History as past ethics; an introduction to the history of morals

by P. V. N. Myers

[781] We cannot concur with the author, Norman Angell, of The Great Illusion in his contention that there will be no change in the practice of nations regarding war and preparations for war till there is a change in ideas respecting the economic advantage to be derived from successful war. Moral idealism, finding expression in revolutions and reforms, is constantly giving denial to the validity of the economic or materialistic interpretation of history when the economic motive is thus made the dominant motive in human action. War will become a thing of the past only when men can no longer fight with a good conscience.

[782] Machiavelli (The Romanes Lecture for 1897).

[783] This archaic nature of the code is shown especially in its retention as a survival of the principle of collective responsibility, which, long outgrown by ordinary morality, still forms the very basis of the war system. Again, the true nature of the war code as a heritage from the low level of savagery is shown in its retention of the primitive rule that the one suffering an injury shall be the judge of his own cause and the avenger of his wrong, a principle of self-redress long since discarded by the private law of all civilized peoples.

[784] Studies of Political Thought from Gerson to Grotius (1907), p. 94.

[785] Pike, A History of Crime in England (1873), vol. i, p. 211; vol. ii, p. 414.

[786] Studies of Political Thought from Gerson to Grotius (1907), p. 96.

[787] Telemachus was an Asiatic monk who journeyed to Rome for the purpose of making a protest against the bloody spectacles. “The Romans were provoked by the interruption of their pleasures; and the rash monk, who had descended into the arena to separate the gladiators, was overwhelmed under a shower of stones. But the madness of the people soon subsided; they respected the memory of Telemachus, who had deserved the honors of martyrdom; and they submitted without a murmur to the laws of Honorius, which abolished forever the human sacrifices of the amphitheatre” (Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xxx).

INDEX

• Ægospotami, slaughter of Athenian prisoners at, [194]
• Æschylus, [191]
• Ahriman, [124]
• Ahura Mazda, [124]
• Almsgiving, [281], [368]
• Altruism, Greek and Roman, [175], [215];
• Christian, [279]
• Amélineau, [44]
• Amos, [145]
• Amphictyonic League, [194]
• Amusements, humanizing of, [369]
• Ancestor worship, as a moral force, [13];
• in China, [54];
• in Japan, [78]
• Angell, Norman, [376] [n. 5]
• Animal ethics, Brahmanic, [103];
• Buddhist, [119];
• Zoroastrian, [129];
• Mohammedan, [292];
• Christian, [357];
• influence of evolutionary science upon, [358]
• Aphrodite, [171]
• Aquinas, Thomas, [318], [325]
• Arbitration among the Greeks, [195]
• Arhat, the, [113]
• Aristotle, views of, on war against non-Greeks, [180];
• ethical system of, [202–204];
• views of, on slavery, [203]
• Asceticism, general fostering causes of, [267];
• Christian fostering causes of, [268]
• Assur-natsir-pal, [51]
• Athleticism, Greek moral elements in, [177]
• Aurelius, Marcus, Meditations of, [239], [247]
• Autolycus, [185]
• Bagehot, [287]
• Beccaria, [345], [370]
• Benevolence, Roman, [236]
• Blood feud, [20]
• Brahma, the impersonal, [96];
• the personal, [96]
• Brahmans, the, [97], [101], [102]
• Breasted, Professor, [31], [39] [n. 3]
• Buckle, Henry T., [1], [2]
• Buddha, [111];
• ethical content of his message, [116]
• Buddhism, in Japan, [79];
• the four truths of, [106];
• the eightfold path of, [110];
• influence of, on the military spirit, [120]
• Bury, J. B., [174]
• Bushido, ideal of, [79], [80–82];
• influence of, [87];
• in action, [88], [89]
• Cannibalism, [26];
• celestial, [26] [n. 3]
• Castes, Hindu, [97]
• Charity, Christian, [279–282];
• Moslem, [296]
• Chinese cashiers in Japan, [90] [n. 2]
• Christianity, doctrinal, ethical ideal of, [261];
• limitations of the ideal of, [264]
• Chrysostom, Dion, [243]
• Cicero, [215];
• contempt of, for manual labor and merchandizing, [224]
• City state, as the mold of Greek morality, [169];
• Roman, [213];
• effect of decay of, on Greek and Roman morals, [204], [221]
• Class morality, [344]
• Clemency, Roman virtue, [249]
• Clovis, Frankish chieftain, [303]
• Cluny, [313]
• Collective responsibility, [18–20];
• doctrine of, repudiated by Hebrew prophets, [159];
• principle of, as embodied in Church code rejected by the modern conscience, [364];
• a survival of, in modern war code, [378] [n. 1]
• Competition, in primitive society, [14]
• Confucianism, [53]
• Confucius, [60]
• Conscience, new social, nurtured in the medieval towns, [330], [331];
• purification in modern times, [364–371];
• new international, [371–382]
• Constantine the Great, [302]
• Continuance theory, [35–37];
• in the Greek moral evolution, [187]
• Corn, moral effects of free distribution of, at Rome, [224]
• Cosmopolitanism, growth of, in Hellenistic Age, [209];
• in the Roman Empire, [236–240]
• Courage, altruistic element in, [22], [175]
• Courtier, ideal of the, [328–330]
• Criticism, higher, [335]
• Crusades, as ideal of knighthood in action, [309]
• Cuba, our dealings with, [373]
• Customary morality, [18]
• Cynics, [210]
• Darius I, inscriptions of, [134]
• Davids, Rhys, [109], [114], [120]
• Delphi, relation of, to Greek morality, [172]
• Democracy, effect of its incoming upon moral evolution, [340];
• ethics of, [344–347]
• Demonax, [208]
• Demonism, Babylonian, [46];
• Chinese, [55]
• De Officiis of Cicero, [238]
• Deuteronomy, dual morality of, [151]
• Dionysus, [171]
• Double standard in morality, [22–24]
• Dualism, religious, Egyptian, [32];
• Persian, [123]
• Duel, international, [332];
• judicial, see [Wager of battle]
• Education, in Japan, [91–93];
• its relation to morality, [345];
• transferred from Church to State, [346]
• Election, race, [174]
• Elijah, [143]
• Elis, consecrated to peace, [197]
• Elisha, [143]
• Elysian Fields, [187], [188]
• Envy of the gods, doctrine of, [189]
• Epictetus, [247], [248], [250]
• Epicureanism, [207]
• Evolution, disturbing effects of doctrine upon morals, [341];
• egoistic tendencies of the doctrine, [354];
• altruistic factor in, [350]
• Fabiola, [281]
• Fall of man, dogma of, [259]
• Family ethics, Greek, [181];
• Roman, [212], [214];
• Mohammedan, [291]
• Festivals, Hebrew, moralization of, [149]
• Figgis, J. Neville, [378], [380]
• Filial piety, Chinese virtue, [61]
• Filipinos, American treatment of, [373–375]
• Gambling, prohibited by the Koran, [291]
• Geneva Convention of 1864, [376]
• George, Henry, [350] [n. 1]
• Gesta Romanorum, [310]
• Gladiatorial combats, demoralizing effects of, [225];
• suppression of, [277];
• the last in Colosseum, [381]
• Gladstone, William E., [360]
• Golden Rule, as stated by Confucius, [67]
• Green, T. H., [11]
• Gresham’s Law in morals, [378]
• Grotius, Hugo, [375]
• Group, kinship, [12]
• Guatama, see [Buddha]
• Hades, gradual moralizing of, [187–189]
• Hammurabi, code of, [49]
• Hearn, Lafcadio, [84]
• Heresy, viewed as a contagion, [325]
• Higher criticism, [335]
• Hillel, [168]
• Holy Grail, [311]
• Holy Virgin, moral influence of veneration of, [311]
• Homeric Age, morals of, [185]
• Hopkins, Edward W., [114]
• Hosea, [146]
• Hospital, first Christian, [281]
• Hospitalers, the, [308]
• Hospitality, [24]
• Howard, John, [370]
• Howe, Julia Ward, [324]
• Humanitarianism, growth of, in Hellenistic Age, [208];
• in pre-Christian, of Roman Empire, [234–236];
• advance of, in modern times, [369–371]
• Ideal, moral, defined, [5];
• causes which determine, [7–10]
• Ilus, prince of Ephyra, [172]
• Immortality, emergence of doctrine of, in Israel, [164–166];
• its ethical value, [257]
• India, Government of India Act, [373]
• Industrial virtues, Persian, [128];
• disesteemed by the Greeks and Romans, [182], [223];
• cradled in the medieval towns, [330];
• effects upon, of the dissolution of the monasteries, [337]
• Industrialism, modern, relation to morals, [341];
• ethics of, [347–353];
• modern, alliance of industry and science, [347];
• divorce of industry and ethics, [348]
• Infanticide, in China, [73];
• condemned by Christian teaching, [278];
• in Greece, [181]
• Inheritance, limitation of, [351]
• Inquisition, [324–326]
• Insanity, regarded as demon possession, [282]
• Intellectual progress, relation of, to moral progress, [342]
• International law, relation of, to municipal law, [372]
• Intertribal morality, beginnings of, [22–29]
• Intolerance, Jewish, [163];
• Christian, [265], [324];
• Mohammedan, [294]
• Intoxicating liquors, use of, prohibited by Koran, [292], [296]
• Inventions, relation of, to moral progress, [341]
• Iona, [280]
• Iron virgin of Nuremberg, [381]
• Isaiah, [147];
• the Second, [157], [161]
• Isis, worship of, in Roman Empire, [252]
• Ixion, [187]
• Jeremiah, [151]
• Jesus of Nazareth, relation of, to moral history of West, [260]
• Judgment of Dead, Egyptian, [36];
• Persian, [130]
• Justice, Greek virtue of, [176]
• Juvenal, [235]
• Karma, [108]
• Ka-statues, [34]
• Kidd, Benjamin, [2]
• Knighthood, ideal of, [306–309];
• contribution of, to moral heritage of Christendom, [311]
• Koran, ethics of, [289–292]
• Labarum, [302]
• Land values, property in, [349]
• Legge, James, [68], [69]
• Leonidas, [176]
• Lex talionis, [21]
• Lindisfarne, [280]
• Machiavelli, [326–328]
• Machiavellism in politics, [326–328];
• in economics, [348]
• Malta, Knights of, [310]
• Mandarin morality, [69]
• Melians, [192]
• Mencius, [60]
• Mendicant Orders, [316–318]
• Micah, [148]
• Milvian Bridge, battle of, [302]
• Mithra, [125]
• Mithraism, propaganda of, in Roman Empire, [253]
• Mohammed, [288], [290]
• Mohammedanism, moral code of, [289–292]
• Monasteries, cradle of modern social conscience, [276];
• dissolution of, [336]
• Monastic ideal, [270];
• discredited by Protestant Reformation, [336]
• Monasticism, Buddhist, [118];
• Christian, [267–287]
• Monopoly in land, [350]
• Monotheism, ethical, emergence of, in Israel, [158], [159]
• Morley, Lord, [377]
• Nature, Law of, [240]
• Negative Confession, [37]
• Nemesis, doctrine of, [190–192]
• Nietzsche, [355], [356]
• Nirvana, [109]
• Nonresistance, Christian teaching of, [301], [302]
• Occupation, influence of, on morals, [9]
• Oisin, [272] n.
• Opium trade with China, [373]
• Ordeals, [304]
• Orphic doctrines, [174]
• Orthodoxy, regarded as saving virtue, [261]
• Osiris, myth of, [32]
• Pachomius, [44]
• Patria potestas, [212]
• Paulsen, Friedrich, [5] [n. 1]
• Peace of God, [312]
• Peace, universal, an ideal of Hebrew prophets, [146], [147]
• Peloponnesian War, effects of, on Greek morality, [194], [195] [n. 1]
• Penitential psalms, Babylonian, [47]
• Penitentiary system, [371]
• Persecution of Christians by pagan Roman emperors, [245]
• Pessimism, in Brahmanic system, [99];
• in Buddhist, [107]
• Petrie, Flinders, [39]
• Philipson, David, [168] [n. 1]
• Philo, [168]
• Pindar, [179], [186], [188]
• Plato, [200–202]
• Plutarch, [210], [249]
• Poisoned arrows, disuse of, [27], [172]
• Polygamy, accepted as ethical by Mohammed, [291]
• Private war, restrictions on, [312–314]
• Prophetism, Hebrew, different elements of, [142]
• Psychical research, import of, for morals, [359]
• Ptah-hotep, [40]
• Purgatory, effect of abolition of, upon morals, [337], [362]
• Pythagoras, [186]
• Pythagoreanism, [115]
• Ra, son-god, [31]
• Ransom of war captives, [315]
• Red Cross Society, [376]
• Reformation, Protestant, [333–339]
• Refuge, cities of, [154]
• Religion, relation of, to morals, [9], [14]
• Renaissance, influence of, on the moral evolution, [320], [322–324]
• Retribution theory, [35–37];
• in Greek moral evolution, [188]
• Revenge, duty of, [20];
• a Greek virtue, [183];
• how regarded by Roman moralists, [249]
• Right belief regarded as a virtue, [334]
• Ritual morality, in India, [106];
• in Israel, [151–154], [162]
• Ruth, the Moabitess, [156]
• Sabbath, [150], [260]
• Sacrifice, in Brahmanic system, [100];
• in Israel, [138]
• St. Ambrose, [303]
• St. Augustine, [284], [303]
• St. Boniface, [280]
• St. Columba, [280]
• St. Dominic, [316], [317]
• St. Francis, [316], [317]
• St. Gall, [280]
• St. Patrick, [272]
• St. Wilfred, [280]
• Saints, Lives of the, [309]
• Samurai, [80], [82], [87–91]
• Sappho, [178]
• Schmidt, Nathaniel, [154] [n. 2], [260] [n. 1]
• Scholasticism, ethics of, [318]
• Science, ethics of, [353–360]
• Scott, James Brown, [372] [n. 1]
• Self-redress, a survival of, in international law, [378] [n. 1]
• Seneca, [239], [243], [247], [249], [250]
• Set, Egyptian god, [32]
• Shammai, [168]
• Sheol, [139]
• Shinto cult, [78]
• Single tax, [350] [n. 1]
• Slave trade, suppression of, [364–366]
• Slavery, in ancient Egypt, [41];
• among the Hebrews, [156];
• in Greece, [180], [203];
• Roman, [223];
• ameliorations of, under pagan Roman emperors, [243];
• influence of Christianity upon, [282];
• under Islam, [290], [295];
• prisoners of war sold as slaves, [314];
• origin of word “slave,” [315];
• abolition of African, [366]
• Smith, W. Robertson, [12]
• Social ethics, [364–371]
• Socialism, [352]
• Socrates, [197–200]
• Stoicism, [206], [209];
• influence of, upon Roman government and law, [241–243];
• as a moral force, [241];
• teachings of, Christian in tone, [246–248];
• insufficiency of, as guide to the masses, [251];
• contrasted with Machiavellism, [328]
• Stoics, views of, on slavery, [203]
• Suicide, among the Japanese, [85];
• among the Romans, [250];
• condemned by Christianity, [279]
• Synagogue, [163], [164]
• Tantalus, [187]
• Taoism, [56]
• Telemachus, Christian monk, [381] [n. 1]
• Temperance, Greek virtue of, [176]
• Templars, the, [308]
• Terence, [238]
• Theology, moralization of, [360], [361]
• Thirty Years’ War, [375]
• Thucydides, [192]
• Toleration, under Buddhism, [112], [120];
• influence of doctrinal Christianity upon virtue of, [285];
• how affected by the Protestant Reformation, [338]
• Towns, medieval, as molders of morals, [321], [330]
• Transmigration, [98]
• Truce of God, [312–314]
• Truthfulness, virtue of, Japanese lack of reverence for, [85];
• highly esteemed by the Persians, [128], [132–134];
• low estimation of, among Greeks, [184]
• Tyrannicide, among Japanese, [86];
• views of Roman moralist on, [249]
• Ulfilas, bishop, [304]
• Unearned increment, [349]
• Universalism, ethical, pre-Christian, [236]
• Urban II, Pope, [305]
• Usury, [155]
• Veracity, fostered by science, [353]
• Vergil, [235]
• Vicarious suffering, doctrine of, [160]
• Wager of battle, [304];
• disuse of, [331], [332]
• War, abolition of, a moral issue, [376];
• abrogation of the ordinary moral code by, [377];
• obsolescence of, as school of morals, [380]
• War ethics, as group morality, [20];
• as survival from barbarism, [20];
• beginning of rules of, [25–29];
• Egyptian, [42];
• Assyrian, [51];
• Chinese, [65];
• Brahmanic, [104];
• Greek, [193–195];
• Roman, [245] [n. 1];
• Mohammedan, [290], [294];
• syncretism of pagan war ethics and Christian peace ethics, [300–306];
• influence of martial ethics of Islam upon Christian ethics, [305];
• progress in, in Middle Ages, [314–316];
• progress in, in modern times, [375], [376];
• atavistic character of war code, [378];
• unfavorable reaction of, upon peace code, [378–380]
• Wealth, moral effects of unequal distribution of, [228]
• Wedgwood, Julia, [9]
• Wellhausen, [3]
• Wisdom, Greek virtue of, [176]
• World state, ethical basis of, [220]
• Wundt, Wilhelm, [5]
• Zarathustra, [126]
• Zeno, [206]
• Zoroaster, see [Zarathustra]

Transcriber’s Notes