Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/255

 to have any other Legislature but a single Person, the strictest Loyalty is, in that Case, the truest Patriotism.

surely can be more absurd and barbarous than the Practice of Duelling; but those, who justify it, say, that it begets Civility and Good-manners. And a Duelist, you may observe, always values himself upon his Courage, his Sense of Honour, his Fidelity and Friendship; Qualities, which are here indeed very oddly directed, but have been esteem'd universally, since the Foundation of the World.

the Gods forbid Self-murder? An Athenian allows, that it ought to be foreborn. Has the Deity permitted it? A Frenchman allows, that Death is preferable to Pain and Infamy.

see then, continu'd I, that the Principles, upon which Men reason in Morals are always the same; tho' the Conclusions they draw are often very different. That they all reason aright with regard to this Subject, more than with regard to any other, it is not incumbent on any Moralist to show. 'Tis sufficient, that the original Principles of Censure or Blame are uniform, and that erroneus Conclusions can be corrected by sounder Reasonings and a larger