which had pleasure for its single aim and law, was given in D'Holbach's Si/sieme de la nature. Of the later French writers, JoufiYoy is perhaps the most im- portant. He gave a peculiar explanation of good and evil. Every thing is good in proportion as it aids in the fulfilment of our destiny. The problem of liunian destiny, therefore, lies at the foundation of morality. There can be no a prioii judgment as to the moral quality- of actions, since that is relative to the agent, depending on the influence they maj' have on the des- tiny for which he was created. Good, in the case of any particular being, is the fulfilment of its own specific destiny ; good, in itself, is the fulfilment of the destiny of all beings ; and an interruption in the accomplish- ment of destiny constitutes evil. His system of Ethics is chiefly laid down in his Cours du Droit naturcl (2 vols.. Par. 1835 ; a third vol. was edited after his death by Damiron, 1842), his most eloquent work, which, be- sides ethics, treats of psj'chologj' and theodicj'. Some points are more fully developed in a series of essays, which first appeared in periodicals, and of which sub- sequently two collections {Melinfjes philosophiqiies and Nouveaux melanges philosopkiques') were puljlished.
See, besides the authors named in the course of this article, A Sketch of the History of Moral Philosophy, in the introduction to St. Hilaire's translation of Aristo- tle's Politics {Politique d'Arisfote, Paris); Meiners, Allgem. Krif. Geschichte d. iiltei-en u. neueren Ethik (Gottingen, 1801, 2 vols.); Hagenbach, Encyclop. u. Methodolof/ie, § 92 ; Cousin, CEuvr. Philosophiques (Par- is, 1846-52) ; Bautain, Morale (Paris, 1842, 2 vols.) ; Damiron, tours de Philosophic, vols, iii and iv (Paris, 1842) ; JoufFroy, In/rod. to Ethics, transl. by Channing (Boston, 1840, 2 vols. 8vo) ; Janet, Hist, des idies mo- rales et politiques (Paris, 1856) ; Neander, Vorlesungen ■u. d. Geschichte d. christl. Ethik (Berl. 1865, 8vo) ; Ne- ander, Relation (f Grecian to Christian Ethics; Christ. Exam, xxix, 153 ; sxx, 145 ; Bibl. Sac. 1853, 476 sq. ; article Ethics in Chambers's Encyclopeedia, and in the Penny Cyclopadia, both in the interest of the sensa- tional philosopliy ; North British Review, Dec. 1867, art. iv ; Wuttke, Handbuch der christl. Sittenlehre (2 vols. 8vo, 1861-62 ; 2d edit. 1866) ; JLaurice, Moral and Met- aphys-iccd Philosopihy; jNIaurice, The Conscience: Lec- tures on Casuistry (London, 1868). On the nature of evil, see Evil ; Six. On liberty and necessity, see Will. For the Roman Catholic way of treating eth- ics, see Moral Theology.
Ethio'pia (1 Esdr. iii, 2 ; Est. xiii, 1 ; xvi, 1 ; Ju- dith i, 10 ; Acts viii, 27 ; the Hebrew d^3, Rush, i. e. CusH, as it is generally rendered. Gen. ii, 13 ; 2 Kings xix, 9; Esth. i, 1; Job xxviii, 19; Psa. Ixviii, 31; Ixxxvii, 4 ; Isa. xviii, 1 ; xx, 3, 5 ; xxxvii, 9 ; xlv, 14 ; Ezek. XXX, 4, 5 ; xxxviii, 5 ; Nah. iii, 9), a coun- try' which, as thus designated In' the ancients, lay to the south of Egypt, and embraced, in its most extend- ed sense, the modern Nubia, Sennaar, Kordofan, and northern Abyssinia, and in its more definite sense the kingdom of Meroe, from the junction of the Blue and White branches of the Nile to the border of Egypt. In one passage in the description of the garden of Eden, an Asiatic Cush or Ethiopia must be intended (Gen. ii, 13), and the distribution of the descendants of Cush, with later Biblical historical indications, should be compared with the classical mentions of eastern and western Ethiopians, and other indications of profane history. In all other passages, the words Ethiopia and the Ethiopians, with one possible excep- tion, "the Arabians, that [were] near the Ethiopians" (2 Chron. xxi, 16), which may refer to Arabians oppo- site to Ethiopia, may be safely considered to mean an African country and people or peoples. In the Bible, as in classical geography, but one limit of Ethiopia is laid down, its northern frontier, just beyond Syene, the most southern town of Egypt. Egypt is spoken of as to be desolate "from Migdol to Syene, even unto tha
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border of Ethiopia" (Ezek. xxix, 10), or " from Migdol to Syene" (xxx, (!), showiii<; that then, as now, tlie southern boundary of Egypt was at the First Cataract. In other directions the boundaries can only be gen- erally described as the lied Sea on the E., the Libyan desert on the W., and the Abyssinian liighlands on the S. The extent assigned to Ethiopia in ancient times may have been very great, as it was the land of the negroes, and therefore represented all that was known of inner Africa, besides that part of the conti- nent south of Egypt which is washed Ijy the Red Sea. The references in the Bible are, however, generall}', if not always, to the territorj' which was at times un- der Egyptian rule, a tract watered by the Upper Nile, and extending from Egypt probably as far as a little above the confluence of the White and Blue Rivers.
The Hebrews do not appear to have had much prac- tical acquaintance with Ethiopia itself, though the Ethiopians were well known to them through their in- tercourse with Egypt. They were, however, perfectly aware of its position (Ezek. xxix, 10), and they de- scribe it as a well-watered countr}' lying "from the side of" (A.Y. "beyond") the waters of Cush (Isa. xviii, 1 ; Zeph. iii, 10), being traversed by the two branches of the Nile, and by the Astaboras or Tacazze. The Ni'le descends with a rapid stream in this part of its course, forming a series of cataracts : its violence seems to be referred to in the words of Isa. xviii, 2, " whose land the rivers have spoiled." The Hebrews seem also to have been aware of its tropical characteristics, the words translated in the A.V. "the land shadow- ing with wings" (Isa. xviii, 1), admitting the sense of "the land of the shadow of Itoth sides," the shadows falling towards the north and south at different peri- ods of the year, a feature which is noticed by many early writers (compare the expression in Strabo, ii, p. 133, aufpicKioi ; Virgil, Ed. x, 68 ; Plinj', ii, 75). The papyrus boats ("vessels of bulrushes," Isa. xviii, 2), Avhich were peculiarly adapted to the navigation of the Upper Nile, admitting of being carried on men's backs when necessary, were regarded as a character- istic feature of the country. The Hebrews carried on commci'cial intercourse with Ethiopia, its "merchan- dise" (Isa. xlv, 1-i) consisting of ebony, ivory, frank- incense, and gold (Herod, iii, 97, 114), and precious stones (Job xxviii, 19 ; Josephus, Ant. viii, 6, 5).