220 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. 



for thofe evils. Thefe are the two things 1 have juft now mentioned, 

 arts and fciences, which, in this age, we are fo lucky as to enjoy, 

 without having invented them ; for fciences have been tranfmitted 

 to us from very ancient times, by the means of that wonderful art of 

 writing, which the Egyptians invented, and many arts in the fame 

 way have come down to us. The common and neceflary arts of 

 life, fucli as that of raifing corn by agriculture, and in that way not 

 only making bread, but alfo drink by fermentation, were, as I have 

 Ihovvn elfewhere *, invented in Egypt, and thence have come to us. 

 And not only neceflary arts have, in this way, been tranfmitted to 

 us from ancient times, but we have been taught the practice of the 

 line arts by ancient monuments of that kind that are ftill pre- 

 fervcd, and fo have improved our fenfe of the beautiful^ which, as 

 I have faid, is the foundation of our mod valuable knowledge. 

 In this volume I have fhown how much wc may improve our 

 Intelligence, and enrich our minds, by the fciences invented and cul- 

 tivated by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Rom.ans ; and alfo, that, even 

 in modern times, we have invented feveral ufeful arts, and likewife 

 improved our knowledge by difcoveries that wc have made on this 

 earth. 



By the diligent ftudy of thefe arts and fciences, which have come 

 down to us from anuent times, or have been invented in modern, I 

 think we mufl: improve our intelledual faculty, and confequently 

 correct thofe vices and follies which are produced in the civil life j 

 for they all proceed from ignorance, or the errors of our judgment.. 

 ]f ne knew that eating, drinking, and coition, were intended by 

 God and Nature for the purpofe of the prefervation of the indivi- 

 dual and the continuation of the fpecies, and that pleafure was an- 

 nexed to thefe fenfual enjoyments, that we might be more readily 

 difpofed to gratify them, we fhould be convinced that it was a grofs 

 error, and produftive of very bad confequences, to miftake \\\^ plea- 



Jure, 



* Vol. iV. Book II. Chap. IV. 



