themselves as far as they can by the unaided impulses of desire. (17) Nature
has given them no other guide, and has denied them the present power of
living according to sound reason; so that they are no more bound to live by
the dictates of an enlightened mind, than a cat is bound to live by the laws
of the nature of a lion.

(16:18) Whatsoever, therefore, an individual (considered as under the sway
of nature) thinks useful for himself, whether led by sound reason or
impelled by the passions, that he has a sovereign right to seek and to take
for himself as he best can, whether by force, cunning, entreaty, or any
other means; consequently he may regard as an enemy anyone who hinders
the accomplishment of his purpose.

(16:19) It follows from what we have said that the right and ordinance of
nature, under which all men are born, and under which they mostly live, only
prohibits such things as no one desires, and no one can attain: it does not
forbid strife, nor hatred, nor anger, nor deceit, nor, indeed, any of
the means suggested by desire.

(16:20) This we need not wonder at, for nature is not bounded by the laws of
human reason, which aims only at man's true benefit and preservation; her
limits are infinitely wider, and have reference to the eternal order of
nature, wherein man is but a speck; it is by the necessity of this alone
that all individuals are conditioned for living and acting in a particular
way. (21) If anything, therefore, in nature seems to us ridiculous, absurd,
or evil, it is because we only know in part, and are almost entirely
ignorant of the order and interdependence of nature as a whole, and also
because we want everything to be arranged according to the dictates of our
human reason; in reality that which reason considers evil, is not evil in
respect to the order and laws of nature as a whole, but only in respect to