Page:Reflections upon ancient and modern learning (IA b3032449x).pdf/128

 rit; they believed the Transmigration of Souls; and they esteemed Sickness such a Mark of Intemperance, that when they found themselves indisposed, they died out of Shame and Sullenness, though some lived an Hundred and Fifty or Two Hundred Years. (r) These Indians had their Knowledge, in all probability, from China, a Country where Learning had been in Request from the Time of Fohius, their first King. It is to be presumed, that they communicated of their Store to other Nations, though they themselves have few Foot-steps of it remaining, besides the Writings of Confucius, which are chiefly Moral and Political; because one of their Kings, who desired that the Memory of every Thing should begin with himself, caused Books of all sorts, not relating to Physick and Agriculture, to be destroyed.'

'(s) From India, Learning was carried into Ethiopia and Arabia; thence, by the Way of the Red Sea, it came into Phœnicia; and the Egyptians learnt it of the Ethiopians.'

This is a short Account of the History of Learning, as Sir William Temple has deduced it from its most ancient Beginnings. The Exceptions which may be