Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/80

 long and helpless Infancy of Man requires the Combination of Parents for the Subsistance of their Young; and that Combination requires the Virtue of CHASTITY or Fidelity to the Marriage-bed. Without such an Utility, 'twill readily be own'd, such a Virtue would never have been thought of.

Infidelity of this Nature is much more pernicious in Women than in Men. Hence the Laws of Chastity are much stricter over the one Sex than over the other.