Clirp. III. A N T I E N T Tvl E T A P K Y S I C S. -25 1 



the moji exfenfive of any In territory, had produced great depopula- 

 tion by their Conauejli, Vices, and Difeofes, — Italy itfclf a defart 

 compared to ivhat it Tvas in former times, — Antient I..p-tiinn very 

 populous, — Antient States, fuch as the Volfci, the Eqni, <ffc. an- 

 nihilated. — Lnporlation of 7.^ Colonics by Angnfus.^ and 0/' 300,000 

 Sarmatians by Confantine, ntcefarv. — Sicily alfo greatly depopu- 

 lated. — 7he dcjiruclion of People in Gaul, by jidius Cccjar, very 

 great. — Ihe Connucjls of the Romans tended to depopulate. — So do 

 (ill great Empires. — 7 he Earth, therej'ore, more populous before the 

 firft great Empire, the Ajlyrian. — The prof igate Lives of the Ro- 

 man Emperors fpread deflation over the ivhole Empire. — Necefity 

 ef the appearance 'ff^/^i'^ Chrif at this defperate State of Mankind. 



IK tl:e tiilrcl volume of this work*, and In the preceding part of 

 this volume, I have fliown that men, living in the pure natural 

 ftate, without the ufe of clothes, houfes, or lire, and fubfiiling upon 

 the natural fruits of the earth, cannot multiply faft : For which, I 

 think, I have given very good reaions, and confirmed them by the 

 examples of other animals, w^ho, as I have fhown, multiply much 

 fafter in the tame and domefticated (late than in the wild natural 

 ilate ; and, indeed, there would be fomething irregular, and contra- 

 ry to good order, if any race of animals, in the Itate of nature, was 

 to multiply fafter than nature could maintain. All animals, there- 

 fore, in the tame and domefticated ftate, multiply fafter than in the 

 wild natural ftate j and, in the firft ages of fociety, 1 have fhown, 

 that man multiplies fo faft, that the country where he lives cannot 

 maintain him. But the queftion here is concerning fociety when it 

 becomes old, and when confequently vices and difeafes are very 

 much multiplied, and great kingdoms and empires are eredied by great 

 wars and conquefts, which muft neceflarily be attended with great def- 

 trudion of the fpecies. We are, therefore, to confider, whether, in fo- 



I i 2 cieties 



* Page 223. 



