...upon man as a compound of various passions, governed by each as it comes uppermost, and he held that ' the moral virtues are the political offspring which flattery begot upon pride.' The combination of ability and coarseness with which this view was developed led to many other answers...

...for the largest, and, according to the World, the happiest and most flourishing Societies," and that "the Moral Virtues are the Political Offspring which Flattery begot upon Pride," Mandeville made himself a public nuisance and a scandal during a considerable part of the eighteenth...