Part 5 (2/2)

In this dissociated state it is impossible that men could have long continued. The dangers to which they must have frequently been exposed, by the attacks of fierce and rapacious beasts, by the proedatory attempts of their own species, and by the disputes of contiguous and independent families; these, together with their inability to defend, themselves, on many such occasions, must have incited them to unite.

Hence then was _society_ formed on the grand principles of preservation and defence: and as these principles began to operate, in the different parts of the earth, where the different families had roamed, a great number of these _societies_ began to be formed and established; which, taking to themselves particular names from particular occurrences, began to be perfectly distinct from one another.

As the individuals, of whom these societies were composed, had a.s.sociated only for their defence, so they experienced, at first, no change in their condition. They were still independent and free; they were still without discipline or laws; they had every thing still in common; they pursued the same, manner of life; wandering only, in _herds_, as the earth gave them or refused them sustenance, and doing, as a _publick body_, what they had been accustomed to do as _individuals_ before. This was the exact situation of the Getae and Scythians[037], of the Lybians and Goetulians[038], of the Italian Aborigines[039], and of the Huns and Alans[040]. They had left their original state of _dissociation_, and had stepped into that, which has been just described. Thus was the second situation of men a state of _independent society_.

Having thus joined themselves together, and having formed themselves into several large and distinct bodies, they could not fail of submitting soon to a more considerable change. Their numbers must have rapidly increased, and their societies, in process of time, have become so populous, as frequently to have experienced the want of subsistence, and many of the commotions and tumults of intestine strife. For these inconveniences however there were remedies to be found.

_Agriculture_ would furnish them with that subsistence and support, which the earth, from the rapid increase of its inhabitants, had become unable spontaneously to produce. An _a.s.signation_ of _property_ would not only enforce an application, but excite an emulation, to labour; and _government_ would at once afford a security to the acquisitions of the industrious, and heal the intestine disorders of the community, by the introduction of laws.

Such then were the remedies, that were gradually applied. The _societies_, which had hitherto seen their members, undistinguished either by authority or rank, admitted now of magistratical pre-eminence.

They were divided into tribes; to every tribe was allotted a particular district for its support, and to every individual his particular spot.

The Germans[041], who consisted of many and various nations, were exactly in this situation. They had advanced a step beyond the Scythians, Goetulians, and those, whom we described before; and thus was the third situation of mankind a state of _subordinate society_.

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 036: This conclusion concerning the dissociated state of mankind, is confirmed by all the early writers, with whose descriptions of primitive times no other conclusion is reconcileable.]

[Footnote 037: Justin. L. 2. C. 2.]

[Footnote 038: Sall.u.s.t. Bell. Jug.]

[Footnote 039: Sall.u.s.t. Bell. Catil.]

[Footnote 040: Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus. L. 31. C. 2. et. inseq.]

[Footnote 041: Agri pro Numero Cultorum ab universis per vicos occupantur, quos mox inter se secundum dignationem partiuntur. Tacitus.

C. 26. de Mor. Germ.]

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