Chap. XIV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 279 



If, however, any nation might be excufed for entertaining this 

 vain conceit of the eternity of their empire, it was the Romans ; 

 for the nations they had conquered were fo thoroughly fubdued, that 

 there was not the leaft chance of their empire being deftroyed by 

 any infurredian or rebelHon among them . And, if fuch fwarms of 

 people had not come from unknown regions, like men that had 

 defcended from heaven, I think the Roman empire might have 

 lafted till the people had deftroyed themfelves by their vices and dfi- 

 eafes ; which they certainly would have done fooner or later, 

 and fo have depopulated Europe, if they had not been prevented by 

 the Goths, Vandals, and other barbarous nations, of whom almoft 

 all the prefent inhabitants of Europe are defcended : For I do not 

 believe that the defcendant of the hundredth man that inhabited Eu- 

 rope in the days of Auguftus Caefar, or of the thoufandth at the 

 time of the founding of Rome, is now remaining. — It is therefore 

 true what Horace fays, 



Debemur morti nos nqflraque ; 



Not only individuals, but even nations, muft die. And it may be 

 faid of every nation, what Homer fays of Troy,. 



"EfffiTXl ttUX^, or CtV TTOT «A«At| IX<0{ '(^9, 



Thefe confiderations tend to make the minds of men eafy with 

 refpe£t to public affairs. And there are, befides, feveral advanta- 

 ges which accrue to private life from this philofophy. 



In 



* Iliad, vi. V. 448. — It Is thus tranflated, or rather paraphrafed, by Mr Pope 



Yet come It will, the day decreed by Fates ; 

 (How my heart trembles, while my tongue relates \) 

 The day when thou, Imperial Troy ! mufl bend, 

 And fee thy warriors fall, thy glories end. 



