<h2><SPAN name="chap38.6"></SPAN> Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part VI. </h2>
<p class="center">
General Observations On The Fall Of The Roman Empire In The West.</p>
<p>The Greeks, after their country had been reduced into a province, imputed
the triumphs of Rome, not to the merit, but to the fortune, of the
republic. The inconstant goddess, who so blindly distributes and resumes
her favors, had now consented (such was the language of envious flattery)
to resign her wings, to descend from her globe, and to fix her firm and
immutable throne on the banks of the Tyber. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.1000"
name="linknoteref-38.1000" id="linknoteref-38.1000">1000</SPAN> A wiser Greek,
who has composed, with a philosophic spirit, the memorable history of his
own times, deprived his countrymen of this vain and delusive comfort, by
opening to their view the deep foundations of the greatness of Rome. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.2000" name="linknoteref-38.2000" id="linknoteref-38.2000">2000</SPAN>
The fidelity of the citizens to each other, and to the state, was
confirmed by the habits of education, and the prejudices of religion.
Honor, as well as virtue, was the principle of the republic; the ambitious
citizens labored to deserve the solemn glories of a triumph; and the ardor
of the Roman youth was kindled into active emulation, as often as they
beheld the domestic images of their ancestors. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.3000"
name="linknoteref-38.3000" id="linknoteref-38.3000">3000</SPAN> The temperate
struggles of the patricians and plebeians had finally established the firm
and equal balance of the constitution; which united the freedom of popular
assemblies, with the authority and wisdom of a senate, and the executive
powers of a regal magistrate. When the consul displayed the standard of
the republic, each citizen bound himself, by the obligation of an oath, to
draw his sword in the cause of his country, till he had discharged the
sacred duty by a military service of ten years. This wise institution
continually poured into the field the rising generations of freemen and
soldiers; and their numbers were reenforced by the warlike and populous
states of Italy, who, after a brave resistance, had yielded to the valor
and embraced the alliance, of the Romans. The sage historian, who excited
the virtue of the younger Scipio, and beheld the ruin of Carthage, <SPAN href="#linknote-38.4000" name="linknoteref-38.4000" id="linknoteref-38.4000">4000</SPAN>
has accurately described their military system; their levies, arms,
exercises, subordination, marches, encampments; and the invincible legion,
superior in active strength to the Macedonian phalanx of Philip and
Alexander. From these institutions of peace and war Polybius has deduced
the spirit and success of a people, incapable of fear, and impatient of
repose. The ambitious design of conquest, which might have been defeated
by the seasonable conspiracy of mankind, was attempted and achieved; and
the perpetual violation of justice was maintained by the political virtues
of prudence and courage. The arms of the republic, sometimes vanquished in
battle, always victorious in war, advanced with rapid steps to the
Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and the Ocean; and the images of gold,
or silver, or brass, that might serve to represent the nations and their
kings, were successively broken by the iron monarchy of Rome. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.5000" name="linknoteref-38.5000" id="linknoteref-38.5000">5000</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.1000" id="linknote-38.1000">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
1000 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.1000">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Such are the
figurative expressions of Plutarch, (Opera, tom. ii. p. 318, edit.
Wechel,) to whom, on the faith of his son Lamprias, (Fabricius, Bibliot.
Graec. tom. iii. p. 341,) I shall boldly impute the malicious declamation.
The same opinions had prevailed among the Greeks two hundred and fifty
years before Plutarch; and to confute them is the professed intention of
Polybius, (Hist. l. i. p. 90, edit. Gronov. Amstel. 1670.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.2000" id="linknote-38.2000">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
2000 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.2000">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See the inestimable
remains of the sixth book of Polybius, and many other parts of his general
history, particularly a digression in the seventeenth book, in which he
compares the phalanx and the legion.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.3000" id="linknote-38.3000">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
3000 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.3000">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Sallust, de Bell.
Jugurthin. c. 4. Such were the generous professions of P. Scipio and Q.
Maximus. The Latin historian had read and most probably transcribes,
Polybius, their contemporary and friend.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.4000" id="linknote-38.4000">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
4000 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.4000">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ While Carthage was
in flames, Scipio repeated two lines of the Iliad, which express the
destruction of Troy, acknowledging to Polybius, his friend and preceptor,
(Polyb. in Excerpt. de Virtut. et Vit. tom. ii. p. 1455-1465,) that while
he recollected the vicissitudes of human affairs, he inwardly applied them
to the future calamities of Rome, (Appian. in Libycis, p. 136, edit.
Toll.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.5000" id="linknote-38.5000">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
5000 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.5000">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Daniel, ii.
31-40. “And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron
breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things.” The remainder of the prophecy
(the mixture of iron and clay) was accomplished, according to St. Jerom,
in his own time. Sicut enim in principio nihil Romano Imperio fortius et
durius, ita in fine rerum nihil imbecillius; quum et in bellis civilibus
et adversus diversas nationes, aliarum gentium barbararum auxilio
indigemus, (Opera, tom. v. p. 572.)]</p>
<p>The rise of a city, which swelled into an empire, may deserve, as a
singular prodigy, the reflection of a philosophic mind. But the decline of
Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness.
Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction
multiplied with the extent of conquest; and as soon as time or accident
had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the
pressure of its own weight. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious;
and instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should
rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. The victorious legions,
who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries,
first oppressed the freedom of the republic, and afterwards violated the
majesty of the purple. The emperors, anxious for their personal safety and
the public peace, were reduced to the base expedient of corrupting the
discipline which rendered them alike formidable to their sovereign and to
the enemy; the vigor of the military government was relaxed, and finally
dissolved, by the partial institutions of Constantine; and the Roman world
was overwhelmed by a deluge of Barbarians.</p>
<p>The decay of Rome has been frequently ascribed to the translation of the
seat of empire; but this History has already shown, that the powers of
government were divided, rather than removed. The throne of Constantinople
was erected in the East; while the West was still possessed by a series of
emperors who held their residence in Italy, and claimed their equal
inheritance of the legions and provinces. This dangerous novelty impaired
the strength, and fomented the vices, of a double reign: the instruments
of an oppressive and arbitrary system were multiplied; and a vain
emulation of luxury, not of merit, was introduced and supported between
the degenerate successors of Theodosius. Extreme distress, which unites
the virtue of a free people, imbitters the factions of a declining
monarchy. The hostile favorites of Arcadius and Honorius betrayed the
republic to its common enemies; and the Byzantine court beheld with
indifference, perhaps with pleasure, the disgrace of Rome, the misfortunes
of Italy, and the loss of the West. Under the succeeding reigns, the
alliance of the two empires was restored; but the aid of the Oriental
Romans was tardy, doubtful, and ineffectual; and the national schism of
the Greeks and Latins was enlarged by the perpetual difference of language
and manners, of interests, and even of religion. Yet the salutary event
approved in some measure the judgment of Constantine. During a long period
of decay, his impregnable city repelled the victorious armies of
Barbarians, protected the wealth of Asia, and commanded, both in peace and
war, the important straits which connect the Euxine and Mediterranean
Seas. The foundation of Constantinople more essentially contributed to the
preservation of the East, than to the ruin of the West.</p>
<p>As the happiness of a future life is the great object of religion, we may
hear without surprise or scandal, that the introduction or at least the
abuse, of Christianity had some influence on the decline and fall of the
Roman empire. The clergy successfully preached the doctrines of patience
and pusillanimity: the active virtues of society were discouraged; and the
last remains of military spirit were buried in the cloister: a large
portion of public and private wealth was consecrated to the specious
demands of charity and devotion; and the soldiers’ pay was lavished on the
useless multitudes of both sexes, who could only plead the merits of
abstinence and chastity. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.511" name="linknoteref-38.511" id="linknoteref-38.511">511</SPAN> Faith, zeal, curiosity, and the more
earthly passions of malice and ambition, kindled the flame of theological
discord; the church, and even the state, were distracted by religious
factions, whose conflicts were sometimes bloody, and always implacable;
the attention of the emperors was diverted from camps to synods; the Roman
world was oppressed by a new species of tyranny; and the persecuted sects
became the secret enemies of their country. Yet party spirit, however
pernicious or absurd, is a principle of union as well as of dissension.
The bishops, from eighteen hundred pulpits, inculcated the duty of passive
obedience to a lawful and orthodox sovereign; their frequent assemblies,
and perpetual correspondence, maintained the communion of distant
churches; and the benevolent temper of the gospel was strengthened, though
confined, by the spiritual alliance of the Catholics. The sacred indolence
of the monks was devoutly embraced by a servile and effeminate age; but if
superstition had not afforded a decent retreat, the same vices would have
tempted the unworthy Romans to desert, from baser motives, the standard of
the republic. Religious precepts are easily obeyed, which indulge and
sanctify the natural inclinations of their votaries; but the pure and
genuine influence of Christianity may be traced in its beneficial, though
imperfect, effects on the Barbarian proselytes of the North. If the
decline of the Roman empire was hastened by the conversion of Constantine,
his victorious religion broke the violence of the fall, and mollified the
ferocious temper of the conquerors.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.511" id="linknote-38.511">
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<p class="foot">
511 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.511">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ It might be a curious
speculation, how far the purer morals of the genuine and more active
Christians may have compensated, in the population of the Roman empire,
for the secession of such numbers into inactive and unproductive celibacy.—M.]</p>
<p>This awful revolution may be usefully applied to the instruction of the
present age. It is the duty of a patriot to prefer and promote the
exclusive interest and glory of his native country: but a philosopher may
be permitted to enlarge his views, and to consider Europe as one great
republic whose various inhabitants have obtained almost the same level of
politeness and cultivation. The balance of power will continue to
fluctuate, and the prosperity of our own, or the neighboring kingdoms, may
be alternately exalted or depressed; but these partial events cannot
essentially injure our general state of happiness, the system of arts, and
laws, and manners, which so advantageously distinguish, above the rest of
mankind, the Europeans and their colonies. The savage nations of the globe
are the common enemies of civilized society; and we may inquire, with
anxious curiosity, whether Europe is still threatened with a repetition of
those calamities, which formerly oppressed the arms and institutions of
Rome. Perhaps the same reflections will illustrate the fall of that mighty
empire, and explain the probable causes of our actual security.</p>
<p>I. The Romans were ignorant of the extent of their danger, and the number
of their enemies. Beyond the Rhine and Danube, the Northern countries of
Europe and Asia were filled with innumerable tribes of hunters and
shepherds, poor, voracious, and turbulent; bold in arms, and impatient to
ravish the fruits of industry. The Barbarian world was agitated by the
rapid impulse of war; and the peace of Gaul or Italy was shaken by the
distant revolutions of China. The Huns, who fled before a victorious
enemy, directed their march towards the West; and the torrent was swelled
by the gradual accession of captives and allies. The flying tribes who
yielded to the Huns assumed in their turn the spirit of conquest; the
endless column of Barbarians pressed on the Roman empire with accumulated
weight; and, if the foremost were destroyed, the vacant space was
instantly replenished by new assailants. Such formidable emigrations can
no longer issue from the North; and the long repose, which has been
imputed to the decrease of population, is the happy consequence of the
progress of arts and agriculture. Instead of some rude villages, thinly
scattered among its woods and morasses, Germany now produces a list of two
thousand three hundred walled towns: the Christian kingdoms of Denmark,
Sweden, and Poland, have been successively established; and the Hanse
merchants, with the Teutonic knights, have extended their colonies along
the coast of the Baltic, as far as the Gulf of Finland. From the Gulf of
Finland to the Eastern Ocean, Russia now assumes the form of a powerful
and civilized empire. The plough, the loom, and the forge, are introduced
on the banks of the Volga, the Oby, and the Lena; and the fiercest of the
Tartar hordes have been taught to tremble and obey. The reign of
independent Barbarism is now contracted to a narrow span; and the remnant
of Calmucks or Uzbecks, whose forces may be almost numbered, cannot
seriously excite the apprehensions of the great republic of Europe. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.6000" name="linknoteref-38.6000" id="linknoteref-38.6000">6000</SPAN>
Yet this apparent security should not tempt us to forget, that new
enemies, and unknown dangers, may possibly arise from some obscure people,
scarcely visible in the map of the world, The Arabs or Saracens, who
spread their conquests from India to Spain, had languished in poverty and
contempt, till Mahomet breathed into those savage bodies the soul of
enthusiasm.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.6000" id="linknote-38.6000">
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<p class="foot">
6000 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.6000">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The French and
English editors of the Genealogical History of the Tartars have subjoined
a curious, though imperfect, description, of their present state. We might
question the independence of the Calmucks, or Eluths, since they have been
recently vanquished by the Chinese, who, in the year 1759, subdued the
Lesser Bucharia, and advanced into the country of Badakshan, near the
source of the Oxus, (Mémoires sur les Chinois, tom. i. p. 325-400.) But
these conquests are precarious, nor will I venture to insure the safety of
the Chinese empire.]</p>
<p>II. The empire of Rome was firmly established by the singular and perfect
coalition of its members. The subject nations, resigning the hope, and
even the wish, of independence, embraced the character of Roman citizens;
and the provinces of the West were reluctantly torn by the Barbarians from
the bosom of their mother country. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.7000"
name="linknoteref-38.7000" id="linknoteref-38.7000">7000</SPAN> But this union
was purchased by the loss of national freedom and military spirit; and the
servile provinces, destitute of life and motion, expected their safety
from the mercenary troops and governors, who were directed by the orders
of a distant court. The happiness of a hundred millions depended on the
personal merit of one or two men, perhaps children, whose minds were
corrupted by education, luxury, and despotic power. The deepest wounds
were inflicted on the empire during the minorities of the sons and
grandsons of Theodosius; and, after those incapable princes seemed to
attain the age of manhood, they abandoned the church to the bishops, the
state to the eunuchs, and the provinces to the Barbarians. Europe is now
divided into twelve powerful, though unequal kingdoms, three respectable
commonwealths, and a variety of smaller, though independent, states: the
chances of royal and ministerial talents are multiplied, at least, with
the number of its rulers; and a Julian, or Semiramis, may reign in the
North, while Arcadius and Honorius again slumber on the thrones of the
South. The abuses of tyranny are restrained by the mutual influence of
fear and shame; republics have acquired order and stability; monarchies
have imbibed the principles of freedom, or, at least, of moderation; and
some sense of honor and justice is introduced into the most defective
constitutions by the general manners of the times. In peace, the progress
of knowledge and industry is accelerated by the emulation of so many
active rivals: in war, the European forces are exercised by temperate and
undecisive contests. If a savage conqueror should issue from the deserts
of Tartary, he must repeatedly vanquish the robust peasants of Russia, the
numerous armies of Germany, the gallant nobles of France, and the intrepid
freemen of Britain; who, perhaps, might confederate for their common
defence. Should the victorious Barbarians carry slavery and desolation as
far as the Atlantic Ocean, ten thousand vessels would transport beyond
their pursuit the remains of civilized society; and Europe would revive
and flourish in the American world, which is already filled with her
colonies and institutions. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.8000"
name="linknoteref-38.8000" id="linknoteref-38.8000">8000</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.7000" id="linknote-38.7000">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
7000 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.7000">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The prudent reader
will determine how far this general proposition is weakened by the revolt
of the Isaurians, the independence of Britain and Armorica, the Moorish
tribes, or the Bagaudae of Gaul and Spain, (vol. i. p. 328, vol. iii. p.
315, vol. iii. p. 372, 480.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.8000" id="linknote-38.8000">
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<p class="foot">
8000 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.8000">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ America now
contains about six millions of European blood and descent; and their
numbers, at least in the North, are continually increasing. Whatever may
be the changes of their political situation, they must preserve the
manners of Europe; and we may reflect with some pleasure, that the English
language will probably be diffused ever an immense and populous
continent.]</p>
<p>III. Cold, poverty, and a life of danger and fatigue, fortify the strength
and courage of Barbarians. In every age they have oppressed the polite and
peaceful nations of China, India, and Persia, who neglected, and still
neglect, to counterbalance these natural powers by the resources of
military art. The warlike states of antiquity, Greece, Macedonia, and
Rome, educated a race of soldiers; exercised their bodies, disciplined
their courage, multiplied their forces by regular evolutions, and
converted the iron, which they possessed, into strong and serviceable
weapons. But this superiority insensibly declined with their laws and
manners; and the feeble policy of Constantine and his successors armed and
instructed, for the ruin of the empire, the rude valor of the Barbarian
mercenaries. The military art has been changed by the invention of
gunpowder; which enables man to command the two most powerful agents of
nature, air and fire. Mathematics, chemistry, mechanics, architecture,
have been applied to the service of war; and the adverse parties oppose to
each other the most elaborate modes of attack and of defence. Historians
may indignantly observe, that the preparations of a siege would found and
maintain a flourishing colony; <SPAN href="#linknote-38.9000"
name="linknoteref-38.9000" id="linknoteref-38.9000">9000</SPAN> yet we cannot
be displeased, that the subversion of a city should be a work of cost and
difficulty; or that an industrious people should be protected by those
arts, which survive and supply the decay of military virtue. Cannon and
fortifications now form an impregnable barrier against the Tartar horse;
and Europe is secure from any future irruptions of Barbarians; since,
before they can conquer, they must cease to be barbarous. Their gradual
advances in the science of war would always be accompanied, as we may
learn from the example of Russia, with a proportionable improvement in the
arts of peace and civil policy; and they themselves must deserve a place
among the polished nations whom they subdue.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.9000" id="linknote-38.9000">
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<p class="foot">
9000 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.9000">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ On avoit fait venir
(for the siege of Turin) 140 pieces de canon; et il est a remarquer que
chaque gros canon monte revient a environ ecus: il y avoit 100,000
boulets; 106,000 cartouches d’une facon, et 300,000 d’une autre; 21,000
bombes; 27,700 grenades, 15,000 sacs a terre, 30,000 instruments pour la
pionnage; 1,200,000 livres de poudre. Ajoutez a ces munitions, le plomb,
le fer, et le fer-blanc, les cordages, tout ce qui sert aux mineurs, le
souphre, le salpetre, les outils de toute espece. Il est certain que les
frais de tous ces preparatifs de destruction suffiroient pour fonder et
pour faire fleurir la plus aombreuse colonie. Voltaire, Siecle de Louis
XIV. c. xx. in his Works. tom. xi. p. 391.]</p>
<p>Should these speculations be found doubtful or fallacious, there still
remains a more humble source of comfort and hope. The discoveries of
ancient and modern navigators, and the domestic history, or tradition, of
the most enlightened nations, represent the human savage, naked both in
body and mind and destitute of laws, of arts, of ideas, and almost of
language. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.1001" name="linknoteref-38.1001" id="linknoteref-38.1001">1001</SPAN> From this abject condition, perhaps the
primitive and universal state of man, he has gradually arisen to command
the animals, to fertilize the earth, to traverse the ocean and to measure
the heavens. His progress in the improvement and exercise of his mental
and corporeal faculties <SPAN href="#linknote-38.1101"
name="linknoteref-38.1101" id="linknoteref-38.1101">1101</SPAN> has been
irregular and various; infinitely slow in the beginning, and increasing by
degrees with redoubled velocity: ages of laborious ascent have been
followed by a moment of rapid downfall; and the several climates of the
globe have felt the vicissitudes of light and darkness. Yet the experience
of four thousand years should enlarge our hopes, and diminish our
apprehensions: we cannot determine to what height the human species may
aspire in their advances towards perfection; but it may safely be
presumed, that no people, unless the face of nature is changed, will
relapse into their original barbarism. The improvements of society may be
viewed under a threefold aspect. 1. The poet or philosopher illustrates
his age and country by the efforts of a single mind; but those superior
powers of reason or fancy are rare and spontaneous productions; and the
genius of Homer, or Cicero, or Newton, would excite less admiration, if
they could be created by the will of a prince, or the lessons of a
preceptor. 2. The benefits of law and policy, of trade and manufactures,
of arts and sciences, are more solid and permanent: and many individuals
may be qualified, by education and discipline, to promote, in their
respective stations, the interest of the community. But this general order
is the effect of skill and labor; and the complex machinery may be decayed
by time, or injured by violence.</p>
<p>3. Fortunately for mankind, the more useful, or, at least, more necessary
arts, can be performed without superior talents, or national
subordination: without the powers of one, or the union of many. Each
village, each family, each individual, must always possess both ability
and inclination to perpetuate the use of fire <SPAN href="#linknote-38.1201"
name="linknoteref-38.1201" id="linknoteref-38.1201">1201</SPAN> and of metals;
the propagation and service of domestic animals; the methods of hunting
and fishing; the rudiments of navigation; the imperfect cultivation of
corn, or other nutritive grain; and the simple practice of the mechanic
trades. Private genius and public industry may be extirpated; but these
hardy plants survive the tempest, and strike an everlasting root into the
most unfavorable soil. The splendid days of Augustus and Trajan were
eclipsed by a cloud of ignorance; and the Barbarians subverted the laws
and palaces of Rome. But the scythe, the invention or emblem of Saturn, <SPAN href="#linknote-38.1302" name="linknoteref-38.1302" id="linknoteref-38.1302">1302</SPAN>
still continued annually to mow the harvests of Italy; and the human
feasts of the Laestrigons <SPAN href="#linknote-38.1401"
name="linknoteref-38.1401" id="linknoteref-38.1401">1401</SPAN> have never been
renewed on the coast of Campania.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.1001" id="linknote-38.1001">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
1001 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.1001">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ It would be an
easy, though tedious, task, to produce the authorities of poets,
philosophers, and historians. I shall therefore content myself with
appealing to the decisive and authentic testimony of Diodorus Siculus,
(tom. i. l. i. p. 11, 12, l. iii. p. 184, &c., edit. Wesseling.) The
Icthyophagi, who in his time wandered along the shores of the Red Sea, can
only be compared to the natives of New Holland, (Dampier’s Voyages, vol.
i. p. 464-469.) Fancy, or perhaps reason, may still suppose an extreme and
absolute state of nature far below the level of these savages, who had
acquired some arts and instruments.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.1101" id="linknote-38.1101">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
1101 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.1101">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See the learned and
rational work of the president Goguet, de l’Origine des Loix, des Arts, et
des Sciences. He traces from facts, or conjectures, (tom. i. p. 147-337,
edit. 12mo.,) the first and most difficult steps of human invention.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.1201" id="linknote-38.1201">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
1201 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.1201">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ It is certain,
however strange, that many nations have been ignorant of the use of fire.
Even the ingenious natives of Otaheite, who are destitute of metals, have
not invented any earthen vessels capable of sustaining the action of fire,
and of communicating the heat to the liquids which they contain.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.1302" id="linknote-38.1302">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
1302 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.1302">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Plutarch. Quaest.
Rom. in tom. ii. p. 275. Macrob. Saturnal. l. i. c. 8, p. 152, edit.
London. The arrival of Saturn (of his religious worship) in a ship, may
indicate, that the savage coast of Latium was first discovered and
civilized by the Phoenicians.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.1401" id="linknote-38.1401">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
1401 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.1401">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ In the ninth and
tenth books of the Odyssey, Homer has embellished the tales of fearful and
credulous sailors, who transformed the cannibals of Italy and Sicily into
monstrous giants.]</p>
<p>Since the first discovery of the arts, war, commerce, and religious zeal
have diffused, among the savages of the Old and New World, these
inestimable gifts: they have been successively propagated; they can never
be lost. We may therefore acquiesce in the pleasing conclusion, that every
age of the world has increased, and still increases, the real wealth, the
happiness, the knowledge, and perhaps the virtue, of the human race. <SPAN href="#linknote-38.1501" name="linknoteref-38.1501" id="linknoteref-38.1501">1501</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-38.1501" id="linknote-38.1501">
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<p class="foot">
1501 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-38.1501">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The merit of
discovery has too often been stained with avarice, cruelty, and
fanaticism; and the intercourse of nations has produced the communication
of disease and prejudice. A singular exception is due to the virtue of our
own times and country. The five great voyages, successively undertaken by
the command of his present Majesty, were inspired by the pure and generous
love of science and of mankind. The same prince, adapting his benefactions
to the different stages of society, has founded his school of painting in
his capital; and has introduced into the islands of the South Sea the
vegetables and animals most useful to human life.]</p>
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