A Colloquy on the Utilitarian Theory of Morals Presented in Mr. W.E.H. Lecky's History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1873 Excerpt: ... He reck'd not of the life he lost, nor prize: But where his rude hut by the Danube lay, There were his young barbarians all at play; There was their Dacian mother--he, their sire, Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday--All this rush'd with his blood; shall he expire, And unavenged? Arise ye Goths, and glut your ire " Mr. T. Mr. Lecky actually extenuates the "gladiatorial shows," by alleging that they "were originally a form of human sacrifice adopted through religious motives." Mr. L. This sort of apology only adds to the confusion; if we assume that the gladiatorial shows were thus instituted, does religiousness of motive cure the "deep damnation" of an evil deed? Wholesale slaughter was not a whit the less devilish because it was done to propitiate a devil who had usurped the place and name of a god. A thing utterly evil, notwithstanding what Mr. Lecky calls the "religious motives" in which it originates, remains evil; roasting a man for his belief or disbelief is unalterably evil, though it were done under the influence of motives the most religious. Things are what they are, be the superstitions of men never so abject--"Let's write good angel on the devil's horn, 'Tis not the devil's crest." Mr. T. Mr. Lecky fits into his system another piece of barbaric virtue. He says," The rude nomadic life of savages rendering impossible the preservation of aged and helpless members of the tribe, the murder of parents was regarded Measure for Measure. as an act of mercy both by the murderer and the victim." Mr. L. The exigencies of Mr Lecky's theory must have pressed him very hard before he could have advanced such arguments in support of it. Men with an innate moral sense, it seems, regarded murder as mercy, and the murdered participated in the mistake, but after a...