Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/254

 Usurper or Tyrant, if his Power shields him from public Rebellion, and our Scruples from private Vengeance? That his Crime is capital by Law, you acknowledge: And must the highest Aggravation of his Crime, the putting himself above Law, form his full Security? You can reply nothing, but by showing the great Inconveniencies of Assassination; which, could any one have prov'd clearly to the Antients, he had reform'd their Sentiments in this Particular.

, to cast your Eye on the Picture I have drawn of modern Manners; there is almost as great Difficulty, I acknowledge, to justify French as Greek Gallantry; except only, that the former is much more natural and agreeable than the latter. But our Neighbours, it seems, have resolv'd to sacrifice some of the domestic to the sociable Pleasures; and to prefer Ease, Freedom, and an open Commerce to a strict Fidelity and Constancy. These Ends are both good, and are somewhat difficult to reconcile; nor need we be surpriz'd, if the Customs of Nations encline too much, sometimes to the one Side, sometimes to the other.

most inviolable Attachment to the Laws of our Country is every-where acknowledg'd a capital Virtue; and where the People are not so happy, as