Page:A discourse upon the origin and foundation of the inequality among mankind (IA discourseuponori00rous).pdf/236

it daily cauſes among the innumerable Pretenders whom it engages in the ſame Career. I could ſhew that it is to this Itch of being ſpoken of, to this Fury of diſtinguiſhing ourſelves which ſeldom or never gives us a moment's Reſpite, that we owe both the beſt and the worſt things among us, our Virtues and our Vices, our Sciences and our Errors, our Conquerors and our Philoſophers; that is to ſay, a great many bad things to a very few good ones. I could prove, in ſhort, that if we behold a handful of rich and powerful Men ſeated on the Pinnacle of Fortune and Greatneſs, while the Crowd grovel in Obſcurity and Want, it is merely becauſe the firſt prize what they enjoy but in the ſame Degree that others want it, and that, without changing their Condition, they would ceaſe to be happy the minute the People ceaſed to be miſerable.