Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/267

 of Diogenes's Wit was every Kind of Superstition, that is, every Kind of Religion known in his Time. The Mortality of the Soul was his Standard Principle; and even his Sentiments of a Divine Providence seem to have been very licentious. The most ridiculous Superstitions directed Pascal's Faith and Practice; and an extreme Contempt of this Life, in Comparison of the future, was the chief Foundation of his Conduct.

such a remarkable Contrast do these two Men stand: Yet both of them have met with universal Admiration in their different Ages, and have been propos'd as Models of Imitation. Where then is the universal Standard of Morals, which you talk of? And what Rule shall we establish for the many different, nay contrary Sentiments of Mankind?

Experiment, said I, that succeeds in the Air, will not always succeed in a Vacuum. When Men depart from the Maxims of common Reason, and affect these artificial Lives, as you call them, no-one can answer for what will please or displease them. They are in a different Element from the rest of Mankind; and the natural Principles of their Mind play not with the same Regularity, as if left to themselves, free from the Illusions of religious Superstition or philosophical Enthusiasm.