20 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book I. 



us. And as the other kind of veflels, the ahforling as they are called, 

 muft likewife perform their office, they take in as the other throw 

 out. If, therefore, they have not frefh unpolluted air to take in, they 

 muft neceffarily take in the filth thrown out by the other veffels; fo 

 that here we have a circulation of filth in our bodies. In fuch a 

 ftate, it is impofTible, by the nature of things, that any man can 

 continue fo long in health as he would otherwife do. 



To prevent this, the Greeks and Romans ufed the warm bath once 

 in 24 liours, by which, no doubt, they cleanfed their bodies from 

 anv filch that had been thrown out in the preceding 24 hours, but 

 the next 24 hours they lived ^gain in the filth of their own bodies. I, 

 thereioie, approve much more of the pradice of the Egvptians, who 

 bathed twice every day, and as often at nig'.it, and with cold water, 

 which, I know from my own experience, is much better than w^arm; 

 for it braces as well as cleanfes, whereas the conftant ufe of the warm 

 bath muft relax too much. It is, however, more pleafiuit than the 

 cold- fo that the Romans made it a part of their luxury, and par- 

 ticularly Titus, the moft amiable Emperor they ever had, killed 

 himfelf, as we are told, by the too frequent ufe of it; for he batlied 

 as often as he ate. I, therefore, approve of the Egyptian bathing 

 more than of the Greek and Roman ; and, 1 am perfuaded, it waste 

 their bathing chiefly that they owed their being the healthieft nation 

 known, except the Lybians who were favages, wearing no clothes, 

 and ufing no houfes nor even tents. This Herodotus tells us, who 

 thereby acknowledges that the natur.d life is the healthieft of any. 

 There were two other parts of the Greek and Roman regimen, which 

 I approve very much of, and alfo pradice ; that is anointing and rub- 

 bing. By the one, they prevented the ikin from becoming rough 

 and hard, which it is very apt to do when men grow old; but the oil, 

 by making it foft and fmooth, made it bo:h throw out and take in 

 more eafily'^: And by \\\z\xp'igil, which was a kind of curry comb, 



they 



* See upon the ufe cf oil, vol. 3. p. 87. 



