466 OF MANHOOD. 



equal fwlftnefs. Many other ilories are told of 

 the amazing nimblenefs of lavages, of the long 

 journeys they accompllih on foot, over the moft 

 craggy mountains, where there is no path to 

 dired:, and every c-hftacle to obftruit their pro- 

 grefs. Thcfe people are faid to travel looo 

 leagues in fix weeks, or at moft two months. If 

 we except bird.«:, whofe mufcles are proportion- 

 ally ftronger than thole of any other animal, no 

 other creature could fupport fuch long continued 

 fatigue. The civilized man is ignorant of his 

 own ftrength ; nor is he fcnfible how much he 

 is weakened by effeminacy, nor to what extent 

 he might recover his native force by an habitual 

 and vigorous exerclfe of his powers. 



Men of extraordinary ftrength fometlmes ap- 

 pear *. But this gift of nature, wdiich would 

 ^be highly valuable in the favage ftate, is of little 

 ufe among polilhed nations, where more depends 

 on mental than corporeal powers, and wdiere 

 manual labour is confined to the inferior orders 

 of men. 



Men are much ftronger than women ; and 

 they have too often employed this fuperiority in 

 exercifmg a cruel and tyrannical dominion over 

 the weaker fex, who were entitled to Ihare with 

 them both the pleafures and the pains of life. 

 Savage nations condemn the women to perpe- 

 tual 



* Nos quoque vidimus Athanatum nomine prodiglofae often- 

 tationis quingenario thorace plumbco indutum, cothurnifque 

 qumgeatorum pondo calcatum, per fcenam ingredi. Plia. lib. 7- 



