BOOK VII.] History of Nature. 249 



bestow Sense on those who are in the Lower Regions ; and 

 they do Honour to the Manes, making a God of him who 

 hath ceased to be a Man : as if the Manner of Man's Breath- 

 ing differed from that of other living Creatures ; or as if 

 there were not to be found many other Things in the World, 

 that live much longer than Men, and yet no Man foretells 

 the like Immortality to them. But what is the Body that 

 followeth the Material of the Soul ? where lieth her 

 Thought? how is her Seeing, how is her Hearing per- 

 formed ? what toucheth she ? nay, what doth she at all ? 

 How is she employed ? or what Good can there be without 

 these ? I would know where she hath her abiding Place ? 

 and what Multitudes of Souls, like Shadows, would there be 

 in so many Ages ? Surely these are but fantastical and 

 childish Toys, devised by Men that would fain live always. 

 The like Foolery there is in preserving the Bodies of Men. 

 And the Vanity of Democritus is no less, who promised a 

 Restoration to Life, and yet himself hath not come to Life 

 again. And what an Instance of Madness to think (an Evil 

 in itself) that Death should be the Way to a life ! What 

 Repose should ever Men have that are born, if the Sense of 

 their Souls should remain on high, while their Shadows are 

 among those below ? Certainly, this sweet Inducement, 

 and Credulity, destroyeth the Benefit of the best Gift of 

 Nature, which is Death ; and it doubleth the Pain of a Man 

 who is to die, if he happen to consider what shall befall him 

 in the Time to come. For if it be sweet to live, what Plea- 

 sure can one have, that hath already lived ? But how much 

 more easy and certain is it for each Man to trust to himself, 

 and to gather Reasons from the Experience that he had 

 before he was born? 



CHAPTER LVI. 

 The first Inventors of Things in Life. 



BEFORE we depart from this Discourse of Men's Nature, 

 it seemeth convenient to point out their Inventions, and 

 what each Man hath discovered. In the first Place, Liber 



