History of European morals from Augustus to Charlemagne. Volume 2 / William Edward Hartpole Lecky.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lecky, William Edward Hartpole, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethics--History.

Ethics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 423 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York : D Appleton & Company, 1869.

Summary:

"This book examines the history of European morals. It focuses on the period of time from Augustus to Charlemagne. The first chapter in this volume examines the nature of the moral ideal that the new religion, Christianity, introduced, and also the methods by which it attempted to realise it. And at the very outset of this enquiry it is necessary to guard against a serious error. It is common with many persons to establish a comparison between Christianity and Paganism, by placing the teaching of the Christians in juxtaposition with corresponding passages from the writings of Marcus Aurelius or Seneca, and to regard the superiority of the Christian over the philosophical, teaching as a complete measure of the moral advance that was effected by Christianity. But a moment's reflection is sufficient to display the injustice of such a conclusion. The ethics of Paganism were part of a philosophy. The ethics of Christianity were part of a religion. In the second chapter in this Volume II, the author examines the position assigned to women in the community, and to the virtues and vices that spring directly from the relations of the sexes. The two first steps which are taken towards the elevation of woman are probably the cessation of the custom of purchasing wives, and the construction of the family on the basis of monogamy. In the first periods of civilisation, the marriage contract was arranged between the bridegroom and the father of the bride, on the condition of a sum of money being paid by the former to the latter." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Contents:

Morals

1

General Moral Condition of the Byzantine Empire

8

L

10

Strong Christian assertion of the equality of obligation

67

Serfdom

75

Monachism

112

latter

132

Causes of its attraction

147

The conventual system

220

Purgatory

242

Benefits conferred by the monasteries

261

Consecration of Secular Rank

275

The Courtesans

310

Indisposition to marriage

367

The Saints of the Desert

398

Moral efficacy of the Christian sense of

402

Compulsory marriage abolished

196

The Growth of Asceticism

205

Widows

208

imagination

211

And by the unnatural forms Greek vice assumed

404

108

405

43

408

146

414.

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (D Appleton & Company, viewed May 31, 2023).