ng like
it. I apprehend that this mistake is owing to a sort of sophism, by
which we are frequently imposed upon; it arises from our not
distinguishing between what is indeed a necessary condition to our doing
or suffering anything in general, and what is the _cause_ of some
particular act. If a man kills me with a sword, it is a necessary
condition to this that we should have been both of us alive before the
fact; and yet it would be absurd to say that our being both living
creatures was the cause of his crime and of my death. So it is certain
that it is absolutely necessary my life should be out of any imminent
hazard, before I can take a delight in the sufferings of others, real or
imaginary, or indeed in anything else from any cause whatsoever. But
then it is a sophism to argue from thence that this immunity is the
cause of my delight either on these or on any occasions. No one can
distinguish such a cause of satisfaction in his own mind, I believe;
nay, when we do not suffer any very acute pain, nor are exposed to any
imminent danger of our lives, we can feel for others, whilst we suffer
ourselves; and often then most when we are softened by affliction; we
see with pity even distresses which we would accept in the place of our
own.

SECTION XVI.

IMITATION.

The second passion belonging to society is imitation, or, if you will, a
desire of imitating, and consequently a pleasure in it. This passion
arises from much the same cause with sympathy. For as sympathy makes us
take a concern in whatever men feel, so this affection prompts us to
copy whatever they do; and consequently we have a pleasure in imitating,
and in whatever belongs to imitation merely as it is such, without any
intervention of the reasoning faculty, but solely from our natural
constitution, which Providence has framed in such a manner as to find
either pleasure or delight, according to the nature of the object, in
whatever regards the purposes of our being. It is by imitation far more
than by precept, that we learn everything; and what we learn thus, we
acquire not only more effectually, but more pleasantly. This forms our
manners, our opinions, our lives. It is one of the strongest links of
society; it is a species of mutual compliance, which all men yield to
each other, without constraint to themselves, and which is extremely
flattering to all. Herein it is that painting and many other agreeable
arts have laid one of the principal foundation