But if the thing which causes the emotion be conceived as acting by necessity, we shall then (by the same Def.
vii.

Part I.) conceive it not as the sole cause, but as one of the causes of the emotion, and therefore our love or hatred towards it will be less.

Q.E.D.
Note .-- Hence it follows, that men, thinking themselves to be free, feel more love or hatred towards one another than towards anything else: to this consideration we must add the imitation of emotions treated of in III.xxvii., xxxiv., xl.

and xliii.
PROP.L.Anything whatever can be, accidentally, a cause of hope or fear.
Proof .-- This proposition is proved in the same way as III.
xv., which see, together with the note to III.

xviii.
Note .-- Things which are accidentally the causes of hope or fear are called good or evil omens.