The New Gospel

It will be the duty of charity to incline more to the unfortunate, unless, perchance, they deserve their misfortune.

By applying conjecture to the countless delusions of drunk or crazy men we may sometimes deduce what appears to be real prophecy; for who if he shoots at a mark all day long, will not occasionally hit it?  We sleep every night and there is scarcely ever a night when we do not dream; then do we not wonder that our dreams come true sometimes?  Nothing is so uncertain as a cast of dice and yet there is no one who does not sometimes make a Venus-throw [three sixes] and occasionally twice or thrice in succession.  Then are we, like fools, to prefer to say that it happened by the direction of Venus rather than by chance?

Then, too, in the case of a state in its external relations, the rights of war must be strictly observed.  For since there are two ways of settling a dispute: first, by discussion; second, by physical force; and since the former is characteristic of man, the latter of the brute, we must resort to force only in case we may not avail ourselves of discussion.  The only excuse, therefore, for going to war is that we may live in peace unharmed; and when victory is won, we should spare those who have not been blood-thirsty and barbarous in their warfare … Not only must we show consideration for those whom we have conquered by force of arms but we must also ensure protection to those who lay down their arms and throw themselves upon the mercy of our generals … No war is just, unless it be entered upon after an official demand for satisfaction has been given or warning has been given and a formal declaration made … The man who is not legally a soldier has no right to be fighting the foe … If, under stress of circumstances, individuals have made any promise to the enemy, they are bound to keep their word even then … In the matter of promise one must always consider the meaning and not the mere words.

If you see a spacious and beautiful house, you could not be induced to believe, even though you could not see its master, that is was built by mice and weasels.  [Likewise] even man’s intelligence must lead us to infer the existence of a mind … of surpassing ability, and in fact divine.

When we see something moved by machinery, like an orrery or clock or many other such things, we do not doubt these contrivances are the work of reason; when therefore we behold the whole compass of the heaven moving with revolutions of marvelous velocity and executing with perfect regularity the annual changes of the seasons with absolute safety and security for all things, how can we doubt that all this is effected not merely by reason, but by a reason that is transcendent and divine?

With the Greeks geometry was regarded with the utmost respect, and consequently none were held in greater honor than mathematicians, but we Romans have restricted this art to the practical purposes of measuring and reckoning.  

True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions … It is a sin to try to alter this law … We cannot be freed from its obligations by senate or people, and we need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter of it.  And there will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens ...

Since, as Plato has admirably expressed it, we are not born for ourselves alone, but our country claims a share of our being, and our friends a share; and since, as the Stoics hold, everything that the earth produces is created for man’s use; and as men, too, are born for the sake of other men, that they may be able mutually to help one another; in this direction we ought to follow Nature as our guide, to contribute to the general good by an interchange of acts of kindness, by giving and receiving, and thus by our skill, our industry, and our talents to cement human society more closely together, man to man.

There are two kinds of injustice — the one on the part of those who inflict wrong, the other on the part of those who, when they can, do not shield from wrong those upon whom it is being afflicted … he who does not prevent or oppose wrong, if he can, is just as guilty of wrong … 

If that virtue [Justice] which centers on the ... maintenance of human society, were not to accompany the pursuit of knowledge, that knowledge would seem isolated and barren of results.  

This, then, ought to be the chief end of all men, to make the interest of each individual and of the whole body politic identical. 

Therefore, explore the cause, if you can, of every strange thing that excites your astonishment.  If you do not find the cause be assured, nonetheless, that nothing could have happened without a cause, and employ the principles of natural philosophy to banish the fear which the novelty of the apparition may have occasioned.  Then no earthquake or opening of the heavens, no showers of stones or blood, or shooting stars, or comets, will fill you with alarm.

Now since, through the procession and retrogression of the stars, the great variety and change of the seasons and of temperature take place, and since the power of the sun produces such results as are before our eyes, they believe that it is not merely probable, but certain, that just as the temperature of air is regulated by this celestial force, so also children at their birth are influenced in soul and body and by this force their minds, manners, physical condition, career in life and destinies are determined … What inconceivable madness!  For it is not enough to call an opinion ‘foolishness,’ when it is utterly devoid of reason.

Speaking frankly, superstition, which is widespread among the nations, has taken advantage of human weakness to cast its spell over the mind of almost every man … For I thought that I should be rendering a great service both to myself and to my countrymen if I could tear this superstition up by the roots … For superstition is ever at your heels to urge you on; it follows you at every turn.  It is with you when you listen to a prophet, or an omen; when you offer sacrifices or watch the flight of birds; when you consult an astrologer or a soothsayer; when it thunders or lightens or there is a bolt from on high; or when some so-called prodigy is born or is made.  And since necessarily some of these signs are nearly always being given, no one who believes in them can ever remain in a tranquil state of mind. 

Philosophy has lain neglected to this day, and Latin literature has thrown no light upon it: it must be illuminated and exalted by us … Now it is possible for an author to hold right views and yet be unable to express them in polished style; but to commit one’s reflections to writing, without being able to arrange or express them clearly or attract the reader by some sort of charm, indicates a man who makes an unpardonable misuse of leisure and his pen … For this reason, if by my assiduity I have won for our countrymen some measure or oratorical renown, I shall with far greater enthusiasm lay bare the springs of philosophy …  But just as Aristotle, a man of supreme genius, knowledge and fertility of speech … began … to teach the young to speak and combine wisdom with eloquence, similarly it is my design not to lay aside my early devotion to the art of expression, but to employ it in this grander and more fruitful art … 

So also we ... entered upon this life, and some were slaves of ambition, some of money; there were a special few who, counting all else as nothing, closely scanned the nature of things; these men gave themselves the names of lovers of wisdom (for that is the meaning of the word philosopher); and just as at the games the men of truest breeding looked on without any self-seeking, so in the life the contemplation and discovery of nature far surpassed all other pursuits.

O philosophy, thou guide of life, o thou explorer of virtue and expeller of vice!  Without thee what could have become not only of me but of the life of man altogether?  Thou hast given to cities, thou hast called scattered human beings into the bond of social life, thou hast united them first of all in joint habitations, next in wedlock, then in the ties of common literature and speech, thou has discovered law, thou hast been the teacher of morality and order: to thee I fly for refuge, from thee I look for aid, to thee I entrust myself, at once in ample measure, so now wholly and entirely ... Whose help then are we to use rather than thine?  Thou that hast freely granted us peacefulness of life and destroyed the dread of death.

But in the case of injustice it makes a vast deal of difference whether the wrong is done as a result of some impulse of passion, which is usually brief and transient, or whether it is committed willfully with premeditation. 

When we speak of corn as Ceres and wine as Liber [Bacchus], we employ a familiar figure of speech, but do you suppose that anybody can be so insane as to believe that the food he eats is a god? 

But let us remember that we must have regard for justice even toward the humblest.  Now the humblest station and the poorest in fortune are those of slaves; and they give us no bad rule who bid us treat our slaves as we should our employees: they must be required to work; they must be given their dues.

Now, of the four divisions which we have made of the essential idea of moral goodness, the first, consisting in the knowledge of truth, touches human nature most closely.