it,66 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IL 



Laftly^ What has been faid in this Chapter, n\ufl, I think, con- 

 vince the reader more and more of the truth of an obfervation, 

 which 1 have more than once made in the courfe of this work, that 

 there is a wonderful agreement betwixt the relations of antient au- 

 thors and of modern travellers. Books of travels, though I know 

 they are defpifed by many, are, in my opinion, the mod inftruc- 

 tive of all the modern reading, and that purfuit of wealth, which 

 has carried us all over the world in fearch of it, has produced at 

 lead one good effect among the many bad, that it has enlarged 

 very much our ftock of natural knowledge ; and yet I cannot help 

 obferving, that, whatever difcoveries it may have enabled us to 

 tnake as to minerals, plants, and other animals ; yet, with re- 

 gard to man, I do not know, that, in all our travels, we have dif- 

 covered any one thing concerning him, that is not to be found in 

 •fome antient author ; and fome things concerning him I have fhown 

 were known to the antients, which have not been feen by us. Such 

 difcoveries, therefore, made by the antients, in relation to the chief 

 fubje<St of human knowledge, ought at leaft to have this effedt, 

 that they fhould make us efleem and fludy thofe antient authors 

 more, and put a flop to that difregard, and even contempt of 

 antient learning, which, I am afraid, is daily increafmg, aiid has 

 gone near to put en end to it, in fome countries of Europe. 



CHAP. 



