The PREFACE.

...rather deduce the word "Right" original: "it" from the Latin Jussum original: "Jussum," meaning a command or decree by removing the last syllable, just as the ancient word Ossum original: "Ossum," an archaic Latin form for bone has now become Os original: "Os," the standard Latin word for bone.

Moreover, God, through the explicit laws He has given us, has made those very principles even more clear to those of limited understanding. He restrains the wandering and otherwise excessive passions of those who seek their own safety or the safety of others, curbing the most violent impulses with a stronger rein and keeping them within His own boundaries, both in the way they act and the goals they pursue. Furthermore, even sacred history This refers to the biblical narrative. (setting aside the specific commands) encourages us toward mutual love by teaching us that we were all born from the same first parents. In this sense, what the Roman jurist Florentinus says is very true: that nature has established all of mankind as one single lineage or kin. From this, it follows that for one person to betray or defraud another is a violation of divine duty original: "Impiety". Therefore, our parents are like "gods"—Earthly Gods original: "Θεοὶ ἐπίγειοι", as the philosopher Hierocles calls them. They are visible and clear gods who imitate the invisible and uncreated God by giving life to others. For this reason, Plato calls parents the images or representatives of the gods. To whom we owe our reverence as much as to the gods themselves, says Aristotle; yet this does not mean an obedience that is infinite and unlimited.

Again, since it is a rule original: "Dictate" of the law of nature to fulfill all covenants and agreements (for some method of binding people to one another is necessary, and no other natural method can be found), it is from this very source that all civil laws flow. For those who joined themselves into any society, or otherwise submitted themselves to one person or a group of people, have either explicitly promised or—by the very nature of the act—must be understood to have silently original: "tacitly" promised to observe and fulfill whatever the majority of that society, or those to whom power was transferred, had established or ordained for the general good. Therefore, what not only the skeptic Carneades but others have also claimed—

Grotius is paraphrasing a famous line by Horace: Utilitas iusti prope mater et aequi.

—is not strictly true if spoken properly. For the law of nature is the product of human nature itself. Even if we lacked for nothing, our nature would still, by itself, lead us to desire human society. The civil law, then, recognizes no other "mother" than the obligation that arises from consent. Because this obligation derives its authority from the law of nature, nature may be said to be (as it were) the grandmother of this law. Yet, even from the law of nature itself, some benefit original: "profit" arises. For God, who is the author of nature, intended that every individual—considered on their own—should be weak and lacking in many things needed for a good life, so that we would be more strongly driven to seek society. I grant that common benefit was the occasion for establishing the civil law. For that very association original: "Consociation" or submission (which we mentioned) was first established for some practical use. Indeed, those who prescribe