Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/375

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HE Indians believe that repose and non-existence are the foundation of all things, and the end in which they terminate. They consider therefore the state of intire inaction as the most perfect of all states, and the object of their desires. They give to the supreme Being the title of Immoveable. The inhabitants of Siam believe that their utmost happiness consists in not being obliged to animate a machine, or to give motion to a body.

In those countries where the excess of heat enervates and oppresses the body, rest is so delicious, and motion so painful, that this system of metaphysics seems natural; and Foe the legislator of the Indies followed what he himself felt when he placed mankind in a state extremely passive: but his doctrine arising from the laziness of the climate, favoured it also in its turn; which has been the source of an infinite deal of mischief.

The legislators of China had more sense, when considering men not in the peaceful state which they are to enjoy hereafter, but in the situation proper for discharging the several duties of life, Rh