BOOK II PART II
which a transition of passion may arise, viz, a
double relation of ideas and impressions, and
what is similar to it, a conformity in the ten-
dency and direction of any two desires, which
arise from different principles. Now I assert,
that when a sympathy with uneasiness is weak,
it produces hatred or contempt by the former
cause; when strong, it produces love or ten-
derness by the latter. This is the solution of
the foregoing difficulty, which seems so urgent;
and this is a principle founded on such evident
arguments, that we ought to have established
it, even though it were not necessary to the ex-
plication of any phaenomenon.
It is certain, that sympathy is not always lim-
ited to the present moment, but that we often
feel by communication the pains and pleasures
of others, which are not in being, and which we