Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/85

 ferent in each Game. The Foundation, I own, of such Societies is frivolous; and the Laws are, in a great Measure, tho' not altogether, capricious and arbitrary. So far is there a material Difference betwixt them and the Rules of Justice, Fidelity and Loyalty. The general Societies of Men are absolutely requisite for the Subsistence of the Species; and the public Conveniency, which regulates Morals, is inviolably establish'd in the Nature of Man, and of the World, in which he lives. The Comparison, therefore, in these Respects, is very imperfect. We may only learn from it the Necessity of Rules, where-ever Men have any Intercourse with each other.

cannot even pass each other on the Road without Rules. Waggoners, Coachmen, and Postilions have Principles, by which they give way; and these are chiefly founded on mutual Ease and Convenience. Sometimes also they are arbitrary, or at best dependant on a Kind of capricious Analogy, like many of the Reasonings of Lawyers.