Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/240

 about the same Time I discover'd (for it was not attempted to be kept a Secret from me or any Body) that Alcheic was a Murderer and a Parricide, and had put to Death an innocent Person, the most nearly connected with him, and whom he was oblig'd to protect and defend by all the Ties of Nature and Humanity. When I ask'd, with all the Caution and Deference imaginable, what was his Motive for this Action; he reply'd coolly, that he was not then so much at his Ease as he is at present, and that he had acted, in that Particular, by the Advice of all his Friends.

heard Alcheic's Virtue so extremely celebrated, I pretended to join in the general Voice of Acclamation, and only ask'd, by way of Curiosity, as a Stranger, which of all his noble Actions was most highly applauded; and I soon found, that all Sentiments were united in giving the Preference to the Assassination of Usbek. This Usbek had been to the last Moment Alcheic's intimate Friend, had lay'd many high Obligations upon him, had even sav'd his Life on a certain Occasion, and had, by his Will, which was found after the Murder, made him his Heir to a considerable Part of his Fortune. Alcheic, it seems, conspir'd with about twenty or thirty more, most of them also Usbek's Friends; and falling all