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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35624 ***
+
+A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY
+
+VOLUME IV
+
+By
+
+VOLTAIRE
+
+
+
+
+EDITION DE LA PACIFICATION
+
+THE WORKS OF VOLTAIRE
+
+A CONTEMPORARY VERSION
+
+
+  With Notes by Tobias Smollett, Revised and Modernized
+     New Translations by William F. Fleming, and an
+           Introduction by Oliver H.G. Leigh
+
+
+A CRITIQUE AND BIOGRAPHY
+
+BY
+
+THE RT. HON. JOHN MORLEY
+
+FORTY-THREE VOLUMES
+
+
+  One hundred and sixty-eight designs, comprising reproductions
+      of rare old engravings, steel plates, photogravures,
+                  and curious fac-similes
+
+
+VOLUME VIII
+
+E.R. DuMONT
+
+PARIS--LONDON--NEW YORK--CHICAGO
+
+1901
+
+
+
+_The WORKS of VOLTAIRE_
+
+     _"Between two servants of Humanity, who appeared eighteen hundred
+     years apart, there is a mysterious relation. * * * * Let us say it
+     with a sentiment of profound respect: JESUS WEPT: VOLTAIRE SMILED.
+     Of that divine tear and of that human smile is composed the
+     sweetness of the present civilization."_
+
+                                                    _VICTOR HUGO._
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF PLATES--VOL. IV
+
+
+VOLTAIRE'S ARREST AT FRANKFORT _Frontispiece_
+
+OLIVER CROMWELL
+
+TIME MAKES TRUTH TRIUMPHANT
+
+FRANCIS I. AND HIS SISTER
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Voltaire's arrest at Frankfort.]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+VOLTAIRE
+
+A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY
+
+IN TEN VOLUMES
+
+VOL. IV.
+
+COUNTRY--FALSITY
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+COUNTRY.
+
+
+SECTION I
+
+According to our custom, we confine ourselves on this subject to the
+statement of a few queries which we cannot resolve. Has a Jew a country?
+If he is born at Coimbra, it is in the midst of a crowd of ignorant and
+absurd persons, who will dispute with him, and to whom he makes foolish
+answers, if he dare reply at all. He is surrounded by inquisitors, who
+would burn him if they knew that he declined to eat bacon, and all his
+wealth would belong to them. Is Coimbra _his_ country? Can he exclaim,
+like the Horatii in Corneille:
+
+     _Mourir pour la patrie est un si digne sort_
+     _Qu'on briguerait en foule, une si belle mort._
+
+     So high his meed who for his country dies,
+     Men should contend to gain the glorious prize.
+
+He might as well exclaim, "fiddlestick!" Again! is Jerusalem his
+country? He has probably heard of his ancestors of old; that they had
+formerly inhabited a sterile and stony country, which is bordered by a
+horrible desert, of which little country the Turks are at present
+masters, but derive little or nothing from it. Jerusalem is, therefore,
+not his country. In short, he has no country: there is not a square
+foot of land on the globe which belongs to him.
+
+The Gueber, more ancient, and a hundred times more respectable than the
+Jew, a slave of the Turks, the Persians, or the Great Mogul, can he
+regard as his country the fire-altars which he raises in secret among
+the mountains? The Banian, the Armenian, who pass their lives in
+wandering through all the east, in the capacity of money-brokers, can
+they exclaim, "My dear country, my dear country"--who have no other
+country than their purses and their account-books?
+
+Among the nations of Europe, all those cut-throats who let out their
+services to hire, and sell their blood to the first king who will
+purchase it--have they a country? Not so much so as a bird of prey, who
+returns every evening to the hollow of the rock where its mother built
+its nest! The monks--will they venture to say that they have a country?
+It is in heaven, they say. All in good time; but in this world I know
+nothing about one.
+
+This expression, "my country," how sounds it from the mouth of a Greek,
+who, altogether ignorant of the previous existence of a Miltiades, an
+Agesilaus, only knows that he is the slave of a janissary, who is the
+slave of an aga, who is the slave of a pasha, who is the slave of a
+vizier, who is the slave of an individual whom we call, in Paris, the
+Grand Turk?
+
+What, then, is country?--Is it not, probably, a good piece of ground,
+in the midst of which the owner, residing in a well-built and commodious
+house, may say: "This field which I cultivate, this house which I have
+built, is my own; I live under the protection of laws which no tyrant
+can infringe. When those who, like me, possess fields and houses
+assemble for their common interests, I have a voice in such assembly. I
+am a part of the whole, one of the community, a portion of the
+sovereignty: behold my country!" What cannot be included in this
+description too often amounts to little beyond studs of horses under the
+command of a groom, who employs the whip at his pleasure. People may
+have a country under a good king, but never under a bad one.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+A young pastry-cook who had been to college, and who had mustered some
+phrases from Cicero, gave himself airs one day about loving his country.
+"What dost thou mean by country?" said a neighbor to him. "Is it thy
+oven? Is it the village where thou wast born, which thou hast never
+seen, and to which thou wilt never return? Is it the street in which thy
+father and mother reside? Is it the town hall, where thou wilt never
+become so much as a clerk or an alderman? Is it the church of Notre
+Dame, in which thou hast not been able to obtain a place among the boys
+of the choir, although a very silly person, who is archbishop and duke,
+obtains from it an annual income of twenty-four thousand louis d'or?"
+
+The young pastry-cook knew not how to reply; and a person of reflection,
+who overheard the conversation, was led to infer that a country of
+moderate extent may contain many millions of men who have no country at
+all. And thou, voluptuous Parisian, who hast never made a longer voyage
+than to Dieppe, to feed upon fresh sea-fish--who art acquainted only
+with thy splendid town-house, thy pretty villa in the country, thy box
+at that opera which all the world makes it a point to feel tiresome but
+thyself--who speakest thy own language agreeably enough, because thou
+art ignorant of every other; thou lovest all this, no doubt, as well as
+thy brilliant champagne from Rheims, and thy rents, payable every six
+months; and loving these, thou dwellest upon thy love for thy country.
+
+Speaking conscientiously, can a financier cordially love his country?
+Where was the country of the duke of Guise, surnamed Balafré--at Nancy,
+at Paris, at Madrid, or at Rome? What country had your cardinals Balue,
+Duprat, Lorraine, and Mazarin? Where was the country of Attila situated,
+or that of a hundred other heroes of the same kind, who, although
+eternally travelling, make themselves always at home? I should be much
+obliged to any one who would acquaint me with the country of Abraham.
+
+The first who observed that every land is our country in which we "do
+well," was, I believe, Euripides, in his "_Phædo_":
+
+     "_Ως παντακῶς γε πατρὶς βοσκοῦσα γῆ_."
+
+The first man, however, who left the place of his birth to seek a
+greater share of welfare in another, said it before him.
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+A country is a composition of many families; and as a family is commonly
+supported on the principle of self-love, when, by an opposing interest,
+the same self-love extends to our town, our province, or our nation, it
+is called love of country. The greater a country becomes, the less we
+love it; for love is weakened by diffusion. It is impossible to love a
+family so numerous that all the members can scarcely be known.
+
+He who is burning with ambition to be edile, tribune, prætor, consul, or
+dictator, exclaims that he loves his country, while he loves only
+himself. Every man wishes to possess the power of sleeping quietly at
+home, and of preventing any other man from possessing the power of
+sending him to sleep elsewhere. Every one would be certain of his
+property and his life. Thus, all forming the same wishes, the particular
+becomes the general interest. The welfare of the republic is spoken of,
+while all that is signified is love of self.
+
+It is impossible that a state was ever formed on earth, which was not
+governed in the first instance as a republic: it is the natural march
+of human nature. On the discovery of America, all the people were found
+divided into republics; there were but two kingdoms in all that part of
+the world. Of a thousand nations, but two were found subjugated.
+
+It was the same in the ancient world; all was republican in Europe
+before the little kinglings of Etruria and of Rome. There are yet
+republics in Africa: the Hottentots, towards the south, still live as
+people are said to have lived in the first ages of the world--free,
+equal, without masters, without subjects, without money, and almost
+without wants. The flesh of their sheep feeds them; they are clothed
+with their skins; huts of wood and clay form their habitations. They are
+the most dirty of all men, but they feel it not, but live and die more
+easily than we do. There remain eight republics in Europe without
+monarchs--Venice, Holland, Switzerland, Genoa, Lucca, Ragusa, Geneva,
+and San Marino. Poland, Sweden, and England may be regarded as republics
+under a king, but Poland is the only one of them which takes the name.
+
+But which of the two is to be preferred for a country--a monarchy or a
+republic? The question has been agitated for four thousand years. Ask
+the rich, and they will tell you an aristocracy; ask the people, and
+they will reply a democracy; kings alone prefer royalty. Why, then, is
+almost all the earth governed by monarchs? Put that question to the rats
+who proposed to hang a bell around the cat's neck. In truth, the
+genuine reason is, because men are rarely worthy of governing
+themselves.
+
+It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot we must become the enemy of
+the rest of mankind. That good citizen, the ancient Cato, always gave it
+as his opinion, that Carthage must be destroyed: "_Delenda est
+Carthago_." To be a good patriot is to wish our own country enriched by
+commerce, and powerful by arms; but such is the condition of mankind,
+that to wish the greatness of our own country is often to wish evil to
+our neighbors. He who could bring himself to wish that his country
+should always remain as it is, would be a citizen of the universe.
+
+
+
+
+CRIMES OR OFFENCES.
+
+_Of Time and Place._
+
+
+A Roman in Egypt very unfortunately killed a consecrated cat, and the
+infuriated people punished this sacrilege by tearing him to pieces. If
+this Roman had been carried before the tribunal, and the judges had
+possessed common sense, he would have been condemned to ask pardon of
+the Egyptians and the cats, and to pay a heavy fine, either in money or
+mice. They would have told him that he ought to respect the follies of
+the people, since he was not strong enough to correct them.
+
+The venerable chief justice should have spoken to him in this manner:
+"Every country has its legal impertinences, and its offences of time
+and place. If in your Rome, which has become the sovereign of Europe,
+Africa, and Asia Minor, you were to kill a sacred fowl, at the precise
+time that you give it grain in order to ascertain the just will of the
+gods, you would be severely punished. We believe that you have only
+killed our cat accidentally. The court admonishes you. Go in peace, and
+be more circumspect in future."
+
+It seems a very indifferent thing to have a statue in our hall; but if,
+when Octavius, surnamed Augustus, was absolute master, a Roman had
+placed in his house the statue of Brutus, he would have been punished as
+seditious. If a citizen, under a reigning emperor, had the statue of the
+competitor to the empire, it is said that it was accounted a crime of
+high treason.
+
+An Englishman, having nothing to do, went to Rome, where he met Prince
+Charles Edward at the house of a cardinal. Pleased at the incident, on
+his return he drank in a tavern to the health of Prince Charles Edward,
+and was immediately accused of high treason. But whom did he highly
+betray in wishing the prince well? If he had conspired to place him on
+the throne, then he would have been guilty towards the nation; but I do
+not see that the most rigid justice of parliament could require more
+from him than to drink four cups to the health of the house of Hanover,
+supposing he had drunk two to the house of Stuart.
+
+_Of Crimes of Time and Place, which Ought to Be Concealed._
+
+It is well known how much our Lady of Loretto ought to be respected in
+the March of Ancona. Three young people happened to be joking on the
+house of our lady, which has travelled through the air to Dalmatia;
+which has two or three times changed its situation, and has only found
+itself comfortable at Loretto. Our three scatterbrains sang a song at
+supper, formerly made by a Huguenot, in ridicule of the translation of
+the _santa casa_ of Jerusalem to the end of the Adriatic Gulf. A
+fanatic, having heard by chance what passed at their supper, made strict
+inquiries, sought witnesses, and engaged a magistrate to issue a
+summons. This proceeding alarmed all consciences. Every one trembled in
+speaking of it. Chambermaids, vergers, inn-keepers, lackeys, servants,
+all heard what was never said, and saw what was never done: there was an
+uproar, a horrible scandal throughout the whole March of Ancona. It was
+said, half a league from Loretto, that these youths had killed our lady;
+and a league farther, that they had thrown the _santa casa_ into the
+sea. In short, they were condemned. The sentence was, that their hands
+should be cut off, and their tongues be torn out; after which they were
+to be put to the torture, to learn--at least by signs--how many
+couplets there were in the song. Finally, they were to be burnt to death
+by a slow fire.
+
+An advocate of Milan, who happened to be at Loretto at this time, asked
+the principal judge to what he would have condemned these boys if they
+had violated their mother, and afterwards killed and eaten her? "Oh!"
+replied the judge, "there is a great deal of difference; to assassinate
+and devour their father and mother is only a crime against men." "Have
+you an express law," said the Milanese, "which obliges you to put young
+people scarcely out of their nurseries to such a horrible death, for
+having indiscreetly made game of the _santa casa,_ which is
+contemptuously laughed at all over the world, except in the March of
+Ancona?" "No," said the judge, "the wisdom of our jurisprudence leaves
+all to our discretion." "Very well, you ought to have discretion enough
+to remember that one of these children is the grandson of a general who
+has shed his blood for his country, and the nephew of an amiable and
+respectable abbess; the youth and his companions are giddy boys, who
+deserve paternal correction. You tear citizens from the state, who might
+one day serve it; you imbrue yourself in innocent blood, and are more
+cruel than cannibals. You will render yourselves execrable to posterity.
+What motive has been powerful enough, thus to extinguish reason,
+justice, and humanity in your minds, and to change you into ferocious
+beasts?" The unhappy judge at last replied: "We have been quarrelling
+with the clergy of Ancona; they accuse us of being too zealous for the
+liberties of the Lombard Church, and consequently of having no
+religion." "I understand, then," said the Milanese, "that you have made
+yourselves assassins to appear Christians." At these words the judge
+fell to the ground, as if struck by a thunderbolt; and his brother
+judges having been since deprived of office, they cry out that injustice
+is done them. They forget what they have done, and perceive not that the
+hand of God is upon them.
+
+For seven persons legally to amuse themselves by making an eighth perish
+on a public scaffold by blows from iron bars; take a secret and
+malignant pleasure in witnessing his torments; speak of it afterwards at
+table with their wives and neighbors; for the executioners to perform
+this office gaily, and joyously anticipate their reward; for the public
+to run to this spectacle as to a fair--all this requires that a crime
+merit this horrid punishment in the opinion of all well-governed
+nations, and, as we here treat of universal humanity, that it is
+necessary to the well-being of society. Above all, the actual
+perpetration should be demonstrated beyond contradiction. If against a
+hundred thousand probabilities that the accused be guilty there is a
+single one that he is innocent, that alone should balance all the rest.
+
+
+_Query: Are Two Witnesses Enough to Condemn a Man to be Hanged?_
+
+It has been for a long time imagined, and the proverb assures us, that
+two witnesses are enough to hang a man, with a safe conscience. Another
+ambiguity! The world, then, is to be governed by equivoques. It is said
+in St. Matthew that two or three witnesses will suffice to reconcile two
+divided friends; and after this text has criminal jurisprudence been
+regulated, so far as to decree that by divine law a citizen may be
+condemned to die on the uniform deposition of two witnesses who may be
+villains? It has been already said that a crowd of according witnesses
+cannot prove an improbable thing when denied by the accused. What, then,
+must be done in such a case? Put off the judgment for a hundred years,
+like the Athenians!
+
+We shall here relate a striking example of what passed under our eyes at
+Lyons. A woman suddenly missed her daughter; she ran everywhere in
+search of her in vain, and at length suspected a neighbor of having
+secreted the girl, and of having caused her violation. Some weeks after
+some fishermen found a female drowned, and in a state of putrefaction,
+in the Rhône at Condmeux. The woman of whom we have spoken immediately
+believed that it was her daughter. She was persuaded by the enemies of
+her neighbor that the latter had caused the deceased to be dishonored,
+strangled, and thrown into the Rhône. She made this accusation publicly,
+and the populace repeated it; persons were found who knew the minutest
+circumstances of the crime. The rumor ran through all the town, and all
+mouths cried out for vengeance. There is nothing more common than this
+in a populace without judgment; but here follows the most prodigious
+part of the affair. This neighbor's own son, a child of five years and a
+half old, accused his mother of having caused the unhappy girl who was
+found in the Rhône to be violated before his eyes, and to be held by
+five men, while the sixth committed the crime. He had heard the words
+which pronounced her violated; he painted her attitudes; he saw his
+mother and these villains strangle this unfortunate girl after the
+consummation of the act. He also saw his mother and the assassins throw
+her into a well, draw her out of it, wrap her up in a cloth, carry her
+about in triumph, dance round the corpse, and, at last, throw her into
+the Rhône. The judges were obliged to put all the pretended accomplices
+deposed against in chains. The child is again heard, and still
+maintains, with the simplicity of his age, all that he had said of them
+and of his mother. How could it be imagined that this child had not
+spoken the pure truth? The crime was not probable, but it was still less
+so that a child of the age of five years and a half should thus
+calumniate his mother, and repeat with exactness all the circumstances
+of an abominable and unheard-of crime; if he had not been the
+eye-witness of it, and been overcome with the force of the truth, such
+things would not have been wrung from him.
+
+Every one expected to feast his eyes on the torment of the accused; but
+what was the end of this strange criminal process? There was not a word
+of truth in the accusation. There was no girl violated, no young men
+assembled at the house of the accused, no murder, not the least
+transaction of the sort, nor the least noise. The child had been
+suborned; and by whom? Strange, but true, by two other children, who
+were the sons of the accused. He had been on the point of burning his
+mother to get some sweetmeats.
+
+The heads of the accusation were clearly incompatible. The sage and
+enlightened court of judicature, after having yielded to the public fury
+so far as to seek every possible testimony for and against the accused,
+fully and unanimously acquitted them. Formerly, perhaps, this innocent
+prisoner would have been broken on the wheel, or judicially burned, for
+the pleasure of supplying an execution--the tragedy of the mob.
+
+
+
+
+CRIMINAL.
+
+_Criminal Prosecution._
+
+
+Very innocent actions have been frequently punished with death. Thus in
+England, Richard III., and Edward IV., effected by the judges the
+condemnation of those whom they suspected of disaffection. Such are not
+criminal processes; they are assassinations committed by privileged
+murderers. It is the last degree of abuse to make the laws the
+instruments of injustice.
+
+It is said that the Athenians punished with death every stranger who
+entered their areopagus or sovereign tribunal. But if this stranger was
+actuated by mere curiosity, nothing was more cruel than to take away his
+life. It is observed, in "The Spirit of Laws," that this vigor was
+exercised, "because he usurped the rights of a citizen."
+
+But a Frenchman in London who goes to the House of Commons to hear the
+debates, does not aspire to the rights of a citizen. He is received with
+politeness. If any splenetic member calls for the clearing of the house,
+the traveller clears it by withdrawing; he is not hanged. It is probable
+that, if the Athenians passed this temporary law, it was at a time when
+it was suspected that every stranger might be a spy, and not from the
+fear that he would arrogate to himself the rights of citizenship. Every
+Athenian voted in his tribe; all the individuals in the tribe knew each
+other; no stranger could have put in his bean.
+
+We speak here only of a real criminal prosecution, and among the Romans
+every criminal prosecution was public. The citizen accused of the most
+enormous crimes had an advocate who pleaded in his presence; who even
+interrogated the adverse party; who investigated everything before his
+judges. All the witnesses, for and against, were produced in open court;
+nothing was secret. Cicero pleaded for Milo, who had assassinated
+Clodius, in the presence of a thousand citizens. The same Cicero
+undertook the defence of Roscius Amerinus, accused of parricide. A
+single judge did not in secret examine witnesses, generally consisting
+of the dregs of the people, who may be influenced at pleasure.
+
+A Roman citizen was not put to the torture at the arbitrary order of
+another Roman citizen, invested with this cruel authority by purchase.
+That horrible outrage against humanity was not perpetrated on the
+persons of those who were regarded as the first of men, but only on
+those of their slaves, scarcely regarded as men. It would have been
+better not to have employed torture, even against slaves.
+
+The method of conducting a criminal prosecution at Rome accorded with
+the magnanimity and liberality of the nation. It is nearly the same in
+London. The assistance of an advocate is never in any case refused.
+Every one is judged by his peers. Every citizen has the power, out of
+thirty-six jurymen sworn, to challenge twelve without reasons, twelve
+with reasons, and, consequently, of choosing his judges in the remaining
+twelve. The judges cannot deviate from or go beyond the law. No
+punishment is arbitrary. No judgment can be executed before it has been
+reported to the king, who may, and who ought to bestow pardon on those
+who are deserving of it, and to whom the law cannot extend it. This case
+frequently occurs. A man outrageously wronged kills the offender under
+the impulse of venial passion; he is condemned by the rigor of the law,
+and saved by that mercy which ought to be the prerogative of the
+sovereign.
+
+It deserves particular remark that in the same country where the laws
+are as favorable to the accused as they are terrible for the guilty, not
+only is false imprisonment in ordinary cases punished by heavy damages
+and severe penalties, but if an illegal imprisonment has been ordered by
+a minister of state, under color of royal authority, that minister may
+be condemned to pay damages corresponding to the imprisonment.
+
+
+_Proceedings in Criminal Cases Among Particular Nations._
+
+There are countries in which criminal jurisprudence has been founded on
+the canon law, and even on the practice of the Inquisition, although
+that tribunal has long since been held in detestation there. The people
+in such countries still remain in a species of slavery. A citizen
+prosecuted by the king's officer is at once immured in a dungeon, which
+is in itself a real punishment of perhaps an innocent man. A single
+judge, with his clerk, hears secretly and in succession, every witness
+summoned.
+
+Let us here merely compare, in a few points, the criminal procedure of
+the Romans with that of a country of the west, which was once a Roman
+province. Among the Romans, witnesses were heard publicly in the
+presence of the accused, who might reply to them, and examine them
+himself, or through an advocate. This practice was noble and frank; it
+breathed of Roman magnanimity. In France, in many parts of Germany,
+everything is done in secret. This practice, established under Francis
+I., was authorized by the commissioners, who, in 1670, drew up the
+ordinance of Louis XIV. A mere mistake was the cause of it.
+
+It was imagined, on reading the code "_De Testibus_" that the words,
+_Testes intrare judicii secretum,_ signified that witnesses were
+examined in secret. But _secretum_ here signifies the chambers of the
+judge. _Intrare secretum_ to express speaking in secret, would not be
+Latin. This part of our jurisprudence was occasioned by a solecism.
+Witnesses were usually persons of the lowest class, and whom the judge,
+when closeted with them, might induce to say whatever he wished. These
+witnesses are examined a second time, always in secret, which is called,
+re-examination; and if, after re-examination, they retract their
+depositions, or vary them in essential circumstances, they are punished
+as false witnesses. Thus, when an upright man of weak understanding, and
+unused to express his ideas, is conscious that he has stated either too
+much or too little--that he has misunderstood the judge, or that the
+judge has misunderstood him--and revokes, in the spirit of justice, what
+he has advanced through incaution, he is punished as a felon. He is in
+this manner often compelled to persevere in false testimony, from the
+actual dread of being treated as a false witness.
+
+The person accused exposes himself by flight to condemnation, whether
+the crime has been proved or not. Some jurisconsults, indeed, have
+wisely held that the contumacious person ought not to be condemned
+unless the crime were clearly established; but other lawyers have been
+of a contrary opinion: they have boldly affirmed that the flight of the
+accused was a proof of the crime; that the contempt which he showed for
+justice, by refusing to appear, merited the same chastisement as would
+have followed his conviction. Thus, according to the sect of lawyers
+which the judge may have embraced, an innocent man may be acquitted or
+condemned.
+
+It is a great abuse in jurisprudence that people often assume as law the
+reveries and errors--sometimes cruel ones--of men destitute of all
+authority, who have laid down their own opinions as laws. In the reign
+of Louis XIV., two edicts were published in France, which apply equally
+to the whole kingdom. In the first, which refers to civil causes, the
+judges are forbidden to condemn in any suit, on default, when the demand
+is not proved; but in the second, which regulates criminal proceedings,
+it is not laid down that, in the absence of proof, the accused shall be
+acquitted. Singular circumstance! The law declares that a man proceeded
+against for a sum of money shall not be condemned, on default, unless
+the debt be proved; but, in cases affecting life, the profession is
+divided with respect to condemning a person for contumacy when the crime
+is not proved; and the law does not solve the difficulty.
+
+
+_Example Taken from the Condemnation of a Whole Family._
+
+The following is an account of what happened to an unfortunate family,
+at the time when the mad fraternities of pretended penitents, in white
+robes and masks, had erected, in one of the principal churches of
+Toulouse, a superb monument to a young Protestant, who had destroyed
+himself, but who they pretended had been murdered by his father and
+mother for having abjured the reformed religion; at the time when the
+whole family of this Protestant, then revered as a martyr, were in
+irons, and a whole population, intoxicated by a superstition equally
+senseless and cruel, awaited with devout impatience the delight of
+seeing five or six persons of unblemished integrity expire on the rack
+or at the stake. At this dreadful period there resided near Castres a
+respectable man, also of the Protestant religion, of the name of Sirven,
+who exercised in that province the profession of a feudist. This man had
+three daughters. A woman who superintended the household of the bishop
+of Castres, proposed to bring to him Sirven's second daughter, called
+Elizabeth, in order to make her a Catholic, apostolical and Roman. She
+is, in fact, brought. She is by him secluded with the female Jesuits,
+denominated the "lady teachers," or the "black ladies." They instruct
+her in what they know; they find her capacity weak, and impose upon her
+penances in order to inculcate doctrines which, with gentleness, she
+might have been taught. She becomes imbecile; the "black ladies" expel
+her; she returns to her parents; her mother, on making her change her
+linen, perceives that her person is covered with contusions; her
+imbecility increases; she becomes melancholy mad; she escapes one day
+from the house, while her father is some miles distant, publicly
+occupied in his business, at the seat of a neighboring nobleman. In
+short, twenty days after the flight of Elizabeth, some children find her
+drowned in a well, on January 4, 1761.
+
+This was precisely the time when they were preparing to break Calas on
+the wheel at Toulouse. The word "parricide," and what is worse,
+"Huguenot," flies from mouth to mouth throughout the province. It was
+not doubted that Sirven, his wife, and his two daughters, had drowned
+the third, on a principle of religion.
+
+It was the universal opinion that the Protestant religion positively
+required fathers and mothers to destroy such of their children as might
+wish to become Catholics. This opinion had taken such deep root in the
+minds even of magistrates themselves, hurried on unfortunately by the
+public clamor, that the Council and Church of Geneva were obliged to
+contradict the fatal error, and to send to the parliament of Toulouse an
+attestation upon oath that not only did Protestants not destroy their
+children, but that they were left masters of their whole property when
+they quitted their sect for another. It is known that, notwithstanding
+this attestation, Calas was broken on the wheel.
+
+A country magistrate of the name of Londes, assisted by graduates as
+sagacious as himself, became eager to make every preparation for
+following up the example which had been furnished at Toulouse. A village
+doctor, equally enlightened with the magistrate, boldly affirmed, on
+inspecting the body after the expiration of eighteen days, that the
+young woman had been strangled, and afterwards thrown into the well. On
+this deposition the magistrate issued a warrant to apprehend the father,
+mother, and the two daughters. The family, justly terrified at the
+catastrophe of Calas, and agreeably to the advice of their friends,
+betook themselves instantly to flight; they travelled amidst snow during
+a rigorous winter, and, toiling over mountain after mountain, at length
+arrived at those of Switzerland. The daughter, who was married and
+pregnant, was prematurely delivered amidst surrounding ice.
+
+The first intelligence this family received, after reaching a place of
+safety, was that the father and mother were condemned to be hanged; the
+two daughters to remain under the gallows during the execution of their
+mother, and to be reconducted by the executioner out of the territory,
+under pain of being hanged if they returned. Such is the lesson given to
+contumacy!
+
+This judgment was equally absurd and abominable. If the father, in
+concert with his wife, had strangled his daughter, he ought to have been
+broken on the wheel, like Calas, and the mother to have been burned--at
+least, after having been strangled--because the practice of breaking
+women on the wheel is not yet the custom in the country of this judge.
+To limit the punishment to hanging in such a case, was an acknowledgment
+that the crime was not proved, and that in the doubt the halter was
+adopted to compromise for want of evidence. This sentence was equally
+repugnant to law and reason. The mother died of a broken heart, and the
+whole family, their property having been confiscated, would have
+perished through want, unless they had met with assistance.
+
+We stop here to inquire whether there be any law and any reason that can
+justify such a sentence? We ask the judge, "What madness has urged you
+to condemn a father and a mother?" "It was because they fled," he
+replies. "Miserable wretch, would you have had them remain to glut your
+insensate fury? Of what consequence could it be, whether they appeared
+in chains to plead before you, or whether in a distant land they lifted
+up their hands in an appeal to heaven against you? Could you not see
+the truth, which ought to have struck you, as well during their absence?
+Could you not see that the father was a league distant from his
+daughter, in the midst of twenty persons, when the unfortunate young
+woman withdrew from her mother's protection? Could you be ignorant that
+the whole family were in search of her for twenty days and nights?" To
+this you answer by the words, contumacy, contumacy. What! because a man
+is absent, therefore must he be condemned to be hanged, though his
+innocence be manifest? It is the jurisprudence of a fool and a monster.
+And the life, the property, and the honor of citizens, are to depend
+upon this code of Iroquois!
+
+The Sirven family for more than eight years dragged on their
+misfortunes, far from their native country. At length, the sanguinary
+superstition which disgraced Languedoc having been somewhat mitigated,
+and men's minds becoming more enlightened, those who had befriended the
+Sirvens during their exile, advised them to return and demand justice
+from the parliament of Toulouse itself, now that the blood of Calas no
+longer smoked, and many repented of having ever shed it. The Sirvens
+were justified.
+
+     _Erudimini, qui judicatis terram._
+     Be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
+
+
+
+
+CROMWELL.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+Cromwell is described as a man who was an impostor all his life. I can
+scarcely believe it. I conceive that he was first an enthusiast, and
+that he afterwards made his fanaticism instrumental to his greatness. An
+ardent novice at twenty often becomes an accomplished rogue at forty. In
+the great game of human life, men begin with being dupes, and end in
+becoming knaves. A statesman engages as his almoner a monk, entirely
+made up of the details of his convent, devout, credulous, awkward,
+perfectly new to the world; he acquires information, polish, finesse,
+and supplants his master.
+
+Cromwell knew not, at first, whether he should become a churchman or a
+soldier. He partly became both. In 1622 he made a campaign in the army
+of the prince of Orange, Frederick Henry, a great man and the brother of
+two great men; and, on his return to England, engaged in the service of
+Bishop Williams, and was the chaplain of his lordship, while the bishop
+passed for his wife's gallant. His principles were puritanical, which
+led him to cordially hate a bishop, and not to be partial to kingship.
+He was dismissed from the family of Bishop Williams because he was a
+Puritan; and thence the origin of his fortune. The English Parliament
+declared against monarchy and against episcopacy; some friends whom he
+had in that parliament procured him a country living. He might be said
+only now to have commenced his existence; he was more than forty before
+he acquired any distinction. He was master of the sacred Scriptures,
+disputed on the authority of priests and deacons, wrote some bad
+sermons, and some lampoons; but he was unknown. I have seen one of his
+sermons, which is insipid enough, and pretty much resembles the holdings
+forth of the Quakers; it is impossible to discover in it any trace of
+that power by which he afterwards swayed parliaments. The truth is, he
+was better fitted for the State than for the Church. It was principally
+in his tone and in his air that his eloquence consisted. An inclination
+of that hand which had gained so many battles, and killed so many
+royalists, was more persuasive than the periods of Cicero. It must be
+acknowledged that it was his incomparable valor that brought him into
+notice, and which conducted him gradually to the summit of greatness.
+
+He commenced by throwing himself, as a volunteer and a soldier of
+fortune, into the town of Hull, besieged, by the king. He there
+performed some brilliant and valuable services, for which he received a
+gratuity of about six thousand francs from the parliament. The present,
+bestowed by parliament upon an adventurer, made it clear that the rebel
+party must prevail. The king could not give to his general officers what
+the parliament gave to volunteers. With money and fanaticism,
+everything must in the end be mastered. Cromwell was made colonel. His
+great talents for war became then so conspicuous that, when the
+parliament created the earl of Manchester general of its forces,
+Cromwell was appointed lieutenant-general, without his having passed
+through the intervening ranks. Never did any man appear more worthy of
+command. Never was seen more activity and skill, more daring and more
+resources, than in Cromwell. He is wounded at the battle of York, and,
+while undergoing the first dressing, is informed that his commander, the
+earl of Manchester, is retreating, and the battle lost. He hastens to
+find the earl; discovers him flying, with some officers; catches him by
+the arm, and, in a firm and dignified tone, he exclaims: "My lord, you
+mistake; the enemy has not taken that road." He reconducts him to the
+field of battle; rallies, during the night, more than twelve thousand
+men; harangues them in the name of God; cites Moses, Gideon, and Joshua;
+renews the battle at daybreak against the victorious royalist army, and
+completely defeats it. Such a man must either perish or obtain the
+mastery. Almost all the officers of his army were enthusiasts, who
+carried the New Testament on their saddle-bows. In the army, as in the
+parliament, nothing was spoken of but Babylon destroyed, building up the
+worship of Jerusalem, and breaking the image. Cromwell, among so many
+madmen, was no longer one himself, and thought it better to govern than
+to be governed by them. The habit of preaching, as by inspiration,
+remained with him. Figure to yourself a fakir, who, after putting an
+iron girdle round his loins in penance, takes it off to drub the ears of
+other fakirs. Such was Cromwell. He becomes as intriguing as he was
+intrepid. He associates with all the colonels of the army, and thus
+forms among the troops a republic which forces the commander to resign.
+Another commander is appointed, and him he disgusts. He governs the
+army, and through it he governs the parliament; which he at last compels
+to make him commander. All this is much; but the essential point is that
+he wins all the battles he fights in England, Scotland, and Ireland; and
+wins them, not consulting his own security while the fight rages, but
+always charging the enemy, rallying his troops, presenting himself
+everywhere, frequently wounded, killing with his own hands many royalist
+officers, like the fiercest soldier in the ranks.
+
+[Illustration: Oliver Cromwell.]
+
+In the midst of this dreadful war Cromwell made love; he went, with the
+Bible under his arm, to an assignation with the wife of his
+major-general, Lambert. She loved the earl of Holland, who served in the
+king's army. Cromwell took him prisoner in battle, and had the pleasure
+of bringing his rival to the block. It was his maxim to shed the blood
+of every important enemy, in the field or by the hand of the
+executioner. He always increased his power by always daring to abuse it;
+the profoundness of his plans never lessened his ferocious impetuosity.
+He went to the House of Commons, and drove all the members out, one
+after another, making them defile before him. As they passed, each was
+obliged to make a profound reverence; one of them was passing on with
+his head covered; Cromwell seized his hat and threw it down. "Learn,"
+said he, "to respect me."
+
+When he had outraged all kings by beheading his own legitimate king, and
+he began himself to reign, he sent his portrait to one crowned head,
+Christina, queen of Sweden. Marvel, a celebrated English poet, who wrote
+excellent Latin verses, accompanied his portrait with six lines, in
+which he introduces Cromwell himself speaking; Cromwell corrected these
+two last verses:
+
+     _At tibi submittit frontem reverentior umbra,_
+     _Non sunt hi vultus regibus usque truces._
+
+The spirit of the whole six verses may be given thus:
+
+     _Les armes à la main j'ai défendu les lois;_
+     _D'un peuple audacieux j'ai vengé la querelle._
+     _Regardez sans frémir cette image fidèle:_
+     _Mon front n'est pas toujours l'épouvante des rois._
+
+     'Twas mine by arms t'uphold my country's laws;
+     My sword maintained a lofty people's cause;
+     With less of fear these faithful outlines trace,
+     Menace of kings not always clouds my face.
+
+This queen was the first to acknowledge him after he became protector of
+the three kingdoms. Almost all the sovereigns of Europe sent ambassadors
+_to their brother Cromwell_--to that domestic of a bishop, who had just
+brought to the scaffold a sovereign related to them. They emulously
+courted his alliance. Cardinal Mazarin, in order to please him, banished
+from France the two sons of Charles I., the two grandsons of Henry IV.,
+and the two cousins-german of Louis XIV. France conquered Dunkirk for
+him, and the keys of it were delivered into his possession. After his
+death, Louis XIV. and his whole court went into mourning, except
+mademoiselle, who dared to appear in the circle in colors, and alone to
+maintain the honor of her race.
+
+No king was ever more absolute than Cromwell. He would observe "that he
+had preferred governing under the name of protector rather than under
+that of king, because the English were aware of the limits of the
+prerogative of a king of England, but knew not the extent of that of a
+protector." This was knowing mankind, who are governed by opinion, and
+whose opinion depends upon a name. He had conceived a profound contempt
+for the religion to which he owed his success. An anecdote, preserved in
+the St. John family, sufficiently proves the slight regard he attached
+to that instrument which had produced such mighty effects in his hands.
+He was drinking once in company with Ireton, Fleetwood, and St. John,
+great grandfather of the celebrated Lord Bolingbroke; a bottle of wine
+was to be uncorked, and the corkscrew fell under the table; they all
+looked for it, and were unable to find it. In the meantime a deputation
+from the Presbyterian churches awaited in the ante-chamber, and an usher
+announced them. "Tell them," said Cromwell, "that I have retired, and
+_that I am seeking the Lord_." This was the expression employed by the
+fanatics for going to prayers. Having dismissed the troop of divines, he
+thus addressed his companions: "Those fellows think we are seeking the
+Lord, while we are only seeking a corkscrew."
+
+There is scarcely any example in Europe of a man who, from so low a
+beginning, raised himself to such eminence. But with all his great
+talents, what did he consider absolutely essential to his happiness?
+Power he obtained; but was he happy? He had lived in poverty and
+disquiet till the age of forty-three; he afterwards plunged into blood,
+passed his life in trouble, and died prematurely, at the age of
+fifty-seven. With this life let any one compare that of a Newton, who
+lived fourscore years, always tranquil, always honored, always the light
+of all thinking beings; beholding every day an accession to his fame,
+his character, his fortune; completely free both from care and remorse;
+and let him decide whose was the happier lot.
+
+     _O curas hominum! O quantim est in rebus inane!_
+     O human cares! O mortal toil how vain!
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Oliver Cromwell was regarded with admiration by the Puritans and
+Independents of England; he is still their hero. But Richard Cromwell,
+his son, is the man for me. The first was a fanatic who in the present
+day would be hissed down in the House of Commons, on uttering any one of
+the unintelligible absurdities which he delivered with such confidence
+before other fanatics who listened to him with open mouth and staring
+eyes, in the name of the Lord. If he were to say that they must seek the
+Lord, and fight the battles of the Lord--if he were to introduce the
+Jewish jargon into the parliament of England, to the eternal disgrace of
+the human understanding, he would be much more likely to be conducted to
+Bedlam than to be appointed the commander of armies.
+
+Brave he unquestionably was--and so are wolves; there are even some
+monkeys as fierce as tigers. From a fanatic he became an able
+politician; in other words, from a wolf he became a fox, and the knave,
+craftily mounting from the first steps where the mad enthusiasm of the
+times had placed him, to the summit of greatness, walked over the heads
+of the prostrated fanatics. He reigned, but he lived in the horrors of
+alarm and had neither cheerful days nor tranquil nights. The
+consolations of friendship and society never approached him. He died
+prematurely, more deserving, beyond a doubt, of public execution than
+the monarch whom, from a window of his own palace, he caused to be led
+out to the scaffold.
+
+Richard Cromwell, on the contrary, was gentle and prudent and refused to
+keep his father's power at the expense of the lives of three or four
+factious persons whom he might have sacrificed to his ambition. He
+preferred becoming a private individual to being an assassin with
+supreme power. He relinquished the protectorship without regret, to live
+as a subject; and in the tranquillity of a country life he enjoyed
+health and possessed his soul in peace for ninety years, beloved by his
+neighbors, to whom he was a peacemaker and a father.
+
+Say, reader, had you to choose between the destiny of the father and
+that of the son, which would you prefer?
+
+
+
+
+CUISSAGE.
+
+
+Dion Cassius, that flatterer of Augustus and detractor from Cicero,
+because Cicero was the friend of liberty--that dry and diffuse writer
+and gazetteer of popular rumors, Dion Cassius, reports that certain
+senators were of opinion that in order to recompense Cæsar for all the
+evil which he had brought upon the commonwealth it would be right, at
+the age of fifty-seven, to allow him to honor with his favors all the
+ladies who took his fancy. Men are still found who credit this
+absurdity. Even the author of the "Spirit of Laws" takes it for a truth
+and speaks of it as of a decree which would have passed the Roman senate
+but for the modesty of the dictator, who suspected that he was not
+altogether prepared for the accession of so much good fortune. But if
+the Roman emperors attained not this right by a _senatus-consultum_,
+duly founded upon a _plebiscitum_, it is very likely that they fully
+enjoyed it by the courtesy of the ladies. The Marcus Aureliuses and the
+Julians, to be sure, exercised not this right, but all the rest extended
+it as widely as they were able.
+
+It is astonishing that in Christian Europe a kind of feudal law for a
+long time existed, or at least it was deemed a customary usage, to
+regard the virginity of a female vassal as the property of the lord. The
+first night of the nuptials of the daughter of his _villein_ belonged to
+him without dispute.
+
+This right was established in the same manner as that of walking with a
+falcon on the fist, and of being saluted with incense at mass. The
+lords, indeed, did not enact that the _wives_ of their villeins belonged
+to them; they confined themselves to the daughters, the reason of which
+is obvious. Girls are bashful and sometimes might exhibit reluctance.
+This, however, yielded at once to the majesty of the laws, when the
+condescending baron deemed them worthy the honor of personally enforcing
+their practice.
+
+It is asserted that this curious jurisprudence commenced in Scotland,
+and I willingly believe that the Scotch lords had a still more absolute
+power over their clans than even the German and French barons over their
+vassals.
+
+It is undoubted that some abbots and bishops enjoyed this privilege in
+their quality of temporal lords, and it is not very long since that
+these prelates compounded their prerogative for acknowledgments in
+money, to which they have just as much right as to the virginity of the
+girls.
+
+But let it be well remarked that this excess of tyranny was never
+sanctioned by any public law. If a lord or a prelate had cited before a
+regular tribunal a girl affianced to one of his vassals, in claim of her
+quit-rent, he would doubtless have lost his cause and costs.
+
+Let us seize this occasion to rest assured that no partially civilized
+people ever established formal laws against morals; I do not believe
+that a single instance of it can be furnished. Abuses creep in and are
+borne: they pass as customs and travellers mistake them for fundamental
+laws. It is said that in Asia greasy Mahometan saints march in
+procession entirely naked and that devout females crowd round them to
+kiss what is not worthy to be named, but I defy any one to discover a
+passage in the Koran which justifies this brutality.
+
+The phallus, which the Egyptians carry in procession, may be quoted in
+order to confound me, as well as the idol Juggernaut, of the Indians. I
+reply that these ceremonies war no more against morals than circumcision
+at the age of eight days. In some of our towns the holy foreskin has
+been borne in procession, and it is preserved yet in certain sacristies
+without this piece of drollery causing the least disturbance in
+families. Still, I am convinced that no council or act of parliament
+ever ordained this homage to the holy foreskin.
+
+I call a public law which deprives me of my property, which takes away
+my wife and gives her to another, a law against morals; and I am certain
+that such a law is impossible. Some travellers maintain that in Lapland
+husbands, out of politeness, make an offer of their wives. Out of still
+greater politeness, I believe them; but I nevertheless assert, that they
+never found this rule of good manners in the legal code of Lapland, any
+more than in the constitutions of Germany, in the ordinances of the king
+of France, or in the "Statutes at Large" of England, any positive law,
+adjudging the right of _cuissage_ to the barons. Absurd and barbarous
+laws may be found everywhere; formal laws against morals nowhere.
+
+
+
+
+CURATE (OF THE COUNTRY).
+
+
+A curate--but why do I say a curate?--even an imam, a talapoin, or
+brahmin ought to have the means of living decently. The priest in every
+country ought to be supported by the altar since he serves the public.
+Some fanatic rogue may assert that I place the curate and the brahmin on
+the same level and associate truth with imposture; but I compare only
+the services rendered to society, the labor, and the recompense.
+
+I maintain that whoever exercises a laborious function ought to be well
+paid by his fellow-citizens. I do not assert that he ought to amass
+riches, sup with Lucullus, or be as insolent as Clodius. I pity the
+case of a country curate who is obliged to dispute a sheaf of corn with
+his parishioner; to plead against him; to exact from him the tenth of
+his peas and beans; to be hated and to hate, and to consume his
+miserable life in miserable quarrels which engross the mind as much as
+they embitter it.
+
+I still more pity the inconsistent lot of a curate, whom monks, claiming
+the great tithes, audaciously reward with a salary of forty ducats per
+annum for undertaking, throughout the year, the labor of visiting for
+three miles round his abode, by day and by night, in hail, rain, or
+snow, the most disagreeable and often the most useless functions, while
+the abbot or great tithe-holder drinks his rich wine of Volney, Beaune,
+or Chambertin, eats his partridges and pheasants, sleeps upon his down
+bed with a fair neighbor, and builds a palace. The disproportion is too
+great.
+
+It has been taken for granted since the days of Charlemagne that the
+clergy, besides their own lands, ought to possess a tenth of the lands
+of other people, which tenth is at least a quarter, computing the
+expense of culture. To establish this payment it is claimed on a
+principle of divine right. Did God descend on earth to give a quarter of
+His property to the abbey of Monte Cassino, to the abbey of St. Denis,
+to the abbey of Fulda? Not that I know, but it has been discovered that
+formerly, in the desert of Ethan, Horeb, and Kadesh Barnea, the Levites
+were favored with forty-eight cities and a tenth of all which the earth
+produced besides.
+
+Very well, great tithe-holders, go to Kadesh Barnea and inhabit the
+forty-eight cities in that uninhabitable desert. Take the tenth of the
+flints which the land produces there, and great good may they do you.
+But Abraham having combated for Sodom, gave a tenth of the spoil to
+Melchizedek, priest and king of Salem. Very good, combat you also for
+Sodom, but, like Melchizedek, take not from me the produce of the corn
+which I have sowed.
+
+In a Christian country containing twelve hundred thousand square leagues
+throughout the whole of the North, in part of Germany, in Holland, and
+in Switzerland, the clergy are paid with money from the public treasury.
+The tribunals resound not there with lawsuits between landlords and
+priests, between the great and the little tithe-holders, between the
+pastor, plaintiff, and the flock defendants, in consequence of the third
+Council of the Lateran, of which the said flocks defendant have never
+heard a syllable.
+
+The king of Naples this year (1772) has just abolished tithes in one of
+his provinces: the clergy are better paid and the province blesses him.
+The Egyptian priests, it is said, claimed not this tenth, but then, it
+is observed that they possessed a third part of the land of Egypt as
+their own. Oh, stupendous miracle! oh, thing most difficult to be
+conceived, that possessing one-third of the country they did not quickly
+acquire the other two!
+
+Believe not, dear reader, that the Jews, who were a stiff-necked people,
+never complained of the extortion of the tenths, or tithe. Give yourself
+the trouble to consult the Talmud of Babylon, and if you understand not
+the Chaldæan, read the translation, with notes of Gilbert Gaumin, the
+whole of which was printed by the care of Fabricius. You will there
+peruse the adventure of a poor widow with the High Priest Aaron, and
+learn how the quarrel of this widow became the cause of the quarrel of
+Koran, Dathan, and Abiram, on the one side, and Aaron on the other.
+
+"A widow possessed only a single sheep which she wished to shear. Aaron
+came and took the wool for himself: 'It belongs to me,' said he,
+'according to the law, thou shalt give the first of the wool to God.'
+The widow, in tears, implored the protection of Koran. Koran applied to
+Aaron but his entreaties were fruitless. Aaron replies that the wool
+belongs to him. Koran gives some money to the widow and retires, filled
+with indignation.
+
+"Some time after, the sheep produces a lamb. Aaron returns and carries
+away the lamb. The widow runs weeping again to Koran, who in vain
+implores Aaron. The high priest answers, 'It is written in the law,
+every first-born male in thy flock belongs to God.' He eats the lamb and
+Koran again retires in a rage.
+
+"The widow, in despair, kills her sheep; Aaron returns once more and
+takes away the shoulder and the breast. Koran again complains. Aaron
+replies: 'It is written, thou shalt give unto the priests the shoulder,
+the two cheeks, and the maw.'
+
+"The widow could no longer contain her affliction and said, 'Anathema,'
+to the sheep, upon which Aaron observed, 'It is written, all that is
+anathema (cursed) in Israel belongs to thee;' and took away the sheep
+altogether."
+
+What is not so pleasant, yet very remarkable, is that in a suit between
+the clergy of Rheims and the citizens, this instance from the Talmud was
+cited by the advocate of the citizens. Gaumin asserts that he witnessed
+it. In the meantime it may be answered that the tithe-holders do not
+take _all_ from the people, the tax-gatherers will not suffer it. To
+every one his share is just.
+
+
+
+
+CURIOSITY.
+
+
+     _Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis,_
+     _E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem;_
+     _Non quia vexari quemquam est jucunda voluptas,_
+     _Sed quibus ipse malis careas, quia cernere suave est._
+     _Suave etiam belli certamina magna tueri_
+     _Per campos instructa tua sine parte pericli;_
+     _Sed nil dulcius est, bene quam munita tenere_
+     _Edita doctrina sapientum templa serena_
+     _Despicere unde queas alios, passimque videre_
+     _Errare, atque viam palantes quaerere vitae,_
+     _Certare ingenio, contendere nobilitate,_
+     _Noctes atque dies niti praestante labore_
+     _Ad summas emergere opes, rerumque potiri._
+     _O miseras hominum mentes! O pectora caeca!_
+
+
+     'Tis pleasant, when the seas are rough, to stand
+     And view another's danger, safe at land;
+     Not 'cause he's troubled, but 'tis sweet to see
+     Those cares and fears, from which ourselves are free;
+     Tis also pleasant to behold from far
+     How troops engage, secure ourselves from war.
+     But, above all, 'tis pleasantest to get
+     The top of high philosophy, and set
+     On the calm, peaceful, nourishing head of it;
+     Whence we may view, deep, wondrous deep below,
+     How poor mistaken mortals wandering go,
+     Seeking the path to happiness; some aim
+     At learning, not nobility, or fame;
+     Others, with cares and dangers vie each hour
+     To reach the top of wealth and sovereign power.
+     Blind, wretched man, in what dark paths of strife
+     We walk this little journey of our life.
+                                       --CREECH'S _Lucretius_.
+
+I ask your pardon, Lucretius! I suspect that you are here as mistaken in
+morals as you are always mistaken in physics. In my opinion it is
+curiosity alone that induces people to hasten to the shore to see a
+vessel in danger of being overwhelmed in a tempest. The case has
+happened to myself, and I solemnly assure you that my pleasure, mingled
+as it was with uneasiness and distress, did not at all arise from
+reflection, nor originate in any secret comparison between my own
+security and the danger of the unfortunate crew. I was moved by
+curiosity and pity.
+
+At the battle of Fontenoy little boys and girls climbed up the
+surrounding trees to have a view of the slaughter. Ladies ordered seats
+to be placed for them on a bastion of the city of Liege that they might
+enjoy the spectacle at the battle of Rocoux.
+
+When I said, "Happy they who view in peace the gathering storm," the
+happiness I had in view consists in tranquillity and the search of
+truth, and not in seeing the sufferings of thinking beings, oppressed
+by fanatics or hypocrites under persecution for having sought it.
+
+Could we suppose an angel flying on six beautiful wings from the height
+of the Empyrean, setting out to take a view through some loophole of
+hell of the torments and contortions of the damned, and congratulating
+himself on feeling nothing of their inconceivable agonies, such an angel
+would much resemble the character of Beelzebub.
+
+I know nothing of the nature of angels because I am only a man; divines
+alone are acquainted with them; but, as a man, I think, from my own
+experience and also from that of all my brother drivellers, that people
+do not flock to any spectacle, of whatever kind, but from pure
+curiosity.
+
+This seems to me so true that if the exhibition be ever so admirable men
+at last get tired of it. The Parisian public scarcely go any longer to
+see "_Tartuffe_" the most masterly of Molière's masterpieces. Why is it?
+Because they have gone often; because they have it by heart. It is the
+same with "Andromache."
+
+Perrin Dandin is unfortunately right when he proposes to the young
+Isabella to take her to see the method of "putting to the torture;" it
+serves, he says, to pass away an hour or two. If this anticipation of
+the execution, frequently more cruel than the execution itself, were a
+public spectacle, the whole city of Toulouse would have rushed in crowds
+to behold the venerable Calas twice suffering those execrable torments,
+at the instance of the attorney-general. Penitents, black, white, and
+gray, married women, girls, stewards of the floral games, students,
+lackeys, female servants, girls of the town, doctors of the canon law
+would have been all squeezed together. At Paris we must have been almost
+suffocated in order to see the unfortunate General Lally pass along in a
+dung cart, with a six-inch gag in his mouth.
+
+But if these tragedies of cannibals, which are sometimes performed
+before the most frivolous of nations, and the one most ignorant in
+general of the principles of jurisprudence and equity; if the
+spectacles, like those of St. Bartholomew, exhibited by tigers to
+monkeys and the copies of it on a smaller scale were renewed every day,
+men would soon desert such a country; they would fly from it with
+horror; they would abandon forever the infernal land where such
+barbarities were common.
+
+When little boys and girls pluck the feathers from their sparrows it is
+merely from the impulse of curiosity, as when they dissect the dresses
+of their dolls. It is this passion alone which produces the immense
+attendance at public executions. "Strange eagerness," as some tragic
+author remarks, "to behold the wretched."
+
+I remember being in Paris when Damiens suffered a death the most
+elaborate and frightful that can be conceived. All the windows in the
+city which bore upon the spot were engaged at a high price by ladies,
+not one of whom, assuredly, made the consoling reflection that her own
+breasts were not torn by pincers; that melted lead and boiling pitch
+were not poured upon wounds of her own, and that her own limbs,
+dislocated and bleeding, were not drawn asunder by four horses. One of
+the executioners judged more correctly than Lucretius, for, when one of
+the academicians of Paris tried to get within the enclosure to examine
+what was passing more closely, and was forced back by one of the guards,
+"Let the gentleman go in," said he, "he is an amateur." That is to say,
+he is inquisitive; it is not through malice that he comes here; it is
+not from any reflex consideration of self to revel in the pleasure of
+not being himself quartered; it is only from curiosity, as men go to see
+experiments in natural philosophy.
+
+Curiosity is natural to man, to monkeys, and to little dogs. Take a
+little dog with you in your carriage, he will continually be putting up
+his paws against the door to see what is passing. A monkey searches
+everywhere, and has the air of examining everything. As to men, you know
+how they are constituted: Rome, London, Paris, all pass their time in
+inquiring what's the news?
+
+
+
+
+CUSTOMS--USAGES.
+
+
+There are, it is said, one hundred and forty-four customs in France
+which possess the force of law.
+
+These laws are almost all different in different places. A man that
+travels in this country changes his law almost as often as he changes
+his horses. The majority of these customs were not reduced to writing
+until the time of Charles VII., the reason of which probably was that
+few people knew how to write. They then copied a part of the customs of
+a part of Ponthieu, but this great work was not aided by the Picards
+until Charles VIII. There were but sixteen digests in the time of Louis
+XII., but our jurisprudence is so improved there are now but few customs
+which have not a variety of commentators, all of whom are of different
+opinions. There are already twenty-six upon the customs of Paris. The
+judges know not which to prefer, but, to put them at their ease the
+custom of Paris has been just turned into verse. It was in this manner
+that the Delphian pythoness of old declared her oracles.
+
+Weights and measures differ as much as customs, so that which is correct
+in the faubourg of Montmartre, is otherwise in the abbey of St. Denis.
+The Lord pity us!
+
+
+
+
+CYRUS.
+
+
+Many learned men, and Rollin among the number, in an age in which reason
+is cultivated, have assured us that Javan, who is supposed to be the
+father of the Greeks, was the grandson of Noah. I believe it precisely
+as I believe that Persius was the founder of the kingdom of Persia and
+Niger of Nigritia. The only thing which grieves me is that the Greeks
+have never known anything of Noah, the venerable author of their race. I
+have elsewhere noted my astonishment and chagrin that our father Adam
+should be absolutely unknown to everybody from Japan to the Strait of Le
+Maire, except to a small people to whom he was known too late. The
+science of genealogy is doubtless in the highest degree certain, but
+exceedingly difficult.
+
+It is neither upon Javan, upon Noah, nor upon Adam that my doubts fall
+at present; it is upon Cyrus, and I seek not which of the fables in
+regard to him is preferable, that of Herodotus, of Ctesias, of Xenophon,
+of Diodorus, or of Justin, all of which contradict one another. Neither
+do I ask why it is obstinately determined to give the name of Cyrus to a
+barbarian called Khosrou, and those of Cyropolis and Persepolis to
+cities that never bore them.
+
+I drop all that has been said of the grand Cyrus, including the romance
+of that name, and the travels which the Scottish Ramsay made him
+undertake, and simply inquire into some instructions of his to the Jews,
+of which that people make mention.
+
+I remark, in the first place, that no author has said a word of the Jews
+in the history of Cyrus, and that the Jews alone venture to notice
+themselves, in speaking of this prince.
+
+They resemble, in some degree, certain people, who, alluding to
+individuals of a rank superior to their own say, we know the gentlemen
+but the gentlemen know not us. It is the same with Alexander in the
+narratives of the Jews. No historian of Alexander has mixed up his name
+with that of the Jews, but Josephus fails not to assert that Alexander
+came to pay his respects at Jerusalem; that he worshipped, I know not
+what Jewish pontiff, called Jaddus, who had formerly predicted to him
+the conquest of Persia in a dream. Petty people are often visionary in
+this way: the great dream less of their greatness.
+
+When Tarik conquered Spain the vanquished said they had foretold it.
+They would have said the same thing to Genghis, to Tamerlane, and to
+Mahomet II.
+
+God forbid that I should compare the Jewish prophets to the predictors
+of good fortune, who pay their court to conquerors by foretelling them
+that which has come to pass. I merely observe that the Jews produce some
+testimony from their nation in respect to the actions of Cyrus about one
+hundred and sixty years before he was born.
+
+It is said, in the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, "Thus saith the Lord
+to His anointed--His Christ--Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to
+subdue nations before him, and I will loosen the loins of kings to open
+before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will
+go before thee and make the crooked places straight; I will break in
+pieces the gates of brass and cut in sunder the bars of iron. And I will
+give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places
+that thou mayest know that I the Lord, who call thee by thy name, am
+the God of Israel," etc.
+
+Some learned men have scarcely been able to digest the fact of the Lord
+honoring with the name of His Christ an idolater of the religion of
+Zoroaster. They even dare to say that the Jews, in the manner of all the
+weak who flatter the powerful, invented predictions in favor of Cyrus.
+
+These learned persons respect Daniel no more than Isaiah, but treat all
+the prophecies attributed to the latter with similar contempt to that
+manifested by St. Jerome for the adventures of Susannah, of Bel and the
+Dragon, and of the three children in the fiery furnace.
+
+The sages in question seem not to be penetrated with sufficient esteem
+for the prophets. Many of them even pretend that to see clearly the
+future is metaphysically impossible. To see that which is not, say they,
+is a contradiction in terms, and as the future exists not, it
+consequently cannot be seen. They add that frauds of this nature abound
+in all nations, and, finally, that everything is to be doubted which is
+recorded in ancient history.
+
+They observe that if there was ever a formal prophecy it is that of the
+discovery of America in the tragedy of Seneca:
+
+                 _Venient annis_
+     _Sæcula seris quibus oceanus_
+     _Vinculo rerum laxet, et ingens_
+     _Pateat tellus,..._
+
+A time may arrive when ocean will loosen the chains of nature and lay
+open a vast world. The four stars of the southern pole are advanced
+still more clearly in Dante, yet no one takes either Seneca or Dante for
+diviners.
+
+As to Cyrus, it is difficult to know whether he died nobly or had his
+head cut off by Tomyris, but I am anxious, I confess, that the learned
+men may be right who claim the head of Cyrus was cut off. It is not
+amiss that these illustrious robbers on the highway of nations who
+pillage and deluge the earth with blood, should be occasionally
+chastised.
+
+Cyrus has always been the subject of remark, Xenophon began and,
+unfortunately, Ramsay ended. Lastly, to show the sad fate which
+sometimes attends heroes, Danchet has made him the subject of a tragedy.
+
+This tragedy is entirely unknown; the "Cyropædia" of Xenophon is more
+popular because it is in Greek. The "Travels of Cyrus" are less so,
+although printed in French and English, and wonderfully erudite.
+
+The pleasantry of the romance entitled "The Travels of Cyrus," consists
+in its discovery of a Messiah everywhere--at Memphis, at Babylon, at
+Ecbatana, and at Tyre, as at Jerusalem, and as much in Plato as in the
+gospel. The author having been a Quaker, an Anabaptist, an Anglican, and
+a Presbyterian, had finally become a _Fénelonist_ at Cambray, under the
+illustrious author of "Telemachus." Having since been made preceptor to
+the child of a great nobleman, he thought himself born to instruct and
+govern the universe, and, in consequence, gives lessons to Cyrus in
+order to render him at once the best king and the most orthodox
+theologian in existence. These two rare qualities appear to lack the
+grace of congruity.
+
+Ramsay leads his pupil to the school of Zoroaster and then to that of
+the young Jew, Daniel, the greatest philosopher who ever existed. He not
+only explained dreams, which is the acme of human science, but
+discovered and interpreted even such as had been forgotten, which none
+but he could ever accomplish. It might be expected that Daniel would
+present the beautiful Susannah to the prince, it being in the natural
+manner of romance, but he did nothing of the kind.
+
+Cyrus, in return, has some very long conversations with Nebuchadnezzar
+while he was an ox, during which transformation Ramsay makes
+Nebuchadnezzar ruminate like a profound theologian.
+
+How astonishing that the prince for whom this work was composed
+preferred the chase and the opera to perusing it!
+
+
+
+
+DANTE.
+
+
+You wish to become acquainted with Dante. The Italians call him divine,
+but it is a mysterious divinity; few men understand his oracles, and
+although there are commentators, that may be an additional reason why
+he is little comprehended. His reputation will last because he is little
+read. Twenty pointed things in him are known by rote, which spare people
+the trouble of being acquainted with the remainder.
+
+The divine Dante was an unfortunate person. Imagine not that he was
+divine in his own day; no one is a prophet at home. It is true he was a
+prior--not a prior of monks, but a prior of Florence, that is to say,
+one of its senators.
+
+He was born in 1260, when the arts began to flourish in his native land.
+Florence, like Athens, abounded in greatness, wit, levity, inconstancy,
+and faction. The white faction was in great credit; it was called after
+a Signora Bianca. The opposing party was called the blacks, in
+contradistinction. These two parties sufficed not for the Florentines;
+they had also Guelphs and Ghibellines. The greater part of the whites
+were Ghibellines, attached to the party of the emperors; the blacks, on
+the other hand, sided with the Guelphs, the partisans of the popes.
+
+All these factions loved liberty, but did all they could to destroy it.
+Pope Boniface VIII. wished to profit by these divisions in order to
+annihilate the power of the emperors in Italy. He declared Charles de
+Valois, brother of Philip the Fair, king of France, his vicar in Italy.
+The vicar came well armed and chased away the whites and the Ghibellines
+and made himself detested by blacks and Guelphs. Dante was a white and a
+Ghibelline; he was driven away among the first and his house razed to
+the ground. We may judge if he could be for the remainder of his life,
+favorable towards the French interest and to the popes. It is said,
+however, that he took a journey to Paris, and, to relieve his chagrin
+turned theologian and disputed vigorously in the schools. It is added
+that the emperor Henry VIII. did nothing for him, Ghibelline as he was,
+and that he repaired to Frederick of Aragon, king of Sicily, and
+returned as poor as he went. He subsequently died in poverty at Ravenna
+at the age of fifty-six. It was during these various peregrinations that
+he composed his divine comedy of "Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise."
+
+[Voltaire here enters into a description of the "_Inferno_," which it is
+unnecessary to insert, after the various translations into English. The
+conclusion, however, exhibiting our author's usual vivacity, is
+retained.]
+
+Is all this in the comic style? No. In the heroic manner? No. What then
+is the taste of this poem? An exceedingly wild one, but it contains
+verses so happy and piquant that it has not lain dormant for four
+centuries and never will be laid aside. A poem, moreover, which puts
+popes into hell excites attention, and the sagacity of commentators is
+exhausted in correctly ascertaining who it is that Dante has damned, it
+being, of course, of the first consequence not to be deceived in a
+matter so important.
+
+A chair and a lecture have been founded with a view to the exposition
+of this classic author. You ask me why the Inquisition acquiesces. I
+reply that in Italy the Inquisition understands raillery and knows that
+raillery in verse never does any harm.
+
+
+
+
+DAVID.
+
+
+We are called upon to reverence David as a prophet, as a king, as the
+ancestor of the holy spouse of Mary, as a man who merited the mercy of
+God from his penitence.
+
+I will boldly assert that the article on "David," which raised up so
+many enemies to Bayle, the first author of a dictionary of facts and of
+reasonings, deserves not the strange noise which was made about it. It
+was not David that people were anxious to defend, but Bayle whom they
+were solicitous to destroy. Certain preachers of Holland, his mortal
+enemies, were so far blinded by their enmity as to blame him for having
+praised popes whom he thought meritorious, and for having refuted the
+unjust calumny with which they had been assailed.
+
+This absurd and shameful piece of injustice was signed by a dozen
+theologians on Dec. 20, 1698, in the same consistory in which they
+pretended to take up the defence of King David. A great proof that the
+condemnation of Bayle arose from personal feeling is supplied by the
+fact of that which happened in 1761, to Mr. Peter Anet, in London. The
+doctors Chandler and Palmer, having delivered funeral sermons on the
+death of King George II., in which they compared him to King David, Mr.
+Anet, who did not regard this comparison as honorable to the deceased
+monarch, published his famous dissertation entitled, "The History of the
+Man after God's Own Heart." In that work he makes it clear that George
+II., a king much more powerful than David, did not fall into the errors
+of the Jewish sovereign, and consequently could not display the
+penitence which was the origin of the comparison.
+
+He follows, step by step, the Books of Kings, examines the conduct of
+David with more severity than Bayle, and on it founds an opinion that
+the Holy Spirit does not praise actions of the nature of those
+attributed to David. The English author, in fact, judges the king of
+Judah upon the notions of justice and injustice which prevail at the
+present time.
+
+He cannot approve of the assembly of a band of robbers by David to the
+amount of four hundred; of his being armed with the sword of Goliath, by
+the high priest Abimelech, from whom he received hallowed bread.
+
+He could not think well of the expedition of David against the farmer,
+Nabal, in order to destroy his abode with fire and sword, because Nabal
+refused contributions to his troop of robbers; or of the death of Nabal
+a few days afterwards, whose widow David immediately espoused.
+
+He condemned his conduct to King Achish, the possessor of a few villages
+in the district of Gath. David, at the head of five or six hundred
+banditti, made inroads upon the allies of his benefactor Achish. He
+pillaged the whole of them, massacred all the inhabitants, men, women,
+and children at the breast. And why the children at the breast? For
+fear, says the text, these children should carry the news to King
+Achish, who was deceived into a belief that these expeditions were
+undertaken against the Israelites, by an absolute lie on the part of
+David.
+
+Again, Saul loses a battle and wishes his armor-bearer to slay him, who
+refuses; he wounds himself, but not effectually, and at his own desire a
+young man despatches him, who, carrying the news to David, is massacred
+for his pains.
+
+Ishbosheth succeeds his father, Saul, and David makes war upon him.
+Finally Ishbosheth is assassinated.
+
+David, possessed of the sole dominion, surprised the little town or
+village of Rabbah and put all the inhabitants to death by the most
+extraordinary devices--sawing them asunder, destroying them with harrows
+and axes of iron, and burning them in brick-kilns.
+
+After these expeditions there was a famine in the country for three
+years. In fact, from this mode of making war, countries must necessarily
+be badly cultivated. The Lord was consulted as to the causes of the
+famine. The answer was easy. In a country which produces corn with
+difficulty, when laborers are baked in brick-kilns and sawed into
+pieces, few people remain to cultivate the earth. The Lord, however,
+replied that it was because Saul had formerly slain some Gibeonites.
+
+What is David's speedy remedy? He assembles the Gibeonites, informs them
+that Saul had committed a great sin in making war upon them, and that
+Saul not being like him, a man after God's own heart, it would be proper
+to punish him in his posterity. He therefore makes them a present of
+seven grandsons of Saul to be hanged, who were accordingly hanged
+because there had been a famine.
+
+Mr. Anet is so just as not to insist upon the adultery with Bathsheba
+and the murder of her husband, as these crimes were pardoned in
+consequence of the repentance of David. They were horrible and
+abominable, but being remitted by the Lord, the English author also
+absolves from them.
+
+No one complained in England of the author, and the parliament took
+little interest in the history of a kinglet of a petty district in
+Syria.
+
+Let justice be done to Father Calmet; he has kept within bounds in his
+dictionary of the Bible, in the article on "David." "We pretend not,"
+said he, "to approve of the conduct of David, but it is to be believed
+that this excess of cruelty was committed before his repentance on the
+score of Bathsheba." Possibly he repented of all his crimes at the same
+time, which were sufficiently numerous.
+
+Let us here ask what appears to us to be an important question. May we
+not exhibit a portion of contempt in the article on "David," and treat
+of his person and glory with the respect due to the sacred books? It is
+to the interest of mankind that crime should in no case be sanctified.
+What signifies what _he_ is called, who massacres the wives and children
+of his allies; who hangs the grandchildren of his king; who saws his
+unhappy captives in two, tears them to pieces with harrows, or burns
+them in brick-kilns? These actions we judge, and not the letters which
+compose the name of the criminal. His name neither augments nor
+diminishes the criminality.
+
+The more David is revered after his reconciliation with God, the more
+are his previous qualities condemnable.
+
+If a young peasant, in searching after she-asses finds a kingdom it is
+no common affair. If another peasant cures his king of insanity by a
+tune on the harp that is still more extraordinary. But when this petty
+player on the harp becomes king because he meets a village priest in
+secret, who pours a bottle of olive oil on his head, the affair is more
+marvellous still.
+
+I know nothing either of the writers of these marvels, or of the time in
+which they were written, but I am certain that it was neither Polybius
+nor Tacitus.
+
+I shall not speak here of the murder of Uriah, and of the adultery with
+Bathsheba, these facts being sufficiently well known. The ways of God
+are not the ways of men, since He permitted the descent of Jesus Christ
+from this very Bathsheba, everything being rendered pure by so holy a
+mystery.
+
+I ask not now how Jurieu had the audacity to persecute the wise Bayle
+for not approving all the actions of the good King David. I only inquire
+why a man like Jurieu is suffered to molest a man like Bayle.
+
+
+
+
+DECRETALS.
+
+
+These are letters of the popes which regulate points of doctrine and
+discipline and which have the force of law in the Latin church.
+
+Besides the genuine ones collected by Denis le Petit, there is a
+collection of false ones, the author of which, as well as the date, is
+unknown. It was an archbishop of Mentz called Riculphus who circulated
+it in France about the end of the eighth century; he had also brought to
+Worms an epistle of Pope Gregory, which had never before been heard of,
+but no vestige of the latter is at present remaining, while the false
+decretals, as we shall see, have met with the greatest success for eight
+centuries.
+
+This collection bears the name of Isidore Mercator, and comprehends an
+infinite number of decrees falsely ascribed to the popes, from Clement
+I. down to Siricius. The false donation of Constantine; the Council of
+Rome under Sylvester; the letter of Athanasius to Mark; that of
+Anastasius to the bishops of Germany and Burgundy; that of Sixtus III.
+to the Orientals; that of Leo. I. relating to the privileges of the
+rural bishops; that of John I. to the archbishop Zachariah; one of
+Boniface II. to Eulalia of Alexandria; one of John III. to the bishops
+of France and Burgundy; one of Gregory, containing a privilege of the
+monastery of St. Médard; one from the same to Felix, bishop of Messina,
+and many others.
+
+The object of the author was to extend the authority of the pope and the
+bishops. With this view, he lays it down as a principle that they can be
+definitely judged only by the pope, and he often repeats this maxim that
+not only every bishop but every priest, and, generally, every oppressed
+individual may, in any stage of a cause, appeal directly to the pope. He
+likewise considers it as an incontestable principle that no council, not
+even a provincial one, may be held without the permission of the pope.
+
+These decretals, favoring the impunity of bishops, and still more the
+ambitious pretensions of the popes, were eagerly adopted by them both.
+In 861, Rotade, bishop of Soissons, being deprived of episcopal
+communion in a provincial council on account of disobedience, appeals to
+the pope. Hincmar of Rheims, his metropolitan, notwithstanding his
+appeal, deposes him in another council under the pretext that he had
+afterwards renounced it, and submitted himself to the judgment of the
+bishops.
+
+Pope Nicholas I. being informed of this affair, wrote to Hincmar, and
+blamed his proceedings. "You ought," says he, "to honor the memory of
+St. Peter, and await our judgment, even although Rotade had not
+appealed." And in another letter on the same matter, he threatens
+Hincmar with excommunication, if he does not restore Rotade. That pope
+did more. Rotade having arrived at Rome, he declared him acquitted in a
+council held on Christmas eve, 864; and dismissed him to his see with
+letters. That which he addressed to all the bishops is worthy of notice,
+and is as follows:
+
+"What you say is absurd, that Rotade, after having appealed to the holy
+see, changed his language and submitted himself anew to your judgment.
+Even although he had done so, it would have been your duty to set him
+right, and teach him that an appeal never lies from a superior judge to
+an inferior one. But even although he had not appealed to the holy see,
+you ought by no means to depose a bishop without our participation, in
+prejudice of so many decretals of our predecessors; for, if it be by
+their judgment that the writings of other doctors are approved or
+rejected, how much more should that be respected which they have
+themselves written, to decide on points of doctrine and discipline. Some
+tell you that these decretals are not in the book of canons; yet those
+same persons, when they find them favorable to their designs, use both
+without distinction, and reject them only to lessen the power of the
+holy see. If the decretals of the ancient popes are to be rejected
+because they are not contained in the book of canons, the writings of
+St. Gregory, and the rest of the fathers, must, on the same principle,
+be rejected also, and even the Holy Scriptures themselves."
+
+"You say," the pope continues, "that judgments upon bishops are not
+among the higher causes; we maintain that they are high in proportion as
+bishops hold a high rank in the church. Will you assert that it is only
+metropolitan affairs which constitute the higher causes? But
+metropolitans are not of a different order from bishops, and we do not
+demand different witnesses or judges in the one case, from what are
+usual in the other; we therefore require that causes which involve
+either should be reserved for us. And, finally, can anyone be found so
+utterly unreasonable as to say that all other churches ought to preserve
+their privileges, and that the Roman Church alone should lose hers?" He
+concludes with ordering them to receive and replace Rotade.
+
+Pope Adrian, the successor of Nicholas I., seems to have been no less
+zealous in a similar case relating to Hincmar of Laon. That prelate had
+rendered himself hateful both to the clergy and people of his diocese,
+by various acts of injustice and violence. Having been accused before
+the Council of Verberie--at which Hincmar of Rheims, his uncle and
+metropolitan, presided--he appealed to the pope, and demanded permission
+to go to Rome. This was refused him. The process against him was merely
+suspended, and the affair went no farther. But upon new matters of
+complaint brought against him by Charles the Bald and Hincmar of
+Rheims, he was cited at first before the Council of Attigny, where he
+appeared, and soon afterwards fled; and then before the Council of
+Douzy, where he renewed his appeal, and was deposed. The council wrote
+to the pope a synodal letter, on Sept. 6, 871, to request of him a
+confirmation of the acts which they sent him; but Adrian, far from
+acquiescing in the judgment of the council, expressed in the strongest
+terms his disapprobation of the condemnation of Hincmar; maintaining
+that, since Hincmar declared before the council that he appealed to the
+holy see, they ought not to have pronounced any sentence of condemnation
+upon him. Such were the terms used by that pope, in his letter to the
+bishops of the council, as also in that which he wrote to the king.
+
+The following is the vigorous answer sent by Charles to Adrian: "Your
+letters say, 'We will and ordain, by apostolical authority, that Hincmar
+of Laon shall come to Rome and present himself before us, resting upon
+your supremacy.'
+
+"We wonder where the writer of this letter discovered that a king, whose
+duty it is to chastise the guilty and be the avenger of crimes, should
+send to Rome a criminal convicted according to legal forms, and more
+especially one who, before his deposition, was found guilty, in three
+councils, of enterprises against the public peace; and who, after his
+deposition, persisted in his disobedience.
+
+"We are compelled further to tell you, that we, kings of France, born
+of a royal race, have never yet passed for the deputies of bishops, but
+for sovereigns of the earth. And, as St. Leon and the Roman council have
+said, kings and emperors, whom God has appointed to govern the world,
+have permitted bishops to regulate their affairs according to their
+ordinances, but they have never been the stewards of bishops; and if you
+search the records of your predecessors, you will not find that they
+have ever written to persons in our exalted situation as you have done
+in the present instance."
+
+He then adduces two letters of St. Gregory, to show with what modesty he
+wrote, not only to the kings of France, but to the exarchs of Italy.
+"Finally," he concludes, "I beg that you will never more send to me, or
+to the bishops of my kingdom, similar letters, if you wish that we
+should give to what you write that honor and respect which we would
+willingly grant it." The bishops of the Council of Douzy answered the
+pope nearly in the same strain; and, although we have not the entire
+letter, it appears that their object in it was to prove that Hincmar's
+appeal ought not to be decided at Rome, but in France, by judges
+delegated conformably to the canons of the Council of Sardis.
+
+These examples are sufficient to show how the popes extended their
+jurisdiction by the instrumentality of these false decretals; and
+although Hincmar of Rheims objected to Adrian, that, not being included
+in the book of canons, they could not subvert the discipline
+established by the canons--which occasioned his being accused, before
+Pope John VIII., of not admitting the decretals of the popes--he
+constantly cited these decretals as authorities, in his letters and
+other writings, and his example was followed by many bishops. At first,
+those only were admitted which were not contrary to the more recent
+canons, and afterwards there was less and less scruple.
+
+The councils themselves made use of them. Thus, in that of Rheims, held
+in 992, the bishops availed themselves of the decretals of Anacletus, of
+Julius, of Damasus, and other popes, in the cause of Arnoul. Succeeding
+councils imitated that of Rheims. The popes Gregory VII., Urban II.,
+Pascal II., Urban III., and Alexander III. supported the maxims they
+found in them, persuaded that they constituted the discipline of the
+flourishing age of the church. Finally, the compilers of the
+canons--Bouchard of Worms, Yves of Chartres, and Gratian--introduced
+them into their collection. After they became publicly taught in the
+schools, and commented upon, all the polemical and scholastic divines,
+and all the expositors of the canon law, eagerly laid hold of these
+false decretals to confirm the Catholic dogmas, or to establish points
+of discipline, and scattered them profusely through their works.
+
+It was not till the sixteenth century that the first suspicions of their
+authenticity were excited. Erasmus, and many others with him, called
+them in question upon the following grounds:
+
+1. The decretals contained in the collection of Isidore are not in that
+of Denis le Petit, who cited none of the decretals of the popes before
+the time of Siricius. Yet he informs us that he took extreme care in
+collecting them. They could not, therefore, have escaped him, if they
+had existed in the archives of the see of Rome, where he resided. If
+they were unknown to the holy see, to which they were favorable, they
+were so to the whole church. The fathers and councils of the first eight
+centuries have made no mention of them. But how can this universal
+silence be reconciled with their authenticity?
+
+2. These decretals do not all correspond with the state of things
+existing at the time in which they are supposed to have been written.
+Not a word is said of the heresies of the three first centuries, nor of
+other ecclesiastical affairs with which the genuine works of the same
+period are filled. This proves that they were fabricated afterwards.
+
+3. Their dates are almost always false. Their author generally follows
+the chronology of the pontifical book, which, by Baronius's own
+confession, is very incorrect. This is a presumptive evidence that the
+collection was not composed till after the pontifical book.
+
+4. These decretals, in all the citations of Scripture passages which
+they contain, use the version known by the name of "Vulgate," made, or
+at least revised, by St. Jerome. They are, therefore, of later date
+than St. Jerome.
+
+Finally, they are all written in the same style, which is very
+barbarous; and, in that respect, corresponding to the ignorance of the
+eighth century: but it is not by any means probable that all the
+different popes, whose names they bear, affected that uniformity of
+style. It may be concluded with confidence, that all the decretals are
+from the same hand.
+
+Besides these general reasons, each of the documents which form
+Isidore's collection carries with it marks of forgery peculiar to
+itself, and none of which have escaped the keen criticism of David
+Blondel, to whom we are principally indebted for the light thrown at the
+present day on this compilation, now no longer known but as "The False
+Decretals"; but the usages introduced in consequence of it exist not the
+less through a considerable portion of Europe.
+
+
+
+
+DELUGE (UNIVERSAL).
+
+
+We begin with observing that we are believers in the universal deluge,
+because it is recorded in the holy Hebrew Scriptures transmitted to
+Christians. We consider it as a miracle:
+
+1. Because all the facts by which God condescends to interfere in the
+sacred books are so many miracles.
+
+2. Because the sea could not rise fifteen cubits, or one-and-twenty
+standard feet and a half, above the highest mountains, without leaving
+its bed dry, and, at the same time, violating all the laws of gravity
+and the equilibrium of fluids, which would evidently require a miracle.
+
+3. Because, even although it might rise to the height mentioned, the ark
+could not have contained, according to known physical laws, all the
+living things of the earth, together with their food, for so long a
+time; considering that lions, tigers, panthers, leopards, ounces,
+rhinoceroses, bears, wolves, hyenas, eagles, hawks, kites, vultures,
+falcons, and all carnivorous animals, which feed on flesh alone, would
+have died of hunger, even after having devoured all the other species.
+
+There was printed some time ago, in an appendix to Pascal's "Thoughts,"
+a dissertation of a merchant of Rouen, called Le Peletier, in which he
+proposes a plan for building a vessel in which all kinds of animals
+might be included and maintained for the space of a year. It is clear
+that this merchant never superintended even a poultry-yard. We cannot
+but look upon M. Le Peletier, the architect of the ark, as a visionary,
+who knew nothing about menageries; and upon the deluge as an adorable
+miracle, fearful, and incomprehensible to the feeble reason of M. Le
+Peletier, as well as to our own.
+
+4. Because the physical impossibility of a universal deluge, by natural
+means, can be strictly demonstrated. The demonstration is as follows:
+All the seas cover half the globe. A common measure of their depths
+near the shores, and in the open ocean, is assumed to be five hundred
+feet.
+
+In order that they might cover both hemispheres to the depth of five
+hundred feet, not only would an ocean of that depth be necessary over
+all the land, but a new sea would, in addition, be required to envelop
+the ocean at present existing, without which the laws of hydrostatics
+would occasion the dispersion of that other new mass of water five
+hundred feet deep, which should remain covering the land. Thus, then,
+two new oceans are requisite to cover the terraqueous globe merely to
+the depth of five hundred feet.
+
+Supposing the mountains to be only twenty thousand feet high, forty
+oceans, each five hundred feet in height, would be required to
+accumulate on each other, merely in order to equal the height of the
+mountains. Every successive ocean would contain all the others, and the
+last of them all would have a circumference containing forty times that
+of the first.
+
+In order to form this mass of water, it would be necessary to create it
+out of nothing. In order to withdraw it, it would be necessary to
+annihilate it. The event of the deluge, then, is a double miracle, and
+the greatest that has ever manifested the power of the eternal Sovereign
+of all worlds.
+
+We are exceedingly surprised that some learned men have attributed to
+this deluge some small shell found in many parts of our continent. We
+are still more surprised at what we find under the article on "Deluge,"
+in the grand "Encyclopædia." An author is quoted in it, who says things
+so very profound that they may be considered as chimerical. This is the
+first characteristic of Pluche. He proves the possibility of the deluge
+by the history of the giants who made war against the gods!
+
+_Briareus_, according to him, is clearly the deluge, for it signifies
+"the loss of serenity": and in what language does it signify this
+loss?--in Hebrew. But _Briareus_ is a Greek word, which means "robust":
+it is not a Hebrew word. Even if, by chance, it had been so, we should
+beware of imitating Bochart, who derives so many Greek, Latin, and even
+French words from the Hebrew idiom. The Greeks certainly knew no more of
+the Jewish idiom than of the language of the Chinese.
+
+The giant Othus is also in Hebrew, according to Pluche, "the derangement
+of the seasons." But it is also a Greek word, which does not signify
+anything, at least, that I know; and even if it did, what, let me ask,
+could it have to do with the Hebrew?
+
+_Porphyrion_ is "a shaking of the earth," in Hebrew; but in Greek, it is
+porphyry. This has nothing to do with the deluge.
+
+_Mimos_ is "a great rain"; for once, he does mention a name which may
+bear upon the deluge. But in Greek _mimos_ means mimic, comedian. There
+are no means of tracing the deluge of such an origin. _Enceladus_ is
+another proof of the deluge in Hebrew; for, according to Pluche, it is
+the fountain of time; but, unluckily, in Greek it is "noise."
+
+_Ephialtes_, another demonstration of the deluge in Hebrew; for
+_ephialtes_, which signifies leaper, oppressor, incubus, in Greek is,
+according to Pluche, "a vast accumulation of clouds."
+
+But the Greeks, having taken everything from the Hebrews, with whom they
+were unacquainted, clearly gave to their giants all those names which
+Pluche extracts from the Hebrew as well as he can, and all as a memorial
+of the deluge.
+
+Such is the reasoning of Pluche. It is he who cites the author of the
+article on "Deluge" without refuting him. Does he speak seriously, or
+does he jest? I do not know. All I know is, that there is scarcely a
+single system to be found at which one can forbear jesting.
+
+I have some apprehension that the article in the grand "Encyclopædia,"
+attributed to M. Boulanger, is not serious. In that case, we ask whether
+it is philosophical. Philosophy is so often deceived, that we shall not
+venture to decide against M. Boulanger.
+
+Still less shall we venture to ask what was that abyss which was broken
+up, or what were the cataracts of heaven which were opened. Isaac
+Vossius denies the universality of the deluge: "_Hoc est pie nugari_."
+Calmet maintains it; informing us, that bodies have no weight in air,
+but in consequence of their being compressed by air. Calmet was not
+much of a natural philosopher, and the weight of the air has nothing to
+do with the deluge. Let us content ourselves with reading and respecting
+everything in the Bible, without comprehending a single word of it.
+
+I do not comprehend how God created a race of men in order to drown
+them, and then substituted in their room a race still viler than the
+first.
+
+How seven pairs of all kinds of clean animals should come from the four
+quarters of the globe, together with two pairs of unclean ones, without
+the wolves devouring the sheep on the way, or the kites the pigeons,
+etc.
+
+How eight persons could keep in order, feed, and water, such an immense
+number of inmates, shut up in an ark for nearly two years; for, after
+the cessation of the deluge, it would be necessary to have food for all
+these passengers for another year, in consequence of the herbage being
+so scanty.
+
+I am not like M. Le Peletier. I admire everything, and explain nothing.
+
+
+
+
+DEMOCRACY.
+
+     _Le pire des états, c'est l'état populaire._
+     That sway is worst, in which the people rule.
+
+Such is the opinion which Cinna gave Augustus. But on the other hand,
+Maximus maintains, that
+
+     _Le pire des états, c'est l'état monarchique._
+     That sway is worst, in which a monarch rules.
+
+Bayle, in his "Philosophical Dictionary," after having repeatedly
+advocated both sides of the question, gives, under the article on
+"Pericles," a most disgusting picture of democracy, and more
+particularly that of Athens.
+
+A republican, who is a stanch partisan of democracy, and one of our
+"proposers of questions," sends us his refutation of Bayle and his
+apology for Athens. We will adduce his reasons. It is the privilege of
+every writer to judge the living and the dead; he who thus sits in
+judgment will be himself judged by others, who, in their turn, will be
+judged also; and thus, from age to age, all sentences are, according to
+circumstances, reversed or reformed.
+
+Bayle, then, after some common-place observations, uses these words: "A
+man would look in vain into the history of Macedon for as much tyranny
+as he finds in the history of Athens."
+
+Perhaps Bayle was discontented with Holland when he thus wrote; and
+probably my republican friend, who refutes him, is contented with his
+little democratic city "for the present."
+
+It is difficult to weigh, in an exquisitely nice balance, the iniquities
+of the republic of Athens and of the court of Macedon. We still upbraid
+the Athenians with the banishment of Cimon, Aristides, Themistocles, and
+Alcibiades, and the sentences of death upon Phocion and Socrates;
+sentences similar in absurdity and cruelty to those of some of our own
+tribunals.
+
+In short, what we can never pardon in the Athenians is the execution of
+their six victorious generals, condemned because they had not time to
+bury their dead after the victory, and because they were prevented from
+doing so by a tempest. The sentence is at once so ridiculous and
+barbarous, it bears such a stamp of superstition and ingratitude, that
+those of the Inquisition, those delivered against Urbain Grandier,
+against the wife of Marshal d'Ancre, against Montrin, and against
+innumerable sorcerers and witches, etc., are not, in fact, fooleries
+more atrocious.
+
+It is in vain to say, in excuse of the Athenians, that they believed,
+like Homer before them, that the souls of the dead were always
+wandering, unless they had received the honors of sepulture or burning.
+A folly is no excuse for a barbarity.
+
+A dreadful evil, indeed, for the souls of a few Greeks to ramble for a
+week or two on the shores of the ocean! The evil is, in consigning
+living men to the executioner; living men who have won a battle for you;
+living men, to whom you ought to be devoutly grateful.
+
+Thus, then, are the Athenians convicted of having been at once the most
+silly and the most barbarous judges in the world. But we must now place
+in the balance the crimes of the court of Macedon; we shall see that
+that court far exceeds Athens in point of tyranny and atrocity.
+
+There is ordinarily no comparison to be made between the crimes of the
+great, who are always ambitious, and those of the people, who never
+desire, and who never can desire, anything but liberty and equality.
+These two sentiments, "liberty and equality," do not _necessarily_ lead
+to calumny, rapine, assassination, poisoning, and devastation of the
+lands of neighbors; but, the towering ambition and thirst for power of
+the great precipitate them head-long into every species of crime in all
+periods and all places.
+
+In this same Macedon, the virtue of which Bayle opposes to that of
+Athens, we see nothing but a tissue of tremendous crimes for a series of
+two hundred years.
+
+It is Ptolemy, the uncle of Alexander the Great, who assassinates his
+brother Alexander to usurp the kingdom. It is Philip, his brother, who
+spends his life in guilt and perjury, and ends it by a stab from
+Pausanias.
+
+Olympias orders Queen Cleopatra and her son to be thrown into a furnace
+of molten brass. She assassinates Aridæus. Antigonus assassinates
+Eumenes. Antigonus Gonatas, his son, poisons the governor of the citadel
+of Corinth, marries his widow, expels her, and takes possession of the
+citadel. Philip, his grandson, poisons Demetrius, and defiles the whole
+of Macedon with murders. Perseus kills his wife with his own hand, and
+poisons his brother. These perfidies and cruelties are authenticated in
+history.
+
+Thus, then, for two centuries, the madness of despotism converts
+Macedon into a theatre for every crime; and in the same space of time
+you see the popular government of Athens stained only by five or six
+acts of judicial iniquity, five or six certainly atrocious judgments, of
+which the people in every instance repented, and for which they made, as
+far as they could, honorable expiation (_amende honorable._) They asked
+pardon of Socrates after his death, and erected to his memory the small
+temple called _Socrateion_. They asked pardon of Phocion, and raised a
+statue to his honor. They asked pardon of the six generals, so
+ridiculously condemned and so basely executed. They confined in chains
+the principal accuser, who, with difficulty, escaped from public
+vengeance. The Athenian people, therefore, appear to have had good
+natural dispositions, connected, as they were, with great versatility
+and frivolity. In what despotic state has the injustice of precipitate
+decrees ever been thus ingenuously acknowledged and deplored?
+
+Bayle, then, is for this once in the wrong. My republican has reason on
+his side. Popular government, therefore, is in itself iniquitous, and
+less abominable than monarchical despotism.
+
+The great vice of democracy is certainly not tyranny and cruelty. There
+have been republicans in mountainous regions wild and ferocious; but
+they were made so, not by the spirit of republicanism, but by nature.
+The North American savages were entirely republican; but they were
+republics of bears.
+
+The radical vice of a civilized republic is expressed by the Turkish
+fable of the dragon with many heads, and the dragon with many tails. The
+multitude of heads become injurious, and the multitude of tails obey one
+single head, which wants to devour all.
+
+Democracy seems to suit only a very small country; and even that
+fortunately situated. Small as it may be, it will commit many faults,
+because it will be composed of men. Discord will prevail in it, as in a
+convent of monks; but there will be no St. Bartholomews there, no Irish
+massacre, no Sicilian vespers, no Inquisition, no condemnation to the
+galleys for having taken water from the ocean without paying for it; at
+least, unless it be a republic of devils, established in some corner of
+hell.
+
+After having taken the side of my Swiss friend against the dexterous
+fencing-master, Bayle, I will add: That the Athenians were warriors like
+the Swiss, and as polite as the Parisians were under Louis XIV.; that
+they excelled in every art requiring genius or execution, like the
+Florentine in time of the Medici; that they were the masters of the
+Romans in the sciences and in eloquence, even in the days of Cicero;
+that this same people, insignificant in number, who scarcely possessed
+anything of territory, and who, at the present day, consist only of a
+band of ignorant slaves, a hundred times less numerous than the Jews,
+and deprived of all but their name, yet bear away the palm from Roman
+power, by their ancient reputation, which triumphs at once over time and
+degradation.
+
+Europe has seen a republic, ten times smaller than Athens, attract its
+attention for the space of one hundred and fifty years, and its name
+placed by the side of that of Rome, even while she still commanded
+kings; while she condemned one Henry, a sovereign of France, and
+absolved and scourged another Henry, the first man of his age; even
+while Venice retained her ancient splendor, and the republic of the
+seven United Provinces was astonishing Europe and the Indies, by its
+successful establishment and extensive commerce.
+
+This almost imperceptible ant-hill could not be crushed by the royal
+demon of the South, and the monarch of two worlds, nor by the intrigues
+of the Vatican, which put in motion one-half of Europe. It resisted by
+words and by arms; and with the help of a Picard who wrote, and a small
+number of Swiss who fought for it, it became at length established and
+triumphant, and was enabled to say, "Rome and I." She kept all minds
+divided between the rich pontiffs who succeeded to the Scipios--_Romanos
+rerum dominos_--and the poor inhabitants of a corner of the world long
+unknown in a country of poverty and _goîtres_.
+
+The main point was, to decide how Europe should think on the subject of
+certain questions which no one understood. It was the conflict of the
+human mind. The Calvins, the Bezas, and Turetins, were the
+Demostheneses, Platos, and Aristotles, of the day.
+
+The absurdity of the greater part of the controversial questions which
+bound down the attention of Europe, having at length been acknowledged,
+this small republic turned our consideration to what appears of solid
+consequence--the acquisition of wealth. The system of law, more
+chimerical and less baleful than that of the supralapsarians and the
+sublapsarians, occupied with arithmetical calculations those who could
+no longer gain celebrity as partisans of the doctrine of crucified
+divinity. They became rich, but were no longer famous.
+
+It is thought at present there is no republic, except in Europe. I am
+mistaken if I have not somewhere made the remark myself; it must,
+however, have been a great inadvertence. The Spaniards found in America
+the republic of Tlascala perfectly well established. Every part of that
+continent which has not been subjugated is still republican. In the
+whole of that vast territory, when it was first discovered, there
+existed no more than two kingdoms; and this may well be considered as a
+proof that republican government is the most natural. Men must have
+obtained considerable refinement, and have tried many experiments,
+before they submit to the government of a single individual.
+
+In Africa, the Hottentots, the Kaffirs, and many communities of negroes,
+are democracies. It is pretended that the countries in which the greater
+part of the negroes are sold are governed by kings. Tripoli, Tunis, and
+Algiers are republics of soldiers and pirates. There are similar ones in
+India. The Mahrattas, and many other Indian hordes, have no kings: they
+elect chiefs when they go on their expeditions of plunder.
+
+Such are also many of the hordes of Tartars. Even the Turkish Empire has
+long been a republic of janissaries, who have frequently strangled their
+sultan, when their sultan did not decimate them. We are every day asked,
+whether a republican or a kingly government is to be preferred? The
+dispute always ends in agreeing that the government of men is
+exceedingly difficult. The Jews had God himself for their master; yet
+observe the events of their history. They have almost always been
+trampled upon and enslaved; and, nationally, what a wretched figure do
+they make at present!
+
+
+
+
+DEMONIACS.
+
+
+Hypochondriacal and epileptic persons, and women laboring under
+hysterical affections, have always been considered the victims of evil
+spirits, malignant demons and divine vengeance. We have seen that this
+disease was called the sacred disease; and that while the physicians
+were ignorant, the priests of antiquity obtained everywhere the care and
+management of such diseases.
+
+When the symptoms were very complicated, the patient was supposed to be
+possessed with many demons--a demon of madness, one of luxury, one of
+avarice, one of obstinacy, one of short-sightedness, one of deafness;
+and the exorciser could not easily miss finding a demon of foolery
+created, with another of knavery.
+
+The Jews expelled devils from the bodies of the possessed, by the
+application of the root _barath_, and a certain formula of words; our
+Saviour expelled them by a divine virtue; he communicated that virtue to
+his apostles, but it is now greatly impaired.
+
+A short time since, an attempt was made to renew the history of St.
+Paulin. That saint saw on the roof of a church a poor demoniac, who
+walked under, or rather upon, this roof or ceiling, with his head below
+and his feet above, nearly in the manner of a fly. St. Paulin clearly
+perceived that the man was possessed, and sent several leagues off for
+some relics of St. Felix of Nola, which were applied to the patient as
+blisters. The demon who supported the man against the roof instantly
+fled, and the demoniac fell down upon the pavement.
+
+We may have doubts about this history, while we preserve the most
+profound respect for genuine miracles; and we may be permitted to
+observe that this is not the way in which we now cure demoniacs. We
+bleed them, bathe them, and gently relax them by medicine; we apply
+emollients to them. This is M. Pome's treatment of them; and he has
+performed more cures than the priests of Isis or Diana, or of anyone
+else who ever wrought by miracles. As to demoniacs who say they are
+possessed merely to gain money, instead of being bathed, they are at
+present flogged.
+
+It often happened, that the specific gravity of epileptics, whose fibres
+and muscles withered away, was lighter than water, and that they floated
+when put into it. A miracle! was instantly exclaimed. It was pronounced
+that such a person must be a demoniac or sorcerer; and holy water or the
+executioner was immediately sent for. It was an unquestionable proof
+that either the demon had become master of the body of the floating
+person, or that the latter had voluntarily delivered himself over to the
+demon. On the first supposition the person was exorcised, on the second
+he was burned. Thus have we been reasoning and acting for a period of
+fifteen or sixteen hundred years, and yet we have the effrontery to
+laugh at the Kaffirs.
+
+In 1603, in a small village of Franche-Comté, a woman of quality made
+her granddaughter read aloud the lives of the saints in the presence of
+her parents; this young woman, who was, in some respects, very well
+informed, but ignorant of orthography, substituted the word _histories_
+for that of _lives_ (_vies_). Her step-mother, who hated her, said to
+her in a tone of harshness, "Why don't you read as it is there?" The
+girl blushed and trembled, but did not venture to say anything; she
+wished to avoid disclosing which of her companions had interpreted the
+word upon a false orthography, and prevented her using it. A monk, who
+was the family confessor, pretended that the devil had taught her the
+word. The girl chose to be silent rather than vindicate herself; her
+silence was considered as amounting to confession; the Inquisition
+convicted her of having made a compact with the devil: she was condemned
+to be burned, because she had a large fortune from her mother, and the
+confiscated property went by law to the inquisitors. She was the hundred
+thousandth victim of the doctrine of demoniacs, persons possessed by
+devils and exorcisms, and of the real devils who swayed the world.
+
+
+
+
+DESTINY.
+
+
+Of all the books written in the western climes of the world, which have
+reached our times, Homer is the most ancient. In his works we find the
+manners of profane antiquity, coarse heroes, and material gods, made
+after the image of man, but mixed up with reveries and absurdities; we
+also find the seeds of philosophy, and more particularly the idea of
+destiny, or necessity, who is the dominatrix of the gods, as the gods
+are of the world.
+
+When the magnanimous Hector determines to fight the magnanimous
+Achilles, and runs away with all possible speed, making the circuit of
+the city three times, in order to increase his vigor; when Homer
+compares the light-footed Achilles, who pursues him, to a man that is
+asleep! and when Madame Dacier breaks into a rapture of admiration at
+the art and meaning exhibited in this passage, it is precisely then
+that Jupiter, desirous of saving the great Hector who has offered up to
+him so many sacrifices, bethinks him of consulting the destinies, upon
+weighing the fates of Hector and Achilles in a balance. He finds that
+the Trojan must inevitably be killed by the Greek, and is not only
+unable to oppose it, but from that moment Apollo, the guardian genius of
+Hector, is compelled to abandon him. It is not to be denied that Homer
+is frequently extravagant, and even on this very occasion displays a
+contradictory flow of ideas, according to the privilege of antiquity;
+but yet he is the first in whom we meet with the notion of destiny. It
+may be concluded, then, that in his days it was a prevalent one.
+
+The Pharisees, among the small nation of Jews, did not adopt the idea of
+a destiny till many ages after. For these Pharisees themselves, who were
+the most learned class among the Jews, were but of very recent date.
+They mixed up, in Alexandria, a portion of the dogmas of the Stoics with
+their ancient Jewish ideas. St. Jerome goes so far as to state that
+their sect is but a little anterior to our vulgar era.
+
+Philosophers would never have required the aid of Homer, or of the
+Pharisees, to be convinced that everything is performed according to
+immutable laws, that everything is ordained, that everything is, in
+fact, _necessary_. The manner in which they reason is as follows:
+
+Either the world subsists by its own nature, by its own physical laws,
+or a Supreme Being has formed it according to His supreme laws: in both
+cases these laws are immovable; in both cases everything is necessary;
+heavy bodies tend towards the centre of the earth without having any
+power or tendency to rest in the air. Pear-trees cannot produce
+pine-apples. The instinct of a spaniel cannot be the instinct of an
+ostrich; everything is arranged, adjusted, and fixed.
+
+Man can have only a certain number of teeth, hairs, and ideas; and a
+period arrives when he necessarily loses his teeth, hair, and ideas.
+
+It is contradictory to say that yesterday should not have been; or that
+to-day does not exist; it is just as contradictory to assert that that
+which is to come will not inevitably be.
+
+Could you derange the destiny of a single fly there would be no possible
+reason why you should not control the destiny of all other flies, of all
+other animals, of all men, of all nature. You would find, in fact, that
+you were more powerful than God.
+
+Weak-minded persons say: "My physician has brought my aunt safely
+through a mortal disease; he has added ten years to my aunt's life."
+Others of more judgment say, the prudent man makes his own destiny.
+
+     _Nullum numen abest, si sit Prudentia, sed te_
+     _Nos facimus, Fortuna, deam cœoque locamus._
+                          --JUVENAL, _Sat_. x. v. 365.
+
+     We call on Fortune, and her aid implore,
+     While Prudence is the goddess to adore.
+
+
+But frequently the prudent man succumbs under his destiny instead of
+making it; it is destiny which makes men prudent. Profound politicians
+assure us that if Cromwell, Ludlow, Ireton, and a dozen other
+parliamentary leaders, had been assassinated eight days before Charles
+I. had his head cut off, that king would have continued alive and have
+died in his bed; they are right; and they may add, that if all England
+had been swallowed up in the sea, that king would not have perished on a
+scaffold before Whitehall. But things were so arranged that Charles was
+to have his head cut off.
+
+Cardinal d'Ossat was unquestionably more clever than an idiot of the
+_petites maisons_; but is it not evident that the organs of the wise
+d'Ossat were differently formed than those of that idiot?--Just as the
+organs of a fox are different from those of a crane or a lark.
+
+Your physician saved your aunt, but in so doing he certainly did not
+contradict the order of nature, but followed it. It is clear that your
+aunt could not prevent her birth in a certain place, that she could not
+help being affected by a certain malady, at a certain time; that the
+physician could be in no other place than where he was, that your aunt
+could not but apply to him, that he could not but prescribe medicines
+which cured her, or were thought to cure her, while nature was the sole
+physician.
+
+A peasant thinks that it hailed upon his field by chance; but the
+philosopher knows that there was no chance, and that it was absolutely
+impossible, according to the constitution of the world, for it not to
+have hailed at that very time and place.
+
+There are some who, being shocked by this truth, concede only half of
+it, like debtors who offer one moiety of their property to their
+creditors, and ask remission for the other. There are, they say, some
+events which are necessary, and others which are not so. It would be
+curious for one part of the world to be changed and the other not; that
+one part of what happens should happen inevitably, and another
+fortuitously. When we examine the question closely, we see that the
+doctrine opposed to that of destiny is absurd; but many men are destined
+to be bad reasoners, others not to reason at all, and others to
+persecute those who reason well or ill.
+
+Some caution us by saying, "Do not believe in fatalism, for, if you do,
+everything appearing to you unavoidable, you will exert yourself for
+nothing; you will sink down in indifference; you will regard neither
+wealth, nor honors, nor praise; you will be careless about acquiring
+anything whatever; you will consider yourself meritless and powerless;
+no talent will be cultivated, and all will be overwhelmed in apathy."
+
+Do not be afraid, gentlemen; we shall always have passions and
+prejudices, since it is our destiny to be subjected to prejudices and
+passions. We shall very well know that it no more depends upon us to
+have great merit or superior talents than to have a fine head of hair,
+or a beautiful hand; we shall be convinced that we ought to be vain of
+nothing, and yet vain we shall always be.
+
+I have necessarily the passion for writing as I now do; and, as for you,
+you have the passion for censuring me; we are both equally fools, both
+equally the sport of destiny. Your nature is to do ill, mine is to love
+truth, and publish it in spite of you.
+
+The owl, while supping upon mice in his ruined tower, said to the
+nightingale, "Stop your singing there in your beautiful arbor, and come
+to my hole that I may eat you." The nightingale replied, "I am born to
+sing where I am, and to laugh at you."
+
+You ask me what is to become of liberty: I do not understand you; I do
+not know what the liberty you speak of really is. You have been so long
+disputing about the nature of it that you do not understand it. If you
+are willing, or rather, if you are able to examine with me coolly what
+it is, turn to the letter L.
+
+
+
+
+DEVOTEE.
+
+
+The word devout (_dévot_) signifies devoted (_dévoué_), and, in the
+strict sense of the term, can only be applicable to monks, and to
+females belonging to some religious order and under vows. But as the
+gospel makes no mention of vows or devotees, the title should not, in
+fact, be given to any person: the whole world ought to be equally just.
+A man who calls himself devout is like a plebeian who calls himself a
+marquis; he arrogates a quality which does not belong to him; he thinks
+himself a better man than his neighbor. We pardon this folly in women;
+their weakness and frivolity render them excusable; they pass, poor
+things, from a lover to a spiritual director with perfect sincerity, but
+we cannot pardon the knaves who direct them, who abuse their ignorance,
+and establish the throne of their pride on the credulity of the sex.
+They form a snug mystical harem, composed of seven or eight elderly
+beauties subjugated by the weight of inoccupation, and almost all these
+subjects pay tribute to their new master. No young women without lovers;
+no elderly devotee without a director.--Oh, how much more shrewd are the
+Orientals than we! A pasha never says, "We supped last night with the
+aga of the janissaries, who is my sister's lover; and with the vicar of
+the mosque, who is my wife's director."
+
+
+
+
+DIAL.
+
+_Dial of Ahaz._
+
+
+It is well known that everything is miraculous in the history of the
+Jews; the miracle performed in favor of King Hezekiah on the dial of
+Ahaz is one of the greatest that ever took place: it is evident that the
+whole earth must have been deranged, the course of the stars changed
+forever, and the periods of the eclipses of the sun and moon so altered
+as to confuse all the ephemerides. This was the second time the prodigy
+happened. Joshua had stopped the sun at noon on Gibeon, and the moon on
+Ascalon, in order to get time to kill a troop of Amorites already
+crushed by a shower of stones from heaven.
+
+The sun, instead of stopping for King Hezekiah, went back, which is
+nearly the same thing, only differently described.
+
+In the first place Isaiah said to Hezekiah, who was sick, "Thus saith
+the Lord, set thine house in order; for thou shalt die and not live."
+
+Hezekiah wept and God was softened; He signified to him, through Isaiah,
+that he should still live fifteen years, and that in three days he
+should go to the temple; then Isaiah brought a plaster of figs and put
+it on the king's ulcers, and he was cured--"_et curatus est_."
+
+Hezekiah demanded a sign to convince him that he should be cured. Isaiah
+said to him, "Shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten
+degrees?" And Hezekiah answered, "It is a light thing for the shadow to
+go down ten degrees; let the shadow return backward ten degrees." And
+Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord, and He brought the shadow ten
+degrees backwards from the point to which it had gone down on the dial
+of Ahaz.
+
+We should like to know what this dial of Ahaz was; whether it was the
+work of a dialmaker named Ahaz, or whether it was a present made to a
+king of that name, it is an object of curiosity. There have been many
+disputes on this dial; the learned have proved that the Jews never knew
+either clocks or dials before their captivity in Babylon--the only time,
+say they, in which they learned anything of the Chaldæans, or the
+greater part of the nation began to read or write. It is even known that
+in their language they had no words to express clock, dial, geometry, or
+astronomy; and in the Book of Kings the dial of Ahaz is called the hour
+of the stone.
+
+But the grand question is to know how King Hezekiah, the possessor of
+this clock, or dial of the sun--this hour of stone--could tell that it
+was easy to advance the sun ten degrees. It is certainly as difficult to
+make it advance against its ordinary motion as to make it go backward.
+
+The proposition of the prophet appears as astonishing as the discourse
+of the king: Shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten
+degrees? That would have been well said in some town of Lapland, where
+the longest day of the year is twenty hours; but at Jerusalem, where the
+longest day of the year is about fourteen hours and a half, ii was
+absurd. The king and the prophet deceived each other grossly. We do not
+deny the miracle, we firmly believe it; we only remark that Hezekiah and
+Isaiah knew not what they said. Whatever the hour, it was a thing
+equally impossible to make the shadow of the dial advance or recede ten
+hours. If it were two hours after noon, the prophet could, no doubt,
+have very well made the shadow of the dial go back to four o'clock in
+the morning; but in this case he could not have advanced it ten hours,
+since then it would have been midnight, and at that time it is not usual
+to have a shadow of the sun in perfection.
+
+It is difficult to discover when this strange history was written, but
+perhaps it was towards the time in which the Jews only confusedly knew
+that there were clocks and sun-dials. In that case it is true that they
+got but a very imperfect knowledge of these sciences until they went to
+Babylon. There is a still greater difficulty of which the commentators
+have not thought; which is that the Jews did not count by hours as we
+do.
+
+The same miracle happened in Greece, the day that Atreus served up the
+children of Thyestes for their father's supper.
+
+The same miracle was still more sensibly performed at the time of
+Jupiter's intrigue with Alcmena. It required a night double the natural
+length to form Hercules. These adventures are common in antiquity, but
+very rare in our days, in which all things have degenerated.
+
+
+
+
+DICTIONARY.
+
+
+The invention of dictionaries, which was unknown to antiquity, is of the
+most unquestionable utility; and the "Encyclopædia," which was
+suggested by Messrs. d'Alembert and Diderot, and so successfully
+completed by them and their associates, notwithstanding all its defects,
+is a decisive evidence of it. What we find there under the article
+"Dictionary" would be a sufficient instance; it is done by the hand of a
+master.
+
+I mean to speak here only of a new species of historical dictionaries,
+which contain a series of lies and satires in alphabetical order; such
+is the "Historical Literary and Critical Dictionary," containing a
+summary of the lives of celebrated men of every description, and printed
+in 1758, in six volumes, octavo, without the name of the author.
+
+The compilers of that work begin with declaring that it was undertaken
+by the advice of the author of the "Ecclesiastical Gazette," "a
+formidable writer," they add, "whose arrow," which had already been
+compared to that of Jonathan, "never returned back, and was always
+steeped in the blood of the slain, in the carnage of the valiant."--"_A
+sanguine interfectorum ab adipe fortium sagitta Jonathæ nunquam abiit
+retrorsum._"
+
+It will, no doubt, be easily admitted that the connection between
+Jonathan, the son of Saul, who was killed at the battle of Gilboa, and a
+Parisian convulsionary, who scribbles ecclesiastical notices in his
+garret, in 1758, is wonderfully striking.
+
+The author of this preface speaks in it of the great Colbert. We should
+conceive, at first, that the great statesman who conferred such vast
+benefits on France is alluded to; no such thing, it is a bishop of
+Montpellier. He complains that no other dictionary has bestowed
+sufficient praise on the celebrated Abbé d'Asfeld, the illustrious
+Boursier, the famous Genes, the immortal Laborde, and that the lash of
+invective on the other hand has not been sufficiently applied to
+Languet, archbishop of Sens, and a person of the name of Fillot, all, as
+he pretends, men well known from the Pillars of Hercules to the frozen
+ocean. He engages to be "animated, energetic, and sarcastic, on a
+principle of religion"; that he will make his countenance "sterner than
+that of his enemies, and his front harder than their front, according to
+the words of Ezekiel," etc.
+
+He declares that he has put in contribution all the journals and all the
+anas; and he concludes with hoping that heaven will bestow a blessing on
+his labors.
+
+In dictionaries of this description, which are merely party works, we
+rarely find what we are in quest of, and often what we are not. Under
+the word "Adonis," for example, we learn that Venus fell in love with
+him; but not a word about the worship of Adonis, or Adonai among the
+Phœnicians--nothing about those very ancient and celebrated
+festivals, those lamentations succeeded by rejoicings, which were
+manifest allegories, like the feasts of Ceres, of Isis, and all the
+mysteries of antiquity.
+
+But, in compensation, we find _Adkichomia_ a devotee, who translated
+David's psalms in the sixteenth century; and _Adkichomus_, apparently
+her relation, who wrote the life of Jesus Christ in low German.
+
+We may well suppose that all the individuals of the faction which
+employed this person are loaded with praise, and their enemies with
+abuse. The author, of the crew of authors who have put together this
+vocabulary of trash, say of Nicholas Boindin, attorney-general of the
+treasures of France, and a member of the Academy of Belles-lettres, that
+he was a poet and an atheist.
+
+That magistrate, however, never printed any verses, and never wrote
+anything on metaphysics or religion.
+
+He adds that Boindin will be ranked by posterity among the Vaninis, the
+Spinozas, and the Hobbeses. He is ignorant that Hobbes never professed
+atheism--that he merely subjected religion to the sovereign power, which
+he denominates the Leviathan. He is ignorant that Vanini was not an
+atheist; that the term "atheist" is not to be found even in the decree
+which condemned him; and that he was accused of impiety for having
+strenuously opposed the philosophy of Aristotle, and for having disputed
+with indiscretion and acrimony against a counsellor of the parliament of
+Toulouse, called Francon, or Franconi, who had the credit of getting him
+burned to death; for the latter burn whom they please; witness the Maid
+of Orleans, Michael Servetus, the Counsellor Dubourg, the wife of
+Marshal d'Ancre, Urbain Grandier, Morin, and the books of the
+Jansenists. See, moreover, the apology for Vanini by the learned
+Lacroze, and the article on "Atheism."
+
+The vocabulary treats Boindin as a miscreant; his relations were
+desirous of proceeding at law and punishing an author, who himself so
+well deserved the appellation which he so infamously applied to a man
+who was not merely a magistrate, but also learned and estimable; but the
+calumniator concealed himself, like most libellers, under a fictitious
+name.
+
+Immediately after having applied such shameful language to a man
+respectable compared with himself, he considers him as an irrefragable
+witness, because Boindin--whose unhappy temper was well known--left an
+ill-written and exceedingly ill-advised memorial, in which he accuses La
+Motte--one of the worthiest men in the world, a geometrician, and an
+ironmonger--with having written the infamous verses for which Jean
+Baptiste Rousseau was convicted. Finally, in the list of Boindin's
+works, he altogether omits his excellent dissertations printed in the
+collection of the Academy of Belles-lettres, of which he was a highly
+distinguished member.
+
+The article on "Fontenelle" is nothing but a satire upon that ingenious
+and learned academician, whose science and talents are esteemed by the
+whole of literary Europe. The author has the effrontery to say that "his
+'History of Oracles' does no honor to his religion." If Van Dale, the
+author of the "History of Oracles," and his abridger, Fontenelle, had
+lived in the time of the Greeks and of the Roman republic, it might have
+been said with reason that they were rather good philosophers than good
+pagans; but, to speak sincerely, what injury do they do to Christianity
+by showing that the pagan priests were a set of knaves? Is it not
+evident that the authors of the libel, miscalled a dictionary, are
+pleading their own cause? "_Jam proximus ardet Ucalegon"_ But would it
+be offering an insult to the Christian religion to prove the knavery of
+the Convulsionaries? Government has done more; it has punished them
+without being accused of irreligion.
+
+The libeller adds that he suspects that Fontenelle never performed the
+duties of a Christian but out of contempt for Christianity itself. It is
+a strange species of madness on the part of these fanatics to be always
+proclaiming that a philosopher cannot be a Christian. They ought to be
+excommunicated and punished for this alone; for assuredly it implies a
+wish to destroy Christianity to assert that it is impossible for a man
+to be a good reasoner and at the same time believe a religion so
+reasonable and holy.
+
+Des Yveteaux, preceptor of Louis XIV., is accused of having lived and
+died without religion. It seems as if these compilers had none; or at
+least as if, while violating all the precepts of the true one, they
+were searching about everywhere for accomplices.
+
+The very gentlemanly writer of these articles is wonderfully pleased
+with exhibiting all the bad verses that have been written on the French
+Academy, and various anecdotes as ridiculous as they are false. This
+also is apparently out of zeal for religion.
+
+I ought not to lose an opportunity of refuting an absurd story which has
+been much circulated, and which is repeated exceedingly malapropos under
+the article of the "Abbé Gedoyn," upon whom the writer falls foul with
+great satisfaction, because in his youth he had been a Jesuit; a
+transient weakness, of which I know he repented all his life.
+
+The devout and scandalous compiler of the dictionary asserts that the
+Abbé Gedoyn slept with the celebrated Ninon de l'Enclos on the very
+night of her completing her eightieth year. It certainly was not exactly
+befitting in a priest to relate this anecdote in a pretended dictionary
+of illustrious men. Such a foolery, however, is in fact highly
+improbable; and I can take upon me to assert that nothing can be more
+false. The same anecdote was formerly put down to the credit of the Abbé
+Chateauneuf, who was not very difficult in his amours, and who, it was
+said, had received Ninon's favors when she was of the age of sixty, or,
+rather, had conferred upon her his own. In early life I saw a great deal
+of the Abbé Gedoyn, the Abbé Chateauneuf, and Mademoiselle de l'Enclos;
+and I can truly declare that at the age of eighty years her countenance
+bore the most hideous marks of old age--that her person was afflicted
+with all the infirmities belonging to that stage of life, and that her
+mind was under the influence of the maxims of an austere philosophy.
+
+Under the article on "Deshoulières" the compiler pretends that lady was
+the same who was designated under the term prude (_précieuse_) in
+Boileau's satire upon women. Never was any woman more free from such
+weakness than Madame Deshoulières; she always passed for a woman of the
+best society, possessed great simplicity, and was highly agreeable in
+conversation.
+
+The article on "La Motte" abounds with atrocious abuse of that
+academician, who was a man of very amiable manners, and a philosophic
+poet who produced excellent works of every description. Finally the
+author, in order to secure the sale of his book of six volumes, has made
+of it a slanderous libel.
+
+His hero is Carré de Montgeron, who presented to the king a collection
+of the miracles performed by the Convulsionaries in the cemetery of St.
+Médard; who became mad and died insane.
+
+The interest of the republic of literature and reason demands that those
+libellers should be delivered up to public indignation, lest their
+example, operating upon the sordid love of gain, should stimulate others
+to imitation; and the more so, as nothing is so easy as to copy books in
+alphabetical order, and add to them insipidities, calumnies, and abuse.
+
+_Extract from the Reflections of an Academician on the "Dictionary of
+the French Academy."_
+
+It would be desirable to state the natural and incontestable etymology
+of every word, to compare the application, the various significations,
+the extent of the word, with use of it; the different acceptations, the
+strength or weakness of correspondent terms in foreign languages; and
+finally, to quote the best authors who have used the word, to show the
+greater or less extent of meaning which they have given to it and to
+remark whether it is more fit for poetry than prose.
+
+For example, I have observed that the "inclemency" of the weather is
+ridiculous in history, because that term has its origin in the anger of
+heaven, which is supposed to be manifested by the intemperateness,
+irregularities, and rigors of the seasons, by the violence of the cold,
+the disorder of the atmosphere, by tempests, storms, and pestilential
+exhalations. Thus then inclemency, being a metaphor, is consecrated to
+poetry.
+
+I have given to the word "impotence" all the acceptations which it
+receives. I showed the correctness of the historian, who speaks of the
+impotence of King Alphonso, without explaining whether he referred to
+that of resisting his brother, or that with which he was charged by his
+wife.
+
+I have endeavored to show that the epithets "irresistible" and
+"incurable" require very delicate management. The first who used the
+expression, "the irresistible impulse of genius," made a very fortunate
+hit; because, in fact, the question was in relation to a great genius
+throwing itself upon its own resources in spite of all difficulties.
+Those imitators who have employed the expression in reference to very
+inferior men are plagiarists who know not how to dispose of what they
+steal.
+
+As soon as the man of genius has made a new application of any word in
+the language, copyists are not wanting to apply it, very malapropos, in
+twenty places, without giving the inventor any credit.
+
+I do not know that a single one of these words, termed by Boileau
+"foundlings" (_des mots trouvés_) a single new expression of genius, is
+to be found in any tragic author since Racine, until within the last few
+years. These words are generally lax, ineffective, stale, and so ill
+placed as to produce a barbarous style. To the disgrace of the nation,
+these Visigothic and Vandal productions were for a certain time
+extolled, panegyrized, and admired in the journals, especially as they
+came out under the protection of a certain lady of distinction, who knew
+nothing at all about the subject. We have recovered from all this now;
+and, with one or two exceptions, the whole race of such productions is
+extinct forever.
+
+I did not in the first instance intend to make all these reflections,
+but to put the reader in a situation to make them. I have shown at the
+letter E that our _e_ mute, with which we are reproached by an Italian,
+is precisely what occasions the delicious harmony of our
+language:--_empire, couronne, diadème, épouvantable, sensible_. This _e_
+mute, which we make perceptible without articulating it, leaves in the
+ear a melodious sound like that of a bell which still resounds although
+it is no longer struck. This we have already stated in respect to an
+Italian, a man of letters, who came to Paris to teach his own language,
+and who, while there, ought not to decry ours.
+
+He does not perceive the beauty or necessity of our feminine rhymes;
+they are only _e_'s mute. This interweaving of masculine and feminine
+rhymes constitutes the charm of our verse.
+
+Similar observations upon the alphabet, and upon words generally, would
+not have been without utility; but they would have made the work too
+long.
+
+
+
+
+DIOCLETIAN.
+
+
+After several weak or tyrannic reigns, the Roman Empire had a good
+emperor in Probus, whom the legions massacred, and elected Carus, who
+was struck dead by lightning while making war against the Persians. His
+son, Numerianus, was proclaimed by the soldiers. The historians tell us
+seriously that he lost his sight by weeping for the death of his father,
+and that he was obliged to be carried along with the army, shut up in a
+close litter. His father-in-law Aper killed him in his bed, to place
+himself on the throne; but a druid had predicted in Gaul to Diocletian,
+one of the generals of the army, that he would become emperor after
+having killed a boar. A boar, in Latin, is _aper_. Diocletian assembled
+the army, killed Aper with his own hands in the presence of the
+soldiers, and thus accomplished the prediction of the druid. The
+historians who relate this oracle deserve to be fed on the fruit of the
+tree which the druids revered. It is certain that Diocletian killed the
+father-in-law of the emperor, which was his first right to the throne.
+Numerianus had a brother named Carinus, who was also emperor, but being
+opposed to the elevation of Diocletian, he was killed by one of the
+tribunes of his army, which formed his second pretension to the purple.
+These were Diocletian's rights to the throne, and for a long time he had
+no other.
+
+He was originally of Dalmatia, of the little town of Dioclea, of which
+he took the name. If it be true that his father was a laborer, and that
+he himself in his youth had been a slave to a senator named Anulinus,
+the fact forms his finest eulogium. He could have owed his elevation to
+himself alone; and it is very clear that he had conciliated the esteem
+of his army, since they forgot his birth to give him the diadem.
+Lactantius, a Christian authority, but rather partial, pretends that
+Diocletian was the greatest poltroon of the empire. It is not very
+likely that the Roman soldiers would have chosen a poltroon to govern
+them, or that this poltroon would have passed through all the degrees of
+the army. The zeal of Lactantius against a pagan emperor is very
+laudable, but not judicious.
+
+Diocletian continued for twenty years the master of those fierce
+legions, who dethroned their emperors with as much facility as they
+created them; which is another proof, notwithstanding Lactantius, that
+he was as great a prince as he was a brave soldier. The empire under him
+soon regained its pristine splendor. The Gauls, the Africans, Egyptians,
+and British, who had revolted several times, were all brought under
+obedience to the empire; even the Persians were vanquished. So much
+success without; a still more happy administration within; laws as
+humane as wise, which still exist in the Justinian code; Rome, Milan,
+Autun, Nicomedia, Carthage, embellished by his munificence; all tended
+to gain him the love and respect both of the East and West; so that, two
+hundred and forty years after his death, they continued to reckon and
+date from the first year of his reign, as they had formerly dated from
+the foundation of Rome. This is what is called the era of Diocletian; it
+has also been called the era of martyrs; but this is a mistake of
+eighteen years, for it is certain that he did not persecute any
+Christian for eighteen years. So far from it, the first thing he did,
+when emperor, was to give a company of prætorian guards to a Christian
+named Sebastian, who is in the list of the saints.
+
+He did not fear to give a colleague to the empire in the person of a
+soldier of fortune, like himself; it was Maximian Hercules, his friend.
+The similarity of their fortunes had caused their friendship. Maximian
+was also born of poor and obscure parents, and had been elevated like
+Diocletian, step by step, by his own courage. People have not failed to
+reproach this Maximian with taking the surname of Hercules, and
+Diocletian with accepting that of Jove. They do not condescend to
+perceive that we have clergymen every day who call themselves Hercules,
+and peasants denominated Cæsar and Augustus.
+
+Diocletian created two Cæsars; the first was another Maximian, surnamed
+Galerius, who had formerly been a shepherd. It seemed that Diocletian,
+the proudest of men and the first introducer of kissing the imperial
+feet, showed his greatness in placing Cæsars on the throne from men born
+in the most abject condition. A slave and two peasants were at the head
+of the empire, and never was it more flourishing.
+
+The second Cæsar whom he created was of distinguished birth. He was
+Constantius Chlorus, great-nephew, on his mother's side, to the emperor
+Claudius II. The empire was governed by these four princes; an
+association which might have produced four civil wars a year, but
+Diocletian knew so well how to be master of his colleagues, that he
+obliged them always to respect him, and even to live united among
+themselves. These princes, with the name of Cæsars were in reality no
+more than his subjects. It is seen that he treated them like an absolute
+sovereign; for when the Cæsar Galerius, having been conquered by the
+Persians, went into Mesopotamia to give him the account of his defeat,
+he let him walk for the space of a mile near his chariot, and did not
+receive him into favor until he had repaired his fault and misfortune.
+
+Galerius retrieved them the year after, in 297, in a very signal manner.
+He vanquished the king of Persia in person.
+
+These kings of Persia had not been cured, by the battle of Arbela, of
+carrying their wives, daughters, and eunuchs along with their armies.
+Galerius, like Alexander, took his enemy's wife and all his family, and
+treated them with the same respect. The peace was as glorious as the
+victory. The vanquished ceded five provinces to the Romans, from the
+sands of Palmyra to Armenia.
+
+Diocletian and Galerius went to Rome to dazzle the inhabitants with a
+triumph till then unheard of. It was the first time that the Roman
+people had seen the wife and children of a king of Persia in chains. All
+the empire was in plenty and prosperity. Diocletian went through all the
+provinces, from Rome to Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor. His ordinary
+residence was not at Rome, but at Nicomedia, near the Euxine Sea, either
+to watch over the Persians and the barbarians, or because he was
+attached to a retreat which he had himself embellished. It was in the
+midst of this prosperity that Galerius commenced the persecution against
+the Christians. Why had he left them in repose until then, and why were
+they then ill treated? Eusebius says that a centurion of the Trajan
+legion, named Marcellus, who served in Mauritania, assisting with his
+troop at a feast given in honor of the victory of Galerius, threw his
+military sash, his arms, and his branch of vine, on the ground, and
+cried out loudly that he was a Christian and that he would no longer
+serve pagans--a desertion which was punished with death by the council
+of war. This was the first known example of the famous persecution of
+Diocletian. It is true that there were a great number of Christians in
+the armies of the empire, and the interest of the state demanded that
+such a desertion should not be allowed. The zeal of Marcellus was pious,
+but not reasonable. If at the feast given in Mauritania, viands offered
+to the gods of the empire were eaten, the law did not command Marcellus
+to eat of them, nor did Christianity order him to set the example of
+sedition. There is not a country in the world in which so rash an action
+would not have been punished.
+
+However, after the adventure of Marcellus, it does not appear that the
+Christians were thought of until the year 303. They had, at Nicomedia, a
+superb church, next to the palace, which it exceeded in loftiness.
+Historians do not tell us the reasons why Galerius demanded of
+Diocletian the instant destruction of this church; but they tell us that
+Diocletian was a long time before he determined upon it, and that he
+resisted for almost a year. It is very strange that after this he should
+be called the _persecutor._ At last the church was destroyed and an
+edict was affixed by which the Christians were deprived of all honors
+and dignities. Since they were then deprived of them, it is evident that
+they possessed them. A Christian publicly tore the imperial edict in
+pieces--that was not an act of religion, it was an incitement to revolt.
+It is, therefore, very likely that an indiscreet and unreasonable zeal
+drew down this fatal persecution. Some time afterwards the palace of
+Galerius was burned down; he accused the Christians, and they accused
+Galerius of having himself set fire to it, in order to get a pretext for
+calumniating them. The accusation of Galerius appeared very unjust; that
+which they entered against him was no less so, for the edict having been
+already issued, what new pretext could he want? If he really wanted a
+new argument to engage Diocletian to persecute, this would only form a
+new proof of the reluctance of Diocletian to abandon the Christians,
+whom he had always protected; it would evidently show that he wanted new
+additional reasons to determine him to so much severity.
+
+It appears certain that there were many Christians tormented in the
+empire, but it is difficult to reconcile with the Roman laws the alleged
+reported tortures, the mutilations, torn-out tongues, limbs cut and
+broiled, and all the insults offered against modesty and public decency.
+It is certain that no Roman law ever ordered such punishments; the
+aversion of the people to the Christians might carry them to horrible
+excesses, but we do not anywhere find that these excesses were ordered,
+either by the emperors or the senate.
+
+It is very likely that the suffering of the Christians spread itself in
+exaggerated complaints: the "_Acta Sincera_" informs us that the
+emperor, being at Antioch, the prætor condemned a Christian child named
+Romanus to be burned; that the Jews present at the punishment began to
+laugh, saying: "We had formerly three children, Shadrach, Meshach, and
+Abednego, who did not burn in the fiery furnace but these do burn." At
+that instant, to confound the Jews, a great rain extinguished the pile
+and the little boy walked out safe and sound, asking, "Where then is the
+fire?" The account goes on to say that the emperor commanded him to be
+set free, but that the judge ordered his tongue to be cut out. It is
+scarcely possible to believe that the judge would have the tongue of a
+boy cut out, whom the emperor had pardoned.
+
+That which follows is more singular. It is pretended that an old
+Christian physician named Ariston, who had a knife ready, cut the
+child's tongue out to pay his court to the prætor. The little Romanus
+was then carried back to prison; the jailer asked him the news. The
+child related at length how the old surgeon had cut out his tongue. It
+should be observed that before this operation the child stammered very
+much but that now he spoke with wonderful volubility. The jailer did not
+fail to relate this miracle to the emperor. They brought forward the old
+surgeon who swore that the operation had been performed according to the
+rules of his art and showed the child's tongue which he had properly
+preserved in a box as a relic. "Bring hither another person," said he,
+"and I will cut his tongue out in your majesty's presence, and you will
+see if he can speak." The proposition was accepted; they took a poor man
+whose tongue the surgeon cut out as he had done the child's, and the man
+died on the spot.
+
+I am willing to believe that the "Acts" which relate this fact are as
+veracious as their title pretends, but they are still more simple than
+sincere, and it is very strange that Fleury, in his "Ecclesiastical
+History," relates such a prodigious number of similar incidents, being
+much more conducive to scandal than edification.
+
+You will also remark that in this year 303, in which it is pretended
+that Diocletian was present at this fine affair in Antioch, he was at
+Rome and passed all that year in Italy. It is said that it was at Rome,
+and in his presence, that St. Genestus, a comedian, was converted on the
+stage while playing in a comedy against the Christians. This play shows
+clearly that the taste of Plautus and Terence no longer existed; that
+which is now called comedy, or Italian farce, seems to have originated
+at this time. St. Genestus represented an invalid; the physician asked
+him what was the matter with him. "I am too unwieldy," said Genestus.
+"Would you have us exorcise you to make you lighter?" said the
+physician. "No," replied Genestus, "I will die a Christian, to be raised
+again of a finer stature." Then the actors, dressed as priests and
+exorcists, came to baptize him, at which moment Genestus really became a
+Christian, and, instead of finishing his part, began to preach to the
+emperor and the people. The "_Acta Sincera_" relate this miracle also.
+
+It is certain that there were many true martyrs, but it is not true that
+the provinces were inundated with blood, as it is imagined. Mention is
+made of about two hundred martyrs towards the latter days of Diocletian
+in all the extent of the Roman Empire, and it is averred, even in the
+letters of Constantine, that Diocletian had much less part in the
+persecution than Galerius.
+
+Diocletian fell ill this year and feeling himself weakened he was the
+first who gave the world the example of the abdication of empire. It is
+not easy to know whether this abdication was forced or not; it is true,
+however, that having recovered his health he lived nine years equally
+honored and peaceable in his retreat of Salonica, in the country of his
+birth. He said that he only began to live from the day of his retirement
+and when he was pressed to remount the throne he replied that the
+throne was not worth the tranquillity of his life, and that he took more
+pleasure in cultivating his garden than he should' have in governing the
+whole earth. What can be concluded from these facts but that with great
+faults he reigned like a great emperor and finished his life like a
+philosopher!
+
+
+
+
+DIONYSIUS, ST. (THE AREOPAGITE),
+
+AND THE FAMOUS ECLIPSE.
+
+
+The author of the article "Apocrypha" has neglected to mention a hundred
+works recognized for such, and which, being entirely forgotten, seem not
+to merit the honor of being in his list. We have thought it right not to
+omit St. Dionysius, surnamed the Areopagite, who is pretended to have
+been for a long time the disciple of St. Paul, and of one Hierotheus, an
+unknown companion of his. He was, it is said, consecrated bishop of
+Athens by St. Paul himself. It is stated in his life that he went to
+Jerusalem to pay a visit to the holy Virgin and that he found her so
+beautiful and majestic that he was strongly tempted to adore her.
+
+After having a long time governed the Church of Athens he went to confer
+with St. John the evangelist, at Ephesus, and afterwards with Pope
+Clement at Rome; thence he went to exercise his apostleship in France;
+and knowing, says the historian, that Paris was a rich, populous, and
+abundant town, and like other capitals, he went there to plant a
+citadel, to lay hell and infidelity in ruins.
+
+He was regarded for a long time as the first bishop of Paris. Harduinus,
+one of his historians, adds that at Paris he was exposed to wild beasts,
+but, having made the sign of the cross on them, they crouched at his
+feet. The pagan Parisians then threw him into a hot oven from which he
+walked out fresh and in perfect health; he was crucified and he began to
+preach from the top of the cross.
+
+They imprisoned him with his companions Rusticus and Eleutherus. He
+there said mass, St. Rusticus performing the part of deacon and
+Eleutherus that of subdeacon. Finally they were all three carried to
+Montmartre, where their heads were cut off, after which they no longer
+said mass.
+
+But, according to Harduinus, there appeared a still greater miracle. The
+body of St. Dionysius took its head in its hands and accompanied by
+angels singing "_Gloria tibi, Domine, alleluia_!" carried it as far as
+the place where they afterwards built him a church, which is the famous
+church of St. Denis.
+
+Mestaphrastus, Harduinus, and Hincmar, bishop of Rheims, say that he was
+martyred at the age of ninety-one years, but Cardinal Baronius proves
+that he was a hundred and ten, in which opinion he is supported by
+Ribadeneira, the learned author of "Flower of the Saints." For our own
+part we have no opinion on the subject.
+
+Seventeen works are attributed to him, six of which we have
+unfortunately lost; the eleven which remain to us have been translated
+from the Greek by Duns Scotus, Hugh de St. Victor, Albert Magnus, and
+several other illustrious scholars.
+
+It is true that since wholesome criticism has been introduced into the
+world it has been discovered that all the books attributed to Dionysius
+were written by an impostor in the year 362 of our era, so that there no
+longer remains any difficulty on that head.
+
+_Of the Great Eclipse Noticed by Dionysius._
+
+A fact related by one of the unknown authors of the life of Dionysius
+has, above all, caused great dissension among the learned. It is
+pretended that this first bishop of Paris, being in Egypt in the town of
+Diospolis, or No-Amon, at the age of twenty-five years, before he was a
+Christian, he was there, with one of his friends, witness of the famous
+eclipse of the sun which happened at the full moon, at the death of
+Jesus Christ and that he cried in Greek, "Either God suffers or is
+afflicted at the sufferings of the criminal."
+
+These words have been differently related by different authors, but in
+the time of Eusebius of Cæsarea it is pretended that two historians--the
+one named Phlegon and the other Thallus--had made mention of this
+miraculous eclipse. Eusebius of Cæsarea quotes Phlegon, but we have none
+of his works now existing. He said--at least it is pretended so--that
+this eclipse happened in the fourth year of the two hundredth Olympiad,
+which would be the eighteenth year of Tiberius's reign. There are
+several versions of this anecdote; we distrust them all and much more
+so, if it were possible to know whether they reckoned by Olympiads in
+the time of Phlegon, which is very doubtful.
+
+This important calculation interested all the astronomers. Hodgson,
+Whiston, Gale, Maurice, and the famous Halley, demonstrated that there
+was no eclipse of the sun in this first year, but that on November 24th
+in the year of the hundred and second Olympiad an eclipse took place
+which obscured the sun for two minutes, at a quarter past one, at
+Jerusalem.
+
+It has been carried still further: a Jesuit named Greslon pretended that
+the Chinese preserved in their annals the account of an eclipse which
+happened near that time, contrary to the order of nature. They desired
+the mathematicians of Europe to make a calculation of it; it was
+pleasant enough to desire the astronomists to calculate an eclipse which
+was not natural. Finally it was discovered that these Chinese annals do
+not in any way speak of this eclipse.
+
+It appears from the history of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, the passage
+from Phlegon, and from the letter of the Jesuit Greslon that men like to
+impose upon one another. But this prodigious multitude of lies, far from
+harming the Christian religion, only serves, on the contrary, to show
+its divinity, since it is more confirmed every day in spite of them.
+
+
+
+
+DIODORUS OF SICILY, AND HERODOTUS.
+
+
+We will commence with Herodotus as the most ancient. When Henry Stephens
+entitled his comic rhapsody "The Apology of Herodotus," we know that his
+design was not to justify the tales of this father of history; he only
+sports with us and shows that the enormities of his own times were worse
+than those of the Egyptians and Persians. He made use of the liberty
+which the Protestants assumed against those of the Catholic, Apostolic,
+and Roman churches. He sharply reproaches them with their debaucheries,
+their avarice, their crimes expiated by money, their indulgences
+publicly sold in the taverns, and the false relics manufactured by their
+own monks, calling them idolaters. He ventures to say that if the
+Egyptians adored cats and onions, the Catholics adore the bones of the
+dead. He dares to call them in his preliminary discourses, "theophages,"
+and even "theokeses." We have fourteen editions of this book, for we
+relish general abuse, just as much as we resent that which we deem
+special and personal.
+
+Henry Stephens made use of Herodotus only to render us hateful and
+ridiculous; we have quite a contrary design. We pretend to show that the
+modern histories of our good authors since Guicciardini are in general
+as wise and true as those of Herodotus and Diodorus are foolish and
+fabulous.
+
+1. What does the father of history mean by saying in the beginning of
+his work, "the Persian historians relate that the Phœnicians were the
+authors of all the wars. From the Red Sea they entered ours," etc.? It
+would seem that the Phœnicians, having embarked at the Isthmus of
+Suez, arrived at the straits of Babel-Mandeb, coasted along Ethiopia,
+passed the line, doubled the Cape of Tempests, since called the Cape of
+Good Hope, returned between Africa and America, repassed the line and
+entered from the ocean into the Mediterranean by the Pillars of
+Hercules, a voyage of more than four thousand of our long marine leagues
+at a time when navigation was in its infancy.
+
+2. The first exploit of the Phœnicians was to go towards Argos to
+carry off the daughter of King Inachus, after which the Greeks, in their
+turn, carried off Europa, the daughter of the king of Tyre.
+
+3. Immediately afterwards comes Candaules, king of Lydia, who, meeting
+with one of his guards named Gyges, said to him, "Thou must see my wife
+quite naked; it is absolutely essential." The queen, learning that she
+had been thus exposed, said to the soldier, "You shall either die or
+assassinate my husband and reign with me." He chose the latter
+alternative, and the assassination was accomplished without difficulty.
+
+4. Then follows the history of Arion, carried on the back of a dolphin
+across the sea from the skirts of Calabria to Cape Matapan, an
+extraordinary voyage of about a hundred leagues.
+
+5. From tale to tale--and who dislikes tales?--we arrive at the
+infallible oracle of Delphi, which somehow foretold that Crœsus would
+cook a quarter of lamb and a tortoise in a copper pan and that he would
+be dethroned by a mullet.
+
+6. Among the inconceivable absurdities with which ancient history
+abounds is there anything approaching the famine with which the Lydians
+were tormented for twenty-eight years? This people, whom Herodotus
+describes as being richer in gold than the Peruvians, instead of buying
+food from foreigners, found no better expedient than that of amusing
+themselves every other day with the ladies without eating for
+eight-and-twenty successive years.
+
+7. Is there anything more marvellous than the history of Cyrus? His
+grandfather, the Mede Astyages, with a Greek name, dreamed that his
+daughter Mandane--another Greek name--inundated all Asia; at another
+time, that she produced a vine, of which all Asia ate the grapes, and
+thereupon the good man Astyages ordered one Harpagos, another Greek, to
+murder his grandson Cyrus--for what grandfather would not kill his
+posterity after dreams of this nature?
+
+8. Herodotus, no less a good naturalist than an exact historian, does
+not fail to tell us that near Babylon the earth produced three hundred
+ears of wheat for one. I know a small country which yields three for
+one. I should like to have been transported to Diabek when the Turks
+were driven from it by Catherine II. It has fine corn also but returns
+not three hundred ears for one.
+
+9. What has always seemed to me decent and edifying in Herodotus is the
+fine religious custom established in Babylon of which we have already
+spoken--that of all the married women going to prostitute themselves in
+the temple of Mylitta for money, to the first stranger who presented
+himself. We reckon two millions of inhabitants in this city; the
+devotion must have been ardent. This law is very probable among the
+Orientals who have always shut up their women, and who, more than six
+ages before Herodotus, instituted eunuchs to answer to them for the
+chastity of their wives. I must no longer proceed numerically; we should
+very soon indeed arrive at a hundred.
+
+All that Diodorus of Sicily says seven centuries after Herodotus is of
+the same value in all that regards antiquities and physics. The Abbé
+Terrasson said, "I translate the text of Diodorus in all its
+coarseness." He sometimes read us part of it at the house of de Lafaye,
+and when we laughed, he said, "You are resolved to misconstrue; it was
+quite the contrary with Dacier."
+
+The finest part of Diodorus is the charming description of the island of
+Panchaica--"Panchaica Tellus," celebrated by Virgil: "There were groves
+of odoriferous trees as far as the eye could see, myrrh and frankincense
+to furnish the whole world without exhausting it; fountains, which
+formed an infinity of canals, bordered with flowers, besides unknown
+birds, which sang under the eternal shades; a temple of marble four
+thousand feet long, ornamented with columns, colossal statues," etc.
+
+This puts one in mind of the Duke de la Ferté, who, to flatter the taste
+of the Abbé Servien, said to him one day, "Ah, if you had seen my son
+who died at fifteen years of age! What eyes! what freshness of
+complexion! what an admirable stature! the Antinous of Belvidere
+compared to him was only like a Chinese baboon, and as to sweetness of
+manners, he had the most engaging I ever met with." The Abbé Servien
+melted, the duke of Ferté, warmed by his own words, melted also, both
+began to weep, after which he acknowledged that he never had a son.
+
+A certain Abbé Bazin, with his simple common sense, doubts another tale
+of Diodorus. It is of a king of Egypt, Sesostris, who probably existed
+no more than the island of Panchaica. The father of Sesostris, who is
+not named, determined on the day that he was born that he would make him
+the conqueror of all the earth as soon as he was of age. It was a
+notable project. For this purpose he brought up with him all the boys
+who were born on the same day in Egypt, and, to make them conquerors,
+he did not suffer them to have their breakfasts until they had run a
+hundred and eighty stadia, which is about eight of our long leagues.
+
+When Sesostris was of age he departed with his racers to conquer the
+world. They were then about seventeen hundred and probably half were
+dead, according to the ordinary course of nature--and, above all, of the
+nature of Egypt, which was desolated by a destructive plague at least
+once in ten years.
+
+There must have been three thousand four hundred boys born in Egypt on
+the same day as Sesostris, and as nature produces almost as many girls
+as boys, there must have been six thousand persons at least born on that
+day. But women were confined every day, and six thousand births a day
+produce, at the end of the year, two millions one hundred and ninety
+thousand children. If you multiply by thirty-four, according to the rule
+of Kersseboom, you would have in Egypt more than seventy-four millions
+of inhabitants in a country which is not so large as Spain or France.
+
+All this appeared monstrous to the Abbé Bazin, who had seen a little of
+the world, and who judged only by what he had seen.
+
+But one Larcher, who was never outside of the college of Mazarin arrayed
+himself with great animation on the side of Sesostris and his runners.
+He pretends that Herodotus, in speaking of the Greeks, does not reckon
+by the stadia of Greece, and that the heroes of Sesostris only ran four
+leagues before breakfast. He overwhelms poor Abbé Bazin with injurious
+names such as no scholar in _us_ or _es_ had ever before employed. He
+does not hold with the seventeen hundred boys, but endeavors to prove by
+the prophets that the wives, daughters, and nieces of the king of
+Babylon, of the satraps, and the magi, resorted, out of pure devotion,
+to sleep for money in the aisles of the temple of Babylon with all the
+camel-drivers and muleteers of Asia. He treats all those who defend the
+honor of the ladies of Babylon as bad Christians, condemned souls, and
+enemies to the state.
+
+He also takes the part of the goat, so much in the good graces of the
+young female Egyptians. It is said that his great reason was that he was
+allied, by the female side, to a relation of the bishop of Meaux,
+Bossuet, the author of an eloquent discourse on "Universal History"; but
+this is not a peremptory reason.
+
+Take care of the extraordinary stories of all kinds. Diodorus of Sicily
+was the greatest compiler of these tales. This Sicilian had not a grain
+of the temper of his countryman Archimedes, who sought and found so many
+mathematical truths.
+
+Diodorus seriously examines the history of the Amazons and their queen
+Theaestris; the history of the Gorgons, who fought against the Amazons;
+that of the Titans, and that of all the gods. He searches into the
+history of Priapus and Hermaphroditus. No one could give a better
+account of Hercules: this hero wandered through half the earth,
+sometimes on foot and alone like a pilgrim, and sometimes like a general
+at the head of a great army, and all his labors are faithfully
+discussed, but this is nothing in comparison with the gods of Crete.
+
+Diodorus justifies Jupiter from the reproach which other grave
+historians have passed upon him, of having dethroned and mutilated his
+father. He shows how Jupiter fought the giants, some in his island,
+others in Phrygia, and afterwards in Macedonia and Italy; the number of
+children which he had by his sister Juno and his favorites are not
+omitted.
+
+He describes how he afterwards became a god, and the supreme god. It is
+thus that all the ancient histories have been written. What is more
+remarkable, they were sacred; if they had not been sacred, they would
+never have been read.
+
+It is clear that it would be very useful if in all they were all
+different, and from province to province, and island to island, each had
+a different history of the gods, demi-gods, and heroes, from that of
+their neighbors. But it should also be observed that the people never
+fought for this mythology.
+
+The respectable history of Thucydides, which has several glimmerings of
+truth, begins at Xerxes, but, before that epoch how much time was
+wasted.
+
+
+
+
+DIRECTOR.
+
+
+It is neither of a director of finances, a director of hospitals, nor a
+director of the royal buildings that I pretend to speak, but of a
+director of conscience, for that directs all the others: it is the
+preceptor of human kind; it knows and teaches all that should be done or
+omitted in all possible cases.
+
+It is clear that it would be very useful if in all courts there were one
+conscientious man whom the monarch secretly consulted on most occasions,
+and who would boldly say, "_Non licet_." Louis the Just would not then
+have begun his mischievous and unhappy reign by assassinating his first
+minister and imprisoning his mother. How many wars, unjust as fatal, a
+few good dictators would have spared! How many cruelties they would have
+prevented!
+
+But often, while intending to consult a lamb, we consult a fox. Tartuffe
+was the director of Orgon. I should like to know who was the
+conscientious director of the massacre of St. Bartholomew.
+
+The gospel speaks no more of directors than of confessors. Among the
+people whom our ordinary courtesy calls Pagans we do not see that
+Scipio, Fabricius, Cato, Titus, Trajan, or the Antonines had directors.
+It is well to have a scrupulous friend to remind you of your duty. But
+your conscience ought to be the chief of your council.
+
+A Huguenot was much surprised when a Catholic lady told him that she had
+a confessor to absolve her from her sins and a director to prevent her
+committing them. "How can your vessel so often go astray, madam," said
+he, "having two such good pilots?"
+
+The learned observe that it is not the privilege of every one to have a
+director. It is like having an equerry; it only belongs to ladies of
+quality. The Abbé Gobelin, a litigious and covetous man, directed Madame
+de Maintenon only. The directors of Paris often serve four or five
+devotees at once; they embroil them with their husbands, sometimes with
+their lovers, and occasionally fill the vacant places.
+
+Why have the women directors and the men none? It was possibly owing to
+this distinction that Mademoiselle de la Vallière became a Carmelite
+when she was quitted by Louis XIV., and that M. de Turenne, being
+betrayed by Madame de Coetquin, did _not_ make himself a monk.
+
+St. Jerome, and Rufinus his antagonist, were great directors of women
+and girls. They did not find a Roman senator or a military tribune to
+govern. These people profited by the devout facility of the feminine
+gender. The men had too much beard on their chins and often too much
+strength of mind for them. Boileau has given the portrait of a director
+in his "Satire on Women," but might have said something much more to the
+purpose.
+
+
+
+
+DISPUTES.
+
+
+There have been disputes at all times, on all subjects:--"_Mundum
+tradidit disputationi eorum."_ There have been violent quarrels about
+whether the whole is greater than a part; whether a body can be in
+several places at the same time; whether the whiteness of snow can exist
+without snow, or the sweetness of sugar without sugar; whether there can
+be thinking without a head, etc.
+
+I doubt not that as soon as a Jansenist shall have written a book to
+demonstrate that one and two are three, a Molinist will start up and
+demonstrate that two and one are five.
+
+We hope to please and instruct the reader by laying before him the
+following verses on "Disputation." They are well known to every man of
+taste in Paris, but they are less familiar to those among the learned
+who still dispute on gratuitous predestination, concomitant grace, and
+that momentous question--whether the mountains were produced by the sea.
+
+
+ON DISPUTATION.
+
+      Each brain its thought, each season has its mode;
+        Manners and fashions alter every day;
+        Examine for yourself what others say;--
+      This privilege by nature is bestowed;--
+      But, oh! dispute not--the designs of heaven
+      To mortal insight never can be given.
+      What is the knowledge of this world worth knowing?
+      What, but a bubble scarcely worth the blowing?
+      "Quite full of errors was the world before;"
+      Then, to preach reason is but one error more.
+
+      Viewing this earth from Luna's elevation,
+      Or any other convenient situation,
+      What shall we see? The various tricks of man.
+      _Here_ is a synod--_there_ is a divan;
+      Behold the mufti, dervish, iman, bonze,
+      The lama and the pope on equal thrones.
+      The modern doctor and the ancient rabbi,
+      The monk, the priest, and the expectant abbé:
+      If you are disputants, my friends, pray travel--
+      When you come home again, you'll cease to cavil.
+
+      That wild Ambition should lay waste the earth,
+      Or Beauty's glance give civil discord birth;
+      That, in our courts of equity, a suit
+      Should hang in doubt till ruin is the fruit;
+      That an old country priest should deeply groan,
+      To see a benefice he'd thought his own
+      Borne off by a court abbé; that a poet
+      Should feel most envy when he least should show it;
+      And, when another's play the public draws,
+      Should grin damnation while he claps applause;
+      With this, and more, the human heart is fraught--
+      But whence the rage to rule another's thought;
+      Say, wherefore--in what way--can you design
+      To make _your_ judgment give the law to _mine_?
+
+      But chiefly I detest those tiresome elves,
+      Half-learned critics, worshipping themselves,
+      Who, with the utmost weight of all their lead,
+      Maintain against you what yourself have said;
+      Philosophers--and poets--and musicians--
+      Great statesmen--deep in third and fourth editions--
+      They know all--read all--and (the greatest curse)
+      They _talk_ of all--from politics to verse;
+      On points of taste they'll contradict Voltaire;
+      In law e'en Montesquieu they will not spare;
+      They'll tutor Broglio in affairs of arms;
+      And teach the charming d'Egmont higher charms.
+      See them, alike in great and small things clever,
+      Replying constantly, though answering never;
+      Hear them assert, repeat, affirm, aver,
+      Wax wroth. And wherefore all this mighty stir?
+      This the great theme that agitates their breast--
+      Which of two wretched rhymesters rhymes the best?
+
+      Pray, gentle reader, did you chance to know
+      One Monsieur d'Aube, who died not long ago?
+      One whom the disputatious mania woke
+      Early each morning? If, by chance, you spoke
+      Of your own part in some well-fought affair,
+      Better than you he knew how, when, and where;
+      What though your own the deed and the renown?
+      His "letters from the army" put you down;
+      E'en Richelieu he'd have told--if he attended--
+      How Mahon fell, or Genoa was defended.
+      Although he wanted neither wit nor sense,
+      His every visit gave his friends offence;
+      I've seen him, raving in a hot dispute,
+      Exhaust their logic, force them to be mute,
+      Or, if their patience were entirely spent,
+      Rush from the room to give their passion vent.
+      His kinsmen, whom his property allured,
+      At last were wearied, though they long endured.
+      His neighbors, less athletic than himself,
+      For health's sake laid him wholly on the shelf.
+      Thus, 'midst his many virtues, this one failing
+      Brought his old age to solitary wailing;--
+      For solitude to him was deepest woe--
+      A sorrow which the peaceful ne'er can know
+      At length, to terminate his cureless grief,
+      A mortal fever came to his relief,
+      Caused by the great, the overwhelming pang,
+      Of hearing in the church a long harangue
+      Without the privilege of contradiction;
+      So, yielding to this crowning dire affliction,
+      His spirit fled. But, in the grasp of death,
+      'Twas some small solace, with his parting breath,
+      To indulge once more his ruling disposition
+      By arguing with the priest and the physician.
+
+      Oh! may the Eternal goodness grant him now
+      The rest _he_ ne'er to mortals would allow!
+      If, even there, he like not disputation
+      Better than uncontested, calm salvation.
+
+             *       *       *       *       *
+
+      But see, my friends, this bold defiance made
+      To every one of the disputing trade,
+      With a young bachelor their skill to try;
+      And God's own essence shall the theme supply.
+
+      Come and behold, as on the theatric stage,
+      The pitched encounter, the contending rage;
+      Dilemmas, enthymemes, in close array--
+      Two-edged weapons, cutting either way;
+      The strong-built syllogism's pondering might,
+      The sophism's vain ignis fatuus light;
+      Hot-headed monks, whom all the doctors dread,
+      And poor Hibernians arguing for their bread,
+      Fleeing their country's miseries and morasses
+      To live at Paris on disputes and masses;
+      While the good public lend their strict attention
+      To what soars far above their sober comprehension.
+
+      Is, then, all arguing frivolous or absurd?
+      Was Socrates himself not sometimes heard
+      To hold an argument amidst a feast?
+      E'en naked in the bath he hardly ceased.
+      Was this a failing in his mental vision?
+      Genius is sure discovered by collision;
+      The cold hard flint by one quick blow is fired;--
+      Fit emblem of the close and the retired,
+      Who, in the keen dispute struck o'er and o'er,
+      Acquire a sudden warmth unfelt before.
+
+      All this, I grant, is good. But mark the ill:
+      Men by disputing have grown blinder still.
+      The crooked mind is like the squinting eye:
+      How can you make it see _itself_ awry?
+      Who's in the wrong? Will any answer "I"?
+      Our words, our efforts, are an idle breath;
+      Each hugs his darling notion until death;
+      Opinions ne'er are altered; all we do
+      Is, _to arouse conflicting passions, too_.
+      Not truth itself should always find a tongue;
+      "To be too stanchly right, is to be wrong."
+
+             *       *       *       *       *
+
+      In earlier days, by vice and crime unstained,
+      Justice and Truth, two naked sisters, reigned;
+      But long since fled--as every one can tell--
+      Justice to heaven and Truth into a well.
+
+      Now vain Opinion governs every age,
+      And fills poor mortals with fantastic rage.
+      Her airy temple floats upon the clouds;
+      Gods, demons, antic sprites, in countless crowds,
+      Around her throne--a strange and motley mask--
+      Ply busily their never-ceasing task,
+      To hold up to mankind's admiring gaze
+      A thousand nothings in a thousand ways;
+      While, wafted on by all the winds that blow,
+      Away the temple and the goddess go.
+      A mortal, as her course uncertain turns,
+      To-day is worshipped, and to-morrow burns.
+      We scoff, that young Antinous once had priests;
+      We think our ancestors were worse than beasts;
+      And he who treats each modern custom ill,
+      Does but what future ages surely will.
+      What female face has Venus smiled upon?
+      The Frenchman turns with rapture to Brionne,
+      Nor can believe that men were wont to bow
+      To golden tresses and a narrow brow.
+      And thus is vagabond Opinion seen
+      To sway o'er Beauty--this world's other queen!
+        How can we hope, then, that she e'er will quit
+      Her vapory throne, to seek some sage's feet,
+      And Truth from her deep hiding-place remove,
+      Once more to witness what is done above?
+
+
+      And for the learned--even for the wise--
+      Another snare of false delusion lies;
+      That rage for systems, which, in dreamy thought,
+      Frames magic universes out of naught;
+      Building ten errors on one truth's foundation.
+      So he who taught the art of calculation,
+      In one of these illusive mental slumbers,
+      Foolishly sought the Deity in numbers;
+      The first mechanic, from as wild a notion,
+      Would rule man's freedom by the laws of motion.
+      This globe, says one, is an extinguished sun;
+
+      No, says another, 'tis a globe of glass;
+      And when the fierce contention's once begun,
+
+      Book upon book--a vast and useless mass--On
+      Science's altar are profusely strewn,
+      While Disputation sits on Wisdom's throne.
+
+
+      And then, from contrarieties of speech,
+      What countless feuds have sprung! For you may teach,
+      In the same words, two doctrines different quite
+      As day from darkness, or as wrong from right.
+      This has indeed been man's severest curse;
+      Famine and pestilence have not been worse,
+      Nor e'er have matched the ills whose aggravations
+      Have scourged the world through misinterpretations.
+
+
+      How shall I paint the conscientious strife?
+        The holy transports of each heavenly soul--
+      Fanaticism wasting human life
+        With torch, with dagger, and with poisoned bow;
+      The ruined hamlet and the blazing town,
+        Homes desolate, and parents massacred,
+        And temples in the Almighty's honor reared
+      The scene of acts that merit most his frown!
+      Rape, murder, pillage, in one frightful storm,
+        Pleasure with carnage horribly combined,
+        The brutal ravisher amazed to find
+      A sister in his victim's dying form!
+
+      Sons by their fathers to the scaffold led;
+      The vanquished always numbered with the dead.
+      Oh, God, permit that all the ills we know
+      May one day pass for merely fabled woe!
+
+
+      But see, an angry disputant steps forth--
+        His humble mien a proud heart ill conceals
+      In holy guise inclining to the earth,
+        Offering to God the venom he distils.
+      "Beneath all this a dangerous poison lies;
+        So--every man is neither right nor wrong,
+      And, since we never can be truly wise,
+        By instinct only should be driven along."
+      "Sir, I've not said a word to that effect."
+        "It's true, you've artfully disguised your meaning."
+      "But, Sir, my judgment ever is correct."
+        "Sir, in this case, 'tis rather overweening.
+      Let truth be sought, but let all passion yield;
+        'Discussion's right, and disputation's wrong;'
+      This have I said--and that at court, in field,
+        Or town, one often should restrain one's tongue."
+      "But, my dear Sir, you've still a double sense;
+        I can distinguish--" "Sir, with all my heart;
+      I've told my thoughts with all due deference,
+        And crave the like indulgence on your part."
+      "My son, all 'thinking' is a grievous crime;
+      So I'll denounce you without loss of time."
+
+
+      Blest would be they who, from fanatic power,
+        From carping censors, envious critics, free,
+        O'er Helicon might roam in liberty,
+      And unmolested pluck each fragrant flower!
+      So does the farmer, in his healthy fields,
+        Far from the ills in swarming towns that spring,
+      Taste the pure joys that our existence yields,
+        Extract the honey and escape the sting.
+
+
+[Illustration: "Truth from her deep hiding-place remove once more to
+witness what is done above"]
+
+
+
+
+DISTANCE.
+
+
+A man who knows how to reckon the paces from one end of his house to the
+other might imagine that nature had all at once taught him this distance
+and that he has only need of a _coup d'œil_, as in the case of
+colors. He is deceived; the different distances of objects can be known
+only by experience, comparison, and habit. It is that which makes a
+sailor, on seeing a vessel afar off, able to say without hesitation what
+distance his own vessel is from it, of which distance a passenger would
+only form a very confused idea.
+
+Distance is only the line from a given object to ourselves. This line
+terminates at a point; and whether the object be a thousand leagues from
+us or only a foot, this point is always the same to our eyes.
+
+We have then no means of directly perceiving distances, as we have of
+ascertaining by the touch whether a body is hard or soft; by the taste,
+if it is bitter or sweet; or by the ear, whether of two sounds the one
+is grave and the other lively. For if I duly notice, the parts of a body
+which give way to my fingers are the immediate cause of my sensation of
+softness, and the vibrations of the air, excited by the sonorous body,
+are the immediate cause of my sensation of sound. But as I cannot have
+an immediate idea of distance I must find it out by means of an
+intermediate idea, but it is necessary that this intermediate idea be
+clearly understood, for it is only by the medium of things known that we
+can acquire a notion of things unknown.
+
+I am told that such a house is distant a mile from such a river, but if
+I do not know where this river is I certainly do not know where the
+house is situated. A body yields easily to the impression of my hand: I
+conclude immediately that it is soft. Another resists, I feel at once
+its hardness. I ought therefore to feel the angles formed in my eye in
+order to determine the distance of objects. But most men do not even
+know that these angles exist; it is evident, therefore, that they cannot
+be the immediate cause of our ascertaining distances.
+
+He who, for the first time in his life, hears the noise of a cannon or
+the sound of a concert, cannot judge whether the cannon be fired or the
+concert be performed at the distance of a league or of twenty paces. He
+has only the experience which accustoms him to judge of the distance
+between himself and the place whence the noise proceeds. The vibrations,
+the undulations of the air carry a sound to his ears, or rather to his
+sensorium, but this noise no more carries to his sensorium the place
+whence it proceeds than it teaches him the form of the cannon or of the
+musical instruments. It is the same thing precisely with regard to the
+rays of light which proceed from an object, but which do not at all
+inform us of its situation.
+
+Neither do they inform us more immediately of magnitude or form. I see
+from afar a little round tower. I approach, perceive, and touch a great
+quadrangular building. Certainly, this which I now see and touch cannot
+be that which I saw before. The little round tower which was before my
+eyes cannot be this large, square building. One thing in relation to us
+is the measurable and tangible object; another, the visible object. I
+hear from my chamber the noise of a carriage, I open my window and see
+it. I descend and enter it. Yet this carriage that I have heard, this
+carriage that I have seen, and this carriage which I have touched are
+three objects absolutely distinct to three of my senses, which have no
+immediate relation to one another.
+
+Further; it is demonstrated that there is formed in my eye an angle a
+degree larger when a thing is near, when I see a man four feet from me
+than when I see the same man at a distance of eight feet. However, I
+always see this man of the same size. How does my mind thus contradict
+the mechanism of my organs? The object is really a degree smaller to my
+eyes, and yet I see it the same. It is in vain that we attempt to
+explain this mystery by the route which the rays follow or by the form
+taken by the crystalline humor of the eye. Whatever may be supposed to
+the contrary, the angle at which I see a man at four feet from me is
+always nearly double the angle at which I see him at eight feet. Neither
+geometry nor physics will explain this difficulty.
+
+These geometrical lines and angles are not really more the cause of our
+seeing objects in their proper places than that we see them of a certain
+size and at a certain distance. The mind does not consider that if this
+part were to be painted at the bottom of the eye it could collect
+nothing from lines that it saw not. The eye looks down only to see that
+which is near the ground, and is uplifted to see that which is above the
+earth. All this might be explained and placed beyond dispute by any
+person born blind, to whom the sense of sight was afterwards attained.
+For if this blind man, the moment that he opens his eyes, can correctly
+judge of distances, dimensions, and situations, it would be true that
+the optical angles suddenly formed in his retina were the immediate
+cause of his decisions. Doctor Berkeley asserts, after Locke--going even
+further than Locke--that neither situation, magnitude, distance, nor
+figure would be discerned by a blind man thus suddenly gifted with
+sight.
+
+In fact, a man born blind was found in 1729, by whom this question was
+indubitably decided. The famous Cheselden, one of those celebrated
+surgeons who join manual skill to the most enlightened minds, imagined
+that he could give sight to this blind man by couching, and proposed the
+operation. The patient was with great difficulty brought to consent to
+it. He did not conceive that the sense of sight could much augment his
+pleasures, except that he desired to be able to read and to write, he
+cared indeed little about seeing. He proved by this indifference that it
+is impossible to be rendered unhappy by the privation of pleasures of
+which we have never formed an idea--a very important truth. However this
+may be, the operation was performed, and succeeded. This young man at
+fourteen years of age saw the light for the first time, and his
+experience confirmed all that Locke and Berkeley had so ably foreseen.
+For a long time he distinguished neither dimensions, distance, nor
+form. An object about the size of an inch, which was placed before his
+eyes, and which concealed a house from him, appeared as large as the
+house itself. All that he saw seemed to touch his eyes, and to touch
+them as objects of feeling touch the skin. He could not at first
+distinguish that which, by the aid of his hands, he had thought round
+from that which he had supposed square, nor could he discern with his
+eyes if that which his hands had felt to be tall and short were so in
+reality. He was so far from knowing anything about magnitude that after
+having at last conceived by his sight that his house was larger than his
+chamber, he could not conceive how sight could give him this idea. It
+was not until after two months' experience he could discover that
+pictures represented existing bodies, and when, after this long
+development of his new sense in him, he perceived that bodies, and not
+surfaces only, were painted in the pictures, he took them in his hands
+and was astonished at not finding those solid bodies of which he had
+begun to perceive the representation, and demanded which was the
+deceived, the sense of feeling or that of sight.
+
+Thus was it irrevocably decided that the manner in which we see things
+follows not immediately from the angles formed in the eye. These
+mathematical angles were in the eyes of this man the same as in our own
+and were of no use to him without the help of experience and of his
+other senses.
+
+The adventure of the man born blind was known in France towards the year
+1735. The author of the "Elements of Newton," who had seen a great deal
+of Cheselden, made mention of this important discovery, but did not take
+much notice of it. And even when the same operation of the cataract was
+performed at Paris on a young man who was said to have been deprived of
+sight from his cradle, the operators neglected to attend to the daily
+development of the sense of sight in him and to the progress of nature.
+The fruit of this operation was therefore lost to philosophy.
+
+How do we represent to ourselves dimensions and distances? In the same
+manner that we imagine the passions of men by the colors with which they
+vary their countenances, and by the alteration which they make in their
+features. There is no person who cannot read joy or grief on the
+countenance of another. It is the language that nature addresses to all
+eyes, but experience only teaches this language. Experience alone
+teaches us that, when an object is too far, we see it confusedly and
+weakly, and thence we form ideas, which always afterwards accompany the
+sensation of sight. Thus every man who at ten paces sees his horse five
+feet high, if, some minutes after, he sees this horse of the size of a
+sheep, by an involuntary judgment immediately concludes that the horse
+is much farther from him.
+
+It is very true that when I see my horse of the size of a sheep a much
+smaller picture is formed in my eye--a more acute angle; but it is a
+fact which accompanies, not causes, my opinion. In like manner, it makes
+a different impression on my brain, when I see a man blush from shame
+and from anger; but these different impressions would tell me nothing of
+what was passing in this man's mind, without experience, whose voice
+alone is attended to.
+
+So far from the angle being the immediate cause of my thinking that a
+horse is far off when I see it very small, it happens that I see my
+horse equally large at ten, twenty, thirty, or forty paces, though the
+angle at ten paces may be double, treble, or quadruple. I see at a
+distance, through a small hole, a man posted on the top of a house; the
+remoteness and fewness of the rays at first prevent me from
+distinguishing that it is a man; the object appears to me very small. I
+think I see a statue two feet high at most; the object moves; I then
+judge that it is a man; and from that instant the man appears to me of
+his ordinary size. Whence come these two judgments so different? When I
+believed that I saw a statue, I imagined it to be two feet high, because
+I saw it at such an angle; experience had not led my mind to falsify the
+traits imprinted on my retina; but as soon as I judged that it was a
+man, the association established in my mind by experience between a man
+and his known height of five or six feet, involuntarily obliged me to
+imagine that I saw one of a certain height; or, in fact, that I saw the
+height itself.
+
+It must therefore be absolutely concluded, that distance, dimension, and
+situation are not, properly speaking, visible things; that is to say,
+the proper and immediate objects of sight. The proper and immediate
+object of sight is nothing but colored light; all the rest we only
+discover by long acquaintance and experience. We learn to see precisely
+as we learn to speak and to read. The difference is, that the art of
+seeing is more easy, and that nature is equally mistress of all.
+
+The sudden and almost uniform judgments which, at a certain age, our
+minds form of distance, dimension, and situation, make us think that we
+have only to open our eyes to see in the manner in which we do see. We
+are deceived; it requires the help of the other senses. If men had only
+the sense of sight, they would have no means of knowing extent in
+length, breadth, and depth, and a pure spirit perhaps would not know it,
+unless God revealed it to him. It is very difficult, in our
+understanding, to separate the extent of an object from its color. We
+never see anything but what is extended, and from that we are led to
+believe that we really see the extent. We can scarcely distinguish in
+our minds the yellow that we see in a _louis d'or_ from the _louis d'or_
+in which we see the yellow. In the same manner, as when we hear the word
+"_louis d'or_" pronounced, we cannot help attaching the idea of the
+money to the word which we hear spoken.
+
+If all men spoke the same language, we should be always ready to believe
+in a necessary connection between words and ideas. But all men in fact
+do possess the same language of imagination. Nature says to them all:
+When you have seen colors for a certain time, imagination will represent
+the bodies to which these colors appear attached to all alike. This
+prompt and summary judgment once attained will be of use to you during
+your life; for if to estimate the distances, magnitudes, and situations
+of all that surrounds you, it were necessary to examine the visual
+angles and rays, you would be dead before you had ascertained whether
+the things of which you have need were ten paces from you or a hundred
+thousand leagues, and whether they were of a size of a worm or of a
+mountain. It would be better to be born blind.
+
+We are then, perhaps, very wrong, when we say that our senses deceive
+us. Every one of our senses performs the function for which it was
+destined by nature. They mutually aid one another to convey to our
+minds, through the medium of experience, the measure of knowledge that
+our being allows. We ask from our senses what they are not made to give
+us. We would have our eyes acquaint us with solidity, dimension,
+distance, etc.; but it is necessary for the touch to agree for that
+purpose with the sight, and that experience should second both. If
+Father Malebranche had looked at this side of nature, he would perhaps
+have attributed fewer errors to our senses, which are the only sources
+of all our ideas.
+
+We should not, however, extend this species of metaphysics to every case
+before us. We should only call it to our aid when the mathematics are
+insufficient.
+
+
+
+
+DIVINITY OF JESUS.
+
+
+The Socinians, who are regarded as blasphemers, do not recognize the
+divinity of Jesus Christ. They dare to pretend, with the philosophers of
+antiquity, with the Jews, the Mahometans, and most other nations, that
+the idea of a god-man is monstrous; that the distance from God to man is
+infinite; and that it is impossible for a perishable body to be
+infinite, immense, or eternal.
+
+They have the confidence to quote Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, in their
+favor, who, in his "Ecclesiastical History," i., 9, declares that it is
+absurd to imagine the uncreated and unchangeable nature of Almighty God
+taking the form of a man. They cite the fathers of the Church, Justin
+and Tertullian, who have said the same thing: Justin, in his "Dialogue
+with Triphonius"; and Tertullian, in his "Discourse against Praxeas."
+
+They quote St. Paul, who never calls Jesus Christ "God," and who calls
+Him "man" very often. They carry their audacity so far as to affirm that
+the Christians passed three entire ages in forming by degrees the
+apotheosis of Jesus; and that they only raised this astonishing edifice
+by the example of the pagans, who had deified mortals. At first,
+according to them, Jesus was only regarded as a man inspired by God, and
+then as a creature more perfect than others. They gave Him some time
+after a place above the angels, as St. Paul tells us. Every day added to
+His greatness. He in time became an emanation, proceeding from God. This
+was not enough; He was even born before time. At last He was made God
+consubstantial with God. Crellius, Voquelsius, Natalis Alexander, and
+Horneck have supported all these blasphemies by arguments which astonish
+the wise and mislead the weak. Above all, Faustus Socinus spread the
+seeds of this doctrine in Europe; and at the end of the sixteenth
+century a new species of Christianity was established. There were
+already more than three hundred.
+
+
+
+
+DIVORCE.
+
+
+In the article on "Divorce," in the "Encyclopædia," it is said that the
+custom of divorce having been brought into Gaul by the Romans, it was
+therefore that Basine, or Bazine, quitted the king of Thuringia, her
+husband, in order to follow Childeric, who married her. Why not say that
+because the Trojans established the custom of divorce in Sparta, Helen
+repudiated Menelaus according to law, to run away with Paris into
+Phrygia?
+
+The agreeable fable of Paris, and the ridiculous one of Childeric, who
+never was king of France, and who it is pretended carried off Bazine,
+the wife of Bazin, have nothing to do with the law of divorce.
+
+They all quote Cheribert, ruler of the little town of Lutetia, near
+Issay--Lutetia Parisiorum--who repudiated his wife. The Abbé Velly, in
+his "History of France," says that this Cheribert, or Caribert, divorced
+his wife Ingoberg to espouse Mirefleur, the daughter of an artisan; and
+afterwards Theudegild, the daughter of a shepherd, who was raised to the
+first throne of the French Empire.
+
+There was at that time neither first nor second throne among these
+barbarians whom the Roman Empire never recognized as kings. There was no
+French Empire. The empire of the French only commenced with Charlemagne.
+It is very doubtful whether the word "mirefleur" was in use either in
+the Welsh or Gallic languages, which were a _patois_ of the Celtic
+jargon. This _patois_ had no expressions so soft.
+
+It is also said that the ruler or governor Chilperic, lord of the
+province of Soissonnais, whom they call king of France, divorced his
+queen Andovere, or Andove; and here follows the reason of this divorce.
+
+This Andovere, after having given three male children to the lord of
+Soissons, brought forth a daughter. The Franks having been in some
+manner Christians since the time of Clovis, Andovere, after her
+recovery, presented her daughter to be baptized. Chilperic of Soissons,
+who was apparently very tired of her, declared that it was an
+unpardonable crime in her to be the godmother of her infant, and that
+she could no longer be his wife by the laws of the Church. He therefore
+married Fredegond, whom he subsequently put away also, and espoused a
+Visigoth. To conclude, this scrupulous husband ended by taking Fredegond
+back again.
+
+There was nothing legal in all this, and it ought no more to be quoted
+than anything which passed in Ireland or the Orcades. The Justinian
+code, which we have adopted in several points, authorizes divorce; but
+the canonical law, which the Catholics have placed before it, does not
+permit it.
+
+The author of the article says that divorce is practised in the states
+of Germany, of the confession of Augsburg. He might have added that this
+custom is established in all the countries of the North, among the
+reformed of all professions, and among all the followers of the Greek
+Church.
+
+Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe,
+however, that marriage is some weeks more ancient; that is to say, men
+quarrelled with their wives at the end of five days, beat them at the
+end of a month, and separated from them after six weeks' cohabitation.
+
+Justinian, who collected all the laws made before him, to which he added
+his own, not only confirms that of divorce, but he extends it still
+further; so that every woman, whose husband is not a slave, but simply
+a prisoner of war during five years, may, after the five years have
+expired, contract another marriage.
+
+Justinian was a Christian, and even a theologian; how is it, then, that
+the Church derogates from his laws? It was when the Church became the
+sovereign and the legislator. The popes had not much trouble to
+substitute their decretals instead of the civil code in the West, which
+was plunged in ignorance and barbarism. They took, indeed, so much
+advantage of the prevailing ignorance, that Honorius III., Gregory IX.,
+and Innocent III., by their bulls, forbade the civil law to be taught.
+It may be said of this audacity, that it is not creditable, but true.
+
+As the Church alone took cognizance of marriages, so it alone judged of
+divorce. No prince effected a divorce and married a second wife without
+previously obtaining the consent of the pope. Henry VIII., king of
+England, did not marry without his consent, until after having a long
+time solicited his divorce in the court of Rome in vain.
+
+This custom, established in ignorant times, is perpetuated in
+enlightened ones only because it exists. All abuse eternizes itself; it
+is an Augean stable, and requires a Hercules to cleanse it.
+
+Henry IV. could not be the father of a king of France without the
+permission of the pope; which must have been given, as has already been
+remarked, not by pronouncing a _divorce_, but a _lie_; that is to say,
+by pretending that there had not been previous marriage with Margaret de
+Valois.
+
+
+
+
+DOG.
+
+
+It seems as if nature had given the dog to man for his defence and
+pleasure; it is of all animals the most faithful; it is the best
+possible friend of man.
+
+It appears that there are several species absolutely different. How can
+we believe that a greyhound comes originally from a spaniel? It has
+neither its hair, legs, shape, ears, voice, scent, nor instinct. A man
+who has never seen any dogs but barbets or spaniels, and who saw a
+greyhound for the first time, would take it rather for a dwarf horse
+than for an animal of the spaniel race. It is very likely that each race
+was always what it now is, with the exception of the mixture of a small
+number of them.
+
+It is astonishing that, in the Jewish law, the dog was considered
+unclean, as well as the griffin, the hare, the pig, and the eel; there
+must have been some moral or physical reason for it, which we have not
+yet discovered.
+
+That which is related of the sagacity, obedience, friendship, and
+courage of dogs, is as extraordinary as true. The military philosopher,
+Ulloa, assures us that in Peru the Spanish dogs recognize the men of the
+Indian race, pursue them, and tear them to pieces; and that the Peruvian
+dogs do the same with the Spaniards. This would seem to prove that each
+species of dogs still retained the hatred which was inspired in it at
+the time of the discovery, and that each race always fought for its
+master with the same valor and attachment.
+
+Why, then, has the word "dog" become an injurious term? We say, for
+tenderness, my sparrow, my dove, my chicken; we even say my kitten,
+though this animal is famed for treachery; and, when we are angry, we
+call people dogs! The Turks, when not even angry, speak with horror and
+contempt of the Christian dogs. The English populace, when they see a
+man who, by his manner or dress, has the appearance of having been born
+on the banks of the Seine or of the Loire, commonly call him a French
+dog--a figure of rhetoric which is neither just to the dog nor polite to
+the man.
+
+The delicate Homer introduces the divine Achilles telling the divine
+Agamemnon that he is as impudent as a dog--a classical justification of
+the English populace.
+
+The most zealous friends of the dog must, however, confess that this
+animal carries audacity in its eyes; that some are morose; that they
+often bite strangers whom they take for their master's enemies, as
+sentinels assail passengers who approach too near the counterscarp.
+These are probably the reasons which have rendered the epithet "dog"
+insulting; but we dare not decide.
+
+Why was the dog adored and revered--as has been seen--by the Egyptians?
+Because the dog protects man. Plutarch tells us that after Cambyses had
+killed their bull Apis, and had had it roasted, no animal except the dog
+dared to eat the remains of the feast, so profound was the respect for
+Apis; the dog, not so scrupulous, swallowed the god without hesitation.
+The Egyptians, as may be imagined, were exceedingly scandalized at this
+want of reverence, and Anubis lost much of his credit.
+
+The dog, however, still bears the honor of being always in the heavens,
+under the names of the great and little dog. We regularly record the
+dog-days.
+
+But of all dogs, Cerberus has had the greatest reputation; he had three
+heads. We have remarked that, anciently, all went by threes--Isis,
+Osiris, and Orus, the three first Egyptian divinities; the three brother
+gods of the Greek world--Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto; the three Fates,
+the three Furies, the three Graces, the three judges of hell, and the
+three heads of this infernal dog.
+
+We perceive here with grief that we have omitted the article on "Cats";
+but we console ourselves by referring to their history. We will only
+remark that there are no cats in the heavens, as there are goats, crabs,
+bulls, rams, eagles, lions, fishes, hares, and dogs; but, in recompense,
+the cat has been consecrated, or revered, or adored, as partaking of
+divinity or saintship in several towns, and as altogether divine by no
+small number of women.
+
+
+
+
+DOGMAS.
+
+
+We know that all belief taught by the Church is a dogma which we must
+embrace. It is a pity that there are dogmas received by the Latin
+Church, and rejected by the Greek. But if unanimity is wanting, charity
+replaces it. It is, above all, between hearts that union is required. I
+think that we can relate a dream to the purpose, which has already found
+favor in the estimation of many peaceably disposed persons.
+
+"On Feb. 18, 1763, of the vulgar era, the sun entering the sign of the
+fishes, I was transported to heaven, as all my friends can bear witness.
+The mare Borac, of Mahomet, was not my steed, neither was the fiery
+chariot of Elijah my carriage. I was not carried on the elephant of
+Somonocodom, the Siamese; on the horse of St. George, the patron of
+England; nor on St. Anthony's pig. I avow with frankness that my journey
+was made I know not how.
+
+"It will be easily believed that I was dazzled; but it will not so
+easily be credited that I witnessed the judgment of the dead. And who
+were the judges? They were--do not be displeased at it--all those who
+have done good to man. Confucius, Solon, Socrates, Titus, Antoninus,
+Epictetus, Charron, de Thou, Chancellor de L' Hôpital, and all the great
+men who, having taught and practised the virtues that God requires,
+seemed to be the only persons possessing the right of pronouncing his
+devrees.
+
+"I shall not describe on what thrones they were seated, nor how many
+celestial beings were prostrated before the eternal architect of all
+worlds, nor what a crowd of the inhabitants of these innumerable worlds
+appeared before the judges. I shall not even give an account of several
+little interesting peculiarities which were exceedingly striking.
+
+"I remarked that every spirit who pleaded his cause and displayed his
+specious pretensions had beside him all the witnesses of his actions.
+For example, when Cardinal Lorraine boasted of having caused some of his
+opinions to be adopted by the Council of Trent, and demanded eternal
+life as the price of his orthodoxy, there immediately appeared around
+him twenty ladies of the court, all bearing on their foreheads the
+number of their interviews with the cardinal. I also saw those who had
+concerted with him the foundations of the infamous league. All the
+accomplices of his wicked designs surrounded him.
+
+"Over against Cardinal Lorraine was John Calvin, who boasted, in his
+gross _patois_, of having trampled upon the papal idol, after others had
+overthrown it. 'I have written against painting and sculpture,' said he;
+'I have made it apparent that good works are of no avail, and I have
+proved that it is diabolical to dance a minuet. Send away Cardinal
+Lorraine quickly, and place me by the side of St. Paul.'
+
+"As he spoke there appeared by his side a lighted pile; a dreadful
+spectre, wearing round his neck a Spanish frill, arose half burned from
+the midst of the flames, with dreadful shrieks. 'Monster,' cried he;
+'execrable monster, tremble! recognize that Servetus, whom you caused to
+perish by the most cruel torments, because he had disputed with you on
+the manner in which three persons can form one substance.' Then all the
+judges commanded that Cardinal Lorraine should be thrown into the abyss,
+but that Calvin should be punished still more rigorously.
+
+"I saw a prodigious crowd of spirits, each of which said, 'I have
+believed, I have believed!' but on their forehead it was written, 'I
+have acted,' and they were condemned.
+
+"The Jesuit Letellier appeared boldly with the bull Unigenitus in his
+hand. But there suddenly arose at his side a heap, consisting of two
+thousand _lettres-de-cachet_. A Jansenist set fire to them, and
+Letellier was burned to a cinder; while the Jansenist, who had no less
+caballed than the Jesuit, had his share of the flames.
+
+"I saw approach, from right and left, troops of fakirs, talapoins,
+bonzes, and black, white, and gray monks, who all imagined that, to make
+their court to the Supreme Being, they must either sing, scourge
+themselves, or walk quite naked. 'What good have you done to men?' was
+the query. A dead silence succeeded to this question. No one dared to
+answer; and they were all conducted to the mad-houses of the universe,
+the largest buildings imaginable.
+
+"One cried out that he believed in the metamorphoses of Xaca, another in
+those of Somonocodom. 'Bacchus stopped the sun and moon!' said this one.
+'The gods resuscitated Pelops!' said the other. 'Here is the bull _in
+cœna Domini_!' said a newcomer--and the officer of the court
+exclaimed, 'To Bedlam, to Bedlam!'
+
+"When all these causes were gone through, I heard this proclamation: 'By
+the Eternal Creator, Preserver, Rewarder, Revenger, Forgiver, etc., be
+it known to all the inhabitants of the hundred thousand millions of
+millions of worlds that it hath pleased us to form, that we never judge
+any sinners in reference to their own shallow ideas, but only as to
+their actions. Such is our Justice.'
+
+"I own that this was the first time I ever heard such an edict; all
+those which I had read, on the little grain of dust on which I was born,
+ended with these words: 'Such is our _pleasure_.'"
+
+
+
+
+DONATIONS.
+
+
+The Roman Republic, which seized so many states, also gave some away.
+Scipio made Massinissa king of Numidia.
+
+Lucullus, Sulla, and Pompey, each gave away half a dozen kingdoms.
+Cleopatra received Egypt from Cæsar. Antony, and afterwards Octavius,
+gave the little kingdom of Judæa to Herod.
+
+Under Trajan, the famous medal of _regna assignata_ was struck and
+kingdoms bestowed.
+
+Cities and provinces given in sovereignty to priests and to colleges,
+for the greater glory of God, or of the gods, are seen in every country.
+Mahomet, and the caliphs, his vicars, took possession of many states in
+the propagation of their faith, but they did not make donations of them.
+They held by nothing but their Koran and their sabre.
+
+The Christian religion, which was at first a society of poor people,
+existed for a long time on alms alone. The first donation was that of
+Ananias and Sapphira his wife. It was in ready money and was not
+prosperous to the donors.
+
+_The Donation of Constantine._
+
+The celebrated donation of Rome and all Italy to Pope Sylvester by the
+emperor Constantine, was maintained as a part of the creed of Rome until
+the sixteenth century. It was believed that Constantine, being at
+Nicomedia, was cured of leprosy at Rome by the baptism which he received
+from Bishop Sylvester, though he was not baptized at all; and that by
+way of recompense he gave forthwith the city of Rome and all its western
+provinces to this Sylvester. If the deed of this donation had been drawn
+up by the doctor of the Italian comedy, it could not have been more
+pleasantly conceived. It is added that Constantine declared all the
+canons of Rome consuls and patricians--"_patricios et consules effici"_
+--that he himself held the bridle of the mare on which the new bishop
+was mounted--"_tenentes frenum equi illius_."
+
+It is astonishing to reflect that this fine story was held an article of
+faith and respected by the rest of Europe for eight centuries, and that
+the Church persecuted as heretics all those who doubted it.
+
+_Donation of Pepin._
+
+At present people are no longer persecuted for doubting that Pepin the
+usurper gave, or was able to give, the exarchate of Ravenna to the pope.
+It is at most an evil thought, a venial sin, which does not endanger the
+loss of body or of soul.
+
+The reasoning of the German lawyers, who have scruples in regard to this
+donation, is as follows:
+
+1. The librarian Anastatius, whose evidence is always cited, wrote one
+hundred and forty years after the event.
+
+2. It is not likely that Pepin, who was not firmly established in
+France, and against whom Aquitaine made war, could give away, in Italy,
+states which already belonged to the emperor, resident at
+Constantinople.
+
+3. Pope Zacharias recognized the Roman-Greek emperor as the sovereign of
+those lands, disputed by the Lombards, and had administered the oath to
+him; as may be seen by the letters of this bishop, Zacharias of Rome to
+Bishop Boniface of Mentz. Pepin could not give to the pope the imperial
+territories.
+
+4. When Pope Stephen II. produced a letter from heaven, written in the
+hand of St. Peter, to Pepin, to complain of the grievances of the king
+of the Lombards, Astolphus, St. Peter does not mention in his letter
+that Pepin had made a present of the exarchate of Ravenna to the pope;
+and certainly St. Peter would not have failed to do so, even if the
+thing had been only equivocal; he understands his interest too well.
+
+Finally, the deed of this donation has never been produced; and what is
+still stronger, the fabrication of a false one cannot be ventured. The
+only proofs are vague recitals, mixed up with fables. Instead of
+certainty, there are only the absurd writings of monks, copied from age
+to age, from one another.
+
+The Italian advocate who wrote in 1722 to prove that Parma and Placentia
+had been ceded to the holy see as a dependency of the exarchate, asserts
+that the Greek emperors were justly despoiled of their rights because
+they had excited the people against God. Can lawyers write thus in our
+days? Yes, it appears, but only at Rome. Cardinal Bellarmine goes still
+farther. "The first Christians," says he, "supported the emperors only
+because they were not the strongest." The avowal is frank, and I am
+persuaded that Bellarmine is right.
+
+_The Donation of Charlemagne._
+
+At a time when the court of Rome believed itself deficient in titles, it
+pretended that Charlemagne had confirmed the donation of the exarchate,
+and that he added to it Sicily, Venice, Benevento, Corsica, and
+Sardinia. But as Charlemagne did not possess any of these states, he
+could not give them away; and as to the town of Ravenna, it is very
+clear that he kept it, since in his will he made a legacy to his city of
+Ravenna as well as to his city of Rome. It is surprising enough that the
+popes have obtained Ravenna and Rome; but as to Venice, it is not likely
+that the diploma which granted them the sovereignty will be found in the
+palace of St. Mark.
+
+All these acts, instruments, and diplomas have been subjects of dispute
+for ages. But it is a confirmed opinion, says Giannone, that martyr to
+truth, that all these pieces were forged in the time of Gregory VII. "_E
+costante opinione presso i piu gravi scrittori che tutti questi
+istromenti e diplomi furono supposti ne tempi d'Ildebrando_."
+
+_Donation of Benevento by the Emperor Henry III._
+
+The first well attested donation which was made to the see of Rome was
+that of Benevento, and that was an exchange of the Emperor Henry III.
+with the pope. It wanted only one formality, which was that the emperor
+who gave away Benevento was not the owner of it. It belonged to the
+dukes of Benevento, and the Roman-Greek emperors reclaimed their rights
+on this duchy. But history supplies little beyond a list of those who
+have accommodated themselves with the property of others.
+
+_Donation of the Countess Mathilda._
+
+The most authentic and considerable of these donations was that of all
+the possessions of the famous Countess Mathilda to Gregory VII. She was
+a young widow, who gave all to her spiritual director. It is supposed
+that the deed was twice executed and afterwards confirmed by her will.
+
+However, there still remains some difficulty. It was always believed at
+Rome that Mathilda had given all her states, all her possessions,
+present and to come, to her friend Gregory VII. by a solemn deed, in her
+castle of Canossa, in 1077, for the relief of her own soul and that of
+her parents. And to corroborate this precious instrument a second is
+shown to us, dated in the year 1102, in which it is said that it is to
+Rome that she made this donation; that she recalled it, and that she
+afterwards renewed it; and always for the good of her soul.
+
+How could so important a deed be recalled? Was the court of Rome so
+negligent? How could an instrument written at Canossa have been written
+at Rome? What do these contradictions mean? All that is clear is that
+the souls of the receivers fared better than the soul of the giver, who
+to save it was obliged to deprive herself of all she possessed in favor
+of her physicians.
+
+In short, in 1102, a sovereign was deprived of the power of disposing of
+an acre of land; yet after this deed, and to the time of her death, in
+1115, there are still found considerable donations of lands made by this
+same Mathilda to canons and monks. She had not, therefore, given all.
+Finally, this deed was very likely made by some ingenious person after
+her death.
+
+The court of Rome still includes among its titles the testament of
+Mathilda, which confirmed her donations. The popes, however, never
+produce this testament. It should also be known whether this rich
+countess had the power to dispose of her possessions, which were most of
+them fiefs of the empire.
+
+The Emperor Henry V., her heir, possessed himself of all, and recognized
+neither testament, donation, deed, nor right. The popes, in temporizing,
+gained more than the emperors in exerting their authority; and in time
+these Cæsars became so weak that the popes finally obtained the
+succession of Mathilda, which is now called the patrimony of St. Peter.
+
+_Donation of the Sovereignty of Naples to the Popes._
+
+The Norman gentlemen who were the first instruments of the conquests of
+Naples and Sicily achieved the finest exploit of chivalry that was ever
+heard of. From forty to fifty men only delivered Salerno at the moment
+it was taken by an army of Saracens. Seven other Norman gentlemen, all
+brothers, sufficed to chase these same Saracens from all the country,
+and to take prisoner the Greek emperor, who had treated them
+ungratefully. It was quite natural that the people, whom these heroes
+had inspired with valor, should be led to obey them through admiration
+and gratitude.
+
+Such were the first rights to the crown of the two Sicilies. The bishops
+of Rome could no more give those states in fief than the kingdoms of
+Boutan or Cachemire. They could not even grant the investiture which
+would have been demanded of them; for, in the time of the anarchy of the
+fiefs, when a lord would hold his free land as a fief for his
+protection, he could only address himself to the sovereign or the chief
+of the country in which it was situated. And certainly the pope was
+neither the sovereign of Naples, Apulia, nor Calabria.
+
+Much has been written about this pretended vassalage, but the source has
+never been discovered. I dare say that it is as much the fault of the
+lawyers as of the theologians. Every one deduces from a received
+principle consequences the most favorable to himself or his party. But
+is the principle true? Is the first fact by which it is supported
+incontestable? It is this which should be examined. It resembles our
+ancient romance writers, who all take it for granted that Francus
+brought the helmet of Hector to France. This casque was impenetrable, no
+doubt; but had Hector really worn it? The holy Virgin's milk is also
+very respectable; but do the twenty sacristies, who boast of having a
+gill of it, really possess it?
+
+Men of the present time, as wicked as foolish, do not shrink from the
+greatest crimes, and yet fear an excommunication, which would render
+them execrable to people still more wicked and foolish than themselves.
+
+Robert and Richard Guiscard, the conquerors of Apulia and Calabria, were
+excommunicated by Pope Leo IX. They were declared vassals of the empire;
+but the emperor, Henry III., discontented with these feudatory
+conquerors, engaged Leo IX. to launch the excommunication at the head of
+an army of Germans. The Normans, who did not fear these thunderbolts
+like the princes of Italy, beat the Germans and took the pope prisoner.
+But to prevent the popes and emperors hereafter from coming to trouble
+them in their possessions, they offered their conquests to the Church
+under the name of _oblata._ It was thus that England paid the Peter's
+pence; that the first kings of Spain and Portugal, on recovering their
+states from the Saracens, promised two pounds of gold a year to the
+Church of Rome. But England, Spain, nor Portugal never regarded the pope
+as their sovereign master.
+
+Duke Robert, _oblat_ of the Church, was therefore no feudatory of the
+pope; he could not be so, since the popes were not the sovereigns of
+Rome. This city was then governed by its senate, and the bishop
+possessed only influence. The pope was at Rome precisely what the
+elector is at Cologne. There is a prodigious difference between the
+_oblat_ of a saint and the feudatory of a bishop.
+
+Baronius, in his "Acts," relates the pretended homage done by Robert,
+duke of Apulia and Calabria, to Nicholas II.; but this deed is
+suspected, like many others; it has never been seen, it has never been
+found in any archives. Robert entitled himself "duke by the grace of God
+and St. Peter"; but certainly St. Peter had given him nothing, nor was
+that saint king of Rome.
+
+The other popes, who were kings no more than St. Peter, received without
+difficulty the homage of all the princes who presented themselves to
+reign over Naples, particularly when these princes were the most
+powerful.
+
+_Donation of England and Ireland to the Popes by King John._
+
+In 1213, King John, vulgarly called Lackland, or more properly
+Lackvirtue, being excommunicated and seeing his kingdom laid under an
+interdict, gave it away to Pope Innocent III. and his successors. "Not
+constrained with fear, but with my full consent and the advice of my
+barons, for the remission of my sins against God and the Church, I
+resign England and Ireland to God, St. Peter, St. Paul, and our lord the
+Pope Innocent, and to his successors in the apostolic chair."
+
+He declared himself feudatory lieutenant of the pope, paid about eight
+thousand pounds sterling in ready money to the legate Pandulph, promised
+to pay a thousand more every year, gave the first year in advance to the
+legate who trampled upon him, and swore on his knees that he submitted
+to lose all in the event of not paying at the time appointed. The jest
+of this ceremony was that the legate departed with the money and forgot
+to remove the excommunication.
+
+_Examination of the Vassalage of Naples and England._
+
+It may be asked which was the more valuable, the donation of Robert
+Guiscard or that of John Lackland; both had been excommunicated, both
+had given their states to St. Peter and became only the farmers of them.
+If the English barons were indignant at the infamous bargain of their
+king with the pope, and cancelled it, the Neapolitan barons could have
+equally cancelled that of Baron Robert; and that which they could have
+done formerly they certainly can do at present.
+
+Were England and Apulia given to the pope, according to the law of the
+Church or of the fiefs, as to a bishop or a sovereign? If to a bishop,
+it is precisely contrary to the law of Jesus, who so often forbids his
+disciples to take anything, and who declares to them that His kingdom is
+not of this world.
+
+If as to a sovereign, it was high treason to his imperial majesty; the
+Normans had already done homage to the emperor. Thus no right,
+spiritual or temporal, belonged to the popes in this affair. When the
+principle is erroneous, all the deductions are so of course. Naples no
+more belonged to the pope than England.
+
+There is still another method of providing against this ancient bargain;
+it is the right of the people, which is stronger than the right of the
+fiefs. The people's right will not suffer one sovereign to belong to
+another, and the most ancient law is to be master of our own, at least
+when we are not the weakest.
+
+_Of Donations Made by the Popes._
+
+If principalities have been given to the bishops of Rome, they have
+given away many more. There is not a single throne in Europe to which
+they have not made a present. As soon as a prince had conquered a
+country, or even wished to do it, the popes granted it in the name of
+St. Peter. Sometimes they even made the first advances, and it may be
+said that they have given away every kingdom but that of heaven.
+
+Few people in France know that Julius II. gave the states of King Louis
+XII. to the Emperor Maximilian, who could not put himself in possession
+of them. They do not sufficiently remember that Sixtus V., Gregory XIV.,
+and Clement VIII., were ready to make a present of France to whomsoever
+Philip II. would have chosen for the husband of his daughter Clara
+Eugenia.
+
+As to the emperors, there is not one since Charlemagne that the court of
+Rome has not pretended to nominate. This is the reason why Swift, in his
+"Tale of a Tub," says "that Lord Peter became suddenly mad, and that
+Martin and Jack, his brothers, confined him by the advice of their
+relations." We simply relate this drollery as a pleasant blasphemy of an
+English priest against the bishop of Rome.
+
+All these donations disappear before that of the East and West Indies,
+with which Alexander VI. of his divine power and authority invested
+Spain and Portugal. It was giving almost all the earth. He could in the
+same manner have given away the globes of Jupiter and Saturn with their
+satellites.
+
+_Particular Donations._
+
+The donations of citizens are treated quite differently. The codes are
+unanimously agreed that no one can give away the property of another as
+well as that no person can take it. It is a universal law.
+
+In France, jurisprudence was uncertain on this object, as on almost all
+others, until the year 1731, when the equitable Chancellor d'Aguesseau,
+having conceived the design of making the law uniform, very weakly began
+the great work by the edict on donations. It is digested in forty-seven
+articles, but, in wishing to render all the formalities concerning
+donations uniform, Flanders was excepted from the general law, and in
+excepting Flanders, Artois was forgotten, which should have enjoyed the
+same exception; so that in six years after the general law, a particular
+one was obliged to be made for Artois.
+
+These new edicts concerning donations and testaments were principally
+made to do away with all the commentators who had considerably embroiled
+the laws, having already compiled six commentaries upon them.
+
+It may be remarked that donations, or deeds of gift, extend much farther
+than to the particular person to whom a present is made. For every
+present there must be paid to the farmers of the royal domain--the duty
+of control, the duty of "_insinuation_" the duty of the hundredth penny,
+the tax of two sous in the livre, the tax of eight sous in the livre,
+etc.
+
+So that every time you make a present to a citizen you are much more
+liberal than you imagine. You have also the pleasure of contributing to
+the enriching of the farmers-general, but, after all, this money does
+not go out of the kingdom like that which is paid to the court of Rome.
+
+
+
+
+DRINKING HEALTHS.
+
+
+What was the origin of this custom? Has it existed since drinking
+commenced? It appears natural to drink wine for our own health, but not
+for the health of others.
+
+The "_propino_" of the Greeks, adopted by the Romans, does not signify
+"I drink to your good health," but "I drink first that you may drink
+afterwards"--I invite you to drink.
+
+In their festivals they drink to celebrate a mistress, not that she
+might have good health. See in Martial: "_Naevia sex cyathis, septem
+Justina bibatur_"--"Six cups for Naevia, for Justina seven."
+
+The English, who pique themselves upon renewing several ancient customs,
+drink to the honor of the ladies, which they call toasting, and it is a
+great subject of dispute among them whether a lady is toastworthy or
+not--whether she is worthy to be toasted.
+
+They drank at Rome for the victories of Augustus, and for the return of
+his health. Dion Cassius relates that after the battle of Actium the
+senate decreed that, in their repasts, libations should be made to him
+in the second service. It was a strange decree. It is more probable that
+flattery had voluntarily introduced this meanness. Be it as it may, we
+read in Horace:
+
+     _Hinc ad vina redit lætus, et alteris_
+     _Te mensis adhibet Deum,_
+     _Te multa prece; te prosequitur nero_
+     _Defuso pateris; et labiis tuum_
+     _Miscet numen; uti Graecia Castoris_
+       _Et magni nemore Herculis._
+     _Longas o utinam, dux bone ferias_
+     _Praestes Hesperiae; dicimus integro_
+     _Sicci mane die, dicimus uvidi,_
+     _Quum sol oceano subest._
+
+     To thee he chants the sacred song,
+       To thee the rich libation pours;
+     Thee placed his household gods among,
+       With solemn daily prayer adores;
+     So Castor and great Hercules of old
+     Were with her gods by graceful Greece enrolled.
+     Gracious and good, beneath thy reign
+       May Rome her happy hours employ,
+     And grateful hail thy just domain
+     With pious hymn and festal joy.
+     Thus, with the rising sun we sober pray,
+     Thus, in our wine beneath his setting ray.
+
+It is very likely that hence the custom arose among barbarous nations of
+drinking to the health of their guests, an absurd custom, since we may
+drink four bottles without doing them the least good.
+
+The dictionary of Trévoux tells us that we should not drink to the
+health of our superiors in their presence. This may be the case in
+France or Germany, but in England it is a received custom. The distance
+is not so great from one man to another at London as at Vienna.
+
+It is of importance in England to drink to the health of a prince who
+pretends to the throne; it is to declare yourself his partisan. It has
+cost more than one Scotchman and Hibernian dear for having drank to the
+health of the Stuarts.
+
+All the Whigs, after the death of King William, drank not to his health,
+but to his memory. A Tory named Brown, bishop of Cork in Ireland, a
+great enemy to William in Ireland, said, "that he would put a _cork_ in
+all those bottles which were drunk to the glory of this monarch." He did
+not stop at this silly pun; he wrote, in 1702, an episcopal address to
+show the Irish that it was an atrocious impiety to drink to the health
+of kings, and, above all, to their memory; that the latter, in
+particular, is a profanation of these words of Jesus Christ: "Drink
+this in remembrance of me."
+
+It is astonishing that this bishop was not the first who conceived such
+a folly. Before him, the Presbyterian Prynne had written a great book
+against the impious custom of drinking to the health of Christians.
+
+Finally, there was one John Geza, vicar of the parish of St. Faith, who
+published "The Divine Potion to Preserve Spiritual Health, by the Cure
+of the Inveterate Malady of Drinking Healths; with Clear and Solid
+Arguments against this Criminal Custom, all for the Satisfaction of the
+Public, at the Request of a Worthy Member of Parliament, in the Year of
+Our Salvation 1648."
+
+Our reverend Father Garasse, our reverend Father Patouillet, and our
+reverend Father Nonnotte are nothing superior to these profound
+Englishmen. We have a long time wrestled with our neighbors for the
+superiority--To which is it due?
+
+
+
+
+THE DRUIDS.
+
+
+_The Scene is in Tartarus. The Furies Entwined with Serpents, and Whips
+in Their Hands._
+
+Come along, Barbaquincorix, Celtic druid, and thou, detestable Grecian
+hierophant, Calchas, the moment of your just punishment has returned
+again; the hour of vengeance has arrived--the bell has sounded!
+
+
+
+THE DRUID AND CALCHAS.
+
+Oh, heavens! my head, my sides, my eyes, my ears! pardon, ladies,
+pardon!
+
+CALCHAS.
+
+Mercy! two vipers are penetrating my eye-balls!
+
+DRUID.
+
+A serpent is devouring my entrails!
+
+CALCHAS.
+
+Alas, how am I mangled! And must my eyes be every day restored, to be
+torn again from my head?
+
+DRUID.
+
+Must my skin be renewed only to dangle in ribbons from my lacerated
+body?
+
+TISIPHONE.
+
+It will teach you how to palm off a miserable parasitical plant for a
+universal remedy another time. Will you still sacrifice boys and girls
+to your god Theutates, priest? still burn them in osier baskets to the
+sound of a drum?
+
+DRUID.
+
+Never, never; dear lady, a little mercy, I beseech you.
+
+TISIPHONE.
+
+You never had any yourself. Seize him, serpents, and now another lash!
+
+ALECTO.
+
+Let them curry well this Calchas, who advances towards us, "With cruel
+eye, dark mien, and bristled hair."
+
+CALCHAS.
+
+My hair is torn away; I am scorched, flayed, impaled!
+
+ALECTO.
+
+Wretch! Will you again cut the throat of a beautiful girl, in order to
+obtain a favorable gale, instead of uniting her to a good husband?
+
+CALCHAS AND THE DRUID.
+
+Oh, what torments! and yet we die not.
+
+TISIPHONE.
+
+Hey-dey! God forgive me, but I hear music! It is Orpheus; why our
+serpents, sister, have become as gentle as lambs!
+
+CALCHAS.
+
+My sufferings cease; how very strange!
+
+THE DRUID.
+
+I am altogether recovered. Oh, the power of good music! And who are you,
+divine man, who thus cures wounds, and rejoices hell itself?
+
+ORPHEUS.
+
+My friends, I am a priest like yourselves, but I never deceived anyone,
+nor cut the throat of either boy or girl in my life. When on earth,
+instead of making the gods hated, I rendered them beloved, and softened
+the manners of the men whom you made ferocious. I shall exert myself in
+the like manner in hell. I met, just now, two barbarous priests whom
+they were scourging beyond measure; one of them formerly hewed a king in
+pieces before the Lord, and the other cut the throat of his queen and
+sovereign at the horse gate. I have terminated their punishment, and,
+having played to them a tune on the violin, they have promised me that
+when they return into the world they will live like honest men.
+
+DRUID AND CALCHAS.
+
+We promise the same thing, on the word of a priest.
+
+ORPHEUS.
+
+Yes, but "_Passato il pericolo, gabbato il santo._" [_The scene closes
+with a-figure Dance, performed by Orpheus, the Condemned, and the
+Furies, to light and agreeable music._]
+
+
+
+
+EASE.
+
+
+Easy applies not only to a thing easily done, but also to a thing which
+appears to be so. The pencil of Correggio is easy, the style of Quinault
+is much more easy than that of Despréaux, and the style of Ovid
+surpasses in facility that of Persius.
+
+This facility in painting, music, eloquence, and poetry, consists in a
+natural and spontaneous felicity, which admits of nothing that implies
+research, strength, or profundity. Thus the pictures of Paul Veronese
+have a much more easy and less finished air than those of Michel Angelo.
+The symphonies of Rameau are superior to those of Lulli, but appear
+less easy. Bossuet is more truly eloquent and more easy than Fléchier.
+Rousseau, in his epistles, has not near the facility and truth of
+Despréaux.
+
+The commentator of Despréaux says that "this exact and laborious poet
+taught the illustrious Racine to make verses with difficulty, and that
+those which appear easy are those which have been made with the most
+difficulty."
+
+It is true that it often costs much pains to express ourselves with
+clearness, as also that the natural may be arrived at by effort; but it
+is also true that a happy genius often produces easy beauties without
+any labor, and that enthusiasm goes much farther than art.
+
+Most of the impassioned expressions of our good poets have come finished
+from their pen, and appear easy, as if they had in reality been composed
+without labor; the imagination, therefore, often conceives and brings
+forth easily. It is not thus with didactic works, which require art to
+make them appear easy. For example, there is much less ease than
+profundity in Pope's "Essay on Man."
+
+Bad works may be rapidly constructed, which, having no genius, will
+appear easy, and it is often the lot of those who, without genius, have
+the unfortunate habit of composing. It is in this sense that a personage
+of the old comedy, called the "Italian," says to another: "Thou makest
+bad verses admirably well."
+
+The term "easy" is an insult to a woman, but is sometimes in society
+praise for a man; it is, however, a fault in a statesman. The manners of
+Atticus were easy; he was the most amiable of the Romans; the easy
+Cleopatra gave herself as easily to Antony as to Cæsar; the easy
+Claudius allowed himself to be governed by Agrippina; easy applied to
+Claudius is only a lenitive, the proper expression is _weak_.
+
+An easy man is in general one possessed of a mind which easily gives
+itself up to reason and remonstrance--a heart which melts at the prayers
+which are made to it; while a weak man is one who allows too much
+authority over him.
+
+
+
+
+ECLIPSE.
+
+
+In the greatest part of the known world every extraordinary phenomenon
+was for a long time believed to be the presage of some happy or
+miserable event. Thus the Roman historians have not failed to observe
+that an eclipse of the sun accompanied the birth of Romulus, that
+another announced his death, and that a third attended the foundation of
+the city of Rome.
+
+We have already spoken of the article entitled "The Vision of
+Constantine," of the apparition of the cross which preceded the triumph
+of Christianity, and under the article on "Prophecy," we shall treat of
+the new star which enlightened the birth of Jesus. We will, therefore,
+here confine ourselves to what has been said of the darkness with which
+all the earth was covered when He gave up the ghost.
+
+The writers of the Greek and Romish Churches have quoted as authentic
+two letters attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, in which he relates
+that being at Heliopolis in Egypt, with his friend Apollophanes, he
+suddenly saw, about the sixth hour, the moon pass underneath the sun,
+which caused a great eclipse. Afterwards, in the ninth hour, they
+perceived the moon quitting the place which she occupied and return to
+the opposite side of the diameter. They then took the rules of Philip
+Aridæus, and, having examined the course of the stars, they found that
+the sun could not have been naturally eclipsed at that time. Further,
+they observed that the moon, contrary to her natural motion, instead of
+going to the west to range herself under the sun, approached on the
+eastern side and that she returned behind on the same side, which caused
+Apollophanes to say, "These, my dear Dionysius, are changes of Divine
+things," to which Dionysius replied, "Either the author of nature
+suffers, or the machine of the universe will be soon destroyed."
+
+Dionysius adds that having remarked the exact time and year of this
+prodigy, and compared them with what Paul afterwards told him, he
+yielded up to the truth as well as his friend. This is what led to the
+belief that the darkness happening at the death of Jesus Christ was
+caused by a supernatural eclipse; and what has extended this opinion is
+that Maldonat says it is that of almost all the Catholics. How is it
+possible to resist the authority of an ocular, enlightened, and
+disinterested witness, since it was supposed that when he saw this
+eclipse Dionysius was a pagan?
+
+As these pretended letters of Dionysius were not forged until towards
+the fifteenth or sixteenth century, Eusebius of Cæsarea was contented
+with quoting the evidence of Phlegon, a freed man of the emperor Adrian.
+This author was also a pagan, and had written "The History of the
+Olympiads," in sixteen books, from their origin to the year 140 of the
+vulgar era. He is made to say that in the fourth year of the two hundred
+and second Olympiad there was the greatest eclipse of the sun that had
+ever been seen; the day was changed to night at the sixth hour, the
+stars were seen, and an earthquake overthrew several edifices in the
+city of Nicæa in Bithynia. Eusebius adds that the same events are
+related in the ancient monuments of the Greeks, as having happened in
+the eighteenth year of Tiberius. It is thought that Eusebius alluded to
+Thallus, a Greek historian already cited by Justin, Tertullian, and
+Julius Africanus, but neither the work of Thallus, nor that of Phlegon
+having reached us, we can only judge of the accuracy of these two
+quotations of reasoning.
+
+It is true that the Paschal "Chronicle of the Greeks," as well as St.
+Jerome Anastatius, the author of the "_Historia Miscella_," and
+Freculphus of Luxem, among the Latins, all unite in representing the
+fragment of Phlegon in the same manner. But it is known that these five
+witnesses, so uniform in their dispositions, translated or copied the
+passage, not from Phlegon himself, but from Eusebius; while John
+Philoponus, who had read Phlegon, far from agreeing with Eusebius,
+differs from him by two years. We could also name Maximus and Maleba,
+who lived when the work of Phlegon still existed, and the result of an
+examination of the whole is that five of the quoted authors copy
+Eusebius. Philoponus, who really saw the work of Phlegon, gives a second
+reading, Maximus a third, and Maleba a fourth, so that they are far from
+relating the passage in the same manner.
+
+In short, the calculations of Hodgson, Halley, Whiston, and Gale Morris
+have demonstrated that Phlegon and Thallus speak of a natural eclipse
+which happened November 24, in the first year of the two hundred and
+second Olympiad, and not in the fourth year, as Eusebius pretends. Its
+size at Nicæa in Bithynia, was, according to Whiston, only from nine to
+ten digits, that is to say, two-thirds and a half of the sun's disc. It
+began at a quarter past eight, and ended at five minutes past ten, and
+between Cairo in Egypt, and Jerusalem, according to Mr. Gale Morris, the
+sun was totally obscured for nearly two minutes. At Jerusalem the middle
+of the eclipse happened about an hour and a quarter after noon.
+
+But what ought to spare all this discussion is that Tertullian says the
+day became suddenly dark while the sun was in the midst of his career;
+that the pagans believed that it was an eclipse, not knowing that it had
+been predicted by the prophet Amos in these words: "I will cause the sun
+to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day."
+"They," adds Tertullian, "who have sought for the cause of this event
+and could not discover it, have denied it; but the fact is certain, and
+you will find it noted in your archives."
+
+Origen, on the contrary, says that it is not astonishing foreign authors
+have said nothing about the darknesses of which the evangelists speak,
+since they only appeared in the environs of Jerusalem; Judæa, according
+to him, being designated under the name of all the earth in more than
+one place in Scripture. He also avows that the passage in the Gospel of
+St. Luke, in which we read that in his time all the earth was covered
+with darkness, on account of an eclipse of the sun, had been thus
+falsified by some ignorant Christian who thought thereby to throw a
+light on the text of the evangelist, or by some ill-intentioned enemy
+who wished a pretext to calumniate the Church, as if the evangelists had
+remarked an eclipse at a time when it was very evident that it could not
+have happened. "It is true," adds he, "that Phlegon says that there was
+one under Tiberius, but as he does not say that it happened at the full
+moon there is nothing wonderful in that."
+
+"These obscurations," continues Origen, "were of the nature of those
+which covered Egypt in the time of Moses, and were not felt in the
+quarter in which the Israelites dwelt. Those of Egypt lasted three days,
+while those of Jerusalem only lasted three hours; the first were after
+the manner of the second, and even as Moses raised his hands to heaven
+and invoked the Lord to draw them down on Egypt, so Jesus Christ, to
+cover Jerusalem with darkness, extended his hands on the cross against
+an ungrateful people who had cried: 'Crucify him, crucify him!'"
+
+We may, in this case, exclaim with Plutarch, that the darkness of
+superstition is more dangerous than that of eclipses.
+
+
+
+
+ECONOMY (RURAL).
+
+
+The primitive economy, that which is the foundation of all the rest, is
+rural. In early times it was exhibited in the patriarchal life and
+especially in that of Abraham, who made a long journey through the arid
+deserts of Memphis to buy corn. I shall continue, with due respect, to
+discard all that is divine in the history of Abraham, and attend to his
+rural economy alone.
+
+I do not learn that he ever had a house; he quitted the most fertile
+country of the universe and towns in which there were commodious houses,
+to go wandering in countries, the languages of which he did not
+understand.
+
+He went from Sodom into the desert of Gerar without forming the least
+establishment. When he turned away Hagar and the child Ishmael it was
+still in a desert and all the food he gave them was a morsel of bread
+and a cruse of water. When he was about to sacrifice his son Isaac to
+the Lord it was again in a desert. He cut the wood himself to burn the
+victim and put it on the back of Isaac, whom he was going to immolate.
+
+His wife died in a place called Kirgath-arba, or Hebron; he had not six
+feet of earth in which to bury her, but was obliged to buy a cave to
+deposit her body. This was the only piece of land which he ever
+possessed.
+
+However, he had many children, for, without reckoning Isaac and his
+posterity, his second wife Keturah, at the age of one hundred and forty
+years, according to the ordinary calculation, bore him five male
+children, who departed towards Arabia.
+
+It is not said that Isaac had a single piece of land in the country in
+which his father died; on the contrary, he went into the desert of Gerar
+with his wife, Rebecca, to the same Abimelech, king of Gerar, who had
+been in love with his mother.
+
+The king of the desert became also amorous of Rebecca, whom her husband
+caused to pass for his sister, as Abraham had acted with regard to Sarah
+and this same King Abimelech forty years before. It is rather
+astonishing that in this family the wife always passed for the sister
+when there was anything to be gained, but as these facts are
+consecrated, it is for us to maintain a respectful silence.
+
+Scripture says that Abraham enriched himself in this horrible country,
+which became fertile for his benefit, and that he became extremely
+powerful. But it is also mentioned that he had no water to drink; that
+he had a great quarrel with the king's herdsmen for a well; and it is
+easy to discover that he still had not a house of his own.
+
+His children, Esau and Jacob, had not a greater establishment than their
+father. Jacob was obliged to seek his fortune in Mesopotamia, whence
+Abraham came; he served seven years for one of the daughters of Laban,
+and seven other years to obtain the second daughter. He fled with his
+wives and the flocks of his father-in-law, who pursued him. A precarious
+fortune, that of Jacob.
+
+Esau is represented as wandering like Jacob. None of the twelve
+patriarchs, the children of Jacob, had any fixed dwelling, or a field of
+which they were the proprietors. They reposed in their tents like
+Bedouin Arabs.
+
+It is clear that this patriarchal life would not conveniently suit the
+temperature of our atmosphere. A good cultivator, such as Pignoux of
+Auvergne, must have a convenient house with an aspect towards the east,
+large barns and stables, stalls properly built, the whole amounting to
+about fifty thousand francs of our present money in value. He must sow a
+hundred acres with corn, besides having good pastures; he should
+possess some acres of vineyard, and about fifty for inferior grain and
+herbs, thirty acres of wood, a plantation of mulberries, silkworms, and
+bees. With all these advantages well economized, he can maintain a
+family in abundance. His land will daily improve; he will support them
+without fearing the irregularity of the seasons and the weight of taxes,
+because one good year repairs the damages of two bad ones. He will enjoy
+in his domain a real sovereignty, which will be subject only to the
+laws. It is the most natural state of man, the most tranquil, the most
+happy, and, unfortunately, the most rare.
+
+The son of this venerable patriarch, seeing himself rich, is disgusted
+with paying the humiliating tax of the taille. Having unfortunately
+learned some Latin he repairs to town, buys a post which exempts him
+from the tax and which bestows nobility. He sells his domain to pay for
+his vanity, marries a girl brought up in luxury who dishonors and ruins
+him; he dies in beggary, and his only son wears a livery in Paris.
+
+
+
+
+ECONOMY OF SPEECH--
+
+TO SPEAK BY ECONOMY.
+
+
+This is an expression consecrated in its appropriation by the fathers of
+the Church and even by the primitive propagators of our holy religion.
+It signifies the application of oratory to circumstances.
+
+For example: St. Paul, being a Christian, comes to the temple of the
+Jews to perform the Judaic rites, in order to show that he does not
+forsake the Mosaic law; he is recognized at the end of a week and
+accused of having profaned the temple. Loaded with blows, he is dragged
+along by the mob; the tribune of the cohort--_tribunis cohortis_
+--arrives, and binds him with a double chain. The next day this tribune
+assembles the council and carries Paul before it, when the High Priest
+Ananias commences proceedings by giving him a box on the ear, on which
+Paul salutes him with the epithet of "a whited wall."
+
+"But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees and the other
+Pharisees, he cried out in the council, 'Men and brethren, I am a
+Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, of the hope and resurrection of the
+dead I am called in question.' And when he had so said there arose a
+discussion between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the multitude
+was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection,
+neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both."
+
+It is very evident from the text that Paul was not a Pharisee after he
+became a Christian and that there was in this affair no question either
+of resurrection or hope, of angel or spirit.
+
+The text shows that Paul spoke thus only to embroil the Pharisees and
+Sadducees. This was speaking with economy, that is to say, with
+prudence; it was a pious artifice which, perhaps, would not have been
+permitted to any but an apostle.
+
+It is thus that almost all the fathers of the Church have spoken "with
+economy." St. Jerome develops this method admirably in his fifty-fourth
+letter to Pammachus. Weigh his words. After having said that there are
+occasions when it is necessary to present a loaf and to throw a stone,
+he continues thus:
+
+"Pray read Demosthenes, read Cicero, and if these rhetoricians displease
+you because their art consists in speaking of the seeming rather than
+the true, read Plato, Theophrastus, Xenophon, Aristotle, and all those
+who, having dipped into the fountain of Socrates, drew different waters
+from it. Is there among them any candor, any simplicity? What terms
+among them are not ambiguous, and what sense do they not make free with
+to bear away the palm of victory? Origen, Methodius, Eusebius,
+Apollinarus, have written a million of arguments against Celsus and
+Porphyry. Consider with what artifice, with what problematic subtlety
+they combat the spirit of the devil. They do not say what they think,
+but what it is expedient to say: _Non quod sentiunt, sed quod necesse
+est dicunt_. And not to mention other Latins--Tertullian, Cyprian,
+Minutius, Victorinus, Lactantius, and Hilarius--whom I will not cite
+here; I will content myself with relating the example of the Apostle
+Paul," etc.
+
+St. Augustine often writes with economy. He so accommodates himself to
+time and circumstances that in one of his epistles he confesses that he
+explained the Trinity only because he must say something.
+
+Assuredly this was not because he doubted the Holy Trinity, but he felt
+how ineffable this mystery is and wished to content the curiosity of the
+people.
+
+This method was always received in theology. It employed an argument
+against the Eucratics, which was the cause of triumph to the
+Carpocratians; and when it afterwards disputed with the Carpocratians
+its arms were changed.
+
+It is asserted that Jesus Christ died for many when the number of
+rejected is set forth, but when his universal bounty is to be manifested
+he is said to have died for all. Here you take the real sense for the
+figurative; there the figurative for the real, as prudence and
+expediency direct.
+
+Such practices are not admitted in justice. A witness would be punished
+who told the _pour_ and _contre_ of a capital offence. But there is an
+infinite difference between vile human interests, which require the
+greatest clearness, and divine interests, which are hidden in an
+impenetrable abyss. The same judges who require indubitable
+demonstrative proofs will be contented in sermons with moral proofs, and
+even with declamations exhibiting no proofs at all.
+
+St. Augustine speaks with economy, when he says, "I believe, because it
+is absurd; I believe, because it is impossible." These words, which
+would be extravagant in all worldly affairs, are very respectable in
+theology. They signify that what is absurd and impossible to mortal eyes
+is not so to the eyes of God; God has revealed to me these pretended
+absurdities, these apparent impossibilities, therefore I ought to
+believe them.
+
+An advocate would not be allowed to speak thus at the bar. They would
+confine in a lunatic asylum a witness who might say, "I assert that the
+accused, while shut up in a country house in Martinique, killed a man in
+Paris, and I am the more certain of this homicide because it is absurd
+and impossible." But revelations, miracles, and faith are quite a
+distinct order of things.
+
+The same St. Augustine observes in his one hundred and fifty-third
+letter, "It is written that the whole world belongs to the faithful, and
+infidels have not an obolus that they possess legitimately."
+
+If upon this principle a brace of bankers were to wait upon me to assure
+me that they were of the faithful, and in that capacity had appropriated
+the property belonging to me, a miserable worldling, to themselves, it
+is certain that they would be committed to the Châtelet, in spite of the
+economy of the language of St. Augustine.
+
+St. Irenæus asserts that we must not condemn the incest of the two
+daughters of Lot, nor that of Thamar with her father-in-law, because the
+Holy Scripture has not expressly declared them criminal. This verbal
+economy prevents not the legal punishment of incest among ourselves. It
+is true that if the Lord expressly ordered people to commit incest it
+would not be sinful, which is the economy of Irenæus. His laudable
+object is to make us respect everything in the Holy Scriptures, but as
+God has not expressly praised the foregoing doings of the daughters of
+Lot and of Judah we are permitted to condemn them.
+
+All the first Christians, without exception, thought of war like the
+Quakers and Dunkards of the present day, and the Brahmins, both ancient
+and modern. Tertullian is the father who is most explicit against this
+legal species of murder, which our vile human nature renders expedient.
+"No custom, no rule," says he, "can render this criminal destruction
+legitimate."
+
+Nevertheless, after assuring us that no Christian can carry arms, he
+says, "by economy," in the same book, in order to intimidate the Roman
+Empire, "although of such recent origin, we fill your cities and your
+_armies_."
+
+It is in the same spirit that he asserts that Pilate was a Christian in
+his heart, and the whole of his apology is filled with similar
+assertions, which redoubled the zeal of his proselytes.
+
+Let us terminate these examples of the economical style, which are
+numberless, by a passage of St. Jerome, in his controversy with Jovian
+upon second marriages. The holy Jerome roundly asserts that it is plain,
+by the formation of the two sexes--in the description of which he is
+rather particular--that they are destined for each other, and for
+propagation. It follows, therefore, that they are to make love without
+ceasing, in order that their respective faculties may not be bestowed in
+vain. This being the case, why should not men and women marry again?
+Why, indeed, is a man to deny his wife to his friend if a cessation of
+attention on his own part be personally convenient? He may present the
+wife of another with a loaf of bread if she be hungry, and why may not
+her other wants be supplied, if they are urgent? Functions are not given
+to lie dormant, etc.
+
+After such a passage it is useless to quote any more, but it is
+necessary to remark, by the way, that the economical style, so
+intimately connected with the polemical, ought to be employed with the
+greatest circumspection, and that it belongs not to the profane to
+imitate the things hazarded by the saints, either as regards the heat of
+their zeal or the piquancy of their delivery.
+
+
+
+
+ELEGANCE.
+
+
+According to some authors this word comes from "_electus_," chosen; it
+does not appear that its etymology can be derived from any other Latin
+word, since all is choice that is elegant. Elegance is the result of
+regularity and grace.
+
+This word is employed in speaking of painting and sculpture. _Elegans
+signum_ is opposed to _signum rigens_--a proportionate figure, the
+rounded outlines of which are expressed with softness, to a cold and
+badly-finished figure.
+
+The severity of the ancient Romans gave an odious sense to the word
+"_elegantia_." They regarded all kinds of elegance as affectation and
+far-fetched politeness, unworthy the gravity of the first ages. "_Vitæ
+non laudi fuit_," says Aulus Gellius. They call him an "elegant man,"
+whom in these days we designate a _petit-maître (bellus homuncio),_ and
+which the English call a "beau"; but towards the time of Cicero, when
+manners received their last degree of refinement, _elegans_ was always
+deemed laudatory. Cicero makes use of this word in a hundred places to
+describe a man or a polite discourse. At that time even a repast was
+called elegant, which is scarcely the case among us.
+
+This term among the French, as among the ancient Romans, is confined to
+sculpture, painting, eloquence, and still more to poetry; it does not
+precisely mean the same thing as grace.
+
+The word "grace" applies particularly to the countenance, and we do not
+say an elegant face, as we say elegant contours; the reason is that
+grace always relates to something in motion, and it is in the
+countenance that the mind appears; thus we do not say an elegant gait,
+because gait includes motion.
+
+The elegance of a discourse is not its eloquence; it is a part of it; it
+is neither the harmony nor metre alone; it is clearness, metre, and
+choice of words, united.
+
+There are languages in Europe in which nothing is more scarce than an
+elegant expression. Rude terminations, frequent consonants, and
+auxiliary-verbs grammatically repeated in the same sentence, offend the
+ears even of the natives themselves.
+
+A discourse may be elegant without being good, elegance being, in
+reality, only a choice of words; but a discourse cannot be absolutely
+good without being elegant. Elegance is still more necessary to poetry
+than eloquence, because it is a part of that harmony so necessary to
+verse.
+
+An orator may convince and affect even without elegance, purity, or
+number; a poet cannot really do so without being elegant: it is one of
+the principal merits of Virgil. Horace is much less elegant in his
+satires and epistles, so that he is much less of a poet _sermoni
+proprior_.
+
+The great point in poetry and the oratorical art is that the elegance
+should never appear forced; and the poet in that, as in other things,
+has greater difficulties than the orator, for harmony being the base of
+his art, he must not permit a succession of harsh syllables. He must
+even sometimes sacrifice a little of the thought to elegance of
+expression, which is a constraint that the orator never experiences.
+
+It should be remarked that if elegance always appears easy, all that is
+easy and natural is not, however, elegant.
+
+It is seldom said of a comedy that it is elegantly written. The
+simplicity and rapidity of a familiar dialogue exclude this merit, so
+proper to all other poetry. Elegance would seem inconsistent with the
+comic. A thing elegantly said would not be laughed at, though most of
+the verses of Molière's "_Amphitryon,_" with the exception of those of
+mere pleasantry, are elegantly written. The mixture of gods and men in
+this piece, so unique in its kind, and the irregular verses, forming a
+number of madrigals, are perhaps the cause.
+
+A madrigal requires to be more elegant than an epigram, because the
+madrigal bears somewhat the nature of the ode, and the epigram belongs
+to the comic. The one is made to express a delicate sentiment, and the
+other a ludicrous one.
+
+Elegance should not be attended to in the sublime: it would weaken it.
+If we read of the elegance of the Jupiter Olympus of Phidias, it would
+be a satire. The elegance of the "Venus of Praxiteles" may be properly
+alluded to.
+
+
+
+
+ELIAS OR ELIJAH, AND ENOCH.
+
+
+Elias and Enoch are two very important personages of antiquity. They are
+the only mortals who have been taken out of the world without having
+first tasted of death. A very learned man has pretended that these are
+allegorical personages. The father and mother of Elias are unknown. He
+believes that his country, Gilead, signifies nothing but the
+circulation of time. He proves it to have come from Galgala, which
+signifies revolution. But what signifies the name of the village of
+Galgala!
+
+The word Elias has a sensible relation to that of Elios, the sun. The
+burned sacrifice offered by Elias, and lighted by fire from heaven, is
+an image of that which can be done by the united rays of the sun. The
+rain which falls, after great heats, is also a physical truth.
+
+The chariot of fire and the fiery horses, which bore Elias to heaven,
+are a lively image of the four horses of the sun. The return of Elias at
+the end of the world seems to accord with the ancient opinion, that the
+sun would extinguish itself in the waters, in the midst of the general
+destruction that was expected, for almost all antiquity was for a long
+time persuaded that the world would sooner or later be destroyed.
+
+We do not adopt these allegories; we only stand by those related in the
+Old Testament.
+
+Enoch is as singular a personage as Elias, only that Genesis names his
+father and son, while the family of Elias is unknown. The inhabitants of
+both East and West have celebrated this Enoch.
+
+The Holy Scripture, which is our infallible guide, informs us that Enoch
+was the father of Methuselah, or Methusalem, and that he only dwelt on
+the earth three hundred and sixty-five years, which seems a very short
+life for one of the first patriarchs. It is said that he walked in the
+way of God and that he appeared no longer because God carried him away.
+"It is that," says Calmet, "which makes the holy fathers and most of the
+commentators assure us that Enoch still lives; that God has borne him
+out of the world as well as Elias; that both will come before the last
+judgment to oppose the antichrist; that Elias will preach to the Jews,
+and Enoch to the Gentiles."
+
+St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews--which has been contested--says
+expressly, "by faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death,
+because death had translated him."
+
+St. Justin, or somebody who had taken his name, says that Elias and
+Enoch are in a terrestrial paradise, and that they there wait the second
+coming of Jesus Christ.
+
+St. Jerome, on the contrary, believes that Enoch and Elias are in
+heaven. It is the same Enoch, the seventh man after Adam, who is
+pretended to have written the book quoted by St. Jude.
+
+Tertullian says that this work was preserved in the ark, and even that
+Enoch made a second copy of it after the deluge.
+
+This is what the Holy Scripture and the holy fathers relate of Enoch;
+but the profane writers of the East tell us much more. They believe that
+there really was an Enoch, and that he was the first who made slaves of
+prisoners of war; they sometimes call him Enoc, and sometimes Edris.
+They say that he was the same who gave laws to the Egyptians under the
+name of Thaut, called by the Greeks Hermes Trismegistus. They give him a
+son named Sabi, the author of the religion of the Sabæans.
+
+There was a tradition in Phrygia on a certain Anach, the same whom the
+Hebrews call Enoch. The Phrygians held this tradition from the Chaldæans
+or Babylonians, who also recognized an Enoch, or Anach, as the inventor
+of astronomy.
+
+They wept for Enoch one day in the year in Phrygia, as they wept for
+Adonis among the Phœnicians.
+
+The ingenious and profound writer, who believes Elias a person purely
+allegorical, thinks the same of Enoch. He believes that Enoch, Anach,
+Annoch, signified the year; that the Orientals wept for it, as for
+Adonis, and that they rejoiced at the commencement of the new year; that
+Janus, afterwards known in Italy, was the ancient Anach, or Annoch, of
+Asia; that not only Enoch formerly signified, among all nations, the
+beginning and end of the year, but the last day of the week; that the
+names of Anne, John, Januarius, Janvier, and January, all come from the
+same source.
+
+It is difficult to penetrate the depths of ancient history. When we
+seize truth in the dark, we are never sure of retaining her. It is
+absolutely necessary for a Christian to hold by the Scriptures, whatever
+difficulty he may have in understanding them.
+
+
+
+
+ELOQUENCE.
+
+
+Eloquence was created before the rules of rhetoric, as the languages are
+formed before grammar.
+
+Nature renders men eloquent under the influence of great interests or
+passions. A person much excited sees things with a different eye from
+other men. To him all is the object of rapid comparison and metaphor.
+Without premeditation, he vivifies all, and makes all who listen to him
+partake of his enthusiasm.
+
+A very enlightened philosopher has remarked that people often express
+themselves by figures; that nothing is more common or more natural than
+the turns called tropes.
+
+Thus, in all languages, the heart burns, courage is kindled, the eyes
+sparkle; the mind is oppressed, it is divided, it is exhausted; the
+blood freezes, the head is turned upside down; we are inflated with
+pride, intoxicated with vengeance. Nature is everywhere painted in these
+strong images, which have become common.
+
+It is from her that instinct learns to assume a modest tone and air,
+when it is necessary. The natural desire of captivating our judges and
+masters; the concentrated energies of a profoundly stricken soul, which
+prepares to display the sentiments which oppress it, are the first
+teachers of this art.
+
+It is the same nature which sometimes inspires lively and animated
+sallies; a strong impulse or a pressing danger prompts the imagination
+suddenly. Thus a captain of the first caliphs, seeing the Mussulmans fly
+from the field of battle, cried out, "Where are you running to? Your
+enemies are not there."
+
+This speech has been given to many captains; it is attributed to
+Cromwell. Strong minds much oftener accord than fine wits.
+
+Rasi, a Mussulman, captain of the time of Mahomet, seeing his Arabs
+frightened at the death of their general, Derar, said to them, "What
+does it signify that Derar is dead? God is living, and observes your
+actions."
+
+Where is there a more eloquent man than that English sailor who decided
+the war against Spain in 1740? "When the Spaniards, having mutilated me,
+were going to kill me, I recommended my soul to God, and my vengeance to
+my country!"
+
+Nature, then, elicits eloquence; and if it be said that poets are
+created and orators formed, it is applicable only when eloquence is
+forced to study the laws, the genius of the judges, and the manners of
+the times. Nature alone is spontaneously eloquent.
+
+The precepts always follow the art. Tisias was the first who collected
+the laws of eloquence, of which nature gives the first rules. Plato
+afterwards said, in his "_Gorgias_," that an orator should have the
+subtlety of the logician, the science of the philosopher, almost the
+diction of the poet, and the voice and gesture of the greatest actors.
+
+Aristotle, also, showed that true philosophy is the secret guide to
+perfection in all the arts. He discovered the sources of eloquence in
+his "Book of Rhetoric." He showed that logic is the foundation of the
+art of persuasion, and that to be eloquent is to know how to
+demonstrate.
+
+He distinguished three kinds of eloquence: the deliberative, the
+demonstrative, and the judiciary. The deliberative is employed to exhort
+those who deliberate in taking a part in war, in peace, etc.; the
+demonstrative, to show that which is worthy of praise or blame; the
+judiciary, to persuade, absolve, condemn, etc.
+
+He afterwards treats of the manners and passions with which all orators
+should be acquainted.
+
+He examines the proofs which should be employed in these three species
+of eloquence, and finally he treats of elocution, without which all
+would languish. He recommends metaphors, provided they are just and
+noble; and, above all, he requires consistency and decorum.
+
+All these precepts breathe the enlightened precision of a philosopher,
+and the politeness of an Athenian; and, in giving the rules of
+eloquence, he is eloquent with simplicity.
+
+It is to be remarked, that Greece was the only country in the world in
+which the laws of eloquence were then known, because it was the only one
+in which true eloquence existed.
+
+The grosser art was known to all men; sublime traits have everywhere
+escaped from nature at all times; but to rouse the minds of the whole of
+a polished nation--to please, convince, and affect at the same time,
+belonged only to the Greeks.
+
+The Orientals were almost all slaves; and it is one of the
+characteristics of servitude to exaggerate everything. Thus the Asiatic
+eloquence was monstrous. The West was barbarous in the time of
+Aristotle.
+
+True eloquence began to show itself in the time of the Gracchi, and was
+not perfected until the time of Cicero. Mark Antony, the orator
+Hortensius, Curion, Cæsar, and several others, were eloquent men.
+
+This eloquence perished with the republic, like that of Athens. Sublime
+eloquence, it is said, belongs only to liberty; it consists in telling
+bold truths, in displaying strong reasons and representations. A man
+often dislikes truth, fears reason, and likes a well-turned compliment
+better than the sublimest eloquence.
+
+Cicero, after having given the examples in his harangues, gave the
+precepts in his "Book of the Orator"; he followed almost all the methods
+of Aristotle, and explained himself in the style of Plato.
+
+It distinguishes the simple species, the temperate, and the sublime.
+
+Rollin has followed this division in his "Treatise on Study"; and he
+pretends that which Cicero does not, that the "temperate" is a
+beautiful river, shaded with green forests on both sides; the "simple,"
+a properly-served table, of which all the meats are of excellent flavor,
+and from which all refinement is banished; that the "sublime" thunders
+forth, and is an impetuous current which overthrows all that resists it.
+
+Without sitting down to this table, without following this thunderbolt,
+this current, or this river, every man of sense must see that simple
+eloquence is that which has simple things to expose, and that clearness
+and elegance are all that are necessary to it.
+
+There is no occasion to read Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian, to feel
+that an advocate who begins by a pompous exordium on the subject of a
+partition wall is ridiculous; it was, however, the fault of the bar
+until the middle of the seventeenth century; they spoke with emphasis of
+the most trivial things. Volumes of these examples may be compiled; but
+all might be reduced to this speech of a witty advocate, who, observing
+that his adversary was speaking of the Trojan war and of Scamander,
+interrupted him by saying, "The court will observe that my client is not
+called Scamander, but Michaut." The sublime species can only regard
+powerful interests, treated of in a great assembly.
+
+There may still be seen lively traces of it in the Parliament of
+England': several harangues partook of it which were pronounced there in
+1739, when they debated about declaring war against Spain. The spirits
+of Cicero and Demosthenes seem to have dictated several passages in
+their speeches; but they will not descend to posterity like those of the
+Greeks and Romans, because they want the art and charm of diction, which
+place the seal of immortality on good works.
+
+The temperate species is that of those preparatory discourses, of those
+public speeches, and of those studied compliments, in which the
+deficiency of matter must be concealed with flowers.
+
+These three species are often mingled, as also the three objects of
+eloquence, according to Aristotle: the great merit of the orator
+consists in uniting them with judgment.
+
+Great eloquence can scarcely be known to the bar in France, because it
+does not conduct to honors, as in Athens, Rome, and at present in
+London; neither has it great public interests for its object; it is
+confined to funeral orations, in which it borders a little upon poetry.
+
+Bossuet, and after him Fléchier, seem to have obeyed that precept of
+Plato, which teaches us that the elocution of an orator may sometimes be
+the same as that of a poet.
+
+Pulpit oratory had been almost barbarous until P. Bourdaloue; he was one
+of the first who caused reason to be spoken there.
+
+The English did not arrive at that art until a later date, as is avowed
+by Burnet, bishop of Salisbury. They knew not the funeral oration; they
+avoided, in their sermons, all those vehement turns which appeared not
+to them consistent with the simplicity of the Gospel; and they were
+diffident of using those far-fetched divisions which are condemned by
+Arch-bishop Fénelon, in his dialogues "_Sur l'Éloquence_."
+
+Though our sermons turn on the most important subjects to man, they
+supply few of those striking parts which, like the fine passages of
+Cicero and Demosthenes, are fit to become the models of all the western
+nations. The reader will therefore be glad to learn the effect produced
+by M. Massillon, since bishop of Clermont, the first time that he
+preached his famous sermon on the small number of the elect. A kind of
+transport seized all the audience; they rose involuntarily; the murmurs
+of acclamation and surprise were so great as to disturb the orator; and
+this confusion only served to augment the pathos of his discourse. The
+following is the passage:
+
+"I will suppose that this is our last hour, that the heavens open over
+our heads, that time is past, and that eternity commences; that Jesus
+Christ is going to appear to judge us according to our works, and that
+we are all here to receive from Him the sentence of eternal life or
+death: I ask you, overwhelmed with terror like yourselves, without
+separating my lot from your own, and putting myself in the same
+situation in which we must all one day appear before God our judge--if
+Jesus Christ were now to make the terrible separation of the just from
+the unjust, do you believe that the greater part would be saved? Do you
+believe that the number of the righteous would be in the least degree
+equal to the number of the sinners? Do you believe that, if He now
+discussed the works of the great number who are in this church, He would
+find ten righteous souls among us? Would He find a single one?"
+
+There are several different editions of this discourse, but the
+substance is the same in all of them.
+
+This figure, the boldest which was ever employed, and the best timed, is
+one of the finest turns of eloquence which can be read either among the
+ancients or moderns; and the rest of the discourse is not unworthy of
+this brilliant appeal.
+
+Preachers who cannot imitate these fine models would do well to learn
+them by heart, and deliver them to their congregations--supposing that
+they have the rare talent of declamation--instead of preaching to them,
+in a languishing style, things as common-place as they are useless.
+
+It is asked, if eloquence be permitted to historians? That which belongs
+to them consists in the art of arranging events, in being always elegant
+in their expositions, sometimes lively and impressive, sometimes
+elaborate and florid; in being strong and true in their pictures of
+general manners and principal personages, and in the reflections
+naturally incorporated with the narrative, so that they should not
+appear to be obtruded. The eloquence of Demosthenes belongs not to
+Thucydides; a studied harangue, put into the mouth of a hero who never
+pronounced it is, in the opinion of many enlightened minds, nothing more
+than a splendid defect.
+
+If, however, these licences be permitted, the following is an occasion
+in which Mézeray, in his great history, may obtain grace for a boldness
+so approved by the ancients, to whom he is equal, at least on this
+occasion. It is at the commencement of the reign of Henry IV., when that
+prince, with very few troops, was opposed near Dieppe by an army of
+thirty thousand men, and was advised to retire into England, Mézeray
+excels himself in making a speech for Marshal Biron, who really was a
+man of genius, and might have said a part of that which the historian
+attributes to him:
+
+"What, sire, are you advised to cross the sea, as if there was no other
+way of preserving your kingdom than by quitting it? If you were not in
+France, your friends would have you run all hazards and surmount all
+obstacles to get there; and now you are here, they would have you
+depart--would have you voluntarily do that to which the greatest efforts
+of your enemies ought not to constrain you! In your present state, to go
+out of France only for four-and-twenty hours would be to banish yourself
+from it forever. As to the danger, it is not so great as represented;
+those who think to overcome us are either the same whom we shut up so
+easily in Paris, or people who are not much better, and will rapidly
+have more subjects of dispute among themselves than against us. In
+short, sire, we are in France, and we must remain here; we must show
+ourselves worthy of it; we must either conquer it or die for it; and
+even when there is no other safety for your sacred person than in
+flight, I well know that you would a thousand times rather die planted
+in the soil, than save yourself by such means. Your majesty would never
+suffer it to be said that a younger brother of the house of Lorraine had
+made you retire, and, still less, that you had been seen to beg at the
+door of a foreign prince. No, no, sire--there is neither crown nor honor
+for you across the sea; if you thus demand the succor of England, it
+will not be granted; if you present yourself at the port of Rochelle, as
+a man anxious to save himself, you will only meet with reproaches and
+contempt. I cannot believe that you would rather trust your person to
+the inconstancy of the waves, or the mercy of a stranger, than to so
+many brave gentlemen and old soldiers, who are ready to serve you as
+ramparts and bucklers; and I am too much devoted to your majesty to
+conceal from you, that if you seek your safety elsewhere than in their
+virtue, they will be obliged to seek theirs in a different party from
+your own."
+
+This fine speech which Mézeray puts into the mouth of Marshal Biron is
+no doubt what Henry IV. felt in his heart.
+
+Much more might be said upon the subject; but the books treating of
+eloquence have already said too much; and in an enlightened age,
+genius, aided by examples, knows more of it than can be taught by all
+the masters in the world.
+
+
+
+
+EMBLEMS.
+
+FIGURES, ALLEGORIES, SYMBOLS, ETC.
+
+
+In Antiquity, everything is emblematical and figurative. The Chaldæans
+began with placing a ram, two kids, and a bull among the constellations,
+to indicate the productions of the earth in spring. In Persia, fire is
+the emblem of the divinity; the celestial dog gives notice to the
+Egyptians of the inundations of the Nile; the serpent, concealing its
+tail in its head, becomes the image of eternity. All nature is painted
+and disguised.
+
+There are still to be found in India many of those gigantic and terrific
+statues which we have already mentioned, representing virtue furnished
+with ten arms, with which it may successfully contend against the vices,
+and which our poor missionaries mistook for representations of the
+devil; taking it for granted, that all those who did not speak French or
+Italian were worshippers of the devil.
+
+Show all these symbols devised by antiquity to a man of clear sense, but
+who has never heard them at all mentioned or alluded to, and he will not
+have the slightest idea of their meaning. It would be to him a perfectly
+new language.
+
+The ancient poetical theologians were under the necessity of ascribing
+to the deity eyes, hands, and feet; of describing him under the figure
+of a man.
+
+St. Clement of Alexandria quotes verses from Xenophanes the Colophonian,
+which state that every species of animal supplies metaphor to aid the
+imagination in its ideas of the deity--the wings of the bird, the speed
+of the horse, and the strength of the lion. It is evident, from these
+verses of Xenophanes, that it is by no means a practice of recent date
+for men to represent God after their own image. The ancient Thracian
+Orpheus, the first theologian among the Greeks, who lived long before
+Homer, according to the same Clement of Alexandria, describes God as
+seated upon the clouds, and tranquilly ruling the whirlwind and the
+storm. His feet reach the earth, and His hands extend from one ocean to
+the other. He is the beginning, middle, and end of all things.
+
+Everything being thus represented by figure and emblem, philosophers,
+and particularly those among them who travelled to India, employed the
+same method; their precepts were emblems, were enigmas.
+
+"Stir not the fire with a sword:" that is, aggravate not men who are
+angry.
+
+"Place not a lamp under a bushel:" conceal not the truth from men.
+
+"Abstain from beans:" frequent not popular assemblies, in which votes
+were given by white or black beans.
+
+"Have no swallows about your house:" keep away babblers.
+
+"During a tempest, worship the echo:" while civil broils endure,
+withdraw into retirement.
+
+"Never write on snow:" throw not away instruction upon weak and imbecile
+minds.
+
+"Never devour either your heart or your brains:" never give yourself up
+to useless anxiety or intense study.
+
+Such are the maxims of Pythagoras, the meaning of which is sufficiently
+obvious.
+
+The most beautiful of all emblems is that of God, whom Timæus of Locris
+describes under the image of "A circle whose centre is everywhere and
+circumference nowhere." Plato adopted this emblem, and Pascal inserted
+it among his materials for future use, which he entitled his "Thoughts."
+
+In metaphysics and in morals, the ancients have said everything. We
+always encounter or repeat them. All modern books of this description
+are merely repetitions.
+
+The farther we advance eastward, the more prevalent and established we
+find the employment of emblems and figures: but, at the same time, the
+images in use are more remote from our own manners and customs.
+
+The emblems which appear most singular to us are those which were in
+frequent if not in sacred use among the Indians, Egyptians, and Syrians.
+These people bore aloft in their solemn processions, and with the most
+profound respect, the appropriate organs for the perpetuation of the
+species--the symbols of life. We smile at such practices, and consider
+these people as simple barbarians. What would they have said on seeing
+us enter our temples wearing at our sides the weapons of destruction?
+
+At Thebes, the sins of the people were represented by a goat. On the
+coast of Phœnicia, a naked woman with the lower part of her body like
+that of a fish was the emblem of nature.
+
+We cannot be at all surprised if this employment of symbols extended to
+the Hebrews, as they constituted a people near the Desert of Syria.
+
+_Of Some Emblems Used by the Jewish Nation._
+
+One of the most beautiful emblems in the Jewish books, is the following
+exquisite passage in Ecclesiastes:
+
+"When the grinders shall cease because they are few; when those that
+look out of the windows shall be darkened; when the almond tree shall
+flourish; when the grasshopper shall become a burden; when desire shall
+fail; the silver cord be loosed; the golden bowl be fractured: and the
+pitcher broken at the fountain."
+
+The meaning is, that the aged lose their teeth; that their sight becomes
+impaired; that their hair becomes white, like the blossom of the almond
+tree; that their feet become like the grasshopper; that their hair drops
+off like the leaves of the fir tree; that they have lost the power of
+communicating life; and that it is time for them to prepare for their
+long journey.
+
+The "Song of Songs," as is well known, is a continued emblem of the
+marriage of Jesus Christ with the church.
+
+"Let him kiss me with a kiss of his mouth, for thy breasts are better
+than wine. Let him put his left hand under my head, and embrace me with
+his right hand. How beautiful art thou, my love: thy eyes are like those
+of the dove; thy hair is as a flock of goats; thy lips are like a ribbon
+of scarlet, and thy cheeks like pomegranates; how beautiful is thy neck!
+how thy lips drop honey! my beloved put in his hand by the hole of the
+door, and my bowels were moved for him; thy navel is like a round
+goblet; thy belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies; thy two
+breasts are like two young roes that are twins; thy neck is like a tower
+of ivory; thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon; thy head is like Mount
+Carmel; thy stature is that of a palm tree. I said, I will ascend the
+palm tree and will gather of its fruits. What shall we do for our little
+sister? she has no breasts. If she be a wall, we will build upon her a
+tower of silver; if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of
+cedar."
+
+It would be necessary to translate the whole canticle, in order to see
+that it is an emblem from beginning to end. The ingenious Calmet, in
+particular, demonstrates that the palm tree which the lover ascended is
+the cross to which our Lord Jesus Christ was condemned. It must however
+be confessed, that sound and pure moral doctrine is preferable to these
+allegories.
+
+We find in the books of this people a great number of emblems and types
+which shock at the present day, and excite at once our incredulity and
+ridicule, but which, to the Asiatics, appear clear, natural, and
+unexceptionable.
+
+God appeared to Isaiah, the son of Amos, and said to him, "Go take thy
+girdle from thy loins and thy shoes from thy feet," and he did so,
+walking naked and barefoot. And the Lord said, "Like as my servant
+Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot for three years for a sign upon
+Egypt and Ethiopia, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian
+and Ethiopian prisoners, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their
+hind parts uncovered, to the shame of Egypt."
+
+This appears to us exceedingly strange: but let us inform ourselves a
+little about what is passing in our own times among Turks, and Africans,
+and in India, where we go to trade with so much avidity and so little
+success. We shall learn that it is by no means unusual to see the
+santons there absolutely naked, and not only in that state preaching to
+women, but permitting them to salute particular parts of their body, yet
+neither indulging or inspiring the slightest portion of licentious or
+unchaste feeling. We shall see on the banks of the Ganges an
+innumerable company both of men and women naked from head to foot,
+extending their arms towards heaven, and waiting for the moment of an
+eclipse to plunge into the river. The citizens of Paris and Rome should
+not be too ready to think all the rest of the world bound down to the
+same modes of living and thinking as themselves.
+
+Jeremiah, who prophesied in the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Jerusalem,
+in favor of the king of Babylon, puts chains and cords about his neck,
+by order of the Lord, and sends them to the kings of Edom, Ammon, Tyre
+and Sidon, by their ambassadors who had been sent to Zedekiah at
+Jerusalem. He commands them to address their master in these words:
+
+"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel, thus shall ye say unto
+your masters: I have made the earth, the men, and the beasts of burden
+which are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm,
+and have given it unto whom it seemed good unto me. And now have I given
+all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon,
+my servant, and all the beasts of the field have I given him besides,
+that they may serve him. I spake also all these words to Zedekiah, king
+of Judah, saying unto him, submit your neck to the yoke of the king of
+Babylon, serve him, him and his people, and you shall live," etc.
+
+Accordingly, Jeremiah was accused of betraying his king, and of
+prophesying in favor of the enemy for the sake of money. It has even
+been asserted that he was stoned. It is clear that the cords and chains
+were the emblem of that servitude to which Jeremiah was desirous that
+the nation should submit.
+
+In a similar manner we are told by Herodotus, that one of the kings of
+Scythia sent Darius a present of a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five
+arrows. This emblem implied that, if Darius did not fly as fast as a
+bird, a mouse, or a frog, he would be pierced by the arrows of the
+Scythians. The allegory of Jeremiah was that of weakness; the emblem of
+the Scythians was that of courage.
+
+Thus, also, when Sextus Tarquinius consulted his father, whom we call
+Tarquinius Superbus, about the policy he should adopt to the Gabii,
+Tarquin, who was walking in his garden, answered only by striking off
+the heads of the tallest poppies. His son caught his meaning, and put to
+death the principal citizens among them. This was the emblem of tyranny.
+
+Many learned men have been of opinion that the history of Daniel, of the
+dragon, of the den of seven lions who devoured every day two sheep and
+two men, and the history of the angel who transported Habakkuk by the
+hair of his head to dine with Daniel in the lion's den, are nothing more
+than a visible allegory, an emblem of the continual vigilance with which
+God watches over his servants. But it seems to us a proof of greater
+piety to believe that it is a real history, like many we find in the
+Sacred Scriptures, displaying without figure and type the divine power,
+and which profane minds are not permitted to explore. Let us consider
+those only as genuine emblems and allegories, which are indicated to us
+as such by Holy Scripture itself.
+
+"In the thirteenth year and the fifteenth day of the fourth month, as I
+was in the midst of the captives on the banks of the river Chobar, the
+heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God," etc. "The word of
+the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the
+Chaldæans by the river Chobar, and the hand of the Lord was upon him."
+
+It is thus that Ezekiel begins his prophecy; and, after having seen a
+fire and a whirlwind, and in the midst of the fire four living animals
+resembling a man, having four faces and four wings with feet resembling
+those of calves, and a wheel which was upon the earth, and which had
+four parts, the four parts of the wheel going at the same time, etc.
+
+He goes on to say, "The spirit entered into me, and placed me firm upon
+my feet.... Then the Lord said unto me: 'Son of man, eat that thou
+findest; eat this book, and go and speak to the children of Israel.' So
+I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that book. And the spirit
+entered into me and made me stand upon my feet. And he said unto me: 'Go
+and shut thyself up in the midst of thy house. Son of man, these are the
+chains with which thou shalt set thy face firm against it; thou shalt
+be bound,'" etc. "'And thou, son of man, take a tile and place it before
+thee and portray thereon the city of Jerusalem.'"
+
+"'Take also a pan of iron, and thou shalt place it as a wall of iron
+between thee and the city; thou shalt be before Jerusalem as if thou
+didst besiege it; it is a sign to the house of Israel.'"
+
+After this command God orders him to sleep three hundred and ninety days
+on his left side, on account of the iniquities of the house of Judah.
+
+Before we go further we will transcribe the words of that judicious
+commentator Calmet, on this part of Ezekiel's prophecy, which is at once
+a history and an allegory, a real truth and an emblem. These are the
+remarks of that learned Benedictine:
+
+"There are some who think that the whole of this occurred merely in
+vision; that a man cannot continue lying so long on the same side
+without a miracle; that, as the Scripture gives us no intimation that
+this is a prodigy, we ought not to multiply miraculous acts without
+necessity; that, if the prophet continued lying in that manner for three
+hundred and ninety days, it was only during the nights; in the day he
+was at liberty to attend to his affairs. But we do not see any necessity
+for recurring to a miracle, nor for any circuitous explanation of the
+case here stated. It is by no means impossible for a man to continue
+chained and lying on his side for three hundred and ninety days. We
+have every day before us cases which prove the possibility among
+prisoners, sick persons, and persons deranged and chained in a state of
+raving madness. Prado testifies that he saw a mad person who continued
+bound and lying quite naked on his side upwards of fifteen years. If all
+this had occurred only in vision, how could' the Jews of the captivity
+have comprehended what Ezekiel meant to say to them? How would that
+prophet have been able to execute the divine commands? We must in that
+case admit likewise that he did not prepare the plan of Jerusalem, that
+he did not represent the siege, that he was not bound, that he did not
+eat the bread of different kinds of grain in any other than the same
+way; namely, that of vision, or ideally."
+
+We cannot but adopt the opinion of the learned Calmet, which is that of
+the most respectable interpreters. It is evident that the Holy Scripture
+recounts the matter as a real truth, and that such truth is the emblem,
+type, and figure of another truth.
+
+"Take unto thee wheat and barley, and beans and lentils, and millet and
+vetches, and make cakes of them for as many days as thou art to sleep on
+thy side. Thou shalt eat for three hundred and ninety days ... thou
+shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt cover it with human ordure.
+Thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread defiled."
+
+It is evident that the Lord was desirous that the Israelites should eat
+their bread defiled. It follows therefore that the bread of the prophet
+must have been defiled also. This defilement was so real that Ezekiel
+expressed actual horror at it. "Alas!" he exclaimed, "my life (my soul)
+has not hitherto been polluted," etc. And the Lord says to him, "I allow
+thee, then, cow's dung instead of man's, and with that shalt thou
+prepare thy bread."
+
+It appears, therefore, to have been absolutely essential that the food
+should be defiled in order to its becoming an emblem or type. The
+prophet in fact put cow-dung with his bread for three hundred and ninety
+days, and the case includes at once a fact and a symbol.
+
+_Of the Emblem of Aholah and Aholibah._
+
+The Holy Scripture expressly declares that Aholah is the emblem of
+Jerusalem. "Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations; thy
+father was an Amorite, and thy mother was a Hittite." The prophet then,
+without any apprehension of malignant interpretations or wanton
+railleries, addresses the young Aholah in the following words:
+
+"_Ubera tua intumuerunt, et pilus tuus germinavit; et eras nuda et
+confusione plena_."--"Thy breasts were fashioned, and thy hair was
+grown, and thou wast naked and confused."
+
+"_Et transivi per te; et ecce tempus tuum, tempus amantium; et expandi
+amictum meum super te et operui ignominiam tuam. Et juravi tibi, et
+ingressus sum pactum tecum (ait Dominus Deus), et facta es mihi_."--"I
+passed by and saw thee; and saw thy time was come, thy time for lovers;
+and I spread my mantle over thee and concealed thy shame. And I swore
+to thee, and entered into a contract with thee, and thou becamest mine."
+
+"_Et habens fiduciam in pulchritudine tua fornicata es in nomine tuo; et
+exposuisti fornicationem tuam omni transeunti, at ejus fieres_."--"And,
+proud of thy beauty, thou didst commit fornication without disguise, and
+hast exposed thy fornication to every passerby, to become his."
+
+"_Et ædificavisti tibi lupanar, et fecisti tibi prostibulum in cunctis
+plateis_."--"And thou hast built a high place for thyself, and a place
+of eminence in every public way."
+
+"_Et divisisti pedes tuos omni transeunti, et multiplicasti
+fornicationes tuas_."--"And thou hast opened thy feet to every passerby,
+and hast multiplied thy fornications."
+
+"_Et fornicata es cum filiis Egypti vicinis tuis, magnarum carnium; et
+multiplicasti fornicationem tuam ad irritandum me_."--"And thou hast
+committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbors, powerful in the
+flesh; and thou hast multiplied thy fornication to provoke me."
+
+The article of Aholibah, which signifies Samaria, is much stronger and
+still further removed from the propriety and decorum of modern manners
+and language.
+
+"_Denudavit quoque fornicationes suas, discooperuit ignominiam
+suam_."--"And she has made bare her fornications and discovered her
+shame."
+
+"_Multiplicavit enim fornicationes suas, recordans dies adolescentiæ
+suæ_."--"For she has multiplied her fornications, remembering the days
+of her youth."
+
+"_Et insanivit libidine super concubitum eorum carnes sunt ut carnes
+asinorum, et sicut fluxus equorum, fluxus eorum_."--"And she has
+maddened for the embraces of those whose flesh is as the flesh of asses,
+and whose issue is as the issue of horses."
+
+These images strike us as licentious and revolting. They were at that
+time simply plain and ingenuous. There are numerous instances of the
+like in the "Song of Songs," intended to celebrate the purest of all
+possible unions. It must be attentively considered that these
+expressions and images are always delivered with seriousness and
+gravity, and that in no book of equally high antiquity is the slightest
+jeering or raillery ever applied to the great subject of human
+production. When dissoluteness is condemned, it is so in natural and
+undisguised terms, but such are never used to stimulate voluptuousness
+or pleasantry.
+
+This high antiquity has not the slightest touch of similarity to the
+licentiousness of Martial, Catullus, or Petronius.
+
+_Of Hosea, and Some Other Emblems._
+
+We cannot regard as a mere vision, as simply a figure, the positive
+command given by the Lord to Hosea to take to himself a wife of
+whoredoms and have by her three children. Children are not produced in
+a dream. It is not in a vision that he made a contract with Gomer, the
+daughter of Diblaim, by whom he had two boys and a girl. It was not in a
+vision that he afterwards took to himself an adulteress by the express
+order of the Lord, giving her fifteen pieces of silver and a measure and
+a half of barley.
+
+The first of these disgraced women signified Jerusalem and the second
+Samaria. But the two unions with these worthless persons, the three
+children, the fifteen pieces of silver, and the bushel and a half of
+barley, were not the less real for having included or been intended as
+an emblem.
+
+It was not in a vision that the patriarch Salmon married the harlot
+Rahab, the grandmother of David. It was not in a vision that Judah
+committed incest with his daughter-in-law Thamar, from which incest
+sprang David. It was not in a vision that Ruth, David's other
+grandmother, placed herself in the bed with Boaz. It was not in a vision
+that David murdered Uriah and committed adultery with Bathsheba, of whom
+was born King Solomon. But, subsequently, all these events became
+emblems and figures, after the things which they typified were
+accomplished.
+
+It is perfectly clear, from Ezekiel, Hosea, Jeremiah, and all the Jewish
+prophets, and all the Jewish books, as well as from all other books
+which give us any information concerning the usages of the Chaldæans,
+Persians, Phœnicians, Syrians, Indians, and Egyptians; it is, I say,
+perfectly clear that their manners were very different from ours, and
+that the ancient world was scarcely in a single point similar to the
+modern one.
+
+Pass from Gibraltar to Mequinez, and the decencies and decorums of life
+are no longer the same; you no longer find the same ideas. Two sea
+leagues have changed everything.
+
+
+
+
+ENCHANTMENT.
+
+MAGIC, CONJURATION, SORCERY, ETC.
+
+
+It is not in the smallest degree probable that all those abominable
+absurdities are owing, as Pluche would have us believe, to the foliage
+with which the heads of Isis and Osiris were formerly crowned. What
+connection can this foliage have with the art of charming serpents, with
+that of resuscitating the dead, killing men by mere words, inspiring
+persons with love, or changing men into beasts?
+
+Enchantment (_incantatio_) comes, say some, from a Chaldee word, which
+the Greeks translate "productive song." _Incantatio_ comes from the
+Chaldee. Truly, the Bocharts are great travellers and proceed from Italy
+to Mesopotamia in a twinkling! The great and learned Hebrew nation is
+rapidly explored, and all sorts of books, and all sorts of usages, are
+the fruits of the journey; the Bocharts are certainly not charlatans.
+
+Is not a large portion of the absurd superstitions which have prevailed
+to be ascribed to very natural causes? There are scarcely any animals
+that may not be accustomed to approach at the sound of a bagpipe, or a
+single horn, to take their food. Orpheus, or some one of his
+predecessors, played the bagpipe better than other shepherds, or
+employed singing. All the domestic animals flocked together at the sound
+of his voice. It was soon supposed that bears and tigers were among the
+number collected; this first step accomplished, there was no difficulty
+in believing that Orpheus made stones and trees dance.
+
+If rocks and pine-trees can be thus made to dance a ballet, it will cost
+little more to build cities by harmony, and the stones will easily
+arrange themselves at Amphion's song. A violin only will be wanted to
+build a city, and a ram's horn to destroy it.
+
+The charming of serpents may be attributed to a still more plausible
+cause. The serpent is neither a voracious nor a ferocious animal. Every
+reptile is timid. The first thing a reptile does, at least in Europe, on
+seeing a man, is to hide itself in a hole, like a rabbit or a lizard.
+The instinct of a man is to pursue everything that flies from him, and
+to fly from all that pursue him, except when he is armed, when he feels
+his strength, and, above all, when he is in the presence of many
+observers.
+
+The serpent, far from being greedy of blood and flesh, feeds only upon
+herbs, and passes a considerable time without eating at all; if he
+swallows a few insects, as lizards and chameleons do, he does us a
+service.
+
+All travellers relate that there are some very large and long ones;
+although we know of none such in Europe. No man or child was ever
+attacked there by a large serpent or a small one. Animals attack only
+what they want to eat; and dogs never bite passengers but in defence of
+their masters. What could a serpent do with a little infant? What
+pleasure could it derive from biting it? It could not swallow even the
+fingers. Serpents do certainly bite, and squirrels also, but only when
+they are injured, or are fearful of being so.
+
+I am not unwilling to believe that there have been monsters among
+serpents as well as among men. I will admit that the army of Regulus was
+put under arms in Africa against a dragon; and that there has since been
+a Norman there who fought against the waterspout. But it will be
+granted, on the other hand, that such cases are exceedingly rare.
+
+The two serpents that came from Tenedos for the express purpose of
+devouring Laocoon, and two great lads twenty years of age, in the
+presence of the whole Trojan army, form a very fine prodigy, and one
+worthy of being transmitted to posterity by hexameter verses, and by
+statues which represent Laocoon like a giant, and his stout boys as
+pygmies.
+
+I conceive this event to have happened in those times when a prodigious
+wooden horse took cities which had been built by the gods, when rivers
+flowed backward to their fountains, when waters were changed to blood,
+and both sun and moon stood still on the slightest possible occasion.
+
+Everything that has been related about serpents was considered probable
+in countries in which Apollo came down from heaven to slay the serpent
+Python.
+
+Serpents were also supposed to be exceedingly sensible animals. Their
+sense consists in not running so fast as we do, and in suffering
+themselves to be cut in pieces.
+
+The bite of serpents, and particularly of vipers, is not dangerous,
+except when irritation has produced the fermentation of a small
+reservoir of very acid humor which they have under their gums. With this
+exception, a serpent is no more dangerous than an eel.
+
+Many ladies have tamed and fed serpents, placed them on their toilets,
+and wreathed them about their arms. The negroes of Guinea worship a
+serpent which never injures any one.
+
+There are many species of those reptiles, and some are more dangerous
+than others in hot countries; but in general, serpents are timid and
+mild animals; it is not uncommon to see them sucking the udder of a cow.
+
+Those who first saw men more daring than themselves domesticate and feed
+serpents, inducing them to come to them by a hissing sound in a similar
+way to that by which we induce the approach of bees, considered them as
+possessing the power of enchantment. The Psilli and Marsæ, who
+familiarly handled and fondled serpents, had a similar reputation. The
+apothecaries of Poitou, who take up vipers by the tail, might also, if
+they chose, be respected as magicians of the first order.
+
+The charming of serpents was considered as a thing regular and constant.
+The Sacred Scripture itself, which always enters into our weaknesses,
+deigned to conform itself to this vulgar idea.
+
+"The deaf adder, which shuts its ears that it may not hear the voice of
+the charmer."
+
+"I will send among you serpents which will resist enchantments."
+
+"The slanderer is like the serpent, which yields not to the enchanter."
+
+The enchantment was sometimes so powerful as to make serpents burst
+asunder. The natural philosophy of antiquity made this animal immortal.
+If any rustic found a dead serpent in his road, some enchanter must
+inevitably have deprived it of its right to immortality:
+
+     _Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis._
+                                     --VIRG. _Eclogue_ viii. 71.
+     Verse breaks the ground, and penetrates the brake,
+     And in the winding cavern splits the snake.
+                                                  --DRYDEN.
+
+_Enchantment of the Dead, or Evocation._
+
+To enchant a dead person, to resuscitate him, or barely to evoke his
+shade to speak to him, was the most simple thing in the world. It is
+very common to see the dead in dreams, in which they are spoken to and
+return answers. If any one has seen them during sleep, why may he not
+see them when he is awake? It is only necessary to have a spirit like
+the pythoness; and, to bring this spirit of python-ism into successful
+operation it is only necessary that one party should be a knave and the
+other a fool; and no one can deny that such _rencontres_ very frequently
+occur.
+
+The evocation of the dead was one of the sublimest mysteries of magic.
+Sometimes there was made to pass before the eyes of the inquiring
+devotee a large, black figure, moved by secret springs in dimness and
+obscurity. Sometimes the performers, whether sorcerers or witches,
+limited themselves to declaring that _they_ saw the shade which was
+desired to be evoked, and their word was sufficient; this was called
+necromancy. The famous witch of Endor has always been a subject of great
+dispute among the fathers of the Church. The sage Theodoret, in his
+sixty-second question on the Book of Kings, asserts that it is
+universally the practice for the dead to appear with the head downwards,
+and that what terrified the witch was Samuel's being upon his legs.
+
+St. Augustine, when interrogated by Simplicion, replies, in the second
+book of his "Questions," that there is nothing more extraordinary in a
+witch's invoking a shade than in the devil's transporting Jesus Christ
+through the air to the pinnacle of the temple on the top of a mountain.
+
+Some learned men, observing that there were oracular spirits among the
+Jews, have ventured to conclude that the Jews began to write only at a
+late period, and that they built almost everything upon Greek fable; but
+this opinion cannot be maintained.
+
+_Of Other Sorceries._
+
+When a man is sufficiently expert to evoke the dead by words, he may yet
+more easily destroy the living, or at least threaten them with doing so,
+as the physician, _malgré lui_, told Lucas that he would give him a
+fever. At all events, it was not in the slightest degree doubtful that
+sorcerers had the power of killing beasts; and, to insure the stock of
+cattle, it was necessary to oppose sorcery to sorcery. But the ancients
+can with little propriety be laughed at by us, who are ourselves
+scarcely even yet extricated from the same barbarism. A hundred years
+have not yet expired since sorcerers were burned all over Europe; and
+even as recently as 1750, a sorceress, or witch, was burned at Wurzburg.
+It is unquestionable that certain words and ceremonies will effectually
+destroy a flock of sheep, if administered with a sufficient portion of
+arsenic.
+
+The "Critical, History of Superstitious Ceremonies," by Lebrun of the
+Oratory, is a singular work. His object is to oppose the ridiculous
+doctrine of witchcraft, and yet he is himself so ridiculous as to
+believe in its reality. He pretends that Mary Bucaille, the witch, while
+in prison at Valognes, _appeared_ at some leagues distance, according to
+the evidence given on oath to the judge of Valognes. He relates the
+famous prosecution of the shepherds of Brie, condemned in 1691, by the
+Parliament of Paris, to be hanged and burned. These shepherds had been
+fools enough to think themselves sorcerers, and villains enough to mix
+real poisons with their imaginary sorceries.
+
+Father Lebrun solemnly asserts that there was much of what was
+"supernatural" in what they did, and that they were hanged in
+consequence. The sentence of the parliament is in direct opposition to
+this author's statement. "The court declares the accused duly attainted
+and convicted of superstitions, impieties, sacrileges, profanations, and
+poisonings."
+
+The sentence does not state that the death of the cattle was caused by
+profanations, but by poison. A man may commit sacrilege without as well
+as with poison, without being a sorcerer.
+
+Other judges, I acknowledge, sentenced the priest Ganfredi to be burned,
+in the firm belief that, by the influence of the devil, he had an
+illicit commerce with all his female penitents. Ganfredi himself
+imagined that he was under that influence; but that was in 1611, a
+period when the majority of our provincial population was very little
+raised above the Caribs and negroes. Some of this description have
+existed even in our own times; as, for example, the Jesuit Girard, the
+ex-Jesuit Nonnotte, the Jesuit Duplessis, and the ex-Jesuit Malagrida;
+but this race of imbeciles is daily hastening to extinction.
+
+With respect to lycanthropy, that is, the transformation of men into
+wolves by the power of enchantment, we may observe that a young
+shepherd's having killed a wolf, and clothed himself with its skin, was
+enough to excite the terror of all the old women of the district, and to
+spread throughout the province, and thence through other provinces, the
+notion of a man's having been changed into a wolf. Some Virgil will soon
+be found to say:
+
+     _His ego sæpe lupum fieri, et se condere silvis_
+     _Mœrim sæpe animas imis exire sepulchris._
+
+     Smeared with these powerful juices on the plain.
+     He howls a wolf among the hungry train,
+     And oft the mighty necromancer boasts
+     With these to call from tombs the stalking ghosts.
+                                               --DRYDEN.
+
+To see a man-wolf must certainly be a great curiosity; but to see human
+souls must be more curious still; and did not the monks of Monte Cassino
+see the soul of the holy Benedict, or Bennet? Did not the monks of Tours
+see St. Martin's? and the monks of St. Denis that of Charles Martel?
+
+_Enchantments to Kindle Love._
+
+These were for the young. They were vended by the Jews at Rome and
+Alexandria, and are at the present day sold in Asia. You will find some
+of these secrets in the "_Petit Albert_"; and will become further
+initiated by reading the pleading composed by Apuleius on his being
+accused by a Christian, whose daughter he had married, of having
+bewitched her by philtres. Emilian, his father-in-law, alleged that he
+had made use of certain fishes, since, Venus having been born of the
+sea, fishes must necessarily have prodigious influence in exciting women
+to love.
+
+What was generally made use of consisted of vervain, tenia, and
+hippomanes; or a small portion of the secundine of a mare that had just
+foaled, together with a little bird called wagtail; in Latin
+_motacilla._
+
+But Apuleius was chiefly accused of having employed shell-fish, lobster
+patties, she-hedgehogs, spiced oysters, and cuttle-fish, which was
+celebrated for its productiveness.
+
+Apuleius clearly explains the real philtre, or charm, which had excited
+Pudentilla's affection for him. He undoubtedly admits, in his defence,
+that his wife had called him a magician. "But what," says he, "if she
+had called me a consul, would that have made me one?"
+
+The plant satyrion was considered both among the Greeks and Romans as
+the most powerful of philtres. It was called _planto aphrodisia_, the
+plant of Venus. That called by the Latins _eruca_ is now often added to
+the former.--_Et venerem revocans eruca morantem._
+
+A little essence of amber is frequently used. Mandragora has gone out
+of fashion. Some exhausted debauchees have employed cantharides, which
+strongly affect the susceptible parts of the frame, and often produce
+severe and painful consequences.
+
+Youth and health are the only genuine philtres. Chocolate was for a long
+time in great celebrity with our debilitated _petits-maîtres_. But a man
+may take twenty cups of chocolate without inspiring any attachment to
+his person.--"_... ut amoris amabilis esto_." (Ovid, A. A. ii.,
+107.)--"Wouldst thou be loved, be amiable."
+
+
+
+
+END OF THE WORLD.
+
+
+The greater part of the Greek philosophers held the universe to be
+eternal both with respect to commencement and duration. But as to this
+petty portion of the world or universe, this globe of stone and earth
+and water, of minerals and vapors, which we inhabit, it was somewhat
+difficult to form an opinion; it was, however, deemed very destructible.
+It was even said that it had been destroyed more than once, and would be
+destroyed again. Every one judged of the whole world from his own
+particular country, as an old woman judges of all mankind from those in
+her own nook and neighborhood.
+
+This idea of the end of our little world and its renovation strongly
+possessed the imagination of the nations under subjection to the Roman
+Empire, amidst the horrors of the civil wars between Cæsar and Pompey.
+Virgil, in his "Georgics" (i., 468), alludes to the general apprehension
+which rilled the minds of the common people from this cause: "_Impiaque
+eternam timuerunt secula noctem_."--"And impious men now dread eternal
+night."
+
+Lucan, in the following lines, expresses himself much more explicitly:
+
+     _Hos Cæsar populos, si nunc non usserit ignis_
+     _Uret cum terris, uret cum gurgite ponti._
+     _Communis mundo superest rogus...._
+                                 --PHARS. vii. v. 812, 14.
+
+     Though now thy cruelty denies a grave,
+     These and the world one common lot shall have;
+     One last appointed flame, by fate's decree,
+     Shall waste yon azure heavens, the earth, and sea.
+                                                 --ROWE.
+
+And Ovid, following up the observations of Lucan, says:
+
+     _Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur affore tempus,_
+     _Quo mare, quo tellus, correptaque regia cœli_,
+     _Ardent et mundi moles operosa laboret._
+                                     --MET. i. v. 256, 58.
+
+     For thus the stern, unyielding fates decree,
+     That earth, air, heaven, with the capacious sea,
+     All shall fall victims to consuming fire,
+     And in fierce flames the blazing world expire.
+
+Consult Cicero himself, the philosophic Cicero. He tells us, in his book
+concerning the "Nature of the Gods," the best work perhaps of all
+antiquity, unless we make an exception in favor of his treatise on human
+duties, called "The Offices"; in that book, I say, he remarks:
+
+"_Ex quo eventurum nostri putant id, de quo Panœtium addubitare
+dicebant; ut ad extremum omnis mundus ignosceret, cum, humore
+consumpto, neque terra ali posset, neque remearet, aer cujus ortus, aqua
+omni exhausta, esse non posset; ita relinqui nihil præter ignem, a quo
+rursum animante ac Deo renovatio mundi fieret; atque idem ornatus
+oriretur._"
+
+"According to the Stoics, the whole world will eventually consist only
+of fire; the water being then exhausted, will leave no nourishment for
+the earth; and the air, which derives its existence from water, can of
+course no longer be supplied. Thus fire alone will remain, and this
+fire, reanimating everything with, as it were, god-like power and
+energy, will restore the world with improved beauty."
+
+This natural philosophy of the Stoics, like that indeed of all
+antiquity, is not a little absurd; it shows, however, that the
+expectation of a general conflagration was universal.
+
+Prepare, however, for greater astonishment than the errors of antiquity
+can excite. The great Newton held the same opinion as Cicero. Deceived
+by an incorrect experiment of Boyle, he thought that the moisture of the
+globe would at length be dried up, and that it would be necessary for
+God to apply His reforming hand "_manum emendatricem_." Thus we have the
+two greatest men of ancient Rome and modern England precisely of the
+same opinion, that at some future period fire will completely prevail
+over water.
+
+This idea of a perishing and subsequently to be renewed world was
+deeply rooted in the minds of the inhabitants of Asia Minor, Syria, and
+Egypt, from the time of the civil wars of the successors of Alexander.
+Those of the Romans augmented the terror, upon this subject, of the
+various nations which became the victims of them. They expected the
+destruction of the world and hoped for a new one. The Jews, who are
+slaves in Syria and scattered through every other land, partook of this
+universal terror.
+
+Accordingly, it does not appear that the Jews were at all astonished
+when Jesus said to them, according to St. Matthew and St. Luke: "Heaven
+and earth shall pass away." He often said to them: "The kingdom of God
+is at hand." He preached the gospel of the kingdom of God.
+
+St. Peter announces that the gospel was preached to them that were dead,
+and that the end of the world drew near. "We expect," says he, "new
+heavens and a new earth."
+
+St. John, in his first Epistle, says: "There are at present many
+antichrists, which shows that the last hour draws near."
+
+St. Luke, in much greater detail, predicts the end of the world and the
+last judgment. These are his words:
+
+"There shall be signs in the moon and in the stars, roarings of the sea
+and the waves; men's hearts failing them for fear shall look with
+trembling to the events about to happen. The powers of heaven shall be
+shaken; and then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with
+great power and majesty. Verily I say unto you, the present generation
+shall not pass away till all this be fulfilled."
+
+We do not dissemble that unbelievers upbraid us with this very
+prediction; they want to make us blush for our faith, when we consider
+that the world is still in existence. The generation, they say, is
+passed away, and yet nothing at all of this is fulfilled. Luke,
+therefore, ascribes language to our Saviour which he never uttered, or
+we must conclude that Jesus Christ Himself was mistaken, which would be
+blasphemy. But we close the mouth of these impious cavillers by
+observing that this prediction, which appears so false in its literal
+meaning, is true in its spirit; that the whole world meant Judæa, and
+that the end of the world signified the reign of Titus and his
+successors.
+
+St. Paul expresses himself very strongly on the subject of the end of
+the world in his Epistle to the Thessalonians: "We who survive, and who
+now address you, shall be taken up into the clouds to meet the Lord in
+the air."
+
+According to these very words of Jesus and St. Paul, the whole world was
+to have an end under Tiberius, or at latest under Nero. St. Paul's
+prediction was fulfilled no more than St. Luke's.
+
+These allegorical predictions were undoubtedly not meant to apply to the
+times of the evangelists and apostles, but to some future time, which
+God conceals from all mankind.
+
+     _Tu ne quaesieris (scire nefas) quem mihi, quem tibi_
+       _Finem Dii dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios_
+     _Tentaris numeros. Ut melius, quicquid erit, pati!_
+                                              --HORACE i. ode xl.
+
+     Strive not Leuconoe, to pry
+       Into the secret will of fate,
+     Nor impious magic vainly try
+       To know our lives' uncertain date.
+                                 --FRANCIS.
+
+It is still perfectly certain that all nations then known entertained
+the expectation of the end of the world, of a new earth and a new
+heaven. For more than sixteen centuries we see that donations to monkish
+institutions have commenced with these words: "_Adventante mundi
+vespere_," etc.--"The end of the world being at hand, I, for the good of
+my soul, and to avoid being one of the number of the goats on the left
+hand.... leave such and such lands to such a convent." Fear influenced
+the weak to enrich the cunning.
+
+The Egyptians fixed this grand epoch at the end of thirty-six thousand
+five hundred years; Orpheus is stated to have fixed it at the distance
+of a hundred and twenty thousand years.
+
+The historian Flavius Josephus asserts that Adam, having predicted that
+the world would be twice destroyed, once by water and next by fire, the
+children of Seth were desirous of announcing to the future race of men
+the disastrous catastrophe. They engraved astronomical observations on
+two columns, one made of bricks, which should resist the fire that was
+to consume the world; the other of stones, which would remain uninjured
+by the water that was to drown it. But what thought the Romans, when a
+few slaves talked to them about an Adam and a Seth unknown to all the
+world besides? They smiled. Josephus adds that the column of stones was
+to be seen in his own time in Syria.
+
+From all that has been said, we may conclude that we know exceedingly
+little of past events--that we are but ill acquainted with those
+present--that we know nothing at all about the future--and that we ought
+to refer everything relating to them to God, the master of those three
+divisions of time and of eternity.
+
+
+
+
+ENTHUSIASM.
+
+
+This Greek word signifies "emotion of the bowels, internal agitation."
+Was the word invented by the Greeks to express the vibrations
+experienced by the nerves, the dilation and shrinking of the intestines,
+the violent contractions of the heart, the precipitous course of those
+fiery spirits which mount from the viscera to the brain whenever we are
+strongly and vividly affected?
+
+Or was the term "enthusiasm," after painful affection of the bowels,
+first applied to the contortions of the Pythia, who, on the Delphian
+tripod, admitted the inspiration of Apollo in a place apparently
+intended for the receptacle of body rather than of spirit?
+
+What do we understand by enthusiasm? How many shades are there in our
+affections! Approbation, sensibility, emotion, distress, impulse,
+passion, transport, insanity, rage, fury. Such are the stages through
+which the miserable soul of man is liable to pass.
+
+A geometrician attends at the representation of an affecting tragedy. He
+merely remarks that it is a judicious, well-written performance. A young
+man who sits next to him is so interested by the performance that he
+makes no remark at all; a lady sheds tears over it; another young man is
+so transported by the exhibition that to his great misfortune he goes
+home determined to compose a tragedy himself. He has caught the disease
+of enthusiasm.
+
+The centurion or military tribune who considers war simply as a
+profession by which he is to make his fortune, goes to battle coolly,
+like a tiler ascending the roof of a house. Cæsar wept at seeing the
+statue of Alexander.
+
+Ovid speaks of love only like one who understood it. Sappho expressed
+the genuine enthusiasm of the passion, and if it be true that she
+sacrificed her life to it, her enthusiasm must have advanced to madness.
+
+The spirit of party tends astonishingly to excite enthusiasm; there is
+no faction that has not its "_energumens_" its devoted and possessed
+partisans. An animated speaker who employs gesture in his addresses, has
+in his eyes, his voice, his movements, a subtle poison which passes
+with an arrow's speed into the ears and hearts of his partial hearers.
+It was on this ground that Queen Elizabeth forbade any one to preach,
+during six months, without an express licence under her sign manual,
+that the peace of her kingdom might be undisturbed.
+
+St. Ignatius, who possessed very warm and susceptible feelings, read the
+lives of the fathers of the desert after being deeply read in romances.
+He becomes, in consequence, actuated by a double enthusiasm. He
+constitutes himself knight to the Virgin Mary, he performed the vigil of
+arms; he is eager to fight for his lady patroness; he is favored--with
+visions; the virgin appears and recommends to him her son, and she
+enjoins him to give no other name to his society than that of the
+"Society of Jesus."
+
+Ignatius communicates his enthusiasm to another Spaniard of the name of
+Xavier. Xavier hastens away to the Indies, of the language of which he
+is utterly ignorant, thence to Japan, without knowing a word of
+Japanese. That, however, is of no consequence; the flame of his
+enthusiasm catches the imagination of some young Jesuits, who, at
+length, make themselves masters of that language. These disciples, after
+Xavier's death, entertain not the shadow of a doubt that he performed
+more miracles than ever the apostles did, and that he resuscitated seven
+or eight persons at the very least. In short, so epidemic and powerful
+becomes the enthusiasm that they form in Japan what they denominate a
+Christendom (_une Chrétienté_). This Christendom ends in a civil war, in
+which a hundred thousand persons are slaughtered: the enthusiasm then is
+at its highest point, fanaticism; and fanaticism has become madness.
+
+The young fakir who fixes his eye on the tip of his nose when saying his
+prayers, gradually kindles in devotional ardor until he at length
+believes that if he burdens himself with chains of fifty pounds weight
+the Supreme Being will be obliged and grateful to him. He goes to sleep
+with an imagination totally absorbed by Brahma, and is sure to have a
+sight of him in a dream. Occasionally even in the intermediate state
+between sleeping and waking, sparks radiate from his eyes; he beholds
+Brahma resplendent with light; he falls into ecstasies, and the disease
+frequently becomes incurable.
+
+What is most rarely to be met with is the combination of reason with
+enthusiasm. Reason consists in constantly perceiving things as they
+really are. He, who, under the influence of intoxication, sees objects
+double is at the time deprived of reason.
+
+Enthusiasm is precisely like wine, it has the power to excite such a
+ferment in the blood-vessels, and such strong vibrations in the nerves,
+that reason is completely destroyed by it. But it may also occasion only
+slight agitations so as not to convulse the brain, but merely to render
+it more active, as is the case in grand bursts of eloquence and more
+especially in sublime poetry. Reasonable enthusiasm is the patrimony of
+great poets.
+
+This reasonable enthusiasm is the perfection of their art. It is this
+which formerly occasioned the belief that poets were inspired by the
+gods, a notion which was never applied to other artists.
+
+How is reasoning to control enthusiasm? A poet should, in the first
+instance, make a sketch of his design. Reason then holds the crayon. But
+when he is desirous of animating his characters, to communicate to them
+the different and just expressions of the passions, then his imagination
+kindles, enthusiasm is in full operation and urges him on like a fiery
+courser in his career. But his course has been previously traced with
+coolness and judgment.
+
+Enthusiasm is admissible into every species of poetry which admits of
+sentiment; we occasionally find it even in the eclogue; witness the
+following lines of Virgil (Eclogue x. v. 58):
+
+     _Jam mihi per rupes videor lucosque sonantes_
+     _Ire; libet Partho torquere cydonia cornu_
+     _Spicula; tanquam haec sint nostri medicina furoris,_
+     _Aut deus ille malis hominum mitescere discat!_
+
+     Nor cold shall hinder me, with horns and hounds
+     To thrid the thickets, or to leap the mounds.
+     And now, methinks, through steepy rocks I go,
+     And rush through sounding woods and bend the Parthian
+       bow:
+     As if with sports my sufferings I could ease,
+     Or by my pains the god of Love appease.
+
+The style of epistles and satires represses enthusiasm, we accordingly
+see little or nothing of it in the works of Boileau and Pope.
+
+Our odes, it is said by some, are genuine lyrical enthusiasm, but as
+they are not sung with us, they are, in fact, rather collections of
+verses, adorned with ingenious reflections, than odes.
+
+Of all modern odes that which abounds with the noblest enthusiasm, an
+enthusiasm that never abates, that never falls into the bombastic or the
+ridiculous, is "Timotheus, or Alexander's Feast," by Dryden. It is still
+considered in England as an inimitable masterpiece, which Pope, when
+attempting the same style and the same subject, could not even approach.
+This ode was sung, set to music, and if the musician had been worthy of
+the poet it would have been the masterpiece of lyric poesy.
+
+The most dangerous tendency of enthusiasm in this occurs in an ode on
+the birth of a prince of the bast, rant, and burlesque. A striking
+example of this occurs in an ode on the birth of a prince of the blood
+royal:
+
+     _Où suis-je? quel nouveau miracle_
+     _Tient encore mes sens enchantés_
+     _Quel vaste, quel pompeux spectacle_
+     _Frappe mes yeux épouvantés?_
+     _Un nouveau monde vient d'éclore_
+     _L'univers se reforme encore_
+     _Dans les abîmes du chaos;_
+     _Et, pour réparer ses ruines_
+     _Je vois des demeures divines_
+     _Descendre un peuple de héros._
+                                   --J.B. ROUSSEAU.
+     "Ode on the Birth of the Duke of Brittany."
+
+
+Here we find the poet's senses enchanted and alarmed at the appearance
+of a prodigy--a vast and magnificent spectacle--a new birth which is to
+reform the universe and redeem it from a state of chaos, all which
+means simply that a male child is born to the house of Bourbon. This is
+as bad as "_Je chante les vainqueurs, des vainqueurs de la terre_."
+
+We will avail ourselves of the present opportunity to observe that there
+is a very small portion of enthusiasm in the "Ode on the Taking of
+Namur."
+
+
+
+
+ENVY.
+
+
+We all know what the ancients said of this disgraceful passion and what
+the moderns have repeated. Hesiod is the first classic author who has
+spoken of it.
+
+"The potter envies the potter, the artisan the artisan, the poor even
+the poor, the musician the musician--or, if any one chooses to give a
+different meaning to the word _avidos_--the poet the poet."
+
+Long before Hesiod, Job had remarked, "Envy destroys the little-minded."
+
+I believe Mandeville, the author of the "Fable of the Bees," is the
+first who has endeavored to prove that envy is a good thing, a very
+useful passion. His first reason is that envy was as natural to man as
+hunger and thirst; that it may be observed in all children, as well as
+in horses and dogs. If you wish your children to hate one another,
+caress one more than the other; the prescription is infallible.
+
+He asserts that the first thing two young women do when they meet
+together is to discover matter for ridicule, and the second to flatter
+each other.
+
+He thinks that without envy the arts would be only moderately
+cultivated, and that Raphael would never have been a great painter if he
+had not been jealous of Michael Angelo.
+
+Mandeville, perhaps, mistook emulation for envy; perhaps, also,
+emulation is nothing but envy restricted within the bounds of decency.
+
+Michael Angelo might say to Raphael, your envy has only induced you to
+study and execute still better than I do; you have not depreciated me,
+you have not caballed against me before the pope, you have not
+endeavored to get me excommunicated for placing in my picture of the
+Last Judgment one-eyed and lame persons in paradise, and pampered
+cardinals with beautiful women perfectly naked in hell! No! your envy is
+a laudable feeling; you are brave as well as envious; let us be good
+friends.
+
+But if the envious person is an unhappy being without talents, jealous
+of merit as the poor are of the rich; if under the pressure at once of
+indigence and baseness he writes "News from Parnassus," "Letters from a
+Celebrated Countess," or "Literary Annals," the creature displays an
+envy which is in fact absolutely good for nothing, and for which even
+Mandeville could make no apology.
+
+Descartes said: "Envy forces up the yellow bile from the lower part of
+the liver, and the black bile that comes from the spleen, which diffuses
+itself from the heart by the arteries." But as no sort of bile is
+formed in the spleen, Descartes, when he spoke thus, deserved not to be
+envied for his physiology.
+
+A person of the name of Poet or Poetius, a theological blackguard, who
+accused Descartes of atheism, was exceedingly affected by the black
+bile. But he knew still less than Descartes how his detestable bile
+circulated through his blood.
+
+Madame Pernelle is perfectly right: "_Les envieux mourront, mais non
+jamais l'envie_."--The envious will die, but envy never. ("_Tartuffe_,"
+Act V, Scene 3.)
+
+That it is better to excite envy than pity is a good proverb. Let us,
+then, make men envy us as much as we are able.
+
+
+
+
+EPIC POETRY.
+
+
+Since the word "_epos_," among the Greeks, signified a discourse, an
+epic poem must have been a discourse, and it was in verse because it was
+not then the custom to write in prose. This appears strange, but it is
+no less true. One Pherecydes is supposed to have been the first Greek
+who made exclusive use of prose to compose one of those half-true,
+half-false histories so common to antiquity.
+
+Orpheus, Linus, Thamyris, and Musæus, the predecessors of Homer, wrote
+in verse only. Hesiod, who was certainly contemporary with Homer, wrote
+his "Theogony" and his poem of "Works and Days" entirely in verse. The
+harmony of the Greek language so invited men to poetry, a maxim turned
+into verse was so easily engraved on the memory that the laws, oracles,
+morals, and theology were all composed in verse.
+
+_Of Hesiod._
+
+He made use of fables which had for a long time been received in Greece.
+It is clearly seen by the succinct manner in which he speaks of
+Prometheus and Epimetheus that he supposes these notions already
+familiar to all the Greeks. He only mentions them to show that it is
+necessary to labor, and that an indolent repose, in which other
+mythologists have made the felicity of man to consist, is a violation of
+the orders of the Supreme Being.
+
+Hesiod afterwards describes the four famous ages, of which he is the
+first who has spoken, at least among the ancient authors who remain to
+us. The first age is that which preceded Pandora--the time in which men
+lived with the gods. The iron age is that of the siege of Thebes and
+Troy. "I live in the fifth," says he, "and I would I had never been
+born." How many men, oppressed by envy, fanaticism, and tyranny, since
+Hesiod, have said the same!
+
+It is in this poem of "Works and Days" that those proverbs are found
+which have been perpetuated, as--"the potter is jealous of the potter,"
+and he adds, "the musician of the musician, and the poor even of the
+poor." We there find the original of our fable of the nightingale
+fallen into the claws of the vulture. The nightingale sings in vain to
+soften him; the vulture devours her. Hesiod does not conclude that a
+hungry belly has no ears, but that tyrants are not to be mollified by
+genius.
+
+A hundred maxims worthy of Xenophon and Cato are to be found in this
+poem.
+
+Men are ignorant of the advantage of society: they know not that the
+half is more valuable than the whole.
+
+Iniquity is pernicious only to the powerless.
+
+Equity alone causes cities to flourish.
+
+One unjust man is often sufficient to ruin his country.
+
+The wretch who plots the destruction of his neighbor often prepares the
+way to his own.
+
+The road to crime is short and easy. That of virtue is long and
+difficult, but towards the end it is delightful.
+
+God has placed labor as a sentinel over virtue.
+
+Lastly, the precepts on agriculture were worthy to be imitated by
+Virgil. There are, also, very fine passages in his "Theogony." Love, who
+disentangles chaos; Venus, born of the sea from the genital parts of a
+god nourished on earth, always followed by Love, and uniting heaven,
+earth, and sea, are admirable emblems.
+
+Why, then, has Hesiod had less reputation than Homer? They seem to me of
+equal merit, but Homer has been preferred by the Greeks because he sang
+their exploits and victories over the Asiatics, their eternal enemies.
+He celebrated all the families which in his time reigned in Achaia and
+Peloponnesus; he wrote the most memorable war of the first people in
+Europe against the most flourishing nation which was then known in Asia.
+His poem was almost the only monument of that great epoch. There was no
+town nor family which did not think itself honored by having its name
+mentioned in these records of valor. We are even assured that a long
+time after him some differences between the Greek towns on the subject
+of adjacent lands were decided by the verses of Homer. He became, after
+his death, the judge of cities in which it is pretended that he asked
+alms during his life, which proves, also, that the Greeks had poets long
+before they had geographers.
+
+It is astonishing that the Greeks, so disposed to honor epic poems which
+immortalized the combats of their ancestors, produced no one to sing the
+battles of Marathon, Thermopylæ, Platæa, and Salamis. The heroes of
+these times were much greater men than Agamemnon, Achilles, and Ajax.
+
+Tyrtæus, a captain, poet, and musician, like the king of Prussia in our
+days, made war and sang it. He animated the Spartans against the
+Messenians by his verses, and gained the victory. But his works are
+lost. It does not appear that any epic poem was written-in the time of
+Pericles. The attention of genius was turned towards tragedy, so that
+Homer stood alone, and his glory increased daily. We now come to his
+"Iliad."
+
+_Of the Iliad._
+
+What confirms me in the opinion that Homer was of the Greek colony
+established at Smyrna is the oriental style of all his metaphors and
+pictures: The earth which shook under the feet of the army when it
+marched like the thunderbolts of Jupiter on the hills which overwhelmed
+the giant Typhon; a wind blacker than night winged with tempests; Mars
+and Minerva followed by Terror, Flight, and insatiable Discord, the
+sister and companion of Homicide, the goddess of battles, who raises
+tumults wherever she appears, and who, not content with setting the
+world by the ears, even exalts her proud head into heaven. The "Iliad"
+is full of these images, which caused the sculptor Bouchardon to say,
+"When I read Homer I believe myself twenty feet high."
+
+His poem, which is not at all interesting to us, was very precious to
+the Greeks. His gods are ridiculous to reasonable but they were not so
+to partial eyes, and it was for partial eyes that he wrote.
+
+We laugh and shrug our shoulders at these gods, who abused one another,
+fought one another, and combated with men--who were wounded and whose
+blood flowed, but such was the ancient theology of Greece and of almost
+all the Asiatic people. Every nation, every little village had its
+particular god, which conducted it to battle.
+
+The inhabitants of the clouds and of the stars which were supposed in
+the clouds, had a cruel war. The combat of the angels against one
+another was from time immemorial the foundation of the religion of the
+Brahmins. The battle of the Titans, the children of heaven and earth,
+against the chief gods of Olympus, was also the leading mystery of the
+Greek religion. Typhon, according to the Egyptians, had fought against
+Oshiret, whom we call Osiris, and cut him to pieces.
+
+Madame Dacier, in her preface to the "Iliad," remarks very sensibly,
+after Eustathius, bishop of Thessalonica, and Huet, bishop of Avranches,
+that every neighboring nation of the Hebrews had its god of war. Indeed,
+does not Jephthah say to the Ammonites, "Wilt not thou possess that
+which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So, whomsoever the Lord
+our God shall drive out from before us, from them will we possess."
+
+Do we not see the God of Judah a conqueror in the mountains and repulsed
+in the valleys?
+
+As to men wrestling against divinities, that is a received idea. Jacob
+wrestled one whole night with an angel. If Jupiter sent a deceiving
+dream to the chief of the Greeks, the Lord also sent a deceiving spirit
+to King Ahab. These emblems were frequent and astonished nobody. Homer
+has then painted the ideas of his own age; he could not paint those of
+the generations which succeeded him.
+
+Homer has great faults. Horace confesses it, and all men of taste agree
+to it; there is only one commentator who is blind enough not to see
+them. Pope, who was himself a translator of the Greek poet, says: "It is
+a vast but uncultivated country where we meet with all kinds of natural
+beauties, but which do not present themselves as regularly as in a
+garden; it is an abundant nursery which contains the seeds of all
+fruits; a great tree that extends superfluous branches which it is
+necessary to prune."
+
+Madame Dacier sides with the vast country, the nursery and the tree, and
+would have nothing curtailed. She was no doubt a woman superior to her
+sex, and has done great service to letters, as well as her husband, but
+when she became masculine and turned commentator, she so overacted her
+part that she piqued people into finding fault with Homer. She was so
+obstinate as to quarrel even with Monsieur de La Motte. She wrote
+against him like the head of a college, and La Motte answered like a
+polite and witty woman. He translated the "Iliad" very badly, but he
+attacked Madame Dacier very well.
+
+We will not speak of the "Odyssey" here; we shall say something of that
+poem while treating of Ariosto.
+
+_Of Virgil._
+
+It appears to me that the second, fourth, and sixth book of the "Æneid"
+are as much above all Greek and Latin poets, without exception, as the
+statues of Girardon are superior to all those which preceded them in
+France.
+
+It is often said that Virgil has borrowed many of the figures of Homer,
+and that he is even inferior to him in his imitations, but he has not
+imitated him at all in the three books of which I am speaking; he is
+there himself touching and appalling to the heart. Perhaps he was not
+suited for terrific detail, but there had been battles enough. Horace
+had said of him, before he attempted the "Æneid:"
+
+                 _Molle atque facetum_
+     _Virgilio annuerunt gaudentes rure camoenæ._
+
+     Smooth flow his lines, and elegant his style,
+     On Virgil all the rural muses smile.
+                                      --FRANCIS.
+
+"_Facetum_" does not here signify facetious but agreeable. I do not know
+whether we shall not find a little of this happy and affecting softness
+in the fatal passion of Dido. I think at least that we shall there
+recognize the author of those admirable verses which we meet with in his
+Eclogues: "_Ut vidi, ut perii, ut me malus abstulit error_!"--I saw, I
+perished, yet indulged my pain.--(Dryden.)
+
+Certainly the description of the descent into hell would not be badly
+matched with these lines from the fourth Eclogue:
+
+     _Ille Deum vitam accipiet, divisque videbit_
+     _Permistos heroas, et ipse videbitur illis--_
+     _Pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem._
+
+     The sons shall lead the lives of gods, and be
+     By gods and heroes seen, and gods and heroes see.
+     The jarring nations he in peace shall bind,
+     And with paternal virtues rule mankind.
+                                           --DRYDEN.
+
+I meet with many of these simple, elegant, and affecting passages in the
+three beautiful books of the "Æneid."
+
+All the fourth book is filled with touching verses, which move those who
+have any ear or sentiment at all, even to tears, and to point out all
+the beauties of this book it would be necessary to transcribe the whole
+of it. And in the sombre picture of hell, how this noble and affecting
+tenderness breathes through every line.
+
+It is well known how many tears were shed by the emperor Augustus, by
+Livia, and all the palace, at hearing this half line alone: "_Tu
+Marcellus eris."_--A new Marcellus will in thee arise.
+
+Homer never produces tears. The true poet, according to my idea, is he
+who touches the soul and softens it, others are only fine speakers. I am
+far from proposing this opinion as a rule. "I give my opinion," says
+Montaigne, "not as being good, but as being my own."
+
+_Of Lucan._
+
+If you look for unity of time and action in Lucan you will lose your
+labor, but where else will you find it? If you expect to feel any
+emotion or any interest you will not experience it in the long details
+of a war, the subject of which is very dry and the expressions
+bombastic, but if you would have bold ideas, an eloquent expatiation on
+sublime and philosophical courage, Lucan is the only one among the
+ancients in whom you will meet with it. There is nothing finer than the
+speech of Labienus to Cato at the gates of the temple of Jupiter Ammon,
+if we except the answer of Cato itself:
+
+     _Hœremus cuncti superis? temploque tacente_
+     _Nil facimus non sponte Dei_
+     _.... Steriles num legit arenas._
+     _Ut caneret paucis; mersit ne hoc pulvere verum!_
+     _Estne Dei sedes nisi terra et pontus et aer,_
+     _Et cœlum et virtus? Superos quid quærimus ultra?_
+     _Jupiter est quodcumque vides quocumque moveris._
+
+     And though our priests are mutes, and temples still,
+     We act the dictates of his mighty will;
+     Canst thou believe, the vast eternal mind,
+     Was e'er to Syrts and Libyan sands confined?
+     That he would choose this waste, this barren ground,
+     To teach the thin inhabitants around?
+     Is there a place that God would choose to love
+     Beyond this earth, the seas, yon heaven above,
+     And virtuous minds, the noblest throne of Jove?
+     Why seek we farther, then? Behold around;
+     How all thou seest doth with the God abound,
+     Jove is seen everywhere, and always to be found.
+                                                 --ROWE.
+
+Put together all that the ancients poets have said of the gods and it is
+childish in comparison with this passage of Lucan, but in a vast
+picture, in which there are a hundred figures, it is not sufficient that
+one or two of them are finely designed.
+
+_Of Tasso._
+
+Boileau has exposed the tinsel of Tasso, but if there be a hundred
+spangles of false gold in a piece of gold cloth, it is pardonable. There
+are many rough stones in the great marble building raised by Homer.
+Boileau knew it, felt it, and said nothing about it. We should be just.
+
+We recall the reader's memory to what has been said of Tasso in the
+"Essay on Epic Poetry," but we must here observe that his verses are
+known by heart all over Italy. If at Venice any one in a boat sings a
+stanza of the "Jerusalem Delivered," he is answered from a neighboring
+bark with the following one.
+
+If Boileau had listened to these concerts he could have said nothing in
+reply. As enough is known of Tasso, I will not repeat here either
+eulogies or criticisms. I will speak more at length of Ariosto.
+
+_Of Ariosto._
+
+Homer's "Odyssey" seems to have been the first model of the
+"_Morgante_," of the "_Orlando Innamorato,"_ and the "_Orlando
+Furioso_," and, what very seldom happens, the last of the poems is
+without dispute the best.
+
+The companions of Ulysses changed into swine; the winds shut up in
+goats' skins; the musicians with fishes' tails, who ate all those who
+approached them; Ulysses, who followed the chariot of a beautiful
+princess who went to bathe quite naked; Ulysses, disguised as a beggar,
+who asked alms, and afterwards killed all the lovers of his aged wife,
+assisted only by his son and two servants--are imaginations which have
+given birth to all the poetical romances which have since been written
+in the same style.
+
+But the romance of Ariosto is so full of variety and so fertile in
+beauties of all kinds that after having read it once quite through I
+only wish to begin it again. How great the charm of natural poetry! I
+never could read a single canto of this poem in a prose translation.
+
+That which above all charms me in this wonderful work is that the author
+is always above his subject, and treats it playfully. He says the most
+sublime things without effort and he often finishes them by a turn of
+pleasantry which is neither misplaced nor far-fetched. It is at once the
+"Iliad," the "Odyssey," and "Don Quixote," for his principal
+knight-errant becomes mad like the Spanish hero, and is infinitely more
+pleasant.
+
+The subject of the poem, which consists of so many things, is precisely
+that of the romance of "Cassandra," which was formerly so much in
+fashion with us, and which has entirely lost its celebrity because it
+had only the length of the "_Orlando Furioso,_" and few of its beauties,
+and even the few being in French prose, five or six stanzas of Ariosto
+will eclipse them all. His poem closes with the greater part of the
+heroes and princesses who have not perished during the war all meeting
+in Paris, after a thousand adventures, just as the personages in the
+romance of "Cassandra" all finally meet again in the house of Palemon.
+
+The "_Orlando Furioso_" possesses a merit unknown to the ancients--it is
+that of its exordiums.
+
+Every canto is like an enchanted palace, the vestibule of which is
+always in a different taste--sometimes majestic, sometimes simple, and
+even grotesque. It is moral, lively, or gallant, and always natural and
+true.
+
+
+
+
+EPIPHANY.
+
+
+_The Manifestation, the Appearance, the Illustration, the Radiance._
+
+It is not easy to perceive what relation this word can have to the three
+kings or magi, who came from the east under the guidance of a star. That
+brilliant star was evidently the cause of bestowing on the day of its
+appearance the denomination of the Epiphany.
+
+It is asked whence came these three kings? What place had they appointed
+for their rendezvous? One of them, it is said, came from Africa; he did
+not, then, come from the East. It is said they were three magi, but the
+common people have always preferred the interpretation of three kings.
+The feast of the kings is everywhere celebrated, but that of the magi
+nowhere; people eat king's-cake and not magi-cake, and exclaim "the king
+drinks"--not "the magi drink."
+
+Moreover, as they brought with them much gold, incense, and myrrh, they
+must necessarily have been persons of great wealth and consequence. The
+magi of that day were by no means very rich. It was not then as in the
+times of the false Smerdis.
+
+Tertullian is the first who asserted that these three travellers were
+kings. St. Ambrose, and St. Cæsar of Arles, suppose them to be kings,
+and the following passages of Psalm lxxi. are quoted in proof of it:
+"The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall offer him gifts. The kings
+of Arabia and of Saba shall bring him presents." Some have called these
+three kings Magalat, Galgalat, and Saraim, others Athos, Satos, and
+Paratoras. The Catholics knew them under the names of Gaspard, Melchior,
+and Balthazar. Bishop Osorio relates that it was a king of Cranganore,
+in the kingdom of Calicut, who undertook this journey with two magi, and
+that this king on his return to his own country built a chapel to the
+Holy Virgin.
+
+It has been inquired how much gold they gave Joseph and Mary. Many
+commentators declare that they made them the richest presents; they
+built on the authority of the "Gospel of the Infancy," which states that
+Joseph and Mary were robbed in Egypt by Titus and Dumachus, "but," say
+they, "these men would never have robbed them if they had not had a
+great deal of money." These two robbers were afterwards hanged; one was
+the good thief and the other the bad one. But the "Gospel of Nicodemus"
+gives them other names; it calls them Dimas and Gestas.
+
+The same "Gospel of the Infancy" says that they were magi and not kings
+who came to Bethlehem; that they had in reality been guided by a star,
+but that the star having ceased to appear while they were in the
+stable, an angel made its appearance in the form of a star to act in its
+stead. This gospel asserts that the visit of the three magi had been
+predicted by Zerdusht, whom we call Zoroaster.
+
+Suarez has investigated what became of the gold which the three kings or
+magi presented; he maintains that the amount must have been very large,
+and that three kings could never make a small or moderate present. He
+says that the whole sum was afterwards given to Judas, who, acting as
+steward, turned out a rogue and stole the whole amount.
+
+All these puerilities can do no harm to the Feast of the Epiphany, which
+was first instituted by the Greek Church, as the term implies, and was
+afterwards celebrated by the Latin Church.
+
+
+
+
+EQUALITY.
+
+
+Nothing can be clearer than that men, enjoying the faculties of their
+common nature, are in a state of equality; they are equal when they
+perform their animal functions, and exercise their understandings. The
+king of China, the great mogul, or the Turkish pasha cannot say to the
+lowest of his species, "I forbid you to digest your food, to discharge
+your fæces, or to think." All animals of every species are on an
+equality with one another, and animals have by nature beyond ourselves
+the advantages of independence. If a bull, while paying his attentions
+to a heifer, is driven away by the horns of another bull stronger than
+himself, he goes to seek a new mistress in another meadow, and lives in
+freedom. A cock, after being defeated, finds consolation in another
+hen-roost. It is not so with us. A petty vizier banishes a bostangi to
+Lemnos; the vizier Azem banishes the petty vizier to Tenedos; the pasha
+banishes the vizier Azem to Rhodes; the janissaries imprison the pasha
+and elect another who will banish the worthy Mussulmans just when and
+where he pleases, while they will feel inexpressibly obliged to him for
+so gentle a display of his authority.
+
+If the earth were in fact what it might be supposed it should be--if men
+found upon it everywhere an easy and certain subsistence, and a climate
+congenial to their nature, it would be evidently impossible for one man
+to subjugate another. Let the globe be covered with wholesome fruits;
+let the air on which we depend for life convey to us no diseases and
+premature death; let man require no other lodging than the deer or
+roebuck, in that case the Genghis Khans and Tamerlanes will have no
+other attendants than their own children, who will be very worthy
+persons, and assist them affectionately in their old age.
+
+In that state of nature enjoyed by all undomesticated quadrupeds, and by
+birds and reptiles, men would be just as happy as they are. Domination
+would be a mere chimera--an absurdity which no one would think of, for
+why should servants be sought for when no service is required?
+
+If it should enter the mind of any individual of a tyrannical
+disposition and nervous arm to subjugate his less powerful neighbor, his
+success would be impossible; the oppressed would be on the Danube before
+the oppressor had completed his preparations on the Volga.
+
+All men, then, would necessarily have been equal had they been without
+wants; it is the misery attached to our species which places one man in
+subjection to another; inequality is not the real grievance, but
+dependence. It is of little consequence for one man to be called his
+highness and another his holiness, but it is hard for me to be the
+servant of another.
+
+A numerous family has cultivated a good soil, two small neighboring
+families live on lands unproductive and barren. It will therefore be
+necessary for the two poor families to serve the rich one, or to destroy
+it. This is easily accomplished. One of the two indigent families goes
+and offers its services to the rich one in exchange for bread, the other
+makes an attack upon it and is conquered. The serving family is the
+origin of domestics and laborers, the one conquered is the origin of
+slaves.
+
+It is impossible in our melancholy world to prevent men living in
+society from being divided into two classes, one of the rich who
+command, the other of the poor who obey, and these two are subdivided
+into various others, which have also their respective shades of
+difference.
+
+You come and say, after the lots are drawn, I am a man as well as you; I
+have two hands and two feet; as much pride as yourself, or more; a mind
+as irregular, inconsequent, and contradictory as your own. I am a
+citizen of San Marino, or Ragusa, or Vaugirard; give me my portion of
+land. In our known hemisphere are about fifty thousand millions of acres
+of cultivable land, good and bad. The number of our two-footed,
+featherless race within these bounds is a thousand millions; that is
+just fifty acres for each: do me justice; give me my fifty acres.
+
+The reply is: go and take them among the Kaffirs, the Hottentots, and
+the Samoyeds; arrange the matter amicably with them; here all the shares
+are filled up. If you wish to have food, clothing, lodging, and warmth
+among us, work for us as your father did--serve us or amuse us, and you
+shall be paid; if not, you will be obliged to turn beggar, which would
+be highly degrading to your sublime nature, and certainly preclude that
+actual equality with kings, or even village curates, to which you so
+nobly pretend.
+
+All the poor are not unhappy. The greater number are born in that state,
+and constant labor prevents them from too sensibly feeling their
+situation; but when they do strongly feel it, then follow wars such as
+those of the popular party against the senate at Rome, and those of the
+peasantry in Germany, England, and France. All these wars ended sooner
+or later in the subjection of the people, because the great have money,
+and money in a state commands everything; I say in a state, for the case
+is different between nation and nation. That nation which makes the best
+use of iron will always subjugate another that has more gold but less
+courage.
+
+Every man is born with an eager inclination for power, wealth, and
+pleasure, and also with a great taste for indolence. Every man,
+consequently, would wish to possess the fortunes and the wives or
+daughters of others, to be their master, to retain them in subjection to
+his caprices, and to do nothing, or at least nothing but what is
+perfectly agreeable. You clearly perceive that with such amiable
+dispositions, it is as impossible for men to be equal as for two
+preachers or divinity professors not to be jealous of each other.
+
+The human race, constituted as it is, cannot exist unless there be an
+infinite number of useful individuals possessed of no property at all,
+for most certainly a man in easy circumstances will not leave his own
+land to come and cultivate yours; and if you want a pair of shoes you
+will not get a lawyer to make them for you. Equality, then, is at the
+same time the most natural and the most chimerical thing possible.
+
+As men carry everything to excess if they have it in their power to do
+so, this inequality has been pushed too far; it has been maintained in
+many countries that no citizen has a right to quit that in which he was
+born. The meaning of such a law must evidently be: "This country is so
+wretched and ill-governed we prohibit every man from quitting it, under
+an apprehension that otherwise all would leave it." Do better; excite in
+all your subjects a desire to stay with you, and in foreigners a desire
+to come and settle among you.
+
+Every man has a right to entertain a private opinion of his own equality
+to other men, but it follows not that a cardinal's cook should take it
+upon him to order his master to prepare his dinner. The cook, however,
+may say: "I am a man as well as my master; I was born like him in tears,
+and shall like him die in anguish, attended by the same common
+ceremonies. We both perform the same animal functions. If the Turks get
+possession of Rome, and I then become a cardinal and my master a cook, I
+will take him into my service." This language is perfectly reasonable
+and just, but, while waiting for the Grand Turk to get possession of
+Rome, the cook is bound to do his duty, or all human society is
+subverted.
+
+With respect to a man who is neither a cardinal's cook nor invested with
+any office whatever in the state--with respect to an individual who has
+no connections, and is disgusted at being everywhere received with an
+air of protection or contempt, who sees quite clearly that many men of
+quality and title have not more knowledge, wit, or virtue than himself,
+and is wearied by being occasionally in their antechambers--what ought
+such a man to do? He ought to stay away.
+
+
+
+
+ESSENIANS.
+
+
+The more superstitious and barbarous any nation is, the more obstinately
+bent on war, notwithstanding its defeats; the more divided into
+factions, floating between royal and priestly claims; and the more
+intoxicated it may be by fanaticism, the more certainly will be found
+among that nation a number of citizens associated together in order to
+live in peace.
+
+It happens during a season of pestilence that a small canton forbids all
+communication with large cities. It preserves itself from the prevailing
+contagion, but remains a prey to other maladies.
+
+Of this description of persons were the Gymnosophists in India, and
+certain sects of philosophers among the Greeks. Such also were the
+Pythagoreans in Italy and Greece, and the Therapeutæ in Egypt. Such at
+the present day are those primitive people called Quakers and Dunkards,
+in Pennsylvania, and very nearly such were the first Christians who
+lived together remote from cities.
+
+Not one of these societies was acquainted with the dreadful custom of
+binding themselves by oath to the mode of life which they adopted, of
+involving themselves in perpetual chains, of depriving themselves, on a
+principle of religion, of the grand right and first principle of human
+nature, which is liberty; in short, of entering into what we call vows.
+St. Basil was the first who conceived the idea of those vows, of this
+oath of slavery. He introduced a new plague into the world, and
+converted into a poison that which had been invented as a remedy.
+
+There were in Syria societies precisely similar to those of the
+Essenians. This we learn from the Jew Philo, in his treatise on the
+"Freedom of the Good." Syria was always superstitious and factious, and
+always under the yoke of tyrants. The successors of Alexander made it a
+theatre of horrors. It is by no means extraordinary that among such
+numbers of oppressed and persecuted beings, some, more humane and
+judicious than the rest, should withdraw from all intercourse with great
+cities, in order to live in common, in honest poverty, far from the
+blasting eyes of tyranny.
+
+During the civil wars of the latter Ptolemies, similar asylums were
+formed in Egypt, and when that country was subjugated by the Roman arms,
+the Therapeutæ established themselves in a sequestered spot in the
+neighborhood of Lake Mœris.
+
+It appears highly probable that there were Greek, Egyptian, and Jewish
+Therapeutæ. Philo, after eulogizing Anaxagoras, Democritus, and other
+philosophers, who embraced their way of life, thus expresses himself:
+
+"Similar societies are found in many countries; Greece and other regions
+enjoy institutions of this consoling character. They are common in
+Egypt in every district, and particularly in that of Alexandria. The
+most worthy and moral of the population have withdrawn beyond Lake
+Mœris to a secluded but convenient spot, forming a gentle declivity.
+The air is very salubrious, and the villages in the neighborhood
+sufficiently numerous," etc.
+
+Thus we perceive that there have everywhere existed societies of men who
+have endeavored to find a refuge from disturbances and factions, from
+the insolence and rapacity of oppressors. All, without exception,
+entertained a perfect horror of war, considering it precisely in the
+same light in which we contemplate highway robbery and murder.
+
+Such, nearly, were the men of letters who united, in France and founded
+the Academy. They quietly withdrew from the factious and cruel scenes
+which desolated the country in the reign of Louis XIII. Such also were
+the men who founded the Royal Society at London, while the barbarous
+idiots called Puritans and Episcopalians were cutting one another's
+throats about the interpretation of a few passages from three or four
+old and unintelligible books.
+
+Some learned men have been of opinion that Jesus Christ, who
+condescended to make his appearance for some time in the small district
+of Capernaum, in Nazareth, and some other small towns of Palestine, was
+one of those Essenians who fled from the tumult of affairs and
+cultivated virtue in peace. But the name "Essenian," never even once
+occurs in the four Gospels, in the Apocrypha, or in the Acts, or the
+Epistles of the apostles.
+
+Although, however, the name is not to be found, a resemblance is in
+various points observable--confraternity, community of property,
+strictness of moral conduct, manual labor, detachment from wealth and
+honors; and, above all, detestation of war. So great is this
+detestation, that Jesus Christ commands his disciples when struck upon
+one cheek to offer the other also, and when robbed of a cloak to deliver
+up the coat likewise. Upon this principle the Christians conducted
+themselves, during the two first centuries, without altars, temples, or
+magistracies--all employed in their respective trades or occupations,
+all leading secluded and quiet lives.
+
+Their early writings attest that they were not permitted to carry arms.
+In this they perfectly resembled our Quakers, Anabaptists, and
+Mennonites of the present day, who take a pride in following the literal
+meaning of the gospel. For although there are in the gospel many
+passages which, when incorrectly understood, might breed violence--as
+the case of the merchants scourged out of the temple avenues, the phrase
+"compel them to come in," the dangers into which they were thrown who
+had not converted their master's one talent into five talents, and the
+treatment of those who came to the wedding without the wedding
+garment--although, I say, all these may seem contrary to the pacific
+spirit of the gospel, yet there are so many other passages which enjoin
+sufferance instead of contest, that it is by no means astonishing that,
+for a period of two hundred years, Christians held war in absolute
+execration.
+
+Upon this foundation was the numerous and respectable society of
+Pennsylvanians established, as were also the minor sects which have
+imitated them. When I denominate them respectable, it is by no means in
+consequence of their aversion to the splendor of the Catholic church. I
+lament, undoubtedly, as I ought to do, their errors. It is their virtue,
+their modesty, and their spirit of peace, that I respect.
+
+Was not the great philosopher Bayle right, then, when he remarked that a
+Christian of the earliest times of our religion would be a very bad
+soldier, or that a soldier would be a very bad Christian?
+
+This dilemma appears to be unanswerable; and in this point, in my
+opinion, consists the great difference between ancient Christianity and
+ancient Judaism.
+
+The law of the first Jews expressly says, "As soon as you enter any
+country with a view to possess it, destroy everything by fire and sword;
+slay, without mercy, aged men, women, and children at the breast; kill
+even all the animals; sack everything and burn everything. It is your
+God who commands you so to do." This injunction is not given in a single
+instance, but on twenty different occasions, and is always followed.
+
+Mahomet, persecuted by the people of Mecca, defends himself like a brave
+man. He compels his vanquished persecutors to humble themselves at his
+feet, and become his disciples. He establishes his religion by
+proselytism and the sword.
+
+Jesus, appearing between the times of Moses and Mahomet, in a corner of
+Galilee, preaches forgiveness of injuries, patience, mildness, and
+forbearance, dies himself under the infliction of capital punishment,
+and is desirous of the same fate for His first disciples.
+
+I ask candidly, whether St. Bartholomew, St. Andrew, St. Matthew, and
+St. Barnabas, would have been received among the cuirassiers of the
+emperor, or among the royal guards of Charles XII.?
+
+Would St. Peter himself, though he cut off Malchus' ear, have made a
+good officer? Perhaps St. Paul, accustomed at first to carnage, and
+having had the misfortune to be a bloody persecutor, is the only one who
+could have been made a warrior. The impetuosity of his temperament and
+the fire of his imagination would have made him a formidable commander.
+But, notwithstanding these qualities, he made no effort to revenge
+himself on Gamaliel by arms. He did not act like the Judases, the
+Theudases, and the Barchochebases, who levied troops: he followed the
+precepts of Jesus Christ; he suffered; and, according to an account we
+have of his death, he was beheaded.
+
+To compose an army of Christians, therefore, in the early period of
+Christianity, was a contradiction in terms.
+
+It is certain that Christians were not enlisted among the troops of the
+empire till the spirit by which they were animated was changed. In the
+first two centuries they entertained a horror for temples, altars,
+tapers, incense, and lustral water. Porphyry compares them to the foxes
+who said "the grapes are sour." "If," said he, "you could have had
+beautiful temples burnished with gold, and large revenues for a clergy,
+you would then have been passionately fond of temples." They afterwards
+addicted themselves to all that they had abhorred. Thus, having detested
+the profession of arms, they at length engaged in war. The Christians in
+the time of Diocletian were as different from those of the time of the
+apostles, as we are from the Christians of the third century.
+
+I cannot conceive how a mind so enlightened and bold as Montesquieu's
+could severely censure another genius much more accurate than his own,
+and oppose the following just remark made by Bayle: "a society of real
+Christians might live happily together, but they would make a bad
+defence on being attacked by an enemy."
+
+"They would," says Montesquieu, "be citizens infinitely enlightened on
+the subject of their duties, and ardently zealous to discharge them.
+They would be fully sensible of the rights of natural defence. The more
+they thought they owed religion, the more they would think they owed
+their country. The principles of Christianity deeply engraved on their
+hearts would be infinitely more powerful than the false honor of
+monarchies, the human virtues of republics, or the servile fear which
+operates under despotism."
+
+Surely the author of the "Spirit of Laws" did not reflect upon the words
+of the gospel, when saying that real Christians would be fully sensible
+of the rights of natural defence. He did not recollect the command to
+deliver up the coat after the cloak had been taken; and, after having
+received a blow upon one cheek, to present the other also. Here the
+principle of natural defence is most decidedly annihilated. Those whom
+we call Quakers have always refused to fight; but in the war of 1756, if
+they had not received assistance from the other English, and suffered
+that assistance to operate, they would have been completely crushed.
+
+Is it not unquestionable that men who thought and felt as martyrs would
+fight very ill as grenadiers? Every sentence of that chapter of the
+"Spirit of Laws" appears to me false. "The principles of Christianity
+deeply engraved on their hearts, would be infinitely more powerful,"
+etc. Yes, more powerful to prevent their exercise of the sword, to make
+them tremble at shedding their neighbor's blood, to make them look on
+life as a burden of which it would be their highest happiness to be
+relieved.
+
+"If," says Bayle, "they were appointed to drive back veteran corps of
+infantry, or to charge regiments of cuirassiers, they would be seen like
+sheep in the midst of wolves."
+
+Bayle was perfectly right. Montesquieu did not perceive that, while
+attempting to refute him, he contemplated only the mercenary and
+sanguinary soldiers of the present day, and not the early Christians. It
+would seem as if he had been desirous of preventing the unjust
+accusations which he experienced from the fanatics, by sacrificing Bayle
+to them. But he gained nothing by it. They are two great men, who appear
+to be of different opinions, but who, if they had been equally free to
+speak, would have been found to have the same.
+
+"The false honor of monarchies, the human virtues of republics, the
+servile fear which operates under despotism;" nothing at all of this
+goes towards the composition of a soldier, as the "Spirit of Laws"
+pretends. When we levy a regiment, of whom a quarter part will desert in
+the course of a fortnight, not one of the men enlisted thinks about the
+honor of the monarchy: they do not even know what it is. The mercenary
+troops of the republic of Venice know their country; but nothing about
+republican virtue, which no one ever speaks of in the place of St. Mark.
+In one word, I do not believe that there is a single man on the face of
+the earth who has enlisted in his regiment from a principle of virtue.
+
+Neither, again, is it out of a servile fear that Turks and Russians
+fight with the fierceness and rage of lions and tigers. Fear does not
+inspire courage. Nor is it by devotion that the Russians have defeated
+the armies of Mustapha. It would, in my opinion, have been highly
+desirable that so ingenious a man should have sought for truth rather
+than display. When we wish to instruct mankind, we ought to forget
+ourselves, and have nothing in view but truth.
+
+
+
+
+ETERNITY.
+
+
+In my youth I admired all the reasonings of Samuel Clarke. I loved his
+person, although he was a determined Arian as well as Newton, and I
+still revere his memory, because he was a good man; but the impression
+which his ideas had stamped on my yet tender brain was effaced when that
+brain became more firm. I found, for example, that he had contested the
+eternity of the world with as little ability as he had proved the
+reality of infinite space.
+
+I have so much respect for the Book of Genesis, and for the church which
+adopts it, that I regard it as the only proof of the creation of the
+world five thousand seven hundred and eighteen years ago, according to
+the computation of the Latins, and seven thousand and seventy-eight
+years, according to the Greeks. All antiquity believed matter, at least,
+to be eternal; and the greatest philosophers attributed eternity also to
+the arrangement of the universe.
+
+They are all mistaken, as we well know; but we may believe, without
+blasphemy, that the eternal Former of all things made other worlds
+besides ours.
+
+
+
+
+EUCHARIST.
+
+
+On this delicate subject, we shall not speak as theologians. Submitting
+in heart and mind to the religion in which we are born, and the laws
+under which we live, we shall have nothing to do with controversy; it is
+too hostile to all religions which it boasts of supporting--to all laws
+which it makes pretensions to explain, and especially to that harmony
+which in every period it has banished from the world.
+
+One-half of Europe anathematizes the other on the subject of the
+Eucharist; and blood has flowed in torrents from the Baltic Sea to the
+foot of the Pyrenees, for nearly two centuries, on account of a single
+word, which signifies gentle charity.
+
+Various nations in this part of the world view with horror the system of
+transubstantiation. They exclaim against this dogma as the last effort
+of human folly. They quote the celebrated passage of Cicero, who says
+that men, having exhausted all the mad extravagancies they are capable
+of, have yet never entertained the idea of eating the God whom they
+adore. They say that as almost all popular opinions are built upon
+ambiguities and abuse of words, so the system of the Roman Catholics
+concerning the Eucharist and transubstantiation is founded solely on an
+ambiguity; that they have interpreted literally what could only have
+been meant figuratively; and that for the sake of mere verbal contests,
+for absolute misconceptions, the world has for six hundred years been
+drenched in blood.
+
+Their preachers in the pulpits, their learned in their publications, and
+the people in their conversational discussions, incessantly repeat that
+Jesus Christ did not take His body in His two hands to give His
+disciples to eat; that a body cannot be in a hundred thousand places at
+one time, in bread and in wine; that the God who formed the universe
+cannot consist of bread which is converted into fæces, and of wine which
+flows off in urine; and that the doctrine may naturally expose
+Christianity to the derision of the least intelligent, and to the
+contempt and execration of the rest of mankind.
+
+In this opinion the Tillotsons, the Smallridges, the Claudes, the
+Daillés, the Amyrauts, the Mestrezats, the Dumoulins, the Blondels, and
+the numberless multitude of the reformers of the sixteenth century, are
+all agreed; while the peaceable Mahometan, master of Africa, and of the
+finest part of Asia, smiles with disdain upon our disputes, and the rest
+of the world are totally ignorant of them.
+
+Once again I repeat that I have nothing to do with controversy. I
+believe with a lively faith all that the Catholic apostolic religion
+teaches on the subject of the Eucharist, without comprehending a single
+word of it.
+
+The question is, how to put the greatest restraint upon crimes. The
+Stoics said that they carried God in their hearts. Such is the
+expression of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, the most virtuous of
+mankind, and who might almost be called gods upon earth. They understood
+by the words "I carry God within me," that part of the divine universal
+soul which animates every intelligent being.
+
+The Catholic religion goes further. It says, "You shall have within you
+physically what the Stoics had metaphysically. Do not set yourselves
+about inquiring what it is that I give you to eat and drink, or merely
+to eat. Only believe that what I so give you is God. He is within you.
+Shall your heart then be defiled by anything unjust or base? Behold then
+men receiving God within them, in the midst of an august ceremonial, by
+the light of a hundred tapers, under the influence of the most exquisite
+and enchanting music, and at the footstool of an altar of burnished
+gold. The imagination is led captive, the soul is rapt in ecstasy and
+melted! The votary scarcely breathes; he is detached from every
+terrestrial object, he is united with God, He is in our flesh, and in
+our blood! Who will dare, or who even will be able, after this, to
+commit a single fault, or to entertain even the idea of it? It was
+clearly impossible to devise a mystery better calculated to retain
+mankind in virtue."
+
+Yet Louis XI., while receiving God thus within him, poisons his own
+brother; the archbishop of Florence, while making God, and the Pazzi
+while receiving Him, assassinate the Medici in the cathedral. Pope
+Alexander VI., after rising from the bed of his bastard daughter,
+administers God to Cæsar Borgia, his bastard son, and both destroy by
+hanging, poison, and the sword, all who are in possession of two acres
+of land which they find desirable.
+
+Julius II. makes and eats God; but, with his cuirass on his back and his
+helmet on his head, he imbrues his hands in blood and carnage. Leo X.
+contains God in his body, his mistress in his arms, and the money
+extorted by the sale of indulgences, in his own and his sister's
+coffers.
+
+Trolle, archbishop of Upsala, has the senators of Sweden slaughtered
+before his face, holding a papal bull in his hand. Von Galen, bishop of
+Münster, makes war upon all his neighbors, and becomes celebrated for
+his rapine.
+
+The Abbé N---- is full of God, speaks of nothing but God, imparts God to
+all the women, or weak and imbecile persons that he can obtain the
+direction of, and robs his penitents of their property.
+
+What are we to conclude from these contradictions? That all these
+persons never really believed in God; that they still less, if possible,
+believed that they had eaten His body and drunk His blood; that they
+never imagined they had swallowed God; that if they had firmly so
+believed, they never would have committed any of those deliberate
+crimes; in a word, that this most miraculous preventive of human
+atrocities has been most ineffective? The more sublime such an idea, the
+more decidedly is it secretly rejected by human obstinacy.
+
+The fact is, that all our grand criminals who have been at the head of
+government, and those also who have subordinately shared in authority,
+not only never believed that they received God down their throats, but
+never believed in God at all; at least they had entirely effaced such an
+idea from their minds. Their contempt for the sacrament which they
+created or administered was extended at length into a contempt of God
+Himself. What resource, then, have we remaining against depredation,
+insolence, outrage, calumny, and persecution? That of persuading the
+strong man who oppresses the weak that God really exists. He will, at
+least, not laugh at this opinion; and, although he may not believe that
+God is within him, he yet may believe that God pervades all nature. An
+incomprehensible mystery has shocked him. But would he be able to say
+that the existence of a remunerating and avenging God is an
+incomprehensible mystery? Finally, although he does not yield his belief
+to a Catholic bishop who says to him, "Behold, that is your God, whom a
+man consecrated by myself has put into your mouth;" he may believe the
+language of all the stars and of all animated beings, at once
+exclaiming: "God is our creator!"
+
+
+
+
+EXECUTION.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+Yes, we here repeat the observation, a man that is hanged is good for
+nothing; although some executioner, as much addicted to quackery as
+cruelty, may have persuaded the wretched simpletons in his neighborhood
+that the fat of a person hanged is a cure for the epilepsy.
+
+Cardinal Richelieu, when going to Lyons to enjoy the spectacle of the
+execution of Cinq-Mars and de Thou, was informed that the executioner
+had broken his leg. "What a dreadful thing it is," says he to the
+chancellor Séguier, "we have no executioner!" I certainly admit that it
+must have been a terrible disaster. It was a jewel wanting in his crown.
+At last, however, an old worthy was found, who, after twelve strokes of
+the sabre, brought low the head of the innocent and philosophic de Thou.
+What necessity required this death? What good could be derived from the
+judicial assassination of Marshal de Marillac?
+
+I will go farther. If Maximilian, duke of Sully, had not compelled that
+admirable King Henry IV. to yield to the execution of Marshal Birou, who
+was covered with wounds which had been received in his service, perhaps
+Henry would never have suffered assassination himself; perhaps that act
+of clemency, judiciously interposed after condemnation, would have
+soothed the still raging spirit of the league; perhaps the outcry would
+not then have been incessantly thundered into the ears of the
+populace--the king always protects heretics, the king treats good
+Catholics shamefully, the king is a miser, the king is an old debauchée,
+who, at the age of fifty-seven fell in love with the young princess of
+Condé, and forced her husband to fly the kingdom with her. All these
+embers of universal discontent would probably not have been alone
+sufficient to inflame the brain of the fanatical Feuillant, Ravaillac.
+
+With respect to what is ordinarily called justice, that is, the practice
+of killing a man because he has stolen a crown from his master; or
+burning him, as was the case with Simon Morin, for having said that he
+had had conferences with the Holy Spirit; and as was the case also with
+a mad old Jesuit of the name of Malagrida, for having printed certain
+conversations which the holy virgin held with St. Anne, her mother,
+while in the womb--this practice, it must be acknowledged, is neither
+conformable to humanity or reason, and cannot possibly be of the least
+utility.
+
+We have already inquired what advantage could ensue to the state from
+the execution of that poor man known under the name of the madman; who,
+while at supper with some monks, uttered certain nonsensical words, and
+who, instead of being purged and bled, was delivered over to the
+gallows?
+
+We further ask, whether it was absolutely necessary that another madman,
+who was in the bodyguards, and who gave himself some slight cuts with a
+hanger, like many other impostors, to obtain remuneration, should be
+also hanged by the sentence of the parliament? Was this a crime of such
+great enormity? Would there have been any imminent danger to society in
+saving the life of this man?
+
+What necessity could there be that La Barre should have his hand chopped
+off and his tongue cut out, that he should be put to the question
+ordinary and extraordinary, and be burned alive? Such was the sentence
+pronounced by the Solons and Lycurguses of Abbeville! What had he done?
+Had he assassinated his father and mother? Had people reason to
+apprehend that he would burn down the city? He was accused of want of
+reverence in some secret circumstances, which the sentence itself does
+not specify. He had, it was said, sung an old song, of which no one
+could give an account; and had seen a procession of capuchins pass at a
+distance without saluting it.
+
+It certainly appears as if some people took great delight in what
+Boileau calls murdering their neighbor in due form and ceremony, and
+inflicting on him unutterable torments. These people live in the
+forty-ninth degree of latitude, which is precisely the position of the
+Iroquois. Let us hope that they may, some time or other, become
+civilized.
+
+Among this nation of barbarians, there are always to be found two or
+three thousand persons of great kindness and amiability, possessed of
+correct taste, and constituting excellent society. These will, at
+length, polish the others.
+
+I should like to ask those who are so fond of erecting gibbets, piles,
+and scaffolds, and pouring leaden balls through the human brain, whether
+they are always laboring under the horrors of famine, and whether they
+kill their fellow-creatures from any apprehension that there are more of
+them than can be maintained?
+
+I was once perfectly horror-struck at seeing a list of deserters made
+out for the short period merely of eight years. They amounted to sixty
+thousand. Here were sixty thousand co-patriots, who were to be shot
+through the head at the beat of drum; and with whom, if well maintained
+and ably commanded, a whole province might have been added to the
+kingdom.
+
+I would also ask some of these subaltern Dracos, whether there are no
+such things wanted in their country as highways or crossways, whether
+there are no uncultivated lands to be broken up, and whether men who are
+hanged or shot can be of any service?
+
+I will not address them on the score of humanity, but of utility:
+unfortunately, they will often attend to neither; and, although M.
+Beccaria met with the applauses of Europe for having proved that
+punishments ought only to be proportioned to crimes, the Iroquois soon
+found out an advocate, paid by a priest, who maintained that to torture,
+hang, rack, and burn in all cases whatsoever, was decidedly the best
+way.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+But it is England which, more than any other country, has been
+distinguished for the stern delight of slaughtering men with the
+pretended sword of the law. Without mentioning the immense number of
+princes of the blood, peers of the realm, and eminent citizens, who have
+perished by a public death on the scaffold, it is sufficient to call to
+mind the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, Queen Catherine Howard, Lady
+Jane Grey, Queen Mary Stuart, and King Charles I, in order to justify
+the sarcasm which has been frequently applied, that the history of
+England ought to be written by the executioner.
+
+Next to that island, it is alleged that France is the country in which
+capital punishments have been most common. I shall say nothing of that
+of Queen Brunehaut, for I do not believe it. I pass by innumerable
+scaffolds, and stop before that of Count Montecuculi, who was cut into
+quarters in the presence of Francis I. and his whole court, because
+Francis, the dauphin, had died of pleurisy.
+
+That event occurred in 1536. Charles V., victorious on all the coasts of
+Europe and Africa, was then ravaging both Provence and Picardy. During
+that campaign which commenced advantageously for him, the young dauphin,
+eighteen years of age, becomes heated at a game of tennis, in the small
+city of Tournon. When in high perspiration he drinks iced water, and in
+the course of five days dies of the pleurisy. The whole court and all
+France exclaim that the Emperor Charles V. had caused the dauphin of
+France to be poisoned. This accusation, equally horrible and absurd, has
+been repeated from time to time down to the present. Malherbe, in one of
+his odes, speaks of Francis, whom Castile, unequal to cope with in arms,
+bereaved of his son.
+
+We will not stop to examine whether the emperor was unequal to the arms
+of Francis I., because he left Provence after having completely sacked
+it, nor whether to poison a dauphin is to steal him; but these bad lines
+decidedly show that the poisoning of the dauphin Francis by Charles V.
+was received throughout France as an indisputable truth.
+
+Daniel does not exculpate the emperor. Henault, in his "Chronological
+Summary," says: "Francis, the dauphin, poisoned." It is thus that all
+writers copy from one another. At length the author of the "History of
+Francis I." ventures, like myself, to investigate the fact.
+
+It is certain that Count Montecuculi, who was in the service of the
+dauphin, was condemned by certain commissioners to be quartered, as
+guilty of having poisoned that prince.
+
+Historians say that this Montecuculi was his cup-bearer. The dauphins
+have no such officer: but I will admit that they had. How could that
+gentleman, just at the instant, have mixed up poison in a glass of
+fresh water? Did he always carry poison in his pocket, ready whenever
+his master might call for drink? He was not the only person present with
+the dauphin, who was, it appears, wiped and rubbed dry by some of his
+attendants after the game of tennis was finished. The surgeons who
+opened the body declared, it is said, that the prince had taken arsenic.
+Had the prince done so, he must have felt intolerable pains about his
+throat, the water would have been colored, and the case would not have
+been treated as one of pleurisy. The surgeons were ignorant pretenders,
+who said just what they were desired to say; a fact which happens every
+day.
+
+[Illustration: Francis I. and his sister.]
+
+What interest could this officer have in destroying his master? Who was
+more likely to advance his fortune? But, it is said, it was intended
+also to poison the king. Here is a new difficulty and a new
+improbability.
+
+Who was to compensate him for this double crime? Charles V., it is
+replied--another improbability equally strong. Why begin with a youth
+only eighteen years and a half old, and who, moreover, had two brothers?
+How was the king to be got at? Montecuculi did not wait at his table.
+
+Charles V. had nothing to gain by taking away the life of the young
+dauphin, who had never drawn a sword, and who certainly would have had
+powerful avengers. It would have been a crime at once base and useless.
+He did not fear the father, we are to believe, the bravest knight of the
+French court; yet he was afraid of the son, who had scarcely reached
+beyond the age of childhood!
+
+But, we are informed, this Montecuculi, on the occasion of a journey to
+Ferrara, his own country, was presented to the emperor, and that that
+monarch asked him numerous questions relating to the magnificence of the
+king's table and the economy of his household. This certainly is
+decisive evidence that the Italian was engaged by Charles V. to poison
+the royal family!
+
+Oh! but it was not the emperor himself who urged him to commit this
+crime: he was impelled to it by Anthony de Leva and the Marquis di
+Gonzaga. Yes, truly, Anthony de Leva, eighty years of age, and one of
+the most virtuous knights in Europe! and this noble veteran, moreover,
+was indiscreet enough to propose executing this scheme of poisoning in
+conjunction with a prince of Gonzaga. Others mention the Marquis del
+Vasto, whom we call du Gast. Contemptible impostors! Be at least agreed
+among yourselves. You say that Montecuculi confessed the fact before his
+judges. Have you seen the original documents connected with the trial?
+
+You state that the unfortunate man was a chemist. These then are your
+only proofs, your only reasons, for subjecting him to the most dreadful
+of executions: he was an Italian, he was a chemist, and Charles V. was
+hated. His glory then provoked indeed a base revenge. Good God! Your
+court orders a man of rank to be cut into quarters upon bare suspicion,
+in the vain hope of disgracing that powerful emperor.
+
+Some time afterwards your suspicions, always light and volatile, charge
+this poisoning upon Catherine de Medici, wife of Henry II., then dauphin
+and subsequently king of France. You say that, in order to reign, she
+destroyed by poison the first dauphin, who stood between her husband and
+the throne. Miserable impostors! Once again, I say, be consistent!
+Catherine de Medici was at that time only seventeen years of age.
+
+It has been said that Charles V. himself imputed this murder to
+Catherine, and the historian Pera is quoted to prove it. This however,
+is an error. These are the historian's words:
+
+"This year the dauphin of France died at Paris with decided indications
+of poison. His friends ascribed it to the orders of the Marquis del
+Vasto and Anthony de Leva, which led to the execution of Count
+Montecuculi, who was in the habit of corresponding with them: base and
+absurd suspicion of men so highly honorable, as by destroying the
+dauphin little or nothing could be gained. He was not yet known by his
+valor any more than his brothers, who were next in the succession to
+him.
+
+"To one presumption succeeded another. It was pretended that this murder
+was committed by order of the duke of Orleans, his brother, at the
+instigation of his wife, Catherine de Medici, who was ambitious of
+being a queen, which, in fact, she eventually was. It is well remarked
+by a certain author, that the dreadful death of the duke of Orleans,
+afterwards Henry II., was the punishment of heaven upon him for
+poisoning his brother--at least, if he really did poison him--a practice
+too common among princes, by which they free themselves at little cost
+from stumbling-blocks in their career, but frequently and manifestly
+punished by God."
+
+Signor di Pera, we instantly perceive, is not an absolute Tacitus;
+besides, he takes Montecuculi, or Montecuculo, as he calls him, for a
+Frenchman. He says the dauphin died at Paris, whereas it was at Tournon.
+He speaks of decided indications of poison from public rumor; but it is
+clear that he attributes the accusation of Catherine de Medici only to
+the French. This charge is equally unjust and extravagant with that
+against Montecuculi.
+
+In fact, this volatile temperament, so characteristic of the French, has
+in every period of our history led to the most tragical catastrophes. If
+we go back from the iniquitous execution of Montecuculi to that of the
+Knights Templars, we shall see a series of the most atrocious
+punishments, founded upon the most frivolous presumptions. Rivers of
+blood have flowed in France in consequence of the thoughtless character
+and precipitate judgment of the French people.
+
+We may just notice the wretched pleasure that some men, and
+particularly those of weak minds, secretly enjoy in talking or writing
+of public executions, like that they derive from the subject of miracles
+and sorceries. In Calmet's "Dictionary of the Bible" you may find a
+number of fine engravings of the punishments in use among the Hebrews.
+These prints are absolutely sufficient to strike every person of feeling
+with horror. We will take this opportunity to observe that neither the
+Jews nor any other people ever thought of fixing persons to the cross by
+nails; and that there is not even a single instance of it. It is the
+fiction of some painter, built upon an opinion completely erroneous.
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+Ye sages who are scattered over the world--for some sages there
+are--join the philosophic Beccaria, and proclaim with all your strength
+that punishments ought to be proportioned to crimes:
+
+That after shooting through the head a young man of the age of twenty,
+who has spent six months with his father and mother or his mistress,
+instead of rejoining his regiment, he can no longer be of any service to
+his country:
+
+That if you hang on the public gallows the servant girl who stole a
+dozen napkins from her mistress, she will be unable to add to the number
+of your citizens a dozen children, whom you may be considered as
+strangling in embryo with their parent; that there is no proportion
+between a dozen napkins and human life; and, finally, that you really
+encourage domestic theft, because no master will be so cruel as to get
+his coachman hanged for stealing a few of his oats; but every master
+would prosecute to obtain the infliction of a punishment which should be
+simply proportioned to the offence:
+
+That all judges and legislators are guilty of the death of all the
+children which unfortunate, seduced women desert, expose, or even
+strangle, from a similar weakness to that which gave them birth.
+
+On this subject I shall without scruple relate what has just occurred in
+the capital of a wise and powerful republic, which however, with all its
+wisdom, has unhappily retained some barbarous laws from those old,
+unsocial, and inhuman ages, called by some the ages of purity of
+manners. Near this capital a new-born infant was found dead; a girl was
+apprehended on suspicion of being the mother; she was shut up in a
+dungeon; she was strictly interrogated; she replied that she could not
+have been the mother of that child, as she was at the present time
+pregnant. She was ordered to be visited by a certain number of what are
+called (perfectly malapropos in the present instance) wise women--by a
+commission of matrons. These poor imbecile creatures declared her not to
+be with child, and that the appearance of pregnancy was occasioned by
+improper retention. The unfortunate woman was threatened with the
+torture; her mind became alarmed and terrified; she confessed that she
+had killed her supposed child; she was capitally convicted; and during
+the actual passing of her sentence was seized with the pains of
+childbirth. Her judges were taught by this most impressive case not
+lightly to pass sentences of death.
+
+With respect to the numberless executions which weak fanatics have
+inflicted upon other fanatics equally weak, I will say nothing more
+about them; although it is impossible to say too much.
+
+There are scarcely any highway robberies committed in Italy without
+assassinations, because the punishment of death is equally awarded to
+both crimes.
+
+It cannot be doubted that M. de Beccaria, in his "Treatise on Crimes and
+Punishments" has noticed this very important fact.
+
+
+
+
+EXECUTIONER.
+
+
+It may be thought that this word should not be permitted to degrade a
+dictionary of arts and sciences; it has a connection however with
+jurisprudence and history. Our great poets have not disdained frequently
+to avail themselves of this word in tragedy: Clytemnestra, in Iphigenia,
+calls Agamemnon the executioner of his daughter.
+
+In comedy it is used with great gayety; Mercury in the "Amphitryon" (act
+i. scene 2), says: "_Comment, bourreau! tu fais des cris_!"--"How,
+hangman! thou bellowest!"
+
+And even the Romans permitted themselves to say: "_Quorsum vadis,
+carnifex?_"--"Whither goest thou, hangman?"
+
+The Encyclopædia, under the word "Executioner," details all the
+privileges of the Parisian executioner; but a recent author has gone
+farther. In a romance on education, not altogether equal to Xenophon's
+"Cyropædia" or Fénelon's "Telemachus," he pretends that the monarch of a
+country ought, without hesitation, to bestow the daughter of an
+executioner in marriage on the heir apparent of the crown, if she has
+been well educated, and if she is of a sufficiently congruous
+disposition with the young prince. It is a pity that he has not
+mentioned the precise sum she should carry with her as a dower, and the
+honors that should be conferred upon her father on the day of marriage.
+
+It is scarcely possible, with due _congruity_, to carry further the
+profound morality, the novel rules of decorum, the exquisite paradoxes,
+and divine maxims with which the author I speak of has favored and
+regaled the present age. He would undoubtedly feel the perfect
+_congruity_ of officiating as bridesman at the wedding. He would compose
+the princess's epithalamium, and not fail to celebrate the grand
+exploits of her father. The bride may then possibly impart some acrid
+kisses; for be it known that this same writer, in another romance called
+"_Héloise_," introduces a young Swiss, who had caught a particular
+disorder in Paris, saying to his mistress, "Keep your kisses to
+yourself; they are too acrid."
+
+A time will come when it will scarcely be conceived possible that such
+works should have obtained a sort of celebrity; had the celebrity
+continued, it would have done no honor to the age. Fathers of families
+soon made up their minds that it was not exactly decorous to marry their
+eldest sons to the daughters of executioners, whatever congruity might
+appear to exist between the lover and the lady. There is a rule in all
+things, and certain limits which cannot be rationally passed.
+
+     _Est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines,_
+     _Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum._
+
+
+
+
+EXPIATION.
+
+_Dieu fit du repentir la vertu des mortels._
+
+
+The repentance of man is accepted by God as virtue, and perhaps the
+finest institution of antiquity was that solemn ceremony which repressed
+crimes by announcing that they would be punished, and at the same time
+soothed the despair of the guilty by permitting them to redeem their
+transgressions by appointed modes of penance. Remorse, it is to be
+remembered, must necessarily have preceded expiation, for diseases are
+older than medicine, and necessities than relief.
+
+There was, then, previously to all public and legal forms of worship, a
+natural and instinctive religion which inflicted grief upon the heart of
+any one who, through ignorance or passion, had committed an inhuman
+action. A man in a quarrel has killed his friend, or his brother, or a
+jealous and frantic lover has taken the life of her without whom he felt
+as if it were impossible to live. The chief of a nation has condemned to
+death a virtuous man and useful citizen. Such men, if they retain their
+senses and sensibility, become overwhelmed by despair. Their consciences
+pursue and haunt them; two courses only are open to them, reparation or
+to become hardened in guilt. All who have the slightest feeling
+remaining choose the former; monsters adopt the latter.
+
+As soon as religion was established, expiations were admitted. The
+ceremonies attending them were, unquestionably, ridiculous; for what
+connection is there between the water of the Ganges and a murder? How
+could a man repair homicide by bathing? We have already commented on the
+excess of absurdity and insanity which can imagine that what washes the
+body, washes the soul also, and expunges from it the stain of evil
+actions.
+
+The water of the Nile had afterwards the same virtue as that of the
+Ganges; other ceremonies were added to these ablutions. The Egyptians
+took two he-goats and drew lots which of the two should be cast out
+loaded with the sins of the guilty. This goat was called Hazazel, the
+expiator. What connection is there, pray, between a goat and the crime
+of a human being?
+
+It is certainly true that in after times this ceremony was sanctified
+among our fathers the Jews, who adopted many of the Egyptian rites; but
+the souls of the Jews were undoubtedly purified, not by the goat but by
+repentance.
+
+Jason, having killed Absyrtus, his brother-in-law, went, we are told,
+with Medea, who was more guilty than himself, to be absolved by Circe,
+the queen and priestess of Æa, who passed in those days for a most
+powerful sorceress. Circe absolved them with a sucking pig and salt
+cakes. This might possibly be a very good dish, but it could neither
+compensate for the blood of Absyrtus, nor make Jason and Medea more
+worthy people, unless while eating their pig they also manifested the
+sincerity of their repentance.
+
+The expiation of Orestes, who had avenged his father by the murder of
+his mother, consisted in going and stealing a statue from the Tartars of
+the Crimea. The statue was probably extremely ill executed, and there
+appeared nothing to be gained by such an enterprise. In later times
+these things were contrived better: mysteries were invented, and the
+offenders might obtain absolution at these mysteries by submitting to
+certain painful trials, and swearing to lead a new life. It is from this
+oath that the persons taking it had attached to them, among all nations,
+a name corresponding to that of initiated "_qui ineunt vitam
+novam_,"--who begin a new career, who enter upon the path of virtue.
+
+We have seen under the article on "Baptism" that the Christian
+catechumens were not called initiated till after they had been baptized.
+
+It is indisputable, that persons had not their sins washed away in these
+mysteries, but by virtue of their oath to become virtuous: the
+hierophant in all the Grecian mysteries, when dismissing the assembly,
+pronounced the two Egyptian words, "_Koth, ompheth_," "watch, be pure";
+which at once proves that the mysteries came originally from Egypt, and
+that they were invented solely for the purpose of making mankind better.
+
+Wise men, we thus see, have, in every age, done all in their power to
+inspire the love of virtue, and to prevent the weakness of man from
+sinking under despair; but, at the same time there have existed crimes
+of such magnitude and horror that no mystery could admit of their
+expiation. Nero, although an emperor, could not obtain initiation into
+the mysteries of Ceres. Constantine, according to the narrative of
+Zosimus, was unable to procure the pardon of his crimes: he was polluted
+with the blood of his wife, his son, and all his relations. It was
+necessary, for the protection of the human race, that crimes so
+flagitious should be deemed incapable of expiation, that the prospect of
+absolution might not invite to their committal, and that hideous
+atrocity might be checked by universal horror.
+
+The Roman Catholics have expiations which they call penances. We have
+seen, under the article on "Austerities," how grossly so salutary an
+institution has been abused.
+
+According to the laws of the barbarians who subverted the Roman Empire,
+crimes were expiated by money. This was called compounding: "Let the
+offender compound by paying ten, twenty, thirty shillings." Two hundred
+sous constituted the composition price for killing a priest, and four
+hundred for killing a bishop; so that a bishop was worth exactly two
+priests.
+
+After having thus compounded with men, God Himself was compounded with,
+when the practice of confession became generally established. At length
+Pope John XXII. established a tariff of sins.
+
+The absolution of incest, committed by a layman, cost four livres
+tournois: "_Ab incestu pro laico in foro conscienticæ turonenses
+quatuor_." For a man and woman who have committed incest, eighteen
+livres tournois, four ducats, and nine carlines. This is certainly
+unjust; if one person pays only four livres tournois, two persons ought
+not to pay more than eight.
+
+Even crimes against nature have actually their affixed rates, amounting
+to ninety livres tournois, twelve ducats, and six carlines: "_Cum
+inhibitione turonenses 90, ducatos 12, carlinos 90_," etc.
+
+It is scarcely credible that Leo X. should have been so imprudent as to
+print this book of rates or indulgences in 1514, which, however, we are
+assured he did; at the same time it must be considered that no spark
+had then appeared of that conflagration, kindled afterwards by the
+reformers; and that the court of Rome reposed implicitly upon the
+credulity of the people, and neglected to throw even the slightest veil
+over its impositions. The public sale of indulgences, which soon
+followed, shows that that court took no precaution whatever to conceal
+its gross abominations from the various nations which had been so long
+accustomed to them. When the complaints against the abuses of the Romish
+church burst forth, it did all in its power to suppress this
+publication, but all was in vain.
+
+If I may give my opinion upon this book of rates, I must say that I do
+not believe the editions of it are genuine; the rates are not in any
+kind of proportion and do not at all coincide with those stated by
+d'Aubigné, the grandfather of Madame de Maintenon, in the confession of
+de Sancy. Depriving a woman of her virginity is estimated at six gros,
+and committing incest with a mother or a sister, at five gros. This is
+evidently ridiculous. I think that there really was a system of rates or
+taxes established for those who went to Rome to obtain absolution or
+purchase dispensations, but that the enemies of the Holy See added
+largely, in order to increase the odium against it. Consult Bayle, under
+the articles on "Bank," "Dupinet," "Drelincourt."
+
+It is at least positively certain that these rates were never authorized
+by any council; that they constituted an enormous abuse, invented by
+avarice, and respected by those who were interested in its not being
+abolished. The sellers and the purchasers equally found their account in
+it; and accordingly none opposed it before the breaking out of the
+disturbances attending the Reformation. It must be acknowledged that an
+exact list of all these rates or taxes would be eminently useful in the
+formation of a history of the human mind.
+
+
+
+
+EXTREME.
+
+
+We will here attempt to draw from the word "extreme" an idea that may be
+attended with some utility.
+
+It is every day disputed whether in war success is ascribable to conduct
+or to fortune.
+
+Whether in diseases, nature or medicine is most operative in healing or
+destroying.
+
+Whether in law it is not judicious for a man to compromise, although he
+is in the right, and to defend a cause although he is in the wrong.
+
+Whether the fine arts contribute to the glory or to the decline of a
+state.
+
+Whether it is wise or injudicious to encourage superstition in a people.
+
+Whether there is any truth in metaphysics, history, or morals.
+
+Whether taste is arbitrary, and whether there is in reality a good and a
+bad taste.
+
+In order to decide at once all these questions, take an advantage of
+the extreme cases under each, compare these two extremes, and you will
+immediately discover the truth.
+
+You wish to know whether success in war can be infallibly decided by
+conduct; consider the most extreme case, the most opposed situations in
+which conduct alone will infallibly triumph. The hostile army must
+necessarily pass through a deep mountain gorge; your commander knows
+this circumstance; he makes a forced march, gets possession of the
+heights, and completely encloses the enemy in the defile; there they
+must either perish or surrender. In this extreme case fortune can have
+no share in the victory. It is demonstrable, therefore, that skill may
+decide the success of a campaign, and it hence necessarily follows that
+war is an art.
+
+Afterwards imagine an advantageous but not a decisive position; success
+is not certain, but it is exceedingly probable. And thus, from one
+gradation to another, you arrive at what may be considered a perfect
+equality between the two armies. Who shall then decide? Fortune; that
+is, some unexpected circumstance or event; the death of a general
+officer going to execute some important order; the derangement of a
+division in consequence of a false report, the operation of sudden
+panic, or various other causes for which prudence can find no remedy;
+yet it is still always certain that there is an art, that there is a
+science in war.
+
+The same must be observed concerning medicine; the art of operating
+with the head or hand to preserve the life which appears likely to be
+lost.
+
+The first who applied bleeding as speedily as possible to a patient
+under apoplexy; the first who conceived the idea of plunging a bistoury
+into the bladder to extract the stone from it, and of closing up the
+wound; the first who found out the method of stopping gangrene in any
+part of the human frame, were undoubtedly men, almost divine, and
+totally unlike the physicians of Molière.
+
+Descend from this strong and decisive example to cases less striking and
+more equivocal; you perceive fevers and various other maladies cured
+without its being possible to ascertain whether this is done by the
+physician or by nature; you perceive diseases, the issue of which cannot
+be judged; various physicians are mistaken in their opinions of the seat
+or nature of them; he who has the acutest genius, the keenest eye,
+develops the character of the complaint. There is then an art in
+medicine, and the man of superior mind is acquainted with its niceties.
+Thus it was that La Peyronie discovered that one of the courtiers had
+swallowed a sharp bone, which had occasioned an ulcer and endangered his
+life; and thus also did Boerhaave discover the complaint, as unknown as
+it was dreadful, of a countess of Wassenaer. There is, therefore, it
+cannot be doubted, an art in medicine, but in every art there are
+Virgils and Mæviuses.
+
+In jurisprudence, take a case that is clear, in which the law
+pronounces decisively; a bill of exchange correctly drawn and regularly
+accepted; the acceptor is bound to pay it in every country in the world.
+There is, therefore, a useful jurisprudence, although in innumerable
+cases sentences are arbitrary, because, to the misery of mankind, the
+laws are ill-framed.
+
+Would you wish to know whether the fine arts are beneficial to a nation?
+Compare the two extremes: Cicero and a perfect ignoramus. Decide whether
+the fall of Rome was owing to Pliny or to Attila.
+
+It is asked whether we should encourage superstition in the people.
+Consider for a moment what is the greatest extreme on this baleful
+subject, the massacre of St. Bartholomew, the massacres of Ireland, or
+the Crusades; and the question is decided.
+
+Is there any truth in metaphysics? Advert to those points which are most
+striking and true. Something exists; something, therefore, has existed
+from all eternity. An eternal being exists of himself; this being cannot
+be either wicked or inconsistent. To these truths we must yield; almost
+all the rest is open to disputation, and the clearest understanding
+discovers the truth.
+
+It is in everything else as it is in colors; bad eyes can distinguish
+between black and white; better eyes, and eyes much exercised, can
+distinguish every nicer gradation: "_Usque adeo quod tangit idem est,
+tamen ultima distant._"
+
+
+
+
+EZEKIEL.
+
+_Of Some Singular Passages in This Prophet, and of Certain Ancient
+Usages._
+
+
+It is well known that we ought not to judge of ancient usages by modern
+ones; he that would reform the court of Alcinous in the "Odyssey," upon
+the model of the Grand Turk, or Louis XIV., would not meet with a very
+gentle reception from the learned; he who is disposed to reprehend
+Virgil for having described King Evander covered with a bear's skin and
+accompanied by two dogs at the introduction of ambassadors, is a
+contemptible critic.
+
+The manners of the ancient Egyptians and Jews are still more different
+from ours than those of King Alcinous, his daughter Nausicáa, and the
+worthy Evander. Ezekiel, when in slavery among the Chaldæans, had a
+vision near the small river Chobar, which falls into the Euphrates.
+
+We ought not to be in the least astonished at his having seen animals
+with four faces, four wings, and with calves' feet; or wheels revolving
+without aid and "instinct with life"; these images are pleasing to the
+imagination; but many critics have been shocked at the order given him
+by the Lord to eat, for a period of three hundred and ninety days, bread
+made of barley, wheat, or millet, covered with human ordure.
+
+The prophet exclaimed in strong disgust, "My soul has not hitherto been
+polluted"; and the Lord replied, "Well, I will allow you instead of
+man's ordure to use that of the cow, and with the latter you shall knead
+your bread."
+
+As it is now unusual to eat a preparation of bread of this description,
+the greater number of men regard the order in question as unworthy of
+the Divine Majesty. Yet it must be admitted that cow-dung and all the
+diamonds of the great Mogul are perfectly equal, not only in the eyes of
+a Divine Being, but in those of a true philosopher; and, with regard to
+the reasons which God might have for ordering the prophet this repast,
+we have no right to inquire into them. It is enough for us to see that
+commands which appear to us very strange, did not appear so to the Jews.
+
+It must be admitted that the synagogue, in the time of St. Jerome, did
+not suffer "Ezekiel" to be read before the age of thirty; but this was
+because, in the eighteenth chapter, he says that the son shall not bear
+the iniquity of his father, and it shall not be any longer said the
+fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on
+edge.
+
+This expression was considered in direct contradiction to Moses, who, in
+the twenty-eighth chapter of "Numbers," declares that the children bear
+the iniquity of the fathers, even to the third and fourth generation.
+
+Ezekiel, again, in the twentieth chapter, makes the Lord say that He has
+given to the Jews precepts which are not good. Such are the reasons for
+which the synagogue forbade young people reading an author likely to
+raise doubts on the irrefragability of the laws of Moses.
+
+The censorious critics of the present day are still more astonished with
+the sixteenth chapter of Ezekiel. In that chapter he thus takes it upon
+him to expose the crimes of the city of Jerusalem. He introduces the
+Lord speaking to a young woman; and the Lord said to her, "When thou
+wast born, thy navel string was not cut, thou wast not salted, thou wast
+quite naked, I had pity on thee; thou didst increase in stature, thy
+breasts were fashioned, thy hair was grown, I passed by thee, I observed
+thee, I knew that the time of lovers was come, I covered thy shame, I
+spread my skirt over thee; thou becamest mine; I washed and perfumed
+thee, and dressed and shod thee well; I gave thee a scarf of linen, and
+bracelets, and a chain for thy neck; I placed a jewel in thy nose,
+pendants in thy ears, and a crown upon thy head."
+
+"Then, confiding in thy beauty, thou didst in the height of thy renown,
+play the harlot with every passer-by.... And thou hast built a high
+place of profanation ... and thou hast prostituted thyself in public
+places, and opened thy feet to every one that passed ... and thou hast
+committed fornication with the Egyptians ... and finally thou hast paid
+thy lovers and made them presents, that they might lie with thee ... and
+by hiring them, instead of being hired, thou hast done differently from
+other harlots.... The proverb is, as is the mother, so is the daughter,
+and that proverb is used of thee," etc.
+
+Still more are they exasperated on the subject of the twenty-third
+chapter. A mother had two daughters, who early lost their virginity. The
+elder was called Ahola, and the younger Aholibah.... "Aholah committed
+fornication with young lords and captains, and lay with the Egyptians
+from her early youth.... Aholibah, her sister, committed still greater
+fornication with officers and rulers and well-made cavaliers; she
+discovered her shame, she multiplied her fornications, she sought
+eagerly for the embraces of those whose flesh was as that of asses, and
+whose issue was as that of horses."
+
+These descriptions, which so madden weak minds, signify, in fact, no
+more than the iniquities of Jerusalem and Samaria; these expressions,
+which appear to us licentious, were not so then. The same vivacity is
+displayed in many other parts of Scripture without the slightest
+apprehension. Opening the womb is very frequently mentioned. The terms
+made use of to express the union of Boaz with Ruth, and of Judah with
+his daughter-in-law, are not indelicate in the Hebrew language, but
+would be so in our own.
+
+People who are not ashamed of nakedness, never cover it with a veil. In
+the times under consideration, no blush could have been raised by the
+mention of particular parts of the frame of man, as they were actually
+touched by the person who bound himself by any promise to another; it
+was a mark of respect, a symbol of fidelity, as formerly among
+ourselves, feudal lords put their hands between those of their
+sovereign.
+
+We have translated the term adverted to by the word "thigh." Eliezer
+puts his hand under Abraham's thigh. Joseph puts his hand under the
+thigh of Jacob. This custom was very ancient in Egypt. The Egyptians
+were so far from attaching any disgrace to what we are desirous as much
+as possible to conceal and avoid the mention of, that they bore in
+procession a large and characteristic image, called Phallus, in order to
+thank the gods for making the human frame so instrumental in the
+perpetuation of the human species.
+
+All this affords sufficient proof that our sense of decorum and
+propriety is different from that of other nations. When do the Romans
+appear to have been more polished than in the time of Augustus? Yet
+Horace scruples not to say, in one of his moral pieces: "_Nec metuo, ne
+dum futuo vir rure recurrat_" (Satire II., book i., v. 127.) Augustus
+uses the same expression in an epigram on Fulvia.
+
+The man who should among us pronounce the expression in our language
+corresponding to it, would be regarded as a drunken porter; that word,
+as well as various others used by Horace and other authors, appears to
+us even more indecent than the expressions of Ezekiel. Let us then do
+away with our prejudices when we read ancient authors, or travel among
+distant nations. Nature is the same everywhere, and usages are
+everywhere different.
+
+I once met at Amsterdam a rabbi quite brimful of this chapter. "Ah! my
+friend," says he, "how very much we are obliged to you. You have
+displayed all the sublimity of the Mosaic law, Ezekiel's breakfast; his
+delightful left-sided attitudes; Aholah and Aholibah are admirable
+things; they are types, my brother--types which show that one day the
+Jewish people will be masters of the whole world; but why did you admit
+so many others which are nearly of equal strength? Why did not you
+represent the Lord saying to the sage Hosea, in the second verse of the
+first chapter, 'Hosea, take to thyself a harlot, and make to her the
+children of a harlot?' Such are the very words. Hosea takes the young
+woman and has a son by her, and afterwards a daughter, and then again a
+son; and it was a type, and that type lasted three years. That is not
+all; the Lord says in the third chapter, 'Go and take to thyself a woman
+who is not merely a harlot, but an adulteress.' Hosea obeyed, but it
+cost him fifteen crowns and eighteen bushels of barley; for, you know,
+there was very little wheat in the land of promise--but are you aware of
+the meaning of all this?" "No," said I to him. "Nor I neither," said the
+rabbi.
+
+A grave person then advanced towards us and said they were ingenious
+fictions and abounding in exquisite beauty. "Ah, sir," remarked a young
+man, "if you are inclined for fictions, give the preference to those of
+Homer, Virgil, and Ovid." He who prefers the prophecies of Ezekiel
+deserves to breakfast with him.
+
+
+
+
+FABLE.
+
+
+It is very likely that the more ancient fables, in the style of those
+attributed to Æsop, were invented by the first subjugated people. Free
+men would not have had occasion to disguise the truth; a tyrant can
+scarcely be spoken to except in parables; and at present, even this is a
+dangerous liberty.
+
+It might also very well happen that men naturally liking images and
+tales, ingenious persons amused themselves with composing them, without
+any other motive. However that may be, fable is more ancient than
+history.
+
+Among the Jews, who are quite a modern people in comparison with the
+Chaldæans and Tyrians, their neighbors, but very ancient by their own
+accounts, fables similar to those of Æsop existed in the time of the
+Judges, 1233 years before our era, if we may depend upon received
+computations.
+
+It is said in the Book of Judges that Gideon had seventy sons born of
+his many wives; and that, by a concubine, he had another son named
+Abimelech.
+
+Now, this Abimelech slew sixty-nine of his brethren upon one stone,
+according to Jewish custom, and in consequence the Jews, full of
+respect and admiration, went to crown him king, under an oak near
+Millo, a city which is but little known in history.
+
+Jotham alone, the youngest of the brothers, escaped the carnage--as it
+always happens in ancient histories--and harangued the Israelites,
+telling them that the trees went one day to choose a king; we do not
+well see how they could march, but if they were able to speak, they
+might just as well be able to walk. They first addressed themselves to
+the olive, saying, "Reign thou over us." The olive replied, "I will not
+quit the care of my oil to be promoted over you." The fig-tree said that
+he liked his figs better than the trouble of the supreme power. The vine
+gave the preference to its grapes. At last the trees addressed
+themselves to the bramble, which answered: "If in truth ye anoint one
+king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow; and if not,
+let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon."
+
+It is true that this fable falsifies throughout, because fire cannot
+come from a bramble, but it shows the antiquity of the use of fables.
+
+That of the belly and the members, which calmed a tumult in Rome about
+two thousand three hundred years ago, is ingenious and without fault.
+The more ancient the fables the more allegorical they were.
+
+Is not the ancient fable of Venus, as related by Hesiod, entirely a
+fable of nature? This Venus is the goddess of beauty. Beauty ceases to
+be lovely if unaccompanied by the graces. Beauty produces love. Love has
+features which pierce all hearts; he wears a bandage, which conceals the
+faults of those beloved. He has wings; he comes quickly and flies away
+the same.
+
+Wisdom is conceived in the brain of the chief of the gods, under the
+name of Minerva. The soul of man is a divine fire, which Minerva shows
+to Prometheus, who makes use of this divine fire to animate mankind.
+
+It is impossible, in these fables, not to recognize a lively picture of
+pure nature. Most other fables are either corruptions of ancient
+histories or the caprices of the imagination. It is with ancient fables
+as with our modern tales; some convey charming morals, and others very
+insipid ones.
+
+The ingenious fables of the ancients have been grossly imitated by an
+unenlightened race--witness those of Bacchus, Hercules, Prometheus,
+Pandora, and many others, which were the amusement of the ancient world.
+The barbarians, who confusedly heard them spoken of, adopted them into
+their own savage mythology, and afterwards it is pretended that they
+invented them. Alas! poor unknown and ignorant people, who knew no art
+either useful or agreeable--to whom even the name of geometry was
+unknown--dare you say that you have invented anything? You have not
+known either how to discover truth, or to lie adroitly.
+
+The most elegant Greek fable was that of Psyche; the most pleasant, that
+of the Ephesian matron. The prettiest among the moderns is that of
+Folly, who, having put out Love's eyes, is condemned to be his guide.
+
+The fables attributed to Æsop are all emblems; instructions to the weak,
+to guard them as much as possible against the snares of the strong. All
+nations, possessing a little wisdom, have adopted them. La Fontaine has
+treated them with the most elegance. About eighty of them are
+masterpieces of simplicity, grace, finesse, and sometimes even of
+poetry. It is one of the advantages of the age of Louis XIV. to have
+produced a La Fontaine. He has so well discovered, almost without
+seeking it, the art of making one read, that he has had a greater
+reputation in France than genius itself.
+
+Boileau has never reckoned him among those who did honor to the great
+age of Louis XIV.; his reason or his pretext was that he had never
+invented anything. What will better bear out Boileau is the great number
+of errors in language and the incorrectness of style; faults which La
+Fontaine might have avoided, and which this severe critic could not
+pardon. His grasshopper, for instance, having sung all the summer, went
+to beg from the ant, her neighbor, in the winter, telling her, on the
+word of an animal, that she would pay her principal and interest before
+midsummer. The ant replies: "You sang, did you? I am glad of it; then
+now dance."
+
+His astrologer, again, who falling into a ditch while gazing at the
+stars, was asked: "Poor wretch! do you expect to be able to read things
+so much above you?" Yet Copernicus, Galileo, Cassini, and Halley have
+read the heavens very well; and the best astronomer that ever existed
+might fall into a ditch without being a poor wretch.
+
+Judicial astrology is indeed ridiculous charlatanism, but the
+ridiculousness does not consist in regarding the heavens; it consists in
+believing, or in making believe, that you read what is not there.
+Several of these fables, either ill chosen or badly written, certainly
+merit the censure of Boileau.
+
+Nothing is more insipid than the fable of the drowned woman, whose
+corpse was sought contrary to the course of the river, because in her
+lifetime she had always been contrary.
+
+The tribute sent by the animals to King Alexander is a fable, which is
+not the better for being ancient. The animals sent no money, neither did
+the lion advise them to steal it.
+
+The satyr who received a peasant into his hut should not have turned him
+out on seeing that he blew his fingers because he was cold; and
+afterwards, on taking the dish between his teeth, that he blew his
+pottage because it was hot. The man was quite right, and the satyr was a
+fool. Besides, we do not take hold of dishes with our teeth.
+
+The crab-mother, who reproached her daughter with not walking straight;
+and the daughter, who answered that her mother walked crooked, is not
+an agreeable fable.
+
+The bush and the duck, in commercial partnership with the bat, having
+counters, factors, agents, paying principal and interest, etc., has
+neither truth, nature, nor any kind of merit.
+
+A bush which goes with a bat into foreign countries to trade is one of
+those cold and unnatural inventions which La Fontaine should not have
+adopted. A house full of dogs and cats, living together like cousins and
+quarrelling for a dish of pottage, seems also very unworthy of a man of
+taste.
+
+The chattering magpie is still worse. The eagle tells her that he
+declines her company because she talks too much. On which La Fontaine
+remarks that it is necessary at court to wear two faces.
+
+Where is the merit of the fable of the kite presented by a bird-catcher
+to a king, whose nose he had seized with his claws? The ape who married
+a Parisian girl and beat her is an unfortunate story presented to La
+Fontaine, and which he has been so unfortunate as to put into verse.
+
+Such fables as these; and some others, may doubtless justify Boileau; it
+might even happen that La Fontaine could not distinguish the bad fables
+from the good.
+
+Madame de la Sablière called La Fontaine a fabulist, who bore fables as
+naturally as a plum-tree bears plums. It is true that he had only one
+style, and that he wrote an opera in the style of his fables.
+
+Notwithstanding all this, Boileau should have rendered justice to the
+singular merit of the good man, as he calls him, and to the public, who
+are right in being enchanted with the style of many of his fables.
+
+La Fontaine was not an original or a sublime writer, a man of
+established taste, or one of the first geniuses of a brilliant era; and
+it is a very remarkable fault in him that he speaks not his own language
+correctly. He is in this respect very inferior to Phaedrus, but he was a
+man unique in the excellent pieces that he has left us. They are very
+numerous, and are in the mouths of all those who have been respectably
+brought up; they contribute even to their education. They will descend
+to posterity; they are adapted for all men and for all times, while
+those of Boileau suit only men of letters.
+
+_Of Those Fanatics Who Would Suppress the Ancient Fables._
+
+There is among those whom we call Jansenists a little sect of hard and
+empty heads, who would suppress the beautiful fables of antiquity, to
+substitute St. Prosper in the place of Ovid, and Santeuil in that of
+Horace. If they were attended to, our pictures would no longer represent
+Iris on the rainbow, or Minerva with her aegis; but instead of them, we
+should have Nicholas and Arnauld fighting against the Jesuits and
+Protestants; Mademoiselle Perrier cured of sore eyes by a thorn from the
+crown of Jesus Christ, brought from Jerusalem to Port Royal; Counsellor
+Carré de Montgeron presenting the account of St. Médard to Louis XV.;
+and St. Ovid resuscitating little boys.
+
+In the eyes of these austere sages, Fénelon was only an idolater, who,
+following the example of the impious poem of the "Æneid," introduced the
+child Cupid with the nymph Eucharis.
+
+Pluche, at the end of his fable of the Heavens, entitled "Their
+History," writes a long dissertation to prove that it is shameful to
+have tapestry worked in figures taken from Ovid's "Metamorphoses"; and
+that Zephyrus and Flora, Vertumnus and Pomona, should be banished from
+the gardens of Versailles. He exhorts the school of belles-lettres to
+oppose itself to this bad taste; which reform alone, he says, is capable
+of re-establishing the belles-lettres.
+
+Other puritans, more severe than sage a little time ago, would have
+proscribed the ancient mythology as a collection of puerile tales,
+unworthy the acknowledged gravity of our manners. It would, however, be
+a pity to burn Ovid, Horace, Hesiod, our fine tapestry pictures and our
+opera. If we were spared the familiar stories of Æsop, why lay hands on
+those sublime fables, which have been respected by mankind, whom they
+have instructed? They are mingled with many insipidities, no doubt, but
+what good is without an alloy? All ages will adopt Pandora's box, at the
+bottom of which was found man's only consolation--hope; Jupiter's two
+vessels, which unceasingly poured forth good and evil; the cloud
+embraced by Ixion, which is the emblem and punishment of an ambitious
+man; and the death of Narcissus, which is the punishment of self-love.
+What is more sublime than the image of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom,
+formed in the head of the master of the gods? What is more true and
+agreeable than the goddess of beauty, always accompanied by the graces?
+The goddesses of the arts, all daughters of memory--do they not teach
+us, as well as Locke, that without memory we cannot possess either
+judgment or wit? The arrows of Love, his fillet, and his childhood;
+Flora, caressed by Zephyrus, etc.--are they not all sensible
+personifications of pure nature? These fables have survived the
+religions which consecrated them. The temples of the gods of Egypt,
+Greece, and Rome are no more, but Ovid still exists. Objects of
+credulity may be destroyed, but not those of pleasure; we shall forever
+love these true and lively images. Lucretius did not believe in these
+fabulous gods, but he celebrated nature under the name of Venus.
+
+     _Alma Venus cœli subter labentia signa_
+     _Quæ mare navigerum, quæ terras frugiferentes_
+     _Concelebras, per te quoniam genus omne animantum_
+     _Concipitur, visitque exortum lumina solis_, etc.
+
+     Kind Venus, glory of the blest abodes,
+     Parent of Rome, and joy of men and gods;
+     Delight of all, comfort of sea and earth,
+     To whose kind power all creatures owe their birth, etc.
+                                                      --CREECH.
+
+If antiquity in its obscurity was led to acknowledge divinity in its
+images, how is it to be blamed? The productive soul of the world was
+adored by the sages; it governed the sea under the name of Neptune, the
+air under the image of Juno, and the country under that of Pan. It was
+the divinity of armies under the name of Mars; all these attributes were
+animated personifications. Jupiter was the only _god_. The golden chain
+with which he bound the inferior gods and men was a striking image of
+the unity of a sovereign being. The people were deceived, but what are
+the people to us?
+
+It is continually asked why the Greek and Roman magistrates permitted
+the divinities whom they adored in their temples to be ridiculed on
+their stage? This is a false supposition. The gods were not mocked in
+their theatres, but the follies attributed to these gods by those who
+had corrupted the ancient mythology. The consuls and prætors found it
+good to treat the adventure of the two Sosias wittily, but they would
+not have suffered the worship of Jupiter and Mercury to be attacked
+before the people. It is thus that a thousand things which appear
+contradictory are not so in reality. I have seen, in the theatre of a
+learned and witty nation, pieces taken from the Golden Legend; will it,
+on that account, be said that this nation permits its objects of
+religion to be insulted? It need not be feared we shall become Pagans
+for having heard the opera of Proserpine at Paris, or for having seen
+the nuptials of Psyche, painted by Raphael, in the pope's palace at
+Rome. Fable forms the taste, but renders no person idolatrous.
+
+The beautiful fables of antiquity have also this great advantage over
+history: they are lessons of virtue, while almost all history narrates
+the success of vice. Jupiter in the fable descends upon earth to punish
+Tantalus and Lycaon; but in history our Tantaluses and Lycaons are the
+gods of the earth. Baucis and Philemon had their cabin changed into a
+temple; our Baucises and Philemons are obliged to sell, for the
+collector of the taxes, those kettles which, in Ovid, the gods changed
+into vases of gold.
+
+I know how much history can instruct us and how necessary it is to know
+it; but it requires much ingenuity to be able to draw from it any rules
+for individual conduct. Those who know politics only through books will
+be often reminded of those lines of Corneille, which observe that
+examples will seldom suffice for our guidance, as it often happens that
+one person perishes by the very expedient which has proved the salvation
+of another.
+
+     _Les exemples recens suffiraient pour m'instruire_
+     _Si par l'exemple seul on devait se conduire;_
+     _Mais souvent l'un se perd où l'autre s'est sauvé,_
+     _Et par où l'un périt, un autre est conservé._
+
+Henry VIII., the tyrant of his parliament, his ministers and his wives,
+of consciences and purses, lived and died peaceably. Charles I. perished
+on the scaffold. Margaret of Anjou in vain waged war in person a dozen
+times with the English, the subjects of her husband, while William III.
+drove James II. from England without a battle. In our days we have seen
+the royal family of Persia murdered, and strangers upon the throne.
+
+To look at events only, history seems to accuse Providence, and fine
+moral fables justify it. It is clear that both the useful and agreeable
+may be discovered in them, however exclaimed against by those who are
+neither the one nor the other. Let them talk on, and let us read Homer
+and Ovid, as well as Titus Livius and Rapin de Thoyras. Taste induces
+preferences and fanaticism exclusions. The arts are united, and those
+who would separate them know nothing about them. History teaches us what
+we are--fable what we ought to be.
+
+     _Tous les arts sont amis, ainsi qu ils sont divins;_
+     _Qui veut les séparer est loin de les connaître._
+     _L'histoire nous apprend ce que sont les humains,_
+     _La fable ce qu ils doivent être._
+
+
+
+
+FACTION.
+
+_On the Meaning of the Word._
+
+
+The word "faction" comes from the Latin "_facere_"; it is employed to
+signify the state of a soldier at his post, on duty (_en faction_),
+squadrons or troops of combatants in the circus; green, blue, red, and
+white factions.
+
+The acceptation in which the term is generally used is that of a
+seditious party in the state. The term "party" in itself implies nothing
+that is odious, that of faction is always odious.
+
+A great man, and even a man possessing only mediocrity of talent, may
+easily have a party at court, in the army, in the city, or in
+literature. A man may have a party in consequence of his merit, in
+consequence of the zeal and number of his friends, without being the
+head of a party. Marshal Catinat, although little regarded at court, had
+a large party in the army without making any effort to obtain it.
+
+A head of a party is always a head of a faction; such were Cardinal
+Retz, Henry, duke of Guise, and various others. A seditious party, while
+it is yet weak and has no influence in the government, is only a
+faction.
+
+Cæsar's faction speedily became a dominant party, which swallowed up the
+republic. When the emperor Charles VI. disputed the throne of Spain with
+Philip V. he had a party in that kingdom, and at length he had no more
+than a faction in it. Yet we may always be allowed to talk of the
+"party" of Charles VI.
+
+It is different with respect to private persons. Descartes for a long
+time had a party in France; it would be incorrect to say he had a
+faction. Thus we perceive that words in many cases synonymous cease to
+be so in others.
+
+
+
+
+FACULTY.
+
+
+All the powers of matter and mind are faculties; and, what is still
+worse, faculties of which we know nothing, perfectly occult qualities;
+to begin with motion, of which no one has discovered the origin.
+
+When the president of the faculty of medicine in the "_Malade
+Imaginaire_," asks Thomas Diafoirus: "_Quare opium facit dormire_?"--Why
+does opium cause sleep? Thomas very pertinently replies, "_Quia est in
+eo virtus dormitiva quæ facit sopire."_--Because it possesses a
+dormitive power producing sleep. The greatest philosophers cannot speak
+more to the purpose.
+
+The honest chevalier de Jaucourt acknowledges, under the article on
+"Sleep," that it is impossible to go beyond conjecture with respect to
+the cause of it. Another Thomas, and in much higher reverence than his
+bachelor namesake in the comedy, has, in fact, made no other reply to
+all the questions which are started throughout his immense volumes.
+
+It is said, under the article on "Faculty," in the grand "Encyclopædia,"
+"that the vital faculty once established in the intelligent principle by
+which we are animated, it may be easily conceived that the faculty,
+stimulated by the expressions which the vital _sensorium_ transmits to
+part of the common _sensorium,_ determines the alternate influx of the
+nervous fluid into the fibres which move the vital organs in order to
+produce the alternate contradiction of those organs."
+
+This amounts precisely to the answer of the young physician Thomas:
+"_Quia est in eo virtus alterniva quæ facit alternare_." And Thomas
+Diafoirus has at least the merit of being shortest.
+
+The faculty of moving the foot when we wish to do so, of recalling to
+mind past events, or of exercising our five senses; in short, any and
+all of our faculties will admit of no further or better explanation than
+that of Diafoirus.
+
+But consider thought! say those who understand the whole secret.
+Thought, which distinguishes man from all animals besides: "_Sanctius
+his animal, mentisque capacius altæ_." (Ovid's Metamorph. i. 76.)--More
+holy man, of more exalted mind!
+
+As holy as you like; it is on this subject, that of thought or mind,
+that Diafoirus is more triumphant than ever. All would reply in
+accordance with him: "_Quia est in eo virtus pensativa quæ facit
+pensare."_ No one will ever develop the mysterious process by which he
+thinks.
+
+The case we are considering then might be extended to everything in
+nature. I know not whether there may not be found in this profound and
+unfathomable gulf of mystery an evidence of the existence of a Supreme
+Being. There is a secret in the originating or conservatory principles
+of all beings, from a pebble on the seashore to Saturn's Ring and the
+Milky Way. But how can there be a secret which no one knows? It would
+seem that some being must exist who can develop all.
+
+Some learned men, with a view to enlighten our ignorance, tell us that
+we must form systems; that we shall at last find the secret out. But we
+have so long sought without obtaining any explanation that disgust
+against further search has very naturally succeeded. That, say they, is
+the mere indolence of philosophy; no, it is the rational repose of men
+who have exerted themselves and run an active race in vain. And after
+all, it must be admitted that indolent philosophy is far preferable to
+turbulent divinity and metaphysical delusion.
+
+
+
+
+FAITH.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is
+perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal,
+supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of
+reason. I have no merit in thinking that this eternal and infinite
+being, whom I consider as virtue, as goodness itself, is desirous that I
+should be good and virtuous. Faith consists in believing not what seems
+true, but what seems false to our understanding. The Asiatics can only
+by faith believe the journey of Mahomet to the seven planets, and the
+incarnations of the god Fo, of Vishnu, Xaca, Brahma, and Sommonocodom.
+They submit their understandings; they tremble to examine: wishing to
+avoid being either impaled or burned, they say: "I believe."
+
+We do not here intend the slightest allusion to the Catholic faith. Not
+only do we revere it, but we possess it. We speak of the false, lying
+faith of other nations of the world, of that faith which is not faith,
+and which consists only in words.
+
+There is a faith for things that are merely astonishing and prodigious,
+and a faith for things contradictory and impossible.
+
+Vishnu became incarnate five hundred times; this is extremely
+astonishing, but it is not, however, physically impossible; for if
+Vishnu possessed a soul, he may have transferred that soul into five
+hundred different bodies, with a view to his own felicity. The Indian,
+indeed, has not a very lively faith; he is not intimately and decidedly
+persuaded of these metamorphoses; but he will nevertheless say to his
+bonze, "I have faith; it is your will and pleasure that Vishnu has
+undergone five hundred incarnations, which is worth to you an income of
+five hundred rupees: very well; you will inveigh against me, and
+denounce me, and ruin my trade if I have not faith; but I have faith,
+and here are ten rupees over and above for you." The Indian may swear to
+the bonze that he believes without taking a false oath, for, after all,
+there is no demonstration that Vishnu has not actually made five hundred
+visits to India.
+
+But if the bonze requires him to believe what is contradictory or
+impossible, as that two and two make five, or that the same body may be
+in a thousand different places, or that to be and not to be are
+precisely one and the same thing; in that case, if the Indian says he
+has faith he lies, and if he swears that he believes he commits perjury.
+He says, therefore, to the bonze: "My reverend father, I cannot declare
+that I believe in these absurdities, even though they should be worth to
+you an income of ten thousand rupees instead of five hundred."
+
+"My son," the bonze answers, "give me twenty rupees and God will give
+you grace to believe all that you now do not believe."
+
+"But how can you expect or desire," rejoins the Indian, "that God should
+do that by me which He cannot do even by Himself? It is impossible that
+God should either perform or believe contradictions. I am very willing
+to say, in order to give you satisfaction, that I believe what is
+obscure, but I cannot say that I believe what is impossible. It is the
+will of God that we should be virtuous, and not that we should be
+absurd. I have already given you ten rupees; here are twenty more;
+believe in thirty rupees; be an honest man if you can and do not trouble
+me any more."
+
+It is not thus with Christians. The faith which they have for things
+which they do not understand is founded upon that which they do
+understand; they have grounds of credibility. Jesus Christ performed
+miracles in Galilee; we ought, therefore, to believe all that He said.
+In order to know what He said we must consult the Church. The Church has
+declared the books which announce Jesus Christ to us to be authentic. We
+ought, therefore, to believe those books. Those books inform us that he
+who will not listen to the Church shall be considered as a tax-gatherer
+or a Pagan; we ought, therefore, to listen to the Church that we may not
+be disgraced and hated like the farmers-general. We ought to submit our
+reason to it, not with infantile and blind credulity, but with a docile
+faith, such as reason itself would authorize. Such is Christian faith,
+particularly the Roman faith, which is "_the_ faith" par excellence. The
+Lutheran, Calvinistic, or Anglican faith is a wicked faith.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Divine faith, about which so much has been written, is evidently nothing
+more than incredulity brought under subjection, for we certainly have no
+other faculty than the understanding by which we can believe; and the
+objects of faith are not those of the understanding. We can believe only
+what appears to be true; and nothing can appear true but in one of the
+three following ways: by intuition or feeling, as I exist, I see the
+sun; by an accumulation of probability amounting to certainty, as there
+is a city called Constantinople; or by positive demonstration, as
+triangles of the same base and height are equal.
+
+Faith, therefore, being nothing at all of this description, can no more
+be a belief, a persuasion, than it can be yellow or red. It can be
+nothing but the annihilation of reason, a silence of adoration at the
+contemplation of things absolutely incomprehensible. Thus, speaking
+philosophically, no person believes the Trinity; no person believes that
+the same body can be in a thousand places at once; and he who says, I
+believe these mysteries, will see, beyond the possibility of a doubt, if
+he reflects for a moment on what passes in his mind, that these words
+mean no more than, I respect these mysteries; I submit myself to those
+who announce them. For they agree with me, that my reason, or their own
+reason, believe them not; but it is clear that if my _reason_ is not
+persuaded, _I_ am not persuaded. I and my reason cannot possibly be two
+different beings. It is an absolute contradiction that I should receive
+that as true which my understanding rejects as false. Faith, therefore,
+is nothing but submissive or deferential incredulity.
+
+But why should this submission be exercised when my understanding
+invincibly recoils? The reason, we well know, is, that my understanding
+has been persuaded that the mysteries of my faith are laid down by God
+Himself. All, then, that I can do, as a reasonable being, is to be
+silent and adore. This is what divines call external faith; and this
+faith neither is, nor can be, anything more than respect for things
+incomprehensible, in consequence of the reliance I place on those who
+teach them.
+
+If God Himself were to say to me, "Thought is of an olive color"; "the
+square of a certain number is bitter"; I should certainly understand
+nothing at all from these words. I could not adopt them either as true
+or false. But I will repeat them, if He commands me to do it; and I will
+make others repeat them at the risk of my life. This is not faith; it is
+nothing more than obedience.
+
+In order to obtain a foundation then for this obedience, it is merely
+necessary to examine the books which require it. Our understanding,
+therefore, should investigate the books of the Old and New Testament,
+just as it would Plutarch or Livy; and if it finds in them incontestable
+and decisive evidences--evidences obvious to all minds, and such as
+would be admitted by men of all nations--that God Himself is their
+author, then it is our incumbent duty to subject our understanding to
+the yoke of faith.
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+We have long hesitated whether or not to publish the following article,
+"Faith," which we met with in an old book. Our respect for the chair of
+St. Peter restrained us. But some pious men having satisfied us that
+Alexander VI. and St. Peter had nothing in common, we have at last
+determined to publish this curious little production, and do it without
+the slightest scruple.
+
+Prince Pico della Mirandola once met Pope Alexander VI. at the house of
+the courtesan Emilia, while Lucretia, the holy father's daughter, was
+confined in childbirth, and the people of Rome were discussing whether
+the child of which she was delivered belonged to the pope, to his son
+the Duke de Valentinois, or to Lucretia's husband, Alphonso of Aragon,
+who was considered by many as impotent. The conversation immediately
+became animated and gay. Cardinal Bembo relates a portion of it. "My
+little Pico," says the pope, "whom do you think the father of my
+grandson?" "I think your son-in-law," replied Pico. "What! how can you
+possibly believe such nonsense?" "I believe it by faith." "But surely
+you know that an impotent man cannot be a father." "Faith," replied
+Pico, "consists in believing things because they are impossible; and,
+besides, the honor of your house demands that Lucretia's son should not
+be reputed the offspring of incest. You require me to believe more
+incomprehensible mysteries. Am I not bound to believe that a serpent
+spoke; that from that time all mankind were damned; that the ass of
+Balaam also spoke with great eloquence; and that the walls of Jericho
+fell down at the sound of trumpets?" Pico thus proceeded with a long
+train of all the prodigious things in which he believed. Alexander
+absolutely fell back upon his sofa with laughing. "I believe all that as
+well as you," says he, "for I well know that I can be saved only by
+faith, as I can certainly never be so by works." "Ah, holy father!" says
+Pico, "you need neither works nor faith; they are well enough for such
+poor, profane creatures as we are; but you, who are absolutely a
+vice-god--you may believe and do just whatever you please.
+
+"You have the keys of heaven; and St. Peter will certainly never shut the
+door in your face. But with respect to myself, who am nothing but a poor
+prince, I freely confess that I should have found some very powerful
+protection necessary, if I had lain with my own daughter, or had
+employed the stiletto and night-shade as often as your holiness."
+Alexander VI. understood raillery. "Let us speak seriously," says he to
+the prince. "Tell me what merit there can be in a man's saying to God
+that he is persuaded of things of which, in fact, he cannot be
+persuaded? What pleasure can this afford to God? Between ourselves, a
+man who says that he believes what is impossible to be believed, is--a
+liar."
+
+Pico della Mirandola at this crossed himself in great agitation. "My
+God!" says he, "I beg your holiness' pardon; but you are not a
+Christian." "I am not," says the pope, "upon my faith." "I suspected
+so," said Pico della Mirandola.
+
+
+
+
+FALSITY.
+
+
+Falsity, properly speaking, is the contrary to truth; not intentional
+lying.
+
+It is said that there were a hundred thousand men destroyed by the great
+earthquake at Lisbon; this is not a lie--it is a falsity. Falsity is
+much more common than error; falsity falls more on facts, and error on
+opinions. It is an error to believe that the sun turns round the earth;
+but it is a falsity to advance that Louis XIV. dictated the will of
+Charles II.
+
+The falsity of a deed is a much greater crime than a simple lie; it is a
+legal imposture--a fraud committed with the pen.
+
+A man has a false mind when he always takes things in a wrong sense,
+when, not considering the whole, he attributes to one side of an object
+that which belongs to the other, and when this defect of judgment has
+become habitual.
+
+Falseheartedness is, when a person is accustomed to flatter, and to
+utter sentiments which he does not possess; this is worse than
+dissimulation, and is that which the Latins call _simulatio._
+
+There is much falsity in historians; error among philosophers. Falsities
+abound in all polemical writings, and still more in satirical ones.
+False minds are insufferable, and false hearts are horrible.
+
+
+
+
+FALSITY OF HUMAN VIRTUES.
+
+
+When the Duke de la Rochefoucauld wrote his "Thoughts on Self-Love," and
+discovered this great spring of human action, one M. Esprit of the
+Oratory, wrote a book entitled "Of the Falsity of Human Virtues." This
+author says that there is no virtue but by grace; and he terminates each
+chapter by referring to Christian charity. So that, according to M.
+Esprit, neither Cato, Aristides, Marcus Aurelius, nor Epictetus were
+good men, who can be found only among the Christians. Among the
+Christians, again, there is no virtue except among the Catholics; and
+even among the Catholics, the Jesuits must be excepted as the enemies of
+the Oratory; ergo, virtue is scarcely to be found anywhere except among
+the enemies of the Jesuits.
+
+This M. Esprit commences by asserting that prudence is not a virtue; and
+his reason is that it is often deceived. It is as if he had said that
+Cæsar was not a great captain because he was conquered at Dyrrachium.
+
+If M. Esprit had been a philosopher, he would not have examined prudence
+as a virtue, but as a talent--as a useful and happy quality; for a great
+rascal may be very prudent, and I have known many such. Oh the age of
+pretending that "_Nul n'aura de vertu que nous et nos amis_!"--None are
+virtuous but ourself and friends!
+
+What is virtue, my friend? It is to do good; let us then do it, and that
+will suffice. But we give you credit for the motive. What, then!
+according to you, there is no difference between the President de Thou
+and Ravaillac? between Cicero and that Popilius whose life he saved, and
+who afterwards cut off his head for money; and thou wilt pronounce
+Epictetus and Porphyrius rogues because they did not follow our dogmas?
+Such insolence is disgusting; but I will say no more, for I am getting
+angry.
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35624 ***
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