The Ruins; Or, Meditation on the Revolutions of Empires and the Law of Nature

gth of body and mind vir

life, his liberty, and his property; by his labor he procures himself an abundant subsistence, which he enjoys in tranquillity and peace of mind. If he falls into misfortunes, from which his prude

and cowardice be

times ill founded, of attacks and dangers: and this dread which is an evil, is not a remedy; it renders him, on the contrary, the slave of him who wishes to oppress him; and by

e not courage and force, as well as many other virtues, in a grea

the most reiterated and constant facts prove that in the breed of animals of every kind, we see certain physical and moral qualities,

icient to procure us those qualities,

we can promote its growth, and hasten its developments, by a skillful management of those elements; and in this consists the science of education, which, according as it is directed, meliorates or degrades individuals, or the whole race

tivity is a virtue accord

nd still more so, if he is sober, continent, and prudent, for he soon acquires a competency, and enjoys the sweets of life; his very labor gives him virtues; for, while he occupies his bod

nd sloth vices in

gnorance and folly; by idleness and sloth man, devoured with disquietude, in order to dissipate it, abandons himself to all the desires of his senses, which, becoming every day more inordinate, render him intemperate, gl

, one would think th

lead to indigence, and to the privation of the necessaries of life; and when a man is in want of necessaries, he is tempted to procure them by vicious means, that is to say, by means injurious to society. All the ind

k upon opulen

us or vicious, according as it is serviceable or prejudicial to man and to society. Weal