Volume I Part 3 (2/2)
It must be observed, that the cessation of pleasure affects the mind three ways. If it simply ceases after having continued a proper time, the effect is _indifference_; if it be abruptly broken off, there ensues an uneasy sense called _disappointment_; if the object be so totally lost that there is no chance of enjoying it again, a pa.s.sion arises in the mind which is called _grief_. Now there is none of these, not even grief, which is the most violent, that I think has any resemblance to positive pain. The person who grieves suffers his pa.s.sion to grow upon him; he indulges it, he loves it: but this never happens in the case of actual pain, which no man ever willingly endured for any considerable time. That grief should be willingly endured, though far from a simply pleasing sensation, is not so difficult to be understood. It is the nature of grief to keep its object perpetually in its eye, to present it in its most pleasurable views, to repeat all the circ.u.mstances that attend it, even to the last minuteness; to go back to every particular enjoyment, to dwell upon each, and to find a thousand new perfections in all, that were not sufficiently understood before; in grief, the _pleasure_ is still uppermost; and the affliction we suffer has no resemblance to absolute pain, which is always odious, and which we endeavor to shake off as soon as possible. The Odyssey of Homer, which abounds with so many natural and affecting images, has none more striking than those which Menelaus raises of the calamitous fate of his friends, and his own manner of feeling it. He owns, indeed, that he often gives himself some intermission from such melancholy reflections; but he observes, too, that, melancholy as they are, they give him pleasure.
[Greek: All empes pantas men odyromenos kai acheuon, Pollakis en megaroisi kathemenos hemeteroisin, Allote men te goo phrena terpomai, allote d' aute Pauomai; aipseros de koros kryeroio gooio]
Hom. Od. [Greek: D]. 100
”Still in short intervals of _pleasing woe_, Regardful of the friendly dues I owe, I to the glorious dead, forever dear, _Indulge_ the tribute of a _grateful_ tear.”
On the other hand, when we recover our health, when we escape an imminent danger, is it with joy that we are affected? The sense on these occasions is far from that smooth and voluptuous satisfaction which the a.s.sured prospect of pleasure bestows. The delight which arises from the modifications of pain confesses the stock from whence it sprung, in its solid, strong, and severe nature.
SECTION VI.
OF THE Pa.s.sIONS WHICH BELONG TO SELF-PRESERVATION.
Most of the ideas which are capable of making a powerful impression on the mind, whether simply of pain or pleasure, or of the modifications of those, may be reduced very nearly to these two heads, _self-preservation_, and _society_; to the ends of one or the other of which all our pa.s.sions are calculated to answer. The pa.s.sions which concern self-preservation, turn mostly on _pain_ or _danger_. The ideas of _pain_, _sickness_, and _death_, fill the mind with strong emotions of horror; but _life_ and _health_, though they put us in a capacity of being affected with pleasure, make no such impression by the simple enjoyment. The pa.s.sions therefore which are conversant about the preservation of the individual turn chiefly on _pain_ and _danger_, and they are the most powerful of all the pa.s.sions.
SECTION VII.
OF THE SUBLIME.
Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner a.n.a.logous to terror, is a source of the _sublime_; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling. I say the strongest emotion, because I am satisfied the ideas of pain are much more powerful than those which enter on the part of pleasure. Without all doubt, the torments which we may be made to suffer are much greater in their effect on the body and mind, than any pleasures which the most learned voluptuary could suggest, or than the liveliest imagination, and the most sound and exquisitely sensible body, could enjoy. Nay, I am in great doubt whether any man could be found, who would earn a life of the most perfect satisfaction at the price of ending it in the torments, which justice inflicted in a few hours on the late unfortunate regicide in France. But as pain is stronger in its operation than pleasure, so death is in general a much more affecting idea than pain; because there are very few pains, however exquisite, which are not preferred to death: nay, what generally makes pain itself, if I may say so, more painful, is, that it is considered as an emissary of this king of terrors. When danger or pain press too nearly, they are incapable of giving any delight, and are simply terrible; but at certain distances, and with certain modifications, they may be, and they are, delightful, as we every day experience. The cause of this I shall endeavor to investigate hereafter.
SECTION VIII.
OF THE Pa.s.sIONS WHICH BELONG TO SOCIETY.
The other head under which I cla.s.s our pa.s.sions, is that of _society_, which may be divided into two sorts. 1. The society of the _s.e.xes_, which answers the purpose of propagation; and next, that more _general society_, which we have with men and with other animals, and which we may in some sort be said to have even with the inanimate world. The pa.s.sions belonging to the preservation of the individual turn wholly on pain and danger: those which belong to _generation_ have their origin in gratifications and _pleasures_; the pleasure most directly belonging to this purpose is of a lively character, rapturous and violent, and confessedly the highest pleasure of sense; yet the absence of this so great an enjoyment scarce amounts to an uneasiness; and, except at particular times, I do not think it affects at all. When men describe in what manner they are affected by pain and danger, they do not dwell on the pleasure of health and the comfort of security, and then lament the _loss_ of these satisfactions: the whole turns upon the actual pains and horrors which they endure. But if you listen to the complaints of a forsaken lover, you observe that he insists largely on the pleasures which he enjoyed, or hoped to enjoy, and on the perfection of the object of his desires; it is the _loss_ which is always uppermost in his mind.
The violent effects produced by love, which has sometimes been even wrought up to madness, is no objection to the rule which we seek to establish. When men have suffered their imaginations to be long affected with any idea, it so wholly engrosses them as to shut out by degrees almost every other, and to break down every part.i.tion of the mind which would confine it. Any idea is sufficient for the purpose, as is evident from the infinite variety of causes, which give rise to madness: but this at most can only prove, that the pa.s.sion of love is capable of producing very extraordinary effects, not that its extraordinary emotions have any connection with positive pain.
SECTION IX.
THE FINAL CAUSE OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE Pa.s.sIONS BELONGING TO SELF-PRESERVATION AND THOSE WHICH REGARD THE SOCIETY OF THE s.e.xES.
The final cause of the difference in character between the pa.s.sions which regard self-preservation, and those which are directed to the multiplication of the species, will ill.u.s.trate the foregoing remarks yet further; and it is, I imagine, worthy of observation even upon its own account. As the performance of our duties of every kind depends upon life, and the performing them with vigor and efficacy depends upon health, we are very strongly affected with whatever threatens the destruction of either: but as we were not made to acquiesce in life and health, the simple enjoyment of them is not attended with any real pleasure, lest, satisfied with that, we should give ourselves over to indolence and inaction. On the other hand, the generation of mankind is a great purpose, and it is requisite that men should be animated to the pursuit of it by some great incentive. It is therefore attended with a very high pleasure; but as it is by no means designed to be our constant business, it is not fit that the absence of this pleasure should be attended with any considerable pain. The difference between men and brutes, in this point, seems to be remarkable. Men are at all times pretty equally disposed to the pleasures of love, because they are to be guided by reason in the time and manner of indulging them. Had any great pain arisen from the want of this satisfaction, reason, I am afraid, would find great difficulties in the performance of its office. But brutes that obey laws, in the execution of which their own reason has but little share, have their stated seasons; at such times it is not improbable that the sensation from the want is very troublesome, because the end must be then answered, or be missed in many, perhaps forever; as the inclination returns only with its season.
SECTION X.
OF BEAUTY.
The pa.s.sion which belongs to generation, merely as such, is l.u.s.t only.
This is evident in brutes, whose pa.s.sions are more unmixed, and which pursue their purposes more directly than ours. The only distinction they observe with regard to their mates, is that of s.e.x. It is true, that they stick severally to their own species in preference to all others.
But this preference, I imagine, does not arise from any sense of beauty which they find in their species, as Mr. Addison supposes, but from a law of some other kind, to which they are subject; and this we may fairly conclude, from their apparent want of choice amongst those objects to which the barriers of their species have confined them. But man, who is a creature adapted to a greater variety and intricacy of relation, connects with the general pa.s.sion the idea of some _social_ qualities, which direct and heighten the appet.i.te which he has in common with all other animals; and as he is not designed like them to live at large, it is fit that he should have some thing to create a preference, and fix his choice; and this in general should be some sensible quality; as no other can so quickly, so powerfully, or so surely produce its effect. The object therefore of this mixed pa.s.sion, which we call love, is the _beauty_ of the _s.e.x_. Men are carried to the s.e.x in general, as it is the s.e.x, and by the common law of nature; but they are attached to particulars by personal _beauty_. I call beauty a social quality; for where women and men, and not only they, but when other animals give us a sense of joy and pleasure in beholding them (and there are many that do so), they inspire us with sentiments of tenderness and affection towards their persons; we like to have them near us, and we enter willingly into a kind of relation with them, unless we should have strong reasons to the contrary. But to what end, in many cases, this was designed, I am unable to discover; for I see no greater reason for a connection between man and several animals who are attired in so engaging a manner, than between him and some others who entirely want this attraction, or possess it in a far weaker degree. But it is probable that Providence did not make even this distinction, but with a view to some great end; though we cannot perceive distinctly what it is, as his wisdom is not our wisdom, nor our ways his ways.
SECTION XI.
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