part XIII. ETICURUS.

that which hath the true rcafon of Natural right or juft, is fuch, as that it is not only prefcribed as profitable and good, but is really fuch.
Wherefore to fpeak properly, Natural right or juft is no other, than a fymbol of utilitys or fuch an utility agreed upon by concurrence of votes, as may keep men from hurting, or being hurt by one another, fo that they may live fe- curely j A good, which every man is taught by Nature to defire.
I here take Profitable and Good for the fame thing ^ and 1 conceive, that, to a thing’s being juft or rightly kept, two things are requilite ; One, That it be profitable, or refped the com¬ mon utility, that is, fecurity •• The other,That it be prefcribed by the common confenc of the Society ^ For nothing is compleatly juft, but what the Society, by common confent or agree¬ ment, hath decreed to be obferved.
Hence it is, that . the name of Right or Juft Isufually given to both thefe, fince not only what is profitable is faid to be juft, but alfo the very common Covenant or prefcription of the Society, which is Tearmed Law, as being that which Prefcribes to very one what is profitable or juft.
Some there are, who conceive all things that are juft,to be juft of their own proper and un¬ alterable Nature, and that Laws do not make them to be juft, but only declare and preferib, according to the Nature which thofe things have. But it is not fo,but rather after the fame manner as is obferved in other things, which are profitable,as in thofe which concern health, and many others of the likeNature,which are be- ' neficial to fome men,hurtful ta others ; by which means they often fail of their mark, as well in common as in private.
And feeing that every thing is apprehended every where, always, and by all men, to be really fuch as it is in its own Nature, becaufe its Na¬ ture is unalterable, whether are thofe things,, which thefe men call juft,juft in all places and al¬ ways, and amongft all men ? Ought they not to have obferved, that many of thofe things that are conftitured by Laws, and Confequently ac¬ counted lawful and juft, are not conftituted and received amongft all Nations alike,but are neg- lefted by many as things indifferent, rejeded b^y others as hurtful,and condemned as unjuft? And are there not fome, who account things not ge¬ nerally profitable, to be neverchelefs ftich ^ and accordinglv embrace tfiofe things which are not generally approv'd, if they find them ad¬ vantageous in refped of their own Society, and feem but to promife fome general benefit ?
In fine, that is univerfally juft,or hath the Na¬ ture of juft, which is profitable or conformable to the prenotion of right or juft even now def- cribed ; For particularly, according as utility is various amongft feveral Nations, fo alfo is right or juft, various • infomuch as what isefteemed juft in one, is un juft in another; Whence, if it be demanded, whether juft or right be the fame among all men ? I anfwer,that,as to the general, it is the fame, for it is fomthing that is profi¬ table in mutual fociety ; But the differences of feveral Countries, and various caufes amongft them being confidered in particular, it comes to pafs that it is not the fame amongft all.
And, (to deduce fome few particulars hence,) whatfoever is by experience found profitable to a mutual Society, or the common participation of fuch things as are efteemed juft, that thing hath the nature of juft or right, if it be fuch as its utility extends unto all. But if any man fhall eftablilh fuch a thing for juft, and yet it (hall happen not to be profitable to mutual Society, it hath not the true nature of juft or right.
Again, though fomtimes the utility of that which was efteemed juft may fail, neverthelefs, if there be fomtimes fome utility in it, fo that it correfponds to the prenotion of juft or right, it is truly juft for that time .• They certainly will efteem it fo, who confound not themfelves with vain loquacity, but look more generally into human affaires.
Laftfy, where, no new circumftance of things intervening, thofe very things, which were e- fteemed jult. in the actions of men, are found not CO cqrrefpond with the notion of juft, they are not juft at all : But where, upon innovation or change of affairs,tlK)re things, which we former¬ ly decreed to be juft, ccafe to be profitable, they were juft, as long as they continued profitable to mutual Society, but as foon as ever they ceaf- ed to be profitable they ceafed to be juft.
CHAP. XXVI.
Of the Original of Eight and Juft.
BUt that we may go higher and deduce the thing from its original^ it appears that Right and Juft are as ancient, and Juftice hath been kept amongft men, as long as they have had focieties amongft themfelves.
For, in the beginning. Men wandring up and down like wild beafts and fuffering many intoir- veniences, as well from beafts as from the inju¬ ries of weather, a certain natural agreement a- mongft them(by reafon of their likenefs in form and foul or manners, ) perfwaded them to joy it together in fevei al companies,and to make fome provifion againft thofe inconveniences, by build¬ ing huts or Cottages, and Furnifhing themfelves with other Shelters, as well againft Wild Beafts as the W eather. But in i egafd every one was de- firousto be in a better condition than another, hereupon thure arofe frequent conteftacions a- bout food, women, and other conveniences; which they took away from one another 5 until at length they perceived, that they could not live fecure and commodioufly, unlefsthey made a covenant not to injure one another, and that in cafe any one did harm and injure another; the reft lliould puni(h him.
This was the firft band of Society •, which, fuppofing that every one might have fomthing proper to himfelf, or which he might call his own, as being his, either by firft polTeifion, 01 by purchafe, or by acquifition through his own induftry, or otherwife, decreed, that it (hould remain in the pofleflion anddifpofal of that per- fon. Now this band or covenant was no other than a common law, which all were equally bound to obferve, and which did confirm to e- very one a certain right or faculty of ufing whac- loevcr was his own. Whereupon that very law
LT 1 1 2 alfd
EPICURUS.
628
alfo came to be ( as 1 formerly intimated, ) the common right as it were of the Society.
I need not mention, how the whole Society transferr’d the|r power of reftraining or pu- nifliing,upon fome few wife and good perfons,or elfe on one,who was reputed the wifell and belt amongft them lftiall only obferve,that in theSo* ciety thofe were accounted juft or favourers of juftice,who being content with their own rights invaded not thofe of other men, but did injury to none-, thofe unjuft,or doers of injufticc, who being not content with their own rights,did af- fault the rights of other men -, and, harming them by rapine, perfonal violence or fome other way, became injurious to them.
Thus men lived a while peaceably and hap¬ pily, efpecially being under one or more Kings or Princes,the wifeft and beft, who being whol¬ ly intent upon the confervation and utility of the publitk, made,and, with confent of the people, eftabliflied divers Laws, to prevent diflcndons from rifing, or, if any did arife, to compofe them. But, fuch is the corruption of mens man¬ ners, in procefs of time the government fell into . the hands of Princes or Kings that were not good ; and thofe being either depofed orflain, it reverted to the people, whereupon tumults were raifed by the fadions of fuch as afpiredto the fuprcam power, until at length, the people languilhing under enmities and diffentions, and weary of living by force and hoftility, became willing to fubmit again to the Government of Magiftratcs or Princes. But becaufe the Wills of Princes had formerly pafs’d for abfolute laws, they made a covenant with their Cover nours,a- bout thofeLaws,according to which they delired to be governed ; and thus brought themfelves again under Laws, that is, under ftrift Rights.
But not to defcend to later times,but to touch only upon that chief head, which concerns the prefervation of life, for whofe fecurity ( as be¬ ing the moft precious of all things, ) care was taken from the beginning that it might be e- *Tmh. de mn by common Covenant or Law *, * Jt
efHcv'mm. appears^ that thefe moji wife and good founders of Laws^ having regard to the Society of life ^ and to thofe things^ which men ufuaRy do each to other ^ de¬ clared it a wicked ad to kill a man^and decreed f hat the Mwrtherer fhould be punifh'd with more than common ignominy^ and lofs of life. And to this they feem to have been induced, partly by con- lidering the conciliation of men among them- felvcs, ( of which I treated even now, ) in re- fpeft whereof men ought not to be as forward to deftroy an animal of their own kind, as one of different kind,which it is lawful to kill ; part¬ ly, indeed chiefly,by confidering,that men ought to abhor ^ what is no way advantageous to life^ but tends only to evil.
’ Indeed from the beginning ^to thofe who had regard to the utility of that confitution^ there needed not any other caufe to make them contain themfelves from doing any fuch adi • But they^ who could not fujfciently comprehend of what great concernment it was^ abfained from murthering one another ^only out of a fear of thofe great punifhments ^ both which we may obferve to have happened even in our own days, Thy^ who confider the great advantages of fuch a conjlitution.^are fufficiently difpofed for a conjiant ob- fervance thereof 1 but they^ who are not capable of