they tamed the patient camel, the fierce bull, the impetuous horse; and,
applauding their own industry, they sat down in the joy of their souls,
and began to taste repose and comfort: and self-love, the principle of
all reasoning, became the incitement to every art, and every enjoyment.

When, therefore, men could pass long days in leisure, and in
communication of their thoughts, they began to contemplate the earth,
the heavens, and their own existence as objects of curiosity and
reflection; they remarked the course of the seasons, the action of
the elements, the properties of fruits and plants; and applied their
thoughts to the multiplication of their enjoyments. And in some
countries, having observed that certain seeds contained a wholesome
nourishment in a small volume, convenient for transportation and
preservation, they imitated the process of nature; they confided to the
earth rice, barley, and corn, which multiplied to the full measure
of their hope; and having found the means of obtaining within a small
compass and without removal, plentiful subsistence and durable stores,
they established themselves in fixed habitations; they built houses,
villages, and towns; formed societies and nations; and self-love
produced all the developments of genius and of power.

Thus by the aid of his own faculties, man has raised himself to the
astonishing height of his present fortune. Too happy if, observing
scrupulously the law of his being, he had faithfully fulfilled its
only and true object! But, by a fatal imprudence, sometimes mistaking,
sometimes transgressing its limits, he has launched forth into a
labyrinth of errors and misfortunes; and self-love, sometimes unruly,
sometimes blind, became a principle fruitful in calamities.