登陆注册
5362600000125

第125章

These nations then seem to me to be so far barbarous, as having received but very little form and fashion from art and human invention, and consequently to be not much remote from their original simplicity. The laws of nature, however, govern them still, not as yet much vitiated with any mixture of ours: but 'tis in such purity, that I am sometimes troubled we were not sooner acquainted with these people, and that they were not discovered in those better times, when there were men much more able to judge of them than we are. I am sorry that Lycurgus and Plato had no knowledge of them; for to my apprehension, what we now see in those nations, does not only surpass all the pictures with which the poets have adorned the golden age, and all their inventions in feigning a happy state of man, but, moreover, the fancy and even the wish and desire of philosophy itself; so native and so pure a simplicity, as we by experience see to be in them, could never enter into their imagination, nor could they ever believe that human society could have been maintained with so little artifice and human patchwork. I should tell Plato that it is a nation wherein there is no manner of traffic, no knowledge of letters, no science of numbers, no name of magistrate or political superiority; no use of service, riches or poverty, no contracts, no successions, no dividends, no properties, no employments, but those of leisure, no respect of kindred, but common, no clothing, no agriculture, no metal, no use of corn or wine; the very words that signify lying, treachery, dissimulation, avarice, envy, detraction, pardon, never heard of.--[This is the famous passage which Shakespeare, through Florio's version, 1603, or ed. 1613, p. 102, has employed in the "Tempest," ii. 1.]

How much would he find his imaginary Republic short of his perfection?

"Viri a diis recentes."

["Men fresh from the gods."--Seneca, Ep., 90.]

"Hos natura modos primum dedit."

["These were the manners first taught by nature."--Virgil, Georgics, ii. 20.]

As to the rest, they live in a country very pleasant and temperate, so that, as my witnesses inform me, 'tis rare to hear of a sick person, and they moreover assure me, that they never saw any of the natives, either paralytic, bleareyed, toothless, or crooked with age. The situation of their country is along the sea-shore, enclosed on the other side towards the land, with great and high mountains, having about a hundred leagues in breadth between. They have great store of fish and flesh, that have no resemblance to those of ours: which they eat without any other cookery, than plain boiling, roasting, and broiling. The first that rode a horse thither, though in several other voyages he had contracted an acquaintance and familiarity with them, put them into so terrible a fright, with his centaur appearance, that they killed him with their arrows before they could come to discover who he was. Their buildings are very long, and of capacity to hold two or three hundred people, made of the barks of tall trees, reared with one end upon the ground, and leaning to and supporting one another at the top, like some of our barns, of which the covering hangs down to the very ground, and serves for the side walls. They have wood so hard, that they cut with it, and make their swords of it, and their grills of it to broil their meat. Their beds are of cotton, hung swinging from the roof, like our seamen's hammocks, every man his own, for the wives lie apart from their husbands. They rise with the sun, and so soon as they are up, eat for all day, for they have no more meals but that; they do not then drink, as Suidas reports of some other people of the East that never drank at their meals; but drink very often all day after, and sometimes to a rousing pitch. Their drink is made of a certain root, and is of the colour of our claret, and they never drink it but lukewarm. It will not keep above two or three days; it has a somewhat sharp, brisk taste, is nothing heady, but very comfortable to the stomach; laxative to strangers, but a very pleasant beverage to such as are accustomed to it. They make use, instead of bread, of a certain white compound, like coriander seeds; I have tasted of it; the taste is sweet and a little flat. The whole day is spent in dancing. Their young men go a-hunting after wild beasts with bows and arrows; one part of their women are employed in preparing their drink the while, which is their chief employment. One of their old men, in the morning before they fall to eating, preaches to the whole family, walking from the one end of the house to the other, and several times repeating the same sentence, till he has finished the round, for their houses are at least a hundred yards long. Valour towards their enemies and love towards their wives, are the two heads of his discourse, never failing in the close, to put them in mind, that 'tis their wives who provide them their drink warm and well seasoned. The fashion of their beds, ropes, swords, and of the wooden bracelets they tie about their wrists, when they go to fight, and of the great canes, bored hollow at one end, by the sound of which they keep the cadence of their dances, are to be seen in several places, and amongst others, at my house. They shave all over, and much more neatly than we, without other razor than one of wood or stone. They believe in the immortality of the soul, and that those who have merited well of the gods are lodged in that part of heaven where the sun rises, and the accursed in the west.

They have I know not what kind of priests and prophets, who very rarely present themselves to the people, having their abode in the mountains.

同类推荐
  • 金华冲碧丹经秘旨传

    金华冲碧丹经秘旨传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 炮炙全书

    炮炙全书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Crystal Stopper

    The Crystal Stopper

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 黄帝阴符经注

    黄帝阴符经注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大洞炼真宝经修伏灵砂妙诀

    大洞炼真宝经修伏灵砂妙诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 邪王别太拽

    邪王别太拽

    堂堂佣兵之皇狗血蹬腿魂穿异世,再次睁眼时已是男女颠倒的女尊朝代。当纨绔废材不再庸俗懦弱,当佣兵之皇再次主宰全场,这万里山河必然由她掀起一场乱世风云![女强男强,1V1,不喜慎入]
  • 末日之随身空间

    末日之随身空间

    突然有一天,死党秦菲菲告知,她是从末日重生归来,为了再次迎接末日,秦菲菲和云歆开始找金手指,买种子,准备食材和武器……只是坑爹的,末日降临,这个随身空间居然神秘消失……没法,只得拿钱菜刀当武器,平底锅当防具,开门冲出去和丧尸硬碰硬,阿门,保佑我不要成为炮灰!当末日来临,大小姐秦菲菲和宅女云歆开启了扮猪吃老虎的另类末日人生。(纯属书荒,又来开坑,写的不好,请多多包容!)
  • 特工悍妻:王妃难娶

    特工悍妻:王妃难娶

    她精心设计,步步为营,只为助他登上至尊之位,登基之日,她等来的不是白首之约而是他和姐姐的大婚。不堪受辱的她,选择一头撞死。再睁开眼睛,已然换上来自二十一世纪强大的灵魂。“丢了的东西就不要再捡,脏了”“那些曾经泼过我冷水的人,我一定会烧开了还给你们!”足够有资本狂妄的她,试问谁敢拭其锋芒?
  • 世界文化博览1

    世界文化博览1

    带你领略世界文化的博大精深,感受文化的力量和魅力,享受精神的盛宴,浓缩世界文化知识精粹。旨在为读者提高文化修养、丰富人生内涵、添加知识储备、准备写作素材、增加聚会谈资……
  • 马克思主义箴言:艺术与人生

    马克思主义箴言:艺术与人生

    《马克思主义箴言:艺术与人生》内容包括艺术与人生;中国文化革命的主将——鲁迅;伟大的音乐家——贝多芬;批判现实主义作家——巴尔扎克等。
  • 娇妻难娶总裁好心烦

    娇妻难娶总裁好心烦

    他说,她是我的劫,为了她,我宁可倾尽一切,只为她!她说,他是我的缘,为了他,我宁可倾尽年华,只为他!一场意外,让他们分离了七年,只不过经历了众多事情之后的她,能否再次敞开心扉?他说,你怎么会变成这样?!她凄凉一笑,你不会知道的。她决然离去,他在她身后怒吼,你怎么可以这样狠心?无情的女人!他说,我这一生,在事业上没有败绩,唯独在感情上,败给了她。
  • 剑凌虚空

    剑凌虚空

    天生废材?不能修炼魂力?没关系,我有毅力和魄力!百年难遇的无魂属性?不可能成为强者剑士?无所谓,我有紫晶不灭体,将来直接可以毁天灭地别人为了好的剑诀打的头破血流,我拥有羲和、望舒的极品剑诀,迈上巅峰之路。天地万物,尽在我心,剑意纵横,一个废柴少年凭借着自己的努力和手中长剑一步步走上巅峰,傲视群雄。
  • 开江文史典藏

    开江文史典藏

    2013年,开江建县1460周年,《开江文史典藏》是开江县本土历史文化的风采展示。
  • 擒天传

    擒天传

    人生本是痴,不语不成佛,不疯不成魔,这一世我不看前世也不信来生,天不弃我我不弃天,天若绝我我必灭天,一念执着,天之可擒。
  • 书生驾到

    书生驾到

    陈朝已立国一百三十二载,外部李氏、耶律、完颜,轮番登场,内部义军、匪患、流民从未间断。名臣武将、忠臣奸臣、新党旧党……各种人物粉墨登场,演绎一出清明上河图与万里江山图交织交错的盛世余晖。东南明州,本朝龙兴之地,一个意外到来的人,正在过着没羞没臊的舒服日子……(简单来说,可以当做一本北宋末年的架空历史来看,简介无能,不要太在意。)