8. So we conclude, that it is not in the power of any man always to use
his reason, and be at the highest pitch of human liberty, and yet that
everyone always, as far as in him lies, strives to preserve his own
existence; and that (since each has as much right as he has power)
whatever anyone, be he learned or ignorant, attempts and does, he
attempts and does by supreme natural right. From which it follows that
the law and ordinance of nature, under which all men are born, and for
the most part live, forbids nothing but what no one wishes or is able to
do, and is not opposed to strifes, hatred, anger, treachery, or, in
general, anything that appetite suggests. For the bounds of nature are
not the laws of human reason, which do but pursue the true interest and
preservation of mankind, but other infinite laws, which regard the
eternal order of universal nature, whereof man is an atom; and according
to the necessity of this order only are all individual beings determined
in a fixed manner to exist and operate. Whenever, then, anything in
nature seems to us ridiculous, absurd, or evil, it is because we have
but a partial knowledge of things, and are in the main ignorant of the
order and coherence of nature as a whole, and because we want everything
to be arranged according to the dictate of our own reason; although, in
fact, what our reason pronounces bad, is not bad as regards the order
and laws of universal nature, but only as regards the laws of our own
nature taken separately.

9. Besides, it follows that everyone is so far rightfully dependent on
another, as he is under that other's authority, and so far independent,
as he is able to repel all violence, and avenge to his heart's content
all damage done to him, and in general to live after his own mind.

10. He has another under his authority, who holds him bound, or has
taken from him arms and means of defence or escape, or inspired him with
fear, or so attached him to himself by past favour, that the man obliged
would rather please his benefactor than himself, and live after his mind
than after his own. He that has another under authority in the first or
second of these ways, holds but his body, not his mind. But in the third
or fourth way he has made dependent on himself as well the mind as the
body of the other; yet only as long as the fear or hope lasts, for upon
the removal of the feeling the other is left independent.

11. The judgment can be dependent on another, only as far as that other
can deceive the mind; whence it follows that the mind is so far
independent, as it uses reason aright. Nay, inasmuch as human power is
to be reckoned less by physical vigour than by mental strength, it
follows that those men are most independent whose reason is strongest,
and who are most guided thereby. And so I am altogether for calling a
man so far free, as he is led by reason; because so far he is determined
to action by such causes, as can be adequately understood by his
unassisted nature, although by these causes he be necessarily determined
to action. For liberty, as we showed above (Sec. 7), does not take away
the necessity of acting, but supposes it.

12. The pledging of faith to any man, where one has but verbally
promised to do this or that, which one might rightfully leave undone, or
vice versā, remains so long valid as the will of him that gave his word
remains unchanged. For he that has authority to break faith has, in
fact, bated nothing of his own right, but only made a present of words.
If, then, he, being by natural right judge in his own case, comes to the
conclusion, rightly or wrongly (for "to err is human"), that more harm
than profit will come of his promise, by the judgment of his own mind he
decides that the promise should be broken, and by natural right (Sec. 9)
he will break the same.

13. If two come together and unite their strength, they have jointly
more power, and consequently more right over nature than both of them
separately, and the more there are that have so joined in alliance, the
more right they all collectively will possess.

14. In so far as men are tormented by anger, envy, or any passion
implying hatred, they are drawn asunder and made contrary one to
another, and therefore are so much the more to be feared, as they are
more powerful, crafty, and cunning than the other animals. And because
men are in the highest degree liable to these passions (Chap. I, Sec.
5), therefore men are naturally enemies. For he is my greatest enemy,
whom I must most fear and be on my guard against.

15. But inasmuch as (Sec. 6) in the state of nature each is so long
independent, as he can guard against oppression by another, and it is in
vain for one man alone to try and guard against all, it follows hence
that so long as the natural right of man is determined by the power of
every individual, and belongs to everyone, so long it is a nonentity,
existing in opinion rather than fact, as there is no assurance of making
it good. And it is certain that the greater cause of fear every
individual has, the less power, and consequently the less right, he
possesses. To this must be added, that without mutual help men can
hardly support life and cultivate the mind. And so our conclusion is,
that that natural right, which is special to the human race, can hardly
be conceived, except where men have general rights, and combine to
defend the possession of the lands they inhabit and cultivate, to
protect themselves, to repel all violence, and to live according to the
general judgment of all. For (Sec. 18) the more there are that combine
together, the more right they collectively possess. And if this is why
the schoolmen want to call man a sociable animal -- I mean because men
in the state of nature can hardly be independent -- I have nothing to
say against them.

16. Where men have general rights, and are all guided, as it were, by
one mind, it is certain (Sec. 13), that every individual has the less
right the more the rest collectively exceed him in power; that is, he
has, in fact, no right over nature but that which the common law allows
him. But whatever he is ordered by the general consent, he is bound to