XIV. To excite a total distrust of the Vox Populi, you need only
reflect upon the extravagant errors, which in matters of religion,
policy, and manners, have been seen, and may still be seen authorized,
by the common consent of whole bodies politic. Cicero said, there was
no tenet, though ever so wild and absurd, that had not been maintained
by some philosopher or other: _Nihil tam absurdum dici potest, quod non
dicatur ab aliquo philosophorum_. (lib. 2. de Divinat.) I will venture
with greater reason to affirm, there is no extravagance, however
monstrous, which has not been patronized by the uniform consent of some
country.
XV. Things which the light of natural reason represents as abominable,
have in this, and the other region, passed, and still do pass, as
lawful. Lying, perjury, adultery, murder, and robbery: in short, all
vices have obtained, and do obtain, the general approbation of some
nations. The Herules, an ancient people, whose situation cannot be
exactly ascertained, though they dwelt near the borders of the Baltic
Sea, were used to put to death all their sick and old people, nor would
they suffer the wives to survive their husbands. The Caspians, a people
of Scythia, were more barbarous still, for they imprisoned and starved
to death, their own parents, when they came to be advanced in years.
What abominations were committed by some people of Ethiopia, who,
according to Ælian, adopted a dog for their king, and regulated all
their actions, by the gestures and motions of that animal; and Pliny
instances a people, whom he calls Toembaros, though not of Ethiopia,
who obeyed the same master.
Nor are the hearts of mankind in many parts of the world, much mended
at this day. There are many places, where they feed on human flesh, and
go hunting for men, as they would for wild beasts. The Yagos, a people
of the kingdom of Ansicus in Africa, eat, not only the prisoners they
take in war, but feed also upon such of their friends as die natural
deaths; so that among them, the dead have no other burying place than
the stomachs of the living. All the world knows, that in many parts
of the East-Indies, they uphold the barbarous custom, of the women
burning themselves at the funeral of their husbands, and though they
are not by law obliged to do this, the instances of their failing to do
it are very rare, because upon their declining it, they would remain
infamous, despised, and abhorred by every one. Among the Cafres, all
the relations of a person who dies are obliged to cut off the little
finger of the left hand, and throw it into the grave of the deceased.
XVII. What shall we say to the countenance, that has been given to
Turpitude, by various nations? In Malabar, the women may marry as
many husbands as they please. In the Island of Ceylon, when a woman
marries, she is common to all the brothers of her husband, and the
consorted parties may divorce themselves and contract a fresh alliance
whenever they please. In the kingdom of Bengal, all the new-married
women, those of the first rank not excepted, before they are allowed
to be enjoyed by their husbands, are delivered up to the lust of the
bramins or priests. In Mingrelia, a province of Georgia, where the
people are Schismatic Christians, among the compound of various errors
prevailing there, adultery is considered as a thing indifferent, and it
is very rare, that any of their sex are faithful to their consorts; it
is true, that the husband in case of catching the wife in the act of
adultery, has a right by way of compensation, to demand of her paramour
a pig, which is considered as ample amends, and the criminal person is
generally invited to partake of it.