ariondas/full_text_dataset · Datasets at Hugging Face

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are likewise made pleasant to us. For how miserable a thing would life
be if those daily diseases of hunger and thirst were to be carried off by
such bitter drugs as we must use for those diseases that return seldomer
upon us! And thus these pleasant, as well as proper, gifts of Nature
maintain the strength and the sprightliness of our bodies.

"They also entertain themselves with the other delights let in at their
eyes, their ears, and their nostrils as the pleasant relishes and
seasoning of life, which Nature seems to have marked out peculiarly for
man, since no other sort of animals contemplates the figure and beauty of
the universe, nor is delighted with smells any further than as they
distinguish meats by them; nor do they apprehend the concords or discords
of sound. Yet, in all pleasures whatsoever, they take care that a lesser
joy does not hinder a greater, and that pleasure may never breed pain,
which they think always follows dishonest pleasures. But they think it
madness for a man to wear out the beauty of his face or the force of his
natural strength, to corrupt the sprightliness of his body by sloth and
laziness, or to waste it by fasting; that it is madness to weaken the
strength of his constitution and reject the other delights of life,
unless by renouncing his own satisfaction he can either serve the public
or promote the happiness of others, for which he expects a greater
recompense from God. So that they look on such a course of life as the
mark of a mind that is both cruel to itself and ungrateful to the Author
of Nature, as if we would not be beholden to Him for His favours, and
therefore rejects all His blessings; as one who should afflict himself
for the empty shadow of virtue, or for no better end than to render
himself capable of bearing those misfortunes which possibly will never
happen.

"This is their notion of virtue and of pleasure: they think that no man's
reason can carry him to a truer idea of them unless some discovery from
heaven should inspire him with sublimer notions. I have not now the
leisure to examine whether they think right or wrong in this matter; nor
do I judge it necessary, for I have only undertaken to give you an
account of their constitution, but not to defend all their principles. I
am sure that whatever may be said of their notions, there is not in the
whole world either a better people or a happier government. Their bodies
are vigorous and lively; and though they are but of a middle stature, and
have neither the fruitfullest soil nor the purest air in the world; yet
they fortify themselves so well, by their temperate course of life,
against the unhealthiness of their air, and by their industry they so
cultivate their soil, that there is nowhere to be seen a greater
increase, both of corn and cattle, nor are there anywhere healthier men
and freer from diseases; for one may there see reduced to practice not
only all the art that the husbandman employs in manuring and improving an
ill soil, but whole woods plucked up by the roots, and in other places
new ones planted, where there were none before. Their principal motive
for this is the convenience of carriage, that their timber may be either
near their towns or growing on the banks of the sea, or of some rivers,
so as to be floated to them; for it is a harder work to carry wood at any
distance over land than corn. The people are industrious, apt to learn,
as well as cheerful and pleasant, and none can endure more labour when it
is necessary; but, except in that case, they love their ease. They are
unwearied pursuers of knowledge; for when we had given them some hints of
the learning and discipline of the Greeks, concerning whom we only
instructed them (for we know that there was nothing among the Romans,
except their historians and their poets, that they would value much), it
was strange to see how eagerly they were set on learning that language:
we began to read a little of it to them, rather in compliance with their
importunity than out of any hopes of their reaping from it any great
advantage: but, after a very short trial, we found they made such
progress, that we saw our labour was like to be more successful than we
could have expected: they learned to write their characters and to
pronounce their language so exactly, had so quick an apprehension, they
remembered it so faithfully, and became so ready and correct in the use
of it, that it would have looked like a miracle if the greater part of
those whom we taught had not been men both of extraordinary capacity and
of a fit age for instruction: they were, for the greatest part, chosen
from among their learned men by their chief council, though some studied
it of their own accord. In three years' time they became masters of the
whole language, so that they read the best of the Greek authors very
exactly. I am, indeed, apt to think that they learned that language the
more easily from its having some relation to their own. I believe that
they were a colony of the Greeks; for though their language comes nearer
the Persian, yet they retain many names, both for their towns and
magistrates, that are of Greek derivation. I happened to carry a great
many books with me, instead of merchandise, when I sailed my fourth
voyage; for I was so far from thinking of soon coming back, that I rather
thought never to have returned at all, and I gave them all my books,
among which were many of Plato's and some of Aristotle's works: I had
also Theophrastus on Plants, which, to my great regret, was imperfect;
for having laid it carelessly by, while we were at sea, a monkey had
seized upon it, and in many places torn out the leaves. They have no
books of grammar but Lascares, for I did not carry Theodorus with me; nor
have they any dictionaries but Hesichius and Dioscerides. They esteem
Plutarch highly, and were much taken with Lucian's wit and with his
pleasant way of writing. As for the poets, they have Aristophanes,
Homer, Euripides, and Sophocles of Aldus's edition; and for historians,
Thucydides, Herodotus, and Herodian. One of my companions, Thricius
Apinatus, happened to carry with him some of Hippocrates's works and
Galen's Microtechne, which they hold in great estimation; for though
there is no nation in the world that needs physic so little as they do,
yet there is not any that honours it so much; they reckon the knowledge
of it one of the pleasantest and most profitable parts of philosophy, by
which, as they search into the secrets of nature, so they not only find
this study highly agreeable, but think that such inquiries are very
acceptable to the Author of nature; and imagine, that as He, like the
inventors of curious engines amongst mankind, has exposed this great
machine of the universe to the view of the only creatures capable of
contemplating it, so an exact and curious observer, who admires His

are likewise made pleasant to us. For how miserable a thing would life

be if those daily diseases of hunger and thirst were to be carried off by

such bitter drugs as we must use for those diseases that return seldomer

upon us! And thus these pleasant, as well as proper, gifts of Nature

maintain the strength and the sprightliness of our bodies.

"They also entertain themselves with the other delights let in at their

eyes, their ears, and their nostrils as the pleasant relishes and

seasoning of life, which Nature seems to have marked out peculiarly for

man, since no other sort of animals contemplates the figure and beauty of

the universe, nor is delighted with smells any further than as they

distinguish meats by them; nor do they apprehend the concords or discords

of sound. Yet, in all pleasures whatsoever, they take care that a lesser

joy does not hinder a greater, and that pleasure may never breed pain,

which they think always follows dishonest pleasures. But they think it

madness for a man to wear out the beauty of his face or the force of his

natural strength, to corrupt the sprightliness of his body by sloth and

laziness, or to waste it by fasting; that it is madness to weaken the

strength of his constitution and reject the other delights of life,

unless by renouncing his own satisfaction he can either serve the public

or promote the happiness of others, for which he expects a greater

recompense from God. So that they look on such a course of life as the

mark of a mind that is both cruel to itself and ungrateful to the Author

of Nature, as if we would not be beholden to Him for His favours, and

therefore rejects all His blessings; as one who should afflict himself

for the empty shadow of virtue, or for no better end than to render

himself capable of bearing those misfortunes which possibly will never

happen.

"This is their notion of virtue and of pleasure: they think that no man's

reason can carry him to a truer idea of them unless some discovery from

heaven should inspire him with sublimer notions. I have not now the

leisure to examine whether they think right or wrong in this matter; nor

do I judge it necessary, for I have only undertaken to give you an

account of their constitution, but not to defend all their principles. I

am sure that whatever may be said of their notions, there is not in the

whole world either a better people or a happier government. Their bodies

are vigorous and lively; and though they are but of a middle stature, and

have neither the fruitfullest soil nor the purest air in the world; yet

they fortify themselves so well, by their temperate course of life,

against the unhealthiness of their air, and by their industry they so

cultivate their soil, that there is nowhere to be seen a greater

increase, both of corn and cattle, nor are there anywhere healthier men

and freer from diseases; for one may there see reduced to practice not

only all the art that the husbandman employs in manuring and improving an

ill soil, but whole woods plucked up by the roots, and in other places

new ones planted, where there were none before. Their principal motive

for this is the convenience of carriage, that their timber may be either

near their towns or growing on the banks of the sea, or of some rivers,

so as to be floated to them; for it is a harder work to carry wood at any

distance over land than corn. The people are industrious, apt to learn,

as well as cheerful and pleasant, and none can endure more labour when it

is necessary; but, except in that case, they love their ease. They are

unwearied pursuers of knowledge; for when we had given them some hints of

the learning and discipline of the Greeks, concerning whom we only

instructed them (for we know that there was nothing among the Romans,

except their historians and their poets, that they would value much), it

was strange to see how eagerly they were set on learning that language:

we began to read a little of it to them, rather in compliance with their

importunity than out of any hopes of their reaping from it any great

advantage: but, after a very short trial, we found they made such

progress, that we saw our labour was like to be more successful than we

could have expected: they learned to write their characters and to

pronounce their language so exactly, had so quick an apprehension, they

remembered it so faithfully, and became so ready and correct in the use

of it, that it would have looked like a miracle if the greater part of

those whom we taught had not been men both of extraordinary capacity and

of a fit age for instruction: they were, for the greatest part, chosen

from among their learned men by their chief council, though some studied

it of their own accord. In three years' time they became masters of the

whole language, so that they read the best of the Greek authors very

exactly. I am, indeed, apt to think that they learned that language the

more easily from its having some relation to their own. I believe that

they were a colony of the Greeks; for though their language comes nearer

the Persian, yet they retain many names, both for their towns and

magistrates, that are of Greek derivation. I happened to carry a great

many books with me, instead of merchandise, when I sailed my fourth

voyage; for I was so far from thinking of soon coming back, that I rather

thought never to have returned at all, and I gave them all my books,

among which were many of Plato's and some of Aristotle's works: I had

also Theophrastus on Plants, which, to my great regret, was imperfect;

for having laid it carelessly by, while we were at sea, a monkey had

seized upon it, and in many places torn out the leaves. They have no

books of grammar but Lascares, for I did not carry Theodorus with me; nor

have they any dictionaries but Hesichius and Dioscerides. They esteem

Plutarch highly, and were much taken with Lucian's wit and with his

pleasant way of writing. As for the poets, they have Aristophanes,

Homer, Euripides, and Sophocles of Aldus's edition; and for historians,

Thucydides, Herodotus, and Herodian. One of my companions, Thricius

Apinatus, happened to carry with him some of Hippocrates's works and

Galen's Microtechne, which they hold in great estimation; for though

there is no nation in the world that needs physic so little as they do,

yet there is not any that honours it so much; they reckon the knowledge

of it one of the pleasantest and most profitable parts of philosophy, by

which, as they search into the secrets of nature, so they not only find

this study highly agreeable, but think that such inquiries are very

acceptable to the Author of nature; and imagine, that as He, like the

inventors of curious engines amongst mankind, has exposed this great

machine of the universe to the view of the only creatures capable of

contemplating it, so an exact and curious observer, who admires His