History Of European Morals - From Augustus To Charlemagne - Volume I From Augustus to Charlemagne

HISTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS FROM AUGUSTUS TO CHARLEMAGNE BY WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY, M. A. THIRD EDITION, REVISED IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I NEW YORK AND LONDON D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1917 Authorized Edition, Printed in the United States of America ADVEETISEMENT TO THE THIKD EDITION. availed myself of the interval since the last edition, to subject this book to a minute and careful revision, removing such inaccuracies as I have been able myself to discover, as well as those which have been brought under my notice by reviewers or correspondents. I must especially acknowledge the great assistance I have derived in this task from my Grerman translator, Dr. H. Jolowicz now, unhappily, no more one of the most conscientious and accurate scholars with whom 1 have ever been in communication. In the controver sial part of the first chapter, which has given rise to a good deal of angry discussion, four or five lines which stood in the former editions have been omitted, and three or four short passages have been inserted, eluci dating or supporting positions which had been misun derstood or contested. January 1877 KANSAS CSW RIO, UBRARIf PREFACE. THE questions with which an historian of Morals is chiefly concerned axe the changes that have taken place in the moral standard and in the moral type. By the first, I understand the degrees in which, in different ages, recognised virtues have been enjoined and practised. By the second, 1 understand the rela tive importance that in different ages has been attached to different virtues. Thus, for example, a Roman of the age of Pliny, an Englishman of the age of Henry VIII., and an Englishman of our own day, would all agree in regarding humanity as avirtue, and its opposite as a vice but their judgments of the acts which are compatible with a humane disposition would be widely different. A humane man of the first period might derive a keen enjoyment from those gladiatorial games, which an Englishman, even in the days of the Tudors, would regard as atrociously barbarous and this last would, in his turn, acouiesce in many aporta Till PKEFACE. winch would now be emphatically condemned. And, in addition to this change of standard, there is a con tinual change in the order of precedence which is given to virtues. Patriotism, chastity, charity, and humility are examples of virtues, each of which has in gome ages been brought forward as of the most supreme and transcendent importance, and the very basis of a virtuous character, and in other ages been thrown into the background, and reckoned among the minor graces of a noble life. The heroic virtues, the amiable virtues, and what are called more especially the religious virtues, form distinct groups, to which, in different periods, different degrees of prominence have been assigned and the nature, causes, and conse quences of these changes in the moral type are among the most important branches of history. In estimating, however, the moral condition of an age, it is not sufficient to examine the ideal of moral ists. It is necessary also to enquire how far that ideal has been realised among the people. The corruption of a nation is often reflected in the indulgent and selfish etlucs of its teachers but it sometimes pro duces a reaction, and impels the moralist to an ascetic ism which is the extreme opposite of the prevailing spirit of society. The means which moral teachers possess ofacting upon their fellows, vary greatly in their nature and efficacy, and the age of the highest moral teaching is often not that of the highest general PEEFACE. IS level of practice. Sometimes we find a kind of aris tocracy of virtue, exhibiting the most refined excel lence in their teaching and in their actions, but exercising scarcely any appreciable influence upon the mass of the community. Sometimes we find moralists of a much less heroic order, whose influence has per meated every section of society...