Defence of Criminals 



And so again — since there is an analogy between 

 the Individual and Society — may we not conclude 

 that as the individual has ultimately to recognise 

 his so-called evil passions and find a place and a 

 use for them, society also has to recognise its so- 

 called criminals and discern their place and use ? 

 The artist does not omit shadows from his canvas ; 

 and the wise statesman will not try to abolish the 

 criminal from society — lest haply he be found 

 to have abolished the driving force from his social 

 machine.^ 



From what has now been said it is quite clear 

 that in general we call a man a criminal, not be- 

 cause he violates any eternal code of morality — 

 for there exists no such thing — but because he 

 violates the ruling code of his time, and this 

 depends largely on the ideal of the time. The 

 Spartans appear to have permitted theft because 

 they thought that thieving habits in the com- 

 munity fostered military dexterity and discouraged 

 the accumulation of private wealth. They looked 

 upon the latter as a great evil. But to-day the 

 accumulation of private wealth is our great good 

 and the thief is looked upon as the evil. When 

 however we find, as the historians of to-day teach 

 us, that society is now probably passing through 

 a parenthetical stage of private property from 

 a stage of communism in the past to a stage of 

 more highly developed communism in the future, 



' The derivation of the word " wicked " seems uncertain. 

 May it be suggested that it is connected with " wick " or " quick," 

 meaning alive } 



169 



