Outlines of an historical view of the progress of the human mind:
t * a •b? :- w • • ^. * •> .//Ss//<?i<v'>/frt?i Jru. ' OUTLINES OF AN HISTORICAL VIEW Oi THE PROGRESS OF THE HUMAN MIND.- OUTLINES OF AN HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF THE HUMAN MIND: BEING A POSTHUMOUS WORK OF THE LATE M. -DE CONDORCET. TRANSLATED FROM fHE FRENCH: BAL TIMOREx Printed by G. Fryer, for J. Frank. CONTENTS. Page. Preface * [Introduction * • • * ^ FIRST EPOCH. QVIen united into hordes SECOND EPOCH. Pastoral state of mankind.. ..Transition c prom that to the agricultural STATE ...... 25 THIRD EPOCH. (Progress of mankind from the agricultu- ral STATE TO THE INVENTION OF ALPHA- BETICAL WRITING . ... 32 FOURTH EPOCH. Progress of the human mind in Greece, 'til the division of the sciences, about the age of alexander FIFTH EPOCH. 10GRESS OF THE SCIENCES FROM THEIR DIVI- SION TO THEIR DECLINE 66 SIXTH EPOCH. OF LEARNING, TO ITS RESTORATION ^ ABOUT THE PERIOD OF THE CRUSADES iv. CONTENTS. Page, SEVENTH EPOCH. From the first progress or the. sciences ABOUT THE PERIOD OF THEIR REVIVAL IN THE WEST, TO THE INVENTION OF THE ART OF PRINTING. .... 107 EIGHTH EPOCH. From the invention of printing to the pe- riod WHEN THE SCIENCES AND PHILOSO- PHY THREW OFF THE YOKE OF AUTHORITY 120 NINTH EPOCH. From the time of descartes, to the for- mation OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC . 150 TENTH EPOCH. Future progress of mankind . . 209 PREFACE. vOONT)OFXET, proscribed by a sanguinary fac- tion, formed the idea of addressing to his fellow- citizens a summary of his principles, and of his con* duct in public affairs. He set down a few lines in execution of this project: but when he recollected, as he was obliged to do, thirty years of labor direct- lO the public service, and the multitude of fugi- tive pieces in which, since the revolution, he had ily attacked every institution inimical to li- berty, he rejected the idea of a useless justification. ' Free as he was from the dominion of the passions, he could not consent to stain the purity of his mind by recollecting his persecutors ; perpetually and alive to himself, he determined to die short space that remained between him and death to a work of general and permanent utility. That work is the performance now given to the world. It has relation to a number of others, in which the rights of men had previously been discussed and established ; in which superstition had i its last and fatal blow ; in which the methods of the mathematical sciences, applied to .' objects, have opened new avenues to the moral and political sciences ; in which the genuine prin- j >f social I received ;t, and" a kind of demonstration, unknown be- fore ; lastly, in which we where p marks of that | fe >f self-love of vi. PREFACE and incorruptible virtues within the influence of which it is impossible to live without feeling a .reli- gious veneration. May this deplorable instance of the most ex- traordinary talents lost to his country... .to the cause of liberty.. ..to the progress of science, and its be- neficial application to the wants of civilized man, excite a bitterness of regret that shall prove advanr tageous to the public welfare !.,..May this death, which will In no small degree contribute, in the pages of history, to characterise the era in which it has taken place, inspire a firm and dauntless at- tachment to the rights of which it was a violation! Such is the only homage worthy the sage, who, the fatal sword suspended over his head, could medi- tate in peace the melioration and happiness of his fellow creatures ; such the only consolation those can experience who have been the objects of his affection, and haye known all the extent of his vir- tue. OUTLINES OF AM HISTORICAL VIEW, kci INTRODUCTION. lAN is born with the faculty of receiving Sensations. In those which he receives, he is ca- pable of perceiving and of distinguishing the sim- ple sensations of which they are composed. He can retain, recognise, combine them. He can pre- serve or recal them to his memory • he can com- pare their different combinations ; he can ascertain what they possess in common, and what character- ises each: lastly, he can affix signs to all these ob- jects, the better to know them, and the more easily to form from them new combinations. This faculty is developed in him by the action of external objects, that is, by the presence of cer- tain complex sensations, the constancy of which, whether in their identical whole, or in the laws of their change, is independent of himself. It is, also exercised by communication with other similarly organised individuals, and by all the artificial means which, from the first developement of this faculty, men have succeeded in inventing. Sensations are accompanied with pleasure or pain, and man has the further faculty of convening these momentary impressions into durable senti- lX|gnts of a corresponding nature, and of experience a 8 ing these sentiments either at the sight or recolleo tion of the pleasure or pain of beings sensitive like himself. And from this faculty, united with that of forming and combining ideas, arise between him and his iellow-creatures^ the ties of interest and duty, to which nature has affixed the most exqui- site portion of our felicity, and the most poignant of our sufferings. Were we to confine our observations to an en- quiry into the general facts and unvarying laws which the developement of these faculties presents to us, in what is common to the different individu- als of the human species, our enquiry would bear the name of metaphysics* But if we consider this developement in its re- sults, relative to the mass of individuals co-existing at the same time on a given space, and follow it from generation to generation, it then exhibits a picture of the progress of human intellect. This progress is subject to the same general laws, ob- servable in the individual developement of our fa- culties ; being the result of that very develope- ment considered at once in a great number of indi- viduals united in society. But the result which every instant presents, depends upon that of the preceding instants, and has an influence on the in- stants which follow. This picture, therefore, is historical; since subjected as it will be to perpetual variations, it is formed by the successive observation of human societies at the different eras through which they have passed. It will accordingly exhibit the order In which the changes have taken place, explain the influence of every past period upon that which fol- lows it, and thus show, by the modifications which the human species have experienced, in its incess- ant renovation through the immensity of ages, the course which it has pursued, and the steps which it has advanced towards knowledge and happiness. From these observations on what man has hereto- fore been, and what he is at present, we shall be led to the means of securing and of accelerating the still further progress, of which, from his nature, we may indulge the hope. , Such is the object of the work I have underta- ken ; the result of which will be to show, from rea* soning and from facts, that no bouads have been fixed to the improvement of the human faculties ; that the perfectibility of man is absolutely indefi- nite ; that the progress of this perfectibility, hence- forth above the cotroul of every power that would impede it, has no other limit than the duration of the globe upon which nature has placed us. The course of this progress may doubtless be more or less rapid, but it can never be retrograde ; at least while the earth retains its situation in the system of the universe, and the laws of this system shall nei- ther effect upon the glebe a general overthrow, nor introduce such changes as would no longer permit the human race to preserve and exercise therein the same faculties, and find the same resources. The first state of civilization observable in the human species, is that of a society of men, few in nber, subsisting by means of hunting and fish- ing, unacquainted with every arc but die imped one of fabricating in an uncouth manner their ai and some household utensils, and of constructs g or digging for themselves an habitation ; yet al- ready in possession of a language for the commu- nication of their wants, and a small Dumber moral ideas, from which are deduced their com- mon rules of conduct, living in families, conformi themselves to general customs that serve instead of laws, and having even a rude form of govt : ment. 10 Ik this state it is apparent that the uncertainty and difficulty of procuring subsistence, and the un- avoidable alternative of extreme fatigue or an ab- solute repose, leaye not to man the leisure in which, by resigning himself to meditation, he might en- rich his mind with new combinations. The means of satisfying his wants are even too dependent upon chance and the seasons,, useful to excite an indus- try, the progressive improvement of which might be transmitted to his progeny -r and accordingly the attention of each is confined to the improvement of his individual skill and address. For this reason, the progress of the human species must in this stage have been extremely slow ; it could make no advance but at distant in- tervals, and when favored by extraordinary circum- stances. Meanwhile, to the subsistance derived from hunting or fishing, or from the fruits which the earth spontaneously offered, succeeds the sus- tenance afforded by the animals which man has i tamed, and which he knows how to preserve and i multiply. To these means is afterwards added an : imperfect agriculture ; he is no longer content with < the fruit or plants which chance throws in his way ; < he learns to form a stock of them, to collect them i around him, to sow or to plant them, to favor their : reproduction by the labor of culture. Property, which, in the first state, was confin- « ed to his household untensils, his arms, his nets, i and the animals he killed, is now extended to his « flock, and next to the land which he has cleared and 1 cultivated. Upon the death of its head, this pro- ; perty naturally" devolves to the family. Some in- i dividuals possess a superfluity capable of being I prescved. If it be absolute, it gives rise to t new wants. If confined to a single article, white s the proprietor feels the want of other articles, this II want suggests the idea of exchange. Hence moral relations multiply, and become complicate* A greater security, a more certain and more conftant leisure, afford time for meditation, or at least for a continued series of observations. The custom is introduced, as to some individuals, of giving a part of their superfluity in exchange for labour, by which they might be exempt from labour them- selves. There accordingly exists a class of men whose time is not engrossed by corporeal exertions and whose desires extend beyond their simple wants. Industry awakes ; the arts already known, expand and improve : the facts which chance pre- sents to the observation of the most attentive and best cultivated minds, bring to light new arts ; as the means of living become less dangerous and less precarious, population increases ; agriculture, which can provide for a greater number of indivi- duals upon the same space of ground, supplies the place of the other sources of subsistence; it fa- vours the multiplication of the species, by which it is favoured in its turn in a society become more sedentary, more connected, more intimate, ideas that have been acquired communicate themselves more quickly, and are perpetuated with more cer- tainty. And now the dawn of the sciences begins to appear ; man exhibits an appearance distinct from the other classes of animals, and is no longer like them, confined to an improvement purely in- dividual. The more extensile, more numerous and more complicated relations which men now form with each other, cause them to feel the necessitv of hav- ing a mode of communicating their ideas to the absent, of preserving the remembrance of a fact with more precision than by oral tradition, of fix- ing the conditions of an agreement more securely B3 than by the memory of witnesses, of stating, iiB a way less liable to change, those respected cus- toms to which the members of any society agree to submit their conduct- Accordingly the want of writing is felt, and the art invented. It appears at first to have been absolute painting, to which succeeded a conventi- onal painting, preserving such traits only as were characteristic of the objects. Afterwards, by a kind of metaphor analogous to that which was al- ready introduced into their language, the image of a physical object became expressive of moral ideas. The origin of those signs, like the origin of words,, were liable in time to be forgotten ; and writing be- came the art of affixing signs of convention to eve- ry idea, every word, and of consequence to every combination of ideas and words.. ThePvE was now a language that was written, ■, and a language that was spoken, which it was neces-* sary equally to learn, between which there must b§ established a reciprocal correspondence. Some men of genius, the eternal benefactors of the human race, but whose names, and even coun- try are for ever buried in oblivion, observed that all the words of a language were only the combina* tions of a very limited number of primative articu- lations j but that this number, small as it was, was Sufficient to form a quantity almost infinite of dif- ferent combinations* i^ence they conceived the idea of representing by $sible signs, not the ideas or the words that answer^ to them, but those simple element of which the^words are composed. Alphabetical writing was then introduced* A small number of signs served to express every thing in this mode, as a small number of sounds sufficed to express every thing orally. The lan- guage written and the language spoken were the $am£ ; all that was necessary was to be able to know, and to form, the few given signs ; and ;.' last step secured for ever the progress of the human race. It would perhaps be desirable at the day, to institute a written language, which, devot- ed to the sole use of the sciences, expressing only such combinations of simple ideas as are found to be exactly the same in every mind, employed only upon reasonings of logical strictness, upon opera- tions of the mind precise and determinate, might be understood by men of every country, and be translated Into all their idioms, without being, like those idioms, liable to corruption, by passing into common use. Then, singular as it may appear, this kind of writing, the preservation of which would only have served to prolong ignorance, would become, in the hands of philosophy, an useful Instrument for the speedy propagation of knowledge, and advance- ment of the sciences. It is between this degree of civilization and that in which we still find the savage tribes, that we must place every people whose history has been handed down to us, and who, sometimes making new advancements, sometimes plunging them- selves again into ignorance, sometimes floating be- tween the two alternatives or stopping at a certain limit, sometimes totally disappearing from the earth under the sword of conquerors, mixing with those conquerors, or living in slavery : lastly, sometimes receiving knowledge from a more en- lightened people, to transmit it to other nations,.... form an unbroken chain of connections between the earliest periods of history and the age in which we live, between the first people known to us, and the present nations of Europe. i4 In the picture then which I mean to sketch three distinct parts are perceptible. In the first, in which the relations of travellers exhibit to us the conditions of mankind in the least civilized nations, we are obliged to guess by what steps man in an isolated state, or rather confined to the society necessary for the propagation of the species, was able to acquire those first degrees of improvement, the last term of which Is the use of an articulate language ; an acquisition that presents the most striking feature, and indeed the only one, a few more extensive moral ideas and a slight commencement of social order excepted, which distinguishes him from animals living like himself in regular and permanent society. In this part of our picture, then, we can have no other guide than an investigation of the dev elopement of our fa- culties. To this first guide, in order to follow man to the point in which he exercises arts, in which the rays of science begin to enlighten him, in which nations are united by commercial intercourse ; in which, in fine, alphabetical writing is invented, we may add the history of the several societies that have been observed in almost every interme- diate state : though we can follow no individual one through all the space which separates these two grand epochs of the human mind. Here the picture begins to take its coloring in great measure from the series of facts transmitted to us by history : but it is necessary to select these facts from that of different nations, and at the same time compare and combine them, to form the sup- posed histoiy of a single people, and delineate its progress. From the period that alphabetical writing was- known in Greece, hiftory is connected by an unin- h, *5 terrupted series of facts and observations with the period in which we live, with the present stale of mankind in the mod enlightened countries of Eu- rope ; and the picture of the progress and advance- ment of the human mind becomes ftrictly hiftori- cal. Philosophy has no longer any thing to guess, has no more suppositious combinations to form ; all it has to do is to collect and arrange facts, and exhibit the useful truths which arise from them as a whole, and from the different bearings of their several parts. There remains only a third picture to form,.... that of our hopes, or the progress reserved for fu- ture generations, which the constancy of the laws ef nature seems to secure to mankind. And here it will be necessary to shew by what steps this pro- gress, which at present may appear chimerical, is gradually to be rendered possible, and even easy, how truth, in spite of the transient success of pre- judices, and the support they receive from the cor- ruption of governments or of the people, muse in the end obtain a durable triumph j by what ties na- ture has indissolubly united the advancement of knowledge with the progress of liberty, virtue, and respect ibr the natural rights of man ; how th blessings, the only real ones, though so freque seen apart as to be thought incompatible, mu cessarily amalgamate and become insepera! moment knowledge shall have arrived at a certain pitch in a great number of nations at once, the mo- ment it shall have penetrated the whole mass oT a great people, whose language shall haye beer universal, and whose commercial intercour embrace the whole extent of the globe. '1 union having once taken place in the whole lightened class of men, this class will be consi eel as the friends of human kind, exerting i6 selves in concert to advance the improvement and happiness of the species. We shall expose the origin and trace the history of general errors, which have more or less contri- buted to retard or suspend the advance of reason, and sometimes even, as much as political events, have been the cause of man's taking a retro* gade course towards ignorance, Those operations of the mind that lead to or retain us in error, from the subtle paralogism, by which the most penetrating mind may be deceived, to the mad reveries of enthusiasts, belong equally, with that just mode of reasoning that conducts us to truth, to the theory of the dev elopement of our individual faculties ; and for the same reason, the manner in which general errors are introduced, propogated, transmitted, and rendered permanent among nations, forms a part of the picture of the progress of the human mind. Like truths which improve and enligthen it, they are the consequence, of its activity, and of the disproportion that al- ways exists between what it actually knows, what it has the desire to know, and what it conceives there is a necessity of acquiring. It is even apparent, that, from the general laws of the developement of our faculties, certain pre- judices must necessarily spring up in each stage of our progress, and extend their seductive influence beyond that stage ; because men retain the errors of their infancy, their country, and the age in which they live, long after the truths necessary to the re* mo val of those errors are acknowledged. In short, there exist, at all times and in all countries, different prejudices, according to the de- gree of illumination of the different classes of men, and according to their professions. If the preju- dices of philosophers be impediments to new ac-- quisitions of truth, those of the less enlightened classes retard the propagation of truths already known, and those of esteemed and powerful pro- fessions oppose like obstacles. These are the three kinds of enemies which reason is continually obli- ged to encounter, and over which she frequently does not triumph till after. a long and painful ftrug- gle. The hiftory of these contests, together with that of the rise, triumph, and fall of prejudice, will occupy a considerable place in this work, and will by no means ibrm the ltaft important or leaft useful part of it. If there be really such an art as that of foresee- ing the future improvement of the human race, and of directing and hastening that improvement, the history of the progress it has already made must form the principal basis of this art. Philosophy, no doubt, ought to proscribe the superftitious idea, ivhich supposes no rules of conduct are to be found but in the hiftory of part ages, and no truths but in the ftudy of the opinions of antiquity. But ought it not to include in the proscription, the pre- judice that would proudly reject the lessons of ex- perience ? Certainly it is meditation alone that can, by happy combinations, conduct us to the general principles of the science of man. But if the study of individuals of the human species be of use to the metaphysician and moralist, why should that of societies be less useful to them ? And why not of use to the political philosopher ? If it be advan- tageous to observe the societies that exist at one and the same period, and to trace their connection and resemblance, why not to observe them in a suc- cession of periods ? Even supposing that such ob- servation might be neglected in the investigation of speculative truths, ought it to be neglected when the question is to apply those truths to prac- IS tke, and to deduce from science the art that should be the useful result? Do not our prejudices, and the evils that are the consequence of them, derive their source from the prejudices of our ancestors ? And will it not be the surest way of undeceiving us respecting the one, and of preventing the other, to develope their origin and effects ? Are we not arrived at the point when there it no longer any thing to fear, either from new errors, or the return of old ones ; when no corrupt institu- tion ean be introduced by hypocrisy, and adopted by ignorance or enthusiasm ; when no vicious combination can effect the infelicity of a great peo- ple ? Accordingly would it not be of advantage to know how nations have been deceived, corrupted, and plunged in misery S Every thing tells us that we are approaching the era of one of the grand revolutions of the hu- man race. *9 I shall confine myself to the principal features that characterize each ; I shall give them in the group, without troubling myself with exceptions or detail. I shall indicate the objects, of the re- sults of which the work itself wili present the do Telopements and the proofs. 2© FIRST EPOCH, MEN UNITED INTO HORDES. E have no direct information by which t© ascertain what has preceeded the state of which we are now to speak ; and it is only by examining the intellectual or moral faculties, and the physi- cal constitution of man, that we are enabled to conjecture by what means he arrived at this first degree of civilization. Accordingly an investigation of those physi- cal qualities favourable to the first formation of society, together with a summary analysis of the developement of our intellectual or moral facul- ties, must serve as an introduction to this epoch, A society consisting of a family appears to be natural to man. Formed at first by the want which children have of their parents, and by the affection of the mother, as well as that of the father, though less general and less lively, time was allowed, by the long continuance of this want, for the birth and growth of a sentiment which must have exci- ted the desire of perpetuating the union. The continuance of the want was also sufficient for the advantages of the union to be felt. A family pla- ced upon a soil that afforded an easy subsistence, might afterwards have multiplied and become horde. Hordes that may have owed their origin to th union of several distinct families, must have bee: formed more slowly and more rarely, the u&ion "9 i 11 depending on motives less urgent and the concur- rence of a greater number of circumstances. The art of fabricating arms, of preparing ali- ments, of procuring the utensils requisite for this preparation, of preserving these aliments as a pro- vision against the seasons in which it was impossi- ble to procure a fresh supply of them — these arts, confined to the most simple wants, were the first fruits of a continued union, and the first features that distinguished human society from the society observable in many species of beasts. In some of these hordes, the women cultivate round the huts, plants which serve for food and su- percede the necessity of hunting and fishing. In others, formed in places where the earth sponta- neously offers vegetable nutriment, a part of the time of the savage is occupied by the care of seek- ing and gathering it. In hordes of the last de- scription, where the advantage of remaining uni- ted is less felt, civilization has been observed very Jittle to exceed that of a society consisting of a single family. Meanwhile there has been found in all the use of an articulate language. More frequent and more durable connections with the same individuals, a similarity of interests, the succour mutually given, whether in their com- mon hunting or against an enemy, must have equal- ly produced both the sentiment of justice and a re- ciprocal affection between the members of the so- ciety. In a short time this affection would trans- form itself into attachment to the society. The necessary consequence was a violent en- mity, and a desire of vengeance not to be extin- guished, against the enemies of the horde. The want of a chief, in order to act in com- mon, and thereby defend themselves the bett and procure with greater case a more certain and 22 more abundant subsistence, Introduced the first idea of public authority into these societies. In circumstances in which the whole horde was inte- rested^respecting which a common resolution must be taken, all those concerned in executing the re- solution were to be consulted. The weakness of the females, which exempted them from the dis- tant chace and from war, the usual subjects of de- bate, excluded them alike from these consultations. As the resolutions demanded experience, none were admitted but such as were supposed to pos- sess it. The quarrels that arose in a society dis- turbed its harmony, and were .calculated to destroy it : it was natural to agree that the decision of them should be referred to those whose age and personal qualities inspired the greatest confidence. Such was the origin of the first political instituti- ons. The formation of a language must have pre- ceded these institutions. The idea of expressing objects by conventional signs appears to be above the degree of intelligence attained in this stage of civilization ; and it is probable they were only brought into use by length of time, by degrees, and in a manner in some sort imperceptible. The invention of the bow was the work of a single man of genius ; the formation of a lan- guage that of the whole society. These two kinds of progress belong equally to the human species. The one, more rapid, is the result of those new combinations which men favoured by nature are capable of forming ; is the fruit of their meditati- ons and the energies they display : the other, more slow, arises from the reflections and observations that offer themselves to all men, and from the ha- bits contracted in their common course of life. *3 Regular movements adjusted to each other in due proportion, are capable of being executed with a less degree of fatigue ; and they who see, or hear them, perceive their order and relation with greater facility. For both these reasons they form a source of pleasure. Thus the origin of the dance, of music and of poetry, may be traced to the infant state of society. They were employ- ed for the amusement of youth and upon occasions of public festiyals* There were at that period love songs and war songs ; and even musical instruments were invented. Neither was the art of eloquence absolutely unknown in these hordes ; at least they could assume in their set speeches a more grave and solemn tone, and were not strangers to rhetorical exaggeration. The errors that distinguish this epoch of ci- vilization are the conversion of vengeance and cruelty towards an enemy into virtue ; the preju- dice that consigns the female part of society to a sort of slavery ; the right of commanding in war considered as the prerogative of an individual fa- mily ; together with the first dawn of various kinds of superstition. Of these it will be neces- sary to trace the origin and ascertain the motives. For man neyer adopts without reason any errors, except what his early education have in a manner rendered natural to him : if he embrace any new error, it is either because it is connected with those of his infancy, or because his opinions, passions, interests, or other circumstances, dispose him to embrace it. The only sciences known to savage hordes, are a slight and crude idea of astronomy, and the knowledge of certain medicinal plants employed in the cure of wounds and diseases ; and even tl; are already corrupted by a mixture of superstict B3 24 Meanwhile there is presented to us in this epoch one fact of importance in the history of the human mind. We can here perceive the begin- nings of an institution, that in its progress has been attended with opposite effects, accelerating the advancement of knowledge, at the same time that it disseminated error ; enriching the sciences with new truths, but precipitating the people into igno- rance and religious servitude, and obliging them to purchase a few transient benefits as the price of a long and shameful tyranny* I mean the formation of a class of men the de- positaries of the elements of the sciences or pro- cesses of the arts., of the mysteries or seremonies> of religion, of the practices of superstition, and frequently even of the secrets of legislation ancl polity. I mean that separation of the human race into two portions ; the one destined to teach, the other to believe ; the one proudly concealing what it vainly boasts of knowing, the other receiving with respect whatever its teachers condescend to reveal : the one wishing to raise itself above rea- son, the other humbly renouncing reason, and de- basing itself below humanity, by acknowledging in its fellow men prerogatives superior to their common nature. This distinction, of which, at the close of the eighteenth century, we still see the remains in our priests, is observable in the least civilized tribes of savages who have already their quacks and sor- cerers. It is too general, and too constantly meets the eye in all the stages of civilization, not to have a foundation in nature itself: and we shall accord- ingly find in the state of the human faculties at this early period of society, the cause of the credulity of the first dupes, and of the rude cunning of the first impostors. SECOND EPOCH. Pastoral State of Mankind Transition fpvom that to the agricultural state. JL H E idea of preserving certain animals taken in hunting, must readily have occurred, when their docility rendered the preservation of them a task of no difficulty, when the soil round the habitations of the hunters afforded these animals an ample sub- sistence, when the family possesses a greater quan- tity of them than it could for the present consume, and at the same time might have reason to appre- hend the being exposed to want, from the ill success of the next chace, or the intemperature of the sea- sons. From keeping these animals as a simple supply against a time of need, it was observed that they might be made to multiply, and thus furnish a more durable provision. Their milk afforded a farther resource : and those fruits of a flock, which, at first, were regarded only as a supplement to the produce of the chace, became the most certain., most abundant and least painful means of subsis- tence. Accordingly the chace ceased to be consi- dered as the principal of these resources, and soon as any resource at all ; it was pursued cnlv as a pleasure, or as a necessary precaution for keeping beasts of prey from the flocks, which, become more numerous, could no longer find round the habitations of their keepers a sufficient c rrient. 26 A more sedentary and less fatiguing life afford- ed leisure favorable to the developement of the mind. Secure of subsistence, no longer anxious respecting their first and indispensable wants, men sought, in the means of providing for those wants, new sensations. The arts made some progress : new light was acquired respecting that of maintaining domestic animals, of favoring their production, and even of improving their breed. Wool was used for apparel, and cloth substi- tuted in the place of skins. Family societies became more urbane, without being less intimate. As the flocks of each could not multiply in the same proportion, a difference of wealth was established. Then was suggested the idea of one man sharing the produce of his flocks with another who had no flocks, and who was to devote his time and strength to the care they re- quire. Then it was found that the labor of a young and able individual was of more value than the ex- pence of his bare subsistence ; and the custom was introduced of retaining prisoners of war as slaves,, instead of putting them to death. Hospitality, which is practised also among savages, assumes in the pastoral state a more de~ cided and important character, even among those wandering hordes that dwell in their waggons or in their tents. More frequent occasions occur for the reciprocal exercise of this act of humanity between man and man, between one people and another It becomes a social duty, and Is subjected to laws. As some families possessed not only a sure sub- sistence, but a constant superfluity, while others were destitute of the necessaries of life, natural compassion for the sufferings of the latter gave birth to the sentiment and practice of benificence* 27 Manners of course must have softened. The slavery of women became less severe, and the wives of the rich were no longer condemned to fa- tiguing labors. A great variety of articles employed in satisfy- ing the different wants, a great number of instru- ments to prepare these wants, and a greater ine- quality in their distribution, gave energy to ex- change, and converted it into actual commerce : it was impossible it should extend without the nee sity of a common measure and a species of money being felt. Hordes became mere numerous. At the same time, in order the more easily to maintain their flocks, they placed habitations, when fixed, m< apart from each other ; or changed them into move- able encampments, as soon as the}'- had discovered the use of certain species of animals they had ta ed, in drawing or carrying burthens. Each nation had its chief for the conduct of War ; but being divided into tribes, from the ne- cessity of securing pasturage, each tribe had a its chief. This superiority was attached almost universally to certain families. The heads ho ver of families in possession of numerous fl multitude of slaves, and who employ in the vice a great number of poor, partook of the ity of the chiefs of the tribe, as these also shared in that of the chiefs of the nation ; at least when, from the respect due to age, to experience, and the ex- ploits they had performed, they wrere conceived to be worthy of it. And it is at this epoch of soci that we must place the origin of slavery, and i quality of political rights between men arrived the age of maturity. The consuls of the chiefs of the family or t decided, from ideas of natural justice or i blished usage, the numerous and intricate disputes that already prevailed. The tradition of these de- cisions, by confirming and perpetuating the usage, soon formed a kind of jurisprudence more regular and coherent than the progress of society had ren- dered in other respects necessary. The idea of property and its rights had acquired greater extent and precision. The division of inheritances be- coming more important, there was a necessity of subjecting it to fixed regulations. The agreements that were entered into being more frequent, were no longer confined to such simple objects ; they were to be subjected to forms ; and the manner of verifying them, to secure their execution, had also, its laws. The utility of observing the stars, the occupa- tion which in long evenings they afforded to the mind, and the leisure enjoyed by the shepherds, effected a slight degree of improvement in astro- nomy. But we observe advancing at the same time" the art of deceiving men In order to rob them, and of assuming over their opinions an authority found- ed upon the hopes and fears of the imagination More regular forms of worship begin to be estab- lished, and systems of faith less coarsely combined. The ideas entertained of supernatural powers, ac- quire a sort of refinement ; and with this refine- ment we see spring up in one place pontiff princes, infc another sacerdotal families or tribes, in a third colleges of priests ; a class of individuals* uniformly affecting insolent prerogatives, separating them- selves from the people, the better to enslave them, and seizing exclusively upon medicine and astro- nomy, that they may possess every hold upon the mind for subjugating it, and leave no means b} which to unmask their hypocrisy, and break in pie C.es their chains. 29 Languages were enriched without becoming less figurative or less bold. The images employ* ed were more varied and more pleasing. They were acquired in pastoral life, as well as in the sa- vage life of the forests, from the regular phenome- na of nature, as well as from its wildness and ec- centricities. Songs, poetiy, and instruments of music were improved during a leisure that pro- duced an audience more peaceable, and at the same time more difficult to please, and allowed the artist to reflect on his own sentiments, examine his first ideas, and form a selection from them. It could not have escaped observation that ■some plants yielded the flocks a better and more abundant subsistence than others The advantage was accordingly felt of favoring the production of these, of separating them from plants less nutritive, unwholesome, and even dangerous ; and the means of effecting this were discovered. In like manner, where plants, grain, the spon- taneous fruits of the earth, contributed with the produce of the flocks to the subsistence of man, it must equally have been observed how those vege- tables multiplied ; and the care must have followed of collecting them nearer to the habitations ; of separating them from uselses vegetables, that they might occupy a soil to themselves ; of securing them from untamed beasts, from the flocks, and even from the rapacity of other men. These ideas must have equally occurred, and even sooner, in more fertile countries, where the spontaneous productions of the earth almost suffic- ed of themselves for the support of men ; who now began to devote themselves to agriculture. In such a country, and under a happy climate, the same space of ground produces, in corn, roots, and fruit, wherewith to maintain a greater number 3o %i men than if employed as pasturage. Accord* mgly, when the nature of the soil rendered not such cultivation too laborious, when the discovery was made of employing therein those same animals used by pastoral tribes for the transport from place to place of themselves and their effects, agriculture became the most plentiful source of subsistence, the first occupation of men ; and the human race arriv- ed at the third epoch of its progress. 