E3P32S
Scholium — Part III
Latin
Videmus itaque cum hominum natura plerumque ita comparatum esse ut eorum quibus male est, misereantur et quibus bene est, invideant et (per propositionem præcedentem) eo majore odio quo rem qua alium potiri imaginantur, magis amant. Videmus deinde ex eadem naturæ humanæ proprietate ex qua sequitur homines esse misericordes, sequi etiam eosdem esse invidos et ambitiosos. Denique si ipsam experientiam consulere velimus, ipsam hæc omnia docere experiemur præsertim si ad priores nostræ ætatis annos attenderimus. Nam pueros quia eorum corpus continuo veluti in æquilibrio est, ex hoc solo ridere vel flere experimur quod alios ridere vel flere vident et quicquid præterea vident alios facere, id imitari statim cupiunt et omnia denique sibi cupiunt quibus alios delectari imaginantur; nimirum quia rerum imagines uti diximus sunt ipsæ humani corporis affectiones sive modi quibus corpus humanum a causis externis afficitur disponiturque ad hoc vel illud agendum.
English (Elwes 1883)
We thus see that man's nature is generally so constituted, that he takes pity on those who fare ill, and envies those who fare well with an amount of hatred proportioned to his own love for the goods in their possession. Further, we see that from the same property of human nature, whence it follows that men are merciful, it follows also that they are envious and ambitious. Lastly, if we make appeal to Experience, we shall find that she entirely confirms what we have said; more especially if we turn our attention to the first years of our life. We find that children, whose body is continually, as it were, in equilibrium, laugh or cry simply because they see others laughing or crying; moreover, they desire forthwith to imitate whatever they see others doing, and to possess themselves of whatever they conceive as delighting others: inasmuch as the images of things are, as we have said, modifications of the human body, or modes wherein the human body is affected and disposed by external causes to act in this or that manner.
Modern English
We see, then, that human nature is for the most part so constituted that people pity those who are faring badly and envy those who are faring well — with a hatred proportional to the degree they love what they imagine someone else possessing. We also see that from the same property of human nature from which it follows that people are compassionate, it equally follows that they are envious and ambitious.
And if we consult experience, we find that it confirms all of this, especially when we attend to the earlier years of life. Children, whose bodies are continually in a kind of equilibrium, laugh or weep simply from seeing others laugh or weep. Whatever they see others do, they immediately want to imitate, and they desire for themselves everything they imagine delighting others — because, as we said, images of things are the affections of the human body, or the ways in which the human body is affected and disposed by external causes to act in one way or another.