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Article LEIBNIZ AND SPINOZA. ← Page 11 of 25 →
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Leibniz And Spinoza.
dently of his remarks on that article in the Abbe ' s book , and gives some instances , by way of illustration , of noble disregard of self : among these he takes care to cite the case of Pompey , Avho , being about to depart on a A'oyage , called , as he considered , by an imperative sense of duty , Avas strongly dissuaded by his friends from prosecuting his intention . " If you go" exclaimed
, they , " you will be wrecked ; you hazard yoiu' life . " He replied in Greek , in words Avhich have since become proA'erbial , " 'Mvai civajKr ] , Zfp > § E ok avcr / tcn . " ( "There is a necessity that I should go ; there is no necessity that I should live . " ) This saying has been Avittily parodied in modern times by a French judgeAVIIO asked a criminal what excuse he had for having
, transgressed the laAV . " Monsieur , il faitt vivre , " was the reply of the culprit ; but the judge shook his head , "je n'en voispas la necessite . " But the story is peculiarly a propos of a theory Avhich has been lately brought forward bv no less a person than
Professor Whewell , viz ., the theory of heroic virtue . According to this theory , the man is virtuous AA'ho does his duty , but he who does more , is heroically virtuous , so that , in fact , works of supererogation bestow on the man Avho performs them this title . NOAV as the fable of Quintus Curtius leaping into the gulf is exactly an instance in point , we may perhaps consider , for a few
moments , the aspect Avhich it presents when contemplated in this light . As the matter is commonly represented , Curtius sacrificed himself for the good of Rome ; let it be granted that it was SO' — -in what consisted the difference betAveen his conduct and that of thousands of virtuous Romans who inhabited the city at that time ? He had a conviction that it was his duty to
close up that gulf , they had no such conviction ; he followed that which he believed to be binding upon him , they did the same ; had he hesitated , he would have done Avrong , he would not haA r e come up to the mark which virtue requires , he Avould have been less than virtuous ; no man can do more than his
duty , and heroic Aartue becomes , after all , a mere name , with somewhat less meaning than many such . A very curious case of conscience has been proposed to test this principle : let it be imagined that during the life of Eenelon his palace at Cambray had taken fire , and at last that there were two persons only remaining in the burning edifice , the archbishop himself and
one maidservant : one only could be saved from the flames . Now the question is , would it not be the duty of the aforesaid maidservant to argue thus : " My life is of far less consequence than that of the archbishop ; I Avill therefore sacrifice myself that he may be rescued . " Nobody supposes that the girl would be bound either to think thus , or to act thus . ; but if , not being
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Leibniz And Spinoza.
dently of his remarks on that article in the Abbe ' s book , and gives some instances , by way of illustration , of noble disregard of self : among these he takes care to cite the case of Pompey , Avho , being about to depart on a A'oyage , called , as he considered , by an imperative sense of duty , Avas strongly dissuaded by his friends from prosecuting his intention . " If you go" exclaimed
, they , " you will be wrecked ; you hazard yoiu' life . " He replied in Greek , in words Avhich have since become proA'erbial , " 'Mvai civajKr ] , Zfp > § E ok avcr / tcn . " ( "There is a necessity that I should go ; there is no necessity that I should live . " ) This saying has been Avittily parodied in modern times by a French judgeAVIIO asked a criminal what excuse he had for having
, transgressed the laAV . " Monsieur , il faitt vivre , " was the reply of the culprit ; but the judge shook his head , "je n'en voispas la necessite . " But the story is peculiarly a propos of a theory Avhich has been lately brought forward bv no less a person than
Professor Whewell , viz ., the theory of heroic virtue . According to this theory , the man is virtuous AA'ho does his duty , but he who does more , is heroically virtuous , so that , in fact , works of supererogation bestow on the man Avho performs them this title . NOAV as the fable of Quintus Curtius leaping into the gulf is exactly an instance in point , we may perhaps consider , for a few
moments , the aspect Avhich it presents when contemplated in this light . As the matter is commonly represented , Curtius sacrificed himself for the good of Rome ; let it be granted that it was SO' — -in what consisted the difference betAveen his conduct and that of thousands of virtuous Romans who inhabited the city at that time ? He had a conviction that it was his duty to
close up that gulf , they had no such conviction ; he followed that which he believed to be binding upon him , they did the same ; had he hesitated , he would have done Avrong , he would not haA r e come up to the mark which virtue requires , he Avould have been less than virtuous ; no man can do more than his
duty , and heroic Aartue becomes , after all , a mere name , with somewhat less meaning than many such . A very curious case of conscience has been proposed to test this principle : let it be imagined that during the life of Eenelon his palace at Cambray had taken fire , and at last that there were two persons only remaining in the burning edifice , the archbishop himself and
one maidservant : one only could be saved from the flames . Now the question is , would it not be the duty of the aforesaid maidservant to argue thus : " My life is of far less consequence than that of the archbishop ; I Avill therefore sacrifice myself that he may be rescued . " Nobody supposes that the girl would be bound either to think thus , or to act thus . ; but if , not being