es and ears; others assist the rest of the limbs, as the
legs and hands; so there are some monstrous beasts born for themselves
alone: but that fish which floats in an open shell and is called the
pinna, and that other which swims out of the shell, and, because it is a
guard to the other, is called the pinnoteres, and when it has withdrawn
within the shell again, is shut up in it, so that it appears that it has
given it warning to be on its guard; and also ants, and bees, and storks,
do something for the sake of others. Much more is this the case with
reference to the union of men. And therefore we are by nature adapted for
companionship, for taking counsel together, for forming states. But they
think that this world is regulated by the wisdom of the gods, and that it
is, as it were, a common city and state of men and gods, and that every
individual of us is a part of the world. From which that appears to follow
by nature, that we should prefer the general advantage to our own. For as
the laws prefer the general safety to that of individuals, so a good and
wise man, and one who obeys the laws and who is not ignorant of his duty
as a citizen, consults the general advantage rather than that of any
particular individual, or even than his own. Nor is a betrayer of his
country more to be blamed, than one who deserts the general advantage or
the general safety on account of his own private advantage or safety. From
which it also follows, that that man deserves to be praised who encounters
death voluntarily for the sake of the republic, because it is right that
the republic should be dearer to us than ourselves. And since it is said
to be a wicked thing, and contrary to human nature, for a man to say that
he would not care if, after his own death, a general conflagration of the
whole world were to happen, which is often uttered in a Greek(47) verse;
so it is certainly true that we ought to consult the interests of those
who are to come after us, for the sake of the love which we bear them.

XX. It is in this disposition of mind that wills, and the recommendations
of dying persons, have originated. And because no one would like to pass
his life in solitude, not even if surrounded with an infinite abundance of
pleasures, it is easily perceived that we are born for communion and
fellowship with man, and for natural associations. But we are impelled by
nature to wish to benefit as many persons as possible, especially by
instructing