, but not in the nature and
essence of those means. They are made of the same stuff, but not in
the same dimensions; nor are the weight and value equal. Our language
possesses no one word capable of expressing the identity of nature, and
the diversity of its form and employment. It is a proportional equality;
and it is for this reason I have said, equal before God, and in the
order of nature.

Q. How is liberty a physical attribute of man?

A. Because all men having senses sufficient for their preservation--no
one wanting the eye of another to see, his ear to hear, his mouth to
eat, his feet to walk--they are all, by this very reason, constituted
naturally independent and free; no man is necessarily subjected to
another, nor has he a right to dominate over him.

Q. But if a man is born strong, has he a natural right to master the
weak man?

A. No; for it is neither a necessity for him, nor a convention between
them; it is an abusive extension of his strength; and here an abuse is
made of the word right, which in its true meaning implies, justice or
reciprocal faculty.

Q. How is property a physical attribute of man?

A. Inasmuch as all men being constituted equal or similar to one
another, and consequently independent and free, each is the absolute
master, the full proprietor of his body and of the produce of his labor.

Q. How is justice derived from these three attributes?

A. In this, that men being equal and free, owing nothing to each other,
have no right to require anything from one another only inasmuch as
they return an equal value for it; or inasmuch as the balance of what is
given is in equilibrium with what is returned: and it is this equality,
this equilibrium which is called justice, equity;* that is to say that
equality and justice are but one and the same word, the same law
of nature, of which the social virtues are only applications and
derivatives.

* Aequitas, aequilibrium, aequalitas, are all of the same
family.

CHAPTER XII.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL VIRTUES.

Q. Explain how the social virtues are derived from the law of nature.
How is charity or the love of one's neighbor a precept and application
of it?

A. By reason of equality and reciprocity; for when we injure another,
we give him a right to injure us in return; thus, by attacking the
existence of our neighbor, we endanger our own, from the effect of
reciprocity; on the other hand, by doing good to others, we