Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/253

 able, they arose from a very innocent Cause, the Frequency of the Gymnastic Exercises amongst that People; and were recommended, tho' absurdly, as the Source of Friendship, Sympathy, mutual Attachment, and Fidelity ; Qualities esteem'd in all Nations and all Ages.

Marriage of Half-brothers and Sisters seems no great Difficulty. Love betwixt the nearer Relations is contrary to Reason and public Utility; but the precise Point, where we are to stop, can scarcely be determin'd by natural Reason; and is therefore a very proper Subject of municipal Law or Custom. If the Athenians went a little too far on the one Side, the Canon Law has surely push'd Matters a great way into the other Extremity.

you ask'd a Parent at Athens, why he bereav'd his Child of that Life, which he had so lately given it. 'Tis because I love it, he would reply; and regard the Poverty it must inherit from me, as a greater Evil than a Death, which it is not capable of dreading, feeling, or resenting.

is public Liberty, the most valuable of all Blessings, to be recover'd from the Hands of an