[19] _V_. Lucian, _Timon_, chap. 42 (_Ausgewählte Schriften des Lucian_, edit. Julius Sommerbrodt; Weidmann, Berlin, 1872, p. 75): _ϕίλος δὲ ἣ ξένος ἣ ἑταῑρος ἣ Έλέον βωμός ὔθλος πολύς_. _V_. also Apollodorus (edit. J. Bekker); 2, 8, 1. 3, 7, 1. Dem. (edit. Reisk.), 57. Scholiast on Soph. _Œd. Col._,258.--(_Translator_.) [20] A temple must not be despoiled of its altar, nor human nature of compassion. _V_. Joannis Stobaei _Anthologium,_ edit. Curtius Wachsmuth et Otto Hense; Weidmann, Berlin, 1894; Vol. III., p. 20, Nr. 52.--(_Translator_.) [21] The chief of virtues is said to be Compassion. The _Paṅća-tantra_ is a well-known collection of moral stories and fables in five (_paṅćan_) books or chapters (_tantra_), from which the author of the _Hitopadeśa_ drew a large portion of his materials. _V_. Monier Williams' _Sanskrit Dictionary_.--(_Translator_.) CHAPTER IX. ON THE ETHICAL DIFFERENCE OF CHARACTER. There still remains a question to be resolved, before the basis which I have given to Ethics can be presented in all its completeness. It is this. On what does the great difference in the moral behaviour of men rest? If Compassion be the original incentive of all true, that is, disinterested justice and loving-kindness; how comes it that some are, while others are not, influenced thereby? Are we to suppose that Ethics, which discloses the moral stimulus, is also capable of setting it in motion? Can Ethics fashion the hard-hearted man anew, so that he becomes compassionate, and, as a consequence, just and humane? Certainly not. The difference of character is innate, and ineradicable. The wicked man is born with his wickedness as much as the serpent is with its poison-fangs and glands, nor can the former change his nature a whit more than the latter.[1] _Velle non discitur_ (to use one's will is not a thing that can be taught) is a saying of Nero's tutor. In the _Meno_, Plato minutely investigates the nature of virtue, and inquires whether it can, or cannot, be taught. He quotes a passage from Theognis: _ἀλλὰ διδάσκων_ _Οὔποτε ποιήσεις τὸν κακὸν ἄνδρ' ἀγαθόν._ (But thou wilt ne'er, By teaching make the bad man virtuous.)