[arabs Are] A People, Whom It Is

Language Is The Leading Principle Which Unites Or Separates The Tribes Of Mankind.

The Archiepiscopal Throne Of Macedonius, Which Had Been Polluted With So Much Christian Blood, Was Successively Filled By Eudoxus And Damophilus. Their Diocese Enjoyed A Free Importation Of Vice And Error From Every Province Of The Empire; The Eager Pursuit Of Religious Controversy Afforded A New Occupation To The Busy Idleness Of The Metropolis: And We May Credit The Assertion Of An Intelligent Observer, Who Describes, With Some Pleasantry, The Effects Of Their Loquacious Zeal.

The Romans, Who So Coolly And So Concisely Mention The Acts Of Justice Which Were Exercised By The Legions, Reserve Their Compassion And Their Eloquence For Their Own Sufferings, When The Provinces Were Invaded And Desolated By The Arms Of The Successful Barbarians.

The Germans, In The Age Of Tacitus, Were Unacquainted With The Use Of Letters; And The Use Of Letters Is The Principal Circumstance That Distinguishes A Civilised People From A Herd Of Savages Incapable Of Knowledge Or Reflection. Without That Artificial Help, The Human Memory Soon Dissipates Or Corrupts The Ideas Intrusted To Her Charge; And The Nobler Faculties Of The Mind, No Longer Supplied With Models Or With Materials, Gradually Forget Their Powers; The Judgment Becomes Feeble And Lethargic, The Imagination Languid Or Irregular.

The Chaste Severity Of The Fathers In Whatever Related To The Commerce Of The Two Sexes Flowed From The Same Principle -- Their Abhorrence Of Every Enjoyment Which Might Gratify The Sensual And Degrade The Spiritual Nature Of Man. It Was Their Favourite Opinion, That If Adam Had Preserved His Obedience To The Creator, He Would Have Lived For Ever In A State Of Virgin Purity, And That Some Harmless Mode Of Vegetation Might Have Peopled Paradise With A Race Of Innocent And Immortal Beings.