11. And because all signs which we shew to one another of hatred and contempt, provoke in the highest degree to quarrel and battle, (inasmuch as life itself, with the condition of enduring scorn, is not esteemed worth the enjoying, much less peace) it must necessarily be implied as a law of nature, _That no man reproach, revile, deride, or any otherwise declare his hatred, contempt, or disesteem of any other_. But this law is very little practised. For what is more ordinary than reproaches of those that are rich, towards them that are not? or of those that sit in place of judicature, towards those that are accused at the bar? although to grieve them in that manner, be no part of the punishment for their crime, nor contained in their office. But use hath prevailed, that what was lawful in the lord towards the servant whom he maintaineth, is also practised as lawful in the more mighty towards the less; though they contribute nothing towards their maintenance. [Sidenote: That indifference of commerce is of the law of nature.] 12. It is also a law of nature, _That one man allow commerce and traffic indifferently to one another_. For he that alloweth that to one man, which he denieth to another, declareth his hatred to him, to whom he denieth. And to declare hatred is war. And upon this title was grounded the great war between the Athenians and the Peloponnesians. For would the Athenians have condescended to suffer the Megareans, their neighbours, to traffic in their ports and markets, that war had not begun. [Sidenote: That messengers employed to procure or maintain peace, ought to be safe by the law of nature.] 13. And this also is a law of nature, _That all messengers of peace, and such as are employed to procure and maintain amity between man and man, may safely come and go_. For seeing peace is the general law of nature, the means thereto, such as are these men, must in the same law be comprehended. sp 2 ------- CHAPTER IV.