1817 Aug. 26

Sextus

Ch. Sexual, best

Ch. І І

JB notes at top of page: ‘1. Gratification more intense. Value in respect of

intensity: in respect of some part of the gratification more lasting: in

respect of the most intense, frequently reported[?]: value in magnitude.

‘2. The only one obtainable without expence: thus, the most pure. Value in

respect of purity

‘3. The only one therefore that can be enjoyed by the most indigent, and

thence by the greatest number - Value in extent.

‘4. With the purity of the pleasure compare the impurity of drunkenness.

‘5. The superiority in value the cause of the superior intensity of the

opposition made to it.’

The sexual appetite more conducive to happiness than any other sensual

appetite / than any other /.

At the hands of the two classes of false / ascetic / moralists distinguished by

Bentham - viz. the religious and the philosophical the pleasures of the sexual

appetite have experienced a more vehement opposition / hostility / than has been

opposed to any other pleasures / class / / to any other source of happiness /. Why?

Even for this very reason / cause /: that of this class / species / of pleasure

derived from the source the value has been found greater than

that derived from any one other source.

To / In the eyes / the religious ascetic, whose object is the barter of present

pleasure / welfare / for future welfare in a life to come, this being the greatest of

all pleasures the sacrifice of it is the greatest of all sacrifices: in the species

of traffic in question this commodity will go further than any other: greater

quantity of celestial pleasure, exemption from a greater quantity of infernal torture

is to be purchased by it, than by any other article which man has at command and

capable of being employed for this purpose / in this branch of trade /.

So likewise In the eyes of the philosophical ascetic, whose object is or rather was

- for the race can scarcely now be said to have any existence the gratification of

the passions of pride and vanity, the pleasures of the popular or moral or popular

sanction: carried to an extraordinary degree of intensity. The means by / through /

which he aspires to this enjoyment are the display of a force of mind superior to any

which any other person is capable of displaying. The American savage, whose pride is

gratified by the ability to preserve an appearance of insensibility under an

intensity of torture under which any other would sink, is the ascetic philosopher of

modern times.