THE RUINS,
OR, MEDITATION ON THE REVOLUTIONS OF EMPIRES
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PRINCIPLES OF SOCIETY.
Wandering in the woods and on the banks of rivers in pursuit of
game and fish, the first men, beset with dangers, assailed by
enemies, tormented by hunger, by reptiles, by ravenous beasts, felt
their own individual weakness; and, urged by a common need of
safety, and a reciprocal sentiment of like evils, they united their
resources and their strength; and when one incurred a danger, many
aided and succored him; when one wanted subsistence, another shared
his food with him. Thus men associated to secure their existence,
to augment their powers, to protect their enjoyments; and self-love
thus became the principle of society.
Instructed afterwards by the experience of various and repeated
accidents, by the fatigues of a wandering life, by the distress of
frequent scarcity, men reasoned with themselves and said:
"Why consume our days in seeking scattered fruits from a
parsimonious soil? why exhaust ourselves in pursuing prey which
eludes us in the woods or waters? why not collect under our hands
the animals that nourish us? why not apply our cares in multiplying
and preserving them? We will feed on their increase, be clothed in
their skins, and live exempt from the fatigues of the day and
solicitude for the morrow."
And men, aiding one another, seized the nimble goat, the timid
sheep; they tamed the patient camel, the fierce bull, the impetuous
horse; and, applauding their own industry, they sat down in the joy
of their souls, and began to taste repose and comfort: and self-
love, the principle of all reasoning, became the incitement to
every art, and every enjoyment.
When, therefore, men could pass long days in leisure, and in
communication of their thoughts, they began to contemplate the
earth, the heavens, and their own existence as objects of curiosity
and reflection; they remarked the course of the seasons, the action
of the elements, the properties of fruits and plants; and applied
their thoughts to the multiplication of their enjoyments. And in
some countries, having observed that certain seeds contained a
wholesome nourishment in a small volume, convenient for
transportation and preservation, they imitated the process of
nature; they confided to the earth rice, barley, and corn, which
multiplied to the full measure of their hope; and having found the
means of obtaining within a small compass and without removal,
plentiful subsistence and durable stores, they established
themselves in fixed habitations; they built houses, villages, and
towns; formed societies and nations; and self-love produced all the
developments of genius and of power.
Thus by the aid of his own faculties, man has raised himself to the
astonishing height of his present fortune. Too happy if, observing
scrupulously the law of his being, he had faithfully fulfilled its
only and true object! But, by a fatal imprudence, sometimes
mistaking, sometimes transgressing its limits, he has launched
forth into a labyrinth of errors and misfortunes; and self-love,
sometimes unruly, sometimes blind, became a principle fruitful in
calamities.
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