Another set of men were to make it their whole business to till the ground; and a third sort to keep and order the cattle, to chase and kill such of the beasts as would be noxious to mankind, or destroy the tillage, and incommode the husbandman; and to take, and tame, and feed such as might be proper for food or service. A fourth set of men were appointed to be artificers, to employ themselves in making all sorts of weapons for war, and instruments for tillage, and to supply the whole community in general with all utensils and furniture. A fifth set were appointed for the arts of war, to exercise themselves in arms, to be always ready to suppress intestine tumults and disorders, or repel foreign invasions and attacks, whenever ordered for either service; and this their standing force was very numerous, for it was almost equal to the number of the tillers of the ground. A sixth sort were the Ephori, or overseers of the kingdom, a set of persons employed to go over every part of the king's dominions, examining the affairs and management of the subjects, in order to report what might be amiss, that proper measures might be taken to correct and amend it. And lastly, they had a set of the wisest persons to assist the king as his council, and to be employed, either as magistrates or officers to command his armies, or in governing and distributing justice amongst his people. The ancient Indians were, as Diodorus tells us, divided into these seven different orders or sorts of men; and the Chinese polity, according to the best accounts we have, varies but little in substance from these institutions; and according to Le Compte, it was much the same when first settled.

1

d

as it is now, and therefore very probably Noah formed such a plan as this for the first kingdoms. The Chinese say, that Fohi their first king reigned over them one hundred and fifteen years; therefore supposing Noah to be this Fohi," he began to reign in China one hundred and fifteen years before his death, i. e. A. M. 1891, for Noah was born A. M. 1056, and he lived nine hundred and fifty years; therefore, according to this account, we may well allow the truth of what they say, that their government was first settled about four thousand years ago. If we begin the Christian æra with archbishop Usher, A. M. 4004, this present year 1727, will be A. M. 5731; and the interval between this year, and that in which Noah first reigned in China, is three thousand eight hundred and forty years. But we are not to suppose that Noah began the first kingdom which he erected, in China. He came out of the ark three hundred and fifty years before his death," he settled in China but one hundred and fifteen, and it is most probable that he acted in these countries, as Mizraim did in Egypt. He directed his children to form societies, first in one place, and then in another; and he might begin in countries not so far East as China, at the time when part of his descendants removed westward towards Shinaar, about A. M. 1736. Now if we date the rise of the kingdoms founded by Noah about this time, it will in truth be very near four thousand years ago; so that there seems upon the whole but very little mistake in the

See vol. i. b. 2. ⚫'Ib. ver. 28.

с

© Vol. i.

Sec vol. i. b. 2.

d Gen. ix. 29.

Chinese account. They only report things done by Noah before he was, strictly speaking, their king; but hardly before he had performed those very things in places adjacent and bordering upon them. Some remarks may be added, before I dismiss this account of the plan, upon which it seems so probable, that Noah erected the first kingdoms. And,

are

1. The king in these nations had the sole property of all the lands in the kingdom. All theland, says Diodorus," was the king's, and the husbandmen paid rent for their lands to the king, της χώρας μισθός τέλεσι τω βασιλει; and he adds further, that no private person could be the owner of any land; and even still the lands in China held by soccage, and the persons who have the use of them pay duties and contributions for them. Now these began very early, or rather were at [first appointed; for, 2, according to Diodorus, over and above the rent, the ancient Indians paid a fourth part of the product of their ground to the king; and with the income arising hence, the king maintained the soldiers, the magistrates, the officers, the students of astronomy, and the artificers who were employed for the public. The ground-rent, as I might call it, of the lands seems to have been the king's patrimony, and the additional or income tax was appointed for the public service. 3. They had a law against slavery

* Lib. 2. p. 125.

'Doidor. Sic. ubi sup.

Diodor. p. 124.

το παράπαν ειναι.

for no

Le Comte.

Νινομοθέτηται παρ' αυτοις δελον μηδενα

person amongst them could absolutely lose his freedom, and become a bondsman. Many ofthe heathen writers thought, that this was an original institution in the first laws of mankind. Lucian says, that there was such an appointment in the days of Saturn,' i. e. in the first ages; and Athenæus observes that the Babylonians, Persians, as well as the Greeks, and divers other nations, celebrated annually a sort of Saturnalia, or feasts instituted most probably in commemoration of the original state of freedom, in which men lived before servitude was introduced;" and as Moses revived several of Noah's institutons, so there are appointments in the law to preserve the freedom of the Israelites. 4. We do not find any national priests appointed in the original institutions of these nations. This I think a very remarkable particular; because we have early mention of the priests, in the accounts we have of many other nations. In Egypt they were an order of the first rank, and had a considerable share of the lands in the time of Joseph; according to Diodorus, they had the third part of the whole land of Egypt settled upon them. Dionysius of Halycarnassus has given us the institutions of Romulus, and of Numa, for the establishing the Roman Priesthood; and in the times of Plato and Aristotle, though the

n

Lucian. in Saturnal.

Atheneus Deipnos. 1. 14. p. 639. "Leviticus xxv. & in loc. al.

• Diodor. Siç. 1. 1. p. 66.

Lib. 2. Rom. Antiq.

9 De Repub. 1. 7. c. 8

political writers were not unanimous how they were to be created, yet they were agreed, that an established priesthood was necessary in every state or kingdom, But the ancient Indians, according to Diodorus, had originally no such order. Diodorus indeed says, that the philosophers were sent for by private persons of their acquaintance, to their sacrifices and funerals, being esteemed persons much in favour with the gods, and of great skill in the ceremonies to be performed on such occasions. But we must observe, that they were sent for, not as priests to sacrifice, but as learned and good men, able to instruct the common unlearned people how to pay their worship to the Deity in the best manner. Therefore Diodorus justly distinguishes, and calls the part they performed on these occasions, not haragia, which would have been the proper term had they been priests for the people, but unspyia, be-cause they only assisted them on these occasions." It will be asked, how came these nations to have no national priests appointed, as there were in some other kingdoms? I answer; GoD originally appointed who should be the priest to every family, or to any number of families when assembled together, namely the first born or eldest; and as no man could justly take this honour to himself, but he that was called or appointed

παρακο

Lib. 2. p. 125. His words are, of pinocopo λαμβάνονται υπό των ιδίων εις τα τας εν τω βίω θυσίας και εις τας των τετελευτηκότων επιμελείας, ως περις γεγονότες προσφιλέτατοι,