us [c], you know, talk of them exactly in the fame Manner. In short, all the Records of Antiquity affirm, that in the firft Ages, the Conceptions of Mankind, their Manners and Difpofitions were rude, barbarous, and brutal; that their Attainments went no higher than fatisfying, at any rate, the coarfe Demands of their unrestrained Appetites: And thus being under no Controul in the Gratification of their felfish Paffions, they ran into the moft violent Exceffes, and were perpetually invading and seizing each other's Property. This is the despicable Figure Mankind make, in the feveral ancient Pictures of their original State. I acknowledge, faid Philocles, that this was the Doctrine of the Epicureans; but the Principles of a particular Sect cannot be looked upon as the Standard of Antiquity. It is ufual with the learned, when they are endeavouring to establish some favourite Hypothefis, to pick out a Passage from a Greek or Roman Author, that happens to co incide with the Notion to be advanced, and then argue from it, as a received Principle among the Ancients. Superficial Reafoners and minute Philofophers may be thus deceived; but Sophronius, I am fure, is not fo eafily impofed upon. And if he had been in the Humour, he could have drawn up a long Lift of claffical Names, to throw into Mutum & turpe pecus,glandem atque cubilia propter, the the Scale against thofe he just now mentioned. What think you of the Golden Age, when Nay, interpofed Sophronius, if you are for foaring to the airy Regions of Romance, I will not endeavour to attend your Flight. I can fol low you well enough, whilft you keep within the humble Paths of fober Reafoning; but the Towerings of an heated Imagination are much too elevated for my Reach. J t -Have Patience, good Sophronius! I was only going to mention what fome of the Ancients have thought concerning the State of Man, when he was yet new to Being, and fresh from the Hands of his Creator. The Defcription Ovid gives of his Situation, in that first Period of his Existence, feems (fome poetical Embellishments excepted) fuch as, were we to reafon à priori, we fhould conclude he was placed in. The first Characteristic he gives cf it is Innocence [d] Firft rofe a golden Age! the human Mind Seneca likewife gives an Account of the State of Nature, as it flood in Saturn's Reign, exactly conformable to this Notion of focial Virtue being then exercised in all its Purity and Peace [e]→ Nor [d] Aurea prima fata eft ætas, quæ vindice nullo, Sponte fuâ fine lege fidem rectumque colebat: Pœna metufque aberant, &c. 66 [e]" Tunc illa virgo, numinis magni dea, "Juftitia cœlo miffa, cum fan&tâ Fide, "Terras Nor does it feem in the leaft improbable, that fuch a Happiness might once have been the Lot of Mortals; though their prefent degenerate State is fo different from it, as to need the strongest Restraints, to keep up any tolerable Degree of Order in the World. The Luft of Avarice and Ambition now indeed divide Mankind, and destroy their mutual Harmony. But before Covetoufnefs crept into the World; before Men had any Temptation to invade the Rights of Equality; when Titles, Diftin&tions, and Pre-eminences were yet unknown; why might not a Number of People have lived together in Amity, enjoying every thing in common, and content with the natural Products of the Earth in fome happy Climate? Because it is inconfiftent with the Nature of human Creatures, answered Sophronius, that any Number of them should live together in Con "Terras regebat mitis. Humanum genus "Non bella norant &c." Then Juftice, Virgin pure, of fovereign Power, With facred Faith, attendant Handmaid, fent To this our Globe, Dominion held o'er Men, And rul'd with abfolute, but gentle Sway. Unheard was Discord's Voice, and Din of War, The Clash of Arms, and Trumpet's direful Sound. Nor Walls, nor Bulwarks, Cities yet had rais'd; Pervious and fafe each unfenc'd Entrance lay. Peculiar Rights were then unknown to Men; One common Stock fupply'd the friendly Race. The teeming Earth pour'd out her fruitful Stores Spontaneous to her Sons kind Parent the, And tender Guardian! pious Children they ! SENECA, Trag. Octav. A&t. ii. cord, cord, without the Curb of Government. Had we come into the World with fuch Difpofitions, as our firft Parents are faid to have poffeffed before their Fall; then indeed thofe tranquil Joys, which have (it should feem) flourished only in Song, might have exifted in reality. But as to their unhappy Offspring, born, as they are, with depraved Appetites, and inordinate Self-Paffions, it is abfolutely impoffible, that either Order, Peace, or Justice could ever have prevailed amongst them, without the Aid of some restraining Force. Let a Man fairly examine Human Nature, the Tendency and Effects of our Paffions; and he must allow this to be the Cafe. It is in vain to produce any Authority against the Nature of Things; and least of all, that of the Poets. They, you know, are not generally the ftri&eft Reasoners; their Aim being rather to please than inform. And though there is a Thing, which we call Truth in their Art; yet not being tied down to fevere historical Matter of Fact, they are at Liberty to create Scenes, which exift only in Imagination. But if Names are of any Force, I could produce [f] Ifacrates, [g] Diodorus, and Numbers of the most celebrated Ancients, who represent the Infancy of the World as rude and barbarous, as Hobbs, or any of the Moderns fuppose it to have been. Seneca, I will not deny, feems to favour your Opinion: And in one of his Epiftles, the Philofopher is not lefs warm than the [f] Ifocrates, Orat. iii. ad Nicoclem. [g] Diodorus Siculus, lib. i. Poet, ་ t Poet, in the Defcription of a Golden Age [b]. But after he had indulged his lively Genius in the Sallies of Imagination, Reason reassumes her Seat, and he freely owns, that Philofophy was unknown to the World in that early Period; that it was indeed an Age of Innocence, but not of Wisdom; and that the moral Character was not then thoroughly understood. For Virtue, fays he, is not the Gift of Nature, but the Product of Art. The Seeds of it are indeed fown in our Hearts; but if they are not cultivated with the utmost Diligence and Care, they will for ever remain in a dormant and inactive State. Does not this Conceffion entirely demolish the fine Fabric he had just before erected? For furely Mankind must have been abfolutely incapable of living together in focial Harmony, whilft the Mind had not yet received that Cultivation, which is requifite to unfold those latent Principles of Virtue; without which, it is impoffible that Numbers can live together with any Sort of Comfort, or maintain any tolerable Degree of Peace and [b] Quamvis egregia illis vita fuerit, & carens fraude, non fuere fapientes Non erant ingenia omnibus confummata Non enim dat natura virtutem; ars eft, bonum fieri--- Ignorantiâ rerum innocentes erant. Multùm autem intereft, utrùm peccare aliquis nolit, an nefciat. Deerat illis juftitia, deerat prudentia, deerat temperantia & fortitudo. Omnibus his virtutibus habebat fimilia quædam rudis vita: virtus non contingit animo, nifi inftituto & edocto, & ad fummum affidua cogitatione perducto. Ad hoc quidem, fed fine hoc nafcimur: & in optimis quoque antequàm erudias, virtutis materia, non virtus eft. |