1

avoid pride and arrogance."" The Hebrew prophets condemned not only pride but eminence, because an eminent man is apt to be proud.2 We read in the

Talmud: "He who humiliates himself will be lifted up; he who raises himself up will be humiliated. Whosoever runs after greatness, greatness runs away from him; he who runs from greatness, greatness follows him.' Christianity enjoined humility as a cardinal duty in every man.* In the Koran it is said, "God loves not him who is proud and boastful."5 Pride has thus come to be stigmatised not only as a vice, but as a sin of great magnitude. One reason for this is that it is regarded as even more offensive to the "self-feeling" of a great god or the Supreme Being than it is to that of a man. But pride must also appear as irreligious arrogance to those who maintain that man is by nature altogether corrupt, and that everything good in him is a gift of God."

At the same time, whilst pride is held blamable, humility may also go too far to be approved of, and may even be an object of censure. In early ethics, as we have noticed above, revenge is enjoined as a duty and forgiveness of enemies is despised; and this is the case not only among savages. The device of Chivalry was, "It is better to die than to be avenged by shame "; and side by side with the nominal acceptance of the Christian doctrine of absolute placability the idea still prevails, in many European countries, that an assault upon honour shall be followed by a challenge to mortal combat. Too great humility is regarded as a sign of weakness, cowardice, hypocrisy, or a defective sense of honour. We are not allowed to be indifferent to the estimation in which we are held by our neighbours. Such indifference springs either from a feeble. moral constitution and absence of moral shame, or from

a depreciation of other people's opinions in comparison with our own, and this is offensive to their amour-propre. Outward humility may thus suggest inward pride and appear arrogant.

A person's "self-feeling may be violated in innumerable ways, by words and deeds. Almost any deviation from what is usual may arouse a suspicion of arrogance. This largely accounts for the fact mentioned in a previous chapter that habits have a tendency to become true customs, that is, rules of duty. Transgressions of the established forms of social intercourse are particularly apt to be offensive to people's selfregarding pride. Many of these forms originated in a desire to please, but by becoming habitual they at the same time became obligatory. Politeness is a duty rather than a virtue.

There is probably no people on earth which does not recognise some rules of politeness. Many savages are conspicuous for their civility. It has been observed that Christian missionaries working among uncivilised races often are in manners much inferior to those they are teaching, and thus lower the native standard of refinement." The Samoans, we are told, "are a nation of gentlemen," and contrast most favourably with the generality of Europeans who come amongst them." On their first intercourse with Europeans, the Maoris "always manifest a degree of politeness which would do honour to a more civilised people"; but by continued intercourse they lose a great part of this characteristic.1 Among the Fijians "the rules of politeness are minute, and receive scrupulous attention. They affect the language, and are seen in forms of salutation, in attention to strangers, at meals, in dress, and, indeed, influence their manners in-doors and

"4

out. None but the very lowest are ill-behaved, and their confusion on committing themselves shows that they are not impudently so." The Malagasy The Malagasy" are a very polite people, and look with contempt upon those who neglect the ordinary usages and salutations"; 2 "even the most ragged and tattered slave possesses a natural dignity and ease of manner, which contrasts favourably with the rude conduct and boorish manners of the lower class at home." 3 Of the Point Barrow Eskimo Mr. Murdoch observes that "many of them show a grace of manner and a natural delicacy and politeness which is quite surprising"; and he mentions the instance of a young Eskimo being so polite in conversing with an American officer that "he would take pains to mispronounce his words in the same way as the latter did, so as not to hurt his feelings by correcting him bluntly.' The forms of Kafir politeness "are very strictly adhered to, and are many.' Of the Negroes of Fida Bosman wrote, " They are so civil to each other and the inferior so respectful to the superior, that at first I was very much surprised at it." Monrad found the Negroes of Accra surpass many civilised people in politeness. So also in Morocco even country-folks are much more civil in their general behaviour than the large majority of Europeans. "The conversations of the Arabs," says d'Arvieux, "are full of civilities; one never hears anything there that they think rude and unbecoming."'s Politeness is a characteristic of all the great nations of the East. The Chinese have brought the practice of it "to a pitch of perfection which is not only unknown in Western lands, but, previous to experience, is unthought of and almost unimaginable. The rules of ceremony, we are reminded in the Classics, are three

1 Williams and Calvert, op. cit. p. 129. Cf. ibid. pp. 128, 131 sq.; Anderson, Notes of Travel in Fiji, p. 135. * Sibree, The Great African Island, p. 325.

Little, Madagascar, p. 71.

• Murdoch, 'Ethn. Results of the Point Barrow Expedition,' in Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. ix. 42.

"5

6

Leslie, Among the Zulus and Amatongas, p. 203.

6 Bosman, Description of the Coast of Guinea, p. 317.

7 Monrad, Skildring af GuineaKysten, p. 9.

8 d'Arvieux, Travels in Arabia the Desart, p. 141.

hundred, and the rules of behaviour three thousand." 1 In Europe courtesy was recommended as the most amiable of knightly qualities; and from "the wild and overstrained courtesies of Chivalry" has been derived our present system of manners.*

The rules of politeness and good manners refer to all sorts of social intercourse and vary indefinitely in detail. They tell people how to sit or stand in each other's presence, or how to pass through a door; a Zulu would be fined for going out of a hut back first. They prescribe how to behave at a meal; the Indians of British Columbia consider it improper to talk on such an occasion, and it appears that in England also, in the fifteenth century, "people did not hold conversation while eating, but that the talk and mirth began with the liquor." Politeness demands that a person should never interrupt another while speaking; or that he should avoid contradicting a statement; or, not infrequently, that he should rather tell a pleasant untruth than an unpleasant truth. At times it requires the use of certain phrases, words of thanks, flattery, or expressions of self-humiliation. In Chinese there is "a whole vocabulary of words which are indispensable to one who wishes to pose as a polite' person, words in which whatever belongs to the speaker is treated with scorn and contempt, and whatever relates to the person addressed is honourable. The 'polite' Chinese will refer to his wife, if driven to the extremity of referring

1 Smith, Chinese Characteristics, P-35

2 Ordre of Chyualry, fol. 46. Robertson, History of the Reign of Charles V. i. 84. Milman, History of Latin Christianity, iv. 211. Turner, History of England, iii. 473. Mills, History of Chivalry, i. 161 sq. Scott, 'Essay on Chivalry,' in Miscellaneous Prose Works, vi. 58.

3 Tyler, Forty Years among the Zulus, p. 190 54.

Woldt, Kaptein Jacobsens Reiser til Nordamerikas Nordvestkyst, p. 99. 5 Wright, Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England during the

Middle Ages, p. 396.

Domenech, Seven Years Residence in the Great Deserts of North America, i. 72. Richardson, Arctic Searching Expedition, i. 385 (Kutchin). Cranz, History of Greenland, i. 157. Dobrizhoffer, Account of the Abipones, ii. 136 sq. d'Arvieux, op. cit. p. 139 sq.; Wallin, Reseanteckningar från Orienten, iii. 259 (Bedouins).

Nansen, First Crossing of Greenland, ii. 334 sq.; Cranz, op. cit. i. 157 (Greenlanders). Dobrizhoffer, op. cit. ii. 137 (Abipones). d'Arvieux, op. cit. p. 141 (Bedouins).

Supra, ii. 111.

to her at all, as his dull thorn,' or in some similar elegant figure of speech."

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Politeness enjoins the performance of certain ceremonies upon persons who meet or part. The custom of salutation is of world-wide prevalence, though there are certain savages who are said to have no greetings except when they have learnt the practice from the whites. As a ceremony prescribed by public opinion it is an obligatory tribute paid to another person's "self-feeling," whatever be the original nature of the act which has been adopted for the purpose. The form of salutation has sometimes been borrowed from questions springing from curiosity or suspicion. Among the Californian Miwok, when anybody meets a stranger he generally salutes him, "Whence do you come? What are you at?"3 The Abipones "would think it quite contrary to the laws of good-breeding, were they to meet any one and not ask him where he was going"; and a similar question is also a very common mode of greeting among the Berbers of Southern Morocco. Very frequently a salutation consists of some phrase which is expressive of goodwill. It may be an inquiry about the other person's health or welfare, as the English "How are you?" "How do you do?" Among the Burmese two relatives or friends who meet begin a conversation by the expressions, "Are you well? I am well," if they have been some time separated; whereas those who are daily accustomed to meet say, "Where are you going?"5 The Moors ask, "What is your news?" or, "Is nothing wrong?" The ordinary salutation of the Zulus is, “I see you, are you well?" after which the snuffbox, the token of friendship, is passed round." Among several tribes of California, again, a person when greeting another 1 Smith, Chinese Characteristics, P. 274.

Krasheninnikoff, History of Kam schatka, p. 177. Dall, op. cit. p. 397 (Aleuts). Egede, Description of Greenland, p. 125; Rink, Danish Greenland, p. 223; Cranz, op. cit. i. 157 (GreenLanders). Prescott, in Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes of the United States, iii.

244 (Dacotahs). Lewin, Wild Races of South-Eastern India, pp. 230 (Kumi), 256 (Kukis).

3 Powers, Tribes of California, P. 347.

6

Dobrizhoffer, op. cit. ii. 138.

5 Forbes, British Burma, p. 69. Tyler, op. cit. p. 190.