Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/251

 need go no farther, reply'd Palamedes, I can easily conjecture the People you aim at. The Strokes, with which you have painted them, are pretty just; and yet you must acknowledge, that scarce any People are to be found, either in antient or modern Times, whose national Character is, upon the Whole, less liable to Exceptions. But I give you Thanks for helping me our with my Argument. I had no Intention of exalting the Moderns at the Expence of the Antients. I only meant to represent the Uncertainty of all these Judgments concerning Characters; and to convince you, that Fashion, Vogue, Custom, and Law were the chief Foundation of all moral Determinations. The Athenians surely, were a civiliz'd, intelligent People, if ever there was one; and yet their Man of Merit might, in this Age, be held in Horror and Execration. The French are also, without doubt, a very civiliz'd, intelligent People; and yet their Man of Merit might, with the Athenians, be an Object of the highest Contempt and Ridicule, and even Hatred. And what renders the Matter more extraordinary: These two national Characters are suppos'd to be the most similar of any in antient or modern Times; and while the English flatter themselves that they resemble the Romans, their Neighbours on the Continent draw the Parallel betwixt themselves and these polite Greeks. What