ABSTRACT
In every community, even the crew of a pirate ship, there are acts that are enjoined and acts that are forbidden, acts that are applauded and acts that are reprobated. A pirate must show courage in attack and justice in the distribution of the spoils; if he fails in these respects, he is not a “good” pirate. When a man belongs to a larger community, the scope of his duties and possible sins becomes greater, and the considerations involved become more complex, but there is still a code to which he must conform on pain of public obloquy. Most acts, it is true, are considered morally indifferent, provided a man is not a slave or in a semi-servile condition. A man of independent means may get up when he likes and go to bed when he likes; he may eat and drink whatever he chooses, provided he avoids excess; he may marry the lady of his choice if she is willing. But he must perform his military duty when called upon by the State to do so, and he must abstain from crime, as well as from kinds of behaviour that make a man unpopular. Men without independent means have much less freedom.
