252 THE ASCENT OF MAN 



By hollowing a pit in the ground, planting his 

 spear, or a pointed stake, upright in the centre, and 

 covering the mouth with boughs, Man could trap 

 even the largest game. When the climate became 

 cold, he stripped off the skin and became the 

 possessor of clothes. With a stone for a hammer, 

 he broke open molluscs on the shore, or speared 

 or trapped the fish in the shoals. Digging for roots 

 with his pointed stick in time suggested agriculture. 

 From imitating the way wild fruits and grains were 

 sown by Nature he became a gardener and grew 

 crops. To possess a crop means to possess an 

 estate, and to possess an estate is to give up 

 wandering and begin that more settled life in which 

 all the arts of industry must increase. Catching 

 the young of wild animals and keeping them, first 

 as playthings, then for supplies of meat or milk, 

 or in the case of the dog for helping in the chase, 

 he perceived the value of domestic animals. So 

 Man slowly passed from the animal to the savage, 

 so his mind was tamed, and strengthened, and 

 brighteoed, and heightened ; so the sense of power 

 grew strong, and so virtus^ which is to say virtue, 

 was born. 



In struggling with Nature, early Man not only 

 found material satisfactions : he found himself. It 

 was this that made him, body, mind, character, and 



