OCR Text |
Show ON THE SLAVERY AND CoMMERCE " in their proper arms, exhibited that dance, " which is called Karpcea. The figure of " it is thus. One of them, in the charaCter " of an hulbandman, is feen to till his land, " and is obferved, as he drives his plough, " to look frequently behind him, as if ap" prehenlive of danger. Another imme" diately appears in fight, in the chara~er " of a robber. The hulbandman, havmg " feen him previouily advancing, fnatches " up his arms. A battle enfues before the " plough. The whole of this performance " is kept in perfeCt time with the mulick. "of the flute. At length the robber, hav" ing got the better of the hulbandman, " binds him, and drives him off with his " team. Sometimes it happens that the " hulbandman fubdues the robber: in this " cafe the fcene is only reverfed, as the " latter is then bound and driven off by " the former." It is fcarcely neceifary to obferve, that this dance was a reprefentation of the gene~ ral manners of men, in the more uncivili. zed ages of the world; lhewing that the hulbandman and lhepherd lived in continua~ * atarmf. OF THE HUMAN SPECIE!. ' 13 alarm, and that there were people in thofe ages, who derived their pleafures and fortunes from kidnapping and mjlaving their fellow creatures. We may now take notice of a circumfiance in this narration, which will lead us to a review of our firil: ailertion on this point, " that the honourable light, in which "piracy was conlidered in the times of bar" barifm, contributed not a little to the "jlavery of the human fpecies." The robber is reprefented here as frequently defeated in his attempts, and as reduced to that deplorable fituation, to which he was endeavouring to bring another. This !hews the frequent difficulty and danger of his undertakings : people would not tamely relign their lives or liberties, without a il:ruggle. They were fometimes prepared ; were fuperior often, in many points of view, to thefe invaders of their liberty; there were an hundred accidental circumfl:ances frequently in their favour. Thefe adventures therefore required all the fkill, il:rength, agility, valour, and every thing, in lhorr, that may be fuppofed to conil:itute heroifin, to |