Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/220

 When OEdipus kill'd Laius, he was ignorant of the Relation, and from Circumstances, innocent and involuntary, form'd erroneous Opinions concerning the Action he committed. But when Nero kill'd Agrippina, all the Relations betwixt himself and the person, and all the Circumstances of the Fact were antecedently known to him: But the Motive of Revenge, or Fear or Interest, in his savage Heart, prevail'd over the Sentiments of Duty and Humanity. And when we express a Detestation against him, to which he, himself, in a little Time, became insensible; 'tis not, that we see any Relations, of which he was ignorant, but that, from the Rectitude of our Disposition, we feel Sentiments, against which he was harden'd, from Flattery and a long Perseverance in the most enormous Crimes. In these Sentiments, then, not in a Discovery of Relations of any Kind, do all moral Determinations consist. Before we can pretend to form any Decision of this kind, every Thing must be known and ascertain'd on the Side of the Object or Action. Nothing remains but to feel, on our Part, some Sentiment of Blame or Approbation, whence we pronounce the Action criminal or virtuous.

III. Doctrine will become still more evident, if we compare moral Beauty with natural, to which, in many Particulars, it bears so near a Resemblance.