242 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV, 



Greece. — Of the true Heroic age of a Nation, — Vice and Difeafe 

 the Natural confequences of Society as it grows old, — Thefe render 

 the progeny tvorfe and lefs abundant. — The numbers of Men depend 

 upon Health, Morals^ and Occupation. — The bad effe&s upon Health 

 and Morals by Vice, Dfeafe, and Unwholefome Occupations, — Ho- 

 race s opinion of the gradual decline of the Species in Civil Society, 

 -^Impofible, by the nature of things, that Man can fubfift long in 

 that State, 



THAT man, in his natural (late, multiplies, and fo fulfills the 

 firft command given to him, is a fa<a that cannot, I think, be 

 difputed ; and it is the fame with all other animals upon this earth : 

 Nor is there an example of any one fpecies of animal being extln- 

 gulfhed by the race dying out and failing altogether, though, in 

 in fome countries, the whole animals have been deftroyed by natu- 

 ral calamities, fuch as inundations, earthquakes, and eruptions of 

 burning mountains, and fome of them by men; which was the cafe, 

 as I have faid, of wolves in Britain. I hold, therefore, that, in the 

 natural ftate, the race of man, as of other animals, continues to in- 

 creafe, but not fo much as in the firft ages of civil fociety: And the 

 reafon is, that the warmth of houfes, clothes, and fire, makes them 

 more prolific than they would otherwife be; and accordingly it is 

 obferved of cattle, which run out fummer and winter, that they do 

 not breed fo faft as thofe which are houfed; and we are fure that the 

 dog, or tame fox, multiplies much fafter than the wild; and the tame 

 fow breads much oftener, and many more at a litter, than the wild 

 few. This I hold to be the reafon why the Orang Outang does 

 not as it is obferved, increafe much in numbers. 



We muft not, therefore, fuppofe that civil fociety does neceflarl- 

 ly diminifli the numbers of men. If that were the cafe, it would 



be 



