Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11), Herbert Spencer [historical books to read .txt] 📗

Superiority, And Age With Nearness In Blood To "The Powerful One;" That

So There Naturally Arose That Domination Of    The   Eldest Which

Characterises All History, And That Theory Of    Human Degeneracy Which

Even Yet Survives.

 

 

 

We Might Further Dwell On The   Facts, That _Lord_ Signifies High-Born,

Or, As The   Same Root Gives A Word Meaning Heaven, Possibly Heaven-Born;

That, Before It Became Common, _Sir_ Or _Sire_, As Well As _Father_, Was

The Distinction Of    A Priest; That _Worship_, Originally Worth-Ship--A

Term Of    Respect That Has Been Used Commonly, As Well As To

Magistrates--Is Also Our Term For The   Act Of    Attributing Greatness Or

Worth To The   Deity; So That To Ascribe Worth-Ship To A Man Is To Worship

Him. We Might Make Much Of    The   Evidence That All Early Governments Are

More Or Less Distinctly Theocratic; And That Among Ancient Eastern

Nations Even The   Commonest Forms And Customs Appear To Have Been

Influenced By Religion. We Might Enforce Our Argument Respecting The

Derivation Of    Ceremonies, By Tracing Out The   Aboriginal Obeisance Made

By Putting Dust On The   Head, Which Probably Symbolises Putting The   Head

In The   Dust: By Affiliating The   Practice Prevailing Among Certain

Tribes, Of    Doing Another Honour By Presenting Him With A Portion Of    Hair

Torn From The   Head--An Act Which Seems Tantamount To Saying, "I Am Your

Slave;" By Investigating The   Oriental Custom Of    Giving To A Visitor Any

Object He Speaks Of    Admiringly, Which Is Pretty Clearly A Carrying Out

Of The   Compliment, "All I Have Is Yours."

 

 

 

Without Enlarging, However, On These And Many Minor Facts, We Venture To

Think That The   Evidence Already Assigned Is Sufficient To Justify Our

Position. Had The   Proofs Been Few Or Of    One Kind, Little Faith Could

Have Been Placed In The   Inference. But Numerous As They Are, Alike In

The Case Of    Titles, In That Of    Complimentary Phrases, And In That Of

Salutes--Similar And Simultaneous, Too, As The   Process Of    Depreciation

Has Been In All Of    These; The   Evidences Become Strong By Mutual

Confirmation. And When We Recollect, Also, That Not Only Have The

Results Of    This Process Been Visible In Various Nations And In All

Times, But That They Are Occurring Among Ourselves At The   Present

Moment, And That The   Causes Assigned For Previous Depreciations May Be

Seen Daily Working Out Other Ones--When We Recollect This, It Becomes

Scarcely Possible To Doubt That The   Process Has Been As Alleged; And

That Our Ordinary Words, Acts, And Phrases Of    Civility Were Originally

Acknowledgments Of    Submission To Another's Omnipotence.

 

 

 

Thus The   General Doctrine, That All Kinds Of    Government Exercised Over

Men Were At First One Government--That The   Political, The   Religious, And

The Ceremonial Forms Of    Control Are Divergent Branches Of    A General And

Once Indivisible Control--Begins To Look Tenable. When, With The   Above

Facts Fresh In Mind, We Read Primitive Records, And Find That "There

Were Giants In Those Days"--When We Remember That In Eastern Traditions

Nimrod, Among Others, Figures In All The   Characters Of    Giant King, And

Divinity--When We Turn To The   Sculptures Exhumed By Mr. Layard, And

Contemplating In Them The   Effigies Of    Kings Driving Over Enemies,

Trampling On Prisoners, And Adored By Prostrate Slaves, Then Observe How

Their Actions Correspond To The   Primitive Names For The   Divinity, "The

Strong," "The Destroyer," "The Powerful One"--When We Find That The

Earliest Temples Were Also The   Residences Of    The   Kings--And When,

Lastly, We Discover That Among Races Of    Men Still Living There Are

Current Superstitions Analogous To Those Which Old Records And Old

Buildings Indicate; We Begin To Realise The   Probability Of    The

Hypothesis That Has Been Set Forth.

 

 

 

Going Back, In Imagination, To The   Remote Era When Men's Theories Of

Things Were Yet Unformed; And Conceiving To Ourselves The   Conquering

Chief As Dimly Figured In Ancient Myths, And Poems, And Ruins; We May

See That All Rules Of    Conduct Whatever Spring From His Will. Alike

Legislator And Judge, All Quarrels Among His Subjects Are Decided By

Him; And His Words Become The   Law. Awe Of    Him Is The   Incipient Religion;

And His Maxims Furnish Its First Precepts. Submission Is Made To Him In

The Forms He Prescribes; And These Give Birth To Manners. From The

First, Time Develops Political Allegiance And The   Administration Of

Justice; From The   Second, The   Worship Of    A Being Whose Personality

Becomes Ever More Vague, And The   Inculcation Of    Precepts Ever More

Abstract; From The   Third, Forms Of    Honour And The   Rules Of    Etiquette.

 

 

 

In Conformity With The   Law Of    Evolution Of    All Organised Bodies, That

General Functions Are Gradually Separated Into The   Special Functions

Constituting Them, There Have Grown Up In The   Social Organism For The

Better Performance Of    The   Governmental Office, An Apparatus Of

Law-Courts, Judges, And Barristers; A National Church, With Its Bishops

And Priests; And A System Of    Caste, Titles, And Ceremonies, Administered

By Society At Large. By The   First, Overt Aggressions Are Cognised And

Punished; By The   Second, The   Disposition To Commit Such Aggressions Is

In Some Degree Checked; By The   Third, Those Minor Breaches Of    Good

Conduct, Which The   Others Do Not Notice, Are Denounced And Chastised.

Law And Religion Control Behaviour In Its Essentials: Manners Control It

In Its Details. For Regulating Those Daily Actions Which Are Too

Numerous And Too Unimportant To Be Officially Directed, There Comes Into

Play This Subtler Set Of    Restraints. And When We Consider What These

Restraints Are--When We Analyse The   Words, And Phrases, And Salutes

Employed, We See That In Origin As In Effect, The   System Is A Setting Up

Of Temporary Governments Between All Men Who Come In Contact, For The

Purpose Of    Better Managing The   Intercourse Between Them.

 

 

 

From The   Proposition, That These Several Kinds Of    Government Are

Essentially One, Both In Genesis And Function, May Be Deduced Several

Important Corollaries, Directly Bearing On Our Special Topic.

 

 

 

Let Us First Notice, That There Is Not Only A Common Origin And Office

For All Forms Of    Rule, But A Common Necessity For Them. The   Aboriginal

Man, Coming Fresh From The   Killing Of    Bears And From Lying In Ambush For

His Enemy, Has, By The   Necessities Of    His Condition, A Nature Requiring

To Be Curbed In Its Every Impulse. Alike In War And In The   Chase, His

Daily Discipline Has Been That Of    Sacrificing Other Creatures To His Own

Needs And Passions. His Character, Bequeathed To Him By Ancestors Who

Led Similar Lives, Is Moulded By This Discipline--Is Fitted To This

Existence. The   Unlimited Selfishness, The   Love Of    Inflicting Pain, The

Blood-Thirstiness, Thus Kept Active, He Brings With Him Into The   Social

Part 2 Chapter 2 (On Manners And Fashion) Pg 88

State. These Dispositions Put Him In Constant Danger Of    Conflict With

His Equally Savage Neighbour. In Small Things As In Great, In Words As

In Deeds, He Is Aggressive; And Is Hourly Liable To The   Aggressions Of

Others Like Natured. Only, Therefore, By The   Most Rigorous Control

Exercised Over All Actions, Can The   Primitive Unions Of    Men Be

Maintained. There Must Be A Ruler Strong, Remorseless, And Of

Indomitable Will; There Must Be A Creed Terrible In Its Threats To The

Disobedient; And There Must Be The   Most Servile Submission Of    All

Inferiors To Superiors. The   Law Must Be Cruel; The   Religion Must Be

Stern; The   Ceremonies Must Be Strict.

 

 

 

The Co-Ordinate Necessity For These Several Kinds Of    Restraint Might Be

Largely Illustrated From History Were There Space. Suffice It To Point

Out, That Where The   Civil Power Has Been Weak, The   Multiplication Of

Thieves, Assassins, And Banditti, Has Indicated The   Approach Of    Social

Dissolution; That When, From The   Corruptness Of    Its Ministry, Religion

Has Lost Its Influence, As It Did Just Before The   Flagellants Appeared,

The State Has Been Endangered; And That The   Disregard Of    Established

Social Observances Has Ever Been An Accompaniment Of    Political

Revolutions. Whoever Doubts The   Necessity For A Government Of    Manners

Proportionate In Strength To The   Co-Existing Political And Religious

Governments, Will Be Convinced On Calling To Mind That Until Recently

Even Elaborate Codes Of    Behaviour Failed To Keep Gentlemen From

Quarrelling In The   Streets And Fighting Duels In Taverns; And On

Remembering Further, That Even Now People Exhibit At The   Doors Of    A

Theatre, Where There Is No Ceremonial Law To Rule Them, A Degree Of

Aggressiveness Which Would Produce Confusion If Carried Into Social

Intercourse.

 

 

 

As Might Be Expected, We Find That, Having A Common Origin And Like

General Functions, These Several Controlling Agencies Act During Each

Era With Similar Degrees Of    Vigour. Under The   Chinese Despotism,

Stringent And Multitudinous In Its Edicts And Harsh In The   Enforcement

Of Them, And Associated With Which There Is An Equally Stern Domestic

Despotism Exercised By The   Eldest Surviving Male Of    The   Family, There

Exists A System Of    Observances Alike Complicated And Rigid. There Is A

Tribunal Of    Ceremonies. Previous To Presentation At Court, Ambassadors

Pass Many Days In Practising The   Required Forms. Social Intercourse Is

Cumbered By Endless Compliments And Obeisances. Class Distinctions Are

Strongly Marked By Badges. The   Chief Regret On Losing An Only Son Is,

That There Will Be No One To Perform The   Sepulchral Rites. And If There

Wants A Definite Measure Of    The   Respect Paid To Social Ordinances, We

Have It In The   Torture To Which Ladies Submit In Having Their Feet

Crushed. In India, And Indeed Throughout The   East, There Exists A Like

Connection Between The   Pitiless Tyranny Of    Rulers, The   Dread Terrors Of

Immemorial Creeds, And The   Rigid Restraint Of    Unchangeable Customs: The

Caste Regulations Continue Still Unalterable; The   Fashions Of    Clothes

And Furniture Have Remained The   Same For Ages; Suttees Are So Ancient As

To Be Mentioned By Strabo And Diodorus Siculus; Justice Is Still

Administered At The   Palace-Gates As Of    Old; In Short, "Every Usage Is A

Precept Of    Religion And A Maxim Of    Jurisprudence."

 

 

 

A Similar Relationship Of    Phenomena Was Exhibited In Europe During The

Middle Ages. While All Its Governments Were Autocratic, While Feudalism

Held Sway, While The   Church Was Unshorn Of    Its Power, While The   Criminal

Code Was Full Of    Horrors And The   Hell Of    The   Popular Creed Full Of

Terrors, The   Rules Of    Behaviour Were Both More Numerous And More

Carefully Conformed To Than Now. Differences Of    Dress Marked Divisions

Of Rank. Men Were Limited By Law To A Certain Width Of    Shoe-Toes; And No

One Below A Specified Degree Might Wear A Cloak Less Than So Many Inches

Long. The   Symbols On Banners And Shields Were Carefully Attended To.

Heraldry Was An Important Branch Of    Knowledge. Precedence Was Strictly

Insisted On. And Those Various Salutes Of    Which We Now Use The

Abridgments Were Gone Through In Full. Even During Our Own Last Century,

With Its Corrupt House Of    Commons And Little-Curbed Monarchs, We May

Mark A Correspondence Of    Social Formalities. Gentlemen Were Still

Distinguished From Lower Classes By Dress; People Sacrificed Themselves

To Inconvenient Requirements--As Powder, Hooped Petticoats, And Towering

Head-Dresses; And Children Addressed Their Parents As _Sir_ And

_Madam_.

 

 

 

A Further Corollary Naturally Following This Last, And Almost, Indeed,

Forming Part Of    It, Is, That These Several Kinds Of    Government Decrease

In Stringency At The   Same Rate. Simultaneously With The   Decline In The

Influence Of    Priesthoods, And In The   Fear Of    Eternal

Torments--Simultaneously With The   Mitigation Of    Political Tyranny, The

Growth Of    Popular Power, And The   Amelioration Of    Criminal Codes; Has

Taken Place That Diminution Of    Formalities And That Fading Of

Distinctive Marks, Now So Observable. Looking At Home, We May Note That

There Is Less Attention To Precedence Than There Used To Be. No One In

Our Day Ends An Interview With The   Phrase "Your Humble Servant." The

Employment Of    The   Word _Sir_, Once General In Social Intercourse, Is At

Present Considered Bad Breeding; And On The   Occasions Calling For Them,

It Is Held Vulgar To Use The   Words "Your Majesty," Or "Your Royal

Highness," More Than Once In A Conversation. People No Longer Formally

Drink Each Other's Healths; And Even The   Taking Wine With Each Other At

Dinner Has Ceased To Be Fashionable. The   Taking-Off Of    Hats Between

Gentlemen Has Been Gradually Falling Into Disuse. Even When The   Hat Is

Removed, It Is No Longer Swept Out At Arm's Length, But Is Simply

Lifted. Hence The   Remark Made Upon Us By Foreigners, That We Take Off

Our Hats Less Than Any