of Saturn (of
his religious worship) in a ship, may indicate, that the savage coast of
Latium was first discovered and civilized by the Phoenicians.]

[Footnote 1401: In the ninth and tenth books of the Odyssey, Homer has
embellished the tales of fearful and credulous sailors, who transformed
the cannibals of Italy and Sicily into monstrous giants.]

Since the first discovery of the arts, war, commerce, and religious
zeal have diffused, among the savages of the Old and New World, these
inestimable gifts: they have been successively propagated; they can
never be lost. We may therefore acquiesce in the pleasing conclusion,
that every age of the world has increased, and still increases, the real
wealth, the happiness, the knowledge, and perhaps the virtue, of the
human race. [1501]

[Footnote 1501: The merit of discovery has too often been stained with
avarice, cruelty, and fanaticism; and the intercourse of nations
has produced the communication of disease and prejudice. A singular
exception is due to the virtue of our own times and country. The five
great voyages, successively undertaken by the command of his present
Majesty, were inspired by the pure and generous love of science and of
mankind. The same prince, adapting his benefactions to the different
stages of society, has founded his school of painting in his capital;
and has introduced into the islands of the South Sea the vegetables and
animals most useful to human life.]

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