Eighteenth Century Collection Online Demo

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

be the heart of a parent who could injure that weakness which even a furious enemy is afraid to violate? yet the exposition, that is, the murder of new born infants, was a prac|tice allowed of in almost all the states of Greece even among the polite and civilized Atheni|ans, and whenever the circumstances of the parent rendered it inconvenient to bring up the child, to abandon it to hunger, or to wild beasts, was regarded without blame or censure. This practice had probably begun in times of the most savage barbarity. The imagination•• of men had been first made familiar with it in that earliest period of society, and the uniform continuance of the custom had hin|dered them afterwards from perceiving it's enormity. We find, at this day, that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 practice prevails among all savage nations; and in that rudest and lowest state of society 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is undoubtedly more pardonable than in any other. The extreme indigence of a savage is often such that he himself is frequently ex|posed to the greatest extremity of hunger, he often dies of pure want, and it is frequently impossible for him to support both himse•••• and his child. We cannot wonder, therefore that in this case he should abandon it. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 who in flying from an enemy whom it 〈◊〉〈◊〉
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Title
The theory of moral sentiments: By Adam Smith, ...
Author
Smith, Adam, 1723-1790.
Canvas
Page 410
Publication
London :: printed for A. Millar; and A. Kincaid and J. Bell, in Edinburgh,
1759.

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"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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