^66 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. 



arts befides. And there is another necelTary art of life, for the prac- 

 tice of which iron is likewife neceffary : The art I mean is that of 

 Building, which we not only have employed for the neceffary ufes 

 of life, but have made it an art of great ornament, fo great, that it 

 may be called one of the /ine arts. The ufe of this metal of iron in 

 human life is fo great, that fome of the nations, we call barbarous^ 

 hold it of more value than either gold or filver. 



But the art of man does not end with digging this metal out of 

 the earth ; but after it is fo dug, which is commonly with great ex- 

 pence of labour, and with the ufe of that art, which is called minings 

 it is further neceffary, in order to make it fit for the ules of life, 

 that it fhould go through the fire, and be prepared by it for thefe ' 

 ufes. And here we may obferve another proof of the inventive 

 genius of man, who has applied the element of fire to this and 

 to fo many other ufes, that without it civil life could not be car- 

 ried on. 



The ufe of metals appears to be fo neceffary for carrying on the 

 bufinefs of civil life, that the barbarous nations, who have not the ufe 

 of them, are obliged to employ in their place flints and other (tones 

 and even bones, fo that the want of metallurgy makes one of the chief 

 differences betwixt the life of thofe barbarous nations and that of 

 the civilized nations of Europe ; and it appears to us wonderful 

 how they can carry on the civil life at all, without the ufe of 

 metals. And there is another thing they want, which makes it 

 ftill more wonderful that they fhould be able to live in the civi- 

 lized ftate, and that is, the want of animals tamed and domefti- 

 cated, who among us do a great part of the bufinefs by which 

 we fupplv the wants of that life, and particularly the bufmefs of the 

 chief art of civil life, agriculture. 



And 



