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Article ON PUBLIC INGRATITUDE TO GREAT CHARACTERS. ← Page 2 of 6 →
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On Public Ingratitude To Great Characters.
individuals , but so inconsistently as members of society ? From what cause can it proceed , that we judge so rightly in our private capacities , but betray so much error in public situation ? B y what casuistry are we duped to believe , that vice in the individual is not vice in the citizen ; or that , however indispensable some virtues may be in our conduct towards those with whom we are concerned in the dail y intercourse of life these
, yet are very virtues in no degree obligatory in affairs of a political nature ? Is it among the inconveniencies of society ( for , alas ! " Nil prodest quod non lasdere possit idem , " and society has its concomitant evils !) that men , who / taken separately , are virtuous , should , when collected . in numbers , forget right principles ? Is it one among the disadvantages arising from ' natu
mans - ral tendency to subordination , that he will follow inconsiderately either to good or bad actions , the leader who can artfully persuade the multitude to adopt him as their , sole director ? Whatever be the cause , the fact is evident , that , in all ages of ( he world , men , as citizens , have been guilty of the crime , which , as individuals , they detest , the crime of INGRATITUDE to public Benefactors . When the artificerthe trader
, , the merchant , the gentleman , leaves , each of them , his retirement at home , and mix all in one common multitude , as rivers by their conflux with the ocean , they retain no longer each his own peculiar qualities ; consideration of the dictates which guided the private life of each is totall y abandoned ; we are hence to contemplate no longer the individual man , but the collected mass—and that is beilttinultorum
" a capitum , " in its fickle humours and violent proceedings . Whether honours are solicited , or punishments deprecated , the " civium ardor prava jubentinm" determines the affair , regardless of former services and past merit in the object , whose ' cause is left to popular decision . The language of the Poet , rioraverc snis non respondere favorem Speratmn mentis— Hon . lib . ii . cp . i .
is applicable not onl y to the heroes particularly specified in that passage , but to the valiant and wise in many ages and countries . _ What did the trophies at Marathon avail MifFiades ? The seasonabl e vigour and magnanimous exertions b y which he gained a glorious victory over the Persians , could not secure him from the resentment of his fellow citizens , on tite failure of an expedition against Pares By sentence and cruel
a unjust , he was fined in a sum which exceeded his fortune : unable therefore to discharge the mulct , he was cat ( into prison , where , to the eternal disgrace of Athens , being le't without a friend to redeem him , he died of his wounds received iii the service of his country . To what purpose was itwith regard to public favourthat Aristides
, , by his integrity gained the appellation of Just ? Not the valour and wisdom which he had displayed at Marathon , nor the upri ght conduct which he had always so remarkabl y observed among his countrymen , coufd shield iiim from the attacks of jealousy , or support him firm
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Public Ingratitude To Great Characters.
individuals , but so inconsistently as members of society ? From what cause can it proceed , that we judge so rightly in our private capacities , but betray so much error in public situation ? B y what casuistry are we duped to believe , that vice in the individual is not vice in the citizen ; or that , however indispensable some virtues may be in our conduct towards those with whom we are concerned in the dail y intercourse of life these
, yet are very virtues in no degree obligatory in affairs of a political nature ? Is it among the inconveniencies of society ( for , alas ! " Nil prodest quod non lasdere possit idem , " and society has its concomitant evils !) that men , who / taken separately , are virtuous , should , when collected . in numbers , forget right principles ? Is it one among the disadvantages arising from ' natu
mans - ral tendency to subordination , that he will follow inconsiderately either to good or bad actions , the leader who can artfully persuade the multitude to adopt him as their , sole director ? Whatever be the cause , the fact is evident , that , in all ages of ( he world , men , as citizens , have been guilty of the crime , which , as individuals , they detest , the crime of INGRATITUDE to public Benefactors . When the artificerthe trader
, , the merchant , the gentleman , leaves , each of them , his retirement at home , and mix all in one common multitude , as rivers by their conflux with the ocean , they retain no longer each his own peculiar qualities ; consideration of the dictates which guided the private life of each is totall y abandoned ; we are hence to contemplate no longer the individual man , but the collected mass—and that is beilttinultorum
" a capitum , " in its fickle humours and violent proceedings . Whether honours are solicited , or punishments deprecated , the " civium ardor prava jubentinm" determines the affair , regardless of former services and past merit in the object , whose ' cause is left to popular decision . The language of the Poet , rioraverc snis non respondere favorem Speratmn mentis— Hon . lib . ii . cp . i .
is applicable not onl y to the heroes particularly specified in that passage , but to the valiant and wise in many ages and countries . _ What did the trophies at Marathon avail MifFiades ? The seasonabl e vigour and magnanimous exertions b y which he gained a glorious victory over the Persians , could not secure him from the resentment of his fellow citizens , on tite failure of an expedition against Pares By sentence and cruel
a unjust , he was fined in a sum which exceeded his fortune : unable therefore to discharge the mulct , he was cat ( into prison , where , to the eternal disgrace of Athens , being le't without a friend to redeem him , he died of his wounds received iii the service of his country . To what purpose was itwith regard to public favourthat Aristides
, , by his integrity gained the appellation of Just ? Not the valour and wisdom which he had displayed at Marathon , nor the upri ght conduct which he had always so remarkabl y observed among his countrymen , coufd shield iiim from the attacks of jealousy , or support him firm