Volume 1

History of European morals from Augustus to Charlemagne / [William Edward Hartpole Lecky].

  • William Edward Hartpole Lecky
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of European morals from Augustus to Charlemagne / [William Edward Hartpole Lecky]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    level of piactice. Sometimes we find a kind of aris- tocracy of virtue, exhibiting the most refined excel- lence in their teaching and in their actions, hut exercising scarcely any appreciable influence upon the mass of the community. Sometimes we find moralists of a much less heroic order, whose influence has per- meated every section of society. In addition, therefore, to the type and standard of morals inculcated by the teachers, an historian must investigate the realised morals of the people. The three questions I have now briefly indicated are those which I have especially regarded in examin- ing the moral history of Europe between Augustus and Charlemagne. As a preliminary to this enquiry, I have discussed at some length the rival theories con- cerning the nature and obligations of morals, and have also endeavoured to show what virtues are especially appropriate to each successive stage of civilisation, in order that we may afterwards ascertain to what extent the natural evolution has been affected by special agencies. I have then followed the moral history of the Pagan Empire, reviewing the Stoical, the Eclectic, and the Egyptian philosophies, that in turn flourished, showing in what respects they were the products or ex- pressions of the general condition of society, tracing their influence in many departments of legislation and literature, and investigating the causes of the deep- seated corruption which baffled all the efforts of
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