GENESIS OF MAN, MORALLY 



and other marks of enmity, which form his sym- 

 bol of unhappiness, is cowardice. These feel- 

 ings are not formed in him because he has rea- 

 soned his way to the truth that courage is useful 

 to his tribe, and by implication to himself, or to 

 the truth that cowardice is a cause of evil. In 

 adult life he may, perhaps, see this ; but he cer- 

 tainly does not see it at the time when bravery 

 is thus associated in his consciousness with all 

 that is good, and cowardice with all that is bad. 

 Similarly there are produced in him feelings of 

 inclination or repugnance towards other lines of 

 conduct that have become established or inter- 

 dicted, because they are beneficial or injurious 

 to the tribe ; though neither the young nor the 

 adults know why they have become established 

 or interdicted. Instance the praiseworthiness 

 of wife-stealing and the viciousness of marrying 

 within the tribe." ^ In these ways the establish- 

 ment of permanent family relationships generates 

 new incentives to action, unknown in the pre- 

 vious epoch of mere gregariousness, which must 

 often, and in some instances habitually, overrule 

 the mere animal incentives comprised in per- 

 sonal pleasures and pains. The good of the in- 

 dividual must begin to yield to the good of the 

 community. 



Next in order comes the genesis of the feel- 



^ Spencer, Recent Discussions y p. 23. ^Essays, Library 

 Edition, vol. i. p. 342.] 



^39 



