Page:A discourse upon the origin and foundation of the inequality among mankind (IA discourseuponori00rous).pdf/115

the Origin of arbitrary Signs, ſhews that he ſuppoſes, what I doubt, namely a kind of Society already eſtabliſhed among the Inventors of Languages; I think it my Duty, at the ſame time that I refer to his Reflections, to give my own, in order to expoſe the ſame Difficulties in a Light ſuitable to my Subject. The firſt that offers is how Languages could become neceſſary; for as there was no Correſpondence between Men, nor the leaſt Neceſſity for any, there is no conceiving the Neceſſity of this Invention, nor the Poſſibility of it, if it was not indiſpenſible. I might ſay, with many others, that Languages are the Fruit of the Domeſtic Intercourſe between Fathers, Mothers, and Children: but this, beſides its not anſwering any Difficulties, would be committing the ſame Fault with thoſe, who reaſoning on the State of Nature, transfer to it Ideas collected in Society, always conſider Families as living together under one Roof,