Btfttmiarg of 



$aturr. 407 



Maximinius, the Roman emperor, may be I counter certain death. Hunger, however, 

 reckoned the chief. Whatever we are told terrible as it is in its approaches, is said to be 

 of him is well attested : his character was j not proportionately so in its duration ; for 

 ; too exalted not to be perfectly known ; and j the pain occasioned by famine decreases as 

 that very strength for which he was cele- I the strength fails, and a total insensibility 

 brated, at last procured him no less a reward ' at length comes to the relief of the wretched 

 than the empire of the world. Maximinius j sufferer. It is, however, incontestably cer- 

 was upwards of nine feet high, and one of the tain that Man is less able to support hunger 

 best-proportioned men in the whole empire, j than any other animal : nor is he better 

 He was a Thracian by birth ; and, from ; qualified to bear a state of watchfulness, 

 being a simple herdsman, rose, through the Sleep, indeed, seems much more necessary 

 several gradations of office, till he became ' to him than to any other creature ; as, when 

 : Emperor of Rome. The first opportunity , awake, he may be said to exhaust a greater 

 which offered of exerting his strength, was i proportion of the nervous fluid, and con- 

 in the presence of a numerous assembly of : sequently to stand in need of an adequate 

 citizens in the theatre, where he overthrew j supply. Other animals, when most awake, 

 twelve of the strongest men in wrestling, are but little removed from a state of slum- 

 and outstripped two of the fleetest horses in her : their inert faculties, imprisoned in 

 running, on the same day. He could draw j matter, and rather exerted by impulse than 

 a loaded chariot, which two strong horses ' deliberation, require sleep more as a cessa- 

 were unable to move ; and could break the i tion from motion than from thought. But 

 "aw of a horse with one blow of his fist, and I with respect to Man it is far otherwise ; his 

 lis thigh with a kick. In war he was always ideas, fatigued with their various excursions, 

 i engaged in the foremost ranks, where he dis- demand a cessation, not less than the body 

 I played feats of activity that could only be i from toil. Fortunately for mankind, sleep 

 : equalled by his success ; and happy had it ' generally arrives in time to relieve the mental 

 been for him and his people, if, from being powers, as well as the bodily frame : but it 

 formidable to his enemies, he had not become is often in vain that all light is excluded, 

 , still more so to his subjects. He reigned ; all noise removed, and warmth and softness 

 I for some time at enmity with all the world ; j conspire, as it were, to invite sleep ; the 

 j all mankind wishing for his death, yet none j restless and active mind still retains its for- 

 ' daring to strike the blow; and, as if Fortune [ mer vigilance ; and reason, that wishes to 

 had resolved that through life he should resign the reins, is obliged, in spite of herself, 



wer 



fir, 



continue unconquerable, he was killed at 

 last by his O.MI subjects while asleep. 

 In more modern times we have several in- 



to maintain them. In this disagreeable 

 state, the mind ranges from thought to 

 thought, willing to lose the distinctness of 

 by increasing the multitude of 



stances of bodily strength, and not a few of i perceptio 



amazing swiftness ; but these merely cor- images. At last, when sleep makes nearer 

 poreal perfections are now considered as of | approaches, every object of the imagination 

 small advantage, either in peace or war. i begins to blend with that which lies next to 

 The invention of gunpowder in some mea- I it ; a part of their distinction fades away ; 

 sure levelled all flesh to one standard, and ! and ensuing sleep fashions out dreams for 

 wrought a total change in martial education I the remainder. 



| through all parts of the world. In peace In sleep the whole nervous frame is re- 

 also, the discovery of new machines almost ' laxed. while the heart and lungs seem more 

 i everyday, and the application of the strength forcibly exerted. This fuller circulation pro- 

 I of irrational animals to the purposes of life, duces also a tension of the muscles : it may 

 and, above all, the wondrous uses of the be considered as a kind of exercise, con- 



steam-engine, have rendered human strength 

 of less value. The boast of corporeal strength 

 is therefore consigned to barbarous nations, 

 where, from the deficiency of art, its value is 

 still felt ; but in more civilized countries, 

 its proud pre-eminence has fallen in a ratio 

 commensurate with the progress of art, and 

 the advancement of intellectual superiority. 

 But Man, though invested with superior 

 powers, and possessed of more numerous 

 ! privileges, with respect to his necessities 

 seems to be inferior to the meanest animals. 

 Nature has introduced him into life with a 

 greater variety of wants and infirmities than 

 the rest of her creatures, unarmed in the 

 midst of enemies. Among the many thou- 

 sand imaginary wants peculiar to Man, he 

 has two in common with all other animals, 

 which nevertheless he feels in a greater de- 

 gree than they : these are the want of sleep, 

 and hunger. The latter is a more destructive 

 foe to mankind than watchfulness : but, 

 though fatal without its proper antidote, it 

 may always be removed by food ; and to 

 acquire this, Men have been known to en- 



tinued through the whole frame ; and by 

 this the perspiration becomes more copious, 

 though the appetite for food is entirely 

 removed. Too much sleep dulls the ap- 

 prehension, weakens the memory, and un- 

 fits the body for supporting fatigue : too 

 little sleep, on the contrary, emaciates the 

 frame, produces melancholy, and wastes the 

 constitution. A life of study, it is well 

 known, unfits the body for receiving this 

 grateful refreshment ; and the approaches 

 of sleep are averted by intense reflection : 

 when, therefore, it comes at last, its con- 

 tinuance should not be hastily interrupted. 



Sleep is, indeed, by some 

 a very agreeable period 



e pronoui 

 of Man's 



need to be 

 existence, 



in consequence of the pleasurable dreams 

 which sometimes attend it. This, however, 

 is rather fanciful than just ; the pleasure 

 which dreams are capable of conveying 

 seldom reaching to our waking pitch of fe- 

 licity : the mind often, in the midst of its 

 visionary satisfactions, demands of itself, 

 whether it does not owe them to an illusion ? 

 and not unf requently awakes with the reply. 



