work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
4200,"",Reading,2004-11-08 00:00:00 UTC,"The Chief Thing, therefore, which Lawgivers and other wise Men, that have laboured for the Establishment of Society, have endeavour'd, has been to make the People they were to govern, believe, that it was more beneficial for every Body to conquer than indulge his Appetites and much better to mind the Publick than what seem'd his private Interest. As this has always been a very difficult Task, so no Wit or Eloquence has been left untried to compass it; and the Moralists and Philosophers of all Ages employed their utmost Skill to prove the Truth of so useful and Assertion.
(Enquiry, p. 42 in OLL edition)",,10887,"","""The Chief Thing, therefore, which Lawgivers and other wise Men, that have laboured for the Establishment of Society, have endeavour'd, has been to make the People they were to govern, believe, that it was more beneficial for every Body to conquer than indulge his Appetites and much better to mind the Publick than what seem'd his private Interest.""",Empire,2012-04-10 20:22:06 UTC,An Enquiry into the Origin of Moral Virtue
4200,Psychomachia,"",2004-11-08 00:00:00 UTC,"To introduce, moreover, an Emulation amongst Men, they divided the whole Species into a two Classes, vastly differing from one another: The one consisted of abject, low-minded People, that always hunting after immediate Enjoyment, were wholly incapable of Self-denial, and without regard to the good of others, had no higher Aim than their private Advantage; such as being enslaved by Voluptuousness, yielded without Resistance to every gross desire, and madeb no use of their Rational Faculties but to heighten their Sensual Pleasure.c These vile grov'ling Wretches, they said, were the Dross of their Kind, and having only the Shape of Men, differ'd from Brutes in nothing but their outward Figure. But the other Class was made up of lofty high-spirited Creatures, that free from sordid Selfishness, esteem'd the Improvements of the Mind to be their fairest Possessions; and setting a true value upon themselves, took no Delight but in embellishing that Part in which their Excellency consisted; such as despising whatever they had in common with irrational Creatures, opposed by the Help of Reason their most violent Inclinations; and making a continual War with themselves to promote the Peace of others, aim'd at no less than the Publick Welfare and the Conquest of their own Passion.
Fortior est qui se quàm qui fortissima Vincit
Mœnia -- -- -- -- 1
These they call'd the true Representatives of their sublime Species, exceeding in worth the first Class by more degrees, than that it self was superior to the Beasts of the Field.
(42)",,10888,"•INTEREST. Use in discussion of psychomachia. The balance of inner and outer is here interesting.
•Footnote gives ""Cf. Prov. xvi 32""
","Some may make ""a continual War with themselves to promote the Peace of others"" and aim at ""no less than the Publick Welfare and the Conquest of their own Passion""","",2009-09-14 19:35:22 UTC,An Enquiry into the Origin of Moral Virtue
4200,"","",2004-11-08 00:00:00 UTC,"These among the Ancients have always bore the greatest Sway; yet others that were no Fools neither, have exploded those Precepts as impracticable, call'd their Notions Romantick, and endeavour'd to prove that what these Stoicks asserted of themselves exceeded all human Force and Possibility, and that therefore the Virtues they boasted of could be nothing but haughty Pretencea, full of Arrogance and Hypocrisy; yet notwithstanding these Censures, the serious Part of the World, and the generality of Wise Men that have liv'd ever since to this Day, agree with the Stoicks in the most material Points; as that there can be no true Felicity in what depends on Things perishable; that Peace within is the greatest Blessing, and no Conquest like that of our Passions; that Knowledge, Temperance, Fortitude, Humility, and other Embellishments of the Mind are the most valuable Acquisitions; that no Man can be happy but he that is good; and that the Virtuous are only capable of enjoying real Pleasures.
(151)",,10895,"•Rich Passage. See also the countervailing passions below, played off on another. Also disguised passion met with in own breast.
","The generality of Wise Men agree that there is ""no Conquest like that of our Passions""","",2009-09-14 19:35:22 UTC,Remark O.
7732,"","Reading; found again in Michael McKeon's The Secret History of Domesticity (Baltimore: JHUP, 2005), 20.",2013-10-14 21:51:01 UTC,"The Reverse of Pity is Malice: I have spoke of it where I treat of Envy. Those who know what it is to examine themselves, will soon own that it is very difficult to trace the Root and Origin of this Passion. It is one of those we are most ashamed of, and therefore the hurtful part of it is easily subdued and corrected by a Judicious Education. When any body near us stumbles, it is natural even before Reflexion to stretch out our Hands to hinder or at least break the Fall, which shews that while we are Calm we are rather bent to Pity. But the Malice by it self is little to be feared, yet assisted with Pride, it is often mischievous, and becomes most terrible when egged on and heightened by Anger. There is nothing that more readily or more effectually extinguishes Pity than this Mixture, which is called Cruelty: From whence we may learn that to perform a meritorious Action, it is not sufficient barely to conquer a Passion, unless it likewise be done from a laudable Principle, and consequently how necessary that Clause was in the Definition of Virtue, that our Endeavours were to proceed from a rational Ambition of being Good.
(Vol I, pp. 259-60)",2012-04-10,22998,"NOTE: deleted original: ""Record created on 2007-04-03 00:00:00 UTC""
In the introductory essay to Fable: Mandeville's definition of virtue ""was a reflection of two great contemporary currents of thought--the one ascetic, the other rationalistic. According to the first--a common theological position--virtue was a transcending of the demands of corrupt human nature, a conquest of self, to be achieved by divine grace. According to the second, virtue was conduct in accord with the dictates of sheer reason. Mandeville adopted both of these conceptions, and, amalgamating them, declared those acts alone to be virtuous--by which Man, contrary to the impulse of Nature, should endeavour the Benefit of others, or the Conquest of his own Passions out of a Rational Ambition of being good."" The expression ""rational ambition of being good appears at least twice in the Fable: see also vol. I, pp. 48-9.
NOTE, deleted again and moved to new title entry!
Record created on 2012-04-10 21:19:39 UTC
Record last updated on 2012-04-10 21:19:39 UTC",""From whence we may learn that to perform a meritorious Action, it is not sufficient barely to conquer a Passion, unless it likewise be done from a laudable Principle, and consequently how necessary that Clause was in the Definition of Virtue, that our Endeavours were to proceed from a rational Ambition of being Good."",Empire,2013-10-14 21:51:01 UTC,"An Essay on Charity, and Charity-Schools"