In like manner, the disbelief of a Divine Providence renders a man
incapable of holding any public station; for, since kings avow
themselves to be the deputies of Providence, the Lilliputians think
nothing can be more absurd than for a prince to employ such men as
disown the authority under which he acts.
In relating these and the following laws, I would only be understood to
mean the original institutions, and not the most scandalous corruptions
into which these people are fallen, by the degenerate nature of man.
For, as to that infamous practice of acquiring great employments by
dancing on the ropes, or badges of favor and distinction by leaping over
sticks, and creeping under them, the reader is to observe, that they
were first introduced by the grandfather of the emperor, now reigning,
and grew to the present height by the gradual increase of party and
faction.
Ingratitude is, among them, a capital crime, as we read it to have been
in some other countries; for they reason thus, that whoever makes ill
returns to his benefactor, must needs be a common enemy to the rest of
mankind, from whom he hath received no obligation, and therefore such a
man is not fit to live.
Their notions relating to the duties of parents and children differ
extremely from ours.
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