soo ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book HI 



it makes us more perfedl in our religion than we fliould otherwife 

 be ; for withouC antient philoibphy we could not, as I have elfe- 

 where obferved, conceive, nor confequently believe, thofe funda- 

 mental dodrines of the Chriftian religion, or myfterics as they are 

 commonly called — I mean the Trinity, the eternal generation of the 

 Son of God, and his Incarnation. Befides all this, if we are truly 

 fcholars, we live in the antient world, and converfe day and night 

 with the heroes and fages there, and fo form our character and man- 

 ners in imitation of them. Now, as I have elfewhere obferved*, it 

 is as impoffible, without that imitation, to form a great and good cha- 

 ra<9:er, as to make a fine ftatue without the imitation of ihe antient 

 ilatues. 



There is another ufe to be made of antient learning, which is to 

 {how us what is raoft perfcdt, in the greateft, though the moft com- 

 mon art among men ; I mean language. For the Greek and Latin 

 are fuch languages, and particularly the Greek, tliat a philofopher, 

 and a man of curiofity, would think it worth his while to ftudy it, 

 merely for the fake of the art of the language, without regard to the 

 valuable matter it contains. 



Another thing we may learn from the antient books; and that is, 

 to preferve health (the greated bleffing we enjoy in this life, and 

 the foundation of every other) by pra6tifmg the regimen which the 

 antients praclifed, of bathing, anointing, and fridion. Nor are thefe 

 all the benefits of antient learning; for, befides thefe, it is the greateft 

 and moft certain comfort we can enjoy in our old age. In the times 

 in which we live, the domeftic comfort of wife or children is not 

 much to be trufted to, as I to my fad experience have known. But 

 antient learning and philofophy may be depended upon as long as 

 we have the ufe of our underftanding, tnat is as long as we can 

 be faid to live. 



When 



* Vol. 5. of Origin of Language, p. 165. 



