24.24. 24. Of the local Laws of Religion.
There are many local laws in
various religions; and when Montezuma with so much obstinacy insisted
that the religion of the Spaniards was good for their country, and his
for Mexico, he did not assert an absurdity; because, in fact,
legislators could never help having a regard to what nature had
established before them.
The opinion of the metempsychosis is adapted to the climate of the
Indies. An excessive heat burns up all the country:
[34]
they can breed
but very few cattle; they are always in danger of wanting them for
tillage; their black cattle multiply but indifferently;
[35]
and they are
subject to many distempers. A law of religion which preserves them is
therefore more suitable to the policy of the country.
While the meadows are scorched, rice and pulse, by the assistance of
water, are brought to perfection; a law of religion which permits only
this kind of nourishment must therefore be extremely useful to men in
those climates.
The flesh of cattle in that country is insipid
[36]
but the milk and
butter which they receive from them serve for a part of their
subsistence; therefore the law which prohibits the eating and killing of
cows is in the Indies not unreasonable.
Athens contained a prodigious multitude of people, but its territory
was barren. It was therefore a religious maxim with this people that
those who offered some small presents to the gods honoured them more
than those who sacrificed an ox.
[37]
Footnotes
[34]
See Bernier, "Travels," vol. ii, p. 137.
[35]
"Edifying Letters," coll. xii, p. 95.
[36]
Bernier, "Travels," vol. ii, p. 137.
[37]
Euripides, in "Athenæus," lib. ii, p. 40.
