,a ,discourse ,upon ,the ,origin ,and   
,the ,foundation ,of ,the ,inequality   
,among  ,mankind    ,by ,j4 ,j4         
,rousseau          ,,introductory ,,note
    ,jean ,jacques ,rousseau was born at
 ,geneva1 ,june #bh1 #agab1 the son of a
  watchmaker of ,french origin4 ,his    
education was irregular1 and though  he 
tried many professions--including       
engraving1 music1 and  teaching--he     
found it difficult to support himself in
 any of them4 ,the  discovery of his    
talent as a writer came with the winning
 of a prize  offered by the ,academy of 
,dijon for a discourse on the question1 
,whether the progress of the sciences   
and of letters has tended to  corrupt or
 to elevate morals4 ,he argued so       
brilliantly that the  tendency of       
civilization was degrading that he      
became at once famous4  ,the discourse  
here printed on the causes of inequality
 among men was  written in a similar    
competition4    ,he now concentrated his
 powers upon literature1 producing two  

novels1  ,la ,nouvelle ,heloise1 the    
forerunner and parent of endless        
sentimental and picturesque fictions2   
and ,emile1 ou l',education1 a  work    
which has had enormous influence on the 
theory and practise of  pedagogy down to
 our own time and in which the ,savoyard
 ,vicar appears1  who is used as the    
mouthpiece for ,rousseau's own religious
 ideas4 ,le  ,contrat ,social 7#agfb7   
elaborated the doctrine of the discourse
 on  inequality4 ,both historically and 
philosophically it is unsound2 but  it  
was the chief literary source of the    
enthusiasm for liberty1  fraternity1 and
 equality1 which inspired the leaders of
 the ,french  ,revolution1 and its      
effects passed far beyond ,france4      
,his most famous work1 the ,confessions1
 was published after his  death4 ,this  
book is a mine of information as to his 
life1 but it is  far from trustworthy2  
and the picture it gives of the author's
  personality and conduct1 though       
painted in such a way as to make it     

absorbingly interesting1 is often       
unpleasing in the highest degree4  ,but 
it is one of the great autobiographies  
of the world4    ,during ,rousseau's    
later years he was the victim of the    
delusion of  persecution2 and although  
he was protected by a succession of good
  friends1 he came to distrust and      
quarrel with each in turn4 ,he died at  
,ermenonville1 near ,paris1 ,july #b1   
#aggh1 the most widely influential      
,french writer of his age4    ,the      
,savoyard ,vicar and his ,profession of 
,faith are introduced into  ,emile not1 
according to the author1 because he     
wishes to exhibit his  principles as    
those which should be taught1 but to    
give an example of  the way in which    
religious matters should be discussed   
with the young4  ,nevertheless1 it is   
universally recognized that these       
opinions are  ,rousseau's own1 and      
represent in short form his             
characteristic  attitude toward         
religious belief4 ,the ,vicar himself is

 believed to  combine the traits of two 
,savoyard priests whom ,rousseau knew in
 his  youth4 ,the more important was the
 ,abbe ,gaime1 whom he had known at     
,turin2 the other1 the ,abbe ,gatier1   
who had taught him at ,annecy4          
,,question ,,proposed ,,by ,,the        
,,academy ,,of ,,dijon    ,what is the  
,origin of the ,inequality among        
,mankind2 and whether such  ,inequality 
is authorized by the ,law of ,nature8   
,a ,,discourse ,,upon ,,the ,,origin    
,,and ,,the ,,foundation ,,of ,,the     
,,inequality ,,among  ,,mankind    ',tis
 of man ,i am to speak2 and the very    
question1 in answer to which ,i  am to  
speak of him1 sufficiently informs me   
that ,i am going to speak  to men2 for  
to those alone1 who are not afraid of   
honouring truth1 it  belongs to propose 
discussions of this kind4 ,i shall      
therefore  maintain with confidence the 
cause of mankind before the sages1 who  
invite me to stand up in its defence2   
and ,i shall think myself happy1  if ,i 

can but behave in a manner not unworthy 
of my subject and of my  judges4    ,i  
conceive two species of inequality among
 men2 one which ,i call  natural1 or    
physical inequality1 because it is      
established by nature1  and consists in 
the difference of age1 health1 bodily   
strength1 and  the qualities of the     
mind1 or of the soul2 the other which   
may be  termed moral1 or political      
inequality1 because it depends on a kind
 of  convention1 and is established1 or 
at least authorized1 by the common      
consent of mankind4 ,this species of    
inequality consists in the  different   
privileges1 which some men enjoy1 to the
 prejudice of  others1 such as that of  
being richer1 more honoured1 more       
powerful1  and even that of exacting    
obedience from them4    ,it were absurd 
to ask1 what is the cause of natural    
inequality1 seeing  the bare definition 
of natural inequality answers the       
question3 it  would be more absurd still
 to enquire1 if there might not be some 

essential connection between the two    
species of inequality1 as it  would be  
asking1 in other words1 if those who    
command are necessarily  better men than
 those who obey2 and if strength of body
 or of mind1  wisdom or virtue are      
always to be found in individuals1 in   
the same  proportion with power1 or     
riches3 a question1 fit perhaps to be   
discussed by slaves in the hearing of   
their masters1 but unbecoming  free and 
reasonable beings in quest of truth4    
,what therefore is precisely the subject
 of this discourse8 ,it is to  point    
out1 in the progress of things1 that    
moment1 when1 right taking  place of    
violence1 nature became subject to law2 
to display that chain  of surprising    
events1 in consequence of which the     
strong submitted to  serve the weak1 and
 the people to purchase imaginary ease1 
at the  expense of real happiness4      
,the philosophers1 who have examined the
 foundations of society1 have1  every   
one of them1 perceived the necessity of 

tracing it back to a  state of nature1  
but not one of them has ever arrived    
there4 ,some of  them have not scrupled 
to attribute to man in that state the   
ideas of  justice and injustice1 without
 troubling their heads to prove1 that he
  really must have had such ideas1 or   
even that such ideas were useful  to    
him3 others have spoken of the natural  
right of every man to keep  what belongs
 to him1 without letting us know what   
they meant by the  word belong2 others1 
without further ceremony ascribing to   
the  strongest an authority over the    
weakest1 have immediately struck out    
government1 without thinking of the time
 requisite for men to form any  notion  
of the things signified by the words    
authority and government4  ,all of them1
 in fine1 constantly harping on wants1  
avidity1  oppression1 desires and pride1
 have transferred to the state of nature
  ideas picked up in the bosom of       
society4 ,in speaking of savages they   
described citizens4 ,nay1 few of our own

 writers seem to have so much  as       
doubted1 that a state of nature did once
 actually exist2 though it  plainly     
appears by ,sacred ,history1 that even  
the first man1  immediately furnished as
 he was by ,god himself with both       
instructions  and precepts1 never lived 
in that state1 and that1 if we give to  
the  books of ,moses that credit which  
every ,christian philosopher ought to   
give to them1 we must deny that1 even   
before the deluge1 such a state  ever   
existed among men1 unless they fell into
 it by some extraordinary  event3 a     
paradox very difficult to maintain1 and 
altogether impossible  to prove4    ,let
 us begin therefore1 by laying aside    
facts1 for they do not affect  the      
question4 ,the researches1 in which we  
may engage on this occasion1  are not to
 be taken for historical truths1 but    
merely as hypothetical  and conditional 
reasonings1 fitter to illustrate the    
nature of things1  than to show their   
true origin1 like those systems1 which  

our  naturalists daily make of the      
formation of the world4 ,religion       
commands us to believe1 that men1 having
 been drawn by ,god himself out  of a   
state of nature1 are unequal1 because it
 is his pleasure they  should be so2 but
 religion does not forbid us to draw    
conjectures  solely from the nature of  
man1 considered in itself1 and from that
 of  the beings which surround him1     
concerning the fate of mankind1 had     
they been left to themselves4 ,this is  
then the question ,i am to  answer1 the 
question ,i propose to examine in the   
present discourse4 ,as  mankind in      
general have an interest in my subject1 
,i shall endeavour  to use a language   
suitable to all nations2 or rather1     
forgetting the  circumstances of time   
and place in order to think of nothing  
but the  men ,i speak to1 ,i shall      
suppose myself in the ,lyceum of        
,athens1  repeating the lessons of my   
masters before the ,platos and the      
,xenocrates of that famous seat of      

philosophy as my judges1 and in         
presence of the whole human species as  
my audience4    ,o man1 whatever country
 you may belong to1 whatever your       
opinions may  be1 attend to my words2   
you shall hear your history such as ,i  
think ,i  have read it1 not in books    
composed by those like you1 for they are
  liars1 but in the book of nature which
 never lies4 ,all that ,i shall  repeat 
after her1 must be true1 without any    
intermixture of falsehood1  but where ,i
 may happen1 without intending it1 to   
introduce my own  conceits4 ,the times  
,i am going to speak of are very remote4
 ,how much  you are changed from what   
you once were6 ',tis in a manner the    
life of  your species that ,i am going  
to write1 from the qualities which you  
have received1 and which your education 
and your habits could deprave1  but     
could not destroy4 ,there is1 ,i am     
sensible1 an age at which every         
individual of you would choose to stop2 
and you will look out for the  age at   

which1 had you your wish1 your species  
had stopped4 ,uneasy at  your present   
condition for reasons which threaten    
your unhappy  posterity with still      
greater uneasiness1 you will perhaps    
wish it were  in your power to go back2 
and this sentiment ought to be          
considered1  as the panegyric of your   
first parents1 the condemnation of your 
contemporaries1 and a source of terror  
to all those who may have the           
misfortune of succeeding you4           
,,discourse ,,first ,,part    ,however  
important it may be1 in order to form a 
proper judgment of the  natural state of
 man1 to consider him from his origin1  
and to examine  him1 as it were1 in the 
first embryo of the species2 ,i shall   
not  attempt to trace his organization  
through its successive approaches to    
perfection3 ,i shall not stop to examine
 in the animal system what he  might    
have been in the beginning1 to become at
 last what he actually  is2 ,i shall not
 inquire whether1 as ,aristotle thinks1 

his neglected  nails were no better at  
first than crooked talons2 whether his  
whole  body was not1 bear-like1 thick   
covered with rough hair2 and whether1   
walking upon all-fours1 his eyes1       
directed to the earth1 and confined  to 
a horizon of a few paces extent1 did not
 at once point out the  nature and      
limits of his ideas4 ,i could only form 
vague1 and almost  imaginary1           
conjectures on this subject4            
,comparative anatomy has not as  yet    
been sufficiently improved2 neither have
 the observations of  natural philosophy
 been sufficiently ascertained1 to      
establish upon  such foundations the    
basis of a solid system4 ,for this      
reason1 without  having recourse to the 
supernatural informations with which we 
have  been favoured on this head1 or    
paying any attention to the changes1    
that must have happened in the          
conformation of the interior and        
exterior parts of man's body1 in        
proportion as he applied his members  to

 new purposes1 and took to new aliments1
 ,i shall suppose his  conformation to  
have always been1 what we now behold it2
 that he  always walked on two feet1    
made the same use of his hands that we  
do  of ours1 extended his looks over the
 whole face of nature1 and  measured    
with his eyes the vast extent of the    
heavens4    ,if ,i strip this being1    
thus constituted1 of all the            
supernatural gifts  which he may have   
received1 and of all the artificial     
faculties1 which  we could not have     
acquired but by slow degrees2 if ,i     
consider him1 in  a word1 such as he    
must have issued from the hands of      
nature2 ,i see an  animal less strong   
than some1 and less active than others1 
but1 upon  the whole1 the most          
advantageously organized of any2 ,i see 
him  satisfying the calls of hunger     
under the first oak1 and those of       
thirst at the first rivulet2 ,i see him 
laying himself down to sleep at  the    
foot of the same tree that afforded him 

his meal2 and behold1 this  done1 all   
his wants are completely supplied4      
,the earth left to its own natural      
fertility and covered with immense      
woods1 that no hatchet ever disfigured1 
offers at every step food and  shelter  
to every species of animals4 ,men1      
dispersed among them1  observe and      
imitate their industry1 and thus rise to
 the instinct of  beasts2 with this     
advantage1 that1 whereas every species  
of beasts is  confined to one peculiar  
instinct1 man1 who perhaps has not any  
that  particularly belongs to him1      
appropriates to himself those of all    
other animals1 and lives equally upon   
most of the different aliments1  which  
they only divide among themselves2 a    
circumstance which  qualifies him to    
find his subsistence1 with more ease    
than any of  them4    ,men1 accustomed  
from their infancy to the inclemency of 
the weather1  and to the rigour of the  
different seasons2 inured to fatigue1   
and  obliged to defend1 naked and       

without arms1 their life and their prey 
against the other wild inhabitants of   
the forest1 or at least to avoid  their 
fury by flight1 acquire a robust and    
almost unalterable habit of  body2 the  
children1 bringing with them into the   
world the excellent  constitution of    
their parents1 and strengthening it by  
the same  exercises that first produced 
it1 attain by this means all the vigour 
that the human frame is capable of4     
,nature treats them exactly in the  same
 manner that ,sparta treated the        
children of her citizens2 those  who    
come well formed into the world she     
renders strong and robust1 and  destroys
 all the rest2 differing in this respect
 from our societies1  in which the      
state1 by permitting children to become 
burdensome to  their parents1 murders   
them all without distinction1 even in   
the wombs  of their mothers4    ,the    
body being the only instrument that     
savage man is acquainted with1  he      
employs it to different uses1 of which  

ours1 for want of practice1  are        
incapable2 and we may thank our industry
 for the loss of that  strength and     
agility1 which necessity obliges him to 
acquire4 ,had he a  hatchet1 would his  
hand so easily snap off from an oak so  
stout a  branch8 ,had he a sling1 would 
it dart a stone to so great a distance8 
,had he a ladder1 would he run so nimbly
 up a tree8 ,had he a horse1  would he  
with such swiftness shoot along the     
plain8 ,give civilized man  but time to 
gather about him all his machines1 and  
no doubt he will be  an overmatch for   
the savage3 but if you have a mind to   
see a contest  still more unequal1 place
 them naked and unarmed one opposite to 
the  other2 and you will soon discover  
the advantage there is in  perpetually  
having all our forces at our disposal1  
in being constantly  prepared against   
all events1 and in always carrying      
ourselves1 as it  were1 whole and entire
 about us4    ,hobbes would have it that
 man is naturally void of fear1 and     

always  intent upon attacking and       
fighting4 ,an illustrious philosopher   
thinks  on the contrary1 and ,cumberland
 and ,puffendorff likewise affirm it1   
that nothing is more fearful than man in
 a state of nature1 that he is  always  
in a tremble1 and ready to fly at the   
first motion he  perceives1 at the first
 noise that strikes his ears4 ,this1    
indeed1 may  be very true in regard to  
objects with which he is not acquainted2
 and  ,i make no doubt of his being     
terrified at every new sight that       
presents itself1 as often as he cannot  
distinguish the physical good  and evil 
which he may expect from it1 nor compare
 his forces with the  dangers he has to 
encounter2 circumstances that seldom    
occur in a  state of nature1 where all  
things proceed in so uniform a manner1  
and  the face of the earth is not liable
 to those sudden and continual  changes 
occasioned in it by the passions and    
inconstancies of  collected bodies4 ,but
 savage man living among other animals  

without  any society or fixed           
habitation1 and finding himself early   
under a  necessity of measuring his     
strength with theirs1 soon makes a      
comparison between both1 and finding    
that he surpasses them more in  address1
 than they surpass him in strength1 he  
learns not to be any  longer in dread of
 them4 ,turn out a bear or a wolf       
against a sturdy1  active1 resolute     
savage1 7and this they all are17        
provided with stones  and a good stick2 
and you will soon find that the danger  
is at least  equal on both sides1 and   
that after several trials of this kind1 
wild  beasts1 who are not fond of       
attacking each other1 will not be very  
fond of attacking man1 whom they have   
found every whit as wild as  themselves4
 ,as to animals who have really more    
strength than man has  address1 he is1  
in regard to them1 what other weaker    
species are1 who  find means to subsist 
notwithstanding2 he has even this great 
advantage over such weaker species1 that

 being equally fleet with  them1 and    
finding on every tree an almost         
inviolable asylum1 he is  always at     
liberty to take it or leave it1 as he   
likes best1 and of  course to fight or  
to fly1 whichever is most agreeable to  
him4 ,to this  we may add that no animal
 naturally makes war upon man1 except in
 the  case of self-defence or extreme   
hunger2 nor ever expresses against him  
any of these violent antipathies1 which 
seem to indicate that some  particular  
species are intended by nature for the  
food of others4    ,but there are other 
more formidable enemies1 and against    
which man is  not provided with the same
 means of defence2 ,i mean natural      
infirmities1 infancy1 old age1 and      
sickness of every kind1 melancholy      
proofs of our weakness1 whereof the two 
first are common to all  animals1 and   
the last chiefly attends man living in a
 state of  society4 ,it is even         
observable in regard to infancy1 that   
the mother  being able to carry her     

child about with her1 wherever she goes1
 can  perform the duty of a nurse with a
 great deal less trouble1 than the      
females of many other animals1 who are  
obliged to be constantly going  and     
coming with no small labour and fatigue1
 one way to look out for  their own     
subsistence1 and another to suckle and  
feed their young  ones4 ,true it is     
that1 if the woman happens to perish1   
her child is  exposed to the greatest   
danger of perishing with her2 but this  
danger  is common to a hundred other    
species1 whose young ones require a     
great  deal of time to be able to       
provide for themselves2 and if our      
infancy  is longer than theirs1 our life
 is longer likewise2 so that1 in this   
respect too1 all things are in a manner 
equal2 not but that there are  other    
rules concerning the duration of the    
first age of life1 and the  number of   
the young of man and other animals1 but 
they do not belong  to my subject4 ,with
 old men1 who stir and perspire but     

little1 the  demand for food diminishes 
with their abilities to provide it2 and 
as  a savage life would exempt them from
 the gout and the rheumatism1 and  old  
age is of all ills that which human     
assistance is least capable of          
alleviating1 they would at last go off1 
without its being perceived by  others  
that they ceased to exist1 and almost   
without perceiving it  themselves4      
,in regard to sickness1 ,i shall not    
repeat the vain and false  declamations 
made use of to discredit medicine by    
most men1 while they  enjoy their       
health2 ,i shall only ask if there are  
any solid  observations from which we   
may conclude that in those countries    
where  the healing art is most          
neglected1 the mean duration of man's   
life is  shorter than in those where it 
is most cultivated8 ,and how is it      
possible this should be the case1 if we 
inflict more diseases upon  ourselves   
than medicine can supply us with        
remedies6 ,the extreme  inequalities in 

the manner of living of the several     
classes of  mankind1 the excess of      
idleness in some1 and of labour in      
others1 the  facility of irritating and 
satisfying our sensuality and our       
appetites1 the too exquisite and out of 
the way aliments of the rich1  which    
fill them with fiery juices1 and bring  
on indigestions1 the  unwholesome food  
of the poor1 of which even1 bad as it   
is1 they very  often fall short1 and the
 want of which tempts them1 every       
opportunity  that offers1 to eat        
greedily and overload their stomachs2   
watchings1  excesses of every kind1     
immoderate transports of all the        
passions1  fatigues1 waste of spirits1  
in a word1 the numberless pains and     
anxieties annexed to every condition1   
and which the mind of man is  constantly
 a prey to2 these are the fatal proofs  
that most of our ills  are of our own   
making1 and that we might have avoided  
them all by  adhering to the simple1    
uniform and solitary way of life        

prescribed to  us by nature4 ,allowing  
that nature intended we should always   
enjoy  good health1 ,i dare almost      
affirm that a state of reflection is a  
state against nature1 and that the man  
who meditates is a depraved  animal4 ,we
 need only call to mind the good        
constitution of savages1  of those at   
least whom we have not destroyed by our 
strong liquors2 we  need only reflect1  
that they are strangers to almost every 
disease1  except those occasioned by    
wounds and old age1 to be in a manner   
convinced that the history of human     
diseases might be easily composed  by   
pursuing that of civil societies4 ,such 
at least was the opinion of  ,plato1 who
 concluded from certain remedies made   
use of or approved by  ,podalyrus and   
,macaon at the ,siege of ,troy1 that    
several disorders1  which these remedies
 were found to bring on in his days1    
were not  known among men at that remote
 period4    ,man therefore1 in a state  
of nature where there are so few sources

 of  sickness1 can have no great        
occasion for physic1 and still less for 
physicians2 neither is the human species
 more to be pitied in this  respect1    
than any other species of animals4 ,ask 
those who make hunting  their recreation
 or business1 if in their excursions    
they meet with  many sick or feeble     
animals4 ,they meet with many carrying  
the marks of  considerable wounds1 that 
have been perfectly well healed and     
closed  up2 with many1 whose bones      
formerly broken1 and whose limbs almost 
torn off1 have completely knit and      
united1 without any other surgeon  but  
time1 any other regimen but their usual 
way of living1 and whose  cures were not
 the less perfect for their not having  
been tortured  with incisions1 poisoned 
with drugs1 or worn out by diet and     
abstinence4 ,in a word1 however useful  
medicine well administered may  be to us
 who live in a state of society1 it is  
still past doubt1 that  if1 on the one  
hand1 the sick savage1 destitute of     

help1 has nothing  to hope from nature1 
on the other1 he has nothing to fear but
 from his  disease2 a circumstance1     
which oftens renders his situation      
preferable  to ours4    ,let us         
therefore beware of confounding savage  
man with the men1 whom  we daily see and
 converse with4 ,nature behaves towards 
all animals  left to her care with a    
predilection1 that seems to prove how   
jealous  she is of that prerogative4    
,the horse1 the cat1 the bull1 nay the  
ass  itself1 have generally a higher    
stature1 and always a more robust       
constitution1 more vigour1 more strength
 and courage in their forests  than in  
our houses2 they lose half these        
advantages by becoming  domestic        
animals2 it looks as if all our         
attention to treat them  kindly1 and to 
feed them well1 served only to          
bastardize them4 ,it is  thus with man  
himself4 ,in proportion as he becomes   
sociable and a  slave to others1 he     
becomes weak1 fearful1 mean-spirited1   

and his soft  and effeminate way of     
living at once completes the enervation 
of his  strength and of his courage4 ,we
 may add1 that there must be still a    
wider difference between man and man in 
a savage and domestic  condition1 than  
between beast and beast2 for as men and 
beasts have  been treated alike by      
nature1 all the conveniences with which 
men  indulge themselves more than they  
do the beasts tamed by them1 are so     
many particular causes which make them  
degenerate more sensibly4    ,nakedness 
therefore1 the want of houses1 and of   
all these  unnecessaries1 which we      
consider as so very necessary1 are not  
such  mighty evils in respect to these  
primitive men1 and much less still  any 
obstacle to their preservation4 ,their  
skins1 it is true1 are  destitute of    
hair2 but then they have no occasion for
 any such  covering in warm climates2   
and in cold climates they soon learn to 
apply to that use those of the animals  
they have conquered2 they have  but two 

feet to run with1 but they have two     
hands to defend themselves  with1 and   
provide for all their wants2 it costs   
them perhaps a great  deal of time and  
trouble to make their children walk1 but
 the mothers  carry them with ease2 an  
advantage not granted to other species  
of  animals1 with whom the mother1 when 
pursued1 is obliged to abandon her      
young ones1 or regulate her steps by    
theirs4 ,in short1 unless we admit      
those singular and fortuitous           
concurrences of circumstances1 which ,i 
shall speak of hereafter1 and which1 it 
is very possible1 may never  have       
existed1 it is evident1 in every state  
of the question1 that the  man1 who     
first made himself clothes and built    
himself a cabin1  supplied himself with 
things which he did not much want1 since
 he had  lived without them till then2  
and why should he not have been able to 
support in his riper years1 the same    
kind of life1 which he had  supported   
from his infancy8    ,alone1 idle1 and  

always surrounded with danger1 savage   
man must be  fond of sleep1 and sleep   
lightly like other animals1 who think   
but  little1 and may1 in a manner1 be   
said to sleep all the time they do  not 
think3 self-preservation being almost   
his only concern1 he must  exercise     
those faculties most1 which are most    
serviceable in attacking  and in        
defending1 whether to subdue his prey1  
or to prevent his  becoming that of     
other animals3 those organs1 on the     
contrary1 which  softness and sensuality
 can alone improve1 must remain in a    
state of  rudeness1 utterly incompatible
 with all manner of delicacy2 and as his
  senses are divided on this point1 his 
touch and his taste must be  extremely  
coarse and blunt2 his sight1 his        
hearing1 and his smelling  equally      
subtle3 such is the animal state in     
general1 and accordingly  if we may     
believe travellers1 it is that of most  
savage nations4 ,we  must not therefore 
be surprised1 that the ,hottentots of   

the ,cape of  ,good ,hope1 distinguish  
with their naked eyes ships on the      
ocean1 at as  great a distance as the   
,dutch can discern them with their      
glasses2 nor  that the savages of       
,america should have tracked the        
,spaniards with  their noses1 to as     
great a degree of exactness1 as the best
 dogs could  have done2 nor that all    
these barbarous nations support         
nakedness  without pain1 use such large 
quantities of ,piemento to give their   
food  a relish1 and drink like water the
 strongest liquors of ,europe4    ,as   
yet ,i have considered man merely in his
 physical capacity2 let us  now         
endeavour to examine him in a           
metaphysical and moral light4    ,i can 
discover nothing in any mere animal but 
an ingenious machine1 to  which nature  
has given senses to wind itself up1 and 
guard1 to a  certain degree1 against    
everything that might destroy or        
disorder it4  ,i perceive the very same 
things in the human machine1 with this  

difference1 that nature alone operates  
in all the operations of the  beast1    
whereas man1 as a free agent1 has a     
share in his4 ,one chooses  by instinct2
 the other by an act of liberty2 for    
which reason the  beast cannot deviate  
from the rules that have been prescribed
 to it1  even in cases where such       
deviation might be useful1 and man often
  deviates from the rules laid down for 
him to his prejudice4 ,thus a  pigeon   
would starve near a dish of the best    
flesh-meat1 and a cat on a  heap of     
fruit or corn1 though both might very   
well support life with  the food which  
they thus disdain1 did they but bethink 
themselves to  make a trial of it3 it is
 in this manner dissolute men run into  
excesses1 which bring on fevers and     
death itself2 because the mind  depraves
 the senses1 and when nature ceases to  
speak1 the will still  continues to     
dictate4    ,all animals must be allowed
 to have ideas1 since all animals have  
senses2 they even combine their ideas to

 a certain degree1 and1 in  this        
respect1 it is only the difference of   
such degree1 that  constitutes the      
difference between man and beast3 some  
philosophers  have even advanced1 that  
there is a greater difference between   
some  men and some others1 than between 
some men and some beasts2 it is not     
therefore so much the understanding that
 constitutes1 among animals1  the       
specifical distinction of man1 as his   
quality of a free agent4  ,nature speaks
 to all animals1 and beasts obey her    
voice4 ,man feels the  same impression1 
but he at the same time perceives that  
he is free to  resist or to acquiesce2  
and it is in the consciousness of this  
liberty1 that the spirituality of his   
soul chiefly appears3 for  natural      
philosophy explains1 in some measure1   
the mechanism of the  senses and the    
formation of ideas2 but in the power of 
willing1 or  rather of choosing1 and in 
the consciousness of this power1 nothing
  can be discovered but acts1 that are  

purely spiritual1 and cannot be         
accounted for by the laws of mechanics4 
,but though the difficulties1 in which  
all these questions are  involved1      
should leave some room to dispute on    
this difference between  man and beast1 
there is another very specific quality  
that  distinguishes them1 and a quality 
which will admit of no dispute2 this  is
 the faculty of improvement2 a faculty  
which1 as circumstances  offer1         
successively unfolds all the other      
faculties1 and resides among  us not    
only in the species1 but in the         
individuals that compose it2  whereas a 
beast is1 at the end of some months1 all
 he ever will be  during the rest of his
 life2 and his species1 at the end of a 
thousand  years1 precisely what it was  
the first year of that long period4 ,why
  is man alone subject to dotage8 ,is it
 not1 because he thus returns to  his   
primitive condition8 ,and because1 while
 the beast1 which has  acquired nothing 
and has likewise nothing to lose1       

continues always in  possession of his  
instinct1 man1 losing by old age1 or by 
accident1  all the acquisitions he had  
made in consequence of his              
perfectibility1  thus falls back even   
lower than beasts themselves8 ,it would 
be a  melancholy necessity for us to be 
obliged to allow1 that this  distinctive
 and almost unlimited faculty is the    
source of all man's  misfortunes2 that  
it is this faculty1 which1 though by    
slow degrees1  draws them out of their  
original condition1 in which his days   
would  slide away insensibly in peace   
and innocence2 that it is this faculty1 
which1 in a succession of ages1 produces
 his discoveries and mistakes1  his     
virtues and his vices1 and1 at long run1
 renders him both his own  and nature's 
tyrant4 ,it would be shocking to be     
obliged to commend1 as  a beneficent    
being1 whoever he was that first        
suggested to the  ,oronoco ,indians the 
use of those boards which they bind on  
the  temples of their children1 and     

which secure to them the enjoyment of   
some part at least of their natural     
imbecility and happiness4    ,savage    
man1 abandoned by nature to pure        
instinct1 or rather  indemnified for    
that which has perhaps been denied to   
him by faculties  capable of immediately
 supplying the place of it1 and of      
raising him  afterwards a great deal    
higher1 would therefore begin with      
functions  that were merely animal3 to  
see and to feel would be his first      
condition1 which he would enjoy in      
common with other animals4 ,to will  and
 not to will1 to wish and to fear1 would
 be the first1 and in a  manner1 the    
only operations of his soul1 till new   
circumstances  occasioned new           
developments4    ,let moralists say what
 they will1 the human understanding is  
greatly  indebted to the passions1      
which1 on their side1 are likewise      
universally allowed to be greatly       
indebted to the human understanding4    
,it is by the activity of our passions1 

that our reason improves3 we  covet     
knowledge merely because we covet       
enjoyment1 and it is  impossible to     
conceive why a man exempt from fears and
 desires should  take the trouble to    
reason4 ,the passions1 in their turn1   
owe their  origin to our wants1 and     
their increase to our progress in       
science2  for we cannot desire or fear  
anything1 but in consequence of the     
ideas  we have of it1 or of the simple  
impulses of nature2 and savage man1     
destitute of every species of knowledge1
 experiences no passions but  those of  
this last kind2 his desires never extend
 beyond his physical  wants2 he knows no
 goods but food1 a female1 and rest2 he 
fears no  evil but pain1 and hunger2 ,i 
say pain1 and not death2 for no animal1 
merely as such1 will ever know what it  
is to die1 and the knowledge of  death1 
and of its terrors1 is one of the first 
acquisitions made by  man1 in           
consequence of his deviating from the   
animal state4    ,i could easily1 were  

it requisite1 cite facts in support of  
this  opinion1 and show1 that the       
progress of the mind has everywhere kept
  pace exactly with the wants1 to which 
nature had left the inhabitants         
exposed1 or to which circumstances had  
subjected them1 and  consequently to the
 passions1 which inclined them to       
provide for these  wants4 ,i could      
exhibit in ,egypt the arts starting up1 
and extending  themselves with the      
inundations of the ,nile2 ,i could      
pursue them in  their progress among the
 ,greeks1 where they were seen to bud   
forth1  grow1 and rise to the heavens1  
in the midst of the sands and rocks of  
,attica1 without being able to take root
 on the fertile banks of the  ,eurotas2 
,i would observe that1 in general1 the  
inhabitants of the  north are more      
industrious than those of the south1    
because they can  less do without       
industry2 as if nature thus meant to    
make all things  equal1 by giving to the
 mind that fertility she has denied to  

the  soil4    ,but exclusive of the     
uncertain testimonies of history1 who   
does not  perceive that everything seems
 to remove from savage man the          
temptation and the means of altering his
 condition8 ,his imagination  paints    
nothing to him2 his heart asks nothing  
from him4 ,his moderate  wants are so   
easily supplied with what he everywhere 
finds ready to  his hand1 and he stands 
at such a distance from the degree of   
knowledge requisite to covet more1 that 
he can neither have foresight  nor      
curiosity4 ,the spectacle of nature1 by 
growing quite familiar to  him1 becomes 
at last equally indifferent4 ,it is     
constantly the same  order1 constantly  
the same revolutions2 he has not sense  
enough to  feel surprise at the sight of
 the greatest wonders2 and it is not in 
his mind we must look for that          
philosophy1 which man must have to know 
how to observe once1 what he has every  
day seen4 ,his soul1 which  nothing     
disturbs1 gives itself up entirely to   

the consciousness of its  actual        
existence1 without any thought of even  
the nearest futurity2  and his projects1
 equally confined with his views1 scarce
 extend to  the end of the day4 ,such   
is1 even at present1 the degree of      
foresight  in the ,caribbean3 he sells  
his cotton bed in the morning1 and comes
 in  the evening1 with tears in his     
eyes1 to buy it back1 not having        
foreseen that he should want it again   
the next night4    ,the more we meditate
 on this subject1 the wider does the    
distance  between mere sensation and the
 most simple knowledge become in our    
eyes2 and it is impossible to conceive  
how man1 by his own powers  alone1      
without the assistance of communication1
 and the spur of  necessity1 could have 
got over so great an interval4 ,how many
 ages  perhaps revolved1 before men     
beheld any other fire but that of the   
heavens8 ,how many different accidents  
must have concurred to make them        
acquainted with the most common uses of 

this element8 ,how often have  they let 
it go out1 before they knew the art of  
reproducing it8 ,and  how often perhaps 
has not every one of these secrets      
perished with the  discoverer8 ,what    
shall we say of agriculture1 an art     
which requires so  much labour and      
foresight2 which depends upon other     
arts2 which1 it is  very evident1 cannot
 be practised but in a society1 if not a
 formed  one1 at least one of some      
standing1 and which does not so much    
serve  to draw aliments from the earth1 
for the earth would yield them  without 
all that trouble1 as to oblige her to   
produce those things1  which we like    
best1 preferably to others8 ,but let us 
suppose that men  had multiplied to such
 a degree1 that the natural products of 
the  earth no longer sufficed for their 
support2 a supposition which1 by  the   
bye1 would prove that this kind of life 
would be very advantageous  to the human
 species2 let us suppose that1 without  
forge or anvil1 the  instruments of     

husbandry had dropped from the heavens  
into the hands  of savages1 that these  
men had got the better of that mortal   
aversion  they all have for constant    
labour2 that they had learned to        
foretell  their wants at so great a     
distance of time2 that they had guessed 
exactly how they were to break the      
earth1 commit their seed to it1 and     
plant trees2 that they had found out the
 art of grinding their corn1  and       
improving by fermentation the juice of  
their grapes2 all  operations which we  
must allow them to have learned from the
 gods1  since we cannot conceive how    
they should make such discoveries of    
themselves2 after all these fine        
presents1 what man would be mad  enough 
to cultivate a field1 that may be robbed
 by the first comer1  man or beast1 who 
takes a fancy to the produce of it4 ,and
 would any  man consent to spend his day
 in labour and fatigue1 when the rewards
  of his labour and fatigue became more 
and more precarious in  proportion to   

his want of them8 ,in a word1 how could 
this situation  engage men to cultivate 
the earth1 as long as it was not        
parcelled out  among them1 that is1 as  
long as a state of nature subsisted4    
,though we should suppose savage man as 
well versed in the art of  thinking1 as 
philosophers make him2 though we were1  
after them1 to  make him a philosopher  
himself1 discovering of himself the     
sublimest  truths1 forming to himself1  
by the most abstract arguments1 maxims  
of  justice and reason drawn from the   
love of order in general1 or from  the  
known will of his ,creator3 in a word1  
though we were to suppose  his mind as  
intelligent and enlightened1 as it must1
 and is1 in fact1  found to be dull and 
stupid2 what benefit would the species  
receive  from all these metaphysical    
discoveries1 which could not be         
communicated1 but must perish with the  
individual who had made them8  ,what    
progress could mankind make in the      
forests1 scattered up and down  among   

the other animals8 ,and to what degree  
could men mutually improve  and         
enlighten each other1 when they had no  
fixed habitation1 nor any  need of each 
other's assistance2 when the same       
persons scarcely met  twice in their    
whole lives1 and on meeting neither     
spoke to1 or so  much as knew each      
other8    ,let us consider how many     
ideas we owe to the use of speech2 how  
much  grammar exercises1 and facilitates
 the operations of the mind2 let us1    
besides1 reflect on the immense pains   
and time that the first  invention of   
languages must have required3 ,let us   
add these  reflections to the preceding2
 and then we may judge how many thousand
  ages must have been requisite to      
develop successively the operations1    
which the human mind is capable of      
producing4    ,i must now beg leave to  
stop one moment to consider the         
perplexities  attending the origin of   
languages4 ,i might here barely cite or 
repeat  the researches made1 in relation

 to this question1 by the ,abbe de      
,condillac1 which all fully confirm my  
system1 and perhaps even  suggested to  
me the first idea of it4 ,but1 as the   
manner1 in which the  philosopher       
resolves the difficulties of his own    
starting1 concerning  the origin of     
arbitrary signs1 shows that he supposes1
 what ,i doubt1  namely a kind of       
society already established among the   
inventors of  languages2 ,i think it my 
duty1 at the same time that ,i refer to 
his  reflections1 to give my own1 in    
order to expose the same difficulties   
in a light suitable to my subject4 ,the 
first that offers is how  languages     
could become necessary2 for as there was
 no correspondence  between men1 nor the
 least necessity for any1 there is no   
conceiving  the necessity of this       
invention1 nor the possibility of it1 if
 it was  not indispensable4 ,i might    
say1 with many others1 that languages   
are  the fruit of the domestic          
intercourse between fathers1 mothers1   

and  children3 but this1 besides its not
 answering any difficulties1 would  be  
committing the same fault with those1   
who reasoning on the state of  nature1  
transfer to it ideas collected in       
society1 always consider  families as   
living together under one roof1 and     
their members as  observing among       
themselves an union1 equally intimate   
and permanent  with that which we see   
exist in a civil state1 where so many   
common  interests conspire to unite     
them2 whereas in this primitive state1  
as  there were neither houses nor       
cabins1 nor any kind of property1 every 
one took up his lodging at random1 and  
seldom continued above one  night in the
 same place2 males and females united   
without any  premeditated design1 as    
chance1 occasion1 or desire brought them
  together1 nor had they any great      
occasion for language to make known     
their thoughts to each other4 ,they     
parted with the same ease4 ,the  mother 
suckled her children1 when just born1   

for her own sake2 but  afterwards out of
 love and affection to them1 when habit 
and custom  had made them dear to her2  
but they no sooner gained strength      
enough  to run about in quest of food   
than they separated even from her of    
their own accord2 and as they scarce had
 any other method of not  losing each   
other1 than that of remaining constantly
 in each other's  sight1 they soon came 
to such a pass of forgetfulness1 as not 
even to  know each other1 when they     
happened to meet again4 ,i must further 
observe that the child having all his   
wants to explain1 and  consequently more
 things to say to his mother1 than the  
mother can  have to say to him1 it is he
 that must be at the chief expense of   
invention1 and the language he makes use
 of must be in a great measure  his own 
work2 this makes the number of languages
 equal to that of the  individuals who  
are to speak them2 and this multiplicity
 of languages  is further increased by  
their roving and vagabond kind of life1 

which  allows no idiom time enough to   
acquire any consistency2 for to say     
that the mother would have dictated to  
the child the words he must  employ to  
ask her this thing and that1 may well   
enough explain in what  manner          
languages1 already formed1 are taught1  
but it does not show us  in what manner 
they are first formed4    ,let us       
suppose this first difficulty conquered3
 ,let us for a moment  consider         
ourselves at this side of the immense   
space1 which must have  separated the   
pure state of nature from that in which 
languages became  necessary1 and let us1
 after allowing such necessity1 examine 
how  languages could begin to be        
established4 ,a new difficulty this1    
still  more stubborn than the preceding2
 for if men stood in need of speech  to 
learn to think1 they must have stood in 
still greater need of the  art of       
thinking to invent that of speaking2 and
 though we could  conceive how the      
sounds of the voice came to be taken for

 the  conventional interpreters of our  
ideas we should not be the nearer       
knowing who could have been the         
interpreters of this convention for     
such ideas1 as1 in consequence of their 
not having any sensible  objects1 could 
not be made manifest by gesture or      
voice2 so that we  can scarce form any  
tolerable conjectures concerning the    
birth of this  art of communicating our 
thoughts1 and establishing a            
correspondence  between minds3 a sublime
 art which1 though so remote from its   
origin1  philosophers still behold at   
such a prodigious distance from its     
perfection1 that ,i never met with one  
of them bold enough to affirm it  would 
ever arrive there1 though the           
revolutions necessarily produced  by    
time were suspended in its favour2      
though prejudice could be  banished     
from1 or would be at least content to   
sit silent in the  presence of our      
academies1 and though these societies   
should  consecrate themselves1 entirely 

and during whole ages1 to the study of  
this intricate object4    ,the first    
language of man1 the most universal and 
most energetic of  all languages1 in    
short1 the only language he had occasion
 for1 before  there was a necessity of  
persuading assembled multitudes1 was the
 cry  of nature4 ,as this cry was never 
extorted but by a kind of instinct in   
the most urgent cases1 to implore       
assistance in great danger1 or  relief  
in great sufferings1 it was of little   
use in the common  occurrences of life1 
where more moderate sentiments generally
 prevail4  ,when the ideas of men began 
to extend and multiply1 and a closer    
communication began to take place among 
them1 they laboured to devise  more     
numerous signs1 and a more extensive    
language3 they multiplied  the          
inflections of the voice1 and added to  
them gestures1 which are1  in their own 
nature1 more expressive1 and whose      
meaning depends less  on any prior      
determination4 ,they therefore expressed

 visible and  movable objects by        
gestures and those which strike the ear1
 by  imitative sounds3 but as gestures  
scarcely indicate anything except       
objects that are actually present or can
 be easily described1 and  visible      
actions2 as they are not of general use1
 since darkness or the  interposition of
 an opaque medium renders them useless2 
and as besides  they require attention  
rather than excite it3 men at length    
bethought  themselves of substituting   
for them the articulations of voice1    
which1  without having the same relation
 to any determinate object1 are1 in     
quality of instituted signs1 fitter to  
represent all our ideas2 a              
substitution1 which could only have been
 made by common consent1 and  in a      
manner pretty difficult to practise by  
men1 whose rude organs  were unimproved 
by exercise2 a substitution1 which is in
 itself more  difficult to be conceived1
 since the motives to this unanimous    
agreement must have been somehow or     

another expressed1 and speech  therefore
 appears to have been exceedingly       
requisite to establish the  use of      
speech4    ,we must allow that the      
words1 first made use of by men1 had in 
their  minds a much more extensive      
signification1 than those employed in   
languages of some standing1 and that1   
considering how ignorant they  were of  
the division of speech into its         
constituent parts2 they at  first gave  
every word the meaning of an entire     
proposition4 ,when  afterwards they     
began to perceive the difference between
 the subject  and attribute1 and between
 verb and noun1 a distinction which     
required  no mean effort of genius1 the 
substantives for a time were only so    
many proper names1 the infinitive was   
the only tense1 and as to  adjectives1  
great difficulties must have attended   
the development of  the idea that       
represents them1 since every adjective  
is an abstract  word1 and abstraction is
 an unnatural and very painful          

operation4    ,at first they gave every 
object a peculiar name1 without any     
regard to  its genus or species1 things 
which these first institutors of        
language  were in no condition to       
distinguish2 and every individual       
presented  itself solitary to their     
minds1 as it stands in the table of     
nature4  ,if they called one oak ,a1    
they called another oak ,b3 so that     
their  dictionary must have been more   
extensive in proportion as their        
knowledge of things was more confined4  
,it could not but be a very  difficult  
task to get rid of so diffuse and       
embarrassing a  nomenclature2 as in     
order to marshal the several beings     
under common  and generic denominations1
 it was necessary to be first acquainted
  with their properties1 and their      
differences2 to be stocked with         
observations and definitions1 that is to
 say1 to understand natural  history and
 metaphysics1 advantages which the men  
of these times could  not have enjoyed4 

,besides1 general ideas cannot be       
conveyed to the mind without the        
assistance of words1 nor can the        
understanding seize them without the    
assistance of propositions4 ,this is one
 of the reasons1 why mere  animals      
cannot form such ideas1 nor ever acquire
 the perfectibility  which depends on   
such an operation4 ,when a monkey leaves
 without the  least hesitation one nut  
for another1 are we to think he has any 
general idea of that kind of fruit1 and 
that he compares these two  individual  
bodies with his archetype notion of     
them8 ,no1 certainly2  but the sight of 
one of these nuts calls back to his     
memory the  sensations which he has     
received from the other2 and his eyes1  
modified after some certain manner1 give
 notice to his palate of the            
modification it is in its turn going to 
receive4 ,every general idea is  purely 
intellectual2 let the imagination tamper
 ever so little with  it1 it immediately
 becomes a particular idea4 ,endeavour  

to represent  to yourself the image of a
 tree in general1 you never will be able
 to  do it2 in spite of all your efforts
 it will appear big or little1 thin  or 
tufted1 of a bright or a deep colour2   
and were you master to see  nothing in  
it1 but what can be seen in every tree1 
such a picture  would no longer resemble
 any tree4 ,beings perfectly abstract   
are  perceivable in the same manner1 or 
are only conceivable by the  assistance 
of speech4 ,the definition of a triangle
 can alone give you  a just idea of that
 figure3 the moment you form a triangle 
in your  mind1 it is this or that       
particular triangle and no other1 and   
you  cannot avoid giving breadth to its 
lines and colour to its area4 ,we  must 
therefore make use of propositions2 we  
must therefore speak to  have general   
ideas2 for the moment the imagination   
stops1 the mind  must stop too1 if not  
assisted by speech4 ,if therefore the   
first  inventors could give no names to 
any ideas but those they had already1   

it follows that the first substantives  
could never have been anything  more    
than proper names4    ,but when by      
means1 which ,i cannot conceive1 our new
 grammarians began  to extend their     
ideas1 and generalize their words1 the  
ignorance of  the inventors must have   
confined this method to very narrow     
bounds2  and as they had at first too   
much multiplied the names of individuals
  for want of being acquainted with the 
distinctions called genus and  species1 
they afterwards made too few genera and 
species for want of  having considered  
beings in all their differences2 to push
 the  divisions far enough1 they must   
have had more knowledge and experience  
than we can allow them1 and have made   
more researches and taken more  pains1  
than we can suppose them willing to     
submit to4 ,now if1 even at  this       
present time1 we every day discover new 
species1 which had before  escaped all  
our observations1 how many species must 
have escaped the  notice of men1 who    

judged of things merely from their first
  appearances6 ,as to the primitive     
classes and the most general notions1   
it were superfluous to add that these   
they must have likewise  overlooked3    
how1 for example1 could they have       
thought of or understood  the words1    
matter1 spirit1 substance1 mode1 figure1
 motion1 since even  our philosophers1  
who for so long a time have been        
constantly  employing these terms1 can  
themselves scarcely understand them1 and
  since the ideas annexed to these words
 being purely metaphysical1 no  models  
of them could be found in nature8    ,i 
stop at these first advances1 and       
beseech my judges to suspend their      
lecture a little1 in order to consider1 
what a great way language has  still to 
go1 in regard to the invention of       
physical substantives  alone1 7though   
the easiest part of language to invent17
 to be able to  express all the         
sentiments of man1 to assume an         
invariable form1 to  bear being spoken  

in public and to influence society3 ,i  
earnestly  entreat them to consider how 
much time and knowledge must have been  
requisite to find out numbers1 abstract 
words1 the aorists1 and all  the other  
tenses of verbs1 the particles1 and     
syntax1 the method of  connecting       
propositions and arguments1 of forming  
all the logic of  discourse4 ,for my own
 part1 ,i am so scared at the           
difficulties that  multiply at every    
step1 and so convinced of the almost    
demonstrated  impossibility of languages
 owing their birth and establishment to 
means that were merely human1 that ,i   
must leave to whoever may please  to    
take it up1 the task of discussing this 
difficult problem4 ,which  was the most 
necessary1 society already formed to    
invent languages1 or  languages already 
invented to form society8    ,but be the
 case of these origins ever so          
mysterious1 we may at least  infer from 
the little care which nature has taken  
to bring men  together by mutual wants1 

and make the use of speech easy to them1
 how  little she has done towards making
 them sociable1 and how little she  has 
contributed to anything which they      
themselves have done to become  so4 ,in 
fact1 it is impossible to conceive1 why1
 in this primitive  state1 one man      
should have more occasion for the       
assistance of  another1 than one monkey1
 or one wolf for that of another animal 
of  the same species2 or supposing that 
he had1 what motive could induce        
another to assist him2 or even1 in this 
last case1 how he1 who wanted           
assistance1 and he from whom it was     
wanted1 could agree among  themselves   
upon the conditions4 ,authors1 ,i know1 
are continually  telling us1 that in    
this state man would have been a most   
miserable  creature2 and if it is true1 
as ,i fancy ,i have proved it1 that he  
must  have continued many ages without  
either the desire or the opportunity  of
 emerging from such a state1 this their 
assertion could only serve  to justify a

 charge against nature1 and not any     
against the being  which nature had thus
 constituted2 but1 if ,i thoroughly     
understand  this term miserable1 it is a
 word1 that either has no meaning1 or   
signifies nothing1 but a privation      
attended with pain1 and a suffering     
state of body or soul2 now ,i would fain
 know what kind of misery can  be that  
of a free being1 whose heart enjoys     
perfect peace1 and body  perfect health8
 ,and which is aptest to become         
insupportable to those  who enjoy it1 a 
civil or a natural life8 ,in civil life 
we can scarcely  meet a single person   
who does not complain of his existence2 
many even  throw away as much of it as  
they can1 and the united force of divine
  and human laws can hardly put bounds  
to this disorder4 ,was ever any  free   
savage known to have been so much as    
tempted to complain of life1  and lay   
violent hands on himself8 ,let us       
therefore judge with less  pride on     
which side real misery is to be placed4 

,nothing1 on the  contrary1 must have   
been so unhappy as savage man1 dazzled  
by flashes  of knowledge1 racked by     
passions1 and reasoning on a state      
different  from that in which he saw    
himself placed4 ,it was in consequence  
of a  very wise ,providence1 that the   
faculties1 which he potentially         
enjoyed1 were not to develop themselves 
but in proportion as there  offered     
occasions to exercise them1 lest they   
should be superfluous or  troublesome to
 him when he did not want them1 or tardy
 and useless  when he did4 ,he had in   
his instinct alone everything requisite 
to live  in a state of nature2 in his   
cultivated reason he has barely what is 
necessary to live in a state of society4
    ,it appears at first sight that1 as 
there was no kind of moral  relations   
between men in this state1 nor any known
 duties1 they could  not be either good 
or bad1 and had neither vices nor       
virtues1 unless  we take these words in 
a physical sense1 and call vices1 in the

  individual1 the qualities which may   
prove detrimental to his own            
preservation1 and virtues those which   
may contribute to it2 in which  case we 
should be obliged to consider him as    
most virtuous1 who made  least          
resistance against the simple impulses  
of nature4 ,but without  deviating from 
the usual meaning of these terms1 it is 
proper to  suspend the judgment we might
 form of such a situation1 and be upon  
our guard against prejudice1 till1 the  
balance in hand1 we have  examined      
whether there are more virtues or vices 
among civilized men2  or whether the    
improvement of their understanding is   
sufficient to  compensate the damage    
which they mutually do to each other1 in
  proportion as they become better      
informed of the services which they     
ought to do2 or whether1 upon the whole1
 they would not be much  happier in a   
condition1 where they had nothing to    
fear or to hope from  each other1 than  
in that where they had submitted to an  

universal  subserviency1 and have       
obliged themselves to depend for        
everything  upon the good will of those1
 who do not think themselves obliged to 
give anything in return4    ,but above  
all things let us beware concluding with
 ,hobbes1 that man1  as having no idea  
of goodness1 must be naturally bad2 that
 he is  vicious because he does not know
 what virtue is2 that he always  refuses
 to do any service to those of his own  
species1 because he  believes that none 
is due to them2 that1 in virtue of that 
right which  he justly claims to        
everything he wants1 he foolishly looks 
upon  himself as proprietor of the whole
 universe4 ,hobbes very plainly saw  the
 flaws in all the modern definitions of 
natural right3 but the  consequences1   
which he draws from his own definition1 
show that it is1  in the sense he       
understands it1 equally exceptionable4  
,this author1 to  argue from his own    
principles1 should say that the state of
 nature1  being that where the care of  

our own preservation interferes least   
with the preservation of others1 was of 
course the most favourable to  peace1   
and most suitable to mankind2 whereas he
 advances the very  reverse in          
consequence of his having injudiciously 
admitted1 as  objects of that care which
 savage man should take of his          
preservation1  the satisfaction of      
numberless passions which are the work  
of society1  and have rendered laws     
necessary4 ,a bad man1 says he1 is a    
robust  child4 ,but this is not proving 
that savage man is a robust child2 and  
though we were to grant that he was1    
what could this philosopher infer  from 
such a concession8 ,that if this man1   
when robust1 depended on  others as much
 as when feeble1 there is no excess that
 he would not be  guilty of4 ,he would  
make nothing of striking his mother when
 she  delayed ever so little to give him
 the breast2 he would claw1 and  bite1  
and strangle without remorse the first  
of his younger brothers1  that ever so  

accidentally jostled or otherwise       
disturbed him4 ,but  these are two      
contradictory suppositions in the state 
of nature1 to be  robust and dependent4 
,man is weak when dependent1 and his own
 master  before he grows robust4 ,hobbes
 did not consider that the same cause1  
which hinders savages from making use of
 their reason1 as our  jurisconsults    
pretend1 hinders them at the same time  
from making an  ill use of their        
faculties1 as he himself pretends2 so   
that we may say  that savages are not   
bad1 precisely because they don't know  
what it is  to be good2 for it is       
neither the development of the          
understanding1  nor the curb of the law1
 but the calmness of their passions and 
their  ignorance of vice that hinders   
them from doing ill3 tantus plus in     
illis proficit vitiorum ignorantia1 quam
 in his cognito virtutis4  ,there is    
besides another principle that has      
escaped ,hobbes1 and which1  having been
 given to man to moderate1 on certain   

occasions1 the blind  and impetuous     
sallies of self-love1 or the desire of  
self-preservation  previous to the      
appearance of that passion1 allays the  
ardour1 with  which he naturally pursues
 his private welfare1 by an innate      
abhorrence to see beings suffer that    
resemble him4 ,i shall not surely  be   
contradicted1 in granting to man the    
only natural virtue1 which the  most    
passionate detractor of human virtues   
could not deny him1 ,i mean  that of    
pity1 a disposition suitable to         
creatures weak as we are1 and  liable to
 so many evils2 a virtue so much the    
more universal1 and  withal useful to   
man1 as it takes place in him of all    
manner of  reflection2 and so natural1  
that the beasts themselves sometimes    
give  evident signs of it4 ,not to speak
 of the tenderness of mothers for  their
 young2 and of the dangers they face to 
screen them from danger2  with what     
reluctance are horses known to trample  
upon living bodies2  one animal never   

passes unmoved by the dead carcass of   
another animal  of the same species3    
there are even some who bestow a kind of
  sepulture upon their dead fellows2 and
 the mournful lowings of cattle1  on    
their entering the slaughter-house1     
publish the impression made  upon them  
by the horrible spectacle they are there
 struck with4 ,it is  with pleasure we  
see the author of the fable of the bees1
 forced to  acknowledge man a           
compassionate and sensible being2 and   
lay aside1 in  the example he offers to 
confirm it1 his cold and subtle style1  
to  place before us the pathetic picture
 of a man1 who1 with his hands  tied up1
 is obliged to behold a beast of prey   
tear a child from the  arms of his      
mother1 and then with his teeth grind   
the tender limbs1  and with his claws   
rend the throbbing entrails of the      
innocent victim4  ,what horrible        
emotions must not such a spectator      
experience at the  sight of an event    
which does not personally concern him8  

,what anguish  must he not suffer at his
 not being able to assist the fainting  
mother  or the expiring infant8    ,such
 is the pure motion of nature1 anterior 
to all manner of  reflection2 such is   
the force of natural pity1 which the    
most  dissolute manners have as yet     
found it so difficult to extinguish1    
since we every day see1 in our          
theatrical representation1 those men    
sympathize with the unfortunate and weep
 at their sufferings1 who1 if  in the   
tyrant's place1 would aggravate the     
torments of their enemies4  ,mandeville 
was very sensible that men1 in spite of 
all their morality1  would never have   
been better than monsters1 if nature had
 not given  them pity to assist reason3 
but he did not perceive that from this  
quality alone flow all the social       
virtues1 which he would dispute  mankind
 the possession of4 ,in fact1 what is   
generosity1 what clemency1  what        
humanity1 but pity applied to the weak1 
to the guilty1 or to the  human species 

in general8 ,even benevolence and       
friendship1 if we judge  right1 will    
appear the effects of a constant pity1  
fixed upon a  particular object3 for to 
wish that a person may not suffer1 what 
is  it but to wish that he may be happy8
 ,though it were true that              
commiseration is no more than a         
sentiment1 which puts us in the place   
of him who suffers1 a sentiment obscure 
but active in the savage1  developed but
 dormant in civilized man1 how could    
this notion affect  the truth of what ,i
 advance1 but to make it more evident4  
,in fact1  commiseration must be so much
 the more energetic1 the more intimately
  the animal1 that beholds any kind of  
distress1 identifies himself with  the  
animal that labours under it4 ,now it is
 evident that this  identification must 
have been infinitely more perfect in the
 state of  nature than in the state of  
reason4 ,it is reason that engenders    
self-love1 and reflection that          
strengthens it2 it is reason that makes 

man shrink into himself2 it is reason   
that makes him keep aloof from          
everything that can trouble or afflict  
him3 it is philosophy that  destroys his
 connections with other men2 it is in   
consequence of her  dictates that he    
mutters to himself at the sight of      
another in  distress1 ,you may perish   
for aught ,i care1 nothing can hurt me4 
,nothing less than those evils1 which   
threaten the whole species1 can  disturb
 the calm sleep of the philosopher1 and 
force him from his bed4  ,one man may   
with impunity murder another under his  
windows2 he has  nothing to do but clap 
his hands to his ears1 argue a little   
with  himself to hinder nature1 that    
startles within him1 from identifying   
him with the unhappy sufferer4 ,savage  
man wants this admirable talent2  and   
for want of wisdom and reason1 is always
 ready foolishly to obey  the first     
whispers of humanity4 ,in riots and     
street-brawls the  populace flock       
together1 the prudent man sneaks off4   

,they are the  dregs of the people1 the 
poor basket and barrow-women1 that part 
the  combatants1 and hinder gentle folks
 from cutting one another's  throats4   
,it is therefore certain that pity is a 
natural sentiment1 which1 by  moderating
 in every individual the activity of    
self-love1 contributes  to the mutual   
preservation of the whole species4 ,it  
is this pity  which hurries us without  
reflection to the assistance of those we
 see  in distress2 it is this pity      
which1 in a state of nature1 stands for 
laws1 for manners1 for virtue1 with this
 advantage1 that no one is  tempted to  
disobey her sweet and gentle voice3 it  
is this pity which  will always hinder a
 robust savage from plundering a feeble 
child1 or  infirm old man1 of the       
subsistence they have acquired with pain
 and  difficulty1 if he has but the     
least prospect of providing for himself 
by any other means3 it is this pity     
which1 instead of that sublime  maxim of
 argumentative justice1 ,do to others as

 you would have others  do to you1      
inspires all men with that other maxim  
of natural goodness  a great deal less  
perfect1 but perhaps more useful1       
,consult your own  happiness with as    
little prejudice as you can to that of  
others4 ,it is  in a word1 in this      
natural sentiment1 rather than in       
fine-spun  arguments1 that we must look 
for the cause of that reluctance which  
every man would experience to do evil1  
even independently of the  maxims of    
education4 ,though it may be the        
peculiar happiness of  ,socrates and    
other geniuses of his stamp1 to reason  
themselves into  virtue1 the human      
species would long ago have ceased to   
exist1 had it  depended entirely for its
 preservation on the reasonings of the  
individuals that compose it4    ,with   
passions so tame1 and so salutary a     
curb1 men1 rather wild than  wicked1 and
 more attentive to guard against        
mischief than to do any to  other       
animals1 were not exposed to any        

dangerous dissensions3 ,as they  kept up
 no manner of correspondence with each  
other1 and were of  course strangers to 
vanity1 to respect1 to esteem1 to       
contempt2 as  they had no notion of what
 we call ,meum and ,tuum1 nor any true  
idea of  justice2 as they considered any
 violence they were liable to1 as an    
evil that could be easily repaired1 and 
not as an injury that deserved          
punishment2 and as they never so much as
 dreamed of revenge1 unless  perhaps    
mechanically and unpremeditatedly1 as a 
dog who bites the  stone that has been  
thrown at him2 their disputes could     
seldom be  attended with bloodshed1 were
 they never occasioned by a more        
considerable stake than that of         
subsistence3 but there is a more        
dangerous subject of contention1 which  
,i must not leave unnoticed4    ,among  
the passions which ruffle the heart of  
man1 there is one of a  hot and         
impetuous nature1 which renders the     
sexes necessary to each  other2 a       

terrible passion which despises all     
dangers1 bears down all  obstacles1 and 
to which in its transports it seems     
proper to destroy  the human species    
which it is destined to preserve4 ,what 
must become  of men abandoned to this   
lawless and brutal rage1 without        
modesty1  without shame1 and every day  
disputing the objects of their passion  
at  the expense of their blood8    ,we  
must in the first place allow that the  
more violent the passions1  the more    
necessary are laws to restrain them3 but
 besides that the  disorders and the    
crimes1 to which these passions daily   
give rise  among us1 sufficiently grove 
the insufficiency of laws for that      
purpose1 we would do well to look back a
 little further and examine1  if these  
evils did not spring up with the laws   
themselves2 for at this  rate1 though   
the laws were capable of repressing     
these evils1 it is  the least that might
 be expected from them1 seeing it is no 
more than  stopping the progress of a   

mischief which they themselves have     
produced4    ,let us begin by           
distinguishing between what is moral and
 what is  physical in the passion called
 love4 ,the physical part of it is that 
general desire which prompts the sexes  
to unite with each other2 the  moral    
part is that which determines that      
desire1 and fixes it upon a  particular 
object to the exclusion of all others1  
or at least gives it  a greater degree  
of energy for this preferred object4    
,now it is easy  to perceive that the   
moral part of love is a factitious      
sentiment1  engendered by society1 and  
cried up by the women with great care   
and  address in order to establish their
 empire1 and secure command to that  sex
 which ought to obey4 ,this sentiment1  
being founded on certain  notions of    
beauty and merit which a savage is not  
capable of having1  and upon comparisons
 which he is not capable of making1 can 
scarcely  exist in him3 for as his mind 
was never in a condition to form        

abstract ideas of regularity and        
proportion1 neither is his heart        
susceptible of sentiments of admiration 
and love1 which1 even without  our      
perceiving it1 are produced by our      
application of these ideas2 he  listens 
solely to the dispositions implanted in 
him by nature1 and not  to taste which  
he never was in a way of acquiring2 and 
every woman  answers his purpose4       
,confined entirely to what is physical  
in love1 and happy enough not to  know  
these preferences which sharpen the     
appetite for it1 at the same  time that 
they increase the difficulty of         
satisfying such appetite1  men1 in a    
state of nature1 must be subject to     
fewer and less violent  fits of that    
passion1 and of course there must be    
fewer and less  violent disputes among  
them in consequence of it4 ,the         
imagination  which causes so many       
ravages among us1 never speaks to the   
heart of  savages1 who peaceably wait   
for the impulses of nature1 yield to    

these  impulses without choice and with 
more pleasure than fury2 and whose      
desires never outlive their necessity   
for the thing desired4    ,nothing      
therefore can be more evident1 than that
 it is society alone1  which has added  
even to love itself as well as to all   
the other  passions1 that impetuous     
ardour1 which so often renders it fatal 
to  mankind2 and it is so much the more 
ridiculous to represent savages         
constantly murdering each other to glut 
their brutality1 as this  opinion is    
diametrically opposite to experience1   
and the ,caribbeans1  the people in the 
world who have as yet deviated least    
from the state  of nature1 are to all   
intents and purposes the most peaceable 
in their  amours1 and the least subject 
to jealousy1 though they live in a      
burning climate which seems always to   
add considerably to the activity  of    
these passions4    ,as to the inductions
 which may be drawn1 in respect to      
several species  of animals1 from the   

battles of the males1 who in all seasons
 cover  our poultry yards with blood1   
and in spring particularly cause our    
forests to ring again with the noise    
they make in disputing their  females1  
we must begin by excluding all those    
species1 where nature  has evidently    
established1 in the relative power of   
the sexes1  relations different from    
those which exist among us3 thus from   
the  battle of cocks we can form no     
induction that will affect the human    
species4 ,in the species1 where the     
proportion is better observed1  these   
battles must be owing entirely to the   
fewness of the females  compared with   
the males1 or1 which is all one1 to the 
exclusive  intervals1 during which the  
females constantly refuse the addresses 
of  the males2 for if the female admits 
the male but two months in the  year1 it
 is all the same as if the number of    
females were five-sixths  less than what
 it is3 now neither of these cases is   
applicable to the  human species1 where 

the number of females generally         
surpasses that of  males1 and where it  
has never been observed that1 even among
 savages1  the females had1 like those  
of other animals1 stated times of       
passion  and indifference1 ,besides1    
among several of these animals the whole
  species takes fire all at once1 and   
for some days nothing is1 to be  seen   
among them but confusion1 tumult1       
disorder and bloodshed2 a state  unknown
 to the human species where love is     
never periodical4 ,we can  not therefore
 conclude from the battles of certain   
animals for the  possession of their    
females1 that the same would be the case
 of man in  a state of nature2 and      
though we might1 as these contests do   
not  destroy the other species1 there is
 at least equal room to think they      
would not be fatal to ours2 nay it is   
very probable that they would  cause    
fewer ravages than they do in society1  
especially in those  countries where1   
morality being as yet held in some      

esteem1 the  jealousy of lovers1 and the
 vengeance of husbands every day produce
  duels1 murders and even worse crimes2 
where the duty of an eternal  fidelity  
serves only to propagate adultery2 and  
the very laws of  continence and honour 
necessarily contribute to increase      
dissoluteness1 and multiply abortions4  
,let us conclude that savage man1       
wandering about in the forests1  without
 industry1 without speech1 without any  
fixed residence1 an  equal stranger to  
war and every social connection1 without
 standing in  any shape in need of his  
fellows1 as well as without any desire  
of  hurting them1 and perhaps even      
without ever distinguishing them        
individually one from the other1 subject
 to few passions1 and finding  in       
himself all he wants1 let us1 ,i say1   
conclude that savage man thus           
circumstanced had no knowledge or       
sentiment but such as are proper to     
that condition1 that he was alone       
sensible of his real necessities1  took 

notice of nothing but what it was his   
interest to see1 and that  his          
understanding made as little progress as
 his vanity4 ,if he  happened to make   
any discovery1 he could the less        
communicate it as he  did not even know 
his children4 ,the art perished with the
 inventor2  there was neither education 
nor improvement2 generations succeeded  
generations to no purpose2 and as all   
constantly set out from the same  point1
 whole centuries rolled on in the       
rudeness and barbarity of the  first    
age2 the species was grown old1 while   
the individual still  remained in a     
state of childhood4    ,if ,i have      
enlarged so much upon the supposition of
 this primitive  condition1 it is       
because ,i thought it my duty1          
considering what  ancient errors and    
inveterate prejudices ,i have to        
extirpate1 to dig  to the very roots1   
and show in a true picture of the state 
of nature1  how much even natural       
inequality falls short in this state of 

that  reality and influence which our   
writers ascribe to it4    ,in fact1 we  
may easily perceive that among the      
differences1 which  distinguish men1    
several pass for natural1 which are     
merely the work  of habit and the       
different kinds of life adopted by men  
living in a  social way4 ,thus a robust 
or delicate constitution1 and the       
strength  and weakness which depend on  
it1 are oftener produced by the hardy or
  effeminate manner in which a man has  
been brought up1 than by the  primitive 
constitution of his body4 ,it is the    
same thus in regard to  the forces of   
the mind2 and education not only        
produces a difference  between those    
minds which are cultivated and those    
which are not1 but  even increases that 
which is found among the first in       
proportion to  their culture2 for let a 
giant and a dwarf set out in the same   
path1  the giant at every step will     
acquire a new advantage over the dwarf4 
,now1 if we compare the prodigious      

variety in the education and manner  of 
living of the different orders of men in
 a civil state1 with the  simplicity and
 uniformity that prevails in the animal 
and savage life1  where all the         
individuals make use of the same        
aliments1 live in the  same manner1 and 
do exactly the same things1 we shall    
easily conceive  how much the difference
 between man and man in the state of    
nature  must be less than in the state  
of society1 and how much every          
inequality of institution must increase 
the natural inequalities of  the human  
species4    ,but though nature in the   
distribution of her gifts should really 
affect all the preferences that are     
ascribed to her1 what advantage  could  
the most favoured derive from her       
partiality1 to the prejudice  of others1
 in a state of things1 which scarce     
admitted any kind of  relation between  
her pupils8 ,of what service can beauty 
be1 where  there is no love8 ,what will 
wit avail people who don't speak1 or    

craft  those who have no affairs to     
transact8 ,authors are constantly crying
  out1 that the strongest would oppress 
the weakest2 but let them  explain what 
they mean by the word oppression4 ,one  
man will rule with  violence1 another   
will groan under a constant subjection  
to all his  caprices3 this is indeed    
precisely what ,i observe among us1 but 
,i  don't see how it can be said of     
savage men1 into whose heads it would   
be a harder matter to drive even the    
meaning of the words domination  and    
servitude4 ,one man might1 indeed1 seize
 on the fruits which  another had       
gathered1 on the game which another had 
killed1 on the  cavern which another had
 occupied for shelter2 but how is it    
possible  he should ever exact obedience
 from him1 and what chains of dependence
  can there be among men who possess    
nothing8 ,if ,i am driven from one      
tree1 ,i have nothing to do but look out
 for another2 if one place is  made     
uneasy to me1 what can hinder me from   

taking up my quarters  elsewhere8 ,but  
suppose ,i should meet a man so much    
superior to me in  strength1 and withal 
so wicked1 so lazy and so barbarous as  
to oblige  me to provide for his        
subsistence while he remains idle2 he   
must  resolve not to take his eyes from 
me a single moment1 to bind me fast     
before he can take the least nap1 lest  
,i should kill him or give him  the slip
 during his sleep3 that is to say1 he   
must expose himself  voluntarily to much
 greater troubles than what he seeks to 
avoid1 than  any he gives me4 ,and after
 all1 let him abate ever so little of   
his  vigilance2 let him at some sudden  
noise but turn his head another way2  ,i
 am already buried in the forest1 my    
fetters are broke1 and he never  sees me
 again4    ,but without insisting any   
longer upon these details1 every one    
must  see that1 as the bonds of         
servitude are formed merely by the      
mutual  dependence of men one upon      
another and the reciprocal necessities  

which unite them1 it is impossible for  
one man to enslave another1  without    
having first reduced him to a condition 
in which he can not  live without the   
enslaver's assistance2 a condition      
which1 as it does  not exist in a state 
of nature1 must leave every man his own 
master1  and render the law of the      
strongest altogether vain and useless4  
,having proved that the inequality1     
which may subsist between man and  man  
in a state of nature1 is almost         
imperceivable1 and that it has  very    
little influence1 ,i must now proceed to
 show its origin1 and  trace its        
progress1 in the successive developments
 of the human mind4  ,after having      
showed1 that perfectibility1 the social 
virtues1 and the  other faculties1 which
 natural man had received in potentia1  
could  never be developed of themselves1
 that for that purpose there was a      
necessity for the fortuitous concurrence
 of several foreign causes1  which might
 never happen1 and without which he must

 have eternally  remained in his        
primitive condition2 ,i must proceed to 
consider and  bring together the        
different accidents which may have      
perfected the  human understanding by   
debasing the species1 render a being    
wicked by  rendering him sociable1 and  
from so remote a term bring man at last 
and the world to the point in which we  
now see them4    ,i must own that1 as   
the events ,i am about to describe might
 have  happened many different ways1 my 
choice of these ,i shall assign can be  
grounded on nothing but mere conjecture2
 but besides these conjectures  becoming
 reasons1 when they are not only the    
most probable that can be  drawn from   
the nature of things1 but the only means
 we can have of  discovering truth1 the 
consequences ,i mean to deduce from mine
 will  not be merely conjectural1 since1
 on the principles ,i have just         
established1 it is impossible to form   
any other system1 that would not  supply
 me with the same results1 and from     

which ,i might not draw the  same       
conclusions4    ,this will authorize me 
to be the more concise in my reflections
 on the  manner1 in which the lapse of  
time makes amends for the little        
verisimilitude of events2 on the        
surprising power of very trivial        
causes1 when they act without           
intermission2 on the impossibility there
  is on the one hand of destroying      
certain ,hypotheses1 if on the other  we
 can not give them the degree of        
certainty which facts must be  allowed  
to possess2 on its being the business of
 history1 when two  facts are proposed1 
as real1 to be connected by a chain of  
intermediate facts which are either     
unknown or considered as such1 to       
furnish such facts as may actually      
connect them2 and the business of       
philosophy1 when history is silent1 to  
point out similar facts which  may      
answer the same purpose2 in fine on the 
privilege of similitude1  in regard to  
events1 to reduce facts to a much       

smaller number of  different classes    
than is generally imagined4 ,it suffices
 me to offer  these objects to the      
consideration of my judges2 it suffices 
me to  have conducted my inquiry in such
 a manner as to save common readers  the
 trouble of considering them4           
,,second ,,part    ,the first man1 who1 
after enclosing a piece of ground1 took 
it into  his head to say1 ,this is mine1
 and found people simple enough to      
believe him1 was the true founder of    
civil society4 ,how many crimes1  how   
many wars1 how many murders1 how many   
misfortunes and horrors1  would that man
 have saved the human species1 who      
pulling up the stakes  or filling up the
 ditches should have cried to his       
fellows3 ,be sure  not to listen to this
 imposter2 you are lost1 if you forget  
that the  fruits of the earth belong    
equally to us all1 and the earth itself 
to  nobody6 ,but it is highly probable  
that things were now come to such a     
pass1 that they could not continue much 

longer in the same way2 for as  this    
idea of property depends on several     
prior ideas which could only  spring up 
gradually one after another1 it was not 
formed all at once  in the human mind3  
men must have made great progress2 they 
must have  acquired a great stock of    
industry and knowledge1 and transmitted 
and  increased it from age to age before
 they could arrive at this last  term of
 the state of nature4 ,let us therefore 
take up things a little  higher1 and    
collect into one point of view1 and in  
their most natural  order1 this slow    
succession of events and mental         
improvements4    ,the first sentiment of
 man was that of his existence1 his     
first care  that of preserving it4 ,the 
productions of the earth yielded him all
  the assistance he required2 instinct  
prompted him to make use of them4       
,among the various appetites1 which made
 him at different times  experience     
different modes of existence1 there was 
one that excited  him to perpetuate his 

species2 and this blind propensity1     
quite void  of anything like pure love  
or affection1 produced nothing but an   
act  that was merely animal4 ,the       
present heat once allayed1 the sexes    
took  no further notice of each other1  
and even the child ceased to have any   
tie in his mother1 the moment he ceased 
to want her assistance4    ,such was the
 condition of infant man2 such was the  
life of an animal  confined at first to 
pure sensations1 and so far from        
harbouring any  thought of forcing her  
gifts from nature1 that he scarcely     
availed  himself of those which she     
offered to him of her own accord4 ,but  
difficulties soon arose1 and there was a
 necessity for learning how to  surmount
 them3 the height of some trees1 which  
prevented his reaching  their fruits2   
the competition of other animals equally
 fond of the  same fruits2 the          
fierceness of many that even aimed at   
his life2 these  were so many           
circumstances1 which obliged him to     

apply to bodily  exercise4 ,there was a 
necessity for becoming active1          
swift-footed1 and  sturdy in battle4    
,the natural arms1 which are stones and 
the branches  of trees1 soon offered    
themselves to his assistance4 ,he       
learned to  surmount the obstacles of   
nature1 to contend in case of necessity 
with  other animals1 to dispute his     
subsistence even with other men1 or     
indemnify himself for the loss of       
whatever he found himself obliged to    
part with to the strongest4    ,in      
proportion as the human species grew    
more numerous1 and extended  itself1 its
 pains likewise multiplied and          
increased4 ,the difference  of soils1   
climates and seasons1 might have forced 
men to observe some  difference in their
 way of living4 ,bad harvests1 long and 
severe  winters1 and scorching summers  
which parched up all the fruits of the  
earth1 required extraordinary exertions 
of industry4 ,on the sea shore1  and the
 banks of rivers1 they invented the line

 and the hook1 and  became fishermen and
 ichthyophagous4 ,in the forests they   
made  themselves bows and arrows1 and   
became huntsmen and warriors4 ,in the   
cold countries they covered themselves  
with the skins of the beasts  they had  
killed2 thunder1 a volcano1 or some     
happy accident made them  acquainted    
with fire1 a new resource against the   
rigours of winter3  they discovered the 
method of preserving this element1 then 
that of  reproducing it1 and lastly the 
way of preparing with it the flesh of   
animals1 which heretofore they devoured 
raw from the carcass4    ,this          
reiterated application of various beings
 to himself1 and to one  another1 must  
have naturally engendered in the mind of
 man the idea of  certain relations4    
,these relations1 which we express by   
the words1  great1 little1 strong1 weak1
 swift1 slow1 fearful1 bold1 and the    
like1  compared occasionally1 and almost
 without thinking of it1 produced in    
him some kind of reflection1 or rather a

 mechanical prudence1 which  pointed out
 to him the precautions most essential  
to his preservation  and safety4    ,the
 new lights resulting from this         
development increased his  superiority  
over other animals1 by making him       
sensible of it4 ,he laid  himself out to
 ensnare them2 he played them a thousand
 tricks2 and  though several surpassed  
him in strength or in swiftness1 he in  
time  became the master of those that   
could be of any service to him1 and a   
sore enemy to those that could do him   
any mischief4 ',tis thus1 that  the     
first look he gave into himself produced
 the first emotion of  pride in him2    
'tis thus that1 at a time he scarce knew
 how to  distinguish between the        
different ranks of existence1 by        
attributing  to his species the first   
rank among animals in general1 he       
prepared  himself at a distance to      
pretend to it as an individual among    
those of  his own species in particular4
    ,though other men were not to him   

what they are to us1 and he had  scarce 
more intercourse with them than with    
other animals1 they were  not overlooked
 in his observations4 ,the conformities1
 which in time  he might discover       
between them1 and between himself and   
his female1  made him judge of those he 
did not perceive2 and seeing that they  
all  behaved as himself would have done 
in similar circumstances1 he  concluded 
that their manner of thinking and       
willing was quite  conformable to his   
own2 and this important truth1 when once
 engraved  deeply on his mind1 made him 
follow1 by a presentiment as sure as any
  logic1 and withal much quicker1 the   
best rules of conduct1 which for  the   
sake of his own safety and advantage it 
was proper he should  observe towards   
them4    ,instructed by experience that 
the love of happiness is the sole       
principle of all human actions1 he found
 himself in a condition to  distinguish 
the few cases1 in which common interest 
might authorize  him to build upon the  

assistance of his fellows1 and those    
still  fewer1 in which a competition of 
interests might justly render it        
suspected4 ,in the first case he united 
with them in the same flock1 or  at most
 by some kind of free association which 
obliged none of its  members1 and lasted
 no longer than the transitory necessity
 that had  given birth to it4 ,in the   
second case every one aimed at his own  
private advantage1 either by open force 
if he found himself strong  enough1 or  
by cunning and address if he thought    
himself too weak to  use violence4      
,such was the manner in which men might 
have insensibly acquired some  gross    
idea of their mutual engagements and the
 advantage of fulfilling  them1 but this
 only as far as their present and       
sensible interest  required2 for as to  
foresight they were utter strangers to  
it1 and far  from troubling their heads 
about a distant futurity1 they scarce   
thought of the day following4 ,was a    
deer to be taken8 ,every one saw  that  

to succeed he must faithfully stand to  
his post2 but suppose a  hare to have   
slipped by within reach of any one of   
them1 it is not to  be doubted but he   
pursued it without scruple1 and when he 
had seized  his prey never reproached   
himself with having made his companions 
miss  theirs4    ,we may easily conceive
 that such an intercourse scarce        
required a more  refined language than  
that of crows and monkeys1 which flock  
together  almost in the same manner4    
,inarticulate exclamations1 a great many
  gestures1 and some imitative sounds1  
must have been for a long time  the     
universal language of mankind1 and by   
joining to these in every  country some 
articulate and conventional sounds1 of  
which1 as ,i have  already hinted1 it is
 not very easy to explain the           
institution1 there  arose particular    
languages1 but rude1 imperfect1 and such
 nearly as  are to be found at this day 
among several savage nations4 ,my pen   
straightened by the rapidity of time1   

the abundance of things ,i have  to say1
 and the almost insensible progress of  
the first improvements1  flies like an  
arrow over numberless ages1 for the     
slower the  succession of events1 the   
quicker ,i may allow myself to be in    
relating  them4    ,at length1 these    
first improvements enabled man to       
improve at a  greater rate4 ,industry   
grew perfect in proportion as the mind  
became  more enlightened4 ,men soon     
ceasing to fall asleep under the first  
tree1 or take shelter in the first      
cavern1 lit upon some hard and  sharp   
kinds of stone resembling spades or     
hatchets1 and employed them  to dig the 
ground1 cut down trees1 and with the    
branches build huts1  which they        
afterwards bethought themselves of      
plastering over with  clay or dirt4     
,this was the epoch of a first          
revolution1 which produced  the         
establishment and distinction of        
families1 and which introduced a        
species of property1 and along with it  

perhaps a thousand quarrels and         
battles4 ,as the strongest however were 
probably the first to make  themselves  
cabins1 which they knew they were able  
to defend1 we may  conclude that the    
weak found it much shorter and safer to 
imitate than  to attempt to dislodge    
them3 and as to those1 who were already 
provided with cabins1 no one could have 
any great temptation to seize  upon that
 of his neighbour1 not so much because  
it did not belong to  him1 as because it
 could be of no service to him2 and as  
besides to  make himself master of it1  
he must expose himself to a very sharp  
conflict with the present occupiers4    
,the first developments of the heart    
were the effects of a new  situation1   
which united husbands and wives1 parents
 and children1  under one roof2 the     
habit of living together gave birth to  
the  sweetest sentiments the human      
species is acquainted with1 conjugal and
  paternal love4 ,every family became a 
little society1 so much the more  firmly

 united1 as a mutual attachment and     
liberty were the only bonds  of it2 and 
it was now that the sexes1 whose way of 
life had been  hitherto the same1 began 
to adopt different manners and customs4 
,the  women became more sedentary1 and  
accustomed themselves to stay at home   
and look after the children1 while the  
men rambled abroad in quest of          
subsistence for the whole family4 ,the  
two sexes likewise by living a  little  
more at their ease began to lose        
somewhat of their usual  ferocity and   
sturdiness2 but if on the one hand      
individuals became  less able to engage 
separately with wild beasts1 they on the
 other  were more easily got together to
 make a common resistance against  them4
    ,in this new state of things1 the   
simplicity and solitariness of man's    
life1 the limitedness of his wants1 and 
the instruments which he had  invented  
to satisfy them1 leaving him a great    
deal of leisure1 he  employed it to     
supply himself with several conveniences

 unknown to his  ancestors2 and this was
 the first yoke he inadvertently imposed
 upon  himself1 and the first source of 
mischief which he prepared for his      
children2 for besides continuing in this
 manner to soften both body  and mind1  
these conveniences having through use   
lost almost all their  aptness to       
please1 and even degenerated into real  
wants1 the privation  of them became far
 more intolerable than the possession of
 them had  been agreeable2 to lose them 
was a misfortune1 to possess them no    
happiness4    ,here we may a little     
better discover how the use of speech   
insensibly  commences or improves in the
 bosom of every family1 and may likewise
  from conjectures concerning the manner
 in which divers particular  causes     
might have propagated language1 and     
accelerated its progress by  rendering  
it every day more and more necessary4   
,great inundations or  earthquakes      
surrounded inhabited districts with     
water or precipices1  portions of the   

continent were by revolutions of the    
globe torn off  and split into islands4 
,it is obvious that among men thus      
collected1  and forced to live together1
 a common idiom must have started up    
much  sooner1 than among those who      
freely wandered through the forests of  
the main land4 ,thus it is very possible
 that the inhabitants of the  islands   
formed in this manner1 after their first
 essays in navigation1  brought among us
 the use of speech2 and it is very      
probable at least  that society and     
languages commenced in islands and even 
acquired  perfection there1 before the  
inhabitants of the continent knew       
anything of either4    ,everything now  
begins to wear a new aspect4 ,those who 
heretofore  wandered through the woods1 
by taking to a more settled way of life1
  gradually flock together1 coalesce    
into several separate bodies1 and  at   
length form in every country distinct   
nations1 united in character  and       
manners1 not by any laws or regulations1

 but by an uniform manner  of life1 a   
sameness of provisions1 and the common  
influence of the  climate4 ,a permanent 
neighborhood must at last infallibly    
create some  connection between         
different families4 ,the transitory     
commerce  required by nature soon       
produced1 among the youth of both sexes 
living  in contiguous cabins1 another   
kind of commerce1 which besides being   
equally agreeable is rendered more      
durable by mutual intercourse4 ,men     
begin to consider different objects1 and
 to make comparisons2 they  insensibly  
acquire ideas of merit and beauty1 and  
these soon produce  sentiments of       
preference4 ,by seeing each other often 
they contract a  habit1 which makes it  
painful not to see each other always4   
,tender and  agreeable sentiments steal 
into the soul1 and are by the smallest  
opposition wound up into the most       
impetuous fury3 ,jealousy kindles  with 
love2 discord triumphs2 and the gentlest
 of passions requires  sacrifices of    

human blood to appease it4    ,in       
proportion as ideas and sentiments      
succeed each other1 and the head  and   
the heart exercise themselves1 men      
continue to shake off their  original   
wildness1 and their connections become  
more intimate and  extensive4 ,they now 
begin to assemble round a great tree3   
singing and  dancing1 the genuine       
offspring of love and leisure1 become   
the  amusement or rather the occupation 
of the men and women1 free from  care1  
thus gathered together4 ,every one      
begins to survey the rest1 and  wishes  
to be surveyed himself2 and public      
esteem acquires a value4 ,he  who sings 
or dances best2 the handsomest1 the     
strongest1 the most  dexterous1 the most
 eloquent1 comes to be the most         
respected3 this was  the first step     
towards inequality1 and at the same time
 towards vice4  ,from these first       
preferences there proceeded on one side 
vanity and  contempt1 on the other envy 
and shame2 and the fermentation raised  

by  these new leavens at length produced
 combinations fatal to happiness  and   
innocence4    ,men no sooner began to   
set a value upon each other1 and know   
what  esteem was1 than each laid claim  
to it1 and it was no longer safe for    
any man to refuse it to another4 ,hence 
the first duties of civility  and       
politeness1 even among savages2 and     
hence every voluntary injury  became an 
affront1 as besides the mischief1 which 
resulted from it as  an injury1 the     
party offended was sure to find in it a 
contempt for  his person more           
intolerable than the mischief itself4   
,it was thus that  every man1 punishing 
the contempt expressed for him by others
 in  proportion to the value he set upon
 himself1 the effects of revenge  became
 terrible1 and men learned to be        
sanguinary and cruel4 ,such  precisely  
was the degree attained by most of the  
savage nations with  whom we are        
acquainted4 ,and it is for want of      
sufficiently  distinguishing ideas1 and 

observing at how great a distance these 
people were from the first state of     
nature1 that so many authors have       
hastily concluded that man is naturally 
cruel1 and requires a regular  system of
 police to be reclaimed2 whereas nothing
 can be more gentle  than he in his     
primitive state1 when placed by nature  
at an equal  distance from the stupidity
 of brutes1 and the pernicious good     
sense  of civilized man2 and equally    
confined by instinct and reason to the  
care of providing against the mischief  
which threatens him1 he is  withheld by 
natural compassion from doing any injury
 to others1 so far  from being ever so  
little prone even to return that which  
he has  received4 ,for according to the 
axiom of the wise ,locke1 ,where there  
is  no property1 there can be no injury4
    ,but we must take notice1 that the  
society now formed and the relations    
now established among men required in   
them qualities different from  those1   
which they derived from their primitive 

constitution2 that as a  sense of       
morality began to insinuate itself into 
human actions1 and  every man1 before   
the enacting of laws1 was the only judge
 and avenger  of the injuries he had    
received1 that goodness of heart        
suitable to  the pure state of nature by
 no means suited infant society2 that it
  was necessary punishments should      
become severer in the same proportion   
that the opportunities of offending     
became more frequent1 and the  dread of 
vengeance add strength to the too weak  
curb of the law4 ,thus1  though men were
 become less patient1 and natural       
compassion had  already suffered some   
alteration1 this period of the          
development of  the human faculties1    
holding a just mean between the         
indolence of the  primitive state1 and  
the petulant activity of self-love1 must
 have  been the happiest and most       
durable epoch4 ,the more we reflect on  
this  state1 the more convinced we shall
 be1 that it was the least subject  of  

any to revolutions1 the best for man1   
and that nothing could have  drawn him  
out of it but some fatal accident1      
which1 for the public  good1 should     
never have happened4 ,the example of the
 savages1 most of  whom have been found 
in this condition1 seems to confirm that
 mankind  was formed ever to remain in  
it1 that this condition is the real     
youth  of the world1 and that all       
ulterior improvements have been so many 
steps1 in appearance towards the        
perfection of individuals1 but in  fact 
towards the decrepitness of the species4
    ,as long as men remained satisfied  
with their rustic cabins2 as long as    
they confined themselves to the use of  
clothes made of the skins of  other     
animals1 and the use of thorns and      
fish-bones1 in putting these  skins     
together2 as long as they continued to  
consider feathers and  shells as        
sufficient ornaments1 and to paint their
 bodies of different  colours1 to       
improve or ornament their bows and      

arrows1 to form and  scoop out with     
sharp-edged stones some little fishing  
boats1 or clumsy  instruments of music2 
in a word1 as long as they undertook    
such works  only as a single person     
could finish1 and stuck to such arts as 
did  not require the joint endeavours of
 several hands1 they lived free1        
healthy1 honest and happy1 as much as   
their nature would admit1 and  continued
 to enjoy with each other all the       
pleasures of an independent             
intercourse2 but from the moment one man
 began to stand in need of  another's   
assistance2 from the moment it appeared 
an advantage for one  man to possess the
 quantity of provisions requisite for   
two1 all  equality vanished2 property   
started up2 labour became necessary2 and
  boundless forests became smiling      
fields1 which it was found necessary  to
 water with human sweat1 and in which   
slavery and misery were soon  seen to   
sprout out and grow with the fruits of  
the earth4    ,metallurgy and           

agriculture were the two arts whose     
invention produced  this great          
revolution4 ,with the poet1 it is gold  
and silver1 but with  the philosopher it
 is iron and corn1 which have civilized 
men1 and  ruined mankind4 ,accordingly  
both one and the other were unknown to  
the  savages of ,america1 who for that  
very reason have always continued       
savages2 nay other nations seem to have 
continued in a state of  barbarism1 as  
long as they continued to exercise one  
only of these  arts without the other2  
and perhaps one of the best reasons that
 can  be assigned1 why ,europe has been1
 if not earlier1 at least more          
constantly and better civilized than the
 other quarters of the world1  is that  
she both abounds most in iron and is    
best qualified to  produce corn4    ,it 
is a very difficult matter to tell how  
men came to know anything of  iron1 and 
the art of employing it3 for we are not 
to suppose that they  should of         
themselves think of digging it out of   

the mines1 and  preparing it for fusion1
 before they knew what could be the     
result of  such a process4 ,on the other
 hand1 there is the less reason to      
attribute this discovery to any         
accidental fire1 as mines are formed    
nowhere but in dry and barren places1   
and such as are bare of trees  and      
plants1 so that it looks as if nature   
had taken pains to keep from  us so     
mischievous a secret4 ,nothing therefore
 remains but the  extraordinary         
circumstance of some volcano1 which1    
belching forth  metallic substances     
ready fused1 might have given the       
spectators a  notion of imitating that  
operation of nature2 and after all we   
must  suppose them endued with an       
extraordinary stock of courage and      
foresight to undertake so painful a     
work1 and have1 at so great a  distance1
 an eye to the advantages they might    
derive from it2  qualities scarcely     
suitable but to heads more exercised1   
than those of  such discoverers can be  

supposed to have been4    ,as to        
agriculture1 the principles of it were  
known a long time before  the practice  
of it took place1 and it is hardly      
possible that men1  constantly employed 
in drawing their subsistence from trees 
and  plants1 should not have early hit  
on the means employed by nature for  the
 generation of vegetables2 but in all   
probability it was very late  before    
their industry took a turn that way1    
either because trees1  which with their 
land and water game supplied them with  
sufficient  food1 did not require their 
attention2 or because they did not know 
the use of corn2 or because they had no 
instruments to cultivate it2  or because
 they were destitute of foresight in    
regard to future  necessities2 or in    
fine1 because they wanted means to      
hinder others  from running away with   
the fruit of their labours4 ,we may     
believe that  on their becoming more    
industrious they began their agriculture
 by  cultivating with sharp stones and  

pointed sticks a few pulse or roots     
about their cabins2 and that it was a   
long time before they knew the  method  
of preparing corn1 and were provided    
with instruments necessary  to raise it 
in large quantities2 not to mention the 
necessity there  is1 in order to follow 
this occupation and sow lands1 to       
consent to  lose something at present to
 gain a great deal hereafter2 a         
precaution  very foreign to the turn of 
man's mind in a savage state1 in which1 
as  ,i have already taken notice1 he can
 hardly foresee his wants from  morning 
to night4    ,for this reason the       
invention of other arts must have been  
necessary  to oblige mankind to apply to
 that of agriculture4 ,as soon as men   
were wanted to fuse and forge iron1     
others were wanted to maintain  them4   
,the more hands were employed in        
manufactures1 the fewer hands  were left
 to provide subsistence for all1 though 
the number of mouths  to be supplied    
with food continued the same2 and as    

some required  commodities in exchange  
for their iron1 the rest at last found  
out the  method of making iron          
subservient to the multiplication of    
commodities4 ,hence on the one hand     
husbandry and agriculture1 and on  the  
other the art of working metals and of  
multiplying the uses of  them4    ,to   
the tilling of the earth the            
distribution of it necessarily          
succeeded1 and to property once         
acknowledged1 the first rules of        
justice3 for to secure every man his    
own1 every man must have  something4    
,moreover1 as men began to extend their 
views to futurity1  and all found       
themselves in possession of more or less
 goods capable  of being lost1 every one
 in particular had reason to fear1 lest 
reprisals should be made on him for any 
injury he might do to others4  ,this    
origin is so much the more natural1 as  
it is impossible to  conceive how       
property can flow from any other source 
but industry2 for  what can a man add   

but his labour to things which he has   
not made1 in  order to acquire a        
property in them8 ',tis the labour of   
the hands  alone1 which giving the      
husbandman a title to the produce of the
 land  he has tilled gives him a title  
to the land itself1 at least till he    
has gathered in the fruits of it1 and so
 on from year to year2 and  this        
enjoyment forming a continued possession
 is easily transformed  into a property4
 ,the ancients1 says ,grotius1 by giving
 to ,ceres the  epithet of ,legislatrix1
 and to a festival celebrated in her    
honour the  name of ,thesmorphoria1     
insinuated that the distribution of     
lands  produced a new kind of right2    
that is1 the right of property different
  from that which results from the law  
of nature4    ,things thus circumstanced
 might have remained equal1 if men's    
talents  had been equal1 and if1 for    
instance1 the use of iron1 and the      
consumption of commodities had always   
held an exact proportion to each  other2

 but as this proportion had no support1 
it was soon broken4 ,the  man that had  
most strength performed most labour2 the
 most dexterous  turned his labour to   
best account2 the most ingenious found  
out  methods of lessening his labour2   
the husbandman required more iron1 or   
the smith more corn1 and while both     
worked equally1 one earned a great  deal
 by his labour1 while the other could   
scarce live by his4 ,it is  thus that   
natural inequality insensibly unfolds   
itself with that  arising from a variety
 of combinations1 and that the          
difference among  men1 developed by the 
difference of their circumstances1      
becomes more  sensible1 more permanent  
in its effects1 and begins to influence 
in  the same proportion the condition of
 private persons4    ,things once       
arrived at this period1 it is an easy   
matter to imagine  the rest4 ,i shall   
not stop to describe the successive     
inventions of  other arts1 the progress 
of language1 the trial and employments  

of  talents1 the inequality of fortunes1
 the use or abuse of riches1 nor  all   
the details which follow these1 and     
which every one may easily  supply4 ,i  
shall just give a glance at mankind     
placed in this new order  of things4    
,behold then all our faculties          
developed2 our memory and imagination at
  work1 self-love interested2 reason    
rendered active2 and the mind  almost   
arrived at the utmost bounds of that    
perfection it is capable  of4 ,behold   
all our natural qualities put in motion2
 the rank and  condition of every man   
established1 not only as to the quantum 
of  property and the power of serving or
 hurting others1 but likewise as  to    
genius1 beauty1 strength or address1    
merit or talents2 and as these  were the
 only qualities which could command     
respect1 it was found  necessary to have
 or at least to affect them4 ,it was    
requisite for men  to be thought what   
they really were not4 ,to be and to     
appear became  two very different       

things1 and from this distinction sprang
 pomp and  knavery1 and all the vices   
which form their train4 ,on the other   
hand1  man1 heretofore free and         
independent1 was now in consequence of a
  multitude of new wants brought under  
subjection1 as it were1 to all  nature1 
and especially to his fellows1 whose    
slave in some sense he  became even by  
becoming their master2 if rich1 he stood
 in need of  their services1 if poor1 of
 their assistance2 even mediocrity      
itself  could not enable him to do      
without them4 ,he must therefore have   
been  continually at work to interest   
them in his happiness1 and make them1   
if not really1 at least apparently find 
their advantage in labouring  for his3  
this rendered him sly and artful in his 
dealings with some1  imperious and cruel
 in his dealings with others1 and laid  
him under  the necessity of using ill   
all those whom he stood in need of1 as  
often as he could not awe them into a   
compliance with his will1 and  did not  

find it his interest to purchase it at  
the expense of real  services4 ,in fine1
 an insatiable ambition1 the rage of    
raising their  relative fortunes1 not so
 much through real necessity1 as to     
over-top  others1 inspire all men with a
 wicked inclination to injure each      
other1 and with a secret jealousy so    
much the more dangerous1 as to  carry   
its point with the greater security1 it 
often puts on the face  of benevolence4 
,in a word1 sometimes nothing was to be 
seen but a  contention of endeavours on 
the one hand1 and an opposition of      
interests on the other1 while a secret  
desire of thriving at the  expense of   
others constantly prevailed4 ,such were 
the first effects of  property1 and the 
inseparable attendants of infant        
inequality4    ,riches1 before the      
invention of signs to represent them1   
could scarce  consist in anything but   
lands and cattle1 the only real goods   
which  men can possess4 ,but when       
estates increased so much in number and 

in  extent as to take in whole countries
 and touch each other1 it became        
impossible for one man to aggrandise    
himself but at the expense of  some     
other2 and the supernumerary            
inhabitants1 who were too weak or  too  
indolent to make such acquisitions in   
their turn1 impoverished  without losing
 anything1 because while everything     
about them changed  they alone remained 
the same1 were obliged to receive or    
force their  subsistence from the hands 
of the rich4 ,and hence began to flow1  
according to the different characters of
 each1 domination and slavery1  or      
violence and rapine4 ,the rich on their 
side scarce began to taste  the pleasure
 of commanding1 when they preferred it  
to every other2 and  making use of their
 old slaves to acquire new ones1 they no
 longer  thought of anything but        
subduing and enslaving their neighbours2
 like  those ravenous wolves1 who having
 once tasted human flesh1 despise  every
 other food1 and devour nothing but men 

for the future4    ,it is thus that the 
most powerful or the most wretched1     
respectively  considering their power   
and wretchedness as a kind of title to  
the  substance of others1 even          
equivalent to that of property1 the     
equality  once broken was followed by   
the most shocking disorders4 ,it is thus
  that the usurpations of the rich1 the 
pillagings of the poor1 and the         
unbridled passions of all1 by stifling  
the cries of natural  compassion1 and   
the as yet feeble voice of justice1     
rendered man  avaricious1 wicked and    
ambitious4 ,there arose between the     
title of the  strongest1 and that of the
 first occupier a perpetual conflict1   
which  always ended in battery and      
bloodshed4 ,infant society became a     
scene  of the most horrible warfare3    
,mankind thus debased and harassed1 and 
no longer able to retreat1 or renounce  
the unhappy acquisitions it had  made2  
labouring1 in short merely to its       
confusion by the abuse of  those        

faculties1 which in themselves do it so 
much honour1 brought  itself to the very
 brink of ruin and destruction4         
,attonitus novitate mali1 divesque      
miserque1    ,effugere optat opes2 et   
quoe modo voverat1 odit4    ,but it is  
impossible that men should not sooner or
 later have made  reflections on so     
wretched a situation1 and upon the      
calamities with  which they were        
overwhelmed4 ,the rich in particular    
must have soon  perceived how much they 
suffered by a perpetual war1 of which   
they  alone supported all the expense1  
and in which1 though all risked life1   
they alone risked any substance4        
,besides1 whatever colour they might    
pretend to give their usurpations1 they 
sufficiently saw that these  usurpations
 were in the main founded upon false and
 precarious titles1  and that what they 
had acquired by mere force1 others could
 again by  mere force wrest out of their
 hands1 without leaving them the least  
room to complain of such a proceeding4  

,even those1 who owed all their  riches 
to their own industry1 could scarce     
ground their acquisitions  upon a better
 title4 ,it availed them nothing to say1
 ',twas ,i built  this wall2 ,i acquired
 this spot by my labour4 ,who traced it 
out for  you1 another might object1 and 
what right have you to expect payment   
at our expense for doing that we did not
 oblige you to do8 ,don't you  know that
 numbers of your brethren perish1 or    
suffer grievously for  want of what you 
possess more than suffices nature1 and  
that you  should have had the express   
and unanimous consent of mankind to     
appropriate to yourself of their common1
 more than was requisite for  your      
private subsistence8 ,destitute of solid
 reasons to justify1 and  sufficient    
force to defend himself2 crushing       
individuals with ease1  but with equal  
ease crushed by numbers2 one against    
all1 and unable1  on account of mutual  
jealousies1 to unite with his equals    
against  banditti united by the common  

hopes of pillage2 the rich man1 thus    
pressed by necessity1 at last conceived 
the deepest project that ever  entered  
the human mind3 this was to employ in   
his favour the very  forces that        
attacked him1 to make allies of his     
enemies1 to inspire  them with other    
maxims1 and make them adopt other       
institutions as  favourable to his      
pretensions1 as the law of nature was   
unfavourable  to them4    ,with this    
view1 after laying before his neighbours
 all the horrors of  a situation1 which 
armed them all one against another1     
which rendered  their possessions as    
burdensome as their wants were          
intolerable1 and  in which no one could 
expect any safety either in poverty or  
riches1  he easily invented specious    
arguments to bring them over to his     
purpose4 ,let us unite1 said he1 to     
secure the weak from  oppression1       
restrain the ambitious1 and secure to   
every man the  possession of what       
belongs to him3 ,let us form rules of   

justice and  peace1 to which all may be 
obliged to conform1 which shall not     
except  persons1 but may in some sort   
make amends for the caprice of fortune1 
by submitting alike the powerful and the
 weak to the observance of  mutual      
duties4 ,in a word1 instead of turning  
our forces against  ourselves1 let us   
collect them into a sovereign power1    
which may  govern us by wise laws1 may  
protect and defend all the members of   
the  association1 repel common enemies1 
and maintain a perpetual concord  and   
harmony among us4    ,much fewer words  
of this kind were sufficient to draw in 
a parcel of  rustics1 whom it was an    
easy matter to impose upon1 who had     
besides  too many quarrels among        
themselves to live without arbiters1 and
 too  much avarice and ambition to live 
long without masters4 ,all offered      
their necks to the yoke in hopes of     
securing their liberty2 for though  they
 had sense enough to perceive the       
advantages of a political  constitution1

 they had not experience enough to see  
beforehand the  dangers of it2 those    
among them1 who were best qualified to  
foresee  abuses1 were precisely those   
who expected to benefit by them2 even   
the  soberest judged it requisite to    
sacrifice one part of their liberty to  
ensure the other1 as a man1 dangerously 
wounded in any of his limbs1  readily   
parts with it to save the rest of his   
body4    ,such was1 or must have been1  
had man been left to himself1 the origin
  of society and of the laws1 which     
increased the fetters of the weak1  and 
the strength of the rich2 irretrievably 
destroyed natural liberty1  fixed for   
ever the laws of property and           
inequality2 changed an artful           
usurpation into an irrevocable title2   
and for the benefit of a few  ambitious 
individuals subjected the rest of       
mankind to perpetual  labour1 servitude1
 and misery4 ,we may easily conceive how
 the  establishment of a single society 
rendered that of all the rest           

absolutely necessary1 and how1 to make  
head against united forces1 it  became  
necessary for the rest of mankind to    
unite in their turn4  ,societies once   
formed in this manner1 soon multiplied  
or spread to  such a degree1 as to cover
 the face of the earth2 and not to leave
 a  corner in the whole universe1 where 
a man could throw off the yoke1  and    
withdraw his head from under the often  
ill-conducted sword which  he saw       
perpetually hanging over it4 ,the civil 
law being thus become  the common rule  
of citizens1 the law of nature no longer
 obtained but  among the different      
societies1 in which1 under the name of  
the law of  nations1 it was qualified by
 some tacit conventions to render       
commerce  possible1 and supply the place
 of natural compassion1 which1 losing by
  degrees all that influence over       
societies which it originally had over  
individuals1 no longer exists but in    
some great souls1 who consider          
themselves as citizens of the world1 and

 forcing the imaginary  barriers that   
separate people from people1 after the  
example of the  ,sovereign ,being from  
whom we all derive our existence1 make  
the whole  human race the object of     
their benevolence4    ,political bodies1
 thus remaining in a state of nature    
among  themselves1 soon experienced the 
inconveniences which had obliged        
individuals to quit it2 and this state  
became much more fatal to these  great  
bodies1 than it had been before to the  
individuals which now  composed them4   
,hence those national wars1 those       
battles1 those  murders1 those          
reprisals1 which make nature shudder and
 shock reason2  hence all those horrible
 prejudices1 which make it a virtue and 
an  honour to shed human blood4 ,the    
worthiest men learned to consider the   
cutting the throats of their fellows as 
a duty2 at length men began to  butcher 
each other by thousands without knowing 
for what2 and more  murders were        
committed in a single action1 and more  

horrible disorders  at the taking of a  
single town1 than had been committed in 
the state  of nature during ages        
together upon the whole face of the     
earth4 ,such  are the first effects we  
may conceive to have arisen from the    
division  of mankind into different     
societies4 ,let us return to their      
institution4    ,i know that several    
writers have assigned other origins of  
political  society2 as for instance1 the
 conquests of the powerful1 or the union
  of the weak2 and it is no matter which
 of these causes we adopt in  regard to 
what ,i am going to establish2 that1    
however1 which ,i have  just laid down1 
seems to me the most natural1 for the   
following  reasons3 ,first1 because1 in 
the first case1 the right of conquest   
being in fact no right at all1 it could 
not serve as a foundation for  any other
 right1 the conqueror and the conquered 
ever remaining with  respect to each    
other in a state of war1 unless the     
conquered1  restored to the full        

possession of their liberty1 should     
freely choose  their conqueror for their
 chief4 ,till then1 whatever            
capitulations  might have been made     
between them1 as these capitulations    
were founded  upon violence1 and of     
course de facto null and void1 there    
could not  have existed in this         
hypothesis either a true society1 or a  
political  body1 or any other law but   
that of the strongest4 ,second1 because 
these words strong and weak1 are        
ambiguous in the second case2 for       
during the interval between the         
establishment of the right of property  
or prior occupation and that of         
political government1 the meaning of    
these terms is better expressed by the  
words poor and rich1 as before  the     
establishment of laws men in reality had
 no other means of  reducing their      
equals1 but by invading the property of 
these equals1  or by parting with some  
of their own property to them4 ,third1  
because  the poor having nothing but    

their liberty to lose1 it would have    
been  the height of madness in them to  
give up willingly the only blessing     
they had left without obtaining some    
consideration for it3 whereas the  rich 
being sensible1 if ,i may say so1 in    
every part of their  possessions1 it was
 much easier to do them mischief1 and   
therefore  more incumbent upon them to  
guard against it2 and because1 in fine1 
it  is but reasonable to suppose1 that a
 thing has been invented by him to  whom
 it could be of service rather than by  
him to whom it must prove  detrimental4 
,government in its infancy had no       
regular and permanent form4 ,for want   
of a sufficient fund of philosophy and  
experience1 men could see no  further   
than the present inconveniences1 and    
never thought of  providing remedies for
 future ones1 but in proportion as they 
arose4  ,in spite of all the labours of 
the wisest legislators1 the political   
state still continued imperfect1 because
 it was in a manner the work  of chance2

 and1 as the foundations of it were ill 
laid1 time1 though  sufficient to       
discover its defects and suggest the    
remedies for them1  could never mend its
 original vices4 ,men were continually  
repairing2  whereas1 to erect a good    
edifice1 they should have begun as      
,lycurgus  did at ,sparta1 by clearing  
the area1 and removing the old          
materials4  ,society at first consisted 
merely of some general conventions which
  all the members bound themselves to   
observe1 and for the performance  of    
which the whole body became security to 
every individual4  ,experience was      
necessary to show the great weakness of 
such a  constitution1 and how easy it   
was for those1 who infringed it1 to     
escape the conviction or chastisement of
 faults1 of which the public  alone was 
to be both the witness and the judge2   
the laws could not  fail of being eluded
 a thousand ways2 inconveniences and    
disorders  could not but multiply       
continually1 till it was at last found  

necessary to think of committing to     
private persons the dangerous  trust of 
public authority1 and to magistrates the
 care of enforcing  obedience to the    
people3 for to say that chiefs were     
elected before  confederacies were      
formed1 and that the ministers of the   
laws existed  before the laws           
themselves1 is a supposition too        
ridiculous to deserve  ,i should        
seriously refute it4    ,it would be    
equally unreasonable to imagine that men
 at first threw  themselves into the    
arms of an absolute master1 without any 
conditions  or consideration on his     
side2 and that the first means contrived
 by  jealous and unconquered men for    
their common safety was to run hand     
over head into slavery4 ,in fact1 why   
did they give themselves  superiors1 if 
it was not to be defended by them       
against oppression1  and protected in   
their lives1 liberties1 and properties1 
which are in  a manner the              
constitutional elements of their being8 

,now in the  relations between man and  
man1 the worst that can happen to one   
man  being to see himself at the        
discretion of another1 would it not have
  been contrary to the dictates of good 
sense to begin by making over to  a     
chief the only things for the           
preservation of which they stood in     
need of his assistance8 ,what equivalent
 could he have offered them  for so fine
 a privilege8 ,and had he presumed to   
exact it on pretense  of defending them1
 would he not have immediately received 
the answer  in the apologue8 ,what worse
 treatment can we expect from an enemy8 
,it  is therefore past dispute1 and     
indeed a fundamental maxim of political 
law1 that people gave themselves chiefs 
to defend their liberty and  not be     
enslaved by them4 ,if we have a prince1 
said ,pliny to ,trajan1 it  is in order 
that he may keep us from having a       
master4    ,political writers argue in  
regard to the love of liberty with the  
same  philosophy that philosophers do in

 regard to the state of nature2 by  the 
things they see they judge of things    
very different which they  have never   
seen1 and they attribute to men a       
natural inclination to  slavery1 on     
account of the patience with which the  
slaves within their  notice carry the   
yoke2 not reflecting that it is with    
liberty as with  innocence and virtue1  
the value of which is not known but by  
those who  possess them1 though the     
relish for them is lost with the things 
themselves4 ,i know the charms of your  
country1 said ,brasidas to a  satrap who
 was comparing the life of the ,spartans
 with that of the  ,persepolites2 but   
you can not know the pleasures of mine4 
,as an unbroken courser erects his mane1
 paws the ground1 and rages at  the bare
 sight of the bit1 while a trained horse
 patiently suffers  both whip and spur1 
just so the barbarian will never reach  
his neck to  the yoke which civilized   
man carries without murmuring but       
prefers the  most stormy liberty to a   

calm subjection4 ,it is not therefore by
 the  servile disposition of enslaved   
nations that we must judge of the       
natural dispositions of man for or      
against slavery1 but by the  prodigies  
done by every free people to secure     
themselves from  oppression4 ,i know    
that the first are constantly crying up 
that peace  and tranquillity they enjoy 
in their irons1 and that miserrimam     
servitutem pacem appellant3 but when ,i 
see the others sacrifice  pleasures1    
peace1 riches1 power1 and even life     
itself to the  preservation of that     
single jewel so much slighted by those  
who have  lost it2 when ,i see free-born
 animals through a natural abhorrence of
  captivity dash their brains out       
against the bars of their prison2 when  
,i see multitudes of naked savages      
despise ,european pleasures1 and  brave 
hunger1 fire and sword1 and death itself
 to preserve their  independency2 ,i    
feel that it belongs not to slaves to   
argue concerning  liberty4    ,as to    

paternal authority1 from which several  
have derived absolute  government and   
every other mode of society1 it is      
sufficient1 without  having recourse to 
,locke and ,sidney1 to observe that     
nothing in the  world differs more from 
the cruel spirit of despotism that the  
gentleness of that authority1 which     
looks more to the advantage of him  who 
obeys than to the utility of him who    
commands2 that by the law of  nature the
 father continues master of his child no
 longer than the  child stands in need  
of his assistance2 that after that term 
they  become equal1 and that then the   
son1 entirely independent of the        
father1 owes him no obedience1 but only 
respect4 ,gratitude is indeed  a duty   
which we are bound to pay1 but which    
benefactors can not exact4  ,instead of 
saying that civil society is derived    
from paternal  authority1 we should     
rather say that it is to the former that
 the  latter owes its principal force3  
,no one individual was acknowledged as  

the father of several other individuals1
 till they settled about him4  ,the     
father's goods1 which he can indeed     
dispose of as he pleases1 are  the ties 
which hold his children to their        
dependence upon him1 and he  may divide 
his substance among them in proportion  
as they shall have  deserved his        
attention by a continual deference to   
his commands4 ,now  the subjects of a   
despotic chief1 far from having any such
 favour to  expect from him1 as both    
themselves and all they have are his    
property1 or at least are considered by 
him as such1 are obliged to  receive as 
a favour what he relinquishes to them of
 their own  property4 ,he does them     
justice when he strips them2 he treats  
them  with mercy when he suffers them to
 live4 ,by continuing in this manner  to
 compare facts with right1 we should    
discover as little solidity as  truth in
 the voluntary establishment of tyranny2
 and it would be a  hard matter to prove
 the validity of a contract which was   

binding only  on one side1 in which one 
of the parties should stake everything  
and  the other nothing1 and which could 
turn out to the prejudice of him  alone 
who had bound himself4    ,this odious  
system is even1 at this day1 far from   
being that of wise  and good monarchs1  
and especially of the kings of ,france1 
as may be  seen by divers passages in   
their edicts1 and particularly by that  
of a  celebrated piece published in     
#affg in the name and by the orders of  
,louis ,,xiv4 ,let it therefore not be  
said that the sovereign is not  subject 
to the laws of his realm1 since1 that he
 is1 is a maxim of the  law of nations  
which flattery has sometimes attacked1  
but which good  princes have always     
defended as the tutelary divinity of    
their realms4  ,how much more reasonable
 is it to say with the sage ,plato1 that
 the  perfect happiness of a state      
consists in the subjects obeying their  
prince1 the prince obeying the laws1 and
 the laws being equitable and  always   

directed to the good of the public8 ,i  
shall not stop to  consider1 if1 liberty
 being the most noble faculty of man1 it
 is not  degrading one's nature1        
reducing one's self to the level of     
brutes1  who are the slaves of instinct1
 and even offending the author of one's 
being1 to renounce without reserve the  
most precious of his gifts1 and  submit 
to the commission of all the crimes he  
has forbid us1 merely to  gratify a mad 
or a cruel master2 and if this sublime  
artist ought to  be more irritated at   
seeing his work destroyed than at seeing
 it  dishonoured4 ,i shall only ask what
 right those1 who were not afraid  thus 
to degrade themselves1 could have to    
subject their dependants to  the same   
ignominy1 and renounce1 in the name of  
their posterity1  blessings for which it
 is not indebted to their liberality1   
and  without which life itself must     
appear a burthen to all those who are   
worthy to live4    ,puffendorf says     
that1 as we can transfer our property   

from one to  another by contracts and   
conventions1 we may likewise divest     
ourselves  of our liberty in favour of  
other men4 ,this1 in my opinion1 is a   
very  poor way of arguing2 for1 in the  
first place1 the property ,i cede to    
another becomes by such cession a thing 
quite foreign to me1 and the  abuse of  
which can no way affect me2 but it      
concerns me greatly that  my liberty is 
not abused1 and ,i can not1 without     
incurring the guilt  of the crimes ,i   
may be forced to commit1 expose myself  
to become the  instrument of any4       
,besides1 the right of property being of
 mere human  convention and institution1
 every man may dispose as he pleases of 
what he possesses3 ,but the case is     
otherwise with regard to the  essential 
gifts of nature1 such as life and       
liberty1 which every man  is permitted  
to enjoy1 and of which it is doubtful at
 least whether  any man has a right to  
divest himself3 ,by giving up the one1  
we  degrade our being2 by giving up the 

other we annihilate it as much as  it is
 our power to do so2 and as no temporal 
enjoyments can indemnify  us for the    
loss of either1 it would be at once     
offending both nature  and reason to    
renounce them for any consideration4    
,but though we could  transfer our      
liberty as we do our substance1 the     
difference would be  very great with    
regard to our children1 who enjoy our   
substance but by  a cession of our      
right2 whereas liberty being a blessing1
 which as men  they hold from nature1   
their parents have no right to strip    
them of  it2 so that as to establish    
slavery it was necessary to do violence 
to  nature1 so it was necessary to alter
 nature to perpetuate such a  right2 and
 the jurisconsults1 who have gravely    
pronounced that the  child of a slave   
comes a slave into the world1 have in   
other words  decided1 that a man does   
not come a man into the world4    ,it   
therefore appears to me incontestably   
true1 that not only  governments did not

 begin by arbitrary power1 which is but 
the  corruption and extreme term of     
government1 and at length brings it     
back to the law of the strongest1       
against which governments were at  first
 the remedy1 but even that1 allowing    
they had commenced in this  manner1 such
 power being illegal in itself could    
never have served as  a foundation to   
the rights of society1 nor of course to 
the inequality  of institution4    ,i   
shall not now enter upon the inquiries  
which still remain to be made  into the 
nature of the fundamental pacts of every
 kind of government1  but1 following the
 common opinion1 confine myself in this 
place to the  establishment of the      
political body as a real contract       
between the  multitude and the chiefs   
elected by it4 ,a contract by which both
  parties oblige themselves to the      
observance of the laws that are  therein
 stipulated1 and form the bands of their
 union4 ,the multitude  having1 on      
occasion of the social relations between

 them1 concentered  all their wills in  
one person1 all the articles1 in regard 
to which  this will explains itself1    
become so many fundamental laws1 which  
oblige without exception all the members
 of the state1 and one of  which laws   
regulates the choice and the power of   
the magistrates  appointed to look to   
the execution of the rest4 ,this power  
extends to  everything that can maintain
 the constitution1 but extends to       
nothing  that can alter it4 ,to this    
power are added honours1 that may render
  the laws and the ministers of them    
respectable2 and the persons of the     
ministers are distinguished by certain  
prerogatives1 which may make  them      
amends for the great fatigues           
inseparable from a good  administration4
 ,the magistrate1 on his side1 obliges  
himself not to  use the power with which
 he is intrusted but conformably to the 
intention of his constituents1 to       
maintain every one of them in the       
peaceable possession of his property1   

and upon all occasions prefer  the good 
of the public to his own private        
interest4    ,before experience had     
demonstrated1 or a thorough knowledge of
 the  human heart had pointed out1 the  
abuses inseparable from such a          
constitution1 it must have appeared so  
much the more perfect1 as those         
appointed to look to its preservation   
were themselves most concerned  therein2
 for magistracy and its rights being    
built solely on the  fundamental laws1  
as soon as these ceased to exist1 the   
magistrates  would cease to be lawful1  
the people would no longer be bound to  
obey  them1 and1 as the essence of the  
state did not consist in the            
magistrates but in the laws1 the members
 of it would immediately  become        
entitled to their primitive and natural 
liberty4    ,a little reflection would  
afford us new arguments in confirmation 
of  this truth1 and the nature of the   
contract might alone convince us  that  
it can not be irrevocable3 for if there 

was no superior power  capable of       
guaranteeing the fidelity of the        
contracting parties and of  obliging    
them to fulfil their mutual engagements1
 they would remain  sole judges in their
 own cause1 and each of them would      
always have a  right to renounce the    
contract1 as soon as he discovered that 
the  other had broke the conditions of  
it1 or that these conditions ceased  to 
suit his private convenience4 ,upon this
 principle1 the right of  abdication may
 probably be founded4 ,now1 to consider 
as we do nothing  but what is human in  
this institution1 if the magistrate1 who
 has all  the power in his own hands1   
and who appropriates to himself all the 
advantages of the contract1 has         
notwithstanding a right to divest       
himself of his authority2 how much a    
better right must the people1 who  pay  
for all the faults of its chief1 have to
 renounce their dependence  upon him4   
,but the shocking dissensions and       
disorders without number1  which would  

be the necessary consequence of so      
dangerous a privilege1  show more than  
anything else how much human governments
 stood in need  of a more solid basis   
than that of mere reason1 and how       
necessary it  was for the public        
tranquillity1 that the will of the      
,almighty should  interpose to give to  
sovereign authority1 a sacred and       
inviolable  character1 which should     
deprive subjects of the mischievous     
right to  dispose of it to whom they    
pleased4 ,if mankind had received no    
other  advantages from religion1 this   
alone would be sufficient to make them  
adopt and cherish it1 since it is the   
means of saving more blood than         
fanaticism has been the cause of        
spilling4 ,but to resume the thread of  
our hypothesis4    ,the various forms of
 government owe their origin to the     
various  degrees of inequality between  
the members1 at the time they first     
coalesced into a political body4 ,where 
a man happened to be eminent  for power1

 for virtue1 for riches1 or for credit1 
he became sole  magistrate1 and the     
state assumed a monarchical form2 if    
many of  pretty equal eminence          
out-topped all the rest1 they were      
jointly  elected1 and this election     
produced an aristocracy2 those1 between 
whose fortune or talents there happened 
to be no such disproportion1  and who   
had deviated less from the state of     
nature1 retained in common  the supreme 
administration1 and formed a democracy4 
,time demonstrated  which of these forms
 suited mankind best4 ,some remained    
altogether  subject to the laws2 others 
soon bowed their necks to masters4 ,the 
former laboured to preserve their       
liberty2 the latter thought of  nothing 
but invading that of their neighbours1  
jealous at seeing  others enjoy a       
blessing which themselves had lost4 ,in 
a word1 riches  and conquest fell to the
 share of the one1 and virtue and       
happiness to  that of the other4    ,in 
these various modes of government the   

offices at first were all  elective2 and
 when riches did not preponderate1 the  
preference was  given to merit1 which   
gives a natural ascendant1 and to age1  
which is  the parent of deliberateness  
in council1 and experience in execution4
  ,the ancients among the ,hebrews1 the 
,geronts of ,sparta1 the ,senate of     
,rome1 nay1 the very etymology of our   
word seigneur1 show how much gray  hairs
 were formerly respected4 ,the oftener  
the choice fell upon old  men1 the      
oftener it became necessary to repeat   
it1 and the more the  trouble of such   
repetitions became sensible2            
electioneering took  place2 factions    
arose2 the parties contracted ill blood2
 civil wars  blazed forth2 the lives of 
the citizens were sacrificed to the     
pretended happiness of the state2 and   
things at last came to such a  pass1 as 
to be ready to relapse into their       
primitive confusion4 ,the  ambition of  
the principal men induced them to take  
advantage of these  circumstances to    

perpetuate the hitherto temporary       
charges in their  families2 the people  
already inured to dependence1 accustomed
 to ease  and the conveniences of life1 
and too much enervated to break their   
fetters1 consented to the increase of   
their slavery for the sake of  securing 
their tranquillity2 and it is thus that 
chiefs1 become  hereditary1 contracted  
the habit of considering magistracies as
 a  family estate1 and themselves as    
proprietors of those communities1 of    
which at first they were but mere       
officers2 to call their  fellow-citizens
 their slaves2 to look upon them1 like  
so many cows or  sheep1 as a part of    
their substance2 and to style themselves
 the peers  of ,gods1 and ,kings of     
,kings4    ,by pursuing the progress of 
inequality in these different           
revolutions1  we shall discover that the
 establishment of laws and of the right 
of  property was the first term of it2  
the institution of magistrates the      
second2 and the third and last the      

changing of legal into arbitrary  power2
 so that the different states of rich   
and poor were authorized  by the first  
epoch2 those of powerful and weak by the
 second2 and by  the third those of     
master and slave1 which formed the last 
degree of  inequality1 and the term in  
which all the rest at last end1 till new
  revolutions entirely dissolve the     
government1 or bring it back nearer  to 
its legal constitution4    ,to conceive 
the necessity of this progress1 we are  
not so much to  consider the motives for
 the establishment of political bodies1 
as the  forms these bodies assume in    
their administration2 and the           
inconveniences with which they are      
essentially attended2 for those  vices1 
which render social institutions        
necessary1 are the same which  render   
the abuse of such institutions          
unavoidable2 and as 7,sparta  alone     
excepted1 whose laws chiefly regarded   
the education of children1  and where   
,lycurgus established such manners and  

customs1 as in a great  measure made    
laws needless17 the laws1 in general    
less strong than the  passions1 restrain
 men without changing them2 it would be 
no hard  matter to prove that every     
government1 which carefully guarding    
against all alteration and corruption   
should scrupulously comply with  the    
ends of its institution1 was            
unnecessarily instituted2 and that a    
country1 where no one either eluded the 
laws1 or made an ill use of  magistracy1
 required neither laws nor magistrates4 
,political distinctions are necessarily 
attended with civil  distinctions4 ,the 
inequality between the people and the   
chiefs  increase so fast as to be soon  
felt by the private members1 and        
appears among them in a thousand shapes 
according to their passions1  their     
talents1 and the circumstances of       
affairs4 ,the magistrate can  not usurp 
any illegal power without making himself
 creatures1 with  whom he must divide   
it4 ,besides1 the citizens of a free    

state suffer  themselves to be oppressed
 merely in proportion as1 hurried on by 
a  blind ambition1 and looking rather   
below than above them1 they come to     
love authority more than independence4  
,when they submit to fetters1  'tis only
 to be the better able to fetter others 
in their turn4 ,it is  no easy matter to
 make him obey1 who does not wish to    
command2 and the  most refined policy   
would find it impossible to subdue those
 men1 who  only desire to be            
independent2 but inequality easily gains
 ground  among base and ambitious souls1
 ever ready to run the risks of         
fortune1 and almost indifferent whether 
they command or obey1 as she  proves    
either favourable or adverse to them4   
,thus then there must have  been a time1
 when the eyes of the people were       
bewitched to such a  degree1 that their 
rulers needed only to have said to the  
most pitiful  wretch1 ,be great you and 
all your posterity1 to make him         
immediately  appear great in the eyes of

 every one as well as in his own2 and   
his  descendants took still more upon   
them1 in proportion to their removes    
from him3 the more distant and uncertain
 the cause1 the greater the  effect2 the
 longer line of drones a family         
produced1 the more  illustrious it was  
reckoned4    ,were this a proper place  
to enter into details1 ,i could easily  
explain  in what manner inequalities in 
point of credit and authority become    
unavoidable among private persons the   
moment that1 united into one  body1 they
 are obliged to compare themselves one  
with another1 and to  note the          
differences which they find in the      
continual use every man  must make of   
his neighbour4 ,these differences are of
 several kinds2  but riches1 nobility or
 rank1 power and personal merit1 being  
in  general the principal distinctions1 
by which men in society measure  each   
other1 ,i could prove that the harmony  
or conflict between these  different    
forces is the surest indication of the  

good or bad original  constitution of   
any state3 ,i could make it appear that1
 as among these  four kinds of          
inequality1 personal qualities are the  
source of all the  rest1 riches is that 
in which they ultimately terminate1     
because1  being the most immediately    
useful to the prosperity of individuals1
  and the most easy to communicate1 they
 are made use of to purchase  every     
other distinction4 ,by this observation 
we are enabled to judge  with tolerable 
exactness1 how much any people has      
deviated from its  primitive            
institution1 and what steps it has still
 to make to the  extreme term of        
corruption4 ,i could show how much this 
universal  desire of reputation1 of     
honours1 of preference1 with which we   
are all  devoured1 exercises and        
compares our talents and our forces3 how
 much  it excites and multiplies our    
passions2 and1 by creating an universal 
competition1 rivalship1 or rather enmity
 among men1 how many  disappointments1  

successes1 and catastrophes of every    
kind it daily  causes among the         
innumerable pretenders whom it engages  
in the same  career4 ,i could show that 
it is to this itch of being spoken of1  
to  this fury of distinguishing         
ourselves which seldom or never gives us
 a  moment's respite1 that we owe both  
the best and the worst things among  us1
 our virtues and our vices1 our sciences
 and our errors1 our  conquerors and our
 philosophers2 that is to say1 a great  
many bad  things to a very few good     
ones4 ,i could prove1 in short1 that if 
we  behold a handful of rich and        
powerful men seated on the pinnacle of  
fortune and greatness1 while the crowd  
grovel in obscurity and want1  it is    
merely because the first prize what they
 enjoy but in the same  degree that     
others want it1 and that1 without       
changing their  condition1 they would   
cease to be happy the minute the people 
ceased  to be miserable4    ,but these  
details would alone furnish sufficient  

matter for a more  considerable work1 in
 which might be weighed the advantages  
and  disadvantages of every species of  
government1 relatively to the rights  of
 man in a state of nature1 and might    
likewise be unveiled all the  different 
faces under which inequality has        
appeared to this day1 and  may hereafter
 appear to the end of time1 according to
 the nature of  these several           
governments1 and the revolutions time   
must unavoidably  occasion in them4 ,we 
should then see the multitude oppressed 
by  domestic tyrants in consequence of  
those very precautions taken by  them to
 guard against foreign masters4 ,we     
should see oppression  increase         
continually without its being ever      
possible for the oppressed  to know     
where it would stop1 nor what lawful    
means they had left to  check its       
progress4 ,we should see the rights of  
citizens1 and the  liberties of nations 
extinguished by slow degrees1 and the   
groans1 and  protestations and appeals  

of the weak treated as seditious        
murmurings4  ,we should see policy      
confine to a mercenary portion of the   
people the  honour of defending the     
common cause4 ,we should see imposts    
made  necessary by such measures1 the   
disheartened husbandman desert his      
field even in time of peace1 and quit   
the plough to take up the sword4  ,we   
should see fatal and whimsical rules    
laid down concerning the point  of      
honour4 ,we should see the champions of 
their country sooner or  later become   
her enemies1 and perpetually holding    
their poniards to  the breasts of their 
fellow citizens4 ,nay1 the time would   
come when  they might be heard to say to
 the oppressor of their country3        
,pectore si fratris gladium juguloque   
parentis    ,condere me jubeas1         
gravidoeque in viscera partu            
,conjugis1 in vita peragam tamen omnia  
dextra4    ,from the vast inequality of 
conditions and fortunes1 from the great 
variety of passions and of talents1 of  

useless arts1 of pernicious  arts1 of   
frivolous sciences1 would issue clouds  
of prejudices equally  contrary to      
reason1 to happiness1 to virtue4 ,we    
should see the chiefs  foment everything
 that tends to weaken men formed into   
societies by  dividing them2 everything 
that1 while it gives society an air of  
apparent harmony1 sows in it the seeds  
of real division2 everything  that can  
inspire the different orders with mutual
 distrust and hatred  by an opposition  
of their rights and interest1 and of    
course  strengthen that power which     
contains them all4    ',tis from the    
bosom of this disorder and these        
revolutions1 that  despotism gradually  
rearing up her hideous crest1 and       
devouring in  every part of the state   
all that still remained sound and       
untainted1  would at last issue to      
trample upon the laws and the people1   
and  establish herself upon the ruins of
 the republic4 ,the times  immediately  
preceding this last alteration would be 

times of calamity  and trouble3 but at  
last everything would be swallowed up by
 the  monster2 and the people would no  
longer have chiefs or laws1 but only    
tyrants4 ,at this fatal period all      
regard to virtue and manners would      
likewise disappear2 for despotism1 cui  
ex honesto nulla est spes1  tolerates no
 other master1 wherever it reigns2 the  
moment it speaks1  probity and duty lose
 all their influence1 and the blindest  
obedience  is the only virtue the       
miserable slaves have left them to      
practise4    ,this is the last term of  
inequality1 the extreme point which     
closes  the circle and meets that from  
which we set out4 ',tis here that all   
private men return to their primitive   
equality1 because they are no  longer of
 any account2 and that1 the subjects    
having no longer any law  but that of   
their master1 nor the master any other  
law but his  passions1 all notions of   
good and principles of justice again    
disappear4 ',tis here that everything   

returns to the sole law of the          
strongest1 and of course to a new state 
of nature different from that  with     
which we began1 in as much as the first 
was the state of nature  in its purity1 
and the last the consequence of         
excessive corruption4  ,there is1 in    
other respects1 so little difference    
between these two  states1 and the      
contract of government is so much       
dissolved by  despotism1 that the despot
 is no longer master than he continues  
the  strongest1 and that1 as soon as his
 slaves can expel him1 they may do  it  
without his having the least right to   
complain of their using him  ill4 ,the  
insurrection1 which ends in the death or
 despotism of a  sultan1 is as juridical
 an act as any by which the day before  
he  disposed of the lives and fortunes  
of his subjects4 ,force alone upheld    
him1 force alone overturns him4 ,thus   
all things take place and succeed  in   
their natural order2 and whatever may be
 the upshot of these hasty  and frequent

 revolutions1 no one man has reason to  
complain of  another's injustice1 but   
only of his own indiscretion or bad     
fortune4    ,by thus discovering and    
following the lost and forgotten tracks1
 by  which man from the natural must    
have arrived at the civil state2 by     
restoring1 with the intermediate        
positions which ,i have been just       
indicating1 those which want of leisure 
obliges me to suppress1 or  which my    
imagination has not suggested1 every    
attentive reader must  unavoidably be   
struck at the immense space which       
separates these two  states4 ',tis in   
this slow succession of things he may   
meet with the  solution of an infinite  
number of problems in morality and      
politics1  which philosophers are       
puzzled to solve4 ,he will perceive     
that1 the  mankind of one age not being 
the mankind of another1 the reason why  
,diogenes could not find a man was1 that
 he sought among his  cotemporaries the 
man of an earlier period3 ,cato1 he will

 then see1  fell with ,rome and with    
liberty1 because he did not suit the age
 in  which he lived2 and the greatest of
 men served only to astonish that       
world1 which would have cheerfully      
obeyed him1 had he come into it  five   
hundred years earlier4 ,in a word1 he   
will find himself in a  condition to    
understand how the soul and the passions
 of men by  insensible alterations      
change as it were their nature2 how it  
comes to  pass1 that at the long run our
 wants and our pleasures change objects2
  that1 original man vanishing by       
degrees1 society no longer offers to    
our inspection but an assemblage of     
artificial men and factitious  passions1
 which are the work of all these new    
relations1 and have no  foundation in   
nature4 ,reflection teaches us nothing  
on that head1 but  what experience      
perfectly confirms4 ,savage man and     
civilised man  differ so much at bottom 
in point of inclinations and passions1  
that  what constitutes the supreme      

happiness of the one would reduce the   
other to despair4 ,the first sighs for  
nothing but repose and liberty2  he     
desires only to live1 and to be exempt  
from labour2 nay1 the  ataraxy of the   
most confirmed ,stoic falls short of his
 consummate  indifference for every     
other object4 ,on the contrary1 the     
citizen  always in motion1 is           
perpetually sweating and toiling1 and   
racking his  brains to find out         
occupations still more laborious3 ,he   
continues a  drudge to his last minute2 
nay1 he courts death to be able to live1
 or  renounces life to acquire          
immortality4 ,he cringes to men in power
 whom  he hates1 and to rich men whom he
 despises2 he sticks at nothing to  have
 the honour of serving them2 he is not  
ashamed to value himself on  his own    
weakness and the protection they afford 
him2 and proud of his  chains1 he speaks
 with disdain of those who have not the 
honour of  being the partner of his     
bondage4 ,what a spectacle must the     

painful  and envied labours of an       
,european minister of state form in the 
eyes  of a ,caribbean6 ,how many cruel  
deaths would not this indolent savage   
prefer to such a horrid life1 which very
 often is not even sweetened  by the    
pleasure of doing good8 ,but to see the 
drift of so many cares1  his mind should
 first have affixed some meaning to     
these words power  and reputation2 he   
should be apprised that there are men   
who consider  as something the looks of 
the rest of mankind1 who know how to be 
happy and satisfied with themselves on  
the testimony of others sooner  than    
upon their own4 ,in fact1 the real      
source of all those  differences1 is    
that the savage lives within himself1   
whereas the  citizen1 constantly beside 
himself1 knows only how to live in the  
opinion of others2 insomuch that it is1 
if ,i may say so1 merely from  their    
judgment that he derives the            
consciousness of his own existence4  ,it
 is foreign to my subject to show how   

this disposition engenders so  much     
indifference for good and evil1         
notwithstanding so many and such  fine  
discourses of morality2 how everything1 
being reduced to  appearances1 becomes  
mere art and mummery2 honour1           
friendship1 virtue1  and often vice     
itself1 which we at last learn the      
secret to boast of2  how1 in short1 ever
 inquiring of others what we are1 and   
never daring  to question ourselves on  
so delicate a point1 in the midst of so 
much  philosophy1 humanity1 and         
politeness1 and so many sublime maxims1 
we  have nothing to show for ourselves  
but a deceitful and frivolous  exterior1
 honour without virtue1 reason without  
wisdom1 and pleasure  without happiness4
 ,it is sufficient that ,i have proved  
that this is  not the original condition
 of man1 and that it is merely the      
spirit of  society1 and the inequality  
which society engenders1 that thus      
change  and transform all our natural   
inclinations4    ,i have endeavoured to 

exhibit the origin and progress of      
inequality1  the institution and abuse  
of political societies1 as far as these 
things are capable of being deduced from
 the nature of man by the mere  light of
 reason1 and independently of those     
sacred maxims which give  to the        
sovereign authority the sanction of     
divine right4 ,it follows  from this    
picture1 that as there is scarce any    
inequality among men in  a state of     
nature1 all that which we now behold    
owes its force and its  growth to the   
development of our faculties and the    
improvement of our  understanding1 and  
at last becomes permanent and lawful by 
the  establishment of property and of   
laws4 ,it likewise follows that moral   
inequality1 authorised by any right that
 is merely positive1 clashes  with      
natural right1 as often as it does not  
combine in the same  proportion with    
physical inequality3 a distinction which
 sufficiently  determines1 what we are  
able to think in that respect of that   

kind of  inequality which obtains in all
 civilised nations1 since it is         
evidently against the law of nature that
 infancy should command old  age1 folly 
conduct wisdom1 and a handful of men    
should be ready to  choke with          
superfluities1 while the famished       
multitude want the  commonest           
necessaries of life4                    
,transcriber's ,note3 ,some words which 
appear to be potential typos are        
printed as such in the original book3   
,these possible words include           
cotemporaries and oftens4 ,the paragraph
 starting with the words ,this  odius   
system is even contains unmatched       
quotes1 which have been  reproduced as  
they appeared in the orginal4 ,this work
 was transcribed  from a anthology      
7,harvard ,classics ,volume #cd7        
published in #aiaj4 ,the  editor of the 
entire series was ,charles ,w4 ,eliot4  
,the name of the  translator was not    
given1 nor was the name of the author of
 the  introduction4 ,indented lines     

indicate embedded verse that should not 
be re-wrapped4