ixxt; preface. 



6/<?. Whether in this progrefs he muft not have been much altered 

 both in body and mind ? And whether it be poflible, by the nature 

 of things, that he fhould have pafled from the natural life, that is, a life 

 without any of the inventions of art; — fuch as houfes, clothes, the ufe 

 of fire, of the flcfh diet, and ftrong liquors,— to the artificial life we now 

 lead, and not have been much impaired in body, and bodily faculties, 

 fuch as health, ftrength, longevity, and fize of body, whatever im- 

 provements may have been made upon his mental faculties ? And whe- 

 ther we are to reject, in this matter, the authority of all the great Au- 

 thors of antiquity, from Homer down to Solinus ; and believe that Ho- 

 mer, when he makes Neftor fay, that even in his time men had degene- 

 rated, meant to reprefent, in place of a hero, and the firft of all the 

 heroes for wifdom and counfel, a prating old man, fuch as was ex- 

 hibited in the Comedies of after times ? 



Bifficilis qtieruhts laudator temporis aSI'u. 

 Se yuvefie, ■ 



That Virgil alfo, when he mentions, 



Magnanimi heroes nati tJielioribus a?tnls, 



fpeaks foolifhly, and with the prejudices of an old man, though he 



did not live to be old ; and that he exaggerates moft ridiculoufly, the 



ftrength of one of thofe antient heroes, when he makes him throw a 



ftone, that fcarce twelve men of his time could raife from the ground. — 



That Horace, the beft Philofopher in my opinion, as well as the bef^ 



Poet the Romans ever had, breathes a fond foolifh wifh, when he fays, 



tit in am inter 



Heroas natum^ tellus me prhna tulijfet \ 



and that he pliilofophifes very improperly, when, from the invention 



of fire, that is, the beginning of the civil and domeflicated life, he de^ 



rives difeafes, and the fliortning the life of man. 



Tojl ignem atherca domo 



StibduBam^ 7nacies ^ nova febrium 



. Cohors hicubuit terrisy 



Semotique prius tarda tiecejfitas 



Leth'i^ corr'ipuit gradum. 



And 



