power as it has been conditioned. (8) Now it is the sovereign law and right
of nature that each individual should endeavour to preserve itself as it is,
without regard to anything but itself ; therefore this sovereign law and
right belongs to every individual, namely, to exist and act according
to its natural conditions. (9) We do not here acknowledge any
difference between mankind and other individual natural entities, nor
between men endowed with reason and those to whom reason is unknown; nor
between fools, madmen, and sane men. (10) Whatsoever an individual does by
the laws of its nature it has a sovereign right to do, inasmuch as it
acts as it was conditioned by nature, and cannot act otherwise. [16:2] (11)
Wherefore among men, so long as they are considered as living under the sway
of nature, he who does not yet know reason, or who has not yet acquired the
habit of virtue, acts solely according to the laws of his desire with as
sovereign a right as he who orders his life entirely by the laws of reason.

(16:12) That is, as the wise man has sovereign right to do all that reason
dictates, or to live according to the laws of reason, so also the ignorant
and foolish man has sovereign right to do all that desire dictates, or to
live according to the laws of desire. (13) This is identical with the
teaching of Paul, who acknowledges that previous to the law - that is, so
long as men are considered of as living under the sway of nature, there is
no sin.

(16:14) The natural right of the individual man is thus determined, not by
sound reason, but by desire and power. (15) All are not naturally
conditioned so as to act according to the laws and rules of reason; nay, on
the contrary, all men are born ignorant, and before they can learn the
right way of life and acquire the habit of virtue, the greater part of their
life, even if they have been well brought up, has passed away. (16)
Nevertheless, they are in the meanwhile bound to live and preserve