Cfiap. III. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 79 



may be a reafon, Vv^Iiy our Parliaments, and minlflers, give (o little 

 attention to the three great articles of the political fyftem, the health, 

 the morals, and the numbers of the people *. 



Before I quit this fubjed, I muft return to the divifion I m-^de of 

 a wealthy people into two claffes, thofe w^ho live in vanity, luxury, 

 and indolence, and thofe who minifter to that vanity, luxury, and 

 indolence t. This divifion was not known among the Greeks of the 

 heroic age: For there was no wealth among them; and, their gover- 

 nors and rulers, as well as the reft of the people, lived upon the 

 produce of land, which they cultivated themfeives, with the affif- 

 tance, no doubt, of fuch ilaves as they could purchafe. The heroes, 

 therefore, not only excelled in council and fight, but pradtifed the 

 necelfaiy arts of life, fuch as agriculture. Accordingly, Ulyiles 

 challenges Eurymachus, one of the courtiers, to mow or plow with 

 him J : And he tells Eum^Eus§, that in fuch fervile works as 

 making a fire, breaking wood for that puipofe, roafling meat, mix- 

 ing and preparing wine, and ordering a table, he would contend 

 with any perfon. For, it is to be obferved, that thofe Greek he- 

 roes employed the flaves they purchafed only in works without 

 doors, fuch as cultivating the ground, and taking care of their cat- 

 tle and fwine ; and, accordingly, Eumasus was the fwine herd of 

 UlyfTes. It does not, therefore, appear, that any of thofe heroes 

 had any domeftic fervants, even when they went abroad and were 

 engaged in the Trcjan war. Accordingly, when Achilles en- 

 tertained the ambalTadors of Agamemnon in his tent, it was his 

 friend Patroclus who prepared fupper for them and mixed the 

 wine: And, even when they lived in the country upon their farms, 

 it docs not appear that they had any domeftic male fervants; but the 



whole 



* See what I have fi^id of thefe vol. 4. of this work p. 21 r, 

 t Page 72. t OdyiT. 18. v. 36c, 



;5 Ibid. 15. V. 32c. 



