THE RUINS,
OR, MEDITATION ON THE REVOLUTIONS OF EMPIRES
Home | Prev
| Next
| Contents
THE PRIMITIVE STATE OF MAN.
Formed naked in body and in mind, man at first found himself
thrown, as it were by chance, on a rough and savage land: an
orphan, abandoned by the unknown power which had produced him, he
saw not by his side beings descended from heaven to warn him of
those wants which arise only from his senses, nor to instruct him
in those duties which spring only from his wants. Like to other
animals, without experience of the past, without foresight of the
future, he wandered in the bosom of the forest, guided only and
governed by the affections of his nature. By the pain of hunger,
he was led to seek food and provide for his subsistence; by the
inclemency of the air, he was urged to cover his body, and he made
him clothes; by the attraction of a powerful pleasure, he
approached a being like himself, and he perpetuated his kind.
Thus the impressions which he received from every object, awakening
his faculties, developed by degrees his understanding, and began to
instruct his profound ignorance: his wants excited industry,
dangers formed his courage; he learned to distinguish useful from
noxious plants, to combat the elements, to seize his prey, to
defend his life; and thus he alleviated its miseries.
Thus self-love, aversion to pain, the desire of happiness, were the
simple and powerful excitements which drew man from the savage and
barbarous condition in which nature had placed him. And now, when
his life is replete with enjoyments, when he may count each day by
the comforts it brings, he may applaud himself and say:
"It is I who have produced the comforts which surround me; it is I
who am the author of my own happiness; a safe dwelling, convenient
clothing, abundant and wholesome nourishment, smiling fields,
fertile hills, populous empires, all is my work; without me this
earth, given up to disorder, would have been but a filthy fen, a
wild wood, a dreary desert."
Yes, creative man, receive my homage! Thou hast measured the span
of the heavens, calculated the volume of the stars, arrested the
lightning in its clouds, subdued seas and storms, subjected all the
elements. Ah! how are so many sublime energies allied to so many
errors?
Prev
| Next
| Contents
|