24:8 ANTTENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. 



more in a natural way than thofe of the more advanced ages of fo- 

 ciety. In this way 1 account for the fuperior fize of the men of the 

 heroic age in Greece, fuch as that of the body of Oreftes as def- 

 cribed by Herodotus*; for the Greeks were not then far removed 

 from the natural Hate, when Orpheus, from Egypt, came among 

 them, and reclaimed them from their lavage life, as Horace has in- 

 formed us f. And this I hold to be the true heroic age of a nation, 

 when they have learned the neceflliry arts of life, and other arts both 

 of ufe and pleafure, fuch as the Greeks had learned from the Egyp- 

 tians at the time of the Trojan w^ar; for thefe arts, being joined 

 with the ftrength of body and mind of the favage, formed the he- 

 foic charadier. 



But though men, in the firft ages of civil fociety, did not increafe 

 in.fize or ftrength of body, I think, I have proved, that they in- 

 creafed very much in numbers, fo much, that the countries, in which 

 they lived, could not fupport them. As civil fociety, however, grows 

 older, vices and difeaies, the natural confequence, as I have fhown, of 

 that fociety, increafe; fo that the progeny grows worfe, and like- 

 wife is not fo abundant. For the numbers of men, in every coun- 

 try, muft depend upon three things; the health, the morals, and the 

 occupations of the people. Now, vices and difeafes deftroy the 

 health and morals of a people; and, in the progrefs of fociety, arts 

 muft be invented and practifed, which tend to hurt their health and 

 fiiorten their lives. And thus things go on from bad to worie, as 

 Horace tells Uo, 



iEtas parentum p.jor avis, tulit 

 Kos i!equ)ores, tuox tl-.anos 



Progeniem v.tioiiorLm. Lib. 3. Ode 6. 



But 



=* Lib. I. Cop. 67. and 68.— See wliai 1 have farther fa^' on this fubieiftj in vol, 

 ". of this workj-p. 147. ^nd 148. wliere 1 have ai:o ment- .-• - fr/turc: cf Ajax, and 

 of other heroes that fought at ' I roy . 



+ C;ed-.^us et fa-do vlJtu r-.bfterruit Urpheusj v/hcr- re r-., un- 



derfland their eating one another. 



