Pagina 243 di 483

I felt the greatest ardour for virtue rise within me, and

abhorrence for vice, as far as I understood the signification of

those terms, relative as they were, as I applied them, to

pleasure and pain alone. Induced by these feelings, I was of

course led to admire peaceable lawgivers, Numa, Solon, and

Lycurgus, in preference to Romulus and Theseus. The patriarchal

lives of my protectors caused these impressions to take a firm

hold on my mind; perhaps, if my first introduction to humanity

had been made by a young soldier, burning for glory and

slaughter, I should have been imbued with different sensations.