3

According to the Laws of Manu, a Kshatriya shall be fined one hundred panas for defaming a Brâhmana, a Vaisya shall be fined one hundred and fifty or two hundred panas, and a Sûdra shall suffer corporal punishment; whereas a Brahmana shall pay only fifty panas for defaming a Kshatriya, twenty-five for defaming a Vaisya, and twelve for defaming a Sûdra. In ancient Teutonic law the fines for insulting behaviour were graduated according to the rank of the person offended.2 The starting-point of the Roman law was that an injuria-which was preeminently an affront to the dignity of the person could not be done to a slave as such, only to the master through the medium of his slave; and even in later times, in the case of trifling injuries, such as mere verbal insults, the master had no action, unless by leave of the Praetor, or unless the insult were meant for the master himself. These and similar variations spring from the same causes as do corresponding variations in the case of other injuries dealt with above. But there are also special reasons why social superiority or inferiority influences moral opinions concerning offences against persons' self-regarding pride. The respect due to a man is closely connected with his station, and in the case of defamation the injury suffered by the loss of honour or reputation is naturally proportionate to the esteem in which the offended party is held. At the same time the harmfulness of an insult also depends upon the reputation of the person who offers it. According to the Gotlands Lag, one of the ancient provincial laws of Sweden, a slave can not only be insulted with impunity, but has himself to pay no fine for insulting another person -obviously because he was too degraded a being to be able to detract from anybody's honour or good name.

2 Keyser, Efterladte Skrifter, ii. pt. i. 295.

3 Hunter, Exposition of Roman Law, p. 164. Mommsen, Römisches Strafrecht, p. 786, n. 3.

4 Digesta, xlvii. 10. 15. 35. Hunter, op. cit. p. 165.

5 Gotlands-Lagen, i. 19. 37.

name." 1

3

The condemnation of such conduct as is offensive to other persons' self-regarding pride includes condemnation of pride itself, when displayed in an excessive degree; whereas the opposite disposition-modesty which implies regard for other people's "self-feeling," is praised as a virtue. The Fijians say of a boasting person, "You are like the kaka (parrot); you only speak to shout your own On the other hand, among the Tonga Islanders "a modest opinion of oneself is esteemed a great virtue, and is also put in practice." 2 Confucius taught that humility belongs to the characteristics of a superior man." Such a man, he said, is modest in his speech, though he exceeds in his actions; he has dignified ease without pride, whereas the mean man has pride without a dignified ease; he prefers the concealment of his virtue, when it daily becomes more illustrious, whereas the mean man seeks notoriety when he daily goes more and more to ruin.R So also humility has a distinguished place in the teachings of Lao-tsze:-"I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize, namely, compassion, economy, and humility"; "He who knows the glory, and at the same time keeps to shame, will be the whole world's valley

eternal virtue will fill him, and he will return home to Taou." In the Book of the Dead the soul of the ancient Egyptian pleads, "I am not swollen with pride." s According to Zoroastrianism, the sin of pride has been created by Ahriman." Overbearingness was censured in ancient Scandinavia,10 Greece," and Rome. During our prosperity, says Cicero, "we ought with great care

Williams and Calvert, op. cit. p. 107.

2 Mariner, op. cit. ii. 164.

3 Lun Yü, v. 15. Chung Yung, xxvii. 7.

4 Lun Yi, xiv. 29.

5 Ibid. xiii. 26. Cf. ibid. xx. 2. 1. 6 Chung Yung, xxxiii. 1.

7 Douglas, Confucianism and Taouism, p. 194 sq. Tao Teh King, xxviii. 1. 8 Book of the Dead, ch. 125, p. 216. Cf. Amélineau, Essai sur l'évolution

1

an

avoid pride and arrogance." The Hebrew prophets condemned not only pride but eminence, because eminent man is apt to be proud. 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.1 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."

8

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.3 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.* 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

1 Waitz-Gerland, Anthropologie der Naturvölker, vi. 143 sqq. (Polynesians). Macdonald, Oceania, p. 195 (Efatese). Cranz, History of Greenland, i. 157. MacGregor, Lagos, Abeokuta and the Alake,' in Jour. African Soc. July 1904, p. 466 (Yorubas).

2 Brenchley, Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S. Curasoa among the South Sea Islands, p. 349.

3 Hood, Cruise in H.M.S. ' Fawn' in the Western Pacific, p. 59 sq.

4 Dieffenbach, op. cit. ii. 108 sqq. See also Colenso, op. cit. p. 53 sqq.

"4

2

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" "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." 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

8

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.

3 Little, Madagascar, p. 71. Murdoch, 'Ethn. Results of the Point Barrow Expedition,' in Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. ix. 42.

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

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.