Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/250

 what is more particular in this whimsical Nation, say I to the Athenians, is, that a Frolic of yours during the Saturnalia, when the Slaves are serv'd by their Masters, is seriously continu'd by them thro' the whole Year, and thro' the whole Course of their Lives; and accompany'd too with some Circumstances, which still farther augment the Absurdity and Ridicule. Your Sport only elevates for a few Days those whom Fortune has thrown down, and whom she too, in Sport, may really elevate for ever above you: But this Nation gravely exalt those, whom Nature has subjected to them, and whose Inferiority and Infirmities are absolutely incurable. The Women, tho' without Virtue, are their Masters and Sovereigns: These they reverence, praise, and magnify: To these, they pay the highest Deference and Respect: And in all Places and at all Times, the Superiority of the Females is readily acknowledg'd and submitted to by every one, who has the least Pretensions to Education and Politeness. Scarce any Crime would be so universally detested as an Infraction of this Rule.