But there is a reason, which induces me not to ascribe the matter altogether to chance. Though
the persons, who cultivate the sciences with such astonishing success, as to attract the admiration
of posterity, be always few, in all nations and all ages; it is impossible but a share of the same
spirit and genius must be antecedently diffused throughout the people among whom they arise,
in order to produce, form, and cultivate, from their earliest infancy, the taste and judgment of
those eminent writers. The mass cannot be altogether insipid, from which such refined spirits are
extracted. There is a God within us, says OVID, who breathes that divine fire, by which we are
animated.*