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Show 30 ON THE SLAVERY AND CoMMERCE as citizens, when no other fpecies of ora~ tory could prevail. To thefe truly ingmious, and philofophical works of 1Efop, we ll1all add thofe of his imitator Phredrus, which in purity and elegance of fiyle, are inferiour to none. We lhall add alfo the Lyrick Poetry of Aleman, which is no flrvile compolition; the fublime Morals ofEpictetus, and the incomparable comedies of Terence. Thus then does it appear, that the excl!ft which was uniformly fl:arted in defence of the treatment of llaves, had no foundation whatever either in truth or jufl:ice. The infiances that we have mentioned above, are fuf!icient to {hew, that there was no inferiority, either in their 1zature, or their under· fiandings : and at the fame time that they refute the principles of the ancients, they afford a valuable lelfon to thofe, who have been accufiomed to form too precipitate a judgment on the abilities of men: for, alas! . how often has flcret anguijb deprelfed the fpirits of thofe, whom they have frequently cenfured, from their gloomy and dejected appearance ! and how often, on the other hand oF THE HuMAN SPECIEs. hand, has their judgment refulted from their own vanity and pride I .C H A P. VI. ·We proceed now to the confideration of the commerce: ih confequencc of which, people, endued with the f.1me feelings and faculties as ourfelves, were made fubject to the laws and limitations of pqjjf!Jion. This commerce of the human fpecies was of a very early date. It was foupded on the idea that men were property; a.nd, as this idea was coeval with the firll: order of invo· luntary llaves, it mull: have arifen, (if the date, which we previoufly affixed to that order, be right) in the firil: practices of barter. The Story of J ofeph, as recorded ih the facred writings, whom his brothers fold from an envious fufpicion of his future greatnefs, is an ample teftimony of the truth of this conjecture, It lhews that there were men, even at that early period, who travelled up and down as merchants, collecting not only balm, myrrh, fpicery, and other wares, hl!t tbe human fpecies alfo, for the purpofes |