For
example, I in the state of Nature (and all commonwealths are in the
state of Nature one with another) have injured another man, and
refusing to give satisfaction, it is come to a state of war wherein my
defending by force what I had gotten unjustly makes me the
aggressor. I am conquered; my life, it is true, as forfeit, is at
mercy, but not my wife's and children's. They made not the war, nor
assisted in it. I could not forfeit their lives, they were not mine to
forfeit. My wife had a share in my estate, that neither could I
forfeit. And my children also, being born of me, had a right to be
maintained out of my labour or substance. Here then is the case: The
conqueror has a title to reparation for damages received, and the
children have a title to their father's estate for their
subsistence. For as to the wife's share, whether her own labour or
compact gave her a title to it, it is plain her husband could not
forfeit what was hers. What must be done in the case? I answer: The
fundamental law of Nature being that all, as much as may be, should be
preserved, it follows that if there be not enough fully to satisfy
both- viz., for the conqueror's losses and children's maintenance,
he that hath and to spare must remit something of his full
satisfaction, and give way to the pressing and preferable title of
those who are in danger to perish without it.
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