Conscience, and the Moral Sense. 725 



temples, &c. \Ve thus discover how it is that theology with its idea of 

 duty to the Gods has been fostered and developed as a subdivision of 

 the- moral law, and is not therefore by any means the origin of that law 

 as the Theologians would have us believe. It has been developed and 

 fostered by society for the supposed good of society, and so is on a par 

 with all the other duties which the society in its instinct of self preser- 

 vation exacts from individuals. Society once formed, the aggregate 

 interests embodied b}' its organization far outweigh ( in the general esti- 

 mation ) the interests of any individual. The idea has therefore been 

 alwa}-s inculcated that individuals ought to be willing to make sacrifices 

 for the good of the community. The idea of duty has always included 

 that of abnegation of self and preference of the community. It is noth- 

 ing more at bottom than the triumph of great interests over small ones. 

 It is the selfishness of the great mass making exactions from individuals. 

 Amongst the ancients this idea of self sacrificing duty was carried to 

 a far greater extent than we deem it necessary to carry it now. The 

 Romans said, ' ' Dulcte et propria est pro patria mori. " ( " It is sweet 

 and graceful to die for one's country. ") It was indeed sweeter to die 

 for it when the popular idea of duty demanded it, than to survive and 

 bear the reproaches and persecutions one would have to endure in con- 

 sequence. The public knew how to make it sweeter. Herodotus in- 

 forms us that when Leonidas and his 300 Spartans had resolved to die 

 in defense of the pass at Thermopylae, two of the men were absent in 

 the rear, on account of a disease of the eyes which they had. When 

 the battle came on, one of them, Eurytus, insisted on being led into the 

 fight, where he was killed with the rest. The other, Aristodemus, re- 

 turned home to Sparta, and there he was disgraced. No Spartan would 

 speak to him, or give him a light to kindle his fire. He was always 

 mentioned as the craven, and they never forgave him, although he 

 thought to wipe out his disgrace the next year by throwing away his 

 life in the battle of Platsea. Another of the 300, named Pantites, is 

 reported to have been sent away on an embass} T to Thessaly, and so, by 

 no fault of his apparently, he escaped the slaughter. Yet, on his re- 

 turn to Sparta, he was held in such contempt that he hanged himself. 



Sometime about 1869 or 1870, a white man, a miner, was killed about 

 eight miles below Missoula, Montana, and the murder was attributed to 

 the Indians. The son of Michelle, chief of the Pend d' Oreilles, or 

 Flatheads, " was found near the place next day, arrested by the enraged 

 whites, and speedily hung. Before his death, his father saw him. and 

 the young man swore that he was innocent ; but his father told him that 

 he could only be saved, or his death avenged, by a disastrous war with 

 the whites, and asked him to sacrifice his life for the good of dispeople: 

 told him to go bravely to death. There was good evidence afterwards 



