Chap. III. A N T I E N T M E T A P H Y S I C S. 35 



CHAP. III. 



The frjl flep that men maJe^ in their progrefs to civilization, was to 

 learn the ufe oj their oitti body — firft, By ereBing themjcl-ues ; 

 then by learning the uje of their hands ; and lajlly to fwim^—Sivim-^ 

 ming not natural to man; but his acquifitions in that -way ivonder- 



Jul. — Till man learned the life of his oivn body, he could not pro 

 ■vide Jufficiently for his fubJiJlence.—-At fr/t he lived u'^'on th' • 

 ral jruits of the earth. — Theje failing, he took '' 



ffhing, being able to live upon any kind of food. ■ 

 culture could furnijh fubfflence for numbers oj moi, 

 ther in clq/e communication. — Before fuch aii art could be . 

 and pra^iftdf language ivas neceffary, 



FROM thofe examples of wild men I have mentioned, it is, : 

 think evident, that the firft art man muft have learned, war. 

 the ufe of his own body: And he muft have begun by erefkin r 

 himfelf, without which he could not have had the advantage of the 

 length of his body, for attack or defence, or for the pradice of the 

 feveral arts of life. Befides, it gave him the ojyH^//w^— enabled hiiu 

 to look at his native feat, the Heavens— and gave that dignity to his 

 appearance, which was fuitable for an animal that was deftined to 

 govern on this earth. 



The neceftary confequence, too, of the ered pofture, was the u: 

 of the hands, a moft ufeful organ, without which, as Xenophon h 



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