 765 Tacitus relates (_Ann._ 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. + + 766 "Sacrosanctam istam civitatem accedo."--Apuleius, _Metam._ lib. x. It + is said that there were at one time no less than 420 aedes sacrae in + Rome. Nieupoort, _De Ritibus Romanorum_ (1716), p. 276. + + 767 Euseb. _Praep. Evang._ iv. 1. Fontenelle says very truly, "Il y a + lieu de croire que chez les payens la religion n'estoit qu'une + pratique, dont la speculation estoit indifferente. Faites comme les + autres et croyez ce qu'il vous plaira."--_Hist. des Oracles_, p. 95. + It was a saying of Tiberius, that it is for the gods to care for the + injuries done to them: "Deorum injurias diis curae."--Tacit. _Annal._ + i. 73. + + 768 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, _Life of Hume_, vol. ii. pp. 187, 188.) The + utilitarian principles of the philosopher were doubtless at the root + of his judgment. + +_ 769 De Divinat._ ii. 33; _De Nat. Deor._ ii. 3. + + 770 "Quae omnia sapiens servabit tanquam legibus jussa non tanquam diis + grata.... Meminerimus cultum ejus magis ad morem quam ad rem + pertinere."--St. Aug. _De Civ. Dei_, vi. 10. St. Augustine denounces + this view with great power. See, too, Lactantius. _Inst. Div._ ii. + 3. + +_ 771 Enchirid._ xxxi. + + 772 This is noticed by Philo. + + 773 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. (_Cic. De Nat. Deor._ iii. 37.) + + 774 The vestal Oppia was put to death because the diviners attributed to + her unchastity certain "prodigies in the heavens," 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.) + + 775 Pliny, in his famous letter to Trajan about the Christians, notices + that this had been the case in Bithynia. + + 776 Tert. _Apol._ xl. See, too, Cyprian, _contra Demetrian._, and + Arnobius, _Apol._ lib. i. + + 777 St. Aug. _De Civ. Dei_, ii. 3. + + 778 Instances of this kind are given by Tertullian _Ad Scapulam_, and + the whole treatise _On the Deaths of the Persecutors_, 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. (_Remarks + on Eccles. Hist._ vol. i. p. 432.) + + 779 "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."--Milman, _Hist. of Early + Christianity_ (ed. 1867), vol. ii. p. 327. "It was a standing + argument of Athanasius, that the death of Arius was a sufficient + refutation of his heresy."--Ibid. p. 382. + + 780 Socrates, _Eccl. Hist._, vii. 30. + + 781 Greg. Tur. ii. 30, 31. Clovis wrote to St. Avitus, "Your faith is + our victory." + + 782 Milman's _Latin Christianity_ (ed. 1867), vol. ii. pp. 236-245. + + 783 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 248. + +_ 784 Ep._ xl. + + 785 "An diutius perferimus mutari temporum vices, irata coeli temperie? + Quae Paganorum exacerbata perfidia nescit naturae libramenta servare. + Unde enim ver solitam gratiam abjuravit? unde aestas, messe jejuna, + laboriosum agricolam in spe destituit aristarum? unde hyemis + intemperata ferocitas uberitatem terrarum penetrabili frigore + sterilitatis laesione damnavit? nisi quod ad impietatis vindictam + transit lege sua naturae decretum."--Novell. lii. Theodos. _De Judaeis, + Samaritanis, et Haereticis_. + + 786 Milman's _Latin Christianity_ vol. ii. p. 354. + +_ 787 Demonomanie des Sorciers_, p. 152. + + 788 See a curious instance in Bayle's _Dictionary_, art. "Vergerius." + + 789 Pliny, Ep. x. 43. Trajan noticed that Nicomedia was peculiarly + turbulent. On the edict against the hetaeriae, or associations, see + _Ep._ x. 97. + + 790 All the apologists are full of these charges. The chief passages + have been collected in that very useful and learned work, Kortholt, + _De Calumniis contra Christianos_. (Cologne, 1683.) + + 791 Justin Martyr tells us it was the brave deaths of the Christians + that converted him. (_Apol._ ii. 12.) + + 792 Peregrinus. + +_ 793 Ep._ x. 97. + +_ 794 Ep._ ii. + + 795 Juvenal describes the popular estimate of the Jews:-- + + "Tradidit arcano quodcunque volumine Moses; + Non monstrare vias, eadem nisi sacra colenti, + Quaesitum ad fontem solos deducere verpos." + + _Sat._ xix. 102-105. + + It is not true that the Mosaic law contains these precepts. + + 796 See Merivale's _Hist. of Rome_, vol. viii. p. 176. + + 797 See Justin Martyr, _Trypho_, xvii. + + 798 Justin Martyr, _Apol._ i. 26. + + 799 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, _Primitive + Christianity_, part ii. ch. v. + + 800 Epiphanius, _Adv. Haer._ lib. i. Haer. 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. + + 801 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. + _Hist._ i. 21-22.) They also accused St. Athanasius of murder and + unchastity, both of which charges he most triumphantly repelled. + (Ibid. i. 30.) + + 802 The great exertions and success of the Christians in making female + converts is indignantly noticed by Celsus (_Origen_) and by the + Pagan interlocutor in Minucius Felix (_Octavius_), 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 "a prostitute than a Christian." (_Ad Nationes_, 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. (_Ad Scapul._ 3.) + + 803 "Matronarum Auriscalpius." The title was given to Pope St. Damasus. + See Jortin's _Remarks on Ecclesiastical History_, 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 (_Hist. Eccl._ ii. 17) gives a curious account of the + energetic proceedings of the Roman ladies upon the exile of Pope + Liberius. + +_ 804 Conj. Praecept._ 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. + + 805 Pliny, in his letter on the Christians, notices that their + assemblies were before daybreak. Tertullian and Minucius Felix speak + frequently of the "nocturnes convocationes," or "nocturnes + congregationes" 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: "Qui de ultima + faece collectis imperitioribus et mulieribus credulis sexus sui + facilitate labentibus, plebem profanae conjurationis instituunt: quae + nocturnis congregationibus et jejuniis solennibus et inhumanis cibis + non sacro quodam sed piaculo foederantur, latebrosa et lucifugax + natio, in publico muta, in angulis garrula; templa ut busta + despiciunt, deos despuunt, rident sacra."--_Octavius._ Tertullian, in + exhorting the Christian women not to intermarry with Pagans, gives + as one reason that they would not permit them to attend this + "nightly convocation." (_Ad Uxorem_, 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 "servant + of the devil." + +_ 806 De Civ. Dei_, xix. 23. + + 807 The policy of the Romans with reference to magic has been minutely + traced by Maury, _Hist. de la Magie_. 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, _Hist. of Church in the Second and Third + Cent._ p. 26.) But this is mere conjecture. + + 808 See the picture of the sentiments of the Pagans on this matter, in + Plutarch's noble _Treatise on Superstition_. + + 809 Thus Justin Martyr: "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."--_Apol._ 1. 18-19. Arnobius has stated + very forcibly the favourite argument of many later theologians: "Cum + ergo haec 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."--_Adv. Gentes_, lib. i + + 810 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, "Do not + examine, but believe only." According to the latter, "the sum of + their wisdom was comprised in this single precept, believe." 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 _Free Enquiry_, Introd. pp. xcii, + xciii. + + 811 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 _De Lapsis_. + Persons, when excommunicated, were also said to have been sometimes + visibly possessed by devils. See Church, _On Miraculous Powers in + the First Three Centuries_, pp. 52-54. + + 812 "Si quis aliquid fecerit, quo leves hominum animi superstitione + numinis terrerentur, Divus Marcus hujusmodi homines in insulam + relegari rescripsit," _Dig._ xlviii. tit. 19, l. 30. + + 813 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 _Primitive + Christianity_, part i. c. v.; Kortholt, _De Calumniis contra + Christianos_; Barbeyrac, _Morale des Peres_, c. xvii.; Tillemont, + _Mem. ecclesiast._ tome vii. pp. 354-355; Ceillier, _Hist. des + Auteurs sacres_, tome iii. pp. 531-533. The Council of Illiberis + found it necessary to make a canon refusing the title of "martyr" to + those who were executed for these offences. + + 814 The first of these anecdotes is told by St. Jerome, the second by + St. Clement of Alexandria, the third by St. Irenaeus. + + 815 The severe discipline of the early Church on this point has been + amply treated in Marshall's _Penitential Discipline of the Primitive + Church_ (first published in 1714, but reprinted in the library of + Anglo-Catholic theology), and in Bingham's _Antiquities of the + Christian Church_, vol. vi. (Oxford, 1855). The later saints + continually dwelt upon this duty of separation. Thus, "St. Theodore + de Pherme disoit, que quand une personne dont nous etions amis + estoit tombee dans la fornication, nous devions luy donner la main + et faire notre possible pour le relever; mais que s'il estoit tombe + dans quelque erreur contre la foi, et qu'il ne voulust pas s'en + corriger apres les premieres remonstrances, il falloit l'abandonner + promptement et rompre toute amitie avec luy, de peur qu'en nous + amusant a le vouloir retirer de ce gouffre, il ne nous y entrainast + nous-memes."--Tillemont, _Mem. Eccles._ tome xii. p. 367. + + 816 "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 poena perfidiae, nec religiosae virtutis exitus gloriosus sed + desperationis interitus. Occidi talis potest, coronari non potest. + Sic se Christianum esse profitetur quo modo et Christum diabolus + saepe mentitur."--Cyprian, _De Unit. Eccles._ + + 817 Eusebius, v. 16. + +_ 818 Confess._ iii. 11. She was afterwards permitted by a special + revelation to sit at the same table with her son! + +_ 819 Ep._ xl. + +_ 820 Ep._ xviii. + + 821 Tertull. _De Corona_. + + 822 Milman's _Hist. of Christianity_, vol. ii. pp. 116-125. It is + remarkable that the Serapeum of Alexandria was, in the Sibylline + books, specially menaced with destruction. + + 823 Eunapius, _Lives of the Sophists_. 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. (_Hist. of Christianity_, vol. iii. pp. 68-72.) + +_ 824 Apology_, 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 _Acts_ xxviii. 31. + + 825 "Judaeos, impulsore Chresto, assidue tumultuantes, Roma + expulit."--Sueton. _Claud._ xxv. This banishment of the Jews is + mentioned in _Acts_ 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, _Chrestus_: "Eum immutata litera + Chrestum solent dicere."--_Div. Inst._ iv. 7. + + 826 This persecution is fully described by Tacitus (_Annal._ xv. 44), + and briefly noticed by Suetonius (_Nero_, xvi.). + + 827 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 "haud perinde in crimine incendii, quam odio humani generis + convicti;" and it has been maintained that "hatred of the human + race" 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 (_Hist._ 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 _Bulletino + d'Archeologia Cristiana_ (Roma, Dec. 1865), which, however, should + be compared with the very remarkable _Compte rendu_ of M. Aube, + _Acad. des Inscrip. et Belles-lettres_, 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 (_Eccl. Hist._ i. p. 71) adopts the + opposite view, and appeals to the passage in Tertullian (_Ap._ v.), + in which he speaks of "leges istae ... quas Trajanus ex parte + frustratus est, vitando inquiri Christianos," 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. + + 828 Ecclesiastical historians maintain, but not on very strong evidence, + that the Church of Rome was founded by St. Peter, A.D. 42 or 44. St. + Paul came to Rome A.D. 61. + + 829 On this horrible punishment see Juvenal, _Sat._ i. 155-157. + + 830 Lactantius, in the fourth century, speaks of this opinion as still + held by some "madmen" (_De Mort. Persec._ cap. ii.); but Sulp. + Severus (_Hist._ lib. ii.) speaks of it as a common notion, and he + says that St. Martin, when asked about the end of the world, + answered, "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."--_Dial._ 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. _Nero_, lvii.). + + 831 See the full description of it in Rossi's _Bulletino d'Archeol. + Crist._ Dec. 1865. Eusebius (iii. 17) and Tertullian (_Apol._ 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. + + 832 See a pathetic letter of Pliny, lib. iii. _Ep._ xi. and also lib. i. + _Ep._ v. and the _Agricola_ of Tacitus. + + 833 Euseb. iii. 20. + + 834 "Praeter caeteros Judaicus fiscus acerbissime actus est. Ad quem + deferebantur, qui vel improfessi Judaicam intra urbem viverent + vitam, vel dissimulata origine imposita genti tributa non + pependissent."--Sueton. _Domit._ 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. + + 835 Euseb. iii. 18. + + 836 See the accounts of these transactions in Xiphilin, the abbreviator + of Dion Cassius (lxvii. 14); Euseb. iii. 17-18. Suetonius notices + (_Domit._ xv.) that Flavius Clemens (whom he calls a man + "contemptissimae inertiae") was killed "ex tenuissima suspicione." The + language of Xiphilin, who says he was killed for "impiety and Jewish + rites;" 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 (_Hist. of Rome_, 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. + + 837 "Tentaverat et Domitianus, portio Neronis de crudelitate; sed qua et + homo facile coeptum repressit, restitutis etiam quos relegaverat." + (_Apol._ 5.) It will be observed that Tertullian makes no mention of + any punishment more severe than exile. + + 838 Euseb. iii. 20. + +_ 839 De Mort. Persec._ iii. + + 840 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. + + 841 Euseb. iv. 26. The whole of this apology has been recently + recovered, and translated into Latin by M. Renan in the _Spicilegium + Solesmense_. + +_ 842 Apol._ 5. + + 843 Lactant. _De Mort. Persec._ 3-4. + + 844 Pliny, _Ep._ x. 97-98. + + 845 Euseb. lib. iii. + + 846 There is a description of this earthquake in Merivale's _Hist. of + the Romans_, vol. viii. pp. 155-156. Orosius (_Hist._ vii. 12) + thought it was a judgment on account of the persecution of the + Christians. + + 847 Eusebius, iv. 8-9. See, too, Justin Martyr, _Apol._ i. 68-69. + + 848 This is mentioned incidentally by Lampridius in his _Life of A. + Severus_. + + 849 See this very curious letter in Vopiscus, _Saturninus_. + + 850 Justin Mart. _Ap._ i. 31. Eusebius quotes a passage from Hegesippus + to the same effect. (iv. 8.) + + 851 "Praecepitque ne cui Judaeo introeundi Hierosolymam esset licentia, + Christianis tantum civitate permissa."--_Oros._ vii. 13. + + 852 A letter which Eusebius gives at full (iv. 13), and ascribes to + Antoninus Pius, has created a good deal of controversy. Justin Mart. + (_Apol._ i. 71) and Tertullian (_Apol._ 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.) + + 853 It is alluded to by Minucius Felix. + + 854 Eusebius, iv. 16. + + 855 St. Melito expressly states that the edicts of Marcus Aurelius + produced the Asiatic persecution. + + 856 Eusebius, iv. 15. + + 857 See the most touching and horrible description of this persecution + in a letter written by the Christians of Lyons, in Eusebius, v. 1. + + 858 Sulpicius Severus (who was himself a Gaul) says of their martyrdom + (_H. E._, lib. ii.), "Tum primum intra Gallias Martyria visa, serius + trans Alpes Dei religione suscepta." 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 A.D. + 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, + _Inscriptions Chretiennes de la Gaule_. + + 859 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. + _Apol._ 5.) The shower is mentioned by Pagan as well as Christian + writers, and is portrayed on the column of Antoninus. It was + "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."--Merivale's _Hist. of Rome_, vol. viii. p. 338. + + 860 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. + + 861 Euseb. v. 21. The accuser, we learn from St. Jerome, was a slave. On + the law condemning slaves who accused their masters, compare + Pressense, _Hist. des Trois premiers Siecles_ (2me serie), tome i. + pp. 182-183, and Jeremie's _Church History of Second and Third + Centuries_, p. 29. Apollonius was of senatorial rank. It is said + that some other martyrs died at the same time. + + 862 "Judaeos fieri sub gravi poena vetuit. Idem etiam de Christianis + sanxit."--Spartian. _S. Severus_. 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. (_Ad Scapul._ 4.) + + 863 "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."--Milman's _Hist. of + Christianity_, vol. ii. pp. 156-157. + +_ 864 Adv. Cels._ iii. See Gibbon, ch. xvi. + + 865 Eusebius, vi. 28. + + 866 Lampridius, _A. Severus_. The historian adds, "Judaeis privilegia + reservavit. Christianos esse passus est." + + 867 Compare Milman's _History of Early Christianity_ (1867), vol. ii. p. + 188, and his _History of Latin Christianity_ (1867), vol. i. pp. + 26-59. There are only two cases of alleged martyrdom before this + time that can excite any reasonable doubt. Irenaeus 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. + + 868 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. "Rudibus saeculis etiam in pace observata, quae nunc tantum in + metu audiuntur."--_Hist._ i. 86. + + 869 M. de Champagny has devoted an extremely beautiful chapter (_Les + Antonins_, tome ii. pp. 179-200) to the liberty of the Roman Empire. + See, too, the fifty-fourth chapter of Mr. Merivale's _History_. It + is the custom of some of the apologists for modern Caesarism 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. + + 870 Sueton. _Aug._ xxxi. It appears from a passage in Livy (xxxix. 16) + that books of oracles had been sometimes burnt in the Republic. + + 871 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. + (_Annal._ iv. 34-35.) He expressly terms this "novo ac tunc primum + audito crimine," 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. _Ad. Marc._ 1; Suet. _Calig._ 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. _Aug._ 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. _De Ira_, iii. 23.) A similar magnanimity was shown + by most of the other emperors; among others, by Nero. (Suet. _Nero_, + 39.) Under Vespasian, however, a poet, named Maternus, was obliged + to retouch a tragedy on Cato (Tacit. _De Or._ 2-3), and Domitian + allowed no writings opposed to his policy. (Tacit. _Agric._) 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 A.D. 321, + those of Porphyry in A.D. 388. Pope Gelasius, in A.D. 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, + _Essai historique sur la Liberte d'Ecrire_; Villemain, _Etudes de + Litter. ancienne_; Sir C. Lewis on the _Credibility of Roman Hist._ + vol. i. p. 52; Nadal, _Memoire sur la liberte qu'avoient les soldats + romains de dire des vers satyriques contre ceux qui triomphoient_ + (Paris 1725). + + 872 See a collection of passages on this point in Pressense, _Hist. des + Trois premiers Siecles_ (2me serie), tome i. pp. 3-4. + +_ 873 Trypho._ + +_ 874 Apol._ xxxvii. + + 875 Euseb. vi. 43. + + 876 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, _De Paucitate Martyrum_, lii. + + 877 St. Cyprian (_Ep._ vii.) and, at a later period, St. Jerome (_Vit. + Pauli_), 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 "Ad + Lenonem" as substituted for that of "Ad Leonem;" and St. Ambrose + recounts some strange stories on this subject in his treatise _De + Virginibus_. + + 878 St. Cyprian has drawn a very highly coloured picture of this general + corruption, and of the apostasy it produced, in his treatise _De + Lapsis_, a most interesting picture of the society of his time. See, + too, the _Life of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus_, by Greg. of Nyssa. + + 879 "La persecution de Dece ne dura qu'environ un an dans sa grande + violence. Car S. Cyprien, dans les lettres ecrites en 251, des + devant Pasque, et mesme dans quelques-unes ecrites apparemment des + la fin de 250, temoigne que son eglise jouissoit deja de quelque + paix, mais d'une paix encore peu affermie, en sorte que le moindre + accident eust pu renouveler le trouble et la persecution. Il semble + mesme que l'on n'eust pas encore la liberte d'y tenir les + assemblees, et neanmoins il paroist que tous les confesseurs + prisonniers a Carthage y avoient este mis en liberte des ce + temps-la."--Tillemont, _Mem. d'Hist. ecclesiastique_, tome iii. p. + 324. + + 880 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. + + 881 See St. Cyprian, _Ep._ viii. + + 882 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, _De Fuga in Persecutione_, 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 _Free Enquiry_, pp. 101-105), declared (_Ep._ ix.), and + his biographer and friend Pontius re-asserted (_Vit. Cyprianis_), + that his flight was "by the command of God." 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 + _Life_ by Gregory of Nyssa.) + + 883 "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, e cosa impossibile a negare."--Rossi, + _Roma Sotterranea_, tomo i. p. 103. + + 884 This is all fully discussed by Rossi, _Roma Sotterranea_, tomo i. + pp. 101-108. Rossi thinks the Church, in its capacity of burial + society, was known by the name of "ecclesia fratrum." + + 885 See, on the history of early Christian Churches, Cave's _Primitive + Christianity_, part i. c. vi. + + 886 Dodwell (_De Paucit. Martyr._ lvii.) has collected evidence of the + subsidence of the persecution in the last year of the reign of + Decius. + + 887 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 A.D. + 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. + + 888 Lucius was at first exiled and then permitted to return, on which + occasion St. Cyprian wrote him a letter of congratulation (_Ep._ + 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 (_Ep._ 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 (_Ep._ li.) that Decius would have + preferred a pretender to the throne to a Bishop of Rome. + + 889 Dionysius, Archbishop of Alexandria; see Euseb. vii. 10. + + 890 Eusebius, vii. 10-12; Cyprian, _Ep._ lxxxi. Lactantius says of + Valerian, "Multum quamvis brevi tempore justi sanguinis fudit."--_De + Mort. Persec._ c. v. + + 891 Cyprian. _Ep._ lxxxi. + + 892 See his _Life_ by the deacon Pontius, which is reproduced by Gibbon. + + 893 Eusebius, vii. 13. + + 894 Tertullian had before, in a curious passage, spoken of the + impossibility of Christian Caesars. "Sed et Caesares credidissent + super Christo si aut Caesares non essent seculo necessarii, aut si et + Christiani potuissent esse Caesares."--_Apol._ xxi. + +_ 895 Contra Demetrianum._ + + 896 Eusebius, vii. 30. Aurelian decided that the cathedral at Antioch + should be given up to whoever was appointed by the bishops of Italy. + + 897 Compare the accounts in Eusebius, vii. 30, and Lactantius, _De + Mort._ c. vi. + + 898 See the forcible and very candid description of Eusebius, viii. 1. + + 899 This is noticed by Optatus. + + 900 See the vivid pictures in Lact. _De Mort. Persec._ + + 901 Lactant. _De Mort. Persec._ 15. + + 902 Eusebius, viii. + + 903 These incidents are noticed by Eusebius in his _History_, and in his + _Life of Constantine_, and by Lactantius, _De Mort. Persec._ + + 904 "Italy, Sicily, Gaul, and whatever parts extend towards the + West,--Spain, Mauritania, and Africa."--Euseb. _Mart. Palest._ 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. + + 905 The history of this persecution is given by Eusebius, _Hist._ lib. + viii., in his work on the _Martyrs of Palestine_, and in Lactantius, + _De Mort. Persec._ The persecution in Palestine was not quite + continuous: in A.D. 308 it had almost ceased; it then revived + fiercely, but at the close of A.D. 309, and in the beginning of A.D. + 310, there was again a short lull, apparently due to political + causes. See Mosheim, _Eccles. Hist._ (edited by Soames), vol. i. pp. + 286-287. + + 906 Eusebius. + + 907 See two passages, which Gibbon justly calls remarkable. (_H. E._ + viii. 2; _Martyrs of Palest._ ch. xii.) + + 908 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 (_Inst. Div._ 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. + + 909 Mariana (_De Rebus Hispaniae_, xxiv. 17). Llorente thought this + number perished in the single year 1482; but the expressions of + Mariana, though he speaks of "this beginning," 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. + + 910 This is according to the calculation of Sarpi. Grotius estimates the + victims at 100,000.--Gibbon, ch. xvi. + + 911 See some curious information on this in Ticknor's _Hist. of Spanish + Literature_ (3rd American edition), vol. iii. pp. 236-237. + + 912 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. + (_Eusebius_, viii. 10.) + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS FROM AUGUSTUS TO CHARLEMAGNE (VOL. 1 OF 2)*** + + + +CREDITS + + +March 25, 2012 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Delphine Lettau, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. + + + +A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 39273.txt or 39273.zip. + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/9/2/7/39273/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one -- the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. 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