The Abolition of Man - C. S. Lewis [22]
‘I have not brought misery upon my fellows. I have not made the beginning of every day laborious in the sight of him who worked for me.’ (Ancient Egyptian. Confession of the Righteous Soul. ERE v. 478)
‘I have not been grasping.’ (Ancient Egyptian. Ibid.)
‘Who meditates oppression, his dwelling is overturned.’ (Babylonian. Hymn to Samas. ERE v. 445)
‘He who is cruel and calumnious has the character of a cat.’ (Hindu. Laws of Manu. Janet, Histoire de la Science Politique, vol. i, p. 6)
‘Slander not.’ (Babylonian. Hymn to Samas. ERE v. 445)
‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.’ (Ancient Jewish. Exodus 20:16)
‘Utter not a word by which anyone could be wounded.’ (Hindu. Janet, p. 7)
‘Has he…driven an honest man from his family? broken up a well cemented clan?’ (Babylonian. List of Sins from incantation tablets. ERE v. 446)
‘I have not caused hunger. I have not caused weeping.’ (Ancient Egyptian. ERE v. 478)
‘Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you.’ (Ancient Chinese. Analects of Confucius, trans. A. Waley, xv. 23; cf. xii. 2)
‘Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart.’ (Ancient Jewish. Leviticus 19:17)
‘He whose heart is in the smallest degree set upon goodness will dislike no one.’ (Ancient Chinese. Analects, iv. 4)
(b) POSITIVE
‘Nature urges that a man should wish human society to exist and should wish to enter it.’ (Roman. Cicero, De Officiis, 1. iv)
‘By the fundamental Law of Nature Man [is] to be preserved as much as possible.’ (Locke, Treatises of Civil Govt. ii. 3)
‘When the people have multiplied, what next should be done for them? The Master said, Enrich them. Jan Ch’iu said, When one has enriched them, what next should be done for them? The Master said, Instruct them.’ (Ancient Chinese. Analects, xiii. 9)
‘Speak kindness…show good will.’ (Babylonian. Hymn to Samas. ERE v. 445)
‘Men were brought into existence for the sake of men that they might do one another good.’ (Roman. Cicero. De Off. i. vii)
‘Man is man’s delight.’ (Old Norse. Hávamál 47)
‘He who is asked for alms should always give.’ (Hindu. Janet, i. 7)
‘What good man regards any misfortune as no concern of his?’ (Roman. Juvenal xv. 140)
‘I am a man: nothing human is alien to me.’ (Roman. Terence, Heaut. Tim.)
‘Love thy neighbour as thyself.’ (Ancient Jewish. Leviticus 19:18)
‘Love the stranger as thyself.’ (Ancient Jewish. Ibid. 33, 34)
‘Do to men what you wish men to do to you.’ (Christian. Matthew 7:12)
2. The Law of Special Beneficence
‘It is upon the trunk that a gentleman works. When that is firmly set up, the Way grows. And surely proper behaviour to parents and elder brothers is the trunk of goodness.’ (Ancient Chinese. Analects, i. 2)
‘Brothers shall fight and be each others’ bane.’ (Old Norse. Account of the Evil Age before the World’s end, Volospá 45)
‘Has he insulted his elder sister?’ (Babylonian. List of Sins. ERE v. 446)
‘You will see them take care of their kindred [and] the children of their friends…never reproaching them in the least.’ (Redskin. Le Jeune, quoted ERE v. 437)
‘Love thy wife studiously. Gladden her heart all thy life long.’ (Ancient Egyptian. ERE v. 481)
‘Nothing can ever change the claims of kinship for a right thinking man.’ (Anglo-Saxon. Beowulf, 2600)
‘Did not Socrates love his own children, though he did so as a free man and as one not forgetting that the gods have the first claim on our friendship?’ (Greek, Epictetus, iii. 24)
‘Natural affection is a thing right and according to Nature.’ (Greek. Ibid. 1. xi)
‘I ought not to be unfeeling like a statue but should fulfil both my natural and artificial relations, as a worshipper, a son, a brother, a father, and a citizen.’ (Greek. Ibid. 111. ii)
‘This first I rede thee: be blameless to thy kindred. Take no vengeance even though they do thee wrong.’ (Old Norse. Sigdrifumál, 22)
‘Is it only the sons of Atreus who love their wives? For every good man, who is right-minded, loves and cherishes his own.’ (Greek. Homer, Iliad, ix. 340)
‘The union and fellowship of men will be