Guerra civil

The army had small inclination to the service of Ireland; a country barbarous, uncultivated and laid waste by massacres, and civil commotions: They had less inclination to disband, and to renounce that pay, which, having earned it through fatigues and dangers, they now purposed to enjoy in ease and tranquillity. And most of the officers, having risen from the dregs of the people, had no other prospect, if deprived of their commission, that that of returning to languish in their native poverty or obscurity.

These motives of interest acquired additional influence, and became more dangerous to the parliament, from the religious spirit, by which the army was universally actuated. Among the generality of men, educated in regular, civilized societies, the sentiments of shame, duty, honour, have considerable authority, and serve to counterbalance and direct the motives, derived from private advantage: But, by the predominance of enthusiasm among the parliamentary forces, these salutary principles lost their credit, and were regarded as mere human inventions, yea moral institutions, fitter for heathens that Christians. The saint, resigned over tot superior guidance, was at full liberty to gratify all his appetites, disguised under the appearance of pious zeal. And besides the strange corruptions engendered by this spirit, is eluded and loosened all the ties of morality, and gave entire scope, and even sanction, to the selfishness and ambition, which naturally adhere to the human mind

DAVID HUME, HISTORY OF ENGLAND (VOL. V, págs. 493-494)

La narració feta per Hume del començament de la segona guerra civil és un text poderós com a descripció del desencadenament d’una situació de deriva envers una completa anomia. De fet, mentre ho llegia em venia al cap la descripció feta per Tucídides de l’Atenes escindida socialment, pressionada pels espartans i en situació de larvada guerra civil que ens ofereix en una de les pàgines més magnifiques de la història de la guerra del Peloponès; un text que ben segur Hume coneixia molt bé. En tot cas hi ha una diferència important i potser significativa. A Tucidides les causes de l’anomia venen causades per una catàstrofe natural i un afluixament de les concepcions religioses tradicionals (dos fets òbviament connectats entre si) Pel contrari, per Hume, no és tant la pèrdua del vincles religiosos com la irracionalitat extrema dels nous vincles, la concepció puritana, la que ocasiona la crisis, l’entusiasme. (cosa que rellegint el quadern gris veig que també era un tema per Pla)