iSi ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book II. 



A very compleac plan of education defcribed In very few words. So 

 that the Kings in thefe heroic governments, were not only by their 

 birth fuperior to other men, but by their education. This fame he- 

 roic form of government is at this day the government among the 

 Indians in North America ; for they are governed by hereditary 

 chiefs, and a council of their Sachems or elderly men. And what 

 the chief and this council determine, is propofed to a general aflem- 

 bly of the warriors for their approbation by the chief, who ha- 

 rangues them, and who, therefore, like the Greek heroic Kings, 

 muft excel in eloquence, as well as in council and in fight. And 

 accordingly it is well known, that a chief can have no dignity or 

 authority, if he cannot fpeak. 



And this fhows the excellency of the art of eloquence, by which 

 alone a free government can be carried on : For in private conver- 

 fation men may be convinced by queftion and anfvver ; in the man- 

 ner of the Socratic dialogue, the mod inftrudive of all converfation ; 

 but converfation and public fpeaking, are two things quite different; 

 for, in the affembly of the people, the only method of perfuafion is 

 by haranguing, when the ears of the people muft be filled and 

 pleafed, as well as their underftandings informed ; fo that the found 

 in eloquence muft be ftudied as well as the fenfe. And of adion, 

 which is the principal quality of an orator, the chief part is the 

 management of the voice; joined, however, to that, there muft be 

 the look and the gefture of the body; and a certain dignity in the 

 whole appearance of the man. Oratory, therefore, requires not only 

 great talents of mind, but advantages of perfon, fuch as none other 

 of the fine arts requires, fo that it is the moft eminent and moft 

 dignified of all arts, and I think is not improperly honoured by Ci- 

 cero with the appellation of Retina artiutn. And I have no doubt 

 but that thofe antient heroic Kings, who were fuperior men, both 

 in mind and body, were very great orators, perhaps the greateft 



that 



