The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...

the crime seems to be so little, and the punishment so great, that it is with diffi|culty that our heart can reconcile itself to it. Though such carelessness appears very blameable, yet the thought of this crime does not naturally excite any such resent|ment, as would prompt us to take such dreadful revenge. A man of humanity must recollect himself, must make an ef|fort, and exert his whole firmness and re|solution, before he can bring himself either to inflict it, or to go along with it when it is inflicted by others. It is not, how|ever, in this manner, that he looks upon the just punishment of an ungrateful mur|derer or parricide. His heart, in this case, applauds with ardour, and even with trans|port, the just retaliation which seems due to such detestable crimes, and which, if, by any accident, they should happen to escape, he would be highly enraged and disappointed. The very different senti|ments with which the spectator views those different punishments, is a proof that his approbation of the one is far from being founded upon the same principles with that of the other. He looks upon the centinel as an unfortunate victim, who, indeed,

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Title: The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...
Author: Smith, Adam, 1723-1790.
Canvas: Page 201
Publication: London :: printed for A. Millar; and A. Kincaid and J. Bell, in Edinburgh,; 1759.

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Collection: Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo
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Full citation: "The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ..." In the digital collection Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eccodemo/k111361.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 12, 2025.

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