diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/35627-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/35627-0.txt | 8437 |
1 files changed, 8437 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/35627-0.txt b/old/35627-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..287efd7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/35627-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8437 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 7 (of 10), by +François-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire) + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 7 (of 10) + From "The Works of Voltaire - A Contemporary Version" + +Author: François-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire) + +Commentator: John Morley + Tobias Smollett + H.G. Leigh + +Translator: William F. Fleming + +Release Date: March 28, 2011 [EBook #35627] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY *** + + + + +Produced by Andrea Ball, Christine Bell & Marc D'Hooghe +at http://www.freeliterature.org (From images generously +made available by the Internet Archive.) + + + + + +A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY + +VOLUME VII + +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 XI + + +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. VII + + OLD ROUEN--frontispiece + MONTESQUIEU + THE DREAM OF HUMAN LIFE + ANCIENT ROME + + + +[Illustration: Old Rouen.] + + + * * * * * + + +VOLTAIRE + +A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY. + +IN TEN VOLUMES + +VOL. VII + +JOSEPH-MISSION + + + * * * * * + + +JOSEPH. + + +The history of Joseph, considering it merely as an object of curiosity +and literature, is one of the most precious monuments of antiquity which +has reached us. It appears to be the model of all the Oriental writers; +it is more affecting than the "Odyssey"; for a hero who pardons is more +touching than one who avenges. + +We regard the Arabs as the first authors of these ingenious fictions, +which have passed into all languages; but I see among them no adventures +comparable to those of Joseph. Almost all in it is wonderful, and the +termination exacts tears of tenderness. He was a young man of sixteen +years of age, of whom his brothers were jealous; he is sold by them to a +caravan of Ishmaelite merchants, conducted into Egypt, and bought by a +eunuch of the king. This eunuch had a wife, which is not at all +extraordinary; the kislar aga, a perfect eunuch, has a seraglio at this +day at Constantinople; they left him some of his senses, and nature in +consequence is not altogether extinguished. No matter; the wife of +Potiphar falls in love with the young Joseph, who, faithful to his +master and benefactor, rejects the advances of this woman. She is +irritated at it, and accuses Joseph of attempting to seduce her. Such is +the history of Hippolytus and Phædra, of Bellerophon and Zenobia, of +Hebrus and Damasippa, of Myrtilus and Hippodamia, etc. + +It is difficult to know which is the original of all these histories; +but among the ancient Arabian authors there is a tract relating to the +adventure of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, which is very ingenious. The +author supposes that Potiphar, uncertain between the assertions of his +wife and Joseph, regarded not Joseph's tunic, which his wife had torn as +a proof of the young man's outrage. There was a child in a cradle in his +wife's chamber; and Joseph said that she seized and tore his tunic in +the presence of this infant. Potiphar consulted the child, whose mind +was very advanced for its age. The child said to Potiphar: "See if the +tunic is torn behind or before; if before, it is a proof that Joseph +would embrace your wife by force, and that she defended herself; if +behind, it is a proof that your wife detained Joseph." Potiphar, thanks +to the genius of the child, recognized the innocence of his slave. It is +thus that this adventure is related in the Koran, after the Arabian +author. It informs us not to whom the infant belonged, who judged with +so much wit. If it was not a son of Potiphar, Joseph was not the first +whom this woman had seduced. + +However that may be, according to Genesis, Joseph is put in prison, +where he finds himself in company with the butler and baker of the king +of Egypt. These two prisoners of state both dreamed one night. Joseph +explains their dreams; he predicted that in three days the butler would +be received again into favor, and that the baker would be hanged; which +failed not to happen. + +Two years afterwards the king of Egypt also dreams, and his butler tells +him that there is a young Jew in prison who is the first man in the +world for the interpretation of dreams. The king causes the young man to +be brought to him, who foretells seven years of abundance and seven of +sterility. + +Let us here interrupt the thread of the history to remark, of what +prodigious antiquity is the interpretation of dreams. Jacob saw in a +dream the mysterious ladder at the top of which was God Himself. In a +dream he learned a method of multiplying his flocks, a method which +never succeeded with any but himself. Joseph himself had learned by a +dream that he should one day govern his brethren. Abimelech, a long time +before, had been warned in a dream, that Sarah was the wife of Abraham. + +To return to Joseph: after explaining the dream of Pharaoh, he was made +first minister on the spot. We doubt if at present a king could be +found, even in Asia, who would bestow such an office in return for an +interpreted dream. Pharaoh espoused Joseph to a daughter of Potiphar. It +is said that this Potiphar was high-priest of Heliopolis; he was not +therefore the eunuch, his first master; or if it was the latter, he had +another title besides that of high-priest; and his wife had been a +mother more than once. + +However, the famine happened, as Joseph had foretold; and Joseph, to +merit the good graces of his king, forced all the people to sell their +land to Pharaoh, and all the nation became slaves to procure corn. This +is apparently the origin of despotic power. It must be confessed, that +never king made a better bargain; but the people also should no less +bless the prime minister. + +Finally, the father and brothers of Joseph had also need of corn, for +"the famine was sore in all lands." It is scarcely necessary to relate +here how Joseph received his brethren; how he pardoned and enriched +them. In this history is found all that constitutes an interesting epic +poem--exposition, plot, recognition, adventures, and the marvellous; +nothing is more strongly marked with the stamp of Oriental genius. + +What the good man Jacob, the father of Joseph, answered to Pharaoh, +ought to strike all those who know how to read. "How old art thou?" said +the king to him. "The days of the years of my pilgrimage," said the old +man, "are an hundred and thirty years; few and evil have the days of the +years of my life been." + + + + +JUDÆA. + + +I never was in Judæa, thank God! and I never will go there. I have met +with men of all nations who have returned from it, and they have all of +them told me that the situation of Jerusalem is horrible; that all the +land round it is stony; that the mountains are bare; that the famous +river Jordan is not more than forty feet wide; that the only good spot +in the country is Jericho; in short, they all spoke of it as St. Jerome +did, who resided a long time in Bethlehem, and describes the country as +the refuse and rubbish of nature. He says that in summer the inhabitants +cannot get even water to drink. This country, however, must have +appeared to the Jews luxuriant and delightful, in comparison with the +deserts in which they originated. Were the wretched inhabitants of the +Landes to quit them for some of the mountains of Lampourdan, how would +they exult and delight in the change; and how would they hope eventually +to penetrate into the fine and fruitful districts of Languedoc, which +would be to them the land of promise! + +Such is precisely the history of the Jews. Jericho and Jerusalem are +Toulouse and Montpellier, and the desert of Sinai is the country between +Bordeaux and Bayonne. + +But if the God who conducted the Israelites wished to bestow upon them a +pleasant and fruitful land; if these wretched people had in fact dwelt +in Egypt, why did he not permit them to remain in Egypt? To this we are +answered only in the usual language of theology. + +Judæa, it is said, was the promised land. God said to Abraham: "I will +give thee all the country between the river of Egypt and the Euphrates." + +Alas! my friends, you never have had possession of those fertile banks +of the Euphrates and the Nile. You have only been duped and made fools +of. You have almost always been slaves. To promise and to perform, my +poor unfortunate fellows, are different things. There was an old rabbi +once among you, who, when reading your shrewd and sagacious prophecies, +announcing for you a land of milk and honey, remarked that you had been +promised more butter than bread. Be assured that were the great Turk +this very day to offer me the lordship (seigneurie) of Jerusalem, I +would positively decline it. + +Frederick III., when he saw this detestable country, said, loudly enough +to be distinctly heard, that Moses must have been very ill-advised to +conduct his tribe of lepers to such a place as that. "Why," says +Frederick, did he not go to Naples? Adieu, my dear Jews; I am extremely +sorry that the promised land is the lost land. + + By the Baron de Broukans. + + + + +JULIAN. + + +SECTION I. + +Justice is often done at last. Two or three authors, either venal or +fanatical, eulogize the cruel and effeminate Constantine as if he had +been a god, and treat as an absolute miscreant the just, the wise, and +the great Julian. All other authors, copying from these, repeat both the +flattery and the calumny. They become almost an article of faith. At +length the age of sound criticism arrives; and at the end of fourteen +hundred years, enlightened men revise the cause which had been decided +by ignorance. In Constantine we see a man of successful ambition, +internally scoffing at things divine as well as human. He has the +insolence to pretend that God sent him a standard in the air to assure +him of victory. He imbrues himself in the blood of all his relations, +and is lulled to sleep in all the effeminacy of luxury; but he is a +Christian--he is canonized. + +Julian is sober, chaste, disinterested, brave, and clement; but he is +not a Christian--he has long been considered a monster. + +At the present day--after having compared facts, memorials and records, +the writings of Julian and those of his enemies--we are compelled to +acknowledge that, if he was not partial to Christianity, he was somewhat +excusable in hating a sect stained with the blood of all his family; and +that although he had been persecuted, imprisoned, exiled, and threatened +with death by the Galileans, under the reign of the cruel and sanguinary +Constantius, he never persecuted them, but on the contrary even pardoned +ten Christian soldiers who had conspired against his life. His letters +are read and admired: "The Galileans," says he, "under my predecessor, +suffered exile and imprisonment; and those who, according to the change +of circumstances, were called heretics, were reciprocally massacred in +their turn. I have called home their exiles, I have liberated their +prisoners, I have restored their property to those who were proscribed, +and have compelled them to live in peace; but such is the restless rage +of these Galileans that they deplore their inability any longer to +devour one another." What a letter! What a sentence, dictated by +philosophy, against persecuting fanaticism. Ten Christians conspiring +against his life, he detects and he pardons them. How extraordinary a +man! What dastardly fanatics must those be who attempt to throw disgrace +on his memory! + +In short, on investigating facts with impartiality, we are obliged to +admit that Julian possessed all the qualities of Trajan, with the +exception of that depraved taste too long pardoned to the Greeks and +Romans; all the virtues of Cato, without either his obstinacy or +ill-humor; everything that deserves admiration in Julius Cæsar, and none +of his vices. He possessed the continence of Scipio. Finally, he was in +all respects equal to Marcus Aurelius, who was reputed the first of men. + +There are none who will now venture to repeat, after that slanderer +Theodoret, that, in order to propitiate the gods, he sacrificed a woman +in the temple of Carres; none who will repeat any longer the story of +the death scene in which he is represented as throwing drops of blood +from his hand towards heaven, calling out to Jesus Christ: "Galilean, +thou hast conquered"; as if he had fought against Jesus in making war +upon the Persians; as if this philosopher, who died with such perfect +resignation, had with alarm and despair recognized Jesus; as if he had +believed that Jesus was in the air, and that the air was heaven! These +ridiculous absurdities of men, denominated fathers of the Church, are +happily no longer current and respected. + +Still, however, the effect of ridicule was, it seems, to be tried +against him, as it was by the light and giddy citizens of Antioch. He is +reproached for his ill-combed beard and the manner of his walk. But you, +Mr. Abbé de la Bletterie, never saw him walk; you have, however, read +his letters and his laws, the monuments of his virtues. Of what +consequence was it, comparatively, that he had a slovenly beard and an +abrupt, headlong walk, while his heart was full of magnanimity and all +his steps tended to virtue! + +One important fact remains to be examined at the present day. Julian is +reproached with attempting to falsify the prophecy of Jesus Christ, by +rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem. Fires, it is asserted, came out of +the earth and prevented the continuance of the work. It is said that +this was a miracle, and that this miracle did not convert Julian, nor +Alypius, the superintendent of the enterprise, nor any individual of the +imperial court; and upon this subject the Abbé de la Bletterie thus +expresses himself: "The emperor and the philosophers of his court +undoubtedly employed all their knowledge of natural philosophy to +deprive the Deity of the honor of so striking and impressive a prodigy. +Nature was always the favorite resource of unbelievers; but she serves +the cause of religion so very seasonably, that they might surely suspect +some collusion between them." + +1. It is not true that it is said in the Gospel, that the Jewish temple +should not be rebuilt. The gospel of Matthew, which was evidently +written after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, prophesies, +certainly, that not one stone should remain upon another of the temple +of the Idumæan Herod; but no evangelist says that it shall never be +rebuilt. It is perfectly false that not one stone remained upon another +when Titus demolished it. All its foundations remained together, with +one entire wall and the tower Antonia. + +2. Of what consequence could it be to the Supreme Being whether there +was a Jewish temple, a magazine, or a mosque, on the spot where the Jews +were in the habit of slaughtering bullocks and cows? + +3. It is not ascertained whether it was from within the circuit of the +walls of the city, or from within that of the temple, that those fires +proceeded which burned the workmen. But it is not very obvious why the +Jews should burn the workmen of the emperor Julian, and not those of the +caliph Omar, who long afterwards built a mosque upon the ruins of the +temple; or those of the great Saladin who rebuilt the same mosque. Had +Jesus any particular predilection for the mosques of the Mussulmans? + +4. Jesus, notwithstanding his having predicted that there would not +remain one stone upon another in Jerusalem, did not prevent the +rebuilding of that city. + +5. Jesus predicted many things which God permitted never to come to +pass. He predicted the end of the world, and his coming in the clouds +with great power and majesty, before or about the end of the then +existing generation. The world, however, has lasted to the present +moment, and in all probability will last much longer. + +6. If Julian had written an account of this miracle, I should say that +he had been imposed upon by a false and ridiculous report; I should +think that the Christians, his enemies, employed every artifice to +oppose his enterprise, that they themselves killed the workmen, and +excited and promoted the belief of their being destroyed by a miracle; +but Julian does not say a single word on the subject. The war against +the Persians at that time fully occupied his attention; he put off the +rebuilding of the temple to some other time, and he died before he was +able to commence the building. + +7. This prodigy is related by Ammianus Marcellinus, who was a Pagan. It +is very possible that it may have been an interpolation of the +Christians. They have been charged with committing numberless others +which have been clearly proved. + +But it is not the less probable that at a time when nothing was spoken +of but prodigies and stories of witchcraft, Ammianus Marcellinus may +have reported this fable on the faith of some credulous narrator. From +Titus Livius to de Thou, inclusively, all historians have been infected +with prodigies. + +8. Contemporary authors relate that at the same period there was in +Syria a great convulsion of the earth, which in many places broke out in +conflagrations and swallowed up many cities. There was therefore more +miracle. + +9. If Jesus performed miracles, would it be in order to prevent the +rebuilding of a temple in which he had himself sacrificed, and in which +he was circumcised? Or would he not rather perform miracles to convert +to Christianity the various nations who at present ridicule it? Or +rather still, to render more humane, more kind, Christians themselves, +who, from Arius and Athanasius down to Roland and the Paladins of the +Cévennes, have shed torrents of human blood, and conducted themselves +nearly as might be expected from cannibals? + +Hence I conclude that "nature" is not in "collusion", as La Bletterie +expresses it, with Christianity, but that La Bletterie is in collusion +with some old women's stories, one of those persons, as Julian phrases +it, "quibus cum stolidis aniculis negotium erat." + +La Bletterie, after having done justice to some of Julian's virtues, yet +concludes the history of that great man by observing, that his death was +the effect of "divine vengeance". If that be the case, all the heroes +who have died young, from Alexander to Gustavus Adolphus, have, we must +infer, been punished by God. Julian died the noblest of deaths, in the +pursuit of his enemies, after many victories. Jovian, who succeeded him, +reigned a much shorter time than he did, and reigned in disgrace. I see +no divine vengeance in the matter; and I see in La Bletterie himself +nothing more than a disingenuous, dishonest declaimer. But where are the +men to be found who will dare to speak out? + +Libanius the Stoic was one of these extraordinary men. He celebrated the +brave and clement Julian in the presence of Theodosius, the wholesale +murderer of the Thessalonians; but Le Beau and La Bletterie fear to +praise him in the hearing of their own puny parish officers. + + +SECTION II. + +Let any one suppose for a moment that Julian had abandoned false gods +for Christianity; then examine him as a man, a philosopher, and an +emperor; and let the examiner then point out the man whom he will +venture to prefer to him. If he had lived only ten years longer, there +is great probability that he would have given a different form to Europe +from that which it bears at present. + +The Christian religion depended upon his life; the efforts which he made +for its destruction rendered his name execrable to the nations who have +embraced it. The Christian priests, who were his contemporaries, accuse +him of almost every crime, because he had committed what in their eyes +was the greatest of all--he had lowered and humiliated them. It is not +long since his name was never quoted without the epithet of apostate +attached to it; and it is perhaps one of the greatest achievements of +reason that he has at length ceased to be mentioned under so opprobrious +a designation. Who would imagine that in one of the "Mercuries of +Paris", for the year 1745, the author sharply rebukes a certain writer +for failing in the common courtesies of life, by calling this emperor +Julian "the apostate"? Not more than a hundred years ago the man that +would not have treated him as an apostate would himself have been +treated as an atheist. + +What is very singular, and at the same time perfectly true, is that if +you put out of consideration the various disputes between Pagans and +Christians, in which this emperor was engaged; if you follow him neither +to the Christian churches nor idolatrous temples, but observe him +attentively in his own household, in camp, in battle, in his manners, +his conduct, and his writings, you will find him in every respect equal +to Marcus Aurelius. + +Thus, the man who has been described as so abominable and execrable, is +perhaps the first, or at least the second of mankind. Always sober, +always temperate, indulging in no licentious pleasures, sleeping on a +mere bear's skin, devoting only a few hours, and even those with regret, +to sleep; dividing his time between study and business, generous, +susceptible of friendship, and an enemy to all pomp, and pride, and +ostentation. Had he been merely a private individual he must have +extorted universal admiration. + +If we consider him in his military character, we see him constantly at +the head of his troops, establishing or restoring discipline without +rigor, beloved by his soldiers and at the same time restraining their +excesses, conducting his armies almost always on foot, and showing them +an example of enduring every species of hardship, ever victorious in all +his expeditions even to the last moments of his life, and at length +dying at the glorious crisis when the Persians were routed. His death +was that of a hero, and his last words were those of a philosopher: "I +submit," says he, "willingly to the eternal decrees of heaven, convinced +that he who is captivated with life, when his last hour is arrived, is +more weak and pusillanimous than he who would rush to voluntary death +when it is his duty still to live." He converses to the last moment on +the immortality of the soul; manifests no regrets, shows no weakness, +and speaks only of his submission to the decrees of Providence. Let it +be remembered that this is the death of an emperor at the age of +thirty-two, and let it be then decided whether his memory should be +insulted. + +As an emperor, we see him refusing the title of "Dominus," which +Constantine affected; relieving his people from difficulties, +diminishing taxes, encouraging the arts; reducing to the moderate amount +of seventy ounces each those presents in crowns of gold, which had +before been exacted from every city to the amount of three or four +hundred marks; promoting the strict and general observance of the laws; +restraining both his officers and ministers from oppression, and +preventing as much as possible all corruption. + +Ten Christian soldiers conspire to assassinate him; they are discovered, +and Julian pardons them. The people of Antioch, who united insolence to +voluptuousness, offer him an insult; he revenges himself only like a man +of sense; and while he might have made them feel the weight of imperial +power, he merely makes them feel the superiority of his mind. Compare +with this conduct the executions which Theodosius (who was very near +being made a saint) exhibited in Antioch, and the ever dreadful and +memorable slaughter of all the inhabitants of Thessalonica, for an +offence of a somewhat similar description; and then decide between these +two celebrated characters. + +Certain writers, called fathers of the Church--Gregory of Nazianzen, and +Theodoret--thought it incumbent on them to calumniate him, because he +had abandoned the Christian religion. They did not consider that it was +the triumph of that religion to prevail over so great a man, and even +over a sage, after having resisted tyrants. One of them says that he +took a barbarous vengeance on Antioch and filled it with blood. How +could a fact so public and atrocious escape the knowledge of all other +historians? It is perfectly known that he shed no blood at Antioch but +that of the victims sacrificed in the regular services of religion. +Another ventures to assert that before his death he threw some of his +own blood towards heaven, and exclaimed, "Galilean, thou hast +conquered." How could a tale so insipid and so improbable, even for a +moment obtain credit? Was it against the Christians that he was then +combating? and is such an act, are such expressions, in the slightest +degree characteristic of the man? + +Minds of a somewhat superior order to those of Julian's detractors may +perhaps inquire, how it could occur that a statesman like him, a man of +so much intellect, a genuine philosopher, could quit the Christian +religion, in which he was educated, for Paganism, of which, it is almost +impossible not to suppose, he must have felt the folly and ridicule. It +might be inferred that if Julian yielded too much to the suggestions of +his reason against the mysteries of the Christian religion, he ought, at +least in all consistency, to have yielded more readily to the dictates +of the same reason, when more correctly and decidedly condemning the +fables of Paganism. + +Perhaps, by attending a little to the progress of his life, and the +nature of his character, we may discover what it was that inspired him +with so strong an aversion to Christianity. The emperor Constantine, his +great-uncle, who had placed the new religion on the throne, was stained +by the murder of his wife, his son, his brother-inlaw, his nephew, and +his father-in-law. The three children of Constantine began their bloody +and baleful reign, with murdering their uncle and their cousins. From +that time followed a series of civil wars and murders. The father, the +brother, and all the relations of Julian, and even Julian himself, were +marked down for destruction by Constantius, his uncle. He escaped this +general massacre, but the first years of his life were passed in exile, +and he at last owed the preservation of his life, his fortune, and the +title of Cæsar, only to Eusebia, the wife of his uncle Constantius, who, +after having had the cruelty to proscribe his infancy, had the +imprudence to appoint him Cæsar, and the still further and greater +imprudence of then persecuting him. + +He was, in the first instance, a witness of the insolence with which a +certain bishop treated his benefactress Eusebia. He was called Leontius, +and was bishop of Tripoli. He sent information to the empress, "that he +would not visit her unless she would consent to receive him in a manner +corresponding to his episcopal dignity--that is, that she should advance +to receive him at the door, that she should receive his benediction in a +bending attitude, and that she should remain standing until he granted +her permission to be seated." The Pagan pontiffs were not in the habit +of treating princesses precisely in this manner, and such brutal +arrogance could not but make a deep impression on the mind of a young +man attached at once to philosophy and simplicity. + +If he saw that he was in a Christian family, he saw, at the same time, +that he was in a family rendered distinguished by parricides; if he +looked at the court bishops, he perceived that they were at once +audacious and intriguing, and that all anathematized each other in turn. +The hostile parties of Arius and Athanasius filled the empire with +confusion and carnage; the Pagans, on the contrary, never had any +religious quarrels. It is natural therefore that Julian, who had been +educated, let it be remembered, by philosophic Pagans, should have +strengthened by their discourses the aversion he must necessarily have +felt in his heart for the Christian religion. It is not more +extraordinary to see Julian quit Christianity for false gods, than to +see Constantine quit false gods for Christianity. It is highly probable +that both changed for motives of state policy, and that this policy was +mixed up in the mind of Julian with the stern loftiness of a stoic soul. + +The Pagan priests had no dogmas; they did not compel men to believe that +which was incredible; they required nothing but sacrifices, and even +sacrifices were not enjoined under rigorous penalties; they did not set +themselves up as the first order in the state, did not form a state +within a state, and did not mix in affairs of government. These might +well be considered motives to induce a man of Julian's character to +declare himself on their side; and if he had piqued himself upon being +nothing besides a Stoic, he would have had against him the priests of +both religions, and all the fanatics of each. The common people would +not at that time have endured a prince who was content simply with the +pure worship of a pure divinity and the strict observance of justice. It +was necessary to side with one of the opposing parties. We must +therefore believe that Julian submitted to the Pagan ceremonies, as the +majority of princes and great men attend the forms of worship in the +public temples. They are led thither by the people themselves, and are +often obliged to appear what in fact they are not; and to be in public +the first and greatest slaves of credulity. The Turkish sultan must +bless the name of Omar. The Persian sophi must bless the name of Ali. +Marcus Aurelius himself was initiated in the mysteries of Eleusis. + +We ought not therefore to be surprised that Julian should have debased +his reason by condescending to the forms and usages of superstition; but +it is impossible not to feel indignant against Theodoret, as the only +historian who relates that he sacrificed a woman in the temple of the +moon at Carres. This infamous story must be classed with the absurd tale +of Ammianus, that the genius of the empire appeared to Julian before his +death, and with the other equally ridiculous one, that when Julian +attempted to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem, there came globes of fire +out of the earth, and consumed all the works and workmen without +distinction. + +_Iliacos intra muros peccatur et extra._--Horace, book i, ep. ii, 16. + +Both Christians and Pagans equally, circulated fables concerning Julian; +but the fables of the Christians, who were his enemies, were filled with +calumny. Who could ever be induced to believe that a philosopher +sacrificed a woman to the moon, and tore out her entrails with his own +hands? Is such atrocity compatible with the character of a rigid Stoic? + +He never put any Christians to death. He granted them no favors, but he +never persecuted them. He permitted them, like a just sovereign, to keep +their own property; and he wrote in opposition to them like a +philosopher. He forbade their teaching in the schools the profane +authors, whom they endeavored to decry--this was not persecuting them; +and he prevented them from tearing one another to pieces in their +outrageous hatred and quarrels--this was protecting them. They had in +fact therefore nothing with which they could reproach him, but with +having abandoned them, and with not being of their opinion. They found +means, however, of rendering execrable to posterity a prince, who, but +for his change of religion, would have been admired and beloved by all +the world. + +Although we have already treated of Julian, under the article on +"Apostate"; although, following the example of every sage, we have +deplored the dreadful calamity he experienced in not being a Christian, +and have done justice elsewhere to his various excellences, we must +nevertheless say something more upon the subject. + +We do this in consequence of an imposture equally absurd and atrocious, +which we casually met with in one of those petty dictionaries with which +France is now inundated, and which unfortunately are so easily compiled. +This dictionary of theology which I am now alluding to proceeds from an +ex-Jesuit, called Paulian, who repeats the story, so discredited and +absurd, that the emperor Julian, after being mortally wounded in a +battle with the Persians, threw some of his blood towards heaven, +exclaiming, "Galilean, thou hast conquered"--a fable which destroys +itself, as Julian was conqueror in the battle, and Jesus Christ +certainly was not the God of the Persians. + +Paulian, notwithstanding, dares to assert that the fact is +incontestable. And upon what ground does he assert it? Upon the ground +of its being related by Theodoret, the author of so many distinguished +lies; and even this notorious writer himself relates it only as a vague +report; he uses the expression, "It is said." This story is worthy of +the calumniators who stated that Julian had sacrificed a woman to the +moon, and that after his death a large chest was found among his +movables filled with human heads. + +This is not the only falsehood and calumny with which this ex-Jesuit +Paulian is chargeable. If these contemptible wretches knew what injury +they did to our holy religion, by endeavoring to support it by +imposture, and by the abominable abuse with which they assail the most +respectable characters, they would be less audacious and infuriated. +They care not, however, for supporting religion; what they want is to +gain money by their libels; and despairing of being read by persons of +sense, and taste, and fashion, they go on gathering and compiling +theological trash, in hopes that their productions will be adopted in +the seminaries. + +We sincerely ask pardon of our well-informed and respectable readers for +introducing such names as those of the ex-Jesuits Paulian, Nonnotte, and +Patouillet; but after having trampled to death serpents, we shall +probably be excused for crushing fleas. + + + + +JUST AND UNJUST. + + +Who has given us the perception of just and unjust? God, who gave us a +brain and a heart. But when does our reason inform us that there are +such things as vice and virtue? Just at the same time it teaches us that +two and two make four. There is no innate knowledge, for the same reason +that there is no tree that bears leaves and fruit when it first starts +above the earth. There is nothing innate, or fully developed in the +first instance; but--we repeat here what we have often said--God causes +us to be born with organs, which, as they grow and become unfolded, make +us feel all that is necessary for our species to feel, for the +conservation of that species. + +How is this continual mystery performed? Tell me, ye yellow inhabitants +of the Isles of Sunda, ye black Africans, ye beardless Indians; and +you--Plato, Cicero, and Epictetus. You all equally feel that it is +better to give the superfluity of your bread, your rice, or your manioc, +to the poor man who meekly requests it, than to kill him or scoop his +eyes out. It is evident to the whole world that a benefit is more +honorable to the performer than an outrage, that gentleness is +preferable to fury. + +The only thing required, then, is to exercise our reason in +discriminating the various shades of what is right and wrong. Good and +evil are often neighbors; our passions confound them; who shall +enlighten and direct us? Ourselves, when we are calm and undisturbed. +Whoever has written on the subject of human duties, in all countries +throughout the world, has written well, because he wrote with reason. +All have said the same thing; Socrates and Epictetus, Confucius and +Cicero, Marcus Antoninus and Amurath II. had the same morality. + +We would repeat every day to the whole of the human race: Morality is +uniform and invariable; it comes from God: dogmas are different; they +come from ourselves. + +Jesus never taught any metaphysical dogmas; He wrote no theological +courses; He never said: I am consubstantial; I have two wills and two +natures with only one person. He left for the Cordeliers and the +Jacobins, who would appear twelve hundred years after Him, the delicate +and difficult topic of argument, whether His mother was conceived in +original sin. He never pronounced marriage to be the visible sign of a +thing invisible; He never said a word about concomitant grace; He +instituted neither monks nor inquisitors; He appointed nothing of what +we see at the present day. + +God had given the knowledge of just and unjust, right and wrong, +throughout all the ages which preceded Christianity. God never changed +nor can change. The constitution of our souls, our principles of reason +and morality, will ever be the same. How is virtue promoted by +theological distinctions, by dogmas founded on those distinctions, by +persecutions founded on those dogmas? Nature, terrified and +horror-struck at all these barbarous inventions, calls aloud to all men: +Be just, and not persecuting sophists. + +You read in the "_Zend-Avesta_," which is the summary of the laws of +Zoroaster, this admirable maxim: "When it is doubtful whether the action +you are about to perform is just or unjust, abstain from doing it." What +legislator ever spoke better? We have not here the system of "probable +opinions", invented by people who call themselves "the Society of +Jesus". + + + + +JUSTICE. + + +That "justice" is often extremely unjust, is not an observation merely +of the present day; "_summum jus, summa injuria_," is one of the most +ancient proverbs in existence. There are many dreadful ways of being +unjust; as, for example, that of racking the innocent Calas upon +equivocal evidence, and thus incurring the guilt of shedding innocent +blood by a too strong reliance on vain presumptions. + +Another method of being unjust is condemning to execution a man who at +most deserves only three months' imprisonment; this species of injustice +is that of tyrants, and particularly of fanatics, who always become +tyrants whenever they obtain the power of doing mischief. + +We cannot more completely demonstrate this truth than by the letter of a +celebrated barrister, written in 1766, to the marquis of Beccaria, one +of the most celebrated professors of jurisprudence, at this time, in +Europe: + + +_Letter To The Marquis Of Beccaria, Professor Of Public Law At Milan, On +The Subject Of M. De Morangies, 1772._ + +Sir:--You are a teacher of laws in Italy, a country from which we derive +all laws except those which have been transmitted to us by our own +absurd and contradictory customs, the remains of that ancient barbarism, +the rust of which subsists to this day in one of the most flourishing +kingdoms of the earth. + +Your book upon crimes and punishments opened the eyes of many of the +lawyers of Europe who had been brought up in absurd and inhuman usages; +and men began everywhere to blush at finding themselves still wearing +their ancient dress of savages. + +Your opinion was requested on the dreadful execution to which two young +gentlemen, just out of their childhood, had been sentenced; one of whom, +having escaped the tortures he was destined to, has become a most +excellent officer in the service of the great king, while the other, who +had inspired the brightest hopes, died like a sage, by a horrible death, +without ostentation and without pusillanimity, surrounded by no less +than five executioners. These lads were accused of indecency in action +and words, a fault which three months' imprisonment would have +sufficiently punished, and which would have been infallibly corrected by +time. You replied, that their judges were assassins, and that all Europe +was of your opinion. + +I consulted you on the cannibal sentences passed on Calas, on Sirven, +and Montbailli; and you anticipated the decrees which you afterwards +issued from the chief courts and officers of law in the kingdom, which +justified injured innocence and re-established the honor of the nation. + +I at present consult you on a cause of a very different nature. It is at +once civil and criminal. It is the case of a man of quality, a +major-general in the army, who maintains alone his honor and fortune +against a whole family of poor and obscure citizens, and against an +immense multitude consisting of the dregs of the people, whose +execrations against him are echoed through the whole of France. The poor +family accuses the general officer of taking from it by fraud and +violence a hundred thousand crowns. + +The general officer accuses these poor persons of trying to obtain from +him a hundred thousand crowns by means equally criminal. They complain +that they are not merely in danger of losing an immense property, which +they never appeared to possess, but also of being oppressed, insulted, +and beaten by the officers of justice, who compelled them to declare +themselves guilty and consent to their own ruin and punishment. The +general solemnly protests, that these imputations of fraud and violence +are atrocious calumnies. The advocates of the two parties contradict +each other on all the facts, on all the inductions, and even on all the +reasonings; their memorials are called tissues of falsehoods; and each +treats the adverse party as inconsistent and absurd,--an invariable +practice in every dispute. + +When you have had the goodness, sir, to read their memorials, which I +have now the honor of sending to you, you will, I trust, permit me to +suggest the difficulties which I feel in this case; they are dictated by +perfect impartiality. I know neither of the parties, and neither of the +advocates; but having, in the course of four and twenty years, seen +calumny and injustice so often triumph, I may be permitted to endeavor +to penetrate the labyrinth in which these monsters unfortunately find +shelter. + +_Presumptions Against The Verron Family._ + +1. In the first place, there are four bills, payable to order, for a +hundred thousand crowns, drawn with perfect regularity by an officer +otherwise deeply involved in debt; they are payable for the benefit of a +woman of the name of Verron, who called herself the widow of a banker. +They are presented by her grandson, Du Jonquay, her heir, recently +admitted a doctor of laws, although he is ignorant even of orthography. +Is this enough? Yes, in an ordinary case it would be so; but if, in this +very extraordinary case, there is an extreme probability, that the +doctor of laws never did and never could carry the money which he +pretends to have delivered in his grandmother's name; if the +grandmother, who maintained herself with difficulty in a garret, by the +miserable occupation of pawnbroking, never could have been in the +possession of the hundred thousand crowns; if, in short, the grandson +and his mother have spontaneously confessed, and attested the written +confession by their actual signatures, that they attempted to rob the +general, and that he never received more than twelve hundred francs +instead of three hundred thousand livres;--in this case, is not the +cause sufficiently cleared up? Is not the public sufficiently able to +judge from these preliminaries? + +2. I appeal to yourself, sir, whether it is probable that the poor widow +of a person unknown in society, who is said to have been a petty +stock-jobber, and not a banker, could be in possession of so +considerable a sum to lend, at an extreme risk, to an officer +notoriously in debt? The general, in short, contends, that this jobber, +the husband of the woman in question, died insolvent; that even his +inventory was never paid for; that this pretended banker was originally +a baker's boy in the household of the duke of Saint-Agnan, the French +ambassador in Spain; that he afterwards took up the profession of a +broker at Paris; and that he was compelled by M. Héraut, lieutenant of +police, to restore certain promissory notes, or bills of exchange, which +he had obtained from some young man by extortion;--such the fatality +impending over this wretched family from bills of exchange! Should all +these statements be proved, do you conceive it at all probable that this +family lent a hundred thousand crowns to an involved officer with whom +they were upon no terms of friendship or acquaintance? + +3. Do you consider it probable, that the jobber's grandson, the doctor +of laws, should have gone on foot no less than five leagues, have made +twenty-six journeys, have mounted and descended three thousand steps, +all in the space of five hours, without any stopping, to carry +"secretly" twelve thousand four hundred and twenty-five louis d'or to a +man, to whom, on the following day, he publicly gives twelve hundred +francs? Does not such an account appear to be invented with an utter +deficiency of ingenuity, and even of common sense? Do those who believe +it appear to be sages? What can you think, then, of those who solemnly +affirm it without believing it? + +4. Is it probable, that young Du Jonquay, the doctor of laws, and his +own mother, should have made and signed a declaration, upon oath, before +a superior judge, that this whole account was false, that they had never +carried the gold, and that they were confessed rogues, if in fact they +had not been such, and if grief and remorse had not extorted this +confession of their crime? And when they afterwards say, that they had +made this confession before the commissary, only because they had +previously been assaulted and beaten at the house of a proctor, would +such an excuse be deemed by you reasonable or absurd? + +Can anything be clearer than that, if this doctor of laws had really +been assaulted and beaten in any other house on account of this cause, +he should have demanded justice of the commissary for this violence, +instead of freely signing, together with his mother, that they were both +guilty of a crime which they had not committed? + +Would it be admissible for them to say: We signed our condemnation +because we thought that the general had bought over against us all the +police officers and all the chief judges? + +Can good sense listen for a moment to such arguments? Would any one have +dared to suggest such even in the days of our barbarism, when we had +neither laws, nor manners, nor cultivated reason? + +If I may credit the very circumstantial memorials of the general, the +Verrons, when put in prison upon his accusation, at first persisted in +the confession of their crime. They wrote two letters to the person whom +they had made the depositary of the bills extorted from the general; +they were terrified at the contemplation of their guilt, which they saw +might conduct them to the galleys or to the gibbet. They afterwards gain +more firmness and confidence. The persons with whom they were to divide +the fruit of their villainy encourage and support them; and the +attractions of the vast sum in their contemplation seduce, hurry, and +urge them on to persevere in the original charge. They call in to their +assistance all the dark frauds and pettifogging chicanery to which they +can gain access, to clear them from a crime which they had themselves +actually admitted. They avail themselves with dexterity of the +distresses to which the involved officer was occasionally reduced, to +give a color of probability to his attempting the re-establishment of +his affairs by the robbery or theft of a hundred thousand crowns. They +rouse the commiseration of the populace, which at Paris is easily +stimulated and frenzied. They appeal successfully for compassion to the +members of the bar, who make it a point of indispensable duty to employ +their eloquence in their behalf, and to support the weak against the +powerful, the people against the nobility. The clearest case becomes in +time the most obscure. A simple cause, which the police magistrate would +have terminated in four days, goes on increasing for more than a whole +year by the mire and filth introduced into it through the numberless +channels of chicanery, interest, and party spirit. You will perceive +that the whole of this statement is a summary of memorials or documents +that appeared in this celebrated cause. + +_Presumptions In Favor Of The Verron Family_. + +We shall consider the defence of the grandmother, the mother, and the +grandson (doctor of laws), against these strong presumptions. + +1. The hundred thousand crowns (or very nearly that sum), which it is +pretended the widow Verron never was possessed of, were formerly made +over to her by her husband, in trust, together with the silver plate. +This deposit was "secretly" brought to her six months after her +husband's death, by a man of the name of Chotard. She placed them out, +and always "secretly", with a notary called Gilet, who restored them to +her, still "secretly", in 1760. She had therefore, in fact, the hundred +thousand crowns which her adversary pretends she never possessed. + +2. She died in extreme old age, while the cause was going on, +protesting, after receiving the sacrament, that these hundred thousand +crowns were carried in gold to the general officer by her grandson, in +twenty-six journeys on foot, on Sept. 23, 1771. + +3. It is not at all probable, that an officer accustomed to borrowing, +and broken down in circumstances, should have given bills payable to +order for the sum of three hundred thousand livres, to a person unknown +to him, unless he had actually received that sum. + +4. There are witnesses who saw counted out and ranged in order the bags +filled with this gold, and who saw the doctor of laws carry it to the +general on foot, under his great coat, in twenty-six journeys, occupying +the space of five hours. And he made these twenty-six astonishing +journeys merely to satisfy the general, who had particularly requested +secrecy. + +5. The doctor of laws adds: "Our grandmother and ourselves lived, it is +true, in a garret, and we lent a little money upon pledges; but we lived +so merely upon a principle of judicious economy; the object was to buy +for me the office of a counsellor of parliament, at a time when the +magistracy was purchasable. It is true that my three sisters gain their +subsistence by needle-work and embroidery; the reason of which was, that +my grandmother kept all her property for me. It is true that I have kept +company only with procuresses, coachmen, and lackeys: I acknowledge that +I speak and that I write in their style; but I might not on that account +be less worthy of becoming a magistrate, by making, after all, a good +use of my time." + +6. All worthy persons have commiserated our misfortune. M. Aubourg, a +farmer-general, as respectable as any in Paris, has generously taken our +side, and his voice has obtained for us that of the public. + +This defence appears in some part of it plausible. Their adversary +refutes it in the following manner: + +_Arguments Of The Major-General Against Those Of The Verron Family_. + +1. The story of the deposit must be considered by every man of sense as +equally false and ridiculous with that of the six-and-twenty journeys on +foot. If the poor jobber, the husband of the old woman, had intended to +give at his death so much money to his wife, he might have done it in a +direct way from hand to hand, without the intervention of a third +person. + +If he had been possessed of the pretended silver plate, one-half of it +must have belonged to the wife, as equal owner of their united goods. +She would not have remained quiet for the space of six months, in a +paltry lodging of two hundred francs a year, without reclaiming her +plate, and exerting her utmost efforts to obtain her right. Chotard +also, the alleged friend of her husband and herself, would not have +suffered her to remain for six long months in a state of such great +indigence and anxiety. + +There was, in reality, a person of the name of Chotard; but he was a man +ruined by debts and debauchery; a fraudulent bankrupt who embezzled +forty thousand crowns from the tax office of the farmers-general in +which he held a situation, and who is not likely to have given up a +hundred thousand crowns to the grandmother of the doctor in laws. + +The widow Verron pretends, that she employed her money at interest, +always it appears in secrecy, with a notary of the name of Gilet, but no +trace of this fact can be found in the office of that notary. + +She declares, that this notary returned her the money, still secretly, +in the year 1760: he was at that time dead. + +If all these facts be true, it must be admitted that the cause of Du +Jonquay and the Verrons, built on a foundation of such ridiculous lies, +must inevitably fall to the ground. + +2. The will of widow Verron, made half an hour before her death, with +death and the name of God on her lips, is, to all appearance, in itself +a respectable and even pious document. But if it be really in the number +of those pious things which are every day observed to be merely +instrumental to crime--if this lender upon pledges, while recommending +her soul to God, manifestly lied to God, what importance or weight can +the document bring with it? Is it not rather the strongest proof of +imposture and villainy? + +The old woman had always been made to state, while the suit was carried +on in her name, that she possessed only this sum of one hundred thousand +crowns which it was intended to rob her of; that she never had more than +that sum; and yet, behold! in her will she mentions five hundred +thousand livres of her property! Here are two hundred thousand francs +more than any one expected, and here is the widow Verron convicted out +of her own mouth. Thus, in this singular cause, does the at once +atrocious and ridiculous imposture of the family break out on every +side, during the woman's life, and even when she is within the grasp of +death. + +3. It is probable, and it is even in evidence, that the general would +not trust his bills for a hundred thousand crowns to a doctor of whom he +knew little or nothing, without having an acknowledgment from him. He +did, however, commit this inadvertence, which is the fault of an +unsuspecting and noble heart; he was led astray by the youth, by the +candor, by the apparent generosity of a man not more than twenty-seven +years of age, who was on the point of being raised to the magistracy, +who actually, upon an urgent occasion, lent him twelve hundred francs, +and who promised in the course of a few days to obtain for him, from an +opulent company, the sum of a hundred thousand crowns. Here is the knot +and difficulty of the cause. We must strictly examine whether it be +probable, that a man, who is admitted to have received nearly a hundred +thousand crowns in gold, should on the very morning after, come in great +haste, as for a most indispensable occasion, to the man who the evening +before had advanced him twelve thousand four hundred and twenty-five +louis d'or. + +There is not the slightest probability of his doing so. It is still less +probable, as we have already observed, that a man of distinction, a +general officer, and the father of a family, in return for the +invaluable and almost unprecedented kindness of lending him a hundred +thousand crowns, should, instead of the sincerest gratitude to his +benefactor, absolutely endeavor to get him hanged; and this on the part +of a man who had nothing more to do than to await quietly the distant +expirations of the periods of payment; who was under no temptation, in +order to gain time, to commit such a profligate and atrocious villainy, +and who had never in fact committed any villainy at all. Surely it is +more natural to think that the man, whose grandfather was a +pettifogging, paltry jobber, and whose grandmother was a wretched lender +of small sums upon the pledges of absolute misery, should have availed +himself of the blind confidence of an unsuspecting soldier, to extort +from him a hundred thousand crowns, and that he promised to divide this +sum with the depraved and abominable accomplices of his baseness. + +4. There are witnesses who depose in favor of Du Jonquay and widow +Verron. Let us consider who those witnesses are, and what they depose. + +In the first place, there is a woman of the name of Tourtera, a broker, +who supported the widow in her peddling, insignificant concern of +pawnbroking, and who has been five times in the hospital in consequence +of the scandalous impurities of her life; which can be proved with the +utmost ease. + +There is a coachman called Gilbert, who, sometimes firm, at other times +trembling in his wickedness, declared to a lady of the name of Petit, in +the presence of six persons, that he had been suborned by Du Jonquay. He +subsequently inquired of many other persons, whether he should yet be in +time to retract, and reiterated expressions of this nature before +witnesses. + +Setting aside, however, what has been stated of Gilbert's disposition to +retract, it is very possible that he might be deceived, and may not be +chargeable with falsehood and perjury. It is possible, that he might see +money at the pawnbroker's, and that he might be told, and might believe, +that three hundred thousand livres were there. Nothing is more dangerous +in many persons than a quick and heated imagination, which actually +makes men think that they have seen what it was absolutely impossible +for them to see. + +Then comes a man of the name of Aubriot, a godson of the procuress +Tourtera, and completely under her guidance. He deposes, that he saw, in +one of the streets of Paris, on Sept. 23, 1771, Doctor Du Jonquay in his +great coat, carrying bags. + +Surely there is here no conclusive proof that the doctor on that day +made twenty-six journeys on foot, and travelled over five leagues of +ground, to deliver "secretly" twelve thousand four hundred and +twenty-five louis d'or, even admitting all that this testimony states to +be true. It appears clear, that Du Jonquay went this journey to the +general, and that he spoke to him; and it appears probable, that he +deceived him; but it is not clear that Aubriot saw him go and return +thirteen times in one morning. It is still less clear, that this witness +could at that time see so many circumstances occurring in the street, as +he was actually laboring under a disorder which there is no necessity to +name, and on that very day underwent for it the severe operation of +medicine, with his legs tottering, his head swelled, and his tongue +hanging half out of his mouth. This was not precisely the moment for +running into the street to see sights. Would his friend Du Jonquay have +said to him: Come and risk your life, to see me traverse a distance of +five leagues loaded with gold: I am going to deliver the whole fortune +of my family, secretly, to a man overwhelmed with debts; I wish to have, +privately, as a witness, a person of your character? This is not +exceedingly probable. The surgeon who applied the medicine to the +witness Aubriot on this occasion, states that he was by no means in a +situation to go out; and the son of the surgeon, in his interrogatory, +refers the case to the academy of surgery. + +But even admitting that a man of a particularly robust constitution +could have gone out and taken some turns in the street in this +disgraceful and dreadful situation, what could it have signified to the +point in question? Did he see Du Jonquay make twenty-six journeys +between his garret and the general's hotel? Did he see twelve thousand +four hundred and twenty-five louis d'or carried by him? Was any +individual whatever a witness to this prodigy well worthy the "Thousand +and One Nights"? Most certainly not; no person whatever. What is the +amount, then, of all his evidence on the subject? + +5. That the daughter of Mrs. Verron, in her garret, may have sometimes +borrowed small sums on pledges; that Mrs. Verron may have lent them, in +order to obtain and save a profit, to make her grandson a counsellor of +parliament, has nothing at all to do with the substance of the case in +question. In defiance of all this, it will ever be evident, that this +magistrate by anticipation did not traverse the five leagues to carry to +the general the hundred thousand crowns, and that the general never +received them. + +6. A person named Aubourg comes forward, not merely as a witness, but as +a protector and benefactor of oppressed innocence. The advocates of the +Verron family extol this man as a citizen of rare and intrepid virtue. +He became feelingly alive to the misfortunes of Doctor Du Jonquay, his +mother, and grandmother, although he had no acquaintance with them; and +offered them his credit and his purse, without any other object than +that of assisting persecuted merit. + +Upon examination it is found, that this hero of disinterested +benevolence is a contemptible wretch who began the world as a lackey, +was then successively an upholsterer, a broker, and a bankrupt, and is +now, like Mrs. Verron and Tourtera, by profession a pawnbroker. He flies +to the assistance of persons of his own profession. The woman Tourtera, +in the first place, gave him twenty-five louis d'or, to interest his +probity and kindness in assisting a desolate family. The generous +Aubourg had the greatness of soul to make an agreement with the old +grandmother, almost when she was dying, by which she gives him fifteen +thousand crowns, on condition of his undertaking to defray the expenses +of the cause. He even takes the precaution to have this bargain noticed +and confirmed in the will, dictated, or pretended to be dictated, by +this old widow of the jobber on her death-bed. This respectable and +venerable man then hopes one day to divide with some of the witnesses +the spoils that are to be obtained from the general. It is the +magnanimous heart of Aubourg that has formed this disinterested scheme; +it is he who has conducted the cause which he seems to have taken up as +a patrimony. He believed the bills payable to order would infallibly be +paid. He is in fact a receiver who participates in the plunder effected +by robbers, and who appropriates the better part to himself. + +Such are the replies of the general: I neither subtract from them nor +add to them--I simply state them. I have thus explained to you, sir, the +whole substance of the cause, and stated all the strongest arguments on +both sides. + +I request your opinion of the sentence which ought to be pronounced, if +matters should remain in the same state, if the truth cannot be +irrevocably obtained from one or other of the parties, and made to +appear perfectly without a cloud. + +The reasons of the general officer are thus far convincing. Natural +equity is on his side. This natural equity, which God has established in +the hearts of all men, is the basis of all law. Ought we to destroy this +foundation of all justice, by sentencing a man to pay a hundred thousand +crowns which he does not appear to owe? + +He drew bills for a hundred thousand crowns, in the vain hope that he +should receive the money; he negotiated with a young man whom he did not +know, just as he would have done with the banker of the king or of the +empress-queen. Should his bills have more validity than his reasons? A +man certainly cannot owe what he has not received. Bills, policies, +bonds, always imply that the corresponding sums have been delivered and +had; but if there is evidence that no money has been had and delivered, +there can be no obligation to return or pay any. If there is writing +against writing, document against document, the last dated cancels the +former ones. But in the present case the last writing is that of Du +Jonquay and his mother, and it states that the opposite party in the +cause never received from them a hundred thousand crowns, and that they +are cheats and impostors. + +What! because they have disavowed the truth of their confession, which +they state to have been made in consequence of their having received a +blow or an assault, shall another man's property be adjudged to them? + +I will suppose for a moment (what is by no means probable), that the +judges, bound down by forms, will sentence the general to pay what in +fact he does not owe;--will they not in this case destroy his reputation +as well as his fortune? Will not all who have sided against him in this +most singular adventure, charge him with calumniously accusing his +adversaries of a crime of which he is himself guilty? He will lose his +honor, in their estimation, in losing his property. He will never be +acquitted but in the judgments of those who examine profoundly. The +number of these is always small. Where are the men to be found who have +leisure, attention, capacity, impartiality, to consider anxiously every +aspect and bearing of a cause in which they are not themselves +interested? They judge in the same way as our ancient parliament judged +of books--that is, without reading them. + +You, sir, are fully acquainted with this, and know that men generally +judge of everything by prejudice, hearsay, and chance. No one reflects +that the cause of a citizen ought to interest the whole body of +citizens, and that we may ourselves have to endure in despair the same +fate which we perceive, with eyes and feelings of indifference, falling +heavily upon him. We write and comment every day upon the judgments +passed by the senate of Rome and the areopagus of Athens; but we think +not for a moment of what passes before our own tribunals. + +You, sir, who comprehend all Europe in your researches and decisions, +will, I sincerely hope, deign to communicate to me a portion of your +light. It is possible, certainly, that the formalities and chicanery +connected with law proceedings, and with which I am little conversant, +may occasion to the general the loss of the cause in court; but it +appears to me that he must gain it at the tribunal of an enlightened +public, that awful and accurate judge who pronounces after deep +investigation, and who is the final disposer of character. + + + + +KING. + + +King, _basileus, tyrannos, rex, dux, imperator, melch, baal, bel, +pharaoh, eli, shadai, adonai, shak, sophi, padisha, bogdan, chazan, kan, +krall, kong, könig, etc._--all expressions which signify the same +office, but which convey very different ideas. + +In Greece, neither "_basileus_" nor "_tyrannos_" ever conveyed the idea +of absolute power. He who was able obtained this power, but it was +always obtained against the inclination of the people. + +It is clear, that among the Romans kings were not despotic. The last +Tarquin deserved to be expelled, and was so. We have no proof that the +petty chiefs of Italy were ever able, at their pleasure, to present a +bowstring to the first man of the state, as is now done to a vile Turk +in his seraglio, and like barbarous slaves, still more imbecile, suffer +him to use it without complaint. + +There was no king on this side the Alps, and in the North, at the time +we became acquainted with this large quarter of the world. The Cimbri, +who marched towards Italy, and who were exterminated by Marius, were +like famished wolves, who issued from those forests with their females +and whelps. As to a crowned head among these animals, or orders on the +part of a secretary of state, of a grand butler, of a chancellor--any +notion of arbitrary taxes, commissaries, fiscal edicts, etc.--they knew +no more of any of these than of the vespers and the opera. + +It is certain that gold and silver, coined and uncoined, form an +admirable means of placing him who has them not, in the power of him who +has found out the secret of accumulation. It is for the latter alone to +possess great officers, guards, cooks, girls, women, jailers, almoners, +pages, and soldiers. + +It would be very difficult to insure obedience with nothing to bestow +but sheep and sheep-skins. It is also very likely, after all the +revolutions of our globe, that it was the art of working metals which +originally made kings, as it is the art of casting cannon which now +maintains them. + +Cæsar was right when he said, that with gold we may procure men, and +with men acquire gold. + +This secret had been known for ages in Asia and Egypt, where the princes +and the priests shared the benefit between them. + +The prince said to the priest: Take this gold, and in return uphold my +power, and prophesy in my favor; I will be anointed, and thou shalt +anoint me; constitute oracles, manufacture miracles; thou shalt be well +paid for thy labor, provided that I am always master. The priest, thus +obtaining land and wealth, prophesies for himself, makes the oracles +speak for himself, chases the sovereign from the throne, and very often +takes his place. Such is the history of the shotim of Egypt, the magi of +Persia, the soothsayers of Babylon, the chazin of Syria (if I mistake +the name it amounts to little)--all which holy persons sought to rule. +Wars between the throne and the altar have in fact existed in all +countries, even among the miserable Jews. + +We, inhabitants of the temperate zone of Europe, have known this well +for a dozen centuries. Our minds not being so temperate as our climate, +we well know what it has cost us. Gold and silver form so entirely the +_primum mobile_ of the holy connection between sovereignty and religion, +that many of our kings still send it to Rome, where it is seized and +shared by priests as soon as it arrives. + +When, in this eternal conflict for dominion, leaders have become +powerful, each has exhibited his pre-eminence in a mode of his own. It +was a crime to spit in the presence of the king of the Medes. The earth +must be stricken nine times by the forehead in the presence of the +emperor of China. A king of England imagines that he cannot take a glass +of beer unless it be presented on the knees. Another king will have his +right foot saluted, and all will take the money of their people. In some +countries the krall, or chazin, is allowed an income, as in Poland, +Sweden, and Great Britain. In others, a piece of paper is sufficient for +his treasury to obtain all that it requires. + +Since we write upon the rights of the people, on taxation, on customs, +etc., let us endeavor, by profound reasoning, to establish the novel +maxim, that a shepherd ought to shear his sheep, and not to flay them. + +As to the due limits of the prerogatives of kings, and of the liberty of +the people, I recommend you to examine that question at your ease in +some hotel in the town of Amsterdam. + + + + +KISS. + + +I ask pardon of young ladies and gentlemen, for they will not find here +what they may possibly expect. This article is only for learned and +serious people, and will suit very few of them. + +There is too much of kissing in the comedies of the time of Molière. The +valets are always requesting kisses from the waiting-women, which is +exceedingly flat and disagreeable, especially when the actors are ugly +and must necessarily exhibit against the grain. + +If the reader is fond of kisses, let him peruse the "Pastor Fido": there +is an entire chorus which treats only of kisses, and the piece itself is +founded only on a kiss which Mirtillo one day bestows on the fair +Amaryllis, in a game at blindman's buff--"_un bacio molto saporito._" + +In a chapter on kissing by John de la Casa, archbishop of Benevento, he +says, that people may kiss from the head to the foot. He complains, +however, of long noses, and recommends ladies who possess such to have +lovers with short ones. + +To kiss was the ordinary manner of salutation throughout all antiquity. +Plutarch relates, that the conspirators, before they killed Cæsar, +kissed his face, his hands, and his bosom. Tacitus observes, that when +his father-in-law, Agricola, returned to Rome, Domitian kissed him +coldly, said nothing to him, and left him disregarded in the surrounding +crowd. An inferior, who could not aspire to kiss his superior, kissed +his own hand, and the latter returned the salute in a similar manner, if +he thought proper. + +The kiss was ever used in the worship of the gods. Job, in his parable, +which is possibly the oldest of our known books, says that he had not +adored the sun and moon like the other Arabs, or suffered his mouth to +kiss his hand to them. + +In the West there remains of this civility only the simple and innocent +practice yet taught in country places to children--that of kissing their +right hands in return for a sugar-plum. + +It is horrible to betray while saluting; the assassination of Cæsar is +thereby rendered much more odious. It is unnecessary to add, that the +kiss of Judas has become a proverb. + +Joab, one of the captains of David, being jealous of Amasa, another +captain, said to him, "Art thou in health, my brother?" and took him by +the beard with his right hand to kiss him, while with the other he drew +his sword and smote him so that his bowels were "shed upon the ground". + +We know not of any kissing in the other assassinations so frequent among +the Jews, except possibly the kisses given by Judith to the captain +Holofernes, before she cut off his head in his bed; but no mention is +made of them, and therefore the fact is only to be regarded as probable. + +In Shakespeare's tragedy of "Othello", the hero, who is a Moor, gives +two kisses to his wife before he strangles her. This appears abominable +to orderly persons, but the partisans of Shakespeare say, that it is a +fine specimen of nature, especially in a Moor. + +When John Galeas Sforza was assassinated in the cathedral of Milan, on +St. Stephen's day; the two Medicis, in the church of Reparata; Admiral +Coligni, the prince of Orange, Marshal d'Ancre, the brothers De Witt, +and so many others, there was at least no kissing. + +Among the ancients there was something, I know not what, symbolical and +sacred attached to the kiss, since the statues of the gods were kissed, +as also their beards, when the sculptors represented them with beards. +The initiated kissed one another in the mysteries of Ceres, in sign of +concord. + +The first Christians, male and female, kissed with the mouth at their +Agapæ, or love-feasts. They bestowed the holy kiss, the kiss of peace, +the brotherly and sisterly kiss, "_hagion philema._" This custom, lasted +for four centuries, and was finally abolished in distrust of the +consequences. It was this custom, these kisses of peace, these +love-feasts, these appellations of brother and sister, which drew on the +Christians, while little known, those imputations of debauchery bestowed +upon them by the priests of Jupiter and the priestesses of Vesta. We +read in Petronius and in other authors, that the dissolute called one +another brother and sister; and it was thought, that among Christians +the same licentiousness was intended. They innocently gave occasion for +the scandal upon themselves. + +In the commencement, seventeen different Christian societies existed, as +there had been nine among the Jews, including the two kinds of +Samaritans. Those bodies which considered themselves the most orthodox +accused the others of inconceivable impurities. The term "gnostic", at +first so honorable, and which signifies the learned, enlightened, pure, +became an epithet of horror and of contempt, and a reproach of heresy. +St. Epiphanius, in the third century, pretended that the males and +females at first tickled each other, and at length proceeded to +lascivious kisses, judging of the degree of faith in each other by the +warmth of them. A Christian husband in presenting his wife to a +newly-initiated member, would exhort her to receive him, as above +stated, and was always obeyed. + +We dare not repeat, in our chaste language, all that Epiphanius adds in +Greek. We shall simply observe, that this saint was probably a little +imposed upon, that he suffered himself to be transported by his zeal, +and that all the heretics were not execrable debauchees. The sect of +pietists, wishing to imitate the early Christians, at present bestow on +each other kisses of peace, on departing from their assemblies, and also +call one another brother and sister. The ancient ceremony was a kiss +with the lips, and the pietists have carefully preserved it. + +There was no other manner of saluting the ladies in France, Italy, +Germany, and England. The cardinals enjoyed the privilege of kissing the +lips of queens, even in Spain, though--what is singular--not in France, +where the ladies have always had more liberties than elsewhere; but +every country has its ceremonies, and there is no custom so general but +chance may have produced an exception. It was an incivility, a rudeness, +in receiving the first visit of a nobleman, if a lady did not kiss his +lips--no matter about his mustaches. "It is an unpleasant custom," says +Montaigne, "and offensive to the ladies to have to offer their lips to +the three valets in his suite, however repulsive." This custom is, +however, the most ancient in the world. + +If it is disagreeable to a young and pretty mouth to glue itself to one +which is old and ugly, there is also great danger in the junction of +fresh and vermilion lips of the age of twenty to twenty-five--a truth +which has finally abolished the ceremony of kissing in mysteries and +love-feasts. Hence also the seclusion of women throughout the East, who +kiss only their fathers and brothers--a custom long ago introduced into +Spain by the Arabs. + +Attend to the danger: there is a nerve which runs from the mouth to the +heart, and thence lower still, which produces in the kiss an exquisitely +dangerous sensation. Virtue may suffer from a prolonged and ardent kiss +between two young pietists of the age of eighteen. + +It is remarkable that mankind, and turtles, and pigeons alone practise +kissing; hence the Latin word "_columbatim_", which our language cannot +render. + +We cannot decorously dwell longer on this interesting subject, although +Montaigne says, "It should be spoken of without reserve; we boldly speak +of killing, wounding, and betraying, while on this point we dare only +whisper." + + + + +LAUGHTER. + + +That laughter is the sign of joy, as tears are of grief, is doubted by +no one that ever laughed. They who seek for metaphysical causes of +laughter are not mirthful, while they who are aware that laughter draws +the zygomatic muscle backwards towards the ears, are doubtless very +learned. Other animals have this muscle as well as ourselves, yet never +laugh any more than they shed tears. The stag, to be sure, drops +moisture from its eyes when in the extremity of distress, as does a dog +dissected alive; but they weep not for their mistresses or friends, as +we do. They break not out like us into fits of laughter at the sight of +anything droll. Man is the only animal which laughs and weeps. + +As we weep only when we are afflicted, and laugh only when we are gay, +certain reasoners have pretended that laughter springs from pride, and +that we deem ourselves superior to that which we laugh at. It is true +that man, who is a risible animal, is also a proud one; but it is not +pride which produces laughter. A child who laughs heartily, is not merry +because he regards himself as superior to those who excite his mirth; +nor, laughing when he is tickled, is he to be held guilty of the mortal +sin of pride. I was eleven years of age when I read to myself, for the +first time, the "Amphitryon" of Molière, and laughed until I nearly fell +backward. Was this pride? We are seldom proud when alone. Was it pride +which caused the master of the golden ass to laugh when he saw the ass +eat his supper? He who laughs is joyful at the moment, and is prompted +by no other cause. + +It is not all joy which produces laughter: the greatest enjoyments are +serious. The pleasures of love, ambition, or avarice, make nobody laugh. + +Laughter may sometimes extend to convulsions; it is even said that +persons may die of laughter. I can scarcely believe it; but certainly +there are more who die of grief. + +Violent emotions, which sometimes move to tears and sometimes to the +appearance of laughter, no doubt distort the muscles of the mouth; this, +however, is not genuine laughter, but a convulsion and a pain. The tears +may sometimes be genuine, because the object is suffering, but laughter +is not. It must have another name, and be called the "_risus +sardonicus_"--sardonic smile. + +The malicious smile, the "_perfidum ridens_," is another thing; being +the joy which is excited by the humiliation of another. The grin, +"_cachinnus_," is bestowed on those who promise wonders and perform +absurdities; it is nearer to hooting than to laughter. Our pride derides +the vanity which would impose upon us. They hoot our friend Fréron in +"The Scotchwoman", rather than laugh at him. I love to speak of friend +Fréron, as in that case I laugh unequivocally. + + + + +LAW (NATURAL). + + +B. What is natural law? + +A. The instinct by which we feel justice. + +B. What do you call just and unjust? + +A. That which appears so to the whole world. + +B. The world is made up of a great many heads. It is said that at +Lacedæmon thieves were applauded, while at Athens they were condemned to +the mines. + +A. That is all a mere abuse of words, mere logomachy and ambiguity. +Theft was impossible at Sparta, where all property was common. What you +call theft was the punishment of avarice. + +B. It was forbidden for a man to marry his sister at Rome. Among the +Egyptians, the Athenians, and even the Jews, a man was permitted to +marry his sister by the father's side. It is not without regret that I +cite the small and wretched nation of the Jews, who certainly ought +never to be considered as a rule for any person, and who--setting aside +religion--were never anything better than an ignorant, fanatical, and +plundering horde. According to their books, however, the young Tamar, +before she was violated by her brother Ammon, addressed him in these +words: "I pray thee, my brother, do not so foolishly, but ask me in +marriage of my father: he will not refuse thee." + +A. All these cases amount to mere laws of convention, arbitrary usages, +transient modes. What is essential remains ever the same. Point out to +me any country where it would be deemed respectable or decent to plunder +me of the fruits of my labor, to break a solemn promise, to tell an +injurious lie, to slander, murder, or poison, to be ungrateful to a +benefactor, or to beat a father or mother presenting food to you. + +B. Have you forgotten that Jean Jacques, one of the fathers of the +modern Church, has said that the first person who dared to enclose and +cultivate a piece of ground was an enemy of the human race; that he +ought to be exterminated; and that the fruits of the earth belonged to +all, and the land to none? Have we not already examined this +proposition, so beautiful in itself, and so conducive to the happiness +of society? + +A. Who is this Jean Jacques? It is certainly not John the Baptist, nor +John the Evangelist, nor James the Greater, nor James the Less; he must +inevitably be some witling of a Hun, to write such abominable +impertinence, or some ill-conditioned, malicious "_bufo magro_," who is +never more happy than when sneering at what all the rest of the world +deem most valuable and sacred. For, instead of damaging and spoiling the +estate of a wise and industrious neighbor, he had only to imitate him, +and induce every head of a family to follow his example, in order to +form in a short time a most flourishing and happy village. The author of +the passage quoted seems to me a thoroughly unsocial animal. + +B. You are of opinion, then, that by insulting and plundering the good +man, for surrounding his garden and farmyard with a quick-set hedge, he +has offended against natural law. + +A. Yes, most certainly; there is, I must repeat, a natural law; and it +consists in neither doing ill to another, nor rejoicing at it, when from +any cause whatsoever it befalls him. + +B. I conceive that man neither loves ill nor does it with any other view +than to his own advantage. But so many men are urged on to obtain +advantage to themselves by the injury of another; revenge is a passion +of such violence; there are examples of it so terrible and fatal; and +ambition, more terrible and fatal still, has so drenched the world with +blood; that when I survey the frightful picture, I am tempted to +confess, that a man is a being truly diabolical. I may certainly +possess, deeply rooted in my heart, the notion of what is just and +unjust; but an Attila, whom St. Leon extols and pays his court to; a +Phocas, whom St. Gregory flatters with the most abject meanness; +Alexander VI., polluted by so many incests, murders, and poisonings, and +with whom the feeble Louis XII., commonly called "the Good," enters into +the most strict and base alliance; a Cromwell, whose protection Cardinal +Mazarin eagerly solicits, and to gratify whom he expels from France the +heirs of Charles I., cousins-german of Louis XIV.--these, and a thousand +similar examples, easily to be found in the records of history, totally +disturb and derange my ideas, and I no longer know what I am doing or +where I am. + +A. Well; but should the knowledge that storms are coming prevent our +enjoying the beautiful sunshine and gentle and fragrant gales of the +present day? Did the earthquake that destroyed half the city of Lisbon +prevent your making a very pleasant journey from Madrid? If Attila was a +bandit, and Cardinal Mazarin a knave, are there not some princes and +ministers respectable and amiable men? Has it not been remarked, that in +the war of 1701, the Council of Louis XIV. consisted of some of the most +virtuous of mankind--the duke of Beauvilliers, the Marquis de Torcy, +Marshal Villars, and finally Chamillard, who was not indeed considered a +very able but still an honorable man? Does not the idea of just and +unjust still exist? It is in fact on this that all laws are founded. The +Greeks call laws "the daughters of heaven", which means simply, the +daughters of nature. Have you no laws in your country? + +B. Yes; some good, and others bad. + +A. Where could you have taken the idea of them, but from the notions of +natural law which every well-constructed mind has within itself? They +must have been derived from these or nothing. + +B. You are right; there is a natural law, but it is still more natural +to many people to forget or neglect it. + +A. It is natural also to be one-eyed, humpbacked, lame, deformed, and +sickly; but we prefer persons well made and healthy. + +B. Why are there so many one-eyed and deformed minds? + +A. Hush! Consult, however, the article on "Omnipotence." + + + + +LAW (SALIC). + + +He who says that the Salic law was written with a pen from the wing of a +two-headed eagle, by Pharamond's almoner, on the back of the patent +containing Constantine's donation, was not, perhaps, very much mistaken. + +It is, say the doughty lawyers, the fundamental law of the French +Empire. The great Jerome Bignon, in his book on "The Excellence of +France," says that this law is derived from natural law, according to +the great Aristotle, because "in families it was the father who +governed, and no dower was given to daughters, as we read in relation to +the father, mother, and brothers of Rebecca." + +He asserts that the kingdom of France is so excellent that it has +religiously preserved this law, recommended both by Aristotle and the +Old Testament. And to prove this excellence of France, he observes also, +that the emperor Julian thought the wine of Surêne admirable. + +But in order to demonstrate the excellence of the Salic law, he refers +to Froissart, according to whom the twelve peers of France said that +"the kingdom of France is of such high nobility that it never ought to +pass in succession to a female." + +It must be acknowledged that this decision is not a little uncivil to +Spain, England, Naples, and Hungary, and more than all the rest to +Russia, which has seen on its throne four empresses in succession. + +The kingdom of France is of great nobility; no doubt it is; but those of +Spain, of Mexico, and Peru are also of great nobility, and there is +great nobility also in Russia. + +It has been alleged that Sacred Scripture says the lilies neither toil +nor spin; and thence it has been inferred that women ought not to reign +in France. This certainly is another instance of powerful reasoning; but +it has been forgotten that the leopards, which are--it is hard to say +why--the arms of England, spin no more than the lilies which are--it is +equally hard to say why--the arms of France. In a word, the circumstance +that lilies have never been seen to spin does not absolutely demonstrate +the exclusion of females from the throne to have been a fundamental law +of the Gauls. + + +_Of Fundamental Laws_. + +The fundamental law of every country is, that if people are desirous of +having bread, they must sow corn; that if they wish for clothing, they +must cultivate flax and hemp; that every owner of a field should have +the uncontrolled management and dominion over it, whether that owner be +male or female; that the half-barbarous Gaul should kill as many as ever +he can of the wholly barbarous Franks, when they come from the banks of +the Main, which they have not the skill and industry to cultivate, to +carry off his harvests and flocks; without doing which the Gaul would +either become a serf of the Frank, or be assassinated by him. + +It is upon this foundation that an edifice is well supported. One man +builds upon a rock, and his house stands firm; another on the sands, and +it falls to the ground. But a fundamental law, arising from the +fluctuating inclinations of men, and yet at the same time irrevocable, +is a contradiction in terms, a mere creature of imagination, a chimera, +an absurdity; the power that makes the laws can change them. The Golden +Bull was called "the fundamental law of the empire." It was ordained +that there should never be more than seven Teutonic electors, for the +very satisfactory and decisive reason that a certain Jewish chandelier +had had no more than seven branches, and that there are no more than +seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. This fundamental law had the epithet +"eternal" applied to it by the all-powerful authority and infallible +knowledge of Charles IV. God, however, did not think fit to allow of +this assumption of "eternal" in Charles's parchments. He permitted other +German emperors, out of their all-powerful authority and infallible +knowledge, to add two branches to the chandelier, and two presents to +the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Accordingly the electors are now +nine in number. + +It was a very fundamental law that the disciples of the Lord Jesus +should possess no private property, but have all things in common. There +was afterwards a law that the bishops of Rome should be rich, and that +the people should choose them. The last fundamental law is, that they +are sovereigns, and elected by a small number of men clothed in scarlet, +and constituting a society absolutely unknown in the time of Jesus. If +the emperor, king of the Romans, always august, was sovereign master of +Rome in fact, as he is according to the style of his patents and +heraldry, the pope would be his grand almoner, until some other law, +forever irrevocable, was announced, to be destroyed in its turn by some +succeeding one. + +I will suppose--what may very possibly and naturally happen--that an +emperor of Germany may have no issue but an only daughter, and that he +may be a quiet, worthy man, understanding nothing about war. I will +suppose that if Catherine II. does not destroy the Turkish Empire, which +she has severely shaken in the very year in which I am now writing my +reverie (the year 1771), the Turk will come and invade this good prince, +notwithstanding his' being cherished and beloved by all his nine +electors; that his daughter puts herself at the head of the troops with +two young electors deeply enamored of her; that she beats the Ottomans, +as Deborah beat General Sisera, and his three hundred thousand soldiers, +and his three thousand chariots of war, in a little rocky plain at the +foot of Mount Tabor; that this warlike princess drives the Mussulman +even beyond Adrianople; that her father dies through joy at her success, +or from any other cause; that the two lovers of the princess induce +their seven colleagues to crown her empress, and that all the princes of +the empire, and all the cities give their consent to it; what, in this +case, becomes of the fundamental and eternal law which enacts that the +holy Roman Empire cannot possibly pass from the lance to the distaff, +that the two-headed eagle cannot spin, and that it is impossible to sit +on the imperial throne without breeches? The old and absurd law would be +derided, and the heroic empress reign at once in safety and in glory. + +_How The Salic Law Came To Be Established._ + +We cannot contest the custom which has indeed passed into law, that +decides against daughters inheriting the crown in France while there +remains any male of the royal blood. This question has been long +determined, and the seal of antiquity has been put to the decision. Had +it been expressly brought from heaven, it could not be more revered by +the French nation than it is. It certainly does not exactly correspond +with the gallant courtesy of the nation; but the fact is, that it was in +strict and rigorous observance before the nation was ever distinguished +for its gallant courtesy. + +The president Hénault repeats, in his "Chronicle," what had been stated +at random before him, that Clovis digested the Salic law in 511, the +very year in which he died. I am very well disposed to believe that he +actually did digest this law, and that he knew how to read and write, +just as I am to believe that he was only fifteen years old when he +undertook the conquest of the Gauls; but I do sincerely wish that any +one would show me in the library of St.-Germain-des-Prés, or of St. +Martin, the original document of the Salic law actually signed Clovis, +or Clodovic, or Hildovic; from that we should at least learn his real +name, which nobody at present knows. + +We have two editions of this Salic law; one by a person by the name of +Herold, the other by Francis Pithou; and these are different, which is +by no means a favorable presumption. When the text of a law is given +differently in two documents, it is not only evident that one of the two +is false, but it is highly probable that they are both so. No custom or +usage of the Franks was written in our early times, and it would be +excessively strange that the law of the Salii should have been so. This +law, moreover, is in Latin, and it does not seem at all probable that, +in the swamps between Suabia and Batavia, Clovis, or his predecessors, +should speak Latin. + +It is supposed that this law has reference to the kings of France; and +yet all the learned are agreed that the Sicambri, the Franks, and the +Salii, had no kings, nor indeed any hereditary chiefs. + +The title of the Salic law begins with these words: "_In Christi +nomine_"--"In the name of Christ." It was therefore made out of the +Salic territory, as Christ was no more known by these barbarians than by +the rest of Germany and all the countries of the North. + +This law is stated to have been drawn up by four distinguished lawyers +of the Frank nation; these, in Herold's edition, are called Vuisogast, +Arogast, Salegast, and Vuindogast. In Pithou's edition, the names are +somewhat different. It has been unluckily discovered that these names +are the old names, somewhat disguised, of certain cantons of Germany. + +In whatever period this law was framed in bad Latin, we find, in the +article relating to allodial or freehold lands, "that no part of Salic +land can be inherited by women." It is clear that this pretended law was +by no means followed. In the first place, it appears from the formulæ of +Marculphus that a father might leave his allodial land to his daughter, +renouncing "a certain Salic law which is impious and abominable." + +Secondly, if this law be applied to fiefs, it is evident that the +English kings, who were not of the Norman race, obtained all their great +fiefs in France only through daughters. + +Thirdly, it is alleged to be necessary that a fief should be possessed +by a man, because he was able as well as bound to fight for his lord; +this itself shows that the law could not be understood to affect the +rights to the throne. All feudal lords might fight just as well for a +queen as for a king. A queen was not obliged to follow the practice so +long in use, to put on a cuirass, and cover her limbs with armor, and +set off trotting against the enemy upon a carthorse. + +It is certain, therefore, that the Salic law could have no reference to +the crown, neither in connection with allodial lands, nor feudal holding +and service. + +Mézeray says, "The imbecility of the sex precludes their reigning." +Mézeray speaks here like a man neither of sense nor politeness. History +positively and repeatedly falsifies his assertion. Queen Anne of +England, who humbled Louis XIV.; the empress-queen of Hungary, who +resisted King Louis XV., Frederick the Great, the elector of Bavaria, +and various other princes; Elizabeth of England, who was the strength +and support of our great Henry; the empress of Russia, of whom we have +spoken already; all these decidedly show that Mézeray is not more +correct than he is courteous in his observation. He could scarcely help +knowing that Queen Blanche was in fact the reigning monarch under the +name of her son; as Anne of Brittany was under that of Louis XII. + +Velly, the last writer of the history of France, and who on that very +account ought to be the best, as he possessed all the accumulated +materials of his predecessors, did not, however, always know how to turn +his advantages to the best account. He inveighs with bitterness against +the judicious and profound Rapin de Thoyras, and attempts to prove to +him that no princess ever succeeded to the crown while any males +remained who were capable of succeeding. That we all know perfectly +well, and Thoyras never said the contrary. + +In that long age of barbarism, when the only concern of Europe was to +commit usurpations and to sustain them, it must be acknowledged that +kings, being often chiefs of banditti or warriors armed against those +banditti, it was not possible to be subject to the government of a +woman. Whoever was in possession of a great warhorse would engage in the +work of rapine and murder only under the standard of a man mounted upon +a great horse like himself. A buckler of oxhide served for a throne. The +caliphs governed by the Koran, the popes were deemed to govern by the +Gospel. The South saw no woman reign before Joan of Naples, who was +indebted for her crown entirely to the affection of the people for King +Robert, her grandfather, and to their hatred of Andrew, her husband. +This Andrew was in reality of royal blood, but had been born in Hungary, +at that time in a state of barbarism. He disgusted the Neapolitans by +his gross manners, intemperance, and drunkenness. The amiable king +Robert was obliged to depart from immemorial usage, and declare Joan +alone sovereign by his will, which was approved by the nation. + +In the North we see no queen reigning in her own right before Margaret +of Waldemar, who governed for some months in her own name about the year +1377. + +Spain had no queen in her own right before the able Isabella in 1461. In +England the cruel and bigoted Mary, daughter of Henry VIII., was the +first woman who inherited the throne, as the weak and criminal Mary +Stuart was in Scotland in the sixteenth century. The immense territory +of Russia had no female sovereign before the widow of Peter the Great. + +The whole of Europe, and indeed I might say the whole world, was +governed by warriors in the time when Philip de Valois supported his +right against Edward III. This right of a male who succeeded to a male, +seemed the law of all nations. "You are grandson of Philip the Fair," +said Valois to his competitor, "but as my right would be superior to +that of the mother, it must be still more decidedly superior to that of +the son. Your mother, in fact, could not communicate a right which she +did not possess." + +It was therefore perfectly recognized in France that a prince of the +blood royal, although in the remotest possible degree, should be heir to +the crown in exclusion even of the daughter of the king. It is a law on +which there is now not the slightest dispute whatever. Other nations +have, since the full and universal recognition of this principle among +ourselves, adjudged the throne to princesses. But France has still +observed its ancient usage. Time has conferred on this usage the force +of the most sacred of laws. At what time the Salic law was framed or +interpreted is not of the slightest consequence; it does exist, it is +respectable, it is useful; and its utility has rendered it sacred. + +_Examination Whether Daughters Are In All Cases Deprived Of Every +Species Of Inheritance By This Salic Law._ + +I have already bestowed the empire on a daughter in defiance of the +Golden Bull. I shall have no difficulty in conferring on a daughter the +kingdom of France. I have a better right to dispose of this realm than +Pope Julian II., who deprived Louis XII. of it, and transferred it by +his own single authority to the emperor Maximilian. I am better +authorized to plead in behalf of the daughters of the house of France, +than Pope Gregory XIII. and Cordelier Sextus-Quintus were to exclude +from the throne our princes of the blood, under the pretence actually +urged by these excellent priests, that Henry IV. and the princes of +Condé were a "bastard and detestable race" of Bourbon--refined and holy +words, which deserve ever to be remembered in order to keep alive the +conviction of all we owe to the bishops of Rome. I may give my vote in +the states-general, and no pope certainly can have any suffrage on it. I +therefore give my vote without hesitation, some three or four hundred +years from the present time, to a daughter of France, then the only +descendant remaining in a direct line from Hugh Capet. I constitute her +queen, provided she shall have been well educated, have a sound +understanding, and be no bigot. I interpret in her favor that law which +declares "_que fille ne doit mie succéder_"--that a daughter must in no +case come to her succession. I understand by the words, that she must in +no case succeed as long as there shall be any male. But on failure of +males, I prove that the kingdom belongs to her by nature, which ordains +it, and for the benefit of the nation. + +I invite all good Frenchmen to show the same respect as myself for the +blood of so many kings. I consider this as the only method of preventing +factions which would dismember the state. I propose that she shall reign +in her own right, and that she shall be married to some amiable and +respectable prince, who shall assume her name and arms, and who, in his +own right, shall possess some territory which shall be annexed to +France; as we have seen Maria Theresa of Hungary united in marriage to +Francis, duke of Lorraine, the most excellent prince in the world. + +What Celt will refuse to acknowledge her, unless we should discover some +other beautiful and accomplished princess of the issue of Charlemagne, +whose family was expelled by Hugh Capet, notwithstanding the Salic law? +or unless indeed we should find a princess fairer and more accomplished +still, an unquestionable descendant from Clovis, whose family was before +expelled by Pepin, his own domestic, notwithstanding, be it again +remembered, the Salic law. + +I shall certainly find no involved and difficult intrigues necessary to +obtain the consecration of my royal heroine at Rheims, or Chartres, or +in the chapel of the Louvre--for either would effectually answer the +purpose; or even to dispense with any consecration at all. For monarchs +reign as well when not consecrated as when consecrated. The kings and +queens of Spain observe no such ceremony. + +Among all the families of the king's secretaries, no person will be +found to dispute the throne with this Capetian princess. The most +illustrious houses are so jealous of each other that they would +infinitely prefer obeying the daughter of kings to being under the +government of one of their equals. + +Recognized by the whole of France, she will receive the homage of all +her subjects with a grace and majesty which will induce them to love as +much as they revere her; and all the poets will compose verses in her +honor. + + + + +LAW (CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL). + + +The following notes were found among the papers of a lawyer, and are +perhaps deserving some consideration: + +That no ecclesiastical law should be of any force until it has received +the express sanction of government. It was upon this principle that +Athens and Rome were never involved in religious quarrels. + +These quarrels fall to the lot of those nations only that have never +been civilized, or that have afterwards been again reduced to barbarism. + +That the magistrate alone should have authority to prohibit labor on +festivals, because it does not become priests to forbid men to cultivate +their fields. + +That everything relating to marriages depends solely upon the +magistrate, and that the priests should be confined to the august +function of blessing them. + +That lending money at interest is purely an object of the civil law, as +that alone presides over commerce. + +That all ecclesiastical persons should be, in all cases whatever, under +the perfect control of the government, because they are subjects of the +state. + +That men should never be so disgracefully ridiculous as to pay to a +foreign priest the first year's revenue of an estate, conferred by +citizens upon a priest who is their fellow-citizen. + +That no priest should possess authority to deprive a citizen even of the +smallest of his privileges, under the pretence that that citizen is a +sinner; because the priest, himself a sinner, ought to pray for sinners, +and not to judge them. + +That magistrates, cultivators, and priests, should alike contribute to +the expenses of the state, because all alike belong to the state. + +That there should be only one system of weights and measures, and +usages. + +That the punishment of criminals should be rendered useful. A man that +is hanged is no longer useful; but a man condemned to the public works +is still serviceable to his country, and a living lecture against crime. + +That the whole law should be clear, uniform, and precise; to interpret +it is almost always to corrupt it. + +That nothing should be held infamous but vice. + +That taxes should be imposed always in just proportion. + +That law should never be in contradiction to usage; for, if the usage is +good, the law is worth nothing. + + + + +LAWS. + + +SECTION I. + +It is difficult to point out a single nation living under a system of +good laws. This is not attributable merely to the circumstance that laws +are the productions of men, for men have produced works of great utility +and excellence; and those who invented and brought to perfection the +various arts of life were capable of devising a respectable code of +jurisprudence. But laws have proceeded, in almost every state, from the +interest of the legislator, from the urgency of the moment, from +ignorance, and from superstition, and have accordingly been made at +random, and irregularly, just in the same manner in which cities have +been built. Take a view of Paris, and observe the contrast between that +quarter of it where the fish-market (Halles) is situated, the St. +Pierre-aux-bœufs, the streets Brisemiche and Pet-au-diable and the +beauty and splendor of the Louvre and the Tuileries. This is a correct +image of our laws. + +It was only after London had been reduced to ashes that it became at all +fit to be inhabited. The streets, after that catastrophe, were widened +and straightened. If you are desirous of having good laws, burn those +which you have at present, and make fresh ones. + +The Romans were without fixed laws for the space of three hundred years; +they were obliged to go and request some from the Athenians, who gave +them such bad ones that they were almost all of them soon abrogated. How +could Athens itself be in possession of a judicious and complete system? +That of Draco was necessarily abolished, and that of Solon soon expired. + +Our customary or common law of Paris is interpreted differently by +four-and-twenty commentaries, which decidedly proves, the same number of +times, that it is ill conceived. It is in contradiction to a hundred and +forty other usages, all having the force of law in the same nation, and +all in contradiction to each other. There are therefore, in a single +department in Europe, between the Alps and the Pyrenees, more than forty +distinct small populations, who call themselves fellow-countrymen, but +who are in reality as much strangers to one another as Tonquin is to +Cochin China. + +It is the same in all provinces of Spain. It is in Germany much worse. +No one there knows what are the rights of the chief or of the members. +The inhabitant of the banks of the Elbe is connected with the cultivator +of Suabia only in speaking nearly the same language, which, it must be +admitted, is rather an unpolished and coarse one. + +The English nation has more uniformity; but having extricated itself +from servitude and barbarism only by occasional efforts, by fits and +convulsive starts, and having even in its state of freedom retained many +laws formerly promulgated, either by the great tyrants who contended in +rivalship for the throne, or the petty tyrants who seized upon the power +and honors of the prelacy, it has formed altogether a body of laws of +great vigor and efficacy, but which still exhibit many bruises and +wounds, very clumsily patched and plastered. + +The intellect of Europe has made greater progress within the last +hundred years than the whole world had done before since the days of +Brahma, Fohi, Zoroaster, and the Thaut of Egypt. What then is the cause +that legislation has made so little? + +After the fifth century, we were all savages. Such are the revolutions +which take place on the globe; brigands pillaging and cultivators +pillaged made up the masses of mankind from the recesses of the Baltic +Sea to the Strait of Gibraltar; and when the Arabs made their appearance +in the South, the desolation of ravage and confusion was universal. + +In our department of Europe, the small number, being composed of daring +and ignorant men, used to conquest and completely armed for battle, and +the greater number, composed of ignorant, unarmed slaves, scarcely any +one of either class knowing how to read or write--not even Charlemagne +himself--it happened very naturally that the Roman Church, with its pen +and ceremonies, obtained the guidance and government of those who passed +their life on horseback with their lances couched and the morion on +their heads. + +The descendants of the Sicambri, the Burgundians, the Ostrogoths, +Visigoths, Lombards, Heruli, etc., felt the necessity of something in +the shape of laws. They sought for them where they were to be found. The +bishops of Rome knew how to make them in Latin. The barbarians received +them with greater respect in consequence of not understanding them. The +decretals of the popes, some genuine, others most impudently forged, +became the code of the new governors, "_regas_"; lords, "_leus_"; and +barons, who had appropriated the lands. They were the wolves who +suffered themselves to be chained up by the foxes. They retained their +ferocity, but it was subjugated by credulity and the fear which +credulity naturally produces. Gradually Europe, with the exception of +Greece and what still belonged to the Eastern Empire, became subjected +to the dominion of Rome, and the poet's verse might be again applied as +correctly as before: _Romanos rerum dominos gentemque togatam._--Æneid, +i, 286. + + The subject world shall Rome's dominion own, + And prostrate shall adore the nation of the gown. + --DRYDEN. + +Almost all treaties being accompanied by the sign of the cross, and by +an oath which was frequently administered over some relics, everything +was thus brought within the jurisdiction of the Church. Rome, as +metropolitan, was supreme judge in causes, from the Cimbrian Chersonesus +to Gascony; and a thousand feudal lords, uniting their own peculiar +usages with the canon law, produced in the result that monstrous +jurisprudence of which there at present exist so many remains. Which +would have been better--no laws at all, or such as these? + +It was beneficial to an empire of more vast extent than that of Rome to +remain for a long time in a state of chaos; for, as every valuable +institution was still to be formed, it was easier to build a new edifice +than to repair one whose ruins were looked upon as sacred. + +The legislatrix of the North, in 1767, collected deputies from all the +provinces which contained about twelve hundred thousand square leagues. +There were Pagans, Mahometans of the sect of Ali, and others of the sect +of Omar, and about twelve different sects of Christians. Every law was +distinctly proposed to this new synod; and if it appeared conformable to +the interest of all the provinces, it then received the sanction of the +empress and the nation. + +The first law that was brought forward and carried, was a law of +toleration, that the Greek priest might never forget that the Latin +priest was his fellow-man; that the Mussulman might bear with his Pagan +brother; and that the Roman Catholic might not be tempted to sacrifice +his brother Presbyterian. + +The empress wrote with her own hand, in this grand council of +legislation, "Among so many different creeds, the most injurious error +would be intolerance." + +It is now unanimously agreed that there is in a state only one +authority; that the proper expressions to be used are, "civil power," +and "ecclesiastical discipline"; and that the allegory of the two swords +is a dogma of discord. + +She began with emancipating the serfs of her own particular domain. She +emancipated all those of the ecclesiastical domains. She might thus be +said to have created men out of slaves. + +The prelates and monks were paid out of the public treasury. Punishments +were proportioned to crimes, and the punishments were of a useful +character; offenders were for the greater part condemned to labor on +public works, as the dead man can be of no service to the living. + +The torture was abolished, because it punishes a man before he is known +to be guilty; because the Romans never put any to the torture but their +slaves; and because torture tends to saving the guilty and destroying +the innocent. + +This important business had proceeded thus far, when Mustapha III., the +son of Mahmoud, obliged the empress to suspend her code and proceed to +fighting. + + +SECTION II. + +I have attempted to discover some ray of light in the mythological times +of China which precede Fohi, but I have attempted in vain. + +At the period, however, in which Fohi flourished, which was about three +thousand years before the new and common era of our northwestern part of +the world, I perceive wise and mild laws already established by a +beneficent sovereign. The ancient books of the Five Kings, consecrated +by the respect of so many ages, treat of the institution of agriculture, +of pastoral economy, of domestic economy, of that simple astronomy which +regulates the different seasons, and of the music which, by different +modulations, summoned men to their respective occupations. Fohi +flourished, beyond dispute, more than five thousand years ago. We may +therefore form some judgment of the great antiquity of an immense +population, thus instructed by an emperor on every topic that could +contribute to their happiness. In the laws of that monarch I see nothing +but what is mild, useful and amiable. + +I was afterwards induced to inspect the code of a small nation, or +horde, which arrived about two thousand years after the period of which +we have been speaking, from a frightful desert on the banks of the river +Jordan, in a country enclosed and bristled with peaked mountains. These +laws have been transmitted to ourselves, and are daily held up to us as +the model of wisdom. The following are a few of them: + +"Not to eat the pelican, nor the ossifrage, nor the griffin, nor the +ixion, nor the eel, nor the hare, because the hare ruminates, and has +not its foot cloven." + +"Against men sleeping with their wives during certain periodical +affections, under pain of death to both of the offending parties." + +"To exterminate without pity all the unfortunate inhabitants of the land +of Canaan, who were not even acquainted with them; to slaughter the +whole; to massacre all, men and women, old men, children, and animals, +for the greater glory of God." + +"To sacrifice to the Lord whatever any man shall have devoted as an +anathema to the Lord, and to slay it without power of ransom." + +"To burn widows who, not being able to be married again to their +brothers-in-law, had otherwise consoled themselves on the highway or +elsewhere," etc. + +A Jesuit, who was formerly a missionary among the cannibals, at the time +when Canada still belonged to the king of France, related to me that +once, as he was explaining these Jewish laws to his neophytes, a little +impudent Frenchman, who was present at the catechising, cried out, "They +are the laws of cannibals." One of the Indians replied to him, "You are +to know, Mr. Flippant, that we are people of some decency and kindness. +We never had among us any such laws; and if we had not some kindness and +decency, we should treat you as an inhabitant of Canaan, in order to +teach you civil language." + +It appears upon a comparison of the code of the Chinese with that of the +Hebrews, that laws naturally follow the manners of the people who make +them. If vultures and doves had laws, they would undoubtedly be of a +very different character. + + +SECTION III. + +Sheep live in society very mildly and agreeably; their character passes +for being a very gentle one, because we do not see the prodigious +quantity of animals devoured by them. We may, however, conceive that +they eat them very innocently and without knowing it, just as we do when +we eat Sassenage cheese. The republic of sheep is a faithful image of +the age of gold. + +A hen-roost exhibits the most perfect representation of monarchy. There +is no king comparable to a cock. If he marches haughtily and fiercely in +the midst of his people, it is not out of vanity. If the enemy is +advancing, he does not content himself with issuing an order to his +subjects to go and be killed for him, in virtue of his unfailing +knowledge and resistless power; he goes in person himself, ranges his +young troops behind him, and fights to the last gasp. If he conquers, it +is himself who sings the "_Te Deum._" In his civil or domestic life, +there is nothing so gallant, so respectable, and so disinterested. +Whether he has in his royal beak a grain of corn or a grub-worm, he +bestows it on the first of his female subjects that comes within his +presence. In short, Solomon in his harem was not to be compared to a +cock in a farm-yard. + +If it be true that bees are governed by a queen to whom all her subjects +make love, that is a more perfect government still. + +Ants are considered as constituting an excellent democracy. This is +superior to every other state, as all are, in consequence of such a +constitution, on terms of equality, and every individual is employed for +the happiness of all. The republic of beavers is superior even to that +of ants; at least, if we may judge by their performances in masonry. + +Monkeys are more like merry-andrews than a regularly governed people; +they do not appear associated under fixed and fundamental laws, like the +species previously noticed. + +We resemble monkeys more than any other animals in the talent of +imitation, in the levity of our ideas, and in that inconstancy which has +always prevented our having uniform and durable laws. + +When nature formed our species, and imparted to us a certain portion of +instinct, self-love for our own preservation, benevolence for the safety +and comfort of others, love which is common to every class of animal +being, and the inexplicable gift of combining more ideas than all the +inferior animals together--after bestowing on us this outfit she said to +us: "Go, and do the best you can." + +There is not a good code of laws in any single country. The reason is +obvious: laws have been made for particular purposes, according to time, +place, exigencies, and not with general and systematic views. + +When the exigencies upon which laws were founded are changed or removed, +the laws themselves become ridiculous. Thus the law which forbade eating +pork and drinking wine was perfectly reasonable in Arabia, where pork +and wine are injurious; but at Constantinople it is absurd. + +The law which confers the whole fief or landed property on the eldest +son, is a very good one in a time of general anarchy and pillage. The +eldest is then the commander of the castle, which sooner or later will +be attacked by brigands; the younger brothers will be his chief +officers, and the laborers his soldiers. All that is to be apprehended +is that the younger brother may assassinate or poison the elder, his +liege lord, in order to become himself the master of the premises; but +such instances are uncommon, because nature has so combined our +instincts and passions, that we feel a stronger horror against +assassinating our elder brother, than we feel a desire to succeed to his +authority and estate. But this law, which was suitable enough to the +owners of the gloomy, secluded, and turreted mansions, in the days of +Chilperic, is detestable when the case relates wholly to the division of +family property in a civilized and well-governed city. + +To the disgrace of mankind, the laws of play or gaming are, it is well +known, the only ones that are throughout just, clear, inviolable, and +carried into impartial and perfect execution. Why is the Indian who laid +down the laws of a game of chess willingly and promptly obeyed all over +the world, while the decretals of the popes, for example, are at present +an object of horror and contempt? The reason is, that the inventor of +chess combined everything with caution and exactness for the +satisfaction of the players, and that the popes in their decretals +looked solely to their own advantage. The Indian was desirous at once of +exercising the minds of men and furnishing them with amusement; the +popes were desirous of debasing and brutifying them. Accordingly, the +game of chess has remained substantially the same for upwards of five +thousand years, and is common to all the inhabitants of the earth; while +the decretals are known only at Spoleto, Orvieto, and Loretto, and are +there secretly despised even by the most shallow and contemptible of the +practitioners. + + +SECTION IV. + +During the reigns of Vespasian and Titus, when the Romans were +disembowelling the Jews, a rich Israelite fled with all the gold he had +accumulated by his occupation as a usurer, and conveyed to Ezion-Geber +the whole of his family, which consisted of his wife, then far advanced +in years, a son, and a daughter; he had in his train two eunuchs, one of +whom acted as a cook, and the other as a laborer and vine-dresser; and a +pious Essenian, who knew the Pentateuch completely by heart, acted as +his almoner. All these embarked at the port of Ezion-Geber, traversed +the sea commonly called Red, although it is far from being so, and +entered the Persian Gulf to go in search of the land of Ophir, without +knowing where it was. A dreadful tempest soon after this came on, which +drove the Hebrew family towards the coast of India; and the vessel was +wrecked on one of the Maldive islands now called Padrabranca, but which +was at that time uninhabited. + +The old usurer and his wife were drowned; the son and daughter, the two +eunuchs, and the almoner were saved. They took as much of the provisions +out of the wreck as they were able; erected for themselves little cabins +on the island, and lived there with considerable convenience and +comfort. You are aware that the island of Padrabranca is within five +degrees of the line, and that it furnishes the largest cocoanuts and the +best pineapples in the world; it was pleasant to have such a lovely +asylum at a time when the favorite people of God were elsewhere exposed +to persecution and massacre; but the Essenian could not refrain from +tears when he reflected, that perhaps those on that happy island were +the only Jews remaining on the earth, and that the seed of Abraham was +to be annihilated. + +"Its restoration depends entirely upon you," said the young Jew; "marry +my sister." "I would willingly," said the almoner, "but it is against +the law. I am an Essenian; I have made a vow never to marry; the law +enjoins the strictest observance of a vow; the Jewish race may come to +an end, if it must be so; but I will certainly not marry your sister in +order to prevent it, beautiful and amiable as I admit she is." + +"My two eunuchs," resumed the Jew, "can be of no service in this affair; +I will therefore marry her myself, if you have no objection; and you +shall bestow the usual marriage benediction." + +"I had a hundred times rather be disembowelled by the Roman soldiers," +said the almoner, "than to be instrumental to your committing incest; +were she your sister by the father's side only, the law would allow of +your marriage; but as she is your sister by the same mother, such a +marriage would be abominable." + +"I can readily admit," returned the young man, "that it would be a crime +at Jerusalem, where I might see many other young women, one of whom I +might marry; but in the isle of Padrabranca, where I see nothing but +cocoanuts, pineapples, and oysters, I consider the case to be very +allowable." + +The Jew accordingly married his sister, and had a daughter by her, +notwithstanding all the protestations of the Essenian; and this was the +only offspring of a marriage which one of them thought very legitimate, +and the other absolutely abominable. + +After the expiration of fourteen years, the mother died; and the father +said to the almoner, "Have you at length got rid of your old prejudices? +Will you marry my daughter?" "God preserve me from it," said the +Essenian. "Then," said the father, "I will marry her myself, come what +will of it; for I cannot bear that the seed of Abraham should be totally +annihilated." The Essenian, struck with inexpressible horror, would +dwell no longer with a man who thus violated and defiled the law, and +fled. The new-married man loudly called after him, saying, "Stay here, +my friend. I am observing the law of nature, and doing good to my +country; do not abandon your friends." The other suffered him to call, +and continue to call, in vain; his head was full of the law; and he +stopped not till he had reached, by swimming, another island. + +This was the large island of Attola, highly populous and civilized; as +soon as he landed he was made a slave. He complained bitterly of the +inhospitable manner in which he had been received; he was told that such +was the law, and that, ever since the island had been very nearly +surprised and taken by the inhabitants of that of Ada, it had been +wisely enacted that all strangers landing at Attola should be made +slaves. "It is impossible that can ever be a law," said the Essenian, +"for it is not in the Pentateuch." He was told in reply, that it was to +be found in the digest of the country; and he remained a slave: +fortunately he had a kind and wealthy master, who treated him very well, +and to whom he became strongly attached. + +Some murderers once came to the house in which he lived, to kill his +master and carry off his treasure. They inquired of the slaves if he was +at home, and had much money there. "We assure you, on our oaths," said +the slaves, "that he is not at home." But the Essenian said: "The law +does not allow lying; I swear to you that he is at home, and that he has +a great deal of money." The master was, in consequence, robbed and +murdered; the slaves accused the Essenian, before the judges, of having +betrayed his master. The Essenian said, that he would tell no lies, and +that nothing in the world should induce him to tell one; and he was +hanged. + +This history was related to me, with many similar ones, on the last +voyage I made from India to France. When I arrived, I went to Versailles +on business, and saw in the street a beautiful woman, followed by many +others who were also beautiful. "Who is that beautiful woman?" said I to +the barrister who had accompanied me; for I had a cause then depending +before the Parliament of Paris about some dresses that I had had made in +India, and I was desirous of having my counsel as much with me as +possible. "She is the daughter of the king," said he, "she is amiable +and beneficent; it is a great pity that, in no case or circumstance +whatever, such a woman as that can become queen of France." "What!" I +replied, "if we had the misfortune to lose all her relations and the +princes of the blood--which God forbid--would not she, in that case, +succeed to the throne of her father?" "No," said the counsellor; "the +Salic law expressly forbids it." "And who made this Salic law?" said I +to the counsellor. "I do not at all know," said he; "but it is +pretended, that among an ancient people called the Salii, who were +unable either to read or write, there existed a written law, which +enacted, that in the Salic territory a daughter should not inherit any +freehold." "And I," said I to him, "I abolish that law; you assure me +that this princess is amiable and beneficent; she would, therefore, +should the calamity occur of her being the last existing personage of +royal blood, have an incontestable right to the crown: my mother +inherited from her father; and in the case supposed, I am resolved that +this princess shall inherit from hers." + +On the ensuing day, my suit was decided in one of the chambers of +parliament, and I lost everything by a single vote; my counsellor told +me, that in another chamber I should have gained everything by a single +vote. "That is a very curious circumstance," said I: "at that rate each +chamber proceeds by a different law." "That is just the case," said he: +"there are twenty-five commentaries on the common law of Paris: that is +to say, it is proved five and twenty times over, that the common law of +Paris is equivocal; and if there had been five and twenty chambers of +judges, there would be just as many different systems of jurisprudence. +We have a province," continued he, "fifteen leagues distant from Paris, +called Normandy, where the judgment in your cause would have been very +different from what it was here." This statement excited in me a strong +desire to see Normandy; and I accordingly went thither with one of my +brothers. At the first inn, we met with a young man who was almost in a +state of despair. I inquired of him what was his misfortune; he told me +it was having an elder brother. "Where," said I, "can be the great +calamity of having an elder brother? The brother I have is my elder, and +yet we live very happily together." "Alas! sir," said he to me, "the law +of this place gives everything to the elder brother, and of course +leaves nothing for the younger ones." "That," said I, "is enough, +indeed, to disturb and distress you; among us everything is divided +equally; and yet, sometimes, brothers have no great affection for one +another." + +These little adventures occasioned me to make some observations, which +of course were very ingenious and profound, upon the subject of laws; +and I easily perceived that it was with them as it is with our garments: +I must wear a doliman at Constantinople, and a coat at Paris. + +"If all human laws," said I, "are matters of convention, nothing is +necessary but to make a good bargain." The citizens of Delhi and Agra +say that they have made a very bad one with Tamerlane: those of London +congratulate themselves on having made a very good one with King William +of Orange. A citizen of London once said to me: "Laws are made by +necessity, and observed through force." I asked him if force did not +also occasionally make laws, and if William, the bastard and conqueror, +had not chosen simply to issue his orders without condescending to make +any convention or bargain with the English at all. "True," said he, "it +was so: we were oxen at that time; William brought us under the yoke, +and drove us with a goad; since that period we have been metamorphosed +into men; the horns, however, remain with us still, and we use them as +weapons against every man who attempts making us work for him and not +for ourselves." + +With my mind full of all these reflections, I could not help feeling a +sensible gratification in thinking, that there exists a natural law +entirely independent of all human conventions: The fruit of my labor +ought to be my own: I am bound to honor my father and mother: I have no +right over the life of my neighbor, nor has my neighbor over mine, etc. +But when I considered, that from Chedorlaomer to Mentzel, colonel of +hussars, every one kills and plunders his neighbor according to law, and +with his patent in his pocket, I was greatly distressed. + +I was told that laws existed even among robbers, and that there were +laws also in war. I asked what were the laws of war. "They are," said +some one, "to hang up a brave officer for maintaining a weak post +without cannon; to hang a prisoner, if the enemy have hanged any of +yours; to ravage with fire and sword those villages which shall not have +delivered up their means of subsistence by an appointed day, agreeably +to the commands of the gracious sovereign of the vicinage." "Good," said +I, "that is the true spirit of laws." After acquiring a good deal of +information, I found that there existed some wise laws, by which a +shepherd is condemned to nine years' imprisonment and labor in the +galleys, for having given his sheep a little foreign salt. My neighbor +was ruined by a suit on account of two oaks belonging to him, which he +had cut down in his wood, because he had omitted a mere form of +technicality with which it was almost impossible that he should have +been acquainted; his wife died, in consequence, in misery; and his son +is languishing out a painful existence. I admit that these laws are +just, although their execution is a little severe; but I must +acknowledge I am no friend to laws which authorize a hundred thousand +neighbors loyally to set about cutting one another's throats. It appears +to me that the greater part of mankind have received from nature a +sufficient portion of what is called common sense for making laws, but +that the whole world has not justice enough to make good laws. + +Simple and tranquil cultivators, collected from every part of the world, +would easily agree that every one should be free to sell the superfluity +of his own corn to his neighbor, and that every law contrary to it is +both inhuman and absurd; that the value of money, being the +representative of commodities, ought no more to be tampered with than +the produce of the earth; that the father of a family should be master +in his own house; that religion should collect men together, to unite +them in kindness and friendship, and not to make them fanatics and +persecutors; and that those who labor ought not to be deprived of the +fruits of their labor, to endow superstition and idleness. In the course +of an hour, thirty laws of this description, all of a nature beneficial +to mankind, would be unanimously agreed to. + +But let Tamerlane arrive and subjugate India, and you will then see +nothing but arbitrary laws. One will oppress and grind down a whole +province, merely to enrich one of Tamerlane's collectors of revenue; +another will screw up to the crime of high treason, speaking +contemptuously of the mistress of a rajah's chief valet; a third will +extort from the farmer a moiety of his harvest, and dispute with him the +right to the remainder; in short, there will be laws by which a Tartar +sergeant will be authorized to seize your children in the cradle--to +make one, who is robust, a soldier--to convert another, who is weak, +into a eunuch--and thus to leave the father and mother without +assistance and without consolation. + +But which would be preferable, being Tamerlane's dog or his subject? It +is evident that the condition of his dog would be by far the better one. + + + + +LAWS (SPIRIT OF). + + +It would be admirable, if from all the books upon laws by Bodin, Hobbes, +Grotius, Puffendorf, Montesquieu, Barbeyrac, and Burlamaqui, some +general law was adopted by the whole of the tribunals of Europe upon +succession, contracts, revenue offences, etc. But neither the citations +of Grotius, nor those of Puffendorf, nor those of the "Spirit of Laws," +have ever led to a sentence in the Châtelet of Paris or the Old Bailey +of London. We weary ourselves with Grotius, pass some agreeable moments +with Montesquieu; but if process be deemed advisable, we run to our +attorney. + +It has been said that the letter kills, but that in the spirit there is +life. It is decidedly the contrary in the book of Montesquieu; the +spirit is diffusive, and the letter teaches nothing. + +_False Citations In The "Spirit Of Laws", And False Consequences Drawn +From Them By The Author._ + +It is observed, that "the English, to favor liberty, have abstracted all +the intermediate powers which formed part of their constitution." + +On the contrary, they have preserved the Upper House, and the greater +part of the jurisdictions which stand between the crown and the people. + +"The establishment of a vizier in a despotic state is a fundamental +law." + +[Illustration: Montesquieu.] + +A judicious critic has remarked that this is as much as to say that the +office of the mayors of the palace was a fundamental office. Constantine +was highly despotic, yet had no grand vizier. Louis XIV. was less +despotic, and had no first minister. The popes are sufficiently +despotic, and yet seldom possess them. + +"The sale of employments is good in monarchical states, because it makes +it the profession of persons of family to undertake employments, which +they would not fulfil from disinterested motives alone." + +Is it Montesquieu who writes these odious lines? What! because the vices +of Francis I. deranged the public finances, must we sell to ignorant +young men the right of deciding upon the honor, fortune, and lives of +the people? What! is it good in a monarchy, that the office of +magistrate should become a family provision? If this infamy was +salutary, some other country would have adopted it as well as France; +but there is not another monarchy on earth which has merited the +opprobrium. This monstrous anomaly sprang from the prodigality of a +ruined and spendthrift monarch, and the vanity of certain citizens whose +fathers possessed money; and the wretched abuse has always been weakly +attacked, because it was felt that reimbursement would be difficult. It +would be a thousand times better, said a great jurisconsult, to sell the +treasure of all the convents, and the plate of all the churches, than to +sell justice. When Francis I. seized the silver grating of St. Martin, +he did harm to no one; St. Martin complained not, and parted very easily +with his screen; but to sell the place of judge, and at the same time +make the judge swear that he has not bought it, is a base sacrilege. + +Let us complain that Montesquieu has dishonored his work by such +paradoxes--but at the same time let us pardon him. His uncle purchased +the office of a provincial president, and bequeathed it to him. Human +nature is to be recognized in everything, and there are none of us +without weakness. + +"Behold how industriously the Muscovite government seeks to emerge from +despotism." + +Is it in abolishing the patriarchate and the active militia of the +strelitzes; in being the absolute master of the troops, of the revenue, +and of the church, of which the functionaries are paid from the public +treasury alone? or is it proved by making laws to render that power as +sacred as it is mighty? It is melancholy, that in so many citations and +so many maxims, the contrary of what is asserted should be almost always +the truth. + +"The luxury of those who possess the necessaries of life only, will be +zero; the luxury of those who possess as much again, will be equal to +one; of those who possess double the means of the latter, three; and so +on." + +The latter will possess three times the excess beyond the necessaries of +life; but it by no means follows that he will possess three times as +many luxuries; for he may be thrice as avaricious, or may employ the +superfluity in commerce, or in portions to his daughters. These +propositions are not affairs of arithmetic, and such calculations are +miserable quackery. + +"The Samnites had a fine custom, which must have produced admirable +results. The young man declared the most worthy chose a wife where he +pleased; he who had the next number of suffrages in his favor followed, +and so on throughout." + +The author has mistaken the Sunites, a people of Scythia, for the +Samnites, in the neighborhood of Rome. He quotes a fragment of Nicholas +de Demas, preserved by Stobæus: but is the said Nicholas a sufficient +authority? This fine custom would moreover be very injurious in a +well-governed country; for if the judges should be deceived in the young +man declared the most worthy; if the female selected should not like +him; or if he were objectionable in the eyes of the girl's parents, very +fatal results might follow. + +"On reading the admirable work of Tacitus on the manners of the Germans, +it will be seen that it is from them the English drew the idea of their +political government. That admirable system originated in the woods." + +The houses of peers and of commons, and the English courts of law and +equity, found in the woods! Who would have supposed it? Without doubt, +the English owe their squadrons and their commerce to the manners of the +Germans; and the sermons of Tillotson to those pious German sorcerers +who sacrificed their prisoners, and judged of their success in war by +the manner in which the blood flowed. We must believe, also, that the +English are indebted for their fine manufactures to the laudable +practice of the Germans, who, as Tacitus observers, preferred robbery to +toil. + +"Aristotle ranked among monarchies the governments both of Persia and +Lacedæmon; but who cannot perceive that the one was a despotism, the +other a republic?" + +Who, on the contrary, cannot perceive that Lacedæmon had a single king +for four hundred years, and two kings until the extinction of the +Heraclidæ, a period of about a thousand years? We know that no king was +despotic of right, not even in Persia; but every bold and dissembling +prince who amasses money, becomes despotic in a little time, either in +Persia or Lacedæmon; and, therefore, Aristotle distinguishes every state +possessing perpetual and hereditary chiefs, from republics. + +"People of warm climates are timid, like old men; those of cold +countries are courageous, like young ones." + +We should take great care how general propositions escape us. No one has +ever been able to make a Laplander or an Esquimaux warlike, while the +Arabs in fourscore years conquered a territory which exceeded that of +the whole Roman Empire. This maxim of M. Montesquieu is equally +erroneous with all the rest on the subject of climate. + +"Louis XIII. was extremely averse to passing a law which made the +negroes of the French colonies slaves; but when he was given to +understand that it was the most certain way of converting them, he +consented." + +Where did the author pick up this anecdote? The first arrangement for +the treatment of the negroes was made in 1673, thirty years after the +death of Louis XIII. This resembles the refusal of Francis I. to listen +to the project of Christopher Columbus, who had discovered the Antilles +before Francis I. was born. + +"The Romans never exhibited any jealousy on the score of commerce. It +was as a rival, not as a commercial nation, that they attacked +Carthage." + +It was both as a warlike and as a commercial nation, as the learned Huet +proves in his "Commerce of the Ancients," when he shows that the Romans +were addicted to commerce a long time before the first Punic war. + +"The sterility of the territory of Athens established a popular +government there, and the fertility of that of Lacedæmon an aristocratic +one." + +Whence this chimera? From enslaved Athens we still derive cotton, silk, +rice, corn, oil, and skins; and from the country of Lacedæmon nothing. +Athens was twenty times richer than Lacedæmon. With respect to the +comparative fertility of the soil, it is necessary to visit those +countries to appreciate it; but the form of a government is never +attributed to the greater or less fertility. Venice had very little corn +when her nobles governed. Genoa is assuredly not fertile, and yet is an +aristocracy. Geneva is a more popular state, and has not the means of +existing a fortnight upon its own productions. Sweden, which is equally +poor, has for a long time submitted to the yoke of a monarchy; while +fertile Poland is aristocratic. I cannot conceive how general rules can +be established, which may be falsified upon the slightest appeal to +experience. + +"In Europe, empires have never been able to exist." Yet the Roman Empire +existed for five hundred years, and that of the Turks has maintained +itself since the year 1453. + +"The duration of the great empires of Asia is principally owing to the +prevalence of vast plains." M. Montesquieu forgets the mountains which +cross Natolia and Syria, Caucasus, Taurus, Ararat, Imaus, and others, +the ramifications of which extend throughout Asia. + + * * * * * + +After thus convincing ourselves that errors abound in the "Spirit of +Laws"; after everybody is satisfied that this work wants method, and +possesses neither plan nor order, it is proper to inquire into that +which really forms its merit, and which has led to its great reputation. + +In the first place, it is written with great wit, while the authors of +all the other books on this subject are tedious. It was on this account +that a lady, who possessed as much wit as Montesquieu, observed, that +his book was "_l'esprit sur les lois_." It can never be more correctly +defined. + +A still stronger reason is that the book exhibits grand views, attacks +tyranny, superstition, and grinding taxation--three things which mankind +detest. The author consoles slaves in lamenting their fetters, and the +slaves in return applaud him. + +One of the most bitter and absurd of his enemies, who contributed most +by his rage to exalt the name of Montesquieu throughout Europe, was the +journalist of the Convulsionaries. He called him a Spinozist and deist; +that is to say, he accused him at the same time of not believing in God +and of believing in God alone. + +He reproaches him with his esteem for Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and +the Stoics; and for not loving Jansenists--the Abbé de St. Cyran and +Father Quesnel. He asserts that he has committed an unpardonable crime +in calling Bayle a great man. + +He pretends that the "Spirit of Laws" is one of those monstrous works +with which France has been inundated since the Bull _Unigenitus_, which +has corrupted the consciences of all people. + +This tatterdemalion from his garret, deriving at least three hundred per +cent. from his ecclesiastical gazette, declaimed like a fool against +interest upon money at the legal rate. He was seconded by some pedants +of his own sort; and the whole concluded in their resembling the slaves +placed at the foot of the statue of Louis XIV.; they are crushed, and +gnaw their own flesh in revenge. + +Montesquieu was almost always in error with the learned, because he was +not learned; but he was always right against the fanatics and promoters +of slavery. Europe owes him eternal gratitude. + + + + +LENT. + + +SECTION I. + +Our questions on Lent will merely regard the police. It appeared useful +to have a time in the year in which we should eat fewer oxen, calves, +lambs, and poultry. Young fowls and pigeons are not ready in February +and March, the time in which Lent falls; and it is good to cease the +carnage for some weeks in countries in which pastures are not so fertile +as those of England and Holland. + +The magistrates of police have very wisely ordered that meat should be a +little dearer at Paris during this time, and that the profit should be +given to the hospitals. It is an almost insensible tribute paid by +luxury and gluttony to indigence; for it is the rich who are not able to +keep Lent--the poor fast all the year. + +There are very few farming men who eat meat once a month. If they ate of +it every day, there would not be enough for the most flourishing +kingdom. Twenty millions of pounds of meat a day would make seven +thousand three hundred millions of pounds a year. This calculation is +alarming. + +The small number of the rich, financiers, prelates, principal +magistrates, great lords, and great ladies who condescend to have maigre +served at their tables, fast during six weeks on soles, salmon, turbots, +sturgeons, etc. + +One of our most famous financiers had couriers, who for a hundred crowns +brought him fresh sea fish every day to Paris. This expense supported +the couriers, the dealers who sold the horses, the fishermen who +furnished the fish, the makers of nets, constructors of boats, and the +druggists from whom were procured the refined spices which give to a +fish a taste superior to that of meat. Lucullus could not have kept Lent +more voluptuously. + +It should further be remarked that fresh sea fish, in coming to Paris, +pays a considerable tax. The secretaries of the rich, their valets de +chambre, ladies' maids, and stewards, partake of the dessert of +Crœsus, and fast as deliciously as he. + +It is not the same with the poor; not only if for four sous they partake +of a small portion of tough mutton do they commit a great sin, but they +seek in vain for this miserable aliment. What do they therefore feed +upon? Chestnuts, rye bread, the cheeses which they have pressed from the +milk of their cows, goats or sheep, and some few of the eggs of their +poultry. + +There are churches which forbid them the eggs and the milk. What then +remains for them to eat? Nothing. They consent to fast; but they consent +not to die. It is absolutely necessary that they should live, if it be +only to cultivate the lands of the fat rectors and lazy monks. + +We therefore ask, if it belongs not to the magistrates of the police of +the kingdom, charged with watching over the health of the inhabitants, +to give them permission to eat the cheeses which their own hands have +formed, and the eggs which their fowls have laid? + +It appears that milk, eggs, cheese, and all which can nourish the +farmer, are regulated by the police, and not by a religious rule. + +We hear not that Jesus Christ forbade omelets to His apostles; He said +to them: "Eat such things as are set before you." + +The Holy Church has ordained Lent, but in quality of the Church it +commands it only to the heart; it can inflict spiritual pains alone; it +cannot as formerly burn a poor man, who, having only some rusty bacon, +put a slice of it on a piece of black bread the day after Shrove +Tuesday. + +Sometimes in the provinces the pastors go beyond their duty, and +forgetting the rights of the magistracy, undertake to go among the +innkeepers and cooks, to see if they have not some ounces of meat in +their saucepans, some old fowls on their hooks, or some eggs in a +cupboard; for eggs are forbidden in Lent. They intimidate the poor +people, and proceed to violence towards the unfortunates, who know not +that it belongs alone to the magistracy to interfere. It is an odious +and punishable inquisition. + +The magistrates alone can be rightly informed of the more or less +abundant provisions required by the poor people of the provinces. The +clergy have occupations more sublime. Should it not therefore belong to +the magistrates to regulate what the people eat in Lent? Who should pry +into the legal consumption of a country if not the police of that +country? + + +SECTION II. + +Did the first who were advised to fast put themselves under this regimen +by order of the physician, for indigestion? The want of appetite which +we feel in grief--was it the first origin of fast-days prescribed in +melancholy religions? + +Did the Jews take the custom of fasting from the Egyptians, all of whose +rites they imitated, including flagellation and the scape-goat? Why +fasted Jesus for forty days in the desert, where He was tempted by the +devil--by the "Chathbull"? St. Matthew remarks that after this Lent He +was hungry; He was therefore not hungry during the fast. + +Why, in days of abstinence, does the Roman Church consider it a crime to +eat terrestrial animals, and a good work to be served with soles and +salmon? The rich Papist who shall have five hundred francs' worth of +fish upon his table shall be saved, and the poor wretch dying with +hunger, who shall have eaten four sous' worth of salt pork, shall be +damned. + +Why must we ask permission of the bishop to eat eggs? If a king ordered +his people never to eat eggs, would he not be thought the most +ridiculous of tyrants? How strange the aversion of bishops to omelets! + +Can we believe that among Papists there have been tribunals imbecile, +dull, and barbarous enough to condemn to death poor citizens, who had no +other crimes than that of having eaten of horseflesh in Lent? The fact +is but too true; I have in my hands a sentence of this kind. What +renders it still more strange is that the judges who passed such +sentences believed themselves superior to the Iroquois. + +Foolish and cruel priests, to whom do you order Lent? Is it to the rich? +they take good care to observe it. Is it to the poor? they keep Lent all +the year. The unhappy peasant scarcely ever eats meat, and has not +wherewithal to buy fish. Fools that you are, when will you correct your +absurd laws? + + + + +LEPROSY, ETC. + + +This article relates to two powerful divinities, one ancient and the +other modern, which have reigned in our hemisphere. The reverend father +Dom Calmet, a great antiquarian, that is, a great compiler of what was +said in former times and what is repeated at the present day, has +confounded lues with leprosy. He maintains that it was the lues with +which the worthy Job was afflicted, and he supposes, after a confident +and arrogant commentator of the name of Pineida, that the lues and +leprosy are precisely the same disorder. Calmet is not a physician, +neither is he a reasoner, but he is a citer of authorities; and in his +vocation of commentator, citations are always substituted for reasons. +When Astruc, in his history of lues, quotes authorities that the +disorder came in fact from San Domingo, and that the Spaniards brought +it from America, his citations are somewhat more conclusive. + +There are two circumstances which, in my opinion, prove that lues +originated in America; the first is, the multitude of authors, both +medical and surgical, of the sixteenth century, who attest the fact; and +the second is, the silence of all the physicians and all the poets of +antiquity, who never were acquainted with this disease, and never had +even a name for it. I here speak of the silence of physicians and of +poets as equally demonstrative. The former, beginning with Hippocrates, +would not have failed to describe this malady, to state its symptoms, to +apply to it a name, and suggest some remedy. The poets, equally as +malicious and sarcastic as physicians are studious and investigative, +would have detailed in their satires, with minute particularity, all the +symptoms and consequences of this dreadful disorder; you do not find, +however, a single verse in Horace or Catullus, in Martial or Juvenal, +which has the slightest reference to lues, although they expatiate on +all the effects of debauchery with the utmost freedom and delight. + +It is very certain that smallpox was not known to the Romans before the +sixth century; that the American lues was not introduced into Europe +until the fifteenth century; and that leprosy is as different from those +two maladies, as palsy from St. Guy's or St. Vitus' dance. + +Leprosy was a scabious disease of a dreadful character. The Jews were +more subject to it than any other people living in hot climates, because +they had neither linen, nor domestic baths. These people were so +negligent of cleanliness and the decencies of life that their +legislators were obliged to make a law to compel them even to wash their +hands. + +All that we gained in the end by engaging in the crusades, was leprosy; +and of all that we had taken, that was the only thing that remained with +us. It was necessary everywhere to build lazarettos, in which to confine +the unfortunate victims of a disease at once pestilential and incurable. + +Leprosy, as well as fanaticism and usury, had been a distinguishing +characteristic of the Jews. These wretched people having no physicians, +the priests took upon themselves the management and regulation of +leprosy, and made it a concern of religion. This has occasioned some +indiscreet and profane critics to remark that the Jews were no better +than a nation of savages under the direction of their jugglers. Their +priests in fact never cured leprosy, but they cut off from society those +who were infected by it, and thus acquired a power of the greatest +importance. Every man laboring under this disease was imprisoned, like a +thief or a robber; and thus a woman who was desirous of getting rid of +her husband had only to secure the sanction of the priest, and the +unfortunate husband was shut up--it was the "_lettre de cachet_" of the +day. The Jews and those by whom they were governed were so ignorant that +they imagined the moth-holes in garments, and the mildew upon walls, to +be the effects of leprosy. They actually conceived their houses and +clothes to have leprosy; thus the people themselves, and their very rags +and hovels, were all brought under the rod of the priesthood. + +One proof that, at the time of the first introduction of the lues, there +was no connection between that disorder and leprosy, is that the few +lepers that remained at the conclusion of the fifteenth century were +offended at any kind of comparison between themselves and those who were +affected by lues. + +Some of the persons thus affected were in the first instance sent to the +hospital for lepers, but were received by them with indignation. The +lepers presented a petition to be separated from them; as persons +imprisoned for debt or affairs of honor claim a right not to be +confounded with the common herd of criminals. + +We have already observed that the Parliament of Paris, on March 6, 1496, +issued an order, by which all persons laboring under lues, unless they +were citizens of Paris, were enjoined to depart within twenty-four +hours, under pain of being hanged. This order was neither Christian, +legal, nor judicious; but it proves that lues was regarded as a new +plague which had nothing in common with leprosy; as lepers were not +hanged for residing in Paris, while those afflicted by lues were so. + +Men may bring the leprosy on themselves by their uncleanliness and +filth, just as is done by a species of animals to which the very lowest +of the vulgar may too naturally be compared; but with respect to lues, +it was a present made to America by nature. We have already reproached +this same nature, at once so kind and so malicious, so sagacious and yet +so blind, with defeating her own object by thus poisoning the source of +life; and we still sincerely regret that we have found no solution of +this dreadful difficulty. + +We have seen elsewhere that man in general, one with another, or (as it +is expressed) on the average, does not live above two-and-twenty years; +and during these two-and-twenty years he is liable to two-and-twenty +thousand evils, many of which are incurable. + +Yet even in this dreadful state men still strut and figure on the stage +of life; they make love at the hazard of destruction; and intrigue, +carry on war, and form projects, just as if they were to live in luxury +and delight for a thousand ages. + + + + +LETTERS (MEN OF). + + +In the barbarous times when the Franks, Germans, Bretons, Lombards, and +Spanish Mozarabians knew neither how to read nor write, we instituted +schools and universities almost entirely composed of ecclesiastics, who, +knowing only their own jargon, taught this jargon to those who would +learn it. Academies were not founded until long after; the latter have +despised the follies of the schools, but they have not always dared to +oppose them, because there are follies which we respect when they are +attached to respectable things. + +Men of letters who have rendered the most service to the small number of +thinking beings scattered over the earth are isolated scholars, true +sages shut up in their closets, who have neither publicly disputed in +the universities, nor said things by halves in the academies; and such +have almost all been persecuted. Our miserable race is so created that +those who walk in the beaten path always throw stones at those who would +show them a new one. + +Montesquieu says that the Scythians put out the eyes of their slaves +that they might be more attentive to the making of their butter. It is +thus that the Inquisition acts, and almost every one is blinded in the +countries in which this monster reigns. In England people have had two +eyes for more than a hundred years. The French are beginning to open one +eye--but sometimes men in place will not even permit us to be one-eyed. + +These miserable statesmen are like Doctor Balouard of the Italian +comedy, who will only be served by the fool Harlequin, and who fears to +have too penetrating a servant. + +Compose odes in praise of Lord Superbus Fatus, madrigals for his +mistress; dedicate a book of geography to his porter, and you will be +well received. Enlighten men, and you will be crushed. + +Descartes is obliged to quit his country; Gassendi is calumniated; +Arnaud passes his days in exile; all the philosophers are treated as the +prophets were among the Jews. + +Who would believe that in the eighteenth century, a philosopher has been +dragged before the secular tribunals, and treated as impious by +reasoning theologians, for having said that men could not practise the +arts if they had no hands? I expect that they will soon condemn to the +galleys the first who shall have the insolence to say that a man could +not think if he had no head; for a learned bachelor will say to him, the +soul is a pure spirit, the head is only matter; God can place the soul +in the heel as well as in the brain; therefore I denounce you as a +blasphemer. + +The great misfortune of a man of letters is not perhaps being the object +of the jealousy of his brothers, the victim of cabals, and the contempt +of the powerful of the world--it is being judged by fools. Fools +sometimes go very far, particularly when fanaticism is joined to folly, +and folly to the spirit of vengeance. Further, the great misfortune of a +man of letters is generally to hold to nothing. A citizen buys a little +situation, and is maintained by his fellow-citizens. If any injustice is +done to him, he soon finds defenders. The literary man is without aid; +he resembles the flying fish; if he rises a little, the birds devour +him; if he dives, the fishes eat him up. Every public man pays tribute +to malignity; but he is repaid in deniers and honors. + + + + +LIBEL. + + +Small, offensive books are termed libels. These books are usually small, +because the authors, having few reasons to give, and usually writing not +to inform, but mislead, if they are desirous of being read, must +necessarily be brief. Names are rarely used on these occasions, for +assassins fear being detected in the employment of forbidden weapons. + +In the time of the League and the Fronde, political libels abounded. +Every dispute in England produces hundreds; and a library might be +formed of those written against Louis XIV. + +We have had theological libels for sixteen hundred years; and what is +worse, these are esteemed holy by the vulgar. Only see how St. Jerome +treats Rufinus and Vigilantius. The latest libels are those of the +Molinists and Jansenists, which amount to thousands. Of all this mass +there remains only "The Provincial Letters." + +Men of letters may dispute the number of their libels with the +theologians. Boileau and Fontenelle, who attacked one another with +epigrams, both said that their chambers would not contain the libels +with which they had been assailed. All these disappear like the leaves +in autumn. Some people have maintained that anything offensive written +against a neighbor is a libel. + +According to them, the railing attacks which the prophets occasionally +sang to the kings of Israel, were defamatory libels to excite the people +to rise up against them. As the populace, however, read but little +anywhere, it is believed that these half-disclosed satires never did any +great harm. Sedition is produced by speaking to assemblies of the +people, rather than by writing for them. For this reason, one of the +first things done by Queen Elizabeth of England on her accession, was to +order that for six months no one should preach without express +permission. + +The "Anti-Cato" of Cæsar was a libel, but Cæsar did more harm to Cato by +the battle of Pharsalia, than by his "Diatribes". The "Philippics" of +Cicero were libels, but the proscriptions of the Triumvirs were far more +terrible libels. + +St. Cyril and St. Gregory Nazianzen compiled libels against the emperor +Julian, but they were so generous as not to publish them until after his +death. + +Nothing resembles libels more than certain manifestoes of sovereigns. +The secretaries of the sultan Mustapha made a libel of his declaration +of war. God has punished them for it; but the same spirit which animated +Cæsar, Cicero, and the secretaries of Mustapha, reigns in all the +reptiles who spin libels in their garrets. "_Natura est semper sibi +consona._" Who would believe that the souls of Garasse, Nonnotte, +Paulian, Fréron, and he of Langliviet, calling himself La Beaumelle, +were in this respect of the same temper as those of Cæsar, Cicero, St. +Cyril, and of the secretary of the grand seignior? Nothing is, however, +more certain. + + + + +LIBERTY. + + +Either I am much deceived, or Locke has very well defined liberty to be +"power". I am still further deceived, or Collins, a celebrated +magistrate of London, is the only philosopher who has profoundly +developed this idea, while Clarke has only answered him as a theologian. +Of all that has been written in France on liberty, the following little +dialogue has appeared to me the most comprehensive: + +A. A battery of cannon is discharged at our ears; have you the liberty +to hear it, or not to hear it, as you please? + +B. Undoubtedly I cannot hinder myself from hearing it. + +A. Are you willing that these cannon shall take off your head and those +of your wife and daughter who walk with you? + +B. What a question! I cannot, at least while I am in my right senses, +wish such a thing; it is impossible. + +A. Good; you necessarily hear these cannon, and you necessarily wish not +for the death of yourself and your family by a discharge from them. You +have neither the power of not hearing it, nor the power of wishing to +remain here. + +B. That is clear. + +A. You have, I perceive, advanced thirty paces to be out of the reach of +the cannon; you have had the power of walking these few steps with me. + +B. That is also very clear. + +A. And if you had been paralytic, you could not have avoided being +exposed to this battery; you would necessarily have heard, and received +a wound from the cannon; and you would have as necessarily died. + +B. Nothing is more true. + +A. In what then consists your liberty, if not in the power that your +body has acquired of performing that which from absolute necessity your +will requires? + +B. You embarrass me. Liberty then is nothing more than the power of +doing what I wish? + +A. Reflect; and see whether liberty can be understood otherwise. + +B. In this case, my hunting dog is as free as myself; he has necessarily +the will to run when he sees a hare; and the power of running, if there +is nothing the matter with his legs. I have therefore nothing above my +dog; you reduce me to the state of the beasts. + +A. These are poor sophisms, and they are poor sophists who have +instructed you. You are unwilling to be free like your dog. Do you not +eat, sleep, and propagate like him, and nearly in the same attitudes? +Would you smell otherwise than by your nose? Why would you possess +liberty differently from your dog? + +B. But I have a soul which reasons, and my dog scarcely reasons at all. +He has nothing beyond simple ideas, while I have a thousand metaphysical +ideas. + +A. Well, you are a thousand times more free than he is; you have a +thousand times more power of thinking than he has; but still you are not +free in any other manner than your dog is free. + +B. What! am I not free to will what I like? + +A. What do you understand by that? + +B. I understand what all the world understands. Is it not every day said +that the will is free? + +A. An adage is not a reason; explain yourself better. + +B. I understand that I am free to will as I please. + +A. With your permission, that is nonsense; see you not that it is +ridiculous to say--I will will? Consequently, you necessarily will the +ideas only which are presented to you. Will you be married, yes or no? + +B. Suppose I answer that I will neither the one nor the other. + +A. In that case you would answer like him who said: Some believe +Cardinal Mazarin dead, others believe him living; I believe neither the +one nor the other. + +B. Well, I will marry! + +A. Aye, that is an answer. Why will you marry? + +B. Because I am in love with a young, beautiful, sweet, well-educated, +rich girl, who sings very well, whose parents are very honest people, +and I flatter myself that I am beloved by her and welcome to the family. + +A. There is a reason. You see that you cannot will without a motive. I +declare to you that you are free to marry, that is to say, that you have +the power of signing the contract, keeping the wedding, and sleeping +with your wife. + +B. How! I cannot will without a motive? Then what will become of the +other proverb--"_Sit pro ratione voluntas_"--my will is my reason--I +will because I will? + +A. It is an absurd one, my dear friend; you would then have an effect +without a cause. + +B. What! when I play at odd or even, have I a reason for choosing even +rather than odd? + +A. Undoubtedly. + +B. And what is the reason, if you please? + +A. It is, that the idea of even is presented to your mind rather than +the opposite idea. It would be extraordinary if there were cases in +which we will because there is a motive, and others in which we will +without one. When you would marry, you evidently perceive the +predominant reason for it; you perceive it not when you play at odd or +even, and yet there must be one. + +B. Therefore, once more, I am not free. + +A. Your will is not free, but your actions are. You are free to act when +you have the power of acting. + +B. But all the books that I have read on the liberty of indifference-- + +A. What do you understand by the liberty of indifference? + +B. I understand spitting on the right or the left hand--sleeping on the +right or left side--walking up and down four times or five. + +A. That would be a pleasant liberty, truly! God would have made you a +fine present, much to boast of, certainly! What use to you would be a +power which could only be exercised on such futile occasions? But in +truth it is ridiculous to suppose the will of willing to spit on the +right or left. Not only is the will of willing absurd, but it is certain +that several little circumstances determine these acts which you call +indifferent. You are no more free in these acts than in others. Yet you +are free at all times, and in all places, when you can do what you wish +to do. + +B. I suspect that you are right. I will think upon it. + + + + +LIBERTY OF OPINION. + + +Towards the year 1707, the time at which the English gained the battle +of Saragossa, protected Portugal, and for some time gave a king to +Spain, Lord Boldmind, a general officer who had been wounded, was at the +waters of Barèges. He there met with Count Medroso, who having fallen +from his horse behind the baggage, at a league and a half from the field +of battle, also came to take the waters. He was a familiar of the +Inquisition, while Lord Boldmind was only familiar in conversation. One +day after their wine, he held this dialogue with Medroso: + +BOLDMIND. + +--You are then the sergeant of the Dominicans? You exercise a villainous +trade. + +MEDROSO. + +--It is true; but I would rather be their servant than their victim, and +I have preferred the unhappiness of burning my neighbor to that of being +roasted myself. + +BOLDMIND. + +--What a horrible alternative! You were a hundred times happier under +the yoke of the Moors, who freely suffered you to abide in all your +superstitions, and conquerors as they were, arrogated not to themselves +the strange right of sending souls to hell. + +MEDROSO. + +--What would you have? It is not permitted us either to write, speak, or +even to think. If we speak, it is easy to misinterpret our words, and +still more our writings; and as we cannot be condemned in an +_auto-da-fé_ for our secret thoughts, we are menaced with being burned +eternally by the order of God himself, if we think not like the +Jacobins. They have persuaded the government that if we had common sense +the entire state would be in combustion, and the nation become the most +miserable upon earth. + +BOLDMIND. + +--Do you believe that we English who cover the seas with vessels, and +who go to gain battles for you in the south of Europe, can be so +unhappy? Do you perceive that the Dutch, who have ravished from you +almost all your discoveries in India, and who at present are ranked as +your protectors, are cursed of God for having given entire liberty to +the press, and for making commerce of the thoughts of men? Has the Roman +Empire been less powerful because Tullius Cicero has written with +freedom? + +MEDROSO. + +--Who is this Tullius Cicero? I have never heard his name pronounced at +St. Hermandad. + +BOLDMIND. + +--He was a bachelor of the university of Rome, who wrote that which he +thought, like Julius Cæsar, Marcus Aurelius, Titus Lucretius Carus, +Plinius, Seneca, and other sages. + +MEDROSO. + +--I know none of them; but I am told that the Catholic religion, +Biscayan and Roman, is lost if we begin to think. + +BOLDMIND. + +--It is not for you to believe it; for you are sure that your religion +is divine, and that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. If that +is the case, nothing will ever destroy it. + +MEDROSO. + +--No; but it may be reduced to very little; and it is through having +thought, that Sweden, Denmark, all your island, and the half of Germany +groan under the frightful misfortune of not being subjects of the pope. +It is even said that, if men continue to follow their false lights, they +will soon have merely the simple adoration of God and of virtue. If the +gates of hell ever prevail so far, what will become of the holy office? + +BOLDMIND. + +--If the first Christians had not the liberty of thought, does it not +follow that there would have been no Christianity? + +MEDROSO. + +--I understand you not. + +BOLDMIND. + +--I readily believe it. I would say, that if Tiberius and the first +emperors had fostered Jacobins, they would have hindered the first +Christians from having pens and ink; and had it not been a long time +permitted in the Roman Empire to think freely, it would be impossible +for the Christians to establish their dogmas. If, therefore, +Christianity was only formed by liberty of opinion, by what +contradiction, by what injustice, would you now destroy the liberty on +which alone it is founded? + +When some affair of interest is proposed to us, do we not examine it for +a long time before we conclude upon it? What interest in the world is so +great as our eternal happiness or misery? There are a hundred religions +on earth which all condemn us if we believe your dogmas, which _they +_call impious and absurd; why, therefore, not examine these dogmas? + +MEDROSO. + +--How can I examine them? I am not a Jacobin. + +BOLDMIND. + +--You are a man, and that is sufficient. + +MEDROSO. + +--Alas! you are more of a man than I am. + +BOLDMIND. + +--You have only to teach yourself to think; you are born with a mind, +you are a bird in the cage of the Inquisition, the holy office has +clipped your wings, but they will grow again. He who knows not geometry +can learn it: all men can instruct themselves. Is it not shameful to put +your soul into the hands of those to whom you would not intrust your +money? Dare to think for yourself. + +MEDROSO. + +--It is said that if the world thought for itself, it would produce +strange confusion. + +BOLDMIND. + +--Quite the contrary. When we assist at a spectacle, every one freely +tells his opinion of it, and the public peace is not thereby disturbed; +but if some insolent protector of a poet would force all people of taste +to proclaim that to be good which appears to them bad, blows would +follow, and the two parties would throw apples of discord at one +another's heads, as once happened at London. Tyrants over mind have +caused a part of the misfortunes of the world. We are happy in England +only because every one freely enjoys the right of speaking his opinion. + +MEDROSO. + +--We are all very tranquil at Lisbon, where no person dares speak his. + +BOLDMIND. + +--You are tranquil, but you are not happy: it is the tranquillity of +galley-slaves, who row in cadence and in silence. + +MEDROSO. + +--You believe, then, that my soul is at the galleys? + +BOLDMIND. + +--Yes, and I would deliver it. + +MEDROSO. + +--But if I find myself well at the galleys? + +BOLDMIND. + +--Why, then, you deserve to be there. + + + + +LIBERTY OF THE PRESS. + + +What harm can the prediction of Jean Jacques do to Russia? Any? We allow +him to explain it in a mystical, typical, allegorical sense, according +to custom. The nations which will destroy the Russians will possess the +belles-lettres, mathematics, wit, and politeness, which degrade man and +pervert nature. + +From five to six thousand pamphlets have been printed in Holland against +Louis XIV., none of which contributed to make him lose the battles of +Blenheim, Turin, and Ramillies. + +In general, we have as natural a right to make use of our pens as our +language, at our peril, risk, and fortune. I know many books which +fatigue, but I know of none which have done real evil. Theologians, or +pretended politicians, cry: "Religion is destroyed, the government is +lost, if you print certain truths or certain paradoxes. Never attempt to +think, till you have demanded permission from a monk or an officer. It +is against good order for a man to think for himself. Homer, Plato, +Cicero, Virgil, Pliny, Horace, never published anything but with the +approbation of the doctors of the Sorbonne and of the holy Inquisition." + +"See into what horrible decay the liberty of the press brought England +and Holland. It is true that they possess the commerce of the whole +world, and that England is victorious on sea and land; but it is merely +a false greatness, a false opulence: they hasten with long strides to +their ruin. An enlightened people cannot exist." + +None can reason more justly, my friends; but let us see, if you please, +what state has been lost by a book. The most dangerous, the most +pernicious of all, is that of Spinoza. Not only in the character of a +Jew he attacks the New Testament, but in the character of a scholar he +ruins the Old; his system of atheism is a thousand times better composed +and reasoned than those of Straton and of Epicurus. We have need of the +most profound sagacity to answer to the arguments by which he endeavors +to prove that one substance cannot form another. + +Like yourself, I detest this book, which I perhaps understand better +than you, and to which you have very badly replied; but have you +discovered that this book has changed the face of the world? Has any +preacher lost a florin of his income by the publication of the works of +Spinoza? Is there a bishop whose rents have diminished? On the contrary, +their revenues have doubled since his time: all the ill is reduced to a +small number of peaceable readers, who have examined the arguments of +Spinoza in their closets, and have written for or against them works but +little known. + +For yourselves, it is of little consequence to have caused to be printed +"_ad usum Delphini,_" the atheism of Lucretius--as you have already been +reproached with doing--no trouble, no scandal, has ensued from it: so +leave Spinoza to live in peace in Holland. Lucretius was left in repose +at Rome. + +But if there appears among you any new book, the ideas of which shock +your own--supposing you have any--or of which the author may be of a +party contrary to yours--or what is worse, of which the author may not +be of any party at all--then you cry out Fire! and let all be noise, +scandal, and uproar in your small corner of the earth. There is an +abominable man who has printed that if we had no hands we could not make +shoes nor stockings. Devotees cry out, furred doctors assemble, alarms +multiply from college to college, from house to house, and why? For five +or six pages, about which there no longer will be a question at the end +of three months. Does a book displease you? refute it. Does it tire you? +read it not. + +Oh! say you to me, the books of Luther and Calvin have destroyed the +Roman Catholic religion in one-half of Europe? Why say not also, that +the books of the patriarch Photius have destroyed this Roman religion in +Asia, Africa, Greece, and Russia? + +You deceive yourself very grossly, when you think that you have been +ruined by books. The empire of Russia is two thousand leagues in extent, +and there are not six men who are aware of the points disputed by the +Greek and Latin Church. If the monk Luther, John Calvin, and the vicar +Zuinglius had been content with writing, Rome would yet subjugate all +the states that it has lost; but these people and their adherents ran +from town to town, from house to house, exciting the women, and were +maintained by princes. Fury, which tormented Amata, and which, according +to Virgil, whipped her like a top, was not more turbulent. Know, that +one enthusiastic, factious, ignorant, supple, vehement Capuchin, the +emissary of some ambitious monks, preaching, confessing, communicating, +and caballing, will much sooner overthrow a province than a hundred +authors can enlighten it. It was not the Koran which caused Mahomet to +succeed: it was Mahomet who caused the success of the Koran. + +No! Rome has not been vanquished by books; it has been so by having +caused Europe to revolt at its rapacity; by the public sale of +indulgences; for having insulted men, and wishing to govern them like +domestic animals; for having abused its power to such an extent that it +is astonishing a single village remains to it. Henry VIII., Elizabeth, +the duke of Saxe, the landgrave of Hesse, the princes of Orange, the +Condés and Colignys, have done all, and books nothing. Trumpets have +never gained battles, nor caused any walls to fall except those of +Jericho. + +You fear books, as certain small cantons fear violins. Let us read, and +let us dance--these two amusements will never do any harm to the world. + + + + +LIFE. + + +The following passage is found in the "_Système de la Nature,_" London +edition, page 84: "We ought to define _life_, before we reason +concerning _soul_; but I hold it to be impossible to do so." + +On the contrary, I think a definition of life quite possible. Life is +organization with the faculty of sensation. Thus all animals are said to +live. Life is attributed to plants, only by a species of metaphor or +catachresis. They are organized and vegetate; but being incapable of +sensation, do not properly possess life. + +We may, however, live without actual sensation; for we feel nothing in a +complete apoplexy, in a lethargy, or in a sound sleep without dreams; +but yet possess the capacity of sensation. Many persons, it is too well +known, have been buried alive, like Roman vestals, and it is what +happens after every battle, especially in cold countries. A soldier lies +without motion, and breathless, who, if he were duly assisted, might +recover; but to settle the matter speedily, they bury him. + +What is this capacity of sensation? Formerly, life and soul meant the +same thing, and the one was no better understood than the other; at +bottom, is it more understood at present? + +In the sacred books of the Jews, soul is always used for life. + +"_Dixit etiam Deus, producant aquæ reptile animæ viventis._" (And God +said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature which +hath a living soul.) + +"_Creavit Deus cete grandia, et omnem animam viventem, atque motabilem +quam produxerant aquæ._ (And God created great dragons (_tannitiim_), +and every living soul that moveth, which the waters brought forth.) It +is difficult to explain the creation of these watery dragons, but such +is the text, and it is for us to submit to it. + +"_Producat terra animam viventem in genere suo, jumenta et reptilia._" +(Let the earth produce the living soul after its kind, cattle and +creeping things.) + +"_Et in quibus est anima vivens, ad vescendum._" (And to everything +wherein there is a living soul [every green herb], for meat.) + +"_Et inspiravit in faciem ejus spiraculum vitæ, et factus est homo in +animam viventem._" (And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, +and man became a living soul.) + +"_Sanguinem enim animarum vestrarum requiram de manu cunctarum betiarum, +et de manu hominis,_" etc. (I shall require back your souls from the +hands of man and beast.) + +Souls here evidently signify lives. The sacred text certainly did not +mean that beasts had swallowed the souls of men, but their blood, which +is their life; and as to the hands given by this text to beasts, it +signifies their claws. + +In short, more than two hundred passages may be quoted in which the soul +is used for the life, both of beasts and man; but not one which explains +either life or soul. + +If life be the faculty of sensation, whence this faculty? In reply to +this question, all the learned quote systems, and these systems are +destructive of one another. But why the anxiety to ascertain the source +of sensation? It is as difficult to conceive the power which binds all +things to a common centre as to conceive the cause of animal sensation. +The direction of the needle towards the pole, the paths of comets, and a +thousand other phenomena are equally incomprehensible. + +Properties of matter exist, the principle of which will never be known +to us; and that of sensation, without which there cannot be life, is +among the number. + +Is it possible to live without experiencing sensation? No. An infant +which dies in a lethargy that has lasted from its birth has existed, but +not lived. + +Let us imagine an idiot unable to form complex ideas, but who possesses +sensation; he certainly lives without thinking, forming simple ideas +from his sensations. Thought, therefore, is not necessary to life, since +this idiot has lived without thinking. + +Hence, certain thinkers _think _that thought is not of the essence of +man. They maintain that many idiots who think not, are men; and so +decidedly men as to produce other men, without the power of constructing +a single argument. + +The doctors who maintain the essentiality of thought, reply that these +idiots have certain ideas from their sensation. Bold reasoners rejoin, +that a well-taught mind possesses more consecutive ideas, and is very +superior to these idiots, whence has sprung a grand dispute upon the +soul, of which we shall speak--possibly at too great a length--in the +article on "Soul." + + + + +LOVE. + + +There are so many kinds of love, that in order to define it, we scarcely +know which to direct our attention to. Some boldly apply the name of +"love" to a caprice of a few days, a connection without attachment, +passion without affection, the affectations of cicisbeism, a cold usage, +a romantic fancy, a taste speedily followed by a distaste. They apply +the name to a thousand chimeras. + +Should any philosophers be inclined profoundly to investigate a subject +in itself so little philosophical, they may recur to the banquet of +Plato, in which Socrates, the decent and honorable lover of Alcibiades +and Agathon, converses with them on the metaphysics of love. + +Lucretius speaks of it more as a natural philosopher; and Virgil follows +the example of Lucretius. "_Amor omnibus idem._" + +It is the embroidery of imagination on the stuff of nature. If you wish +to form an idea of love, look at the sparrows in your garden; behold +your doves; contemplate the bull when introduced to the heifer; look at +that powerful and spirited horse which two of your grooms are conducting +to the mare that quietly awaits him, and is evidently pleased at his +approach; observe the flashing of his eyes, notice the strength and +loudness of his neighings, the boundings, the curvetings, the ears +erect, the mouth opening with convulsive gaspings, the distended +nostrils, the breath of fire, the raised and waving mane, and the +impetuous movement with which he rushes towards the object which nature +has destined for him; do not, however, be jealous of his happiness; but +reflect on the advantages of the human species; they afford ample +compensation in love for all those which nature has conferred on mere +animals--strength, beauty, lightness, and rapidity. + +There are some classes, however, even of animals totally unacquainted +with sexual association. Fishes are destitute of this enjoyment. The +female deposits her millions of eggs on the slime of the waters, and the +male that meets them passes over them and communicates the vital +principle, never consorting with, or perhaps even perceiving the female +to whom they belong. + +The greater part of those animals which copulate are sensible of the +enjoyment only by a single sense; and when appetite is satisfied, the +whole is over. No animal, besides man, is acquainted with embraces; his +whole frame is susceptible; his lips particularly experience a delight +which never wearies, and which is exclusively the portion of his +species; finally, he can surrender himself at all seasons to the +endearments of love, while mere animals possess only limited periods. If +you reflect on these high pre-eminences, you will readily join in the +earl of Rochester's remark, that love would impel a whole nation of +atheists to worship the divinity. + +As men have been endowed with the talent of perfecting whatever nature +has bestowed upon them, they have accordingly perfected the gift of +love. Cleanliness, personal attention, and regard to health render the +frame more sensitive, and consequently increase its capacity of +gratification. All the other amiable and valuable sentiments enter +afterwards into that of love, like the metals which amalgamate with +gold; friendship and esteem readily fly to its support; and talents both +of body and of mind are new and strengthening bonds. + + _Nam facit ipsa suis interdum femina factis,_ + _Morigerisque modis, et mundo corpore cultu_ + _Ut facile insuescat secum vir degere vitam._ + --LUCRETIUS, iv, 1275. + +Self-love, above all, draws closer all these various ties. Men pride +themselves in the choice they have made; and the numberless illusions +that crowd around constitute the ornament of the work, of which the +foundation is so firmly laid by nature. + +Such are the advantages possessed by man above the various tribes of +animals. But, if he enjoys delights of which they are ignorant, howe +many vexations and disgusts, on the other hand, is he exposed to, from +which they are free! The most dreadful of these is occasioned by +nature's having poisoned the pleasures of love and sources of life over +three-quarters of the world by a terrible disease, to which man alone is +subject; nor is it with this pestilence as with various other maladies, +which are the natural consequences of excess. It was not introduced into +the world by debauchery. The Phrynes and Laises, the Floras and +Messalinas, were never attacked by it. It originated in islands where +mankind dwelt together in innocence, and has thence been spread +throughout the Old World. + +If nature could in any instance be accused of despising her own work, +thwarting her own plan, and counteracting her own views, it would be in +this detestable scourge which has polluted the earth with horror and +shame. And can this, then, be the best of all possible worlds? What! if +Cæsar and Antony and Octavius never had this disease, was it not +possible to prevent Francis the First from dying of it? No, it is said; +things were so ordered all for the best; I am disposed to believe it; +but it is unfortunate for those to whom Rabelais has dedicated his book. + +Erotic philosophers have frequently discussed the question, whether +Héloïse could truly love Abélard after he became a monk and mutilated? +One of these states much wronged the other. + +Be comforted, however, Abélard, you were really beloved; imagination +comes in aid of the heart. Men feel a pleasure in remaining at table, +although they can no longer eat. Is it love? is it simply recollection? +is it friendship? It is a something compounded of all these. It is a +confused feeling, resembling the fantastic passions which the dead +retained in the Elysian Fields. The heroes who while living had shone in +the chariot races, guided imaginary chariots after death. Héloïse lived +with you on illusions and supplements. She sometimes caressed you, and +with so much the more pleasure as, after vowing at Paraclet that she +would love you no more, her caresses were become more precious to her in +proportion as they had become more culpable. A woman can never form a +passion for a eunuch, but she may retain her passion for her lover after +his becoming one, if he still remains amiable. + +The case is different with respect to a lover grown old in the service; +the external appearance is no longer the same; wrinkles affright, +grizzly eyebrows repel, decaying teeth disgust, infirmities drive away; +all that can be done or expected is to have the virtue of being a +patient and kind nurse, and bearing with the man that was once beloved, +all which amounts to--burying the dead. + + + + +LOVE OF GOD. + + +The disputes that have occurred about the love of God have kindled as +much hatred as any theological quarrel. The Jesuits and Jansenists have +been contending for a hundred years as to which party loved God in the +most suitable and appropriate manner, and which should at the same time +most completely harass and torment their neighbor. + +When the author of "Telemachus," who was in high reputation at the court +of Louis XIV., recommended men to love God in a manner which did not +happen to coincide with that of the author of the "Funeral Orations", +the latter, who was a complete master of the weapons of controversy, +declared open war against him, and procured his condemnation in the +ancient city of Romulus, where God was the very object most loved, after +domination, ease, luxury, pleasure, and money. + +If Madame Guyon had been acquainted with the story of the good old +woman, who brought a chafingdish to burn paradise, and a pitcher of +water to extinguish hell, that God might be loved for Himself alone, she +would not perhaps have written so much as she did. She must inevitably +have felt that she could herself never say anything better than that; +but she loved God and nonsense so sincerely that she was imprisoned for +four months, on account of her affectionate attachment; treatment +decidedly rigorous and unjust. Why punish as a criminal a woman whose +only offence was composing verse in the style of the Abbé Cotin, and +prose in the taste of the popular favorite Punchinello? It is strange +that the author of "Telemachus" and the frigid loves of Eucharis should +have said in his "Maxims of Saints," after the blessed Francis de Sales: +"I have scarcely any desires; but, were I to be born again, I should not +have any at all. If God came to me, I would also go to Him; if it were +not His will to come to me, I would stay where I was, and not go to +Him." + +His whole work turns upon this proposition. Francis de Sales was not +condemned, but Fénelon was. Why should that have been? the reason is, +that Francis de Sales had not a bitter enemy at the court of Turin, and +that Fénelon had one at Versailles. + +The most sensible thing that was written upon this mystical controversy +is to be found perhaps in Boileau's satire, On the Love of God, although +that is certainly by no means his best work. + + _Qui fait exactement ce que, ma loi commande, A pour_ + _moi, dit ce Dieu, l'amour que je demande._ + --EP. xii. 99. + + Attend exactly to my law's command, + Such, says this God, the worship I demand. + +If we must pass from the thorns of theology to those of philosophy, +which are not so long and are less piercing, it seems clear that an +object may be loved by any one without any reference to self, without +any mixture of interested self-love. We cannot compare divine things to +earthly ones, or the love of God to any other love. We have an infinity +of steps to mount above our grovelling human inclinations before we can +reach that sublime love. Since, however, we have nothing to rest upon +except the earth, let us draw our comparisons from that. We view some +masterpiece of art, in painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, or +eloquence; we hear a piece of music that absolutely enchants our ears +and souls; we admire it, we love it, without any return of the slightest +advantage to ourselves from this attachment; it is a pure and refined +feeling; we proceed sometimes so far as to entertain veneration or +friendship for the author; and were he present should cordially embrace +him. + +This is almost the only way in which we can explain our profound +admiration and the impulses of our heart towards the eternal architect +of the world. We survey the work with an astonishment made up of respect +and a sense of our own nothingness, and our heart warms and rises as +much as possible towards the divine artificer. + +But what is this feeling? A something vague and indeterminate--an +impression that has no connection with our ordinary affections. A soul +more susceptible than another, more withdrawn from worldly business and +cares, may be so affected by the spectacle of nature as to feel the most +ardent as well as pious aspirations towards the eternal Lord who formed +it. Could such an amiable affection of the mind, could so powerful a +charm, so strong an evidence of feeling, incur censure? Was it possible +in reality to condemn the affectionate and grateful disposition of the +archbishop of Cambray? Notwithstanding the expressions of St. Francis de +Sales, above given, he adhered steadily to this assertion, that the +author may be loved merely and simply for the beauty of his works. With +what heresy could he be reproached? The extravagances of style of a lady +of Montargis, and a few unguarded expressions of his own, were not a +little injurious to him. + +Where was the harm that he had done? Nothing at present is known about +the matter. This dispute, like numberless others, is completely +annihilated. Were every dogmatist to say to himself: A few years hence +no one will care a straw for my dogmas, there would be far less +dogmatizing in the world than there is! Ah! Louis the Fourteenth! Louis +the Fourteenth! when two men of genius had departed so far from the +natural scope and direction of their talents, as to write the most +obscure and tiresome works ever written in your dominions, how much +better would it have been to have left them to their own wranglings! + + _Pour finir tous ces débats-là,_ + _Tu n'avais qu'à les laisser faire._ + To end debates in such a tone + 'Twas but to leave the men alone. + +It is observable under all the articles of morality and history, by what +an invisible chain, by what unknown springs, all the ideas that disturb +our minds and all the events that poison our days are bound together and +brought to co-operate in the formation of our destinies. Fénelon dies in +exile in consequence of holding two or three mystical conversations with +a pious but fanciful woman. Cardinal Bouillon, nephew of the great +Turenne, is persecuted in consequence of not himself persecuting at Rome +the archbishop of Cambray, his friend: he is compelled to quit France, +and he also loses his whole fortune. + +By a like chain of causes and effects, the son of a solicitor at Vire +detects, in a dozen of obscure phrases of a book printed at Amsterdam, +what is sufficient to fill all the dungeons of France with victims; and +at length, from the depth of those dungeons arises a cry for redress and +vengeance, the echo of which lays prostrate on the earth an able and +tyrannical society which had been established by an ignorant madman. + + + + +LOVE (SOCRATIC LOVE). + + +If the love called Socratic and Platonic is only a becoming sentiment, +it is to be applauded; if an unnatural license, we must blush for +Greece. + +It is as certain as the knowledge of antiquity can well be, that +Socratic love was not an infamous passion. It is the word "love" which +has deceived the world. Those called the lovers of a young man were +precisely such as among us are called the minions of our +princes--honorable youths attached to the education of a child of +distinction, partaking of the same studies and the same military +exercises--a warlike and correct custom, which has been perverted into +nocturnal feasts and midnight orgies. + +The company of lovers instituted by Laius was an invincible troop of +young warriors, bound by oath each to preserve the life of any other at +the expense of his own. Ancient discipline never exhibited anything more +fine. + +Sextus Empiricus and others have boldly affirmed that this vice was +recommended by the laws of Persia. Let them cite the text of such a law; +let them exhibit the code of the Persians; and if such an abomination be +even found there, still I would disbelieve it, and maintain that the +thing was not true, because it is impossible. No; it is not in human +nature to make a law which contradicts and outrages nature itself--a law +which would annihilate mankind, if it were literally observed. Moreover, +I will show you the ancient law of the Persians as given in the +"Sadder." It says, in article or gate 9, that the greatest sin must not +be committed. It is in vain that a modern writer seeks to justify Sextus +Empiricus and pederasty. The laws of Zoroaster, with which he is +unacquainted, incontrovertibly prove that this vice was never +recommended to the Persians. It might as well be said that it is +recommended to the Turks. They boldly practise it, but their laws +condemn it. + +How many persons have mistaken shameful practices, which are only +tolerated in a country, for its laws. Sextus Empiricus, who doubted +everything, should have doubted this piece of jurisprudence. If he had +lived in our days, and witnessed the proceedings of two or three young +Jesuits with their pupils, would he have been justified in the assertion +that such practices were permitted by the institutes of Ignatius Loyola? + +It will be permitted to me here to allude to the Socratic love of the +reverend father Polycarp, a Carmelite, who was driven away from the +small town of Gex in 1771, in which place he taught religion and Latin +to about a dozen scholars. He was at once their confessor, tutor, and +something more. Few have had more occupations, spiritual and temporal. +All was discovered; and he retired into Switzerland, a country very +distant from Greece. + +The monks charged with the education of youth have always exhibited a +little of this tendency, which is a necessary consequence of the +celibacy to which the poor men are condemned. + +This vice was so common at Rome that it was impossible to punish a crime +which almost every one committed. Octavius Augustus, that murderer, +debauchee, and coward, who exiled Ovid, thought it right in Virgil to +sing the charms of Alexis. Horace, his other poetical favorite, +constructed small odes on Ligurinus; and this same Horace, who praised +Augustus for reforming manners, speak in his satires in much the same +way of both boys and girls. Yet the ancient law "_Scantinia,_" which +forbade pederasty, always existed, and was put in force by the emperor +Philip, who drove away from Rome the boys who made a profession of it. +If, however, Rome had witty and licentious students, like Petronius, it +had also such preceptors as Quintilian; and attend to the precautions he +lays down in his chapter of "The Preceptor," in order to preserve the +purity of early youth. "_Cavendum non solum crimine turpitudinis, sed +etiam suspicione._" We must not only beware of a shameful crime but even +of the suspicion of it. To conclude, I firmly believe that no civilized +nation ever existed which made formal laws against morals. + + +_Observations By Another Hand._ + +We may be permitted to make a few additional reflections on an odious +and disgusting subject, which however, unfortunately, forms a part of +the history of opinions and manners. + +This offence may be traced to the remotest periods of civilization. +Greek and Roman history in particular allows us not to doubt it. It was +common before people formed regular societies, and were governed by +written laws. + +The latter fact is the reason that the laws have treated it with so much +indulgence. Severe laws cannot be proposed to a free people against a +vice, whatever it may be, which is common and habitual. For a long time +many of the German nations had written laws which admitted of +composition and murder. Solon contented himself with forbidding these +odious practices between the citizens and slaves. The Athenians might +perceive the policy of this interdiction, and submit to it; especially +as it operated against the slaves only, and was enacted to prevent them +from corrupting the young free men. Fathers of families, however lax +their morals, had no motive to oppose it. + +The severity of the manners of women in Greece, the use of public baths, +and the passion for games in which men appeared altogether naked, +fostered this turpitude, notwithstanding the progress of society and +morals. Lycurgus, by allowing more liberty to the women, and by certain +other institutions, succeeded in rendering this vice less common in +Sparta than in the other towns of Greece. + +When the manners of a people become less rustic, as they improve in +arts, luxury, and riches, if they retain their former vices, they at +least endeavor to veil them. Christian morality, by attaching shame to +connections between unmarried people, by rendering marriage +indissoluble, and proscribing concubinage by ecclesiastical censures, +has rendered adultery common. Every sort of voluptuousness having been +equally made sinful, that species is naturally preferred which is +necessarily the most secret; and thus, by a singular contradiction, +absolute crimes are often made more frequent, more tolerated, and less +shameful in public opinion, than simple weaknesses. When the western +nations began a course of refinement, they sought to conceal adultery +under the veil of what is called gallantry. Then men loudly avowed a +passion in which it was presumed the women did not share. The lovers +dared demand nothing; and it was only after more than ten years of pure +love, of combats and victories at tournaments that a cavalier might hope +to discover a moment of weakness in the object of his adoration. There +remains a sufficient number of records of these times to convince us +that the state of manners fostered this species of hypocrisy. It was +similar among the Greeks, when they had become polished. Connections +between males were not shameful; young people united themselves to each +other by oaths, but it was to live and die for their country. It was +usual for a person of ripe age to attach himself to a young man in a +state of adolescence, ostensibly to form, instruct, and guide him; and +the passion which mingled in these friendships was a sort of love--but +still innocent love. Such was the veil with which public decency +concealed vices which general opinion tolerated. + +In short, in the same manner as chivalric gallantry is often made a +theme for eulogy in modern society, as proper to elevate the soul and +inspire courage, was it common among the Greeks to eulogize that love +which attached citizens to each other. + +Plato said that the Thebans acted laudably in adopting it, because it +was necessary to polish their manners, supply greater energy to their +souls and to their spirits, which were benumbed by the nature of their +climate. We perceive by this, that a virtuous friendship alone was +treated of by Plato. Thus, when a Christian prince proclaimed a +tournament, at which every one appeared in the colors of his mistress, +it was with the laudable intention of exciting emulation among its +knights, and to soften manners; it was not adultery, but gallantry, that +he would encourage within his dominions. In Athens, according to Plato, +they set bounds to their toleration. In monarchical states, it was +politic to prevent these attachments between men, but in republics they +materially tended to prevent the double establishment of tyranny. In the +sacrifice of a citizen, a tyrant knew not whose vengeance he might arm +against himself, and was liable, without ceasing, to witness +conspiracies grow out of the resolutions which this ambiguous affection +produced among men. + +In the meantime, in spite of ideas so remote from our sentiments and +manners, this practice was regarded as very shameful among the Greeks, +every time it was exhibited without the excuse of friendship or +political ties. When Philip of Macedon saw extended on the field of +battle of Chæronea, the soldiers who composed the sacred battalion or +band of friends at Thebes, all killed in the ranks in which they had +combated: "I will never believe," he exclaimed, "that such brave men +have committed or suffered anything shameful." This expression from a +man himself soiled with this infamy furnishes an indisputable proof of +the general opinion of Greece. + +At Rome, this opinion was still stronger. Many Greek heroes, regarded as +virtuous men, have been supposed addicted to the vice; but among the +Romans it was never attributed to any of those characters in whom great +virtue was acknowledged. It only seems, that with these two nations no +idea of crime or even dishonor was attached to it unless carried to +excess, which renders even a passion for women disgraceful. + +Pederasty is rare among us, and would be unknown, but for the defects of +public education. + +Montesquieu pretends that it prevails in certain Mahometan nations, in +consequence of the facility of possessing women. In our opinion, for +"facility" we should read difficulty. + + + + +LUXURY. + + +SECTION I. + +In a country where all the inhabitants went bare-footed, could luxury be +imputed to the first man who made a pair of shoes for himself? Or +rather, was he not a man of sense and industry? + +Is it not just the same with him who procured the first shirt? With +respect to the man who had it washed and ironed, I consider him as an +absolute genius, abundant in resources, and qualified to govern a state. +Those however who were not used to wear clean shirts, considered him as +a rich, effeminate coxcomb who was likely to corrupt the nation. + +"Beware of luxury," said Cato to the Romans; "you have conquered the +province of Phasis, but never eat any pheasants. You have subjugated the +country in which cotton grows; still however continue to sleep on the +bare ground. You have plundered the gold, and silver, and jewels of +innumerable nations, but never become such fools as to use them. After +taking everything, remain destitute of everything. Highway robbers +should be virtuous and free." + +Lucullus replied, "You should rather wish, my good friend, that Crassus, +and Pompey, and Cæsar, and myself should spend all that we have taken in +luxury. Great robbers must fight about the division of the spoil; but +Rome will inevitably be enslaved, and it will be enslaved by one or +other of us much more speedily, and much more securely, if we place that +value upon money that you do, than if we spend it in superfluities and +pleasures. Wish that Pompey and Cæsar may so far impoverish themselves +as not to have money enough to pay the armies." + +Not long since a Norwegian was upbraiding a Dutchman with luxury. "Where +now," says he, "are the happy times when a merchant, quitting Amsterdam +for the great Indies, left a quarter of smoked beef in his kitchen and +found it untouched on his return? Where are your wooden spoons and iron +forks? Is it not shameful for a sensible Dutchman to sleep in a bed of +damask?" + +"Go to Batavia," replied the Amsterdammer; "gain, as I have done, ten +tons of gold; and then see if you have not some inclination to be well +clothed, well fed, and well lodged." + +Since this conversation, twenty volumes have been written about luxury, +and these books have neither increased nor diminished it. + + +SECTION II. + +Luxury has been declaimed against for the space of two thousand years, +both in verse and prose; and yet it has been always liked. + +What has not been said of the Romans? When, in the earlier periods of +their history, these banditti ravaged and carried off their neighbor's +harvests; when, in order to augment their own wretched village, they +destroyed the poor villages of the Volsci and Samnites, they were, we +are told, men disinterested and virtuous. They could not as yet, be it +remembered, carry away gold, and silver; and jewels, because the towns +which they sacked and plundered had none; nor did their woods and swamps +produce partridges or pheasants; yet people, forsooth, extol their +temperance! + +When, by a succession of violences, they had pillaged and robbed every +country from the recesses of the Adriatic to the Euphrates, and had +sense enough to enjoy the fruit of their rapine; when they cultivated +the arts, and tasted all the pleasures of life, and communicated them +also to the nations which they conquered; then, we are told, they ceased +to be wise and good. + +All such declamations tend just to prove this--that a robber ought not +to eat the dinner he has taken, nor wear the habit he has stolen, nor +ornament his finger with the ring he has plundered from another. All +this, it is said, should be thrown into the river, in order to live like +good people; but how much better would it be to say, never rob--it is +your duty not to rob? Condemn the brigands when they plunder; but do not +treat them as fools or madmen for enjoying their plunder. After a number +of English sailors have obtained their prize money for the capture of +Pondicherry, or Havana, can they be blamed for purchasing a little +pleasure in London, in return for the labor and pain they have suffered +in the uncongenial climes of Asia or America? + +The declaimers we have mentioned would wish men to bury the riches that +might be accumulated by the fortune of war, or by agriculture, commerce, +and industry in general. They cite Lacedæmon; why do they not also cite +the republic of San Marino? What benefit did Sparta do to Greece? Had +she ever a Demosthenes, a Sophocles, an Apelles, or a Phidias? The +luxury of Athens formed great men of every description. Sparta had +certainly some great captains, but even these in a smaller number than +other cities. But allowing that a small republic like Lacedæmon may +maintain its poverty, men uniformly die, whether they are in want of +everything, or enjoying the various means of rendering life agreeable. +The savage of Canada subsists and attains old age, as well as the +English citizen who has fifty thousand guineas a year. But who will ever +compare the country of the Iroquois to England? + +Let the republic of Ragusa and the canton of Zug enact sumptuary laws; +they are right in so doing. The poor must not expend beyond their means; +but I have somewhere read, that if partially injurious, luxury benefits +a great nation upon the whole. + + _Sachez surtout que le luxe enrichit_ + _Un grand état, s'il en perd un petit._ + +If by luxury you mean excess, we know that excess is universally +pernicious, in abstinence as well as gluttony, in parsimony or +profusion. I know not how it has happened, that in my own village, where +the soil is poor and meagre, the imposts heavy, and the prohibition +against a man's exporting the corn he has himself sown and reaped, +intolerable, there is hardly a single cultivator who is not well +clothed, and who has not an ample supply of warmth and food. Should this +cultivator go to plough in his best clothes and with his hair dressed +and powdered, there would in that case exist the greatest and most +absurd luxury; but were a wealthy citizen of Paris or London to appear +at the play in the dress of this peasant, he would exhibit the grossest +and most ridiculous parsimony. + + _Est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines,_ + _Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum._ + --HORACE, i. sat. i. v. 106. + + Some certain mean in all things may be found, + To mark our virtues, and our vices, bound. + --FRANCIS. + +On the invention of scissors, which are certainly not of the very +highest antiquity, what was not said of those who pared their nails and +cut off some of their hair that was hanging down over their noses? They +were undoubtedly considered as prodigals and coxcombs, who bought at an +extravagant price an instrument just calculated to spoil the work of the +Creator. What an enormous sin to pare the horn which God Himself made to +grow at our fingers' ends! It was absolutely an insult to the Divine +Being Himself. When shirts and socks were invented, it was far worse. It +is well known with what wrath and indignation the old counsellors, who +had never worn socks, exclaimed against the young magistrates who +encouraged so dreadful and fatal a luxury. + + + + +MADNESS. + + +What is madness? To have erroneous perceptions, and to reason correctly +from them? Let the wisest man, if he would understand madness, attend to +the succession of his ideas while he dreams. If he be troubled with +indigestion during the night, a thousand incoherent ideas torment him; +it seems as if nature punished him for having taken too much food, or +for having injudiciously selected it, by supplying involuntary +conceptions; for we think but little during sleep, except when annoyed +by a bad digestion. Unquiet dreams are in reality a transient madness. + +Madness is a malady which necessarily hinders a man from thinking and +acting like other men. Not being able to manage property, the madman is +withheld from it; incapable of ideas suitable to society, he is shut out +from it; if he be dangerous, he is confined altogether; and if he be +furious, they bind him. Sometimes he is cured by baths, by bleeding, and +by regimen. + +This man is not, however, deprived of ideas; he frequently possesses +them like other men, and often when he sleeps. We might inquire how the +spiritual and immortal soul, lodged in his brain, receives all its ideas +correctly and distinctly, without the capacity of judgment. It perceives +objects, as the souls of Aristotle, of Plato, of Locke, and of Newton, +perceived them. It hears the same sounds, and possesses the same sense +of feeling--how therefore, receiving impressions like the wisest, does +the soul of the madman connect them extravagantly, and prove unable to +disperse them? + +If this simple and eternal substance enjoys the same properties as the +souls which are lodged in the sagest brains, it ought to reason like +them. Why does it not? If my madman sees a thing red, while the wise men +see it blue; if when my sages hear music, my madman hears the braying of +an ass; if when they attend a sermon, he imagines himself to be +listening to a comedy; if when they understand yes, he understands no; +then I conceive clearly that his soul ought to think contrary to theirs. +But my madman having the same perceptions as they have, there is no +apparent reason why his soul, having received all the necessary +materials, cannot make a proper use of them. It is pure, they say, and +subject to no infirmity; behold it provided with all the necessary +assistance; nothing which passes in the body can change its essence; yet +it is shut up in a close carriage, and conveyed to Charenton. + +This reflection may lead us to suspect that the faculty of thought, +bestowed by God upon man, is subject to derangement like the other +senses. A madman is an invalid whose brain is diseased, while the gouty +man is one who suffers in his feet and hands. People think by means of +the brain, and walk on their feet, without knowing anything of the +source of either this incomprehensible power of walking, or the equally +incomprehensible power of thinking; besides, the gout may be in the +head, instead of the feet. In short, after a thousand arguments, faith +alone can convince us of the possibility of a simple and immaterial +substance liable to disease. + +The learned may say to the madman: "My friend, although deprived of +common sense, thy soul is as pure, as spiritual, and as immortal, as our +own; but our souls are happily lodged, and thine not so. The windows of +its dwelling are closed; it wants air, and is stifled." + +The madman, in a lucid interval, will reply to them: "My friends, you +beg the question, as usual. My windows are as wide open as your own, +since I can perceive the same objects and listen to the same sounds. It +necessarily follows that my soul makes a bad use of my senses; or that +my soul is a vitiated sense, a depraved faculty. In a word, either my +soul is itself diseased, or I have no soul." + +One of the doctors may reply: "My brother, God has possibly created +foolish souls, as well as wise ones." + +The madman will answer: "If I believed what you say, I should be a still +greater madman than I am. Have the kindness, you who know so much, to +tell me why I am mad?" + +Supposing the doctors to retain a little sense, they would say: "We know +nothing about the matter." + +Neither are they more able to comprehend how a brain possesses regular +ideas, and makes a due use of them. They call themselves sages, and are +as weak as their patient. + +If the interval of reason of the madman lasts long enough, he will say +to them: "Miserable mortals, who neither know the cause of my malady, +nor how to cure it! Tremble, lest ye become altogether like me, or even +still worse than I am! You are not of the highest rank, like Charles VI. +of France, Henry VI. of England, and the German emperor Wincenslaus, who +all lost their reason in the same century. You have not nearly so much +wit as Blaise Pascal, James Abadie, or Jonathan Swift, who all became +insane. The last of them founded a hospital for us; shall I go there and +retain places for you?" + +N.B. I regret that Hippocrates should have prescribed the blood of an +ass's colt for madness; and I am still more sorry that the "_Manuel des +Dames_" asserts that it may be cured by catching the itch. Pleasant +prescriptions these, and apparently invented by those who were to take +them! + + + + +MAGIC. + + +Magic is a more plausible science than astrology and the doctrine of +genii. As soon as we began to think that there was in man a being quite +distinct from matter, and that the understanding exists after death, we +gave this understanding a fine, subtile, aerial body, resembling the +body in which it was lodged. Two quite natural reasons introduced this +opinion; the first is, that in all languages the soul was called spirit, +breath, wind. This spirit, this breath, this wind, was therefore very +fine and delicate. The second is, that if the soul of a man had not +retained a form similar to that which it possessed during its life, we +should not have been able after death to distinguish the soul of one man +from that of another. This soul, this shade, which existed, separated +from its body, might very well show itself upon occasion, revisit the +place which it had inhabited, its parents and friends, speak to them and +instruct them. In all this there is no incompatibility. + +As departed souls might very well teach those whom they came to visit +the secret of conjuring them, they failed not to do so; and the word +"Abraxa", pronounced with some ceremonies, brought up souls with whom he +who pronounced it wished to speak. I suppose an Egyptian saying to a +philosopher: "I descend in a right line from the magicians of Pharaoh, +who changed rods into serpents, and the waters of the Nile into blood; +one of my ancestors married the witch of Endor, who conjured up the soul +of Samuel at the request of Saul; she communicated her secrets to her +husband, who made her the confidant of his own; I possess this +inheritance from my father and mother; my genealogy is well attested; I +command the spirits and elements." + +The philosopher, in reply, will have nothing to do but to demand his +protection; for if disposed to deny and dispute, the magician will shut +his mouth by saying: "You cannot deny the facts; my ancestors have been +incontestably great magicians, and you doubt it not; you have no reason +to believe that I am inferior to them, particularly when a man of honor +like myself assures you that he is a sorcerer." + +The philosopher, to be sure, might say to him: "Do me the pleasure to +conjure up a shade; allow me to speak to a soul; change this water into +blood, and this rod into a serpent." + +The magician will answer: "I work not for philosophers; but I have shown +spirits to very respectable ladies, and to simple people who never +dispute; you should at least believe that it is very possible for me to +have these secrets, since you are forced to confess that my ancestors +possessed them. What was done formerly can be done now; and you ought to +believe in magic without my being obliged to exercise my art before +you." + +These reasons are so good that all nations have had sorcerers. The +greatest sorcerers were paid by the state, in order to discover the +future clearly in the heart and liver of an ox. Why, therefore, have +others so long been punished with death? They have done more marvellous +things; they should, therefore, be more honored; above all, their power +should be feared. Nothing is more ridiculous than to condemn a true +magician to be burned; for we should presume that he can extinguish the +fire and twist the necks of his judges. All that we can do is to say to +him: "My friend, we do not burn you as a true sorcerer, but as a false +one; you boast of an admirable art which you possess not; we treat you +as a man who utters false money; the more we love the good, the more +severely we punish those who give us counterfeits; we know very well +that there were formerly venerable conjurors, but we have reason to +believe that you are not one, since you suffer yourself to be burned +like a fool." + +It is true, that the magician so pushed might say: My conscience extends +not so far as to extinguish a pile without water, and to kill my judges +with words. I can only call up spirits, read the future, and change +certain substances into others; my power is bounded; but you should not +for that reason burn me at a slow fire. It is as if you caused a +physician to be hanged who could cure fever, and not a paralysis. + +The judges might, however, still reasonably observe: Show us then some +secret of your art, or consent to be burned with a good grace. + + + + +MALADY--MEDICINE. + + +I will suppose that a fair princess who never heard speak of anatomy is +ill either from having eaten or danced too much, or having done too much +of what several princesses occasionally do. I suppose the following +controversy takes place: + + +PHYSICIAN. + +Madam, for your health to be good, it is necessary for your cerebrum and +cerebellum to distribute a fine, well-conditioned marrow, in the spine +of your back down to your highness's rump; and that this marrow should +equally animate fifteen pairs of nerves, each right and left. It is +necessary that your heart should contract and dilate itself with a +constantly equal force; and that all the blood which it forces into your +arteries should circulate in all these arteries and veins about six +hundred times a day. This blood, in circulating with a rapidity which +surpasses that of the Rhone, ought to dispose on its passage of that +which continually forms the lymph, urine, bile, etc., of your +highness--of that which furnishes all these secretions, which insensibly +render your skin soft, fresh, and fair, that without them would be +yellow, gray, dry, and shrivelled, like old parchment. + +PRINCESS. + +Well, sir, the king pays you to attend to all this: fail not to put all +things in their place, and to make my liquids circulate so that I may be +comfortable. I warn you that I will not suffer with impunity. + +PHYSICIAN. + +Madam, address your orders to the Author of nature. The sole power which +made millions of planets and comets to revolve round millions of suns +has directed the course of your blood. + +PRINCESS. + +What! are you a physician, and can you prescribe nothing? + +PHYSICIAN. + +No, madam; we can only take away from, we can add nothing to nature. +Your servants clean your palace, but the architect built it. If your +highness has eaten greedily, I can cleanse your entrails with cassia, +manna, and pods of senna; it is a broom which I introduce to cleanse +your inside. If you have a cancer, I must cut off your breast, but I +cannot give you another. Have you a stone in your bladder? I can deliver +you from it. I can cut off a gangrened foot, leaving you to walk on the +other. + +In a word, we physicians perfectly resemble teethdrawers, who extract a +decayed tooth, without the power of substituting a sound one, quacks as +they are. + +PRINCESS. + +You make me tremble; I believed that physicians cured all maladies. + +PHYSICIAN. + +We infallibly cure all those which cure themselves. It is generally, and +with very few exceptions, with internal maladies as with external +wounds. Nature alone cures those which are not mortal. Those which are +so will find no resource in it. + +PRINCESS. + +What! all these secrets for purifying the blood, of which my ladies have +spoken to me; this _Baume de Vie _of the Sieur de Lievre; these packets +of the Sieur Arnauld; all these pills so much praised by _femmes de +chambre_-- + +PHYSICIAN. + +Are so many inventions to get money, and to flatter patients, while +nature alone acts. + +PRINCESS. + +But there are specifics? + +PHYSICIAN. + +Yes, madam, like the water of youth in romances. + +PRINCESS. + +In what, then, consists medicine? + +PHYSICIAN. + +I have already told you, in cleaning and keeping in order the house +which we cannot rebuild. + +PRINCESS. + +There are, however, salutary things, and others hurtful? + +PHYSICIAN. + +You have guessed all the secret. Eat moderately that which you know by +experience will agree with you. Nothing is good for the body but what is +easily digested. What medicine will best assist digestion? Exercise. +What best recruit your strength? Sleep. What will diminish incurable +ills? Patience. What change a bad constitution? Nothing. In all violent +maladies, we have only the recipe of Molire, "_seipnare, purgare;_" and, +if we will, "_clisterium donare._" There is not a fourth. All, I have +told you amounts only to keeping a house in order, to which we cannot +add a peg. All art consists in adaptation. + +PRINCESS. + +You puff not your merchandise. You are an honest man. When I am queen, I +will make you my first physician. + +PHYSICIAN. + +Let nature be your first physician. It is she who made all. Of those who +have lived beyond a hundred years, none were of the faculty. The king of +France has already buried forty of his physicians, as many chief +physicians, besides physicians of the establishment, and others. + +PRINCESS. + +And, truly, I hope to bury you also. + + + + +MAN. + + +To know the natural philosophy of the human race, it is necessary to +read works of anatomy, or rather to go through a course of anatomy. + +To be acquainted with the man we call "moral," it is above all necessary +to have lived and reflected. Are not all moral works contained in these +words of Job? "Man that is born of a woman hath but a few days to live, +and is full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: +he fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not." + +We have already seen that the human race has not above two-and-twenty +years to live, reckoning those who die at their nurses' breasts, and +those who for a hundred years drag on the remains of a miserable and +imbecile life. + +It is a fine apologue, that ancient fable of the first man who was at +first destined to live twenty years at most, and who reduced it to five +years by estimating one life with another. The man was in despair, and +had near him a caterpillar, a butterfly, a peacock, a horse, a fox, and +an ape. + +"Prolong my life," said he to Jupiter; "I am more worthy than these +animals; it is just that I and my family should live long to command all +beasts." "Willingly," said Jupiter; "but I have only a certain number of +days to divide among the whole of the beings to whom I have granted +life. I can only give to thee by taking away from others; for imagine +not, that because I am Jupiter, I am infinite and all-powerful; I have +my nature and my limits. Now I will grant thee some years more, by +taking them from these six animals, of which thou art jealous, on +condition that thou shalt successively assume their manner of living. +Man shall first be a caterpillar, dragging himself along in his earliest +infancy. Until fifteen, he shall have the lightness of a butterfly; in +his youth, the vanity of a peacock. In manhood he must undergo the +labors of a horse. Towards fifty, he shall have the tricks of a fox; and +in his old age, be ugly and ridiculous like an ape. This, in general, is +the destiny of man." + +Remark further, that notwithstanding these bounties of Jupiter, the +animal man has still but two or three and twenty years to live, at most. +Taking mankind in general, of this a third must be taken away for sleep, +during which we are in a certain sense dead; thus there remain fifteen, +and from these fifteen we must take at least eight for our first +infancy, which is, as it has been called, the vestibule of life. The +clear product will be seven years, and of these seven years the half at +least is consumed in grief of all kinds. Take three years and a half for +labor, fatigue, and dissatisfaction, and we shall have none remaining. +Well, poor animal, will you still be proud? + +Unfortunately, in this fable Jupiter forgot to dress this animal as he +clothed the ass, horse, peacock, and even the caterpillar. Man had only +his bare skin, which, continually exposed to the sun, rain, and hail, +became chapped, tanned, and spotted. The male in our continent was +disfigured by spare hairs on his body, which rendered him frightful +without covering him. His face was hidden by these hairs. His skin +became a rough soil which bore a forest of stalks, the roots of which +tended upwards, and the branches of which grew downwards. It was in this +state and in this image, that this animal ventured to paint God, when in +course of time he learned the art of description. + +The female being more weak, became still more disgusting and frightful +in her old age; and, in short, without tailors, and mantua-makers, +one-half of mankind would never have dared to show itself to the other. +Yet, before having clothes, before even knowing how to speak, some ages +must have passed away--a truth which has been proved, but which must be +often repeated. + +It is a little extraordinary that we should have harassed an innocent, +estimable man of our time, the good Helvetius, for having said that if +men had not hands, they could not build houses and work tapestry. +Apparently, those who have condemned this proposition, have discovered a +secret for cutting stones and wood, and working at the needle with their +feet. + +I liked the author of the work "On Mind". This man was worth more than +all his enemies together; but I never approved either the errors of his +book, or the trivial truths which he so emphatically enforced. I have, +however, boldly taken his part when absurd men have condemned him for +these same truths. + +I have no terms to express the excess of my contempt for those who, for +example's sake, would magisterially proscribe this passage: "The Turks +can only be considered deists." How then, pedant! would you have them +regarded as atheists, because they adore only one God! + +You condemn this other proposition: "The man of sense knows that men are +what they must be; that all hatred against them is unjust; that a fool +commits fooleries as a wild stock bears bitter fruits." + +So, crabbed stocks of the schools, you persecute a man because he hates +you not! Let us, however, leave the schools, and pursue our subject. + +Reason, industrious hands, a head capable of generalizing ideas, a +language pliant enough to express them--these are great benefits granted +by the Supreme Being to man, to the exclusion of other animals. + +The male in general lives rather a shorter time than the female. He is +also generally larger in proportion. A man of the loftiest stature is +commonly two or three inches higher than the tallest woman. + +His strength is almost always superior; he is more active; and having +all his organs stronger, he is more capable of a fixed attention. All +arts have been invented by him, and not by woman. We should remark, that +it is not the fire of imagination, but persevering meditation and +combination of ideas which have invented arts, as mechanics, gunpowder, +printing, dialling, etc. + +Man alone knows that he must die, and knows it only by experience. A +child brought up alone, and transported into a desert island, would +dream of death no more than a plant or a cat. + +A singular man has written that the human body is a fruit, which is +green until old age, and that the moment of death is that of maturity. A +strange maturity, ashes and putrefaction! The head of this philosopher +was not ripe. How many extravagances has the rage for telling novelties +produced? + +The principal occupations of our race are the provision of food, +lodging, and clothing; all the rest are nearly accessory; and it is this +poor accessory which has produced so many ravages and murders. + +Different Races Of Men. + +We have elsewhere seen how many different races of men this globe +contains, and to what degrees the first negro and the first white who +met were astonished at one another. + +It is likely enough that several weakly species of men and animals have +perished. It is thus that we no longer discover any of the murex, of +which the species has probably been devoured by other animals who +several ages after visited the shores inhabited by this little +shellfish. + +St. Jerome, in his "History of the Father of the Desert", speaks of a +centaur who had a conversation with St. Anthony the hermit. He +afterwards gives an account of a much longer discourse that the same +Anthony had with a satyr. + +St. Augustine, in his thirty-third sermon, addressed "To his Brothers in +the Desert," tell things as extraordinary as Jerome. "I was already +bishop of Hippo, when I went into Ethiopia with some servants of Christ, +there to preach the gospel. In this country we saw many men and women +without heads, who had two great eyes in their breasts. In countries +still more southerly, we saw a people who had but one eye in their +foreheads," etc. + +Apparently, Augustine and Jerome then spoke "with economy"; they +augmented the works of creation to raise greater admiration of the works +of God. They sought to astonish men by fables, to render them more +submissive to the yoke of faith. + +We can be very good Christians without believing in centaurs, men +without heads, or with only one eye, one leg, etc. But can we doubt that +the interior structure of a negro may be different to that of a white, +since the mucous netted membrane beneath the skin is white in the one, +and black in the other? I have already told you so, but you are deaf. + +The Albinos and the Darians--the first originally of Africa, and the +second of the middle of America--are as different from us as from the +negroes. There are yellow, red, and gray races. We have already seen +that all the Americans are without beards or hair on their bodies, +except the head and eyebrows. All are equally men, but only as a fir, an +oak, and a pear tree are equally trees; the pear tree comes not from the +fir, nor the fir from the oak. + +But whence comes it, that in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, in an +island named Otaheite, the men are bearded? It is to ask why we are so, +while the Peruvians, Mexicans, and Canadians are not. It is to ask, why +apes have tails, and why nature has refused us an ornament which, at +least among us, is an extreme rarity. + +The inclinations and characters of men differ as much as their climates +and governments. It has never been possible to compose a regiment of +Laplanders and Samoyeds, whilst the Siberians, their neighbors, become +intrepid soldiers. + +Neither can you make good grenadiers of a poor Darian or an Albino. It +is not because they have partridge eyes, or that their hair and eyebrows +are like the finest and whitest silk; but it is because their bodies, +and consequently their courage, partake of the most extreme weakness. +There is none but a blind man, and even an obstinate blind man, who can +deny the existence of all these different species. It is as great and +remarkable as that of apes. + +That All Races Of Men Have Constantly Lived In Society. + +All the men whom we have discovered in the most uncultivated and +frightful countries herd together like beavers, ants, bees, and several +other species of animals. + +We have never seen countries in which they lived separate; or in which +the male only joined with the female by chance, and abandoned her the +moment after in disgust; or in which the mother estranged herself from +her children, after having brought them up; or in which human beings +lived without family and society. Some poor jesters have abused their +understandings so far as to hazard the astonishing paradox, that man is +originally created to live alone, and that it is society which has +depraved his nature. They might as well say that herrings were created +to swim alone in the sea; and that it is by an excess of corruption, +that they pass in a troop from the Frozen Ocean to our shores; that +formerly cranes flew in the air singly, and that, by a violation of +their natural instinct, they have subsequently chosen to travel in +company. + +Every animal has its instinct, and the instinct of man, fortified by +reason, disposes him towards society, as towards eating and drinking. So +far from the want of society having degraded man, it is estrangement +from society which degrades him. Whoever lived absolutely alone, would +soon lose the faculty of thinking and expressing himself; he would be a +burden to himself, and it would only remain to metamorphose him into a +beast. An excess of powerless pride, which rises up against the pride of +others, may induce a melancholy man to fly from his fellows; but it is a +species of depravity, and punishes itself. That pride is its own +punishment, which frets itself into solitude and secretly resents being +despised and forgotten. It is enduring the most horrible slavery, in +order to be free. + +We have enlarged the bounds of ordinary folly so far as to say that it +is not natural for a man to be attached to a woman during the nine +months of her pregnancy. The appetite is satisfied, says the author of +these paradoxes; the man has no longer any want of woman, nor the woman +of man; and the latter need not have the least care, nor perhaps the +least idea of the effects of the transient intercourse. They go +different ways, and there is no appearance, until the end of nine +months, that they have ever been known to one another. Why should he +help her after her delivery? Why assist to bring up a child whom he +cannot instinctively know belongs to him alone? + +All this is execrable; but happily nothing is more false. If this +barbarous indifference was the true instinct of nature, mankind would +always have acted thus. Instinct is unchangeable, its inconsistencies +are very rare; the father would always abandon the mother, and the +mother would abandon her child. There would have been much fewer men on +earth than voracious animals; for the wild beasts better provided and +better armed, have a more prompt instinct, more sure means of living, +and a more certain nourishment than mankind. + +Our nature is very different from the frightful romance which this man, +possessed of the devil, has made of it. Except some barbarous souls +entirely brutish, or perhaps a philosopher more brutal still, the +roughest man, by a prevailing instinct, loves the child which is not yet +born, the womb which bears it; and the mother redoubles her love for him +from whom she has received the germ of a being similar to himself. + +The instinct of the colliers of the Black Forest speaks to them as +loudly, and animates them as strongly in favor of their children as the +instinct of pigeons and nightingales induces them to feed their little +ones. Time has therefore been sadly lost in writing these abominable +absurdities. + +The great fault of all these paradoxical books lies in always supposing +nature very different from what it is. If the satires on man and woman +written by Boileau were not pleasantries, they would sin in the +essential point of supposing all men fools and all women coquettes. + +The same author, an enemy to society, like the fox without a tail who +would have his companions cut off theirs, thus in a magisterial style +expresses himself: + +"The first who, having enclosed an estate, took upon himself to say: +'This is mine,' and found people simple enough to believe him, was the +true founder of society. What crimes, wars, murders, miseries, and +horrors, might have been spared to mankind if some one, seizing the +stakes, or filling up the pit, had cried to his companions: 'Take care +how you listen to this impostor; you are lost if you forget that the +fruits are common to all, and that the earth belongs to nobody!'" + +Thus, according to this fine philosopher, a thief, a destroyer, would +have been the benefactor of mankind, and we should punish an honest man +who says to his children: "Let us imitate our neighbor; he has enclosed +his field, the beasts will no longer ravage it, his land will become +more fertile; let us work ours as he has labored his; it will aid us, +and we shall improve it. Each family cultivating its own enclosure, we +shall be better fed, more healthy, more peaceable, and less unhappy. We +will endeavor to establish a distributive justice, which will console +our unhappy race; and we shall be raised above the foxes and polecats, +to whom this babbler would compare us." + +Would not this discourse be more sensible and honest than that of the +savage fool who would destroy the good man's orchard? What philosophy +therefore is that which says things that common sense disclaims from +China to Canada? Is it not that of a beggar, who would have all the rich +robbed by the poor, in order that fraternal union might be better +established among men? + +It is true, that if all the hedges, forests, and plains were covered +with wholesome and delicious fruits, it would be impossible, unjust, and +ridiculous, to guard them. + +If there are any islands in which nature produces food and all +necessaries without trouble, let us go and live there, far from the +trash of our laws; but as soon as you have peopled them, we must return +to _meum _and _tuum, _and to laws which are often very bad, but which we +cannot rationally abolish. + + +_Is Man Born Wicked?_ + +Is it not demonstrated that man is _not _born perverse and the child of +the devil? If such was his nature, he would commit enormous crimes and +barbarities as soon as he could walk; he would use the first knife he +could find, to wound whoever displeased him. He would necessarily +resemble little wolves and foxes, who bite as soon as they can. + +On the contrary, throughout the world, he partakes of the nature of the +lamb, while he is an infant. Why, therefore, and how is it, that he so +often becomes a wolf and fox? Is it not that, being born neither good +nor wicked, education, example, the government into which he is +thrown--in short, occasion of every kind--determines him to virtue or +vice? + +Perhaps human nature could not be otherwise. Man could not always have +false thoughts, nor always true affections; be always sweet, or always +cruel. + +It is demonstrable that woman is elevated beyond men in the scale of +goodness. We see a hundred brothers enemies to each other, to one +Clytemnestra. + +There are professions which necessarily render the soul pitiless--those +of the soldier, the butcher, the officer of justice, and the jailer; and +all trades which are founded on the annoyance of others. + +The officer, the soldier, the jailer, for example, are only happy in +making others miserable. It is true, they are necessary against +malefactors, and so far useful to society; but of a thousand men of the +kind, there is not one who acts from the motive of the public good, or +who even reflects that it is a public good. + +It is above all a curious thing to hear them speak of their prowess as +they count the number of their victims; their snares to entrap them, the +ills which they have made them suffer, and the money which they have got +by it. + +Whoever has been able to descend to the subaltern detail of the bar; +whoever has only heard lawyears reason familiarly among themselves, and +applaud themselves for the miseries of their clients, must have a very +poor opinion of human nature. + +There are more frightful possessions still, which are, however, +canvassed for like a canonship. There are some which change an honest +man into a rogue, and which accustom him to lie in spite of himself, to +deceive almost without perceiving it, to put a blind before the eyes of +others, to prostrate himself by the interest and vanity of his +situation, and without remorse to plunge mankind into stupid blindness. + +Women, incessantly occupied with the education of their children, and +shut up in their domestic cares, are excluded from all these +professions, which pervert human nature and render it atrocious. They +are everywhere less barbarous than men. + +Physics join with morals to prevent them from great crimes; their blood +is milder; they are less addicted to strong liquors, which inspire +ferocity. An evident proof is, that of a thousand victims of justice in +a thousand executed assassins, we scarcely reckon four women. It is also +proved elsewhere, I believe, that in Asia there are not two examples of +women condemned to a public punishment. It appears, therefore, that our +customs and habits have rendered the male species very wicked. + +If this truth was general and without exceptions, the species would be +more horrible than spiders, wolves, and polecats are to our eyes. But +happily, professions which harden the heart and fill it with odious +passions, are very rare. Observe, that in a nation of twenty millions, +there are at most two hundred thousand soldiers. This is but one soldier +to two hundred individuals. These two hundred thousand soldiers are held +in the most severe discipline, and there are among them very honest +people, who return to their villages and finish their old age as good +fathers and husbands. + +The number of other trades which are dangerous to manners, is but small. +Laborers, artisans, and artists are too much occupied often to deliver +themselves up to crime. The earth will always bear detestable wretches, +and books will always exaggerate the number, which, rather than being +greater, is less than we say. + +If mankind had been under the empire of the devil, there would be no +longer any person upon earth. Let us console ourselves: we have seen, +and we shall always see, fine minds from Pekin to la Rochelle; and +whatever licentiates and bachelors may say, the Tituses, Trajans, +Antoninuses, and Peter Bayles were very honest men. + + +_Of Man In The State Of Pure Nature._ + +What would man be in the state which we call that of pure nature? An +animal much below the first Iroquois whom we found in the north of +America. He would be very inferior to these Iroquois, since they knew +how to light fires and make arrows. He would require ages to arrive at +these two arts. + +Man, abandoned to pure nature, would have, for his language, only a few +inarticulate sounds; the species would be reduced to a very small +number, from the difficulty of getting nourishment and the want of help, +at least in our harsh climates. He would have no more knowledge of God +and the soul, than of mathematics; these ideas would be lost in the care +of procuring food. The race of beavers would be infinitely preferable. + +Man would then be only precisely like a robust child; and we have seen +many men who are not much above that state, as it is. The Laplanders, +the Samoyeds, the inhabitants of Kamchatka, the Kaffirs, and Hottentots +are--with respect to man in a state of pure nature--that which the +courts of Cyrus and Semiramis were in comparison with the inhabitants of +the Cévennes. Yet the inhabitants of Kamchatka and the Hottentots of our +days, so superior to men entirely savage, are animals who live six +months of the year in caverns, where they eat the vermin by which they +are eaten. + +In general, mankind is not above two or three degrees more civilized +than the Kamchatkans. The multitude of brute beasts called men, compared +with the little number of those who think, is at least in the proportion +of a hundred to one in many nations. + +It is pleasant to contemplate on one side, Father Malebranche, who +treats familiarly of "the Word"; and on the other, these millions of +animals similar to him, who have never heard speak of "the Word," and +who have not one metaphysical idea. + +Between men of pure instinct and men of genius floats this immense +number occupied solely with subsisting. + +This subsistence costs us so much pains, that in the north of America an +image of God often runs five or six leagues to get a dinner; whilst +among us the image of God bedews the ground with the sweat of his brow, +in order to procure bread. + +Add to this bread--or the equivalent--a hut, and a poor dress, and you +will have man such as he is in general, from one end of the universe to +the other: and it is only in a multitude of ages that he has been able +to arrive at this high degree of attainment. + +Finally, after other ages, things got to the point at which we see them. +Here we represent a tragedy in music; there we kill one another on the +high seas of another hemisphere, with a thousand pieces of cannon. The +opera and a ship of war of the first rank always astonish my +imagination. I doubt whether they can be carried much farther in any of +the globes with which the heavens are studded. More than half the +habitable world, however, is still peopled with two-footed animals, who +live in the horrible state approaching to pure nature, existing and +clothing themselves with difficulty, scarcely enjoying the gift of +speech, scarcely perceiving that they are unfortunate, and living and +dying almost without knowing it. + + +_Examination Of A Thought Of Pascal On Man._ + +"I can conceive a man without hands or feet, and I could even conceive +him without a head, if experience taught me not that it is with the head +he thinks. It is therefore thought which makes the being of man, without +which we cannot conceive him."--(Thoughts of Pascal.) + +How! conceive a man, without feet, hands, and head? This would be as +different a thing from a man as a gourd. + +If all men were without heads, how could yours conceive that there are +animals like yourselves, since they would have nothing of what +principally constitutes your being? A head is something; the five senses +are contained in it, and thought also. An animal, which from the nape of +its neck downwards might resemble a man, or one of those apes which we +call ourang-outang or the man of the woods, would no more be a man than +an ape or a bear whose head and tail were cut off. + +It is therefore thought which makes the being of a man. In this case, +thought would be his essence, as extent and solidity are the essence of +matter. Man would think essentially and always, as matter is always +extended and solid. He would think in a profound sleep without dreams, +in a fit, in a lethargy, in the womb of his mother. I well know that I +never thought in any of these states; I confess it often; and I doubt +not that others are like myself. + +If thought was as essential to man as extent is to matter, it would +follow that God cannot deprive this animal of understanding, since he +cannot deprive matter of extent--for then it would be no longer matter. +Now, if understanding be essential to man, he is a thinking being by +nature, as God is God by nature. + +If desirous to define God, as such poor beings as ourselves can define +Him, I should say, that thought is _His _being, _His _essence; but as to +man--! + +We have the faculties of thinking, walking, talking, eating, and +sleeping, but we do not always use these faculties, it is not in our +nature. + +Thought, with us, is it not an attribute? and so much an attribute that +it is sometimes weak, sometimes strong, sometimes reasonable, and +sometimes extravagant? It hides itself, shows itself, flies, returns, is +nothing, is reproduced. Essence is quite another thing; it never varies; +it knows nothing of more or less. + +What, therefore, would be the animal supposed by Pascal? A being of +reason. He might just as well have supposed a tree to which God might +have given thought, as it is said that the gods granted voices to the +trees of Dodona. + + +_Operation Of God On Man._ + +People who have founded systems on the communication of God with man +have said that God acts directly physically on man in certain cases +only, when God grants certain particular gifts; and they have called +this action "physical premotion." Diocles and Erophiles, those two great +enthusiasts, maintain this opinion, and have partisans. + +Now we recognize a God quite as well as these people, because we cannot +conceive that any one of the beings which surround us could be produced +of itself. By the fact alone that something exists, the necessary +Eternal Being must be necessarily the cause of all. With these +reasoners, we admit the possibility of God making himself understood to +some favorites; but we go farther, we believe that He makes Himself +understood by all men, in all places, and in all times, since to all he +gives life, motion, digestion, thought, and instinct. + +Is there in the vilest of animals, and in the most sublime philosophers, +a being who can will motion, digestion, desire, love, instinct, or +thought? No; but we act, we love, we have instincts; as for example, an +invincible liking to certain objects, an insupportable aversion to +others, a promptitude to execute the movements necessary to our +preservation, as those of sucking the breasts of our nurses, swimming +when we are strong and our bosoms large enough, biting our bread, +drinking, stooping to avoid a blow from a stone, collecting our force to +clear a ditch, etc. We accomplish a thousand such actions without +thinking of them, though they are all profoundly mathematical. In short, +we think and feel without knowing how. + +In good earnest, is it more difficult for God to work all within us by +means of which we are ignorant, than to stir us internally sometimes, by +the efficacious grace of Jupiter, of which these gentlemen talk to us +unceasingly? + +Where is the man who, when he looks into himself, perceives not that he +is a puppet of Providence? I think--but can I give myself a thought? +Alas! if I thought of myself, I should know what ideas I might entertain +the next moment--a thing which nobody knows. + +I acquire a knowledge, but I could not give it to myself. My +intelligence cannot be the cause of it; for the cause must contain the +effect: Now, my first acquired knowledge was not in my understanding; +being the first, it was given to me by him who formed me, and who gives +all, whatever it may be. + +I am astonished, when I am told that my first knowledge cannot alone +give me a second; that it must contain it. + +The proof that we give ourselves no ideas is that we receive them in our +dreams; and certainly, it is neither our will nor attention which makes +us think in dreams. There are poets who make verses sleeping; +geometricians who measure triangles. All proves to us that there is a +power which acts within us without consulting us. + +All our sentiments, are they not involuntary? Hearing, taste, and sight +are nothing by themselves. We feel, in spite of ourselves: we do nothing +of ourselves: we are nothing without a Supreme Power which enacts all +things. + +The most superstitious allow these truths, but they apply them only to +people of their own class. They affirm that God acts physically on +certain privileged persons. We are more religious than they; we believe +that the Great Being acts on all living things, as on all matter. Is it +therefore more difficult for Him to stir all men than to stir some of +them? Will God be God for your little sect alone? He is equally so for +me, who do not belong to it. + +A new philosopher goes further than you; it seemed to him that God alone +exists. He pretends that we are all in Him; and we say that it is God +who sees and acts in all that has life. "_Jupiter est quodcumque vides; +quodcumque moveris._" + +To proceed. Your physical premotion introduces God acting in you. What +need have you then of a soul? Of what good is this little unknown and +incomprehensible being? Do you give a soul to the sun, which enlightens +so many globes? And if this star so great, so astonishing, and so +necessary, has no soul, why should man have one? God who made us, does +He not suffice for us? What, therefore, is become of the axiom? Effect +not that by many, which can be accomplished by one. + +This soul, which you have imagined to be a substance, is therefore +really only a faculty, granted by the Great Being, and not by a person. +It is a property given to our organs, and not a substance. Man, his +reason uncorrupted by metaphysics, could never imagine that he was +double; that he was composed of two beings, the one mortal, visible, and +palpable--the other immortal, invisible, and impalpable. Would it not +require ages of controversy to arrive at this expedient of joining +together two substances so dissimilar; tangible and intangible, simple +and compound, invulnerable and suffering, eternal and fleeting? + +Men have only supposed a soul by the same error which made them suppose +in us a being called memory, which being they afterwards made a +divinity. + +They made this memory the mother of the Muses; they embodied the various +talents of nature in so many goddesses, the daughters of memory. They +also made a god of the secret power by which nature forms the blood of +animals, and called it the god of sanguification. The Roman people +indeed had similar gods for the faculties of eating and drinking, for +the act of marriage, for the act of voiding excrements. They were so +many particular souls, which produced in us all these actions. It was +the metaphysics of the populace. This shameful and ridiculous +superstition was evidently derived from that which imagined in man a +small divine substance, different from man himself. + +This substance is still admitted in all the schools; and with +condescension we grant to the Great Being, to the Eternal Maker, to God, +the permission of joining His concurrence to the soul. Thus we suppose, +that for will and deed, both God and our souls are necessary. + +But to concur signifies to aid, to participate. God therefore is only +second with us; it is degrading Him; it is putting Him on a level with +us, or making Him play the most inferior part. Take not from Him His +rank and pre-eminence: make not of the Sovereign of Nature the mere +servant of mankind. + +Two species of reasoners, well credited in the world--atheists and +theologians--will oppose our doubts. + +The atheists will say, that in admitting reason in man and instinct in +brutes, as properties, it is very useless to admit a God into this +system; that God is still more incomprehensible than a soul; that it is +unworthy a sage to believe that which he conceives not. They let fly +against us all the arguments of Straton and Lucretius. We will answer +them by one word only: "You exist; therefore there is a God." + +Theologians will give us more trouble. They will first tell us: "We +agree with you that God is the first cause of all; but He is not the +only one." A high priest of Minerva says expressly: "The second agent +operates by virtue of the first; the first induces a second; the second +involves a third; all are acting by virtue of God, and He is the cause +of all actions acting." + +We will answer, with all the respect we owe to this high priest: "There +is, and there can only exist, one true cause. All the others, which are +subsequent, are but instruments. I discover a spring--I make use of it +to move a machine; I discovered the spring and made the machine. I am +the sole cause. That is undoubted." + +The high priest will reply: "You take liberty away from men." I reply: +"No; liberty consists in the faculty of willing, and in that of doing +what you will, when nothing prevents you. God has made man upon these +conditions, and he must be contented with them." + +My priest will persist, and say, that we make God the author of sin. +Then we shall answer him: "I am sorry for it; but God is made the author +of sin in all systems, except in that of the atheists. For if He concurs +with the actions of perverse men, as with those of the just, it is +evident that to concur is to do, since He who concurs is also the +creator of all." + +If God alone permits sin, it is He who commits it; since to permit and +to do is the same thing to the absolute master of all. If He foresees +that men will do evil, he should not form men. We have never eluded the +force of these ancient arguments; we have never weakened them. Whoever +has produced all, has certainly produced good and evil. The system of +absolute predestination, the doctrine of concurrence, equally plunge us +into this labyrinth, from which we cannot extricate ourselves. + +All that we can say is, that evil is for us, and not for God. Nero +assassinates his preceptor and his mother; another murders his relations +and neighbors; a high priest poisons, strangles, and beheads twenty +Roman lords, on rising from the bed of his daughter. This is of no more +importance to the Being, the Universal Soul of the World, than sheep +eaten by the wolves or by us, or than flies devoured by spiders. There +is no evil for the Great Being; to Him it is only the play of the great +machine which incessantly moves by eternal laws. If the wicked +become--whether during their lives or subsequently--more unhappy than +those whom they have sacrificed to their passions; if they suffer as +they have made others suffer, it is still an inevitable consequence of +the immutable laws by which the Great Being necessarily acts. We know +but a very small part of these laws; we have but a very weak portion of +understanding; we have only resignation in our power. Of all systems, is +not that which makes us acquainted with our insignificance the most +reasonable? Men--as all philosophers of antiquity have said--made God in +their own image; which is the reason why the first Anaxagoras, as +ancient as Orpheus, expresses himself thus in his verses: "If the birds +figured to themselves a God, he would have wings; that of horses would +run with four legs." + +The vulgar imagine God to be a king, who holds his seat of justice in +his court. Tender hearts represent him as a father who takes care of his +children. The sage attributes to Him no human affection. He acknowledges +a necessary eternal power which animates all nature, and resigns himself +to it. + + +_General Reflection On Man._ + +It requires twenty years to raise man from the state of a plant, in +which he abides in his mother's womb, and from the pure animal state, +which is the lot of his earliest infancy, to that in which the maturity +of reason begins to dawn. He has required thirty ages to become a little +acquainted with his own bodily structure. He would require eternity to +become acquainted with his soul. He requires but an instant to kill +himself. + + + + +MARRIAGE. + + +SECTION I. + +I once met with a reasoner who said: "Induce your subjects to marry as +early as possible. Let them be exempt from taxes the first year; and let +their portion be assessed on those who at the same age are in a state of +celibacy. + +"The more married men you have, the fewer crimes there will be. Examine +the frightful columns of your criminal calendars; you will there find a +hundred youths executed for one father of a family. + +"Marriage renders men more virtuous and more wise. The father of a +family is not willing to blush before his children; he is afraid to make +shame their inheritance. + +"Let your soldiers marry, and they will no longer desert. Bound to their +families, they will be bound to their country. An unmarried soldier is +frequently nothing but a vagabond, to whom it matters not whether he +serves the king of Naples or the king of Morocco." + +The Roman warriors were married: they fought for their wives and their +children; and they made slaves of the wives and the children of other +nations. + +A great Italian politician, who was, besides, learned in the Eastern +tongues, a thing rare among our politicians, said to me in my youth: +"_Caro figlio,_" remember that the Jews never had but one good +institution--that of abhorring virginity. If that little nation of +superstitious jobbers had not regarded marriage as the first of the +human obligations--if there had been among them convents of nuns--they +would have been inevitably lost. + + +_The Marriage Contract._ + +Marriage is a contract in the law of nations, of which the Roman +Catholics have made a sacrament. + +But the sacrament and the contract are two very different things; with +the one are connected the civil effects, with the other the graces of +the church. + +So when the contract is conformable to the law of nations, it must +produce every civil effect. The absence of the sacrament can operate +only in the privation of spiritual graces. + +Such has been the jurisprudence of all ages, and of all nations, +excepting the French. Such was the opinion of the most accredited +fathers of the Church. Go through the Theodosian and Justinian codes, +and you will find no law proscribing the marriages of persons of another +creed, not even when contracted between them and Catholics. + +It is true, that Constantius--that son of Constantine as cruel as his +father--forbade the Jews, on pain of death, to marry Christian women; +and that Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius made the same +prohibition, under the like penalty, to the Jewish women. But under the +emperor Marcian these laws had ceased to be observed; and Justinian +rejected them from his code. Besides, they were made against the Jews +only; no one ever thought of applying them to the marriage of pagans or +heretics with the followers of the prevailing religion. + +Consult St. Augustine, and he will tell you that in his time the +marriages of believers with unbelievers were not considered illicit, +because no gospel text had condemned them: "_Quæ matrimonia cum in +fidelibus, nostris temporibus, jam non putantur esse peccata; quoniam in +Novo Testamento nihil inde preceptum est, et ideo aut licere creditum +est, aut velut dubium derelictum._" + +Augustine says, moreover, that these marriages often work the conversion +of the unbelieving party. He cites the example of his own father, who +embraced the Christian religion because his wife, Manica, professed +Christianity. Clotilda, by the conversion of Clovis, and Theolinda, by +that of Agilulf, king of the Lombards, rendered greater service to the +Church than if they had married orthodox princes. + +Consult the declaration of Pope Benedict XIV. of Nov. 4, 1741. You will +find in it these words: "_Quod vero spectat ad ea conjugia quæ, absque +forma a Tridentino statuta, contrahuntur a catholicis cum hæreticis, +sive catholicus vir hæriticam feminam ducat, sive catholica fæmina +heretico viro nubat; si hujusmodi matrimonium sit contractum aut in +posterum contracti contingat, Tridentini forma non servata, declarat +Sanctitas sua, alio non concurrente impedimento, validum habendum esse, +sciat conjux catholicus se istius matrimonii vinculo perpetuo +ligatum._"--With respect to such marriages as, transgressing the +enactment of the Council of Trent, are contracted by Catholics with +heretics; whether by a Catholic man with a heretical woman, or by a +Catholic woman with a heretical man; if such matrimony already is, or +hereafter shall be contracted, the rules of the council not being +observed, his holiness declares, that if there be no other impediment, +it shall be held valid, the Catholic man or woman understanding that he +or she is by such matrimony bound until death. + +By what astonishing contradiction is it, that the French laws in this +matter are more severe than those of the Church? The first law by which +this severity was established in France was the edict of Louis XIV., of +November, 1680, which deserves to be repeated. + +"Louis,... The canons of the councils having forbidden marriages of +Catholics with heretics, as a public scandal and a profanation of the +sacrament, we have deemed it the more necessary to prevent them for the +future, as we have found that the toleration of such marriages exposes +Catholics to the continual temptation of perverting it, etc. For these +causes,... it is our will and pleasure, that in future our subjects of +the Roman Catholic and Apostolic religion may not, under any pretext +whatsoever, contract marriage with those of the pretended reformed +religion, declaring such marriages to be invalid, and the issue of them +illegitimate." + +It is singular enough, that the laws of the Church should have been made +the foundation for annulling marriages which the Church never annulled. +In this edict we find the sacrament confounded with the civil contract; +and from this confusion have proceeded the strange laws in France +concerning marriage. + +St. Augustine approved marriages of the orthodox with heretics, for he +hoped that the faithful spouse would convert the other; and Louis XIV. +condemns them, lest the heterodox should pervert the believer. + +In Franche-Comté there exists a yet more cruel law. This is an edict of +the archduke Albert and his wife Isabella, of Dec. 20, 1599, which +forbids Catholics to marry heretics, on pain of confiscation of body and +goods. + +The same edict pronounces the same penalty on such as shall be convicted +of eating mutton on Friday or Saturday. What laws! and what +law-givers!--"_A quels maîtres, grand Dieu, livrez-vous l'univers!_" + + +SECTION II. + +If our laws reprove marriages of Catholics with persons of a different +religion, do they grant the civil effects at least to marriages of +French Protestants with French persons of the same sect? + +There are now in the kingdom a million of Protestants; yet the validity +of their marriage is still a question in the tribunals. + +Here again is one of those cases in which our jurisprudence is +contradictory to the decisions of the Church, and also to itself. + +In the papal declaration, quoted in the foregoing section, Benedict XIV. +decides that marriages of Protestants, contracted according to their +rites, are no less valid than if they had been performed according to +the forms established by the Council of Trent; and that a husband who +turns Catholic cannot break this tie and form a new one with a person of +his new religion. + +Barak Levi, by birth a Jew, and a native of Haguenan, had there married +Mendel Cerf, of the same town and the same religion. + +This Jew came to Paris in 1752; and on May 13, 1754, he was baptized. He +sent a summons to his wife at Haguenan to come and join him at Paris. In +a second summons he consented that this wife, when she had come to join +him, should continue to live in her own Jewish sect. + +To these summonses Mendel Cerf replied that she would not return with +him, and that she required him to send her, according to the Jewish +forms, a bill of divorce, in order that she might marry another Jew. + +Levi was not satisfied with this answer; he sent no bill of divorce; but +he caused his wife to appear before the official of Strasburg, who, by a +sentence of Sept. 7, 1754, declared that, in the sight of the Church, he +was at liberty to marry a Catholic woman. + +Furnished with this sentence, the Christianized Jew came into the +diocese of Soissons, and there made promise of marriage to a young woman +of Villeneuve. The clergyman refused to publish the banns. Levi +communicated to him the summonses he had sent to his wife, the sentence +of the official of Strasburg, and a certificate from the secretary of +the bishopric of that place, attesting, that in that diocese baptized +Jews had at all times been permitted to contract new marriages with +Catholics, and that this usage had constantly been recognized by the +Supreme Council of Colmar. But these documents appeared to the parson of +Villeneuve to be insufficient. Levi was obliged to summon him before the +official of Soissons. + +This official did not think, like him of Strasburg, that the marriage of +Levi with Mendel Cerf was null or dissoluble. By his sentence of Feb. 5, +1756, he declared the Jew's claim to be inadmissible. The latter +appealed from this sentence to the Parliament of Paris, where he was not +only opposed by the public ministry, but, by a decree of Jan. 2, 1758, +the sentence was confirmed, and Levi was again forbidden to contract any +marriage during the life of Mendel Cerf. + +Here, then, a marriage contracted between French Jews, according to the +Jewish rites, was declared valid by the first court in the kingdom. + +But, some years afterwards, the same question was decided differently in +another parliament, on the subject of a marriage contracted between two +French Protestants, who had been married in the presence of their +parents by a minister of their own communion. The Protestant spouse had, +like the Jew, changed his religion; and after he had concluded a second +marriage with a Catholic, the Parliament of Grenoble confirmed this +second marriage, and declared the first to be null. + +If we pass from jurisprudence to legislation, we shall find it as +obscure on this important matter as on so many others. + +A decree of the council, of Sept. 15, 1685, says: "Protestants may +marry, provided, however, that it be in the presence of the principal +officer of justice, and that the publication preceding such marriages +shall be made at the royal see nearest the place of abode of each of the +Protestants desirous of marrying, and at the audience only." + +This decree was not revoked by the edict which, three weeks after, +suppressed the Edict of Nantes. But after the declaration of May 14, +1724, drawn up by Cardinal Fleury, the judges would no longer preside +over the marriages of Protestants, nor permit their banns to be +published in their audiences. + +By Article XV. of this law, the forms prescribed by the canons are to be +observed in marriages, as well of new converts as of all the rest of the +king's subjects. + +This general expression, "all the rest of the king's subjects," has been +thought to comprehend the Protestants, as well as the Catholics, and on +this interpretation, such marriages of Protestants as were not +solemnized according to the canonical forms have been annulled. + +Nevertheless, it seems that the marriages of Protestants having been +authorized by an express law, they cannot now be admitted but by another +express law carrying with it this penalty. Besides, the term "new +converts", mentioned in the declaration, appears to indicate that the +term that follows relates to the Catholics only. In short, when the +civil law is obscure or ambiguous, ought not the judges to decide +according to the natural and the moral law? + +Does it not result from all this that laws often have need of +reformation, and princes of consulting better informed counsellors, +rejecting priestly ministers, and distrusting courtiers in the garb of +confessors? + + + + +MARY MAGDALEN. + + +I must own that I know not where the author of the "Critical History of +Jesus Christ" found that St. Mary Magdalen had a criminal intimacy (_des +complaisances criminelles_) with the "Saviour of the world." He says +(page 130, line 11 of the note) that this is an assertion of the +Albigenses. I have never read this horrible blasphemy either in the +history of the Albigenses, or in their profession of faith. It is one of +the great many things of which I am ignorant. I know that the Albigenses +had the dire misfortune of not being Roman Catholics; but, otherwise, it +seems to me, they had the most profound reverence for the person of +Jesus. + +This author of the "Critical History of Jesus Christ" refers us to the +"_Christiade,_" a sort of poem in prose--granting that there are such +things as poems in prose. I have, therefore, been obliged to consult the +passage of the "_Christiade_" in which this accusation is made. It is in +the fourth book or canto, page 335, note 1; the poet of the +"_Christiade_" cites no authority. In an epic poem, indeed, citations +may be spared; but great authorities are requisite in prose, when so +grave an assertion is made--one which makes every Christian's hair stand +erect. + +Whether the Albigenses advanced this impiety or not, the only result is +that the author of the "_Christiade_" sports on the brink of +criminality. He somewhat imitates the famous sermon of Menot. He +introduces us to Mary Magdalen, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, +brilliant with all the charms of youth and beauty, burning with every +desire, and immersed in every voluptuousness. According to him, she is a +lady at court, exalted in birth and in riches; her brother Lazarus was +count of Bethany, and herself marchioness of Magdalet. Martha had a +splendid portion, but he does not tell us where her estates lay. "She +had," says the man of the "_Christiade,_" "a hundred servants, and a +crowd of lovers; she might have threatened the liberty of the whole +world. But riches, dignities, ambitions, grandeur, never were so dear to +Magdalen as the seductive error which caused her to be named the sinner. +Such was the sovereign beauty of the capital when the young and divine +hero arrived there from the extremities of Galilee. Her other passions +yielded to the ambition of subduing the hero of whom she had heard." + +The author of the "_Christiade_" then imitates Virgil. The marchioness +of Magdalet conjures her portioned sister to furnish her coquettish +designs upon her young hero, as Dido employed her sister Anna to gain +the pious Æneas. + +She goes to hear Christ's sermon in the temple, although he never +preached there. "Her heart flies before her to the hero she adores; she +awaits but one favorable look to triumph over him, to subdue this master +of hearts and make him her captive." + +She then goes to him at the house of Simon the Leper, a very rich man, +who was giving him a grand supper, although the women were never +admitted at these feastings, especially among the Pharisees. She pours a +large pot of perfumes upon his legs, wipes them with her beautiful fair +hair, and kisses them. + +I shall not inquire whether the picture which the author draws of +Magdalen's holy transports is not more worldly than devout; whether the +kisses given are not expressed rather too warmly; nor whether this fine +hair with which she wipes her hero's legs, does not remind one too +strongly of Trimalcion, who, at dinner, wiped his hands with the hair of +a young and beautiful slave. He must himself have felt that his pictures +might be fancied too glowing; for he anticipates criticism by giving +some pieces from a sermon of Massillon's on Magdalen. One passage is as +follows: + +"Magdalen had sacrificed her reputation to the world. Her bashfulness +and her birth at first defended her against the emotions of her passion; +and it is most likely, that to the first shaft which assailed her, she +opposed the barrier of her modesty and her pride; but when she had lent +her ear to the serpent, and consulted her own wisdom, her heart was open +to all assaults of passion. Magdalen loved the world, and thenceforward +all was sacrificed to this love; neither the pride that springs from +birth, nor the modesty which is the ornament of her sex, is spared in +this sacrifice; nothing can withhold her; neither the railleries of +worldlings, nor the infidelities of her infatuated lovers, whom she fain +would please, but by whom she cannot make herself esteemed--for virtue +only is estimable; nothing can make her ashamed; and like the prostitute +in the "Apocalypse," she bears on her forehead the name of mystery; that +is, she was veiled, and was no longer known but in the character of the +foolish passion." + +I have sought this passage in Massillon's sermons, but it certainly is +not in the edition which I possess. I will venture to say more--it is +not in his style. + +The author of the "_Christiade_" should have informed us where he picked +up this rhapsody of Massillon's, as he should have told us where he read +that the Albigenses dared to impute to Jesus Christ an unworthy +intercourse with Mary Magdalen. + +As for the marchioness, she is not again mentioned in the work. The +author spares us her voyage to Marseilles with Lazarus, and the rest of +her adventures. + +What could induce a man of learning, and sometimes of eloquence, as the +author of the "_Christiade_" appears to be, to compose this pretended +poem? It was, as he tells us in his preface, the example of Milton; but +we well know how deceitful are examples. Milton, who--be it +observed--did not hazard that weakly monstrosity, a poem in +prose--Milton, who in his Paradise Lost, has, amid the multitude of +harsh and obscure lines of which it is full, scattered some very fine +blank verse--could not please any but fanatical Whigs, as the Abbé +Grécourt says: + + _En chantant l'univers perdu pour une pomme,_ + _Et Dieu pour le damner créant le premier homme._ + + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By singing + How God made man on purpose for hell-fire, + And how a stolen apple damned us all. + +He might delight the Presbyterians by making Sin cohabit with Death; by +firing off twenty-four pounders in heaven; by making dryness fight with +damp, and heat with cold; by cleaving angels in two, whose halves +immediately joined again; by building a bridge over chaos; by +representing the Messiah taking from a chest in heaven a great pair of +compasses to describe the circuit of the earth, etc. Virgil and Horace +would, perhaps, have thought these ideas rather strange. But if they +succeeded in England by the aid of some very happy lines, the author of +the "_Christiade_" was mistaken in expecting his romance to succeed +without the assistance of fine verses, which are indeed very difficult +to make. + +But, says our author, one Jerome Vida, bishop of Alba, once wrote a very +powerful "_Christiade_" in Latin verse, in which he transcribes many +lines from Virgil. Well, my friend, why did you write yours in French +prose? Why did not you, too, imitate Virgil? + +But the late M. d'Escorbiac, of Toulouse, also wrote a "_Christiade._" +Alas! why were you so unfortunate as to become the ape of M. +d'Escorbiac? + +But Milton, too, wrote his romance of the New Testament, his "Paradise +Regained," in blank verse, frequently resembling the worst prose. Leave +it, then, to Milton to set Satan and Jesus constantly at war. Let it be +his to cause a drove of swine to be driven along by a legion of devils; +that is, by six thousand seven hundred, who take possession of these +swine--there being three devils and seven-twentieths per pig--and drown +them in a lake. It well becomes Milton to make the devil propose to God +that they shall take a good supper together. In Milton, the devil may at +his ease cover the table with ortolans, partridges, soles, sturgeons, +and make Hebe and Ganymede hand wine to Jesus Christ. In Milton, the +devil may take God up a little hill, from the top of which he shows him +the capital, the Molucca Islands, and the Indian city; the birthplace of +the beauteous Angelica, who turned Orlando's brain; after which he may +offer to God all this, provided that God will adore him. But even Milton +labored in vain; people have laughed at him. They have laughed at poor +brother Berruyer, the Jesuit. They have laughed at you. Bear it with +patience! + + + + +MARTYRS. + + +SECTION I. + +Martyr, "witness"; martyrdom, testimony. The early Christian community +at first gave the name of "martyrs" to those who announced new truths to +mankind, who gave testimony to Jesus; who confessed Jesus; in the same +manner as they gave the name of "saints" to the presbyters, to the +supervisors of the community, and to their female benefactors; this is +the reason why St. Jerome, in his letters, often calls his initiated +Paul, St. Paul. All the first bishops were called saints. + +Subsequently, the name of martyrs was given only to deceased Christians, +or to those who had been tortured for punishment; and the little chapels +that were erected to them received afterwards the name of "martyrion." + +It is a great question, why the Roman Empire always tolerated in its +bosom the Jewish sect, even after the two horrible wars of Titus and +Adrian; why it tolerated the worship of Isis at several times; and why +it frequently persecuted Christianity. It is evident that the Jews, who +paid dearly for their synagogues, denounced the Christians as mortal +foes, and excited the people against them. It is moreover evident that +the Jews, occupied with the trade of brokers and usurers, did not preach +against the ancient religion of the empire, and that the Christians, who +were all busy in controversy, preached against the public worship, +sought to destroy it, often burned the temples, and broke the +consecrated statues, as St. Theodosius did at Amasia, and St. Polyeuctus +in Mitylene. + +The orthodox Christians, sure that their religion was the only true one, +did not tolerate any other. In consequence, they themselves were hardly +tolerated. Some of them were punished and died for the faith--and these +were the martyrs. + +This name is so respectable that it should not be prodigally bestowed; +it is not right to assume the name and arms of a family to which one +does not belong. Very heavy penalties have been established against +those who have the audacity to decorate themselves with the cross of +Malta or of St. Louis, without being chevaliers of those orders. + +The learned Dodwell, the dexterous Middleton, the judicious Blondel, the +exact Tillemont, the scrutinizing Launoy, and many others, all zealous +for the glory of the true martyrs, have excluded from their catalogue an +obscure multitude on whom this great title had been lavished. We have +remarked that these learned men were sanctioned by the direct +acknowledgment of Origen, who, in his "Refutation of Celsus," confesses +that there are very few martyrs, and those at a great distance of time, +and that it is easy to reckon them. + +Nevertheless, the Benedictine Ruinart--who calls himself Don Ruinart, +although he was no Spaniard--has contradicted all these learned persons! +He has candidly given us many stories of martyrs which have appeared to +the critics very suspicious. Many sensible persons have doubted various +anecdotes relating to the legends recounted by Don Ruinart, from +beginning to end. + + +_1. Of Saint Symphorosia And Her Seven Children._ + +Their scruples commence with St. Symphorosia and her seven children who +suffered martyrdom with her; which appears, at first sight, too much +imitated from the seven Maccabees. It is not known whence this legend +comes; and that is at once a great cause of skepticism. + +It is therein related that the emperor Adrian himself wished to +interrogate the unknown Symphorosia, to ascertain if she was a +Christian. This would have been more extraordinary than if Louis XIV. +had subjected a Huguenot to an interrogatory. You will further observe +that Adrian, far from being a persecutor of the Christians, was their +greatest protector. + +He had then a long conversation with Symphorosia, and putting himself in +a passion, he said to her: "I will sacrifice you to the gods"; as if the +Roman emperors sacrificed women in their devotions. In the sequel, he +caused her to be thrown into the Anio--which was not a usual mode of +immolation. He afterwards had one of her sons cloven in two from the top +of his head to his middle; a second from side to side; a third was +broken on the wheel; a fourth was only stabbed in the stomach; a fifth +right to the heart; a sixth had his throat cut; the seventh died of a +parcel of needles thrust into his breast. The emperor Adrian was fond of +variety. He commanded that they should be buried near the temple of +Hercules--although no one is ever buried in Rome, much less near the +temples, which would have been a horrible profanation. The legend adds +that the chief priest of the temple named the place of their interment +"the Seven Biotanates". + +If it was extraordinary that a monument should be erected at Rome to +persons thus treated, it was no less so that a high priest should +concern himself with the inscription; and further, that this Roman +priest should make a Greek epitaph for them. But what is still more +strange is that it is pretended that this word biotanates signifies the +seven tortured. Biotanates is a fabricated word, which one does not meet +with in any author; and this signification can only be given to it by a +play upon words, falsely using the word "thenon." There is scarcely any +fable worse constructed. The writers of legends knew how to lie, but +none of them knew how to lie skilfully. + +The learned Lacroze, librarian to Frederick the Great, king of Prussia, +observed: "I know not whether Ruinart is sincere, but I am afraid he is +silly." + + +_2. Of St. Felicita And Seven More Children._ + +It is from Surius that this legend is taken. This Surius is rather +notorious for his absurdities. He was a monk of the sixteenth century, +who writes about the martyrs of the second as if he had been present. + +He pretends that that wicked man, that tyrant, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus +Pius, ordered the prefect of Rome to institute a process against St. +Felicita, to have her and her seven children put to death, because there +was a rumor that she was a Christian. + +The prefect held his tribunal in the Campus Martius, which, however, was +at that time used only for the reviewing of troops; and the first thing +the prefect did was to cause a blow to be given her in full assembly. + +The long discourses of the magistrates and the accused are worthy of the +historian. He finishes by putting the seven brothers to death by +different punishments, like the seven children of St. Symphorosia. This +is only a duplicate affair. But as for St. Felicita, he leaves her +there, and does not say another word about her. + + +_3. Of Saint Polycarp._ + +Eusebius relates that St. Polycarp, being informed in a dream that he +should be burned in three days, made it known to his friends. The +legend-maker adds that the lieutenant of police at Smyrna, whose name +was Herodius, had him seized by his archers; that he was abandoned to +the wild beasts in the amphitheatre; that the sky opened, and a heavenly +voice cried to him: "Be of good courage, Polycarp"; that the hour of +letting loose the lions in the amphitheatre having passed, the people +went about collecting wood from all the houses to burn him with; that +the saint addressed himself to the God of the "archangels"--although the +word archangel was not then known--that the flames formed themselves +round him into a triumphal arch without touching him; that his body had +the smell of baked bread; but that, having resisted the fire, he could +not preserve himself against a sabre-cut; that his blood put out the +burning pile, and that there sprung from it a dove which flew straight +to heaven. To which planet is not precisely known. + + +_4. Of Saint Ptolomais._ + +We follow the order of Don Ruinart; but we have no wish to call in +question the martyrdom of St. Ptolomais, which is extracted from "St. +Justin's Apology." + +We could make some difficulties with regard to the woman who was accused +by her husband of being a Christian, and who baffled him by giving him a +bill of divorce. We might ask why, in this history, there is no further +mention of this woman? We might make it manifest that in the time of +Marcus Aurelius, women were not permitted to demand divorces of their +husbands; that this permission was only granted them under the emperor +Julian; and that this so much repeated story of the Christian woman who +repudiated her husband--while no pagan would have dared to imagine such +a thing--cannot well be other than a fable. But we do not desire to +raise unpleasant disputes. As for the little probability there is in the +compilation of Don Ruinart, we have too much respect for the subject he +treats of to start objections. + +We have not made any to the "Letter of the Churches of Vienna and +Lyons," because there is still a great deal of obscurity connected with +it; but we shall be pardoned for defending the memory of the great +Marcus Aurelius, thus outraged in the life of "St. Symphorian of Autun," +who was probably a relation of St. Symphorosia. + + +_5. Of St. Symphorian Of Autun._ + +This legend, the author of which is unknown, begins thus: "The emperor +Marcus Aurelius had just raised a frightful tempest against the Church, +and his fulminating edicts assailed on all sides the religion of Jesus +Christ, at the time when St. Symphorian lived at Autun in all the +splendor that high birth and uncommon virtue can confer. He was of a +Christian family, one of the most considerable of the city," etc. + +Marcus Aurelius issued no sanguinary edicts against the Christians. It +is a very criminal calumny. Tillemont himself admits that "he was the +best prince the Romans ever had; that his reign was a golden age; and +that he verified what he often quoted from Plato, that nations would +only be happy when kings were philosophers." + +Of all the emperors, this was the one who promulgated the best laws; he +protected the wise, but persecuted no Christians, of whom he had a great +many in his service. + +The writer of the legend relates that St. Symphorian having refused to +adore Cybele, the city judge inquired: "Who is this man?" Now it is +impossible that the judge of Autun should not have known the most +considerable person in Autun. + +He was declared by the sentence to be guilty of treason, "divine and +human." The Romans never employed this formula; and that alone should +deprive the pretended martyr of Autun of all credit. + +In order the better to refute this calumny against the sacred memory of +Marcus Aurelius, let us bring under view the discourse of Meliton, +bishop of Sardis, to this best of emperors, reported verbatim by +Eusebius: + +"The continual succession of good fortune which has attended the empire, +without its happiness being disturbed by a single disgrace, since our +religion, which was born with it, has grown in its bosom, is an evident +proof that it contributes eminently to its greatness and glory. Among +all the emperors, Nero and Domitian alone, deceived by certain +impostors, have spread calumnies against us, which, as usual, have found +some partial credence among the people. But your pious ancestors have +corrected the people's ignorance, and by public edicts have repressed +the audacity of those who attempted to treat us ill. Your grandfather +Adrian wrote in our favor to Fundanus, governor of Asia, and to many +other persons. The emperor, your father, during the period when you +divided with him the cares of government, wrote to the inhabitants of +Larissa, of Thessalonica, of Athens, and in short to all the people of +Greece, to repress the seditions and tumults which have been excited +against us." + +This declaration by a most pious, learned, and veracious bishop is +sufficient to confound forever all the lies and legends which may be +regarded as the Arabian tales of Christianity. + + +_6. Of Another Saint Felicita, And Of Saint Perpetua._ + +If it were an object to dispute the legend of Felicita and Perpetua, it +would not be difficult to show how suspicious it is. These Carthaginian +martyrs are only known by a writing, without date, of the church of +Salzburg. Now, it is a great way from this part of Bavaria to Goletta. +We are not informed under what emperor this Felicita and this Perpetua +received the crown of martyrdom. The astounding sights with which this +history is filled do not discover a very profound historian. A ladder +entirely of gold, bordered with lances and swords; a dragon at the top +of the ladder; a large garden near the dragon; sheep from which an old +man drew milk; a reservoir full of water; a bottle of water whence they +drank without diminishing the liquid; St. Perpetua fighting entirely +naked against a wicked Egyptian; some handsome young men, all naked, who +took her part; herself at last become a man and a vigorous wrestler; +these are, it appears to me, conceits which should not have place in a +respectable book. + +There is one other reflection very important to make. It is that the +style of all these stories of martyrdom, which took place at such +different periods, is everywhere alike, everywhere equally puerile and +bombastic. You find the same turns of expression, the same phrases, in +the history of a martyr under Domitian and of another under Galerius. +There are the same epithets, the same exaggerations. By the little we +understand of style, we perceive that the same hand has compiled them +all. + +I do not here pretend to make a book against Don Ruinart; and while I +always respect, admire, and invoke the true martyrs with the Holy +Church, I confine myself to making it perceived, by one or two striking +examples, how dangerous it is to mix what is purely ridiculous with what +ought to be venerated. + + +_7. Of Saint Theodotus Of The City Of Ancyra, And Of The Seven Virgins; +Written By Nisus, An Eye-Witness, And Extracted From Bollandus._ + +Many critics, as eminent for wisdom as for true piety, have already +given us to understand that the legend of St. Theodotus the Publican is +a profanation and a species of impiety which ought to have been +suppressed. The following is the story of Theodotus. We shall often +employ the exact words of the "Genuine Acts," compiled by Don Ruinart. + +"His trade of publican supplied him with the means of exercising his +episcopal functions. Illustrious tavern! consecrated to piety instead of +debauchery.... Sometimes Theodotus was a physician, sometimes he +furnished tit-bits to the faithful. A tavern was seen to be to the +Christians what Noah's ark was to those whom God wished to save from the +deluge." + +This publican Theodotus, walking by the river Halis with his companions +towards a town adjacent to the city of Ancyra, "a fresh and soft plot of +turf offered them a delicious couch; a spring which issued a few steps +off, from the foot of the rock, and which by a channel crowned with +flowers came running past them in order to quench their thirst, offered +them clear and pure water. Trees bearing fruit, mixed with wild ones, +furnished them with shade and fruits; and an assemblage of skilful +nightingales, whom the grasshoppers relieved every now and then, formed +a charming concert," etc. + +The clergyman of the place, named Fronton, having arrived, and the +publican having drunk with him on the grass, "the fresh green of which +was relieved by the various gradations of color in the flowers, he said +to the clergyman: 'Ah, father! what a pleasure it would be to build a +chapel here.' 'Yes,' said Fronton, 'but it would be necessary to have +some relics to begin with.' 'Well, well,' replied St. Theodotus, 'you +shall have some soon, I give you my word; here is my ring, which I give +you as a pledge; build your chapel quickly.'" + +The publican had the gift of prophecy, and knew well what he was saying. +He went away to the city of Ancyra, while the clergyman Fronton set +himself about building. He found there the most horrible persecution, +which lasted very long. Seven Christian virgins, of whom the youngest +was seventy years old, had just been condemned, according to custom, to +lose their virginity, through the agency of all the young men of the +city. The youth of Ancyra, who had probably more urgent affairs, were in +no hurry to execute the sentence. One only could be found obedient to +justice. He applied himself to St. Thecusa, and carried her into a +closet with surprising courage. Thecusa threw herself on her knees, and +said to him, "For God's sake, my son, a little shame! Behold these +lacklustre eyes, this half-dead flesh, these greasy wrinkles, which +seventy years have ploughed in my forehead, this face of the color of +the earth; abandon thoughts so unworthy of a young man like you--Jesus +Christ entreats you by my mouth. He asks it of you as a favor, and if +you grant it Him, you may expect His entire gratitude." The discourse of +the old woman, and her countenance made the executioner recollect +himself. The seven virgins were not deflowered. + +The irritated governor sought for another punishment; he caused them to +be initiated forthwith in the mysteries of Diana and Minerva. It is true +that great feasts had been instituted in honor of those divinities, but +the mysteries of Diana and Minerva were not known to antiquity. St. Nil, +an intimate friend of the publican Theodotus, and the author of this +marvellous story, was not quite correct. + +According to him, these seven pretty lasses were placed quite naked on +the car which carried the great Diana and the wise Minerva to the banks +of a neighboring lake. The Thucydides St. Nil still appears to be very +ill-informed here. The priestesses were always covered with veils; and +the Roman magistrates never caused the goddesses of chastity and wisdom +to be attended by girls who showed themselves both before and behind to +the people. + +St. Nil adds that the car was preceded by two choirs of priestesses of +Bacchus, who carried the thyrses in their hands. St. Nil has here +mistaken the priestesses of Minerva for those of Bacchus. He was not +versed in the liturgy of Ancyra. + +Entering the city, the publican saw this sad spectacle--the governor, +the priestesses, the car, Minerva, and the seven maidens. He runs to +throw himself on his knees in a hut, along with a nephew of St. Thecusa. +He beseeches heaven that the seven ladies should be dead rather than +naked. His prayer is heard; he learns that the seven damsels, instead of +being deflowered, have been thrown into the lake with stones round their +necks, by order of the governor. Their virginity is in safe-keeping. At +this news the saint, raising himself from the ground and placing himself +upon his knees, turned his eyes towards heaven; and in the midst of the +various emotions he experienced of love, joy, and gratitude, he said, "I +give Thee thanks, O Lord! that Thou has not rejected the prayer of Thy +servant." + +He slept; and during his sleep, St. Thecusa, the youngest of the drowned +women, appeared to him. "How now, son Theodotus!" she said, "you are +sleeping without thinking of us: have you forgotten so soon the care I +took of your youth? Do not, dear Theodotus, suffer our bodies to be +devoured by the fishes. Go to the lake, but beware of a traitor." This +traitor was, in fact, the nephew of St. Thecusa. + +I omit here a multitude of miraculous adventures that happened to the +publican, in order to come to the most important. A celestial cavalier, +armed _cap-a-pie, _preceded by a celestial flambeau, descends from the +height of the empyrean, conducts the publican to the lake in the midst +of storms, drives away all the soldiers who guard the shore, and gives +Theodotus time to fish up the seven old women and to bury them. + +The nephew of St. Thecusa unfortunately went and told all. Theodotus was +seized, and for three days all sorts of punishments were tried in vain +to kill him. They could only attain their object by cleaving his skull; +an operation which saints are never proof against. + +He was still to be buried. His friend the minister Fronton--to whom +Theodotus, in his capacity of publican, had given two leathern bottles +filled with wine--made the guards drunk, and carried off the body. +Theodotus then appeared in body and spirit to the minister: "Well, my +friend," he said to him, "did I not say well, that you should have +relics for your chapel?" + +Such is what is narrated by St. Nil, an eye-witness, who could neither +be deceived nor deceive; such is what Don Ruinart has quoted as a +genuine act. Now every man of sense, every intelligent Christian, will +ask himself, whether a better mode could be adopted of dishonoring the +most holy and venerated religion in the world, and of turning it into +ridicule? + +I shall not speak of the Eleven Thousand Virgins; I shall not discuss +the fable of the Theban legion, composed--says the author--of six +thousand six hundred men, all Christians coming from the East by Mount +St. Bernard, suffering martyrdom in the year 286, the period of the most +profound peace as regarded the Church, and in the gorge of a mountain +where it is impossible to place 300 men abreast; a fable written more +than 550 years after the event; a fable in which a king of Burgundy is +spoken of who never existed; a fable, in short, acknowledged to be +absurd by all the learned who have not lost their reason. + +Behold what Don Ruinart narrates seriously! Let us pray to God for the +good sense of Don Ruinart! + + +SECTION II. + +How does it happen that, in the enlightened age in which we live, +learned and useful writers are still found who nevertheless follow the +stream of old errors, and who corrupt many truths by admitted fables? +They reckon the era of the martyrs from the first year of the empire of +Diocletian, who was then far enough from inflicting martyrdom on +anybody. They forget that his wife Prisca was a Christian, that the +principal officers of his household were Christians; that he protected +them constantly during eighteen years; that they built at Nicomedia a +church more sumptuous than his palace; and that they would never have +been persecuted if they had not outraged the Cæsar Valerius. + +Is it possible that any one should still dare to assert "that Diocletian +died of age, despair, and misery;" he who was seen to quit life like a +philosopher, as he had quitted the empire; he who, solicited to resume +the supreme power loved better to cultivate his fine gardens at +Salonica, than to reign again over the whole of the then known world? + +Oh, ye compilers! will you never cease to compile? You have usefully +employed your three fingers; employ still more usefully your reason. + +What! you repeat to me that St. Peter reigned over the faithful at Rome +for twenty-five years, and that Nero had him put to death together with +St. Paul, in order to avenge the death of Simon the Magician, whose legs +they had broken by their prayers? + +To report such fables, though with the best motive, is to insult +Christianity. + +The poor creatures who still repeat these absurdities are copyists who +renew in octavo and duodecimo old stories that honest men no longer +read, and who have never opened a book of wholesome criticism. They rake +up the antiquated tales of the Church; they know nothing of either +Middleton, or Dodwell, or Bruker, or Dumoulin, or Fabricius, or Grabius, +or even Dupin, or of any one of those who have lately carried light into +the darkness. + + +SECTION III. + +We are fooled with martyrdoms that make us break out into laughter. The +Tituses, the Trajans, the Marcus Aureliuses, are painted as monsters of +cruelty. Fleury, abbé of Loc Dieu, has disgraced his ecclesiastical +history by tales which a sensible old woman would not tell to little +children. + +Can it be seriously repeated, that the Romans condemned seven virgins, +each seventy years old, to pass through the hands of all the young men +of the city of Ancyra--those Romans who punished the Vestals with death +for the least gallantry? + +A hundred tales of this sort are found in the martyrologies. The +narrators have hoped to render the ancient Romans odious, and they have +rendered themselves ridiculous. Do you want good, well-authenticated +barbarities--good and well-attested massacres, rivers of blood which +have actually flowed--fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, infants at the +breast, who have in reality had their throats cut, and been heaped on +one another? Persecuting monsters! seek these truths only in your own +annals: you will find them in the crusades against the Albigenses, in +the massacres of Merindol and Cabrière, in the frightful day of St. +Bartholomew, in the massacres of Ireland, in the valleys of the Pays de +Vaud. It becomes you well, barbarians as you are, to impute extravagant +cruelties to the best of emperors; you who have deluged Europe with +blood, and covered it with corpses, in order to prove that the same body +can be in a thousand places at once, and that the pope can sell +indulgences! Cease to calumniate the Romans, your law-givers, and ask +pardon of God for the abominations of your forefathers! + +It is not the torture, you say, which makes martyrdom; it is the cause. +Well! I agree with you that your victims ought not to be designated by +the name of martyr, which signifies witness; but what name shall we give +to your executioners? Phalaris and Busiris were the gentlest of men in +comparison with you. Does not your Inquisition, which still remains, +make reason, nature, and religion boil with indignation! Great God! if +mankind should reduce to ashes that infernal tribunal, would they be +unacceptable in thy avenging eyes? + + + + +MASS. + + +The mass, in ordinary language, is the greatest and most august of the +ceremonies of the Church. Different names are given to it, according to +the rites practised in the various countries where it is celebrated; as +the Mozarabian or Gothic mass, the Greek mass, the Latin mass. Durandus +and Eckius call those masses dry, in which no consecration is made, as +that which is appointed to be said in particular by aspirants to the +priesthood; and Cardinal Bona relates, on the authority of William of +Nangis, that St. Louis, in his voyage abroad, had it said in this +manner, lest the motion of the vessel should spill the consecrated wine. +He also quoted Génébrard, who says that he assisted at Turin, in 1587, +at a similar mass, celebrated in a church, but after dinner and very +late, for the funeral of a person of rank. + +Pierre le Chantre also speaks of the two-fold, three-fold, and even +four-fold mass, in which the priest celebrated the mass of the day or +the feast, as far as the offertory, then began a second, third, and +sometimes a fourth, as far as the same place; after which he said as +many secretas as he had begun masses; he recited the canon only once for +the whole; and at the end he added as many collects as he had joined +together masses. + +It was not until about the close of the fourth century that the word +"mass" began to signify the celebration of the eucharist. The learned +Beatus Rhenanus, in his notes on Tertullian, observes, that St. Ambrose +consecrated this popular expression, "_missa,_" taken from the sending +out of the catechumens, after the reading of the gospel. + +In the "Apostolical Constitutions," we find a liturgy in the name of St. +James, by which it appears, that instead of invoking the saints in the +canon of the mass, the primitive Church prayed for them. "We also offer +to Thee, O Lord," said the celebrator, "this bread and this chalice for +all the saints that have been pleasing in Thy sight from the beginning +of ages: for the patriarchs, the prophets, the just, the apostles, the +martyrs, the confessors, bishops, priests, deacons, subdeacons, readers, +chanters, virgins, widows, laymen, and all whose names are known unto +Thee." But St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who lived in the fourth century, +substituted this explanation: "After which," says he, "we commemorate +those who die before us, and first the patriarchs, apostles, and +martyrs, that God may receive our prayers through their intercession." +This proves--as will be said in the article on "Relics"--that the +worship of the saints was then beginning to be introduced into the +Church. + +[Illustration: Ancient Rome.] + +Noel Alexander cites acts of St. Andrew, in which that apostle is made +to say: "I offer up every day, on the altar of the only true God, not +the flesh of bulls, nor the blood of goats, but the unspotted lamb, +which still remains living and entire after it is sacrificed, and all +the faithful eat of its flesh"; but this learned Dominican acknowledges +that this piece was unknown until the eighth century. The first who +cited it was Ætherius, bishop of Osma in Spain, who wrote against +Ælipard in 788. + +Abdias relates that St. John, being warned by the Lord of the +termination of his career, prepared for death and recommended his Church +to God. He then had bread brought to him, which he took, and lifting up +his hands to heaven, blessed it, broke it, and distributed it among +those who were present, saying: "Let my portion be yours, and let yours +be mine." This manner of celebrating the eucharist--which means +thanksgiving--is more conformable to the institution of that ceremony. + +St. Luke indeed informs us, that Jesus, after distributing bread and +wine among his apostles, who were supping with him, said to them: "Do +this in memory of me." St. Matthew and St. Mark say, moreover, that +Jesus sang a hymn. St. John, who in his gospel mentions neither the +distribution of the bread and wine, nor the hymn, speaks of the latter +at great length in his Acts, of which we give the text, as quoted by the +Second Council of Nice: + +"Before our Lord was taken by the Jews," says this well-beloved apostle +of Jesus, "He assembled us all together, and said to us: 'Let us sing a +hymn in honor of the Father, after which we will execute the design we +have conceived.' He ordered us therefore to form a circle, holding one +another by the hand; then, having placed Himself in the middle of the +circle, He said to us: 'Amen; follow me.' Then He began the canticle, +and said: 'Glory be to Thee, O Father!' We all answered, 'Amen.' Jesus +continued, saying, 'Glory to the Word,' etc. 'Glory to the Spirit,' etc. +'Glory to Grace,' etc., and the apostles constantly answered, 'Amen.'" + +After some other doxologies, Jesus said, "I will save, and I will be +saved, Amen. I will unbind, and I will be unbound, Amen. I will be +wounded, and I will wound, Amen. I will be born, and I will beget, Amen. +I will eat, and I will be consumed, Amen. I will be hearkened to, and I +will hearken, Amen. I will be comprehended by the spirit, being all +spirit, all understanding, Amen. I will be washed, and I will wash, +Amen. Grace brings dancing; I will play on the flute; all of you dance, +Amen. I will sing sorrowful airs; now all of you lament, Amen." + +St. Augustine, who begins a part of this hymn in his "Epistle to +Ceretius", gives also the following: "I will deck, and I will be decked. +I am a lamp to those who see me and know me. I am the door for all who +will knock at it. Do you, who see what I do, be careful not to speak of +it." + +This dance of Jesus and the apostles is evidently imitated from that of +the Egyptian Therapeutæ, who danced after supper in their assemblies, at +first divided into two choirs, then united the men and the women +together, as at the feast of Bacchus, after swallowing plenty of +celestial wine as Philo says. + +Besides we know, that according to the Jewish tradition, after their +coming out of Egypt, and passing the Red Sea, whence the solemnity of +the Passover took its name, Moses and his sister assembled two musical +choirs, one composed of men, the other of women, who, while dancing, +sang a canticle of thanksgiving. These instruments instantaneously +assembled, these choirs arranged with so much promptitude, the facility +with which the songs and dances are executed, suppose a training in +these two exercises much anterior to the moment of execution. + +The usage was afterwards perpetrated among the Jews. The daughters of +Shiloh were dancing according to custom, at the solemn feast of the +Lord, when the young men of the tribe of Benjamin, to whom they had been +refused for wives, carried them off by the counsel of the old men of +Israel. And at this day, in Palestine, the women, assembled near the +tombs of their relatives, dance in a mournful manner, and utter cries of +lamentation. + +We also know that the first Christians held among themselves _agapæ, _or +feasts of charity, in memory of the last supper which Jesus celebrated +with his apostles, from which the Pagans took occasion to bring against +them the most odious charges; on which, to banish every shadow of +licentiousness, the pastors forbade the kiss of peace, that concluded +the ceremony to be given between persons of different sexes. But various +abuses, which were even then complained of by St. Paul, and which the +Council of Gangres, in the year 324, vainly undertook to reform, at +length caused the _agapæ_ to be abolished in 397, by the Third Council +of Carthage, of which the forty-first canon ordained, that the holy +mysteries should be celebrated fasting. + +It will not be doubted that these feastings were accompanied by dances, +when it is recollected that, according to Scaliger, the bishops were +called in the Latin Church "_præsules,_" (from "_præsiliendo_") only +because they led off the dance. Heliot, in his "History of the Monastic +Orders," says also, that during the persecutions which disturbed the +peace of the first Christians, congregations were formed of men and +women, who, after the manner of the Therapeutæ, retired into the +deserts, where they assembled in the hamlets on Sundays and feast days, +and danced piously, singing the prayers of the Church. + +In Portugal, in Spain, and in Roussillon, solemn dances are still +performed in honor of the mysteries of Christianity. On every vigil of a +feast of the Virgin, the young women assemble before the doors of the +churches dedicated to her, and pass the night in dancing round, and +singing hymns and canticles in honor of her. Cardinal Ximenes restored +in his time, in the cathedral of Toledo, the ancient usage of the +Mozarabian mass, during which dances are performed in the choir and the +nave, with equal order and devotion. In France too, about the middle of +the last century, the priests and all the people of the Limoges might be +seen dancing round in the collegiate church, singing: "_Sant Marcian +pregas pernous et nous epingaren per bous_"--that is, "St. Martian, pray +for us, and we will dance for you." + +And lastly, the Jesuit Menestrier, in the preface to his "Treatise on +Ballets", published in 1682, says, that he had himself seen the canons +of some churches take the singing boys by the hand on Easter day, and +dance in the choir, singing hymns of rejoicing. What has been said in +the article on "Calends," of the extravagant dances of the feast of +fools, exhibits a part of the abuses which have caused dancing to be +discontinued in the ceremonies of the mass, which, the greater their +gravity, are the better calculated to impose on the simple. + + + + +MASSACRES. + + +It is perhaps as difficult as it is useless to ascertain whether +"_mazzacrium,_" a word of the low Latin, is the root of "massacre," or +whether "massacre" is the root of "_mazzacrium._" + +A massacre signifies a number of men killed. There was yesterday a great +massacre near Warsaw--near Cracow. We never say: "There has been a +massacre of a man; yet we do say": "A man has been massacred": in that +case it is understood that he has been killed barbarously by many blows. + +Poetry makes use of the word massacred for killed, assassinated: "_Que +par ses propres mains son père massacré._"--Cinna. + +An Englishman has made a compilation of all the massacres perpetrated on +account of religion since the first centuries of our vulgar era. I have +been very much tempted to write against the English author; but his +memoir not appearing to be exaggerated, I have restrained myself. For +the future I hope there will be no more such calculations to make. But +to whom shall we be indebted for that? + + + + +MASTER. + + +SECTION I. + +"How unfortunate am I to have been born!" said Ardassan Ougli, a young +_icoglan_ of the grand sultan of the Turks. Yet if I depended only on the +sultan--but I am also subject to the chief of my _oda,_ to the _cassigi +bachi_; and when I receive my pay, I must prostrate myself before a +clerk of the _teftardar,_ who keeps back half of it. I was not seven +years old, when, in spite of myself, I was circumcised with great +ceremony, and was ill for a fortnight after it. The dervish who prays to +us is also my master; an _iman_ is still more my master, and the +_mullah_ still more so than the _iman._ The _cadi_ is another master, +the _kadeslesker_ a greater; the _mufti_ a greater than all these +together. The _kiaia_ of the grand vizier with one word could cause me +to be thrown into the canal; and finally, the grand vizier could have me +beheaded, and the skin of my head stripped off, without any person +caring about the matter. + +"Great God, how many masters! If I had as many souls and bodies as I +have duties to fulfil, I could not bear it. Oh Allah! why hast thou not +made me an owl? I should live free in my hole and eat mice at my ease, +without masters or servants. This is assuredly the true destiny of man; +there were no masters until it was perverted; no man was made to serve +another continually. If things were in order, each should charitably +help his neighbor. The quick-sighted would conduct the blind, the active +would be crutches to the lame. This would be the paradise of Mahomet, +instead of the hell which is formed precisely under the inconceivably +narrow bridge." + +Thus spoke Ardassan Ougli, after being bastinadoed by one of his +masters. + +Some years afterwards, Ardassan Ougli became a pasha with three tails. +He made a prodigious fortune, and firmly believed that all men except +the grand Turk and the grand vizier were born to serve him, and all +women to give him pleasure according to his wishes. + + +SECTION II. + +How can one man become the master of another? And by what kind of +incomprehensible magic has he been able to become the master of several +other men? A great number of good volumes have been written on this +subject, but I give the preference to an Indian fable, because it is +short, and fables explain everything. + +Adimo, the father of all the Indians, had two sons and two daughters by +his wife Pocriti. The eldest was a vigorous giant, the youngest was a +little hunchback, the two girls were pretty. As soon as the giant was +strong enough, he lay with his two sisters, and caused the little +hunchback to serve him. Of his two sisters, the one was his cook, the +other his gardener. When the giant would sleep, he began by chaining his +little brother to a tree; and when the latter fled from him, he caught +him in four strides, and gave him twenty blows with the strength of an +ox. + +The dwarf submitted and became the best subject in the world. The giant, +satisfied with seeing him fulfil the duties of a subject, permitted him +to sleep with one of his sisters, with whom he was disgusted. The +children who sprang from this marriage were not quite hunchbacks, but +they were sufficiently deformed. They were brought up in the fear of God +and of the giant. They received an excellent education; they were taught +that their uncle was a giant by divine right, who could do what he +pleased with all his family; that if he had some pretty niece or +grand-niece, he should have her without difficulty, and not one should +marry her unless he permitted it. + +The giant dying, his son, who was neither so strong or so great as he +was, believed himself to be like his father, a giant by divine right. He +pretended to make all the men work for him, and slept with all the +girls. The family lagued against him: he was killed, and they became a +republic. + +The Siamese pretend, that on the contrary the family commenced by being +republican; and that the giant existed not until after a great many +years and dissensions: but all the authors of Benares and Siam agree +that men lived an infinity of ages before they had the wit to make laws, +and they prove it by an unanswerable argument, which is that even at +present, when all the world piques itself upon having wit, we have not +yet found the means of making a score of laws passably good. + +It is still, for example, an insoluble question in India, whether +republics were established before or after monarchies; if confusion has +appeared more horrible to men than despotism! I am ignorant how it +happened in order of time, but in that of nature we must agree that men +are all born equal: violence and ability made the first masters; laws +have made the present. + + + + +MATTER. + + +SECTION I. A Polite Dialogue Between A Demoniac And A Philosopher. + + +DEMONIAC. + +Yes, thou enemy of God and man, who believest that God is all-powerful, +and is at liberty to confer the gift of thought on every being whom He +shall vouchsafe to choose, I will go and denounce thee to the +inquisitor; I will have thee burned. Beware, I warn thee for the last +time. + +PHILOSOPHER. + +Are these your arguments? Is it thus you teach mankind? I admire your +mildness. + +DEMONIAC. + +Come, I will be patient for a moment while the fagots are preparing. +Answer me: What is spirit? + +PHILOSOPHER. + +I know not. + +DEMONIAC. + +What is matter? + +PHILOSOPHER. + +I scarcely know. I believe it to have extent, solidity, resistance, +gravity, divisibility, mobility. God may have given it a thousand other +qualities of which I am ignorant. + +DEMONIAC. + +A thousand other qualities, traitor! I see what thou wouldst be at; thou +wouldst tell me that God can animate matter, that He has given instinct +to animals, that He is the Master of all. + +PHILOSOPHER. + +But it may very well be, that He has granted to this matter many +properties which you cannot comprehend. + +DEMONIAC. + +Which I cannot comprehend, villain! + +PHILOSOPHER. + +Yes. His power goes much further than your understanding. + +DEMONIAC. + +His power! His power! thou talkest like a true atheist. + +PHILOSOPHER. + +However, I have the testimony of many holy fathers on my side. + +DEMONIAC. + +Go to, go to: neither God nor they shall prevent us from burning thee +alive--the death inflicted on parricides and on philosophers who are not +of our opinion. + +PHILOSOPHER. + +Was it the devil or yourself that invented this method of arguing? + +DEMONIAC. + +Vile wretch! darest thou to couple my name with the devil's? + +(Here the demoniac strikes the philosopher, who returns him the blow +with interest.) + +PHILOSOPHER. + +Help! philosophers! + +DEMONIAC. + +Holy brotherhood! help! + +(Here half a dozen philosophers arrive on one side, and on the other +rush in a hundred Dominicans, with a hundred Familiars of the +Inquisition, and a hundred alguazils. The contest is too unequal.) + + +SECTION II. + +When wise men are asked what is the soul they answer that they know not. +If they are asked what matter is, they make the same reply. It is true +that there are professors, and particularly scholars, who know all this +perfectly; and when they have repeated that matter has extent and +divisibility, they think they have said all; being pressed, however, to +say what this thing is which is extended, they find themselves +considerably embarrassed. It is composed of parts, say they. And of what +are these parts composed? Are the elements of the parts divisible? Then +they are mute, or they talk a great deal; which are equally suspicious. +Is this almost unknown being called matter, eternal? Such was the belief +of all antiquity. Has it of itself force? Many philosophers have thought +so. Have those who deny it a right to deny it? You conceive not that +matter can have anything of itself; but how can you be assured that it +has not of itself the properties necessary to it? You are ignorant of +its nature, and you refuse it the modes which nevertheless are in its +nature: for it can no sooner have been, than it has been in a certain +fashion--it has had figure, and having necessarily figure, is it +impossible that it should not have had other modes attached to its +configuration? Matter exists, but you know it only by your sensations. +Alas! of what avail have been all the subtleties of the mind since man +first reasoned? Geometry has taught us many truths, metaphysics very +few. We weigh matter, we measure it, we decompose it; and if we seek to +advance one step beyond these gross operations, we find ourselves +powerless, and before us an immeasurable abyss. + +Pray forgive all mankind who were deceived in thinking that matter +existed by itself. Could they do otherwise? How are we to imagine that +what is without succession has not always been? If it were not necessary +for matter to exist, why should it exist? And if it were necessary that +it should be, why should it not have been forever? No axiom has ever +been more universally received than this: Of nothing, nothing comes. +Indeed the contrary is incomprehensible. With every nation, chaos +preceded the arrangement which a divine hand made of the whole world. +The eternity of matter has with no people been injurious to the worship +of the Divinity. Religion was never startled at the recognition of an +eternal God as the master of an eternal matter. We of the present day +are so happy as to know by faith that God brought matter out of nothing; +but no nation has ever been instructed in this dogma; even the Jews were +ignorant of it. The first verse of Genesis says, that the Gods--_Eloïm,_ +not _Eloi_--made heaven and earth. It does not say, that heaven and +earth were created out of nothing. + +Philo, who lived at the only time when the Jews had any erudition, says, +in his "Chapter on the Creation", "God, being good by nature, bore no +envy against substance, matter; which of itself had nothing good, having +by nature only inertness, confusion, and disorder; it was bad, and He +vouchsafed to make it good." + +The idea of chaos put into order by a God, is to be found in all ancient +theogonies. Hesiod repeated the opinion of the Orientals, when he said +in his "Theogony," "Chaos was that which first existed." The whole Roman +Empire spoke in these words of Ovid: "_Sic ubi dispositam quisquis fuit +ille Deorum Congeriem secuit._" + +Matter then, in the hands of God, was considered like clay under the +potter's wheel, if these feeble images may be used to express His divine +power. + +Matter, being eternal, must have had eternal properties--as +configuration, the _vis inertiæ,_ motion, and divisibility. But this +divisibility is only a consequence of motion; for without motion nothing +is divided, nor separated, nor arranged. Motion therefore was regarded +as essential to matter. Chaos had been a confused motion, and the +arrangement of the universe was a regular motion, communicated to all +bodies by the Master of the world. But how can matter have motion by +itself, as it has, according to all the ancients, extent and +divisibility? + +But it cannot be conceived to be without extent, and it may be conceived +to be without motion. To this it was answered: It is impossible that +matter should not be permeable; and being permeable, something must be +continually passing through its pores. Why should there be passages, if +nothing passes? + +Reply and rejoinder might thus be continued forever. The system of the +eternity of matter, like all other systems, has very great difficulties. +That of the formation of matter out of nothing is no less +incomprehensible. We must admit it, and not flatter ourselves with +accounting for it; philosophy does not account for everything. How many +incomprehensible things are we not obliged to admit, even in geometry! +Can any one conceive two lines constantly approaching each other, yet +never meeting? + +Geometricians indeed will tell you, the properties of asymptotes are +demonstrated; you cannot help admitting them--but creation is not; why +then admit it? Why is it hard for you to believe, like all the ancients, +in the eternity of matter? The theologian will press you on the other +side, and say: If you believe in the eternity of matter then you +acknowledge two principles--God and matter; you fall into the error of +Zoroaster and of Manes. + +No answer can be given to the geometricians, for those folks know of +nothing but their lines, their superficies, and their solids; but you +may say to the theologians: "Wherein am I a Manichæan? Here are stones +which an architect has not made, but of which he has erected an immense +building. I do not admit two architects; the rough stones have obeyed +power and genius." + +Happily, whatever system a man embraces, it is in no way hurtful to +morality; for what imports it whether matter is made or arranged? God is +still an absolute master. Whether chaos was created out of nothing, or +only reduced to order, it is still our duty to be virtuous; scarcely any +of these metaphysical questions affect the conduct of life. It is with +disputes as with table talk; each one forgets after dinner what he has +said, and goes whithersoever his interest or his inclination calls him. + + + + +MEETINGS (PUBLIC). + + +Meeting, "_assemblée,_" is a general term applicable to any collection +of people for secular, sacred, political, conversational, festive, or +corporate purposes; in short, to all occasions on which numbers meet +together. + +It is a term which prevents all verbal disputes, and all abusive and +injurious implications by which men are in the habit of stigmatizing +societies to which they do not themselves belong. + +The legal meeting or assembly of the Athenians was called the "church". +This word "church", being peculiarly appropriated among us to express a +convocation of Catholics in one place, we did not in the first instance +apply it to the public assembly of Protestants; but used indeed the +expression--"a flock of Huguenots." Politeness however, which in time +explodes all noxious terms, at length employed for the purpose the term +"assembly" or "meeting", which offends no one. In England the dominant +Church applies the name of "meeting" to the churches of all the +non-conformists. + +The word "assembly" is particularly suitable to a collection of persons +invited to go and pass their evening at a house where the host receives +them with courtesy and kindness, and where play, conversation, supper, +and dancing, constitute their amusements. If the number invited be +small, it is not called an "assembly", but a "rendezvous of friends"; +and friends are never very numerous. + +Assemblies are called, in Italian, "_conversazione,_" "_ridotto_". The +word "_ridotto_" is properly what we once signified by the word +"_reduit,_" intrenchment; but "_reduit_" having sunk into a term of +contempt among us, our editors translated "_ridout_" by "_redoubt._" The +papers informed us, among the important intelligence contained in them +relating to Europe, that many noblemen of the highest consideration went +to take chocolate at the house of the princess Borghese; and that there +was a "_redoubt_" there. It was announced to Europe, in another +paragraph, that there would be a "_redoubt_" on the following Tuesday at +the house of her excellency the marchioness of Santafior. + +It was found, however, that in relating the events of war, it was +necessary to speak of real redoubts, which in fact implied things +actually redoubtable and formidable, from which cannon were discharged. +The word was, therefore, in such circumstances, obviously unsuitable to +the _"ridotti pacifici,"_ the pacific redoubts of mere amusement; and +the old term "assembly" was restored, which is indeed the only proper +one. "Rendezvous" is occasionally used, but it is more adapted to a +small company, and most of all for two individuals. + + + + +MESSIAH. + +Advertisement. + + +This article is by M. Polier de Bottens, of an old French family, +settled for two hundred years in Switzerland. He is first pastor of +Lausanne, and his knowledge is equal to his piety. He composed this +article for the great Encyclopædia, in which it was inserted. Only those +passages were suppressed which the examiners thought might be abused by +the Catholics, less learned and less pious than the author. It was +received with applause by all the wise. + +It was printed at the same time in another small dictionary, and was +attributed in France to a man whom there was no reluctance to molest. +The article was supposed to be impious, because it was supposed to be by +a layman; and the work and its pretended author were violently attacked. +The man thus accused contented himself with laughing at the mistake. He +beheld with compassion this instance of the errors and injustices which +men are every day committing in their judgments; for he had the wise and +learned priest's manuscript, written by his own hand. It is still in his +possession, and will be shown to whoever may choose to examine it. In it +will be found the very erasures made by this layman himself, to prevent +malignant interpretations. + +Now we reprint this article in all the integrity of the original. We +have contracted it only to prevent repeating what we have printed +elsewhere; but we have not added a single word. + +The best of this affair is, that one of the venerable author's brethren +wrote the most ridiculous things in the world against this article of +his reverend brother's, thinking that he was writing against a common +enemy. This is like fighting in the dark, when one is attacked by one's +own party. + +It has a thousand times happened that controversialists have condemned +passages in St. Augustine and St. Jerome, not knowing that they were by +those fathers. They would anathematize a part of the New Testament if +they had not heard by whom it was written. Thus it is that men too often +judge. + + * * * * * + +Messiah, "_Messias._" This word comes from the Hebrew, and is synonymous +with the Greek word "Christ." Both are terms consecrated in religion, +which are now no longer given to any but the anointed by eminence--the +Sovereign Deliverer whom the ancient Jewish people expected, for whose +coming they still sigh, and whom the Christians find in the person of +Jesus the Son of Mary, whom they consider as the anointed of the Lord, +the Messiah promised to humanity. The Greeks also use the word +"_Elcimmeros_", meaning the same thing as "_Christos._" + +In the Old Testament we see that the word "Messiah," far from being +peculiar to the Deliverer, for whose coming the people of Israel sighed, +was not even so to the true and faithful servants of God, but that this +name was often given to idolatrous kings and princes, who were, in the +hands of the Eternal, the ministers of His vengeance, or instruments for +executing the counsels of His wisdom. So the author of "Ecclesiasticus" +says of Elisha: "_Qui ungis reges ad penitentiam;_" or, as it is +rendered by the "Septuagint," "_ad vindictam_"--"You anoint kings to +execute the vengeance of the Lord". Therefore He sent a prophet to +anoint Jehu, king of Israel, and announced sacred unction to Hazael, +king of Damascus and Syria; those two princes being the Messiahs of the +Most High, to revenge the crimes and abominations of the house of Ahab. + +But in Isaiah, xlv., 1, the name of Messiah is expressly given to Cyrus: +"Thus saith the Lord to Cyrus, His anointed, His Messiah, whose right +hand I have holden to subdue nations before him." etc. + +Ezekiel, in his Revelations, xxviii., 14, gives the name of Messiah to +the king of Tyre, whom he also calls Cherubin, and speaks of him and his +glory in terms full of an emphasis of which it is easier to feel the +beauties than to catch the sense. "Son of man," says the Eternal to the +prophet, "take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre, and say unto him, +Thus saith the Lord God; thou sealest up the sun, full of wisdom, and +perfect in beauty. Thou hast been the Lord's Garden of Eden"--or, +according to other versions, "Thou wast all the Lord's delight"--"every +precious stone was thy covering; the sardius, topaz, and the diamond; +the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper; the sapphire, the emerald, and the +carbuncle and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and thy pipes was +prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou wast a +Cherubin, a Messiah, for protection, and I set thee up; thou hast been +upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst +of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that +thou was created till iniquity was found in thee." + +And the name of Messiah, in Greek, Christ, was given to the king, +prophets, and high priests of the Hebrews. We read, in I. Kings, xii., +5: "The Lord is witness against you, and his Messiah is witness"; that +is, the king whom he has set up. And elsewhere: "Touch not my Anointed; +do no evil to my prophets...." David, animated by the Spirit of God, +repeatedly gives to his father-in-law Saul, whom he had no cause to +love--he gives, I say, to this reprobate king, from whom the Spirit of +the Eternal was withdrawn, the name and title of Anointed, or Messiah of +the Lord. "God preserve me," says he frequently, "from laying my hand +upon the Lord's Anointed, upon God's Messiah." + +If the fine title of Messiah, or Anointed of the Eternal, was given to +idolatrous kings, to cruel and tyrannical princes, it very often indeed, +in our ancient oracles, designated the real Anointed of the Lord, the +Messiah by eminence; the object of the desire and expectation of all the +faithful of Israel. Thus Hannah, the mother of Samuel, concluded her +canticle with these remarkable words, which cannot apply to any king, +for we know that at that time the Jews had not one: "The Lord shall +judge the ends of the earth; and He shall give strength unto His king, +and exalt the horn of His Messiah." We find the same word in the +following oracles: Psalm ii, 2; Jeremiah, Lamentations, iv, 20; Daniel, +ix, 25; Habakkuk, iii, 13. + +If we compare all these different oracles, and in general all those +ordinarily applied to the Messiah, there will result contradictions, +almost irreconcilable, justifying to a certain point the obstinacy of +the people to whom these oracles were given. + +How indeed could these be conceived, before the event had so well +justified it in the person of Jesus, Son of Mary? How, I say, could +there be conceived an intelligence in some sort divine and human +together; a being both great and lovely, triumphing over the devil, yet +tempted and carried away by that infernal spirit, that prince of the +powers of the air, and made to travel in spite of himself; at once +master and servant, king and subject, sacrificer and victim, mortal and +immortal, rich and poor, a glorious conqueror, whose reign shall have no +end, who is to subdue all nature by prodigies, and yet a man of sorrows, +without the conveniences, often without the absolute necessaries of this +life, of which he calls himself king; and that he comes, covered with +glory and honor, terminating a life of innocence and wretchedness, of +incessant crosses and contradictions, by a death alike shameful and +cruel, finding in this very humiliation, this extraordinary abasement, +the source of an unparalleled elevation, which raises him to the summit +of glory, power, and felicity; that is, to the rank of the first of +creatures? + +All Christians agree in finding these characteristics, apparently so +incompatible, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they call the +"Christ"; His followers gave Him this title by eminence, not that He had +been anointed in a sensible and material manner, as some kings, +prophets, and sacrificers anciently were, but because the Divine Spirit +had designated Him for those great offices, and He had received the +spiritual unction necessary thereunto. + +We had proceeded thus far on so competent an article, when a Dutch +preacher, more celebrated for this discovery than for the indifferent +productions of a genius otherwise feeble and ill-formed, showed to us +that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God, was anointed at the +three grand periods of His life, as our King, our Prophet, and our +Sacrificer. + +At the time of His baptism, the voice of the Sovereign Master of nature +declared Him to be His Son, His only, His well-beloved Son, and for that +very reason His representative. + +When on Mount Tabor He was transfigured and associated with Moses and +Elias, the same supernatural voice announces Him to humanity as the Son +of Him who loves and who sends the prophets; as He who is to be +hearkened to in preference to all others. + +In Gethsemane, an angel comes down from heaven to support Him in the +extreme anguish occasioned by the approach of His torments, and +strengthen Him against the terrible apprehensions of a death which He +cannot avoid, and enable Him to become a sacrificer the more excellent, +as Himself is the pure and innocent victim that He is about to offer. + +The judicious Dutch preacher, a disciple of the illustrious Cocceius, +finds the sacramental oil of these different celestial unctions in the +visible signs which the power of God caused to appear on His anointed; +in His baptism, "the shadow of the dove," representing the Holy Ghost +coming down from Him; on Tabor, the "miraculous cloud," which enveloped +Him; in Gethsemane, the "bloody sweat," which covered His whole body. + +After this, it would indeed be the height of incredulity not to +recognize by these marks the Lord's Anointed by eminence--the promised +Messiah; nor doubtless could we sufficiently deplore the inconceivable +blindness of the Jewish people, but that it was part of the plan of +God's infinite wisdom, and was, in His merciful views, essential to the +accomplishment of His work and the salvation of humanity. + +But it must also be acknowledged, that in the state of oppression in +which the Jewish people were groaning, and after all the glorious +promises which the Eternal had so often made them, they must have longed +for the coming of a Messiah, and looked towards it as the period of +their happy deliverance; and that they are therefore to an extent +excusable for not having recognized a deliverer in the person of the +Lord Jesus, since it is in man's nature to care more for the body than +for the spirit, and to be more sensible to present wants than flattered +by advantages "to come," and for that very reason, always uncertain. + +It must indeed be believed that Abraham, and after him a very small +number of patriarchs and prophets, were capable of forming an idea of +the nature of the spiritual reign of the Messiah; but these ideas would +necessarily be limited to the narrow circle of the inspired, and it is +not astonishing that, being unknown to the multitude, these notions were +so far altered that, when the Saviour appeared in Judæa, the people, +their doctors, and even their princes, expected a monarch--a +conqueror--who, by the rapidity of his conquests was to subdue the whole +world. And how could these flattering ideas be reconciled with the +abject and apparently miserable condition of Jesus Christ? So, feeling +scandalized by His announcing Himself as the Messiah, they persecuted +Him, rejected Him, and put Him to the most ignominious death. Having +since then found nothing tending to the fulfilment of their oracles, and +being unwilling to renounce them, they indulge in all sorts of ideas, +each one more chimerical than the one preceding. + +Thus, when they beheld the triumphs of the Christian religion, and found +that most of their ancient oracles might be explained spiritually, and +applied to Jesus Christ, they thought proper, against the opinion of +their fathers, to deny that the passages which we allege against them +are to be understood of the Messiah, thus torturing our Holy Scriptures +to their own loss. + +Some of them maintain that their oracles have been misunderstood; that +it is in vain to long for the coming of a Messiah, since He has already +come in the person of Ezechias. Such was the opinion of the famous +Hillel. Others more lax, or politely yielding to times and +circumstances, assert that the belief in the coming of a Messiah is not +a fundamental article of faith, and that the denying of this dogma +either does not injure the integrity of the law, or injures it but +slightly. Thus the Jew Albo said to the pope, that "to deny the coming +of the Messiah was only to cut off a branch of the tree without touching +the root." + +The celebrated rabbi, Solomon Jarchi or Raschi, who lived at the +commencement of the twelfth century, says, in his "_Talmudes,_" that the +ancient Hebrews believed the Messiah to have been born on the day of the +last destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies. This is indeed +calling in the physician when the man is dead. + +The rabbi Kimchi, who also lived in the twelfth century, announced that +the Messiah, whose coming he believed to be very near, would drive the +Christians out of Judæa, which was then in their possession; and it is +true that the Christians lost the Holy Land; but it was Saladin who +vanquished them. Had that conqueror but protected the Jews, and declared +for them, it is not unlikely that in their enthusiasm they would have +made him their Messiah. + +Sacred writers, and our Lord Jesus Himself, often compare the reign of +the Messiah and eternal beatitude to a nuptial festival or a banquet; +but the Talmudists have strangely abused these parables; according to +them, the Messiah will give to his people, assembled in the land of +Canaan, a repast in which the wine will be that which was made by Adam +himself in the terrestrial paradise, and which is kept dry, in vast +cellars, by the angels at the centre of the earth. + +At the first course will be served up the famous fish called the great +Leviathan, which swallows up at once a smaller fish, which smaller fish +is nevertheless three hundred leagues long; the whole mass of the waters +is laid upon Leviathan. In the beginning God created a male and a female +of this fish; but lest they should overturn the land, and fill the world +with their kind, God killed the female, and salted her for the Messiah's +feast. + +The rabbis add, that there will also be killed for this repast the bull +Behemoth, which is so large that he eats each day the hay from a +thousand mountains. The female of this bull was killed in the beginning +of the world, that so prodigious a species might not multiply, since +this could only have injured the other creatures; but they assure us +that the Eternal did not salt her, because dried cow is not so good as +she-Leviathan. The Jews still put such faith in these rabbinical +reveries that they often swear by their share of the bull Behemoth, as +some impious Christians swear by their share of paradise. + +After such gross ideas of the coming of the Messiah, and of His reign, +is it astonishing that the Jews, ancient as well as modern, and also +some of the primitive Christians unhappily tinctured with all these +reveries, could not elevate themselves to the idea of the divine nature +of the Lord's Anointed, and did not consider the Messiah as God? Observe +how the Jews express themselves on this point in the work entitled +"_Judæi Lusitani Quæstiones ad Christianos._" "To acknowledge a +God-man," say they, "is to abuse your own reason, to make to yourself a +monster--a centaur--the strange compound of two natures which cannot +coalesce." They add, that the prophets do not teach that the Messiah is +God-man; that they expressly distinguish between God and David, +declaring the former to be Master, the latter servant. + +When the Saviour appeared, the prophecies, though clear, were +unfortunately obscured by the prejudices imbibed even at the mother's +breast. Jesus Christ Himself, either from deference towards or for fear +of shocking, the public opinion, seems to have been very reserved +concerning His divinity. "He wished," says St. Chrysostom, "insensibly +to accustom His auditors to the belief of a mystery so far above their +reason. If He takes upon Him the authority of a God, by pardoning sin, +this action raises up against Him all who are witnesses of it. His most +evident miracles cannot even convince of His divinity those in whose +favor they are worked. When, before the tribunal of the Sovereign +Sacrificer, He acknowledges, by a modest intimation, that He is the Son +of God, the high priest tears his robe and cries, 'Blasphemy!' Before +the sending of the Holy Ghost, the apostles did not even suspect the +divinity of their dear Master. He asks them what the people think of +Him; and they answer, that some take Him for Elias, other for Jeremiah, +or some other prophet. A particular revelation is necessary to make +known to St. Peter, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living +God." + +The Jews, revolting against the divinity of Christ, have resorted to all +sorts of expedients to destroy this great mystery; they distort the +meaning of their own oracles, or do not apply them to the Messiah; they +assert that the name of God, "_Eloï,_" is not peculiar to the Divinity, +but is given, even by sacred writers, to judges, to magistrates, and in +general to such as are high in authority; they do, indeed, cite a great +many passages of the Holy Scriptures that justify this observation, but +which do not in the least affect the express terms of the ancient +oracles concerning the Messiah. + +Lastly, they assert, that if the Saviour, and after Him the evangelists, +the apostles, and the first Christians, call Jesus the Son of God, this +august term did not in the evangelical times signify anything but the +opposite of son of Belial--that is, a good man, a servant of God, in +opposition to a wicked man, one without the fear of God. + +If the Jews have disputed with Jesus Christ His quality of Messiah and +His divinity, they have also used every endeavor to bring Him into +contempt, by casting on His birth, His life, and His death, all the +ridicule and opprobrium that their criminal malevolence could imagine. + +Of all the works which the blindness of the Jews has produced, there is +none more odious and more extravagant than the ancient book entitled +"_Sepher Toldos Jeschu,_" brought to light by Wagenseil, in the second +volume of his work entitled "_Tela Ignea,_" etc. + +In this "_Sepher Toldos Jeschu,_" we find a monstrous history of the +life of our Saviour, forged with the utmost passion and +disingenuousness. For instance, they have dared to write that one +Panther, or Pandera, an inhabitant of Bethlehem, fell in love with a +young woman married to Jokanam. By this impure commerce he had a son +called Jesua or Jesu. The father of this child was obliged to fly, and +retired to Babylon. As for young Jesu, he was not sent to the schools; +but--adds our author--he had the insolence to raise his head and uncover +himself before the sacrificers, instead of appearing before them with +his head bent down and his face covered, as was the custom--a piece of +effrontery which was warmly rebuked; this caused his birth to be +inquired into, which was found to be impure, and soon exposed him to +ignominy. + +This detestable book, "_Sepher Toldos Jeschu,_" was known in the second +century: Celsus confidently cites it and Origen refutes it in his ninth +chapter. + +There is another book also entitled "_Toldos Jeschu,_" published by +Huldric in 1703, which more closely follows the "Gospel of the Infancy," +but which is full of the grossest anachronisms. It places both the birth +and death of Jesus Christ in the reign of Herod the Great, stating that +complaints were made of the adultery of Panther and Mary, the mother of +Jesus, to that prince. + +The author, who takes the name of Jonathan, and calls himself a +contemporary of Jesus Christ, living at Jerusalem, pretends that Herod +consulted, in the affair of Jesus Christ, the senators of a city in the +land of Cæsarea. We will not follow so absurd an author through all his +contradictions. + +Yet it is under cover of all these calumnies that the Jews keep up their +implacable hatred against the Christians and the gospel. They have done +their utmost to alter the chronology of the Old Testament, and to raise +doubts and difficulties respecting the time of our Saviour's coming. + +Ahmed-ben-Cassum-la-Andacousy, a Moor of Granada, who lived about the +close of the sixteenth century, cites an ancient Arabian manuscript, +which was found, together with sixteen plates of lead engraved with +Arabian characters, in a grotto near Granada. Don Pedro y Quinones, +archbishop of Granada, has himself borne testimony to this fact. These +leaden plates, called those of Granada, were afterwards carried to Rome, +where, after several years' investigation, they were at last condemned +as apocryphal, in the pontificate of Alexander VII.; they contain only +fabulous stories relating to the lives of Mary and her Son. + +The time of Messiah, coupled with the epithet "false", is still given to +those impostors who, at various times, have sought to abuse the +credulity of the Jewish nation. There were some of these false Messiahs +even before the coming of the true Anointed of God. The wise Gamaliel +mentions one Theodas, whose history we read in Josephus' "Jewish +Antiquities," book xx. chap. 2. He boasted of crossing the Jordan +without wetting his feet; he drew many people after him; but the Romans, +having fallen upon his little troop, dispersed them, cut off the head of +their unfortunate chief, and exposed it in Jerusalem. + +Gamaliel also speaks of Judas the Galilean, who is doubtless the same of +whom Josephus makes mention in the second chapter of the second book of +the "Jewish War". He says that this false prophet had gathered together +nearly thirty thousand men; but hyperbole is the Jewish historian's +characteristic. + +In the apostolic times, there was Simon, surnamed the Magician, who +contrived to bewitch the people of Samaria, so that they considered him +as "the great power of God." + +In the following century, in the years 178 and 179 of the Christian era, +in the reign of Adrian, appeared the false Messiah, Barcochebas, at the +head of an army. The emperor sent against them Julius Severus, who, +after several encounters, enclosed them in the town of Bither; after an +obstinate defence it was carried, and Barcochebas taken and put to +death. Adrian thought he could not better prevent the continual revolt +of the Jews than by issuing an edict, forbidding them to go to +Jerusalem; he also had guards stationed at the gates of the city, to +prevent the rest of the people of Israel from entering it. + +We read in Socrates, an ecclesiastical historian, that in the year 434, +there appeared in the island of Candia a false Messiah calling himself +Moses. He said he was the ancient deliverer of the Hebrews, raised from +the dead to deliver them again. + +A century afterwards, in 530, there was in Palestine a false Messiah +named Julian; he announced himself as a great conqueror, who, at the +head of his nation, should destroy by arms the whole Christian people. +Seduced by his promises, the armed Jews butchered many of the +Christians. The emperor Justinian sent troops against him; battle was +given to the false Christ; he was taken, and condemned to the most +ignominious death. + +At the beginning of the eighth century, Serenus, a Spanish Jew, gave +himself out as a Messiah, preached, had some disciples, and, like them, +died in misery. + +Several false Messiahs arose in the twelfth century. One appeared in +France in the reign of Louis the Young; he and all his adherents were +hanged, without its ever being known what was the name of the master or +of the disciples. + +The thirteenth century was fruitful in false Messiahs; there appeared +seven or eight in Arabia, Persia, Spain, and Moravia; one of them, +calling himself David el Roy, passed for a very great magician; he +reduced the Jews, and was at the head of a considerable party; but this +Messiah was assassinated. + +James Zeigler, of Moravia, who lived in the middle of the sixteenth +century, announced the approaching manifestation of the Messiah, born, +as he declared, fourteen years before; he had seen him, he said, at +Strasburg, and he kept by him with great care a sword and a sceptre, to +place them in his hands as soon as he should be old enough to teach. In +the year 1624, another Zeigler confirmed the prediction of the former. + +In the year 1666, Sabatei Sevi, born at Aleppo, called himself the +Messiah foretold by the Zeiglers. He began with preaching on the +highways and in the fields, the Turks laughing at him, while his +disciples admired him. It appears that he did not gain over the mass of +the Jewish nation at first; for the chiefs of the synagogue of Smyrna +passed sentence of death against him; but he escaped with the fear only, +and with banishment. + +He contracted three marriages, of which it is asserted he did not +consummate one, saying that it was beneath him so to do. He took into +partnership one Nathan Levi; the latter personated the prophet Elias, +who was to go before the Messiah. They repaired to Jerusalem, and Nathan +there announced Sabatei Sevi as the deliverer of nations. The Jewish +populace declared for them, but such as had anything to lose +anathematized them. + +To avoid the storm, Sevi fled to Constantinople, and thence to Smyrna, +whither Nathan Levi sent to him four ambassadors, who acknowledged and +publicly saluted him as the Messiah. This embassy imposed on the people, +and also on some of the doctors, who declared Sabatei Sevi to be the +Messiah, and king of the Hebrews. But the synagogue of Smyrna condemned +its king to be impaled. + +Sabatei put himself under the protection of the cadi of Smyrna, and soon +had the whole Jewish people on his side; he had two thrones prepared, +one for himself, the other for his favorite wife; he took the title of +king of kings, and gave to his brother, Joseph Sevi, that of king of +Judah. He promised the Jews the certain conquest of the Ottoman Empire; +and even carried his insolence so far as to have the emperor's name +struck out of the Jewish liturgy, and his own substituted. + +He was thrown into prison at the Dardanelles; and the Jews gave out that +his life was spared only because the Turks well knew he was immortal. +The governor of the Dardanelles grew rich by the presents which the Jews +lavished, in order to visit their king, their imprisoned Messiah, who, +though in irons, retained all his dignity, and made them kiss his feet. + +Meanwhile the sultan, who was holding his court at Adrianople, resolved +to put an end to this farce: he sent for Sevi, and told him that if he +was the Messiah he must be invulnerable; to which Sevi assented. The +grand signor then had him placed as a mark for the arrows of his +_icoglans. _The Messiah confessed that he was not invulnerable, and +protested that God sent him only to bear testimony to the holy Mussulman +religion. Being beaten by the ministers of the law, he turned Mahometan; +he lived and died equally despised by the Jews and Mussulmans; which +cast such discredit on the profession of false Messiah, that Sevi was +the last that appeared. + + + + +METAMORPHOSIS. + + +It may very naturally be supposed that the metamorphoses with which our +earth abounds suggested the imagination to the Orientals--who have +imagined everything--that the souls of men passed from one body to +another. An almost imperceptible point becomes a grub, and that grub +becomes a butterfly; an acorn is transformed into an oak; an egg into a +bird; water becomes cloud and thunder; wood is changed into fire and +ashes; everything, in short, in nature, appears to be metamorphosed. +What was thus obviously and distinctly perceptible in grosser bodies was +soon conceived to take place with respect to souls, which were +considered slight, shadowy, and scarcely material figures. The idea of +metempsychosis is perhaps the most ancient dogma of the known world, and +prevails still in a great part of India and of China. + +It is highly probable, again, that the various metamorphoses which we +witness in nature produced those ancient fables which Ovid has collected +and embellished in his admirable work. Even the Jews had their +metamorphoses. If Niobe was changed into a stone, Edith, the wife of +Lot, was changed into a statue of salt. If Eurydice remained in hell for +having looked behind her, it was for precisely the same indiscretion +that this wife of Lot was deprived of her human nature. The village in +which Baucis and Philemon resided in Phrygia is changed into a lake; the +same event occurs to Sodom. The daughters of Anius converted water into +oil; we have in Scripture a metamorphosis very similar, but more true +and more sacred. Cadmus was changed into a serpent; the rod of Aaron +becomes a serpent also. + +The gods frequently change themselves into men; the Jews never saw +angels but in the form of men; angels ate with Abraham. Paul, in his +Second Epistle to the Corinthians, says that an angel of Satan has +buffeted him: "_Angelus Satanæ me colaphizet._" + + + + +METAPHYSICS. + + +"_Trans naturam,_"--beyond nature. But what is that which is beyond +nature? By nature, it is to be presumed, is meant matter, and +metaphysics relates to that which is not matter. + +For example: to your reasoning, which is neither long, nor wide, nor +high, nor solid, nor pointed; your soul, to yourself unknown, which +produces your reasoning. + +Spirits, which the world has always talked of, and to which mankind +appropriated, for a long period, a body so attenuated and shadowy, that +it could scarcely be called body; but from which, at length, they have +removed every shadow of body, without knowing what it was that was left. + +The manner in which these spirits perceive, without any embarrassment, +from the five senses; in which they think, without a head; and in which +they communicate their thoughts, without words and signs. + +Finally, God, whom we know by His works, but whom our pride impels us to +define; God, whose power we feel to be immense; God, between whom and +ourselves exists the abyss of infinity, and yet whose nature we dare to +attempt to fathom. + +These are the objects of metaphysics. We might further add to these the +principles of pure mathematics, points without extension, lines without +width, superficies without thickness, units infinitely divisible, etc. + +Bayle himself considered these objects as those which were denominated +"_entia rationis,_" beings of reason; they are, however, in fact, only +material things considered in their masses, their superficies, their +simple lengths and breadths, and the extremities of these simple lengths +and breadths. All measures are precise and demonstrated. Metaphysics has +nothing to do with geometry. + +Thus a man may be a metaphysician without being a geometrician. +Metaphysics is more entertaining; it constitutes often the romance of +the mind. In geometry, on the contrary, we must calculate and measure; +this is a perpetual trouble, and most minds had rather dream pleasantly +than fatigue themselves with hard work. + + + + +MIND (LIMITS OF THE HUMAN). + + +Newton was one day asked why he stepped forward when he was so inclined; +and from what cause his arm and his hand obeyed his will? He honestly +replied, that he knew nothing about the matter. But at least, said they +to him, you who are so well acquainted with the gravitation of planets, +will tell us why they turn one way sooner than another? Newton still +avowed his ignorance. + +Those who teach that the ocean was salted for fear it should corrupt, +and that the tides were created to conduct our ships into port, were a +little ashamed when told that the Mediterranean has ports and no tide. +Muschembrock himself has fallen into this error. + +Who has ever been able to determine precisely how a billet of wood is +changed into red-hot charcoal, and by what mechanism lime is heated by +cold water? + +The first motion of the heart in animals--is that accounted for? Has it +been exactly discovered how the business of generation is arranged? Has +any one divined the cause of sensation, ideas, and memory? We know no +more of the essence of matter than the children who touch its +superficies. + +Who will instruct us in the mechanism by which the grain of corn, which +we cast into the earth, disposes itself to produce a stalk surmounted +with an ear; or why the sun produces an apple on one tree and a chestnut +on the next to it? Many doctors have said: "What know I not?" Montaigne +said: "What know I?" + +Unbending decider! pedagogue in phrases! furred reasoner! thou inquirest +after the limits of the human mind--they are at the end of thy nose. + + + + +MIRACLES. + + +SECTION I. + +A miracle, according to the true meaning of the word, is something +admirable; and agreeable to this, all is miracle. The stupendous order +of nature, the revolution of a hundred millions of worlds around a +million of suns, the activity of light, the life of animals, all are +grand and perpetual miracles. + +According to common acceptation, we call a miracle the violation of +these divine and eternal laws. A solar eclipse at the time of the full +moon, or a dead man walking two leagues and carrying his head in his +arms, we denominate a miracle. + +Many natural philosophers maintain, that in this sense there are no +miracles; and advance the following arguments: + +A miracle is the violation of mathematical, divine, immutable, eternal +laws. By the very exposition itself, a miracle is a contradiction in +terms: a law cannot at the same time be immutable and violated. But they +are asked, cannot a law, established by God Himself, be suspended by its +author? + +They have the hardihood to reply that it cannot; and that it is +impossible a being infinitely wise can have made laws to violate them. +He could not, they say, derange the machine but with a view of making it +work better; but it is evident that God, all-wise and omnipotent, +originally made this immense machine, the universe, as good and perfect +as He was able; if He saw that some imperfections would arise from the +nature of matter, He provided for that in the beginning; and, +accordingly, He will never change anything in it. Moreover, God can do +nothing without reason; but what reason could induce him to disfigure +for a time His own work? + +It is done, they are told, in favor of mankind. They reply: We must +presume, then, that it is in favor of all mankind; for it is impossible +to conceive that the divine nature should occupy itself only about a few +men in particular, and not for the whole human race; and even the whole +human race itself is a very small concern; it is less than a small +ant-hill, in comparison with all the beings inhabiting immensity. But is +it not the most absurd of all extravagances to imagine that the Infinite +Supreme should, in favor of three or four hundred emmets on this little +heap of earth, derange the operation of the vast machinery that moves +the universe? + +But, admitting that God chose to distinguish a small number of men by +particular favors, is there any necessity that, in order to accomplish +this object, He should change what He established for all periods and +for all places? He certainly can have no need of this inconstancy in +order to bestow favors on any of His creatures: His favors consist in +His laws themselves: he has foreseen all and arranged all, with a view +to them. All invariably obey the force which He has impressed forever on +nature. + +For what purpose would God perform a miracle? To accomplish some +particular design upon living beings? He would then, in reality, be +supposed to say: "I have not been able to effect by my construction of +the universe, by my divine decrees, by my eternal laws, a particular +object; I am now going to change my eternal ideas and immutable laws, to +endeavor to accomplish what I have not been able to do by means of +them." This would be an avowal of His weakness, not of His power; it +would appear in such a being an inconceivable contradiction. +Accordingly, therefore, to dare to ascribe miracles to God is, if man +can in reality insult God, actually offering Him that insult. It is +saying to Him: "You are a weak and inconsistent Being." It is, +therefore, absurd to believe in miracles; it is, in fact, dishonoring +the divinity. + +These philosophers, however, are not suffered thus to declaim without +opposition. You may extol, it is replied, as much as you please, the +immutability of the Supreme Being, the eternity of His laws, and the +regularity of His infinitude of worlds; but our little heap of earth +has, notwithstanding all that you have advanced, been completely covered +over with miracles in every part and time. Histories relate as many +prodigies as natural events. The daughters of the high priest Anius +changed whatever they pleased to corn, wine, and oil; Athalide, the +daughter of Mercury, revived again several times; Æsculapius +resuscitated Hippolytus; Hercules rescued Alcestes from the hand of +death; and Heres returned to the world after having passed fifteen days +in hell. Romulus and Remus were the offspring of a god and a vestal. The +Palladium descended from heaven on the city of Troy; the hair of +Berenice was changed into a constellation; the cot of Baucis and +Philemon was converted into a superb temple; the head of Orpheus +delivered oracles after his death; the walls of Thebes spontaneously +constructed themselves to the sound of a flute, in the presence of the +Greeks; the cures effected in the temple of Æsculapius were absolutely +innumerable, and we have monuments still existing containing the very +names of persons who were eye-witnesses of his miracles. + +Mention to me a single nation in which the most incredible prodigies +have not been performed, and especially in those periods in which the +people scarcely knew how to write or read. + +The philosophers make no answer to these objections, but by slightly +raising their shoulders and by a smile; but the Christian philosophers +say: We are believers in the miracles of our holy religion; we believe +them by faith and not by our reason, which we are very cautious how we +listen to; for when faith speaks, it is well known that reason ought to +be silent. We have a firm and entire faith in the miracles of Jesus +Christ and the apostles, but permit us to entertain some doubt about +many others: permit us, for example, to suspend our judgment on what is +related by a very simple man, although he has obtained the title of +great. He assures us, that a certain monk was so much in the habit of +performing miracles, that the prior at length forbade him to exercise +his talent in that line. The monk obeyed; but seeing a poor tiler fall +from the top of a house, he hesitated for a moment between the desire to +save the unfortunate man's life, and the sacred duty of obedience to his +superior. He merely ordered the tiler to stay in the air till he should +receive further instructions, and ran as fast as his legs would carry +him to communicate the urgency of the circumstances to the prior. The +prior absolved him from the sin he had committed in beginning the +miracle without permission, and gave him leave to finish it, provided he +stopped with the same, and never again repeated his fault. The +philosophers may certainly be excused for entertaining a little doubt of +this legend. + +But how can you deny, they are asked, that St. Gervais and St. Protais +appeared in a dream to St. Ambrose, and informed him of the spot in +which were deposited their relics? that St. Ambrose had them +disinterred? and that they restored sight to a man that was blind? St. +Augustine was at Milan at the very time, and it is he who relates the +miracle, using the expression, in the twenty-second book of his work +called the "City of God," "_immenso populo teste_"--in the presence of +an immense number of people. Here is one of the very best attested and +established miracles. The philosophers, however, say that they do not +believe one word about Gervais and Protais appearing to any person +whatever; that it is a matter of very little consequence to mankind +where the remains of their carcasses lie; that they have no more faith +in this blind man than in Vespasian's; that it is a useless miracle, and +that God does nothing that is useless; and they adhere to the principles +they began with. My respect for St. Gervais and St. Protais prevents me +from being of the same opinion as these philosophers: I merely state +their incredulity. They lay great stress on the well-known passage of +Lucian, to be found in the death of Peregrinus: "When an expert juggler +turns Christian, he is sure to make his fortune." But as Lucian is a +profane author, we ought surely to set him aside as of no authority. + +These philosophers cannot even make up their minds to believe the +miracles performed in the second century. Even eye-witnesses to the +facts may write and attest till the day of doom, that after the bishop +of Smyrna, St. Polycarp, was condemned to be burned, and actually in the +midst of the flames, they heard a voice from heaven exclaiming: +"Courage, Polycarp! be strong, and show yourself a man"; that, at the +very instant, the flames quitted his body, and formed a pavilion of fire +above his head, and from the midst of the pile there flew out a dove; +when, at length, Polycarp's enemies ended his life by cutting off his +head. All these facts and attestations are in vain. For what good, say +these unimpressible and incredulous men, for what good was this miracle? +Why did the flames lose their nature, and the axe of the executioner +retain all its power of destruction? Whence comes it that so many +martyrs escaped unhurt out of boiling oil, but were unable to resist the +edge of the sword? It is answered, such was the will of God. But the +philosophers would wish to see and hear all this themselves, before they +believe it. + +Those who strengthen their reasonings by learning will tell you that the +fathers of the Church have frequently declared that miracles were in +their days performed no longer. St. Chrysostom says expressly: "The +extraordinary gifts of the spirit were bestowed even on the unworthy, +because the Church at that time had need of miracles; but now, they are +not bestowed even on the worthy, because the Church has need of them no +longer." He afterwards declares, that there is no one now who raises the +dead, or even who heals the sick. + +St. Augustine himself, notwithstanding the miracles of Gervais and +Protais, says, in his "City of God": "Why are not such miracles as were +wrought formerly wrought now?" and he assigns the same reason as St. +Chrysostom for it. + +"_Cur inquiunt, nunc illa miracula quæ prædicatis facta esse non fiunt? +Possem quidem dicere necessaria prius fuisse, quam crederet mundus, ad +hoc ut crederet mundus._" + +It is objected to the philosophers, that St. Augustine, notwithstanding +this avowal, mentions nevertheless an old cobbler of Hippo, who, having +lost his garment, went to pray in the chapel of the twenty martyrs, and +on his return found a fish, in the body of which was a gold ring; and +that the cook who dressed the fish said to the cobbler: "See what a +present the twenty martyrs have made you!" + +To this the philosophers reply, that there is nothing in the event here +related in opposition to the laws of nature; that natural philosophy is +not contradicted or shocked by a fish's swallowing a gold ring, or a +cook's delivering such ring to a cobbler; that, in short, there is no +miracle at all in the case. + +If these philosophers are reminded that, according to St. Jerome, in his +"Life of Paul the Hermit," that hermit had many conversations with +satyrs and fauns; that a raven carried to him every day, for thirty +years together, half of a loaf for his dinner, and a whole one on the +day that St. Anthony went to visit him, they might reply again, that all +this is not absolutely inconsistent with natural philosophy; that satyrs +and fauns may have existed; and that, at all events, whether the +narrative be a recital of facts, or only a story fit for children, it +has nothing at all to do with the miracles of our Lord and His apostles. +Many good Christians have contested the "History of St. Simeon +Stylites," written by Theodoret; many miracles considered authentic by +the Greek Church have been called in question by many Latins, just as +the Latin miracles have been suspected by the Greek Church. Afterwards, +the Protestants appeared on the stage, and treated the miracles of both +churches certainly with very little respect or ceremony. + +A learned Jesuit, who was long a preacher in the Indies, deplores that +neither his colleagues nor himself could ever perform a miracle. Xavier +laments, in many of his letters, that he has not the gift of languages. +He says, that among the Japanese he is merely like a dumb statue: yet +the Jesuits have written that he resuscitated eight persons. That was +certainly no trifling matter; but it must be recollected that he +resuscitated them six thousand leagues distant. Persons have since been +found, who have pretended that the abolition of the Jesuits in France is +a much greater miracle than any performed by Xavier and Ignatius. + +However that may be, all Christians agree that the miracles of Jesus +Christ and the apostles are incontestably true; but that we may +certainly be permitted to doubt some stated to have been performed in +our own times, and which have not been completely authenticated. + +It would certainly, for example, be very desirable, in order to the firm +and clear establishment of a miracle, that it should be performed in the +presence of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, or the Royal Society of +London, and the Faculty of Medicine, assisted by a detachment of guards +to keep in due order and distance the populace, who might by their +rudeness or indiscretion prevent the operation of the miracle. + +A philosopher was once asked what he should say if he saw the sun stand +still, that is, if the motion of the earth around that star were to +cease; if all the dead were to rise again; and if the mountains were to +go and throw themselves together into the sea, all in order to prove +some important truth, like that, for instance, of versatile grace? "What +should I say?" answered the philosopher; "I should become a Manichæan; I +should say that one principle counteracted the performance of another." + + +SECTION II. + +Define your terms, you will permit me again to say, or we shall never +understand one another. "_Miraculum res miranda, prodigium, portentum, +monstrum._"--Miracle, something admirable; prodigy, implying something +astonishing; portentous, bearing with it novelty; monster, something to +show ("_à montrer_") on account of its variety. Such are the first ideas +that men formed of miracles. + +As everything is refined and improved upon, such also would be the case +with this definition. A miracle is said to be that which is impossible +to nature. But it was not considered that this was in fact saying all +miracle is absolutely impossible. For what is nature? You understand by +it the eternal order of things. A miracle would therefore be impossible +in such an order. In this sense God could not work a miracle. + +If you mean by miracle an effect of which you cannot perceive the cause, +in that sense all is miracle. The attraction and direction of the magnet +are continual miracles. A snail whose head is renewed is a miracle. The +birth of every animal, the production of every vegetable, are miracles +of every day. + +But we are so accustomed to these prodigies, that they have lost their +name of admirable--of miraculous. The Indians are no longer astonished +by cannon. + +We have therefore formed for ourselves another idea of a miracle. It is, +according to the common opinion, what never has happened and never will +happen. Such is the idea formed of Samson's jawbone of an ass; of the +conversation between the ass and Balaam, and that between a serpent and +Eve; of the chariot with four horses that conveyed away Elijah; of the +fish that kept Jonah in its belly seventy-two hours; of the ten plagues +of Egypt; of the walls of Jericho, and of the sun and moon standing +still at mid-day, etc. + +In order to believe a miracle, it is not enough merely to have seen it; +for a man may be deceived. A fool is often called a dealer in wonders; +and not merely do many excellent persons think that they have seen what +they have not seen, and heard what was never said to them; not only do +they thus become witnesses of miracles, but they become also subjects of +miracles. They have been sometimes diseased, and sometimes cured by +supernatural power; they have been changed into wolves; they have +travelled through the air on broomsticks; they have become both _incubi +_and _succubi. _ + +It is necessary that the miracle should have been seen by a great number +of very sensible people, in sound health, and perfectly disinterested in +the affair. It is above all necessary, that it should have been solemnly +attested by them; for if solemn forms of authentication are deemed +necessary with respect to transactions of very simple character, such as +the purchase of a house, a marriage contract, or a will, what particular +and minute cautionary formalities must not be deemed requisite in order +to verify things naturally impossible, on which the destiny of the world +is to depend? + +Even when an authentic miracle is performed, it in fact proves nothing; +for Scripture tells you, in a great variety of places, that impostors +may perform miracles, and that if any man, after having performed them, +should proclaim another God than that of the Jews, he ought to be stoned +to death. It is requisite, therefore, that the doctrine should be +confirmed by the miracles, and the miracles by the doctrine. + +Even this, however, is not sufficient. As impostors may preach a very +correct and pure morality, the better to deceive, and it is admitted +that impostors, like the magicians of Pharaoh, may perform miracles; it +is in addition necessary, that these miracles should have been announced +by prophecies. + +In order to be convinced of the truth of these prophecies, it is +necessary that they should have been heard clearly announced, and seen +really accomplished. It is necessary to possess perfectly the language +in which they are preserved. + +It is not sufficient, even, that you are a witness of their miraculous +fulfilment; for you may be deceived by false appearances. It is +necessary that the miracle and prophecy should be verified on oath by +the heads of the nation; and even after all this there will be some +doubters. For it is possible for a nation to be interested in the +forgery of a prophecy or a miracle; and when interest mixes with the +transaction, you may consider the whole affair as worth nothing. If a +predicted miracle be not as public and as well verified as an eclipse +that is announced in the almanac, be assured that it is nothing better +than a juggler's trick or an old woman's tale. + + +SECTION III. + +A theocracy can be founded only upon miracles. Everything in it must be +divine. The Great Sovereign speaks to men only in prodigies. These are +his ministers and letters patent. His orders are intimated by the +ocean's covering the earth to drown nations, or opening a way through +its depths, that they may pass upon dry land. + +Accordingly you perceive, that in the Jewish history all is miracle; +from the creation of Adam, and the formation of Eve, who was made of one +of the ribs of Adam, to the time of the insignificant kingling Saul. + +Even in the time of this same Saul, theocracy participates in power with +royalty. There are still, consequently, miracles performed from time to +time; but there is no longer that splendid train of prodigies which +continually astonishes and interrupts nature. The ten plagues of Egypt +are not renewed; the sun and moon do not stand still at mid-day, in +order to give a commander time to exterminate a few runaways, already +nearly destroyed by a shower of stones from the clouds. No Samson again +extirpates a thousand Philistines by the jaw-bone of an ass. Asses no +longer talk rationally with men; walls no longer fall prostrate at the +mere sound of trumpets; cities are not swallowed up in a lake by the +fire of heaven; the race of man is not a second time destroyed by a +deluge. But the finger of God is still manifested; the shade of Saul is +permitted to appear at the invocation of the sorceress, and God Himself +promises David that he will defeat the Philistines at Baal-perazim. + +"God gathers together His celestial army in the reign of Ahab, and asks +the spirits: Who will go and deceive Ahab, and persuade him to go up to +war against Ramoth Gilead? And there came forth a lying spirit and stood +before the Lord and said, I will persuade him." But the prophet Micaiah +alone heard this conversation, and he received a blow on the cheek from +another prophet, called Zedekiah, for having announced the ill-omened +prodigy. + +Of miracles performed in the sight of the whole nation, and changing the +laws of all nature, we see no more until the time of Elijah, for whom +the Lord despatched a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which conveyed +him rapidly from the banks of the Jordan to heaven, although no one knew +where heaven was. + +From the commencement of historical times, that is, from the time of the +conquests of Alexander, we see no more miracles among the Jews. + +When Pompey comes to make himself master of Jerusalem--when Crassus +plunders the temple--when Pompey puts to death the king of the Jews by +the hands of the executioner--when Anthony confers the kingdom of Judæa +on the Arabian Herod--when Titus takes Jerusalem by assault, and when it +is razed to the ground by Arian--not a single miracle is ever performed. +Thus it is with every nation upon earth. They begin with theocracy; they +end in a manner simply and naturally human. The greater the progress +made in society and knowledge, the fewer there are of prodigies. + +We well know that the theocracy of the Jews was the only true one, and +that those of other nations were false; but in all other respects, the +case was precisely the same with them as with the Jews. + +In Egypt, in the time of Vulcan, and in that of Isis and Osiris, +everything was out of the laws of nature; under the Ptolemies everything +resumed its natural course. + +In the remote periods of Phos, Chrysos, and Ephestes, gods and mortals +conversed in Chaldee with the most interesting familiarity. A god warned +King Xissuter that there would be a deluge in Armenia, and that it was +necessary he should, as soon as possible, build a vessel five stadii in +length and two in width. Such things do not happen to the Dariuses and +the Alexanders. + +The fish Oannes, in former times, came every day out of the Euphrates to +preach upon its banks; but there is no preaching fish now. It is true +that St. Anthony of Padua went and preached to the fishes; however, such +things happen so very rarely that they are scarcely to be taken any +account of. + +Numa held long conversations with the nymph Egeria; but we never read +that Cæsar had any with Venus, although he was descended from her in the +direct line. The world, we see, is constantly advancing a little, and +refining gradually. + +But after being extricated out of one slough for a time, mankind are +soon plunged into another. To ages of civilization succeed ages of +barbarism; that barbarism is again expelled, and again reappears: it is +the regular alternation of day and night. + +Of Those Who Have Been So Impiously Rash As To Deny The Miracles Of +Jesus Christ. + +Among the moderns, Thomas Woolston, a learned member of the University +of Cambridge, appears to me to have been the first who ventured to +interpret the Gospels merely in a typical, allegorical, and spiritual +sense, and boldly maintained that not one of the miracles of Jesus was +actually performed. He wrote without method or art, and in a style +confused and coarse, but not destitute of vigor. His six discourses +against the miracles of Jesus Christ were publicly sold at London, in +his own house. In the course of two years, from 1737 to 1739, he had +three editions of them printed, of twenty thousand copies each, and yet +it is now very difficult to procure one from the booksellers. + +Never was Christianity so daringly assailed by any Christian. Few +writers entertain less awe or respect for the public, and no priest ever +declared himself more openly the enemy of priests. He even dared to +justify this hatred by that of Jesus Christ against the Pharisees and +Scribes; and he said that he should not, like Jesus Christ, become their +victim, because he had come into the world in a more enlightened age. + +He certainly hoped to justify his rashness by his adoption of the +mystical sense; but he employs expressions so contemptuous and abusive +that every Christian ear is shocked at them. + +If we may believe him, when Jesus sent the devil into the herd of two +thousand swine, He did neither more nor less than commit a robbery on +their owners. If the story had been told of Mahomet, he would have been +considered as "an abominable wizard, and a sworn slave to the devil." +And if the proprietor of the swine, and the merchants who in the outer +court of the temple sold beasts for sacrifices, and whom Jesus drove out +with a scourge, came to demand justice when he was apprehended, it is +clear that he was deservedly condemned, as there never was a jury in +England that would not have found him guilty. + +He tells her fortune to the woman of Samaria, just like a wandering +Bohemian or Gypsy. This alone was sufficient to cause His banishment, +which was the punishment inflicted upon fortune-tellers, or diviners, by +Tiberius. "I am astonished," says he, "that the gypsies do not proclaim +themselves the genuine disciples of Jesus, as their vocation is the +same. However, I am glad to see that He did not extort money from the +Samaritan woman, differing in this respect from our clergy, who take +care to be well paid for their divinations." + +I follow the order of the pages in his book. The author goes on to the +entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. It is not clear, he says, +whether He was mounted on a male or female ass, or upon the foal of an +ass, or upon all three together. + +He compares Jesus, when tempted by the devil, to St. Dunstan, who seized +the devil by the nose; and he gives the preference to St. Dunstan. + +At the article of the fig-tree, which was cursed with barrenness for not +producing figs out of season for them, he describes Jesus as a mere +vagabond, a mendicant friar, who before He turned field-preacher was "no +better than a journeyman carpenter." It is surprising, he says, that the +court of Rome has not among all its relics some little fancy-box or +joint-stool of His workmanship. In a word, it is difficult to carry +blasphemy further. + +After diverting himself with the probationary fish-pool of Bethesda, the +waters of which were troubled or stirred once in every year by an angel, +he inquires how it could well be, that neither Flavius Josephus, nor +Philo should ever mention this angel; why St. John should be the sole +historian of this miracle; and by what other miracle it happened that no +Roman ever saw this angel, or ever even heard his name mentioned? + +The water changed into wine at the marriage of Cana, according to him, +excites the laughter and contempt of all who are not imbruted by +superstition. + +"What!" says he, "John expressly says that the guests were already +intoxicated, '_methus tosi_'; and God comes down to earth and performs +His first miracle to enable them to drink still more!" + +God, made man, commences His mission by assisting at a village wedding. +"Whether Jesus and His mother were drunk, as were others of the company, +is not certain. The familiarity of the lady with a soldier leads to the +presumption that she was fond of her bottle; that her Son, however, was +somewhat affected by the wine, appears from His answering His mother so +'waspishly and snappishly' as He did, when He said, 'Woman, what have I +to do with thee?' It may be inferred from these words that Mary was not +a virgin, and that Jesus was not her son; had it been otherwise, He +would not have thus insulted His father and mother in violation of one +of the most sacred commandments of the law. However, He complied with +His mother's request; He fills eighteen jars with water, and makes punch +of it." These are the very words of Thomas Woolston, and must fill every +Christian soul with indignation. + +It is with regret, and even with trembling, that I quote these passages; +but there have been sixty thousand copies of this work printed, all +bearing the name of the author, and all publicly sold at his house. It +can never be said that I calumniate him. + +It is to the dead raised again by Jesus Christ that he principally +directs his attention. He contends that a dead man restored to life +would have been an object of attention and astonishment to the universe; +that all the Jewish magistracy, and more especially Pilate, would have +made the most minute investigations and obtained the most authentic +depositions; that Tiberius enjoined all proconsuls, prætors, and +governors of provinces to inform him with exactness of every event that +took place; that Lazarus, who had been dead four whole days, would have +been most strictly interrogated; and that no little curiosity would have +been excited to know what had become, during that time, of his soul. + +With what eager interest would Tiberius and the whole Roman senate have +questioned him, and not indeed only him, but the daughter of Jairus and +the son of the widow of Nain? Three dead persons restored to life would +have been three attestations to the divinity of Jesus, which almost in a +single moment would have made the whole world Christian. But instead of +all this, the whole world, for more than two hundred years, knew nothing +about these resplendent and decisive evidences. It is not till a hundred +years have rolled away from the date of the events that some obscure +individuals show one another the writings that contain the relation of +those miracles. Eighty-nine emperors reckoning those who had only the +name of "tyrants," never hear the slightest mention of these +resurrections, although they must inevitably have held all nature in +amazement. Neither the Jewish historian Josephus, nor the learned Philo, +nor any Greek or Roman historian at all notices these prodigies. In +short, Woolston has the imprudence to say that the history of Lazarus is +so brimful of absurdities that St. John, when he wrote it, had outlived +his senses. + +Supposing, says Woolston, that God should in our own times send an +ambassador to London to convert the hireling clergy, and that ambassador +should raise the dead, what would the clergy say? + +He blasphemes the incarnation, the resurrection, and the ascension of +Jesus Christ, just upon the same system; and he calls these miracles: +"The most manifest and the most barefaced imposture that ever was put +upon the world!" + +What is perhaps more singular still is that each of his discourses is +dedicated to a bishop. His dedications are certainly not exactly in the +French style. He bestows no flattery nor compliments. He upbraids them +with their pride and avarice, their ambition and faction, and smiles +with triumph at the thought of their being now, like every other class +of citizens, in complete subjection to the laws of the state. + +At last these bishops, tired of being insulted by an undignified member +of the University of Cambridge, determined upon a formal appeal to the +laws. They instituted a prosecution against Woolston in the King's +Bench, and he was tried before Chief-Justice Raymond, in 1729, when he +was imprisoned, condemned to pay a fine, and obliged to give security to +the amount of a hundred and fifty pounds sterling. His friends furnished +him with the security, and he did not in fact die in prison, as in some +of our careless and ill-compiled dictionaries he is stated to have done. +He died at his own house in London, after having uttered these words: +"This is a pass that every man must come to." Some time before his +death, a female zealot meeting him in the street was gross enough to +spit in his face; he calmly wiped his face and bowed to her. His manners +were mild and pleasing. He was obstinately infatuated with the mystical +meaning, and blasphemed the literal one; but let us hope that he +repented on his death-bed, and that God has showed him mercy. + +About the same period there appeared in France the will of John Meslier, +clergyman ("_curé_") of But and Entrepigni, in Champagne, of whom we +have already spoken, under the article on "Contradictions". + +It was both a wonderful and a melancholy spectacle to see two priests at +the same time writing against the Christian religion. Meslier is still +more violent than Woolston. He ventures to treat the devil's carrying +off our Lord to the top of a mountain, the marriage of Cana, and the +loaves and fishes, as absurd tales, injurious to the Supreme Being, +which for three hundred years were unknown to the whole Roman Empire, +and at last advanced from the dregs of the community to the throne of +the emperors, when policy compelled them to adopt the nonsense of the +people, in order to keep them the better in subjection. The declamations +of the English priest do not approach in vehemence those of the priest +of Champagne. Woolston occasionally showed discretion. Meslier never has +any; he is a man so sensitively sore to the crimes to which he has been +witness that he renders the Christian religion responsible for them, +forgetting that it condemns them. There is not a single miracle which is +not with him an object of scorn or horror; no prophecy which he does not +compare with the prophecies of Nostradamus. He even goes so far as to +compare Jesus Christ to Don Quixote, and St. Peter to Sancho Panza; and +what is most of all to be deplored is, that he wrote these blasphemies +against Jesus Christ, when he might be said to be in the very arms of +death--at a moment when the most deceitful are sincere, and the most +intrepid tremble. Too strongly impressed by some injuries that had been +done him by his superiors in authority; too deeply affected by the great +difficulties which he met with in the Scripture, he became exasperated +against it more than Acosta and all the Jews; more than Porphyry, +Celsus, Iamblichus, Julian, Libanius, Maximus, Simmachus, or any other +whatever of the partisans of human reason against the divine +incomprehensibilities of our religion. Many abridgments of his work have +been printed; but happily the persons in authority suppressed them as +fast as they appeared. + +A priest of Bonne-Nouvelle, near Paris, wrote also on the same subject; +and it thus happened that at the very time the abbé Becheran and the +rest of the Convulsionaries were performing miracles, three priests were +writing against the genuine Gospel miracles. + +The most clever work that has been written against the miracles and +prophecies is that of my Lord Bolingbroke. But happily it is so +voluminous, so destitute of method, so verbose, and so abounding in long +and sometimes complicated sentences, that it requires a great deal of +patience to read him. + +There have been some minds so constituted that they have been enchanted +by the miracles of Moses and Joshua, but have not entertained for those +of Jesus Christ the respect to which they are entitled. Their +imagination--raised by the grand spectacle of the sea opening a passage +through its depths, and suspending its waves that a horde of Hebrews +might safely go through; by the ten plagues of Egypt, and by the stars +that stopped in their course over Gibeon and Ajalon, etc.--could not +with ease and satisfaction be let down again, so as to admire the +comparatively petty miracles of the water changed into wine, the +withered fig-tree, and the swine drowned in the little lake of Gadara. +Vaghenseil said that it was like hearing a rustic ditty after attending +a grand concert. + +The Talmud pretends that there have been many Christians who, after +comparing the miracles of the Old Testament with those of the New +Testament, embraced Judaism; they consider it impossible that the +Sovereign Lord of Nature should have wrought such stupendous prodigies +for a religion He intended to annihilate. What! they exclaim, can it +possibly be, that for a series of ages He should have exhibited a train +of astonishing and tremendous miracles in favor of a true religion that +was to become a false one? What! can it be that God Himself has recorded +that this religion shall never perish, and that those who attempt to +destroy it shall be stoned to death, and yet that He has nevertheless +sent His own Son, Who is no other than Himself, to annihilate what He +was employed so many ages in erecting? + +There is much more to be added to these remarks; this Son, they +continue, this Eternal God, having made Himself a Jew, adheres to the +Jewish religion during the whole of His life; He performs all the +functions of it, He frequents the Jewish temple, He announces nothing +contrary to the Jewish law, and all His disciples are Jews and observe +the Jewish ceremonies. It most certainly is not He who established the +Christian religion. It was established by the dissident Jews who united +with the Platonists. There is not a single dogma of Christianity that +was preached by Jesus Christ. + +Such is the reasoning of these rash men, who, with minds at once +hypocritical and audacious, dare to criticise the works of God, and +admit the miracles of the Old Testament for the sole purpose of +rejecting those of the New Testament. + +Of this number was the unfortunate priest of Pont-à-Mousson in Lorraine, +called Nicholas Anthony; he was known by no other name. After he had +received what is called "the four minors" in Lorraine, the Calvinistic +preacher Ferri, happening to go to Pont-à-Mousson, raised in his mind +very serious scruples, and persuaded him that the four minors were the +mark of the beast. Anthony, driven almost to distraction by the thought +of carrying about him the mark of the beast, had it immediately effaced +by Ferri, embraced the Protestant religion, and became a minister at +Geneva about the year 1630. + +With a head full of rabbinical learning, he thought that if the +Protestants were right in reference to the Papists, the Jews were much +more so in reference to all the different sects of Christianity +whatever. From the village of Divonne, where he was pastor, he went to +be received as a Jew at Venice, together with a young apprentice in +theology whom he had persuaded to adopt his own principles, but who +afterwards abandoned him, not experiencing any call to martyrdom. + +At first the minister, Nicholas Anthony, abstained from uttering the +name of Jesus Christ in his sermons and prayers; in a short time, +however, becoming animated and emboldened by the example of the Jewish +saints, who confidently professed Judaism before the princes of Tyre and +Babylon, he travelled barefooted to Geneva, to confess before the judges +and magistrates that there is only one religion upon earth, because +there is only one God; that that religion is the Jewish; that it is +absolutely necessary to become circumcised; and that it is a horrible +crime to eat bacon and blood pudding. He pathetically exhorted all the +people of Geneva, who crowded to hear him, no longer to continue +children of Belial, but to become good Jews, in order to deserve the +kingdom of heaven. He was apprehended, and put in chains. + +The little Council of Geneva, which at that period did nothing without +consulting the council of preachers, asked their advice in this +emergency. The most sensible of them recommended that poor Anthony +should be bled in the cephalic vein, use the bath, and be kept upon +gruel and broths; after which he might perhaps gradually be induced to +pronounce the name of Jesus Christ, or at least to hear it pronounced, +without grinding his teeth, as had hitherto been his practice. They +added, that the laws bore with Jews; that there were eight thousand of +them even in Rome itself; that many merchants are true Jews, and +therefore that as Rome admitted within its walls eight thousand children +of the synagogue, Geneva might well tolerate one. At the sound of +"toleration" the rest of the pastors, who were the majority, gnashing +their teeth still more than Anthony did at the name of Jesus Christ, and +also eager to find an opportunity to burn a man, which could not be done +every day, called peremptorily for the burning. They resolved that +nothing could serve more to establish genuine Christianity; that the +Spaniards had obtained so much reputation in the world only by burning +the Jews every year, and that after all, if the Old Testament must +prevail over the New Testament, God would not fail to come and +extinguish the flames of the pile, as he did at Babylon for Shadrach, +Meshac, and Abednego; in which case all must go back again to the Old +Testament; but that, in the meantime, it was indispensable to burn +Nicholas Anthony. On the breaking up of the meeting, they concluded with +the observation: "We must put the wicked out of the way"--the very words +they used. + +The long-headed syndics, Sarasin and Godefroi, agreed that the reasoning +of the Calvinistic sanhedrim was admirable, and by the right of the +strongest party, condemned Nicholas Anthony, the weakest of men, to die +the same death as Calanus and the counsellor Dubourg. This sentence was +carried into execution on April 20, 1632, in a very beautiful lawn or +meadow, called Plain-Palais, in the presence of twenty thousand persons, +who blessed the new law, and the wonderful sense of the syndics Sarasin +and Godefroi. + +The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not renew the miracle of the +furnace of Babylon in favor of poor Anthony. + +Abauzit, an author of great veracity, relates in his notes, that he died +in the greatest constancy, and persisted in his opinions even at the +stake on the pile; he broke out into no passionate invective against his +judges when the executioner was tying him to the stake; he displayed +neither pride nor pusillanimity; he neither wept nor sighed; he was +resigned. Never did martyr consummate his sacrifice with a more lively +faith; never did philosopher contemplate a death of horror with greater +firmness. This clearly proves that his folly or madness was at all +events attended with sincere conviction. + +Let us implore of the God of both the Old and the New Testaments that he +will grant him mercy. + +I would say as much for the Jesuit Malagrida, who was still more +infatuated and mad than Nicholas Anthony; as I would also for the +ex-Jesuits Patouillet and Paulian, should they ever be brought to the +stake. + +A great number of writers, whose misfortune it was to be philosophers +rather than Christians, have been bold enough to deny the miracles of +our Lord; but after the four priests already noticed, there is no +necessity to enumerate other instances. Let us lament over these four +unfortunate men, led astray by their own deceitful reason, and +precipitated by the gloom of their feelings into an abyss so dreadful +and so fatal. + + + + +MISSION. + + +It is far from our object in this article to reflect upon the zeal of +our missionaries, or the truth of our religion; these are sufficiently +known in Christian Europe, and duly respected. + +My object is merely to make some remarks on the very curious and +edifying letters of the reverend fathers, the Jesuits, who are not +equally respectable. Scarcely do they arrive in India before they +commence preaching, convert millions of Indians, and perform millions of +miracles. Far be it from me to contradict their assertions. We all know +how easy it must be for a Biscayan, a Bergamask, or a Norman to learn +the Indian language in a few days, and preach like an Indian. + +With regard to miracles, nothing is more easy than to perform them at a +distance of six thousand leagues, since so many have been performed at +Paris, in the parish of St. Médard. The sufficing grace of the Molinists +could undoubtedly operate on the banks of the Ganges, as well as the +efficacious grace of the Jansenists on those of the river of the +Gobelins. We have, however, said so much already about miracles that we +shall pursue the subject no further. + +A reverend father Jesuit arrived in the course of the past year at +Delhi, at the court of the great Mogul. He was not a man profoundly +skilled in mathematics, or highly gifted in mind, who had come to +correct the calendar, or to establish his fortune, but one of those +poor, honest, zealous Jesuits, one of those soldiers who are despatched +on particular duty by their general, and who obey orders without +reasoning about them. + +M. Andrais, my factor, asked him what his business might be at Delhi. He +replied that he had orders from the reverend father Ricci to deliver the +Great Mogul from the paws of the devil, and convert his whole court. + +THE JESUIT. + +I have already baptized twenty infants in the street, without their +knowing anything at all about the matter, by throwing a few drops of +water upon their heads. They are now just so many angels, provided they +are happy enough to die directly. I cured a poor old woman of the +megrims by making the sign of the cross behind her. I hope in a short +time to convert the Mahometans of the court and the Gentoos among the +people. You will see in Delhi, Agra, and Benares, as many good +Catholics, adorers of the Virgin Mary, as you now do idolaters, adoring +the devil. + +M. ANDRAIS. + +You think then, my worthy father, that the inhabitants of these +countries adore idols and the devil? + +THE JESUIT. + +Undoubtedly, as they are not of my religion. + +M. ANDRAIS. + +Very well. But when there are as many Catholics in India as idolaters, +are you not afraid that they will fight against one another; that blood +will flow for a long period, and the whole country be a scene of pillage +and devastation? This has happened in every country in which you have +obtained a footing hitherto. + +THE JESUIT. + +You make one pause for a moment; but nothing could happen better than +that which you suggest as being so probable. The slaughtered Catholics +would go to paradise--to the garden--and the Gentoos to the everlasting +fire of hell created for them from all eternity, according to the great +mercy of God, and for His great glory; for God is exceedingly glorious. + +M. ANDRAIS. + +But suppose that you should be informed against, and punished at the +whipping post? + +THE JESUIT. + +That would also be for His glory. However, I conjure you to keep my +secret, and save me from the honor and happiness of martyrdom. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 7 +(of 10), by François-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire) + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY *** + +***** This file should be named 35627-0.txt or 35627-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/6/2/35627/ + +Produced by Andrea Ball, Christine Bell & Marc D'Hooghe +at http://www.freeliterature.org (From images generously +made available by the Internet Archive.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |