BOOK II PART II
There is only one difficulty in this experi-
ment, which it will be necessary to account for,
before we proceed any farther. It is evident,
that though all passions pass easily from one
object to another related to it, yet this transi-
tion is made with greater facility, where the
more considerable object is first presented, and
the lesser follows it, than where this order is
reversed, and the lesser takes the precedence.
Thus it is more natural for us to love the son
upon account of the father, than the father
upon account of the son; the servant for the
master, than the master for the servant; the sub-
ject for the prince, than the prince for the sub-
ject. In like manner we more readily contract
a hatred against a whole family, where our first
quarrel is with the head of it, than where we are
displeased with a son, or servant, or some infe-
rior member. In short, our passions, like other