AN EQUIRY ON WAR ***
Produced by David King, Stan Goodman, and Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF HONOUR AND The Usefulness of CHRISTIANITY IN WAR.
By the Author of the FABLE of the BEES. [Bernard Mandeville]
THE PREFACE.
I take it for granted, that a Christian is not bound to believe any Thing to have been of Divine Institution, that has not been declared to be such in Holy Writ. Yet great Offence has been taken at an Essay, in the First Part of the Fable of the _Bees_, call'd An Enquiry into the Origin of Moral Virtue; notwithstanding the great Caution it is wrote with. Since then, it is thought Criminal to surmise, that even Heathen Virtue was of Human Invention, and the Reader, in the following Dialogues, will find me to persist in the Opinion, that it was; I beg his Patience to peruse what I have to say for my self on this Head, which is all I shall trouble him with here.
The Word Morality is either synonimous with Virtue, or signifies that Part of Philosophy, which treats of it, and teaches the Regulation of Manners; and by the Words Moral Virtue, I mean the same Thing which I believe Every body else does. I am likewise fully persuaded that to govern our selves according to the Dictates of Reason, is far better than to indulge the Passions without Stop or Controul, and consequently that Virtue is more beneficial than Vice, not only for the Peace and real Happiness of Society in general, but likewise for the Temporal Felicity of every individual Member of it, abstract from thee Consideration of a future State, I am moreover convinced, that all wise Men ever were and ever will be of this Opinion; and I shall never oppose Any body, who shall be pleased to call this an Eternal Truth.
Having allow'd and own'd thus much, I beg Leave to make a short Grammatical Reflection on the Sounds or Letters we make use of to express this rational Management of ourselves: For tho' the Truth of its Excellency is Eternal, the Words _Moral Virtue_ themselves are not so, any more than Speech or Man himself. Permit me therefore to enquire which Way it is most probably, they must have come into the World.
The Word _Moral_, without Doubt, comes from _Mos_, and signifies every Thing that relates to Manners: The Word _Ethick_ is synonimous with _Moral_, and is derived from [Greek: ithik], which is exactly the same in _Greek_, that _Mos_ is in _Latin_. The _Greek_ for Virtu, is [Greek: arete], which is derived from [Greek: ares], the God of War and properly signifies Martial Virtue. The same Word in _Latin_, if we believe _Cicero_, comes from _Vir_; and the genuine Signification likewise of the Word _Virtus_ is Fortitude. It is hardly to be conceived, but that in the first Forming of all Societies, there must have been Struggles for Superiority; and therefore it is reasonable to imagine, that in all the Beginnings of Civil Government, and the Infancy of Nations, Strength and Courage must have been the most valuable Qualifications for some Time. This makes me think, that _Virtus_, in its first Acceptation, might, with great Justice and Propriety, be in _English_ render'd _Manliness_; which fully expresses the Original Meaning of it, and shews the Etymology equally with the _Latin_; and whoever is acquainted with that Language must know, that it was some ages before the _Romans_ used it in any other Sense. Nay, to this Day, the Word _Virtus_ by it self, in any of their Historians, has the same Signification, as if the Word _Bellica_ had been added. We have Reason to think, that, as First, Nothing was meant by _Virtus_, but Daring and Intrepidity, right or wrong; or else if could never have been made to signify Savageness, and brutish Courage; as _Tacitus_, in the Fourth Book of his History, makes use of it manifestly in that Sense. Even Wild Beasts, says he, if you keep them shut up, will lose their Fierceness. _Etiam sera animalia, si clausa teneas, virtutis obliviseuntur_.
What the Great Men of _Rome_ valued themselves upon was active and passive Bravery, Warlike Virtue, which is so strongly express'd in the Words of Livy: _Et facere & pati fortia Romanum est._ But besides the Consideration of the great Service, All Warriours received from this Virtue, there is a very good Reason in the Nature of the Thing it self, why it should be in far higher Esteem than any other. The Passion it has to struggle with, is the most violent and stubborn, and consequently the hardest to be conquer'd, the Fear of Death: The least Conflict with it is harsh Work, and a difficult Task; and it is in Regard to this, that _Cicero_, in his _Offices_, calls Modesty, Justice and Temperance, the softer and easier Virtues. _Qui virtutibus bis lenioribus erit ornatus, modestia, justitia temperantia,_ &c. Justice and Temperance require Professors as grave and solemnn, and demand as much Strictness and Observance as any other Virtues. Why _lenioribus_ then; but that they are more mild and gentle in the Restrain they lay upon our Inclinations, and that the Self-denial they require is more practicable and less mortifying than that of Virtue itself, as it is taken in it proper and genuine Sense? To be Just or Temperate, we have Temptations to encounter, and Difficulties to surmount, that are troublesome: But the Efforts we are oblig'd to make upon our selves to be truyly Valiant are infinitely greater; and, in order to it, we are overcome the First, the strongest and most lasting Passion, that has been implanted in us; for tho' we may hate and have Aversion to many Things by Instinct, yet this is Nothing so generally terrible, and so generally dreadful to all Creatures, rational or not rational, as the Dissolution of their Being.
YOU ARE READING
