5. For this is certain, and we have proved its truth in our Ethics, [1]
that men are of necessity liable to passions, and so constituted as to
pity those who are ill, and envy those who are well off; and to be prone
to vengeance more than to mercy: and moreover, that every individual
wishes the rest to live after his own mind, and to approve what he
approves, and reject what he rejects. And so it comes to pass, that, as
all are equally eager to be first, they fall to strife, and do their
utmost mutually to oppress one another; and he who comes out conqueror
is more proud of the harm he has done to the other, than of the good he
has done to himself. And although all are persuaded, that religion, on
the contrary, teaches every man to love his neighbour as himself, that
is to defend another's right just as much as his own, yet we showed that
this persuasion has too little power over the passions. It avails,
indeed, in the hour of death, when disease has subdued the very
passions, and man lies inert, or in temples, where men hold no traffic,
but least of all, where it is most needed, in the law-court or the
palace. We showed too, that reason can, indeed, do much to restrain and
moderate the passions, but we saw at the same time, that the road, which
reason herself points out, is very steep; [2] so that such as persuade
themselves, that the multitude or men distracted by politics can ever be
induced to live according to the bare dictate of reason, must be
dreaming of the poetic golden age, or of a stage-play.
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