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from him as a debtor from his creditor, and he is left abandoned by all the world.

5 What is parental affection? The assiduous care which a parent takes to bring up his children in the habit of every action useful to themselves and to society. In what respect is parental tenderness a virtue, with respect to parents? In as much as the parents who bring up their children in good habits, lay up for the whole course of their lives those enjoyments and aids which are grateful to us at all times, and ensure against old age, those supports and consolations which are required by the wants and calamities of that period of life.

6 Why do you say that conjugal love is a virtue? Because the concord and union which are the consequences of the affection subsisting between married persons, establish in the bosom of their family a multitude of habits which contribute to its prosperity and conservation; united by the bonds of marriage, they love their household and quit it rarely; they superintend every part of its administration; they attend to the education of their children; they keep up the respectfulness and fidelity of their domestics; they prevent all disorder and dissipation; and by the whole of their good conduct, live in ease and reputation: while those married persons who have no affection for each other, fill their dwelling with quarrels and distress; excite war among their children and among their domestics, and lead them both into every kind of vicious habit; so that each wastes, pillages, and robs in their several way: their revenues are absorbed without return; debts follow debts; the discontented parties fly each other and recur to lawsuits, and the whole family falls into disorder, ruin, disgrace, and the want of the necessaries of life.

7 What is filial love? It is, on the part of children, the practice of such actions as are useful to themselves and to their parents. What motives does the law of nature present to enforce filial love? Three chief motives: 1st, Sentiment, for from our earliest infancy, the affectionate solicitudes of our parents, produce in us the mild habits of attachment. 2d, The sense of justice: for children owe their parents a return, and, as it were, a reparation for the troubles, and even for the expenses which they have occasioned them. 3d, Personal interest; for if we act ill towards our progenitors, we offer our own children examples of rebellion and ingratitude.

8 Why is brotherly love a virtue? Because the concord and union which result from the mutual affection of brethren, establish the power, safety, and preservation of families.

Brethren in union mutually defend each other from all oppression, assist each other in their mutual wants, support each other under misfortune, and thus secure their common existence; while brethren in a state of disunion, each being abandoned to his personal strength, fall into all the inconveniences of insulation from society, and of individual feeble

ness.

9 This truth was ingeniously expressed by that king of Scythia, who, on his death-bed having called his children round him, ordered them to break a bundle of arrows; when the young men, though in full vigor, were not able to accomplish this, he took the bundle in his turn, and having untied it, broke each separate arrow with his fingers. Behold, said he, the effect of union; united in a body, you will be invincible, taken separately, you will be broken like reeds.

SECTION VII.

Of the social virtues; of justice, liberty, charity, probity, simplicity of manners, patriotism.

1 What is society? Every aggregated reunion of men living together under the regulations of a contract tacit or expressed for their common preservation. Are the social duties many in number? Yes: we may count as many as there are actions useful to society; but they may be all reduced to one principle. What is this fundamental principle? Justice, which itself alone comprehends all the social virtues.

2 Why do you say that justice is the fundamental, and almost only virtue of social life? Because it alone embraces the practice of all those actions which are useful to society; and that every virtue, under the name of charity, humanity, probity, love of country, sincerity, generosity, simplicity of manners, and modesty, are but varied forms, and diversified applications of this axiom: "Do unto another only that which thou wouldst he should do unto thee;" which is the definition of justice.

3 How does the law of nature ordain justice? By means of three physical attributes which are inherent in the organization of man. What are these attributes? Equality, liberty, property. In what sense is equality a physical attribute of man? Because all men having equally eyes, hands, mouth, ears, and being alike under the necessity of making use of them for their life's sake, are by this very fact equally entitled to life, and to the use of the elements which contribute to its support. They are all equal before God.

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4 Why is liberty called a physical attribute of man? Because all men possessing senses fitted and sufficient for their preservation; no one having need of the eye of another man in order to see, of his ear to hear, of his mouth to eat, or of his foot to walk, they are all made by this means, naturally independent and free.

5 How is property a physical attribute of man? Since every man is formed equal and similar to his fellows, and consequently free and independent, every one is the absolute master, the entire proprietor of his body, and the products of his labor.

6 How is justice derived from these three attributes? From this circumstance, that men being equal, free, and owing nothing to each other, have no right to demand any thing of their fellows, but in proportion as they return for it something equivalent; in proportion as the balance of what is given to what is paid, remains in equilibrium; and it is this equality, this equilibrium which is called justice and equity.

7 Unfold to me how the social virtues are derived from the law of nature. How is charity, or the love of our neighbor a precept or application of this law? By reason of the laws of equality and reciprocity. Thus, by attacking the existence of another, we make an attack upon our own in consequence of the law of reciprocity. On the contrary, when we do good to our neighbor, we have ground and reason to expect an exchange of good, an equivalent.*

8 Charity then is nothing more than justice? Yes: it is nothing more than justice, with this single difference, that strict justice, confines itself to the assertion, "Do not to others the evil which thou wouldst not they should do unto thee:" and that charity, or the love of our neighbor goes farther, even to say, Do unto others the good which you wish to receive from them.

9 Does the law of nature prescribe probity? Yes: for probity is nothing more than a respect paid to our own rights through the medium of the rights of others; a respect derived from a prudent and well-made calculation of our own interests, compared with those of others.

* In addition to the mercantile object of doing good to others for the purchase of an equivalent,

"Beneficence regardless of herself,

Of pride, ambition, policy, or pelf,

Enjoys, in blest return for one poor mite,

A mine-an empire of sublime delight."—Lathrop.

COMP.

10 But does not this calculation, which includes the complicated interests and rights of the social state, demand such light, and such knowledge of things, as to render it a science of difficult acquisition? Yes: and a science so much the more delicate, as the man of probity pronounces sentence in his own cause.

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11 Is probity then a mark of an enlarged and correct mind? Yes for the man of probity almost always neglects some present interest for the sake of one which is future; while on the other hand, the knave is willing to lose a great interest to come for the sake of some trifling one whic is present. 12 Knavery then is a sign of false judgment and narrow ness of mind? Yes and rogues may be defined to be ignorant or foolish speculators, for they know not their own interests; and though they affect wariness and cunning, their artifices seldom fail to expose them, and make them known for what they are; to deprive them of the confidence and esteem of others, and of all the advantages which might thence result to their social and physical existence. They neither live in peace with themselves, nor with others, and incessantly alarmed by their conscience and their enemies, they enjoy no other real happiness than that of escaping from the executioner.

13 How can a man, according to the law of nature, repair any injury which he has committed? By conferring a proportionable benefit upon those whom he has injured. Is sincerity enjoined by the law of nature? Yes: for lying, perfidy, and perjury, excite amongst men, distrust, dissension, hatred, revenge, and a multitude of evils, which tend to the destruction of society: whilst sincerity and good faith establish confidence, concord, peace, and the other infinite advantages, which are the necessary result of such a happy state of things.

14 Does it prescribe mildness and modesty? Yes: for an assuming and rude deportment while it alienates from us the hearts of other men, infuses into them a disposition to do us disservice: ostentation and vanity, by wounding their selflove and exciting their jealousy, prevent us from attaining the point of real utility.

15 You have classed among the social virtues, simplicity of manners; what do you mean by that expression? I mean confining our wants and desires, to what is really useful for the existence of the individual and his family: that is to say, the man of simple manners has few wants, and is content with little.

16 How is this virtue recommended to us? By the numerous advantages, which it bestows both upon the individual, and upon society at large; for the man who has few wants, liberates himself at once from a crowd of cares, troubles and toils, avoids a number of disputes and quarrels, which arise from the eager desire of gain; is free from the cares of ambition, the inquietudes of possession, and the fears of loss.

17 Again, if this virtue of simplicity, were extended to a whole people, it secures abundance to them; every thing which they do not immediately consume, becomes to them a source of trade and commerce to a very great extent; they labor, they manufacture, and sell their productions to greater advantage than others; and attain the summit both of external and internal prosperity. What vice is the direct opposite of this virtue? Cupidity and luxury.

18 Is luxury a vice both in the individual and in society at large? Yes and to such an extent, that, it may be said to include in it the seeds of all others; for the man who makes many things necessary to his happiness, imposes at the same time upon himself all the cares, and submits to all the means of acquiring them, whether they be just or unjust.

19 Has he already one enjoyment, he wishes for another, and in the midst of superfluities, he is never rich; a commodious habitation will not satisfy him; he must have a superb hotel; he is not content with a plentiful table; he must have rare and costly meats; he must have splendid furniture, expensive apparel, and a long, useless train of footmen, horses, carriages and women; he must be constantly at the gaming table, or at places of public entertainment. Now, to support these expenses, a great deal of money is requisite; he begins by borrowing, becomes bankrupt, is at war with mankind, ruins others, and is himself ruined.

20 Again, if we consider the effects of luxury upon a nation, it produces the same ravages upon a large scale; in consequence of its consuming within itself all its productions, it is poor in the midst of abundance; it has nothing to sell to the foreigner; and becomes a tributary for every thing which it imports: it loses its respectability, its strength, and its means of defence and preservation abroad; whilst at home it is undermined, and the bond of union between its members dissolved.

21 All its citizens being greedy after enjoyments, are perpetually struggling with each other for the attainment of them; all are either inflicting injuries, or have the disposition

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