33f) HISTORY OF 



enemy ; all mankind wishing him dead, yet none daring to strike 

 the blow. As if fortune had resolved that through life he 

 should continue unconquerable, he was killed at last by his own 

 soldiers while he was sleeping. We have many other instances, 

 in later ages, of very great strength, and not fewer of amazing 

 swiftness ; but these, merely corporeal perfections, are nov? 

 considered as of small advantage, either in war or in peace. 

 The invention of gunpowder has, in some measure, levelled all 

 force to one standard : and has wrought a total change in mar- 

 tial education through all parts of the world. In peace also the 

 invention of new machines every day, and the application of the 

 strength of the lower animals to the purposes of life, have ren- 

 dered human strength less valuable. The boast of corporeal 

 force is, therefore, consigned to savage nations, where those arts 

 not being introduced, it may still be needful ; but in more polite 

 countries, few will be proud of that strength which other ani- 

 mals can be taught to exert to as useful purposes as they. 



" If we compare the largeness and thickness of our muscles 

 with those of any other animal, we shall find that, in this respect, 

 we have the advantage ; and if strength, or swiftness depended 

 upon the quantity of muscular flesh alone, I believe that, in this 

 respect, we should be more active and powerful than any 

 other. But this is not the case ; a great deal more than the 

 size of the muscles goes to constitute activity or force ; and it 

 is not he who has the thickest legs that can make the best use 

 of them. Those therefore who have written elaborate treatises 

 on muscular force, and have estimated the strength of animals 

 by the thickness of their muscles, have been employed to very 

 little purpose. It is in general observed, that thin and raw- 

 boned men are always stronger and more powerful, than such 

 as are seemingly more muscular ; as in the former all the parts 

 have better room i"or their exertions. 



Women want much of the strength of men ; and in some 

 countries the stronger sex have availed themselves of the supe- 

 riority, in cruelly and tyrannically enslaving those who were 

 made with equal pretensions to a share in all the advantages life 

 can bestow. Savage nations oblige their women to a life of 

 continual labour; upon them rest all the drudgeries of domestic 

 duty, while the husband, indolently reclined in his hammock, is 

 lirst served from the fruits of her industry. From this negligent 



