BOOK III PART II
the few possessions we have, in proportion to
our wants; and it is to restrain this selfishness,
that men have been obliged to separate them-
selves from the community, and to distinguish
betwixt their own goods and those of others.
Nor need we have recourse to the fictions of
poets to learn this; but beside the reason of the
thing, may discover the same truth by common
experience and observation. It is easy to re-
mark, that a cordial affection renders all things
common among friends; and that married peo-
ple in particular mutually lose their property,
and are unacquainted with the mine and thine,
which are so necessary, and yet cause such dis-
turbance in human society. The same effect
arises from any alteration in the circumstances
of mankind; as when there is such a plenty of
any thing as satisfies all the desires of men: In