Page:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - Hume (1748).djvu/147

 by Aristotle, and Hypocrates, more like those, which at present lie under our Observation, than the Men, describ'd by Polybius and Tacitus, are to those who now govern the World.

a Traveller, returning from a far Country, bring us an Account of Men, entirely different from any we were ever acquainted with; Men, who were entirely divested of Avarice, Ambition, or Revenge; who knew no Pleasure but Friendship, Generosity, and public Spirit; we should immediately, from these Circumstances, detect the Falshood, and prove him a Liar, with the same Certainty as if he had stuff'd his Narration with Stories of Centaurs and Dragons, Miracles and Prodigies. And if we would explode any Forgery in History, we cannot make use of a more convincing Argument, than to prove, that the Actions, ascrib'd to any Person, are directly contrary to the Course of Nature, and that no human Motives, in such Circumstances, could ever induce him to such a Conduct. The Veracity of Quintus Curtius is as suspicious, when he describes the supernatural Courage of Alexander, by which he was hurry'd on singly to attack Multitudes, as when he describes his supernatural Force and Activity, by which he was able to resist them. So readily and universally do we acknowledge a Uniformity in human Motives and Actions as well as in the Operations of Body.