Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/246

 may conclude the Scene by a desperate Act of Self-murder, and dye with the most absurd Blasphemies in his Mouth. And notwithstanding all this, he shall have Statues, if not Altars, erected to his Memory; Poems and Orations shall be compos'd in his Praise; great Sects shall be proud of calling themselves by his Name; and the most distant Posterity shall blindly continue their Admiration: Tho' were such a one to arise amongst themselves, they would justly regard him with Horror and Execration.

have been aware, reply'd I, of your Artifice. You seem to take Pleasure in this Topic; and are indeed the only Man I ever knew, who was well acquainted with the Antients, and did not extremely admire them. But instead of attacking their Philosophy, their Eloquence, or Poetry, the usual Subjects of Controversy betwixt us, you now seem to impeach their Morals, and accuse them of Ignorance in a Science, which is the only one, in my Opinion, wherein they are not surpass'd by the Moderns. Geometry, Physics, Astronomy, Anatomy, Botany, Geography, Navigation; in these we justly claim the Superiority: But what have we to oppose to their Moralists? Your Representation of Things is fallacious. You have no Indulgence for the Manners and Customs of different Ages. Would you try