Page:The Lusiad; Or, The Discovery of India.djvu/31

 society, should teach them to defend themselves in the possession of their fields, their families, and their own personal liberties?

Evident however as it is, that the voyages of Gama and Columbus have already carried a superior degree of happiness, and the promise of infinitely more, to the Eastern and Western worlds; yet the advantages derived from the discovery of these regions to Europe may perhaps be denied. But let us view what Europe was, ere the genius of Don Henry gave birth to the spirit of modern discovery.

Several ages before this period the feudal system had degenerated into the most absolute tyranny. The barons exercised the most despotic authority over their vassals, and every scheme of public utility was rendered impracticable by their continual petty wars with each other; to which they led their dependents as dogs to the chase. Unable to read, or to write his own name, the Chieftain was entirely possessed by the most romantic opinion of military glory, and the song of his domestic minstrel constituted his highest idea of fame. The Classics slept on the shelves of the monasteries, their dark, but happy asylum, while the life of the monks resembled that of the fattened beeves which loaded their tables. Real abilities were indeed possessed by a Duns Scotus and a few others; but these were lost in the most trifling subtleties of a sophistry, which they dignified with the name of casuistical Divinity. Whether Adam and Eve were created with navels, and how many thousand angels might at the same instant dance upon the point of the finest needle without one jostling another, were two of the several topics of like importance which excited the acumen and engaged the controversies of the Learned. While every branch of philosophical, of rational investigation, was thus unpursued and unknown, Commerce, incompatible in itself with the feodalfeudal [sic] system, was equally neglected and unimproved. Where the mind is enlarged and enlightened by Learning, plans of Commerce will rise into action, and which, in return, will, from every part of the earth, bring new acquirements to philosophy and science. The birth of Learning and Commerce may be different, but their growth is mutual and dependent upon each other. They not only assist each other, but the same enlargement of mind which is necessary for perfection in