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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35630 ***
+
+A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY
+
+VOLUME X
+
+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 XIV
+
+E.R. DuMONT
+
+PARIS--LONDON--NEW YORK--CHICAGO
+
+1901
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF PLATES--VOL. X
+
+VOLTAIRE'S REMAINS ON THE BASTILLE--_Frontispiece_
+
+THE DEATH OF SOCRATES
+
+THE VISION
+
+PIERRE CORNEILLE
+
+
+
+
+_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._
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Throned Upon The Ruins Of The Bastille. "For one night,
+upon the ruins of the Bastille, rested the body of Voltaire, on fallen
+wall and broken aroh, above the dungeons where light had faded from the
+lives of men, and hope had died in breaking hearts. The conqueror,
+resting upon the conquered; throned upon the Bastille, the fallen
+fortress of night."--INGERSOLL.]
+
+
+
+
+VOLTAIRE
+
+A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY
+
+IN TEN VOLUMES
+
+VOL. X.
+
+STYLE--ZOROASTER
+
+AND DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, INQUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS
+
+
+
+
+STYLE.
+
+
+It is very strange that since the French people became literary they
+have had no book written in a good style, until the year 1654, when the
+"Provincial Letters" appeared; and why had no one written history in a
+suitable tone, previous to that of the "Conspiracy of Venice" of the
+Abbé St. Réal? How is it that Pellisson was the first who adopted the
+true Ciceronian style, in his memoir for the superintendent Fouquet?
+
+Nothing is more difficult and more rare than a style altogether suitable
+to the subject in hand.
+
+The style of the letters of Balzac would not be amiss for funeral
+orations; and we have some physical treatises in the style of the epic
+poem or the ode. It is proper that all things occupy their own places.
+
+Affect not strange terms of expression, or new words, in a treatise on
+religion, like the Abbé Houteville; neither declaim in a physical
+treatise. Avoid pleasantry in the mathematics, and flourish and
+extravagant figures in a pleading. If a poor intoxicated woman dies of
+an apoplexy, you say that she is in the regions of death; they bury her,
+and you exclaim that her mortal remains are confided to the earth. If
+the bell tolls at her burial, it is her funeral knell ascending to the
+skies. In all this you think you imitate Cicero, and you only copy
+Master Littlejohn....
+
+Without style, it is impossible that there can be a good work in any
+kind of eloquence or poetry. A profusion of words is the great vice of
+all our modern philosophers and anti-philosophers. The "_Système de la
+Nature_" is a great proof of this truth. It is very difficult to give
+just ideas of God and nature, and perhaps equally so to form a good
+style.
+
+As the kind of execution to be employed by every artist depends upon the
+subject of which he treats--as the line of Poussin is not that of
+Teniers, nor the architecture of a temple that of a common house, nor
+music of a serious opera that of a comic one--so has each kind of
+writing its proper style, both in prose and verse. It is obvious that
+the style of history is not that of a funeral oration, and that the
+despatch of an ambassador ought not to be written like a sermon; that
+comedy is not to borrow the boldness of the ode, the pathetic expression
+of the tragedy, nor the metaphors and similes of the epic.
+
+Every species has its different shades, which may, however, be reduced
+to two, the simple and the elevated. These two kinds, which embrace so
+many others, possess essential beauties in common, which beauties are
+accuracy of idea, adaptation, elegance, propriety of expression, and
+purity of language. Every piece of writing, whatever its nature, calls
+for these qualities; the difference consists in the employment of the
+corresponding tropes. Thus, a character in comedy will not utter sublime
+or philosophical ideas, a shepherd spout the notions of a conqueror, not
+a didactic epistle breathe forth passion; and none of these forms of
+composition ought to exhibit bold metaphor, pathetic exclamation, or
+vehement expression.
+
+Between the simple and the sublime there are many shades, and it is the
+art of adjusting them which contributes to the perfection of eloquence
+and poetry. It is by this art that Virgil frequently exalts the eclogue.
+This verse: _Ut vidi ut perii, ut me malus abstulit error!_ (Eclogue
+viii, v. 41)--I saw, I perished, yet indulged my pain! (Dryden)--would
+be as fine in the mouth of Dido as in that of a shepherd, because it is
+nature, true and elegant, and the sentiment belongs to any condition.
+But this:
+
+     _Castaneasque nuces me quas Amaryllis amabat._
+                                  --_Eclogue, ii, v. 52._.
+
+     And pluck the chestnuts from the neighboring grove,
+     Such as my Amaryllis used to love.
+                                        --DRYDEN.
+
+belongs not to an heroic personage, because the allusion is not such as
+would be made by a hero.
+
+These two instances are examples of the cases in which the mingling of
+styles may be defended. Tragedy may occasionally stoop; it even ought to
+do so. Simplicity, according to the precept of Horace, often relieves
+grandeur. _Et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri_ (_Ars Poet._,
+v. 95)--And oft the tragic language humbly flows (Francis).
+
+These two verses in Titus, so natural and so tender:
+
+     _Depuis cinq ans entiers chaque jour je la vois._
+     _Et crois toujours la voir pour la première fois._
+                             --BÉRÉNICE, acte ii, scene 1.
+
+     Each day, for five years, have I seen her face,
+     And each succeeding time appears the first.
+
+would not be at all out of place in serious comedy; but the following
+verse of Antiochus: _Dans l'orient desert quel devint mon ennui!_ (Id.,
+acte i, scene 4)--The lonely east, how wearisome to me!--would not suit
+a lover in comedy; the figure of the "lonely east" is too elevated for
+the simplicity of the buskin. We have already remarked, that an author
+who writes on physics, in allusion to a writer on physics, called
+Hercules, adds that he is not able to resist a philosopher so powerful.
+Another who has written a small book, which he imagines to be physical
+and moral, against the utility of inoculation, says that if the smallpox
+be diffused artificially, death will be defrauded.
+
+The above defect springs from a ridiculous affectation. There is another
+which is the result of negligence, which is that of mingling with the
+simple and noble style required by history, popular phrases and low
+expressions, which are inimical to good taste. We often read in Mézeray,
+and even in Daniel, who, having written so long after him, ought to be
+more correct, that "a general pursued at the heels of the enemy,
+followed his track, and utterly basted him"--_à plate couture_. We read
+nothing of this kind in Livy, Tacitus, Guicciardini, or Clarendon.
+
+Let us observe, that an author accustomed to this kind of style can
+seldom change it with his subject. In his operas, La Fontaine composed
+in the style of his fables; and Benserade, in his translation of Ovid's
+"Metamorphoses," exhibited the same kind of pleasantry which rendered
+his madrigals successful. Perfection consists in knowing how to adapt
+our style to the various subjects of which we treat; but who is
+altogether the master of his habits, and able to direct his genius at
+pleasure?
+
+
+VARIOUS STYLES DISTINGUISHED.
+
+_The Feeble._
+
+Weakness of the heart is not that of the mind, nor weakness of the soul
+that of the heart. A feeble soul is without resource in action, and
+abandons itself to those who govern it. The _heart_ which is weak or
+feeble is easily softened, changes its inclinations with facility,
+resists not the seduction or the ascendency required, and may subsist
+with a strong _mind_; for we may think strongly and act weakly. The weak
+mind receives impressions without resistance, embraces opinions without
+examination, is alarmed without cause, and tends naturally to
+superstition.
+
+A work may be feeble either in its matter or its style; by the
+thoughts, when too common, or when, being correct, they are not
+sufficiently profound; and by the style, when it is destitute of images,
+or turns of expression, and of figures which rouse attention. Compared
+with those of Bossuet, the funeral orations of Mascaron are weak, and
+his style is lifeless.
+
+Every speech is feeble when it is not relieved by ingenious turns, and
+by energetic expressions; but a pleader is weak, when, with all the aid
+of eloquence, and all the earnestness of action, he fails in
+ratiocination. No philosophical work is feeble, notwithstanding the
+deficiency of its style, if the reasoning be correct and profound. A
+tragedy is weak, although the style be otherwise, when the interest is
+not sustained. The best-written comedy is feeble if it fails in that
+which the Latins call the "_vis comica_," which is the defect pointed
+out by Cæsar in Terence: "_Lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta foret
+vis comica!_"
+
+This is above all the sin of the weeping or sentimental comedy
+(_larmoyante_). Feeble verses are not those which sin against rules, but
+against genius; which in their mechanism are without variety, without
+choice expression, or felicitous inversions; and which retain in poetry
+the simplicity and homeliness of prose. The distinction cannot be better
+comprehended than by a reference to the similar passages of Racine and
+Campistron, his imitator.
+
+_Flowery Style._
+
+"Flowery," that which is in blossom; a tree in blossom, a rose-bush in
+blossom: people do not say, flowers which blossom. Of flowery bloom, the
+carnation seems a mixture of white and rose-color. We sometimes say a
+flowery mind, to signify a person possessing a lighter species of
+literature, and whose imagination is lively.
+
+A flowery discourse is more replete with agreeable than with strong
+thoughts, with images more sparkling than sublime, and terms more
+curious than forcible. This metaphor is correctly taken from flowers,
+which are showy without strength or stability.
+
+The flowery style is not unsuitable to public speeches or addresses
+which amount only to compliment. The lighter beauties are in their place
+when there is nothing more solid to say; but the flowery style should be
+banished from a pleading, a sermon, or a didactic work.
+
+While banishing the flowery style, we are not to reject the soft and
+lively images which enter naturally into the subject; a few flowers are
+even admissible; but the flowery style cannot be made suitable to a
+serious subject.
+
+This style belongs to productions of mere amusement; to idyls, eclogues,
+and descriptions of the seasons, or of gardens. It may gracefully occupy
+a portion of the most sublime ode, provided it be duly relieved by
+stanzas of more masculine beauty. It has little to do with comedy,
+which, as it ought to possess a resemblance to common life, requires
+more of the style of ordinary conversation. It is still less admissible
+in tragedy, which is the province of strong passions and momentous
+interests; and when occasionally employed in tragedy or comedy, it is in
+certain descriptions in which the heart takes no part, and which amuse
+the imagination without moving or occupying the soul.
+
+The flowery style detracts from the interest of tragedy, and weakens
+ridicule in comedy. It is in its place in the French opera, which rather
+flourishes on the passions than exhibits them. The flowery is not to be
+confounded with the easy style, which rejects this class of
+embellishment.
+
+_Coldness of Style._
+
+It is said that a piece of poetry, of eloquence, of music, and even of
+painting, is cold, when we look for an animated expression in it, which
+we find not. Other arts are not so susceptible of this defect; for
+instance, architecture, geometry, logic, metaphysics, all the principal
+merit of which is correctness, cannot properly be called warm or cold.
+The picture of the family of Darius, by Mignard, is very cold in
+comparison with that of Lebrun, because we do not discover in the
+personages of Mignard the same affliction which Lebrun has so animatedly
+expressed in the attitudes and countenances of the Persian princesses.
+Even a statue may be cold; we ought to perceive fear and horror in the
+features of an Andromeda, the effect of a writhing of the muscles; and
+anger mingled with courageous boldness in the attitude and on the brow
+of Hercules, who suspends and strangles Antæus.
+
+In poetry and eloquence the great movements of the soul become cold,
+when they are expressed in common terms, and are unaided by imagination.
+It is this latter which makes love so animated in Racine, and so languid
+in his imitator, Campistron.
+
+The sentiments which escape from a soul which seeks concealment, on the
+contrary, require the most simple expression. Nothing is more animated
+than those verses in "The Cid": "Go; I hate thee not--thou knowest it; I
+cannot." This feeling would become cold, if conveyed in studied phrases.
+
+For this reason, nothing is so cold as the timid style. A hero in a poem
+says, that he has encountered a tempest, and that he has beheld his
+friend perish in the storm. He touches and affects, if he speaks with
+profound grief of his loss--that is, if he is more occupied with his
+friend than with all the rest; but he becomes cold, and ceases to affect
+us, if he amuses us with a description of the tempest; if he speaks of
+the source of "the fire which was boiling up the waters, and of the
+thunder which roars and which redoubles the furrows of the earth and of
+the waves." Coldness of style, therefore, often arises from a sterility
+of ideas; often from a deficiency in the power of governing them;
+frequently from a too common diction, and sometimes from one that is
+too far-fetched.
+
+The author who is cold only in consequence of being animated out of time
+and place, may correct this defect of a too fruitful imagination; but he
+who is cold from a deficiency of soul is incapable of self-correction.
+We may allay a fire which is too intense, but cannot acquire heat if we
+have none.
+
+_On Corruption of Style._
+
+A general complaint is made, that eloquence is corrupted, although we
+have models of almost all kinds. One of the greatest defects of the day,
+which contributes most to this defect, is the mixture of style. It
+appears to me, that we authors do not sufficiently imitate the painters,
+who never introduce the attitudes of Calot with the figures of Raphael.
+I perceive in histories, otherwise tolerably well written, and in good
+doctrinal works, the familiar style of conversation. Some one has
+formerly said, that we must write as we speak; the sense of which law
+is, that we should write naturally. We tolerate irregularity in a
+letter, freedom as to style, incorrectness, and bold pleasantries,
+because letters, written spontaneously, without particular object or
+act, are negligent conversations; but when we speak or treat of a
+subject formally, some attention is due to decorum; and to whom ought we
+to pay more respect than to the public?
+
+Is it allowable to write in a mathematical work, that "a geometrician
+who would pay his devotions, ought to ascend to heaven in a right line;
+that evanescent quantities turn up their noses at the earth for having
+too much elevated them; that a seed sown in the ground takes an
+opportunity to release and amuse itself; that if Saturn should perish,
+it would be his fifth and not his first satellite that would take his
+place, because kings always keep their heirs at a distance; that there
+is no void except in the purse of a ruined man; that when Hercules
+treats of physics, no one is able to resist a philosopher of his degree
+of power?" etc.
+
+Some very valuable works are infected with this fault. The source of a
+defect so common seems to me to be the accusation of pedantry, so long
+and so justly made against authors. "_In vitium ducit culpæ fuga._" It
+is frequently said, that we ought to write in the style of good company;
+that the most serious authors are becoming agreeable: that is to say, in
+order to exhibit the manners of good company to their readers, they
+deliver themselves in the style of very bad company.
+
+Authors have sought to speak of science as Voiture spoke to Mademoiselle
+Paulet of gallantry, without dreaming that Voiture by no means exhibits
+a correct taste in the species of composition in which he was esteemed
+excellent; for he often takes the false for the refined, and the
+affected for the natural. Pleasantry is never good on serious points,
+because it always regards subjects in that point of view in which it is
+not the purpose to consider them. It almost always turns upon false
+relations and equivoque, whence jokers by profession usually possess
+minds as incorrect as they are superficial.
+
+It appears to me, that it is as improper to mingle styles in poetry as
+in prose. The macaroni style has for some time past injured poetry by
+this medley of mean and of elevated, of ancient and of modern
+expression. In certain moral pieces it is not musical to hear the
+whistle of Rabelais in the midst of sounds from the flute of Horace--a
+practice which we should leave to inferior minds, and attend to the
+lessons of good sense and of Boileau. The following is a singular
+instance of style, in a speech delivered at Versailles in 1745:
+
+_Speech Addressed to the King (Louis XV.) by M. le Camus, First
+President of the Court of Aids._
+
+"Sire--The conquests of your majesty are so rapid, that it will be
+necessary to consult the power of belief on the part of posterity, and
+to soften their surprise at so many miracles, for fear that heroes
+should hold themselves dispensed from imitation, and people in general
+from believing them.
+
+"But no, sire, it will be impossible for them to doubt it, when they
+shall read in history that your majesty has been at the head of your
+troops, recording them yourself in the field of Mars upon a drum. This
+is to engrave them eternally in the temple of Memory.
+
+"Ages the most distant will learn, that the English, that bold and
+audacious foe, that enemy so jealous of your glory, have been obliged to
+turn away from your victory; that their allies have been witnesses of
+their shame, and that all of them have hastened to the combat only to
+immortalize the glory of the conqueror.
+
+"We venture to say to your majesty, relying on the love that you bear to
+your people, that there is but one way of augmenting our happiness,
+which is to diminish your courage; as heaven would lavish its prodigies
+at too costly a rate, if they increased your dangers, or those of the
+young heroes who constitute our dearest hopes."
+
+
+
+
+SUPERSTITION.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+I have sometimes heard you say--We are no longer superstitious; the
+reformation of the sixteenth century has made us more prudent; the
+Protestants have taught us better manners.
+
+But what then is the blood of a St. Januarius, which you liquefy every
+year by bringing it near his head? Would it not be better to make ten
+thousand beggars earn their bread, by employing them in useful tasks,
+than to boil the blood of a saint for their amusement? Think rather how
+to make their pots boil.
+
+Why do you still, in Rome, bless the horses and mules at St. Mary's the
+Greater? What mean those bands of flagellators in Italy and Spain, who
+go about singing and giving themselves the lash in the presence of
+ladies? Do they think there is no road to heaven but by flogging?
+
+Are those pieces of the true cross, which would suffice to build a
+hundred-gun ship--are the many relics acknowledged to be false--are the
+many false miracles--so many monuments of an enlightened piety?
+
+France boasts of being less superstitious than the neighbors of St.
+James of Compostello, or those of Our Lady of Loretto. Yet how many
+sacristies are there where you still find pieces of the Virgin's gown,
+vials of her milk, and locks of her hair! And have you not still, in the
+church of Puy-en-Velay, her Son's foreskin preciously preserved?
+
+You all know the abominable farce that has been played, ever since the
+early part of the fourteenth century, in the chapel of St. Louis, in the
+Palais at Paris, every Maundy Thursday night. All the possessed in the
+kingdom then meet in this church. The convulsions of St. Médard fall far
+short of the horrible grimaces, the dreadful howlings, the violent
+contortions, made by these wretched people. A piece of the true cross is
+given them to kiss, encased in three feet of gold, and adorned with
+precious stones. Then the cries and contortions are redoubled. The devil
+is then appeased by giving the demoniacs a few sous; but the better to
+restrain them, fifty archers of the watch are placed in the church with
+fixed bayonets.
+
+The same execrable farce is played at St. Maur. I could cite twenty such
+instances. Blush, and correct yourselves.
+
+There are wise men who assert, that we should leave the people their
+superstitions, as we leave them their raree-shows, etc.; that the people
+have at all times been fond of prodigies, fortune-tellers, pilgrimages,
+and quack-doctors; that in the most remote antiquity they celebrated
+Bacchus delivered from the waves, wearing horns, making a fountain of
+wine issue from a rock by a stroke of his wand, passing the Red Sea on
+dry ground with all his people, stopping the sun and moon, etc.; that at
+Lacedæmon they kept the two eggs brought forth by Leda, hanging from the
+dome of a temple; that in some towns of Greece the priests showed the
+knife with which Iphigenia had been immolated, etc.
+
+There are other wise men who say--Not one of these superstitions has
+produced any good; many of them have done great harm: let them then be
+abolished.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+I beg of you, my dear reader, to cast your eye for a moment on the
+miracle which was lately worked in Lower Brittany, in the year of our
+Lord 1771. Nothing can be more authentic: this publication is clothed in
+all the legal forms. Read:--
+
+"_Surprising Account of the Visible and Miraculous Appearance of Our
+Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar; which was worked
+by the Almighty Power of God in the Parish Church of Paimpole, near
+Tréguier, in Lower Brittany, on Twelfth-day._
+
+"On January 6, 1771, being Twelfth-day, during the chanting of the
+_Salve_, rays of light were seen to issue from the consecrated host, and
+instantly the Lord Jesus was beheld in natural figure, seeming more
+brilliant than the sun, and was seen for a whole half-hour, during which
+there appeared a rainbow over the top of the church. The footprints of
+Jesus remained on the tabernacle, where they are still to be seen; and
+many miracles are worked there every day. At four in the afternoon,
+Jesus having disappeared from over the tabernacle, the curate of the
+said parish approached the altar, and found there a letter which Jesus
+had left; he would have taken it up, but he found that he could not lift
+it. This curate, together with the vicar, went to give information of it
+to the bishop of Tréguier, who ordered the forty-hour prayers to be said
+in all the churches of the town for eight days, during which time the
+people went in crowds to see this holy letter. At the expiration of the
+eight days, the bishop went thither in procession, attended by all the
+regular and secular clergy of the town, after three days' fasting on
+bread and water. The procession having entered the church, the bishop
+knelt down on the steps of the altar; and after asking of God the grace
+to be able to lift this letter, he ascended to the altar and took it up
+without difficulty; then, turning to the people, he read it over with a
+loud voice, and recommended to all who could read to peruse this letter
+on the first Friday of every month; and to those who could not read, to
+say five paternosters, and five ave-marias, in honor of the five wounds
+of Jesus Christ, in order to obtain the graces promised to such as shall
+read it devoutly, and the preservation of the fruits of the earth!
+Pregnant women are to say, for their happy delivery, nine paters and
+nine aves for the benefit of the souls in purgatory, in order that their
+children may have the happiness of receiving the holy sacrament of
+baptism.
+
+"All that is contained in this account has been approved by the bishop,
+by the lieutenant-general of the said town of Tréguier, and by many
+persons of distinction who were present at this miracle."
+
+"_Copy of the Letter Found Upon the Altar, at the Time of the Miraculous
+Appearance of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the
+Altar, on Twelfth-day, 1771._
+
+"Everlasting life, everlasting punishments, or everlasting delights,
+none can forego; one part must be chosen--either to go to glory, or to
+depart into torment. The number of years that men pass on earth in all
+sorts of sensual pleasures and excessive debaucheries, of usurpation,
+luxury, murder, theft, slander, and impurity, no longer permitting it to
+be suffered that creatures created in My image and likeness, redeemed by
+the price of My blood on the tree of the cross, on which I suffered
+passion and death, should offend Me continually, by transgressing My
+commands and abandoning My divine law--I warn you all, that if you
+continue to live in sin, and I behold in you neither remorse, nor
+contrition, nor a true and sincere confession and satisfaction, I shall
+make you feel the weight of My divine arm. But for the prayers of My
+dear mother, I should already have destroyed the earth, for the sins
+which you commit one against another. I have given you six days to
+labor, and the seventh to rest, to sanctify My Holy Name, to hear the
+holy mass, and employ the remainder of the day in the service of God My
+Father. But, on the contrary, nothing is to be seen but blasphemy and
+drunkenness; and so disordered is the world that all in it is vanity and
+lies. Christians, instead of taking compassion on the poor whom they
+behold every day at their doors, prefer fondling dogs and other animals,
+and letting the poor die of hunger and thirst--abandoning themselves
+entirely to Satan by their avarice, gluttony, and other vices; instead
+of relieving the needy, they prefer sacrificing all to their pleasures
+and debauchery. Thus do they declare war against Me. And you, iniquitous
+fathers and mothers, suffer your children to swear and blaspheme
+against My holy name; instead of giving them a good education, you
+avariciously lay up for them wealth, which is dedicated to Satan. I tell
+you, by the mouth of God My Father and My dear mother, of all the
+cherubim and seraphim, and by St. Peter, the head of My church, that if
+you do not amend your ways, I will send you extraordinary diseases, by
+which all shall perish. You shall feel the just anger of God My Father;
+you shall be reduced to such a state that you shall not know one
+another. Open your eyes, and contemplate My cross, which I have left to
+be your weapon against the enemy of mankind, and your guide to eternal
+glory; look upon My head crowned with thorns, My feet and hands pierced
+with nails; I shed the last drop of My blood to redeem you, from pure
+fatherly love for ungrateful children. Do such works as may secure to
+you My mercy; do not swear by My Holy Name; pray to Me devoutly; fast
+often; and in particular give alms to the poor, who are members of My
+body--for of all good works this is the most pleasing to Me; neither
+despise the widow nor the orphan; make restitution of that which does
+not belong to you; fly all occasions of sin; carefully keep My
+commandments; and honor Mary My very dear mother.
+
+"Such of you who shall not profit by the warnings I give them, such as
+shall not believe My words, will, by their obstinacy, bring down My
+avenging arm upon their heads; they shall be overwhelmed by
+misfortunes, which shall be the forerunners of their final and unhappy
+end; after which they shall be cast into everlasting flames, where they
+shall suffer endless pains--the just punishment reserved for their
+crimes.
+
+"On the other hand, such of you as shall make a holy use of the warnings
+of God, given them in this letter, shall appease His wrath, and shall
+obtain from Him, after a sincere confession of their faults, the
+remission of their sins, how great soever they may be.
+
+     "With permission, Bourges, July 30, 1771.
+
+          "DE BEAUVOIR, Lieut.-Gen. of Police.
+
+"This letter must be carefully kept, in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ."
+
+N.B.--It must be observed that this piece of absurdity was printed at
+Bourges, without there having been, either at Tréguier or at Paimpole,
+the smallest pretence that could afford occasion for such an imposture.
+However, we will suppose that in a future age some miracle-finder shall
+think fit to prove a point in divinity by the appearance of Jesus Christ
+on the altar at Paimpole, will he not think himself entitled to quote
+Christ's own letter, printed at Bourges "with permission"? Will he not
+prove, by facts, that in our time Jesus worked miracles everywhere? Here
+is a fine field opened for the Houtevilles and the Abadies.
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+_A Fresh Instance of the Most Horrible Superstition._
+
+The thirty conspirators who fell upon the king of Poland, in the night
+of November 3, of the present year, 1771, had communicated at the altar
+of the Holy Virgin, and had sworn by the Holy Virgin to butcher their
+king.
+
+It seems that some one of the conspirators was not entirely in a state
+of grace, when he received into his stomach the body of the Holy
+Virgin's own Son, together with His blood, under the appearance of
+bread; and that while he was taking the oath to kill his king, he had
+his god in his mouth for only two of the king's domestics. The guns and
+pistols fired at his majesty missed him; he received only a slight
+shot-wound in the face, and several sabre-wounds, which were not mortal.
+His life would have been at an end, but that humanity at length combated
+superstition in the breast of one of the assassins named Kosinski. What
+a moment was that when this wretched man said to the bleeding prince:
+"You are, however, my king!" "Yes," answered Stanislaus Augustus, "and
+your good king, who has never done you any harm." "True," said the
+other; "but I have taken an oath to kill you."
+
+They had sworn before the miraculous image of the virgin at Czentoshova.
+The following is the formula of this fine oath: "We ---- who, excited
+by a holy and religious zeal, have resolved to avenge the Deity,
+religion, and our country, outraged by Stanislaus Augustus, a despiser
+of laws both divine and human, a favorer of atheists and heretics, do
+promise and swear, before the sacred and miraculous image of the mother
+of God, to extirpate from the face of the earth him who dishonors her by
+trampling on religion.... So help us God!"
+
+Thus did the assassins of Sforza, of Medici, and so many other holy
+assassins, have masses said, or say them themselves, for the happy
+success of their undertaking.
+
+The letter from Warsaw which gives the particulars of this attempt,
+adds: "The religious who employ their pious ardor in causing blood to
+flow and ravaging their country, have succeeded in Poland, as elsewhere,
+in inculcating on the minds of their affiliated, that it is allowable to
+kill kings."
+
+Indeed, the assassins had been hidden in Warsaw for three days in the
+house of the reverend Dominican fathers; and when these accessory monks
+were asked why they had harbored thirty armed men without informing the
+government of it, they answered, that these men had come to perform
+their devotions, and to fulfil a vow.
+
+O ye times of Châtel, of Guinard, of Ricodovis, of Poltrot, of
+Ravaillac, of Damiens, of Malagrida, are you then returning? Holy
+Virgin, and Thou her holy Son, let not Your sacred names be abused for
+the commission of the crime which disgraced them!
+
+M. Jean Georges le Franc, bishop of Puy-en-Velay, says, in his immense
+pastoral letter to the inhabitants of Puy, pages 258-9, that it is the
+philosophers who are seditious. And whom does he accuse of sedition?
+Readers, you will be astonished; it is Locke, the wise Locke himself! He
+makes him an accomplice in the pernicious designs of the earl of
+Shaftesbury, one of the heroes of the philosophical party.
+
+Alas! M. Jean Georges, how many mistakes in a few words! First, you take
+the grandson for the grandfather. The earl of Shaftesbury, author of the
+"Characteristics" and the "Inquiry Into Virtue," that "hero of the
+philosophical party," who died in 1713, cultivated letters all his life
+in the most profound retirement. Secondly, his grandfather,
+Lord-Chancellor Shaftesbury, to whom you attribute misdeeds, is
+considered by many in England to have been a true patriot. Thirdly,
+Locke is revered as a wise man throughout Europe.
+
+I defy you to show me a single philosopher, from Zoroaster down to
+Locke, that has ever stirred up a sedition; that has ever been concerned
+in an attempt against the life of a king; that has ever disturbed
+society; and, unfortunately, I will find you a thousand votaries of
+superstition, from Ehud down to Kosinski, stained with the blood of
+kings and with that of nations. Superstition sets the whole world in
+flames; philosophy extinguishes them. Perhaps these poor philosophers
+are not devoted enough to the Holy Virgin; but they are so to God, to
+reason, and to humanity.
+
+Poles! if you are not philosophers, at least do not cut one another's
+throats. Frenchmen! be gay, and cease to quarrel. Spaniards! let the
+words "inquisition" and "holy brotherhood" be no longer uttered among
+you. Turks, who have enslaved Greece--monks, who have brutalized
+her--disappear ye from the face of the earth.
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+_Drawn from Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch._
+
+Nearly all that goes farther than the adoration of a supreme being, and
+the submission of the heart to his eternal orders, is superstition. The
+forgiveness of crimes, which is attached to certain ceremonies, is a
+very dangerous one.
+
+     _Et nigras mactant pecudes, et manibu', divis,_
+     _Inferias mittunt._
+                                  --LUCRETIUS, b. iii, 52-53.
+
+     _O faciles nimium, qui tristia crimina cœdis,_
+       _Fluminea tolli posse putatis aqua!_
+                                  --OVID, _Fasti_ ii, 45-46.
+
+You think that God will forget your homicide, if you bathe in a river,
+if you immolate a black sheep, and a few words are pronounced over you.
+A second homicide then will be forgiven you at the same price, and so of
+a third; and a hundred murders will cost you only a hundred black sheep
+and a hundred ablutions. Ye miserable mortals, do better; but let there
+be no murders, and no offerings of black sheep.
+
+What an infamous idea, to imagine that a priest of Isis and Cybele, by
+playing cymbals and castanets, will reconcile you to the Divinity. And
+what then is this priest of Cybele, this vagrant eunuch, who lives on
+your weakness, and sets himself up as a mediator between heaven and you?
+What patent has he received from God? He receives money from you for
+muttering words; and you think that the Being of Beings ratifies the
+utterance of this charlatan!
+
+There are innocent superstitions; you dance on festival days, in honor
+of Diana or Pomona, or some one of the secular divinities of which your
+calendar is full; be it so. Dancing is very agreeable; it is useful to
+the body; it exhilarates the mind; it does no harm to any one; but do
+not imagine that Pomona and Vertumnus are much pleased at your having
+jumped in honor of them, and that they may punish you for having failed
+to jump. There are no Pomona and Vertumnus but the gardener's spade and
+hoe. Do not be so imbecile as to believe that your garden will be hailed
+upon, if you have missed dancing the _pyrrhic_ or the _cordax_.
+
+There is one superstition which is perhaps pardonable, and even
+encouraging to virtue--that of placing among the gods great men who have
+been benefactors to mankind. It were doubtless better to confine
+ourselves to regarding them simply as venerable men, and above all, to
+imitating them. Venerate, without worshipping, a Solon, a Thales, a
+Pythagoras; but do not adore a Hercules for having cleansed the stables
+of Augeas, and for having lain with fifty women in one night.
+
+Above all, beware of establishing a worship for vagabonds who have no
+merit but ignorance, enthusiasm, and filth; who have made idleness and
+beggary their duty and their glory. Do they who have been at best
+useless during their lives, merit an apotheosis after their deaths? Be
+it observed, that the most superstitious times have always been those of
+the most horrible crimes.
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+The superstitious man is to the knave, what the slave is to the tyrant;
+nay more--the superstitious man is governed by the fanatic, and becomes
+a fanatic himself. Superstition, born in Paganism, adopted by Judaism,
+infected the Church in the earliest ages. All the fathers of the Church,
+without exception, believed in the power of magic. The Church always
+condemned magic, but she always believed in it; she excommunicated
+sorcerers, not as madmen who were in delusion, but as men who really had
+intercourse with the devils.
+
+At this day, one half of Europe believes that the other half has long
+been and still is superstitious. The Protestants regard relics,
+indulgences, macerations, prayers for the dead, holy water, and almost
+all the rites of the Roman church, as mad superstitions. According to
+them, superstition consists in mistaking useless practices for necessary
+ones. Among the Roman Catholics there are some, more enlightened than
+their forefathers, who have renounced many of these usages formerly
+sacred; and they defend their adherence to those which they have
+retained, by saying they are indifferent, and what is indifferent cannot
+be an evil.
+
+It is difficult to mark the limits of superstition. A Frenchman
+travelling in Italy thinks almost everything superstitious; nor is he
+much mistaken. The archbishop of Canterbury asserts that the archbishop
+of Paris is superstitious; the Presbyterians cast the same reproach upon
+his grace of Canterbury, and are in their turn called superstitious by
+the Quakers, who in the eyes of the rest of Christians are the most
+superstitious of all.
+
+It is then nowhere agreed among Christian societies what superstition
+is. The sect which appears to be the least violently attacked by this
+mental disease, is that which has the fewest rites. But if, with but few
+ceremonies, it is strongly attached to an absurd belief, that absurd
+belief is of itself equivalent to all the superstitious practices
+observed from the time of Simon the Magician, down to that of the curate
+Gaufredi. It is therefore evident that what is the foundation of the
+religion of one sect, is by another sect regarded as superstitious.
+
+The Mussulmans accuse all Christian societies of it, and are accused of
+it by them. Who shall decide this great cause? Shall not reason? But
+each sect declares that reason is on its side. Force then will decide,
+until reason shall have penetrated into a sufficient number of heads to
+disarm force.
+
+For instance: there was a time in Christian Europe when a newly married
+pair were not permitted to enjoy the nuptial rights, until they had
+bought that privilege of the bishop and the curate. Whosoever, in his
+will, did not leave a part of his property to the Church, was
+excommunicated, and deprived of burial. This was called dying
+unconfessed--i.e., not confessing the Christian religion. And when a
+Christian died intestate, the Church relieved the deceased from this
+excommunication, by making a will for him, stipulating for and enforcing
+the payment of the pious legacy which the defunct should have made.
+
+Therefore it was, that Pope Gregory IX. and St. Louis ordained, after
+the Council of Nice, held in 1235, that every will to the making of
+which a priest had not been called, should be null; and the pope decreed
+that the testator and the notary should be excommunicated.
+
+The tax on sins was, if possible, still more scandalous. It was force
+which supported all these laws, to which the superstition of nations
+submitted; and it was only in the course of time that reason caused
+these shameful vexations to be abolished, while it left so many others
+in existence.
+
+How far does policy permit superstition to be undermined? This is a very
+knotty question; it is like asking how far a dropsical man may be
+punctured without his dying under the operation; this depends on the
+prudence of the physician.
+
+Can there exist a people free from all superstitious prejudices? This is
+asking, Can there exist a people of philosophers? It is said that there
+is no superstition in the magistracy of China. It is likely that the
+magistracy of some towns in Europe will also be free from it. These
+magistrates will then prevent the superstition of the people from being
+dangerous. Their example will not enlighten the mob; but the principal
+citizens will restrain it. Formerly, there was not perhaps a single
+religious tumult, not a single violence, in which the townspeople did
+not take part, because these townspeople were then part of the mob; but
+reason and time have changed them. Their ameliorated manners will
+improve those of the lowest and most ferocious of the populace; of
+which, in more countries than one, we have striking examples. In short,
+the fewer superstitions, the less fanaticism; and the less fanaticism,
+the fewer calamities.
+
+
+
+
+SYMBOL, OR CREDO.
+
+
+We resemble not the celebrated comedian, Mademoiselle Duclos, to whom
+somebody said: "I would lay a wager, mademoiselle, that you know not
+your credo!" "What!" said she, "not know my credo? I will repeat it to
+you. '_Pater noster qui._' ... Help me, I remember no more." For myself,
+I repeat my pater and credo every morning. I am not like Broussin, of
+whom Reminiac said, that although he could distinguish a sauce almost in
+his infancy, he could never be taught his creed or pater-noster:
+
+          _Broussin, dès l'âge le plus tendre,_
+          _Posséda la sauce Robert,_
+     _Sans que son précepteur lui pût jamais apprende_
+          _Ni son credo, ni son pater._
+
+The term "symbol" comes from the word "_symbolein_," and the Latin
+church adopts this word because it has taken everything from the Greek
+church. Even slightly learned theologians know that the symbol, which we
+call apostolical, is not that of all the apostles.
+
+Symbol, among the Greeks, signified the words and signs by which those
+initiated into the mysteries of Ceres, Cybele, and Mythra, recognized
+one another; and Christians in time had their symbol. If it had existed
+in the time of the apostles, we think that St. Luke would have spoken of
+it.
+
+A history of the symbol is attributed to St. Augustine in his one
+hundred and fifteenth sermon; he is made to say, that Peter commenced
+the symbol by saying: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty." John
+added: "Maker of heaven and earth;" James proceeded: "I believe in Jesus
+Christ, His only Son, our Lord," and so on with the rest. This fable has
+been expunged from the last edition of Augustine; and I relate it to
+the reverend Benedictine fathers, in order to know whether this little
+curious article ought to be left out or not.
+
+The fact is, that no person heard anything of this "creed" for more than
+four hundred years. People also say that Paris was not made in a day,
+and people are often right in their proverbs. The apostles had our
+symbol in their hearts, but they put it not into writing. One was formed
+in the time of St. Irenæus, which does not at all resemble that which we
+repeat. Our symbol, such as it is at present, is of the fifth century,
+which is posterior to that of Nice. The passage which says that Jesus
+descended into hell, and that which speaks of the communion of saints,
+are not found in any of the symbols which preceded ours; and, indeed,
+neither the gospels, nor the Acts of the Apostles, say that Jesus
+descended into hell; but it was an established opinion, from the third
+century, that Jesus descended into Hades, or Tartarus, words which we
+translate by that of hell. Hell, in this sense, is not the Hebrew word
+"_sheol_," which signifies "under ground," "the pit"; for which reason
+St. Athanasius has since taught us how our Saviour descended into hell.
+His humanity, says he, was not entirely in the tomb, nor entirely in
+hell. It was in the sepulchre, according to the body, and in hell,
+according to the soul.
+
+St. Thomas affirms that the saints who arose at the death of Jesus
+Christ, died again to rise afterwards with him, which is the most
+general sentiment. All these opinions are absolutely foreign to
+morality. We must be good men, whether the saints were raised once or
+twice. Our symbol has been formed, I confess, recently, but virtue is
+from all eternity.
+
+If it is permitted to quote moderns on so grave a matter, I will here
+repeat the creed of the Abbé de St. Pierre, as it was written with his
+own hand, in his book on the purity of religion, which has not been
+printed, but which I have copied faithfully:
+
+"I believe in one God alone, and I love Him. I believe that He
+enlightens all souls coming into the world; thus says St. John. By that,
+I understand all souls which seek Him in good faith. I believe in one
+God alone, because there can be but one soul of the Great All, a single
+vivifying being, a sole Creator.
+
+"I believe in God, the Father Almighty; because He is the common Father
+of nature, and of all men, who are equally His children. I believe that
+He who has caused all to be born equally, who arranges the springs of
+their life in the same manner, who has given them the same moral
+principles, as soon as they reflect, has made no difference between His
+children but that of crime and virtue.
+
+"I believe that the just and righteous Chinese is more precious to Him
+than the cavilling and arrogant European scholar. I believe that God,
+being our common Father, we are bound to regard all men as our brothers.
+I believe that the persecutor is abominable, and that he follows
+immediately after the poisoner and parricide. I believe that theological
+disputes are at once the most ridiculous farce, and the most dreadful
+scourge of the earth, immediately after war, pestilence, famine, and
+leprosy.
+
+"I believe that ecclesiastics should be paid and well paid, as servants
+of the public, moral teachers, keepers of registers of births and
+deaths; but there should be given to them neither the riches of
+farmers-general, nor the rank of princes, because both corrupt the soul;
+and nothing is more revolting than to see men so rich and so proud
+preach humility through their clerks, who have only a hundred crowns'
+wages.
+
+"I believe that all priests who serve a parish should be married, as in
+the Greek church; not only to have an honest woman to take care of their
+household, but to be better citizens, to give good subjects to the
+state, and to have plenty of well-bred children.
+
+"I believe that many monks should give up the monastic form of life, for
+the sake of the country and themselves. It is said that there are men
+whom Circe has changed into hogs, whom the wise Ulysses must restore to
+the human form."
+
+"Paradise to the beneficent!" We repeat this symbol of the Abbé St.
+Pierre historically, without approving of it. We regard it merely as a
+curious singularity, and we hold with the most respectful faith to the
+true symbol of the Church.
+
+
+
+
+SYSTEM.
+
+
+We understand by system a supposition; for if a system can be proved, it
+is no longer a system, but a truth. In the meantime, led by habit, we
+say the celestial system, although we understand by it the real position
+of the stars.
+
+I once thought that Pythagoras had learned the true celestial system
+from the Chaldæans; but I think so no longer. In proportion as I grow
+older, I doubt of all things. Notwithstanding that Newton, Gregory, and
+Keil honor Pythagoras and the Chaldæans with a knowledge of the system
+of Copernicus, and that latterly M. Monier is of their opinion, I have
+the impudence to think otherwise.
+
+One of my reasons is, that if the Chaldæans had been so well informed,
+so fine and important a discovery would not have been lost, but would
+have been handed down from age to age, like the admirable discoveries of
+Archimedes.
+
+Another reason is that it was necessary to be more widely informed than
+the Chaldæans, in order to be able to contradict the apparent testimony
+of the senses in regard to the celestial appearances; that it required
+not only the most refined experimental observation, but the most
+profound mathematical science; as also the indispensable aid of
+telescopes, without which it is impossible to discover the phases of
+Venus, which prove her course around the sun, or to discover the spots
+in the sun, which demonstrate his motion round his own almost immovable
+axis. Another reason, not less strong, is that of all those who have
+attributed this discovery to Pythagoras, no one can positively say how
+he treated it.
+
+Diogenes Laertius, who lived about nine hundred years after Pythagoras,
+teaches us, that according to this grand philosopher, the number one was
+the first principle, and that from two sprang all numbers; that body has
+four elements--fire, water, air, and earth; that light and darkness,
+cold and heat, wet and dry, are equally distributed; that we must not
+eat beans; that the soul is divided into three parts; that Pythagoras
+had formerly been Atalides, then Euphorbus, afterwards Hermotimus; and,
+finally, that this great man studied magic very profoundly. Diogenes
+says not a word concerning the true system of the world, attributed to
+this Pythagoras; and it must be confessed that it is by no means to an
+aversion to beans that we owe the calculations which at present
+demonstrate the motion of the earth and planets generally.
+
+The famous Arian Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, in his "Evangelical
+Preparation," expresses himself thus: "All the philosophers declare that
+the earth is in a state of repose; but Philolaus, the peripatetic,
+thinks that it moves round fire in an oblique circle, like the sun and
+the moon." This gibberish has nothing in common with the sublime truths
+taught by Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and above all by Newton.
+
+As to the pretended Aristarchus of Samos, who, it is asserted, developed
+the discoveries of the Chaldæans in regard to the motion of the earth
+and other planets, he is so obscure, that Wallace has been obliged to
+play the commentator from one end of him to the other, in order to
+render him intelligible.
+
+Finally, it is very much to be doubted whether the book, attributed to
+this Aristarchus of Samos, really belongs to him. It has been strongly
+suspected that the enemies of the new philosophy have constructed this
+forgery in favor of their bad cause. It is not only in respect to old
+charters that similar forgeries are resorted to. This Aristarchus of
+Samos is also the more to be suspected, as Plutarch accuses him of
+bigotry and malevolent hypocrisy, in consequence of being imbued with a
+direct contrary opinion. The following are the words of Plutarch, in his
+piece of absurdity entitled "The Round Aspect of the Moon." Aristarchus
+the Samian said, "that the Greeks ought to punish Cleanthes of Samos,
+who suggested that the heavens were immovable, and that it is the earth
+which travels through the zodiac by turning on its axis."
+
+They will tell me that even this passage proves that the system of
+Copernicus was already in the head of Cleanthes and others--of what
+import is it whether Aristarchus the Samian was of the opinion of
+Cleanthes, or his accuser, as the Jesuit Skeiner was subsequently
+Galileo's?--it equally follows that the true system of the present day
+was known to the ancients.
+
+I reply, no; but that a very slight part of this system was vaguely
+surmised by heads better organized than the rest. I further answer that
+it was never received or taught in the schools, and that it never formed
+a body of doctrine. Attentively peruse this "Face of the Moon" of
+Plutarch, and you will find, if you look for it, the doctrine of
+gravitation; but the true author of a system is he who demonstrates it.
+
+We will not take away from Copernicus the honor of this discovery. Three
+or four words brought to light in an old author, which exhibit some
+distant glimpse of his system, ought not to deprive him of the glory of
+the discovery.
+
+Let us admire the great rule of Kepler, that the revolutions of the
+planets round the sun are in proportion to the cubes of their distances.
+Let us still more admire the profundity, the justness, and the invention
+of the great Newton, who alone discovered the fundamental reasons of
+these laws unknown to all antiquity, which have opened the eyes of
+mankind to a new heaven.
+
+Petty compilers are always to be found who dare to become the enemies of
+their age. They string together passages from Plutarch and Athenæus, to
+prove that we have no obligations to Newton, to Halley, and to Bradley.
+They trumpet forth the glory of the ancients, whom they pretend have
+said everything; and they are so imbecile as to think that they divide
+the glory by publishing it. They twist an expression of Hippocrates, in
+order to persuade us that the Greeks were acquainted with the
+circulation of the blood better than Harvey. Why not also assert that
+the Greeks were possessed of better muskets and field-pieces; that they
+threw bomb-shells farther, had better printed books, and much finer
+engravings? That they excelled in oil-paintings, possessed
+looking-glasses of crystal, telescopes, microscopes, and thermometers?
+All this may be found out by men, who assure us that Solomon, who
+possessed not a single seaport, sent fleets to America, and so forth.
+
+One of the greatest detractors of modern times is a person named Dutens,
+who finished by compiling a libel, as infamous as insipid, against the
+philosophers of the present day. This libel is entitled the "Tocsin";
+but he had better have called it his clock, as no one came to his aid;
+and he has only tended to increase the number of the Zoilusses, who,
+being unable to produce anything themselves, spit their venom upon all
+who by their productions do honor to their country and benefit mankind.
+
+
+
+
+TABOR, OR THABOR.
+
+
+A famous mountain in Judæa, often alluded to in general conversation. It
+is not true that this mountain is a league and a half high, as
+mentioned in certain dictionaries. There is no mountain in Judæa so
+elevated; Tabor is not more than six hundred feet high, but it appears
+loftier, in consequence of its situation on a vast plain.
+
+The Tabor of Bohemia is still more celebrated by the resistance which
+the imperial armies encountered from Ziska. It is from thence that they
+have given the name of Tabor to intrenchments formed with carriages. The
+Taborites, a sect very similar to the Hussites, also take their name
+from the latter mountain.
+
+
+
+
+TALISMAN.
+
+
+Talisman, an Arabian word, signifies properly "consecration." The same
+thing as "telesma," or "philactery," a preservative charm, figure, or
+character; a superstition which has prevailed at all times and among all
+people. It is usually a sort of medal, cast and stamped under the
+ascendency of certain constellations. The famous talisman of Catherine
+de Medici still exists.
+
+
+
+
+TARTUFFE--TARTUFERIE.
+
+
+Tartuffe, a name invented by Molière, and now adopted in all the
+languages of Europe to signify hypocrites, who make use of the cloak of
+religion. "He is a Tartuffe; he is a true Tartuffe." _Tartuferie_, a new
+word formed from Tartuffe--the action of a hypocrite, the behavior of a
+hypocrite, the knavery of a false devotee; it is often used in the
+disputes concerning the Bull Unigenitus.
+
+
+
+
+TASTE.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+The taste, the sense by which we distinguish the flavor of our food, has
+produced, in all known languages, the metaphor expressed by the word
+"taste"--a feeling of beauty and defects in all the arts. It is a quick
+perception, like that of the tongue and the palate, and in the same
+manner anticipates consideration. Like the mere sense, it is sensitive
+and luxuriant in respect to the good, and rejects the bad spontaneously;
+in a similar way it is often uncertain, divided, and even ignorant
+whether it ought to be pleased; lastly, and to conclude the resemblance,
+it sometimes requires to be formed and corrected by habit and
+experience.
+
+To constitute taste, it is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty
+of a work. We must feel and be affected by it. Neither will it suffice
+to feel and be affected in a confused or ignorant manner; it is
+necessary to distinguish the different shades; nothing ought to escape
+the promptitude of its discernment; and this is another instance of the
+resemblance of taste, the sense, to intellectual taste; for an epicure
+will quickly feel and detect a mixture of two liquors, as the man of
+taste and connoisseur will, with a single glance, distinguish the
+mixture of two styles, or a defect by the side of a beauty. He will be
+enthusiastically moved with this verse in the Horatii:
+
+     _Que voulez-vous qu'il fît contre trois?--Qu'il mourût!_
+
+     What have him do 'gainst three?--Die!
+
+He feels involuntary disgust at the following:
+
+     _Ou qu'un beau désespoir alors le secourût._
+                                      --ACT iii, sc. 6.
+
+     Or, whether aided by a fine despair.
+
+As a physical bad taste consists in being pleased only with high
+seasoning and curious dishes, so a bad taste in the arts is pleased only
+with studied ornament, and feels not the pure beauty of nature.
+
+A depraved taste in food is gratified with that which disgusts other
+people: it is a species of disease. A depraved taste in the arts is to
+be pleased with subjects which disgust accomplished minds, and to prefer
+the burlesque to the noble, and the finical and the affected to the
+simple and natural: it is a mental disease. A taste for the arts is,
+however, much more a thing of formation than physical taste; for
+although in the latter we sometimes finish by liking those things to
+which we had in the first instance a repugnance, nature seldom renders
+it necessary for men in general to learn what is necessary to them in
+the way of food, whereas intellectual taste requires time to duly form
+it. A sensible young man may not, without science, distinguish at once
+the different parts of a grand choir of music; in a fine picture, his
+eyes at first sight may not perceive the gradation, the chiaroscuro
+perspective, agreement of colors, and correctness of design; but by
+little and little his ears will learn to hear and his eyes to see. He
+will be affected at the first representation of a fine tragedy, but he
+will not perceive the merit of the unities, nor the delicate management
+that allows no one to enter or depart without a sufficient reason,
+nor that still greater art which concentrates all the interest in a
+single one; nor, lastly, will he be aware of the difficulties overcome.
+It is only by habit and reflection, that he arrives spontaneously at
+that which he was not able to distinguish in the first instance. In a
+similar way, a national taste is gradually formed where it existed not
+before, because by degrees the spirit of the best artists is duly
+imbibed. We accustom ourselves to look at pictures with the eyes of
+Lebrun, Poussin, and Le Sueur. We listen to musical declamation from the
+scenes of Quinault with the ears of Lulli, and to the airs and
+accompaniments with those of Rameau. Finally, books are read in the
+spirit of the best authors.
+
+If an entire nation is led, during its early culture of the arts, to
+admire authors abounding in the defects and errors of the age, it is
+because these authors possess beauties which are admired by everybody,
+while at the same time readers are not sufficiently instructed to detect
+the imperfections. Thus, Lucilius was prized by the Romans, until Horace
+made them forget him; and Regnier was admired by the French, until the
+appearance of Boileau; and if old authors who stumble at every step
+have, notwithstanding, attained great reputation, it is because purer
+writers have not arisen to open the eyes of their national admirers, as
+Horace did those of the Romans, and Boileau those of the French.
+
+It is said that there is no disputation on taste, and the observation is
+correct in respect to physical taste, in which the repugnance felt to
+certain aliments, and the preference given to others, are not to be
+disputed, because there is no correction of a defect of the organs. It
+is not the same with the arts which possess actual beauties, which are
+discernible by a good taste, and unperceivable by a bad one; which last,
+however, may frequently be improved. There are also persons with a
+coldness of soul, as there are defective minds; and in respect to them,
+it is of little use to dispute concerning predilections, as they possess
+none.
+
+Taste is arbitrary in many things, as in raiment, decoration, and
+equipage, which, however, scarcely belong to the department of the fine
+arts, but are rather affairs of fancy. It is fancy rather than taste
+which produces so many new fashions.
+
+Taste may become vitiated in a nation, a misfortune which usually
+follows a period of perfection. Fearing to be called imitators, artists
+seek new and devious routes, and fly from the pure and beautiful nature
+of which their predecessors have made so much advantage. If there is
+merit in these labors, this merit veils their defects, and the public
+in love with novelty runs after them, and becomes disgusted, which makes
+way for still minor efforts to please, in which nature is still more
+abandoned. Taste loses itself amidst this succession of novelties, the
+last one of which rapidly effaces the other; the public loses its
+"whereabout," and regrets in vain the flight of the age of good taste,
+which will return no more, although a remnant of it is still preserved
+by certain correct spirits, at a distance from the crowd.
+
+There are vast countries in which taste has never existed: such are they
+in which society is still rude, where the sexes have little general
+intercourse, and where certain arts, like sculpture and the painting of
+animated beings, are forbidden by religion. Where there is little
+general intercourse, the mind is straitened, its edge is blunted, and
+nothing is possessed on which a taste can be formed. Where several of
+the fine arts are wanting, the remainder can seldom find sufficient
+support, as they go hand in hand, and rest one on the other. On this
+account, the Asiatics have never produced fine arts in any department,
+and taste is confined to certain nations of Europe.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Is there not a good and a bad taste? Without doubt; although men differ
+in opinions, manners, and customs. The best taste in every species of
+cultivation is to imitate nature with the highest fidelity, energy, and
+grace. But is not grace arbitrary? No, since it consists in giving
+animation and sweetness to the objects represented. Between two men, the
+one of whom is gross and the other refined, it will readily be allowed
+that one possesses more grace than the other.
+
+Before a polished period arose, Voiture, who in his rage for
+embroidering nothings, was occasionally refined and agreeable, wrote
+some verses to the great Condé upon his illness, which are still
+regarded as very tasteful, and among the best of this author.
+
+At the same time, L'Étoile, who passed for a genius--L'Étoile, one of
+the five authors who constructed tragedies for Cardinal Richelieu--made
+some verses, which are printed at the end of Malherbe and Racan. When
+compared with those of Voiture referred to, every reader will allow that
+the verses of Voiture are the production of a courtier of good taste,
+and those of L'Étoile the labor of a coarse and unintellectual
+pretender.
+
+It is a pity that we can gift Voiture with occasional taste only: his
+famous letter from the carp to the pike, which enjoyed so much
+reputation, is a too extended pleasantry, and in passages exhibiting
+very little nature. Is it not a mixture of refinement and coarseness, of
+the true and the false? Was it right to say to the great Condé, who was
+called "the pike" by a party among the courtiers, that at his name the
+whales of the North perspired profusely, and that the subjects of the
+emperor had expected to fry and to eat him with a grain of salt? Was it
+proper to write so many letters, only to show a little of the wit which
+consists in puns and conceits?
+
+Are we not disgusted when Voiture says to the great Condé, on the taking
+of Dunkirk: "I expect you to seize the moon with your teeth." Voiture
+apparently acquired this false taste from Marini, who came into France
+with Mary of Medici. Voiture and Costar frequently cite him as a model
+in their letters. They admire his description of the rose, daughter of
+April, virgin and queen, seated on a thorny throne, extending
+majestically a flowery sceptre, having for courtiers and ministers the
+amorous family of the zephyrs, and wearing a crown of gold and a robe of
+scarlet:
+
+     _Bella figlia d'Aprile,_
+     _Verginella e reina,_
+     _Sic lo spinoso trono_
+     _Del verde cespo assisa,_
+     _De' fior' lo scettro in maestà sostiene;_
+     _E corteggiata intorno_
+     _Da lascivia famiglia_
+     _Di Zefiri ministri,_
+     _Porta d'or' la corona et dostro il manto._
+
+Voiture, in his thirty-fifth letter to Costar, compliments the musical
+atom of Marini, the feathered voice, the living breath clothed in
+plumage, the winged song, the small spirit of harmony, hidden amidst
+diminutive lungs; all of which terms are employed to convey the word
+nightingale:
+
+     _Una voce pennuta, un suon' volante,_
+     _E vestito di penne, un vivo fiato,_
+     _Una piuma canora, un canto alato,_
+     _Un spiritel' che d'armonia composto_
+     _Vive in auguste vise ere nascosto._
+
+The bad taste of Balzac was of a different description; he composed
+familiar letters in a fustian style. He wrote to the Cardinal de la
+Valette, that neither in the deserts of Libya, nor in the abyss of the
+sea, there was so furious a monster as the sciatica; and that if
+tyrants, whose memory is odious to us, had instruments of cruelty in
+their possession equal to the sciatica, the martyrs would have endured
+them for their religion.
+
+These emphatic exaggerations--these long and stately periods, so opposed
+to the epistolary style--these fastidious declamations, garnished with
+Greek and Latin, concerning two middling sonnets, the merits of which
+divided the court and the town, and upon the miserable tragedy of "Herod
+the Infanticide,"--all indicate a time and a taste which were yet to be
+formed and corrected. Even "Cinna," and the "Provincial Letters," which
+astonished the nations, had not yet cleared away the rust.
+
+As an artist forms his taste by degrees, so does a nation. It stagnates
+for a long time in barbarism; then it elevates itself feebly, until at
+length a noon appears, after which we witness nothing but a long and
+melancholy twilight. It has long been agreed, that in spite of the
+solicitude of Francis I., to produce a taste in France for the fine
+arts, this taste was not formed until towards the age of Louis XIV.,
+and we already begin to complain of its degeneracy. The Greeks of the
+lower empire confess, that the taste which reigned in the days of
+Pericles was lost among them, and the modern Greeks admit the same
+thing. Quintilian allows that the taste of the Romans began to decline
+in his days.
+
+Lope de Vega made great complaints of the bad taste of the Spaniards.
+The Italians perceived, among the first, that everything had declined
+among them since their immortal sixteenth century, and that they have
+witnessed the decline of the arts, which they caused to spring up.
+
+Addison often attacks the bad taste of the English in more than one
+department--as well when he ridicules the carved wig of Sir Cloudesley
+Shovel, as when he testifies his contempt for a serious employment of
+conceit and pun, or the introduction of mountebanks in tragedy.
+
+If, therefore, the most gifted minds allow that taste has been wanting
+at certain periods in their country, their neighbors may certainly feel
+it, as lookers-on; and as it is evident among ourselves that one man has
+a good and another a bad taste, it is equally evident that of two
+contemporary nations, the one may be rude and gross, and the other
+refined and natural.
+
+The misfortune is, that when we speak this truth, we disgust the whole
+nation to which we allude, as we provoke an individual of bad taste when
+we seek to improve him. It is better to wait until time and example
+instruct a nation which sins against taste. It is in this way that the
+Spaniards are beginning to reform their drama, and the Germans to create
+one.
+
+_Of National Taste._
+
+There is beauty of all times and of all places, and there is likewise
+local beauty. Eloquence ought to be everywhere persuasive, grief
+affecting, anger impetuous, wisdom tranquil; but the details which may
+gratify a citizen of London, would have little effect on an inhabitant
+of Paris. The English drew some of their most happy metaphors and
+comparisons from the marine, while Parisians seldom see anything of
+ships. All which affects an Englishman in relation to liberty, his
+rights and his privileges, would make little impression on a Frenchman.
+
+The state of the climate will introduce into a cold and humid country a
+taste for architecture, furniture, and clothing, which may be very good,
+but not admissible at Rome or in Sicily. Theocritus and Virgil, in their
+eclogues, boast of the shades and of the cooling freshness of the
+fountains. Thomson, in his "Seasons," dwells upon contrary attractions.
+
+An enlightened nation with little sociability will not have the same
+points of ridicule as a nation equally intellectual, which gives in to
+the spirit of society even to indiscretion; and, in consequence, these
+two nations will differ materially in their comedy. Poetry will be very
+different in a country where women are secluded, and in another in
+which they enjoy liberty without bounds.
+
+But it will always be true that the pastoral painting of Virgil exceeds
+that of Thomson, and that there has been more taste on the banks of the
+Tiber than on those of the Thames; that the natural scenes of the Pastor
+Fido are incomparably superior to the shepherdizing of Racan; and that
+Racine and Molière are inspired persons in comparison with the
+dramatists of other theatres.
+
+_On the Taste of Connoisseurs._
+
+In general, a refined and certain taste consists in a quick feeling of
+beauty amidst defects, and defects amidst beauties. The epicure is he
+who can discern the adulteration of wines, and feel the predominating
+flavor in his viands, of which his associates entertain only a confused
+and general perception.
+
+Are not those deceived who say, that it is a misfortune to possess too
+refined a taste, and to be too much of a connoisseur; that in
+consequence we become too much occupied by defects, and insensible to
+beauties, which are lost by this fastidiousness? Is it not, on the
+contrary, certain that men of taste alone enjoy true pleasure, who see,
+hear, and feel, that which escapes persons less sensitively organized,
+and less mentally disciplined?
+
+The connoisseur in music, in painting, in architecture, in poetry, in
+medals, etc., experiences sensations of which the vulgar have no
+comprehension; the discovery even of a fault pleases him, and makes him
+feel the beauties with more animation. It is the advantage of a good
+sight over a bad one. The man of taste has other eyes, other ears, and
+another tact from the uncultivated man; he is displeased with the poor
+draperies of Raphael, but he admires the noble purity of his conception.
+He takes a pleasure in discovering that the children of Laocoon bear no
+proportion to the height of their father, but the whole group makes him
+tremble, while other spectators are unmoved.
+
+The celebrated sculptor, man of letters and of genius, who placed the
+colossal statue of Peter the Great at St. Petersburg, criticises with
+reason the attitude of the Moses of Michelangelo, and his small, tight
+vest, which is not even an Oriental costume; but, at the same time, he
+contemplates the air and expression of the head with ecstasy.
+
+_Rarity of Men of Taste._
+
+It is afflicting to reflect on the prodigious number of men--above all,
+in cold and damp climates--who possess not the least spark of taste, who
+care not for the fine arts, who never read, and of whom a large portion
+read only a journal once a month, in order to be put in possession of
+current matter, and to furnish themselves with the ability of saying
+things at random, on subjects in regard to which they have only confused
+ideas.
+
+Enter into a small provincial town: how rarely will you find more than
+one or two good libraries, and those private. Even in the capital of the
+provinces which possess academies, taste is very rare.
+
+It is necessary to select the capital of a great kingdom to form the
+abode of taste, and yet even there it is very partially divided among a
+small number, the populace being wholly excluded. It is unknown to the
+families of traders, and those who are occupied in making fortunes, who
+are either engrossed with domestic details, or divided between
+unintellectual idleness and a game at cards. Every place which contains
+the courts of law, the offices of revenue, government, and commerce, is
+closed against the fine arts. It is the reproach of the human mind that
+a taste for the common and ordinary introduces only opulent idleness. I
+knew a commissioner in one of the offices at Versailles, who exclaimed:
+"I am very unhappy; I have not time to acquire a taste."
+
+In a town like Paris, peopled with more than six hundred thousand
+persons, I do not think there are three thousand who cultivate a taste
+for the fine arts. When a dramatic masterpiece is represented, a
+circumstance so very rare, people exclaim: "All Paris is enchanted," but
+only three thousand copies, more or less, are printed.
+
+Taste, then, like philosophy, belongs only to a small number of
+privileged souls. It was, therefore, great happiness for France to
+possess, in Louis XIV., a king born with taste.
+
+     _Pauci, quos æquus amavit_
+     _Jupiter, aut ardens, evexit ad æthera virtus_
+     _Dis geniti, potuere._
+                              --ÆNEID, b. vi, v. 129 and s.
+
+     To few great Jupiter imparts his grace,
+     And those of shining worth and heavenly race.
+                                        --DRYDEN.
+
+Ovid has said in vain, that God has created us to look up to heaven:
+"_Erectos ad sidera tollere vultus_." Men are always crouching on the
+ground. Why has a misshapen statue, or a bad picture, where the figures
+are disproportionate, never passed for a masterpiece? Why has an
+ill-built house never been regarded as a fine monument of architecture?
+Why in music will not sharp and discordant sounds please the ears of any
+one? And yet, very bad and barbarous tragedies, written in a style
+perfectly Allobrogian, have succeeded, even after the sublime scenes of
+Corneille, the affecting ones of Racine, and the fine pieces written
+since the latter poet. It is only at the theatre that we sometimes see
+detestable compositions succeed both in tragedy and comedy.
+
+What is the reason of it? It is, that a species of delusion prevails at
+the theatre; it is, that the success depends upon two or three actors,
+and sometimes even upon a single one; and, above all, that a cabal is
+formed in favor of such pieces, whilst men of taste never form any. This
+cabal often lasts for an entire generation, and it is so much the more
+active, as its object is less to elevate the bad author than to depress
+the good one. A century possibly is necessary to adjust the real value
+of things in the drama.
+
+There are three kinds of taste, which in the long run prevail in the
+empire of the arts. Poussin was obliged to quit France and leave the
+field to an inferior painter; Le Moine killed himself in despair; and
+Vanloo was near quitting the kingdom, to exercise his talents elsewhere.
+Connoisseurs alone have put all of them in possession of the rank
+belonging to them. We often witness all kinds of bad works meet with
+prodigious success. The solecisms, barbarisms, false statement, and
+extravagant bombast, are not felt for awhile, because the cabal and the
+senseless enthusiasm of the vulgar produce an intoxication which
+discriminates in nothing. The connoisseurs alone bring back the public
+in due time; and it is the only difference which exists between the most
+enlightened and the most cultivated of nations for the vulgar of Paris
+are in no respect beyond; the vulgar of other countries; but in Paris
+there is a sufficient number of correct opinions to lead the crowd. This
+crowd is rapidly excited in popular movements, but many years are
+necessary to establish in it a general good taste in the arts.
+
+
+
+
+TAUROBOLIUM.
+
+
+Taurobolium, a sacrifice of expiation, very common in the third and
+fourth centuries. The throat of a bull was cut on a great stone slightly
+hollowed and perforated in various places. Underneath this stone was a
+trench, in which the person whose offence called for expiation received
+upon his body and his face the blood of the immolated animal. Julian the
+Philosopher condescended to submit to this expiation, to reconcile
+himself to the priests of the Gentiles.
+
+
+
+
+TAX--FEE.
+
+
+Pope Pius II., in an epistle to John Peregal, acknowledges that the
+Roman court gives nothing without money; it sells even the imposition of
+hands and the gifts of the Holy Ghost; nor does it grant the remission
+of sins to any but the rich.
+
+Before him, St. Antonine, archbishop of Florence, had observed that in
+the time of Boniface IX., who died in 1404, the Roman court was so
+infamously stained with simony, that benefices were conferred, not so
+much on merit, as on those who brought a deal of money. He adds, that
+this pope filled the world with plenary indulgences; so that the small
+churches, on their festival days, obtained them at a low price.
+
+That pontiff's secretary, Theodoric de Nieur, does indeed inform us,
+that Boniface sent questors into different kingdoms, to sell indulgences
+to such as should offer them as much money as it would have cost them to
+make a journey to Rome to fetch them; so that they remitted all sins,
+even without penance, to such as confessed, and granted them, for
+money, dispensations for irregularities of every sort; saying, that they
+had in that respect all the power which Christ had granted to Peter, of
+binding and unbinding on earth.
+
+And, what is still more singular, the price of every crime is fixed in a
+Latin work, printed at Rome by order of Leo X., and published on
+November 18, 1514, under the title of "Taxes of the Holy and Apostolic
+Chancery and Penitentiary."
+
+Among many other editions of this book, published in different
+countries, the Paris edition--quarto 1520, Toussaint Denis, Rue St.
+Jacques, at the wooden cross, near St. Yves, with the king's privilege,
+for three years--bears in the frontispiece the arms of France, and those
+of the house of Medici, to which Leo N. belonged. This must have
+deceived the author of the "Picture of the Popes" (_Tableau de Papes_),
+who attributes the establishment of these taxes to Leo X., although
+Polydore Virgil, and Cardinal d'Ossat agree in fixing the period of the
+invention of the chancery tax about the year 1320, and the commencement
+of the penitentiary tax about sixteen years later, in the time of
+Benedict XII.
+
+To give some idea of these taxes, we will here copy a few articles from
+the chapter of absolutions: Absolution for one who has carnally known
+his mother, his sister, etc., costs five drachmas. Absolution for one
+who has deflowered a virgin, six drachmas. Absolution for one who has
+revealed another's confession, seven drachmas. Absolution for one who
+has killed his father, his mother, etc., five drachmas. And so of other
+sins, as we shall shortly see; but, at the end of the book, the prices
+are estimated in ducats.
+
+A sort of letters too are here spoken of, called confessional, by which,
+at the approach of death, the pope permits a confessor to be chosen, who
+gives full pardon for every sin; these letters are granted only to
+princes, and not to them without great difficulty. These particulars
+will be found in page 32 of the Paris edition.
+
+The court of Rome was at length ashamed of this book, and suppressed it
+as far as it was able. It was even inserted in the expurgatory index of
+the Council of Trent, on the false supposition that heretics had
+corrupted it.
+
+It is true that Antoine Du Pinet, a French gentleman of Franche-Comté,
+had an abstract of it printed at Lyons in 1564, under this title:
+"Casual Perquisites of the Pope's Shop" (_Taxes des Parties Casuelles de
+la Boutique du Pape_), "taken from the Decrees, Councils, and Canons,
+ancient and modern, in order to verify the discipline formerly observed
+in the Church; by A.D.P." But, although, he does not inform us that his
+work is but an abridgment of the other, yet, far from corrupting his
+original, he on the contrary strikes out of it some odious passages,
+such as the following, beginning page 23, line 9 from the bottom, in
+the Paris edition: "And carefully observe, that these kinds of graces
+and dispensations are not granted to the poor, because, not having
+wherewith, they cannot be consoled."
+
+It is also true, that Du Pinet estimates these taxes in tournois,
+ducats, and carlins; but, as he observes (page 42) that the carlins and
+the drachmas are of the same value, the substituting for the tax of
+five, six, or seven drachmas in the original, the like number of
+carlins, is not falsifying it. We have a proof of this in the four
+articles already quoted from the original.
+
+Absolution--says Du Pinet--for one who has a carnal knowledge of his
+mother, his sister, or any of his kindred by birth or affinity, or his
+godmother, is taxed at five carlins. Absolution for one who deflowers a
+young woman, is taxed at six carlins. Absolution for one who reveals the
+confession of a penitent, is taxed at seven carlins. Absolution for one
+who has killed his father, his mother, his brother, his sister, his
+wife, or any of his kindred--they being of the laity--is taxed at five
+carlins; for if the deceased was an ecclesiastic, the homicide would be
+obliged to visit the sanctuary. We will here repeat a few others.
+
+Absolution--continues Du Pinet--for any act of fornication whatsoever,
+committed by a clerk, whether with a nun in the cloister or out of the
+cloister, or with any of his kinswomen, or with his spiritual daughter,
+or with any other woman whatsoever, costs thirty-six tournois, three
+ducats. Absolution for a priest who keeps a concubine, twenty-one
+tournois, live ducats, six carlins. The absolution of a layman for all
+sorts of sins of the flesh, is given at the tribunal of conscience for
+six tournois, two ducats.
+
+The absolution of a layman for the crime of adultery, given at the
+tribunal of conscience, costs four tournois; and if the adultery is
+accompanied by incest, six tournois must be paid per head. If, besides
+these crimes, is required the absolution of the sin against nature, or
+of bestiality, there must be paid ninety tournois, twelve ducats, six
+carlins; but if only the absolution of the crime against nature, or of
+bestiality, is required, it will cost only thirty-six tournois, nine
+ducats.
+
+A woman who has taken a beverage to procure an abortion, or the father
+who has caused her to take it, shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight
+carlins; and if a stranger has given her the said beverage, he shall pay
+four tournois, one ducat, five carlins.
+
+A father, a mother, or any other relative, who has smothered a child,
+shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight carlins; and if it has been
+killed by the husband and wife together, they shall pay six tournois,
+two ducats.
+
+The tax granted by the datary for the contracting of marriage out of the
+permitted seasons, is twenty carlins; and in the permitted periods, if
+the contracting parties are the second or third degree of kindred, it
+is commonly twenty-five ducats, and four for expediting the bulls; and
+in the fourth degree, seven tournois, one ducat, six carlins.
+
+The dispensation of a layman from fasting on the days appointed by the
+Church, and the permission to eat cheese, are taxed at twenty carlins.
+The permission to eat meat and eggs on forbidden days is taxed at twelve
+carlins; and that to eat butter, cheese, etc., at six tournois for one
+person only; and at twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins for a
+whole family, or for several relatives.
+
+The absolution of an apostate and a vagabond, who wishes to return into
+the pale of the Church, costs twelve tournois, three ducats, six
+carlins. The absolution and reinstatement of one who is guilty of
+sacrilege, robbery, burning, rapine, perjury, and the like, is taxed at
+thirty-six tournois, nine ducats.
+
+Absolution for a servant who detains his deceased master's property, for
+the payment of his wages, and after receiving notice does not restore
+it, provided the property so detained does not exceed the amount of his
+wages, is taxed in the tribunal of conscience at only six tournois, two
+ducats. For changing the clauses of a will, the ordinary tax is twelve
+tournois, three ducats, six carlins. The permission to change one's
+proper name costs nine tournois, two ducats, nine carlins; and to change
+the surname and mode of signing, six tournois, two ducats. The
+permission to have a portable altar for one person only, is taxed at
+ten carlins: and to have a domestic chapel on account of the distance of
+the parish church, and furnish it with baptismal fonts and chaplains,
+thirty carlins.
+
+Lastly, the permission to convey merchandise, one or more times, to the
+countries of the infidels, and in general to traffic and sell
+merchandise without being obliged to obtain permission from the temporal
+lords of the respected places, even though they be kings or emperors,
+with all the very ample derogatory clauses, is taxed at only twenty-four
+tournois, six ducats.
+
+This permission, which supersedes that of the temporal lords, is a fresh
+evidence of the papal pretensions, which we have already spoken of in
+the article on "Bull." Besides, it is known that all rescripts, or
+expeditions for benefices, are still paid for at Rome according to the
+tax; and this charge always falls at last on the laity, by the
+impositions which the subordinate clergy exact from them. We shall here
+notice only the fees for marriages and burials.
+
+A decree of the Parliament of Paris, of May 19, 1409, provides that
+every one shall be at liberty to sleep with his wife as soon as he
+pleases after the celebration of the marriage, without waiting for leave
+from the bishop of Amiens, and without paying the fee required by that
+prelate for taking off his prohibitions to consummate the marriage
+during the first three nights of the nuptials. The monks of St. Stephen
+of Nevers were deprived of the same fee by another decree of September
+27, 1591. Some theologians have asserted, that it took its origin from
+the fourth Council of Carthage, which had ordained it for the reverence
+of the matrimonial benediction. But as that council did not order its
+prohibition to be evaded by paying, it is more likely that this tax was
+a consequence of the infamous custom which gave to certain lords the
+first nuptial night of the brides of their vassals. Buchanan thinks that
+this usage began in Scotland under King Evan.
+
+Be this as it may, the lords of Prellay and Persanny, in Piedmont,
+called this privilege "_carrajio_"; but having refused to commute it for
+a reasonable payment, the vassals revolted, and put themselves under
+Amadeus VI., fourteenth count of Savoy.
+
+There is still preserved a _procès-verbal_, drawn up by M. Jean Fraguier,
+auditor in the _Chambre des Comptes_, at Paris, by virtue of a decree of
+the said chamber of April 7, 1507, for valuing the county of Eu, fallen
+into the king's keeping by the minority of the children of the count of
+Nevers, and his wife Charlotte de Bourbon. In the chapter of the revenue
+of the barony of St. Martin-le-Gaillard, dependent on the county of Eu,
+it is said: "Item, the said lord, at the said place of St. Martin, has
+the right of 'cuissage' in case of marriage."
+
+The lords of Souloire had the like privilege, and having omitted it in
+the acknowledgment made by them to their sovereign, the lord of
+Montlevrier, the acknowledgment was disapproved; but by deed of Dec.
+15, 1607, the sieur de Montlevrier formally renounced it; and these
+shameful privileges have everywhere been converted into small payments,
+called "marchetta."
+
+Now, when our prelates had fiefs, they thought--as the judicious Fleury
+remarks--that they had as bishops what they possessed only as lords; and
+the curates, as their under-vassals, bethought themselves of blessing
+their nuptial bed, which brought them a small fee under the name of
+wedding-dishes--i.e., their dinner, in money or in kind. On one of these
+occasions the following quatrain was put by a country curate under the
+pillow of a very aged president, who married a young woman named La
+Montagne. He alludes to Moses' horns, which are spoken of in Exodus.
+
+     _Le Président à barbe grise_
+     _Sur La Montagne va monter;_
+     _Mais certes il peut bien compter_
+     _D'en descendre comme Moïse._
+
+A word or two on the fees exacted by the clergy for the burial of the
+laity. Formerly, at the decease of each individual, the bishops had the
+contents of his will made known to them; and forbade those to receive
+the rights of sepulchre who had died "unconfessed," i.e., left no legacy
+to the Church, unless the relatives went to the official, who
+commissioned a priest, or some other ecclesiastic, to repair the fault
+of the deceased, and make a legacy in his name. The curates also opposed
+the profession of such as wished to turn monks, until they had paid
+their burial-fees; saying that since they died to the world, it was but
+right that they should discharge what would have been due from them had
+they been interred.
+
+But the frequent disputes occasioned by these vexations obliged the
+magistrates to fix the rate of these singular fees. The following is
+extracted from a regulation on this subject, brought in by Francis de
+Harlai de Chamvallon, archbishop of Paris, on May 30, 1693, and passed
+in the court of parliament on the tenth of June following:
+
+                   _Marriages._
+                                             Liv. Sous.
+  For the publication of the bans..........    1   10
+
+  For the betrothing.......................    2    0
+
+  For celebrating the marriage.............    6    0
+
+  For the certificate of the publication of
+    the bans, and the permission given to
+    the future husband to go and be married
+    in the parish of his future wife.......    5    0
+
+  For the wedding mass.....................    1   10
+
+  For the vicar............................    1   10
+
+  For the clerk of the sacrament...........    1   10
+
+  For blessing the bed.....................    1   10
+
+
+              _Funeral Processions._
+
+    Of children under seven years old, when
+      the clergy do not go in a body:
+  For the curate...........................    1   10
+
+  For each priest..........................    1   10
+
+    When the clergy go in a body:
+  For the curial fee.......................    4    0
+
+  For the presence of the curate...........    2    0
+
+  For each priest..........................    0   10
+
+  For the vicar............................    1   10
+
+  For each singing-boy, when they carry
+    the body...............................    8    0
+
+  And when they do not carry it............    5    0
+    And so of young persons from seven to
+      twelve years old.
+
+    Of persons above twelve years old:
+  For the curial fee.......................    6    0
+
+  For the curate's attendance..............    4    0
+
+  For each vicar...........................    2    0
+
+  For the priest...........................    1    0
+
+  For each singing-boy.....................    0   10
+
+  Each of the priests that watch the body
+    in the night, for drink, etc...........    3    0
+
+  And in the day, each.....................    2    0
+
+  For the celebration of the mass..........    1    0
+
+  For the service extraordinary; called the
+    complete service; viz., the vigils and
+    the two masses of the Holy Ghost and
+    the Holy Virgin........................    4   10
+
+  For each of the priests that carry the
+    body...................................    1    0
+
+  For carrying the great cross.............    0   10
+
+  For the holy water-pot carrier...........    0    5
+
+  For carrying the little cross............    0    5
+
+  For the clerk of the processions.........    0    1
+
+    For conveying bodies from one church to
+      another there shall be paid, for each
+      of the above fees, one-half more.
+
+  For the reception of bodies thus conveyed:
+  To the curate............................    6   10
+
+  To the vicar.............................    1   10
+
+  To each priest...........................    0   15
+
+
+
+
+TEARS.
+
+
+Tears are the silent language of grief. But why? What relation is there
+between a melancholy idea and this limpid and briny liquid filtered
+through a little gland into the external corner of the eye which
+moistens the conjunctiva and little lachrymal points, whence it descends
+into the nose and mouth by the reservoir called the lachrymal duct, and
+by its conduits? Why in women and children, whose organs are of a
+delicate texture, are tears more easily excited by grief than in men,
+whose formation is firmer?
+
+Has nature intended to excite compassion in us at the sight of these
+tears, which soften us and lead us to help those who shed them? The
+female savage is as strongly determined to assist her child who cries,
+as a lady of the court would be, and perhaps more so, because she has
+fewer distractions and passions.
+
+Everything in the animal body has, no doubt, its object. The eyes,
+particularly, have mathematical relations so evident, so demonstrable,
+so admirable with the rays of light; this mechanism is so divine, that I
+should be tempted to take for the delirium of a high fever, the audacity
+of denying the final causes of the structure of our eyes. The use of
+tears appears not to have so determined and striking an object; but it
+is probable that nature caused them to flow in order to excite us to
+pity.
+
+There are women who are accused of weeping when they choose. I am not at
+all surprised at their talent. A lively, sensible, and tender
+imagination can fix upon some object, on some melancholy recollection,
+and represent it in such lively colors as to draw tears; which happens
+to several performers, and particularly to actresses on the stage.
+
+Women who imitate them in the interior of their houses, join to this
+talent the little fraud of appearing to weep for their husbands, while
+they really weep for their lovers. Their tears are true, but the object
+of them is false.
+
+It is impossible to affect tears without a subject, in the same manner
+as we can affect to laugh. We must be sensibly touched to force the
+lachrymal gland to compress itself, and to spread its liquor on the
+orbit of the eye; but the will alone is required to laugh.
+
+We demand why the same man, who has seen with a dry eye the most
+atrocious events, and even committed crimes with sang-froid, will weep
+at the theatre at the representation of similar events and crimes? It
+is, that he sees them not with the same eyes; he sees them with those of
+the author and the actor. He is no longer the same man; he was
+barbarous, he was agitated with furious passions, when he saw an
+innocent woman killed, when he stained himself with the blood of his
+friend; he became a man again at the representation of it. His soul was
+filled with a stormy tumult; it is now tranquil and void, and nature
+re-entering it, he sheds virtuous tears. Such is the true merit, the
+great good of theatrical representation, which can never be effected by
+the cold declamation of an orator paid to tire an audience for an hour.
+
+The capitoul David, who; without emotion, saw and caused the innocent
+Calas to die on the wheel, would have shed tears at seeing his own crime
+in a well-written and well-acted tragedy. Pope has elegantly said this
+in the prologue to Addison's Cato:
+
+     Tyrants no more their savage nature kept,
+     And foes to virtue wondered how they wept.
+
+
+
+
+TERELAS.
+
+
+Terelas, Pterelas, or Pterlaus, just which you please, was the son of
+Taphus, or Taphius. Which signifies what you say? Gently, I will tell
+you. This Terelas had a golden lock, to which was attached the destiny
+of the town of Taphia, and what is more, this lock rendered Terelas
+immortal, as he would not die while this lock remained upon his head;
+for this reason he never combed it, lest he should comb it off. An
+immortality, however, which depends upon a lock of hair, is not the most
+certain of all things.
+
+Amphitryon, general of the republic of Thebes, besieged Taphia, and the
+daughter of King Terelas became desperately in love with him on seeing
+him pass the ramparts. Thus excited, she stole to her father in the dead
+of night, cut off his golden lock, and sent it to the general, in
+consequence of which the town was taken, and Terelas killed. Some
+learned men assure us, that it was the wife of Terelas who played him
+this ill turn; and as they ground their opinions upon great authorities,
+it might be rendered the subject of a useful dissertation. I confess
+that I am somewhat inclined to be of the opinion of those learned
+persons, as it appears to me that a wife is usually less timorous than a
+daughter.
+
+The same thing happened to Nisus, king of Megara, which town was
+besieged by Minos. Scylla, the daughter of Nisus, became madly in love
+with him; and although in point of fact, her father did not possess a
+lock of gold, he had one of purple, and it is known that on this lock
+depended equally his life and the fate of the Megarian Empire. To oblige
+Minos, the dutiful Scylla cut it off, and presented it to her lover.
+
+"All the history of Minos is true," writes the profound Bannier; "and
+this is attested by all antiquity." I believe it precisely as I do that
+of Terelas, but I am embarrassed between the profound Calmet and the
+profound Huet. Calmet is of opinion, that the adventure of the lock of
+Nisus presented to Minos, and that of Terelas given to Amphitryon, are
+obviously taken from the genuine history of Samson. Huet the
+demonstrator, on the contrary shows, that Minos is evidently Moses, as
+cutting out the letters _n_ and _e_, one of these names is the anagram
+of the other.
+
+But, notwithstanding the demonstration of Huet, I am entirely on the
+side of the refined Dom Calmet, and for those who are of the opinion
+that all which relates to the locks of Terelas and of Nisus is connected
+with the hair of Samson. The most convincing of my triumphant reasons
+is, that without reference to the family of Terelas, with the
+metamorphoses of which I am unacquainted, it is certain that Scylla was
+changed into a lark, and her father Nisus into a sparrow-hawk. Now,
+Bochart being of opinion that a sparrow-hawk is called "neis" in
+Hebrew, I thence conclude, that the history of Terelas, Amphitryon,
+Nisus, and Minos is copied from the history of Samson.
+
+I am aware that a dreadful sect has arisen in our days, equally detested
+by God and man, who pretend that the Greek fables are more ancient than
+the Jewish history; that the Greeks never heard a word of Samson any
+more than of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, etc., which names are not cited by
+any Greek author. They assert, as we have modestly intimated--in the
+articles on "Bacchus" and "Jew"--that the Greeks could not possibly take
+anything from the Jews, but that the Jews might derive something from
+the Greeks.
+
+I answer with the doctor Hayet, the doctor Gauchat, the ex-Jesuit
+Patouillet, and the ex-Jesuit Paulian, that this is the most damnable
+heresy which ever issued from hell; that it was formerly anathematized
+in full parliament, on petition, and condemned in the report of the
+Sieur P.; and finally, that if indulgence be extended to those who
+support such frightful systems, there will be no more certainty in the
+world; but that Antichrist will quickly arrive, if he has not come
+already.
+
+
+
+
+TESTES.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+This word is scientific, and a little obscure, signifying small
+witnesses. Sixtus V., a Cordelier become pope, declared, by his letter
+of the 25th of June, 1587, to his nuncio in Spain, that he must unmarry
+all those who were not possessed of testicles. It seems by this order,
+which was executed by Philip II., that there were many husbands in Spain
+deprived of these two organs. But how could a man, who had been a
+Cordelier, be ignorant that the testicles of men are often hidden in the
+abdomen, and that they are equally if not more effective in that
+situation? We have beheld in France three brothers of the highest rank,
+one of whom possessed three, the other only one, while the third
+possessed no appearance of any, and yet was the most vigorous of the
+three.
+
+The angelic doctor, who was simply a Jacobin, decides that two testicles
+are "_de essentia matrimonii_" (of the essence of marriage); in which
+opinion he is followed by Ricardus, Scotus, Durandus, and Sylvius. If
+you are not able to obtain a sight of the pleadings of the advocate
+Sebastian Rouillard, in 1600, in favor of the testicles of his client,
+concealed in his abdomen, at least consult the dictionary of Bayle, at
+the article "Quellenec." You will there discover, that the wicked wife
+of the client of Sebastian Rouillard wished to render her marriage void,
+on the plea that her husband could not exhibit testicles. The defendant
+replied, that he had perfectly fulfilled his matrimonial duties, and
+offered the usual proof of a re-performance of them in full assembly.
+The jilt replied, that this trial was too offensive to her modesty, and
+was, moreover, superfluous, since the defendant was visibly deprived of
+testicles, and that messieurs of the assembly were fully aware that
+testicles are necessary to perfect consummation.
+
+I am unacquainted with the result of this process, but I suspect that
+her husband lost his cause. What induces me to think so is, that the
+same Parliament of Paris, on the 8th of January, 1665, issued a decree,
+asserting the necessity of two visible testicles, without which marriage
+was not to be contracted. Had there been any member in the assembly in
+the situation described, and reduced to the necessity of being a
+witness, he might have convinced the assembly that it decided without a
+due knowledge of circumstances. Pontas may be profitably consulted on
+testicles, as well as upon any other subject. He was a sub-penitentiary,
+who decided every sort of case, and who sometimes comes near to Sanchez.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+A word or two on hermaphrodites. A prejudice has for a long time crept
+into the Russian Church, that it is not lawful to say mass without
+testicles; or, at least, they must be hid in the officiator's pocket.
+This ancient idea was founded in the Council of Nice, who forbade the
+admission into orders of those who mutilated themselves. The example of
+Origen, and of certain enthusiasts, was the cause of this order, which
+was confirmed a second time in the Council of Aries.
+
+The Greek Church did not exclude from the altar those who had endured
+the operation of Origen against their own consent. The patriarchs of
+Constantinople, Nicetas, Ignatius, Photius, and Methodius, were eunuchs.
+At present this point of discipline seems undecided in the Catholic
+Church. The most general opinion, however, is, that in order to be
+ordained a priest, a eunuch will require a dispensation.
+
+The banishment of eunuchs from the service of the altar appears contrary
+to the purity and chastity which the service exacts; and certainly such
+of the priests as confess handsome women and girls would be exposed to
+less temptation. Opposing reasons of convenience and decorum have
+determined those who make these laws.
+
+In Leviticus, all corporeal defects are excluded from the service of the
+altar--the blind, the crooked, the maimed, the lame, the one-eyed, the
+leper, the scabby, long noses, and short noses. Eunuchs are not spoken
+of, as there were none among the Jews. Those who acted as eunuchs in the
+service of their kings, were foreigners.
+
+It has been demanded whether an animal, a man for example, can possess
+at once testicles and ovaries, or the glands which are taken for
+ovaries; in a word, the distinctive organs of both sexes? Can nature
+form veritable hermaphrodites, and can a hermaphrodite be rendered
+pregnant? I answer, that I know nothing about it, nor the
+ten-thousandth part of what is within the operation of nature. I
+believe, however, that Europe has never witnessed a genuine
+hermaphrodite, nor has it indeed produced elephants, zebras, giraffes,
+ostriches, and many more of the animals which inhabit Asia, Africa, and
+America. It is hazardous to assert, that because we never beheld a
+thing, it does not exist.
+
+Examine "Cheselden," page 34, and you will behold there a very good
+delineation of an animal man and woman--a negro and negress of Angola,
+which was brought to London in its infancy, and carefully examined by
+this celebrated surgeon, as much distinguished for his probity as his
+information. The plate is entitled "Members of an Hermaphrodite Negro,
+of the Age of Twenty-six Years, of both Sexes." They are not absolutely
+perfect, but they exhibit a strange mixture of the one and the other.
+
+Cheselden has frequently attested the truth of this prodigy, which,
+however, is possibly no such thing in some of the countries of Africa.
+The two sexes are not perfect in this instance; who can assure us, that
+other negroes, mulatto, or copper-colored individuals, are not
+absolutely male and female? It would be as reasonable to assert, that a
+perfect statue cannot exist, because we have witnessed none without
+defects. There are insects which possess both sexes; why may there not
+be human beings similarly endowed? I affirm nothing; God keep me from
+doing so. I only doubt.
+
+How many things belong to the animal man, in respect to which he must
+doubt, from his pineal gland to his spleen, the use of which is unknown;
+and from the principle of his thoughts and sensations to his animal
+spirits, of which everybody speaks, and which nobody ever saw or ever
+will see!
+
+
+
+
+THEISM.
+
+
+Theism is a religion diffused through all religions; it is a metal which
+mixes itself with all the others, the veins of which extend under ground
+to the four corners of the world. This mine is more openly worked in
+China; everywhere else it is hidden, and the secret is only in the hands
+of the adepts.
+
+There is no country where there are more of these adepts than in
+England. In the last century there were many atheists in that country,
+as well as in France and Italy. What the chancellor Bacon had said
+proved true to the letter, that a little philosophy makes a man an
+atheist, and that much philosophy leads to the knowledge of a God. When
+it was believed with Epicurus, that chance made everything, or with
+Aristotle, and even with several ancient theologians, that nothing was
+created but through corruption, and that by matter and motion alone the
+world goes on, then it was impossible to believe in a providence. But
+since nature has been looked into, which the ancients did not perceive
+at all; since it is observed that all is organized, that everything has
+its germ; since it is well known that a mushroom is the work of
+infinite wisdom, as well as all the worlds; then those who thought,
+adored in the countries where their ancestors had blasphemed. The
+physicians are become the heralds of providence; a catechist announces
+God to children, and a Newton demonstrates Him to the learned.
+
+Many persons ask whether theism, considered abstractedly, and without
+any religious ceremony, is in fact a religion? The answer is easy: he
+who recognizes only a creating God, he who views in God only a Being
+infinitely powerful, and who sees in His creatures only wonderful
+machines, is not religious towards Him any more than a European,
+admiring the king of China, would thereby profess allegiance to that
+prince. But he who thinks that God has deigned to place a relation
+between Himself and mankind; that He has made him free, capable of good
+and evil; that He has given all of them that good sense which is the
+instinct of man, and on which the law of nature is founded; such a one
+undoubtedly has a religion, and a much better religion than all those
+sects who are beyond the pale of our Church; for all these sects are
+false, and the law of nature is true. Thus, theism is good sense not yet
+instructed by revelation; and other religions are good sense perverted
+by superstition.
+
+All sects differ, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the
+same because it comes from God. It is asked why, out of five or six
+hundred sects, there have scarcely been any who have not spilled blood;
+and why the theists, who are everywhere so numerous, have never caused
+the least disturbance? It is because they are philosophers. Now
+philosophers may reason badly, but they never intrigue. Those who
+persecute a philosopher, under the pretext that his opinions may be
+dangerous to the public, are as absurd as those who are afraid that the
+study of algebra will raise the price of bread in the market; one must
+pity a thinking being who errs; the persecutor is frantic and horrible.
+We are all brethren; if one of my brothers, full of respect and filial
+love, inspired by the most fraternal charity, does not salute our common
+Father with the same ceremonies as I do, ought I to cut his throat and
+tear out his heart?
+
+What is a true theist? It is he who says to God: "I adore and serve
+You;" it is he who says to the Turk, to the Chinese, the Indian, and the
+Russian: "I love you." He doubts, perhaps, that Mahomet made a journey
+to the moon and put half of it in his pocket; he does not wish that
+after his death his wife should burn herself from devotion; he is
+sometimes tempted not to believe the story of the eleven thousand
+virgins, and that of St. Amable, whose hat and gloves were carried by a
+ray of the sun from Auvergne as far as Rome.
+
+But for all that he is a just man. Noah would have placed him in his
+ark, Numa Pompilius in his councils; he would have ascended the car of
+Zoroaster; he would have talked philosophy with the Platos, the
+Aristippuses, the Ciceros, the Atticuses--but would he not have drunk
+hemlock with Socrates?
+
+
+
+
+THEIST.
+
+
+The theist is a man firmly persuaded of the existence of a Supreme Being
+equally good and powerful, who has formed all extended, vegetating,
+sentient, and reflecting existences; who perpetuates their species, who
+punishes crimes without cruelty, and rewards virtuous actions with
+kindness.
+
+The theist does not know how God punishes, how He rewards, how He
+pardons; for he is not presumptuous enough to flatter himself that he
+understands how God acts; but he knows that God does act, and that He is
+just. The difficulties opposed to a providence do not stagger him in his
+faith, because they are only great difficulties, not proofs; he submits
+himself to that providence, although he only perceives some of its
+effects and some appearances; and judging of the things he does not see
+from those he does see, he thinks that this providence pervades all
+places and all ages.
+
+[Illustration: Death of Socrates.]
+
+United in this principle with the rest of the universe, he does not join
+any of the sects, who all contradict themselves; his religion is the
+most ancient and the most extended; for the simple adoration of a
+God has preceded all the systems in the world. He speaks a language
+which all nations understand, while they are unable to understand each
+other's. He has brethren from Pekin to Cayenne, and he reckons all the
+wise his brothers. He believes that religion consists neither in the
+opinions of incomprehensible metaphysics, nor in vain decorations, but
+in adoration and justice. To do good--that is his worship; to submit
+oneself to God--that is his doctrine. The Mahometan cries out to him:
+"Take care of yourself, if you do not make the pilgrimage to Mecca."
+"Woe be to thee," says a Franciscan, "if thou dost not make a journey to
+our Lady of Loretto." He laughs at Loretto and Mecca; but he succors the
+indigent and defends the oppressed.
+
+
+
+
+THEOCRACY.
+
+_Government of God or Gods._
+
+
+I deceive myself every day; but I suspect that all the nations who have
+cultivated the arts have lived under a theocracy. I always except the
+Chinese, who appear learned as soon as they became a nation. They were
+free from superstition directly China was a kingdom. It is a great pity,
+that having been raised so high at first, they should remain stationary
+at the degree they have so long occupied in the sciences. It would seem
+that they have received from nature an ample allowance of good sense,
+and a very small one of industry. Yet in other things their industry is
+displayed more than ours.
+
+The Japanese, their neighbors, of whose origin I know nothing
+whatever--for whose origin do we know?--were incontestably governed by a
+theocracy. The earliest well-ascertained sovereigns were the "_dairos_,"
+the high priests of their gods; this theocracy is well established.
+These priests reigned despotically about eight hundred years. In the
+middle of our twelfth century it came to pass that a captain, an
+"_imperator_," a "_seogon_" shared their authority; and in our sixteenth
+century the captains seized the whole power, and kept it. The "_dairos_"
+have remained the heads of religion; they were kings--they are now only
+saints; they regulate festivals, they bestow sacred titles, but they
+cannot give a company of infantry.
+
+The Brahmins in India possessed for a long time the theocratical power;
+that is to say, they held the sovereign authority in the name of Brahma,
+the son of God; and even in their present humble condition they still
+believe their character indelible. These are the two principal among the
+certain theocracies.
+
+The priests of Chaldæa, Persia, Syria, Phœnicia, and Egypt, were so
+powerful, had so great a share in the government, and carried the censer
+so loftily above the sceptre, that empire may be said, among those
+nations, to nave been divided between theocracy and royalty.
+
+The government of Numa Pompilius was evidently theocratical. When a man
+says: "I give you laws furnished by the gods; it is not I, it is a god
+who speaks to you"--then it is God who is king, and he who talks thus is
+lieutenant-general.
+
+Among all the Celtic nations who had only elective chiefs, and not
+kings, the Druids and their sorceries governed everything. But I cannot
+venture to give the name of theocracy to the anarchy of these savages.
+
+The little Jewish nation does not deserve to be considered politically,
+except on account of the prodigious revolution that has occurred in the
+world, of which it was the very obscure and unconscious cause.
+
+Do but consider the history of this strange people. They have a
+conductor who undertakes to guide them in the name of his God to
+Phœnicia, which he calls Canaan. The way was direct and plain, from
+the country of Goshen as far as Tyre, from south to north; and there was
+no danger for six hundred and thirty thousand fighting men, having at
+their head a general like Moses, who, according to Flavius Josephus, had
+already vanquished an army of Ethiopians, and even an army of serpents.
+
+Instead of taking this short and easy route, he conducts them from
+Rameses to Baal-Sephon, in an opposite direction, right into the middle
+of Egypt, due south. He crosses the sea; he marches for forty years in
+the most frightful deserts, where there is not a single spring of water,
+or a tree, or a cultivated field--nothing but sand and dreary rocks. It
+is evident that God alone could make the Jews, by a miracle, take this
+route, and support them there by a succession of miracles.
+
+The Jewish government therefore was then a true theocracy. Moses,
+however, was never pontiff, and Aaron, who was pontiff, was never chief
+nor legislator. After that time we do not find any pontiff governing.
+Joshua, Jephthah, Samson, and the other chiefs of the people, except
+Elias and Samuel, were not priests. The Jewish republic, reduced to
+slavery so often, was anarchical rather than theocratical.
+
+Under the kings of Judah and Israel, it was but a long succession of
+assassinations and civil wars. These horrors were interrupted only by
+the entire extinction of ten tribes, afterwards by the enslavement of
+two others, and by the destruction of the city amidst famine and
+pestilence. This was not then divine government.
+
+When the Jewish slaves returned to Jerusalem, they were subdued by the
+kings of Persia, by the conqueror Alexandria and his successors. It
+appears that God did not then reign immediately over this nation, since
+a little before the invasion of Alexander, the pontiff John assassinated
+the priest Jesus, his brother, in the temple of Jerusalem, as Solomon
+had assassinated his brother Adonijah on the altar.
+
+The government was still less theocratical when Antiochus Epiphanes,
+king of Syria, employed many of the Jews to punish those whom he
+regarded as rebels. He forbade them all, under pain of death, to
+circumcise their children; he compelled them to sacrifice swine in their
+temple, to burn the gates, to destroy the altar; and the whole enclosure
+was filled with thorns and brambles.
+
+Matthias rose against him at the head of some citizens, but he was not
+king. His son, Judas Maccabæus, taken for the Messiah, perished after
+glorious struggles. To these bloody contests succeeded civil wars. The
+men of Jerusalem destroyed Samaria, which the Romans subsequently
+rebuilt under the name of Sebasta.
+
+In this chaos of revolutions, Aristobulus, of the race of the Maccabees,
+and son of a high priest, made himself king, more than five hundred
+years after the destruction of Jerusalem. He signalized his reign like
+some Turkish sultans, by cutting his brother's throat, and causing his
+mother to be put to death. His successors followed his example, until
+the period when the Romans punished all these barbarians. Nothing in all
+this is theocratical.
+
+If anything affords an idea of theocracy, it must be granted that it is
+the papacy of Rome; it never announces itself but in the name of God,
+and its subjects live in peace. For a long time Thibet enjoyed the same
+advantages under the Grand Lama; but that is a gross error striving to
+imitate a sublime truth.
+
+The first Incas, by calling themselves descendants in a right line from
+the sun, established a theocracy; everything was done in the name of the
+sun. Theocracy ought to be universal; for every man, whether a prince or
+a boatman, should obey the natural and eternal laws which God has given
+him.
+
+
+
+
+THEODOSIUS.
+
+
+Every prince who puts himself at the head of a party, and succeeds, is
+sure of being praised to all eternity, if the party lasts that time; and
+his adversaries may be assured that they will be treated by orators,
+poets, and preachers, as Titans who revolted against the gods. This is
+what happened to Octavius Augustus, when his good fortune made him
+defeat Brutus, Cassius, and Antony. It was the lot of Constantine, when
+Maxentius, the legitimate emperor, elected by the Roman senate and
+people, fell into the water and was drowned.
+
+Theodosius had the same advantage. Woe to the vanquished! blessed be the
+victorious!--that is the motto of mankind. Theodosius was a Spanish
+officer, the son of a Spanish soldier of fortune. As soon as he was
+emperor he persecuted the anti-consubstantialists. Judge of the
+applauses, benedictions, and pompous eulogies, on the part of the
+consubstantialists! Their adversaries scarcely subsist any longer; their
+complaints and clamors against the tyranny of Theodosius have perished
+with them, and the predominant party still lavishes on this prince the
+epithets of pious, just, clement, wise, and great.
+
+One day this pious and clement prince, who loved money to distraction,
+proposed laying a very heavy tax upon the city of Antioch, then the
+finest of Asia Minor. The people, in despair, having demanded a slight
+diminution, and not being able to obtain it, went so far as to break
+some statues, among which was one of the soldier, the emperor's father.
+St. John Chrysostom, or golden mouth, the priest and flatterer of
+Theodosius, failed not to call this action a detestable sacrilege, since
+Theodosius was the image of God, and his father was almost as sacred as
+himself. But if this Spaniard resembled God, he should have remembered
+that the Antiochians also resembled Him, and that men formed after the
+exemplar of all the gods existed before emperors.
+
+     _Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum._
+                                      --OVID, _Met._ i, b. 83.
+
+Theodosius immediately sent a letter to the governor, with an order to
+apply the torture to the principal images of God who had taken part in
+this passing sedition; to make them perish under blows received from
+cords terminated with leaden balls; to burn some, and deliver others up
+to the sword. This was executed with all the punctuality of a governor
+who did his duty like a Christian, who paid his court well, and who
+would make his way there. The Orontes bore nothing but corpses to the
+sea for several days; after which, his gracious imperial majesty
+pardoned the Antiochians with his usual clemency, and doubled the tax.
+
+How did the emperor Julian act in the same city, when he had received a
+more personal and injurious outrage? It was not a paltry statue of his
+father which they defaced; it was to himself that the Antiochians
+addressed themselves, and against whom they composed the most violent
+satires. The philosophical emperor answered them by a light and
+ingenious satire. He took from them neither their lives nor their
+purses. He contented himself with having more wit than they had. This is
+the man whom St. Gregory Nazianzen and Theodoret, who were not of his
+communion, dare to calumniate so far as to say that he sacrificed women
+and children to the moon; while those who were of the communion of
+Theodosius have persisted to our day in copying one another, by saying
+in a hundred ways, that Theodosius was the most virtuous of men, and by
+wishing to make him a saint.
+
+We know well enough what was the mildness of this saint in the massacre
+of fifteen thousand of his subjects at Thessalonica. His panegyrists
+reduce the number of the murdered to seven or eight thousand, which is a
+very small number to them; but they elevate to the sky the tender piety
+of this good prince, who deprived himself of mass, as also that of his
+accomplice, the detestable Rufinus. I confess once more, that it was a
+great expiation, a great act of devotion, the not going to mass; but it
+restores not life to fifteen thousand innocents, slain in cold blood by
+an abominable perfidy. If a heretic was stained with such a crime, with
+what pleasure would all historians turn their boasting against him; with
+what colors would they paint him in the pulpits and college
+declamations!
+
+I will suppose that the prince of Parma entered Paris, after having
+forced our dear Henry IV. to raise the siege; I will suppose that Philip
+II. gave the throne of France to his Catholic daughter, and to the young
+Catholic duke of Guise; how many pens and voices would forever have
+anathematized Henry IV., and the Salic law! They would be both
+forgotten, and the Guises would be the heroes of the state and religion.
+Thus it is--applaud the prosperous and fly the miserable! "_Et cole
+felices, miseros fuge._"
+
+If Hugh Capet dispossess the legitimate heir of Charlemagne, he becomes
+the root of a race of heroes. If he fails, he may be treated as the
+brother of St. Louis since treated Conradin and the duke of Austria, and
+with much more reason.
+
+Pepin rebels, dethrones the Merovingian race, and shuts his king in a
+cloister; but if he succeeds not, he mounts the scaffold. If Clovis, the
+first king of Belgic Gaul, is beaten in his invasion, he runs the risk
+of being condemned to the fangs of beasts, as one of his ancestors was
+by Constantine. Thus goes the world under the empire of fortune, which
+is nothing but necessity, insurmountable fatality. "_Fortuna sævo læta
+negotio._" She makes us blindly play her terrible game, and we never see
+beneath the cards.
+
+
+
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+The theologian knows perfectly that, according to St. Thomas, angels are
+corporeal with relation to God; that the soul receives its being in the
+body; and that man has a vegetative, sensitive, and intellectual soul;
+that the soul is all in all, and all in every part; that it is the
+efficient and formal cause of the body; that it is the greatest in
+nobleness of form; that the appetite is a passive power; that archangels
+are the medium between angels and principalities; that baptism
+regenerates of itself and by chance; that the catechism is not a
+sacrament, but sacramental; that certainty springs from the cause and
+subject; that concupiscence is the appetite of sensitive delectation;
+that conscience is an act and not a power.
+
+The angel of the schools has written about four thousand fine pages in
+this style, and a shaven-crowned young man passes three years in filling
+his brain with this sublime knowledge; after which he receives the
+bonnet of a doctor of the Sorbonne, instead of going to Bedlam. If he is
+a man of quality, or the son of a rich man, or intriguing and fortunate,
+he becomes bishop, archbishop, cardinal, and pope.
+
+If he is poor and without credit, he becomes the chaplain of one of
+these people; it is he who preaches for them, who reads St. Thomas and
+Scotus for them, who makes commandments for them, and who in a council
+decides for them.
+
+The title of theologian is so great that the fathers of the Council of
+Trent give it to their cooks, "_cuoco celeste, gran theologo_." Their
+science is the first of sciences, their condition the first of
+conditions, and themselves the first of men; such the empire of true
+doctrine; so much does reason govern mankind!
+
+When a theologian has become--thanks to his arguments--either prince of
+the holy Roman Empire, archbishop of Toledo, or one of the seventy
+princes clothed in red, successors of the humble apostles, then the
+successors of Galen and Hippocrates are at his service. They were his
+equals when they studied in the same university; they had the same
+degrees, and received the same furred bonnet. Fortune changes all; and
+those who discovered the circulation of the blood, the lacteal veins,
+and the thoracic canal, are the servants of those who have learned what
+concomitant grace is, and have forgotten it.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+I knew a true theologian; he was master of the languages of the East,
+and was instructed as much as possible in the ancient rites of nations.
+The Brahmins, Chaldæans, Fire-worshippers, Sabeans, Syrians, and
+Egyptians, were as well known to him as the Jews; the several lessons of
+the Bible were familiar to him; and for thirty years he had tried to
+reconcile the gospels, and endeavored to make the fathers agree. He
+sought in what time precisely the creed attributed to the apostles was
+digested, and that which bears the name of Athanasius; how the
+sacraments were instituted one after the other; what was the difference
+between synaxis and mass; how the Christian Church was divided since its
+origin into different parties, and how the predominating society treated
+all the others as heretics. He sounded the depth of policy which always
+mixes with these quarrels; and he distinguished between policy and
+wisdom, between the pride which would subjugate minds and the desire of
+self-illumination, between zeal and fanaticism.
+
+The difficulty of arranging in his head so many things, the nature of
+which is to be confounded, and of throwing a little light on so many
+clouds, often checked him; but as these researches were the duty of his
+profession, he gave himself up to them notwithstanding his distaste. He
+at length arrived at knowledge unknown to the greater part of his
+brethren: but the more learned he waxed, the more mistrustful he became
+of all that he knew. While he lived he was indulgent; and at his death,
+he confessed that he had spent his life uselessly.
+
+
+
+
+THUNDER.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+     _Vidi et crudeles dantem Salmonea pœnas_
+     _Dum flammas Jovis et sonitus imitatur Olympia, etc._
+                             --VIRGIL, Æneid, b. vi, 1. 585.
+
+     Salmoneus suffering cruel pains I found,
+     For imitating Jove, the rattling sound
+     Of mimic thunder, and the glittering blaze
+     Of pointed lightnings and their forked rays.
+
+Those who invented and perfected artillery are so many other
+Salmoneuses. A cannon-ball of twenty-four pounds can make, and has often
+made, more ravage than an hundred thunder-claps; yet no cannoneer has
+ever been struck by Jupiter for imitating that which passes in the
+atmosphere.
+
+We have seen that Polyphemus, in a piece of Euripides, boasts of making
+more noise, when he had supped well, than the thunder of Jupiter.
+Boileau, more honest than Polyphemus, says that another world astonishes
+him, and that he believes in the immortality of the soul, and that it is
+God who thunders:
+
+     _Pour moi, qu'en santé même un autre monde étonne,_
+     _Qui crois l'âme immortelle, et que c'est Dieu qui tonne._
+                                       --SAT. i, line 161,162.
+
+I know not why he is so astonished at another world, since all antiquity
+believed in it. Astonish was not the proper word; it was alarm. He
+believes that it is God who thunders; but he thunders only as he hails,
+as he rains, and as he produces fine weather--as he operates all, as he
+performs all. It is not because he is angry that he sends thunder and
+rain. The ancients paint Jupiter taking thunder, composed of three
+burning arrows, and hurling it at whomsoever he chose. Sound reason does
+not agree with these poetical ideas.
+
+Thunder is like everything else, the necessary effect of the laws of
+nature, prescribed by its author. It is merely a great electrical
+phenomenon. Franklin forces it to descend tranquilly on the earth; it
+fell on Professor Richmann as on rocks and churches; and if it struck
+Ajax Oileus, it was assuredly not because Minerva was irritated against
+him.
+
+If it had fallen on Cartouche, or the abbé Desfontaines, people would
+not have failed to say:
+
+"Behold how God punishes thieves and--." But it is a useful prejudice to
+make the sky fearful to the perverse. Thus all our tragic poets, when
+they would rhyme to "_poudre_" or "_resoudre_," invariably make use of
+"_foudre_"; and uniformly make "_tonnerre_" roll, when they would rhyme
+to "_terre_."
+
+Theseus, in "_Phèdre_," says to his son--act iv, scene 2:
+
+     _Monstre, qu'à trop longtemps épargné le tonnerre,_
+     _Reste impur des brigands dont j'ai purgé la terre!_
+
+Severus, in "_Polyeucte_," without even having occasion to rhyme, when
+he learns that his mistress is married, talks to Fabian, his friend, of
+a clap of thunder. He says elsewhere to the same Fabian--act iv, scene
+6--that a new clap of "_foudre_" strikes upon his hope, and reduces it
+to "_poudre_":
+
+     _Qu'est ceci, Fabian, quel nouveau coup de foudre_
+     _Tombe sur mon espoir, et le réduit en poudre?_
+
+
+A hope reduced to powder must astonish the pit! Lusignan, in "_Zaïre_,"
+prays God that the thunder will burst on him alone:
+
+
+     _Que la foudre en éclats ne tombe que sur moi._
+
+If Tydeus consults the gods in the cave of a temple, the cave answers
+him only by great claps of thunder.
+
+     I've finally seen the thunder and "foudre"
+     Reduce verses to cinders and rhymes into "poudre."
+
+We must endeavor to thunder less frequently.
+
+I could never clearly comprehend the fable of Jupiter and Thunder, in La
+Fontaine--b. viii, fable 20.
+
+     _Vulcain remplit ses fourneaux_
+     _De deux sortes de carreaux._
+     _L'un jamais ne se fourvoie,_
+     _Et c'est celui que toujours_
+     _L'Olympe en corps nous envoie._
+     _L'autre s'écarte en son cours,_
+     _Ce n'est qu'aux monts qu'il en coûte;_
+     _Bien souvent même il se perd;_
+     _Et ce dernier en sa route_
+     _Nous vient du seul Jupiter._
+
+"Vulcan fills his furnaces with two sorts of thunderbolts. The one never
+wanders, and it is that which comes direct from Olympus. The other
+diverges in its route, and only spends itself on mountains; it is often
+even altogether dissipated. It is this last alone which proceeds from
+Jupiter."
+
+Was the subject of this fable, which La Fontaine put into bad verse so
+different from his general style, given to him? Would it infer that the
+ministers of Louis XIV. were inflexible, and that the king pardoned?
+Crébillon, in his academical discourse in foreign verse, says that
+Cardinal Fleury is a wise depositary, the eagle, using his thunder, yet
+the friend of peace:
+
+     _Usant en citoyen du pouvoir arbitraire,_
+     _Aigle de Jupiter, mais ami de la paix,_
+     _Il gouverne la foudre, et ne tonne jamais._
+
+He says that Marshal Villars made it appear that he survived Malplaquet
+only to become more celebrated at Denain, and that with a clap of
+thunder Prince Eugene was vanquished:
+
+     _Fit voir, qu'à Malplaquet il n'avait survécu_
+     _Que pour rendre à Denain sa valeur plus célèbre_
+     _Et qu'un foudre du moins Eugène était vaincu._
+
+Thus the eagle Fleury governed thunder without thundering, and Eugene
+was vanquished by thunder. Here is quite enough of thunder.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Horace, sometimes the debauched and sometimes the moral, has said--book
+i, ode 3--that our folly extends to heaven itself: "_CÅ“lum ipsum
+petimus stultitia._"
+
+We can say at present that we carry our wisdom to heaven, if we may be
+permitted to call that blue and white mass of exhalations which causes
+winds, rain, snow, hail, and thunder, heaven. We have decomposed the
+thunderbolt, as Newton disentangled light. We have perceived that these
+thunderbolts, formerly borne by the eagle of Jupiter, are really only
+electric fire; that in short we can draw down thunder, conduct it,
+divide it, and render ourselves masters of it, as we make the rays of
+light pass through a prism, as we give course to the waters which fall
+from heaven, that is to say, from the height of half a league from our
+atmosphere. We plant a high fir with the branches lopped off, the top of
+which is covered with a cone of iron. The clouds which form thunder are
+electrical; their electricity is communicated to this cone, and a brass
+wire which is attached to it conducts the matter of thunder wherever we
+please. An ingenious physician calls this experiment the inoculation of
+thunder.
+
+It is true, that inoculation for the smallpox, which has preserved so
+many mortals, caused some to perish, to whom the smallpox had been
+inconsiderately given; and in like manner the inoculation of thunder
+ill-performed would be dangerous. There are great lords whom we can only
+approach with the greatest precaution, and thunder is of this number. We
+know that the mathematical professor Richmann was killed at St.
+Petersburg, in 1753, by a thunderbolt which he had drawn into his
+chamber: "_Arte sua periit._" As he was a philosopher, a theological
+professor failed not to publish that he had been thunderstruck like
+Salmoneus, for having usurped the rights of God, and for wishing to hurl
+the thunder: but if the physician had directed the brass wire outside
+the house, and not into his pent-up chamber, he would not have shared
+the lot of Salmoneus, Ajax Oileus, the emperor Carus, the son of a
+French minister of state, and of several monks in the Pyrenees.
+
+
+
+
+TOLERATION.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+What is toleration? It is the appurtenance of humanity. We are all full
+of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our
+follies--it is the first law of nature.
+
+When, on the exchange of Amsterdam, of London, of Surat, or of Bassora,
+the Gueber, the Banian, the Jew, the Mahometan, the Chinese Deist, the
+Brahmin, the Christian of the Greek Church, the Roman Catholic
+Christian, the Protestant Christian, and the Quaker Christian, traffic
+together, they do not lift the poniard against each other, in order to
+gain souls for their religion. Why then have we been cutting one
+another's throats almost without interruption since the first Council of
+Nice?
+
+Constantine began by issuing an edict which allowed all religions, and
+ended by persecuting. Before him, tumults were excited against the
+Christians, only because they began to make a party in the state. The
+Romans permitted all kinds of worship, even those of the Jews, and of
+the Egyptians, for whom they had so much contempt. Why did Rome tolerate
+these religions? Because neither the Egyptians, nor even the Jews,
+aimed at exterminating the ancient religion of the empire, or ranged
+through land and sea for proselytes; they thought only of money-getting;
+but it is undeniable, that the Christians wished their own religion to
+be the dominant one. The Jews would not suffer the statue of Jupiter at
+Jerusalem, but the Christians wished it not to be in the capitol. St.
+Thomas had the candor to avow, that if the Christians did not dethrone
+the emperors, it was because they could not. Their opinion was, that the
+whole earth ought to be Christian. They were therefore necessarily
+enemies to the whole earth, until it was converted.
+
+Among themselves, they were the enemies of each other on all their
+points of controversy. Was it first of all necessary to regard Jesus
+Christ as God? Those who denied it were anathematized under the name of
+Ebionites, who themselves anathematized the adorers of Jesus.
+
+Did some among them wish all things to be in common, as it is pretended
+they were in the time of the apostles? Their adversaries called them
+Nicolaites, and accused them of the most infamous crimes. Did others
+profess a mystical devotion? They were termed Gnostics, and attacked
+with fury. Did Marcion dispute on the Trinity? He was treated as an
+idolater.
+
+Tertullian, Praxeas, Origen, Novatus, Novatian, Sabellius, Donatus, were
+all persecuted by their brethren, before Constantine; and scarcely had
+Constantine made the Christian religion the ruling one, when the
+Athanasians and the Eusebians tore each other to pieces; and from that
+time to our own days, the Christian Church has been deluged with blood.
+
+The Jewish people were, I confess, a very barbarous nation. They
+mercilessly cut the throats of all the inhabitants of an unfortunate
+little country upon which they had no more claim than they had upon
+Paris or London. However, when Naaman was cured of the leprosy by being
+plunged seven times in the Jordan--when, in order to testify his
+gratitude to Elisha, who had taught him the secret, he told him he would
+adore the god of the Jews from gratitude, he reserved to himself the
+liberty to adore also the god of his own king; he asked Elisha's
+permission to do so, and the prophet did not hesitate to grant it. The
+Jews adored their god, but they were never astonished that every nation
+had its own. They approved of Chemos having given a certain district to
+the Moabites, provided their god would give them one also. Jacob did not
+hesitate to marry the daughters of an idolater. Laban had his god, as
+Jacob had his. Such are the examples of toleration among the most
+intolerant and cruel people of antiquity. We have imitated them in their
+absurd passions, and not in their indulgence.
+
+It is clear that every private individual who persecutes a man, his
+brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster. This
+admits of no difficulty. But the government, the magistrates, the
+princes!--how do they conduct themselves towards those who have a faith
+different from their own? If they are powerful foreigners, it is certain
+that a prince will form an alliance with them. The Most Christian
+Francis I. will league himself with the Mussulmans against the Most
+Catholic Charles V. Francis I. will give money to the Lutherans in
+Germany, to support them in their rebellion against their emperor; but
+he will commence, as usual, by having the Lutherans in his own country
+burned. He pays them in Saxony from policy; he burns them in Paris from
+policy. But what follows? Persecutions make proselytes. France will soon
+be filled with new Protestants. At first they will submit to be hanged;
+afterwards they will hang in their turn. There will be civil wars; then
+Saint Bartholomew will come; and this corner of the world will be worse
+than all that the ancients and moderns have ever said of hell.
+
+Blockheads, who have never been able to render a pure worship to the God
+who made you! Wretches, whom the example of the Noachides, the Chinese
+literati, the Parsees, and of all the wise, has not availed to guide!
+Monsters, who need superstitions, just as the gizzard of a raven needs
+carrion! We have already told you--and we have nothing else to say--if
+you have two religions among you, they will massacre each other; if you
+have thirty, they will live in peace. Look at the Grand Turk: he governs
+Guebers, Banians, Christians of the Greek Church, Nestorians, and Roman
+Catholics. The first who would excite a tumult is empaled; and all is
+tranquil.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Of all religions, the Christian ought doubtless to inspire the most
+toleration, although hitherto the Christians have been the most
+intolerant of all men. Jesus, having deigned to be born in poverty and
+lowliness like his brethren, never condescended to practise the art of
+writing. The Jews had a law written with the greatest minuteness, and we
+have not a single line from the hand of Jesus. The apostles were divided
+on many points. St. Peter and St. Barnabas ate forbidden meats with the
+new stranger Christians, and abstained from them with the Jewish
+Christians. St. Paul reproached them with this conduct; and this same
+St. Paul, the Pharisee, the disciple of the Pharisee Gamaliel--this same
+St. Paul, who had persecuted the Christians with fury, and who after
+breaking with Gamaliel became a Christian himself--nevertheless, went
+afterwards to sacrifice in the temple of Jerusalem, during his apostolic
+vacation. For eight days he observed publicly all the ceremonies of the
+Jewish law which he had renounced; he even added devotions and
+purifications which were superabundant; he completely Judaized. The
+greatest apostle of the Christians did, for eight days, the very things
+for which men are condemned to the stake among a large portion of
+Christian nations.
+
+Theudas and Judas were called Messiahs, before Jesus: Dositheus, Simon,
+Menander, called themselves Messiahs, after Jesus. From the first
+century of the Church, and before even the name of Christian was known,
+there were a score of sects in Judæa.
+
+The contemplative Gnostics, the Dositheans, the Cerintheins, existed
+before the disciples of Jesus had taken the name of Christians. There
+were soon thirty churches, each of which belonged to a different
+society; and by the close of the first century thirty sects of
+Christians might be reckoned in Asia Minor, in Syria, in Alexandria, and
+even in Rome.
+
+All these sects, despised by the Roman government, and concealed in
+their obscurity, nevertheless persecuted each other in the hiding holes
+where they lurked; that is to say, they reproached one another. This is
+all they could do in their abject condition: they were almost wholly
+composed of the dregs of the people.
+
+When at length some Christians had embraced the dogmas of Plato, and
+mingled a little philosophy with their religion, which they separated
+from the Jewish, they insensibly became more considerable, but were
+always divided into many sects, without there ever having been a time
+when the Christian church was reunited. It took its origin in the midst
+of the divisions of the Jews, the Samaritans, the Pharisees, the
+Sadducees, the Essenians, the Judaites, the disciples of John, and the
+Therapeutae. It was divided in its infancy; it was divided even amid
+the persecutions it sometimes endured under the first emperors. The
+martyr was often regarded by his brethren as an apostate; and the
+Carpocratian Christian expired under the sword of the Roman executioner,
+excommunicated by the Ebionite Christian, which Ebionite was
+anathematized by the Sabellian.
+
+This horrible discord, lasting for so many centuries, is a very striking
+lesson that we ought mutually to forgive each other's errors: discord is
+the great evil of the human species, and toleration is its only remedy.
+
+There is nobody who does not assent to this truth, whether meditating
+coolly in his closet, or examining the truth peaceably with his friends.
+Why, then, do the same men who in private admit charity, beneficence,
+and justice, oppose themselves in public so furiously against these
+virtues? Why!--it is because their interest is their god; because they
+sacrifice all to that monster whom they adore.
+
+I possess dignity and power, which ignorance and credulity have founded.
+I trample on the heads of men prostrated at my feet; if they should rise
+and look me in the face, I am lost; they must, therefore, be kept bound
+down to the earth with chains of iron.
+
+Thus have men reasoned, whom ages of fanaticism have rendered powerful.
+They have other persons in power under them, and these latter again have
+underlings, who enrich themselves with the spoils of the poor man,
+fatten themselves with his blood, and laugh at his imbecility. They
+detest all toleration, as contractors enriched at the expense of the
+public are afraid to render their accounts, and as tyrants dread the
+name of liberty. To crown all, in short, they encourage fanatics who cry
+aloud: Respect the absurdities of my master; tremble, pay, and be
+silent.
+
+Such was the practice for a long time in a great part of the world; but
+now, when so many sects are balanced by their power, what side must we
+take among them? Every sect, we know, is a mere title of error; while
+there is no sect of geometricians, of algebraists, of arithmeticians;
+because all the propositions of geometry, algebra, and arithmetic, are
+true. In all the other sciences, one may be mistaken. What Thomist or
+Scotist theologian can venture to assert seriously that he goes on sure
+grounds?
+
+If there is any sect which reminds one of the time of the first
+Christians, it is undeniably that of the Quakers. The apostles received
+the spirit. The Quakers receive the spirit. The apostles and disciples
+spoke three or four at once in the assembly in the third story; the
+Quakers do as much on the ground floor. Women were permitted to preach,
+according to St. Paul, and they were forbidden according to the same St.
+Paul: the Quakeresses preach by virtue of the first permission.
+
+The apostles and disciples swore by yea and nay; the Quakers will not
+swear in any other form. There was no rank, no difference of dress,
+among apostles and disciples; the Quakers have sleeves without buttons,
+and are all clothed alike. Jesus Christ baptized none of his apostles;
+the Quakers are never baptized.
+
+It would be easy to push the parallel farther; it would be still easier
+to demonstrate how much the Christian religion of our day differs from
+the religion which Jesus practised. Jesus was a Jew, and we are not
+Jews. Jesus abstained from pork, because it is uncleanly, and from
+rabbit, because it ruminates and its foot is not cloven; we fearlessly
+eat pork, because it is not uncleanly for us, and we eat rabbit which
+has the cloven foot and does not ruminate.
+
+Jesus was circumcised, and we retain our foreskin. Jesus ate the Paschal
+lamb with lettuce, He celebrated the feast of the tabernacles; and we do
+nothing of this. He observed the Sabbath, and we have changed it; He
+sacrificed, and we never sacrifice.
+
+Jesus always concealed the mystery of His incarnation and His dignity;
+He never said He was equal to God. St. Paul says expressly, in his
+Epistle to the Hebrews, that God created Jesus inferior to the angels;
+and in spite of St. Paul's words, Jesus was acknowledged as God at the
+Council of Nice.
+
+Jesus has not given the pope either the march of Ancona or the duchy of
+Spoleto; and, notwithstanding, the pope possesses them by divine right.
+Jesus did not make a sacrament either of marriage or of deaconry; and,
+with us, marriage and deaconry are sacraments. If we would attend
+closely to the fact, the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman religion is, in
+all its ceremonies and in all its dogma, the reverse of the religion of
+Jesus!
+
+But what! must we all Judaize, because Jesus Judaized all His life? If
+it were allowed to reason logically in matters of religion, it is clear
+that we ought all to become Jews, since Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was
+born a Jew, lived a Jew and died a Jew, and since He expressly said,
+that He accomplished and fulfilled the Jewish religion. But it is still
+more clear that we ought mutually to tolerate one another, because we
+are all weak, irrational, and subject to change and error. A reed
+prostrated by the wind in the mire--ought it to say to a neighboring
+reed placed in a contrary direction: Creep after my fashion, wretch, or
+I will present a request for you to be seized and burned?
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+My friends, when we have preached toleration in prose and in verse, in
+some of our pulpits, and in all our societies--when we have made these
+true human voices resound in the organs of our churches--we have done
+something for nature, we have reestablished humanity in its rights;
+there will no longer be an ex-Jesuit, or an ex-Jansenist, who dares to
+say, I am intolerant.
+
+There will always be barbarians and cheats who will foment intolerance;
+but they will not avow it--and that is something gained. Let us always
+bear in mind, my friends, let us repeat--for we must repeat, for fear it
+should be forgotten--the words of the bishop of Soissons, not Languet,
+but Fitzjames-Stuart, in his mandate of 1757: "We ought to regard the
+Turks as our brethren."
+
+Let us consider, that throughout English America, which constitutes
+nearly the fourth part of the known world, entire liberty of conscience
+is established; and provided a man believes in a God, every religion is
+well received: notwithstanding which, commerce flourishes and population
+increases. Let us always reflect, that the first law of the Empire of
+Russia, which is greater than the Roman Empire, is the toleration of
+every sect.
+
+The Turkish Empire, and the Persian, always allowed the same indulgence.
+Mahomet II., when he took Constantinople, did not force the Greeks to
+abandon their religion, although he looked on them as idolaters. Every
+Greek father of a family got off for five or six crowns a year. Many
+prebends and bishoprics were preserved for them; and even at this day
+the Turkish sultan makes canons and bishops, without the pope having
+ever made an imam or a mollah.
+
+My friends, there are only some monks, and some Protestants as barbarous
+as those monks, who are still intolerant. We have been so infected with
+this furor, that in our voyages of long duration, we have carried it to
+China, to Tonquin, and Japan. We have introduced the plague to those
+beautiful climes. The most indulgent of mankind have been taught by us
+to be the most inflexible. We said to them at the outset, in return for
+their kind welcome--Know that we alone on the earth are in the right,
+and that we ought to be masters everywhere. Then they drove us away
+forever. This lesson, which has cost seas of blood, ought to correct us.
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+The author of the preceding article is a worthy man who would sup with a
+Quaker, an Anabaptist, a Socinian, a Mussulman, etc. _I_ would push this
+civility farther; I would say to my brother the Turk--Let us eat
+together a good hen with rice, invoking Allah; your religion seems to me
+very respectable; you adore but one God; you are obliged to give the
+fortieth part of your revenue every day in alms, and to be reconciled
+with your enemies on the day of the Bairam. Our bigots, who calumniate
+the world, have said a hundred times, that your religion succeeded only
+because it was wholly sensual. They have lied, poor fellows! Your
+religion is very austere; it commands prayer five times a day; it
+imposes the most rigorous fast; it denies you the wine and the liquors
+which our spiritual directors encourage; and if it permits only four
+wives to those who can support them--which are very few--it condemns by
+this restriction the Jewish incontinence, which allowed eighteen wives
+to the homicide David, and seven hundred, without reckoning concubines,
+to Solomon, the assassin of his brother.
+
+I will say to my brother the Chinese: Let us sup together without
+ceremony, for I dislike grimaces; but I like your law, the wisest of
+all, and perhaps the most ancient. I will say nearly as much to my
+brother the Indian.
+
+But what shall I say to my brother the Jew? Shall I invite him to
+supper? Yes, on condition that, during the repast, Balaam's ass does not
+take it into its head to bray; that Ezekiel does not mix his dinner with
+our supper; that a fish does not swallow up one of the guests, and keep
+him three days in his belly; that a serpent does not join in the
+conversation, in order to seduce my wife; that a prophet does not think
+proper to sleep with her, as the worthy man, Hosea, did for five francs
+and a bushel of barley; above all, that no Jew parades through my house
+to the sound of the trumpet, causes the walls to fall down, and cuts the
+throats of myself, my father, my mother, my wife, my children, my cat
+and my dog, according to the ancient practice of the Jews. Come, my
+friends, let us have peace, and say our _benedicite_.
+
+
+
+
+TOPHET.
+
+
+Tophet was, and is still, a precipice near Jerusalem, in the valley of
+Hinnom, which is a frightful place, abounding only in flints. It was in
+this dreary solitude that the Jews immolated their children to their
+god, whom they then called Moloch; for we have observed, that they
+always bestowed a foreign name on their god. _Shadai_ was Syrian;
+_Adonai_, Phœnician; _Jehovah_ was also Phœnician; _Eloi_,
+_Elohim_, _Eloa_, Chaldæan; and in the same manner, the names of all
+their angels were Chaldæan or Persian. This we have remarked very
+particularly.
+
+All these different names equally signify "the lord," in the jargon of
+the petty nations bordering on Palestine. The word _Moloch_ is evidently
+derived from _Melk_, which was the same as _Melcom_ or _Melcon_, the
+divinity of the thousand women in the seraglio of Solomon; to-wit, seven
+hundred wives and three hundred concubines. All these names signify
+"lord": each village had its lord.
+
+Some sages pretend that Moloch was more particularly the god of fire;
+and that it was on that account the Jews burned their children in the
+hollow of the idol of this same Moloch. It was a large statue of copper,
+rendered as hideous as the Jews could make it. They heated the statue
+red hot, in a large fire, although they had very little fuel, and cast
+their children into the belly of this god, as our cooks cast living
+lobsters into the boiling water of their cauldrons. Such were the
+ancient Celts and Tudescans, when they burned children in honor of
+Teutates and Hirminsule. Such the Gallic virtue, and the German
+freedom!
+
+Jeremiah wished, in vain, to detach the Jewish people from this
+diabolical worship. In vain he reproaches them with having built a sort
+of temple to Moloch in this abominable valley. "They have built high
+places in Tophet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, in
+order to pass their sons and daughters through the fire."
+
+The Jews paid so much the less regard to the reproaches of Jeremiah, as
+they fiercely accused him of having sold himself to the king of Babylon;
+of having uniformly prophesied in his favor; and of having betrayed his
+country. In short, he suffered the punishment of a traitor; he was
+stoned to death.
+
+The Book of Kings informs us, that Solomon built a temple to Moloch, but
+it does not say that it was in the valley of Tophet, but in the vicinity
+upon the Mount of Olives. The situation was fine, if anything can be
+called fine in the frightful neighborhood of Jerusalem.
+
+Some commentators pretend, that Ahaz, king of Judah, burned his son in
+honor of Moloch, and that King Manasses was guilty of the same
+barbarity. Other commentators suppose, that these kings of the chosen
+people of God were content with casting their children into the flames,
+but that they were not burned to death. I wish that it may have been so;
+but it is very difficult for a child not to be burned when placed on a
+lighted pile.
+
+This valley of Tophet was the "Clamart" of Paris, the place where they
+deposited all the rubbish and carrion of the city. It was in this
+valley that they cast loose the scape-goat; it was the place in which
+the bodies of the two criminals were cast who suffered with the Son of
+God; but our Saviour did not permit His body, which was given up to the
+executioner, to be cast in the highway of the valley of Tophet,
+according to custom. It is true, that He might have risen again in
+Tophet, as well as in Calvary; but a good Jew, named Joseph, a native of
+Arimathea, who had prepared a sepulchre for himself on Mount Calvary,
+placed the body of the Saviour therein, according to the testimony of
+St. Matthew. No one was allowed to be buried in the towns; even the tomb
+of David was not in Jerusalem.
+
+Joseph of Arimathea was rich--"a certain rich man of Arimathea,"--that
+the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled: "And he made his grave with
+the wicked, and with the rich in his death."
+
+
+
+
+TORTURE.
+
+
+Though there are few articles of jurisprudence in these honest
+alphabetical reflections, we must, however, say a word or two on
+torture, otherwise called "the question"; which is a strange manner of
+questioning men. They were not, however, the simply curious who invented
+it; there is every appearance, that this part of our legislation owes
+its first origin to a highwayman. Most of these gentlemen are still in
+the habit of screwing thumbs, burning feet, and questioning, by various
+torments, those who refuse to tell them where they have put their money.
+
+Conquerors having succeeded these thieves, found the invention very
+useful to their interests; they made use of it when they suspected that
+there were bad designs against them: as, for example, that of seeking
+freedom was a crime of high treason, human and divine. The accomplices
+must be known; and to accomplish it, those who were suspected were made
+to suffer a thousand deaths, because, according to the jurisprudence of
+these primitive heroes, whoever was suspected of merely having a
+disrespectful opinion of them, was worthy of death. As soon as they have
+thus merited death, it signifies little whether they had frightful
+torments for several days, and even weeks previously--a practice which
+savors, I know not how, of the Divinity. Providence sometimes puts us to
+the torture by employing the stone, gravel, gout, scrofula, leprosy,
+smallpox; by tearing the entrails, by convulsions of the nerves,-and
+other executors of the vengeance of Providence.
+
+Now, as the first despots were, in the eyes of their courtiers, images
+of the Divinity, they imitated it as much as they could. What is very
+singular is, that the question, or torture, is never spoken of in the
+Jewish books. It is a great pity that so mild, honest, and compassionate
+a nation knew not this method of discovering the truth. In my opinion,
+the reason is, that they had no need of it. God always made it known to
+them as to His cherished people. Sometimes they played at dice to
+discover the truth, and the suspected culprit always had double sixes.
+Sometimes they went to the high priest, who immediately consulted God by
+the urim and thummim. Sometimes they addressed themselves to the seer
+and prophet; and you may believe that the seer and prophet discovered
+the most hidden things, as well as the urim and thummim of the high
+priest. The people of God were not reduced, like ourselves, to
+interrogating and conjecturing; and therefore torture could not be in
+use among them, which was the only thing wanting to complete the manners
+of that holy people. The Romans inflicted torture on slaves alone, but
+slaves were not considered as men. Neither is there any appearance that
+a counsellor of the criminal court regards as one of his
+fellow-creatures, a man who is brought to him wan, pale, distorted, with
+sunken eyes, long and dirty beard, covered with vermin with which he has
+been tormented in a dungeon. He gives himself the pleasure of applying
+to him the major and minor torture, in the presence of a surgeon, who
+counts his pulse until he is in danger of death, after which they
+recommence; and as the comedy of the "Plaideurs" pleasantly says, "that
+serves to pass away an hour or two."
+
+The grave magistrate, who for money has bought the right of making these
+experiments on his neighbor, relates to his wife, at dinner, that which
+has passed in the morning. The first time, madam shudders at it; the
+second, she takes some pleasure in it, because, after all, women are
+curious; and afterwards, the first thing she says when he enters is: "My
+dear, have you tortured anybody to-day?" The French, who are considered,
+I know not why, a very humane people, are astonished that the English,
+who have had the inhumanity to take all Canada from us, have renounced
+the pleasure of putting the question.
+
+When the Chevalier de Barre, the grandson of a lieutenant-general of the
+army, a young man of much sense and great expectations, but possessing
+all the giddiness of unbridled youth, was convicted of having sung
+impious songs, and even of having dared to pass before a procession of
+Capuchins without taking his hat off, the judges of Abbeville, men
+comparable to Roman senators, ordered not only that his tongue should be
+torn out, that his hands should be torn off, and his body burned at a
+slow fire, but they further applied the torture, to know precisely how
+many songs he had sung, and how many processions he had seen with his
+hat on his head.
+
+It was not in the thirteenth or fourteenth century that this affair
+happened; it was in the eighteenth. Foreign nations judge of France by
+its spectacles, romances, and pretty verses; by opera girls who have
+very sweet manners, by opera dancers who posssess grace; by
+Mademoiselle Clairon, who declaims delightfully. They know not that,
+under all, there is not a more cruel nation than the French. The
+Russians were considered barbarians in 1700; this is only the year 1769;
+yet an empress has just given to this great state laws which would do
+honor to Minos, Numa, or Solon, if they had had intelligence enough to
+invent them. The most remarkable is universal tolerance; the second is
+the abolition of torture. Justice and humanity have guided her pen; she
+has reformed all. Woe to a nation which, being more civilized, is still
+led by ancient atrocious customs! "Why should we change our
+jurisprudence?" say we. "Europe is indebted to us for cooks, tailors,
+and wig-makers; therefore, our laws are good."
+
+
+
+
+TRANSUBSTANTIATION.
+
+
+Protestants, and above all, philosophical Protestants, regard
+transubstantiation as the most signal proof of extreme impudence in
+monks, and of imbecility in laymen. They hold no terms with this belief,
+which they call monstrous, and assert that it is impossible for a man of
+good sense ever to have believed in it. It is, say they, so absurd, so
+contrary to every physical law, and so contradictory, it would be a sort
+of annihilation of God, to suppose Him capable of such inconsistency.
+Not only a god in a wafer, but a god in the place of a wafer; a thousand
+crumbs of bread become in an instant so many gods, which an innumerable
+crowd of gods make only one god. Whiteness without a white substance;
+roundness without rotundity of body; wine changed into blood, retaining
+the taste of wine; bread changed into flesh and into fibres, still
+preserving the taste of bread--all this inspires such a degree of horror
+and contempt in the enemies of the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman
+religion, that it sometimes insensibly verges into rage.
+
+Their horror augments when they are told that, in Catholic countries,
+are monks who rise from a bed of impurity, and with unwashed hands make
+gods by hundreds; who eat and drink these gods, and reduce them to the
+usual consequences of such an operation. But when they reflect that this
+superstition, a thousand times more absurd and sacrilegious than those
+of Egypt, produces for an Italian priest from fifteen to twenty millions
+of revenue, and the domination of a country containing a hundred
+thousand square leagues, they are ready to march with their arms in
+their hands and drive away this priest from the palace of Cæsar. I know
+not if I shall be of the party, because I love peace; but when
+established at Rome, I will certainly pay them a visit.--By M.
+GUILLAUME, a Protestant minister.
+
+
+
+
+TRINITY.
+
+
+The first among the Westerns who spoke of the Trinity was Timæus of
+Locri, in his "Soul of the World." First came the Idea, the perpetual
+model or archetype of all things engendered; that is to say, the first
+"Word," the internal and intelligible "Word." Afterwards, the unformed
+mode, the second word, or the word spoken. Lastly, the "son," or
+sensible world, or the spirit of the world. These three qualities
+constitute the entire world, which world is the Son of God "Monogenes."
+He has a soul and possessed reason; he is "_empsukos, logikos_."
+
+God, wishing to make a very fine God, has engendered one: "_Touton epoie
+theon genaton._"
+
+It is difficult clearly to comprehend the system of Timæus, which he
+perhaps derived from the Egyptians or Brahmins. I know not whether it
+was well understood in his time. It is like decayed and rusty medals,
+the motto of which is effaced: it could be read formerly; at present, we
+put what construction we please upon it.
+
+It does not appear that this sublime balderdash made much progress until
+the time of Plato. It was buried in oblivion, and Plato raised it up. He
+constructed his edifice in the air, but on the model of Timæus. He
+admits three divine essences: the Father, the Supreme Creator, the
+Parent of other gods, is the first essence. The second is the visible
+God, the minister of the invisible one, the "Word," the understanding,
+the great spirit. The third is the world.
+
+It is true, that Plato sometimes says quite different and even quite
+contrary things; it is the privilege of the Greek philosophers; and
+Plato has made use of his right more than any of the ancients or
+moderns. A Greek wind wafted these philosophical clouds from Athens to
+Alexandria, a town prodigiously infatuated with two things--money and
+chimeras. There were Jews in Alexandria who, having made their fortunes,
+turned philosophers.
+
+Metaphysics have this advantage, that they require no very troublesome
+preliminaries. We may know all about them without having learned
+anything; and a little to those who have at once subtle and very false
+minds, will go a great way. Philo the Jew was a philosopher of this
+kind; he was contemporary with Jesus Christ; but he has the misfortune
+of not knowing Him any more than Josephus the historian. These two
+considerable men, employed in the chaos of affairs of state, were too
+far distant from the dawning light. This Philo had quite a metaphysical,
+allegorical, mystical head. It was he who said that God must have formed
+the world in six days; he formed it, according to Zoroaster, in six
+times, "because three is the half of six and two is the third of it; and
+this number is male and female."
+
+This same man, infatuated with the ideas of Plato, says, in speaking of
+drunkenness, that God and wisdom married, and that wisdom was delivered
+of a well-beloved son, which son is the world. He calls the angels the
+words of God, and the world the word of God--"_logon tou Theou_."
+
+As to Flavius Josephus, he was a man of war who had never heard of the
+logos, and who held to the dogmas of the Pharisees, who were solely
+attached to their traditions. From the Jews of Alexandria, this Platonic
+philosophy proceeded to those of Jerusalem. Soon, all the school of
+Alexandria, which was the only learned one, was Platonic; and Christians
+who philosophized, no longer spoke of anything but the _logos_.
+
+We know that it was in disputes of that time the same as in those of the
+present. To one badly understood passage, was tacked another
+unintelligible one to which it had no relation. A second was inferred
+from them, a third was falsified, and they fabricated whole books which
+they attributed to authors respected by the multitude. We have seen a
+hundred examples of it in the article on "Apocrypha."
+
+Dear reader, for heaven's sake cast your eyes on this passage of Clement
+the Alexandrian: "When Plato says, that it is difficult to know the
+Father of the universe, he demonstrates by that, not only that the world
+has been engendered, but that it has been engendered as the Son of God."
+
+Do you understand these logomachies, these equivoques? Do you see the
+least light in this chaos of obscure expressions? Oh, Locke! Locke! come
+and define these terms. In all these Platonic disputes I believe there
+was not a single one understood. They distinguished two words, the
+"_logos endiathetos_"--the word in thought, and the word
+produced--"_logos prophorikos._" They had the eternity from one word,
+and the prolation, the emanation from another word.
+
+The book of "Apostolic Constitutions," an ancient monument of fraud, but
+also an ancient depository of these obscure times, expresses itself
+thus: "The Father, who is anterior to all generation, all commencement,
+having created all by His only Son, has engendered this Son without a
+medium, by His will and His power."
+
+Afterwards Origen advanced, that the Holy Spirit was created by the Son,
+by the word. After that came Eusebius of Cæsarea, who taught that the
+spirit paraclete is neither of Father nor Son. The advocate Lactantius
+flourished in that time.
+
+"The Son of God," says he, "is the word, as the other angels are the
+spirits of God. The word is a spirit uttered by a significant voice, the
+spirit proceeding from the nose, and the word from the mouth. It
+follows, that there is a difference between the Son of God and the other
+angels; those being emanated like tacit and silent spirits; while the
+Son, being a spirit proceeding from the mouth, possesses sound and voice
+to preach to the people."
+
+It must be confessed, that Lactantius pleaded his cause in a strange
+manner. It was truly reasoning a la Plato, and very powerful reasoning.
+It was about this time that, among the very violent disputes on the
+Trinity, this famous verse was inserted in the First Epistle of St.
+John: "There are three that bear witness in earth--the word or spirit,
+the water, and the blood; and these three are one."
+
+Those who pretend that this verse is truly St. John's, are much more
+embarrassed than those who deny it; for they must explain it. St.
+Augustine says, that the spirit signifies the Father, water the Holy
+Ghost, and by blood is meant the Word. This explanation is fine, but it
+still leaves a little confusion.
+
+St Irenæus goes much farther; he says, that Rahab, the prostitute of
+Jericho, in concealing three spies of the people of God, concealed the
+Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; which is strong, but not consistent. On the
+other hand, the great and learned Origen confounds us in a different
+way. The following is one of many of his passages: "The Son is as much
+below the Father as He and the Holy Ghost are above the most noble
+creatures."
+
+What can be said after that? How can we help confessing, with grief,
+that nobody understands it? How can we help confessing, that from the
+first--from the primitive Christians, the Ebionites, those men so
+mortified and so pious, who always revered Jesus though they believed
+Him to be the son of Joseph--until the great controversy of Athanasius,
+the Platonism of the Trinity was always a subject of quarrels. A supreme
+judge was absolutely required to decide, and he was at last found in
+the Council of Nice, which council afterwards produced new factions and
+wars.
+
+EXPLANATION OF THE TRINITY, ACCORDING TO ABAUZIT.
+
+"We can speak with exactness of the manner in which the union of God and
+Jesus Christ exists, only by relating the three opinions which exist on
+this subject, and by making reflections on each of them.
+
+"_Opinion of the Orthodox._
+
+"The first opinion is that of the orthodox. They establish, 1st--A
+distinction of three persons in the divine essence, before the coming of
+Jesus Christ into the world; 2nd--That the second of these persons is
+united to the human nature of Jesus Christ; 3rd--That the union is so
+strict, that by it Jesus Christ is God; that we can attribute to Him the
+creation of the world, and all divine perfections; and that we can adore
+Him with a supreme worship.
+
+"_Opinion of the Unitarians._
+
+"The second is that of the Unitarians. Not conceiving the distinction of
+persons in the Divinity, they establish, 1st--That divinity is united to
+the human nature of Jesus Christ; 2nd--That this union is such that we
+can say, that Jesus Christ is God; that we can attribute to Him the
+creation of the world, and all divine perfections, and adore Him with a
+supreme worship.
+
+"_Opinion of the Socinians._
+
+"The third opinion is that of the Socinians, who, like the Unitarians,
+not conceiving any distinction of persons in the Divinity, establish,
+1st--That divinity is united to the human nature of Jesus Christ;
+2nd--That this union is very strict; 3rd--That it is not such that we
+can call Jesus Christ God, or attribute divine perfections and the
+creation to Him, or adore Him with a supreme worship; and they think
+that all the passages of Scripture may be explained without admitting
+any of these things.
+
+"_Reflections on the First Opinion._
+
+"In the distinction which is made of three persons in the Divinity, we
+either retain the common idea of persons, or we do not. If we retain the
+common idea of persons, we establish three gods; that is certain. If we
+do not establish the ordinary idea of three persons, it is no longer any
+more than a distinction of properties; which agrees with the second
+opinion. Or if we will not allow that it is a distinction of persons,
+properly speaking, we establish a distinction of which we have no idea.
+There is no appearance, that to imagine a distinction in God, of which
+we can have no idea, Scripture would put men in danger of becoming
+idolaters, by multiplying the Divinity. It is besides surprising that
+this distinction of persons having always existed, it should only be
+since the coming of Jesus Christ that it has been revealed, and that it
+is necessary to know them.
+
+"_Reflections on the Second Opinion._
+
+"There is not, indeed, so great danger of precipitating men into
+idolatry in the second opinion as in the first; but it must be confessed
+that it is not entirely exempt from it. Indeed, as by the nature of the
+union which it establishes between divinity and the human nature of
+Jesus Christ, we can call him God and worship him, but there are two
+objects of adoration--Jesus Christ and God. I confess it may be said,
+that it is God whom we should worship in Jesus Christ; but who knows not
+the extreme inclination which men have to change invisible objects of
+worship into objects which fall under the senses, or at least under the
+imagination?--an inclination which they will here gratify without the
+least scruple, since they say that divinity is personally united to the
+humanity of Jesus Christ.
+
+"_Reflections on the Third Opinion._
+
+"The third opinion, besides being very simple, and conformable to the
+ideas of reason, is not subject to any similar danger of throwing men
+into idolatry. Though by this opinion Jesus Christ can be no more than a
+simple man, it need not be feared that by that He can be confounded with
+prophets or saints of the first order. In this sentiment there always
+remains a difference between them and Him. As we can imagine, almost to
+the utmost, the degrees of union of divinity with humanity, so we can
+conceive, that in particular the union of divinity with Jesus Christ
+has so high a degree of knowledge, power, felicity, perfection, and
+dignity, that there is always an immense distance between him and the
+greatest prophets. It remains only to see whether this opinion can agree
+with Scripture, and whether it be true that the title of God, divine
+perfections, creation, and supreme worship, are not attributed to Jesus
+Christ in the Gospels."
+
+It was for the philosopher Abauzit to see all this. For myself I submit,
+with my heart and mouth and pen, to all that the Catholic church has
+decided, and to all that it may decide on any other such dogma. I will
+add but one word more on the Trinity, which is a decision of Calvin's
+that we have on this mystery. This is it:
+
+"In case any person prove heterodox, and scruples using the words
+Trinity and Person, we believe not that this can be a reason for
+rejecting him; we should support him without driving him from the
+Church, and without exposing him to any censure as a heretic."
+
+It was after such a solemn declaration as this, that John Calvin--the
+aforesaid Calvin, the son of a cooper of Noyon--caused Michael Servetus
+to be burned at Geneva by a slow fire with green fagots.
+
+
+
+
+TRUTH.
+
+
+"Pilate therefore said unto him, 'Art thou a king then?' Jesus answered,
+'Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this
+cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto truth:
+every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.' Pilate saith unto him,
+'What is truth?' and when he had said this, he went out," etc.--St.
+John, chap. xviii.
+
+It is a pity for mankind that Pilate went out, without hearing the
+reply: we should then have known what truth is. Pilate was not very
+curious. The accused, brought before him, told him that he was a king,
+that he was born to be a king, and he informs himself not how this can
+be. He was supreme judge in the name of Cæsar, he had the power of the
+sword, his duty was to penetrate into the meaning of these words. He
+should have said: Tell me what you understand by being king? how are you
+born to be king, and to bear witness unto the truth? It is said that you
+can only arrive at the ear of kings with difficulty; I, who am a judge,
+have always had extreme trouble in reaching it. Inform me, while your
+enemies cry outside against you; and you will render me the greatest
+service ever rendered to a judge. I would rather learn to know the
+truth, than condescend to the tumultuous demand of the Jews, who wish me
+to hang you.
+
+We doubtless dare not pretend to guess what the Author of all truth
+would have said to Pilate. Would he have said: "Truth is an abstract
+word which most men use indifferently in their books and judgments, for
+error and falsehood"? This definition would be wonderfully convenient to
+all makers of systems. Thus the word wisdom is often taken for folly,
+and wit for nonsense. Humanly speaking, let us define truth, to better
+understand that which is declared--such as it is.
+
+Suppose that six months only had been taken to teach Pilate the truths
+of logic he would doubtless have made this concluding syllogism: A man's
+life should not have been taken away who has only preached a good
+doctrine; now he who is brought before me, according even to his
+enemies, has often preached an excellent doctrine; therefore, he should
+not be punished with death.
+
+He might also have inferred this other argument: My duty is to dissipate
+the riots of a seditious people, who demand the death of a man without
+reason or juridical form; now such are the Jews on this occasion;
+therefore I should send them away, and break up their assembly. We take
+for granted that Pilate knew arithmetic; we will not therefore speak of
+these kinds of truths.
+
+As to mathematical truths, I believe that he would have required three
+years at least before he would have been acquainted with transcendent
+geometry. The truths of physics, combined with those of geometry, would
+have required more than four years. We generally consume six years in
+studying theology; I ask twelve for Pilate, considering that he was a
+Pagan, and that six years would not have been too many to root out all
+his old errors, and six more to put him in a state worthy to receive
+the bonnet of a doctor. If Pilate had a well organized head, I would
+only have demanded two years to teach him metaphysical truths, and as
+these truths are necessarily united with those of morality, I flatter
+myself that in less than nine years Pilate would have become a truly
+learned and perfectly honest man.
+
+_Historical Truths._
+
+I should afterwards have said to Pilate: Historical truths are but
+probabilities. If you have fought at the battle of Philippi, it is to
+you a truth, which you know by intuition, by sentiment; but to us who
+live near the desert of Syria, it is merely a probable thing, which we
+know by hearsay. How can we, from report, form a persuasion equal to
+that of a man, who having seen the thing, can boast of feeling a kind of
+certainty?
+
+He who has heard the thing told by twelve thousand ocular witnesses, has
+only twelve thousand probabilities equal to one strong one, which is not
+equal to certainty. If you have the thing from only one of these
+witnesses, you are sure of nothing--you must doubt. If the witness is
+dead, you must doubt still more, for you can enlighten yourself no
+further. If from several deceased witnesses, you are in the same state.
+If from those to whom the witnesses have only spoken, the doubt is still
+augmented. From generation to generation the doubt augments, and the
+probability diminishes, and the probability is soon reduced to zero.
+
+_Of the Degrees of Truth, According to Which the Accused are Judged._
+
+We can be made accountable to justice either for deeds or words. If for
+deeds, they must be as certain as will be the punishment to which you
+will condemn the prisoner; if, for example, you have but twenty
+probabilities against him, these twenty probabilities cannot equal the
+certainty of his death. If you would have as many probabilities as are
+required to be sure that you shed not innocent blood, they must be the
+fruit of the unanimous evidences of witnesses who have no interest in
+deposing. From this concourse of probabilities, a strong opinion will be
+formed, which will serve to excuse your judgment; but as you will never
+have entire certainty, you cannot flatter yourself with knowing the
+truth perfectly. Consequently you should always lean towards mercy
+rather than towards rigor. If it concerns only facts, from which neither
+manslaughter nor mutilation have resulted, it is evident that you should
+neither cause the accused to be put to death nor mutilated.
+
+If the question is only of words, it is still more evident that you
+should not cause one of your fellow-creatures to be hanged for the
+manner in which he has used his tongue; for all the words in the world
+being but agitated air, at least if they have not caused murder, it is
+ridiculous to condemn a man to death for having agitated the air. Put
+all the idle words which have been uttered into one scale, and into the
+other the blood of a man, and the blood will weigh down. Now, if he who
+has been brought before you is only accused of some words which his
+enemies have taken in a certain sense, all that you can do is to repeat
+these words to him, which he will explain in the sense he intended; but
+to deliver an innocent man to the most cruel and ignominious punishment,
+for words that his enemies do not comprehend, is too barbarous. You make
+the life of a man of no more importance than that of a lizard; and too
+many judges resemble you.
+
+
+
+
+TYRANNY.
+
+
+The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice; who
+takes the property of his subjects, and afterwards enlists them to go
+and take that of his neighbors. We have none of these tyrants in Europe.
+We distinguish the tyranny of one and that of many. The tyranny of
+several is that of a body which would invade the rights of other bodies,
+and which would exercise despotism by favor of laws which it corrupts.
+Neither are there any tyrannies of this kind in Europe.
+
+Under what tyranny should you like best to live? Under none; but if I
+must choose, I should less detest the tyranny of a single one, than that
+of many. A despot has always some good moments; an assemblage of
+despots, never. If a tyrant does me an injustice, I can disarm him
+through his mistress, his confessor, or his page; but a company of
+tyrants is inaccessible to all seductions. When they are not unjust,
+they are harsh, and they never dispense favors. If I have but one
+despot, I am at liberty to set myself against a wall when I see him
+pass, to prostrate myself, or to strike my forehead against the ground,
+according to the custom of the country; but if there is a company of a
+hundred tyrants, I am liable to repeat this ceremony a hundred times a
+day, which is very tiresome to those who have not supple joints. If I
+have a farm in the neighborhood of one of our lords, I am crushed; if I
+complain against a relative of the relatives of any one of our lords, I
+am ruined. How must I act? I fear that in this world we are reduced to
+being either the anvil or the hammer; happy at least is he who escapes
+this alternative.
+
+
+
+
+TYRANT.
+
+
+"Tyrannos," formerly "he who had contrived to draw the principal
+authority to himself"; as "king," "Basileus," signified "he who was
+charged with relating affairs to the senate." The acceptations of words
+change with time. "Idiot" at first meant only a hermit, an isolated man;
+in time it became synonymous with fool. At present the name of "tyrant"
+is given to a usurper, or to a king who commits violent and unjust
+actions.
+
+Cromwell was a tyrant of both these kinds. A citizen who usurps the
+supreme authority, who in spite of all laws suppresses the house of
+peers, is without doubt a usurper. A general who cuts the throat of a
+king, his prisoner of war, at once violates what is called the laws of
+nations, and those of humanity.
+
+Charles I. was not a tyrant, though the victorious faction gave him that
+name; he was, it is said, obstinate, weak, and ill-advised. I will not
+be certain, for I did not know him; but I am certain that he was very
+unfortunate.
+
+Henry VIII. was a tyrant in his government as in his family, and alike
+covered with the blood of two innocent wives, and that of the most
+virtuous citizens; he merits the execrations of posterity. Yet he was
+not punished, and Charles I. died on a scaffold.
+
+Elizabeth committed an act of tyranny, and her parliament one of
+infamous weakness, in causing Queen Mary Stuart to be assassinated by an
+executioner; but in the rest of her government she was not tyrannical;
+she was clever and manœuvering, but prudent and strong.
+
+Richard III. was a barbarous tyrant; but he was punished. Pope Alexander
+VI. was a more execrable tyrant than any of these, and he was fortunate
+in all his undertakings. Christian II. was as wicked a tyrant as
+Alexander VI., and was punished, but not sufficiently so.
+
+If we were to reckon Turkish, Greek, and Roman tyrants, we should find
+as many fortunate as the contrary. When I say fortunate, I speak
+according to the vulgar prejudice, the ordinary acceptation of the
+word, according to appearances; for that they can be really happy, that
+their minds can be contented and tranquil, appears to me to be
+impossible.
+
+Constantine the Great was evidently a tyrant in a double sense. In the
+north of England he usurped the crown of the Roman Empire, at the head
+of some foreign legions, notwithstanding all the laws, and in spite of
+the senate and the people, who legitimately elected Maxentius. He passed
+all his life in crime, voluptuousness, fraud, and imposture. He was not
+punished, but was he happy? God knows; but I know that his subjects were
+not so.
+
+The great Theodosius was the most abominable of tyrants, when, under
+pretence of giving a feast, he caused fifteen thousand Roman citizens to
+be murdered in the circus, with their wives and children, and when he
+added to this horror the facetiousness of passing some months without
+going to tire himself at high mass. This Theodosius has almost been
+placed in the ranks of the blessed; but I should be very sorry if he
+were happy on earth. In all cases it would be well to assure tyrants
+that they will never be happy in this world, as it is well to make our
+stewards and cooks believe that they will be eternally damned if they
+rob us.
+
+The tyrants of the Lower Greek Empire were almost all dethroned or
+assassinated by one another. All these great offenders were by turns the
+executioners of human and divine vengeance. Among the Turkish tyrants,
+we see as many deposed as those who die in possession of the throne.
+With regard to subaltern tyrants, or the lower order of monsters who
+burden their masters with the execration with which they are loaded, the
+number of these Hamans, these Sejanuses, is infinite.
+
+
+
+
+UNIVERSITY.
+
+
+Du Boulay, in his "History of the University of Paris," adopts the old,
+uncertain, not to say fabulous tradition, which carries its origin to
+the time of Charlemagne. It is true that such is the opinion of Guagin
+and of Gilles de Beauvais; but in addition to the fact that contemporary
+authors, as Eginhard, Almon, Reginon, and Sigebert make no mention of
+this establishment; Pasquier and Du Tillet expressly assert that it
+commenced in the twelfth century under the reigns of Louis the Young and
+of Philip Augustus.
+
+Moreover, the first statutes of the university were drawn up by Robert
+de Coceon, legate of the pope, in the year 1215, which proves that it
+received from the first the form it retains at present; because a bull
+of Gregory IX., of the year 1231, makes mention of masters of theology,
+masters of law, physicians, and lastly, artists. The name "university"
+originated in the supposition that these four bodies, termed faculties,
+constituted a universality of studies; that is to say, that they
+comprehended all which could be cultivated.
+
+The popes, by the means of these establishments, of the decisions of
+which they made themselves judges, became masters of the instruction of
+the people; and the same spirit which made the permission granted to the
+members of the Parliament of Paris to inter themselves in the habits of
+Cordeliers, be regarded as an especial favor--as related in the article
+on "Quête"--dictated the decrees pronounced by that sovereign court
+against all who dared to oppose an unintelligible scholastic system,
+which, according to the confession of the abbé Triteme, was only a false
+science that had vitiated religion. In fact, that which Constantine had
+only insinuated with respect to the Cumæan Sibyl, has been expressly
+asserted of Aristotle. Cardinal Pallavicini supported the maxim of I
+know not what monk Paul, who pleasantly observed, that without Aristotle
+the Church would have been deficient in some of her articles of faith.
+
+Thus the celebrated Ramus, having composed two works in which he opposed
+the doctrine of Aristotle taught in the universities, would have been
+sacrificed to the fury of his ignorant rival, had not King Francis I.
+referred to his own judgment the process commenced in Paris between
+Ramus and Anthony Govea. One of the principal complaints against Ramus
+related to the manner in which he taught his disciples to pronounce the
+letter Q.
+
+Ramus was not the only disputant persecuted for these grave absurdities.
+In the year 1624, the Parliament of Paris banished from its district
+three persons who wished to maintain theses openly against Aristotle.
+Every person was forbidden to sell or to circulate the propositions
+contained in these theses, on pain of corporal punishment, or to teach
+any opinion against ancient and approved authors, on pain of death.
+
+The remonstrances of the Sorbonne, in consequence of which the same
+parliament issued a decision against the chemists, in the year 1629,
+testified that it was impossible to impeach the principles of Aristotle,
+without at the same time impeaching those of the scholastic theology
+received by the Church. In the meantime, the faculty having issued, in
+1566, a decree forbidding the use of antimony, and the parliament having
+confirmed the said decree, Paumier de Caen, a great chemist and
+celebrated physician of Paris, for not conforming to it, was degraded in
+the year 1609. Lastly, antimony being afterwards inserted in the books
+of medicines, composed by order of the faculty in the year 1637, the
+said faculty permitted the use of it in 1666, a century after having
+forbidden it, which decision the parliament confirmed by a new decree.
+Thus the university followed the example of the Church, which finally
+proscribed the doctrine of Arius, under pain of death, and approved the
+word "consubstantial," which it had previously condemned--as we have
+seen in the article on "Councils."
+
+What we have observed of the university of Paris, may serve to give us
+an idea of other universities, of which it was regarded as the model. In
+fact, in imitation of it, eighty universities passed the same decree as
+the Sorbonne in the fourteenth century; to wit, that when the cap of a
+doctor was bestowed, the candidate should be made to swear that he will
+maintain the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary; which he did not
+regard, however, as an article of faith, but as a Catholic and pious
+opinion.
+
+
+
+
+USAGES.
+
+_Contemptible Customs do not Always Imply a Contemptible Nation._
+
+There are cases in which we must not judge of a nation by its usages and
+popular superstitions. Suppose Cæsar, after having conquered Egypt,
+wishing to make commerce flourish in the Roman Empire, had sent an
+embassy to China by the port of Arsinoë, the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
+The emperor Yventi, the first of the name, then reigned in China; the
+Chinese annals represent him to us as a very wise and learned prince.
+After receiving the ambassadors of Cæsar with all Chinese politeness, he
+secretly informs himself through his interpreter of the customs, the
+usages, sciences, and religion of the Roman people, as celebrated in the
+West as the Chinese people are in the East. He first learns that their
+priests have regulated their years in so absurd a manner, that the sun
+has already entered the celestial signs of Spring when the Romans
+celebrate the first feasts of Winter. He learns that this nation at a
+great expense supports a college of priests, who know exactly the time
+in which they must embark, and when they should give battle, by the
+inspection of a bullock's liver, or the manner in which fowls eat grain.
+This sacred science was formerly taught to the Romans by a little god
+named Tages, who came out of the earth in Tuscany. These people adore a
+supreme and only God, whom they always call a very great and very good
+God; yet they have built a temple to a courtesan named Flora, and the
+good women of Rome have almost all little gods--Penates--in their
+houses, about four or five inches high. One of these little divinities
+is the goddess of bosoms, another that of posteriors. They have even a
+divinity whom they call the god _Pet_. The emperor Yventi began to
+laugh; and the tribunals of Nankin at first think with him that the
+Roman ambassadors are knaves or impostors, who have taken the title of
+envoys of the Roman Republic; but as the emperor is as just as he is
+polite, he has particular conversations with them. He then learns that
+the Roman priests were very ignorant, but that Cæsar actually reformed
+the calendar. They confess to him that the college of augurs was
+established in the time of their early barbarity, that they have allowed
+this ridiculous institution, become dear to a people long ignorant, to
+exist, but that all sensible people laugh at the augurs; that Cæsar
+never consulted them; that, according to the account of a very great man
+named Cato, no augur could ever look another in the face without
+laughing; and finally, that Cicero, the greatest orator and best
+philosopher of Rome, wrote a little work against the augurs, entitled
+"Of Divination," in which he delivers up to eternal ridicule all the
+predictions and sorceries of soothsayers with which the earth is
+infatuated. The emperor of China has the curiosity to read this book of
+Cicero; the interpreters translate it; and in consequence he admires at
+once the book and the Roman Republic.
+
+
+
+
+VAMPIRES.
+
+
+What! is it in our eighteenth century that vampires exist? Is it after
+the reigns of Locke, Shaftesbury, Trenchard, and Collins? Is it under
+those of d'Alembert, Diderot, St. Lambert, and Duclos that we believe in
+vampires, and that the reverend father Dom Calmet, Benedictine priest of
+the congregation of St. Vannes, and St. Hidulphe, abbé of Senon--an
+abbey of a hundred thousand livres a year, in the neighborhood of two
+other abbeys of the same revenue--has printed and reprinted the history
+of vampires, with the approbation of the Sorbonne, signed Marcilli?
+
+These vampires were corpses, who went out of their graves at night to
+suck the blood of the living, either at their throats or stomachs,
+after which they returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked
+waned, grew pale, and fell into consumption; while the sucking corpses
+grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed an excellent appetite. It was in Poland,
+Hungary, Silesia, Moravia, Austria, and Lorraine, that the dead made
+this good cheer. We never heard a word of vampires in London, nor even
+at Paris. I confess that in both these cities there were stock-jobbers,
+brokers, and men of business, who sucked the blood of the people in
+broad daylight; but they were not dead, though corrupted. These true
+suckers lived not in cemeteries, but in very agreeable palaces.
+
+Who would believe that we derive the idea of vampires from Greece? Not
+from the Greece of Alexander, Aristotle, Plato, Epicurus, and
+Demosthenes; but from Christian Greece, unfortunately schismatic. For a
+long time Christians of the Greek rite have imagined that the bodies of
+Christians of the Latin church, buried in Greece, do not decay, because
+they are excommunicated. This is precisely the contrary to that of us
+Christians of the Latin church, who believe that corpses which do not
+corrupt are marked with the seal of eternal beatitude. So much so,
+indeed, that when we have paid a hundred thousand crowns to Rome, to
+give them a saint's brevet, we adore them with the worship of "_dulia_."
+
+The Greeks are persuaded that these dead are sorcerers; they call them
+"_broucolacas_," or "_vroucolacas_," according as they pronounce the
+second letter of the alphabet. The Greek corpses go into houses to suck
+the blood of little children, to eat the supper of the fathers and
+mothers, drink their wine, and break all the furniture. They can only be
+put to rights by burning them when they are caught. But the precaution
+must be taken of not putting them into the fire until after their hearts
+are torn out, which must be burned separately. The celebrated
+Tournefort, sent into the Levant by Louis XIV., as well as so many other
+virtuosi, was witness of all the acts attributed to one of these
+"_broucolacas_," and to this ceremony.
+
+After slander, nothing is communicated more promptly than superstition,
+fanaticism, sorcery, and tales of those raised from the dead. There were
+"_broucolacas_" in Wallachia, Moldavia, and some among the Polanders,
+who are of the Romish church. This superstition being absent, they
+acquired it, and it went through all the east of Germany. Nothing was
+spoken of but vampires, from 1730 to 1735; they were laid in wait for,
+their hearts torn out and burned. They resembled the ancient
+martyrs--the more they were burned, the more they abounded.
+
+Finally, Calmet became their historian, and treated vampires as he
+treated the Old and New Testaments, by relating faithfully all that has
+been said before him.
+
+The most curious things, in my opinion, were the verbal suits
+juridically conducted, concerning the dead who went from their tombs to
+suck the little boys and girls of their neighborhood. Calmet relates
+that in Hungary two officers, delegated by the emperor Charles VI.,
+assisted by the bailiff of the place and an executioner, held an inquest
+on a vampire, who had been dead six weeks, and who had sucked all the
+neighborhood. They found him in his coffin, fresh and jolly, with his
+eyes open, and asking for food. The bailiff passed his sentence; the
+executioner tore out the vampire's heart, and burned it, after which he
+feasted no more.
+
+Who, after this, dares to doubt of the resuscitated dead, with which our
+ancient legends are filled, and of all the miracles related by
+Bollandus, and the sincere and revered Dom Ruinart? You will find
+stories of vampires in the "Jewish Letters" of d'Argens, whom the Jesuit
+authors of the "Journal of Trévoux" have accused of believing nothing.
+It should be observed how they triumph in the history of the vampire of
+Hungary; how they thanked God and the Virgin for having at last
+converted this poor d'Argens, the chamberlain of a king who did not
+believe in vampires. "Behold," said they, "this famous unbeliever, who
+dared to throw doubts on the appearance of the angel to the Holy Virgin;
+on the star which conducted the magi; on the cure of the possessed; on
+the immersion of two thousand swine in a lake; on an eclipse of the sun
+at the full moon; on the resurrection of the dead who walked in
+Jerusalem--his heart is softened, his mind is enlightened; he believes
+in vampires."
+
+There no longer remained any question, but to examine whether all these
+dead were raised by their own virtue, by the power of God, or by that of
+the devil. Several great theologians of Lorraine, of Moravia, and
+Hungary, displayed their opinions and their science. They related all
+that St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and so many other saints, had most
+unintelligibly said on the living and the dead. They related all the
+miracles of St. Stephen, which are found in the seventh book of the
+works of St. Augustine. This is one of the most curious of them: In the
+city of Aubzal in Africa, a young man was crushed to death by the ruins
+of a wall; the widow immediately invoked St. Stephen, to whom she was
+very much devoted. St. Stephen raised him. He was asked what he had seen
+in the other world. "Sirs," said he, "when my soul quitted my body, it
+met an infinity of souls, who asked it more questions about this world
+than you do of the other. I went I know not whither, when I met St.
+Stephen, who said to me, 'Give back that which thou hast received.' I
+answered, 'What should I give back? you have given me nothing.' He
+repeated three times, 'Give back that which thou hast received.' Then I
+comprehended that he spoke of the credo; I repeated my credo to him, and
+suddenly he raised me." Above all, they quoted the stories related by
+Sulpicius Severus, in the life of St. Martin. They proved that St.
+Martin, with some others, raised up a condemned soul.
+
+But all these stories, however true they might be, had nothing in common
+with the vampires who rose to suck the blood of their neighbors, and
+afterwards replaced themselves in their coffins. They looked if they
+could not find in the Old Testament, or in the mythology, some vampire
+whom they could quote as an example; but they found none. It was proved,
+however, that the dead drank and ate, since in so many ancient nations
+food was placed on their tombs.
+
+The difficulty was to know whether it was the soul or the body of the
+dead which ate. It was decided that it was both. Delicate and
+unsubstantial things, as sweetmeats, whipped cream, and melting fruits,
+were for the soul, and roast beef and the like were for the body.
+
+The kings of Persia were, said they, the first who caused themselves to
+be served with viands after their death. Almost all the kings of the
+present day imitate them; but they are the monks who eat their dinner
+and supper, and drink their wine. Thus, properly speaking, kings are not
+vampires; the true vampires are the monks, who eat at the expense of
+both kings and people.
+
+It is very true that St. Stanislaus, who had bought a considerable
+estate from a Polish gentleman, and not paid him for it, being brought
+before King Boleslaus by his heirs, raised up the gentleman; but this
+was solely to get quittance. It is not said that he gave a single glass
+of wine to the seller, who returned to the other world without having
+eaten or drunk. They afterwards treated of the grand question, whether a
+vampire could be absolved who died excommunicated, which comes more to
+the point.
+
+I am not profound enough in theology to give my opinion on this subject;
+but I would willingly be for absolution, because in all doubtful affairs
+we should take the mildest part. "_Odia restringenda, favores
+ampliandi_."
+
+The result of all this is that a great part of Europe has been infested
+with vampires for five or six years, and that there are now no more;
+that we have had Convulsionaries in France for twenty years, and that we
+have them no longer; that we have had demoniacs for seventeen hundred
+years, but have them no longer; that the dead have been raised ever
+since the days of Hippolytus, but that they are raised no longer; and,
+lastly, that we have had Jesuits in Spain, Portugal, France, and the two
+Sicilies, but that we have them no longer.
+
+
+
+
+VELETRI.
+
+
+_A Small Town of Umbria, Nine Leagues from Rome; and, Incidentally, of
+the Divinity of Augustus._
+
+Those who love the study of history are glad to understand by what title
+a citizen of Veletri governed an empire, which extended from Mount
+Taurus to Mount Atlas, and from the Euphrates to the Western Ocean. It
+was not as perpetual dictator; this title had been too fatal to Julius
+Cæsar, and Augustus bore it only eleven days. The fear of perishing like
+his predecessor, and the counsels of Agrippa, induced him to take other
+measures; he insensibly concentrated in his own person all the dignities
+of the republic. Thirteen consulates, the tribunate renewed in his favor
+every ten years, the name of prince of the senate, that of imperator,
+which at first signified only the general of an army, but to which it
+was known how to bestow a more extensive signification--such were the
+titles which appeared to legitimate his power.
+
+The senate lost nothing by his honors, but preserved even its most
+extensive rights. Augustus divided with it all the provinces of the
+empire, but retained the principal for himself; finally, he was master
+of the public treasury and the soldiery, and in fact sovereign.
+
+What is more strange, Julius Cæsar having been enrolled among the gods
+after his death, Augustus was ordained god while living. It is true he
+was not altogether a god in Rome, but he was so in the provinces, where
+he had temples and priests. The abbey of Ainai at Lyons was a fine
+temple of Augustus. Horace says to him: "_Jurandasque tuum per nomen
+ponimus aras._" That is to say, among the Romans existed courtiers so
+finished as to have small altars in their houses dedicated to Augustus.
+He was therefore _canonized_ during his life, and the name of
+god--_divus_--became the title or nickname of all the succeeding
+emperors. Caligula constituted himself a god without difficulty, and was
+worshipped in the temple of Castor and Pollux; his statue was placed
+between those of the twins, and they sacrificed to him peacocks,
+pheasants, and Numidian fowls, until he ended by immolating himself.
+Nero bore the name of god, before he was condemned by the senate to
+suffer the punishment of a slave.
+
+We are not to imagine that the name of "god" signified, in regard to
+these monsters, that which we understand by it; the blasphemy could not
+be carried quite so far. "Divus" precisely answers to "sanctus." The
+Augustan list of proscriptions and the filthy epigram against Fulvia,
+are not the productions of a divinity.
+
+There were twelve conspiracies against this god, if we include the
+pretended plot of Cinna; but none of them succeeded; and of all the
+wretches who have usurped divine honors, Augustus was doubtless the most
+unfortunate. It was he, indeed, who actually terminated the Roman
+Republic; for Cæsar was dictator only six months, and Augustus reigned
+forty years. It was during his reign that manners changed with the
+government. The armies, formerly composed of the Roman legions and
+people of Italy, were in the end made up from all the barbarians, who
+naturally enough placed emperors of their own country on the throne.
+
+In the third century they raised up thirty tyrants at one time, of whom
+some were natives of Transylvania, others of Gaul, Britain, and Germany.
+Diocletian was the son of a Dalmatian slave; Maximian Hercules, a
+peasant of Sirmik; and Theodosius, a native of Spain--not then
+civilized.
+
+We know how the Roman Empire was finally destroyed; how the Turks have
+subjugated one half, and how the name of the other still subsists among
+the Marcomans on the shores of the Danube. The most singular of all its
+revolutions, however, and the most astonishing of all spectacles, is the
+manner in which its capital is governed and inhabited at this moment.
+
+
+
+
+VENALITY.
+
+
+The forger of whom we have spoken so much, who made the testament of
+Cardinal Richelieu, says in chapter iv.: "That it would be much better
+to allow venality and the '_droit annuel_' to continue to exist, than to
+abolish these two establishments, which are not to be changed suddenly
+without shaking the state."
+
+All France repeated, and believed they repeated after Cardinal
+Richelieu, that the sale of offices of judicature was very advantageous.
+The abbé de St. Pierre was the first who, still believing that the
+pretended testament was the cardinal's, dared to say in his observation
+on chapter iv.: "The cardinal engaged himself on a bad subject, in
+maintaining that the sale of places can be advantageous to the state. It
+is true that it is not possible to otherwise reimburse all the charges."
+
+Thus this abuse appeared to everybody, not only unreformable, but
+useful. They were so accustomed to this opprobrium that they did not
+feel it; it seemed eternal; yet a single man in a few months has
+overthrown it. Let us therefore repeat, that all may be done, all may be
+corrected; that the great fault of almost all who govern, is having but
+half wills and half means. If Peter the Great had not willed strongly,
+two thousand leagues of country would still be barbarous.
+
+How can we give water in Paris to thirty thousand houses which want it?
+How can we pay the debts of the state? How can we throw off the dreaded
+tyranny of a foreign power, which is not a power, and to which we pay
+the first fruits as a tribute? Dare to wish it, and you will arrive at
+your object more easily than you extirpated the Jesuits, and purged the
+theatre of _petits-maîtres_.
+
+
+
+
+VENICE.
+
+
+_And, Incidentally, of Liberty._
+
+No power can reproach the Venetians with having acquired their liberty
+by revolt; none can say to them, I have freed you--here is the diploma
+of your manumission.
+
+They have not usurped their rights, as Cæsar usurped empire, or as so
+many bishops, commencing with that of Rome, have usurped royal rights.
+They are lords of Venice--if we dare use the audacious comparison--as
+God is Lord of the earth, because He founded it.
+
+Attila, who never took the title of the scourge of God, ravaged Italy.
+He had as much right to do so, as Charlemagne the Austrasian, Arnold the
+Corinthian Bastard, Guy, duke of Spoleto, Berenger, marquis of Friuli,
+or the bishops who wished to make themselves sovereigns of it.
+
+In this time of military and ecclesiastical robberies, Attila passed as
+a vulture, and the Venetians saved themselves in the sea as kingfishers,
+which none assist or protect; they make their nest in the midst of the
+waters, they enlarge it, they people it, they defend it, they enrich it.
+I ask if it is possible to imagine a more just possession? Our father
+Adam, who is supposed to have lived in that fine country of Mesopotamia,
+was not more justly lord and gardener of terrestrial paradise.
+
+I have read the "_Squittinio della libertà di Venezia_," and I am
+indignant at it. What! Venice could not be originally free, because the
+Greek emperors, superstitious, weak, wicked, and barbarous, said--This
+new town has been built on our ancient territory; and because a German,
+having the title of Emperor of the West, says: This town being in the
+West, is of our domain?
+
+It seems to me like a flying-fish, pursued at once by a falcon and a
+shark, but which escapes both. Sannazarius was very right in saying, in
+comparing Rome and Venice: _"Illam homines dices, hanc posuisse deos."_
+Rome lost, by Cæsar, at the end of five hundred years, its liberty
+acquired by Brutus. Venice has preserved hers for eleven centuries, and
+I hope she will always do so.
+
+Genoa! why dost thou boast of showing the grant of a Berenger, who gave
+thee privileges in the year 958? We know that concessions of privileges
+are but titles of servitude. And this is a fine title! the charter of a
+passing tyrant, who was never properly acknowledged in Italy, and who
+was driven from it two years after the date of the charter!
+
+The true charter of liberty is independence, maintained by force. It is
+with the point of the sword that diplomas should be signed securing this
+natural prerogative. Thou hast lost, more than once, thy privilege and
+thy strong box, since 1748: it is necessary to take care of both. Happy
+Helvetia! to what charter owest thou thy liberty? To thy courage, thy
+firmness, and thy mountains. But I am thy emperor. But I will have thee
+be so no longer. Thy fathers have been the slaves of my fathers. It is
+for that reason that their children will not serve thee. But I have the
+right attached to my dignity. And we have the right of nature.
+
+When had the Seven United Provinces this incontestable right? At the
+moment in which they were united; and from that time Philip II. was the
+rebel. What a great man was William, prince of Orange: he found them
+slaves, and he made them free men! Why is liberty so rare? Because it is
+the first of blessings.
+
+
+
+
+VERSE.
+
+
+It is easy to write in prose, but very difficult to be a poet. More than
+one "_prosateur_" has affected to despise poetry; in reference to which
+propensity, we may call to mind the bon-mot of Montaigne: "We cannot
+attain to poetry; let us revenge ourselves by abusing it."
+
+We have already remarked, that Montesquieu, being unable to succeed in
+verse, professed, in his "Persian Letters," to discover no merit in
+Virgil or Horace. The eloquent Bossuet endeavored to make verses, but
+they were detestable; he took care, however, not to declaim against
+great poets.
+
+Fénelon scarcely made better verses than Bossuet, but knew by heart all
+the fine poetry of antiquity. His mind was full of it, and he
+continually quotes it in his letters.
+
+It appears to me, that there never existed a truly eloquent man who did
+not love poetry. I will simply cite, for example, Cæsar and Cicero; the
+one composed a tragedy on Å’dipus, and we have pieces of poetry by the
+latter which might pass among the best that preceded Lucretius, Virgil,
+and Horace.
+
+A certain Abbé Trublet has printed, that he cannot read a poem at once
+from beginning to end. Indeed, Air. Abbé! but what can we read, what can
+we understand, what can we do, for a long time together, any more than
+poetry?
+
+
+
+
+VIANDS.
+
+
+_Forbidden Viands, Dangerous Viands.--A short Examination of Jewish and
+Christian Precepts, and of those of the Ancient Philosophers._
+
+
+"Viand" comes no doubt from "_victus_"--that which nourishes and
+sustains life: from victus was formed _viventia_; from _viventa_,
+"viand." This word should be applied to all that is eaten, but by the
+caprice of all languages, the custom has prevailed of refusing this
+denomination to bread, milk, rice, pulses, fruits, and fish, and of
+giving it only to terrestrial animals. This seems contrary to reason,
+but it is the fancy of all languages, and of those who formed them.
+
+Some of the first Christians made a scruple of eating that which had
+been offered to the gods, of whatever nature it might be. St. Paul
+approved not of this scruple. He writes to the Corinthians: "Meat
+commendeth us not to God: for neither if we eat are we the better;
+neither if we eat not, are we the worse." He merely exhorts them not to
+eat viands immolated to the gods, before those brothers who might be
+scandalized at it. We see not, after that, why he so ill-treats St.
+Peter, and reproaches him with having eaten forbidden viands with the
+Gentiles. We see elsewhere, in the Acts of the Apostles, that Simon
+Peter was authorized to eat of all indifferently; for he one day saw the
+firmament open, and a great sheet descending by the four corners from
+heaven to earth; it was covered with all kinds of four-footed beasts,
+with all kinds of birds and reptiles--or animals which swim--and a voice
+cried to him: "Kill and eat."
+
+You will remark, that Lent and fast-days were not then instituted.
+Nothing is ever done, except by degrees. We can here say, for the
+consolation of the weak, that the quarrel of St. Peter and St. Paul
+should not alarm us: saints are men. Paul commenced by being the jailer,
+and even the executioner, of the disciples of Jesus; Peter had denied
+Jesus; and we have seen that the dawning, suffering, militant,
+triumphant church has always been divided, from the Ebionites to the
+Jesuits.
+
+I think that the Brahmins, so anterior to the Jews, might well have been
+divided also; but they were the first who imposed on themselves the law
+of not eating any animal. As they believed that souls passed and
+repassed from human bodies to those of beasts, they would not eat their
+relatives. Perhaps their best reason was the fear of accustoming men to
+carnage, and inspiring them with ferocious manners.
+
+We know that Pythagoras, who studied geometry and morals among them,
+embraced this humane doctrine, and brought it into Italy. His disciples
+followed it a very long time: the celebrated philosophers, Plotinus,
+Jamblicus, and Porphyry, recommended and even practised it--though it is
+very rare to practise what is preached. The work of Porphyry on
+abstinence from meat, written in the middle of our third century, and
+very well translated into our language by M. de Burigni, is very much
+esteemed by the learned; but it has not made more disciples among us
+than the book of the physician Héquet. It is in vain that Porphyry
+proposes, as models, the Brahmins and Persian magi of the first class,
+who had a horror of the custom of burying the entrails of other
+creatures in our own; he is not now followed by the fathers of La
+Trappe. The work of Porphyry is addressed to one of his ancient
+disciples, named Firmus, who, it is said, turned Christian, to have the
+liberty of eating meat and drinking wine.
+
+He shows Firmus, that in abstaining from meat and strong liquors, we
+preserve the health of the soul and body; that we live longer, and more
+innocently. All his reflections are those of a scrupulous theologian, of
+a rigid philosopher, and of a mild and sensible mind. We might think, in
+reading his work, that this great enemy of the church was one of its
+fathers.
+
+He speaks not of metempsychosis, but he regards animals as our brethren,
+because they are animated like ourselves; they have the same principles
+of life; they have, as well as ourselves, ideas, sentiment, memory, and
+industry. They want but speech; if they had it, should we dare to kill
+and eat them; should we dare to commit these fratricides? Where is the
+barbarian who would roast a lamb, if it conjured him by an affecting
+speech not to become at once an assassin, an anthropophagus?
+
+This book proves, at least, that among the Gentiles there were
+philosophers of the most austere virtue; but they could not prevail
+against butchers and gluttons. It is to be remarked, that Porphyry makes
+a very fine eulogium on the Essenians: he is filled with veneration for
+them, although they sometimes eat meat. He was for whoever was the most
+virtuous, whether Essenians, Pythagoreans, Stoics, or Christians. When
+sects are formed of a small number, their manners are pure; and they
+degenerate in proportion as they become powerful. Lust, gaming, and
+luxury then prevail, and all the virtues fly away:
+
+     La gola, il dado e l'otiose piume
+     Hanno dal' mondo ogni virtù sbandita.
+
+
+
+
+VIRTUE.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+It is said of Marcus Brutus, that before killing himself, he pronounced
+these words: "Oh, Virtue! I believed that thou wert something, but thou
+art only a vile phantom!"
+
+Thou wast right, Brutus, if thou madest virtue consist in being the
+chief of a party, and the assassin of thy benefactor, of thy father,
+Julius Cæsar. Hadst thou made virtue to consist only in doing good to
+those who depended on thee, thou wouldst not have called it a phantom,
+or have killed thyself in despair.
+
+I am very virtuous, says a miserable excrement of theology. I possess
+the four cardinal virtues, and the three theological ones. An honest man
+asks him: What are the cardinal virtues? The other answers: They are
+fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+If thou art just, thou hast said all. Thy fortitude, prudence, and
+temperance are useful qualities: if thou possessest them, so much the
+better for thee; but if thou art just, so much the better for others. It
+is not sufficient to be just, thou shouldst be beneficent; this is being
+truly cardinal. And thy theological virtues, what are they?
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+Faith, hope, and charity.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Is there virtue in believing? If that which thou believest seems to thee
+to be true, there is no merit in believing it; if it seems to thee to be
+false, it is impossible for thee to believe it.
+
+Hope should no more be a virtue than fear; we fear and we hope,
+according to what is promised or threatened us. As to charity, is it not
+that which the Greeks and Romans understood by humanity--love of your
+neighbor? This love is nothing, if it does not act; beneficence is
+therefore the only true virtue.
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+What a fool! Yes, truly, I shall trouble myself to serve men, if I get
+nothing in return! Every trouble merits payment. I pretend to do no good
+action, except to insure myself paradise.
+
+     _Quis enim virtutem amplectitur, ipsam_
+     _Prœmia si tolias? _        --JUVENAL, _sat._ x.
+
+     For, if the gain you take away,
+     To virtue who will homage pay!
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Ah, good sir, that is to say, that if you did not hope for paradise, or
+fear hell, you would never do a good action. You quote me lines from
+Juvenal, to prove to me that you have only your interest in view. Racine
+could at least show you, that even in this world we might find our
+recompense, while waiting for a better:
+
+     _Quel plaisir de penser, et de dire en vous-même,_
+     _Partout en ce moment on me bénit, on m'aime!_
+     _On ne voit point le peuple à mon nom s'alarmer;_
+     _Le ciel dans tous leurs pleurs ne m'entend point nommer,_
+     _Leur sombre inimitie ne fuit point mon visage;_
+     _Je vois voler partout les cœurs a mon passage._
+     _Tels étaient vos plaisirs._
+                      --RACINE, _Britannicus_, act iv, sc. ii.
+
+     How great his pleasure who can justly say,
+     All at this moment either bless or love me;
+     The people at my name betray no fear,
+     Nor in their plaints does heaven e'er hear of me!
+     Their enmity ne'er makes them fly my presence,
+     But every heart springs out at my approach!
+     Such were your pleasures!
+
+Believe me, doctor, there are two things which deserve to be loved for
+themselves--God and Virtue.
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+Ah, sir! you are a Fénelonist.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Yes, doctor.
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+I will inform against you at the tribunal of Meaux.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Go, and inform!
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+What is virtue? Beneficence towards your neighbor. Can I call virtue
+anything but that which does good! I am indigent, thou art liberal. I am
+in danger, thou succorest me. I am deceived, thou tellest me the truth.
+I am neglected, thou consolest me. I am ignorant, thou teachest me. I
+can easily call thee virtuous, but what will become of the cardinal and
+theological virtues? Some will remain in the schools.
+
+What signifies it to me whether thou art temperate? It is a precept of
+health which thou observest; thou art the better for it; I congratulate
+thee on it. Thou hast faith and hope; I congratulate thee still more;
+they will procure thee eternal life. Thy theological virtues are
+celestial gifts; thy cardinal ones are excellent qualities, which serve
+to guide thee; but they are not virtues in relation to thy neighbor.
+The prudent man does himself good; the virtuous one does it to other
+men. St. Paul was right in telling thee, that charity ranks above faith
+and hope.
+
+But how! wilt thou admit of no other virtues than those which are useful
+to thy neighbor? How can I admit any others? We live in society; there
+is therefore nothing truly good for us but that which does good to
+society. An hermit will be sober, pious, and dressed in sackcloth: very
+well; he will be holy; but I will not call him virtuous until he shall
+have done some act of virtue by which men may have profited. While he is
+alone, he is neither beneficent nor the contrary; he is nobody to us. If
+St. Bruno had made peace in families, if he had assisted the indigent,
+he had been virtuous; having fasted and prayed in solitude, he is only a
+saint. Virtue between men is a commerce of good actions: he who has no
+part in this commerce, must not be reckoned. If this saint were in the
+world, he would doubtless do good, but while he is not in the world, we
+have no reason to give him the name of virtuous: he will be good for
+himself, and not for us.
+
+But, say you, if an hermit is gluttonous, drunken, given up to a secret
+debauch with himself, he is vicious; he is therefore virtuous, if he has
+the contrary qualities. I cannot agree to this: he is a very vile man,
+if he has the faults of which you speak; but he is not vicious, wicked,
+or punishable by society, to which his infamies do no harm. It may be
+presumed, that if he re-enters society, he will do evil to it; he then
+will be very vicious; and it is even more probable that he will be a
+wicked man, than it is certain that the other temperate and chaste
+hermit will be a good man; for in society faults augment, and good
+qualities diminish.
+
+A much stronger objection is made to me: Nero, Pope Alexander VI., and
+other monsters of the kind, have performed good actions. I reply boldly,
+that they were virtuous at the time. Some theologians say, that the
+divine Emperor Antoninus was not virtuous; that he was an infatuated
+Stoic, who, not content with commanding men, would further be esteemed
+by them; that he gave himself credit for the good which he did to
+mankind; that he was all his life just, laborious, beneficent, through
+vanity; and that he only deceived men by his virtues. To which I
+exclaim: My God! often send us such knaves!
+
+
+
+
+VISION.
+
+
+When I speak of vision, I do not mean the admirable manner in which our
+eyes perceive objects, and in which the pictures of all that we see are
+painted on the retina--a divine picture designed according to all the
+laws of mathematics, which is, consequently, like everything else from
+the hand of the Eternal geometrician; in spite of those who explain it,
+and who pretend to believe, that the eye is not intended to see, the
+ear to hear, or the feet to walk. This matter has been so learnedly
+treated by so many great geniuses, that there is no further remnant to
+glean after their harvests.
+
+I do not pretend to speak of the heresy of which Pope John XXII. was
+accused, who pretended that saints will not enjoy beatific vision until
+after the last judgment. I give up this vision. My subject is the
+innumerable multitude of visions with which so many holy personages have
+been favored or tormented; which so many idiots are believed to have
+seen; with which so many knavish men and women have duped the world,
+either to get the reputation of being favored by heaven, which is very
+flattering, or to gain money, which is still more so to rogues in
+general.
+
+Calmet and Langlet have made ample collections of these visions. The
+most interesting in my opinion is the one which has produced the
+greatest effects, since it has tended to reform three parts of the
+Swiss--that of the young Jacobin Yetzer, with which I have already
+amused my dear reader. This Yetzer, as you know, saw the Holy Virgin and
+St. Barbara several times, who informed him of the marks of Jesus
+Christ. You are not ignorant of how he received, from a Jacobin
+confessor, a host powdered with arsenic, and how the bishop of Lausanne
+would have had him burned for complaining that he was poisoned. You have
+seen, that these abominations were one of the causes of the misfortune
+which happened to the Bernese, of ceasing to be Catholic,
+Apostolical, and Roman.
+
+
+[Illustration: The Vision.]
+
+
+I am sorry that I have no visions of this consequence to tell you of.
+Yet you will confess, that the vision of the reverend father Cordeliers
+of Orleans, in 1534, approaches the nearest to it, though still very
+distant. The criminal process which it occasioned is still in manuscript
+in the library of the king of France, No. 1770.
+
+The illustrious house of St. Memin did great good to the convent of the
+Cordeliers, and had their vault in the church. The wife of a lord of St.
+Memin, provost of Orleans, being dead, her husband, believing that his
+ancestors had sufficiently impoverished themselves by giving to the
+monks, gave the brothers a present which did not appear to them
+considerable enough. These good Franciscans conceived a plan for
+disinterring the deceased, to force the widower to have her buried again
+in their holy ground, and to pay them better. The project was not
+clever, for the lord of St. Memin would not have failed to bury her
+elsewhere. But folly often mixes with knavery.
+
+At first, the soul of the lady of St. Memin appeared only to two
+brothers. She said to them: "I am damned, like Judas, because my husband
+has not given sufficient." The two knaves who related these words
+perceived not, that they must do more harm to the convent than good. The
+aim of the convent was to extort money from the lord of St. Memin, for
+the repose of his wife's soul. Now, if Madame de St. Memin was damned,
+all the money in the world could not save her. They got no more; the
+Cordeliers lost their labor.
+
+At this time there was very little good sense in France: the nation had
+been brutalized by the invasion of the Franks, and afterwards by the
+invasion of scholastic theology; but in Orleans there were some persons
+who reasoned. If the Great Being permitted the soul of Madame de St.
+Memin to appear to two Franciscans, it was not natural, they thought,
+for this soul to declare itself damned like Judas. This comparison
+appeared to them to be unnatural. This lady had not sold our Lord Jesus
+Christ for thirty deniers; she was not hanged; her intestines had not
+obtruded themselves; and there was not the slightest pretext for
+comparing her to Judas.
+
+This caused suspicion; and the rumor was still greater in Orleans,
+because there were already heretics there who believed not in certain
+visions, and who, in admitting absurd principles, did not always fail to
+draw good conclusions. The Cordeliers, therefore, changed their battery,
+and put the lady in purgatory.
+
+She therefore appeared again, and declared that purgatory was her lot;
+but she demanded to be disinterred. It was not the custom to disinter
+those in purgatory; but they hoped that M. de St. Memin would prevent
+this extraordinary affront, by giving money. This demand of being
+thrown out of the church augmented the suspicions. It was well known,
+that souls often appeared, but they never demanded to be disinterred.
+
+From this time the soul spoke no more, but it haunted everybody in the
+convent and church. The brother Cordeliers exorcised it. Brother Peter
+of Arras adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring it. He said to it:
+"If thou art the soul of the late Madame de St. Memin, strike four
+knocks;" and the four knocks were struck. "If thou are damned, strike
+six knocks;" and the six knocks were struck. "If thou art still
+tormented in hell, because thy body is buried in holy ground, knock six
+more times;" and the other six knocks were heard still more distinctly.
+"If we disinter thy body, and cease praying to God for thee, wilt thou
+be the less damned? Strike five knocks to certify it to us;" and the
+soul certified it by five knocks.
+
+This interrogation of the soul, made by Peter of Arras, was signed by
+twenty-two Cordeliers, at the head of which was the reverend father
+provincial. This father provincial the next day asked it the same
+questions, and received the same answers.
+
+It will be said, that the soul having declared that it was in purgatory,
+the Cordeliers should not have supposed that it was in hell; but it is
+not my fault if theologians contradict one another.
+
+The lord of St. Memin presented a request to the king against the father
+Cordeliers. They presented a request on their sides; the king appointed
+judges, at the head of whom was Adrian Fumée, master of requests.
+
+The procureur-general of the commission required that the said
+Cordeliers should be burned, but the sentence only condemned them to
+make the "amende honorable" with a torch in their bosom, and to be
+banished from the kingdom. This sentence is of February 18, 1535.
+
+After such a vision, it is useless to relate any others: they are all a
+species either of knavery or folly. Visions of the first kind are under
+the province of justice; those of the second are either visions of
+diseased fools, or of fools in good health. The first belong to
+medicine, the second to Bedlam.
+
+
+
+
+VISION OF CONSTANTINE.
+
+
+Grave theologians have not failed to allege a specious reason to
+maintain the truth of the appearance of the cross in heaven; but we are
+going to show that these arguments are not sufficiently convincing to
+exclude doubt; the evidences which they quote being neither persuasive
+nor according with one another.
+
+First, they produce no witnesses but Christians, the deposition of whom
+may be suspected in the treatment of a fact which tended to prove the
+divinity of their religion. How is it that no Pagan author has made
+mention of this miracle, which was seen equally by all the army of
+Constantine? That Zosimus, who seems to have endeavored to diminish the
+glory of Constantine, has said nothing of it, is not surprising; but the
+silence appears very strange in the author of the panegyric of
+Constantine, pronounced in his presence at Trier; in which oration the
+panegyrist expresses himself in magnificent terms on all the war against
+Maxentius, whom this emperor had conquered.
+
+Another orator, who, in his panegyric, treats so eloquently of the war
+against Maxentius, of the clemency which Constantine showed after the
+victory, and of the deliverance of Rome, says not a word on this
+apparition; while he assures us, that celestial armies were seen by all
+the Gauls, which armies, it was pretended, were sent to aid Constantine.
+
+This surprising vision has not only been unknown to Pagan authors, but
+to three Christian writers, who had the finest occasion to speak of
+them. Optatianus Porphyrius mentions more than once the monogram of
+Christ, which he calls the celestial sign, in the panegyric of
+Constantine which he wrote in Latin verse, but not a word on the
+appearance of the cross in the sky.
+
+Lactantius says nothing of it in his treatise on the "Death of
+Persecutors," which he composed towards the year 314, two years after
+the vision of which we speak; yet he must have been perfectly informed
+of all that regards Constantine, having been tutor to Crispus, the son
+of this prince. He merely relates, that Constantine was commanded, in a
+dream, to put the divine image of the cross on the bucklers of his
+soldiers, and to give up war: but in relating a dream, the truth of
+which had no other support than the evidence of the emperor, he passes,
+in silence over a prodigy to which all the army were witnesses.
+
+Further, Eusebius of Cæsarea himself, who has given the example to all
+other Christian historians on the subject, speaks not of this wonder, in
+the whole course of his "Ecclesiastical History," though he enlarges
+much on the exploits of Constantine against Maxentius. It is only in his
+life of this emperor that he expresses himself in these terms:
+"Constantine resolved to adore the god of Constantius; his father
+implored the protection of this god against Maxentius. Whilst he was
+praying, he had a wonderful vision, which would appear incredible, if
+related by another; but since the victorious emperor has himself related
+it to us, who wrote this history; and that, after having been long known
+to this prince, and enjoying a share in his good graces, the emperor
+confirming what he said by oath--who could doubt it? particularly since
+the event has confirmed the truth of it.
+
+"He affirmed, that in the afternoon, when the sun set, he saw a luminous
+cross above it, with this inscription in Greek--'By this sign, conquer:'
+that this appearance astonished him extremely, as well as all the
+soldiers who followed him, who were witnesses of the miracle; that while
+his mind was fully occupied with this vision, and he sought to penetrate
+the sense of it, the night being come, Jesus Christ appeared to him
+during his sleep, with the same sign which He had shown to him in the
+air in the day-time, and commanded him to make a standard of the same
+form, and to bear it in his battles, to secure him from danger.
+Constantine, rising at break of day, related to his friends the vision
+which he had beheld; and, sending for goldsmiths and lapidaries, he sat
+in the midst of them, explained to them the figure of the sign which he
+had seen, and commanded them to make a similar one of gold and jewels;
+and we remember having sometimes seen it."
+
+Eusebius afterwards adds, that Constantine, astonished at so admirable a
+vision, sent for Christian priests; and that, instructed by them, he
+applied himself to reading our sacred books, and concluded that he ought
+to adore with a profound respect the God who appeared to him.
+
+How can we conceive that so admirable a vision, seen by so many millions
+of people, and so calculated to justify the truth of the Christian
+religion, could be unknown to Eusebius, an historian so careful in
+seeking all that could contribute to do honor to Christianity, as even
+to quote profane monuments falsely, as we have seen in the article on
+"Eclipse?" And how can we persuade ourselves that he was not informed
+of it, until several years after, by the sole evidence of Constantine?
+Were there no Christians in the army, who publicly made a glory of
+having seen such a prodigy? Had they so little interest in their cause
+as to keep silence on so great a miracle? Ought we to be astonished,
+after that, that Gelasius, one of the successors of Eusebius, in the
+siege of Cæsarea in the fifth century, has said that many people
+suspected that it was only a fable, invented in favor of the Christian
+religion?
+
+This suspicion will become much stronger, if we take notice how little
+the witnesses agree on the circumstances of this marvellous appearance.
+Almost all affirm, that the cross was seen by Constantine and all his
+army; and Gelasius speaks of Constantine alone. They differ on the time
+of the vision. Philostorgius, in his "Ecclesiastical History," of which
+Photius has preserved us the extract, says, that it was when Constantine
+gained the victory over Maxentius; others pretend that it was before,
+when Constantine was making preparations for attacking the tyrant, and
+was on his march with his army. Arthemius, quoted by Metaphrastus and
+Surius, mentions the 20th of October, and says that it was at noon;
+others speak of the afternoon at sunset.
+
+Authors do not agree better even on the vision: the greatest number
+acknowledged but one, and that in a dream. There is only Eusebius,
+followed by Philostorgius and Socrates, who speaks of two; the one that
+Constantine saw in the day-time, and the other which he saw in a dream,
+tending to confirm the first. Nicephorus Callistus reckons three.
+
+The inscription offers new differences: Eusebius says that it was in
+Greek characters, while others do not speak of it. According to
+Philostorgius and Nicephorus, it was in Latin characters; others say
+nothing about it, and seem by their relation to suppose that the
+characters were Greek. Philostorgius affirms, that the inscription was
+formed by an assemblage of stars; Arthemius says that the letters were
+golden. The author quoted by Photius, represents them as composed of the
+same luminous matter as the cross; and according to Sosomenes, it had no
+inscription, and they were angels who said to Constantine: "By this
+sign, gain the victory."
+
+Finally, the relation of historians is opposed on the consequences of
+this vision. If we take that of Eusebius, Constantine, aided by God,
+easily gained the victory over Maxentius; but according to Lactantius,
+the victory was much disputed. He even says that the troops of Maxentius
+had some advantage, before Constantine made his army approach the gates
+of Rome. If we may believe Eusebius and Sosomenes, from this epoch
+Constantine was always victorious, and opposed the salutary sign of the
+cross to his enemies, as an impenetrable rampart. However, a Christian
+author, of whom M. de Valois has collected some fragments, at the end of
+Ammianus Marcellinus--relates, that in the two battles given to Licinius
+by Constantine, the victory was doubtful, and that Constantine was even
+slightly wounded in the thigh; and Nicephorus says, that after the first
+apparition, he twice combated the Byzantines, without opposing the cross
+to them, and would not even have remembered it, if he had not lost nine
+thousand men, and had the same vision twice more. In the first, the
+stars were so arranged that they formed these words of a psalm: "Call on
+me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify
+me;" and the last, much clearer and more brilliant still, bore: "By this
+sign, thou shalt vanquish all thy enemies."
+
+Philostorgius affirms, that the vision of the cross, and the victory
+gained over Maxentius, determined Constantine to embrace the Christian
+faith; but Rufinus, who has translated the "Ecclesiastical History" of
+Eusebius into Latin, says that he already favored Christianity, and
+honored the true God. It is however known, that he did not receive
+baptism until a few days before his death, as is expressly said by
+Philostorgius, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, Socrates,
+Theodoret, and the author of the Chronicle of Alexandria. This custom,
+then common, was founded on the belief that, baptism effacing all the
+sins of him who received it, he died certain of his salvation.
+
+We might confine ourselves to these general reflections, but by
+superabundance of right we will discuss the authority of Eusebius, as an
+historian, and that of Constantine and Arthemius, as ocular witnesses.
+
+As to Arthemius, we think that he ought not to be placed in the rank of
+ocular witnesses; his discourse being founded only on his "Acts,"
+related by Metaphrastus, a fabulous author: "Acts" which Baronius
+pretends it was wrong to impeach, at the same time that he confesses
+that they are interpolated.
+
+As to the speech of Constantine, related by Eusebius, it is indisputably
+an astonishing thing, that this emperor feared that he should not be
+believed unless he made oath; and that Eusebius has not supported his
+evidence by that of any of the officers or soldiers of the army. But
+without here adopting the opinion of some scholars, who doubt whether
+Eusebius is the author of the life of Constantine, is he not an author
+who, in this work, bears throughout the character of a panegyrist,
+rather than that of a historian? Is he not a writer who has carefully
+suppressed all which could be disadvantageous to his hero? In a word,
+does he not show his partiality, when he says, in his "Ecclesiastical
+History," speaking of Maxentius, that having usurped the sovereign power
+at Rome, to flatter the people he feigned at first to profess the
+Christian religion? As if it was impossible for Constantine to make use
+of such a feint, and to pretend this vision, just as Licinius, some time
+after, to encourage his soldiers against Maximin, pretended that an
+angel in a dream had dictated a prayer to him, which he must repeat with
+his army.
+
+How could Eusebius really have the effrontery to call a prince a
+Christian who caused the temple of Concord to be rebuilt at his own
+expense, as is proved by an inscription, which was read in the time of
+Lelio Geraldi, in the temple of Latran? A prince who caused his son
+Crispus, already honored with the title of Cæsar, to perish on a slight
+suspicion of having commerce with Fausta, his stepmother; who caused
+this same Fausta, to whom he was indebted for the preservation of his
+life, to be suffocated in an overheated bath; who caused the emperor
+Maximian Hercules, his adopted father, to be strangled; who took away
+the life of the young Licinius, his nephew, who had already displayed
+very good qualities; and, in short, who dishonored himself by so many
+murders, that the consul Ablavius called his times Neronian? We might
+add, that much dependence should not be placed on the oath of
+Constantine, since he had not the least scruple in perjuring himself, by
+causing Licinius to be strangled, to whom he had promised his life on
+oath. Eusebius passes in silence over all the actions of Constantine
+which are related by Eutropius, Zosimus, Orosius, St. Jerome, and
+Aurelius Victor.
+
+After this, have we not reason to conclude that the pretended appearance
+of the cross in the sky is only a fraud which Constantine imagined to
+favor the success of his ambitious enterprises? The medals of this
+prince and of his family, which are found in Banduri, and in the work
+entitled, "_Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum_"; the triumphal arch of
+which Baronius speaks, in the inscription of which the senate and the
+Roman people said that Constantine, by the direction of the Divinity,
+had rid the republic of the tyrant Maxentius, and of all his faction;
+finally, the statue which Constantine himself caused to be erected at
+Rome, holding a lance terminating in the form of a cross, with this
+inscription--as related by Eusebius: "By this saving sign, I have
+delivered your city from the yoke of tyranny"--all this, I say, only
+proves the immoderate pride of this artificial prince, who would
+everywhere spread the noise of his pretended dream, and perpetuate the
+recollection of it.
+
+Yet, to excuse Eusebius, we must compare him to a bishop of the
+seventeenth century, whom La Bruyère hesitated not to call a father of
+the Church. Bossuet, at the same time that he fell so unmercifully on
+the visions of the elegant and sensible Fénelon, commented himself, in
+the funeral oration of Anne of Gonzaga of Cleves, on the two visions
+which worked the conversion of the Princess Palatine. It was an
+admirable dream, says this prelate; she thought that, walking alone in a
+forest, she met with a blind man in a small cell. She comprehended that
+a sense is wanting to the incredulous as well as to the blind; and at
+the same time, in the midst of so mysterious a dream, she applied the
+fine comparison of the blind man to the truths of religion and of the
+other life.
+
+In the second vision, God continued to instruct her, as He did Joseph
+and Solomon; and during the drowsiness which the trouble caused her, He
+put this parable into her mind, so similar to that in the gospel: She
+saw that appear which Jesus Christ has not disdained to give us as an
+image of His tenderness--a hen become a mother, anxious round the little
+ones which she conducted. One of them having strayed, our invalid saw it
+swallowed by a hungry dog. She ran and tore the innocent animal away
+from him. At the same time, a voice cried from the other side that she
+must give it back to the ravisher. "No," said she, "I will never give it
+back." At this moment she awakened, and the explanation of the figure
+which had been shown to her presented itself to her mind in an instant.
+
+
+
+
+VOWS.
+
+
+To make a vow for life, is to make oneself a slave. How can this worst
+of all slavery be allowed in a country in which slavery is proscribed?
+To promise to God by an oath, that from the age of fifteen until death
+we will be a Jesuit, Jacobin, or Capuchin, is to affirm that we will
+always think like a Capuchin, a Jacobin, or a Jesuit. It is very
+pleasant to promise, for a whole life, that which no man can certainly
+insure from night to morning!
+
+How can governments have been such enemies to themselves, and so absurd,
+as to authorize citizens to alienate their liberty at an age when they
+are not allowed to dispose of the least portion of their fortunes? How,
+being convinced of the extent of this stupidity, have not the whole of
+the magistracy united to put an end to it?
+
+Is it not alarming to reflect that there are more monks than soldiers?
+Is it possible not to be affected by the discovery of the secrets of
+cloisters; the turpitudes, the horrors, and the torments to which so
+many unhappy children are subjected, who detest the state which they
+have been forced to adopt, when they become men, and who beat with
+useless despair the chains which their weakness has imposed upon them?
+
+I knew a young man whose parents engaged to make a Capuchin of him at
+fifteen years and a half old, when he desperately loved a girl very
+nearly of his own age. As soon as the unhappy youth had made his vow to
+St. Francis, the devil reminded him of the vows which he had made to his
+mistress, to whom he had signed a promise of marriage. At last, the
+devil being stronger than St. Francis, the young Capuchin left his
+cloister, repaired to the house of his mistress, and was told that she
+had entered a convent and made profession.
+
+He flew to the convent, and asked to see her, when he was told that she
+had died of grief. This news deprived him of all sense, and he fell to
+the ground nearly lifeless. He was immediately transported to a
+neighboring monastery, not to afford him the necessary medical aid, but
+in order to procure him the blessing of extreme unction before his
+death, which infallibly saves the soul.
+
+The house to which the poor fainting boy was carried, happened to be a
+convent of Capuchins, who charitably let him remain at the door for
+three hours; but at last he was recognized by one of the venerable
+brothers, who had seen him in the monastery to which he belonged. On
+this discovery, he was carried into a cell, and attention paid to
+recover him, in order that he might expiate, by a salutary penitence,
+the errors of which he had been guilty.
+
+As soon as he had recovered strength, he was conducted, well bound, to
+his convent, and the following is precisely the manner in which he was
+treated. In the first place he was placed in a dungeon under ground, at
+the bottom of which was an enormous stone, to which a chain of iron was
+attached. To this chain he was fastened by one leg, and near him was
+placed a loaf of barley bread and a jug of water; after which they
+closed the entrance of the dungeon with a large block of stone, which
+covered the opening by which they had descended.
+
+At the end of three days they withdrew him from the dungeon, in order to
+bring him before the criminal court of the Capuchins. They wished to
+know if he had any accomplices in his flight, and to oblige him to
+confess, applied the mode of torture employed in the convent. This
+preparatory torture was inflicted by cords, which bound the limbs of the
+patient, and made him endure a sort of rack.
+
+After having undergone these torments, he was condemned to be imprisoned
+for two years in his cell, from which he was to be brought out thrice a
+week, in order to receive upon his naked body the discipline with iron
+chains.
+
+For six months his constitution endured this punishment, from which he
+was at length so fortunate as to escape in consequence of a quarrel
+among the Capuchins, who fought with one another, and allowed the
+prisoner to escape during the fray.
+
+After hiding himself for some hours, he ventured to go abroad at the
+decline of day, almost worn out by hunger, and scarcely able to support
+himself. A passing Samaritan took pity upon the poor, famished spectre,
+conducted him to his house, and gave him assistance. The unhappy youth
+himself related to me his story in the presence of his liberator. Behold
+here the consequence of vows!
+
+It would be a nice point to decide, whether the horrors of passing every
+day among the mendicant friars are more revolting than the pernicious
+riches of the other orders, which reduce so many families into
+mendicants.
+
+All of them have made a vow to live at our expense, and to be a burden
+to their country; to injure its population, and to betray both their
+contemporaries and posterity; and shall we suffer it?
+
+Here is another interesting question for officers of the army: Why are
+monks allowed to recover one of their brethren who has enlisted for a
+soldier, while a captain is prevented from recovering a deserter who has
+turned monk?
+
+
+
+
+VOYAGE OF ST. PETER TO ROME.
+
+
+Of the famous dispute, whether Peter made the journey to Rome, is it not
+in the main as frivolous as most other grand disputes? The revenues of
+the abbey of St. Denis, in France, depend neither on the truth of the
+journey of St. Dionysius the Areopagite from Athens to the midst of
+Gaul; his martyrdom at Montmartre; nor the other journey which he made
+after his death, from Montmartre to St. Denis, carrying his head in his
+arms, and kissing it at every step.
+
+The Carthusians have great riches, without there being the least truth
+in the history of the canon of Paris, who rose from his coffin three
+successive days, to inform the assistants that he was damned.
+
+In like manner it is very certain that the rights and revenues of the
+Roman pontiff can exist, whether Simon Barjonas, surnamed Cephas, went
+to Rome or not. All the rights of the archbishops of Rome and
+Constantinople were established at the Council of Chalcedon, in the
+year 451 of our vulgar era, and there was no mention in this council of
+any journey made by an apostle to Byzantium or to Rome.
+
+The patriarchs of Alexander and Constantinople followed the lot of their
+provinces. The ecclesiastical chiefs of these two imperial cities, and
+of opulent Egypt, must necessarily have more authority, privileges, and
+riches, than bishops of little towns.
+
+If the residence of an apostle in a city decided so many rights, the
+bishop of Jerusalem would have been, without contradiction, the first
+bishop of Christendom. He was evidently the successor of St. James, the
+brother of Jesus Christ, acknowledged as the founder of this church, and
+afterwards called the first of all bishops. We should add by the same
+reasoning, that all the patriarchs of Jerusalem should be circumcised,
+since the fifteen first bishops of Jerusalem--the cradle of Christianity
+and tomb of Jesus Christ--had all received circumcision. It is
+indisputable that the first largesses made to the church of Rome by
+Constantine, have not the least relation to the journey of St. Peter.
+
+1. The first church raised at Rome was that of St. John; it is still the
+true cathedral. It is evident that it would have been dedicated to St.
+Peter, if he had been the first bishop of it. It is the strongest of all
+presumptions, and that alone might have ended the dispute.
+
+2. To this powerful conjecture are joined convincing negative proofs. If
+Peter had been at Rome with Paul, the Acts of the Apostles would have
+mentioned it; and they say not a word about it.
+
+3. If St. Peter went to preach the gospel at Rome, St. Paul would not
+have said, in his Epistle to the Galatians: "When they saw that the
+gospel of the uncircumcisions was committed unto me, as the gospel of
+the circumcision was unto Peter; and when James, Cephas, and John, who
+seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they
+gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go
+unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision."
+
+4. In the letters which Paul writes from Rome, he never speaks of Peter;
+therefore, it is evident that Peter was not there.
+
+5. In the letters which Paul writes to his brethren of Rome, there is
+not the least compliment to Peter, nor the least mention of him;
+therefore, Peter neither made a journey to Rome when Paul was in prison,
+nor when he was free.
+
+6. We have never known any letter of St. Peter's dated from Rome.
+
+7. Some, like Paul Orosius, a Spaniard of the fifth century, say that he
+was at Rome in the first years of the reign of Claudius. The Acts of the
+Apostles say that he was then at Jerusalem; and the Epistles of Paul,
+that he was at Antioch.
+
+8. I do not pretend to bring forward any proof, but speaking humanly,
+and according to the rules of profane criticism, Peter could scarcely go
+from Jerusalem to Rome, knowing neither the Latin nor even the Greek
+language, which St. Paul spoke, though very badly. It is said that the
+apostles spoke all the languages of the universe; therefore, I am
+silenced.
+
+9. Finally, the first mention which we ever had of the journey of St.
+Peter to Rome, came from one named Papias, who lived about a hundred
+years after St. Peter. This Papias was a Phrygian; he wrote in Phrygia;
+and he pretended that St. Peter went to Rome, because in one of his
+letters he speaks of Babylon. We have, indeed, a letter, attributed to
+St. Peter, written in these obscure times, in which it is said: "The
+Church which is at Babylon, my wife, and my son Mark, salute you." It
+has pleased some translators to translate the word meaning my wife, by
+"chosen vessel": "Babylon, the chosen vessel." This is translating
+comprehensively.
+
+Papias, who was, it must be confessed, one of the great visionaries of
+these ages, imagined that Babylon signified Rome. It was, however, very
+natural for Peter to depart from Antioch to visit the brethren at
+Babylon. There were always Jews at Babylon; and they continually carried
+on the trade of brokers and peddlers; it is very likely that several
+disciples sought refuge there, and that Peter went to encourage them.
+There is not more reason in supposing that Babylon signifies Rome, than
+in supposing that Rome means Babylon. What an extravagant idea, to
+suppose that Peter wrote an exhortation to his comrades, as we write at
+present, in ciphers! Did he fear that his letter should be opened at the
+post? Why should Peter fear that his Jewish letters should be known--so
+useless in a worldly sense, and to which it was impossible for the
+Romans to pay the least attention? Who engaged him to lie so vainly?
+What could have possessed people to think, that when he wrote Babylon,
+he intended Rome?
+
+It was after similar convincing proofs that the judicious Calmet
+concludes that the journey of St. Peter to Rome is proved by St. Peter
+himself, who says expressly, that he has written his letter from
+Babylon; that is to say, from Rome, as we interpret with the ancients.
+Once more, this is powerful reasoning! He has probably learned this
+logic among the vampires!
+
+The learned archbishop of Paris, Marca, Dupin, Blondel, and Spanheim,
+are not of this opinion; but it was that of Calmet, who reasoned like
+Calmet, and who was followed by a multitude of writers so attached to
+the sublimity of their principles that they sometimes neglected
+wholesome criticism and reason. It is a very poor pretence of the
+partisans of the voyage to say that the Acts of the Apostles are
+intended for the history of Paul, and not for that of Peter; and that if
+they pass in silence over the sojourn of Simon Barjonas at Rome, it is
+that the actions and exploits of Paul were the sole object of the
+writer.
+
+The Acts speak much of Simon Barjonas, surnamed Peter; it is he who
+proposes to give a successor to Judas. We see him strike Ananias and his
+wife with sudden death, who had given him their property, but
+unfortunately not all of it. We see him raise his sempstress Dorcas, at
+the house of the tanner Simon at Joppa. He has a quarrel in Samaria with
+Simon, surnamed the Magician; he goes to Lippa, Cæsarea, and Jerusalem;
+what would it have cost him to go to Rome?
+
+It is very difficult to decide whether Peter went to Rome under
+Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, or Nero. The journey in the time of
+Tiberius is only founded on the pretended apocryphal fasti of Italy.
+
+Another apocrypha, entitled "Catalogues of Bishops," makes Peter bishop
+of Rome immediately after the death of his master. I know not what
+Arabian tale sent him to Rome under Caligula. Eusebius, three hundred
+years after, makes him to be conducted to Rome under Claudius by a
+divine hand, without saying in what year.
+
+Lactantius, who wrote in the time of Constantine, is the first veracious
+author who has said that Peter went to Rome under Nero, and that he was
+crucified there.
+
+We must avow, that if such claims alone were brought forward by a party
+in a lawsuit, he would not gain his cause, and he would be advised to
+keep to the maxim of "_uti possedetis_"; and this is the part which Rome
+has taken.
+
+But it is said that before Eusebius and Lactantius, the exact Papias had
+already related the adventure of Peter and Simon; the virtue of God
+which removed him into the presence of Nero; the kinsman of Nero half
+raised from the dead, in the name of God, by Simon, and wholly raised by
+Peter; the compliments of their dogs; the bread given by Peter to
+Simon's dogs; the magician who flew into the air; the Christian who
+caused him to fall by a sign of the cross, by which he broke both his
+legs; Nero, who cut off Peter's head to pay for the legs of his
+magician, etc. The grave Marcellus repeats this authentic history, and
+the grave Hegesippus again repeats it, and others repeat it after them;
+and I repeat to you, that if ever you plead for a meadow before the
+judge of Vaugirard, you will never gain your suit by such claims.
+
+I doubt not that the episcopal chair of St. Peter is still at Rome in
+the fine church. I doubt not but that St. Peter enjoyed the bishopric of
+Rome twenty-nine years, a month, and nine days, as it is said. But I may
+venture to say that that is not demonstratively proved; and I say that
+it is to be thought that the Roman bishops of the present time are more
+at their ease than those of times past--obscure times, which it is very
+difficult to penetrate.
+
+
+
+
+WALLER.
+
+
+The celebrated Waller has been much spoken of in France; he has been
+praised by La Fontaine, St. Évremond, and Bayle, who, however, knew
+little of him beyond his name.
+
+He had pretty nearly the same reputation in London as Voiture enjoyed in
+Paris, but I believe that he more deserved it. Voiture existed at a time
+when we were first emerging from literary ignorance, and when wit was
+aimed at, but scarcely attained. Turns of expression were sought for
+instead of thoughts, and false stones were more easily discovered than
+genuine diamonds. Voiture, who possessed an easy and trifling turn of
+mind, was the first who shone in this aurora of French literature. Had
+he come after the great men who have thrown so much lustre on the age of
+Louis XIV., he would have been forced to have had something more than
+mere wit, which was enough for the hotel de Rambouillet, but not enough
+for posterity. Boileau praises him, but it was in his first satires, and
+before his taste was formed. He was young, and of that age in which men
+judge rather by reputation than from themselves; and, besides, Boileau
+was often unjust in his praise as well as his censure. He praised
+Segrais, whom nobody read; insulted Quinault, who everybody repeated by
+heart; and said nothing of La Fontaine.
+
+Waller, although superior to Voiture, was not perfect. His poems of
+gallantry are very graceful, but they are frequently languid from
+negligence, and they are often disfigured by conceits. In his days, the
+English had not learned to write correctly. His serious pieces are
+replete with vigor, and exhibit none of the softness of his gallant
+effusions. He composed a monody on the death of Cromwell, which, with
+several faults, passes for a masterpiece; and it was in reference to
+this eulogy that Waller made the reply to Charles II., which is inserted
+in "Bayle's Dictionary." The king--to whom Waller, after the manner of
+kings and poets, presented a poem stuffed with panegyric--told him that
+he had written more finely on Cromwell. Waller immediately replied:
+"Sire, we poets always succeed better in fiction than in truth." This
+reply was not so sincere as that of the Dutch ambassador, who, when the
+same king complained to him that his masters had less regard for him
+than for Cromwell, replied: "Ah, sire! that Cromwell was quite another
+thing." There are courtiers in England, as elsewhere, and Waller was one
+of them; but after their death, I consider men only by their works; all
+the rest is annihilated. I simply observe that Waller, born to an estate
+of the annual value of sixty thousand livres, had never the silly pride
+or carelessness to neglect his talent. The earls of Dorset and
+Roscommon, the two dukes of Buckingham, the earl of Halifax, and a great
+many others, have not thought it below them to become celebrated poets
+and illustrious writers; and their works do them more honor than their
+titles. They have cultivated letters as if their fortunes depended on
+their success, and have rendered literature respectable in the eyes of
+the people, who in all things require leaders from among the great--who,
+however, have less influence of this kind in England than in any other
+place in the world.
+
+
+
+
+WAR.
+
+
+All animals are perpetually at war; every species is born to devour
+another. There are none, even to sheep and doves, who do not swallow a
+prodigious number of imperceptible animals. Males of the same species
+make war for the females, like Menelaus and Paris. Air, earth, and the
+waters, are fields of destruction.
+
+It seems that God having given reason to men, this reason should teach
+them not to debase themselves by imitating animals, particularly when
+nature has given them neither arms to kill their fellow-creatures, nor
+instinct which leads them to suck their blood.
+
+Yet murderous war is so much the dreadful lot of man, that except two or
+three nations, there are none but what their ancient histories represent
+as armed against one another. Towards Canada, man and warrior are
+synonymous; and we have seen, in our hemisphere, that thief and soldier
+were the same thing. Manichæans! behold your excuse.
+
+The most determined of flatterers will easily agree, that war always
+brings pestilence and famine in its train, from the little that he may
+have seen in the hospitals of the armies of Germany, or the few villages
+he may have passed through in which some great exploit of war has been
+performed.
+
+That is doubtless a very fine art which desolates countries, destroys
+habitations, and in a common year causes the death of from forty to a
+hundred thousand men. This invention was first cultivated by nations
+assembled for their common good; for instance, the diet of the Greeks
+declared to the diet of Phrygia and neighboring nations, that they
+intended to depart on a thousand fishers' barks, to exterminate them if
+they could.
+
+The assembled Roman people judged that it was to their interest to go
+and fight, before harvest, against the people of Veii or the Volscians.
+And some years after, all the Romans, being exasperated against all the
+Carthaginians, fought them a long time on sea and land. It is not
+exactly the same at present.
+
+A genealogist proves to a prince that he descends in a right line from a
+count, whose parents made a family compact, three or four hundred years
+ago, with a house the recollection of which does not even exist. This
+house had distant pretensions to a province, of which the last possessor
+died of apoplexy. The prince and his council see his right at once. This
+province, which is some hundred leagues distant from him, in vain
+protests that it knows him not; that it has no desire to be governed by
+him; that to give laws to its people, he must at least have their
+consent; these discourses only reach as far as the ears of the prince,
+whose right is incontestable. He immediately assembles a great number of
+men who have nothing to lose, dresses them in coarse blue cloth, borders
+their hats with broad white binding, makes them turn to the right and
+left, and marches to glory.
+
+Other princes who hear of this equipment, take part in it, each
+according to his power, and cover a small extent of country with more
+mercenary murderers than Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, and Bajazet employed
+in their train. Distant people hear that they are going to fight, and
+that they may gain five or six sous a day, if they will be of the party;
+they divide themselves into two bands, like reapers, and offer their
+services to whoever will employ them.
+
+These multitudes fall upon one another, not only without having any
+interest in the affair, but without knowing the reason of it. We see at
+once five or six belligerent powers, sometimes three against three,
+sometimes two against four, and sometimes one against five; all equally
+detesting one another, uniting with and attacking by turns; all agree in
+a single point, that of doing all the harm possible.
+
+The most wonderful part of this infernal enterprise is that each chief
+of the murderers causes his colors to be blessed, and solemnly invokes
+God before he goes to exterminate his neighbors. If a chief has only the
+fortune to kill two or three thousand men, he does not thank God for it;
+but when he has exterminated about ten thousand by fire and sword, and,
+to complete the work, some town has been levelled with the ground, they
+then sing a long song in four parts, composed in a language unknown to
+all who have fought, and moreover replete with barbarism. The same song
+serves for marriages and births, as well as for murders; which is
+unpardonable, particularly in a nation the most famous for new songs.
+
+Natural religion has a thousand times prevented citizens from committing
+crimes. A well-trained mind has not the inclination for it; a tender one
+is alarmed at it, representing to itself a just and avenging God; but
+artificial religion encourages all cruelties which are exercised by
+troops--conspiracies, seditions, pillages, ambuscades, surprises of
+towns, robberies, and murder. Each marches gaily to crime, under the
+banner of his saint.
+
+A certain number of orators are everywhere paid to celebrate these
+murderous days; some are dressed in a long black close coat, with a
+short cloak; others have a shirt above a gown; some wear two variegated
+stuff streamers over their shirts. All of them speak for a long time,
+and quote that which was done of old in Palestine, as applicable to a
+combat in Veteravia.
+
+The rest of the year these people declaim against vices. They prove, in
+three points and by antitheses, that ladies who lay a little carmine
+upon their cheeks, will be the eternal objects of the eternal vengeances
+of the Eternal; that Polyeuctus and Athalia are works of the demon; that
+a man who, for two hundred crowns a day, causes his table to be
+furnished with fresh sea-fish during Lent, infallibly works his
+salvation; and that a poor man who eats two sous and a half worth of
+mutton, will go forever to all the devils.
+
+Of five or six thousand declamations of this kind, there are three or
+four at most, composed by a Gaul named Massillon, which an honest man
+may read without disgust; but in all these discourses, you will scarcely
+find two in which the orator dares to say a word against the scourge and
+crime of war, which contains all other scourges and crimes. The
+unfortunate orators speak incessantly against love, which is the only
+consolation of mankind, and the only mode of making amends for it; they
+say nothing of the abominable efforts which we make to destroy it.
+
+You have made a very bad sermon on impurity--oh, Bourdaloue!--but none
+on these murders, varied in so many ways; on these rapines and
+robberies; on this universal rage which devours the world. All the
+united vices of all ages and places will never equal the evils produced
+by a single campaign.
+
+Miserable physicians of souls! you exclaim, for five quarters of an
+hour, on some pricks of a pin, and say nothing on the malady which tears
+us into a thousand pieces! Philosophers! moralists! burn all your books.
+While the caprice of a few men makes that part of mankind consecrated to
+heroism, to murder loyally millions of our brethren, can there be
+anything more horrible throughout nature?
+
+What becomes of, and what signifies to me, humanity, beneficence,
+modesty, temperance, mildness, wisdom, and piety, while half a pound of
+lead, sent from the distance of a hundred steps, pierces my body, and I
+die at twenty years of age, in inexpressible torments, in the midst of
+five or six thousand dying men, while my eyes which open for the last
+time, see the town in which I was born destroyed by fire and sword, and
+the last sounds which reach my ears are the cries of women and children
+expiring under the ruins, all for the pretended interests of a man whom
+I know not?
+
+What is worse, war is an inevitable scourge. If we take notice, all men
+have worshipped Mars. Sabaoth, among the Jews, signifies the god of
+arms; but Minerva, in Homer, calls Mars a furious, mad, and infernal
+god.
+
+The celebrated Montesquieu, who was called humane, has said, however,'
+that it is just to bear fire and sword against our neighbors, when we
+fear that they are doing too well. If this is the spirit of laws, At is
+also that of Borgia and of Machiavelli. If unfortunately he says true,
+we must write against this truth, though it may be proved by facts.
+
+This is what Montesquieu says: "Between societies, the right of natural
+defence sometimes induces the necessity of attacking, when one people
+sees that a longer peace puts another in a situation to destroy it, and
+that attack at the given moment is the only way of preventing this
+destruction."
+
+How can attack in peace be the only means of preventing this
+destruction? You must be sure that this neighbor will destroy you, if he
+become powerful. To be sure of it, he must already have made
+preparations for your overthrow. In this case, it is he who commences
+the war; it is not you: your supposition is false and contradictory.
+
+If ever war is evidently unjust, it is that which you propose: it is
+going to kill your neighbor, who does not attack you, lest he should
+ever be in a state to do so. To hazard the ruin of your country, in the
+hope of ruining without reason that of another, is assuredly neither
+honest nor useful; for we are never sure of success, as you well know.
+
+If your neighbor becomes too powerful during peace, what prevents you
+from rendering yourself equally powerful? If he has made alliances, make
+them on your side. If, having fewer monks, he has more soldiers and
+manufacturers, imitate him in this wise economy. If he employs his
+sailors better, employ yours in the same manner: all that is very just.
+But to expose your people to the most horrible misery, in the so often
+false idea of overturning your dear brother, the most serene neighboring
+prince!--it was not for the honorary president of a pacific society to
+give you such advice.
+
+
+
+
+WEAKNESS ON BOTH SIDES.
+
+
+Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels. I
+speak not here of those which have caused blood to be shed--the
+Anabaptists, who ravaged Westphalia; the Calvinists, who kindled so many
+wars in France; the sanguinary factions of the Armagnacs and
+Burgundians; the punishment of the Maid of Orleans, whom one-half of
+France regarded as a celestial heroine, and the other as a sorceress;
+the Sorbonne, which presented a request to have her burned; the
+assassination of the duke of Orleans, justified by the doctors; subjects
+excused from the oath of fidelity by a decree of the sacred faculty; the
+executioners so often employed to enforce opinions; the piles lighted
+for unfortunates who persuaded others that they were sorcerers and
+heretics--all that is more than weakness. Yet these abominations were
+committed in the good times of honest Germanic faith and Gallic naivete!
+I would send back to them all honest people who regret times past.
+
+I will make here, simply for my own particular edification, a little
+instructive memoir of the fine things which divided the minds of our
+grandfathers. In the eleventh century--in that good time in which we
+knew not the art of war, which however we have always practised; nor
+that of governing towns, nor commerce, nor society, and in which we
+could neither read nor write--men of much mind disputed solemnly, at
+much length, and with great vivacity, on what happened at the
+water-closet, after having fulfilled a sacred duty, of which we must
+speak only with the most profound respect. This was called the dispute
+of the stercorists; and, not ending in a war, was in consequence one of
+the mildest impertinences of the human mind.
+
+The dispute which divided learned Spain, in the same century, on the
+Mosarabic version, also terminated without ravaging provinces or
+shedding human blood. The spirit of chivalry, which then prevailed,
+permitted not the difficulty to be enlightened otherwise than in leaving
+the decision to two noble knights. As in that of the two Don Quixotes,
+whichever overthrew his adversary caused his own party to triumph. Don
+Ruis de Martanza, knight of the Mosarabic ritual, overthrew the Don
+Quixote of the Latin ritual; but as the laws of chivalry decided not
+positively that a ritual must be proscribed because its knight was
+unhorsed, a more certain and established secret was made use of, to know
+which of the books should be preferred. The expedient alluded to was
+that of throwing them both into the fire, it not being possible for the
+sound ritual to perish in the flames. I know not how it happened,
+however, but they were both burned, and the dispute remained undecided,
+to the great astonishment of the Spaniards. By degrees, the Latin ritual
+got the preference; and if any knight afterwards presented himself to
+maintain the Mosarabic, it was the knight and not the ritual which was
+thrown into the fire.
+
+In these fine times, we and other polished people, when we were ill,
+were obliged to have recourse to an Arabian physician. When we would
+know what day of the moon it was, we referred to the Arabs. If we would
+buy a piece of cloth, we must pay a Jew for it; and when a farmer wanted
+rain, he addressed himself to a sorcerer. At last, however, when some of
+us learned Latin, and had a bad translation of Aristotle, we figured in
+the world with honor, passing three or four hundred years in deciphering
+some pages of the Stagyrite, and in adoring and condemning them. Some
+said that without him we should want articles of faith; others, that he
+was an atheist. A Spaniard proved that Aristotle was a saint, and that
+we should celebrate his anniversary; while a council in France caused
+his divine writings to be burned. Colleges, universities, whole orders
+of monks, were reciprocally anathematized, on the subject of some
+passages of this great man--which neither themselves, the judges who
+interposed their authority, nor the author himself, ever understood.
+There were many fisticuffs given in Germany in these grave quarrels, but
+there was not much bloodshed. It is a pity, for the glory of Aristotle,
+that they did not make civil war, and have some regular battles in favor
+of quiddities, and of the "universal of the part of the thing." Our
+ancestors cut the throats of each other in disputes upon points which
+they understood very little better.
+
+It is true that a much celebrated madman named Occam, surnamed the
+"invincible doctor," chief of those who stood up for the "universal of
+the part of thought," demanded from the emperor Louis of Bavaria, that
+he should defend his pen with his imperial sword against Scott, another
+Scottish madman, surnamed the "subtle doctor," who fought for the
+"universal of the part of the thing." Happily, the sword of Louis of
+Bavaria remained in its scabbard. Who would believe that these disputes
+have lasted until our days, and that the Parliament of Paris, in 1624,
+gave a fine sentence in favor of Aristotle?
+
+Towards the time of the brave Occam and the intrepid Scott, a much more
+serious quarrel arose, into which the reverend father Cordeliers
+inveigled all the Christian world. This was to know if their kitchen
+garden belonged to themselves, or if they were merely simple tenants of
+it. The form of the cowls, and the size of the sleeves, were further
+subjects of this holy war. Pope John XXII., who interfered, found out to
+whom he was speaking. The Cordeliers quitted his party for that of Louis
+of Bavaria, who then drew his sword.
+
+There were, moreover, three or four Cordeliers burned as heretics, which
+is rather strong; but after all, this affair having neither shaken
+thrones nor ruined provinces, we may place it in the rank of peaceable
+follies.
+
+There have been always some of this kind, the greater part of whom have
+fallen into the most profound oblivion; and of four or five hundred
+sects which have appeared, there remain in the memory of men those only
+which have produced either extreme disorder or extreme folly--two things
+which they willingly retain. Who knows, in the present day, that there
+were Orebites, Osmites, and Insdorfians? Who is now acquainted with the
+Anointed, the Cornacians, or the Iscariots?
+
+Dining one day at the house of a Dutch lady, I was charitably warned by
+one of the guests, to take care of myself, and not to praise Voetius. "I
+have no desire," said I, "to say either good or evil of your Voetius;
+but why do you give me this advice?" "Because madam is a Cocceian," said
+my neighbor. "With all my heart," said I. She added, that there were
+still four Cocceians in Holland, and that it was a great pity that the
+sect perished. A time will come in which the Jansenists, who have made
+so much noise among us, and who are unknown everywhere else, will have
+the fate of the Cocceians. An old doctor said to me: "Sir, in my youth,
+I have debated on the _'mandata impossibilia volentibus et conantibus.'_
+I have written against the formulary and the pope, and I thought myself
+a confessor. I have been put in prison, and I thought myself a martyr. I
+now no longer interfere in anything, and I believe myself to be
+reasonable." "What are your occupations?" said I to him. "Sir," replied
+he, "I am very fond of money." It is thus that almost all men in their
+old age inwardly laugh at the follies which they ardently embraced in
+their youth. Sects grow old, like men. Those which have not been
+supported by great princes, which have not caused great mischief, grow
+old much sooner than others. They are epidemic maladies, which pass over
+like the sweating sickness and the whooping-cough.
+
+There is no longer any question on the pious reveries of Madame Guyon.
+We no longer read the most unintelligible book of Maxims of the Saints,
+but Telemachus. We no longer remember what the eloquent Bossuet wrote
+against the elegant and amiable Fénelon; we give the preference to his
+funeral orations. In all the dispute on what is called quietism, there
+has been nothing good but the old tale revived of the honest woman who
+brought a torch to burn paradise, and a cruse of water to extinguish the
+fire of hell, that God should no longer be served either through hope or
+fear.
+
+I will only remark one singularity in this proceeding, which is not
+equal to the story of the good woman; it is, that the Jesuits, who were
+so much accused in France by the Jansenists of having been founded by
+St. Ignatius, expressly to destroy the love of God, warmly interfered
+at Rome in favor of the pure love of Fénelon. It happened to them as to
+M. de Langeais, who was pursued by his wife to the Parliament of Paris,
+on account of his impotence, and by a girl to the Parliament of Rennes,
+for having rendered her pregnant. He ought to have gained one of these
+two causes; he lost them both. Pure love, for which the Jesuits made so
+much stir, was condemned at Rome, and they were always supposed at Paris
+to be against loving God. This opinion was so rooted in the public mind
+that when, some years ago, an engraving was sold representing our Lord
+Jesus Christ dressed as a Jesuit, a wit--apparently the _loustic_ of the
+Jansenist party--wrote lines under the print intimating that the
+ingenious fathers had habited God like themselves, as the surest means
+of preventing the love of him:
+
+     _Admirez l'artifice extrême_
+     _Les ces pères ingénieux:_
+     _Ils vous ont habillé comme eux,_
+     _Mon Dieu, de peur qu'on ne vous aime._
+
+At Rome, where such disputes never arise, and where they judge those
+that take place elsewhere, they were much annoyed with quarrels on pure
+love. Cardinal Carpegne, who was the reporter of the affairs of the
+archbishop of Cambray, was ill, and suffered much in a part which is not
+more spared in cardinals than in other men. His surgeon bandaged him
+with fine linen, which is called cambrai (cambric) in Italy as in many
+other places. The cardinal cried out, when the surgeon pleaded that it
+was the finest cambrai: "What! more cambrai still? Is it not enough to
+have one's head fatigued with it?" Happy the disputes which end thus!
+Happy would man be if all the disputers of the world, if heresiarchs,
+submitted with so much moderation, such magnanimous mildness, as the
+great archbishop of Cambray, who had no desire to be an heresiarch! I
+know not whether he was right in wishing God to be loved for himself
+alone, but M. de Fénelon certainly deserved to be loved thus.
+
+In purely literary disputes there is often as much snarling and party
+spirit as in more interesting quarrels. We should, if we could, renew
+the factions of the circus, which agitated the Roman Empire. Two rival
+actresses are capable of dividing a town. Men have all a secret
+fascination for faction. If we cannot cabal, pursue, and destroy one
+another for crowns, tiaras, and mitres, we fall upon one another for a
+dancer or a musician. Rameau had a violent party against him, who would
+have exterminated him; and he knew nothing of it. I had a violent party
+against me, and I knew it well.
+
+
+
+
+WHYS (THE).
+
+
+Why do we scarcely ever know the tenth part of the good we might do?
+Iris clear, that if a nation living between the Alps, the Pyrenees, and
+the sea, had employed, in ameliorating and embellishing the country, a
+tenth part of the money it lost in the war of 1741, and one-half of the
+men killed to no purpose in Germany, the state would have been more
+flourishing. Why was not this done? Why prefer a war, which Europe
+considered unjust, to the happy labors of peace, which would have
+produced the useful and the agreeable?
+
+Why did Louis XIV., who had so much taste for great monuments, for new
+foundations, for the fine arts, lose eight hundred millions of our money
+in seeing his cuirassiers and his household swim across the Rhine in
+_not_ taking Amsterdam; in stirring up nearly all Europe against him?
+What could he not have done with his eight hundred millions?
+
+Why, when he reformed jurisprudence, did he reform it only by halves?
+Ought the numerous ancient customs, founded on the decretals and the
+canon law, to be still suffered to exist? Was it necessary that in the
+many causes called ecclesiastical, but which are in reality civil,
+appeal should be made to the bishop; from the bishop to the
+metropolitan; from the metropolitan to the primate; and from the primate
+to Rome, "_ad apostolos_"?--as if the apostles had of old been the
+judges of the Gauls "_en dernier ressort_."
+
+Why, when Louis XIV. was outrageously insulted by Pope Alexander
+VII.--Chigi--did he amuse himself with sending into France for a legate,
+to make frivolous excuses, and with having a pyramid erected at Rome,
+the inscriptions over which concerned none but the watchmen of Rome--a
+pyramid which he soon after had abolished? Had it not been better to
+have abolished forever the simony by which every bishop and every abbot
+in Gaul pays to the Italian apostolic chamber the half of his revenue?
+
+Why did the same monarch, when still more grievously insulted by
+Innocent XI.--Odescalchi--who took the part of the prince of Orange
+against him, content himself with having four propositions maintained in
+his universities, and refuse the prayers of the whole magistracy, who
+solicited an eternal rupture with the court of Rome?
+
+Why, in making the laws, was it forgotten to place all the provinces of
+the kingdom under one uniform law, leaving in existence a hundred
+different customs, and a hundred and forty-four different measures?
+
+Why were the provinces of this kingdom still reputed foreign to one
+another, so that the merchandise of Normandy, on being conveyed by land
+into Brittany, pays duty, as if it came from England?
+
+Why was not corn grown in Champagne allowed to be sold in Picardy
+without an express permission--as at Rome permission is obtained for
+three giuli to read forbidden books?
+
+Why was France left so long under the reproach of venality? It seemed to
+be reserved for Louis XIV. to abolish the custom of buying the right to
+sit as judges over men, as you buy a country house; and making pleaders
+pay fees to the judge, as tickets for the play are paid for at the
+door.
+
+Why institute in a kingdom the offices and dignities of king's
+counsellors: Inspectors of drink, inspectors of the shambles, registrars
+of inventories, controllers of fines, inspectors of hogs, péréquateurs
+of tailles, fuel-measurers, assistant-measurers, fuel-pilers, unloaders
+of green wood, controllers of timber, markers of timber, coal-measurers,
+corn-sifters, inspectors of calves, controllers of poultry, gaugers,
+assayers of brandy, assayers of beer, rollers of casks, unloaders of
+hay, floor-clearers, inspectors of ells, inspectors of wigs?
+
+These offices; in which doubtless consist the prosperity and splendor of
+an empire, formed numerous communities, which had each their syndics.
+This was all suppressed in 1719; but it was to make room for others of a
+similar kind, in the course of time. Would it not be better to retrench
+all the pomp and luxury of greatness, than miserably to support them by
+means so low and shameful?
+
+Why has a nation, often reduced to extremity and to some degree of
+humiliation, still supported itself in spite of all the efforts made to
+crush it? Because that nation is active and industrious. The people are
+like the bees: you take from them wax and honey, and they forthwith set
+to work to produce more.
+
+Why, in half of Europe, do the girls pray to God in Latin, which they do
+not understand? Why, in the sixteenth century, when nearly all the popes
+and bishops notoriously had bastards, did they persist in prohibiting
+the marriage of priests; while the Greek Church has constantly ordained
+that curates should have wives?
+
+Why, in all antiquity, was there no theological dispute, nor any people
+distinguished by a sectarian appellation? The Egyptians were not called
+Isiacs or Osiriacs. The people of Syria were not named Cybelians. The
+Cretans had a particular devotion for Jupiter, but were not called
+Jupiterians. The ancient Latins were much attached to Saturn, but there
+was not a village in all Latium called Saturnian. The disciples of the
+God of Truth, on the contrary, taking the title of their master himself,
+and calling themselves, like him, "anointed," declared, as soon as they
+were able, eternal war against all nations that were not "anointed," and
+made war upon one another for upwards of fourteen hundred years, taking
+the names of Arians, Manichæans, Donatists, Hussites, Papists,
+Lutherans, Calvinists, etc. Even the Jansenists and Molinists have
+experienced no mortification so acute as that of not having it in their
+power to cut one another's throats in pitched battle. Whence is this?
+
+Why does a bookseller publicly sell the "Course of Atheism," by the
+great Lucretius, printed for the dauphin, only son of Louis XIV., by
+order and under the direction of the wise duke of Montausier, and of the
+eloquent Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, and of the learned Huet, bishop of
+Avranches? There you find those sublime impieties, those admirable
+lines against Providence and the immortality of the soul, which pass
+from mouth to mouth, through all after-ages:
+
+     _Ex nihilo, nihil; in nihilum nil posse reverti._
+     From nothing, nought; to nothing nought returns.
+
+     _Tangere enim ac tangi nisi corpus nulla protest res._
+     Matter alone can touch and govern matter.
+
+     _Nec bene pro meretis capitur, nec tangitur ira (Deus)._
+     Nothing can flatter God, or cause his anger.
+
+     _Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum._
+     How great the evil by religion caused!
+
+     _Desipire est mortale eterno jungere et una_
+     _Consentire putare, et fungi mutua posse._
+     'Tis weak in mortals to attempt to join
+     To transient being that which lasts forever.
+
+     _Nil igitur mors est, ad nos neque pertinet hilum._
+     When death is, we are not; the body dies, and with it all.
+
+     _Mortalem tamen esse animam fatere necesse est._
+     There is no future; mortal is the soul.
+
+     _Hinc Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita._
+     Hence ancient fools are superstition's prey.
+
+And a hundred other lines which charm all nations--the immortal
+productions of a mind which believed itself to be mortal. Not only are
+these Latin verses sold in the Rue St. Jacques and on the Quai des
+Augustins, but you fearlessly purchase the translations made into all
+the patois derived from the Latin tongue--translations decorated with
+learned notes, which elucidate the doctrine of materialism, collect all
+the proofs against the Divinity, and would annihilate it, if it could be
+destroyed. You find this book, bound in morocco, in the fine library of
+a great and devout prince, of a cardinal, of a chancellor, of an
+archbishop, of a round-capped president: but the first eighteen books of
+de Thou were condemned as soon as they appeared. A poor Gallic
+philosopher ventures to publish, in his own name, that if men had been
+born without fingers, they would never have been able to work tapestry;
+and immediately another Gaul, who for his money has obtained a robe of
+office, requires that the book and the author be burned.
+
+Why are scenic exhibitions anathematized by certain persons who call
+themselves of the first order in the state, seeing that such exhibitions
+are necessary to all the orders of the state, and that the laws of the
+state uphold them with equal splendor and regularity?
+
+Why do we abandon to contempt, debasement, oppression, and rapine, the
+great mass of those laborious and harmless men who cultivate the earth
+every day of the year, that we may eat of all its fruits? And why, on
+the contrary, do we pay respect, attention, and court, to the useless
+and often very wicked man who lives only by their labor, and is rich
+only by their misery?
+
+Why, during so many ages, among so many men who sow the corn with which
+we are fed, has there been no one to discover that ridiculous error
+which teaches that the grain must rot in order to germinate, and die to
+spring up again--an error which has led to many impertinent assertions,
+to many false comparisons, and to many ridiculous opinions?
+
+Why, since the fruits of the earth are so necessary for the preservation
+of men and animals, do we find so many years, and so many centuries, in
+which these fruits are absolutely wanting? why is the earth covered with
+poisons in the half of Africa and of America? why is there no tract of
+land where there are not more insects than men? why does a little
+whitish and offensive secretion form a being which will have hard bones,
+desires, and thoughts? and why shall those beings be constantly
+persecuting one another? why does there exist so much evil, everything
+being formed by a God whom all Theists agree in calling good? why, since
+we are always complaining of our ills, are we constantly employed in
+redoubling them? why, since we are so miserable, has it been imagined
+that to die is an evil--when it is clear that not to have been, before
+our birth, was no evil? why does it rain every day into the sea, while
+so many deserts demand rain, yet are constantly arid? why and how have
+we dreams in our sleep, if we have no soul? and if we have one, how is
+it that these dreams are always so incoherent and so extravagant? why do
+the heavens revolve from east to west, rather than the contrary way? why
+do we exist? why does anything exist?
+
+
+
+
+WICKED.
+
+
+We are told that human nature is essentially perverse; that man is born
+a child of the devil, and wicked. Nothing can be more injudicious; for
+thou, my friend, who preachest to me that all the world is born
+perverse, warnest me that thou art born such also, and that I must
+mistrust thee as I would a fox or a crocodile. Oh, no! sayest thou; I am
+regenerated; I am neither a heretic nor an infidel; you may trust in me.
+But the rest of mankind, which are either heretic, or what thou callest
+infidel, will be an assemblage of monsters, and every time that thou
+speakest to a Lutheran or a Turk, thou mayest be sure that they will rob
+and murder thee, for they are children of the devil, they are born
+wicked; the one is not regenerated, the other is degenerated. It would
+be much more reasonable, much more noble, to say to men: "You are all
+born good; see how dreadful it is to corrupt the purity of your being.
+All mankind should be dealt with as are all men individually." If a
+canon leads a scandalous life, we say to him: "Is it possible that you
+would dishonor the dignity of canon?" We remind a lawyer that he has the
+honor of being a counsellor to the king, and that he should set an
+example. We say to a soldier to encourage him: "Remember that thou art
+of the regiment of Champagne." We should say to every individual:
+"Remember thy dignity as a man."
+
+And indeed, notwithstanding the contrary theory, we always return to
+that; for what else signifies the expression, so frequently used in all
+nations: "Be yourself again?" If we are born of the devil, if our origin
+was criminal, if our blood was formed of an infernal liquor, this
+expression: "Be yourself again," would signify: "Consult, follow your
+diabolical nature; be an impostor, thief, and assassin; it is the law of
+your nature."
+
+Man is not born wicked; he becomes so, as he becomes sick. Physicians
+present themselves and say to him: "You are born sick." It is very
+certain these doctors, whatever they may say or do, will not cure him,
+if the malady is inherent in his nature; besides, these reasoners are
+often very ailing themselves.
+
+Assemble all the children of the universe; you will see in them only
+innocence, mildness, and fear; if they were born wicked, mischievous,
+and cruel, they would show some signs of it, as little serpents try to
+bite, and little tigers to tear. But nature not having given to men more
+offensive arms than to pigeons and rabbits, she cannot have given them
+an instinct leading them to destroy.
+
+Man, therefore, is not born bad; why, therefore, are several infected
+with the plague of wickedness? It is, that those who are at their head
+being taken with the malady, communicate it to the rest of men: as a
+woman attacked with the distemper which Christopher Columbus brought
+from America, spreads the venom from one end of Europe to the other.
+
+The first ambitious man corrupted the earth. You will tell me that this
+first monster has sowed the seed of pride, rapine, fraud, and cruelty,
+which is in all men. I confess, that in general most of our brethren can
+acquire these qualities; but has everybody the putrid fever, the stone
+and gravel, because everybody is exposed to it?
+
+There are whole nations which are not wicked: the Philadelphians, the
+Banians, have never killed any one. The Chinese, the people of Tonquin,
+Lao, Siam, and even Japan, for more than a hundred years have not been
+acquainted with war. In ten years we scarcely see one of those great
+crimes which astonish human nature in the cities of Rome, Venice, Paris,
+London, and Amsterdam; towns in which cupidity, the mother of all
+crimes, is extreme.
+
+If men were essentially wicked--if they were all born submissive to a
+being as mischievous as unfortunate, who, to revenge himself for his
+punishment, inspired them with all his passions--we should every morning
+see husbands assassinated by their wives, and fathers by their children;
+as at break of day we see fowls strangled by a weasel who comes to suck
+their blood.
+
+If there be a thousand millions of men on the earth, that is much; that
+gives about five hundred millions of women, who sew, spin, nourish their
+little ones, keep their houses or cabins in order, and slander their
+neighbors a little. I see not what great harm these poor innocents do on
+earth. Of this number of inhabitants of the globe, there are at least
+two hundred millions of children, who certainly neither kill nor steal,
+and about as many old people and invalids, who have not the power of
+doing so. There will remain, at most, a hundred millions of robust young
+people capable of crime. Of this hundred millions, there are ninety
+continually occupied in forcing the earth, by prodigious labor, to
+furnish them with food and clothing; these have scarcely time. In the
+ten remaining millions will be comprised idle people and good company,
+who would enjoy themselves at their ease; men of talent occupied in
+their professions; magistrates, priests, visibly interested in leading a
+pure life, at least in appearance. Therefore, of truly wicked people,
+there will only remain a few politicians, either secular or regular, who
+will always trouble the world, and some thousand vagabonds who hire
+their services to these politicians. Now, there is never a million of
+these ferocious beasts employed at once, and in this number I reckon
+highwaymen. You have therefore on the earth, in the most stormy times,
+only one man in a thousand whom we can call wicked, and he is not always
+so.
+
+There is, therefore infinitely less wickedness on the earth than we are
+told and believe there is. There is still too much, no doubt; we see
+misfortunes and horrible crimes; but the pleasure of complaining of and
+exaggerating them is so great, that at the least scratch we say that the
+earth flows with blood. Have you been deceived?--all men are perjured. A
+melancholy mind which has suffered injustice, sees the earth covered
+with damned people: as a young rake, supping with his lady, on coming
+from the opera, imagines that there are no unfortunates.
+
+
+
+
+WILL.
+
+
+Some very subtle Greeks formerly consulted Pope Honorius I., to know
+whether Jesus, when He was in the world, had one will or two, when He
+would sleep or watch, eat or repair to the water-closet, walk or sit.
+
+"What signifies it to you?" answered the very wise bishop of Rome,
+Honorius. "He has certainly at present the will for you to be
+well-disposed people--that should satisfy you; He has no will for you to
+be babbling sophists, to fight continually for the bishop's mitre and
+the ass's shadow. I advise you to live in peace, and not to lose in
+useless disputes the time which you might employ in good works."
+
+"Holy father, you have said well; this is the most important affair in
+the world. We have already set Europe, Asia, and Africa on fire, to know
+whether Jesus had two persons and one nature, or one nature and two
+persons, or rather two persons and two natures, or rather one person and
+one nature."
+
+"My dear brethren, you have acted wrongly; we should give broth to the
+sick and bread to the poor. It is doubtless right to help the poor! but
+is not the patriarch Sergius about to decide in a council at
+Constantinople, that Jesus had two natures and one will? And the
+emperor, who knows nothing about it, is of this opinion."
+
+"Well, be it so! but above all defend yourself from the Mahometans, who
+box your ears every day, and who have a very bad will towards you. It is
+well said! But behold the bishops of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and
+Morocco, all declare firmly for the two wills. We must have an opinion;
+what is yours?"
+
+"My opinion is, that you are madmen, who will lose the Christian
+religion which we have established with so much trouble. You will do so
+much mischief with your folly, that Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and
+Morocco, of which you speak to me, will become Mahometan, and there will
+not be a Christian chapel in Africa. Meantime, I am for the emperor and
+the council, until you have another council and another emperor."
+
+"This does not satisfy us. Do you believe in two wills or one?"
+
+"Listen: if these two wills are alike, it is as if there was but one; if
+they are contrary, he who has two wills at once will do two contrary
+things at once, which is absurd: consequently, I am for a single will."
+
+"Ah, holy father, you are a monothelite! Heresy! the devil!
+Excommunicate him! depose him! A council, quick! another council!
+another emperor! another bishop of Rome! another patriarch!"
+
+"My God! how mad these poor Greeks are with all their vain and
+interminable disputes! My successor will do well to dream of being
+powerful and rich."
+
+Scarcely had Honorius uttered these words when he learned that the
+emperor Heraclius was dead, after having been beaten by the Mahometans.
+His widow, Martina, poisoned her son-in-law; the senate caused Martina's
+tongue to be cut out, and the nose of another son of the emperor to be
+slit: all the Greek Empire flowed in blood. Would it not be better not
+to have disputed on the two wills? And this Pope Honorius, against whom
+the Jansenists have written so much--was he not a very sensible man?
+
+
+
+
+WIT, SPIRIT, INTELLECT.
+
+
+A man who had some knowledge of the human heart, was consulted upon a
+tragedy which was to be represented; and he answered, there was so much
+wit in the piece, that he doubted of its success. What! you will
+exclaim, is that a fault, at a time when every one is in search of
+wit--when each one writes but to show that he has it--when the public
+even applaud the falsest thoughts, if they are brilliant?--Yes,
+doubtless, they will applaud the first day, and be wearied the second.
+
+What is called wit, is sometimes a new comparison, sometimes a subtle
+allusion; here, it is the abuse of a word, which is presented in one
+sense, and left to be understood in another; there, a delicate relation
+between two ideas not very common. It is a singular metaphor; it is the
+discovery of something in an object which does not at first strike the
+observation, but which is really in it; it is the art either of bringing
+together two things apparently remote, or of dividing two things which
+seem to be united, or of opposing them to each other. It is that of
+expressing only one-half of what you think, and leaving the other to be
+guessed. In short, I would tell you of all the different ways of showing
+wit, if I had more; but all these gems--and I do not here include the
+counterfeits--are very rarely suited to a serious work--to one which is
+to interest the reader. The reason is, that then the author appears, and
+the public desire to see only the hero; for the hero is constantly
+either in passion or in danger. Danger and the passions do not go in
+search of wit. Priam and Hecuba do not compose epigrams while their
+children are butchered in flaming Troy; Dido does not sigh out her soul
+in madrigals, while rushing to the pile on which she is about to
+immolate herself; Demosthenes makes no display of pretty thoughts while
+he is inciting the Athenians to war. If he had, he would be a
+rhetorician; whereas he is a statesman.
+
+The art of the admirable Racine is far above what is called wit; but if
+Pyrrhus had always expressed himself in this style:
+
+     _Vaincu, chargé de fers, de regrets consumé,_
+     _Brûlé de plus de feux que je n'en allumai...._
+     _Hélas! fus-je jamais si cruel que vous l'êtes?_
+
+     Conquered and chained, worn out by vain desire,
+     Scorched by more flames than I have ever lighted....
+     Alas! my cruelty ne'er equalled yours!
+
+--if Orestes had been continually saying that the "Scythians are less
+cruel than Hermione," these two personages would excite no emotion at
+all; it would be perceived that true passion rarely occupies itself with
+such comparisons; and that there is some disproportion between the real
+flames by which Troy was consumed and the flames of Pyrrhus'
+love--between the Scythians immolating men, and Hermione not loving
+Orestes. Cinna says, speaking of Pompey:
+
+     _Le ciel choisit sa mort, pour servir dignement_
+     _D'une marque éternelle à ce grand changement;_
+     _Et devait cette gloire aux manes d'un tel homme,_
+     _D'emporter avec eux la liberté de Rome._
+
+     Heaven chose the death of such a man, to be
+     Th' eternal landmark of this mighty change.
+     His manes called for no less offering
+     Than Roman liberty.
+
+This thought is very brilliant; there is much wit in it, as also an air
+of imposing grandeur. I am sure that these lines, pronounced with all
+the enthusiasm and art of a great actor, will be applauded; but I am
+also sure that the play of "Cinna," had it been written entirely in this
+taste, would never have been long played. Why, indeed, was heaven bound
+to do Pompey the honor of making the Romans slaves after his death? The
+contrary would be truer: the manes of Pompey should rather have
+obtained from heaven the everlasting maintenance of that liberty for
+which he is supposed to have fought and died.
+
+What, then, would any work be which should be full of such far-fetched
+and questionable thoughts? How much superior to all these brilliant
+ideas are those simple and natural lines:
+
+     _Cinna, tu t'en souviens, et veux m'assassiner!_
+                                  --CINNA, act v, scene i.
+     Thou dost remember, Cinna, yet wouldst kill me!
+
+     _Soyons amis, Cinna; c'est moi qui t'en convie._
+                                  --ID., act v, scene iii.
+     Let us be friends, Cinna; 'tis I who ask it.
+
+True beauty consists, not in what is called wit, but in sublimity and
+simplicity. Let Antiochus, in "Rodogune," say of his mistress, who quits
+him, after disgracefully proposing to him to kill his mother:
+
+     _Elle fuit, mais en Parthe, en nous perçant le cœur._
+
+     She flies, but, like the Parthian, flying, wounds.
+
+Antiochus has wit; he makes an epigram against Rodogune; he ingeniously
+likens her last words in going away, to the arrows which the Parthians
+used to discharge in their flight. But it is not because his mistress
+goes away, that the proposal to kill his mother is revolting: whether
+she goes or stays, the heart of Antiochus is equally wounded. The
+epigram, therefore, is false; and if Rodogune did not go away, this bad
+epigram could not be retained.
+
+I select these examples expressly from the best authors, in order that
+they may be the more striking. I do not lay hold of those puns which
+play upon words, the false taste of which is felt by all. There is no
+one that does not laugh when, in the tragedy of the "Golden Fleece,"
+Hypsipyle says to Medea, alluding to her sorceries:
+
+     _Je n'ai que des attraits, et vous avez des charmes._
+
+     I have attractions only, you have charms.
+
+Corneille found the stage and every other department of literature
+infested with these puerilities, into which he rarely fell.
+
+I wish here to speak only of such strokes of wit as would be admitted
+elsewhere, and as the serious style rejects. To their authors might be
+applied the sentence of Plutarch, translated with the happy naivete of
+Amiot: "_Tu tiens sans propos beaucoup de bons propos_."
+
+There occurs to my recollection one of those brilliant passages, which I
+have seen quoted as a model in many works of taste, and even in the
+treatise on studies by the late M. Rollin. This piece is taken from the
+fine funeral oration on the great Turenne, composed by Fléchier. It is
+true, that in this oration Fléchier almost equalled the sublime Bossuet,
+whom I have called and still call the only eloquent man among so many
+elegant writers; but it appears to me that the passage of which I am
+speaking would not have been employed by the bishop of Meaux. Here it
+is:
+
+"Ye powers hostile to France, you live; and the spirit of Christian
+charity forbids me to wish your death.... but you live; and I mourn in
+this pulpit over a virtuous leader, whose intentions were pure...."
+
+An apostrophe in this taste would have been suitable to Rome in the
+civil war, after the assassination of Pompey; or to London, after the
+murder of Charles I.; because the interests of Pompey and Charles I.
+were really in question. But is it decent to insinuate in the pulpit a
+wish for the death of the emperor, the king of Spain, and the electors,
+and put in the balance against them the commander-in-chief employed by a
+king who was their enemy? Should the intentions of a leader--which can
+only be to serve his prince--be compared with the political interests of
+the crowned heads against whom he served? What would be said of a German
+who should have wished for the death of the king of France, on the
+occasion of the death of General Merci, "whose intentions were pure"?
+Why, then, has this passage always been praised by the rhetoricians?
+Because the figure is in itself beautiful and pathetic; but they do not
+thoroughly investigate the fitness of the thought.
+
+I now return to my paradox; that none of those glittering ornaments, to
+which we give the name of wit, should find a place in great works
+designed to instruct or to move the passions. I will even say that they
+ought to be banished from the opera. Music expresses passions,
+sentiments, images; but where are the notes that can render an epigram?
+Quinault was sometimes negligent, but he was always natural.
+
+Of all our operas, that which is the most ornamented, or rather the most
+overloaded, with this epigrammatic spirit, is the ballet of the "Triumph
+of the Arts," composed by an amiable man, who always thought with
+subtlety, and expressed himself with delicacy; but who, by the abuse of
+this talent, contributed a little to the decline of letters after the
+glorious era of Louis XIV. In this ballet, in which Pygmalion animates
+his statue, he says to it:
+
+     _Vos premiers mouvemens ont été de m'aimer._
+
+     And love for me your earliest movements showed.
+
+I remember to have heard this line admired by some persons in my youth.
+But who does not perceive that the movements of the body of the statue
+are here confounded with the movements of the heart, and that in any
+sense the phrase is not French--that it is, in fact, a pun, a jest? How
+could it be that a man who had so much wit, had not enough to retrench
+these egregious faults? This same man--who, despising Homer, translated
+him; who, in translating him, thought to correct him, and by abridging
+him, thought to make him read--had a mind to make Homer a wit. It is he
+who, when Achilles reappears, reconciled to the Greeks who are ready to
+avenge him, makes the whole camp exclaim:
+
+     _Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-même._
+
+       What shall oppose him, conqueror of himself?
+
+A man must indeed be fond of witticisms, when he makes fifty thousand
+men pun all at once upon the same word.
+
+This play of the imagination, these quips, these cranks, these random
+shafts, these gayeties, these little broken sentences, these ingenious
+familiarities, which it is now the fashion to lavish so profusely, are
+befitting no works but those of pure amusement. The front of the Louvre,
+by Perrault, is simple and majestic; minute ornaments may appear with
+grace in a cabinet. Have as much wit as you will, or as you can, in a
+madrigal, in light verses, in a scene of a comedy, when it is to be
+neither impassioned nor simple, in a compliment, in a "novellette," or
+in a letter, where you assume gayety yourself in order to communicate it
+to your friends.
+
+Far from having reproached Voiture with having wit in his letters, I
+found, on the contrary, that he had not enough, although he was
+constantly seeking it. It is said that dancing-masters make their bow
+ill, because they are anxious to make it too well. I thought this was
+often the case with Voiture; his best letters are studied; you feel that
+he is fatiguing himself to find that which presents itself so naturally
+to Count Anthony Hamilton, to Madame de Sévigné, and to so many other
+women, who write these trifles without an effort, better than Voiture
+wrote them with labor. Despréaux, who in his first satires had ventured
+to compare Voiture to Horace, changed his opinion when his taste was
+ripened by age. I know that it matters very little, in the affairs of
+this world, whether Voiture was or was not a great genius; whether he
+wrote only a few pretty letters, or that all his pieces of pleasantry
+were models. But we, who cultivate and love the liberal arts, cast an
+attentive eye on what is quite indifferent to the rest of the world.
+Good taste is to us in literature what it is to women in dress; and
+provided that one's opinions shall not be made a party matter, it
+appears to me that one may boldly say, that there are but few excellent
+things in Voiture, and that Marot might easily be reduced to a few
+pages.
+
+Not that we wish to take from them their reputation; on the contrary, we
+wish to ascertain precisely what that reputation cost them, and what are
+the real beauties for which their defects have been tolerated. We must
+know what we are to follow, and what we are to avoid; this is the real
+fruit of the profound study of the belles-lettres; this is what Horace
+did when he examined Lucilius critically. Horace made himself enemies
+thereby; but he enlightened his enemies themselves.
+
+This desire of shining and of saying in a novel manner what has been
+said by others, is a source of new expressions as well as far-fetched
+thoughts. He who cannot shine by thought, seeks to bring himself into
+notice by a word. Hence it has at last been thought proper to
+substitute "_amabilités_," for "_agrémens_"; "_négligemment_" for "_avec
+négligence_"; "_badiner les amours_," for "_badiner avec les amours_."
+There are numberless other affectations of this kind; and if this be
+continued, the language of Bossuet, of Racine, of Corneille, of Boileau,
+of Fénelon, will soon be obsolete. Why avoid an expression which is in
+use, to introduce another which says precisely the same thing? A new
+word is pardonable only when it is absolutely necessary, intelligible,
+and sonorous. In physical science, we are obliged to make them; a new
+discovery, a new machine, requires a new word. But do we make any new
+discoveries in the human heart? Is there any other greatness than that
+of Corneille and Bossuet? Are there any other passions than those which
+have been delineated by Racine, and sketched by Quinault? Is there any
+other gospel morality than that of Bourdaloue?
+
+They who charge our language with not being sufficiently copious, must
+indeed have found sterility somewhere, but it is in themselves. "_Rem
+verba sequuntur_." When an idea is forcibly impressed on the mind--when
+a clear and vigorous head is in full possession of its thought--it
+issues from the brain, arrayed in suitable expressions, as Minerva came
+forth in full armor to wait upon Jupiter. In fine, the conclusion from
+this is that neither thoughts nor expressions should be far-fetched; and
+that the art, in all great works, is to reason well, without entering
+into too many arguments; to paint well, without striving to paint
+everything; and to be affecting, without striving constantly to excite
+passions. Certes, I am here giving fine counsel. Have I taken it myself?
+Alas! no!
+
+              _Pauci quos æquus amavit_
+     _Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad æthera virtus,_
+     _Dis geniti potuere. _        --ÆNEID, b. vi, v. 129.
+
+     To few great Jupiter imparts this grace,
+     And those of shining worth and heavenly race.
+                                        --DRYDEN.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+_Spirit--Wit._
+
+The word "spirit," when it signifies "a quality of the mind," is one of
+those vague terms to which almost every one who pronounces it attaches a
+different sense; it expresses some other thing than judgment, genius,
+taste, talent, penetration, comprehensiveness, grace, or subtlety, yet
+is akin to all these merits; it might be defined to be "ingenious
+reason."
+
+It is a generic word, which always needs another word to determine it;
+and when we hear it said: "This is a work of spirit," or "He is a man of
+spirit," we have very good reason to ask: "Spirit of what?" The sublime
+spirit of Corneille is neither the exact spirit of Boileau, nor the
+simple spirit of La Fontaine; and the spirit of La Bruyère, which is the
+art of portraying singularity, is not that of Malebranche, which is
+imaginative and profound.
+
+When a man is said to have "a judicious spirit," the meaning is, not so
+much that he has what is called spirit, as that he has an enlightened
+reason. A spirit firm, masculine, courageous, great, little, weak,
+light, mild, hasty, etc., signifies the character and temper of the
+mind, and has no relation to what is understood in society by the
+expression "spirited."
+
+Spirit, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, is much akin to wit;
+yet does not signify precisely the same thing; for the term, "man of
+spirit," can never be taken in a bad sense; but that of "a wit," is
+sometimes pronounced ironically.
+
+Whence this difference? It is that "a man of spirit" does not signify
+"superior wit," "marked talent"; and "a wit" does. This expression, "man
+of spirit," announces no pretensions; but "wit" is a sort of
+advertisement; it is an art which requires cultivation; it is a sort of
+profession; and thereby exposes to envy and ridicule.
+
+In this sense, Father Bouhours would have been right in giving us to
+understand that the Germans had no pretensions to wit; for at that time
+their learned men occupied themselves in scarcely any works but those of
+labor and painful research, which did not admit of their scattering
+flowers, of their striving to shine, and mixing up wit with learning.
+
+They who despise the genius of Aristotle should, instead of contenting
+themselves with condemning his physics--which could not be good,
+inasmuch as they wanted experiments--be much astonished to find that
+Aristotle, in his rhetoric, taught perfectly the art of saying things
+with spirit. He states that this art consists in not merely using the
+proper word, which says nothing new; but that a metaphor must be
+employed--a figure, the sense of which is clear, and its expression
+energetic. Of this, he adduces several instances; and, among others,
+what Pericles said of a battle in which the flower of the Athenian youth
+had perished: "The year has been stripped of its spring."
+
+Aristotle is very right in saying that novelty is necessary. The first
+person who, to express that pleasures are mingled with bitterness,
+likened them to roses accompanied by thorns, had wit; they who repeated
+it had none.
+
+Spirited expression does not always consist in a metaphor; but also in a
+new term--in leaving one half of one's thoughts to be easily divined;
+this is called "subtleness," "delicacy"; and this manner is the more
+pleasing, as it exercises and gives scope for the wit of others.
+
+Allusions, allegories, and comparisons, open a vast field for ingenious
+thoughts. The effects of nature, fable, history, presented to the
+memory, furnish a happy imagination with materials of which it makes a
+suitable use.
+
+It will not be useless to give examples in these different kinds. The
+following is a madrigal by M. de la Sablière, which has always been held
+in high estimation by people of taste:
+
+       _Églé tremble que, dans ce jour,_
+       _L'Hymen, plus puissant que l'Amour,_
+     _N'enlève ses trésors, sans quelle ose s'en plaindre_
+       _Elle a négligé mes avis;_
+       _Si la belle les eût suivis,_
+     _Elle n'aurait plus rien à craindre._
+
+     Weeping, murmuring, complaining,
+       Lost to every gay delight,
+     Mira, too sincere for feigning,
+       Fears th' approaching bridal night.
+
+     Yet why impair thy bright perfection,
+       Or dim thy beauty with a tear?
+     Had Mira followed my direction,
+       She long had wanted cause of fear.--GOLDSMITH.
+
+It does not appear that the author could either better have masked, or
+better have conveyed, the meaning which he was afraid to express. The
+following madrigal seems more brilliant and more pleasing; it is an
+allusion to fable:
+
+     _Vous êtes belle, et votre sœur est belle;_
+     _Entre vous deux tout choix serait bien doux_
+       _L'Amour était blonde comme vous,_
+     _Mais il amait une brune comme elle._
+
+     You are a beauty, and your sister, too;
+     In choosing 'twixt you, then, we cannot err;
+       Love, to be sure, was fair like you;
+     But, then, he courted a brunette like her.
+
+There is another, and a very old one. It is by Bertaut, bishop of Séez,
+and seems superior to the two former; it unites wit and feeling:
+
+     _Quand je revis ce que j'ai tant aimé,_
+     _Pen s'en fallut que mon coeur rallumé_
+     _N'en fît le charme en mon âme renaître;_
+     _Et que mon cœur, autrefois son captif,_
+     _Ne ressemblât l'esclave fugitif,_
+     _À qui le sort fit recontrer son maître._
+
+     When I beheld again the once-loved form,
+     Again within my heart the rising storm
+     Had nearly cast the spell around my soul,
+     Which erst had bound me captive at her feet,
+     As some poor slave, escaped from rude control,
+     His master's dreaded face may haply meet.
+
+Strokes like these please every one, and characterize the delicate
+spirit of an ingenious nation. The great point is to know how far this
+spirit is admissible. It is clear that, in great works, it should be
+employed with moderation, for this very reason, that it is an ornament.
+The great art consists in propriety.
+
+A subtle, ingenious thought, a just and flowery comparison, is a defect
+when only reason or passion should speak, or when great interests are to
+be discussed. This is not false wit, but misplaced; and every beauty,
+when out of its place, is a beauty no longer.
+
+This is a fault of which Virgil was never guilty, and with which Tasso
+may now and then be charged, admirable as he otherwise is. The cause of
+it is that the author, too full of his own ideas, wishes to show
+himself, when he should only show his personages.
+
+The best way of learning the use that should be made of wit, is to read
+the few good works of genius which are to be found in the learned
+languages and in our own. False wit is not the same as misplaced wit. It
+is not merely a false thought, for a thought might be false without
+being ingenious; it is a thought at once false and elaborate.
+
+It has already been remarked that a man of great wit, who translated, or
+rather abridged Homer into French verse, thought to embellish that poet,
+whose simplicity forms his character, by loading him with ornaments. On
+the subject of the reconciliation of Achilles, he says:
+
+     _Tout le camp s'écria dans une joie extrême,_
+     _Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-même._
+
+     Cried the whole camp, with overflowing joy--
+     What still resist him? He's o'ercome himself.
+
+In the first place it does not at all follow, because one has overcome
+one's anger, that one shall not be beaten. Secondly, is it possible that
+a whole army should, by some sudden inspiration, make instantaneously
+the same pun?
+
+If this fault shocks all judges of severe taste, how revolting must be
+all those forced witticisms, those intricate and puzzling thoughts,
+which abound in otherwise valuable writings! Is it to be endured, that
+in a work of mathematics it should be said: "If Saturn should one day be
+missing, his place would be taken by one of the remotest of his
+satellites; for great lords always keep their successors at a distance?"
+Is it endurable to talk of Hercules being acquainted with physics, and
+that it is impossible to resist a philosopher of such force? Such are
+the excesses into which we are led by the thirst for shining and
+surprising by novelty. This petty vanity has produced verbal witticisms
+in all languages, which is the worst species of false wit.
+
+False taste differs from false wit, for the latter is always an
+affectation--an effort to do wrong; whereas the former is often a habit
+of doing wrong without effort, and following instinctively an
+established bad example.
+
+The intemperance and incoherence of the imaginations of the Orientals,
+is a false taste; but it is rather a want of wit than an abuse of it.
+Stars falling, mountains opening, rivers rolling back, sun and moon
+dissolving, false and gigantic similes, continual violence to nature,
+are the characteristics of these writers; because in those countries
+where there has never been any public speaking, true eloquence cannot
+have been cultivated; and because it is much easier to write fustian
+than to write that which is just, refined, and delicate.
+
+False wit is precisely the reverse of these trivial and inflated ideas;
+it is a tiresome search after subtleties, an affectation of saying
+enigmatically what others have said naturally; or bringing together
+ideas which appear incompatible; of dividing what ought to be united; of
+laying hold on false affinities; of mixing, contrary to decency, the
+trifling with the serious, and the petty with the grand.
+
+It were here a superfluous task to string together quotations in which
+the word spirit is to be found. We shall content ourselves with
+examining one from Boileau, which is given in the great dictionary of
+Trévoux: "It is a property of great spirits, when they begin to grow old
+and decay, to be pleased with stories and fables." This reflection is
+not just. A great spirit may fall into this weakness, but it is no
+property of great spirits. Nothing is more calculated to mislead the
+young than the quoting of faults of good writers as examples.
+
+We must not here forget to mention in how many different senses the word
+"spirit" is employed. This is not a defect of language; on the contrary,
+it is an advantage to have roots which ramify into so many branches.
+
+"Spirit of a body," "of a society," is used to express the customs, the
+peculiar language and conduct, the prejudices of a body. "Spirit of
+party," is to the "spirit of a body," what the passions are to ordinary
+sentiments.
+
+"Spirit of a law," is used to designate its intention; in this sense it
+has been said: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." "Spirit
+of a work," to denote its character and object. "Spirit of revenge," to
+signify desire and intention of taking revenge. "Spirit of discord,"
+"spirit of revolt," etc.
+
+In one dictionary has been quoted "spirit of politeness"; but from an
+author named Bellegarde, who is no authority. Both authors and examples
+should be selected with scrupulous caution. We cannot say "spirit of
+politeness," as we say "spirit of revenge," of "dissension," of
+"faction"; for politeness is not a passion animated by a powerful motive
+which prompts it, and which is metaphorically called spirit.
+
+"Familiar spirit," is used in another sense, and signifies those
+intermediate beings, those genii, those demons, believed in by the
+ancients; as the "spirit of Socrates," etc.
+
+Spirit sometimes denotes the more subtle part of matter; we say,
+"animal spirits," "vital spirits," to signify that which has never been
+seen, but which gives motion and life. These spirits, which are thought
+to flow rapidly through the nerves, are probably a subtile fire. Dr.
+Mead is the first who seems to have given proofs of this, in his
+treatise on poisons. Spirit, in chemistry, too, is a term which receives
+various acceptations, but always denotes the more subtile part of
+matter.
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+_Spirit._
+
+Is not this word a striking proof of the imperfection of languages; of
+the chaos in which they still are, and the chance which has directed
+almost all our conceptions? It pleased the Greeks, as well as other
+nations, to give the name of wind, breath--"_pneuma_"--to that which
+they vaguely understand by respiration, life, soul. So that, among the
+ancients, soul and wind were, in one sense, the same thing; and if we
+were to say that man is a pneumatic machine, we should only translate
+the language of the Greeks. The Latins imitated them, and used the word
+"_spiritus_," spirit, breath. "_Anima_" and "_spiritus_" were the same
+thing.
+
+The "_rouhak_" of the Phœnicians, and, as it is said, of the
+Chaldæans likewise, signified breath and wind. When the Bible was
+translated into Latin, the words, breath, spirit, wind, soul, were
+always used differently. "_Spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas_"--the
+breath of God--the spirit of God--was borne on the waters.
+
+"_Spiritus vitæ_"--the breath of life--the soul of life. "_Inspiravit in
+faciem ejus spiraculum_" or "_spiritum vitæ_"--And he breathed upon his
+face the breath of life; and, according to the Hebrew, he breathed into
+his nostrils the breath, the spirit, of life.
+
+"_Hæc quum dixisset, insufflavit et dixit eis, accipite spiritum
+sanctum_"--Having spoken these words, he breathed on them, and said:
+Receive ye the holy breath--the holy spirit.
+
+"_Spiritus ubi vult spirat, et vocem ejus audis; sed nescis unde
+veniat_"--The spirit, the wind, breathes where it will, and thou hearest
+its voice (sound); but thou knowest not whence it comes.
+
+The distance is somewhat considerable between this and our pamphlets of
+the Quay des Augustins and the Pont-neuf, entitled, "Spirit of
+Marivaux," "Spirit of Desfontaines," etc.
+
+What we commonly understand in French by "_esprit_," "_bel-esprit_,"
+"_trait d'esprit_," are--ingenious thoughts. No other nation has made
+the same use of the word "_spiritus_." The Latins said "_ingenium_"; the
+Greeks, "_eupheuia_"; or they employed adjectives. The Spaniards say
+"_agudo_," "_agudeza_." The Italians commonly use the term "_ingegno_."
+
+The English make use of the words "wit," "witty," the etymology of which
+is good; for "witty" formerly signified "wise." The Germans say
+"_verständig_"; and when they mean to express ingenious, lively,
+agreeable thoughts, they say "rich in sensations"--"_sinnreich_." Hence
+it is that the English, who have retained many of the expressions of the
+ancient Germanic and French tongue, say, "sensible man." Thus almost all
+the words that express ideas of the understanding are metaphors.
+
+"_Ingegno_," "_ingenium_," comes from "that which generates";
+"_agudeza_," from "that which is pointed"; "_sinnreich_," from
+"sensations"; "spirit," from "wind"; and "wit," from "wisdom."
+
+In every language, the word that answers to spirit in general is of
+several kinds; and when you are told that such a one is a "man of
+spirit," you have a right to ask: Of what spirit?
+
+Girard, in his useful book of definitions, entitled "French Synonymes,"
+thus concludes: "In our intercourse with women, it is necessary to have
+wit, or a jargon which has the appearance of it. (This is not doing them
+honor; they deserve better.) Understanding is in demand with politicians
+and courtiers." It seems to me that understanding is necessary
+everywhere, and that it is very extraordinary to hear of understanding
+in demand.
+
+"Genius is proper with people of project and expense." Either I am
+mistaken, or the genius of Corneille was made for all spectators--the
+genius of Bossuet for all auditors--yet more than for people of
+expense.
+
+The wind, which answers to "_Spiritus_,"--spirit, wind,
+breath--necessarily giving to all nations the idea of air, they all
+supposed that our faculty of thinking and acting--that which animates
+us--is air; whence our "souls are a subtile air." Hence, manes, spirits,
+ghosts, shades, are composed of air.
+
+Hence we used to say, not long ago, "A 'spirit' has appeared to him; he
+has a 'familiar spirit;' that castle is haunted by 'spirits;'" and the
+populace say so still.
+
+The word "_spiritus_" has hardly ever been used in this sense, except in
+the translations of the Hebrew books into bad Latin.
+
+"_Manes_," "_umbra_," "_simulacra_," are the expressions of Cicero and
+Virgil. The Germans say, "_geist_"; the English, "ghost"; the Spaniards,
+"_duende_," "_trasgo_"; the Italians appear to have no term signifying
+ghost. The French alone have made use of the word "spirit" (esprit). The
+words for all nations should be, "phantom," "imagination," "reverie,"
+"folly," "knavery."
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+_Wit._
+
+When a nation is beginning to emerge from barbarism, it strives to show
+what we call wit. Thus, in the first attempts made in the time of
+Francis I., we find in Marot such puns, plays on words, as would now be
+intolerable.
+
+     _Remorentin la parte rememore:_
+     _Cognac s'en cogne en sa poitrine blême,_
+     _Anjou faict jou, Angoulême est de même._
+
+These fine ideas are not such as at once present themselves to express
+the grief of nations. Many instances of this depraved taste might be
+adduced; but we shall content ourselves with this, which is the most
+striking of all.
+
+In the second era of the human mind in France--in the time of Balzac,
+Mairet, Rotrou, Corneille--applause was given to every thought that
+surprised by new images, which were called "wit." These lines of the
+tragedy of "Pyramus" were very well received:
+
+     _Ah! voici le poignard qui du sang de son maître_
+     _Sest souillé lâchement; il en rougit, le traître!_
+
+     Behold the dagger which has basely drunk
+     Its master's blood! See how the traitor blushes!
+
+There was thought to be great art in giving feeling to this dagger, in
+making it red with shame at being stained with the blood of Pyramus, as
+much as with the blood itself. No one exclaimed against Corneille, when,
+in his tragedy of "Andromeda," Phineus says to the sun:
+
+     _Tu luis, soleil, et ta lumière_
+       _Semble se plaire à m'affliger._
+     _Ah! mon amour te va bien obliger_
+       _À quitter soudain ta carrière._
+     _Viens, soleil, viens voir la beauté,_
+     _Dont le divin éclat me dompte,_
+       _Et tu fuiras de honte_
+       _D'avoir moins de clarté._
+
+     O sun, thou shinest, and thy light
+       Seems to take pleasure in my woe;
+     But soon my love shall shame thee quite,
+       And be thy glory's overthrow.
+     Come, come, O sun, and view the face
+     Whose heavenly splendor I adore;
+       Then wilt thou flee apace,
+       And show thy own no more.
+
+The sun flying because he is not so bright as Andromeda's face, is not
+at all inferior to the blushing dagger. If such foolish sallies as these
+found favor with a public whose taste it has been so difficult to form,
+we cannot be surprised that strokes of wit, in which some glimmering of
+beauty is discernible, should have had these charms.
+
+Not only was this translation from the Spanish admired:
+
+     _Ce sang qui, tout versé, fume encor de courroux,_
+     _De se voir répandu pour d'autres que pour vous._
+                                  --CID, act ii, sc. 9.
+
+     This blood, still foaming with indignant rage,
+     That it was shed for others, not for you;--
+
+not only was there thought to be a very spirited refinement in the line
+of Hypsipyle to Medea, in the "Golden Fleece": "I have attractions only;
+you have charms;" but it was not perceived--and few connoisseurs
+perceive it yet--that in the imposing part of Cornelia, the author
+almost continually puts wit where grief alone was required. This woman,
+whose husband has just been assassinated, begins her studied speech to
+Cæsar with a "for":
+
+     _César, car le destin que dans tes fers je brave_
+     _M'a fait ta prisonnière, et non pas ton esclave;_
+     _Et tu ne prétends pas qu'il m'abatte le cœur._
+     _Jusqu'à te rendre hommage et te nommer seigneur._
+                        --MORT DE POMPÉE, act iii, sc. 4.
+
+     Cæsar,
+     For the hard fate that binds me in thy chains,
+     Makes me thy prisoner, but not thy slave;
+     Nor wouldst thou have it so subdue my heart
+     That I should call thee lord and do thee homage.
+
+Thus she breaks off, at the very first word, in order to say that
+which is at once far-fetched and false. Never was the wife of one Roman
+citizen the slave of another Roman citizen: never was any Roman called
+lord; and this word "lord" is, with us, nothing more than a term of
+honor and ceremony, used on the stage.
+
+     _Fille de Scipion, et, pour dire encor plus,_
+     _Romaine, mon courage est encore au-dessus._--ID.
+
+     Daughter of Scipio, and, yet more, of Rome,
+     Still does my courage rise above my fate.
+
+
+[Illustration: Pierre Corneille.]
+
+
+Besides the defect so common to all Corneille's heroes, of thus
+announcing themselves--of saying, I am great, I am courageous, admire
+me--here is the very reprehensible affectation of talking of her birth,
+when the head of Pompey has just been presented to Cæsar. Real
+affliction expresses itself otherwise. Grief does not seek after a "yet
+more." And what is worse, while she is striving to say "yet more," she
+says much less. To be a daughter of Rome is indubitably less than to be
+daughter of Scipio and wife of Pompey. The infamous Septimius, who
+assassinated Pompey, was Roman as well as she. Thousands of Romans were
+very ordinary men: but to be daughter and wife to the greatest of
+Romans, was a real superiority. In this speech, then, there is false and
+misplaced wit, as well as false and misplaced greatness.
+
+She then says, after Lucan, that she ought to blush that she is alive:
+
+     _Je dois rougir, partout, après un tel malheur,_
+     _De n'avoir pu mourir d'un excès de douleur._--ID.
+
+     However, after such a great calamity,
+     I ought to blush I am not dead of grief.
+
+Lucan, after the brilliant Augustan age, went in search of wit, because
+decay was commencing; and the writers of the age of Louis XIV. at first
+sought to display wit, because good taste was not then completely found,
+as it afterwards was.
+
+     _César, de ta victoire écoute moins le bruit;_
+     _Elle n'est que l'effet du malheur qui me suit._--ID.
+
+     Cæsar, rejoice not in thy victory;
+     For my misfortune was its only cause.
+
+What a poor artifice! what a false as well as impudent notion! Cæsar
+conquered at Pharsalia only because Pompey married Cornelia! What labor
+to say that which is neither true, nor likely, nor fit, nor interesting!
+
+     _Deux fois du monde entier j'ai causé la disgrâce._--ID.
+
+     Twice have I caused the living world's disgrace.
+
+This is the "_bis nocui mundo_" of Lucan. This
+line presents us with a very great idea; it cannot
+fail to surprise; it is wanting in nothing but truth.
+But it must be observed, that if this line had but
+the smallest ray of verisimilitude--had it really its
+birth in the pangs of grief, it would then have all
+the truth, all the beauty, of theatrical fitness:
+
+     _Heureuse en mes malheurs, si ce triste hyménée_
+     _Pour le bonheur du monde à Rome m'eût donnée_
+     _Et si j'eusse avec moi porté dans ta maison._
+     _D'un astre envenimé l'invincible poison!_
+     _Car enfin n'attends pas que j'abaisse ma haine:_
+     _Je te l'ai déjà dit, César, je suis Romaine;_
+     _Et, quoique ta captive, un cœur tel que le mien,_
+     _De peur de s'oublier, ne te demande rien._--ID.
+
+     Yet happy in my woes, had these sad nuptials
+     Given me to Cæsar for the good of Rome;
+     Had I but carried with me to thy house
+     The mortal venom of a noxious star!
+     For think not, after all, my hate is less:
+     Already have I told thee I am a Roman;
+     And, though thy captive, such a heart as mine,
+     Lest it forget itself, will sue for nothing.
+
+This is Lucan again. She wishes, in the "Pharsalia," that she had
+married Cæsar.
+
+     _Atque utinam in thalamis invisi Cæsaris essem_
+     _Infelix conjux, et nulli læta marito!_
+                                    --_Lib._, viii, v. 88, 89.
+
+     Ah! wherefore was I not much rather led
+     A fatal bride to Cæsar's hated bed, etc.
+                                          --ROWE.
+
+
+This sentiment is not in nature; it is at once gigantic and puerile: but
+at least it is not to Cæsar that Cornelia talks thus in Lucan.
+Corneille, on the contrary, makes Cornelia speak to Cæsar himself: he
+makes her say that she wishes to be his wife, in order that she may
+carry into his house "the mortal poison of a noxious star"; for, adds
+she, my hatred cannot be abated, and I have told thee already that I am
+a Roman, and I sue for nothing. Here is odd reasoning: I would fain have
+married thee, to cause thy death; and I sue for nothing. Be it also
+observed, that this widow heaps reproaches on Cæsar, just after Cæsar
+weeps for the death of Pompey and promises to avenge it.
+
+It is certain, that if the author had not striven to make Cornelia
+witty, he would not have been guilty of the faults which, after being so
+long applauded, are now perceived. The actresses can scarcely longer
+palliate them, by a studied loftiness of demeanor and an imposing
+elevation of voice.
+
+The better to feel how much mere wit is below natural sentiment, let us
+compare Cornelia with herself, where, in the same tirade, she says
+things quite opposite:
+
+     _Je dois toutefois rendre grâce aux dieux_
+     _De ce qu'en arrivant je trouve en ces lieux,_
+     _Que César y commande, et non pas Ptolemée._
+     _Hélas! et sous quel astre, ó ciel, m'as-tu formée,_
+     _Si je leur dois des vœux, de ce qu'ils ont permis,_
+     _Que je recontre ici mes plus grands ennemis,_
+     _Et tombe entre leurs mains, plutôt qu'aux mains d'un prince_
+     _Qui doit à mon époux son trône et sa province._--ID.
+
+     Yet have I cause to thank the gracious gods,
+     That Cæsar here commands--not Ptolemy.
+     Alas! beneath what planet was I formed,
+     If I owe thanks for being thus permitted
+     Here to encounter my worst enemies
+     And fall into their hands, rather than those
+     Of him who to my husband owes his throne?
+
+Let us overlook the slight defects of style, and consider how mournful
+and becoming is this speech; it goes to the heart: all the rest dazzles
+for a moment, and then disgusts. The following natural lines charm all
+readers:
+
+     _O vous! à ma douleur objet terrible et tendre,_
+     _Éternel entretien de haine et de pitié,_
+     _Restes de grand Pompée, écoutez sa moitié, etc._
+
+     O dreadful, tender object of my grief,
+     Eternal source of pity and of hate,
+     Ye relics of great Pompey, hear me now--
+     Hear his yet living half.
+
+It is by such comparisons that our taste is formed, and that we learn to
+admire nothing but truth in its proper place. In the same tragedy,
+Cleopatra thus expresses herself to her confidante, Charmion:
+
+     _Apprends qu'une princesse aimant sa renommée,_
+     _Quand elle dit qu'elle aime, est sure d'être aimée;_
+     _Et que les plus beaux feux dont son cœur soit épris_
+     _N'oseraient l'exposer aux hontes d'un mépris._
+                                          --Act ii, sc. 1.
+
+     Know, that a princess jealous of her fame,
+     When she owns love, is sure of a return;
+     And that the noblest flame her heart can feel,
+     Dares not expose her to rejection's shame.
+
+Charmion might answer: Madam, I know not what the noble flame of a
+princess is, which dares not expose her to shame; and as for princesses
+who never say they are in love, but when they are sure of being loved--I
+always enact the part of confidante at the play: and at least twenty
+princesses have confessed their noble flames to me, without being at all
+sure of the matter, and especially the infanta in "The Cid."
+
+Nay, we may go further: Cæsar--Cæsar himself--addresses Cleopatra, only
+to show off double-refined wit:
+
+     _Mais, ô Dieux! ce moment que je vous ai quittée_
+     _D'un trouble bien plus grand a mon âme agitée;_
+     _Et ces soins importans qui m'arrachaient de vous,_
+     _Contre ma grandeur même allumaient mon courroux;_
+     _Je lui voulais du mal de m'être si contraire;_
+     _Mais je lui pardonnais, au simple souvenir_
+     _Du bonheur qu'à ma flamme elle fait obtenir._
+     _C'est elle, dont je tiens cette haute espérance,_
+     _Qui flatte mes désirs d'une illustre apparence...._
+     _C'était, pour acquérir un droit si précieux;_
+     _Que combattait partout mon bras ambitieux;_
+     _Et dans Pharsale même il a tiré l'épée_
+     _Plus pour le conserver que pour vaincre Pompée._
+                                         --Act iv, sc. 3.
+
+     But, O the moment that I quitted you,
+     A greater trouble came upon my soul;
+     And those important cares that snatched me from you
+     Against my very greatness moved my ire;
+     I hated it for thwarting my desires....
+     But I have pardoned it--remembering how
+     At last it crowns my passion with success:
+     To it I owe the lofty hope which now
+     Flatters my view with an illustrious prospect.
+     'Twas but to gain this dearest privilege,
+     That my ambitious arm was raised in battle;
+     Nor did it at Pharsalia draw the sword,
+     So much to conquer Pompey, as to keep
+     This glorious hope.
+
+Here, then, we have Cæsar hating his greatness for having taken him away
+a little while from Cleopatra; but forgiving his greatness when he
+remembers that this greatness has procured him the success of his
+passion. He has the lofty hope of an illustrious probability; and it was
+only to acquire the dear privilege of this illustrious probability, that
+his ambitious arm fought the battle of Pharsalia.
+
+It is said that this sort of wit, which it must be confessed is no other
+than nonsense, was then the wit of the age. It is an intolerable abuse,
+which Molière proscribed in his "_Précieuses Ridicules_."
+
+It was of these defects, too frequent in Corneille, that La Bruyère
+said: "I thought, in my early youth, that these passages were clear and
+intelligible, to the actors, to the pit, and to the boxes; that their
+authors themselves understood them, and that I was wrong in not
+understanding them: I am undeceived."
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+In England, to express that a man has a deal of wit, they say that he
+has "great parts." Whence can this phrase, which is now the astonishment
+of the French, have come? From themselves. Formerly, we very commonly
+used the word "parties" in this sense. "Clelia," "Cassandra," and our
+other old romances, are continually telling us of the "parts" of their
+heroes and heroines, which parts are their wit. And, indeed, who can
+have _all_? Each of us has but his own small portion of intelligence, of
+memory, of sagacity, of depth and extent of ideas, of vivacity, and of
+subtlety. The word "parts" is that most fitting for a being so limited
+as man. The French have let an expression escape from their dictionaries
+which the English have laid hold of: the English have more than once
+enriched themselves at our expense. Many philosophical writers have been
+astonished that, since every one pretends to wit, no one should dare to
+boast of possessing it.
+
+"Envy," it has been said, "permits every one to be the panegyrist of his
+own probity, but not of his own wit." It allows us to be the apologists
+of the one, but not of the other. And why? Because it is very necessary
+to pass for an honest man, but not at all necessary to have the
+reputation of a man of wit.
+
+The question has been started, whether all men are born with the same
+mind, the same disposition for science, and if all depends on their
+education, and the circumstances in which they are placed? One
+philosopher, who had a right to think himself born with some
+superiority, asserted that minds are equal; yet the contrary has always
+been evident. Of four hundred children brought up together, under the
+same masters and the same discipline, there are scarcely five or six
+that make any remarkable progress. A great majority never rise above
+mediocrity, and among them there are many shades of distinction. In
+short, minds differ still more than faces.
+
+
+SECTION VI.
+
+_Crooked or Distorted Intellect._
+
+We have blind, one-eyed, cross-eyed, and squinting people--visions long,
+short, clear, confused, weak, or indefatigable. All this is a faithful
+image of our understanding; but we know scarcely any _false_ vision:
+there are not many men who always take a cock for a horse, or a
+coffeepot for a church. How is it that we often meet with minds,
+otherwise judicious, which are absolutely wrong in some things of
+importance? How is it that the Siamese, who will take care never to be
+overreached when he has to receive three rupees, firmly believes in the
+metamorphoses of Sammonocodom? By what strange whim do men of sense
+resemble Don Quixote, who beheld giants where other men saw nothing but
+windmills? Yet was Don Quixote more excusable than the Siamese, who
+believes that Sammonocodom came several times upon earth--and the Turk,
+who is persuaded that Mahomet put one-half of the moon into his sleeve?
+Don Quixote, impressed with the idea that he is to fight with a giant,
+may imagine that a giant must have a body as big as a mill, and arms as
+long as the sails; but from what supposition can a man of sense set out
+to arrive at a conclusion, that half the moon went into a sleeve, and
+that a Sammonocodom came down from heaven to fly kites at Siam, to cut
+down a forest, and to exhibit sleight-of-hand?
+
+The greatest geniuses may have their minds warped, on a principle which
+they have received without examination. Newton was very wrong-headed
+when he was commenting on the Apocalypse.
+
+All that certain tyrants of souls desire, is that the men whom they
+teach may have their intellects distorted. A fakir brings up a child of
+great promise; he employs five or six years in driving it into his head,
+that the god Fo appeared to men in the form of a white elephant; and
+persuades the child, that if he does not believe in these metamorphoses,
+he will be flogged after death for five hundred thousand years. He adds,
+that at the end of the world, the enemy of the god Fo will come and
+fight against that divinity.
+
+The child studies, and becomes a prodigy; he finds that Fo could not
+change himself into anything but a white elephant, because that is the
+most beautiful of animals. The kings of Siam and Pegu, say he, went to
+war with one another for a white elephant: certainly, had not Fo been
+concealed in that elephant, these two kings would not have been so mad
+as to fight for the possession of a mere animal.
+
+Fo's enemy will come and challenge him at the end of the world: this
+enemy will certainly be a rhinoceros; for the rhinoceros fights the
+elephant. Thus does the fakir's learned pupil reason in mature age, and
+he becomes one of the lights of the Indies: the more subtle his
+intellect, the more crooked; and he, in his turn, forms other intellects
+as distorted as his own.
+
+Show these besotted beings a little geometry, and they learn it easily
+enough; but, strange to say, this does not set them right. They perceive
+the truths of geometry; but it does not teach them to weigh
+probabilities: they have taken their bent; they will reason against
+reason all their lives; and I am sorry for them.
+
+Unfortunately, there are many ways of being wrong-headed, 1. Not to
+examine whether the principle is true, even when just consequences are
+drawn from it; and this is very common.
+
+2. To draw false consequences from a principle acknowledged to be true.
+For instance: a servant is asked whether his master be at home, by
+persons whom he suspects of having a design against his master's life.
+If he were blockhead enough to tell them the truth, on pretence that it
+is wrong to tell a lie, it is clear that he would draw an absurd
+consequence from a very true principle.
+
+The judge who should condemn a man for killing his assassin, would be
+alike iniquitous, and a bad reasoner. Cases like these are subdivided
+into a thousand different shades. The good mind, the judicious mind, is
+that which distinguishes them. Hence it is, that there have been so many
+iniquitous judgments; not because the judges were wicked in heart, but
+because they were not sufficiently enlightened.
+
+
+
+
+WOMEN.
+
+_Physical and Moral._
+
+Woman is in general less strong than man, smaller, and less capable of
+lasting labor. Her blood is more aqueous; her flesh less firm; her hair
+longer; her limbs more rounded; her arms less muscular; her mouth
+smaller; her hips more prominent; and her belly larger. These physical
+points distinguish women all over the earth, and of all races, from
+Lapland unto the coast of Guinea, and from America to China.
+
+Plutarch, in the third book of his "_Symposiacs_," pretends that wine
+will not intoxicate them so easily as men; and the following is the
+reason which he gives for this falsehood:
+
+"The temperament of women is very moist; this, with their courses,
+renders their flesh so soft, smooth, and clear. When wine encounters so
+much humidity, it is overcome, and it loses its color and its strength,
+becoming discolored and weak. Something also may be gathered from the
+reasoning of Aristotle, who observes, that they who drink great draughts
+without drawing their breath, which the ancients call '_amusisein_' are
+not intoxicated so soon as others; because the wine does not remain
+within the body, but being forcibly taken down, passes rapidly off. Now
+we generally perceive that women drink in this manner; and it is
+probable that their bodies, in consequence of the continual attraction
+of the humors, which are carried off in their periodical visitations,
+are filled with many conduits, and furnished with numerous pipes and
+channels, into which the wine disperses rapidly and easily, without
+having time to affect the noble and principal parts, by the disorder of
+which intoxication is produced." These physics are altogether worthy of
+the ancients.
+
+Women live somewhat longer than men; that is to say, in a generation we
+count more aged women than aged men. This fact has been observed by all
+who have taken accurate accounts of births and deaths in Europe; and it
+is thought that it is the same in Asia, and among the negresses, the
+copper-colored, and olive-complexioned, as among the white. _"Natura est
+semper sibi consona."_
+
+We have elsewhere adverted to an extract from a Chinese journal, which
+states, that in the year 1725, the wife of the emperor Yontchin made a
+distribution among the poor women of China who had passed their
+seventieth year; and that, in the province of Canton alone, there were
+98,222 females aged more than seventy, 40,893 beyond eighty, and 3,453
+of about the age of a hundred. Those who advocate final causes say, that
+nature grants them a longer life than men, in order to recompense them
+for the trouble they take in bringing children into the world and
+rearing them. It is scarcely to be imagined that nature bestows
+recompenses, but it is probable that the blood of women being milder,
+their fibres harden less quickly.
+
+No anatomist or physician has ever been able to trace the secret of
+conception. Sanchez has curiously remarked: _"Mariam et spiritum sanctum
+emisisse semen in copulatione, et ex semine amborum natum esse Jesum."_
+This abominable impertinence of the most knowing Sanchez is not adopted
+at present by any naturalist.
+
+The periodical visitations which weaken females, while they endure the
+maladies which arise out of their suppression, the times of gestation,
+the necessity of suckling children, and of watching continually over
+them, and the delicacy of their organization, render them unfit for the
+fatigue of war, and the fury of the combat. It is true, as we have
+already observed, that in almost all times and countries women have been
+found on whom nature has bestowed extraordinary strength and courage,
+who combat with men, and undergo prodigious labor; but, after all, these
+examples are rare. On this point we refer to the article on "Amazons."
+
+Physics always govern morals. Women being weaker of body than we are,
+there is more skill in their fingers, which are more supple than ours.
+Little able to labor at the heavy work of masonry, carpentering,
+metalling, or the plough, they are necessarily intrusted with the
+lighter labors of the interior of the house, and, above all, with the
+care of children. Leading a more sedentary life, they possess more
+gentleness of character than men, and are less addicted to the
+commission of enormous crimes--a fact so undeniable, that in all
+civilized countries there are always fifty men at least executed to one
+woman.
+
+Montesquieu, in his "Spirit of Laws," undertaking to speak of the
+condition of women under divers governments, observes that "among the
+Greeks women were not regarded as worthy of having any share in genuine
+love; but that with them love assumed a form which is not to be named."
+He cites Plutarch as his authority.
+
+This mistake is pardonable only in a wit like Montesquieu, always led
+away by the rapidity of his ideas, which are often very indistinct.
+Plutarch, in his chapter on love, introduces many interlocutors; and he
+himself, in the character of Daphneus, refutes, with great animation,
+the arguments of Protagenes in favor of the commerce alluded to.
+
+It is in the same dialogue that he goes so far as to say, that in the
+love of woman there is something divine; which love he compares to the
+sun, that animates nature. He places the highest happiness in conjugal
+love, and concludes by an eloquent eulogium on the virtue of Epponina.
+This memorable adventure passed before the eyes of Plutarch, who lived
+some time in the house of Vespasian. The above heroine, learning that
+her husband Sabinus, vanquished by the troops of the emperor, was
+concealed in a deep cavern between Franche-Comté and Champagne, shut
+herself up with him, attended on him for many years, and bore children
+in that situation. Being at length taken with her husband, and brought
+before Vespasian, who was astonished at her greatness of soul, she said
+to him: "I have lived more happily under ground than thou in the light
+of the sun, and in the enjoyment of power." Plutarch therefore asserts
+directly the contrary to that which is attributed to him by Montesquieu,
+and declares in favor of woman with an enthusiasm which is even
+affecting.
+
+It is not astonishing, that in every country man has rendered himself
+the master of woman, dominion being founded on strength. He has
+ordinarily, too, a superiority both in body and mind. Very learned women
+are to be found in the same manner as female warriors, but they are
+seldom or ever inventors.
+
+A social and agreeable spirit usually falls to their lot; and, generally
+speaking, they are adapted to soften the manners of men. In no republic
+have they ever been allowed to take the least part in government; they
+have never reigned in monarchies purely elective; but they may reign in
+almost all the hereditary kingdoms of Europe--in Spain, Naples, and
+England, in many states of the North, and in many grand fiefs which are
+called "feminines."
+
+Custom, entitled the Salic law, has excluded them from the crown of
+France; but it is not, as Mézeray remarks, in consequence of their
+unfitness for governing, since they are almost always intrusted with the
+regency.
+
+It is pretended, that Cardinal Mazarin confessed that many women were
+worthy of governing a kingdom; but he added, that it was always to be
+feared they would allow themselves to be subdued by lovers who were not
+capable of governing a dozen pullets. Isabella in Castile, Elizabeth in
+England, and Maria Theresa in Hungary, have, however, proved the falsity
+of this pretended bon-mot, attributed to Cardinal Mazarin; and at this
+moment we behold a legislatrix in the North as much respected as the
+sovereign of Greece, of Asia Minor, of Syria, and of Egypt, is
+disesteemed.
+
+It has been for a long time ignorantly assumed, that women are slaves
+during life among the Mahometans; and that, after their death, they do
+not enter paradise. These are two great errors, of a kind which popes
+are continually repeating in regard to Mahometanism. Married women are
+not at all slaves; and the Sura, or fourth chapter of the Koran, assigns
+them a dowry. A girl is entitled to inherit one-half as much as her
+brother; and if there are girls only, they divide among them two-thirds
+of the inheritance; and the remainder belongs to the relations of the
+deceased, whose mother also is entitled to a certain share. So little
+are married women slaves, they are entitled to demand a divorce, which
+is granted when their complaints are deemed lawful.
+
+A Mahometan is not allowed to marry his sister-in-law, his niece, his
+foster-sister, or his daughter-in-law brought up under the care of his
+wife. Neither is he permitted to marry two sisters; in which particular
+the Mahometan law is more rigid than the Christian, as people are every
+day purchasing from the court of Rome the right of contracting such
+marriages, which they might as well contract gratis.
+
+_Polygamy._
+
+Mahomet has limited the number of wives to four; but as a man must be
+rich in order to maintain four wives, according to his condition, few
+except great lords avail themselves of this privilege. Therefore, a
+plurality of wives produces not so much injury to the Mahometan states
+as we are in the habit of supposing; nor does it produce the
+depopulation which so many books, written at random, are in the habit of
+asserting.
+
+The Jews, agreeable to an ancient usage, established, according to their
+books, ever since the age of Lameth, have always been allowed several
+wives at a time. David had eighteen; and it is from his time that they
+allow that number to kings; although it is said that Solomon had as
+many as seven hundred.
+
+The Mahometans will not publicly allow the Jews to have more than one
+wife; they do not deem them worthy of that advantage; but money, which
+is always more powerful than law, procures to rich Jews, in Asia and
+Africa, that permission which the law refuses.
+
+It is seriously related, that Lelius Cinna, tribune of the people,
+proclaimed, after the death of Cæsar, that the dictator had intended to
+promulgate a law allowing women to take as many husbands as they
+pleased. What sensible man can doubt, that this was a popular story
+invented to render Cæsar odious? It resembles another story, which
+states that a senator in full senate formally professed to give Cæsar
+permission to cohabit with any woman he pleased. Such silly tales
+dishonor history, and injure the minds of those who credit them. It is a
+sad thing, that Montesquieu should give credit to this fable.
+
+It is not, however, a fable that the emperor Valentinian, calling
+himself a Christian, married Justinian during the life of Severa, his
+first wife, mother of the emperor Gratian; but he was rich enough to
+support many wives.
+
+Among the first race of the kings of the Franks, Gontran, Cherebert,
+Sigebert, and Chilperic, had several wives at a time. Gontran had within
+his palace Venerande, Mercatrude, and Ostregilda, acknowledged for
+legitimate wives; Cherebert had Merflida, Marcovesa, and Theodogilda.
+
+It is difficult to conceive how the ex-Jesuit Nonnotte has been able, in
+his ignorance, to push his boldness so far as to deny these facts, and
+to say that the kings of the first race were not polygamists, and
+thereby, in a libel in two volumes, throw discredit on more than a
+hundred historical truths, with the confidence of a pedant who dictates
+lessons in a college. Books of this kind still continue to be sold in
+the provinces, where the Jesuits have yet a party, and seduce and
+mislead uneducated people.
+
+Father Daniel, more learned and judicious, confesses the polygamy of the
+French kings without difficulty. He denies not the three wives of
+Dagobert I., and asserts expressly that Theodoret espoused Deutery,
+although she had a husband, and himself another wife called Visigalde.
+He adds, that in this he imitated his uncle Clothaire, who espoused the
+widow of Cleodomir, his brother, although he had three wives already.
+
+All historians admit the same thing; why, therefore, after so many
+testimonies, allow an ignorant writer to speak like a dictator, and say,
+while uttering a thousand follies, that it is in defence of religion? as
+if our sacred and venerable religion had anything to do with an
+historical point, although made serviceable by miserable calumniators to
+their stupid impostures.
+
+_Of the Polygamy Allowed by Certain Popes and Reformers._
+
+The Abbé Fleury, author of the "Ecclesiastical History," pays more
+respect to truth in all which concerns the laws and usages of the
+Church. He avows that Boniface, confessor of Lower Germany, having
+consulted Pope Gregory, in the year 726, in order to know in what cases
+a husband might be allowed to have two wives, Gregory replied to him, on
+the 22nd of November, of the same year, in these words: "If a wife be
+attacked by a malady which renders her unfit for conjugal intercourse,
+the husband may marry another; but in that case he must allow his sick
+wife all necessary support and assistance." This decision appears
+conformable to reason and policy; and favors population, which is the
+object of marriage.
+
+But that which appears opposed at once to reason, policy, and nature, is
+the law which ordains that a woman, separated from her husband both in
+person and estate, cannot take another husband, nor the husband another
+wife. It is evident that a race is thereby lost; and if the separated
+parties are both of a certain temperament, they are necessarily exposed
+and rendered liable to sins for which the legislators ought to be
+responsible to God, if--
+
+The decretals of the popes have not always had in view what was suitable
+to the good of estates, and of individuals. This same decretal of Pope
+Gregory II., which permits bigamy in certain cases, denies conjugal
+rights forever to the boys and girls, whom their parents have devoted to
+the Church in their infancy. This law seems as barbarous as it is
+unjust; at once annihilating posterity, and forcing the will of men
+before they even possess a will. It is rendering the children the slaves
+of a vow which they never made; it is to destroy natural liberty, and to
+offend God and mankind.
+
+The polygamy of Philip, landgrave of Hesse, in the Lutheran community,
+in 1539, is well known. I knew a sovereign in Germany, who, after having
+married a Lutheran, had permission from the pope to marry a Catholic,
+and retained both his wives.
+
+It is well known in England, that the chancellor Cowper married two
+wives, who lived together in the same house in a state of concord which
+did honor to all three. Many of the curious still possess the little
+book which he composed in favor of polygamy.
+
+We must distrust authors who relate, that in certain countries women are
+allowed several husbands. Those who make laws everywhere are born with
+too much self-love, are too jealous of their authority, and generally
+possess a temperament too ardent in comparison with that of women, to
+have instituted a jurisprudence of this nature. That which is opposed to
+the general course of nature is very rarely true; but it is very common
+for the more early travellers to mistake an abuse for a law.
+
+The author of the "Spirit of Laws" asserts, that in the caste of Nairs,
+on the coast of Malabar, a man can have only one wife, while a woman may
+have several husbands. He cites doubtful authors, and above all Picard;
+but it is impossible to speak of strange customs without having long
+witnessed them; and if they are mentioned, it ought to be doubtingly;
+but what lively spirit knows how to doubt?
+
+"The lubricity of women," he observes, "is so great at Patan, the men
+are constrained to adopt certain garniture, in order to be safe against
+their amorous enterprises."
+
+The president Montesquieu was never at Patan. Is not the remark of M.
+Linguet judicious, who observes, that this story has been told by
+travellers who were either deceived themselves, or who wished to laugh
+at their readers? Let us be just, love truth, and judge by facts, not by
+names.
+
+_End of the Reflections on Polygamy._
+
+It appears that power, rather than agreement, makes laws everywhere, but
+especially in the East. We there beheld the first slaves, the first
+eunuchs, and the treasury of the prince directly composed of that which
+is taken from the people.
+
+He who can clothe, support, and amuse a number of women, shuts them up
+in a menagerie, and commands them despotically. Ben Aboul Kiba, in his
+"Mirror of the Faithful," relates that one of the viziers of the great
+Solyman addressed the following discourse to an agent of Charles V.:
+
+"Dog of a Christian!--for whom, however, I have a particular
+esteem--canst thou reproach me with possessing four wives, according to
+our holy laws, whilst thou emptiest a dozen barrels a year, and I drink
+not a single glass of wine? What good dost thou effect by passing more
+hours at table than I do in bed? I may get four children a year for the
+service of my august master, whilst thou canst scarcely produce one, and
+that only the child of a drunkard, whose brain will be obscured by the
+vapors of the wine which has been drunk by his father. What, moreover,
+wouldst thou have me do, when two of my wives are in child-bed? Must I
+not attend to the other two, as my law commands me? What becomes of
+them? what part dost thou perform, in the latter months of the pregnancy
+of thy only wife, and during her lyings-in and sexual maladies? Thou
+either remainest idle, or thou repairest to another woman. Behold
+thyself between two mortal sins, which will infallibly cause thee to
+fall headlong from the narrow bridge into the pit of hell.
+
+"I will suppose, that in our wars against the dogs of Christians we lose
+a hundred thousand soldiers; behold a hundred thousand girls to provide
+for. Is it not for the wealthy to take care of them? Evil betide every
+Mussulman so cold-hearted as not to give shelter to four pretty girls,
+in the character of legitimate wives, or to treat them according to
+their merits!
+
+"What is done in thy country by the trumpeter of day, which thou callest
+the cock; the honest ram, the leader of the flock; the bull, sovereign
+of the heifers; has not every one of them his seraglio? It becomes thee,
+truly, to reproach me with my four wives, whilst our great prophet had
+eighteen, the Jew David, as many, and the Jew Solomon, seven hundred,
+all told, with three hundred concubines! Thou perceivest that I am
+modest. Cease, then, to reproach a sage with luxury, who is content with
+so moderate a repast. I permit thee to drink; allow me to love. Thou
+changest thy wines; permit me to change my females. Let every one suffer
+others to live according to the customs of their country. Thy hat was
+not made to give laws to my turban; thy ruff and thy curtailed doublets
+are not to command my doliman. Make an end of thy coffee, and go and
+caress thy German spouse, since thou art allowed to have no other."
+
+_Reply of the German._
+
+"Dog of a Mussulman! for whom I retain a profound veneration; before I
+finish my coffee I will confute all thy arguments. He who possesses four
+wives, possesses four harpies, always ready to calumniate, to annoy, and
+to fight one another. Thy house is the den of discord, and none of them
+can love thee. Each has only a quarter of thy person, and in return can
+bestow only a quarter of her heart. None of them can serve to render thy
+life agreeable; they are prisoners who, never having seen anything, have
+nothing to say; and, knowing only thee, are in consequence thy enemies.
+Thou art their absolute master; they therefore hate thee. Thou art
+obliged to guard them with eunuchs, who whip them when they are too
+happy. Thou pretendest to compare thyself to a cock, but a cock never
+has his pullets whipped by a capon. Take animals for thy examples, and
+copy them as much as thou pleasest; for my part, I love like a man; I
+would give all my heart, and receive an entire heart in return. I will
+give an account of this conversation to my wife to-night, and I hope she
+will be satisfied. As to the wine with which thou reproachest me, if it
+is an evil to drink it in Arabia, it is a very praiseworthy habit in
+Germany.--Adieu!"
+
+
+
+
+XENOPHANES.
+
+
+Bayle has made the article "Xenophanes" a pretext for making a panegyric
+on the devil; as Simonides, formerly, seized the occasion of a wrestler
+winning the prize of boxing in the Olympic games, to form a fine ode in
+praise of Castor and Pollux. But, at the bottom, of what consequence to
+us are the reveries of Xenophanes? What do we gain by knowing that he
+regarded nature as an infinite being, immovable, composed of an infinite
+number of small corpuscles, soft little mounds, and small organic
+molecules? That he, moreover, thought pretty nearly as Spinoza has since
+thought? or rather endeavored to think, for he contradicts himself
+frequently--a thing very common to ancient philosophers.
+
+If Anaximenes taught that the atmosphere was God; if Thales attributed
+to water the foundation of all things, because Egypt was rendered
+fertile by inundation; if Pherecides and Heraclitus give to fire all
+which Thales attributes to water--to what purpose return to these
+chimerical reveries?
+
+I wish that Pythagoras had expressed, by numbers, certain relations,
+very insufficiently understood, by which he infers, that the world was
+built by the rules of arithmetic. I allow, that Ocellus Lucanus and
+Empedocles have arranged everything by moving antagonist forces, but
+what shall I gather from it? What clear notion will it convey to my
+feeble mind?
+
+Come, divine Plato! with your archetypal ideas, your androgynes, and
+your word; establish all these fine things in poetical prose, in your
+new republic, in which I no more aspire to have a house, than in the
+Salentum of Telemachus; but in lieu of becoming one of your citizens, I
+will send you an order to build your town with all the subtle manner of
+Descartes, all his globular and diffusive matter; and they shall be
+brought to you by Cyrano de Bergerac.
+
+Bayle, however, has exercised all the sagacity of his logic on these
+ancient fancies; but it is always by rendering them ridiculous that he
+instructs and entertains.
+
+O philosophers! Physical experiments, ably conducted, arts and
+handicraft--these are the true philosophy. My sage is the conductor of
+my windmill, which dexterously catches the wind, and receives my corn,
+deposits it in the hopper, and grinds it equally, for the nourishment of
+myself and family. My sage is he who, with his shuttle, covers my walls
+with pictures of linen or of silk, brilliant with the finest colors; or
+he who puts into my pocket a chronometer of silver or of gold. My sage
+is the investigator of natural history. We learn more from the single
+experiments of the Abbé Nollet than from all the philosophical works of
+antiquity.
+
+
+
+
+XENOPHON,
+
+AND THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND.
+
+
+If Xenophon had no other merit than that of being the friend of the
+martyr Socrates, he would be interesting; but he was a warrior,
+philosopher, poet, historian, agriculturist, and amiable in society.
+There were many Greeks who united these qualities.
+
+But why had this free man a Greek company in the pay of the young
+Chosroes, named Cyrus by the Greeks? This Cyrus was the younger brother
+and subject of the emperor of Persia, Artaxerxes Mnemon, of whom it was
+said that he never forgot anything but injuries. Cyrus had already
+attempted to assassinate his brother, even in the temple in which the
+ceremony of his consecration took place--for the kings of Persia were
+the first who were consecrated. Artaxerxes had not only the clemency to
+pardon this villain, but he had the weakness to allow him the absolute
+government of a great part of Asia Minor, which he held from their
+father, and of which he at least deserved to be despoiled.
+
+As a return for such surprising mercy, as soon as he could excite his
+satrapy to revolt against his brother, Cyrus added this second crime to
+the first. He declared by a manifesto, "that he was more worthy of the
+throne of Persia than his brother, because he was a better magus, and
+drank more wine." I do not believe that these were the reasons which
+gained him the Greeks as allies. He took thirteen thousand into his pay,
+among whom was the young Xenophon, who was then only an adventurer. Each
+soldier had a daric a month for pay. The daric is equal to about a
+guinea or a louis d'or of our time, as the Chevalier de Jaucourt very
+well observes, and not ten francs, as Rollin says.
+
+When Cyrus proposed to march them with his other troops to fight his
+brother towards the Euphrates, they demanded a daric and a half, which
+he was obliged to grant them. This was thirty-six livres a month, and
+consequently the highest pay which was ever given. The soldiers of
+Cæsar and Pompey had but twenty sous per day in the civil wars. Besides
+this exorbitant pay, of which they obliged him to pay four months in
+advance, Cyrus furnished them four hundred chariots, laden with wine and
+meal.
+
+The Greeks were then precisely what the Swiss are at present, who hire
+their service and courage to neighboring princes, but for a pay three
+times less than was that of the Greeks. It is evident, though they say
+the contrary, that they did not inform themselves whether the cause for
+which they fought was just; it was sufficient that Cyrus paid well.
+
+The greatest part of these troops was composed of Lacedæmonians, by
+which they violated their solemn treaties with the king of Persia. What
+was become of the ancient aversion of the Spartans for gold and silver?
+Where was their sincerity in treaties? Where was their high and
+incorruptible virtue? Clearchus, a Spartan, commanded the principal body
+of these brave mercenaries.
+
+I understand not the military manoeuvres of Artaxerxes and Cyrus; I see
+not why Artaxerxes, who came to his enemy with twelve hundred thousand
+soldiers, should begin by causing lines of twelve leagues in extent to
+be drawn between Cyrus and himself; and I comprehend nothing of the
+order of battle. I understand still less how Cyrus, followed only by six
+hundred horse, broke into the midst of six thousand horse-guards of the
+emperor, followed by an innumerable army. Finally, he was killed by the
+hand of Artaxerxes, who, having apparently drunk less wine than the
+rebel, fought with more coolness and address than this drunkard. It is
+clear that he completely gained the battle, notwithstanding the valor
+and resistance of thirteen thousand Greeks--since Greek vanity is
+obliged to confess that Artaxerxes told them to put down their arms.
+They replied that they would do nothing of the kind; but that if the
+emperor would pay them they would enter his service. It was very
+indifferent to them for whom they fought, so long as they were paid; in
+fact, they were only hired murderers.
+
+Besides the Swiss, there are some provinces of Germany which follow this
+custom. It signifies not to these good Christians whether they are paid
+to kill English, French, or Dutch, or to be killed by them. You see them
+say their prayers, and go to the carnage like laborers to their
+workshop. As to myself, I confess I would rather observe those who go
+into Pennsylvania, to cultivate the land with the simple and equitable
+Quakers, and form colonies in the retreat of peace and industry. There
+is no great skill in killing and being killed for six sous per day, but
+there is much in causing the republic of Dunkers to flourish--these new
+Therapeutæ on the frontier of a country the most savage.
+
+Artaxerxes regarded the Greeks only as accomplices in the revolt of his
+brother, and indeed they were nothing else. He betrayed himself to be
+betrayed by them, and he betrayed them, as Xenophon pretends; for after
+one of his captains had sworn in his name to allow them a free retreat,
+and to furnish them with food, after Clearchus and five other commanders
+of the Greeks were put into his hands, to regulate the march, he caused
+their heads to be cut off, and slew all the Greeks who accompanied them
+in this interview, if we may trust Xenophon's account.
+
+This royal act shows us that Machiavellism is not new; but is it true
+that Artaxerxes promised not to make an example of the chief mercenaries
+who sold themselves to his brother? Was it not permitted him to punish
+those whom he thought so guilty? It is here that the famous retreat of
+the ten thousand commences. If I comprehend nothing of the battle, I
+understand no more of the retreat.
+
+The emperor, before he cut off the heads of six Greek generals and their
+suite, had sworn to allow the little army, reduced to ten thousand men,
+to return to Greece. The battle was fought on the road to the Euphrates;
+he must therefore have caused the Greeks to return by Western
+Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, and Ionia. Not at all; they were made to
+pass by the East; they were obliged to traverse the Tigris in boats
+which were furnished to them; they returned afterwards by the Armenian
+roads, while their commanders were punished. If any person comprehends
+this march, in which they turn their backs on Greece, they will oblige
+me much by explaining it to me.
+
+One of two things: either the Greeks chose their route themselves--and
+in this case they neither knew where they went, or what they wished--or
+Artaxerxes made them march against their will--which is much more
+probable--and in this case, why did he not exterminate them?
+
+We may extricate ourselves from these difficulties, by supposing that
+the Persian emperor only half revenged himself; that he contented
+himself with punishing the principal mercenary chiefs who sold the Greek
+troops to Cyrus; that having made a treaty with the fugitive troops, he
+would not descend to the meanness of violating it; that being sure that
+a third of these wandering Greeks would perish on the road, he abandoned
+them to their fate. I see no other manner of enlightening the mind of
+the reader on the obscurities of this march.
+
+We are astonished at the retreat of the ten thousand; but we should be
+much more so, if Artaxerxes, a conqueror, at the head of a hundred
+thousand men--at least it is said so--had allowed ten thousand fugitives
+to travel in the north of his vast states, whom he could crush in every
+village, every bridge, every defile, or whom he could have made perish
+with hunger and misery.
+
+However, they were furnished, as we have seen, with twenty-seven great
+boats, to enable them to pass the Tigris, as if they were conducted to
+the Indies. Thence they were escorted towards the North for several
+days, into the desert in which Bagdad is now situated. They further
+passed the river Zabata, and it was there that the emperor sent his
+orders to punish the chiefs. It is clear that they could have
+exterminated the army as easily as they inflicted punishment on the
+generals. It is therefore very likely that they did not choose to do so.
+We should, therefore, rather regard the Greek wanderers in these savage
+countries as wayward travellers, whom the bounty of the emperor allowed
+to finish their journey as they could.
+
+We may make another observation, which appears not very honorable to the
+Persian government. It was impossible for the Greeks not to have
+continual quarrels for food with the people whom they met. Pillages,
+desolations, and murders, were the inevitable consequence of these
+disorders; and that is so true, that in a road of six hundred leagues,
+during which the Greeks always marched irregularly, being neither
+escorted nor pursued by any great body of Persian troops, they lost four
+thousand men, either killed by peasants or by sickness. How did it
+happen, therefore, that Artaxerxes did not cause them to be escorted
+from their passage of the river Zabata, as he had done from the field of
+battle to the river?
+
+How could so wise and good a sovereign commit so great a fault? Perhaps
+he did command the escort; perhaps Xenophon, who exaggerates a little
+elsewhere, passes it over in silence, not to diminish the wonder of the
+"retreat of the ten thousand"; perhaps the escort was always obliged to
+march at a great distance from the Greek troop, on account of the
+difficulty of procuring provisions. However it might be, it appears
+certain that Artaxerxes used extreme indulgence, and that the Greeks
+owed their lives to him, since they were not exterminated.
+
+In the article on "Retreat," in the "Encyclopædical Dictionary," it is
+said that the retreat of the ten thousand took place under the command
+of Xenophon. This is a mistake; he never commanded; he was merely at the
+head of a division of fourteen hundred men, at the end of the march.
+
+I see that these heroes scarcely arrived, after so many fatigues, on the
+borders of the Pontus Euxinus, before they indifferently pillaged
+friends and enemies to re-establish themselves. Xenophon embarked his
+little troop at Heraclea, and went to make a new bargain with a king of
+Thrace, to whom he was a stranger. This Athenian, instead of succoring
+his country, then overcome by the Spartans, sold himself once more to a
+petty foreign despot. He was ill paid, I confess, which is another
+reason why we may conclude that he would have done better in assisting
+his country.
+
+The sum of all this, we have already remarked, is that the Athenian
+Xenophon, being only a young volunteer, enlisted himself under a
+Lacedæmonian captain, one of the tyrants of Athens, in the service of a
+rebel and an assassin; and that, becoming chief of fourteen hundred men,
+he put himself into the pay of a barbarian.
+
+What is worse, necessity did not constrain him to this servitude. He
+says himself that he deposited a great part of the gold gained in the
+service of Cyrus in the temple of the famous Diana of Ephesus.
+
+Let us remark, that in receiving the pay of a king, he exposed himself
+to be condemned to death, if the foreigner was not contented with him,
+which happened to Major-General Doxat, a man born free. He sold himself
+to the emperor Charles VI., who commanded his head to be cut off, for
+having given up to the Turks a place which he could not defend.
+
+Rollin, in speaking of the return of the ten thousand, says, "that this
+fortunate retreat filled the people of Greece with contempt for
+Artaxerxes, by showing them that gold, silver, delicacies, luxury, and a
+numerous seraglio, composed all the merit of a great king."
+
+Rollin should consider that the Greeks ought not to despise a sovereign
+who had gained a complete battle; who, having pardoned as a brother,
+conquered as a hero; who, having the power of exterminating ten thousand
+Greeks, suffered them to live and to return to their country; and who,
+being able to have them in his pay, disdained to make use of them. Add,
+that this prince afterwards conquered the Lacedæmonians and their
+allies, and imposed on them humiliating laws; add also that in a war
+with the Scythians, called Caducians, towards the Caspian Sea, he
+supported all fatigues and dangers like the lowest soldier. He lived and
+died full of glory; it is true that he had a seraglio, but his courage
+was only the more estimable. We must be careful of college declamations.
+
+If I dared to attack prejudice I would venture to prefer the retreat of
+Marshal Belle-Isle to that of the ten thousand. He was blocked up in
+Prague by sixty thousand men, when he had not thirteen thousand. He took
+his measures with so much ability that he got out of Prague, in the most
+severe cold, with his army, provisions, baggage, and thirty pieces of
+cannon, without the besiegers having the least idea of it. He gained two
+days' march without their perceiving it. An army of thirteen thousand
+men pursued him for the space of thirty leagues. He faced them
+everywhere--he was never cast down; but sick as he was, he braved the
+season, scarcity and his enemies. He only lost those soldiers who could
+not resist the extreme rigor of the season. What more was wanting? A
+longer course and Grecian exaggeration.
+
+
+
+
+YVETOT.
+
+
+This is the name of a town in France, six leagues from Rouen, in
+Normandy, which, according to Robert Gaguin, a historian of the
+sixteenth century, has long been entitled a kingdom.
+
+This writer relates that Gautier, or Vautier, lord of Yvetot, and grand
+chamberlain to King Clotaire I., having lost the favor of his master by
+calumny, in which courtiers deal rather liberally, went into voluntary
+exile, and visited distant countries, where, for ten years, he fought
+against the enemies of the faith; that at the expiration of this term,
+flattering himself that the king's anger would be appeased, he went back
+to France; that he passed through Rome, where he saw Pope Agapetus, from
+whom he obtained a letter of recommendation to the king, who was then at
+Soissons, the capital of his dominions. The lord of Yvetot repaired
+thither one Good Friday, and chose the time when Clotaire was at church,
+to fall at his feet, and implore his forgiveness through the merits of
+Him who, on that day, had shed His blood for the salvation of men; but
+Clotaire, ferocious and cruel, having recognized him, ran him through
+the body.
+
+Gaguin adds that Pope Agapetus, being informed of this disgraceful act,
+threatened the king with the thunders of the Church, if he did not make
+reparation for his offence; and that Clotaire, justly intimidated, and
+in satisfaction for the murder of his subject, erected the lordship of
+Yvetot into a kingdom, in favor of Gautier's heirs and successors; that
+he despatched letters to that effect signed by himself, and sealed with
+his seal; that ever since then the lords of Yvetot have borne the title
+of kings; and--continues Gaguin--I find from established and
+indisputable authority, that this extraordinary event happened in the
+year of grace 539.
+
+On this story of Gaguin's we have the same remark to make that we have
+already made on what he says of the establishment of the Paris
+university--that not one of the contemporary historians makes any
+mention of the singular event, which, as he tells us, caused the
+lordship of Yvetot to be erected into a kingdom; and, as Claude Malingre
+and the abbé Vertot have well observed, Clotaire I., who is here
+supposed to have been sovereign of the town of Yvetot, did not reign
+over that part of the country; fiefs were not then hereditary; acts were
+not, as Robert Gaguin relates, dated from the year of grace; and lastly,
+Pope Agapetus was then dead; to this it may be added that the right of
+erecting a fief into a kingdom belonged exclusively to the emperor.
+
+It is not, however, to be said that the thunders of the Church were not
+already made use of, in the time of Agapetus. We know that St. Paul
+excommunicated the incestuous man of Corinth. We also find in the
+letters of St. Basil, some instances of general censure in the fourth
+century. One of these letters is against a ravisher. The holy prelate
+there orders the young woman to be restored to her parents, the ravisher
+to be excluded from prayers, and declared to be excommunicated, together
+with his accomplices and all his household, for three years; he also
+orders that all the people of the village where the ravished person was
+received, shall be excommunicated.
+
+Auxilius, a young bishop, excommunicated the whole family of Clacitien;
+although St. Augustine disapproved of this conduct, and Pope St. Leo
+laid down the same maxims as Augustine, in one of his letters to the
+bishop of the province of Vienne--yet, confining ourselves here to
+France--Pretextatus, bishop of Rouen, having been assassinated in the
+year 586 in his own church, Leudovalde, bishop of Bayeux, did not fail
+to lay all the churches in Rouen under an interdict, forbidding divine
+service to be celebrated in them until the author of the crime should be
+discovered.
+
+In 1141, Louis the Young having refused his consent to the election of
+Peter de la Châtre, whom the pope caused to be appointed in the room of
+Alberic, archbishop of Bourges, who had died the year preceding,
+Innocent II. laid all France under interdict.
+
+In the year 1200, Peter of Capua, commissioned to compel Philip Augustus
+to put away Agnes, and take back Ingeburga, and not succeeding,
+published the sentence of interdict on the whole kingdom, which had been
+pronounced by Pope Innocent III. This interdict was observed with
+extreme rigor. The English chronicle, quoted by the Benedictine
+Martenne, says that every Christian act, excepting the baptism of
+infants, was interdicted in France; the churches were closed, and
+Christians driven out of them like dogs; there was no more divine
+office, no more sacrifice of the mass, no ecclesiastical sepulture for
+the deceased; the dead bodies, left to chance, spread the most frightful
+infections, and filled the survivors with horror.
+
+The chronicle of Tours gives the same description, adding only one
+remarkable particular, confirmed by the abbé Fleury and the abbé de
+Vertot--that the holy viaticum was excepted, like the baptism of
+infants, from the privation of holy things. The kingdom was in this
+situation for nine months; it was some time before Innocent III.
+permitted the preaching of sermons and the sacrament of confirmation.
+The king was so much enraged that he drove the bishops and all the other
+ecclesiastics from their abodes, and confiscated their property.
+
+But it is singular that the bishops were sometimes solicited by
+sovereigns themselves to pronounce an interdict upon lands of their
+vassals. By letters dated February, 1356, confirming those of Guy, count
+of Nevers, and his wife Matilda, in favor of the citizens of Nevers,
+Charles V., regent of the kingdom, prays the archbishops of Lyons,
+Bourges, and Sens, and the bishops of Autun, Langres, Auxerre, and
+Nevers, to pronounce an excommunication against the count of Nevers, and
+an interdict upon his lands, if he does not fulfil the agreement he has
+made with the inhabitants. We also find in the collection of the
+ordinances of the third line of kings, many letters like that of King
+John, authorizing the bishops to put under interdict those places whose
+privileges their lords would seek to infringe.
+
+And to conclude, though it appears incredible, the Jesuit Daniel relates
+that, in the year 998, King Robert was excommunicated by Gregory V., for
+having married his kinswoman in the fourth degree. All the bishops who
+had assisted at this marriage were interdicted from the communion, until
+they had been to Rome, and rendered satisfaction to the holy see. The
+people, and even the court, separated from the king; he had only two
+domestics left, who purified by fire whatever he had touched. Cardinal
+Damien and Romualde also add, that Robert being gone one morning, as was
+his custom, to say his prayers at the door of St. Bartholomew's church,
+for he dared not enter it, Abbon, abbot of Fleury, followed by two women
+of the palace, carrying a large gilt dish covered with a napkin,
+accosted him, announced that Bertha was just brought to bed; and
+uncovering the dish, said: "Behold the effects of your disobedience to
+the decrees of the Church, and the seal of anathema on the fruit of your
+love!" Robert looked, and saw a monster with the head and neck of a
+duck! Bertha was repudiated; and the excommunication was at last taken
+off.
+
+Urban II., on the contrary, excommunicated Robert's grandson, Philip I.,
+for having put away his kinswoman. This pope pronounced the sentence of
+excommunication in the king's own dominions, at Clermont, in Auvergne,
+where his holiness was come to seek an asylum, in the same council in
+which the crusade was preached, and in which, for the first time, the
+name of pope (papa) was given to the bishop of Rome, to the exclusion of
+the other bishops, who had formerly taken it.
+
+It will be seen that these canonical pains were medicinal rather than
+mortal; but Gregory VII. and some of his successors ventured to assert,
+that an excommunicated sovereign was deprived of his dominions, and that
+his subjects were not obliged to obey him. However, supposing that a
+king can be excommunicated in certain serious cases, excommunication,
+being a penalty purely spiritual, cannot dispense with the obedience
+which his subjects owe to him, as holding his authority from God
+Himself. This was constantly acknowledged by the parliaments, and also
+by the clergy of France, in the excommunications pronounced by Boniface
+VII., against Philip the Fair; by Julius II., against Louis XII.; by
+Sixtus V., against Henry III.; by Gregory XIII., against Henry IV.; and
+it is likewise the doctrine of the celebrated assembly of the clergy in
+1682.
+
+
+
+
+ZEAL.
+
+
+This, in religion, is a pure and enlightened attachment to the
+maintenance and progress of the worship which is due to the Divinity;
+but when this zeal is persecuting, blind, and false, it becomes the
+greatest scourge of humanity.
+
+See what the emperor Julian says of the Christians of his time: "The
+Galileans," he observes, "have suffered exile and imprisonment under my
+predecessor; those who are by turns called heretics, have been mutually
+massacred. I have recalled the banished, liberated the prisoners; I have
+restored their property to the proscribed; I have forced them to live in
+peace; but such is the restless rage of the Galileans, that they
+complain of being no longer able to devour each other."
+
+This picture will not appear extravagant if we attend to the atrocious
+calumnies with which the Christians reciprocally blackened each other.
+For instance, St. Augustine accuses the Manichæans of forcing their
+elect to receive the eucharist, after having obscenely polluted it.
+After him, St. Cyril of Jerusalem has accused them of the same infamy in
+these terms: "I dare not mention in what these sacrilegious wretches wet
+their ischas, which they give to their unhappy votaries, and exhibit in
+the midst of their altar, and with which the Manichæan soils his mouth
+and tongue. Let the men call to mind what they are accustomed to
+experience in dreaming, and the women in their periodical affections."
+Pope St. Leo, in one of his sermons, also calls the sacrifice of the
+Manichæans the same turpitude. Finally, Suidas and Cedrenus have still
+further improved on the calumny, in asserting that the Manichæans held
+nocturnal assemblies, in which, after extinguishing the flambeaux, they
+committed the most enormous indecencies.
+
+Let us first observe that the primitive Christians were themselves
+accused of the same horrors which they afterwards imputed to the
+Manichæans; and that the justification of these equally applies to the
+others. "In order to have pretexts for persecuting us," said
+Athenagoras, in his "Apology for the Christians," "they accuse us of
+making detestable banquets, and of committing incest in our assemblies.
+It is an old trick, which has been employed from all time to extinguish
+virtue. Thus was Pythagoras burned, with three hundred of his disciples;
+Heraclitus expelled by the Ephesians; Democritus by the Abderitans; and
+Socrates condemned by the Athenians."
+
+Athenagoras subsequently points out that the principles and manners of
+the Christians were sufficient of themselves to destroy the calumnies
+spread against them. The same reasons apply in favor of the Manichæans.
+Why else is St. Augustine, who is positive in his book on heresies,
+reduced in that on the morals of the Manichæans, when speaking of the
+horrible ceremony in question, to say simply: "They are suspected
+of--the world has this opinion of them--if they do not commit what is
+imputed to them--rumor proclaims much ill of them; but they maintain
+that it is false?"
+
+Why not sustain openly this accusation in his dispute with Fortunatus,
+who publicly challenged him in these terms: "We are accused of false
+crimes, and as Augustine has assisted in our worship, I beg him to
+declare before the whole people, whether these crimes are true or not."
+St. Augustine replied: "It is true that I have assisted in your worship;
+but the question of faith is one thing, the question of morals another;
+and it is that of faith which I brought forward. However, if the persons
+present prefer that we should discuss that of your morals, I shall not
+oppose myself to them."
+
+Fortunatus, addressing the assembly, said: "I wish, above all things, to
+be justified in the minds of those who believe us guilty; and that
+Augustine should now testify before you, and one day before the tribunal
+of Jesus Christ, if he has ever seen, or if he knows, in any way
+whatever, that the things imputed have been committed by us?" St.
+Augustine still replies: "You depart from the question; what I have
+advanced turns upon faith, not upon morals." At length, Fortunatus
+continuing to press St. Augustine to explain himself, he does so in
+these terms: "I acknowledge that in the prayer at which I assisted I did
+not see you commit anything impure."
+
+The same St. Augustine, in his work on the "Utility of Faith," still
+justifies the Manichæans. "At this time," he says, to his friend
+Honoratus, "when I was occupied with Manichæism, I was yet full of the
+desire and the hope of marrying a handsome woman, and of acquiring
+riches; of attaining honors, and of enjoying the other pernicious
+pleasures of life. For when I listened with attention to the Manichæan
+doctors, I had not renounced the desire and hope of all these things. I
+do not attribute that to their doctrine; for I am bound to render this
+testimony--that they sedulously exhorted men to preserve themselves from
+those things. That is, indeed, what hindered me from attaching myself
+altogether to the sect, and kept me in the rank of those who are called
+auditors. I did not wish to renounce secular hopes and affairs." And in
+the last chapter of this book, where he represents the Manichæan doctors
+as proud men, who had as gross minds as they had meagre and skinny
+bodies, he does not say a word of their pretended infamies.
+
+But on what proofs were these imputations founded? The first which
+Augustine alleges is, that these indecencies were a consequence of the
+Manichæan system, regarding the means which God makes use of to wrest
+from the prince of darkness the portion of his substance. We have spoken
+of this in the article on "Genealogy," and these are horrors which one
+may dispense with repeating. It is enough to say here, that the passage
+from the seventh book of the "Treasure of Manes," which Augustine cites
+in many places, is evidently falsified. The arch heretic says, if we can
+believe it, that these celestial virtues, which are transformed
+sometimes into beautiful boys, and sometimes into beautiful girls, are
+God the Father Himself. This is false; Manes has never confounded the
+celestial virtues with God the Father. St. Augustine, not having
+understood the Syriac phrase of a "virgin of light" to mean a virgin
+light, supposes that God shows a beautiful maiden to the princes of
+darkness, in order to excite their brutal lust; there is nothing of all
+this talked of in ancient authors; the question concerns the cause of
+rain.
+
+"The great prince," says Tirbon, cited by St. Epiphanius, "sends out for
+himself, in his passion, black clouds, which darken all the world; he
+chafes, worries himself, throws himself into a perspiration, and that it
+is which makes the rain, which is no other than the sweat of the great
+prince." St. Augustine must have been deceived by a mistranslation, or
+rather by a garbled, unfaithful extract from the "Treasure of Manes,"
+from which he only cites two or three passages. The Manichæan Secundums
+also reproaches him with comprehending nothing of the mysteries of
+Manichæism, and with attacking them only by mere paralogisms. "How,
+otherwise," says the learned M. de Beausobre--whom we here
+abridge--"would St. Augustine have been able to live so many years among
+a sect in which such abominations were publicly taught? And how would he
+have had the face to defend it against the Catholics?"
+
+From this proof by reasoning, let us pass to the proofs of fact and
+evidence alleged by St. Augustine and see if they are more substantial.
+"It is said," proceeds this father, "that some of them have confessed
+this fact in public pleadings, not only in Paphlagonia, but also in the
+Gauls, as I have heard said at Rome by a certain Catholic."
+
+Such hearsay deserves so little attention that St. Augustine dared not
+make use of it in his conference with Fortunatus, although it was seven
+or eight years after he had quitted Rome; he seems even to have
+forgotten the name of the Catholic from whom he learned them. It is
+true, that in his book of "Heresies," he speaks of the confessions of
+two girls, the one named Margaret, the other Eusebia, and of some
+Manichæans who, having been discovered at Carthage, and taken to the
+church, avowed, it is said, the horrible fact in question.
+
+He adds that a certain Viator declared that they who committed these
+scandals were called Catharistes, or purgators; and that, when
+interrogated on what scripture they founded this frightful practice,
+they produced the passage from the "Treasure of Manes," the falsehood of
+which has been demonstrated. But our heretics, far from availing
+themselves of it, have openly disavowed it, as the work of some impostor
+who wished to ruin them. That alone casts suspicion on all these acts of
+Carthage, which "_Quod-vult-Deus_" had sent to St. Augustine; and these
+wretches who were discovered and taken to the church, have very much the
+air of persons suborned to confess all they were wanted to confess.
+
+In the 47th chapter on the "Nature of Good," St. Augustine admits that
+when our heretics were reproached with the crimes in question, they
+replied that one of their elect, a seceder from the sect, and become
+their enemy, had introduced this enormity. Without inquiring whether
+this was a real sect whom Viator calls Catharistes, it is sufficient to
+observe here, that the first Christians likewise imputed to the Gnostics
+the horrible mysteries of which they were themselves accused by the Jews
+and Pagans; and if this defence is good on their behalf, why should it
+not be so on that of the Manichæans?
+
+It is, however, these vulgar rumors which M. de Tillemont, who piques
+himself on his exactness and fidelity, ventures to convert into positive
+facts. He asserts that the Manichæans had been made to confess these
+disgraceful doings in public judgments, in Paphlagonia, in the Gauls,
+and several times at Carthage.
+
+Let us also weigh the testimony of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, whose
+narrative is altogether different from that of St. Augustine; and let us
+consider that the fact is so incredible and so absurd that it could
+scarcely be credited, even if attested by five or six witnesses who had
+seen and would affirm it on oath. St. Cyril stands alone; he had never
+seen it; he advances it in a popular declamation, wherein he gives
+himself a licence to put into the mouth of Manes, in the conference of
+Cascar, a discourse, not one word of which is in the "Acts of
+Archælaus," as M. Zaccagni is obliged to allow; and it cannot be alleged
+in defence of St. Cyril that he has taken only the sense of Archælaus,
+and not the words; for neither the sense nor the words can be found
+there. Besides, the style which this father adopts is that of a
+historian who cites the actual words of his author.
+
+Nevertheless, to save the honor and good faith of St. Cyril, M.
+Zaccagni, and after him M. de Tillemont, suppose, without any proof,
+that the translator or copyist has omitted the passage in the "Acts"
+quoted by this father; and the journalists of Trévoux have imagined two
+sorts of "Acts of Archælaus"--the authentic ones which Cyril has copied,
+and others invented in the fifth century by some historian. When they
+shall have proved this conjecture, we will examine their reasons.
+
+Finally, let us come to the testimony of Pope Leo touching these
+Manichæan abominations. He says, in his sermons, that the sudden
+troubles in other countries had brought into Italy some Manichæans,
+whose mysteries were so abominable that he could not expose them to the
+public view without sacrificing modesty. That, in order to ascertain
+them, he had introduced male and female elect into an assembly composed
+of bishops, priests, and some lay noblemen. That these heretics had
+disclosed many things respecting their dogmas and the ceremonies of
+their feast, and had confessed a crime which could not be named, but in
+regard to which there could be no doubt, after the confession of the
+guilty parties--that is to say, of a young girl of only ten years of
+age; of two women who had prepared her for the horrible ceremony of the
+sect; of a young man who had been an accomplice; of the bishop who had
+ordered and presided over it. He refers those among his auditors who
+desire to know more, to the informations which had been taken, and which
+he communicated to the bishops of Italy, in his second letter.
+
+This testimony appears more precise and more decisive than that of St.
+Augustine; but it is anything but conclusive in regard to a fact belied
+by the protestations of the accused, and by the ascertained principles
+of their morality. In effect, what proofs have we that the infamous
+persons interrogated by Leo were not bribed to depose against their
+sect?
+
+It will be replied that the piety and sincerity of this pope will not
+permit us to believe that he has contrived such a fraud. But if--as we
+have said in the article on "Relics"--the same St. Leo was capable of
+supposing that pieces of linen and ribbons, which were put in a box, and
+made to descend into the tombs of some saints, shed blood when they were
+cut--ought this pope to make any scruple in bribing, or causing to be
+bribed, some abandoned women, and I know not what Manichæan bishop,
+who, being assured of pardon, would make confessions of crimes which
+might be true as regarded themselves, but not as regarded their sect,
+from whose seduction St. Leo wished to protect his people? At all times,
+bishops have considered themselves authorized to employ those pious
+frauds which tend to the salvation of souls. The conjectural and
+apocryphal scriptures are a proof of this; and the readiness with which
+the fathers have put faith in those bad works, shows that, if they were
+not accomplices in the fraud, they were not scrupulous in taking
+advantage of it.
+
+In conclusion, St. Leo pretends to confirm the secret crimes of the
+Manichæans by an argument which destroys them. "These execrable
+mysteries," he says, "which the more impure they are, the more carefully
+they are hid, are common to the Manichæans and to the Priscillianists.
+There is in all respects the same sacrilege, the same obscenity, the
+same turpitude. These crimes, these infamies, are the same which were
+formerly discovered among the Priscillianists, and of which the whole
+world is informed."
+
+The Priscillianists were never guilty of the crimes for which they were
+put to death. In the works of St. Augustine is contained the
+instructional remarks which were transmitted to that father by Orosius,
+and in which this Spanish priest protests that he has plucked out all
+the plants of perdition which sprang up in the sect of the
+Priscillianists; that he had not forgotten the smallest branch or root;
+that he exposed to the surgeon all the diseases of the sect, in order
+that he might labor in their cure. Orosius does not say a word of the
+abominable mysteries of which Leo speaks; an unanswerable proof that he
+had no doubt they were pure calumnies. St. Jerome also says that
+Priscillian was oppressed by faction, and by the intrigues of the
+bishops Ithacus and Idacus. Would a man be thus spoken of who was guilty
+of profaning religion by the most infamous ceremonies? Nevertheless,
+Orosius and St. Jerome could not be ignorant of crimes of which all the
+world had been informed.
+
+St. Martin of Tours, and St. Ambrosius, who were at Trier when
+Priscillian was sentenced, would have been equally informed of them.
+They, however, instantly solicited a pardon for him; and, not being able
+to obtain it, they refused to hold intercourse with his accusers and
+their faction. Sulpicius Severus relates the history of the misfortunes
+of Priscillian. Latronian, Euphrosyne, widow of the poet Delphidius, his
+daughter, and some other persons, were executed with him at Trier, by
+order of the tyrant Maximus, and at the instigation of Ithacus and
+Idacus, two wicked bishops, who, in reward for their injustice, died in
+excommunication, loaded with the hatred of God and man.
+
+The Priscillianists were accused, like the Manichæans, of obscene
+doctrines, of religious nakedness and immodesty. How were they
+convicted? Priscillian and his accomplices confessed, as is said, under
+the torture. Three degraded persons, Tertullus, Potamius, and John,
+confessed without awaiting the question. But the suit instituted against
+the Priscillianists would have been founded on other depositions, which
+had been made against them in Spain. Nevertheless, these latter
+informations were rejected by a great number of bishops and esteemed
+ecclesiastics; and the good old man Higimis, bishop of Cordova, who had
+been the denouncer of the Priscillianists, afterwards believed them so
+innocent of the crimes imputed to them that he received them into his
+communion, and found himself involved thereby in the persecution which
+they endured.
+
+These horrible calumnies, dictated by a blind zeal, would seem to
+justify the reflection which Ammianus Marcellinus reports of the emperor
+Julian. "The savage beasts," he said, "are not more formidable to men
+than the Christians are to each other, when they are divided by creed
+and opinion."
+
+It is still more deplorable when zeal is false and hypocritical,
+examples of which are not rare. It is told of a doctor of the Sorbonne,
+that in departing from a sitting of the faculty, Tournély, with whom he
+was strictly connected, said to him: "You see that for two hours I have
+maintained a certain opinion with warmth; well, I assure you, there is
+not one word of truth in all I have said!"
+
+The answer of a Jesuit is also known, who was employed for twenty years
+in the Canada missions, and who himself not believing in a God, as he
+confessed in the ear of a friend, had faced death twenty times for the
+sake of a religion which he preached to the savages. This friend
+representing to him the inconsistency of his zeal: "Ah!" replied the
+Jesuit missionary, "you have no idea of the pleasure a man enjoys in
+making himself heard by twenty thousand men, and in persuading them of
+what he does not himself believe."
+
+It is frightful to observe how many abuses and disorders arise from the
+profound ignorance in which Europe has been so long plunged. Those
+monarchs who are at last sensible of the importance of enlightenment,
+become the benefactors of mankind in favoring the progress of knowledge,
+which is the foundation of the tranquillity and happiness of nations,
+and the finest bulwark against the inroads of fanaticism.
+
+
+
+
+ZOROASTER.
+
+
+If it is Zoroaster who first announced to mankind that fine maxim: "In
+the doubt whether an action be good or bad, abstain from it," Zoroaster
+was the first of men after Confucius.
+
+If this beautiful lesson of morality is found only in the hundred gates
+of the "Sadder," let us bless the author of the "Sadder." There may be
+very ridiculous dogmas and rites united with an excellent morality.
+
+Who was this Zoroaster? The name has something of Greek in it, and it is
+said he was a Mede. The Parsees of the present day call him Zerdust, or
+Zerdast, or Zaradast, or Zarathrust. He is not reckoned to have been the
+first of the name. We are told of two other Zoroasters, the former of
+whom has an antiquity of nine thousand years--which is much for us, but
+may be very little for the world. We are acquainted with only the latest
+Zoroaster.
+
+The French travellers, Chardin and Tavernier, have given us some
+information respecting this great prophet, by means of the Guebers or
+Parsees, who are still scattered through India and Persia, and who are
+excessively ignorant. Dr. Hyde, Arabic professor of Oxford, has given us
+a hundred times more without leaving home. Living in the west of
+England, he must have conjectured the language which the Persians spoke
+in the time of Cyrus, and must have compared it with the modern language
+of the worshippers of fire. It is to him, moreover, that we owe those
+hundred gates of the "Sadder," which contain all the principal precepts
+of the pious fire-worshippers.
+
+For my own part, I confess I have found nothing in their ancient rites
+more curious than the two Persian verses of Sadi, as given by Hyde;
+signifying that, although a person may preserve the sacred fire for a
+hundred years, he is burned when he falls into it.
+
+The learned researches of Hyde kindled, a few years ago in the breast of
+a young Frenchman, the desire to learn for himself the dogmas of the
+Guebers. He traversed the Great Indies, in order to learn at Surat,
+among the poor modern Parsees, the language of the ancient Persians, and
+to read in that language the books of the so-much celebrated Zoroaster,
+supposing that he has in fact written any.
+
+The Pythagorases, the Platos, the Appolloniuses of Thyana, went in
+former times to seek in the East wisdom that was not there; but no one
+has run after this hidden divinity through so many sufferings and perils
+as this new French translator of the books attributed to Zoroaster.
+Neither disease nor war, nor obstacles renewed at every step, nor
+poverty itself, the first and greatest of obstacles, could repel his
+courage.
+
+It is glorious for Zoroaster that an Englishman wrote his life, at the
+end of so many centuries, and that afterwards a Frenchman wrote it in an
+entirely different manner. But it is still finer, that among the ancient
+biographers of the poet we have two principal Arabian authors, each of
+whom had previously written his history; and all these four histories
+contradict one another marvellously. This is not done by concert; and
+nothing is more conducive to the knowledge of the truth.
+
+The first Arabian historian, Abu-Mohammed Mustapha, allows that the
+father of Zoroaster was called Espintaman; but he also says that
+Espintaman was not his father, but his great-great-grandfather. In
+regard to his mother, there are not two opinions; she was named Dogdu,
+or Dodo, or Dodu--that is, a very fine turkey hen; she is very well
+portrayed in Doctor Hyde.
+
+Bundari, the second historian, relates that Zoroaster was a Jew, and
+that he had been valet to Jeremiah; that he told lies to his master;
+that, in order to punish him, Jeremiah gave him the leprosy; that the
+valet, to purify himself, went to preach a new religion in Persia, and
+caused the sun to be adored instead of the stars.
+
+Attend now to what the third historian relates, and what the Englishman,
+Hyde, has recorded somewhat at length: The prophet Zoroaster having come
+from Paradise to preach his religion to the king of Persia, Gustaph, the
+king said to the prophet: "Give me a sign." Upon this, the prophet
+caused a cedar to grow up before the gate of the palace, so large and so
+tall, that no cord could either go round it or reach its top. Upon the
+cedar he placed a fine cabinet, to which no man could ascend. Struck
+with this miracle, Gustaph believed in Zoroaster.
+
+Four magi, or four sages--it is the same thing--envious and wicked
+persons, borrowed from the royal porter the key of the prophet's chamber
+during his absence, and threw among his books the bones of dogs and
+cats, the nails and hair of dead bodies--such being, as is well known,
+the drugs with which magicians at all times have operated. Afterwards,
+they went and accused the prophet of being a sorcerer and a poisoner;
+and the king, causing the chamber to be opened by his porter, the
+instruments of witchcraft were found there--and behold the envoy from
+heaven condemned to be hanged!
+
+Just as they are going to hang Zoroaster, the king's finest horse falls
+ill; his four legs enter his body, so as to be no longer visible.
+Zoroaster hears of it; he promises to cure the horse, provided they will
+not hang him. The bargain being made, he causes one leg to issue out of
+the belly, and says: "Sire, I will not restore you the second leg unless
+you embrace my religion." "Let it be so," says the monarch. The prophet,
+after having made the second leg appear, wished the king's children to
+become Zoroastrians, and they became so. The other legs made proselytes
+of the whole court. The four envious sages were hanged in place of the
+prophet, and all Persia received the faith.
+
+The French traveller relates nearly the same miracles, supported and
+embellished, however, by many others. For instance, the infancy of
+Zoroaster could not fail to be miraculous; Zoroaster fell to laughing as
+soon as he was born, at least according to Pliny and Solinus. There
+were, in those days, as all the world knows, a great number of very
+powerful magicians; they were well aware that one day Zoroaster would be
+greater than themselves, and that he would triumph over their magic. The
+prince of magicians caused the infant to be brought to him, and tried to
+cut him in two; but his hand instantly withered. They threw him into the
+fire, which was turned for him into a bath of rose water. They wished to
+have him trampled on by the feet of wild bulls; but a still more
+powerful bull protected him. He was cast among the wolves; these wolves
+went incontinently and sought two ewes, who gave him suck all night. At
+last, he was restored to his mother Dogdu, or Dodo, or Dodu, a wife
+excellent above all wives, or a daughter above all daughters.
+
+Such, throughout the world, have been all the histories of ancient
+times. It proves what we have often remarked, that Fable is the elder
+sister of History. I could wish that, for our amusement and instruction,
+all these great prophets of antiquity, the Zoroasters, the Mercurys
+Trismegistus, the Abarises, and even the Numas, and others, should now
+return to the earth, and converse with Locke, Newton, Bacon,
+Shaftesbury, Pascal, Arnaud, Bayle--what do I say?--even with those
+philosophers of our day who are the least learned, provided they are not
+the less rational. I ask pardon of antiquity, but I think they would cut
+a sorry figure.
+
+Alas, poor charlatans! they could not sell their drugs on the
+Pont-neuf. In the meantime, however, their morality is still good,
+because morality is not a drug. How could it be that Zoroaster joined so
+many egregious fooleries to the fine precept of "abstaining when it is
+doubtful whether one is about to do right or wrong?" It is because men
+are always compounded of contradictions.
+
+It is added that Zoroaster, having established his religion, became a
+persecutor. Alas! there is not a sexton, or a sweeper of a church, who
+would not persecute, if he had the power.
+
+One cannot read two pages of the abominable trash attributed to
+Zoroaster, without pitying human nature. Nostradamus and the urine
+doctor are reasonable compared with this inspired personage; and yet he
+still is and will continue to be talked of.
+
+What appears singular is, that there existed, in the time of the
+Zoroaster with whom we are acquainted, and probably before, prescribed
+formulas of public and private prayer. We are indebted to the French
+traveller for a translation of them. There were such formulas in India;
+we know of none such in the Pentateuch.
+
+What is still stranger, the magi, as well as the Brahmins, admitted a
+paradise, a hell, a resurrection, and a devil. It is demonstrated that
+the law of the Jews knew nothing of all this; they were behindhand with
+everything--a truth of which we are convinced, however little the
+progress we have made in Oriental knowledge.
+
+
+
+
+DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, INQUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS,
+
+WHO HAVE AMUSED THEMSELVES WITH PROPOSING TO THE LEARNED THE PRECEDING
+QUESTIONS IN THESE VOLUMES.
+
+
+We declare to the learned that being, like themselves, prodigiously
+ignorant of the first principles of all things, and of the natural,
+typical, mystical, allegorical sense of many things, we acquiesce, in
+regard to them, in the infallible decision of the holy Inquisition of
+Rome, Milan, Florence, Madrid, Lisbon, and in the decrees of the
+Sorbonne, the perpetual council of the French.
+
+Our errors not proceeding from malice, but being the natural consequence
+of human weakness, we hope we shall be pardoned for them both in this
+world and the next.
+
+We entreat the small number of celestial spirits who are still shut up
+in the mortal bodies in France, and who thence enlighten the universe at
+thirty sous per sheet, to communicate their gifts to us for the next
+volume, which we calculate on publishing at the end of the Lent of 1772,
+or in the Advent of 1773; and we will pay _forty_ sous per sheet for
+their lucubrations.
+
+We entreat the few great men who still remain to us, such as the author
+of the "Ecclesiastical Gazette"; the Abbé Guyon; with the Abbé Caveirac,
+author of the "Apology for St. Bartholomew"; and he who took the name
+of Chiniac; and the agreeable Larcher; and the virtuous, wise, and
+learned Langleviel, called La Beaumelle; the profound and exact
+Nonnotte; and the moderate, the compassionate, the tender Patouillet--to
+assist us in our undertaking. We shall profit by their instructive
+criticisms, and we shall experience a real pleasure in rendering to all
+these gentlemen the justice which is their due.
+
+The next volume will contain very curious articles, which, under the
+favor of God, will be likely to give new piquancy to the wit which we
+shall endeavor to infuse into the thanks we return to all these
+gentlemen.
+
+Given at Mount Krapak, the 30th of the month of Janus, in the year of
+the world, according to
+
+  Scaliger...............................     5,022
+
+  According to Les Etrennes Mignonnes....     5,776
+
+  According to Riccioli..................     5,956
+
+  According to Eusebius..................     6,972
+
+  According to the Alphosine Tables......     8,707
+
+  According to the Egyptians.............   370,000
+
+  According to the Chaldæans.............   465,102
+
+  According to the Brahmins..............   780,000
+
+  According to the Philosophers..........     ----
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10
+(of 10), by François-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35630 ***
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+
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35630 ***</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY</h1>
+
+<h3>VOLUME X</h3>
+
+<h4>By</h4>
+
+<h2>VOLTAIRE</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4>EDITION DE LA PACIFICATION</h4>
+
+<h3>THE WORKS OF VOLTAIRE</h3>
+
+<h4>A CONTEMPORARY VERSION</h4>
+
+
+<h5>With Notes by Tobias Smollett, Revised and Modernized</h5>
+
+<h5>New Translations by William F. Fleming, and an</h5>
+
+<h5>Introduction by Oliver H.G. Leigh</h5>
+
+
+<h4>A CRITIQUE AND BIOGRAPHY</h4>
+
+<h5>BY</h5>
+
+<h4>THE RT. HON. JOHN MORLEY</h4>
+
+<h5>FORTY-THREE VOLUMES</h5>
+
+
+<h5>One hundred and sixty-eight designs, comprising reproductions</h5>
+
+<h5>of rare old engravings, steel plates, photogravures,</h5>
+
+<h5>and curious fac-similes</h5>
+
+
+<h4>VOLUME XIV</h4>
+
+
+<h4>E.R. DuMONT</h4>
+
+<h4>PARIS&mdash;LONDON&mdash;NEW YORK&mdash;CHICAGO</h4>
+
+<h4>1901</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h3><i>The WORKS of VOLTAIRE</i></h3>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>"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."</i></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 35em;">
+<i>VICTOR HUGO.</i>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p class="caption"><a name="LIST_OF_PLATES_VOL_X" id="LIST_OF_PLATES_VOL_X"></a>LIST OF PLATES&mdash;VOL. X
+</p>
+<p class="small_2">
+<a href="#Throned_Upon_The_Ruins_Of_The_Bastille">VOLTAIRE'S REMAINS ON THE BASTILLE&mdash;<i>Frontispiece</i></a><br /><br />
+<a href="#The_Death_of_Socrates">THE DEATH OF SOCRATES</a><br /><br />
+<a href="#The_Vision">THE VISION</a><br /><br />
+<a href="#Pierre_Corneille">PIERRE CORNEILLE</a>
+</p>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 34em;"><a href="#TABLE_OF_CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 363px;">
+<a name="Throned_Upon_The_Ruins_Of_The_Bastille" id="Throned_Upon_The_Ruins_Of_The_Bastille"></a>
+<img src="images/img_01_bastille.jpg" width="363" alt="Throned Upon the Ruins of the Bastille." title="" />
+<span class="caption_fig">"For one night, upon the ruins of the Bastille,
+rested the body of Voltaire, on fallen
+wall and broken aroh, above the dungeons
+where light had faded from the lives of men,
+and hope had died in breaking hearts. The conqueror,
+resting upon the conquered; throned
+upon the Bastille, the fallen fortress of
+night."&mdash;INGERSOLL.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h4>VOLTAIRE</h4>
+
+<h3>A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY</h3>
+
+<h4>IN TEN VOLUMES</h4>
+
+<h4>VOL. X.</h4>
+
+<h4>STYLE&mdash;ZOROASTER</h4>
+
+<h4>AND DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, INQUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS</h4>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="STYLE" id="STYLE"></a>STYLE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is very strange that since the French people
+became literary they have had no book written in
+a good style, until the year 1654, when the "Provincial
+Letters" appeared; and why had no one written
+history in a suitable tone, previous to that of the
+"Conspiracy of Venice" of the Abbé St. Réal? How
+is it that Pellisson was the first who adopted the true
+Ciceronian style, in his memoir for the superintendent
+Fouquet?</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is more difficult and more rare than a
+style altogether suitable to the subject in hand.</p>
+
+<p>The style of the letters of Balzac would not be
+amiss for funeral orations; and we have some physical
+treatises in the style of the epic poem or the
+ode. It is proper that all things occupy their own
+places.</p>
+
+<p>Affect not strange terms of expression, or new
+words, in a treatise on religion, like the Abbé Houteville;
+neither declaim in a physical treatise. Avoid
+pleasantry in the mathematics, and flourish and extravagant
+figures in a pleading. If a poor intoxicated
+woman dies of an apoplexy, you say that she
+is in the regions of death; they bury her, and you
+exclaim that her mortal remains are confided to the
+earth. If the bell tolls at her burial, it is her
+funeral knell ascending to the skies. In all this you
+think you imitate Cicero, and you only copy Master
+Littlejohn....</p>
+
+<p>Without style, it is impossible that there can be a
+good work in any kind of eloquence or poetry. A
+profusion of words is the great vice of all our modern
+philosophers and anti-philosophers. The "<i>Système
+de la Nature</i>" is a great proof of this truth. It
+is very difficult to give just ideas of God and nature,
+and perhaps equally so to form a good style.</p>
+
+<p>As the kind of execution to be employed by every
+artist depends upon the subject of which he treats&mdash;as
+the line of Poussin is not that of Teniers, nor
+the architecture of a temple that of a common house,
+nor music of a serious opera that of a comic one&mdash;so
+has each kind of writing its proper style, both
+in prose and verse. It is obvious that the style of
+history is not that of a funeral oration, and that the
+despatch of an ambassador ought not to be written
+like a sermon; that comedy is not to borrow the
+boldness of the ode, the pathetic expression of the
+tragedy, nor the metaphors and similes of the epic.</p>
+
+<p>Every species has its different shades, which may,
+however, be reduced to two, the simple and the elevated.
+These two kinds, which embrace so many
+others, possess essential beauties in common, which
+beauties are accuracy of idea, adaptation, elegance,
+propriety of expression, and purity of language.
+Every piece of writing, whatever its nature, calls
+for these qualities; the difference consists in the employment
+of the corresponding tropes. Thus, a
+character in comedy will not utter sublime or philosophical
+ideas, a shepherd spout the notions of a
+conqueror, not a didactic epistle breathe forth passion;
+and none of these forms of composition ought
+to exhibit bold metaphor, pathetic exclamation, or
+vehement expression.</p>
+
+<p>Between the simple and the sublime there are
+many shades, and it is the art of adjusting them
+which contributes to the perfection of eloquence and
+poetry. It is by this art that Virgil frequently exalts
+the eclogue. This verse: <i>Ut vidi ut perii, ut me
+malus abstulit error!</i> (Eclogue viii, v. 41)&mdash;I saw,
+I perished, yet indulged my pain! (Dryden)&mdash;would
+be as fine in the mouth of Dido as in that of a shepherd,
+because it is nature, true and elegant, and the
+sentiment belongs to any condition. But this:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Castaneasque nuces me quas Amaryllis amabat.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">&mdash;<i>Eclogue, ii, v. 52.</i>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And pluck the chestnuts from the neighboring grove,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Such as my Amaryllis used to love.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 18em;" class="small">&mdash;DRYDEN</span>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>belongs not to an heroic personage, because the allusion
+is not such as would be made by a hero.</p>
+
+<p>These two instances are examples of the cases
+in which the mingling of styles may be defended.
+Tragedy may occasionally stoop; it even ought to
+do so. Simplicity, according to the precept of Horace,
+often relieves grandeur. <i>Et tragicus plerumque
+dolet sermone pedestri</i> (<i>Ars Poet.</i>, v. 95)&mdash;And oft
+the tragic language humbly flows (Francis).</p>
+
+<p>These two verses in Titus, so natural and so tender:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Depuis cinq ans entiers chaque jour je la vois.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et crois toujours la voir pour la première fois.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">&mdash;<span class="small">BÉRÉNICE</span>, acte ii, scene 1.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Each day, for five years, have I seen her face,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And each succeeding time appears the first.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>would not be at all out of place in serious comedy;
+but the following verse of Antiochus: <i>Dans l'orient
+desert quel devint mon ennui!</i> (Id., acte i, scene 4)&mdash;The
+lonely east, how wearisome to me!&mdash;would not
+suit a lover in comedy; the figure of the "lonely
+east" is too elevated for the simplicity of the buskin.
+We have already remarked, that an author who
+writes on physics, in allusion to a writer on physics,
+called Hercules, adds that he is not able to resist a
+philosopher so powerful. Another who has written
+a small book, which he imagines to be physical and
+moral, against the utility of inoculation, says that if
+the smallpox be diffused artificially, death will be
+defrauded.</p>
+
+<p>The above defect springs from a ridiculous affectation.
+There is another which is the result of negligence,
+which is that of mingling with the simple
+and noble style required by history, popular phrases
+and low expressions, which are inimical to good
+taste. We often read in Mézeray, and even in Daniel,
+who, having written so long after him, ought to
+be more correct, that "a general pursued at the heels
+of the enemy, followed his track, and utterly basted
+him"&mdash;<i>à plate couture</i>. We read nothing of this
+kind in Livy, Tacitus, Guicciardini, or Clarendon.</p>
+
+<p>Let us observe, that an author accustomed to this
+kind of style can seldom change it with his subject.
+In his operas, La Fontaine composed in the style of
+his fables; and Benserade, in his translation of
+Ovid's "Metamorphoses," exhibited the same kind
+of pleasantry which rendered his madrigals successful.
+Perfection consists in knowing how to adapt
+our style to the various subjects of which we treat;
+but who is altogether the master of his habits, and
+able to direct his genius at pleasure?</p>
+
+
+<h5>VARIOUS STYLES DISTINGUISHED.</h5>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>The Feeble.</i></p>
+
+<p>Weakness of the heart is not that of the mind,
+nor weakness of the soul that of the heart. A feeble
+soul is without resource in action, and abandons
+itself to those who govern it. The <i>heart</i> which is
+weak or feeble is easily softened, changes its inclinations
+with facility, resists not the seduction or
+the ascendency required, and may subsist with a
+strong <i>mind</i>; for we may think strongly and act
+weakly. The weak mind receives impressions without
+resistance, embraces opinions without examination,
+is alarmed without cause, and tends naturally
+to superstition.</p>
+
+<p>A work may be feeble either in its matter or its
+style; by the thoughts, when too common, or when,
+being correct, they are not sufficiently profound;
+and by the style, when it is destitute of images, or
+turns of expression, and of figures which rouse
+attention. Compared with those of Bossuet, the funeral
+orations of Mascaron are weak, and his style
+is lifeless.</p>
+
+<p>Every speech is feeble when it is not relieved by
+ingenious turns, and by energetic expressions; but
+a pleader is weak, when, with all the aid of eloquence,
+and all the earnestness of action, he fails in
+ratiocination. No philosophical work is feeble, notwithstanding
+the deficiency of its style, if the reasoning
+be correct and profound. A tragedy is weak,
+although the style be otherwise, when the interest is
+not sustained. The best-written comedy is feeble
+if it fails in that which the Latins call the "<i>vis comica</i>,"
+which is the defect pointed out by Cæsar in
+Terence: "<i>Lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta
+foret vis comica!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>This is above all the sin of the weeping or sentimental
+comedy (<i>larmoyante</i>). Feeble verses are
+not those which sin against rules, but against genius;
+which in their mechanism are without variety,
+without choice expression, or felicitous inversions;
+and which retain in poetry the simplicity and
+homeliness of prose. The distinction cannot be better
+comprehended than by a reference to the similar
+passages of Racine and Campistron, his imitator.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Flowery Style.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Flowery," that which is in blossom; a tree in
+blossom, a rose-bush in blossom: people do not say,
+flowers which blossom. Of flowery bloom, the carnation
+seems a mixture of white and rose-color. We
+sometimes say a flowery mind, to signify a person
+possessing a lighter species of literature, and whose
+imagination is lively.</p>
+
+<p>A flowery discourse is more replete with agreeable
+than with strong thoughts, with images more
+sparkling than sublime, and terms more curious
+than forcible. This metaphor is correctly taken from
+flowers, which are showy without strength or stability.</p>
+
+<p>The flowery style is not unsuitable to public
+speeches or addresses which amount only to compliment.
+The lighter beauties are in their place when
+there is nothing more solid to say; but the flowery
+style should be banished from a pleading, a sermon,
+or a didactic work.</p>
+
+<p>While banishing the flowery style, we are not to
+reject the soft and lively images which enter naturally
+into the subject; a few flowers are even admissible;
+but the flowery style cannot be made suitable
+to a serious subject.</p>
+
+<p>This style belongs to productions of mere amusement;
+to idyls, eclogues, and descriptions of the seasons,
+or of gardens. It may gracefully occupy a
+portion of the most sublime ode, provided it be duly
+relieved by stanzas of more masculine beauty. It
+has little to do with comedy, which, as it ought to
+possess a resemblance to common life, requires more
+of the style of ordinary conversation. It is still less
+admissible in tragedy, which is the province of
+strong passions and momentous interests; and when
+occasionally employed in tragedy or comedy, it is
+in certain descriptions in which the heart takes no
+part, and which amuse the imagination without moving
+or occupying the soul.</p>
+
+<p>The flowery style detracts from the interest of
+tragedy, and weakens ridicule in comedy. It is in
+its place in the French opera, which rather flourishes
+on the passions than exhibits them. The flowery
+is not to be confounded with the easy style, which rejects
+this class of embellishment.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Coldness of Style.</i></p>
+
+<p>It is said that a piece of poetry, of eloquence, of
+music, and even of painting, is cold, when we look
+for an animated expression in it, which we find not.
+Other arts are not so susceptible of this defect; for
+instance, architecture, geometry, logic, metaphysics,
+all the principal merit of which is correctness, cannot
+properly be called warm or cold. The picture
+of the family of Darius, by Mignard, is very cold in
+comparison with that of Lebrun, because we do not
+discover in the personages of Mignard the same affliction
+which Lebrun has so animatedly expressed
+in the attitudes and countenances of the Persian
+princesses. Even a statue may be cold; we ought
+to perceive fear and horror in the features of an Andromeda,
+the effect of a writhing of the muscles;
+and anger mingled with courageous boldness in the
+attitude and on the brow of Hercules, who suspends
+and strangles Antæus.</p>
+
+<p>In poetry and eloquence the great movements of
+the soul become cold, when they are expressed in
+common terms, and are unaided by imagination. It
+is this latter which makes love so animated in Racine,
+and so languid in his imitator, Campistron.</p>
+
+<p>The sentiments which escape from a soul which
+seeks concealment, on the contrary, require the most
+simple expression. Nothing is more animated than
+those verses in "The Cid": "Go; I hate thee not&mdash;thou
+knowest it; I cannot." This feeling would become
+cold, if conveyed in studied phrases.</p>
+
+<p>For this reason, nothing is so cold as the timid
+style. A hero in a poem says, that he has encountered
+a tempest, and that he has beheld his friend
+perish in the storm. He touches and affects, if he
+speaks with profound grief of his loss&mdash;that is, if
+he is more occupied with his friend than with all the
+rest; but he becomes cold, and ceases to affect us,
+if he amuses us with a description of the tempest;
+if he speaks of the source of "the fire which was boiling
+up the waters, and of the thunder which roars
+and which redoubles the furrows of the earth and
+of the waves." Coldness of style, therefore, often
+arises from a sterility of ideas; often from a deficiency
+in the power of governing them; frequently
+from a too common diction, and sometimes from one
+that is too far-fetched.</p>
+
+<p>The author who is cold only in consequence of
+being animated out of time and place, may correct
+this defect of a too fruitful imagination; but he who
+is cold from a deficiency of soul is incapable of self-correction.
+We may allay a fire which is too intense,
+but cannot acquire heat if we have none.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>On Corruption of Style.</i></p>
+
+<p>A general complaint is made, that eloquence is
+corrupted, although we have models of almost all
+kinds. One of the greatest defects of the day, which
+contributes most to this defect, is the mixture of
+style. It appears to me, that we authors do not
+sufficiently imitate the painters, who never introduce
+the attitudes of Calot with the figures of Raphael.
+I perceive in histories, otherwise tolerably well written,
+and in good doctrinal works, the familiar style
+of conversation. Some one has formerly said, that
+we must write as we speak; the sense of which law
+is, that we should write naturally. We tolerate irregularity
+in a letter, freedom as to style, incorrectness,
+and bold pleasantries, because letters, written
+spontaneously, without particular object or act, are
+negligent conversations; but when we speak or treat
+of a subject formally, some attention is due to decorum;
+and to whom ought we to pay more respect
+than to the public?</p>
+
+<p>Is it allowable to write in a mathematical work,
+that "a geometrician who would pay his devotions,
+ought to ascend to heaven in a right line; that evanescent
+quantities turn up their noses at the earth for
+having too much elevated them; that a seed sown in
+the ground takes an opportunity to release and
+amuse itself; that if Saturn should perish, it would
+be his fifth and not his first satellite that would take
+his place, because kings always keep their heirs at a
+distance; that there is no void except in the purse
+of a ruined man; that when Hercules treats of
+physics, no one is able to resist a philosopher of his
+degree of power?" etc.</p>
+
+<p>Some very valuable works are infected with this
+fault. The source of a defect so common seems to
+me to be the accusation of pedantry, so long and so
+justly made against authors. "<i>In vitium ducit culpæ
+fuga.</i>" It is frequently said, that we ought to
+write in the style of good company; that the most
+serious authors are becoming agreeable: that is to
+say, in order to exhibit the manners of good company
+to their readers, they deliver themselves in
+the style of very bad company.</p>
+
+<p>Authors have sought to speak of science as Voiture
+spoke to Mademoiselle Paulet of gallantry,
+without dreaming that Voiture by no means exhibits
+a correct taste in the species of composition in
+which he was esteemed excellent; for he often takes
+the false for the refined, and the affected for the natural.
+Pleasantry is never good on serious points,
+because it always regards subjects in that point
+of view in which it is not the purpose to consider
+them. It almost always turns upon false relations
+and equivoque, whence jokers by profession usually
+possess minds as incorrect as they are superficial.</p>
+
+<p>It appears to me, that it is as improper to mingle
+styles in poetry as in prose. The macaroni style has
+for some time past injured poetry by this medley of
+mean and of elevated, of ancient and of modern expression.
+In certain moral pieces it is not musical
+to hear the whistle of Rabelais in the midst of
+sounds from the flute of Horace&mdash;a practice which
+we should leave to inferior minds, and attend to the
+lessons of good sense and of Boileau. The following
+is a singular instance of style, in a speech delivered
+at Versailles in 1745:</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Speech Addressed to the King (Louis XV.) by M.
+le Camus, First President of the Court of Aids.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Sire&mdash;The conquests of your majesty are so
+rapid, that it will be necessary to consult the power
+of belief on the part of posterity, and to soften their
+surprise at so many miracles, for fear that heroes
+should hold themselves dispensed from imitation,
+and people in general from believing them.</p>
+
+<p>"But no, sire, it will be impossible for them to
+doubt it, when they shall read in history that your
+majesty has been at the head of your troops, recording
+them yourself in the field of Mars upon a drum.
+This is to engrave them eternally in the temple of
+Memory.</p>
+
+<p>"Ages the most distant will learn, that the English,
+that bold and audacious foe, that enemy so
+jealous of your glory, have been obliged to turn
+away from your victory; that their allies have been
+witnesses of their shame, and that all of them have
+hastened to the combat only to immortalize the glory
+of the conqueror.</p>
+
+<p>"We venture to say to your majesty, relying on
+the love that you bear to your people, that there is
+but one way of augmenting our happiness, which is
+to diminish your courage; as heaven would lavish
+its prodigies at too costly a rate, if they increased
+your dangers, or those of the young heroes who constitute
+our dearest hopes."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="SUPERSTITION" id="SUPERSTITION"></a>SUPERSTITION.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>I have sometimes heard you say&mdash;We are no
+longer superstitious; the reformation of the sixteenth
+century has made us more prudent; the Protestants
+have taught us better manners.</p>
+
+<p>But what then is the blood of a St. Januarius,
+which you liquefy every year by bringing it near his
+head? Would it not be better to make ten thousand
+beggars earn their bread, by employing them in useful
+tasks, than to boil the blood of a saint for their
+amusement? Think rather how to make their pots
+boil.</p>
+
+<p>Why do you still, in Rome, bless the horses and
+mules at St. Mary's the Greater? What mean those
+bands of flagellators in Italy and Spain, who go
+about singing and giving themselves the lash in the
+presence of ladies? Do they think there is no road
+to heaven but by flogging?</p>
+
+<p>Are those pieces of the true cross, which would
+suffice to build a hundred-gun ship&mdash;are the many
+relics acknowledged to be false&mdash;are the many false
+miracles&mdash;so many monuments of an enlightened
+piety?</p>
+
+<p>France boasts of being less superstitious than the
+neighbors of St. James of Compostello, or those of
+Our Lady of Loretto. Yet how many sacristies are
+there where you still find pieces of the Virgin's
+gown, vials of her milk, and locks of her hair! And
+have you not still, in the church of Puy-en-Velay,
+her Son's foreskin preciously preserved?</p>
+
+<p>You all know the abominable farce that has been
+played, ever since the early part of the fourteenth
+century, in the chapel of St. Louis, in the Palais at
+Paris, every Maundy Thursday night. All the possessed
+in the kingdom then meet in this church.
+The convulsions of St. Médard fall far short of the
+horrible grimaces, the dreadful howlings, the violent
+contortions, made by these wretched people.
+A piece of the true cross is given them to kiss, encased
+in three feet of gold, and adorned with precious
+stones. Then the cries and contortions are
+redoubled. The devil is then appeased by giving the
+demoniacs a few sous; but the better to restrain
+them, fifty archers of the watch are placed in the
+church with fixed bayonets.</p>
+
+<p>The same execrable farce is played at St. Maur.
+I could cite twenty such instances. Blush, and correct
+yourselves.</p>
+
+<p>There are wise men who assert, that we should
+leave the people their superstitions, as we leave them
+their raree-shows, etc.; that the people have at all
+times been fond of prodigies, fortune-tellers, pilgrimages,
+and quack-doctors; that in the most remote
+antiquity they celebrated Bacchus delivered
+from the waves, wearing horns, making a fountain
+of wine issue from a rock by a stroke of his wand,
+passing the Red Sea on dry ground with all his
+people, stopping the sun and moon, etc.; that at
+Lacedæmon they kept the two eggs brought forth
+by Leda, hanging from the dome of a temple; that
+in some towns of Greece the priests showed the knife
+with which Iphigenia had been immolated, etc.</p>
+
+<p>There are other wise men who say&mdash;Not one of
+these superstitions has produced any good; many
+of them have done great harm: let them then be
+abolished.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>I beg of you, my dear reader, to cast your eye
+for a moment on the miracle which was lately
+worked in Lower Brittany, in the year of our Lord
+1771. Nothing can be more authentic: this publication
+is clothed in all the legal forms. Read:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Surprising Account of the Visible and Miraculous
+Appearance of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the
+Holy Sacrament of the Altar; which was worked
+by the Almighty Power of God in the Parish
+Church of Paimpole, near Tréguier, in Lower
+Brittany, on Twelfth-day.</i></p>
+
+<p>"On January 6, 1771, being Twelfth-day, during
+the chanting of the <i>Salve</i>, rays of light were
+seen to issue from the consecrated host, and instantly
+the Lord Jesus was beheld in natural figure,
+seeming more brilliant than the sun, and was seen
+for a whole half-hour, during which there appeared
+a rainbow over the top of the church. The footprints
+of Jesus remained on the tabernacle, where
+they are still to be seen; and many miracles are
+worked there every day. At four in the afternoon,
+Jesus having disappeared from over the tabernacle,
+the curate of the said parish approached the altar,
+and found there a letter which Jesus had left; he
+would have taken it up, but he found that he could
+not lift it. This curate, together with the vicar,
+went to give information of it to the bishop of
+Tréguier, who ordered the forty-hour prayers to be
+said in all the churches of the town for eight days,
+during which time the people went in crowds to
+see this holy letter. At the expiration of the eight
+days, the bishop went thither in procession, attended
+by all the regular and secular clergy of the
+town, after three days' fasting on bread and water.
+The procession having entered the church, the
+bishop knelt down on the steps of the altar; and
+after asking of God the grace to be able to lift this
+letter, he ascended to the altar and took it up without
+difficulty; then, turning to the people, he read
+it over with a loud voice, and recommended to all
+who could read to peruse this letter on the first
+Friday of every month; and to those who could
+not read, to say five paternosters, and five ave-marias,
+in honor of the five wounds of Jesus Christ,
+in order to obtain the graces promised to such as
+shall read it devoutly, and the preservation of the
+fruits of the earth! Pregnant women are to say,
+for their happy delivery, nine paters and nine aves
+for the benefit of the souls in purgatory, in order
+that their children may have the happiness of receiving
+the holy sacrament of baptism.</p>
+
+<p>"All that is contained in this account has been
+approved by the bishop, by the lieutenant-general
+of the said town of Tréguier, and by many persons
+of distinction who were present at this miracle."</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Copy of the Letter Found Upon the Altar, at the
+Time of the Miraculous Appearance of Our
+Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament
+of the Altar, on Twelfth-day, 1771.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Everlasting life, everlasting punishments, or
+everlasting delights, none can forego; one part
+must be chosen&mdash;either to go to glory, or to depart
+into torment. The number of years that men pass
+on earth in all sorts of sensual pleasures and
+excessive debaucheries, of usurpation, luxury, murder,
+theft, slander, and impurity, no longer permitting
+it to be suffered that creatures created in
+My image and likeness, redeemed by the price of
+My blood on the tree of the cross, on which I suffered
+passion and death, should offend Me continually,
+by transgressing My commands and abandoning
+My divine law&mdash;I warn you all, that if you continue
+to live in sin, and I behold in you neither
+remorse, nor contrition, nor a true and sincere confession
+and satisfaction, I shall make you feel the
+weight of My divine arm. But for the prayers of
+My dear mother, I should already have destroyed
+the earth, for the sins which you commit one against
+another. I have given you six days to labor, and
+the seventh to rest, to sanctify My Holy Name, to
+hear the holy mass, and employ the remainder of
+the day in the service of God My Father. But, on
+the contrary, nothing is to be seen but blasphemy
+and drunkenness; and so disordered is the world
+that all in it is vanity and lies. Christians, instead
+of taking compassion on the poor whom they behold
+every day at their doors, prefer fondling dogs
+and other animals, and letting the poor die of hunger
+and thirst&mdash;abandoning themselves entirely to Satan
+by their avarice, gluttony, and other vices; instead
+of relieving the needy, they prefer sacrificing all to
+their pleasures and debauchery. Thus do they declare
+war against Me. And you, iniquitous fathers
+and mothers, suffer your children to swear and blaspheme
+against My holy name; instead of giving
+them a good education, you avariciously lay up
+for them wealth, which is dedicated to Satan. I
+tell you, by the mouth of God My Father and
+My dear mother, of all the cherubim and seraphim,
+and by St. Peter, the head of My church,
+that if you do not amend your ways, I will send
+you extraordinary diseases, by which all shall perish.
+You shall feel the just anger of God My Father;
+you shall be reduced to such a state that you
+shall not know one another. Open your eyes,
+and contemplate My cross, which I have left to be
+your weapon against the enemy of mankind, and
+your guide to eternal glory; look upon My head
+crowned with thorns, My feet and hands pierced
+with nails; I shed the last drop of My blood to
+redeem you, from pure fatherly love for ungrateful
+children. Do such works as may secure to you
+My mercy; do not swear by My Holy Name; pray
+to Me devoutly; fast often; and in particular give
+alms to the poor, who are members of My body&mdash;for
+of all good works this is the most pleasing to
+Me; neither despise the widow nor the orphan;
+make restitution of that which does not belong to
+you; fly all occasions of sin; carefully keep My
+commandments; and honor Mary My very dear
+mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Such of you who shall not profit by the warnings
+I give them, such as shall not believe My
+words, will, by their obstinacy, bring down My
+avenging arm upon their heads; they shall be overwhelmed
+by misfortunes, which shall be the forerunners
+of their final and unhappy end; after
+which they shall be cast into everlasting flames,
+where they shall suffer endless pains&mdash;the just
+punishment reserved for their crimes.</p>
+
+<p>"On the other hand, such of you as shall make
+a holy use of the warnings of God, given them in
+this letter, shall appease His wrath, and shall obtain
+from Him, after a sincere confession of their
+faults, the remission of their sins, how great soever
+they may be.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"With permission, Bourges, July 30, 1771.</span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"DE BEAUVOIR, Lieut.-Gen. of Police.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"This letter must be carefully kept, in honor of
+our Lord Jesus Christ."</p>
+
+<p>N.B.&mdash;It must be observed that this piece of
+absurdity was printed at Bourges, without there
+having been, either at Tréguier or at Paimpole, the
+smallest pretence that could afford occasion for such
+an imposture. However, we will suppose that in a
+future age some miracle-finder shall think fit to
+prove a point in divinity by the appearance of Jesus
+Christ on the altar at Paimpole, will he not think
+himself entitled to quote Christ's own letter, printed
+at Bourges "with permission"? Will he not prove,
+by facts, that in our time Jesus worked miracles
+everywhere? Here is a fine field opened for the
+Houtevilles and the Abadies.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION III.</h5>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>A Fresh Instance of the Most Horrible Superstition.</i></p>
+
+<p>The thirty conspirators who fell upon the king
+of Poland, in the night of November 3, of the present
+year, 1771, had communicated at the altar of
+the Holy Virgin, and had sworn by the Holy Virgin
+to butcher their king.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that some one of the conspirators was
+not entirely in a state of grace, when he received
+into his stomach the body of the Holy Virgin's own
+Son, together with His blood, under the appearance
+of bread; and that while he was taking the oath
+to kill his king, he had his god in his mouth for only
+two of the king's domestics. The guns and pistols
+fired at his majesty missed him; he received only a
+slight shot-wound in the face, and several sabre-wounds,
+which were not mortal. His life would
+have been at an end, but that humanity at length
+combated superstition in the breast of one of the
+assassins named Kosinski. What a moment was
+that when this wretched man said to the bleeding
+prince: "You are, however, my king!" "Yes,"
+answered Stanislaus Augustus, "and your good
+king, who has never done you any harm." "True,"
+said the other; "but I have taken an oath to kill
+you."</p>
+
+<p>They had sworn before the miraculous image of
+the virgin at Czentoshova. The following is the
+formula of this fine oath: "We &mdash;&mdash; who, excited
+by a holy and religious zeal, have resolved to
+avenge the Deity, religion, and our country, outraged
+by Stanislaus Augustus, a despiser of laws
+both divine and human, a favorer of atheists and
+heretics, do promise and swear, before the sacred
+and miraculous image of the mother of God, to
+extirpate from the face of the earth him who dishonors
+her by trampling on religion.... So help us God!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus did the assassins of Sforza, of Medici, and
+so many other holy assassins, have masses said, or
+say them themselves, for the happy success of their
+undertaking.</p>
+
+<p>The letter from Warsaw which gives the particulars
+of this attempt, adds: "The religious who
+employ their pious ardor in causing blood to flow
+and ravaging their country, have succeeded in
+Poland, as elsewhere, in inculcating on the minds
+of their affiliated, that it is allowable to kill kings."</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the assassins had been hidden in Warsaw
+for three days in the house of the reverend
+Dominican fathers; and when these accessory
+monks were asked why they had harbored thirty
+armed men without informing the government of
+it, they answered, that these men had come to perform
+their devotions, and to fulfil a vow.</p>
+
+<p>O ye times of Châtel, of Guinard, of Ricodovis, of
+Poltrot, of Ravaillac, of Damiens, of Malagrida, are
+you then returning? Holy Virgin, and Thou her
+holy Son, let not Your sacred names be abused for
+the commission of the crime which disgraced them!</p>
+
+<p>M. Jean Georges le Franc, bishop of Puy-en-Velay,
+says, in his immense pastoral letter to the
+inhabitants of Puy, pages 258-9, that it is the philosophers
+who are seditious. And whom does he
+accuse of sedition? Readers, you will be astonished;
+it is Locke, the wise Locke himself! He
+makes him an accomplice in the pernicious designs
+of the earl of Shaftesbury, one of the heroes of the
+philosophical party.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! M. Jean Georges, how many mistakes in
+a few words! First, you take the grandson for the
+grandfather. The earl of Shaftesbury, author of
+the "Characteristics" and the "Inquiry Into Virtue,"
+that "hero of the philosophical party," who died in
+1713, cultivated letters all his life in the most profound
+retirement. Secondly, his grandfather, Lord-Chancellor
+Shaftesbury, to whom you attribute misdeeds,
+is considered by many in England to have
+been a true patriot. Thirdly, Locke is revered as a
+wise man throughout Europe.</p>
+
+<p>I defy you to show me a single philosopher, from
+Zoroaster down to Locke, that has ever stirred up
+a sedition; that has ever been concerned in an attempt
+against the life of a king; that has ever disturbed
+society; and, unfortunately, I will find you
+a thousand votaries of superstition, from Ehud
+down to Kosinski, stained with the blood of kings
+and with that of nations. Superstition sets the
+whole world in flames; philosophy extinguishes
+them. Perhaps these poor philosophers are not devoted
+enough to the Holy Virgin; but they are so
+to God, to reason, and to humanity.</p>
+
+<p>Poles! if you are not philosophers, at least do
+not cut one another's throats. Frenchmen! be gay,
+and cease to quarrel. Spaniards! let the words
+"inquisition" and "holy brotherhood" be no longer
+uttered among you. Turks, who have enslaved
+Greece&mdash;monks, who have brutalized her&mdash;disappear
+ye from the face of the earth.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION IV.</h5>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Drawn from Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch.</i></p>
+
+<p>Nearly all that goes farther than the adoration
+of a supreme being, and the submission of the
+heart to his eternal orders, is superstition. The forgiveness
+of crimes, which is attached to certain ceremonies,
+is a very dangerous one.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et nigras mactant pecudes, et manibu', divis,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Inferias mittunt.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">&mdash;<span class="small">LUCRETIUS</span>, b. iii, 52-53.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>O faciles nimium, qui tristia crimina cœdis,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>Fluminea tolli posse putatis aqua!</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">&mdash;<span class="small">OVID</span>, <i>Fasti</i> ii, 45-46.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>You think that God will forget your homicide, if
+you bathe in a river, if you immolate a black sheep,
+and a few words are pronounced over you. A second
+homicide then will be forgiven you at the same
+price, and so of a third; and a hundred murders
+will cost you only a hundred black sheep and a
+hundred ablutions. Ye miserable mortals, do better;
+but let there be no murders, and no offerings of
+black sheep.</p>
+
+<p>What an infamous idea, to imagine that a priest
+of Isis and Cybele, by playing cymbals and castanets,
+will reconcile you to the Divinity. And what then
+is this priest of Cybele, this vagrant eunuch, who
+lives on your weakness, and sets himself up as a
+mediator between heaven and you? What patent
+has he received from God? He receives money
+from you for muttering words; and you think that
+the Being of Beings ratifies the utterance of this
+charlatan!</p>
+
+<p>There are innocent superstitions; you dance on
+festival days, in honor of Diana or Pomona, or some
+one of the secular divinities of which your calendar
+is full; be it so. Dancing is very agreeable; it is
+useful to the body; it exhilarates the mind; it does
+no harm to any one; but do not imagine that
+Pomona and Vertumnus are much pleased at your
+having jumped in honor of them, and that they
+may punish you for having failed to jump. There
+are no Pomona and Vertumnus but the gardener's
+spade and hoe. Do not be so imbecile as to believe
+that your garden will be hailed upon, if you have
+missed dancing the <i>pyrrhic</i> or the <i>cordax</i>.</p>
+
+<p>There is one superstition which is perhaps pardonable,
+and even encouraging to virtue&mdash;that of
+placing among the gods great men who have been
+benefactors to mankind. It were doubtless better
+to confine ourselves to regarding them simply as
+venerable men, and above all, to imitating them.
+Venerate, without worshipping, a Solon, a Thales,
+a Pythagoras; but do not adore a Hercules for
+having cleansed the stables of Augeas, and for
+having lain with fifty women in one night.</p>
+
+<p>Above all, beware of establishing a worship for
+vagabonds who have no merit but ignorance, enthusiasm,
+and filth; who have made idleness and
+beggary their duty and their glory. Do they who
+have been at best useless during their lives, merit an
+apotheosis after their deaths? Be it observed, that
+the most superstitious times have always been those
+of the most horrible crimes.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION V.</h5>
+
+<p>The superstitious man is to the knave, what the
+slave is to the tyrant; nay more&mdash;the superstitious
+man is governed by the fanatic, and becomes a
+fanatic himself. Superstition, born in Paganism,
+adopted by Judaism, infected the Church in the
+earliest ages. All the fathers of the Church, without
+exception, believed in the power of magic. The
+Church always condemned magic, but she always
+believed in it; she excommunicated sorcerers, not
+as madmen who were in delusion, but as men who
+really had intercourse with the devils.</p>
+
+<p>At this day, one half of Europe believes that the
+other half has long been and still is superstitious.
+The Protestants regard relics, indulgences, macerations,
+prayers for the dead, holy water, and almost
+all the rites of the Roman church, as mad superstitions.
+According to them, superstition consists in
+mistaking useless practices for necessary ones.
+Among the Roman Catholics there are some, more
+enlightened than their forefathers, who have renounced
+many of these usages formerly sacred; and
+they defend their adherence to those which they
+have retained, by saying they are indifferent, and
+what is indifferent cannot be an evil.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to mark the limits of superstition.
+A Frenchman travelling in Italy thinks almost
+everything superstitious; nor is he much mistaken.
+The archbishop of Canterbury asserts that the archbishop
+of Paris is superstitious; the Presbyterians
+cast the same reproach upon his grace of Canterbury,
+and are in their turn called superstitious by
+the Quakers, who in the eyes of the rest of Christians
+are the most superstitious of all.</p>
+
+<p>It is then nowhere agreed among Christian societies
+what superstition is. The sect which appears
+to be the least violently attacked by this mental disease,
+is that which has the fewest rites. But if, with
+but few ceremonies, it is strongly attached to an
+absurd belief, that absurd belief is of itself equivalent
+to all the superstitious practices observed from
+the time of Simon the Magician, down to that of
+the curate Gaufredi. It is therefore evident that
+what is the foundation of the religion of one sect, is
+by another sect regarded as superstitious.</p>
+
+<p>The Mussulmans accuse all Christian societies of
+it, and are accused of it by them. Who shall decide
+this great cause? Shall not reason? But each sect
+declares that reason is on its side. Force then will
+decide, until reason shall have penetrated into a sufficient
+number of heads to disarm force.</p>
+
+<p>For instance: there was a time in Christian Europe
+when a newly married pair were not permitted
+to enjoy the nuptial rights, until they had bought
+that privilege of the bishop and the curate. Whosoever,
+in his will, did not leave a part of his property
+to the Church, was excommunicated, and deprived
+of burial. This was called dying unconfessed&mdash;i.e.,
+not confessing the Christian religion.
+And when a Christian died intestate, the Church relieved
+the deceased from this excommunication, by
+making a will for him, stipulating for and enforcing
+the payment of the pious legacy which the defunct
+should have made.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore it was, that Pope Gregory IX. and
+St. Louis ordained, after the Council of Nice, held
+in 1235, that every will to the making of which a
+priest had not been called, should be null; and the
+pope decreed that the testator and the notary should
+be excommunicated.</p>
+
+<p>The tax on sins was, if possible, still more scandalous.
+It was force which supported all these laws,
+to which the superstition of nations submitted; and
+it was only in the course of time that reason caused
+these shameful vexations to be abolished, while it
+left so many others in existence.</p>
+
+<p>How far does policy permit superstition to be
+undermined? This is a very knotty question; it
+is like asking how far a dropsical man may be
+punctured without his dying under the operation;
+this depends on the prudence of the physician.</p>
+
+<p>Can there exist a people free from all superstitious
+prejudices? This is asking, Can there exist
+a people of philosophers? It is said that there is
+no superstition in the magistracy of China. It is
+likely that the magistracy of some towns in Europe
+will also be free from it. These magistrates will
+then prevent the superstition of the people from
+being dangerous. Their example will not enlighten
+the mob; but the principal citizens will restrain it.
+Formerly, there was not perhaps a single religious
+tumult, not a single violence, in which the townspeople
+did not take part, because these townspeople
+were then part of the mob; but reason and time
+have changed them. Their ameliorated manners
+will improve those of the lowest and most ferocious
+of the populace; of which, in more countries than
+one, we have striking examples. In short, the
+fewer superstitions, the less fanaticism; and the less
+fanaticism, the fewer calamities.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="SYMBOL_OR_CREDO" id="SYMBOL_OR_CREDO"></a>SYMBOL, OR CREDO.</h3>
+
+
+<p>We resemble not the celebrated comedian,
+Mademoiselle Duclos, to whom somebody said:
+"I would lay a wager, mademoiselle, that you know
+not your credo!" "What!" said she, "not know my
+credo? I will repeat it to you. '<i>Pater noster qui.</i>'
+... Help me, I remember no more." For myself,
+I repeat my pater and credo every morning. I am
+not like Broussin, of whom Reminiac said, that although
+he could distinguish a sauce almost in his
+infancy, he could never be taught his creed or pater-noster:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Broussin, dès l'âge le plus tendre,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Posséda la sauce Robert,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Sans que son précepteur lui pût jamais apprende</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Ni son credo, ni son pater.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The term "symbol" comes from the word "<i>symbolein</i>,"
+and the Latin church adopts this word because
+it has taken everything from the Greek
+church. Even slightly learned theologians know
+that the symbol, which we call apostolical, is not
+that of all the apostles.</p>
+
+<p>Symbol, among the Greeks, signified the words
+and signs by which those initiated into the mysteries
+of Ceres, Cybele, and Mythra, recognized one
+another; and Christians in time had their symbol.
+If it had existed in the time of the apostles, we
+think that St. Luke would have spoken of it.</p>
+
+<p>A history of the symbol is attributed to St.
+Augustine in his one hundred and fifteenth sermon;
+he is made to say, that Peter commenced the symbol
+by saying: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty."
+John added: "Maker of heaven and earth;" James
+proceeded: "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son,
+our Lord," and so on with the rest. This fable has
+been expunged from the last edition of Augustine;
+and I relate it to the reverend Benedictine fathers, in
+order to know whether this little curious article
+ought to be left out or not.</p>
+
+<p>The fact is, that no person heard anything of this
+"creed" for more than four hundred years. People
+also say that Paris was not made in a day, and people
+are often right in their proverbs. The apostles
+had our symbol in their hearts, but they put it not
+into writing. One was formed in the time of St.
+Irenæus, which does not at all resemble that which
+we repeat. Our symbol, such as it is at present, is
+of the fifth century, which is posterior to that of
+Nice. The passage which says that Jesus descended
+into hell, and that which speaks of the communion
+of saints, are not found in any of the symbols which
+preceded ours; and, indeed, neither the gospels, nor
+the Acts of the Apostles, say that Jesus descended
+into hell; but it was an established opinion, from
+the third century, that Jesus descended into Hades,
+or Tartarus, words which we translate by that of
+hell. Hell, in this sense, is not the Hebrew word
+"<i>sheol</i>," which signifies "under ground," "the pit";
+for which reason St. Athanasius has since taught
+us how our Saviour descended into hell. His humanity,
+says he, was not entirely in the tomb, nor
+entirely in hell. It was in the sepulchre, according
+to the body, and in hell, according to the soul.</p>
+
+<p>St. Thomas affirms that the saints who arose at
+the death of Jesus Christ, died again to rise afterwards
+with him, which is the most general sentiment.
+All these opinions are absolutely foreign to
+morality. We must be good men, whether the
+saints were raised once or twice. Our symbol has
+been formed, I confess, recently, but virtue is from
+all eternity.</p>
+
+<p>If it is permitted to quote moderns on so grave
+a matter, I will here repeat the creed of the Abbé
+de St. Pierre, as it was written with his own hand, in
+his book on the purity of religion, which has not
+been printed, but which I have copied faithfully:</p>
+
+<p>"I believe in one God alone, and I love Him.
+I believe that He enlightens all souls coming into
+the world; thus says St. John. By that, I understand
+all souls which seek Him in good faith. I
+believe in one God alone, because there can be but
+one soul of the Great All, a single vivifying being,
+a sole Creator.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe in God, the Father Almighty; because
+He is the common Father of nature, and of all men,
+who are equally His children. I believe that He
+who has caused all to be born equally, who arranges
+the springs of their life in the same manner, who
+has given them the same moral principles, as soon
+as they reflect, has made no difference between His
+children but that of crime and virtue.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that the just and righteous Chinese is
+more precious to Him than the cavilling and arrogant
+European scholar. I believe that God, being
+our common Father, we are bound to regard all men
+as our brothers. I believe that the persecutor is
+abominable, and that he follows immediately after
+the poisoner and parricide. I believe that theological
+disputes are at once the most ridiculous farce,
+and the most dreadful scourge of the earth, immediately
+after war, pestilence, famine, and leprosy.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that ecclesiastics should be paid and
+well paid, as servants of the public, moral teachers,
+keepers of registers of births and deaths; but there
+should be given to them neither the riches of farmers-general,
+nor the rank of princes, because both
+corrupt the soul; and nothing is more revolting
+than to see men so rich and so proud preach humility
+through their clerks, who have only a hundred
+crowns' wages.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that all priests who serve a parish
+should be married, as in the Greek church; not
+only to have an honest woman to take care of their
+household, but to be better citizens, to give good
+subjects to the state, and to have plenty of well-bred
+children.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that many monks should give up the
+monastic form of life, for the sake of the country
+and themselves. It is said that there are men whom
+Circe has changed into hogs, whom the wise Ulysses
+must restore to the human form."</p>
+
+<p>"Paradise to the beneficent!" We repeat this
+symbol of the Abbé St. Pierre historically, without
+approving of it. We regard it merely as a curious
+singularity, and we hold with the most respectful
+faith to the true symbol of the Church.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="SYSTEM" id="SYSTEM"></a>SYSTEM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>We understand by system a supposition; for if
+a system can be proved, it is no longer a system,
+but a truth. In the meantime, led by habit, we say
+the celestial system, although we understand by it
+the real position of the stars.</p>
+
+<p>I once thought that Pythagoras had learned the
+true celestial system from the Chaldæans; but I
+think so no longer. In proportion as I grow older,
+I doubt of all things. Notwithstanding that Newton,
+Gregory, and Keil honor Pythagoras and the
+Chaldæans with a knowledge of the system of
+Copernicus, and that latterly M. Monier is of their
+opinion, I have the impudence to think otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>One of my reasons is, that if the Chaldæans had
+been so well informed, so fine and important a discovery
+would not have been lost, but would have
+been handed down from age to age, like the admirable
+discoveries of Archimedes.</p>
+
+<p>Another reason is that it was necessary to be
+more widely informed than the Chaldæans, in order
+to be able to contradict the apparent testimony of
+the senses in regard to the celestial appearances;
+that it required not only the most refined experimental
+observation, but the most profound mathematical
+science; as also the indispensable aid of
+telescopes, without which it is impossible to discover
+the phases of Venus, which prove her course
+around the sun, or to discover the spots in the sun,
+which demonstrate his motion round his own almost
+immovable axis. Another reason, not less strong,
+is that of all those who have attributed this discovery
+to Pythagoras, no one can positively say how
+he treated it.</p>
+
+<p>Diogenes Laertius, who lived about nine hundred
+years after Pythagoras, teaches us, that according to
+this grand philosopher, the number one was the first
+principle, and that from two sprang all numbers;
+that body has four elements&mdash;fire, water, air, and
+earth; that light and darkness, cold and heat, wet
+and dry, are equally distributed; that we must not
+eat beans; that the soul is divided into three parts;
+that Pythagoras had formerly been Atalides, then
+Euphorbus, afterwards Hermotimus; and, finally,
+that this great man studied magic very profoundly.
+Diogenes says not a word concerning the true system
+of the world, attributed to this Pythagoras; and
+it must be confessed that it is by no means to an
+aversion to beans that we owe the calculations which
+at present demonstrate the motion of the earth and
+planets generally.</p>
+
+<p>The famous Arian Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea,
+in his "Evangelical Preparation," expresses himself
+thus: "All the philosophers declare that the earth is
+in a state of repose; but Philolaus, the peripatetic,
+thinks that it moves round fire in an oblique circle,
+like the sun and the moon." This gibberish has
+nothing in common with the sublime truths taught
+by Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and above all by
+Newton.</p>
+
+<p>As to the pretended Aristarchus of Samos, who,
+it is asserted, developed the discoveries of the Chaldæans
+in regard to the motion of the earth and other
+planets, he is so obscure, that Wallace has been
+obliged to play the commentator from one end of
+him to the other, in order to render him intelligible.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, it is very much to be doubted whether
+the book, attributed to this Aristarchus of Samos,
+really belongs to him. It has been strongly suspected
+that the enemies of the new philosophy have
+constructed this forgery in favor of their bad cause.
+It is not only in respect to old charters that similar
+forgeries are resorted to. This Aristarchus of
+Samos is also the more to be suspected, as Plutarch
+accuses him of bigotry and malevolent hypocrisy,
+in consequence of being imbued with a direct contrary
+opinion. The following are the words of
+Plutarch, in his piece of absurdity entitled "The
+Round Aspect of the Moon." Aristarchus the
+Samian said, "that the Greeks ought to punish
+Cleanthes of Samos, who suggested that the heavens
+were immovable, and that it is the earth which
+travels through the zodiac by turning on its axis."</p>
+
+<p>They will tell me that even this passage proves
+that the system of Copernicus was already in the
+head of Cleanthes and others&mdash;of what import is it
+whether Aristarchus the Samian was of the opinion
+of Cleanthes, or his accuser, as the Jesuit Skeiner
+was subsequently Galileo's?&mdash;it equally follows that
+the true system of the present day was known to
+the ancients.</p>
+
+<p>I reply, no; but that a very slight part of this
+system was vaguely surmised by heads better organized
+than the rest. I further answer that it was
+never received or taught in the schools, and that it
+never formed a body of doctrine. Attentively peruse
+this "Face of the Moon" of Plutarch, and you will
+find, if you look for it, the doctrine of gravitation;
+but the true author of a system is he who demonstrates
+it.</p>
+
+<p>We will not take away from Copernicus the
+honor of this discovery. Three or four words
+brought to light in an old author, which exhibit
+some distant glimpse of his system, ought not to
+deprive him of the glory of the discovery.</p>
+
+<p>Let us admire the great rule of Kepler, that the
+revolutions of the planets round the sun are in proportion
+to the cubes of their distances. Let us still
+more admire the profundity, the justness, and the
+invention of the great Newton, who alone discovered
+the fundamental reasons of these laws unknown to
+all antiquity, which have opened the eyes of mankind
+to a new heaven.</p>
+
+<p>Petty compilers are always to be found who dare
+to become the enemies of their age. They string
+together passages from Plutarch and Athenæus, to
+prove that we have no obligations to Newton, to
+Halley, and to Bradley. They trumpet forth the
+glory of the ancients, whom they pretend have said
+everything; and they are so imbecile as to think
+that they divide the glory by publishing it. They
+twist an expression of Hippocrates, in order to persuade
+us that the Greeks were acquainted with the
+circulation of the blood better than Harvey. Why
+not also assert that the Greeks were possessed of
+better muskets and field-pieces; that they threw
+bomb-shells farther, had better printed books, and
+much finer engravings? That they excelled in oil-paintings,
+possessed looking-glasses of crystal, telescopes,
+microscopes, and thermometers? All this
+may be found out by men, who assure us that Solomon,
+who possessed not a single seaport, sent fleets
+to America, and so forth.</p>
+
+<p>One of the greatest detractors of modern times
+is a person named Dutens, who finished by compiling
+a libel, as infamous as insipid, against the
+philosophers of the present day. This libel is entitled
+the "Tocsin"; but he had better have called
+it his clock, as no one came to his aid; and he has
+only tended to increase the number of the Zoilusses,
+who, being unable to produce anything themselves,
+spit their venom upon all who by their productions
+do honor to their country and benefit mankind.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TABOR_OR_THABOR" id="TABOR_OR_THABOR"></a>TABOR, OR THABOR.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A famous mountain in Judæa, often alluded to
+in general conversation. It is not true that this
+mountain is a league and a half high, as mentioned
+in certain dictionaries. There is no mountain in
+Judæa so elevated; Tabor is not more than six hundred
+feet high, but it appears loftier, in consequence
+of its situation on a vast plain.</p>
+
+<p>The Tabor of Bohemia is still more celebrated
+by the resistance which the imperial armies encountered
+from Ziska. It is from thence that they have
+given the name of Tabor to intrenchments formed
+with carriages. The Taborites, a sect very similar
+to the Hussites, also take their name from the latter
+mountain.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TALISMAN" id="TALISMAN"></a>TALISMAN.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Talisman, an Arabian word, signifies properly
+"consecration." The same thing as "telesma," or
+"philactery," a preservative charm, figure, or character;
+a superstition which has prevailed at all
+times and among all people. It is usually a sort of
+medal, cast and stamped under the ascendency of
+certain constellations. The famous talisman of
+Catherine de Medici still exists.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TARTUFFE_TARTUFERIE" id="TARTUFFE_TARTUFERIE"></a>TARTUFFE&mdash;TARTUFERIE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Tartuffe, a name invented by Molière, and now
+adopted in all the languages of Europe to signify
+hypocrites, who make use of the cloak of religion.
+"He is a Tartuffe; he is a true Tartuffe." <i>Tartuferie</i>,
+a new word formed from Tartuffe&mdash;the
+action of a hypocrite, the behavior of a hypocrite,
+the knavery of a false devotee; it is often used in
+the disputes concerning the Bull Unigenitus.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TASTE" id="TASTE"></a>TASTE.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>The taste, the sense by which we distinguish the
+flavor of our food, has produced, in all known
+languages, the metaphor expressed by the word
+"taste"&mdash;a feeling of beauty and defects in all the
+arts. It is a quick perception, like that of the tongue
+and the palate, and in the same manner anticipates
+consideration. Like the mere sense, it is sensitive
+and luxuriant in respect to the good, and rejects the
+bad spontaneously; in a similar way it is often uncertain,
+divided, and even ignorant whether it ought
+to be pleased; lastly, and to conclude the resemblance,
+it sometimes requires to be formed and corrected
+by habit and experience.</p>
+
+<p>To constitute taste, it is not sufficient to see and
+to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be
+affected by it. Neither will it suffice to feel and be
+affected in a confused or ignorant manner; it is
+necessary to distinguish the different shades;
+nothing ought to escape the promptitude of its discernment;
+and this is another instance of the resemblance
+of taste, the sense, to intellectual taste;
+for an epicure will quickly feel and detect a mixture
+of two liquors, as the man of taste and connoisseur
+will, with a single glance, distinguish the mixture of
+two styles, or a defect by the side of a beauty. He
+will be enthusiastically moved with this verse in
+the Horatii:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que voulez-vous qu'il fît contre trois?&mdash;Qu'il mourût!</i></span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">What have him do 'gainst three?&mdash;Die!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>He feels involuntary disgust at the following:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ou qu'un beau désespoir alors le secourût.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13em;">&mdash;<span class="small">ACT</span> iii, sc. 6.</span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Or, whether aided by a fine despair.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>As a physical bad taste consists in being pleased
+only with high seasoning and curious dishes, so a bad
+taste in the arts is pleased only with studied ornament,
+and feels not the pure beauty of nature.</p>
+
+<p>A depraved taste in food is gratified with that
+which disgusts other people: it is a species of disease.
+A depraved taste in the arts is to be pleased
+with subjects which disgust accomplished minds,
+and to prefer the burlesque to the noble, and the finical
+and the affected to the simple and natural: it is
+a mental disease. A taste for the arts is, however,
+much more a thing of formation than physical taste;
+for although in the latter we sometimes finish by
+liking those things to which we had in the first instance
+a repugnance, nature seldom renders it necessary
+for men in general to learn what is necessary
+to them in the way of food, whereas intellectual
+taste requires time to duly form it. A sensible young
+man may not, without science, distinguish at once
+the different parts of a grand choir of music; in
+a fine picture, his eyes at first sight may not perceive
+the gradation, the chiaroscuro perspective, agreement
+of colors, and correctness of design; but by
+little and little his ears will learn to hear and his
+eyes to see. He will be affected at the first representation
+of a fine tragedy, but he will not perceive
+the merit of the unities, nor the delicate management
+that allows no one to enter or depart without
+a sufficient reason, nor that still greater art which
+concentrates all the interest in a single one; nor,
+lastly, will he be aware of the difficulties overcome.
+It is only by habit and reflection, that he arrives
+spontaneously at that which he was not able to distinguish
+in the first instance. In a similar way, a
+national taste is gradually formed where it existed
+not before, because by degrees the spirit of the best
+artists is duly imbibed. We accustom ourselves to
+look at pictures with the eyes of Lebrun, Poussin,
+and Le Sueur. We listen to musical declamation
+from the scenes of Quinault with the ears of Lulli,
+and to the airs and accompaniments with those of
+Rameau. Finally, books are read in the spirit of
+the best authors.</p>
+
+<p>If an entire nation is led, during its early culture
+of the arts, to admire authors abounding in the defects
+and errors of the age, it is because these authors
+possess beauties which are admired by everybody,
+while at the same time readers are not sufficiently
+instructed to detect the imperfections. Thus,
+Lucilius was prized by the Romans, until Horace
+made them forget him; and Regnier was admired
+by the French, until the appearance of Boileau; and
+if old authors who stumble at every step have, notwithstanding,
+attained great reputation, it is because
+purer writers have not arisen to open the eyes
+of their national admirers, as Horace did those of
+the Romans, and Boileau those of the French.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that there is no disputation on taste, and
+the observation is correct in respect to physical taste,
+in which the repugnance felt to certain aliments,
+and the preference given to others, are not to be
+disputed, because there is no correction of a defect
+of the organs. It is not the same with the arts which
+possess actual beauties, which are discernible by a
+good taste, and unperceivable by a bad one; which
+last, however, may frequently be improved. There
+are also persons with a coldness of soul, as there
+are defective minds; and in respect to them, it is
+of little use to dispute concerning predilections, as
+they possess none.</p>
+
+<p>Taste is arbitrary in many things, as in raiment,
+decoration, and equipage, which, however, scarcely
+belong to the department of the fine arts, but are
+rather affairs of fancy. It is fancy rather than taste
+which produces so many new fashions.</p>
+
+<p>Taste may become vitiated in a nation, a misfortune
+which usually follows a period of perfection.
+Fearing to be called imitators, artists seek new and
+devious routes, and fly from the pure and beautiful
+nature of which their predecessors have made so
+much advantage. If there is merit in these labors,
+this merit veils their defects, and the public in love
+with novelty runs after them, and becomes disgusted,
+which makes way for still minor efforts to
+please, in which nature is still more abandoned.
+Taste loses itself amidst this succession of novelties,
+the last one of which rapidly effaces the other; the
+public loses its "whereabout," and regrets in vain
+the flight of the age of good taste, which will return
+no more, although a remnant of it is still preserved
+by certain correct spirits, at a distance from
+the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>There are vast countries in which taste has never
+existed: such are they in which society is still rude,
+where the sexes have little general intercourse, and
+where certain arts, like sculpture and the painting of
+animated beings, are forbidden by religion. Where
+there is little general intercourse, the mind is straitened,
+its edge is blunted, and nothing is possessed
+on which a taste can be formed. Where several of
+the fine arts are wanting, the remainder can seldom
+find sufficient support, as they go hand in hand, and
+rest one on the other. On this account, the Asiatics
+have never produced fine arts in any department,
+and taste is confined to certain nations of Europe.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>Is there not a good and a bad taste? Without
+doubt; although men differ in opinions, manners,
+and customs. The best taste in every species of cultivation
+is to imitate nature with the highest fidelity,
+energy, and grace. But is not grace arbitrary? No,
+since it consists in giving animation and sweetness
+to the objects represented. Between two men, the
+one of whom is gross and the other refined, it will
+readily be allowed that one possesses more grace
+than the other.</p>
+
+<p>Before a polished period arose, Voiture, who in
+his rage for embroidering nothings, was occasionally
+refined and agreeable, wrote some verses to the
+great Condé upon his illness, which are still regarded
+as very tasteful, and among the best of this
+author.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, L'Étoile, who passed for a
+genius&mdash;L'Étoile, one of the five authors who constructed
+tragedies for Cardinal Richelieu&mdash;made
+some verses, which are printed at the end of Malherbe
+and Racan. When compared with those of
+Voiture referred to, every reader will allow that the
+verses of Voiture are the production of a courtier
+of good taste, and those of L'Étoile the labor of a
+coarse and unintellectual pretender.</p>
+
+<p>It is a pity that we can gift Voiture with occasional
+taste only: his famous letter from the carp to
+the pike, which enjoyed so much reputation, is a too
+extended pleasantry, and in passages exhibiting
+very little nature. Is it not a mixture of refinement
+and coarseness, of the true and the false? Was it
+right to say to the great Condé, who was called "the
+pike" by a party among the courtiers, that at his
+name the whales of the North perspired profusely,
+and that the subjects of the emperor had expected
+to fry and to eat him with a grain of salt? Was it
+proper to write so many letters, only to show a little
+of the wit which consists in puns and conceits?</p>
+
+<p>Are we not disgusted when Voiture says to the
+great Condé, on the taking of Dunkirk: "I expect
+you to seize the moon with your teeth." Voiture apparently
+acquired this false taste from Marini, who
+came into France with Mary of Medici. Voiture
+and Costar frequently cite him as a model in their
+letters. They admire his description of the rose,
+daughter of April, virgin and queen, seated on a
+thorny throne, extending majestically a flowery
+sceptre, having for courtiers and ministers the amorous
+family of the zephyrs, and wearing a crown of
+gold and a robe of scarlet:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Bella figlia d'Aprile,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Verginella e reina,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Sic lo spinoso trono</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Del verde cespo assisa,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>De' fior' lo scettro in maestà sostiene;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>E corteggiata intorno</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Da lascivia famiglia</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Di Zefiri ministri,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Porta d'or' la corona et dostro il manto.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Voiture, in his thirty-fifth letter to Costar, compliments
+the musical atom of Marini, the feathered
+voice, the living breath clothed in plumage, the
+winged song, the small spirit of harmony, hidden
+amidst diminutive lungs; all of which terms are
+employed to convey the word nightingale:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Una voce pennuta, un suon' volante,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>E vestito di penne, un vivo fiato,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Una piuma canora, un canto alato,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Un spiritel' che d'armonia composto</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Vive in auguste vise ere nascosto.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The bad taste of Balzac was of a different description;
+he composed familiar letters in a fustian
+style. He wrote to the Cardinal de la Valette, that
+neither in the deserts of Libya, nor in the abyss of
+the sea, there was so furious a monster as the sciatica;
+and that if tyrants, whose memory is odious
+to us, had instruments of cruelty in their possession
+equal to the sciatica, the martyrs would have endured
+them for their religion.</p>
+
+<p>These emphatic exaggerations&mdash;these long and
+stately periods, so opposed to the epistolary style&mdash;these
+fastidious declamations, garnished with Greek
+and Latin, concerning two middling sonnets, the
+merits of which divided the court and the town, and
+upon the miserable tragedy of "Herod the Infanticide,"&mdash;all
+indicate a time and a taste which were
+yet to be formed and corrected. Even "Cinna," and
+the "Provincial Letters," which astonished the nations,
+had not yet cleared away the rust.</p>
+
+<p>As an artist forms his taste by degrees, so does
+a nation. It stagnates for a long time in barbarism;
+then it elevates itself feebly, until at length a noon
+appears, after which we witness nothing but a long
+and melancholy twilight. It has long been agreed,
+that in spite of the solicitude of Francis I., to produce
+a taste in France for the fine arts, this taste
+was not formed until towards the age of Louis
+XIV., and we already begin to complain of its degeneracy.
+The Greeks of the lower empire confess,
+that the taste which reigned in the days of Pericles
+was lost among them, and the modern Greeks admit
+the same thing. Quintilian allows that the taste of
+the Romans began to decline in his days.</p>
+
+<p>Lope de Vega made great complaints of the bad
+taste of the Spaniards. The Italians perceived,
+among the first, that everything had declined among
+them since their immortal sixteenth century, and
+that they have witnessed the decline of the arts,
+which they caused to spring up.</p>
+
+<p>Addison often attacks the bad taste of the English
+in more than one department&mdash;as well when he
+ridicules the carved wig of Sir Cloudesley Shovel,
+as when he testifies his contempt for a serious employment
+of conceit and pun, or the introduction of
+mountebanks in tragedy.</p>
+
+<p>If, therefore, the most gifted minds allow that
+taste has been wanting at certain periods in their
+country, their neighbors may certainly feel it, as
+lookers-on; and as it is evident among ourselves
+that one man has a good and another a bad taste,
+it is equally evident that of two contemporary nations,
+the one may be rude and gross, and the other
+refined and natural.</p>
+
+<p>The misfortune is, that when we speak this truth,
+we disgust the whole nation to which we allude, as
+we provoke an individual of bad taste when we
+seek to improve him. It is better to wait until time
+and example instruct a nation which sins against
+taste. It is in this way that the Spaniards are beginning
+to reform their drama, and the Germans to
+create one.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Of National Taste.</i></p>
+
+<p>There is beauty of all times and of all places, and
+there is likewise local beauty. Eloquence ought to
+be everywhere persuasive, grief affecting, anger impetuous,
+wisdom tranquil; but the details which
+may gratify a citizen of London, would have little
+effect on an inhabitant of Paris. The English drew
+some of their most happy metaphors and comparisons
+from the marine, while Parisians seldom see
+anything of ships. All which affects an Englishman
+in relation to liberty, his rights and his privileges,
+would make little impression on a Frenchman.</p>
+
+<p>The state of the climate will introduce into a cold
+and humid country a taste for architecture, furniture,
+and clothing, which may be very good, but
+not admissible at Rome or in Sicily. Theocritus and
+Virgil, in their eclogues, boast of the shades and of
+the cooling freshness of the fountains. Thomson,
+in his "Seasons," dwells upon contrary attractions.</p>
+
+<p>An enlightened nation with little sociability will
+not have the same points of ridicule as a nation
+equally intellectual, which gives in to the spirit of
+society even to indiscretion; and, in consequence,
+these two nations will differ materially in their comedy.
+Poetry will be very different in a country
+where women are secluded, and in another in which
+they enjoy liberty without bounds.</p>
+
+<p>But it will always be true that the pastoral painting
+of Virgil exceeds that of Thomson, and that
+there has been more taste on the banks of the Tiber
+than on those of the Thames; that the natural
+scenes of the Pastor Fido are incomparably superior
+to the shepherdizing of Racan; and that Racine and
+Molière are inspired persons in comparison with the
+dramatists of other theatres.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>On the Taste of Connoisseurs.</i></p>
+
+<p>In general, a refined and certain taste consists
+in a quick feeling of beauty amidst defects, and defects
+amidst beauties. The epicure is he who can
+discern the adulteration of wines, and feel the predominating
+flavor in his viands, of which his associates
+entertain only a confused and general perception.</p>
+
+<p>Are not those deceived who say, that it is a misfortune
+to possess too refined a taste, and to be too
+much of a connoisseur; that in consequence we become
+too much occupied by defects, and insensible
+to beauties, which are lost by this fastidiousness?
+Is it not, on the contrary, certain that men of taste
+alone enjoy true pleasure, who see, hear, and feel,
+that which escapes persons less sensitively organized,
+and less mentally disciplined?</p>
+
+<p>The connoisseur in music, in painting, in architecture,
+in poetry, in medals, etc., experiences sensations
+of which the vulgar have no comprehension;
+the discovery even of a fault pleases him, and makes
+him feel the beauties with more animation. It is the
+advantage of a good sight over a bad one. The man
+of taste has other eyes, other ears, and another tact
+from the uncultivated man; he is displeased with
+the poor draperies of Raphael, but he admires the
+noble purity of his conception. He takes a pleasure
+in discovering that the children of Laocoon
+bear no proportion to the height of their father, but
+the whole group makes him tremble, while other
+spectators are unmoved.</p>
+
+<p>The celebrated sculptor, man of letters and of
+genius, who placed the colossal statue of Peter the
+Great at St. Petersburg, criticises with reason the
+attitude of the Moses of Michelangelo, and his
+small, tight vest, which is not even an Oriental costume;
+but, at the same time, he contemplates the
+air and expression of the head with ecstasy.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Rarity of Men of Taste.</i></p>
+
+<p>It is afflicting to reflect on the prodigious number
+of men&mdash;above all, in cold and damp climates&mdash;who
+possess not the least spark of taste, who care not for
+the fine arts, who never read, and of whom a large
+portion read only a journal once a month, in order
+to be put in possession of current matter, and
+to furnish themselves with the ability of saying
+things at random, on subjects in regard to which
+they have only confused ideas.</p>
+
+<p>Enter into a small provincial town: how rarely
+will you find more than one or two good libraries,
+and those private. Even in the capital of the provinces
+which possess academies, taste is very rare.</p>
+
+<p>It is necessary to select the capital of a great
+kingdom to form the abode of taste, and yet even
+there it is very partially divided among a small number,
+the populace being wholly excluded. It is unknown
+to the families of traders, and those who are
+occupied in making fortunes, who are either engrossed
+with domestic details, or divided between
+unintellectual idleness and a game at cards. Every
+place which contains the courts of law, the offices
+of revenue, government, and commerce, is closed
+against the fine arts. It is the reproach of the human
+mind that a taste for the common and ordinary
+introduces only opulent idleness. I knew a commissioner
+in one of the offices at Versailles, who
+exclaimed: "I am very unhappy; I have not time
+to acquire a taste."</p>
+
+<p>In a town like Paris, peopled with more than six
+hundred thousand persons, I do not think there are
+three thousand who cultivate a taste for the fine arts.
+When a dramatic masterpiece is represented, a circumstance
+so very rare, people exclaim: "All Paris
+is enchanted," but only three thousand copies, more
+or less, are printed.</p>
+
+<p>Taste, then, like philosophy, belongs only to a
+small number of privileged souls. It was, therefore,
+great happiness for France to possess, in Louis
+XIV., a king born with taste.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Pauci, quos æquus amavit</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Jupiter, aut ardens, evexit ad æthera virtus</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Dis geniti, potuere.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">&mdash;<span class="small">ÆNEID</span>, b. vi, v. 129 and s.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To few great Jupiter imparts his grace,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And those of shining worth and heavenly race.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">&mdash;<span class="small">DRYDEN</span>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Ovid has said in vain, that God has created us
+to look up to heaven: "<i>Erectos ad sidera tollere
+vultus</i>." Men are always crouching on the ground.
+Why has a misshapen statue, or a bad picture, where
+the figures are disproportionate, never passed for a
+masterpiece? Why has an ill-built house never been
+regarded as a fine monument of architecture? Why
+in music will not sharp and discordant sounds please
+the ears of any one? And yet, very bad and barbarous
+tragedies, written in a style perfectly Allobrogian,
+have succeeded, even after the sublime
+scenes of Corneille, the affecting ones of Racine,
+and the fine pieces written since the latter poet. It is
+only at the theatre that we sometimes see detestable
+compositions succeed both in tragedy and comedy.</p>
+
+<p>What is the reason of it? It is, that a species of
+delusion prevails at the theatre; it is, that the success
+depends upon two or three actors, and sometimes
+even upon a single one; and, above all, that
+a cabal is formed in favor of such pieces, whilst men
+of taste never form any. This cabal often lasts for
+an entire generation, and it is so much the more active,
+as its object is less to elevate the bad author than
+to depress the good one. A century possibly is
+necessary to adjust the real value of things in the
+drama.</p>
+
+<p>There are three kinds of taste, which in the long
+run prevail in the empire of the arts. Poussin was
+obliged to quit France and leave the field to an inferior
+painter; Le Moine killed himself in despair;
+and Vanloo was near quitting the kingdom, to exercise
+his talents elsewhere. Connoisseurs alone have
+put all of them in possession of the rank belonging
+to them. We often witness all kinds of bad works
+meet with prodigious success. The solecisms, barbarisms,
+false statement, and extravagant bombast,
+are not felt for awhile, because the cabal and the
+senseless enthusiasm of the vulgar produce an intoxication
+which discriminates in nothing. The connoisseurs
+alone bring back the public in due time;
+and it is the only difference which exists between
+the most enlightened and the most cultivated of nations
+for the vulgar of Paris are in no respect beyond;
+the vulgar of other countries; but in Paris
+there is a sufficient number of correct opinions to
+lead the crowd. This crowd is rapidly excited in
+popular movements, but many years are necessary
+to establish in it a general good taste in the arts.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TAUROBOLIUM" id="TAUROBOLIUM"></a>TAUROBOLIUM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Taurobolium, a sacrifice of expiation, very common
+in the third and fourth centuries. The throat
+of a bull was cut on a great stone slightly hollowed
+and perforated in various places. Underneath
+this stone was a trench, in which the person
+whose offence called for expiation received upon
+his body and his face the blood of the immolated
+animal. Julian the Philosopher condescended to
+submit to this expiation, to reconcile himself to the
+priests of the Gentiles.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TAX_FEE" id="TAX_FEE"></a>TAX&mdash;FEE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Pope Pius II., in an epistle to John Peregal, acknowledges
+that the Roman court gives nothing
+without money; it sells even the imposition of hands
+and the gifts of the Holy Ghost; nor does it grant
+the remission of sins to any but the rich.</p>
+
+<p>Before him, St. Antonine, archbishop of Florence,
+had observed that in the time of Boniface IX.,
+who died in 1404, the Roman court was so infamously
+stained with simony, that benefices were conferred,
+not so much on merit, as on those who
+brought a deal of money. He adds, that this pope
+filled the world with plenary indulgences; so that
+the small churches, on their festival days, obtained
+them at a low price.</p>
+
+<p>That pontiff's secretary, Theodoric de Nieur,
+does indeed inform us, that Boniface sent questors
+into different kingdoms, to sell indulgences to such
+as should offer them as much money as it would
+have cost them to make a journey to Rome to fetch
+them; so that they remitted all sins, even without
+penance, to such as confessed, and granted them,
+for money, dispensations for irregularities of every
+sort; saying, that they had in that respect all the
+power which Christ had granted to Peter, of binding
+and unbinding on earth.</p>
+
+<p>And, what is still more singular, the price of
+every crime is fixed in a Latin work, printed at
+Rome by order of Leo X., and published on November
+18, 1514, under the title of "Taxes of the
+Holy and Apostolic Chancery and Penitentiary."</p>
+
+<p>Among many other editions of this book, published
+in different countries, the Paris edition&mdash;quarto
+1520, Toussaint Denis, Rue St. Jacques, at
+the wooden cross, near St. Yves, with the king's
+privilege, for three years&mdash;bears in the frontispiece
+the arms of France, and those of the house of Medici,
+to which Leo N. belonged. This must have deceived
+the author of the "Picture of the Popes"
+(<i>Tableau de Papes</i>), who attributes the establishment
+of these taxes to Leo X., although Polydore
+Virgil, and Cardinal d'Ossat agree in fixing the
+period of the invention of the chancery tax about
+the year 1320, and the commencement of the penitentiary
+tax about sixteen years later, in the time
+of Benedict XII.</p>
+
+<p>To give some idea of these taxes, we will here
+copy a few articles from the chapter of absolutions:
+Absolution for one who has carnally known his
+mother, his sister, etc., costs five drachmas. Absolution
+for one who has deflowered a virgin, six
+drachmas. Absolution for one who has revealed
+another's confession, seven drachmas. Absolution
+for one who has killed his father, his mother, etc.,
+five drachmas. And so of other sins, as we shall
+shortly see; but, at the end of the book, the prices
+are estimated in ducats.</p>
+
+<p>A sort of letters too are here spoken of, called
+confessional, by which, at the approach of death, the
+pope permits a confessor to be chosen, who gives
+full pardon for every sin; these letters are granted
+only to princes, and not to them without great difficulty.
+These particulars will be found in page 32
+of the Paris edition.</p>
+
+<p>The court of Rome was at length ashamed of this
+book, and suppressed it as far as it was able. It
+was even inserted in the expurgatory index of the
+Council of Trent, on the false supposition that heretics
+had corrupted it.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that Antoine Du Pinet, a French gentleman
+of Franche-Comté, had an abstract of it
+printed at Lyons in 1564, under this title: "Casual
+Perquisites of the Pope's Shop" (<i>Taxes des Parties
+Casuelles de la Boutique du Pape</i>), "taken from the
+Decrees, Councils, and Canons, ancient and modern,
+in order to verify the discipline formerly observed
+in the Church; by A.D.P." But, although, he
+does not inform us that his work is but an abridgment
+of the other, yet, far from corrupting his original,
+he on the contrary strikes out of it some odious
+passages, such as the following, beginning page 23,
+line 9 from the bottom, in the Paris edition: "And
+carefully observe, that these kinds of graces and dispensations
+are not granted to the poor, because, not
+having wherewith, they cannot be consoled."</p>
+
+<p>It is also true, that Du Pinet estimates these taxes
+in tournois, ducats, and carlins; but, as he observes
+(page 42) that the carlins and the drachmas are of
+the same value, the substituting for the tax of five,
+six, or seven drachmas in the original, the like number
+of carlins, is not falsifying it. We have a proof
+of this in the four articles already quoted from the
+original.</p>
+
+<p>Absolution&mdash;says Du Pinet&mdash;for one who has a
+carnal knowledge of his mother, his sister, or any
+of his kindred by birth or affinity, or his godmother,
+is taxed at five carlins. Absolution for one who
+deflowers a young woman, is taxed at six carlins.
+Absolution for one who reveals the confession of
+a penitent, is taxed at seven carlins. Absolution for
+one who has killed his father, his mother, his
+brother, his sister, his wife, or any of his kindred&mdash;they
+being of the laity&mdash;is taxed at five carlins; for
+if the deceased was an ecclesiastic, the homicide
+would be obliged to visit the sanctuary. We will
+here repeat a few others.</p>
+
+<p>Absolution&mdash;continues Du Pinet&mdash;for any act of
+fornication whatsoever, committed by a clerk,
+whether with a nun in the cloister or out of the
+cloister, or with any of his kinswomen, or with his
+spiritual daughter, or with any other woman whatsoever,
+costs thirty-six tournois, three ducats. Absolution
+for a priest who keeps a concubine, twenty-one
+tournois, live ducats, six carlins. The absolution
+of a layman for all sorts of sins of the flesh,
+is given at the tribunal of conscience for six tournois,
+two ducats.</p>
+
+<p>The absolution of a layman for the crime of adultery,
+given at the tribunal of conscience, costs four
+tournois; and if the adultery is accompanied by
+incest, six tournois must be paid per head. If, besides
+these crimes, is required the absolution of the
+sin against nature, or of bestiality, there must be
+paid ninety tournois, twelve ducats, six carlins; but
+if only the absolution of the crime against nature,
+or of bestiality, is required, it will cost only thirty-six
+tournois, nine ducats.</p>
+
+<p>A woman who has taken a beverage to procure
+an abortion, or the father who has caused her to
+take it, shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight carlins;
+and if a stranger has given her the said beverage,
+he shall pay four tournois, one ducat, five
+carlins.</p>
+
+<p>A father, a mother, or any other relative, who
+has smothered a child, shall pay four tournois, one
+ducat, eight carlins; and if it has been killed by the
+husband and wife together, they shall pay six tournois,
+two ducats.</p>
+
+<p>The tax granted by the datary for the contracting
+of marriage out of the permitted seasons, is
+twenty carlins; and in the permitted periods, if the
+contracting parties are the second or third degree
+of kindred, it is commonly twenty-five ducats, and
+four for expediting the bulls; and in the fourth degree,
+seven tournois, one ducat, six carlins.</p>
+
+<p>The dispensation of a layman from fasting on
+the days appointed by the Church, and the permission
+to eat cheese, are taxed at twenty carlins. The
+permission to eat meat and eggs on forbidden days
+is taxed at twelve carlins; and that to eat butter,
+cheese, etc., at six tournois for one person only;
+and at twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins for
+a whole family, or for several relatives.</p>
+
+<p>The absolution of an apostate and a vagabond,
+who wishes to return into the pale of the Church,
+costs twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins. The
+absolution and reinstatement of one who is guilty
+of sacrilege, robbery, burning, rapine, perjury, and
+the like, is taxed at thirty-six tournois, nine ducats.</p>
+
+<p>Absolution for a servant who detains his deceased
+master's property, for the payment of his
+wages, and after receiving notice does not restore
+it, provided the property so detained does not exceed
+the amount of his wages, is taxed in the tribunal
+of conscience at only six tournois, two ducats.
+For changing the clauses of a will, the ordinary tax
+is twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins. The
+permission to change one's proper name costs nine
+tournois, two ducats, nine carlins; and to change
+the surname and mode of signing, six tournois, two
+ducats. The permission to have a portable altar for
+one person only, is taxed at ten carlins: and to have
+a domestic chapel on account of the distance of the
+parish church, and furnish it with baptismal fonts
+and chaplains, thirty carlins.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, the permission to convey merchandise,
+one or more times, to the countries of the infidels,
+and in general to traffic and sell merchandise without
+being obliged to obtain permission from the
+temporal lords of the respected places, even though
+they be kings or emperors, with all the very ample
+derogatory clauses, is taxed at only twenty-four
+tournois, six ducats.</p>
+
+<p>This permission, which supersedes that of the
+temporal lords, is a fresh evidence of the papal pretensions,
+which we have already spoken of in the
+article on "Bull." Besides, it is known that all rescripts,
+or expeditions for benefices, are still paid
+for at Rome according to the tax; and this charge
+always falls at last on the laity, by the impositions
+which the subordinate clergy exact from them. We
+shall here notice only the fees for marriages and
+burials.</p>
+
+<p>A decree of the Parliament of Paris, of May 19,
+1409, provides that every one shall be at liberty to
+sleep with his wife as soon as he pleases after the
+celebration of the marriage, without waiting for
+leave from the bishop of Amiens, and without paying
+the fee required by that prelate for taking off
+his prohibitions to consummate the marriage during
+the first three nights of the nuptials. The monks
+of St. Stephen of Nevers were deprived of the same
+fee by another decree of September 27, 1591. Some
+theologians have asserted, that it took its origin
+from the fourth Council of Carthage, which had ordained
+it for the reverence of the matrimonial benediction.
+But as that council did not order its prohibition
+to be evaded by paying, it is more likely that
+this tax was a consequence of the infamous custom
+which gave to certain lords the first nuptial night
+of the brides of their vassals. Buchanan thinks that
+this usage began in Scotland under King Evan.</p>
+
+<p>Be this as it may, the lords of Prellay and Persanny,
+in Piedmont, called this privilege "<i>carrajio</i>";
+but having refused to commute it for a reasonable
+payment, the vassals revolted, and put themselves
+under Amadeus VI., fourteenth count of Savoy.</p>
+
+<p>There is still preserved a <i>procès-verbal</i>, drawn
+up by M. Jean Fraguier, auditor in the <i>Chambre
+des Comptes</i>, at Paris, by virtue of a decree of the
+said chamber of April 7, 1507, for valuing the
+county of Eu, fallen into the king's keeping by the
+minority of the children of the count of Nevers, and
+his wife Charlotte de Bourbon. In the chapter of
+the revenue of the barony of St. Martin-le-Gaillard,
+dependent on the county of Eu, it is said: "Item,
+the said lord, at the said place of St. Martin, has
+the right of 'cuissage' in case of marriage."</p>
+
+<p>The lords of Souloire had the like privilege, and
+having omitted it in the acknowledgment made by
+them to their sovereign, the lord of Montlevrier, the
+acknowledgment was disapproved; but by deed of
+Dec. 15, 1607, the sieur de Montlevrier formally
+renounced it; and these shameful privileges have
+everywhere been converted into small payments,
+called "marchetta."</p>
+
+<p>Now, when our prelates had fiefs, they thought&mdash;as
+the judicious Fleury remarks&mdash;that they had as
+bishops what they possessed only as lords; and the
+curates, as their under-vassals, bethought themselves
+of blessing their nuptial bed, which brought
+them a small fee under the name of wedding-dishes&mdash;i.e.,
+their dinner, in money or in kind. On one
+of these occasions the following quatrain was put
+by a country curate under the pillow of a very aged
+president, who married a young woman named La
+Montagne. He alludes to Moses' horns, which are
+spoken of in Exodus.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Le Président à barbe grise</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Sur La Montagne va monter;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mais certes il peut bien compter</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>D'en descendre comme Moïse.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>A word or two on the fees exacted by the clergy
+for the burial of the laity. Formerly, at the decease
+of each individual, the bishops had the contents
+of his will made known to them; and forbade
+those to receive the rights of sepulchre who had
+died "unconfessed," i.e., left no legacy to the
+Church, unless the relatives went to the official, who
+commissioned a priest, or some other ecclesiastic,
+to repair the fault of the deceased, and make a legacy
+in his name. The curates also opposed the profession
+of such as wished to turn monks, until they
+had paid their burial-fees; saying that since they
+died to the world, it was but right that they should
+discharge what would have been due from them
+had they been interred.</p>
+
+<p>But the frequent disputes occasioned by these
+vexations obliged the magistrates to fix the rate of
+these singular fees. The following is extracted from
+a regulation on this subject, brought in by Francis
+de Harlai de Chamvallon, archbishop of Paris, on
+May 30, 1693, and passed in the court of parliament
+on the tenth of June following:</p>
+
+<pre><b>
+<span style="margin-left: 9.5em;"><i>Marriages.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 28.5em;">Liv. Sous.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the publication of the bans..........&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the betrothing.......................&nbsp; &nbsp; 2&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For celebrating the marriage.............&nbsp; &nbsp; 6&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the certificate of the publication of</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the bans, and the permission given to</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the future husband to go and be married</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in the parish of his future wife.......&nbsp; &nbsp; 5&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the wedding mass.....................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the vicar............................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the clerk of the sacrament...........&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For blessing the bed.....................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+
+
+<span style="margin-left: 7em;"><i>Funeral Processions.</i></span>
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of children under seven years old, when</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">the clergy do not go in a body:</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the curate...........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each priest..........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When the clergy go in a body:</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the curial fee.......................&nbsp; &nbsp; 4&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the presence of the curate...........&nbsp; &nbsp; 2&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each priest..........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the vicar............................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each singing-boy, when they carry</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the body...............................&nbsp; &nbsp; 8&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And when they do not carry it............&nbsp; &nbsp; 5&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And so of young persons from seven to</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">twelve years old.</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of persons above twelve years old:</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the curial fee.......................&nbsp; &nbsp; 6&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the curate's attendance..............&nbsp; &nbsp; 4&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each vicar...........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 2&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the priest...........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each singing-boy.....................&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Each of the priests that watch the body</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in the night, for drink, etc...........&nbsp; &nbsp; 3&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And in the day, each.....................&nbsp; &nbsp; 2&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the celebration of the mass..........&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the service extraordinary; called the</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">complete service; viz., the vigils and</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the two masses of the Holy Ghost and</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the Holy Virgin........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 4&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each of the priests that carry the</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">body...................................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For carrying the great cross.............&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the holy water-pot carrier...........&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp; &nbsp; 5</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For carrying the little cross............&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp; &nbsp; 5</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the clerk of the processions.........&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp; &nbsp; 1</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For conveying bodies from one church to</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">another there shall be paid, for each</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">of the above fees, one-half more.</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the reception of bodies thus conveyed:</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the curate............................&nbsp; &nbsp; 6&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the vicar.............................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To each priest...........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp;  15</span>
+</b></pre>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TEARS" id="TEARS"></a>TEARS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Tears are the silent language of grief. But
+why? What relation is there between a melancholy
+idea and this limpid and briny liquid filtered through
+a little gland into the external corner of the eye
+which moistens the conjunctiva and little lachrymal
+points, whence it descends into the nose and mouth
+by the reservoir called the lachrymal duct, and by
+its conduits? Why in women and children, whose
+organs are of a delicate texture, are tears more
+easily excited by grief than in men, whose formation
+is firmer?</p>
+
+<p>Has nature intended to excite compassion in us
+at the sight of these tears, which soften us and lead
+us to help those who shed them? The female savage
+is as strongly determined to assist her child who
+cries, as a lady of the court would be, and perhaps
+more so, because she has fewer distractions and passions.</p>
+
+<p>Everything in the animal body has, no doubt, its
+object. The eyes, particularly, have mathematical relations
+so evident, so demonstrable, so admirable
+with the rays of light; this mechanism is so divine,
+that I should be tempted to take for the delirium of
+a high fever, the audacity of denying the final causes
+of the structure of our eyes. The use of tears
+appears not to have so determined and striking
+an object; but it is probable that nature caused
+them to flow in order to excite us to pity.</p>
+
+<p>There are women who are accused of weeping
+when they choose. I am not at all surprised at their
+talent. A lively, sensible, and tender imagination
+can fix upon some object, on some melancholy recollection,
+and represent it in such lively colors as to
+draw tears; which happens to several performers,
+and particularly to actresses on the stage.</p>
+
+<p>Women who imitate them in the interior of their
+houses, join to this talent the little fraud of appearing
+to weep for their husbands, while they really
+weep for their lovers. Their tears are true, but the
+object of them is false.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to affect tears without a subject,
+in the same manner as we can affect to laugh. We
+must be sensibly touched to force the lachrymal
+gland to compress itself, and to spread its liquor on
+the orbit of the eye; but the will alone is required
+to laugh.</p>
+
+<p>We demand why the same man, who has seen
+with a dry eye the most atrocious events, and even
+committed crimes with sang-froid, will weep at the
+theatre at the representation of similar events and
+crimes? It is, that he sees them not with the same
+eyes; he sees them with those of the author and the
+actor. He is no longer the same man; he was barbarous,
+he was agitated with furious passions, when
+he saw an innocent woman killed, when he stained
+himself with the blood of his friend; he became a
+man again at the representation of it. His soul was
+filled with a stormy tumult; it is now tranquil and
+void, and nature re-entering it, he sheds virtuous
+tears. Such is the true merit, the great good of
+theatrical representation, which can never be effected
+by the cold declamation of an orator paid to
+tire an audience for an hour.</p>
+
+<p>The capitoul David, who; without emotion, saw
+and caused the innocent Calas to die on the wheel,
+would have shed tears at seeing his own crime in
+a well-written and well-acted tragedy. Pope has
+elegantly said this in the prologue to Addison's
+Cato:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Tyrants no more their savage nature kept,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And foes to virtue wondered how they wept.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TERELAS" id="TERELAS"></a>TERELAS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Terelas, Pterelas, or Pterlaus, just which you
+please, was the son of Taphus, or Taphius. Which
+signifies what you say? Gently, I will tell you.
+This Terelas had a golden lock, to which was attached
+the destiny of the town of Taphia, and what
+is more, this lock rendered Terelas immortal, as he
+would not die while this lock remained upon his
+head; for this reason he never combed it, lest he
+should comb it off. An immortality, however, which
+depends upon a lock of hair, is not the most certain
+of all things.</p>
+
+<p>Amphitryon, general of the republic of Thebes,
+besieged Taphia, and the daughter of King Terelas
+became desperately in love with him on seeing him
+pass the ramparts. Thus excited, she stole to her
+father in the dead of night, cut off his golden lock,
+and sent it to the general, in consequence of which
+the town was taken, and Terelas killed. Some
+learned men assure us, that it was the wife of Terelas
+who played him this ill turn; and as they
+ground their opinions upon great authorities, it
+might be rendered the subject of a useful dissertation.
+I confess that I am somewhat inclined to be
+of the opinion of those learned persons, as it appears
+to me that a wife is usually less timorous than a
+daughter.</p>
+
+<p>The same thing happened to Nisus, king of Megara,
+which town was besieged by Minos. Scylla,
+the daughter of Nisus, became madly in love with
+him; and although in point of fact, her father did
+not possess a lock of gold, he had one of purple, and
+it is known that on this lock depended equally his
+life and the fate of the Megarian Empire. To oblige
+Minos, the dutiful Scylla cut it off, and presented
+it to her lover.</p>
+
+<p>"All the history of Minos is true," writes the
+profound Bannier; "and this is attested by all antiquity."
+I believe it precisely as I do that of Terelas,
+but I am embarrassed between the profound
+Calmet and the profound Huet. Calmet is of opinion,
+that the adventure of the lock of Nisus presented
+to Minos, and that of Terelas given to Amphitryon,
+are obviously taken from the genuine history
+of Samson. Huet the demonstrator, on the
+contrary shows, that Minos is evidently Moses, as
+cutting out the letters <i>n</i> and <i>e</i>, one of these names
+is the anagram of the other.</p>
+
+<p>But, notwithstanding the demonstration of Huet,
+I am entirely on the side of the refined Dom Calmet,
+and for those who are of the opinion that all
+which relates to the locks of Terelas and of Nisus
+is connected with the hair of Samson. The most
+convincing of my triumphant reasons is, that without
+reference to the family of Terelas, with the metamorphoses
+of which I am unacquainted, it is certain
+that Scylla was changed into a lark, and her
+father Nisus into a sparrow-hawk. Now, Bochart
+being of opinion that a sparrow-hawk is called
+"neis" in Hebrew, I thence conclude, that the history
+of Terelas, Amphitryon, Nisus, and Minos is
+copied from the history of Samson.</p>
+
+<p>I am aware that a dreadful sect has arisen in
+our days, equally detested by God and man, who
+pretend that the Greek fables are more ancient than
+the Jewish history; that the Greeks never heard a
+word of Samson any more than of Adam, Eve, Cain,
+Abel, etc., which names are not cited by any Greek
+author. They assert, as we have modestly intimated&mdash;in
+the articles on "Bacchus" and "Jew"&mdash;that the
+Greeks could not possibly take anything from the
+Jews, but that the Jews might derive something
+from the Greeks.</p>
+
+<p>I answer with the doctor Hayet, the doctor Gauchat,
+the ex-Jesuit Patouillet, and the ex-Jesuit
+Paulian, that this is the most damnable heresy
+which ever issued from hell; that it was formerly
+anathematized in full parliament, on petition, and
+condemned in the report of the Sieur P.; and
+finally, that if indulgence be extended to those who
+support such frightful systems, there will be no more
+certainty in the world; but that Antichrist will
+quickly arrive, if he has not come already.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TESTES" id="TESTES"></a>TESTES.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>This word is scientific, and a little obscure, signifying
+small witnesses. Sixtus V., a Cordelier become
+pope, declared, by his letter of the 25th of
+June, 1587, to his nuncio in Spain, that he must
+unmarry all those who were not possessed of testicles.
+It seems by this order, which was executed
+by Philip II., that there were many husbands in
+Spain deprived of these two organs. But how could
+a man, who had been a Cordelier, be ignorant that the
+testicles of men are often hidden in the abdomen,
+and that they are equally if not more effective in
+that situation? We have beheld in France three
+brothers of the highest rank, one of whom possessed
+three, the other only one, while the third possessed
+no appearance of any, and yet was the most
+vigorous of the three.</p>
+
+<p>The angelic doctor, who was simply a Jacobin,
+decides that two testicles are "<i>de essentia matrimonii</i>"
+(of the essence of marriage); in which opinion
+he is followed by Ricardus, Scotus, Durandus,
+and Sylvius. If you are not able to obtain a sight
+of the pleadings of the advocate Sebastian Rouillard,
+in 1600, in favor of the testicles of his client,
+concealed in his abdomen, at least consult the dictionary
+of Bayle, at the article "Quellenec." You
+will there discover, that the wicked wife of the client
+of Sebastian Rouillard wished to render her marriage
+void, on the plea that her husband could not
+exhibit testicles. The defendant replied, that he had
+perfectly fulfilled his matrimonial duties, and offered
+the usual proof of a re-performance of them
+in full assembly. The jilt replied, that this trial was
+too offensive to her modesty, and was, moreover, superfluous,
+since the defendant was visibly deprived
+of testicles, and that messieurs of the assembly were
+fully aware that testicles are necessary to perfect
+consummation.</p>
+
+<p>I am unacquainted with the result of this process,
+but I suspect that her husband lost his cause. What
+induces me to think so is, that the same Parliament
+of Paris, on the 8th of January, 1665, issued a decree,
+asserting the necessity of two visible testicles,
+without which marriage was not to be contracted.
+Had there been any member in the assembly in the
+situation described, and reduced to the necessity of
+being a witness, he might have convinced the assembly
+that it decided without a due knowledge of
+circumstances. Pontas may be profitably consulted
+on testicles, as well as upon any other subject. He
+was a sub-penitentiary, who decided every sort of
+case, and who sometimes comes near to Sanchez.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>A word or two on hermaphrodites. A prejudice
+has for a long time crept into the Russian Church,
+that it is not lawful to say mass without testicles;
+or, at least, they must be hid in the officiator's
+pocket. This ancient idea was founded in the Council
+of Nice, who forbade the admission into orders
+of those who mutilated themselves. The example of
+Origen, and of certain enthusiasts, was the cause of
+this order, which was confirmed a second time in the
+Council of Aries.</p>
+
+<p>The Greek Church did not exclude from the altar
+those who had endured the operation of Origen
+against their own consent. The patriarchs of Constantinople,
+Nicetas, Ignatius, Photius, and Methodius,
+were eunuchs. At present this point of discipline
+seems undecided in the Catholic Church. The
+most general opinion, however, is, that in order to
+be ordained a priest, a eunuch will require a dispensation.</p>
+
+<p>The banishment of eunuchs from the service of
+the altar appears contrary to the purity and chastity
+which the service exacts; and certainly such of the
+priests as confess handsome women and girls would
+be exposed to less temptation. Opposing reasons of
+convenience and decorum have determined those
+who make these laws.</p>
+
+<p>In Leviticus, all corporeal defects are excluded
+from the service of the altar&mdash;the blind, the crooked,
+the maimed, the lame, the one-eyed, the leper, the
+scabby, long noses, and short noses. Eunuchs are
+not spoken of, as there were none among the Jews.
+Those who acted as eunuchs in the service of their
+kings, were foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>It has been demanded whether an animal, a man
+for example, can possess at once testicles and ovaries,
+or the glands which are taken for ovaries; in a
+word, the distinctive organs of both sexes? Can
+nature form veritable hermaphrodites, and can a
+hermaphrodite be rendered pregnant? I answer,
+that I know nothing about it, nor the ten-thousandth
+part of what is within the operation of nature. I
+believe, however, that Europe has never witnessed
+a genuine hermaphrodite, nor has it indeed produced
+elephants, zebras, giraffes, ostriches, and
+many more of the animals which inhabit Asia,
+Africa, and America. It is hazardous to assert, that
+because we never beheld a thing, it does not exist.</p>
+
+<p>Examine "Cheselden," page 34, and you will
+behold there a very good delineation of an animal
+man and woman&mdash;a negro and negress of Angola,
+which was brought to London in its infancy, and
+carefully examined by this celebrated surgeon, as
+much distinguished for his probity as his information.
+The plate is entitled "Members of an Hermaphrodite
+Negro, of the Age of Twenty-six Years,
+of both Sexes." They are not absolutely perfect,
+but they exhibit a strange mixture of the one and
+the other.</p>
+
+<p>Cheselden has frequently attested the truth of
+this prodigy, which, however, is possibly no such
+thing in some of the countries of Africa. The two
+sexes are not perfect in this instance; who can assure
+us, that other negroes, mulatto, or copper-colored
+individuals, are not absolutely male and female?
+It would be as reasonable to assert, that a
+perfect statue cannot exist, because we have witnessed
+none without defects. There are insects
+which possess both sexes; why may there not be
+human beings similarly endowed? I affirm nothing;
+God keep me from doing so. I only doubt.</p>
+
+<p>How many things belong to the animal man, in
+respect to which he must doubt, from his pineal
+gland to his spleen, the use of which is unknown;
+and from the principle of his thoughts and sensations
+to his animal spirits, of which everybody
+speaks, and which nobody ever saw or ever will see!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="THEISM" id="THEISM"></a>THEISM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Theism is a religion diffused through all religions;
+it is a metal which mixes itself with all the
+others, the veins of which extend under ground to
+the four corners of the world. This mine is more
+openly worked in China; everywhere else it is hidden,
+and the secret is only in the hands of the adepts.</p>
+
+<p>There is no country where there are more of
+these adepts than in England. In the last century
+there were many atheists in that country, as well
+as in France and Italy. What the chancellor Bacon
+had said proved true to the letter, that a little philosophy
+makes a man an atheist, and that much philosophy
+leads to the knowledge of a God. When it
+was believed with Epicurus, that chance made
+everything, or with Aristotle, and even with several
+ancient theologians, that nothing was created
+but through corruption, and that by matter and
+motion alone the world goes on, then it was impossible
+to believe in a providence. But since
+nature has been looked into, which the ancients did
+not perceive at all; since it is observed that all is
+organized, that everything has its germ; since it
+is well known that a mushroom is the work of infinite
+wisdom, as well as all the worlds; then those
+who thought, adored in the countries where their
+ancestors had blasphemed. The physicians are become
+the heralds of providence; a catechist announces
+God to children, and a Newton demonstrates
+Him to the learned.</p>
+
+<p>Many persons ask whether theism, considered
+abstractedly, and without any religious ceremony,
+is in fact a religion? The answer is easy: he who
+recognizes only a creating God, he who views in
+God only a Being infinitely powerful, and who sees
+in His creatures only wonderful machines, is not
+religious towards Him any more than a European,
+admiring the king of China, would thereby profess
+allegiance to that prince. But he who thinks
+that God has deigned to place a relation between
+Himself and mankind; that He has made
+him free, capable of good and evil; that He has
+given all of them that good sense which is the instinct
+of man, and on which the law of nature is
+founded; such a one undoubtedly has a religion,
+and a much better religion than all those sects who
+are beyond the pale of our Church; for all these
+sects are false, and the law of nature is true. Thus,
+theism is good sense not yet instructed by revelation;
+and other religions are good sense perverted
+by superstition.</p>
+
+<p>All sects differ, because they come from men;
+morality is everywhere the same because it comes
+from God. It is asked why, out of five or six hundred
+sects, there have scarcely been any who have
+not spilled blood; and why the theists, who are
+everywhere so numerous, have never caused the
+least disturbance? It is because they are philosophers.
+Now philosophers may reason badly, but
+they never intrigue. Those who persecute a philosopher,
+under the pretext that his opinions may be
+dangerous to the public, are as absurd as those
+who are afraid that the study of algebra will
+raise the price of bread in the market; one must
+pity a thinking being who errs; the persecutor is
+frantic and horrible. We are all brethren; if one
+of my brothers, full of respect and filial love, inspired
+by the most fraternal charity, does not salute
+our common Father with the same ceremonies as
+I do, ought I to cut his throat and tear out his
+heart?</p>
+
+<p>What is a true theist? It is he who says to God:
+"I adore and serve You;" it is he who says to
+the Turk, to the Chinese, the Indian, and the Russian:
+"I love you." He doubts, perhaps, that
+Mahomet made a journey to the moon and put
+half of it in his pocket; he does not wish that after
+his death his wife should burn herself from devotion;
+he is sometimes tempted not to believe the
+story of the eleven thousand virgins, and that of
+St. Amable, whose hat and gloves were carried by
+a ray of the sun from Auvergne as far as Rome.</p>
+
+<p>But for all that he is a just man. Noah would have
+placed him in his ark, Numa Pompilius in his
+councils; he would have ascended the car of Zoroaster;
+he would have talked philosophy with the
+Platos, the Aristippuses, the Ciceros, the Atticuses&mdash;but
+would he not have drunk hemlock with Socrates?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="THEIST" id="THEIST"></a>THEIST.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The theist is a man firmly persuaded of the existence
+of a Supreme Being equally good and powerful,
+who has formed all extended, vegetating, sentient,
+and reflecting existences; who perpetuates
+their species, who punishes crimes without cruelty,
+and rewards virtuous actions with kindness.</p>
+
+<p>The theist does not know how God punishes,
+how He rewards, how He pardons; for he is not
+presumptuous enough to flatter himself that he understands
+how God acts; but he knows that God
+does act, and that He is just. The difficulties opposed
+to a providence do not stagger him in his
+faith, because they are only great difficulties, not
+proofs; he submits himself to that providence, although
+he only perceives some of its effects and
+some appearances; and judging of the things he
+does not see from those he does see, he thinks that
+this providence pervades all places and all ages.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 352px;">
+<a name="The_Death_of_Socrates" id="The_Death_of_Socrates"></a>
+<img src="images/img_02_socrates.jpg" width="352" alt="The Death of Socrates." title="" />
+<span class="caption_fig">The Death of Socrates.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>United in this principle with the rest of the universe,
+he does not join any of the sects, who all
+contradict themselves; his religion is the most
+ancient and the most extended; for the simple
+adoration of a God has preceded all the systems
+in the world. He speaks a language which all
+nations understand, while they are unable to understand
+each other's. He has brethren from Pekin
+to Cayenne, and he reckons all the wise his brothers.
+He believes that religion consists neither in the
+opinions of incomprehensible metaphysics, nor in
+vain decorations, but in adoration and justice. To
+do good&mdash;that is his worship; to submit oneself to
+God&mdash;that is his doctrine. The Mahometan cries
+out to him: "Take care of yourself, if you do not
+make the pilgrimage to Mecca." "Woe be to thee,"
+says a Franciscan, "if thou dost not make a journey
+to our Lady of Loretto." He laughs at Loretto
+and Mecca; but he succors the indigent and defends
+the oppressed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="THEOCRACY" id="THEOCRACY"></a>THEOCRACY.</h3>
+
+<h4><i>Government of God or Gods.</i></h4>
+
+
+<p>I deceive myself every day; but I suspect that
+all the nations who have cultivated the arts have
+lived under a theocracy. I always except the
+Chinese, who appear learned as soon as they became
+a nation. They were free from superstition
+directly China was a kingdom. It is a great pity,
+that having been raised so high at first, they should
+remain stationary at the degree they have so long
+occupied in the sciences. It would seem that they
+have received from nature an ample allowance of
+good sense, and a very small one of industry. Yet
+in other things their industry is displayed more than
+ours.</p>
+
+<p>The Japanese, their neighbors, of whose origin I
+know nothing whatever&mdash;for whose origin do we
+know?&mdash;were incontestably governed by a theocracy.
+The earliest well-ascertained sovereigns were
+the "<i>dairos</i>," the high priests of their gods; this
+theocracy is well established. These priests reigned
+despotically about eight hundred years. In the middle
+of our twelfth century it came to pass that a
+captain, an "<i>imperator</i>," a "<i>seogon</i>" shared their
+authority; and in our sixteenth century the captains
+seized the whole power, and kept it. The "<i>dairos</i>"
+have remained the heads of religion; they were
+kings&mdash;they are now only saints; they regulate
+festivals, they bestow sacred titles, but they cannot
+give a company of infantry.</p>
+
+<p>The Brahmins in India possessed for a long
+time the theocratical power; that is to say, they
+held the sovereign authority in the name of Brahma,
+the son of God; and even in their present humble
+condition they still believe their character indelible.
+These are the two principal among the certain
+theocracies.</p>
+
+<p>The priests of Chaldæa, Persia, Syria, Phœnicia,
+and Egypt, were so powerful, had so great a share
+in the government, and carried the censer so loftily
+above the sceptre, that empire may be said, among
+those nations, to nave been divided between theocracy
+and royalty.</p>
+
+<p>The government of Numa Pompilius was evidently
+theocratical. When a man says: "I give you
+laws furnished by the gods; it is not I, it is a
+god who speaks to you"&mdash;then it is God who is
+king, and he who talks thus is lieutenant-general.</p>
+
+<p>Among all the Celtic nations who had only elective
+chiefs, and not kings, the Druids and their
+sorceries governed everything. But I cannot venture
+to give the name of theocracy to the anarchy of
+these savages.</p>
+
+<p>The little Jewish nation does not deserve to be
+considered politically, except on account of the
+prodigious revolution that has occurred in the
+world, of which it was the very obscure and unconscious
+cause.</p>
+
+<p>Do but consider the history of this strange
+people. They have a conductor who undertakes to
+guide them in the name of his God to Phœnicia,
+which he calls Canaan. The way was direct and
+plain, from the country of Goshen as far as Tyre,
+from south to north; and there was no danger for
+six hundred and thirty thousand fighting men,
+having at their head a general like Moses, who, according
+to Flavius Josephus, had already vanquished
+an army of Ethiopians, and even an army
+of serpents.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of taking this short and easy route, he
+conducts them from Rameses to Baal-Sephon, in
+an opposite direction, right into the middle of
+Egypt, due south. He crosses the sea; he marches
+for forty years in the most frightful deserts, where
+there is not a single spring of water, or a tree, or a
+cultivated field&mdash;nothing but sand and dreary rocks.
+It is evident that God alone could make the Jews,
+by a miracle, take this route, and support them there
+by a succession of miracles.</p>
+
+<p>The Jewish government therefore was then a
+true theocracy. Moses, however, was never pontiff,
+and Aaron, who was pontiff, was never chief nor
+legislator. After that time we do not find any
+pontiff governing. Joshua, Jephthah, Samson, and
+the other chiefs of the people, except Elias and
+Samuel, were not priests. The Jewish republic, reduced
+to slavery so often, was anarchical rather than
+theocratical.</p>
+
+<p>Under the kings of Judah and Israel, it was but
+a long succession of assassinations and civil wars.
+These horrors were interrupted only by the entire
+extinction of ten tribes, afterwards by the enslavement
+of two others, and by the destruction of the
+city amidst famine and pestilence. This was not
+then divine government.</p>
+
+<p>When the Jewish slaves returned to Jerusalem,
+they were subdued by the kings of Persia, by the
+conqueror Alexandria and his successors. It appears
+that God did not then reign immediately over
+this nation, since a little before the invasion of
+Alexander, the pontiff John assassinated the priest
+Jesus, his brother, in the temple of Jerusalem, as
+Solomon had assassinated his brother Adonijah on
+the altar.</p>
+
+<p>The government was still less theocratical when
+Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, employed
+many of the Jews to punish those whom he regarded
+as rebels. He forbade them all, under pain
+of death, to circumcise their children; he compelled
+them to sacrifice swine in their temple, to
+burn the gates, to destroy the altar; and the whole
+enclosure was filled with thorns and brambles.</p>
+
+<p>Matthias rose against him at the head of some
+citizens, but he was not king. His son, Judas Maccabæus,
+taken for the Messiah, perished after
+glorious struggles. To these bloody contests succeeded
+civil wars. The men of Jerusalem destroyed
+Samaria, which the Romans subsequently rebuilt
+under the name of Sebasta.</p>
+
+<p>In this chaos of revolutions, Aristobulus, of the
+race of the Maccabees, and son of a high priest,
+made himself king, more than five hundred years
+after the destruction of Jerusalem. He signalized
+his reign like some Turkish sultans, by cutting his
+brother's throat, and causing his mother to be put
+to death. His successors followed his example,
+until the period when the Romans punished all these
+barbarians. Nothing in all this is theocratical.</p>
+
+<p>If anything affords an idea of theocracy, it must
+be granted that it is the papacy of Rome; it never
+announces itself but in the name of God, and its
+subjects live in peace. For a long time Thibet enjoyed
+the same advantages under the Grand Lama;
+but that is a gross error striving to imitate a sublime
+truth.</p>
+
+<p>The first Incas, by calling themselves descendants
+in a right line from the sun, established a
+theocracy; everything was done in the name of the
+sun. Theocracy ought to be universal; for every
+man, whether a prince or a boatman, should obey
+the natural and eternal laws which God has given
+him.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="THEODOSIUS" id="THEODOSIUS"></a>THEODOSIUS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Every prince who puts himself at the head of
+a party, and succeeds, is sure of being praised to
+all eternity, if the party lasts that time; and his adversaries
+may be assured that they will be treated by
+orators, poets, and preachers, as Titans who revolted
+against the gods. This is what happened to
+Octavius Augustus, when his good fortune made
+him defeat Brutus, Cassius, and Antony. It was
+the lot of Constantine, when Maxentius, the legitimate
+emperor, elected by the Roman senate and
+people, fell into the water and was drowned.</p>
+
+<p>Theodosius had the same advantage. Woe to
+the vanquished! blessed be the victorious!&mdash;that is
+the motto of mankind. Theodosius was a Spanish
+officer, the son of a Spanish soldier of fortune. As
+soon as he was emperor he persecuted the anti-consubstantialists.
+Judge of the applauses, benedictions,
+and pompous eulogies, on the part of the
+consubstantialists! Their adversaries scarcely subsist
+any longer; their complaints and clamors
+against the tyranny of Theodosius have perished
+with them, and the predominant party still lavishes
+on this prince the epithets of pious, just, clement,
+wise, and great.</p>
+
+<p>One day this pious and clement prince, who loved
+money to distraction, proposed laying a very heavy
+tax upon the city of Antioch, then the finest of Asia
+Minor. The people, in despair, having demanded
+a slight diminution, and not being able to obtain it,
+went so far as to break some statues, among which
+was one of the soldier, the emperor's father. St.
+John Chrysostom, or golden mouth, the priest and
+flatterer of Theodosius, failed not to call this action
+a detestable sacrilege, since Theodosius was the
+image of God, and his father was almost as sacred
+as himself. But if this Spaniard resembled God,
+he should have remembered that the Antiochians also
+resembled Him, and that men formed after the exemplar
+of all the gods existed before emperors.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 19em;">&mdash;<span class="small">OVID</span>, <i>Met.</i> i, b. 83.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Theodosius immediately sent a letter to the governor,
+with an order to apply the torture to the
+principal images of God who had taken part in this
+passing sedition; to make them perish under blows
+received from cords terminated with leaden balls;
+to burn some, and deliver others up to the sword.
+This was executed with all the punctuality of a
+governor who did his duty like a Christian, who
+paid his court well, and who would make his way
+there. The Orontes bore nothing but corpses to
+the sea for several days; after which, his gracious
+imperial majesty pardoned the Antiochians with
+his usual clemency, and doubled the tax.</p>
+
+<p>How did the emperor Julian act in the same city,
+when he had received a more personal and injurious
+outrage? It was not a paltry statue of his father
+which they defaced; it was to himself that the Antiochians
+addressed themselves, and against whom
+they composed the most violent satires. The philosophical
+emperor answered them by a light and ingenious
+satire. He took from them neither their
+lives nor their purses. He contented himself with
+having more wit than they had. This is the man
+whom St. Gregory Nazianzen and Theodoret, who
+were not of his communion, dare to calumniate so far
+as to say that he sacrificed women and children to
+the moon; while those who were of the communion
+of Theodosius have persisted to our day in copying
+one another, by saying in a hundred ways, that
+Theodosius was the most virtuous of men, and by
+wishing to make him a saint.</p>
+
+<p>We know well enough what was the mildness of
+this saint in the massacre of fifteen thousand of
+his subjects at Thessalonica. His panegyrists reduce
+the number of the murdered to seven or eight
+thousand, which is a very small number to them;
+but they elevate to the sky the tender piety of this
+good prince, who deprived himself of mass, as also
+that of his accomplice, the detestable Rufinus. I confess
+once more, that it was a great expiation, a great
+act of devotion, the not going to mass; but it restores
+not life to fifteen thousand innocents, slain
+in cold blood by an abominable perfidy. If a heretic
+was stained with such a crime, with what pleasure
+would all historians turn their boasting against
+him; with what colors would they paint him in
+the pulpits and college declamations!</p>
+
+<p>I will suppose that the prince of Parma entered
+Paris, after having forced our dear Henry IV. to
+raise the siege; I will suppose that Philip II. gave
+the throne of France to his Catholic daughter, and
+to the young Catholic duke of Guise; how many
+pens and voices would forever have anathematized
+Henry IV., and the Salic law! They would be
+both forgotten, and the Guises would be the heroes
+of the state and religion. Thus it is&mdash;applaud the
+prosperous and fly the miserable! "<i>Et cole felices,
+miseros fuge.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>If Hugh Capet dispossess the legitimate heir of
+Charlemagne, he becomes the root of a race of
+heroes. If he fails, he may be treated as the brother
+of St. Louis since treated Conradin and the duke
+of Austria, and with much more reason.</p>
+
+<p>Pepin rebels, dethrones the Merovingian race,
+and shuts his king in a cloister; but if he succeeds
+not, he mounts the scaffold. If Clovis, the first
+king of Belgic Gaul, is beaten in his invasion, he
+runs the risk of being condemned to the fangs of
+beasts, as one of his ancestors was by Constantine.
+Thus goes the world under the empire of fortune,
+which is nothing but necessity, insurmountable
+fatality. "<i>Fortuna sævo læta negotio.</i>" She makes
+us blindly play her terrible game, and we never see
+beneath the cards.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="THEOLOGIAN" id="THEOLOGIAN"></a>THEOLOGIAN.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>The theologian knows perfectly that, according
+to St. Thomas, angels are corporeal with relation to
+God; that the soul receives its being in the body;
+and that man has a vegetative, sensitive, and intellectual
+soul; that the soul is all in all, and all in
+every part; that it is the efficient and formal cause
+of the body; that it is the greatest in nobleness of
+form; that the appetite is a passive power; that
+archangels are the medium between angels and
+principalities; that baptism regenerates of itself
+and by chance; that the catechism is not a sacrament,
+but sacramental; that certainty springs from
+the cause and subject; that concupiscence is the
+appetite of sensitive delectation; that conscience is
+an act and not a power.</p>
+
+<p>The angel of the schools has written about four
+thousand fine pages in this style, and a shaven-crowned
+young man passes three years in filling his
+brain with this sublime knowledge; after which he
+receives the bonnet of a doctor of the Sorbonne, instead
+of going to Bedlam. If he is a man of quality,
+or the son of a rich man, or intriguing and fortunate,
+he becomes bishop, archbishop, cardinal, and
+pope.</p>
+
+<p>If he is poor and without credit, he becomes the
+chaplain of one of these people; it is he who
+preaches for them, who reads St. Thomas and
+Scotus for them, who makes commandments for
+them, and who in a council decides for them.</p>
+
+<p>The title of theologian is so great that the fathers
+of the Council of Trent give it to their cooks,
+"<i>cuoco celeste, gran theologo</i>." Their science is
+the first of sciences, their condition the first of conditions,
+and themselves the first of men; such the
+empire of true doctrine; so much does reason govern
+mankind!</p>
+
+<p>When a theologian has become&mdash;thanks to his
+arguments&mdash;either prince of the holy Roman Empire,
+archbishop of Toledo, or one of the seventy
+princes clothed in red, successors of the humble
+apostles, then the successors of Galen and Hippocrates
+are at his service. They were his equals
+when they studied in the same university; they
+had the same degrees, and received the same furred
+bonnet. Fortune changes all; and those who discovered
+the circulation of the blood, the lacteal
+veins, and the thoracic canal, are the servants of
+those who have learned what concomitant grace is,
+and have forgotten it.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>I knew a true theologian; he was master of the
+languages of the East, and was instructed as much
+as possible in the ancient rites of nations. The
+Brahmins, Chaldæans, Fire-worshippers, Sabeans,
+Syrians, and Egyptians, were as well known to him
+as the Jews; the several lessons of the Bible were
+familiar to him; and for thirty years he had tried
+to reconcile the gospels, and endeavored to make
+the fathers agree. He sought in what time precisely
+the creed attributed to the apostles was
+digested, and that which bears the name of Athanasius;
+how the sacraments were instituted one after
+the other; what was the difference between synaxis
+and mass; how the Christian Church was divided
+since its origin into different parties, and how the
+predominating society treated all the others as
+heretics. He sounded the depth of policy which
+always mixes with these quarrels; and he distinguished
+between policy and wisdom, between the
+pride which would subjugate minds and the desire
+of self-illumination, between zeal and fanaticism.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty of arranging in his head so many
+things, the nature of which is to be confounded,
+and of throwing a little light on so many clouds,
+often checked him; but as these researches were
+the duty of his profession, he gave himself up to
+them notwithstanding his distaste. He at length
+arrived at knowledge unknown to the greater part
+of his brethren: but the more learned he waxed,
+the more mistrustful he became of all that he knew.
+While he lived he was indulgent; and at his death,
+he confessed that he had spent his life uselessly.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="THUNDER" id="THUNDER"></a>THUNDER.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Vidi et crudeles dantem Salmonea pœnas</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Dum flammas Jovis et sonitus imitatur Olympia, etc.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">&mdash;VIRGIL, Æneid, b. vi, 1. 585.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Salmoneus suffering cruel pains I found,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">For imitating Jove, the rattling sound</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Of mimic thunder, and the glittering blaze</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Of pointed lightnings and their forked rays.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Those who invented and perfected artillery are
+so many other Salmoneuses. A cannon-ball of
+twenty-four pounds can make, and has often made,
+more ravage than an hundred thunder-claps; yet
+no cannoneer has ever been struck by Jupiter for
+imitating that which passes in the atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen that Polyphemus, in a piece of
+Euripides, boasts of making more noise, when he
+had supped well, than the thunder of Jupiter.
+Boileau, more honest than Polyphemus, says that
+another world astonishes him, and that he believes
+in the immortality of the soul, and that it is God
+who thunders:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Pour moi, qu'en santé même un autre monde étonne,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Qui crois l'âme immortelle, et que c'est Dieu qui tonne.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 19.5em;">&mdash;<span class="small">SAT</span>. i, line 161,162.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I know not why he is so astonished at another
+world, since all antiquity believed in it. Astonish
+was not the proper word; it was alarm. He believes
+that it is God who thunders; but he thunders
+only as he hails, as he rains, and as he produces
+fine weather&mdash;as he operates all, as he performs
+all. It is not because he is angry that he sends
+thunder and rain. The ancients paint Jupiter taking
+thunder, composed of three burning arrows, and
+hurling it at whomsoever he chose. Sound reason
+does not agree with these poetical ideas.</p>
+
+<p>Thunder is like everything else, the necessary
+effect of the laws of nature, prescribed by its author.
+It is merely a great electrical phenomenon. Franklin
+forces it to descend tranquilly on the earth; it fell
+on Professor Richmann as on rocks and churches;
+and if it struck Ajax Oileus, it was assuredly not
+because Minerva was irritated against him.</p>
+
+<p>If it had fallen on Cartouche, or the abbé Desfontaines,
+people would not have failed to say:</p>
+
+<p>"Behold how God punishes thieves and&mdash;." But
+it is a useful prejudice to make the sky fearful to
+the perverse. Thus all our tragic poets, when they
+would rhyme to "<i>poudre</i>" or "<i>resoudre</i>," invariably
+make use of "<i>foudre</i>"; and uniformly make "<i>tonnerre</i>"
+roll, when they would rhyme to "<i>terre</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Theseus, in "<i>Phèdre</i>," says to his son&mdash;act iv,
+scene 2:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Monstre, qu'à trop longtemps épargné le tonnerre,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Reste impur des brigands dont j'ai purgé la terre!</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Severus, in "<i>Polyeucte</i>," without even having occasion
+to rhyme, when he learns that his mistress is
+married, talks to Fabian, his friend, of a clap of
+thunder. He says elsewhere to the same Fabian&mdash;act
+iv, scene 6&mdash;that a new clap of "<i>foudre</i>" strikes
+upon his hope, and reduces it to "<i>poudre</i>":</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Qu'est ceci, Fabian, quel nouveau coup de foudre</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Tombe sur mon espoir, et le réduit en poudre?</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>A hope reduced to powder must astonish the pit!
+Lusignan, in "<i>Zaïre</i>," prays God that the thunder
+will burst on him alone:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que la foudre en éclats ne tombe que sur moi.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>If Tydeus consults the gods in the cave of a
+temple, the cave answers him only by great claps
+of thunder.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I've finally seen the thunder and "foudre"</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Reduce verses to cinders and rhymes into "poudre."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We must endeavor to thunder less frequently.</p>
+
+<p>I could never clearly comprehend the fable of
+Jupiter and Thunder, in La Fontaine&mdash;b. viii,
+fable 20.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Vulcain remplit ses fourneaux</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>De deux sortes de carreaux.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>L'un jamais ne se fourvoie,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et c'est celui que toujours</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>L'Olympe en corps nous envoie.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>L'autre s'écarte en son cours,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ce n'est qu'aux monts qu'il en coûte;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Bien souvent même il se perd;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et ce dernier en sa route</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Nous vient du seul Jupiter.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"Vulcan fills his furnaces with two sorts of thunderbolts.
+The one never wanders, and it is that
+which comes direct from Olympus. The other diverges
+in its route, and only spends itself on mountains;
+it is often even altogether dissipated. It is
+this last alone which proceeds from Jupiter."</p>
+
+<p>Was the subject of this fable, which La Fontaine
+put into bad verse so different from his general
+style, given to him? Would it infer that the ministers
+of Louis XIV. were inflexible, and that the
+king pardoned? Crébillon, in his academical discourse
+in foreign verse, says that Cardinal Fleury
+is a wise depositary, the eagle, using his thunder,
+yet the friend of peace:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Usant en citoyen du pouvoir arbitraire,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Aigle de Jupiter, mais ami de la paix,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Il gouverne la foudre, et ne tonne jamais.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>He says that Marshal Villars made it appear that
+he survived Malplaquet only to become more celebrated
+at Denain, and that with a clap of thunder
+Prince Eugene was vanquished:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Fit voir, qu'à Malplaquet il n'avait survécu</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que pour rendre à Denain sa valeur plus célèbre</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et qu'un foudre du moins Eugène était vaincu.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Thus the eagle Fleury governed thunder without
+thundering, and Eugene was vanquished by thunder.
+Here is quite enough of thunder.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>Horace, sometimes the debauched and sometimes
+the moral, has said&mdash;book i, ode 3&mdash;that our folly
+extends to heaven itself: "<i>CÅ“lum ipsum petimus
+stultitia.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>We can say at present that we carry our wisdom
+to heaven, if we may be permitted to call that blue
+and white mass of exhalations which causes winds,
+rain, snow, hail, and thunder, heaven. We have decomposed
+the thunderbolt, as Newton disentangled
+light. We have perceived that these thunderbolts,
+formerly borne by the eagle of Jupiter, are really
+only electric fire; that in short we can draw down
+thunder, conduct it, divide it, and render ourselves
+masters of it, as we make the rays of light pass
+through a prism, as we give course to the waters
+which fall from heaven, that is to say, from the
+height of half a league from our atmosphere. We
+plant a high fir with the branches lopped off, the top
+of which is covered with a cone of iron. The clouds
+which form thunder are electrical; their electricity
+is communicated to this cone, and a brass wire which
+is attached to it conducts the matter of thunder wherever
+we please. An ingenious physician calls this
+experiment the inoculation of thunder.</p>
+
+<p>It is true, that inoculation for the smallpox,
+which has preserved so many mortals, caused some
+to perish, to whom the smallpox had been inconsiderately
+given; and in like manner the inoculation of
+thunder ill-performed would be dangerous. There
+are great lords whom we can only approach with the
+greatest precaution, and thunder is of this number.
+We know that the mathematical professor Richmann
+was killed at St. Petersburg, in 1753, by a thunderbolt
+which he had drawn into his chamber: "<i>Arte sua
+periit.</i>" As he was a philosopher, a theological professor
+failed not to publish that he had been thunderstruck
+like Salmoneus, for having usurped the
+rights of God, and for wishing to hurl the thunder:
+but if the physician had directed the brass wire outside
+the house, and not into his pent-up chamber, he
+would not have shared the lot of Salmoneus, Ajax
+Oileus, the emperor Carus, the son of a French minister
+of state, and of several monks in the Pyrenees.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TOLERATION" id="TOLERATION"></a>TOLERATION.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>What is toleration? It is the appurtenance of
+humanity. We are all full of weakness and errors;
+let us mutually pardon each other our follies&mdash;it is
+the first law of nature.</p>
+
+<p>When, on the exchange of Amsterdam, of London,
+of Surat, or of Bassora, the Gueber, the Banian,
+the Jew, the Mahometan, the Chinese Deist, the
+Brahmin, the Christian of the Greek Church, the
+Roman Catholic Christian, the Protestant Christian,
+and the Quaker Christian, traffic together, they do
+not lift the poniard against each other, in order to
+gain souls for their religion. Why then have we
+been cutting one another's throats almost without
+interruption since the first Council of Nice?</p>
+
+<p>Constantine began by issuing an edict which allowed
+all religions, and ended by persecuting. Before
+him, tumults were excited against the Christians,
+only because they began to make a party in the
+state. The Romans permitted all kinds of worship,
+even those of the Jews, and of the Egyptians, for
+whom they had so much contempt. Why did Rome
+tolerate these religions? Because neither the Egyptians,
+nor even the Jews, aimed at exterminating
+the ancient religion of the empire, or ranged through
+land and sea for proselytes; they thought only of
+money-getting; but it is undeniable, that the Christians
+wished their own religion to be the dominant
+one. The Jews would not suffer the statue of Jupiter
+at Jerusalem, but the Christians wished it not to
+be in the capitol. St. Thomas had the candor to
+avow, that if the Christians did not dethrone the
+emperors, it was because they could not. Their
+opinion was, that the whole earth ought to be Christian.
+They were therefore necessarily enemies to the
+whole earth, until it was converted.</p>
+
+<p>Among themselves, they were the enemies of each
+other on all their points of controversy. Was it first
+of all necessary to regard Jesus Christ as God?
+Those who denied it were anathematized under the
+name of Ebionites, who themselves anathematized
+the adorers of Jesus.</p>
+
+<p>Did some among them wish all things to be in
+common, as it is pretended they were in the time of
+the apostles? Their adversaries called them Nicolaites,
+and accused them of the most infamous
+crimes. Did others profess a mystical devotion?
+They were termed Gnostics, and attacked with fury.
+Did Marcion dispute on the Trinity? He was treated
+as an idolater.</p>
+
+<p>Tertullian, Praxeas, Origen, Novatus, Novatian,
+Sabellius, Donatus, were all persecuted by their
+brethren, before Constantine; and scarcely had Constantine
+made the Christian religion the ruling one,
+when the Athanasians and the Eusebians tore each
+other to pieces; and from that time to our own days,
+the Christian Church has been deluged with blood.</p>
+
+<p>The Jewish people were, I confess, a very barbarous
+nation. They mercilessly cut the throats of
+all the inhabitants of an unfortunate little country
+upon which they had no more claim than they had
+upon Paris or London. However, when Naaman
+was cured of the leprosy by being plunged seven
+times in the Jordan&mdash;when, in order to testify his
+gratitude to Elisha, who had taught him the secret,
+he told him he would adore the god of the Jews
+from gratitude, he reserved to himself the liberty to
+adore also the god of his own king; he asked
+Elisha's permission to do so, and the prophet did not
+hesitate to grant it. The Jews adored their god,
+but they were never astonished that every nation
+had its own. They approved of Chemos having
+given a certain district to the Moabites, provided
+their god would give them one also. Jacob did not
+hesitate to marry the daughters of an idolater. Laban
+had his god, as Jacob had his. Such are the examples
+of toleration among the most intolerant and
+cruel people of antiquity. We have imitated them
+in their absurd passions, and not in their indulgence.</p>
+
+<p>It is clear that every private individual who persecutes
+a man, his brother, because he is not of the
+same opinion, is a monster. This admits of no difficulty.
+But the government, the magistrates, the
+princes!&mdash;how do they conduct themselves towards
+those who have a faith different from their own? If
+they are powerful foreigners, it is certain that a
+prince will form an alliance with them. The Most
+Christian Francis I. will league himself with the
+Mussulmans against the Most Catholic Charles V.
+Francis I. will give money to the Lutherans in Germany,
+to support them in their rebellion against their
+emperor; but he will commence, as usual, by having
+the Lutherans in his own country burned. He pays
+them in Saxony from policy; he burns them in Paris
+from policy. But what follows? Persecutions make
+proselytes. France will soon be filled with new Protestants.
+At first they will submit to be hanged;
+afterwards they will hang in their turn. There will
+be civil wars; then Saint Bartholomew will come;
+and this corner of the world will be worse than all
+that the ancients and moderns have ever said of hell.</p>
+
+<p>Blockheads, who have never been able to render
+a pure worship to the God who made you!
+Wretches, whom the example of the Noachides, the
+Chinese literati, the Parsees, and of all the wise, has
+not availed to guide! Monsters, who need superstitions,
+just as the gizzard of a raven needs carrion!
+We have already told you&mdash;and we have nothing
+else to say&mdash;if you have two religions among you,
+they will massacre each other; if you have thirty,
+they will live in peace. Look at the Grand Turk: he
+governs Guebers, Banians, Christians of the Greek
+Church, Nestorians, and Roman Catholics. The
+first who would excite a tumult is empaled; and all
+is tranquil.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>Of all religions, the Christian ought doubtless
+to inspire the most toleration, although hitherto the
+Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.
+Jesus, having deigned to be born in poverty and lowliness
+like his brethren, never condescended to practise
+the art of writing. The Jews had a law written
+with the greatest minuteness, and we have not a
+single line from the hand of Jesus. The apostles
+were divided on many points. St. Peter and St.
+Barnabas ate forbidden meats with the new stranger
+Christians, and abstained from them with the Jewish
+Christians. St. Paul reproached them with this
+conduct; and this same St. Paul, the Pharisee, the
+disciple of the Pharisee Gamaliel&mdash;this same St.
+Paul, who had persecuted the Christians with fury,
+and who after breaking with Gamaliel became a
+Christian himself&mdash;nevertheless, went afterwards
+to sacrifice in the temple of Jerusalem, during his
+apostolic vacation. For eight days he observed publicly
+all the ceremonies of the Jewish law which he
+had renounced; he even added devotions and purifications
+which were superabundant; he completely
+Judaized. The greatest apostle of the Christians
+did, for eight days, the very things for which men
+are condemned to the stake among a large portion
+of Christian nations.</p>
+
+<p>Theudas and Judas were called Messiahs, before
+Jesus: Dositheus, Simon, Menander, called themselves
+Messiahs, after Jesus. From the first century
+of the Church, and before even the name of
+Christian was known, there were a score of sects
+in Judæa.</p>
+
+<p>The contemplative Gnostics, the Dositheans, the
+Cerintheins, existed before the disciples of Jesus had
+taken the name of Christians. There were soon
+thirty churches, each of which belonged to a different
+society; and by the close of the first century
+thirty sects of Christians might be reckoned in Asia
+Minor, in Syria, in Alexandria, and even in Rome.</p>
+
+<p>All these sects, despised by the Roman government,
+and concealed in their obscurity, nevertheless
+persecuted each other in the hiding holes where they
+lurked; that is to say, they reproached one another.
+This is all they could do in their abject condition:
+they were almost wholly composed of the dregs of
+the people.</p>
+
+<p>When at length some Christians had embraced
+the dogmas of Plato, and mingled a little philosophy
+with their religion, which they separated from the
+Jewish, they insensibly became more considerable,
+but were always divided into many sects, without
+there ever having been a time when the Christian
+church was reunited. It took its origin in the midst
+of the divisions of the Jews, the Samaritans, the
+Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenians, the Judaites,
+the disciples of John, and the Therapeutae. It
+was divided in its infancy; it was divided even amid
+the persecutions it sometimes endured under the
+first emperors. The martyr was often regarded by
+his brethren as an apostate; and the Carpocratian
+Christian expired under the sword of the Roman
+executioner, excommunicated by the Ebionite Christian,
+which Ebionite was anathematized by the Sabellian.</p>
+
+<p>This horrible discord, lasting for so many centuries,
+is a very striking lesson that we ought mutually
+to forgive each other's errors: discord is the
+great evil of the human species, and toleration is
+its only remedy.</p>
+
+<p>There is nobody who does not assent to this truth,
+whether meditating coolly in his closet, or examining
+the truth peaceably with his friends. Why,
+then, do the same men who in private admit charity,
+beneficence, and justice, oppose themselves in public
+so furiously against these virtues? Why!&mdash;it
+is because their interest is their god; because they
+sacrifice all to that monster whom they adore.</p>
+
+<p>I possess dignity and power, which ignorance and
+credulity have founded. I trample on the heads of
+men prostrated at my feet; if they should rise and
+look me in the face, I am lost; they must, therefore,
+be kept bound down to the earth with chains of iron.</p>
+
+<p>Thus have men reasoned, whom ages of fanaticism
+have rendered powerful. They have other persons
+in power under them, and these latter again
+have underlings, who enrich themselves with the
+spoils of the poor man, fatten themselves with his
+blood, and laugh at his imbecility. They detest all
+toleration, as contractors enriched at the expense of
+the public are afraid to render their accounts, and
+as tyrants dread the name of liberty. To crown all,
+in short, they encourage fanatics who cry aloud:
+Respect the absurdities of my master; tremble, pay,
+and be silent.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the practice for a long time in a great
+part of the world; but now, when so many sects
+are balanced by their power, what side must we take
+among them? Every sect, we know, is a mere title
+of error; while there is no sect of geometricians, of
+algebraists, of arithmeticians; because all the propositions
+of geometry, algebra, and arithmetic, are
+true. In all the other sciences, one may be mistaken.
+What Thomist or Scotist theologian can venture to
+assert seriously that he goes on sure grounds?</p>
+
+<p>If there is any sect which reminds one of the time
+of the first Christians, it is undeniably that of the
+Quakers. The apostles received the spirit. The
+Quakers receive the spirit. The apostles and disciples
+spoke three or four at once in the assembly
+in the third story; the Quakers do as much on the
+ground floor. Women were permitted to preach,
+according to St. Paul, and they were forbidden according
+to the same St. Paul: the Quakeresses
+preach by virtue of the first permission.</p>
+
+<p>The apostles and disciples swore by yea and nay;
+the Quakers will not swear in any other form.
+There was no rank, no difference of dress, among
+apostles and disciples; the Quakers have sleeves
+without buttons, and are all clothed alike. Jesus
+Christ baptized none of his apostles; the Quakers
+are never baptized.</p>
+
+<p>It would be easy to push the parallel farther; it
+would be still easier to demonstrate how much the
+Christian religion of our day differs from the religion
+which Jesus practised. Jesus was a Jew, and
+we are not Jews. Jesus abstained from pork, because
+it is uncleanly, and from rabbit, because it
+ruminates and its foot is not cloven; we fearlessly
+eat pork, because it is not uncleanly for us, and we
+eat rabbit which has the cloven foot and does not
+ruminate.</p>
+
+<p>Jesus was circumcised, and we retain our foreskin.
+Jesus ate the Paschal lamb with lettuce, He
+celebrated the feast of the tabernacles; and we do
+nothing of this. He observed the Sabbath, and we
+have changed it; He sacrificed, and we never sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>Jesus always concealed the mystery of His incarnation
+and His dignity; He never said He was
+equal to God. St. Paul says expressly, in his Epistle
+to the Hebrews, that God created Jesus inferior
+to the angels; and in spite of St. Paul's words,
+Jesus was acknowledged as God at the Council of
+Nice.</p>
+
+<p>Jesus has not given the pope either the march
+of Ancona or the duchy of Spoleto; and, notwithstanding,
+the pope possesses them by divine right.
+Jesus did not make a sacrament either of marriage
+or of deaconry; and, with us, marriage and deaconry
+are sacraments. If we would attend closely
+to the fact, the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman religion
+is, in all its ceremonies and in all its dogma,
+the reverse of the religion of Jesus!</p>
+
+<p>But what! must we all Judaize, because Jesus
+Judaized all His life? If it were allowed to reason
+logically in matters of religion, it is clear that we
+ought all to become Jews, since Jesus Christ, our
+Saviour, was born a Jew, lived a Jew and died a
+Jew, and since He expressly said, that He accomplished
+and fulfilled the Jewish religion. But it is
+still more clear that we ought mutually to tolerate
+one another, because we are all weak, irrational, and
+subject to change and error. A reed prostrated by
+the wind in the mire&mdash;ought it to say to a neighboring
+reed placed in a contrary direction: Creep after
+my fashion, wretch, or I will present a request for
+you to be seized and burned?</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION III.</h5>
+
+<p>My friends, when we have preached toleration in
+prose and in verse, in some of our pulpits, and in
+all our societies&mdash;when we have made these true
+human voices resound in the organs of our churches
+-we have done something for nature, we have reestablished
+humanity in its rights; there will no
+longer be an ex-Jesuit, or an ex-Jansenist, who dares
+to say, I am intolerant.</p>
+
+<p>There will always be barbarians and cheats who
+will foment intolerance; but they will not avow it&mdash;and
+that is something gained. Let us always bear
+in mind, my friends, let us repeat&mdash;for we must repeat,
+for fear it should be forgotten&mdash;the words of
+the bishop of Soissons, not Languet, but Fitzjames-Stuart,
+in his mandate of 1757: "We ought to regard
+the Turks as our brethren."</p>
+
+<p>Let us consider, that throughout English America,
+which constitutes nearly the fourth part of the
+known world, entire liberty of conscience is established;
+and provided a man believes in a God, every
+religion is well received: notwithstanding which,
+commerce flourishes and population increases. Let
+us always reflect, that the first law of the Empire
+of Russia, which is greater than the Roman Empire,
+is the toleration of every sect.</p>
+
+<p>The Turkish Empire, and the Persian, always allowed
+the same indulgence. Mahomet II., when he
+took Constantinople, did not force the Greeks to
+abandon their religion, although he looked on them
+as idolaters. Every Greek father of a family got
+off for five or six crowns a year. Many prebends
+and bishoprics were preserved for them; and even
+at this day the Turkish sultan makes canons and
+bishops, without the pope having ever made an
+imam or a mollah.</p>
+
+<p>My friends, there are only some monks, and some
+Protestants as barbarous as those monks, who are
+still intolerant. We have been so infected with this
+furor, that in our voyages of long duration, we have
+carried it to China, to Tonquin, and Japan. We
+have introduced the plague to those beautiful climes.
+The most indulgent of mankind have been taught
+by us to be the most inflexible. We said to them at
+the outset, in return for their kind welcome&mdash;Know
+that we alone on the earth are in the right, and
+that we ought to be masters everywhere. Then they
+drove us away forever. This lesson, which has cost
+seas of blood, ought to correct us.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION IV.</h5>
+
+<p>The author of the preceding article is a worthy
+man who would sup with a Quaker, an Anabaptist,
+a Socinian, a Mussulman, etc. <i>I</i> would push this
+civility farther; I would say to my brother the Turk&mdash;Let
+us eat together a good hen with rice, invoking
+Allah; your religion seems to me very respectable;
+you adore but one God; you are obliged to give the
+fortieth part of your revenue every day in alms, and
+to be reconciled with your enemies on the day of the
+Bairam. Our bigots, who calumniate the world,
+have said a hundred times, that your religion succeeded
+only because it was wholly sensual. They
+have lied, poor fellows! Your religion is very austere;
+it commands prayer five times a day; it imposes
+the most rigorous fast; it denies you the wine
+and the liquors which our spiritual directors encourage;
+and if it permits only four wives to those
+who can support them&mdash;which are very few&mdash;it condemns
+by this restriction the Jewish incontinence,
+which allowed eighteen wives to the homicide David,
+and seven hundred, without reckoning concubines,
+to Solomon, the assassin of his brother.</p>
+
+<p>I will say to my brother the Chinese: Let us sup
+together without ceremony, for I dislike grimaces;
+but I like your law, the wisest of all, and perhaps the
+most ancient. I will say nearly as much to my
+brother the Indian.</p>
+
+<p>But what shall I say to my brother the Jew?
+Shall I invite him to supper? Yes, on condition
+that, during the repast, Balaam's ass does not take
+it into its head to bray; that Ezekiel does not mix
+his dinner with our supper; that a fish does not
+swallow up one of the guests, and keep him three
+days in his belly; that a serpent does not join in the
+conversation, in order to seduce my wife; that a
+prophet does not think proper to sleep with her, as
+the worthy man, Hosea, did for five francs and a
+bushel of barley; above all, that no Jew parades
+through my house to the sound of the trumpet,
+causes the walls to fall down, and cuts the throats
+of myself, my father, my mother, my wife, my children,
+my cat and my dog, according to the ancient
+practice of the Jews. Come, my friends, let us have
+peace, and say our <i>benedicite</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TOPHET" id="TOPHET"></a>TOPHET.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Tophet was, and is still, a precipice near Jerusalem,
+in the valley of Hinnom, which is a frightful
+place, abounding only in flints. It was in this dreary
+solitude that the Jews immolated their children to
+their god, whom they then called Moloch; for we
+have observed, that they always bestowed a foreign
+name on their god. <i>Shadai</i> was Syrian; <i>Adonai</i>,
+Phœnician; <i>Jehovah</i> was also Phœnician; <i>Eloi</i>,
+<i>Elohim</i>, <i>Eloa</i>, Chaldæan; and in the same manner,
+the names of all their angels were Chaldæan or Persian.
+This we have remarked very particularly.</p>
+
+<p>All these different names equally signify "the
+lord," in the jargon of the petty nations bordering
+on Palestine. The word <i>Moloch</i> is evidently derived
+from <i>Melk</i>, which was the same as <i>Melcom</i> or
+<i>Melcon</i>, the divinity of the thousand women in the
+seraglio of Solomon; to-wit, seven hundred wives
+and three hundred concubines. All these names signify
+"lord": each village had its lord.</p>
+
+<p>Some sages pretend that Moloch was more particularly
+the god of fire; and that it was on that account
+the Jews burned their children in the hollow
+of the idol of this same Moloch. It was a large
+statue of copper, rendered as hideous as the Jews
+could make it. They heated the statue red hot, in
+a large fire, although they had very little fuel, and
+cast their children into the belly of this god, as our
+cooks cast living lobsters into the boiling water of
+their cauldrons. Such were the ancient Celts and
+Tudescans, when they burned children in honor of
+Teutates and Hirminsule. Such the Gallic virtue,
+and the German freedom!</p>
+
+<p>Jeremiah wished, in vain, to detach the Jewish
+people from this diabolical worship. In vain he reproaches
+them with having built a sort of temple
+to Moloch in this abominable valley. "They have
+built high places in Tophet, which is in the valley of
+the children of Hinnom, in order to pass their sons
+and daughters through the fire."</p>
+
+<p>The Jews paid so much the less regard to the reproaches
+of Jeremiah, as they fiercely accused him
+of having sold himself to the king of Babylon; of
+having uniformly prophesied in his favor; and of
+having betrayed his country. In short, he suffered
+the punishment of a traitor; he was stoned to death.</p>
+
+<p>The Book of Kings informs us, that Solomon
+built a temple to Moloch, but it does not say that it
+was in the valley of Tophet, but in the vicinity upon
+the Mount of Olives. The situation was fine, if
+anything can be called fine in the frightful neighborhood
+of Jerusalem.</p>
+
+<p>Some commentators pretend, that Ahaz, king
+of Judah, burned his son in honor of Moloch, and
+that King Manasses was guilty of the same barbarity.
+Other commentators suppose, that these kings
+of the chosen people of God were content with casting
+their children into the flames, but that they were
+not burned to death. I wish that it may have been
+so; but it is very difficult for a child not to be burned
+when placed on a lighted pile.</p>
+
+<p>This valley of Tophet was the "Clamart" of
+Paris, the place where they deposited all the rubbish
+and carrion of the city. It was in this valley
+that they cast loose the scape-goat; it was the place
+in which the bodies of the two criminals were cast
+who suffered with the Son of God; but our Saviour
+did not permit His body, which was given up to the
+executioner, to be cast in the highway of the valley
+of Tophet, according to custom. It is true, that He
+might have risen again in Tophet, as well as in Calvary;
+but a good Jew, named Joseph, a native of
+Arimathea, who had prepared a sepulchre for himself
+on Mount Calvary, placed the body of the Saviour
+therein, according to the testimony of St. Matthew.
+No one was allowed to be buried in the
+towns; even the tomb of David was not in Jerusalem.</p>
+
+<p>Joseph of Arimathea was rich&mdash;"a certain rich
+man of Arimathea,"&mdash;that the prophecy of Isaiah
+might be fulfilled: "And he made his grave with
+the wicked, and with the rich in his death."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TORTURE" id="TORTURE"></a>TORTURE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Though there are few articles of jurisprudence
+in these honest alphabetical reflections, we must,
+however, say a word or two on torture, otherwise
+called "the question"; which is a strange manner of
+questioning men. They were not, however, the simply
+curious who invented it; there is every appearance,
+that this part of our legislation owes its
+first origin to a highwayman. Most of these gentlemen
+are still in the habit of screwing thumbs,
+burning feet, and questioning, by various torments,
+those who refuse to tell them where they have put
+their money.</p>
+
+<p>Conquerors having succeeded these thieves,
+found the invention very useful to their interests;
+they made use of it when they suspected that there
+were bad designs against them: as, for example,
+that of seeking freedom was a crime of high treason,
+human and divine. The accomplices must be known;
+and to accomplish it, those who were suspected were
+made to suffer a thousand deaths, because, according
+to the jurisprudence of these primitive heroes,
+whoever was suspected of merely having a disrespectful
+opinion of them, was worthy of death. As
+soon as they have thus merited death, it signifies little
+whether they had frightful torments for several
+days, and even weeks previously&mdash;a practice which
+savors, I know not how, of the Divinity. Providence
+sometimes puts us to the torture by employing
+the stone, gravel, gout, scrofula, leprosy, smallpox;
+by tearing the entrails, by convulsions of the
+nerves,-and other executors of the vengeance of
+Providence.</p>
+
+<p>Now, as the first despots were, in the eyes of
+their courtiers, images of the Divinity, they imitated
+it as much as they could. What is very singular is,
+that the question, or torture, is never spoken of in
+the Jewish books. It is a great pity that so mild,
+honest, and compassionate a nation knew not this
+method of discovering the truth. In my opinion,
+the reason is, that they had no need of it. God always
+made it known to them as to His cherished
+people. Sometimes they played at dice to discover
+the truth, and the suspected culprit always had
+double sixes. Sometimes they went to the high
+priest, who immediately consulted God by the urim
+and thummim. Sometimes they addressed themselves
+to the seer and prophet; and you may believe
+that the seer and prophet discovered the most hidden
+things, as well as the urim and thummim of the
+high priest. The people of God were not reduced,
+like ourselves, to interrogating and conjecturing;
+and therefore torture could not be in use among
+them, which was the only thing wanting to complete
+the manners of that holy people. The Romans
+inflicted torture on slaves alone, but slaves were not
+considered as men. Neither is there any appearance
+that a counsellor of the criminal court regards
+as one of his fellow-creatures, a man who is brought
+to him wan, pale, distorted, with sunken eyes, long
+and dirty beard, covered with vermin with which
+he has been tormented in a dungeon. He gives himself
+the pleasure of applying to him the major and
+minor torture, in the presence of a surgeon, who
+counts his pulse until he is in danger of death, after
+which they recommence; and as the comedy of the
+"Plaideurs" pleasantly says, "that serves to pass
+away an hour or two."</p>
+
+<p>The grave magistrate, who for money has bought
+the right of making these experiments on his neighbor,
+relates to his wife, at dinner, that which has
+passed in the morning. The first time, madam shudders
+at it; the second, she takes some pleasure in
+it, because, after all, women are curious; and afterwards,
+the first thing she says when he enters is:
+"My dear, have you tortured anybody to-day?" The
+French, who are considered, I know not why, a very
+humane people, are astonished that the English, who
+have had the inhumanity to take all Canada from
+us, have renounced the pleasure of putting the question.</p>
+
+<p>When the Chevalier de Barre, the grandson of
+a lieutenant-general of the army, a young man of
+much sense and great expectations, but possessing
+all the giddiness of unbridled youth, was convicted
+of having sung impious songs, and even of having
+dared to pass before a procession of Capuchins without
+taking his hat off, the judges of Abbeville, men
+comparable to Roman senators, ordered not only
+that his tongue should be torn out, that his hands
+should be torn off, and his body burned at a slow
+fire, but they further applied the torture, to know
+precisely how many songs he had sung, and how
+many processions he had seen with his hat on his
+head.</p>
+
+<p>It was not in the thirteenth or fourteenth century
+that this affair happened; it was in the eighteenth.
+Foreign nations judge of France by its spectacles,
+romances, and pretty verses; by opera girls who
+have very sweet manners, by opera dancers who posssess
+grace; by Mademoiselle Clairon, who declaims
+delightfully. They know not that, under all, there
+is not a more cruel nation than the French. The
+Russians were considered barbarians in 1700; this
+is only the year 1769; yet an empress has just given
+to this great state laws which would do honor to
+Minos, Numa, or Solon, if they had had intelligence
+enough to invent them. The most remarkable is universal
+tolerance; the second is the abolition of torture.
+Justice and humanity have guided her pen;
+she has reformed all. Woe to a nation which, being
+more civilized, is still led by ancient atrocious customs!
+"Why should we change our jurisprudence?"
+say we. "Europe is indebted to us for cooks, tailors,
+and wig-makers; therefore, our laws are good."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TRANSUBSTANTIATION" id="TRANSUBSTANTIATION"></a>TRANSUBSTANTIATION.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Protestants, and above all, philosophical Protestants,
+regard transubstantiation as the most signal
+proof of extreme impudence in monks, and of imbecility
+in laymen. They hold no terms with this
+belief, which they call monstrous, and assert that
+it is impossible for a man of good sense ever to have
+believed in it. It is, say they, so absurd, so contrary
+to every physical law, and so contradictory, it would
+be a sort of annihilation of God, to suppose Him capable
+of such inconsistency. Not only a god in a
+wafer, but a god in the place of a wafer; a thousand
+crumbs of bread become in an instant so many gods,
+which an innumerable crowd of gods make only one
+god. Whiteness without a white substance; roundness
+without rotundity of body; wine changed into
+blood, retaining the taste of wine; bread changed
+into flesh and into fibres, still preserving the taste
+of bread&mdash;all this inspires such a degree of horror
+and contempt in the enemies of the Catholic, apostolic,
+and Roman religion, that it sometimes insensibly
+verges into rage.</p>
+
+<p>Their horror augments when they are told that,
+in Catholic countries, are monks who rise from a bed
+of impurity, and with unwashed hands make gods
+by hundreds; who eat and drink these gods, and
+reduce them to the usual consequences of such an
+operation. But when they reflect that this superstition,
+a thousand times more absurd and sacrilegious
+than those of Egypt, produces for an Italian
+priest from fifteen to twenty millions of revenue,
+and the domination of a country containing a hundred
+thousand square leagues, they are ready to
+march with their arms in their hands and drive
+away this priest from the palace of Cæsar. I know
+not if I shall be of the party, because I love peace;
+but when established at Rome, I will certainly pay
+them a visit.&mdash;By M. GUILLAUME, a Protestant
+minister.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TRINITY" id="TRINITY"></a>TRINITY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The first among the Westerns who spoke of the
+Trinity was Timæus of Locri, in his "Soul of the
+World." First came the Idea, the perpetual model
+or archetype of all things engendered; that is to
+say, the first "Word," the internal and intelligible
+"Word." Afterwards, the unformed mode, the second
+word, or the word spoken. Lastly, the "son,"
+or sensible world, or the spirit of the world. These
+three qualities constitute the entire world, which
+world is the Son of God "Monogenes." He has a
+soul and possessed reason; he is "<i>empsukos, logikos</i>."</p>
+
+<p>God, wishing to make a very fine God, has engendered
+one: "<i>Touton epoie theon genaton.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult clearly to comprehend the system
+of Timæus, which he perhaps derived from the
+Egyptians or Brahmins. I know not whether it was
+well understood in his time. It is like decayed and
+rusty medals, the motto of which is effaced: it could
+be read formerly; at present, we put what construction
+we please upon it.</p>
+
+<p>It does not appear that this sublime balderdash
+made much progress until the time of Plato. It was
+buried in oblivion, and Plato raised it up. He constructed
+his edifice in the air, but on the model of
+Timæus. He admits three divine essences: the
+Father, the Supreme Creator, the Parent of other
+gods, is the first essence. The second is the visible
+God, the minister of the invisible one, the "Word,"
+the understanding, the great spirit. The third is the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>It is true, that Plato sometimes says quite different
+and even quite contrary things; it is the privilege
+of the Greek philosophers; and Plato has made
+use of his right more than any of the ancients or
+moderns. A Greek wind wafted these philosophical
+clouds from Athens to Alexandria, a town prodigiously
+infatuated with two things&mdash;money and
+chimeras. There were Jews in Alexandria who,
+having made their fortunes, turned philosophers.</p>
+
+<p>Metaphysics have this advantage, that they require
+no very troublesome preliminaries. We may
+know all about them without having learned anything;
+and a little to those who have at once subtle
+and very false minds, will go a great way. Philo
+the Jew was a philosopher of this kind; he was contemporary
+with Jesus Christ; but he has the misfortune
+of not knowing Him any more than Josephus
+the historian. These two considerable men,
+employed in the chaos of affairs of state, were too far
+distant from the dawning light. This Philo had quite
+a metaphysical, allegorical, mystical head. It was he
+who said that God must have formed the world in
+six days; he formed it, according to Zoroaster, in
+six times, "because three is the half of six and two
+is the third of it; and this number is male and female."</p>
+
+<p>This same man, infatuated with the ideas of
+Plato, says, in speaking of drunkenness, that God
+and wisdom married, and that wisdom was delivered
+of a well-beloved son, which son is the world.
+He calls the angels the words of God, and the world
+the word of God&mdash;"<i>logon tou Theou</i>."</p>
+
+<p>As to Flavius Josephus, he was a man of war
+who had never heard of the logos, and who held
+to the dogmas of the Pharisees, who were solely
+attached to their traditions. From the Jews of Alexandria,
+this Platonic philosophy proceeded to
+those of Jerusalem. Soon, all the school of Alexandria,
+which was the only learned one, was Platonic;
+and Christians who philosophized, no longer spoke
+of anything but the <i>logos</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We know that it was in disputes of that time the
+same as in those of the present. To one badly understood
+passage, was tacked another unintelligible
+one to which it had no relation. A second was inferred
+from them, a third was falsified, and they
+fabricated whole books which they attributed to authors
+respected by the multitude. We have seen a
+hundred examples of it in the article on
+"Apocrypha."</p>
+
+<p>Dear reader, for heaven's sake cast your eyes on
+this passage of Clement the Alexandrian: "When
+Plato says, that it is difficult to know the Father of
+the universe, he demonstrates by that, not only that
+the world has been engendered, but that it has been
+engendered as the Son of God."</p>
+
+<p>Do you understand these logomachies, these equivoques?
+Do you see the least light in this chaos
+of obscure expressions? Oh, Locke! Locke! come
+and define these terms. In all these Platonic disputes
+I believe there was not a single one understood.
+They distinguished two words, the "<i>logos
+endiathetos</i>"&mdash;the word in thought, and the word
+produced&mdash;"<i>logos prophorikos.</i>" They had the eternity
+from one word, and the prolation, the emanation
+from another word.</p>
+
+<p>The book of "Apostolic Constitutions," an ancient
+monument of fraud, but also an ancient depository
+of these obscure times, expresses itself thus:
+"The Father, who is anterior to all generation, all
+commencement, having created all by His only Son,
+has engendered this Son without a medium, by His
+will and His power."</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards Origen advanced, that the Holy
+Spirit was created by the Son, by the word. After
+that came Eusebius of Cæsarea, who taught that the
+spirit paraclete is neither of Father nor Son. The
+advocate Lactantius flourished in that time.</p>
+
+<p>"The Son of God," says he, "is the word, as the
+other angels are the spirits of God. The word is a
+spirit uttered by a significant voice, the spirit proceeding
+from the nose, and the word from the
+mouth. It follows, that there is a difference
+between the Son of God and the other angels;
+those being emanated like tacit and silent spirits;
+while the Son, being a spirit proceeding from the
+mouth, possesses sound and voice to preach to the
+people."</p>
+
+<p>It must be confessed, that Lactantius pleaded his
+cause in a strange manner. It was truly reasoning
+a la Plato, and very powerful reasoning. It was
+about this time that, among the very violent disputes
+on the Trinity, this famous verse was inserted
+in the First Epistle of St. John: "There are three
+that bear witness in earth&mdash;the word or spirit, the
+water, and the blood; and these three are one."</p>
+
+<p>Those who pretend that this verse is truly St.
+John's, are much more embarrassed than those who
+deny it; for they must explain it. St. Augustine
+says, that the spirit signifies the Father, water the
+Holy Ghost, and by blood is meant the Word. This
+explanation is fine, but it still leaves a little confusion.</p>
+
+<p>St Irenæus goes much farther; he says, that Rahab,
+the prostitute of Jericho, in concealing three
+spies of the people of God, concealed the Father,
+Son, and Holy Ghost; which is strong, but not consistent.
+On the other hand, the great and learned
+Origen confounds us in a different way. The following
+is one of many of his passages: "The Son
+is as much below the Father as He and the Holy
+Ghost are above the most noble creatures."</p>
+
+<p>What can be said after that? How can we help
+confessing, with grief, that nobody understands it?
+How can we help confessing, that from the first&mdash;from
+the primitive Christians, the Ebionites, those
+men so mortified and so pious, who always revered
+Jesus though they believed Him to be the son of
+Joseph&mdash;until the great controversy of Athanasius,
+the Platonism of the Trinity was always a subject
+of quarrels. A supreme judge was absolutely required
+to decide, and he was at last found in the
+Council of Nice, which council afterwards produced
+new factions and wars.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">EXPLANATION OF THE TRINITY, ACCORDING TO ABAUZIT.</p>
+
+<p>"We can speak with exactness of the manner in
+which the union of God and Jesus Christ exists, only
+by relating the three opinions which exist on this
+subject, and by making reflections on each of them.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Opinion of the Orthodox.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The first opinion is that of the orthodox. They
+establish, 1st&mdash;A distinction of three persons in
+the divine essence, before the coming of Jesus Christ
+into the world; 2nd&mdash;That the second of these persons
+is united to the human nature of Jesus Christ;
+3rd&mdash;That the union is so strict, that by it Jesus
+Christ is God; that we can attribute to Him the
+creation of the world, and all divine perfections;
+and that we can adore Him with a supreme worship.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Opinion of the Unitarians.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The second is that of the Unitarians. Not conceiving
+the distinction of persons in the Divinity,
+they establish, 1st&mdash;That divinity is united to the
+human nature of Jesus Christ; 2nd&mdash;That this union
+is such that we can say, that Jesus Christ is God;
+that we can attribute to Him the creation of the
+world, and all divine perfections, and adore Him
+with a supreme worship.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Opinion of the Socinians.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The third opinion is that of the Socinians, who,
+like the Unitarians, not conceiving any distinction
+of persons in the Divinity, establish, 1st&mdash;That divinity
+is united to the human nature of Jesus Christ;
+2nd&mdash;That this union is very strict; 3rd&mdash;That it
+is not such that we can call Jesus Christ God, or
+attribute divine perfections and the creation to Him,
+or adore Him with a supreme worship; and they
+think that all the passages of Scripture may be explained
+without admitting any of these things.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Reflections on the First Opinion.</i></p>
+
+<p>"In the distinction which is made of three persons
+in the Divinity, we either retain the common
+idea of persons, or we do not. If we retain the
+common idea of persons, we establish three gods;
+that is certain. If we do not establish the ordinary
+idea of three persons, it is no longer any more than
+a distinction of properties; which agrees with the
+second opinion. Or if we will not allow that it
+is a distinction of persons, properly speaking, we
+establish a distinction of which we have no idea.
+There is no appearance, that to imagine a distinction
+in God, of which we can have no idea, Scripture
+would put men in danger of becoming idolaters,
+by multiplying the Divinity. It is besides surprising
+that this distinction of persons having always existed,
+it should only be since the coming of Jesus
+Christ that it has been revealed, and that it is necessary
+to know them.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Reflections on the Second Opinion.</i></p>
+
+<p>"There is not, indeed, so great danger of precipitating
+men into idolatry in the second opinion
+as in the first; but it must be confessed that it is not
+entirely exempt from it. Indeed, as by the nature of
+the union which it establishes between divinity and
+the human nature of Jesus Christ, we can call him
+God and worship him, but there are two objects of
+adoration&mdash;Jesus Christ and God. I confess it may
+be said, that it is God whom we should worship in
+Jesus Christ; but who knows not the extreme inclination
+which men have to change invisible objects
+of worship into objects which fall under the
+senses, or at least under the imagination?&mdash;an inclination
+which they will here gratify without the
+least scruple, since they say that divinity is personally
+united to the humanity of Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Reflections on the Third Opinion.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The third opinion, besides being very simple,
+and conformable to the ideas of reason, is not subject
+to any similar danger of throwing men into
+idolatry. Though by this opinion Jesus Christ can
+be no more than a simple man, it need not be feared
+that by that He can be confounded with prophets or
+saints of the first order. In this sentiment there
+always remains a difference between them and Him.
+As we can imagine, almost to the utmost, the degrees
+of union of divinity with humanity, so we can
+conceive, that in particular the union of divinity with
+Jesus Christ has so high a degree of knowledge,
+power, felicity, perfection, and dignity, that there
+is always an immense distance between him and the
+greatest prophets. It remains only to see whether
+this opinion can agree with Scripture, and whether
+it be true that the title of God, divine perfections,
+creation, and supreme worship, are not attributed
+to Jesus Christ in the Gospels."</p>
+
+<p>It was for the philosopher Abauzit to see all
+this. For myself I submit, with my heart and mouth
+and pen, to all that the Catholic church has decided,
+and to all that it may decide on any other such
+dogma. I will add but one word more on the Trinity,
+which is a decision of Calvin's that we have on
+this mystery. This is it:</p>
+
+<p>"In case any person prove heterodox, and scruples
+using the words Trinity and Person, we believe
+not that this can be a reason for rejecting him; we
+should support him without driving him from the
+Church, and without exposing him to any censure
+as a heretic."</p>
+
+<p>It was after such a solemn declaration as this,
+that John Calvin&mdash;the aforesaid Calvin, the son of a
+cooper of Noyon&mdash;caused Michael Servetus to be
+burned at Geneva by a slow fire with green fagots.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TRUTH" id="TRUTH"></a>TRUTH.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Pilate therefore said unto him, 'Art thou a king
+then?' Jesus answered, 'Thou sayest that I am a
+king. To this end was I born, and for this cause
+came I into the world, that I should bear witness
+unto truth: every one that is of the truth heareth
+my voice.' Pilate saith unto him, 'What is truth?'
+and when he had said this, he went out," etc.&mdash;St.
+John, chap. xviii.</p>
+
+<p>It is a pity for mankind that Pilate went out,
+without hearing the reply: we should then have
+known what truth is. Pilate was not very curious.
+The accused, brought before him, told him that he
+was a king, that he was born to be a king, and he informs
+himself not how this can be. He was supreme
+judge in the name of Cæsar, he had the power of the
+sword, his duty was to penetrate into the meaning
+of these words. He should have said: Tell me
+what you understand by being king? how are you
+born to be king, and to bear witness unto the truth?
+It is said that you can only arrive at the ear of
+kings with difficulty; I, who am a judge, have always
+had extreme trouble in reaching it. Inform
+me, while your enemies cry outside against you;
+and you will render me the greatest service ever
+rendered to a judge. I would rather learn to know
+the truth, than condescend to the tumultuous demand
+of the Jews, who wish me to hang you.</p>
+
+<p>We doubtless dare not pretend to guess what the
+Author of all truth would have said to Pilate.
+Would he have said: "Truth is an abstract word
+which most men use indifferently in their books and
+judgments, for error and falsehood"? This definition
+would be wonderfully convenient to all makers
+of systems. Thus the word wisdom is often taken
+for folly, and wit for nonsense. Humanly speaking,
+let us define truth, to better understand that which is
+declared&mdash;such as it is.</p>
+
+<p>Suppose that six months only had been taken to
+teach Pilate the truths of logic he would doubtless
+have made this concluding syllogism: A man's life
+should not have been taken away who has only
+preached a good doctrine; now he who is brought
+before me, according even to his enemies, has often
+preached an excellent doctrine; therefore, he should
+not be punished with death.</p>
+
+<p>He might also have inferred this other argument:
+My duty is to dissipate the riots of a seditious people,
+who demand the death of a man without reason
+or juridical form; now such are the Jews on this
+occasion; therefore I should send them away, and
+break up their assembly. We take for granted that
+Pilate knew arithmetic; we will not therefore speak
+of these kinds of truths.</p>
+
+<p>As to mathematical truths, I believe that he
+would have required three years at least before he
+would have been acquainted with transcendent
+geometry. The truths of physics, combined with
+those of geometry, would have required more than
+four years. We generally consume six years in
+studying theology; I ask twelve for Pilate, considering
+that he was a Pagan, and that six years
+would not have been too many to root out all his
+old errors, and six more to put him in a state worthy
+to receive the bonnet of a doctor. If Pilate had a
+well organized head, I would only have demanded
+two years to teach him metaphysical truths, and as
+these truths are necessarily united with those of
+morality, I flatter myself that in less than nine
+years Pilate would have become a truly learned and
+perfectly honest man.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Historical Truths.</i></p>
+
+<p>I should afterwards have said to Pilate: Historical
+truths are but probabilities. If you have
+fought at the battle of Philippi, it is to you a truth,
+which you know by intuition, by sentiment; but to
+us who live near the desert of Syria, it is merely
+a probable thing, which we know by hearsay. How
+can we, from report, form a persuasion equal to that
+of a man, who having seen the thing, can boast of
+feeling a kind of certainty?</p>
+
+<p>He who has heard the thing told by twelve
+thousand ocular witnesses, has only twelve thousand
+probabilities equal to one strong one, which is not
+equal to certainty. If you have the thing from only
+one of these witnesses, you are sure of nothing&mdash;you
+must doubt. If the witness is dead, you must
+doubt still more, for you can enlighten yourself no
+further. If from several deceased witnesses, you
+are in the same state. If from those to whom the
+witnesses have only spoken, the doubt is still augmented.
+From generation to generation the doubt
+augments, and the probability diminishes, and the
+probability is soon reduced to zero.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Of the Degrees of Truth, According to Which the
+Accused are Judged.</i></p>
+
+<p>We can be made accountable to justice either for
+deeds or words. If for deeds, they must be as certain
+as will be the punishment to which you will condemn
+the prisoner; if, for example, you have but
+twenty probabilities against him, these twenty probabilities
+cannot equal the certainty of his death.
+If you would have as many probabilities as are required
+to be sure that you shed not innocent blood,
+they must be the fruit of the unanimous evidences
+of witnesses who have no interest in deposing.
+From this concourse of probabilities, a strong
+opinion will be formed, which will serve to excuse
+your judgment; but as you will never have entire
+certainty, you cannot flatter yourself with knowing
+the truth perfectly. Consequently you should always
+lean towards mercy rather than towards rigor. If
+it concerns only facts, from which neither manslaughter
+nor mutilation have resulted, it is evident
+that you should neither cause the accused to be put
+to death nor mutilated.</p>
+
+<p>If the question is only of words, it is still more
+evident that you should not cause one of your fellow-creatures
+to be hanged for the manner in which
+he has used his tongue; for all the words in the
+world being but agitated air, at least if they have
+not caused murder, it is ridiculous to condemn a
+man to death for having agitated the air. Put all
+the idle words which have been uttered into one
+scale, and into the other the blood of a man, and
+the blood will weigh down. Now, if he who has
+been brought before you is only accused of some
+words which his enemies have taken in a certain
+sense, all that you can do is to repeat these words to
+him, which he will explain in the sense he intended;
+but to deliver an innocent man to the most cruel and
+ignominious punishment, for words that his enemies
+do not comprehend, is too barbarous. You make the
+life of a man of no more importance than that of a
+lizard; and too many judges resemble you.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TYRANNY" id="TYRANNY"></a>TYRANNY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no
+laws but his caprice; who takes the property of his
+subjects, and afterwards enlists them to go and take
+that of his neighbors. We have none of these
+tyrants in Europe. We distinguish the tyranny of
+one and that of many. The tyranny of several is
+that of a body which would invade the rights of
+other bodies, and which would exercise despotism
+by favor of laws which it corrupts. Neither are
+there any tyrannies of this kind in Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Under what tyranny should you like best to live?
+Under none; but if I must choose, I should less
+detest the tyranny of a single one, than that of many.
+A despot has always some good moments; an assemblage
+of despots, never. If a tyrant does me
+an injustice, I can disarm him through his mistress,
+his confessor, or his page; but a company of tyrants
+is inaccessible to all seductions. When they are not
+unjust, they are harsh, and they never dispense
+favors. If I have but one despot, I am at liberty to set
+myself against a wall when I see him pass, to prostrate
+myself, or to strike my forehead against the
+ground, according to the custom of the country;
+but if there is a company of a hundred tyrants, I
+am liable to repeat this ceremony a hundred times
+a day, which is very tiresome to those who have
+not supple joints. If I have a farm in the neighborhood
+of one of our lords, I am crushed; if I complain
+against a relative of the relatives of any one
+of our lords, I am ruined. How must I act? I fear
+that in this world we are reduced to being either
+the anvil or the hammer; happy at least is he who
+escapes this alternative.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TYRANT" id="TYRANT"></a>TYRANT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Tyrannos," formerly "he who had contrived to
+draw the principal authority to himself"; as "king,"
+"Basileus," signified "he who was charged with relating
+affairs to the senate." The acceptations of
+words change with time. "Idiot" at first meant only
+a hermit, an isolated man; in time it became synonymous
+with fool. At present the name of "tyrant" is
+given to a usurper, or to a king who commits violent
+and unjust actions.</p>
+
+<p>Cromwell was a tyrant of both these kinds. A
+citizen who usurps the supreme authority, who in
+spite of all laws suppresses the house of peers, is
+without doubt a usurper. A general who cuts the
+throat of a king, his prisoner of war, at once violates
+what is called the laws of nations, and those of
+humanity.</p>
+
+<p>Charles I. was not a tyrant, though the victorious
+faction gave him that name; he was, it is said, obstinate,
+weak, and ill-advised. I will not be certain,
+for I did not know him; but I am certain that he
+was very unfortunate.</p>
+
+<p>Henry VIII. was a tyrant in his government as
+in his family, and alike covered with the blood of
+two innocent wives, and that of the most virtuous
+citizens; he merits the execrations of posterity.
+Yet he was not punished, and Charles I. died on a
+scaffold.</p>
+
+<p>Elizabeth committed an act of tyranny, and her
+parliament one of infamous weakness, in causing
+Queen Mary Stuart to be assassinated by an executioner;
+but in the rest of her government she was
+not tyrannical; she was clever and manœuvering,
+but prudent and strong.</p>
+
+<p>Richard III. was a barbarous tyrant; but he was
+punished. Pope Alexander VI. was a more execrable
+tyrant than any of these, and he was fortunate
+in all his undertakings. Christian II. was as wicked
+a tyrant as Alexander VI., and was punished, but
+not sufficiently so.</p>
+
+<p>If we were to reckon Turkish, Greek, and Roman
+tyrants, we should find as many fortunate as the
+contrary. When I say fortunate, I speak according
+to the vulgar prejudice, the ordinary acceptation of
+the word, according to appearances; for that they
+can be really happy, that their minds can be contented
+and tranquil, appears to me to be impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Constantine the Great was evidently a tyrant in
+a double sense. In the north of England he usurped
+the crown of the Roman Empire, at the head of
+some foreign legions, notwithstanding all the laws,
+and in spite of the senate and the people, who legitimately
+elected Maxentius. He passed all his life
+in crime, voluptuousness, fraud, and imposture. He
+was not punished, but was he happy? God knows;
+but I know that his subjects were not so.</p>
+
+<p>The great Theodosius was the most abominable
+of tyrants, when, under pretence of giving a feast,
+he caused fifteen thousand Roman citizens to be
+murdered in the circus, with their wives and children,
+and when he added to this horror the facetiousness
+of passing some months without going to tire
+himself at high mass. This Theodosius has almost
+been placed in the ranks of the blessed; but I should
+be very sorry if he were happy on earth. In all
+cases it would be well to assure tyrants that they
+will never be happy in this world, as it is well to
+make our stewards and cooks believe that they will
+be eternally damned if they rob us.</p>
+
+<p>The tyrants of the Lower Greek Empire were
+almost all dethroned or assassinated by one another.
+All these great offenders were by turns the executioners
+of human and divine vengeance. Among
+the Turkish tyrants, we see as many deposed as
+those who die in possession of the throne. With
+regard to subaltern tyrants, or the lower order of
+monsters who burden their masters with the execration
+with which they are loaded, the number of these
+Hamans, these Sejanuses, is infinite.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="UNIVERSITY" id="UNIVERSITY"></a>UNIVERSITY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Du Boulay, in his "History of the University of
+Paris," adopts the old, uncertain, not to say fabulous
+tradition, which carries its origin to the time
+of Charlemagne. It is true that such is the opinion
+of Guagin and of Gilles de Beauvais; but in addition
+to the fact that contemporary authors, as Eginhard,
+Almon, Reginon, and Sigebert make no mention of
+this establishment; Pasquier and Du Tillet expressly
+assert that it commenced in the twelfth century
+under the reigns of Louis the Young and of
+Philip Augustus.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the first statutes of the university were
+drawn up by Robert de Coceon, legate of the pope,
+in the year 1215, which proves that it received from
+the first the form it retains at present; because a
+bull of Gregory IX., of the year 1231, makes mention
+of masters of theology, masters of law, physicians,
+and lastly, artists. The name "university"
+originated in the supposition that these four bodies,
+termed faculties, constituted a universality of studies;
+that is to say, that they comprehended all which
+could be cultivated.</p>
+
+<p>The popes, by the means of these establishments,
+of the decisions of which they made themselves
+judges, became masters of the instruction of the
+people; and the same spirit which made the permission
+granted to the members of the Parliament
+of Paris to inter themselves in the habits of Cordeliers,
+be regarded as an especial favor&mdash;as related
+in the article on "Quête"&mdash;dictated the decrees
+pronounced by that sovereign court against all
+who dared to oppose an unintelligible scholastic system,
+which, according to the confession of the abbé
+Triteme, was only a false science that had vitiated
+religion. In fact, that which Constantine had only
+insinuated with respect to the Cumæan Sibyl, has
+been expressly asserted of Aristotle. Cardinal Pallavicini
+supported the maxim of I know not what
+monk Paul, who pleasantly observed, that without
+Aristotle the Church would have been deficient in
+some of her articles of faith.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the celebrated Ramus, having composed
+two works in which he opposed the doctrine of
+Aristotle taught in the universities, would have been
+sacrificed to the fury of his ignorant rival, had not
+King Francis I. referred to his own judgment the
+process commenced in Paris between Ramus and
+Anthony Govea. One of the principal complaints
+against Ramus related to the manner in which he
+taught his disciples to pronounce the letter Q.</p>
+
+<p>Ramus was not the only disputant persecuted for
+these grave absurdities. In the year 1624, the Parliament
+of Paris banished from its district three
+persons who wished to maintain theses openly
+against Aristotle. Every person was forbidden to
+sell or to circulate the propositions contained in
+these theses, on pain of corporal punishment, or to
+teach any opinion against ancient and approved
+authors, on pain of death.</p>
+
+<p>The remonstrances of the Sorbonne, in consequence
+of which the same parliament issued a decision
+against the chemists, in the year 1629, testified
+that it was impossible to impeach the principles
+of Aristotle, without at the same time impeaching
+those of the scholastic theology received by the
+Church. In the meantime, the faculty having
+issued, in 1566, a decree forbidding the use of
+antimony, and the parliament having confirmed the
+said decree, Paumier de Caen, a great chemist and
+celebrated physician of Paris, for not conforming
+to it, was degraded in the year 1609. Lastly, antimony
+being afterwards inserted in the books of
+medicines, composed by order of the faculty in the
+year 1637, the said faculty permitted the use of it
+in 1666, a century after having forbidden it, which
+decision the parliament confirmed by a new decree.
+Thus the university followed the example of the
+Church, which finally proscribed the doctrine of
+Arius, under pain of death, and approved the word
+"consubstantial," which it had previously condemned&mdash;as
+we have seen in the article on "Councils."</p>
+
+<p>What we have observed of the university of
+Paris, may serve to give us an idea of other universities,
+of which it was regarded as the model.
+In fact, in imitation of it, eighty universities passed
+the same decree as the Sorbonne in the fourteenth
+century; to wit, that when the cap of a doctor was
+bestowed, the candidate should be made to swear
+that he will maintain the immaculate conception of
+the Virgin Mary; which he did not regard, however,
+as an article of faith, but as a Catholic and
+pious opinion.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="USAGES" id="USAGES"></a>USAGES.</h3>
+
+<h4><i>Contemptible Customs do not Always Imply a
+Contemptible Nation.</i></h4>
+
+<p>There are cases in which we must not judge of
+a nation by its usages and popular superstitions.
+Suppose Cæsar, after having conquered Egypt,
+wishing to make commerce flourish in the Roman
+Empire, had sent an embassy to China by the port
+of Arsinoë, the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The
+emperor Yventi, the first of the name, then reigned
+in China; the Chinese annals represent him to us
+as a very wise and learned prince. After receiving
+the ambassadors of Cæsar with all Chinese politeness,
+he secretly informs himself through his interpreter
+of the customs, the usages, sciences, and
+religion of the Roman people, as celebrated in the
+West as the Chinese people are in the East. He
+first learns that their priests have regulated their
+years in so absurd a manner, that the sun has
+already entered the celestial signs of Spring when
+the Romans celebrate the first feasts of Winter. He
+learns that this nation at a great expense supports
+a college of priests, who know exactly the time in
+which they must embark, and when they should
+give battle, by the inspection of a bullock's liver, or
+the manner in which fowls eat grain. This sacred
+science was formerly taught to the Romans by a
+little god named Tages, who came out of the earth
+in Tuscany. These people adore a supreme and
+only God, whom they always call a very great and
+very good God; yet they have built a temple to a
+courtesan named Flora, and the good women of
+Rome have almost all little gods&mdash;Penates&mdash;in their
+houses, about four or five inches high. One of
+these little divinities is the goddess of bosoms,
+another that of posteriors. They have even a divinity
+whom they call the god <i>Pet</i>. The emperor
+Yventi began to laugh; and the tribunals of Nankin
+at first think with him that the Roman ambassadors
+are knaves or impostors, who have taken the title
+of envoys of the Roman Republic; but as the emperor
+is as just as he is polite, he has particular
+conversations with them. He then learns that the
+Roman priests were very ignorant, but that Cæsar
+actually reformed the calendar. They confess to
+him that the college of augurs was established in
+the time of their early barbarity, that they have
+allowed this ridiculous institution, become dear to
+a people long ignorant, to exist, but that all sensible
+people laugh at the augurs; that Cæsar never consulted
+them; that, according to the account of a
+very great man named Cato, no augur could ever
+look another in the face without laughing; and
+finally, that Cicero, the greatest orator and best
+philosopher of Rome, wrote a little work against
+the augurs, entitled "Of Divination," in which he
+delivers up to eternal ridicule all the predictions
+and sorceries of soothsayers with which the earth
+is infatuated. The emperor of China has the curiosity
+to read this book of Cicero; the interpreters
+translate it; and in consequence he admires at once
+the book and the Roman Republic.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VAMPIRES" id="VAMPIRES"></a>VAMPIRES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>What! is it in our eighteenth century that vampires
+exist? Is it after the reigns of Locke, Shaftesbury,
+Trenchard, and Collins? Is it under those of
+d'Alembert, Diderot, St. Lambert, and Duclos that
+we believe in vampires, and that the reverend father
+Dom Calmet, Benedictine priest of the congregation
+of St. Vannes, and St. Hidulphe, abbé of Senon&mdash;an
+abbey of a hundred thousand livres a year, in
+the neighborhood of two other abbeys of the same
+revenue&mdash;has printed and reprinted the history of
+vampires, with the approbation of the Sorbonne,
+signed Marcilli?</p>
+
+<p>These vampires were corpses, who went out of
+their graves at night to suck the blood of the living,
+either at their throats or stomachs, after which they
+returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked
+waned, grew pale, and fell into consumption; while
+the sucking corpses grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed
+an excellent appetite. It was in Poland, Hungary,
+Silesia, Moravia, Austria, and Lorraine, that the
+dead made this good cheer. We never heard a word
+of vampires in London, nor even at Paris. I confess
+that in both these cities there were stock-jobbers,
+brokers, and men of business, who sucked the blood
+of the people in broad daylight; but they were not
+dead, though corrupted. These true suckers lived
+not in cemeteries, but in very agreeable palaces.</p>
+
+<p>Who would believe that we derive the idea of
+vampires from Greece? Not from the Greece of
+Alexander, Aristotle, Plato, Epicurus, and Demosthenes;
+but from Christian Greece, unfortunately
+schismatic. For a long time Christians of the Greek
+rite have imagined that the bodies of Christians of
+the Latin church, buried in Greece, do not decay,
+because they are excommunicated. This is precisely
+the contrary to that of us Christians of the
+Latin church, who believe that corpses which do not
+corrupt are marked with the seal of eternal beatitude.
+So much so, indeed, that when we have paid
+a hundred thousand crowns to Rome, to give them a
+saint's brevet, we adore them with the worship of
+"<i>dulia</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The Greeks are persuaded that these dead are
+sorcerers; they call them "<i>broucolacas</i>," or "<i>vroucolacas</i>,"
+according as they pronounce the second
+letter of the alphabet. The Greek corpses go into
+houses to suck the blood of little children, to eat
+the supper of the fathers and mothers, drink their
+wine, and break all the furniture. They can only
+be put to rights by burning them when they are
+caught. But the precaution must be taken of not
+putting them into the fire until after their hearts are
+torn out, which must be burned separately. The
+celebrated Tournefort, sent into the Levant by Louis
+XIV., as well as so many other virtuosi, was witness
+of all the acts attributed to one of these "<i>broucolacas</i>,"
+and to this ceremony.</p>
+
+<p>After slander, nothing is communicated more
+promptly than superstition, fanaticism, sorcery, and
+tales of those raised from the dead. There were
+"<i>broucolacas</i>" in Wallachia, Moldavia, and some
+among the Polanders, who are of the Romish
+church. This superstition being absent, they acquired
+it, and it went through all the east of Germany.
+Nothing was spoken of but vampires, from
+1730 to 1735; they were laid in wait for, their
+hearts torn out and burned. They resembled the
+ancient martyrs&mdash;the more they were burned, the
+more they abounded.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, Calmet became their historian, and
+treated vampires as he treated the Old and New
+Testaments, by relating faithfully all that has been
+said before him.</p>
+
+<p>The most curious things, in my opinion, were the
+verbal suits juridically conducted, concerning the
+dead who went from their tombs to suck the little
+boys and girls of their neighborhood. Calmet relates
+that in Hungary two officers, delegated by the
+emperor Charles VI., assisted by the bailiff of the
+place and an executioner, held an inquest on a vampire,
+who had been dead six weeks, and who had
+sucked all the neighborhood. They found him in
+his coffin, fresh and jolly, with his eyes open, and
+asking for food. The bailiff passed his sentence;
+the executioner tore out the vampire's heart, and
+burned it, after which he feasted no more.</p>
+
+<p>Who, after this, dares to doubt of the resuscitated
+dead, with which our ancient legends are filled, and
+of all the miracles related by Bollandus, and the sincere
+and revered Dom Ruinart? You will find
+stories of vampires in the "Jewish Letters" of
+d'Argens, whom the Jesuit authors of the "Journal
+of Trévoux" have accused of believing nothing. It
+should be observed how they triumph in the history
+of the vampire of Hungary; how they thanked God
+and the Virgin for having at last converted this
+poor d'Argens, the chamberlain of a king who
+did not believe in vampires. "Behold," said they,
+"this famous unbeliever, who dared to throw doubts
+on the appearance of the angel to the Holy Virgin;
+on the star which conducted the magi; on the cure
+of the possessed; on the immersion of two thousand
+swine in a lake; on an eclipse of the sun at the
+full moon; on the resurrection of the dead who
+walked in Jerusalem&mdash;his heart is softened, his mind
+is enlightened; he believes in vampires."</p>
+
+<p>There no longer remained any question, but to
+examine whether all these dead were raised by their
+own virtue, by the power of God, or by that of the
+devil. Several great theologians of Lorraine, of
+Moravia, and Hungary, displayed their opinions
+and their science. They related all that St. Augustine,
+St. Ambrose, and so many other saints, had
+most unintelligibly said on the living and the dead.
+They related all the miracles of St. Stephen, which
+are found in the seventh book of the works of St.
+Augustine. This is one of the most curious of
+them: In the city of Aubzal in Africa, a young man
+was crushed to death by the ruins of a wall; the
+widow immediately invoked St. Stephen, to whom
+she was very much devoted. St. Stephen raised
+him. He was asked what he had seen in the other
+world. "Sirs," said he, "when my soul quitted my
+body, it met an infinity of souls, who asked it more
+questions about this world than you do of the other.
+I went I know not whither, when I met St. Stephen,
+who said to me, 'Give back that which thou hast received.'
+I answered, 'What should I give back? you
+have given me nothing.' He repeated three times,
+'Give back that which thou hast received.' Then I
+comprehended that he spoke of the credo; I repeated
+my credo to him, and suddenly he raised me." Above
+all, they quoted the stories related by Sulpicius
+Severus, in the life of St. Martin. They proved that
+St. Martin, with some others, raised up a condemned
+soul.</p>
+
+<p>But all these stories, however true they might
+be, had nothing in common with the vampires who
+rose to suck the blood of their neighbors, and afterwards
+replaced themselves in their coffins. They
+looked if they could not find in the Old Testament,
+or in the mythology, some vampire whom they
+could quote as an example; but they found none.
+It was proved, however, that the dead drank and
+ate, since in so many ancient nations food was
+placed on their tombs.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty was to know whether it was the
+soul or the body of the dead which ate. It was decided
+that it was both. Delicate and unsubstantial
+things, as sweetmeats, whipped cream, and melting
+fruits, were for the soul, and roast beef and the like
+were for the body.</p>
+
+<p>The kings of Persia were, said they, the first who
+caused themselves to be served with viands after
+their death. Almost all the kings of the present
+day imitate them; but they are the monks who eat
+their dinner and supper, and drink their wine.
+Thus, properly speaking, kings are not vampires;
+the true vampires are the monks, who eat at the expense
+of both kings and people.</p>
+
+<p>It is very true that St. Stanislaus, who had
+bought a considerable estate from a Polish gentleman,
+and not paid him for it, being brought before
+King Boleslaus by his heirs, raised up the gentleman;
+but this was solely to get quittance. It is not said
+that he gave a single glass of wine to the seller, who
+returned to the other world without having eaten
+or drunk. They afterwards treated of the grand
+question, whether a vampire could be absolved who
+died excommunicated, which comes more to the
+point.</p>
+
+<p>I am not profound enough in theology to give
+my opinion on this subject; but I would willingly
+be for absolution, because in all doubtful affairs we
+should take the mildest part. "<i>Odia restringenda,
+favores ampliandi</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The result of all this is that a great part of Europe
+has been infested with vampires for five or six
+years, and that there are now no more; that we
+have had Convulsionaries in France for twenty
+years, and that we have them no longer; that we
+have had demoniacs for seventeen hundred years,
+but have them no longer; that the dead have been
+raised ever since the days of Hippolytus, but that
+they are raised no longer; and, lastly, that we have
+had Jesuits in Spain, Portugal, France, and the two
+Sicilies, but that we have them no longer.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VELETRI" id="VELETRI"></a>VELETRI.</h3>
+
+<h4><i>A Small Town of Umbria, Nine Leagues from
+Rome; and, Incidentally, of the Divinity of
+Augustus.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Those who love the study of history are glad to
+understand by what title a citizen of Veletri governed
+an empire, which extended from Mount
+Taurus to Mount Atlas, and from the Euphrates to
+the Western Ocean. It was not as perpetual dictator;
+this title had been too fatal to Julius Cæsar, and
+Augustus bore it only eleven days. The fear of
+perishing like his predecessor, and the counsels of
+Agrippa, induced him to take other measures; he
+insensibly concentrated in his own person all the
+dignities of the republic. Thirteen consulates, the
+tribunate renewed in his favor every ten years, the
+name of prince of the senate, that of imperator,
+which at first signified only the general of an army,
+but to which it was known how to bestow a more
+extensive signification&mdash;such were the titles which
+appeared to legitimate his power.</p>
+
+<p>The senate lost nothing by his honors, but preserved
+even its most extensive rights. Augustus
+divided with it all the provinces of the empire, but
+retained the principal for himself; finally, he was
+master of the public treasury and the soldiery, and
+in fact sovereign.</p>
+
+<p>What is more strange, Julius Cæsar having been
+enrolled among the gods after his death, Augustus
+was ordained god while living. It is true he was
+not altogether a god in Rome, but he was so in the
+provinces, where he had temples and priests. The
+abbey of Ainai at Lyons was a fine temple of Augustus.
+Horace says to him: "<i>Jurandasque tuum
+per nomen ponimus aras.</i>" That is to say, among
+the Romans existed courtiers so finished as to have
+small altars in their houses dedicated to Augustus.
+He was therefore <i>canonized</i> during his life, and the
+name of god&mdash;<i>divus</i>&mdash;became the title or nickname
+of all the succeeding emperors. Caligula constituted
+himself a god without difficulty, and was worshipped
+in the temple of Castor and Pollux; his
+statue was placed between those of the twins, and
+they sacrificed to him peacocks, pheasants, and
+Numidian fowls, until he ended by immolating himself.
+Nero bore the name of god, before he was
+condemned by the senate to suffer the punishment
+of a slave.</p>
+
+<p>We are not to imagine that the name of "god"
+signified, in regard to these monsters, that which
+we understand by it; the blasphemy could not be
+carried quite so far. "Divus" precisely answers to
+"sanctus." The Augustan list of proscriptions and
+the filthy epigram against Fulvia, are not the productions
+of a divinity.</p>
+
+<p>There were twelve conspiracies against this god,
+if we include the pretended plot of Cinna; but none
+of them succeeded; and of all the wretches who
+have usurped divine honors, Augustus was doubtless
+the most unfortunate. It was he, indeed, who
+actually terminated the Roman Republic; for Cæsar
+was dictator only six months, and Augustus reigned
+forty years. It was during his reign that manners
+changed with the government. The armies, formerly
+composed of the Roman legions and people of
+Italy, were in the end made up from all the barbarians,
+who naturally enough placed emperors of
+their own country on the throne.</p>
+
+<p>In the third century they raised up thirty tyrants
+at one time, of whom some were natives of Transylvania,
+others of Gaul, Britain, and Germany. Diocletian
+was the son of a Dalmatian slave; Maximian
+Hercules, a peasant of Sirmik; and Theodosius, a
+native of Spain&mdash;not then civilized.</p>
+
+<p>We know how the Roman Empire was finally destroyed;
+how the Turks have subjugated one half,
+and how the name of the other still subsists among
+the Marcomans on the shores of the Danube. The
+most singular of all its revolutions, however, and
+the most astonishing of all spectacles, is the manner
+in which its capital is governed and inhabited at this
+moment.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VENALITY" id="VENALITY"></a>VENALITY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The forger of whom we have spoken so much,
+who made the testament of Cardinal Richelieu, says
+in chapter iv.: "That it would be much better to
+allow venality and the '<i>droit annuel</i>' to continue to
+exist, than to abolish these two establishments,
+which are not to be changed suddenly without shaking
+the state."</p>
+
+<p>All France repeated, and believed they repeated
+after Cardinal Richelieu, that the sale of offices of
+judicature was very advantageous. The abbé de
+St. Pierre was the first who, still believing that the
+pretended testament was the cardinal's, dared to say
+in his observation on chapter iv.: "The cardinal engaged
+himself on a bad subject, in maintaining that
+the sale of places can be advantageous to the state.
+It is true that it is not possible to otherwise reimburse
+all the charges."</p>
+
+<p>Thus this abuse appeared to everybody, not only
+unreformable, but useful. They were so accustomed
+to this opprobrium that they did not feel it; it seemed
+eternal; yet a single man in a few months has
+overthrown it. Let us therefore repeat, that all may
+be done, all may be corrected; that the great fault
+of almost all who govern, is having but half wills
+and half means. If Peter the Great had not willed
+strongly, two thousand leagues of country would
+still be barbarous.</p>
+
+<p>How can we give water in Paris to thirty thousand
+houses which want it? How can we pay the
+debts of the state? How can we throw off the
+dreaded tyranny of a foreign power, which is not a
+power, and to which we pay the first fruits as a
+tribute? Dare to wish it, and you will arrive at
+your object more easily than you extirpated the
+Jesuits, and purged the theatre of <i>petits-maîtres</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VENICE" id="VENICE"></a>VENICE.</h3>
+
+
+<h4><i>And, Incidentally, of Liberty.</i></h4>
+
+<p>No power can reproach the Venetians with
+having acquired their liberty by revolt; none can
+say to them, I have freed you&mdash;here is the diploma
+of your manumission.</p>
+
+<p>They have not usurped their rights, as Cæsar
+usurped empire, or as so many bishops, commencing
+with that of Rome, have usurped royal rights. They
+are lords of Venice&mdash;if we dare use the audacious
+comparison&mdash;as God is Lord of the earth, because
+He founded it.</p>
+
+<p>Attila, who never took the title of the scourge of
+God, ravaged Italy. He had as much right to do
+so, as Charlemagne the Austrasian, Arnold the Corinthian
+Bastard, Guy, duke of Spoleto, Berenger,
+marquis of Friuli, or the bishops who wished to
+make themselves sovereigns of it.</p>
+
+<p>In this time of military and ecclesiastical robberies,
+Attila passed as a vulture, and the Venetians
+saved themselves in the sea as kingfishers, which
+none assist or protect; they make their nest in the
+midst of the waters, they enlarge it, they people it,
+they defend it, they enrich it. I ask if it is possible
+to imagine a more just possession? Our father
+Adam, who is supposed to have lived in that fine
+country of Mesopotamia, was not more justly lord
+and gardener of terrestrial paradise.</p>
+
+<p>I have read the "<i>Squittinio della libertà di Venezia</i>,"
+and I am indignant at it. What! Venice could
+not be originally free, because the Greek emperors,
+superstitious, weak, wicked, and barbarous, said&mdash;This
+new town has been built on our ancient territory;
+and because a German, having the title of
+Emperor of the West, says: This town being in
+the West, is of our domain?</p>
+
+<p>It seems to me like a flying-fish, pursued at once
+by a falcon and a shark, but which escapes both.
+Sannazarius was very right in saying, in comparing
+Rome and Venice: <i>"Illam homines dices, hanc
+posuisse deos."</i> Rome lost, by Cæsar, at the end
+of five hundred years, its liberty acquired by Brutus.
+Venice has preserved hers for eleven centuries,
+and I hope she will always do so.</p>
+
+<p>Genoa! why dost thou boast of showing the grant
+of a Berenger, who gave thee privileges in the year
+958? We know that concessions of privileges are
+but titles of servitude. And this is a fine title! the
+charter of a passing tyrant, who was never properly
+acknowledged in Italy, and who was driven from it
+two years after the date of the charter!</p>
+
+<p>The true charter of liberty is independence, maintained
+by force. It is with the point of the sword
+that diplomas should be signed securing this natural
+prerogative. Thou hast lost, more than once, thy
+privilege and thy strong box, since 1748: it is necessary
+to take care of both. Happy Helvetia! to what
+charter owest thou thy liberty? To thy courage, thy
+firmness, and thy mountains. But I am thy emperor.
+But I will have thee be so no longer. Thy fathers
+have been the slaves of my fathers. It is for that
+reason that their children will not serve thee. But
+I have the right attached to my dignity. And we
+have the right of nature.</p>
+
+<p>When had the Seven United Provinces this incontestable
+right? At the moment in which they
+were united; and from that time Philip II. was the
+rebel. What a great man was William, prince of
+Orange: he found them slaves, and he made them
+free men! Why is liberty so rare? Because it is the
+first of blessings.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VERSE" id="VERSE"></a>VERSE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is easy to write in prose, but very difficult to
+be a poet. More than one "<i>prosateur</i>" has affected
+to despise poetry; in reference to which propensity,
+we may call to mind the bon-mot of Montaigne:
+"We cannot attain to poetry; let us revenge ourselves
+by abusing it."</p>
+
+<p>We have already remarked, that Montesquieu,
+being unable to succeed in verse, professed, in his
+"Persian Letters," to discover no merit in Virgil or
+Horace. The eloquent Bossuet endeavored to make
+verses, but they were detestable; he took care, however,
+not to declaim against great poets.</p>
+
+<p>Fénelon scarcely made better verses than Bossuet,
+but knew by heart all the fine poetry of antiquity.
+His mind was full of it, and he continually
+quotes it in his letters.</p>
+
+<p>It appears to me, that there never existed a truly
+eloquent man who did not love poetry. I will simply
+cite, for example, Cæsar and Cicero; the one composed
+a tragedy on Å’dipus, and we have pieces of
+poetry by the latter which might pass among the
+best that preceded Lucretius, Virgil, and Horace.</p>
+
+<p>A certain Abbé Trublet has printed, that he cannot
+read a poem at once from beginning to end. Indeed,
+Air. Abbé! but what can we read, what can
+we understand, what can we do, for a long time together,
+any more than poetry?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VIANDS" id="VIANDS"></a>VIANDS.</h3>
+
+
+<h4><i>Forbidden Viands, Dangerous Viands.&mdash;A short
+Examination of Jewish and Christian Precepts,
+and of those of the Ancient Philosophers.</i></h4>
+
+<p>"Viand" comes no doubt from "<i>victus</i>"&mdash;that
+which nourishes and sustains life: from victus was
+formed <i>viventia</i>; from <i>viventa</i>, "viand." This word
+should be applied to all that is eaten, but by the
+caprice of all languages, the custom has prevailed of
+refusing this denomination to bread, milk, rice,
+pulses, fruits, and fish, and of giving it only to terrestrial
+animals. This seems contrary to reason, but
+it is the fancy of all languages, and of those who
+formed them.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the first Christians made a scruple of eating
+that which had been offered to the gods, of
+whatever nature it might be. St. Paul approved not
+of this scruple. He writes to the Corinthians:
+"Meat commendeth us not to God: for neither if
+we eat are we the better; neither if we eat not, are
+we the worse." He merely exhorts them not to eat
+viands immolated to the gods, before those brothers
+who might be scandalized at it. We see not, after
+that, why he so ill-treats St. Peter, and reproaches
+him with having eaten forbidden viands with the
+Gentiles. We see elsewhere, in the Acts of the
+Apostles, that Simon Peter was authorized to eat
+of all indifferently; for he one day saw the firmament
+open, and a great sheet descending by the four
+corners from heaven to earth; it was covered with
+all kinds of four-footed beasts, with all kinds of
+birds and reptiles&mdash;or animals which swim&mdash;and a
+voice cried to him: "Kill and eat."</p>
+
+<p>You will remark, that Lent and fast-days were
+not then instituted. Nothing is ever done, except
+by degrees. We can here say, for the consolation
+of the weak, that the quarrel of St. Peter and St.
+Paul should not alarm us: saints are men. Paul
+commenced by being the jailer, and even the executioner,
+of the disciples of Jesus; Peter had denied
+Jesus; and we have seen that the dawning, suffering,
+militant, triumphant church has always been
+divided, from the Ebionites to the Jesuits.</p>
+
+<p>I think that the Brahmins, so anterior to the
+Jews, might well have been divided also; but they
+were the first who imposed on themselves the law of
+not eating any animal. As they believed that souls
+passed and repassed from human bodies to those of
+beasts, they would not eat their relatives. Perhaps
+their best reason was the fear of accustoming men
+to carnage, and inspiring them with ferocious manners.</p>
+
+<p>We know that Pythagoras, who studied geometry
+and morals among them, embraced this humane
+doctrine, and brought it into Italy. His disciples
+followed it a very long time: the celebrated philosophers,
+Plotinus, Jamblicus, and Porphyry, recommended
+and even practised it&mdash;though it is very rare
+to practise what is preached. The work of Porphyry
+on abstinence from meat, written in the middle of
+our third century, and very well translated into our
+language by M. de Burigni, is very much esteemed
+by the learned; but it has not made more disciples
+among us than the book of the physician Héquet.
+It is in vain that Porphyry proposes, as models,
+the Brahmins and Persian magi of the first class,
+who had a horror of the custom of burying the entrails
+of other creatures in our own; he is not now
+followed by the fathers of La Trappe. The work
+of Porphyry is addressed to one of his ancient disciples,
+named Firmus, who, it is said, turned Christian,
+to have the liberty of eating meat and drinking
+wine.</p>
+
+<p>He shows Firmus, that in abstaining from meat
+and strong liquors, we preserve the health of the soul
+and body; that we live longer, and more innocently.
+All his reflections are those of a scrupulous theologian,
+of a rigid philosopher, and of a mild and sensible
+mind. We might think, in reading his work,
+that this great enemy of the church was one of its
+fathers.</p>
+
+<p>He speaks not of metempsychosis, but he regards
+animals as our brethren, because they are animated
+like ourselves; they have the same principles of
+life; they have, as well as ourselves, ideas, sentiment,
+memory, and industry. They want but speech;
+if they had it, should we dare to kill and eat them;
+should we dare to commit these fratricides? Where
+is the barbarian who would roast a lamb, if it conjured
+him by an affecting speech not to become at
+once an assassin, an anthropophagus?</p>
+
+<p>This book proves, at least, that among the Gentiles
+there were philosophers of the most austere
+virtue; but they could not prevail against butchers
+and gluttons. It is to be remarked, that Porphyry
+makes a very fine eulogium on the Essenians: he is
+filled with veneration for them, although they sometimes
+eat meat. He was for whoever was the most
+virtuous, whether Essenians, Pythagoreans, Stoics,
+or Christians. When sects are formed of a small
+number, their manners are pure; and they degenerate
+in proportion as they become powerful. Lust,
+gaming, and luxury then prevail, and all the virtues
+fly away:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">La gola, il dado e l'otiose piume</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Hanno dal' mondo ogni virtù sbandita.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VIRTUE" id="VIRTUE"></a>VIRTUE.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>It is said of Marcus Brutus, that before killing
+himself, he pronounced these words: "Oh, Virtue!
+I believed that thou wert something, but thou art
+only a vile phantom!"</p>
+
+<p>Thou wast right, Brutus, if thou madest virtue
+consist in being the chief of a party, and the assassin
+of thy benefactor, of thy father, Julius Cæsar.
+Hadst thou made virtue to consist only in doing good
+to those who depended on thee, thou wouldst not
+have called it a phantom, or have killed thyself in
+despair.</p>
+
+<p>I am very virtuous, says a miserable excrement
+of theology. I possess the four cardinal virtues,
+and the three theological ones. An honest man asks
+him: What are the cardinal virtues? The other
+answers: They are fortitude, prudence, temperance,
+and justice.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">HONEST MAN.</p>
+
+<p>If thou art just, thou hast said all. Thy fortitude,
+prudence, and temperance are useful qualities:
+if thou possessest them, so much the better for
+thee; but if thou art just, so much the better for
+others. It is not sufficient to be just, thou shouldst
+be beneficent; this is being truly cardinal. And thy
+theological virtues, what are they?</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">THEOLOGIAN.</p>
+
+<p>Faith, hope, and charity.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">HONEST MAN.</p>
+
+<p>Is there virtue in believing? If that which thou
+believest seems to thee to be true, there is no merit
+in believing it; if it seems to thee to be false, it is
+impossible for thee to believe it.</p>
+
+<p>Hope should no more be a virtue than fear; we
+fear and we hope, according to what is promised or
+threatened us. As to charity, is it not that which
+the Greeks and Romans understood by humanity&mdash;love
+of your neighbor? This love is nothing, if it
+does not act; beneficence is therefore the only true
+virtue.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">THEOLOGIAN.</p>
+
+<p>What a fool! Yes, truly, I shall trouble myself
+to serve men, if I get nothing in return! Every
+trouble merits payment. I pretend to do no good action,
+except to insure myself paradise.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Quis enim virtutem amplectitur, ipsam</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Prœmia si tolias?</i>&mdash;<span class="small">JUVENAL</span>, <i>sat.</i> x.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">For, if the gain you take away,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To virtue who will homage pay!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">HONEST MAN.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, good sir, that is to say, that if you did not
+hope for paradise, or fear hell, you would never do
+a good action. You quote me lines from Juvenal,
+to prove to me that you have only your interest in
+view. Racine could at least show you, that even in
+this world we might find our recompense, while waiting
+for a better:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Quel plaisir de penser, et de dire en vous-même,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Partout en ce moment on me bénit, on m'aime!</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>On ne voit point le peuple à mon nom s'alarmer;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Le ciel dans tous leurs pleurs ne m'entend point nommer,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Leur sombre inimitie ne fuit point mon visage;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Je vois voter partout les cœurs a mon passage.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Tels étaient vos plaisirs.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">&mdash;<span class="small">RACINE</span>, <i>Britannicus</i>, act iv, sc. ii.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">How great his pleasure who can justly say,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">All at this moment either bless or love me;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The people at my name betray no fear,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Nor in their plaints does heaven e'er hear of me!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Their enmity ne'er makes them fly my presence,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But every heart springs out at my approach!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Such were your pleasures!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Believe me, doctor, there are two things which deserve
+to be loved for themselves&mdash;God and Virtue.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">THEOLOGIAN.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, sir! you are a Fénelonist.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">HONEST MAN.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, doctor.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">THEOLOGIAN.</p>
+
+<p>I will inform against you at the tribunal of
+Meaux.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">HONEST MAN.</p>
+
+<p>Go, and inform!</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>What is virtue? Beneficence towards your neighbor.
+Can I call virtue anything but that which does
+good! I am indigent, thou art liberal. I am in danger,
+thou succorest me. I am deceived, thou tellest
+me the truth. I am neglected, thou consolest me.
+I am ignorant, thou teachest me. I can easily call
+thee virtuous, but what will become of the cardinal
+and theological virtues? Some will remain in the
+schools.</p>
+
+<p>What signifies it to me whether thou art temperate?
+It is a precept of health which thou observest;
+thou art the better for it; I congratulate
+thee on it. Thou hast faith and hope; I congratulate
+thee still more; they will procure thee eternal
+life. Thy theological virtues are celestial gifts; thy
+cardinal ones are excellent qualities, which serve to
+guide thee; but they are not virtues in relation
+to thy neighbor. The prudent man does himself
+good; the virtuous one does it to other men. St.
+Paul was right in telling thee, that charity ranks
+above faith and hope.</p>
+
+<p>But how! wilt thou admit of no other virtues
+than those which are useful to thy neighbor? How
+can I admit any others? We live in society; there
+is therefore nothing truly good for us but that which
+does good to society. An hermit will be sober, pious,
+and dressed in sackcloth: very well; he will be
+holy; but I will not call him virtuous until he shall
+have done some act of virtue by which men may have
+profited. While he is alone, he is neither beneficent
+nor the contrary; he is nobody to us. If St. Bruno
+had made peace in families, if he had assisted the
+indigent, he had been virtuous; having fasted and
+prayed in solitude, he is only a saint. Virtue between
+men is a commerce of good actions: he who
+has no part in this commerce, must not be reckoned.
+If this saint were in the world, he would doubtless
+do good, but while he is not in the world, we have
+no reason to give him the name of virtuous: he
+will be good for himself, and not for us.</p>
+
+<p>But, say you, if an hermit is gluttonous, drunken,
+given up to a secret debauch with himself, he is
+vicious; he is therefore virtuous, if he has the contrary
+qualities. I cannot agree to this: he is a very
+vile man, if he has the faults of which you speak;
+but he is not vicious, wicked, or punishable by society,
+to which his infamies do no harm. It may be
+presumed, that if he re-enters society, he will do
+evil to it; he then will be very vicious; and it is
+even more probable that he will be a wicked man,
+than it is certain that the other temperate and chaste
+hermit will be a good man; for in society faults
+augment, and good qualities diminish.</p>
+
+<p>A much stronger objection is made to me: Nero,
+Pope Alexander VI., and other monsters of the
+kind, have performed good actions. I reply boldly,
+that they were virtuous at the time. Some theologians
+say, that the divine Emperor Antoninus was
+not virtuous; that he was an infatuated Stoic, who,
+not content with commanding men, would further be
+esteemed by them; that he gave himself credit for
+the good which he did to mankind; that he was all
+his life just, laborious, beneficent, through vanity;
+and that he only deceived men by his virtues. To
+which I exclaim: My God! often send us such
+knaves!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VISION" id="VISION"></a>VISION.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When I speak of vision, I do not mean the admirable
+manner in which our eyes perceive objects,
+and in which the pictures of all that we see are
+painted on the retina&mdash;a divine picture designed according
+to all the laws of mathematics, which is, consequently,
+like everything else from the hand of the
+Eternal geometrician; in spite of those who explain
+it, and who pretend to believe, that the eye is not
+intended to see, the ear to hear, or the feet to walk.
+This matter has been so learnedly treated by so many
+great geniuses, that there is no further remnant to
+glean after their harvests.</p>
+
+<p>I do not pretend to speak of the heresy of which
+Pope John XXII. was accused, who pretended that
+saints will not enjoy beatific vision until after the
+last judgment. I give up this vision. My subject
+is the innumerable multitude of visions with which
+so many holy personages have been favored or tormented;
+which so many idiots are believed to have
+seen; with which so many knavish men and women
+have duped the world, either to get the reputation of
+being favored by heaven, which is very flattering,
+or to gain money, which is still more so to rogues in
+general.</p>
+
+<p>Calmet and Langlet have made ample collections
+of these visions. The most interesting in my opinion
+is the one which has produced the greatest effects,
+since it has tended to reform three parts of
+the Swiss&mdash;that of the young Jacobin Yetzer, with
+which I have already amused my dear reader. This
+Yetzer, as you know, saw the Holy Virgin and St.
+Barbara several times, who informed him of the
+marks of Jesus Christ. You are not ignorant of
+how he received, from a Jacobin confessor, a host
+powdered with arsenic, and how the bishop of Lausanne
+would have had him burned for complaining
+that he was poisoned. You have seen, that these
+abominations were one of the causes of the misfortune
+which happened to the Bernese, of ceasing
+to be Catholic, Apostolical, and Roman.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 336px;">
+<a name="The_Vision" id="The_Vision"></a>
+<img src="images/img_03_vision.jpg" width="336" alt="The Vision." title="" />
+<span class="caption_fig">The Vision.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>I am sorry that I have no visions of this consequence
+to tell you of. Yet you will confess, that the
+vision of the reverend father Cordeliers of Orleans,
+in 1534, approaches the nearest to it, though still
+very distant. The criminal process which it occasioned
+is still in manuscript in the library of the king
+of France, No. 1770.</p>
+
+<p>The illustrious house of St. Memin did great
+good to the convent of the Cordeliers, and had their
+vault in the church. The wife of a lord of St. Memin,
+provost of Orleans, being dead, her husband,
+believing that his ancestors had sufficiently impoverished
+themselves by giving to the monks, gave
+the brothers a present which did not appear to them
+considerable enough. These good Franciscans conceived
+a plan for disinterring the deceased, to force
+the widower to have her buried again in their holy
+ground, and to pay them better. The project was
+not clever, for the lord of St. Memin would not have
+failed to bury her elsewhere. But folly often mixes
+with knavery.</p>
+
+<p>At first, the soul of the lady of St. Memin appeared
+only to two brothers. She said to them:
+"I am damned, like Judas, because my husband has
+not given sufficient." The two knaves who related
+these words perceived not, that they must do more
+harm to the convent than good. The aim of the
+convent was to extort money from the lord of St.
+Memin, for the repose of his wife's soul. Now, if
+Madame de St. Memin was damned, all the money
+in the world could not save her. They got no
+more; the Cordeliers lost their labor.</p>
+
+<p>At this time there was very little good sense in
+France: the nation had been brutalized by the invasion
+of the Franks, and afterwards by the invasion
+of scholastic theology; but in Orleans there
+were some persons who reasoned. If the Great
+Being permitted the soul of Madame de St. Memin
+to appear to two Franciscans, it was not natural,
+they thought, for this soul to declare itself damned
+like Judas. This comparison appeared to them to
+be unnatural. This lady had not sold our Lord
+Jesus Christ for thirty deniers; she was not hanged;
+her intestines had not obtruded themselves; and
+there was not the slightest pretext for comparing
+her to Judas.</p>
+
+<p>This caused suspicion; and the rumor was still
+greater in Orleans, because there were already heretics
+there who believed not in certain visions, and
+who, in admitting absurd principles, did not always
+fail to draw good conclusions. The Cordeliers,
+therefore, changed their battery, and put the lady in
+purgatory.</p>
+
+<p>She therefore appeared again, and declared that
+purgatory was her lot; but she demanded to be disinterred.
+It was not the custom to disinter those in
+purgatory; but they hoped that M. de St. Memin
+would prevent this extraordinary affront, by
+giving money. This demand of being thrown out
+of the church augmented the suspicions. It was well
+known, that souls often appeared, but they never demanded
+to be disinterred.</p>
+
+<p>From this time the soul spoke no more, but it
+haunted everybody in the convent and church. The
+brother Cordeliers exorcised it. Brother Peter of
+Arras adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring
+it. He said to it: "If thou art the soul of the late
+Madame de St. Memin, strike four knocks;" and the
+four knocks were struck. "If thou are damned, strike
+six knocks;" and the six knocks were struck. "If
+thou art still tormented in hell, because thy body is
+buried in holy ground, knock six more times;" and
+the other six knocks were heard still more distinctly.
+"If we disinter thy body, and cease praying to God
+for thee, wilt thou be the less damned? Strike five
+knocks to certify it to us;" and the soul certified it
+by five knocks.</p>
+
+<p>This interrogation of the soul, made by Peter of
+Arras, was signed by twenty-two Cordeliers, at the
+head of which was the reverend father provincial.
+This father provincial the next day asked it the same
+questions, and received the same answers.</p>
+
+<p>It will be said, that the soul having declared
+that it was in purgatory, the Cordeliers should not
+have supposed that it was in hell; but it is not my
+fault if theologians contradict one another.</p>
+
+<p>The lord of St. Memin presented a request to the
+king against the father Cordeliers. They presented
+a request on their sides; the king appointed judges,
+at the head of whom was Adrian Fumée, master of
+requests.</p>
+
+<p>The procureur-general of the commission required
+that the said Cordeliers should be burned,
+but the sentence only condemned them to make the
+"amende honorable" with a torch in their bosom,
+and to be banished from the kingdom. This sentence
+is of February 18, 1535.</p>
+
+<p>After such a vision, it is useless to relate any
+others: they are all a species either of knavery or
+folly. Visions of the first kind are under the province
+of justice; those of the second are either visions
+of diseased fools, or of fools in good health.
+The first belong to medicine, the second to Bedlam.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VISION_OF_CONSTANTINE" id="VISION_OF_CONSTANTINE"></a>VISION OF CONSTANTINE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Grave theologians have not failed to allege a
+specious reason to maintain the truth of the appearance
+of the cross in heaven; but we are going to
+show that these arguments are not sufficiently convincing
+to exclude doubt; the evidences which they
+quote being neither persuasive nor according with
+one another.</p>
+
+<p>First, they produce no witnesses but Christians,
+the deposition of whom may be suspected in the
+treatment of a fact which tended to prove the divinity
+of their religion. How is it that no Pagan
+author has made mention of this miracle, which was
+seen equally by all the army of Constantine? That
+Zosimus, who seems to have endeavored to diminish
+the glory of Constantine, has said nothing of it, is
+not surprising; but the silence appears very strange
+in the author of the panegyric of Constantine, pronounced
+in his presence at Trier; in which oration
+the panegyrist expresses himself in magnificent
+terms on all the war against Maxentius, whom this
+emperor had conquered.</p>
+
+<p>Another orator, who, in his panegyric, treats so
+eloquently of the war against Maxentius, of the
+clemency which Constantine showed after the victory,
+and of the deliverance of Rome, says not a
+word on this apparition; while he assures us, that
+celestial armies were seen by all the Gauls, which
+armies, it was pretended, were sent to aid Constantine.</p>
+
+<p>This surprising vision has not only been unknown
+to Pagan authors, but to three Christian writers,
+who had the finest occasion to speak of them.
+Optatianus Porphyrius mentions more than once the
+monogram of Christ, which he calls the celestial
+sign, in the panegyric of Constantine which he wrote
+in Latin verse, but not a word on the appearance of
+the cross in the sky.</p>
+
+<p>Lactantius says nothing of it in his treatise on the
+"Death of Persecutors," which he composed towards
+the year 314, two years after the vision of which
+we speak; yet he must have been perfectly informed
+of all that regards Constantine, having been tutor
+to Crispus, the son of this prince. He merely relates,
+that Constantine was commanded, in a dream,
+to put the divine image of the cross on the bucklers
+of his soldiers, and to give up war: but in relating
+a dream, the truth of which had no other support
+than the evidence of the emperor, he passes, in silence
+over a prodigy to which all the army were witnesses.</p>
+
+<p>Further, Eusebius of Cæsarea himself, who has
+given the example to all other Christian historians
+on the subject, speaks not of this wonder, in the
+whole course of his "Ecclesiastical History," though
+he enlarges much on the exploits of Constantine
+against Maxentius. It is only in his life of this emperor
+that he expresses himself in these terms:
+"Constantine resolved to adore the god of Constantius;
+his father implored the protection of this god
+against Maxentius. Whilst he was praying, he had
+a wonderful vision, which would appear incredible,
+if related by another; but since the victorious emperor
+has himself related it to us, who wrote this
+history; and that, after having been long known to
+this prince, and enjoying a share in his good graces,
+the emperor confirming what he said by oath&mdash;who
+could doubt it? particularly since the event has confirmed
+the truth of it.</p>
+
+<p>"He affirmed, that in the afternoon, when the
+sun set, he saw a luminous cross above it, with this
+inscription in Greek&mdash;'By this sign, conquer:' that
+this appearance astonished him extremely, as well
+as all the soldiers who followed him, who were witnesses
+of the miracle; that while his mind was fully
+occupied with this vision, and he sought to penetrate
+the sense of it, the night being come, Jesus
+Christ appeared to him during his sleep, with the
+same sign which He had shown to him in the air in
+the day-time, and commanded him to make a standard
+of the same form, and to bear it in his battles,
+to secure him from danger. Constantine, rising at
+break of day, related to his friends the vision which
+he had beheld; and, sending for goldsmiths and
+lapidaries, he sat in the midst of them, explained to
+them the figure of the sign which he had seen, and
+commanded them to make a similar one of gold and
+jewels; and we remember having sometimes seen
+it."</p>
+
+<p>Eusebius afterwards adds, that Constantine, astonished
+at so admirable a vision, sent for Christian
+priests; and that, instructed by them, he applied
+himself to reading our sacred books, and concluded
+that he ought to adore with a profound respect the
+God who appeared to him.</p>
+
+<p>How can we conceive that so admirable a vision,
+seen by so many millions of people, and so calculated
+to justify the truth of the Christian religion,
+could be unknown to Eusebius, an historian so careful
+in seeking all that could contribute to do honor
+to Christianity, as even to quote profane monuments
+falsely, as we have seen in the article on "Eclipse?"
+And how can we persuade ourselves that he was not
+informed of it, until several years after, by the sole
+evidence of Constantine? Were there no Christians
+in the army, who publicly made a glory of having
+seen such a prodigy? Had they so little interest in
+their cause as to keep silence on so great a miracle?
+Ought we to be astonished, after that, that Gelasius,
+one of the successors of Eusebius, in the siege of
+Cæsarea in the fifth century, has said that many
+people suspected that it was only a fable, invented
+in favor of the Christian religion?</p>
+
+<p>This suspicion will become much stronger, if we
+take notice how little the witnesses agree on the circumstances
+of this marvellous appearance. Almost
+all affirm, that the cross was seen by Constantine
+and all his army; and Gelasius speaks of Constantine
+alone. They differ on the time of the vision.
+Philostorgius, in his "Ecclesiastical History," of
+which Photius has preserved us the extract, says,
+that it was when Constantine gained the victory
+over Maxentius; others pretend that it was before,
+when Constantine was making preparations for attacking
+the tyrant, and was on his march with his
+army. Arthemius, quoted by Metaphrastus and Surius,
+mentions the 20th of October, and says that it
+was at noon; others speak of the afternoon at sunset.</p>
+
+<p>Authors do not agree better even on the vision:
+the greatest number acknowledged but one, and that
+in a dream. There is only Eusebius, followed by
+Philostorgius and Socrates, who speaks of two; the
+one that Constantine saw in the day-time, and the
+other which he saw in a dream, tending to confirm
+the first. Nicephorus Callistus reckons three.</p>
+
+<p>The inscription offers new differences: Eusebius
+says that it was in Greek characters, while others do
+not speak of it. According to Philostorgius and
+Nicephorus, it was in Latin characters; others say
+nothing about it, and seem by their relation to suppose
+that the characters were Greek. Philostorgius
+affirms, that the inscription was formed by an assemblage
+of stars; Arthemius says that the letters
+were golden. The author quoted by Photius, represents
+them as composed of the same luminous matter
+as the cross; and according to Sosomenes, it
+had no inscription, and they were angels who said
+to Constantine: "By this sign, gain the victory."</p>
+
+<p>Finally, the relation of historians is opposed on
+the consequences of this vision. If we take that of
+Eusebius, Constantine, aided by God, easily gained
+the victory over Maxentius; but according to Lactantius,
+the victory was much disputed. He even
+says that the troops of Maxentius had some advantage,
+before Constantine made his army approach
+the gates of Rome. If we may believe Eusebius and
+Sosomenes, from this epoch Constantine was always
+victorious, and opposed the salutary sign of the
+cross to his enemies, as an impenetrable rampart.
+However, a Christian author, of whom M. de Valois
+has collected some fragments, at the end of Ammianus
+Marcellinus&mdash;relates, that in the two battles
+given to Licinius by Constantine, the victory was
+doubtful, and that Constantine was even slightly
+wounded in the thigh; and Nicephorus says, that
+after the first apparition, he twice combated the
+Byzantines, without opposing the cross to them,
+and would not even have remembered it, if he had
+not lost nine thousand men, and had the same vision
+twice more. In the first, the stars were so arranged
+that they formed these words of a psalm: "Call on
+me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and
+thou shalt glorify me;" and the last, much clearer
+and more brilliant still, bore: "By this sign, thou
+shalt vanquish all thy enemies."</p>
+
+<p>Philostorgius affirms, that the vision of the cross,
+and the victory gained over Maxentius, determined
+Constantine to embrace the Christian faith; but
+Rufinus, who has translated the "Ecclesiastical History"
+of Eusebius into Latin, says that he already
+favored Christianity, and honored the true God. It
+is however known, that he did not receive baptism
+until a few days before his death, as is expressly
+said by Philostorgius, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose,
+St. Jerome, Socrates, Theodoret, and the author of
+the Chronicle of Alexandria. This custom, then
+common, was founded on the belief that, baptism effacing
+all the sins of him who received it, he died
+certain of his salvation.</p>
+
+<p>We might confine ourselves to these general reflections,
+but by superabundance of right we will
+discuss the authority of Eusebius, as an historian,
+and that of Constantine and Arthemius, as ocular
+witnesses.</p>
+
+<p>As to Arthemius, we think that he ought not to
+be placed in the rank of ocular witnesses; his discourse
+being founded only on his "Acts," related by
+Metaphrastus, a fabulous author: "Acts" which
+Baronius pretends it was wrong to impeach, at the
+same time that he confesses that they are interpolated.</p>
+
+<p>As to the speech of Constantine, related by Eusebius,
+it is indisputably an astonishing thing, that
+this emperor feared that he should not be believed
+unless he made oath; and that Eusebius has not
+supported his evidence by that of any of the officers
+or soldiers of the army. But without here adopting
+the opinion of some scholars, who doubt whether
+Eusebius is the author of the life of Constantine, is
+he not an author who, in this work, bears throughout
+the character of a panegyrist, rather than that
+of a historian? Is he not a writer who has carefully
+suppressed all which could be disadvantageous to his
+hero? In a word, does he not show his partiality,
+when he says, in his "Ecclesiastical History," speaking
+of Maxentius, that having usurped the sovereign
+power at Rome, to flatter the people he feigned
+at first to profess the Christian religion? As if it
+was impossible for Constantine to make use of such
+a feint, and to pretend this vision, just as Licinius,
+some time after, to encourage his soldiers against
+Maximin, pretended that an angel in a dream had
+dictated a prayer to him, which he must repeat with
+his army.</p>
+
+<p>How could Eusebius really have the effrontery
+to call a prince a Christian who caused the temple
+of Concord to be rebuilt at his own expense, as is
+proved by an inscription, which was read in the time
+of Lelio Geraldi, in the temple of Latran? A prince
+who caused his son Crispus, already honored with
+the title of Cæsar, to perish on a slight suspicion of
+having commerce with Fausta, his stepmother; who
+caused this same Fausta, to whom he was indebted
+for the preservation of his life, to be suffocated in
+an overheated bath; who caused the emperor Maximian
+Hercules, his adopted father, to be strangled;
+who took away the life of the young Licinius, his
+nephew, who had already displayed very good qualities;
+and, in short, who dishonored himself by so
+many murders, that the consul Ablavius called his
+times Neronian? We might add, that much dependence
+should not be placed on the oath of Constantine,
+since he had not the least scruple in perjuring
+himself, by causing Licinius to be strangled,
+to whom he had promised his life on oath. Eusebius
+passes in silence over all the actions of Constantine
+which are related by Eutropius, Zosimus, Orosius,
+St. Jerome, and Aurelius Victor.</p>
+
+<p>After this, have we not reason to conclude that
+the pretended appearance of the cross in the sky
+is only a fraud which Constantine imagined to
+favor the success of his ambitious enterprises? The
+medals of this prince and of his family, which are
+found in Banduri, and in the work entitled, "<i>Numismata
+Imperatorum Romanorum</i>"; the triumphal
+arch of which Baronius speaks, in the inscription of
+which the senate and the Roman people said that
+Constantine, by the direction of the Divinity, had
+rid the republic of the tyrant Maxentius, and of all
+his faction; finally, the statue which Constantine
+himself caused to be erected at Rome, holding a
+lance terminating in the form of a cross, with this
+inscription&mdash;as related by Eusebius: "By this
+saving sign, I have delivered your city from the
+yoke of tyranny"&mdash;all this, I say, only proves the
+immoderate pride of this artificial prince, who would
+everywhere spread the noise of his pretended dream,
+and perpetuate the recollection of it.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, to excuse Eusebius, we must compare him
+to a bishop of the seventeenth century, whom La
+Bruyère hesitated not to call a father of the Church.
+Bossuet, at the same time that he fell so unmercifully
+on the visions of the elegant and sensible
+Fénelon, commented himself, in the funeral oration
+of Anne of Gonzaga of Cleves, on the two visions
+which worked the conversion of the Princess Palatine.
+It was an admirable dream, says this prelate;
+she thought that, walking alone in a forest, she met
+with a blind man in a small cell. She comprehended
+that a sense is wanting to the incredulous
+as well as to the blind; and at the same time, in the
+midst of so mysterious a dream, she applied the
+fine comparison of the blind man to the truths of
+religion and of the other life.</p>
+
+<p>In the second vision, God continued to instruct
+her, as He did Joseph and Solomon; and during the
+drowsiness which the trouble caused her, He put
+this parable into her mind, so similar to that in the
+gospel: She saw that appear which Jesus Christ
+has not disdained to give us as an image of His
+tenderness&mdash;a hen become a mother, anxious round
+the little ones which she conducted. One of them
+having strayed, our invalid saw it swallowed by a
+hungry dog. She ran and tore the innocent animal
+away from him. At the same time, a voice cried
+from the other side that she must give it back to the
+ravisher. "No," said she, "I will never give it
+back." At this moment she awakened, and the explanation
+of the figure which had been shown to her
+presented itself to her mind in an instant.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VOWS" id="VOWS"></a>VOWS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>To make a vow for life, is to make oneself a
+slave. How can this worst of all slavery be allowed
+in a country in which slavery is proscribed? To
+promise to God by an oath, that from the age of
+fifteen until death we will be a Jesuit, Jacobin, or
+Capuchin, is to affirm that we will always think like
+a Capuchin, a Jacobin, or a Jesuit. It is very pleasant
+to promise, for a whole life, that which no man
+can certainly insure from night to morning!</p>
+
+<p>How can governments have been such enemies
+to themselves, and so absurd, as to authorize citizens
+to alienate their liberty at an age when they
+are not allowed to dispose of the least portion of
+their fortunes? How, being convinced of the extent
+of this stupidity, have not the whole of the
+magistracy united to put an end to it?</p>
+
+<p>Is it not alarming to reflect that there are more
+monks than soldiers? Is it possible not to be
+affected by the discovery of the secrets of cloisters;
+the turpitudes, the horrors, and the torments to
+which so many unhappy children are subjected, who
+detest the state which they have been forced to
+adopt, when they become men, and who beat with
+useless despair the chains which their weakness has
+imposed upon them?</p>
+
+<p>I knew a young man whose parents engaged to
+make a Capuchin of him at fifteen years and a half
+old, when he desperately loved a girl very nearly
+of his own age. As soon as the unhappy youth had
+made his vow to St. Francis, the devil reminded
+him of the vows which he had made to his mistress,
+to whom he had signed a promise of marriage. At
+last, the devil being stronger than St. Francis, the
+young Capuchin left his cloister, repaired to the
+house of his mistress, and was told that she had
+entered a convent and made profession.</p>
+
+<p>He flew to the convent, and asked to see her,
+when he was told that she had died of grief. This
+news deprived him of all sense, and he fell to the
+ground nearly lifeless. He was immediately transported
+to a neighboring monastery, not to afford
+him the necessary medical aid, but in order to procure
+him the blessing of extreme unction before his
+death, which infallibly saves the soul.</p>
+
+<p>The house to which the poor fainting boy was
+carried, happened to be a convent of Capuchins,
+who charitably let him remain at the door for three
+hours; but at last he was recognized by one of the
+venerable brothers, who had seen him in the monastery
+to which he belonged. On this discovery, he
+was carried into a cell, and attention paid to recover
+him, in order that he might expiate, by a
+salutary penitence, the errors of which he had been
+guilty.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he had recovered strength, he was
+conducted, well bound, to his convent, and the following
+is precisely the manner in which he was
+treated. In the first place he was placed in a
+dungeon under ground, at the bottom of which was
+an enormous stone, to which a chain of iron was
+attached. To this chain he was fastened by one leg,
+and near him was placed a loaf of barley bread and
+a jug of water; after which they closed the entrance
+of the dungeon with a large block of stone,
+which covered the opening by which they had descended.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of three days they withdrew him
+from the dungeon, in order to bring him before the
+criminal court of the Capuchins. They wished to
+know if he had any accomplices in his flight, and
+to oblige him to confess, applied the mode of torture
+employed in the convent. This preparatory
+torture was inflicted by cords, which bound the
+limbs of the patient, and made him endure a sort
+of rack.</p>
+
+<p>After having undergone these torments, he was
+condemned to be imprisoned for two years in his
+cell, from which he was to be brought out thrice a
+week, in order to receive upon his naked body the
+discipline with iron chains.</p>
+
+<p>For six months his constitution endured this
+punishment, from which he was at length so fortunate
+as to escape in consequence of a quarrel
+among the Capuchins, who fought with one another,
+and allowed the prisoner to escape during the
+fray.</p>
+
+<p>After hiding himself for some hours, he ventured
+to go abroad at the decline of day, almost worn out
+by hunger, and scarcely able to support himself. A
+passing Samaritan took pity upon the poor, famished
+spectre, conducted him to his house, and gave
+him assistance. The unhappy youth himself related
+to me his story in the presence of his liberator. Behold
+here the consequence of vows!</p>
+
+<p>It would be a nice point to decide, whether the
+horrors of passing every day among the mendicant
+friars are more revolting than the pernicious riches
+of the other orders, which reduce so many families
+into mendicants.</p>
+
+<p>All of them have made a vow to live at our expense,
+and to be a burden to their country; to injure
+its population, and to betray both their contemporaries
+and posterity; and shall we suffer it?</p>
+
+<p>Here is another interesting question for officers
+of the army: Why are monks allowed to recover
+one of their brethren who has enlisted for a soldier,
+while a captain is prevented from recovering a deserter
+who has turned monk?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VOYAGE_OF_ST_PETER_TO_ROME" id="VOYAGE_OF_ST_PETER_TO_ROME"></a>VOYAGE OF ST. PETER TO ROME.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Of the famous dispute, whether Peter made the
+journey to Rome, is it not in the main as frivolous
+as most other grand disputes? The revenues of the
+abbey of St. Denis, in France, depend neither on
+the truth of the journey of St. Dionysius the Areopagite
+from Athens to the midst of Gaul; his
+martyrdom at Montmartre; nor the other journey
+which he made after his death, from Montmartre
+to St. Denis, carrying his head in his arms, and
+kissing it at every step.</p>
+
+<p>The Carthusians have great riches, without there
+being the least truth in the history of the canon of
+Paris, who rose from his coffin three successive
+days, to inform the assistants that he was damned.</p>
+
+<p>In like manner it is very certain that the rights
+and revenues of the Roman pontiff can exist,
+whether Simon Barjonas, surnamed Cephas, went
+to Rome or not. All the rights of the archbishops
+of Rome and Constantinople were established at the
+Council of Chalcedon, in the year 451 of our vulgar
+era, and there was no mention in this council of
+any journey made by an apostle to Byzantium or to
+Rome.</p>
+
+<p>The patriarchs of Alexander and Constantinople
+followed the lot of their provinces. The ecclesiastical
+chiefs of these two imperial cities, and of
+opulent Egypt, must necessarily have more authority,
+privileges, and riches, than bishops of little
+towns.</p>
+
+<p>If the residence of an apostle in a city decided
+so many rights, the bishop of Jerusalem would have
+been, without contradiction, the first bishop of
+Christendom. He was evidently the successor of
+St. James, the brother of Jesus Christ, acknowledged
+as the founder of this church, and afterwards
+called the first of all bishops. We should add by
+the same reasoning, that all the patriarchs of Jerusalem
+should be circumcised, since the fifteen first
+bishops of Jerusalem&mdash;the cradle of Christianity
+and tomb of Jesus Christ&mdash;had all received circumcision.
+It is indisputable that the first largesses
+made to the church of Rome by Constantine, have
+not the least relation to the journey of St. Peter.</p>
+
+<p>1. The first church raised at Rome was that of
+St. John; it is still the true cathedral. It is evident
+that it would have been dedicated to St. Peter, if
+he had been the first bishop of it. It is the strongest
+of all presumptions, and that alone might have
+ended the dispute.</p>
+
+<p>2. To this powerful conjecture are joined convincing
+negative proofs. If Peter had been at
+Rome with Paul, the Acts of the Apostles would
+have mentioned it; and they say not a word about it.</p>
+
+<p>3. If St. Peter went to preach the gospel at Rome,
+St. Paul would not have said, in his Epistle to the
+Galatians: "When they saw that the gospel of the
+uncircumcisions was committed unto me, as the
+gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; and
+when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be
+pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me,
+they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of
+fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen, and
+they unto the circumcision."</p>
+
+<p>4. In the letters which Paul writes from Rome,
+he never speaks of Peter; therefore, it is evident
+that Peter was not there.</p>
+
+<p>5. In the letters which Paul writes to his brethren
+of Rome, there is not the least compliment to Peter,
+nor the least mention of him; therefore, Peter
+neither made a journey to Rome when Paul was
+in prison, nor when he was free.</p>
+
+<p>6. We have never known any letter of St. Peter's
+dated from Rome.</p>
+
+<p>7. Some, like Paul Orosius, a Spaniard of the
+fifth century, say that he was at Rome in the first
+years of the reign of Claudius. The Acts of the
+Apostles say that he was then at Jerusalem; and
+the Epistles of Paul, that he was at Antioch.</p>
+
+<p>8. I do not pretend to bring forward any proof,
+but speaking humanly, and according to the rules of
+profane criticism, Peter could scarcely go from
+Jerusalem to Rome, knowing neither the Latin nor
+even the Greek language, which St. Paul spoke,
+though very badly. It is said that the apostles spoke
+all the languages of the universe; therefore, I am
+silenced.</p>
+
+<p>9. Finally, the first mention which we ever had of
+the journey of St. Peter to Rome, came from one
+named Papias, who lived about a hundred years
+after St. Peter. This Papias was a Phrygian; he
+wrote in Phrygia; and he pretended that St. Peter
+went to Rome, because in one of his letters he
+speaks of Babylon. We have, indeed, a letter, attributed
+to St. Peter, written in these obscure
+times, in which it is said: "The Church which is at
+Babylon, my wife, and my son Mark, salute you."
+It has pleased some translators to translate the
+word meaning my wife, by "chosen vessel": "Babylon,
+the chosen vessel." This is translating comprehensively.</p>
+
+<p>Papias, who was, it must be confessed, one of the
+great visionaries of these ages, imagined that Babylon
+signified Rome. It was, however, very natural
+for Peter to depart from Antioch to visit the
+brethren at Babylon. There were always Jews at
+Babylon; and they continually carried on the trade
+of brokers and peddlers; it is very likely that several
+disciples sought refuge there, and that Peter
+went to encourage them. There is not more reason
+in supposing that Babylon signifies Rome, than in
+supposing that Rome means Babylon. What an extravagant
+idea, to suppose that Peter wrote an exhortation
+to his comrades, as we write at present, in
+ciphers! Did he fear that his letter should be
+opened at the post? Why should Peter fear that his
+Jewish letters should be known&mdash;so useless in a
+worldly sense, and to which it was impossible for
+the Romans to pay the least attention? Who engaged
+him to lie so vainly? What could have possessed
+people to think, that when he wrote Babylon,
+he intended Rome?</p>
+
+<p>It was after similar convincing proofs that the
+judicious Calmet concludes that the journey of St.
+Peter to Rome is proved by St. Peter himself, who
+says expressly, that he has written his letter from
+Babylon; that is to say, from Rome, as we interpret
+with the ancients. Once more, this is powerful
+reasoning! He has probably learned this logic
+among the vampires!</p>
+
+<p>The learned archbishop of Paris, Marca, Dupin,
+Blondel, and Spanheim, are not of this opinion; but
+it was that of Calmet, who reasoned like Calmet, and
+who was followed by a multitude of writers so
+attached to the sublimity of their principles that
+they sometimes neglected wholesome criticism and
+reason. It is a very poor pretence of the partisans
+of the voyage to say that the Acts of the Apostles
+are intended for the history of Paul, and not for
+that of Peter; and that if they pass in silence over
+the sojourn of Simon Barjonas at Rome, it is that
+the actions and exploits of Paul were the sole object
+of the writer.</p>
+
+<p>The Acts speak much of Simon Barjonas, surnamed
+Peter; it is he who proposes to give a successor
+to Judas. We see him strike Ananias and
+his wife with sudden death, who had given him
+their property, but unfortunately not all of it. We
+see him raise his sempstress Dorcas, at the house
+of the tanner Simon at Joppa. He has a quarrel
+in Samaria with Simon, surnamed the Magician;
+he goes to Lippa, Cæsarea, and Jerusalem; what
+would it have cost him to go to Rome?</p>
+
+<p>It is very difficult to decide whether Peter went
+to Rome under Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, or
+Nero. The journey in the time of Tiberius is only
+founded on the pretended apocryphal fasti of Italy.</p>
+
+<p>Another apocrypha, entitled "Catalogues of
+Bishops," makes Peter bishop of Rome immediately
+after the death of his master. I know not what
+Arabian tale sent him to Rome under Caligula.
+Eusebius, three hundred years after, makes him to
+be conducted to Rome under Claudius by a divine
+hand, without saying in what year.</p>
+
+<p>Lactantius, who wrote in the time of Constantine,
+is the first veracious author who has said that Peter
+went to Rome under Nero, and that he was crucified
+there.</p>
+
+<p>We must avow, that if such claims alone were
+brought forward by a party in a lawsuit, he would
+not gain his cause, and he would be advised to keep
+to the maxim of "<i>uti possedetis</i>"; and this is the
+part which Rome has taken.</p>
+
+<p>But it is said that before Eusebius and Lactantius,
+the exact Papias had already related the adventure
+of Peter and Simon; the virtue of God
+which removed him into the presence of Nero; the
+kinsman of Nero half raised from the dead, in the
+name of God, by Simon, and wholly raised by Peter;
+the compliments of their dogs; the bread given by
+Peter to Simon's dogs; the magician who flew into
+the air; the Christian who caused him to fall by
+a sign of the cross, by which he broke both his legs;
+Nero, who cut off Peter's head to pay for the
+legs of his magician, etc. The grave Marcellus repeats
+this authentic history, and the grave Hegesippus
+again repeats it, and others repeat it after them;
+and I repeat to you, that if ever you plead for a
+meadow before the judge of Vaugirard, you will
+never gain your suit by such claims.</p>
+
+<p>I doubt not that the episcopal chair of St. Peter
+is still at Rome in the fine church. I doubt not but
+that St. Peter enjoyed the bishopric of Rome
+twenty-nine years, a month, and nine days, as it is
+said. But I may venture to say that that is not
+demonstratively proved; and I say that it is to be
+thought that the Roman bishops of the present time
+are more at their ease than those of times past&mdash;obscure
+times, which it is very difficult to penetrate.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WALLER" id="WALLER"></a>WALLER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The celebrated Waller has been much spoken of
+in France; he has been praised by La Fontaine, St.
+Évremond, and Bayle, who, however, knew little of
+him beyond his name.</p>
+
+<p>He had pretty nearly the same reputation in
+London as Voiture enjoyed in Paris, but I believe
+that he more deserved it. Voiture existed at a time
+when we were first emerging from literary ignorance,
+and when wit was aimed at, but scarcely attained.
+Turns of expression were sought for instead
+of thoughts, and false stones were more easily
+discovered than genuine diamonds. Voiture, who
+possessed an easy and trifling turn of mind, was the
+first who shone in this aurora of French literature.
+Had he come after the great men who have thrown
+so much lustre on the age of Louis XIV., he would
+have been forced to have had something more than
+mere wit, which was enough for the hotel de Rambouillet,
+but not enough for posterity. Boileau
+praises him, but it was in his first satires, and before
+his taste was formed. He was young, and of that
+age in which men judge rather by reputation than
+from themselves; and, besides, Boileau was often
+unjust in his praise as well as his censure. He
+praised Segrais, whom nobody read; insulted Quinault,
+who everybody repeated by heart; and said
+nothing of La Fontaine.</p>
+
+<p>Waller, although superior to Voiture, was not
+perfect. His poems of gallantry are very graceful,
+but they are frequently languid from negligence,
+and they are often disfigured by conceits. In his
+days, the English had not learned to write correctly.
+His serious pieces are replete with vigor, and exhibit
+none of the softness of his gallant effusions.
+He composed a monody on the death of Cromwell,
+which, with several faults, passes for a masterpiece;
+and it was in reference to this eulogy that
+Waller made the reply to Charles II., which is inserted
+in "Bayle's Dictionary." The king&mdash;to whom
+Waller, after the manner of kings and poets, presented
+a poem stuffed with panegyric&mdash;told him that
+he had written more finely on Cromwell. Waller
+immediately replied: "Sire, we poets always succeed
+better in fiction than in truth." This reply
+was not so sincere as that of the Dutch ambassador,
+who, when the same king complained to him that
+his masters had less regard for him than for Cromwell,
+replied: "Ah, sire! that Cromwell was quite
+another thing." There are courtiers in England,
+as elsewhere, and Waller was one of them; but
+after their death, I consider men only by their works;
+all the rest is annihilated. I simply observe that
+Waller, born to an estate of the annual value of
+sixty thousand livres, had never the silly pride or
+carelessness to neglect his talent. The earls of
+Dorset and Roscommon, the two dukes of Buckingham,
+the earl of Halifax, and a great many
+others, have not thought it below them to become
+celebrated poets and illustrious writers; and their
+works do them more honor than their titles. They
+have cultivated letters as if their fortunes depended
+on their success, and have rendered literature respectable
+in the eyes of the people, who in all things
+require leaders from among the great&mdash;who, however,
+have less influence of this kind in England
+than in any other place in the world.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WAR" id="WAR"></a>WAR.</h3>
+
+
+<p>All animals are perpetually at war; every species
+is born to devour another. There are none,
+even to sheep and doves, who do not swallow a
+prodigious number of imperceptible animals. Males
+of the same species make war for the females, like
+Menelaus and Paris. Air, earth, and the waters,
+are fields of destruction.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that God having given reason to men,
+this reason should teach them not to debase themselves
+by imitating animals, particularly when nature
+has given them neither arms to kill their fellow-creatures,
+nor instinct which leads them to suck their
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>Yet murderous war is so much the dreadful lot
+of man, that except two or three nations, there are
+none but what their ancient histories represent as
+armed against one another. Towards Canada, man
+and warrior are synonymous; and we have seen,
+in our hemisphere, that thief and soldier were the
+same thing. Manichæans! behold your excuse.</p>
+
+<p>The most determined of flatterers will easily
+agree, that war always brings pestilence and famine
+in its train, from the little that he may have seen in
+the hospitals of the armies of Germany, or the few
+villages he may have passed through in which some
+great exploit of war has been performed.</p>
+
+<p>That is doubtless a very fine art which desolates
+countries, destroys habitations, and in a common
+year causes the death of from forty to a hundred
+thousand men. This invention was first cultivated
+by nations assembled for their common good; for
+instance, the diet of the Greeks declared to the diet
+of Phrygia and neighboring nations, that they intended
+to depart on a thousand fishers' barks, to
+exterminate them if they could.</p>
+
+<p>The assembled Roman people judged that it was
+to their interest to go and fight, before harvest,
+against the people of Veii or the Volscians. And
+some years after, all the Romans, being exasperated
+against all the Carthaginians, fought them a long
+time on sea and land. It is not exactly the same at
+present.</p>
+
+<p>A genealogist proves to a prince that he descends
+in a right line from a count, whose parents made a
+family compact, three or four hundred years ago,
+with a house the recollection of which does not even
+exist. This house had distant pretensions to a
+province, of which the last possessor died of apoplexy.
+The prince and his council see his right at
+once. This province, which is some hundred leagues
+distant from him, in vain protests that it knows
+him not; that it has no desire to be governed by
+him; that to give laws to its people, he must at
+least have their consent; these discourses only
+reach as far as the ears of the prince, whose right
+is incontestable. He immediately assembles a great
+number of men who have nothing to lose, dresses
+them in coarse blue cloth, borders their hats with
+broad white binding, makes them turn to the right
+and left, and marches to glory.</p>
+
+<p>Other princes who hear of this equipment, take
+part in it, each according to his power, and cover
+a small extent of country with more mercenary
+murderers than Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, and
+Bajazet employed in their train. Distant people
+hear that they are going to fight, and that they may
+gain five or six sous a day, if they will be of the
+party; they divide themselves into two bands, like
+reapers, and offer their services to whoever will
+employ them.</p>
+
+<p>These multitudes fall upon one another, not only
+without having any interest in the affair, but without
+knowing the reason of it. We see at once five
+or six belligerent powers, sometimes three against
+three, sometimes two against four, and sometimes
+one against five; all equally detesting one another,
+uniting with and attacking by turns; all agree in
+a single point, that of doing all the harm possible.</p>
+
+<p>The most wonderful part of this infernal enterprise
+is that each chief of the murderers causes his
+colors to be blessed, and solemnly invokes God before
+he goes to exterminate his neighbors. If a
+chief has only the fortune to kill two or three thousand
+men, he does not thank God for it; but when
+he has exterminated about ten thousand by fire and
+sword, and, to complete the work, some town has
+been levelled with the ground, they then sing a long
+song in four parts, composed in a language unknown
+to all who have fought, and moreover replete
+with barbarism. The same song serves for
+marriages and births, as well as for murders; which
+is unpardonable, particularly in a nation the most
+famous for new songs.</p>
+
+<p>Natural religion has a thousand times prevented
+citizens from committing crimes. A well-trained
+mind has not the inclination for it; a tender one is
+alarmed at it, representing to itself a just and
+avenging God; but artificial religion encourages
+all cruelties which are exercised by troops&mdash;conspiracies,
+seditions, pillages, ambuscades, surprises
+of towns, robberies, and murder. Each marches
+gaily to crime, under the banner of his saint.</p>
+
+<p>A certain number of orators are everywhere paid
+to celebrate these murderous days; some are dressed
+in a long black close coat, with a short cloak; others
+have a shirt above a gown; some wear two variegated
+stuff streamers over their shirts. All of them
+speak for a long time, and quote that which was
+done of old in Palestine, as applicable to a combat
+in Veteravia.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the year these people declaim against
+vices. They prove, in three points and by antitheses,
+that ladies who lay a little carmine upon
+their cheeks, will be the eternal objects of the
+eternal vengeances of the Eternal; that Polyeuctus
+and Athalia are works of the demon; that a man
+who, for two hundred crowns a day, causes his table
+to be furnished with fresh sea-fish during Lent, infallibly
+works his salvation; and that a poor man
+who eats two sous and a half worth of mutton, will
+go forever to all the devils.</p>
+
+<p>Of five or six thousand declamations of this kind,
+there are three or four at most, composed by a Gaul
+named Massillon, which an honest man may read
+without disgust; but in all these discourses, you
+will scarcely find two in which the orator dares to
+say a word against the scourge and crime of war,
+which contains all other scourges and crimes. The
+unfortunate orators speak incessantly against love,
+which is the only consolation of mankind, and the
+only mode of making amends for it; they say
+nothing of the abominable efforts which we make to
+destroy it.</p>
+
+<p>You have made a very bad sermon on impurity&mdash;oh,
+Bourdaloue!&mdash;but none on these murders, varied
+in so many ways; on these rapines and robberies;
+on this universal rage which devours the world.
+All the united vices of all ages and places will never
+equal the evils produced by a single campaign.</p>
+
+<p>Miserable physicians of souls! you exclaim, for
+five quarters of an hour, on some pricks of a pin,
+and say nothing on the malady which tears us into
+a thousand pieces! Philosophers! moralists! burn all
+your books. While the caprice of a few men makes
+that part of mankind consecrated to heroism, to
+murder loyally millions of our brethren, can there
+be anything more horrible throughout nature?</p>
+
+<p>What becomes of, and what signifies to me, humanity,
+beneficence, modesty, temperance, mildness,
+wisdom, and piety, while half a pound of lead, sent
+from the distance of a hundred steps, pierces my
+body, and I die at twenty years of age, in inexpressible
+torments, in the midst of five or six thousand
+dying men, while my eyes which open for the
+last time, see the town in which I was born destroyed
+by fire and sword, and the last sounds which
+reach my ears are the cries of women and children
+expiring under the ruins, all for the pretended interests
+of a man whom I know not?</p>
+
+<p>What is worse, war is an inevitable scourge. If
+we take notice, all men have worshipped Mars.
+Sabaoth, among the Jews, signifies the god of arms;
+but Minerva, in Homer, calls Mars a furious, mad,
+and infernal god.</p>
+
+<p>The celebrated Montesquieu, who was called humane,
+has said, however,' that it is just to bear fire
+and sword against our neighbors, when we fear that
+they are doing too well. If this is the spirit of laws,
+At is also that of Borgia and of Machiavelli. If unfortunately
+he says true, we must write against this
+truth, though it may be proved by facts.</p>
+
+<p>This is what Montesquieu says: "Between societies,
+the right of natural defence sometimes induces
+the necessity of attacking, when one people
+sees that a longer peace puts another in a situation
+to destroy it, and that attack at the given moment is
+the only way of preventing this destruction."</p>
+
+<p>How can attack in peace be the only means of
+preventing this destruction? You must be sure that
+this neighbor will destroy you, if he become powerful.
+To be sure of it, he must already have made
+preparations for your overthrow. In this case, it
+is he who commences the war; it is not you: your
+supposition is false and contradictory.</p>
+
+<p>If ever war is evidently unjust, it is that which
+you propose: it is going to kill your neighbor, who
+does not attack you, lest he should ever be in a state
+to do so. To hazard the ruin of your country, in
+the hope of ruining without reason that of another,
+is assuredly neither honest nor useful; for we are
+never sure of success, as you well know.</p>
+
+<p>If your neighbor becomes too powerful during
+peace, what prevents you from rendering yourself
+equally powerful? If he has made alliances, make
+them on your side. If, having fewer monks, he has
+more soldiers and manufacturers, imitate him in this
+wise economy. If he employs his sailors better, employ
+yours in the same manner: all that is very just.
+But to expose your people to the most horrible misery,
+in the so often false idea of overturning your
+dear brother, the most serene neighboring prince!&mdash;it
+was not for the honorary president of a pacific
+society to give you such advice.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WEAKNESS_ON_BOTH_SIDES" id="WEAKNESS_ON_BOTH_SIDES"></a>WEAKNESS ON BOTH SIDES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the
+motto of all quarrels. I speak not here of those
+which have caused blood to be shed&mdash;the Anabaptists,
+who ravaged Westphalia; the Calvinists, who
+kindled so many wars in France; the sanguinary
+factions of the Armagnacs and Burgundians; the
+punishment of the Maid of Orleans, whom one-half
+of France regarded as a celestial heroine, and the
+other as a sorceress; the Sorbonne, which presented
+a request to have her burned; the assassination of
+the duke of Orleans, justified by the doctors; subjects
+excused from the oath of fidelity by a decree
+of the sacred faculty; the executioners so often employed
+to enforce opinions; the piles lighted for unfortunates
+who persuaded others that they were sorcerers
+and heretics&mdash;all that is more than weakness.
+Yet these abominations were committed in the good
+times of honest Germanic faith and Gallic naivete!
+I would send back to them all honest people who
+regret times past.</p>
+
+<p>I will make here, simply for my own particular
+edification, a little instructive memoir of the fine
+things which divided the minds of our grandfathers.
+In the eleventh century&mdash;in that good time in which
+we knew not the art of war, which however we have
+always practised; nor that of governing towns, nor
+commerce, nor society, and in which we could
+neither read nor write&mdash;men of much mind disputed
+solemnly, at much length, and with great vivacity,
+on what happened at the water-closet, after having
+fulfilled a sacred duty, of which we must speak only
+with the most profound respect. This was called the
+dispute of the stercorists; and, not ending in a
+war, was in consequence one of the mildest impertinences
+of the human mind.</p>
+
+<p>The dispute which divided learned Spain, in the
+same century, on the Mosarabic version, also terminated
+without ravaging provinces or shedding human
+blood. The spirit of chivalry, which then prevailed,
+permitted not the difficulty to be enlightened
+otherwise than in leaving the decision to two noble
+knights. As in that of the two Don Quixotes, whichever
+overthrew his adversary caused his own party
+to triumph. Don Ruis de Martanza, knight of the
+Mosarabic ritual, overthrew the Don Quixote of the
+Latin ritual; but as the laws of chivalry decided
+not positively that a ritual must be proscribed because
+its knight was unhorsed, a more certain and
+established secret was made use of, to know which
+of the books should be preferred. The expedient
+alluded to was that of throwing them both into the
+fire, it not being possible for the sound ritual to perish
+in the flames. I know not how it happened, however,
+but they were both burned, and the dispute
+remained undecided, to the great astonishment of
+the Spaniards. By degrees, the Latin ritual got
+the preference; and if any knight afterwards presented
+himself to maintain the Mosarabic, it was the
+knight and not the ritual which was thrown into
+the fire.</p>
+
+<p>In these fine times, we and other polished people,
+when we were ill, were obliged to have recourse to
+an Arabian physician. When we would know what
+day of the moon it was, we referred to the Arabs.
+If we would buy a piece of cloth, we must pay a Jew
+for it; and when a farmer wanted rain, he addressed
+himself to a sorcerer. At last, however, when some
+of us learned Latin, and had a bad translation of
+Aristotle, we figured in the world with honor, passing
+three or four hundred years in deciphering some
+pages of the Stagyrite, and in adoring and condemning
+them. Some said that without him we should
+want articles of faith; others, that he was an atheist.
+A Spaniard proved that Aristotle was a saint, and
+that we should celebrate his anniversary; while a
+council in France caused his divine writings to be
+burned. Colleges, universities, whole orders of
+monks, were reciprocally anathematized, on the subject
+of some passages of this great man&mdash;which neither
+themselves, the judges who interposed their authority,
+nor the author himself, ever understood.
+There were many fisticuffs given in Germany in
+these grave quarrels, but there was not much bloodshed.
+It is a pity, for the glory of Aristotle, that
+they did not make civil war, and have some regular
+battles in favor of quiddities, and of the "universal
+of the part of the thing." Our ancestors cut the
+throats of each other in disputes upon points which
+they understood very little better.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that a much celebrated madman named
+Occam, surnamed the "invincible doctor," chief of
+those who stood up for the "universal of the part of
+thought," demanded from the emperor Louis of
+Bavaria, that he should defend his pen with his imperial
+sword against Scott, another Scottish madman,
+surnamed the "subtle doctor," who fought for
+the "universal of the part of the thing." Happily,
+the sword of Louis of Bavaria remained in its scabbard.
+Who would believe that these disputes have
+lasted until our days, and that the Parliament of
+Paris, in 1624, gave a fine sentence in favor of Aristotle?</p>
+
+<p>Towards the time of the brave Occam and the intrepid
+Scott, a much more serious quarrel arose,
+into which the reverend father Cordeliers inveigled
+all the Christian world. This was to know if their
+kitchen garden belonged to themselves, or if they
+were merely simple tenants of it. The form of the
+cowls, and the size of the sleeves, were further subjects
+of this holy war. Pope John XXII., who interfered,
+found out to whom he was speaking. The
+Cordeliers quitted his party for that of Louis of Bavaria,
+who then drew his sword.</p>
+
+<p>There were, moreover, three or four Cordeliers
+burned as heretics, which is rather strong; but after
+all, this affair having neither shaken thrones nor
+ruined provinces, we may place it in the rank of
+peaceable follies.</p>
+
+<p>There have been always some of this kind, the
+greater part of whom have fallen into the most profound
+oblivion; and of four or five hundred sects
+which have appeared, there remain in the memory
+of men those only which have produced either extreme
+disorder or extreme folly&mdash;two things which
+they willingly retain. Who knows, in the present
+day, that there were Orebites, Osmites, and Insdorfians?
+Who is now acquainted with the
+Anointed, the Cornacians, or the Iscariots?</p>
+
+<p>Dining one day at the house of a Dutch lady, I
+was charitably warned by one of the guests, to take
+care of myself, and not to praise Voetius. "I have
+no desire," said I, "to say either good or evil of
+your Voetius; but why do you give me this advice?"
+"Because madam is a Cocceian," said my neighbor.
+"With all my heart," said I. She added, that there
+were still four Cocceians in Holland, and that it
+was a great pity that the sect perished. A time will
+come in which the Jansenists, who have made so
+much noise among us, and who are unknown everywhere
+else, will have the fate of the Cocceians.
+An old doctor said to me: "Sir, in my youth, I have
+debated on the <i>'mandata impossibilia volentibus et
+conantibus.'</i> I have written against the formulary
+and the pope, and I thought myself a confessor. I
+have been put in prison, and I thought myself a martyr.
+I now no longer interfere in anything, and I
+believe myself to be reasonable." "What are your
+occupations?" said I to him. "Sir," replied he, "I
+am very fond of money." It is thus that almost all
+men in their old age inwardly laugh at the follies
+which they ardently embraced in their youth. Sects
+grow old, like men. Those which have not been supported
+by great princes, which have not caused great
+mischief, grow old much sooner than others. They
+are epidemic maladies, which pass over like the
+sweating sickness and the whooping-cough.</p>
+
+<p>There is no longer any question on the pious reveries
+of Madame Guyon. We no longer read the
+most unintelligible book of Maxims of the Saints,
+but Telemachus. We no longer remember what the
+eloquent Bossuet wrote against the elegant and
+amiable Fénelon; we give the preference to his
+funeral orations. In all the dispute on what is called
+quietism, there has been nothing good but the old
+tale revived of the honest woman who brought a
+torch to burn paradise, and a cruse of water to extinguish
+the fire of hell, that God should no longer
+be served either through hope or fear.</p>
+
+<p>I will only remark one singularity in this proceeding,
+which is not equal to the story of the good
+woman; it is, that the Jesuits, who were so much accused
+in France by the Jansenists of having been
+founded by St. Ignatius, expressly to destroy the
+love of God, warmly interfered at Rome in favor of
+the pure love of Fénelon. It happened to them as
+to M. de Langeais, who was pursued by his wife to
+the Parliament of Paris, on account of his impotence,
+and by a girl to the Parliament of Rennes, for having
+rendered her pregnant. He ought to have gained
+one of these two causes; he lost them both. Pure
+love, for which the Jesuits made so much stir, was
+condemned at Rome, and they were always supposed
+at Paris to be against loving God. This opinion
+was so rooted in the public mind that when,
+some years ago, an engraving was sold representing
+our Lord Jesus Christ dressed as a Jesuit, a wit&mdash;apparently
+the <i>loustic</i> of the Jansenist party&mdash;wrote
+lines under the print intimating that the ingenious
+fathers had habited God like themselves, as the surest
+means of preventing the love of him:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Admirez l'artifice extrême</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Les ces pères ingénieux:</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ils vous ont habillé comme eux,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mon Dieu, de peur qu'on ne vous aime.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>At Rome, where such disputes never arise, and
+where they judge those that take place elsewhere,
+they were much annoyed with quarrels on pure love.
+Cardinal Carpegne, who was the reporter of the affairs
+of the archbishop of Cambray, was ill, and suffered
+much in a part which is not more spared in
+cardinals than in other men. His surgeon bandaged
+him with fine linen, which is called cambrai (cambric)
+in Italy as in many other places. The cardinal
+cried out, when the surgeon pleaded that it was
+the finest cambrai: "What! more cambrai still?
+Is it not enough to have one's head fatigued with
+it?" Happy the disputes which end thus! Happy
+would man be if all the disputers of the world, if
+heresiarchs, submitted with so much moderation,
+such magnanimous mildness, as the great archbishop
+of Cambray, who had no desire to be an
+heresiarch! I know not whether he was right in
+wishing God to be loved for himself alone, but M.
+de Fénelon certainly deserved to be loved thus.</p>
+
+<p>In purely literary disputes there is often as much
+snarling and party spirit as in more interesting quarrels.
+We should, if we could, renew the factions of
+the circus, which agitated the Roman Empire. Two
+rival actresses are capable of dividing a town. Men
+have all a secret fascination for faction. If we cannot
+cabal, pursue, and destroy one another for
+crowns, tiaras, and mitres, we fall upon one another
+for a dancer or a musician. Rameau had a violent
+party against him, who would have exterminated
+him; and he knew nothing of it. I had a violent
+party against me, and I knew it well.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WHYS_THE" id="WHYS_THE"></a>WHYS (THE).</h3>
+
+
+<p>Why do we scarcely ever know the tenth part
+of the good we might do? Iris clear, that if a nation
+living between the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the
+sea, had employed, in ameliorating and embellishing
+the country, a tenth part of the money it lost in the
+war of 1741, and one-half of the men killed to no
+purpose in Germany, the state would have been more
+flourishing. Why was not this done? Why prefer
+a war, which Europe considered unjust, to the happy
+labors of peace, which would have produced the
+useful and the agreeable?</p>
+
+<p>Why did Louis XIV., who had so much taste
+for great monuments, for new foundations, for the
+fine arts, lose eight hundred millions of our money
+in seeing his cuirassiers and his household swim
+across the Rhine in <i>not</i> taking Amsterdam; in
+stirring up nearly all Europe against him? What
+could he not have done with his eight hundred millions?</p>
+
+<p>Why, when he reformed jurisprudence, did he
+reform it only by halves? Ought the numerous ancient
+customs, founded on the decretals and the
+canon law, to be still suffered to exist? Was it
+necessary that in the many causes called ecclesiastical,
+but which are in reality civil, appeal should be
+made to the bishop; from the bishop to the metropolitan;
+from the metropolitan to the primate; and
+from the primate to Rome, "<i>ad apostolos</i>"?&mdash;as if
+the apostles had of old been the judges of the Gauls
+"<i>en dernier ressort</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Why, when Louis XIV. was outrageously insulted
+by Pope Alexander VII.&mdash;Chigi&mdash;did he
+amuse himself with sending into France for a legate,
+to make frivolous excuses, and with having a pyramid
+erected at Rome, the inscriptions over which
+concerned none but the watchmen of Rome&mdash;a pyramid
+which he soon after had abolished? Had it not
+been better to have abolished forever the simony by
+which every bishop and every abbot in Gaul pays to
+the Italian apostolic chamber the half of his revenue?</p>
+
+<p>Why did the same monarch, when still more
+grievously insulted by Innocent XI.&mdash;Odescalchi&mdash;who
+took the part of the prince of Orange against
+him, content himself with having four propositions
+maintained in his universities, and refuse the prayers
+of the whole magistracy, who solicited an eternal
+rupture with the court of Rome?</p>
+
+<p>Why, in making the laws, was it forgotten to
+place all the provinces of the kingdom under one
+uniform law, leaving in existence a hundred different
+customs, and a hundred and forty-four different
+measures?</p>
+
+<p>Why were the provinces of this kingdom still reputed
+foreign to one another, so that the merchandise
+of Normandy, on being conveyed by land into
+Brittany, pays duty, as if it came from England?</p>
+
+<p>Why was not corn grown in Champagne allowed
+to be sold in Picardy without an express permission&mdash;as
+at Rome permission is obtained for three
+giuli to read forbidden books?</p>
+
+<p>Why was France left so long under the reproach
+of venality? It seemed to be reserved for Louis
+XIV. to abolish the custom of buying the right to
+sit as judges over men, as you buy a country house;
+and making pleaders pay fees to the judge, as tickets
+for the play are paid for at the door.</p>
+
+<p>Why institute in a kingdom the offices and dignities
+of king's counsellors: Inspectors of drink, inspectors
+of the shambles, registrars of inventories,
+controllers of fines, inspectors of hogs, péréquateurs
+of tailles, fuel-measurers, assistant-measurers, fuel-pilers,
+unloaders of green wood, controllers of timber,
+markers of timber, coal-measurers, corn-sifters,
+inspectors of calves, controllers of poultry, gaugers,
+assayers of brandy, assayers of beer, rollers of
+casks, unloaders of hay, floor-clearers, inspectors
+of ells, inspectors of wigs?</p>
+
+<p>These offices; in which doubtless consist the prosperity
+and splendor of an empire, formed numerous
+communities, which had each their syndics. This
+was all suppressed in 1719; but it was to make room
+for others of a similar kind, in the course of time.
+Would it not be better to retrench all the pomp and
+luxury of greatness, than miserably to support them
+by means so low and shameful?</p>
+
+<p>Why has a nation, often reduced to extremity
+and to some degree of humiliation, still supported
+itself in spite of all the efforts made to crush it?
+Because that nation is active and industrious. The
+people are like the bees: you take from them wax
+and honey, and they forthwith set to work to produce
+more.</p>
+
+<p>Why, in half of Europe, do the girls pray to God
+in Latin, which they do not understand? Why, in
+the sixteenth century, when nearly all the popes
+and bishops notoriously had bastards, did they persist
+in prohibiting the marriage of priests; while
+the Greek Church has constantly ordained that curates
+should have wives?</p>
+
+<p>Why, in all antiquity, was there no theological
+dispute, nor any people distinguished by a sectarian
+appellation? The Egyptians were not called Isiacs
+or Osiriacs. The people of Syria were not named
+Cybelians. The Cretans had a particular devotion
+for Jupiter, but were not called Jupiterians. The
+ancient Latins were much attached to Saturn, but
+there was not a village in all Latium called Saturnian.
+The disciples of the God of Truth, on the
+contrary, taking the title of their master himself,
+and calling themselves, like him, "anointed," declared,
+as soon as they were able, eternal war against
+all nations that were not "anointed," and made war
+upon one another for upwards of fourteen hundred
+years, taking the names of Arians, Manichæans,
+Donatists, Hussites, Papists, Lutherans, Calvinists,
+etc. Even the Jansenists and Molinists have experienced
+no mortification so acute as that of not
+having it in their power to cut one another's throats
+in pitched battle. Whence is this?</p>
+
+<p>Why does a bookseller publicly sell the "Course
+of Atheism," by the great Lucretius, printed for the
+dauphin, only son of Louis XIV., by order and under
+the direction of the wise duke of Montausier,
+and of the eloquent Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, and
+of the learned Huet, bishop of Avranches? There
+you find those sublime impieties, those admirable
+lines against Providence and the immortality of the
+soul, which pass from mouth to mouth, through all
+after-ages:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ex nihilo, nihil; in nihilum nil posse reverti.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">From nothing, nought; to nothing nought returns.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Tangere enim ac tangi nisi corpus nulla protest res.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Matter alone can touch and govern matter.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Nec bene pro meretis capitur, nec tangitur ira (Deus).</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Nothing can flatter God, or cause his anger.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">How great the evil by religion caused!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Desipire est mortale eterno jungere et una</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Consentire putare, et fungi mutua posse.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'Tis weak in mortals to attempt to join</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To transient being that which lasts forever.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Nil igitur mors est, ad nos neque pertinet hilum.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">When death is, we are not; the body dies, and with it all.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mortalem tamen esse animam fatere necesse est.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">There is no future; mortal is the soul.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Hinc Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Hence ancient fools are superstition's prey.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>And a hundred other lines which charm all nations&mdash;the
+immortal productions of a mind which believed
+itself to be mortal. Not only are these Latin
+verses sold in the Rue St. Jacques and on the
+Quai des Augustins, but you fearlessly purchase
+the translations made into all the patois derived
+from the Latin tongue&mdash;translations decorated with
+learned notes, which elucidate the doctrine of materialism,
+collect all the proofs against the Divinity,
+and would annihilate it, if it could be destroyed.
+You find this book, bound in morocco, in the fine
+library of a great and devout prince, of a cardinal,
+of a chancellor, of an archbishop, of a round-capped
+president: but the first eighteen books of de Thou
+were condemned as soon as they appeared. A poor
+Gallic philosopher ventures to publish, in his own
+name, that if men had been born without fingers,
+they would never have been able to work tapestry;
+and immediately another Gaul, who for his money
+has obtained a robe of office, requires that the book
+and the author be burned.</p>
+
+<p>Why are scenic exhibitions anathematized by certain
+persons who call themselves of the first order
+in the state, seeing that such exhibitions are necessary
+to all the orders of the state, and that the laws
+of the state uphold them with equal splendor and
+regularity?</p>
+
+<p>Why do we abandon to contempt, debasement,
+oppression, and rapine, the great mass of those laborious
+and harmless men who cultivate the earth
+every day of the year, that we may eat of all its
+fruits? And why, on the contrary, do we pay respect,
+attention, and court, to the useless and often
+very wicked man who lives only by their labor, and
+is rich only by their misery?</p>
+
+<p>Why, during so many ages, among so many men
+who sow the corn with which we are fed, has there
+been no one to discover that ridiculous error which
+teaches that the grain must rot in order to germinate,
+and die to spring up again&mdash;an error which
+has led to many impertinent assertions, to many
+false comparisons, and to many ridiculous opinions?</p>
+
+<p>Why, since the fruits of the earth are so necessary
+for the preservation of men and animals, do
+we find so many years, and so many centuries, in
+which these fruits are absolutely wanting? why is
+the earth covered with poisons in the half of Africa
+and of America? why is there no tract of land
+where there are not more insects than men? why
+does a little whitish and offensive secretion form a
+being which will have hard bones, desires, and
+thoughts? and why shall those beings be constantly
+persecuting one another? why does there exist so
+much evil, everything being formed by a God whom
+all Theists agree in calling good? why, since we are
+always complaining of our ills, are we constantly
+employed in redoubling them? why, since we are
+so miserable, has it been imagined that to die is an
+evil&mdash;when it is clear that not to have been, before
+our birth, was no evil? why does it rain every day
+into the sea, while so many deserts demand rain,
+yet are constantly arid? why and how have we
+dreams in our sleep, if we have no soul? and if we
+have one, how is it that these dreams are always so
+incoherent and so extravagant? why do the heavens
+revolve from east to west, rather than the contrary
+way? why do we exist? why does anything
+exist?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WICKED" id="WICKED"></a>WICKED.</h3>
+
+
+<p>We are told that human nature is essentially perverse;
+that man is born a child of the devil, and
+wicked. Nothing can be more injudicious; for thou,
+my friend, who preachest to me that all the world is
+born perverse, warnest me that thou art born such
+also, and that I must mistrust thee as I would a fox
+or a crocodile. Oh, no! sayest thou; I am regenerated;
+I am neither a heretic nor an infidel; you
+may trust in me. But the rest of mankind, which
+are either heretic, or what thou callest infidel, will
+be an assemblage of monsters, and every time that
+thou speakest to a Lutheran or a Turk, thou mayest
+be sure that they will rob and murder thee, for they
+are children of the devil, they are born wicked; the
+one is not regenerated, the other is degenerated. It
+would be much more reasonable, much more noble,
+to say to men: "You are all born good; see how
+dreadful it is to corrupt the purity of your being.
+All mankind should be dealt with as are all men
+individually." If a canon leads a scandalous life,
+we say to him: "Is it possible that you would dishonor
+the dignity of canon?" We remind a lawyer
+that he has the honor of being a counsellor to the
+king, and that he should set an example. We say to
+a soldier to encourage him: "Remember that thou
+art of the regiment of Champagne." We should say
+to every individual: "Remember thy dignity as a
+man."</p>
+
+<p>And indeed, notwithstanding the contrary theory,
+we always return to that; for what else signifies
+the expression, so frequently used in all nations:
+"Be yourself again?" If we are born of the devil,
+if our origin was criminal, if our blood was formed
+of an infernal liquor, this expression: "Be yourself
+again," would signify: "Consult, follow your
+diabolical nature; be an impostor, thief, and assassin;
+it is the law of your nature."</p>
+
+<p>Man is not born wicked; he becomes so, as he
+becomes sick. Physicians present themselves and
+say to him: "You are born sick." It is very certain
+these doctors, whatever they may say or do, will not
+cure him, if the malady is inherent in his nature;
+besides, these reasoners are often very ailing themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Assemble all the children of the universe; you
+will see in them only innocence, mildness, and fear;
+if they were born wicked, mischievous, and cruel,
+they would show some signs of it, as little serpents
+try to bite, and little tigers to tear. But nature not
+having given to men more offensive arms than to
+pigeons and rabbits, she cannot have given them an
+instinct leading them to destroy.</p>
+
+<p>Man, therefore, is not born bad; why, therefore,
+are several infected with the plague of wickedness?
+It is, that those who are at their head being taken
+with the malady, communicate it to the rest of men:
+as a woman attacked with the distemper which
+Christopher Columbus brought from America,
+spreads the venom from one end of Europe to the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>The first ambitious man corrupted the earth.
+You will tell me that this first monster has sowed
+the seed of pride, rapine, fraud, and cruelty, which
+is in all men. I confess, that in general most of our
+brethren can acquire these qualities; but has everybody
+the putrid fever, the stone and gravel, because
+everybody is exposed to it?</p>
+
+<p>There are whole nations which are not wicked:
+the Philadelphians, the Banians, have never killed
+any one. The Chinese, the people of Tonquin, Lao,
+Siam, and even Japan, for more than a hundred
+years have not been acquainted with war. In ten
+years we scarcely see one of those great crimes
+which astonish human nature in the cities of Rome,
+Venice, Paris, London, and Amsterdam; towns in
+which cupidity, the mother of all crimes, is extreme.</p>
+
+<p>If men were essentially wicked&mdash;if they were all
+born submissive to a being as mischievous as unfortunate,
+who, to revenge himself for his punishment,
+inspired them with all his passions&mdash;we should
+every morning see husbands assassinated by their
+wives, and fathers by their children; as at break
+of day we see fowls strangled by a weasel who comes
+to suck their blood.</p>
+
+<p>If there be a thousand millions of men on the
+earth, that is much; that gives about five hundred
+millions of women, who sew, spin, nourish their little
+ones, keep their houses or cabins in order, and
+slander their neighbors a little. I see not what great
+harm these poor innocents do on earth. Of this
+number of inhabitants of the globe, there are at
+least two hundred millions of children, who certainly
+neither kill nor steal, and about as many old people
+and invalids, who have not the power of doing so.
+There will remain, at most, a hundred millions of
+robust young people capable of crime. Of this hundred
+millions, there are ninety continually occupied
+in forcing the earth, by prodigious labor, to furnish
+them with food and clothing; these have scarcely
+time. In the ten remaining millions will be comprised
+idle people and good company, who would
+enjoy themselves at their ease; men of talent occupied
+in their professions; magistrates, priests, visibly
+interested in leading a pure life, at least in appearance.
+Therefore, of truly wicked people, there
+will only remain a few politicians, either secular
+or regular, who will always trouble the world, and
+some thousand vagabonds who hire their services to
+these politicians. Now, there is never a million of
+these ferocious beasts employed at once, and in this
+number I reckon highwaymen. You have therefore
+on the earth, in the most stormy times, only one
+man in a thousand whom we can call wicked, and he
+is not always so.</p>
+
+<p>There is, therefore infinitely less wickedness on
+the earth than we are told and believe there is. There
+is still too much, no doubt; we see misfortunes and
+horrible crimes; but the pleasure of complaining
+of and exaggerating them is so great, that at the
+least scratch we say that the earth flows with blood.
+Have you been deceived?&mdash;all men are perjured. A
+melancholy mind which has suffered injustice, sees
+the earth covered with damned people: as a young
+rake, supping with his lady, on coming from the
+opera, imagines that there are no unfortunates.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WILL" id="WILL"></a>WILL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Some very subtle Greeks formerly consulted Pope
+Honorius I., to know whether Jesus, when He was
+in the world, had one will or two, when He would
+sleep or watch, eat or repair to the water-closet,
+walk or sit.</p>
+
+<p>"What signifies it to you?" answered the very
+wise bishop of Rome, Honorius. "He has certainly
+at present the will for you to be well-disposed
+people&mdash;that should satisfy you; He has no will for
+you to be babbling sophists, to fight continually for
+the bishop's mitre and the ass's shadow. I advise
+you to live in peace, and not to lose in useless disputes
+the time which you might employ in good
+works."</p>
+
+<p>"Holy father, you have said well; this is the most
+important affair in the world. We have already set
+Europe, Asia, and Africa on fire, to know whether
+Jesus had two persons and one nature, or one nature
+and two persons, or rather two persons and two natures,
+or rather one person and one nature."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear brethren, you have acted wrongly; we
+should give broth to the sick and bread to the poor.
+It is doubtless right to help the poor! but is not the
+patriarch Sergius about to decide in a council at
+Constantinople, that Jesus had two natures and one
+will? And the emperor, who knows nothing about
+it, is of this opinion."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, be it so! but above all defend yourself
+from the Mahometans, who box your ears every day,
+and who have a very bad will towards you. It is
+well said! But behold the bishops of Tunis, Tripoli,
+Algiers, and Morocco, all declare firmly for the two
+wills. We must have an opinion; what is yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"My opinion is, that you are madmen, who will
+lose the Christian religion which we have established
+with so much trouble. You will do so much
+mischief with your folly, that Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers,
+and Morocco, of which you speak to me, will
+become Mahometan, and there will not be a Christian
+chapel in Africa. Meantime, I am for the emperor
+and the council, until you have another council
+and another emperor."</p>
+
+<p>"This does not satisfy us. Do you believe in two
+wills or one?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen: if these two wills are alike, it is as if
+there was but one; if they are contrary, he who has
+two wills at once will do two contrary things at
+once, which is absurd: consequently, I am for a
+single will."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, holy father, you are a monothelite! Heresy!
+the devil! Excommunicate him! depose him! A
+council, quick! another council! another emperor!
+another bishop of Rome! another patriarch!"</p>
+
+<p>"My God! how mad these poor Greeks are with all
+their vain and interminable disputes! My successor
+will do well to dream of being powerful and rich."</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had Honorius uttered these words when
+he learned that the emperor Heraclius was dead,
+after having been beaten by the Mahometans. His
+widow, Martina, poisoned her son-in-law; the senate
+caused Martina's tongue to be cut out, and the
+nose of another son of the emperor to be slit: all
+the Greek Empire flowed in blood. Would it not
+be better not to have disputed on the two wills?
+And this Pope Honorius, against whom the Jansenists
+have written so much&mdash;was he not a very sensible
+man?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WIT_SPIRIT_INTELLECT" id="WIT_SPIRIT_INTELLECT"></a>WIT, SPIRIT, INTELLECT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A man who had some knowledge of the human
+heart, was consulted upon a tragedy which was to
+be represented; and he answered, there was so
+much wit in the piece, that he doubted of its success.
+What! you will exclaim, is that a fault, at a
+time when every one is in search of wit&mdash;when each
+one writes but to show that he has it&mdash;when the public
+even applaud the falsest thoughts, if they are
+brilliant?&mdash;Yes, doubtless, they will applaud the
+first day, and be wearied the second.</p>
+
+<p>What is called wit, is sometimes a new comparison,
+sometimes a subtle allusion; here, it is the
+abuse of a word, which is presented in one sense,
+and left to be understood in another; there, a delicate
+relation between two ideas not very common.
+It is a singular metaphor; it is the discovery of
+something in an object which does not at first strike
+the observation, but which is really in it; it is the
+art either of bringing together two things apparently
+remote, or of dividing two things which seem
+to be united, or of opposing them to each other. It
+is that of expressing only one-half of what you
+think, and leaving the other to be guessed. In short,
+I would tell you of all the different ways of showing
+wit, if I had more; but all these gems&mdash;and I do
+not here include the counterfeits&mdash;are very rarely
+suited to a serious work&mdash;to one which is to interest
+the reader. The reason is, that then the author appears,
+and the public desire to see only the hero;
+for the hero is constantly either in passion or in
+danger. Danger and the passions do not go in
+search of wit. Priam and Hecuba do not compose
+epigrams while their children are butchered in
+flaming Troy; Dido does not sigh out her soul in
+madrigals, while rushing to the pile on which she
+is about to immolate herself; Demosthenes makes
+no display of pretty thoughts while he is inciting the
+Athenians to war. If he had, he would be a rhetorician;
+whereas he is a statesman.</p>
+
+<p>The art of the admirable Racine is far above
+what is called wit; but if Pyrrhus had always expressed
+himself in this style:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Vaincu, chargé de fers, de regrets consumé,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Brûlé de plus de feux que je n'en allumai....</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Hélas! fus-je jamais si cruel que vous l'êtes?</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Conquered and chained, worn out by vain desire,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Scorched by more flames than I have ever lighted....</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Alas! my cruelty ne'er equalled yours!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;if Orestes had been continually saying that the
+"Scythians are less cruel than Hermione," these two
+personages would excite no emotion at all; it would
+be perceived that true passion rarely occupies itself
+with such comparisons; and that there is some disproportion
+between the real flames by which Troy
+was consumed and the flames of Pyrrhus' love&mdash;between
+the Scythians immolating men, and Hermione
+not loving Orestes. Cinna says, speaking
+of Pompey:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Le ciel choisit sa mort, pour servir dignement</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>D'une marque éternelle à ce grand changement;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et devait cette gloire aux manes d'un tel homme,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>D'emporter avec eux la liberté de Rome.</i></span><br />
+
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Heaven chose the death of such a man, to be</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Th' eternal landmark of this mighty change.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">His manes called for no less offering</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Than Roman liberty.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This thought is very brilliant; there is much wit
+in it, as also an air of imposing grandeur. I am
+sure that these lines, pronounced with all the enthusiasm
+and art of a great actor, will be applauded;
+but I am also sure that the play of "Cinna," had it
+been written entirely in this taste, would never have
+been long played. Why, indeed, was heaven bound
+to do Pompey the honor of making the Romans
+slaves after his death? The contrary would be truer:
+the manes of Pompey should rather have obtained
+from heaven the everlasting maintenance of that
+liberty for which he is supposed to have fought and
+died.</p>
+
+<p>What, then, would any work be which should
+be full of such far-fetched and questionable
+thoughts? How much superior to all these brilliant
+ideas are those simple and natural lines:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Cinna, tu t'en souviens, et veux m'assassiner!</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">&mdash;<span class="small">CINNA</span>, act v, scene i.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Thou dost remember, Cinna, yet wouldst kill me!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Soyons amis, Cinna; c'est moi qui t'en convie.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">&mdash;<span class="small">ID</span>., act v, scene iii.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Let us be friends, Cinna; 'tis I who ask it.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>True beauty consists, not in what is called wit,
+but in sublimity and simplicity. Let Antiochus, in
+"Rodogune," say of his mistress, who quits him,
+after disgracefully proposing to him to kill his
+mother:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Elle fuit, mais en Parthe, en nous perçant le cœur.</i></span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">She flies, but, like the Parthian, flying, wounds.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Antiochus has wit; he makes an epigram against
+Rodogune; he ingeniously likens her last words in
+going away, to the arrows which the Parthians used
+to discharge in their flight. But it is not because
+his mistress goes away, that the proposal to kill
+his mother is revolting: whether she goes or stays,
+the heart of Antiochus is equally wounded. The
+epigram, therefore, is false; and if Rodogune did
+not go away, this bad epigram could not be retained.</p>
+
+<p>I select these examples expressly from the best
+authors, in order that they may be the more striking.
+I do not lay hold of those puns which play upon
+words, the false taste of which is felt by all. There
+is no one that does not laugh when, in the tragedy
+of the "Golden Fleece," Hypsipyle says to Medea,
+alluding to her sorceries:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Je n'ai que des attraits, et vous avez des charmes.</i></span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I have attractions only, you have charms.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Corneille found the stage and every other department
+of literature infested with these puerilities,
+into which he rarely fell.</p>
+
+<p>I wish here to speak only of such strokes of wit
+as would be admitted elsewhere, and as the serious
+style rejects. To their authors might be applied the
+sentence of Plutarch, translated with the happy
+naivete of Amiot: "<i>Tu tiens sans propos beaucoup
+de bons propos</i>."</p>
+
+<p>There occurs to my recollection one of those brilliant
+passages, which I have seen quoted as a model
+in many works of taste, and even in the treatise on
+studies by the late M. Rollin. This piece is taken
+from the fine funeral oration on the great Turenne,
+composed by Fléchier. It is true, that in this oration
+Fléchier almost equalled the sublime Bossuet,
+whom I have called and still call the only eloquent
+man among so many elegant writers; but it appears
+to me that the passage of which I am speaking would
+not have been employed by the bishop of Meaux.
+Here it is:</p>
+
+<p>"Ye powers hostile to France, you live; and the
+spirit of Christian charity forbids me to wish your
+death.... but you live; and I mourn in this
+pulpit over a virtuous leader, whose intentions were
+pure...."</p>
+
+<p>An apostrophe in this taste would have been
+suitable to Rome in the civil war, after the assassination
+of Pompey; or to London, after the murder
+of Charles I.; because the interests of Pompey and
+Charles I. were really in question. But is it decent
+to insinuate in the pulpit a wish for the death of
+the emperor, the king of Spain, and the electors,
+and put in the balance against them the commander-in-chief
+employed by a king who was their enemy?
+Should the intentions of a leader&mdash;which can only
+be to serve his prince&mdash;be compared with the political
+interests of the crowned heads against whom he
+served? What would be said of a German who
+should have wished for the death of the king of
+France, on the occasion of the death of General
+Merci, "whose intentions were pure"? Why, then,
+has this passage always been praised by the rhetoricians?
+Because the figure is in itself beautiful and
+pathetic; but they do not thoroughly investigate
+the fitness of the thought.</p>
+
+<p>I now return to my paradox; that none of those
+glittering ornaments, to which we give the name of
+wit, should find a place in great works designed to
+instruct or to move the passions. I will even say
+that they ought to be banished from the opera.
+Music expresses passions, sentiments, images; but
+where are the notes that can render an epigram?
+Quinault was sometimes negligent, but he was
+always natural.</p>
+
+<p>Of all our operas, that which is the most ornamented,
+or rather the most overloaded, with this
+epigrammatic spirit, is the ballet of the "Triumph
+of the Arts," composed by an amiable man, who
+always thought with subtlety, and expressed himself
+with delicacy; but who, by the abuse of this
+talent, contributed a little to the decline of letters
+after the glorious era of Louis XIV. In this ballet,
+in which Pygmalion animates his statue, he says
+to it:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Vos premiers mouvemens ont été de m'aimer.</i></span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And love for me your earliest movements showed.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I remember to have heard this line admired by
+some persons in my youth. But who does not perceive
+that the movements of the body of the statue
+are here confounded with the movements of the
+heart, and that in any sense the phrase is not
+French&mdash;that it is, in fact, a pun, a jest? How
+could it be that a man who had so much wit, had
+not enough to retrench these egregious faults? This
+same man&mdash;who, despising Homer, translated him;
+who, in translating him, thought to correct him,
+and by abridging him, thought to make him read&mdash;had
+a mind to make Homer a wit. It is he who,
+when Achilles reappears, reconciled to the Greeks
+who are ready to avenge him, makes the whole
+camp exclaim:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-même.</i></span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">What shall oppose him, conqueror of himself?</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>A man must indeed be fond of witticisms, when
+he makes fifty thousand men pun all at once upon
+the same word.</p>
+
+<p>This play of the imagination, these quips, these
+cranks, these random shafts, these gayeties, these
+little broken sentences, these ingenious familiarities,
+which it is now the fashion to lavish so profusely,
+are befitting no works but those of pure amusement.
+The front of the Louvre, by Perrault, is simple and
+majestic; minute ornaments may appear with grace
+in a cabinet. Have as much wit as you will, or as
+you can, in a madrigal, in light verses, in a scene of
+a comedy, when it is to be neither impassioned nor
+simple, in a compliment, in a "novellette," or in a
+letter, where you assume gayety yourself in order
+to communicate it to your friends.</p>
+
+<p>Far from having reproached Voiture with having
+wit in his letters, I found, on the contrary, that
+he had not enough, although he was constantly
+seeking it. It is said that dancing-masters make
+their bow ill, because they are anxious to make it
+too well. I thought this was often the case with
+Voiture; his best letters are studied; you feel that
+he is fatiguing himself to find that which presents
+itself so naturally to Count Anthony Hamilton, to
+Madame de Sévigné, and to so many other women,
+who write these trifles without an effort, better than
+Voiture wrote them with labor. Despréaux, who
+in his first satires had ventured to compare Voiture
+to Horace, changed his opinion when his taste was
+ripened by age. I know that it matters very little,
+in the affairs of this world, whether Voiture was
+or was not a great genius; whether he wrote only
+a few pretty letters, or that all his pieces of pleasantry
+were models. But we, who cultivate and love
+the liberal arts, cast an attentive eye on what is
+quite indifferent to the rest of the world. Good
+taste is to us in literature what it is to women in
+dress; and provided that one's opinions shall not
+be made a party matter, it appears to me that one
+may boldly say, that there are but few excellent
+things in Voiture, and that Marot might easily be
+reduced to a few pages.</p>
+
+<p>Not that we wish to take from them their reputation;
+on the contrary, we wish to ascertain precisely
+what that reputation cost them, and what are
+the real beauties for which their defects have been
+tolerated. We must know what we are to follow,
+and what we are to avoid; this is the real fruit of
+the profound study of the belles-lettres; this is what
+Horace did when he examined Lucilius critically.
+Horace made himself enemies thereby; but he enlightened
+his enemies themselves.</p>
+
+<p>This desire of shining and of saying in a novel
+manner what has been said by others, is a source
+of new expressions as well as far-fetched thoughts.
+He who cannot shine by thought, seeks to bring
+himself into notice by a word. Hence it has at last
+been thought proper to substitute "<i>amabilités</i>," for
+"<i>agrémens</i>"; "<i>négligemment</i>" for "<i>avec négligence</i>";
+"<i>badiner les amours</i>," for "<i>badiner avec les amours</i>."
+There are numberless other affectations of this kind;
+and if this be continued, the language of Bossuet,
+of Racine, of Corneille, of Boileau, of Fénelon, will
+soon be obsolete. Why avoid an expression which
+is in use, to introduce another which says precisely
+the same thing? A new word is pardonable only
+when it is absolutely necessary, intelligible, and
+sonorous. In physical science, we are obliged to
+make them; a new discovery, a new machine, requires
+a new word. But do we make any new discoveries
+in the human heart? Is there any other
+greatness than that of Corneille and Bossuet? Are
+there any other passions than those which have been
+delineated by Racine, and sketched by Quinault? Is
+there any other gospel morality than that of Bourdaloue?</p>
+
+<p>They who charge our language with not being
+sufficiently copious, must indeed have found sterility
+somewhere, but it is in themselves. "<i>Rem verba
+sequuntur</i>." When an idea is forcibly impressed on
+the mind&mdash;when a clear and vigorous head is in full
+possession of its thought&mdash;it issues from the brain,
+arrayed in suitable expressions, as Minerva came
+forth in full armor to wait upon Jupiter. In fine,
+the conclusion from this is that neither thoughts nor
+expressions should be far-fetched; and that the art,
+in all great works, is to reason well, without entering
+into too many arguments; to paint well, without
+striving to paint everything; and to be affecting,
+without striving constantly to excite passions.
+Certes, I am here giving fine counsel. Have I taken
+it myself? Alas! no!</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 7em;"><i>Pauci quos Å“quus amavit</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad Å“thera virtus,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Dis geniti potuere. </i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &mdash;ÆNEID, b. vi, v. 129.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To few great Jupiter imparts this grace,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And those of shining worth and heavenly race.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">&mdash;<span class="small">DRYDEN</span>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<h4><i>Spirit&mdash;Wit.</i></h4>
+
+<p>The word "spirit," when it signifies "a quality of
+the mind," is one of those vague terms to which
+almost every one who pronounces it attaches a different
+sense; it expresses some other thing than
+judgment, genius, taste, talent, penetration, comprehensiveness,
+grace, or subtlety, yet is akin to all
+these merits; it might be defined to be "ingenious
+reason."</p>
+
+<p>It is a generic word, which always needs another
+word to determine it; and when we hear it said:
+"This is a work of spirit," or "He is a man of spirit,"
+we have very good reason to ask: "Spirit of what?"
+The sublime spirit of Corneille is neither the exact
+spirit of Boileau, nor the simple spirit of La Fontaine;
+and the spirit of La Bruyère, which is the
+art of portraying singularity, is not that of Malebranche,
+which is imaginative and profound.</p>
+
+<p>When a man is said to have "a judicious spirit,"
+the meaning is, not so much that he has what is
+called spirit, as that he has an enlightened reason.
+A spirit firm, masculine, courageous, great, little,
+weak, light, mild, hasty, etc., signifies the character
+and temper of the mind, and has no relation to
+what is understood in society by the expression
+"spirited."</p>
+
+<p>Spirit, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, is
+much akin to wit; yet does not signify precisely the
+same thing; for the term, "man of spirit," can never
+be taken in a bad sense; but that of "a wit," is
+sometimes pronounced ironically.</p>
+
+<p>Whence this difference? It is that "a man of
+spirit" does not signify "superior wit," "marked
+talent"; and "a wit" does. This expression, "man
+of spirit," announces no pretensions; but "wit" is
+a sort of advertisement; it is an art which requires
+cultivation; it is a sort of profession; and thereby
+exposes to envy and ridicule.</p>
+
+<p>In this sense, Father Bouhours would have been
+right in giving us to understand that the Germans
+had no pretensions to wit; for at that time their
+learned men occupied themselves in scarcely any
+works but those of labor and painful research, which
+did not admit of their scattering flowers, of their
+striving to shine, and mixing up wit with learning.</p>
+
+<p>They who despise the genius of Aristotle should,
+instead of contenting themselves with condemning
+his physics&mdash;which could not be good, inasmuch as
+they wanted experiments&mdash;be much astonished to
+find that Aristotle, in his rhetoric, taught perfectly
+the art of saying things with spirit. He states that
+this art consists in not merely using the proper word,
+which says nothing new; but that a metaphor must
+be employed&mdash;a figure, the sense of which is clear,
+and its expression energetic. Of this, he adduces
+several instances; and, among others, what Pericles
+said of a battle in which the flower of the Athenian
+youth had perished: "The year has been stripped of
+its spring."</p>
+
+<p>Aristotle is very right in saying that novelty is
+necessary. The first person who, to express that
+pleasures are mingled with bitterness, likened them
+to roses accompanied by thorns, had wit; they who
+repeated it had none.</p>
+
+<p>Spirited expression does not always consist in a
+metaphor; but also in a new term&mdash;in leaving one
+half of one's thoughts to be easily divined; this is
+called "subtleness," "delicacy"; and this manner is
+the more pleasing, as it exercises and gives scope
+for the wit of others.</p>
+
+<p>Allusions, allegories, and comparisons, open a
+vast field for ingenious thoughts. The effects of
+nature, fable, history, presented to the memory, furnish
+a happy imagination with materials of which it
+makes a suitable use.</p>
+
+<p>It will not be useless to give examples in these
+different kinds. The following is a madrigal by M.
+de la Sablière, which has always been held in high
+estimation by people of taste:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>Églé tremble que, dans ce jour,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>L'Hymen, plus puissant que l'Amour,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>N'enlève ses trésors, sans quelle ose s'en plaindre</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>Elle a négligé mes avis;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>Si la belle les eût suivis,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Elle n'aurait plus rien à craindre.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Weeping, murmuring, complaining,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Lost to every gay delight,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Mira, too sincere for feigning,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Fears th' approaching bridal night.</span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Yet why impair thy bright perfection,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Or dim thy beauty with a tear?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Had Mira followed my direction,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">She long had wanted cause of fear.&mdash;GOLDSMITH.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>It does not appear that the author could either
+better have masked, or better have conveyed, the
+meaning which he was afraid to express. The following
+madrigal seems more brilliant and more
+pleasing; it is an allusion to fable:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Vous êtes belle, et votre sœur est belle;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Entre vous deux tout choix serait bien doux</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>L'Amour était blonde comme vous,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mais il amait une brune comme elle.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">You are a beauty, and your sister, too;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">In choosing 'twixt you, then, we cannot err;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Love, to be sure, was fair like you;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But, then, he courted a brunette like her.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>There is another, and a very old one. It is by
+Bertaut, bishop of Séez, and seems superior to the
+two former; it unites wit and feeling:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Quand je revis ce que j'ai tant aimé,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Pen s'en fallut que mon coeur rallumé</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>N'en fît le charme en mon âme renaître;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et que mon cœur, autrefois son captif,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ne ressemblât l'esclave fugitif,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>À qui le sort fit recontrer son maître.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">When I beheld again the once-loved form,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Again within my heart the rising storm</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Had nearly cast the spell around my soul,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Which erst had bound me captive at her feet,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">As some poor slave, escaped from rude control,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">His master's dreaded face may haply meet.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>Strokes like these please every one, and characterize
+the delicate spirit of an ingenious nation. The
+great point is to know how far this spirit is admissible.
+It is clear that, in great works, it should be
+employed with moderation, for this very reason,
+that it is an ornament. The great art consists in
+propriety.</p>
+
+<p>A subtle, ingenious thought, a just and flowery
+comparison, is a defect when only reason or passion
+should speak, or when great interests are to be discussed.
+This is not false wit, but misplaced; and
+every beauty, when out of its place, is a beauty no
+longer.</p>
+
+<p>This is a fault of which Virgil was never guilty,
+and with which Tasso may now and then be charged,
+admirable as he otherwise is. The cause of it is
+that the author, too full of his own ideas, wishes to
+show himself, when he should only show his personages.</p>
+
+<p>The best way of learning the use that should be
+made of wit, is to read the few good works of genius
+which are to be found in the learned languages and
+in our own. False wit is not the same as misplaced
+wit. It is not merely a false thought, for a thought
+might be false without being ingenious; it is a
+thought at once false and elaborate.</p>
+
+<p>It has already been remarked that a man of great
+wit, who translated, or rather abridged Homer into
+French verse, thought to embellish that poet, whose
+simplicity forms his character, by loading him with
+ornaments. On the subject of the reconciliation of
+Achilles, he says:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Tout le camp s'écria dans une joie extrême,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-même.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Cried the whole camp, with overflowing joy&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">What still resist him? He's o'ercome himself.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>In the first place it does not at all follow, because
+one has overcome one's anger, that one shall not
+be beaten. Secondly, is it possible that a whole
+army should, by some sudden inspiration, make instantaneously
+the same pun?</p>
+
+<p>If this fault shocks all judges of severe taste, how
+revolting must be all those forced witticisms, those
+intricate and puzzling thoughts, which abound in
+otherwise valuable writings! Is it to be endured,
+that in a work of mathematics it should be said:
+"If Saturn should one day be missing, his place
+would be taken by one of the remotest of his satellites;
+for great lords always keep their successors at
+a distance?" Is it endurable to talk of Hercules being
+acquainted with physics, and that it is impossible
+to resist a philosopher of such force? Such are the
+excesses into which we are led by the thirst for
+shining and surprising by novelty. This petty
+vanity has produced verbal witticisms in all languages,
+which is the worst species of false wit.</p>
+
+<p>False taste differs from false wit, for the latter
+is always an affectation&mdash;an effort to do wrong;
+whereas the former is often a habit of doing wrong
+without effort, and following instinctively an established
+bad example.</p>
+
+<p>The intemperance and incoherence of the imaginations
+of the Orientals, is a false taste; but it is
+rather a want of wit than an abuse of it. Stars
+falling, mountains opening, rivers rolling back, sun
+and moon dissolving, false and gigantic similes, continual
+violence to nature, are the characteristics of
+these writers; because in those countries where
+there has never been any public speaking, true eloquence
+cannot have been cultivated; and because it
+is much easier to write fustian than to write that
+which is just, refined, and delicate.</p>
+
+<p>False wit is precisely the reverse of these trivial
+and inflated ideas; it is a tiresome search after
+subtleties, an affectation of saying enigmatically
+what others have said naturally; or bringing together
+ideas which appear incompatible; of dividing
+what ought to be united; of laying hold on false
+affinities; of mixing, contrary to decency, the trifling
+with the serious, and the petty with the grand.</p>
+
+<p>It were here a superfluous task to string together
+quotations in which the word spirit is to be found.
+We shall content ourselves with examining one
+from Boileau, which is given in the great dictionary
+of Trévoux: "It is a property of great spirits, when
+they begin to grow old and decay, to be pleased with
+stories and fables." This reflection is not just. A
+great spirit may fall into this weakness, but it is no
+property of great spirits. Nothing is more calculated
+to mislead the young than the quoting of faults
+of good writers as examples.</p>
+
+<p>We must not here forget to mention in how many
+different senses the word "spirit" is employed. This
+is not a defect of language; on the contrary, it is
+an advantage to have roots which ramify into so
+many branches.</p>
+
+<p>"Spirit of a body," "of a society," is used to express
+the customs, the peculiar language and conduct,
+the prejudices of a body. "Spirit of party,"
+is to the "spirit of a body," what the passions are to
+ordinary sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>"Spirit of a law," is used to designate its intention;
+in this sense it has been said: "The letter
+killeth, but the spirit giveth life." "Spirit of a
+work," to denote its character and object. "Spirit
+of revenge," to signify desire and intention of taking
+revenge. "Spirit of discord," "spirit of revolt," etc.</p>
+
+<p>In one dictionary has been quoted "spirit of
+politeness"; but from an author named Bellegarde,
+who is no authority. Both authors and examples
+should be selected with scrupulous caution. We
+cannot say "spirit of politeness," as we say "spirit
+of revenge," of "dissension," of "faction"; for
+politeness is not a passion animated by a powerful
+motive which prompts it, and which is metaphorically
+called spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"Familiar spirit," is used in another sense, and
+signifies those intermediate beings, those genii,
+those demons, believed in by the ancients; as the
+"spirit of Socrates," etc.</p>
+
+<p>Spirit sometimes denotes the more subtle part of
+matter; we say, "animal spirits," "vital spirits," to
+signify that which has never been seen, but which
+gives motion and life. These spirits, which are
+thought to flow rapidly through the nerves, are
+probably a subtile fire. Dr. Mead is the first who
+seems to have given proofs of this, in his treatise
+on poisons. Spirit, in chemistry, too, is a term
+which receives various acceptations, but always denotes
+the more subtile part of matter.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION III.</h5>
+
+<h4><i>Spirit.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Is not this word a striking proof of the imperfection
+of languages; of the chaos in which they
+still are, and the chance which has directed almost
+all our conceptions? It pleased the Greeks, as well
+as other nations, to give the name of wind, breath&mdash;"<i>pneuma</i>"&mdash;to
+that which they vaguely understand
+by respiration, life, soul. So that, among the ancients,
+soul and wind were, in one sense, the same
+thing; and if we were to say that man is a pneumatic
+machine, we should only translate the language
+of the Greeks. The Latins imitated them,
+and used the word "<i>spiritus</i>," spirit, breath.
+"<i>Anima</i>" and "<i>spiritus</i>" were the same thing.</p>
+
+<p>The "<i>rouhak</i>" of the Phœnicians, and, as it is
+said, of the Chaldæans likewise, signified breath and
+wind. When the Bible was translated into Latin,
+the words, breath, spirit, wind, soul, were always
+used differently. "<i>Spiritus Dei ferebatur super
+aquas</i>"&mdash;the breath of God&mdash;the spirit of God&mdash;was
+borne on the waters.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Spiritus vitæ</i>"&mdash;the breath of life&mdash;the soul of
+life. "<i>Inspiravit in faciem ejus spiraculum</i>" or
+"<i>spiritum vitæ</i>"&mdash;And he breathed upon his face
+the breath of life; and, according to the Hebrew,
+he breathed into his nostrils the breath, the spirit, of
+life.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hæc quum dixisset, insufflavit et dixit eis, accipite
+spiritum sanctum</i>"&mdash;Having spoken these
+words, he breathed on them, and said: Receive ye
+the holy breath&mdash;the holy spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Spiritus ubi vult spirat, et vocem ejus audis;
+sed nescis unde veniat</i>"&mdash;The spirit, the wind,
+breathes where it will, and thou hearest its voice
+(sound); but thou knowest not whence it comes.</p>
+
+<p>The distance is somewhat considerable between
+this and our pamphlets of the Quay des Augustins
+and the Pont-neuf, entitled, "Spirit of Marivaux,"
+"Spirit of Desfontaines," etc.</p>
+
+<p>What we commonly understand in French by
+"<i>esprit</i>," "<i>bel-esprit</i>," "<i>trait d'esprit</i>," are&mdash;ingenious
+thoughts. No other nation has made the same
+use of the word "<i>spiritus</i>." The Latins said "<i>ingenium</i>";
+the Greeks, "<i>eupheuia</i>"; or they employed
+adjectives. The Spaniards say "<i>agudo</i>," "<i>agudeza</i>."
+The Italians commonly use the term "<i>ingegno</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The English make use of the words "wit,"
+"witty," the etymology of which is good; for
+"witty" formerly signified "wise." The Germans
+say "<i>verständig</i>"; and when they mean to express
+ingenious, lively, agreeable thoughts, they say "rich
+in sensations"&mdash;"<i>sinnreich</i>." Hence it is that the
+English, who have retained many of the expressions
+of the ancient Germanic and French tongue, say,
+"sensible man." Thus almost all the words that express
+ideas of the understanding are metaphors.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Ingegno</i>," "<i>ingenium</i>," comes from "that which
+generates"; "<i>agudeza</i>," from "that which is
+pointed"; "<i>sinnreich</i>," from "sensations"; "spirit,"
+from "wind"; and "wit," from "wisdom."</p>
+
+<p>In every language, the word that answers to
+spirit in general is of several kinds; and when you
+are told that such a one is a "man of spirit," you
+have a right to ask: Of what spirit?</p>
+
+<p>Girard, in his useful book of definitions, entitled
+"French Synonymes," thus concludes: "In our
+intercourse with women, it is necessary to have wit,
+or a jargon which has the appearance of it. (This
+is not doing them honor; they deserve better.) Understanding
+is in demand with politicians and
+courtiers." It seems to me that understanding is
+necessary everywhere, and that it is very extraordinary
+to hear of understanding in demand.</p>
+
+<p>"Genius is proper with people of project and
+expense." Either I am mistaken, or the genius of
+Corneille was made for all spectators&mdash;the genius
+of Bossuet for all auditors&mdash;yet more than for people
+of expense.</p>
+
+<p>The wind, which answers to "<i>Spiritus</i>,"&mdash;spirit,
+wind, breath&mdash;necessarily giving to all nations the
+idea of air, they all supposed that our faculty of
+thinking and acting&mdash;that which animates us&mdash;is
+air; whence our "souls are a subtile air." Hence,
+manes, spirits, ghosts, shades, are composed of air.</p>
+
+<p>Hence we used to say, not long ago, "A 'spirit'
+has appeared to him; he has a 'familiar spirit;' that
+castle is haunted by 'spirits;'" and the populace say
+so still.</p>
+
+<p>The word "<i>spiritus</i>" has hardly ever been used
+in this sense, except in the translations of the Hebrew
+books into bad Latin.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Manes</i>," "<i>umbra</i>," "<i>simulacra</i>," are the expressions
+of Cicero and Virgil. The Germans say,
+"<i>geist</i>"; the English, "ghost"; the Spaniards,
+"<i>duende</i>," "<i>trasgo</i>"; the Italians appear to have no
+term signifying ghost. The French alone have made
+use of the word "spirit" (esprit). The words for all
+nations should be, "phantom," "imagination," "reverie,"
+"folly," "knavery."</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION IV.</h5>
+
+<h4><i>Wit.</i></h4>
+
+
+<p>When a nation is beginning to emerge from barbarism,
+it strives to show what we call wit. Thus,
+in the first attempts made in the time of Francis I.,
+we find in Marot such puns, plays on words, as
+would now be intolerable.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Remorentin la parte rememore:</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Cognac s'en cogne en sa poitrine blême,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Anjou faict jou, Angoulême est de même.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>These fine ideas are not such as at once present
+themselves to express the grief of nations. Many
+instances of this depraved taste might be adduced;
+but we shall content ourselves with this, which is
+the most striking of all.</p>
+
+<p>In the second era of the human mind in France&mdash;in
+the time of Balzac, Mairet, Rotrou, Corneille&mdash;applause
+was given to every thought that surprised
+by new images, which were called "wit."
+These lines of the tragedy of "Pyramus" were very
+well received:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ah! voici le poignard qui du sang de son maître</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Sest souillé lâchement; il en rougit, le traître!</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Behold the dagger which has basely drunk</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Its master's blood! See how the traitor blushes!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>There was thought to be great art in giving feeling
+to this dagger, in making it red with shame at
+being stained with the blood of Pyramus, as much
+as with the blood itself. No one exclaimed against
+Corneille, when, in his tragedy of "Andromeda,"
+Phineus says to the sun:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Tu luis, soleil, et ta lumière</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>Semble se plaire à m'affliger.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ah! mon amour te va bien obliger</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>À quitter soudain ta carrière.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Viens, soleil, viens voir la beauté,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Dont le divin éclat me dompte,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>Et tu fuiras de honte</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>D'avoir moins de clarté.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">O sun, thou shinest, and thy light</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Seems to take pleasure in my woe;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But soon my love shall shame thee quite,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">And be thy glory's overthrow.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Come, come, O sun, and view the face</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Whose heavenly splendor I adore;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Then wilt thou flee apace,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">And show thy own no more.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The sun flying because he is not so bright as Andromeda's
+face, is not at all inferior to the blushing
+dagger. If such foolish sallies as these found favor
+with a public whose taste it has been so difficult to
+form, we cannot be surprised that strokes of wit, in
+which some glimmering of beauty is discernible,
+should have had these charms.</p>
+
+<p>Not only was this translation from the Spanish
+admired:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ce sang qui, tout versé, fume encor de courroux,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>De se voir répandu pour d'autres que pour vous.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">&mdash;<span class="small">CID</span>, act ii, sc. 9.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">This blood, still foaming with indignant rage,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">That it was shed for others, not for you;&mdash;</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>not only was there thought to be a very spirited
+refinement in the line of Hypsipyle to Medea, in the
+"Golden Fleece": "I have attractions only; you have
+charms;" but it was not perceived&mdash;and few connoisseurs
+perceive it yet&mdash;that in the imposing part
+of Cornelia, the author almost continually puts wit
+where grief alone was required. This woman, whose
+husband has just been assassinated, begins her studied
+speech to Cæsar with a "for":</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>César, car le destin que dans tes fers je brave</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>M'a fait ta prisonnière, et non pas ton esclave;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et tu ne prétends pas qu'il m'abatte le cœur.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Jusqu'à te rendre hommage et te nommer seigneur.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">&mdash;<span class="small">MORT DE POMPÉE</span>, act iii, sc. 4.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Cæsar,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">For the hard fate that binds me in thy chains,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Makes me thy prisoner, but not thy slave;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Nor wouldst thou have it so subdue my heart</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">That I should call thee lord and do thee homage.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Thus she breaks off, at the very first word, in
+order to say that which is at once far-fetched and
+false. Never was the wife of one Roman citizen
+the slave of another Roman citizen: never was any
+Roman called lord; and this word "lord" is, with
+us, nothing more than a term of honor and ceremony,
+used on the stage.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Fille de Scipion, et, pour dire encor plus,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Romaine, mon courage est encore au-dessus.</i>&mdash;ID.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Daughter of Scipio, and, yet more, of Rome,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Still does my courage rise above my fate.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 338px;">
+<a name="Pierre_Corneille" id="Pierre_Corneille"></a>
+<img src="images/img_04_corneille.jpg" width="338" alt="Pierre Corneille." title="" />
+<span class="caption_fig">Pierre Corneille.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Besides the defect so common to all Corneille's
+heroes, of thus announcing themselves&mdash;of saying,
+I am great, I am courageous, admire me&mdash;here is
+the very reprehensible affectation of talking of her
+birth, when the head of Pompey has just been presented
+to Cæsar. Real affliction expresses itself
+otherwise. Grief does not seek after a "yet more."
+And what is worse, while she is striving to say "yet
+more," she says much less. To be a daughter of
+Rome is indubitably less than to be daughter of
+Scipio and wife of Pompey. The infamous Septimius,
+who assassinated Pompey, was Roman as well
+as she. Thousands of Romans were very ordinary
+men: but to be daughter and wife to the greatest
+of Romans, was a real superiority. In this speech,
+then, there is false and misplaced wit, as well as false
+and misplaced greatness.</p>
+
+<p>She then says, after Lucan, that she ought to
+blush that she is alive:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Je dois rougir, partout, après un tel malheur,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>De n'avoir pu mourir d'un excès de douleur.</i>&mdash;ID.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">However, after such a great calamity,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I ought to blush I am not dead of grief.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Lucan, after the brilliant Augustan age, went in
+search of wit, because decay was commencing; and
+the writers of the age of Louis XIV. at first sought
+to display wit, because good taste was not then completely
+found, as it afterwards was.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>César, de ta victoire écoute moins le bruit;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Elle n'est que l'effet du malheur qui me suit.</i>&mdash;ID.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Cæsar, rejoice not in thy victory;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">For my misfortune was its only cause.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>What a poor artifice! what a false as well as impudent
+notion! Cæsar conquered at Pharsalia only
+because Pompey married Cornelia! What labor to
+say that which is neither true, nor likely, nor fit, nor
+interesting!</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Deux fois du monde entier j'ai causé la disgrâce.</i>&mdash;ID.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Twice have I caused the living world's disgrace.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This is the "<i>bis nocui mundo</i>" of Lucan. This
+line presents us with a very great idea; it cannot
+fail to surprise; it is wanting in nothing but truth.
+But it must be observed, that if this line had but
+the smallest ray of verisimilitude&mdash;had it really its
+birth in the pangs of grief, it would then have all
+the truth, all the beauty, of theatrical fitness:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Heureuse en mes malheurs, si ce triste hyménée</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Pour le bonheur du monde à Rome m'eût donnée</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et si j'eusse avec moi porté dans ta maison.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>D'un astre envenimé l'invincible poison!</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Car enfin n'attends pas que j'abaisse ma haine:</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Je te l'ai déjà dit, César, je suis Romaine;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et, quoique ta captive, un cœur tel que le mien,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>De peur de s'oublier, ne te demande rien.</i>&mdash;ID.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Yet happy in my woes, had these sad nuptials</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Given me to Cæsar for the good of Rome;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Had I but carried with me to thy house</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The mortal venom of a noxious star!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">For think not, after all, my hate is less:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Already have I told thee I am a Roman;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And, though thy captive, such a heart as mine,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Lest it forget itself, will sue for nothing.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This is Lucan again. She wishes, in the "Pharsalia,"
+that she had married Cæsar.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Atque utinam in thalamis invisi Cæsaris essem</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Infelix conjux, et nulli læta marito!</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 18em;">&mdash;<i>Lib.</i>, viii, v. 88, 89.</span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Ah! wherefore was I not much rather led</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A fatal bride to Cæsar's hated bed, etc.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 21em;">&mdash;<span class="small">ROWE</span>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This sentiment is not in nature; it is at once gigantic
+and puerile: but at least it is not to Cæsar
+that Cornelia talks thus in Lucan. Corneille, on
+the contrary, makes Cornelia speak to Cæsar himself:
+he makes her say that she wishes to be his
+wife, in order that she may carry into his house
+"the mortal poison of a noxious star"; for, adds
+she, my hatred cannot be abated, and I have told thee
+already that I am a Roman, and I sue for nothing.
+Here is odd reasoning: I would fain have married
+thee, to cause thy death; and I sue for nothing. Be
+it also observed, that this widow heaps reproaches
+on Cæsar, just after Cæsar weeps for the death of
+Pompey and promises to avenge it.</p>
+
+<p>It is certain, that if the author had not striven to
+make Cornelia witty, he would not have been guilty
+of the faults which, after being so long applauded,
+are now perceived. The actresses can scarcely
+longer palliate them, by a studied loftiness of demeanor
+and an imposing elevation of voice.</p>
+
+<p>The better to feel how much mere wit is below
+natural sentiment, let us compare Cornelia with herself,
+where, in the same tirade, she says things quite
+opposite:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Je dois toutefois rendre grâce aux dieux</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>De ce qu'en arrivant je trouve en ces lieux,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que César y commande, et non pas Ptolemée.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Hélas! et sous quel astre, ó ciel, m'as-tu formée,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Si je leur dois des vœux, de ce qu'ils ont permis,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que je recontre ici mes plus grands ennemis,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et tombe entre leurs mains, plutôt qu'aux mains d'un prince</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Qui doit à mon époux son trône et sa province.</i>&mdash;ID.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Yet have I cause to thank the gracious gods,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">That Cæsar here commands&mdash;not Ptolemy.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Alas! beneath what planet was I formed,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">If I owe thanks for being thus permitted</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Here to encounter my worst enemies</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And fall into their hands, rather than those</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Of him who to my husband owes his throne?</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Let us overlook the slight defects of style, and
+consider how mournful and becoming is this speech;
+it goes to the heart: all the rest dazzles for a moment,
+and then disgusts. The following natural
+lines charm all readers:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>O vous! à ma douleur objet terrible et tendre,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Éternel entretien de haine et de pitié,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Restes de grand Pompée, écoutez sa moitié, etc.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">O dreadful, tender object of my grief,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Eternal source of pity and of hate,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Ye relics of great Pompey, hear me now&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Hear his yet living half.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>It is by such comparisons that our taste is formed,
+and that we learn to admire nothing but truth in
+its proper place. In the same tragedy, Cleopatra
+thus expresses herself to her confidante, Charmion:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Apprends qu'une princesse aimant sa renommée,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Quand elle dit qu'elle aime, est sure d'être aimée;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et que les plus beaux feux dont son cœur soit épris</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>N'oseraient l'exposer aux hontes d'un mépris.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 21em;">&mdash;Act ii, sc. 1.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Know, that a princess jealous of her fame,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">When she owns love, is sure of a return;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And that the noblest flame her heart can feel,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Dares not expose her to rejection's shame.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Charmion might answer: Madam, I know not
+what the noble flame of a princess is, which dares not
+expose her to shame; and as for princesses who
+never say they are in love, but when they are sure
+of being loved&mdash;I always enact the part of confidante
+at the play: and at least twenty princesses
+have confessed their noble flames to me, without
+being at all sure of the matter, and especially the infanta
+in "The Cid."</p>
+
+<p>Nay, we may go further: Cæsar&mdash;Cæsar himself&mdash;addresses
+Cleopatra, only to show off double-refined
+wit:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mais, ô Dieux! ce moment que je vous ai quittée</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>D'un trouble bien plus grand a mon âme agitée;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et ces soins importans qui m'arrachaient de vous,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Contre ma grandeur même allumaient mon courroux;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Je lui voulais du mal de m'être si contraire;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mais je lui pardonnais, au simple souvenir</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Du bonheur qu'à ma flamme elle fait obtenir.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>C'est elle, dont je tiens cette haute espérance,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Qui flatte mes désirs d'une illustre apparence....</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>C'était, pour acquérir un droit si précieux;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que combattait partout mon bras ambitieux;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et dans Pharsale même il a tiré l'épée</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Plus pour le conserver que pour vaincre Pompée.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 20.5em;">&mdash;Act iv, sc. 3.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But, O the moment that I quitted you,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A greater trouble came upon my soul;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And those important cares that snatched me from you</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Against my very greatness moved my ire;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I hated it for thwarting my desires....</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But I have pardoned it&mdash;remembering how</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">At last it crowns my passion with success:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To it I owe the lofty hope which now</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Flatters my view with an illustrious prospect.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'Twas but to gain this dearest privilege,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">That my ambitious arm was raised in battle;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Nor did it at Pharsalia draw the sword,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">So much to conquer Pompey, as to keep</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">This glorious hope.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Here, then, we have Cæsar hating his greatness
+for having taken him away a little while from Cleopatra;
+but forgiving his greatness when he remembers
+that this greatness has procured him the success
+of his passion. He has the lofty hope of an
+illustrious probability; and it was only to acquire
+the dear privilege of this illustrious probability, that
+his ambitious arm fought the battle of Pharsalia.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that this sort of wit, which it must be
+confessed is no other than nonsense, was then the
+wit of the age. It is an intolerable abuse, which
+Molière proscribed in his "<i>Précieuses Ridicules</i>."</p>
+
+<p>It was of these defects, too frequent in Corneille,
+that La Bruyère said: "I thought, in my early
+youth, that these passages were clear and intelligible,
+to the actors, to the pit, and to the boxes; that
+their authors themselves understood them, and that
+I was wrong in not understanding them: I am undeceived."</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION V.</h5>
+
+<p>In England, to express that a man has a deal of
+wit, they say that he has "great parts." Whence
+can this phrase, which is now the astonishment of
+the French, have come? From themselves. Formerly,
+we very commonly used the word "parties"
+in this sense. "Clelia," "Cassandra," and our other
+old romances, are continually telling us of the
+"parts" of their heroes and heroines, which parts
+are their wit. And, indeed, who can have <i>all</i>? Each
+of us has but his own small portion of intelligence,
+of memory, of sagacity, of depth and extent of
+ideas, of vivacity, and of subtlety. The word "parts"
+is that most fitting for a being so limited as
+man. The French have let an expression escape
+from their dictionaries which the English have laid
+hold of: the English have more than once enriched
+themselves at our expense. Many philosophical
+writers have been astonished that, since every one
+pretends to wit, no one should dare to boast of
+possessing it.</p>
+
+<p>"Envy," it has been said, "permits every one to
+be the panegyrist of his own probity, but not of his
+own wit." It allows us to be the apologists of the
+one, but not of the other. And why? Because it
+is very necessary to pass for an honest man, but not
+at all necessary to have the reputation of a man of
+wit.</p>
+
+<p>The question has been started, whether all men
+are born with the same mind, the same disposition
+for science, and if all depends on their education,
+and the circumstances in which they are placed?
+One philosopher, who had a right to think himself
+born with some superiority, asserted that minds are
+equal; yet the contrary has always been evident. Of
+four hundred children brought up together, under
+the same masters and the same discipline, there are
+scarcely five or six that make any remarkable progress.
+A great majority never rise above mediocrity,
+and among them there are many shades of distinction.
+In short, minds differ still more than faces.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION VI.</h5>
+
+<h4><i>Crooked or Distorted Intellect.</i></h4>
+
+<p>We have blind, one-eyed, cross-eyed, and squinting
+people&mdash;visions long, short, clear, confused,
+weak, or indefatigable. All this is a faithful image
+of our understanding; but we know scarcely any
+<i>false</i> vision: there are not many men who always
+take a cock for a horse, or a coffeepot for a church.
+How is it that we often meet with minds, otherwise
+judicious, which are absolutely wrong in some things
+of importance? How is it that the Siamese, who
+will take care never to be overreached when he has
+to receive three rupees, firmly believes in the metamorphoses
+of Sammonocodom? By what strange
+whim do men of sense resemble Don Quixote, who
+beheld giants where other men saw nothing but
+windmills? Yet was Don Quixote more excusable
+than the Siamese, who believes that Sammonocodom
+came several times upon earth&mdash;and the Turk,
+who is persuaded that Mahomet put one-half of the
+moon into his sleeve? Don Quixote, impressed with
+the idea that he is to fight with a giant, may imagine
+that a giant must have a body as big as a mill,
+and arms as long as the sails; but from what supposition
+can a man of sense set out to arrive at a
+conclusion, that half the moon went into a sleeve,
+and that a Sammonocodom came down from heaven
+to fly kites at Siam, to cut down a forest, and to
+exhibit sleight-of-hand?</p>
+
+<p>The greatest geniuses may have their minds
+warped, on a principle which they have received
+without examination. Newton was very wrong-headed
+when he was commenting on the Apocalypse.</p>
+
+<p>All that certain tyrants of souls desire, is that
+the men whom they teach may have their intellects
+distorted. A fakir brings up a child of great promise;
+he employs five or six years in driving it into
+his head, that the god Fo appeared to men in the
+form of a white elephant; and persuades the child,
+that if he does not believe in these metamorphoses,
+he will be flogged after death for five hundred thousand
+years. He adds, that at the end of the world,
+the enemy of the god Fo will come and fight against
+that divinity.</p>
+
+<p>The child studies, and becomes a prodigy; he
+finds that Fo could not change himself into anything
+but a white elephant, because that is the most beautiful
+of animals. The kings of Siam and Pegu, say
+he, went to war with one another for a white elephant:
+certainly, had not Fo been concealed in that
+elephant, these two kings would not have been so
+mad as to fight for the possession of a mere animal.</p>
+
+<p>Fo's enemy will come and challenge him at the
+end of the world: this enemy will certainly be a rhinoceros;
+for the rhinoceros fights the elephant.
+Thus does the fakir's learned pupil reason in mature
+age, and he becomes one of the lights of the Indies:
+the more subtle his intellect, the more crooked; and
+he, in his turn, forms other intellects as distorted as
+his own.</p>
+
+<p>Show these besotted beings a little geometry, and
+they learn it easily enough; but, strange to say, this
+does not set them right. They perceive the truths of
+geometry; but it does not teach them to weigh probabilities:
+they have taken their bent; they will reason
+against reason all their lives; and I am sorry
+for them.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, there are many ways of being
+wrong-headed, 1. Not to examine whether the
+principle is true, even when just consequences are
+drawn from it; and this is very common.</p>
+
+<p>2. To draw false consequences from a principle
+acknowledged to be true. For instance: a servant
+is asked whether his master be at home, by persons
+whom he suspects of having a design against his
+master's life. If he were blockhead enough to tell
+them the truth, on pretence that it is wrong to tell
+a lie, it is clear that he would draw an absurd consequence
+from a very true principle.</p>
+
+<p>The judge who should condemn a man for killing
+his assassin, would be alike iniquitous, and a
+bad reasoner. Cases like these are subdivided into
+a thousand different shades. The good mind, the
+judicious mind, is that which distinguishes them.
+Hence it is, that there have been so many iniquitous
+judgments; not because the judges were wicked
+in heart, but because they were not sufficiently enlightened.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WOMEN" id="WOMEN"></a>WOMEN.</h3>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Physical and Moral.</i></p>
+
+<p>Woman is in general less strong than man,
+smaller, and less capable of lasting labor. Her blood
+is more aqueous; her flesh less firm; her hair
+longer; her limbs more rounded; her arms less
+muscular; her mouth smaller; her hips more prominent;
+and her belly larger. These physical points
+distinguish women all over the earth, and of all
+races, from Lapland unto the coast of Guinea, and
+from America to China.</p>
+
+<p>Plutarch, in the third book of his "<i>Symposiacs</i>,"
+pretends that wine will not intoxicate them so easily
+as men; and the following is the reason which he
+gives for this falsehood:</p>
+
+<p>"The temperament of women is very moist; this,
+with their courses, renders their flesh so soft, smooth,
+and clear. When wine encounters so much humidity,
+it is overcome, and it loses its color and its
+strength, becoming discolored and weak. Something
+also may be gathered from the reasoning of Aristotle,
+who observes, that they who drink great
+draughts without drawing their breath, which the
+ancients call '<i>amusisein</i>' are not intoxicated so soon
+as others; because the wine does not remain within
+the body, but being forcibly taken down, passes
+rapidly off. Now we generally perceive that women
+drink in this manner; and it is probable that their
+bodies, in consequence of the continual attraction of
+the humors, which are carried off in their periodical
+visitations, are filled with many conduits, and furnished
+with numerous pipes and channels, into
+which the wine disperses rapidly and easily, without
+having time to affect the noble and principal
+parts, by the disorder of which intoxication is produced."
+These physics are altogether worthy of the
+ancients.</p>
+
+<p>Women live somewhat longer than men; that is
+to say, in a generation we count more aged women
+than aged men. This fact has been observed by all
+who have taken accurate accounts of births and
+deaths in Europe; and it is thought that it is the
+same in Asia, and among the negresses, the copper-colored,
+and olive-complexioned, as among the
+white. <i>"Natura est semper sibi consona."</i></p>
+
+<p>We have elsewhere adverted to an extract from
+a Chinese journal, which states, that in the year
+1725, the wife of the emperor Yontchin made a distribution
+among the poor women of China who had
+passed their seventieth year; and that, in the province
+of Canton alone, there were 98,222 females aged
+more than seventy, 40,893 beyond eighty, and 3,453
+of about the age of a hundred. Those who advocate
+final causes say, that nature grants them a longer
+life than men, in order to recompense them for the
+trouble they take in bringing children into the world
+and rearing them. It is scarcely to be imagined
+that nature bestows recompenses, but it is probable
+that the blood of women being milder, their fibres
+harden less quickly.</p>
+
+<p>No anatomist or physician has ever been able to
+trace the secret of conception. Sanchez has curiously
+remarked: <i>"Mariam et spiritum sanctum emisisse
+semen in copulatione, et ex semine amborum natum
+esse Jesum."</i> This abominable impertinence of the
+most knowing Sanchez is not adopted at present by
+any naturalist.</p>
+
+<p>The periodical visitations which weaken females,
+while they endure the maladies which arise out of
+their suppression, the times of gestation, the necessity
+of suckling children, and of watching continually
+over them, and the delicacy of their organization,
+render them unfit for the fatigue of war, and
+the fury of the combat. It is true, as we have already
+observed, that in almost all times and countries
+women have been found on whom nature has
+bestowed extraordinary strength and courage, who
+combat with men, and undergo prodigious labor;
+but, after all, these examples are rare. On this point
+we refer to the article on "Amazons."</p>
+
+<p>Physics always govern morals. Women being
+weaker of body than we are, there is more skill in
+their fingers, which are more supple than ours. Little
+able to labor at the heavy work of masonry, carpentering,
+metalling, or the plough, they are necessarily
+intrusted with the lighter labors of the interior
+of the house, and, above all, with the care of
+children. Leading a more sedentary life, they possess
+more gentleness of character than men, and are
+less addicted to the commission of enormous crimes&mdash;a
+fact so undeniable, that in all civilized countries
+there are always fifty men at least executed to one
+woman.</p>
+
+<p>Montesquieu, in his "Spirit of Laws," undertaking
+to speak of the condition of women under divers
+governments, observes that "among the Greeks
+women were not regarded as worthy of having any
+share in genuine love; but that with them love assumed
+a form which is not to be named." He cites
+Plutarch as his authority.</p>
+
+<p>This mistake is pardonable only in a wit like
+Montesquieu, always led away by the rapidity of
+his ideas, which are often very indistinct. Plutarch,
+in his chapter on love, introduces many interlocutors;
+and he himself, in the character of Daphneus,
+refutes, with great animation, the arguments of
+Protagenes in favor of the commerce alluded to.</p>
+
+<p>It is in the same dialogue that he goes so far as to
+say, that in the love of woman there is something
+divine; which love he compares to the sun, that
+animates nature. He places the highest happiness
+in conjugal love, and concludes by an eloquent eulogium
+on the virtue of Epponina. This memorable
+adventure passed before the eyes of Plutarch, who
+lived some time in the house of Vespasian. The
+above heroine, learning that her husband Sabinus,
+vanquished by the troops of the emperor, was concealed
+in a deep cavern between Franche-Comté and
+Champagne, shut herself up with him, attended on
+him for many years, and bore children in that situation.
+Being at length taken with her husband,
+and brought before Vespasian, who was astonished
+at her greatness of soul, she said to him: "I have
+lived more happily under ground than thou in the
+light of the sun, and in the enjoyment of power."
+Plutarch therefore asserts directly the contrary to
+that which is attributed to him by Montesquieu,
+and declares in favor of woman with an enthusiasm
+which is even affecting.</p>
+
+<p>It is not astonishing, that in every country man
+has rendered himself the master of woman, dominion
+being founded on strength. He has ordinarily,
+too, a superiority both in body and mind. Very
+learned women are to be found in the same manner
+as female warriors, but they are seldom or ever
+inventors.</p>
+
+<p>A social and agreeable spirit usually falls to
+their lot; and, generally speaking, they are adapted
+to soften the manners of men. In no republic have
+they ever been allowed to take the least part in government;
+they have never reigned in monarchies
+purely elective; but they may reign in almost all
+the hereditary kingdoms of Europe&mdash;in Spain, Naples,
+and England, in many states of the North, and
+in many grand fiefs which are called "feminines."</p>
+
+<p>Custom, entitled the Salic law, has excluded them
+from the crown of France; but it is not, as Mézeray
+remarks, in consequence of their unfitness for governing,
+since they are almost always intrusted with
+the regency.</p>
+
+<p>It is pretended, that Cardinal Mazarin confessed
+that many women were worthy of governing a
+kingdom; but he added, that it was always to be
+feared they would allow themselves to be subdued
+by lovers who were not capable of governing a dozen
+pullets. Isabella in Castile, Elizabeth in England,
+and Maria Theresa in Hungary, have, however,
+proved the falsity of this pretended bon-mot, attributed
+to Cardinal Mazarin; and at this moment we
+behold a legislatrix in the North as much respected
+as the sovereign of Greece, of Asia Minor, of Syria,
+and of Egypt, is disesteemed.</p>
+
+<p>It has been for a long time ignorantly assumed,
+that women are slaves during life among the Mahometans;
+and that, after their death, they do not
+enter paradise. These are two great errors, of a
+kind which popes are continually repeating in regard
+to Mahometanism. Married women are not at all
+slaves; and the Sura, or fourth chapter of the Koran,
+assigns them a dowry. A girl is entitled to inherit
+one-half as much as her brother; and if there
+are girls only, they divide among them two-thirds
+of the inheritance; and the remainder belongs to
+the relations of the deceased, whose mother also
+is entitled to a certain share. So little are married
+women slaves, they are entitled to demand a divorce,
+which is granted when their complaints are
+deemed lawful.</p>
+
+<p>A Mahometan is not allowed to marry his sister-in-law,
+his niece, his foster-sister, or his daughter-in-law
+brought up under the care of his wife. Neither
+is he permitted to marry two sisters; in which
+particular the Mahometan law is more rigid than
+the Christian, as people are every day purchasing
+from the court of Rome the right of contracting
+such marriages, which they might as well contract
+gratis.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Polygamy.</i></p>
+
+<p>Mahomet has limited the number of wives to
+four; but as a man must be rich in order to maintain
+four wives, according to his condition, few except
+great lords avail themselves of this privilege.
+Therefore, a plurality of wives produces not so
+much injury to the Mahometan states as we are in
+the habit of supposing; nor does it produce the depopulation
+which so many books, written at random,
+are in the habit of asserting.</p>
+
+<p>The Jews, agreeable to an ancient usage, established,
+according to their books, ever since the age
+of Lameth, have always been allowed several wives
+at a time. David had eighteen; and it is from his
+time that they allow that number to kings; although
+it is said that Solomon had as many as seven hundred.</p>
+
+<p>The Mahometans will not publicly allow the Jews
+to have more than one wife; they do not deem them
+worthy of that advantage; but money, which is always
+more powerful than law, procures to rich Jews,
+in Asia and Africa, that permission which the law
+refuses.</p>
+
+<p>It is seriously related, that Lelius Cinna, tribune
+of the people, proclaimed, after the death of Cæsar,
+that the dictator had intended to promulgate a law
+allowing women to take as many husbands as they
+pleased. What sensible man can doubt, that this was
+a popular story invented to render Cæsar odious?
+It resembles another story, which states that a senator
+in full senate formally professed to give Cæsar
+permission to cohabit with any woman he pleased.
+Such silly tales dishonor history, and injure the
+minds of those who credit them. It is a sad
+thing, that Montesquieu should give credit to this
+fable.</p>
+
+<p>It is not, however, a fable that the emperor Valentinian,
+calling himself a Christian, married Justinian
+during the life of Severa, his first wife, mother
+of the emperor Gratian; but he was rich enough
+to support many wives.</p>
+
+<p>Among the first race of the kings of the Franks,
+Gontran, Cherebert, Sigebert, and Chilperic, had
+several wives at a time. Gontran had within his
+palace Venerande, Mercatrude, and Ostregilda, acknowledged
+for legitimate wives; Cherebert had
+Merflida, Marcovesa, and Theodogilda.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to conceive how the ex-Jesuit Nonnotte
+has been able, in his ignorance, to push his
+boldness so far as to deny these facts, and to say
+that the kings of the first race were not polygamists,
+and thereby, in a libel in two volumes, throw discredit
+on more than a hundred historical truths,
+with the confidence of a pedant who dictates lessons
+in a college. Books of this kind still continue
+to be sold in the provinces, where the Jesuits have
+yet a party, and seduce and mislead uneducated
+people.</p>
+
+<p>Father Daniel, more learned and judicious, confesses
+the polygamy of the French kings without
+difficulty. He denies not the three wives of Dagobert
+I., and asserts expressly that Theodoret espoused
+Deutery, although she had a husband, and himself
+another wife called Visigalde. He adds, that in this
+he imitated his uncle Clothaire, who espoused the
+widow of Cleodomir, his brother, although he had
+three wives already.</p>
+
+<p>All historians admit the same thing; why, therefore,
+after so many testimonies, allow an ignorant
+writer to speak like a dictator, and say, while uttering
+a thousand follies, that it is in defence of religion?
+as if our sacred and venerable religion had
+anything to do with an historical point, although
+made serviceable by miserable calumniators to their
+stupid impostures.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Of the Polygamy Allowed by Certain Popes and
+Reformers.</i></p>
+
+<p>The Abbé Fleury, author of the "Ecclesiastical
+History," pays more respect to truth in all which
+concerns the laws and usages of the Church. He
+avows that Boniface, confessor of Lower Germany,
+having consulted Pope Gregory, in the year
+726, in order to know in what cases a husband might
+be allowed to have two wives, Gregory replied to
+him, on the 22nd of November, of the same year,
+in these words: "If a wife be attacked by a malady
+which renders her unfit for conjugal intercourse, the
+husband may marry another; but in that case he
+must allow his sick wife all necessary support and
+assistance." This decision appears conformable to
+reason and policy; and favors population, which
+is the object of marriage.</p>
+
+<p>But that which appears opposed at once to reason,
+policy, and nature, is the law which ordains
+that a woman, separated from her husband both in
+person and estate, cannot take another husband, nor
+the husband another wife. It is evident that a race
+is thereby lost; and if the separated parties are both
+of a certain temperament, they are necessarily exposed
+and rendered liable to sins for which the legislators
+ought to be responsible to God, if&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The decretals of the popes have not always had
+in view what was suitable to the good of estates,
+and of individuals. This same decretal of Pope
+Gregory II., which permits bigamy in certain cases,
+denies conjugal rights forever to the boys and girls,
+whom their parents have devoted to the Church in
+their infancy. This law seems as barbarous as it is
+unjust; at once annihilating posterity, and forcing
+the will of men before they even possess a will.
+It is rendering the children the slaves of a vow which
+they never made; it is to destroy natural liberty,
+and to offend God and mankind.</p>
+
+<p>The polygamy of Philip, landgrave of Hesse, in
+the Lutheran community, in 1539, is well known.
+I knew a sovereign in Germany, who, after having
+married a Lutheran, had permission from the pope
+to marry a Catholic, and retained both his wives.</p>
+
+<p>It is well known in England, that the chancellor
+Cowper married two wives, who lived together in
+the same house in a state of concord which did
+honor to all three. Many of the curious still possess
+the little book which he composed in favor of
+polygamy.</p>
+
+<p>We must distrust authors who relate, that in certain
+countries women are allowed several husbands.
+Those who make laws everywhere are born with too
+much self-love, are too jealous of their authority,
+and generally possess a temperament too ardent in
+comparison with that of women, to have instituted
+a jurisprudence of this nature. That which is opposed
+to the general course of nature is very rarely
+true; but it is very common for the more early travellers
+to mistake an abuse for a law.</p>
+
+<p>The author of the "Spirit of Laws" asserts, that
+in the caste of Nairs, on the coast of Malabar, a
+man can have only one wife, while a woman may
+have several husbands. He cites doubtful authors,
+and above all Picard; but it is impossible to speak
+of strange customs without having long witnessed
+them; and if they are mentioned, it ought to be
+doubtingly; but what lively spirit knows how to
+doubt?</p>
+
+<p>"The lubricity of women," he observes, "is so
+great at Patan, the men are constrained to adopt
+certain garniture, in order to be safe against their
+amorous enterprises."</p>
+
+<p>The president Montesquieu was never at Patan.
+Is not the remark of M. Linguet judicious, who observes,
+that this story has been told by travellers who
+were either deceived themselves, or who wished to
+laugh at their readers? Let us be just, love truth,
+and judge by facts, not by names.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>End of the Reflections on Polygamy.</i></p>
+
+<p>It appears that power, rather than agreement,
+makes laws everywhere, but especially in the East.
+We there beheld the first slaves, the first eunuchs,
+and the treasury of the prince directly composed of
+that which is taken from the people.</p>
+
+<p>He who can clothe, support, and amuse a number
+of women, shuts them up in a menagerie, and
+commands them despotically. Ben Aboul Kiba, in
+his "Mirror of the Faithful," relates that one of the
+viziers of the great Solyman addressed the following
+discourse to an agent of Charles V.:</p>
+
+<p>"Dog of a Christian!&mdash;for whom, however, I
+have a particular esteem&mdash;canst thou reproach me
+with possessing four wives, according to our holy
+laws, whilst thou emptiest a dozen barrels a year,
+and I drink not a single glass of wine? What good
+dost thou effect by passing more hours at table than
+I do in bed? I may get four children a year for the
+service of my august master, whilst thou canst
+scarcely produce one, and that only the child of a
+drunkard, whose brain will be obscured by the vapors
+of the wine which has been drunk by his father.
+What, moreover, wouldst thou have me do, when
+two of my wives are in child-bed? Must I not attend
+to the other two, as my law commands me?
+What becomes of them? what part dost thou perform,
+in the latter months of the pregnancy of thy
+only wife, and during her lyings-in and sexual maladies?
+Thou either remainest idle, or thou repairest
+to another woman. Behold thyself between two
+mortal sins, which will infallibly cause thee to fall
+headlong from the narrow bridge into the pit of
+hell.</p>
+
+<p>"I will suppose, that in our wars against the dogs
+of Christians we lose a hundred thousand soldiers;
+behold a hundred thousand girls to provide for.
+Is it not for the wealthy to take care of them? Evil
+betide every Mussulman so cold-hearted as not to
+give shelter to four pretty girls, in the character of
+legitimate wives, or to treat them according to their
+merits!</p>
+
+<p>"What is done in thy country by the trumpeter
+of day, which thou callest the cock; the honest ram,
+the leader of the flock; the bull, sovereign of the
+heifers; has not every one of them his seraglio?
+It becomes thee, truly, to reproach me with my four
+wives, whilst our great prophet had eighteen, the
+Jew David, as many, and the Jew Solomon, seven
+hundred, all told, with three hundred concubines!
+Thou perceivest that I am modest. Cease, then, to
+reproach a sage with luxury, who is content with so
+moderate a repast. I permit thee to drink; allow me
+to love. Thou changest thy wines; permit me to
+change my females. Let every one suffer others to
+live according to the customs of their country. Thy
+hat was not made to give laws to my turban; thy
+ruff and thy curtailed doublets are not to command
+my doliman. Make an end of thy coffee, and go and
+caress thy German spouse, since thou art allowed
+to have no other."</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Reply of the German.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Dog of a Mussulman! for whom I retain a profound
+veneration; before I finish my coffee I will
+confute all thy arguments. He who possesses four
+wives, possesses four harpies, always ready to calumniate,
+to annoy, and to fight one another. Thy
+house is the den of discord, and none of them can
+love thee. Each has only a quarter of thy person,
+and in return can bestow only a quarter of her heart.
+None of them can serve to render thy life agreeable;
+they are prisoners who, never having seen anything,
+have nothing to say; and, knowing only thee, are
+in consequence thy enemies. Thou art their absolute
+master; they therefore hate thee. Thou art
+obliged to guard them with eunuchs, who whip them
+when they are too happy. Thou pretendest to compare
+thyself to a cock, but a cock never has his pullets
+whipped by a capon. Take animals for thy examples,
+and copy them as much as thou pleasest;
+for my part, I love like a man; I would give all my
+heart, and receive an entire heart in return. I will
+give an account of this conversation to my wife to-night,
+and I hope she will be satisfied. As to the
+wine with which thou reproachest me, if it is an evil
+to drink it in Arabia, it is a very praiseworthy habit
+in Germany.&mdash;Adieu!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="XENOPHANES" id="XENOPHANES"></a>XENOPHANES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Bayle has made the article "Xenophanes" a pretext
+for making a panegyric on the devil; as Simonides,
+formerly, seized the occasion of a wrestler winning
+the prize of boxing in the Olympic games, to
+form a fine ode in praise of Castor and Pollux. But,
+at the bottom, of what consequence to us are the
+reveries of Xenophanes? What do we gain by
+knowing that he regarded nature as an infinite being,
+immovable, composed of an infinite number of small
+corpuscles, soft little mounds, and small organic
+molecules? That he, moreover, thought pretty
+nearly as Spinoza has since thought? or rather
+endeavored to think, for he contradicts himself frequently&mdash;a
+thing very common to ancient philosophers.</p>
+
+<p>If Anaximenes taught that the atmosphere was
+God; if Thales attributed to water the foundation
+of all things, because Egypt was rendered fertile by
+inundation; if Pherecides and Heraclitus give to
+fire all which Thales attributes to water&mdash;to what
+purpose return to these chimerical reveries?</p>
+
+<p>I wish that Pythagoras had expressed, by numbers,
+certain relations, very insufficiently understood,
+by which he infers, that the world was built
+by the rules of arithmetic. I allow, that Ocellus
+Lucanus and Empedocles have arranged everything
+by moving antagonist forces, but what shall I gather
+from it? What clear notion will it convey to my
+feeble mind?</p>
+
+<p>Come, divine Plato! with your archetypal ideas,
+your androgynes, and your word; establish all these
+fine things in poetical prose, in your new republic,
+in which I no more aspire to have a house, than in
+the Salentum of Telemachus; but in lieu of becoming
+one of your citizens, I will send you an order
+to build your town with all the subtle manner of
+Descartes, all his globular and diffusive matter; and
+they shall be brought to you by Cyrano de Bergerac.</p>
+
+<p>Bayle, however, has exercised all the sagacity of
+his logic on these ancient fancies; but it is always
+by rendering them ridiculous that he instructs and
+entertains.</p>
+
+<p>O philosophers! Physical experiments, ably conducted,
+arts and handicraft&mdash;these are the true philosophy.
+My sage is the conductor of my windmill,
+which dexterously catches the wind, and receives
+my corn, deposits it in the hopper, and grinds it
+equally, for the nourishment of myself and family.
+My sage is he who, with his shuttle, covers my walls
+with pictures of linen or of silk, brilliant with the
+finest colors; or he who puts into my pocket a
+chronometer of silver or of gold. My sage is the
+investigator of natural history. We learn more from
+the single experiments of the Abbé Nollet than
+from all the philosophical works of antiquity.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="XENOPHON" id="XENOPHON"></a>XENOPHON,</h3>
+
+<h3>AND THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND.</h3>
+
+
+<p>If Xenophon had no other merit than that of
+being the friend of the martyr Socrates, he would
+be interesting; but he was a warrior, philosopher,
+poet, historian, agriculturist, and amiable in society.
+There were many Greeks who united these qualities.</p>
+
+<p>But why had this free man a Greek company in
+the pay of the young Chosroes, named Cyrus by
+the Greeks? This Cyrus was the younger brother
+and subject of the emperor of Persia, Artaxerxes
+Mnemon, of whom it was said that he never forgot
+anything but injuries. Cyrus had already attempted
+to assassinate his brother, even in the temple in
+which the ceremony of his consecration took place&mdash;for
+the kings of Persia were the first who were
+consecrated. Artaxerxes had not only the clemency
+to pardon this villain, but he had the weakness to
+allow him the absolute government of a great part
+of Asia Minor, which he held from their father,
+and of which he at least deserved to be despoiled.</p>
+
+<p>As a return for such surprising mercy, as soon
+as he could excite his satrapy to revolt against his
+brother, Cyrus added this second crime to the first.
+He declared by a manifesto, "that he was more
+worthy of the throne of Persia than his brother,
+because he was a better magus, and drank more
+wine." I do not believe that these were the reasons
+which gained him the Greeks as allies. He took
+thirteen thousand into his pay, among whom was the
+young Xenophon, who was then only an adventurer.
+Each soldier had a daric a month for pay. The daric
+is equal to about a guinea or a louis d'or of our
+time, as the Chevalier de Jaucourt very well observes,
+and not ten francs, as Rollin says.</p>
+
+<p>When Cyrus proposed to march them with his
+other troops to fight his brother towards the
+Euphrates, they demanded a daric and a half,
+which he was obliged to grant them. This was
+thirty-six livres a month, and consequently the
+highest pay which was ever given. The soldiers of
+Cæsar and Pompey had but twenty sous per day
+in the civil wars. Besides this exorbitant pay, of
+which they obliged him to pay four months in advance,
+Cyrus furnished them four hundred chariots,
+laden with wine and meal.</p>
+
+<p>The Greeks were then precisely what the Swiss
+are at present, who hire their service and courage
+to neighboring princes, but for a pay three times
+less than was that of the Greeks. It is evident,
+though they say the contrary, that they did not
+inform themselves whether the cause for which
+they fought was just; it was sufficient that Cyrus
+paid well.</p>
+
+<p>The greatest part of these troops was composed
+of Lacedæmonians, by which they violated their
+solemn treaties with the king of Persia. What was
+become of the ancient aversion of the Spartans for
+gold and silver? Where was their sincerity in
+treaties? Where was their high and incorruptible
+virtue? Clearchus, a Spartan, commanded the
+principal body of these brave mercenaries.</p>
+
+<p>I understand not the military manoeuvres of
+Artaxerxes and Cyrus; I see not why Artaxerxes,
+who came to his enemy with twelve hundred thousand
+soldiers, should begin by causing lines of twelve
+leagues in extent to be drawn between Cyrus and
+himself; and I comprehend nothing of the order
+of battle. I understand still less how Cyrus, followed
+only by six hundred horse, broke into the
+midst of six thousand horse-guards of the emperor,
+followed by an innumerable army. Finally, he was
+killed by the hand of Artaxerxes, who, having apparently
+drunk less wine than the rebel, fought with
+more coolness and address than this drunkard. It
+is clear that he completely gained the battle, notwithstanding
+the valor and resistance of thirteen
+thousand Greeks&mdash;since Greek vanity is obliged to
+confess that Artaxerxes told them to put down their
+arms. They replied that they would do nothing of
+the kind; but that if the emperor would pay them
+they would enter his service. It was very indifferent
+to them for whom they fought, so long as they
+were paid; in fact, they were only hired murderers.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the Swiss, there are some provinces of
+Germany which follow this custom. It signifies not
+to these good Christians whether they are paid to
+kill English, French, or Dutch, or to be killed by
+them. You see them say their prayers, and go to
+the carnage like laborers to their workshop. As
+to myself, I confess I would rather observe those
+who go into Pennsylvania, to cultivate the land with
+the simple and equitable Quakers, and form colonies
+in the retreat of peace and industry. There
+is no great skill in killing and being killed for six
+sous per day, but there is much in causing the republic
+of Dunkers to flourish&mdash;these new Therapeutæ
+on the frontier of a country the most savage.</p>
+
+<p>Artaxerxes regarded the Greeks only as accomplices
+in the revolt of his brother, and indeed they
+were nothing else. He betrayed himself to be betrayed
+by them, and he betrayed them, as Xenophon
+pretends; for after one of his captains had sworn in
+his name to allow them a free retreat, and to furnish
+them with food, after Clearchus and five other commanders
+of the Greeks were put into his hands, to
+regulate the march, he caused their heads to be cut
+off, and slew all the Greeks who accompanied them
+in this interview, if we may trust Xenophon's
+account.</p>
+
+<p>This royal act shows us that Machiavellism is
+not new; but is it true that Artaxerxes promised
+not to make an example of the chief mercenaries
+who sold themselves to his brother? Was it not
+permitted him to punish those whom he thought so
+guilty? It is here that the famous retreat of the
+ten thousand commences. If I comprehend nothing
+of the battle, I understand no more of the retreat.</p>
+
+<p>The emperor, before he cut off the heads of six
+Greek generals and their suite, had sworn to allow
+the little army, reduced to ten thousand men, to
+return to Greece. The battle was fought on the
+road to the Euphrates; he must therefore have
+caused the Greeks to return by Western Mesopotamia,
+Syria, Asia Minor, and Ionia. Not at all;
+they were made to pass by the East; they were
+obliged to traverse the Tigris in boats which were
+furnished to them; they returned afterwards by
+the Armenian roads, while their commanders were
+punished. If any person comprehends this march,
+in which they turn their backs on Greece, they will
+oblige me much by explaining it to me.</p>
+
+<p>One of two things: either the Greeks chose their
+route themselves&mdash;and in this case they neither
+knew where they went, or what they wished&mdash;or
+Artaxerxes made them march against their will&mdash;which
+is much more probable&mdash;and in this case, why
+did he not exterminate them?</p>
+
+<p>We may extricate ourselves from these difficulties,
+by supposing that the Persian emperor only half
+revenged himself; that he contented himself with
+punishing the principal mercenary chiefs who sold
+the Greek troops to Cyrus; that having made a
+treaty with the fugitive troops, he would not descend
+to the meanness of violating it; that being
+sure that a third of these wandering Greeks would
+perish on the road, he abandoned them to their fate.
+I see no other manner of enlightening the mind of
+the reader on the obscurities of this march.</p>
+
+<p>We are astonished at the retreat of the ten
+thousand; but we should be much more so, if
+Artaxerxes, a conqueror, at the head of a hundred
+thousand men&mdash;at least it is said so&mdash;had allowed
+ten thousand fugitives to travel in the north of his
+vast states, whom he could crush in every village,
+every bridge, every defile, or whom he could have
+made perish with hunger and misery.</p>
+
+<p>However, they were furnished, as we have seen,
+with twenty-seven great boats, to enable them to
+pass the Tigris, as if they were conducted to the
+Indies. Thence they were escorted towards the
+North for several days, into the desert in which
+Bagdad is now situated. They further passed the
+river Zabata, and it was there that the emperor sent
+his orders to punish the chiefs. It is clear that
+they could have exterminated the army as easily as
+they inflicted punishment on the generals. It is
+therefore very likely that they did not choose to do
+so. We should, therefore, rather regard the Greek
+wanderers in these savage countries as wayward
+travellers, whom the bounty of the emperor allowed
+to finish their journey as they could.</p>
+
+<p>We may make another observation, which appears
+not very honorable to the Persian government.
+It was impossible for the Greeks not to have
+continual quarrels for food with the people whom
+they met. Pillages, desolations, and murders, were
+the inevitable consequence of these disorders; and
+that is so true, that in a road of six hundred leagues,
+during which the Greeks always marched irregularly,
+being neither escorted nor pursued by any
+great body of Persian troops, they lost four thousand
+men, either killed by peasants or by sickness.
+How did it happen, therefore, that Artaxerxes did
+not cause them to be escorted from their passage of
+the river Zabata, as he had done from the field of
+battle to the river?</p>
+
+<p>How could so wise and good a sovereign commit
+so great a fault? Perhaps he did command the
+escort; perhaps Xenophon, who exaggerates a little
+elsewhere, passes it over in silence, not to diminish
+the wonder of the "retreat of the ten thousand";
+perhaps the escort was always obliged to march at
+a great distance from the Greek troop, on account
+of the difficulty of procuring provisions. However
+it might be, it appears certain that Artaxerxes
+used extreme indulgence, and that the Greeks owed
+their lives to him, since they were not exterminated.</p>
+
+<p>In the article on "Retreat," in the "Encyclopædical
+Dictionary," it is said that the retreat of
+the ten thousand took place under the command of
+Xenophon. This is a mistake; he never commanded;
+he was merely at the head of a division of
+fourteen hundred men, at the end of the march.</p>
+
+<p>I see that these heroes scarcely arrived, after so
+many fatigues, on the borders of the Pontus
+Euxinus, before they indifferently pillaged friends
+and enemies to re-establish themselves. Xenophon
+embarked his little troop at Heraclea, and went to
+make a new bargain with a king of Thrace, to
+whom he was a stranger. This Athenian, instead
+of succoring his country, then overcome by the
+Spartans, sold himself once more to a petty foreign
+despot. He was ill paid, I confess, which is another
+reason why we may conclude that he would have
+done better in assisting his country.</p>
+
+<p>The sum of all this, we have already remarked,
+is that the Athenian Xenophon, being only a young
+volunteer, enlisted himself under a Lacedæmonian
+captain, one of the tyrants of Athens, in the service
+of a rebel and an assassin; and that, becoming chief
+of fourteen hundred men, he put himself into the pay
+of a barbarian.</p>
+
+<p>What is worse, necessity did not constrain him
+to this servitude. He says himself that he deposited
+a great part of the gold gained in the service of
+Cyrus in the temple of the famous Diana of
+Ephesus.</p>
+
+<p>Let us remark, that in receiving the pay of a
+king, he exposed himself to be condemned to death,
+if the foreigner was not contented with him, which
+happened to Major-General Doxat, a man born
+free. He sold himself to the emperor Charles VI.,
+who commanded his head to be cut off, for having
+given up to the Turks a place which he could not
+defend.</p>
+
+<p>Rollin, in speaking of the return of the ten thousand,
+says, "that this fortunate retreat filled the
+people of Greece with contempt for Artaxerxes, by
+showing them that gold, silver, delicacies, luxury,
+and a numerous seraglio, composed all the merit of
+a great king."</p>
+
+<p>Rollin should consider that the Greeks ought not
+to despise a sovereign who had gained a complete
+battle; who, having pardoned as a brother, conquered
+as a hero; who, having the power of exterminating
+ten thousand Greeks, suffered them to
+live and to return to their country; and who, being
+able to have them in his pay, disdained to make use
+of them. Add, that this prince afterwards conquered
+the Lacedæmonians and their allies, and imposed
+on them humiliating laws; add also that in
+a war with the Scythians, called Caducians, towards
+the Caspian Sea, he supported all fatigues and
+dangers like the lowest soldier. He lived and died
+full of glory; it is true that he had a seraglio, but
+his courage was only the more estimable. We must
+be careful of college declamations.</p>
+
+<p>If I dared to attack prejudice I would venture
+to prefer the retreat of Marshal Belle-Isle to that of
+the ten thousand. He was blocked up in Prague by
+sixty thousand men, when he had not thirteen thousand.
+He took his measures with so much ability
+that he got out of Prague, in the most severe cold,
+with his army, provisions, baggage, and thirty
+pieces of cannon, without the besiegers having the
+least idea of it. He gained two days' march without
+their perceiving it. An army of thirteen thousand
+men pursued him for the space of thirty
+leagues. He faced them everywhere&mdash;he was never
+cast down; but sick as he was, he braved the
+season, scarcity and his enemies. He only lost those
+soldiers who could not resist the extreme rigor of
+the season. What more was wanting? A longer
+course and Grecian exaggeration.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="YVETOT" id="YVETOT"></a>YVETOT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>This is the name of a town in France, six
+leagues from Rouen, in Normandy, which, according
+to Robert Gaguin, a historian of the sixteenth
+century, has long been entitled a kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>This writer relates that Gautier, or Vautier, lord
+of Yvetot, and grand chamberlain to King Clotaire
+I., having lost the favor of his master by calumny,
+in which courtiers deal rather liberally, went into
+voluntary exile, and visited distant countries,
+where, for ten years, he fought against the enemies
+of the faith; that at the expiration of this term,
+flattering himself that the king's anger would be
+appeased, he went back to France; that he passed
+through Rome, where he saw Pope Agapetus, from
+whom he obtained a letter of recommendation to
+the king, who was then at Soissons, the capital of
+his dominions. The lord of Yvetot repaired thither
+one Good Friday, and chose the time when Clotaire
+was at church, to fall at his feet, and implore his
+forgiveness through the merits of Him who, on
+that day, had shed His blood for the salvation of
+men; but Clotaire, ferocious and cruel, having
+recognized him, ran him through the body.</p>
+
+<p>Gaguin adds that Pope Agapetus, being informed
+of this disgraceful act, threatened the king
+with the thunders of the Church, if he did not make
+reparation for his offence; and that Clotaire, justly
+intimidated, and in satisfaction for the murder of
+his subject, erected the lordship of Yvetot into a
+kingdom, in favor of Gautier's heirs and successors;
+that he despatched letters to that effect signed by
+himself, and sealed with his seal; that ever since
+then the lords of Yvetot have borne the title of
+kings; and&mdash;continues Gaguin&mdash;I find from established
+and indisputable authority, that this extraordinary
+event happened in the year of grace 539.</p>
+
+<p>On this story of Gaguin's we have the same remark
+to make that we have already made on what
+he says of the establishment of the Paris university&mdash;that
+not one of the contemporary historians
+makes any mention of the singular event,
+which, as he tells us, caused the lordship of Yvetot
+to be erected into a kingdom; and, as Claude
+Malingre and the abbé Vertot have well observed,
+Clotaire I., who is here supposed to have been
+sovereign of the town of Yvetot, did not reign over
+that part of the country; fiefs were not then hereditary;
+acts were not, as Robert Gaguin relates, dated
+from the year of grace; and lastly, Pope Agapetus
+was then dead; to this it may be added that the
+right of erecting a fief into a kingdom belonged exclusively
+to the emperor.</p>
+
+<p>It is not, however, to be said that the thunders
+of the Church were not already made use of, in the
+time of Agapetus. We know that St. Paul excommunicated
+the incestuous man of Corinth. We also
+find in the letters of St. Basil, some instances of
+general censure in the fourth century. One of these
+letters is against a ravisher. The holy prelate there
+orders the young woman to be restored to her
+parents, the ravisher to be excluded from prayers,
+and declared to be excommunicated, together with
+his accomplices and all his household, for three
+years; he also orders that all the people of the
+village where the ravished person was received,
+shall be excommunicated.</p>
+
+<p>Auxilius, a young bishop, excommunicated the
+whole family of Clacitien; although St. Augustine
+disapproved of this conduct, and Pope St. Leo laid
+down the same maxims as Augustine, in one of his
+letters to the bishop of the province of Vienne&mdash;yet,
+confining ourselves here to France&mdash;Pretextatus,
+bishop of Rouen, having been assassinated in the
+year 586 in his own church, Leudovalde, bishop of
+Bayeux, did not fail to lay all the churches in Rouen
+under an interdict, forbidding divine service to be
+celebrated in them until the author of the crime
+should be discovered.</p>
+
+<p>In 1141, Louis the Young having refused his
+consent to the election of Peter de la Châtre, whom
+the pope caused to be appointed in the room of
+Alberic, archbishop of Bourges, who had died the
+year preceding, Innocent II. laid all France under
+interdict.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1200, Peter of Capua, commissioned
+to compel Philip Augustus to put away Agnes, and
+take back Ingeburga, and not succeeding, published
+the sentence of interdict on the whole kingdom,
+which had been pronounced by Pope Innocent
+III. This interdict was observed with extreme
+rigor. The English chronicle, quoted by the Benedictine
+Martenne, says that every Christian act, excepting
+the baptism of infants, was interdicted in
+France; the churches were closed, and Christians
+driven out of them like dogs; there was no more
+divine office, no more sacrifice of the mass, no ecclesiastical
+sepulture for the deceased; the dead
+bodies, left to chance, spread the most frightful infections,
+and filled the survivors with horror.</p>
+
+<p>The chronicle of Tours gives the same description,
+adding only one remarkable particular, confirmed
+by the abbé Fleury and the abbé de Vertot&mdash;that
+the holy viaticum was excepted, like the baptism
+of infants, from the privation of holy things.
+The kingdom was in this situation for nine months;
+it was some time before Innocent III. permitted the
+preaching of sermons and the sacrament of confirmation.
+The king was so much enraged that he
+drove the bishops and all the other ecclesiastics
+from their abodes, and confiscated their property.</p>
+
+<p>But it is singular that the bishops were sometimes
+solicited by sovereigns themselves to pronounce
+an interdict upon lands of their vassals. By
+letters dated February, 1356, confirming those of
+Guy, count of Nevers, and his wife Matilda, in
+favor of the citizens of Nevers, Charles V., regent
+of the kingdom, prays the archbishops of Lyons,
+Bourges, and Sens, and the bishops of Autun,
+Langres, Auxerre, and Nevers, to pronounce an excommunication
+against the count of Nevers, and an
+interdict upon his lands, if he does not fulfil the
+agreement he has made with the inhabitants. We
+also find in the collection of the ordinances of the
+third line of kings, many letters like that of King
+John, authorizing the bishops to put under interdict
+those places whose privileges their lords would seek
+to infringe.</p>
+
+<p>And to conclude, though it appears incredible,
+the Jesuit Daniel relates that, in the year 998, King
+Robert was excommunicated by Gregory V., for
+having married his kinswoman in the fourth degree.
+All the bishops who had assisted at this marriage
+were interdicted from the communion, until they
+had been to Rome, and rendered satisfaction to the
+holy see. The people, and even the court, separated
+from the king; he had only two domestics left,
+who purified by fire whatever he had touched.
+Cardinal Damien and Romualde also add, that
+Robert being gone one morning, as was his custom,
+to say his prayers at the door of St. Bartholomew's
+church, for he dared not enter it, Abbon, abbot of
+Fleury, followed by two women of the palace, carrying
+a large gilt dish covered with a napkin, accosted
+him, announced that Bertha was just brought
+to bed; and uncovering the dish, said: "Behold
+the effects of your disobedience to the decrees of
+the Church, and the seal of anathema on the fruit
+of your love!" Robert looked, and saw a monster
+with the head and neck of a duck! Bertha was
+repudiated; and the excommunication was at last
+taken off.</p>
+
+<p>Urban II., on the contrary, excommunicated
+Robert's grandson, Philip I., for having put away
+his kinswoman. This pope pronounced the sentence
+of excommunication in the king's own dominions,
+at Clermont, in Auvergne, where his holiness was
+come to seek an asylum, in the same council in
+which the crusade was preached, and in which, for
+the first time, the name of pope (papa) was given
+to the bishop of Rome, to the exclusion of the other
+bishops, who had formerly taken it.</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen that these canonical pains were
+medicinal rather than mortal; but Gregory VII. and
+some of his successors ventured to assert, that an
+excommunicated sovereign was deprived of his
+dominions, and that his subjects were not obliged to
+obey him. However, supposing that a king can be
+excommunicated in certain serious cases, excommunication,
+being a penalty purely spiritual, cannot
+dispense with the obedience which his subjects
+owe to him, as holding his authority from God
+Himself. This was constantly acknowledged by the
+parliaments, and also by the clergy of France, in
+the excommunications pronounced by Boniface
+VII., against Philip the Fair; by Julius II., against
+Louis XII.; by Sixtus V., against Henry III.; by
+Gregory XIII., against Henry IV.; and it is likewise
+the doctrine of the celebrated assembly of the
+clergy in 1682.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="ZEAL" id="ZEAL"></a>ZEAL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>This, in religion, is a pure and enlightened attachment
+to the maintenance and progress of the
+worship which is due to the Divinity; but when
+this zeal is persecuting, blind, and false, it becomes
+the greatest scourge of humanity.</p>
+
+<p>See what the emperor Julian says of the Christians
+of his time: "The Galileans," he observes,
+"have suffered exile and imprisonment under my
+predecessor; those who are by turns called heretics,
+have been mutually massacred. I have recalled the
+banished, liberated the prisoners; I have restored
+their property to the proscribed; I have forced
+them to live in peace; but such is the restless rage
+of the Galileans, that they complain of being no
+longer able to devour each other."</p>
+
+<p>This picture will not appear extravagant if we
+attend to the atrocious calumnies with which the
+Christians reciprocally blackened each other. For
+instance, St. Augustine accuses the Manichæans of
+forcing their elect to receive the eucharist, after
+having obscenely polluted it. After him, St. Cyril
+of Jerusalem has accused them of the same infamy
+in these terms: "I dare not mention in what these
+sacrilegious wretches wet their ischas, which they
+give to their unhappy votaries, and exhibit in the
+midst of their altar, and with which the Manichæan
+soils his mouth and tongue. Let the men call to
+mind what they are accustomed to experience in
+dreaming, and the women in their periodical affections."
+Pope St. Leo, in one of his sermons,
+also calls the sacrifice of the Manichæans the same
+turpitude. Finally, Suidas and Cedrenus have still
+further improved on the calumny, in asserting that
+the Manichæans held nocturnal assemblies, in
+which, after extinguishing the flambeaux, they
+committed the most enormous indecencies.</p>
+
+<p>Let us first observe that the primitive Christians
+were themselves accused of the same horrors which
+they afterwards imputed to the Manichæans; and
+that the justification of these equally applies to the
+others. "In order to have pretexts for persecuting
+us," said Athenagoras, in his "Apology for the
+Christians," "they accuse us of making detestable
+banquets, and of committing incest in our assemblies.
+It is an old trick, which has been employed
+from all time to extinguish virtue. Thus was
+Pythagoras burned, with three hundred of his
+disciples; Heraclitus expelled by the Ephesians;
+Democritus by the Abderitans; and Socrates condemned
+by the Athenians."</p>
+
+<p>Athenagoras subsequently points out that the
+principles and manners of the Christians were sufficient
+of themselves to destroy the calumnies spread
+against them. The same reasons apply in favor of
+the Manichæans. Why else is St. Augustine, who
+is positive in his book on heresies, reduced in that
+on the morals of the Manichæans, when speaking of
+the horrible ceremony in question, to say simply:
+"They are suspected of&mdash;the world has this opinion
+of them&mdash;if they do not commit what is imputed to
+them&mdash;rumor proclaims much ill of them; but they
+maintain that it is false?"</p>
+
+<p>Why not sustain openly this accusation in his
+dispute with Fortunatus, who publicly challenged
+him in these terms: "We are accused of false
+crimes, and as Augustine has assisted in our worship,
+I beg him to declare before the whole people,
+whether these crimes are true or not." St. Augustine
+replied: "It is true that I have assisted in
+your worship; but the question of faith is one
+thing, the question of morals another; and it is that
+of faith which I brought forward. However, if the
+persons present prefer that we should discuss that
+of your morals, I shall not oppose myself to them."</p>
+
+<p>Fortunatus, addressing the assembly, said: "I
+wish, above all things, to be justified in the minds
+of those who believe us guilty; and that Augustine
+should now testify before you, and one day before
+the tribunal of Jesus Christ, if he has ever seen, or
+if he knows, in any way whatever, that the things
+imputed have been committed by us?" St. Augustine
+still replies: "You depart from the question;
+what I have advanced turns upon faith, not upon
+morals." At length, Fortunatus continuing to press
+St. Augustine to explain himself, he does so in these
+terms: "I acknowledge that in the prayer at which
+I assisted I did not see you commit anything impure."</p>
+
+<p>The same St. Augustine, in his work on the
+"Utility of Faith," still justifies the Manichæans.
+"At this time," he says, to his friend Honoratus,
+"when I was occupied with Manichæism, I was yet
+full of the desire and the hope of marrying a handsome
+woman, and of acquiring riches; of attaining
+honors, and of enjoying the other pernicious pleasures
+of life. For when I listened with attention to
+the Manichæan doctors, I had not renounced the desire
+and hope of all these things. I do not attribute
+that to their doctrine; for I am bound to render
+this testimony&mdash;that they sedulously exhorted men
+to preserve themselves from those things. That is,
+indeed, what hindered me from attaching myself
+altogether to the sect, and kept me in the rank of
+those who are called auditors. I did not wish to
+renounce secular hopes and affairs." And in the
+last chapter of this book, where he represents the
+Manichæan doctors as proud men, who had as gross
+minds as they had meagre and skinny bodies, he
+does not say a word of their pretended infamies.</p>
+
+<p>But on what proofs were these imputations
+founded? The first which Augustine alleges is, that
+these indecencies were a consequence of the Manichæan
+system, regarding the means which God
+makes use of to wrest from the prince of darkness
+the portion of his substance. We have spoken of
+this in the article on "Genealogy," and these are
+horrors which one may dispense with repeating. It
+is enough to say here, that the passage from the
+seventh book of the "Treasure of Manes," which
+Augustine cites in many places, is evidently falsified.
+The arch heretic says, if we can believe it,
+that these celestial virtues, which are transformed
+sometimes into beautiful boys, and sometimes into
+beautiful girls, are God the Father Himself. This
+is false; Manes has never confounded the celestial
+virtues with God the Father. St. Augustine, not
+having understood the Syriac phrase of a "virgin of
+light" to mean a virgin light, supposes that God
+shows a beautiful maiden to the princes of darkness,
+in order to excite their brutal lust; there is nothing
+of all this talked of in ancient authors; the question
+concerns the cause of rain.</p>
+
+<p>"The great prince," says Tirbon, cited by St.
+Epiphanius, "sends out for himself, in his passion,
+black clouds, which darken all the world; he
+chafes, worries himself, throws himself into a perspiration,
+and that it is which makes the rain, which
+is no other than the sweat of the great prince." St.
+Augustine must have been deceived by a mistranslation,
+or rather by a garbled, unfaithful extract
+from the "Treasure of Manes," from which he only
+cites two or three passages. The Manichæan Secundums
+also reproaches him with comprehending
+nothing of the mysteries of Manichæism, and with
+attacking them only by mere paralogisms. "How,
+otherwise," says the learned M. de Beausobre&mdash;whom
+we here abridge&mdash;"would St. Augustine
+have been able to live so many years among a sect
+in which such abominations were publicly taught?
+And how would he have had the face to defend it
+against the Catholics?"</p>
+
+<p>From this proof by reasoning, let us pass to the
+proofs of fact and evidence alleged by St. Augustine
+and see if they are more substantial. "It
+is said," proceeds this father, "that some of them
+have confessed this fact in public pleadings, not only
+in Paphlagonia, but also in the Gauls, as I have
+heard said at Rome by a certain Catholic."</p>
+
+<p>Such hearsay deserves so little attention that St.
+Augustine dared not make use of it in his conference
+with Fortunatus, although it was seven
+or eight years after he had quitted Rome; he seems
+even to have forgotten the name of the Catholic
+from whom he learned them. It is true, that
+in his book of "Heresies," he speaks of the confessions
+of two girls, the one named Margaret, the
+other Eusebia, and of some Manichæans who, having
+been discovered at Carthage, and taken to the
+church, avowed, it is said, the horrible fact in question.</p>
+
+<p>He adds that a certain Viator declared that they
+who committed these scandals were called Catharistes,
+or purgators; and that, when interrogated
+on what scripture they founded this frightful practice,
+they produced the passage from the "Treasure
+of Manes," the falsehood of which has been demonstrated.
+But our heretics, far from availing themselves
+of it, have openly disavowed it, as the work
+of some impostor who wished to ruin them. That
+alone casts suspicion on all these acts of Carthage,
+which "<i>Quod-vult-Deus</i>" had sent to St. Augustine;
+and these wretches who were discovered and taken
+to the church, have very much the air of persons
+suborned to confess all they were wanted to confess.</p>
+
+<p>In the 47th chapter on the "Nature of Good,"
+St. Augustine admits that when our heretics were
+reproached with the crimes in question, they replied
+that one of their elect, a seceder from the sect, and
+become their enemy, had introduced this enormity.
+Without inquiring whether this was a real sect
+whom Viator calls Catharistes, it is sufficient to observe
+here, that the first Christians likewise imputed
+to the Gnostics the horrible mysteries of
+which they were themselves accused by the Jews
+and Pagans; and if this defence is good on their
+behalf, why should it not be so on that of the Manichæans?</p>
+
+<p>It is, however, these vulgar rumors which M.
+de Tillemont, who piques himself on his exactness
+and fidelity, ventures to convert into positive facts.
+He asserts that the Manichæans had been made to
+confess these disgraceful doings in public judgments,
+in Paphlagonia, in the Gauls, and several
+times at Carthage.</p>
+
+<p>Let us also weigh the testimony of St. Cyril of
+Jerusalem, whose narrative is altogether different
+from that of St. Augustine; and let us consider
+that the fact is so incredible and so absurd that it
+could scarcely be credited, even if attested by five
+or six witnesses who had seen and would affirm it
+on oath. St. Cyril stands alone; he had never seen
+it; he advances it in a popular declamation, wherein
+he gives himself a licence to put into the mouth of
+Manes, in the conference of Cascar, a discourse, not
+one word of which is in the "Acts of Archælaus,"
+as M. Zaccagni is obliged to allow; and it cannot
+be alleged in defence of St. Cyril that he has taken
+only the sense of Archælaus, and not the words;
+for neither the sense nor the words can be found
+there. Besides, the style which this father adopts
+is that of a historian who cites the actual words of
+his author.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, to save the honor and good faith
+of St. Cyril, M. Zaccagni, and after him M. de
+Tillemont, suppose, without any proof, that the
+translator or copyist has omitted the passage in the
+"Acts" quoted by this father; and the journalists of
+Trévoux have imagined two sorts of "Acts of
+Archælaus"&mdash;the authentic ones which Cyril has
+copied, and others invented in the fifth century by
+some historian. When they shall have proved this
+conjecture, we will examine their reasons.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, let us come to the testimony of Pope Leo
+touching these Manichæan abominations. He says,
+in his sermons, that the sudden troubles in other
+countries had brought into Italy some Manichæans,
+whose mysteries were so abominable that he could
+not expose them to the public view without sacrificing
+modesty. That, in order to ascertain them,
+he had introduced male and female elect into an
+assembly composed of bishops, priests, and some
+lay noblemen. That these heretics had disclosed
+many things respecting their dogmas and the ceremonies
+of their feast, and had confessed a crime
+which could not be named, but in regard to which
+there could be no doubt, after the confession of the
+guilty parties&mdash;that is to say, of a young girl of only
+ten years of age; of two women who had prepared
+her for the horrible ceremony of the sect; of a young
+man who had been an accomplice; of the bishop
+who had ordered and presided over it. He refers
+those among his auditors who desire to know more,
+to the informations which had been taken, and
+which he communicated to the bishops of Italy, in
+his second letter.</p>
+
+<p>This testimony appears more precise and more
+decisive than that of St. Augustine; but it is anything
+but conclusive in regard to a fact belied by the
+protestations of the accused, and by the ascertained
+principles of their morality. In effect, what proofs
+have we that the infamous persons interrogated by
+Leo were not bribed to depose against their sect?</p>
+
+<p>It will be replied that the piety and sincerity
+of this pope will not permit us to believe that he
+has contrived such a fraud. But if&mdash;as we have
+said in the article on "Relics"&mdash;the same St. Leo was
+capable of supposing that pieces of linen and ribbons,
+which were put in a box, and made to descend
+into the tombs of some saints, shed blood when
+they were cut&mdash;ought this pope to make any scruple
+in bribing, or causing to be bribed, some abandoned
+women, and I know not what Manichæan bishop,
+who, being assured of pardon, would make confessions
+of crimes which might be true as regarded
+themselves, but not as regarded their sect, from
+whose seduction St. Leo wished to protect his people?
+At all times, bishops have considered themselves
+authorized to employ those pious frauds
+which tend to the salvation of souls. The conjectural
+and apocryphal scriptures are a proof of this;
+and the readiness with which the fathers have put
+faith in those bad works, shows that, if they were
+not accomplices in the fraud, they were not scrupulous
+in taking advantage of it.</p>
+
+<p>In conclusion, St. Leo pretends to confirm the
+secret crimes of the Manichæans by an argument
+which destroys them. "These execrable mysteries,"
+he says, "which the more impure they are, the more
+carefully they are hid, are common to the Manichæans
+and to the Priscillianists. There is in all
+respects the same sacrilege, the same obscenity, the
+same turpitude. These crimes, these infamies, are
+the same which were formerly discovered among
+the Priscillianists, and of which the whole world is
+informed."</p>
+
+<p>The Priscillianists were never guilty of the
+crimes for which they were put to death. In the
+works of St. Augustine is contained the instructional
+remarks which were transmitted to that
+father by Orosius, and in which this Spanish priest
+protests that he has plucked out all the plants of
+perdition which sprang up in the sect of the Priscillianists;
+that he had not forgotten the smallest
+branch or root; that he exposed to the surgeon all
+the diseases of the sect, in order that he might labor
+in their cure. Orosius does not say a word of the
+abominable mysteries of which Leo speaks; an unanswerable
+proof that he had no doubt they were
+pure calumnies. St. Jerome also says that Priscillian
+was oppressed by faction, and by the intrigues
+of the bishops Ithacus and Idacus. Would a man
+be thus spoken of who was guilty of profaning religion
+by the most infamous ceremonies? Nevertheless,
+Orosius and St. Jerome could not be ignorant
+of crimes of which all the world had been
+informed.</p>
+
+<p>St. Martin of Tours, and St. Ambrosius, who
+were at Trier when Priscillian was sentenced,
+would have been equally informed of them. They,
+however, instantly solicited a pardon for him; and,
+not being able to obtain it, they refused to hold intercourse
+with his accusers and their faction. Sulpicius
+Severus relates the history of the misfortunes
+of Priscillian. Latronian, Euphrosyne, widow of
+the poet Delphidius, his daughter, and some other
+persons, were executed with him at Trier, by order
+of the tyrant Maximus, and at the instigation of
+Ithacus and Idacus, two wicked bishops, who, in
+reward for their injustice, died in excommunication,
+loaded with the hatred of God and man.</p>
+
+<p>The Priscillianists were accused, like the Manichæans,
+of obscene doctrines, of religious nakedness
+and immodesty. How were they convicted?
+Priscillian and his accomplices confessed, as is said,
+under the torture. Three degraded persons, Tertullus,
+Potamius, and John, confessed without
+awaiting the question. But the suit instituted
+against the Priscillianists would have been founded
+on other depositions, which had been made against
+them in Spain. Nevertheless, these latter informations
+were rejected by a great number of bishops
+and esteemed ecclesiastics; and the good old man
+Higimis, bishop of Cordova, who had been the denouncer
+of the Priscillianists, afterwards believed
+them so innocent of the crimes imputed to them
+that he received them into his communion, and
+found himself involved thereby in the persecution
+which they endured.</p>
+
+<p>These horrible calumnies, dictated by a blind
+zeal, would seem to justify the reflection which
+Ammianus Marcellinus reports of the emperor
+Julian. "The savage beasts," he said, "are not more
+formidable to men than the Christians are to each
+other, when they are divided by creed and opinion."</p>
+
+<p>It is still more deplorable when zeal is false and
+hypocritical, examples of which are not rare. It is
+told of a doctor of the Sorbonne, that in departing
+from a sitting of the faculty, Tournély, with whom
+he was strictly connected, said to him: "You see
+that for two hours I have maintained a certain
+opinion with warmth; well, I assure you, there is
+not one word of truth in all I have said!"</p>
+
+<p>The answer of a Jesuit is also known, who was
+employed for twenty years in the Canada missions,
+and who himself not believing in a God, as he confessed
+in the ear of a friend, had faced death twenty
+times for the sake of a religion which he preached to
+the savages. This friend representing to him the
+inconsistency of his zeal: "Ah!" replied the Jesuit
+missionary, "you have no idea of the pleasure a
+man enjoys in making himself heard by twenty
+thousand men, and in persuading them of what he
+does not himself believe."</p>
+
+<p>It is frightful to observe how many abuses and
+disorders arise from the profound ignorance in
+which Europe has been so long plunged. Those
+monarchs who are at last sensible of the importance
+of enlightenment, become the benefactors of mankind
+in favoring the progress of knowledge, which
+is the foundation of the tranquillity and happiness
+of nations, and the finest bulwark against the inroads
+of fanaticism.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="ZOROASTER" id="ZOROASTER"></a>ZOROASTER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>If it is Zoroaster who first announced to mankind
+that fine maxim: "In the doubt whether an
+action be good or bad, abstain from it," Zoroaster
+was the first of men after Confucius.</p>
+
+<p>If this beautiful lesson of morality is found only
+in the hundred gates of the "Sadder," let us bless
+the author of the "Sadder." There may be very
+ridiculous dogmas and rites united with an excellent
+morality.</p>
+
+<p>Who was this Zoroaster? The name has something
+of Greek in it, and it is said he was a
+Mede. The Parsees of the present day call him
+Zerdust, or Zerdast, or Zaradast, or Zarathrust. He
+is not reckoned to have been the first of the name.
+We are told of two other Zoroasters, the former of
+whom has an antiquity of nine thousand years&mdash;which
+is much for us, but may be very little for the
+world. We are acquainted with only the latest
+Zoroaster.</p>
+
+<p>The French travellers, Chardin and Tavernier,
+have given us some information respecting this
+great prophet, by means of the Guebers or Parsees,
+who are still scattered through India and Persia,
+and who are excessively ignorant. Dr. Hyde,
+Arabic professor of Oxford, has given us a hundred
+times more without leaving home. Living in
+the west of England, he must have conjectured the
+language which the Persians spoke in the time of
+Cyrus, and must have compared it with the modern
+language of the worshippers of fire. It is to him,
+moreover, that we owe those hundred gates of the
+"Sadder," which contain all the principal precepts
+of the pious fire-worshippers.</p>
+
+<p>For my own part, I confess I have found nothing
+in their ancient rites more curious than the two
+Persian verses of Sadi, as given by Hyde; signifying
+that, although a person may preserve the
+sacred fire for a hundred years, he is burned when
+he falls into it.</p>
+
+<p>The learned researches of Hyde kindled, a few
+years ago in the breast of a young Frenchman, the
+desire to learn for himself the dogmas of the
+Guebers. He traversed the Great Indies, in order
+to learn at Surat, among the poor modern Parsees,
+the language of the ancient Persians, and to read
+in that language the books of the so-much celebrated
+Zoroaster, supposing that he has in fact
+written any.</p>
+
+<p>The Pythagorases, the Platos, the Appolloniuses
+of Thyana, went in former times to seek in the
+East wisdom that was not there; but no one has
+run after this hidden divinity through so many sufferings
+and perils as this new French translator of
+the books attributed to Zoroaster. Neither disease
+nor war, nor obstacles renewed at every step, nor
+poverty itself, the first and greatest of obstacles,
+could repel his courage.</p>
+
+<p>It is glorious for Zoroaster that an Englishman
+wrote his life, at the end of so many centuries, and
+that afterwards a Frenchman wrote it in an entirely
+different manner. But it is still finer, that
+among the ancient biographers of the poet we have
+two principal Arabian authors, each of whom had
+previously written his history; and all these four
+histories contradict one another marvellously. This
+is not done by concert; and nothing is more conducive
+to the knowledge of the truth.</p>
+
+<p>The first Arabian historian, Abu-Mohammed
+Mustapha, allows that the father of Zoroaster was
+called Espintaman; but he also says that Espintaman
+was not his father, but his great-great-grandfather.
+In regard to his mother, there are not two
+opinions; she was named Dogdu, or Dodo, or
+Dodu&mdash;that is, a very fine turkey hen; she is very
+well portrayed in Doctor Hyde.</p>
+
+<p>Bundari, the second historian, relates that Zoroaster
+was a Jew, and that he had been valet to
+Jeremiah; that he told lies to his master; that, in
+order to punish him, Jeremiah gave him the leprosy;
+that the valet, to purify himself, went to preach a
+new religion in Persia, and caused the sun to be
+adored instead of the stars.</p>
+
+<p>Attend now to what the third historian relates,
+and what the Englishman, Hyde, has recorded somewhat
+at length: The prophet Zoroaster having
+come from Paradise to preach his religion to the
+king of Persia, Gustaph, the king said to the
+prophet: "Give me a sign." Upon this, the prophet
+caused a cedar to grow up before the gate of the
+palace, so large and so tall, that no cord could either
+go round it or reach its top. Upon the cedar he
+placed a fine cabinet, to which no man could ascend.
+Struck with this miracle, Gustaph believed in Zoroaster.</p>
+
+<p>Four magi, or four sages&mdash;it is the same thing&mdash;envious
+and wicked persons, borrowed from the
+royal porter the key of the prophet's chamber during
+his absence, and threw among his books the
+bones of dogs and cats, the nails and hair of dead
+bodies&mdash;such being, as is well known, the drugs
+with which magicians at all times have operated.
+Afterwards, they went and accused the prophet of
+being a sorcerer and a poisoner; and the king,
+causing the chamber to be opened by his porter,
+the instruments of witchcraft were found there&mdash;and
+behold the envoy from heaven condemned to
+be hanged!</p>
+
+<p>Just as they are going to hang Zoroaster, the
+king's finest horse falls ill; his four legs enter his
+body, so as to be no longer visible. Zoroaster hears
+of it; he promises to cure the horse, provided
+they will not hang him. The bargain being made,
+he causes one leg to issue out of the belly, and says:
+"Sire, I will not restore you the second leg unless
+you embrace my religion." "Let it be so," says the
+monarch. The prophet, after having made the
+second leg appear, wished the king's children to become
+Zoroastrians, and they became so. The other
+legs made proselytes of the whole court. The four
+envious sages were hanged in place of the prophet,
+and all Persia received the faith.</p>
+
+<p>The French traveller relates nearly the same
+miracles, supported and embellished, however, by
+many others. For instance, the infancy of Zoroaster
+could not fail to be miraculous; Zoroaster
+fell to laughing as soon as he was born, at least
+according to Pliny and Solinus. There were, in
+those days, as all the world knows, a great number
+of very powerful magicians; they were well aware
+that one day Zoroaster would be greater than themselves,
+and that he would triumph over their magic.
+The prince of magicians caused the infant to be
+brought to him, and tried to cut him in two; but
+his hand instantly withered. They threw him into
+the fire, which was turned for him into a bath of
+rose water. They wished to have him trampled on
+by the feet of wild bulls; but a still more powerful
+bull protected him. He was cast among the wolves;
+these wolves went incontinently and sought two
+ewes, who gave him suck all night. At last, he was
+restored to his mother Dogdu, or Dodo, or Dodu, a
+wife excellent above all wives, or a daughter above
+all daughters.</p>
+
+<p>Such, throughout the world, have been all the
+histories of ancient times. It proves what we have
+often remarked, that Fable is the elder sister of
+History. I could wish that, for our amusement
+and instruction, all these great prophets of antiquity,
+the Zoroasters, the Mercurys Trismegistus, the
+Abarises, and even the Numas, and others, should
+now return to the earth, and converse with Locke,
+Newton, Bacon, Shaftesbury, Pascal, Arnaud, Bayle&mdash;what
+do I say?&mdash;even with those philosophers of
+our day who are the least learned, provided they are
+not the less rational. I ask pardon of antiquity, but
+I think they would cut a sorry figure.</p>
+
+<p>Alas, poor charlatans! they could not sell their
+drugs on the Pont-neuf. In the meantime, however,
+their morality is still good, because morality
+is not a drug. How could it be that Zoroaster
+joined so many egregious fooleries to the fine precept
+of "abstaining when it is doubtful whether one
+is about to do right or wrong?" It is because men
+are always compounded of contradictions.</p>
+
+<p>It is added that Zoroaster, having established
+his religion, became a persecutor. Alas! there is
+not a sexton, or a sweeper of a church, who would
+not persecute, if he had the power.</p>
+
+<p>One cannot read two pages of the abominable
+trash attributed to Zoroaster, without pitying human
+nature. Nostradamus and the urine doctor are
+reasonable compared with this inspired personage;
+and yet he still is and will continue to be talked of.</p>
+
+<p>What appears singular is, that there existed, in
+the time of the Zoroaster with whom we are acquainted,
+and probably before, prescribed formulas
+of public and private prayer. We are indebted to
+the French traveller for a translation of them. There
+were such formulas in India; we know of none such
+in the Pentateuch.</p>
+
+<p>What is still stranger, the magi, as well as the
+Brahmins, admitted a paradise, a hell, a resurrection,
+and a devil. It is demonstrated that the law of
+the Jews knew nothing of all this; they were behindhand
+with everything&mdash;a truth of which we are
+convinced, however little the progress we have made
+in Oriental knowledge.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="DECLARATION_OF_THE_AMATEURS_INQUIRERS_AND_DOUBTERS" id="DECLARATION_OF_THE_AMATEURS_IN-QUIRERS_AND_DOUBTERS"></a>DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, IN-QUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS,</h3>
+
+<h3>WHO HAVE AMUSED THEMSELVES WITH PROPOSING
+TO THE LEARNED THE PRECEDING QUESTIONS IN
+THESE VOLUMES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>We declare to the learned that being, like themselves,
+prodigiously ignorant of the first principles
+of all things, and of the natural, typical, mystical,
+allegorical sense of many things, we acquiesce, in
+regard to them, in the infallible decision of the
+holy Inquisition of Rome, Milan, Florence, Madrid,
+Lisbon, and in the decrees of the Sorbonne, the perpetual
+council of the French.</p>
+
+<p>Our errors not proceeding from malice, but being
+the natural consequence of human weakness, we
+hope we shall be pardoned for them both in this
+world and the next.</p>
+
+<p>We entreat the small number of celestial spirits
+who are still shut up in the mortal bodies in France,
+and who thence enlighten the universe at thirty
+sous per sheet, to communicate their gifts to us for
+the next volume, which we calculate on publishing
+at the end of the Lent of 1772, or in the Advent of
+1773; and we will pay <i>forty</i> sous per sheet for
+their lucubrations.</p>
+
+<p>We entreat the few great men who still remain
+to us, such as the author of the "Ecclesiastical
+Gazette"; the Abbé Guyon; with the Abbé Caveirac,
+author of the "Apology for St. Bartholomew";
+0and he who took the name of Chiniac; and the
+agreeable Larcher; and the virtuous, wise, and
+learned Langleviel, called La Beaumelle; the profound
+and exact Nonnotte; and the moderate, the
+compassionate, the tender Patouillet&mdash;to assist us in
+our undertaking. We shall profit by their instructive
+criticisms, and we shall experience a real pleasure
+in rendering to all these gentlemen the justice
+which is their due.</p>
+
+<p>The next volume will contain very curious articles,
+which, under the favor of God, will be likely
+to give new piquancy to the wit which we shall
+endeavor to infuse into the thanks we return to all
+these gentlemen.</p>
+
+<p>Given at Mount Krapak, the 30th of the month
+of Janus, in the year of the world, according to</p>
+
+<pre><b>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scaliger...............................&nbsp; &nbsp;  5,022</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to Les Etrennes Mignonnes....&nbsp; &nbsp;  5,776</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to Riccioli..................&nbsp; &nbsp;  5,956</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to Eusebius..................&nbsp; &nbsp;  6,972</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Alphosine Tables......&nbsp; &nbsp;  8,707</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Egyptians.............&nbsp;  370,000</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Chaldæans.............&nbsp;  465,102</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Brahmins..............&nbsp;  780,000</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Philosophers..........&nbsp; &nbsp;  &mdash;&mdash;</span>
+</b></pre>
+
+<hr style="width: 95%;" />
+
+
+<p class="caption"><a name="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS" id="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS"></a>TABLE OF CONTENTS</p>
+<p class="small">
+<br />
+<a href="#LIST_OF_PLATES_VOL_X"><b>LIST OF PLATES&mdash;VOL. X</b></a><br />
+<br />
+<a href="#STYLE"><b>STYLE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#SUPERSTITION"><b>SUPERSTITION.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#SYMBOL_OR_CREDO"><b>SYMBOL, OR CREDO.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#SYSTEM"><b>SYSTEM.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TABOR_OR_THABOR"><b>TABOR, OR THABOR.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TALISMAN"><b>TALISMAN.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TARTUFFE_TARTUFERIE"><b>TARTUFFE&mdash;TARTUFERIE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TASTE"><b>TASTE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TAUROBOLIUM"><b>TAUROBOLIUM.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TAX_FEE"><b>TAX&mdash;FEE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TEARS"><b>TEARS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TERELAS"><b>TERELAS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TESTES"><b>TESTES.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THEISM"><b>THEISM.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THEIST"><b>THEIST.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THEOCRACY"><b>THEOCRACY.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THEODOSIUS"><b>THEODOSIUS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THEOLOGIAN"><b>THEOLOGIAN.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THUNDER"><b>THUNDER.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TOLERATION"><b>TOLERATION.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TOPHET"><b>TOPHET.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TORTURE"><b>TORTURE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TRANSUBSTANTIATION"><b>TRANSUBSTANTIATION.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TRINITY"><b>TRINITY.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TRUTH"><b>TRUTH.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TYRANNY"><b>TYRANNY.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TYRANT"><b>TYRANT.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#UNIVERSITY"><b>UNIVERSITY.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#USAGES"><b>USAGES.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VAMPIRES"><b>VAMPIRES.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VELETRI"><b>VELETRI,</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VENALITY"><b>VENALITY.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VENICE"><b>VENICE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VERSE"><b>VERSE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VIANDS"><b>VIANDS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VIRTUE"><b>VIRTUE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VISION"><b>VISION.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VISION_OF_CONSTANTINE"><b>VISION OF CONSTANTINE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VOWS"><b>VOWS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VOYAGE_OF_ST_PETER_TO_ROME"><b>VOYAGE OF ST. PETER TO ROME.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WALLER"><b>WALLER.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WAR"><b>WAR.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WEAKNESS_ON_BOTH_SIDES"><b>WEAKNESS ON BOTH SIDES.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WHYS_THE"><b>WHYS (THE).</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WICKED"><b>WICKED.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WILL"><b>WILL.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WIT_SPIRIT_INTELLECT"><b>WIT, SPIRIT, INTELLECT.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WOMEN"><b>WOMEN.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#XENOPHANES"><b>XENOPHANES.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#XENOPHON"><b>XENOPHON,</b></a><br />
+<a href="#YVETOT"><b>YVETOT.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#ZEAL"><b>ZEAL.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#ZOROASTER"><b>ZOROASTER.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#DECLARATION_OF_THE_AMATEURS_IN-QUIRERS_AND_DOUBTERS"><b>DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, IN-QUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS,</b></a><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35630 ***</div>
+
+</body>
+</html>
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #35630 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35630)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10 (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 10 (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 29, 2011 [EBook #35630]
+
+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 X
+
+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 XIV
+
+E.R. DuMONT
+
+PARIS--LONDON--NEW YORK--CHICAGO
+
+1901
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF PLATES--VOL. X
+
+VOLTAIRE'S REMAINS ON THE BASTILLE--_Frontispiece_
+
+THE DEATH OF SOCRATES
+
+THE VISION
+
+PIERRE CORNEILLE
+
+
+
+
+_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._
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Throned Upon The Ruins Of The Bastille. "For one night,
+upon the ruins of the Bastille, rested the body of Voltaire, on fallen
+wall and broken aroh, above the dungeons where light had faded from the
+lives of men, and hope had died in breaking hearts. The conqueror,
+resting upon the conquered; throned upon the Bastille, the fallen
+fortress of night."--INGERSOLL.]
+
+
+
+
+VOLTAIRE
+
+A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY
+
+IN TEN VOLUMES
+
+VOL. X.
+
+STYLE--ZOROASTER
+
+AND DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, INQUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS
+
+
+
+
+STYLE.
+
+
+It is very strange that since the French people became literary they
+have had no book written in a good style, until the year 1654, when the
+"Provincial Letters" appeared; and why had no one written history in a
+suitable tone, previous to that of the "Conspiracy of Venice" of the
+Abbé St. Réal? How is it that Pellisson was the first who adopted the
+true Ciceronian style, in his memoir for the superintendent Fouquet?
+
+Nothing is more difficult and more rare than a style altogether suitable
+to the subject in hand.
+
+The style of the letters of Balzac would not be amiss for funeral
+orations; and we have some physical treatises in the style of the epic
+poem or the ode. It is proper that all things occupy their own places.
+
+Affect not strange terms of expression, or new words, in a treatise on
+religion, like the Abbé Houteville; neither declaim in a physical
+treatise. Avoid pleasantry in the mathematics, and flourish and
+extravagant figures in a pleading. If a poor intoxicated woman dies of
+an apoplexy, you say that she is in the regions of death; they bury her,
+and you exclaim that her mortal remains are confided to the earth. If
+the bell tolls at her burial, it is her funeral knell ascending to the
+skies. In all this you think you imitate Cicero, and you only copy
+Master Littlejohn....
+
+Without style, it is impossible that there can be a good work in any
+kind of eloquence or poetry. A profusion of words is the great vice of
+all our modern philosophers and anti-philosophers. The "_Système de la
+Nature_" is a great proof of this truth. It is very difficult to give
+just ideas of God and nature, and perhaps equally so to form a good
+style.
+
+As the kind of execution to be employed by every artist depends upon the
+subject of which he treats--as the line of Poussin is not that of
+Teniers, nor the architecture of a temple that of a common house, nor
+music of a serious opera that of a comic one--so has each kind of
+writing its proper style, both in prose and verse. It is obvious that
+the style of history is not that of a funeral oration, and that the
+despatch of an ambassador ought not to be written like a sermon; that
+comedy is not to borrow the boldness of the ode, the pathetic expression
+of the tragedy, nor the metaphors and similes of the epic.
+
+Every species has its different shades, which may, however, be reduced
+to two, the simple and the elevated. These two kinds, which embrace so
+many others, possess essential beauties in common, which beauties are
+accuracy of idea, adaptation, elegance, propriety of expression, and
+purity of language. Every piece of writing, whatever its nature, calls
+for these qualities; the difference consists in the employment of the
+corresponding tropes. Thus, a character in comedy will not utter sublime
+or philosophical ideas, a shepherd spout the notions of a conqueror, not
+a didactic epistle breathe forth passion; and none of these forms of
+composition ought to exhibit bold metaphor, pathetic exclamation, or
+vehement expression.
+
+Between the simple and the sublime there are many shades, and it is the
+art of adjusting them which contributes to the perfection of eloquence
+and poetry. It is by this art that Virgil frequently exalts the eclogue.
+This verse: _Ut vidi ut perii, ut me malus abstulit error!_ (Eclogue
+viii, v. 41)--I saw, I perished, yet indulged my pain! (Dryden)--would
+be as fine in the mouth of Dido as in that of a shepherd, because it is
+nature, true and elegant, and the sentiment belongs to any condition.
+But this:
+
+     _Castaneasque nuces me quas Amaryllis amabat._
+                                  --_Eclogue, ii, v. 52._.
+
+     And pluck the chestnuts from the neighboring grove,
+     Such as my Amaryllis used to love.
+                                        --DRYDEN.
+
+belongs not to an heroic personage, because the allusion is not such as
+would be made by a hero.
+
+These two instances are examples of the cases in which the mingling of
+styles may be defended. Tragedy may occasionally stoop; it even ought to
+do so. Simplicity, according to the precept of Horace, often relieves
+grandeur. _Et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri_ (_Ars Poet._,
+v. 95)--And oft the tragic language humbly flows (Francis).
+
+These two verses in Titus, so natural and so tender:
+
+     _Depuis cinq ans entiers chaque jour je la vois._
+     _Et crois toujours la voir pour la première fois._
+                             --BÉRÉNICE, acte ii, scene 1.
+
+     Each day, for five years, have I seen her face,
+     And each succeeding time appears the first.
+
+would not be at all out of place in serious comedy; but the following
+verse of Antiochus: _Dans l'orient desert quel devint mon ennui!_ (Id.,
+acte i, scene 4)--The lonely east, how wearisome to me!--would not suit
+a lover in comedy; the figure of the "lonely east" is too elevated for
+the simplicity of the buskin. We have already remarked, that an author
+who writes on physics, in allusion to a writer on physics, called
+Hercules, adds that he is not able to resist a philosopher so powerful.
+Another who has written a small book, which he imagines to be physical
+and moral, against the utility of inoculation, says that if the smallpox
+be diffused artificially, death will be defrauded.
+
+The above defect springs from a ridiculous affectation. There is another
+which is the result of negligence, which is that of mingling with the
+simple and noble style required by history, popular phrases and low
+expressions, which are inimical to good taste. We often read in Mézeray,
+and even in Daniel, who, having written so long after him, ought to be
+more correct, that "a general pursued at the heels of the enemy,
+followed his track, and utterly basted him"--_à plate couture_. We read
+nothing of this kind in Livy, Tacitus, Guicciardini, or Clarendon.
+
+Let us observe, that an author accustomed to this kind of style can
+seldom change it with his subject. In his operas, La Fontaine composed
+in the style of his fables; and Benserade, in his translation of Ovid's
+"Metamorphoses," exhibited the same kind of pleasantry which rendered
+his madrigals successful. Perfection consists in knowing how to adapt
+our style to the various subjects of which we treat; but who is
+altogether the master of his habits, and able to direct his genius at
+pleasure?
+
+
+VARIOUS STYLES DISTINGUISHED.
+
+_The Feeble._
+
+Weakness of the heart is not that of the mind, nor weakness of the soul
+that of the heart. A feeble soul is without resource in action, and
+abandons itself to those who govern it. The _heart_ which is weak or
+feeble is easily softened, changes its inclinations with facility,
+resists not the seduction or the ascendency required, and may subsist
+with a strong _mind_; for we may think strongly and act weakly. The weak
+mind receives impressions without resistance, embraces opinions without
+examination, is alarmed without cause, and tends naturally to
+superstition.
+
+A work may be feeble either in its matter or its style; by the
+thoughts, when too common, or when, being correct, they are not
+sufficiently profound; and by the style, when it is destitute of images,
+or turns of expression, and of figures which rouse attention. Compared
+with those of Bossuet, the funeral orations of Mascaron are weak, and
+his style is lifeless.
+
+Every speech is feeble when it is not relieved by ingenious turns, and
+by energetic expressions; but a pleader is weak, when, with all the aid
+of eloquence, and all the earnestness of action, he fails in
+ratiocination. No philosophical work is feeble, notwithstanding the
+deficiency of its style, if the reasoning be correct and profound. A
+tragedy is weak, although the style be otherwise, when the interest is
+not sustained. The best-written comedy is feeble if it fails in that
+which the Latins call the "_vis comica_," which is the defect pointed
+out by Cæsar in Terence: "_Lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta foret
+vis comica!_"
+
+This is above all the sin of the weeping or sentimental comedy
+(_larmoyante_). Feeble verses are not those which sin against rules, but
+against genius; which in their mechanism are without variety, without
+choice expression, or felicitous inversions; and which retain in poetry
+the simplicity and homeliness of prose. The distinction cannot be better
+comprehended than by a reference to the similar passages of Racine and
+Campistron, his imitator.
+
+_Flowery Style._
+
+"Flowery," that which is in blossom; a tree in blossom, a rose-bush in
+blossom: people do not say, flowers which blossom. Of flowery bloom, the
+carnation seems a mixture of white and rose-color. We sometimes say a
+flowery mind, to signify a person possessing a lighter species of
+literature, and whose imagination is lively.
+
+A flowery discourse is more replete with agreeable than with strong
+thoughts, with images more sparkling than sublime, and terms more
+curious than forcible. This metaphor is correctly taken from flowers,
+which are showy without strength or stability.
+
+The flowery style is not unsuitable to public speeches or addresses
+which amount only to compliment. The lighter beauties are in their place
+when there is nothing more solid to say; but the flowery style should be
+banished from a pleading, a sermon, or a didactic work.
+
+While banishing the flowery style, we are not to reject the soft and
+lively images which enter naturally into the subject; a few flowers are
+even admissible; but the flowery style cannot be made suitable to a
+serious subject.
+
+This style belongs to productions of mere amusement; to idyls, eclogues,
+and descriptions of the seasons, or of gardens. It may gracefully occupy
+a portion of the most sublime ode, provided it be duly relieved by
+stanzas of more masculine beauty. It has little to do with comedy,
+which, as it ought to possess a resemblance to common life, requires
+more of the style of ordinary conversation. It is still less admissible
+in tragedy, which is the province of strong passions and momentous
+interests; and when occasionally employed in tragedy or comedy, it is in
+certain descriptions in which the heart takes no part, and which amuse
+the imagination without moving or occupying the soul.
+
+The flowery style detracts from the interest of tragedy, and weakens
+ridicule in comedy. It is in its place in the French opera, which rather
+flourishes on the passions than exhibits them. The flowery is not to be
+confounded with the easy style, which rejects this class of
+embellishment.
+
+_Coldness of Style._
+
+It is said that a piece of poetry, of eloquence, of music, and even of
+painting, is cold, when we look for an animated expression in it, which
+we find not. Other arts are not so susceptible of this defect; for
+instance, architecture, geometry, logic, metaphysics, all the principal
+merit of which is correctness, cannot properly be called warm or cold.
+The picture of the family of Darius, by Mignard, is very cold in
+comparison with that of Lebrun, because we do not discover in the
+personages of Mignard the same affliction which Lebrun has so animatedly
+expressed in the attitudes and countenances of the Persian princesses.
+Even a statue may be cold; we ought to perceive fear and horror in the
+features of an Andromeda, the effect of a writhing of the muscles; and
+anger mingled with courageous boldness in the attitude and on the brow
+of Hercules, who suspends and strangles Antæus.
+
+In poetry and eloquence the great movements of the soul become cold,
+when they are expressed in common terms, and are unaided by imagination.
+It is this latter which makes love so animated in Racine, and so languid
+in his imitator, Campistron.
+
+The sentiments which escape from a soul which seeks concealment, on the
+contrary, require the most simple expression. Nothing is more animated
+than those verses in "The Cid": "Go; I hate thee not--thou knowest it; I
+cannot." This feeling would become cold, if conveyed in studied phrases.
+
+For this reason, nothing is so cold as the timid style. A hero in a poem
+says, that he has encountered a tempest, and that he has beheld his
+friend perish in the storm. He touches and affects, if he speaks with
+profound grief of his loss--that is, if he is more occupied with his
+friend than with all the rest; but he becomes cold, and ceases to affect
+us, if he amuses us with a description of the tempest; if he speaks of
+the source of "the fire which was boiling up the waters, and of the
+thunder which roars and which redoubles the furrows of the earth and of
+the waves." Coldness of style, therefore, often arises from a sterility
+of ideas; often from a deficiency in the power of governing them;
+frequently from a too common diction, and sometimes from one that is
+too far-fetched.
+
+The author who is cold only in consequence of being animated out of time
+and place, may correct this defect of a too fruitful imagination; but he
+who is cold from a deficiency of soul is incapable of self-correction.
+We may allay a fire which is too intense, but cannot acquire heat if we
+have none.
+
+_On Corruption of Style._
+
+A general complaint is made, that eloquence is corrupted, although we
+have models of almost all kinds. One of the greatest defects of the day,
+which contributes most to this defect, is the mixture of style. It
+appears to me, that we authors do not sufficiently imitate the painters,
+who never introduce the attitudes of Calot with the figures of Raphael.
+I perceive in histories, otherwise tolerably well written, and in good
+doctrinal works, the familiar style of conversation. Some one has
+formerly said, that we must write as we speak; the sense of which law
+is, that we should write naturally. We tolerate irregularity in a
+letter, freedom as to style, incorrectness, and bold pleasantries,
+because letters, written spontaneously, without particular object or
+act, are negligent conversations; but when we speak or treat of a
+subject formally, some attention is due to decorum; and to whom ought we
+to pay more respect than to the public?
+
+Is it allowable to write in a mathematical work, that "a geometrician
+who would pay his devotions, ought to ascend to heaven in a right line;
+that evanescent quantities turn up their noses at the earth for having
+too much elevated them; that a seed sown in the ground takes an
+opportunity to release and amuse itself; that if Saturn should perish,
+it would be his fifth and not his first satellite that would take his
+place, because kings always keep their heirs at a distance; that there
+is no void except in the purse of a ruined man; that when Hercules
+treats of physics, no one is able to resist a philosopher of his degree
+of power?" etc.
+
+Some very valuable works are infected with this fault. The source of a
+defect so common seems to me to be the accusation of pedantry, so long
+and so justly made against authors. "_In vitium ducit culpæ fuga._" It
+is frequently said, that we ought to write in the style of good company;
+that the most serious authors are becoming agreeable: that is to say, in
+order to exhibit the manners of good company to their readers, they
+deliver themselves in the style of very bad company.
+
+Authors have sought to speak of science as Voiture spoke to Mademoiselle
+Paulet of gallantry, without dreaming that Voiture by no means exhibits
+a correct taste in the species of composition in which he was esteemed
+excellent; for he often takes the false for the refined, and the
+affected for the natural. Pleasantry is never good on serious points,
+because it always regards subjects in that point of view in which it is
+not the purpose to consider them. It almost always turns upon false
+relations and equivoque, whence jokers by profession usually possess
+minds as incorrect as they are superficial.
+
+It appears to me, that it is as improper to mingle styles in poetry as
+in prose. The macaroni style has for some time past injured poetry by
+this medley of mean and of elevated, of ancient and of modern
+expression. In certain moral pieces it is not musical to hear the
+whistle of Rabelais in the midst of sounds from the flute of Horace--a
+practice which we should leave to inferior minds, and attend to the
+lessons of good sense and of Boileau. The following is a singular
+instance of style, in a speech delivered at Versailles in 1745:
+
+_Speech Addressed to the King (Louis XV.) by M. le Camus, First
+President of the Court of Aids._
+
+"Sire--The conquests of your majesty are so rapid, that it will be
+necessary to consult the power of belief on the part of posterity, and
+to soften their surprise at so many miracles, for fear that heroes
+should hold themselves dispensed from imitation, and people in general
+from believing them.
+
+"But no, sire, it will be impossible for them to doubt it, when they
+shall read in history that your majesty has been at the head of your
+troops, recording them yourself in the field of Mars upon a drum. This
+is to engrave them eternally in the temple of Memory.
+
+"Ages the most distant will learn, that the English, that bold and
+audacious foe, that enemy so jealous of your glory, have been obliged to
+turn away from your victory; that their allies have been witnesses of
+their shame, and that all of them have hastened to the combat only to
+immortalize the glory of the conqueror.
+
+"We venture to say to your majesty, relying on the love that you bear to
+your people, that there is but one way of augmenting our happiness,
+which is to diminish your courage; as heaven would lavish its prodigies
+at too costly a rate, if they increased your dangers, or those of the
+young heroes who constitute our dearest hopes."
+
+
+
+
+SUPERSTITION.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+I have sometimes heard you say--We are no longer superstitious; the
+reformation of the sixteenth century has made us more prudent; the
+Protestants have taught us better manners.
+
+But what then is the blood of a St. Januarius, which you liquefy every
+year by bringing it near his head? Would it not be better to make ten
+thousand beggars earn their bread, by employing them in useful tasks,
+than to boil the blood of a saint for their amusement? Think rather how
+to make their pots boil.
+
+Why do you still, in Rome, bless the horses and mules at St. Mary's the
+Greater? What mean those bands of flagellators in Italy and Spain, who
+go about singing and giving themselves the lash in the presence of
+ladies? Do they think there is no road to heaven but by flogging?
+
+Are those pieces of the true cross, which would suffice to build a
+hundred-gun ship--are the many relics acknowledged to be false--are the
+many false miracles--so many monuments of an enlightened piety?
+
+France boasts of being less superstitious than the neighbors of St.
+James of Compostello, or those of Our Lady of Loretto. Yet how many
+sacristies are there where you still find pieces of the Virgin's gown,
+vials of her milk, and locks of her hair! And have you not still, in the
+church of Puy-en-Velay, her Son's foreskin preciously preserved?
+
+You all know the abominable farce that has been played, ever since the
+early part of the fourteenth century, in the chapel of St. Louis, in the
+Palais at Paris, every Maundy Thursday night. All the possessed in the
+kingdom then meet in this church. The convulsions of St. Médard fall far
+short of the horrible grimaces, the dreadful howlings, the violent
+contortions, made by these wretched people. A piece of the true cross is
+given them to kiss, encased in three feet of gold, and adorned with
+precious stones. Then the cries and contortions are redoubled. The devil
+is then appeased by giving the demoniacs a few sous; but the better to
+restrain them, fifty archers of the watch are placed in the church with
+fixed bayonets.
+
+The same execrable farce is played at St. Maur. I could cite twenty such
+instances. Blush, and correct yourselves.
+
+There are wise men who assert, that we should leave the people their
+superstitions, as we leave them their raree-shows, etc.; that the people
+have at all times been fond of prodigies, fortune-tellers, pilgrimages,
+and quack-doctors; that in the most remote antiquity they celebrated
+Bacchus delivered from the waves, wearing horns, making a fountain of
+wine issue from a rock by a stroke of his wand, passing the Red Sea on
+dry ground with all his people, stopping the sun and moon, etc.; that at
+Lacedæmon they kept the two eggs brought forth by Leda, hanging from the
+dome of a temple; that in some towns of Greece the priests showed the
+knife with which Iphigenia had been immolated, etc.
+
+There are other wise men who say--Not one of these superstitions has
+produced any good; many of them have done great harm: let them then be
+abolished.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+I beg of you, my dear reader, to cast your eye for a moment on the
+miracle which was lately worked in Lower Brittany, in the year of our
+Lord 1771. Nothing can be more authentic: this publication is clothed in
+all the legal forms. Read:--
+
+"_Surprising Account of the Visible and Miraculous Appearance of Our
+Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar; which was worked
+by the Almighty Power of God in the Parish Church of Paimpole, near
+Tréguier, in Lower Brittany, on Twelfth-day._
+
+"On January 6, 1771, being Twelfth-day, during the chanting of the
+_Salve_, rays of light were seen to issue from the consecrated host, and
+instantly the Lord Jesus was beheld in natural figure, seeming more
+brilliant than the sun, and was seen for a whole half-hour, during which
+there appeared a rainbow over the top of the church. The footprints of
+Jesus remained on the tabernacle, where they are still to be seen; and
+many miracles are worked there every day. At four in the afternoon,
+Jesus having disappeared from over the tabernacle, the curate of the
+said parish approached the altar, and found there a letter which Jesus
+had left; he would have taken it up, but he found that he could not lift
+it. This curate, together with the vicar, went to give information of it
+to the bishop of Tréguier, who ordered the forty-hour prayers to be said
+in all the churches of the town for eight days, during which time the
+people went in crowds to see this holy letter. At the expiration of the
+eight days, the bishop went thither in procession, attended by all the
+regular and secular clergy of the town, after three days' fasting on
+bread and water. The procession having entered the church, the bishop
+knelt down on the steps of the altar; and after asking of God the grace
+to be able to lift this letter, he ascended to the altar and took it up
+without difficulty; then, turning to the people, he read it over with a
+loud voice, and recommended to all who could read to peruse this letter
+on the first Friday of every month; and to those who could not read, to
+say five paternosters, and five ave-marias, in honor of the five wounds
+of Jesus Christ, in order to obtain the graces promised to such as shall
+read it devoutly, and the preservation of the fruits of the earth!
+Pregnant women are to say, for their happy delivery, nine paters and
+nine aves for the benefit of the souls in purgatory, in order that their
+children may have the happiness of receiving the holy sacrament of
+baptism.
+
+"All that is contained in this account has been approved by the bishop,
+by the lieutenant-general of the said town of Tréguier, and by many
+persons of distinction who were present at this miracle."
+
+"_Copy of the Letter Found Upon the Altar, at the Time of the Miraculous
+Appearance of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the
+Altar, on Twelfth-day, 1771._
+
+"Everlasting life, everlasting punishments, or everlasting delights,
+none can forego; one part must be chosen--either to go to glory, or to
+depart into torment. The number of years that men pass on earth in all
+sorts of sensual pleasures and excessive debaucheries, of usurpation,
+luxury, murder, theft, slander, and impurity, no longer permitting it to
+be suffered that creatures created in My image and likeness, redeemed by
+the price of My blood on the tree of the cross, on which I suffered
+passion and death, should offend Me continually, by transgressing My
+commands and abandoning My divine law--I warn you all, that if you
+continue to live in sin, and I behold in you neither remorse, nor
+contrition, nor a true and sincere confession and satisfaction, I shall
+make you feel the weight of My divine arm. But for the prayers of My
+dear mother, I should already have destroyed the earth, for the sins
+which you commit one against another. I have given you six days to
+labor, and the seventh to rest, to sanctify My Holy Name, to hear the
+holy mass, and employ the remainder of the day in the service of God My
+Father. But, on the contrary, nothing is to be seen but blasphemy and
+drunkenness; and so disordered is the world that all in it is vanity and
+lies. Christians, instead of taking compassion on the poor whom they
+behold every day at their doors, prefer fondling dogs and other animals,
+and letting the poor die of hunger and thirst--abandoning themselves
+entirely to Satan by their avarice, gluttony, and other vices; instead
+of relieving the needy, they prefer sacrificing all to their pleasures
+and debauchery. Thus do they declare war against Me. And you, iniquitous
+fathers and mothers, suffer your children to swear and blaspheme
+against My holy name; instead of giving them a good education, you
+avariciously lay up for them wealth, which is dedicated to Satan. I tell
+you, by the mouth of God My Father and My dear mother, of all the
+cherubim and seraphim, and by St. Peter, the head of My church, that if
+you do not amend your ways, I will send you extraordinary diseases, by
+which all shall perish. You shall feel the just anger of God My Father;
+you shall be reduced to such a state that you shall not know one
+another. Open your eyes, and contemplate My cross, which I have left to
+be your weapon against the enemy of mankind, and your guide to eternal
+glory; look upon My head crowned with thorns, My feet and hands pierced
+with nails; I shed the last drop of My blood to redeem you, from pure
+fatherly love for ungrateful children. Do such works as may secure to
+you My mercy; do not swear by My Holy Name; pray to Me devoutly; fast
+often; and in particular give alms to the poor, who are members of My
+body--for of all good works this is the most pleasing to Me; neither
+despise the widow nor the orphan; make restitution of that which does
+not belong to you; fly all occasions of sin; carefully keep My
+commandments; and honor Mary My very dear mother.
+
+"Such of you who shall not profit by the warnings I give them, such as
+shall not believe My words, will, by their obstinacy, bring down My
+avenging arm upon their heads; they shall be overwhelmed by
+misfortunes, which shall be the forerunners of their final and unhappy
+end; after which they shall be cast into everlasting flames, where they
+shall suffer endless pains--the just punishment reserved for their
+crimes.
+
+"On the other hand, such of you as shall make a holy use of the warnings
+of God, given them in this letter, shall appease His wrath, and shall
+obtain from Him, after a sincere confession of their faults, the
+remission of their sins, how great soever they may be.
+
+     "With permission, Bourges, July 30, 1771.
+
+          "DE BEAUVOIR, Lieut.-Gen. of Police.
+
+"This letter must be carefully kept, in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ."
+
+N.B.--It must be observed that this piece of absurdity was printed at
+Bourges, without there having been, either at Tréguier or at Paimpole,
+the smallest pretence that could afford occasion for such an imposture.
+However, we will suppose that in a future age some miracle-finder shall
+think fit to prove a point in divinity by the appearance of Jesus Christ
+on the altar at Paimpole, will he not think himself entitled to quote
+Christ's own letter, printed at Bourges "with permission"? Will he not
+prove, by facts, that in our time Jesus worked miracles everywhere? Here
+is a fine field opened for the Houtevilles and the Abadies.
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+_A Fresh Instance of the Most Horrible Superstition._
+
+The thirty conspirators who fell upon the king of Poland, in the night
+of November 3, of the present year, 1771, had communicated at the altar
+of the Holy Virgin, and had sworn by the Holy Virgin to butcher their
+king.
+
+It seems that some one of the conspirators was not entirely in a state
+of grace, when he received into his stomach the body of the Holy
+Virgin's own Son, together with His blood, under the appearance of
+bread; and that while he was taking the oath to kill his king, he had
+his god in his mouth for only two of the king's domestics. The guns and
+pistols fired at his majesty missed him; he received only a slight
+shot-wound in the face, and several sabre-wounds, which were not mortal.
+His life would have been at an end, but that humanity at length combated
+superstition in the breast of one of the assassins named Kosinski. What
+a moment was that when this wretched man said to the bleeding prince:
+"You are, however, my king!" "Yes," answered Stanislaus Augustus, "and
+your good king, who has never done you any harm." "True," said the
+other; "but I have taken an oath to kill you."
+
+They had sworn before the miraculous image of the virgin at Czentoshova.
+The following is the formula of this fine oath: "We ---- who, excited
+by a holy and religious zeal, have resolved to avenge the Deity,
+religion, and our country, outraged by Stanislaus Augustus, a despiser
+of laws both divine and human, a favorer of atheists and heretics, do
+promise and swear, before the sacred and miraculous image of the mother
+of God, to extirpate from the face of the earth him who dishonors her by
+trampling on religion.... So help us God!"
+
+Thus did the assassins of Sforza, of Medici, and so many other holy
+assassins, have masses said, or say them themselves, for the happy
+success of their undertaking.
+
+The letter from Warsaw which gives the particulars of this attempt,
+adds: "The religious who employ their pious ardor in causing blood to
+flow and ravaging their country, have succeeded in Poland, as elsewhere,
+in inculcating on the minds of their affiliated, that it is allowable to
+kill kings."
+
+Indeed, the assassins had been hidden in Warsaw for three days in the
+house of the reverend Dominican fathers; and when these accessory monks
+were asked why they had harbored thirty armed men without informing the
+government of it, they answered, that these men had come to perform
+their devotions, and to fulfil a vow.
+
+O ye times of Châtel, of Guinard, of Ricodovis, of Poltrot, of
+Ravaillac, of Damiens, of Malagrida, are you then returning? Holy
+Virgin, and Thou her holy Son, let not Your sacred names be abused for
+the commission of the crime which disgraced them!
+
+M. Jean Georges le Franc, bishop of Puy-en-Velay, says, in his immense
+pastoral letter to the inhabitants of Puy, pages 258-9, that it is the
+philosophers who are seditious. And whom does he accuse of sedition?
+Readers, you will be astonished; it is Locke, the wise Locke himself! He
+makes him an accomplice in the pernicious designs of the earl of
+Shaftesbury, one of the heroes of the philosophical party.
+
+Alas! M. Jean Georges, how many mistakes in a few words! First, you take
+the grandson for the grandfather. The earl of Shaftesbury, author of the
+"Characteristics" and the "Inquiry Into Virtue," that "hero of the
+philosophical party," who died in 1713, cultivated letters all his life
+in the most profound retirement. Secondly, his grandfather,
+Lord-Chancellor Shaftesbury, to whom you attribute misdeeds, is
+considered by many in England to have been a true patriot. Thirdly,
+Locke is revered as a wise man throughout Europe.
+
+I defy you to show me a single philosopher, from Zoroaster down to
+Locke, that has ever stirred up a sedition; that has ever been concerned
+in an attempt against the life of a king; that has ever disturbed
+society; and, unfortunately, I will find you a thousand votaries of
+superstition, from Ehud down to Kosinski, stained with the blood of
+kings and with that of nations. Superstition sets the whole world in
+flames; philosophy extinguishes them. Perhaps these poor philosophers
+are not devoted enough to the Holy Virgin; but they are so to God, to
+reason, and to humanity.
+
+Poles! if you are not philosophers, at least do not cut one another's
+throats. Frenchmen! be gay, and cease to quarrel. Spaniards! let the
+words "inquisition" and "holy brotherhood" be no longer uttered among
+you. Turks, who have enslaved Greece--monks, who have brutalized
+her--disappear ye from the face of the earth.
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+_Drawn from Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch._
+
+Nearly all that goes farther than the adoration of a supreme being, and
+the submission of the heart to his eternal orders, is superstition. The
+forgiveness of crimes, which is attached to certain ceremonies, is a
+very dangerous one.
+
+     _Et nigras mactant pecudes, et manibu', divis,_
+     _Inferias mittunt._
+                                  --LUCRETIUS, b. iii, 52-53.
+
+     _O faciles nimium, qui tristia crimina cœdis,_
+       _Fluminea tolli posse putatis aqua!_
+                                  --OVID, _Fasti_ ii, 45-46.
+
+You think that God will forget your homicide, if you bathe in a river,
+if you immolate a black sheep, and a few words are pronounced over you.
+A second homicide then will be forgiven you at the same price, and so of
+a third; and a hundred murders will cost you only a hundred black sheep
+and a hundred ablutions. Ye miserable mortals, do better; but let there
+be no murders, and no offerings of black sheep.
+
+What an infamous idea, to imagine that a priest of Isis and Cybele, by
+playing cymbals and castanets, will reconcile you to the Divinity. And
+what then is this priest of Cybele, this vagrant eunuch, who lives on
+your weakness, and sets himself up as a mediator between heaven and you?
+What patent has he received from God? He receives money from you for
+muttering words; and you think that the Being of Beings ratifies the
+utterance of this charlatan!
+
+There are innocent superstitions; you dance on festival days, in honor
+of Diana or Pomona, or some one of the secular divinities of which your
+calendar is full; be it so. Dancing is very agreeable; it is useful to
+the body; it exhilarates the mind; it does no harm to any one; but do
+not imagine that Pomona and Vertumnus are much pleased at your having
+jumped in honor of them, and that they may punish you for having failed
+to jump. There are no Pomona and Vertumnus but the gardener's spade and
+hoe. Do not be so imbecile as to believe that your garden will be hailed
+upon, if you have missed dancing the _pyrrhic_ or the _cordax_.
+
+There is one superstition which is perhaps pardonable, and even
+encouraging to virtue--that of placing among the gods great men who have
+been benefactors to mankind. It were doubtless better to confine
+ourselves to regarding them simply as venerable men, and above all, to
+imitating them. Venerate, without worshipping, a Solon, a Thales, a
+Pythagoras; but do not adore a Hercules for having cleansed the stables
+of Augeas, and for having lain with fifty women in one night.
+
+Above all, beware of establishing a worship for vagabonds who have no
+merit but ignorance, enthusiasm, and filth; who have made idleness and
+beggary their duty and their glory. Do they who have been at best
+useless during their lives, merit an apotheosis after their deaths? Be
+it observed, that the most superstitious times have always been those of
+the most horrible crimes.
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+The superstitious man is to the knave, what the slave is to the tyrant;
+nay more--the superstitious man is governed by the fanatic, and becomes
+a fanatic himself. Superstition, born in Paganism, adopted by Judaism,
+infected the Church in the earliest ages. All the fathers of the Church,
+without exception, believed in the power of magic. The Church always
+condemned magic, but she always believed in it; she excommunicated
+sorcerers, not as madmen who were in delusion, but as men who really had
+intercourse with the devils.
+
+At this day, one half of Europe believes that the other half has long
+been and still is superstitious. The Protestants regard relics,
+indulgences, macerations, prayers for the dead, holy water, and almost
+all the rites of the Roman church, as mad superstitions. According to
+them, superstition consists in mistaking useless practices for necessary
+ones. Among the Roman Catholics there are some, more enlightened than
+their forefathers, who have renounced many of these usages formerly
+sacred; and they defend their adherence to those which they have
+retained, by saying they are indifferent, and what is indifferent cannot
+be an evil.
+
+It is difficult to mark the limits of superstition. A Frenchman
+travelling in Italy thinks almost everything superstitious; nor is he
+much mistaken. The archbishop of Canterbury asserts that the archbishop
+of Paris is superstitious; the Presbyterians cast the same reproach upon
+his grace of Canterbury, and are in their turn called superstitious by
+the Quakers, who in the eyes of the rest of Christians are the most
+superstitious of all.
+
+It is then nowhere agreed among Christian societies what superstition
+is. The sect which appears to be the least violently attacked by this
+mental disease, is that which has the fewest rites. But if, with but few
+ceremonies, it is strongly attached to an absurd belief, that absurd
+belief is of itself equivalent to all the superstitious practices
+observed from the time of Simon the Magician, down to that of the curate
+Gaufredi. It is therefore evident that what is the foundation of the
+religion of one sect, is by another sect regarded as superstitious.
+
+The Mussulmans accuse all Christian societies of it, and are accused of
+it by them. Who shall decide this great cause? Shall not reason? But
+each sect declares that reason is on its side. Force then will decide,
+until reason shall have penetrated into a sufficient number of heads to
+disarm force.
+
+For instance: there was a time in Christian Europe when a newly married
+pair were not permitted to enjoy the nuptial rights, until they had
+bought that privilege of the bishop and the curate. Whosoever, in his
+will, did not leave a part of his property to the Church, was
+excommunicated, and deprived of burial. This was called dying
+unconfessed--i.e., not confessing the Christian religion. And when a
+Christian died intestate, the Church relieved the deceased from this
+excommunication, by making a will for him, stipulating for and enforcing
+the payment of the pious legacy which the defunct should have made.
+
+Therefore it was, that Pope Gregory IX. and St. Louis ordained, after
+the Council of Nice, held in 1235, that every will to the making of
+which a priest had not been called, should be null; and the pope decreed
+that the testator and the notary should be excommunicated.
+
+The tax on sins was, if possible, still more scandalous. It was force
+which supported all these laws, to which the superstition of nations
+submitted; and it was only in the course of time that reason caused
+these shameful vexations to be abolished, while it left so many others
+in existence.
+
+How far does policy permit superstition to be undermined? This is a very
+knotty question; it is like asking how far a dropsical man may be
+punctured without his dying under the operation; this depends on the
+prudence of the physician.
+
+Can there exist a people free from all superstitious prejudices? This is
+asking, Can there exist a people of philosophers? It is said that there
+is no superstition in the magistracy of China. It is likely that the
+magistracy of some towns in Europe will also be free from it. These
+magistrates will then prevent the superstition of the people from being
+dangerous. Their example will not enlighten the mob; but the principal
+citizens will restrain it. Formerly, there was not perhaps a single
+religious tumult, not a single violence, in which the townspeople did
+not take part, because these townspeople were then part of the mob; but
+reason and time have changed them. Their ameliorated manners will
+improve those of the lowest and most ferocious of the populace; of
+which, in more countries than one, we have striking examples. In short,
+the fewer superstitions, the less fanaticism; and the less fanaticism,
+the fewer calamities.
+
+
+
+
+SYMBOL, OR CREDO.
+
+
+We resemble not the celebrated comedian, Mademoiselle Duclos, to whom
+somebody said: "I would lay a wager, mademoiselle, that you know not
+your credo!" "What!" said she, "not know my credo? I will repeat it to
+you. '_Pater noster qui._' ... Help me, I remember no more." For myself,
+I repeat my pater and credo every morning. I am not like Broussin, of
+whom Reminiac said, that although he could distinguish a sauce almost in
+his infancy, he could never be taught his creed or pater-noster:
+
+          _Broussin, dès l'âge le plus tendre,_
+          _Posséda la sauce Robert,_
+     _Sans que son précepteur lui pût jamais apprende_
+          _Ni son credo, ni son pater._
+
+The term "symbol" comes from the word "_symbolein_," and the Latin
+church adopts this word because it has taken everything from the Greek
+church. Even slightly learned theologians know that the symbol, which we
+call apostolical, is not that of all the apostles.
+
+Symbol, among the Greeks, signified the words and signs by which those
+initiated into the mysteries of Ceres, Cybele, and Mythra, recognized
+one another; and Christians in time had their symbol. If it had existed
+in the time of the apostles, we think that St. Luke would have spoken of
+it.
+
+A history of the symbol is attributed to St. Augustine in his one
+hundred and fifteenth sermon; he is made to say, that Peter commenced
+the symbol by saying: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty." John
+added: "Maker of heaven and earth;" James proceeded: "I believe in Jesus
+Christ, His only Son, our Lord," and so on with the rest. This fable has
+been expunged from the last edition of Augustine; and I relate it to
+the reverend Benedictine fathers, in order to know whether this little
+curious article ought to be left out or not.
+
+The fact is, that no person heard anything of this "creed" for more than
+four hundred years. People also say that Paris was not made in a day,
+and people are often right in their proverbs. The apostles had our
+symbol in their hearts, but they put it not into writing. One was formed
+in the time of St. Irenæus, which does not at all resemble that which we
+repeat. Our symbol, such as it is at present, is of the fifth century,
+which is posterior to that of Nice. The passage which says that Jesus
+descended into hell, and that which speaks of the communion of saints,
+are not found in any of the symbols which preceded ours; and, indeed,
+neither the gospels, nor the Acts of the Apostles, say that Jesus
+descended into hell; but it was an established opinion, from the third
+century, that Jesus descended into Hades, or Tartarus, words which we
+translate by that of hell. Hell, in this sense, is not the Hebrew word
+"_sheol_," which signifies "under ground," "the pit"; for which reason
+St. Athanasius has since taught us how our Saviour descended into hell.
+His humanity, says he, was not entirely in the tomb, nor entirely in
+hell. It was in the sepulchre, according to the body, and in hell,
+according to the soul.
+
+St. Thomas affirms that the saints who arose at the death of Jesus
+Christ, died again to rise afterwards with him, which is the most
+general sentiment. All these opinions are absolutely foreign to
+morality. We must be good men, whether the saints were raised once or
+twice. Our symbol has been formed, I confess, recently, but virtue is
+from all eternity.
+
+If it is permitted to quote moderns on so grave a matter, I will here
+repeat the creed of the Abbé de St. Pierre, as it was written with his
+own hand, in his book on the purity of religion, which has not been
+printed, but which I have copied faithfully:
+
+"I believe in one God alone, and I love Him. I believe that He
+enlightens all souls coming into the world; thus says St. John. By that,
+I understand all souls which seek Him in good faith. I believe in one
+God alone, because there can be but one soul of the Great All, a single
+vivifying being, a sole Creator.
+
+"I believe in God, the Father Almighty; because He is the common Father
+of nature, and of all men, who are equally His children. I believe that
+He who has caused all to be born equally, who arranges the springs of
+their life in the same manner, who has given them the same moral
+principles, as soon as they reflect, has made no difference between His
+children but that of crime and virtue.
+
+"I believe that the just and righteous Chinese is more precious to Him
+than the cavilling and arrogant European scholar. I believe that God,
+being our common Father, we are bound to regard all men as our brothers.
+I believe that the persecutor is abominable, and that he follows
+immediately after the poisoner and parricide. I believe that theological
+disputes are at once the most ridiculous farce, and the most dreadful
+scourge of the earth, immediately after war, pestilence, famine, and
+leprosy.
+
+"I believe that ecclesiastics should be paid and well paid, as servants
+of the public, moral teachers, keepers of registers of births and
+deaths; but there should be given to them neither the riches of
+farmers-general, nor the rank of princes, because both corrupt the soul;
+and nothing is more revolting than to see men so rich and so proud
+preach humility through their clerks, who have only a hundred crowns'
+wages.
+
+"I believe that all priests who serve a parish should be married, as in
+the Greek church; not only to have an honest woman to take care of their
+household, but to be better citizens, to give good subjects to the
+state, and to have plenty of well-bred children.
+
+"I believe that many monks should give up the monastic form of life, for
+the sake of the country and themselves. It is said that there are men
+whom Circe has changed into hogs, whom the wise Ulysses must restore to
+the human form."
+
+"Paradise to the beneficent!" We repeat this symbol of the Abbé St.
+Pierre historically, without approving of it. We regard it merely as a
+curious singularity, and we hold with the most respectful faith to the
+true symbol of the Church.
+
+
+
+
+SYSTEM.
+
+
+We understand by system a supposition; for if a system can be proved, it
+is no longer a system, but a truth. In the meantime, led by habit, we
+say the celestial system, although we understand by it the real position
+of the stars.
+
+I once thought that Pythagoras had learned the true celestial system
+from the Chaldæans; but I think so no longer. In proportion as I grow
+older, I doubt of all things. Notwithstanding that Newton, Gregory, and
+Keil honor Pythagoras and the Chaldæans with a knowledge of the system
+of Copernicus, and that latterly M. Monier is of their opinion, I have
+the impudence to think otherwise.
+
+One of my reasons is, that if the Chaldæans had been so well informed,
+so fine and important a discovery would not have been lost, but would
+have been handed down from age to age, like the admirable discoveries of
+Archimedes.
+
+Another reason is that it was necessary to be more widely informed than
+the Chaldæans, in order to be able to contradict the apparent testimony
+of the senses in regard to the celestial appearances; that it required
+not only the most refined experimental observation, but the most
+profound mathematical science; as also the indispensable aid of
+telescopes, without which it is impossible to discover the phases of
+Venus, which prove her course around the sun, or to discover the spots
+in the sun, which demonstrate his motion round his own almost immovable
+axis. Another reason, not less strong, is that of all those who have
+attributed this discovery to Pythagoras, no one can positively say how
+he treated it.
+
+Diogenes Laertius, who lived about nine hundred years after Pythagoras,
+teaches us, that according to this grand philosopher, the number one was
+the first principle, and that from two sprang all numbers; that body has
+four elements--fire, water, air, and earth; that light and darkness,
+cold and heat, wet and dry, are equally distributed; that we must not
+eat beans; that the soul is divided into three parts; that Pythagoras
+had formerly been Atalides, then Euphorbus, afterwards Hermotimus; and,
+finally, that this great man studied magic very profoundly. Diogenes
+says not a word concerning the true system of the world, attributed to
+this Pythagoras; and it must be confessed that it is by no means to an
+aversion to beans that we owe the calculations which at present
+demonstrate the motion of the earth and planets generally.
+
+The famous Arian Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, in his "Evangelical
+Preparation," expresses himself thus: "All the philosophers declare that
+the earth is in a state of repose; but Philolaus, the peripatetic,
+thinks that it moves round fire in an oblique circle, like the sun and
+the moon." This gibberish has nothing in common with the sublime truths
+taught by Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and above all by Newton.
+
+As to the pretended Aristarchus of Samos, who, it is asserted, developed
+the discoveries of the Chaldæans in regard to the motion of the earth
+and other planets, he is so obscure, that Wallace has been obliged to
+play the commentator from one end of him to the other, in order to
+render him intelligible.
+
+Finally, it is very much to be doubted whether the book, attributed to
+this Aristarchus of Samos, really belongs to him. It has been strongly
+suspected that the enemies of the new philosophy have constructed this
+forgery in favor of their bad cause. It is not only in respect to old
+charters that similar forgeries are resorted to. This Aristarchus of
+Samos is also the more to be suspected, as Plutarch accuses him of
+bigotry and malevolent hypocrisy, in consequence of being imbued with a
+direct contrary opinion. The following are the words of Plutarch, in his
+piece of absurdity entitled "The Round Aspect of the Moon." Aristarchus
+the Samian said, "that the Greeks ought to punish Cleanthes of Samos,
+who suggested that the heavens were immovable, and that it is the earth
+which travels through the zodiac by turning on its axis."
+
+They will tell me that even this passage proves that the system of
+Copernicus was already in the head of Cleanthes and others--of what
+import is it whether Aristarchus the Samian was of the opinion of
+Cleanthes, or his accuser, as the Jesuit Skeiner was subsequently
+Galileo's?--it equally follows that the true system of the present day
+was known to the ancients.
+
+I reply, no; but that a very slight part of this system was vaguely
+surmised by heads better organized than the rest. I further answer that
+it was never received or taught in the schools, and that it never formed
+a body of doctrine. Attentively peruse this "Face of the Moon" of
+Plutarch, and you will find, if you look for it, the doctrine of
+gravitation; but the true author of a system is he who demonstrates it.
+
+We will not take away from Copernicus the honor of this discovery. Three
+or four words brought to light in an old author, which exhibit some
+distant glimpse of his system, ought not to deprive him of the glory of
+the discovery.
+
+Let us admire the great rule of Kepler, that the revolutions of the
+planets round the sun are in proportion to the cubes of their distances.
+Let us still more admire the profundity, the justness, and the invention
+of the great Newton, who alone discovered the fundamental reasons of
+these laws unknown to all antiquity, which have opened the eyes of
+mankind to a new heaven.
+
+Petty compilers are always to be found who dare to become the enemies of
+their age. They string together passages from Plutarch and Athenæus, to
+prove that we have no obligations to Newton, to Halley, and to Bradley.
+They trumpet forth the glory of the ancients, whom they pretend have
+said everything; and they are so imbecile as to think that they divide
+the glory by publishing it. They twist an expression of Hippocrates, in
+order to persuade us that the Greeks were acquainted with the
+circulation of the blood better than Harvey. Why not also assert that
+the Greeks were possessed of better muskets and field-pieces; that they
+threw bomb-shells farther, had better printed books, and much finer
+engravings? That they excelled in oil-paintings, possessed
+looking-glasses of crystal, telescopes, microscopes, and thermometers?
+All this may be found out by men, who assure us that Solomon, who
+possessed not a single seaport, sent fleets to America, and so forth.
+
+One of the greatest detractors of modern times is a person named Dutens,
+who finished by compiling a libel, as infamous as insipid, against the
+philosophers of the present day. This libel is entitled the "Tocsin";
+but he had better have called it his clock, as no one came to his aid;
+and he has only tended to increase the number of the Zoilusses, who,
+being unable to produce anything themselves, spit their venom upon all
+who by their productions do honor to their country and benefit mankind.
+
+
+
+
+TABOR, OR THABOR.
+
+
+A famous mountain in Judæa, often alluded to in general conversation. It
+is not true that this mountain is a league and a half high, as
+mentioned in certain dictionaries. There is no mountain in Judæa so
+elevated; Tabor is not more than six hundred feet high, but it appears
+loftier, in consequence of its situation on a vast plain.
+
+The Tabor of Bohemia is still more celebrated by the resistance which
+the imperial armies encountered from Ziska. It is from thence that they
+have given the name of Tabor to intrenchments formed with carriages. The
+Taborites, a sect very similar to the Hussites, also take their name
+from the latter mountain.
+
+
+
+
+TALISMAN.
+
+
+Talisman, an Arabian word, signifies properly "consecration." The same
+thing as "telesma," or "philactery," a preservative charm, figure, or
+character; a superstition which has prevailed at all times and among all
+people. It is usually a sort of medal, cast and stamped under the
+ascendency of certain constellations. The famous talisman of Catherine
+de Medici still exists.
+
+
+
+
+TARTUFFE--TARTUFERIE.
+
+
+Tartuffe, a name invented by Molière, and now adopted in all the
+languages of Europe to signify hypocrites, who make use of the cloak of
+religion. "He is a Tartuffe; he is a true Tartuffe." _Tartuferie_, a new
+word formed from Tartuffe--the action of a hypocrite, the behavior of a
+hypocrite, the knavery of a false devotee; it is often used in the
+disputes concerning the Bull Unigenitus.
+
+
+
+
+TASTE.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+The taste, the sense by which we distinguish the flavor of our food, has
+produced, in all known languages, the metaphor expressed by the word
+"taste"--a feeling of beauty and defects in all the arts. It is a quick
+perception, like that of the tongue and the palate, and in the same
+manner anticipates consideration. Like the mere sense, it is sensitive
+and luxuriant in respect to the good, and rejects the bad spontaneously;
+in a similar way it is often uncertain, divided, and even ignorant
+whether it ought to be pleased; lastly, and to conclude the resemblance,
+it sometimes requires to be formed and corrected by habit and
+experience.
+
+To constitute taste, it is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty
+of a work. We must feel and be affected by it. Neither will it suffice
+to feel and be affected in a confused or ignorant manner; it is
+necessary to distinguish the different shades; nothing ought to escape
+the promptitude of its discernment; and this is another instance of the
+resemblance of taste, the sense, to intellectual taste; for an epicure
+will quickly feel and detect a mixture of two liquors, as the man of
+taste and connoisseur will, with a single glance, distinguish the
+mixture of two styles, or a defect by the side of a beauty. He will be
+enthusiastically moved with this verse in the Horatii:
+
+     _Que voulez-vous qu'il fît contre trois?--Qu'il mourût!_
+
+     What have him do 'gainst three?--Die!
+
+He feels involuntary disgust at the following:
+
+     _Ou qu'un beau désespoir alors le secourût._
+                                      --ACT iii, sc. 6.
+
+     Or, whether aided by a fine despair.
+
+As a physical bad taste consists in being pleased only with high
+seasoning and curious dishes, so a bad taste in the arts is pleased only
+with studied ornament, and feels not the pure beauty of nature.
+
+A depraved taste in food is gratified with that which disgusts other
+people: it is a species of disease. A depraved taste in the arts is to
+be pleased with subjects which disgust accomplished minds, and to prefer
+the burlesque to the noble, and the finical and the affected to the
+simple and natural: it is a mental disease. A taste for the arts is,
+however, much more a thing of formation than physical taste; for
+although in the latter we sometimes finish by liking those things to
+which we had in the first instance a repugnance, nature seldom renders
+it necessary for men in general to learn what is necessary to them in
+the way of food, whereas intellectual taste requires time to duly form
+it. A sensible young man may not, without science, distinguish at once
+the different parts of a grand choir of music; in a fine picture, his
+eyes at first sight may not perceive the gradation, the chiaroscuro
+perspective, agreement of colors, and correctness of design; but by
+little and little his ears will learn to hear and his eyes to see. He
+will be affected at the first representation of a fine tragedy, but he
+will not perceive the merit of the unities, nor the delicate management
+that allows no one to enter or depart without a sufficient reason,
+nor that still greater art which concentrates all the interest in a
+single one; nor, lastly, will he be aware of the difficulties overcome.
+It is only by habit and reflection, that he arrives spontaneously at
+that which he was not able to distinguish in the first instance. In a
+similar way, a national taste is gradually formed where it existed not
+before, because by degrees the spirit of the best artists is duly
+imbibed. We accustom ourselves to look at pictures with the eyes of
+Lebrun, Poussin, and Le Sueur. We listen to musical declamation from the
+scenes of Quinault with the ears of Lulli, and to the airs and
+accompaniments with those of Rameau. Finally, books are read in the
+spirit of the best authors.
+
+If an entire nation is led, during its early culture of the arts, to
+admire authors abounding in the defects and errors of the age, it is
+because these authors possess beauties which are admired by everybody,
+while at the same time readers are not sufficiently instructed to detect
+the imperfections. Thus, Lucilius was prized by the Romans, until Horace
+made them forget him; and Regnier was admired by the French, until the
+appearance of Boileau; and if old authors who stumble at every step
+have, notwithstanding, attained great reputation, it is because purer
+writers have not arisen to open the eyes of their national admirers, as
+Horace did those of the Romans, and Boileau those of the French.
+
+It is said that there is no disputation on taste, and the observation is
+correct in respect to physical taste, in which the repugnance felt to
+certain aliments, and the preference given to others, are not to be
+disputed, because there is no correction of a defect of the organs. It
+is not the same with the arts which possess actual beauties, which are
+discernible by a good taste, and unperceivable by a bad one; which last,
+however, may frequently be improved. There are also persons with a
+coldness of soul, as there are defective minds; and in respect to them,
+it is of little use to dispute concerning predilections, as they possess
+none.
+
+Taste is arbitrary in many things, as in raiment, decoration, and
+equipage, which, however, scarcely belong to the department of the fine
+arts, but are rather affairs of fancy. It is fancy rather than taste
+which produces so many new fashions.
+
+Taste may become vitiated in a nation, a misfortune which usually
+follows a period of perfection. Fearing to be called imitators, artists
+seek new and devious routes, and fly from the pure and beautiful nature
+of which their predecessors have made so much advantage. If there is
+merit in these labors, this merit veils their defects, and the public
+in love with novelty runs after them, and becomes disgusted, which makes
+way for still minor efforts to please, in which nature is still more
+abandoned. Taste loses itself amidst this succession of novelties, the
+last one of which rapidly effaces the other; the public loses its
+"whereabout," and regrets in vain the flight of the age of good taste,
+which will return no more, although a remnant of it is still preserved
+by certain correct spirits, at a distance from the crowd.
+
+There are vast countries in which taste has never existed: such are they
+in which society is still rude, where the sexes have little general
+intercourse, and where certain arts, like sculpture and the painting of
+animated beings, are forbidden by religion. Where there is little
+general intercourse, the mind is straitened, its edge is blunted, and
+nothing is possessed on which a taste can be formed. Where several of
+the fine arts are wanting, the remainder can seldom find sufficient
+support, as they go hand in hand, and rest one on the other. On this
+account, the Asiatics have never produced fine arts in any department,
+and taste is confined to certain nations of Europe.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Is there not a good and a bad taste? Without doubt; although men differ
+in opinions, manners, and customs. The best taste in every species of
+cultivation is to imitate nature with the highest fidelity, energy, and
+grace. But is not grace arbitrary? No, since it consists in giving
+animation and sweetness to the objects represented. Between two men, the
+one of whom is gross and the other refined, it will readily be allowed
+that one possesses more grace than the other.
+
+Before a polished period arose, Voiture, who in his rage for
+embroidering nothings, was occasionally refined and agreeable, wrote
+some verses to the great Condé upon his illness, which are still
+regarded as very tasteful, and among the best of this author.
+
+At the same time, L'Étoile, who passed for a genius--L'Étoile, one of
+the five authors who constructed tragedies for Cardinal Richelieu--made
+some verses, which are printed at the end of Malherbe and Racan. When
+compared with those of Voiture referred to, every reader will allow that
+the verses of Voiture are the production of a courtier of good taste,
+and those of L'Étoile the labor of a coarse and unintellectual
+pretender.
+
+It is a pity that we can gift Voiture with occasional taste only: his
+famous letter from the carp to the pike, which enjoyed so much
+reputation, is a too extended pleasantry, and in passages exhibiting
+very little nature. Is it not a mixture of refinement and coarseness, of
+the true and the false? Was it right to say to the great Condé, who was
+called "the pike" by a party among the courtiers, that at his name the
+whales of the North perspired profusely, and that the subjects of the
+emperor had expected to fry and to eat him with a grain of salt? Was it
+proper to write so many letters, only to show a little of the wit which
+consists in puns and conceits?
+
+Are we not disgusted when Voiture says to the great Condé, on the taking
+of Dunkirk: "I expect you to seize the moon with your teeth." Voiture
+apparently acquired this false taste from Marini, who came into France
+with Mary of Medici. Voiture and Costar frequently cite him as a model
+in their letters. They admire his description of the rose, daughter of
+April, virgin and queen, seated on a thorny throne, extending
+majestically a flowery sceptre, having for courtiers and ministers the
+amorous family of the zephyrs, and wearing a crown of gold and a robe of
+scarlet:
+
+     _Bella figlia d'Aprile,_
+     _Verginella e reina,_
+     _Sic lo spinoso trono_
+     _Del verde cespo assisa,_
+     _De' fior' lo scettro in maestà sostiene;_
+     _E corteggiata intorno_
+     _Da lascivia famiglia_
+     _Di Zefiri ministri,_
+     _Porta d'or' la corona et dostro il manto._
+
+Voiture, in his thirty-fifth letter to Costar, compliments the musical
+atom of Marini, the feathered voice, the living breath clothed in
+plumage, the winged song, the small spirit of harmony, hidden amidst
+diminutive lungs; all of which terms are employed to convey the word
+nightingale:
+
+     _Una voce pennuta, un suon' volante,_
+     _E vestito di penne, un vivo fiato,_
+     _Una piuma canora, un canto alato,_
+     _Un spiritel' che d'armonia composto_
+     _Vive in auguste vise ere nascosto._
+
+The bad taste of Balzac was of a different description; he composed
+familiar letters in a fustian style. He wrote to the Cardinal de la
+Valette, that neither in the deserts of Libya, nor in the abyss of the
+sea, there was so furious a monster as the sciatica; and that if
+tyrants, whose memory is odious to us, had instruments of cruelty in
+their possession equal to the sciatica, the martyrs would have endured
+them for their religion.
+
+These emphatic exaggerations--these long and stately periods, so opposed
+to the epistolary style--these fastidious declamations, garnished with
+Greek and Latin, concerning two middling sonnets, the merits of which
+divided the court and the town, and upon the miserable tragedy of "Herod
+the Infanticide,"--all indicate a time and a taste which were yet to be
+formed and corrected. Even "Cinna," and the "Provincial Letters," which
+astonished the nations, had not yet cleared away the rust.
+
+As an artist forms his taste by degrees, so does a nation. It stagnates
+for a long time in barbarism; then it elevates itself feebly, until at
+length a noon appears, after which we witness nothing but a long and
+melancholy twilight. It has long been agreed, that in spite of the
+solicitude of Francis I., to produce a taste in France for the fine
+arts, this taste was not formed until towards the age of Louis XIV.,
+and we already begin to complain of its degeneracy. The Greeks of the
+lower empire confess, that the taste which reigned in the days of
+Pericles was lost among them, and the modern Greeks admit the same
+thing. Quintilian allows that the taste of the Romans began to decline
+in his days.
+
+Lope de Vega made great complaints of the bad taste of the Spaniards.
+The Italians perceived, among the first, that everything had declined
+among them since their immortal sixteenth century, and that they have
+witnessed the decline of the arts, which they caused to spring up.
+
+Addison often attacks the bad taste of the English in more than one
+department--as well when he ridicules the carved wig of Sir Cloudesley
+Shovel, as when he testifies his contempt for a serious employment of
+conceit and pun, or the introduction of mountebanks in tragedy.
+
+If, therefore, the most gifted minds allow that taste has been wanting
+at certain periods in their country, their neighbors may certainly feel
+it, as lookers-on; and as it is evident among ourselves that one man has
+a good and another a bad taste, it is equally evident that of two
+contemporary nations, the one may be rude and gross, and the other
+refined and natural.
+
+The misfortune is, that when we speak this truth, we disgust the whole
+nation to which we allude, as we provoke an individual of bad taste when
+we seek to improve him. It is better to wait until time and example
+instruct a nation which sins against taste. It is in this way that the
+Spaniards are beginning to reform their drama, and the Germans to create
+one.
+
+_Of National Taste._
+
+There is beauty of all times and of all places, and there is likewise
+local beauty. Eloquence ought to be everywhere persuasive, grief
+affecting, anger impetuous, wisdom tranquil; but the details which may
+gratify a citizen of London, would have little effect on an inhabitant
+of Paris. The English drew some of their most happy metaphors and
+comparisons from the marine, while Parisians seldom see anything of
+ships. All which affects an Englishman in relation to liberty, his
+rights and his privileges, would make little impression on a Frenchman.
+
+The state of the climate will introduce into a cold and humid country a
+taste for architecture, furniture, and clothing, which may be very good,
+but not admissible at Rome or in Sicily. Theocritus and Virgil, in their
+eclogues, boast of the shades and of the cooling freshness of the
+fountains. Thomson, in his "Seasons," dwells upon contrary attractions.
+
+An enlightened nation with little sociability will not have the same
+points of ridicule as a nation equally intellectual, which gives in to
+the spirit of society even to indiscretion; and, in consequence, these
+two nations will differ materially in their comedy. Poetry will be very
+different in a country where women are secluded, and in another in
+which they enjoy liberty without bounds.
+
+But it will always be true that the pastoral painting of Virgil exceeds
+that of Thomson, and that there has been more taste on the banks of the
+Tiber than on those of the Thames; that the natural scenes of the Pastor
+Fido are incomparably superior to the shepherdizing of Racan; and that
+Racine and Molière are inspired persons in comparison with the
+dramatists of other theatres.
+
+_On the Taste of Connoisseurs._
+
+In general, a refined and certain taste consists in a quick feeling of
+beauty amidst defects, and defects amidst beauties. The epicure is he
+who can discern the adulteration of wines, and feel the predominating
+flavor in his viands, of which his associates entertain only a confused
+and general perception.
+
+Are not those deceived who say, that it is a misfortune to possess too
+refined a taste, and to be too much of a connoisseur; that in
+consequence we become too much occupied by defects, and insensible to
+beauties, which are lost by this fastidiousness? Is it not, on the
+contrary, certain that men of taste alone enjoy true pleasure, who see,
+hear, and feel, that which escapes persons less sensitively organized,
+and less mentally disciplined?
+
+The connoisseur in music, in painting, in architecture, in poetry, in
+medals, etc., experiences sensations of which the vulgar have no
+comprehension; the discovery even of a fault pleases him, and makes him
+feel the beauties with more animation. It is the advantage of a good
+sight over a bad one. The man of taste has other eyes, other ears, and
+another tact from the uncultivated man; he is displeased with the poor
+draperies of Raphael, but he admires the noble purity of his conception.
+He takes a pleasure in discovering that the children of Laocoon bear no
+proportion to the height of their father, but the whole group makes him
+tremble, while other spectators are unmoved.
+
+The celebrated sculptor, man of letters and of genius, who placed the
+colossal statue of Peter the Great at St. Petersburg, criticises with
+reason the attitude of the Moses of Michelangelo, and his small, tight
+vest, which is not even an Oriental costume; but, at the same time, he
+contemplates the air and expression of the head with ecstasy.
+
+_Rarity of Men of Taste._
+
+It is afflicting to reflect on the prodigious number of men--above all,
+in cold and damp climates--who possess not the least spark of taste, who
+care not for the fine arts, who never read, and of whom a large portion
+read only a journal once a month, in order to be put in possession of
+current matter, and to furnish themselves with the ability of saying
+things at random, on subjects in regard to which they have only confused
+ideas.
+
+Enter into a small provincial town: how rarely will you find more than
+one or two good libraries, and those private. Even in the capital of the
+provinces which possess academies, taste is very rare.
+
+It is necessary to select the capital of a great kingdom to form the
+abode of taste, and yet even there it is very partially divided among a
+small number, the populace being wholly excluded. It is unknown to the
+families of traders, and those who are occupied in making fortunes, who
+are either engrossed with domestic details, or divided between
+unintellectual idleness and a game at cards. Every place which contains
+the courts of law, the offices of revenue, government, and commerce, is
+closed against the fine arts. It is the reproach of the human mind that
+a taste for the common and ordinary introduces only opulent idleness. I
+knew a commissioner in one of the offices at Versailles, who exclaimed:
+"I am very unhappy; I have not time to acquire a taste."
+
+In a town like Paris, peopled with more than six hundred thousand
+persons, I do not think there are three thousand who cultivate a taste
+for the fine arts. When a dramatic masterpiece is represented, a
+circumstance so very rare, people exclaim: "All Paris is enchanted," but
+only three thousand copies, more or less, are printed.
+
+Taste, then, like philosophy, belongs only to a small number of
+privileged souls. It was, therefore, great happiness for France to
+possess, in Louis XIV., a king born with taste.
+
+     _Pauci, quos æquus amavit_
+     _Jupiter, aut ardens, evexit ad æthera virtus_
+     _Dis geniti, potuere._
+                              --ÆNEID, b. vi, v. 129 and s.
+
+     To few great Jupiter imparts his grace,
+     And those of shining worth and heavenly race.
+                                        --DRYDEN.
+
+Ovid has said in vain, that God has created us to look up to heaven:
+"_Erectos ad sidera tollere vultus_." Men are always crouching on the
+ground. Why has a misshapen statue, or a bad picture, where the figures
+are disproportionate, never passed for a masterpiece? Why has an
+ill-built house never been regarded as a fine monument of architecture?
+Why in music will not sharp and discordant sounds please the ears of any
+one? And yet, very bad and barbarous tragedies, written in a style
+perfectly Allobrogian, have succeeded, even after the sublime scenes of
+Corneille, the affecting ones of Racine, and the fine pieces written
+since the latter poet. It is only at the theatre that we sometimes see
+detestable compositions succeed both in tragedy and comedy.
+
+What is the reason of it? It is, that a species of delusion prevails at
+the theatre; it is, that the success depends upon two or three actors,
+and sometimes even upon a single one; and, above all, that a cabal is
+formed in favor of such pieces, whilst men of taste never form any. This
+cabal often lasts for an entire generation, and it is so much the more
+active, as its object is less to elevate the bad author than to depress
+the good one. A century possibly is necessary to adjust the real value
+of things in the drama.
+
+There are three kinds of taste, which in the long run prevail in the
+empire of the arts. Poussin was obliged to quit France and leave the
+field to an inferior painter; Le Moine killed himself in despair; and
+Vanloo was near quitting the kingdom, to exercise his talents elsewhere.
+Connoisseurs alone have put all of them in possession of the rank
+belonging to them. We often witness all kinds of bad works meet with
+prodigious success. The solecisms, barbarisms, false statement, and
+extravagant bombast, are not felt for awhile, because the cabal and the
+senseless enthusiasm of the vulgar produce an intoxication which
+discriminates in nothing. The connoisseurs alone bring back the public
+in due time; and it is the only difference which exists between the most
+enlightened and the most cultivated of nations for the vulgar of Paris
+are in no respect beyond; the vulgar of other countries; but in Paris
+there is a sufficient number of correct opinions to lead the crowd. This
+crowd is rapidly excited in popular movements, but many years are
+necessary to establish in it a general good taste in the arts.
+
+
+
+
+TAUROBOLIUM.
+
+
+Taurobolium, a sacrifice of expiation, very common in the third and
+fourth centuries. The throat of a bull was cut on a great stone slightly
+hollowed and perforated in various places. Underneath this stone was a
+trench, in which the person whose offence called for expiation received
+upon his body and his face the blood of the immolated animal. Julian the
+Philosopher condescended to submit to this expiation, to reconcile
+himself to the priests of the Gentiles.
+
+
+
+
+TAX--FEE.
+
+
+Pope Pius II., in an epistle to John Peregal, acknowledges that the
+Roman court gives nothing without money; it sells even the imposition of
+hands and the gifts of the Holy Ghost; nor does it grant the remission
+of sins to any but the rich.
+
+Before him, St. Antonine, archbishop of Florence, had observed that in
+the time of Boniface IX., who died in 1404, the Roman court was so
+infamously stained with simony, that benefices were conferred, not so
+much on merit, as on those who brought a deal of money. He adds, that
+this pope filled the world with plenary indulgences; so that the small
+churches, on their festival days, obtained them at a low price.
+
+That pontiff's secretary, Theodoric de Nieur, does indeed inform us,
+that Boniface sent questors into different kingdoms, to sell indulgences
+to such as should offer them as much money as it would have cost them to
+make a journey to Rome to fetch them; so that they remitted all sins,
+even without penance, to such as confessed, and granted them, for
+money, dispensations for irregularities of every sort; saying, that they
+had in that respect all the power which Christ had granted to Peter, of
+binding and unbinding on earth.
+
+And, what is still more singular, the price of every crime is fixed in a
+Latin work, printed at Rome by order of Leo X., and published on
+November 18, 1514, under the title of "Taxes of the Holy and Apostolic
+Chancery and Penitentiary."
+
+Among many other editions of this book, published in different
+countries, the Paris edition--quarto 1520, Toussaint Denis, Rue St.
+Jacques, at the wooden cross, near St. Yves, with the king's privilege,
+for three years--bears in the frontispiece the arms of France, and those
+of the house of Medici, to which Leo N. belonged. This must have
+deceived the author of the "Picture of the Popes" (_Tableau de Papes_),
+who attributes the establishment of these taxes to Leo X., although
+Polydore Virgil, and Cardinal d'Ossat agree in fixing the period of the
+invention of the chancery tax about the year 1320, and the commencement
+of the penitentiary tax about sixteen years later, in the time of
+Benedict XII.
+
+To give some idea of these taxes, we will here copy a few articles from
+the chapter of absolutions: Absolution for one who has carnally known
+his mother, his sister, etc., costs five drachmas. Absolution for one
+who has deflowered a virgin, six drachmas. Absolution for one who has
+revealed another's confession, seven drachmas. Absolution for one who
+has killed his father, his mother, etc., five drachmas. And so of other
+sins, as we shall shortly see; but, at the end of the book, the prices
+are estimated in ducats.
+
+A sort of letters too are here spoken of, called confessional, by which,
+at the approach of death, the pope permits a confessor to be chosen, who
+gives full pardon for every sin; these letters are granted only to
+princes, and not to them without great difficulty. These particulars
+will be found in page 32 of the Paris edition.
+
+The court of Rome was at length ashamed of this book, and suppressed it
+as far as it was able. It was even inserted in the expurgatory index of
+the Council of Trent, on the false supposition that heretics had
+corrupted it.
+
+It is true that Antoine Du Pinet, a French gentleman of Franche-Comté,
+had an abstract of it printed at Lyons in 1564, under this title:
+"Casual Perquisites of the Pope's Shop" (_Taxes des Parties Casuelles de
+la Boutique du Pape_), "taken from the Decrees, Councils, and Canons,
+ancient and modern, in order to verify the discipline formerly observed
+in the Church; by A.D.P." But, although, he does not inform us that his
+work is but an abridgment of the other, yet, far from corrupting his
+original, he on the contrary strikes out of it some odious passages,
+such as the following, beginning page 23, line 9 from the bottom, in
+the Paris edition: "And carefully observe, that these kinds of graces
+and dispensations are not granted to the poor, because, not having
+wherewith, they cannot be consoled."
+
+It is also true, that Du Pinet estimates these taxes in tournois,
+ducats, and carlins; but, as he observes (page 42) that the carlins and
+the drachmas are of the same value, the substituting for the tax of
+five, six, or seven drachmas in the original, the like number of
+carlins, is not falsifying it. We have a proof of this in the four
+articles already quoted from the original.
+
+Absolution--says Du Pinet--for one who has a carnal knowledge of his
+mother, his sister, or any of his kindred by birth or affinity, or his
+godmother, is taxed at five carlins. Absolution for one who deflowers a
+young woman, is taxed at six carlins. Absolution for one who reveals the
+confession of a penitent, is taxed at seven carlins. Absolution for one
+who has killed his father, his mother, his brother, his sister, his
+wife, or any of his kindred--they being of the laity--is taxed at five
+carlins; for if the deceased was an ecclesiastic, the homicide would be
+obliged to visit the sanctuary. We will here repeat a few others.
+
+Absolution--continues Du Pinet--for any act of fornication whatsoever,
+committed by a clerk, whether with a nun in the cloister or out of the
+cloister, or with any of his kinswomen, or with his spiritual daughter,
+or with any other woman whatsoever, costs thirty-six tournois, three
+ducats. Absolution for a priest who keeps a concubine, twenty-one
+tournois, live ducats, six carlins. The absolution of a layman for all
+sorts of sins of the flesh, is given at the tribunal of conscience for
+six tournois, two ducats.
+
+The absolution of a layman for the crime of adultery, given at the
+tribunal of conscience, costs four tournois; and if the adultery is
+accompanied by incest, six tournois must be paid per head. If, besides
+these crimes, is required the absolution of the sin against nature, or
+of bestiality, there must be paid ninety tournois, twelve ducats, six
+carlins; but if only the absolution of the crime against nature, or of
+bestiality, is required, it will cost only thirty-six tournois, nine
+ducats.
+
+A woman who has taken a beverage to procure an abortion, or the father
+who has caused her to take it, shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight
+carlins; and if a stranger has given her the said beverage, he shall pay
+four tournois, one ducat, five carlins.
+
+A father, a mother, or any other relative, who has smothered a child,
+shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight carlins; and if it has been
+killed by the husband and wife together, they shall pay six tournois,
+two ducats.
+
+The tax granted by the datary for the contracting of marriage out of the
+permitted seasons, is twenty carlins; and in the permitted periods, if
+the contracting parties are the second or third degree of kindred, it
+is commonly twenty-five ducats, and four for expediting the bulls; and
+in the fourth degree, seven tournois, one ducat, six carlins.
+
+The dispensation of a layman from fasting on the days appointed by the
+Church, and the permission to eat cheese, are taxed at twenty carlins.
+The permission to eat meat and eggs on forbidden days is taxed at twelve
+carlins; and that to eat butter, cheese, etc., at six tournois for one
+person only; and at twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins for a
+whole family, or for several relatives.
+
+The absolution of an apostate and a vagabond, who wishes to return into
+the pale of the Church, costs twelve tournois, three ducats, six
+carlins. The absolution and reinstatement of one who is guilty of
+sacrilege, robbery, burning, rapine, perjury, and the like, is taxed at
+thirty-six tournois, nine ducats.
+
+Absolution for a servant who detains his deceased master's property, for
+the payment of his wages, and after receiving notice does not restore
+it, provided the property so detained does not exceed the amount of his
+wages, is taxed in the tribunal of conscience at only six tournois, two
+ducats. For changing the clauses of a will, the ordinary tax is twelve
+tournois, three ducats, six carlins. The permission to change one's
+proper name costs nine tournois, two ducats, nine carlins; and to change
+the surname and mode of signing, six tournois, two ducats. The
+permission to have a portable altar for one person only, is taxed at
+ten carlins: and to have a domestic chapel on account of the distance of
+the parish church, and furnish it with baptismal fonts and chaplains,
+thirty carlins.
+
+Lastly, the permission to convey merchandise, one or more times, to the
+countries of the infidels, and in general to traffic and sell
+merchandise without being obliged to obtain permission from the temporal
+lords of the respected places, even though they be kings or emperors,
+with all the very ample derogatory clauses, is taxed at only twenty-four
+tournois, six ducats.
+
+This permission, which supersedes that of the temporal lords, is a fresh
+evidence of the papal pretensions, which we have already spoken of in
+the article on "Bull." Besides, it is known that all rescripts, or
+expeditions for benefices, are still paid for at Rome according to the
+tax; and this charge always falls at last on the laity, by the
+impositions which the subordinate clergy exact from them. We shall here
+notice only the fees for marriages and burials.
+
+A decree of the Parliament of Paris, of May 19, 1409, provides that
+every one shall be at liberty to sleep with his wife as soon as he
+pleases after the celebration of the marriage, without waiting for leave
+from the bishop of Amiens, and without paying the fee required by that
+prelate for taking off his prohibitions to consummate the marriage
+during the first three nights of the nuptials. The monks of St. Stephen
+of Nevers were deprived of the same fee by another decree of September
+27, 1591. Some theologians have asserted, that it took its origin from
+the fourth Council of Carthage, which had ordained it for the reverence
+of the matrimonial benediction. But as that council did not order its
+prohibition to be evaded by paying, it is more likely that this tax was
+a consequence of the infamous custom which gave to certain lords the
+first nuptial night of the brides of their vassals. Buchanan thinks that
+this usage began in Scotland under King Evan.
+
+Be this as it may, the lords of Prellay and Persanny, in Piedmont,
+called this privilege "_carrajio_"; but having refused to commute it for
+a reasonable payment, the vassals revolted, and put themselves under
+Amadeus VI., fourteenth count of Savoy.
+
+There is still preserved a _procès-verbal_, drawn up by M. Jean Fraguier,
+auditor in the _Chambre des Comptes_, at Paris, by virtue of a decree of
+the said chamber of April 7, 1507, for valuing the county of Eu, fallen
+into the king's keeping by the minority of the children of the count of
+Nevers, and his wife Charlotte de Bourbon. In the chapter of the revenue
+of the barony of St. Martin-le-Gaillard, dependent on the county of Eu,
+it is said: "Item, the said lord, at the said place of St. Martin, has
+the right of 'cuissage' in case of marriage."
+
+The lords of Souloire had the like privilege, and having omitted it in
+the acknowledgment made by them to their sovereign, the lord of
+Montlevrier, the acknowledgment was disapproved; but by deed of Dec.
+15, 1607, the sieur de Montlevrier formally renounced it; and these
+shameful privileges have everywhere been converted into small payments,
+called "marchetta."
+
+Now, when our prelates had fiefs, they thought--as the judicious Fleury
+remarks--that they had as bishops what they possessed only as lords; and
+the curates, as their under-vassals, bethought themselves of blessing
+their nuptial bed, which brought them a small fee under the name of
+wedding-dishes--i.e., their dinner, in money or in kind. On one of these
+occasions the following quatrain was put by a country curate under the
+pillow of a very aged president, who married a young woman named La
+Montagne. He alludes to Moses' horns, which are spoken of in Exodus.
+
+     _Le Président à barbe grise_
+     _Sur La Montagne va monter;_
+     _Mais certes il peut bien compter_
+     _D'en descendre comme Moïse._
+
+A word or two on the fees exacted by the clergy for the burial of the
+laity. Formerly, at the decease of each individual, the bishops had the
+contents of his will made known to them; and forbade those to receive
+the rights of sepulchre who had died "unconfessed," i.e., left no legacy
+to the Church, unless the relatives went to the official, who
+commissioned a priest, or some other ecclesiastic, to repair the fault
+of the deceased, and make a legacy in his name. The curates also opposed
+the profession of such as wished to turn monks, until they had paid
+their burial-fees; saying that since they died to the world, it was but
+right that they should discharge what would have been due from them had
+they been interred.
+
+But the frequent disputes occasioned by these vexations obliged the
+magistrates to fix the rate of these singular fees. The following is
+extracted from a regulation on this subject, brought in by Francis de
+Harlai de Chamvallon, archbishop of Paris, on May 30, 1693, and passed
+in the court of parliament on the tenth of June following:
+
+                   _Marriages._
+                                             Liv. Sous.
+  For the publication of the bans..........    1   10
+
+  For the betrothing.......................    2    0
+
+  For celebrating the marriage.............    6    0
+
+  For the certificate of the publication of
+    the bans, and the permission given to
+    the future husband to go and be married
+    in the parish of his future wife.......    5    0
+
+  For the wedding mass.....................    1   10
+
+  For the vicar............................    1   10
+
+  For the clerk of the sacrament...........    1   10
+
+  For blessing the bed.....................    1   10
+
+
+              _Funeral Processions._
+
+    Of children under seven years old, when
+      the clergy do not go in a body:
+  For the curate...........................    1   10
+
+  For each priest..........................    1   10
+
+    When the clergy go in a body:
+  For the curial fee.......................    4    0
+
+  For the presence of the curate...........    2    0
+
+  For each priest..........................    0   10
+
+  For the vicar............................    1   10
+
+  For each singing-boy, when they carry
+    the body...............................    8    0
+
+  And when they do not carry it............    5    0
+    And so of young persons from seven to
+      twelve years old.
+
+    Of persons above twelve years old:
+  For the curial fee.......................    6    0
+
+  For the curate's attendance..............    4    0
+
+  For each vicar...........................    2    0
+
+  For the priest...........................    1    0
+
+  For each singing-boy.....................    0   10
+
+  Each of the priests that watch the body
+    in the night, for drink, etc...........    3    0
+
+  And in the day, each.....................    2    0
+
+  For the celebration of the mass..........    1    0
+
+  For the service extraordinary; called the
+    complete service; viz., the vigils and
+    the two masses of the Holy Ghost and
+    the Holy Virgin........................    4   10
+
+  For each of the priests that carry the
+    body...................................    1    0
+
+  For carrying the great cross.............    0   10
+
+  For the holy water-pot carrier...........    0    5
+
+  For carrying the little cross............    0    5
+
+  For the clerk of the processions.........    0    1
+
+    For conveying bodies from one church to
+      another there shall be paid, for each
+      of the above fees, one-half more.
+
+  For the reception of bodies thus conveyed:
+  To the curate............................    6   10
+
+  To the vicar.............................    1   10
+
+  To each priest...........................    0   15
+
+
+
+
+TEARS.
+
+
+Tears are the silent language of grief. But why? What relation is there
+between a melancholy idea and this limpid and briny liquid filtered
+through a little gland into the external corner of the eye which
+moistens the conjunctiva and little lachrymal points, whence it descends
+into the nose and mouth by the reservoir called the lachrymal duct, and
+by its conduits? Why in women and children, whose organs are of a
+delicate texture, are tears more easily excited by grief than in men,
+whose formation is firmer?
+
+Has nature intended to excite compassion in us at the sight of these
+tears, which soften us and lead us to help those who shed them? The
+female savage is as strongly determined to assist her child who cries,
+as a lady of the court would be, and perhaps more so, because she has
+fewer distractions and passions.
+
+Everything in the animal body has, no doubt, its object. The eyes,
+particularly, have mathematical relations so evident, so demonstrable,
+so admirable with the rays of light; this mechanism is so divine, that I
+should be tempted to take for the delirium of a high fever, the audacity
+of denying the final causes of the structure of our eyes. The use of
+tears appears not to have so determined and striking an object; but it
+is probable that nature caused them to flow in order to excite us to
+pity.
+
+There are women who are accused of weeping when they choose. I am not at
+all surprised at their talent. A lively, sensible, and tender
+imagination can fix upon some object, on some melancholy recollection,
+and represent it in such lively colors as to draw tears; which happens
+to several performers, and particularly to actresses on the stage.
+
+Women who imitate them in the interior of their houses, join to this
+talent the little fraud of appearing to weep for their husbands, while
+they really weep for their lovers. Their tears are true, but the object
+of them is false.
+
+It is impossible to affect tears without a subject, in the same manner
+as we can affect to laugh. We must be sensibly touched to force the
+lachrymal gland to compress itself, and to spread its liquor on the
+orbit of the eye; but the will alone is required to laugh.
+
+We demand why the same man, who has seen with a dry eye the most
+atrocious events, and even committed crimes with sang-froid, will weep
+at the theatre at the representation of similar events and crimes? It
+is, that he sees them not with the same eyes; he sees them with those of
+the author and the actor. He is no longer the same man; he was
+barbarous, he was agitated with furious passions, when he saw an
+innocent woman killed, when he stained himself with the blood of his
+friend; he became a man again at the representation of it. His soul was
+filled with a stormy tumult; it is now tranquil and void, and nature
+re-entering it, he sheds virtuous tears. Such is the true merit, the
+great good of theatrical representation, which can never be effected by
+the cold declamation of an orator paid to tire an audience for an hour.
+
+The capitoul David, who; without emotion, saw and caused the innocent
+Calas to die on the wheel, would have shed tears at seeing his own crime
+in a well-written and well-acted tragedy. Pope has elegantly said this
+in the prologue to Addison's Cato:
+
+     Tyrants no more their savage nature kept,
+     And foes to virtue wondered how they wept.
+
+
+
+
+TERELAS.
+
+
+Terelas, Pterelas, or Pterlaus, just which you please, was the son of
+Taphus, or Taphius. Which signifies what you say? Gently, I will tell
+you. This Terelas had a golden lock, to which was attached the destiny
+of the town of Taphia, and what is more, this lock rendered Terelas
+immortal, as he would not die while this lock remained upon his head;
+for this reason he never combed it, lest he should comb it off. An
+immortality, however, which depends upon a lock of hair, is not the most
+certain of all things.
+
+Amphitryon, general of the republic of Thebes, besieged Taphia, and the
+daughter of King Terelas became desperately in love with him on seeing
+him pass the ramparts. Thus excited, she stole to her father in the dead
+of night, cut off his golden lock, and sent it to the general, in
+consequence of which the town was taken, and Terelas killed. Some
+learned men assure us, that it was the wife of Terelas who played him
+this ill turn; and as they ground their opinions upon great authorities,
+it might be rendered the subject of a useful dissertation. I confess
+that I am somewhat inclined to be of the opinion of those learned
+persons, as it appears to me that a wife is usually less timorous than a
+daughter.
+
+The same thing happened to Nisus, king of Megara, which town was
+besieged by Minos. Scylla, the daughter of Nisus, became madly in love
+with him; and although in point of fact, her father did not possess a
+lock of gold, he had one of purple, and it is known that on this lock
+depended equally his life and the fate of the Megarian Empire. To oblige
+Minos, the dutiful Scylla cut it off, and presented it to her lover.
+
+"All the history of Minos is true," writes the profound Bannier; "and
+this is attested by all antiquity." I believe it precisely as I do that
+of Terelas, but I am embarrassed between the profound Calmet and the
+profound Huet. Calmet is of opinion, that the adventure of the lock of
+Nisus presented to Minos, and that of Terelas given to Amphitryon, are
+obviously taken from the genuine history of Samson. Huet the
+demonstrator, on the contrary shows, that Minos is evidently Moses, as
+cutting out the letters _n_ and _e_, one of these names is the anagram
+of the other.
+
+But, notwithstanding the demonstration of Huet, I am entirely on the
+side of the refined Dom Calmet, and for those who are of the opinion
+that all which relates to the locks of Terelas and of Nisus is connected
+with the hair of Samson. The most convincing of my triumphant reasons
+is, that without reference to the family of Terelas, with the
+metamorphoses of which I am unacquainted, it is certain that Scylla was
+changed into a lark, and her father Nisus into a sparrow-hawk. Now,
+Bochart being of opinion that a sparrow-hawk is called "neis" in
+Hebrew, I thence conclude, that the history of Terelas, Amphitryon,
+Nisus, and Minos is copied from the history of Samson.
+
+I am aware that a dreadful sect has arisen in our days, equally detested
+by God and man, who pretend that the Greek fables are more ancient than
+the Jewish history; that the Greeks never heard a word of Samson any
+more than of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, etc., which names are not cited by
+any Greek author. They assert, as we have modestly intimated--in the
+articles on "Bacchus" and "Jew"--that the Greeks could not possibly take
+anything from the Jews, but that the Jews might derive something from
+the Greeks.
+
+I answer with the doctor Hayet, the doctor Gauchat, the ex-Jesuit
+Patouillet, and the ex-Jesuit Paulian, that this is the most damnable
+heresy which ever issued from hell; that it was formerly anathematized
+in full parliament, on petition, and condemned in the report of the
+Sieur P.; and finally, that if indulgence be extended to those who
+support such frightful systems, there will be no more certainty in the
+world; but that Antichrist will quickly arrive, if he has not come
+already.
+
+
+
+
+TESTES.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+This word is scientific, and a little obscure, signifying small
+witnesses. Sixtus V., a Cordelier become pope, declared, by his letter
+of the 25th of June, 1587, to his nuncio in Spain, that he must unmarry
+all those who were not possessed of testicles. It seems by this order,
+which was executed by Philip II., that there were many husbands in Spain
+deprived of these two organs. But how could a man, who had been a
+Cordelier, be ignorant that the testicles of men are often hidden in the
+abdomen, and that they are equally if not more effective in that
+situation? We have beheld in France three brothers of the highest rank,
+one of whom possessed three, the other only one, while the third
+possessed no appearance of any, and yet was the most vigorous of the
+three.
+
+The angelic doctor, who was simply a Jacobin, decides that two testicles
+are "_de essentia matrimonii_" (of the essence of marriage); in which
+opinion he is followed by Ricardus, Scotus, Durandus, and Sylvius. If
+you are not able to obtain a sight of the pleadings of the advocate
+Sebastian Rouillard, in 1600, in favor of the testicles of his client,
+concealed in his abdomen, at least consult the dictionary of Bayle, at
+the article "Quellenec." You will there discover, that the wicked wife
+of the client of Sebastian Rouillard wished to render her marriage void,
+on the plea that her husband could not exhibit testicles. The defendant
+replied, that he had perfectly fulfilled his matrimonial duties, and
+offered the usual proof of a re-performance of them in full assembly.
+The jilt replied, that this trial was too offensive to her modesty, and
+was, moreover, superfluous, since the defendant was visibly deprived of
+testicles, and that messieurs of the assembly were fully aware that
+testicles are necessary to perfect consummation.
+
+I am unacquainted with the result of this process, but I suspect that
+her husband lost his cause. What induces me to think so is, that the
+same Parliament of Paris, on the 8th of January, 1665, issued a decree,
+asserting the necessity of two visible testicles, without which marriage
+was not to be contracted. Had there been any member in the assembly in
+the situation described, and reduced to the necessity of being a
+witness, he might have convinced the assembly that it decided without a
+due knowledge of circumstances. Pontas may be profitably consulted on
+testicles, as well as upon any other subject. He was a sub-penitentiary,
+who decided every sort of case, and who sometimes comes near to Sanchez.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+A word or two on hermaphrodites. A prejudice has for a long time crept
+into the Russian Church, that it is not lawful to say mass without
+testicles; or, at least, they must be hid in the officiator's pocket.
+This ancient idea was founded in the Council of Nice, who forbade the
+admission into orders of those who mutilated themselves. The example of
+Origen, and of certain enthusiasts, was the cause of this order, which
+was confirmed a second time in the Council of Aries.
+
+The Greek Church did not exclude from the altar those who had endured
+the operation of Origen against their own consent. The patriarchs of
+Constantinople, Nicetas, Ignatius, Photius, and Methodius, were eunuchs.
+At present this point of discipline seems undecided in the Catholic
+Church. The most general opinion, however, is, that in order to be
+ordained a priest, a eunuch will require a dispensation.
+
+The banishment of eunuchs from the service of the altar appears contrary
+to the purity and chastity which the service exacts; and certainly such
+of the priests as confess handsome women and girls would be exposed to
+less temptation. Opposing reasons of convenience and decorum have
+determined those who make these laws.
+
+In Leviticus, all corporeal defects are excluded from the service of the
+altar--the blind, the crooked, the maimed, the lame, the one-eyed, the
+leper, the scabby, long noses, and short noses. Eunuchs are not spoken
+of, as there were none among the Jews. Those who acted as eunuchs in the
+service of their kings, were foreigners.
+
+It has been demanded whether an animal, a man for example, can possess
+at once testicles and ovaries, or the glands which are taken for
+ovaries; in a word, the distinctive organs of both sexes? Can nature
+form veritable hermaphrodites, and can a hermaphrodite be rendered
+pregnant? I answer, that I know nothing about it, nor the
+ten-thousandth part of what is within the operation of nature. I
+believe, however, that Europe has never witnessed a genuine
+hermaphrodite, nor has it indeed produced elephants, zebras, giraffes,
+ostriches, and many more of the animals which inhabit Asia, Africa, and
+America. It is hazardous to assert, that because we never beheld a
+thing, it does not exist.
+
+Examine "Cheselden," page 34, and you will behold there a very good
+delineation of an animal man and woman--a negro and negress of Angola,
+which was brought to London in its infancy, and carefully examined by
+this celebrated surgeon, as much distinguished for his probity as his
+information. The plate is entitled "Members of an Hermaphrodite Negro,
+of the Age of Twenty-six Years, of both Sexes." They are not absolutely
+perfect, but they exhibit a strange mixture of the one and the other.
+
+Cheselden has frequently attested the truth of this prodigy, which,
+however, is possibly no such thing in some of the countries of Africa.
+The two sexes are not perfect in this instance; who can assure us, that
+other negroes, mulatto, or copper-colored individuals, are not
+absolutely male and female? It would be as reasonable to assert, that a
+perfect statue cannot exist, because we have witnessed none without
+defects. There are insects which possess both sexes; why may there not
+be human beings similarly endowed? I affirm nothing; God keep me from
+doing so. I only doubt.
+
+How many things belong to the animal man, in respect to which he must
+doubt, from his pineal gland to his spleen, the use of which is unknown;
+and from the principle of his thoughts and sensations to his animal
+spirits, of which everybody speaks, and which nobody ever saw or ever
+will see!
+
+
+
+
+THEISM.
+
+
+Theism is a religion diffused through all religions; it is a metal which
+mixes itself with all the others, the veins of which extend under ground
+to the four corners of the world. This mine is more openly worked in
+China; everywhere else it is hidden, and the secret is only in the hands
+of the adepts.
+
+There is no country where there are more of these adepts than in
+England. In the last century there were many atheists in that country,
+as well as in France and Italy. What the chancellor Bacon had said
+proved true to the letter, that a little philosophy makes a man an
+atheist, and that much philosophy leads to the knowledge of a God. When
+it was believed with Epicurus, that chance made everything, or with
+Aristotle, and even with several ancient theologians, that nothing was
+created but through corruption, and that by matter and motion alone the
+world goes on, then it was impossible to believe in a providence. But
+since nature has been looked into, which the ancients did not perceive
+at all; since it is observed that all is organized, that everything has
+its germ; since it is well known that a mushroom is the work of
+infinite wisdom, as well as all the worlds; then those who thought,
+adored in the countries where their ancestors had blasphemed. The
+physicians are become the heralds of providence; a catechist announces
+God to children, and a Newton demonstrates Him to the learned.
+
+Many persons ask whether theism, considered abstractedly, and without
+any religious ceremony, is in fact a religion? The answer is easy: he
+who recognizes only a creating God, he who views in God only a Being
+infinitely powerful, and who sees in His creatures only wonderful
+machines, is not religious towards Him any more than a European,
+admiring the king of China, would thereby profess allegiance to that
+prince. But he who thinks that God has deigned to place a relation
+between Himself and mankind; that He has made him free, capable of good
+and evil; that He has given all of them that good sense which is the
+instinct of man, and on which the law of nature is founded; such a one
+undoubtedly has a religion, and a much better religion than all those
+sects who are beyond the pale of our Church; for all these sects are
+false, and the law of nature is true. Thus, theism is good sense not yet
+instructed by revelation; and other religions are good sense perverted
+by superstition.
+
+All sects differ, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the
+same because it comes from God. It is asked why, out of five or six
+hundred sects, there have scarcely been any who have not spilled blood;
+and why the theists, who are everywhere so numerous, have never caused
+the least disturbance? It is because they are philosophers. Now
+philosophers may reason badly, but they never intrigue. Those who
+persecute a philosopher, under the pretext that his opinions may be
+dangerous to the public, are as absurd as those who are afraid that the
+study of algebra will raise the price of bread in the market; one must
+pity a thinking being who errs; the persecutor is frantic and horrible.
+We are all brethren; if one of my brothers, full of respect and filial
+love, inspired by the most fraternal charity, does not salute our common
+Father with the same ceremonies as I do, ought I to cut his throat and
+tear out his heart?
+
+What is a true theist? It is he who says to God: "I adore and serve
+You;" it is he who says to the Turk, to the Chinese, the Indian, and the
+Russian: "I love you." He doubts, perhaps, that Mahomet made a journey
+to the moon and put half of it in his pocket; he does not wish that
+after his death his wife should burn herself from devotion; he is
+sometimes tempted not to believe the story of the eleven thousand
+virgins, and that of St. Amable, whose hat and gloves were carried by a
+ray of the sun from Auvergne as far as Rome.
+
+But for all that he is a just man. Noah would have placed him in his
+ark, Numa Pompilius in his councils; he would have ascended the car of
+Zoroaster; he would have talked philosophy with the Platos, the
+Aristippuses, the Ciceros, the Atticuses--but would he not have drunk
+hemlock with Socrates?
+
+
+
+
+THEIST.
+
+
+The theist is a man firmly persuaded of the existence of a Supreme Being
+equally good and powerful, who has formed all extended, vegetating,
+sentient, and reflecting existences; who perpetuates their species, who
+punishes crimes without cruelty, and rewards virtuous actions with
+kindness.
+
+The theist does not know how God punishes, how He rewards, how He
+pardons; for he is not presumptuous enough to flatter himself that he
+understands how God acts; but he knows that God does act, and that He is
+just. The difficulties opposed to a providence do not stagger him in his
+faith, because they are only great difficulties, not proofs; he submits
+himself to that providence, although he only perceives some of its
+effects and some appearances; and judging of the things he does not see
+from those he does see, he thinks that this providence pervades all
+places and all ages.
+
+[Illustration: Death of Socrates.]
+
+United in this principle with the rest of the universe, he does not join
+any of the sects, who all contradict themselves; his religion is the
+most ancient and the most extended; for the simple adoration of a
+God has preceded all the systems in the world. He speaks a language
+which all nations understand, while they are unable to understand each
+other's. He has brethren from Pekin to Cayenne, and he reckons all the
+wise his brothers. He believes that religion consists neither in the
+opinions of incomprehensible metaphysics, nor in vain decorations, but
+in adoration and justice. To do good--that is his worship; to submit
+oneself to God--that is his doctrine. The Mahometan cries out to him:
+"Take care of yourself, if you do not make the pilgrimage to Mecca."
+"Woe be to thee," says a Franciscan, "if thou dost not make a journey to
+our Lady of Loretto." He laughs at Loretto and Mecca; but he succors the
+indigent and defends the oppressed.
+
+
+
+
+THEOCRACY.
+
+_Government of God or Gods._
+
+
+I deceive myself every day; but I suspect that all the nations who have
+cultivated the arts have lived under a theocracy. I always except the
+Chinese, who appear learned as soon as they became a nation. They were
+free from superstition directly China was a kingdom. It is a great pity,
+that having been raised so high at first, they should remain stationary
+at the degree they have so long occupied in the sciences. It would seem
+that they have received from nature an ample allowance of good sense,
+and a very small one of industry. Yet in other things their industry is
+displayed more than ours.
+
+The Japanese, their neighbors, of whose origin I know nothing
+whatever--for whose origin do we know?--were incontestably governed by a
+theocracy. The earliest well-ascertained sovereigns were the "_dairos_,"
+the high priests of their gods; this theocracy is well established.
+These priests reigned despotically about eight hundred years. In the
+middle of our twelfth century it came to pass that a captain, an
+"_imperator_," a "_seogon_" shared their authority; and in our sixteenth
+century the captains seized the whole power, and kept it. The "_dairos_"
+have remained the heads of religion; they were kings--they are now only
+saints; they regulate festivals, they bestow sacred titles, but they
+cannot give a company of infantry.
+
+The Brahmins in India possessed for a long time the theocratical power;
+that is to say, they held the sovereign authority in the name of Brahma,
+the son of God; and even in their present humble condition they still
+believe their character indelible. These are the two principal among the
+certain theocracies.
+
+The priests of Chaldæa, Persia, Syria, Phœnicia, and Egypt, were so
+powerful, had so great a share in the government, and carried the censer
+so loftily above the sceptre, that empire may be said, among those
+nations, to nave been divided between theocracy and royalty.
+
+The government of Numa Pompilius was evidently theocratical. When a man
+says: "I give you laws furnished by the gods; it is not I, it is a god
+who speaks to you"--then it is God who is king, and he who talks thus is
+lieutenant-general.
+
+Among all the Celtic nations who had only elective chiefs, and not
+kings, the Druids and their sorceries governed everything. But I cannot
+venture to give the name of theocracy to the anarchy of these savages.
+
+The little Jewish nation does not deserve to be considered politically,
+except on account of the prodigious revolution that has occurred in the
+world, of which it was the very obscure and unconscious cause.
+
+Do but consider the history of this strange people. They have a
+conductor who undertakes to guide them in the name of his God to
+Phœnicia, which he calls Canaan. The way was direct and plain, from
+the country of Goshen as far as Tyre, from south to north; and there was
+no danger for six hundred and thirty thousand fighting men, having at
+their head a general like Moses, who, according to Flavius Josephus, had
+already vanquished an army of Ethiopians, and even an army of serpents.
+
+Instead of taking this short and easy route, he conducts them from
+Rameses to Baal-Sephon, in an opposite direction, right into the middle
+of Egypt, due south. He crosses the sea; he marches for forty years in
+the most frightful deserts, where there is not a single spring of water,
+or a tree, or a cultivated field--nothing but sand and dreary rocks. It
+is evident that God alone could make the Jews, by a miracle, take this
+route, and support them there by a succession of miracles.
+
+The Jewish government therefore was then a true theocracy. Moses,
+however, was never pontiff, and Aaron, who was pontiff, was never chief
+nor legislator. After that time we do not find any pontiff governing.
+Joshua, Jephthah, Samson, and the other chiefs of the people, except
+Elias and Samuel, were not priests. The Jewish republic, reduced to
+slavery so often, was anarchical rather than theocratical.
+
+Under the kings of Judah and Israel, it was but a long succession of
+assassinations and civil wars. These horrors were interrupted only by
+the entire extinction of ten tribes, afterwards by the enslavement of
+two others, and by the destruction of the city amidst famine and
+pestilence. This was not then divine government.
+
+When the Jewish slaves returned to Jerusalem, they were subdued by the
+kings of Persia, by the conqueror Alexandria and his successors. It
+appears that God did not then reign immediately over this nation, since
+a little before the invasion of Alexander, the pontiff John assassinated
+the priest Jesus, his brother, in the temple of Jerusalem, as Solomon
+had assassinated his brother Adonijah on the altar.
+
+The government was still less theocratical when Antiochus Epiphanes,
+king of Syria, employed many of the Jews to punish those whom he
+regarded as rebels. He forbade them all, under pain of death, to
+circumcise their children; he compelled them to sacrifice swine in their
+temple, to burn the gates, to destroy the altar; and the whole enclosure
+was filled with thorns and brambles.
+
+Matthias rose against him at the head of some citizens, but he was not
+king. His son, Judas Maccabæus, taken for the Messiah, perished after
+glorious struggles. To these bloody contests succeeded civil wars. The
+men of Jerusalem destroyed Samaria, which the Romans subsequently
+rebuilt under the name of Sebasta.
+
+In this chaos of revolutions, Aristobulus, of the race of the Maccabees,
+and son of a high priest, made himself king, more than five hundred
+years after the destruction of Jerusalem. He signalized his reign like
+some Turkish sultans, by cutting his brother's throat, and causing his
+mother to be put to death. His successors followed his example, until
+the period when the Romans punished all these barbarians. Nothing in all
+this is theocratical.
+
+If anything affords an idea of theocracy, it must be granted that it is
+the papacy of Rome; it never announces itself but in the name of God,
+and its subjects live in peace. For a long time Thibet enjoyed the same
+advantages under the Grand Lama; but that is a gross error striving to
+imitate a sublime truth.
+
+The first Incas, by calling themselves descendants in a right line from
+the sun, established a theocracy; everything was done in the name of the
+sun. Theocracy ought to be universal; for every man, whether a prince or
+a boatman, should obey the natural and eternal laws which God has given
+him.
+
+
+
+
+THEODOSIUS.
+
+
+Every prince who puts himself at the head of a party, and succeeds, is
+sure of being praised to all eternity, if the party lasts that time; and
+his adversaries may be assured that they will be treated by orators,
+poets, and preachers, as Titans who revolted against the gods. This is
+what happened to Octavius Augustus, when his good fortune made him
+defeat Brutus, Cassius, and Antony. It was the lot of Constantine, when
+Maxentius, the legitimate emperor, elected by the Roman senate and
+people, fell into the water and was drowned.
+
+Theodosius had the same advantage. Woe to the vanquished! blessed be the
+victorious!--that is the motto of mankind. Theodosius was a Spanish
+officer, the son of a Spanish soldier of fortune. As soon as he was
+emperor he persecuted the anti-consubstantialists. Judge of the
+applauses, benedictions, and pompous eulogies, on the part of the
+consubstantialists! Their adversaries scarcely subsist any longer; their
+complaints and clamors against the tyranny of Theodosius have perished
+with them, and the predominant party still lavishes on this prince the
+epithets of pious, just, clement, wise, and great.
+
+One day this pious and clement prince, who loved money to distraction,
+proposed laying a very heavy tax upon the city of Antioch, then the
+finest of Asia Minor. The people, in despair, having demanded a slight
+diminution, and not being able to obtain it, went so far as to break
+some statues, among which was one of the soldier, the emperor's father.
+St. John Chrysostom, or golden mouth, the priest and flatterer of
+Theodosius, failed not to call this action a detestable sacrilege, since
+Theodosius was the image of God, and his father was almost as sacred as
+himself. But if this Spaniard resembled God, he should have remembered
+that the Antiochians also resembled Him, and that men formed after the
+exemplar of all the gods existed before emperors.
+
+     _Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum._
+                                      --OVID, _Met._ i, b. 83.
+
+Theodosius immediately sent a letter to the governor, with an order to
+apply the torture to the principal images of God who had taken part in
+this passing sedition; to make them perish under blows received from
+cords terminated with leaden balls; to burn some, and deliver others up
+to the sword. This was executed with all the punctuality of a governor
+who did his duty like a Christian, who paid his court well, and who
+would make his way there. The Orontes bore nothing but corpses to the
+sea for several days; after which, his gracious imperial majesty
+pardoned the Antiochians with his usual clemency, and doubled the tax.
+
+How did the emperor Julian act in the same city, when he had received a
+more personal and injurious outrage? It was not a paltry statue of his
+father which they defaced; it was to himself that the Antiochians
+addressed themselves, and against whom they composed the most violent
+satires. The philosophical emperor answered them by a light and
+ingenious satire. He took from them neither their lives nor their
+purses. He contented himself with having more wit than they had. This is
+the man whom St. Gregory Nazianzen and Theodoret, who were not of his
+communion, dare to calumniate so far as to say that he sacrificed women
+and children to the moon; while those who were of the communion of
+Theodosius have persisted to our day in copying one another, by saying
+in a hundred ways, that Theodosius was the most virtuous of men, and by
+wishing to make him a saint.
+
+We know well enough what was the mildness of this saint in the massacre
+of fifteen thousand of his subjects at Thessalonica. His panegyrists
+reduce the number of the murdered to seven or eight thousand, which is a
+very small number to them; but they elevate to the sky the tender piety
+of this good prince, who deprived himself of mass, as also that of his
+accomplice, the detestable Rufinus. I confess once more, that it was a
+great expiation, a great act of devotion, the not going to mass; but it
+restores not life to fifteen thousand innocents, slain in cold blood by
+an abominable perfidy. If a heretic was stained with such a crime, with
+what pleasure would all historians turn their boasting against him; with
+what colors would they paint him in the pulpits and college
+declamations!
+
+I will suppose that the prince of Parma entered Paris, after having
+forced our dear Henry IV. to raise the siege; I will suppose that Philip
+II. gave the throne of France to his Catholic daughter, and to the young
+Catholic duke of Guise; how many pens and voices would forever have
+anathematized Henry IV., and the Salic law! They would be both
+forgotten, and the Guises would be the heroes of the state and religion.
+Thus it is--applaud the prosperous and fly the miserable! "_Et cole
+felices, miseros fuge._"
+
+If Hugh Capet dispossess the legitimate heir of Charlemagne, he becomes
+the root of a race of heroes. If he fails, he may be treated as the
+brother of St. Louis since treated Conradin and the duke of Austria, and
+with much more reason.
+
+Pepin rebels, dethrones the Merovingian race, and shuts his king in a
+cloister; but if he succeeds not, he mounts the scaffold. If Clovis, the
+first king of Belgic Gaul, is beaten in his invasion, he runs the risk
+of being condemned to the fangs of beasts, as one of his ancestors was
+by Constantine. Thus goes the world under the empire of fortune, which
+is nothing but necessity, insurmountable fatality. "_Fortuna sævo læta
+negotio._" She makes us blindly play her terrible game, and we never see
+beneath the cards.
+
+
+
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+The theologian knows perfectly that, according to St. Thomas, angels are
+corporeal with relation to God; that the soul receives its being in the
+body; and that man has a vegetative, sensitive, and intellectual soul;
+that the soul is all in all, and all in every part; that it is the
+efficient and formal cause of the body; that it is the greatest in
+nobleness of form; that the appetite is a passive power; that archangels
+are the medium between angels and principalities; that baptism
+regenerates of itself and by chance; that the catechism is not a
+sacrament, but sacramental; that certainty springs from the cause and
+subject; that concupiscence is the appetite of sensitive delectation;
+that conscience is an act and not a power.
+
+The angel of the schools has written about four thousand fine pages in
+this style, and a shaven-crowned young man passes three years in filling
+his brain with this sublime knowledge; after which he receives the
+bonnet of a doctor of the Sorbonne, instead of going to Bedlam. If he is
+a man of quality, or the son of a rich man, or intriguing and fortunate,
+he becomes bishop, archbishop, cardinal, and pope.
+
+If he is poor and without credit, he becomes the chaplain of one of
+these people; it is he who preaches for them, who reads St. Thomas and
+Scotus for them, who makes commandments for them, and who in a council
+decides for them.
+
+The title of theologian is so great that the fathers of the Council of
+Trent give it to their cooks, "_cuoco celeste, gran theologo_." Their
+science is the first of sciences, their condition the first of
+conditions, and themselves the first of men; such the empire of true
+doctrine; so much does reason govern mankind!
+
+When a theologian has become--thanks to his arguments--either prince of
+the holy Roman Empire, archbishop of Toledo, or one of the seventy
+princes clothed in red, successors of the humble apostles, then the
+successors of Galen and Hippocrates are at his service. They were his
+equals when they studied in the same university; they had the same
+degrees, and received the same furred bonnet. Fortune changes all; and
+those who discovered the circulation of the blood, the lacteal veins,
+and the thoracic canal, are the servants of those who have learned what
+concomitant grace is, and have forgotten it.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+I knew a true theologian; he was master of the languages of the East,
+and was instructed as much as possible in the ancient rites of nations.
+The Brahmins, Chaldæans, Fire-worshippers, Sabeans, Syrians, and
+Egyptians, were as well known to him as the Jews; the several lessons of
+the Bible were familiar to him; and for thirty years he had tried to
+reconcile the gospels, and endeavored to make the fathers agree. He
+sought in what time precisely the creed attributed to the apostles was
+digested, and that which bears the name of Athanasius; how the
+sacraments were instituted one after the other; what was the difference
+between synaxis and mass; how the Christian Church was divided since its
+origin into different parties, and how the predominating society treated
+all the others as heretics. He sounded the depth of policy which always
+mixes with these quarrels; and he distinguished between policy and
+wisdom, between the pride which would subjugate minds and the desire of
+self-illumination, between zeal and fanaticism.
+
+The difficulty of arranging in his head so many things, the nature of
+which is to be confounded, and of throwing a little light on so many
+clouds, often checked him; but as these researches were the duty of his
+profession, he gave himself up to them notwithstanding his distaste. He
+at length arrived at knowledge unknown to the greater part of his
+brethren: but the more learned he waxed, the more mistrustful he became
+of all that he knew. While he lived he was indulgent; and at his death,
+he confessed that he had spent his life uselessly.
+
+
+
+
+THUNDER.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+     _Vidi et crudeles dantem Salmonea pœnas_
+     _Dum flammas Jovis et sonitus imitatur Olympia, etc._
+                             --VIRGIL, Æneid, b. vi, 1. 585.
+
+     Salmoneus suffering cruel pains I found,
+     For imitating Jove, the rattling sound
+     Of mimic thunder, and the glittering blaze
+     Of pointed lightnings and their forked rays.
+
+Those who invented and perfected artillery are so many other
+Salmoneuses. A cannon-ball of twenty-four pounds can make, and has often
+made, more ravage than an hundred thunder-claps; yet no cannoneer has
+ever been struck by Jupiter for imitating that which passes in the
+atmosphere.
+
+We have seen that Polyphemus, in a piece of Euripides, boasts of making
+more noise, when he had supped well, than the thunder of Jupiter.
+Boileau, more honest than Polyphemus, says that another world astonishes
+him, and that he believes in the immortality of the soul, and that it is
+God who thunders:
+
+     _Pour moi, qu'en santé même un autre monde étonne,_
+     _Qui crois l'âme immortelle, et que c'est Dieu qui tonne._
+                                       --SAT. i, line 161,162.
+
+I know not why he is so astonished at another world, since all antiquity
+believed in it. Astonish was not the proper word; it was alarm. He
+believes that it is God who thunders; but he thunders only as he hails,
+as he rains, and as he produces fine weather--as he operates all, as he
+performs all. It is not because he is angry that he sends thunder and
+rain. The ancients paint Jupiter taking thunder, composed of three
+burning arrows, and hurling it at whomsoever he chose. Sound reason does
+not agree with these poetical ideas.
+
+Thunder is like everything else, the necessary effect of the laws of
+nature, prescribed by its author. It is merely a great electrical
+phenomenon. Franklin forces it to descend tranquilly on the earth; it
+fell on Professor Richmann as on rocks and churches; and if it struck
+Ajax Oileus, it was assuredly not because Minerva was irritated against
+him.
+
+If it had fallen on Cartouche, or the abbé Desfontaines, people would
+not have failed to say:
+
+"Behold how God punishes thieves and--." But it is a useful prejudice to
+make the sky fearful to the perverse. Thus all our tragic poets, when
+they would rhyme to "_poudre_" or "_resoudre_," invariably make use of
+"_foudre_"; and uniformly make "_tonnerre_" roll, when they would rhyme
+to "_terre_."
+
+Theseus, in "_Phèdre_," says to his son--act iv, scene 2:
+
+     _Monstre, qu'à trop longtemps épargné le tonnerre,_
+     _Reste impur des brigands dont j'ai purgé la terre!_
+
+Severus, in "_Polyeucte_," without even having occasion to rhyme, when
+he learns that his mistress is married, talks to Fabian, his friend, of
+a clap of thunder. He says elsewhere to the same Fabian--act iv, scene
+6--that a new clap of "_foudre_" strikes upon his hope, and reduces it
+to "_poudre_":
+
+     _Qu'est ceci, Fabian, quel nouveau coup de foudre_
+     _Tombe sur mon espoir, et le réduit en poudre?_
+
+
+A hope reduced to powder must astonish the pit! Lusignan, in "_Zaïre_,"
+prays God that the thunder will burst on him alone:
+
+
+     _Que la foudre en éclats ne tombe que sur moi._
+
+If Tydeus consults the gods in the cave of a temple, the cave answers
+him only by great claps of thunder.
+
+     I've finally seen the thunder and "foudre"
+     Reduce verses to cinders and rhymes into "poudre."
+
+We must endeavor to thunder less frequently.
+
+I could never clearly comprehend the fable of Jupiter and Thunder, in La
+Fontaine--b. viii, fable 20.
+
+     _Vulcain remplit ses fourneaux_
+     _De deux sortes de carreaux._
+     _L'un jamais ne se fourvoie,_
+     _Et c'est celui que toujours_
+     _L'Olympe en corps nous envoie._
+     _L'autre s'écarte en son cours,_
+     _Ce n'est qu'aux monts qu'il en coûte;_
+     _Bien souvent même il se perd;_
+     _Et ce dernier en sa route_
+     _Nous vient du seul Jupiter._
+
+"Vulcan fills his furnaces with two sorts of thunderbolts. The one never
+wanders, and it is that which comes direct from Olympus. The other
+diverges in its route, and only spends itself on mountains; it is often
+even altogether dissipated. It is this last alone which proceeds from
+Jupiter."
+
+Was the subject of this fable, which La Fontaine put into bad verse so
+different from his general style, given to him? Would it infer that the
+ministers of Louis XIV. were inflexible, and that the king pardoned?
+Crébillon, in his academical discourse in foreign verse, says that
+Cardinal Fleury is a wise depositary, the eagle, using his thunder, yet
+the friend of peace:
+
+     _Usant en citoyen du pouvoir arbitraire,_
+     _Aigle de Jupiter, mais ami de la paix,_
+     _Il gouverne la foudre, et ne tonne jamais._
+
+He says that Marshal Villars made it appear that he survived Malplaquet
+only to become more celebrated at Denain, and that with a clap of
+thunder Prince Eugene was vanquished:
+
+     _Fit voir, qu'à Malplaquet il n'avait survécu_
+     _Que pour rendre à Denain sa valeur plus célèbre_
+     _Et qu'un foudre du moins Eugène était vaincu._
+
+Thus the eagle Fleury governed thunder without thundering, and Eugene
+was vanquished by thunder. Here is quite enough of thunder.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Horace, sometimes the debauched and sometimes the moral, has said--book
+i, ode 3--that our folly extends to heaven itself: "_CÅ“lum ipsum
+petimus stultitia._"
+
+We can say at present that we carry our wisdom to heaven, if we may be
+permitted to call that blue and white mass of exhalations which causes
+winds, rain, snow, hail, and thunder, heaven. We have decomposed the
+thunderbolt, as Newton disentangled light. We have perceived that these
+thunderbolts, formerly borne by the eagle of Jupiter, are really only
+electric fire; that in short we can draw down thunder, conduct it,
+divide it, and render ourselves masters of it, as we make the rays of
+light pass through a prism, as we give course to the waters which fall
+from heaven, that is to say, from the height of half a league from our
+atmosphere. We plant a high fir with the branches lopped off, the top of
+which is covered with a cone of iron. The clouds which form thunder are
+electrical; their electricity is communicated to this cone, and a brass
+wire which is attached to it conducts the matter of thunder wherever we
+please. An ingenious physician calls this experiment the inoculation of
+thunder.
+
+It is true, that inoculation for the smallpox, which has preserved so
+many mortals, caused some to perish, to whom the smallpox had been
+inconsiderately given; and in like manner the inoculation of thunder
+ill-performed would be dangerous. There are great lords whom we can only
+approach with the greatest precaution, and thunder is of this number. We
+know that the mathematical professor Richmann was killed at St.
+Petersburg, in 1753, by a thunderbolt which he had drawn into his
+chamber: "_Arte sua periit._" As he was a philosopher, a theological
+professor failed not to publish that he had been thunderstruck like
+Salmoneus, for having usurped the rights of God, and for wishing to hurl
+the thunder: but if the physician had directed the brass wire outside
+the house, and not into his pent-up chamber, he would not have shared
+the lot of Salmoneus, Ajax Oileus, the emperor Carus, the son of a
+French minister of state, and of several monks in the Pyrenees.
+
+
+
+
+TOLERATION.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+What is toleration? It is the appurtenance of humanity. We are all full
+of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our
+follies--it is the first law of nature.
+
+When, on the exchange of Amsterdam, of London, of Surat, or of Bassora,
+the Gueber, the Banian, the Jew, the Mahometan, the Chinese Deist, the
+Brahmin, the Christian of the Greek Church, the Roman Catholic
+Christian, the Protestant Christian, and the Quaker Christian, traffic
+together, they do not lift the poniard against each other, in order to
+gain souls for their religion. Why then have we been cutting one
+another's throats almost without interruption since the first Council of
+Nice?
+
+Constantine began by issuing an edict which allowed all religions, and
+ended by persecuting. Before him, tumults were excited against the
+Christians, only because they began to make a party in the state. The
+Romans permitted all kinds of worship, even those of the Jews, and of
+the Egyptians, for whom they had so much contempt. Why did Rome tolerate
+these religions? Because neither the Egyptians, nor even the Jews,
+aimed at exterminating the ancient religion of the empire, or ranged
+through land and sea for proselytes; they thought only of money-getting;
+but it is undeniable, that the Christians wished their own religion to
+be the dominant one. The Jews would not suffer the statue of Jupiter at
+Jerusalem, but the Christians wished it not to be in the capitol. St.
+Thomas had the candor to avow, that if the Christians did not dethrone
+the emperors, it was because they could not. Their opinion was, that the
+whole earth ought to be Christian. They were therefore necessarily
+enemies to the whole earth, until it was converted.
+
+Among themselves, they were the enemies of each other on all their
+points of controversy. Was it first of all necessary to regard Jesus
+Christ as God? Those who denied it were anathematized under the name of
+Ebionites, who themselves anathematized the adorers of Jesus.
+
+Did some among them wish all things to be in common, as it is pretended
+they were in the time of the apostles? Their adversaries called them
+Nicolaites, and accused them of the most infamous crimes. Did others
+profess a mystical devotion? They were termed Gnostics, and attacked
+with fury. Did Marcion dispute on the Trinity? He was treated as an
+idolater.
+
+Tertullian, Praxeas, Origen, Novatus, Novatian, Sabellius, Donatus, were
+all persecuted by their brethren, before Constantine; and scarcely had
+Constantine made the Christian religion the ruling one, when the
+Athanasians and the Eusebians tore each other to pieces; and from that
+time to our own days, the Christian Church has been deluged with blood.
+
+The Jewish people were, I confess, a very barbarous nation. They
+mercilessly cut the throats of all the inhabitants of an unfortunate
+little country upon which they had no more claim than they had upon
+Paris or London. However, when Naaman was cured of the leprosy by being
+plunged seven times in the Jordan--when, in order to testify his
+gratitude to Elisha, who had taught him the secret, he told him he would
+adore the god of the Jews from gratitude, he reserved to himself the
+liberty to adore also the god of his own king; he asked Elisha's
+permission to do so, and the prophet did not hesitate to grant it. The
+Jews adored their god, but they were never astonished that every nation
+had its own. They approved of Chemos having given a certain district to
+the Moabites, provided their god would give them one also. Jacob did not
+hesitate to marry the daughters of an idolater. Laban had his god, as
+Jacob had his. Such are the examples of toleration among the most
+intolerant and cruel people of antiquity. We have imitated them in their
+absurd passions, and not in their indulgence.
+
+It is clear that every private individual who persecutes a man, his
+brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster. This
+admits of no difficulty. But the government, the magistrates, the
+princes!--how do they conduct themselves towards those who have a faith
+different from their own? If they are powerful foreigners, it is certain
+that a prince will form an alliance with them. The Most Christian
+Francis I. will league himself with the Mussulmans against the Most
+Catholic Charles V. Francis I. will give money to the Lutherans in
+Germany, to support them in their rebellion against their emperor; but
+he will commence, as usual, by having the Lutherans in his own country
+burned. He pays them in Saxony from policy; he burns them in Paris from
+policy. But what follows? Persecutions make proselytes. France will soon
+be filled with new Protestants. At first they will submit to be hanged;
+afterwards they will hang in their turn. There will be civil wars; then
+Saint Bartholomew will come; and this corner of the world will be worse
+than all that the ancients and moderns have ever said of hell.
+
+Blockheads, who have never been able to render a pure worship to the God
+who made you! Wretches, whom the example of the Noachides, the Chinese
+literati, the Parsees, and of all the wise, has not availed to guide!
+Monsters, who need superstitions, just as the gizzard of a raven needs
+carrion! We have already told you--and we have nothing else to say--if
+you have two religions among you, they will massacre each other; if you
+have thirty, they will live in peace. Look at the Grand Turk: he governs
+Guebers, Banians, Christians of the Greek Church, Nestorians, and Roman
+Catholics. The first who would excite a tumult is empaled; and all is
+tranquil.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Of all religions, the Christian ought doubtless to inspire the most
+toleration, although hitherto the Christians have been the most
+intolerant of all men. Jesus, having deigned to be born in poverty and
+lowliness like his brethren, never condescended to practise the art of
+writing. The Jews had a law written with the greatest minuteness, and we
+have not a single line from the hand of Jesus. The apostles were divided
+on many points. St. Peter and St. Barnabas ate forbidden meats with the
+new stranger Christians, and abstained from them with the Jewish
+Christians. St. Paul reproached them with this conduct; and this same
+St. Paul, the Pharisee, the disciple of the Pharisee Gamaliel--this same
+St. Paul, who had persecuted the Christians with fury, and who after
+breaking with Gamaliel became a Christian himself--nevertheless, went
+afterwards to sacrifice in the temple of Jerusalem, during his apostolic
+vacation. For eight days he observed publicly all the ceremonies of the
+Jewish law which he had renounced; he even added devotions and
+purifications which were superabundant; he completely Judaized. The
+greatest apostle of the Christians did, for eight days, the very things
+for which men are condemned to the stake among a large portion of
+Christian nations.
+
+Theudas and Judas were called Messiahs, before Jesus: Dositheus, Simon,
+Menander, called themselves Messiahs, after Jesus. From the first
+century of the Church, and before even the name of Christian was known,
+there were a score of sects in Judæa.
+
+The contemplative Gnostics, the Dositheans, the Cerintheins, existed
+before the disciples of Jesus had taken the name of Christians. There
+were soon thirty churches, each of which belonged to a different
+society; and by the close of the first century thirty sects of
+Christians might be reckoned in Asia Minor, in Syria, in Alexandria, and
+even in Rome.
+
+All these sects, despised by the Roman government, and concealed in
+their obscurity, nevertheless persecuted each other in the hiding holes
+where they lurked; that is to say, they reproached one another. This is
+all they could do in their abject condition: they were almost wholly
+composed of the dregs of the people.
+
+When at length some Christians had embraced the dogmas of Plato, and
+mingled a little philosophy with their religion, which they separated
+from the Jewish, they insensibly became more considerable, but were
+always divided into many sects, without there ever having been a time
+when the Christian church was reunited. It took its origin in the midst
+of the divisions of the Jews, the Samaritans, the Pharisees, the
+Sadducees, the Essenians, the Judaites, the disciples of John, and the
+Therapeutae. It was divided in its infancy; it was divided even amid
+the persecutions it sometimes endured under the first emperors. The
+martyr was often regarded by his brethren as an apostate; and the
+Carpocratian Christian expired under the sword of the Roman executioner,
+excommunicated by the Ebionite Christian, which Ebionite was
+anathematized by the Sabellian.
+
+This horrible discord, lasting for so many centuries, is a very striking
+lesson that we ought mutually to forgive each other's errors: discord is
+the great evil of the human species, and toleration is its only remedy.
+
+There is nobody who does not assent to this truth, whether meditating
+coolly in his closet, or examining the truth peaceably with his friends.
+Why, then, do the same men who in private admit charity, beneficence,
+and justice, oppose themselves in public so furiously against these
+virtues? Why!--it is because their interest is their god; because they
+sacrifice all to that monster whom they adore.
+
+I possess dignity and power, which ignorance and credulity have founded.
+I trample on the heads of men prostrated at my feet; if they should rise
+and look me in the face, I am lost; they must, therefore, be kept bound
+down to the earth with chains of iron.
+
+Thus have men reasoned, whom ages of fanaticism have rendered powerful.
+They have other persons in power under them, and these latter again have
+underlings, who enrich themselves with the spoils of the poor man,
+fatten themselves with his blood, and laugh at his imbecility. They
+detest all toleration, as contractors enriched at the expense of the
+public are afraid to render their accounts, and as tyrants dread the
+name of liberty. To crown all, in short, they encourage fanatics who cry
+aloud: Respect the absurdities of my master; tremble, pay, and be
+silent.
+
+Such was the practice for a long time in a great part of the world; but
+now, when so many sects are balanced by their power, what side must we
+take among them? Every sect, we know, is a mere title of error; while
+there is no sect of geometricians, of algebraists, of arithmeticians;
+because all the propositions of geometry, algebra, and arithmetic, are
+true. In all the other sciences, one may be mistaken. What Thomist or
+Scotist theologian can venture to assert seriously that he goes on sure
+grounds?
+
+If there is any sect which reminds one of the time of the first
+Christians, it is undeniably that of the Quakers. The apostles received
+the spirit. The Quakers receive the spirit. The apostles and disciples
+spoke three or four at once in the assembly in the third story; the
+Quakers do as much on the ground floor. Women were permitted to preach,
+according to St. Paul, and they were forbidden according to the same St.
+Paul: the Quakeresses preach by virtue of the first permission.
+
+The apostles and disciples swore by yea and nay; the Quakers will not
+swear in any other form. There was no rank, no difference of dress,
+among apostles and disciples; the Quakers have sleeves without buttons,
+and are all clothed alike. Jesus Christ baptized none of his apostles;
+the Quakers are never baptized.
+
+It would be easy to push the parallel farther; it would be still easier
+to demonstrate how much the Christian religion of our day differs from
+the religion which Jesus practised. Jesus was a Jew, and we are not
+Jews. Jesus abstained from pork, because it is uncleanly, and from
+rabbit, because it ruminates and its foot is not cloven; we fearlessly
+eat pork, because it is not uncleanly for us, and we eat rabbit which
+has the cloven foot and does not ruminate.
+
+Jesus was circumcised, and we retain our foreskin. Jesus ate the Paschal
+lamb with lettuce, He celebrated the feast of the tabernacles; and we do
+nothing of this. He observed the Sabbath, and we have changed it; He
+sacrificed, and we never sacrifice.
+
+Jesus always concealed the mystery of His incarnation and His dignity;
+He never said He was equal to God. St. Paul says expressly, in his
+Epistle to the Hebrews, that God created Jesus inferior to the angels;
+and in spite of St. Paul's words, Jesus was acknowledged as God at the
+Council of Nice.
+
+Jesus has not given the pope either the march of Ancona or the duchy of
+Spoleto; and, notwithstanding, the pope possesses them by divine right.
+Jesus did not make a sacrament either of marriage or of deaconry; and,
+with us, marriage and deaconry are sacraments. If we would attend
+closely to the fact, the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman religion is, in
+all its ceremonies and in all its dogma, the reverse of the religion of
+Jesus!
+
+But what! must we all Judaize, because Jesus Judaized all His life? If
+it were allowed to reason logically in matters of religion, it is clear
+that we ought all to become Jews, since Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was
+born a Jew, lived a Jew and died a Jew, and since He expressly said,
+that He accomplished and fulfilled the Jewish religion. But it is still
+more clear that we ought mutually to tolerate one another, because we
+are all weak, irrational, and subject to change and error. A reed
+prostrated by the wind in the mire--ought it to say to a neighboring
+reed placed in a contrary direction: Creep after my fashion, wretch, or
+I will present a request for you to be seized and burned?
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+My friends, when we have preached toleration in prose and in verse, in
+some of our pulpits, and in all our societies--when we have made these
+true human voices resound in the organs of our churches--we have done
+something for nature, we have reestablished humanity in its rights;
+there will no longer be an ex-Jesuit, or an ex-Jansenist, who dares to
+say, I am intolerant.
+
+There will always be barbarians and cheats who will foment intolerance;
+but they will not avow it--and that is something gained. Let us always
+bear in mind, my friends, let us repeat--for we must repeat, for fear it
+should be forgotten--the words of the bishop of Soissons, not Languet,
+but Fitzjames-Stuart, in his mandate of 1757: "We ought to regard the
+Turks as our brethren."
+
+Let us consider, that throughout English America, which constitutes
+nearly the fourth part of the known world, entire liberty of conscience
+is established; and provided a man believes in a God, every religion is
+well received: notwithstanding which, commerce flourishes and population
+increases. Let us always reflect, that the first law of the Empire of
+Russia, which is greater than the Roman Empire, is the toleration of
+every sect.
+
+The Turkish Empire, and the Persian, always allowed the same indulgence.
+Mahomet II., when he took Constantinople, did not force the Greeks to
+abandon their religion, although he looked on them as idolaters. Every
+Greek father of a family got off for five or six crowns a year. Many
+prebends and bishoprics were preserved for them; and even at this day
+the Turkish sultan makes canons and bishops, without the pope having
+ever made an imam or a mollah.
+
+My friends, there are only some monks, and some Protestants as barbarous
+as those monks, who are still intolerant. We have been so infected with
+this furor, that in our voyages of long duration, we have carried it to
+China, to Tonquin, and Japan. We have introduced the plague to those
+beautiful climes. The most indulgent of mankind have been taught by us
+to be the most inflexible. We said to them at the outset, in return for
+their kind welcome--Know that we alone on the earth are in the right,
+and that we ought to be masters everywhere. Then they drove us away
+forever. This lesson, which has cost seas of blood, ought to correct us.
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+The author of the preceding article is a worthy man who would sup with a
+Quaker, an Anabaptist, a Socinian, a Mussulman, etc. _I_ would push this
+civility farther; I would say to my brother the Turk--Let us eat
+together a good hen with rice, invoking Allah; your religion seems to me
+very respectable; you adore but one God; you are obliged to give the
+fortieth part of your revenue every day in alms, and to be reconciled
+with your enemies on the day of the Bairam. Our bigots, who calumniate
+the world, have said a hundred times, that your religion succeeded only
+because it was wholly sensual. They have lied, poor fellows! Your
+religion is very austere; it commands prayer five times a day; it
+imposes the most rigorous fast; it denies you the wine and the liquors
+which our spiritual directors encourage; and if it permits only four
+wives to those who can support them--which are very few--it condemns by
+this restriction the Jewish incontinence, which allowed eighteen wives
+to the homicide David, and seven hundred, without reckoning concubines,
+to Solomon, the assassin of his brother.
+
+I will say to my brother the Chinese: Let us sup together without
+ceremony, for I dislike grimaces; but I like your law, the wisest of
+all, and perhaps the most ancient. I will say nearly as much to my
+brother the Indian.
+
+But what shall I say to my brother the Jew? Shall I invite him to
+supper? Yes, on condition that, during the repast, Balaam's ass does not
+take it into its head to bray; that Ezekiel does not mix his dinner with
+our supper; that a fish does not swallow up one of the guests, and keep
+him three days in his belly; that a serpent does not join in the
+conversation, in order to seduce my wife; that a prophet does not think
+proper to sleep with her, as the worthy man, Hosea, did for five francs
+and a bushel of barley; above all, that no Jew parades through my house
+to the sound of the trumpet, causes the walls to fall down, and cuts the
+throats of myself, my father, my mother, my wife, my children, my cat
+and my dog, according to the ancient practice of the Jews. Come, my
+friends, let us have peace, and say our _benedicite_.
+
+
+
+
+TOPHET.
+
+
+Tophet was, and is still, a precipice near Jerusalem, in the valley of
+Hinnom, which is a frightful place, abounding only in flints. It was in
+this dreary solitude that the Jews immolated their children to their
+god, whom they then called Moloch; for we have observed, that they
+always bestowed a foreign name on their god. _Shadai_ was Syrian;
+_Adonai_, Phœnician; _Jehovah_ was also Phœnician; _Eloi_,
+_Elohim_, _Eloa_, Chaldæan; and in the same manner, the names of all
+their angels were Chaldæan or Persian. This we have remarked very
+particularly.
+
+All these different names equally signify "the lord," in the jargon of
+the petty nations bordering on Palestine. The word _Moloch_ is evidently
+derived from _Melk_, which was the same as _Melcom_ or _Melcon_, the
+divinity of the thousand women in the seraglio of Solomon; to-wit, seven
+hundred wives and three hundred concubines. All these names signify
+"lord": each village had its lord.
+
+Some sages pretend that Moloch was more particularly the god of fire;
+and that it was on that account the Jews burned their children in the
+hollow of the idol of this same Moloch. It was a large statue of copper,
+rendered as hideous as the Jews could make it. They heated the statue
+red hot, in a large fire, although they had very little fuel, and cast
+their children into the belly of this god, as our cooks cast living
+lobsters into the boiling water of their cauldrons. Such were the
+ancient Celts and Tudescans, when they burned children in honor of
+Teutates and Hirminsule. Such the Gallic virtue, and the German
+freedom!
+
+Jeremiah wished, in vain, to detach the Jewish people from this
+diabolical worship. In vain he reproaches them with having built a sort
+of temple to Moloch in this abominable valley. "They have built high
+places in Tophet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, in
+order to pass their sons and daughters through the fire."
+
+The Jews paid so much the less regard to the reproaches of Jeremiah, as
+they fiercely accused him of having sold himself to the king of Babylon;
+of having uniformly prophesied in his favor; and of having betrayed his
+country. In short, he suffered the punishment of a traitor; he was
+stoned to death.
+
+The Book of Kings informs us, that Solomon built a temple to Moloch, but
+it does not say that it was in the valley of Tophet, but in the vicinity
+upon the Mount of Olives. The situation was fine, if anything can be
+called fine in the frightful neighborhood of Jerusalem.
+
+Some commentators pretend, that Ahaz, king of Judah, burned his son in
+honor of Moloch, and that King Manasses was guilty of the same
+barbarity. Other commentators suppose, that these kings of the chosen
+people of God were content with casting their children into the flames,
+but that they were not burned to death. I wish that it may have been so;
+but it is very difficult for a child not to be burned when placed on a
+lighted pile.
+
+This valley of Tophet was the "Clamart" of Paris, the place where they
+deposited all the rubbish and carrion of the city. It was in this
+valley that they cast loose the scape-goat; it was the place in which
+the bodies of the two criminals were cast who suffered with the Son of
+God; but our Saviour did not permit His body, which was given up to the
+executioner, to be cast in the highway of the valley of Tophet,
+according to custom. It is true, that He might have risen again in
+Tophet, as well as in Calvary; but a good Jew, named Joseph, a native of
+Arimathea, who had prepared a sepulchre for himself on Mount Calvary,
+placed the body of the Saviour therein, according to the testimony of
+St. Matthew. No one was allowed to be buried in the towns; even the tomb
+of David was not in Jerusalem.
+
+Joseph of Arimathea was rich--"a certain rich man of Arimathea,"--that
+the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled: "And he made his grave with
+the wicked, and with the rich in his death."
+
+
+
+
+TORTURE.
+
+
+Though there are few articles of jurisprudence in these honest
+alphabetical reflections, we must, however, say a word or two on
+torture, otherwise called "the question"; which is a strange manner of
+questioning men. They were not, however, the simply curious who invented
+it; there is every appearance, that this part of our legislation owes
+its first origin to a highwayman. Most of these gentlemen are still in
+the habit of screwing thumbs, burning feet, and questioning, by various
+torments, those who refuse to tell them where they have put their money.
+
+Conquerors having succeeded these thieves, found the invention very
+useful to their interests; they made use of it when they suspected that
+there were bad designs against them: as, for example, that of seeking
+freedom was a crime of high treason, human and divine. The accomplices
+must be known; and to accomplish it, those who were suspected were made
+to suffer a thousand deaths, because, according to the jurisprudence of
+these primitive heroes, whoever was suspected of merely having a
+disrespectful opinion of them, was worthy of death. As soon as they have
+thus merited death, it signifies little whether they had frightful
+torments for several days, and even weeks previously--a practice which
+savors, I know not how, of the Divinity. Providence sometimes puts us to
+the torture by employing the stone, gravel, gout, scrofula, leprosy,
+smallpox; by tearing the entrails, by convulsions of the nerves,-and
+other executors of the vengeance of Providence.
+
+Now, as the first despots were, in the eyes of their courtiers, images
+of the Divinity, they imitated it as much as they could. What is very
+singular is, that the question, or torture, is never spoken of in the
+Jewish books. It is a great pity that so mild, honest, and compassionate
+a nation knew not this method of discovering the truth. In my opinion,
+the reason is, that they had no need of it. God always made it known to
+them as to His cherished people. Sometimes they played at dice to
+discover the truth, and the suspected culprit always had double sixes.
+Sometimes they went to the high priest, who immediately consulted God by
+the urim and thummim. Sometimes they addressed themselves to the seer
+and prophet; and you may believe that the seer and prophet discovered
+the most hidden things, as well as the urim and thummim of the high
+priest. The people of God were not reduced, like ourselves, to
+interrogating and conjecturing; and therefore torture could not be in
+use among them, which was the only thing wanting to complete the manners
+of that holy people. The Romans inflicted torture on slaves alone, but
+slaves were not considered as men. Neither is there any appearance that
+a counsellor of the criminal court regards as one of his
+fellow-creatures, a man who is brought to him wan, pale, distorted, with
+sunken eyes, long and dirty beard, covered with vermin with which he has
+been tormented in a dungeon. He gives himself the pleasure of applying
+to him the major and minor torture, in the presence of a surgeon, who
+counts his pulse until he is in danger of death, after which they
+recommence; and as the comedy of the "Plaideurs" pleasantly says, "that
+serves to pass away an hour or two."
+
+The grave magistrate, who for money has bought the right of making these
+experiments on his neighbor, relates to his wife, at dinner, that which
+has passed in the morning. The first time, madam shudders at it; the
+second, she takes some pleasure in it, because, after all, women are
+curious; and afterwards, the first thing she says when he enters is: "My
+dear, have you tortured anybody to-day?" The French, who are considered,
+I know not why, a very humane people, are astonished that the English,
+who have had the inhumanity to take all Canada from us, have renounced
+the pleasure of putting the question.
+
+When the Chevalier de Barre, the grandson of a lieutenant-general of the
+army, a young man of much sense and great expectations, but possessing
+all the giddiness of unbridled youth, was convicted of having sung
+impious songs, and even of having dared to pass before a procession of
+Capuchins without taking his hat off, the judges of Abbeville, men
+comparable to Roman senators, ordered not only that his tongue should be
+torn out, that his hands should be torn off, and his body burned at a
+slow fire, but they further applied the torture, to know precisely how
+many songs he had sung, and how many processions he had seen with his
+hat on his head.
+
+It was not in the thirteenth or fourteenth century that this affair
+happened; it was in the eighteenth. Foreign nations judge of France by
+its spectacles, romances, and pretty verses; by opera girls who have
+very sweet manners, by opera dancers who posssess grace; by
+Mademoiselle Clairon, who declaims delightfully. They know not that,
+under all, there is not a more cruel nation than the French. The
+Russians were considered barbarians in 1700; this is only the year 1769;
+yet an empress has just given to this great state laws which would do
+honor to Minos, Numa, or Solon, if they had had intelligence enough to
+invent them. The most remarkable is universal tolerance; the second is
+the abolition of torture. Justice and humanity have guided her pen; she
+has reformed all. Woe to a nation which, being more civilized, is still
+led by ancient atrocious customs! "Why should we change our
+jurisprudence?" say we. "Europe is indebted to us for cooks, tailors,
+and wig-makers; therefore, our laws are good."
+
+
+
+
+TRANSUBSTANTIATION.
+
+
+Protestants, and above all, philosophical Protestants, regard
+transubstantiation as the most signal proof of extreme impudence in
+monks, and of imbecility in laymen. They hold no terms with this belief,
+which they call monstrous, and assert that it is impossible for a man of
+good sense ever to have believed in it. It is, say they, so absurd, so
+contrary to every physical law, and so contradictory, it would be a sort
+of annihilation of God, to suppose Him capable of such inconsistency.
+Not only a god in a wafer, but a god in the place of a wafer; a thousand
+crumbs of bread become in an instant so many gods, which an innumerable
+crowd of gods make only one god. Whiteness without a white substance;
+roundness without rotundity of body; wine changed into blood, retaining
+the taste of wine; bread changed into flesh and into fibres, still
+preserving the taste of bread--all this inspires such a degree of horror
+and contempt in the enemies of the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman
+religion, that it sometimes insensibly verges into rage.
+
+Their horror augments when they are told that, in Catholic countries,
+are monks who rise from a bed of impurity, and with unwashed hands make
+gods by hundreds; who eat and drink these gods, and reduce them to the
+usual consequences of such an operation. But when they reflect that this
+superstition, a thousand times more absurd and sacrilegious than those
+of Egypt, produces for an Italian priest from fifteen to twenty millions
+of revenue, and the domination of a country containing a hundred
+thousand square leagues, they are ready to march with their arms in
+their hands and drive away this priest from the palace of Cæsar. I know
+not if I shall be of the party, because I love peace; but when
+established at Rome, I will certainly pay them a visit.--By M.
+GUILLAUME, a Protestant minister.
+
+
+
+
+TRINITY.
+
+
+The first among the Westerns who spoke of the Trinity was Timæus of
+Locri, in his "Soul of the World." First came the Idea, the perpetual
+model or archetype of all things engendered; that is to say, the first
+"Word," the internal and intelligible "Word." Afterwards, the unformed
+mode, the second word, or the word spoken. Lastly, the "son," or
+sensible world, or the spirit of the world. These three qualities
+constitute the entire world, which world is the Son of God "Monogenes."
+He has a soul and possessed reason; he is "_empsukos, logikos_."
+
+God, wishing to make a very fine God, has engendered one: "_Touton epoie
+theon genaton._"
+
+It is difficult clearly to comprehend the system of Timæus, which he
+perhaps derived from the Egyptians or Brahmins. I know not whether it
+was well understood in his time. It is like decayed and rusty medals,
+the motto of which is effaced: it could be read formerly; at present, we
+put what construction we please upon it.
+
+It does not appear that this sublime balderdash made much progress until
+the time of Plato. It was buried in oblivion, and Plato raised it up. He
+constructed his edifice in the air, but on the model of Timæus. He
+admits three divine essences: the Father, the Supreme Creator, the
+Parent of other gods, is the first essence. The second is the visible
+God, the minister of the invisible one, the "Word," the understanding,
+the great spirit. The third is the world.
+
+It is true, that Plato sometimes says quite different and even quite
+contrary things; it is the privilege of the Greek philosophers; and
+Plato has made use of his right more than any of the ancients or
+moderns. A Greek wind wafted these philosophical clouds from Athens to
+Alexandria, a town prodigiously infatuated with two things--money and
+chimeras. There were Jews in Alexandria who, having made their fortunes,
+turned philosophers.
+
+Metaphysics have this advantage, that they require no very troublesome
+preliminaries. We may know all about them without having learned
+anything; and a little to those who have at once subtle and very false
+minds, will go a great way. Philo the Jew was a philosopher of this
+kind; he was contemporary with Jesus Christ; but he has the misfortune
+of not knowing Him any more than Josephus the historian. These two
+considerable men, employed in the chaos of affairs of state, were too
+far distant from the dawning light. This Philo had quite a metaphysical,
+allegorical, mystical head. It was he who said that God must have formed
+the world in six days; he formed it, according to Zoroaster, in six
+times, "because three is the half of six and two is the third of it; and
+this number is male and female."
+
+This same man, infatuated with the ideas of Plato, says, in speaking of
+drunkenness, that God and wisdom married, and that wisdom was delivered
+of a well-beloved son, which son is the world. He calls the angels the
+words of God, and the world the word of God--"_logon tou Theou_."
+
+As to Flavius Josephus, he was a man of war who had never heard of the
+logos, and who held to the dogmas of the Pharisees, who were solely
+attached to their traditions. From the Jews of Alexandria, this Platonic
+philosophy proceeded to those of Jerusalem. Soon, all the school of
+Alexandria, which was the only learned one, was Platonic; and Christians
+who philosophized, no longer spoke of anything but the _logos_.
+
+We know that it was in disputes of that time the same as in those of the
+present. To one badly understood passage, was tacked another
+unintelligible one to which it had no relation. A second was inferred
+from them, a third was falsified, and they fabricated whole books which
+they attributed to authors respected by the multitude. We have seen a
+hundred examples of it in the article on "Apocrypha."
+
+Dear reader, for heaven's sake cast your eyes on this passage of Clement
+the Alexandrian: "When Plato says, that it is difficult to know the
+Father of the universe, he demonstrates by that, not only that the world
+has been engendered, but that it has been engendered as the Son of God."
+
+Do you understand these logomachies, these equivoques? Do you see the
+least light in this chaos of obscure expressions? Oh, Locke! Locke! come
+and define these terms. In all these Platonic disputes I believe there
+was not a single one understood. They distinguished two words, the
+"_logos endiathetos_"--the word in thought, and the word
+produced--"_logos prophorikos._" They had the eternity from one word,
+and the prolation, the emanation from another word.
+
+The book of "Apostolic Constitutions," an ancient monument of fraud, but
+also an ancient depository of these obscure times, expresses itself
+thus: "The Father, who is anterior to all generation, all commencement,
+having created all by His only Son, has engendered this Son without a
+medium, by His will and His power."
+
+Afterwards Origen advanced, that the Holy Spirit was created by the Son,
+by the word. After that came Eusebius of Cæsarea, who taught that the
+spirit paraclete is neither of Father nor Son. The advocate Lactantius
+flourished in that time.
+
+"The Son of God," says he, "is the word, as the other angels are the
+spirits of God. The word is a spirit uttered by a significant voice, the
+spirit proceeding from the nose, and the word from the mouth. It
+follows, that there is a difference between the Son of God and the other
+angels; those being emanated like tacit and silent spirits; while the
+Son, being a spirit proceeding from the mouth, possesses sound and voice
+to preach to the people."
+
+It must be confessed, that Lactantius pleaded his cause in a strange
+manner. It was truly reasoning a la Plato, and very powerful reasoning.
+It was about this time that, among the very violent disputes on the
+Trinity, this famous verse was inserted in the First Epistle of St.
+John: "There are three that bear witness in earth--the word or spirit,
+the water, and the blood; and these three are one."
+
+Those who pretend that this verse is truly St. John's, are much more
+embarrassed than those who deny it; for they must explain it. St.
+Augustine says, that the spirit signifies the Father, water the Holy
+Ghost, and by blood is meant the Word. This explanation is fine, but it
+still leaves a little confusion.
+
+St Irenæus goes much farther; he says, that Rahab, the prostitute of
+Jericho, in concealing three spies of the people of God, concealed the
+Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; which is strong, but not consistent. On the
+other hand, the great and learned Origen confounds us in a different
+way. The following is one of many of his passages: "The Son is as much
+below the Father as He and the Holy Ghost are above the most noble
+creatures."
+
+What can be said after that? How can we help confessing, with grief,
+that nobody understands it? How can we help confessing, that from the
+first--from the primitive Christians, the Ebionites, those men so
+mortified and so pious, who always revered Jesus though they believed
+Him to be the son of Joseph--until the great controversy of Athanasius,
+the Platonism of the Trinity was always a subject of quarrels. A supreme
+judge was absolutely required to decide, and he was at last found in
+the Council of Nice, which council afterwards produced new factions and
+wars.
+
+EXPLANATION OF THE TRINITY, ACCORDING TO ABAUZIT.
+
+"We can speak with exactness of the manner in which the union of God and
+Jesus Christ exists, only by relating the three opinions which exist on
+this subject, and by making reflections on each of them.
+
+"_Opinion of the Orthodox._
+
+"The first opinion is that of the orthodox. They establish, 1st--A
+distinction of three persons in the divine essence, before the coming of
+Jesus Christ into the world; 2nd--That the second of these persons is
+united to the human nature of Jesus Christ; 3rd--That the union is so
+strict, that by it Jesus Christ is God; that we can attribute to Him the
+creation of the world, and all divine perfections; and that we can adore
+Him with a supreme worship.
+
+"_Opinion of the Unitarians._
+
+"The second is that of the Unitarians. Not conceiving the distinction of
+persons in the Divinity, they establish, 1st--That divinity is united to
+the human nature of Jesus Christ; 2nd--That this union is such that we
+can say, that Jesus Christ is God; that we can attribute to Him the
+creation of the world, and all divine perfections, and adore Him with a
+supreme worship.
+
+"_Opinion of the Socinians._
+
+"The third opinion is that of the Socinians, who, like the Unitarians,
+not conceiving any distinction of persons in the Divinity, establish,
+1st--That divinity is united to the human nature of Jesus Christ;
+2nd--That this union is very strict; 3rd--That it is not such that we
+can call Jesus Christ God, or attribute divine perfections and the
+creation to Him, or adore Him with a supreme worship; and they think
+that all the passages of Scripture may be explained without admitting
+any of these things.
+
+"_Reflections on the First Opinion._
+
+"In the distinction which is made of three persons in the Divinity, we
+either retain the common idea of persons, or we do not. If we retain the
+common idea of persons, we establish three gods; that is certain. If we
+do not establish the ordinary idea of three persons, it is no longer any
+more than a distinction of properties; which agrees with the second
+opinion. Or if we will not allow that it is a distinction of persons,
+properly speaking, we establish a distinction of which we have no idea.
+There is no appearance, that to imagine a distinction in God, of which
+we can have no idea, Scripture would put men in danger of becoming
+idolaters, by multiplying the Divinity. It is besides surprising that
+this distinction of persons having always existed, it should only be
+since the coming of Jesus Christ that it has been revealed, and that it
+is necessary to know them.
+
+"_Reflections on the Second Opinion._
+
+"There is not, indeed, so great danger of precipitating men into
+idolatry in the second opinion as in the first; but it must be confessed
+that it is not entirely exempt from it. Indeed, as by the nature of the
+union which it establishes between divinity and the human nature of
+Jesus Christ, we can call him God and worship him, but there are two
+objects of adoration--Jesus Christ and God. I confess it may be said,
+that it is God whom we should worship in Jesus Christ; but who knows not
+the extreme inclination which men have to change invisible objects of
+worship into objects which fall under the senses, or at least under the
+imagination?--an inclination which they will here gratify without the
+least scruple, since they say that divinity is personally united to the
+humanity of Jesus Christ.
+
+"_Reflections on the Third Opinion._
+
+"The third opinion, besides being very simple, and conformable to the
+ideas of reason, is not subject to any similar danger of throwing men
+into idolatry. Though by this opinion Jesus Christ can be no more than a
+simple man, it need not be feared that by that He can be confounded with
+prophets or saints of the first order. In this sentiment there always
+remains a difference between them and Him. As we can imagine, almost to
+the utmost, the degrees of union of divinity with humanity, so we can
+conceive, that in particular the union of divinity with Jesus Christ
+has so high a degree of knowledge, power, felicity, perfection, and
+dignity, that there is always an immense distance between him and the
+greatest prophets. It remains only to see whether this opinion can agree
+with Scripture, and whether it be true that the title of God, divine
+perfections, creation, and supreme worship, are not attributed to Jesus
+Christ in the Gospels."
+
+It was for the philosopher Abauzit to see all this. For myself I submit,
+with my heart and mouth and pen, to all that the Catholic church has
+decided, and to all that it may decide on any other such dogma. I will
+add but one word more on the Trinity, which is a decision of Calvin's
+that we have on this mystery. This is it:
+
+"In case any person prove heterodox, and scruples using the words
+Trinity and Person, we believe not that this can be a reason for
+rejecting him; we should support him without driving him from the
+Church, and without exposing him to any censure as a heretic."
+
+It was after such a solemn declaration as this, that John Calvin--the
+aforesaid Calvin, the son of a cooper of Noyon--caused Michael Servetus
+to be burned at Geneva by a slow fire with green fagots.
+
+
+
+
+TRUTH.
+
+
+"Pilate therefore said unto him, 'Art thou a king then?' Jesus answered,
+'Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this
+cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto truth:
+every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.' Pilate saith unto him,
+'What is truth?' and when he had said this, he went out," etc.--St.
+John, chap. xviii.
+
+It is a pity for mankind that Pilate went out, without hearing the
+reply: we should then have known what truth is. Pilate was not very
+curious. The accused, brought before him, told him that he was a king,
+that he was born to be a king, and he informs himself not how this can
+be. He was supreme judge in the name of Cæsar, he had the power of the
+sword, his duty was to penetrate into the meaning of these words. He
+should have said: Tell me what you understand by being king? how are you
+born to be king, and to bear witness unto the truth? It is said that you
+can only arrive at the ear of kings with difficulty; I, who am a judge,
+have always had extreme trouble in reaching it. Inform me, while your
+enemies cry outside against you; and you will render me the greatest
+service ever rendered to a judge. I would rather learn to know the
+truth, than condescend to the tumultuous demand of the Jews, who wish me
+to hang you.
+
+We doubtless dare not pretend to guess what the Author of all truth
+would have said to Pilate. Would he have said: "Truth is an abstract
+word which most men use indifferently in their books and judgments, for
+error and falsehood"? This definition would be wonderfully convenient to
+all makers of systems. Thus the word wisdom is often taken for folly,
+and wit for nonsense. Humanly speaking, let us define truth, to better
+understand that which is declared--such as it is.
+
+Suppose that six months only had been taken to teach Pilate the truths
+of logic he would doubtless have made this concluding syllogism: A man's
+life should not have been taken away who has only preached a good
+doctrine; now he who is brought before me, according even to his
+enemies, has often preached an excellent doctrine; therefore, he should
+not be punished with death.
+
+He might also have inferred this other argument: My duty is to dissipate
+the riots of a seditious people, who demand the death of a man without
+reason or juridical form; now such are the Jews on this occasion;
+therefore I should send them away, and break up their assembly. We take
+for granted that Pilate knew arithmetic; we will not therefore speak of
+these kinds of truths.
+
+As to mathematical truths, I believe that he would have required three
+years at least before he would have been acquainted with transcendent
+geometry. The truths of physics, combined with those of geometry, would
+have required more than four years. We generally consume six years in
+studying theology; I ask twelve for Pilate, considering that he was a
+Pagan, and that six years would not have been too many to root out all
+his old errors, and six more to put him in a state worthy to receive
+the bonnet of a doctor. If Pilate had a well organized head, I would
+only have demanded two years to teach him metaphysical truths, and as
+these truths are necessarily united with those of morality, I flatter
+myself that in less than nine years Pilate would have become a truly
+learned and perfectly honest man.
+
+_Historical Truths._
+
+I should afterwards have said to Pilate: Historical truths are but
+probabilities. If you have fought at the battle of Philippi, it is to
+you a truth, which you know by intuition, by sentiment; but to us who
+live near the desert of Syria, it is merely a probable thing, which we
+know by hearsay. How can we, from report, form a persuasion equal to
+that of a man, who having seen the thing, can boast of feeling a kind of
+certainty?
+
+He who has heard the thing told by twelve thousand ocular witnesses, has
+only twelve thousand probabilities equal to one strong one, which is not
+equal to certainty. If you have the thing from only one of these
+witnesses, you are sure of nothing--you must doubt. If the witness is
+dead, you must doubt still more, for you can enlighten yourself no
+further. If from several deceased witnesses, you are in the same state.
+If from those to whom the witnesses have only spoken, the doubt is still
+augmented. From generation to generation the doubt augments, and the
+probability diminishes, and the probability is soon reduced to zero.
+
+_Of the Degrees of Truth, According to Which the Accused are Judged._
+
+We can be made accountable to justice either for deeds or words. If for
+deeds, they must be as certain as will be the punishment to which you
+will condemn the prisoner; if, for example, you have but twenty
+probabilities against him, these twenty probabilities cannot equal the
+certainty of his death. If you would have as many probabilities as are
+required to be sure that you shed not innocent blood, they must be the
+fruit of the unanimous evidences of witnesses who have no interest in
+deposing. From this concourse of probabilities, a strong opinion will be
+formed, which will serve to excuse your judgment; but as you will never
+have entire certainty, you cannot flatter yourself with knowing the
+truth perfectly. Consequently you should always lean towards mercy
+rather than towards rigor. If it concerns only facts, from which neither
+manslaughter nor mutilation have resulted, it is evident that you should
+neither cause the accused to be put to death nor mutilated.
+
+If the question is only of words, it is still more evident that you
+should not cause one of your fellow-creatures to be hanged for the
+manner in which he has used his tongue; for all the words in the world
+being but agitated air, at least if they have not caused murder, it is
+ridiculous to condemn a man to death for having agitated the air. Put
+all the idle words which have been uttered into one scale, and into the
+other the blood of a man, and the blood will weigh down. Now, if he who
+has been brought before you is only accused of some words which his
+enemies have taken in a certain sense, all that you can do is to repeat
+these words to him, which he will explain in the sense he intended; but
+to deliver an innocent man to the most cruel and ignominious punishment,
+for words that his enemies do not comprehend, is too barbarous. You make
+the life of a man of no more importance than that of a lizard; and too
+many judges resemble you.
+
+
+
+
+TYRANNY.
+
+
+The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice; who
+takes the property of his subjects, and afterwards enlists them to go
+and take that of his neighbors. We have none of these tyrants in Europe.
+We distinguish the tyranny of one and that of many. The tyranny of
+several is that of a body which would invade the rights of other bodies,
+and which would exercise despotism by favor of laws which it corrupts.
+Neither are there any tyrannies of this kind in Europe.
+
+Under what tyranny should you like best to live? Under none; but if I
+must choose, I should less detest the tyranny of a single one, than that
+of many. A despot has always some good moments; an assemblage of
+despots, never. If a tyrant does me an injustice, I can disarm him
+through his mistress, his confessor, or his page; but a company of
+tyrants is inaccessible to all seductions. When they are not unjust,
+they are harsh, and they never dispense favors. If I have but one
+despot, I am at liberty to set myself against a wall when I see him
+pass, to prostrate myself, or to strike my forehead against the ground,
+according to the custom of the country; but if there is a company of a
+hundred tyrants, I am liable to repeat this ceremony a hundred times a
+day, which is very tiresome to those who have not supple joints. If I
+have a farm in the neighborhood of one of our lords, I am crushed; if I
+complain against a relative of the relatives of any one of our lords, I
+am ruined. How must I act? I fear that in this world we are reduced to
+being either the anvil or the hammer; happy at least is he who escapes
+this alternative.
+
+
+
+
+TYRANT.
+
+
+"Tyrannos," formerly "he who had contrived to draw the principal
+authority to himself"; as "king," "Basileus," signified "he who was
+charged with relating affairs to the senate." The acceptations of words
+change with time. "Idiot" at first meant only a hermit, an isolated man;
+in time it became synonymous with fool. At present the name of "tyrant"
+is given to a usurper, or to a king who commits violent and unjust
+actions.
+
+Cromwell was a tyrant of both these kinds. A citizen who usurps the
+supreme authority, who in spite of all laws suppresses the house of
+peers, is without doubt a usurper. A general who cuts the throat of a
+king, his prisoner of war, at once violates what is called the laws of
+nations, and those of humanity.
+
+Charles I. was not a tyrant, though the victorious faction gave him that
+name; he was, it is said, obstinate, weak, and ill-advised. I will not
+be certain, for I did not know him; but I am certain that he was very
+unfortunate.
+
+Henry VIII. was a tyrant in his government as in his family, and alike
+covered with the blood of two innocent wives, and that of the most
+virtuous citizens; he merits the execrations of posterity. Yet he was
+not punished, and Charles I. died on a scaffold.
+
+Elizabeth committed an act of tyranny, and her parliament one of
+infamous weakness, in causing Queen Mary Stuart to be assassinated by an
+executioner; but in the rest of her government she was not tyrannical;
+she was clever and manœuvering, but prudent and strong.
+
+Richard III. was a barbarous tyrant; but he was punished. Pope Alexander
+VI. was a more execrable tyrant than any of these, and he was fortunate
+in all his undertakings. Christian II. was as wicked a tyrant as
+Alexander VI., and was punished, but not sufficiently so.
+
+If we were to reckon Turkish, Greek, and Roman tyrants, we should find
+as many fortunate as the contrary. When I say fortunate, I speak
+according to the vulgar prejudice, the ordinary acceptation of the
+word, according to appearances; for that they can be really happy, that
+their minds can be contented and tranquil, appears to me to be
+impossible.
+
+Constantine the Great was evidently a tyrant in a double sense. In the
+north of England he usurped the crown of the Roman Empire, at the head
+of some foreign legions, notwithstanding all the laws, and in spite of
+the senate and the people, who legitimately elected Maxentius. He passed
+all his life in crime, voluptuousness, fraud, and imposture. He was not
+punished, but was he happy? God knows; but I know that his subjects were
+not so.
+
+The great Theodosius was the most abominable of tyrants, when, under
+pretence of giving a feast, he caused fifteen thousand Roman citizens to
+be murdered in the circus, with their wives and children, and when he
+added to this horror the facetiousness of passing some months without
+going to tire himself at high mass. This Theodosius has almost been
+placed in the ranks of the blessed; but I should be very sorry if he
+were happy on earth. In all cases it would be well to assure tyrants
+that they will never be happy in this world, as it is well to make our
+stewards and cooks believe that they will be eternally damned if they
+rob us.
+
+The tyrants of the Lower Greek Empire were almost all dethroned or
+assassinated by one another. All these great offenders were by turns the
+executioners of human and divine vengeance. Among the Turkish tyrants,
+we see as many deposed as those who die in possession of the throne.
+With regard to subaltern tyrants, or the lower order of monsters who
+burden their masters with the execration with which they are loaded, the
+number of these Hamans, these Sejanuses, is infinite.
+
+
+
+
+UNIVERSITY.
+
+
+Du Boulay, in his "History of the University of Paris," adopts the old,
+uncertain, not to say fabulous tradition, which carries its origin to
+the time of Charlemagne. It is true that such is the opinion of Guagin
+and of Gilles de Beauvais; but in addition to the fact that contemporary
+authors, as Eginhard, Almon, Reginon, and Sigebert make no mention of
+this establishment; Pasquier and Du Tillet expressly assert that it
+commenced in the twelfth century under the reigns of Louis the Young and
+of Philip Augustus.
+
+Moreover, the first statutes of the university were drawn up by Robert
+de Coceon, legate of the pope, in the year 1215, which proves that it
+received from the first the form it retains at present; because a bull
+of Gregory IX., of the year 1231, makes mention of masters of theology,
+masters of law, physicians, and lastly, artists. The name "university"
+originated in the supposition that these four bodies, termed faculties,
+constituted a universality of studies; that is to say, that they
+comprehended all which could be cultivated.
+
+The popes, by the means of these establishments, of the decisions of
+which they made themselves judges, became masters of the instruction of
+the people; and the same spirit which made the permission granted to the
+members of the Parliament of Paris to inter themselves in the habits of
+Cordeliers, be regarded as an especial favor--as related in the article
+on "Quête"--dictated the decrees pronounced by that sovereign court
+against all who dared to oppose an unintelligible scholastic system,
+which, according to the confession of the abbé Triteme, was only a false
+science that had vitiated religion. In fact, that which Constantine had
+only insinuated with respect to the Cumæan Sibyl, has been expressly
+asserted of Aristotle. Cardinal Pallavicini supported the maxim of I
+know not what monk Paul, who pleasantly observed, that without Aristotle
+the Church would have been deficient in some of her articles of faith.
+
+Thus the celebrated Ramus, having composed two works in which he opposed
+the doctrine of Aristotle taught in the universities, would have been
+sacrificed to the fury of his ignorant rival, had not King Francis I.
+referred to his own judgment the process commenced in Paris between
+Ramus and Anthony Govea. One of the principal complaints against Ramus
+related to the manner in which he taught his disciples to pronounce the
+letter Q.
+
+Ramus was not the only disputant persecuted for these grave absurdities.
+In the year 1624, the Parliament of Paris banished from its district
+three persons who wished to maintain theses openly against Aristotle.
+Every person was forbidden to sell or to circulate the propositions
+contained in these theses, on pain of corporal punishment, or to teach
+any opinion against ancient and approved authors, on pain of death.
+
+The remonstrances of the Sorbonne, in consequence of which the same
+parliament issued a decision against the chemists, in the year 1629,
+testified that it was impossible to impeach the principles of Aristotle,
+without at the same time impeaching those of the scholastic theology
+received by the Church. In the meantime, the faculty having issued, in
+1566, a decree forbidding the use of antimony, and the parliament having
+confirmed the said decree, Paumier de Caen, a great chemist and
+celebrated physician of Paris, for not conforming to it, was degraded in
+the year 1609. Lastly, antimony being afterwards inserted in the books
+of medicines, composed by order of the faculty in the year 1637, the
+said faculty permitted the use of it in 1666, a century after having
+forbidden it, which decision the parliament confirmed by a new decree.
+Thus the university followed the example of the Church, which finally
+proscribed the doctrine of Arius, under pain of death, and approved the
+word "consubstantial," which it had previously condemned--as we have
+seen in the article on "Councils."
+
+What we have observed of the university of Paris, may serve to give us
+an idea of other universities, of which it was regarded as the model. In
+fact, in imitation of it, eighty universities passed the same decree as
+the Sorbonne in the fourteenth century; to wit, that when the cap of a
+doctor was bestowed, the candidate should be made to swear that he will
+maintain the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary; which he did not
+regard, however, as an article of faith, but as a Catholic and pious
+opinion.
+
+
+
+
+USAGES.
+
+_Contemptible Customs do not Always Imply a Contemptible Nation._
+
+There are cases in which we must not judge of a nation by its usages and
+popular superstitions. Suppose Cæsar, after having conquered Egypt,
+wishing to make commerce flourish in the Roman Empire, had sent an
+embassy to China by the port of Arsinoë, the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
+The emperor Yventi, the first of the name, then reigned in China; the
+Chinese annals represent him to us as a very wise and learned prince.
+After receiving the ambassadors of Cæsar with all Chinese politeness, he
+secretly informs himself through his interpreter of the customs, the
+usages, sciences, and religion of the Roman people, as celebrated in the
+West as the Chinese people are in the East. He first learns that their
+priests have regulated their years in so absurd a manner, that the sun
+has already entered the celestial signs of Spring when the Romans
+celebrate the first feasts of Winter. He learns that this nation at a
+great expense supports a college of priests, who know exactly the time
+in which they must embark, and when they should give battle, by the
+inspection of a bullock's liver, or the manner in which fowls eat grain.
+This sacred science was formerly taught to the Romans by a little god
+named Tages, who came out of the earth in Tuscany. These people adore a
+supreme and only God, whom they always call a very great and very good
+God; yet they have built a temple to a courtesan named Flora, and the
+good women of Rome have almost all little gods--Penates--in their
+houses, about four or five inches high. One of these little divinities
+is the goddess of bosoms, another that of posteriors. They have even a
+divinity whom they call the god _Pet_. The emperor Yventi began to
+laugh; and the tribunals of Nankin at first think with him that the
+Roman ambassadors are knaves or impostors, who have taken the title of
+envoys of the Roman Republic; but as the emperor is as just as he is
+polite, he has particular conversations with them. He then learns that
+the Roman priests were very ignorant, but that Cæsar actually reformed
+the calendar. They confess to him that the college of augurs was
+established in the time of their early barbarity, that they have allowed
+this ridiculous institution, become dear to a people long ignorant, to
+exist, but that all sensible people laugh at the augurs; that Cæsar
+never consulted them; that, according to the account of a very great man
+named Cato, no augur could ever look another in the face without
+laughing; and finally, that Cicero, the greatest orator and best
+philosopher of Rome, wrote a little work against the augurs, entitled
+"Of Divination," in which he delivers up to eternal ridicule all the
+predictions and sorceries of soothsayers with which the earth is
+infatuated. The emperor of China has the curiosity to read this book of
+Cicero; the interpreters translate it; and in consequence he admires at
+once the book and the Roman Republic.
+
+
+
+
+VAMPIRES.
+
+
+What! is it in our eighteenth century that vampires exist? Is it after
+the reigns of Locke, Shaftesbury, Trenchard, and Collins? Is it under
+those of d'Alembert, Diderot, St. Lambert, and Duclos that we believe in
+vampires, and that the reverend father Dom Calmet, Benedictine priest of
+the congregation of St. Vannes, and St. Hidulphe, abbé of Senon--an
+abbey of a hundred thousand livres a year, in the neighborhood of two
+other abbeys of the same revenue--has printed and reprinted the history
+of vampires, with the approbation of the Sorbonne, signed Marcilli?
+
+These vampires were corpses, who went out of their graves at night to
+suck the blood of the living, either at their throats or stomachs,
+after which they returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked
+waned, grew pale, and fell into consumption; while the sucking corpses
+grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed an excellent appetite. It was in Poland,
+Hungary, Silesia, Moravia, Austria, and Lorraine, that the dead made
+this good cheer. We never heard a word of vampires in London, nor even
+at Paris. I confess that in both these cities there were stock-jobbers,
+brokers, and men of business, who sucked the blood of the people in
+broad daylight; but they were not dead, though corrupted. These true
+suckers lived not in cemeteries, but in very agreeable palaces.
+
+Who would believe that we derive the idea of vampires from Greece? Not
+from the Greece of Alexander, Aristotle, Plato, Epicurus, and
+Demosthenes; but from Christian Greece, unfortunately schismatic. For a
+long time Christians of the Greek rite have imagined that the bodies of
+Christians of the Latin church, buried in Greece, do not decay, because
+they are excommunicated. This is precisely the contrary to that of us
+Christians of the Latin church, who believe that corpses which do not
+corrupt are marked with the seal of eternal beatitude. So much so,
+indeed, that when we have paid a hundred thousand crowns to Rome, to
+give them a saint's brevet, we adore them with the worship of "_dulia_."
+
+The Greeks are persuaded that these dead are sorcerers; they call them
+"_broucolacas_," or "_vroucolacas_," according as they pronounce the
+second letter of the alphabet. The Greek corpses go into houses to suck
+the blood of little children, to eat the supper of the fathers and
+mothers, drink their wine, and break all the furniture. They can only be
+put to rights by burning them when they are caught. But the precaution
+must be taken of not putting them into the fire until after their hearts
+are torn out, which must be burned separately. The celebrated
+Tournefort, sent into the Levant by Louis XIV., as well as so many other
+virtuosi, was witness of all the acts attributed to one of these
+"_broucolacas_," and to this ceremony.
+
+After slander, nothing is communicated more promptly than superstition,
+fanaticism, sorcery, and tales of those raised from the dead. There were
+"_broucolacas_" in Wallachia, Moldavia, and some among the Polanders,
+who are of the Romish church. This superstition being absent, they
+acquired it, and it went through all the east of Germany. Nothing was
+spoken of but vampires, from 1730 to 1735; they were laid in wait for,
+their hearts torn out and burned. They resembled the ancient
+martyrs--the more they were burned, the more they abounded.
+
+Finally, Calmet became their historian, and treated vampires as he
+treated the Old and New Testaments, by relating faithfully all that has
+been said before him.
+
+The most curious things, in my opinion, were the verbal suits
+juridically conducted, concerning the dead who went from their tombs to
+suck the little boys and girls of their neighborhood. Calmet relates
+that in Hungary two officers, delegated by the emperor Charles VI.,
+assisted by the bailiff of the place and an executioner, held an inquest
+on a vampire, who had been dead six weeks, and who had sucked all the
+neighborhood. They found him in his coffin, fresh and jolly, with his
+eyes open, and asking for food. The bailiff passed his sentence; the
+executioner tore out the vampire's heart, and burned it, after which he
+feasted no more.
+
+Who, after this, dares to doubt of the resuscitated dead, with which our
+ancient legends are filled, and of all the miracles related by
+Bollandus, and the sincere and revered Dom Ruinart? You will find
+stories of vampires in the "Jewish Letters" of d'Argens, whom the Jesuit
+authors of the "Journal of Trévoux" have accused of believing nothing.
+It should be observed how they triumph in the history of the vampire of
+Hungary; how they thanked God and the Virgin for having at last
+converted this poor d'Argens, the chamberlain of a king who did not
+believe in vampires. "Behold," said they, "this famous unbeliever, who
+dared to throw doubts on the appearance of the angel to the Holy Virgin;
+on the star which conducted the magi; on the cure of the possessed; on
+the immersion of two thousand swine in a lake; on an eclipse of the sun
+at the full moon; on the resurrection of the dead who walked in
+Jerusalem--his heart is softened, his mind is enlightened; he believes
+in vampires."
+
+There no longer remained any question, but to examine whether all these
+dead were raised by their own virtue, by the power of God, or by that of
+the devil. Several great theologians of Lorraine, of Moravia, and
+Hungary, displayed their opinions and their science. They related all
+that St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and so many other saints, had most
+unintelligibly said on the living and the dead. They related all the
+miracles of St. Stephen, which are found in the seventh book of the
+works of St. Augustine. This is one of the most curious of them: In the
+city of Aubzal in Africa, a young man was crushed to death by the ruins
+of a wall; the widow immediately invoked St. Stephen, to whom she was
+very much devoted. St. Stephen raised him. He was asked what he had seen
+in the other world. "Sirs," said he, "when my soul quitted my body, it
+met an infinity of souls, who asked it more questions about this world
+than you do of the other. I went I know not whither, when I met St.
+Stephen, who said to me, 'Give back that which thou hast received.' I
+answered, 'What should I give back? you have given me nothing.' He
+repeated three times, 'Give back that which thou hast received.' Then I
+comprehended that he spoke of the credo; I repeated my credo to him, and
+suddenly he raised me." Above all, they quoted the stories related by
+Sulpicius Severus, in the life of St. Martin. They proved that St.
+Martin, with some others, raised up a condemned soul.
+
+But all these stories, however true they might be, had nothing in common
+with the vampires who rose to suck the blood of their neighbors, and
+afterwards replaced themselves in their coffins. They looked if they
+could not find in the Old Testament, or in the mythology, some vampire
+whom they could quote as an example; but they found none. It was proved,
+however, that the dead drank and ate, since in so many ancient nations
+food was placed on their tombs.
+
+The difficulty was to know whether it was the soul or the body of the
+dead which ate. It was decided that it was both. Delicate and
+unsubstantial things, as sweetmeats, whipped cream, and melting fruits,
+were for the soul, and roast beef and the like were for the body.
+
+The kings of Persia were, said they, the first who caused themselves to
+be served with viands after their death. Almost all the kings of the
+present day imitate them; but they are the monks who eat their dinner
+and supper, and drink their wine. Thus, properly speaking, kings are not
+vampires; the true vampires are the monks, who eat at the expense of
+both kings and people.
+
+It is very true that St. Stanislaus, who had bought a considerable
+estate from a Polish gentleman, and not paid him for it, being brought
+before King Boleslaus by his heirs, raised up the gentleman; but this
+was solely to get quittance. It is not said that he gave a single glass
+of wine to the seller, who returned to the other world without having
+eaten or drunk. They afterwards treated of the grand question, whether a
+vampire could be absolved who died excommunicated, which comes more to
+the point.
+
+I am not profound enough in theology to give my opinion on this subject;
+but I would willingly be for absolution, because in all doubtful affairs
+we should take the mildest part. "_Odia restringenda, favores
+ampliandi_."
+
+The result of all this is that a great part of Europe has been infested
+with vampires for five or six years, and that there are now no more;
+that we have had Convulsionaries in France for twenty years, and that we
+have them no longer; that we have had demoniacs for seventeen hundred
+years, but have them no longer; that the dead have been raised ever
+since the days of Hippolytus, but that they are raised no longer; and,
+lastly, that we have had Jesuits in Spain, Portugal, France, and the two
+Sicilies, but that we have them no longer.
+
+
+
+
+VELETRI.
+
+
+_A Small Town of Umbria, Nine Leagues from Rome; and, Incidentally, of
+the Divinity of Augustus._
+
+Those who love the study of history are glad to understand by what title
+a citizen of Veletri governed an empire, which extended from Mount
+Taurus to Mount Atlas, and from the Euphrates to the Western Ocean. It
+was not as perpetual dictator; this title had been too fatal to Julius
+Cæsar, and Augustus bore it only eleven days. The fear of perishing like
+his predecessor, and the counsels of Agrippa, induced him to take other
+measures; he insensibly concentrated in his own person all the dignities
+of the republic. Thirteen consulates, the tribunate renewed in his favor
+every ten years, the name of prince of the senate, that of imperator,
+which at first signified only the general of an army, but to which it
+was known how to bestow a more extensive signification--such were the
+titles which appeared to legitimate his power.
+
+The senate lost nothing by his honors, but preserved even its most
+extensive rights. Augustus divided with it all the provinces of the
+empire, but retained the principal for himself; finally, he was master
+of the public treasury and the soldiery, and in fact sovereign.
+
+What is more strange, Julius Cæsar having been enrolled among the gods
+after his death, Augustus was ordained god while living. It is true he
+was not altogether a god in Rome, but he was so in the provinces, where
+he had temples and priests. The abbey of Ainai at Lyons was a fine
+temple of Augustus. Horace says to him: "_Jurandasque tuum per nomen
+ponimus aras._" That is to say, among the Romans existed courtiers so
+finished as to have small altars in their houses dedicated to Augustus.
+He was therefore _canonized_ during his life, and the name of
+god--_divus_--became the title or nickname of all the succeeding
+emperors. Caligula constituted himself a god without difficulty, and was
+worshipped in the temple of Castor and Pollux; his statue was placed
+between those of the twins, and they sacrificed to him peacocks,
+pheasants, and Numidian fowls, until he ended by immolating himself.
+Nero bore the name of god, before he was condemned by the senate to
+suffer the punishment of a slave.
+
+We are not to imagine that the name of "god" signified, in regard to
+these monsters, that which we understand by it; the blasphemy could not
+be carried quite so far. "Divus" precisely answers to "sanctus." The
+Augustan list of proscriptions and the filthy epigram against Fulvia,
+are not the productions of a divinity.
+
+There were twelve conspiracies against this god, if we include the
+pretended plot of Cinna; but none of them succeeded; and of all the
+wretches who have usurped divine honors, Augustus was doubtless the most
+unfortunate. It was he, indeed, who actually terminated the Roman
+Republic; for Cæsar was dictator only six months, and Augustus reigned
+forty years. It was during his reign that manners changed with the
+government. The armies, formerly composed of the Roman legions and
+people of Italy, were in the end made up from all the barbarians, who
+naturally enough placed emperors of their own country on the throne.
+
+In the third century they raised up thirty tyrants at one time, of whom
+some were natives of Transylvania, others of Gaul, Britain, and Germany.
+Diocletian was the son of a Dalmatian slave; Maximian Hercules, a
+peasant of Sirmik; and Theodosius, a native of Spain--not then
+civilized.
+
+We know how the Roman Empire was finally destroyed; how the Turks have
+subjugated one half, and how the name of the other still subsists among
+the Marcomans on the shores of the Danube. The most singular of all its
+revolutions, however, and the most astonishing of all spectacles, is the
+manner in which its capital is governed and inhabited at this moment.
+
+
+
+
+VENALITY.
+
+
+The forger of whom we have spoken so much, who made the testament of
+Cardinal Richelieu, says in chapter iv.: "That it would be much better
+to allow venality and the '_droit annuel_' to continue to exist, than to
+abolish these two establishments, which are not to be changed suddenly
+without shaking the state."
+
+All France repeated, and believed they repeated after Cardinal
+Richelieu, that the sale of offices of judicature was very advantageous.
+The abbé de St. Pierre was the first who, still believing that the
+pretended testament was the cardinal's, dared to say in his observation
+on chapter iv.: "The cardinal engaged himself on a bad subject, in
+maintaining that the sale of places can be advantageous to the state. It
+is true that it is not possible to otherwise reimburse all the charges."
+
+Thus this abuse appeared to everybody, not only unreformable, but
+useful. They were so accustomed to this opprobrium that they did not
+feel it; it seemed eternal; yet a single man in a few months has
+overthrown it. Let us therefore repeat, that all may be done, all may be
+corrected; that the great fault of almost all who govern, is having but
+half wills and half means. If Peter the Great had not willed strongly,
+two thousand leagues of country would still be barbarous.
+
+How can we give water in Paris to thirty thousand houses which want it?
+How can we pay the debts of the state? How can we throw off the dreaded
+tyranny of a foreign power, which is not a power, and to which we pay
+the first fruits as a tribute? Dare to wish it, and you will arrive at
+your object more easily than you extirpated the Jesuits, and purged the
+theatre of _petits-maîtres_.
+
+
+
+
+VENICE.
+
+
+_And, Incidentally, of Liberty._
+
+No power can reproach the Venetians with having acquired their liberty
+by revolt; none can say to them, I have freed you--here is the diploma
+of your manumission.
+
+They have not usurped their rights, as Cæsar usurped empire, or as so
+many bishops, commencing with that of Rome, have usurped royal rights.
+They are lords of Venice--if we dare use the audacious comparison--as
+God is Lord of the earth, because He founded it.
+
+Attila, who never took the title of the scourge of God, ravaged Italy.
+He had as much right to do so, as Charlemagne the Austrasian, Arnold the
+Corinthian Bastard, Guy, duke of Spoleto, Berenger, marquis of Friuli,
+or the bishops who wished to make themselves sovereigns of it.
+
+In this time of military and ecclesiastical robberies, Attila passed as
+a vulture, and the Venetians saved themselves in the sea as kingfishers,
+which none assist or protect; they make their nest in the midst of the
+waters, they enlarge it, they people it, they defend it, they enrich it.
+I ask if it is possible to imagine a more just possession? Our father
+Adam, who is supposed to have lived in that fine country of Mesopotamia,
+was not more justly lord and gardener of terrestrial paradise.
+
+I have read the "_Squittinio della libertà di Venezia_," and I am
+indignant at it. What! Venice could not be originally free, because the
+Greek emperors, superstitious, weak, wicked, and barbarous, said--This
+new town has been built on our ancient territory; and because a German,
+having the title of Emperor of the West, says: This town being in the
+West, is of our domain?
+
+It seems to me like a flying-fish, pursued at once by a falcon and a
+shark, but which escapes both. Sannazarius was very right in saying, in
+comparing Rome and Venice: _"Illam homines dices, hanc posuisse deos."_
+Rome lost, by Cæsar, at the end of five hundred years, its liberty
+acquired by Brutus. Venice has preserved hers for eleven centuries, and
+I hope she will always do so.
+
+Genoa! why dost thou boast of showing the grant of a Berenger, who gave
+thee privileges in the year 958? We know that concessions of privileges
+are but titles of servitude. And this is a fine title! the charter of a
+passing tyrant, who was never properly acknowledged in Italy, and who
+was driven from it two years after the date of the charter!
+
+The true charter of liberty is independence, maintained by force. It is
+with the point of the sword that diplomas should be signed securing this
+natural prerogative. Thou hast lost, more than once, thy privilege and
+thy strong box, since 1748: it is necessary to take care of both. Happy
+Helvetia! to what charter owest thou thy liberty? To thy courage, thy
+firmness, and thy mountains. But I am thy emperor. But I will have thee
+be so no longer. Thy fathers have been the slaves of my fathers. It is
+for that reason that their children will not serve thee. But I have the
+right attached to my dignity. And we have the right of nature.
+
+When had the Seven United Provinces this incontestable right? At the
+moment in which they were united; and from that time Philip II. was the
+rebel. What a great man was William, prince of Orange: he found them
+slaves, and he made them free men! Why is liberty so rare? Because it is
+the first of blessings.
+
+
+
+
+VERSE.
+
+
+It is easy to write in prose, but very difficult to be a poet. More than
+one "_prosateur_" has affected to despise poetry; in reference to which
+propensity, we may call to mind the bon-mot of Montaigne: "We cannot
+attain to poetry; let us revenge ourselves by abusing it."
+
+We have already remarked, that Montesquieu, being unable to succeed in
+verse, professed, in his "Persian Letters," to discover no merit in
+Virgil or Horace. The eloquent Bossuet endeavored to make verses, but
+they were detestable; he took care, however, not to declaim against
+great poets.
+
+Fénelon scarcely made better verses than Bossuet, but knew by heart all
+the fine poetry of antiquity. His mind was full of it, and he
+continually quotes it in his letters.
+
+It appears to me, that there never existed a truly eloquent man who did
+not love poetry. I will simply cite, for example, Cæsar and Cicero; the
+one composed a tragedy on Å’dipus, and we have pieces of poetry by the
+latter which might pass among the best that preceded Lucretius, Virgil,
+and Horace.
+
+A certain Abbé Trublet has printed, that he cannot read a poem at once
+from beginning to end. Indeed, Air. Abbé! but what can we read, what can
+we understand, what can we do, for a long time together, any more than
+poetry?
+
+
+
+
+VIANDS.
+
+
+_Forbidden Viands, Dangerous Viands.--A short Examination of Jewish and
+Christian Precepts, and of those of the Ancient Philosophers._
+
+
+"Viand" comes no doubt from "_victus_"--that which nourishes and
+sustains life: from victus was formed _viventia_; from _viventa_,
+"viand." This word should be applied to all that is eaten, but by the
+caprice of all languages, the custom has prevailed of refusing this
+denomination to bread, milk, rice, pulses, fruits, and fish, and of
+giving it only to terrestrial animals. This seems contrary to reason,
+but it is the fancy of all languages, and of those who formed them.
+
+Some of the first Christians made a scruple of eating that which had
+been offered to the gods, of whatever nature it might be. St. Paul
+approved not of this scruple. He writes to the Corinthians: "Meat
+commendeth us not to God: for neither if we eat are we the better;
+neither if we eat not, are we the worse." He merely exhorts them not to
+eat viands immolated to the gods, before those brothers who might be
+scandalized at it. We see not, after that, why he so ill-treats St.
+Peter, and reproaches him with having eaten forbidden viands with the
+Gentiles. We see elsewhere, in the Acts of the Apostles, that Simon
+Peter was authorized to eat of all indifferently; for he one day saw the
+firmament open, and a great sheet descending by the four corners from
+heaven to earth; it was covered with all kinds of four-footed beasts,
+with all kinds of birds and reptiles--or animals which swim--and a voice
+cried to him: "Kill and eat."
+
+You will remark, that Lent and fast-days were not then instituted.
+Nothing is ever done, except by degrees. We can here say, for the
+consolation of the weak, that the quarrel of St. Peter and St. Paul
+should not alarm us: saints are men. Paul commenced by being the jailer,
+and even the executioner, of the disciples of Jesus; Peter had denied
+Jesus; and we have seen that the dawning, suffering, militant,
+triumphant church has always been divided, from the Ebionites to the
+Jesuits.
+
+I think that the Brahmins, so anterior to the Jews, might well have been
+divided also; but they were the first who imposed on themselves the law
+of not eating any animal. As they believed that souls passed and
+repassed from human bodies to those of beasts, they would not eat their
+relatives. Perhaps their best reason was the fear of accustoming men to
+carnage, and inspiring them with ferocious manners.
+
+We know that Pythagoras, who studied geometry and morals among them,
+embraced this humane doctrine, and brought it into Italy. His disciples
+followed it a very long time: the celebrated philosophers, Plotinus,
+Jamblicus, and Porphyry, recommended and even practised it--though it is
+very rare to practise what is preached. The work of Porphyry on
+abstinence from meat, written in the middle of our third century, and
+very well translated into our language by M. de Burigni, is very much
+esteemed by the learned; but it has not made more disciples among us
+than the book of the physician Héquet. It is in vain that Porphyry
+proposes, as models, the Brahmins and Persian magi of the first class,
+who had a horror of the custom of burying the entrails of other
+creatures in our own; he is not now followed by the fathers of La
+Trappe. The work of Porphyry is addressed to one of his ancient
+disciples, named Firmus, who, it is said, turned Christian, to have the
+liberty of eating meat and drinking wine.
+
+He shows Firmus, that in abstaining from meat and strong liquors, we
+preserve the health of the soul and body; that we live longer, and more
+innocently. All his reflections are those of a scrupulous theologian, of
+a rigid philosopher, and of a mild and sensible mind. We might think, in
+reading his work, that this great enemy of the church was one of its
+fathers.
+
+He speaks not of metempsychosis, but he regards animals as our brethren,
+because they are animated like ourselves; they have the same principles
+of life; they have, as well as ourselves, ideas, sentiment, memory, and
+industry. They want but speech; if they had it, should we dare to kill
+and eat them; should we dare to commit these fratricides? Where is the
+barbarian who would roast a lamb, if it conjured him by an affecting
+speech not to become at once an assassin, an anthropophagus?
+
+This book proves, at least, that among the Gentiles there were
+philosophers of the most austere virtue; but they could not prevail
+against butchers and gluttons. It is to be remarked, that Porphyry makes
+a very fine eulogium on the Essenians: he is filled with veneration for
+them, although they sometimes eat meat. He was for whoever was the most
+virtuous, whether Essenians, Pythagoreans, Stoics, or Christians. When
+sects are formed of a small number, their manners are pure; and they
+degenerate in proportion as they become powerful. Lust, gaming, and
+luxury then prevail, and all the virtues fly away:
+
+     La gola, il dado e l'otiose piume
+     Hanno dal' mondo ogni virtù sbandita.
+
+
+
+
+VIRTUE.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+It is said of Marcus Brutus, that before killing himself, he pronounced
+these words: "Oh, Virtue! I believed that thou wert something, but thou
+art only a vile phantom!"
+
+Thou wast right, Brutus, if thou madest virtue consist in being the
+chief of a party, and the assassin of thy benefactor, of thy father,
+Julius Cæsar. Hadst thou made virtue to consist only in doing good to
+those who depended on thee, thou wouldst not have called it a phantom,
+or have killed thyself in despair.
+
+I am very virtuous, says a miserable excrement of theology. I possess
+the four cardinal virtues, and the three theological ones. An honest man
+asks him: What are the cardinal virtues? The other answers: They are
+fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+If thou art just, thou hast said all. Thy fortitude, prudence, and
+temperance are useful qualities: if thou possessest them, so much the
+better for thee; but if thou art just, so much the better for others. It
+is not sufficient to be just, thou shouldst be beneficent; this is being
+truly cardinal. And thy theological virtues, what are they?
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+Faith, hope, and charity.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Is there virtue in believing? If that which thou believest seems to thee
+to be true, there is no merit in believing it; if it seems to thee to be
+false, it is impossible for thee to believe it.
+
+Hope should no more be a virtue than fear; we fear and we hope,
+according to what is promised or threatened us. As to charity, is it not
+that which the Greeks and Romans understood by humanity--love of your
+neighbor? This love is nothing, if it does not act; beneficence is
+therefore the only true virtue.
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+What a fool! Yes, truly, I shall trouble myself to serve men, if I get
+nothing in return! Every trouble merits payment. I pretend to do no good
+action, except to insure myself paradise.
+
+     _Quis enim virtutem amplectitur, ipsam_
+     _Prœmia si tolias? _        --JUVENAL, _sat._ x.
+
+     For, if the gain you take away,
+     To virtue who will homage pay!
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Ah, good sir, that is to say, that if you did not hope for paradise, or
+fear hell, you would never do a good action. You quote me lines from
+Juvenal, to prove to me that you have only your interest in view. Racine
+could at least show you, that even in this world we might find our
+recompense, while waiting for a better:
+
+     _Quel plaisir de penser, et de dire en vous-même,_
+     _Partout en ce moment on me bénit, on m'aime!_
+     _On ne voit point le peuple à mon nom s'alarmer;_
+     _Le ciel dans tous leurs pleurs ne m'entend point nommer,_
+     _Leur sombre inimitie ne fuit point mon visage;_
+     _Je vois voler partout les cœurs a mon passage._
+     _Tels étaient vos plaisirs._
+                      --RACINE, _Britannicus_, act iv, sc. ii.
+
+     How great his pleasure who can justly say,
+     All at this moment either bless or love me;
+     The people at my name betray no fear,
+     Nor in their plaints does heaven e'er hear of me!
+     Their enmity ne'er makes them fly my presence,
+     But every heart springs out at my approach!
+     Such were your pleasures!
+
+Believe me, doctor, there are two things which deserve to be loved for
+themselves--God and Virtue.
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+Ah, sir! you are a Fénelonist.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Yes, doctor.
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+I will inform against you at the tribunal of Meaux.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Go, and inform!
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+What is virtue? Beneficence towards your neighbor. Can I call virtue
+anything but that which does good! I am indigent, thou art liberal. I am
+in danger, thou succorest me. I am deceived, thou tellest me the truth.
+I am neglected, thou consolest me. I am ignorant, thou teachest me. I
+can easily call thee virtuous, but what will become of the cardinal and
+theological virtues? Some will remain in the schools.
+
+What signifies it to me whether thou art temperate? It is a precept of
+health which thou observest; thou art the better for it; I congratulate
+thee on it. Thou hast faith and hope; I congratulate thee still more;
+they will procure thee eternal life. Thy theological virtues are
+celestial gifts; thy cardinal ones are excellent qualities, which serve
+to guide thee; but they are not virtues in relation to thy neighbor.
+The prudent man does himself good; the virtuous one does it to other
+men. St. Paul was right in telling thee, that charity ranks above faith
+and hope.
+
+But how! wilt thou admit of no other virtues than those which are useful
+to thy neighbor? How can I admit any others? We live in society; there
+is therefore nothing truly good for us but that which does good to
+society. An hermit will be sober, pious, and dressed in sackcloth: very
+well; he will be holy; but I will not call him virtuous until he shall
+have done some act of virtue by which men may have profited. While he is
+alone, he is neither beneficent nor the contrary; he is nobody to us. If
+St. Bruno had made peace in families, if he had assisted the indigent,
+he had been virtuous; having fasted and prayed in solitude, he is only a
+saint. Virtue between men is a commerce of good actions: he who has no
+part in this commerce, must not be reckoned. If this saint were in the
+world, he would doubtless do good, but while he is not in the world, we
+have no reason to give him the name of virtuous: he will be good for
+himself, and not for us.
+
+But, say you, if an hermit is gluttonous, drunken, given up to a secret
+debauch with himself, he is vicious; he is therefore virtuous, if he has
+the contrary qualities. I cannot agree to this: he is a very vile man,
+if he has the faults of which you speak; but he is not vicious, wicked,
+or punishable by society, to which his infamies do no harm. It may be
+presumed, that if he re-enters society, he will do evil to it; he then
+will be very vicious; and it is even more probable that he will be a
+wicked man, than it is certain that the other temperate and chaste
+hermit will be a good man; for in society faults augment, and good
+qualities diminish.
+
+A much stronger objection is made to me: Nero, Pope Alexander VI., and
+other monsters of the kind, have performed good actions. I reply boldly,
+that they were virtuous at the time. Some theologians say, that the
+divine Emperor Antoninus was not virtuous; that he was an infatuated
+Stoic, who, not content with commanding men, would further be esteemed
+by them; that he gave himself credit for the good which he did to
+mankind; that he was all his life just, laborious, beneficent, through
+vanity; and that he only deceived men by his virtues. To which I
+exclaim: My God! often send us such knaves!
+
+
+
+
+VISION.
+
+
+When I speak of vision, I do not mean the admirable manner in which our
+eyes perceive objects, and in which the pictures of all that we see are
+painted on the retina--a divine picture designed according to all the
+laws of mathematics, which is, consequently, like everything else from
+the hand of the Eternal geometrician; in spite of those who explain it,
+and who pretend to believe, that the eye is not intended to see, the
+ear to hear, or the feet to walk. This matter has been so learnedly
+treated by so many great geniuses, that there is no further remnant to
+glean after their harvests.
+
+I do not pretend to speak of the heresy of which Pope John XXII. was
+accused, who pretended that saints will not enjoy beatific vision until
+after the last judgment. I give up this vision. My subject is the
+innumerable multitude of visions with which so many holy personages have
+been favored or tormented; which so many idiots are believed to have
+seen; with which so many knavish men and women have duped the world,
+either to get the reputation of being favored by heaven, which is very
+flattering, or to gain money, which is still more so to rogues in
+general.
+
+Calmet and Langlet have made ample collections of these visions. The
+most interesting in my opinion is the one which has produced the
+greatest effects, since it has tended to reform three parts of the
+Swiss--that of the young Jacobin Yetzer, with which I have already
+amused my dear reader. This Yetzer, as you know, saw the Holy Virgin and
+St. Barbara several times, who informed him of the marks of Jesus
+Christ. You are not ignorant of how he received, from a Jacobin
+confessor, a host powdered with arsenic, and how the bishop of Lausanne
+would have had him burned for complaining that he was poisoned. You have
+seen, that these abominations were one of the causes of the misfortune
+which happened to the Bernese, of ceasing to be Catholic,
+Apostolical, and Roman.
+
+
+[Illustration: The Vision.]
+
+
+I am sorry that I have no visions of this consequence to tell you of.
+Yet you will confess, that the vision of the reverend father Cordeliers
+of Orleans, in 1534, approaches the nearest to it, though still very
+distant. The criminal process which it occasioned is still in manuscript
+in the library of the king of France, No. 1770.
+
+The illustrious house of St. Memin did great good to the convent of the
+Cordeliers, and had their vault in the church. The wife of a lord of St.
+Memin, provost of Orleans, being dead, her husband, believing that his
+ancestors had sufficiently impoverished themselves by giving to the
+monks, gave the brothers a present which did not appear to them
+considerable enough. These good Franciscans conceived a plan for
+disinterring the deceased, to force the widower to have her buried again
+in their holy ground, and to pay them better. The project was not
+clever, for the lord of St. Memin would not have failed to bury her
+elsewhere. But folly often mixes with knavery.
+
+At first, the soul of the lady of St. Memin appeared only to two
+brothers. She said to them: "I am damned, like Judas, because my husband
+has not given sufficient." The two knaves who related these words
+perceived not, that they must do more harm to the convent than good. The
+aim of the convent was to extort money from the lord of St. Memin, for
+the repose of his wife's soul. Now, if Madame de St. Memin was damned,
+all the money in the world could not save her. They got no more; the
+Cordeliers lost their labor.
+
+At this time there was very little good sense in France: the nation had
+been brutalized by the invasion of the Franks, and afterwards by the
+invasion of scholastic theology; but in Orleans there were some persons
+who reasoned. If the Great Being permitted the soul of Madame de St.
+Memin to appear to two Franciscans, it was not natural, they thought,
+for this soul to declare itself damned like Judas. This comparison
+appeared to them to be unnatural. This lady had not sold our Lord Jesus
+Christ for thirty deniers; she was not hanged; her intestines had not
+obtruded themselves; and there was not the slightest pretext for
+comparing her to Judas.
+
+This caused suspicion; and the rumor was still greater in Orleans,
+because there were already heretics there who believed not in certain
+visions, and who, in admitting absurd principles, did not always fail to
+draw good conclusions. The Cordeliers, therefore, changed their battery,
+and put the lady in purgatory.
+
+She therefore appeared again, and declared that purgatory was her lot;
+but she demanded to be disinterred. It was not the custom to disinter
+those in purgatory; but they hoped that M. de St. Memin would prevent
+this extraordinary affront, by giving money. This demand of being
+thrown out of the church augmented the suspicions. It was well known,
+that souls often appeared, but they never demanded to be disinterred.
+
+From this time the soul spoke no more, but it haunted everybody in the
+convent and church. The brother Cordeliers exorcised it. Brother Peter
+of Arras adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring it. He said to it:
+"If thou art the soul of the late Madame de St. Memin, strike four
+knocks;" and the four knocks were struck. "If thou are damned, strike
+six knocks;" and the six knocks were struck. "If thou art still
+tormented in hell, because thy body is buried in holy ground, knock six
+more times;" and the other six knocks were heard still more distinctly.
+"If we disinter thy body, and cease praying to God for thee, wilt thou
+be the less damned? Strike five knocks to certify it to us;" and the
+soul certified it by five knocks.
+
+This interrogation of the soul, made by Peter of Arras, was signed by
+twenty-two Cordeliers, at the head of which was the reverend father
+provincial. This father provincial the next day asked it the same
+questions, and received the same answers.
+
+It will be said, that the soul having declared that it was in purgatory,
+the Cordeliers should not have supposed that it was in hell; but it is
+not my fault if theologians contradict one another.
+
+The lord of St. Memin presented a request to the king against the father
+Cordeliers. They presented a request on their sides; the king appointed
+judges, at the head of whom was Adrian Fumée, master of requests.
+
+The procureur-general of the commission required that the said
+Cordeliers should be burned, but the sentence only condemned them to
+make the "amende honorable" with a torch in their bosom, and to be
+banished from the kingdom. This sentence is of February 18, 1535.
+
+After such a vision, it is useless to relate any others: they are all a
+species either of knavery or folly. Visions of the first kind are under
+the province of justice; those of the second are either visions of
+diseased fools, or of fools in good health. The first belong to
+medicine, the second to Bedlam.
+
+
+
+
+VISION OF CONSTANTINE.
+
+
+Grave theologians have not failed to allege a specious reason to
+maintain the truth of the appearance of the cross in heaven; but we are
+going to show that these arguments are not sufficiently convincing to
+exclude doubt; the evidences which they quote being neither persuasive
+nor according with one another.
+
+First, they produce no witnesses but Christians, the deposition of whom
+may be suspected in the treatment of a fact which tended to prove the
+divinity of their religion. How is it that no Pagan author has made
+mention of this miracle, which was seen equally by all the army of
+Constantine? That Zosimus, who seems to have endeavored to diminish the
+glory of Constantine, has said nothing of it, is not surprising; but the
+silence appears very strange in the author of the panegyric of
+Constantine, pronounced in his presence at Trier; in which oration the
+panegyrist expresses himself in magnificent terms on all the war against
+Maxentius, whom this emperor had conquered.
+
+Another orator, who, in his panegyric, treats so eloquently of the war
+against Maxentius, of the clemency which Constantine showed after the
+victory, and of the deliverance of Rome, says not a word on this
+apparition; while he assures us, that celestial armies were seen by all
+the Gauls, which armies, it was pretended, were sent to aid Constantine.
+
+This surprising vision has not only been unknown to Pagan authors, but
+to three Christian writers, who had the finest occasion to speak of
+them. Optatianus Porphyrius mentions more than once the monogram of
+Christ, which he calls the celestial sign, in the panegyric of
+Constantine which he wrote in Latin verse, but not a word on the
+appearance of the cross in the sky.
+
+Lactantius says nothing of it in his treatise on the "Death of
+Persecutors," which he composed towards the year 314, two years after
+the vision of which we speak; yet he must have been perfectly informed
+of all that regards Constantine, having been tutor to Crispus, the son
+of this prince. He merely relates, that Constantine was commanded, in a
+dream, to put the divine image of the cross on the bucklers of his
+soldiers, and to give up war: but in relating a dream, the truth of
+which had no other support than the evidence of the emperor, he passes,
+in silence over a prodigy to which all the army were witnesses.
+
+Further, Eusebius of Cæsarea himself, who has given the example to all
+other Christian historians on the subject, speaks not of this wonder, in
+the whole course of his "Ecclesiastical History," though he enlarges
+much on the exploits of Constantine against Maxentius. It is only in his
+life of this emperor that he expresses himself in these terms:
+"Constantine resolved to adore the god of Constantius; his father
+implored the protection of this god against Maxentius. Whilst he was
+praying, he had a wonderful vision, which would appear incredible, if
+related by another; but since the victorious emperor has himself related
+it to us, who wrote this history; and that, after having been long known
+to this prince, and enjoying a share in his good graces, the emperor
+confirming what he said by oath--who could doubt it? particularly since
+the event has confirmed the truth of it.
+
+"He affirmed, that in the afternoon, when the sun set, he saw a luminous
+cross above it, with this inscription in Greek--'By this sign, conquer:'
+that this appearance astonished him extremely, as well as all the
+soldiers who followed him, who were witnesses of the miracle; that while
+his mind was fully occupied with this vision, and he sought to penetrate
+the sense of it, the night being come, Jesus Christ appeared to him
+during his sleep, with the same sign which He had shown to him in the
+air in the day-time, and commanded him to make a standard of the same
+form, and to bear it in his battles, to secure him from danger.
+Constantine, rising at break of day, related to his friends the vision
+which he had beheld; and, sending for goldsmiths and lapidaries, he sat
+in the midst of them, explained to them the figure of the sign which he
+had seen, and commanded them to make a similar one of gold and jewels;
+and we remember having sometimes seen it."
+
+Eusebius afterwards adds, that Constantine, astonished at so admirable a
+vision, sent for Christian priests; and that, instructed by them, he
+applied himself to reading our sacred books, and concluded that he ought
+to adore with a profound respect the God who appeared to him.
+
+How can we conceive that so admirable a vision, seen by so many millions
+of people, and so calculated to justify the truth of the Christian
+religion, could be unknown to Eusebius, an historian so careful in
+seeking all that could contribute to do honor to Christianity, as even
+to quote profane monuments falsely, as we have seen in the article on
+"Eclipse?" And how can we persuade ourselves that he was not informed
+of it, until several years after, by the sole evidence of Constantine?
+Were there no Christians in the army, who publicly made a glory of
+having seen such a prodigy? Had they so little interest in their cause
+as to keep silence on so great a miracle? Ought we to be astonished,
+after that, that Gelasius, one of the successors of Eusebius, in the
+siege of Cæsarea in the fifth century, has said that many people
+suspected that it was only a fable, invented in favor of the Christian
+religion?
+
+This suspicion will become much stronger, if we take notice how little
+the witnesses agree on the circumstances of this marvellous appearance.
+Almost all affirm, that the cross was seen by Constantine and all his
+army; and Gelasius speaks of Constantine alone. They differ on the time
+of the vision. Philostorgius, in his "Ecclesiastical History," of which
+Photius has preserved us the extract, says, that it was when Constantine
+gained the victory over Maxentius; others pretend that it was before,
+when Constantine was making preparations for attacking the tyrant, and
+was on his march with his army. Arthemius, quoted by Metaphrastus and
+Surius, mentions the 20th of October, and says that it was at noon;
+others speak of the afternoon at sunset.
+
+Authors do not agree better even on the vision: the greatest number
+acknowledged but one, and that in a dream. There is only Eusebius,
+followed by Philostorgius and Socrates, who speaks of two; the one that
+Constantine saw in the day-time, and the other which he saw in a dream,
+tending to confirm the first. Nicephorus Callistus reckons three.
+
+The inscription offers new differences: Eusebius says that it was in
+Greek characters, while others do not speak of it. According to
+Philostorgius and Nicephorus, it was in Latin characters; others say
+nothing about it, and seem by their relation to suppose that the
+characters were Greek. Philostorgius affirms, that the inscription was
+formed by an assemblage of stars; Arthemius says that the letters were
+golden. The author quoted by Photius, represents them as composed of the
+same luminous matter as the cross; and according to Sosomenes, it had no
+inscription, and they were angels who said to Constantine: "By this
+sign, gain the victory."
+
+Finally, the relation of historians is opposed on the consequences of
+this vision. If we take that of Eusebius, Constantine, aided by God,
+easily gained the victory over Maxentius; but according to Lactantius,
+the victory was much disputed. He even says that the troops of Maxentius
+had some advantage, before Constantine made his army approach the gates
+of Rome. If we may believe Eusebius and Sosomenes, from this epoch
+Constantine was always victorious, and opposed the salutary sign of the
+cross to his enemies, as an impenetrable rampart. However, a Christian
+author, of whom M. de Valois has collected some fragments, at the end of
+Ammianus Marcellinus--relates, that in the two battles given to Licinius
+by Constantine, the victory was doubtful, and that Constantine was even
+slightly wounded in the thigh; and Nicephorus says, that after the first
+apparition, he twice combated the Byzantines, without opposing the cross
+to them, and would not even have remembered it, if he had not lost nine
+thousand men, and had the same vision twice more. In the first, the
+stars were so arranged that they formed these words of a psalm: "Call on
+me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify
+me;" and the last, much clearer and more brilliant still, bore: "By this
+sign, thou shalt vanquish all thy enemies."
+
+Philostorgius affirms, that the vision of the cross, and the victory
+gained over Maxentius, determined Constantine to embrace the Christian
+faith; but Rufinus, who has translated the "Ecclesiastical History" of
+Eusebius into Latin, says that he already favored Christianity, and
+honored the true God. It is however known, that he did not receive
+baptism until a few days before his death, as is expressly said by
+Philostorgius, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, Socrates,
+Theodoret, and the author of the Chronicle of Alexandria. This custom,
+then common, was founded on the belief that, baptism effacing all the
+sins of him who received it, he died certain of his salvation.
+
+We might confine ourselves to these general reflections, but by
+superabundance of right we will discuss the authority of Eusebius, as an
+historian, and that of Constantine and Arthemius, as ocular witnesses.
+
+As to Arthemius, we think that he ought not to be placed in the rank of
+ocular witnesses; his discourse being founded only on his "Acts,"
+related by Metaphrastus, a fabulous author: "Acts" which Baronius
+pretends it was wrong to impeach, at the same time that he confesses
+that they are interpolated.
+
+As to the speech of Constantine, related by Eusebius, it is indisputably
+an astonishing thing, that this emperor feared that he should not be
+believed unless he made oath; and that Eusebius has not supported his
+evidence by that of any of the officers or soldiers of the army. But
+without here adopting the opinion of some scholars, who doubt whether
+Eusebius is the author of the life of Constantine, is he not an author
+who, in this work, bears throughout the character of a panegyrist,
+rather than that of a historian? Is he not a writer who has carefully
+suppressed all which could be disadvantageous to his hero? In a word,
+does he not show his partiality, when he says, in his "Ecclesiastical
+History," speaking of Maxentius, that having usurped the sovereign power
+at Rome, to flatter the people he feigned at first to profess the
+Christian religion? As if it was impossible for Constantine to make use
+of such a feint, and to pretend this vision, just as Licinius, some time
+after, to encourage his soldiers against Maximin, pretended that an
+angel in a dream had dictated a prayer to him, which he must repeat with
+his army.
+
+How could Eusebius really have the effrontery to call a prince a
+Christian who caused the temple of Concord to be rebuilt at his own
+expense, as is proved by an inscription, which was read in the time of
+Lelio Geraldi, in the temple of Latran? A prince who caused his son
+Crispus, already honored with the title of Cæsar, to perish on a slight
+suspicion of having commerce with Fausta, his stepmother; who caused
+this same Fausta, to whom he was indebted for the preservation of his
+life, to be suffocated in an overheated bath; who caused the emperor
+Maximian Hercules, his adopted father, to be strangled; who took away
+the life of the young Licinius, his nephew, who had already displayed
+very good qualities; and, in short, who dishonored himself by so many
+murders, that the consul Ablavius called his times Neronian? We might
+add, that much dependence should not be placed on the oath of
+Constantine, since he had not the least scruple in perjuring himself, by
+causing Licinius to be strangled, to whom he had promised his life on
+oath. Eusebius passes in silence over all the actions of Constantine
+which are related by Eutropius, Zosimus, Orosius, St. Jerome, and
+Aurelius Victor.
+
+After this, have we not reason to conclude that the pretended appearance
+of the cross in the sky is only a fraud which Constantine imagined to
+favor the success of his ambitious enterprises? The medals of this
+prince and of his family, which are found in Banduri, and in the work
+entitled, "_Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum_"; the triumphal arch of
+which Baronius speaks, in the inscription of which the senate and the
+Roman people said that Constantine, by the direction of the Divinity,
+had rid the republic of the tyrant Maxentius, and of all his faction;
+finally, the statue which Constantine himself caused to be erected at
+Rome, holding a lance terminating in the form of a cross, with this
+inscription--as related by Eusebius: "By this saving sign, I have
+delivered your city from the yoke of tyranny"--all this, I say, only
+proves the immoderate pride of this artificial prince, who would
+everywhere spread the noise of his pretended dream, and perpetuate the
+recollection of it.
+
+Yet, to excuse Eusebius, we must compare him to a bishop of the
+seventeenth century, whom La Bruyère hesitated not to call a father of
+the Church. Bossuet, at the same time that he fell so unmercifully on
+the visions of the elegant and sensible Fénelon, commented himself, in
+the funeral oration of Anne of Gonzaga of Cleves, on the two visions
+which worked the conversion of the Princess Palatine. It was an
+admirable dream, says this prelate; she thought that, walking alone in a
+forest, she met with a blind man in a small cell. She comprehended that
+a sense is wanting to the incredulous as well as to the blind; and at
+the same time, in the midst of so mysterious a dream, she applied the
+fine comparison of the blind man to the truths of religion and of the
+other life.
+
+In the second vision, God continued to instruct her, as He did Joseph
+and Solomon; and during the drowsiness which the trouble caused her, He
+put this parable into her mind, so similar to that in the gospel: She
+saw that appear which Jesus Christ has not disdained to give us as an
+image of His tenderness--a hen become a mother, anxious round the little
+ones which she conducted. One of them having strayed, our invalid saw it
+swallowed by a hungry dog. She ran and tore the innocent animal away
+from him. At the same time, a voice cried from the other side that she
+must give it back to the ravisher. "No," said she, "I will never give it
+back." At this moment she awakened, and the explanation of the figure
+which had been shown to her presented itself to her mind in an instant.
+
+
+
+
+VOWS.
+
+
+To make a vow for life, is to make oneself a slave. How can this worst
+of all slavery be allowed in a country in which slavery is proscribed?
+To promise to God by an oath, that from the age of fifteen until death
+we will be a Jesuit, Jacobin, or Capuchin, is to affirm that we will
+always think like a Capuchin, a Jacobin, or a Jesuit. It is very
+pleasant to promise, for a whole life, that which no man can certainly
+insure from night to morning!
+
+How can governments have been such enemies to themselves, and so absurd,
+as to authorize citizens to alienate their liberty at an age when they
+are not allowed to dispose of the least portion of their fortunes? How,
+being convinced of the extent of this stupidity, have not the whole of
+the magistracy united to put an end to it?
+
+Is it not alarming to reflect that there are more monks than soldiers?
+Is it possible not to be affected by the discovery of the secrets of
+cloisters; the turpitudes, the horrors, and the torments to which so
+many unhappy children are subjected, who detest the state which they
+have been forced to adopt, when they become men, and who beat with
+useless despair the chains which their weakness has imposed upon them?
+
+I knew a young man whose parents engaged to make a Capuchin of him at
+fifteen years and a half old, when he desperately loved a girl very
+nearly of his own age. As soon as the unhappy youth had made his vow to
+St. Francis, the devil reminded him of the vows which he had made to his
+mistress, to whom he had signed a promise of marriage. At last, the
+devil being stronger than St. Francis, the young Capuchin left his
+cloister, repaired to the house of his mistress, and was told that she
+had entered a convent and made profession.
+
+He flew to the convent, and asked to see her, when he was told that she
+had died of grief. This news deprived him of all sense, and he fell to
+the ground nearly lifeless. He was immediately transported to a
+neighboring monastery, not to afford him the necessary medical aid, but
+in order to procure him the blessing of extreme unction before his
+death, which infallibly saves the soul.
+
+The house to which the poor fainting boy was carried, happened to be a
+convent of Capuchins, who charitably let him remain at the door for
+three hours; but at last he was recognized by one of the venerable
+brothers, who had seen him in the monastery to which he belonged. On
+this discovery, he was carried into a cell, and attention paid to
+recover him, in order that he might expiate, by a salutary penitence,
+the errors of which he had been guilty.
+
+As soon as he had recovered strength, he was conducted, well bound, to
+his convent, and the following is precisely the manner in which he was
+treated. In the first place he was placed in a dungeon under ground, at
+the bottom of which was an enormous stone, to which a chain of iron was
+attached. To this chain he was fastened by one leg, and near him was
+placed a loaf of barley bread and a jug of water; after which they
+closed the entrance of the dungeon with a large block of stone, which
+covered the opening by which they had descended.
+
+At the end of three days they withdrew him from the dungeon, in order to
+bring him before the criminal court of the Capuchins. They wished to
+know if he had any accomplices in his flight, and to oblige him to
+confess, applied the mode of torture employed in the convent. This
+preparatory torture was inflicted by cords, which bound the limbs of the
+patient, and made him endure a sort of rack.
+
+After having undergone these torments, he was condemned to be imprisoned
+for two years in his cell, from which he was to be brought out thrice a
+week, in order to receive upon his naked body the discipline with iron
+chains.
+
+For six months his constitution endured this punishment, from which he
+was at length so fortunate as to escape in consequence of a quarrel
+among the Capuchins, who fought with one another, and allowed the
+prisoner to escape during the fray.
+
+After hiding himself for some hours, he ventured to go abroad at the
+decline of day, almost worn out by hunger, and scarcely able to support
+himself. A passing Samaritan took pity upon the poor, famished spectre,
+conducted him to his house, and gave him assistance. The unhappy youth
+himself related to me his story in the presence of his liberator. Behold
+here the consequence of vows!
+
+It would be a nice point to decide, whether the horrors of passing every
+day among the mendicant friars are more revolting than the pernicious
+riches of the other orders, which reduce so many families into
+mendicants.
+
+All of them have made a vow to live at our expense, and to be a burden
+to their country; to injure its population, and to betray both their
+contemporaries and posterity; and shall we suffer it?
+
+Here is another interesting question for officers of the army: Why are
+monks allowed to recover one of their brethren who has enlisted for a
+soldier, while a captain is prevented from recovering a deserter who has
+turned monk?
+
+
+
+
+VOYAGE OF ST. PETER TO ROME.
+
+
+Of the famous dispute, whether Peter made the journey to Rome, is it not
+in the main as frivolous as most other grand disputes? The revenues of
+the abbey of St. Denis, in France, depend neither on the truth of the
+journey of St. Dionysius the Areopagite from Athens to the midst of
+Gaul; his martyrdom at Montmartre; nor the other journey which he made
+after his death, from Montmartre to St. Denis, carrying his head in his
+arms, and kissing it at every step.
+
+The Carthusians have great riches, without there being the least truth
+in the history of the canon of Paris, who rose from his coffin three
+successive days, to inform the assistants that he was damned.
+
+In like manner it is very certain that the rights and revenues of the
+Roman pontiff can exist, whether Simon Barjonas, surnamed Cephas, went
+to Rome or not. All the rights of the archbishops of Rome and
+Constantinople were established at the Council of Chalcedon, in the
+year 451 of our vulgar era, and there was no mention in this council of
+any journey made by an apostle to Byzantium or to Rome.
+
+The patriarchs of Alexander and Constantinople followed the lot of their
+provinces. The ecclesiastical chiefs of these two imperial cities, and
+of opulent Egypt, must necessarily have more authority, privileges, and
+riches, than bishops of little towns.
+
+If the residence of an apostle in a city decided so many rights, the
+bishop of Jerusalem would have been, without contradiction, the first
+bishop of Christendom. He was evidently the successor of St. James, the
+brother of Jesus Christ, acknowledged as the founder of this church, and
+afterwards called the first of all bishops. We should add by the same
+reasoning, that all the patriarchs of Jerusalem should be circumcised,
+since the fifteen first bishops of Jerusalem--the cradle of Christianity
+and tomb of Jesus Christ--had all received circumcision. It is
+indisputable that the first largesses made to the church of Rome by
+Constantine, have not the least relation to the journey of St. Peter.
+
+1. The first church raised at Rome was that of St. John; it is still the
+true cathedral. It is evident that it would have been dedicated to St.
+Peter, if he had been the first bishop of it. It is the strongest of all
+presumptions, and that alone might have ended the dispute.
+
+2. To this powerful conjecture are joined convincing negative proofs. If
+Peter had been at Rome with Paul, the Acts of the Apostles would have
+mentioned it; and they say not a word about it.
+
+3. If St. Peter went to preach the gospel at Rome, St. Paul would not
+have said, in his Epistle to the Galatians: "When they saw that the
+gospel of the uncircumcisions was committed unto me, as the gospel of
+the circumcision was unto Peter; and when James, Cephas, and John, who
+seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they
+gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go
+unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision."
+
+4. In the letters which Paul writes from Rome, he never speaks of Peter;
+therefore, it is evident that Peter was not there.
+
+5. In the letters which Paul writes to his brethren of Rome, there is
+not the least compliment to Peter, nor the least mention of him;
+therefore, Peter neither made a journey to Rome when Paul was in prison,
+nor when he was free.
+
+6. We have never known any letter of St. Peter's dated from Rome.
+
+7. Some, like Paul Orosius, a Spaniard of the fifth century, say that he
+was at Rome in the first years of the reign of Claudius. The Acts of the
+Apostles say that he was then at Jerusalem; and the Epistles of Paul,
+that he was at Antioch.
+
+8. I do not pretend to bring forward any proof, but speaking humanly,
+and according to the rules of profane criticism, Peter could scarcely go
+from Jerusalem to Rome, knowing neither the Latin nor even the Greek
+language, which St. Paul spoke, though very badly. It is said that the
+apostles spoke all the languages of the universe; therefore, I am
+silenced.
+
+9. Finally, the first mention which we ever had of the journey of St.
+Peter to Rome, came from one named Papias, who lived about a hundred
+years after St. Peter. This Papias was a Phrygian; he wrote in Phrygia;
+and he pretended that St. Peter went to Rome, because in one of his
+letters he speaks of Babylon. We have, indeed, a letter, attributed to
+St. Peter, written in these obscure times, in which it is said: "The
+Church which is at Babylon, my wife, and my son Mark, salute you." It
+has pleased some translators to translate the word meaning my wife, by
+"chosen vessel": "Babylon, the chosen vessel." This is translating
+comprehensively.
+
+Papias, who was, it must be confessed, one of the great visionaries of
+these ages, imagined that Babylon signified Rome. It was, however, very
+natural for Peter to depart from Antioch to visit the brethren at
+Babylon. There were always Jews at Babylon; and they continually carried
+on the trade of brokers and peddlers; it is very likely that several
+disciples sought refuge there, and that Peter went to encourage them.
+There is not more reason in supposing that Babylon signifies Rome, than
+in supposing that Rome means Babylon. What an extravagant idea, to
+suppose that Peter wrote an exhortation to his comrades, as we write at
+present, in ciphers! Did he fear that his letter should be opened at the
+post? Why should Peter fear that his Jewish letters should be known--so
+useless in a worldly sense, and to which it was impossible for the
+Romans to pay the least attention? Who engaged him to lie so vainly?
+What could have possessed people to think, that when he wrote Babylon,
+he intended Rome?
+
+It was after similar convincing proofs that the judicious Calmet
+concludes that the journey of St. Peter to Rome is proved by St. Peter
+himself, who says expressly, that he has written his letter from
+Babylon; that is to say, from Rome, as we interpret with the ancients.
+Once more, this is powerful reasoning! He has probably learned this
+logic among the vampires!
+
+The learned archbishop of Paris, Marca, Dupin, Blondel, and Spanheim,
+are not of this opinion; but it was that of Calmet, who reasoned like
+Calmet, and who was followed by a multitude of writers so attached to
+the sublimity of their principles that they sometimes neglected
+wholesome criticism and reason. It is a very poor pretence of the
+partisans of the voyage to say that the Acts of the Apostles are
+intended for the history of Paul, and not for that of Peter; and that if
+they pass in silence over the sojourn of Simon Barjonas at Rome, it is
+that the actions and exploits of Paul were the sole object of the
+writer.
+
+The Acts speak much of Simon Barjonas, surnamed Peter; it is he who
+proposes to give a successor to Judas. We see him strike Ananias and his
+wife with sudden death, who had given him their property, but
+unfortunately not all of it. We see him raise his sempstress Dorcas, at
+the house of the tanner Simon at Joppa. He has a quarrel in Samaria with
+Simon, surnamed the Magician; he goes to Lippa, Cæsarea, and Jerusalem;
+what would it have cost him to go to Rome?
+
+It is very difficult to decide whether Peter went to Rome under
+Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, or Nero. The journey in the time of
+Tiberius is only founded on the pretended apocryphal fasti of Italy.
+
+Another apocrypha, entitled "Catalogues of Bishops," makes Peter bishop
+of Rome immediately after the death of his master. I know not what
+Arabian tale sent him to Rome under Caligula. Eusebius, three hundred
+years after, makes him to be conducted to Rome under Claudius by a
+divine hand, without saying in what year.
+
+Lactantius, who wrote in the time of Constantine, is the first veracious
+author who has said that Peter went to Rome under Nero, and that he was
+crucified there.
+
+We must avow, that if such claims alone were brought forward by a party
+in a lawsuit, he would not gain his cause, and he would be advised to
+keep to the maxim of "_uti possedetis_"; and this is the part which Rome
+has taken.
+
+But it is said that before Eusebius and Lactantius, the exact Papias had
+already related the adventure of Peter and Simon; the virtue of God
+which removed him into the presence of Nero; the kinsman of Nero half
+raised from the dead, in the name of God, by Simon, and wholly raised by
+Peter; the compliments of their dogs; the bread given by Peter to
+Simon's dogs; the magician who flew into the air; the Christian who
+caused him to fall by a sign of the cross, by which he broke both his
+legs; Nero, who cut off Peter's head to pay for the legs of his
+magician, etc. The grave Marcellus repeats this authentic history, and
+the grave Hegesippus again repeats it, and others repeat it after them;
+and I repeat to you, that if ever you plead for a meadow before the
+judge of Vaugirard, you will never gain your suit by such claims.
+
+I doubt not that the episcopal chair of St. Peter is still at Rome in
+the fine church. I doubt not but that St. Peter enjoyed the bishopric of
+Rome twenty-nine years, a month, and nine days, as it is said. But I may
+venture to say that that is not demonstratively proved; and I say that
+it is to be thought that the Roman bishops of the present time are more
+at their ease than those of times past--obscure times, which it is very
+difficult to penetrate.
+
+
+
+
+WALLER.
+
+
+The celebrated Waller has been much spoken of in France; he has been
+praised by La Fontaine, St. Évremond, and Bayle, who, however, knew
+little of him beyond his name.
+
+He had pretty nearly the same reputation in London as Voiture enjoyed in
+Paris, but I believe that he more deserved it. Voiture existed at a time
+when we were first emerging from literary ignorance, and when wit was
+aimed at, but scarcely attained. Turns of expression were sought for
+instead of thoughts, and false stones were more easily discovered than
+genuine diamonds. Voiture, who possessed an easy and trifling turn of
+mind, was the first who shone in this aurora of French literature. Had
+he come after the great men who have thrown so much lustre on the age of
+Louis XIV., he would have been forced to have had something more than
+mere wit, which was enough for the hotel de Rambouillet, but not enough
+for posterity. Boileau praises him, but it was in his first satires, and
+before his taste was formed. He was young, and of that age in which men
+judge rather by reputation than from themselves; and, besides, Boileau
+was often unjust in his praise as well as his censure. He praised
+Segrais, whom nobody read; insulted Quinault, who everybody repeated by
+heart; and said nothing of La Fontaine.
+
+Waller, although superior to Voiture, was not perfect. His poems of
+gallantry are very graceful, but they are frequently languid from
+negligence, and they are often disfigured by conceits. In his days, the
+English had not learned to write correctly. His serious pieces are
+replete with vigor, and exhibit none of the softness of his gallant
+effusions. He composed a monody on the death of Cromwell, which, with
+several faults, passes for a masterpiece; and it was in reference to
+this eulogy that Waller made the reply to Charles II., which is inserted
+in "Bayle's Dictionary." The king--to whom Waller, after the manner of
+kings and poets, presented a poem stuffed with panegyric--told him that
+he had written more finely on Cromwell. Waller immediately replied:
+"Sire, we poets always succeed better in fiction than in truth." This
+reply was not so sincere as that of the Dutch ambassador, who, when the
+same king complained to him that his masters had less regard for him
+than for Cromwell, replied: "Ah, sire! that Cromwell was quite another
+thing." There are courtiers in England, as elsewhere, and Waller was one
+of them; but after their death, I consider men only by their works; all
+the rest is annihilated. I simply observe that Waller, born to an estate
+of the annual value of sixty thousand livres, had never the silly pride
+or carelessness to neglect his talent. The earls of Dorset and
+Roscommon, the two dukes of Buckingham, the earl of Halifax, and a great
+many others, have not thought it below them to become celebrated poets
+and illustrious writers; and their works do them more honor than their
+titles. They have cultivated letters as if their fortunes depended on
+their success, and have rendered literature respectable in the eyes of
+the people, who in all things require leaders from among the great--who,
+however, have less influence of this kind in England than in any other
+place in the world.
+
+
+
+
+WAR.
+
+
+All animals are perpetually at war; every species is born to devour
+another. There are none, even to sheep and doves, who do not swallow a
+prodigious number of imperceptible animals. Males of the same species
+make war for the females, like Menelaus and Paris. Air, earth, and the
+waters, are fields of destruction.
+
+It seems that God having given reason to men, this reason should teach
+them not to debase themselves by imitating animals, particularly when
+nature has given them neither arms to kill their fellow-creatures, nor
+instinct which leads them to suck their blood.
+
+Yet murderous war is so much the dreadful lot of man, that except two or
+three nations, there are none but what their ancient histories represent
+as armed against one another. Towards Canada, man and warrior are
+synonymous; and we have seen, in our hemisphere, that thief and soldier
+were the same thing. Manichæans! behold your excuse.
+
+The most determined of flatterers will easily agree, that war always
+brings pestilence and famine in its train, from the little that he may
+have seen in the hospitals of the armies of Germany, or the few villages
+he may have passed through in which some great exploit of war has been
+performed.
+
+That is doubtless a very fine art which desolates countries, destroys
+habitations, and in a common year causes the death of from forty to a
+hundred thousand men. This invention was first cultivated by nations
+assembled for their common good; for instance, the diet of the Greeks
+declared to the diet of Phrygia and neighboring nations, that they
+intended to depart on a thousand fishers' barks, to exterminate them if
+they could.
+
+The assembled Roman people judged that it was to their interest to go
+and fight, before harvest, against the people of Veii or the Volscians.
+And some years after, all the Romans, being exasperated against all the
+Carthaginians, fought them a long time on sea and land. It is not
+exactly the same at present.
+
+A genealogist proves to a prince that he descends in a right line from a
+count, whose parents made a family compact, three or four hundred years
+ago, with a house the recollection of which does not even exist. This
+house had distant pretensions to a province, of which the last possessor
+died of apoplexy. The prince and his council see his right at once. This
+province, which is some hundred leagues distant from him, in vain
+protests that it knows him not; that it has no desire to be governed by
+him; that to give laws to its people, he must at least have their
+consent; these discourses only reach as far as the ears of the prince,
+whose right is incontestable. He immediately assembles a great number of
+men who have nothing to lose, dresses them in coarse blue cloth, borders
+their hats with broad white binding, makes them turn to the right and
+left, and marches to glory.
+
+Other princes who hear of this equipment, take part in it, each
+according to his power, and cover a small extent of country with more
+mercenary murderers than Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, and Bajazet employed
+in their train. Distant people hear that they are going to fight, and
+that they may gain five or six sous a day, if they will be of the party;
+they divide themselves into two bands, like reapers, and offer their
+services to whoever will employ them.
+
+These multitudes fall upon one another, not only without having any
+interest in the affair, but without knowing the reason of it. We see at
+once five or six belligerent powers, sometimes three against three,
+sometimes two against four, and sometimes one against five; all equally
+detesting one another, uniting with and attacking by turns; all agree in
+a single point, that of doing all the harm possible.
+
+The most wonderful part of this infernal enterprise is that each chief
+of the murderers causes his colors to be blessed, and solemnly invokes
+God before he goes to exterminate his neighbors. If a chief has only the
+fortune to kill two or three thousand men, he does not thank God for it;
+but when he has exterminated about ten thousand by fire and sword, and,
+to complete the work, some town has been levelled with the ground, they
+then sing a long song in four parts, composed in a language unknown to
+all who have fought, and moreover replete with barbarism. The same song
+serves for marriages and births, as well as for murders; which is
+unpardonable, particularly in a nation the most famous for new songs.
+
+Natural religion has a thousand times prevented citizens from committing
+crimes. A well-trained mind has not the inclination for it; a tender one
+is alarmed at it, representing to itself a just and avenging God; but
+artificial religion encourages all cruelties which are exercised by
+troops--conspiracies, seditions, pillages, ambuscades, surprises of
+towns, robberies, and murder. Each marches gaily to crime, under the
+banner of his saint.
+
+A certain number of orators are everywhere paid to celebrate these
+murderous days; some are dressed in a long black close coat, with a
+short cloak; others have a shirt above a gown; some wear two variegated
+stuff streamers over their shirts. All of them speak for a long time,
+and quote that which was done of old in Palestine, as applicable to a
+combat in Veteravia.
+
+The rest of the year these people declaim against vices. They prove, in
+three points and by antitheses, that ladies who lay a little carmine
+upon their cheeks, will be the eternal objects of the eternal vengeances
+of the Eternal; that Polyeuctus and Athalia are works of the demon; that
+a man who, for two hundred crowns a day, causes his table to be
+furnished with fresh sea-fish during Lent, infallibly works his
+salvation; and that a poor man who eats two sous and a half worth of
+mutton, will go forever to all the devils.
+
+Of five or six thousand declamations of this kind, there are three or
+four at most, composed by a Gaul named Massillon, which an honest man
+may read without disgust; but in all these discourses, you will scarcely
+find two in which the orator dares to say a word against the scourge and
+crime of war, which contains all other scourges and crimes. The
+unfortunate orators speak incessantly against love, which is the only
+consolation of mankind, and the only mode of making amends for it; they
+say nothing of the abominable efforts which we make to destroy it.
+
+You have made a very bad sermon on impurity--oh, Bourdaloue!--but none
+on these murders, varied in so many ways; on these rapines and
+robberies; on this universal rage which devours the world. All the
+united vices of all ages and places will never equal the evils produced
+by a single campaign.
+
+Miserable physicians of souls! you exclaim, for five quarters of an
+hour, on some pricks of a pin, and say nothing on the malady which tears
+us into a thousand pieces! Philosophers! moralists! burn all your books.
+While the caprice of a few men makes that part of mankind consecrated to
+heroism, to murder loyally millions of our brethren, can there be
+anything more horrible throughout nature?
+
+What becomes of, and what signifies to me, humanity, beneficence,
+modesty, temperance, mildness, wisdom, and piety, while half a pound of
+lead, sent from the distance of a hundred steps, pierces my body, and I
+die at twenty years of age, in inexpressible torments, in the midst of
+five or six thousand dying men, while my eyes which open for the last
+time, see the town in which I was born destroyed by fire and sword, and
+the last sounds which reach my ears are the cries of women and children
+expiring under the ruins, all for the pretended interests of a man whom
+I know not?
+
+What is worse, war is an inevitable scourge. If we take notice, all men
+have worshipped Mars. Sabaoth, among the Jews, signifies the god of
+arms; but Minerva, in Homer, calls Mars a furious, mad, and infernal
+god.
+
+The celebrated Montesquieu, who was called humane, has said, however,'
+that it is just to bear fire and sword against our neighbors, when we
+fear that they are doing too well. If this is the spirit of laws, At is
+also that of Borgia and of Machiavelli. If unfortunately he says true,
+we must write against this truth, though it may be proved by facts.
+
+This is what Montesquieu says: "Between societies, the right of natural
+defence sometimes induces the necessity of attacking, when one people
+sees that a longer peace puts another in a situation to destroy it, and
+that attack at the given moment is the only way of preventing this
+destruction."
+
+How can attack in peace be the only means of preventing this
+destruction? You must be sure that this neighbor will destroy you, if he
+become powerful. To be sure of it, he must already have made
+preparations for your overthrow. In this case, it is he who commences
+the war; it is not you: your supposition is false and contradictory.
+
+If ever war is evidently unjust, it is that which you propose: it is
+going to kill your neighbor, who does not attack you, lest he should
+ever be in a state to do so. To hazard the ruin of your country, in the
+hope of ruining without reason that of another, is assuredly neither
+honest nor useful; for we are never sure of success, as you well know.
+
+If your neighbor becomes too powerful during peace, what prevents you
+from rendering yourself equally powerful? If he has made alliances, make
+them on your side. If, having fewer monks, he has more soldiers and
+manufacturers, imitate him in this wise economy. If he employs his
+sailors better, employ yours in the same manner: all that is very just.
+But to expose your people to the most horrible misery, in the so often
+false idea of overturning your dear brother, the most serene neighboring
+prince!--it was not for the honorary president of a pacific society to
+give you such advice.
+
+
+
+
+WEAKNESS ON BOTH SIDES.
+
+
+Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels. I
+speak not here of those which have caused blood to be shed--the
+Anabaptists, who ravaged Westphalia; the Calvinists, who kindled so many
+wars in France; the sanguinary factions of the Armagnacs and
+Burgundians; the punishment of the Maid of Orleans, whom one-half of
+France regarded as a celestial heroine, and the other as a sorceress;
+the Sorbonne, which presented a request to have her burned; the
+assassination of the duke of Orleans, justified by the doctors; subjects
+excused from the oath of fidelity by a decree of the sacred faculty; the
+executioners so often employed to enforce opinions; the piles lighted
+for unfortunates who persuaded others that they were sorcerers and
+heretics--all that is more than weakness. Yet these abominations were
+committed in the good times of honest Germanic faith and Gallic naivete!
+I would send back to them all honest people who regret times past.
+
+I will make here, simply for my own particular edification, a little
+instructive memoir of the fine things which divided the minds of our
+grandfathers. In the eleventh century--in that good time in which we
+knew not the art of war, which however we have always practised; nor
+that of governing towns, nor commerce, nor society, and in which we
+could neither read nor write--men of much mind disputed solemnly, at
+much length, and with great vivacity, on what happened at the
+water-closet, after having fulfilled a sacred duty, of which we must
+speak only with the most profound respect. This was called the dispute
+of the stercorists; and, not ending in a war, was in consequence one of
+the mildest impertinences of the human mind.
+
+The dispute which divided learned Spain, in the same century, on the
+Mosarabic version, also terminated without ravaging provinces or
+shedding human blood. The spirit of chivalry, which then prevailed,
+permitted not the difficulty to be enlightened otherwise than in leaving
+the decision to two noble knights. As in that of the two Don Quixotes,
+whichever overthrew his adversary caused his own party to triumph. Don
+Ruis de Martanza, knight of the Mosarabic ritual, overthrew the Don
+Quixote of the Latin ritual; but as the laws of chivalry decided not
+positively that a ritual must be proscribed because its knight was
+unhorsed, a more certain and established secret was made use of, to know
+which of the books should be preferred. The expedient alluded to was
+that of throwing them both into the fire, it not being possible for the
+sound ritual to perish in the flames. I know not how it happened,
+however, but they were both burned, and the dispute remained undecided,
+to the great astonishment of the Spaniards. By degrees, the Latin ritual
+got the preference; and if any knight afterwards presented himself to
+maintain the Mosarabic, it was the knight and not the ritual which was
+thrown into the fire.
+
+In these fine times, we and other polished people, when we were ill,
+were obliged to have recourse to an Arabian physician. When we would
+know what day of the moon it was, we referred to the Arabs. If we would
+buy a piece of cloth, we must pay a Jew for it; and when a farmer wanted
+rain, he addressed himself to a sorcerer. At last, however, when some of
+us learned Latin, and had a bad translation of Aristotle, we figured in
+the world with honor, passing three or four hundred years in deciphering
+some pages of the Stagyrite, and in adoring and condemning them. Some
+said that without him we should want articles of faith; others, that he
+was an atheist. A Spaniard proved that Aristotle was a saint, and that
+we should celebrate his anniversary; while a council in France caused
+his divine writings to be burned. Colleges, universities, whole orders
+of monks, were reciprocally anathematized, on the subject of some
+passages of this great man--which neither themselves, the judges who
+interposed their authority, nor the author himself, ever understood.
+There were many fisticuffs given in Germany in these grave quarrels, but
+there was not much bloodshed. It is a pity, for the glory of Aristotle,
+that they did not make civil war, and have some regular battles in favor
+of quiddities, and of the "universal of the part of the thing." Our
+ancestors cut the throats of each other in disputes upon points which
+they understood very little better.
+
+It is true that a much celebrated madman named Occam, surnamed the
+"invincible doctor," chief of those who stood up for the "universal of
+the part of thought," demanded from the emperor Louis of Bavaria, that
+he should defend his pen with his imperial sword against Scott, another
+Scottish madman, surnamed the "subtle doctor," who fought for the
+"universal of the part of the thing." Happily, the sword of Louis of
+Bavaria remained in its scabbard. Who would believe that these disputes
+have lasted until our days, and that the Parliament of Paris, in 1624,
+gave a fine sentence in favor of Aristotle?
+
+Towards the time of the brave Occam and the intrepid Scott, a much more
+serious quarrel arose, into which the reverend father Cordeliers
+inveigled all the Christian world. This was to know if their kitchen
+garden belonged to themselves, or if they were merely simple tenants of
+it. The form of the cowls, and the size of the sleeves, were further
+subjects of this holy war. Pope John XXII., who interfered, found out to
+whom he was speaking. The Cordeliers quitted his party for that of Louis
+of Bavaria, who then drew his sword.
+
+There were, moreover, three or four Cordeliers burned as heretics, which
+is rather strong; but after all, this affair having neither shaken
+thrones nor ruined provinces, we may place it in the rank of peaceable
+follies.
+
+There have been always some of this kind, the greater part of whom have
+fallen into the most profound oblivion; and of four or five hundred
+sects which have appeared, there remain in the memory of men those only
+which have produced either extreme disorder or extreme folly--two things
+which they willingly retain. Who knows, in the present day, that there
+were Orebites, Osmites, and Insdorfians? Who is now acquainted with the
+Anointed, the Cornacians, or the Iscariots?
+
+Dining one day at the house of a Dutch lady, I was charitably warned by
+one of the guests, to take care of myself, and not to praise Voetius. "I
+have no desire," said I, "to say either good or evil of your Voetius;
+but why do you give me this advice?" "Because madam is a Cocceian," said
+my neighbor. "With all my heart," said I. She added, that there were
+still four Cocceians in Holland, and that it was a great pity that the
+sect perished. A time will come in which the Jansenists, who have made
+so much noise among us, and who are unknown everywhere else, will have
+the fate of the Cocceians. An old doctor said to me: "Sir, in my youth,
+I have debated on the _'mandata impossibilia volentibus et conantibus.'_
+I have written against the formulary and the pope, and I thought myself
+a confessor. I have been put in prison, and I thought myself a martyr. I
+now no longer interfere in anything, and I believe myself to be
+reasonable." "What are your occupations?" said I to him. "Sir," replied
+he, "I am very fond of money." It is thus that almost all men in their
+old age inwardly laugh at the follies which they ardently embraced in
+their youth. Sects grow old, like men. Those which have not been
+supported by great princes, which have not caused great mischief, grow
+old much sooner than others. They are epidemic maladies, which pass over
+like the sweating sickness and the whooping-cough.
+
+There is no longer any question on the pious reveries of Madame Guyon.
+We no longer read the most unintelligible book of Maxims of the Saints,
+but Telemachus. We no longer remember what the eloquent Bossuet wrote
+against the elegant and amiable Fénelon; we give the preference to his
+funeral orations. In all the dispute on what is called quietism, there
+has been nothing good but the old tale revived of the honest woman who
+brought a torch to burn paradise, and a cruse of water to extinguish the
+fire of hell, that God should no longer be served either through hope or
+fear.
+
+I will only remark one singularity in this proceeding, which is not
+equal to the story of the good woman; it is, that the Jesuits, who were
+so much accused in France by the Jansenists of having been founded by
+St. Ignatius, expressly to destroy the love of God, warmly interfered
+at Rome in favor of the pure love of Fénelon. It happened to them as to
+M. de Langeais, who was pursued by his wife to the Parliament of Paris,
+on account of his impotence, and by a girl to the Parliament of Rennes,
+for having rendered her pregnant. He ought to have gained one of these
+two causes; he lost them both. Pure love, for which the Jesuits made so
+much stir, was condemned at Rome, and they were always supposed at Paris
+to be against loving God. This opinion was so rooted in the public mind
+that when, some years ago, an engraving was sold representing our Lord
+Jesus Christ dressed as a Jesuit, a wit--apparently the _loustic_ of the
+Jansenist party--wrote lines under the print intimating that the
+ingenious fathers had habited God like themselves, as the surest means
+of preventing the love of him:
+
+     _Admirez l'artifice extrême_
+     _Les ces pères ingénieux:_
+     _Ils vous ont habillé comme eux,_
+     _Mon Dieu, de peur qu'on ne vous aime._
+
+At Rome, where such disputes never arise, and where they judge those
+that take place elsewhere, they were much annoyed with quarrels on pure
+love. Cardinal Carpegne, who was the reporter of the affairs of the
+archbishop of Cambray, was ill, and suffered much in a part which is not
+more spared in cardinals than in other men. His surgeon bandaged him
+with fine linen, which is called cambrai (cambric) in Italy as in many
+other places. The cardinal cried out, when the surgeon pleaded that it
+was the finest cambrai: "What! more cambrai still? Is it not enough to
+have one's head fatigued with it?" Happy the disputes which end thus!
+Happy would man be if all the disputers of the world, if heresiarchs,
+submitted with so much moderation, such magnanimous mildness, as the
+great archbishop of Cambray, who had no desire to be an heresiarch! I
+know not whether he was right in wishing God to be loved for himself
+alone, but M. de Fénelon certainly deserved to be loved thus.
+
+In purely literary disputes there is often as much snarling and party
+spirit as in more interesting quarrels. We should, if we could, renew
+the factions of the circus, which agitated the Roman Empire. Two rival
+actresses are capable of dividing a town. Men have all a secret
+fascination for faction. If we cannot cabal, pursue, and destroy one
+another for crowns, tiaras, and mitres, we fall upon one another for a
+dancer or a musician. Rameau had a violent party against him, who would
+have exterminated him; and he knew nothing of it. I had a violent party
+against me, and I knew it well.
+
+
+
+
+WHYS (THE).
+
+
+Why do we scarcely ever know the tenth part of the good we might do?
+Iris clear, that if a nation living between the Alps, the Pyrenees, and
+the sea, had employed, in ameliorating and embellishing the country, a
+tenth part of the money it lost in the war of 1741, and one-half of the
+men killed to no purpose in Germany, the state would have been more
+flourishing. Why was not this done? Why prefer a war, which Europe
+considered unjust, to the happy labors of peace, which would have
+produced the useful and the agreeable?
+
+Why did Louis XIV., who had so much taste for great monuments, for new
+foundations, for the fine arts, lose eight hundred millions of our money
+in seeing his cuirassiers and his household swim across the Rhine in
+_not_ taking Amsterdam; in stirring up nearly all Europe against him?
+What could he not have done with his eight hundred millions?
+
+Why, when he reformed jurisprudence, did he reform it only by halves?
+Ought the numerous ancient customs, founded on the decretals and the
+canon law, to be still suffered to exist? Was it necessary that in the
+many causes called ecclesiastical, but which are in reality civil,
+appeal should be made to the bishop; from the bishop to the
+metropolitan; from the metropolitan to the primate; and from the primate
+to Rome, "_ad apostolos_"?--as if the apostles had of old been the
+judges of the Gauls "_en dernier ressort_."
+
+Why, when Louis XIV. was outrageously insulted by Pope Alexander
+VII.--Chigi--did he amuse himself with sending into France for a legate,
+to make frivolous excuses, and with having a pyramid erected at Rome,
+the inscriptions over which concerned none but the watchmen of Rome--a
+pyramid which he soon after had abolished? Had it not been better to
+have abolished forever the simony by which every bishop and every abbot
+in Gaul pays to the Italian apostolic chamber the half of his revenue?
+
+Why did the same monarch, when still more grievously insulted by
+Innocent XI.--Odescalchi--who took the part of the prince of Orange
+against him, content himself with having four propositions maintained in
+his universities, and refuse the prayers of the whole magistracy, who
+solicited an eternal rupture with the court of Rome?
+
+Why, in making the laws, was it forgotten to place all the provinces of
+the kingdom under one uniform law, leaving in existence a hundred
+different customs, and a hundred and forty-four different measures?
+
+Why were the provinces of this kingdom still reputed foreign to one
+another, so that the merchandise of Normandy, on being conveyed by land
+into Brittany, pays duty, as if it came from England?
+
+Why was not corn grown in Champagne allowed to be sold in Picardy
+without an express permission--as at Rome permission is obtained for
+three giuli to read forbidden books?
+
+Why was France left so long under the reproach of venality? It seemed to
+be reserved for Louis XIV. to abolish the custom of buying the right to
+sit as judges over men, as you buy a country house; and making pleaders
+pay fees to the judge, as tickets for the play are paid for at the
+door.
+
+Why institute in a kingdom the offices and dignities of king's
+counsellors: Inspectors of drink, inspectors of the shambles, registrars
+of inventories, controllers of fines, inspectors of hogs, péréquateurs
+of tailles, fuel-measurers, assistant-measurers, fuel-pilers, unloaders
+of green wood, controllers of timber, markers of timber, coal-measurers,
+corn-sifters, inspectors of calves, controllers of poultry, gaugers,
+assayers of brandy, assayers of beer, rollers of casks, unloaders of
+hay, floor-clearers, inspectors of ells, inspectors of wigs?
+
+These offices; in which doubtless consist the prosperity and splendor of
+an empire, formed numerous communities, which had each their syndics.
+This was all suppressed in 1719; but it was to make room for others of a
+similar kind, in the course of time. Would it not be better to retrench
+all the pomp and luxury of greatness, than miserably to support them by
+means so low and shameful?
+
+Why has a nation, often reduced to extremity and to some degree of
+humiliation, still supported itself in spite of all the efforts made to
+crush it? Because that nation is active and industrious. The people are
+like the bees: you take from them wax and honey, and they forthwith set
+to work to produce more.
+
+Why, in half of Europe, do the girls pray to God in Latin, which they do
+not understand? Why, in the sixteenth century, when nearly all the popes
+and bishops notoriously had bastards, did they persist in prohibiting
+the marriage of priests; while the Greek Church has constantly ordained
+that curates should have wives?
+
+Why, in all antiquity, was there no theological dispute, nor any people
+distinguished by a sectarian appellation? The Egyptians were not called
+Isiacs or Osiriacs. The people of Syria were not named Cybelians. The
+Cretans had a particular devotion for Jupiter, but were not called
+Jupiterians. The ancient Latins were much attached to Saturn, but there
+was not a village in all Latium called Saturnian. The disciples of the
+God of Truth, on the contrary, taking the title of their master himself,
+and calling themselves, like him, "anointed," declared, as soon as they
+were able, eternal war against all nations that were not "anointed," and
+made war upon one another for upwards of fourteen hundred years, taking
+the names of Arians, Manichæans, Donatists, Hussites, Papists,
+Lutherans, Calvinists, etc. Even the Jansenists and Molinists have
+experienced no mortification so acute as that of not having it in their
+power to cut one another's throats in pitched battle. Whence is this?
+
+Why does a bookseller publicly sell the "Course of Atheism," by the
+great Lucretius, printed for the dauphin, only son of Louis XIV., by
+order and under the direction of the wise duke of Montausier, and of the
+eloquent Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, and of the learned Huet, bishop of
+Avranches? There you find those sublime impieties, those admirable
+lines against Providence and the immortality of the soul, which pass
+from mouth to mouth, through all after-ages:
+
+     _Ex nihilo, nihil; in nihilum nil posse reverti._
+     From nothing, nought; to nothing nought returns.
+
+     _Tangere enim ac tangi nisi corpus nulla protest res._
+     Matter alone can touch and govern matter.
+
+     _Nec bene pro meretis capitur, nec tangitur ira (Deus)._
+     Nothing can flatter God, or cause his anger.
+
+     _Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum._
+     How great the evil by religion caused!
+
+     _Desipire est mortale eterno jungere et una_
+     _Consentire putare, et fungi mutua posse._
+     'Tis weak in mortals to attempt to join
+     To transient being that which lasts forever.
+
+     _Nil igitur mors est, ad nos neque pertinet hilum._
+     When death is, we are not; the body dies, and with it all.
+
+     _Mortalem tamen esse animam fatere necesse est._
+     There is no future; mortal is the soul.
+
+     _Hinc Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita._
+     Hence ancient fools are superstition's prey.
+
+And a hundred other lines which charm all nations--the immortal
+productions of a mind which believed itself to be mortal. Not only are
+these Latin verses sold in the Rue St. Jacques and on the Quai des
+Augustins, but you fearlessly purchase the translations made into all
+the patois derived from the Latin tongue--translations decorated with
+learned notes, which elucidate the doctrine of materialism, collect all
+the proofs against the Divinity, and would annihilate it, if it could be
+destroyed. You find this book, bound in morocco, in the fine library of
+a great and devout prince, of a cardinal, of a chancellor, of an
+archbishop, of a round-capped president: but the first eighteen books of
+de Thou were condemned as soon as they appeared. A poor Gallic
+philosopher ventures to publish, in his own name, that if men had been
+born without fingers, they would never have been able to work tapestry;
+and immediately another Gaul, who for his money has obtained a robe of
+office, requires that the book and the author be burned.
+
+Why are scenic exhibitions anathematized by certain persons who call
+themselves of the first order in the state, seeing that such exhibitions
+are necessary to all the orders of the state, and that the laws of the
+state uphold them with equal splendor and regularity?
+
+Why do we abandon to contempt, debasement, oppression, and rapine, the
+great mass of those laborious and harmless men who cultivate the earth
+every day of the year, that we may eat of all its fruits? And why, on
+the contrary, do we pay respect, attention, and court, to the useless
+and often very wicked man who lives only by their labor, and is rich
+only by their misery?
+
+Why, during so many ages, among so many men who sow the corn with which
+we are fed, has there been no one to discover that ridiculous error
+which teaches that the grain must rot in order to germinate, and die to
+spring up again--an error which has led to many impertinent assertions,
+to many false comparisons, and to many ridiculous opinions?
+
+Why, since the fruits of the earth are so necessary for the preservation
+of men and animals, do we find so many years, and so many centuries, in
+which these fruits are absolutely wanting? why is the earth covered with
+poisons in the half of Africa and of America? why is there no tract of
+land where there are not more insects than men? why does a little
+whitish and offensive secretion form a being which will have hard bones,
+desires, and thoughts? and why shall those beings be constantly
+persecuting one another? why does there exist so much evil, everything
+being formed by a God whom all Theists agree in calling good? why, since
+we are always complaining of our ills, are we constantly employed in
+redoubling them? why, since we are so miserable, has it been imagined
+that to die is an evil--when it is clear that not to have been, before
+our birth, was no evil? why does it rain every day into the sea, while
+so many deserts demand rain, yet are constantly arid? why and how have
+we dreams in our sleep, if we have no soul? and if we have one, how is
+it that these dreams are always so incoherent and so extravagant? why do
+the heavens revolve from east to west, rather than the contrary way? why
+do we exist? why does anything exist?
+
+
+
+
+WICKED.
+
+
+We are told that human nature is essentially perverse; that man is born
+a child of the devil, and wicked. Nothing can be more injudicious; for
+thou, my friend, who preachest to me that all the world is born
+perverse, warnest me that thou art born such also, and that I must
+mistrust thee as I would a fox or a crocodile. Oh, no! sayest thou; I am
+regenerated; I am neither a heretic nor an infidel; you may trust in me.
+But the rest of mankind, which are either heretic, or what thou callest
+infidel, will be an assemblage of monsters, and every time that thou
+speakest to a Lutheran or a Turk, thou mayest be sure that they will rob
+and murder thee, for they are children of the devil, they are born
+wicked; the one is not regenerated, the other is degenerated. It would
+be much more reasonable, much more noble, to say to men: "You are all
+born good; see how dreadful it is to corrupt the purity of your being.
+All mankind should be dealt with as are all men individually." If a
+canon leads a scandalous life, we say to him: "Is it possible that you
+would dishonor the dignity of canon?" We remind a lawyer that he has the
+honor of being a counsellor to the king, and that he should set an
+example. We say to a soldier to encourage him: "Remember that thou art
+of the regiment of Champagne." We should say to every individual:
+"Remember thy dignity as a man."
+
+And indeed, notwithstanding the contrary theory, we always return to
+that; for what else signifies the expression, so frequently used in all
+nations: "Be yourself again?" If we are born of the devil, if our origin
+was criminal, if our blood was formed of an infernal liquor, this
+expression: "Be yourself again," would signify: "Consult, follow your
+diabolical nature; be an impostor, thief, and assassin; it is the law of
+your nature."
+
+Man is not born wicked; he becomes so, as he becomes sick. Physicians
+present themselves and say to him: "You are born sick." It is very
+certain these doctors, whatever they may say or do, will not cure him,
+if the malady is inherent in his nature; besides, these reasoners are
+often very ailing themselves.
+
+Assemble all the children of the universe; you will see in them only
+innocence, mildness, and fear; if they were born wicked, mischievous,
+and cruel, they would show some signs of it, as little serpents try to
+bite, and little tigers to tear. But nature not having given to men more
+offensive arms than to pigeons and rabbits, she cannot have given them
+an instinct leading them to destroy.
+
+Man, therefore, is not born bad; why, therefore, are several infected
+with the plague of wickedness? It is, that those who are at their head
+being taken with the malady, communicate it to the rest of men: as a
+woman attacked with the distemper which Christopher Columbus brought
+from America, spreads the venom from one end of Europe to the other.
+
+The first ambitious man corrupted the earth. You will tell me that this
+first monster has sowed the seed of pride, rapine, fraud, and cruelty,
+which is in all men. I confess, that in general most of our brethren can
+acquire these qualities; but has everybody the putrid fever, the stone
+and gravel, because everybody is exposed to it?
+
+There are whole nations which are not wicked: the Philadelphians, the
+Banians, have never killed any one. The Chinese, the people of Tonquin,
+Lao, Siam, and even Japan, for more than a hundred years have not been
+acquainted with war. In ten years we scarcely see one of those great
+crimes which astonish human nature in the cities of Rome, Venice, Paris,
+London, and Amsterdam; towns in which cupidity, the mother of all
+crimes, is extreme.
+
+If men were essentially wicked--if they were all born submissive to a
+being as mischievous as unfortunate, who, to revenge himself for his
+punishment, inspired them with all his passions--we should every morning
+see husbands assassinated by their wives, and fathers by their children;
+as at break of day we see fowls strangled by a weasel who comes to suck
+their blood.
+
+If there be a thousand millions of men on the earth, that is much; that
+gives about five hundred millions of women, who sew, spin, nourish their
+little ones, keep their houses or cabins in order, and slander their
+neighbors a little. I see not what great harm these poor innocents do on
+earth. Of this number of inhabitants of the globe, there are at least
+two hundred millions of children, who certainly neither kill nor steal,
+and about as many old people and invalids, who have not the power of
+doing so. There will remain, at most, a hundred millions of robust young
+people capable of crime. Of this hundred millions, there are ninety
+continually occupied in forcing the earth, by prodigious labor, to
+furnish them with food and clothing; these have scarcely time. In the
+ten remaining millions will be comprised idle people and good company,
+who would enjoy themselves at their ease; men of talent occupied in
+their professions; magistrates, priests, visibly interested in leading a
+pure life, at least in appearance. Therefore, of truly wicked people,
+there will only remain a few politicians, either secular or regular, who
+will always trouble the world, and some thousand vagabonds who hire
+their services to these politicians. Now, there is never a million of
+these ferocious beasts employed at once, and in this number I reckon
+highwaymen. You have therefore on the earth, in the most stormy times,
+only one man in a thousand whom we can call wicked, and he is not always
+so.
+
+There is, therefore infinitely less wickedness on the earth than we are
+told and believe there is. There is still too much, no doubt; we see
+misfortunes and horrible crimes; but the pleasure of complaining of and
+exaggerating them is so great, that at the least scratch we say that the
+earth flows with blood. Have you been deceived?--all men are perjured. A
+melancholy mind which has suffered injustice, sees the earth covered
+with damned people: as a young rake, supping with his lady, on coming
+from the opera, imagines that there are no unfortunates.
+
+
+
+
+WILL.
+
+
+Some very subtle Greeks formerly consulted Pope Honorius I., to know
+whether Jesus, when He was in the world, had one will or two, when He
+would sleep or watch, eat or repair to the water-closet, walk or sit.
+
+"What signifies it to you?" answered the very wise bishop of Rome,
+Honorius. "He has certainly at present the will for you to be
+well-disposed people--that should satisfy you; He has no will for you to
+be babbling sophists, to fight continually for the bishop's mitre and
+the ass's shadow. I advise you to live in peace, and not to lose in
+useless disputes the time which you might employ in good works."
+
+"Holy father, you have said well; this is the most important affair in
+the world. We have already set Europe, Asia, and Africa on fire, to know
+whether Jesus had two persons and one nature, or one nature and two
+persons, or rather two persons and two natures, or rather one person and
+one nature."
+
+"My dear brethren, you have acted wrongly; we should give broth to the
+sick and bread to the poor. It is doubtless right to help the poor! but
+is not the patriarch Sergius about to decide in a council at
+Constantinople, that Jesus had two natures and one will? And the
+emperor, who knows nothing about it, is of this opinion."
+
+"Well, be it so! but above all defend yourself from the Mahometans, who
+box your ears every day, and who have a very bad will towards you. It is
+well said! But behold the bishops of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and
+Morocco, all declare firmly for the two wills. We must have an opinion;
+what is yours?"
+
+"My opinion is, that you are madmen, who will lose the Christian
+religion which we have established with so much trouble. You will do so
+much mischief with your folly, that Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and
+Morocco, of which you speak to me, will become Mahometan, and there will
+not be a Christian chapel in Africa. Meantime, I am for the emperor and
+the council, until you have another council and another emperor."
+
+"This does not satisfy us. Do you believe in two wills or one?"
+
+"Listen: if these two wills are alike, it is as if there was but one; if
+they are contrary, he who has two wills at once will do two contrary
+things at once, which is absurd: consequently, I am for a single will."
+
+"Ah, holy father, you are a monothelite! Heresy! the devil!
+Excommunicate him! depose him! A council, quick! another council!
+another emperor! another bishop of Rome! another patriarch!"
+
+"My God! how mad these poor Greeks are with all their vain and
+interminable disputes! My successor will do well to dream of being
+powerful and rich."
+
+Scarcely had Honorius uttered these words when he learned that the
+emperor Heraclius was dead, after having been beaten by the Mahometans.
+His widow, Martina, poisoned her son-in-law; the senate caused Martina's
+tongue to be cut out, and the nose of another son of the emperor to be
+slit: all the Greek Empire flowed in blood. Would it not be better not
+to have disputed on the two wills? And this Pope Honorius, against whom
+the Jansenists have written so much--was he not a very sensible man?
+
+
+
+
+WIT, SPIRIT, INTELLECT.
+
+
+A man who had some knowledge of the human heart, was consulted upon a
+tragedy which was to be represented; and he answered, there was so much
+wit in the piece, that he doubted of its success. What! you will
+exclaim, is that a fault, at a time when every one is in search of
+wit--when each one writes but to show that he has it--when the public
+even applaud the falsest thoughts, if they are brilliant?--Yes,
+doubtless, they will applaud the first day, and be wearied the second.
+
+What is called wit, is sometimes a new comparison, sometimes a subtle
+allusion; here, it is the abuse of a word, which is presented in one
+sense, and left to be understood in another; there, a delicate relation
+between two ideas not very common. It is a singular metaphor; it is the
+discovery of something in an object which does not at first strike the
+observation, but which is really in it; it is the art either of bringing
+together two things apparently remote, or of dividing two things which
+seem to be united, or of opposing them to each other. It is that of
+expressing only one-half of what you think, and leaving the other to be
+guessed. In short, I would tell you of all the different ways of showing
+wit, if I had more; but all these gems--and I do not here include the
+counterfeits--are very rarely suited to a serious work--to one which is
+to interest the reader. The reason is, that then the author appears, and
+the public desire to see only the hero; for the hero is constantly
+either in passion or in danger. Danger and the passions do not go in
+search of wit. Priam and Hecuba do not compose epigrams while their
+children are butchered in flaming Troy; Dido does not sigh out her soul
+in madrigals, while rushing to the pile on which she is about to
+immolate herself; Demosthenes makes no display of pretty thoughts while
+he is inciting the Athenians to war. If he had, he would be a
+rhetorician; whereas he is a statesman.
+
+The art of the admirable Racine is far above what is called wit; but if
+Pyrrhus had always expressed himself in this style:
+
+     _Vaincu, chargé de fers, de regrets consumé,_
+     _Brûlé de plus de feux que je n'en allumai...._
+     _Hélas! fus-je jamais si cruel que vous l'êtes?_
+
+     Conquered and chained, worn out by vain desire,
+     Scorched by more flames than I have ever lighted....
+     Alas! my cruelty ne'er equalled yours!
+
+--if Orestes had been continually saying that the "Scythians are less
+cruel than Hermione," these two personages would excite no emotion at
+all; it would be perceived that true passion rarely occupies itself with
+such comparisons; and that there is some disproportion between the real
+flames by which Troy was consumed and the flames of Pyrrhus'
+love--between the Scythians immolating men, and Hermione not loving
+Orestes. Cinna says, speaking of Pompey:
+
+     _Le ciel choisit sa mort, pour servir dignement_
+     _D'une marque éternelle à ce grand changement;_
+     _Et devait cette gloire aux manes d'un tel homme,_
+     _D'emporter avec eux la liberté de Rome._
+
+     Heaven chose the death of such a man, to be
+     Th' eternal landmark of this mighty change.
+     His manes called for no less offering
+     Than Roman liberty.
+
+This thought is very brilliant; there is much wit in it, as also an air
+of imposing grandeur. I am sure that these lines, pronounced with all
+the enthusiasm and art of a great actor, will be applauded; but I am
+also sure that the play of "Cinna," had it been written entirely in this
+taste, would never have been long played. Why, indeed, was heaven bound
+to do Pompey the honor of making the Romans slaves after his death? The
+contrary would be truer: the manes of Pompey should rather have
+obtained from heaven the everlasting maintenance of that liberty for
+which he is supposed to have fought and died.
+
+What, then, would any work be which should be full of such far-fetched
+and questionable thoughts? How much superior to all these brilliant
+ideas are those simple and natural lines:
+
+     _Cinna, tu t'en souviens, et veux m'assassiner!_
+                                  --CINNA, act v, scene i.
+     Thou dost remember, Cinna, yet wouldst kill me!
+
+     _Soyons amis, Cinna; c'est moi qui t'en convie._
+                                  --ID., act v, scene iii.
+     Let us be friends, Cinna; 'tis I who ask it.
+
+True beauty consists, not in what is called wit, but in sublimity and
+simplicity. Let Antiochus, in "Rodogune," say of his mistress, who quits
+him, after disgracefully proposing to him to kill his mother:
+
+     _Elle fuit, mais en Parthe, en nous perçant le cœur._
+
+     She flies, but, like the Parthian, flying, wounds.
+
+Antiochus has wit; he makes an epigram against Rodogune; he ingeniously
+likens her last words in going away, to the arrows which the Parthians
+used to discharge in their flight. But it is not because his mistress
+goes away, that the proposal to kill his mother is revolting: whether
+she goes or stays, the heart of Antiochus is equally wounded. The
+epigram, therefore, is false; and if Rodogune did not go away, this bad
+epigram could not be retained.
+
+I select these examples expressly from the best authors, in order that
+they may be the more striking. I do not lay hold of those puns which
+play upon words, the false taste of which is felt by all. There is no
+one that does not laugh when, in the tragedy of the "Golden Fleece,"
+Hypsipyle says to Medea, alluding to her sorceries:
+
+     _Je n'ai que des attraits, et vous avez des charmes._
+
+     I have attractions only, you have charms.
+
+Corneille found the stage and every other department of literature
+infested with these puerilities, into which he rarely fell.
+
+I wish here to speak only of such strokes of wit as would be admitted
+elsewhere, and as the serious style rejects. To their authors might be
+applied the sentence of Plutarch, translated with the happy naivete of
+Amiot: "_Tu tiens sans propos beaucoup de bons propos_."
+
+There occurs to my recollection one of those brilliant passages, which I
+have seen quoted as a model in many works of taste, and even in the
+treatise on studies by the late M. Rollin. This piece is taken from the
+fine funeral oration on the great Turenne, composed by Fléchier. It is
+true, that in this oration Fléchier almost equalled the sublime Bossuet,
+whom I have called and still call the only eloquent man among so many
+elegant writers; but it appears to me that the passage of which I am
+speaking would not have been employed by the bishop of Meaux. Here it
+is:
+
+"Ye powers hostile to France, you live; and the spirit of Christian
+charity forbids me to wish your death.... but you live; and I mourn in
+this pulpit over a virtuous leader, whose intentions were pure...."
+
+An apostrophe in this taste would have been suitable to Rome in the
+civil war, after the assassination of Pompey; or to London, after the
+murder of Charles I.; because the interests of Pompey and Charles I.
+were really in question. But is it decent to insinuate in the pulpit a
+wish for the death of the emperor, the king of Spain, and the electors,
+and put in the balance against them the commander-in-chief employed by a
+king who was their enemy? Should the intentions of a leader--which can
+only be to serve his prince--be compared with the political interests of
+the crowned heads against whom he served? What would be said of a German
+who should have wished for the death of the king of France, on the
+occasion of the death of General Merci, "whose intentions were pure"?
+Why, then, has this passage always been praised by the rhetoricians?
+Because the figure is in itself beautiful and pathetic; but they do not
+thoroughly investigate the fitness of the thought.
+
+I now return to my paradox; that none of those glittering ornaments, to
+which we give the name of wit, should find a place in great works
+designed to instruct or to move the passions. I will even say that they
+ought to be banished from the opera. Music expresses passions,
+sentiments, images; but where are the notes that can render an epigram?
+Quinault was sometimes negligent, but he was always natural.
+
+Of all our operas, that which is the most ornamented, or rather the most
+overloaded, with this epigrammatic spirit, is the ballet of the "Triumph
+of the Arts," composed by an amiable man, who always thought with
+subtlety, and expressed himself with delicacy; but who, by the abuse of
+this talent, contributed a little to the decline of letters after the
+glorious era of Louis XIV. In this ballet, in which Pygmalion animates
+his statue, he says to it:
+
+     _Vos premiers mouvemens ont été de m'aimer._
+
+     And love for me your earliest movements showed.
+
+I remember to have heard this line admired by some persons in my youth.
+But who does not perceive that the movements of the body of the statue
+are here confounded with the movements of the heart, and that in any
+sense the phrase is not French--that it is, in fact, a pun, a jest? How
+could it be that a man who had so much wit, had not enough to retrench
+these egregious faults? This same man--who, despising Homer, translated
+him; who, in translating him, thought to correct him, and by abridging
+him, thought to make him read--had a mind to make Homer a wit. It is he
+who, when Achilles reappears, reconciled to the Greeks who are ready to
+avenge him, makes the whole camp exclaim:
+
+     _Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-même._
+
+       What shall oppose him, conqueror of himself?
+
+A man must indeed be fond of witticisms, when he makes fifty thousand
+men pun all at once upon the same word.
+
+This play of the imagination, these quips, these cranks, these random
+shafts, these gayeties, these little broken sentences, these ingenious
+familiarities, which it is now the fashion to lavish so profusely, are
+befitting no works but those of pure amusement. The front of the Louvre,
+by Perrault, is simple and majestic; minute ornaments may appear with
+grace in a cabinet. Have as much wit as you will, or as you can, in a
+madrigal, in light verses, in a scene of a comedy, when it is to be
+neither impassioned nor simple, in a compliment, in a "novellette," or
+in a letter, where you assume gayety yourself in order to communicate it
+to your friends.
+
+Far from having reproached Voiture with having wit in his letters, I
+found, on the contrary, that he had not enough, although he was
+constantly seeking it. It is said that dancing-masters make their bow
+ill, because they are anxious to make it too well. I thought this was
+often the case with Voiture; his best letters are studied; you feel that
+he is fatiguing himself to find that which presents itself so naturally
+to Count Anthony Hamilton, to Madame de Sévigné, and to so many other
+women, who write these trifles without an effort, better than Voiture
+wrote them with labor. Despréaux, who in his first satires had ventured
+to compare Voiture to Horace, changed his opinion when his taste was
+ripened by age. I know that it matters very little, in the affairs of
+this world, whether Voiture was or was not a great genius; whether he
+wrote only a few pretty letters, or that all his pieces of pleasantry
+were models. But we, who cultivate and love the liberal arts, cast an
+attentive eye on what is quite indifferent to the rest of the world.
+Good taste is to us in literature what it is to women in dress; and
+provided that one's opinions shall not be made a party matter, it
+appears to me that one may boldly say, that there are but few excellent
+things in Voiture, and that Marot might easily be reduced to a few
+pages.
+
+Not that we wish to take from them their reputation; on the contrary, we
+wish to ascertain precisely what that reputation cost them, and what are
+the real beauties for which their defects have been tolerated. We must
+know what we are to follow, and what we are to avoid; this is the real
+fruit of the profound study of the belles-lettres; this is what Horace
+did when he examined Lucilius critically. Horace made himself enemies
+thereby; but he enlightened his enemies themselves.
+
+This desire of shining and of saying in a novel manner what has been
+said by others, is a source of new expressions as well as far-fetched
+thoughts. He who cannot shine by thought, seeks to bring himself into
+notice by a word. Hence it has at last been thought proper to
+substitute "_amabilités_," for "_agrémens_"; "_négligemment_" for "_avec
+négligence_"; "_badiner les amours_," for "_badiner avec les amours_."
+There are numberless other affectations of this kind; and if this be
+continued, the language of Bossuet, of Racine, of Corneille, of Boileau,
+of Fénelon, will soon be obsolete. Why avoid an expression which is in
+use, to introduce another which says precisely the same thing? A new
+word is pardonable only when it is absolutely necessary, intelligible,
+and sonorous. In physical science, we are obliged to make them; a new
+discovery, a new machine, requires a new word. But do we make any new
+discoveries in the human heart? Is there any other greatness than that
+of Corneille and Bossuet? Are there any other passions than those which
+have been delineated by Racine, and sketched by Quinault? Is there any
+other gospel morality than that of Bourdaloue?
+
+They who charge our language with not being sufficiently copious, must
+indeed have found sterility somewhere, but it is in themselves. "_Rem
+verba sequuntur_." When an idea is forcibly impressed on the mind--when
+a clear and vigorous head is in full possession of its thought--it
+issues from the brain, arrayed in suitable expressions, as Minerva came
+forth in full armor to wait upon Jupiter. In fine, the conclusion from
+this is that neither thoughts nor expressions should be far-fetched; and
+that the art, in all great works, is to reason well, without entering
+into too many arguments; to paint well, without striving to paint
+everything; and to be affecting, without striving constantly to excite
+passions. Certes, I am here giving fine counsel. Have I taken it myself?
+Alas! no!
+
+              _Pauci quos æquus amavit_
+     _Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad æthera virtus,_
+     _Dis geniti potuere. _        --ÆNEID, b. vi, v. 129.
+
+     To few great Jupiter imparts this grace,
+     And those of shining worth and heavenly race.
+                                        --DRYDEN.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+_Spirit--Wit._
+
+The word "spirit," when it signifies "a quality of the mind," is one of
+those vague terms to which almost every one who pronounces it attaches a
+different sense; it expresses some other thing than judgment, genius,
+taste, talent, penetration, comprehensiveness, grace, or subtlety, yet
+is akin to all these merits; it might be defined to be "ingenious
+reason."
+
+It is a generic word, which always needs another word to determine it;
+and when we hear it said: "This is a work of spirit," or "He is a man of
+spirit," we have very good reason to ask: "Spirit of what?" The sublime
+spirit of Corneille is neither the exact spirit of Boileau, nor the
+simple spirit of La Fontaine; and the spirit of La Bruyère, which is the
+art of portraying singularity, is not that of Malebranche, which is
+imaginative and profound.
+
+When a man is said to have "a judicious spirit," the meaning is, not so
+much that he has what is called spirit, as that he has an enlightened
+reason. A spirit firm, masculine, courageous, great, little, weak,
+light, mild, hasty, etc., signifies the character and temper of the
+mind, and has no relation to what is understood in society by the
+expression "spirited."
+
+Spirit, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, is much akin to wit;
+yet does not signify precisely the same thing; for the term, "man of
+spirit," can never be taken in a bad sense; but that of "a wit," is
+sometimes pronounced ironically.
+
+Whence this difference? It is that "a man of spirit" does not signify
+"superior wit," "marked talent"; and "a wit" does. This expression, "man
+of spirit," announces no pretensions; but "wit" is a sort of
+advertisement; it is an art which requires cultivation; it is a sort of
+profession; and thereby exposes to envy and ridicule.
+
+In this sense, Father Bouhours would have been right in giving us to
+understand that the Germans had no pretensions to wit; for at that time
+their learned men occupied themselves in scarcely any works but those of
+labor and painful research, which did not admit of their scattering
+flowers, of their striving to shine, and mixing up wit with learning.
+
+They who despise the genius of Aristotle should, instead of contenting
+themselves with condemning his physics--which could not be good,
+inasmuch as they wanted experiments--be much astonished to find that
+Aristotle, in his rhetoric, taught perfectly the art of saying things
+with spirit. He states that this art consists in not merely using the
+proper word, which says nothing new; but that a metaphor must be
+employed--a figure, the sense of which is clear, and its expression
+energetic. Of this, he adduces several instances; and, among others,
+what Pericles said of a battle in which the flower of the Athenian youth
+had perished: "The year has been stripped of its spring."
+
+Aristotle is very right in saying that novelty is necessary. The first
+person who, to express that pleasures are mingled with bitterness,
+likened them to roses accompanied by thorns, had wit; they who repeated
+it had none.
+
+Spirited expression does not always consist in a metaphor; but also in a
+new term--in leaving one half of one's thoughts to be easily divined;
+this is called "subtleness," "delicacy"; and this manner is the more
+pleasing, as it exercises and gives scope for the wit of others.
+
+Allusions, allegories, and comparisons, open a vast field for ingenious
+thoughts. The effects of nature, fable, history, presented to the
+memory, furnish a happy imagination with materials of which it makes a
+suitable use.
+
+It will not be useless to give examples in these different kinds. The
+following is a madrigal by M. de la Sablière, which has always been held
+in high estimation by people of taste:
+
+       _Églé tremble que, dans ce jour,_
+       _L'Hymen, plus puissant que l'Amour,_
+     _N'enlève ses trésors, sans quelle ose s'en plaindre_
+       _Elle a négligé mes avis;_
+       _Si la belle les eût suivis,_
+     _Elle n'aurait plus rien à craindre._
+
+     Weeping, murmuring, complaining,
+       Lost to every gay delight,
+     Mira, too sincere for feigning,
+       Fears th' approaching bridal night.
+
+     Yet why impair thy bright perfection,
+       Or dim thy beauty with a tear?
+     Had Mira followed my direction,
+       She long had wanted cause of fear.--GOLDSMITH.
+
+It does not appear that the author could either better have masked, or
+better have conveyed, the meaning which he was afraid to express. The
+following madrigal seems more brilliant and more pleasing; it is an
+allusion to fable:
+
+     _Vous êtes belle, et votre sœur est belle;_
+     _Entre vous deux tout choix serait bien doux_
+       _L'Amour était blonde comme vous,_
+     _Mais il amait une brune comme elle._
+
+     You are a beauty, and your sister, too;
+     In choosing 'twixt you, then, we cannot err;
+       Love, to be sure, was fair like you;
+     But, then, he courted a brunette like her.
+
+There is another, and a very old one. It is by Bertaut, bishop of Séez,
+and seems superior to the two former; it unites wit and feeling:
+
+     _Quand je revis ce que j'ai tant aimé,_
+     _Pen s'en fallut que mon coeur rallumé_
+     _N'en fît le charme en mon âme renaître;_
+     _Et que mon cœur, autrefois son captif,_
+     _Ne ressemblât l'esclave fugitif,_
+     _À qui le sort fit recontrer son maître._
+
+     When I beheld again the once-loved form,
+     Again within my heart the rising storm
+     Had nearly cast the spell around my soul,
+     Which erst had bound me captive at her feet,
+     As some poor slave, escaped from rude control,
+     His master's dreaded face may haply meet.
+
+Strokes like these please every one, and characterize the delicate
+spirit of an ingenious nation. The great point is to know how far this
+spirit is admissible. It is clear that, in great works, it should be
+employed with moderation, for this very reason, that it is an ornament.
+The great art consists in propriety.
+
+A subtle, ingenious thought, a just and flowery comparison, is a defect
+when only reason or passion should speak, or when great interests are to
+be discussed. This is not false wit, but misplaced; and every beauty,
+when out of its place, is a beauty no longer.
+
+This is a fault of which Virgil was never guilty, and with which Tasso
+may now and then be charged, admirable as he otherwise is. The cause of
+it is that the author, too full of his own ideas, wishes to show
+himself, when he should only show his personages.
+
+The best way of learning the use that should be made of wit, is to read
+the few good works of genius which are to be found in the learned
+languages and in our own. False wit is not the same as misplaced wit. It
+is not merely a false thought, for a thought might be false without
+being ingenious; it is a thought at once false and elaborate.
+
+It has already been remarked that a man of great wit, who translated, or
+rather abridged Homer into French verse, thought to embellish that poet,
+whose simplicity forms his character, by loading him with ornaments. On
+the subject of the reconciliation of Achilles, he says:
+
+     _Tout le camp s'écria dans une joie extrême,_
+     _Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-même._
+
+     Cried the whole camp, with overflowing joy--
+     What still resist him? He's o'ercome himself.
+
+In the first place it does not at all follow, because one has overcome
+one's anger, that one shall not be beaten. Secondly, is it possible that
+a whole army should, by some sudden inspiration, make instantaneously
+the same pun?
+
+If this fault shocks all judges of severe taste, how revolting must be
+all those forced witticisms, those intricate and puzzling thoughts,
+which abound in otherwise valuable writings! Is it to be endured, that
+in a work of mathematics it should be said: "If Saturn should one day be
+missing, his place would be taken by one of the remotest of his
+satellites; for great lords always keep their successors at a distance?"
+Is it endurable to talk of Hercules being acquainted with physics, and
+that it is impossible to resist a philosopher of such force? Such are
+the excesses into which we are led by the thirst for shining and
+surprising by novelty. This petty vanity has produced verbal witticisms
+in all languages, which is the worst species of false wit.
+
+False taste differs from false wit, for the latter is always an
+affectation--an effort to do wrong; whereas the former is often a habit
+of doing wrong without effort, and following instinctively an
+established bad example.
+
+The intemperance and incoherence of the imaginations of the Orientals,
+is a false taste; but it is rather a want of wit than an abuse of it.
+Stars falling, mountains opening, rivers rolling back, sun and moon
+dissolving, false and gigantic similes, continual violence to nature,
+are the characteristics of these writers; because in those countries
+where there has never been any public speaking, true eloquence cannot
+have been cultivated; and because it is much easier to write fustian
+than to write that which is just, refined, and delicate.
+
+False wit is precisely the reverse of these trivial and inflated ideas;
+it is a tiresome search after subtleties, an affectation of saying
+enigmatically what others have said naturally; or bringing together
+ideas which appear incompatible; of dividing what ought to be united; of
+laying hold on false affinities; of mixing, contrary to decency, the
+trifling with the serious, and the petty with the grand.
+
+It were here a superfluous task to string together quotations in which
+the word spirit is to be found. We shall content ourselves with
+examining one from Boileau, which is given in the great dictionary of
+Trévoux: "It is a property of great spirits, when they begin to grow old
+and decay, to be pleased with stories and fables." This reflection is
+not just. A great spirit may fall into this weakness, but it is no
+property of great spirits. Nothing is more calculated to mislead the
+young than the quoting of faults of good writers as examples.
+
+We must not here forget to mention in how many different senses the word
+"spirit" is employed. This is not a defect of language; on the contrary,
+it is an advantage to have roots which ramify into so many branches.
+
+"Spirit of a body," "of a society," is used to express the customs, the
+peculiar language and conduct, the prejudices of a body. "Spirit of
+party," is to the "spirit of a body," what the passions are to ordinary
+sentiments.
+
+"Spirit of a law," is used to designate its intention; in this sense it
+has been said: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." "Spirit
+of a work," to denote its character and object. "Spirit of revenge," to
+signify desire and intention of taking revenge. "Spirit of discord,"
+"spirit of revolt," etc.
+
+In one dictionary has been quoted "spirit of politeness"; but from an
+author named Bellegarde, who is no authority. Both authors and examples
+should be selected with scrupulous caution. We cannot say "spirit of
+politeness," as we say "spirit of revenge," of "dissension," of
+"faction"; for politeness is not a passion animated by a powerful motive
+which prompts it, and which is metaphorically called spirit.
+
+"Familiar spirit," is used in another sense, and signifies those
+intermediate beings, those genii, those demons, believed in by the
+ancients; as the "spirit of Socrates," etc.
+
+Spirit sometimes denotes the more subtle part of matter; we say,
+"animal spirits," "vital spirits," to signify that which has never been
+seen, but which gives motion and life. These spirits, which are thought
+to flow rapidly through the nerves, are probably a subtile fire. Dr.
+Mead is the first who seems to have given proofs of this, in his
+treatise on poisons. Spirit, in chemistry, too, is a term which receives
+various acceptations, but always denotes the more subtile part of
+matter.
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+_Spirit._
+
+Is not this word a striking proof of the imperfection of languages; of
+the chaos in which they still are, and the chance which has directed
+almost all our conceptions? It pleased the Greeks, as well as other
+nations, to give the name of wind, breath--"_pneuma_"--to that which
+they vaguely understand by respiration, life, soul. So that, among the
+ancients, soul and wind were, in one sense, the same thing; and if we
+were to say that man is a pneumatic machine, we should only translate
+the language of the Greeks. The Latins imitated them, and used the word
+"_spiritus_," spirit, breath. "_Anima_" and "_spiritus_" were the same
+thing.
+
+The "_rouhak_" of the Phœnicians, and, as it is said, of the
+Chaldæans likewise, signified breath and wind. When the Bible was
+translated into Latin, the words, breath, spirit, wind, soul, were
+always used differently. "_Spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas_"--the
+breath of God--the spirit of God--was borne on the waters.
+
+"_Spiritus vitæ_"--the breath of life--the soul of life. "_Inspiravit in
+faciem ejus spiraculum_" or "_spiritum vitæ_"--And he breathed upon his
+face the breath of life; and, according to the Hebrew, he breathed into
+his nostrils the breath, the spirit, of life.
+
+"_Hæc quum dixisset, insufflavit et dixit eis, accipite spiritum
+sanctum_"--Having spoken these words, he breathed on them, and said:
+Receive ye the holy breath--the holy spirit.
+
+"_Spiritus ubi vult spirat, et vocem ejus audis; sed nescis unde
+veniat_"--The spirit, the wind, breathes where it will, and thou hearest
+its voice (sound); but thou knowest not whence it comes.
+
+The distance is somewhat considerable between this and our pamphlets of
+the Quay des Augustins and the Pont-neuf, entitled, "Spirit of
+Marivaux," "Spirit of Desfontaines," etc.
+
+What we commonly understand in French by "_esprit_," "_bel-esprit_,"
+"_trait d'esprit_," are--ingenious thoughts. No other nation has made
+the same use of the word "_spiritus_." The Latins said "_ingenium_"; the
+Greeks, "_eupheuia_"; or they employed adjectives. The Spaniards say
+"_agudo_," "_agudeza_." The Italians commonly use the term "_ingegno_."
+
+The English make use of the words "wit," "witty," the etymology of which
+is good; for "witty" formerly signified "wise." The Germans say
+"_verständig_"; and when they mean to express ingenious, lively,
+agreeable thoughts, they say "rich in sensations"--"_sinnreich_." Hence
+it is that the English, who have retained many of the expressions of the
+ancient Germanic and French tongue, say, "sensible man." Thus almost all
+the words that express ideas of the understanding are metaphors.
+
+"_Ingegno_," "_ingenium_," comes from "that which generates";
+"_agudeza_," from "that which is pointed"; "_sinnreich_," from
+"sensations"; "spirit," from "wind"; and "wit," from "wisdom."
+
+In every language, the word that answers to spirit in general is of
+several kinds; and when you are told that such a one is a "man of
+spirit," you have a right to ask: Of what spirit?
+
+Girard, in his useful book of definitions, entitled "French Synonymes,"
+thus concludes: "In our intercourse with women, it is necessary to have
+wit, or a jargon which has the appearance of it. (This is not doing them
+honor; they deserve better.) Understanding is in demand with politicians
+and courtiers." It seems to me that understanding is necessary
+everywhere, and that it is very extraordinary to hear of understanding
+in demand.
+
+"Genius is proper with people of project and expense." Either I am
+mistaken, or the genius of Corneille was made for all spectators--the
+genius of Bossuet for all auditors--yet more than for people of
+expense.
+
+The wind, which answers to "_Spiritus_,"--spirit, wind,
+breath--necessarily giving to all nations the idea of air, they all
+supposed that our faculty of thinking and acting--that which animates
+us--is air; whence our "souls are a subtile air." Hence, manes, spirits,
+ghosts, shades, are composed of air.
+
+Hence we used to say, not long ago, "A 'spirit' has appeared to him; he
+has a 'familiar spirit;' that castle is haunted by 'spirits;'" and the
+populace say so still.
+
+The word "_spiritus_" has hardly ever been used in this sense, except in
+the translations of the Hebrew books into bad Latin.
+
+"_Manes_," "_umbra_," "_simulacra_," are the expressions of Cicero and
+Virgil. The Germans say, "_geist_"; the English, "ghost"; the Spaniards,
+"_duende_," "_trasgo_"; the Italians appear to have no term signifying
+ghost. The French alone have made use of the word "spirit" (esprit). The
+words for all nations should be, "phantom," "imagination," "reverie,"
+"folly," "knavery."
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+_Wit._
+
+When a nation is beginning to emerge from barbarism, it strives to show
+what we call wit. Thus, in the first attempts made in the time of
+Francis I., we find in Marot such puns, plays on words, as would now be
+intolerable.
+
+     _Remorentin la parte rememore:_
+     _Cognac s'en cogne en sa poitrine blême,_
+     _Anjou faict jou, Angoulême est de même._
+
+These fine ideas are not such as at once present themselves to express
+the grief of nations. Many instances of this depraved taste might be
+adduced; but we shall content ourselves with this, which is the most
+striking of all.
+
+In the second era of the human mind in France--in the time of Balzac,
+Mairet, Rotrou, Corneille--applause was given to every thought that
+surprised by new images, which were called "wit." These lines of the
+tragedy of "Pyramus" were very well received:
+
+     _Ah! voici le poignard qui du sang de son maître_
+     _Sest souillé lâchement; il en rougit, le traître!_
+
+     Behold the dagger which has basely drunk
+     Its master's blood! See how the traitor blushes!
+
+There was thought to be great art in giving feeling to this dagger, in
+making it red with shame at being stained with the blood of Pyramus, as
+much as with the blood itself. No one exclaimed against Corneille, when,
+in his tragedy of "Andromeda," Phineus says to the sun:
+
+     _Tu luis, soleil, et ta lumière_
+       _Semble se plaire à m'affliger._
+     _Ah! mon amour te va bien obliger_
+       _À quitter soudain ta carrière._
+     _Viens, soleil, viens voir la beauté,_
+     _Dont le divin éclat me dompte,_
+       _Et tu fuiras de honte_
+       _D'avoir moins de clarté._
+
+     O sun, thou shinest, and thy light
+       Seems to take pleasure in my woe;
+     But soon my love shall shame thee quite,
+       And be thy glory's overthrow.
+     Come, come, O sun, and view the face
+     Whose heavenly splendor I adore;
+       Then wilt thou flee apace,
+       And show thy own no more.
+
+The sun flying because he is not so bright as Andromeda's face, is not
+at all inferior to the blushing dagger. If such foolish sallies as these
+found favor with a public whose taste it has been so difficult to form,
+we cannot be surprised that strokes of wit, in which some glimmering of
+beauty is discernible, should have had these charms.
+
+Not only was this translation from the Spanish admired:
+
+     _Ce sang qui, tout versé, fume encor de courroux,_
+     _De se voir répandu pour d'autres que pour vous._
+                                  --CID, act ii, sc. 9.
+
+     This blood, still foaming with indignant rage,
+     That it was shed for others, not for you;--
+
+not only was there thought to be a very spirited refinement in the line
+of Hypsipyle to Medea, in the "Golden Fleece": "I have attractions only;
+you have charms;" but it was not perceived--and few connoisseurs
+perceive it yet--that in the imposing part of Cornelia, the author
+almost continually puts wit where grief alone was required. This woman,
+whose husband has just been assassinated, begins her studied speech to
+Cæsar with a "for":
+
+     _César, car le destin que dans tes fers je brave_
+     _M'a fait ta prisonnière, et non pas ton esclave;_
+     _Et tu ne prétends pas qu'il m'abatte le cœur._
+     _Jusqu'à te rendre hommage et te nommer seigneur._
+                        --MORT DE POMPÉE, act iii, sc. 4.
+
+     Cæsar,
+     For the hard fate that binds me in thy chains,
+     Makes me thy prisoner, but not thy slave;
+     Nor wouldst thou have it so subdue my heart
+     That I should call thee lord and do thee homage.
+
+Thus she breaks off, at the very first word, in order to say that
+which is at once far-fetched and false. Never was the wife of one Roman
+citizen the slave of another Roman citizen: never was any Roman called
+lord; and this word "lord" is, with us, nothing more than a term of
+honor and ceremony, used on the stage.
+
+     _Fille de Scipion, et, pour dire encor plus,_
+     _Romaine, mon courage est encore au-dessus._--ID.
+
+     Daughter of Scipio, and, yet more, of Rome,
+     Still does my courage rise above my fate.
+
+
+[Illustration: Pierre Corneille.]
+
+
+Besides the defect so common to all Corneille's heroes, of thus
+announcing themselves--of saying, I am great, I am courageous, admire
+me--here is the very reprehensible affectation of talking of her birth,
+when the head of Pompey has just been presented to Cæsar. Real
+affliction expresses itself otherwise. Grief does not seek after a "yet
+more." And what is worse, while she is striving to say "yet more," she
+says much less. To be a daughter of Rome is indubitably less than to be
+daughter of Scipio and wife of Pompey. The infamous Septimius, who
+assassinated Pompey, was Roman as well as she. Thousands of Romans were
+very ordinary men: but to be daughter and wife to the greatest of
+Romans, was a real superiority. In this speech, then, there is false and
+misplaced wit, as well as false and misplaced greatness.
+
+She then says, after Lucan, that she ought to blush that she is alive:
+
+     _Je dois rougir, partout, après un tel malheur,_
+     _De n'avoir pu mourir d'un excès de douleur._--ID.
+
+     However, after such a great calamity,
+     I ought to blush I am not dead of grief.
+
+Lucan, after the brilliant Augustan age, went in search of wit, because
+decay was commencing; and the writers of the age of Louis XIV. at first
+sought to display wit, because good taste was not then completely found,
+as it afterwards was.
+
+     _César, de ta victoire écoute moins le bruit;_
+     _Elle n'est que l'effet du malheur qui me suit._--ID.
+
+     Cæsar, rejoice not in thy victory;
+     For my misfortune was its only cause.
+
+What a poor artifice! what a false as well as impudent notion! Cæsar
+conquered at Pharsalia only because Pompey married Cornelia! What labor
+to say that which is neither true, nor likely, nor fit, nor interesting!
+
+     _Deux fois du monde entier j'ai causé la disgrâce._--ID.
+
+     Twice have I caused the living world's disgrace.
+
+This is the "_bis nocui mundo_" of Lucan. This
+line presents us with a very great idea; it cannot
+fail to surprise; it is wanting in nothing but truth.
+But it must be observed, that if this line had but
+the smallest ray of verisimilitude--had it really its
+birth in the pangs of grief, it would then have all
+the truth, all the beauty, of theatrical fitness:
+
+     _Heureuse en mes malheurs, si ce triste hyménée_
+     _Pour le bonheur du monde à Rome m'eût donnée_
+     _Et si j'eusse avec moi porté dans ta maison._
+     _D'un astre envenimé l'invincible poison!_
+     _Car enfin n'attends pas que j'abaisse ma haine:_
+     _Je te l'ai déjà dit, César, je suis Romaine;_
+     _Et, quoique ta captive, un cœur tel que le mien,_
+     _De peur de s'oublier, ne te demande rien._--ID.
+
+     Yet happy in my woes, had these sad nuptials
+     Given me to Cæsar for the good of Rome;
+     Had I but carried with me to thy house
+     The mortal venom of a noxious star!
+     For think not, after all, my hate is less:
+     Already have I told thee I am a Roman;
+     And, though thy captive, such a heart as mine,
+     Lest it forget itself, will sue for nothing.
+
+This is Lucan again. She wishes, in the "Pharsalia," that she had
+married Cæsar.
+
+     _Atque utinam in thalamis invisi Cæsaris essem_
+     _Infelix conjux, et nulli læta marito!_
+                                    --_Lib._, viii, v. 88, 89.
+
+     Ah! wherefore was I not much rather led
+     A fatal bride to Cæsar's hated bed, etc.
+                                          --ROWE.
+
+
+This sentiment is not in nature; it is at once gigantic and puerile: but
+at least it is not to Cæsar that Cornelia talks thus in Lucan.
+Corneille, on the contrary, makes Cornelia speak to Cæsar himself: he
+makes her say that she wishes to be his wife, in order that she may
+carry into his house "the mortal poison of a noxious star"; for, adds
+she, my hatred cannot be abated, and I have told thee already that I am
+a Roman, and I sue for nothing. Here is odd reasoning: I would fain have
+married thee, to cause thy death; and I sue for nothing. Be it also
+observed, that this widow heaps reproaches on Cæsar, just after Cæsar
+weeps for the death of Pompey and promises to avenge it.
+
+It is certain, that if the author had not striven to make Cornelia
+witty, he would not have been guilty of the faults which, after being so
+long applauded, are now perceived. The actresses can scarcely longer
+palliate them, by a studied loftiness of demeanor and an imposing
+elevation of voice.
+
+The better to feel how much mere wit is below natural sentiment, let us
+compare Cornelia with herself, where, in the same tirade, she says
+things quite opposite:
+
+     _Je dois toutefois rendre grâce aux dieux_
+     _De ce qu'en arrivant je trouve en ces lieux,_
+     _Que César y commande, et non pas Ptolemée._
+     _Hélas! et sous quel astre, ó ciel, m'as-tu formée,_
+     _Si je leur dois des vœux, de ce qu'ils ont permis,_
+     _Que je recontre ici mes plus grands ennemis,_
+     _Et tombe entre leurs mains, plutôt qu'aux mains d'un prince_
+     _Qui doit à mon époux son trône et sa province._--ID.
+
+     Yet have I cause to thank the gracious gods,
+     That Cæsar here commands--not Ptolemy.
+     Alas! beneath what planet was I formed,
+     If I owe thanks for being thus permitted
+     Here to encounter my worst enemies
+     And fall into their hands, rather than those
+     Of him who to my husband owes his throne?
+
+Let us overlook the slight defects of style, and consider how mournful
+and becoming is this speech; it goes to the heart: all the rest dazzles
+for a moment, and then disgusts. The following natural lines charm all
+readers:
+
+     _O vous! à ma douleur objet terrible et tendre,_
+     _Éternel entretien de haine et de pitié,_
+     _Restes de grand Pompée, écoutez sa moitié, etc._
+
+     O dreadful, tender object of my grief,
+     Eternal source of pity and of hate,
+     Ye relics of great Pompey, hear me now--
+     Hear his yet living half.
+
+It is by such comparisons that our taste is formed, and that we learn to
+admire nothing but truth in its proper place. In the same tragedy,
+Cleopatra thus expresses herself to her confidante, Charmion:
+
+     _Apprends qu'une princesse aimant sa renommée,_
+     _Quand elle dit qu'elle aime, est sure d'être aimée;_
+     _Et que les plus beaux feux dont son cœur soit épris_
+     _N'oseraient l'exposer aux hontes d'un mépris._
+                                          --Act ii, sc. 1.
+
+     Know, that a princess jealous of her fame,
+     When she owns love, is sure of a return;
+     And that the noblest flame her heart can feel,
+     Dares not expose her to rejection's shame.
+
+Charmion might answer: Madam, I know not what the noble flame of a
+princess is, which dares not expose her to shame; and as for princesses
+who never say they are in love, but when they are sure of being loved--I
+always enact the part of confidante at the play: and at least twenty
+princesses have confessed their noble flames to me, without being at all
+sure of the matter, and especially the infanta in "The Cid."
+
+Nay, we may go further: Cæsar--Cæsar himself--addresses Cleopatra, only
+to show off double-refined wit:
+
+     _Mais, ô Dieux! ce moment que je vous ai quittée_
+     _D'un trouble bien plus grand a mon âme agitée;_
+     _Et ces soins importans qui m'arrachaient de vous,_
+     _Contre ma grandeur même allumaient mon courroux;_
+     _Je lui voulais du mal de m'être si contraire;_
+     _Mais je lui pardonnais, au simple souvenir_
+     _Du bonheur qu'à ma flamme elle fait obtenir._
+     _C'est elle, dont je tiens cette haute espérance,_
+     _Qui flatte mes désirs d'une illustre apparence...._
+     _C'était, pour acquérir un droit si précieux;_
+     _Que combattait partout mon bras ambitieux;_
+     _Et dans Pharsale même il a tiré l'épée_
+     _Plus pour le conserver que pour vaincre Pompée._
+                                         --Act iv, sc. 3.
+
+     But, O the moment that I quitted you,
+     A greater trouble came upon my soul;
+     And those important cares that snatched me from you
+     Against my very greatness moved my ire;
+     I hated it for thwarting my desires....
+     But I have pardoned it--remembering how
+     At last it crowns my passion with success:
+     To it I owe the lofty hope which now
+     Flatters my view with an illustrious prospect.
+     'Twas but to gain this dearest privilege,
+     That my ambitious arm was raised in battle;
+     Nor did it at Pharsalia draw the sword,
+     So much to conquer Pompey, as to keep
+     This glorious hope.
+
+Here, then, we have Cæsar hating his greatness for having taken him away
+a little while from Cleopatra; but forgiving his greatness when he
+remembers that this greatness has procured him the success of his
+passion. He has the lofty hope of an illustrious probability; and it was
+only to acquire the dear privilege of this illustrious probability, that
+his ambitious arm fought the battle of Pharsalia.
+
+It is said that this sort of wit, which it must be confessed is no other
+than nonsense, was then the wit of the age. It is an intolerable abuse,
+which Molière proscribed in his "_Précieuses Ridicules_."
+
+It was of these defects, too frequent in Corneille, that La Bruyère
+said: "I thought, in my early youth, that these passages were clear and
+intelligible, to the actors, to the pit, and to the boxes; that their
+authors themselves understood them, and that I was wrong in not
+understanding them: I am undeceived."
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+In England, to express that a man has a deal of wit, they say that he
+has "great parts." Whence can this phrase, which is now the astonishment
+of the French, have come? From themselves. Formerly, we very commonly
+used the word "parties" in this sense. "Clelia," "Cassandra," and our
+other old romances, are continually telling us of the "parts" of their
+heroes and heroines, which parts are their wit. And, indeed, who can
+have _all_? Each of us has but his own small portion of intelligence, of
+memory, of sagacity, of depth and extent of ideas, of vivacity, and of
+subtlety. The word "parts" is that most fitting for a being so limited
+as man. The French have let an expression escape from their dictionaries
+which the English have laid hold of: the English have more than once
+enriched themselves at our expense. Many philosophical writers have been
+astonished that, since every one pretends to wit, no one should dare to
+boast of possessing it.
+
+"Envy," it has been said, "permits every one to be the panegyrist of his
+own probity, but not of his own wit." It allows us to be the apologists
+of the one, but not of the other. And why? Because it is very necessary
+to pass for an honest man, but not at all necessary to have the
+reputation of a man of wit.
+
+The question has been started, whether all men are born with the same
+mind, the same disposition for science, and if all depends on their
+education, and the circumstances in which they are placed? One
+philosopher, who had a right to think himself born with some
+superiority, asserted that minds are equal; yet the contrary has always
+been evident. Of four hundred children brought up together, under the
+same masters and the same discipline, there are scarcely five or six
+that make any remarkable progress. A great majority never rise above
+mediocrity, and among them there are many shades of distinction. In
+short, minds differ still more than faces.
+
+
+SECTION VI.
+
+_Crooked or Distorted Intellect._
+
+We have blind, one-eyed, cross-eyed, and squinting people--visions long,
+short, clear, confused, weak, or indefatigable. All this is a faithful
+image of our understanding; but we know scarcely any _false_ vision:
+there are not many men who always take a cock for a horse, or a
+coffeepot for a church. How is it that we often meet with minds,
+otherwise judicious, which are absolutely wrong in some things of
+importance? How is it that the Siamese, who will take care never to be
+overreached when he has to receive three rupees, firmly believes in the
+metamorphoses of Sammonocodom? By what strange whim do men of sense
+resemble Don Quixote, who beheld giants where other men saw nothing but
+windmills? Yet was Don Quixote more excusable than the Siamese, who
+believes that Sammonocodom came several times upon earth--and the Turk,
+who is persuaded that Mahomet put one-half of the moon into his sleeve?
+Don Quixote, impressed with the idea that he is to fight with a giant,
+may imagine that a giant must have a body as big as a mill, and arms as
+long as the sails; but from what supposition can a man of sense set out
+to arrive at a conclusion, that half the moon went into a sleeve, and
+that a Sammonocodom came down from heaven to fly kites at Siam, to cut
+down a forest, and to exhibit sleight-of-hand?
+
+The greatest geniuses may have their minds warped, on a principle which
+they have received without examination. Newton was very wrong-headed
+when he was commenting on the Apocalypse.
+
+All that certain tyrants of souls desire, is that the men whom they
+teach may have their intellects distorted. A fakir brings up a child of
+great promise; he employs five or six years in driving it into his head,
+that the god Fo appeared to men in the form of a white elephant; and
+persuades the child, that if he does not believe in these metamorphoses,
+he will be flogged after death for five hundred thousand years. He adds,
+that at the end of the world, the enemy of the god Fo will come and
+fight against that divinity.
+
+The child studies, and becomes a prodigy; he finds that Fo could not
+change himself into anything but a white elephant, because that is the
+most beautiful of animals. The kings of Siam and Pegu, say he, went to
+war with one another for a white elephant: certainly, had not Fo been
+concealed in that elephant, these two kings would not have been so mad
+as to fight for the possession of a mere animal.
+
+Fo's enemy will come and challenge him at the end of the world: this
+enemy will certainly be a rhinoceros; for the rhinoceros fights the
+elephant. Thus does the fakir's learned pupil reason in mature age, and
+he becomes one of the lights of the Indies: the more subtle his
+intellect, the more crooked; and he, in his turn, forms other intellects
+as distorted as his own.
+
+Show these besotted beings a little geometry, and they learn it easily
+enough; but, strange to say, this does not set them right. They perceive
+the truths of geometry; but it does not teach them to weigh
+probabilities: they have taken their bent; they will reason against
+reason all their lives; and I am sorry for them.
+
+Unfortunately, there are many ways of being wrong-headed, 1. Not to
+examine whether the principle is true, even when just consequences are
+drawn from it; and this is very common.
+
+2. To draw false consequences from a principle acknowledged to be true.
+For instance: a servant is asked whether his master be at home, by
+persons whom he suspects of having a design against his master's life.
+If he were blockhead enough to tell them the truth, on pretence that it
+is wrong to tell a lie, it is clear that he would draw an absurd
+consequence from a very true principle.
+
+The judge who should condemn a man for killing his assassin, would be
+alike iniquitous, and a bad reasoner. Cases like these are subdivided
+into a thousand different shades. The good mind, the judicious mind, is
+that which distinguishes them. Hence it is, that there have been so many
+iniquitous judgments; not because the judges were wicked in heart, but
+because they were not sufficiently enlightened.
+
+
+
+
+WOMEN.
+
+_Physical and Moral._
+
+Woman is in general less strong than man, smaller, and less capable of
+lasting labor. Her blood is more aqueous; her flesh less firm; her hair
+longer; her limbs more rounded; her arms less muscular; her mouth
+smaller; her hips more prominent; and her belly larger. These physical
+points distinguish women all over the earth, and of all races, from
+Lapland unto the coast of Guinea, and from America to China.
+
+Plutarch, in the third book of his "_Symposiacs_," pretends that wine
+will not intoxicate them so easily as men; and the following is the
+reason which he gives for this falsehood:
+
+"The temperament of women is very moist; this, with their courses,
+renders their flesh so soft, smooth, and clear. When wine encounters so
+much humidity, it is overcome, and it loses its color and its strength,
+becoming discolored and weak. Something also may be gathered from the
+reasoning of Aristotle, who observes, that they who drink great draughts
+without drawing their breath, which the ancients call '_amusisein_' are
+not intoxicated so soon as others; because the wine does not remain
+within the body, but being forcibly taken down, passes rapidly off. Now
+we generally perceive that women drink in this manner; and it is
+probable that their bodies, in consequence of the continual attraction
+of the humors, which are carried off in their periodical visitations,
+are filled with many conduits, and furnished with numerous pipes and
+channels, into which the wine disperses rapidly and easily, without
+having time to affect the noble and principal parts, by the disorder of
+which intoxication is produced." These physics are altogether worthy of
+the ancients.
+
+Women live somewhat longer than men; that is to say, in a generation we
+count more aged women than aged men. This fact has been observed by all
+who have taken accurate accounts of births and deaths in Europe; and it
+is thought that it is the same in Asia, and among the negresses, the
+copper-colored, and olive-complexioned, as among the white. _"Natura est
+semper sibi consona."_
+
+We have elsewhere adverted to an extract from a Chinese journal, which
+states, that in the year 1725, the wife of the emperor Yontchin made a
+distribution among the poor women of China who had passed their
+seventieth year; and that, in the province of Canton alone, there were
+98,222 females aged more than seventy, 40,893 beyond eighty, and 3,453
+of about the age of a hundred. Those who advocate final causes say, that
+nature grants them a longer life than men, in order to recompense them
+for the trouble they take in bringing children into the world and
+rearing them. It is scarcely to be imagined that nature bestows
+recompenses, but it is probable that the blood of women being milder,
+their fibres harden less quickly.
+
+No anatomist or physician has ever been able to trace the secret of
+conception. Sanchez has curiously remarked: _"Mariam et spiritum sanctum
+emisisse semen in copulatione, et ex semine amborum natum esse Jesum."_
+This abominable impertinence of the most knowing Sanchez is not adopted
+at present by any naturalist.
+
+The periodical visitations which weaken females, while they endure the
+maladies which arise out of their suppression, the times of gestation,
+the necessity of suckling children, and of watching continually over
+them, and the delicacy of their organization, render them unfit for the
+fatigue of war, and the fury of the combat. It is true, as we have
+already observed, that in almost all times and countries women have been
+found on whom nature has bestowed extraordinary strength and courage,
+who combat with men, and undergo prodigious labor; but, after all, these
+examples are rare. On this point we refer to the article on "Amazons."
+
+Physics always govern morals. Women being weaker of body than we are,
+there is more skill in their fingers, which are more supple than ours.
+Little able to labor at the heavy work of masonry, carpentering,
+metalling, or the plough, they are necessarily intrusted with the
+lighter labors of the interior of the house, and, above all, with the
+care of children. Leading a more sedentary life, they possess more
+gentleness of character than men, and are less addicted to the
+commission of enormous crimes--a fact so undeniable, that in all
+civilized countries there are always fifty men at least executed to one
+woman.
+
+Montesquieu, in his "Spirit of Laws," undertaking to speak of the
+condition of women under divers governments, observes that "among the
+Greeks women were not regarded as worthy of having any share in genuine
+love; but that with them love assumed a form which is not to be named."
+He cites Plutarch as his authority.
+
+This mistake is pardonable only in a wit like Montesquieu, always led
+away by the rapidity of his ideas, which are often very indistinct.
+Plutarch, in his chapter on love, introduces many interlocutors; and he
+himself, in the character of Daphneus, refutes, with great animation,
+the arguments of Protagenes in favor of the commerce alluded to.
+
+It is in the same dialogue that he goes so far as to say, that in the
+love of woman there is something divine; which love he compares to the
+sun, that animates nature. He places the highest happiness in conjugal
+love, and concludes by an eloquent eulogium on the virtue of Epponina.
+This memorable adventure passed before the eyes of Plutarch, who lived
+some time in the house of Vespasian. The above heroine, learning that
+her husband Sabinus, vanquished by the troops of the emperor, was
+concealed in a deep cavern between Franche-Comté and Champagne, shut
+herself up with him, attended on him for many years, and bore children
+in that situation. Being at length taken with her husband, and brought
+before Vespasian, who was astonished at her greatness of soul, she said
+to him: "I have lived more happily under ground than thou in the light
+of the sun, and in the enjoyment of power." Plutarch therefore asserts
+directly the contrary to that which is attributed to him by Montesquieu,
+and declares in favor of woman with an enthusiasm which is even
+affecting.
+
+It is not astonishing, that in every country man has rendered himself
+the master of woman, dominion being founded on strength. He has
+ordinarily, too, a superiority both in body and mind. Very learned women
+are to be found in the same manner as female warriors, but they are
+seldom or ever inventors.
+
+A social and agreeable spirit usually falls to their lot; and, generally
+speaking, they are adapted to soften the manners of men. In no republic
+have they ever been allowed to take the least part in government; they
+have never reigned in monarchies purely elective; but they may reign in
+almost all the hereditary kingdoms of Europe--in Spain, Naples, and
+England, in many states of the North, and in many grand fiefs which are
+called "feminines."
+
+Custom, entitled the Salic law, has excluded them from the crown of
+France; but it is not, as Mézeray remarks, in consequence of their
+unfitness for governing, since they are almost always intrusted with the
+regency.
+
+It is pretended, that Cardinal Mazarin confessed that many women were
+worthy of governing a kingdom; but he added, that it was always to be
+feared they would allow themselves to be subdued by lovers who were not
+capable of governing a dozen pullets. Isabella in Castile, Elizabeth in
+England, and Maria Theresa in Hungary, have, however, proved the falsity
+of this pretended bon-mot, attributed to Cardinal Mazarin; and at this
+moment we behold a legislatrix in the North as much respected as the
+sovereign of Greece, of Asia Minor, of Syria, and of Egypt, is
+disesteemed.
+
+It has been for a long time ignorantly assumed, that women are slaves
+during life among the Mahometans; and that, after their death, they do
+not enter paradise. These are two great errors, of a kind which popes
+are continually repeating in regard to Mahometanism. Married women are
+not at all slaves; and the Sura, or fourth chapter of the Koran, assigns
+them a dowry. A girl is entitled to inherit one-half as much as her
+brother; and if there are girls only, they divide among them two-thirds
+of the inheritance; and the remainder belongs to the relations of the
+deceased, whose mother also is entitled to a certain share. So little
+are married women slaves, they are entitled to demand a divorce, which
+is granted when their complaints are deemed lawful.
+
+A Mahometan is not allowed to marry his sister-in-law, his niece, his
+foster-sister, or his daughter-in-law brought up under the care of his
+wife. Neither is he permitted to marry two sisters; in which particular
+the Mahometan law is more rigid than the Christian, as people are every
+day purchasing from the court of Rome the right of contracting such
+marriages, which they might as well contract gratis.
+
+_Polygamy._
+
+Mahomet has limited the number of wives to four; but as a man must be
+rich in order to maintain four wives, according to his condition, few
+except great lords avail themselves of this privilege. Therefore, a
+plurality of wives produces not so much injury to the Mahometan states
+as we are in the habit of supposing; nor does it produce the
+depopulation which so many books, written at random, are in the habit of
+asserting.
+
+The Jews, agreeable to an ancient usage, established, according to their
+books, ever since the age of Lameth, have always been allowed several
+wives at a time. David had eighteen; and it is from his time that they
+allow that number to kings; although it is said that Solomon had as
+many as seven hundred.
+
+The Mahometans will not publicly allow the Jews to have more than one
+wife; they do not deem them worthy of that advantage; but money, which
+is always more powerful than law, procures to rich Jews, in Asia and
+Africa, that permission which the law refuses.
+
+It is seriously related, that Lelius Cinna, tribune of the people,
+proclaimed, after the death of Cæsar, that the dictator had intended to
+promulgate a law allowing women to take as many husbands as they
+pleased. What sensible man can doubt, that this was a popular story
+invented to render Cæsar odious? It resembles another story, which
+states that a senator in full senate formally professed to give Cæsar
+permission to cohabit with any woman he pleased. Such silly tales
+dishonor history, and injure the minds of those who credit them. It is a
+sad thing, that Montesquieu should give credit to this fable.
+
+It is not, however, a fable that the emperor Valentinian, calling
+himself a Christian, married Justinian during the life of Severa, his
+first wife, mother of the emperor Gratian; but he was rich enough to
+support many wives.
+
+Among the first race of the kings of the Franks, Gontran, Cherebert,
+Sigebert, and Chilperic, had several wives at a time. Gontran had within
+his palace Venerande, Mercatrude, and Ostregilda, acknowledged for
+legitimate wives; Cherebert had Merflida, Marcovesa, and Theodogilda.
+
+It is difficult to conceive how the ex-Jesuit Nonnotte has been able, in
+his ignorance, to push his boldness so far as to deny these facts, and
+to say that the kings of the first race were not polygamists, and
+thereby, in a libel in two volumes, throw discredit on more than a
+hundred historical truths, with the confidence of a pedant who dictates
+lessons in a college. Books of this kind still continue to be sold in
+the provinces, where the Jesuits have yet a party, and seduce and
+mislead uneducated people.
+
+Father Daniel, more learned and judicious, confesses the polygamy of the
+French kings without difficulty. He denies not the three wives of
+Dagobert I., and asserts expressly that Theodoret espoused Deutery,
+although she had a husband, and himself another wife called Visigalde.
+He adds, that in this he imitated his uncle Clothaire, who espoused the
+widow of Cleodomir, his brother, although he had three wives already.
+
+All historians admit the same thing; why, therefore, after so many
+testimonies, allow an ignorant writer to speak like a dictator, and say,
+while uttering a thousand follies, that it is in defence of religion? as
+if our sacred and venerable religion had anything to do with an
+historical point, although made serviceable by miserable calumniators to
+their stupid impostures.
+
+_Of the Polygamy Allowed by Certain Popes and Reformers._
+
+The Abbé Fleury, author of the "Ecclesiastical History," pays more
+respect to truth in all which concerns the laws and usages of the
+Church. He avows that Boniface, confessor of Lower Germany, having
+consulted Pope Gregory, in the year 726, in order to know in what cases
+a husband might be allowed to have two wives, Gregory replied to him, on
+the 22nd of November, of the same year, in these words: "If a wife be
+attacked by a malady which renders her unfit for conjugal intercourse,
+the husband may marry another; but in that case he must allow his sick
+wife all necessary support and assistance." This decision appears
+conformable to reason and policy; and favors population, which is the
+object of marriage.
+
+But that which appears opposed at once to reason, policy, and nature, is
+the law which ordains that a woman, separated from her husband both in
+person and estate, cannot take another husband, nor the husband another
+wife. It is evident that a race is thereby lost; and if the separated
+parties are both of a certain temperament, they are necessarily exposed
+and rendered liable to sins for which the legislators ought to be
+responsible to God, if--
+
+The decretals of the popes have not always had in view what was suitable
+to the good of estates, and of individuals. This same decretal of Pope
+Gregory II., which permits bigamy in certain cases, denies conjugal
+rights forever to the boys and girls, whom their parents have devoted to
+the Church in their infancy. This law seems as barbarous as it is
+unjust; at once annihilating posterity, and forcing the will of men
+before they even possess a will. It is rendering the children the slaves
+of a vow which they never made; it is to destroy natural liberty, and to
+offend God and mankind.
+
+The polygamy of Philip, landgrave of Hesse, in the Lutheran community,
+in 1539, is well known. I knew a sovereign in Germany, who, after having
+married a Lutheran, had permission from the pope to marry a Catholic,
+and retained both his wives.
+
+It is well known in England, that the chancellor Cowper married two
+wives, who lived together in the same house in a state of concord which
+did honor to all three. Many of the curious still possess the little
+book which he composed in favor of polygamy.
+
+We must distrust authors who relate, that in certain countries women are
+allowed several husbands. Those who make laws everywhere are born with
+too much self-love, are too jealous of their authority, and generally
+possess a temperament too ardent in comparison with that of women, to
+have instituted a jurisprudence of this nature. That which is opposed to
+the general course of nature is very rarely true; but it is very common
+for the more early travellers to mistake an abuse for a law.
+
+The author of the "Spirit of Laws" asserts, that in the caste of Nairs,
+on the coast of Malabar, a man can have only one wife, while a woman may
+have several husbands. He cites doubtful authors, and above all Picard;
+but it is impossible to speak of strange customs without having long
+witnessed them; and if they are mentioned, it ought to be doubtingly;
+but what lively spirit knows how to doubt?
+
+"The lubricity of women," he observes, "is so great at Patan, the men
+are constrained to adopt certain garniture, in order to be safe against
+their amorous enterprises."
+
+The president Montesquieu was never at Patan. Is not the remark of M.
+Linguet judicious, who observes, that this story has been told by
+travellers who were either deceived themselves, or who wished to laugh
+at their readers? Let us be just, love truth, and judge by facts, not by
+names.
+
+_End of the Reflections on Polygamy._
+
+It appears that power, rather than agreement, makes laws everywhere, but
+especially in the East. We there beheld the first slaves, the first
+eunuchs, and the treasury of the prince directly composed of that which
+is taken from the people.
+
+He who can clothe, support, and amuse a number of women, shuts them up
+in a menagerie, and commands them despotically. Ben Aboul Kiba, in his
+"Mirror of the Faithful," relates that one of the viziers of the great
+Solyman addressed the following discourse to an agent of Charles V.:
+
+"Dog of a Christian!--for whom, however, I have a particular
+esteem--canst thou reproach me with possessing four wives, according to
+our holy laws, whilst thou emptiest a dozen barrels a year, and I drink
+not a single glass of wine? What good dost thou effect by passing more
+hours at table than I do in bed? I may get four children a year for the
+service of my august master, whilst thou canst scarcely produce one, and
+that only the child of a drunkard, whose brain will be obscured by the
+vapors of the wine which has been drunk by his father. What, moreover,
+wouldst thou have me do, when two of my wives are in child-bed? Must I
+not attend to the other two, as my law commands me? What becomes of
+them? what part dost thou perform, in the latter months of the pregnancy
+of thy only wife, and during her lyings-in and sexual maladies? Thou
+either remainest idle, or thou repairest to another woman. Behold
+thyself between two mortal sins, which will infallibly cause thee to
+fall headlong from the narrow bridge into the pit of hell.
+
+"I will suppose, that in our wars against the dogs of Christians we lose
+a hundred thousand soldiers; behold a hundred thousand girls to provide
+for. Is it not for the wealthy to take care of them? Evil betide every
+Mussulman so cold-hearted as not to give shelter to four pretty girls,
+in the character of legitimate wives, or to treat them according to
+their merits!
+
+"What is done in thy country by the trumpeter of day, which thou callest
+the cock; the honest ram, the leader of the flock; the bull, sovereign
+of the heifers; has not every one of them his seraglio? It becomes thee,
+truly, to reproach me with my four wives, whilst our great prophet had
+eighteen, the Jew David, as many, and the Jew Solomon, seven hundred,
+all told, with three hundred concubines! Thou perceivest that I am
+modest. Cease, then, to reproach a sage with luxury, who is content with
+so moderate a repast. I permit thee to drink; allow me to love. Thou
+changest thy wines; permit me to change my females. Let every one suffer
+others to live according to the customs of their country. Thy hat was
+not made to give laws to my turban; thy ruff and thy curtailed doublets
+are not to command my doliman. Make an end of thy coffee, and go and
+caress thy German spouse, since thou art allowed to have no other."
+
+_Reply of the German._
+
+"Dog of a Mussulman! for whom I retain a profound veneration; before I
+finish my coffee I will confute all thy arguments. He who possesses four
+wives, possesses four harpies, always ready to calumniate, to annoy, and
+to fight one another. Thy house is the den of discord, and none of them
+can love thee. Each has only a quarter of thy person, and in return can
+bestow only a quarter of her heart. None of them can serve to render thy
+life agreeable; they are prisoners who, never having seen anything, have
+nothing to say; and, knowing only thee, are in consequence thy enemies.
+Thou art their absolute master; they therefore hate thee. Thou art
+obliged to guard them with eunuchs, who whip them when they are too
+happy. Thou pretendest to compare thyself to a cock, but a cock never
+has his pullets whipped by a capon. Take animals for thy examples, and
+copy them as much as thou pleasest; for my part, I love like a man; I
+would give all my heart, and receive an entire heart in return. I will
+give an account of this conversation to my wife to-night, and I hope she
+will be satisfied. As to the wine with which thou reproachest me, if it
+is an evil to drink it in Arabia, it is a very praiseworthy habit in
+Germany.--Adieu!"
+
+
+
+
+XENOPHANES.
+
+
+Bayle has made the article "Xenophanes" a pretext for making a panegyric
+on the devil; as Simonides, formerly, seized the occasion of a wrestler
+winning the prize of boxing in the Olympic games, to form a fine ode in
+praise of Castor and Pollux. But, at the bottom, of what consequence to
+us are the reveries of Xenophanes? What do we gain by knowing that he
+regarded nature as an infinite being, immovable, composed of an infinite
+number of small corpuscles, soft little mounds, and small organic
+molecules? That he, moreover, thought pretty nearly as Spinoza has since
+thought? or rather endeavored to think, for he contradicts himself
+frequently--a thing very common to ancient philosophers.
+
+If Anaximenes taught that the atmosphere was God; if Thales attributed
+to water the foundation of all things, because Egypt was rendered
+fertile by inundation; if Pherecides and Heraclitus give to fire all
+which Thales attributes to water--to what purpose return to these
+chimerical reveries?
+
+I wish that Pythagoras had expressed, by numbers, certain relations,
+very insufficiently understood, by which he infers, that the world was
+built by the rules of arithmetic. I allow, that Ocellus Lucanus and
+Empedocles have arranged everything by moving antagonist forces, but
+what shall I gather from it? What clear notion will it convey to my
+feeble mind?
+
+Come, divine Plato! with your archetypal ideas, your androgynes, and
+your word; establish all these fine things in poetical prose, in your
+new republic, in which I no more aspire to have a house, than in the
+Salentum of Telemachus; but in lieu of becoming one of your citizens, I
+will send you an order to build your town with all the subtle manner of
+Descartes, all his globular and diffusive matter; and they shall be
+brought to you by Cyrano de Bergerac.
+
+Bayle, however, has exercised all the sagacity of his logic on these
+ancient fancies; but it is always by rendering them ridiculous that he
+instructs and entertains.
+
+O philosophers! Physical experiments, ably conducted, arts and
+handicraft--these are the true philosophy. My sage is the conductor of
+my windmill, which dexterously catches the wind, and receives my corn,
+deposits it in the hopper, and grinds it equally, for the nourishment of
+myself and family. My sage is he who, with his shuttle, covers my walls
+with pictures of linen or of silk, brilliant with the finest colors; or
+he who puts into my pocket a chronometer of silver or of gold. My sage
+is the investigator of natural history. We learn more from the single
+experiments of the Abbé Nollet than from all the philosophical works of
+antiquity.
+
+
+
+
+XENOPHON,
+
+AND THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND.
+
+
+If Xenophon had no other merit than that of being the friend of the
+martyr Socrates, he would be interesting; but he was a warrior,
+philosopher, poet, historian, agriculturist, and amiable in society.
+There were many Greeks who united these qualities.
+
+But why had this free man a Greek company in the pay of the young
+Chosroes, named Cyrus by the Greeks? This Cyrus was the younger brother
+and subject of the emperor of Persia, Artaxerxes Mnemon, of whom it was
+said that he never forgot anything but injuries. Cyrus had already
+attempted to assassinate his brother, even in the temple in which the
+ceremony of his consecration took place--for the kings of Persia were
+the first who were consecrated. Artaxerxes had not only the clemency to
+pardon this villain, but he had the weakness to allow him the absolute
+government of a great part of Asia Minor, which he held from their
+father, and of which he at least deserved to be despoiled.
+
+As a return for such surprising mercy, as soon as he could excite his
+satrapy to revolt against his brother, Cyrus added this second crime to
+the first. He declared by a manifesto, "that he was more worthy of the
+throne of Persia than his brother, because he was a better magus, and
+drank more wine." I do not believe that these were the reasons which
+gained him the Greeks as allies. He took thirteen thousand into his pay,
+among whom was the young Xenophon, who was then only an adventurer. Each
+soldier had a daric a month for pay. The daric is equal to about a
+guinea or a louis d'or of our time, as the Chevalier de Jaucourt very
+well observes, and not ten francs, as Rollin says.
+
+When Cyrus proposed to march them with his other troops to fight his
+brother towards the Euphrates, they demanded a daric and a half, which
+he was obliged to grant them. This was thirty-six livres a month, and
+consequently the highest pay which was ever given. The soldiers of
+Cæsar and Pompey had but twenty sous per day in the civil wars. Besides
+this exorbitant pay, of which they obliged him to pay four months in
+advance, Cyrus furnished them four hundred chariots, laden with wine and
+meal.
+
+The Greeks were then precisely what the Swiss are at present, who hire
+their service and courage to neighboring princes, but for a pay three
+times less than was that of the Greeks. It is evident, though they say
+the contrary, that they did not inform themselves whether the cause for
+which they fought was just; it was sufficient that Cyrus paid well.
+
+The greatest part of these troops was composed of Lacedæmonians, by
+which they violated their solemn treaties with the king of Persia. What
+was become of the ancient aversion of the Spartans for gold and silver?
+Where was their sincerity in treaties? Where was their high and
+incorruptible virtue? Clearchus, a Spartan, commanded the principal body
+of these brave mercenaries.
+
+I understand not the military manoeuvres of Artaxerxes and Cyrus; I see
+not why Artaxerxes, who came to his enemy with twelve hundred thousand
+soldiers, should begin by causing lines of twelve leagues in extent to
+be drawn between Cyrus and himself; and I comprehend nothing of the
+order of battle. I understand still less how Cyrus, followed only by six
+hundred horse, broke into the midst of six thousand horse-guards of the
+emperor, followed by an innumerable army. Finally, he was killed by the
+hand of Artaxerxes, who, having apparently drunk less wine than the
+rebel, fought with more coolness and address than this drunkard. It is
+clear that he completely gained the battle, notwithstanding the valor
+and resistance of thirteen thousand Greeks--since Greek vanity is
+obliged to confess that Artaxerxes told them to put down their arms.
+They replied that they would do nothing of the kind; but that if the
+emperor would pay them they would enter his service. It was very
+indifferent to them for whom they fought, so long as they were paid; in
+fact, they were only hired murderers.
+
+Besides the Swiss, there are some provinces of Germany which follow this
+custom. It signifies not to these good Christians whether they are paid
+to kill English, French, or Dutch, or to be killed by them. You see them
+say their prayers, and go to the carnage like laborers to their
+workshop. As to myself, I confess I would rather observe those who go
+into Pennsylvania, to cultivate the land with the simple and equitable
+Quakers, and form colonies in the retreat of peace and industry. There
+is no great skill in killing and being killed for six sous per day, but
+there is much in causing the republic of Dunkers to flourish--these new
+Therapeutæ on the frontier of a country the most savage.
+
+Artaxerxes regarded the Greeks only as accomplices in the revolt of his
+brother, and indeed they were nothing else. He betrayed himself to be
+betrayed by them, and he betrayed them, as Xenophon pretends; for after
+one of his captains had sworn in his name to allow them a free retreat,
+and to furnish them with food, after Clearchus and five other commanders
+of the Greeks were put into his hands, to regulate the march, he caused
+their heads to be cut off, and slew all the Greeks who accompanied them
+in this interview, if we may trust Xenophon's account.
+
+This royal act shows us that Machiavellism is not new; but is it true
+that Artaxerxes promised not to make an example of the chief mercenaries
+who sold themselves to his brother? Was it not permitted him to punish
+those whom he thought so guilty? It is here that the famous retreat of
+the ten thousand commences. If I comprehend nothing of the battle, I
+understand no more of the retreat.
+
+The emperor, before he cut off the heads of six Greek generals and their
+suite, had sworn to allow the little army, reduced to ten thousand men,
+to return to Greece. The battle was fought on the road to the Euphrates;
+he must therefore have caused the Greeks to return by Western
+Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, and Ionia. Not at all; they were made to
+pass by the East; they were obliged to traverse the Tigris in boats
+which were furnished to them; they returned afterwards by the Armenian
+roads, while their commanders were punished. If any person comprehends
+this march, in which they turn their backs on Greece, they will oblige
+me much by explaining it to me.
+
+One of two things: either the Greeks chose their route themselves--and
+in this case they neither knew where they went, or what they wished--or
+Artaxerxes made them march against their will--which is much more
+probable--and in this case, why did he not exterminate them?
+
+We may extricate ourselves from these difficulties, by supposing that
+the Persian emperor only half revenged himself; that he contented
+himself with punishing the principal mercenary chiefs who sold the Greek
+troops to Cyrus; that having made a treaty with the fugitive troops, he
+would not descend to the meanness of violating it; that being sure that
+a third of these wandering Greeks would perish on the road, he abandoned
+them to their fate. I see no other manner of enlightening the mind of
+the reader on the obscurities of this march.
+
+We are astonished at the retreat of the ten thousand; but we should be
+much more so, if Artaxerxes, a conqueror, at the head of a hundred
+thousand men--at least it is said so--had allowed ten thousand fugitives
+to travel in the north of his vast states, whom he could crush in every
+village, every bridge, every defile, or whom he could have made perish
+with hunger and misery.
+
+However, they were furnished, as we have seen, with twenty-seven great
+boats, to enable them to pass the Tigris, as if they were conducted to
+the Indies. Thence they were escorted towards the North for several
+days, into the desert in which Bagdad is now situated. They further
+passed the river Zabata, and it was there that the emperor sent his
+orders to punish the chiefs. It is clear that they could have
+exterminated the army as easily as they inflicted punishment on the
+generals. It is therefore very likely that they did not choose to do so.
+We should, therefore, rather regard the Greek wanderers in these savage
+countries as wayward travellers, whom the bounty of the emperor allowed
+to finish their journey as they could.
+
+We may make another observation, which appears not very honorable to the
+Persian government. It was impossible for the Greeks not to have
+continual quarrels for food with the people whom they met. Pillages,
+desolations, and murders, were the inevitable consequence of these
+disorders; and that is so true, that in a road of six hundred leagues,
+during which the Greeks always marched irregularly, being neither
+escorted nor pursued by any great body of Persian troops, they lost four
+thousand men, either killed by peasants or by sickness. How did it
+happen, therefore, that Artaxerxes did not cause them to be escorted
+from their passage of the river Zabata, as he had done from the field of
+battle to the river?
+
+How could so wise and good a sovereign commit so great a fault? Perhaps
+he did command the escort; perhaps Xenophon, who exaggerates a little
+elsewhere, passes it over in silence, not to diminish the wonder of the
+"retreat of the ten thousand"; perhaps the escort was always obliged to
+march at a great distance from the Greek troop, on account of the
+difficulty of procuring provisions. However it might be, it appears
+certain that Artaxerxes used extreme indulgence, and that the Greeks
+owed their lives to him, since they were not exterminated.
+
+In the article on "Retreat," in the "Encyclopædical Dictionary," it is
+said that the retreat of the ten thousand took place under the command
+of Xenophon. This is a mistake; he never commanded; he was merely at the
+head of a division of fourteen hundred men, at the end of the march.
+
+I see that these heroes scarcely arrived, after so many fatigues, on the
+borders of the Pontus Euxinus, before they indifferently pillaged
+friends and enemies to re-establish themselves. Xenophon embarked his
+little troop at Heraclea, and went to make a new bargain with a king of
+Thrace, to whom he was a stranger. This Athenian, instead of succoring
+his country, then overcome by the Spartans, sold himself once more to a
+petty foreign despot. He was ill paid, I confess, which is another
+reason why we may conclude that he would have done better in assisting
+his country.
+
+The sum of all this, we have already remarked, is that the Athenian
+Xenophon, being only a young volunteer, enlisted himself under a
+Lacedæmonian captain, one of the tyrants of Athens, in the service of a
+rebel and an assassin; and that, becoming chief of fourteen hundred men,
+he put himself into the pay of a barbarian.
+
+What is worse, necessity did not constrain him to this servitude. He
+says himself that he deposited a great part of the gold gained in the
+service of Cyrus in the temple of the famous Diana of Ephesus.
+
+Let us remark, that in receiving the pay of a king, he exposed himself
+to be condemned to death, if the foreigner was not contented with him,
+which happened to Major-General Doxat, a man born free. He sold himself
+to the emperor Charles VI., who commanded his head to be cut off, for
+having given up to the Turks a place which he could not defend.
+
+Rollin, in speaking of the return of the ten thousand, says, "that this
+fortunate retreat filled the people of Greece with contempt for
+Artaxerxes, by showing them that gold, silver, delicacies, luxury, and a
+numerous seraglio, composed all the merit of a great king."
+
+Rollin should consider that the Greeks ought not to despise a sovereign
+who had gained a complete battle; who, having pardoned as a brother,
+conquered as a hero; who, having the power of exterminating ten thousand
+Greeks, suffered them to live and to return to their country; and who,
+being able to have them in his pay, disdained to make use of them. Add,
+that this prince afterwards conquered the Lacedæmonians and their
+allies, and imposed on them humiliating laws; add also that in a war
+with the Scythians, called Caducians, towards the Caspian Sea, he
+supported all fatigues and dangers like the lowest soldier. He lived and
+died full of glory; it is true that he had a seraglio, but his courage
+was only the more estimable. We must be careful of college declamations.
+
+If I dared to attack prejudice I would venture to prefer the retreat of
+Marshal Belle-Isle to that of the ten thousand. He was blocked up in
+Prague by sixty thousand men, when he had not thirteen thousand. He took
+his measures with so much ability that he got out of Prague, in the most
+severe cold, with his army, provisions, baggage, and thirty pieces of
+cannon, without the besiegers having the least idea of it. He gained two
+days' march without their perceiving it. An army of thirteen thousand
+men pursued him for the space of thirty leagues. He faced them
+everywhere--he was never cast down; but sick as he was, he braved the
+season, scarcity and his enemies. He only lost those soldiers who could
+not resist the extreme rigor of the season. What more was wanting? A
+longer course and Grecian exaggeration.
+
+
+
+
+YVETOT.
+
+
+This is the name of a town in France, six leagues from Rouen, in
+Normandy, which, according to Robert Gaguin, a historian of the
+sixteenth century, has long been entitled a kingdom.
+
+This writer relates that Gautier, or Vautier, lord of Yvetot, and grand
+chamberlain to King Clotaire I., having lost the favor of his master by
+calumny, in which courtiers deal rather liberally, went into voluntary
+exile, and visited distant countries, where, for ten years, he fought
+against the enemies of the faith; that at the expiration of this term,
+flattering himself that the king's anger would be appeased, he went back
+to France; that he passed through Rome, where he saw Pope Agapetus, from
+whom he obtained a letter of recommendation to the king, who was then at
+Soissons, the capital of his dominions. The lord of Yvetot repaired
+thither one Good Friday, and chose the time when Clotaire was at church,
+to fall at his feet, and implore his forgiveness through the merits of
+Him who, on that day, had shed His blood for the salvation of men; but
+Clotaire, ferocious and cruel, having recognized him, ran him through
+the body.
+
+Gaguin adds that Pope Agapetus, being informed of this disgraceful act,
+threatened the king with the thunders of the Church, if he did not make
+reparation for his offence; and that Clotaire, justly intimidated, and
+in satisfaction for the murder of his subject, erected the lordship of
+Yvetot into a kingdom, in favor of Gautier's heirs and successors; that
+he despatched letters to that effect signed by himself, and sealed with
+his seal; that ever since then the lords of Yvetot have borne the title
+of kings; and--continues Gaguin--I find from established and
+indisputable authority, that this extraordinary event happened in the
+year of grace 539.
+
+On this story of Gaguin's we have the same remark to make that we have
+already made on what he says of the establishment of the Paris
+university--that not one of the contemporary historians makes any
+mention of the singular event, which, as he tells us, caused the
+lordship of Yvetot to be erected into a kingdom; and, as Claude Malingre
+and the abbé Vertot have well observed, Clotaire I., who is here
+supposed to have been sovereign of the town of Yvetot, did not reign
+over that part of the country; fiefs were not then hereditary; acts were
+not, as Robert Gaguin relates, dated from the year of grace; and lastly,
+Pope Agapetus was then dead; to this it may be added that the right of
+erecting a fief into a kingdom belonged exclusively to the emperor.
+
+It is not, however, to be said that the thunders of the Church were not
+already made use of, in the time of Agapetus. We know that St. Paul
+excommunicated the incestuous man of Corinth. We also find in the
+letters of St. Basil, some instances of general censure in the fourth
+century. One of these letters is against a ravisher. The holy prelate
+there orders the young woman to be restored to her parents, the ravisher
+to be excluded from prayers, and declared to be excommunicated, together
+with his accomplices and all his household, for three years; he also
+orders that all the people of the village where the ravished person was
+received, shall be excommunicated.
+
+Auxilius, a young bishop, excommunicated the whole family of Clacitien;
+although St. Augustine disapproved of this conduct, and Pope St. Leo
+laid down the same maxims as Augustine, in one of his letters to the
+bishop of the province of Vienne--yet, confining ourselves here to
+France--Pretextatus, bishop of Rouen, having been assassinated in the
+year 586 in his own church, Leudovalde, bishop of Bayeux, did not fail
+to lay all the churches in Rouen under an interdict, forbidding divine
+service to be celebrated in them until the author of the crime should be
+discovered.
+
+In 1141, Louis the Young having refused his consent to the election of
+Peter de la Châtre, whom the pope caused to be appointed in the room of
+Alberic, archbishop of Bourges, who had died the year preceding,
+Innocent II. laid all France under interdict.
+
+In the year 1200, Peter of Capua, commissioned to compel Philip Augustus
+to put away Agnes, and take back Ingeburga, and not succeeding,
+published the sentence of interdict on the whole kingdom, which had been
+pronounced by Pope Innocent III. This interdict was observed with
+extreme rigor. The English chronicle, quoted by the Benedictine
+Martenne, says that every Christian act, excepting the baptism of
+infants, was interdicted in France; the churches were closed, and
+Christians driven out of them like dogs; there was no more divine
+office, no more sacrifice of the mass, no ecclesiastical sepulture for
+the deceased; the dead bodies, left to chance, spread the most frightful
+infections, and filled the survivors with horror.
+
+The chronicle of Tours gives the same description, adding only one
+remarkable particular, confirmed by the abbé Fleury and the abbé de
+Vertot--that the holy viaticum was excepted, like the baptism of
+infants, from the privation of holy things. The kingdom was in this
+situation for nine months; it was some time before Innocent III.
+permitted the preaching of sermons and the sacrament of confirmation.
+The king was so much enraged that he drove the bishops and all the other
+ecclesiastics from their abodes, and confiscated their property.
+
+But it is singular that the bishops were sometimes solicited by
+sovereigns themselves to pronounce an interdict upon lands of their
+vassals. By letters dated February, 1356, confirming those of Guy, count
+of Nevers, and his wife Matilda, in favor of the citizens of Nevers,
+Charles V., regent of the kingdom, prays the archbishops of Lyons,
+Bourges, and Sens, and the bishops of Autun, Langres, Auxerre, and
+Nevers, to pronounce an excommunication against the count of Nevers, and
+an interdict upon his lands, if he does not fulfil the agreement he has
+made with the inhabitants. We also find in the collection of the
+ordinances of the third line of kings, many letters like that of King
+John, authorizing the bishops to put under interdict those places whose
+privileges their lords would seek to infringe.
+
+And to conclude, though it appears incredible, the Jesuit Daniel relates
+that, in the year 998, King Robert was excommunicated by Gregory V., for
+having married his kinswoman in the fourth degree. All the bishops who
+had assisted at this marriage were interdicted from the communion, until
+they had been to Rome, and rendered satisfaction to the holy see. The
+people, and even the court, separated from the king; he had only two
+domestics left, who purified by fire whatever he had touched. Cardinal
+Damien and Romualde also add, that Robert being gone one morning, as was
+his custom, to say his prayers at the door of St. Bartholomew's church,
+for he dared not enter it, Abbon, abbot of Fleury, followed by two women
+of the palace, carrying a large gilt dish covered with a napkin,
+accosted him, announced that Bertha was just brought to bed; and
+uncovering the dish, said: "Behold the effects of your disobedience to
+the decrees of the Church, and the seal of anathema on the fruit of your
+love!" Robert looked, and saw a monster with the head and neck of a
+duck! Bertha was repudiated; and the excommunication was at last taken
+off.
+
+Urban II., on the contrary, excommunicated Robert's grandson, Philip I.,
+for having put away his kinswoman. This pope pronounced the sentence of
+excommunication in the king's own dominions, at Clermont, in Auvergne,
+where his holiness was come to seek an asylum, in the same council in
+which the crusade was preached, and in which, for the first time, the
+name of pope (papa) was given to the bishop of Rome, to the exclusion of
+the other bishops, who had formerly taken it.
+
+It will be seen that these canonical pains were medicinal rather than
+mortal; but Gregory VII. and some of his successors ventured to assert,
+that an excommunicated sovereign was deprived of his dominions, and that
+his subjects were not obliged to obey him. However, supposing that a
+king can be excommunicated in certain serious cases, excommunication,
+being a penalty purely spiritual, cannot dispense with the obedience
+which his subjects owe to him, as holding his authority from God
+Himself. This was constantly acknowledged by the parliaments, and also
+by the clergy of France, in the excommunications pronounced by Boniface
+VII., against Philip the Fair; by Julius II., against Louis XII.; by
+Sixtus V., against Henry III.; by Gregory XIII., against Henry IV.; and
+it is likewise the doctrine of the celebrated assembly of the clergy in
+1682.
+
+
+
+
+ZEAL.
+
+
+This, in religion, is a pure and enlightened attachment to the
+maintenance and progress of the worship which is due to the Divinity;
+but when this zeal is persecuting, blind, and false, it becomes the
+greatest scourge of humanity.
+
+See what the emperor Julian says of the Christians of his time: "The
+Galileans," he observes, "have suffered exile and imprisonment under my
+predecessor; those who are by turns called heretics, have been mutually
+massacred. I have recalled the banished, liberated the prisoners; I have
+restored their property to the proscribed; I have forced them to live in
+peace; but such is the restless rage of the Galileans, that they
+complain of being no longer able to devour each other."
+
+This picture will not appear extravagant if we attend to the atrocious
+calumnies with which the Christians reciprocally blackened each other.
+For instance, St. Augustine accuses the Manichæans of forcing their
+elect to receive the eucharist, after having obscenely polluted it.
+After him, St. Cyril of Jerusalem has accused them of the same infamy in
+these terms: "I dare not mention in what these sacrilegious wretches wet
+their ischas, which they give to their unhappy votaries, and exhibit in
+the midst of their altar, and with which the Manichæan soils his mouth
+and tongue. Let the men call to mind what they are accustomed to
+experience in dreaming, and the women in their periodical affections."
+Pope St. Leo, in one of his sermons, also calls the sacrifice of the
+Manichæans the same turpitude. Finally, Suidas and Cedrenus have still
+further improved on the calumny, in asserting that the Manichæans held
+nocturnal assemblies, in which, after extinguishing the flambeaux, they
+committed the most enormous indecencies.
+
+Let us first observe that the primitive Christians were themselves
+accused of the same horrors which they afterwards imputed to the
+Manichæans; and that the justification of these equally applies to the
+others. "In order to have pretexts for persecuting us," said
+Athenagoras, in his "Apology for the Christians," "they accuse us of
+making detestable banquets, and of committing incest in our assemblies.
+It is an old trick, which has been employed from all time to extinguish
+virtue. Thus was Pythagoras burned, with three hundred of his disciples;
+Heraclitus expelled by the Ephesians; Democritus by the Abderitans; and
+Socrates condemned by the Athenians."
+
+Athenagoras subsequently points out that the principles and manners of
+the Christians were sufficient of themselves to destroy the calumnies
+spread against them. The same reasons apply in favor of the Manichæans.
+Why else is St. Augustine, who is positive in his book on heresies,
+reduced in that on the morals of the Manichæans, when speaking of the
+horrible ceremony in question, to say simply: "They are suspected
+of--the world has this opinion of them--if they do not commit what is
+imputed to them--rumor proclaims much ill of them; but they maintain
+that it is false?"
+
+Why not sustain openly this accusation in his dispute with Fortunatus,
+who publicly challenged him in these terms: "We are accused of false
+crimes, and as Augustine has assisted in our worship, I beg him to
+declare before the whole people, whether these crimes are true or not."
+St. Augustine replied: "It is true that I have assisted in your worship;
+but the question of faith is one thing, the question of morals another;
+and it is that of faith which I brought forward. However, if the persons
+present prefer that we should discuss that of your morals, I shall not
+oppose myself to them."
+
+Fortunatus, addressing the assembly, said: "I wish, above all things, to
+be justified in the minds of those who believe us guilty; and that
+Augustine should now testify before you, and one day before the tribunal
+of Jesus Christ, if he has ever seen, or if he knows, in any way
+whatever, that the things imputed have been committed by us?" St.
+Augustine still replies: "You depart from the question; what I have
+advanced turns upon faith, not upon morals." At length, Fortunatus
+continuing to press St. Augustine to explain himself, he does so in
+these terms: "I acknowledge that in the prayer at which I assisted I did
+not see you commit anything impure."
+
+The same St. Augustine, in his work on the "Utility of Faith," still
+justifies the Manichæans. "At this time," he says, to his friend
+Honoratus, "when I was occupied with Manichæism, I was yet full of the
+desire and the hope of marrying a handsome woman, and of acquiring
+riches; of attaining honors, and of enjoying the other pernicious
+pleasures of life. For when I listened with attention to the Manichæan
+doctors, I had not renounced the desire and hope of all these things. I
+do not attribute that to their doctrine; for I am bound to render this
+testimony--that they sedulously exhorted men to preserve themselves from
+those things. That is, indeed, what hindered me from attaching myself
+altogether to the sect, and kept me in the rank of those who are called
+auditors. I did not wish to renounce secular hopes and affairs." And in
+the last chapter of this book, where he represents the Manichæan doctors
+as proud men, who had as gross minds as they had meagre and skinny
+bodies, he does not say a word of their pretended infamies.
+
+But on what proofs were these imputations founded? The first which
+Augustine alleges is, that these indecencies were a consequence of the
+Manichæan system, regarding the means which God makes use of to wrest
+from the prince of darkness the portion of his substance. We have spoken
+of this in the article on "Genealogy," and these are horrors which one
+may dispense with repeating. It is enough to say here, that the passage
+from the seventh book of the "Treasure of Manes," which Augustine cites
+in many places, is evidently falsified. The arch heretic says, if we can
+believe it, that these celestial virtues, which are transformed
+sometimes into beautiful boys, and sometimes into beautiful girls, are
+God the Father Himself. This is false; Manes has never confounded the
+celestial virtues with God the Father. St. Augustine, not having
+understood the Syriac phrase of a "virgin of light" to mean a virgin
+light, supposes that God shows a beautiful maiden to the princes of
+darkness, in order to excite their brutal lust; there is nothing of all
+this talked of in ancient authors; the question concerns the cause of
+rain.
+
+"The great prince," says Tirbon, cited by St. Epiphanius, "sends out for
+himself, in his passion, black clouds, which darken all the world; he
+chafes, worries himself, throws himself into a perspiration, and that it
+is which makes the rain, which is no other than the sweat of the great
+prince." St. Augustine must have been deceived by a mistranslation, or
+rather by a garbled, unfaithful extract from the "Treasure of Manes,"
+from which he only cites two or three passages. The Manichæan Secundums
+also reproaches him with comprehending nothing of the mysteries of
+Manichæism, and with attacking them only by mere paralogisms. "How,
+otherwise," says the learned M. de Beausobre--whom we here
+abridge--"would St. Augustine have been able to live so many years among
+a sect in which such abominations were publicly taught? And how would he
+have had the face to defend it against the Catholics?"
+
+From this proof by reasoning, let us pass to the proofs of fact and
+evidence alleged by St. Augustine and see if they are more substantial.
+"It is said," proceeds this father, "that some of them have confessed
+this fact in public pleadings, not only in Paphlagonia, but also in the
+Gauls, as I have heard said at Rome by a certain Catholic."
+
+Such hearsay deserves so little attention that St. Augustine dared not
+make use of it in his conference with Fortunatus, although it was seven
+or eight years after he had quitted Rome; he seems even to have
+forgotten the name of the Catholic from whom he learned them. It is
+true, that in his book of "Heresies," he speaks of the confessions of
+two girls, the one named Margaret, the other Eusebia, and of some
+Manichæans who, having been discovered at Carthage, and taken to the
+church, avowed, it is said, the horrible fact in question.
+
+He adds that a certain Viator declared that they who committed these
+scandals were called Catharistes, or purgators; and that, when
+interrogated on what scripture they founded this frightful practice,
+they produced the passage from the "Treasure of Manes," the falsehood of
+which has been demonstrated. But our heretics, far from availing
+themselves of it, have openly disavowed it, as the work of some impostor
+who wished to ruin them. That alone casts suspicion on all these acts of
+Carthage, which "_Quod-vult-Deus_" had sent to St. Augustine; and these
+wretches who were discovered and taken to the church, have very much the
+air of persons suborned to confess all they were wanted to confess.
+
+In the 47th chapter on the "Nature of Good," St. Augustine admits that
+when our heretics were reproached with the crimes in question, they
+replied that one of their elect, a seceder from the sect, and become
+their enemy, had introduced this enormity. Without inquiring whether
+this was a real sect whom Viator calls Catharistes, it is sufficient to
+observe here, that the first Christians likewise imputed to the Gnostics
+the horrible mysteries of which they were themselves accused by the Jews
+and Pagans; and if this defence is good on their behalf, why should it
+not be so on that of the Manichæans?
+
+It is, however, these vulgar rumors which M. de Tillemont, who piques
+himself on his exactness and fidelity, ventures to convert into positive
+facts. He asserts that the Manichæans had been made to confess these
+disgraceful doings in public judgments, in Paphlagonia, in the Gauls,
+and several times at Carthage.
+
+Let us also weigh the testimony of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, whose
+narrative is altogether different from that of St. Augustine; and let us
+consider that the fact is so incredible and so absurd that it could
+scarcely be credited, even if attested by five or six witnesses who had
+seen and would affirm it on oath. St. Cyril stands alone; he had never
+seen it; he advances it in a popular declamation, wherein he gives
+himself a licence to put into the mouth of Manes, in the conference of
+Cascar, a discourse, not one word of which is in the "Acts of
+Archælaus," as M. Zaccagni is obliged to allow; and it cannot be alleged
+in defence of St. Cyril that he has taken only the sense of Archælaus,
+and not the words; for neither the sense nor the words can be found
+there. Besides, the style which this father adopts is that of a
+historian who cites the actual words of his author.
+
+Nevertheless, to save the honor and good faith of St. Cyril, M.
+Zaccagni, and after him M. de Tillemont, suppose, without any proof,
+that the translator or copyist has omitted the passage in the "Acts"
+quoted by this father; and the journalists of Trévoux have imagined two
+sorts of "Acts of Archælaus"--the authentic ones which Cyril has copied,
+and others invented in the fifth century by some historian. When they
+shall have proved this conjecture, we will examine their reasons.
+
+Finally, let us come to the testimony of Pope Leo touching these
+Manichæan abominations. He says, in his sermons, that the sudden
+troubles in other countries had brought into Italy some Manichæans,
+whose mysteries were so abominable that he could not expose them to the
+public view without sacrificing modesty. That, in order to ascertain
+them, he had introduced male and female elect into an assembly composed
+of bishops, priests, and some lay noblemen. That these heretics had
+disclosed many things respecting their dogmas and the ceremonies of
+their feast, and had confessed a crime which could not be named, but in
+regard to which there could be no doubt, after the confession of the
+guilty parties--that is to say, of a young girl of only ten years of
+age; of two women who had prepared her for the horrible ceremony of the
+sect; of a young man who had been an accomplice; of the bishop who had
+ordered and presided over it. He refers those among his auditors who
+desire to know more, to the informations which had been taken, and which
+he communicated to the bishops of Italy, in his second letter.
+
+This testimony appears more precise and more decisive than that of St.
+Augustine; but it is anything but conclusive in regard to a fact belied
+by the protestations of the accused, and by the ascertained principles
+of their morality. In effect, what proofs have we that the infamous
+persons interrogated by Leo were not bribed to depose against their
+sect?
+
+It will be replied that the piety and sincerity of this pope will not
+permit us to believe that he has contrived such a fraud. But if--as we
+have said in the article on "Relics"--the same St. Leo was capable of
+supposing that pieces of linen and ribbons, which were put in a box, and
+made to descend into the tombs of some saints, shed blood when they were
+cut--ought this pope to make any scruple in bribing, or causing to be
+bribed, some abandoned women, and I know not what Manichæan bishop,
+who, being assured of pardon, would make confessions of crimes which
+might be true as regarded themselves, but not as regarded their sect,
+from whose seduction St. Leo wished to protect his people? At all times,
+bishops have considered themselves authorized to employ those pious
+frauds which tend to the salvation of souls. The conjectural and
+apocryphal scriptures are a proof of this; and the readiness with which
+the fathers have put faith in those bad works, shows that, if they were
+not accomplices in the fraud, they were not scrupulous in taking
+advantage of it.
+
+In conclusion, St. Leo pretends to confirm the secret crimes of the
+Manichæans by an argument which destroys them. "These execrable
+mysteries," he says, "which the more impure they are, the more carefully
+they are hid, are common to the Manichæans and to the Priscillianists.
+There is in all respects the same sacrilege, the same obscenity, the
+same turpitude. These crimes, these infamies, are the same which were
+formerly discovered among the Priscillianists, and of which the whole
+world is informed."
+
+The Priscillianists were never guilty of the crimes for which they were
+put to death. In the works of St. Augustine is contained the
+instructional remarks which were transmitted to that father by Orosius,
+and in which this Spanish priest protests that he has plucked out all
+the plants of perdition which sprang up in the sect of the
+Priscillianists; that he had not forgotten the smallest branch or root;
+that he exposed to the surgeon all the diseases of the sect, in order
+that he might labor in their cure. Orosius does not say a word of the
+abominable mysteries of which Leo speaks; an unanswerable proof that he
+had no doubt they were pure calumnies. St. Jerome also says that
+Priscillian was oppressed by faction, and by the intrigues of the
+bishops Ithacus and Idacus. Would a man be thus spoken of who was guilty
+of profaning religion by the most infamous ceremonies? Nevertheless,
+Orosius and St. Jerome could not be ignorant of crimes of which all the
+world had been informed.
+
+St. Martin of Tours, and St. Ambrosius, who were at Trier when
+Priscillian was sentenced, would have been equally informed of them.
+They, however, instantly solicited a pardon for him; and, not being able
+to obtain it, they refused to hold intercourse with his accusers and
+their faction. Sulpicius Severus relates the history of the misfortunes
+of Priscillian. Latronian, Euphrosyne, widow of the poet Delphidius, his
+daughter, and some other persons, were executed with him at Trier, by
+order of the tyrant Maximus, and at the instigation of Ithacus and
+Idacus, two wicked bishops, who, in reward for their injustice, died in
+excommunication, loaded with the hatred of God and man.
+
+The Priscillianists were accused, like the Manichæans, of obscene
+doctrines, of religious nakedness and immodesty. How were they
+convicted? Priscillian and his accomplices confessed, as is said, under
+the torture. Three degraded persons, Tertullus, Potamius, and John,
+confessed without awaiting the question. But the suit instituted against
+the Priscillianists would have been founded on other depositions, which
+had been made against them in Spain. Nevertheless, these latter
+informations were rejected by a great number of bishops and esteemed
+ecclesiastics; and the good old man Higimis, bishop of Cordova, who had
+been the denouncer of the Priscillianists, afterwards believed them so
+innocent of the crimes imputed to them that he received them into his
+communion, and found himself involved thereby in the persecution which
+they endured.
+
+These horrible calumnies, dictated by a blind zeal, would seem to
+justify the reflection which Ammianus Marcellinus reports of the emperor
+Julian. "The savage beasts," he said, "are not more formidable to men
+than the Christians are to each other, when they are divided by creed
+and opinion."
+
+It is still more deplorable when zeal is false and hypocritical,
+examples of which are not rare. It is told of a doctor of the Sorbonne,
+that in departing from a sitting of the faculty, Tournély, with whom he
+was strictly connected, said to him: "You see that for two hours I have
+maintained a certain opinion with warmth; well, I assure you, there is
+not one word of truth in all I have said!"
+
+The answer of a Jesuit is also known, who was employed for twenty years
+in the Canada missions, and who himself not believing in a God, as he
+confessed in the ear of a friend, had faced death twenty times for the
+sake of a religion which he preached to the savages. This friend
+representing to him the inconsistency of his zeal: "Ah!" replied the
+Jesuit missionary, "you have no idea of the pleasure a man enjoys in
+making himself heard by twenty thousand men, and in persuading them of
+what he does not himself believe."
+
+It is frightful to observe how many abuses and disorders arise from the
+profound ignorance in which Europe has been so long plunged. Those
+monarchs who are at last sensible of the importance of enlightenment,
+become the benefactors of mankind in favoring the progress of knowledge,
+which is the foundation of the tranquillity and happiness of nations,
+and the finest bulwark against the inroads of fanaticism.
+
+
+
+
+ZOROASTER.
+
+
+If it is Zoroaster who first announced to mankind that fine maxim: "In
+the doubt whether an action be good or bad, abstain from it," Zoroaster
+was the first of men after Confucius.
+
+If this beautiful lesson of morality is found only in the hundred gates
+of the "Sadder," let us bless the author of the "Sadder." There may be
+very ridiculous dogmas and rites united with an excellent morality.
+
+Who was this Zoroaster? The name has something of Greek in it, and it is
+said he was a Mede. The Parsees of the present day call him Zerdust, or
+Zerdast, or Zaradast, or Zarathrust. He is not reckoned to have been the
+first of the name. We are told of two other Zoroasters, the former of
+whom has an antiquity of nine thousand years--which is much for us, but
+may be very little for the world. We are acquainted with only the latest
+Zoroaster.
+
+The French travellers, Chardin and Tavernier, have given us some
+information respecting this great prophet, by means of the Guebers or
+Parsees, who are still scattered through India and Persia, and who are
+excessively ignorant. Dr. Hyde, Arabic professor of Oxford, has given us
+a hundred times more without leaving home. Living in the west of
+England, he must have conjectured the language which the Persians spoke
+in the time of Cyrus, and must have compared it with the modern language
+of the worshippers of fire. It is to him, moreover, that we owe those
+hundred gates of the "Sadder," which contain all the principal precepts
+of the pious fire-worshippers.
+
+For my own part, I confess I have found nothing in their ancient rites
+more curious than the two Persian verses of Sadi, as given by Hyde;
+signifying that, although a person may preserve the sacred fire for a
+hundred years, he is burned when he falls into it.
+
+The learned researches of Hyde kindled, a few years ago in the breast of
+a young Frenchman, the desire to learn for himself the dogmas of the
+Guebers. He traversed the Great Indies, in order to learn at Surat,
+among the poor modern Parsees, the language of the ancient Persians, and
+to read in that language the books of the so-much celebrated Zoroaster,
+supposing that he has in fact written any.
+
+The Pythagorases, the Platos, the Appolloniuses of Thyana, went in
+former times to seek in the East wisdom that was not there; but no one
+has run after this hidden divinity through so many sufferings and perils
+as this new French translator of the books attributed to Zoroaster.
+Neither disease nor war, nor obstacles renewed at every step, nor
+poverty itself, the first and greatest of obstacles, could repel his
+courage.
+
+It is glorious for Zoroaster that an Englishman wrote his life, at the
+end of so many centuries, and that afterwards a Frenchman wrote it in an
+entirely different manner. But it is still finer, that among the ancient
+biographers of the poet we have two principal Arabian authors, each of
+whom had previously written his history; and all these four histories
+contradict one another marvellously. This is not done by concert; and
+nothing is more conducive to the knowledge of the truth.
+
+The first Arabian historian, Abu-Mohammed Mustapha, allows that the
+father of Zoroaster was called Espintaman; but he also says that
+Espintaman was not his father, but his great-great-grandfather. In
+regard to his mother, there are not two opinions; she was named Dogdu,
+or Dodo, or Dodu--that is, a very fine turkey hen; she is very well
+portrayed in Doctor Hyde.
+
+Bundari, the second historian, relates that Zoroaster was a Jew, and
+that he had been valet to Jeremiah; that he told lies to his master;
+that, in order to punish him, Jeremiah gave him the leprosy; that the
+valet, to purify himself, went to preach a new religion in Persia, and
+caused the sun to be adored instead of the stars.
+
+Attend now to what the third historian relates, and what the Englishman,
+Hyde, has recorded somewhat at length: The prophet Zoroaster having come
+from Paradise to preach his religion to the king of Persia, Gustaph, the
+king said to the prophet: "Give me a sign." Upon this, the prophet
+caused a cedar to grow up before the gate of the palace, so large and so
+tall, that no cord could either go round it or reach its top. Upon the
+cedar he placed a fine cabinet, to which no man could ascend. Struck
+with this miracle, Gustaph believed in Zoroaster.
+
+Four magi, or four sages--it is the same thing--envious and wicked
+persons, borrowed from the royal porter the key of the prophet's chamber
+during his absence, and threw among his books the bones of dogs and
+cats, the nails and hair of dead bodies--such being, as is well known,
+the drugs with which magicians at all times have operated. Afterwards,
+they went and accused the prophet of being a sorcerer and a poisoner;
+and the king, causing the chamber to be opened by his porter, the
+instruments of witchcraft were found there--and behold the envoy from
+heaven condemned to be hanged!
+
+Just as they are going to hang Zoroaster, the king's finest horse falls
+ill; his four legs enter his body, so as to be no longer visible.
+Zoroaster hears of it; he promises to cure the horse, provided they will
+not hang him. The bargain being made, he causes one leg to issue out of
+the belly, and says: "Sire, I will not restore you the second leg unless
+you embrace my religion." "Let it be so," says the monarch. The prophet,
+after having made the second leg appear, wished the king's children to
+become Zoroastrians, and they became so. The other legs made proselytes
+of the whole court. The four envious sages were hanged in place of the
+prophet, and all Persia received the faith.
+
+The French traveller relates nearly the same miracles, supported and
+embellished, however, by many others. For instance, the infancy of
+Zoroaster could not fail to be miraculous; Zoroaster fell to laughing as
+soon as he was born, at least according to Pliny and Solinus. There
+were, in those days, as all the world knows, a great number of very
+powerful magicians; they were well aware that one day Zoroaster would be
+greater than themselves, and that he would triumph over their magic. The
+prince of magicians caused the infant to be brought to him, and tried to
+cut him in two; but his hand instantly withered. They threw him into the
+fire, which was turned for him into a bath of rose water. They wished to
+have him trampled on by the feet of wild bulls; but a still more
+powerful bull protected him. He was cast among the wolves; these wolves
+went incontinently and sought two ewes, who gave him suck all night. At
+last, he was restored to his mother Dogdu, or Dodo, or Dodu, a wife
+excellent above all wives, or a daughter above all daughters.
+
+Such, throughout the world, have been all the histories of ancient
+times. It proves what we have often remarked, that Fable is the elder
+sister of History. I could wish that, for our amusement and instruction,
+all these great prophets of antiquity, the Zoroasters, the Mercurys
+Trismegistus, the Abarises, and even the Numas, and others, should now
+return to the earth, and converse with Locke, Newton, Bacon,
+Shaftesbury, Pascal, Arnaud, Bayle--what do I say?--even with those
+philosophers of our day who are the least learned, provided they are not
+the less rational. I ask pardon of antiquity, but I think they would cut
+a sorry figure.
+
+Alas, poor charlatans! they could not sell their drugs on the
+Pont-neuf. In the meantime, however, their morality is still good,
+because morality is not a drug. How could it be that Zoroaster joined so
+many egregious fooleries to the fine precept of "abstaining when it is
+doubtful whether one is about to do right or wrong?" It is because men
+are always compounded of contradictions.
+
+It is added that Zoroaster, having established his religion, became a
+persecutor. Alas! there is not a sexton, or a sweeper of a church, who
+would not persecute, if he had the power.
+
+One cannot read two pages of the abominable trash attributed to
+Zoroaster, without pitying human nature. Nostradamus and the urine
+doctor are reasonable compared with this inspired personage; and yet he
+still is and will continue to be talked of.
+
+What appears singular is, that there existed, in the time of the
+Zoroaster with whom we are acquainted, and probably before, prescribed
+formulas of public and private prayer. We are indebted to the French
+traveller for a translation of them. There were such formulas in India;
+we know of none such in the Pentateuch.
+
+What is still stranger, the magi, as well as the Brahmins, admitted a
+paradise, a hell, a resurrection, and a devil. It is demonstrated that
+the law of the Jews knew nothing of all this; they were behindhand with
+everything--a truth of which we are convinced, however little the
+progress we have made in Oriental knowledge.
+
+
+
+
+DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, INQUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS,
+
+WHO HAVE AMUSED THEMSELVES WITH PROPOSING TO THE LEARNED THE PRECEDING
+QUESTIONS IN THESE VOLUMES.
+
+
+We declare to the learned that being, like themselves, prodigiously
+ignorant of the first principles of all things, and of the natural,
+typical, mystical, allegorical sense of many things, we acquiesce, in
+regard to them, in the infallible decision of the holy Inquisition of
+Rome, Milan, Florence, Madrid, Lisbon, and in the decrees of the
+Sorbonne, the perpetual council of the French.
+
+Our errors not proceeding from malice, but being the natural consequence
+of human weakness, we hope we shall be pardoned for them both in this
+world and the next.
+
+We entreat the small number of celestial spirits who are still shut up
+in the mortal bodies in France, and who thence enlighten the universe at
+thirty sous per sheet, to communicate their gifts to us for the next
+volume, which we calculate on publishing at the end of the Lent of 1772,
+or in the Advent of 1773; and we will pay _forty_ sous per sheet for
+their lucubrations.
+
+We entreat the few great men who still remain to us, such as the author
+of the "Ecclesiastical Gazette"; the Abbé Guyon; with the Abbé Caveirac,
+author of the "Apology for St. Bartholomew"; and he who took the name
+of Chiniac; and the agreeable Larcher; and the virtuous, wise, and
+learned Langleviel, called La Beaumelle; the profound and exact
+Nonnotte; and the moderate, the compassionate, the tender Patouillet--to
+assist us in our undertaking. We shall profit by their instructive
+criticisms, and we shall experience a real pleasure in rendering to all
+these gentlemen the justice which is their due.
+
+The next volume will contain very curious articles, which, under the
+favor of God, will be likely to give new piquancy to the wit which we
+shall endeavor to infuse into the thanks we return to all these
+gentlemen.
+
+Given at Mount Krapak, the 30th of the month of Janus, in the year of
+the world, according to
+
+  Scaliger...............................     5,022
+
+  According to Les Etrennes Mignonnes....     5,776
+
+  According to Riccioli..................     5,956
+
+  According to Eusebius..................     6,972
+
+  According to the Alphosine Tables......     8,707
+
+  According to the Egyptians.............   370,000
+
+  According to the Chaldæans.............   465,102
+
+  According to the Brahmins..............   780,000
+
+  According to the Philosophers..........     ----
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10
+(of 10), by François-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10 (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 10 (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 29, 2011 [EBook #35630]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** 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 X
+
+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 XIV
+
+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. X
+
+VOLTAIRE'S REMAINS ON THE BASTILLE--_Frontispiece_
+
+THE DEATH OF SOCRATES
+
+THE VISION
+
+PIERRE CORNEILLE
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Throned Upon The Ruins Of The Bastille. "For one night,
+upon the ruins of the Bastille, rested the body of Voltaire, on fallen
+wall and broken aroh, above the dungeons where light had faded from the
+lives of men, and hope had died in breaking hearts. The conqueror,
+resting upon the conquered; throned upon the Bastille, the fallen
+fortress of night."--INGERSOLL.]
+
+
+
+
+VOLTAIRE
+
+A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY
+
+IN TEN VOLUMES
+
+VOL. X
+
+STYLE--ZOROASTER
+
+AND DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, INQUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS
+
+
+
+
+STYLE.
+
+
+It is very strange that since the French people became literary they
+have had no book written in a good style, until the year 1654, when the
+"Provincial Letters" appeared; and why had no one written history in a
+suitable tone, previous to that of the "Conspiracy of Venice" of the
+Abbé St. Réal? How is it that Pellisson was the first who adopted the
+true Ciceronian style, in his memoir for the superintendent Fouquet?
+
+Nothing is more difficult and more rare than a style altogether suitable
+to the subject in hand.
+
+The style of the letters of Balzac would not be amiss for funeral
+orations; and we have some physical treatises in the style of the epic
+poem or the ode. It is proper that all things occupy their own places.
+
+Affect not strange terms of expression, or new words, in a treatise on
+religion, like the Abbé Houteville; neither declaim in a physical
+treatise. Avoid pleasantry in the mathematics, and flourish and
+extravagant figures in a pleading. If a poor intoxicated woman dies of
+an apoplexy, you say that she is in the regions of death; they bury her,
+and you exclaim that her mortal remains are confided to the earth. If
+the bell tolls at her burial, it is her funeral knell ascending to the
+skies. In all this you think you imitate Cicero, and you only copy
+Master Littlejohn....
+
+Without style, it is impossible that there can be a good work in any
+kind of eloquence or poetry. A profusion of words is the great vice of
+all our modern philosophers and anti-philosophers. The "_Système de la
+Nature_" is a great proof of this truth. It is very difficult to give
+just ideas of God and nature, and perhaps equally so to form a good
+style.
+
+As the kind of execution to be employed by every artist depends upon the
+subject of which he treats--as the line of Poussin is not that of
+Teniers, nor the architecture of a temple that of a common house, nor
+music of a serious opera that of a comic one--so has each kind of
+writing its proper style, both in prose and verse. It is obvious that
+the style of history is not that of a funeral oration, and that the
+despatch of an ambassador ought not to be written like a sermon; that
+comedy is not to borrow the boldness of the ode, the pathetic expression
+of the tragedy, nor the metaphors and similes of the epic.
+
+Every species has its different shades, which may, however, be reduced
+to two, the simple and the elevated. These two kinds, which embrace so
+many others, possess essential beauties in common, which beauties are
+accuracy of idea, adaptation, elegance, propriety of expression, and
+purity of language. Every piece of writing, whatever its nature, calls
+for these qualities; the difference consists in the employment of the
+corresponding tropes. Thus, a character in comedy will not utter sublime
+or philosophical ideas, a shepherd spout the notions of a conqueror, not
+a didactic epistle breathe forth passion; and none of these forms of
+composition ought to exhibit bold metaphor, pathetic exclamation, or
+vehement expression.
+
+Between the simple and the sublime there are many shades, and it is the
+art of adjusting them which contributes to the perfection of eloquence
+and poetry. It is by this art that Virgil frequently exalts the eclogue.
+This verse: _Ut vidi ut perii, ut me malus abstulit error!_ (Eclogue
+viii, v. 41)--I saw, I perished, yet indulged my pain! (Dryden)--would
+be as fine in the mouth of Dido as in that of a shepherd, because it is
+nature, true and elegant, and the sentiment belongs to any condition.
+But this:
+
+     _Castaneasque nuces me quas Amaryllis amabat._
+                                  --_Eclogue, ii, v. 52._.
+
+     And pluck the chestnuts from the neighboring grove,
+     Such as my Amaryllis used to love.
+                                        --DRYDEN.
+
+belongs not to an heroic personage, because the allusion is not such as
+would be made by a hero.
+
+These two instances are examples of the cases in which the mingling of
+styles may be defended. Tragedy may occasionally stoop; it even ought to
+do so. Simplicity, according to the precept of Horace, often relieves
+grandeur. _Et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri_ (_Ars Poet._,
+v. 95)--And oft the tragic language humbly flows (Francis).
+
+These two verses in Titus, so natural and so tender:
+
+     _Depuis cinq ans entiers chaque jour je la vois._
+     _Et crois toujours la voir pour la première fois._
+                             --BÉRÉNICE, acte ii, scene 1.
+
+     Each day, for five years, have I seen her face,
+     And each succeeding time appears the first.
+
+would not be at all out of place in serious comedy; but the following
+verse of Antiochus: _Dans l'orient desert quel devint mon ennui!_ (Id.,
+acte i, scene 4)--The lonely east, how wearisome to me!--would not suit
+a lover in comedy; the figure of the "lonely east" is too elevated for
+the simplicity of the buskin. We have already remarked, that an author
+who writes on physics, in allusion to a writer on physics, called
+Hercules, adds that he is not able to resist a philosopher so powerful.
+Another who has written a small book, which he imagines to be physical
+and moral, against the utility of inoculation, says that if the smallpox
+be diffused artificially, death will be defrauded.
+
+The above defect springs from a ridiculous affectation. There is another
+which is the result of negligence, which is that of mingling with the
+simple and noble style required by history, popular phrases and low
+expressions, which are inimical to good taste. We often read in Mézeray,
+and even in Daniel, who, having written so long after him, ought to be
+more correct, that "a general pursued at the heels of the enemy,
+followed his track, and utterly basted him"--_à plate couture_. We read
+nothing of this kind in Livy, Tacitus, Guicciardini, or Clarendon.
+
+Let us observe, that an author accustomed to this kind of style can
+seldom change it with his subject. In his operas, La Fontaine composed
+in the style of his fables; and Benserade, in his translation of Ovid's
+"Metamorphoses," exhibited the same kind of pleasantry which rendered
+his madrigals successful. Perfection consists in knowing how to adapt
+our style to the various subjects of which we treat; but who is
+altogether the master of his habits, and able to direct his genius at
+pleasure?
+
+
+VARIOUS STYLES DISTINGUISHED.
+
+_The Feeble._
+
+Weakness of the heart is not that of the mind, nor weakness of the soul
+that of the heart. A feeble soul is without resource in action, and
+abandons itself to those who govern it. The _heart_ which is weak or
+feeble is easily softened, changes its inclinations with facility,
+resists not the seduction or the ascendency required, and may subsist
+with a strong _mind_; for we may think strongly and act weakly. The weak
+mind receives impressions without resistance, embraces opinions without
+examination, is alarmed without cause, and tends naturally to
+superstition.
+
+A work may be feeble either in its matter or its style; by the
+thoughts, when too common, or when, being correct, they are not
+sufficiently profound; and by the style, when it is destitute of images,
+or turns of expression, and of figures which rouse attention. Compared
+with those of Bossuet, the funeral orations of Mascaron are weak, and
+his style is lifeless.
+
+Every speech is feeble when it is not relieved by ingenious turns, and
+by energetic expressions; but a pleader is weak, when, with all the aid
+of eloquence, and all the earnestness of action, he fails in
+ratiocination. No philosophical work is feeble, notwithstanding the
+deficiency of its style, if the reasoning be correct and profound. A
+tragedy is weak, although the style be otherwise, when the interest is
+not sustained. The best-written comedy is feeble if it fails in that
+which the Latins call the "_vis comica_," which is the defect pointed
+out by Cæsar in Terence: "_Lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta foret
+vis comica!_"
+
+This is above all the sin of the weeping or sentimental comedy
+(_larmoyante_). Feeble verses are not those which sin against rules, but
+against genius; which in their mechanism are without variety, without
+choice expression, or felicitous inversions; and which retain in poetry
+the simplicity and homeliness of prose. The distinction cannot be better
+comprehended than by a reference to the similar passages of Racine and
+Campistron, his imitator.
+
+_Flowery Style._
+
+"Flowery," that which is in blossom; a tree in blossom, a rose-bush in
+blossom: people do not say, flowers which blossom. Of flowery bloom, the
+carnation seems a mixture of white and rose-color. We sometimes say a
+flowery mind, to signify a person possessing a lighter species of
+literature, and whose imagination is lively.
+
+A flowery discourse is more replete with agreeable than with strong
+thoughts, with images more sparkling than sublime, and terms more
+curious than forcible. This metaphor is correctly taken from flowers,
+which are showy without strength or stability.
+
+The flowery style is not unsuitable to public speeches or addresses
+which amount only to compliment. The lighter beauties are in their place
+when there is nothing more solid to say; but the flowery style should be
+banished from a pleading, a sermon, or a didactic work.
+
+While banishing the flowery style, we are not to reject the soft and
+lively images which enter naturally into the subject; a few flowers are
+even admissible; but the flowery style cannot be made suitable to a
+serious subject.
+
+This style belongs to productions of mere amusement; to idyls, eclogues,
+and descriptions of the seasons, or of gardens. It may gracefully occupy
+a portion of the most sublime ode, provided it be duly relieved by
+stanzas of more masculine beauty. It has little to do with comedy,
+which, as it ought to possess a resemblance to common life, requires
+more of the style of ordinary conversation. It is still less admissible
+in tragedy, which is the province of strong passions and momentous
+interests; and when occasionally employed in tragedy or comedy, it is in
+certain descriptions in which the heart takes no part, and which amuse
+the imagination without moving or occupying the soul.
+
+The flowery style detracts from the interest of tragedy, and weakens
+ridicule in comedy. It is in its place in the French opera, which rather
+flourishes on the passions than exhibits them. The flowery is not to be
+confounded with the easy style, which rejects this class of
+embellishment.
+
+_Coldness of Style._
+
+It is said that a piece of poetry, of eloquence, of music, and even of
+painting, is cold, when we look for an animated expression in it, which
+we find not. Other arts are not so susceptible of this defect; for
+instance, architecture, geometry, logic, metaphysics, all the principal
+merit of which is correctness, cannot properly be called warm or cold.
+The picture of the family of Darius, by Mignard, is very cold in
+comparison with that of Lebrun, because we do not discover in the
+personages of Mignard the same affliction which Lebrun has so animatedly
+expressed in the attitudes and countenances of the Persian princesses.
+Even a statue may be cold; we ought to perceive fear and horror in the
+features of an Andromeda, the effect of a writhing of the muscles; and
+anger mingled with courageous boldness in the attitude and on the brow
+of Hercules, who suspends and strangles Antæus.
+
+In poetry and eloquence the great movements of the soul become cold,
+when they are expressed in common terms, and are unaided by imagination.
+It is this latter which makes love so animated in Racine, and so languid
+in his imitator, Campistron.
+
+The sentiments which escape from a soul which seeks concealment, on the
+contrary, require the most simple expression. Nothing is more animated
+than those verses in "The Cid": "Go; I hate thee not--thou knowest it; I
+cannot." This feeling would become cold, if conveyed in studied phrases.
+
+For this reason, nothing is so cold as the timid style. A hero in a poem
+says, that he has encountered a tempest, and that he has beheld his
+friend perish in the storm. He touches and affects, if he speaks with
+profound grief of his loss--that is, if he is more occupied with his
+friend than with all the rest; but he becomes cold, and ceases to affect
+us, if he amuses us with a description of the tempest; if he speaks of
+the source of "the fire which was boiling up the waters, and of the
+thunder which roars and which redoubles the furrows of the earth and of
+the waves." Coldness of style, therefore, often arises from a sterility
+of ideas; often from a deficiency in the power of governing them;
+frequently from a too common diction, and sometimes from one that is
+too far-fetched.
+
+The author who is cold only in consequence of being animated out of time
+and place, may correct this defect of a too fruitful imagination; but he
+who is cold from a deficiency of soul is incapable of self-correction.
+We may allay a fire which is too intense, but cannot acquire heat if we
+have none.
+
+_On Corruption of Style._
+
+A general complaint is made, that eloquence is corrupted, although we
+have models of almost all kinds. One of the greatest defects of the day,
+which contributes most to this defect, is the mixture of style. It
+appears to me, that we authors do not sufficiently imitate the painters,
+who never introduce the attitudes of Calot with the figures of Raphael.
+I perceive in histories, otherwise tolerably well written, and in good
+doctrinal works, the familiar style of conversation. Some one has
+formerly said, that we must write as we speak; the sense of which law
+is, that we should write naturally. We tolerate irregularity in a
+letter, freedom as to style, incorrectness, and bold pleasantries,
+because letters, written spontaneously, without particular object or
+act, are negligent conversations; but when we speak or treat of a
+subject formally, some attention is due to decorum; and to whom ought we
+to pay more respect than to the public?
+
+Is it allowable to write in a mathematical work, that "a geometrician
+who would pay his devotions, ought to ascend to heaven in a right line;
+that evanescent quantities turn up their noses at the earth for having
+too much elevated them; that a seed sown in the ground takes an
+opportunity to release and amuse itself; that if Saturn should perish,
+it would be his fifth and not his first satellite that would take his
+place, because kings always keep their heirs at a distance; that there
+is no void except in the purse of a ruined man; that when Hercules
+treats of physics, no one is able to resist a philosopher of his degree
+of power?" etc.
+
+Some very valuable works are infected with this fault. The source of a
+defect so common seems to me to be the accusation of pedantry, so long
+and so justly made against authors. "_In vitium ducit culpæ fuga._" It
+is frequently said, that we ought to write in the style of good company;
+that the most serious authors are becoming agreeable: that is to say, in
+order to exhibit the manners of good company to their readers, they
+deliver themselves in the style of very bad company.
+
+Authors have sought to speak of science as Voiture spoke to Mademoiselle
+Paulet of gallantry, without dreaming that Voiture by no means exhibits
+a correct taste in the species of composition in which he was esteemed
+excellent; for he often takes the false for the refined, and the
+affected for the natural. Pleasantry is never good on serious points,
+because it always regards subjects in that point of view in which it is
+not the purpose to consider them. It almost always turns upon false
+relations and equivoque, whence jokers by profession usually possess
+minds as incorrect as they are superficial.
+
+It appears to me, that it is as improper to mingle styles in poetry as
+in prose. The macaroni style has for some time past injured poetry by
+this medley of mean and of elevated, of ancient and of modern
+expression. In certain moral pieces it is not musical to hear the
+whistle of Rabelais in the midst of sounds from the flute of Horace--a
+practice which we should leave to inferior minds, and attend to the
+lessons of good sense and of Boileau. The following is a singular
+instance of style, in a speech delivered at Versailles in 1745:
+
+_Speech Addressed to the King (Louis XV.) by M. le Camus, First
+President of the Court of Aids._
+
+"Sire--The conquests of your majesty are so rapid, that it will be
+necessary to consult the power of belief on the part of posterity, and
+to soften their surprise at so many miracles, for fear that heroes
+should hold themselves dispensed from imitation, and people in general
+from believing them.
+
+"But no, sire, it will be impossible for them to doubt it, when they
+shall read in history that your majesty has been at the head of your
+troops, recording them yourself in the field of Mars upon a drum. This
+is to engrave them eternally in the temple of Memory.
+
+"Ages the most distant will learn, that the English, that bold and
+audacious foe, that enemy so jealous of your glory, have been obliged to
+turn away from your victory; that their allies have been witnesses of
+their shame, and that all of them have hastened to the combat only to
+immortalize the glory of the conqueror.
+
+"We venture to say to your majesty, relying on the love that you bear to
+your people, that there is but one way of augmenting our happiness,
+which is to diminish your courage; as heaven would lavish its prodigies
+at too costly a rate, if they increased your dangers, or those of the
+young heroes who constitute our dearest hopes."
+
+
+
+
+SUPERSTITION.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+I have sometimes heard you say--We are no longer superstitious; the
+reformation of the sixteenth century has made us more prudent; the
+Protestants have taught us better manners.
+
+But what then is the blood of a St. Januarius, which you liquefy every
+year by bringing it near his head? Would it not be better to make ten
+thousand beggars earn their bread, by employing them in useful tasks,
+than to boil the blood of a saint for their amusement? Think rather how
+to make their pots boil.
+
+Why do you still, in Rome, bless the horses and mules at St. Mary's the
+Greater? What mean those bands of flagellators in Italy and Spain, who
+go about singing and giving themselves the lash in the presence of
+ladies? Do they think there is no road to heaven but by flogging?
+
+Are those pieces of the true cross, which would suffice to build a
+hundred-gun ship--are the many relics acknowledged to be false--are the
+many false miracles--so many monuments of an enlightened piety?
+
+France boasts of being less superstitious than the neighbors of St.
+James of Compostello, or those of Our Lady of Loretto. Yet how many
+sacristies are there where you still find pieces of the Virgin's gown,
+vials of her milk, and locks of her hair! And have you not still, in the
+church of Puy-en-Velay, her Son's foreskin preciously preserved?
+
+You all know the abominable farce that has been played, ever since the
+early part of the fourteenth century, in the chapel of St. Louis, in the
+Palais at Paris, every Maundy Thursday night. All the possessed in the
+kingdom then meet in this church. The convulsions of St. Médard fall far
+short of the horrible grimaces, the dreadful howlings, the violent
+contortions, made by these wretched people. A piece of the true cross is
+given them to kiss, encased in three feet of gold, and adorned with
+precious stones. Then the cries and contortions are redoubled. The devil
+is then appeased by giving the demoniacs a few sous; but the better to
+restrain them, fifty archers of the watch are placed in the church with
+fixed bayonets.
+
+The same execrable farce is played at St. Maur. I could cite twenty such
+instances. Blush, and correct yourselves.
+
+There are wise men who assert, that we should leave the people their
+superstitions, as we leave them their raree-shows, etc.; that the people
+have at all times been fond of prodigies, fortune-tellers, pilgrimages,
+and quack-doctors; that in the most remote antiquity they celebrated
+Bacchus delivered from the waves, wearing horns, making a fountain of
+wine issue from a rock by a stroke of his wand, passing the Red Sea on
+dry ground with all his people, stopping the sun and moon, etc.; that at
+Lacedæmon they kept the two eggs brought forth by Leda, hanging from the
+dome of a temple; that in some towns of Greece the priests showed the
+knife with which Iphigenia had been immolated, etc.
+
+There are other wise men who say--Not one of these superstitions has
+produced any good; many of them have done great harm: let them then be
+abolished.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+I beg of you, my dear reader, to cast your eye for a moment on the
+miracle which was lately worked in Lower Brittany, in the year of our
+Lord 1771. Nothing can be more authentic: this publication is clothed in
+all the legal forms. Read:--
+
+"_Surprising Account of the Visible and Miraculous Appearance of Our
+Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar; which was worked
+by the Almighty Power of God in the Parish Church of Paimpole, near
+Tréguier, in Lower Brittany, on Twelfth-day._
+
+"On January 6, 1771, being Twelfth-day, during the chanting of the
+_Salve_, rays of light were seen to issue from the consecrated host, and
+instantly the Lord Jesus was beheld in natural figure, seeming more
+brilliant than the sun, and was seen for a whole half-hour, during which
+there appeared a rainbow over the top of the church. The footprints of
+Jesus remained on the tabernacle, where they are still to be seen; and
+many miracles are worked there every day. At four in the afternoon,
+Jesus having disappeared from over the tabernacle, the curate of the
+said parish approached the altar, and found there a letter which Jesus
+had left; he would have taken it up, but he found that he could not lift
+it. This curate, together with the vicar, went to give information of it
+to the bishop of Tréguier, who ordered the forty-hour prayers to be said
+in all the churches of the town for eight days, during which time the
+people went in crowds to see this holy letter. At the expiration of the
+eight days, the bishop went thither in procession, attended by all the
+regular and secular clergy of the town, after three days' fasting on
+bread and water. The procession having entered the church, the bishop
+knelt down on the steps of the altar; and after asking of God the grace
+to be able to lift this letter, he ascended to the altar and took it up
+without difficulty; then, turning to the people, he read it over with a
+loud voice, and recommended to all who could read to peruse this letter
+on the first Friday of every month; and to those who could not read, to
+say five paternosters, and five ave-marias, in honor of the five wounds
+of Jesus Christ, in order to obtain the graces promised to such as shall
+read it devoutly, and the preservation of the fruits of the earth!
+Pregnant women are to say, for their happy delivery, nine paters and
+nine aves for the benefit of the souls in purgatory, in order that their
+children may have the happiness of receiving the holy sacrament of
+baptism.
+
+"All that is contained in this account has been approved by the bishop,
+by the lieutenant-general of the said town of Tréguier, and by many
+persons of distinction who were present at this miracle."
+
+"_Copy of the Letter Found Upon the Altar, at the Time of the Miraculous
+Appearance of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the
+Altar, on Twelfth-day, 1771._
+
+"Everlasting life, everlasting punishments, or everlasting delights,
+none can forego; one part must be chosen--either to go to glory, or to
+depart into torment. The number of years that men pass on earth in all
+sorts of sensual pleasures and excessive debaucheries, of usurpation,
+luxury, murder, theft, slander, and impurity, no longer permitting it to
+be suffered that creatures created in My image and likeness, redeemed by
+the price of My blood on the tree of the cross, on which I suffered
+passion and death, should offend Me continually, by transgressing My
+commands and abandoning My divine law--I warn you all, that if you
+continue to live in sin, and I behold in you neither remorse, nor
+contrition, nor a true and sincere confession and satisfaction, I shall
+make you feel the weight of My divine arm. But for the prayers of My
+dear mother, I should already have destroyed the earth, for the sins
+which you commit one against another. I have given you six days to
+labor, and the seventh to rest, to sanctify My Holy Name, to hear the
+holy mass, and employ the remainder of the day in the service of God My
+Father. But, on the contrary, nothing is to be seen but blasphemy and
+drunkenness; and so disordered is the world that all in it is vanity and
+lies. Christians, instead of taking compassion on the poor whom they
+behold every day at their doors, prefer fondling dogs and other animals,
+and letting the poor die of hunger and thirst--abandoning themselves
+entirely to Satan by their avarice, gluttony, and other vices; instead
+of relieving the needy, they prefer sacrificing all to their pleasures
+and debauchery. Thus do they declare war against Me. And you, iniquitous
+fathers and mothers, suffer your children to swear and blaspheme
+against My holy name; instead of giving them a good education, you
+avariciously lay up for them wealth, which is dedicated to Satan. I tell
+you, by the mouth of God My Father and My dear mother, of all the
+cherubim and seraphim, and by St. Peter, the head of My church, that if
+you do not amend your ways, I will send you extraordinary diseases, by
+which all shall perish. You shall feel the just anger of God My Father;
+you shall be reduced to such a state that you shall not know one
+another. Open your eyes, and contemplate My cross, which I have left to
+be your weapon against the enemy of mankind, and your guide to eternal
+glory; look upon My head crowned with thorns, My feet and hands pierced
+with nails; I shed the last drop of My blood to redeem you, from pure
+fatherly love for ungrateful children. Do such works as may secure to
+you My mercy; do not swear by My Holy Name; pray to Me devoutly; fast
+often; and in particular give alms to the poor, who are members of My
+body--for of all good works this is the most pleasing to Me; neither
+despise the widow nor the orphan; make restitution of that which does
+not belong to you; fly all occasions of sin; carefully keep My
+commandments; and honor Mary My very dear mother.
+
+"Such of you who shall not profit by the warnings I give them, such as
+shall not believe My words, will, by their obstinacy, bring down My
+avenging arm upon their heads; they shall be overwhelmed by
+misfortunes, which shall be the forerunners of their final and unhappy
+end; after which they shall be cast into everlasting flames, where they
+shall suffer endless pains--the just punishment reserved for their
+crimes.
+
+"On the other hand, such of you as shall make a holy use of the warnings
+of God, given them in this letter, shall appease His wrath, and shall
+obtain from Him, after a sincere confession of their faults, the
+remission of their sins, how great soever they may be.
+
+     "With permission, Bourges, July 30, 1771.
+
+          "DE BEAUVOIR, Lieut.-Gen. of Police.
+
+"This letter must be carefully kept, in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ."
+
+N.B.--It must be observed that this piece of absurdity was printed at
+Bourges, without there having been, either at Tréguier or at Paimpole,
+the smallest pretence that could afford occasion for such an imposture.
+However, we will suppose that in a future age some miracle-finder shall
+think fit to prove a point in divinity by the appearance of Jesus Christ
+on the altar at Paimpole, will he not think himself entitled to quote
+Christ's own letter, printed at Bourges "with permission"? Will he not
+prove, by facts, that in our time Jesus worked miracles everywhere? Here
+is a fine field opened for the Houtevilles and the Abadies.
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+_A Fresh Instance of the Most Horrible Superstition._
+
+The thirty conspirators who fell upon the king of Poland, in the night
+of November 3, of the present year, 1771, had communicated at the altar
+of the Holy Virgin, and had sworn by the Holy Virgin to butcher their
+king.
+
+It seems that some one of the conspirators was not entirely in a state
+of grace, when he received into his stomach the body of the Holy
+Virgin's own Son, together with His blood, under the appearance of
+bread; and that while he was taking the oath to kill his king, he had
+his god in his mouth for only two of the king's domestics. The guns and
+pistols fired at his majesty missed him; he received only a slight
+shot-wound in the face, and several sabre-wounds, which were not mortal.
+His life would have been at an end, but that humanity at length combated
+superstition in the breast of one of the assassins named Kosinski. What
+a moment was that when this wretched man said to the bleeding prince:
+"You are, however, my king!" "Yes," answered Stanislaus Augustus, "and
+your good king, who has never done you any harm." "True," said the
+other; "but I have taken an oath to kill you."
+
+They had sworn before the miraculous image of the virgin at Czentoshova.
+The following is the formula of this fine oath: "We ---- who, excited
+by a holy and religious zeal, have resolved to avenge the Deity,
+religion, and our country, outraged by Stanislaus Augustus, a despiser
+of laws both divine and human, a favorer of atheists and heretics, do
+promise and swear, before the sacred and miraculous image of the mother
+of God, to extirpate from the face of the earth him who dishonors her by
+trampling on religion.... So help us God!"
+
+Thus did the assassins of Sforza, of Medici, and so many other holy
+assassins, have masses said, or say them themselves, for the happy
+success of their undertaking.
+
+The letter from Warsaw which gives the particulars of this attempt,
+adds: "The religious who employ their pious ardor in causing blood to
+flow and ravaging their country, have succeeded in Poland, as elsewhere,
+in inculcating on the minds of their affiliated, that it is allowable to
+kill kings."
+
+Indeed, the assassins had been hidden in Warsaw for three days in the
+house of the reverend Dominican fathers; and when these accessory monks
+were asked why they had harbored thirty armed men without informing the
+government of it, they answered, that these men had come to perform
+their devotions, and to fulfil a vow.
+
+O ye times of Châtel, of Guinard, of Ricodovis, of Poltrot, of
+Ravaillac, of Damiens, of Malagrida, are you then returning? Holy
+Virgin, and Thou her holy Son, let not Your sacred names be abused for
+the commission of the crime which disgraced them!
+
+M. Jean Georges le Franc, bishop of Puy-en-Velay, says, in his immense
+pastoral letter to the inhabitants of Puy, pages 258-9, that it is the
+philosophers who are seditious. And whom does he accuse of sedition?
+Readers, you will be astonished; it is Locke, the wise Locke himself! He
+makes him an accomplice in the pernicious designs of the earl of
+Shaftesbury, one of the heroes of the philosophical party.
+
+Alas! M. Jean Georges, how many mistakes in a few words! First, you take
+the grandson for the grandfather. The earl of Shaftesbury, author of the
+"Characteristics" and the "Inquiry Into Virtue," that "hero of the
+philosophical party," who died in 1713, cultivated letters all his life
+in the most profound retirement. Secondly, his grandfather,
+Lord-Chancellor Shaftesbury, to whom you attribute misdeeds, is
+considered by many in England to have been a true patriot. Thirdly,
+Locke is revered as a wise man throughout Europe.
+
+I defy you to show me a single philosopher, from Zoroaster down to
+Locke, that has ever stirred up a sedition; that has ever been concerned
+in an attempt against the life of a king; that has ever disturbed
+society; and, unfortunately, I will find you a thousand votaries of
+superstition, from Ehud down to Kosinski, stained with the blood of
+kings and with that of nations. Superstition sets the whole world in
+flames; philosophy extinguishes them. Perhaps these poor philosophers
+are not devoted enough to the Holy Virgin; but they are so to God, to
+reason, and to humanity.
+
+Poles! if you are not philosophers, at least do not cut one another's
+throats. Frenchmen! be gay, and cease to quarrel. Spaniards! let the
+words "inquisition" and "holy brotherhood" be no longer uttered among
+you. Turks, who have enslaved Greece--monks, who have brutalized
+her--disappear ye from the face of the earth.
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+_Drawn from Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch._
+
+Nearly all that goes farther than the adoration of a supreme being, and
+the submission of the heart to his eternal orders, is superstition. The
+forgiveness of crimes, which is attached to certain ceremonies, is a
+very dangerous one.
+
+     _Et nigras mactant pecudes, et manibu', divis,_
+     _Inferias mittunt._
+                                  --LUCRETIUS, b. iii, 52-53.
+
+     _O faciles nimium, qui tristia crimina coedis,_
+       _Fluminea tolli posse putatis aqua!_
+                                  --OVID, _Fasti_ ii, 45-46.
+
+You think that God will forget your homicide, if you bathe in a river,
+if you immolate a black sheep, and a few words are pronounced over you.
+A second homicide then will be forgiven you at the same price, and so of
+a third; and a hundred murders will cost you only a hundred black sheep
+and a hundred ablutions. Ye miserable mortals, do better; but let there
+be no murders, and no offerings of black sheep.
+
+What an infamous idea, to imagine that a priest of Isis and Cybele, by
+playing cymbals and castanets, will reconcile you to the Divinity. And
+what then is this priest of Cybele, this vagrant eunuch, who lives on
+your weakness, and sets himself up as a mediator between heaven and you?
+What patent has he received from God? He receives money from you for
+muttering words; and you think that the Being of Beings ratifies the
+utterance of this charlatan!
+
+There are innocent superstitions; you dance on festival days, in honor
+of Diana or Pomona, or some one of the secular divinities of which your
+calendar is full; be it so. Dancing is very agreeable; it is useful to
+the body; it exhilarates the mind; it does no harm to any one; but do
+not imagine that Pomona and Vertumnus are much pleased at your having
+jumped in honor of them, and that they may punish you for having failed
+to jump. There are no Pomona and Vertumnus but the gardener's spade and
+hoe. Do not be so imbecile as to believe that your garden will be hailed
+upon, if you have missed dancing the _pyrrhic_ or the _cordax_.
+
+There is one superstition which is perhaps pardonable, and even
+encouraging to virtue--that of placing among the gods great men who have
+been benefactors to mankind. It were doubtless better to confine
+ourselves to regarding them simply as venerable men, and above all, to
+imitating them. Venerate, without worshipping, a Solon, a Thales, a
+Pythagoras; but do not adore a Hercules for having cleansed the stables
+of Augeas, and for having lain with fifty women in one night.
+
+Above all, beware of establishing a worship for vagabonds who have no
+merit but ignorance, enthusiasm, and filth; who have made idleness and
+beggary their duty and their glory. Do they who have been at best
+useless during their lives, merit an apotheosis after their deaths? Be
+it observed, that the most superstitious times have always been those of
+the most horrible crimes.
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+The superstitious man is to the knave, what the slave is to the tyrant;
+nay more--the superstitious man is governed by the fanatic, and becomes
+a fanatic himself. Superstition, born in Paganism, adopted by Judaism,
+infected the Church in the earliest ages. All the fathers of the Church,
+without exception, believed in the power of magic. The Church always
+condemned magic, but she always believed in it; she excommunicated
+sorcerers, not as madmen who were in delusion, but as men who really had
+intercourse with the devils.
+
+At this day, one half of Europe believes that the other half has long
+been and still is superstitious. The Protestants regard relics,
+indulgences, macerations, prayers for the dead, holy water, and almost
+all the rites of the Roman church, as mad superstitions. According to
+them, superstition consists in mistaking useless practices for necessary
+ones. Among the Roman Catholics there are some, more enlightened than
+their forefathers, who have renounced many of these usages formerly
+sacred; and they defend their adherence to those which they have
+retained, by saying they are indifferent, and what is indifferent cannot
+be an evil.
+
+It is difficult to mark the limits of superstition. A Frenchman
+travelling in Italy thinks almost everything superstitious; nor is he
+much mistaken. The archbishop of Canterbury asserts that the archbishop
+of Paris is superstitious; the Presbyterians cast the same reproach upon
+his grace of Canterbury, and are in their turn called superstitious by
+the Quakers, who in the eyes of the rest of Christians are the most
+superstitious of all.
+
+It is then nowhere agreed among Christian societies what superstition
+is. The sect which appears to be the least violently attacked by this
+mental disease, is that which has the fewest rites. But if, with but few
+ceremonies, it is strongly attached to an absurd belief, that absurd
+belief is of itself equivalent to all the superstitious practices
+observed from the time of Simon the Magician, down to that of the curate
+Gaufredi. It is therefore evident that what is the foundation of the
+religion of one sect, is by another sect regarded as superstitious.
+
+The Mussulmans accuse all Christian societies of it, and are accused of
+it by them. Who shall decide this great cause? Shall not reason? But
+each sect declares that reason is on its side. Force then will decide,
+until reason shall have penetrated into a sufficient number of heads to
+disarm force.
+
+For instance: there was a time in Christian Europe when a newly married
+pair were not permitted to enjoy the nuptial rights, until they had
+bought that privilege of the bishop and the curate. Whosoever, in his
+will, did not leave a part of his property to the Church, was
+excommunicated, and deprived of burial. This was called dying
+unconfessed--i.e., not confessing the Christian religion. And when a
+Christian died intestate, the Church relieved the deceased from this
+excommunication, by making a will for him, stipulating for and enforcing
+the payment of the pious legacy which the defunct should have made.
+
+Therefore it was, that Pope Gregory IX. and St. Louis ordained, after
+the Council of Nice, held in 1235, that every will to the making of
+which a priest had not been called, should be null; and the pope decreed
+that the testator and the notary should be excommunicated.
+
+The tax on sins was, if possible, still more scandalous. It was force
+which supported all these laws, to which the superstition of nations
+submitted; and it was only in the course of time that reason caused
+these shameful vexations to be abolished, while it left so many others
+in existence.
+
+How far does policy permit superstition to be undermined? This is a very
+knotty question; it is like asking how far a dropsical man may be
+punctured without his dying under the operation; this depends on the
+prudence of the physician.
+
+Can there exist a people free from all superstitious prejudices? This is
+asking, Can there exist a people of philosophers? It is said that there
+is no superstition in the magistracy of China. It is likely that the
+magistracy of some towns in Europe will also be free from it. These
+magistrates will then prevent the superstition of the people from being
+dangerous. Their example will not enlighten the mob; but the principal
+citizens will restrain it. Formerly, there was not perhaps a single
+religious tumult, not a single violence, in which the townspeople did
+not take part, because these townspeople were then part of the mob; but
+reason and time have changed them. Their ameliorated manners will
+improve those of the lowest and most ferocious of the populace; of
+which, in more countries than one, we have striking examples. In short,
+the fewer superstitions, the less fanaticism; and the less fanaticism,
+the fewer calamities.
+
+
+
+
+SYMBOL, OR CREDO.
+
+
+We resemble not the celebrated comedian, Mademoiselle Duclos, to whom
+somebody said: "I would lay a wager, mademoiselle, that you know not
+your credo!" "What!" said she, "not know my credo? I will repeat it to
+you. '_Pater noster qui._' ... Help me, I remember no more." For myself,
+I repeat my pater and credo every morning. I am not like Broussin, of
+whom Reminiac said, that although he could distinguish a sauce almost in
+his infancy, he could never be taught his creed or pater-noster:
+
+          _Broussin, dès l'âge le plus tendre,_
+          _Posséda la sauce Robert,_
+     _Sans que son précepteur lui pût jamais apprende_
+          _Ni son credo, ni son pater._
+
+The term "symbol" comes from the word "_symbolein_," and the Latin
+church adopts this word because it has taken everything from the Greek
+church. Even slightly learned theologians know that the symbol, which we
+call apostolical, is not that of all the apostles.
+
+Symbol, among the Greeks, signified the words and signs by which those
+initiated into the mysteries of Ceres, Cybele, and Mythra, recognized
+one another; and Christians in time had their symbol. If it had existed
+in the time of the apostles, we think that St. Luke would have spoken of
+it.
+
+A history of the symbol is attributed to St. Augustine in his one
+hundred and fifteenth sermon; he is made to say, that Peter commenced
+the symbol by saying: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty." John
+added: "Maker of heaven and earth;" James proceeded: "I believe in Jesus
+Christ, His only Son, our Lord," and so on with the rest. This fable has
+been expunged from the last edition of Augustine; and I relate it to
+the reverend Benedictine fathers, in order to know whether this little
+curious article ought to be left out or not.
+
+The fact is, that no person heard anything of this "creed" for more than
+four hundred years. People also say that Paris was not made in a day,
+and people are often right in their proverbs. The apostles had our
+symbol in their hearts, but they put it not into writing. One was formed
+in the time of St. Irenæus, which does not at all resemble that which we
+repeat. Our symbol, such as it is at present, is of the fifth century,
+which is posterior to that of Nice. The passage which says that Jesus
+descended into hell, and that which speaks of the communion of saints,
+are not found in any of the symbols which preceded ours; and, indeed,
+neither the gospels, nor the Acts of the Apostles, say that Jesus
+descended into hell; but it was an established opinion, from the third
+century, that Jesus descended into Hades, or Tartarus, words which we
+translate by that of hell. Hell, in this sense, is not the Hebrew word
+"_sheol_," which signifies "under ground," "the pit"; for which reason
+St. Athanasius has since taught us how our Saviour descended into hell.
+His humanity, says he, was not entirely in the tomb, nor entirely in
+hell. It was in the sepulchre, according to the body, and in hell,
+according to the soul.
+
+St. Thomas affirms that the saints who arose at the death of Jesus
+Christ, died again to rise afterwards with him, which is the most
+general sentiment. All these opinions are absolutely foreign to
+morality. We must be good men, whether the saints were raised once or
+twice. Our symbol has been formed, I confess, recently, but virtue is
+from all eternity.
+
+If it is permitted to quote moderns on so grave a matter, I will here
+repeat the creed of the Abbé de St. Pierre, as it was written with his
+own hand, in his book on the purity of religion, which has not been
+printed, but which I have copied faithfully:
+
+"I believe in one God alone, and I love Him. I believe that He
+enlightens all souls coming into the world; thus says St. John. By that,
+I understand all souls which seek Him in good faith. I believe in one
+God alone, because there can be but one soul of the Great All, a single
+vivifying being, a sole Creator.
+
+"I believe in God, the Father Almighty; because He is the common Father
+of nature, and of all men, who are equally His children. I believe that
+He who has caused all to be born equally, who arranges the springs of
+their life in the same manner, who has given them the same moral
+principles, as soon as they reflect, has made no difference between His
+children but that of crime and virtue.
+
+"I believe that the just and righteous Chinese is more precious to Him
+than the cavilling and arrogant European scholar. I believe that God,
+being our common Father, we are bound to regard all men as our brothers.
+I believe that the persecutor is abominable, and that he follows
+immediately after the poisoner and parricide. I believe that theological
+disputes are at once the most ridiculous farce, and the most dreadful
+scourge of the earth, immediately after war, pestilence, famine, and
+leprosy.
+
+"I believe that ecclesiastics should be paid and well paid, as servants
+of the public, moral teachers, keepers of registers of births and
+deaths; but there should be given to them neither the riches of
+farmers-general, nor the rank of princes, because both corrupt the soul;
+and nothing is more revolting than to see men so rich and so proud
+preach humility through their clerks, who have only a hundred crowns'
+wages.
+
+"I believe that all priests who serve a parish should be married, as in
+the Greek church; not only to have an honest woman to take care of their
+household, but to be better citizens, to give good subjects to the
+state, and to have plenty of well-bred children.
+
+"I believe that many monks should give up the monastic form of life, for
+the sake of the country and themselves. It is said that there are men
+whom Circe has changed into hogs, whom the wise Ulysses must restore to
+the human form."
+
+"Paradise to the beneficent!" We repeat this symbol of the Abbé St.
+Pierre historically, without approving of it. We regard it merely as a
+curious singularity, and we hold with the most respectful faith to the
+true symbol of the Church.
+
+
+
+
+SYSTEM.
+
+
+We understand by system a supposition; for if a system can be proved, it
+is no longer a system, but a truth. In the meantime, led by habit, we
+say the celestial system, although we understand by it the real position
+of the stars.
+
+I once thought that Pythagoras had learned the true celestial system
+from the Chaldæans; but I think so no longer. In proportion as I grow
+older, I doubt of all things. Notwithstanding that Newton, Gregory, and
+Keil honor Pythagoras and the Chaldæans with a knowledge of the system
+of Copernicus, and that latterly M. Monier is of their opinion, I have
+the impudence to think otherwise.
+
+One of my reasons is, that if the Chaldæans had been so well informed,
+so fine and important a discovery would not have been lost, but would
+have been handed down from age to age, like the admirable discoveries of
+Archimedes.
+
+Another reason is that it was necessary to be more widely informed than
+the Chaldæans, in order to be able to contradict the apparent testimony
+of the senses in regard to the celestial appearances; that it required
+not only the most refined experimental observation, but the most
+profound mathematical science; as also the indispensable aid of
+telescopes, without which it is impossible to discover the phases of
+Venus, which prove her course around the sun, or to discover the spots
+in the sun, which demonstrate his motion round his own almost immovable
+axis. Another reason, not less strong, is that of all those who have
+attributed this discovery to Pythagoras, no one can positively say how
+he treated it.
+
+Diogenes Laertius, who lived about nine hundred years after Pythagoras,
+teaches us, that according to this grand philosopher, the number one was
+the first principle, and that from two sprang all numbers; that body has
+four elements--fire, water, air, and earth; that light and darkness,
+cold and heat, wet and dry, are equally distributed; that we must not
+eat beans; that the soul is divided into three parts; that Pythagoras
+had formerly been Atalides, then Euphorbus, afterwards Hermotimus; and,
+finally, that this great man studied magic very profoundly. Diogenes
+says not a word concerning the true system of the world, attributed to
+this Pythagoras; and it must be confessed that it is by no means to an
+aversion to beans that we owe the calculations which at present
+demonstrate the motion of the earth and planets generally.
+
+The famous Arian Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, in his "Evangelical
+Preparation," expresses himself thus: "All the philosophers declare that
+the earth is in a state of repose; but Philolaus, the peripatetic,
+thinks that it moves round fire in an oblique circle, like the sun and
+the moon." This gibberish has nothing in common with the sublime truths
+taught by Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and above all by Newton.
+
+As to the pretended Aristarchus of Samos, who, it is asserted, developed
+the discoveries of the Chaldæans in regard to the motion of the earth
+and other planets, he is so obscure, that Wallace has been obliged to
+play the commentator from one end of him to the other, in order to
+render him intelligible.
+
+Finally, it is very much to be doubted whether the book, attributed to
+this Aristarchus of Samos, really belongs to him. It has been strongly
+suspected that the enemies of the new philosophy have constructed this
+forgery in favor of their bad cause. It is not only in respect to old
+charters that similar forgeries are resorted to. This Aristarchus of
+Samos is also the more to be suspected, as Plutarch accuses him of
+bigotry and malevolent hypocrisy, in consequence of being imbued with a
+direct contrary opinion. The following are the words of Plutarch, in his
+piece of absurdity entitled "The Round Aspect of the Moon." Aristarchus
+the Samian said, "that the Greeks ought to punish Cleanthes of Samos,
+who suggested that the heavens were immovable, and that it is the earth
+which travels through the zodiac by turning on its axis."
+
+They will tell me that even this passage proves that the system of
+Copernicus was already in the head of Cleanthes and others--of what
+import is it whether Aristarchus the Samian was of the opinion of
+Cleanthes, or his accuser, as the Jesuit Skeiner was subsequently
+Galileo's?--it equally follows that the true system of the present day
+was known to the ancients.
+
+I reply, no; but that a very slight part of this system was vaguely
+surmised by heads better organized than the rest. I further answer that
+it was never received or taught in the schools, and that it never formed
+a body of doctrine. Attentively peruse this "Face of the Moon" of
+Plutarch, and you will find, if you look for it, the doctrine of
+gravitation; but the true author of a system is he who demonstrates it.
+
+We will not take away from Copernicus the honor of this discovery. Three
+or four words brought to light in an old author, which exhibit some
+distant glimpse of his system, ought not to deprive him of the glory of
+the discovery.
+
+Let us admire the great rule of Kepler, that the revolutions of the
+planets round the sun are in proportion to the cubes of their distances.
+Let us still more admire the profundity, the justness, and the invention
+of the great Newton, who alone discovered the fundamental reasons of
+these laws unknown to all antiquity, which have opened the eyes of
+mankind to a new heaven.
+
+Petty compilers are always to be found who dare to become the enemies of
+their age. They string together passages from Plutarch and Athenæus, to
+prove that we have no obligations to Newton, to Halley, and to Bradley.
+They trumpet forth the glory of the ancients, whom they pretend have
+said everything; and they are so imbecile as to think that they divide
+the glory by publishing it. They twist an expression of Hippocrates, in
+order to persuade us that the Greeks were acquainted with the
+circulation of the blood better than Harvey. Why not also assert that
+the Greeks were possessed of better muskets and field-pieces; that they
+threw bomb-shells farther, had better printed books, and much finer
+engravings? That they excelled in oil-paintings, possessed
+looking-glasses of crystal, telescopes, microscopes, and thermometers?
+All this may be found out by men, who assure us that Solomon, who
+possessed not a single seaport, sent fleets to America, and so forth.
+
+One of the greatest detractors of modern times is a person named Dutens,
+who finished by compiling a libel, as infamous as insipid, against the
+philosophers of the present day. This libel is entitled the "Tocsin";
+but he had better have called it his clock, as no one came to his aid;
+and he has only tended to increase the number of the Zoilusses, who,
+being unable to produce anything themselves, spit their venom upon all
+who by their productions do honor to their country and benefit mankind.
+
+
+
+
+TABOR, OR THABOR.
+
+
+A famous mountain in Judæa, often alluded to in general conversation. It
+is not true that this mountain is a league and a half high, as
+mentioned in certain dictionaries. There is no mountain in Judæa so
+elevated; Tabor is not more than six hundred feet high, but it appears
+loftier, in consequence of its situation on a vast plain.
+
+The Tabor of Bohemia is still more celebrated by the resistance which
+the imperial armies encountered from Ziska. It is from thence that they
+have given the name of Tabor to intrenchments formed with carriages. The
+Taborites, a sect very similar to the Hussites, also take their name
+from the latter mountain.
+
+
+
+
+TALISMAN.
+
+
+Talisman, an Arabian word, signifies properly "consecration." The same
+thing as "telesma," or "philactery," a preservative charm, figure, or
+character; a superstition which has prevailed at all times and among all
+people. It is usually a sort of medal, cast and stamped under the
+ascendency of certain constellations. The famous talisman of Catherine
+de Medici still exists.
+
+
+
+
+TARTUFFE--TARTUFERIE.
+
+
+Tartuffe, a name invented by Molière, and now adopted in all the
+languages of Europe to signify hypocrites, who make use of the cloak of
+religion. "He is a Tartuffe; he is a true Tartuffe." _Tartuferie_, a new
+word formed from Tartuffe--the action of a hypocrite, the behavior of a
+hypocrite, the knavery of a false devotee; it is often used in the
+disputes concerning the Bull Unigenitus.
+
+
+
+
+TASTE.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+The taste, the sense by which we distinguish the flavor of our food, has
+produced, in all known languages, the metaphor expressed by the word
+"taste"--a feeling of beauty and defects in all the arts. It is a quick
+perception, like that of the tongue and the palate, and in the same
+manner anticipates consideration. Like the mere sense, it is sensitive
+and luxuriant in respect to the good, and rejects the bad spontaneously;
+in a similar way it is often uncertain, divided, and even ignorant
+whether it ought to be pleased; lastly, and to conclude the resemblance,
+it sometimes requires to be formed and corrected by habit and
+experience.
+
+To constitute taste, it is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty
+of a work. We must feel and be affected by it. Neither will it suffice
+to feel and be affected in a confused or ignorant manner; it is
+necessary to distinguish the different shades; nothing ought to escape
+the promptitude of its discernment; and this is another instance of the
+resemblance of taste, the sense, to intellectual taste; for an epicure
+will quickly feel and detect a mixture of two liquors, as the man of
+taste and connoisseur will, with a single glance, distinguish the
+mixture of two styles, or a defect by the side of a beauty. He will be
+enthusiastically moved with this verse in the Horatii:
+
+     _Que voulez-vous qu'il fît contre trois?--Qu'il mourût!_
+
+     What have him do 'gainst three?--Die!
+
+He feels involuntary disgust at the following:
+
+     _Ou qu'un beau désespoir alors le secourût._
+                                      --ACT iii, sc. 6.
+
+     Or, whether aided by a fine despair.
+
+As a physical bad taste consists in being pleased only with high
+seasoning and curious dishes, so a bad taste in the arts is pleased only
+with studied ornament, and feels not the pure beauty of nature.
+
+A depraved taste in food is gratified with that which disgusts other
+people: it is a species of disease. A depraved taste in the arts is to
+be pleased with subjects which disgust accomplished minds, and to prefer
+the burlesque to the noble, and the finical and the affected to the
+simple and natural: it is a mental disease. A taste for the arts is,
+however, much more a thing of formation than physical taste; for
+although in the latter we sometimes finish by liking those things to
+which we had in the first instance a repugnance, nature seldom renders
+it necessary for men in general to learn what is necessary to them in
+the way of food, whereas intellectual taste requires time to duly form
+it. A sensible young man may not, without science, distinguish at once
+the different parts of a grand choir of music; in a fine picture, his
+eyes at first sight may not perceive the gradation, the chiaroscuro
+perspective, agreement of colors, and correctness of design; but by
+little and little his ears will learn to hear and his eyes to see. He
+will be affected at the first representation of a fine tragedy, but he
+will not perceive the merit of the unities, nor the delicate management
+that allows no one to enter or depart without a sufficient reason,
+nor that still greater art which concentrates all the interest in a
+single one; nor, lastly, will he be aware of the difficulties overcome.
+It is only by habit and reflection, that he arrives spontaneously at
+that which he was not able to distinguish in the first instance. In a
+similar way, a national taste is gradually formed where it existed not
+before, because by degrees the spirit of the best artists is duly
+imbibed. We accustom ourselves to look at pictures with the eyes of
+Lebrun, Poussin, and Le Sueur. We listen to musical declamation from the
+scenes of Quinault with the ears of Lulli, and to the airs and
+accompaniments with those of Rameau. Finally, books are read in the
+spirit of the best authors.
+
+If an entire nation is led, during its early culture of the arts, to
+admire authors abounding in the defects and errors of the age, it is
+because these authors possess beauties which are admired by everybody,
+while at the same time readers are not sufficiently instructed to detect
+the imperfections. Thus, Lucilius was prized by the Romans, until Horace
+made them forget him; and Regnier was admired by the French, until the
+appearance of Boileau; and if old authors who stumble at every step
+have, notwithstanding, attained great reputation, it is because purer
+writers have not arisen to open the eyes of their national admirers, as
+Horace did those of the Romans, and Boileau those of the French.
+
+It is said that there is no disputation on taste, and the observation is
+correct in respect to physical taste, in which the repugnance felt to
+certain aliments, and the preference given to others, are not to be
+disputed, because there is no correction of a defect of the organs. It
+is not the same with the arts which possess actual beauties, which are
+discernible by a good taste, and unperceivable by a bad one; which last,
+however, may frequently be improved. There are also persons with a
+coldness of soul, as there are defective minds; and in respect to them,
+it is of little use to dispute concerning predilections, as they possess
+none.
+
+Taste is arbitrary in many things, as in raiment, decoration, and
+equipage, which, however, scarcely belong to the department of the fine
+arts, but are rather affairs of fancy. It is fancy rather than taste
+which produces so many new fashions.
+
+Taste may become vitiated in a nation, a misfortune which usually
+follows a period of perfection. Fearing to be called imitators, artists
+seek new and devious routes, and fly from the pure and beautiful nature
+of which their predecessors have made so much advantage. If there is
+merit in these labors, this merit veils their defects, and the public
+in love with novelty runs after them, and becomes disgusted, which makes
+way for still minor efforts to please, in which nature is still more
+abandoned. Taste loses itself amidst this succession of novelties, the
+last one of which rapidly effaces the other; the public loses its
+"whereabout," and regrets in vain the flight of the age of good taste,
+which will return no more, although a remnant of it is still preserved
+by certain correct spirits, at a distance from the crowd.
+
+There are vast countries in which taste has never existed: such are they
+in which society is still rude, where the sexes have little general
+intercourse, and where certain arts, like sculpture and the painting of
+animated beings, are forbidden by religion. Where there is little
+general intercourse, the mind is straitened, its edge is blunted, and
+nothing is possessed on which a taste can be formed. Where several of
+the fine arts are wanting, the remainder can seldom find sufficient
+support, as they go hand in hand, and rest one on the other. On this
+account, the Asiatics have never produced fine arts in any department,
+and taste is confined to certain nations of Europe.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Is there not a good and a bad taste? Without doubt; although men differ
+in opinions, manners, and customs. The best taste in every species of
+cultivation is to imitate nature with the highest fidelity, energy, and
+grace. But is not grace arbitrary? No, since it consists in giving
+animation and sweetness to the objects represented. Between two men, the
+one of whom is gross and the other refined, it will readily be allowed
+that one possesses more grace than the other.
+
+Before a polished period arose, Voiture, who in his rage for
+embroidering nothings, was occasionally refined and agreeable, wrote
+some verses to the great Condé upon his illness, which are still
+regarded as very tasteful, and among the best of this author.
+
+At the same time, L'Étoile, who passed for a genius--L'Étoile, one of
+the five authors who constructed tragedies for Cardinal Richelieu--made
+some verses, which are printed at the end of Malherbe and Racan. When
+compared with those of Voiture referred to, every reader will allow that
+the verses of Voiture are the production of a courtier of good taste,
+and those of L'Étoile the labor of a coarse and unintellectual
+pretender.
+
+It is a pity that we can gift Voiture with occasional taste only: his
+famous letter from the carp to the pike, which enjoyed so much
+reputation, is a too extended pleasantry, and in passages exhibiting
+very little nature. Is it not a mixture of refinement and coarseness, of
+the true and the false? Was it right to say to the great Condé, who was
+called "the pike" by a party among the courtiers, that at his name the
+whales of the North perspired profusely, and that the subjects of the
+emperor had expected to fry and to eat him with a grain of salt? Was it
+proper to write so many letters, only to show a little of the wit which
+consists in puns and conceits?
+
+Are we not disgusted when Voiture says to the great Condé, on the taking
+of Dunkirk: "I expect you to seize the moon with your teeth." Voiture
+apparently acquired this false taste from Marini, who came into France
+with Mary of Medici. Voiture and Costar frequently cite him as a model
+in their letters. They admire his description of the rose, daughter of
+April, virgin and queen, seated on a thorny throne, extending
+majestically a flowery sceptre, having for courtiers and ministers the
+amorous family of the zephyrs, and wearing a crown of gold and a robe of
+scarlet:
+
+     _Bella figlia d'Aprile,_
+     _Verginella e reina,_
+     _Sic lo spinoso trono_
+     _Del verde cespo assisa,_
+     _De' fior' lo scettro in maestà sostiene;_
+     _E corteggiata intorno_
+     _Da lascivia famiglia_
+     _Di Zefiri ministri,_
+     _Porta d'or' la corona et dostro il manto._
+
+Voiture, in his thirty-fifth letter to Costar, compliments the musical
+atom of Marini, the feathered voice, the living breath clothed in
+plumage, the winged song, the small spirit of harmony, hidden amidst
+diminutive lungs; all of which terms are employed to convey the word
+nightingale:
+
+     _Una voce pennuta, un suon' volante,_
+     _E vestito di penne, un vivo fiato,_
+     _Una piuma canora, un canto alato,_
+     _Un spiritel' che d'armonia composto_
+     _Vive in auguste vise ere nascosto._
+
+The bad taste of Balzac was of a different description; he composed
+familiar letters in a fustian style. He wrote to the Cardinal de la
+Valette, that neither in the deserts of Libya, nor in the abyss of the
+sea, there was so furious a monster as the sciatica; and that if
+tyrants, whose memory is odious to us, had instruments of cruelty in
+their possession equal to the sciatica, the martyrs would have endured
+them for their religion.
+
+These emphatic exaggerations--these long and stately periods, so opposed
+to the epistolary style--these fastidious declamations, garnished with
+Greek and Latin, concerning two middling sonnets, the merits of which
+divided the court and the town, and upon the miserable tragedy of "Herod
+the Infanticide,"--all indicate a time and a taste which were yet to be
+formed and corrected. Even "Cinna," and the "Provincial Letters," which
+astonished the nations, had not yet cleared away the rust.
+
+As an artist forms his taste by degrees, so does a nation. It stagnates
+for a long time in barbarism; then it elevates itself feebly, until at
+length a noon appears, after which we witness nothing but a long and
+melancholy twilight. It has long been agreed, that in spite of the
+solicitude of Francis I., to produce a taste in France for the fine
+arts, this taste was not formed until towards the age of Louis XIV.,
+and we already begin to complain of its degeneracy. The Greeks of the
+lower empire confess, that the taste which reigned in the days of
+Pericles was lost among them, and the modern Greeks admit the same
+thing. Quintilian allows that the taste of the Romans began to decline
+in his days.
+
+Lope de Vega made great complaints of the bad taste of the Spaniards.
+The Italians perceived, among the first, that everything had declined
+among them since their immortal sixteenth century, and that they have
+witnessed the decline of the arts, which they caused to spring up.
+
+Addison often attacks the bad taste of the English in more than one
+department--as well when he ridicules the carved wig of Sir Cloudesley
+Shovel, as when he testifies his contempt for a serious employment of
+conceit and pun, or the introduction of mountebanks in tragedy.
+
+If, therefore, the most gifted minds allow that taste has been wanting
+at certain periods in their country, their neighbors may certainly feel
+it, as lookers-on; and as it is evident among ourselves that one man has
+a good and another a bad taste, it is equally evident that of two
+contemporary nations, the one may be rude and gross, and the other
+refined and natural.
+
+The misfortune is, that when we speak this truth, we disgust the whole
+nation to which we allude, as we provoke an individual of bad taste when
+we seek to improve him. It is better to wait until time and example
+instruct a nation which sins against taste. It is in this way that the
+Spaniards are beginning to reform their drama, and the Germans to create
+one.
+
+_Of National Taste._
+
+There is beauty of all times and of all places, and there is likewise
+local beauty. Eloquence ought to be everywhere persuasive, grief
+affecting, anger impetuous, wisdom tranquil; but the details which may
+gratify a citizen of London, would have little effect on an inhabitant
+of Paris. The English drew some of their most happy metaphors and
+comparisons from the marine, while Parisians seldom see anything of
+ships. All which affects an Englishman in relation to liberty, his
+rights and his privileges, would make little impression on a Frenchman.
+
+The state of the climate will introduce into a cold and humid country a
+taste for architecture, furniture, and clothing, which may be very good,
+but not admissible at Rome or in Sicily. Theocritus and Virgil, in their
+eclogues, boast of the shades and of the cooling freshness of the
+fountains. Thomson, in his "Seasons," dwells upon contrary attractions.
+
+An enlightened nation with little sociability will not have the same
+points of ridicule as a nation equally intellectual, which gives in to
+the spirit of society even to indiscretion; and, in consequence, these
+two nations will differ materially in their comedy. Poetry will be very
+different in a country where women are secluded, and in another in
+which they enjoy liberty without bounds.
+
+But it will always be true that the pastoral painting of Virgil exceeds
+that of Thomson, and that there has been more taste on the banks of the
+Tiber than on those of the Thames; that the natural scenes of the Pastor
+Fido are incomparably superior to the shepherdizing of Racan; and that
+Racine and Molière are inspired persons in comparison with the
+dramatists of other theatres.
+
+_On the Taste of Connoisseurs._
+
+In general, a refined and certain taste consists in a quick feeling of
+beauty amidst defects, and defects amidst beauties. The epicure is he
+who can discern the adulteration of wines, and feel the predominating
+flavor in his viands, of which his associates entertain only a confused
+and general perception.
+
+Are not those deceived who say, that it is a misfortune to possess too
+refined a taste, and to be too much of a connoisseur; that in
+consequence we become too much occupied by defects, and insensible to
+beauties, which are lost by this fastidiousness? Is it not, on the
+contrary, certain that men of taste alone enjoy true pleasure, who see,
+hear, and feel, that which escapes persons less sensitively organized,
+and less mentally disciplined?
+
+The connoisseur in music, in painting, in architecture, in poetry, in
+medals, etc., experiences sensations of which the vulgar have no
+comprehension; the discovery even of a fault pleases him, and makes him
+feel the beauties with more animation. It is the advantage of a good
+sight over a bad one. The man of taste has other eyes, other ears, and
+another tact from the uncultivated man; he is displeased with the poor
+draperies of Raphael, but he admires the noble purity of his conception.
+He takes a pleasure in discovering that the children of Laocoon bear no
+proportion to the height of their father, but the whole group makes him
+tremble, while other spectators are unmoved.
+
+The celebrated sculptor, man of letters and of genius, who placed the
+colossal statue of Peter the Great at St. Petersburg, criticises with
+reason the attitude of the Moses of Michelangelo, and his small, tight
+vest, which is not even an Oriental costume; but, at the same time, he
+contemplates the air and expression of the head with ecstasy.
+
+_Rarity of Men of Taste._
+
+It is afflicting to reflect on the prodigious number of men--above all,
+in cold and damp climates--who possess not the least spark of taste, who
+care not for the fine arts, who never read, and of whom a large portion
+read only a journal once a month, in order to be put in possession of
+current matter, and to furnish themselves with the ability of saying
+things at random, on subjects in regard to which they have only confused
+ideas.
+
+Enter into a small provincial town: how rarely will you find more than
+one or two good libraries, and those private. Even in the capital of the
+provinces which possess academies, taste is very rare.
+
+It is necessary to select the capital of a great kingdom to form the
+abode of taste, and yet even there it is very partially divided among a
+small number, the populace being wholly excluded. It is unknown to the
+families of traders, and those who are occupied in making fortunes, who
+are either engrossed with domestic details, or divided between
+unintellectual idleness and a game at cards. Every place which contains
+the courts of law, the offices of revenue, government, and commerce, is
+closed against the fine arts. It is the reproach of the human mind that
+a taste for the common and ordinary introduces only opulent idleness. I
+knew a commissioner in one of the offices at Versailles, who exclaimed:
+"I am very unhappy; I have not time to acquire a taste."
+
+In a town like Paris, peopled with more than six hundred thousand
+persons, I do not think there are three thousand who cultivate a taste
+for the fine arts. When a dramatic masterpiece is represented, a
+circumstance so very rare, people exclaim: "All Paris is enchanted," but
+only three thousand copies, more or less, are printed.
+
+Taste, then, like philosophy, belongs only to a small number of
+privileged souls. It was, therefore, great happiness for France to
+possess, in Louis XIV., a king born with taste.
+
+     _Pauci, quos æquus amavit_
+     _Jupiter, aut ardens, evexit ad æthera virtus_
+     _Dis geniti, potuere._
+                              --ÆNEID, b. vi, v. 129 and s.
+
+     To few great Jupiter imparts his grace,
+     And those of shining worth and heavenly race.
+                                        --DRYDEN.
+
+Ovid has said in vain, that God has created us to look up to heaven:
+"_Erectos ad sidera tollere vultus_." Men are always crouching on the
+ground. Why has a misshapen statue, or a bad picture, where the figures
+are disproportionate, never passed for a masterpiece? Why has an
+ill-built house never been regarded as a fine monument of architecture?
+Why in music will not sharp and discordant sounds please the ears of any
+one? And yet, very bad and barbarous tragedies, written in a style
+perfectly Allobrogian, have succeeded, even after the sublime scenes of
+Corneille, the affecting ones of Racine, and the fine pieces written
+since the latter poet. It is only at the theatre that we sometimes see
+detestable compositions succeed both in tragedy and comedy.
+
+What is the reason of it? It is, that a species of delusion prevails at
+the theatre; it is, that the success depends upon two or three actors,
+and sometimes even upon a single one; and, above all, that a cabal is
+formed in favor of such pieces, whilst men of taste never form any. This
+cabal often lasts for an entire generation, and it is so much the more
+active, as its object is less to elevate the bad author than to depress
+the good one. A century possibly is necessary to adjust the real value
+of things in the drama.
+
+There are three kinds of taste, which in the long run prevail in the
+empire of the arts. Poussin was obliged to quit France and leave the
+field to an inferior painter; Le Moine killed himself in despair; and
+Vanloo was near quitting the kingdom, to exercise his talents elsewhere.
+Connoisseurs alone have put all of them in possession of the rank
+belonging to them. We often witness all kinds of bad works meet with
+prodigious success. The solecisms, barbarisms, false statement, and
+extravagant bombast, are not felt for awhile, because the cabal and the
+senseless enthusiasm of the vulgar produce an intoxication which
+discriminates in nothing. The connoisseurs alone bring back the public
+in due time; and it is the only difference which exists between the most
+enlightened and the most cultivated of nations for the vulgar of Paris
+are in no respect beyond; the vulgar of other countries; but in Paris
+there is a sufficient number of correct opinions to lead the crowd. This
+crowd is rapidly excited in popular movements, but many years are
+necessary to establish in it a general good taste in the arts.
+
+
+
+
+TAUROBOLIUM.
+
+
+Taurobolium, a sacrifice of expiation, very common in the third and
+fourth centuries. The throat of a bull was cut on a great stone slightly
+hollowed and perforated in various places. Underneath this stone was a
+trench, in which the person whose offence called for expiation received
+upon his body and his face the blood of the immolated animal. Julian the
+Philosopher condescended to submit to this expiation, to reconcile
+himself to the priests of the Gentiles.
+
+
+
+
+TAX--FEE.
+
+
+Pope Pius II., in an epistle to John Peregal, acknowledges that the
+Roman court gives nothing without money; it sells even the imposition of
+hands and the gifts of the Holy Ghost; nor does it grant the remission
+of sins to any but the rich.
+
+Before him, St. Antonine, archbishop of Florence, had observed that in
+the time of Boniface IX., who died in 1404, the Roman court was so
+infamously stained with simony, that benefices were conferred, not so
+much on merit, as on those who brought a deal of money. He adds, that
+this pope filled the world with plenary indulgences; so that the small
+churches, on their festival days, obtained them at a low price.
+
+That pontiff's secretary, Theodoric de Nieur, does indeed inform us,
+that Boniface sent questors into different kingdoms, to sell indulgences
+to such as should offer them as much money as it would have cost them to
+make a journey to Rome to fetch them; so that they remitted all sins,
+even without penance, to such as confessed, and granted them, for
+money, dispensations for irregularities of every sort; saying, that they
+had in that respect all the power which Christ had granted to Peter, of
+binding and unbinding on earth.
+
+And, what is still more singular, the price of every crime is fixed in a
+Latin work, printed at Rome by order of Leo X., and published on
+November 18, 1514, under the title of "Taxes of the Holy and Apostolic
+Chancery and Penitentiary."
+
+Among many other editions of this book, published in different
+countries, the Paris edition--quarto 1520, Toussaint Denis, Rue St.
+Jacques, at the wooden cross, near St. Yves, with the king's privilege,
+for three years--bears in the frontispiece the arms of France, and those
+of the house of Medici, to which Leo N. belonged. This must have
+deceived the author of the "Picture of the Popes" (_Tableau de Papes_),
+who attributes the establishment of these taxes to Leo X., although
+Polydore Virgil, and Cardinal d'Ossat agree in fixing the period of the
+invention of the chancery tax about the year 1320, and the commencement
+of the penitentiary tax about sixteen years later, in the time of
+Benedict XII.
+
+To give some idea of these taxes, we will here copy a few articles from
+the chapter of absolutions: Absolution for one who has carnally known
+his mother, his sister, etc., costs five drachmas. Absolution for one
+who has deflowered a virgin, six drachmas. Absolution for one who has
+revealed another's confession, seven drachmas. Absolution for one who
+has killed his father, his mother, etc., five drachmas. And so of other
+sins, as we shall shortly see; but, at the end of the book, the prices
+are estimated in ducats.
+
+A sort of letters too are here spoken of, called confessional, by which,
+at the approach of death, the pope permits a confessor to be chosen, who
+gives full pardon for every sin; these letters are granted only to
+princes, and not to them without great difficulty. These particulars
+will be found in page 32 of the Paris edition.
+
+The court of Rome was at length ashamed of this book, and suppressed it
+as far as it was able. It was even inserted in the expurgatory index of
+the Council of Trent, on the false supposition that heretics had
+corrupted it.
+
+It is true that Antoine Du Pinet, a French gentleman of Franche-Comté,
+had an abstract of it printed at Lyons in 1564, under this title:
+"Casual Perquisites of the Pope's Shop" (_Taxes des Parties Casuelles de
+la Boutique du Pape_), "taken from the Decrees, Councils, and Canons,
+ancient and modern, in order to verify the discipline formerly observed
+in the Church; by A.D.P." But, although, he does not inform us that his
+work is but an abridgment of the other, yet, far from corrupting his
+original, he on the contrary strikes out of it some odious passages,
+such as the following, beginning page 23, line 9 from the bottom, in
+the Paris edition: "And carefully observe, that these kinds of graces
+and dispensations are not granted to the poor, because, not having
+wherewith, they cannot be consoled."
+
+It is also true, that Du Pinet estimates these taxes in tournois,
+ducats, and carlins; but, as he observes (page 42) that the carlins and
+the drachmas are of the same value, the substituting for the tax of
+five, six, or seven drachmas in the original, the like number of
+carlins, is not falsifying it. We have a proof of this in the four
+articles already quoted from the original.
+
+Absolution--says Du Pinet--for one who has a carnal knowledge of his
+mother, his sister, or any of his kindred by birth or affinity, or his
+godmother, is taxed at five carlins. Absolution for one who deflowers a
+young woman, is taxed at six carlins. Absolution for one who reveals the
+confession of a penitent, is taxed at seven carlins. Absolution for one
+who has killed his father, his mother, his brother, his sister, his
+wife, or any of his kindred--they being of the laity--is taxed at five
+carlins; for if the deceased was an ecclesiastic, the homicide would be
+obliged to visit the sanctuary. We will here repeat a few others.
+
+Absolution--continues Du Pinet--for any act of fornication whatsoever,
+committed by a clerk, whether with a nun in the cloister or out of the
+cloister, or with any of his kinswomen, or with his spiritual daughter,
+or with any other woman whatsoever, costs thirty-six tournois, three
+ducats. Absolution for a priest who keeps a concubine, twenty-one
+tournois, live ducats, six carlins. The absolution of a layman for all
+sorts of sins of the flesh, is given at the tribunal of conscience for
+six tournois, two ducats.
+
+The absolution of a layman for the crime of adultery, given at the
+tribunal of conscience, costs four tournois; and if the adultery is
+accompanied by incest, six tournois must be paid per head. If, besides
+these crimes, is required the absolution of the sin against nature, or
+of bestiality, there must be paid ninety tournois, twelve ducats, six
+carlins; but if only the absolution of the crime against nature, or of
+bestiality, is required, it will cost only thirty-six tournois, nine
+ducats.
+
+A woman who has taken a beverage to procure an abortion, or the father
+who has caused her to take it, shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight
+carlins; and if a stranger has given her the said beverage, he shall pay
+four tournois, one ducat, five carlins.
+
+A father, a mother, or any other relative, who has smothered a child,
+shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight carlins; and if it has been
+killed by the husband and wife together, they shall pay six tournois,
+two ducats.
+
+The tax granted by the datary for the contracting of marriage out of the
+permitted seasons, is twenty carlins; and in the permitted periods, if
+the contracting parties are the second or third degree of kindred, it
+is commonly twenty-five ducats, and four for expediting the bulls; and
+in the fourth degree, seven tournois, one ducat, six carlins.
+
+The dispensation of a layman from fasting on the days appointed by the
+Church, and the permission to eat cheese, are taxed at twenty carlins.
+The permission to eat meat and eggs on forbidden days is taxed at twelve
+carlins; and that to eat butter, cheese, etc., at six tournois for one
+person only; and at twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins for a
+whole family, or for several relatives.
+
+The absolution of an apostate and a vagabond, who wishes to return into
+the pale of the Church, costs twelve tournois, three ducats, six
+carlins. The absolution and reinstatement of one who is guilty of
+sacrilege, robbery, burning, rapine, perjury, and the like, is taxed at
+thirty-six tournois, nine ducats.
+
+Absolution for a servant who detains his deceased master's property, for
+the payment of his wages, and after receiving notice does not restore
+it, provided the property so detained does not exceed the amount of his
+wages, is taxed in the tribunal of conscience at only six tournois, two
+ducats. For changing the clauses of a will, the ordinary tax is twelve
+tournois, three ducats, six carlins. The permission to change one's
+proper name costs nine tournois, two ducats, nine carlins; and to change
+the surname and mode of signing, six tournois, two ducats. The
+permission to have a portable altar for one person only, is taxed at
+ten carlins: and to have a domestic chapel on account of the distance of
+the parish church, and furnish it with baptismal fonts and chaplains,
+thirty carlins.
+
+Lastly, the permission to convey merchandise, one or more times, to the
+countries of the infidels, and in general to traffic and sell
+merchandise without being obliged to obtain permission from the temporal
+lords of the respected places, even though they be kings or emperors,
+with all the very ample derogatory clauses, is taxed at only twenty-four
+tournois, six ducats.
+
+This permission, which supersedes that of the temporal lords, is a fresh
+evidence of the papal pretensions, which we have already spoken of in
+the article on "Bull." Besides, it is known that all rescripts, or
+expeditions for benefices, are still paid for at Rome according to the
+tax; and this charge always falls at last on the laity, by the
+impositions which the subordinate clergy exact from them. We shall here
+notice only the fees for marriages and burials.
+
+A decree of the Parliament of Paris, of May 19, 1409, provides that
+every one shall be at liberty to sleep with his wife as soon as he
+pleases after the celebration of the marriage, without waiting for leave
+from the bishop of Amiens, and without paying the fee required by that
+prelate for taking off his prohibitions to consummate the marriage
+during the first three nights of the nuptials. The monks of St. Stephen
+of Nevers were deprived of the same fee by another decree of September
+27, 1591. Some theologians have asserted, that it took its origin from
+the fourth Council of Carthage, which had ordained it for the reverence
+of the matrimonial benediction. But as that council did not order its
+prohibition to be evaded by paying, it is more likely that this tax was
+a consequence of the infamous custom which gave to certain lords the
+first nuptial night of the brides of their vassals. Buchanan thinks that
+this usage began in Scotland under King Evan.
+
+Be this as it may, the lords of Prellay and Persanny, in Piedmont,
+called this privilege "_carrajio_"; but having refused to commute it for
+a reasonable payment, the vassals revolted, and put themselves under
+Amadeus VI., fourteenth count of Savoy.
+
+There is still preserved a _procès-verbal_, drawn up by M. Jean Fraguier,
+auditor in the _Chambre des Comptes_, at Paris, by virtue of a decree of
+the said chamber of April 7, 1507, for valuing the county of Eu, fallen
+into the king's keeping by the minority of the children of the count of
+Nevers, and his wife Charlotte de Bourbon. In the chapter of the revenue
+of the barony of St. Martin-le-Gaillard, dependent on the county of Eu,
+it is said: "Item, the said lord, at the said place of St. Martin, has
+the right of 'cuissage' in case of marriage."
+
+The lords of Souloire had the like privilege, and having omitted it in
+the acknowledgment made by them to their sovereign, the lord of
+Montlevrier, the acknowledgment was disapproved; but by deed of Dec.
+15, 1607, the sieur de Montlevrier formally renounced it; and these
+shameful privileges have everywhere been converted into small payments,
+called "marchetta."
+
+Now, when our prelates had fiefs, they thought--as the judicious Fleury
+remarks--that they had as bishops what they possessed only as lords; and
+the curates, as their under-vassals, bethought themselves of blessing
+their nuptial bed, which brought them a small fee under the name of
+wedding-dishes--i.e., their dinner, in money or in kind. On one of these
+occasions the following quatrain was put by a country curate under the
+pillow of a very aged president, who married a young woman named La
+Montagne. He alludes to Moses' horns, which are spoken of in Exodus.
+
+     _Le Président à barbe grise_
+     _Sur La Montagne va monter;_
+     _Mais certes il peut bien compter_
+     _D'en descendre comme Moïse._
+
+A word or two on the fees exacted by the clergy for the burial of the
+laity. Formerly, at the decease of each individual, the bishops had the
+contents of his will made known to them; and forbade those to receive
+the rights of sepulchre who had died "unconfessed," i.e., left no legacy
+to the Church, unless the relatives went to the official, who
+commissioned a priest, or some other ecclesiastic, to repair the fault
+of the deceased, and make a legacy in his name. The curates also opposed
+the profession of such as wished to turn monks, until they had paid
+their burial-fees; saying that since they died to the world, it was but
+right that they should discharge what would have been due from them had
+they been interred.
+
+But the frequent disputes occasioned by these vexations obliged the
+magistrates to fix the rate of these singular fees. The following is
+extracted from a regulation on this subject, brought in by Francis de
+Harlai de Chamvallon, archbishop of Paris, on May 30, 1693, and passed
+in the court of parliament on the tenth of June following:
+
+                   _Marriages._
+                                             Liv. Sous.
+  For the publication of the bans..........    1   10
+
+  For the betrothing.......................    2    0
+
+  For celebrating the marriage.............    6    0
+
+  For the certificate of the publication of
+    the bans, and the permission given to
+    the future husband to go and be married
+    in the parish of his future wife.......    5    0
+
+  For the wedding mass.....................    1   10
+
+  For the vicar............................    1   10
+
+  For the clerk of the sacrament...........    1   10
+
+  For blessing the bed.....................    1   10
+
+
+              _Funeral Processions._
+
+    Of children under seven years old, when
+      the clergy do not go in a body:
+  For the curate...........................    1   10
+
+  For each priest..........................    1   10
+
+    When the clergy go in a body:
+  For the curial fee.......................    4    0
+
+  For the presence of the curate...........    2    0
+
+  For each priest..........................    0   10
+
+  For the vicar............................    1   10
+
+  For each singing-boy, when they carry
+    the body...............................    8    0
+
+  And when they do not carry it............    5    0
+    And so of young persons from seven to
+      twelve years old.
+
+    Of persons above twelve years old:
+  For the curial fee.......................    6    0
+
+  For the curate's attendance..............    4    0
+
+  For each vicar...........................    2    0
+
+  For the priest...........................    1    0
+
+  For each singing-boy.....................    0   10
+
+  Each of the priests that watch the body
+    in the night, for drink, etc...........    3    0
+
+  And in the day, each.....................    2    0
+
+  For the celebration of the mass..........    1    0
+
+  For the service extraordinary; called the
+    complete service; viz., the vigils and
+    the two masses of the Holy Ghost and
+    the Holy Virgin........................    4   10
+
+  For each of the priests that carry the
+    body...................................    1    0
+
+  For carrying the great cross.............    0   10
+
+  For the holy water-pot carrier...........    0    5
+
+  For carrying the little cross............    0    5
+
+  For the clerk of the processions.........    0    1
+
+    For conveying bodies from one church to
+      another there shall be paid, for each
+      of the above fees, one-half more.
+
+  For the reception of bodies thus conveyed:
+  To the curate............................    6   10
+
+  To the vicar.............................    1   10
+
+  To each priest...........................    0   15
+
+
+
+
+TEARS.
+
+
+Tears are the silent language of grief. But why? What relation is there
+between a melancholy idea and this limpid and briny liquid filtered
+through a little gland into the external corner of the eye which
+moistens the conjunctiva and little lachrymal points, whence it descends
+into the nose and mouth by the reservoir called the lachrymal duct, and
+by its conduits? Why in women and children, whose organs are of a
+delicate texture, are tears more easily excited by grief than in men,
+whose formation is firmer?
+
+Has nature intended to excite compassion in us at the sight of these
+tears, which soften us and lead us to help those who shed them? The
+female savage is as strongly determined to assist her child who cries,
+as a lady of the court would be, and perhaps more so, because she has
+fewer distractions and passions.
+
+Everything in the animal body has, no doubt, its object. The eyes,
+particularly, have mathematical relations so evident, so demonstrable,
+so admirable with the rays of light; this mechanism is so divine, that I
+should be tempted to take for the delirium of a high fever, the audacity
+of denying the final causes of the structure of our eyes. The use of
+tears appears not to have so determined and striking an object; but it
+is probable that nature caused them to flow in order to excite us to
+pity.
+
+There are women who are accused of weeping when they choose. I am not at
+all surprised at their talent. A lively, sensible, and tender
+imagination can fix upon some object, on some melancholy recollection,
+and represent it in such lively colors as to draw tears; which happens
+to several performers, and particularly to actresses on the stage.
+
+Women who imitate them in the interior of their houses, join to this
+talent the little fraud of appearing to weep for their husbands, while
+they really weep for their lovers. Their tears are true, but the object
+of them is false.
+
+It is impossible to affect tears without a subject, in the same manner
+as we can affect to laugh. We must be sensibly touched to force the
+lachrymal gland to compress itself, and to spread its liquor on the
+orbit of the eye; but the will alone is required to laugh.
+
+We demand why the same man, who has seen with a dry eye the most
+atrocious events, and even committed crimes with sang-froid, will weep
+at the theatre at the representation of similar events and crimes? It
+is, that he sees them not with the same eyes; he sees them with those of
+the author and the actor. He is no longer the same man; he was
+barbarous, he was agitated with furious passions, when he saw an
+innocent woman killed, when he stained himself with the blood of his
+friend; he became a man again at the representation of it. His soul was
+filled with a stormy tumult; it is now tranquil and void, and nature
+re-entering it, he sheds virtuous tears. Such is the true merit, the
+great good of theatrical representation, which can never be effected by
+the cold declamation of an orator paid to tire an audience for an hour.
+
+The capitoul David, who; without emotion, saw and caused the innocent
+Calas to die on the wheel, would have shed tears at seeing his own crime
+in a well-written and well-acted tragedy. Pope has elegantly said this
+in the prologue to Addison's Cato:
+
+     Tyrants no more their savage nature kept,
+     And foes to virtue wondered how they wept.
+
+
+
+
+TERELAS.
+
+
+Terelas, Pterelas, or Pterlaus, just which you please, was the son of
+Taphus, or Taphius. Which signifies what you say? Gently, I will tell
+you. This Terelas had a golden lock, to which was attached the destiny
+of the town of Taphia, and what is more, this lock rendered Terelas
+immortal, as he would not die while this lock remained upon his head;
+for this reason he never combed it, lest he should comb it off. An
+immortality, however, which depends upon a lock of hair, is not the most
+certain of all things.
+
+Amphitryon, general of the republic of Thebes, besieged Taphia, and the
+daughter of King Terelas became desperately in love with him on seeing
+him pass the ramparts. Thus excited, she stole to her father in the dead
+of night, cut off his golden lock, and sent it to the general, in
+consequence of which the town was taken, and Terelas killed. Some
+learned men assure us, that it was the wife of Terelas who played him
+this ill turn; and as they ground their opinions upon great authorities,
+it might be rendered the subject of a useful dissertation. I confess
+that I am somewhat inclined to be of the opinion of those learned
+persons, as it appears to me that a wife is usually less timorous than a
+daughter.
+
+The same thing happened to Nisus, king of Megara, which town was
+besieged by Minos. Scylla, the daughter of Nisus, became madly in love
+with him; and although in point of fact, her father did not possess a
+lock of gold, he had one of purple, and it is known that on this lock
+depended equally his life and the fate of the Megarian Empire. To oblige
+Minos, the dutiful Scylla cut it off, and presented it to her lover.
+
+"All the history of Minos is true," writes the profound Bannier; "and
+this is attested by all antiquity." I believe it precisely as I do that
+of Terelas, but I am embarrassed between the profound Calmet and the
+profound Huet. Calmet is of opinion, that the adventure of the lock of
+Nisus presented to Minos, and that of Terelas given to Amphitryon, are
+obviously taken from the genuine history of Samson. Huet the
+demonstrator, on the contrary shows, that Minos is evidently Moses, as
+cutting out the letters _n_ and _e_, one of these names is the anagram
+of the other.
+
+But, notwithstanding the demonstration of Huet, I am entirely on the
+side of the refined Dom Calmet, and for those who are of the opinion
+that all which relates to the locks of Terelas and of Nisus is connected
+with the hair of Samson. The most convincing of my triumphant reasons
+is, that without reference to the family of Terelas, with the
+metamorphoses of which I am unacquainted, it is certain that Scylla was
+changed into a lark, and her father Nisus into a sparrow-hawk. Now,
+Bochart being of opinion that a sparrow-hawk is called "neis" in
+Hebrew, I thence conclude, that the history of Terelas, Amphitryon,
+Nisus, and Minos is copied from the history of Samson.
+
+I am aware that a dreadful sect has arisen in our days, equally detested
+by God and man, who pretend that the Greek fables are more ancient than
+the Jewish history; that the Greeks never heard a word of Samson any
+more than of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, etc., which names are not cited by
+any Greek author. They assert, as we have modestly intimated--in the
+articles on "Bacchus" and "Jew"--that the Greeks could not possibly take
+anything from the Jews, but that the Jews might derive something from
+the Greeks.
+
+I answer with the doctor Hayet, the doctor Gauchat, the ex-Jesuit
+Patouillet, and the ex-Jesuit Paulian, that this is the most damnable
+heresy which ever issued from hell; that it was formerly anathematized
+in full parliament, on petition, and condemned in the report of the
+Sieur P.; and finally, that if indulgence be extended to those who
+support such frightful systems, there will be no more certainty in the
+world; but that Antichrist will quickly arrive, if he has not come
+already.
+
+
+
+
+TESTES.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+This word is scientific, and a little obscure, signifying small
+witnesses. Sixtus V., a Cordelier become pope, declared, by his letter
+of the 25th of June, 1587, to his nuncio in Spain, that he must unmarry
+all those who were not possessed of testicles. It seems by this order,
+which was executed by Philip II., that there were many husbands in Spain
+deprived of these two organs. But how could a man, who had been a
+Cordelier, be ignorant that the testicles of men are often hidden in the
+abdomen, and that they are equally if not more effective in that
+situation? We have beheld in France three brothers of the highest rank,
+one of whom possessed three, the other only one, while the third
+possessed no appearance of any, and yet was the most vigorous of the
+three.
+
+The angelic doctor, who was simply a Jacobin, decides that two testicles
+are "_de essentia matrimonii_" (of the essence of marriage); in which
+opinion he is followed by Ricardus, Scotus, Durandus, and Sylvius. If
+you are not able to obtain a sight of the pleadings of the advocate
+Sebastian Rouillard, in 1600, in favor of the testicles of his client,
+concealed in his abdomen, at least consult the dictionary of Bayle, at
+the article "Quellenec." You will there discover, that the wicked wife
+of the client of Sebastian Rouillard wished to render her marriage void,
+on the plea that her husband could not exhibit testicles. The defendant
+replied, that he had perfectly fulfilled his matrimonial duties, and
+offered the usual proof of a re-performance of them in full assembly.
+The jilt replied, that this trial was too offensive to her modesty, and
+was, moreover, superfluous, since the defendant was visibly deprived of
+testicles, and that messieurs of the assembly were fully aware that
+testicles are necessary to perfect consummation.
+
+I am unacquainted with the result of this process, but I suspect that
+her husband lost his cause. What induces me to think so is, that the
+same Parliament of Paris, on the 8th of January, 1665, issued a decree,
+asserting the necessity of two visible testicles, without which marriage
+was not to be contracted. Had there been any member in the assembly in
+the situation described, and reduced to the necessity of being a
+witness, he might have convinced the assembly that it decided without a
+due knowledge of circumstances. Pontas may be profitably consulted on
+testicles, as well as upon any other subject. He was a sub-penitentiary,
+who decided every sort of case, and who sometimes comes near to Sanchez.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+A word or two on hermaphrodites. A prejudice has for a long time crept
+into the Russian Church, that it is not lawful to say mass without
+testicles; or, at least, they must be hid in the officiator's pocket.
+This ancient idea was founded in the Council of Nice, who forbade the
+admission into orders of those who mutilated themselves. The example of
+Origen, and of certain enthusiasts, was the cause of this order, which
+was confirmed a second time in the Council of Aries.
+
+The Greek Church did not exclude from the altar those who had endured
+the operation of Origen against their own consent. The patriarchs of
+Constantinople, Nicetas, Ignatius, Photius, and Methodius, were eunuchs.
+At present this point of discipline seems undecided in the Catholic
+Church. The most general opinion, however, is, that in order to be
+ordained a priest, a eunuch will require a dispensation.
+
+The banishment of eunuchs from the service of the altar appears contrary
+to the purity and chastity which the service exacts; and certainly such
+of the priests as confess handsome women and girls would be exposed to
+less temptation. Opposing reasons of convenience and decorum have
+determined those who make these laws.
+
+In Leviticus, all corporeal defects are excluded from the service of the
+altar--the blind, the crooked, the maimed, the lame, the one-eyed, the
+leper, the scabby, long noses, and short noses. Eunuchs are not spoken
+of, as there were none among the Jews. Those who acted as eunuchs in the
+service of their kings, were foreigners.
+
+It has been demanded whether an animal, a man for example, can possess
+at once testicles and ovaries, or the glands which are taken for
+ovaries; in a word, the distinctive organs of both sexes? Can nature
+form veritable hermaphrodites, and can a hermaphrodite be rendered
+pregnant? I answer, that I know nothing about it, nor the
+ten-thousandth part of what is within the operation of nature. I
+believe, however, that Europe has never witnessed a genuine
+hermaphrodite, nor has it indeed produced elephants, zebras, giraffes,
+ostriches, and many more of the animals which inhabit Asia, Africa, and
+America. It is hazardous to assert, that because we never beheld a
+thing, it does not exist.
+
+Examine "Cheselden," page 34, and you will behold there a very good
+delineation of an animal man and woman--a negro and negress of Angola,
+which was brought to London in its infancy, and carefully examined by
+this celebrated surgeon, as much distinguished for his probity as his
+information. The plate is entitled "Members of an Hermaphrodite Negro,
+of the Age of Twenty-six Years, of both Sexes." They are not absolutely
+perfect, but they exhibit a strange mixture of the one and the other.
+
+Cheselden has frequently attested the truth of this prodigy, which,
+however, is possibly no such thing in some of the countries of Africa.
+The two sexes are not perfect in this instance; who can assure us, that
+other negroes, mulatto, or copper-colored individuals, are not
+absolutely male and female? It would be as reasonable to assert, that a
+perfect statue cannot exist, because we have witnessed none without
+defects. There are insects which possess both sexes; why may there not
+be human beings similarly endowed? I affirm nothing; God keep me from
+doing so. I only doubt.
+
+How many things belong to the animal man, in respect to which he must
+doubt, from his pineal gland to his spleen, the use of which is unknown;
+and from the principle of his thoughts and sensations to his animal
+spirits, of which everybody speaks, and which nobody ever saw or ever
+will see!
+
+
+
+
+THEISM.
+
+
+Theism is a religion diffused through all religions; it is a metal which
+mixes itself with all the others, the veins of which extend under ground
+to the four corners of the world. This mine is more openly worked in
+China; everywhere else it is hidden, and the secret is only in the hands
+of the adepts.
+
+There is no country where there are more of these adepts than in
+England. In the last century there were many atheists in that country,
+as well as in France and Italy. What the chancellor Bacon had said
+proved true to the letter, that a little philosophy makes a man an
+atheist, and that much philosophy leads to the knowledge of a God. When
+it was believed with Epicurus, that chance made everything, or with
+Aristotle, and even with several ancient theologians, that nothing was
+created but through corruption, and that by matter and motion alone the
+world goes on, then it was impossible to believe in a providence. But
+since nature has been looked into, which the ancients did not perceive
+at all; since it is observed that all is organized, that everything has
+its germ; since it is well known that a mushroom is the work of
+infinite wisdom, as well as all the worlds; then those who thought,
+adored in the countries where their ancestors had blasphemed. The
+physicians are become the heralds of providence; a catechist announces
+God to children, and a Newton demonstrates Him to the learned.
+
+Many persons ask whether theism, considered abstractedly, and without
+any religious ceremony, is in fact a religion? The answer is easy: he
+who recognizes only a creating God, he who views in God only a Being
+infinitely powerful, and who sees in His creatures only wonderful
+machines, is not religious towards Him any more than a European,
+admiring the king of China, would thereby profess allegiance to that
+prince. But he who thinks that God has deigned to place a relation
+between Himself and mankind; that He has made him free, capable of good
+and evil; that He has given all of them that good sense which is the
+instinct of man, and on which the law of nature is founded; such a one
+undoubtedly has a religion, and a much better religion than all those
+sects who are beyond the pale of our Church; for all these sects are
+false, and the law of nature is true. Thus, theism is good sense not yet
+instructed by revelation; and other religions are good sense perverted
+by superstition.
+
+All sects differ, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the
+same because it comes from God. It is asked why, out of five or six
+hundred sects, there have scarcely been any who have not spilled blood;
+and why the theists, who are everywhere so numerous, have never caused
+the least disturbance? It is because they are philosophers. Now
+philosophers may reason badly, but they never intrigue. Those who
+persecute a philosopher, under the pretext that his opinions may be
+dangerous to the public, are as absurd as those who are afraid that the
+study of algebra will raise the price of bread in the market; one must
+pity a thinking being who errs; the persecutor is frantic and horrible.
+We are all brethren; if one of my brothers, full of respect and filial
+love, inspired by the most fraternal charity, does not salute our common
+Father with the same ceremonies as I do, ought I to cut his throat and
+tear out his heart?
+
+What is a true theist? It is he who says to God: "I adore and serve
+You;" it is he who says to the Turk, to the Chinese, the Indian, and the
+Russian: "I love you." He doubts, perhaps, that Mahomet made a journey
+to the moon and put half of it in his pocket; he does not wish that
+after his death his wife should burn herself from devotion; he is
+sometimes tempted not to believe the story of the eleven thousand
+virgins, and that of St. Amable, whose hat and gloves were carried by a
+ray of the sun from Auvergne as far as Rome.
+
+But for all that he is a just man. Noah would have placed him in his
+ark, Numa Pompilius in his councils; he would have ascended the car of
+Zoroaster; he would have talked philosophy with the Platos, the
+Aristippuses, the Ciceros, the Atticuses--but would he not have drunk
+hemlock with Socrates?
+
+
+
+
+THEIST.
+
+
+The theist is a man firmly persuaded of the existence of a Supreme Being
+equally good and powerful, who has formed all extended, vegetating,
+sentient, and reflecting existences; who perpetuates their species, who
+punishes crimes without cruelty, and rewards virtuous actions with
+kindness.
+
+The theist does not know how God punishes, how He rewards, how He
+pardons; for he is not presumptuous enough to flatter himself that he
+understands how God acts; but he knows that God does act, and that He is
+just. The difficulties opposed to a providence do not stagger him in his
+faith, because they are only great difficulties, not proofs; he submits
+himself to that providence, although he only perceives some of its
+effects and some appearances; and judging of the things he does not see
+from those he does see, he thinks that this providence pervades all
+places and all ages.
+
+[Illustration: Death of Socrates]
+
+United in this principle with the rest of the universe, he does not join
+any of the sects, who all contradict themselves; his religion is the
+most ancient and the most extended; for the simple adoration of a
+God has preceded all the systems in the world. He speaks a language
+which all nations understand, while they are unable to understand each
+other's. He has brethren from Pekin to Cayenne, and he reckons all the
+wise his brothers. He believes that religion consists neither in the
+opinions of incomprehensible metaphysics, nor in vain decorations, but
+in adoration and justice. To do good--that is his worship; to submit
+oneself to God--that is his doctrine. The Mahometan cries out to him:
+"Take care of yourself, if you do not make the pilgrimage to Mecca."
+"Woe be to thee," says a Franciscan, "if thou dost not make a journey to
+our Lady of Loretto." He laughs at Loretto and Mecca; but he succors the
+indigent and defends the oppressed.
+
+
+
+
+THEOCRACY.
+
+_Government of God or Gods._
+
+I deceive myself every day; but I suspect that all the nations who have
+cultivated the arts have lived under a theocracy. I always except the
+Chinese, who appear learned as soon as they became a nation. They were
+free from superstition directly China was a kingdom. It is a great pity,
+that having been raised so high at first, they should remain stationary
+at the degree they have so long occupied in the sciences. It would seem
+that they have received from nature an ample allowance of good sense,
+and a very small one of industry. Yet in other things their industry is
+displayed more than ours.
+
+The Japanese, their neighbors, of whose origin I know nothing
+whatever--for whose origin do we know?--were incontestably governed by a
+theocracy. The earliest well-ascertained sovereigns were the "_dairos_,"
+the high priests of their gods; this theocracy is well established.
+These priests reigned despotically about eight hundred years. In the
+middle of our twelfth century it came to pass that a captain, an
+"_imperator_," a "_seogon_" shared their authority; and in our sixteenth
+century the captains seized the whole power, and kept it. The "_dairos_"
+have remained the heads of religion; they were kings--they are now only
+saints; they regulate festivals, they bestow sacred titles, but they
+cannot give a company of infantry.
+
+The Brahmins in India possessed for a long time the theocratical power;
+that is to say, they held the sovereign authority in the name of Brahma,
+the son of God; and even in their present humble condition they still
+believe their character indelible. These are the two principal among the
+certain theocracies.
+
+The priests of Chaldæa, Persia, Syria, Phoenicia, and Egypt, were so
+powerful, had so great a share in the government, and carried the censer
+so loftily above the sceptre, that empire may be said, among those
+nations, to nave been divided between theocracy and royalty.
+
+The government of Numa Pompilius was evidently theocratical. When a man
+says: "I give you laws furnished by the gods; it is not I, it is a god
+who speaks to you"--then it is God who is king, and he who talks thus is
+lieutenant-general.
+
+Among all the Celtic nations who had only elective chiefs, and not
+kings, the Druids and their sorceries governed everything. But I cannot
+venture to give the name of theocracy to the anarchy of these savages.
+
+The little Jewish nation does not deserve to be considered politically,
+except on account of the prodigious revolution that has occurred in the
+world, of which it was the very obscure and unconscious cause.
+
+Do but consider the history of this strange people. They have a
+conductor who undertakes to guide them in the name of his God to
+Phoenicia, which he calls Canaan. The way was direct and plain, from
+the country of Goshen as far as Tyre, from south to north; and there was
+no danger for six hundred and thirty thousand fighting men, having at
+their head a general like Moses, who, according to Flavius Josephus, had
+already vanquished an army of Ethiopians, and even an army of serpents.
+
+Instead of taking this short and easy route, he conducts them from
+Rameses to Baal-Sephon, in an opposite direction, right into the middle
+of Egypt, due south. He crosses the sea; he marches for forty years in
+the most frightful deserts, where there is not a single spring of water,
+or a tree, or a cultivated field--nothing but sand and dreary rocks. It
+is evident that God alone could make the Jews, by a miracle, take this
+route, and support them there by a succession of miracles.
+
+The Jewish government therefore was then a true theocracy. Moses,
+however, was never pontiff, and Aaron, who was pontiff, was never chief
+nor legislator. After that time we do not find any pontiff governing.
+Joshua, Jephthah, Samson, and the other chiefs of the people, except
+Elias and Samuel, were not priests. The Jewish republic, reduced to
+slavery so often, was anarchical rather than theocratical.
+
+Under the kings of Judah and Israel, it was but a long succession of
+assassinations and civil wars. These horrors were interrupted only by
+the entire extinction of ten tribes, afterwards by the enslavement of
+two others, and by the destruction of the city amidst famine and
+pestilence. This was not then divine government.
+
+When the Jewish slaves returned to Jerusalem, they were subdued by the
+kings of Persia, by the conqueror Alexandria and his successors. It
+appears that God did not then reign immediately over this nation, since
+a little before the invasion of Alexander, the pontiff John assassinated
+the priest Jesus, his brother, in the temple of Jerusalem, as Solomon
+had assassinated his brother Adonijah on the altar.
+
+The government was still less theocratical when Antiochus Epiphanes,
+king of Syria, employed many of the Jews to punish those whom he
+regarded as rebels. He forbade them all, under pain of death, to
+circumcise their children; he compelled them to sacrifice swine in their
+temple, to burn the gates, to destroy the altar; and the whole enclosure
+was filled with thorns and brambles.
+
+Matthias rose against him at the head of some citizens, but he was not
+king. His son, Judas Maccabæus, taken for the Messiah, perished after
+glorious struggles. To these bloody contests succeeded civil wars. The
+men of Jerusalem destroyed Samaria, which the Romans subsequently
+rebuilt under the name of Sebasta.
+
+In this chaos of revolutions, Aristobulus, of the race of the Maccabees,
+and son of a high priest, made himself king, more than five hundred
+years after the destruction of Jerusalem. He signalized his reign like
+some Turkish sultans, by cutting his brother's throat, and causing his
+mother to be put to death. His successors followed his example, until
+the period when the Romans punished all these barbarians. Nothing in all
+this is theocratical.
+
+If anything affords an idea of theocracy, it must be granted that it is
+the papacy of Rome; it never announces itself but in the name of God,
+and its subjects live in peace. For a long time Thibet enjoyed the same
+advantages under the Grand Lama; but that is a gross error striving to
+imitate a sublime truth.
+
+The first Incas, by calling themselves descendants in a right line from
+the sun, established a theocracy; everything was done in the name of the
+sun. Theocracy ought to be universal; for every man, whether a prince or
+a boatman, should obey the natural and eternal laws which God has given
+him.
+
+
+
+
+THEODOSIUS.
+
+
+Every prince who puts himself at the head of a party, and succeeds, is
+sure of being praised to all eternity, if the party lasts that time; and
+his adversaries may be assured that they will be treated by orators,
+poets, and preachers, as Titans who revolted against the gods. This is
+what happened to Octavius Augustus, when his good fortune made him
+defeat Brutus, Cassius, and Antony. It was the lot of Constantine, when
+Maxentius, the legitimate emperor, elected by the Roman senate and
+people, fell into the water and was drowned.
+
+Theodosius had the same advantage. Woe to the vanquished! blessed be the
+victorious!--that is the motto of mankind. Theodosius was a Spanish
+officer, the son of a Spanish soldier of fortune. As soon as he was
+emperor he persecuted the anti-consubstantialists. Judge of the
+applauses, benedictions, and pompous eulogies, on the part of the
+consubstantialists! Their adversaries scarcely subsist any longer; their
+complaints and clamors against the tyranny of Theodosius have perished
+with them, and the predominant party still lavishes on this prince the
+epithets of pious, just, clement, wise, and great.
+
+One day this pious and clement prince, who loved money to distraction,
+proposed laying a very heavy tax upon the city of Antioch, then the
+finest of Asia Minor. The people, in despair, having demanded a slight
+diminution, and not being able to obtain it, went so far as to break
+some statues, among which was one of the soldier, the emperor's father.
+St. John Chrysostom, or golden mouth, the priest and flatterer of
+Theodosius, failed not to call this action a detestable sacrilege, since
+Theodosius was the image of God, and his father was almost as sacred as
+himself. But if this Spaniard resembled God, he should have remembered
+that the Antiochians also resembled Him, and that men formed after the
+exemplar of all the gods existed before emperors.
+
+     _Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum._
+                                      --OVID, _Met._ i, b. 83.
+
+Theodosius immediately sent a letter to the governor, with an order to
+apply the torture to the principal images of God who had taken part in
+this passing sedition; to make them perish under blows received from
+cords terminated with leaden balls; to burn some, and deliver others up
+to the sword. This was executed with all the punctuality of a governor
+who did his duty like a Christian, who paid his court well, and who
+would make his way there. The Orontes bore nothing but corpses to the
+sea for several days; after which, his gracious imperial majesty
+pardoned the Antiochians with his usual clemency, and doubled the tax.
+
+How did the emperor Julian act in the same city, when he had received a
+more personal and injurious outrage? It was not a paltry statue of his
+father which they defaced; it was to himself that the Antiochians
+addressed themselves, and against whom they composed the most violent
+satires. The philosophical emperor answered them by a light and
+ingenious satire. He took from them neither their lives nor their
+purses. He contented himself with having more wit than they had. This is
+the man whom St. Gregory Nazianzen and Theodoret, who were not of his
+communion, dare to calumniate so far as to say that he sacrificed women
+and children to the moon; while those who were of the communion of
+Theodosius have persisted to our day in copying one another, by saying
+in a hundred ways, that Theodosius was the most virtuous of men, and by
+wishing to make him a saint.
+
+We know well enough what was the mildness of this saint in the massacre
+of fifteen thousand of his subjects at Thessalonica. His panegyrists
+reduce the number of the murdered to seven or eight thousand, which is a
+very small number to them; but they elevate to the sky the tender piety
+of this good prince, who deprived himself of mass, as also that of his
+accomplice, the detestable Rufinus. I confess once more, that it was a
+great expiation, a great act of devotion, the not going to mass; but it
+restores not life to fifteen thousand innocents, slain in cold blood by
+an abominable perfidy. If a heretic was stained with such a crime, with
+what pleasure would all historians turn their boasting against him; with
+what colors would they paint him in the pulpits and college
+declamations!
+
+I will suppose that the prince of Parma entered Paris, after having
+forced our dear Henry IV. to raise the siege; I will suppose that Philip
+II. gave the throne of France to his Catholic daughter, and to the young
+Catholic duke of Guise; how many pens and voices would forever have
+anathematized Henry IV., and the Salic law! They would be both
+forgotten, and the Guises would be the heroes of the state and religion.
+Thus it is--applaud the prosperous and fly the miserable! "_Et cole
+felices, miseros fuge._"
+
+If Hugh Capet dispossess the legitimate heir of Charlemagne, he becomes
+the root of a race of heroes. If he fails, he may be treated as the
+brother of St. Louis since treated Conradin and the duke of Austria, and
+with much more reason.
+
+Pepin rebels, dethrones the Merovingian race, and shuts his king in a
+cloister; but if he succeeds not, he mounts the scaffold. If Clovis, the
+first king of Belgic Gaul, is beaten in his invasion, he runs the risk
+of being condemned to the fangs of beasts, as one of his ancestors was
+by Constantine. Thus goes the world under the empire of fortune, which
+is nothing but necessity, insurmountable fatality. "_Fortuna sævo læta
+negotio._" She makes us blindly play her terrible game, and we never see
+beneath the cards.
+
+
+
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+The theologian knows perfectly that, according to St. Thomas, angels are
+corporeal with relation to God; that the soul receives its being in the
+body; and that man has a vegetative, sensitive, and intellectual soul;
+that the soul is all in all, and all in every part; that it is the
+efficient and formal cause of the body; that it is the greatest in
+nobleness of form; that the appetite is a passive power; that archangels
+are the medium between angels and principalities; that baptism
+regenerates of itself and by chance; that the catechism is not a
+sacrament, but sacramental; that certainty springs from the cause and
+subject; that concupiscence is the appetite of sensitive delectation;
+that conscience is an act and not a power.
+
+The angel of the schools has written about four thousand fine pages in
+this style, and a shaven-crowned young man passes three years in filling
+his brain with this sublime knowledge; after which he receives the
+bonnet of a doctor of the Sorbonne, instead of going to Bedlam. If he is
+a man of quality, or the son of a rich man, or intriguing and fortunate,
+he becomes bishop, archbishop, cardinal, and pope.
+
+If he is poor and without credit, he becomes the chaplain of one of
+these people; it is he who preaches for them, who reads St. Thomas and
+Scotus for them, who makes commandments for them, and who in a council
+decides for them.
+
+The title of theologian is so great that the fathers of the Council of
+Trent give it to their cooks, "_cuoco celeste, gran theologo_." Their
+science is the first of sciences, their condition the first of
+conditions, and themselves the first of men; such the empire of true
+doctrine; so much does reason govern mankind!
+
+When a theologian has become--thanks to his arguments--either prince of
+the holy Roman Empire, archbishop of Toledo, or one of the seventy
+princes clothed in red, successors of the humble apostles, then the
+successors of Galen and Hippocrates are at his service. They were his
+equals when they studied in the same university; they had the same
+degrees, and received the same furred bonnet. Fortune changes all; and
+those who discovered the circulation of the blood, the lacteal veins,
+and the thoracic canal, are the servants of those who have learned what
+concomitant grace is, and have forgotten it.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+I knew a true theologian; he was master of the languages of the East,
+and was instructed as much as possible in the ancient rites of nations.
+The Brahmins, Chaldæans, Fire-worshippers, Sabeans, Syrians, and
+Egyptians, were as well known to him as the Jews; the several lessons of
+the Bible were familiar to him; and for thirty years he had tried to
+reconcile the gospels, and endeavored to make the fathers agree. He
+sought in what time precisely the creed attributed to the apostles was
+digested, and that which bears the name of Athanasius; how the
+sacraments were instituted one after the other; what was the difference
+between synaxis and mass; how the Christian Church was divided since its
+origin into different parties, and how the predominating society treated
+all the others as heretics. He sounded the depth of policy which always
+mixes with these quarrels; and he distinguished between policy and
+wisdom, between the pride which would subjugate minds and the desire of
+self-illumination, between zeal and fanaticism.
+
+The difficulty of arranging in his head so many things, the nature of
+which is to be confounded, and of throwing a little light on so many
+clouds, often checked him; but as these researches were the duty of his
+profession, he gave himself up to them notwithstanding his distaste. He
+at length arrived at knowledge unknown to the greater part of his
+brethren: but the more learned he waxed, the more mistrustful he became
+of all that he knew. While he lived he was indulgent; and at his death,
+he confessed that he had spent his life uselessly.
+
+
+
+
+THUNDER.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+     _Vidi et crudeles dantem Salmonea poenas_
+     _Dum flammas Jovis et sonitus imitatur Olympia, etc._
+                             --VIRGIL, Æneid, b. vi, 1. 585.
+
+     Salmoneus suffering cruel pains I found,
+     For imitating Jove, the rattling sound
+     Of mimic thunder, and the glittering blaze
+     Of pointed lightnings and their forked rays.
+
+Those who invented and perfected artillery are so many other
+Salmoneuses. A cannon-ball of twenty-four pounds can make, and has often
+made, more ravage than an hundred thunder-claps; yet no cannoneer has
+ever been struck by Jupiter for imitating that which passes in the
+atmosphere.
+
+We have seen that Polyphemus, in a piece of Euripides, boasts of making
+more noise, when he had supped well, than the thunder of Jupiter.
+Boileau, more honest than Polyphemus, says that another world astonishes
+him, and that he believes in the immortality of the soul, and that it is
+God who thunders:
+
+     _Pour moi, qu'en santé même un autre monde étonne,_
+     _Qui crois l'âme immortelle, et que c'est Dieu qui tonne._
+                                       --SAT. i, line 161,162.
+
+I know not why he is so astonished at another world, since all antiquity
+believed in it. Astonish was not the proper word; it was alarm. He
+believes that it is God who thunders; but he thunders only as he hails,
+as he rains, and as he produces fine weather--as he operates all, as he
+performs all. It is not because he is angry that he sends thunder and
+rain. The ancients paint Jupiter taking thunder, composed of three
+burning arrows, and hurling it at whomsoever he chose. Sound reason does
+not agree with these poetical ideas.
+
+Thunder is like everything else, the necessary effect of the laws of
+nature, prescribed by its author. It is merely a great electrical
+phenomenon. Franklin forces it to descend tranquilly on the earth; it
+fell on Professor Richmann as on rocks and churches; and if it struck
+Ajax Oileus, it was assuredly not because Minerva was irritated against
+him.
+
+If it had fallen on Cartouche, or the abbé Desfontaines, people would
+not have failed to say:
+
+"Behold how God punishes thieves and--." But it is a useful prejudice to
+make the sky fearful to the perverse. Thus all our tragic poets, when
+they would rhyme to "_poudre_" or "_resoudre_," invariably make use of
+"_foudre_"; and uniformly make "_tonnerre_" roll, when they would rhyme
+to "_terre_."
+
+Theseus, in "_Phèdre_," says to his son--act iv, scene 2:
+
+     _Monstre, qu'à trop longtemps épargné le tonnerre,_
+     _Reste impur des brigands dont j'ai purgé la terre!_
+
+Severus, in "_Polyeucte_," without even having occasion to rhyme, when
+he learns that his mistress is married, talks to Fabian, his friend, of
+a clap of thunder. He says elsewhere to the same Fabian--act iv, scene
+6--that a new clap of "_foudre_" strikes upon his hope, and reduces it
+to "_poudre_":
+
+     _Qu'est ceci, Fabian, quel nouveau coup de foudre_
+     _Tombe sur mon espoir, et le réduit en poudre?_
+
+
+A hope reduced to powder must astonish the pit! Lusignan, in "_Zaïre_,"
+prays God that the thunder will burst on him alone:
+
+
+     _Que la foudre en éclats ne tombe que sur moi._
+
+If Tydeus consults the gods in the cave of a temple, the cave answers
+him only by great claps of thunder.
+
+     I've finally seen the thunder and "foudre"
+     Reduce verses to cinders and rhymes into "poudre."
+
+We must endeavor to thunder less frequently.
+
+I could never clearly comprehend the fable of Jupiter and Thunder, in La
+Fontaine--b. viii, fable 20.
+
+     _Vulcain remplit ses fourneaux_
+     _De deux sortes de carreaux._
+     _L'un jamais ne se fourvoie,_
+     _Et c'est celui que toujours_
+     _L'Olympe en corps nous envoie._
+     _L'autre s'écarte en son cours,_
+     _Ce n'est qu'aux monts qu'il en coûte;_
+     _Bien souvent même il se perd;_
+     _Et ce dernier en sa route_
+     _Nous vient du seul Jupiter._
+
+"Vulcan fills his furnaces with two sorts of thunderbolts. The one never
+wanders, and it is that which comes direct from Olympus. The other
+diverges in its route, and only spends itself on mountains; it is often
+even altogether dissipated. It is this last alone which proceeds from
+Jupiter."
+
+Was the subject of this fable, which La Fontaine put into bad verse so
+different from his general style, given to him? Would it infer that the
+ministers of Louis XIV. were inflexible, and that the king pardoned?
+Crébillon, in his academical discourse in foreign verse, says that
+Cardinal Fleury is a wise depositary, the eagle, using his thunder, yet
+the friend of peace:
+
+     _Usant en citoyen du pouvoir arbitraire,_
+     _Aigle de Jupiter, mais ami de la paix,_
+     _Il gouverne la foudre, et ne tonne jamais._
+
+He says that Marshal Villars made it appear that he survived Malplaquet
+only to become more celebrated at Denain, and that with a clap of
+thunder Prince Eugene was vanquished:
+
+     _Fit voir, qu'à Malplaquet il n'avait survécu_
+     _Que pour rendre à Denain sa valeur plus célèbre_
+     _Et qu'un foudre du moins Eugène était vaincu._
+
+Thus the eagle Fleury governed thunder without thundering, and Eugene
+was vanquished by thunder. Here is quite enough of thunder.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Horace, sometimes the debauched and sometimes the moral, has said--book
+i, ode 3--that our folly extends to heaven itself: "_Coelum ipsum
+petimus stultitia._"
+
+We can say at present that we carry our wisdom to heaven, if we may be
+permitted to call that blue and white mass of exhalations which causes
+winds, rain, snow, hail, and thunder, heaven. We have decomposed the
+thunderbolt, as Newton disentangled light. We have perceived that these
+thunderbolts, formerly borne by the eagle of Jupiter, are really only
+electric fire; that in short we can draw down thunder, conduct it,
+divide it, and render ourselves masters of it, as we make the rays of
+light pass through a prism, as we give course to the waters which fall
+from heaven, that is to say, from the height of half a league from our
+atmosphere. We plant a high fir with the branches lopped off, the top of
+which is covered with a cone of iron. The clouds which form thunder are
+electrical; their electricity is communicated to this cone, and a brass
+wire which is attached to it conducts the matter of thunder wherever we
+please. An ingenious physician calls this experiment the inoculation of
+thunder.
+
+It is true, that inoculation for the smallpox, which has preserved so
+many mortals, caused some to perish, to whom the smallpox had been
+inconsiderately given; and in like manner the inoculation of thunder
+ill-performed would be dangerous. There are great lords whom we can only
+approach with the greatest precaution, and thunder is of this number. We
+know that the mathematical professor Richmann was killed at St.
+Petersburg, in 1753, by a thunderbolt which he had drawn into his
+chamber: "_Arte sua periit._" As he was a philosopher, a theological
+professor failed not to publish that he had been thunderstruck like
+Salmoneus, for having usurped the rights of God, and for wishing to hurl
+the thunder: but if the physician had directed the brass wire outside
+the house, and not into his pent-up chamber, he would not have shared
+the lot of Salmoneus, Ajax Oileus, the emperor Carus, the son of a
+French minister of state, and of several monks in the Pyrenees.
+
+
+
+
+TOLERATION.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+What is toleration? It is the appurtenance of humanity. We are all full
+of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our
+follies--it is the first law of nature.
+
+When, on the exchange of Amsterdam, of London, of Surat, or of Bassora,
+the Gueber, the Banian, the Jew, the Mahometan, the Chinese Deist, the
+Brahmin, the Christian of the Greek Church, the Roman Catholic
+Christian, the Protestant Christian, and the Quaker Christian, traffic
+together, they do not lift the poniard against each other, in order to
+gain souls for their religion. Why then have we been cutting one
+another's throats almost without interruption since the first Council of
+Nice?
+
+Constantine began by issuing an edict which allowed all religions, and
+ended by persecuting. Before him, tumults were excited against the
+Christians, only because they began to make a party in the state. The
+Romans permitted all kinds of worship, even those of the Jews, and of
+the Egyptians, for whom they had so much contempt. Why did Rome tolerate
+these religions? Because neither the Egyptians, nor even the Jews,
+aimed at exterminating the ancient religion of the empire, or ranged
+through land and sea for proselytes; they thought only of money-getting;
+but it is undeniable, that the Christians wished their own religion to
+be the dominant one. The Jews would not suffer the statue of Jupiter at
+Jerusalem, but the Christians wished it not to be in the capitol. St.
+Thomas had the candor to avow, that if the Christians did not dethrone
+the emperors, it was because they could not. Their opinion was, that the
+whole earth ought to be Christian. They were therefore necessarily
+enemies to the whole earth, until it was converted.
+
+Among themselves, they were the enemies of each other on all their
+points of controversy. Was it first of all necessary to regard Jesus
+Christ as God? Those who denied it were anathematized under the name of
+Ebionites, who themselves anathematized the adorers of Jesus.
+
+Did some among them wish all things to be in common, as it is pretended
+they were in the time of the apostles? Their adversaries called them
+Nicolaites, and accused them of the most infamous crimes. Did others
+profess a mystical devotion? They were termed Gnostics, and attacked
+with fury. Did Marcion dispute on the Trinity? He was treated as an
+idolater.
+
+Tertullian, Praxeas, Origen, Novatus, Novatian, Sabellius, Donatus, were
+all persecuted by their brethren, before Constantine; and scarcely had
+Constantine made the Christian religion the ruling one, when the
+Athanasians and the Eusebians tore each other to pieces; and from that
+time to our own days, the Christian Church has been deluged with blood.
+
+The Jewish people were, I confess, a very barbarous nation. They
+mercilessly cut the throats of all the inhabitants of an unfortunate
+little country upon which they had no more claim than they had upon
+Paris or London. However, when Naaman was cured of the leprosy by being
+plunged seven times in the Jordan--when, in order to testify his
+gratitude to Elisha, who had taught him the secret, he told him he would
+adore the god of the Jews from gratitude, he reserved to himself the
+liberty to adore also the god of his own king; he asked Elisha's
+permission to do so, and the prophet did not hesitate to grant it. The
+Jews adored their god, but they were never astonished that every nation
+had its own. They approved of Chemos having given a certain district to
+the Moabites, provided their god would give them one also. Jacob did not
+hesitate to marry the daughters of an idolater. Laban had his god, as
+Jacob had his. Such are the examples of toleration among the most
+intolerant and cruel people of antiquity. We have imitated them in their
+absurd passions, and not in their indulgence.
+
+It is clear that every private individual who persecutes a man, his
+brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster. This
+admits of no difficulty. But the government, the magistrates, the
+princes!--how do they conduct themselves towards those who have a faith
+different from their own? If they are powerful foreigners, it is certain
+that a prince will form an alliance with them. The Most Christian
+Francis I. will league himself with the Mussulmans against the Most
+Catholic Charles V. Francis I. will give money to the Lutherans in
+Germany, to support them in their rebellion against their emperor; but
+he will commence, as usual, by having the Lutherans in his own country
+burned. He pays them in Saxony from policy; he burns them in Paris from
+policy. But what follows? Persecutions make proselytes. France will soon
+be filled with new Protestants. At first they will submit to be hanged;
+afterwards they will hang in their turn. There will be civil wars; then
+Saint Bartholomew will come; and this corner of the world will be worse
+than all that the ancients and moderns have ever said of hell.
+
+Blockheads, who have never been able to render a pure worship to the God
+who made you! Wretches, whom the example of the Noachides, the Chinese
+literati, the Parsees, and of all the wise, has not availed to guide!
+Monsters, who need superstitions, just as the gizzard of a raven needs
+carrion! We have already told you--and we have nothing else to say--if
+you have two religions among you, they will massacre each other; if you
+have thirty, they will live in peace. Look at the Grand Turk: he governs
+Guebers, Banians, Christians of the Greek Church, Nestorians, and Roman
+Catholics. The first who would excite a tumult is empaled; and all is
+tranquil.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Of all religions, the Christian ought doubtless to inspire the most
+toleration, although hitherto the Christians have been the most
+intolerant of all men. Jesus, having deigned to be born in poverty and
+lowliness like his brethren, never condescended to practise the art of
+writing. The Jews had a law written with the greatest minuteness, and we
+have not a single line from the hand of Jesus. The apostles were divided
+on many points. St. Peter and St. Barnabas ate forbidden meats with the
+new stranger Christians, and abstained from them with the Jewish
+Christians. St. Paul reproached them with this conduct; and this same
+St. Paul, the Pharisee, the disciple of the Pharisee Gamaliel--this same
+St. Paul, who had persecuted the Christians with fury, and who after
+breaking with Gamaliel became a Christian himself--nevertheless, went
+afterwards to sacrifice in the temple of Jerusalem, during his apostolic
+vacation. For eight days he observed publicly all the ceremonies of the
+Jewish law which he had renounced; he even added devotions and
+purifications which were superabundant; he completely Judaized. The
+greatest apostle of the Christians did, for eight days, the very things
+for which men are condemned to the stake among a large portion of
+Christian nations.
+
+Theudas and Judas were called Messiahs, before Jesus: Dositheus, Simon,
+Menander, called themselves Messiahs, after Jesus. From the first
+century of the Church, and before even the name of Christian was known,
+there were a score of sects in Judæa.
+
+The contemplative Gnostics, the Dositheans, the Cerintheins, existed
+before the disciples of Jesus had taken the name of Christians. There
+were soon thirty churches, each of which belonged to a different
+society; and by the close of the first century thirty sects of
+Christians might be reckoned in Asia Minor, in Syria, in Alexandria, and
+even in Rome.
+
+All these sects, despised by the Roman government, and concealed in
+their obscurity, nevertheless persecuted each other in the hiding holes
+where they lurked; that is to say, they reproached one another. This is
+all they could do in their abject condition: they were almost wholly
+composed of the dregs of the people.
+
+When at length some Christians had embraced the dogmas of Plato, and
+mingled a little philosophy with their religion, which they separated
+from the Jewish, they insensibly became more considerable, but were
+always divided into many sects, without there ever having been a time
+when the Christian church was reunited. It took its origin in the midst
+of the divisions of the Jews, the Samaritans, the Pharisees, the
+Sadducees, the Essenians, the Judaites, the disciples of John, and the
+Therapeutæ. It was divided in its infancy; it was divided even amid
+the persecutions it sometimes endured under the first emperors. The
+martyr was often regarded by his brethren as an apostate; and the
+Carpocratian Christian expired under the sword of the Roman executioner,
+excommunicated by the Ebionite Christian, which Ebionite was
+anathematized by the Sabellian.
+
+This horrible discord, lasting for so many centuries, is a very striking
+lesson that we ought mutually to forgive each other's errors: discord is
+the great evil of the human species, and toleration is its only remedy.
+
+There is nobody who does not assent to this truth, whether meditating
+coolly in his closet, or examining the truth peaceably with his friends.
+Why, then, do the same men who in private admit charity, beneficence,
+and justice, oppose themselves in public so furiously against these
+virtues? Why!--it is because their interest is their god; because they
+sacrifice all to that monster whom they adore.
+
+I possess dignity and power, which ignorance and credulity have founded.
+I trample on the heads of men prostrated at my feet; if they should rise
+and look me in the face, I am lost; they must, therefore, be kept bound
+down to the earth with chains of iron.
+
+Thus have men reasoned, whom ages of fanaticism have rendered powerful.
+They have other persons in power under them, and these latter again have
+underlings, who enrich themselves with the spoils of the poor man,
+fatten themselves with his blood, and laugh at his imbecility. They
+detest all toleration, as contractors enriched at the expense of the
+public are afraid to render their accounts, and as tyrants dread the
+name of liberty. To crown all, in short, they encourage fanatics who cry
+aloud: Respect the absurdities of my master; tremble, pay, and be
+silent.
+
+Such was the practice for a long time in a great part of the world; but
+now, when so many sects are balanced by their power, what side must we
+take among them? Every sect, we know, is a mere title of error; while
+there is no sect of geometricians, of algebraists, of arithmeticians;
+because all the propositions of geometry, algebra, and arithmetic, are
+true. In all the other sciences, one may be mistaken. What Thomist or
+Scotist theologian can venture to assert seriously that he goes on sure
+grounds?
+
+If there is any sect which reminds one of the time of the first
+Christians, it is undeniably that of the Quakers. The apostles received
+the spirit. The Quakers receive the spirit. The apostles and disciples
+spoke three or four at once in the assembly in the third story; the
+Quakers do as much on the ground floor. Women were permitted to preach,
+according to St. Paul, and they were forbidden according to the same St.
+Paul: the Quakeresses preach by virtue of the first permission.
+
+The apostles and disciples swore by yea and nay; the Quakers will not
+swear in any other form. There was no rank, no difference of dress,
+among apostles and disciples; the Quakers have sleeves without buttons,
+and are all clothed alike. Jesus Christ baptized none of his apostles;
+the Quakers are never baptized.
+
+It would be easy to push the parallel farther; it would be still easier
+to demonstrate how much the Christian religion of our day differs from
+the religion which Jesus practised. Jesus was a Jew, and we are not
+Jews. Jesus abstained from pork, because it is uncleanly, and from
+rabbit, because it ruminates and its foot is not cloven; we fearlessly
+eat pork, because it is not uncleanly for us, and we eat rabbit which
+has the cloven foot and does not ruminate.
+
+Jesus was circumcised, and we retain our foreskin. Jesus ate the Paschal
+lamb with lettuce, He celebrated the feast of the tabernacles; and we do
+nothing of this. He observed the Sabbath, and we have changed it; He
+sacrificed, and we never sacrifice.
+
+Jesus always concealed the mystery of His incarnation and His dignity;
+He never said He was equal to God. St. Paul says expressly, in his
+Epistle to the Hebrews, that God created Jesus inferior to the angels;
+and in spite of St. Paul's words, Jesus was acknowledged as God at the
+Council of Nice.
+
+Jesus has not given the pope either the march of Ancona or the duchy of
+Spoleto; and, notwithstanding, the pope possesses them by divine right.
+Jesus did not make a sacrament either of marriage or of deaconry; and,
+with us, marriage and deaconry are sacraments. If we would attend
+closely to the fact, the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman religion is, in
+all its ceremonies and in all its dogma, the reverse of the religion of
+Jesus!
+
+But what! must we all Judaize, because Jesus Judaized all His life? If
+it were allowed to reason logically in matters of religion, it is clear
+that we ought all to become Jews, since Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was
+born a Jew, lived a Jew and died a Jew, and since He expressly said,
+that He accomplished and fulfilled the Jewish religion. But it is still
+more clear that we ought mutually to tolerate one another, because we
+are all weak, irrational, and subject to change and error. A reed
+prostrated by the wind in the mire--ought it to say to a neighboring
+reed placed in a contrary direction: Creep after my fashion, wretch, or
+I will present a request for you to be seized and burned?
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+My friends, when we have preached toleration in prose and in verse, in
+some of our pulpits, and in all our societies--when we have made these
+true human voices resound in the organs of our churches--we have done
+something for nature, we have reestablished humanity in its rights;
+there will no longer be an ex-Jesuit, or an ex-Jansenist, who dares to
+say, I am intolerant.
+
+There will always be barbarians and cheats who will foment intolerance;
+but they will not avow it--and that is something gained. Let us always
+bear in mind, my friends, let us repeat--for we must repeat, for fear it
+should be forgotten--the words of the bishop of Soissons, not Languet,
+but Fitzjames-Stuart, in his mandate of 1757: "We ought to regard the
+Turks as our brethren."
+
+Let us consider, that throughout English America, which constitutes
+nearly the fourth part of the known world, entire liberty of conscience
+is established; and provided a man believes in a God, every religion is
+well received: notwithstanding which, commerce flourishes and population
+increases. Let us always reflect, that the first law of the Empire of
+Russia, which is greater than the Roman Empire, is the toleration of
+every sect.
+
+The Turkish Empire, and the Persian, always allowed the same indulgence.
+Mahomet II., when he took Constantinople, did not force the Greeks to
+abandon their religion, although he looked on them as idolaters. Every
+Greek father of a family got off for five or six crowns a year. Many
+prebends and bishoprics were preserved for them; and even at this day
+the Turkish sultan makes canons and bishops, without the pope having
+ever made an imam or a mollah.
+
+My friends, there are only some monks, and some Protestants as barbarous
+as those monks, who are still intolerant. We have been so infected with
+this furor, that in our voyages of long duration, we have carried it to
+China, to Tonquin, and Japan. We have introduced the plague to those
+beautiful climes. The most indulgent of mankind have been taught by us
+to be the most inflexible. We said to them at the outset, in return for
+their kind welcome--Know that we alone on the earth are in the right,
+and that we ought to be masters everywhere. Then they drove us away
+forever. This lesson, which has cost seas of blood, ought to correct us.
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+The author of the preceding article is a worthy man who would sup with a
+Quaker, an Anabaptist, a Socinian, a Mussulman, etc. _I_ would push this
+civility farther; I would say to my brother the Turk--Let us eat
+together a good hen with rice, invoking Allah; your religion seems to me
+very respectable; you adore but one God; you are obliged to give the
+fortieth part of your revenue every day in alms, and to be reconciled
+with your enemies on the day of the Bairam. Our bigots, who calumniate
+the world, have said a hundred times, that your religion succeeded only
+because it was wholly sensual. They have lied, poor fellows! Your
+religion is very austere; it commands prayer five times a day; it
+imposes the most rigorous fast; it denies you the wine and the liquors
+which our spiritual directors encourage; and if it permits only four
+wives to those who can support them--which are very few--it condemns by
+this restriction the Jewish incontinence, which allowed eighteen wives
+to the homicide David, and seven hundred, without reckoning concubines,
+to Solomon, the assassin of his brother.
+
+I will say to my brother the Chinese: Let us sup together without
+ceremony, for I dislike grimaces; but I like your law, the wisest of
+all, and perhaps the most ancient. I will say nearly as much to my
+brother the Indian.
+
+But what shall I say to my brother the Jew? Shall I invite him to
+supper? Yes, on condition that, during the repast, Balaam's ass does not
+take it into its head to bray; that Ezekiel does not mix his dinner with
+our supper; that a fish does not swallow up one of the guests, and keep
+him three days in his belly; that a serpent does not join in the
+conversation, in order to seduce my wife; that a prophet does not think
+proper to sleep with her, as the worthy man, Hosea, did for five francs
+and a bushel of barley; above all, that no Jew parades through my house
+to the sound of the trumpet, causes the walls to fall down, and cuts the
+throats of myself, my father, my mother, my wife, my children, my cat
+and my dog, according to the ancient practice of the Jews. Come, my
+friends, let us have peace, and say our _benedicite_.
+
+
+
+
+TOPHET.
+
+
+Tophet was, and is still, a precipice near Jerusalem, in the valley of
+Hinnom, which is a frightful place, abounding only in flints. It was in
+this dreary solitude that the Jews immolated their children to their
+god, whom they then called Moloch; for we have observed, that they
+always bestowed a foreign name on their god. _Shadai_ was Syrian;
+_Adonai_, Phoenician; _Jehovah_ was also Phoenician; _Eloi_,
+_Elohim_, _Eloa_, Chaldæan; and in the same manner, the names of all
+their angels were Chaldæan or Persian. This we have remarked very
+particularly.
+
+All these different names equally signify "the lord," in the jargon of
+the petty nations bordering on Palestine. The word _Moloch_ is evidently
+derived from _Melk_, which was the same as _Melcom_ or _Melcon_, the
+divinity of the thousand women in the seraglio of Solomon; to-wit, seven
+hundred wives and three hundred concubines. All these names signify
+"lord": each village had its lord.
+
+Some sages pretend that Moloch was more particularly the god of fire;
+and that it was on that account the Jews burned their children in the
+hollow of the idol of this same Moloch. It was a large statue of copper,
+rendered as hideous as the Jews could make it. They heated the statue
+red hot, in a large fire, although they had very little fuel, and cast
+their children into the belly of this god, as our cooks cast living
+lobsters into the boiling water of their cauldrons. Such were the
+ancient Celts and Tudescans, when they burned children in honor of
+Teutates and Hirminsule. Such the Gallic virtue, and the German
+freedom!
+
+Jeremiah wished, in vain, to detach the Jewish people from this
+diabolical worship. In vain he reproaches them with having built a sort
+of temple to Moloch in this abominable valley. "They have built high
+places in Tophet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, in
+order to pass their sons and daughters through the fire."
+
+The Jews paid so much the less regard to the reproaches of Jeremiah, as
+they fiercely accused him of having sold himself to the king of Babylon;
+of having uniformly prophesied in his favor; and of having betrayed his
+country. In short, he suffered the punishment of a traitor; he was
+stoned to death.
+
+The Book of Kings informs us, that Solomon built a temple to Moloch, but
+it does not say that it was in the valley of Tophet, but in the vicinity
+upon the Mount of Olives. The situation was fine, if anything can be
+called fine in the frightful neighborhood of Jerusalem.
+
+Some commentators pretend, that Ahaz, king of Judah, burned his son in
+honor of Moloch, and that King Manasses was guilty of the same
+barbarity. Other commentators suppose, that these kings of the chosen
+people of God were content with casting their children into the flames,
+but that they were not burned to death. I wish that it may have been so;
+but it is very difficult for a child not to be burned when placed on a
+lighted pile.
+
+This valley of Tophet was the "Clamart" of Paris, the place where they
+deposited all the rubbish and carrion of the city. It was in this
+valley that they cast loose the scape-goat; it was the place in which
+the bodies of the two criminals were cast who suffered with the Son of
+God; but our Saviour did not permit His body, which was given up to the
+executioner, to be cast in the highway of the valley of Tophet,
+according to custom. It is true, that He might have risen again in
+Tophet, as well as in Calvary; but a good Jew, named Joseph, a native of
+Arimathea, who had prepared a sepulchre for himself on Mount Calvary,
+placed the body of the Saviour therein, according to the testimony of
+St. Matthew. No one was allowed to be buried in the towns; even the tomb
+of David was not in Jerusalem.
+
+Joseph of Arimathea was rich--"a certain rich man of Arimathea,"--that
+the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled: "And he made his grave with
+the wicked, and with the rich in his death."
+
+
+
+
+TORTURE.
+
+
+Though there are few articles of jurisprudence in these honest
+alphabetical reflections, we must, however, say a word or two on
+torture, otherwise called "the question"; which is a strange manner of
+questioning men. They were not, however, the simply curious who invented
+it; there is every appearance, that this part of our legislation owes
+its first origin to a highwayman. Most of these gentlemen are still in
+the habit of screwing thumbs, burning feet, and questioning, by various
+torments, those who refuse to tell them where they have put their money.
+
+Conquerors having succeeded these thieves, found the invention very
+useful to their interests; they made use of it when they suspected that
+there were bad designs against them: as, for example, that of seeking
+freedom was a crime of high treason, human and divine. The accomplices
+must be known; and to accomplish it, those who were suspected were made
+to suffer a thousand deaths, because, according to the jurisprudence of
+these primitive heroes, whoever was suspected of merely having a
+disrespectful opinion of them, was worthy of death. As soon as they have
+thus merited death, it signifies little whether they had frightful
+torments for several days, and even weeks previously--a practice which
+savors, I know not how, of the Divinity. Providence sometimes puts us to
+the torture by employing the stone, gravel, gout, scrofula, leprosy,
+smallpox; by tearing the entrails, by convulsions of the nerves,-and
+other executors of the vengeance of Providence.
+
+Now, as the first despots were, in the eyes of their courtiers, images
+of the Divinity, they imitated it as much as they could. What is very
+singular is, that the question, or torture, is never spoken of in the
+Jewish books. It is a great pity that so mild, honest, and compassionate
+a nation knew not this method of discovering the truth. In my opinion,
+the reason is, that they had no need of it. God always made it known to
+them as to His cherished people. Sometimes they played at dice to
+discover the truth, and the suspected culprit always had double sixes.
+Sometimes they went to the high priest, who immediately consulted God by
+the urim and thummim. Sometimes they addressed themselves to the seer
+and prophet; and you may believe that the seer and prophet discovered
+the most hidden things, as well as the urim and thummim of the high
+priest. The people of God were not reduced, like ourselves, to
+interrogating and conjecturing; and therefore torture could not be in
+use among them, which was the only thing wanting to complete the manners
+of that holy people. The Romans inflicted torture on slaves alone, but
+slaves were not considered as men. Neither is there any appearance that
+a counsellor of the criminal court regards as one of his
+fellow-creatures, a man who is brought to him wan, pale, distorted, with
+sunken eyes, long and dirty beard, covered with vermin with which he has
+been tormented in a dungeon. He gives himself the pleasure of applying
+to him the major and minor torture, in the presence of a surgeon, who
+counts his pulse until he is in danger of death, after which they
+recommence; and as the comedy of the "Plaideurs" pleasantly says, "that
+serves to pass away an hour or two."
+
+The grave magistrate, who for money has bought the right of making these
+experiments on his neighbor, relates to his wife, at dinner, that which
+has passed in the morning. The first time, madam shudders at it; the
+second, she takes some pleasure in it, because, after all, women are
+curious; and afterwards, the first thing she says when he enters is: "My
+dear, have you tortured anybody to-day?" The French, who are considered,
+I know not why, a very humane people, are astonished that the English,
+who have had the inhumanity to take all Canada from us, have renounced
+the pleasure of putting the question.
+
+When the Chevalier de Barre, the grandson of a lieutenant-general of the
+army, a young man of much sense and great expectations, but possessing
+all the giddiness of unbridled youth, was convicted of having sung
+impious songs, and even of having dared to pass before a procession of
+Capuchins without taking his hat off, the judges of Abbeville, men
+comparable to Roman senators, ordered not only that his tongue should be
+torn out, that his hands should be torn off, and his body burned at a
+slow fire, but they further applied the torture, to know precisely how
+many songs he had sung, and how many processions he had seen with his
+hat on his head.
+
+It was not in the thirteenth or fourteenth century that this affair
+happened; it was in the eighteenth. Foreign nations judge of France by
+its spectacles, romances, and pretty verses; by opera girls who have
+very sweet manners, by opera dancers who posssess grace; by
+Mademoiselle Clairon, who declaims delightfully. They know not that,
+under all, there is not a more cruel nation than the French. The
+Russians were considered barbarians in 1700; this is only the year 1769;
+yet an empress has just given to this great state laws which would do
+honor to Minos, Numa, or Solon, if they had had intelligence enough to
+invent them. The most remarkable is universal tolerance; the second is
+the abolition of torture. Justice and humanity have guided her pen; she
+has reformed all. Woe to a nation which, being more civilized, is still
+led by ancient atrocious customs! "Why should we change our
+jurisprudence?" say we. "Europe is indebted to us for cooks, tailors,
+and wig-makers; therefore, our laws are good."
+
+
+
+
+TRANSUBSTANTIATION.
+
+
+Protestants, and above all, philosophical Protestants, regard
+transubstantiation as the most signal proof of extreme impudence in
+monks, and of imbecility in laymen. They hold no terms with this belief,
+which they call monstrous, and assert that it is impossible for a man of
+good sense ever to have believed in it. It is, say they, so absurd, so
+contrary to every physical law, and so contradictory, it would be a sort
+of annihilation of God, to suppose Him capable of such inconsistency.
+Not only a god in a wafer, but a god in the place of a wafer; a thousand
+crumbs of bread become in an instant so many gods, which an innumerable
+crowd of gods make only one god. Whiteness without a white substance;
+roundness without rotundity of body; wine changed into blood, retaining
+the taste of wine; bread changed into flesh and into fibres, still
+preserving the taste of bread--all this inspires such a degree of horror
+and contempt in the enemies of the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman
+religion, that it sometimes insensibly verges into rage.
+
+Their horror augments when they are told that, in Catholic countries,
+are monks who rise from a bed of impurity, and with unwashed hands make
+gods by hundreds; who eat and drink these gods, and reduce them to the
+usual consequences of such an operation. But when they reflect that this
+superstition, a thousand times more absurd and sacrilegious than those
+of Egypt, produces for an Italian priest from fifteen to twenty millions
+of revenue, and the domination of a country containing a hundred
+thousand square leagues, they are ready to march with their arms in
+their hands and drive away this priest from the palace of Cæsar. I know
+not if I shall be of the party, because I love peace; but when
+established at Rome, I will certainly pay them a visit.--By M.
+GUILLAUME, a Protestant minister.
+
+
+
+
+TRINITY.
+
+
+The first among the Westerns who spoke of the Trinity was Timæus of
+Locri, in his "Soul of the World." First came the Idea, the perpetual
+model or archetype of all things engendered; that is to say, the first
+"Word," the internal and intelligible "Word." Afterwards, the unformed
+mode, the second word, or the word spoken. Lastly, the "son," or
+sensible world, or the spirit of the world. These three qualities
+constitute the entire world, which world is the Son of God "Monogenes."
+He has a soul and possessed reason; he is "_empsukos, logikos_."
+
+God, wishing to make a very fine God, has engendered one: "_Touton epoie
+theon genaton._"
+
+It is difficult clearly to comprehend the system of Timæus, which he
+perhaps derived from the Egyptians or Brahmins. I know not whether it
+was well understood in his time. It is like decayed and rusty medals,
+the motto of which is effaced: it could be read formerly; at present, we
+put what construction we please upon it.
+
+It does not appear that this sublime balderdash made much progress until
+the time of Plato. It was buried in oblivion, and Plato raised it up. He
+constructed his edifice in the air, but on the model of Timæus. He
+admits three divine essences: the Father, the Supreme Creator, the
+Parent of other gods, is the first essence. The second is the visible
+God, the minister of the invisible one, the "Word," the understanding,
+the great spirit. The third is the world.
+
+It is true, that Plato sometimes says quite different and even quite
+contrary things; it is the privilege of the Greek philosophers; and
+Plato has made use of his right more than any of the ancients or
+moderns. A Greek wind wafted these philosophical clouds from Athens to
+Alexandria, a town prodigiously infatuated with two things--money and
+chimeras. There were Jews in Alexandria who, having made their fortunes,
+turned philosophers.
+
+Metaphysics have this advantage, that they require no very troublesome
+preliminaries. We may know all about them without having learned
+anything; and a little to those who have at once subtle and very false
+minds, will go a great way. Philo the Jew was a philosopher of this
+kind; he was contemporary with Jesus Christ; but he has the misfortune
+of not knowing Him any more than Josephus the historian. These two
+considerable men, employed in the chaos of affairs of state, were too
+far distant from the dawning light. This Philo had quite a metaphysical,
+allegorical, mystical head. It was he who said that God must have formed
+the world in six days; he formed it, according to Zoroaster, in six
+times, "because three is the half of six and two is the third of it; and
+this number is male and female."
+
+This same man, infatuated with the ideas of Plato, says, in speaking of
+drunkenness, that God and wisdom married, and that wisdom was delivered
+of a well-beloved son, which son is the world. He calls the angels the
+words of God, and the world the word of God--"_logon tou Theou_."
+
+As to Flavius Josephus, he was a man of war who had never heard of the
+logos, and who held to the dogmas of the Pharisees, who were solely
+attached to their traditions. From the Jews of Alexandria, this Platonic
+philosophy proceeded to those of Jerusalem. Soon, all the school of
+Alexandria, which was the only learned one, was Platonic; and Christians
+who philosophized, no longer spoke of anything but the _logos_.
+
+We know that it was in disputes of that time the same as in those of the
+present. To one badly understood passage, was tacked another
+unintelligible one to which it had no relation. A second was inferred
+from them, a third was falsified, and they fabricated whole books which
+they attributed to authors respected by the multitude. We have seen a
+hundred examples of it in the article on "Apocrypha."
+
+Dear reader, for heaven's sake cast your eyes on this passage of Clement
+the Alexandrian: "When Plato says, that it is difficult to know the
+Father of the universe, he demonstrates by that, not only that the world
+has been engendered, but that it has been engendered as the Son of God."
+
+Do you understand these logomachies, these equivoques? Do you see the
+least light in this chaos of obscure expressions? Oh, Locke! Locke! come
+and define these terms. In all these Platonic disputes I believe there
+was not a single one understood. They distinguished two words, the
+"_logos endiathetos_"--the word in thought, and the word
+produced--"_logos prophorikos._" They had the eternity from one word,
+and the prolation, the emanation from another word.
+
+The book of "Apostolic Constitutions," an ancient monument of fraud, but
+also an ancient depository of these obscure times, expresses itself
+thus: "The Father, who is anterior to all generation, all commencement,
+having created all by His only Son, has engendered this Son without a
+medium, by His will and His power."
+
+Afterwards Origen advanced, that the Holy Spirit was created by the Son,
+by the word. After that came Eusebius of Cæsarea, who taught that the
+spirit paraclete is neither of Father nor Son. The advocate Lactantius
+flourished in that time.
+
+"The Son of God," says he, "is the word, as the other angels are the
+spirits of God. The word is a spirit uttered by a significant voice, the
+spirit proceeding from the nose, and the word from the mouth. It
+follows, that there is a difference between the Son of God and the other
+angels; those being emanated like tacit and silent spirits; while the
+Son, being a spirit proceeding from the mouth, possesses sound and voice
+to preach to the people."
+
+It must be confessed, that Lactantius pleaded his cause in a strange
+manner. It was truly reasoning a la Plato, and very powerful reasoning.
+It was about this time that, among the very violent disputes on the
+Trinity, this famous verse was inserted in the First Epistle of St.
+John: "There are three that bear witness in earth--the word or spirit,
+the water, and the blood; and these three are one."
+
+Those who pretend that this verse is truly St. John's, are much more
+embarrassed than those who deny it; for they must explain it. St.
+Augustine says, that the spirit signifies the Father, water the Holy
+Ghost, and by blood is meant the Word. This explanation is fine, but it
+still leaves a little confusion.
+
+St Irenæus goes much farther; he says, that Rahab, the prostitute of
+Jericho, in concealing three spies of the people of God, concealed the
+Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; which is strong, but not consistent. On the
+other hand, the great and learned Origen confounds us in a different
+way. The following is one of many of his passages: "The Son is as much
+below the Father as He and the Holy Ghost are above the most noble
+creatures."
+
+What can be said after that? How can we help confessing, with grief,
+that nobody understands it? How can we help confessing, that from the
+first--from the primitive Christians, the Ebionites, those men so
+mortified and so pious, who always revered Jesus though they believed
+Him to be the son of Joseph--until the great controversy of Athanasius,
+the Platonism of the Trinity was always a subject of quarrels. A supreme
+judge was absolutely required to decide, and he was at last found in
+the Council of Nice, which council afterwards produced new factions and
+wars.
+
+EXPLANATION OF THE TRINITY, ACCORDING TO ABAUZIT.
+
+"We can speak with exactness of the manner in which the union of God and
+Jesus Christ exists, only by relating the three opinions which exist on
+this subject, and by making reflections on each of them.
+
+"_Opinion of the Orthodox._
+
+"The first opinion is that of the orthodox. They establish, 1st--A
+distinction of three persons in the divine essence, before the coming of
+Jesus Christ into the world; 2nd--That the second of these persons is
+united to the human nature of Jesus Christ; 3rd--That the union is so
+strict, that by it Jesus Christ is God; that we can attribute to Him the
+creation of the world, and all divine perfections; and that we can adore
+Him with a supreme worship.
+
+"_Opinion of the Unitarians._
+
+"The second is that of the Unitarians. Not conceiving the distinction of
+persons in the Divinity, they establish, 1st--That divinity is united to
+the human nature of Jesus Christ; 2nd--That this union is such that we
+can say, that Jesus Christ is God; that we can attribute to Him the
+creation of the world, and all divine perfections, and adore Him with a
+supreme worship.
+
+"_Opinion of the Socinians._
+
+"The third opinion is that of the Socinians, who, like the Unitarians,
+not conceiving any distinction of persons in the Divinity, establish,
+1st--That divinity is united to the human nature of Jesus Christ;
+2nd--That this union is very strict; 3rd--That it is not such that we
+can call Jesus Christ God, or attribute divine perfections and the
+creation to Him, or adore Him with a supreme worship; and they think
+that all the passages of Scripture may be explained without admitting
+any of these things.
+
+"_Reflections on the First Opinion._
+
+"In the distinction which is made of three persons in the Divinity, we
+either retain the common idea of persons, or we do not. If we retain the
+common idea of persons, we establish three gods; that is certain. If we
+do not establish the ordinary idea of three persons, it is no longer any
+more than a distinction of properties; which agrees with the second
+opinion. Or if we will not allow that it is a distinction of persons,
+properly speaking, we establish a distinction of which we have no idea.
+There is no appearance, that to imagine a distinction in God, of which
+we can have no idea, Scripture would put men in danger of becoming
+idolaters, by multiplying the Divinity. It is besides surprising that
+this distinction of persons having always existed, it should only be
+since the coming of Jesus Christ that it has been revealed, and that it
+is necessary to know them.
+
+"_Reflections on the Second Opinion._
+
+"There is not, indeed, so great danger of precipitating men into
+idolatry in the second opinion as in the first; but it must be confessed
+that it is not entirely exempt from it. Indeed, as by the nature of the
+union which it establishes between divinity and the human nature of
+Jesus Christ, we can call him God and worship him, but there are two
+objects of adoration--Jesus Christ and God. I confess it may be said,
+that it is God whom we should worship in Jesus Christ; but who knows not
+the extreme inclination which men have to change invisible objects of
+worship into objects which fall under the senses, or at least under the
+imagination?--an inclination which they will here gratify without the
+least scruple, since they say that divinity is personally united to the
+humanity of Jesus Christ.
+
+"_Reflections on the Third Opinion._
+
+"The third opinion, besides being very simple, and conformable to the
+ideas of reason, is not subject to any similar danger of throwing men
+into idolatry. Though by this opinion Jesus Christ can be no more than a
+simple man, it need not be feared that by that He can be confounded with
+prophets or saints of the first order. In this sentiment there always
+remains a difference between them and Him. As we can imagine, almost to
+the utmost, the degrees of union of divinity with humanity, so we can
+conceive, that in particular the union of divinity with Jesus Christ
+has so high a degree of knowledge, power, felicity, perfection, and
+dignity, that there is always an immense distance between him and the
+greatest prophets. It remains only to see whether this opinion can agree
+with Scripture, and whether it be true that the title of God, divine
+perfections, creation, and supreme worship, are not attributed to Jesus
+Christ in the Gospels."
+
+It was for the philosopher Abauzit to see all this. For myself I submit,
+with my heart and mouth and pen, to all that the Catholic church has
+decided, and to all that it may decide on any other such dogma. I will
+add but one word more on the Trinity, which is a decision of Calvin's
+that we have on this mystery. This is it:
+
+"In case any person prove heterodox, and scruples using the words
+Trinity and Person, we believe not that this can be a reason for
+rejecting him; we should support him without driving him from the
+Church, and without exposing him to any censure as a heretic."
+
+It was after such a solemn declaration as this, that John Calvin--the
+aforesaid Calvin, the son of a cooper of Noyon--caused Michael Servetus
+to be burned at Geneva by a slow fire with green fagots.
+
+
+
+
+TRUTH.
+
+
+"Pilate therefore said unto him, 'Art thou a king then?' Jesus answered,
+'Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this
+cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto truth:
+every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.' Pilate saith unto him,
+'What is truth?' and when he had said this, he went out," etc.--St.
+John, chap. xviii.
+
+It is a pity for mankind that Pilate went out, without hearing the
+reply: we should then have known what truth is. Pilate was not very
+curious. The accused, brought before him, told him that he was a king,
+that he was born to be a king, and he informs himself not how this can
+be. He was supreme judge in the name of Cæsar, he had the power of the
+sword, his duty was to penetrate into the meaning of these words. He
+should have said: Tell me what you understand by being king? how are you
+born to be king, and to bear witness unto the truth? It is said that you
+can only arrive at the ear of kings with difficulty; I, who am a judge,
+have always had extreme trouble in reaching it. Inform me, while your
+enemies cry outside against you; and you will render me the greatest
+service ever rendered to a judge. I would rather learn to know the
+truth, than condescend to the tumultuous demand of the Jews, who wish me
+to hang you.
+
+We doubtless dare not pretend to guess what the Author of all truth
+would have said to Pilate. Would he have said: "Truth is an abstract
+word which most men use indifferently in their books and judgments, for
+error and falsehood"? This definition would be wonderfully convenient to
+all makers of systems. Thus the word wisdom is often taken for folly,
+and wit for nonsense. Humanly speaking, let us define truth, to better
+understand that which is declared--such as it is.
+
+Suppose that six months only had been taken to teach Pilate the truths
+of logic he would doubtless have made this concluding syllogism: A man's
+life should not have been taken away who has only preached a good
+doctrine; now he who is brought before me, according even to his
+enemies, has often preached an excellent doctrine; therefore, he should
+not be punished with death.
+
+He might also have inferred this other argument: My duty is to dissipate
+the riots of a seditious people, who demand the death of a man without
+reason or juridical form; now such are the Jews on this occasion;
+therefore I should send them away, and break up their assembly. We take
+for granted that Pilate knew arithmetic; we will not therefore speak of
+these kinds of truths.
+
+As to mathematical truths, I believe that he would have required three
+years at least before he would have been acquainted with transcendent
+geometry. The truths of physics, combined with those of geometry, would
+have required more than four years. We generally consume six years in
+studying theology; I ask twelve for Pilate, considering that he was a
+Pagan, and that six years would not have been too many to root out all
+his old errors, and six more to put him in a state worthy to receive
+the bonnet of a doctor. If Pilate had a well organized head, I would
+only have demanded two years to teach him metaphysical truths, and as
+these truths are necessarily united with those of morality, I flatter
+myself that in less than nine years Pilate would have become a truly
+learned and perfectly honest man.
+
+_Historical Truths._
+
+I should afterwards have said to Pilate: Historical truths are but
+probabilities. If you have fought at the battle of Philippi, it is to
+you a truth, which you know by intuition, by sentiment; but to us who
+live near the desert of Syria, it is merely a probable thing, which we
+know by hearsay. How can we, from report, form a persuasion equal to
+that of a man, who having seen the thing, can boast of feeling a kind of
+certainty?
+
+He who has heard the thing told by twelve thousand ocular witnesses, has
+only twelve thousand probabilities equal to one strong one, which is not
+equal to certainty. If you have the thing from only one of these
+witnesses, you are sure of nothing--you must doubt. If the witness is
+dead, you must doubt still more, for you can enlighten yourself no
+further. If from several deceased witnesses, you are in the same state.
+If from those to whom the witnesses have only spoken, the doubt is still
+augmented. From generation to generation the doubt augments, and the
+probability diminishes, and the probability is soon reduced to zero.
+
+_Of the Degrees of Truth, According to Which the Accused are Judged._
+
+We can be made accountable to justice either for deeds or words. If for
+deeds, they must be as certain as will be the punishment to which you
+will condemn the prisoner; if, for example, you have but twenty
+probabilities against him, these twenty probabilities cannot equal the
+certainty of his death. If you would have as many probabilities as are
+required to be sure that you shed not innocent blood, they must be the
+fruit of the unanimous evidences of witnesses who have no interest in
+deposing. From this concourse of probabilities, a strong opinion will be
+formed, which will serve to excuse your judgment; but as you will never
+have entire certainty, you cannot flatter yourself with knowing the
+truth perfectly. Consequently you should always lean towards mercy
+rather than towards rigor. If it concerns only facts, from which neither
+manslaughter nor mutilation have resulted, it is evident that you should
+neither cause the accused to be put to death nor mutilated.
+
+If the question is only of words, it is still more evident that you
+should not cause one of your fellow-creatures to be hanged for the
+manner in which he has used his tongue; for all the words in the world
+being but agitated air, at least if they have not caused murder, it is
+ridiculous to condemn a man to death for having agitated the air. Put
+all the idle words which have been uttered into one scale, and into the
+other the blood of a man, and the blood will weigh down. Now, if he who
+has been brought before you is only accused of some words which his
+enemies have taken in a certain sense, all that you can do is to repeat
+these words to him, which he will explain in the sense he intended; but
+to deliver an innocent man to the most cruel and ignominious punishment,
+for words that his enemies do not comprehend, is too barbarous. You make
+the life of a man of no more importance than that of a lizard; and too
+many judges resemble you.
+
+
+
+
+TYRANNY.
+
+
+The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice; who
+takes the property of his subjects, and afterwards enlists them to go
+and take that of his neighbors. We have none of these tyrants in Europe.
+We distinguish the tyranny of one and that of many. The tyranny of
+several is that of a body which would invade the rights of other bodies,
+and which would exercise despotism by favor of laws which it corrupts.
+Neither are there any tyrannies of this kind in Europe.
+
+Under what tyranny should you like best to live? Under none; but if I
+must choose, I should less detest the tyranny of a single one, than that
+of many. A despot has always some good moments; an assemblage of
+despots, never. If a tyrant does me an injustice, I can disarm him
+through his mistress, his confessor, or his page; but a company of
+tyrants is inaccessible to all seductions. When they are not unjust,
+they are harsh, and they never dispense favors. If I have but one
+despot, I am at liberty to set myself against a wall when I see him
+pass, to prostrate myself, or to strike my forehead against the ground,
+according to the custom of the country; but if there is a company of a
+hundred tyrants, I am liable to repeat this ceremony a hundred times a
+day, which is very tiresome to those who have not supple joints. If I
+have a farm in the neighborhood of one of our lords, I am crushed; if I
+complain against a relative of the relatives of any one of our lords, I
+am ruined. How must I act? I fear that in this world we are reduced to
+being either the anvil or the hammer; happy at least is he who escapes
+this alternative.
+
+
+
+
+TYRANT.
+
+
+"Tyrannos," formerly "he who had contrived to draw the principal
+authority to himself"; as "king," "Basileus," signified "he who was
+charged with relating affairs to the senate." The acceptations of words
+change with time. "Idiot" at first meant only a hermit, an isolated man;
+in time it became synonymous with fool. At present the name of "tyrant"
+is given to a usurper, or to a king who commits violent and unjust
+actions.
+
+Cromwell was a tyrant of both these kinds. A citizen who usurps the
+supreme authority, who in spite of all laws suppresses the house of
+peers, is without doubt a usurper. A general who cuts the throat of a
+king, his prisoner of war, at once violates what is called the laws of
+nations, and those of humanity.
+
+Charles I. was not a tyrant, though the victorious faction gave him that
+name; he was, it is said, obstinate, weak, and ill-advised. I will not
+be certain, for I did not know him; but I am certain that he was very
+unfortunate.
+
+Henry VIII. was a tyrant in his government as in his family, and alike
+covered with the blood of two innocent wives, and that of the most
+virtuous citizens; he merits the execrations of posterity. Yet he was
+not punished, and Charles I. died on a scaffold.
+
+Elizabeth committed an act of tyranny, and her parliament one of
+infamous weakness, in causing Queen Mary Stuart to be assassinated by an
+executioner; but in the rest of her government she was not tyrannical;
+she was clever and manoeuvering, but prudent and strong.
+
+Richard III. was a barbarous tyrant; but he was punished. Pope Alexander
+VI. was a more execrable tyrant than any of these, and he was fortunate
+in all his undertakings. Christian II. was as wicked a tyrant as
+Alexander VI., and was punished, but not sufficiently so.
+
+If we were to reckon Turkish, Greek, and Roman tyrants, we should find
+as many fortunate as the contrary. When I say fortunate, I speak
+according to the vulgar prejudice, the ordinary acceptation of the
+word, according to appearances; for that they can be really happy, that
+their minds can be contented and tranquil, appears to me to be
+impossible.
+
+Constantine the Great was evidently a tyrant in a double sense. In the
+north of England he usurped the crown of the Roman Empire, at the head
+of some foreign legions, notwithstanding all the laws, and in spite of
+the senate and the people, who legitimately elected Maxentius. He passed
+all his life in crime, voluptuousness, fraud, and imposture. He was not
+punished, but was he happy? God knows; but I know that his subjects were
+not so.
+
+The great Theodosius was the most abominable of tyrants, when, under
+pretence of giving a feast, he caused fifteen thousand Roman citizens to
+be murdered in the circus, with their wives and children, and when he
+added to this horror the facetiousness of passing some months without
+going to tire himself at high mass. This Theodosius has almost been
+placed in the ranks of the blessed; but I should be very sorry if he
+were happy on earth. In all cases it would be well to assure tyrants
+that they will never be happy in this world, as it is well to make our
+stewards and cooks believe that they will be eternally damned if they
+rob us.
+
+The tyrants of the Lower Greek Empire were almost all dethroned or
+assassinated by one another. All these great offenders were by turns the
+executioners of human and divine vengeance. Among the Turkish tyrants,
+we see as many deposed as those who die in possession of the throne.
+With regard to subaltern tyrants, or the lower order of monsters who
+burden their masters with the execration with which they are loaded, the
+number of these Hamans, these Sejanuses, is infinite.
+
+
+
+
+UNIVERSITY.
+
+
+Du Boulay, in his "History of the University of Paris," adopts the old,
+uncertain, not to say fabulous tradition, which carries its origin to
+the time of Charlemagne. It is true that such is the opinion of Guagin
+and of Gilles de Beauvais; but in addition to the fact that contemporary
+authors, as Eginhard, Almon, Reginon, and Sigebert make no mention of
+this establishment; Pasquier and Du Tillet expressly assert that it
+commenced in the twelfth century under the reigns of Louis the Young and
+of Philip Augustus.
+
+Moreover, the first statutes of the university were drawn up by Robert
+de Coceon, legate of the pope, in the year 1215, which proves that it
+received from the first the form it retains at present; because a bull
+of Gregory IX., of the year 1231, makes mention of masters of theology,
+masters of law, physicians, and lastly, artists. The name "university"
+originated in the supposition that these four bodies, termed faculties,
+constituted a universality of studies; that is to say, that they
+comprehended all which could be cultivated.
+
+The popes, by the means of these establishments, of the decisions of
+which they made themselves judges, became masters of the instruction of
+the people; and the same spirit which made the permission granted to the
+members of the Parliament of Paris to inter themselves in the habits of
+Cordeliers, be regarded as an especial favor--as related in the article
+on "Quête"--dictated the decrees pronounced by that sovereign court
+against all who dared to oppose an unintelligible scholastic system,
+which, according to the confession of the abbé Triteme, was only a false
+science that had vitiated religion. In fact, that which Constantine had
+only insinuated with respect to the Cumæan Sibyl, has been expressly
+asserted of Aristotle. Cardinal Pallavicini supported the maxim of I
+know not what monk Paul, who pleasantly observed, that without Aristotle
+the Church would have been deficient in some of her articles of faith.
+
+Thus the celebrated Ramus, having composed two works in which he opposed
+the doctrine of Aristotle taught in the universities, would have been
+sacrificed to the fury of his ignorant rival, had not King Francis I.
+referred to his own judgment the process commenced in Paris between
+Ramus and Anthony Govea. One of the principal complaints against Ramus
+related to the manner in which he taught his disciples to pronounce the
+letter Q.
+
+Ramus was not the only disputant persecuted for these grave absurdities.
+In the year 1624, the Parliament of Paris banished from its district
+three persons who wished to maintain theses openly against Aristotle.
+Every person was forbidden to sell or to circulate the propositions
+contained in these theses, on pain of corporal punishment, or to teach
+any opinion against ancient and approved authors, on pain of death.
+
+The remonstrances of the Sorbonne, in consequence of which the same
+parliament issued a decision against the chemists, in the year 1629,
+testified that it was impossible to impeach the principles of Aristotle,
+without at the same time impeaching those of the scholastic theology
+received by the Church. In the meantime, the faculty having issued, in
+1566, a decree forbidding the use of antimony, and the parliament having
+confirmed the said decree, Paumier de Caen, a great chemist and
+celebrated physician of Paris, for not conforming to it, was degraded in
+the year 1609. Lastly, antimony being afterwards inserted in the books
+of medicines, composed by order of the faculty in the year 1637, the
+said faculty permitted the use of it in 1666, a century after having
+forbidden it, which decision the parliament confirmed by a new decree.
+Thus the university followed the example of the Church, which finally
+proscribed the doctrine of Arius, under pain of death, and approved the
+word "consubstantial," which it had previously condemned--as we have
+seen in the article on "Councils."
+
+What we have observed of the university of Paris, may serve to give us
+an idea of other universities, of which it was regarded as the model. In
+fact, in imitation of it, eighty universities passed the same decree as
+the Sorbonne in the fourteenth century; to wit, that when the cap of a
+doctor was bestowed, the candidate should be made to swear that he will
+maintain the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary; which he did not
+regard, however, as an article of faith, but as a Catholic and pious
+opinion.
+
+
+
+
+USAGES.
+
+_Contemptible Customs do not Always Imply a Contemptible Nation._
+
+There are cases in which we must not judge of a nation by its usages and
+popular superstitions. Suppose Cæsar, after having conquered Egypt,
+wishing to make commerce flourish in the Roman Empire, had sent an
+embassy to China by the port of Arsinoë, the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
+The emperor Yventi, the first of the name, then reigned in China; the
+Chinese annals represent him to us as a very wise and learned prince.
+After receiving the ambassadors of Cæsar with all Chinese politeness, he
+secretly informs himself through his interpreter of the customs, the
+usages, sciences, and religion of the Roman people, as celebrated in the
+West as the Chinese people are in the East. He first learns that their
+priests have regulated their years in so absurd a manner, that the sun
+has already entered the celestial signs of Spring when the Romans
+celebrate the first feasts of Winter. He learns that this nation at a
+great expense supports a college of priests, who know exactly the time
+in which they must embark, and when they should give battle, by the
+inspection of a bullock's liver, or the manner in which fowls eat grain.
+This sacred science was formerly taught to the Romans by a little god
+named Tages, who came out of the earth in Tuscany. These people adore a
+supreme and only God, whom they always call a very great and very good
+God; yet they have built a temple to a courtesan named Flora, and the
+good women of Rome have almost all little gods--Penates--in their
+houses, about four or five inches high. One of these little divinities
+is the goddess of bosoms, another that of posteriors. They have even a
+divinity whom they call the god _Pet_. The emperor Yventi began to
+laugh; and the tribunals of Nankin at first think with him that the
+Roman ambassadors are knaves or impostors, who have taken the title of
+envoys of the Roman Republic; but as the emperor is as just as he is
+polite, he has particular conversations with them. He then learns that
+the Roman priests were very ignorant, but that Cæsar actually reformed
+the calendar. They confess to him that the college of augurs was
+established in the time of their early barbarity, that they have allowed
+this ridiculous institution, become dear to a people long ignorant, to
+exist, but that all sensible people laugh at the augurs; that Cæsar
+never consulted them; that, according to the account of a very great man
+named Cato, no augur could ever look another in the face without
+laughing; and finally, that Cicero, the greatest orator and best
+philosopher of Rome, wrote a little work against the augurs, entitled
+"Of Divination," in which he delivers up to eternal ridicule all the
+predictions and sorceries of soothsayers with which the earth is
+infatuated. The emperor of China has the curiosity to read this book of
+Cicero; the interpreters translate it; and in consequence he admires at
+once the book and the Roman Republic.
+
+
+
+
+VAMPIRES.
+
+
+What! is it in our eighteenth century that vampires exist? Is it after
+the reigns of Locke, Shaftesbury, Trenchard, and Collins? Is it under
+those of d'Alembert, Diderot, St. Lambert, and Duclos that we believe in
+vampires, and that the reverend father Dom Calmet, Benedictine priest of
+the congregation of St. Vannes, and St. Hidulphe, abbé of Senon--an
+abbey of a hundred thousand livres a year, in the neighborhood of two
+other abbeys of the same revenue--has printed and reprinted the history
+of vampires, with the approbation of the Sorbonne, signed Marcilli?
+
+These vampires were corpses, who went out of their graves at night to
+suck the blood of the living, either at their throats or stomachs,
+after which they returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked
+waned, grew pale, and fell into consumption; while the sucking corpses
+grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed an excellent appetite. It was in Poland,
+Hungary, Silesia, Moravia, Austria, and Lorraine, that the dead made
+this good cheer. We never heard a word of vampires in London, nor even
+at Paris. I confess that in both these cities there were stock-jobbers,
+brokers, and men of business, who sucked the blood of the people in
+broad daylight; but they were not dead, though corrupted. These true
+suckers lived not in cemeteries, but in very agreeable palaces.
+
+Who would believe that we derive the idea of vampires from Greece? Not
+from the Greece of Alexander, Aristotle, Plato, Epicurus, and
+Demosthenes; but from Christian Greece, unfortunately schismatic. For a
+long time Christians of the Greek rite have imagined that the bodies of
+Christians of the Latin church, buried in Greece, do not decay, because
+they are excommunicated. This is precisely the contrary to that of us
+Christians of the Latin church, who believe that corpses which do not
+corrupt are marked with the seal of eternal beatitude. So much so,
+indeed, that when we have paid a hundred thousand crowns to Rome, to
+give them a saint's brevet, we adore them with the worship of "_dulia_."
+
+The Greeks are persuaded that these dead are sorcerers; they call them
+"_broucolacas_," or "_vroucolacas_," according as they pronounce the
+second letter of the alphabet. The Greek corpses go into houses to suck
+the blood of little children, to eat the supper of the fathers and
+mothers, drink their wine, and break all the furniture. They can only be
+put to rights by burning them when they are caught. But the precaution
+must be taken of not putting them into the fire until after their hearts
+are torn out, which must be burned separately. The celebrated
+Tournefort, sent into the Levant by Louis XIV., as well as so many other
+virtuosi, was witness of all the acts attributed to one of these
+"_broucolacas_," and to this ceremony.
+
+After slander, nothing is communicated more promptly than superstition,
+fanaticism, sorcery, and tales of those raised from the dead. There were
+"_broucolacas_" in Wallachia, Moldavia, and some among the Polanders,
+who are of the Romish church. This superstition being absent, they
+acquired it, and it went through all the east of Germany. Nothing was
+spoken of but vampires, from 1730 to 1735; they were laid in wait for,
+their hearts torn out and burned. They resembled the ancient
+martyrs--the more they were burned, the more they abounded.
+
+Finally, Calmet became their historian, and treated vampires as he
+treated the Old and New Testaments, by relating faithfully all that has
+been said before him.
+
+The most curious things, in my opinion, were the verbal suits
+juridically conducted, concerning the dead who went from their tombs to
+suck the little boys and girls of their neighborhood. Calmet relates
+that in Hungary two officers, delegated by the emperor Charles VI.,
+assisted by the bailiff of the place and an executioner, held an inquest
+on a vampire, who had been dead six weeks, and who had sucked all the
+neighborhood. They found him in his coffin, fresh and jolly, with his
+eyes open, and asking for food. The bailiff passed his sentence; the
+executioner tore out the vampire's heart, and burned it, after which he
+feasted no more.
+
+Who, after this, dares to doubt of the resuscitated dead, with which our
+ancient legends are filled, and of all the miracles related by
+Bollandus, and the sincere and revered Dom Ruinart? You will find
+stories of vampires in the "Jewish Letters" of d'Argens, whom the Jesuit
+authors of the "Journal of Trévoux" have accused of believing nothing.
+It should be observed how they triumph in the history of the vampire of
+Hungary; how they thanked God and the Virgin for having at last
+converted this poor d'Argens, the chamberlain of a king who did not
+believe in vampires. "Behold," said they, "this famous unbeliever, who
+dared to throw doubts on the appearance of the angel to the Holy Virgin;
+on the star which conducted the magi; on the cure of the possessed; on
+the immersion of two thousand swine in a lake; on an eclipse of the sun
+at the full moon; on the resurrection of the dead who walked in
+Jerusalem--his heart is softened, his mind is enlightened; he believes
+in vampires."
+
+There no longer remained any question, but to examine whether all these
+dead were raised by their own virtue, by the power of God, or by that of
+the devil. Several great theologians of Lorraine, of Moravia, and
+Hungary, displayed their opinions and their science. They related all
+that St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and so many other saints, had most
+unintelligibly said on the living and the dead. They related all the
+miracles of St. Stephen, which are found in the seventh book of the
+works of St. Augustine. This is one of the most curious of them: In the
+city of Aubzal in Africa, a young man was crushed to death by the ruins
+of a wall; the widow immediately invoked St. Stephen, to whom she was
+very much devoted. St. Stephen raised him. He was asked what he had seen
+in the other world. "Sirs," said he, "when my soul quitted my body, it
+met an infinity of souls, who asked it more questions about this world
+than you do of the other. I went I know not whither, when I met St.
+Stephen, who said to me, 'Give back that which thou hast received.' I
+answered, 'What should I give back? you have given me nothing.' He
+repeated three times, 'Give back that which thou hast received.' Then I
+comprehended that he spoke of the credo; I repeated my credo to him, and
+suddenly he raised me." Above all, they quoted the stories related by
+Sulpicius Severus, in the life of St. Martin. They proved that St.
+Martin, with some others, raised up a condemned soul.
+
+But all these stories, however true they might be, had nothing in common
+with the vampires who rose to suck the blood of their neighbors, and
+afterwards replaced themselves in their coffins. They looked if they
+could not find in the Old Testament, or in the mythology, some vampire
+whom they could quote as an example; but they found none. It was proved,
+however, that the dead drank and ate, since in so many ancient nations
+food was placed on their tombs.
+
+The difficulty was to know whether it was the soul or the body of the
+dead which ate. It was decided that it was both. Delicate and
+unsubstantial things, as sweetmeats, whipped cream, and melting fruits,
+were for the soul, and roast beef and the like were for the body.
+
+The kings of Persia were, said they, the first who caused themselves to
+be served with viands after their death. Almost all the kings of the
+present day imitate them; but they are the monks who eat their dinner
+and supper, and drink their wine. Thus, properly speaking, kings are not
+vampires; the true vampires are the monks, who eat at the expense of
+both kings and people.
+
+It is very true that St. Stanislaus, who had bought a considerable
+estate from a Polish gentleman, and not paid him for it, being brought
+before King Boleslaus by his heirs, raised up the gentleman; but this
+was solely to get quittance. It is not said that he gave a single glass
+of wine to the seller, who returned to the other world without having
+eaten or drunk. They afterwards treated of the grand question, whether a
+vampire could be absolved who died excommunicated, which comes more to
+the point.
+
+I am not profound enough in theology to give my opinion on this subject;
+but I would willingly be for absolution, because in all doubtful affairs
+we should take the mildest part. "_Odia restringenda, favores
+ampliandi_."
+
+The result of all this is that a great part of Europe has been infested
+with vampires for five or six years, and that there are now no more;
+that we have had Convulsionaries in France for twenty years, and that we
+have them no longer; that we have had demoniacs for seventeen hundred
+years, but have them no longer; that the dead have been raised ever
+since the days of Hippolytus, but that they are raised no longer; and,
+lastly, that we have had Jesuits in Spain, Portugal, France, and the two
+Sicilies, but that we have them no longer.
+
+
+
+
+VELETRI.
+
+
+_A Small Town of Umbria, Nine Leagues from Rome; and, Incidentally, of
+the Divinity of Augustus._
+
+Those who love the study of history are glad to understand by what title
+a citizen of Veletri governed an empire, which extended from Mount
+Taurus to Mount Atlas, and from the Euphrates to the Western Ocean. It
+was not as perpetual dictator; this title had been too fatal to Julius
+Cæsar, and Augustus bore it only eleven days. The fear of perishing like
+his predecessor, and the counsels of Agrippa, induced him to take other
+measures; he insensibly concentrated in his own person all the dignities
+of the republic. Thirteen consulates, the tribunate renewed in his favor
+every ten years, the name of prince of the senate, that of imperator,
+which at first signified only the general of an army, but to which it
+was known how to bestow a more extensive signification--such were the
+titles which appeared to legitimate his power.
+
+The senate lost nothing by his honors, but preserved even its most
+extensive rights. Augustus divided with it all the provinces of the
+empire, but retained the principal for himself; finally, he was master
+of the public treasury and the soldiery, and in fact sovereign.
+
+What is more strange, Julius Cæsar having been enrolled among the gods
+after his death, Augustus was ordained god while living. It is true he
+was not altogether a god in Rome, but he was so in the provinces, where
+he had temples and priests. The abbey of Ainai at Lyons was a fine
+temple of Augustus. Horace says to him: "_Jurandasque tuum per nomen
+ponimus aras._" That is to say, among the Romans existed courtiers so
+finished as to have small altars in their houses dedicated to Augustus.
+He was therefore _canonized_ during his life, and the name of
+god--_divus_--became the title or nickname of all the succeeding
+emperors. Caligula constituted himself a god without difficulty, and was
+worshipped in the temple of Castor and Pollux; his statue was placed
+between those of the twins, and they sacrificed to him peacocks,
+pheasants, and Numidian fowls, until he ended by immolating himself.
+Nero bore the name of god, before he was condemned by the senate to
+suffer the punishment of a slave.
+
+We are not to imagine that the name of "god" signified, in regard to
+these monsters, that which we understand by it; the blasphemy could not
+be carried quite so far. "Divus" precisely answers to "sanctus." The
+Augustan list of proscriptions and the filthy epigram against Fulvia,
+are not the productions of a divinity.
+
+There were twelve conspiracies against this god, if we include the
+pretended plot of Cinna; but none of them succeeded; and of all the
+wretches who have usurped divine honors, Augustus was doubtless the most
+unfortunate. It was he, indeed, who actually terminated the Roman
+Republic; for Cæsar was dictator only six months, and Augustus reigned
+forty years. It was during his reign that manners changed with the
+government. The armies, formerly composed of the Roman legions and
+people of Italy, were in the end made up from all the barbarians, who
+naturally enough placed emperors of their own country on the throne.
+
+In the third century they raised up thirty tyrants at one time, of whom
+some were natives of Transylvania, others of Gaul, Britain, and Germany.
+Diocletian was the son of a Dalmatian slave; Maximian Hercules, a
+peasant of Sirmik; and Theodosius, a native of Spain--not then
+civilized.
+
+We know how the Roman Empire was finally destroyed; how the Turks have
+subjugated one half, and how the name of the other still subsists among
+the Marcomans on the shores of the Danube. The most singular of all its
+revolutions, however, and the most astonishing of all spectacles, is the
+manner in which its capital is governed and inhabited at this moment.
+
+
+
+
+VENALITY.
+
+
+The forger of whom we have spoken so much, who made the testament of
+Cardinal Richelieu, says in chapter iv.: "That it would be much better
+to allow venality and the '_droit annuel_' to continue to exist, than to
+abolish these two establishments, which are not to be changed suddenly
+without shaking the state."
+
+All France repeated, and believed they repeated after Cardinal
+Richelieu, that the sale of offices of judicature was very advantageous.
+The abbé de St. Pierre was the first who, still believing that the
+pretended testament was the cardinal's, dared to say in his observation
+on chapter iv.: "The cardinal engaged himself on a bad subject, in
+maintaining that the sale of places can be advantageous to the state. It
+is true that it is not possible to otherwise reimburse all the charges."
+
+Thus this abuse appeared to everybody, not only unreformable, but
+useful. They were so accustomed to this opprobrium that they did not
+feel it; it seemed eternal; yet a single man in a few months has
+overthrown it. Let us therefore repeat, that all may be done, all may be
+corrected; that the great fault of almost all who govern, is having but
+half wills and half means. If Peter the Great had not willed strongly,
+two thousand leagues of country would still be barbarous.
+
+How can we give water in Paris to thirty thousand houses which want it?
+How can we pay the debts of the state? How can we throw off the dreaded
+tyranny of a foreign power, which is not a power, and to which we pay
+the first fruits as a tribute? Dare to wish it, and you will arrive at
+your object more easily than you extirpated the Jesuits, and purged the
+theatre of _petits-maîtres_.
+
+
+
+
+VENICE.
+
+
+_And, Incidentally, of Liberty._
+
+No power can reproach the Venetians with having acquired their liberty
+by revolt; none can say to them, I have freed you--here is the diploma
+of your manumission.
+
+They have not usurped their rights, as Cæsar usurped empire, or as so
+many bishops, commencing with that of Rome, have usurped royal rights.
+They are lords of Venice--if we dare use the audacious comparison--as
+God is Lord of the earth, because He founded it.
+
+Attila, who never took the title of the scourge of God, ravaged Italy.
+He had as much right to do so, as Charlemagne the Austrasian, Arnold the
+Corinthian Bastard, Guy, duke of Spoleto, Berenger, marquis of Friuli,
+or the bishops who wished to make themselves sovereigns of it.
+
+In this time of military and ecclesiastical robberies, Attila passed as
+a vulture, and the Venetians saved themselves in the sea as kingfishers,
+which none assist or protect; they make their nest in the midst of the
+waters, they enlarge it, they people it, they defend it, they enrich it.
+I ask if it is possible to imagine a more just possession? Our father
+Adam, who is supposed to have lived in that fine country of Mesopotamia,
+was not more justly lord and gardener of terrestrial paradise.
+
+I have read the "_Squittinio della libertà di Venezia_," and I am
+indignant at it. What! Venice could not be originally free, because the
+Greek emperors, superstitious, weak, wicked, and barbarous, said--This
+new town has been built on our ancient territory; and because a German,
+having the title of Emperor of the West, says: This town being in the
+West, is of our domain?
+
+It seems to me like a flying-fish, pursued at once by a falcon and a
+shark, but which escapes both. Sannazarius was very right in saying, in
+comparing Rome and Venice: _"Illam homines dices, hanc posuisse deos."_
+Rome lost, by Cæsar, at the end of five hundred years, its liberty
+acquired by Brutus. Venice has preserved hers for eleven centuries, and
+I hope she will always do so.
+
+Genoa! why dost thou boast of showing the grant of a Berenger, who gave
+thee privileges in the year 958? We know that concessions of privileges
+are but titles of servitude. And this is a fine title! the charter of a
+passing tyrant, who was never properly acknowledged in Italy, and who
+was driven from it two years after the date of the charter!
+
+The true charter of liberty is independence, maintained by force. It is
+with the point of the sword that diplomas should be signed securing this
+natural prerogative. Thou hast lost, more than once, thy privilege and
+thy strong box, since 1748: it is necessary to take care of both. Happy
+Helvetia! to what charter owest thou thy liberty? To thy courage, thy
+firmness, and thy mountains. But I am thy emperor. But I will have thee
+be so no longer. Thy fathers have been the slaves of my fathers. It is
+for that reason that their children will not serve thee. But I have the
+right attached to my dignity. And we have the right of nature.
+
+When had the Seven United Provinces this incontestable right? At the
+moment in which they were united; and from that time Philip II. was the
+rebel. What a great man was William, prince of Orange: he found them
+slaves, and he made them free men! Why is liberty so rare? Because it is
+the first of blessings.
+
+
+
+
+VERSE.
+
+
+It is easy to write in prose, but very difficult to be a poet. More than
+one "_prosateur_" has affected to despise poetry; in reference to which
+propensity, we may call to mind the bon-mot of Montaigne: "We cannot
+attain to poetry; let us revenge ourselves by abusing it."
+
+We have already remarked, that Montesquieu, being unable to succeed in
+verse, professed, in his "Persian Letters," to discover no merit in
+Virgil or Horace. The eloquent Bossuet endeavored to make verses, but
+they were detestable; he took care, however, not to declaim against
+great poets.
+
+Fénelon scarcely made better verses than Bossuet, but knew by heart all
+the fine poetry of antiquity. His mind was full of it, and he
+continually quotes it in his letters.
+
+It appears to me, that there never existed a truly eloquent man who did
+not love poetry. I will simply cite, for example, Cæsar and Cicero; the
+one composed a tragedy on Oedipus, and we have pieces of poetry by the
+latter which might pass among the best that preceded Lucretius, Virgil,
+and Horace.
+
+A certain Abbé Trublet has printed, that he cannot read a poem at once
+from beginning to end. Indeed, Air. Abbé! but what can we read, what can
+we understand, what can we do, for a long time together, any more than
+poetry?
+
+
+
+
+VIANDS.
+
+
+_Forbidden Viands, Dangerous Viands.--A short Examination of Jewish and
+Christian Precepts, and of those of the Ancient Philosophers._
+
+
+"Viand" comes no doubt from "_victus_"--that which nourishes and
+sustains life: from victus was formed _viventia_; from _viventa_,
+"viand." This word should be applied to all that is eaten, but by the
+caprice of all languages, the custom has prevailed of refusing this
+denomination to bread, milk, rice, pulses, fruits, and fish, and of
+giving it only to terrestrial animals. This seems contrary to reason,
+but it is the fancy of all languages, and of those who formed them.
+
+Some of the first Christians made a scruple of eating that which had
+been offered to the gods, of whatever nature it might be. St. Paul
+approved not of this scruple. He writes to the Corinthians: "Meat
+commendeth us not to God: for neither if we eat are we the better;
+neither if we eat not, are we the worse." He merely exhorts them not to
+eat viands immolated to the gods, before those brothers who might be
+scandalized at it. We see not, after that, why he so ill-treats St.
+Peter, and reproaches him with having eaten forbidden viands with the
+Gentiles. We see elsewhere, in the Acts of the Apostles, that Simon
+Peter was authorized to eat of all indifferently; for he one day saw the
+firmament open, and a great sheet descending by the four corners from
+heaven to earth; it was covered with all kinds of four-footed beasts,
+with all kinds of birds and reptiles--or animals which swim--and a voice
+cried to him: "Kill and eat."
+
+You will remark, that Lent and fast-days were not then instituted.
+Nothing is ever done, except by degrees. We can here say, for the
+consolation of the weak, that the quarrel of St. Peter and St. Paul
+should not alarm us: saints are men. Paul commenced by being the jailer,
+and even the executioner, of the disciples of Jesus; Peter had denied
+Jesus; and we have seen that the dawning, suffering, militant,
+triumphant church has always been divided, from the Ebionites to the
+Jesuits.
+
+I think that the Brahmins, so anterior to the Jews, might well have been
+divided also; but they were the first who imposed on themselves the law
+of not eating any animal. As they believed that souls passed and
+repassed from human bodies to those of beasts, they would not eat their
+relatives. Perhaps their best reason was the fear of accustoming men to
+carnage, and inspiring them with ferocious manners.
+
+We know that Pythagoras, who studied geometry and morals among them,
+embraced this humane doctrine, and brought it into Italy. His disciples
+followed it a very long time: the celebrated philosophers, Plotinus,
+Jamblicus, and Porphyry, recommended and even practised it--though it is
+very rare to practise what is preached. The work of Porphyry on
+abstinence from meat, written in the middle of our third century, and
+very well translated into our language by M. de Burigni, is very much
+esteemed by the learned; but it has not made more disciples among us
+than the book of the physician Héquet. It is in vain that Porphyry
+proposes, as models, the Brahmins and Persian magi of the first class,
+who had a horror of the custom of burying the entrails of other
+creatures in our own; he is not now followed by the fathers of La
+Trappe. The work of Porphyry is addressed to one of his ancient
+disciples, named Firmus, who, it is said, turned Christian, to have the
+liberty of eating meat and drinking wine.
+
+He shows Firmus, that in abstaining from meat and strong liquors, we
+preserve the health of the soul and body; that we live longer, and more
+innocently. All his reflections are those of a scrupulous theologian, of
+a rigid philosopher, and of a mild and sensible mind. We might think, in
+reading his work, that this great enemy of the church was one of its
+fathers.
+
+He speaks not of metempsychosis, but he regards animals as our brethren,
+because they are animated like ourselves; they have the same principles
+of life; they have, as well as ourselves, ideas, sentiment, memory, and
+industry. They want but speech; if they had it, should we dare to kill
+and eat them; should we dare to commit these fratricides? Where is the
+barbarian who would roast a lamb, if it conjured him by an affecting
+speech not to become at once an assassin, an anthropophagus?
+
+This book proves, at least, that among the Gentiles there were
+philosophers of the most austere virtue; but they could not prevail
+against butchers and gluttons. It is to be remarked, that Porphyry makes
+a very fine eulogium on the Essenians: he is filled with veneration for
+them, although they sometimes eat meat. He was for whoever was the most
+virtuous, whether Essenians, Pythagoreans, Stoics, or Christians. When
+sects are formed of a small number, their manners are pure; and they
+degenerate in proportion as they become powerful. Lust, gaming, and
+luxury then prevail, and all the virtues fly away:
+
+     La gola, il dado e l'otiose piume
+     Hanno dal' mondo ogni virtù sbandita.
+
+
+
+
+VIRTUE.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+It is said of Marcus Brutus, that before killing himself, he pronounced
+these words: "Oh, Virtue! I believed that thou wert something, but thou
+art only a vile phantom!"
+
+Thou wast right, Brutus, if thou madest virtue consist in being the
+chief of a party, and the assassin of thy benefactor, of thy father,
+Julius Cæsar. Hadst thou made virtue to consist only in doing good to
+those who depended on thee, thou wouldst not have called it a phantom,
+or have killed thyself in despair.
+
+I am very virtuous, says a miserable excrement of theology. I possess
+the four cardinal virtues, and the three theological ones. An honest man
+asks him: What are the cardinal virtues? The other answers: They are
+fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+If thou art just, thou hast said all. Thy fortitude, prudence, and
+temperance are useful qualities: if thou possessest them, so much the
+better for thee; but if thou art just, so much the better for others. It
+is not sufficient to be just, thou shouldst be beneficent; this is being
+truly cardinal. And thy theological virtues, what are they?
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+Faith, hope, and charity.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Is there virtue in believing? If that which thou believest seems to thee
+to be true, there is no merit in believing it; if it seems to thee to be
+false, it is impossible for thee to believe it.
+
+Hope should no more be a virtue than fear; we fear and we hope,
+according to what is promised or threatened us. As to charity, is it not
+that which the Greeks and Romans understood by humanity--love of your
+neighbor? This love is nothing, if it does not act; beneficence is
+therefore the only true virtue.
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+What a fool! Yes, truly, I shall trouble myself to serve men, if I get
+nothing in return! Every trouble merits payment. I pretend to do no good
+action, except to insure myself paradise.
+
+     _Quis enim virtutem amplectitur, ipsam_
+     _Proemia si tolias?
+                      _--JUVENAL, _sat._ x.
+
+     For, if the gain you take away,
+     To virtue who will homage pay!
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Ah, good sir, that is to say, that if you did not hope for paradise, or
+fear hell, you would never do a good action. You quote me lines from
+Juvenal, to prove to me that you have only your interest in view. Racine
+could at least show you, that even in this world we might find our
+recompense, while waiting for a better:
+
+     _Quel plaisir de penser, et de dire en vous-même,_
+     _Partout en ce moment on me bénit, on m'aime!_
+     _On ne voit point le peuple à mon nom s'alarmer;_
+     _Le ciel dans tous leurs pleurs ne m'entend point nommer,_
+     _Leur sombre inimitie ne fuit point mon visage;_
+     _Je vois voter partout les coeurs a mon passage._
+     _Tels étaient vos plaisirs._
+                      --RACINE, _Britannicus_, act iv, sc. ii.
+
+     How great his pleasure who can justly say,
+     All at this moment either bless or love me;
+     The people at my name betray no fear,
+     Nor in their plaints does heaven e'er hear of me!
+     Their enmity ne'er makes them fly my presence,
+     But every heart springs out at my approach!
+     Such were your pleasures!
+
+Believe me, doctor, there are two things which deserve to be loved for
+themselves--God and Virtue.
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+Ah, sir! you are a Fénelonist.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Yes, doctor.
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+I will inform against you at the tribunal of Meaux.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Go, and inform!
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+What is virtue? Beneficence towards your neighbor. Can I call virtue
+anything but that which does good! I am indigent, thou art liberal. I am
+in danger, thou succorest me. I am deceived, thou tellest me the truth.
+I am neglected, thou consolest me. I am ignorant, thou teachest me. I
+can easily call thee virtuous, but what will become of the cardinal and
+theological virtues? Some will remain in the schools.
+
+What signifies it to me whether thou art temperate? It is a precept of
+health which thou observest; thou art the better for it; I congratulate
+thee on it. Thou hast faith and hope; I congratulate thee still more;
+they will procure thee eternal life. Thy theological virtues are
+celestial gifts; thy cardinal ones are excellent qualities, which serve
+to guide thee; but they are not virtues in relation to thy neighbor.
+The prudent man does himself good; the virtuous one does it to other
+men. St. Paul was right in telling thee, that charity ranks above faith
+and hope.
+
+But how! wilt thou admit of no other virtues than those which are useful
+to thy neighbor? How can I admit any others? We live in society; there
+is therefore nothing truly good for us but that which does good to
+society. An hermit will be sober, pious, and dressed in sackcloth: very
+well; he will be holy; but I will not call him virtuous until he shall
+have done some act of virtue by which men may have profited. While he is
+alone, he is neither beneficent nor the contrary; he is nobody to us. If
+St. Bruno had made peace in families, if he had assisted the indigent,
+he had been virtuous; having fasted and prayed in solitude, he is only a
+saint. Virtue between men is a commerce of good actions: he who has no
+part in this commerce, must not be reckoned. If this saint were in the
+world, he would doubtless do good, but while he is not in the world, we
+have no reason to give him the name of virtuous: he will be good for
+himself, and not for us.
+
+But, say you, if an hermit is gluttonous, drunken, given up to a secret
+debauch with himself, he is vicious; he is therefore virtuous, if he has
+the contrary qualities. I cannot agree to this: he is a very vile man,
+if he has the faults of which you speak; but he is not vicious, wicked,
+or punishable by society, to which his infamies do no harm. It may be
+presumed, that if he re-enters society, he will do evil to it; he then
+will be very vicious; and it is even more probable that he will be a
+wicked man, than it is certain that the other temperate and chaste
+hermit will be a good man; for in society faults augment, and good
+qualities diminish.
+
+A much stronger objection is made to me: Nero, Pope Alexander VI., and
+other monsters of the kind, have performed good actions. I reply boldly,
+that they were virtuous at the time. Some theologians say, that the
+divine Emperor Antoninus was not virtuous; that he was an infatuated
+Stoic, who, not content with commanding men, would further be esteemed
+by them; that he gave himself credit for the good which he did to
+mankind; that he was all his life just, laborious, beneficent, through
+vanity; and that he only deceived men by his virtues. To which I
+exclaim: My God! often send us such knaves!
+
+
+
+
+VISION.
+
+
+When I speak of vision, I do not mean the admirable manner in which our
+eyes perceive objects, and in which the pictures of all that we see are
+painted on the retina--a divine picture designed according to all the
+laws of mathematics, which is, consequently, like everything else from
+the hand of the Eternal geometrician; in spite of those who explain it,
+and who pretend to believe, that the eye is not intended to see, the
+ear to hear, or the feet to walk. This matter has been so learnedly
+treated by so many great geniuses, that there is no further remnant to
+glean after their harvests.
+
+I do not pretend to speak of the heresy of which Pope John XXII. was
+accused, who pretended that saints will not enjoy beatific vision until
+after the last judgment. I give up this vision. My subject is the
+innumerable multitude of visions with which so many holy personages have
+been favored or tormented; which so many idiots are believed to have
+seen; with which so many knavish men and women have duped the world,
+either to get the reputation of being favored by heaven, which is very
+flattering, or to gain money, which is still more so to rogues in
+general.
+
+Calmet and Langlet have made ample collections of these visions. The
+most interesting in my opinion is the one which has produced the
+greatest effects, since it has tended to reform three parts of the
+Swiss--that of the young Jacobin Yetzer, with which I have already
+amused my dear reader. This Yetzer, as you know, saw the Holy Virgin and
+St. Barbara several times, who informed him of the marks of Jesus
+Christ. You are not ignorant of how he received, from a Jacobin
+confessor, a host powdered with arsenic, and how the bishop of Lausanne
+would have had him burned for complaining that he was poisoned. You have
+seen, that these abominations were one of the causes of the misfortune
+which happened to the Bernese, of ceasing to be Catholic,
+Apostolical, and Roman.
+
+[Illustration: The Vision.]
+
+I am sorry that I have no visions of this consequence to tell you of.
+Yet you will confess, that the vision of the reverend father Cordeliers
+of Orleans, in 1534, approaches the nearest to it, though still very
+distant. The criminal process which it occasioned is still in manuscript
+in the library of the king of France, No. 1770.
+
+The illustrious house of St. Memin did great good to the convent of the
+Cordeliers, and had their vault in the church. The wife of a lord of St.
+Memin, provost of Orleans, being dead, her husband, believing that his
+ancestors had sufficiently impoverished themselves by giving to the
+monks, gave the brothers a present which did not appear to them
+considerable enough. These good Franciscans conceived a plan for
+disinterring the deceased, to force the widower to have her buried again
+in their holy ground, and to pay them better. The project was not
+clever, for the lord of St. Memin would not have failed to bury her
+elsewhere. But folly often mixes with knavery.
+
+At first, the soul of the lady of St. Memin appeared only to two
+brothers. She said to them: "I am damned, like Judas, because my husband
+has not given sufficient." The two knaves who related these words
+perceived not, that they must do more harm to the convent than good. The
+aim of the convent was to extort money from the lord of St. Memin, for
+the repose of his wife's soul. Now, if Madame de St. Memin was damned,
+all the money in the world could not save her. They got no more; the
+Cordeliers lost their labor.
+
+At this time there was very little good sense in France: the nation had
+been brutalized by the invasion of the Franks, and afterwards by the
+invasion of scholastic theology; but in Orleans there were some persons
+who reasoned. If the Great Being permitted the soul of Madame de St.
+Memin to appear to two Franciscans, it was not natural, they thought,
+for this soul to declare itself damned like Judas. This comparison
+appeared to them to be unnatural. This lady had not sold our Lord Jesus
+Christ for thirty deniers; she was not hanged; her intestines had not
+obtruded themselves; and there was not the slightest pretext for
+comparing her to Judas.
+
+This caused suspicion; and the rumor was still greater in Orleans,
+because there were already heretics there who believed not in certain
+visions, and who, in admitting absurd principles, did not always fail to
+draw good conclusions. The Cordeliers, therefore, changed their battery,
+and put the lady in purgatory.
+
+She therefore appeared again, and declared that purgatory was her lot;
+but she demanded to be disinterred. It was not the custom to disinter
+those in purgatory; but they hoped that M. de St. Memin would prevent
+this extraordinary affront, by giving money. This demand of being
+thrown out of the church augmented the suspicions. It was well known,
+that souls often appeared, but they never demanded to be disinterred.
+
+From this time the soul spoke no more, but it haunted everybody in the
+convent and church. The brother Cordeliers exorcised it. Brother Peter
+of Arras adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring it. He said to it:
+"If thou art the soul of the late Madame de St. Memin, strike four
+knocks;" and the four knocks were struck. "If thou are damned, strike
+six knocks;" and the six knocks were struck. "If thou art still
+tormented in hell, because thy body is buried in holy ground, knock six
+more times;" and the other six knocks were heard still more distinctly.
+"If we disinter thy body, and cease praying to God for thee, wilt thou
+be the less damned? Strike five knocks to certify it to us;" and the
+soul certified it by five knocks.
+
+This interrogation of the soul, made by Peter of Arras, was signed by
+twenty-two Cordeliers, at the head of which was the reverend father
+provincial. This father provincial the next day asked it the same
+questions, and received the same answers.
+
+It will be said, that the soul having declared that it was in purgatory,
+the Cordeliers should not have supposed that it was in hell; but it is
+not my fault if theologians contradict one another.
+
+The lord of St. Memin presented a request to the king against the father
+Cordeliers. They presented a request on their sides; the king appointed
+judges, at the head of whom was Adrian Fumée, master of requests.
+
+The procureur-general of the commission required that the said
+Cordeliers should be burned, but the sentence only condemned them to
+make the "amende honorable" with a torch in their bosom, and to be
+banished from the kingdom. This sentence is of February 18, 1535.
+
+After such a vision, it is useless to relate any others: they are all a
+species either of knavery or folly. Visions of the first kind are under
+the province of justice; those of the second are either visions of
+diseased fools, or of fools in good health. The first belong to
+medicine, the second to Bedlam.
+
+
+
+
+VISION OF CONSTANTINE.
+
+
+Grave theologians have not failed to allege a specious reason to
+maintain the truth of the appearance of the cross in heaven; but we are
+going to show that these arguments are not sufficiently convincing to
+exclude doubt; the evidences which they quote being neither persuasive
+nor according with one another.
+
+First, they produce no witnesses but Christians, the deposition of whom
+may be suspected in the treatment of a fact which tended to prove the
+divinity of their religion. How is it that no Pagan author has made
+mention of this miracle, which was seen equally by all the army of
+Constantine? That Zosimus, who seems to have endeavored to diminish the
+glory of Constantine, has said nothing of it, is not surprising; but the
+silence appears very strange in the author of the panegyric of
+Constantine, pronounced in his presence at Trier; in which oration the
+panegyrist expresses himself in magnificent terms on all the war against
+Maxentius, whom this emperor had conquered.
+
+Another orator, who, in his panegyric, treats so eloquently of the war
+against Maxentius, of the clemency which Constantine showed after the
+victory, and of the deliverance of Rome, says not a word on this
+apparition; while he assures us, that celestial armies were seen by all
+the Gauls, which armies, it was pretended, were sent to aid Constantine.
+
+This surprising vision has not only been unknown to Pagan authors, but
+to three Christian writers, who had the finest occasion to speak of
+them. Optatianus Porphyrius mentions more than once the monogram of
+Christ, which he calls the celestial sign, in the panegyric of
+Constantine which he wrote in Latin verse, but not a word on the
+appearance of the cross in the sky.
+
+Lactantius says nothing of it in his treatise on the "Death of
+Persecutors," which he composed towards the year 314, two years after
+the vision of which we speak; yet he must have been perfectly informed
+of all that regards Constantine, having been tutor to Crispus, the son
+of this prince. He merely relates, that Constantine was commanded, in a
+dream, to put the divine image of the cross on the bucklers of his
+soldiers, and to give up war: but in relating a dream, the truth of
+which had no other support than the evidence of the emperor, he passes,
+in silence over a prodigy to which all the army were witnesses.
+
+Further, Eusebius of Cæsarea himself, who has given the example to all
+other Christian historians on the subject, speaks not of this wonder, in
+the whole course of his "Ecclesiastical History," though he enlarges
+much on the exploits of Constantine against Maxentius. It is only in his
+life of this emperor that he expresses himself in these terms:
+"Constantine resolved to adore the god of Constantius; his father
+implored the protection of this god against Maxentius. Whilst he was
+praying, he had a wonderful vision, which would appear incredible, if
+related by another; but since the victorious emperor has himself related
+it to us, who wrote this history; and that, after having been long known
+to this prince, and enjoying a share in his good graces, the emperor
+confirming what he said by oath--who could doubt it? particularly since
+the event has confirmed the truth of it.
+
+"He affirmed, that in the afternoon, when the sun set, he saw a luminous
+cross above it, with this inscription in Greek--'By this sign, conquer:'
+that this appearance astonished him extremely, as well as all the
+soldiers who followed him, who were witnesses of the miracle; that while
+his mind was fully occupied with this vision, and he sought to penetrate
+the sense of it, the night being come, Jesus Christ appeared to him
+during his sleep, with the same sign which He had shown to him in the
+air in the day-time, and commanded him to make a standard of the same
+form, and to bear it in his battles, to secure him from danger.
+Constantine, rising at break of day, related to his friends the vision
+which he had beheld; and, sending for goldsmiths and lapidaries, he sat
+in the midst of them, explained to them the figure of the sign which he
+had seen, and commanded them to make a similar one of gold and jewels;
+and we remember having sometimes seen it."
+
+Eusebius afterwards adds, that Constantine, astonished at so admirable a
+vision, sent for Christian priests; and that, instructed by them, he
+applied himself to reading our sacred books, and concluded that he ought
+to adore with a profound respect the God who appeared to him.
+
+How can we conceive that so admirable a vision, seen by so many millions
+of people, and so calculated to justify the truth of the Christian
+religion, could be unknown to Eusebius, an historian so careful in
+seeking all that could contribute to do honor to Christianity, as even
+to quote profane monuments falsely, as we have seen in the article on
+"Eclipse?" And how can we persuade ourselves that he was not informed
+of it, until several years after, by the sole evidence of Constantine?
+Were there no Christians in the army, who publicly made a glory of
+having seen such a prodigy? Had they so little interest in their cause
+as to keep silence on so great a miracle? Ought we to be astonished,
+after that, that Gelasius, one of the successors of Eusebius, in the
+siege of Cæsarea in the fifth century, has said that many people
+suspected that it was only a fable, invented in favor of the Christian
+religion?
+
+This suspicion will become much stronger, if we take notice how little
+the witnesses agree on the circumstances of this marvellous appearance.
+Almost all affirm, that the cross was seen by Constantine and all his
+army; and Gelasius speaks of Constantine alone. They differ on the time
+of the vision. Philostorgius, in his "Ecclesiastical History," of which
+Photius has preserved us the extract, says, that it was when Constantine
+gained the victory over Maxentius; others pretend that it was before,
+when Constantine was making preparations for attacking the tyrant, and
+was on his march with his army. Arthemius, quoted by Metaphrastus and
+Surius, mentions the 20th of October, and says that it was at noon;
+others speak of the afternoon at sunset.
+
+Authors do not agree better even on the vision: the greatest number
+acknowledged but one, and that in a dream. There is only Eusebius,
+followed by Philostorgius and Socrates, who speaks of two; the one that
+Constantine saw in the day-time, and the other which he saw in a dream,
+tending to confirm the first. Nicephorus Callistus reckons three.
+
+The inscription offers new differences: Eusebius says that it was in
+Greek characters, while others do not speak of it. According to
+Philostorgius and Nicephorus, it was in Latin characters; others say
+nothing about it, and seem by their relation to suppose that the
+characters were Greek. Philostorgius affirms, that the inscription was
+formed by an assemblage of stars; Arthemius says that the letters were
+golden. The author quoted by Photius, represents them as composed of the
+same luminous matter as the cross; and according to Sosomenes, it had no
+inscription, and they were angels who said to Constantine: "By this
+sign, gain the victory."
+
+Finally, the relation of historians is opposed on the consequences of
+this vision. If we take that of Eusebius, Constantine, aided by God,
+easily gained the victory over Maxentius; but according to Lactantius,
+the victory was much disputed. He even says that the troops of Maxentius
+had some advantage, before Constantine made his army approach the gates
+of Rome. If we may believe Eusebius and Sosomenes, from this epoch
+Constantine was always victorious, and opposed the salutary sign of the
+cross to his enemies, as an impenetrable rampart. However, a Christian
+author, of whom M. de Valois has collected some fragments, at the end of
+Ammianus Marcellinus--relates, that in the two battles given to Licinius
+by Constantine, the victory was doubtful, and that Constantine was even
+slightly wounded in the thigh; and Nicephorus says, that after the first
+apparition, he twice combated the Byzantines, without opposing the cross
+to them, and would not even have remembered it, if he had not lost nine
+thousand men, and had the same vision twice more. In the first, the
+stars were so arranged that they formed these words of a psalm: "Call on
+me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify
+me;" and the last, much clearer and more brilliant still, bore: "By this
+sign, thou shalt vanquish all thy enemies."
+
+Philostorgius affirms, that the vision of the cross, and the victory
+gained over Maxentius, determined Constantine to embrace the Christian
+faith; but Rufinus, who has translated the "Ecclesiastical History" of
+Eusebius into Latin, says that he already favored Christianity, and
+honored the true God. It is however known, that he did not receive
+baptism until a few days before his death, as is expressly said by
+Philostorgius, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, Socrates,
+Theodoret, and the author of the Chronicle of Alexandria. This custom,
+then common, was founded on the belief that, baptism effacing all the
+sins of him who received it, he died certain of his salvation.
+
+We might confine ourselves to these general reflections, but by
+superabundance of right we will discuss the authority of Eusebius, as an
+historian, and that of Constantine and Arthemius, as ocular witnesses.
+
+As to Arthemius, we think that he ought not to be placed in the rank of
+ocular witnesses; his discourse being founded only on his "Acts,"
+related by Metaphrastus, a fabulous author: "Acts" which Baronius
+pretends it was wrong to impeach, at the same time that he confesses
+that they are interpolated.
+
+As to the speech of Constantine, related by Eusebius, it is indisputably
+an astonishing thing, that this emperor feared that he should not be
+believed unless he made oath; and that Eusebius has not supported his
+evidence by that of any of the officers or soldiers of the army. But
+without here adopting the opinion of some scholars, who doubt whether
+Eusebius is the author of the life of Constantine, is he not an author
+who, in this work, bears throughout the character of a panegyrist,
+rather than that of a historian? Is he not a writer who has carefully
+suppressed all which could be disadvantageous to his hero? In a word,
+does he not show his partiality, when he says, in his "Ecclesiastical
+History," speaking of Maxentius, that having usurped the sovereign power
+at Rome, to flatter the people he feigned at first to profess the
+Christian religion? As if it was impossible for Constantine to make use
+of such a feint, and to pretend this vision, just as Licinius, some time
+after, to encourage his soldiers against Maximin, pretended that an
+angel in a dream had dictated a prayer to him, which he must repeat with
+his army.
+
+How could Eusebius really have the effrontery to call a prince a
+Christian who caused the temple of Concord to be rebuilt at his own
+expense, as is proved by an inscription, which was read in the time of
+Lelio Geraldi, in the temple of Latran? A prince who caused his son
+Crispus, already honored with the title of Cæsar, to perish on a slight
+suspicion of having commerce with Fausta, his stepmother; who caused
+this same Fausta, to whom he was indebted for the preservation of his
+life, to be suffocated in an overheated bath; who caused the emperor
+Maximian Hercules, his adopted father, to be strangled; who took away
+the life of the young Licinius, his nephew, who had already displayed
+very good qualities; and, in short, who dishonored himself by so many
+murders, that the consul Ablavius called his times Neronian? We might
+add, that much dependence should not be placed on the oath of
+Constantine, since he had not the least scruple in perjuring himself, by
+causing Licinius to be strangled, to whom he had promised his life on
+oath. Eusebius passes in silence over all the actions of Constantine
+which are related by Eutropius, Zosimus, Orosius, St. Jerome, and
+Aurelius Victor.
+
+After this, have we not reason to conclude that the pretended appearance
+of the cross in the sky is only a fraud which Constantine imagined to
+favor the success of his ambitious enterprises? The medals of this
+prince and of his family, which are found in Banduri, and in the work
+entitled, "_Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum_"; the triumphal arch of
+which Baronius speaks, in the inscription of which the senate and the
+Roman people said that Constantine, by the direction of the Divinity,
+had rid the republic of the tyrant Maxentius, and of all his faction;
+finally, the statue which Constantine himself caused to be erected at
+Rome, holding a lance terminating in the form of a cross, with this
+inscription--as related by Eusebius: "By this saving sign, I have
+delivered your city from the yoke of tyranny"--all this, I say, only
+proves the immoderate pride of this artificial prince, who would
+everywhere spread the noise of his pretended dream, and perpetuate the
+recollection of it.
+
+Yet, to excuse Eusebius, we must compare him to a bishop of the
+seventeenth century, whom La Bruyère hesitated not to call a father of
+the Church. Bossuet, at the same time that he fell so unmercifully on
+the visions of the elegant and sensible Fénelon, commented himself, in
+the funeral oration of Anne of Gonzaga of Cleves, on the two visions
+which worked the conversion of the Princess Palatine. It was an
+admirable dream, says this prelate; she thought that, walking alone in a
+forest, she met with a blind man in a small cell. She comprehended that
+a sense is wanting to the incredulous as well as to the blind; and at
+the same time, in the midst of so mysterious a dream, she applied the
+fine comparison of the blind man to the truths of religion and of the
+other life.
+
+In the second vision, God continued to instruct her, as He did Joseph
+and Solomon; and during the drowsiness which the trouble caused her, He
+put this parable into her mind, so similar to that in the gospel: She
+saw that appear which Jesus Christ has not disdained to give us as an
+image of His tenderness--a hen become a mother, anxious round the little
+ones which she conducted. One of them having strayed, our invalid saw it
+swallowed by a hungry dog. She ran and tore the innocent animal away
+from him. At the same time, a voice cried from the other side that she
+must give it back to the ravisher. "No," said she, "I will never give it
+back." At this moment she awakened, and the explanation of the figure
+which had been shown to her presented itself to her mind in an instant.
+
+
+
+
+VOWS.
+
+
+To make a vow for life, is to make oneself a slave. How can this worst
+of all slavery be allowed in a country in which slavery is proscribed?
+To promise to God by an oath, that from the age of fifteen until death
+we will be a Jesuit, Jacobin, or Capuchin, is to affirm that we will
+always think like a Capuchin, a Jacobin, or a Jesuit. It is very
+pleasant to promise, for a whole life, that which no man can certainly
+insure from night to morning!
+
+How can governments have been such enemies to themselves, and so absurd,
+as to authorize citizens to alienate their liberty at an age when they
+are not allowed to dispose of the least portion of their fortunes? How,
+being convinced of the extent of this stupidity, have not the whole of
+the magistracy united to put an end to it?
+
+Is it not alarming to reflect that there are more monks than soldiers?
+Is it possible not to be affected by the discovery of the secrets of
+cloisters; the turpitudes, the horrors, and the torments to which so
+many unhappy children are subjected, who detest the state which they
+have been forced to adopt, when they become men, and who beat with
+useless despair the chains which their weakness has imposed upon them?
+
+I knew a young man whose parents engaged to make a Capuchin of him at
+fifteen years and a half old, when he desperately loved a girl very
+nearly of his own age. As soon as the unhappy youth had made his vow to
+St. Francis, the devil reminded him of the vows which he had made to his
+mistress, to whom he had signed a promise of marriage. At last, the
+devil being stronger than St. Francis, the young Capuchin left his
+cloister, repaired to the house of his mistress, and was told that she
+had entered a convent and made profession.
+
+He flew to the convent, and asked to see her, when he was told that she
+had died of grief. This news deprived him of all sense, and he fell to
+the ground nearly lifeless. He was immediately transported to a
+neighboring monastery, not to afford him the necessary medical aid, but
+in order to procure him the blessing of extreme unction before his
+death, which infallibly saves the soul.
+
+The house to which the poor fainting boy was carried, happened to be a
+convent of Capuchins, who charitably let him remain at the door for
+three hours; but at last he was recognized by one of the venerable
+brothers, who had seen him in the monastery to which he belonged. On
+this discovery, he was carried into a cell, and attention paid to
+recover him, in order that he might expiate, by a salutary penitence,
+the errors of which he had been guilty.
+
+As soon as he had recovered strength, he was conducted, well bound, to
+his convent, and the following is precisely the manner in which he was
+treated. In the first place he was placed in a dungeon under ground, at
+the bottom of which was an enormous stone, to which a chain of iron was
+attached. To this chain he was fastened by one leg, and near him was
+placed a loaf of barley bread and a jug of water; after which they
+closed the entrance of the dungeon with a large block of stone, which
+covered the opening by which they had descended.
+
+At the end of three days they withdrew him from the dungeon, in order to
+bring him before the criminal court of the Capuchins. They wished to
+know if he had any accomplices in his flight, and to oblige him to
+confess, applied the mode of torture employed in the convent. This
+preparatory torture was inflicted by cords, which bound the limbs of the
+patient, and made him endure a sort of rack.
+
+After having undergone these torments, he was condemned to be imprisoned
+for two years in his cell, from which he was to be brought out thrice a
+week, in order to receive upon his naked body the discipline with iron
+chains.
+
+For six months his constitution endured this punishment, from which he
+was at length so fortunate as to escape in consequence of a quarrel
+among the Capuchins, who fought with one another, and allowed the
+prisoner to escape during the fray.
+
+After hiding himself for some hours, he ventured to go abroad at the
+decline of day, almost worn out by hunger, and scarcely able to support
+himself. A passing Samaritan took pity upon the poor, famished spectre,
+conducted him to his house, and gave him assistance. The unhappy youth
+himself related to me his story in the presence of his liberator. Behold
+here the consequence of vows!
+
+It would be a nice point to decide, whether the horrors of passing every
+day among the mendicant friars are more revolting than the pernicious
+riches of the other orders, which reduce so many families into
+mendicants.
+
+All of them have made a vow to live at our expense, and to be a burden
+to their country; to injure its population, and to betray both their
+contemporaries and posterity; and shall we suffer it?
+
+Here is another interesting question for officers of the army: Why are
+monks allowed to recover one of their brethren who has enlisted for a
+soldier, while a captain is prevented from recovering a deserter who has
+turned monk?
+
+
+
+
+VOYAGE OF ST. PETER TO ROME.
+
+
+Of the famous dispute, whether Peter made the journey to Rome, is it not
+in the main as frivolous as most other grand disputes? The revenues of
+the abbey of St. Denis, in France, depend neither on the truth of the
+journey of St. Dionysius the Areopagite from Athens to the midst of
+Gaul; his martyrdom at Montmartre; nor the other journey which he made
+after his death, from Montmartre to St. Denis, carrying his head in his
+arms, and kissing it at every step.
+
+The Carthusians have great riches, without there being the least truth
+in the history of the canon of Paris, who rose from his coffin three
+successive days, to inform the assistants that he was damned.
+
+In like manner it is very certain that the rights and revenues of the
+Roman pontiff can exist, whether Simon Barjonas, surnamed Cephas, went
+to Rome or not. All the rights of the archbishops of Rome and
+Constantinople were established at the Council of Chalcedon, in the
+year 451 of our vulgar era, and there was no mention in this council of
+any journey made by an apostle to Byzantium or to Rome.
+
+The patriarchs of Alexander and Constantinople followed the lot of their
+provinces. The ecclesiastical chiefs of these two imperial cities, and
+of opulent Egypt, must necessarily have more authority, privileges, and
+riches, than bishops of little towns.
+
+If the residence of an apostle in a city decided so many rights, the
+bishop of Jerusalem would have been, without contradiction, the first
+bishop of Christendom. He was evidently the successor of St. James, the
+brother of Jesus Christ, acknowledged as the founder of this church, and
+afterwards called the first of all bishops. We should add by the same
+reasoning, that all the patriarchs of Jerusalem should be circumcised,
+since the fifteen first bishops of Jerusalem--the cradle of Christianity
+and tomb of Jesus Christ--had all received circumcision. It is
+indisputable that the first largesses made to the church of Rome by
+Constantine, have not the least relation to the journey of St. Peter.
+
+1. The first church raised at Rome was that of St. John; it is still the
+true cathedral. It is evident that it would have been dedicated to St.
+Peter, if he had been the first bishop of it. It is the strongest of all
+presumptions, and that alone might have ended the dispute.
+
+2. To this powerful conjecture are joined convincing negative proofs. If
+Peter had been at Rome with Paul, the Acts of the Apostles would have
+mentioned it; and they say not a word about it.
+
+3. If St. Peter went to preach the gospel at Rome, St. Paul would not
+have said, in his Epistle to the Galatians: "When they saw that the
+gospel of the uncircumcisions was committed unto me, as the gospel of
+the circumcision was unto Peter; and when James, Cephas, and John, who
+seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they
+gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go
+unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision."
+
+4. In the letters which Paul writes from Rome, he never speaks of Peter;
+therefore, it is evident that Peter was not there.
+
+5. In the letters which Paul writes to his brethren of Rome, there is
+not the least compliment to Peter, nor the least mention of him;
+therefore, Peter neither made a journey to Rome when Paul was in prison,
+nor when he was free.
+
+6. We have never known any letter of St. Peter's dated from Rome.
+
+7. Some, like Paul Orosius, a Spaniard of the fifth century, say that he
+was at Rome in the first years of the reign of Claudius. The Acts of the
+Apostles say that he was then at Jerusalem; and the Epistles of Paul,
+that he was at Antioch.
+
+8. I do not pretend to bring forward any proof, but speaking humanly,
+and according to the rules of profane criticism, Peter could scarcely go
+from Jerusalem to Rome, knowing neither the Latin nor even the Greek
+language, which St. Paul spoke, though very badly. It is said that the
+apostles spoke all the languages of the universe; therefore, I am
+silenced.
+
+9. Finally, the first mention which we ever had of the journey of St.
+Peter to Rome, came from one named Papias, who lived about a hundred
+years after St. Peter. This Papias was a Phrygian; he wrote in Phrygia;
+and he pretended that St. Peter went to Rome, because in one of his
+letters he speaks of Babylon. We have, indeed, a letter, attributed to
+St. Peter, written in these obscure times, in which it is said: "The
+Church which is at Babylon, my wife, and my son Mark, salute you." It
+has pleased some translators to translate the word meaning my wife, by
+"chosen vessel": "Babylon, the chosen vessel." This is translating
+comprehensively.
+
+Papias, who was, it must be confessed, one of the great visionaries of
+these ages, imagined that Babylon signified Rome. It was, however, very
+natural for Peter to depart from Antioch to visit the brethren at
+Babylon. There were always Jews at Babylon; and they continually carried
+on the trade of brokers and peddlers; it is very likely that several
+disciples sought refuge there, and that Peter went to encourage them.
+There is not more reason in supposing that Babylon signifies Rome, than
+in supposing that Rome means Babylon. What an extravagant idea, to
+suppose that Peter wrote an exhortation to his comrades, as we write at
+present, in ciphers! Did he fear that his letter should be opened at the
+post? Why should Peter fear that his Jewish letters should be known--so
+useless in a worldly sense, and to which it was impossible for the
+Romans to pay the least attention? Who engaged him to lie so vainly?
+What could have possessed people to think, that when he wrote Babylon,
+he intended Rome?
+
+It was after similar convincing proofs that the judicious Calmet
+concludes that the journey of St. Peter to Rome is proved by St. Peter
+himself, who says expressly, that he has written his letter from
+Babylon; that is to say, from Rome, as we interpret with the ancients.
+Once more, this is powerful reasoning! He has probably learned this
+logic among the vampires!
+
+The learned archbishop of Paris, Marca, Dupin, Blondel, and Spanheim,
+are not of this opinion; but it was that of Calmet, who reasoned like
+Calmet, and who was followed by a multitude of writers so attached to
+the sublimity of their principles that they sometimes neglected
+wholesome criticism and reason. It is a very poor pretence of the
+partisans of the voyage to say that the Acts of the Apostles are
+intended for the history of Paul, and not for that of Peter; and that if
+they pass in silence over the sojourn of Simon Barjonas at Rome, it is
+that the actions and exploits of Paul were the sole object of the
+writer.
+
+The Acts speak much of Simon Barjonas, surnamed Peter; it is he who
+proposes to give a successor to Judas. We see him strike Ananias and his
+wife with sudden death, who had given him their property, but
+unfortunately not all of it. We see him raise his sempstress Dorcas, at
+the house of the tanner Simon at Joppa. He has a quarrel in Samaria with
+Simon, surnamed the Magician; he goes to Lippa, Cæsarea, and Jerusalem;
+what would it have cost him to go to Rome?
+
+It is very difficult to decide whether Peter went to Rome under
+Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, or Nero. The journey in the time of
+Tiberius is only founded on the pretended apocryphal fasti of Italy.
+
+Another apocrypha, entitled "Catalogues of Bishops," makes Peter bishop
+of Rome immediately after the death of his master. I know not what
+Arabian tale sent him to Rome under Caligula. Eusebius, three hundred
+years after, makes him to be conducted to Rome under Claudius by a
+divine hand, without saying in what year.
+
+Lactantius, who wrote in the time of Constantine, is the first veracious
+author who has said that Peter went to Rome under Nero, and that he was
+crucified there.
+
+We must avow, that if such claims alone were brought forward by a party
+in a lawsuit, he would not gain his cause, and he would be advised to
+keep to the maxim of "_uti possedetis_"; and this is the part which Rome
+has taken.
+
+But it is said that before Eusebius and Lactantius, the exact Papias had
+already related the adventure of Peter and Simon; the virtue of God
+which removed him into the presence of Nero; the kinsman of Nero half
+raised from the dead, in the name of God, by Simon, and wholly raised by
+Peter; the compliments of their dogs; the bread given by Peter to
+Simon's dogs; the magician who flew into the air; the Christian who
+caused him to fall by a sign of the cross, by which he broke both his
+legs; Nero, who cut off Peter's head to pay for the legs of his
+magician, etc. The grave Marcellus repeats this authentic history, and
+the grave Hegesippus again repeats it, and others repeat it after them;
+and I repeat to you, that if ever you plead for a meadow before the
+judge of Vaugirard, you will never gain your suit by such claims.
+
+I doubt not that the episcopal chair of St. Peter is still at Rome in
+the fine church. I doubt not but that St. Peter enjoyed the bishopric of
+Rome twenty-nine years, a month, and nine days, as it is said. But I may
+venture to say that that is not demonstratively proved; and I say that
+it is to be thought that the Roman bishops of the present time are more
+at their ease than those of times past--obscure times, which it is very
+difficult to penetrate.
+
+
+
+
+WALLER.
+
+
+The celebrated Waller has been much spoken of in France; he has been
+praised by La Fontaine, St. Évremond, and Bayle, who, however, knew
+little of him beyond his name.
+
+He had pretty nearly the same reputation in London as Voiture enjoyed in
+Paris, but I believe that he more deserved it. Voiture existed at a time
+when we were first emerging from literary ignorance, and when wit was
+aimed at, but scarcely attained. Turns of expression were sought for
+instead of thoughts, and false stones were more easily discovered than
+genuine diamonds. Voiture, who possessed an easy and trifling turn of
+mind, was the first who shone in this aurora of French literature. Had
+he come after the great men who have thrown so much lustre on the age of
+Louis XIV., he would have been forced to have had something more than
+mere wit, which was enough for the hotel de Rambouillet, but not enough
+for posterity. Boileau praises him, but it was in his first satires, and
+before his taste was formed. He was young, and of that age in which men
+judge rather by reputation than from themselves; and, besides, Boileau
+was often unjust in his praise as well as his censure. He praised
+Segrais, whom nobody read; insulted Quinault, who everybody repeated by
+heart; and said nothing of La Fontaine.
+
+Waller, although superior to Voiture, was not perfect. His poems of
+gallantry are very graceful, but they are frequently languid from
+negligence, and they are often disfigured by conceits. In his days, the
+English had not learned to write correctly. His serious pieces are
+replete with vigor, and exhibit none of the softness of his gallant
+effusions. He composed a monody on the death of Cromwell, which, with
+several faults, passes for a masterpiece; and it was in reference to
+this eulogy that Waller made the reply to Charles II., which is inserted
+in "Bayle's Dictionary." The king--to whom Waller, after the manner of
+kings and poets, presented a poem stuffed with panegyric--told him that
+he had written more finely on Cromwell. Waller immediately replied:
+"Sire, we poets always succeed better in fiction than in truth." This
+reply was not so sincere as that of the Dutch ambassador, who, when the
+same king complained to him that his masters had less regard for him
+than for Cromwell, replied: "Ah, sire! that Cromwell was quite another
+thing." There are courtiers in England, as elsewhere, and Waller was one
+of them; but after their death, I consider men only by their works; all
+the rest is annihilated. I simply observe that Waller, born to an estate
+of the annual value of sixty thousand livres, had never the silly pride
+or carelessness to neglect his talent. The earls of Dorset and
+Roscommon, the two dukes of Buckingham, the earl of Halifax, and a great
+many others, have not thought it below them to become celebrated poets
+and illustrious writers; and their works do them more honor than their
+titles. They have cultivated letters as if their fortunes depended on
+their success, and have rendered literature respectable in the eyes of
+the people, who in all things require leaders from among the great--who,
+however, have less influence of this kind in England than in any other
+place in the world.
+
+
+
+
+WAR.
+
+
+All animals are perpetually at war; every species is born to devour
+another. There are none, even to sheep and doves, who do not swallow a
+prodigious number of imperceptible animals. Males of the same species
+make war for the females, like Menelaus and Paris. Air, earth, and the
+waters, are fields of destruction.
+
+It seems that God having given reason to men, this reason should teach
+them not to debase themselves by imitating animals, particularly when
+nature has given them neither arms to kill their fellow-creatures, nor
+instinct which leads them to suck their blood.
+
+Yet murderous war is so much the dreadful lot of man, that except two or
+three nations, there are none but what their ancient histories represent
+as armed against one another. Towards Canada, man and warrior are
+synonymous; and we have seen, in our hemisphere, that thief and soldier
+were the same thing. Manichæans! behold your excuse.
+
+The most determined of flatterers will easily agree, that war always
+brings pestilence and famine in its train, from the little that he may
+have seen in the hospitals of the armies of Germany, or the few villages
+he may have passed through in which some great exploit of war has been
+performed.
+
+That is doubtless a very fine art which desolates countries, destroys
+habitations, and in a common year causes the death of from forty to a
+hundred thousand men. This invention was first cultivated by nations
+assembled for their common good; for instance, the diet of the Greeks
+declared to the diet of Phrygia and neighboring nations, that they
+intended to depart on a thousand fishers' barks, to exterminate them if
+they could.
+
+The assembled Roman people judged that it was to their interest to go
+and fight, before harvest, against the people of Veii or the Volscians.
+And some years after, all the Romans, being exasperated against all the
+Carthaginians, fought them a long time on sea and land. It is not
+exactly the same at present.
+
+A genealogist proves to a prince that he descends in a right line from a
+count, whose parents made a family compact, three or four hundred years
+ago, with a house the recollection of which does not even exist. This
+house had distant pretensions to a province, of which the last possessor
+died of apoplexy. The prince and his council see his right at once. This
+province, which is some hundred leagues distant from him, in vain
+protests that it knows him not; that it has no desire to be governed by
+him; that to give laws to its people, he must at least have their
+consent; these discourses only reach as far as the ears of the prince,
+whose right is incontestable. He immediately assembles a great number of
+men who have nothing to lose, dresses them in coarse blue cloth, borders
+their hats with broad white binding, makes them turn to the right and
+left, and marches to glory.
+
+Other princes who hear of this equipment, take part in it, each
+according to his power, and cover a small extent of country with more
+mercenary murderers than Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, and Bajazet employed
+in their train. Distant people hear that they are going to fight, and
+that they may gain five or six sous a day, if they will be of the party;
+they divide themselves into two bands, like reapers, and offer their
+services to whoever will employ them.
+
+These multitudes fall upon one another, not only without having any
+interest in the affair, but without knowing the reason of it. We see at
+once five or six belligerent powers, sometimes three against three,
+sometimes two against four, and sometimes one against five; all equally
+detesting one another, uniting with and attacking by turns; all agree in
+a single point, that of doing all the harm possible.
+
+The most wonderful part of this infernal enterprise is that each chief
+of the murderers causes his colors to be blessed, and solemnly invokes
+God before he goes to exterminate his neighbors. If a chief has only the
+fortune to kill two or three thousand men, he does not thank God for it;
+but when he has exterminated about ten thousand by fire and sword, and,
+to complete the work, some town has been levelled with the ground, they
+then sing a long song in four parts, composed in a language unknown to
+all who have fought, and moreover replete with barbarism. The same song
+serves for marriages and births, as well as for murders; which is
+unpardonable, particularly in a nation the most famous for new songs.
+
+Natural religion has a thousand times prevented citizens from committing
+crimes. A well-trained mind has not the inclination for it; a tender one
+is alarmed at it, representing to itself a just and avenging God; but
+artificial religion encourages all cruelties which are exercised by
+troops--conspiracies, seditions, pillages, ambuscades, surprises of
+towns, robberies, and murder. Each marches gaily to crime, under the
+banner of his saint.
+
+A certain number of orators are everywhere paid to celebrate these
+murderous days; some are dressed in a long black close coat, with a
+short cloak; others have a shirt above a gown; some wear two variegated
+stuff streamers over their shirts. All of them speak for a long time,
+and quote that which was done of old in Palestine, as applicable to a
+combat in Veteravia.
+
+The rest of the year these people declaim against vices. They prove, in
+three points and by antitheses, that ladies who lay a little carmine
+upon their cheeks, will be the eternal objects of the eternal vengeances
+of the Eternal; that Polyeuctus and Athalia are works of the demon; that
+a man who, for two hundred crowns a day, causes his table to be
+furnished with fresh sea-fish during Lent, infallibly works his
+salvation; and that a poor man who eats two sous and a half worth of
+mutton, will go forever to all the devils.
+
+Of five or six thousand declamations of this kind, there are three or
+four at most, composed by a Gaul named Massillon, which an honest man
+may read without disgust; but in all these discourses, you will scarcely
+find two in which the orator dares to say a word against the scourge and
+crime of war, which contains all other scourges and crimes. The
+unfortunate orators speak incessantly against love, which is the only
+consolation of mankind, and the only mode of making amends for it; they
+say nothing of the abominable efforts which we make to destroy it.
+
+You have made a very bad sermon on impurity--oh, Bourdaloue!--but none
+on these murders, varied in so many ways; on these rapines and
+robberies; on this universal rage which devours the world. All the
+united vices of all ages and places will never equal the evils produced
+by a single campaign.
+
+Miserable physicians of souls! you exclaim, for five quarters of an
+hour, on some pricks of a pin, and say nothing on the malady which tears
+us into a thousand pieces! Philosophers! moralists! burn all your books.
+While the caprice of a few men makes that part of mankind consecrated to
+heroism, to murder loyally millions of our brethren, can there be
+anything more horrible throughout nature?
+
+What becomes of, and what signifies to me, humanity, beneficence,
+modesty, temperance, mildness, wisdom, and piety, while half a pound of
+lead, sent from the distance of a hundred steps, pierces my body, and I
+die at twenty years of age, in inexpressible torments, in the midst of
+five or six thousand dying men, while my eyes which open for the last
+time, see the town in which I was born destroyed by fire and sword, and
+the last sounds which reach my ears are the cries of women and children
+expiring under the ruins, all for the pretended interests of a man whom
+I know not?
+
+What is worse, war is an inevitable scourge. If we take notice, all men
+have worshipped Mars. Sabaoth, among the Jews, signifies the god of
+arms; but Minerva, in Homer, calls Mars a furious, mad, and infernal
+god.
+
+The celebrated Montesquieu, who was called humane, has said, however,'
+that it is just to bear fire and sword against our neighbors, when we
+fear that they are doing too well. If this is the spirit of laws, At is
+also that of Borgia and of Machiavelli. If unfortunately he says true,
+we must write against this truth, though it may be proved by facts.
+
+This is what Montesquieu says: "Between societies, the right of natural
+defence sometimes induces the necessity of attacking, when one people
+sees that a longer peace puts another in a situation to destroy it, and
+that attack at the given moment is the only way of preventing this
+destruction."
+
+How can attack in peace be the only means of preventing this
+destruction? You must be sure that this neighbor will destroy you, if he
+become powerful. To be sure of it, he must already have made
+preparations for your overthrow. In this case, it is he who commences
+the war; it is not you: your supposition is false and contradictory.
+
+If ever war is evidently unjust, it is that which you propose: it is
+going to kill your neighbor, who does not attack you, lest he should
+ever be in a state to do so. To hazard the ruin of your country, in the
+hope of ruining without reason that of another, is assuredly neither
+honest nor useful; for we are never sure of success, as you well know.
+
+If your neighbor becomes too powerful during peace, what prevents you
+from rendering yourself equally powerful? If he has made alliances, make
+them on your side. If, having fewer monks, he has more soldiers and
+manufacturers, imitate him in this wise economy. If he employs his
+sailors better, employ yours in the same manner: all that is very just.
+But to expose your people to the most horrible misery, in the so often
+false idea of overturning your dear brother, the most serene neighboring
+prince!--it was not for the honorary president of a pacific society to
+give you such advice.
+
+
+
+
+WEAKNESS ON BOTH SIDES.
+
+
+Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels. I
+speak not here of those which have caused blood to be shed--the
+Anabaptists, who ravaged Westphalia; the Calvinists, who kindled so many
+wars in France; the sanguinary factions of the Armagnacs and
+Burgundians; the punishment of the Maid of Orleans, whom one-half of
+France regarded as a celestial heroine, and the other as a sorceress;
+the Sorbonne, which presented a request to have her burned; the
+assassination of the duke of Orleans, justified by the doctors; subjects
+excused from the oath of fidelity by a decree of the sacred faculty; the
+executioners so often employed to enforce opinions; the piles lighted
+for unfortunates who persuaded others that they were sorcerers and
+heretics--all that is more than weakness. Yet these abominations were
+committed in the good times of honest Germanic faith and Gallic naivete!
+I would send back to them all honest people who regret times past.
+
+I will make here, simply for my own particular edification, a little
+instructive memoir of the fine things which divided the minds of our
+grandfathers. In the eleventh century--in that good time in which we
+knew not the art of war, which however we have always practised; nor
+that of governing towns, nor commerce, nor society, and in which we
+could neither read nor write--men of much mind disputed solemnly, at
+much length, and with great vivacity, on what happened at the
+water-closet, after having fulfilled a sacred duty, of which we must
+speak only with the most profound respect. This was called the dispute
+of the stercorists; and, not ending in a war, was in consequence one of
+the mildest impertinences of the human mind.
+
+The dispute which divided learned Spain, in the same century, on the
+Mosarabic version, also terminated without ravaging provinces or
+shedding human blood. The spirit of chivalry, which then prevailed,
+permitted not the difficulty to be enlightened otherwise than in leaving
+the decision to two noble knights. As in that of the two Don Quixotes,
+whichever overthrew his adversary caused his own party to triumph. Don
+Ruis de Martanza, knight of the Mosarabic ritual, overthrew the Don
+Quixote of the Latin ritual; but as the laws of chivalry decided not
+positively that a ritual must be proscribed because its knight was
+unhorsed, a more certain and established secret was made use of, to know
+which of the books should be preferred. The expedient alluded to was
+that of throwing them both into the fire, it not being possible for the
+sound ritual to perish in the flames. I know not how it happened,
+however, but they were both burned, and the dispute remained undecided,
+to the great astonishment of the Spaniards. By degrees, the Latin ritual
+got the preference; and if any knight afterwards presented himself to
+maintain the Mosarabic, it was the knight and not the ritual which was
+thrown into the fire.
+
+In these fine times, we and other polished people, when we were ill,
+were obliged to have recourse to an Arabian physician. When we would
+know what day of the moon it was, we referred to the Arabs. If we would
+buy a piece of cloth, we must pay a Jew for it; and when a farmer wanted
+rain, he addressed himself to a sorcerer. At last, however, when some of
+us learned Latin, and had a bad translation of Aristotle, we figured in
+the world with honor, passing three or four hundred years in deciphering
+some pages of the Stagyrite, and in adoring and condemning them. Some
+said that without him we should want articles of faith; others, that he
+was an atheist. A Spaniard proved that Aristotle was a saint, and that
+we should celebrate his anniversary; while a council in France caused
+his divine writings to be burned. Colleges, universities, whole orders
+of monks, were reciprocally anathematized, on the subject of some
+passages of this great man--which neither themselves, the judges who
+interposed their authority, nor the author himself, ever understood.
+There were many fisticuffs given in Germany in these grave quarrels, but
+there was not much bloodshed. It is a pity, for the glory of Aristotle,
+that they did not make civil war, and have some regular battles in favor
+of quiddities, and of the "universal of the part of the thing." Our
+ancestors cut the throats of each other in disputes upon points which
+they understood very little better.
+
+It is true that a much celebrated madman named Occam, surnamed the
+"invincible doctor," chief of those who stood up for the "universal of
+the part of thought," demanded from the emperor Louis of Bavaria, that
+he should defend his pen with his imperial sword against Scott, another
+Scottish madman, surnamed the "subtle doctor," who fought for the
+"universal of the part of the thing." Happily, the sword of Louis of
+Bavaria remained in its scabbard. Who would believe that these disputes
+have lasted until our days, and that the Parliament of Paris, in 1624,
+gave a fine sentence in favor of Aristotle?
+
+Towards the time of the brave Occam and the intrepid Scott, a much more
+serious quarrel arose, into which the reverend father Cordeliers
+inveigled all the Christian world. This was to know if their kitchen
+garden belonged to themselves, or if they were merely simple tenants of
+it. The form of the cowls, and the size of the sleeves, were further
+subjects of this holy war. Pope John XXII., who interfered, found out to
+whom he was speaking. The Cordeliers quitted his party for that of Louis
+of Bavaria, who then drew his sword.
+
+There were, moreover, three or four Cordeliers burned as heretics, which
+is rather strong; but after all, this affair having neither shaken
+thrones nor ruined provinces, we may place it in the rank of peaceable
+follies.
+
+There have been always some of this kind, the greater part of whom have
+fallen into the most profound oblivion; and of four or five hundred
+sects which have appeared, there remain in the memory of men those only
+which have produced either extreme disorder or extreme folly--two things
+which they willingly retain. Who knows, in the present day, that there
+were Orebites, Osmites, and Insdorfians? Who is now acquainted with the
+Anointed, the Cornacians, or the Iscariots?
+
+Dining one day at the house of a Dutch lady, I was charitably warned by
+one of the guests, to take care of myself, and not to praise Voetius. "I
+have no desire," said I, "to say either good or evil of your Voetius;
+but why do you give me this advice?" "Because madam is a Cocceian," said
+my neighbor. "With all my heart," said I. She added, that there were
+still four Cocceians in Holland, and that it was a great pity that the
+sect perished. A time will come in which the Jansenists, who have made
+so much noise among us, and who are unknown everywhere else, will have
+the fate of the Cocceians. An old doctor said to me: "Sir, in my youth,
+I have debated on the _'mandata impossibilia volentibus et conantibus.'_
+I have written against the formulary and the pope, and I thought myself
+a confessor. I have been put in prison, and I thought myself a martyr. I
+now no longer interfere in anything, and I believe myself to be
+reasonable." "What are your occupations?" said I to him. "Sir," replied
+he, "I am very fond of money." It is thus that almost all men in their
+old age inwardly laugh at the follies which they ardently embraced in
+their youth. Sects grow old, like men. Those which have not been
+supported by great princes, which have not caused great mischief, grow
+old much sooner than others. They are epidemic maladies, which pass over
+like the sweating sickness and the whooping-cough.
+
+There is no longer any question on the pious reveries of Madame Guyon.
+We no longer read the most unintelligible book of Maxims of the Saints,
+but Telemachus. We no longer remember what the eloquent Bossuet wrote
+against the elegant and amiable Fénelon; we give the preference to his
+funeral orations. In all the dispute on what is called quietism, there
+has been nothing good but the old tale revived of the honest woman who
+brought a torch to burn paradise, and a cruse of water to extinguish the
+fire of hell, that God should no longer be served either through hope or
+fear.
+
+I will only remark one singularity in this proceeding, which is not
+equal to the story of the good woman; it is, that the Jesuits, who were
+so much accused in France by the Jansenists of having been founded by
+St. Ignatius, expressly to destroy the love of God, warmly interfered
+at Rome in favor of the pure love of Fénelon. It happened to them as to
+M. de Langeais, who was pursued by his wife to the Parliament of Paris,
+on account of his impotence, and by a girl to the Parliament of Rennes,
+for having rendered her pregnant. He ought to have gained one of these
+two causes; he lost them both. Pure love, for which the Jesuits made so
+much stir, was condemned at Rome, and they were always supposed at Paris
+to be against loving God. This opinion was so rooted in the public mind
+that when, some years ago, an engraving was sold representing our Lord
+Jesus Christ dressed as a Jesuit, a wit--apparently the _loustic_ of the
+Jansenist party--wrote lines under the print intimating that the
+ingenious fathers had habited God like themselves, as the surest means
+of preventing the love of him:
+
+     _Admirez l'artifice extrême_
+     _Les ces pères ingénieux:_
+     _Ils vous ont habillé comme eux,_
+     _Mon Dieu, de peur qu'on ne vous aime._
+
+At Rome, where such disputes never arise, and where they judge those
+that take place elsewhere, they were much annoyed with quarrels on pure
+love. Cardinal Carpegne, who was the reporter of the affairs of the
+archbishop of Cambray, was ill, and suffered much in a part which is not
+more spared in cardinals than in other men. His surgeon bandaged him
+with fine linen, which is called cambrai (cambric) in Italy as in many
+other places. The cardinal cried out, when the surgeon pleaded that it
+was the finest cambrai: "What! more cambrai still? Is it not enough to
+have one's head fatigued with it?" Happy the disputes which end thus!
+Happy would man be if all the disputers of the world, if heresiarchs,
+submitted with so much moderation, such magnanimous mildness, as the
+great archbishop of Cambray, who had no desire to be an heresiarch! I
+know not whether he was right in wishing God to be loved for himself
+alone, but M. de Fénelon certainly deserved to be loved thus.
+
+In purely literary disputes there is often as much snarling and party
+spirit as in more interesting quarrels. We should, if we could, renew
+the factions of the circus, which agitated the Roman Empire. Two rival
+actresses are capable of dividing a town. Men have all a secret
+fascination for faction. If we cannot cabal, pursue, and destroy one
+another for crowns, tiaras, and mitres, we fall upon one another for a
+dancer or a musician. Rameau had a violent party against him, who would
+have exterminated him; and he knew nothing of it. I had a violent party
+against me, and I knew it well.
+
+
+
+
+WHYS (THE).
+
+
+Why do we scarcely ever know the tenth part of the good we might do?
+Iris clear, that if a nation living between the Alps, the Pyrenees, and
+the sea, had employed, in ameliorating and embellishing the country, a
+tenth part of the money it lost in the war of 1741, and one-half of the
+men killed to no purpose in Germany, the state would have been more
+flourishing. Why was not this done? Why prefer a war, which Europe
+considered unjust, to the happy labors of peace, which would have
+produced the useful and the agreeable?
+
+Why did Louis XIV., who had so much taste for great monuments, for new
+foundations, for the fine arts, lose eight hundred millions of our money
+in seeing his cuirassiers and his household swim across the Rhine in
+_not_ taking Amsterdam; in stirring up nearly all Europe against him?
+What could he not have done with his eight hundred millions?
+
+Why, when he reformed jurisprudence, did he reform it only by halves?
+Ought the numerous ancient customs, founded on the decretals and the
+canon law, to be still suffered to exist? Was it necessary that in the
+many causes called ecclesiastical, but which are in reality civil,
+appeal should be made to the bishop; from the bishop to the
+metropolitan; from the metropolitan to the primate; and from the primate
+to Rome, "_ad apostolos_"?--as if the apostles had of old been the
+judges of the Gauls "_en dernier ressort_."
+
+Why, when Louis XIV. was outrageously insulted by Pope Alexander
+VII.--Chigi--did he amuse himself with sending into France for a legate,
+to make frivolous excuses, and with having a pyramid erected at Rome,
+the inscriptions over which concerned none but the watchmen of Rome--a
+pyramid which he soon after had abolished? Had it not been better to
+have abolished forever the simony by which every bishop and every abbot
+in Gaul pays to the Italian apostolic chamber the half of his revenue?
+
+Why did the same monarch, when still more grievously insulted by
+Innocent XI.--Odescalchi--who took the part of the prince of Orange
+against him, content himself with having four propositions maintained in
+his universities, and refuse the prayers of the whole magistracy, who
+solicited an eternal rupture with the court of Rome?
+
+Why, in making the laws, was it forgotten to place all the provinces of
+the kingdom under one uniform law, leaving in existence a hundred
+different customs, and a hundred and forty-four different measures?
+
+Why were the provinces of this kingdom still reputed foreign to one
+another, so that the merchandise of Normandy, on being conveyed by land
+into Brittany, pays duty, as if it came from England?
+
+Why was not corn grown in Champagne allowed to be sold in Picardy
+without an express permission--as at Rome permission is obtained for
+three giuli to read forbidden books?
+
+Why was France left so long under the reproach of venality? It seemed to
+be reserved for Louis XIV. to abolish the custom of buying the right to
+sit as judges over men, as you buy a country house; and making pleaders
+pay fees to the judge, as tickets for the play are paid for at the
+door.
+
+Why institute in a kingdom the offices and dignities of king's
+counsellors: Inspectors of drink, inspectors of the shambles, registrars
+of inventories, controllers of fines, inspectors of hogs, péréquateurs
+of tailles, fuel-measurers, assistant-measurers, fuel-pilers, unloaders
+of green wood, controllers of timber, markers of timber, coal-measurers,
+corn-sifters, inspectors of calves, controllers of poultry, gaugers,
+assayers of brandy, assayers of beer, rollers of casks, unloaders of
+hay, floor-clearers, inspectors of ells, inspectors of wigs?
+
+These offices; in which doubtless consist the prosperity and splendor of
+an empire, formed numerous communities, which had each their syndics.
+This was all suppressed in 1719; but it was to make room for others of a
+similar kind, in the course of time. Would it not be better to retrench
+all the pomp and luxury of greatness, than miserably to support them by
+means so low and shameful?
+
+Why has a nation, often reduced to extremity and to some degree of
+humiliation, still supported itself in spite of all the efforts made to
+crush it? Because that nation is active and industrious. The people are
+like the bees: you take from them wax and honey, and they forthwith set
+to work to produce more.
+
+Why, in half of Europe, do the girls pray to God in Latin, which they do
+not understand? Why, in the sixteenth century, when nearly all the popes
+and bishops notoriously had bastards, did they persist in prohibiting
+the marriage of priests; while the Greek Church has constantly ordained
+that curates should have wives?
+
+Why, in all antiquity, was there no theological dispute, nor any people
+distinguished by a sectarian appellation? The Egyptians were not called
+Isiacs or Osiriacs. The people of Syria were not named Cybelians. The
+Cretans had a particular devotion for Jupiter, but were not called
+Jupiterians. The ancient Latins were much attached to Saturn, but there
+was not a village in all Latium called Saturnian. The disciples of the
+God of Truth, on the contrary, taking the title of their master himself,
+and calling themselves, like him, "anointed," declared, as soon as they
+were able, eternal war against all nations that were not "anointed," and
+made war upon one another for upwards of fourteen hundred years, taking
+the names of Arians, Manichæans, Donatists, Hussites, Papists,
+Lutherans, Calvinists, etc. Even the Jansenists and Molinists have
+experienced no mortification so acute as that of not having it in their
+power to cut one another's throats in pitched battle. Whence is this?
+
+Why does a bookseller publicly sell the "Course of Atheism," by the
+great Lucretius, printed for the dauphin, only son of Louis XIV., by
+order and under the direction of the wise duke of Montausier, and of the
+eloquent Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, and of the learned Huet, bishop of
+Avranches? There you find those sublime impieties, those admirable
+lines against Providence and the immortality of the soul, which pass
+from mouth to mouth, through all after-ages:
+
+     _Ex nihilo, nihil; in nihilum nil posse reverti._
+     From nothing, nought; to nothing nought returns.
+
+     _Tangere enim ac tangi nisi corpus nulla protest res._
+     Matter alone can touch and govern matter.
+
+     _Nec bene pro meretis capitur, nec tangitur ira (Deus)._
+     Nothing can flatter God, or cause his anger.
+
+     _Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum._
+     How great the evil by religion caused!
+
+     _Desipire est mortale eterno jungere et una_
+     _Consentire putare, et fungi mutua posse._
+     'Tis weak in mortals to attempt to join
+     To transient being that which lasts forever.
+
+     _Nil igitur mors est, ad nos neque pertinet hilum._
+     When death is, we are not; the body dies, and with it all.
+
+     _Mortalem tamen esse animam fatere necesse est._
+     There is no future; mortal is the soul.
+
+     _Hinc Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita._
+     Hence ancient fools are superstition's prey.
+
+And a hundred other lines which charm all nations--the immortal
+productions of a mind which believed itself to be mortal. Not only are
+these Latin verses sold in the Rue St. Jacques and on the Quai des
+Augustins, but you fearlessly purchase the translations made into all
+the patois derived from the Latin tongue--translations decorated with
+learned notes, which elucidate the doctrine of materialism, collect all
+the proofs against the Divinity, and would annihilate it, if it could be
+destroyed. You find this book, bound in morocco, in the fine library of
+a great and devout prince, of a cardinal, of a chancellor, of an
+archbishop, of a round-capped president: but the first eighteen books of
+de Thou were condemned as soon as they appeared. A poor Gallic
+philosopher ventures to publish, in his own name, that if men had been
+born without fingers, they would never have been able to work tapestry;
+and immediately another Gaul, who for his money has obtained a robe of
+office, requires that the book and the author be burned.
+
+Why are scenic exhibitions anathematized by certain persons who call
+themselves of the first order in the state, seeing that such exhibitions
+are necessary to all the orders of the state, and that the laws of the
+state uphold them with equal splendor and regularity?
+
+Why do we abandon to contempt, debasement, oppression, and rapine, the
+great mass of those laborious and harmless men who cultivate the earth
+every day of the year, that we may eat of all its fruits? And why, on
+the contrary, do we pay respect, attention, and court, to the useless
+and often very wicked man who lives only by their labor, and is rich
+only by their misery?
+
+Why, during so many ages, among so many men who sow the corn with which
+we are fed, has there been no one to discover that ridiculous error
+which teaches that the grain must rot in order to germinate, and die to
+spring up again--an error which has led to many impertinent assertions,
+to many false comparisons, and to many ridiculous opinions?
+
+Why, since the fruits of the earth are so necessary for the preservation
+of men and animals, do we find so many years, and so many centuries, in
+which these fruits are absolutely wanting? why is the earth covered with
+poisons in the half of Africa and of America? why is there no tract of
+land where there are not more insects than men? why does a little
+whitish and offensive secretion form a being which will have hard bones,
+desires, and thoughts? and why shall those beings be constantly
+persecuting one another? why does there exist so much evil, everything
+being formed by a God whom all Theists agree in calling good? why, since
+we are always complaining of our ills, are we constantly employed in
+redoubling them? why, since we are so miserable, has it been imagined
+that to die is an evil--when it is clear that not to have been, before
+our birth, was no evil? why does it rain every day into the sea, while
+so many deserts demand rain, yet are constantly arid? why and how have
+we dreams in our sleep, if we have no soul? and if we have one, how is
+it that these dreams are always so incoherent and so extravagant? why do
+the heavens revolve from east to west, rather than the contrary way? why
+do we exist? why does anything exist?
+
+
+
+
+WICKED.
+
+
+We are told that human nature is essentially perverse; that man is born
+a child of the devil, and wicked. Nothing can be more injudicious; for
+thou, my friend, who preachest to me that all the world is born
+perverse, warnest me that thou art born such also, and that I must
+mistrust thee as I would a fox or a crocodile. Oh, no! sayest thou; I am
+regenerated; I am neither a heretic nor an infidel; you may trust in me.
+But the rest of mankind, which are either heretic, or what thou callest
+infidel, will be an assemblage of monsters, and every time that thou
+speakest to a Lutheran or a Turk, thou mayest be sure that they will rob
+and murder thee, for they are children of the devil, they are born
+wicked; the one is not regenerated, the other is degenerated. It would
+be much more reasonable, much more noble, to say to men: "You are all
+born good; see how dreadful it is to corrupt the purity of your being.
+All mankind should be dealt with as are all men individually." If a
+canon leads a scandalous life, we say to him: "Is it possible that you
+would dishonor the dignity of canon?" We remind a lawyer that he has the
+honor of being a counsellor to the king, and that he should set an
+example. We say to a soldier to encourage him: "Remember that thou art
+of the regiment of Champagne." We should say to every individual:
+"Remember thy dignity as a man."
+
+And indeed, notwithstanding the contrary theory, we always return to
+that; for what else signifies the expression, so frequently used in all
+nations: "Be yourself again?" If we are born of the devil, if our origin
+was criminal, if our blood was formed of an infernal liquor, this
+expression: "Be yourself again," would signify: "Consult, follow your
+diabolical nature; be an impostor, thief, and assassin; it is the law of
+your nature."
+
+Man is not born wicked; he becomes so, as he becomes sick. Physicians
+present themselves and say to him: "You are born sick." It is very
+certain these doctors, whatever they may say or do, will not cure him,
+if the malady is inherent in his nature; besides, these reasoners are
+often very ailing themselves.
+
+Assemble all the children of the universe; you will see in them only
+innocence, mildness, and fear; if they were born wicked, mischievous,
+and cruel, they would show some signs of it, as little serpents try to
+bite, and little tigers to tear. But nature not having given to men more
+offensive arms than to pigeons and rabbits, she cannot have given them
+an instinct leading them to destroy.
+
+Man, therefore, is not born bad; why, therefore, are several infected
+with the plague of wickedness? It is, that those who are at their head
+being taken with the malady, communicate it to the rest of men: as a
+woman attacked with the distemper which Christopher Columbus brought
+from America, spreads the venom from one end of Europe to the other.
+
+The first ambitious man corrupted the earth. You will tell me that this
+first monster has sowed the seed of pride, rapine, fraud, and cruelty,
+which is in all men. I confess, that in general most of our brethren can
+acquire these qualities; but has everybody the putrid fever, the stone
+and gravel, because everybody is exposed to it?
+
+There are whole nations which are not wicked: the Philadelphians, the
+Banians, have never killed any one. The Chinese, the people of Tonquin,
+Lao, Siam, and even Japan, for more than a hundred years have not been
+acquainted with war. In ten years we scarcely see one of those great
+crimes which astonish human nature in the cities of Rome, Venice, Paris,
+London, and Amsterdam; towns in which cupidity, the mother of all
+crimes, is extreme.
+
+If men were essentially wicked--if they were all born submissive to a
+being as mischievous as unfortunate, who, to revenge himself for his
+punishment, inspired them with all his passions--we should every morning
+see husbands assassinated by their wives, and fathers by their children;
+as at break of day we see fowls strangled by a weasel who comes to suck
+their blood.
+
+If there be a thousand millions of men on the earth, that is much; that
+gives about five hundred millions of women, who sew, spin, nourish their
+little ones, keep their houses or cabins in order, and slander their
+neighbors a little. I see not what great harm these poor innocents do on
+earth. Of this number of inhabitants of the globe, there are at least
+two hundred millions of children, who certainly neither kill nor steal,
+and about as many old people and invalids, who have not the power of
+doing so. There will remain, at most, a hundred millions of robust young
+people capable of crime. Of this hundred millions, there are ninety
+continually occupied in forcing the earth, by prodigious labor, to
+furnish them with food and clothing; these have scarcely time. In the
+ten remaining millions will be comprised idle people and good company,
+who would enjoy themselves at their ease; men of talent occupied in
+their professions; magistrates, priests, visibly interested in leading a
+pure life, at least in appearance. Therefore, of truly wicked people,
+there will only remain a few politicians, either secular or regular, who
+will always trouble the world, and some thousand vagabonds who hire
+their services to these politicians. Now, there is never a million of
+these ferocious beasts employed at once, and in this number I reckon
+highwaymen. You have therefore on the earth, in the most stormy times,
+only one man in a thousand whom we can call wicked, and he is not always
+so.
+
+There is, therefore infinitely less wickedness on the earth than we are
+told and believe there is. There is still too much, no doubt; we see
+misfortunes and horrible crimes; but the pleasure of complaining of and
+exaggerating them is so great, that at the least scratch we say that the
+earth flows with blood. Have you been deceived?--all men are perjured. A
+melancholy mind which has suffered injustice, sees the earth covered
+with damned people: as a young rake, supping with his lady, on coming
+from the opera, imagines that there are no unfortunates.
+
+
+
+
+WILL.
+
+
+Some very subtle Greeks formerly consulted Pope Honorius I., to know
+whether Jesus, when He was in the world, had one will or two, when He
+would sleep or watch, eat or repair to the water-closet, walk or sit.
+
+"What signifies it to you?" answered the very wise bishop of Rome,
+Honorius. "He has certainly at present the will for you to be
+well-disposed people--that should satisfy you; He has no will for you to
+be babbling sophists, to fight continually for the bishop's mitre and
+the ass's shadow. I advise you to live in peace, and not to lose in
+useless disputes the time which you might employ in good works."
+
+"Holy father, you have said well; this is the most important affair in
+the world. We have already set Europe, Asia, and Africa on fire, to know
+whether Jesus had two persons and one nature, or one nature and two
+persons, or rather two persons and two natures, or rather one person and
+one nature."
+
+"My dear brethren, you have acted wrongly; we should give broth to the
+sick and bread to the poor. It is doubtless right to help the poor! but
+is not the patriarch Sergius about to decide in a council at
+Constantinople, that Jesus had two natures and one will? And the
+emperor, who knows nothing about it, is of this opinion."
+
+"Well, be it so! but above all defend yourself from the Mahometans, who
+box your ears every day, and who have a very bad will towards you. It is
+well said! But behold the bishops of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and
+Morocco, all declare firmly for the two wills. We must have an opinion;
+what is yours?"
+
+"My opinion is, that you are madmen, who will lose the Christian
+religion which we have established with so much trouble. You will do so
+much mischief with your folly, that Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and
+Morocco, of which you speak to me, will become Mahometan, and there will
+not be a Christian chapel in Africa. Meantime, I am for the emperor and
+the council, until you have another council and another emperor."
+
+"This does not satisfy us. Do you believe in two wills or one?"
+
+"Listen: if these two wills are alike, it is as if there was but one; if
+they are contrary, he who has two wills at once will do two contrary
+things at once, which is absurd: consequently, I am for a single will."
+
+"Ah, holy father, you are a monothelite! Heresy! the devil!
+Excommunicate him! depose him! A council, quick! another council!
+another emperor! another bishop of Rome! another patriarch!"
+
+"My God! how mad these poor Greeks are with all their vain and
+interminable disputes! My successor will do well to dream of being
+powerful and rich."
+
+Scarcely had Honorius uttered these words when he learned that the
+emperor Heraclius was dead, after having been beaten by the Mahometans.
+His widow, Martina, poisoned her son-in-law; the senate caused Martina's
+tongue to be cut out, and the nose of another son of the emperor to be
+slit: all the Greek Empire flowed in blood. Would it not be better not
+to have disputed on the two wills? And this Pope Honorius, against whom
+the Jansenists have written so much--was he not a very sensible man?
+
+
+
+
+WIT, SPIRIT, INTELLECT.
+
+
+A man who had some knowledge of the human heart, was consulted upon a
+tragedy which was to be represented; and he answered, there was so much
+wit in the piece, that he doubted of its success. What! you will
+exclaim, is that a fault, at a time when every one is in search of
+wit--when each one writes but to show that he has it--when the public
+even applaud the falsest thoughts, if they are brilliant?--Yes,
+doubtless, they will applaud the first day, and be wearied the second.
+
+What is called wit, is sometimes a new comparison, sometimes a subtle
+allusion; here, it is the abuse of a word, which is presented in one
+sense, and left to be understood in another; there, a delicate relation
+between two ideas not very common. It is a singular metaphor; it is the
+discovery of something in an object which does not at first strike the
+observation, but which is really in it; it is the art either of bringing
+together two things apparently remote, or of dividing two things which
+seem to be united, or of opposing them to each other. It is that of
+expressing only one-half of what you think, and leaving the other to be
+guessed. In short, I would tell you of all the different ways of showing
+wit, if I had more; but all these gems--and I do not here include the
+counterfeits--are very rarely suited to a serious work--to one which is
+to interest the reader. The reason is, that then the author appears, and
+the public desire to see only the hero; for the hero is constantly
+either in passion or in danger. Danger and the passions do not go in
+search of wit. Priam and Hecuba do not compose epigrams while their
+children are butchered in flaming Troy; Dido does not sigh out her soul
+in madrigals, while rushing to the pile on which she is about to
+immolate herself; Demosthenes makes no display of pretty thoughts while
+he is inciting the Athenians to war. If he had, he would be a
+rhetorician; whereas he is a statesman.
+
+The art of the admirable Racine is far above what is called wit; but if
+Pyrrhus had always expressed himself in this style:
+
+     _Vaincu, chargé de fers, de regrets consumé,_
+     _Brûlé de plus de feux que je n'en allumai...._
+     _Hélas! fus-je jamais si cruel que vous l'êtes?_
+
+     Conquered and chained, worn out by vain desire,
+     Scorched by more flames than I have ever lighted....
+     Alas! my cruelty ne'er equalled yours!
+
+--if Orestes had been continually saying that the "Scythians are less
+cruel than Hermione," these two personages would excite no emotion at
+all; it would be perceived that true passion rarely occupies itself with
+such comparisons; and that there is some disproportion between the real
+flames by which Troy was consumed and the flames of Pyrrhus'
+love--between the Scythians immolating men, and Hermione not loving
+Orestes. Cinna says, speaking of Pompey:
+
+     _Le ciel choisit sa mort, pour servir dignement_
+     _D'une marque éternelle à ce grand changement;_
+     _Et devait cette gloire aux manes d'un tel homme,_
+     _D'emporter avec eux la liberté de Rome._
+
+     Heaven chose the death of such a man, to be
+     Th' eternal landmark of this mighty change.
+     His manes called for no less offering
+     Than Roman liberty.
+
+This thought is very brilliant; there is much wit in it, as also an air
+of imposing grandeur. I am sure that these lines, pronounced with all
+the enthusiasm and art of a great actor, will be applauded; but I am
+also sure that the play of "Cinna," had it been written entirely in this
+taste, would never have been long played. Why, indeed, was heaven bound
+to do Pompey the honor of making the Romans slaves after his death? The
+contrary would be truer: the manes of Pompey should rather have
+obtained from heaven the everlasting maintenance of that liberty for
+which he is supposed to have fought and died.
+
+What, then, would any work be which should be full of such far-fetched
+and questionable thoughts? How much superior to all these brilliant
+ideas are those simple and natural lines:
+
+     _Cinna, tu t'en souviens, et veux m'assassiner!_
+                                  --CINNA, act v, scene i.
+     Thou dost remember, Cinna, yet wouldst kill me
+
+     _Soyons amis, Cinna; c'est moi qui t'en convie._
+                                  --ID., act v, scene iii.
+     Let us be friends, Cinna; 'tis I who ask it.
+
+True beauty consists, not in what is called wit, but in sublimity and
+simplicity. Let Antiochus, in "Rodogune," say of his mistress, who quits
+him, after disgracefully proposing to him to kill his mother:
+
+     _Elle fuit, mais en Parthe, en nous perçant le coeur._
+
+     She flies, but, like the Parthian, flying, wounds.
+
+Antiochus has wit; he makes an epigram against Rodogune; he ingeniously
+likens her last words in going away, to the arrows which the Parthians
+used to discharge in their flight. But it is not because his mistress
+goes away, that the proposal to kill his mother is revolting: whether
+she goes or stays, the heart of Antiochus is equally wounded. The
+epigram, therefore, is false; and if Rodogune did not go away, this bad
+epigram could not be retained.
+
+I select these examples expressly from the best authors, in order that
+they may be the more striking. I do not lay hold of those puns which
+play upon words, the false taste of which is felt by all. There is no
+one that does not laugh when, in the tragedy of the "Golden Fleece,"
+Hypsipyle says to Medea, alluding to her sorceries:
+
+     _Je n'ai que des attraits, et vous avez des charmes._
+
+     I have attractions only, you have charms.
+
+Corneille found the stage and every other department of literature
+infested with these puerilities, into which he rarely fell.
+
+I wish here to speak only of such strokes of wit as would be admitted
+elsewhere, and as the serious style rejects. To their authors might be
+applied the sentence of Plutarch, translated with the happy naivete of
+Amiot: "_Tu tiens sans propos beaucoup de bons propos_."
+
+There occurs to my recollection one of those brilliant passages, which I
+have seen quoted as a model in many works of taste, and even in the
+treatise on studies by the late M. Rollin. This piece is taken from the
+fine funeral oration on the great Turenne, composed by Fléchier. It is
+true, that in this oration Fléchier almost equalled the sublime Bossuet,
+whom I have called and still call the only eloquent man among so many
+elegant writers; but it appears to me that the passage of which I am
+speaking would not have been employed by the bishop of Meaux. Here it
+is:
+
+"Ye powers hostile to France, you live; and the spirit of Christian
+charity forbids me to wish your death.... but you live; and I mourn in
+this pulpit over a virtuous leader, whose intentions were pure...."
+
+An apostrophe in this taste would have been suitable to Rome in the
+civil war, after the assassination of Pompey; or to London, after the
+murder of Charles I.; because the interests of Pompey and Charles I.
+were really in question. But is it decent to insinuate in the pulpit a
+wish for the death of the emperor, the king of Spain, and the electors,
+and put in the balance against them the commander-in-chief employed by a
+king who was their enemy? Should the intentions of a leader--which can
+only be to serve his prince--be compared with the political interests of
+the crowned heads against whom he served? What would be said of a German
+who should have wished for the death of the king of France, on the
+occasion of the death of General Merci, "whose intentions were pure"?
+Why, then, has this passage always been praised by the rhetoricians?
+Because the figure is in itself beautiful and pathetic; but they do not
+thoroughly investigate the fitness of the thought.
+
+I now return to my paradox; that none of those glittering ornaments, to
+which we give the name of wit, should find a place in great works
+designed to instruct or to move the passions. I will even say that they
+ought to be banished from the opera. Music expresses passions,
+sentiments, images; but where are the notes that can render an epigram?
+Quinault was sometimes negligent, but he was always natural.
+
+Of all our operas, that which is the most ornamented, or rather the most
+overloaded, with this epigrammatic spirit, is the ballet of the "Triumph
+of the Arts," composed by an amiable man, who always thought with
+subtlety, and expressed himself with delicacy; but who, by the abuse of
+this talent, contributed a little to the decline of letters after the
+glorious era of Louis XIV. In this ballet, in which Pygmalion animates
+his statue, he says to it:
+
+     _Vos premiers mouvemens ont été de m'aimer._
+
+     And love for me your earliest movements showed.
+
+I remember to have heard this line admired by some persons in my youth.
+But who does not perceive that the movements of the body of the statue
+are here confounded with the movements of the heart, and that in any
+sense the phrase is not French--that it is, in fact, a pun, a jest? How
+could it be that a man who had so much wit, had not enough to retrench
+these egregious faults? This same man--who, despising Homer, translated
+him; who, in translating him, thought to correct him, and by abridging
+him, thought to make him read--had a mind to make Homer a wit. It is he
+who, when Achilles reappears, reconciled to the Greeks who are ready to
+avenge him, makes the whole camp exclaim:
+
+     _Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-même._
+
+       What shall oppose him, conqueror of himself?
+
+A man must indeed be fond of witticisms, when he makes fifty thousand
+men pun all at once upon the same word.
+
+This play of the imagination, these quips, these cranks, these random
+shafts, these gayeties, these little broken sentences, these ingenious
+familiarities, which it is now the fashion to lavish so profusely, are
+befitting no works but those of pure amusement. The front of the Louvre,
+by Perrault, is simple and majestic; minute ornaments may appear with
+grace in a cabinet. Have as much wit as you will, or as you can, in a
+madrigal, in light verses, in a scene of a comedy, when it is to be
+neither impassioned nor simple, in a compliment, in a "novellette," or
+in a letter, where you assume gayety yourself in order to communicate it
+to your friends.
+
+Far from having reproached Voiture with having wit in his letters, I
+found, on the contrary, that he had not enough, although he was
+constantly seeking it. It is said that dancing-masters make their bow
+ill, because they are anxious to make it too well. I thought this was
+often the case with Voiture; his best letters are studied; you feel that
+he is fatiguing himself to find that which presents itself so naturally
+to Count Anthony Hamilton, to Madame de Sévigné, and to so many other
+women, who write these trifles without an effort, better than Voiture
+wrote them with labor. Despréaux, who in his first satires had ventured
+to compare Voiture to Horace, changed his opinion when his taste was
+ripened by age. I know that it matters very little, in the affairs of
+this world, whether Voiture was or was not a great genius; whether he
+wrote only a few pretty letters, or that all his pieces of pleasantry
+were models. But we, who cultivate and love the liberal arts, cast an
+attentive eye on what is quite indifferent to the rest of the world.
+Good taste is to us in literature what it is to women in dress; and
+provided that one's opinions shall not be made a party matter, it
+appears to me that one may boldly say, that there are but few excellent
+things in Voiture, and that Marot might easily be reduced to a few
+pages.
+
+Not that we wish to take from them their reputation; on the contrary, we
+wish to ascertain precisely what that reputation cost them, and what are
+the real beauties for which their defects have been tolerated. We must
+know what we are to follow, and what we are to avoid; this is the real
+fruit of the profound study of the belles-lettres; this is what Horace
+did when he examined Lucilius critically. Horace made himself enemies
+thereby; but he enlightened his enemies themselves.
+
+This desire of shining and of saying in a novel manner what has been
+said by others, is a source of new expressions as well as far-fetched
+thoughts. He who cannot shine by thought, seeks to bring himself into
+notice by a word. Hence it has at last been thought proper to
+substitute "_amabilités_," for "_agrémens_"; "_négligemment_" for "_avec
+négligence_"; "_badiner les amours_," for "_badiner avec les amours_."
+There are numberless other affectations of this kind; and if this be
+continued, the language of Bossuet, of Racine, of Corneille, of Boileau,
+of Fénelon, will soon be obsolete. Why avoid an expression which is in
+use, to introduce another which says precisely the same thing? A new
+word is pardonable only when it is absolutely necessary, intelligible,
+and sonorous. In physical science, we are obliged to make them; a new
+discovery, a new machine, requires a new word. But do we make any new
+discoveries in the human heart? Is there any other greatness than that
+of Corneille and Bossuet? Are there any other passions than those which
+have been delineated by Racine, and sketched by Quinault? Is there any
+other gospel morality than that of Bourdaloue?
+
+They who charge our language with not being sufficiently copious, must
+indeed have found sterility somewhere, but it is in themselves. "_Rem
+verba sequuntur_." When an idea is forcibly impressed on the mind--when
+a clear and vigorous head is in full possession of its thought--it
+issues from the brain, arrayed in suitable expressions, as Minerva came
+forth in full armor to wait upon Jupiter. In fine, the conclusion from
+this is that neither thoughts nor expressions should be far-fetched; and
+that the art, in all great works, is to reason well, without entering
+into too many arguments; to paint well, without striving to paint
+everything; and to be affecting, without striving constantly to excite
+passions. Certes, I am here giving fine counsel. Have I taken it myself?
+Alas! no!
+
+              _Pauci quos æquus amavit_
+     _Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad æthera virtus,_
+     _Dis geniti potuere._--ÆNEID, b. vi, v. 129.
+
+     To few great Jupiter imparts this grace,
+     And those of shining worth and heavenly race.
+                                        --DRYDEN.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+_Spirit--Wit._
+
+The word "spirit," when it signifies "a quality of the mind," is one of
+those vague terms to which almost every one who pronounces it attaches a
+different sense; it expresses some other thing than judgment, genius,
+taste, talent, penetration, comprehensiveness, grace, or subtlety, yet
+is akin to all these merits; it might be defined to be "ingenious
+reason."
+
+It is a generic word, which always needs another word to determine it;
+and when we hear it said: "This is a work of spirit," or "He is a man of
+spirit," we have very good reason to ask: "Spirit of what?" The sublime
+spirit of Corneille is neither the exact spirit of Boileau, nor the
+simple spirit of La Fontaine; and the spirit of La Bruyère, which is the
+art of portraying singularity, is not that of Malebranche, which is
+imaginative and profound.
+
+When a man is said to have "a judicious spirit," the meaning is, not so
+much that he has what is called spirit, as that he has an enlightened
+reason. A spirit firm, masculine, courageous, great, little, weak,
+light, mild, hasty, etc., signifies the character and temper of the
+mind, and has no relation to what is understood in society by the
+expression "spirited."
+
+Spirit, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, is much akin to wit;
+yet does not signify precisely the same thing; for the term, "man of
+spirit," can never be taken in a bad sense; but that of "a wit," is
+sometimes pronounced ironically.
+
+Whence this difference? It is that "a man of spirit" does not signify
+"superior wit," "marked talent"; and "a wit" does. This expression, "man
+of spirit," announces no pretensions; but "wit" is a sort of
+advertisement; it is an art which requires cultivation; it is a sort of
+profession; and thereby exposes to envy and ridicule.
+
+In this sense, Father Bouhours would have been right in giving us to
+understand that the Germans had no pretensions to wit; for at that time
+their learned men occupied themselves in scarcely any works but those of
+labor and painful research, which did not admit of their scattering
+flowers, of their striving to shine, and mixing up wit with learning.
+
+They who despise the genius of Aristotle should, instead of contenting
+themselves with condemning his physics--which could not be good,
+inasmuch as they wanted experiments--be much astonished to find that
+Aristotle, in his rhetoric, taught perfectly the art of saying things
+with spirit. He states that this art consists in not merely using the
+proper word, which says nothing new; but that a metaphor must be
+employed--a figure, the sense of which is clear, and its expression
+energetic. Of this, he adduces several instances; and, among others,
+what Pericles said of a battle in which the flower of the Athenian youth
+had perished: "The year has been stripped of its spring."
+
+Aristotle is very right in saying that novelty is necessary. The first
+person who, to express that pleasures are mingled with bitterness,
+likened them to roses accompanied by thorns, had wit; they who repeated
+it had none.
+
+Spirited expression does not always consist in a metaphor; but also in a
+new term--in leaving one half of one's thoughts to be easily divined;
+this is called "subtleness," "delicacy"; and this manner is the more
+pleasing, as it exercises and gives scope for the wit of others.
+
+Allusions, allegories, and comparisons, open a vast field for ingenious
+thoughts. The effects of nature, fable, history, presented to the
+memory, furnish a happy imagination with materials of which it makes a
+suitable use.
+
+It will not be useless to give examples in these different kinds. The
+following is a madrigal by M. de la Sablière, which has always been held
+in high estimation by people of taste:
+
+       _Églé tremble que, dans ce jour,_
+       _L'Hymen, plus puissant que l'Amour,_
+     _N'enlève ses trésors, sans quelle ose s'en plaindre_
+       _Elle a négligé mes avis;_
+       _Si la belle les eût suivis,_
+     _Elle n'aurait plus rien à craindre._
+
+     Weeping, murmuring, complaining,
+       Lost to every gay delight,
+     Mira, too sincere for feigning,
+       Fears th' approaching bridal night.
+
+     Yet why impair thy bright perfection,
+       Or dim thy beauty with a tear?
+     Had Mira followed my direction,
+       She long had wanted cause of fear.--GOLDSMITH.
+
+It does not appear that the author could either better have masked, or
+better have conveyed, the meaning which he was afraid to express. The
+following madrigal seems more brilliant and more pleasing; it is an
+allusion to fable:
+
+     _Vous êtes belle, et votre soeur est belle;_
+     _Entre vous deux tout choix serait bien doux_
+       _L'Amour était blonde comme vous,_
+     _Mais il amait une brune comme elle._
+
+     You are a beauty, and your sister, too;
+     In choosing 'twixt you, then, we cannot err;
+       Love, to be sure, was fair like you;
+     But, then, he courted a brunette like her.
+
+There is another, and a very old one. It is by Bertaut, bishop of Séez,
+and seems superior to the two former; it unites wit and feeling:
+
+     _Quand je revis ce que j'ai tant aimé,_
+     _Pen s'en fallut que mon coeur rallumé_
+     _N'en fît le charme en mon âme renaître;_
+     _Et que mon coeur, autrefois son captif,_
+     _Ne ressemblât l'esclave fugitif,_
+     _À qui le sort fit recontrer son maître._
+
+     When I beheld again the once-loved form,
+     Again within my heart the rising storm
+     Had nearly cast the spell around my soul,
+     Which erst had bound me captive at her feet,
+     As some poor slave, escaped from rude control,
+     His master's dreaded face may haply meet.
+
+Strokes like these please every one, and characterize the delicate
+spirit of an ingenious nation. The great point is to know how far this
+spirit is admissible. It is clear that, in great works, it should be
+employed with moderation, for this very reason, that it is an ornament.
+The great art consists in propriety.
+
+A subtle, ingenious thought, a just and flowery comparison, is a defect
+when only reason or passion should speak, or when great interests are to
+be discussed. This is not false wit, but misplaced; and every beauty,
+when out of its place, is a beauty no longer.
+
+This is a fault of which Virgil was never guilty, and with which Tasso
+may now and then be charged, admirable as he otherwise is. The cause of
+it is that the author, too full of his own ideas, wishes to show
+himself, when he should only show his personages.
+
+The best way of learning the use that should be made of wit, is to read
+the few good works of genius which are to be found in the learned
+languages and in our own. False wit is not the same as misplaced wit. It
+is not merely a false thought, for a thought might be false without
+being ingenious; it is a thought at once false and elaborate.
+
+It has already been remarked that a man of great wit, who translated, or
+rather abridged Homer into French verse, thought to embellish that poet,
+whose simplicity forms his character, by loading him with ornaments. On
+the subject of the reconciliation of Achilles, he says:
+
+     _Tout le camp s'écria dans une joie extrême,_
+     _Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-même._
+
+     Cried the whole camp, with overflowing joy--
+     What still resist him? He's o'ercome himself.
+
+In the first place it does not at all follow, because one has overcome
+one's anger, that one shall not be beaten. Secondly, is it possible that
+a whole army should, by some sudden inspiration, make instantaneously
+the same pun?
+
+If this fault shocks all judges of severe taste, how revolting must be
+all those forced witticisms, those intricate and puzzling thoughts,
+which abound in otherwise valuable writings! Is it to be endured, that
+in a work of mathematics it should be said: "If Saturn should one day be
+missing, his place would be taken by one of the remotest of his
+satellites; for great lords always keep their successors at a distance?"
+Is it endurable to talk of Hercules being acquainted with physics, and
+that it is impossible to resist a philosopher of such force? Such are
+the excesses into which we are led by the thirst for shining and
+surprising by novelty. This petty vanity has produced verbal witticisms
+in all languages, which is the worst species of false wit.
+
+False taste differs from false wit, for the latter is always an
+affectation--an effort to do wrong; whereas the former is often a habit
+of doing wrong without effort, and following instinctively an
+established bad example.
+
+The intemperance and incoherence of the imaginations of the Orientals,
+is a false taste; but it is rather a want of wit than an abuse of it.
+Stars falling, mountains opening, rivers rolling back, sun and moon
+dissolving, false and gigantic similes, continual violence to nature,
+are the characteristics of these writers; because in those countries
+where there has never been any public speaking, true eloquence cannot
+have been cultivated; and because it is much easier to write fustian
+than to write that which is just, refined, and delicate.
+
+False wit is precisely the reverse of these trivial and inflated ideas;
+it is a tiresome search after subtleties, an affectation of saying
+enigmatically what others have said naturally; or bringing together
+ideas which appear incompatible; of dividing what ought to be united; of
+laying hold on false affinities; of mixing, contrary to decency, the
+trifling with the serious, and the petty with the grand.
+
+It were here a superfluous task to string together quotations in which
+the word spirit is to be found. We shall content ourselves with
+examining one from Boileau, which is given in the great dictionary of
+Trévoux: "It is a property of great spirits, when they begin to grow old
+and decay, to be pleased with stories and fables." This reflection is
+not just. A great spirit may fall into this weakness, but it is no
+property of great spirits. Nothing is more calculated to mislead the
+young than the quoting of faults of good writers as examples.
+
+We must not here forget to mention in how many different senses the word
+"spirit" is employed. This is not a defect of language; on the contrary,
+it is an advantage to have roots which ramify into so many branches.
+
+"Spirit of a body," "of a society," is used to express the customs, the
+peculiar language and conduct, the prejudices of a body. "Spirit of
+party," is to the "spirit of a body," what the passions are to ordinary
+sentiments.
+
+"Spirit of a law," is used to designate its intention; in this sense it
+has been said: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." "Spirit
+of a work," to denote its character and object. "Spirit of revenge," to
+signify desire and intention of taking revenge. "Spirit of discord,"
+"spirit of revolt," etc.
+
+In one dictionary has been quoted "spirit of politeness"; but from an
+author named Bellegarde, who is no authority. Both authors and examples
+should be selected with scrupulous caution. We cannot say "spirit of
+politeness," as we say "spirit of revenge," of "dissension," of
+"faction"; for politeness is not a passion animated by a powerful motive
+which prompts it, and which is metaphorically called spirit.
+
+"Familiar spirit," is used in another sense, and signifies those
+intermediate beings, those genii, those demons, believed in by the
+ancients; as the "spirit of Socrates," etc.
+
+Spirit sometimes denotes the more subtle part of matter; we say,
+"animal spirits," "vital spirits," to signify that which has never been
+seen, but which gives motion and life. These spirits, which are thought
+to flow rapidly through the nerves, are probably a subtile fire. Dr.
+Mead is the first who seems to have given proofs of this, in his
+treatise on poisons. Spirit, in chemistry, too, is a term which receives
+various acceptations, but always denotes the more subtile part of
+matter.
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+_Spirit._
+
+Is not this word a striking proof of the imperfection of languages; of
+the chaos in which they still are, and the chance which has directed
+almost all our conceptions? It pleased the Greeks, as well as other
+nations, to give the name of wind, breath--"_pneuma_"--to that which
+they vaguely understand by respiration, life, soul. So that, among the
+ancients, soul and wind were, in one sense, the same thing; and if we
+were to say that man is a pneumatic machine, we should only translate
+the language of the Greeks. The Latins imitated them, and used the word
+"_spiritus_," spirit, breath. "_Anima_" and "_spiritus_" were the same
+thing.
+
+The "_rouhak_" of the Phoenicians, and, as it is said, of the
+Chaldæans likewise, signified breath and wind. When the Bible was
+translated into Latin, the words, breath, spirit, wind, soul, were
+always used differently. "_Spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas_"--the
+breath of God--the spirit of God--was borne on the waters.
+
+"_Spiritus vitæ_"--the breath of life--the soul of life. "_Inspiravit in
+faciem ejus spiraculum_" or "_spiritum vitæ_"--And he breathed upon his
+face the breath of life; and, according to the Hebrew, he breathed into
+his nostrils the breath, the spirit, of life.
+
+"_Hæc quum dixisset, insufflavit et dixit eis, accipite spiritum
+sanctum_"--Having spoken these words, he breathed on them, and said:
+Receive ye the holy breath--the holy spirit.
+
+"_Spiritus ubi vult spirat, et vocem ejus audis; sed nescis unde
+veniat_"--The spirit, the wind, breathes where it will, and thou hearest
+its voice (sound); but thou knowest not whence it comes.
+
+The distance is somewhat considerable between this and our pamphlets of
+the Quay des Augustins and the Pont-neuf, entitled, "Spirit of
+Marivaux," "Spirit of Desfontaines," etc.
+
+What we commonly understand in French by "_esprit_," "_bel-esprit_,"
+"_trait d'esprit_," are--ingenious thoughts. No other nation has made
+the same use of the word "_spiritus_." The Latins said "_ingenium_"; the
+Greeks, "_eupheuia_"; or they employed adjectives. The Spaniards say
+"_agudo_," "_agudeza_." The Italians commonly use the term "_ingegno_."
+
+The English make use of the words "wit," "witty," the etymology of which
+is good; for "witty" formerly signified "wise." The Germans say
+"_verständig_"; and when they mean to express ingenious, lively,
+agreeable thoughts, they say "rich in sensations"--"_sinnreich_." Hence
+it is that the English, who have retained many of the expressions of the
+ancient Germanic and French tongue, say, "sensible man." Thus almost all
+the words that express ideas of the understanding are metaphors.
+
+"_Ingegno_," "_ingenium_," comes from "that which generates";
+"_agudeza_," from "that which is pointed"; "_sinnreich_," from
+"sensations"; "spirit," from "wind"; and "wit," from "wisdom."
+
+In every language, the word that answers to spirit in general is of
+several kinds; and when you are told that such a one is a "man of
+spirit," you have a right to ask: Of what spirit?
+
+Girard, in his useful book of definitions, entitled "French Synonymes,"
+thus concludes: "In our intercourse with women, it is necessary to have
+wit, or a jargon which has the appearance of it. (This is not doing them
+honor; they deserve better.) Understanding is in demand with politicians
+and courtiers." It seems to me that understanding is necessary
+everywhere, and that it is very extraordinary to hear of understanding
+in demand.
+
+"Genius is proper with people of project and expense." Either I am
+mistaken, or the genius of Corneille was made for all spectators--the
+genius of Bossuet for all auditors--yet more than for people of
+expense.
+
+The wind, which answers to "_Spiritus_,"--spirit, wind,
+breath--necessarily giving to all nations the idea of air, they all
+supposed that our faculty of thinking and acting--that which animates
+us--is air; whence our "souls are a subtile air." Hence, manes, spirits,
+ghosts, shades, are composed of air.
+
+Hence we used to say, not long ago, "A 'spirit' has appeared to him; he
+has a 'familiar spirit;' that castle is haunted by 'spirits;'" and the
+populace say so still.
+
+The word "_spiritus_" has hardly ever been used in this sense, except in
+the translations of the Hebrew books into bad Latin.
+
+"_Manes_," "_umbra_," "_simulacra_," are the expressions of Cicero and
+Virgil. The Germans say, "_geist_"; the English, "ghost"; the Spaniards,
+"_duende_," "_trasgo_"; the Italians appear to have no term signifying
+ghost. The French alone have made use of the word "spirit" (esprit). The
+words for all nations should be, "phantom," "imagination," "reverie,"
+"folly," "knavery."
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+_Wit._
+
+When a nation is beginning to emerge from barbarism, it strives to show
+what we call wit. Thus, in the first attempts made in the time of
+Francis I., we find in Marot such puns, plays on words, as would now be
+intolerable.
+
+     _Remorentin la parte rememore:_
+     _Cognac s'en cogne en sa poitrine blême,_
+     _Anjou faict jou, Angoulême est de même._
+
+These fine ideas are not such as at once present themselves to express
+the grief of nations. Many instances of this depraved taste might be
+adduced; but we shall content ourselves with this, which is the most
+striking of all.
+
+In the second era of the human mind in France--in the time of Balzac,
+Mairet, Rotrou, Corneille--applause was given to every thought that
+surprised by new images, which were called "wit." These lines of the
+tragedy of "Pyramus" were very well received:
+
+     _Ah! voici le poignard qui du sang de son maître_
+     _Sest souillé lâchement; il en rougit, le traître!_
+
+     Behold the dagger which has basely drunk
+     Its master's blood! See how the traitor blushes!
+
+There was thought to be great art in giving feeling to this dagger, in
+making it red with shame at being stained with the blood of Pyramus, as
+much as with the blood itself. No one exclaimed against Corneille, when,
+in his tragedy of "Andromeda," Phineus says to the sun:
+
+     _Tu luis, soleil, et ta lumière_
+       _Semble se plaire à m'affliger._
+     _Ah! mon amour te va bien obliger_
+       _À quitter soudain ta carrière._
+     _Viens, soleil, viens voir la beauté,_
+     _Dont le divin éclat me dompte,_
+       _Et tu fuiras de honte_
+       _D'avoir moins de clarté._
+
+     O sun, thou shinest, and thy light
+       Seems to take pleasure in my woe;
+     But soon my love shall shame thee quite,
+       And be thy glory's overthrow.
+     Come, come, O sun, and view the face
+     Whose heavenly splendor I adore;
+       Then wilt thou flee apace,
+       And show thy own no more.
+
+The sun flying because he is not so bright as Andromeda's face, is not
+at all inferior to the blushing dagger. If such foolish sallies as these
+found favor with a public whose taste it has been so difficult to form,
+we cannot be surprised that strokes of wit, in which some glimmering of
+beauty is discernible, should have had these charms.
+
+Not only was this translation from the Spanish admired:
+
+     _Ce sang qui, tout versé, fume encor de courroux,_
+     _De se voir répandu pour d'autres que pour vous._
+                                  --CID, act ii, sc. 9.
+
+     This blood, still foaming with indignant rage,
+     That it was shed for others, not for you;--
+
+not only was there thought to be a very spirited refinement in the line
+of Hypsipyle to Medea, in the "Golden Fleece": "I have attractions only;
+you have charms;" but it was not perceived--and few connoisseurs
+perceive it yet--that in the imposing part of Cornelia, the author
+almost continually puts wit where grief alone was required. This woman,
+whose husband has just been assassinated, begins her studied speech to
+Cæsar with a "for":
+
+     _César, car le destin que dans tes fers je brave_
+     _M'a fait ta prisonnière, et non pas ton esclave;_
+     _Et tu ne prétends pas qu'il m'abatte le coeur._
+     _Jusqu'à te rendre hommage et te nommer seigneur._
+                        --MORT DE POMPÉE, act iii, sc. 4.
+
+     Cæsar,
+     For the hard fate that binds me in thy chains,
+     Makes me thy prisoner, but not thy slave;
+     Nor wouldst thou have it so subdue my heart
+     That I should call thee lord and do thee homage.
+
+Thus she breaks off, at the very first word, in order to say that
+which is at once far-fetched and false. Never was the wife of one Roman
+citizen the slave of another Roman citizen: never was any Roman called
+lord; and this word "lord" is, with us, nothing more than a term of
+honor and ceremony, used on the stage.
+
+     _Fille de Scipion, et, pour dire encor plus,_
+     _Romaine, mon courage est encore au-dessus._--ID.
+
+     Daughter of Scipio, and, yet more, of Rome,
+     Still does my courage rise above my fate.
+
+
+[Illustration: PIERRE CORNEILLE]
+
+
+Besides the defect so common to all Corneille's heroes, of thus
+announcing themselves--of saying, I am great, I am courageous, admire
+me--here is the very reprehensible affectation of talking of her birth,
+when the head of Pompey has just been presented to Cæsar. Real
+affliction expresses itself otherwise. Grief does not seek after a "yet
+more." And what is worse, while she is striving to say "yet more," she
+says much less. To be a daughter of Rome is indubitably less than to be
+daughter of Scipio and wife of Pompey. The infamous Septimius, who
+assassinated Pompey, was Roman as well as she. Thousands of Romans were
+very ordinary men: but to be daughter and wife to the greatest of
+Romans, was a real superiority. In this speech, then, there is false and
+misplaced wit, as well as false and misplaced greatness.
+
+She then says, after Lucan, that she ought to blush that she is alive:
+
+     _Je dois rougir, partout, après un tel malheur,_
+     _De n'avoir pu mourir d'un excès de douleur._--ID.
+
+     However, after such a great calamity,
+     I ought to blush I am not dead of grief.
+
+Lucan, after the brilliant Augustan age, went in search of wit, because
+decay was commencing; and the writers of the age of Louis XIV. at first
+sought to display wit, because good taste was not then completely found,
+as it afterwards was.
+
+     _César, de ta victoire écoute moins le bruit;_
+     _Elle n'est que l'effet du malheur qui me suit._--ID.
+
+     Cæsar, rejoice not in thy victory;
+     For my misfortune was its only cause.
+
+What a poor artifice! what a false as well as impudent notion! Cæsar
+conquered at Pharsalia only because Pompey married Cornelia! What labor
+to say that which is neither true, nor likely, nor fit, nor interesting!
+
+     _Deux fois du monde entier j'ai causé la disgrâce._--ID.
+
+     Twice have I caused the living world's disgrace.
+
+
+This is the "_bis nocui mundo_" of Lucan. This
+line presents us with a very great idea; it cannot
+fail to surprise; it is wanting in nothing but truth.
+But it must be observed, that if this line had but
+the smallest ray of verisimilitude--had it really its
+birth in the pangs of grief, it would then have all
+the truth, all the beauty, of theatrical fitness:
+
+     _Heureuse en mes malheurs, si ce triste hyménée_
+     _Pour le bonheur du monde à Rome m'eût donnée_
+     _Et si j'eusse avec moi porté dans ta maison._
+     _D'un astre envenimé l'invincible poison!_
+     _Car enfin n'attends pas que j'abaisse ma haine:_
+     _Je te l'ai déjà dit, César, je suis Romaine;_
+     _Et, quoique ta captive, un coeur tel que le mien,_
+     _De peur de s'oublier, ne te demande rien._--ID.
+
+     Yet happy in my woes, had these sad nuptials
+     Given me to Cæsar for the good of Rome;
+     Had I but carried with me to thy house
+     The mortal venom of a noxious star!
+     For think not, after all, my hate is less:
+     Already have I told thee I am a Roman;
+     And, though thy captive, such a heart as mine,
+     Lest it forget itself, will sue for nothing.
+
+This is Lucan again. She wishes, in the "Pharsalia," that she had
+married Cæsar.
+
+     _Atque utinam in thalamis invisi Cæsaris essem_
+     _Infelix conjux, et nulli læta marito!_
+                                    --_Lib._, viii, v. 88, 89.
+
+     Ah! wherefore was I not much rather led
+     A fatal bride to Cæsar's hated bed, etc.
+                                          --ROWE.
+
+
+This sentiment is not in nature; it is at once gigantic and puerile: but
+at least it is not to Cæsar that Cornelia talks thus in Lucan.
+Corneille, on the contrary, makes Cornelia speak to Cæsar himself: he
+makes her say that she wishes to be his wife, in order that she may
+carry into his house "the mortal poison of a noxious star"; for, adds
+she, my hatred cannot be abated, and I have told thee already that I am
+a Roman, and I sue for nothing. Here is odd reasoning: I would fain have
+married thee, to cause thy death; and I sue for nothing. Be it also
+observed, that this widow heaps reproaches on Cæsar, just after Cæsar
+weeps for the death of Pompey and promises to avenge it.
+
+It is certain, that if the author had not striven to make Cornelia
+witty, he would not have been guilty of the faults which, after being so
+long applauded, are now perceived. The actresses can scarcely longer
+palliate them, by a studied loftiness of demeanor and an imposing
+elevation of voice.
+
+The better to feel how much mere wit is below natural sentiment, let us
+compare Cornelia with herself, where, in the same tirade, she says
+things quite opposite:
+
+     _Je dois toutefois rendre grâce aux dieux_
+     _De ce qu'en arrivant je trouve en ces lieux,_
+     _Que César y commande, et non pas Ptolemée._
+     _Hélas! et sous quel astre, ó ciel, m'as-tu formée,_
+     _Si je leur dois des voeux, de ce qu'ils ont permis,_
+     _Que je recontre ici mes plus grands ennemis,_
+     _Et tombe entre leurs mains, plutôt qu'aux mains d'un prince_
+     _Qui doit à mon époux son trône et sa province._--ID.
+
+     Yet have I cause to thank the gracious gods,
+     That Cæsar here commands--not Ptolemy.
+     Alas! beneath what planet was I formed,
+     If I owe thanks for being thus permitted
+     Here to encounter my worst enemies
+     And fall into their hands, rather than those
+     Of him who to my husband owes his throne?
+
+Let us overlook the slight defects of style, and consider how mournful
+and becoming is this speech; it goes to the heart: all the rest dazzles
+for a moment, and then disgusts. The following natural lines charm all
+readers:
+
+     _O vous! à ma douleur objet terrible et tendre,_
+     _Éternel entretien de haine et de pitié,_
+     _Restes de grand Pompée, écoutez sa moitié, etc._
+
+     O dreadful, tender object of my grief,
+     Eternal source of pity and of hate,
+     Ye relics of great Pompey, hear me now--
+     Hear his yet living half.
+
+It is by such comparisons that our taste is formed, and that we learn to
+admire nothing but truth in its proper place. In the same tragedy,
+Cleopatra thus expresses herself to her confidante, Charmion:
+
+     _Apprends qu'une princesse aimant sa renommée,_
+     _Quand elle dit qu'elle aime, est sure d'être aimée;_
+     _Et que les plus beaux feux dont son coeur soit épris_
+     _N'oseraient l'exposer aux hontes d'un mépris._
+                                          --Act ii, sc. 1.
+
+     Know, that a princess jealous of her fame,
+     When she owns love, is sure of a return;
+     And that the noblest flame her heart can feel,
+     Dares not expose her to rejection's shame.
+
+Charmion might answer: Madam, I know not what the noble flame of a
+princess is, which dares not expose her to shame; and as for princesses
+who never say they are in love, but when they are sure of being loved--I
+always enact the part of confidante at the play: and at least twenty
+princesses have confessed their noble flames to me, without being at all
+sure of the matter, and especially the infanta in "The Cid."
+
+Nay, we may go further: Cæsar--Cæsar himself--addresses Cleopatra, only
+to show off double-refined wit:
+
+     _Mais, ô Dieux! ce moment que je vous ai quittée_
+     _D'un trouble bien plus grand a mon âme agitée;_
+     _Et ces soins importans qui m'arrachaient de vous,_
+     _Contre ma grandeur même allumaient mon courroux;_
+     _Je lui voulais du mal de m'être si contraire;_
+     _Mais je lui pardonnais, au simple souvenir_
+     _Du bonheur qu'à ma flamme elle fait obtenir._
+     _C'est elle, dont je tiens cette haute espérance,_
+     _Qui flatte mes désirs d'une illustre apparence...._
+     _C'était, pour acquérir un droit si précieux;_
+     _Que combattait partout mon bras ambitieux;_
+     _Et dans Pharsale même il a tiré l'épée_
+     _Plus pour le conserver que pour vaincre Pompée._
+                                         --Act iv, sc. 3.
+
+     But, O the moment that I quitted you,
+     A greater trouble came upon my soul;
+     And those important cares that snatched me from you
+     Against my very greatness moved my ire;
+     I hated it for thwarting my desires....
+     But I have pardoned it--remembering how
+     At last it crowns my passion with success:
+     To it I owe the lofty hope which now
+     Flatters my view with an illustrious prospect.
+     'Twas but to gain this dearest privilege,
+     That my ambitious arm was raised in battle;
+     Nor did it at Pharsalia draw the sword,
+     So much to conquer Pompey, as to keep
+     This glorious hope.
+
+Here, then, we have Cæsar hating his greatness for having taken him away
+a little while from Cleopatra; but forgiving his greatness when he
+remembers that this greatness has procured him the success of his
+passion. He has the lofty hope of an illustrious probability; and it was
+only to acquire the dear privilege of this illustrious probability, that
+his ambitious arm fought the battle of Pharsalia.
+
+It is said that this sort of wit, which it must be confessed is no other
+than nonsense, was then the wit of the age. It is an intolerable abuse,
+which Molière proscribed in his "_Précieuses Ridicules_."
+
+It was of these defects, too frequent in Corneille, that La Bruyère
+said: "I thought, in my early youth, that these passages were clear and
+intelligible, to the actors, to the pit, and to the boxes; that their
+authors themselves understood them, and that I was wrong in not
+understanding them: I am undeceived."
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+In England, to express that a man has a deal of wit, they say that he
+has "great parts." Whence can this phrase, which is now the astonishment
+of the French, have come? From themselves. Formerly, we very commonly
+used the word "parties" in this sense. "Clelia," "Cassandra," and our
+other old romances, are continually telling us of the "parts" of their
+heroes and heroines, which parts are their wit. And, indeed, who can
+have _all_? Each of us has but his own small portion of intelligence, of
+memory, of sagacity, of depth and extent of ideas, of vivacity, and of
+subtlety. The word "parts" is that most fitting for a being so limited
+as man. The French have let an expression escape from their dictionaries
+which the English have laid hold of: the English have more than once
+enriched themselves at our expense. Many philosophical writers have been
+astonished that, since every one pretends to wit, no one should dare to
+boast of possessing it.
+
+"Envy," it has been said, "permits every one to be the panegyrist of his
+own probity, but not of his own wit." It allows us to be the apologists
+of the one, but not of the other. And why? Because it is very necessary
+to pass for an honest man, but not at all necessary to have the
+reputation of a man of wit.
+
+The question has been started, whether all men are born with the same
+mind, the same disposition for science, and if all depends on their
+education, and the circumstances in which they are placed? One
+philosopher, who had a right to think himself born with some
+superiority, asserted that minds are equal; yet the contrary has always
+been evident. Of four hundred children brought up together, under the
+same masters and the same discipline, there are scarcely five or six
+that make any remarkable progress. A great majority never rise above
+mediocrity, and among them there are many shades of distinction. In
+short, minds differ still more than faces.
+
+
+SECTION VI.
+
+_Crooked or Distorted Intellect._
+
+We have blind, one-eyed, cross-eyed, and squinting people--visions long,
+short, clear, confused, weak, or indefatigable. All this is a faithful
+image of our understanding; but we know scarcely any _false_ vision:
+there are not many men who always take a cock for a horse, or a
+coffeepot for a church. How is it that we often meet with minds,
+otherwise judicious, which are absolutely wrong in some things of
+importance? How is it that the Siamese, who will take care never to be
+overreached when he has to receive three rupees, firmly believes in the
+metamorphoses of Sammonocodom? By what strange whim do men of sense
+resemble Don Quixote, who beheld giants where other men saw nothing but
+windmills? Yet was Don Quixote more excusable than the Siamese, who
+believes that Sammonocodom came several times upon earth--and the Turk,
+who is persuaded that Mahomet put one-half of the moon into his sleeve?
+Don Quixote, impressed with the idea that he is to fight with a giant,
+may imagine that a giant must have a body as big as a mill, and arms as
+long as the sails; but from what supposition can a man of sense set out
+to arrive at a conclusion, that half the moon went into a sleeve, and
+that a Sammonocodom came down from heaven to fly kites at Siam, to cut
+down a forest, and to exhibit sleight-of-hand?
+
+The greatest geniuses may have their minds warped, on a principle which
+they have received without examination. Newton was very wrong-headed
+when he was commenting on the Apocalypse.
+
+All that certain tyrants of souls desire, is that the men whom they
+teach may have their intellects distorted. A fakir brings up a child of
+great promise; he employs five or six years in driving it into his head,
+that the god Fo appeared to men in the form of a white elephant; and
+persuades the child, that if he does not believe in these metamorphoses,
+he will be flogged after death for five hundred thousand years. He adds,
+that at the end of the world, the enemy of the god Fo will come and
+fight against that divinity.
+
+The child studies, and becomes a prodigy; he finds that Fo could not
+change himself into anything but a white elephant, because that is the
+most beautiful of animals. The kings of Siam and Pegu, say he, went to
+war with one another for a white elephant: certainly, had not Fo been
+concealed in that elephant, these two kings would not have been so mad
+as to fight for the possession of a mere animal.
+
+Fo's enemy will come and challenge him at the end of the world: this
+enemy will certainly be a rhinoceros; for the rhinoceros fights the
+elephant. Thus does the fakir's learned pupil reason in mature age, and
+he becomes one of the lights of the Indies: the more subtle his
+intellect, the more crooked; and he, in his turn, forms other intellects
+as distorted as his own.
+
+Show these besotted beings a little geometry, and they learn it easily
+enough; but, strange to say, this does not set them right. They perceive
+the truths of geometry; but it does not teach them to weigh
+probabilities: they have taken their bent; they will reason against
+reason all their lives; and I am sorry for them.
+
+Unfortunately, there are many ways of being wrong-headed, 1. Not to
+examine whether the principle is true, even when just consequences are
+drawn from it; and this is very common.
+
+2. To draw false consequences from a principle acknowledged to be true.
+For instance: a servant is asked whether his master be at home, by
+persons whom he suspects of having a design against his master's life.
+If he were blockhead enough to tell them the truth, on pretence that it
+is wrong to tell a lie, it is clear that he would draw an absurd
+consequence from a very true principle.
+
+The judge who should condemn a man for killing his assassin, would be
+alike iniquitous, and a bad reasoner. Cases like these are subdivided
+into a thousand different shades. The good mind, the judicious mind, is
+that which distinguishes them. Hence it is, that there have been so many
+iniquitous judgments; not because the judges were wicked in heart, but
+because they were not sufficiently enlightened.
+
+
+
+
+WOMEN.
+
+_Physical and Moral._
+
+Woman is in general less strong than man, smaller, and less capable of
+lasting labor. Her blood is more aqueous; her flesh less firm; her hair
+longer; her limbs more rounded; her arms less muscular; her mouth
+smaller; her hips more prominent; and her belly larger. These physical
+points distinguish women all over the earth, and of all races, from
+Lapland unto the coast of Guinea, and from America to China.
+
+Plutarch, in the third book of his "_Symposiacs_," pretends that wine
+will not intoxicate them so easily as men; and the following is the
+reason which he gives for this falsehood:
+
+"The temperament of women is very moist; this, with their courses,
+renders their flesh so soft, smooth, and clear. When wine encounters so
+much humidity, it is overcome, and it loses its color and its strength,
+becoming discolored and weak. Something also may be gathered from the
+reasoning of Aristotle, who observes, that they who drink great draughts
+without drawing their breath, which the ancients call '_amusisein_' are
+not intoxicated so soon as others; because the wine does not remain
+within the body, but being forcibly taken down, passes rapidly off. Now
+we generally perceive that women drink in this manner; and it is
+probable that their bodies, in consequence of the continual attraction
+of the humors, which are carried off in their periodical visitations,
+are filled with many conduits, and furnished with numerous pipes and
+channels, into which the wine disperses rapidly and easily, without
+having time to affect the noble and principal parts, by the disorder of
+which intoxication is produced." These physics are altogether worthy of
+the ancients.
+
+Women live somewhat longer than men; that is to say, in a generation we
+count more aged women than aged men. This fact has been observed by all
+who have taken accurate accounts of births and deaths in Europe; and it
+is thought that it is the same in Asia, and among the negresses, the
+copper-colored, and olive-complexioned, as among the white. _"Natura est
+semper sibi consona."_
+
+We have elsewhere adverted to an extract from a Chinese journal, which
+states, that in the year 1725, the wife of the emperor Yontchin made a
+distribution among the poor women of China who had passed their
+seventieth year; and that, in the province of Canton alone, there were
+98,222 females aged more than seventy, 40,893 beyond eighty, and 3,453
+of about the age of a hundred. Those who advocate final causes say, that
+nature grants them a longer life than men, in order to recompense them
+for the trouble they take in bringing children into the world and
+rearing them. It is scarcely to be imagined that nature bestows
+recompenses, but it is probable that the blood of women being milder,
+their fibres harden less quickly.
+
+No anatomist or physician has ever been able to trace the secret of
+conception. Sanchez has curiously remarked: _"Mariam et spiritum sanctum
+emisisse semen in copulatione, et ex semine amborum natum esse Jesum."_
+This abominable impertinence of the most knowing Sanchez is not adopted
+at present by any naturalist.
+
+The periodical visitations which weaken females, while they endure the
+maladies which arise out of their suppression, the times of gestation,
+the necessity of suckling children, and of watching continually over
+them, and the delicacy of their organization, render them unfit for the
+fatigue of war, and the fury of the combat. It is true, as we have
+already observed, that in almost all times and countries women have been
+found on whom nature has bestowed extraordinary strength and courage,
+who combat with men, and undergo prodigious labor; but, after all, these
+examples are rare. On this point we refer to the article on "Amazons."
+
+Physics always govern morals. Women being weaker of body than we are,
+there is more skill in their fingers, which are more supple than ours.
+Little able to labor at the heavy work of masonry, carpentering,
+metalling, or the plough, they are necessarily intrusted with the
+lighter labors of the interior of the house, and, above all, with the
+care of children. Leading a more sedentary life, they possess more
+gentleness of character than men, and are less addicted to the
+commission of enormous crimes--a fact so undeniable, that in all
+civilized countries there are always fifty men at least executed to one
+woman.
+
+Montesquieu, in his "Spirit of Laws," undertaking to speak of the
+condition of women under divers governments, observes that "among the
+Greeks women were not regarded as worthy of having any share in genuine
+love; but that with them love assumed a form which is not to be named."
+He cites Plutarch as his authority.
+
+This mistake is pardonable only in a wit like Montesquieu, always led
+away by the rapidity of his ideas, which are often very indistinct.
+Plutarch, in his chapter on love, introduces many interlocutors; and he
+himself, in the character of Daphneus, refutes, with great animation,
+the arguments of Protagenes in favor of the commerce alluded to.
+
+It is in the same dialogue that he goes so far as to say, that in the
+love of woman there is something divine; which love he compares to the
+sun, that animates nature. He places the highest happiness in conjugal
+love, and concludes by an eloquent eulogium on the virtue of Epponina.
+This memorable adventure passed before the eyes of Plutarch, who lived
+some time in the house of Vespasian. The above heroine, learning that
+her husband Sabinus, vanquished by the troops of the emperor, was
+concealed in a deep cavern between Franche-Comté and Champagne, shut
+herself up with him, attended on him for many years, and bore children
+in that situation. Being at length taken with her husband, and brought
+before Vespasian, who was astonished at her greatness of soul, she said
+to him: "I have lived more happily under ground than thou in the light
+of the sun, and in the enjoyment of power." Plutarch therefore asserts
+directly the contrary to that which is attributed to him by Montesquieu,
+and declares in favor of woman with an enthusiasm which is even
+affecting.
+
+It is not astonishing, that in every country man has rendered himself
+the master of woman, dominion being founded on strength. He has
+ordinarily, too, a superiority both in body and mind. Very learned women
+are to be found in the same manner as female warriors, but they are
+seldom or ever inventors.
+
+A social and agreeable spirit usually falls to their lot; and, generally
+speaking, they are adapted to soften the manners of men. In no republic
+have they ever been allowed to take the least part in government; they
+have never reigned in monarchies purely elective; but they may reign in
+almost all the hereditary kingdoms of Europe--in Spain, Naples, and
+England, in many states of the North, and in many grand fiefs which are
+called "feminines."
+
+Custom, entitled the Salic law, has excluded them from the crown of
+France; but it is not, as Mézeray remarks, in consequence of their
+unfitness for governing, since they are almost always intrusted with the
+regency.
+
+It is pretended, that Cardinal Mazarin confessed that many women were
+worthy of governing a kingdom; but he added, that it was always to be
+feared they would allow themselves to be subdued by lovers who were not
+capable of governing a dozen pullets. Isabella in Castile, Elizabeth in
+England, and Maria Theresa in Hungary, have, however, proved the falsity
+of this pretended bon-mot, attributed to Cardinal Mazarin; and at this
+moment we behold a legislatrix in the North as much respected as the
+sovereign of Greece, of Asia Minor, of Syria, and of Egypt, is
+disesteemed.
+
+It has been for a long time ignorantly assumed, that women are slaves
+during life among the Mahometans; and that, after their death, they do
+not enter paradise. These are two great errors, of a kind which popes
+are continually repeating in regard to Mahometanism. Married women are
+not at all slaves; and the Sura, or fourth chapter of the Koran, assigns
+them a dowry. A girl is entitled to inherit one-half as much as her
+brother; and if there are girls only, they divide among them two-thirds
+of the inheritance; and the remainder belongs to the relations of the
+deceased, whose mother also is entitled to a certain share. So little
+are married women slaves, they are entitled to demand a divorce, which
+is granted when their complaints are deemed lawful.
+
+A Mahometan is not allowed to marry his sister-in-law, his niece, his
+foster-sister, or his daughter-in-law brought up under the care of his
+wife. Neither is he permitted to marry two sisters; in which particular
+the Mahometan law is more rigid than the Christian, as people are every
+day purchasing from the court of Rome the right of contracting such
+marriages, which they might as well contract gratis.
+
+_Polygamy._
+
+Mahomet has limited the number of wives to four; but as a man must be
+rich in order to maintain four wives, according to his condition, few
+except great lords avail themselves of this privilege. Therefore, a
+plurality of wives produces not so much injury to the Mahometan states
+as we are in the habit of supposing; nor does it produce the
+depopulation which so many books, written at random, are in the habit of
+asserting.
+
+The Jews, agreeable to an ancient usage, established, according to their
+books, ever since the age of Lameth, have always been allowed several
+wives at a time. David had eighteen; and it is from his time that they
+allow that number to kings; although it is said that Solomon had as
+many as seven hundred.
+
+The Mahometans will not publicly allow the Jews to have more than one
+wife; they do not deem them worthy of that advantage; but money, which
+is always more powerful than law, procures to rich Jews, in Asia and
+Africa, that permission which the law refuses.
+
+It is seriously related, that Lelius Cinna, tribune of the people,
+proclaimed, after the death of Cæsar, that the dictator had intended to
+promulgate a law allowing women to take as many husbands as they
+pleased. What sensible man can doubt, that this was a popular story
+invented to render Cæsar odious? It resembles another story, which
+states that a senator in full senate formally professed to give Cæsar
+permission to cohabit with any woman he pleased. Such silly tales
+dishonor history, and injure the minds of those who credit them. It is a
+sad thing, that Montesquieu should give credit to this fable.
+
+It is not, however, a fable that the emperor Valentinian, calling
+himself a Christian, married Justinian during the life of Severa, his
+first wife, mother of the emperor Gratian; but he was rich enough to
+support many wives.
+
+Among the first race of the kings of the Franks, Gontran, Cherebert,
+Sigebert, and Chilperic, had several wives at a time. Gontran had within
+his palace Venerande, Mercatrude, and Ostregilda, acknowledged for
+legitimate wives; Cherebert had Merflida, Marcovesa, and Theodogilda.
+
+It is difficult to conceive how the ex-Jesuit Nonnotte has been able, in
+his ignorance, to push his boldness so far as to deny these facts, and
+to say that the kings of the first race were not polygamists, and
+thereby, in a libel in two volumes, throw discredit on more than a
+hundred historical truths, with the confidence of a pedant who dictates
+lessons in a college. Books of this kind still continue to be sold in
+the provinces, where the Jesuits have yet a party, and seduce and
+mislead uneducated people.
+
+Father Daniel, more learned and judicious, confesses the polygamy of the
+French kings without difficulty. He denies not the three wives of
+Dagobert I., and asserts expressly that Theodoret espoused Deutery,
+although she had a husband, and himself another wife called Visigalde.
+He adds, that in this he imitated his uncle Clothaire, who espoused the
+widow of Cleodomir, his brother, although he had three wives already.
+
+All historians admit the same thing; why, therefore, after so many
+testimonies, allow an ignorant writer to speak like a dictator, and say,
+while uttering a thousand follies, that it is in defence of religion? as
+if our sacred and venerable religion had anything to do with an
+historical point, although made serviceable by miserable calumniators to
+their stupid impostures.
+
+_Of the Polygamy Allowed by Certain Popes and Reformers._
+
+The Abbé Fleury, author of the "Ecclesiastical History," pays more
+respect to truth in all which concerns the laws and usages of the
+Church. He avows that Boniface, confessor of Lower Germany, having
+consulted Pope Gregory, in the year 726, in order to know in what cases
+a husband might be allowed to have two wives, Gregory replied to him, on
+the 22nd of November, of the same year, in these words: "If a wife be
+attacked by a malady which renders her unfit for conjugal intercourse,
+the husband may marry another; but in that case he must allow his sick
+wife all necessary support and assistance." This decision appears
+conformable to reason and policy; and favors population, which is the
+object of marriage.
+
+But that which appears opposed at once to reason, policy, and nature, is
+the law which ordains that a woman, separated from her husband both in
+person and estate, cannot take another husband, nor the husband another
+wife. It is evident that a race is thereby lost; and if the separated
+parties are both of a certain temperament, they are necessarily exposed
+and rendered liable to sins for which the legislators ought to be
+responsible to God, if--
+
+The decretals of the popes have not always had in view what was suitable
+to the good of estates, and of individuals. This same decretal of Pope
+Gregory II., which permits bigamy in certain cases, denies conjugal
+rights forever to the boys and girls, whom their parents have devoted to
+the Church in their infancy. This law seems as barbarous as it is
+unjust; at once annihilating posterity, and forcing the will of men
+before they even possess a will. It is rendering the children the slaves
+of a vow which they never made; it is to destroy natural liberty, and to
+offend God and mankind.
+
+The polygamy of Philip, landgrave of Hesse, in the Lutheran community,
+in 1539, is well known. I knew a sovereign in Germany, who, after having
+married a Lutheran, had permission from the pope to marry a Catholic,
+and retained both his wives.
+
+It is well known in England, that the chancellor Cowper married two
+wives, who lived together in the same house in a state of concord which
+did honor to all three. Many of the curious still possess the little
+book which he composed in favor of polygamy.
+
+We must distrust authors who relate, that in certain countries women are
+allowed several husbands. Those who make laws everywhere are born with
+too much self-love, are too jealous of their authority, and generally
+possess a temperament too ardent in comparison with that of women, to
+have instituted a jurisprudence of this nature. That which is opposed to
+the general course of nature is very rarely true; but it is very common
+for the more early travellers to mistake an abuse for a law.
+
+The author of the "Spirit of Laws" asserts, that in the caste of Nairs,
+on the coast of Malabar, a man can have only one wife, while a woman may
+have several husbands. He cites doubtful authors, and above all Picard;
+but it is impossible to speak of strange customs without having long
+witnessed them; and if they are mentioned, it ought to be doubtingly;
+but what lively spirit knows how to doubt?
+
+"The lubricity of women," he observes, "is so great at Patan, the men
+are constrained to adopt certain garniture, in order to be safe against
+their amorous enterprises."
+
+The president Montesquieu was never at Patan. Is not the remark of M.
+Linguet judicious, who observes, that this story has been told by
+travellers who were either deceived themselves, or who wished to laugh
+at their readers? Let us be just, love truth, and judge by facts, not by
+names.
+
+_End of the Reflections on Polygamy._
+
+It appears that power, rather than agreement, makes laws everywhere, but
+especially in the East. We there beheld the first slaves, the first
+eunuchs, and the treasury of the prince directly composed of that which
+is taken from the people.
+
+He who can clothe, support, and amuse a number of women, shuts them up
+in a menagerie, and commands them despotically. Ben Aboul Kiba, in his
+"Mirror of the Faithful," relates that one of the viziers of the great
+Solyman addressed the following discourse to an agent of Charles V.:
+
+"Dog of a Christian!--for whom, however, I have a particular
+esteem--canst thou reproach me with possessing four wives, according to
+our holy laws, whilst thou emptiest a dozen barrels a year, and I drink
+not a single glass of wine? What good dost thou effect by passing more
+hours at table than I do in bed? I may get four children a year for the
+service of my august master, whilst thou canst scarcely produce one, and
+that only the child of a drunkard, whose brain will be obscured by the
+vapors of the wine which has been drunk by his father. What, moreover,
+wouldst thou have me do, when two of my wives are in child-bed? Must I
+not attend to the other two, as my law commands me? What becomes of
+them? what part dost thou perform, in the latter months of the pregnancy
+of thy only wife, and during her lyings-in and sexual maladies? Thou
+either remainest idle, or thou repairest to another woman. Behold
+thyself between two mortal sins, which will infallibly cause thee to
+fall headlong from the narrow bridge into the pit of hell.
+
+"I will suppose, that in our wars against the dogs of Christians we lose
+a hundred thousand soldiers; behold a hundred thousand girls to provide
+for. Is it not for the wealthy to take care of them? Evil betide every
+Mussulman so cold-hearted as not to give shelter to four pretty girls,
+in the character of legitimate wives, or to treat them according to
+their merits!
+
+"What is done in thy country by the trumpeter of day, which thou callest
+the cock; the honest ram, the leader of the flock; the bull, sovereign
+of the heifers; has not every one of them his seraglio? It becomes thee,
+truly, to reproach me with my four wives, whilst our great prophet had
+eighteen, the Jew David, as many, and the Jew Solomon, seven hundred,
+all told, with three hundred concubines! Thou perceivest that I am
+modest. Cease, then, to reproach a sage with luxury, who is content with
+so moderate a repast. I permit thee to drink; allow me to love. Thou
+changest thy wines; permit me to change my females. Let every one suffer
+others to live according to the customs of their country. Thy hat was
+not made to give laws to my turban; thy ruff and thy curtailed doublets
+are not to command my doliman. Make an end of thy coffee, and go and
+caress thy German spouse, since thou art allowed to have no other."
+
+_Reply of the German._
+
+"Dog of a Mussulman! for whom I retain a profound veneration; before I
+finish my coffee I will confute all thy arguments. He who possesses four
+wives, possesses four harpies, always ready to calumniate, to annoy, and
+to fight one another. Thy house is the den of discord, and none of them
+can love thee. Each has only a quarter of thy person, and in return can
+bestow only a quarter of her heart. None of them can serve to render thy
+life agreeable; they are prisoners who, never having seen anything, have
+nothing to say; and, knowing only thee, are in consequence thy enemies.
+Thou art their absolute master; they therefore hate thee. Thou art
+obliged to guard them with eunuchs, who whip them when they are too
+happy. Thou pretendest to compare thyself to a cock, but a cock never
+has his pullets whipped by a capon. Take animals for thy examples, and
+copy them as much as thou pleasest; for my part, I love like a man; I
+would give all my heart, and receive an entire heart in return. I will
+give an account of this conversation to my wife to-night, and I hope she
+will be satisfied. As to the wine with which thou reproachest me, if it
+is an evil to drink it in Arabia, it is a very praiseworthy habit in
+Germany.--Adieu!"
+
+
+
+
+XENOPHANES.
+
+
+Bayle has made the article "Xenophanes" a pretext for making a panegyric
+on the devil; as Simonides, formerly, seized the occasion of a wrestler
+winning the prize of boxing in the Olympic games, to form a fine ode in
+praise of Castor and Pollux. But, at the bottom, of what consequence to
+us are the reveries of Xenophanes? What do we gain by knowing that he
+regarded nature as an infinite being, immovable, composed of an infinite
+number of small corpuscles, soft little mounds, and small organic
+molecules? That he, moreover, thought pretty nearly as Spinoza has since
+thought? or rather endeavored to think, for he contradicts himself
+frequently--a thing very common to ancient philosophers.
+
+If Anaximenes taught that the atmosphere was God; if Thales attributed
+to water the foundation of all things, because Egypt was rendered
+fertile by inundation; if Pherecides and Heraclitus give to fire all
+which Thales attributes to water--to what purpose return to these
+chimerical reveries?
+
+I wish that Pythagoras had expressed, by numbers, certain relations,
+very insufficiently understood, by which he infers, that the world was
+built by the rules of arithmetic. I allow, that Ocellus Lucanus and
+Empedocles have arranged everything by moving antagonist forces, but
+what shall I gather from it? What clear notion will it convey to my
+feeble mind?
+
+Come, divine Plato! with your archetypal ideas, your androgynes, and
+your word; establish all these fine things in poetical prose, in your
+new republic, in which I no more aspire to have a house, than in the
+Salentum of Telemachus; but in lieu of becoming one of your citizens, I
+will send you an order to build your town with all the subtle manner of
+Descartes, all his globular and diffusive matter; and they shall be
+brought to you by Cyrano de Bergerac.
+
+Bayle, however, has exercised all the sagacity of his logic on these
+ancient fancies; but it is always by rendering them ridiculous that he
+instructs and entertains.
+
+O philosophers! Physical experiments, ably conducted, arts and
+handicraft--these are the true philosophy. My sage is the conductor of
+my windmill, which dexterously catches the wind, and receives my corn,
+deposits it in the hopper, and grinds it equally, for the nourishment of
+myself and family. My sage is he who, with his shuttle, covers my walls
+with pictures of linen or of silk, brilliant with the finest colors; or
+he who puts into my pocket a chronometer of silver or of gold. My sage
+is the investigator of natural history. We learn more from the single
+experiments of the Abbé Nollet than from all the philosophical works of
+antiquity.
+
+
+
+
+XENOPHON,
+
+AND THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND.
+
+
+If Xenophon had no other merit than that of being the friend of the
+martyr Socrates, he would be interesting; but he was a warrior,
+philosopher, poet, historian, agriculturist, and amiable in society.
+There were many Greeks who united these qualities.
+
+But why had this free man a Greek company in the pay of the young
+Chosroes, named Cyrus by the Greeks? This Cyrus was the younger brother
+and subject of the emperor of Persia, Artaxerxes Mnemon, of whom it was
+said that he never forgot anything but injuries. Cyrus had already
+attempted to assassinate his brother, even in the temple in which the
+ceremony of his consecration took place--for the kings of Persia were
+the first who were consecrated. Artaxerxes had not only the clemency to
+pardon this villain, but he had the weakness to allow him the absolute
+government of a great part of Asia Minor, which he held from their
+father, and of which he at least deserved to be despoiled.
+
+As a return for such surprising mercy, as soon as he could excite his
+satrapy to revolt against his brother, Cyrus added this second crime to
+the first. He declared by a manifesto, "that he was more worthy of the
+throne of Persia than his brother, because he was a better magus, and
+drank more wine." I do not believe that these were the reasons which
+gained him the Greeks as allies. He took thirteen thousand into his pay,
+among whom was the young Xenophon, who was then only an adventurer. Each
+soldier had a daric a month for pay. The daric is equal to about a
+guinea or a louis d'or of our time, as the Chevalier de Jaucourt very
+well observes, and not ten francs, as Rollin says.
+
+When Cyrus proposed to march them with his other troops to fight his
+brother towards the Euphrates, they demanded a daric and a half, which
+he was obliged to grant them. This was thirty-six livres a month, and
+consequently the highest pay which was ever given. The soldiers of
+Caesar and Pompey had but twenty sous per day in the civil wars. Besides
+this exorbitant pay, of which they obliged him to pay four months in
+advance, Cyrus furnished them four hundred chariots, laden with wine and
+meal.
+
+The Greeks were then precisely what the Swiss are at present, who hire
+their service and courage to neighboring princes, but for a pay three
+times less than was that of the Greeks. It is evident, though they say
+the contrary, that they did not inform themselves whether the cause for
+which they fought was just; it was sufficient that Cyrus paid well.
+
+The greatest part of these troops was composed of Lacedæmonians, by
+which they violated their solemn treaties with the king of Persia. What
+was become of the ancient aversion of the Spartans for gold and silver?
+Where was their sincerity in treaties? Where was their high and
+incorruptible virtue? Clearchus, a Spartan, commanded the principal body
+of these brave mercenaries.
+
+I understand not the military manoeuvres of Artaxerxes and Cyrus; I see
+not why Artaxerxes, who came to his enemy with twelve hundred thousand
+soldiers, should begin by causing lines of twelve leagues in extent to
+be drawn between Cyrus and himself; and I comprehend nothing of the
+order of battle. I understand still less how Cyrus, followed only by six
+hundred horse, broke into the midst of six thousand horse-guards of the
+emperor, followed by an innumerable army. Finally, he was killed by the
+hand of Artaxerxes, who, having apparently drunk less wine than the
+rebel, fought with more coolness and address than this drunkard. It is
+clear that he completely gained the battle, notwithstanding the valor
+and resistance of thirteen thousand Greeks--since Greek vanity is
+obliged to confess that Artaxerxes told them to put down their arms.
+They replied that they would do nothing of the kind; but that if the
+emperor would pay them they would enter his service. It was very
+indifferent to them for whom they fought, so long as they were paid; in
+fact, they were only hired murderers.
+
+Besides the Swiss, there are some provinces of Germany which follow this
+custom. It signifies not to these good Christians whether they are paid
+to kill English, French, or Dutch, or to be killed by them. You see them
+say their prayers, and go to the carnage like laborers to their
+workshop. As to myself, I confess I would rather observe those who go
+into Pennsylvania, to cultivate the land with the simple and equitable
+Quakers, and form colonies in the retreat of peace and industry. There
+is no great skill in killing and being killed for six sous per day, but
+there is much in causing the republic of Dunkers to flourish--these new
+Therapeutæ on the frontier of a country the most savage.
+
+Artaxerxes regarded the Greeks only as accomplices in the revolt of his
+brother, and indeed they were nothing else. He betrayed himself to be
+betrayed by them, and he betrayed them, as Xenophon pretends; for after
+one of his captains had sworn in his name to allow them a free retreat,
+and to furnish them with food, after Clearchus and five other commanders
+of the Greeks were put into his hands, to regulate the march, he caused
+their heads to be cut off, and slew all the Greeks who accompanied them
+in this interview, if we may trust Xenophon's account.
+
+This royal act shows us that Machiavellism is not new; but is it true
+that Artaxerxes promised not to make an example of the chief mercenaries
+who sold themselves to his brother? Was it not permitted him to punish
+those whom he thought so guilty? It is here that the famous retreat of
+the ten thousand commences. If I comprehend nothing of the battle, I
+understand no more of the retreat.
+
+The emperor, before he cut off the heads of six Greek generals and their
+suite, had sworn to allow the little army, reduced to ten thousand men,
+to return to Greece. The battle was fought on the road to the Euphrates;
+he must therefore have caused the Greeks to return by Western
+Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, and Ionia. Not at all; they were made to
+pass by the East; they were obliged to traverse the Tigris in boats
+which were furnished to them; they returned afterwards by the Armenian
+roads, while their commanders were punished. If any person comprehends
+this march, in which they turn their backs on Greece, they will oblige
+me much by explaining it to me.
+
+One of two things: either the Greeks chose their route themselves--and
+in this case they neither knew where they went, or what they wished--or
+Artaxerxes made them march against their will--which is much more
+probable--and in this case, why did he not exterminate them?
+
+We may extricate ourselves from these difficulties, by supposing that
+the Persian emperor only half revenged himself; that he contented
+himself with punishing the principal mercenary chiefs who sold the Greek
+troops to Cyrus; that having made a treaty with the fugitive troops, he
+would not descend to the meanness of violating it; that being sure that
+a third of these wandering Greeks would perish on the road, he abandoned
+them to their fate. I see no other manner of enlightening the mind of
+the reader on the obscurities of this march.
+
+We are astonished at the retreat of the ten thousand; but we should be
+much more so, if Artaxerxes, a conqueror, at the head of a hundred
+thousand men--at least it is said so--had allowed ten thousand fugitives
+to travel in the north of his vast states, whom he could crush in every
+village, every bridge, every defile, or whom he could have made perish
+with hunger and misery.
+
+However, they were furnished, as we have seen, with twenty-seven great
+boats, to enable them to pass the Tigris, as if they were conducted to
+the Indies. Thence they were escorted towards the North for several
+days, into the desert in which Bagdad is now situated. They further
+passed the river Zabata, and it was there that the emperor sent his
+orders to punish the chiefs. It is clear that they could have
+exterminated the army as easily as they inflicted punishment on the
+generals. It is therefore very likely that they did not choose to do so.
+We should, therefore, rather regard the Greek wanderers in these savage
+countries as wayward travellers, whom the bounty of the emperor allowed
+to finish their journey as they could.
+
+We may make another observation, which appears not very honorable to the
+Persian government. It was impossible for the Greeks not to have
+continual quarrels for food with the people whom they met. Pillages,
+desolations, and murders, were the inevitable consequence of these
+disorders; and that is so true, that in a road of six hundred leagues,
+during which the Greeks always marched irregularly, being neither
+escorted nor pursued by any great body of Persian troops, they lost four
+thousand men, either killed by peasants or by sickness. How did it
+happen, therefore, that Artaxerxes did not cause them to be escorted
+from their passage of the river Zabata, as he had done from the field of
+battle to the river?
+
+How could so wise and good a sovereign commit so great a fault? Perhaps
+he did command the escort; perhaps Xenophon, who exaggerates a little
+elsewhere, passes it over in silence, not to diminish the wonder of the
+"retreat of the ten thousand"; perhaps the escort was always obliged to
+march at a great distance from the Greek troop, on account of the
+difficulty of procuring provisions. However it might be, it appears
+certain that Artaxerxes used extreme indulgence, and that the Greeks
+owed their lives to him, since they were not exterminated.
+
+In the article on "Retreat," in the "Encyclopædical Dictionary," it is
+said that the retreat of the ten thousand took place under the command
+of Xenophon. This is a mistake; he never commanded; he was merely at the
+head of a division of fourteen hundred men, at the end of the march.
+
+I see that these heroes scarcely arrived, after so many fatigues, on the
+borders of the Pontus Euxinus, before they indifferently pillaged
+friends and enemies to re-establish themselves. Xenophon embarked his
+little troop at Heraclea, and went to make a new bargain with a king of
+Thrace, to whom he was a stranger. This Athenian, instead of succoring
+his country, then overcome by the Spartans, sold himself once more to a
+petty foreign despot. He was ill paid, I confess, which is another
+reason why we may conclude that he would have done better in assisting
+his country.
+
+The sum of all this, we have already remarked, is that the Athenian
+Xenophon, being only a young volunteer, enlisted himself under a
+Lacedæmonian captain, one of the tyrants of Athens, in the service of a
+rebel and an assassin; and that, becoming chief of fourteen hundred men,
+he put himself into the pay of a barbarian.
+
+What is worse, necessity did not constrain him to this servitude. He
+says himself that he deposited a great part of the gold gained in the
+service of Cyrus in the temple of the famous Diana of Ephesus.
+
+Let us remark, that in receiving the pay of a king, he exposed himself
+to be condemned to death, if the foreigner was not contented with him,
+which happened to Major-General Doxat, a man born free. He sold himself
+to the emperor Charles VI., who commanded his head to be cut off, for
+having given up to the Turks a place which he could not defend.
+
+Rollin, in speaking of the return of the ten thousand, says, "that this
+fortunate retreat filled the people of Greece with contempt for
+Artaxerxes, by showing them that gold, silver, delicacies, luxury, and a
+numerous seraglio, composed all the merit of a great king."
+
+Rollin should consider that the Greeks ought not to despise a sovereign
+who had gained a complete battle; who, having pardoned as a brother,
+conquered as a hero; who, having the power of exterminating ten thousand
+Greeks, suffered them to live and to return to their country; and who,
+being able to have them in his pay, disdained to make use of them. Add,
+that this prince afterwards conquered the Lacedæmonians and their
+allies, and imposed on them humiliating laws; add also that in a war
+with the Scythians, called Caducians, towards the Caspian Sea, he
+supported all fatigues and dangers like the lowest soldier. He lived and
+died full of glory; it is true that he had a seraglio, but his courage
+was only the more estimable. We must be careful of college declamations.
+
+If I dared to attack prejudice I would venture to prefer the retreat of
+Marshal Belle-Isle to that of the ten thousand. He was blocked up in
+Prague by sixty thousand men, when he had not thirteen thousand. He took
+his measures with so much ability that he got out of Prague, in the most
+severe cold, with his army, provisions, baggage, and thirty pieces of
+cannon, without the besiegers having the least idea of it. He gained two
+days' march without their perceiving it. An army of thirteen thousand
+men pursued him for the space of thirty leagues. He faced them
+everywhere--he was never cast down; but sick as he was, he braved the
+season, scarcity and his enemies. He only lost those soldiers who could
+not resist the extreme rigor of the season. What more was wanting? A
+longer course and Grecian exaggeration.
+
+
+
+
+YVETOT.
+
+
+This is the name of a town in France, six leagues from Rouen, in
+Normandy, which, according to Robert Gaguin, a historian of the
+sixteenth century, has long been entitled a kingdom.
+
+This writer relates that Gautier, or Vautier, lord of Yvetot, and grand
+chamberlain to King Clotaire I., having lost the favor of his master by
+calumny, in which courtiers deal rather liberally, went into voluntary
+exile, and visited distant countries, where, for ten years, he fought
+against the enemies of the faith; that at the expiration of this term,
+flattering himself that the king's anger would be appeased, he went back
+to France; that he passed through Rome, where he saw Pope Agapetus, from
+whom he obtained a letter of recommendation to the king, who was then at
+Soissons, the capital of his dominions. The lord of Yvetot repaired
+thither one Good Friday, and chose the time when Clotaire was at church,
+to fall at his feet, and implore his forgiveness through the merits of
+Him who, on that day, had shed His blood for the salvation of men; but
+Clotaire, ferocious and cruel, having recognized him, ran him through
+the body.
+
+Gaguin adds that Pope Agapetus, being informed of this disgraceful act,
+threatened the king with the thunders of the Church, if he did not make
+reparation for his offence; and that Clotaire, justly intimidated, and
+in satisfaction for the murder of his subject, erected the lordship of
+Yvetot into a kingdom, in favor of Gautier's heirs and successors; that
+he despatched letters to that effect signed by himself, and sealed with
+his seal; that ever since then the lords of Yvetot have borne the title
+of kings; and--continues Gaguin--I find from established and
+indisputable authority, that this extraordinary event happened in the
+year of grace 539.
+
+On this story of Gaguin's we have the same remark to make that we have
+already made on what he says of the establishment of the Paris
+university--that not one of the contemporary historians makes any
+mention of the singular event, which, as he tells us, caused the
+lordship of Yvetot to be erected into a kingdom; and, as Claude Malingre
+and the abbé Vertot have well observed, Clotaire I., who is here
+supposed to have been sovereign of the town of Yvetot, did not reign
+over that part of the country; fiefs were not then hereditary; acts were
+not, as Robert Gaguin relates, dated from the year of grace; and lastly,
+Pope Agapetus was then dead; to this it may be added that the right of
+erecting a fief into a kingdom belonged exclusively to the emperor.
+
+It is not, however, to be said that the thunders of the Church were not
+already made use of, in the time of Agapetus. We know that St. Paul
+excommunicated the incestuous man of Corinth. We also find in the
+letters of St. Basil, some instances of general censure in the fourth
+century. One of these letters is against a ravisher. The holy prelate
+there orders the young woman to be restored to her parents, the ravisher
+to be excluded from prayers, and declared to be excommunicated, together
+with his accomplices and all his household, for three years; he also
+orders that all the people of the village where the ravished person was
+received, shall be excommunicated.
+
+Auxilius, a young bishop, excommunicated the whole family of Clacitien;
+although St. Augustine disapproved of this conduct, and Pope St. Leo
+laid down the same maxims as Augustine, in one of his letters to the
+bishop of the province of Vienne--yet, confining ourselves here to
+France--Pretextatus, bishop of Rouen, having been assassinated in the
+year 586 in his own church, Leudovalde, bishop of Bayeux, did not fail
+to lay all the churches in Rouen under an interdict, forbidding divine
+service to be celebrated in them until the author of the crime should be
+discovered.
+
+In 1141, Louis the Young having refused his consent to the election of
+Peter de la Châtre, whom the pope caused to be appointed in the room of
+Alberic, archbishop of Bourges, who had died the year preceding,
+Innocent II. laid all France under interdict.
+
+In the year 1200, Peter of Capua, commissioned to compel Philip Augustus
+to put away Agnes, and take back Ingeburga, and not succeeding,
+published the sentence of interdict on the whole kingdom, which had been
+pronounced by Pope Innocent III. This interdict was observed with
+extreme rigor. The English chronicle, quoted by the Benedictine
+Martenne, says that every Christian act, excepting the baptism of
+infants, was interdicted in France; the churches were closed, and
+Christians driven out of them like dogs; there was no more divine
+office, no more sacrifice of the mass, no ecclesiastical sepulture for
+the deceased; the dead bodies, left to chance, spread the most frightful
+infections, and filled the survivors with horror.
+
+The chronicle of Tours gives the same description, adding only one
+remarkable particular, confirmed by the abbé Fleury and the abbé de
+Vertot--that the holy viaticum was excepted, like the baptism of
+infants, from the privation of holy things. The kingdom was in this
+situation for nine months; it was some time before Innocent III.
+permitted the preaching of sermons and the sacrament of confirmation.
+The king was so much enraged that he drove the bishops and all the other
+ecclesiastics from their abodes, and confiscated their property.
+
+But it is singular that the bishops were sometimes solicited by
+sovereigns themselves to pronounce an interdict upon lands of their
+vassals. By letters dated February, 1356, confirming those of Guy, count
+of Nevers, and his wife Matilda, in favor of the citizens of Nevers,
+Charles V., regent of the kingdom, prays the archbishops of Lyons,
+Bourges, and Sens, and the bishops of Autun, Langres, Auxerre, and
+Nevers, to pronounce an excommunication against the count of Nevers, and
+an interdict upon his lands, if he does not fulfil the agreement he has
+made with the inhabitants. We also find in the collection of the
+ordinances of the third line of kings, many letters like that of King
+John, authorizing the bishops to put under interdict those places whose
+privileges their lords would seek to infringe.
+
+And to conclude, though it appears incredible, the Jesuit Daniel relates
+that, in the year 998, King Robert was excommunicated by Gregory V., for
+having married his kinswoman in the fourth degree. All the bishops who
+had assisted at this marriage were interdicted from the communion, until
+they had been to Rome, and rendered satisfaction to the holy see. The
+people, and even the court, separated from the king; he had only two
+domestics left, who purified by fire whatever he had touched. Cardinal
+Damien and Romualde also add, that Robert being gone one morning, as was
+his custom, to say his prayers at the door of St. Bartholomew's church,
+for he dared not enter it, Abbon, abbot of Fleury, followed by two women
+of the palace, carrying a large gilt dish covered with a napkin,
+accosted him, announced that Bertha was just brought to bed; and
+uncovering the dish, said: "Behold the effects of your disobedience to
+the decrees of the Church, and the seal of anathema on the fruit of your
+love!" Robert looked, and saw a monster with the head and neck of a
+duck! Bertha was repudiated; and the excommunication was at last taken
+off.
+
+Urban II., on the contrary, excommunicated Robert's grandson, Philip I.,
+for having put away his kinswoman. This pope pronounced the sentence of
+excommunication in the king's own dominions, at Clermont, in Auvergne,
+where his holiness was come to seek an asylum, in the same council in
+which the crusade was preached, and in which, for the first time, the
+name of pope (papa) was given to the bishop of Rome, to the exclusion of
+the other bishops, who had formerly taken it.
+
+It will be seen that these canonical pains were medicinal rather than
+mortal; but Gregory VII. and some of his successors ventured to assert,
+that an excommunicated sovereign was deprived of his dominions, and that
+his subjects were not obliged to obey him. However, supposing that a
+king can be excommunicated in certain serious cases, excommunication,
+being a penalty purely spiritual, cannot dispense with the obedience
+which his subjects owe to him, as holding his authority from God
+Himself. This was constantly acknowledged by the parliaments, and also
+by the clergy of France, in the excommunications pronounced by Boniface
+VII., against Philip the Fair; by Julius II., against Louis XII.; by
+Sixtus V., against Henry III.; by Gregory XIII., against Henry IV.; and
+it is likewise the doctrine of the celebrated assembly of the clergy in
+1682.
+
+
+
+
+ZEAL.
+
+
+This, in religion, is a pure and enlightened attachment to the
+maintenance and progress of the worship which is due to the Divinity;
+but when this zeal is persecuting, blind, and false, it becomes the
+greatest scourge of humanity.
+
+See what the emperor Julian says of the Christians of his time: "The
+Galileans," he observes, "have suffered exile and imprisonment under my
+predecessor; those who are by turns called heretics, have been mutually
+massacred. I have recalled the banished, liberated the prisoners; I have
+restored their property to the proscribed; I have forced them to live in
+peace; but such is the restless rage of the Galileans, that they
+complain of being no longer able to devour each other."
+
+This picture will not appear extravagant if we attend to the atrocious
+calumnies with which the Christians reciprocally blackened each other.
+For instance, St. Augustine accuses the Manichæans of forcing their
+elect to receive the eucharist, after having obscenely polluted it.
+After him, St. Cyril of Jerusalem has accused them of the same infamy in
+these terms: "I dare not mention in what these sacrilegious wretches wet
+their ischas, which they give to their unhappy votaries, and exhibit in
+the midst of their altar, and with which the Manichæan soils his mouth
+and tongue. Let the men call to mind what they are accustomed to
+experience in dreaming, and the women in their periodical affections."
+Pope St. Leo, in one of his sermons, also calls the sacrifice of the
+Manichæans the same turpitude. Finally, Suidas and Cedrenus have still
+further improved on the calumny, in asserting that the Manichæans held
+nocturnal assemblies, in which, after extinguishing the flambeaux, they
+committed the most enormous indecencies.
+
+Let us first observe that the primitive Christians were themselves
+accused of the same horrors which they afterwards imputed to the
+Manichæans; and that the justification of these equally applies to the
+others. "In order to have pretexts for persecuting us," said
+Athenagoras, in his "Apology for the Christians," "they accuse us of
+making detestable banquets, and of committing incest in our assemblies.
+It is an old trick, which has been employed from all time to extinguish
+virtue. Thus was Pythagoras burned, with three hundred of his disciples;
+Heraclitus expelled by the Ephesians; Democritus by the Abderitans; and
+Socrates condemned by the Athenians."
+
+Athenagoras subsequently points out that the principles and manners of
+the Christians were sufficient of themselves to destroy the calumnies
+spread against them. The same reasons apply in favor of the Manichæans.
+Why else is St. Augustine, who is positive in his book on heresies,
+reduced in that on the morals of the Manichæans, when speaking of the
+horrible ceremony in question, to say simply: "They are suspected
+of--the world has this opinion of them--if they do not commit what is
+imputed to them--rumor proclaims much ill of them; but they maintain
+that it is false?"
+
+Why not sustain openly this accusation in his dispute with Fortunatus,
+who publicly challenged him in these terms: "We are accused of false
+crimes, and as Augustine has assisted in our worship, I beg him to
+declare before the whole people, whether these crimes are true or not."
+St. Augustine replied: "It is true that I have assisted in your worship;
+but the question of faith is one thing, the question of morals another;
+and it is that of faith which I brought forward. However, if the persons
+present prefer that we should discuss that of your morals, I shall not
+oppose myself to them."
+
+Fortunatus, addressing the assembly, said: "I wish, above all things, to
+be justified in the minds of those who believe us guilty; and that
+Augustine should now testify before you, and one day before the tribunal
+of Jesus Christ, if he has ever seen, or if he knows, in any way
+whatever, that the things imputed have been committed by us?" St.
+Augustine still replies: "You depart from the question; what I have
+advanced turns upon faith, not upon morals." At length, Fortunatus
+continuing to press St. Augustine to explain himself, he does so in
+these terms: "I acknowledge that in the prayer at which I assisted I did
+not see you commit anything impure."
+
+The same St. Augustine, in his work on the "Utility of Faith," still
+justifies the Manichæans. "At this time," he says, to his friend
+Honoratus, "when I was occupied with Manichæism, I was yet full of the
+desire and the hope of marrying a handsome woman, and of acquiring
+riches; of attaining honors, and of enjoying the other pernicious
+pleasures of life. For when I listened with attention to the Manichæan
+doctors, I had not renounced the desire and hope of all these things. I
+do not attribute that to their doctrine; for I am bound to render this
+testimony--that they sedulously exhorted men to preserve themselves from
+those things. That is, indeed, what hindered me from attaching myself
+altogether to the sect, and kept me in the rank of those who are called
+auditors. I did not wish to renounce secular hopes and affairs." And in
+the last chapter of this book, where he represents the Manichæan doctors
+as proud men, who had as gross minds as they had meagre and skinny
+bodies, he does not say a word of their pretended infamies.
+
+But on what proofs were these imputations founded? The first which
+Augustine alleges is, that these indecencies were a consequence of the
+Manichæan system, regarding the means which God makes use of to wrest
+from the prince of darkness the portion of his substance. We have spoken
+of this in the article on "Genealogy," and these are horrors which one
+may dispense with repeating. It is enough to say here, that the passage
+from the seventh book of the "Treasure of Manes," which Augustine cites
+in many places, is evidently falsified. The arch heretic says, if we can
+believe it, that these celestial virtues, which are transformed
+sometimes into beautiful boys, and sometimes into beautiful girls, are
+God the Father Himself. This is false; Manes has never confounded the
+celestial virtues with God the Father. St. Augustine, not having
+understood the Syriac phrase of a "virgin of light" to mean a virgin
+light, supposes that God shows a beautiful maiden to the princes of
+darkness, in order to excite their brutal lust; there is nothing of all
+this talked of in ancient authors; the question concerns the cause of
+rain.
+
+"The great prince," says Tirbon, cited by St. Epiphanius, "sends out for
+himself, in his passion, black clouds, which darken all the world; he
+chafes, worries himself, throws himself into a perspiration, and that it
+is which makes the rain, which is no other than the sweat of the great
+prince." St. Augustine must have been deceived by a mistranslation, or
+rather by a garbled, unfaithful extract from the "Treasure of Manes,"
+from which he only cites two or three passages. The Manichæan Secundums
+also reproaches him with comprehending nothing of the mysteries of
+Manichæism, and with attacking them only by mere paralogisms. "How,
+otherwise," says the learned M. de Beausobre--whom we here
+abridge--"would St. Augustine have been able to live so many years among
+a sect in which such abominations were publicly taught? And how would he
+have had the face to defend it against the Catholics?"
+
+From this proof by reasoning, let us pass to the proofs of fact and
+evidence alleged by St. Augustine and see if they are more substantial.
+"It is said," proceeds this father, "that some of them have confessed
+this fact in public pleadings, not only in Paphlagonia, but also in the
+Gauls, as I have heard said at Rome by a certain Catholic."
+
+Such hearsay deserves so little attention that St. Augustine dared not
+make use of it in his conference with Fortunatus, although it was seven
+or eight years after he had quitted Rome; he seems even to have
+forgotten the name of the Catholic from whom he learned them. It is
+true, that in his book of "Heresies," he speaks of the confessions of
+two girls, the one named Margaret, the other Eusebia, and of some
+Manichæans who, having been discovered at Carthage, and taken to the
+church, avowed, it is said, the horrible fact in question.
+
+He adds that a certain Viator declared that they who committed these
+scandals were called Catharistes, or purgators; and that, when
+interrogated on what scripture they founded this frightful practice,
+they produced the passage from the "Treasure of Manes," the falsehood of
+which has been demonstrated. But our heretics, far from availing
+themselves of it, have openly disavowed it, as the work of some impostor
+who wished to ruin them. That alone casts suspicion on all these acts of
+Carthage, which "_Quod-vult-Deus_" had sent to St. Augustine; and these
+wretches who were discovered and taken to the church, have very much the
+air of persons suborned to confess all they were wanted to confess.
+
+In the 47th chapter on the "Nature of Good," St. Augustine admits that
+when our heretics were reproached with the crimes in question, they
+replied that one of their elect, a seceder from the sect, and become
+their enemy, had introduced this enormity. Without inquiring whether
+this was a real sect whom Viator calls Catharistes, it is sufficient to
+observe here, that the first Christians likewise imputed to the Gnostics
+the horrible mysteries of which they were themselves accused by the Jews
+and Pagans; and if this defence is good on their behalf, why should it
+not be so on that of the Manichæans?
+
+It is, however, these vulgar rumors which M. de Tillemont, who piques
+himself on his exactness and fidelity, ventures to convert into positive
+facts. He asserts that the Manichæans had been made to confess these
+disgraceful doings in public judgments, in Paphlagonia, in the Gauls,
+and several times at Carthage.
+
+Let us also weigh the testimony of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, whose
+narrative is altogether different from that of St. Augustine; and let us
+consider that the fact is so incredible and so absurd that it could
+scarcely be credited, even if attested by five or six witnesses who had
+seen and would affirm it on oath. St. Cyril stands alone; he had never
+seen it; he advances it in a popular declamation, wherein he gives
+himself a licence to put into the mouth of Manes, in the conference of
+Cascar, a discourse, not one word of which is in the "Acts of
+Archælaus," as M. Zaccagni is obliged to allow; and it cannot be alleged
+in defence of St. Cyril that he has taken only the sense of Archælaus,
+and not the words; for neither the sense nor the words can be found
+there. Besides, the style which this father adopts is that of a
+historian who cites the actual words of his author.
+
+Nevertheless, to save the honor and good faith of St. Cyril, M.
+Zaccagni, and after him M. de Tillemont, suppose, without any proof,
+that the translator or copyist has omitted the passage in the "Acts"
+quoted by this father; and the journalists of Trévoux have imagined two
+sorts of "Acts of Archælaus"--the authentic ones which Cyril has copied,
+and others invented in the fifth century by some historian. When they
+shall have proved this conjecture, we will examine their reasons.
+
+Finally, let us come to the testimony of Pope Leo touching these
+Manichæan abominations. He says, in his sermons, that the sudden
+troubles in other countries had brought into Italy some Manichæans,
+whose mysteries were so abominable that he could not expose them to the
+public view without sacrificing modesty. That, in order to ascertain
+them, he had introduced male and female elect into an assembly composed
+of bishops, priests, and some lay noblemen. That these heretics had
+disclosed many things respecting their dogmas and the ceremonies of
+their feast, and had confessed a crime which could not be named, but in
+regard to which there could be no doubt, after the confession of the
+guilty parties--that is to say, of a young girl of only ten years of
+age; of two women who had prepared her for the horrible ceremony of the
+sect; of a young man who had been an accomplice; of the bishop who had
+ordered and presided over it. He refers those among his auditors who
+desire to know more, to the informations which had been taken, and which
+he communicated to the bishops of Italy, in his second letter.
+
+This testimony appears more precise and more decisive than that of St.
+Augustine; but it is anything but conclusive in regard to a fact belied
+by the protestations of the accused, and by the ascertained principles
+of their morality. In effect, what proofs have we that the infamous
+persons interrogated by Leo were not bribed to depose against their
+sect?
+
+It will be replied that the piety and sincerity of this pope will not
+permit us to believe that he has contrived such a fraud. But if--as we
+have said in the article on "Relics"--the same St. Leo was capable of
+supposing that pieces of linen and ribbons, which were put in a box, and
+made to descend into the tombs of some saints, shed blood when they were
+cut--ought this pope to make any scruple in bribing, or causing to be
+bribed, some abandoned women, and I know not what Manichæan bishop,
+who, being assured of pardon, would make confessions of crimes which
+might be true as regarded themselves, but not as regarded their sect,
+from whose seduction St. Leo wished to protect his people? At all times,
+bishops have considered themselves authorized to employ those pious
+frauds which tend to the salvation of souls. The conjectural and
+apocryphal scriptures are a proof of this; and the readiness with which
+the fathers have put faith in those bad works, shows that, if they were
+not accomplices in the fraud, they were not scrupulous in taking
+advantage of it.
+
+In conclusion, St. Leo pretends to confirm the secret crimes of the
+Manichæans by an argument which destroys them. "These execrable
+mysteries," he says, "which the more impure they are, the more carefully
+they are hid, are common to the Manichæans and to the Priscillianists.
+There is in all respects the same sacrilege, the same obscenity, the
+same turpitude. These crimes, these infamies, are the same which were
+formerly discovered among the Priscillianists, and of which the whole
+world is informed."
+
+The Priscillianists were never guilty of the crimes for which they were
+put to death. In the works of St. Augustine is contained the
+instructional remarks which were transmitted to that father by Orosius,
+and in which this Spanish priest protests that he has plucked out all
+the plants of perdition which sprang up in the sect of the
+Priscillianists; that he had not forgotten the smallest branch or root;
+that he exposed to the surgeon all the diseases of the sect, in order
+that he might labor in their cure. Orosius does not say a word of the
+abominable mysteries of which Leo speaks; an unanswerable proof that he
+had no doubt they were pure calumnies. St. Jerome also says that
+Priscillian was oppressed by faction, and by the intrigues of the
+bishops Ithacus and Idacus. Would a man be thus spoken of who was guilty
+of profaning religion by the most infamous ceremonies? Nevertheless,
+Orosius and St. Jerome could not be ignorant of crimes of which all the
+world had been informed.
+
+St. Martin of Tours, and St. Ambrosius, who were at Trier when
+Priscillian was sentenced, would have been equally informed of them.
+They, however, instantly solicited a pardon for him; and, not being able
+to obtain it, they refused to hold intercourse with his accusers and
+their faction. Sulpicius Severus relates the history of the misfortunes
+of Priscillian. Latronian, Euphrosyne, widow of the poet Delphidius, his
+daughter, and some other persons, were executed with him at Trier, by
+order of the tyrant Maximus, and at the instigation of Ithacus and
+Idacus, two wicked bishops, who, in reward for their injustice, died in
+excommunication, loaded with the hatred of God and man.
+
+The Priscillianists were accused, like the Manichæans, of obscene
+doctrines, of religious nakedness and immodesty. How were they
+convicted? Priscillian and his accomplices confessed, as is said, under
+the torture. Three degraded persons, Tertullus, Potamius, and John,
+confessed without awaiting the question. But the suit instituted against
+the Priscillianists would have been founded on other depositions, which
+had been made against them in Spain. Nevertheless, these latter
+informations were rejected by a great number of bishops and esteemed
+ecclesiastics; and the good old man Higimis, bishop of Cordova, who had
+been the denouncer of the Priscillianists, afterwards believed them so
+innocent of the crimes imputed to them that he received them into his
+communion, and found himself involved thereby in the persecution which
+they endured.
+
+These horrible calumnies, dictated by a blind zeal, would seem to
+justify the reflection which Ammianus Marcellinus reports of the emperor
+Julian. "The savage beasts," he said, "are not more formidable to men
+than the Christians are to each other, when they are divided by creed
+and opinion."
+
+It is still more deplorable when zeal is false and hypocritical,
+examples of which are not rare. It is told of a doctor of the Sorbonne,
+that in departing from a sitting of the faculty, Tournély, with whom he
+was strictly connected, said to him: "You see that for two hours I have
+maintained a certain opinion with warmth; well, I assure you, there is
+not one word of truth in all I have said!"
+
+The answer of a Jesuit is also known, who was employed for twenty years
+in the Canada missions, and who himself not believing in a God, as he
+confessed in the ear of a friend, had faced death twenty times for the
+sake of a religion which he preached to the savages. This friend
+representing to him the inconsistency of his zeal: "Ah!" replied the
+Jesuit missionary, "you have no idea of the pleasure a man enjoys in
+making himself heard by twenty thousand men, and in persuading them of
+what he does not himself believe."
+
+It is frightful to observe how many abuses and disorders arise from the
+profound ignorance in which Europe has been so long plunged. Those
+monarchs who are at last sensible of the importance of enlightenment,
+become the benefactors of mankind in favoring the progress of knowledge,
+which is the foundation of the tranquillity and happiness of nations,
+and the finest bulwark against the inroads of fanaticism.
+
+
+
+
+ZOROASTER.
+
+
+If it is Zoroaster who first announced to mankind that fine maxim: "In
+the doubt whether an action be good or bad, abstain from it," Zoroaster
+was the first of men after Confucius.
+
+If this beautiful lesson of morality is found only in the hundred gates
+of the "Sadder," let us bless the author of the "Sadder." There may be
+very ridiculous dogmas and rites united with an excellent morality.
+
+Who was this Zoroaster? The name has something of Greek in it, and it is
+said he was a Mede. The Parsees of the present day call him Zerdust, or
+Zerdast, or Zaradast, or Zarathrust. He is not reckoned to have been the
+first of the name. We are told of two other Zoroasters, the former of
+whom has an antiquity of nine thousand years--which is much for us, but
+may be very little for the world. We are acquainted with only the latest
+Zoroaster.
+
+The French travellers, Chardin and Tavernier, have given us some
+information respecting this great prophet, by means of the Guebers or
+Parsees, who are still scattered through India and Persia, and who are
+excessively ignorant. Dr. Hyde, Arabic professor of Oxford, has given us
+a hundred times more without leaving home. Living in the west of
+England, he must have conjectured the language which the Persians spoke
+in the time of Cyrus, and must have compared it with the modern language
+of the worshippers of fire. It is to him, moreover, that we owe those
+hundred gates of the "Sadder," which contain all the principal precepts
+of the pious fire-worshippers.
+
+For my own part, I confess I have found nothing in their ancient rites
+more curious than the two Persian verses of Sadi, as given by Hyde;
+signifying that, although a person may preserve the sacred fire for a
+hundred years, he is burned when he falls into it.
+
+The learned researches of Hyde kindled, a few years ago in the breast of
+a young Frenchman, the desire to learn for himself the dogmas of the
+Guebers. He traversed the Great Indies, in order to learn at Surat,
+among the poor modern Parsees, the language of the ancient Persians, and
+to read in that language the books of the so-much celebrated Zoroaster,
+supposing that he has in fact written any.
+
+The Pythagorases, the Platos, the Appolloniuses of Thyana, went in
+former times to seek in the East wisdom that was not there; but no one
+has run after this hidden divinity through so many sufferings and perils
+as this new French translator of the books attributed to Zoroaster.
+Neither disease nor war, nor obstacles renewed at every step, nor
+poverty itself, the first and greatest of obstacles, could repel his
+courage.
+
+It is glorious for Zoroaster that an Englishman wrote his life, at the
+end of so many centuries, and that afterwards a Frenchman wrote it in an
+entirely different manner. But it is still finer, that among the ancient
+biographers of the poet we have two principal Arabian authors, each of
+whom had previously written his history; and all these four histories
+contradict one another marvellously. This is not done by concert; and
+nothing is more conducive to the knowledge of the truth.
+
+The first Arabian historian, Abu-Mohammed Mustapha, allows that the
+father of Zoroaster was called Espintaman; but he also says that
+Espintaman was not his father, but his great-great-grandfather. In
+regard to his mother, there are not two opinions; she was named Dogdu,
+or Dodo, or Dodu--that is, a very fine turkey hen; she is very well
+portrayed in Doctor Hyde.
+
+Bundari, the second historian, relates that Zoroaster was a Jew, and
+that he had been valet to Jeremiah; that he told lies to his master;
+that, in order to punish him, Jeremiah gave him the leprosy; that the
+valet, to purify himself, went to preach a new religion in Persia, and
+caused the sun to be adored instead of the stars.
+
+Attend now to what the third historian relates, and what the Englishman,
+Hyde, has recorded somewhat at length: The prophet Zoroaster having come
+from Paradise to preach his religion to the king of Persia, Gustaph, the
+king said to the prophet: "Give me a sign." Upon this, the prophet
+caused a cedar to grow up before the gate of the palace, so large and so
+tall, that no cord could either go round it or reach its top. Upon the
+cedar he placed a fine cabinet, to which no man could ascend. Struck
+with this miracle, Gustaph believed in Zoroaster.
+
+Four magi, or four sages--it is the same thing--envious and wicked
+persons, borrowed from the royal porter the key of the prophet's chamber
+during his absence, and threw among his books the bones of dogs and
+cats, the nails and hair of dead bodies--such being, as is well known,
+the drugs with which magicians at all times have operated. Afterwards,
+they went and accused the prophet of being a sorcerer and a poisoner;
+and the king, causing the chamber to be opened by his porter, the
+instruments of witchcraft were found there--and behold the envoy from
+heaven condemned to be hanged!
+
+Just as they are going to hang Zoroaster, the king's finest horse falls
+ill; his four legs enter his body, so as to be no longer visible.
+Zoroaster hears of it; he promises to cure the horse, provided they will
+not hang him. The bargain being made, he causes one leg to issue out of
+the belly, and says: "Sire, I will not restore you the second leg unless
+you embrace my religion." "Let it be so," says the monarch. The prophet,
+after having made the second leg appear, wished the king's children to
+become Zoroastrians, and they became so. The other legs made proselytes
+of the whole court. The four envious sages were hanged in place of the
+prophet, and all Persia received the faith.
+
+The French traveller relates nearly the same miracles, supported and
+embellished, however, by many others. For instance, the infancy of
+Zoroaster could not fail to be miraculous; Zoroaster fell to laughing as
+soon as he was born, at least according to Pliny and Solinus. There
+were, in those days, as all the world knows, a great number of very
+powerful magicians; they were well aware that one day Zoroaster would be
+greater than themselves, and that he would triumph over their magic. The
+prince of magicians caused the infant to be brought to him, and tried to
+cut him in two; but his hand instantly withered. They threw him into the
+fire, which was turned for him into a bath of rose water. They wished to
+have him trampled on by the feet of wild bulls; but a still more
+powerful bull protected him. He was cast among the wolves; these wolves
+went incontinently and sought two ewes, who gave him suck all night. At
+last, he was restored to his mother Dogdu, or Dodo, or Dodu, a wife
+excellent above all wives, or a daughter above all daughters.
+
+Such, throughout the world, have been all the histories of ancient
+times. It proves what we have often remarked, that Fable is the elder
+sister of History. I could wish that, for our amusement and instruction,
+all these great prophets of antiquity, the Zoroasters, the Mercurys
+Trismegistus, the Abarises, and even the Numas, and others, should now
+return to the earth, and converse with Locke, Newton, Bacon,
+Shaftesbury, Pascal, Arnaud, Bayle--what do I say?--even with those
+philosophers of our day who are the least learned, provided they are not
+the less rational. I ask pardon of antiquity, but I think they would cut
+a sorry figure.
+
+Alas, poor charlatans! they could not sell their drugs on the
+Pont-neuf. In the meantime, however, their morality is still good,
+because morality is not a drug. How could it be that Zoroaster joined so
+many egregious fooleries to the fine precept of "abstaining when it is
+doubtful whether one is about to do right or wrong?" It is because men
+are always compounded of contradictions.
+
+It is added that Zoroaster, having established his religion, became a
+persecutor. Alas! there is not a sexton, or a sweeper of a church, who
+would not persecute, if he had the power.
+
+One cannot read two pages of the abominable trash attributed to
+Zoroaster, without pitying human nature. Nostradamus and the urine
+doctor are reasonable compared with this inspired personage; and yet he
+still is and will continue to be talked of.
+
+What appears singular is, that there existed, in the time of the
+Zoroaster with whom we are acquainted, and probably before, prescribed
+formulas of public and private prayer. We are indebted to the French
+traveller for a translation of them. There were such formulas in India;
+we know of none such in the Pentateuch.
+
+What is still stranger, the magi, as well as the Brahmins, admitted a
+paradise, a hell, a resurrection, and a devil. It is demonstrated that
+the law of the Jews knew nothing of all this; they were behindhand with
+everything--a truth of which we are convinced, however little the
+progress we have made in Oriental knowledge.
+
+
+
+
+DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, INQUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS,
+
+WHO HAVE AMUSED THEMSELVES WITH PROPOSING TO THE LEARNED THE PRECEDING
+QUESTIONS IN THESE VOLUMES.
+
+
+We declare to the learned that being, like themselves, prodigiously
+ignorant of the first principles of all things, and of the natural,
+typical, mystical, allegorical sense of many things, we acquiesce, in
+regard to them, in the infallible decision of the holy Inquisition of
+Rome, Milan, Florence, Madrid, Lisbon, and in the decrees of the
+Sorbonne, the perpetual council of the French.
+
+Our errors not proceeding from malice, but being the natural consequence
+of human weakness, we hope we shall be pardoned for them both in this
+world and the next.
+
+We entreat the small number of celestial spirits who are still shut up
+in the mortal bodies in France, and who thence enlighten the universe at
+thirty sous per sheet, to communicate their gifts to us for the next
+volume, which we calculate on publishing at the end of the Lent of 1772,
+or in the Advent of 1773; and we will pay _forty_ sous per sheet for
+their lucubrations.
+
+We entreat the few great men who still remain to us, such as the author
+of the "Ecclesiastical Gazette"; the Abbé Guyon; with the Abbé Caveirac,
+author of the "Apology for St. Bartholomew"; and he who took the name
+of Chiniac; and the agreeable Larcher; and the virtuous, wise, and
+learned Langleviel, called La Beaumelle; the profound and exact
+Nonnotte; and the moderate, the compassionate, the tender Patouillet--to
+assist us in our undertaking. We shall profit by their instructive
+criticisms, and we shall experience a real pleasure in rendering to all
+these gentlemen the justice which is their due.
+
+The next volume will contain very curious articles, which, under the
+favor of God, will be likely to give new piquancy to the wit which we
+shall endeavor to infuse into the thanks we return to all these
+gentlemen.
+
+Given at Mount Krapak, the 30th of the month of Janus, in the year of
+the world, according to
+
+  Scaliger...............................     5,022
+
+  According to Les Etrennes Mignonnes....     5,776
+
+  According to Riccioli..................     5,956
+
+  According to Eusebius..................     6,972
+
+  According to the Alphosine Tables......     8,707
+
+  According to the Egyptians.............   370,000
+
+  According to the Chaldæans.............   465,102
+
+  According to the Brahmins..............   780,000
+
+  According to the Philosophers..........     ----
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10
+(of 10), by François-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY ***
+
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+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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+
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+made available by the Internet Archive.)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, by Voltaire.
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10 (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 10 (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 29, 2011 [EBook #35630]
+
+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.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY</h1>
+
+<h3>VOLUME X</h3>
+
+<h4>By</h4>
+
+<h2>VOLTAIRE</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4>EDITION DE LA PACIFICATION</h4>
+
+<h3>THE WORKS OF VOLTAIRE</h3>
+
+<h4>A CONTEMPORARY VERSION</h4>
+
+
+<h5>With Notes by Tobias Smollett, Revised and Modernized</h5>
+
+<h5>New Translations by William F. Fleming, and an</h5>
+
+<h5>Introduction by Oliver H.G. Leigh</h5>
+
+
+<h4>A CRITIQUE AND BIOGRAPHY</h4>
+
+<h5>BY</h5>
+
+<h4>THE RT. HON. JOHN MORLEY</h4>
+
+<h5>FORTY-THREE VOLUMES</h5>
+
+
+<h5>One hundred and sixty-eight designs, comprising reproductions</h5>
+
+<h5>of rare old engravings, steel plates, photogravures,</h5>
+
+<h5>and curious fac-similes</h5>
+
+
+<h4>VOLUME XIV</h4>
+
+
+<h4>E.R. DuMONT</h4>
+
+<h4>PARIS&mdash;LONDON&mdash;NEW YORK&mdash;CHICAGO</h4>
+
+<h4>1901</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h3><i>The WORKS of VOLTAIRE</i></h3>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>"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."</i></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 35em;">
+<i>VICTOR HUGO.</i>
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p class="caption"><a name="LIST_OF_PLATES_VOL_X" id="LIST_OF_PLATES_VOL_X"></a>LIST OF PLATES&mdash;VOL. X
+</p>
+<p class="small_2">
+<a href="#Throned_Upon_The_Ruins_Of_The_Bastille">VOLTAIRE'S REMAINS ON THE BASTILLE&mdash;<i>Frontispiece</i></a><br /><br />
+<a href="#The_Death_of_Socrates">THE DEATH OF SOCRATES</a><br /><br />
+<a href="#The_Vision">THE VISION</a><br /><br />
+<a href="#Pierre_Corneille">PIERRE CORNEILLE</a>
+</p>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 34em;"><a href="#TABLE_OF_CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 363px;">
+<a name="Throned_Upon_The_Ruins_Of_The_Bastille" id="Throned_Upon_The_Ruins_Of_The_Bastille"></a>
+<img src="images/img_01_bastille.jpg" width="363" alt="Throned Upon the Ruins of the Bastille." title="" />
+<span class="caption_fig">"For one night, upon the ruins of the Bastille,
+rested the body of Voltaire, on fallen
+wall and broken aroh, above the dungeons
+where light had faded from the lives of men,
+and hope had died in breaking hearts. The conqueror,
+resting upon the conquered; throned
+upon the Bastille, the fallen fortress of
+night."&mdash;INGERSOLL.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h4>VOLTAIRE</h4>
+
+<h3>A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY</h3>
+
+<h4>IN TEN VOLUMES</h4>
+
+<h4>VOL. X.</h4>
+
+<h4>STYLE&mdash;ZOROASTER</h4>
+
+<h4>AND DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, INQUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS</h4>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="STYLE" id="STYLE"></a>STYLE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is very strange that since the French people
+became literary they have had no book written in
+a good style, until the year 1654, when the "Provincial
+Letters" appeared; and why had no one written
+history in a suitable tone, previous to that of the
+"Conspiracy of Venice" of the Abbé St. Réal? How
+is it that Pellisson was the first who adopted the true
+Ciceronian style, in his memoir for the superintendent
+Fouquet?</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is more difficult and more rare than a
+style altogether suitable to the subject in hand.</p>
+
+<p>The style of the letters of Balzac would not be
+amiss for funeral orations; and we have some physical
+treatises in the style of the epic poem or the
+ode. It is proper that all things occupy their own
+places.</p>
+
+<p>Affect not strange terms of expression, or new
+words, in a treatise on religion, like the Abbé Houteville;
+neither declaim in a physical treatise. Avoid
+pleasantry in the mathematics, and flourish and extravagant
+figures in a pleading. If a poor intoxicated
+woman dies of an apoplexy, you say that she
+is in the regions of death; they bury her, and you
+exclaim that her mortal remains are confided to the
+earth. If the bell tolls at her burial, it is her
+funeral knell ascending to the skies. In all this you
+think you imitate Cicero, and you only copy Master
+Littlejohn....</p>
+
+<p>Without style, it is impossible that there can be a
+good work in any kind of eloquence or poetry. A
+profusion of words is the great vice of all our modern
+philosophers and anti-philosophers. The "<i>Système
+de la Nature</i>" is a great proof of this truth. It
+is very difficult to give just ideas of God and nature,
+and perhaps equally so to form a good style.</p>
+
+<p>As the kind of execution to be employed by every
+artist depends upon the subject of which he treats&mdash;as
+the line of Poussin is not that of Teniers, nor
+the architecture of a temple that of a common house,
+nor music of a serious opera that of a comic one&mdash;so
+has each kind of writing its proper style, both
+in prose and verse. It is obvious that the style of
+history is not that of a funeral oration, and that the
+despatch of an ambassador ought not to be written
+like a sermon; that comedy is not to borrow the
+boldness of the ode, the pathetic expression of the
+tragedy, nor the metaphors and similes of the epic.</p>
+
+<p>Every species has its different shades, which may,
+however, be reduced to two, the simple and the elevated.
+These two kinds, which embrace so many
+others, possess essential beauties in common, which
+beauties are accuracy of idea, adaptation, elegance,
+propriety of expression, and purity of language.
+Every piece of writing, whatever its nature, calls
+for these qualities; the difference consists in the employment
+of the corresponding tropes. Thus, a
+character in comedy will not utter sublime or philosophical
+ideas, a shepherd spout the notions of a
+conqueror, not a didactic epistle breathe forth passion;
+and none of these forms of composition ought
+to exhibit bold metaphor, pathetic exclamation, or
+vehement expression.</p>
+
+<p>Between the simple and the sublime there are
+many shades, and it is the art of adjusting them
+which contributes to the perfection of eloquence and
+poetry. It is by this art that Virgil frequently exalts
+the eclogue. This verse: <i>Ut vidi ut perii, ut me
+malus abstulit error!</i> (Eclogue viii, v. 41)&mdash;I saw,
+I perished, yet indulged my pain! (Dryden)&mdash;would
+be as fine in the mouth of Dido as in that of a shepherd,
+because it is nature, true and elegant, and the
+sentiment belongs to any condition. But this:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Castaneasque nuces me quas Amaryllis amabat.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">&mdash;<i>Eclogue, ii, v. 52.</i>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And pluck the chestnuts from the neighboring grove,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Such as my Amaryllis used to love.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 18em;" class="small">&mdash;DRYDEN</span>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>belongs not to an heroic personage, because the allusion
+is not such as would be made by a hero.</p>
+
+<p>These two instances are examples of the cases
+in which the mingling of styles may be defended.
+Tragedy may occasionally stoop; it even ought to
+do so. Simplicity, according to the precept of Horace,
+often relieves grandeur. <i>Et tragicus plerumque
+dolet sermone pedestri</i> (<i>Ars Poet.</i>, v. 95)&mdash;And oft
+the tragic language humbly flows (Francis).</p>
+
+<p>These two verses in Titus, so natural and so tender:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Depuis cinq ans entiers chaque jour je la vois.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et crois toujours la voir pour la première fois.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">&mdash;<span class="small">BÉRÉNICE</span>, acte ii, scene 1.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Each day, for five years, have I seen her face,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And each succeeding time appears the first.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>would not be at all out of place in serious comedy;
+but the following verse of Antiochus: <i>Dans l'orient
+desert quel devint mon ennui!</i> (Id., acte i, scene 4)&mdash;The
+lonely east, how wearisome to me!&mdash;would not
+suit a lover in comedy; the figure of the "lonely
+east" is too elevated for the simplicity of the buskin.
+We have already remarked, that an author who
+writes on physics, in allusion to a writer on physics,
+called Hercules, adds that he is not able to resist a
+philosopher so powerful. Another who has written
+a small book, which he imagines to be physical and
+moral, against the utility of inoculation, says that if
+the smallpox be diffused artificially, death will be
+defrauded.</p>
+
+<p>The above defect springs from a ridiculous affectation.
+There is another which is the result of negligence,
+which is that of mingling with the simple
+and noble style required by history, popular phrases
+and low expressions, which are inimical to good
+taste. We often read in Mézeray, and even in Daniel,
+who, having written so long after him, ought to
+be more correct, that "a general pursued at the heels
+of the enemy, followed his track, and utterly basted
+him"&mdash;<i>à plate couture</i>. We read nothing of this
+kind in Livy, Tacitus, Guicciardini, or Clarendon.</p>
+
+<p>Let us observe, that an author accustomed to this
+kind of style can seldom change it with his subject.
+In his operas, La Fontaine composed in the style of
+his fables; and Benserade, in his translation of
+Ovid's "Metamorphoses," exhibited the same kind
+of pleasantry which rendered his madrigals successful.
+Perfection consists in knowing how to adapt
+our style to the various subjects of which we treat;
+but who is altogether the master of his habits, and
+able to direct his genius at pleasure?</p>
+
+
+<h5>VARIOUS STYLES DISTINGUISHED.</h5>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>The Feeble.</i></p>
+
+<p>Weakness of the heart is not that of the mind,
+nor weakness of the soul that of the heart. A feeble
+soul is without resource in action, and abandons
+itself to those who govern it. The <i>heart</i> which is
+weak or feeble is easily softened, changes its inclinations
+with facility, resists not the seduction or
+the ascendency required, and may subsist with a
+strong <i>mind</i>; for we may think strongly and act
+weakly. The weak mind receives impressions without
+resistance, embraces opinions without examination,
+is alarmed without cause, and tends naturally
+to superstition.</p>
+
+<p>A work may be feeble either in its matter or its
+style; by the thoughts, when too common, or when,
+being correct, they are not sufficiently profound;
+and by the style, when it is destitute of images, or
+turns of expression, and of figures which rouse
+attention. Compared with those of Bossuet, the funeral
+orations of Mascaron are weak, and his style
+is lifeless.</p>
+
+<p>Every speech is feeble when it is not relieved by
+ingenious turns, and by energetic expressions; but
+a pleader is weak, when, with all the aid of eloquence,
+and all the earnestness of action, he fails in
+ratiocination. No philosophical work is feeble, notwithstanding
+the deficiency of its style, if the reasoning
+be correct and profound. A tragedy is weak,
+although the style be otherwise, when the interest is
+not sustained. The best-written comedy is feeble
+if it fails in that which the Latins call the "<i>vis comica</i>,"
+which is the defect pointed out by Cæsar in
+Terence: "<i>Lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta
+foret vis comica!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>This is above all the sin of the weeping or sentimental
+comedy (<i>larmoyante</i>). Feeble verses are
+not those which sin against rules, but against genius;
+which in their mechanism are without variety,
+without choice expression, or felicitous inversions;
+and which retain in poetry the simplicity and
+homeliness of prose. The distinction cannot be better
+comprehended than by a reference to the similar
+passages of Racine and Campistron, his imitator.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Flowery Style.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Flowery," that which is in blossom; a tree in
+blossom, a rose-bush in blossom: people do not say,
+flowers which blossom. Of flowery bloom, the carnation
+seems a mixture of white and rose-color. We
+sometimes say a flowery mind, to signify a person
+possessing a lighter species of literature, and whose
+imagination is lively.</p>
+
+<p>A flowery discourse is more replete with agreeable
+than with strong thoughts, with images more
+sparkling than sublime, and terms more curious
+than forcible. This metaphor is correctly taken from
+flowers, which are showy without strength or stability.</p>
+
+<p>The flowery style is not unsuitable to public
+speeches or addresses which amount only to compliment.
+The lighter beauties are in their place when
+there is nothing more solid to say; but the flowery
+style should be banished from a pleading, a sermon,
+or a didactic work.</p>
+
+<p>While banishing the flowery style, we are not to
+reject the soft and lively images which enter naturally
+into the subject; a few flowers are even admissible;
+but the flowery style cannot be made suitable
+to a serious subject.</p>
+
+<p>This style belongs to productions of mere amusement;
+to idyls, eclogues, and descriptions of the seasons,
+or of gardens. It may gracefully occupy a
+portion of the most sublime ode, provided it be duly
+relieved by stanzas of more masculine beauty. It
+has little to do with comedy, which, as it ought to
+possess a resemblance to common life, requires more
+of the style of ordinary conversation. It is still less
+admissible in tragedy, which is the province of
+strong passions and momentous interests; and when
+occasionally employed in tragedy or comedy, it is
+in certain descriptions in which the heart takes no
+part, and which amuse the imagination without moving
+or occupying the soul.</p>
+
+<p>The flowery style detracts from the interest of
+tragedy, and weakens ridicule in comedy. It is in
+its place in the French opera, which rather flourishes
+on the passions than exhibits them. The flowery
+is not to be confounded with the easy style, which rejects
+this class of embellishment.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Coldness of Style.</i></p>
+
+<p>It is said that a piece of poetry, of eloquence, of
+music, and even of painting, is cold, when we look
+for an animated expression in it, which we find not.
+Other arts are not so susceptible of this defect; for
+instance, architecture, geometry, logic, metaphysics,
+all the principal merit of which is correctness, cannot
+properly be called warm or cold. The picture
+of the family of Darius, by Mignard, is very cold in
+comparison with that of Lebrun, because we do not
+discover in the personages of Mignard the same affliction
+which Lebrun has so animatedly expressed
+in the attitudes and countenances of the Persian
+princesses. Even a statue may be cold; we ought
+to perceive fear and horror in the features of an Andromeda,
+the effect of a writhing of the muscles;
+and anger mingled with courageous boldness in the
+attitude and on the brow of Hercules, who suspends
+and strangles Antæus.</p>
+
+<p>In poetry and eloquence the great movements of
+the soul become cold, when they are expressed in
+common terms, and are unaided by imagination. It
+is this latter which makes love so animated in Racine,
+and so languid in his imitator, Campistron.</p>
+
+<p>The sentiments which escape from a soul which
+seeks concealment, on the contrary, require the most
+simple expression. Nothing is more animated than
+those verses in "The Cid": "Go; I hate thee not&mdash;thou
+knowest it; I cannot." This feeling would become
+cold, if conveyed in studied phrases.</p>
+
+<p>For this reason, nothing is so cold as the timid
+style. A hero in a poem says, that he has encountered
+a tempest, and that he has beheld his friend
+perish in the storm. He touches and affects, if he
+speaks with profound grief of his loss&mdash;that is, if
+he is more occupied with his friend than with all the
+rest; but he becomes cold, and ceases to affect us,
+if he amuses us with a description of the tempest;
+if he speaks of the source of "the fire which was boiling
+up the waters, and of the thunder which roars
+and which redoubles the furrows of the earth and
+of the waves." Coldness of style, therefore, often
+arises from a sterility of ideas; often from a deficiency
+in the power of governing them; frequently
+from a too common diction, and sometimes from one
+that is too far-fetched.</p>
+
+<p>The author who is cold only in consequence of
+being animated out of time and place, may correct
+this defect of a too fruitful imagination; but he who
+is cold from a deficiency of soul is incapable of self-correction.
+We may allay a fire which is too intense,
+but cannot acquire heat if we have none.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>On Corruption of Style.</i></p>
+
+<p>A general complaint is made, that eloquence is
+corrupted, although we have models of almost all
+kinds. One of the greatest defects of the day, which
+contributes most to this defect, is the mixture of
+style. It appears to me, that we authors do not
+sufficiently imitate the painters, who never introduce
+the attitudes of Calot with the figures of Raphael.
+I perceive in histories, otherwise tolerably well written,
+and in good doctrinal works, the familiar style
+of conversation. Some one has formerly said, that
+we must write as we speak; the sense of which law
+is, that we should write naturally. We tolerate irregularity
+in a letter, freedom as to style, incorrectness,
+and bold pleasantries, because letters, written
+spontaneously, without particular object or act, are
+negligent conversations; but when we speak or treat
+of a subject formally, some attention is due to decorum;
+and to whom ought we to pay more respect
+than to the public?</p>
+
+<p>Is it allowable to write in a mathematical work,
+that "a geometrician who would pay his devotions,
+ought to ascend to heaven in a right line; that evanescent
+quantities turn up their noses at the earth for
+having too much elevated them; that a seed sown in
+the ground takes an opportunity to release and
+amuse itself; that if Saturn should perish, it would
+be his fifth and not his first satellite that would take
+his place, because kings always keep their heirs at a
+distance; that there is no void except in the purse
+of a ruined man; that when Hercules treats of
+physics, no one is able to resist a philosopher of his
+degree of power?" etc.</p>
+
+<p>Some very valuable works are infected with this
+fault. The source of a defect so common seems to
+me to be the accusation of pedantry, so long and so
+justly made against authors. "<i>In vitium ducit culpæ
+fuga.</i>" It is frequently said, that we ought to
+write in the style of good company; that the most
+serious authors are becoming agreeable: that is to
+say, in order to exhibit the manners of good company
+to their readers, they deliver themselves in
+the style of very bad company.</p>
+
+<p>Authors have sought to speak of science as Voiture
+spoke to Mademoiselle Paulet of gallantry,
+without dreaming that Voiture by no means exhibits
+a correct taste in the species of composition in
+which he was esteemed excellent; for he often takes
+the false for the refined, and the affected for the natural.
+Pleasantry is never good on serious points,
+because it always regards subjects in that point
+of view in which it is not the purpose to consider
+them. It almost always turns upon false relations
+and equivoque, whence jokers by profession usually
+possess minds as incorrect as they are superficial.</p>
+
+<p>It appears to me, that it is as improper to mingle
+styles in poetry as in prose. The macaroni style has
+for some time past injured poetry by this medley of
+mean and of elevated, of ancient and of modern expression.
+In certain moral pieces it is not musical
+to hear the whistle of Rabelais in the midst of
+sounds from the flute of Horace&mdash;a practice which
+we should leave to inferior minds, and attend to the
+lessons of good sense and of Boileau. The following
+is a singular instance of style, in a speech delivered
+at Versailles in 1745:</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Speech Addressed to the King (Louis XV.) by M.
+le Camus, First President of the Court of Aids.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Sire&mdash;The conquests of your majesty are so
+rapid, that it will be necessary to consult the power
+of belief on the part of posterity, and to soften their
+surprise at so many miracles, for fear that heroes
+should hold themselves dispensed from imitation,
+and people in general from believing them.</p>
+
+<p>"But no, sire, it will be impossible for them to
+doubt it, when they shall read in history that your
+majesty has been at the head of your troops, recording
+them yourself in the field of Mars upon a drum.
+This is to engrave them eternally in the temple of
+Memory.</p>
+
+<p>"Ages the most distant will learn, that the English,
+that bold and audacious foe, that enemy so
+jealous of your glory, have been obliged to turn
+away from your victory; that their allies have been
+witnesses of their shame, and that all of them have
+hastened to the combat only to immortalize the glory
+of the conqueror.</p>
+
+<p>"We venture to say to your majesty, relying on
+the love that you bear to your people, that there is
+but one way of augmenting our happiness, which is
+to diminish your courage; as heaven would lavish
+its prodigies at too costly a rate, if they increased
+your dangers, or those of the young heroes who constitute
+our dearest hopes."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="SUPERSTITION" id="SUPERSTITION"></a>SUPERSTITION.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>I have sometimes heard you say&mdash;We are no
+longer superstitious; the reformation of the sixteenth
+century has made us more prudent; the Protestants
+have taught us better manners.</p>
+
+<p>But what then is the blood of a St. Januarius,
+which you liquefy every year by bringing it near his
+head? Would it not be better to make ten thousand
+beggars earn their bread, by employing them in useful
+tasks, than to boil the blood of a saint for their
+amusement? Think rather how to make their pots
+boil.</p>
+
+<p>Why do you still, in Rome, bless the horses and
+mules at St. Mary's the Greater? What mean those
+bands of flagellators in Italy and Spain, who go
+about singing and giving themselves the lash in the
+presence of ladies? Do they think there is no road
+to heaven but by flogging?</p>
+
+<p>Are those pieces of the true cross, which would
+suffice to build a hundred-gun ship&mdash;are the many
+relics acknowledged to be false&mdash;are the many false
+miracles&mdash;so many monuments of an enlightened
+piety?</p>
+
+<p>France boasts of being less superstitious than the
+neighbors of St. James of Compostello, or those of
+Our Lady of Loretto. Yet how many sacristies are
+there where you still find pieces of the Virgin's
+gown, vials of her milk, and locks of her hair! And
+have you not still, in the church of Puy-en-Velay,
+her Son's foreskin preciously preserved?</p>
+
+<p>You all know the abominable farce that has been
+played, ever since the early part of the fourteenth
+century, in the chapel of St. Louis, in the Palais at
+Paris, every Maundy Thursday night. All the possessed
+in the kingdom then meet in this church.
+The convulsions of St. Médard fall far short of the
+horrible grimaces, the dreadful howlings, the violent
+contortions, made by these wretched people.
+A piece of the true cross is given them to kiss, encased
+in three feet of gold, and adorned with precious
+stones. Then the cries and contortions are
+redoubled. The devil is then appeased by giving the
+demoniacs a few sous; but the better to restrain
+them, fifty archers of the watch are placed in the
+church with fixed bayonets.</p>
+
+<p>The same execrable farce is played at St. Maur.
+I could cite twenty such instances. Blush, and correct
+yourselves.</p>
+
+<p>There are wise men who assert, that we should
+leave the people their superstitions, as we leave them
+their raree-shows, etc.; that the people have at all
+times been fond of prodigies, fortune-tellers, pilgrimages,
+and quack-doctors; that in the most remote
+antiquity they celebrated Bacchus delivered
+from the waves, wearing horns, making a fountain
+of wine issue from a rock by a stroke of his wand,
+passing the Red Sea on dry ground with all his
+people, stopping the sun and moon, etc.; that at
+Lacedæmon they kept the two eggs brought forth
+by Leda, hanging from the dome of a temple; that
+in some towns of Greece the priests showed the knife
+with which Iphigenia had been immolated, etc.</p>
+
+<p>There are other wise men who say&mdash;Not one of
+these superstitions has produced any good; many
+of them have done great harm: let them then be
+abolished.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>I beg of you, my dear reader, to cast your eye
+for a moment on the miracle which was lately
+worked in Lower Brittany, in the year of our Lord
+1771. Nothing can be more authentic: this publication
+is clothed in all the legal forms. Read:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Surprising Account of the Visible and Miraculous
+Appearance of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the
+Holy Sacrament of the Altar; which was worked
+by the Almighty Power of God in the Parish
+Church of Paimpole, near Tréguier, in Lower
+Brittany, on Twelfth-day.</i></p>
+
+<p>"On January 6, 1771, being Twelfth-day, during
+the chanting of the <i>Salve</i>, rays of light were
+seen to issue from the consecrated host, and instantly
+the Lord Jesus was beheld in natural figure,
+seeming more brilliant than the sun, and was seen
+for a whole half-hour, during which there appeared
+a rainbow over the top of the church. The footprints
+of Jesus remained on the tabernacle, where
+they are still to be seen; and many miracles are
+worked there every day. At four in the afternoon,
+Jesus having disappeared from over the tabernacle,
+the curate of the said parish approached the altar,
+and found there a letter which Jesus had left; he
+would have taken it up, but he found that he could
+not lift it. This curate, together with the vicar,
+went to give information of it to the bishop of
+Tréguier, who ordered the forty-hour prayers to be
+said in all the churches of the town for eight days,
+during which time the people went in crowds to
+see this holy letter. At the expiration of the eight
+days, the bishop went thither in procession, attended
+by all the regular and secular clergy of the
+town, after three days' fasting on bread and water.
+The procession having entered the church, the
+bishop knelt down on the steps of the altar; and
+after asking of God the grace to be able to lift this
+letter, he ascended to the altar and took it up without
+difficulty; then, turning to the people, he read
+it over with a loud voice, and recommended to all
+who could read to peruse this letter on the first
+Friday of every month; and to those who could
+not read, to say five paternosters, and five ave-marias,
+in honor of the five wounds of Jesus Christ,
+in order to obtain the graces promised to such as
+shall read it devoutly, and the preservation of the
+fruits of the earth! Pregnant women are to say,
+for their happy delivery, nine paters and nine aves
+for the benefit of the souls in purgatory, in order
+that their children may have the happiness of receiving
+the holy sacrament of baptism.</p>
+
+<p>"All that is contained in this account has been
+approved by the bishop, by the lieutenant-general
+of the said town of Tréguier, and by many persons
+of distinction who were present at this miracle."</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Copy of the Letter Found Upon the Altar, at the
+Time of the Miraculous Appearance of Our
+Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament
+of the Altar, on Twelfth-day, 1771.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Everlasting life, everlasting punishments, or
+everlasting delights, none can forego; one part
+must be chosen&mdash;either to go to glory, or to depart
+into torment. The number of years that men pass
+on earth in all sorts of sensual pleasures and
+excessive debaucheries, of usurpation, luxury, murder,
+theft, slander, and impurity, no longer permitting
+it to be suffered that creatures created in
+My image and likeness, redeemed by the price of
+My blood on the tree of the cross, on which I suffered
+passion and death, should offend Me continually,
+by transgressing My commands and abandoning
+My divine law&mdash;I warn you all, that if you continue
+to live in sin, and I behold in you neither
+remorse, nor contrition, nor a true and sincere confession
+and satisfaction, I shall make you feel the
+weight of My divine arm. But for the prayers of
+My dear mother, I should already have destroyed
+the earth, for the sins which you commit one against
+another. I have given you six days to labor, and
+the seventh to rest, to sanctify My Holy Name, to
+hear the holy mass, and employ the remainder of
+the day in the service of God My Father. But, on
+the contrary, nothing is to be seen but blasphemy
+and drunkenness; and so disordered is the world
+that all in it is vanity and lies. Christians, instead
+of taking compassion on the poor whom they behold
+every day at their doors, prefer fondling dogs
+and other animals, and letting the poor die of hunger
+and thirst&mdash;abandoning themselves entirely to Satan
+by their avarice, gluttony, and other vices; instead
+of relieving the needy, they prefer sacrificing all to
+their pleasures and debauchery. Thus do they declare
+war against Me. And you, iniquitous fathers
+and mothers, suffer your children to swear and blaspheme
+against My holy name; instead of giving
+them a good education, you avariciously lay up
+for them wealth, which is dedicated to Satan. I
+tell you, by the mouth of God My Father and
+My dear mother, of all the cherubim and seraphim,
+and by St. Peter, the head of My church,
+that if you do not amend your ways, I will send
+you extraordinary diseases, by which all shall perish.
+You shall feel the just anger of God My Father;
+you shall be reduced to such a state that you
+shall not know one another. Open your eyes,
+and contemplate My cross, which I have left to be
+your weapon against the enemy of mankind, and
+your guide to eternal glory; look upon My head
+crowned with thorns, My feet and hands pierced
+with nails; I shed the last drop of My blood to
+redeem you, from pure fatherly love for ungrateful
+children. Do such works as may secure to you
+My mercy; do not swear by My Holy Name; pray
+to Me devoutly; fast often; and in particular give
+alms to the poor, who are members of My body&mdash;for
+of all good works this is the most pleasing to
+Me; neither despise the widow nor the orphan;
+make restitution of that which does not belong to
+you; fly all occasions of sin; carefully keep My
+commandments; and honor Mary My very dear
+mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Such of you who shall not profit by the warnings
+I give them, such as shall not believe My
+words, will, by their obstinacy, bring down My
+avenging arm upon their heads; they shall be overwhelmed
+by misfortunes, which shall be the forerunners
+of their final and unhappy end; after
+which they shall be cast into everlasting flames,
+where they shall suffer endless pains&mdash;the just
+punishment reserved for their crimes.</p>
+
+<p>"On the other hand, such of you as shall make
+a holy use of the warnings of God, given them in
+this letter, shall appease His wrath, and shall obtain
+from Him, after a sincere confession of their
+faults, the remission of their sins, how great soever
+they may be.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"With permission, Bourges, July 30, 1771.</span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"DE BEAUVOIR, Lieut.-Gen. of Police.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"This letter must be carefully kept, in honor of
+our Lord Jesus Christ."</p>
+
+<p>N.B.&mdash;It must be observed that this piece of
+absurdity was printed at Bourges, without there
+having been, either at Tréguier or at Paimpole, the
+smallest pretence that could afford occasion for such
+an imposture. However, we will suppose that in a
+future age some miracle-finder shall think fit to
+prove a point in divinity by the appearance of Jesus
+Christ on the altar at Paimpole, will he not think
+himself entitled to quote Christ's own letter, printed
+at Bourges "with permission"? Will he not prove,
+by facts, that in our time Jesus worked miracles
+everywhere? Here is a fine field opened for the
+Houtevilles and the Abadies.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION III.</h5>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>A Fresh Instance of the Most Horrible Superstition.</i></p>
+
+<p>The thirty conspirators who fell upon the king
+of Poland, in the night of November 3, of the present
+year, 1771, had communicated at the altar of
+the Holy Virgin, and had sworn by the Holy Virgin
+to butcher their king.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that some one of the conspirators was
+not entirely in a state of grace, when he received
+into his stomach the body of the Holy Virgin's own
+Son, together with His blood, under the appearance
+of bread; and that while he was taking the oath
+to kill his king, he had his god in his mouth for only
+two of the king's domestics. The guns and pistols
+fired at his majesty missed him; he received only a
+slight shot-wound in the face, and several sabre-wounds,
+which were not mortal. His life would
+have been at an end, but that humanity at length
+combated superstition in the breast of one of the
+assassins named Kosinski. What a moment was
+that when this wretched man said to the bleeding
+prince: "You are, however, my king!" "Yes,"
+answered Stanislaus Augustus, "and your good
+king, who has never done you any harm." "True,"
+said the other; "but I have taken an oath to kill
+you."</p>
+
+<p>They had sworn before the miraculous image of
+the virgin at Czentoshova. The following is the
+formula of this fine oath: "We &mdash;&mdash; who, excited
+by a holy and religious zeal, have resolved to
+avenge the Deity, religion, and our country, outraged
+by Stanislaus Augustus, a despiser of laws
+both divine and human, a favorer of atheists and
+heretics, do promise and swear, before the sacred
+and miraculous image of the mother of God, to
+extirpate from the face of the earth him who dishonors
+her by trampling on religion.... So help us God!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus did the assassins of Sforza, of Medici, and
+so many other holy assassins, have masses said, or
+say them themselves, for the happy success of their
+undertaking.</p>
+
+<p>The letter from Warsaw which gives the particulars
+of this attempt, adds: "The religious who
+employ their pious ardor in causing blood to flow
+and ravaging their country, have succeeded in
+Poland, as elsewhere, in inculcating on the minds
+of their affiliated, that it is allowable to kill kings."</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the assassins had been hidden in Warsaw
+for three days in the house of the reverend
+Dominican fathers; and when these accessory
+monks were asked why they had harbored thirty
+armed men without informing the government of
+it, they answered, that these men had come to perform
+their devotions, and to fulfil a vow.</p>
+
+<p>O ye times of Châtel, of Guinard, of Ricodovis, of
+Poltrot, of Ravaillac, of Damiens, of Malagrida, are
+you then returning? Holy Virgin, and Thou her
+holy Son, let not Your sacred names be abused for
+the commission of the crime which disgraced them!</p>
+
+<p>M. Jean Georges le Franc, bishop of Puy-en-Velay,
+says, in his immense pastoral letter to the
+inhabitants of Puy, pages 258-9, that it is the philosophers
+who are seditious. And whom does he
+accuse of sedition? Readers, you will be astonished;
+it is Locke, the wise Locke himself! He
+makes him an accomplice in the pernicious designs
+of the earl of Shaftesbury, one of the heroes of the
+philosophical party.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! M. Jean Georges, how many mistakes in
+a few words! First, you take the grandson for the
+grandfather. The earl of Shaftesbury, author of
+the "Characteristics" and the "Inquiry Into Virtue,"
+that "hero of the philosophical party," who died in
+1713, cultivated letters all his life in the most profound
+retirement. Secondly, his grandfather, Lord-Chancellor
+Shaftesbury, to whom you attribute misdeeds,
+is considered by many in England to have
+been a true patriot. Thirdly, Locke is revered as a
+wise man throughout Europe.</p>
+
+<p>I defy you to show me a single philosopher, from
+Zoroaster down to Locke, that has ever stirred up
+a sedition; that has ever been concerned in an attempt
+against the life of a king; that has ever disturbed
+society; and, unfortunately, I will find you
+a thousand votaries of superstition, from Ehud
+down to Kosinski, stained with the blood of kings
+and with that of nations. Superstition sets the
+whole world in flames; philosophy extinguishes
+them. Perhaps these poor philosophers are not devoted
+enough to the Holy Virgin; but they are so
+to God, to reason, and to humanity.</p>
+
+<p>Poles! if you are not philosophers, at least do
+not cut one another's throats. Frenchmen! be gay,
+and cease to quarrel. Spaniards! let the words
+"inquisition" and "holy brotherhood" be no longer
+uttered among you. Turks, who have enslaved
+Greece&mdash;monks, who have brutalized her&mdash;disappear
+ye from the face of the earth.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION IV.</h5>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Drawn from Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch.</i></p>
+
+<p>Nearly all that goes farther than the adoration
+of a supreme being, and the submission of the
+heart to his eternal orders, is superstition. The forgiveness
+of crimes, which is attached to certain ceremonies,
+is a very dangerous one.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et nigras mactant pecudes, et manibu', divis,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Inferias mittunt.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">&mdash;<span class="small">LUCRETIUS</span>, b. iii, 52-53.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>O faciles nimium, qui tristia crimina cœdis,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>Fluminea tolli posse putatis aqua!</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">&mdash;<span class="small">OVID</span>, <i>Fasti</i> ii, 45-46.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>You think that God will forget your homicide, if
+you bathe in a river, if you immolate a black sheep,
+and a few words are pronounced over you. A second
+homicide then will be forgiven you at the same
+price, and so of a third; and a hundred murders
+will cost you only a hundred black sheep and a
+hundred ablutions. Ye miserable mortals, do better;
+but let there be no murders, and no offerings of
+black sheep.</p>
+
+<p>What an infamous idea, to imagine that a priest
+of Isis and Cybele, by playing cymbals and castanets,
+will reconcile you to the Divinity. And what then
+is this priest of Cybele, this vagrant eunuch, who
+lives on your weakness, and sets himself up as a
+mediator between heaven and you? What patent
+has he received from God? He receives money
+from you for muttering words; and you think that
+the Being of Beings ratifies the utterance of this
+charlatan!</p>
+
+<p>There are innocent superstitions; you dance on
+festival days, in honor of Diana or Pomona, or some
+one of the secular divinities of which your calendar
+is full; be it so. Dancing is very agreeable; it is
+useful to the body; it exhilarates the mind; it does
+no harm to any one; but do not imagine that
+Pomona and Vertumnus are much pleased at your
+having jumped in honor of them, and that they
+may punish you for having failed to jump. There
+are no Pomona and Vertumnus but the gardener's
+spade and hoe. Do not be so imbecile as to believe
+that your garden will be hailed upon, if you have
+missed dancing the <i>pyrrhic</i> or the <i>cordax</i>.</p>
+
+<p>There is one superstition which is perhaps pardonable,
+and even encouraging to virtue&mdash;that of
+placing among the gods great men who have been
+benefactors to mankind. It were doubtless better
+to confine ourselves to regarding them simply as
+venerable men, and above all, to imitating them.
+Venerate, without worshipping, a Solon, a Thales,
+a Pythagoras; but do not adore a Hercules for
+having cleansed the stables of Augeas, and for
+having lain with fifty women in one night.</p>
+
+<p>Above all, beware of establishing a worship for
+vagabonds who have no merit but ignorance, enthusiasm,
+and filth; who have made idleness and
+beggary their duty and their glory. Do they who
+have been at best useless during their lives, merit an
+apotheosis after their deaths? Be it observed, that
+the most superstitious times have always been those
+of the most horrible crimes.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION V.</h5>
+
+<p>The superstitious man is to the knave, what the
+slave is to the tyrant; nay more&mdash;the superstitious
+man is governed by the fanatic, and becomes a
+fanatic himself. Superstition, born in Paganism,
+adopted by Judaism, infected the Church in the
+earliest ages. All the fathers of the Church, without
+exception, believed in the power of magic. The
+Church always condemned magic, but she always
+believed in it; she excommunicated sorcerers, not
+as madmen who were in delusion, but as men who
+really had intercourse with the devils.</p>
+
+<p>At this day, one half of Europe believes that the
+other half has long been and still is superstitious.
+The Protestants regard relics, indulgences, macerations,
+prayers for the dead, holy water, and almost
+all the rites of the Roman church, as mad superstitions.
+According to them, superstition consists in
+mistaking useless practices for necessary ones.
+Among the Roman Catholics there are some, more
+enlightened than their forefathers, who have renounced
+many of these usages formerly sacred; and
+they defend their adherence to those which they
+have retained, by saying they are indifferent, and
+what is indifferent cannot be an evil.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to mark the limits of superstition.
+A Frenchman travelling in Italy thinks almost
+everything superstitious; nor is he much mistaken.
+The archbishop of Canterbury asserts that the archbishop
+of Paris is superstitious; the Presbyterians
+cast the same reproach upon his grace of Canterbury,
+and are in their turn called superstitious by
+the Quakers, who in the eyes of the rest of Christians
+are the most superstitious of all.</p>
+
+<p>It is then nowhere agreed among Christian societies
+what superstition is. The sect which appears
+to be the least violently attacked by this mental disease,
+is that which has the fewest rites. But if, with
+but few ceremonies, it is strongly attached to an
+absurd belief, that absurd belief is of itself equivalent
+to all the superstitious practices observed from
+the time of Simon the Magician, down to that of
+the curate Gaufredi. It is therefore evident that
+what is the foundation of the religion of one sect, is
+by another sect regarded as superstitious.</p>
+
+<p>The Mussulmans accuse all Christian societies of
+it, and are accused of it by them. Who shall decide
+this great cause? Shall not reason? But each sect
+declares that reason is on its side. Force then will
+decide, until reason shall have penetrated into a sufficient
+number of heads to disarm force.</p>
+
+<p>For instance: there was a time in Christian Europe
+when a newly married pair were not permitted
+to enjoy the nuptial rights, until they had bought
+that privilege of the bishop and the curate. Whosoever,
+in his will, did not leave a part of his property
+to the Church, was excommunicated, and deprived
+of burial. This was called dying unconfessed&mdash;i.e.,
+not confessing the Christian religion.
+And when a Christian died intestate, the Church relieved
+the deceased from this excommunication, by
+making a will for him, stipulating for and enforcing
+the payment of the pious legacy which the defunct
+should have made.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore it was, that Pope Gregory IX. and
+St. Louis ordained, after the Council of Nice, held
+in 1235, that every will to the making of which a
+priest had not been called, should be null; and the
+pope decreed that the testator and the notary should
+be excommunicated.</p>
+
+<p>The tax on sins was, if possible, still more scandalous.
+It was force which supported all these laws,
+to which the superstition of nations submitted; and
+it was only in the course of time that reason caused
+these shameful vexations to be abolished, while it
+left so many others in existence.</p>
+
+<p>How far does policy permit superstition to be
+undermined? This is a very knotty question; it
+is like asking how far a dropsical man may be
+punctured without his dying under the operation;
+this depends on the prudence of the physician.</p>
+
+<p>Can there exist a people free from all superstitious
+prejudices? This is asking, Can there exist
+a people of philosophers? It is said that there is
+no superstition in the magistracy of China. It is
+likely that the magistracy of some towns in Europe
+will also be free from it. These magistrates will
+then prevent the superstition of the people from
+being dangerous. Their example will not enlighten
+the mob; but the principal citizens will restrain it.
+Formerly, there was not perhaps a single religious
+tumult, not a single violence, in which the townspeople
+did not take part, because these townspeople
+were then part of the mob; but reason and time
+have changed them. Their ameliorated manners
+will improve those of the lowest and most ferocious
+of the populace; of which, in more countries than
+one, we have striking examples. In short, the
+fewer superstitions, the less fanaticism; and the less
+fanaticism, the fewer calamities.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="SYMBOL_OR_CREDO" id="SYMBOL_OR_CREDO"></a>SYMBOL, OR CREDO.</h3>
+
+
+<p>We resemble not the celebrated comedian,
+Mademoiselle Duclos, to whom somebody said:
+"I would lay a wager, mademoiselle, that you know
+not your credo!" "What!" said she, "not know my
+credo? I will repeat it to you. '<i>Pater noster qui.</i>'
+... Help me, I remember no more." For myself,
+I repeat my pater and credo every morning. I am
+not like Broussin, of whom Reminiac said, that although
+he could distinguish a sauce almost in his
+infancy, he could never be taught his creed or pater-noster:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Broussin, dès l'âge le plus tendre,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Posséda la sauce Robert,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Sans que son précepteur lui pût jamais apprende</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>Ni son credo, ni son pater.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The term "symbol" comes from the word "<i>symbolein</i>,"
+and the Latin church adopts this word because
+it has taken everything from the Greek
+church. Even slightly learned theologians know
+that the symbol, which we call apostolical, is not
+that of all the apostles.</p>
+
+<p>Symbol, among the Greeks, signified the words
+and signs by which those initiated into the mysteries
+of Ceres, Cybele, and Mythra, recognized one
+another; and Christians in time had their symbol.
+If it had existed in the time of the apostles, we
+think that St. Luke would have spoken of it.</p>
+
+<p>A history of the symbol is attributed to St.
+Augustine in his one hundred and fifteenth sermon;
+he is made to say, that Peter commenced the symbol
+by saying: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty."
+John added: "Maker of heaven and earth;" James
+proceeded: "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son,
+our Lord," and so on with the rest. This fable has
+been expunged from the last edition of Augustine;
+and I relate it to the reverend Benedictine fathers, in
+order to know whether this little curious article
+ought to be left out or not.</p>
+
+<p>The fact is, that no person heard anything of this
+"creed" for more than four hundred years. People
+also say that Paris was not made in a day, and people
+are often right in their proverbs. The apostles
+had our symbol in their hearts, but they put it not
+into writing. One was formed in the time of St.
+Irenæus, which does not at all resemble that which
+we repeat. Our symbol, such as it is at present, is
+of the fifth century, which is posterior to that of
+Nice. The passage which says that Jesus descended
+into hell, and that which speaks of the communion
+of saints, are not found in any of the symbols which
+preceded ours; and, indeed, neither the gospels, nor
+the Acts of the Apostles, say that Jesus descended
+into hell; but it was an established opinion, from
+the third century, that Jesus descended into Hades,
+or Tartarus, words which we translate by that of
+hell. Hell, in this sense, is not the Hebrew word
+"<i>sheol</i>," which signifies "under ground," "the pit";
+for which reason St. Athanasius has since taught
+us how our Saviour descended into hell. His humanity,
+says he, was not entirely in the tomb, nor
+entirely in hell. It was in the sepulchre, according
+to the body, and in hell, according to the soul.</p>
+
+<p>St. Thomas affirms that the saints who arose at
+the death of Jesus Christ, died again to rise afterwards
+with him, which is the most general sentiment.
+All these opinions are absolutely foreign to
+morality. We must be good men, whether the
+saints were raised once or twice. Our symbol has
+been formed, I confess, recently, but virtue is from
+all eternity.</p>
+
+<p>If it is permitted to quote moderns on so grave
+a matter, I will here repeat the creed of the Abbé
+de St. Pierre, as it was written with his own hand, in
+his book on the purity of religion, which has not
+been printed, but which I have copied faithfully:</p>
+
+<p>"I believe in one God alone, and I love Him.
+I believe that He enlightens all souls coming into
+the world; thus says St. John. By that, I understand
+all souls which seek Him in good faith. I
+believe in one God alone, because there can be but
+one soul of the Great All, a single vivifying being,
+a sole Creator.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe in God, the Father Almighty; because
+He is the common Father of nature, and of all men,
+who are equally His children. I believe that He
+who has caused all to be born equally, who arranges
+the springs of their life in the same manner, who
+has given them the same moral principles, as soon
+as they reflect, has made no difference between His
+children but that of crime and virtue.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that the just and righteous Chinese is
+more precious to Him than the cavilling and arrogant
+European scholar. I believe that God, being
+our common Father, we are bound to regard all men
+as our brothers. I believe that the persecutor is
+abominable, and that he follows immediately after
+the poisoner and parricide. I believe that theological
+disputes are at once the most ridiculous farce,
+and the most dreadful scourge of the earth, immediately
+after war, pestilence, famine, and leprosy.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that ecclesiastics should be paid and
+well paid, as servants of the public, moral teachers,
+keepers of registers of births and deaths; but there
+should be given to them neither the riches of farmers-general,
+nor the rank of princes, because both
+corrupt the soul; and nothing is more revolting
+than to see men so rich and so proud preach humility
+through their clerks, who have only a hundred
+crowns' wages.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that all priests who serve a parish
+should be married, as in the Greek church; not
+only to have an honest woman to take care of their
+household, but to be better citizens, to give good
+subjects to the state, and to have plenty of well-bred
+children.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that many monks should give up the
+monastic form of life, for the sake of the country
+and themselves. It is said that there are men whom
+Circe has changed into hogs, whom the wise Ulysses
+must restore to the human form."</p>
+
+<p>"Paradise to the beneficent!" We repeat this
+symbol of the Abbé St. Pierre historically, without
+approving of it. We regard it merely as a curious
+singularity, and we hold with the most respectful
+faith to the true symbol of the Church.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="SYSTEM" id="SYSTEM"></a>SYSTEM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>We understand by system a supposition; for if
+a system can be proved, it is no longer a system,
+but a truth. In the meantime, led by habit, we say
+the celestial system, although we understand by it
+the real position of the stars.</p>
+
+<p>I once thought that Pythagoras had learned the
+true celestial system from the Chaldæans; but I
+think so no longer. In proportion as I grow older,
+I doubt of all things. Notwithstanding that Newton,
+Gregory, and Keil honor Pythagoras and the
+Chaldæans with a knowledge of the system of
+Copernicus, and that latterly M. Monier is of their
+opinion, I have the impudence to think otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>One of my reasons is, that if the Chaldæans had
+been so well informed, so fine and important a discovery
+would not have been lost, but would have
+been handed down from age to age, like the admirable
+discoveries of Archimedes.</p>
+
+<p>Another reason is that it was necessary to be
+more widely informed than the Chaldæans, in order
+to be able to contradict the apparent testimony of
+the senses in regard to the celestial appearances;
+that it required not only the most refined experimental
+observation, but the most profound mathematical
+science; as also the indispensable aid of
+telescopes, without which it is impossible to discover
+the phases of Venus, which prove her course
+around the sun, or to discover the spots in the sun,
+which demonstrate his motion round his own almost
+immovable axis. Another reason, not less strong,
+is that of all those who have attributed this discovery
+to Pythagoras, no one can positively say how
+he treated it.</p>
+
+<p>Diogenes Laertius, who lived about nine hundred
+years after Pythagoras, teaches us, that according to
+this grand philosopher, the number one was the first
+principle, and that from two sprang all numbers;
+that body has four elements&mdash;fire, water, air, and
+earth; that light and darkness, cold and heat, wet
+and dry, are equally distributed; that we must not
+eat beans; that the soul is divided into three parts;
+that Pythagoras had formerly been Atalides, then
+Euphorbus, afterwards Hermotimus; and, finally,
+that this great man studied magic very profoundly.
+Diogenes says not a word concerning the true system
+of the world, attributed to this Pythagoras; and
+it must be confessed that it is by no means to an
+aversion to beans that we owe the calculations which
+at present demonstrate the motion of the earth and
+planets generally.</p>
+
+<p>The famous Arian Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea,
+in his "Evangelical Preparation," expresses himself
+thus: "All the philosophers declare that the earth is
+in a state of repose; but Philolaus, the peripatetic,
+thinks that it moves round fire in an oblique circle,
+like the sun and the moon." This gibberish has
+nothing in common with the sublime truths taught
+by Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and above all by
+Newton.</p>
+
+<p>As to the pretended Aristarchus of Samos, who,
+it is asserted, developed the discoveries of the Chaldæans
+in regard to the motion of the earth and other
+planets, he is so obscure, that Wallace has been
+obliged to play the commentator from one end of
+him to the other, in order to render him intelligible.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, it is very much to be doubted whether
+the book, attributed to this Aristarchus of Samos,
+really belongs to him. It has been strongly suspected
+that the enemies of the new philosophy have
+constructed this forgery in favor of their bad cause.
+It is not only in respect to old charters that similar
+forgeries are resorted to. This Aristarchus of
+Samos is also the more to be suspected, as Plutarch
+accuses him of bigotry and malevolent hypocrisy,
+in consequence of being imbued with a direct contrary
+opinion. The following are the words of
+Plutarch, in his piece of absurdity entitled "The
+Round Aspect of the Moon." Aristarchus the
+Samian said, "that the Greeks ought to punish
+Cleanthes of Samos, who suggested that the heavens
+were immovable, and that it is the earth which
+travels through the zodiac by turning on its axis."</p>
+
+<p>They will tell me that even this passage proves
+that the system of Copernicus was already in the
+head of Cleanthes and others&mdash;of what import is it
+whether Aristarchus the Samian was of the opinion
+of Cleanthes, or his accuser, as the Jesuit Skeiner
+was subsequently Galileo's?&mdash;it equally follows that
+the true system of the present day was known to
+the ancients.</p>
+
+<p>I reply, no; but that a very slight part of this
+system was vaguely surmised by heads better organized
+than the rest. I further answer that it was
+never received or taught in the schools, and that it
+never formed a body of doctrine. Attentively peruse
+this "Face of the Moon" of Plutarch, and you will
+find, if you look for it, the doctrine of gravitation;
+but the true author of a system is he who demonstrates
+it.</p>
+
+<p>We will not take away from Copernicus the
+honor of this discovery. Three or four words
+brought to light in an old author, which exhibit
+some distant glimpse of his system, ought not to
+deprive him of the glory of the discovery.</p>
+
+<p>Let us admire the great rule of Kepler, that the
+revolutions of the planets round the sun are in proportion
+to the cubes of their distances. Let us still
+more admire the profundity, the justness, and the
+invention of the great Newton, who alone discovered
+the fundamental reasons of these laws unknown to
+all antiquity, which have opened the eyes of mankind
+to a new heaven.</p>
+
+<p>Petty compilers are always to be found who dare
+to become the enemies of their age. They string
+together passages from Plutarch and Athenæus, to
+prove that we have no obligations to Newton, to
+Halley, and to Bradley. They trumpet forth the
+glory of the ancients, whom they pretend have said
+everything; and they are so imbecile as to think
+that they divide the glory by publishing it. They
+twist an expression of Hippocrates, in order to persuade
+us that the Greeks were acquainted with the
+circulation of the blood better than Harvey. Why
+not also assert that the Greeks were possessed of
+better muskets and field-pieces; that they threw
+bomb-shells farther, had better printed books, and
+much finer engravings? That they excelled in oil-paintings,
+possessed looking-glasses of crystal, telescopes,
+microscopes, and thermometers? All this
+may be found out by men, who assure us that Solomon,
+who possessed not a single seaport, sent fleets
+to America, and so forth.</p>
+
+<p>One of the greatest detractors of modern times
+is a person named Dutens, who finished by compiling
+a libel, as infamous as insipid, against the
+philosophers of the present day. This libel is entitled
+the "Tocsin"; but he had better have called
+it his clock, as no one came to his aid; and he has
+only tended to increase the number of the Zoilusses,
+who, being unable to produce anything themselves,
+spit their venom upon all who by their productions
+do honor to their country and benefit mankind.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TABOR_OR_THABOR" id="TABOR_OR_THABOR"></a>TABOR, OR THABOR.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A famous mountain in Judæa, often alluded to
+in general conversation. It is not true that this
+mountain is a league and a half high, as mentioned
+in certain dictionaries. There is no mountain in
+Judæa so elevated; Tabor is not more than six hundred
+feet high, but it appears loftier, in consequence
+of its situation on a vast plain.</p>
+
+<p>The Tabor of Bohemia is still more celebrated
+by the resistance which the imperial armies encountered
+from Ziska. It is from thence that they have
+given the name of Tabor to intrenchments formed
+with carriages. The Taborites, a sect very similar
+to the Hussites, also take their name from the latter
+mountain.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TALISMAN" id="TALISMAN"></a>TALISMAN.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Talisman, an Arabian word, signifies properly
+"consecration." The same thing as "telesma," or
+"philactery," a preservative charm, figure, or character;
+a superstition which has prevailed at all
+times and among all people. It is usually a sort of
+medal, cast and stamped under the ascendency of
+certain constellations. The famous talisman of
+Catherine de Medici still exists.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TARTUFFE_TARTUFERIE" id="TARTUFFE_TARTUFERIE"></a>TARTUFFE&mdash;TARTUFERIE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Tartuffe, a name invented by Molière, and now
+adopted in all the languages of Europe to signify
+hypocrites, who make use of the cloak of religion.
+"He is a Tartuffe; he is a true Tartuffe." <i>Tartuferie</i>,
+a new word formed from Tartuffe&mdash;the
+action of a hypocrite, the behavior of a hypocrite,
+the knavery of a false devotee; it is often used in
+the disputes concerning the Bull Unigenitus.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TASTE" id="TASTE"></a>TASTE.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>The taste, the sense by which we distinguish the
+flavor of our food, has produced, in all known
+languages, the metaphor expressed by the word
+"taste"&mdash;a feeling of beauty and defects in all the
+arts. It is a quick perception, like that of the tongue
+and the palate, and in the same manner anticipates
+consideration. Like the mere sense, it is sensitive
+and luxuriant in respect to the good, and rejects the
+bad spontaneously; in a similar way it is often uncertain,
+divided, and even ignorant whether it ought
+to be pleased; lastly, and to conclude the resemblance,
+it sometimes requires to be formed and corrected
+by habit and experience.</p>
+
+<p>To constitute taste, it is not sufficient to see and
+to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be
+affected by it. Neither will it suffice to feel and be
+affected in a confused or ignorant manner; it is
+necessary to distinguish the different shades;
+nothing ought to escape the promptitude of its discernment;
+and this is another instance of the resemblance
+of taste, the sense, to intellectual taste;
+for an epicure will quickly feel and detect a mixture
+of two liquors, as the man of taste and connoisseur
+will, with a single glance, distinguish the mixture of
+two styles, or a defect by the side of a beauty. He
+will be enthusiastically moved with this verse in
+the Horatii:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que voulez-vous qu'il fît contre trois?&mdash;Qu'il mourût!</i></span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">What have him do 'gainst three?&mdash;Die!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>He feels involuntary disgust at the following:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ou qu'un beau désespoir alors le secourût.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13em;">&mdash;<span class="small">ACT</span> iii, sc. 6.</span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Or, whether aided by a fine despair.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>As a physical bad taste consists in being pleased
+only with high seasoning and curious dishes, so a bad
+taste in the arts is pleased only with studied ornament,
+and feels not the pure beauty of nature.</p>
+
+<p>A depraved taste in food is gratified with that
+which disgusts other people: it is a species of disease.
+A depraved taste in the arts is to be pleased
+with subjects which disgust accomplished minds,
+and to prefer the burlesque to the noble, and the finical
+and the affected to the simple and natural: it is
+a mental disease. A taste for the arts is, however,
+much more a thing of formation than physical taste;
+for although in the latter we sometimes finish by
+liking those things to which we had in the first instance
+a repugnance, nature seldom renders it necessary
+for men in general to learn what is necessary
+to them in the way of food, whereas intellectual
+taste requires time to duly form it. A sensible young
+man may not, without science, distinguish at once
+the different parts of a grand choir of music; in
+a fine picture, his eyes at first sight may not perceive
+the gradation, the chiaroscuro perspective, agreement
+of colors, and correctness of design; but by
+little and little his ears will learn to hear and his
+eyes to see. He will be affected at the first representation
+of a fine tragedy, but he will not perceive
+the merit of the unities, nor the delicate management
+that allows no one to enter or depart without
+a sufficient reason, nor that still greater art which
+concentrates all the interest in a single one; nor,
+lastly, will he be aware of the difficulties overcome.
+It is only by habit and reflection, that he arrives
+spontaneously at that which he was not able to distinguish
+in the first instance. In a similar way, a
+national taste is gradually formed where it existed
+not before, because by degrees the spirit of the best
+artists is duly imbibed. We accustom ourselves to
+look at pictures with the eyes of Lebrun, Poussin,
+and Le Sueur. We listen to musical declamation
+from the scenes of Quinault with the ears of Lulli,
+and to the airs and accompaniments with those of
+Rameau. Finally, books are read in the spirit of
+the best authors.</p>
+
+<p>If an entire nation is led, during its early culture
+of the arts, to admire authors abounding in the defects
+and errors of the age, it is because these authors
+possess beauties which are admired by everybody,
+while at the same time readers are not sufficiently
+instructed to detect the imperfections. Thus,
+Lucilius was prized by the Romans, until Horace
+made them forget him; and Regnier was admired
+by the French, until the appearance of Boileau; and
+if old authors who stumble at every step have, notwithstanding,
+attained great reputation, it is because
+purer writers have not arisen to open the eyes
+of their national admirers, as Horace did those of
+the Romans, and Boileau those of the French.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that there is no disputation on taste, and
+the observation is correct in respect to physical taste,
+in which the repugnance felt to certain aliments,
+and the preference given to others, are not to be
+disputed, because there is no correction of a defect
+of the organs. It is not the same with the arts which
+possess actual beauties, which are discernible by a
+good taste, and unperceivable by a bad one; which
+last, however, may frequently be improved. There
+are also persons with a coldness of soul, as there
+are defective minds; and in respect to them, it is
+of little use to dispute concerning predilections, as
+they possess none.</p>
+
+<p>Taste is arbitrary in many things, as in raiment,
+decoration, and equipage, which, however, scarcely
+belong to the department of the fine arts, but are
+rather affairs of fancy. It is fancy rather than taste
+which produces so many new fashions.</p>
+
+<p>Taste may become vitiated in a nation, a misfortune
+which usually follows a period of perfection.
+Fearing to be called imitators, artists seek new and
+devious routes, and fly from the pure and beautiful
+nature of which their predecessors have made so
+much advantage. If there is merit in these labors,
+this merit veils their defects, and the public in love
+with novelty runs after them, and becomes disgusted,
+which makes way for still minor efforts to
+please, in which nature is still more abandoned.
+Taste loses itself amidst this succession of novelties,
+the last one of which rapidly effaces the other; the
+public loses its "whereabout," and regrets in vain
+the flight of the age of good taste, which will return
+no more, although a remnant of it is still preserved
+by certain correct spirits, at a distance from
+the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>There are vast countries in which taste has never
+existed: such are they in which society is still rude,
+where the sexes have little general intercourse, and
+where certain arts, like sculpture and the painting of
+animated beings, are forbidden by religion. Where
+there is little general intercourse, the mind is straitened,
+its edge is blunted, and nothing is possessed
+on which a taste can be formed. Where several of
+the fine arts are wanting, the remainder can seldom
+find sufficient support, as they go hand in hand, and
+rest one on the other. On this account, the Asiatics
+have never produced fine arts in any department,
+and taste is confined to certain nations of Europe.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>Is there not a good and a bad taste? Without
+doubt; although men differ in opinions, manners,
+and customs. The best taste in every species of cultivation
+is to imitate nature with the highest fidelity,
+energy, and grace. But is not grace arbitrary? No,
+since it consists in giving animation and sweetness
+to the objects represented. Between two men, the
+one of whom is gross and the other refined, it will
+readily be allowed that one possesses more grace
+than the other.</p>
+
+<p>Before a polished period arose, Voiture, who in
+his rage for embroidering nothings, was occasionally
+refined and agreeable, wrote some verses to the
+great Condé upon his illness, which are still regarded
+as very tasteful, and among the best of this
+author.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, L'Étoile, who passed for a
+genius&mdash;L'Étoile, one of the five authors who constructed
+tragedies for Cardinal Richelieu&mdash;made
+some verses, which are printed at the end of Malherbe
+and Racan. When compared with those of
+Voiture referred to, every reader will allow that the
+verses of Voiture are the production of a courtier
+of good taste, and those of L'Étoile the labor of a
+coarse and unintellectual pretender.</p>
+
+<p>It is a pity that we can gift Voiture with occasional
+taste only: his famous letter from the carp to
+the pike, which enjoyed so much reputation, is a too
+extended pleasantry, and in passages exhibiting
+very little nature. Is it not a mixture of refinement
+and coarseness, of the true and the false? Was it
+right to say to the great Condé, who was called "the
+pike" by a party among the courtiers, that at his
+name the whales of the North perspired profusely,
+and that the subjects of the emperor had expected
+to fry and to eat him with a grain of salt? Was it
+proper to write so many letters, only to show a little
+of the wit which consists in puns and conceits?</p>
+
+<p>Are we not disgusted when Voiture says to the
+great Condé, on the taking of Dunkirk: "I expect
+you to seize the moon with your teeth." Voiture apparently
+acquired this false taste from Marini, who
+came into France with Mary of Medici. Voiture
+and Costar frequently cite him as a model in their
+letters. They admire his description of the rose,
+daughter of April, virgin and queen, seated on a
+thorny throne, extending majestically a flowery
+sceptre, having for courtiers and ministers the amorous
+family of the zephyrs, and wearing a crown of
+gold and a robe of scarlet:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Bella figlia d'Aprile,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Verginella e reina,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Sic lo spinoso trono</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Del verde cespo assisa,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>De' fior' lo scettro in maestà sostiene;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>E corteggiata intorno</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Da lascivia famiglia</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Di Zefiri ministri,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Porta d'or' la corona et dostro il manto.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Voiture, in his thirty-fifth letter to Costar, compliments
+the musical atom of Marini, the feathered
+voice, the living breath clothed in plumage, the
+winged song, the small spirit of harmony, hidden
+amidst diminutive lungs; all of which terms are
+employed to convey the word nightingale:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Una voce pennuta, un suon' volante,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>E vestito di penne, un vivo fiato,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Una piuma canora, un canto alato,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Un spiritel' che d'armonia composto</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Vive in auguste vise ere nascosto.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The bad taste of Balzac was of a different description;
+he composed familiar letters in a fustian
+style. He wrote to the Cardinal de la Valette, that
+neither in the deserts of Libya, nor in the abyss of
+the sea, there was so furious a monster as the sciatica;
+and that if tyrants, whose memory is odious
+to us, had instruments of cruelty in their possession
+equal to the sciatica, the martyrs would have endured
+them for their religion.</p>
+
+<p>These emphatic exaggerations&mdash;these long and
+stately periods, so opposed to the epistolary style&mdash;these
+fastidious declamations, garnished with Greek
+and Latin, concerning two middling sonnets, the
+merits of which divided the court and the town, and
+upon the miserable tragedy of "Herod the Infanticide,"&mdash;all
+indicate a time and a taste which were
+yet to be formed and corrected. Even "Cinna," and
+the "Provincial Letters," which astonished the nations,
+had not yet cleared away the rust.</p>
+
+<p>As an artist forms his taste by degrees, so does
+a nation. It stagnates for a long time in barbarism;
+then it elevates itself feebly, until at length a noon
+appears, after which we witness nothing but a long
+and melancholy twilight. It has long been agreed,
+that in spite of the solicitude of Francis I., to produce
+a taste in France for the fine arts, this taste
+was not formed until towards the age of Louis
+XIV., and we already begin to complain of its degeneracy.
+The Greeks of the lower empire confess,
+that the taste which reigned in the days of Pericles
+was lost among them, and the modern Greeks admit
+the same thing. Quintilian allows that the taste of
+the Romans began to decline in his days.</p>
+
+<p>Lope de Vega made great complaints of the bad
+taste of the Spaniards. The Italians perceived,
+among the first, that everything had declined among
+them since their immortal sixteenth century, and
+that they have witnessed the decline of the arts,
+which they caused to spring up.</p>
+
+<p>Addison often attacks the bad taste of the English
+in more than one department&mdash;as well when he
+ridicules the carved wig of Sir Cloudesley Shovel,
+as when he testifies his contempt for a serious employment
+of conceit and pun, or the introduction of
+mountebanks in tragedy.</p>
+
+<p>If, therefore, the most gifted minds allow that
+taste has been wanting at certain periods in their
+country, their neighbors may certainly feel it, as
+lookers-on; and as it is evident among ourselves
+that one man has a good and another a bad taste,
+it is equally evident that of two contemporary nations,
+the one may be rude and gross, and the other
+refined and natural.</p>
+
+<p>The misfortune is, that when we speak this truth,
+we disgust the whole nation to which we allude, as
+we provoke an individual of bad taste when we
+seek to improve him. It is better to wait until time
+and example instruct a nation which sins against
+taste. It is in this way that the Spaniards are beginning
+to reform their drama, and the Germans to
+create one.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Of National Taste.</i></p>
+
+<p>There is beauty of all times and of all places, and
+there is likewise local beauty. Eloquence ought to
+be everywhere persuasive, grief affecting, anger impetuous,
+wisdom tranquil; but the details which
+may gratify a citizen of London, would have little
+effect on an inhabitant of Paris. The English drew
+some of their most happy metaphors and comparisons
+from the marine, while Parisians seldom see
+anything of ships. All which affects an Englishman
+in relation to liberty, his rights and his privileges,
+would make little impression on a Frenchman.</p>
+
+<p>The state of the climate will introduce into a cold
+and humid country a taste for architecture, furniture,
+and clothing, which may be very good, but
+not admissible at Rome or in Sicily. Theocritus and
+Virgil, in their eclogues, boast of the shades and of
+the cooling freshness of the fountains. Thomson,
+in his "Seasons," dwells upon contrary attractions.</p>
+
+<p>An enlightened nation with little sociability will
+not have the same points of ridicule as a nation
+equally intellectual, which gives in to the spirit of
+society even to indiscretion; and, in consequence,
+these two nations will differ materially in their comedy.
+Poetry will be very different in a country
+where women are secluded, and in another in which
+they enjoy liberty without bounds.</p>
+
+<p>But it will always be true that the pastoral painting
+of Virgil exceeds that of Thomson, and that
+there has been more taste on the banks of the Tiber
+than on those of the Thames; that the natural
+scenes of the Pastor Fido are incomparably superior
+to the shepherdizing of Racan; and that Racine and
+Molière are inspired persons in comparison with the
+dramatists of other theatres.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>On the Taste of Connoisseurs.</i></p>
+
+<p>In general, a refined and certain taste consists
+in a quick feeling of beauty amidst defects, and defects
+amidst beauties. The epicure is he who can
+discern the adulteration of wines, and feel the predominating
+flavor in his viands, of which his associates
+entertain only a confused and general perception.</p>
+
+<p>Are not those deceived who say, that it is a misfortune
+to possess too refined a taste, and to be too
+much of a connoisseur; that in consequence we become
+too much occupied by defects, and insensible
+to beauties, which are lost by this fastidiousness?
+Is it not, on the contrary, certain that men of taste
+alone enjoy true pleasure, who see, hear, and feel,
+that which escapes persons less sensitively organized,
+and less mentally disciplined?</p>
+
+<p>The connoisseur in music, in painting, in architecture,
+in poetry, in medals, etc., experiences sensations
+of which the vulgar have no comprehension;
+the discovery even of a fault pleases him, and makes
+him feel the beauties with more animation. It is the
+advantage of a good sight over a bad one. The man
+of taste has other eyes, other ears, and another tact
+from the uncultivated man; he is displeased with
+the poor draperies of Raphael, but he admires the
+noble purity of his conception. He takes a pleasure
+in discovering that the children of Laocoon
+bear no proportion to the height of their father, but
+the whole group makes him tremble, while other
+spectators are unmoved.</p>
+
+<p>The celebrated sculptor, man of letters and of
+genius, who placed the colossal statue of Peter the
+Great at St. Petersburg, criticises with reason the
+attitude of the Moses of Michelangelo, and his
+small, tight vest, which is not even an Oriental costume;
+but, at the same time, he contemplates the
+air and expression of the head with ecstasy.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Rarity of Men of Taste.</i></p>
+
+<p>It is afflicting to reflect on the prodigious number
+of men&mdash;above all, in cold and damp climates&mdash;who
+possess not the least spark of taste, who care not for
+the fine arts, who never read, and of whom a large
+portion read only a journal once a month, in order
+to be put in possession of current matter, and
+to furnish themselves with the ability of saying
+things at random, on subjects in regard to which
+they have only confused ideas.</p>
+
+<p>Enter into a small provincial town: how rarely
+will you find more than one or two good libraries,
+and those private. Even in the capital of the provinces
+which possess academies, taste is very rare.</p>
+
+<p>It is necessary to select the capital of a great
+kingdom to form the abode of taste, and yet even
+there it is very partially divided among a small number,
+the populace being wholly excluded. It is unknown
+to the families of traders, and those who are
+occupied in making fortunes, who are either engrossed
+with domestic details, or divided between
+unintellectual idleness and a game at cards. Every
+place which contains the courts of law, the offices
+of revenue, government, and commerce, is closed
+against the fine arts. It is the reproach of the human
+mind that a taste for the common and ordinary
+introduces only opulent idleness. I knew a commissioner
+in one of the offices at Versailles, who
+exclaimed: "I am very unhappy; I have not time
+to acquire a taste."</p>
+
+<p>In a town like Paris, peopled with more than six
+hundred thousand persons, I do not think there are
+three thousand who cultivate a taste for the fine arts.
+When a dramatic masterpiece is represented, a circumstance
+so very rare, people exclaim: "All Paris
+is enchanted," but only three thousand copies, more
+or less, are printed.</p>
+
+<p>Taste, then, like philosophy, belongs only to a
+small number of privileged souls. It was, therefore,
+great happiness for France to possess, in Louis
+XIV., a king born with taste.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Pauci, quos æquus amavit</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Jupiter, aut ardens, evexit ad æthera virtus</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Dis geniti, potuere.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">&mdash;<span class="small">ÆNEID</span>, b. vi, v. 129 and s.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To few great Jupiter imparts his grace,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And those of shining worth and heavenly race.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">&mdash;<span class="small">DRYDEN</span>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Ovid has said in vain, that God has created us
+to look up to heaven: "<i>Erectos ad sidera tollere
+vultus</i>." Men are always crouching on the ground.
+Why has a misshapen statue, or a bad picture, where
+the figures are disproportionate, never passed for a
+masterpiece? Why has an ill-built house never been
+regarded as a fine monument of architecture? Why
+in music will not sharp and discordant sounds please
+the ears of any one? And yet, very bad and barbarous
+tragedies, written in a style perfectly Allobrogian,
+have succeeded, even after the sublime
+scenes of Corneille, the affecting ones of Racine,
+and the fine pieces written since the latter poet. It is
+only at the theatre that we sometimes see detestable
+compositions succeed both in tragedy and comedy.</p>
+
+<p>What is the reason of it? It is, that a species of
+delusion prevails at the theatre; it is, that the success
+depends upon two or three actors, and sometimes
+even upon a single one; and, above all, that
+a cabal is formed in favor of such pieces, whilst men
+of taste never form any. This cabal often lasts for
+an entire generation, and it is so much the more active,
+as its object is less to elevate the bad author than
+to depress the good one. A century possibly is
+necessary to adjust the real value of things in the
+drama.</p>
+
+<p>There are three kinds of taste, which in the long
+run prevail in the empire of the arts. Poussin was
+obliged to quit France and leave the field to an inferior
+painter; Le Moine killed himself in despair;
+and Vanloo was near quitting the kingdom, to exercise
+his talents elsewhere. Connoisseurs alone have
+put all of them in possession of the rank belonging
+to them. We often witness all kinds of bad works
+meet with prodigious success. The solecisms, barbarisms,
+false statement, and extravagant bombast,
+are not felt for awhile, because the cabal and the
+senseless enthusiasm of the vulgar produce an intoxication
+which discriminates in nothing. The connoisseurs
+alone bring back the public in due time;
+and it is the only difference which exists between
+the most enlightened and the most cultivated of nations
+for the vulgar of Paris are in no respect beyond;
+the vulgar of other countries; but in Paris
+there is a sufficient number of correct opinions to
+lead the crowd. This crowd is rapidly excited in
+popular movements, but many years are necessary
+to establish in it a general good taste in the arts.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TAUROBOLIUM" id="TAUROBOLIUM"></a>TAUROBOLIUM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Taurobolium, a sacrifice of expiation, very common
+in the third and fourth centuries. The throat
+of a bull was cut on a great stone slightly hollowed
+and perforated in various places. Underneath
+this stone was a trench, in which the person
+whose offence called for expiation received upon
+his body and his face the blood of the immolated
+animal. Julian the Philosopher condescended to
+submit to this expiation, to reconcile himself to the
+priests of the Gentiles.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TAX_FEE" id="TAX_FEE"></a>TAX&mdash;FEE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Pope Pius II., in an epistle to John Peregal, acknowledges
+that the Roman court gives nothing
+without money; it sells even the imposition of hands
+and the gifts of the Holy Ghost; nor does it grant
+the remission of sins to any but the rich.</p>
+
+<p>Before him, St. Antonine, archbishop of Florence,
+had observed that in the time of Boniface IX.,
+who died in 1404, the Roman court was so infamously
+stained with simony, that benefices were conferred,
+not so much on merit, as on those who
+brought a deal of money. He adds, that this pope
+filled the world with plenary indulgences; so that
+the small churches, on their festival days, obtained
+them at a low price.</p>
+
+<p>That pontiff's secretary, Theodoric de Nieur,
+does indeed inform us, that Boniface sent questors
+into different kingdoms, to sell indulgences to such
+as should offer them as much money as it would
+have cost them to make a journey to Rome to fetch
+them; so that they remitted all sins, even without
+penance, to such as confessed, and granted them,
+for money, dispensations for irregularities of every
+sort; saying, that they had in that respect all the
+power which Christ had granted to Peter, of binding
+and unbinding on earth.</p>
+
+<p>And, what is still more singular, the price of
+every crime is fixed in a Latin work, printed at
+Rome by order of Leo X., and published on November
+18, 1514, under the title of "Taxes of the
+Holy and Apostolic Chancery and Penitentiary."</p>
+
+<p>Among many other editions of this book, published
+in different countries, the Paris edition&mdash;quarto
+1520, Toussaint Denis, Rue St. Jacques, at
+the wooden cross, near St. Yves, with the king's
+privilege, for three years&mdash;bears in the frontispiece
+the arms of France, and those of the house of Medici,
+to which Leo N. belonged. This must have deceived
+the author of the "Picture of the Popes"
+(<i>Tableau de Papes</i>), who attributes the establishment
+of these taxes to Leo X., although Polydore
+Virgil, and Cardinal d'Ossat agree in fixing the
+period of the invention of the chancery tax about
+the year 1320, and the commencement of the penitentiary
+tax about sixteen years later, in the time
+of Benedict XII.</p>
+
+<p>To give some idea of these taxes, we will here
+copy a few articles from the chapter of absolutions:
+Absolution for one who has carnally known his
+mother, his sister, etc., costs five drachmas. Absolution
+for one who has deflowered a virgin, six
+drachmas. Absolution for one who has revealed
+another's confession, seven drachmas. Absolution
+for one who has killed his father, his mother, etc.,
+five drachmas. And so of other sins, as we shall
+shortly see; but, at the end of the book, the prices
+are estimated in ducats.</p>
+
+<p>A sort of letters too are here spoken of, called
+confessional, by which, at the approach of death, the
+pope permits a confessor to be chosen, who gives
+full pardon for every sin; these letters are granted
+only to princes, and not to them without great difficulty.
+These particulars will be found in page 32
+of the Paris edition.</p>
+
+<p>The court of Rome was at length ashamed of this
+book, and suppressed it as far as it was able. It
+was even inserted in the expurgatory index of the
+Council of Trent, on the false supposition that heretics
+had corrupted it.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that Antoine Du Pinet, a French gentleman
+of Franche-Comté, had an abstract of it
+printed at Lyons in 1564, under this title: "Casual
+Perquisites of the Pope's Shop" (<i>Taxes des Parties
+Casuelles de la Boutique du Pape</i>), "taken from the
+Decrees, Councils, and Canons, ancient and modern,
+in order to verify the discipline formerly observed
+in the Church; by A.D.P." But, although, he
+does not inform us that his work is but an abridgment
+of the other, yet, far from corrupting his original,
+he on the contrary strikes out of it some odious
+passages, such as the following, beginning page 23,
+line 9 from the bottom, in the Paris edition: "And
+carefully observe, that these kinds of graces and dispensations
+are not granted to the poor, because, not
+having wherewith, they cannot be consoled."</p>
+
+<p>It is also true, that Du Pinet estimates these taxes
+in tournois, ducats, and carlins; but, as he observes
+(page 42) that the carlins and the drachmas are of
+the same value, the substituting for the tax of five,
+six, or seven drachmas in the original, the like number
+of carlins, is not falsifying it. We have a proof
+of this in the four articles already quoted from the
+original.</p>
+
+<p>Absolution&mdash;says Du Pinet&mdash;for one who has a
+carnal knowledge of his mother, his sister, or any
+of his kindred by birth or affinity, or his godmother,
+is taxed at five carlins. Absolution for one who
+deflowers a young woman, is taxed at six carlins.
+Absolution for one who reveals the confession of
+a penitent, is taxed at seven carlins. Absolution for
+one who has killed his father, his mother, his
+brother, his sister, his wife, or any of his kindred&mdash;they
+being of the laity&mdash;is taxed at five carlins; for
+if the deceased was an ecclesiastic, the homicide
+would be obliged to visit the sanctuary. We will
+here repeat a few others.</p>
+
+<p>Absolution&mdash;continues Du Pinet&mdash;for any act of
+fornication whatsoever, committed by a clerk,
+whether with a nun in the cloister or out of the
+cloister, or with any of his kinswomen, or with his
+spiritual daughter, or with any other woman whatsoever,
+costs thirty-six tournois, three ducats. Absolution
+for a priest who keeps a concubine, twenty-one
+tournois, live ducats, six carlins. The absolution
+of a layman for all sorts of sins of the flesh,
+is given at the tribunal of conscience for six tournois,
+two ducats.</p>
+
+<p>The absolution of a layman for the crime of adultery,
+given at the tribunal of conscience, costs four
+tournois; and if the adultery is accompanied by
+incest, six tournois must be paid per head. If, besides
+these crimes, is required the absolution of the
+sin against nature, or of bestiality, there must be
+paid ninety tournois, twelve ducats, six carlins; but
+if only the absolution of the crime against nature,
+or of bestiality, is required, it will cost only thirty-six
+tournois, nine ducats.</p>
+
+<p>A woman who has taken a beverage to procure
+an abortion, or the father who has caused her to
+take it, shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight carlins;
+and if a stranger has given her the said beverage,
+he shall pay four tournois, one ducat, five
+carlins.</p>
+
+<p>A father, a mother, or any other relative, who
+has smothered a child, shall pay four tournois, one
+ducat, eight carlins; and if it has been killed by the
+husband and wife together, they shall pay six tournois,
+two ducats.</p>
+
+<p>The tax granted by the datary for the contracting
+of marriage out of the permitted seasons, is
+twenty carlins; and in the permitted periods, if the
+contracting parties are the second or third degree
+of kindred, it is commonly twenty-five ducats, and
+four for expediting the bulls; and in the fourth degree,
+seven tournois, one ducat, six carlins.</p>
+
+<p>The dispensation of a layman from fasting on
+the days appointed by the Church, and the permission
+to eat cheese, are taxed at twenty carlins. The
+permission to eat meat and eggs on forbidden days
+is taxed at twelve carlins; and that to eat butter,
+cheese, etc., at six tournois for one person only;
+and at twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins for
+a whole family, or for several relatives.</p>
+
+<p>The absolution of an apostate and a vagabond,
+who wishes to return into the pale of the Church,
+costs twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins. The
+absolution and reinstatement of one who is guilty
+of sacrilege, robbery, burning, rapine, perjury, and
+the like, is taxed at thirty-six tournois, nine ducats.</p>
+
+<p>Absolution for a servant who detains his deceased
+master's property, for the payment of his
+wages, and after receiving notice does not restore
+it, provided the property so detained does not exceed
+the amount of his wages, is taxed in the tribunal
+of conscience at only six tournois, two ducats.
+For changing the clauses of a will, the ordinary tax
+is twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins. The
+permission to change one's proper name costs nine
+tournois, two ducats, nine carlins; and to change
+the surname and mode of signing, six tournois, two
+ducats. The permission to have a portable altar for
+one person only, is taxed at ten carlins: and to have
+a domestic chapel on account of the distance of the
+parish church, and furnish it with baptismal fonts
+and chaplains, thirty carlins.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, the permission to convey merchandise,
+one or more times, to the countries of the infidels,
+and in general to traffic and sell merchandise without
+being obliged to obtain permission from the
+temporal lords of the respected places, even though
+they be kings or emperors, with all the very ample
+derogatory clauses, is taxed at only twenty-four
+tournois, six ducats.</p>
+
+<p>This permission, which supersedes that of the
+temporal lords, is a fresh evidence of the papal pretensions,
+which we have already spoken of in the
+article on "Bull." Besides, it is known that all rescripts,
+or expeditions for benefices, are still paid
+for at Rome according to the tax; and this charge
+always falls at last on the laity, by the impositions
+which the subordinate clergy exact from them. We
+shall here notice only the fees for marriages and
+burials.</p>
+
+<p>A decree of the Parliament of Paris, of May 19,
+1409, provides that every one shall be at liberty to
+sleep with his wife as soon as he pleases after the
+celebration of the marriage, without waiting for
+leave from the bishop of Amiens, and without paying
+the fee required by that prelate for taking off
+his prohibitions to consummate the marriage during
+the first three nights of the nuptials. The monks
+of St. Stephen of Nevers were deprived of the same
+fee by another decree of September 27, 1591. Some
+theologians have asserted, that it took its origin
+from the fourth Council of Carthage, which had ordained
+it for the reverence of the matrimonial benediction.
+But as that council did not order its prohibition
+to be evaded by paying, it is more likely that
+this tax was a consequence of the infamous custom
+which gave to certain lords the first nuptial night
+of the brides of their vassals. Buchanan thinks that
+this usage began in Scotland under King Evan.</p>
+
+<p>Be this as it may, the lords of Prellay and Persanny,
+in Piedmont, called this privilege "<i>carrajio</i>";
+but having refused to commute it for a reasonable
+payment, the vassals revolted, and put themselves
+under Amadeus VI., fourteenth count of Savoy.</p>
+
+<p>There is still preserved a <i>procès-verbal</i>, drawn
+up by M. Jean Fraguier, auditor in the <i>Chambre
+des Comptes</i>, at Paris, by virtue of a decree of the
+said chamber of April 7, 1507, for valuing the
+county of Eu, fallen into the king's keeping by the
+minority of the children of the count of Nevers, and
+his wife Charlotte de Bourbon. In the chapter of
+the revenue of the barony of St. Martin-le-Gaillard,
+dependent on the county of Eu, it is said: "Item,
+the said lord, at the said place of St. Martin, has
+the right of 'cuissage' in case of marriage."</p>
+
+<p>The lords of Souloire had the like privilege, and
+having omitted it in the acknowledgment made by
+them to their sovereign, the lord of Montlevrier, the
+acknowledgment was disapproved; but by deed of
+Dec. 15, 1607, the sieur de Montlevrier formally
+renounced it; and these shameful privileges have
+everywhere been converted into small payments,
+called "marchetta."</p>
+
+<p>Now, when our prelates had fiefs, they thought&mdash;as
+the judicious Fleury remarks&mdash;that they had as
+bishops what they possessed only as lords; and the
+curates, as their under-vassals, bethought themselves
+of blessing their nuptial bed, which brought
+them a small fee under the name of wedding-dishes&mdash;i.e.,
+their dinner, in money or in kind. On one
+of these occasions the following quatrain was put
+by a country curate under the pillow of a very aged
+president, who married a young woman named La
+Montagne. He alludes to Moses' horns, which are
+spoken of in Exodus.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Le Président à barbe grise</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Sur La Montagne va monter;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mais certes il peut bien compter</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>D'en descendre comme Moïse.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>A word or two on the fees exacted by the clergy
+for the burial of the laity. Formerly, at the decease
+of each individual, the bishops had the contents
+of his will made known to them; and forbade
+those to receive the rights of sepulchre who had
+died "unconfessed," i.e., left no legacy to the
+Church, unless the relatives went to the official, who
+commissioned a priest, or some other ecclesiastic,
+to repair the fault of the deceased, and make a legacy
+in his name. The curates also opposed the profession
+of such as wished to turn monks, until they
+had paid their burial-fees; saying that since they
+died to the world, it was but right that they should
+discharge what would have been due from them
+had they been interred.</p>
+
+<p>But the frequent disputes occasioned by these
+vexations obliged the magistrates to fix the rate of
+these singular fees. The following is extracted from
+a regulation on this subject, brought in by Francis
+de Harlai de Chamvallon, archbishop of Paris, on
+May 30, 1693, and passed in the court of parliament
+on the tenth of June following:</p>
+
+<pre><b>
+<span style="margin-left: 9.5em;"><i>Marriages.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 28.5em;">Liv. Sous.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the publication of the bans..........&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the betrothing.......................&nbsp; &nbsp; 2&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For celebrating the marriage.............&nbsp; &nbsp; 6&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the certificate of the publication of</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the bans, and the permission given to</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the future husband to go and be married</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in the parish of his future wife.......&nbsp; &nbsp; 5&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the wedding mass.....................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the vicar............................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the clerk of the sacrament...........&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For blessing the bed.....................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+
+
+<span style="margin-left: 7em;"><i>Funeral Processions.</i></span>
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of children under seven years old, when</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">the clergy do not go in a body:</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the curate...........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each priest..........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When the clergy go in a body:</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the curial fee.......................&nbsp; &nbsp; 4&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the presence of the curate...........&nbsp; &nbsp; 2&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each priest..........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the vicar............................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each singing-boy, when they carry</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the body...............................&nbsp; &nbsp; 8&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And when they do not carry it............&nbsp; &nbsp; 5&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And so of young persons from seven to</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">twelve years old.</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of persons above twelve years old:</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the curial fee.......................&nbsp; &nbsp; 6&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the curate's attendance..............&nbsp; &nbsp; 4&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each vicar...........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 2&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the priest...........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each singing-boy.....................&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Each of the priests that watch the body</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">in the night, for drink, etc...........&nbsp; &nbsp; 3&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And in the day, each.....................&nbsp; &nbsp; 2&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the celebration of the mass..........&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the service extraordinary; called the</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">complete service; viz., the vigils and</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the two masses of the Holy Ghost and</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the Holy Virgin........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 4&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each of the priests that carry the</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">body...................................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp; &nbsp; 0</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For carrying the great cross.............&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the holy water-pot carrier...........&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp; &nbsp; 5</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For carrying the little cross............&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp; &nbsp; 5</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the clerk of the processions.........&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp; &nbsp; 1</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For conveying bodies from one church to</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">another there shall be paid, for each</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">of the above fees, one-half more.</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the reception of bodies thus conveyed:</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the curate............................&nbsp; &nbsp; 6&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the vicar.............................&nbsp; &nbsp; 1&nbsp;  10</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To each priest...........................&nbsp; &nbsp; 0&nbsp;  15</span>
+</b></pre>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TEARS" id="TEARS"></a>TEARS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Tears are the silent language of grief. But
+why? What relation is there between a melancholy
+idea and this limpid and briny liquid filtered through
+a little gland into the external corner of the eye
+which moistens the conjunctiva and little lachrymal
+points, whence it descends into the nose and mouth
+by the reservoir called the lachrymal duct, and by
+its conduits? Why in women and children, whose
+organs are of a delicate texture, are tears more
+easily excited by grief than in men, whose formation
+is firmer?</p>
+
+<p>Has nature intended to excite compassion in us
+at the sight of these tears, which soften us and lead
+us to help those who shed them? The female savage
+is as strongly determined to assist her child who
+cries, as a lady of the court would be, and perhaps
+more so, because she has fewer distractions and passions.</p>
+
+<p>Everything in the animal body has, no doubt, its
+object. The eyes, particularly, have mathematical relations
+so evident, so demonstrable, so admirable
+with the rays of light; this mechanism is so divine,
+that I should be tempted to take for the delirium of
+a high fever, the audacity of denying the final causes
+of the structure of our eyes. The use of tears
+appears not to have so determined and striking
+an object; but it is probable that nature caused
+them to flow in order to excite us to pity.</p>
+
+<p>There are women who are accused of weeping
+when they choose. I am not at all surprised at their
+talent. A lively, sensible, and tender imagination
+can fix upon some object, on some melancholy recollection,
+and represent it in such lively colors as to
+draw tears; which happens to several performers,
+and particularly to actresses on the stage.</p>
+
+<p>Women who imitate them in the interior of their
+houses, join to this talent the little fraud of appearing
+to weep for their husbands, while they really
+weep for their lovers. Their tears are true, but the
+object of them is false.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to affect tears without a subject,
+in the same manner as we can affect to laugh. We
+must be sensibly touched to force the lachrymal
+gland to compress itself, and to spread its liquor on
+the orbit of the eye; but the will alone is required
+to laugh.</p>
+
+<p>We demand why the same man, who has seen
+with a dry eye the most atrocious events, and even
+committed crimes with sang-froid, will weep at the
+theatre at the representation of similar events and
+crimes? It is, that he sees them not with the same
+eyes; he sees them with those of the author and the
+actor. He is no longer the same man; he was barbarous,
+he was agitated with furious passions, when
+he saw an innocent woman killed, when he stained
+himself with the blood of his friend; he became a
+man again at the representation of it. His soul was
+filled with a stormy tumult; it is now tranquil and
+void, and nature re-entering it, he sheds virtuous
+tears. Such is the true merit, the great good of
+theatrical representation, which can never be effected
+by the cold declamation of an orator paid to
+tire an audience for an hour.</p>
+
+<p>The capitoul David, who; without emotion, saw
+and caused the innocent Calas to die on the wheel,
+would have shed tears at seeing his own crime in
+a well-written and well-acted tragedy. Pope has
+elegantly said this in the prologue to Addison's
+Cato:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Tyrants no more their savage nature kept,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And foes to virtue wondered how they wept.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TERELAS" id="TERELAS"></a>TERELAS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Terelas, Pterelas, or Pterlaus, just which you
+please, was the son of Taphus, or Taphius. Which
+signifies what you say? Gently, I will tell you.
+This Terelas had a golden lock, to which was attached
+the destiny of the town of Taphia, and what
+is more, this lock rendered Terelas immortal, as he
+would not die while this lock remained upon his
+head; for this reason he never combed it, lest he
+should comb it off. An immortality, however, which
+depends upon a lock of hair, is not the most certain
+of all things.</p>
+
+<p>Amphitryon, general of the republic of Thebes,
+besieged Taphia, and the daughter of King Terelas
+became desperately in love with him on seeing him
+pass the ramparts. Thus excited, she stole to her
+father in the dead of night, cut off his golden lock,
+and sent it to the general, in consequence of which
+the town was taken, and Terelas killed. Some
+learned men assure us, that it was the wife of Terelas
+who played him this ill turn; and as they
+ground their opinions upon great authorities, it
+might be rendered the subject of a useful dissertation.
+I confess that I am somewhat inclined to be
+of the opinion of those learned persons, as it appears
+to me that a wife is usually less timorous than a
+daughter.</p>
+
+<p>The same thing happened to Nisus, king of Megara,
+which town was besieged by Minos. Scylla,
+the daughter of Nisus, became madly in love with
+him; and although in point of fact, her father did
+not possess a lock of gold, he had one of purple, and
+it is known that on this lock depended equally his
+life and the fate of the Megarian Empire. To oblige
+Minos, the dutiful Scylla cut it off, and presented
+it to her lover.</p>
+
+<p>"All the history of Minos is true," writes the
+profound Bannier; "and this is attested by all antiquity."
+I believe it precisely as I do that of Terelas,
+but I am embarrassed between the profound
+Calmet and the profound Huet. Calmet is of opinion,
+that the adventure of the lock of Nisus presented
+to Minos, and that of Terelas given to Amphitryon,
+are obviously taken from the genuine history
+of Samson. Huet the demonstrator, on the
+contrary shows, that Minos is evidently Moses, as
+cutting out the letters <i>n</i> and <i>e</i>, one of these names
+is the anagram of the other.</p>
+
+<p>But, notwithstanding the demonstration of Huet,
+I am entirely on the side of the refined Dom Calmet,
+and for those who are of the opinion that all
+which relates to the locks of Terelas and of Nisus
+is connected with the hair of Samson. The most
+convincing of my triumphant reasons is, that without
+reference to the family of Terelas, with the metamorphoses
+of which I am unacquainted, it is certain
+that Scylla was changed into a lark, and her
+father Nisus into a sparrow-hawk. Now, Bochart
+being of opinion that a sparrow-hawk is called
+"neis" in Hebrew, I thence conclude, that the history
+of Terelas, Amphitryon, Nisus, and Minos is
+copied from the history of Samson.</p>
+
+<p>I am aware that a dreadful sect has arisen in
+our days, equally detested by God and man, who
+pretend that the Greek fables are more ancient than
+the Jewish history; that the Greeks never heard a
+word of Samson any more than of Adam, Eve, Cain,
+Abel, etc., which names are not cited by any Greek
+author. They assert, as we have modestly intimated&mdash;in
+the articles on "Bacchus" and "Jew"&mdash;that the
+Greeks could not possibly take anything from the
+Jews, but that the Jews might derive something
+from the Greeks.</p>
+
+<p>I answer with the doctor Hayet, the doctor Gauchat,
+the ex-Jesuit Patouillet, and the ex-Jesuit
+Paulian, that this is the most damnable heresy
+which ever issued from hell; that it was formerly
+anathematized in full parliament, on petition, and
+condemned in the report of the Sieur P.; and
+finally, that if indulgence be extended to those who
+support such frightful systems, there will be no more
+certainty in the world; but that Antichrist will
+quickly arrive, if he has not come already.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TESTES" id="TESTES"></a>TESTES.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>This word is scientific, and a little obscure, signifying
+small witnesses. Sixtus V., a Cordelier become
+pope, declared, by his letter of the 25th of
+June, 1587, to his nuncio in Spain, that he must
+unmarry all those who were not possessed of testicles.
+It seems by this order, which was executed
+by Philip II., that there were many husbands in
+Spain deprived of these two organs. But how could
+a man, who had been a Cordelier, be ignorant that the
+testicles of men are often hidden in the abdomen,
+and that they are equally if not more effective in
+that situation? We have beheld in France three
+brothers of the highest rank, one of whom possessed
+three, the other only one, while the third possessed
+no appearance of any, and yet was the most
+vigorous of the three.</p>
+
+<p>The angelic doctor, who was simply a Jacobin,
+decides that two testicles are "<i>de essentia matrimonii</i>"
+(of the essence of marriage); in which opinion
+he is followed by Ricardus, Scotus, Durandus,
+and Sylvius. If you are not able to obtain a sight
+of the pleadings of the advocate Sebastian Rouillard,
+in 1600, in favor of the testicles of his client,
+concealed in his abdomen, at least consult the dictionary
+of Bayle, at the article "Quellenec." You
+will there discover, that the wicked wife of the client
+of Sebastian Rouillard wished to render her marriage
+void, on the plea that her husband could not
+exhibit testicles. The defendant replied, that he had
+perfectly fulfilled his matrimonial duties, and offered
+the usual proof of a re-performance of them
+in full assembly. The jilt replied, that this trial was
+too offensive to her modesty, and was, moreover, superfluous,
+since the defendant was visibly deprived
+of testicles, and that messieurs of the assembly were
+fully aware that testicles are necessary to perfect
+consummation.</p>
+
+<p>I am unacquainted with the result of this process,
+but I suspect that her husband lost his cause. What
+induces me to think so is, that the same Parliament
+of Paris, on the 8th of January, 1665, issued a decree,
+asserting the necessity of two visible testicles,
+without which marriage was not to be contracted.
+Had there been any member in the assembly in the
+situation described, and reduced to the necessity of
+being a witness, he might have convinced the assembly
+that it decided without a due knowledge of
+circumstances. Pontas may be profitably consulted
+on testicles, as well as upon any other subject. He
+was a sub-penitentiary, who decided every sort of
+case, and who sometimes comes near to Sanchez.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>A word or two on hermaphrodites. A prejudice
+has for a long time crept into the Russian Church,
+that it is not lawful to say mass without testicles;
+or, at least, they must be hid in the officiator's
+pocket. This ancient idea was founded in the Council
+of Nice, who forbade the admission into orders
+of those who mutilated themselves. The example of
+Origen, and of certain enthusiasts, was the cause of
+this order, which was confirmed a second time in the
+Council of Aries.</p>
+
+<p>The Greek Church did not exclude from the altar
+those who had endured the operation of Origen
+against their own consent. The patriarchs of Constantinople,
+Nicetas, Ignatius, Photius, and Methodius,
+were eunuchs. At present this point of discipline
+seems undecided in the Catholic Church. The
+most general opinion, however, is, that in order to
+be ordained a priest, a eunuch will require a dispensation.</p>
+
+<p>The banishment of eunuchs from the service of
+the altar appears contrary to the purity and chastity
+which the service exacts; and certainly such of the
+priests as confess handsome women and girls would
+be exposed to less temptation. Opposing reasons of
+convenience and decorum have determined those
+who make these laws.</p>
+
+<p>In Leviticus, all corporeal defects are excluded
+from the service of the altar&mdash;the blind, the crooked,
+the maimed, the lame, the one-eyed, the leper, the
+scabby, long noses, and short noses. Eunuchs are
+not spoken of, as there were none among the Jews.
+Those who acted as eunuchs in the service of their
+kings, were foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>It has been demanded whether an animal, a man
+for example, can possess at once testicles and ovaries,
+or the glands which are taken for ovaries; in a
+word, the distinctive organs of both sexes? Can
+nature form veritable hermaphrodites, and can a
+hermaphrodite be rendered pregnant? I answer,
+that I know nothing about it, nor the ten-thousandth
+part of what is within the operation of nature. I
+believe, however, that Europe has never witnessed
+a genuine hermaphrodite, nor has it indeed produced
+elephants, zebras, giraffes, ostriches, and
+many more of the animals which inhabit Asia,
+Africa, and America. It is hazardous to assert, that
+because we never beheld a thing, it does not exist.</p>
+
+<p>Examine "Cheselden," page 34, and you will
+behold there a very good delineation of an animal
+man and woman&mdash;a negro and negress of Angola,
+which was brought to London in its infancy, and
+carefully examined by this celebrated surgeon, as
+much distinguished for his probity as his information.
+The plate is entitled "Members of an Hermaphrodite
+Negro, of the Age of Twenty-six Years,
+of both Sexes." They are not absolutely perfect,
+but they exhibit a strange mixture of the one and
+the other.</p>
+
+<p>Cheselden has frequently attested the truth of
+this prodigy, which, however, is possibly no such
+thing in some of the countries of Africa. The two
+sexes are not perfect in this instance; who can assure
+us, that other negroes, mulatto, or copper-colored
+individuals, are not absolutely male and female?
+It would be as reasonable to assert, that a
+perfect statue cannot exist, because we have witnessed
+none without defects. There are insects
+which possess both sexes; why may there not be
+human beings similarly endowed? I affirm nothing;
+God keep me from doing so. I only doubt.</p>
+
+<p>How many things belong to the animal man, in
+respect to which he must doubt, from his pineal
+gland to his spleen, the use of which is unknown;
+and from the principle of his thoughts and sensations
+to his animal spirits, of which everybody
+speaks, and which nobody ever saw or ever will see!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="THEISM" id="THEISM"></a>THEISM.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Theism is a religion diffused through all religions;
+it is a metal which mixes itself with all the
+others, the veins of which extend under ground to
+the four corners of the world. This mine is more
+openly worked in China; everywhere else it is hidden,
+and the secret is only in the hands of the adepts.</p>
+
+<p>There is no country where there are more of
+these adepts than in England. In the last century
+there were many atheists in that country, as well
+as in France and Italy. What the chancellor Bacon
+had said proved true to the letter, that a little philosophy
+makes a man an atheist, and that much philosophy
+leads to the knowledge of a God. When it
+was believed with Epicurus, that chance made
+everything, or with Aristotle, and even with several
+ancient theologians, that nothing was created
+but through corruption, and that by matter and
+motion alone the world goes on, then it was impossible
+to believe in a providence. But since
+nature has been looked into, which the ancients did
+not perceive at all; since it is observed that all is
+organized, that everything has its germ; since it
+is well known that a mushroom is the work of infinite
+wisdom, as well as all the worlds; then those
+who thought, adored in the countries where their
+ancestors had blasphemed. The physicians are become
+the heralds of providence; a catechist announces
+God to children, and a Newton demonstrates
+Him to the learned.</p>
+
+<p>Many persons ask whether theism, considered
+abstractedly, and without any religious ceremony,
+is in fact a religion? The answer is easy: he who
+recognizes only a creating God, he who views in
+God only a Being infinitely powerful, and who sees
+in His creatures only wonderful machines, is not
+religious towards Him any more than a European,
+admiring the king of China, would thereby profess
+allegiance to that prince. But he who thinks
+that God has deigned to place a relation between
+Himself and mankind; that He has made
+him free, capable of good and evil; that He has
+given all of them that good sense which is the instinct
+of man, and on which the law of nature is
+founded; such a one undoubtedly has a religion,
+and a much better religion than all those sects who
+are beyond the pale of our Church; for all these
+sects are false, and the law of nature is true. Thus,
+theism is good sense not yet instructed by revelation;
+and other religions are good sense perverted
+by superstition.</p>
+
+<p>All sects differ, because they come from men;
+morality is everywhere the same because it comes
+from God. It is asked why, out of five or six hundred
+sects, there have scarcely been any who have
+not spilled blood; and why the theists, who are
+everywhere so numerous, have never caused the
+least disturbance? It is because they are philosophers.
+Now philosophers may reason badly, but
+they never intrigue. Those who persecute a philosopher,
+under the pretext that his opinions may be
+dangerous to the public, are as absurd as those
+who are afraid that the study of algebra will
+raise the price of bread in the market; one must
+pity a thinking being who errs; the persecutor is
+frantic and horrible. We are all brethren; if one
+of my brothers, full of respect and filial love, inspired
+by the most fraternal charity, does not salute
+our common Father with the same ceremonies as
+I do, ought I to cut his throat and tear out his
+heart?</p>
+
+<p>What is a true theist? It is he who says to God:
+"I adore and serve You;" it is he who says to
+the Turk, to the Chinese, the Indian, and the Russian:
+"I love you." He doubts, perhaps, that
+Mahomet made a journey to the moon and put
+half of it in his pocket; he does not wish that after
+his death his wife should burn herself from devotion;
+he is sometimes tempted not to believe the
+story of the eleven thousand virgins, and that of
+St. Amable, whose hat and gloves were carried by
+a ray of the sun from Auvergne as far as Rome.</p>
+
+<p>But for all that he is a just man. Noah would have
+placed him in his ark, Numa Pompilius in his
+councils; he would have ascended the car of Zoroaster;
+he would have talked philosophy with the
+Platos, the Aristippuses, the Ciceros, the Atticuses&mdash;but
+would he not have drunk hemlock with Socrates?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="THEIST" id="THEIST"></a>THEIST.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The theist is a man firmly persuaded of the existence
+of a Supreme Being equally good and powerful,
+who has formed all extended, vegetating, sentient,
+and reflecting existences; who perpetuates
+their species, who punishes crimes without cruelty,
+and rewards virtuous actions with kindness.</p>
+
+<p>The theist does not know how God punishes,
+how He rewards, how He pardons; for he is not
+presumptuous enough to flatter himself that he understands
+how God acts; but he knows that God
+does act, and that He is just. The difficulties opposed
+to a providence do not stagger him in his
+faith, because they are only great difficulties, not
+proofs; he submits himself to that providence, although
+he only perceives some of its effects and
+some appearances; and judging of the things he
+does not see from those he does see, he thinks that
+this providence pervades all places and all ages.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 352px;">
+<a name="The_Death_of_Socrates" id="The_Death_of_Socrates"></a>
+<img src="images/img_02_socrates.jpg" width="352" alt="The Death of Socrates." title="" />
+<span class="caption_fig">The Death of Socrates.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>United in this principle with the rest of the universe,
+he does not join any of the sects, who all
+contradict themselves; his religion is the most
+ancient and the most extended; for the simple
+adoration of a God has preceded all the systems
+in the world. He speaks a language which all
+nations understand, while they are unable to understand
+each other's. He has brethren from Pekin
+to Cayenne, and he reckons all the wise his brothers.
+He believes that religion consists neither in the
+opinions of incomprehensible metaphysics, nor in
+vain decorations, but in adoration and justice. To
+do good&mdash;that is his worship; to submit oneself to
+God&mdash;that is his doctrine. The Mahometan cries
+out to him: "Take care of yourself, if you do not
+make the pilgrimage to Mecca." "Woe be to thee,"
+says a Franciscan, "if thou dost not make a journey
+to our Lady of Loretto." He laughs at Loretto
+and Mecca; but he succors the indigent and defends
+the oppressed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="THEOCRACY" id="THEOCRACY"></a>THEOCRACY.</h3>
+
+<h4><i>Government of God or Gods.</i></h4>
+
+
+<p>I deceive myself every day; but I suspect that
+all the nations who have cultivated the arts have
+lived under a theocracy. I always except the
+Chinese, who appear learned as soon as they became
+a nation. They were free from superstition
+directly China was a kingdom. It is a great pity,
+that having been raised so high at first, they should
+remain stationary at the degree they have so long
+occupied in the sciences. It would seem that they
+have received from nature an ample allowance of
+good sense, and a very small one of industry. Yet
+in other things their industry is displayed more than
+ours.</p>
+
+<p>The Japanese, their neighbors, of whose origin I
+know nothing whatever&mdash;for whose origin do we
+know?&mdash;were incontestably governed by a theocracy.
+The earliest well-ascertained sovereigns were
+the "<i>dairos</i>," the high priests of their gods; this
+theocracy is well established. These priests reigned
+despotically about eight hundred years. In the middle
+of our twelfth century it came to pass that a
+captain, an "<i>imperator</i>," a "<i>seogon</i>" shared their
+authority; and in our sixteenth century the captains
+seized the whole power, and kept it. The "<i>dairos</i>"
+have remained the heads of religion; they were
+kings&mdash;they are now only saints; they regulate
+festivals, they bestow sacred titles, but they cannot
+give a company of infantry.</p>
+
+<p>The Brahmins in India possessed for a long
+time the theocratical power; that is to say, they
+held the sovereign authority in the name of Brahma,
+the son of God; and even in their present humble
+condition they still believe their character indelible.
+These are the two principal among the certain
+theocracies.</p>
+
+<p>The priests of Chaldæa, Persia, Syria, Phœnicia,
+and Egypt, were so powerful, had so great a share
+in the government, and carried the censer so loftily
+above the sceptre, that empire may be said, among
+those nations, to nave been divided between theocracy
+and royalty.</p>
+
+<p>The government of Numa Pompilius was evidently
+theocratical. When a man says: "I give you
+laws furnished by the gods; it is not I, it is a
+god who speaks to you"&mdash;then it is God who is
+king, and he who talks thus is lieutenant-general.</p>
+
+<p>Among all the Celtic nations who had only elective
+chiefs, and not kings, the Druids and their
+sorceries governed everything. But I cannot venture
+to give the name of theocracy to the anarchy of
+these savages.</p>
+
+<p>The little Jewish nation does not deserve to be
+considered politically, except on account of the
+prodigious revolution that has occurred in the
+world, of which it was the very obscure and unconscious
+cause.</p>
+
+<p>Do but consider the history of this strange
+people. They have a conductor who undertakes to
+guide them in the name of his God to Phœnicia,
+which he calls Canaan. The way was direct and
+plain, from the country of Goshen as far as Tyre,
+from south to north; and there was no danger for
+six hundred and thirty thousand fighting men,
+having at their head a general like Moses, who, according
+to Flavius Josephus, had already vanquished
+an army of Ethiopians, and even an army
+of serpents.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of taking this short and easy route, he
+conducts them from Rameses to Baal-Sephon, in
+an opposite direction, right into the middle of
+Egypt, due south. He crosses the sea; he marches
+for forty years in the most frightful deserts, where
+there is not a single spring of water, or a tree, or a
+cultivated field&mdash;nothing but sand and dreary rocks.
+It is evident that God alone could make the Jews,
+by a miracle, take this route, and support them there
+by a succession of miracles.</p>
+
+<p>The Jewish government therefore was then a
+true theocracy. Moses, however, was never pontiff,
+and Aaron, who was pontiff, was never chief nor
+legislator. After that time we do not find any
+pontiff governing. Joshua, Jephthah, Samson, and
+the other chiefs of the people, except Elias and
+Samuel, were not priests. The Jewish republic, reduced
+to slavery so often, was anarchical rather than
+theocratical.</p>
+
+<p>Under the kings of Judah and Israel, it was but
+a long succession of assassinations and civil wars.
+These horrors were interrupted only by the entire
+extinction of ten tribes, afterwards by the enslavement
+of two others, and by the destruction of the
+city amidst famine and pestilence. This was not
+then divine government.</p>
+
+<p>When the Jewish slaves returned to Jerusalem,
+they were subdued by the kings of Persia, by the
+conqueror Alexandria and his successors. It appears
+that God did not then reign immediately over
+this nation, since a little before the invasion of
+Alexander, the pontiff John assassinated the priest
+Jesus, his brother, in the temple of Jerusalem, as
+Solomon had assassinated his brother Adonijah on
+the altar.</p>
+
+<p>The government was still less theocratical when
+Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, employed
+many of the Jews to punish those whom he regarded
+as rebels. He forbade them all, under pain
+of death, to circumcise their children; he compelled
+them to sacrifice swine in their temple, to
+burn the gates, to destroy the altar; and the whole
+enclosure was filled with thorns and brambles.</p>
+
+<p>Matthias rose against him at the head of some
+citizens, but he was not king. His son, Judas Maccabæus,
+taken for the Messiah, perished after
+glorious struggles. To these bloody contests succeeded
+civil wars. The men of Jerusalem destroyed
+Samaria, which the Romans subsequently rebuilt
+under the name of Sebasta.</p>
+
+<p>In this chaos of revolutions, Aristobulus, of the
+race of the Maccabees, and son of a high priest,
+made himself king, more than five hundred years
+after the destruction of Jerusalem. He signalized
+his reign like some Turkish sultans, by cutting his
+brother's throat, and causing his mother to be put
+to death. His successors followed his example,
+until the period when the Romans punished all these
+barbarians. Nothing in all this is theocratical.</p>
+
+<p>If anything affords an idea of theocracy, it must
+be granted that it is the papacy of Rome; it never
+announces itself but in the name of God, and its
+subjects live in peace. For a long time Thibet enjoyed
+the same advantages under the Grand Lama;
+but that is a gross error striving to imitate a sublime
+truth.</p>
+
+<p>The first Incas, by calling themselves descendants
+in a right line from the sun, established a
+theocracy; everything was done in the name of the
+sun. Theocracy ought to be universal; for every
+man, whether a prince or a boatman, should obey
+the natural and eternal laws which God has given
+him.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="THEODOSIUS" id="THEODOSIUS"></a>THEODOSIUS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Every prince who puts himself at the head of
+a party, and succeeds, is sure of being praised to
+all eternity, if the party lasts that time; and his adversaries
+may be assured that they will be treated by
+orators, poets, and preachers, as Titans who revolted
+against the gods. This is what happened to
+Octavius Augustus, when his good fortune made
+him defeat Brutus, Cassius, and Antony. It was
+the lot of Constantine, when Maxentius, the legitimate
+emperor, elected by the Roman senate and
+people, fell into the water and was drowned.</p>
+
+<p>Theodosius had the same advantage. Woe to
+the vanquished! blessed be the victorious!&mdash;that is
+the motto of mankind. Theodosius was a Spanish
+officer, the son of a Spanish soldier of fortune. As
+soon as he was emperor he persecuted the anti-consubstantialists.
+Judge of the applauses, benedictions,
+and pompous eulogies, on the part of the
+consubstantialists! Their adversaries scarcely subsist
+any longer; their complaints and clamors
+against the tyranny of Theodosius have perished
+with them, and the predominant party still lavishes
+on this prince the epithets of pious, just, clement,
+wise, and great.</p>
+
+<p>One day this pious and clement prince, who loved
+money to distraction, proposed laying a very heavy
+tax upon the city of Antioch, then the finest of Asia
+Minor. The people, in despair, having demanded
+a slight diminution, and not being able to obtain it,
+went so far as to break some statues, among which
+was one of the soldier, the emperor's father. St.
+John Chrysostom, or golden mouth, the priest and
+flatterer of Theodosius, failed not to call this action
+a detestable sacrilege, since Theodosius was the
+image of God, and his father was almost as sacred
+as himself. But if this Spaniard resembled God,
+he should have remembered that the Antiochians also
+resembled Him, and that men formed after the exemplar
+of all the gods existed before emperors.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 19em;">&mdash;<span class="small">OVID</span>, <i>Met.</i> i, b. 83.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Theodosius immediately sent a letter to the governor,
+with an order to apply the torture to the
+principal images of God who had taken part in this
+passing sedition; to make them perish under blows
+received from cords terminated with leaden balls;
+to burn some, and deliver others up to the sword.
+This was executed with all the punctuality of a
+governor who did his duty like a Christian, who
+paid his court well, and who would make his way
+there. The Orontes bore nothing but corpses to
+the sea for several days; after which, his gracious
+imperial majesty pardoned the Antiochians with
+his usual clemency, and doubled the tax.</p>
+
+<p>How did the emperor Julian act in the same city,
+when he had received a more personal and injurious
+outrage? It was not a paltry statue of his father
+which they defaced; it was to himself that the Antiochians
+addressed themselves, and against whom
+they composed the most violent satires. The philosophical
+emperor answered them by a light and ingenious
+satire. He took from them neither their
+lives nor their purses. He contented himself with
+having more wit than they had. This is the man
+whom St. Gregory Nazianzen and Theodoret, who
+were not of his communion, dare to calumniate so far
+as to say that he sacrificed women and children to
+the moon; while those who were of the communion
+of Theodosius have persisted to our day in copying
+one another, by saying in a hundred ways, that
+Theodosius was the most virtuous of men, and by
+wishing to make him a saint.</p>
+
+<p>We know well enough what was the mildness of
+this saint in the massacre of fifteen thousand of
+his subjects at Thessalonica. His panegyrists reduce
+the number of the murdered to seven or eight
+thousand, which is a very small number to them;
+but they elevate to the sky the tender piety of this
+good prince, who deprived himself of mass, as also
+that of his accomplice, the detestable Rufinus. I confess
+once more, that it was a great expiation, a great
+act of devotion, the not going to mass; but it restores
+not life to fifteen thousand innocents, slain
+in cold blood by an abominable perfidy. If a heretic
+was stained with such a crime, with what pleasure
+would all historians turn their boasting against
+him; with what colors would they paint him in
+the pulpits and college declamations!</p>
+
+<p>I will suppose that the prince of Parma entered
+Paris, after having forced our dear Henry IV. to
+raise the siege; I will suppose that Philip II. gave
+the throne of France to his Catholic daughter, and
+to the young Catholic duke of Guise; how many
+pens and voices would forever have anathematized
+Henry IV., and the Salic law! They would be
+both forgotten, and the Guises would be the heroes
+of the state and religion. Thus it is&mdash;applaud the
+prosperous and fly the miserable! "<i>Et cole felices,
+miseros fuge.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>If Hugh Capet dispossess the legitimate heir of
+Charlemagne, he becomes the root of a race of
+heroes. If he fails, he may be treated as the brother
+of St. Louis since treated Conradin and the duke
+of Austria, and with much more reason.</p>
+
+<p>Pepin rebels, dethrones the Merovingian race,
+and shuts his king in a cloister; but if he succeeds
+not, he mounts the scaffold. If Clovis, the first
+king of Belgic Gaul, is beaten in his invasion, he
+runs the risk of being condemned to the fangs of
+beasts, as one of his ancestors was by Constantine.
+Thus goes the world under the empire of fortune,
+which is nothing but necessity, insurmountable
+fatality. "<i>Fortuna sævo læta negotio.</i>" She makes
+us blindly play her terrible game, and we never see
+beneath the cards.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="THEOLOGIAN" id="THEOLOGIAN"></a>THEOLOGIAN.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>The theologian knows perfectly that, according
+to St. Thomas, angels are corporeal with relation to
+God; that the soul receives its being in the body;
+and that man has a vegetative, sensitive, and intellectual
+soul; that the soul is all in all, and all in
+every part; that it is the efficient and formal cause
+of the body; that it is the greatest in nobleness of
+form; that the appetite is a passive power; that
+archangels are the medium between angels and
+principalities; that baptism regenerates of itself
+and by chance; that the catechism is not a sacrament,
+but sacramental; that certainty springs from
+the cause and subject; that concupiscence is the
+appetite of sensitive delectation; that conscience is
+an act and not a power.</p>
+
+<p>The angel of the schools has written about four
+thousand fine pages in this style, and a shaven-crowned
+young man passes three years in filling his
+brain with this sublime knowledge; after which he
+receives the bonnet of a doctor of the Sorbonne, instead
+of going to Bedlam. If he is a man of quality,
+or the son of a rich man, or intriguing and fortunate,
+he becomes bishop, archbishop, cardinal, and
+pope.</p>
+
+<p>If he is poor and without credit, he becomes the
+chaplain of one of these people; it is he who
+preaches for them, who reads St. Thomas and
+Scotus for them, who makes commandments for
+them, and who in a council decides for them.</p>
+
+<p>The title of theologian is so great that the fathers
+of the Council of Trent give it to their cooks,
+"<i>cuoco celeste, gran theologo</i>." Their science is
+the first of sciences, their condition the first of conditions,
+and themselves the first of men; such the
+empire of true doctrine; so much does reason govern
+mankind!</p>
+
+<p>When a theologian has become&mdash;thanks to his
+arguments&mdash;either prince of the holy Roman Empire,
+archbishop of Toledo, or one of the seventy
+princes clothed in red, successors of the humble
+apostles, then the successors of Galen and Hippocrates
+are at his service. They were his equals
+when they studied in the same university; they
+had the same degrees, and received the same furred
+bonnet. Fortune changes all; and those who discovered
+the circulation of the blood, the lacteal
+veins, and the thoracic canal, are the servants of
+those who have learned what concomitant grace is,
+and have forgotten it.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>I knew a true theologian; he was master of the
+languages of the East, and was instructed as much
+as possible in the ancient rites of nations. The
+Brahmins, Chaldæans, Fire-worshippers, Sabeans,
+Syrians, and Egyptians, were as well known to him
+as the Jews; the several lessons of the Bible were
+familiar to him; and for thirty years he had tried
+to reconcile the gospels, and endeavored to make
+the fathers agree. He sought in what time precisely
+the creed attributed to the apostles was
+digested, and that which bears the name of Athanasius;
+how the sacraments were instituted one after
+the other; what was the difference between synaxis
+and mass; how the Christian Church was divided
+since its origin into different parties, and how the
+predominating society treated all the others as
+heretics. He sounded the depth of policy which
+always mixes with these quarrels; and he distinguished
+between policy and wisdom, between the
+pride which would subjugate minds and the desire
+of self-illumination, between zeal and fanaticism.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty of arranging in his head so many
+things, the nature of which is to be confounded,
+and of throwing a little light on so many clouds,
+often checked him; but as these researches were
+the duty of his profession, he gave himself up to
+them notwithstanding his distaste. He at length
+arrived at knowledge unknown to the greater part
+of his brethren: but the more learned he waxed,
+the more mistrustful he became of all that he knew.
+While he lived he was indulgent; and at his death,
+he confessed that he had spent his life uselessly.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="THUNDER" id="THUNDER"></a>THUNDER.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Vidi et crudeles dantem Salmonea pœnas</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Dum flammas Jovis et sonitus imitatur Olympia, etc.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">&mdash;VIRGIL, Æneid, b. vi, 1. 585.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Salmoneus suffering cruel pains I found,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">For imitating Jove, the rattling sound</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Of mimic thunder, and the glittering blaze</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Of pointed lightnings and their forked rays.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Those who invented and perfected artillery are
+so many other Salmoneuses. A cannon-ball of
+twenty-four pounds can make, and has often made,
+more ravage than an hundred thunder-claps; yet
+no cannoneer has ever been struck by Jupiter for
+imitating that which passes in the atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen that Polyphemus, in a piece of
+Euripides, boasts of making more noise, when he
+had supped well, than the thunder of Jupiter.
+Boileau, more honest than Polyphemus, says that
+another world astonishes him, and that he believes
+in the immortality of the soul, and that it is God
+who thunders:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Pour moi, qu'en santé même un autre monde étonne,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Qui crois l'âme immortelle, et que c'est Dieu qui tonne.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 19.5em;">&mdash;<span class="small">SAT</span>. i, line 161,162.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I know not why he is so astonished at another
+world, since all antiquity believed in it. Astonish
+was not the proper word; it was alarm. He believes
+that it is God who thunders; but he thunders
+only as he hails, as he rains, and as he produces
+fine weather&mdash;as he operates all, as he performs
+all. It is not because he is angry that he sends
+thunder and rain. The ancients paint Jupiter taking
+thunder, composed of three burning arrows, and
+hurling it at whomsoever he chose. Sound reason
+does not agree with these poetical ideas.</p>
+
+<p>Thunder is like everything else, the necessary
+effect of the laws of nature, prescribed by its author.
+It is merely a great electrical phenomenon. Franklin
+forces it to descend tranquilly on the earth; it fell
+on Professor Richmann as on rocks and churches;
+and if it struck Ajax Oileus, it was assuredly not
+because Minerva was irritated against him.</p>
+
+<p>If it had fallen on Cartouche, or the abbé Desfontaines,
+people would not have failed to say:</p>
+
+<p>"Behold how God punishes thieves and&mdash;." But
+it is a useful prejudice to make the sky fearful to
+the perverse. Thus all our tragic poets, when they
+would rhyme to "<i>poudre</i>" or "<i>resoudre</i>," invariably
+make use of "<i>foudre</i>"; and uniformly make "<i>tonnerre</i>"
+roll, when they would rhyme to "<i>terre</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Theseus, in "<i>Phèdre</i>," says to his son&mdash;act iv,
+scene 2:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Monstre, qu'à trop longtemps épargné le tonnerre,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Reste impur des brigands dont j'ai purgé la terre!</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Severus, in "<i>Polyeucte</i>," without even having occasion
+to rhyme, when he learns that his mistress is
+married, talks to Fabian, his friend, of a clap of
+thunder. He says elsewhere to the same Fabian&mdash;act
+iv, scene 6&mdash;that a new clap of "<i>foudre</i>" strikes
+upon his hope, and reduces it to "<i>poudre</i>":</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Qu'est ceci, Fabian, quel nouveau coup de foudre</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Tombe sur mon espoir, et le réduit en poudre?</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>A hope reduced to powder must astonish the pit!
+Lusignan, in "<i>Zaïre</i>," prays God that the thunder
+will burst on him alone:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que la foudre en éclats ne tombe que sur moi.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>If Tydeus consults the gods in the cave of a
+temple, the cave answers him only by great claps
+of thunder.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I've finally seen the thunder and "foudre"</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Reduce verses to cinders and rhymes into "poudre."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We must endeavor to thunder less frequently.</p>
+
+<p>I could never clearly comprehend the fable of
+Jupiter and Thunder, in La Fontaine&mdash;b. viii,
+fable 20.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Vulcain remplit ses fourneaux</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>De deux sortes de carreaux.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>L'un jamais ne se fourvoie,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et c'est celui que toujours</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>L'Olympe en corps nous envoie.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>L'autre s'écarte en son cours,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ce n'est qu'aux monts qu'il en coûte;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Bien souvent même il se perd;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et ce dernier en sa route</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Nous vient du seul Jupiter.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"Vulcan fills his furnaces with two sorts of thunderbolts.
+The one never wanders, and it is that
+which comes direct from Olympus. The other diverges
+in its route, and only spends itself on mountains;
+it is often even altogether dissipated. It is
+this last alone which proceeds from Jupiter."</p>
+
+<p>Was the subject of this fable, which La Fontaine
+put into bad verse so different from his general
+style, given to him? Would it infer that the ministers
+of Louis XIV. were inflexible, and that the
+king pardoned? Crébillon, in his academical discourse
+in foreign verse, says that Cardinal Fleury
+is a wise depositary, the eagle, using his thunder,
+yet the friend of peace:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Usant en citoyen du pouvoir arbitraire,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Aigle de Jupiter, mais ami de la paix,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Il gouverne la foudre, et ne tonne jamais.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>He says that Marshal Villars made it appear that
+he survived Malplaquet only to become more celebrated
+at Denain, and that with a clap of thunder
+Prince Eugene was vanquished:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Fit voir, qu'à Malplaquet il n'avait survécu</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que pour rendre à Denain sa valeur plus célèbre</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et qu'un foudre du moins Eugène était vaincu.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Thus the eagle Fleury governed thunder without
+thundering, and Eugene was vanquished by thunder.
+Here is quite enough of thunder.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>Horace, sometimes the debauched and sometimes
+the moral, has said&mdash;book i, ode 3&mdash;that our folly
+extends to heaven itself: "<i>CÅ“lum ipsum petimus
+stultitia.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>We can say at present that we carry our wisdom
+to heaven, if we may be permitted to call that blue
+and white mass of exhalations which causes winds,
+rain, snow, hail, and thunder, heaven. We have decomposed
+the thunderbolt, as Newton disentangled
+light. We have perceived that these thunderbolts,
+formerly borne by the eagle of Jupiter, are really
+only electric fire; that in short we can draw down
+thunder, conduct it, divide it, and render ourselves
+masters of it, as we make the rays of light pass
+through a prism, as we give course to the waters
+which fall from heaven, that is to say, from the
+height of half a league from our atmosphere. We
+plant a high fir with the branches lopped off, the top
+of which is covered with a cone of iron. The clouds
+which form thunder are electrical; their electricity
+is communicated to this cone, and a brass wire which
+is attached to it conducts the matter of thunder wherever
+we please. An ingenious physician calls this
+experiment the inoculation of thunder.</p>
+
+<p>It is true, that inoculation for the smallpox,
+which has preserved so many mortals, caused some
+to perish, to whom the smallpox had been inconsiderately
+given; and in like manner the inoculation of
+thunder ill-performed would be dangerous. There
+are great lords whom we can only approach with the
+greatest precaution, and thunder is of this number.
+We know that the mathematical professor Richmann
+was killed at St. Petersburg, in 1753, by a thunderbolt
+which he had drawn into his chamber: "<i>Arte sua
+periit.</i>" As he was a philosopher, a theological professor
+failed not to publish that he had been thunderstruck
+like Salmoneus, for having usurped the
+rights of God, and for wishing to hurl the thunder:
+but if the physician had directed the brass wire outside
+the house, and not into his pent-up chamber, he
+would not have shared the lot of Salmoneus, Ajax
+Oileus, the emperor Carus, the son of a French minister
+of state, and of several monks in the Pyrenees.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TOLERATION" id="TOLERATION"></a>TOLERATION.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>What is toleration? It is the appurtenance of
+humanity. We are all full of weakness and errors;
+let us mutually pardon each other our follies&mdash;it is
+the first law of nature.</p>
+
+<p>When, on the exchange of Amsterdam, of London,
+of Surat, or of Bassora, the Gueber, the Banian,
+the Jew, the Mahometan, the Chinese Deist, the
+Brahmin, the Christian of the Greek Church, the
+Roman Catholic Christian, the Protestant Christian,
+and the Quaker Christian, traffic together, they do
+not lift the poniard against each other, in order to
+gain souls for their religion. Why then have we
+been cutting one another's throats almost without
+interruption since the first Council of Nice?</p>
+
+<p>Constantine began by issuing an edict which allowed
+all religions, and ended by persecuting. Before
+him, tumults were excited against the Christians,
+only because they began to make a party in the
+state. The Romans permitted all kinds of worship,
+even those of the Jews, and of the Egyptians, for
+whom they had so much contempt. Why did Rome
+tolerate these religions? Because neither the Egyptians,
+nor even the Jews, aimed at exterminating
+the ancient religion of the empire, or ranged through
+land and sea for proselytes; they thought only of
+money-getting; but it is undeniable, that the Christians
+wished their own religion to be the dominant
+one. The Jews would not suffer the statue of Jupiter
+at Jerusalem, but the Christians wished it not to
+be in the capitol. St. Thomas had the candor to
+avow, that if the Christians did not dethrone the
+emperors, it was because they could not. Their
+opinion was, that the whole earth ought to be Christian.
+They were therefore necessarily enemies to the
+whole earth, until it was converted.</p>
+
+<p>Among themselves, they were the enemies of each
+other on all their points of controversy. Was it first
+of all necessary to regard Jesus Christ as God?
+Those who denied it were anathematized under the
+name of Ebionites, who themselves anathematized
+the adorers of Jesus.</p>
+
+<p>Did some among them wish all things to be in
+common, as it is pretended they were in the time of
+the apostles? Their adversaries called them Nicolaites,
+and accused them of the most infamous
+crimes. Did others profess a mystical devotion?
+They were termed Gnostics, and attacked with fury.
+Did Marcion dispute on the Trinity? He was treated
+as an idolater.</p>
+
+<p>Tertullian, Praxeas, Origen, Novatus, Novatian,
+Sabellius, Donatus, were all persecuted by their
+brethren, before Constantine; and scarcely had Constantine
+made the Christian religion the ruling one,
+when the Athanasians and the Eusebians tore each
+other to pieces; and from that time to our own days,
+the Christian Church has been deluged with blood.</p>
+
+<p>The Jewish people were, I confess, a very barbarous
+nation. They mercilessly cut the throats of
+all the inhabitants of an unfortunate little country
+upon which they had no more claim than they had
+upon Paris or London. However, when Naaman
+was cured of the leprosy by being plunged seven
+times in the Jordan&mdash;when, in order to testify his
+gratitude to Elisha, who had taught him the secret,
+he told him he would adore the god of the Jews
+from gratitude, he reserved to himself the liberty to
+adore also the god of his own king; he asked
+Elisha's permission to do so, and the prophet did not
+hesitate to grant it. The Jews adored their god,
+but they were never astonished that every nation
+had its own. They approved of Chemos having
+given a certain district to the Moabites, provided
+their god would give them one also. Jacob did not
+hesitate to marry the daughters of an idolater. Laban
+had his god, as Jacob had his. Such are the examples
+of toleration among the most intolerant and
+cruel people of antiquity. We have imitated them
+in their absurd passions, and not in their indulgence.</p>
+
+<p>It is clear that every private individual who persecutes
+a man, his brother, because he is not of the
+same opinion, is a monster. This admits of no difficulty.
+But the government, the magistrates, the
+princes!&mdash;how do they conduct themselves towards
+those who have a faith different from their own? If
+they are powerful foreigners, it is certain that a
+prince will form an alliance with them. The Most
+Christian Francis I. will league himself with the
+Mussulmans against the Most Catholic Charles V.
+Francis I. will give money to the Lutherans in Germany,
+to support them in their rebellion against their
+emperor; but he will commence, as usual, by having
+the Lutherans in his own country burned. He pays
+them in Saxony from policy; he burns them in Paris
+from policy. But what follows? Persecutions make
+proselytes. France will soon be filled with new Protestants.
+At first they will submit to be hanged;
+afterwards they will hang in their turn. There will
+be civil wars; then Saint Bartholomew will come;
+and this corner of the world will be worse than all
+that the ancients and moderns have ever said of hell.</p>
+
+<p>Blockheads, who have never been able to render
+a pure worship to the God who made you!
+Wretches, whom the example of the Noachides, the
+Chinese literati, the Parsees, and of all the wise, has
+not availed to guide! Monsters, who need superstitions,
+just as the gizzard of a raven needs carrion!
+We have already told you&mdash;and we have nothing
+else to say&mdash;if you have two religions among you,
+they will massacre each other; if you have thirty,
+they will live in peace. Look at the Grand Turk: he
+governs Guebers, Banians, Christians of the Greek
+Church, Nestorians, and Roman Catholics. The
+first who would excite a tumult is empaled; and all
+is tranquil.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>Of all religions, the Christian ought doubtless
+to inspire the most toleration, although hitherto the
+Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.
+Jesus, having deigned to be born in poverty and lowliness
+like his brethren, never condescended to practise
+the art of writing. The Jews had a law written
+with the greatest minuteness, and we have not a
+single line from the hand of Jesus. The apostles
+were divided on many points. St. Peter and St.
+Barnabas ate forbidden meats with the new stranger
+Christians, and abstained from them with the Jewish
+Christians. St. Paul reproached them with this
+conduct; and this same St. Paul, the Pharisee, the
+disciple of the Pharisee Gamaliel&mdash;this same St.
+Paul, who had persecuted the Christians with fury,
+and who after breaking with Gamaliel became a
+Christian himself&mdash;nevertheless, went afterwards
+to sacrifice in the temple of Jerusalem, during his
+apostolic vacation. For eight days he observed publicly
+all the ceremonies of the Jewish law which he
+had renounced; he even added devotions and purifications
+which were superabundant; he completely
+Judaized. The greatest apostle of the Christians
+did, for eight days, the very things for which men
+are condemned to the stake among a large portion
+of Christian nations.</p>
+
+<p>Theudas and Judas were called Messiahs, before
+Jesus: Dositheus, Simon, Menander, called themselves
+Messiahs, after Jesus. From the first century
+of the Church, and before even the name of
+Christian was known, there were a score of sects
+in Judæa.</p>
+
+<p>The contemplative Gnostics, the Dositheans, the
+Cerintheins, existed before the disciples of Jesus had
+taken the name of Christians. There were soon
+thirty churches, each of which belonged to a different
+society; and by the close of the first century
+thirty sects of Christians might be reckoned in Asia
+Minor, in Syria, in Alexandria, and even in Rome.</p>
+
+<p>All these sects, despised by the Roman government,
+and concealed in their obscurity, nevertheless
+persecuted each other in the hiding holes where they
+lurked; that is to say, they reproached one another.
+This is all they could do in their abject condition:
+they were almost wholly composed of the dregs of
+the people.</p>
+
+<p>When at length some Christians had embraced
+the dogmas of Plato, and mingled a little philosophy
+with their religion, which they separated from the
+Jewish, they insensibly became more considerable,
+but were always divided into many sects, without
+there ever having been a time when the Christian
+church was reunited. It took its origin in the midst
+of the divisions of the Jews, the Samaritans, the
+Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenians, the Judaites,
+the disciples of John, and the Therapeutae. It
+was divided in its infancy; it was divided even amid
+the persecutions it sometimes endured under the
+first emperors. The martyr was often regarded by
+his brethren as an apostate; and the Carpocratian
+Christian expired under the sword of the Roman
+executioner, excommunicated by the Ebionite Christian,
+which Ebionite was anathematized by the Sabellian.</p>
+
+<p>This horrible discord, lasting for so many centuries,
+is a very striking lesson that we ought mutually
+to forgive each other's errors: discord is the
+great evil of the human species, and toleration is
+its only remedy.</p>
+
+<p>There is nobody who does not assent to this truth,
+whether meditating coolly in his closet, or examining
+the truth peaceably with his friends. Why,
+then, do the same men who in private admit charity,
+beneficence, and justice, oppose themselves in public
+so furiously against these virtues? Why!&mdash;it
+is because their interest is their god; because they
+sacrifice all to that monster whom they adore.</p>
+
+<p>I possess dignity and power, which ignorance and
+credulity have founded. I trample on the heads of
+men prostrated at my feet; if they should rise and
+look me in the face, I am lost; they must, therefore,
+be kept bound down to the earth with chains of iron.</p>
+
+<p>Thus have men reasoned, whom ages of fanaticism
+have rendered powerful. They have other persons
+in power under them, and these latter again
+have underlings, who enrich themselves with the
+spoils of the poor man, fatten themselves with his
+blood, and laugh at his imbecility. They detest all
+toleration, as contractors enriched at the expense of
+the public are afraid to render their accounts, and
+as tyrants dread the name of liberty. To crown all,
+in short, they encourage fanatics who cry aloud:
+Respect the absurdities of my master; tremble, pay,
+and be silent.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the practice for a long time in a great
+part of the world; but now, when so many sects
+are balanced by their power, what side must we take
+among them? Every sect, we know, is a mere title
+of error; while there is no sect of geometricians, of
+algebraists, of arithmeticians; because all the propositions
+of geometry, algebra, and arithmetic, are
+true. In all the other sciences, one may be mistaken.
+What Thomist or Scotist theologian can venture to
+assert seriously that he goes on sure grounds?</p>
+
+<p>If there is any sect which reminds one of the time
+of the first Christians, it is undeniably that of the
+Quakers. The apostles received the spirit. The
+Quakers receive the spirit. The apostles and disciples
+spoke three or four at once in the assembly
+in the third story; the Quakers do as much on the
+ground floor. Women were permitted to preach,
+according to St. Paul, and they were forbidden according
+to the same St. Paul: the Quakeresses
+preach by virtue of the first permission.</p>
+
+<p>The apostles and disciples swore by yea and nay;
+the Quakers will not swear in any other form.
+There was no rank, no difference of dress, among
+apostles and disciples; the Quakers have sleeves
+without buttons, and are all clothed alike. Jesus
+Christ baptized none of his apostles; the Quakers
+are never baptized.</p>
+
+<p>It would be easy to push the parallel farther; it
+would be still easier to demonstrate how much the
+Christian religion of our day differs from the religion
+which Jesus practised. Jesus was a Jew, and
+we are not Jews. Jesus abstained from pork, because
+it is uncleanly, and from rabbit, because it
+ruminates and its foot is not cloven; we fearlessly
+eat pork, because it is not uncleanly for us, and we
+eat rabbit which has the cloven foot and does not
+ruminate.</p>
+
+<p>Jesus was circumcised, and we retain our foreskin.
+Jesus ate the Paschal lamb with lettuce, He
+celebrated the feast of the tabernacles; and we do
+nothing of this. He observed the Sabbath, and we
+have changed it; He sacrificed, and we never sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>Jesus always concealed the mystery of His incarnation
+and His dignity; He never said He was
+equal to God. St. Paul says expressly, in his Epistle
+to the Hebrews, that God created Jesus inferior
+to the angels; and in spite of St. Paul's words,
+Jesus was acknowledged as God at the Council of
+Nice.</p>
+
+<p>Jesus has not given the pope either the march
+of Ancona or the duchy of Spoleto; and, notwithstanding,
+the pope possesses them by divine right.
+Jesus did not make a sacrament either of marriage
+or of deaconry; and, with us, marriage and deaconry
+are sacraments. If we would attend closely
+to the fact, the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman religion
+is, in all its ceremonies and in all its dogma,
+the reverse of the religion of Jesus!</p>
+
+<p>But what! must we all Judaize, because Jesus
+Judaized all His life? If it were allowed to reason
+logically in matters of religion, it is clear that we
+ought all to become Jews, since Jesus Christ, our
+Saviour, was born a Jew, lived a Jew and died a
+Jew, and since He expressly said, that He accomplished
+and fulfilled the Jewish religion. But it is
+still more clear that we ought mutually to tolerate
+one another, because we are all weak, irrational, and
+subject to change and error. A reed prostrated by
+the wind in the mire&mdash;ought it to say to a neighboring
+reed placed in a contrary direction: Creep after
+my fashion, wretch, or I will present a request for
+you to be seized and burned?</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION III.</h5>
+
+<p>My friends, when we have preached toleration in
+prose and in verse, in some of our pulpits, and in
+all our societies&mdash;when we have made these true
+human voices resound in the organs of our churches
+-we have done something for nature, we have reestablished
+humanity in its rights; there will no
+longer be an ex-Jesuit, or an ex-Jansenist, who dares
+to say, I am intolerant.</p>
+
+<p>There will always be barbarians and cheats who
+will foment intolerance; but they will not avow it&mdash;and
+that is something gained. Let us always bear
+in mind, my friends, let us repeat&mdash;for we must repeat,
+for fear it should be forgotten&mdash;the words of
+the bishop of Soissons, not Languet, but Fitzjames-Stuart,
+in his mandate of 1757: "We ought to regard
+the Turks as our brethren."</p>
+
+<p>Let us consider, that throughout English America,
+which constitutes nearly the fourth part of the
+known world, entire liberty of conscience is established;
+and provided a man believes in a God, every
+religion is well received: notwithstanding which,
+commerce flourishes and population increases. Let
+us always reflect, that the first law of the Empire
+of Russia, which is greater than the Roman Empire,
+is the toleration of every sect.</p>
+
+<p>The Turkish Empire, and the Persian, always allowed
+the same indulgence. Mahomet II., when he
+took Constantinople, did not force the Greeks to
+abandon their religion, although he looked on them
+as idolaters. Every Greek father of a family got
+off for five or six crowns a year. Many prebends
+and bishoprics were preserved for them; and even
+at this day the Turkish sultan makes canons and
+bishops, without the pope having ever made an
+imam or a mollah.</p>
+
+<p>My friends, there are only some monks, and some
+Protestants as barbarous as those monks, who are
+still intolerant. We have been so infected with this
+furor, that in our voyages of long duration, we have
+carried it to China, to Tonquin, and Japan. We
+have introduced the plague to those beautiful climes.
+The most indulgent of mankind have been taught
+by us to be the most inflexible. We said to them at
+the outset, in return for their kind welcome&mdash;Know
+that we alone on the earth are in the right, and
+that we ought to be masters everywhere. Then they
+drove us away forever. This lesson, which has cost
+seas of blood, ought to correct us.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION IV.</h5>
+
+<p>The author of the preceding article is a worthy
+man who would sup with a Quaker, an Anabaptist,
+a Socinian, a Mussulman, etc. <i>I</i> would push this
+civility farther; I would say to my brother the Turk&mdash;Let
+us eat together a good hen with rice, invoking
+Allah; your religion seems to me very respectable;
+you adore but one God; you are obliged to give the
+fortieth part of your revenue every day in alms, and
+to be reconciled with your enemies on the day of the
+Bairam. Our bigots, who calumniate the world,
+have said a hundred times, that your religion succeeded
+only because it was wholly sensual. They
+have lied, poor fellows! Your religion is very austere;
+it commands prayer five times a day; it imposes
+the most rigorous fast; it denies you the wine
+and the liquors which our spiritual directors encourage;
+and if it permits only four wives to those
+who can support them&mdash;which are very few&mdash;it condemns
+by this restriction the Jewish incontinence,
+which allowed eighteen wives to the homicide David,
+and seven hundred, without reckoning concubines,
+to Solomon, the assassin of his brother.</p>
+
+<p>I will say to my brother the Chinese: Let us sup
+together without ceremony, for I dislike grimaces;
+but I like your law, the wisest of all, and perhaps the
+most ancient. I will say nearly as much to my
+brother the Indian.</p>
+
+<p>But what shall I say to my brother the Jew?
+Shall I invite him to supper? Yes, on condition
+that, during the repast, Balaam's ass does not take
+it into its head to bray; that Ezekiel does not mix
+his dinner with our supper; that a fish does not
+swallow up one of the guests, and keep him three
+days in his belly; that a serpent does not join in the
+conversation, in order to seduce my wife; that a
+prophet does not think proper to sleep with her, as
+the worthy man, Hosea, did for five francs and a
+bushel of barley; above all, that no Jew parades
+through my house to the sound of the trumpet,
+causes the walls to fall down, and cuts the throats
+of myself, my father, my mother, my wife, my children,
+my cat and my dog, according to the ancient
+practice of the Jews. Come, my friends, let us have
+peace, and say our <i>benedicite</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TOPHET" id="TOPHET"></a>TOPHET.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Tophet was, and is still, a precipice near Jerusalem,
+in the valley of Hinnom, which is a frightful
+place, abounding only in flints. It was in this dreary
+solitude that the Jews immolated their children to
+their god, whom they then called Moloch; for we
+have observed, that they always bestowed a foreign
+name on their god. <i>Shadai</i> was Syrian; <i>Adonai</i>,
+Phœnician; <i>Jehovah</i> was also Phœnician; <i>Eloi</i>,
+<i>Elohim</i>, <i>Eloa</i>, Chaldæan; and in the same manner,
+the names of all their angels were Chaldæan or Persian.
+This we have remarked very particularly.</p>
+
+<p>All these different names equally signify "the
+lord," in the jargon of the petty nations bordering
+on Palestine. The word <i>Moloch</i> is evidently derived
+from <i>Melk</i>, which was the same as <i>Melcom</i> or
+<i>Melcon</i>, the divinity of the thousand women in the
+seraglio of Solomon; to-wit, seven hundred wives
+and three hundred concubines. All these names signify
+"lord": each village had its lord.</p>
+
+<p>Some sages pretend that Moloch was more particularly
+the god of fire; and that it was on that account
+the Jews burned their children in the hollow
+of the idol of this same Moloch. It was a large
+statue of copper, rendered as hideous as the Jews
+could make it. They heated the statue red hot, in
+a large fire, although they had very little fuel, and
+cast their children into the belly of this god, as our
+cooks cast living lobsters into the boiling water of
+their cauldrons. Such were the ancient Celts and
+Tudescans, when they burned children in honor of
+Teutates and Hirminsule. Such the Gallic virtue,
+and the German freedom!</p>
+
+<p>Jeremiah wished, in vain, to detach the Jewish
+people from this diabolical worship. In vain he reproaches
+them with having built a sort of temple
+to Moloch in this abominable valley. "They have
+built high places in Tophet, which is in the valley of
+the children of Hinnom, in order to pass their sons
+and daughters through the fire."</p>
+
+<p>The Jews paid so much the less regard to the reproaches
+of Jeremiah, as they fiercely accused him
+of having sold himself to the king of Babylon; of
+having uniformly prophesied in his favor; and of
+having betrayed his country. In short, he suffered
+the punishment of a traitor; he was stoned to death.</p>
+
+<p>The Book of Kings informs us, that Solomon
+built a temple to Moloch, but it does not say that it
+was in the valley of Tophet, but in the vicinity upon
+the Mount of Olives. The situation was fine, if
+anything can be called fine in the frightful neighborhood
+of Jerusalem.</p>
+
+<p>Some commentators pretend, that Ahaz, king
+of Judah, burned his son in honor of Moloch, and
+that King Manasses was guilty of the same barbarity.
+Other commentators suppose, that these kings
+of the chosen people of God were content with casting
+their children into the flames, but that they were
+not burned to death. I wish that it may have been
+so; but it is very difficult for a child not to be burned
+when placed on a lighted pile.</p>
+
+<p>This valley of Tophet was the "Clamart" of
+Paris, the place where they deposited all the rubbish
+and carrion of the city. It was in this valley
+that they cast loose the scape-goat; it was the place
+in which the bodies of the two criminals were cast
+who suffered with the Son of God; but our Saviour
+did not permit His body, which was given up to the
+executioner, to be cast in the highway of the valley
+of Tophet, according to custom. It is true, that He
+might have risen again in Tophet, as well as in Calvary;
+but a good Jew, named Joseph, a native of
+Arimathea, who had prepared a sepulchre for himself
+on Mount Calvary, placed the body of the Saviour
+therein, according to the testimony of St. Matthew.
+No one was allowed to be buried in the
+towns; even the tomb of David was not in Jerusalem.</p>
+
+<p>Joseph of Arimathea was rich&mdash;"a certain rich
+man of Arimathea,"&mdash;that the prophecy of Isaiah
+might be fulfilled: "And he made his grave with
+the wicked, and with the rich in his death."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TORTURE" id="TORTURE"></a>TORTURE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Though there are few articles of jurisprudence
+in these honest alphabetical reflections, we must,
+however, say a word or two on torture, otherwise
+called "the question"; which is a strange manner of
+questioning men. They were not, however, the simply
+curious who invented it; there is every appearance,
+that this part of our legislation owes its
+first origin to a highwayman. Most of these gentlemen
+are still in the habit of screwing thumbs,
+burning feet, and questioning, by various torments,
+those who refuse to tell them where they have put
+their money.</p>
+
+<p>Conquerors having succeeded these thieves,
+found the invention very useful to their interests;
+they made use of it when they suspected that there
+were bad designs against them: as, for example,
+that of seeking freedom was a crime of high treason,
+human and divine. The accomplices must be known;
+and to accomplish it, those who were suspected were
+made to suffer a thousand deaths, because, according
+to the jurisprudence of these primitive heroes,
+whoever was suspected of merely having a disrespectful
+opinion of them, was worthy of death. As
+soon as they have thus merited death, it signifies little
+whether they had frightful torments for several
+days, and even weeks previously&mdash;a practice which
+savors, I know not how, of the Divinity. Providence
+sometimes puts us to the torture by employing
+the stone, gravel, gout, scrofula, leprosy, smallpox;
+by tearing the entrails, by convulsions of the
+nerves,-and other executors of the vengeance of
+Providence.</p>
+
+<p>Now, as the first despots were, in the eyes of
+their courtiers, images of the Divinity, they imitated
+it as much as they could. What is very singular is,
+that the question, or torture, is never spoken of in
+the Jewish books. It is a great pity that so mild,
+honest, and compassionate a nation knew not this
+method of discovering the truth. In my opinion,
+the reason is, that they had no need of it. God always
+made it known to them as to His cherished
+people. Sometimes they played at dice to discover
+the truth, and the suspected culprit always had
+double sixes. Sometimes they went to the high
+priest, who immediately consulted God by the urim
+and thummim. Sometimes they addressed themselves
+to the seer and prophet; and you may believe
+that the seer and prophet discovered the most hidden
+things, as well as the urim and thummim of the
+high priest. The people of God were not reduced,
+like ourselves, to interrogating and conjecturing;
+and therefore torture could not be in use among
+them, which was the only thing wanting to complete
+the manners of that holy people. The Romans
+inflicted torture on slaves alone, but slaves were not
+considered as men. Neither is there any appearance
+that a counsellor of the criminal court regards
+as one of his fellow-creatures, a man who is brought
+to him wan, pale, distorted, with sunken eyes, long
+and dirty beard, covered with vermin with which
+he has been tormented in a dungeon. He gives himself
+the pleasure of applying to him the major and
+minor torture, in the presence of a surgeon, who
+counts his pulse until he is in danger of death, after
+which they recommence; and as the comedy of the
+"Plaideurs" pleasantly says, "that serves to pass
+away an hour or two."</p>
+
+<p>The grave magistrate, who for money has bought
+the right of making these experiments on his neighbor,
+relates to his wife, at dinner, that which has
+passed in the morning. The first time, madam shudders
+at it; the second, she takes some pleasure in
+it, because, after all, women are curious; and afterwards,
+the first thing she says when he enters is:
+"My dear, have you tortured anybody to-day?" The
+French, who are considered, I know not why, a very
+humane people, are astonished that the English, who
+have had the inhumanity to take all Canada from
+us, have renounced the pleasure of putting the question.</p>
+
+<p>When the Chevalier de Barre, the grandson of
+a lieutenant-general of the army, a young man of
+much sense and great expectations, but possessing
+all the giddiness of unbridled youth, was convicted
+of having sung impious songs, and even of having
+dared to pass before a procession of Capuchins without
+taking his hat off, the judges of Abbeville, men
+comparable to Roman senators, ordered not only
+that his tongue should be torn out, that his hands
+should be torn off, and his body burned at a slow
+fire, but they further applied the torture, to know
+precisely how many songs he had sung, and how
+many processions he had seen with his hat on his
+head.</p>
+
+<p>It was not in the thirteenth or fourteenth century
+that this affair happened; it was in the eighteenth.
+Foreign nations judge of France by its spectacles,
+romances, and pretty verses; by opera girls who
+have very sweet manners, by opera dancers who posssess
+grace; by Mademoiselle Clairon, who declaims
+delightfully. They know not that, under all, there
+is not a more cruel nation than the French. The
+Russians were considered barbarians in 1700; this
+is only the year 1769; yet an empress has just given
+to this great state laws which would do honor to
+Minos, Numa, or Solon, if they had had intelligence
+enough to invent them. The most remarkable is universal
+tolerance; the second is the abolition of torture.
+Justice and humanity have guided her pen;
+she has reformed all. Woe to a nation which, being
+more civilized, is still led by ancient atrocious customs!
+"Why should we change our jurisprudence?"
+say we. "Europe is indebted to us for cooks, tailors,
+and wig-makers; therefore, our laws are good."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TRANSUBSTANTIATION" id="TRANSUBSTANTIATION"></a>TRANSUBSTANTIATION.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Protestants, and above all, philosophical Protestants,
+regard transubstantiation as the most signal
+proof of extreme impudence in monks, and of imbecility
+in laymen. They hold no terms with this
+belief, which they call monstrous, and assert that
+it is impossible for a man of good sense ever to have
+believed in it. It is, say they, so absurd, so contrary
+to every physical law, and so contradictory, it would
+be a sort of annihilation of God, to suppose Him capable
+of such inconsistency. Not only a god in a
+wafer, but a god in the place of a wafer; a thousand
+crumbs of bread become in an instant so many gods,
+which an innumerable crowd of gods make only one
+god. Whiteness without a white substance; roundness
+without rotundity of body; wine changed into
+blood, retaining the taste of wine; bread changed
+into flesh and into fibres, still preserving the taste
+of bread&mdash;all this inspires such a degree of horror
+and contempt in the enemies of the Catholic, apostolic,
+and Roman religion, that it sometimes insensibly
+verges into rage.</p>
+
+<p>Their horror augments when they are told that,
+in Catholic countries, are monks who rise from a bed
+of impurity, and with unwashed hands make gods
+by hundreds; who eat and drink these gods, and
+reduce them to the usual consequences of such an
+operation. But when they reflect that this superstition,
+a thousand times more absurd and sacrilegious
+than those of Egypt, produces for an Italian
+priest from fifteen to twenty millions of revenue,
+and the domination of a country containing a hundred
+thousand square leagues, they are ready to
+march with their arms in their hands and drive
+away this priest from the palace of Cæsar. I know
+not if I shall be of the party, because I love peace;
+but when established at Rome, I will certainly pay
+them a visit.&mdash;By M. GUILLAUME, a Protestant
+minister.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TRINITY" id="TRINITY"></a>TRINITY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The first among the Westerns who spoke of the
+Trinity was Timæus of Locri, in his "Soul of the
+World." First came the Idea, the perpetual model
+or archetype of all things engendered; that is to
+say, the first "Word," the internal and intelligible
+"Word." Afterwards, the unformed mode, the second
+word, or the word spoken. Lastly, the "son,"
+or sensible world, or the spirit of the world. These
+three qualities constitute the entire world, which
+world is the Son of God "Monogenes." He has a
+soul and possessed reason; he is "<i>empsukos, logikos</i>."</p>
+
+<p>God, wishing to make a very fine God, has engendered
+one: "<i>Touton epoie theon genaton.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult clearly to comprehend the system
+of Timæus, which he perhaps derived from the
+Egyptians or Brahmins. I know not whether it was
+well understood in his time. It is like decayed and
+rusty medals, the motto of which is effaced: it could
+be read formerly; at present, we put what construction
+we please upon it.</p>
+
+<p>It does not appear that this sublime balderdash
+made much progress until the time of Plato. It was
+buried in oblivion, and Plato raised it up. He constructed
+his edifice in the air, but on the model of
+Timæus. He admits three divine essences: the
+Father, the Supreme Creator, the Parent of other
+gods, is the first essence. The second is the visible
+God, the minister of the invisible one, the "Word,"
+the understanding, the great spirit. The third is the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>It is true, that Plato sometimes says quite different
+and even quite contrary things; it is the privilege
+of the Greek philosophers; and Plato has made
+use of his right more than any of the ancients or
+moderns. A Greek wind wafted these philosophical
+clouds from Athens to Alexandria, a town prodigiously
+infatuated with two things&mdash;money and
+chimeras. There were Jews in Alexandria who,
+having made their fortunes, turned philosophers.</p>
+
+<p>Metaphysics have this advantage, that they require
+no very troublesome preliminaries. We may
+know all about them without having learned anything;
+and a little to those who have at once subtle
+and very false minds, will go a great way. Philo
+the Jew was a philosopher of this kind; he was contemporary
+with Jesus Christ; but he has the misfortune
+of not knowing Him any more than Josephus
+the historian. These two considerable men,
+employed in the chaos of affairs of state, were too far
+distant from the dawning light. This Philo had quite
+a metaphysical, allegorical, mystical head. It was he
+who said that God must have formed the world in
+six days; he formed it, according to Zoroaster, in
+six times, "because three is the half of six and two
+is the third of it; and this number is male and female."</p>
+
+<p>This same man, infatuated with the ideas of
+Plato, says, in speaking of drunkenness, that God
+and wisdom married, and that wisdom was delivered
+of a well-beloved son, which son is the world.
+He calls the angels the words of God, and the world
+the word of God&mdash;"<i>logon tou Theou</i>."</p>
+
+<p>As to Flavius Josephus, he was a man of war
+who had never heard of the logos, and who held
+to the dogmas of the Pharisees, who were solely
+attached to their traditions. From the Jews of Alexandria,
+this Platonic philosophy proceeded to
+those of Jerusalem. Soon, all the school of Alexandria,
+which was the only learned one, was Platonic;
+and Christians who philosophized, no longer spoke
+of anything but the <i>logos</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We know that it was in disputes of that time the
+same as in those of the present. To one badly understood
+passage, was tacked another unintelligible
+one to which it had no relation. A second was inferred
+from them, a third was falsified, and they
+fabricated whole books which they attributed to authors
+respected by the multitude. We have seen a
+hundred examples of it in the article on
+"Apocrypha."</p>
+
+<p>Dear reader, for heaven's sake cast your eyes on
+this passage of Clement the Alexandrian: "When
+Plato says, that it is difficult to know the Father of
+the universe, he demonstrates by that, not only that
+the world has been engendered, but that it has been
+engendered as the Son of God."</p>
+
+<p>Do you understand these logomachies, these equivoques?
+Do you see the least light in this chaos
+of obscure expressions? Oh, Locke! Locke! come
+and define these terms. In all these Platonic disputes
+I believe there was not a single one understood.
+They distinguished two words, the "<i>logos
+endiathetos</i>"&mdash;the word in thought, and the word
+produced&mdash;"<i>logos prophorikos.</i>" They had the eternity
+from one word, and the prolation, the emanation
+from another word.</p>
+
+<p>The book of "Apostolic Constitutions," an ancient
+monument of fraud, but also an ancient depository
+of these obscure times, expresses itself thus:
+"The Father, who is anterior to all generation, all
+commencement, having created all by His only Son,
+has engendered this Son without a medium, by His
+will and His power."</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards Origen advanced, that the Holy
+Spirit was created by the Son, by the word. After
+that came Eusebius of Cæsarea, who taught that the
+spirit paraclete is neither of Father nor Son. The
+advocate Lactantius flourished in that time.</p>
+
+<p>"The Son of God," says he, "is the word, as the
+other angels are the spirits of God. The word is a
+spirit uttered by a significant voice, the spirit proceeding
+from the nose, and the word from the
+mouth. It follows, that there is a difference
+between the Son of God and the other angels;
+those being emanated like tacit and silent spirits;
+while the Son, being a spirit proceeding from the
+mouth, possesses sound and voice to preach to the
+people."</p>
+
+<p>It must be confessed, that Lactantius pleaded his
+cause in a strange manner. It was truly reasoning
+a la Plato, and very powerful reasoning. It was
+about this time that, among the very violent disputes
+on the Trinity, this famous verse was inserted
+in the First Epistle of St. John: "There are three
+that bear witness in earth&mdash;the word or spirit, the
+water, and the blood; and these three are one."</p>
+
+<p>Those who pretend that this verse is truly St.
+John's, are much more embarrassed than those who
+deny it; for they must explain it. St. Augustine
+says, that the spirit signifies the Father, water the
+Holy Ghost, and by blood is meant the Word. This
+explanation is fine, but it still leaves a little confusion.</p>
+
+<p>St Irenæus goes much farther; he says, that Rahab,
+the prostitute of Jericho, in concealing three
+spies of the people of God, concealed the Father,
+Son, and Holy Ghost; which is strong, but not consistent.
+On the other hand, the great and learned
+Origen confounds us in a different way. The following
+is one of many of his passages: "The Son
+is as much below the Father as He and the Holy
+Ghost are above the most noble creatures."</p>
+
+<p>What can be said after that? How can we help
+confessing, with grief, that nobody understands it?
+How can we help confessing, that from the first&mdash;from
+the primitive Christians, the Ebionites, those
+men so mortified and so pious, who always revered
+Jesus though they believed Him to be the son of
+Joseph&mdash;until the great controversy of Athanasius,
+the Platonism of the Trinity was always a subject
+of quarrels. A supreme judge was absolutely required
+to decide, and he was at last found in the
+Council of Nice, which council afterwards produced
+new factions and wars.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">EXPLANATION OF THE TRINITY, ACCORDING TO ABAUZIT.</p>
+
+<p>"We can speak with exactness of the manner in
+which the union of God and Jesus Christ exists, only
+by relating the three opinions which exist on this
+subject, and by making reflections on each of them.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Opinion of the Orthodox.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The first opinion is that of the orthodox. They
+establish, 1st&mdash;A distinction of three persons in
+the divine essence, before the coming of Jesus Christ
+into the world; 2nd&mdash;That the second of these persons
+is united to the human nature of Jesus Christ;
+3rd&mdash;That the union is so strict, that by it Jesus
+Christ is God; that we can attribute to Him the
+creation of the world, and all divine perfections;
+and that we can adore Him with a supreme worship.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Opinion of the Unitarians.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The second is that of the Unitarians. Not conceiving
+the distinction of persons in the Divinity,
+they establish, 1st&mdash;That divinity is united to the
+human nature of Jesus Christ; 2nd&mdash;That this union
+is such that we can say, that Jesus Christ is God;
+that we can attribute to Him the creation of the
+world, and all divine perfections, and adore Him
+with a supreme worship.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Opinion of the Socinians.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The third opinion is that of the Socinians, who,
+like the Unitarians, not conceiving any distinction
+of persons in the Divinity, establish, 1st&mdash;That divinity
+is united to the human nature of Jesus Christ;
+2nd&mdash;That this union is very strict; 3rd&mdash;That it
+is not such that we can call Jesus Christ God, or
+attribute divine perfections and the creation to Him,
+or adore Him with a supreme worship; and they
+think that all the passages of Scripture may be explained
+without admitting any of these things.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Reflections on the First Opinion.</i></p>
+
+<p>"In the distinction which is made of three persons
+in the Divinity, we either retain the common
+idea of persons, or we do not. If we retain the
+common idea of persons, we establish three gods;
+that is certain. If we do not establish the ordinary
+idea of three persons, it is no longer any more than
+a distinction of properties; which agrees with the
+second opinion. Or if we will not allow that it
+is a distinction of persons, properly speaking, we
+establish a distinction of which we have no idea.
+There is no appearance, that to imagine a distinction
+in God, of which we can have no idea, Scripture
+would put men in danger of becoming idolaters,
+by multiplying the Divinity. It is besides surprising
+that this distinction of persons having always existed,
+it should only be since the coming of Jesus
+Christ that it has been revealed, and that it is necessary
+to know them.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Reflections on the Second Opinion.</i></p>
+
+<p>"There is not, indeed, so great danger of precipitating
+men into idolatry in the second opinion
+as in the first; but it must be confessed that it is not
+entirely exempt from it. Indeed, as by the nature of
+the union which it establishes between divinity and
+the human nature of Jesus Christ, we can call him
+God and worship him, but there are two objects of
+adoration&mdash;Jesus Christ and God. I confess it may
+be said, that it is God whom we should worship in
+Jesus Christ; but who knows not the extreme inclination
+which men have to change invisible objects
+of worship into objects which fall under the
+senses, or at least under the imagination?&mdash;an inclination
+which they will here gratify without the
+least scruple, since they say that divinity is personally
+united to the humanity of Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p class="caption">"<i>Reflections on the Third Opinion.</i></p>
+
+<p>"The third opinion, besides being very simple,
+and conformable to the ideas of reason, is not subject
+to any similar danger of throwing men into
+idolatry. Though by this opinion Jesus Christ can
+be no more than a simple man, it need not be feared
+that by that He can be confounded with prophets or
+saints of the first order. In this sentiment there
+always remains a difference between them and Him.
+As we can imagine, almost to the utmost, the degrees
+of union of divinity with humanity, so we can
+conceive, that in particular the union of divinity with
+Jesus Christ has so high a degree of knowledge,
+power, felicity, perfection, and dignity, that there
+is always an immense distance between him and the
+greatest prophets. It remains only to see whether
+this opinion can agree with Scripture, and whether
+it be true that the title of God, divine perfections,
+creation, and supreme worship, are not attributed
+to Jesus Christ in the Gospels."</p>
+
+<p>It was for the philosopher Abauzit to see all
+this. For myself I submit, with my heart and mouth
+and pen, to all that the Catholic church has decided,
+and to all that it may decide on any other such
+dogma. I will add but one word more on the Trinity,
+which is a decision of Calvin's that we have on
+this mystery. This is it:</p>
+
+<p>"In case any person prove heterodox, and scruples
+using the words Trinity and Person, we believe
+not that this can be a reason for rejecting him; we
+should support him without driving him from the
+Church, and without exposing him to any censure
+as a heretic."</p>
+
+<p>It was after such a solemn declaration as this,
+that John Calvin&mdash;the aforesaid Calvin, the son of a
+cooper of Noyon&mdash;caused Michael Servetus to be
+burned at Geneva by a slow fire with green fagots.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TRUTH" id="TRUTH"></a>TRUTH.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Pilate therefore said unto him, 'Art thou a king
+then?' Jesus answered, 'Thou sayest that I am a
+king. To this end was I born, and for this cause
+came I into the world, that I should bear witness
+unto truth: every one that is of the truth heareth
+my voice.' Pilate saith unto him, 'What is truth?'
+and when he had said this, he went out," etc.&mdash;St.
+John, chap. xviii.</p>
+
+<p>It is a pity for mankind that Pilate went out,
+without hearing the reply: we should then have
+known what truth is. Pilate was not very curious.
+The accused, brought before him, told him that he
+was a king, that he was born to be a king, and he informs
+himself not how this can be. He was supreme
+judge in the name of Cæsar, he had the power of the
+sword, his duty was to penetrate into the meaning
+of these words. He should have said: Tell me
+what you understand by being king? how are you
+born to be king, and to bear witness unto the truth?
+It is said that you can only arrive at the ear of
+kings with difficulty; I, who am a judge, have always
+had extreme trouble in reaching it. Inform
+me, while your enemies cry outside against you;
+and you will render me the greatest service ever
+rendered to a judge. I would rather learn to know
+the truth, than condescend to the tumultuous demand
+of the Jews, who wish me to hang you.</p>
+
+<p>We doubtless dare not pretend to guess what the
+Author of all truth would have said to Pilate.
+Would he have said: "Truth is an abstract word
+which most men use indifferently in their books and
+judgments, for error and falsehood"? This definition
+would be wonderfully convenient to all makers
+of systems. Thus the word wisdom is often taken
+for folly, and wit for nonsense. Humanly speaking,
+let us define truth, to better understand that which is
+declared&mdash;such as it is.</p>
+
+<p>Suppose that six months only had been taken to
+teach Pilate the truths of logic he would doubtless
+have made this concluding syllogism: A man's life
+should not have been taken away who has only
+preached a good doctrine; now he who is brought
+before me, according even to his enemies, has often
+preached an excellent doctrine; therefore, he should
+not be punished with death.</p>
+
+<p>He might also have inferred this other argument:
+My duty is to dissipate the riots of a seditious people,
+who demand the death of a man without reason
+or juridical form; now such are the Jews on this
+occasion; therefore I should send them away, and
+break up their assembly. We take for granted that
+Pilate knew arithmetic; we will not therefore speak
+of these kinds of truths.</p>
+
+<p>As to mathematical truths, I believe that he
+would have required three years at least before he
+would have been acquainted with transcendent
+geometry. The truths of physics, combined with
+those of geometry, would have required more than
+four years. We generally consume six years in
+studying theology; I ask twelve for Pilate, considering
+that he was a Pagan, and that six years
+would not have been too many to root out all his
+old errors, and six more to put him in a state worthy
+to receive the bonnet of a doctor. If Pilate had a
+well organized head, I would only have demanded
+two years to teach him metaphysical truths, and as
+these truths are necessarily united with those of
+morality, I flatter myself that in less than nine
+years Pilate would have become a truly learned and
+perfectly honest man.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Historical Truths.</i></p>
+
+<p>I should afterwards have said to Pilate: Historical
+truths are but probabilities. If you have
+fought at the battle of Philippi, it is to you a truth,
+which you know by intuition, by sentiment; but to
+us who live near the desert of Syria, it is merely
+a probable thing, which we know by hearsay. How
+can we, from report, form a persuasion equal to that
+of a man, who having seen the thing, can boast of
+feeling a kind of certainty?</p>
+
+<p>He who has heard the thing told by twelve
+thousand ocular witnesses, has only twelve thousand
+probabilities equal to one strong one, which is not
+equal to certainty. If you have the thing from only
+one of these witnesses, you are sure of nothing&mdash;you
+must doubt. If the witness is dead, you must
+doubt still more, for you can enlighten yourself no
+further. If from several deceased witnesses, you
+are in the same state. If from those to whom the
+witnesses have only spoken, the doubt is still augmented.
+From generation to generation the doubt
+augments, and the probability diminishes, and the
+probability is soon reduced to zero.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Of the Degrees of Truth, According to Which the
+Accused are Judged.</i></p>
+
+<p>We can be made accountable to justice either for
+deeds or words. If for deeds, they must be as certain
+as will be the punishment to which you will condemn
+the prisoner; if, for example, you have but
+twenty probabilities against him, these twenty probabilities
+cannot equal the certainty of his death.
+If you would have as many probabilities as are required
+to be sure that you shed not innocent blood,
+they must be the fruit of the unanimous evidences
+of witnesses who have no interest in deposing.
+From this concourse of probabilities, a strong
+opinion will be formed, which will serve to excuse
+your judgment; but as you will never have entire
+certainty, you cannot flatter yourself with knowing
+the truth perfectly. Consequently you should always
+lean towards mercy rather than towards rigor. If
+it concerns only facts, from which neither manslaughter
+nor mutilation have resulted, it is evident
+that you should neither cause the accused to be put
+to death nor mutilated.</p>
+
+<p>If the question is only of words, it is still more
+evident that you should not cause one of your fellow-creatures
+to be hanged for the manner in which
+he has used his tongue; for all the words in the
+world being but agitated air, at least if they have
+not caused murder, it is ridiculous to condemn a
+man to death for having agitated the air. Put all
+the idle words which have been uttered into one
+scale, and into the other the blood of a man, and
+the blood will weigh down. Now, if he who has
+been brought before you is only accused of some
+words which his enemies have taken in a certain
+sense, all that you can do is to repeat these words to
+him, which he will explain in the sense he intended;
+but to deliver an innocent man to the most cruel and
+ignominious punishment, for words that his enemies
+do not comprehend, is too barbarous. You make the
+life of a man of no more importance than that of a
+lizard; and too many judges resemble you.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TYRANNY" id="TYRANNY"></a>TYRANNY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no
+laws but his caprice; who takes the property of his
+subjects, and afterwards enlists them to go and take
+that of his neighbors. We have none of these
+tyrants in Europe. We distinguish the tyranny of
+one and that of many. The tyranny of several is
+that of a body which would invade the rights of
+other bodies, and which would exercise despotism
+by favor of laws which it corrupts. Neither are
+there any tyrannies of this kind in Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Under what tyranny should you like best to live?
+Under none; but if I must choose, I should less
+detest the tyranny of a single one, than that of many.
+A despot has always some good moments; an assemblage
+of despots, never. If a tyrant does me
+an injustice, I can disarm him through his mistress,
+his confessor, or his page; but a company of tyrants
+is inaccessible to all seductions. When they are not
+unjust, they are harsh, and they never dispense
+favors. If I have but one despot, I am at liberty to set
+myself against a wall when I see him pass, to prostrate
+myself, or to strike my forehead against the
+ground, according to the custom of the country;
+but if there is a company of a hundred tyrants, I
+am liable to repeat this ceremony a hundred times
+a day, which is very tiresome to those who have
+not supple joints. If I have a farm in the neighborhood
+of one of our lords, I am crushed; if I complain
+against a relative of the relatives of any one
+of our lords, I am ruined. How must I act? I fear
+that in this world we are reduced to being either
+the anvil or the hammer; happy at least is he who
+escapes this alternative.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="TYRANT" id="TYRANT"></a>TYRANT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Tyrannos," formerly "he who had contrived to
+draw the principal authority to himself"; as "king,"
+"Basileus," signified "he who was charged with relating
+affairs to the senate." The acceptations of
+words change with time. "Idiot" at first meant only
+a hermit, an isolated man; in time it became synonymous
+with fool. At present the name of "tyrant" is
+given to a usurper, or to a king who commits violent
+and unjust actions.</p>
+
+<p>Cromwell was a tyrant of both these kinds. A
+citizen who usurps the supreme authority, who in
+spite of all laws suppresses the house of peers, is
+without doubt a usurper. A general who cuts the
+throat of a king, his prisoner of war, at once violates
+what is called the laws of nations, and those of
+humanity.</p>
+
+<p>Charles I. was not a tyrant, though the victorious
+faction gave him that name; he was, it is said, obstinate,
+weak, and ill-advised. I will not be certain,
+for I did not know him; but I am certain that he
+was very unfortunate.</p>
+
+<p>Henry VIII. was a tyrant in his government as
+in his family, and alike covered with the blood of
+two innocent wives, and that of the most virtuous
+citizens; he merits the execrations of posterity.
+Yet he was not punished, and Charles I. died on a
+scaffold.</p>
+
+<p>Elizabeth committed an act of tyranny, and her
+parliament one of infamous weakness, in causing
+Queen Mary Stuart to be assassinated by an executioner;
+but in the rest of her government she was
+not tyrannical; she was clever and manœuvering,
+but prudent and strong.</p>
+
+<p>Richard III. was a barbarous tyrant; but he was
+punished. Pope Alexander VI. was a more execrable
+tyrant than any of these, and he was fortunate
+in all his undertakings. Christian II. was as wicked
+a tyrant as Alexander VI., and was punished, but
+not sufficiently so.</p>
+
+<p>If we were to reckon Turkish, Greek, and Roman
+tyrants, we should find as many fortunate as the
+contrary. When I say fortunate, I speak according
+to the vulgar prejudice, the ordinary acceptation of
+the word, according to appearances; for that they
+can be really happy, that their minds can be contented
+and tranquil, appears to me to be impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Constantine the Great was evidently a tyrant in
+a double sense. In the north of England he usurped
+the crown of the Roman Empire, at the head of
+some foreign legions, notwithstanding all the laws,
+and in spite of the senate and the people, who legitimately
+elected Maxentius. He passed all his life
+in crime, voluptuousness, fraud, and imposture. He
+was not punished, but was he happy? God knows;
+but I know that his subjects were not so.</p>
+
+<p>The great Theodosius was the most abominable
+of tyrants, when, under pretence of giving a feast,
+he caused fifteen thousand Roman citizens to be
+murdered in the circus, with their wives and children,
+and when he added to this horror the facetiousness
+of passing some months without going to tire
+himself at high mass. This Theodosius has almost
+been placed in the ranks of the blessed; but I should
+be very sorry if he were happy on earth. In all
+cases it would be well to assure tyrants that they
+will never be happy in this world, as it is well to
+make our stewards and cooks believe that they will
+be eternally damned if they rob us.</p>
+
+<p>The tyrants of the Lower Greek Empire were
+almost all dethroned or assassinated by one another.
+All these great offenders were by turns the executioners
+of human and divine vengeance. Among
+the Turkish tyrants, we see as many deposed as
+those who die in possession of the throne. With
+regard to subaltern tyrants, or the lower order of
+monsters who burden their masters with the execration
+with which they are loaded, the number of these
+Hamans, these Sejanuses, is infinite.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="UNIVERSITY" id="UNIVERSITY"></a>UNIVERSITY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Du Boulay, in his "History of the University of
+Paris," adopts the old, uncertain, not to say fabulous
+tradition, which carries its origin to the time
+of Charlemagne. It is true that such is the opinion
+of Guagin and of Gilles de Beauvais; but in addition
+to the fact that contemporary authors, as Eginhard,
+Almon, Reginon, and Sigebert make no mention of
+this establishment; Pasquier and Du Tillet expressly
+assert that it commenced in the twelfth century
+under the reigns of Louis the Young and of
+Philip Augustus.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the first statutes of the university were
+drawn up by Robert de Coceon, legate of the pope,
+in the year 1215, which proves that it received from
+the first the form it retains at present; because a
+bull of Gregory IX., of the year 1231, makes mention
+of masters of theology, masters of law, physicians,
+and lastly, artists. The name "university"
+originated in the supposition that these four bodies,
+termed faculties, constituted a universality of studies;
+that is to say, that they comprehended all which
+could be cultivated.</p>
+
+<p>The popes, by the means of these establishments,
+of the decisions of which they made themselves
+judges, became masters of the instruction of the
+people; and the same spirit which made the permission
+granted to the members of the Parliament
+of Paris to inter themselves in the habits of Cordeliers,
+be regarded as an especial favor&mdash;as related
+in the article on "Quête"&mdash;dictated the decrees
+pronounced by that sovereign court against all
+who dared to oppose an unintelligible scholastic system,
+which, according to the confession of the abbé
+Triteme, was only a false science that had vitiated
+religion. In fact, that which Constantine had only
+insinuated with respect to the Cumæan Sibyl, has
+been expressly asserted of Aristotle. Cardinal Pallavicini
+supported the maxim of I know not what
+monk Paul, who pleasantly observed, that without
+Aristotle the Church would have been deficient in
+some of her articles of faith.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the celebrated Ramus, having composed
+two works in which he opposed the doctrine of
+Aristotle taught in the universities, would have been
+sacrificed to the fury of his ignorant rival, had not
+King Francis I. referred to his own judgment the
+process commenced in Paris between Ramus and
+Anthony Govea. One of the principal complaints
+against Ramus related to the manner in which he
+taught his disciples to pronounce the letter Q.</p>
+
+<p>Ramus was not the only disputant persecuted for
+these grave absurdities. In the year 1624, the Parliament
+of Paris banished from its district three
+persons who wished to maintain theses openly
+against Aristotle. Every person was forbidden to
+sell or to circulate the propositions contained in
+these theses, on pain of corporal punishment, or to
+teach any opinion against ancient and approved
+authors, on pain of death.</p>
+
+<p>The remonstrances of the Sorbonne, in consequence
+of which the same parliament issued a decision
+against the chemists, in the year 1629, testified
+that it was impossible to impeach the principles
+of Aristotle, without at the same time impeaching
+those of the scholastic theology received by the
+Church. In the meantime, the faculty having
+issued, in 1566, a decree forbidding the use of
+antimony, and the parliament having confirmed the
+said decree, Paumier de Caen, a great chemist and
+celebrated physician of Paris, for not conforming
+to it, was degraded in the year 1609. Lastly, antimony
+being afterwards inserted in the books of
+medicines, composed by order of the faculty in the
+year 1637, the said faculty permitted the use of it
+in 1666, a century after having forbidden it, which
+decision the parliament confirmed by a new decree.
+Thus the university followed the example of the
+Church, which finally proscribed the doctrine of
+Arius, under pain of death, and approved the word
+"consubstantial," which it had previously condemned&mdash;as
+we have seen in the article on "Councils."</p>
+
+<p>What we have observed of the university of
+Paris, may serve to give us an idea of other universities,
+of which it was regarded as the model.
+In fact, in imitation of it, eighty universities passed
+the same decree as the Sorbonne in the fourteenth
+century; to wit, that when the cap of a doctor was
+bestowed, the candidate should be made to swear
+that he will maintain the immaculate conception of
+the Virgin Mary; which he did not regard, however,
+as an article of faith, but as a Catholic and
+pious opinion.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="USAGES" id="USAGES"></a>USAGES.</h3>
+
+<h4><i>Contemptible Customs do not Always Imply a
+Contemptible Nation.</i></h4>
+
+<p>There are cases in which we must not judge of
+a nation by its usages and popular superstitions.
+Suppose Cæsar, after having conquered Egypt,
+wishing to make commerce flourish in the Roman
+Empire, had sent an embassy to China by the port
+of Arsinoë, the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The
+emperor Yventi, the first of the name, then reigned
+in China; the Chinese annals represent him to us
+as a very wise and learned prince. After receiving
+the ambassadors of Cæsar with all Chinese politeness,
+he secretly informs himself through his interpreter
+of the customs, the usages, sciences, and
+religion of the Roman people, as celebrated in the
+West as the Chinese people are in the East. He
+first learns that their priests have regulated their
+years in so absurd a manner, that the sun has
+already entered the celestial signs of Spring when
+the Romans celebrate the first feasts of Winter. He
+learns that this nation at a great expense supports
+a college of priests, who know exactly the time in
+which they must embark, and when they should
+give battle, by the inspection of a bullock's liver, or
+the manner in which fowls eat grain. This sacred
+science was formerly taught to the Romans by a
+little god named Tages, who came out of the earth
+in Tuscany. These people adore a supreme and
+only God, whom they always call a very great and
+very good God; yet they have built a temple to a
+courtesan named Flora, and the good women of
+Rome have almost all little gods&mdash;Penates&mdash;in their
+houses, about four or five inches high. One of
+these little divinities is the goddess of bosoms,
+another that of posteriors. They have even a divinity
+whom they call the god <i>Pet</i>. The emperor
+Yventi began to laugh; and the tribunals of Nankin
+at first think with him that the Roman ambassadors
+are knaves or impostors, who have taken the title
+of envoys of the Roman Republic; but as the emperor
+is as just as he is polite, he has particular
+conversations with them. He then learns that the
+Roman priests were very ignorant, but that Cæsar
+actually reformed the calendar. They confess to
+him that the college of augurs was established in
+the time of their early barbarity, that they have
+allowed this ridiculous institution, become dear to
+a people long ignorant, to exist, but that all sensible
+people laugh at the augurs; that Cæsar never consulted
+them; that, according to the account of a
+very great man named Cato, no augur could ever
+look another in the face without laughing; and
+finally, that Cicero, the greatest orator and best
+philosopher of Rome, wrote a little work against
+the augurs, entitled "Of Divination," in which he
+delivers up to eternal ridicule all the predictions
+and sorceries of soothsayers with which the earth
+is infatuated. The emperor of China has the curiosity
+to read this book of Cicero; the interpreters
+translate it; and in consequence he admires at once
+the book and the Roman Republic.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VAMPIRES" id="VAMPIRES"></a>VAMPIRES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>What! is it in our eighteenth century that vampires
+exist? Is it after the reigns of Locke, Shaftesbury,
+Trenchard, and Collins? Is it under those of
+d'Alembert, Diderot, St. Lambert, and Duclos that
+we believe in vampires, and that the reverend father
+Dom Calmet, Benedictine priest of the congregation
+of St. Vannes, and St. Hidulphe, abbé of Senon&mdash;an
+abbey of a hundred thousand livres a year, in
+the neighborhood of two other abbeys of the same
+revenue&mdash;has printed and reprinted the history of
+vampires, with the approbation of the Sorbonne,
+signed Marcilli?</p>
+
+<p>These vampires were corpses, who went out of
+their graves at night to suck the blood of the living,
+either at their throats or stomachs, after which they
+returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked
+waned, grew pale, and fell into consumption; while
+the sucking corpses grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed
+an excellent appetite. It was in Poland, Hungary,
+Silesia, Moravia, Austria, and Lorraine, that the
+dead made this good cheer. We never heard a word
+of vampires in London, nor even at Paris. I confess
+that in both these cities there were stock-jobbers,
+brokers, and men of business, who sucked the blood
+of the people in broad daylight; but they were not
+dead, though corrupted. These true suckers lived
+not in cemeteries, but in very agreeable palaces.</p>
+
+<p>Who would believe that we derive the idea of
+vampires from Greece? Not from the Greece of
+Alexander, Aristotle, Plato, Epicurus, and Demosthenes;
+but from Christian Greece, unfortunately
+schismatic. For a long time Christians of the Greek
+rite have imagined that the bodies of Christians of
+the Latin church, buried in Greece, do not decay,
+because they are excommunicated. This is precisely
+the contrary to that of us Christians of the
+Latin church, who believe that corpses which do not
+corrupt are marked with the seal of eternal beatitude.
+So much so, indeed, that when we have paid
+a hundred thousand crowns to Rome, to give them a
+saint's brevet, we adore them with the worship of
+"<i>dulia</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The Greeks are persuaded that these dead are
+sorcerers; they call them "<i>broucolacas</i>," or "<i>vroucolacas</i>,"
+according as they pronounce the second
+letter of the alphabet. The Greek corpses go into
+houses to suck the blood of little children, to eat
+the supper of the fathers and mothers, drink their
+wine, and break all the furniture. They can only
+be put to rights by burning them when they are
+caught. But the precaution must be taken of not
+putting them into the fire until after their hearts are
+torn out, which must be burned separately. The
+celebrated Tournefort, sent into the Levant by Louis
+XIV., as well as so many other virtuosi, was witness
+of all the acts attributed to one of these "<i>broucolacas</i>,"
+and to this ceremony.</p>
+
+<p>After slander, nothing is communicated more
+promptly than superstition, fanaticism, sorcery, and
+tales of those raised from the dead. There were
+"<i>broucolacas</i>" in Wallachia, Moldavia, and some
+among the Polanders, who are of the Romish
+church. This superstition being absent, they acquired
+it, and it went through all the east of Germany.
+Nothing was spoken of but vampires, from
+1730 to 1735; they were laid in wait for, their
+hearts torn out and burned. They resembled the
+ancient martyrs&mdash;the more they were burned, the
+more they abounded.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, Calmet became their historian, and
+treated vampires as he treated the Old and New
+Testaments, by relating faithfully all that has been
+said before him.</p>
+
+<p>The most curious things, in my opinion, were the
+verbal suits juridically conducted, concerning the
+dead who went from their tombs to suck the little
+boys and girls of their neighborhood. Calmet relates
+that in Hungary two officers, delegated by the
+emperor Charles VI., assisted by the bailiff of the
+place and an executioner, held an inquest on a vampire,
+who had been dead six weeks, and who had
+sucked all the neighborhood. They found him in
+his coffin, fresh and jolly, with his eyes open, and
+asking for food. The bailiff passed his sentence;
+the executioner tore out the vampire's heart, and
+burned it, after which he feasted no more.</p>
+
+<p>Who, after this, dares to doubt of the resuscitated
+dead, with which our ancient legends are filled, and
+of all the miracles related by Bollandus, and the sincere
+and revered Dom Ruinart? You will find
+stories of vampires in the "Jewish Letters" of
+d'Argens, whom the Jesuit authors of the "Journal
+of Trévoux" have accused of believing nothing. It
+should be observed how they triumph in the history
+of the vampire of Hungary; how they thanked God
+and the Virgin for having at last converted this
+poor d'Argens, the chamberlain of a king who
+did not believe in vampires. "Behold," said they,
+"this famous unbeliever, who dared to throw doubts
+on the appearance of the angel to the Holy Virgin;
+on the star which conducted the magi; on the cure
+of the possessed; on the immersion of two thousand
+swine in a lake; on an eclipse of the sun at the
+full moon; on the resurrection of the dead who
+walked in Jerusalem&mdash;his heart is softened, his mind
+is enlightened; he believes in vampires."</p>
+
+<p>There no longer remained any question, but to
+examine whether all these dead were raised by their
+own virtue, by the power of God, or by that of the
+devil. Several great theologians of Lorraine, of
+Moravia, and Hungary, displayed their opinions
+and their science. They related all that St. Augustine,
+St. Ambrose, and so many other saints, had
+most unintelligibly said on the living and the dead.
+They related all the miracles of St. Stephen, which
+are found in the seventh book of the works of St.
+Augustine. This is one of the most curious of
+them: In the city of Aubzal in Africa, a young man
+was crushed to death by the ruins of a wall; the
+widow immediately invoked St. Stephen, to whom
+she was very much devoted. St. Stephen raised
+him. He was asked what he had seen in the other
+world. "Sirs," said he, "when my soul quitted my
+body, it met an infinity of souls, who asked it more
+questions about this world than you do of the other.
+I went I know not whither, when I met St. Stephen,
+who said to me, 'Give back that which thou hast received.'
+I answered, 'What should I give back? you
+have given me nothing.' He repeated three times,
+'Give back that which thou hast received.' Then I
+comprehended that he spoke of the credo; I repeated
+my credo to him, and suddenly he raised me." Above
+all, they quoted the stories related by Sulpicius
+Severus, in the life of St. Martin. They proved that
+St. Martin, with some others, raised up a condemned
+soul.</p>
+
+<p>But all these stories, however true they might
+be, had nothing in common with the vampires who
+rose to suck the blood of their neighbors, and afterwards
+replaced themselves in their coffins. They
+looked if they could not find in the Old Testament,
+or in the mythology, some vampire whom they
+could quote as an example; but they found none.
+It was proved, however, that the dead drank and
+ate, since in so many ancient nations food was
+placed on their tombs.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty was to know whether it was the
+soul or the body of the dead which ate. It was decided
+that it was both. Delicate and unsubstantial
+things, as sweetmeats, whipped cream, and melting
+fruits, were for the soul, and roast beef and the like
+were for the body.</p>
+
+<p>The kings of Persia were, said they, the first who
+caused themselves to be served with viands after
+their death. Almost all the kings of the present
+day imitate them; but they are the monks who eat
+their dinner and supper, and drink their wine.
+Thus, properly speaking, kings are not vampires;
+the true vampires are the monks, who eat at the expense
+of both kings and people.</p>
+
+<p>It is very true that St. Stanislaus, who had
+bought a considerable estate from a Polish gentleman,
+and not paid him for it, being brought before
+King Boleslaus by his heirs, raised up the gentleman;
+but this was solely to get quittance. It is not said
+that he gave a single glass of wine to the seller, who
+returned to the other world without having eaten
+or drunk. They afterwards treated of the grand
+question, whether a vampire could be absolved who
+died excommunicated, which comes more to the
+point.</p>
+
+<p>I am not profound enough in theology to give
+my opinion on this subject; but I would willingly
+be for absolution, because in all doubtful affairs we
+should take the mildest part. "<i>Odia restringenda,
+favores ampliandi</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The result of all this is that a great part of Europe
+has been infested with vampires for five or six
+years, and that there are now no more; that we
+have had Convulsionaries in France for twenty
+years, and that we have them no longer; that we
+have had demoniacs for seventeen hundred years,
+but have them no longer; that the dead have been
+raised ever since the days of Hippolytus, but that
+they are raised no longer; and, lastly, that we have
+had Jesuits in Spain, Portugal, France, and the two
+Sicilies, but that we have them no longer.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VELETRI" id="VELETRI"></a>VELETRI.</h3>
+
+<h4><i>A Small Town of Umbria, Nine Leagues from
+Rome; and, Incidentally, of the Divinity of
+Augustus.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Those who love the study of history are glad to
+understand by what title a citizen of Veletri governed
+an empire, which extended from Mount
+Taurus to Mount Atlas, and from the Euphrates to
+the Western Ocean. It was not as perpetual dictator;
+this title had been too fatal to Julius Cæsar, and
+Augustus bore it only eleven days. The fear of
+perishing like his predecessor, and the counsels of
+Agrippa, induced him to take other measures; he
+insensibly concentrated in his own person all the
+dignities of the republic. Thirteen consulates, the
+tribunate renewed in his favor every ten years, the
+name of prince of the senate, that of imperator,
+which at first signified only the general of an army,
+but to which it was known how to bestow a more
+extensive signification&mdash;such were the titles which
+appeared to legitimate his power.</p>
+
+<p>The senate lost nothing by his honors, but preserved
+even its most extensive rights. Augustus
+divided with it all the provinces of the empire, but
+retained the principal for himself; finally, he was
+master of the public treasury and the soldiery, and
+in fact sovereign.</p>
+
+<p>What is more strange, Julius Cæsar having been
+enrolled among the gods after his death, Augustus
+was ordained god while living. It is true he was
+not altogether a god in Rome, but he was so in the
+provinces, where he had temples and priests. The
+abbey of Ainai at Lyons was a fine temple of Augustus.
+Horace says to him: "<i>Jurandasque tuum
+per nomen ponimus aras.</i>" That is to say, among
+the Romans existed courtiers so finished as to have
+small altars in their houses dedicated to Augustus.
+He was therefore <i>canonized</i> during his life, and the
+name of god&mdash;<i>divus</i>&mdash;became the title or nickname
+of all the succeeding emperors. Caligula constituted
+himself a god without difficulty, and was worshipped
+in the temple of Castor and Pollux; his
+statue was placed between those of the twins, and
+they sacrificed to him peacocks, pheasants, and
+Numidian fowls, until he ended by immolating himself.
+Nero bore the name of god, before he was
+condemned by the senate to suffer the punishment
+of a slave.</p>
+
+<p>We are not to imagine that the name of "god"
+signified, in regard to these monsters, that which
+we understand by it; the blasphemy could not be
+carried quite so far. "Divus" precisely answers to
+"sanctus." The Augustan list of proscriptions and
+the filthy epigram against Fulvia, are not the productions
+of a divinity.</p>
+
+<p>There were twelve conspiracies against this god,
+if we include the pretended plot of Cinna; but none
+of them succeeded; and of all the wretches who
+have usurped divine honors, Augustus was doubtless
+the most unfortunate. It was he, indeed, who
+actually terminated the Roman Republic; for Cæsar
+was dictator only six months, and Augustus reigned
+forty years. It was during his reign that manners
+changed with the government. The armies, formerly
+composed of the Roman legions and people of
+Italy, were in the end made up from all the barbarians,
+who naturally enough placed emperors of
+their own country on the throne.</p>
+
+<p>In the third century they raised up thirty tyrants
+at one time, of whom some were natives of Transylvania,
+others of Gaul, Britain, and Germany. Diocletian
+was the son of a Dalmatian slave; Maximian
+Hercules, a peasant of Sirmik; and Theodosius, a
+native of Spain&mdash;not then civilized.</p>
+
+<p>We know how the Roman Empire was finally destroyed;
+how the Turks have subjugated one half,
+and how the name of the other still subsists among
+the Marcomans on the shores of the Danube. The
+most singular of all its revolutions, however, and
+the most astonishing of all spectacles, is the manner
+in which its capital is governed and inhabited at this
+moment.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VENALITY" id="VENALITY"></a>VENALITY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The forger of whom we have spoken so much,
+who made the testament of Cardinal Richelieu, says
+in chapter iv.: "That it would be much better to
+allow venality and the '<i>droit annuel</i>' to continue to
+exist, than to abolish these two establishments,
+which are not to be changed suddenly without shaking
+the state."</p>
+
+<p>All France repeated, and believed they repeated
+after Cardinal Richelieu, that the sale of offices of
+judicature was very advantageous. The abbé de
+St. Pierre was the first who, still believing that the
+pretended testament was the cardinal's, dared to say
+in his observation on chapter iv.: "The cardinal engaged
+himself on a bad subject, in maintaining that
+the sale of places can be advantageous to the state.
+It is true that it is not possible to otherwise reimburse
+all the charges."</p>
+
+<p>Thus this abuse appeared to everybody, not only
+unreformable, but useful. They were so accustomed
+to this opprobrium that they did not feel it; it seemed
+eternal; yet a single man in a few months has
+overthrown it. Let us therefore repeat, that all may
+be done, all may be corrected; that the great fault
+of almost all who govern, is having but half wills
+and half means. If Peter the Great had not willed
+strongly, two thousand leagues of country would
+still be barbarous.</p>
+
+<p>How can we give water in Paris to thirty thousand
+houses which want it? How can we pay the
+debts of the state? How can we throw off the
+dreaded tyranny of a foreign power, which is not a
+power, and to which we pay the first fruits as a
+tribute? Dare to wish it, and you will arrive at
+your object more easily than you extirpated the
+Jesuits, and purged the theatre of <i>petits-maîtres</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VENICE" id="VENICE"></a>VENICE.</h3>
+
+
+<h4><i>And, Incidentally, of Liberty.</i></h4>
+
+<p>No power can reproach the Venetians with
+having acquired their liberty by revolt; none can
+say to them, I have freed you&mdash;here is the diploma
+of your manumission.</p>
+
+<p>They have not usurped their rights, as Cæsar
+usurped empire, or as so many bishops, commencing
+with that of Rome, have usurped royal rights. They
+are lords of Venice&mdash;if we dare use the audacious
+comparison&mdash;as God is Lord of the earth, because
+He founded it.</p>
+
+<p>Attila, who never took the title of the scourge of
+God, ravaged Italy. He had as much right to do
+so, as Charlemagne the Austrasian, Arnold the Corinthian
+Bastard, Guy, duke of Spoleto, Berenger,
+marquis of Friuli, or the bishops who wished to
+make themselves sovereigns of it.</p>
+
+<p>In this time of military and ecclesiastical robberies,
+Attila passed as a vulture, and the Venetians
+saved themselves in the sea as kingfishers, which
+none assist or protect; they make their nest in the
+midst of the waters, they enlarge it, they people it,
+they defend it, they enrich it. I ask if it is possible
+to imagine a more just possession? Our father
+Adam, who is supposed to have lived in that fine
+country of Mesopotamia, was not more justly lord
+and gardener of terrestrial paradise.</p>
+
+<p>I have read the "<i>Squittinio della libertà di Venezia</i>,"
+and I am indignant at it. What! Venice could
+not be originally free, because the Greek emperors,
+superstitious, weak, wicked, and barbarous, said&mdash;This
+new town has been built on our ancient territory;
+and because a German, having the title of
+Emperor of the West, says: This town being in
+the West, is of our domain?</p>
+
+<p>It seems to me like a flying-fish, pursued at once
+by a falcon and a shark, but which escapes both.
+Sannazarius was very right in saying, in comparing
+Rome and Venice: <i>"Illam homines dices, hanc
+posuisse deos."</i> Rome lost, by Cæsar, at the end
+of five hundred years, its liberty acquired by Brutus.
+Venice has preserved hers for eleven centuries,
+and I hope she will always do so.</p>
+
+<p>Genoa! why dost thou boast of showing the grant
+of a Berenger, who gave thee privileges in the year
+958? We know that concessions of privileges are
+but titles of servitude. And this is a fine title! the
+charter of a passing tyrant, who was never properly
+acknowledged in Italy, and who was driven from it
+two years after the date of the charter!</p>
+
+<p>The true charter of liberty is independence, maintained
+by force. It is with the point of the sword
+that diplomas should be signed securing this natural
+prerogative. Thou hast lost, more than once, thy
+privilege and thy strong box, since 1748: it is necessary
+to take care of both. Happy Helvetia! to what
+charter owest thou thy liberty? To thy courage, thy
+firmness, and thy mountains. But I am thy emperor.
+But I will have thee be so no longer. Thy fathers
+have been the slaves of my fathers. It is for that
+reason that their children will not serve thee. But
+I have the right attached to my dignity. And we
+have the right of nature.</p>
+
+<p>When had the Seven United Provinces this incontestable
+right? At the moment in which they
+were united; and from that time Philip II. was the
+rebel. What a great man was William, prince of
+Orange: he found them slaves, and he made them
+free men! Why is liberty so rare? Because it is the
+first of blessings.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VERSE" id="VERSE"></a>VERSE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is easy to write in prose, but very difficult to
+be a poet. More than one "<i>prosateur</i>" has affected
+to despise poetry; in reference to which propensity,
+we may call to mind the bon-mot of Montaigne:
+"We cannot attain to poetry; let us revenge ourselves
+by abusing it."</p>
+
+<p>We have already remarked, that Montesquieu,
+being unable to succeed in verse, professed, in his
+"Persian Letters," to discover no merit in Virgil or
+Horace. The eloquent Bossuet endeavored to make
+verses, but they were detestable; he took care, however,
+not to declaim against great poets.</p>
+
+<p>Fénelon scarcely made better verses than Bossuet,
+but knew by heart all the fine poetry of antiquity.
+His mind was full of it, and he continually
+quotes it in his letters.</p>
+
+<p>It appears to me, that there never existed a truly
+eloquent man who did not love poetry. I will simply
+cite, for example, Cæsar and Cicero; the one composed
+a tragedy on Å’dipus, and we have pieces of
+poetry by the latter which might pass among the
+best that preceded Lucretius, Virgil, and Horace.</p>
+
+<p>A certain Abbé Trublet has printed, that he cannot
+read a poem at once from beginning to end. Indeed,
+Air. Abbé! but what can we read, what can
+we understand, what can we do, for a long time together,
+any more than poetry?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VIANDS" id="VIANDS"></a>VIANDS.</h3>
+
+
+<h4><i>Forbidden Viands, Dangerous Viands.&mdash;A short
+Examination of Jewish and Christian Precepts,
+and of those of the Ancient Philosophers.</i></h4>
+
+<p>"Viand" comes no doubt from "<i>victus</i>"&mdash;that
+which nourishes and sustains life: from victus was
+formed <i>viventia</i>; from <i>viventa</i>, "viand." This word
+should be applied to all that is eaten, but by the
+caprice of all languages, the custom has prevailed of
+refusing this denomination to bread, milk, rice,
+pulses, fruits, and fish, and of giving it only to terrestrial
+animals. This seems contrary to reason, but
+it is the fancy of all languages, and of those who
+formed them.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the first Christians made a scruple of eating
+that which had been offered to the gods, of
+whatever nature it might be. St. Paul approved not
+of this scruple. He writes to the Corinthians:
+"Meat commendeth us not to God: for neither if
+we eat are we the better; neither if we eat not, are
+we the worse." He merely exhorts them not to eat
+viands immolated to the gods, before those brothers
+who might be scandalized at it. We see not, after
+that, why he so ill-treats St. Peter, and reproaches
+him with having eaten forbidden viands with the
+Gentiles. We see elsewhere, in the Acts of the
+Apostles, that Simon Peter was authorized to eat
+of all indifferently; for he one day saw the firmament
+open, and a great sheet descending by the four
+corners from heaven to earth; it was covered with
+all kinds of four-footed beasts, with all kinds of
+birds and reptiles&mdash;or animals which swim&mdash;and a
+voice cried to him: "Kill and eat."</p>
+
+<p>You will remark, that Lent and fast-days were
+not then instituted. Nothing is ever done, except
+by degrees. We can here say, for the consolation
+of the weak, that the quarrel of St. Peter and St.
+Paul should not alarm us: saints are men. Paul
+commenced by being the jailer, and even the executioner,
+of the disciples of Jesus; Peter had denied
+Jesus; and we have seen that the dawning, suffering,
+militant, triumphant church has always been
+divided, from the Ebionites to the Jesuits.</p>
+
+<p>I think that the Brahmins, so anterior to the
+Jews, might well have been divided also; but they
+were the first who imposed on themselves the law of
+not eating any animal. As they believed that souls
+passed and repassed from human bodies to those of
+beasts, they would not eat their relatives. Perhaps
+their best reason was the fear of accustoming men
+to carnage, and inspiring them with ferocious manners.</p>
+
+<p>We know that Pythagoras, who studied geometry
+and morals among them, embraced this humane
+doctrine, and brought it into Italy. His disciples
+followed it a very long time: the celebrated philosophers,
+Plotinus, Jamblicus, and Porphyry, recommended
+and even practised it&mdash;though it is very rare
+to practise what is preached. The work of Porphyry
+on abstinence from meat, written in the middle of
+our third century, and very well translated into our
+language by M. de Burigni, is very much esteemed
+by the learned; but it has not made more disciples
+among us than the book of the physician Héquet.
+It is in vain that Porphyry proposes, as models,
+the Brahmins and Persian magi of the first class,
+who had a horror of the custom of burying the entrails
+of other creatures in our own; he is not now
+followed by the fathers of La Trappe. The work
+of Porphyry is addressed to one of his ancient disciples,
+named Firmus, who, it is said, turned Christian,
+to have the liberty of eating meat and drinking
+wine.</p>
+
+<p>He shows Firmus, that in abstaining from meat
+and strong liquors, we preserve the health of the soul
+and body; that we live longer, and more innocently.
+All his reflections are those of a scrupulous theologian,
+of a rigid philosopher, and of a mild and sensible
+mind. We might think, in reading his work,
+that this great enemy of the church was one of its
+fathers.</p>
+
+<p>He speaks not of metempsychosis, but he regards
+animals as our brethren, because they are animated
+like ourselves; they have the same principles of
+life; they have, as well as ourselves, ideas, sentiment,
+memory, and industry. They want but speech;
+if they had it, should we dare to kill and eat them;
+should we dare to commit these fratricides? Where
+is the barbarian who would roast a lamb, if it conjured
+him by an affecting speech not to become at
+once an assassin, an anthropophagus?</p>
+
+<p>This book proves, at least, that among the Gentiles
+there were philosophers of the most austere
+virtue; but they could not prevail against butchers
+and gluttons. It is to be remarked, that Porphyry
+makes a very fine eulogium on the Essenians: he is
+filled with veneration for them, although they sometimes
+eat meat. He was for whoever was the most
+virtuous, whether Essenians, Pythagoreans, Stoics,
+or Christians. When sects are formed of a small
+number, their manners are pure; and they degenerate
+in proportion as they become powerful. Lust,
+gaming, and luxury then prevail, and all the virtues
+fly away:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">La gola, il dado e l'otiose piume</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Hanno dal' mondo ogni virtù sbandita.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VIRTUE" id="VIRTUE"></a>VIRTUE.</h3>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION I.</h5>
+
+<p>It is said of Marcus Brutus, that before killing
+himself, he pronounced these words: "Oh, Virtue!
+I believed that thou wert something, but thou art
+only a vile phantom!"</p>
+
+<p>Thou wast right, Brutus, if thou madest virtue
+consist in being the chief of a party, and the assassin
+of thy benefactor, of thy father, Julius Cæsar.
+Hadst thou made virtue to consist only in doing good
+to those who depended on thee, thou wouldst not
+have called it a phantom, or have killed thyself in
+despair.</p>
+
+<p>I am very virtuous, says a miserable excrement
+of theology. I possess the four cardinal virtues,
+and the three theological ones. An honest man asks
+him: What are the cardinal virtues? The other
+answers: They are fortitude, prudence, temperance,
+and justice.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">HONEST MAN.</p>
+
+<p>If thou art just, thou hast said all. Thy fortitude,
+prudence, and temperance are useful qualities:
+if thou possessest them, so much the better for
+thee; but if thou art just, so much the better for
+others. It is not sufficient to be just, thou shouldst
+be beneficent; this is being truly cardinal. And thy
+theological virtues, what are they?</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">THEOLOGIAN.</p>
+
+<p>Faith, hope, and charity.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">HONEST MAN.</p>
+
+<p>Is there virtue in believing? If that which thou
+believest seems to thee to be true, there is no merit
+in believing it; if it seems to thee to be false, it is
+impossible for thee to believe it.</p>
+
+<p>Hope should no more be a virtue than fear; we
+fear and we hope, according to what is promised or
+threatened us. As to charity, is it not that which
+the Greeks and Romans understood by humanity&mdash;love
+of your neighbor? This love is nothing, if it
+does not act; beneficence is therefore the only true
+virtue.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">THEOLOGIAN.</p>
+
+<p>What a fool! Yes, truly, I shall trouble myself
+to serve men, if I get nothing in return! Every
+trouble merits payment. I pretend to do no good action,
+except to insure myself paradise.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Quis enim virtutem amplectitur, ipsam</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Prœmia si tolias?</i>&mdash;<span class="small">JUVENAL</span>, <i>sat.</i> x.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">For, if the gain you take away,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To virtue who will homage pay!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">HONEST MAN.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, good sir, that is to say, that if you did not
+hope for paradise, or fear hell, you would never do
+a good action. You quote me lines from Juvenal,
+to prove to me that you have only your interest in
+view. Racine could at least show you, that even in
+this world we might find our recompense, while waiting
+for a better:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Quel plaisir de penser, et de dire en vous-même,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Partout en ce moment on me bénit, on m'aime!</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>On ne voit point le peuple à mon nom s'alarmer;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Le ciel dans tous leurs pleurs ne m'entend point nommer,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Leur sombre inimitie ne fuit point mon visage;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Je vois voter partout les cœurs a mon passage.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Tels étaient vos plaisirs.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">&mdash;<span class="small">RACINE</span>, <i>Britannicus</i>, act iv, sc. ii.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">How great his pleasure who can justly say,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">All at this moment either bless or love me;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The people at my name betray no fear,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Nor in their plaints does heaven e'er hear of me!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Their enmity ne'er makes them fly my presence,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But every heart springs out at my approach!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Such were your pleasures!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Believe me, doctor, there are two things which deserve
+to be loved for themselves&mdash;God and Virtue.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">THEOLOGIAN.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, sir! you are a Fénelonist.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">HONEST MAN.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, doctor.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">THEOLOGIAN.</p>
+
+<p>I will inform against you at the tribunal of
+Meaux.</p>
+
+<p class="dialogue">HONEST MAN.</p>
+
+<p>Go, and inform!</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<p>What is virtue? Beneficence towards your neighbor.
+Can I call virtue anything but that which does
+good! I am indigent, thou art liberal. I am in danger,
+thou succorest me. I am deceived, thou tellest
+me the truth. I am neglected, thou consolest me.
+I am ignorant, thou teachest me. I can easily call
+thee virtuous, but what will become of the cardinal
+and theological virtues? Some will remain in the
+schools.</p>
+
+<p>What signifies it to me whether thou art temperate?
+It is a precept of health which thou observest;
+thou art the better for it; I congratulate
+thee on it. Thou hast faith and hope; I congratulate
+thee still more; they will procure thee eternal
+life. Thy theological virtues are celestial gifts; thy
+cardinal ones are excellent qualities, which serve to
+guide thee; but they are not virtues in relation
+to thy neighbor. The prudent man does himself
+good; the virtuous one does it to other men. St.
+Paul was right in telling thee, that charity ranks
+above faith and hope.</p>
+
+<p>But how! wilt thou admit of no other virtues
+than those which are useful to thy neighbor? How
+can I admit any others? We live in society; there
+is therefore nothing truly good for us but that which
+does good to society. An hermit will be sober, pious,
+and dressed in sackcloth: very well; he will be
+holy; but I will not call him virtuous until he shall
+have done some act of virtue by which men may have
+profited. While he is alone, he is neither beneficent
+nor the contrary; he is nobody to us. If St. Bruno
+had made peace in families, if he had assisted the
+indigent, he had been virtuous; having fasted and
+prayed in solitude, he is only a saint. Virtue between
+men is a commerce of good actions: he who
+has no part in this commerce, must not be reckoned.
+If this saint were in the world, he would doubtless
+do good, but while he is not in the world, we have
+no reason to give him the name of virtuous: he
+will be good for himself, and not for us.</p>
+
+<p>But, say you, if an hermit is gluttonous, drunken,
+given up to a secret debauch with himself, he is
+vicious; he is therefore virtuous, if he has the contrary
+qualities. I cannot agree to this: he is a very
+vile man, if he has the faults of which you speak;
+but he is not vicious, wicked, or punishable by society,
+to which his infamies do no harm. It may be
+presumed, that if he re-enters society, he will do
+evil to it; he then will be very vicious; and it is
+even more probable that he will be a wicked man,
+than it is certain that the other temperate and chaste
+hermit will be a good man; for in society faults
+augment, and good qualities diminish.</p>
+
+<p>A much stronger objection is made to me: Nero,
+Pope Alexander VI., and other monsters of the
+kind, have performed good actions. I reply boldly,
+that they were virtuous at the time. Some theologians
+say, that the divine Emperor Antoninus was
+not virtuous; that he was an infatuated Stoic, who,
+not content with commanding men, would further be
+esteemed by them; that he gave himself credit for
+the good which he did to mankind; that he was all
+his life just, laborious, beneficent, through vanity;
+and that he only deceived men by his virtues. To
+which I exclaim: My God! often send us such
+knaves!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VISION" id="VISION"></a>VISION.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When I speak of vision, I do not mean the admirable
+manner in which our eyes perceive objects,
+and in which the pictures of all that we see are
+painted on the retina&mdash;a divine picture designed according
+to all the laws of mathematics, which is, consequently,
+like everything else from the hand of the
+Eternal geometrician; in spite of those who explain
+it, and who pretend to believe, that the eye is not
+intended to see, the ear to hear, or the feet to walk.
+This matter has been so learnedly treated by so many
+great geniuses, that there is no further remnant to
+glean after their harvests.</p>
+
+<p>I do not pretend to speak of the heresy of which
+Pope John XXII. was accused, who pretended that
+saints will not enjoy beatific vision until after the
+last judgment. I give up this vision. My subject
+is the innumerable multitude of visions with which
+so many holy personages have been favored or tormented;
+which so many idiots are believed to have
+seen; with which so many knavish men and women
+have duped the world, either to get the reputation of
+being favored by heaven, which is very flattering,
+or to gain money, which is still more so to rogues in
+general.</p>
+
+<p>Calmet and Langlet have made ample collections
+of these visions. The most interesting in my opinion
+is the one which has produced the greatest effects,
+since it has tended to reform three parts of
+the Swiss&mdash;that of the young Jacobin Yetzer, with
+which I have already amused my dear reader. This
+Yetzer, as you know, saw the Holy Virgin and St.
+Barbara several times, who informed him of the
+marks of Jesus Christ. You are not ignorant of
+how he received, from a Jacobin confessor, a host
+powdered with arsenic, and how the bishop of Lausanne
+would have had him burned for complaining
+that he was poisoned. You have seen, that these
+abominations were one of the causes of the misfortune
+which happened to the Bernese, of ceasing
+to be Catholic, Apostolical, and Roman.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 336px;">
+<a name="The_Vision" id="The_Vision"></a>
+<img src="images/img_03_vision.jpg" width="336" alt="The Vision." title="" />
+<span class="caption_fig">The Vision.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>I am sorry that I have no visions of this consequence
+to tell you of. Yet you will confess, that the
+vision of the reverend father Cordeliers of Orleans,
+in 1534, approaches the nearest to it, though still
+very distant. The criminal process which it occasioned
+is still in manuscript in the library of the king
+of France, No. 1770.</p>
+
+<p>The illustrious house of St. Memin did great
+good to the convent of the Cordeliers, and had their
+vault in the church. The wife of a lord of St. Memin,
+provost of Orleans, being dead, her husband,
+believing that his ancestors had sufficiently impoverished
+themselves by giving to the monks, gave
+the brothers a present which did not appear to them
+considerable enough. These good Franciscans conceived
+a plan for disinterring the deceased, to force
+the widower to have her buried again in their holy
+ground, and to pay them better. The project was
+not clever, for the lord of St. Memin would not have
+failed to bury her elsewhere. But folly often mixes
+with knavery.</p>
+
+<p>At first, the soul of the lady of St. Memin appeared
+only to two brothers. She said to them:
+"I am damned, like Judas, because my husband has
+not given sufficient." The two knaves who related
+these words perceived not, that they must do more
+harm to the convent than good. The aim of the
+convent was to extort money from the lord of St.
+Memin, for the repose of his wife's soul. Now, if
+Madame de St. Memin was damned, all the money
+in the world could not save her. They got no
+more; the Cordeliers lost their labor.</p>
+
+<p>At this time there was very little good sense in
+France: the nation had been brutalized by the invasion
+of the Franks, and afterwards by the invasion
+of scholastic theology; but in Orleans there
+were some persons who reasoned. If the Great
+Being permitted the soul of Madame de St. Memin
+to appear to two Franciscans, it was not natural,
+they thought, for this soul to declare itself damned
+like Judas. This comparison appeared to them to
+be unnatural. This lady had not sold our Lord
+Jesus Christ for thirty deniers; she was not hanged;
+her intestines had not obtruded themselves; and
+there was not the slightest pretext for comparing
+her to Judas.</p>
+
+<p>This caused suspicion; and the rumor was still
+greater in Orleans, because there were already heretics
+there who believed not in certain visions, and
+who, in admitting absurd principles, did not always
+fail to draw good conclusions. The Cordeliers,
+therefore, changed their battery, and put the lady in
+purgatory.</p>
+
+<p>She therefore appeared again, and declared that
+purgatory was her lot; but she demanded to be disinterred.
+It was not the custom to disinter those in
+purgatory; but they hoped that M. de St. Memin
+would prevent this extraordinary affront, by
+giving money. This demand of being thrown out
+of the church augmented the suspicions. It was well
+known, that souls often appeared, but they never demanded
+to be disinterred.</p>
+
+<p>From this time the soul spoke no more, but it
+haunted everybody in the convent and church. The
+brother Cordeliers exorcised it. Brother Peter of
+Arras adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring
+it. He said to it: "If thou art the soul of the late
+Madame de St. Memin, strike four knocks;" and the
+four knocks were struck. "If thou are damned, strike
+six knocks;" and the six knocks were struck. "If
+thou art still tormented in hell, because thy body is
+buried in holy ground, knock six more times;" and
+the other six knocks were heard still more distinctly.
+"If we disinter thy body, and cease praying to God
+for thee, wilt thou be the less damned? Strike five
+knocks to certify it to us;" and the soul certified it
+by five knocks.</p>
+
+<p>This interrogation of the soul, made by Peter of
+Arras, was signed by twenty-two Cordeliers, at the
+head of which was the reverend father provincial.
+This father provincial the next day asked it the same
+questions, and received the same answers.</p>
+
+<p>It will be said, that the soul having declared
+that it was in purgatory, the Cordeliers should not
+have supposed that it was in hell; but it is not my
+fault if theologians contradict one another.</p>
+
+<p>The lord of St. Memin presented a request to the
+king against the father Cordeliers. They presented
+a request on their sides; the king appointed judges,
+at the head of whom was Adrian Fumée, master of
+requests.</p>
+
+<p>The procureur-general of the commission required
+that the said Cordeliers should be burned,
+but the sentence only condemned them to make the
+"amende honorable" with a torch in their bosom,
+and to be banished from the kingdom. This sentence
+is of February 18, 1535.</p>
+
+<p>After such a vision, it is useless to relate any
+others: they are all a species either of knavery or
+folly. Visions of the first kind are under the province
+of justice; those of the second are either visions
+of diseased fools, or of fools in good health.
+The first belong to medicine, the second to Bedlam.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VISION_OF_CONSTANTINE" id="VISION_OF_CONSTANTINE"></a>VISION OF CONSTANTINE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Grave theologians have not failed to allege a
+specious reason to maintain the truth of the appearance
+of the cross in heaven; but we are going to
+show that these arguments are not sufficiently convincing
+to exclude doubt; the evidences which they
+quote being neither persuasive nor according with
+one another.</p>
+
+<p>First, they produce no witnesses but Christians,
+the deposition of whom may be suspected in the
+treatment of a fact which tended to prove the divinity
+of their religion. How is it that no Pagan
+author has made mention of this miracle, which was
+seen equally by all the army of Constantine? That
+Zosimus, who seems to have endeavored to diminish
+the glory of Constantine, has said nothing of it, is
+not surprising; but the silence appears very strange
+in the author of the panegyric of Constantine, pronounced
+in his presence at Trier; in which oration
+the panegyrist expresses himself in magnificent
+terms on all the war against Maxentius, whom this
+emperor had conquered.</p>
+
+<p>Another orator, who, in his panegyric, treats so
+eloquently of the war against Maxentius, of the
+clemency which Constantine showed after the victory,
+and of the deliverance of Rome, says not a
+word on this apparition; while he assures us, that
+celestial armies were seen by all the Gauls, which
+armies, it was pretended, were sent to aid Constantine.</p>
+
+<p>This surprising vision has not only been unknown
+to Pagan authors, but to three Christian writers,
+who had the finest occasion to speak of them.
+Optatianus Porphyrius mentions more than once the
+monogram of Christ, which he calls the celestial
+sign, in the panegyric of Constantine which he wrote
+in Latin verse, but not a word on the appearance of
+the cross in the sky.</p>
+
+<p>Lactantius says nothing of it in his treatise on the
+"Death of Persecutors," which he composed towards
+the year 314, two years after the vision of which
+we speak; yet he must have been perfectly informed
+of all that regards Constantine, having been tutor
+to Crispus, the son of this prince. He merely relates,
+that Constantine was commanded, in a dream,
+to put the divine image of the cross on the bucklers
+of his soldiers, and to give up war: but in relating
+a dream, the truth of which had no other support
+than the evidence of the emperor, he passes, in silence
+over a prodigy to which all the army were witnesses.</p>
+
+<p>Further, Eusebius of Cæsarea himself, who has
+given the example to all other Christian historians
+on the subject, speaks not of this wonder, in the
+whole course of his "Ecclesiastical History," though
+he enlarges much on the exploits of Constantine
+against Maxentius. It is only in his life of this emperor
+that he expresses himself in these terms:
+"Constantine resolved to adore the god of Constantius;
+his father implored the protection of this god
+against Maxentius. Whilst he was praying, he had
+a wonderful vision, which would appear incredible,
+if related by another; but since the victorious emperor
+has himself related it to us, who wrote this
+history; and that, after having been long known to
+this prince, and enjoying a share in his good graces,
+the emperor confirming what he said by oath&mdash;who
+could doubt it? particularly since the event has confirmed
+the truth of it.</p>
+
+<p>"He affirmed, that in the afternoon, when the
+sun set, he saw a luminous cross above it, with this
+inscription in Greek&mdash;'By this sign, conquer:' that
+this appearance astonished him extremely, as well
+as all the soldiers who followed him, who were witnesses
+of the miracle; that while his mind was fully
+occupied with this vision, and he sought to penetrate
+the sense of it, the night being come, Jesus
+Christ appeared to him during his sleep, with the
+same sign which He had shown to him in the air in
+the day-time, and commanded him to make a standard
+of the same form, and to bear it in his battles,
+to secure him from danger. Constantine, rising at
+break of day, related to his friends the vision which
+he had beheld; and, sending for goldsmiths and
+lapidaries, he sat in the midst of them, explained to
+them the figure of the sign which he had seen, and
+commanded them to make a similar one of gold and
+jewels; and we remember having sometimes seen
+it."</p>
+
+<p>Eusebius afterwards adds, that Constantine, astonished
+at so admirable a vision, sent for Christian
+priests; and that, instructed by them, he applied
+himself to reading our sacred books, and concluded
+that he ought to adore with a profound respect the
+God who appeared to him.</p>
+
+<p>How can we conceive that so admirable a vision,
+seen by so many millions of people, and so calculated
+to justify the truth of the Christian religion,
+could be unknown to Eusebius, an historian so careful
+in seeking all that could contribute to do honor
+to Christianity, as even to quote profane monuments
+falsely, as we have seen in the article on "Eclipse?"
+And how can we persuade ourselves that he was not
+informed of it, until several years after, by the sole
+evidence of Constantine? Were there no Christians
+in the army, who publicly made a glory of having
+seen such a prodigy? Had they so little interest in
+their cause as to keep silence on so great a miracle?
+Ought we to be astonished, after that, that Gelasius,
+one of the successors of Eusebius, in the siege of
+Cæsarea in the fifth century, has said that many
+people suspected that it was only a fable, invented
+in favor of the Christian religion?</p>
+
+<p>This suspicion will become much stronger, if we
+take notice how little the witnesses agree on the circumstances
+of this marvellous appearance. Almost
+all affirm, that the cross was seen by Constantine
+and all his army; and Gelasius speaks of Constantine
+alone. They differ on the time of the vision.
+Philostorgius, in his "Ecclesiastical History," of
+which Photius has preserved us the extract, says,
+that it was when Constantine gained the victory
+over Maxentius; others pretend that it was before,
+when Constantine was making preparations for attacking
+the tyrant, and was on his march with his
+army. Arthemius, quoted by Metaphrastus and Surius,
+mentions the 20th of October, and says that it
+was at noon; others speak of the afternoon at sunset.</p>
+
+<p>Authors do not agree better even on the vision:
+the greatest number acknowledged but one, and that
+in a dream. There is only Eusebius, followed by
+Philostorgius and Socrates, who speaks of two; the
+one that Constantine saw in the day-time, and the
+other which he saw in a dream, tending to confirm
+the first. Nicephorus Callistus reckons three.</p>
+
+<p>The inscription offers new differences: Eusebius
+says that it was in Greek characters, while others do
+not speak of it. According to Philostorgius and
+Nicephorus, it was in Latin characters; others say
+nothing about it, and seem by their relation to suppose
+that the characters were Greek. Philostorgius
+affirms, that the inscription was formed by an assemblage
+of stars; Arthemius says that the letters
+were golden. The author quoted by Photius, represents
+them as composed of the same luminous matter
+as the cross; and according to Sosomenes, it
+had no inscription, and they were angels who said
+to Constantine: "By this sign, gain the victory."</p>
+
+<p>Finally, the relation of historians is opposed on
+the consequences of this vision. If we take that of
+Eusebius, Constantine, aided by God, easily gained
+the victory over Maxentius; but according to Lactantius,
+the victory was much disputed. He even
+says that the troops of Maxentius had some advantage,
+before Constantine made his army approach
+the gates of Rome. If we may believe Eusebius and
+Sosomenes, from this epoch Constantine was always
+victorious, and opposed the salutary sign of the
+cross to his enemies, as an impenetrable rampart.
+However, a Christian author, of whom M. de Valois
+has collected some fragments, at the end of Ammianus
+Marcellinus&mdash;relates, that in the two battles
+given to Licinius by Constantine, the victory was
+doubtful, and that Constantine was even slightly
+wounded in the thigh; and Nicephorus says, that
+after the first apparition, he twice combated the
+Byzantines, without opposing the cross to them,
+and would not even have remembered it, if he had
+not lost nine thousand men, and had the same vision
+twice more. In the first, the stars were so arranged
+that they formed these words of a psalm: "Call on
+me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and
+thou shalt glorify me;" and the last, much clearer
+and more brilliant still, bore: "By this sign, thou
+shalt vanquish all thy enemies."</p>
+
+<p>Philostorgius affirms, that the vision of the cross,
+and the victory gained over Maxentius, determined
+Constantine to embrace the Christian faith; but
+Rufinus, who has translated the "Ecclesiastical History"
+of Eusebius into Latin, says that he already
+favored Christianity, and honored the true God. It
+is however known, that he did not receive baptism
+until a few days before his death, as is expressly
+said by Philostorgius, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose,
+St. Jerome, Socrates, Theodoret, and the author of
+the Chronicle of Alexandria. This custom, then
+common, was founded on the belief that, baptism effacing
+all the sins of him who received it, he died
+certain of his salvation.</p>
+
+<p>We might confine ourselves to these general reflections,
+but by superabundance of right we will
+discuss the authority of Eusebius, as an historian,
+and that of Constantine and Arthemius, as ocular
+witnesses.</p>
+
+<p>As to Arthemius, we think that he ought not to
+be placed in the rank of ocular witnesses; his discourse
+being founded only on his "Acts," related by
+Metaphrastus, a fabulous author: "Acts" which
+Baronius pretends it was wrong to impeach, at the
+same time that he confesses that they are interpolated.</p>
+
+<p>As to the speech of Constantine, related by Eusebius,
+it is indisputably an astonishing thing, that
+this emperor feared that he should not be believed
+unless he made oath; and that Eusebius has not
+supported his evidence by that of any of the officers
+or soldiers of the army. But without here adopting
+the opinion of some scholars, who doubt whether
+Eusebius is the author of the life of Constantine, is
+he not an author who, in this work, bears throughout
+the character of a panegyrist, rather than that
+of a historian? Is he not a writer who has carefully
+suppressed all which could be disadvantageous to his
+hero? In a word, does he not show his partiality,
+when he says, in his "Ecclesiastical History," speaking
+of Maxentius, that having usurped the sovereign
+power at Rome, to flatter the people he feigned
+at first to profess the Christian religion? As if it
+was impossible for Constantine to make use of such
+a feint, and to pretend this vision, just as Licinius,
+some time after, to encourage his soldiers against
+Maximin, pretended that an angel in a dream had
+dictated a prayer to him, which he must repeat with
+his army.</p>
+
+<p>How could Eusebius really have the effrontery
+to call a prince a Christian who caused the temple
+of Concord to be rebuilt at his own expense, as is
+proved by an inscription, which was read in the time
+of Lelio Geraldi, in the temple of Latran? A prince
+who caused his son Crispus, already honored with
+the title of Cæsar, to perish on a slight suspicion of
+having commerce with Fausta, his stepmother; who
+caused this same Fausta, to whom he was indebted
+for the preservation of his life, to be suffocated in
+an overheated bath; who caused the emperor Maximian
+Hercules, his adopted father, to be strangled;
+who took away the life of the young Licinius, his
+nephew, who had already displayed very good qualities;
+and, in short, who dishonored himself by so
+many murders, that the consul Ablavius called his
+times Neronian? We might add, that much dependence
+should not be placed on the oath of Constantine,
+since he had not the least scruple in perjuring
+himself, by causing Licinius to be strangled,
+to whom he had promised his life on oath. Eusebius
+passes in silence over all the actions of Constantine
+which are related by Eutropius, Zosimus, Orosius,
+St. Jerome, and Aurelius Victor.</p>
+
+<p>After this, have we not reason to conclude that
+the pretended appearance of the cross in the sky
+is only a fraud which Constantine imagined to
+favor the success of his ambitious enterprises? The
+medals of this prince and of his family, which are
+found in Banduri, and in the work entitled, "<i>Numismata
+Imperatorum Romanorum</i>"; the triumphal
+arch of which Baronius speaks, in the inscription of
+which the senate and the Roman people said that
+Constantine, by the direction of the Divinity, had
+rid the republic of the tyrant Maxentius, and of all
+his faction; finally, the statue which Constantine
+himself caused to be erected at Rome, holding a
+lance terminating in the form of a cross, with this
+inscription&mdash;as related by Eusebius: "By this
+saving sign, I have delivered your city from the
+yoke of tyranny"&mdash;all this, I say, only proves the
+immoderate pride of this artificial prince, who would
+everywhere spread the noise of his pretended dream,
+and perpetuate the recollection of it.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, to excuse Eusebius, we must compare him
+to a bishop of the seventeenth century, whom La
+Bruyère hesitated not to call a father of the Church.
+Bossuet, at the same time that he fell so unmercifully
+on the visions of the elegant and sensible
+Fénelon, commented himself, in the funeral oration
+of Anne of Gonzaga of Cleves, on the two visions
+which worked the conversion of the Princess Palatine.
+It was an admirable dream, says this prelate;
+she thought that, walking alone in a forest, she met
+with a blind man in a small cell. She comprehended
+that a sense is wanting to the incredulous
+as well as to the blind; and at the same time, in the
+midst of so mysterious a dream, she applied the
+fine comparison of the blind man to the truths of
+religion and of the other life.</p>
+
+<p>In the second vision, God continued to instruct
+her, as He did Joseph and Solomon; and during the
+drowsiness which the trouble caused her, He put
+this parable into her mind, so similar to that in the
+gospel: She saw that appear which Jesus Christ
+has not disdained to give us as an image of His
+tenderness&mdash;a hen become a mother, anxious round
+the little ones which she conducted. One of them
+having strayed, our invalid saw it swallowed by a
+hungry dog. She ran and tore the innocent animal
+away from him. At the same time, a voice cried
+from the other side that she must give it back to the
+ravisher. "No," said she, "I will never give it
+back." At this moment she awakened, and the explanation
+of the figure which had been shown to her
+presented itself to her mind in an instant.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VOWS" id="VOWS"></a>VOWS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>To make a vow for life, is to make oneself a
+slave. How can this worst of all slavery be allowed
+in a country in which slavery is proscribed? To
+promise to God by an oath, that from the age of
+fifteen until death we will be a Jesuit, Jacobin, or
+Capuchin, is to affirm that we will always think like
+a Capuchin, a Jacobin, or a Jesuit. It is very pleasant
+to promise, for a whole life, that which no man
+can certainly insure from night to morning!</p>
+
+<p>How can governments have been such enemies
+to themselves, and so absurd, as to authorize citizens
+to alienate their liberty at an age when they
+are not allowed to dispose of the least portion of
+their fortunes? How, being convinced of the extent
+of this stupidity, have not the whole of the
+magistracy united to put an end to it?</p>
+
+<p>Is it not alarming to reflect that there are more
+monks than soldiers? Is it possible not to be
+affected by the discovery of the secrets of cloisters;
+the turpitudes, the horrors, and the torments to
+which so many unhappy children are subjected, who
+detest the state which they have been forced to
+adopt, when they become men, and who beat with
+useless despair the chains which their weakness has
+imposed upon them?</p>
+
+<p>I knew a young man whose parents engaged to
+make a Capuchin of him at fifteen years and a half
+old, when he desperately loved a girl very nearly
+of his own age. As soon as the unhappy youth had
+made his vow to St. Francis, the devil reminded
+him of the vows which he had made to his mistress,
+to whom he had signed a promise of marriage. At
+last, the devil being stronger than St. Francis, the
+young Capuchin left his cloister, repaired to the
+house of his mistress, and was told that she had
+entered a convent and made profession.</p>
+
+<p>He flew to the convent, and asked to see her,
+when he was told that she had died of grief. This
+news deprived him of all sense, and he fell to the
+ground nearly lifeless. He was immediately transported
+to a neighboring monastery, not to afford
+him the necessary medical aid, but in order to procure
+him the blessing of extreme unction before his
+death, which infallibly saves the soul.</p>
+
+<p>The house to which the poor fainting boy was
+carried, happened to be a convent of Capuchins,
+who charitably let him remain at the door for three
+hours; but at last he was recognized by one of the
+venerable brothers, who had seen him in the monastery
+to which he belonged. On this discovery, he
+was carried into a cell, and attention paid to recover
+him, in order that he might expiate, by a
+salutary penitence, the errors of which he had been
+guilty.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he had recovered strength, he was
+conducted, well bound, to his convent, and the following
+is precisely the manner in which he was
+treated. In the first place he was placed in a
+dungeon under ground, at the bottom of which was
+an enormous stone, to which a chain of iron was
+attached. To this chain he was fastened by one leg,
+and near him was placed a loaf of barley bread and
+a jug of water; after which they closed the entrance
+of the dungeon with a large block of stone,
+which covered the opening by which they had descended.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of three days they withdrew him
+from the dungeon, in order to bring him before the
+criminal court of the Capuchins. They wished to
+know if he had any accomplices in his flight, and
+to oblige him to confess, applied the mode of torture
+employed in the convent. This preparatory
+torture was inflicted by cords, which bound the
+limbs of the patient, and made him endure a sort
+of rack.</p>
+
+<p>After having undergone these torments, he was
+condemned to be imprisoned for two years in his
+cell, from which he was to be brought out thrice a
+week, in order to receive upon his naked body the
+discipline with iron chains.</p>
+
+<p>For six months his constitution endured this
+punishment, from which he was at length so fortunate
+as to escape in consequence of a quarrel
+among the Capuchins, who fought with one another,
+and allowed the prisoner to escape during the
+fray.</p>
+
+<p>After hiding himself for some hours, he ventured
+to go abroad at the decline of day, almost worn out
+by hunger, and scarcely able to support himself. A
+passing Samaritan took pity upon the poor, famished
+spectre, conducted him to his house, and gave
+him assistance. The unhappy youth himself related
+to me his story in the presence of his liberator. Behold
+here the consequence of vows!</p>
+
+<p>It would be a nice point to decide, whether the
+horrors of passing every day among the mendicant
+friars are more revolting than the pernicious riches
+of the other orders, which reduce so many families
+into mendicants.</p>
+
+<p>All of them have made a vow to live at our expense,
+and to be a burden to their country; to injure
+its population, and to betray both their contemporaries
+and posterity; and shall we suffer it?</p>
+
+<p>Here is another interesting question for officers
+of the army: Why are monks allowed to recover
+one of their brethren who has enlisted for a soldier,
+while a captain is prevented from recovering a deserter
+who has turned monk?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="VOYAGE_OF_ST_PETER_TO_ROME" id="VOYAGE_OF_ST_PETER_TO_ROME"></a>VOYAGE OF ST. PETER TO ROME.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Of the famous dispute, whether Peter made the
+journey to Rome, is it not in the main as frivolous
+as most other grand disputes? The revenues of the
+abbey of St. Denis, in France, depend neither on
+the truth of the journey of St. Dionysius the Areopagite
+from Athens to the midst of Gaul; his
+martyrdom at Montmartre; nor the other journey
+which he made after his death, from Montmartre
+to St. Denis, carrying his head in his arms, and
+kissing it at every step.</p>
+
+<p>The Carthusians have great riches, without there
+being the least truth in the history of the canon of
+Paris, who rose from his coffin three successive
+days, to inform the assistants that he was damned.</p>
+
+<p>In like manner it is very certain that the rights
+and revenues of the Roman pontiff can exist,
+whether Simon Barjonas, surnamed Cephas, went
+to Rome or not. All the rights of the archbishops
+of Rome and Constantinople were established at the
+Council of Chalcedon, in the year 451 of our vulgar
+era, and there was no mention in this council of
+any journey made by an apostle to Byzantium or to
+Rome.</p>
+
+<p>The patriarchs of Alexander and Constantinople
+followed the lot of their provinces. The ecclesiastical
+chiefs of these two imperial cities, and of
+opulent Egypt, must necessarily have more authority,
+privileges, and riches, than bishops of little
+towns.</p>
+
+<p>If the residence of an apostle in a city decided
+so many rights, the bishop of Jerusalem would have
+been, without contradiction, the first bishop of
+Christendom. He was evidently the successor of
+St. James, the brother of Jesus Christ, acknowledged
+as the founder of this church, and afterwards
+called the first of all bishops. We should add by
+the same reasoning, that all the patriarchs of Jerusalem
+should be circumcised, since the fifteen first
+bishops of Jerusalem&mdash;the cradle of Christianity
+and tomb of Jesus Christ&mdash;had all received circumcision.
+It is indisputable that the first largesses
+made to the church of Rome by Constantine, have
+not the least relation to the journey of St. Peter.</p>
+
+<p>1. The first church raised at Rome was that of
+St. John; it is still the true cathedral. It is evident
+that it would have been dedicated to St. Peter, if
+he had been the first bishop of it. It is the strongest
+of all presumptions, and that alone might have
+ended the dispute.</p>
+
+<p>2. To this powerful conjecture are joined convincing
+negative proofs. If Peter had been at
+Rome with Paul, the Acts of the Apostles would
+have mentioned it; and they say not a word about it.</p>
+
+<p>3. If St. Peter went to preach the gospel at Rome,
+St. Paul would not have said, in his Epistle to the
+Galatians: "When they saw that the gospel of the
+uncircumcisions was committed unto me, as the
+gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; and
+when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be
+pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me,
+they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of
+fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen, and
+they unto the circumcision."</p>
+
+<p>4. In the letters which Paul writes from Rome,
+he never speaks of Peter; therefore, it is evident
+that Peter was not there.</p>
+
+<p>5. In the letters which Paul writes to his brethren
+of Rome, there is not the least compliment to Peter,
+nor the least mention of him; therefore, Peter
+neither made a journey to Rome when Paul was
+in prison, nor when he was free.</p>
+
+<p>6. We have never known any letter of St. Peter's
+dated from Rome.</p>
+
+<p>7. Some, like Paul Orosius, a Spaniard of the
+fifth century, say that he was at Rome in the first
+years of the reign of Claudius. The Acts of the
+Apostles say that he was then at Jerusalem; and
+the Epistles of Paul, that he was at Antioch.</p>
+
+<p>8. I do not pretend to bring forward any proof,
+but speaking humanly, and according to the rules of
+profane criticism, Peter could scarcely go from
+Jerusalem to Rome, knowing neither the Latin nor
+even the Greek language, which St. Paul spoke,
+though very badly. It is said that the apostles spoke
+all the languages of the universe; therefore, I am
+silenced.</p>
+
+<p>9. Finally, the first mention which we ever had of
+the journey of St. Peter to Rome, came from one
+named Papias, who lived about a hundred years
+after St. Peter. This Papias was a Phrygian; he
+wrote in Phrygia; and he pretended that St. Peter
+went to Rome, because in one of his letters he
+speaks of Babylon. We have, indeed, a letter, attributed
+to St. Peter, written in these obscure
+times, in which it is said: "The Church which is at
+Babylon, my wife, and my son Mark, salute you."
+It has pleased some translators to translate the
+word meaning my wife, by "chosen vessel": "Babylon,
+the chosen vessel." This is translating comprehensively.</p>
+
+<p>Papias, who was, it must be confessed, one of the
+great visionaries of these ages, imagined that Babylon
+signified Rome. It was, however, very natural
+for Peter to depart from Antioch to visit the
+brethren at Babylon. There were always Jews at
+Babylon; and they continually carried on the trade
+of brokers and peddlers; it is very likely that several
+disciples sought refuge there, and that Peter
+went to encourage them. There is not more reason
+in supposing that Babylon signifies Rome, than in
+supposing that Rome means Babylon. What an extravagant
+idea, to suppose that Peter wrote an exhortation
+to his comrades, as we write at present, in
+ciphers! Did he fear that his letter should be
+opened at the post? Why should Peter fear that his
+Jewish letters should be known&mdash;so useless in a
+worldly sense, and to which it was impossible for
+the Romans to pay the least attention? Who engaged
+him to lie so vainly? What could have possessed
+people to think, that when he wrote Babylon,
+he intended Rome?</p>
+
+<p>It was after similar convincing proofs that the
+judicious Calmet concludes that the journey of St.
+Peter to Rome is proved by St. Peter himself, who
+says expressly, that he has written his letter from
+Babylon; that is to say, from Rome, as we interpret
+with the ancients. Once more, this is powerful
+reasoning! He has probably learned this logic
+among the vampires!</p>
+
+<p>The learned archbishop of Paris, Marca, Dupin,
+Blondel, and Spanheim, are not of this opinion; but
+it was that of Calmet, who reasoned like Calmet, and
+who was followed by a multitude of writers so
+attached to the sublimity of their principles that
+they sometimes neglected wholesome criticism and
+reason. It is a very poor pretence of the partisans
+of the voyage to say that the Acts of the Apostles
+are intended for the history of Paul, and not for
+that of Peter; and that if they pass in silence over
+the sojourn of Simon Barjonas at Rome, it is that
+the actions and exploits of Paul were the sole object
+of the writer.</p>
+
+<p>The Acts speak much of Simon Barjonas, surnamed
+Peter; it is he who proposes to give a successor
+to Judas. We see him strike Ananias and
+his wife with sudden death, who had given him
+their property, but unfortunately not all of it. We
+see him raise his sempstress Dorcas, at the house
+of the tanner Simon at Joppa. He has a quarrel
+in Samaria with Simon, surnamed the Magician;
+he goes to Lippa, Cæsarea, and Jerusalem; what
+would it have cost him to go to Rome?</p>
+
+<p>It is very difficult to decide whether Peter went
+to Rome under Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, or
+Nero. The journey in the time of Tiberius is only
+founded on the pretended apocryphal fasti of Italy.</p>
+
+<p>Another apocrypha, entitled "Catalogues of
+Bishops," makes Peter bishop of Rome immediately
+after the death of his master. I know not what
+Arabian tale sent him to Rome under Caligula.
+Eusebius, three hundred years after, makes him to
+be conducted to Rome under Claudius by a divine
+hand, without saying in what year.</p>
+
+<p>Lactantius, who wrote in the time of Constantine,
+is the first veracious author who has said that Peter
+went to Rome under Nero, and that he was crucified
+there.</p>
+
+<p>We must avow, that if such claims alone were
+brought forward by a party in a lawsuit, he would
+not gain his cause, and he would be advised to keep
+to the maxim of "<i>uti possedetis</i>"; and this is the
+part which Rome has taken.</p>
+
+<p>But it is said that before Eusebius and Lactantius,
+the exact Papias had already related the adventure
+of Peter and Simon; the virtue of God
+which removed him into the presence of Nero; the
+kinsman of Nero half raised from the dead, in the
+name of God, by Simon, and wholly raised by Peter;
+the compliments of their dogs; the bread given by
+Peter to Simon's dogs; the magician who flew into
+the air; the Christian who caused him to fall by
+a sign of the cross, by which he broke both his legs;
+Nero, who cut off Peter's head to pay for the
+legs of his magician, etc. The grave Marcellus repeats
+this authentic history, and the grave Hegesippus
+again repeats it, and others repeat it after them;
+and I repeat to you, that if ever you plead for a
+meadow before the judge of Vaugirard, you will
+never gain your suit by such claims.</p>
+
+<p>I doubt not that the episcopal chair of St. Peter
+is still at Rome in the fine church. I doubt not but
+that St. Peter enjoyed the bishopric of Rome
+twenty-nine years, a month, and nine days, as it is
+said. But I may venture to say that that is not
+demonstratively proved; and I say that it is to be
+thought that the Roman bishops of the present time
+are more at their ease than those of times past&mdash;obscure
+times, which it is very difficult to penetrate.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WALLER" id="WALLER"></a>WALLER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The celebrated Waller has been much spoken of
+in France; he has been praised by La Fontaine, St.
+Évremond, and Bayle, who, however, knew little of
+him beyond his name.</p>
+
+<p>He had pretty nearly the same reputation in
+London as Voiture enjoyed in Paris, but I believe
+that he more deserved it. Voiture existed at a time
+when we were first emerging from literary ignorance,
+and when wit was aimed at, but scarcely attained.
+Turns of expression were sought for instead
+of thoughts, and false stones were more easily
+discovered than genuine diamonds. Voiture, who
+possessed an easy and trifling turn of mind, was the
+first who shone in this aurora of French literature.
+Had he come after the great men who have thrown
+so much lustre on the age of Louis XIV., he would
+have been forced to have had something more than
+mere wit, which was enough for the hotel de Rambouillet,
+but not enough for posterity. Boileau
+praises him, but it was in his first satires, and before
+his taste was formed. He was young, and of that
+age in which men judge rather by reputation than
+from themselves; and, besides, Boileau was often
+unjust in his praise as well as his censure. He
+praised Segrais, whom nobody read; insulted Quinault,
+who everybody repeated by heart; and said
+nothing of La Fontaine.</p>
+
+<p>Waller, although superior to Voiture, was not
+perfect. His poems of gallantry are very graceful,
+but they are frequently languid from negligence,
+and they are often disfigured by conceits. In his
+days, the English had not learned to write correctly.
+His serious pieces are replete with vigor, and exhibit
+none of the softness of his gallant effusions.
+He composed a monody on the death of Cromwell,
+which, with several faults, passes for a masterpiece;
+and it was in reference to this eulogy that
+Waller made the reply to Charles II., which is inserted
+in "Bayle's Dictionary." The king&mdash;to whom
+Waller, after the manner of kings and poets, presented
+a poem stuffed with panegyric&mdash;told him that
+he had written more finely on Cromwell. Waller
+immediately replied: "Sire, we poets always succeed
+better in fiction than in truth." This reply
+was not so sincere as that of the Dutch ambassador,
+who, when the same king complained to him that
+his masters had less regard for him than for Cromwell,
+replied: "Ah, sire! that Cromwell was quite
+another thing." There are courtiers in England,
+as elsewhere, and Waller was one of them; but
+after their death, I consider men only by their works;
+all the rest is annihilated. I simply observe that
+Waller, born to an estate of the annual value of
+sixty thousand livres, had never the silly pride or
+carelessness to neglect his talent. The earls of
+Dorset and Roscommon, the two dukes of Buckingham,
+the earl of Halifax, and a great many
+others, have not thought it below them to become
+celebrated poets and illustrious writers; and their
+works do them more honor than their titles. They
+have cultivated letters as if their fortunes depended
+on their success, and have rendered literature respectable
+in the eyes of the people, who in all things
+require leaders from among the great&mdash;who, however,
+have less influence of this kind in England
+than in any other place in the world.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WAR" id="WAR"></a>WAR.</h3>
+
+
+<p>All animals are perpetually at war; every species
+is born to devour another. There are none,
+even to sheep and doves, who do not swallow a
+prodigious number of imperceptible animals. Males
+of the same species make war for the females, like
+Menelaus and Paris. Air, earth, and the waters,
+are fields of destruction.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that God having given reason to men,
+this reason should teach them not to debase themselves
+by imitating animals, particularly when nature
+has given them neither arms to kill their fellow-creatures,
+nor instinct which leads them to suck their
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>Yet murderous war is so much the dreadful lot
+of man, that except two or three nations, there are
+none but what their ancient histories represent as
+armed against one another. Towards Canada, man
+and warrior are synonymous; and we have seen,
+in our hemisphere, that thief and soldier were the
+same thing. Manichæans! behold your excuse.</p>
+
+<p>The most determined of flatterers will easily
+agree, that war always brings pestilence and famine
+in its train, from the little that he may have seen in
+the hospitals of the armies of Germany, or the few
+villages he may have passed through in which some
+great exploit of war has been performed.</p>
+
+<p>That is doubtless a very fine art which desolates
+countries, destroys habitations, and in a common
+year causes the death of from forty to a hundred
+thousand men. This invention was first cultivated
+by nations assembled for their common good; for
+instance, the diet of the Greeks declared to the diet
+of Phrygia and neighboring nations, that they intended
+to depart on a thousand fishers' barks, to
+exterminate them if they could.</p>
+
+<p>The assembled Roman people judged that it was
+to their interest to go and fight, before harvest,
+against the people of Veii or the Volscians. And
+some years after, all the Romans, being exasperated
+against all the Carthaginians, fought them a long
+time on sea and land. It is not exactly the same at
+present.</p>
+
+<p>A genealogist proves to a prince that he descends
+in a right line from a count, whose parents made a
+family compact, three or four hundred years ago,
+with a house the recollection of which does not even
+exist. This house had distant pretensions to a
+province, of which the last possessor died of apoplexy.
+The prince and his council see his right at
+once. This province, which is some hundred leagues
+distant from him, in vain protests that it knows
+him not; that it has no desire to be governed by
+him; that to give laws to its people, he must at
+least have their consent; these discourses only
+reach as far as the ears of the prince, whose right
+is incontestable. He immediately assembles a great
+number of men who have nothing to lose, dresses
+them in coarse blue cloth, borders their hats with
+broad white binding, makes them turn to the right
+and left, and marches to glory.</p>
+
+<p>Other princes who hear of this equipment, take
+part in it, each according to his power, and cover
+a small extent of country with more mercenary
+murderers than Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, and
+Bajazet employed in their train. Distant people
+hear that they are going to fight, and that they may
+gain five or six sous a day, if they will be of the
+party; they divide themselves into two bands, like
+reapers, and offer their services to whoever will
+employ them.</p>
+
+<p>These multitudes fall upon one another, not only
+without having any interest in the affair, but without
+knowing the reason of it. We see at once five
+or six belligerent powers, sometimes three against
+three, sometimes two against four, and sometimes
+one against five; all equally detesting one another,
+uniting with and attacking by turns; all agree in
+a single point, that of doing all the harm possible.</p>
+
+<p>The most wonderful part of this infernal enterprise
+is that each chief of the murderers causes his
+colors to be blessed, and solemnly invokes God before
+he goes to exterminate his neighbors. If a
+chief has only the fortune to kill two or three thousand
+men, he does not thank God for it; but when
+he has exterminated about ten thousand by fire and
+sword, and, to complete the work, some town has
+been levelled with the ground, they then sing a long
+song in four parts, composed in a language unknown
+to all who have fought, and moreover replete
+with barbarism. The same song serves for
+marriages and births, as well as for murders; which
+is unpardonable, particularly in a nation the most
+famous for new songs.</p>
+
+<p>Natural religion has a thousand times prevented
+citizens from committing crimes. A well-trained
+mind has not the inclination for it; a tender one is
+alarmed at it, representing to itself a just and
+avenging God; but artificial religion encourages
+all cruelties which are exercised by troops&mdash;conspiracies,
+seditions, pillages, ambuscades, surprises
+of towns, robberies, and murder. Each marches
+gaily to crime, under the banner of his saint.</p>
+
+<p>A certain number of orators are everywhere paid
+to celebrate these murderous days; some are dressed
+in a long black close coat, with a short cloak; others
+have a shirt above a gown; some wear two variegated
+stuff streamers over their shirts. All of them
+speak for a long time, and quote that which was
+done of old in Palestine, as applicable to a combat
+in Veteravia.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the year these people declaim against
+vices. They prove, in three points and by antitheses,
+that ladies who lay a little carmine upon
+their cheeks, will be the eternal objects of the
+eternal vengeances of the Eternal; that Polyeuctus
+and Athalia are works of the demon; that a man
+who, for two hundred crowns a day, causes his table
+to be furnished with fresh sea-fish during Lent, infallibly
+works his salvation; and that a poor man
+who eats two sous and a half worth of mutton, will
+go forever to all the devils.</p>
+
+<p>Of five or six thousand declamations of this kind,
+there are three or four at most, composed by a Gaul
+named Massillon, which an honest man may read
+without disgust; but in all these discourses, you
+will scarcely find two in which the orator dares to
+say a word against the scourge and crime of war,
+which contains all other scourges and crimes. The
+unfortunate orators speak incessantly against love,
+which is the only consolation of mankind, and the
+only mode of making amends for it; they say
+nothing of the abominable efforts which we make to
+destroy it.</p>
+
+<p>You have made a very bad sermon on impurity&mdash;oh,
+Bourdaloue!&mdash;but none on these murders, varied
+in so many ways; on these rapines and robberies;
+on this universal rage which devours the world.
+All the united vices of all ages and places will never
+equal the evils produced by a single campaign.</p>
+
+<p>Miserable physicians of souls! you exclaim, for
+five quarters of an hour, on some pricks of a pin,
+and say nothing on the malady which tears us into
+a thousand pieces! Philosophers! moralists! burn all
+your books. While the caprice of a few men makes
+that part of mankind consecrated to heroism, to
+murder loyally millions of our brethren, can there
+be anything more horrible throughout nature?</p>
+
+<p>What becomes of, and what signifies to me, humanity,
+beneficence, modesty, temperance, mildness,
+wisdom, and piety, while half a pound of lead, sent
+from the distance of a hundred steps, pierces my
+body, and I die at twenty years of age, in inexpressible
+torments, in the midst of five or six thousand
+dying men, while my eyes which open for the
+last time, see the town in which I was born destroyed
+by fire and sword, and the last sounds which
+reach my ears are the cries of women and children
+expiring under the ruins, all for the pretended interests
+of a man whom I know not?</p>
+
+<p>What is worse, war is an inevitable scourge. If
+we take notice, all men have worshipped Mars.
+Sabaoth, among the Jews, signifies the god of arms;
+but Minerva, in Homer, calls Mars a furious, mad,
+and infernal god.</p>
+
+<p>The celebrated Montesquieu, who was called humane,
+has said, however,' that it is just to bear fire
+and sword against our neighbors, when we fear that
+they are doing too well. If this is the spirit of laws,
+At is also that of Borgia and of Machiavelli. If unfortunately
+he says true, we must write against this
+truth, though it may be proved by facts.</p>
+
+<p>This is what Montesquieu says: "Between societies,
+the right of natural defence sometimes induces
+the necessity of attacking, when one people
+sees that a longer peace puts another in a situation
+to destroy it, and that attack at the given moment is
+the only way of preventing this destruction."</p>
+
+<p>How can attack in peace be the only means of
+preventing this destruction? You must be sure that
+this neighbor will destroy you, if he become powerful.
+To be sure of it, he must already have made
+preparations for your overthrow. In this case, it
+is he who commences the war; it is not you: your
+supposition is false and contradictory.</p>
+
+<p>If ever war is evidently unjust, it is that which
+you propose: it is going to kill your neighbor, who
+does not attack you, lest he should ever be in a state
+to do so. To hazard the ruin of your country, in
+the hope of ruining without reason that of another,
+is assuredly neither honest nor useful; for we are
+never sure of success, as you well know.</p>
+
+<p>If your neighbor becomes too powerful during
+peace, what prevents you from rendering yourself
+equally powerful? If he has made alliances, make
+them on your side. If, having fewer monks, he has
+more soldiers and manufacturers, imitate him in this
+wise economy. If he employs his sailors better, employ
+yours in the same manner: all that is very just.
+But to expose your people to the most horrible misery,
+in the so often false idea of overturning your
+dear brother, the most serene neighboring prince!&mdash;it
+was not for the honorary president of a pacific
+society to give you such advice.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WEAKNESS_ON_BOTH_SIDES" id="WEAKNESS_ON_BOTH_SIDES"></a>WEAKNESS ON BOTH SIDES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the
+motto of all quarrels. I speak not here of those
+which have caused blood to be shed&mdash;the Anabaptists,
+who ravaged Westphalia; the Calvinists, who
+kindled so many wars in France; the sanguinary
+factions of the Armagnacs and Burgundians; the
+punishment of the Maid of Orleans, whom one-half
+of France regarded as a celestial heroine, and the
+other as a sorceress; the Sorbonne, which presented
+a request to have her burned; the assassination of
+the duke of Orleans, justified by the doctors; subjects
+excused from the oath of fidelity by a decree
+of the sacred faculty; the executioners so often employed
+to enforce opinions; the piles lighted for unfortunates
+who persuaded others that they were sorcerers
+and heretics&mdash;all that is more than weakness.
+Yet these abominations were committed in the good
+times of honest Germanic faith and Gallic naivete!
+I would send back to them all honest people who
+regret times past.</p>
+
+<p>I will make here, simply for my own particular
+edification, a little instructive memoir of the fine
+things which divided the minds of our grandfathers.
+In the eleventh century&mdash;in that good time in which
+we knew not the art of war, which however we have
+always practised; nor that of governing towns, nor
+commerce, nor society, and in which we could
+neither read nor write&mdash;men of much mind disputed
+solemnly, at much length, and with great vivacity,
+on what happened at the water-closet, after having
+fulfilled a sacred duty, of which we must speak only
+with the most profound respect. This was called the
+dispute of the stercorists; and, not ending in a
+war, was in consequence one of the mildest impertinences
+of the human mind.</p>
+
+<p>The dispute which divided learned Spain, in the
+same century, on the Mosarabic version, also terminated
+without ravaging provinces or shedding human
+blood. The spirit of chivalry, which then prevailed,
+permitted not the difficulty to be enlightened
+otherwise than in leaving the decision to two noble
+knights. As in that of the two Don Quixotes, whichever
+overthrew his adversary caused his own party
+to triumph. Don Ruis de Martanza, knight of the
+Mosarabic ritual, overthrew the Don Quixote of the
+Latin ritual; but as the laws of chivalry decided
+not positively that a ritual must be proscribed because
+its knight was unhorsed, a more certain and
+established secret was made use of, to know which
+of the books should be preferred. The expedient
+alluded to was that of throwing them both into the
+fire, it not being possible for the sound ritual to perish
+in the flames. I know not how it happened, however,
+but they were both burned, and the dispute
+remained undecided, to the great astonishment of
+the Spaniards. By degrees, the Latin ritual got
+the preference; and if any knight afterwards presented
+himself to maintain the Mosarabic, it was the
+knight and not the ritual which was thrown into
+the fire.</p>
+
+<p>In these fine times, we and other polished people,
+when we were ill, were obliged to have recourse to
+an Arabian physician. When we would know what
+day of the moon it was, we referred to the Arabs.
+If we would buy a piece of cloth, we must pay a Jew
+for it; and when a farmer wanted rain, he addressed
+himself to a sorcerer. At last, however, when some
+of us learned Latin, and had a bad translation of
+Aristotle, we figured in the world with honor, passing
+three or four hundred years in deciphering some
+pages of the Stagyrite, and in adoring and condemning
+them. Some said that without him we should
+want articles of faith; others, that he was an atheist.
+A Spaniard proved that Aristotle was a saint, and
+that we should celebrate his anniversary; while a
+council in France caused his divine writings to be
+burned. Colleges, universities, whole orders of
+monks, were reciprocally anathematized, on the subject
+of some passages of this great man&mdash;which neither
+themselves, the judges who interposed their authority,
+nor the author himself, ever understood.
+There were many fisticuffs given in Germany in
+these grave quarrels, but there was not much bloodshed.
+It is a pity, for the glory of Aristotle, that
+they did not make civil war, and have some regular
+battles in favor of quiddities, and of the "universal
+of the part of the thing." Our ancestors cut the
+throats of each other in disputes upon points which
+they understood very little better.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that a much celebrated madman named
+Occam, surnamed the "invincible doctor," chief of
+those who stood up for the "universal of the part of
+thought," demanded from the emperor Louis of
+Bavaria, that he should defend his pen with his imperial
+sword against Scott, another Scottish madman,
+surnamed the "subtle doctor," who fought for
+the "universal of the part of the thing." Happily,
+the sword of Louis of Bavaria remained in its scabbard.
+Who would believe that these disputes have
+lasted until our days, and that the Parliament of
+Paris, in 1624, gave a fine sentence in favor of Aristotle?</p>
+
+<p>Towards the time of the brave Occam and the intrepid
+Scott, a much more serious quarrel arose,
+into which the reverend father Cordeliers inveigled
+all the Christian world. This was to know if their
+kitchen garden belonged to themselves, or if they
+were merely simple tenants of it. The form of the
+cowls, and the size of the sleeves, were further subjects
+of this holy war. Pope John XXII., who interfered,
+found out to whom he was speaking. The
+Cordeliers quitted his party for that of Louis of Bavaria,
+who then drew his sword.</p>
+
+<p>There were, moreover, three or four Cordeliers
+burned as heretics, which is rather strong; but after
+all, this affair having neither shaken thrones nor
+ruined provinces, we may place it in the rank of
+peaceable follies.</p>
+
+<p>There have been always some of this kind, the
+greater part of whom have fallen into the most profound
+oblivion; and of four or five hundred sects
+which have appeared, there remain in the memory
+of men those only which have produced either extreme
+disorder or extreme folly&mdash;two things which
+they willingly retain. Who knows, in the present
+day, that there were Orebites, Osmites, and Insdorfians?
+Who is now acquainted with the
+Anointed, the Cornacians, or the Iscariots?</p>
+
+<p>Dining one day at the house of a Dutch lady, I
+was charitably warned by one of the guests, to take
+care of myself, and not to praise Voetius. "I have
+no desire," said I, "to say either good or evil of
+your Voetius; but why do you give me this advice?"
+"Because madam is a Cocceian," said my neighbor.
+"With all my heart," said I. She added, that there
+were still four Cocceians in Holland, and that it
+was a great pity that the sect perished. A time will
+come in which the Jansenists, who have made so
+much noise among us, and who are unknown everywhere
+else, will have the fate of the Cocceians.
+An old doctor said to me: "Sir, in my youth, I have
+debated on the <i>'mandata impossibilia volentibus et
+conantibus.'</i> I have written against the formulary
+and the pope, and I thought myself a confessor. I
+have been put in prison, and I thought myself a martyr.
+I now no longer interfere in anything, and I
+believe myself to be reasonable." "What are your
+occupations?" said I to him. "Sir," replied he, "I
+am very fond of money." It is thus that almost all
+men in their old age inwardly laugh at the follies
+which they ardently embraced in their youth. Sects
+grow old, like men. Those which have not been supported
+by great princes, which have not caused great
+mischief, grow old much sooner than others. They
+are epidemic maladies, which pass over like the
+sweating sickness and the whooping-cough.</p>
+
+<p>There is no longer any question on the pious reveries
+of Madame Guyon. We no longer read the
+most unintelligible book of Maxims of the Saints,
+but Telemachus. We no longer remember what the
+eloquent Bossuet wrote against the elegant and
+amiable Fénelon; we give the preference to his
+funeral orations. In all the dispute on what is called
+quietism, there has been nothing good but the old
+tale revived of the honest woman who brought a
+torch to burn paradise, and a cruse of water to extinguish
+the fire of hell, that God should no longer
+be served either through hope or fear.</p>
+
+<p>I will only remark one singularity in this proceeding,
+which is not equal to the story of the good
+woman; it is, that the Jesuits, who were so much accused
+in France by the Jansenists of having been
+founded by St. Ignatius, expressly to destroy the
+love of God, warmly interfered at Rome in favor of
+the pure love of Fénelon. It happened to them as
+to M. de Langeais, who was pursued by his wife to
+the Parliament of Paris, on account of his impotence,
+and by a girl to the Parliament of Rennes, for having
+rendered her pregnant. He ought to have gained
+one of these two causes; he lost them both. Pure
+love, for which the Jesuits made so much stir, was
+condemned at Rome, and they were always supposed
+at Paris to be against loving God. This opinion
+was so rooted in the public mind that when,
+some years ago, an engraving was sold representing
+our Lord Jesus Christ dressed as a Jesuit, a wit&mdash;apparently
+the <i>loustic</i> of the Jansenist party&mdash;wrote
+lines under the print intimating that the ingenious
+fathers had habited God like themselves, as the surest
+means of preventing the love of him:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Admirez l'artifice extrême</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Les ces pères ingénieux:</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ils vous ont habillé comme eux,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mon Dieu, de peur qu'on ne vous aime.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>At Rome, where such disputes never arise, and
+where they judge those that take place elsewhere,
+they were much annoyed with quarrels on pure love.
+Cardinal Carpegne, who was the reporter of the affairs
+of the archbishop of Cambray, was ill, and suffered
+much in a part which is not more spared in
+cardinals than in other men. His surgeon bandaged
+him with fine linen, which is called cambrai (cambric)
+in Italy as in many other places. The cardinal
+cried out, when the surgeon pleaded that it was
+the finest cambrai: "What! more cambrai still?
+Is it not enough to have one's head fatigued with
+it?" Happy the disputes which end thus! Happy
+would man be if all the disputers of the world, if
+heresiarchs, submitted with so much moderation,
+such magnanimous mildness, as the great archbishop
+of Cambray, who had no desire to be an
+heresiarch! I know not whether he was right in
+wishing God to be loved for himself alone, but M.
+de Fénelon certainly deserved to be loved thus.</p>
+
+<p>In purely literary disputes there is often as much
+snarling and party spirit as in more interesting quarrels.
+We should, if we could, renew the factions of
+the circus, which agitated the Roman Empire. Two
+rival actresses are capable of dividing a town. Men
+have all a secret fascination for faction. If we cannot
+cabal, pursue, and destroy one another for
+crowns, tiaras, and mitres, we fall upon one another
+for a dancer or a musician. Rameau had a violent
+party against him, who would have exterminated
+him; and he knew nothing of it. I had a violent
+party against me, and I knew it well.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WHYS_THE" id="WHYS_THE"></a>WHYS (THE).</h3>
+
+
+<p>Why do we scarcely ever know the tenth part
+of the good we might do? Iris clear, that if a nation
+living between the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the
+sea, had employed, in ameliorating and embellishing
+the country, a tenth part of the money it lost in the
+war of 1741, and one-half of the men killed to no
+purpose in Germany, the state would have been more
+flourishing. Why was not this done? Why prefer
+a war, which Europe considered unjust, to the happy
+labors of peace, which would have produced the
+useful and the agreeable?</p>
+
+<p>Why did Louis XIV., who had so much taste
+for great monuments, for new foundations, for the
+fine arts, lose eight hundred millions of our money
+in seeing his cuirassiers and his household swim
+across the Rhine in <i>not</i> taking Amsterdam; in
+stirring up nearly all Europe against him? What
+could he not have done with his eight hundred millions?</p>
+
+<p>Why, when he reformed jurisprudence, did he
+reform it only by halves? Ought the numerous ancient
+customs, founded on the decretals and the
+canon law, to be still suffered to exist? Was it
+necessary that in the many causes called ecclesiastical,
+but which are in reality civil, appeal should be
+made to the bishop; from the bishop to the metropolitan;
+from the metropolitan to the primate; and
+from the primate to Rome, "<i>ad apostolos</i>"?&mdash;as if
+the apostles had of old been the judges of the Gauls
+"<i>en dernier ressort</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Why, when Louis XIV. was outrageously insulted
+by Pope Alexander VII.&mdash;Chigi&mdash;did he
+amuse himself with sending into France for a legate,
+to make frivolous excuses, and with having a pyramid
+erected at Rome, the inscriptions over which
+concerned none but the watchmen of Rome&mdash;a pyramid
+which he soon after had abolished? Had it not
+been better to have abolished forever the simony by
+which every bishop and every abbot in Gaul pays to
+the Italian apostolic chamber the half of his revenue?</p>
+
+<p>Why did the same monarch, when still more
+grievously insulted by Innocent XI.&mdash;Odescalchi&mdash;who
+took the part of the prince of Orange against
+him, content himself with having four propositions
+maintained in his universities, and refuse the prayers
+of the whole magistracy, who solicited an eternal
+rupture with the court of Rome?</p>
+
+<p>Why, in making the laws, was it forgotten to
+place all the provinces of the kingdom under one
+uniform law, leaving in existence a hundred different
+customs, and a hundred and forty-four different
+measures?</p>
+
+<p>Why were the provinces of this kingdom still reputed
+foreign to one another, so that the merchandise
+of Normandy, on being conveyed by land into
+Brittany, pays duty, as if it came from England?</p>
+
+<p>Why was not corn grown in Champagne allowed
+to be sold in Picardy without an express permission&mdash;as
+at Rome permission is obtained for three
+giuli to read forbidden books?</p>
+
+<p>Why was France left so long under the reproach
+of venality? It seemed to be reserved for Louis
+XIV. to abolish the custom of buying the right to
+sit as judges over men, as you buy a country house;
+and making pleaders pay fees to the judge, as tickets
+for the play are paid for at the door.</p>
+
+<p>Why institute in a kingdom the offices and dignities
+of king's counsellors: Inspectors of drink, inspectors
+of the shambles, registrars of inventories,
+controllers of fines, inspectors of hogs, péréquateurs
+of tailles, fuel-measurers, assistant-measurers, fuel-pilers,
+unloaders of green wood, controllers of timber,
+markers of timber, coal-measurers, corn-sifters,
+inspectors of calves, controllers of poultry, gaugers,
+assayers of brandy, assayers of beer, rollers of
+casks, unloaders of hay, floor-clearers, inspectors
+of ells, inspectors of wigs?</p>
+
+<p>These offices; in which doubtless consist the prosperity
+and splendor of an empire, formed numerous
+communities, which had each their syndics. This
+was all suppressed in 1719; but it was to make room
+for others of a similar kind, in the course of time.
+Would it not be better to retrench all the pomp and
+luxury of greatness, than miserably to support them
+by means so low and shameful?</p>
+
+<p>Why has a nation, often reduced to extremity
+and to some degree of humiliation, still supported
+itself in spite of all the efforts made to crush it?
+Because that nation is active and industrious. The
+people are like the bees: you take from them wax
+and honey, and they forthwith set to work to produce
+more.</p>
+
+<p>Why, in half of Europe, do the girls pray to God
+in Latin, which they do not understand? Why, in
+the sixteenth century, when nearly all the popes
+and bishops notoriously had bastards, did they persist
+in prohibiting the marriage of priests; while
+the Greek Church has constantly ordained that curates
+should have wives?</p>
+
+<p>Why, in all antiquity, was there no theological
+dispute, nor any people distinguished by a sectarian
+appellation? The Egyptians were not called Isiacs
+or Osiriacs. The people of Syria were not named
+Cybelians. The Cretans had a particular devotion
+for Jupiter, but were not called Jupiterians. The
+ancient Latins were much attached to Saturn, but
+there was not a village in all Latium called Saturnian.
+The disciples of the God of Truth, on the
+contrary, taking the title of their master himself,
+and calling themselves, like him, "anointed," declared,
+as soon as they were able, eternal war against
+all nations that were not "anointed," and made war
+upon one another for upwards of fourteen hundred
+years, taking the names of Arians, Manichæans,
+Donatists, Hussites, Papists, Lutherans, Calvinists,
+etc. Even the Jansenists and Molinists have experienced
+no mortification so acute as that of not
+having it in their power to cut one another's throats
+in pitched battle. Whence is this?</p>
+
+<p>Why does a bookseller publicly sell the "Course
+of Atheism," by the great Lucretius, printed for the
+dauphin, only son of Louis XIV., by order and under
+the direction of the wise duke of Montausier,
+and of the eloquent Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, and
+of the learned Huet, bishop of Avranches? There
+you find those sublime impieties, those admirable
+lines against Providence and the immortality of the
+soul, which pass from mouth to mouth, through all
+after-ages:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ex nihilo, nihil; in nihilum nil posse reverti.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">From nothing, nought; to nothing nought returns.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Tangere enim ac tangi nisi corpus nulla protest res.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Matter alone can touch and govern matter.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Nec bene pro meretis capitur, nec tangitur ira (Deus).</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Nothing can flatter God, or cause his anger.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">How great the evil by religion caused!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Desipire est mortale eterno jungere et una</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Consentire putare, et fungi mutua posse.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'Tis weak in mortals to attempt to join</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To transient being that which lasts forever.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Nil igitur mors est, ad nos neque pertinet hilum.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">When death is, we are not; the body dies, and with it all.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mortalem tamen esse animam fatere necesse est.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">There is no future; mortal is the soul.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Hinc Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Hence ancient fools are superstition's prey.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>And a hundred other lines which charm all nations&mdash;the
+immortal productions of a mind which believed
+itself to be mortal. Not only are these Latin
+verses sold in the Rue St. Jacques and on the
+Quai des Augustins, but you fearlessly purchase
+the translations made into all the patois derived
+from the Latin tongue&mdash;translations decorated with
+learned notes, which elucidate the doctrine of materialism,
+collect all the proofs against the Divinity,
+and would annihilate it, if it could be destroyed.
+You find this book, bound in morocco, in the fine
+library of a great and devout prince, of a cardinal,
+of a chancellor, of an archbishop, of a round-capped
+president: but the first eighteen books of de Thou
+were condemned as soon as they appeared. A poor
+Gallic philosopher ventures to publish, in his own
+name, that if men had been born without fingers,
+they would never have been able to work tapestry;
+and immediately another Gaul, who for his money
+has obtained a robe of office, requires that the book
+and the author be burned.</p>
+
+<p>Why are scenic exhibitions anathematized by certain
+persons who call themselves of the first order
+in the state, seeing that such exhibitions are necessary
+to all the orders of the state, and that the laws
+of the state uphold them with equal splendor and
+regularity?</p>
+
+<p>Why do we abandon to contempt, debasement,
+oppression, and rapine, the great mass of those laborious
+and harmless men who cultivate the earth
+every day of the year, that we may eat of all its
+fruits? And why, on the contrary, do we pay respect,
+attention, and court, to the useless and often
+very wicked man who lives only by their labor, and
+is rich only by their misery?</p>
+
+<p>Why, during so many ages, among so many men
+who sow the corn with which we are fed, has there
+been no one to discover that ridiculous error which
+teaches that the grain must rot in order to germinate,
+and die to spring up again&mdash;an error which
+has led to many impertinent assertions, to many
+false comparisons, and to many ridiculous opinions?</p>
+
+<p>Why, since the fruits of the earth are so necessary
+for the preservation of men and animals, do
+we find so many years, and so many centuries, in
+which these fruits are absolutely wanting? why is
+the earth covered with poisons in the half of Africa
+and of America? why is there no tract of land
+where there are not more insects than men? why
+does a little whitish and offensive secretion form a
+being which will have hard bones, desires, and
+thoughts? and why shall those beings be constantly
+persecuting one another? why does there exist so
+much evil, everything being formed by a God whom
+all Theists agree in calling good? why, since we are
+always complaining of our ills, are we constantly
+employed in redoubling them? why, since we are
+so miserable, has it been imagined that to die is an
+evil&mdash;when it is clear that not to have been, before
+our birth, was no evil? why does it rain every day
+into the sea, while so many deserts demand rain,
+yet are constantly arid? why and how have we
+dreams in our sleep, if we have no soul? and if we
+have one, how is it that these dreams are always so
+incoherent and so extravagant? why do the heavens
+revolve from east to west, rather than the contrary
+way? why do we exist? why does anything
+exist?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WICKED" id="WICKED"></a>WICKED.</h3>
+
+
+<p>We are told that human nature is essentially perverse;
+that man is born a child of the devil, and
+wicked. Nothing can be more injudicious; for thou,
+my friend, who preachest to me that all the world is
+born perverse, warnest me that thou art born such
+also, and that I must mistrust thee as I would a fox
+or a crocodile. Oh, no! sayest thou; I am regenerated;
+I am neither a heretic nor an infidel; you
+may trust in me. But the rest of mankind, which
+are either heretic, or what thou callest infidel, will
+be an assemblage of monsters, and every time that
+thou speakest to a Lutheran or a Turk, thou mayest
+be sure that they will rob and murder thee, for they
+are children of the devil, they are born wicked; the
+one is not regenerated, the other is degenerated. It
+would be much more reasonable, much more noble,
+to say to men: "You are all born good; see how
+dreadful it is to corrupt the purity of your being.
+All mankind should be dealt with as are all men
+individually." If a canon leads a scandalous life,
+we say to him: "Is it possible that you would dishonor
+the dignity of canon?" We remind a lawyer
+that he has the honor of being a counsellor to the
+king, and that he should set an example. We say to
+a soldier to encourage him: "Remember that thou
+art of the regiment of Champagne." We should say
+to every individual: "Remember thy dignity as a
+man."</p>
+
+<p>And indeed, notwithstanding the contrary theory,
+we always return to that; for what else signifies
+the expression, so frequently used in all nations:
+"Be yourself again?" If we are born of the devil,
+if our origin was criminal, if our blood was formed
+of an infernal liquor, this expression: "Be yourself
+again," would signify: "Consult, follow your
+diabolical nature; be an impostor, thief, and assassin;
+it is the law of your nature."</p>
+
+<p>Man is not born wicked; he becomes so, as he
+becomes sick. Physicians present themselves and
+say to him: "You are born sick." It is very certain
+these doctors, whatever they may say or do, will not
+cure him, if the malady is inherent in his nature;
+besides, these reasoners are often very ailing themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Assemble all the children of the universe; you
+will see in them only innocence, mildness, and fear;
+if they were born wicked, mischievous, and cruel,
+they would show some signs of it, as little serpents
+try to bite, and little tigers to tear. But nature not
+having given to men more offensive arms than to
+pigeons and rabbits, she cannot have given them an
+instinct leading them to destroy.</p>
+
+<p>Man, therefore, is not born bad; why, therefore,
+are several infected with the plague of wickedness?
+It is, that those who are at their head being taken
+with the malady, communicate it to the rest of men:
+as a woman attacked with the distemper which
+Christopher Columbus brought from America,
+spreads the venom from one end of Europe to the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>The first ambitious man corrupted the earth.
+You will tell me that this first monster has sowed
+the seed of pride, rapine, fraud, and cruelty, which
+is in all men. I confess, that in general most of our
+brethren can acquire these qualities; but has everybody
+the putrid fever, the stone and gravel, because
+everybody is exposed to it?</p>
+
+<p>There are whole nations which are not wicked:
+the Philadelphians, the Banians, have never killed
+any one. The Chinese, the people of Tonquin, Lao,
+Siam, and even Japan, for more than a hundred
+years have not been acquainted with war. In ten
+years we scarcely see one of those great crimes
+which astonish human nature in the cities of Rome,
+Venice, Paris, London, and Amsterdam; towns in
+which cupidity, the mother of all crimes, is extreme.</p>
+
+<p>If men were essentially wicked&mdash;if they were all
+born submissive to a being as mischievous as unfortunate,
+who, to revenge himself for his punishment,
+inspired them with all his passions&mdash;we should
+every morning see husbands assassinated by their
+wives, and fathers by their children; as at break
+of day we see fowls strangled by a weasel who comes
+to suck their blood.</p>
+
+<p>If there be a thousand millions of men on the
+earth, that is much; that gives about five hundred
+millions of women, who sew, spin, nourish their little
+ones, keep their houses or cabins in order, and
+slander their neighbors a little. I see not what great
+harm these poor innocents do on earth. Of this
+number of inhabitants of the globe, there are at
+least two hundred millions of children, who certainly
+neither kill nor steal, and about as many old people
+and invalids, who have not the power of doing so.
+There will remain, at most, a hundred millions of
+robust young people capable of crime. Of this hundred
+millions, there are ninety continually occupied
+in forcing the earth, by prodigious labor, to furnish
+them with food and clothing; these have scarcely
+time. In the ten remaining millions will be comprised
+idle people and good company, who would
+enjoy themselves at their ease; men of talent occupied
+in their professions; magistrates, priests, visibly
+interested in leading a pure life, at least in appearance.
+Therefore, of truly wicked people, there
+will only remain a few politicians, either secular
+or regular, who will always trouble the world, and
+some thousand vagabonds who hire their services to
+these politicians. Now, there is never a million of
+these ferocious beasts employed at once, and in this
+number I reckon highwaymen. You have therefore
+on the earth, in the most stormy times, only one
+man in a thousand whom we can call wicked, and he
+is not always so.</p>
+
+<p>There is, therefore infinitely less wickedness on
+the earth than we are told and believe there is. There
+is still too much, no doubt; we see misfortunes and
+horrible crimes; but the pleasure of complaining
+of and exaggerating them is so great, that at the
+least scratch we say that the earth flows with blood.
+Have you been deceived?&mdash;all men are perjured. A
+melancholy mind which has suffered injustice, sees
+the earth covered with damned people: as a young
+rake, supping with his lady, on coming from the
+opera, imagines that there are no unfortunates.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WILL" id="WILL"></a>WILL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Some very subtle Greeks formerly consulted Pope
+Honorius I., to know whether Jesus, when He was
+in the world, had one will or two, when He would
+sleep or watch, eat or repair to the water-closet,
+walk or sit.</p>
+
+<p>"What signifies it to you?" answered the very
+wise bishop of Rome, Honorius. "He has certainly
+at present the will for you to be well-disposed
+people&mdash;that should satisfy you; He has no will for
+you to be babbling sophists, to fight continually for
+the bishop's mitre and the ass's shadow. I advise
+you to live in peace, and not to lose in useless disputes
+the time which you might employ in good
+works."</p>
+
+<p>"Holy father, you have said well; this is the most
+important affair in the world. We have already set
+Europe, Asia, and Africa on fire, to know whether
+Jesus had two persons and one nature, or one nature
+and two persons, or rather two persons and two natures,
+or rather one person and one nature."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear brethren, you have acted wrongly; we
+should give broth to the sick and bread to the poor.
+It is doubtless right to help the poor! but is not the
+patriarch Sergius about to decide in a council at
+Constantinople, that Jesus had two natures and one
+will? And the emperor, who knows nothing about
+it, is of this opinion."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, be it so! but above all defend yourself
+from the Mahometans, who box your ears every day,
+and who have a very bad will towards you. It is
+well said! But behold the bishops of Tunis, Tripoli,
+Algiers, and Morocco, all declare firmly for the two
+wills. We must have an opinion; what is yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"My opinion is, that you are madmen, who will
+lose the Christian religion which we have established
+with so much trouble. You will do so much
+mischief with your folly, that Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers,
+and Morocco, of which you speak to me, will
+become Mahometan, and there will not be a Christian
+chapel in Africa. Meantime, I am for the emperor
+and the council, until you have another council
+and another emperor."</p>
+
+<p>"This does not satisfy us. Do you believe in two
+wills or one?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen: if these two wills are alike, it is as if
+there was but one; if they are contrary, he who has
+two wills at once will do two contrary things at
+once, which is absurd: consequently, I am for a
+single will."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, holy father, you are a monothelite! Heresy!
+the devil! Excommunicate him! depose him! A
+council, quick! another council! another emperor!
+another bishop of Rome! another patriarch!"</p>
+
+<p>"My God! how mad these poor Greeks are with all
+their vain and interminable disputes! My successor
+will do well to dream of being powerful and rich."</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had Honorius uttered these words when
+he learned that the emperor Heraclius was dead,
+after having been beaten by the Mahometans. His
+widow, Martina, poisoned her son-in-law; the senate
+caused Martina's tongue to be cut out, and the
+nose of another son of the emperor to be slit: all
+the Greek Empire flowed in blood. Would it not
+be better not to have disputed on the two wills?
+And this Pope Honorius, against whom the Jansenists
+have written so much&mdash;was he not a very sensible
+man?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WIT_SPIRIT_INTELLECT" id="WIT_SPIRIT_INTELLECT"></a>WIT, SPIRIT, INTELLECT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A man who had some knowledge of the human
+heart, was consulted upon a tragedy which was to
+be represented; and he answered, there was so
+much wit in the piece, that he doubted of its success.
+What! you will exclaim, is that a fault, at a
+time when every one is in search of wit&mdash;when each
+one writes but to show that he has it&mdash;when the public
+even applaud the falsest thoughts, if they are
+brilliant?&mdash;Yes, doubtless, they will applaud the
+first day, and be wearied the second.</p>
+
+<p>What is called wit, is sometimes a new comparison,
+sometimes a subtle allusion; here, it is the
+abuse of a word, which is presented in one sense,
+and left to be understood in another; there, a delicate
+relation between two ideas not very common.
+It is a singular metaphor; it is the discovery of
+something in an object which does not at first strike
+the observation, but which is really in it; it is the
+art either of bringing together two things apparently
+remote, or of dividing two things which seem
+to be united, or of opposing them to each other. It
+is that of expressing only one-half of what you
+think, and leaving the other to be guessed. In short,
+I would tell you of all the different ways of showing
+wit, if I had more; but all these gems&mdash;and I do
+not here include the counterfeits&mdash;are very rarely
+suited to a serious work&mdash;to one which is to interest
+the reader. The reason is, that then the author appears,
+and the public desire to see only the hero;
+for the hero is constantly either in passion or in
+danger. Danger and the passions do not go in
+search of wit. Priam and Hecuba do not compose
+epigrams while their children are butchered in
+flaming Troy; Dido does not sigh out her soul in
+madrigals, while rushing to the pile on which she
+is about to immolate herself; Demosthenes makes
+no display of pretty thoughts while he is inciting the
+Athenians to war. If he had, he would be a rhetorician;
+whereas he is a statesman.</p>
+
+<p>The art of the admirable Racine is far above
+what is called wit; but if Pyrrhus had always expressed
+himself in this style:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Vaincu, chargé de fers, de regrets consumé,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Brûlé de plus de feux que je n'en allumai....</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Hélas! fus-je jamais si cruel que vous l'êtes?</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Conquered and chained, worn out by vain desire,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Scorched by more flames than I have ever lighted....</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Alas! my cruelty ne'er equalled yours!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;if Orestes had been continually saying that the
+"Scythians are less cruel than Hermione," these two
+personages would excite no emotion at all; it would
+be perceived that true passion rarely occupies itself
+with such comparisons; and that there is some disproportion
+between the real flames by which Troy
+was consumed and the flames of Pyrrhus' love&mdash;between
+the Scythians immolating men, and Hermione
+not loving Orestes. Cinna says, speaking
+of Pompey:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Le ciel choisit sa mort, pour servir dignement</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>D'une marque éternelle à ce grand changement;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et devait cette gloire aux manes d'un tel homme,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>D'emporter avec eux la liberté de Rome.</i></span><br />
+
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Heaven chose the death of such a man, to be</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Th' eternal landmark of this mighty change.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">His manes called for no less offering</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Than Roman liberty.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This thought is very brilliant; there is much wit
+in it, as also an air of imposing grandeur. I am
+sure that these lines, pronounced with all the enthusiasm
+and art of a great actor, will be applauded;
+but I am also sure that the play of "Cinna," had it
+been written entirely in this taste, would never have
+been long played. Why, indeed, was heaven bound
+to do Pompey the honor of making the Romans
+slaves after his death? The contrary would be truer:
+the manes of Pompey should rather have obtained
+from heaven the everlasting maintenance of that
+liberty for which he is supposed to have fought and
+died.</p>
+
+<p>What, then, would any work be which should
+be full of such far-fetched and questionable
+thoughts? How much superior to all these brilliant
+ideas are those simple and natural lines:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Cinna, tu t'en souviens, et veux m'assassiner!</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">&mdash;<span class="small">CINNA</span>, act v, scene i.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Thou dost remember, Cinna, yet wouldst kill me!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Soyons amis, Cinna; c'est moi qui t'en convie.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">&mdash;<span class="small">ID</span>., act v, scene iii.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Let us be friends, Cinna; 'tis I who ask it.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>True beauty consists, not in what is called wit,
+but in sublimity and simplicity. Let Antiochus, in
+"Rodogune," say of his mistress, who quits him,
+after disgracefully proposing to him to kill his
+mother:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Elle fuit, mais en Parthe, en nous perçant le cœur.</i></span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">She flies, but, like the Parthian, flying, wounds.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Antiochus has wit; he makes an epigram against
+Rodogune; he ingeniously likens her last words in
+going away, to the arrows which the Parthians used
+to discharge in their flight. But it is not because
+his mistress goes away, that the proposal to kill
+his mother is revolting: whether she goes or stays,
+the heart of Antiochus is equally wounded. The
+epigram, therefore, is false; and if Rodogune did
+not go away, this bad epigram could not be retained.</p>
+
+<p>I select these examples expressly from the best
+authors, in order that they may be the more striking.
+I do not lay hold of those puns which play upon
+words, the false taste of which is felt by all. There
+is no one that does not laugh when, in the tragedy
+of the "Golden Fleece," Hypsipyle says to Medea,
+alluding to her sorceries:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Je n'ai que des attraits, et vous avez des charmes.</i></span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I have attractions only, you have charms.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Corneille found the stage and every other department
+of literature infested with these puerilities,
+into which he rarely fell.</p>
+
+<p>I wish here to speak only of such strokes of wit
+as would be admitted elsewhere, and as the serious
+style rejects. To their authors might be applied the
+sentence of Plutarch, translated with the happy
+naivete of Amiot: "<i>Tu tiens sans propos beaucoup
+de bons propos</i>."</p>
+
+<p>There occurs to my recollection one of those brilliant
+passages, which I have seen quoted as a model
+in many works of taste, and even in the treatise on
+studies by the late M. Rollin. This piece is taken
+from the fine funeral oration on the great Turenne,
+composed by Fléchier. It is true, that in this oration
+Fléchier almost equalled the sublime Bossuet,
+whom I have called and still call the only eloquent
+man among so many elegant writers; but it appears
+to me that the passage of which I am speaking would
+not have been employed by the bishop of Meaux.
+Here it is:</p>
+
+<p>"Ye powers hostile to France, you live; and the
+spirit of Christian charity forbids me to wish your
+death.... but you live; and I mourn in this
+pulpit over a virtuous leader, whose intentions were
+pure...."</p>
+
+<p>An apostrophe in this taste would have been
+suitable to Rome in the civil war, after the assassination
+of Pompey; or to London, after the murder
+of Charles I.; because the interests of Pompey and
+Charles I. were really in question. But is it decent
+to insinuate in the pulpit a wish for the death of
+the emperor, the king of Spain, and the electors,
+and put in the balance against them the commander-in-chief
+employed by a king who was their enemy?
+Should the intentions of a leader&mdash;which can only
+be to serve his prince&mdash;be compared with the political
+interests of the crowned heads against whom he
+served? What would be said of a German who
+should have wished for the death of the king of
+France, on the occasion of the death of General
+Merci, "whose intentions were pure"? Why, then,
+has this passage always been praised by the rhetoricians?
+Because the figure is in itself beautiful and
+pathetic; but they do not thoroughly investigate
+the fitness of the thought.</p>
+
+<p>I now return to my paradox; that none of those
+glittering ornaments, to which we give the name of
+wit, should find a place in great works designed to
+instruct or to move the passions. I will even say
+that they ought to be banished from the opera.
+Music expresses passions, sentiments, images; but
+where are the notes that can render an epigram?
+Quinault was sometimes negligent, but he was
+always natural.</p>
+
+<p>Of all our operas, that which is the most ornamented,
+or rather the most overloaded, with this
+epigrammatic spirit, is the ballet of the "Triumph
+of the Arts," composed by an amiable man, who
+always thought with subtlety, and expressed himself
+with delicacy; but who, by the abuse of this
+talent, contributed a little to the decline of letters
+after the glorious era of Louis XIV. In this ballet,
+in which Pygmalion animates his statue, he says
+to it:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Vos premiers mouvemens ont été de m'aimer.</i></span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And love for me your earliest movements showed.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I remember to have heard this line admired by
+some persons in my youth. But who does not perceive
+that the movements of the body of the statue
+are here confounded with the movements of the
+heart, and that in any sense the phrase is not
+French&mdash;that it is, in fact, a pun, a jest? How
+could it be that a man who had so much wit, had
+not enough to retrench these egregious faults? This
+same man&mdash;who, despising Homer, translated him;
+who, in translating him, thought to correct him,
+and by abridging him, thought to make him read&mdash;had
+a mind to make Homer a wit. It is he who,
+when Achilles reappears, reconciled to the Greeks
+who are ready to avenge him, makes the whole
+camp exclaim:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-même.</i></span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">What shall oppose him, conqueror of himself?</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>A man must indeed be fond of witticisms, when
+he makes fifty thousand men pun all at once upon
+the same word.</p>
+
+<p>This play of the imagination, these quips, these
+cranks, these random shafts, these gayeties, these
+little broken sentences, these ingenious familiarities,
+which it is now the fashion to lavish so profusely,
+are befitting no works but those of pure amusement.
+The front of the Louvre, by Perrault, is simple and
+majestic; minute ornaments may appear with grace
+in a cabinet. Have as much wit as you will, or as
+you can, in a madrigal, in light verses, in a scene of
+a comedy, when it is to be neither impassioned nor
+simple, in a compliment, in a "novellette," or in a
+letter, where you assume gayety yourself in order
+to communicate it to your friends.</p>
+
+<p>Far from having reproached Voiture with having
+wit in his letters, I found, on the contrary, that
+he had not enough, although he was constantly
+seeking it. It is said that dancing-masters make
+their bow ill, because they are anxious to make it
+too well. I thought this was often the case with
+Voiture; his best letters are studied; you feel that
+he is fatiguing himself to find that which presents
+itself so naturally to Count Anthony Hamilton, to
+Madame de Sévigné, and to so many other women,
+who write these trifles without an effort, better than
+Voiture wrote them with labor. Despréaux, who
+in his first satires had ventured to compare Voiture
+to Horace, changed his opinion when his taste was
+ripened by age. I know that it matters very little,
+in the affairs of this world, whether Voiture was
+or was not a great genius; whether he wrote only
+a few pretty letters, or that all his pieces of pleasantry
+were models. But we, who cultivate and love
+the liberal arts, cast an attentive eye on what is
+quite indifferent to the rest of the world. Good
+taste is to us in literature what it is to women in
+dress; and provided that one's opinions shall not
+be made a party matter, it appears to me that one
+may boldly say, that there are but few excellent
+things in Voiture, and that Marot might easily be
+reduced to a few pages.</p>
+
+<p>Not that we wish to take from them their reputation;
+on the contrary, we wish to ascertain precisely
+what that reputation cost them, and what are
+the real beauties for which their defects have been
+tolerated. We must know what we are to follow,
+and what we are to avoid; this is the real fruit of
+the profound study of the belles-lettres; this is what
+Horace did when he examined Lucilius critically.
+Horace made himself enemies thereby; but he enlightened
+his enemies themselves.</p>
+
+<p>This desire of shining and of saying in a novel
+manner what has been said by others, is a source
+of new expressions as well as far-fetched thoughts.
+He who cannot shine by thought, seeks to bring
+himself into notice by a word. Hence it has at last
+been thought proper to substitute "<i>amabilités</i>," for
+"<i>agrémens</i>"; "<i>négligemment</i>" for "<i>avec négligence</i>";
+"<i>badiner les amours</i>," for "<i>badiner avec les amours</i>."
+There are numberless other affectations of this kind;
+and if this be continued, the language of Bossuet,
+of Racine, of Corneille, of Boileau, of Fénelon, will
+soon be obsolete. Why avoid an expression which
+is in use, to introduce another which says precisely
+the same thing? A new word is pardonable only
+when it is absolutely necessary, intelligible, and
+sonorous. In physical science, we are obliged to
+make them; a new discovery, a new machine, requires
+a new word. But do we make any new discoveries
+in the human heart? Is there any other
+greatness than that of Corneille and Bossuet? Are
+there any other passions than those which have been
+delineated by Racine, and sketched by Quinault? Is
+there any other gospel morality than that of Bourdaloue?</p>
+
+<p>They who charge our language with not being
+sufficiently copious, must indeed have found sterility
+somewhere, but it is in themselves. "<i>Rem verba
+sequuntur</i>." When an idea is forcibly impressed on
+the mind&mdash;when a clear and vigorous head is in full
+possession of its thought&mdash;it issues from the brain,
+arrayed in suitable expressions, as Minerva came
+forth in full armor to wait upon Jupiter. In fine,
+the conclusion from this is that neither thoughts nor
+expressions should be far-fetched; and that the art,
+in all great works, is to reason well, without entering
+into too many arguments; to paint well, without
+striving to paint everything; and to be affecting,
+without striving constantly to excite passions.
+Certes, I am here giving fine counsel. Have I taken
+it myself? Alas! no!</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 7em;"><i>Pauci quos Å“quus amavit</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad Å“thera virtus,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Dis geniti potuere. </i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &mdash;ÆNEID, b. vi, v. 129.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To few great Jupiter imparts this grace,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And those of shining worth and heavenly race.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">&mdash;<span class="small">DRYDEN</span>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION II.</h5>
+
+<h4><i>Spirit&mdash;Wit.</i></h4>
+
+<p>The word "spirit," when it signifies "a quality of
+the mind," is one of those vague terms to which
+almost every one who pronounces it attaches a different
+sense; it expresses some other thing than
+judgment, genius, taste, talent, penetration, comprehensiveness,
+grace, or subtlety, yet is akin to all
+these merits; it might be defined to be "ingenious
+reason."</p>
+
+<p>It is a generic word, which always needs another
+word to determine it; and when we hear it said:
+"This is a work of spirit," or "He is a man of spirit,"
+we have very good reason to ask: "Spirit of what?"
+The sublime spirit of Corneille is neither the exact
+spirit of Boileau, nor the simple spirit of La Fontaine;
+and the spirit of La Bruyère, which is the
+art of portraying singularity, is not that of Malebranche,
+which is imaginative and profound.</p>
+
+<p>When a man is said to have "a judicious spirit,"
+the meaning is, not so much that he has what is
+called spirit, as that he has an enlightened reason.
+A spirit firm, masculine, courageous, great, little,
+weak, light, mild, hasty, etc., signifies the character
+and temper of the mind, and has no relation to
+what is understood in society by the expression
+"spirited."</p>
+
+<p>Spirit, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, is
+much akin to wit; yet does not signify precisely the
+same thing; for the term, "man of spirit," can never
+be taken in a bad sense; but that of "a wit," is
+sometimes pronounced ironically.</p>
+
+<p>Whence this difference? It is that "a man of
+spirit" does not signify "superior wit," "marked
+talent"; and "a wit" does. This expression, "man
+of spirit," announces no pretensions; but "wit" is
+a sort of advertisement; it is an art which requires
+cultivation; it is a sort of profession; and thereby
+exposes to envy and ridicule.</p>
+
+<p>In this sense, Father Bouhours would have been
+right in giving us to understand that the Germans
+had no pretensions to wit; for at that time their
+learned men occupied themselves in scarcely any
+works but those of labor and painful research, which
+did not admit of their scattering flowers, of their
+striving to shine, and mixing up wit with learning.</p>
+
+<p>They who despise the genius of Aristotle should,
+instead of contenting themselves with condemning
+his physics&mdash;which could not be good, inasmuch as
+they wanted experiments&mdash;be much astonished to
+find that Aristotle, in his rhetoric, taught perfectly
+the art of saying things with spirit. He states that
+this art consists in not merely using the proper word,
+which says nothing new; but that a metaphor must
+be employed&mdash;a figure, the sense of which is clear,
+and its expression energetic. Of this, he adduces
+several instances; and, among others, what Pericles
+said of a battle in which the flower of the Athenian
+youth had perished: "The year has been stripped of
+its spring."</p>
+
+<p>Aristotle is very right in saying that novelty is
+necessary. The first person who, to express that
+pleasures are mingled with bitterness, likened them
+to roses accompanied by thorns, had wit; they who
+repeated it had none.</p>
+
+<p>Spirited expression does not always consist in a
+metaphor; but also in a new term&mdash;in leaving one
+half of one's thoughts to be easily divined; this is
+called "subtleness," "delicacy"; and this manner is
+the more pleasing, as it exercises and gives scope
+for the wit of others.</p>
+
+<p>Allusions, allegories, and comparisons, open a
+vast field for ingenious thoughts. The effects of
+nature, fable, history, presented to the memory, furnish
+a happy imagination with materials of which it
+makes a suitable use.</p>
+
+<p>It will not be useless to give examples in these
+different kinds. The following is a madrigal by M.
+de la Sablière, which has always been held in high
+estimation by people of taste:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>Églé tremble que, dans ce jour,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>L'Hymen, plus puissant que l'Amour,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>N'enlève ses trésors, sans quelle ose s'en plaindre</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>Elle a négligé mes avis;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>Si la belle les eût suivis,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Elle n'aurait plus rien à craindre.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Weeping, murmuring, complaining,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Lost to every gay delight,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Mira, too sincere for feigning,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Fears th' approaching bridal night.</span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Yet why impair thy bright perfection,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Or dim thy beauty with a tear?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Had Mira followed my direction,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">She long had wanted cause of fear.&mdash;GOLDSMITH.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>It does not appear that the author could either
+better have masked, or better have conveyed, the
+meaning which he was afraid to express. The following
+madrigal seems more brilliant and more
+pleasing; it is an allusion to fable:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Vous êtes belle, et votre sœur est belle;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Entre vous deux tout choix serait bien doux</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>L'Amour était blonde comme vous,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mais il amait une brune comme elle.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">You are a beauty, and your sister, too;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">In choosing 'twixt you, then, we cannot err;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Love, to be sure, was fair like you;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But, then, he courted a brunette like her.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>There is another, and a very old one. It is by
+Bertaut, bishop of Séez, and seems superior to the
+two former; it unites wit and feeling:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Quand je revis ce que j'ai tant aimé,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Pen s'en fallut que mon coeur rallumé</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>N'en fît le charme en mon âme renaître;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et que mon cœur, autrefois son captif,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ne ressemblât l'esclave fugitif,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>À qui le sort fit recontrer son maître.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">When I beheld again the once-loved form,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Again within my heart the rising storm</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Had nearly cast the spell around my soul,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Which erst had bound me captive at her feet,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">As some poor slave, escaped from rude control,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">His master's dreaded face may haply meet.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>Strokes like these please every one, and characterize
+the delicate spirit of an ingenious nation. The
+great point is to know how far this spirit is admissible.
+It is clear that, in great works, it should be
+employed with moderation, for this very reason,
+that it is an ornament. The great art consists in
+propriety.</p>
+
+<p>A subtle, ingenious thought, a just and flowery
+comparison, is a defect when only reason or passion
+should speak, or when great interests are to be discussed.
+This is not false wit, but misplaced; and
+every beauty, when out of its place, is a beauty no
+longer.</p>
+
+<p>This is a fault of which Virgil was never guilty,
+and with which Tasso may now and then be charged,
+admirable as he otherwise is. The cause of it is
+that the author, too full of his own ideas, wishes to
+show himself, when he should only show his personages.</p>
+
+<p>The best way of learning the use that should be
+made of wit, is to read the few good works of genius
+which are to be found in the learned languages and
+in our own. False wit is not the same as misplaced
+wit. It is not merely a false thought, for a thought
+might be false without being ingenious; it is a
+thought at once false and elaborate.</p>
+
+<p>It has already been remarked that a man of great
+wit, who translated, or rather abridged Homer into
+French verse, thought to embellish that poet, whose
+simplicity forms his character, by loading him with
+ornaments. On the subject of the reconciliation of
+Achilles, he says:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Tout le camp s'écria dans une joie extrême,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-même.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Cried the whole camp, with overflowing joy&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">What still resist him? He's o'ercome himself.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>In the first place it does not at all follow, because
+one has overcome one's anger, that one shall not
+be beaten. Secondly, is it possible that a whole
+army should, by some sudden inspiration, make instantaneously
+the same pun?</p>
+
+<p>If this fault shocks all judges of severe taste, how
+revolting must be all those forced witticisms, those
+intricate and puzzling thoughts, which abound in
+otherwise valuable writings! Is it to be endured,
+that in a work of mathematics it should be said:
+"If Saturn should one day be missing, his place
+would be taken by one of the remotest of his satellites;
+for great lords always keep their successors at
+a distance?" Is it endurable to talk of Hercules being
+acquainted with physics, and that it is impossible
+to resist a philosopher of such force? Such are the
+excesses into which we are led by the thirst for
+shining and surprising by novelty. This petty
+vanity has produced verbal witticisms in all languages,
+which is the worst species of false wit.</p>
+
+<p>False taste differs from false wit, for the latter
+is always an affectation&mdash;an effort to do wrong;
+whereas the former is often a habit of doing wrong
+without effort, and following instinctively an established
+bad example.</p>
+
+<p>The intemperance and incoherence of the imaginations
+of the Orientals, is a false taste; but it is
+rather a want of wit than an abuse of it. Stars
+falling, mountains opening, rivers rolling back, sun
+and moon dissolving, false and gigantic similes, continual
+violence to nature, are the characteristics of
+these writers; because in those countries where
+there has never been any public speaking, true eloquence
+cannot have been cultivated; and because it
+is much easier to write fustian than to write that
+which is just, refined, and delicate.</p>
+
+<p>False wit is precisely the reverse of these trivial
+and inflated ideas; it is a tiresome search after
+subtleties, an affectation of saying enigmatically
+what others have said naturally; or bringing together
+ideas which appear incompatible; of dividing
+what ought to be united; of laying hold on false
+affinities; of mixing, contrary to decency, the trifling
+with the serious, and the petty with the grand.</p>
+
+<p>It were here a superfluous task to string together
+quotations in which the word spirit is to be found.
+We shall content ourselves with examining one
+from Boileau, which is given in the great dictionary
+of Trévoux: "It is a property of great spirits, when
+they begin to grow old and decay, to be pleased with
+stories and fables." This reflection is not just. A
+great spirit may fall into this weakness, but it is no
+property of great spirits. Nothing is more calculated
+to mislead the young than the quoting of faults
+of good writers as examples.</p>
+
+<p>We must not here forget to mention in how many
+different senses the word "spirit" is employed. This
+is not a defect of language; on the contrary, it is
+an advantage to have roots which ramify into so
+many branches.</p>
+
+<p>"Spirit of a body," "of a society," is used to express
+the customs, the peculiar language and conduct,
+the prejudices of a body. "Spirit of party,"
+is to the "spirit of a body," what the passions are to
+ordinary sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>"Spirit of a law," is used to designate its intention;
+in this sense it has been said: "The letter
+killeth, but the spirit giveth life." "Spirit of a
+work," to denote its character and object. "Spirit
+of revenge," to signify desire and intention of taking
+revenge. "Spirit of discord," "spirit of revolt," etc.</p>
+
+<p>In one dictionary has been quoted "spirit of
+politeness"; but from an author named Bellegarde,
+who is no authority. Both authors and examples
+should be selected with scrupulous caution. We
+cannot say "spirit of politeness," as we say "spirit
+of revenge," of "dissension," of "faction"; for
+politeness is not a passion animated by a powerful
+motive which prompts it, and which is metaphorically
+called spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"Familiar spirit," is used in another sense, and
+signifies those intermediate beings, those genii,
+those demons, believed in by the ancients; as the
+"spirit of Socrates," etc.</p>
+
+<p>Spirit sometimes denotes the more subtle part of
+matter; we say, "animal spirits," "vital spirits," to
+signify that which has never been seen, but which
+gives motion and life. These spirits, which are
+thought to flow rapidly through the nerves, are
+probably a subtile fire. Dr. Mead is the first who
+seems to have given proofs of this, in his treatise
+on poisons. Spirit, in chemistry, too, is a term
+which receives various acceptations, but always denotes
+the more subtile part of matter.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION III.</h5>
+
+<h4><i>Spirit.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Is not this word a striking proof of the imperfection
+of languages; of the chaos in which they
+still are, and the chance which has directed almost
+all our conceptions? It pleased the Greeks, as well
+as other nations, to give the name of wind, breath&mdash;"<i>pneuma</i>"&mdash;to
+that which they vaguely understand
+by respiration, life, soul. So that, among the ancients,
+soul and wind were, in one sense, the same
+thing; and if we were to say that man is a pneumatic
+machine, we should only translate the language
+of the Greeks. The Latins imitated them,
+and used the word "<i>spiritus</i>," spirit, breath.
+"<i>Anima</i>" and "<i>spiritus</i>" were the same thing.</p>
+
+<p>The "<i>rouhak</i>" of the Phœnicians, and, as it is
+said, of the Chaldæans likewise, signified breath and
+wind. When the Bible was translated into Latin,
+the words, breath, spirit, wind, soul, were always
+used differently. "<i>Spiritus Dei ferebatur super
+aquas</i>"&mdash;the breath of God&mdash;the spirit of God&mdash;was
+borne on the waters.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Spiritus vitæ</i>"&mdash;the breath of life&mdash;the soul of
+life. "<i>Inspiravit in faciem ejus spiraculum</i>" or
+"<i>spiritum vitæ</i>"&mdash;And he breathed upon his face
+the breath of life; and, according to the Hebrew,
+he breathed into his nostrils the breath, the spirit, of
+life.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hæc quum dixisset, insufflavit et dixit eis, accipite
+spiritum sanctum</i>"&mdash;Having spoken these
+words, he breathed on them, and said: Receive ye
+the holy breath&mdash;the holy spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Spiritus ubi vult spirat, et vocem ejus audis;
+sed nescis unde veniat</i>"&mdash;The spirit, the wind,
+breathes where it will, and thou hearest its voice
+(sound); but thou knowest not whence it comes.</p>
+
+<p>The distance is somewhat considerable between
+this and our pamphlets of the Quay des Augustins
+and the Pont-neuf, entitled, "Spirit of Marivaux,"
+"Spirit of Desfontaines," etc.</p>
+
+<p>What we commonly understand in French by
+"<i>esprit</i>," "<i>bel-esprit</i>," "<i>trait d'esprit</i>," are&mdash;ingenious
+thoughts. No other nation has made the same
+use of the word "<i>spiritus</i>." The Latins said "<i>ingenium</i>";
+the Greeks, "<i>eupheuia</i>"; or they employed
+adjectives. The Spaniards say "<i>agudo</i>," "<i>agudeza</i>."
+The Italians commonly use the term "<i>ingegno</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The English make use of the words "wit,"
+"witty," the etymology of which is good; for
+"witty" formerly signified "wise." The Germans
+say "<i>verständig</i>"; and when they mean to express
+ingenious, lively, agreeable thoughts, they say "rich
+in sensations"&mdash;"<i>sinnreich</i>." Hence it is that the
+English, who have retained many of the expressions
+of the ancient Germanic and French tongue, say,
+"sensible man." Thus almost all the words that express
+ideas of the understanding are metaphors.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Ingegno</i>," "<i>ingenium</i>," comes from "that which
+generates"; "<i>agudeza</i>," from "that which is
+pointed"; "<i>sinnreich</i>," from "sensations"; "spirit,"
+from "wind"; and "wit," from "wisdom."</p>
+
+<p>In every language, the word that answers to
+spirit in general is of several kinds; and when you
+are told that such a one is a "man of spirit," you
+have a right to ask: Of what spirit?</p>
+
+<p>Girard, in his useful book of definitions, entitled
+"French Synonymes," thus concludes: "In our
+intercourse with women, it is necessary to have wit,
+or a jargon which has the appearance of it. (This
+is not doing them honor; they deserve better.) Understanding
+is in demand with politicians and
+courtiers." It seems to me that understanding is
+necessary everywhere, and that it is very extraordinary
+to hear of understanding in demand.</p>
+
+<p>"Genius is proper with people of project and
+expense." Either I am mistaken, or the genius of
+Corneille was made for all spectators&mdash;the genius
+of Bossuet for all auditors&mdash;yet more than for people
+of expense.</p>
+
+<p>The wind, which answers to "<i>Spiritus</i>,"&mdash;spirit,
+wind, breath&mdash;necessarily giving to all nations the
+idea of air, they all supposed that our faculty of
+thinking and acting&mdash;that which animates us&mdash;is
+air; whence our "souls are a subtile air." Hence,
+manes, spirits, ghosts, shades, are composed of air.</p>
+
+<p>Hence we used to say, not long ago, "A 'spirit'
+has appeared to him; he has a 'familiar spirit;' that
+castle is haunted by 'spirits;'" and the populace say
+so still.</p>
+
+<p>The word "<i>spiritus</i>" has hardly ever been used
+in this sense, except in the translations of the Hebrew
+books into bad Latin.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Manes</i>," "<i>umbra</i>," "<i>simulacra</i>," are the expressions
+of Cicero and Virgil. The Germans say,
+"<i>geist</i>"; the English, "ghost"; the Spaniards,
+"<i>duende</i>," "<i>trasgo</i>"; the Italians appear to have no
+term signifying ghost. The French alone have made
+use of the word "spirit" (esprit). The words for all
+nations should be, "phantom," "imagination," "reverie,"
+"folly," "knavery."</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION IV.</h5>
+
+<h4><i>Wit.</i></h4>
+
+
+<p>When a nation is beginning to emerge from barbarism,
+it strives to show what we call wit. Thus,
+in the first attempts made in the time of Francis I.,
+we find in Marot such puns, plays on words, as
+would now be intolerable.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Remorentin la parte rememore:</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Cognac s'en cogne en sa poitrine blême,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Anjou faict jou, Angoulême est de même.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>These fine ideas are not such as at once present
+themselves to express the grief of nations. Many
+instances of this depraved taste might be adduced;
+but we shall content ourselves with this, which is
+the most striking of all.</p>
+
+<p>In the second era of the human mind in France&mdash;in
+the time of Balzac, Mairet, Rotrou, Corneille&mdash;applause
+was given to every thought that surprised
+by new images, which were called "wit."
+These lines of the tragedy of "Pyramus" were very
+well received:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ah! voici le poignard qui du sang de son maître</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Sest souillé lâchement; il en rougit, le traître!</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Behold the dagger which has basely drunk</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Its master's blood! See how the traitor blushes!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>There was thought to be great art in giving feeling
+to this dagger, in making it red with shame at
+being stained with the blood of Pyramus, as much
+as with the blood itself. No one exclaimed against
+Corneille, when, in his tragedy of "Andromeda,"
+Phineus says to the sun:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Tu luis, soleil, et ta lumière</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>Semble se plaire à m'affliger.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ah! mon amour te va bien obliger</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>À quitter soudain ta carrière.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Viens, soleil, viens voir la beauté,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Dont le divin éclat me dompte,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>Et tu fuiras de honte</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;"><i>D'avoir moins de clarté.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">O sun, thou shinest, and thy light</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Seems to take pleasure in my woe;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But soon my love shall shame thee quite,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">And be thy glory's overthrow.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Come, come, O sun, and view the face</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Whose heavenly splendor I adore;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Then wilt thou flee apace,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">And show thy own no more.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The sun flying because he is not so bright as Andromeda's
+face, is not at all inferior to the blushing
+dagger. If such foolish sallies as these found favor
+with a public whose taste it has been so difficult to
+form, we cannot be surprised that strokes of wit, in
+which some glimmering of beauty is discernible,
+should have had these charms.</p>
+
+<p>Not only was this translation from the Spanish
+admired:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Ce sang qui, tout versé, fume encor de courroux,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>De se voir répandu pour d'autres que pour vous.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">&mdash;<span class="small">CID</span>, act ii, sc. 9.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">This blood, still foaming with indignant rage,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">That it was shed for others, not for you;&mdash;</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>not only was there thought to be a very spirited
+refinement in the line of Hypsipyle to Medea, in the
+"Golden Fleece": "I have attractions only; you have
+charms;" but it was not perceived&mdash;and few connoisseurs
+perceive it yet&mdash;that in the imposing part
+of Cornelia, the author almost continually puts wit
+where grief alone was required. This woman, whose
+husband has just been assassinated, begins her studied
+speech to Cæsar with a "for":</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>César, car le destin que dans tes fers je brave</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>M'a fait ta prisonnière, et non pas ton esclave;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et tu ne prétends pas qu'il m'abatte le cœur.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Jusqu'à te rendre hommage et te nommer seigneur.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">&mdash;<span class="small">MORT DE POMPÉE</span>, act iii, sc. 4.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Cæsar,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">For the hard fate that binds me in thy chains,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Makes me thy prisoner, but not thy slave;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Nor wouldst thou have it so subdue my heart</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">That I should call thee lord and do thee homage.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Thus she breaks off, at the very first word, in
+order to say that which is at once far-fetched and
+false. Never was the wife of one Roman citizen
+the slave of another Roman citizen: never was any
+Roman called lord; and this word "lord" is, with
+us, nothing more than a term of honor and ceremony,
+used on the stage.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Fille de Scipion, et, pour dire encor plus,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Romaine, mon courage est encore au-dessus.</i>&mdash;ID.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Daughter of Scipio, and, yet more, of Rome,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Still does my courage rise above my fate.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 338px;">
+<a name="Pierre_Corneille" id="Pierre_Corneille"></a>
+<img src="images/img_04_corneille.jpg" width="338" alt="Pierre Corneille." title="" />
+<span class="caption_fig">Pierre Corneille.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Besides the defect so common to all Corneille's
+heroes, of thus announcing themselves&mdash;of saying,
+I am great, I am courageous, admire me&mdash;here is
+the very reprehensible affectation of talking of her
+birth, when the head of Pompey has just been presented
+to Cæsar. Real affliction expresses itself
+otherwise. Grief does not seek after a "yet more."
+And what is worse, while she is striving to say "yet
+more," she says much less. To be a daughter of
+Rome is indubitably less than to be daughter of
+Scipio and wife of Pompey. The infamous Septimius,
+who assassinated Pompey, was Roman as well
+as she. Thousands of Romans were very ordinary
+men: but to be daughter and wife to the greatest
+of Romans, was a real superiority. In this speech,
+then, there is false and misplaced wit, as well as false
+and misplaced greatness.</p>
+
+<p>She then says, after Lucan, that she ought to
+blush that she is alive:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Je dois rougir, partout, après un tel malheur,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>De n'avoir pu mourir d'un excès de douleur.</i>&mdash;ID.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">However, after such a great calamity,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I ought to blush I am not dead of grief.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Lucan, after the brilliant Augustan age, went in
+search of wit, because decay was commencing; and
+the writers of the age of Louis XIV. at first sought
+to display wit, because good taste was not then completely
+found, as it afterwards was.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>César, de ta victoire écoute moins le bruit;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Elle n'est que l'effet du malheur qui me suit.</i>&mdash;ID.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Cæsar, rejoice not in thy victory;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">For my misfortune was its only cause.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>What a poor artifice! what a false as well as impudent
+notion! Cæsar conquered at Pharsalia only
+because Pompey married Cornelia! What labor to
+say that which is neither true, nor likely, nor fit, nor
+interesting!</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Deux fois du monde entier j'ai causé la disgrâce.</i>&mdash;ID.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Twice have I caused the living world's disgrace.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This is the "<i>bis nocui mundo</i>" of Lucan. This
+line presents us with a very great idea; it cannot
+fail to surprise; it is wanting in nothing but truth.
+But it must be observed, that if this line had but
+the smallest ray of verisimilitude&mdash;had it really its
+birth in the pangs of grief, it would then have all
+the truth, all the beauty, of theatrical fitness:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Heureuse en mes malheurs, si ce triste hyménée</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Pour le bonheur du monde à Rome m'eût donnée</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et si j'eusse avec moi porté dans ta maison.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>D'un astre envenimé l'invincible poison!</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Car enfin n'attends pas que j'abaisse ma haine:</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Je te l'ai déjà dit, César, je suis Romaine;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et, quoique ta captive, un cœur tel que le mien,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>De peur de s'oublier, ne te demande rien.</i>&mdash;ID.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Yet happy in my woes, had these sad nuptials</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Given me to Cæsar for the good of Rome;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Had I but carried with me to thy house</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The mortal venom of a noxious star!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">For think not, after all, my hate is less:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Already have I told thee I am a Roman;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And, though thy captive, such a heart as mine,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Lest it forget itself, will sue for nothing.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This is Lucan again. She wishes, in the "Pharsalia,"
+that she had married Cæsar.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Atque utinam in thalamis invisi Cæsaris essem</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Infelix conjux, et nulli læta marito!</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 18em;">&mdash;<i>Lib.</i>, viii, v. 88, 89.</span><br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Ah! wherefore was I not much rather led</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A fatal bride to Cæsar's hated bed, etc.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 21em;">&mdash;<span class="small">ROWE</span>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This sentiment is not in nature; it is at once gigantic
+and puerile: but at least it is not to Cæsar
+that Cornelia talks thus in Lucan. Corneille, on
+the contrary, makes Cornelia speak to Cæsar himself:
+he makes her say that she wishes to be his
+wife, in order that she may carry into his house
+"the mortal poison of a noxious star"; for, adds
+she, my hatred cannot be abated, and I have told thee
+already that I am a Roman, and I sue for nothing.
+Here is odd reasoning: I would fain have married
+thee, to cause thy death; and I sue for nothing. Be
+it also observed, that this widow heaps reproaches
+on Cæsar, just after Cæsar weeps for the death of
+Pompey and promises to avenge it.</p>
+
+<p>It is certain, that if the author had not striven to
+make Cornelia witty, he would not have been guilty
+of the faults which, after being so long applauded,
+are now perceived. The actresses can scarcely
+longer palliate them, by a studied loftiness of demeanor
+and an imposing elevation of voice.</p>
+
+<p>The better to feel how much mere wit is below
+natural sentiment, let us compare Cornelia with herself,
+where, in the same tirade, she says things quite
+opposite:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Je dois toutefois rendre grâce aux dieux</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>De ce qu'en arrivant je trouve en ces lieux,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que César y commande, et non pas Ptolemée.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Hélas! et sous quel astre, ó ciel, m'as-tu formée,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Si je leur dois des vœux, de ce qu'ils ont permis,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que je recontre ici mes plus grands ennemis,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et tombe entre leurs mains, plutôt qu'aux mains d'un prince</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Qui doit à mon époux son trône et sa province.</i>&mdash;ID.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Yet have I cause to thank the gracious gods,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">That Cæsar here commands&mdash;not Ptolemy.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Alas! beneath what planet was I formed,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">If I owe thanks for being thus permitted</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Here to encounter my worst enemies</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And fall into their hands, rather than those</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Of him who to my husband owes his throne?</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Let us overlook the slight defects of style, and
+consider how mournful and becoming is this speech;
+it goes to the heart: all the rest dazzles for a moment,
+and then disgusts. The following natural
+lines charm all readers:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>O vous! à ma douleur objet terrible et tendre,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Éternel entretien de haine et de pitié,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Restes de grand Pompée, écoutez sa moitié, etc.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">O dreadful, tender object of my grief,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Eternal source of pity and of hate,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Ye relics of great Pompey, hear me now&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Hear his yet living half.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>It is by such comparisons that our taste is formed,
+and that we learn to admire nothing but truth in
+its proper place. In the same tragedy, Cleopatra
+thus expresses herself to her confidante, Charmion:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Apprends qu'une princesse aimant sa renommée,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Quand elle dit qu'elle aime, est sure d'être aimée;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et que les plus beaux feux dont son cœur soit épris</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>N'oseraient l'exposer aux hontes d'un mépris.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 21em;">&mdash;Act ii, sc. 1.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Know, that a princess jealous of her fame,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">When she owns love, is sure of a return;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And that the noblest flame her heart can feel,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Dares not expose her to rejection's shame.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Charmion might answer: Madam, I know not
+what the noble flame of a princess is, which dares not
+expose her to shame; and as for princesses who
+never say they are in love, but when they are sure
+of being loved&mdash;I always enact the part of confidante
+at the play: and at least twenty princesses
+have confessed their noble flames to me, without
+being at all sure of the matter, and especially the infanta
+in "The Cid."</p>
+
+<p>Nay, we may go further: Cæsar&mdash;Cæsar himself&mdash;addresses
+Cleopatra, only to show off double-refined
+wit:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mais, ô Dieux! ce moment que je vous ai quittée</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>D'un trouble bien plus grand a mon âme agitée;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et ces soins importans qui m'arrachaient de vous,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Contre ma grandeur même allumaient mon courroux;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Je lui voulais du mal de m'être si contraire;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Mais je lui pardonnais, au simple souvenir</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Du bonheur qu'à ma flamme elle fait obtenir.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>C'est elle, dont je tiens cette haute espérance,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Qui flatte mes désirs d'une illustre apparence....</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>C'était, pour acquérir un droit si précieux;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Que combattait partout mon bras ambitieux;</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Et dans Pharsale même il a tiré l'épée</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Plus pour le conserver que pour vaincre Pompée.</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 20.5em;">&mdash;Act iv, sc. 3.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But, O the moment that I quitted you,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A greater trouble came upon my soul;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And those important cares that snatched me from you</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Against my very greatness moved my ire;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I hated it for thwarting my desires....</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But I have pardoned it&mdash;remembering how</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">At last it crowns my passion with success:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To it I owe the lofty hope which now</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Flatters my view with an illustrious prospect.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">'Twas but to gain this dearest privilege,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">That my ambitious arm was raised in battle;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Nor did it at Pharsalia draw the sword,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">So much to conquer Pompey, as to keep</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">This glorious hope.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Here, then, we have Cæsar hating his greatness
+for having taken him away a little while from Cleopatra;
+but forgiving his greatness when he remembers
+that this greatness has procured him the success
+of his passion. He has the lofty hope of an
+illustrious probability; and it was only to acquire
+the dear privilege of this illustrious probability, that
+his ambitious arm fought the battle of Pharsalia.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that this sort of wit, which it must be
+confessed is no other than nonsense, was then the
+wit of the age. It is an intolerable abuse, which
+Molière proscribed in his "<i>Précieuses Ridicules</i>."</p>
+
+<p>It was of these defects, too frequent in Corneille,
+that La Bruyère said: "I thought, in my early
+youth, that these passages were clear and intelligible,
+to the actors, to the pit, and to the boxes; that
+their authors themselves understood them, and that
+I was wrong in not understanding them: I am undeceived."</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION V.</h5>
+
+<p>In England, to express that a man has a deal of
+wit, they say that he has "great parts." Whence
+can this phrase, which is now the astonishment of
+the French, have come? From themselves. Formerly,
+we very commonly used the word "parties"
+in this sense. "Clelia," "Cassandra," and our other
+old romances, are continually telling us of the
+"parts" of their heroes and heroines, which parts
+are their wit. And, indeed, who can have <i>all</i>? Each
+of us has but his own small portion of intelligence,
+of memory, of sagacity, of depth and extent of
+ideas, of vivacity, and of subtlety. The word "parts"
+is that most fitting for a being so limited as
+man. The French have let an expression escape
+from their dictionaries which the English have laid
+hold of: the English have more than once enriched
+themselves at our expense. Many philosophical
+writers have been astonished that, since every one
+pretends to wit, no one should dare to boast of
+possessing it.</p>
+
+<p>"Envy," it has been said, "permits every one to
+be the panegyrist of his own probity, but not of his
+own wit." It allows us to be the apologists of the
+one, but not of the other. And why? Because it
+is very necessary to pass for an honest man, but not
+at all necessary to have the reputation of a man of
+wit.</p>
+
+<p>The question has been started, whether all men
+are born with the same mind, the same disposition
+for science, and if all depends on their education,
+and the circumstances in which they are placed?
+One philosopher, who had a right to think himself
+born with some superiority, asserted that minds are
+equal; yet the contrary has always been evident. Of
+four hundred children brought up together, under
+the same masters and the same discipline, there are
+scarcely five or six that make any remarkable progress.
+A great majority never rise above mediocrity,
+and among them there are many shades of distinction.
+In short, minds differ still more than faces.</p>
+
+
+<h5>SECTION VI.</h5>
+
+<h4><i>Crooked or Distorted Intellect.</i></h4>
+
+<p>We have blind, one-eyed, cross-eyed, and squinting
+people&mdash;visions long, short, clear, confused,
+weak, or indefatigable. All this is a faithful image
+of our understanding; but we know scarcely any
+<i>false</i> vision: there are not many men who always
+take a cock for a horse, or a coffeepot for a church.
+How is it that we often meet with minds, otherwise
+judicious, which are absolutely wrong in some things
+of importance? How is it that the Siamese, who
+will take care never to be overreached when he has
+to receive three rupees, firmly believes in the metamorphoses
+of Sammonocodom? By what strange
+whim do men of sense resemble Don Quixote, who
+beheld giants where other men saw nothing but
+windmills? Yet was Don Quixote more excusable
+than the Siamese, who believes that Sammonocodom
+came several times upon earth&mdash;and the Turk,
+who is persuaded that Mahomet put one-half of the
+moon into his sleeve? Don Quixote, impressed with
+the idea that he is to fight with a giant, may imagine
+that a giant must have a body as big as a mill,
+and arms as long as the sails; but from what supposition
+can a man of sense set out to arrive at a
+conclusion, that half the moon went into a sleeve,
+and that a Sammonocodom came down from heaven
+to fly kites at Siam, to cut down a forest, and to
+exhibit sleight-of-hand?</p>
+
+<p>The greatest geniuses may have their minds
+warped, on a principle which they have received
+without examination. Newton was very wrong-headed
+when he was commenting on the Apocalypse.</p>
+
+<p>All that certain tyrants of souls desire, is that
+the men whom they teach may have their intellects
+distorted. A fakir brings up a child of great promise;
+he employs five or six years in driving it into
+his head, that the god Fo appeared to men in the
+form of a white elephant; and persuades the child,
+that if he does not believe in these metamorphoses,
+he will be flogged after death for five hundred thousand
+years. He adds, that at the end of the world,
+the enemy of the god Fo will come and fight against
+that divinity.</p>
+
+<p>The child studies, and becomes a prodigy; he
+finds that Fo could not change himself into anything
+but a white elephant, because that is the most beautiful
+of animals. The kings of Siam and Pegu, say
+he, went to war with one another for a white elephant:
+certainly, had not Fo been concealed in that
+elephant, these two kings would not have been so
+mad as to fight for the possession of a mere animal.</p>
+
+<p>Fo's enemy will come and challenge him at the
+end of the world: this enemy will certainly be a rhinoceros;
+for the rhinoceros fights the elephant.
+Thus does the fakir's learned pupil reason in mature
+age, and he becomes one of the lights of the Indies:
+the more subtle his intellect, the more crooked; and
+he, in his turn, forms other intellects as distorted as
+his own.</p>
+
+<p>Show these besotted beings a little geometry, and
+they learn it easily enough; but, strange to say, this
+does not set them right. They perceive the truths of
+geometry; but it does not teach them to weigh probabilities:
+they have taken their bent; they will reason
+against reason all their lives; and I am sorry
+for them.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, there are many ways of being
+wrong-headed, 1. Not to examine whether the
+principle is true, even when just consequences are
+drawn from it; and this is very common.</p>
+
+<p>2. To draw false consequences from a principle
+acknowledged to be true. For instance: a servant
+is asked whether his master be at home, by persons
+whom he suspects of having a design against his
+master's life. If he were blockhead enough to tell
+them the truth, on pretence that it is wrong to tell
+a lie, it is clear that he would draw an absurd consequence
+from a very true principle.</p>
+
+<p>The judge who should condemn a man for killing
+his assassin, would be alike iniquitous, and a
+bad reasoner. Cases like these are subdivided into
+a thousand different shades. The good mind, the
+judicious mind, is that which distinguishes them.
+Hence it is, that there have been so many iniquitous
+judgments; not because the judges were wicked
+in heart, but because they were not sufficiently enlightened.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="WOMEN" id="WOMEN"></a>WOMEN.</h3>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Physical and Moral.</i></p>
+
+<p>Woman is in general less strong than man,
+smaller, and less capable of lasting labor. Her blood
+is more aqueous; her flesh less firm; her hair
+longer; her limbs more rounded; her arms less
+muscular; her mouth smaller; her hips more prominent;
+and her belly larger. These physical points
+distinguish women all over the earth, and of all
+races, from Lapland unto the coast of Guinea, and
+from America to China.</p>
+
+<p>Plutarch, in the third book of his "<i>Symposiacs</i>,"
+pretends that wine will not intoxicate them so easily
+as men; and the following is the reason which he
+gives for this falsehood:</p>
+
+<p>"The temperament of women is very moist; this,
+with their courses, renders their flesh so soft, smooth,
+and clear. When wine encounters so much humidity,
+it is overcome, and it loses its color and its
+strength, becoming discolored and weak. Something
+also may be gathered from the reasoning of Aristotle,
+who observes, that they who drink great
+draughts without drawing their breath, which the
+ancients call '<i>amusisein</i>' are not intoxicated so soon
+as others; because the wine does not remain within
+the body, but being forcibly taken down, passes
+rapidly off. Now we generally perceive that women
+drink in this manner; and it is probable that their
+bodies, in consequence of the continual attraction of
+the humors, which are carried off in their periodical
+visitations, are filled with many conduits, and furnished
+with numerous pipes and channels, into
+which the wine disperses rapidly and easily, without
+having time to affect the noble and principal
+parts, by the disorder of which intoxication is produced."
+These physics are altogether worthy of the
+ancients.</p>
+
+<p>Women live somewhat longer than men; that is
+to say, in a generation we count more aged women
+than aged men. This fact has been observed by all
+who have taken accurate accounts of births and
+deaths in Europe; and it is thought that it is the
+same in Asia, and among the negresses, the copper-colored,
+and olive-complexioned, as among the
+white. <i>"Natura est semper sibi consona."</i></p>
+
+<p>We have elsewhere adverted to an extract from
+a Chinese journal, which states, that in the year
+1725, the wife of the emperor Yontchin made a distribution
+among the poor women of China who had
+passed their seventieth year; and that, in the province
+of Canton alone, there were 98,222 females aged
+more than seventy, 40,893 beyond eighty, and 3,453
+of about the age of a hundred. Those who advocate
+final causes say, that nature grants them a longer
+life than men, in order to recompense them for the
+trouble they take in bringing children into the world
+and rearing them. It is scarcely to be imagined
+that nature bestows recompenses, but it is probable
+that the blood of women being milder, their fibres
+harden less quickly.</p>
+
+<p>No anatomist or physician has ever been able to
+trace the secret of conception. Sanchez has curiously
+remarked: <i>"Mariam et spiritum sanctum emisisse
+semen in copulatione, et ex semine amborum natum
+esse Jesum."</i> This abominable impertinence of the
+most knowing Sanchez is not adopted at present by
+any naturalist.</p>
+
+<p>The periodical visitations which weaken females,
+while they endure the maladies which arise out of
+their suppression, the times of gestation, the necessity
+of suckling children, and of watching continually
+over them, and the delicacy of their organization,
+render them unfit for the fatigue of war, and
+the fury of the combat. It is true, as we have already
+observed, that in almost all times and countries
+women have been found on whom nature has
+bestowed extraordinary strength and courage, who
+combat with men, and undergo prodigious labor;
+but, after all, these examples are rare. On this point
+we refer to the article on "Amazons."</p>
+
+<p>Physics always govern morals. Women being
+weaker of body than we are, there is more skill in
+their fingers, which are more supple than ours. Little
+able to labor at the heavy work of masonry, carpentering,
+metalling, or the plough, they are necessarily
+intrusted with the lighter labors of the interior
+of the house, and, above all, with the care of
+children. Leading a more sedentary life, they possess
+more gentleness of character than men, and are
+less addicted to the commission of enormous crimes&mdash;a
+fact so undeniable, that in all civilized countries
+there are always fifty men at least executed to one
+woman.</p>
+
+<p>Montesquieu, in his "Spirit of Laws," undertaking
+to speak of the condition of women under divers
+governments, observes that "among the Greeks
+women were not regarded as worthy of having any
+share in genuine love; but that with them love assumed
+a form which is not to be named." He cites
+Plutarch as his authority.</p>
+
+<p>This mistake is pardonable only in a wit like
+Montesquieu, always led away by the rapidity of
+his ideas, which are often very indistinct. Plutarch,
+in his chapter on love, introduces many interlocutors;
+and he himself, in the character of Daphneus,
+refutes, with great animation, the arguments of
+Protagenes in favor of the commerce alluded to.</p>
+
+<p>It is in the same dialogue that he goes so far as to
+say, that in the love of woman there is something
+divine; which love he compares to the sun, that
+animates nature. He places the highest happiness
+in conjugal love, and concludes by an eloquent eulogium
+on the virtue of Epponina. This memorable
+adventure passed before the eyes of Plutarch, who
+lived some time in the house of Vespasian. The
+above heroine, learning that her husband Sabinus,
+vanquished by the troops of the emperor, was concealed
+in a deep cavern between Franche-Comté and
+Champagne, shut herself up with him, attended on
+him for many years, and bore children in that situation.
+Being at length taken with her husband,
+and brought before Vespasian, who was astonished
+at her greatness of soul, she said to him: "I have
+lived more happily under ground than thou in the
+light of the sun, and in the enjoyment of power."
+Plutarch therefore asserts directly the contrary to
+that which is attributed to him by Montesquieu,
+and declares in favor of woman with an enthusiasm
+which is even affecting.</p>
+
+<p>It is not astonishing, that in every country man
+has rendered himself the master of woman, dominion
+being founded on strength. He has ordinarily,
+too, a superiority both in body and mind. Very
+learned women are to be found in the same manner
+as female warriors, but they are seldom or ever
+inventors.</p>
+
+<p>A social and agreeable spirit usually falls to
+their lot; and, generally speaking, they are adapted
+to soften the manners of men. In no republic have
+they ever been allowed to take the least part in government;
+they have never reigned in monarchies
+purely elective; but they may reign in almost all
+the hereditary kingdoms of Europe&mdash;in Spain, Naples,
+and England, in many states of the North, and
+in many grand fiefs which are called "feminines."</p>
+
+<p>Custom, entitled the Salic law, has excluded them
+from the crown of France; but it is not, as Mézeray
+remarks, in consequence of their unfitness for governing,
+since they are almost always intrusted with
+the regency.</p>
+
+<p>It is pretended, that Cardinal Mazarin confessed
+that many women were worthy of governing a
+kingdom; but he added, that it was always to be
+feared they would allow themselves to be subdued
+by lovers who were not capable of governing a dozen
+pullets. Isabella in Castile, Elizabeth in England,
+and Maria Theresa in Hungary, have, however,
+proved the falsity of this pretended bon-mot, attributed
+to Cardinal Mazarin; and at this moment we
+behold a legislatrix in the North as much respected
+as the sovereign of Greece, of Asia Minor, of Syria,
+and of Egypt, is disesteemed.</p>
+
+<p>It has been for a long time ignorantly assumed,
+that women are slaves during life among the Mahometans;
+and that, after their death, they do not
+enter paradise. These are two great errors, of a
+kind which popes are continually repeating in regard
+to Mahometanism. Married women are not at all
+slaves; and the Sura, or fourth chapter of the Koran,
+assigns them a dowry. A girl is entitled to inherit
+one-half as much as her brother; and if there
+are girls only, they divide among them two-thirds
+of the inheritance; and the remainder belongs to
+the relations of the deceased, whose mother also
+is entitled to a certain share. So little are married
+women slaves, they are entitled to demand a divorce,
+which is granted when their complaints are
+deemed lawful.</p>
+
+<p>A Mahometan is not allowed to marry his sister-in-law,
+his niece, his foster-sister, or his daughter-in-law
+brought up under the care of his wife. Neither
+is he permitted to marry two sisters; in which
+particular the Mahometan law is more rigid than
+the Christian, as people are every day purchasing
+from the court of Rome the right of contracting
+such marriages, which they might as well contract
+gratis.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Polygamy.</i></p>
+
+<p>Mahomet has limited the number of wives to
+four; but as a man must be rich in order to maintain
+four wives, according to his condition, few except
+great lords avail themselves of this privilege.
+Therefore, a plurality of wives produces not so
+much injury to the Mahometan states as we are in
+the habit of supposing; nor does it produce the depopulation
+which so many books, written at random,
+are in the habit of asserting.</p>
+
+<p>The Jews, agreeable to an ancient usage, established,
+according to their books, ever since the age
+of Lameth, have always been allowed several wives
+at a time. David had eighteen; and it is from his
+time that they allow that number to kings; although
+it is said that Solomon had as many as seven hundred.</p>
+
+<p>The Mahometans will not publicly allow the Jews
+to have more than one wife; they do not deem them
+worthy of that advantage; but money, which is always
+more powerful than law, procures to rich Jews,
+in Asia and Africa, that permission which the law
+refuses.</p>
+
+<p>It is seriously related, that Lelius Cinna, tribune
+of the people, proclaimed, after the death of Cæsar,
+that the dictator had intended to promulgate a law
+allowing women to take as many husbands as they
+pleased. What sensible man can doubt, that this was
+a popular story invented to render Cæsar odious?
+It resembles another story, which states that a senator
+in full senate formally professed to give Cæsar
+permission to cohabit with any woman he pleased.
+Such silly tales dishonor history, and injure the
+minds of those who credit them. It is a sad
+thing, that Montesquieu should give credit to this
+fable.</p>
+
+<p>It is not, however, a fable that the emperor Valentinian,
+calling himself a Christian, married Justinian
+during the life of Severa, his first wife, mother
+of the emperor Gratian; but he was rich enough
+to support many wives.</p>
+
+<p>Among the first race of the kings of the Franks,
+Gontran, Cherebert, Sigebert, and Chilperic, had
+several wives at a time. Gontran had within his
+palace Venerande, Mercatrude, and Ostregilda, acknowledged
+for legitimate wives; Cherebert had
+Merflida, Marcovesa, and Theodogilda.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to conceive how the ex-Jesuit Nonnotte
+has been able, in his ignorance, to push his
+boldness so far as to deny these facts, and to say
+that the kings of the first race were not polygamists,
+and thereby, in a libel in two volumes, throw discredit
+on more than a hundred historical truths,
+with the confidence of a pedant who dictates lessons
+in a college. Books of this kind still continue
+to be sold in the provinces, where the Jesuits have
+yet a party, and seduce and mislead uneducated
+people.</p>
+
+<p>Father Daniel, more learned and judicious, confesses
+the polygamy of the French kings without
+difficulty. He denies not the three wives of Dagobert
+I., and asserts expressly that Theodoret espoused
+Deutery, although she had a husband, and himself
+another wife called Visigalde. He adds, that in this
+he imitated his uncle Clothaire, who espoused the
+widow of Cleodomir, his brother, although he had
+three wives already.</p>
+
+<p>All historians admit the same thing; why, therefore,
+after so many testimonies, allow an ignorant
+writer to speak like a dictator, and say, while uttering
+a thousand follies, that it is in defence of religion?
+as if our sacred and venerable religion had
+anything to do with an historical point, although
+made serviceable by miserable calumniators to their
+stupid impostures.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Of the Polygamy Allowed by Certain Popes and
+Reformers.</i></p>
+
+<p>The Abbé Fleury, author of the "Ecclesiastical
+History," pays more respect to truth in all which
+concerns the laws and usages of the Church. He
+avows that Boniface, confessor of Lower Germany,
+having consulted Pope Gregory, in the year
+726, in order to know in what cases a husband might
+be allowed to have two wives, Gregory replied to
+him, on the 22nd of November, of the same year,
+in these words: "If a wife be attacked by a malady
+which renders her unfit for conjugal intercourse, the
+husband may marry another; but in that case he
+must allow his sick wife all necessary support and
+assistance." This decision appears conformable to
+reason and policy; and favors population, which
+is the object of marriage.</p>
+
+<p>But that which appears opposed at once to reason,
+policy, and nature, is the law which ordains
+that a woman, separated from her husband both in
+person and estate, cannot take another husband, nor
+the husband another wife. It is evident that a race
+is thereby lost; and if the separated parties are both
+of a certain temperament, they are necessarily exposed
+and rendered liable to sins for which the legislators
+ought to be responsible to God, if&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The decretals of the popes have not always had
+in view what was suitable to the good of estates,
+and of individuals. This same decretal of Pope
+Gregory II., which permits bigamy in certain cases,
+denies conjugal rights forever to the boys and girls,
+whom their parents have devoted to the Church in
+their infancy. This law seems as barbarous as it is
+unjust; at once annihilating posterity, and forcing
+the will of men before they even possess a will.
+It is rendering the children the slaves of a vow which
+they never made; it is to destroy natural liberty,
+and to offend God and mankind.</p>
+
+<p>The polygamy of Philip, landgrave of Hesse, in
+the Lutheran community, in 1539, is well known.
+I knew a sovereign in Germany, who, after having
+married a Lutheran, had permission from the pope
+to marry a Catholic, and retained both his wives.</p>
+
+<p>It is well known in England, that the chancellor
+Cowper married two wives, who lived together in
+the same house in a state of concord which did
+honor to all three. Many of the curious still possess
+the little book which he composed in favor of
+polygamy.</p>
+
+<p>We must distrust authors who relate, that in certain
+countries women are allowed several husbands.
+Those who make laws everywhere are born with too
+much self-love, are too jealous of their authority,
+and generally possess a temperament too ardent in
+comparison with that of women, to have instituted
+a jurisprudence of this nature. That which is opposed
+to the general course of nature is very rarely
+true; but it is very common for the more early travellers
+to mistake an abuse for a law.</p>
+
+<p>The author of the "Spirit of Laws" asserts, that
+in the caste of Nairs, on the coast of Malabar, a
+man can have only one wife, while a woman may
+have several husbands. He cites doubtful authors,
+and above all Picard; but it is impossible to speak
+of strange customs without having long witnessed
+them; and if they are mentioned, it ought to be
+doubtingly; but what lively spirit knows how to
+doubt?</p>
+
+<p>"The lubricity of women," he observes, "is so
+great at Patan, the men are constrained to adopt
+certain garniture, in order to be safe against their
+amorous enterprises."</p>
+
+<p>The president Montesquieu was never at Patan.
+Is not the remark of M. Linguet judicious, who observes,
+that this story has been told by travellers who
+were either deceived themselves, or who wished to
+laugh at their readers? Let us be just, love truth,
+and judge by facts, not by names.</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>End of the Reflections on Polygamy.</i></p>
+
+<p>It appears that power, rather than agreement,
+makes laws everywhere, but especially in the East.
+We there beheld the first slaves, the first eunuchs,
+and the treasury of the prince directly composed of
+that which is taken from the people.</p>
+
+<p>He who can clothe, support, and amuse a number
+of women, shuts them up in a menagerie, and
+commands them despotically. Ben Aboul Kiba, in
+his "Mirror of the Faithful," relates that one of the
+viziers of the great Solyman addressed the following
+discourse to an agent of Charles V.:</p>
+
+<p>"Dog of a Christian!&mdash;for whom, however, I
+have a particular esteem&mdash;canst thou reproach me
+with possessing four wives, according to our holy
+laws, whilst thou emptiest a dozen barrels a year,
+and I drink not a single glass of wine? What good
+dost thou effect by passing more hours at table than
+I do in bed? I may get four children a year for the
+service of my august master, whilst thou canst
+scarcely produce one, and that only the child of a
+drunkard, whose brain will be obscured by the vapors
+of the wine which has been drunk by his father.
+What, moreover, wouldst thou have me do, when
+two of my wives are in child-bed? Must I not attend
+to the other two, as my law commands me?
+What becomes of them? what part dost thou perform,
+in the latter months of the pregnancy of thy
+only wife, and during her lyings-in and sexual maladies?
+Thou either remainest idle, or thou repairest
+to another woman. Behold thyself between two
+mortal sins, which will infallibly cause thee to fall
+headlong from the narrow bridge into the pit of
+hell.</p>
+
+<p>"I will suppose, that in our wars against the dogs
+of Christians we lose a hundred thousand soldiers;
+behold a hundred thousand girls to provide for.
+Is it not for the wealthy to take care of them? Evil
+betide every Mussulman so cold-hearted as not to
+give shelter to four pretty girls, in the character of
+legitimate wives, or to treat them according to their
+merits!</p>
+
+<p>"What is done in thy country by the trumpeter
+of day, which thou callest the cock; the honest ram,
+the leader of the flock; the bull, sovereign of the
+heifers; has not every one of them his seraglio?
+It becomes thee, truly, to reproach me with my four
+wives, whilst our great prophet had eighteen, the
+Jew David, as many, and the Jew Solomon, seven
+hundred, all told, with three hundred concubines!
+Thou perceivest that I am modest. Cease, then, to
+reproach a sage with luxury, who is content with so
+moderate a repast. I permit thee to drink; allow me
+to love. Thou changest thy wines; permit me to
+change my females. Let every one suffer others to
+live according to the customs of their country. Thy
+hat was not made to give laws to my turban; thy
+ruff and thy curtailed doublets are not to command
+my doliman. Make an end of thy coffee, and go and
+caress thy German spouse, since thou art allowed
+to have no other."</p>
+
+<p class="caption"><i>Reply of the German.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Dog of a Mussulman! for whom I retain a profound
+veneration; before I finish my coffee I will
+confute all thy arguments. He who possesses four
+wives, possesses four harpies, always ready to calumniate,
+to annoy, and to fight one another. Thy
+house is the den of discord, and none of them can
+love thee. Each has only a quarter of thy person,
+and in return can bestow only a quarter of her heart.
+None of them can serve to render thy life agreeable;
+they are prisoners who, never having seen anything,
+have nothing to say; and, knowing only thee, are
+in consequence thy enemies. Thou art their absolute
+master; they therefore hate thee. Thou art
+obliged to guard them with eunuchs, who whip them
+when they are too happy. Thou pretendest to compare
+thyself to a cock, but a cock never has his pullets
+whipped by a capon. Take animals for thy examples,
+and copy them as much as thou pleasest;
+for my part, I love like a man; I would give all my
+heart, and receive an entire heart in return. I will
+give an account of this conversation to my wife to-night,
+and I hope she will be satisfied. As to the
+wine with which thou reproachest me, if it is an evil
+to drink it in Arabia, it is a very praiseworthy habit
+in Germany.&mdash;Adieu!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="XENOPHANES" id="XENOPHANES"></a>XENOPHANES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Bayle has made the article "Xenophanes" a pretext
+for making a panegyric on the devil; as Simonides,
+formerly, seized the occasion of a wrestler winning
+the prize of boxing in the Olympic games, to
+form a fine ode in praise of Castor and Pollux. But,
+at the bottom, of what consequence to us are the
+reveries of Xenophanes? What do we gain by
+knowing that he regarded nature as an infinite being,
+immovable, composed of an infinite number of small
+corpuscles, soft little mounds, and small organic
+molecules? That he, moreover, thought pretty
+nearly as Spinoza has since thought? or rather
+endeavored to think, for he contradicts himself frequently&mdash;a
+thing very common to ancient philosophers.</p>
+
+<p>If Anaximenes taught that the atmosphere was
+God; if Thales attributed to water the foundation
+of all things, because Egypt was rendered fertile by
+inundation; if Pherecides and Heraclitus give to
+fire all which Thales attributes to water&mdash;to what
+purpose return to these chimerical reveries?</p>
+
+<p>I wish that Pythagoras had expressed, by numbers,
+certain relations, very insufficiently understood,
+by which he infers, that the world was built
+by the rules of arithmetic. I allow, that Ocellus
+Lucanus and Empedocles have arranged everything
+by moving antagonist forces, but what shall I gather
+from it? What clear notion will it convey to my
+feeble mind?</p>
+
+<p>Come, divine Plato! with your archetypal ideas,
+your androgynes, and your word; establish all these
+fine things in poetical prose, in your new republic,
+in which I no more aspire to have a house, than in
+the Salentum of Telemachus; but in lieu of becoming
+one of your citizens, I will send you an order
+to build your town with all the subtle manner of
+Descartes, all his globular and diffusive matter; and
+they shall be brought to you by Cyrano de Bergerac.</p>
+
+<p>Bayle, however, has exercised all the sagacity of
+his logic on these ancient fancies; but it is always
+by rendering them ridiculous that he instructs and
+entertains.</p>
+
+<p>O philosophers! Physical experiments, ably conducted,
+arts and handicraft&mdash;these are the true philosophy.
+My sage is the conductor of my windmill,
+which dexterously catches the wind, and receives
+my corn, deposits it in the hopper, and grinds it
+equally, for the nourishment of myself and family.
+My sage is he who, with his shuttle, covers my walls
+with pictures of linen or of silk, brilliant with the
+finest colors; or he who puts into my pocket a
+chronometer of silver or of gold. My sage is the
+investigator of natural history. We learn more from
+the single experiments of the Abbé Nollet than
+from all the philosophical works of antiquity.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="XENOPHON" id="XENOPHON"></a>XENOPHON,</h3>
+
+<h3>AND THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND.</h3>
+
+
+<p>If Xenophon had no other merit than that of
+being the friend of the martyr Socrates, he would
+be interesting; but he was a warrior, philosopher,
+poet, historian, agriculturist, and amiable in society.
+There were many Greeks who united these qualities.</p>
+
+<p>But why had this free man a Greek company in
+the pay of the young Chosroes, named Cyrus by
+the Greeks? This Cyrus was the younger brother
+and subject of the emperor of Persia, Artaxerxes
+Mnemon, of whom it was said that he never forgot
+anything but injuries. Cyrus had already attempted
+to assassinate his brother, even in the temple in
+which the ceremony of his consecration took place&mdash;for
+the kings of Persia were the first who were
+consecrated. Artaxerxes had not only the clemency
+to pardon this villain, but he had the weakness to
+allow him the absolute government of a great part
+of Asia Minor, which he held from their father,
+and of which he at least deserved to be despoiled.</p>
+
+<p>As a return for such surprising mercy, as soon
+as he could excite his satrapy to revolt against his
+brother, Cyrus added this second crime to the first.
+He declared by a manifesto, "that he was more
+worthy of the throne of Persia than his brother,
+because he was a better magus, and drank more
+wine." I do not believe that these were the reasons
+which gained him the Greeks as allies. He took
+thirteen thousand into his pay, among whom was the
+young Xenophon, who was then only an adventurer.
+Each soldier had a daric a month for pay. The daric
+is equal to about a guinea or a louis d'or of our
+time, as the Chevalier de Jaucourt very well observes,
+and not ten francs, as Rollin says.</p>
+
+<p>When Cyrus proposed to march them with his
+other troops to fight his brother towards the
+Euphrates, they demanded a daric and a half,
+which he was obliged to grant them. This was
+thirty-six livres a month, and consequently the
+highest pay which was ever given. The soldiers of
+Cæsar and Pompey had but twenty sous per day
+in the civil wars. Besides this exorbitant pay, of
+which they obliged him to pay four months in advance,
+Cyrus furnished them four hundred chariots,
+laden with wine and meal.</p>
+
+<p>The Greeks were then precisely what the Swiss
+are at present, who hire their service and courage
+to neighboring princes, but for a pay three times
+less than was that of the Greeks. It is evident,
+though they say the contrary, that they did not
+inform themselves whether the cause for which
+they fought was just; it was sufficient that Cyrus
+paid well.</p>
+
+<p>The greatest part of these troops was composed
+of Lacedæmonians, by which they violated their
+solemn treaties with the king of Persia. What was
+become of the ancient aversion of the Spartans for
+gold and silver? Where was their sincerity in
+treaties? Where was their high and incorruptible
+virtue? Clearchus, a Spartan, commanded the
+principal body of these brave mercenaries.</p>
+
+<p>I understand not the military manoeuvres of
+Artaxerxes and Cyrus; I see not why Artaxerxes,
+who came to his enemy with twelve hundred thousand
+soldiers, should begin by causing lines of twelve
+leagues in extent to be drawn between Cyrus and
+himself; and I comprehend nothing of the order
+of battle. I understand still less how Cyrus, followed
+only by six hundred horse, broke into the
+midst of six thousand horse-guards of the emperor,
+followed by an innumerable army. Finally, he was
+killed by the hand of Artaxerxes, who, having apparently
+drunk less wine than the rebel, fought with
+more coolness and address than this drunkard. It
+is clear that he completely gained the battle, notwithstanding
+the valor and resistance of thirteen
+thousand Greeks&mdash;since Greek vanity is obliged to
+confess that Artaxerxes told them to put down their
+arms. They replied that they would do nothing of
+the kind; but that if the emperor would pay them
+they would enter his service. It was very indifferent
+to them for whom they fought, so long as they
+were paid; in fact, they were only hired murderers.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the Swiss, there are some provinces of
+Germany which follow this custom. It signifies not
+to these good Christians whether they are paid to
+kill English, French, or Dutch, or to be killed by
+them. You see them say their prayers, and go to
+the carnage like laborers to their workshop. As
+to myself, I confess I would rather observe those
+who go into Pennsylvania, to cultivate the land with
+the simple and equitable Quakers, and form colonies
+in the retreat of peace and industry. There
+is no great skill in killing and being killed for six
+sous per day, but there is much in causing the republic
+of Dunkers to flourish&mdash;these new Therapeutæ
+on the frontier of a country the most savage.</p>
+
+<p>Artaxerxes regarded the Greeks only as accomplices
+in the revolt of his brother, and indeed they
+were nothing else. He betrayed himself to be betrayed
+by them, and he betrayed them, as Xenophon
+pretends; for after one of his captains had sworn in
+his name to allow them a free retreat, and to furnish
+them with food, after Clearchus and five other commanders
+of the Greeks were put into his hands, to
+regulate the march, he caused their heads to be cut
+off, and slew all the Greeks who accompanied them
+in this interview, if we may trust Xenophon's
+account.</p>
+
+<p>This royal act shows us that Machiavellism is
+not new; but is it true that Artaxerxes promised
+not to make an example of the chief mercenaries
+who sold themselves to his brother? Was it not
+permitted him to punish those whom he thought so
+guilty? It is here that the famous retreat of the
+ten thousand commences. If I comprehend nothing
+of the battle, I understand no more of the retreat.</p>
+
+<p>The emperor, before he cut off the heads of six
+Greek generals and their suite, had sworn to allow
+the little army, reduced to ten thousand men, to
+return to Greece. The battle was fought on the
+road to the Euphrates; he must therefore have
+caused the Greeks to return by Western Mesopotamia,
+Syria, Asia Minor, and Ionia. Not at all;
+they were made to pass by the East; they were
+obliged to traverse the Tigris in boats which were
+furnished to them; they returned afterwards by
+the Armenian roads, while their commanders were
+punished. If any person comprehends this march,
+in which they turn their backs on Greece, they will
+oblige me much by explaining it to me.</p>
+
+<p>One of two things: either the Greeks chose their
+route themselves&mdash;and in this case they neither
+knew where they went, or what they wished&mdash;or
+Artaxerxes made them march against their will&mdash;which
+is much more probable&mdash;and in this case, why
+did he not exterminate them?</p>
+
+<p>We may extricate ourselves from these difficulties,
+by supposing that the Persian emperor only half
+revenged himself; that he contented himself with
+punishing the principal mercenary chiefs who sold
+the Greek troops to Cyrus; that having made a
+treaty with the fugitive troops, he would not descend
+to the meanness of violating it; that being
+sure that a third of these wandering Greeks would
+perish on the road, he abandoned them to their fate.
+I see no other manner of enlightening the mind of
+the reader on the obscurities of this march.</p>
+
+<p>We are astonished at the retreat of the ten
+thousand; but we should be much more so, if
+Artaxerxes, a conqueror, at the head of a hundred
+thousand men&mdash;at least it is said so&mdash;had allowed
+ten thousand fugitives to travel in the north of his
+vast states, whom he could crush in every village,
+every bridge, every defile, or whom he could have
+made perish with hunger and misery.</p>
+
+<p>However, they were furnished, as we have seen,
+with twenty-seven great boats, to enable them to
+pass the Tigris, as if they were conducted to the
+Indies. Thence they were escorted towards the
+North for several days, into the desert in which
+Bagdad is now situated. They further passed the
+river Zabata, and it was there that the emperor sent
+his orders to punish the chiefs. It is clear that
+they could have exterminated the army as easily as
+they inflicted punishment on the generals. It is
+therefore very likely that they did not choose to do
+so. We should, therefore, rather regard the Greek
+wanderers in these savage countries as wayward
+travellers, whom the bounty of the emperor allowed
+to finish their journey as they could.</p>
+
+<p>We may make another observation, which appears
+not very honorable to the Persian government.
+It was impossible for the Greeks not to have
+continual quarrels for food with the people whom
+they met. Pillages, desolations, and murders, were
+the inevitable consequence of these disorders; and
+that is so true, that in a road of six hundred leagues,
+during which the Greeks always marched irregularly,
+being neither escorted nor pursued by any
+great body of Persian troops, they lost four thousand
+men, either killed by peasants or by sickness.
+How did it happen, therefore, that Artaxerxes did
+not cause them to be escorted from their passage of
+the river Zabata, as he had done from the field of
+battle to the river?</p>
+
+<p>How could so wise and good a sovereign commit
+so great a fault? Perhaps he did command the
+escort; perhaps Xenophon, who exaggerates a little
+elsewhere, passes it over in silence, not to diminish
+the wonder of the "retreat of the ten thousand";
+perhaps the escort was always obliged to march at
+a great distance from the Greek troop, on account
+of the difficulty of procuring provisions. However
+it might be, it appears certain that Artaxerxes
+used extreme indulgence, and that the Greeks owed
+their lives to him, since they were not exterminated.</p>
+
+<p>In the article on "Retreat," in the "Encyclopædical
+Dictionary," it is said that the retreat of
+the ten thousand took place under the command of
+Xenophon. This is a mistake; he never commanded;
+he was merely at the head of a division of
+fourteen hundred men, at the end of the march.</p>
+
+<p>I see that these heroes scarcely arrived, after so
+many fatigues, on the borders of the Pontus
+Euxinus, before they indifferently pillaged friends
+and enemies to re-establish themselves. Xenophon
+embarked his little troop at Heraclea, and went to
+make a new bargain with a king of Thrace, to
+whom he was a stranger. This Athenian, instead
+of succoring his country, then overcome by the
+Spartans, sold himself once more to a petty foreign
+despot. He was ill paid, I confess, which is another
+reason why we may conclude that he would have
+done better in assisting his country.</p>
+
+<p>The sum of all this, we have already remarked,
+is that the Athenian Xenophon, being only a young
+volunteer, enlisted himself under a Lacedæmonian
+captain, one of the tyrants of Athens, in the service
+of a rebel and an assassin; and that, becoming chief
+of fourteen hundred men, he put himself into the pay
+of a barbarian.</p>
+
+<p>What is worse, necessity did not constrain him
+to this servitude. He says himself that he deposited
+a great part of the gold gained in the service of
+Cyrus in the temple of the famous Diana of
+Ephesus.</p>
+
+<p>Let us remark, that in receiving the pay of a
+king, he exposed himself to be condemned to death,
+if the foreigner was not contented with him, which
+happened to Major-General Doxat, a man born
+free. He sold himself to the emperor Charles VI.,
+who commanded his head to be cut off, for having
+given up to the Turks a place which he could not
+defend.</p>
+
+<p>Rollin, in speaking of the return of the ten thousand,
+says, "that this fortunate retreat filled the
+people of Greece with contempt for Artaxerxes, by
+showing them that gold, silver, delicacies, luxury,
+and a numerous seraglio, composed all the merit of
+a great king."</p>
+
+<p>Rollin should consider that the Greeks ought not
+to despise a sovereign who had gained a complete
+battle; who, having pardoned as a brother, conquered
+as a hero; who, having the power of exterminating
+ten thousand Greeks, suffered them to
+live and to return to their country; and who, being
+able to have them in his pay, disdained to make use
+of them. Add, that this prince afterwards conquered
+the Lacedæmonians and their allies, and imposed
+on them humiliating laws; add also that in
+a war with the Scythians, called Caducians, towards
+the Caspian Sea, he supported all fatigues and
+dangers like the lowest soldier. He lived and died
+full of glory; it is true that he had a seraglio, but
+his courage was only the more estimable. We must
+be careful of college declamations.</p>
+
+<p>If I dared to attack prejudice I would venture
+to prefer the retreat of Marshal Belle-Isle to that of
+the ten thousand. He was blocked up in Prague by
+sixty thousand men, when he had not thirteen thousand.
+He took his measures with so much ability
+that he got out of Prague, in the most severe cold,
+with his army, provisions, baggage, and thirty
+pieces of cannon, without the besiegers having the
+least idea of it. He gained two days' march without
+their perceiving it. An army of thirteen thousand
+men pursued him for the space of thirty
+leagues. He faced them everywhere&mdash;he was never
+cast down; but sick as he was, he braved the
+season, scarcity and his enemies. He only lost those
+soldiers who could not resist the extreme rigor of
+the season. What more was wanting? A longer
+course and Grecian exaggeration.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="YVETOT" id="YVETOT"></a>YVETOT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>This is the name of a town in France, six
+leagues from Rouen, in Normandy, which, according
+to Robert Gaguin, a historian of the sixteenth
+century, has long been entitled a kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>This writer relates that Gautier, or Vautier, lord
+of Yvetot, and grand chamberlain to King Clotaire
+I., having lost the favor of his master by calumny,
+in which courtiers deal rather liberally, went into
+voluntary exile, and visited distant countries,
+where, for ten years, he fought against the enemies
+of the faith; that at the expiration of this term,
+flattering himself that the king's anger would be
+appeased, he went back to France; that he passed
+through Rome, where he saw Pope Agapetus, from
+whom he obtained a letter of recommendation to
+the king, who was then at Soissons, the capital of
+his dominions. The lord of Yvetot repaired thither
+one Good Friday, and chose the time when Clotaire
+was at church, to fall at his feet, and implore his
+forgiveness through the merits of Him who, on
+that day, had shed His blood for the salvation of
+men; but Clotaire, ferocious and cruel, having
+recognized him, ran him through the body.</p>
+
+<p>Gaguin adds that Pope Agapetus, being informed
+of this disgraceful act, threatened the king
+with the thunders of the Church, if he did not make
+reparation for his offence; and that Clotaire, justly
+intimidated, and in satisfaction for the murder of
+his subject, erected the lordship of Yvetot into a
+kingdom, in favor of Gautier's heirs and successors;
+that he despatched letters to that effect signed by
+himself, and sealed with his seal; that ever since
+then the lords of Yvetot have borne the title of
+kings; and&mdash;continues Gaguin&mdash;I find from established
+and indisputable authority, that this extraordinary
+event happened in the year of grace 539.</p>
+
+<p>On this story of Gaguin's we have the same remark
+to make that we have already made on what
+he says of the establishment of the Paris university&mdash;that
+not one of the contemporary historians
+makes any mention of the singular event,
+which, as he tells us, caused the lordship of Yvetot
+to be erected into a kingdom; and, as Claude
+Malingre and the abbé Vertot have well observed,
+Clotaire I., who is here supposed to have been
+sovereign of the town of Yvetot, did not reign over
+that part of the country; fiefs were not then hereditary;
+acts were not, as Robert Gaguin relates, dated
+from the year of grace; and lastly, Pope Agapetus
+was then dead; to this it may be added that the
+right of erecting a fief into a kingdom belonged exclusively
+to the emperor.</p>
+
+<p>It is not, however, to be said that the thunders
+of the Church were not already made use of, in the
+time of Agapetus. We know that St. Paul excommunicated
+the incestuous man of Corinth. We also
+find in the letters of St. Basil, some instances of
+general censure in the fourth century. One of these
+letters is against a ravisher. The holy prelate there
+orders the young woman to be restored to her
+parents, the ravisher to be excluded from prayers,
+and declared to be excommunicated, together with
+his accomplices and all his household, for three
+years; he also orders that all the people of the
+village where the ravished person was received,
+shall be excommunicated.</p>
+
+<p>Auxilius, a young bishop, excommunicated the
+whole family of Clacitien; although St. Augustine
+disapproved of this conduct, and Pope St. Leo laid
+down the same maxims as Augustine, in one of his
+letters to the bishop of the province of Vienne&mdash;yet,
+confining ourselves here to France&mdash;Pretextatus,
+bishop of Rouen, having been assassinated in the
+year 586 in his own church, Leudovalde, bishop of
+Bayeux, did not fail to lay all the churches in Rouen
+under an interdict, forbidding divine service to be
+celebrated in them until the author of the crime
+should be discovered.</p>
+
+<p>In 1141, Louis the Young having refused his
+consent to the election of Peter de la Châtre, whom
+the pope caused to be appointed in the room of
+Alberic, archbishop of Bourges, who had died the
+year preceding, Innocent II. laid all France under
+interdict.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1200, Peter of Capua, commissioned
+to compel Philip Augustus to put away Agnes, and
+take back Ingeburga, and not succeeding, published
+the sentence of interdict on the whole kingdom,
+which had been pronounced by Pope Innocent
+III. This interdict was observed with extreme
+rigor. The English chronicle, quoted by the Benedictine
+Martenne, says that every Christian act, excepting
+the baptism of infants, was interdicted in
+France; the churches were closed, and Christians
+driven out of them like dogs; there was no more
+divine office, no more sacrifice of the mass, no ecclesiastical
+sepulture for the deceased; the dead
+bodies, left to chance, spread the most frightful infections,
+and filled the survivors with horror.</p>
+
+<p>The chronicle of Tours gives the same description,
+adding only one remarkable particular, confirmed
+by the abbé Fleury and the abbé de Vertot&mdash;that
+the holy viaticum was excepted, like the baptism
+of infants, from the privation of holy things.
+The kingdom was in this situation for nine months;
+it was some time before Innocent III. permitted the
+preaching of sermons and the sacrament of confirmation.
+The king was so much enraged that he
+drove the bishops and all the other ecclesiastics
+from their abodes, and confiscated their property.</p>
+
+<p>But it is singular that the bishops were sometimes
+solicited by sovereigns themselves to pronounce
+an interdict upon lands of their vassals. By
+letters dated February, 1356, confirming those of
+Guy, count of Nevers, and his wife Matilda, in
+favor of the citizens of Nevers, Charles V., regent
+of the kingdom, prays the archbishops of Lyons,
+Bourges, and Sens, and the bishops of Autun,
+Langres, Auxerre, and Nevers, to pronounce an excommunication
+against the count of Nevers, and an
+interdict upon his lands, if he does not fulfil the
+agreement he has made with the inhabitants. We
+also find in the collection of the ordinances of the
+third line of kings, many letters like that of King
+John, authorizing the bishops to put under interdict
+those places whose privileges their lords would seek
+to infringe.</p>
+
+<p>And to conclude, though it appears incredible,
+the Jesuit Daniel relates that, in the year 998, King
+Robert was excommunicated by Gregory V., for
+having married his kinswoman in the fourth degree.
+All the bishops who had assisted at this marriage
+were interdicted from the communion, until they
+had been to Rome, and rendered satisfaction to the
+holy see. The people, and even the court, separated
+from the king; he had only two domestics left,
+who purified by fire whatever he had touched.
+Cardinal Damien and Romualde also add, that
+Robert being gone one morning, as was his custom,
+to say his prayers at the door of St. Bartholomew's
+church, for he dared not enter it, Abbon, abbot of
+Fleury, followed by two women of the palace, carrying
+a large gilt dish covered with a napkin, accosted
+him, announced that Bertha was just brought
+to bed; and uncovering the dish, said: "Behold
+the effects of your disobedience to the decrees of
+the Church, and the seal of anathema on the fruit
+of your love!" Robert looked, and saw a monster
+with the head and neck of a duck! Bertha was
+repudiated; and the excommunication was at last
+taken off.</p>
+
+<p>Urban II., on the contrary, excommunicated
+Robert's grandson, Philip I., for having put away
+his kinswoman. This pope pronounced the sentence
+of excommunication in the king's own dominions,
+at Clermont, in Auvergne, where his holiness was
+come to seek an asylum, in the same council in
+which the crusade was preached, and in which, for
+the first time, the name of pope (papa) was given
+to the bishop of Rome, to the exclusion of the other
+bishops, who had formerly taken it.</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen that these canonical pains were
+medicinal rather than mortal; but Gregory VII. and
+some of his successors ventured to assert, that an
+excommunicated sovereign was deprived of his
+dominions, and that his subjects were not obliged to
+obey him. However, supposing that a king can be
+excommunicated in certain serious cases, excommunication,
+being a penalty purely spiritual, cannot
+dispense with the obedience which his subjects
+owe to him, as holding his authority from God
+Himself. This was constantly acknowledged by the
+parliaments, and also by the clergy of France, in
+the excommunications pronounced by Boniface
+VII., against Philip the Fair; by Julius II., against
+Louis XII.; by Sixtus V., against Henry III.; by
+Gregory XIII., against Henry IV.; and it is likewise
+the doctrine of the celebrated assembly of the
+clergy in 1682.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="ZEAL" id="ZEAL"></a>ZEAL.</h3>
+
+
+<p>This, in religion, is a pure and enlightened attachment
+to the maintenance and progress of the
+worship which is due to the Divinity; but when
+this zeal is persecuting, blind, and false, it becomes
+the greatest scourge of humanity.</p>
+
+<p>See what the emperor Julian says of the Christians
+of his time: "The Galileans," he observes,
+"have suffered exile and imprisonment under my
+predecessor; those who are by turns called heretics,
+have been mutually massacred. I have recalled the
+banished, liberated the prisoners; I have restored
+their property to the proscribed; I have forced
+them to live in peace; but such is the restless rage
+of the Galileans, that they complain of being no
+longer able to devour each other."</p>
+
+<p>This picture will not appear extravagant if we
+attend to the atrocious calumnies with which the
+Christians reciprocally blackened each other. For
+instance, St. Augustine accuses the Manichæans of
+forcing their elect to receive the eucharist, after
+having obscenely polluted it. After him, St. Cyril
+of Jerusalem has accused them of the same infamy
+in these terms: "I dare not mention in what these
+sacrilegious wretches wet their ischas, which they
+give to their unhappy votaries, and exhibit in the
+midst of their altar, and with which the Manichæan
+soils his mouth and tongue. Let the men call to
+mind what they are accustomed to experience in
+dreaming, and the women in their periodical affections."
+Pope St. Leo, in one of his sermons,
+also calls the sacrifice of the Manichæans the same
+turpitude. Finally, Suidas and Cedrenus have still
+further improved on the calumny, in asserting that
+the Manichæans held nocturnal assemblies, in
+which, after extinguishing the flambeaux, they
+committed the most enormous indecencies.</p>
+
+<p>Let us first observe that the primitive Christians
+were themselves accused of the same horrors which
+they afterwards imputed to the Manichæans; and
+that the justification of these equally applies to the
+others. "In order to have pretexts for persecuting
+us," said Athenagoras, in his "Apology for the
+Christians," "they accuse us of making detestable
+banquets, and of committing incest in our assemblies.
+It is an old trick, which has been employed
+from all time to extinguish virtue. Thus was
+Pythagoras burned, with three hundred of his
+disciples; Heraclitus expelled by the Ephesians;
+Democritus by the Abderitans; and Socrates condemned
+by the Athenians."</p>
+
+<p>Athenagoras subsequently points out that the
+principles and manners of the Christians were sufficient
+of themselves to destroy the calumnies spread
+against them. The same reasons apply in favor of
+the Manichæans. Why else is St. Augustine, who
+is positive in his book on heresies, reduced in that
+on the morals of the Manichæans, when speaking of
+the horrible ceremony in question, to say simply:
+"They are suspected of&mdash;the world has this opinion
+of them&mdash;if they do not commit what is imputed to
+them&mdash;rumor proclaims much ill of them; but they
+maintain that it is false?"</p>
+
+<p>Why not sustain openly this accusation in his
+dispute with Fortunatus, who publicly challenged
+him in these terms: "We are accused of false
+crimes, and as Augustine has assisted in our worship,
+I beg him to declare before the whole people,
+whether these crimes are true or not." St. Augustine
+replied: "It is true that I have assisted in
+your worship; but the question of faith is one
+thing, the question of morals another; and it is that
+of faith which I brought forward. However, if the
+persons present prefer that we should discuss that
+of your morals, I shall not oppose myself to them."</p>
+
+<p>Fortunatus, addressing the assembly, said: "I
+wish, above all things, to be justified in the minds
+of those who believe us guilty; and that Augustine
+should now testify before you, and one day before
+the tribunal of Jesus Christ, if he has ever seen, or
+if he knows, in any way whatever, that the things
+imputed have been committed by us?" St. Augustine
+still replies: "You depart from the question;
+what I have advanced turns upon faith, not upon
+morals." At length, Fortunatus continuing to press
+St. Augustine to explain himself, he does so in these
+terms: "I acknowledge that in the prayer at which
+I assisted I did not see you commit anything impure."</p>
+
+<p>The same St. Augustine, in his work on the
+"Utility of Faith," still justifies the Manichæans.
+"At this time," he says, to his friend Honoratus,
+"when I was occupied with Manichæism, I was yet
+full of the desire and the hope of marrying a handsome
+woman, and of acquiring riches; of attaining
+honors, and of enjoying the other pernicious pleasures
+of life. For when I listened with attention to
+the Manichæan doctors, I had not renounced the desire
+and hope of all these things. I do not attribute
+that to their doctrine; for I am bound to render
+this testimony&mdash;that they sedulously exhorted men
+to preserve themselves from those things. That is,
+indeed, what hindered me from attaching myself
+altogether to the sect, and kept me in the rank of
+those who are called auditors. I did not wish to
+renounce secular hopes and affairs." And in the
+last chapter of this book, where he represents the
+Manichæan doctors as proud men, who had as gross
+minds as they had meagre and skinny bodies, he
+does not say a word of their pretended infamies.</p>
+
+<p>But on what proofs were these imputations
+founded? The first which Augustine alleges is, that
+these indecencies were a consequence of the Manichæan
+system, regarding the means which God
+makes use of to wrest from the prince of darkness
+the portion of his substance. We have spoken of
+this in the article on "Genealogy," and these are
+horrors which one may dispense with repeating. It
+is enough to say here, that the passage from the
+seventh book of the "Treasure of Manes," which
+Augustine cites in many places, is evidently falsified.
+The arch heretic says, if we can believe it,
+that these celestial virtues, which are transformed
+sometimes into beautiful boys, and sometimes into
+beautiful girls, are God the Father Himself. This
+is false; Manes has never confounded the celestial
+virtues with God the Father. St. Augustine, not
+having understood the Syriac phrase of a "virgin of
+light" to mean a virgin light, supposes that God
+shows a beautiful maiden to the princes of darkness,
+in order to excite their brutal lust; there is nothing
+of all this talked of in ancient authors; the question
+concerns the cause of rain.</p>
+
+<p>"The great prince," says Tirbon, cited by St.
+Epiphanius, "sends out for himself, in his passion,
+black clouds, which darken all the world; he
+chafes, worries himself, throws himself into a perspiration,
+and that it is which makes the rain, which
+is no other than the sweat of the great prince." St.
+Augustine must have been deceived by a mistranslation,
+or rather by a garbled, unfaithful extract
+from the "Treasure of Manes," from which he only
+cites two or three passages. The Manichæan Secundums
+also reproaches him with comprehending
+nothing of the mysteries of Manichæism, and with
+attacking them only by mere paralogisms. "How,
+otherwise," says the learned M. de Beausobre&mdash;whom
+we here abridge&mdash;"would St. Augustine
+have been able to live so many years among a sect
+in which such abominations were publicly taught?
+And how would he have had the face to defend it
+against the Catholics?"</p>
+
+<p>From this proof by reasoning, let us pass to the
+proofs of fact and evidence alleged by St. Augustine
+and see if they are more substantial. "It
+is said," proceeds this father, "that some of them
+have confessed this fact in public pleadings, not only
+in Paphlagonia, but also in the Gauls, as I have
+heard said at Rome by a certain Catholic."</p>
+
+<p>Such hearsay deserves so little attention that St.
+Augustine dared not make use of it in his conference
+with Fortunatus, although it was seven
+or eight years after he had quitted Rome; he seems
+even to have forgotten the name of the Catholic
+from whom he learned them. It is true, that
+in his book of "Heresies," he speaks of the confessions
+of two girls, the one named Margaret, the
+other Eusebia, and of some Manichæans who, having
+been discovered at Carthage, and taken to the
+church, avowed, it is said, the horrible fact in question.</p>
+
+<p>He adds that a certain Viator declared that they
+who committed these scandals were called Catharistes,
+or purgators; and that, when interrogated
+on what scripture they founded this frightful practice,
+they produced the passage from the "Treasure
+of Manes," the falsehood of which has been demonstrated.
+But our heretics, far from availing themselves
+of it, have openly disavowed it, as the work
+of some impostor who wished to ruin them. That
+alone casts suspicion on all these acts of Carthage,
+which "<i>Quod-vult-Deus</i>" had sent to St. Augustine;
+and these wretches who were discovered and taken
+to the church, have very much the air of persons
+suborned to confess all they were wanted to confess.</p>
+
+<p>In the 47th chapter on the "Nature of Good,"
+St. Augustine admits that when our heretics were
+reproached with the crimes in question, they replied
+that one of their elect, a seceder from the sect, and
+become their enemy, had introduced this enormity.
+Without inquiring whether this was a real sect
+whom Viator calls Catharistes, it is sufficient to observe
+here, that the first Christians likewise imputed
+to the Gnostics the horrible mysteries of
+which they were themselves accused by the Jews
+and Pagans; and if this defence is good on their
+behalf, why should it not be so on that of the Manichæans?</p>
+
+<p>It is, however, these vulgar rumors which M.
+de Tillemont, who piques himself on his exactness
+and fidelity, ventures to convert into positive facts.
+He asserts that the Manichæans had been made to
+confess these disgraceful doings in public judgments,
+in Paphlagonia, in the Gauls, and several
+times at Carthage.</p>
+
+<p>Let us also weigh the testimony of St. Cyril of
+Jerusalem, whose narrative is altogether different
+from that of St. Augustine; and let us consider
+that the fact is so incredible and so absurd that it
+could scarcely be credited, even if attested by five
+or six witnesses who had seen and would affirm it
+on oath. St. Cyril stands alone; he had never seen
+it; he advances it in a popular declamation, wherein
+he gives himself a licence to put into the mouth of
+Manes, in the conference of Cascar, a discourse, not
+one word of which is in the "Acts of Archælaus,"
+as M. Zaccagni is obliged to allow; and it cannot
+be alleged in defence of St. Cyril that he has taken
+only the sense of Archælaus, and not the words;
+for neither the sense nor the words can be found
+there. Besides, the style which this father adopts
+is that of a historian who cites the actual words of
+his author.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, to save the honor and good faith
+of St. Cyril, M. Zaccagni, and after him M. de
+Tillemont, suppose, without any proof, that the
+translator or copyist has omitted the passage in the
+"Acts" quoted by this father; and the journalists of
+Trévoux have imagined two sorts of "Acts of
+Archælaus"&mdash;the authentic ones which Cyril has
+copied, and others invented in the fifth century by
+some historian. When they shall have proved this
+conjecture, we will examine their reasons.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, let us come to the testimony of Pope Leo
+touching these Manichæan abominations. He says,
+in his sermons, that the sudden troubles in other
+countries had brought into Italy some Manichæans,
+whose mysteries were so abominable that he could
+not expose them to the public view without sacrificing
+modesty. That, in order to ascertain them,
+he had introduced male and female elect into an
+assembly composed of bishops, priests, and some
+lay noblemen. That these heretics had disclosed
+many things respecting their dogmas and the ceremonies
+of their feast, and had confessed a crime
+which could not be named, but in regard to which
+there could be no doubt, after the confession of the
+guilty parties&mdash;that is to say, of a young girl of only
+ten years of age; of two women who had prepared
+her for the horrible ceremony of the sect; of a young
+man who had been an accomplice; of the bishop
+who had ordered and presided over it. He refers
+those among his auditors who desire to know more,
+to the informations which had been taken, and
+which he communicated to the bishops of Italy, in
+his second letter.</p>
+
+<p>This testimony appears more precise and more
+decisive than that of St. Augustine; but it is anything
+but conclusive in regard to a fact belied by the
+protestations of the accused, and by the ascertained
+principles of their morality. In effect, what proofs
+have we that the infamous persons interrogated by
+Leo were not bribed to depose against their sect?</p>
+
+<p>It will be replied that the piety and sincerity
+of this pope will not permit us to believe that he
+has contrived such a fraud. But if&mdash;as we have
+said in the article on "Relics"&mdash;the same St. Leo was
+capable of supposing that pieces of linen and ribbons,
+which were put in a box, and made to descend
+into the tombs of some saints, shed blood when
+they were cut&mdash;ought this pope to make any scruple
+in bribing, or causing to be bribed, some abandoned
+women, and I know not what Manichæan bishop,
+who, being assured of pardon, would make confessions
+of crimes which might be true as regarded
+themselves, but not as regarded their sect, from
+whose seduction St. Leo wished to protect his people?
+At all times, bishops have considered themselves
+authorized to employ those pious frauds
+which tend to the salvation of souls. The conjectural
+and apocryphal scriptures are a proof of this;
+and the readiness with which the fathers have put
+faith in those bad works, shows that, if they were
+not accomplices in the fraud, they were not scrupulous
+in taking advantage of it.</p>
+
+<p>In conclusion, St. Leo pretends to confirm the
+secret crimes of the Manichæans by an argument
+which destroys them. "These execrable mysteries,"
+he says, "which the more impure they are, the more
+carefully they are hid, are common to the Manichæans
+and to the Priscillianists. There is in all
+respects the same sacrilege, the same obscenity, the
+same turpitude. These crimes, these infamies, are
+the same which were formerly discovered among
+the Priscillianists, and of which the whole world is
+informed."</p>
+
+<p>The Priscillianists were never guilty of the
+crimes for which they were put to death. In the
+works of St. Augustine is contained the instructional
+remarks which were transmitted to that
+father by Orosius, and in which this Spanish priest
+protests that he has plucked out all the plants of
+perdition which sprang up in the sect of the Priscillianists;
+that he had not forgotten the smallest
+branch or root; that he exposed to the surgeon all
+the diseases of the sect, in order that he might labor
+in their cure. Orosius does not say a word of the
+abominable mysteries of which Leo speaks; an unanswerable
+proof that he had no doubt they were
+pure calumnies. St. Jerome also says that Priscillian
+was oppressed by faction, and by the intrigues
+of the bishops Ithacus and Idacus. Would a man
+be thus spoken of who was guilty of profaning religion
+by the most infamous ceremonies? Nevertheless,
+Orosius and St. Jerome could not be ignorant
+of crimes of which all the world had been
+informed.</p>
+
+<p>St. Martin of Tours, and St. Ambrosius, who
+were at Trier when Priscillian was sentenced,
+would have been equally informed of them. They,
+however, instantly solicited a pardon for him; and,
+not being able to obtain it, they refused to hold intercourse
+with his accusers and their faction. Sulpicius
+Severus relates the history of the misfortunes
+of Priscillian. Latronian, Euphrosyne, widow of
+the poet Delphidius, his daughter, and some other
+persons, were executed with him at Trier, by order
+of the tyrant Maximus, and at the instigation of
+Ithacus and Idacus, two wicked bishops, who, in
+reward for their injustice, died in excommunication,
+loaded with the hatred of God and man.</p>
+
+<p>The Priscillianists were accused, like the Manichæans,
+of obscene doctrines, of religious nakedness
+and immodesty. How were they convicted?
+Priscillian and his accomplices confessed, as is said,
+under the torture. Three degraded persons, Tertullus,
+Potamius, and John, confessed without
+awaiting the question. But the suit instituted
+against the Priscillianists would have been founded
+on other depositions, which had been made against
+them in Spain. Nevertheless, these latter informations
+were rejected by a great number of bishops
+and esteemed ecclesiastics; and the good old man
+Higimis, bishop of Cordova, who had been the denouncer
+of the Priscillianists, afterwards believed
+them so innocent of the crimes imputed to them
+that he received them into his communion, and
+found himself involved thereby in the persecution
+which they endured.</p>
+
+<p>These horrible calumnies, dictated by a blind
+zeal, would seem to justify the reflection which
+Ammianus Marcellinus reports of the emperor
+Julian. "The savage beasts," he said, "are not more
+formidable to men than the Christians are to each
+other, when they are divided by creed and opinion."</p>
+
+<p>It is still more deplorable when zeal is false and
+hypocritical, examples of which are not rare. It is
+told of a doctor of the Sorbonne, that in departing
+from a sitting of the faculty, Tournély, with whom
+he was strictly connected, said to him: "You see
+that for two hours I have maintained a certain
+opinion with warmth; well, I assure you, there is
+not one word of truth in all I have said!"</p>
+
+<p>The answer of a Jesuit is also known, who was
+employed for twenty years in the Canada missions,
+and who himself not believing in a God, as he confessed
+in the ear of a friend, had faced death twenty
+times for the sake of a religion which he preached to
+the savages. This friend representing to him the
+inconsistency of his zeal: "Ah!" replied the Jesuit
+missionary, "you have no idea of the pleasure a
+man enjoys in making himself heard by twenty
+thousand men, and in persuading them of what he
+does not himself believe."</p>
+
+<p>It is frightful to observe how many abuses and
+disorders arise from the profound ignorance in
+which Europe has been so long plunged. Those
+monarchs who are at last sensible of the importance
+of enlightenment, become the benefactors of mankind
+in favoring the progress of knowledge, which
+is the foundation of the tranquillity and happiness
+of nations, and the finest bulwark against the inroads
+of fanaticism.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="ZOROASTER" id="ZOROASTER"></a>ZOROASTER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>If it is Zoroaster who first announced to mankind
+that fine maxim: "In the doubt whether an
+action be good or bad, abstain from it," Zoroaster
+was the first of men after Confucius.</p>
+
+<p>If this beautiful lesson of morality is found only
+in the hundred gates of the "Sadder," let us bless
+the author of the "Sadder." There may be very
+ridiculous dogmas and rites united with an excellent
+morality.</p>
+
+<p>Who was this Zoroaster? The name has something
+of Greek in it, and it is said he was a
+Mede. The Parsees of the present day call him
+Zerdust, or Zerdast, or Zaradast, or Zarathrust. He
+is not reckoned to have been the first of the name.
+We are told of two other Zoroasters, the former of
+whom has an antiquity of nine thousand years&mdash;which
+is much for us, but may be very little for the
+world. We are acquainted with only the latest
+Zoroaster.</p>
+
+<p>The French travellers, Chardin and Tavernier,
+have given us some information respecting this
+great prophet, by means of the Guebers or Parsees,
+who are still scattered through India and Persia,
+and who are excessively ignorant. Dr. Hyde,
+Arabic professor of Oxford, has given us a hundred
+times more without leaving home. Living in
+the west of England, he must have conjectured the
+language which the Persians spoke in the time of
+Cyrus, and must have compared it with the modern
+language of the worshippers of fire. It is to him,
+moreover, that we owe those hundred gates of the
+"Sadder," which contain all the principal precepts
+of the pious fire-worshippers.</p>
+
+<p>For my own part, I confess I have found nothing
+in their ancient rites more curious than the two
+Persian verses of Sadi, as given by Hyde; signifying
+that, although a person may preserve the
+sacred fire for a hundred years, he is burned when
+he falls into it.</p>
+
+<p>The learned researches of Hyde kindled, a few
+years ago in the breast of a young Frenchman, the
+desire to learn for himself the dogmas of the
+Guebers. He traversed the Great Indies, in order
+to learn at Surat, among the poor modern Parsees,
+the language of the ancient Persians, and to read
+in that language the books of the so-much celebrated
+Zoroaster, supposing that he has in fact
+written any.</p>
+
+<p>The Pythagorases, the Platos, the Appolloniuses
+of Thyana, went in former times to seek in the
+East wisdom that was not there; but no one has
+run after this hidden divinity through so many sufferings
+and perils as this new French translator of
+the books attributed to Zoroaster. Neither disease
+nor war, nor obstacles renewed at every step, nor
+poverty itself, the first and greatest of obstacles,
+could repel his courage.</p>
+
+<p>It is glorious for Zoroaster that an Englishman
+wrote his life, at the end of so many centuries, and
+that afterwards a Frenchman wrote it in an entirely
+different manner. But it is still finer, that
+among the ancient biographers of the poet we have
+two principal Arabian authors, each of whom had
+previously written his history; and all these four
+histories contradict one another marvellously. This
+is not done by concert; and nothing is more conducive
+to the knowledge of the truth.</p>
+
+<p>The first Arabian historian, Abu-Mohammed
+Mustapha, allows that the father of Zoroaster was
+called Espintaman; but he also says that Espintaman
+was not his father, but his great-great-grandfather.
+In regard to his mother, there are not two
+opinions; she was named Dogdu, or Dodo, or
+Dodu&mdash;that is, a very fine turkey hen; she is very
+well portrayed in Doctor Hyde.</p>
+
+<p>Bundari, the second historian, relates that Zoroaster
+was a Jew, and that he had been valet to
+Jeremiah; that he told lies to his master; that, in
+order to punish him, Jeremiah gave him the leprosy;
+that the valet, to purify himself, went to preach a
+new religion in Persia, and caused the sun to be
+adored instead of the stars.</p>
+
+<p>Attend now to what the third historian relates,
+and what the Englishman, Hyde, has recorded somewhat
+at length: The prophet Zoroaster having
+come from Paradise to preach his religion to the
+king of Persia, Gustaph, the king said to the
+prophet: "Give me a sign." Upon this, the prophet
+caused a cedar to grow up before the gate of the
+palace, so large and so tall, that no cord could either
+go round it or reach its top. Upon the cedar he
+placed a fine cabinet, to which no man could ascend.
+Struck with this miracle, Gustaph believed in Zoroaster.</p>
+
+<p>Four magi, or four sages&mdash;it is the same thing&mdash;envious
+and wicked persons, borrowed from the
+royal porter the key of the prophet's chamber during
+his absence, and threw among his books the
+bones of dogs and cats, the nails and hair of dead
+bodies&mdash;such being, as is well known, the drugs
+with which magicians at all times have operated.
+Afterwards, they went and accused the prophet of
+being a sorcerer and a poisoner; and the king,
+causing the chamber to be opened by his porter,
+the instruments of witchcraft were found there&mdash;and
+behold the envoy from heaven condemned to
+be hanged!</p>
+
+<p>Just as they are going to hang Zoroaster, the
+king's finest horse falls ill; his four legs enter his
+body, so as to be no longer visible. Zoroaster hears
+of it; he promises to cure the horse, provided
+they will not hang him. The bargain being made,
+he causes one leg to issue out of the belly, and says:
+"Sire, I will not restore you the second leg unless
+you embrace my religion." "Let it be so," says the
+monarch. The prophet, after having made the
+second leg appear, wished the king's children to become
+Zoroastrians, and they became so. The other
+legs made proselytes of the whole court. The four
+envious sages were hanged in place of the prophet,
+and all Persia received the faith.</p>
+
+<p>The French traveller relates nearly the same
+miracles, supported and embellished, however, by
+many others. For instance, the infancy of Zoroaster
+could not fail to be miraculous; Zoroaster
+fell to laughing as soon as he was born, at least
+according to Pliny and Solinus. There were, in
+those days, as all the world knows, a great number
+of very powerful magicians; they were well aware
+that one day Zoroaster would be greater than themselves,
+and that he would triumph over their magic.
+The prince of magicians caused the infant to be
+brought to him, and tried to cut him in two; but
+his hand instantly withered. They threw him into
+the fire, which was turned for him into a bath of
+rose water. They wished to have him trampled on
+by the feet of wild bulls; but a still more powerful
+bull protected him. He was cast among the wolves;
+these wolves went incontinently and sought two
+ewes, who gave him suck all night. At last, he was
+restored to his mother Dogdu, or Dodo, or Dodu, a
+wife excellent above all wives, or a daughter above
+all daughters.</p>
+
+<p>Such, throughout the world, have been all the
+histories of ancient times. It proves what we have
+often remarked, that Fable is the elder sister of
+History. I could wish that, for our amusement
+and instruction, all these great prophets of antiquity,
+the Zoroasters, the Mercurys Trismegistus, the
+Abarises, and even the Numas, and others, should
+now return to the earth, and converse with Locke,
+Newton, Bacon, Shaftesbury, Pascal, Arnaud, Bayle&mdash;what
+do I say?&mdash;even with those philosophers of
+our day who are the least learned, provided they are
+not the less rational. I ask pardon of antiquity, but
+I think they would cut a sorry figure.</p>
+
+<p>Alas, poor charlatans! they could not sell their
+drugs on the Pont-neuf. In the meantime, however,
+their morality is still good, because morality
+is not a drug. How could it be that Zoroaster
+joined so many egregious fooleries to the fine precept
+of "abstaining when it is doubtful whether one
+is about to do right or wrong?" It is because men
+are always compounded of contradictions.</p>
+
+<p>It is added that Zoroaster, having established
+his religion, became a persecutor. Alas! there is
+not a sexton, or a sweeper of a church, who would
+not persecute, if he had the power.</p>
+
+<p>One cannot read two pages of the abominable
+trash attributed to Zoroaster, without pitying human
+nature. Nostradamus and the urine doctor are
+reasonable compared with this inspired personage;
+and yet he still is and will continue to be talked of.</p>
+
+<p>What appears singular is, that there existed, in
+the time of the Zoroaster with whom we are acquainted,
+and probably before, prescribed formulas
+of public and private prayer. We are indebted to
+the French traveller for a translation of them. There
+were such formulas in India; we know of none such
+in the Pentateuch.</p>
+
+<p>What is still stranger, the magi, as well as the
+Brahmins, admitted a paradise, a hell, a resurrection,
+and a devil. It is demonstrated that the law of
+the Jews knew nothing of all this; they were behindhand
+with everything&mdash;a truth of which we are
+convinced, however little the progress we have made
+in Oriental knowledge.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="DECLARATION_OF_THE_AMATEURS_INQUIRERS_AND_DOUBTERS" id="DECLARATION_OF_THE_AMATEURS_IN-QUIRERS_AND_DOUBTERS"></a>DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, IN-QUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS,</h3>
+
+<h3>WHO HAVE AMUSED THEMSELVES WITH PROPOSING
+TO THE LEARNED THE PRECEDING QUESTIONS IN
+THESE VOLUMES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>We declare to the learned that being, like themselves,
+prodigiously ignorant of the first principles
+of all things, and of the natural, typical, mystical,
+allegorical sense of many things, we acquiesce, in
+regard to them, in the infallible decision of the
+holy Inquisition of Rome, Milan, Florence, Madrid,
+Lisbon, and in the decrees of the Sorbonne, the perpetual
+council of the French.</p>
+
+<p>Our errors not proceeding from malice, but being
+the natural consequence of human weakness, we
+hope we shall be pardoned for them both in this
+world and the next.</p>
+
+<p>We entreat the small number of celestial spirits
+who are still shut up in the mortal bodies in France,
+and who thence enlighten the universe at thirty
+sous per sheet, to communicate their gifts to us for
+the next volume, which we calculate on publishing
+at the end of the Lent of 1772, or in the Advent of
+1773; and we will pay <i>forty</i> sous per sheet for
+their lucubrations.</p>
+
+<p>We entreat the few great men who still remain
+to us, such as the author of the "Ecclesiastical
+Gazette"; the Abbé Guyon; with the Abbé Caveirac,
+author of the "Apology for St. Bartholomew";
+0and he who took the name of Chiniac; and the
+agreeable Larcher; and the virtuous, wise, and
+learned Langleviel, called La Beaumelle; the profound
+and exact Nonnotte; and the moderate, the
+compassionate, the tender Patouillet&mdash;to assist us in
+our undertaking. We shall profit by their instructive
+criticisms, and we shall experience a real pleasure
+in rendering to all these gentlemen the justice
+which is their due.</p>
+
+<p>The next volume will contain very curious articles,
+which, under the favor of God, will be likely
+to give new piquancy to the wit which we shall
+endeavor to infuse into the thanks we return to all
+these gentlemen.</p>
+
+<p>Given at Mount Krapak, the 30th of the month
+of Janus, in the year of the world, according to</p>
+
+<pre><b>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scaliger...............................&nbsp; &nbsp;  5,022</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to Les Etrennes Mignonnes....&nbsp; &nbsp;  5,776</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to Riccioli..................&nbsp; &nbsp;  5,956</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to Eusebius..................&nbsp; &nbsp;  6,972</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Alphosine Tables......&nbsp; &nbsp;  8,707</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Egyptians.............&nbsp;  370,000</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Chaldæans.............&nbsp;  465,102</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Brahmins..............&nbsp;  780,000</span>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Philosophers..........&nbsp; &nbsp;  &mdash;&mdash;</span>
+</b></pre>
+
+<hr style="width: 95%;" />
+
+
+<p class="caption"><a name="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS" id="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS"></a>TABLE OF CONTENTS</p>
+<p class="small">
+<br />
+<a href="#LIST_OF_PLATES_VOL_X"><b>LIST OF PLATES&mdash;VOL. X</b></a><br />
+<br />
+<a href="#STYLE"><b>STYLE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#SUPERSTITION"><b>SUPERSTITION.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#SYMBOL_OR_CREDO"><b>SYMBOL, OR CREDO.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#SYSTEM"><b>SYSTEM.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TABOR_OR_THABOR"><b>TABOR, OR THABOR.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TALISMAN"><b>TALISMAN.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TARTUFFE_TARTUFERIE"><b>TARTUFFE&mdash;TARTUFERIE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TASTE"><b>TASTE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TAUROBOLIUM"><b>TAUROBOLIUM.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TAX_FEE"><b>TAX&mdash;FEE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TEARS"><b>TEARS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TERELAS"><b>TERELAS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TESTES"><b>TESTES.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THEISM"><b>THEISM.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THEIST"><b>THEIST.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THEOCRACY"><b>THEOCRACY.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THEODOSIUS"><b>THEODOSIUS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THEOLOGIAN"><b>THEOLOGIAN.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THUNDER"><b>THUNDER.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TOLERATION"><b>TOLERATION.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TOPHET"><b>TOPHET.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TORTURE"><b>TORTURE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TRANSUBSTANTIATION"><b>TRANSUBSTANTIATION.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TRINITY"><b>TRINITY.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TRUTH"><b>TRUTH.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TYRANNY"><b>TYRANNY.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#TYRANT"><b>TYRANT.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#UNIVERSITY"><b>UNIVERSITY.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#USAGES"><b>USAGES.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VAMPIRES"><b>VAMPIRES.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VELETRI"><b>VELETRI,</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VENALITY"><b>VENALITY.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VENICE"><b>VENICE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VERSE"><b>VERSE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VIANDS"><b>VIANDS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VIRTUE"><b>VIRTUE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VISION"><b>VISION.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VISION_OF_CONSTANTINE"><b>VISION OF CONSTANTINE.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VOWS"><b>VOWS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#VOYAGE_OF_ST_PETER_TO_ROME"><b>VOYAGE OF ST. PETER TO ROME.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WALLER"><b>WALLER.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WAR"><b>WAR.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WEAKNESS_ON_BOTH_SIDES"><b>WEAKNESS ON BOTH SIDES.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WHYS_THE"><b>WHYS (THE).</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WICKED"><b>WICKED.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WILL"><b>WILL.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WIT_SPIRIT_INTELLECT"><b>WIT, SPIRIT, INTELLECT.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#WOMEN"><b>WOMEN.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#XENOPHANES"><b>XENOPHANES.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#XENOPHON"><b>XENOPHON,</b></a><br />
+<a href="#YVETOT"><b>YVETOT.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#ZEAL"><b>ZEAL.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#ZOROASTER"><b>ZOROASTER.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#DECLARATION_OF_THE_AMATEURS_IN-QUIRERS_AND_DOUBTERS"><b>DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, IN-QUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS,</b></a><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10
+(of 10), by François-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10 (of
+10), by Francois-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 10 (of 10)
+       From "The Works of Voltaire - A Contemporary Version"
+
+Author: Francois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
+
+Commentator: John Morley
+             Tobias Smollett
+             H.G. Leigh
+
+Translator: William F. Fleming
+
+Release Date: March 29, 2011 [EBook #35630]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** 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 X
+
+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 XIV
+
+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. X
+
+VOLTAIRE'S REMAINS ON THE BASTILLE--_Frontispiece_
+
+THE DEATH OF SOCRATES
+
+THE VISION
+
+PIERRE CORNEILLE
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Throned Upon The Ruins Of The Bastille. "For one night,
+upon the ruins of the Bastille, rested the body of Voltaire, on fallen
+wall and broken aroh, above the dungeons where light had faded from the
+lives of men, and hope had died in breaking hearts. The conqueror,
+resting upon the conquered; throned upon the Bastille, the fallen
+fortress of night."--INGERSOLL.]
+
+
+
+
+VOLTAIRE
+
+A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY
+
+IN TEN VOLUMES
+
+VOL. X
+
+STYLE--ZOROASTER
+
+AND DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, INQUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS
+
+
+
+
+STYLE.
+
+
+It is very strange that since the French people became literary they
+have had no book written in a good style, until the year 1654, when the
+"Provincial Letters" appeared; and why had no one written history in a
+suitable tone, previous to that of the "Conspiracy of Venice" of the
+Abbe St. Real? How is it that Pellisson was the first who adopted the
+true Ciceronian style, in his memoir for the superintendent Fouquet?
+
+Nothing is more difficult and more rare than a style altogether suitable
+to the subject in hand.
+
+The style of the letters of Balzac would not be amiss for funeral
+orations; and we have some physical treatises in the style of the epic
+poem or the ode. It is proper that all things occupy their own places.
+
+Affect not strange terms of expression, or new words, in a treatise on
+religion, like the Abbe Houteville; neither declaim in a physical
+treatise. Avoid pleasantry in the mathematics, and flourish and
+extravagant figures in a pleading. If a poor intoxicated woman dies of
+an apoplexy, you say that she is in the regions of death; they bury her,
+and you exclaim that her mortal remains are confided to the earth. If
+the bell tolls at her burial, it is her funeral knell ascending to the
+skies. In all this you think you imitate Cicero, and you only copy
+Master Littlejohn....
+
+Without style, it is impossible that there can be a good work in any
+kind of eloquence or poetry. A profusion of words is the great vice of
+all our modern philosophers and anti-philosophers. The "_Systeme de la
+Nature_" is a great proof of this truth. It is very difficult to give
+just ideas of God and nature, and perhaps equally so to form a good
+style.
+
+As the kind of execution to be employed by every artist depends upon the
+subject of which he treats--as the line of Poussin is not that of
+Teniers, nor the architecture of a temple that of a common house, nor
+music of a serious opera that of a comic one--so has each kind of
+writing its proper style, both in prose and verse. It is obvious that
+the style of history is not that of a funeral oration, and that the
+despatch of an ambassador ought not to be written like a sermon; that
+comedy is not to borrow the boldness of the ode, the pathetic expression
+of the tragedy, nor the metaphors and similes of the epic.
+
+Every species has its different shades, which may, however, be reduced
+to two, the simple and the elevated. These two kinds, which embrace so
+many others, possess essential beauties in common, which beauties are
+accuracy of idea, adaptation, elegance, propriety of expression, and
+purity of language. Every piece of writing, whatever its nature, calls
+for these qualities; the difference consists in the employment of the
+corresponding tropes. Thus, a character in comedy will not utter sublime
+or philosophical ideas, a shepherd spout the notions of a conqueror, not
+a didactic epistle breathe forth passion; and none of these forms of
+composition ought to exhibit bold metaphor, pathetic exclamation, or
+vehement expression.
+
+Between the simple and the sublime there are many shades, and it is the
+art of adjusting them which contributes to the perfection of eloquence
+and poetry. It is by this art that Virgil frequently exalts the eclogue.
+This verse: _Ut vidi ut perii, ut me malus abstulit error!_ (Eclogue
+viii, v. 41)--I saw, I perished, yet indulged my pain! (Dryden)--would
+be as fine in the mouth of Dido as in that of a shepherd, because it is
+nature, true and elegant, and the sentiment belongs to any condition.
+But this:
+
+     _Castaneasque nuces me quas Amaryllis amabat._
+                                  --_Eclogue, ii, v. 52._.
+
+     And pluck the chestnuts from the neighboring grove,
+     Such as my Amaryllis used to love.
+                                        --DRYDEN.
+
+belongs not to an heroic personage, because the allusion is not such as
+would be made by a hero.
+
+These two instances are examples of the cases in which the mingling of
+styles may be defended. Tragedy may occasionally stoop; it even ought to
+do so. Simplicity, according to the precept of Horace, often relieves
+grandeur. _Et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri_ (_Ars Poet._,
+v. 95)--And oft the tragic language humbly flows (Francis).
+
+These two verses in Titus, so natural and so tender:
+
+     _Depuis cinq ans entiers chaque jour je la vois._
+     _Et crois toujours la voir pour la premiere fois._
+                             --BERENICE, acte ii, scene 1.
+
+     Each day, for five years, have I seen her face,
+     And each succeeding time appears the first.
+
+would not be at all out of place in serious comedy; but the following
+verse of Antiochus: _Dans l'orient desert quel devint mon ennui!_ (Id.,
+acte i, scene 4)--The lonely east, how wearisome to me!--would not suit
+a lover in comedy; the figure of the "lonely east" is too elevated for
+the simplicity of the buskin. We have already remarked, that an author
+who writes on physics, in allusion to a writer on physics, called
+Hercules, adds that he is not able to resist a philosopher so powerful.
+Another who has written a small book, which he imagines to be physical
+and moral, against the utility of inoculation, says that if the smallpox
+be diffused artificially, death will be defrauded.
+
+The above defect springs from a ridiculous affectation. There is another
+which is the result of negligence, which is that of mingling with the
+simple and noble style required by history, popular phrases and low
+expressions, which are inimical to good taste. We often read in Mezeray,
+and even in Daniel, who, having written so long after him, ought to be
+more correct, that "a general pursued at the heels of the enemy,
+followed his track, and utterly basted him"--_a plate couture_. We read
+nothing of this kind in Livy, Tacitus, Guicciardini, or Clarendon.
+
+Let us observe, that an author accustomed to this kind of style can
+seldom change it with his subject. In his operas, La Fontaine composed
+in the style of his fables; and Benserade, in his translation of Ovid's
+"Metamorphoses," exhibited the same kind of pleasantry which rendered
+his madrigals successful. Perfection consists in knowing how to adapt
+our style to the various subjects of which we treat; but who is
+altogether the master of his habits, and able to direct his genius at
+pleasure?
+
+
+VARIOUS STYLES DISTINGUISHED.
+
+_The Feeble._
+
+Weakness of the heart is not that of the mind, nor weakness of the soul
+that of the heart. A feeble soul is without resource in action, and
+abandons itself to those who govern it. The _heart_ which is weak or
+feeble is easily softened, changes its inclinations with facility,
+resists not the seduction or the ascendency required, and may subsist
+with a strong _mind_; for we may think strongly and act weakly. The weak
+mind receives impressions without resistance, embraces opinions without
+examination, is alarmed without cause, and tends naturally to
+superstition.
+
+A work may be feeble either in its matter or its style; by the
+thoughts, when too common, or when, being correct, they are not
+sufficiently profound; and by the style, when it is destitute of images,
+or turns of expression, and of figures which rouse attention. Compared
+with those of Bossuet, the funeral orations of Mascaron are weak, and
+his style is lifeless.
+
+Every speech is feeble when it is not relieved by ingenious turns, and
+by energetic expressions; but a pleader is weak, when, with all the aid
+of eloquence, and all the earnestness of action, he fails in
+ratiocination. No philosophical work is feeble, notwithstanding the
+deficiency of its style, if the reasoning be correct and profound. A
+tragedy is weak, although the style be otherwise, when the interest is
+not sustained. The best-written comedy is feeble if it fails in that
+which the Latins call the "_vis comica_," which is the defect pointed
+out by Caesar in Terence: "_Lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta foret
+vis comica!_"
+
+This is above all the sin of the weeping or sentimental comedy
+(_larmoyante_). Feeble verses are not those which sin against rules, but
+against genius; which in their mechanism are without variety, without
+choice expression, or felicitous inversions; and which retain in poetry
+the simplicity and homeliness of prose. The distinction cannot be better
+comprehended than by a reference to the similar passages of Racine and
+Campistron, his imitator.
+
+_Flowery Style._
+
+"Flowery," that which is in blossom; a tree in blossom, a rose-bush in
+blossom: people do not say, flowers which blossom. Of flowery bloom, the
+carnation seems a mixture of white and rose-color. We sometimes say a
+flowery mind, to signify a person possessing a lighter species of
+literature, and whose imagination is lively.
+
+A flowery discourse is more replete with agreeable than with strong
+thoughts, with images more sparkling than sublime, and terms more
+curious than forcible. This metaphor is correctly taken from flowers,
+which are showy without strength or stability.
+
+The flowery style is not unsuitable to public speeches or addresses
+which amount only to compliment. The lighter beauties are in their place
+when there is nothing more solid to say; but the flowery style should be
+banished from a pleading, a sermon, or a didactic work.
+
+While banishing the flowery style, we are not to reject the soft and
+lively images which enter naturally into the subject; a few flowers are
+even admissible; but the flowery style cannot be made suitable to a
+serious subject.
+
+This style belongs to productions of mere amusement; to idyls, eclogues,
+and descriptions of the seasons, or of gardens. It may gracefully occupy
+a portion of the most sublime ode, provided it be duly relieved by
+stanzas of more masculine beauty. It has little to do with comedy,
+which, as it ought to possess a resemblance to common life, requires
+more of the style of ordinary conversation. It is still less admissible
+in tragedy, which is the province of strong passions and momentous
+interests; and when occasionally employed in tragedy or comedy, it is in
+certain descriptions in which the heart takes no part, and which amuse
+the imagination without moving or occupying the soul.
+
+The flowery style detracts from the interest of tragedy, and weakens
+ridicule in comedy. It is in its place in the French opera, which rather
+flourishes on the passions than exhibits them. The flowery is not to be
+confounded with the easy style, which rejects this class of
+embellishment.
+
+_Coldness of Style._
+
+It is said that a piece of poetry, of eloquence, of music, and even of
+painting, is cold, when we look for an animated expression in it, which
+we find not. Other arts are not so susceptible of this defect; for
+instance, architecture, geometry, logic, metaphysics, all the principal
+merit of which is correctness, cannot properly be called warm or cold.
+The picture of the family of Darius, by Mignard, is very cold in
+comparison with that of Lebrun, because we do not discover in the
+personages of Mignard the same affliction which Lebrun has so animatedly
+expressed in the attitudes and countenances of the Persian princesses.
+Even a statue may be cold; we ought to perceive fear and horror in the
+features of an Andromeda, the effect of a writhing of the muscles; and
+anger mingled with courageous boldness in the attitude and on the brow
+of Hercules, who suspends and strangles Antaeus.
+
+In poetry and eloquence the great movements of the soul become cold,
+when they are expressed in common terms, and are unaided by imagination.
+It is this latter which makes love so animated in Racine, and so languid
+in his imitator, Campistron.
+
+The sentiments which escape from a soul which seeks concealment, on the
+contrary, require the most simple expression. Nothing is more animated
+than those verses in "The Cid": "Go; I hate thee not--thou knowest it; I
+cannot." This feeling would become cold, if conveyed in studied phrases.
+
+For this reason, nothing is so cold as the timid style. A hero in a poem
+says, that he has encountered a tempest, and that he has beheld his
+friend perish in the storm. He touches and affects, if he speaks with
+profound grief of his loss--that is, if he is more occupied with his
+friend than with all the rest; but he becomes cold, and ceases to affect
+us, if he amuses us with a description of the tempest; if he speaks of
+the source of "the fire which was boiling up the waters, and of the
+thunder which roars and which redoubles the furrows of the earth and of
+the waves." Coldness of style, therefore, often arises from a sterility
+of ideas; often from a deficiency in the power of governing them;
+frequently from a too common diction, and sometimes from one that is
+too far-fetched.
+
+The author who is cold only in consequence of being animated out of time
+and place, may correct this defect of a too fruitful imagination; but he
+who is cold from a deficiency of soul is incapable of self-correction.
+We may allay a fire which is too intense, but cannot acquire heat if we
+have none.
+
+_On Corruption of Style._
+
+A general complaint is made, that eloquence is corrupted, although we
+have models of almost all kinds. One of the greatest defects of the day,
+which contributes most to this defect, is the mixture of style. It
+appears to me, that we authors do not sufficiently imitate the painters,
+who never introduce the attitudes of Calot with the figures of Raphael.
+I perceive in histories, otherwise tolerably well written, and in good
+doctrinal works, the familiar style of conversation. Some one has
+formerly said, that we must write as we speak; the sense of which law
+is, that we should write naturally. We tolerate irregularity in a
+letter, freedom as to style, incorrectness, and bold pleasantries,
+because letters, written spontaneously, without particular object or
+act, are negligent conversations; but when we speak or treat of a
+subject formally, some attention is due to decorum; and to whom ought we
+to pay more respect than to the public?
+
+Is it allowable to write in a mathematical work, that "a geometrician
+who would pay his devotions, ought to ascend to heaven in a right line;
+that evanescent quantities turn up their noses at the earth for having
+too much elevated them; that a seed sown in the ground takes an
+opportunity to release and amuse itself; that if Saturn should perish,
+it would be his fifth and not his first satellite that would take his
+place, because kings always keep their heirs at a distance; that there
+is no void except in the purse of a ruined man; that when Hercules
+treats of physics, no one is able to resist a philosopher of his degree
+of power?" etc.
+
+Some very valuable works are infected with this fault. The source of a
+defect so common seems to me to be the accusation of pedantry, so long
+and so justly made against authors. "_In vitium ducit culpae fuga._" It
+is frequently said, that we ought to write in the style of good company;
+that the most serious authors are becoming agreeable: that is to say, in
+order to exhibit the manners of good company to their readers, they
+deliver themselves in the style of very bad company.
+
+Authors have sought to speak of science as Voiture spoke to Mademoiselle
+Paulet of gallantry, without dreaming that Voiture by no means exhibits
+a correct taste in the species of composition in which he was esteemed
+excellent; for he often takes the false for the refined, and the
+affected for the natural. Pleasantry is never good on serious points,
+because it always regards subjects in that point of view in which it is
+not the purpose to consider them. It almost always turns upon false
+relations and equivoque, whence jokers by profession usually possess
+minds as incorrect as they are superficial.
+
+It appears to me, that it is as improper to mingle styles in poetry as
+in prose. The macaroni style has for some time past injured poetry by
+this medley of mean and of elevated, of ancient and of modern
+expression. In certain moral pieces it is not musical to hear the
+whistle of Rabelais in the midst of sounds from the flute of Horace--a
+practice which we should leave to inferior minds, and attend to the
+lessons of good sense and of Boileau. The following is a singular
+instance of style, in a speech delivered at Versailles in 1745:
+
+_Speech Addressed to the King (Louis XV.) by M. le Camus, First
+President of the Court of Aids._
+
+"Sire--The conquests of your majesty are so rapid, that it will be
+necessary to consult the power of belief on the part of posterity, and
+to soften their surprise at so many miracles, for fear that heroes
+should hold themselves dispensed from imitation, and people in general
+from believing them.
+
+"But no, sire, it will be impossible for them to doubt it, when they
+shall read in history that your majesty has been at the head of your
+troops, recording them yourself in the field of Mars upon a drum. This
+is to engrave them eternally in the temple of Memory.
+
+"Ages the most distant will learn, that the English, that bold and
+audacious foe, that enemy so jealous of your glory, have been obliged to
+turn away from your victory; that their allies have been witnesses of
+their shame, and that all of them have hastened to the combat only to
+immortalize the glory of the conqueror.
+
+"We venture to say to your majesty, relying on the love that you bear to
+your people, that there is but one way of augmenting our happiness,
+which is to diminish your courage; as heaven would lavish its prodigies
+at too costly a rate, if they increased your dangers, or those of the
+young heroes who constitute our dearest hopes."
+
+
+
+
+SUPERSTITION.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+I have sometimes heard you say--We are no longer superstitious; the
+reformation of the sixteenth century has made us more prudent; the
+Protestants have taught us better manners.
+
+But what then is the blood of a St. Januarius, which you liquefy every
+year by bringing it near his head? Would it not be better to make ten
+thousand beggars earn their bread, by employing them in useful tasks,
+than to boil the blood of a saint for their amusement? Think rather how
+to make their pots boil.
+
+Why do you still, in Rome, bless the horses and mules at St. Mary's the
+Greater? What mean those bands of flagellators in Italy and Spain, who
+go about singing and giving themselves the lash in the presence of
+ladies? Do they think there is no road to heaven but by flogging?
+
+Are those pieces of the true cross, which would suffice to build a
+hundred-gun ship--are the many relics acknowledged to be false--are the
+many false miracles--so many monuments of an enlightened piety?
+
+France boasts of being less superstitious than the neighbors of St.
+James of Compostello, or those of Our Lady of Loretto. Yet how many
+sacristies are there where you still find pieces of the Virgin's gown,
+vials of her milk, and locks of her hair! And have you not still, in the
+church of Puy-en-Velay, her Son's foreskin preciously preserved?
+
+You all know the abominable farce that has been played, ever since the
+early part of the fourteenth century, in the chapel of St. Louis, in the
+Palais at Paris, every Maundy Thursday night. All the possessed in the
+kingdom then meet in this church. The convulsions of St. Medard fall far
+short of the horrible grimaces, the dreadful howlings, the violent
+contortions, made by these wretched people. A piece of the true cross is
+given them to kiss, encased in three feet of gold, and adorned with
+precious stones. Then the cries and contortions are redoubled. The devil
+is then appeased by giving the demoniacs a few sous; but the better to
+restrain them, fifty archers of the watch are placed in the church with
+fixed bayonets.
+
+The same execrable farce is played at St. Maur. I could cite twenty such
+instances. Blush, and correct yourselves.
+
+There are wise men who assert, that we should leave the people their
+superstitions, as we leave them their raree-shows, etc.; that the people
+have at all times been fond of prodigies, fortune-tellers, pilgrimages,
+and quack-doctors; that in the most remote antiquity they celebrated
+Bacchus delivered from the waves, wearing horns, making a fountain of
+wine issue from a rock by a stroke of his wand, passing the Red Sea on
+dry ground with all his people, stopping the sun and moon, etc.; that at
+Lacedaemon they kept the two eggs brought forth by Leda, hanging from the
+dome of a temple; that in some towns of Greece the priests showed the
+knife with which Iphigenia had been immolated, etc.
+
+There are other wise men who say--Not one of these superstitions has
+produced any good; many of them have done great harm: let them then be
+abolished.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+I beg of you, my dear reader, to cast your eye for a moment on the
+miracle which was lately worked in Lower Brittany, in the year of our
+Lord 1771. Nothing can be more authentic: this publication is clothed in
+all the legal forms. Read:--
+
+"_Surprising Account of the Visible and Miraculous Appearance of Our
+Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar; which was worked
+by the Almighty Power of God in the Parish Church of Paimpole, near
+Treguier, in Lower Brittany, on Twelfth-day._
+
+"On January 6, 1771, being Twelfth-day, during the chanting of the
+_Salve_, rays of light were seen to issue from the consecrated host, and
+instantly the Lord Jesus was beheld in natural figure, seeming more
+brilliant than the sun, and was seen for a whole half-hour, during which
+there appeared a rainbow over the top of the church. The footprints of
+Jesus remained on the tabernacle, where they are still to be seen; and
+many miracles are worked there every day. At four in the afternoon,
+Jesus having disappeared from over the tabernacle, the curate of the
+said parish approached the altar, and found there a letter which Jesus
+had left; he would have taken it up, but he found that he could not lift
+it. This curate, together with the vicar, went to give information of it
+to the bishop of Treguier, who ordered the forty-hour prayers to be said
+in all the churches of the town for eight days, during which time the
+people went in crowds to see this holy letter. At the expiration of the
+eight days, the bishop went thither in procession, attended by all the
+regular and secular clergy of the town, after three days' fasting on
+bread and water. The procession having entered the church, the bishop
+knelt down on the steps of the altar; and after asking of God the grace
+to be able to lift this letter, he ascended to the altar and took it up
+without difficulty; then, turning to the people, he read it over with a
+loud voice, and recommended to all who could read to peruse this letter
+on the first Friday of every month; and to those who could not read, to
+say five paternosters, and five ave-marias, in honor of the five wounds
+of Jesus Christ, in order to obtain the graces promised to such as shall
+read it devoutly, and the preservation of the fruits of the earth!
+Pregnant women are to say, for their happy delivery, nine paters and
+nine aves for the benefit of the souls in purgatory, in order that their
+children may have the happiness of receiving the holy sacrament of
+baptism.
+
+"All that is contained in this account has been approved by the bishop,
+by the lieutenant-general of the said town of Treguier, and by many
+persons of distinction who were present at this miracle."
+
+"_Copy of the Letter Found Upon the Altar, at the Time of the Miraculous
+Appearance of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the
+Altar, on Twelfth-day, 1771._
+
+"Everlasting life, everlasting punishments, or everlasting delights,
+none can forego; one part must be chosen--either to go to glory, or to
+depart into torment. The number of years that men pass on earth in all
+sorts of sensual pleasures and excessive debaucheries, of usurpation,
+luxury, murder, theft, slander, and impurity, no longer permitting it to
+be suffered that creatures created in My image and likeness, redeemed by
+the price of My blood on the tree of the cross, on which I suffered
+passion and death, should offend Me continually, by transgressing My
+commands and abandoning My divine law--I warn you all, that if you
+continue to live in sin, and I behold in you neither remorse, nor
+contrition, nor a true and sincere confession and satisfaction, I shall
+make you feel the weight of My divine arm. But for the prayers of My
+dear mother, I should already have destroyed the earth, for the sins
+which you commit one against another. I have given you six days to
+labor, and the seventh to rest, to sanctify My Holy Name, to hear the
+holy mass, and employ the remainder of the day in the service of God My
+Father. But, on the contrary, nothing is to be seen but blasphemy and
+drunkenness; and so disordered is the world that all in it is vanity and
+lies. Christians, instead of taking compassion on the poor whom they
+behold every day at their doors, prefer fondling dogs and other animals,
+and letting the poor die of hunger and thirst--abandoning themselves
+entirely to Satan by their avarice, gluttony, and other vices; instead
+of relieving the needy, they prefer sacrificing all to their pleasures
+and debauchery. Thus do they declare war against Me. And you, iniquitous
+fathers and mothers, suffer your children to swear and blaspheme
+against My holy name; instead of giving them a good education, you
+avariciously lay up for them wealth, which is dedicated to Satan. I tell
+you, by the mouth of God My Father and My dear mother, of all the
+cherubim and seraphim, and by St. Peter, the head of My church, that if
+you do not amend your ways, I will send you extraordinary diseases, by
+which all shall perish. You shall feel the just anger of God My Father;
+you shall be reduced to such a state that you shall not know one
+another. Open your eyes, and contemplate My cross, which I have left to
+be your weapon against the enemy of mankind, and your guide to eternal
+glory; look upon My head crowned with thorns, My feet and hands pierced
+with nails; I shed the last drop of My blood to redeem you, from pure
+fatherly love for ungrateful children. Do such works as may secure to
+you My mercy; do not swear by My Holy Name; pray to Me devoutly; fast
+often; and in particular give alms to the poor, who are members of My
+body--for of all good works this is the most pleasing to Me; neither
+despise the widow nor the orphan; make restitution of that which does
+not belong to you; fly all occasions of sin; carefully keep My
+commandments; and honor Mary My very dear mother.
+
+"Such of you who shall not profit by the warnings I give them, such as
+shall not believe My words, will, by their obstinacy, bring down My
+avenging arm upon their heads; they shall be overwhelmed by
+misfortunes, which shall be the forerunners of their final and unhappy
+end; after which they shall be cast into everlasting flames, where they
+shall suffer endless pains--the just punishment reserved for their
+crimes.
+
+"On the other hand, such of you as shall make a holy use of the warnings
+of God, given them in this letter, shall appease His wrath, and shall
+obtain from Him, after a sincere confession of their faults, the
+remission of their sins, how great soever they may be.
+
+     "With permission, Bourges, July 30, 1771.
+
+          "DE BEAUVOIR, Lieut.-Gen. of Police.
+
+"This letter must be carefully kept, in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ."
+
+N.B.--It must be observed that this piece of absurdity was printed at
+Bourges, without there having been, either at Treguier or at Paimpole,
+the smallest pretence that could afford occasion for such an imposture.
+However, we will suppose that in a future age some miracle-finder shall
+think fit to prove a point in divinity by the appearance of Jesus Christ
+on the altar at Paimpole, will he not think himself entitled to quote
+Christ's own letter, printed at Bourges "with permission"? Will he not
+prove, by facts, that in our time Jesus worked miracles everywhere? Here
+is a fine field opened for the Houtevilles and the Abadies.
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+_A Fresh Instance of the Most Horrible Superstition._
+
+The thirty conspirators who fell upon the king of Poland, in the night
+of November 3, of the present year, 1771, had communicated at the altar
+of the Holy Virgin, and had sworn by the Holy Virgin to butcher their
+king.
+
+It seems that some one of the conspirators was not entirely in a state
+of grace, when he received into his stomach the body of the Holy
+Virgin's own Son, together with His blood, under the appearance of
+bread; and that while he was taking the oath to kill his king, he had
+his god in his mouth for only two of the king's domestics. The guns and
+pistols fired at his majesty missed him; he received only a slight
+shot-wound in the face, and several sabre-wounds, which were not mortal.
+His life would have been at an end, but that humanity at length combated
+superstition in the breast of one of the assassins named Kosinski. What
+a moment was that when this wretched man said to the bleeding prince:
+"You are, however, my king!" "Yes," answered Stanislaus Augustus, "and
+your good king, who has never done you any harm." "True," said the
+other; "but I have taken an oath to kill you."
+
+They had sworn before the miraculous image of the virgin at Czentoshova.
+The following is the formula of this fine oath: "We ---- who, excited
+by a holy and religious zeal, have resolved to avenge the Deity,
+religion, and our country, outraged by Stanislaus Augustus, a despiser
+of laws both divine and human, a favorer of atheists and heretics, do
+promise and swear, before the sacred and miraculous image of the mother
+of God, to extirpate from the face of the earth him who dishonors her by
+trampling on religion.... So help us God!"
+
+Thus did the assassins of Sforza, of Medici, and so many other holy
+assassins, have masses said, or say them themselves, for the happy
+success of their undertaking.
+
+The letter from Warsaw which gives the particulars of this attempt,
+adds: "The religious who employ their pious ardor in causing blood to
+flow and ravaging their country, have succeeded in Poland, as elsewhere,
+in inculcating on the minds of their affiliated, that it is allowable to
+kill kings."
+
+Indeed, the assassins had been hidden in Warsaw for three days in the
+house of the reverend Dominican fathers; and when these accessory monks
+were asked why they had harbored thirty armed men without informing the
+government of it, they answered, that these men had come to perform
+their devotions, and to fulfil a vow.
+
+O ye times of Chatel, of Guinard, of Ricodovis, of Poltrot, of
+Ravaillac, of Damiens, of Malagrida, are you then returning? Holy
+Virgin, and Thou her holy Son, let not Your sacred names be abused for
+the commission of the crime which disgraced them!
+
+M. Jean Georges le Franc, bishop of Puy-en-Velay, says, in his immense
+pastoral letter to the inhabitants of Puy, pages 258-9, that it is the
+philosophers who are seditious. And whom does he accuse of sedition?
+Readers, you will be astonished; it is Locke, the wise Locke himself! He
+makes him an accomplice in the pernicious designs of the earl of
+Shaftesbury, one of the heroes of the philosophical party.
+
+Alas! M. Jean Georges, how many mistakes in a few words! First, you take
+the grandson for the grandfather. The earl of Shaftesbury, author of the
+"Characteristics" and the "Inquiry Into Virtue," that "hero of the
+philosophical party," who died in 1713, cultivated letters all his life
+in the most profound retirement. Secondly, his grandfather,
+Lord-Chancellor Shaftesbury, to whom you attribute misdeeds, is
+considered by many in England to have been a true patriot. Thirdly,
+Locke is revered as a wise man throughout Europe.
+
+I defy you to show me a single philosopher, from Zoroaster down to
+Locke, that has ever stirred up a sedition; that has ever been concerned
+in an attempt against the life of a king; that has ever disturbed
+society; and, unfortunately, I will find you a thousand votaries of
+superstition, from Ehud down to Kosinski, stained with the blood of
+kings and with that of nations. Superstition sets the whole world in
+flames; philosophy extinguishes them. Perhaps these poor philosophers
+are not devoted enough to the Holy Virgin; but they are so to God, to
+reason, and to humanity.
+
+Poles! if you are not philosophers, at least do not cut one another's
+throats. Frenchmen! be gay, and cease to quarrel. Spaniards! let the
+words "inquisition" and "holy brotherhood" be no longer uttered among
+you. Turks, who have enslaved Greece--monks, who have brutalized
+her--disappear ye from the face of the earth.
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+_Drawn from Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch._
+
+Nearly all that goes farther than the adoration of a supreme being, and
+the submission of the heart to his eternal orders, is superstition. The
+forgiveness of crimes, which is attached to certain ceremonies, is a
+very dangerous one.
+
+     _Et nigras mactant pecudes, et manibu', divis,_
+     _Inferias mittunt._
+                                  --LUCRETIUS, b. iii, 52-53.
+
+     _O faciles nimium, qui tristia crimina coedis,_
+       _Fluminea tolli posse putatis aqua!_
+                                  --OVID, _Fasti_ ii, 45-46.
+
+You think that God will forget your homicide, if you bathe in a river,
+if you immolate a black sheep, and a few words are pronounced over you.
+A second homicide then will be forgiven you at the same price, and so of
+a third; and a hundred murders will cost you only a hundred black sheep
+and a hundred ablutions. Ye miserable mortals, do better; but let there
+be no murders, and no offerings of black sheep.
+
+What an infamous idea, to imagine that a priest of Isis and Cybele, by
+playing cymbals and castanets, will reconcile you to the Divinity. And
+what then is this priest of Cybele, this vagrant eunuch, who lives on
+your weakness, and sets himself up as a mediator between heaven and you?
+What patent has he received from God? He receives money from you for
+muttering words; and you think that the Being of Beings ratifies the
+utterance of this charlatan!
+
+There are innocent superstitions; you dance on festival days, in honor
+of Diana or Pomona, or some one of the secular divinities of which your
+calendar is full; be it so. Dancing is very agreeable; it is useful to
+the body; it exhilarates the mind; it does no harm to any one; but do
+not imagine that Pomona and Vertumnus are much pleased at your having
+jumped in honor of them, and that they may punish you for having failed
+to jump. There are no Pomona and Vertumnus but the gardener's spade and
+hoe. Do not be so imbecile as to believe that your garden will be hailed
+upon, if you have missed dancing the _pyrrhic_ or the _cordax_.
+
+There is one superstition which is perhaps pardonable, and even
+encouraging to virtue--that of placing among the gods great men who have
+been benefactors to mankind. It were doubtless better to confine
+ourselves to regarding them simply as venerable men, and above all, to
+imitating them. Venerate, without worshipping, a Solon, a Thales, a
+Pythagoras; but do not adore a Hercules for having cleansed the stables
+of Augeas, and for having lain with fifty women in one night.
+
+Above all, beware of establishing a worship for vagabonds who have no
+merit but ignorance, enthusiasm, and filth; who have made idleness and
+beggary their duty and their glory. Do they who have been at best
+useless during their lives, merit an apotheosis after their deaths? Be
+it observed, that the most superstitious times have always been those of
+the most horrible crimes.
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+The superstitious man is to the knave, what the slave is to the tyrant;
+nay more--the superstitious man is governed by the fanatic, and becomes
+a fanatic himself. Superstition, born in Paganism, adopted by Judaism,
+infected the Church in the earliest ages. All the fathers of the Church,
+without exception, believed in the power of magic. The Church always
+condemned magic, but she always believed in it; she excommunicated
+sorcerers, not as madmen who were in delusion, but as men who really had
+intercourse with the devils.
+
+At this day, one half of Europe believes that the other half has long
+been and still is superstitious. The Protestants regard relics,
+indulgences, macerations, prayers for the dead, holy water, and almost
+all the rites of the Roman church, as mad superstitions. According to
+them, superstition consists in mistaking useless practices for necessary
+ones. Among the Roman Catholics there are some, more enlightened than
+their forefathers, who have renounced many of these usages formerly
+sacred; and they defend their adherence to those which they have
+retained, by saying they are indifferent, and what is indifferent cannot
+be an evil.
+
+It is difficult to mark the limits of superstition. A Frenchman
+travelling in Italy thinks almost everything superstitious; nor is he
+much mistaken. The archbishop of Canterbury asserts that the archbishop
+of Paris is superstitious; the Presbyterians cast the same reproach upon
+his grace of Canterbury, and are in their turn called superstitious by
+the Quakers, who in the eyes of the rest of Christians are the most
+superstitious of all.
+
+It is then nowhere agreed among Christian societies what superstition
+is. The sect which appears to be the least violently attacked by this
+mental disease, is that which has the fewest rites. But if, with but few
+ceremonies, it is strongly attached to an absurd belief, that absurd
+belief is of itself equivalent to all the superstitious practices
+observed from the time of Simon the Magician, down to that of the curate
+Gaufredi. It is therefore evident that what is the foundation of the
+religion of one sect, is by another sect regarded as superstitious.
+
+The Mussulmans accuse all Christian societies of it, and are accused of
+it by them. Who shall decide this great cause? Shall not reason? But
+each sect declares that reason is on its side. Force then will decide,
+until reason shall have penetrated into a sufficient number of heads to
+disarm force.
+
+For instance: there was a time in Christian Europe when a newly married
+pair were not permitted to enjoy the nuptial rights, until they had
+bought that privilege of the bishop and the curate. Whosoever, in his
+will, did not leave a part of his property to the Church, was
+excommunicated, and deprived of burial. This was called dying
+unconfessed--i.e., not confessing the Christian religion. And when a
+Christian died intestate, the Church relieved the deceased from this
+excommunication, by making a will for him, stipulating for and enforcing
+the payment of the pious legacy which the defunct should have made.
+
+Therefore it was, that Pope Gregory IX. and St. Louis ordained, after
+the Council of Nice, held in 1235, that every will to the making of
+which a priest had not been called, should be null; and the pope decreed
+that the testator and the notary should be excommunicated.
+
+The tax on sins was, if possible, still more scandalous. It was force
+which supported all these laws, to which the superstition of nations
+submitted; and it was only in the course of time that reason caused
+these shameful vexations to be abolished, while it left so many others
+in existence.
+
+How far does policy permit superstition to be undermined? This is a very
+knotty question; it is like asking how far a dropsical man may be
+punctured without his dying under the operation; this depends on the
+prudence of the physician.
+
+Can there exist a people free from all superstitious prejudices? This is
+asking, Can there exist a people of philosophers? It is said that there
+is no superstition in the magistracy of China. It is likely that the
+magistracy of some towns in Europe will also be free from it. These
+magistrates will then prevent the superstition of the people from being
+dangerous. Their example will not enlighten the mob; but the principal
+citizens will restrain it. Formerly, there was not perhaps a single
+religious tumult, not a single violence, in which the townspeople did
+not take part, because these townspeople were then part of the mob; but
+reason and time have changed them. Their ameliorated manners will
+improve those of the lowest and most ferocious of the populace; of
+which, in more countries than one, we have striking examples. In short,
+the fewer superstitions, the less fanaticism; and the less fanaticism,
+the fewer calamities.
+
+
+
+
+SYMBOL, OR CREDO.
+
+
+We resemble not the celebrated comedian, Mademoiselle Duclos, to whom
+somebody said: "I would lay a wager, mademoiselle, that you know not
+your credo!" "What!" said she, "not know my credo? I will repeat it to
+you. '_Pater noster qui._' ... Help me, I remember no more." For myself,
+I repeat my pater and credo every morning. I am not like Broussin, of
+whom Reminiac said, that although he could distinguish a sauce almost in
+his infancy, he could never be taught his creed or pater-noster:
+
+          _Broussin, des l'age le plus tendre,_
+          _Posseda la sauce Robert,_
+     _Sans que son precepteur lui put jamais apprende_
+          _Ni son credo, ni son pater._
+
+The term "symbol" comes from the word "_symbolein_," and the Latin
+church adopts this word because it has taken everything from the Greek
+church. Even slightly learned theologians know that the symbol, which we
+call apostolical, is not that of all the apostles.
+
+Symbol, among the Greeks, signified the words and signs by which those
+initiated into the mysteries of Ceres, Cybele, and Mythra, recognized
+one another; and Christians in time had their symbol. If it had existed
+in the time of the apostles, we think that St. Luke would have spoken of
+it.
+
+A history of the symbol is attributed to St. Augustine in his one
+hundred and fifteenth sermon; he is made to say, that Peter commenced
+the symbol by saying: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty." John
+added: "Maker of heaven and earth;" James proceeded: "I believe in Jesus
+Christ, His only Son, our Lord," and so on with the rest. This fable has
+been expunged from the last edition of Augustine; and I relate it to
+the reverend Benedictine fathers, in order to know whether this little
+curious article ought to be left out or not.
+
+The fact is, that no person heard anything of this "creed" for more than
+four hundred years. People also say that Paris was not made in a day,
+and people are often right in their proverbs. The apostles had our
+symbol in their hearts, but they put it not into writing. One was formed
+in the time of St. Irenaeus, which does not at all resemble that which we
+repeat. Our symbol, such as it is at present, is of the fifth century,
+which is posterior to that of Nice. The passage which says that Jesus
+descended into hell, and that which speaks of the communion of saints,
+are not found in any of the symbols which preceded ours; and, indeed,
+neither the gospels, nor the Acts of the Apostles, say that Jesus
+descended into hell; but it was an established opinion, from the third
+century, that Jesus descended into Hades, or Tartarus, words which we
+translate by that of hell. Hell, in this sense, is not the Hebrew word
+"_sheol_," which signifies "under ground," "the pit"; for which reason
+St. Athanasius has since taught us how our Saviour descended into hell.
+His humanity, says he, was not entirely in the tomb, nor entirely in
+hell. It was in the sepulchre, according to the body, and in hell,
+according to the soul.
+
+St. Thomas affirms that the saints who arose at the death of Jesus
+Christ, died again to rise afterwards with him, which is the most
+general sentiment. All these opinions are absolutely foreign to
+morality. We must be good men, whether the saints were raised once or
+twice. Our symbol has been formed, I confess, recently, but virtue is
+from all eternity.
+
+If it is permitted to quote moderns on so grave a matter, I will here
+repeat the creed of the Abbe de St. Pierre, as it was written with his
+own hand, in his book on the purity of religion, which has not been
+printed, but which I have copied faithfully:
+
+"I believe in one God alone, and I love Him. I believe that He
+enlightens all souls coming into the world; thus says St. John. By that,
+I understand all souls which seek Him in good faith. I believe in one
+God alone, because there can be but one soul of the Great All, a single
+vivifying being, a sole Creator.
+
+"I believe in God, the Father Almighty; because He is the common Father
+of nature, and of all men, who are equally His children. I believe that
+He who has caused all to be born equally, who arranges the springs of
+their life in the same manner, who has given them the same moral
+principles, as soon as they reflect, has made no difference between His
+children but that of crime and virtue.
+
+"I believe that the just and righteous Chinese is more precious to Him
+than the cavilling and arrogant European scholar. I believe that God,
+being our common Father, we are bound to regard all men as our brothers.
+I believe that the persecutor is abominable, and that he follows
+immediately after the poisoner and parricide. I believe that theological
+disputes are at once the most ridiculous farce, and the most dreadful
+scourge of the earth, immediately after war, pestilence, famine, and
+leprosy.
+
+"I believe that ecclesiastics should be paid and well paid, as servants
+of the public, moral teachers, keepers of registers of births and
+deaths; but there should be given to them neither the riches of
+farmers-general, nor the rank of princes, because both corrupt the soul;
+and nothing is more revolting than to see men so rich and so proud
+preach humility through their clerks, who have only a hundred crowns'
+wages.
+
+"I believe that all priests who serve a parish should be married, as in
+the Greek church; not only to have an honest woman to take care of their
+household, but to be better citizens, to give good subjects to the
+state, and to have plenty of well-bred children.
+
+"I believe that many monks should give up the monastic form of life, for
+the sake of the country and themselves. It is said that there are men
+whom Circe has changed into hogs, whom the wise Ulysses must restore to
+the human form."
+
+"Paradise to the beneficent!" We repeat this symbol of the Abbe St.
+Pierre historically, without approving of it. We regard it merely as a
+curious singularity, and we hold with the most respectful faith to the
+true symbol of the Church.
+
+
+
+
+SYSTEM.
+
+
+We understand by system a supposition; for if a system can be proved, it
+is no longer a system, but a truth. In the meantime, led by habit, we
+say the celestial system, although we understand by it the real position
+of the stars.
+
+I once thought that Pythagoras had learned the true celestial system
+from the Chaldaeans; but I think so no longer. In proportion as I grow
+older, I doubt of all things. Notwithstanding that Newton, Gregory, and
+Keil honor Pythagoras and the Chaldaeans with a knowledge of the system
+of Copernicus, and that latterly M. Monier is of their opinion, I have
+the impudence to think otherwise.
+
+One of my reasons is, that if the Chaldaeans had been so well informed,
+so fine and important a discovery would not have been lost, but would
+have been handed down from age to age, like the admirable discoveries of
+Archimedes.
+
+Another reason is that it was necessary to be more widely informed than
+the Chaldaeans, in order to be able to contradict the apparent testimony
+of the senses in regard to the celestial appearances; that it required
+not only the most refined experimental observation, but the most
+profound mathematical science; as also the indispensable aid of
+telescopes, without which it is impossible to discover the phases of
+Venus, which prove her course around the sun, or to discover the spots
+in the sun, which demonstrate his motion round his own almost immovable
+axis. Another reason, not less strong, is that of all those who have
+attributed this discovery to Pythagoras, no one can positively say how
+he treated it.
+
+Diogenes Laertius, who lived about nine hundred years after Pythagoras,
+teaches us, that according to this grand philosopher, the number one was
+the first principle, and that from two sprang all numbers; that body has
+four elements--fire, water, air, and earth; that light and darkness,
+cold and heat, wet and dry, are equally distributed; that we must not
+eat beans; that the soul is divided into three parts; that Pythagoras
+had formerly been Atalides, then Euphorbus, afterwards Hermotimus; and,
+finally, that this great man studied magic very profoundly. Diogenes
+says not a word concerning the true system of the world, attributed to
+this Pythagoras; and it must be confessed that it is by no means to an
+aversion to beans that we owe the calculations which at present
+demonstrate the motion of the earth and planets generally.
+
+The famous Arian Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, in his "Evangelical
+Preparation," expresses himself thus: "All the philosophers declare that
+the earth is in a state of repose; but Philolaus, the peripatetic,
+thinks that it moves round fire in an oblique circle, like the sun and
+the moon." This gibberish has nothing in common with the sublime truths
+taught by Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and above all by Newton.
+
+As to the pretended Aristarchus of Samos, who, it is asserted, developed
+the discoveries of the Chaldaeans in regard to the motion of the earth
+and other planets, he is so obscure, that Wallace has been obliged to
+play the commentator from one end of him to the other, in order to
+render him intelligible.
+
+Finally, it is very much to be doubted whether the book, attributed to
+this Aristarchus of Samos, really belongs to him. It has been strongly
+suspected that the enemies of the new philosophy have constructed this
+forgery in favor of their bad cause. It is not only in respect to old
+charters that similar forgeries are resorted to. This Aristarchus of
+Samos is also the more to be suspected, as Plutarch accuses him of
+bigotry and malevolent hypocrisy, in consequence of being imbued with a
+direct contrary opinion. The following are the words of Plutarch, in his
+piece of absurdity entitled "The Round Aspect of the Moon." Aristarchus
+the Samian said, "that the Greeks ought to punish Cleanthes of Samos,
+who suggested that the heavens were immovable, and that it is the earth
+which travels through the zodiac by turning on its axis."
+
+They will tell me that even this passage proves that the system of
+Copernicus was already in the head of Cleanthes and others--of what
+import is it whether Aristarchus the Samian was of the opinion of
+Cleanthes, or his accuser, as the Jesuit Skeiner was subsequently
+Galileo's?--it equally follows that the true system of the present day
+was known to the ancients.
+
+I reply, no; but that a very slight part of this system was vaguely
+surmised by heads better organized than the rest. I further answer that
+it was never received or taught in the schools, and that it never formed
+a body of doctrine. Attentively peruse this "Face of the Moon" of
+Plutarch, and you will find, if you look for it, the doctrine of
+gravitation; but the true author of a system is he who demonstrates it.
+
+We will not take away from Copernicus the honor of this discovery. Three
+or four words brought to light in an old author, which exhibit some
+distant glimpse of his system, ought not to deprive him of the glory of
+the discovery.
+
+Let us admire the great rule of Kepler, that the revolutions of the
+planets round the sun are in proportion to the cubes of their distances.
+Let us still more admire the profundity, the justness, and the invention
+of the great Newton, who alone discovered the fundamental reasons of
+these laws unknown to all antiquity, which have opened the eyes of
+mankind to a new heaven.
+
+Petty compilers are always to be found who dare to become the enemies of
+their age. They string together passages from Plutarch and Athenaeus, to
+prove that we have no obligations to Newton, to Halley, and to Bradley.
+They trumpet forth the glory of the ancients, whom they pretend have
+said everything; and they are so imbecile as to think that they divide
+the glory by publishing it. They twist an expression of Hippocrates, in
+order to persuade us that the Greeks were acquainted with the
+circulation of the blood better than Harvey. Why not also assert that
+the Greeks were possessed of better muskets and field-pieces; that they
+threw bomb-shells farther, had better printed books, and much finer
+engravings? That they excelled in oil-paintings, possessed
+looking-glasses of crystal, telescopes, microscopes, and thermometers?
+All this may be found out by men, who assure us that Solomon, who
+possessed not a single seaport, sent fleets to America, and so forth.
+
+One of the greatest detractors of modern times is a person named Dutens,
+who finished by compiling a libel, as infamous as insipid, against the
+philosophers of the present day. This libel is entitled the "Tocsin";
+but he had better have called it his clock, as no one came to his aid;
+and he has only tended to increase the number of the Zoilusses, who,
+being unable to produce anything themselves, spit their venom upon all
+who by their productions do honor to their country and benefit mankind.
+
+
+
+
+TABOR, OR THABOR.
+
+
+A famous mountain in Judaea, often alluded to in general conversation. It
+is not true that this mountain is a league and a half high, as
+mentioned in certain dictionaries. There is no mountain in Judaea so
+elevated; Tabor is not more than six hundred feet high, but it appears
+loftier, in consequence of its situation on a vast plain.
+
+The Tabor of Bohemia is still more celebrated by the resistance which
+the imperial armies encountered from Ziska. It is from thence that they
+have given the name of Tabor to intrenchments formed with carriages. The
+Taborites, a sect very similar to the Hussites, also take their name
+from the latter mountain.
+
+
+
+
+TALISMAN.
+
+
+Talisman, an Arabian word, signifies properly "consecration." The same
+thing as "telesma," or "philactery," a preservative charm, figure, or
+character; a superstition which has prevailed at all times and among all
+people. It is usually a sort of medal, cast and stamped under the
+ascendency of certain constellations. The famous talisman of Catherine
+de Medici still exists.
+
+
+
+
+TARTUFFE--TARTUFERIE.
+
+
+Tartuffe, a name invented by Moliere, and now adopted in all the
+languages of Europe to signify hypocrites, who make use of the cloak of
+religion. "He is a Tartuffe; he is a true Tartuffe." _Tartuferie_, a new
+word formed from Tartuffe--the action of a hypocrite, the behavior of a
+hypocrite, the knavery of a false devotee; it is often used in the
+disputes concerning the Bull Unigenitus.
+
+
+
+
+TASTE.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+The taste, the sense by which we distinguish the flavor of our food, has
+produced, in all known languages, the metaphor expressed by the word
+"taste"--a feeling of beauty and defects in all the arts. It is a quick
+perception, like that of the tongue and the palate, and in the same
+manner anticipates consideration. Like the mere sense, it is sensitive
+and luxuriant in respect to the good, and rejects the bad spontaneously;
+in a similar way it is often uncertain, divided, and even ignorant
+whether it ought to be pleased; lastly, and to conclude the resemblance,
+it sometimes requires to be formed and corrected by habit and
+experience.
+
+To constitute taste, it is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty
+of a work. We must feel and be affected by it. Neither will it suffice
+to feel and be affected in a confused or ignorant manner; it is
+necessary to distinguish the different shades; nothing ought to escape
+the promptitude of its discernment; and this is another instance of the
+resemblance of taste, the sense, to intellectual taste; for an epicure
+will quickly feel and detect a mixture of two liquors, as the man of
+taste and connoisseur will, with a single glance, distinguish the
+mixture of two styles, or a defect by the side of a beauty. He will be
+enthusiastically moved with this verse in the Horatii:
+
+     _Que voulez-vous qu'il fit contre trois?--Qu'il mourut!_
+
+     What have him do 'gainst three?--Die!
+
+He feels involuntary disgust at the following:
+
+     _Ou qu'un beau desespoir alors le secourut._
+                                      --ACT iii, sc. 6.
+
+     Or, whether aided by a fine despair.
+
+As a physical bad taste consists in being pleased only with high
+seasoning and curious dishes, so a bad taste in the arts is pleased only
+with studied ornament, and feels not the pure beauty of nature.
+
+A depraved taste in food is gratified with that which disgusts other
+people: it is a species of disease. A depraved taste in the arts is to
+be pleased with subjects which disgust accomplished minds, and to prefer
+the burlesque to the noble, and the finical and the affected to the
+simple and natural: it is a mental disease. A taste for the arts is,
+however, much more a thing of formation than physical taste; for
+although in the latter we sometimes finish by liking those things to
+which we had in the first instance a repugnance, nature seldom renders
+it necessary for men in general to learn what is necessary to them in
+the way of food, whereas intellectual taste requires time to duly form
+it. A sensible young man may not, without science, distinguish at once
+the different parts of a grand choir of music; in a fine picture, his
+eyes at first sight may not perceive the gradation, the chiaroscuro
+perspective, agreement of colors, and correctness of design; but by
+little and little his ears will learn to hear and his eyes to see. He
+will be affected at the first representation of a fine tragedy, but he
+will not perceive the merit of the unities, nor the delicate management
+that allows no one to enter or depart without a sufficient reason,
+nor that still greater art which concentrates all the interest in a
+single one; nor, lastly, will he be aware of the difficulties overcome.
+It is only by habit and reflection, that he arrives spontaneously at
+that which he was not able to distinguish in the first instance. In a
+similar way, a national taste is gradually formed where it existed not
+before, because by degrees the spirit of the best artists is duly
+imbibed. We accustom ourselves to look at pictures with the eyes of
+Lebrun, Poussin, and Le Sueur. We listen to musical declamation from the
+scenes of Quinault with the ears of Lulli, and to the airs and
+accompaniments with those of Rameau. Finally, books are read in the
+spirit of the best authors.
+
+If an entire nation is led, during its early culture of the arts, to
+admire authors abounding in the defects and errors of the age, it is
+because these authors possess beauties which are admired by everybody,
+while at the same time readers are not sufficiently instructed to detect
+the imperfections. Thus, Lucilius was prized by the Romans, until Horace
+made them forget him; and Regnier was admired by the French, until the
+appearance of Boileau; and if old authors who stumble at every step
+have, notwithstanding, attained great reputation, it is because purer
+writers have not arisen to open the eyes of their national admirers, as
+Horace did those of the Romans, and Boileau those of the French.
+
+It is said that there is no disputation on taste, and the observation is
+correct in respect to physical taste, in which the repugnance felt to
+certain aliments, and the preference given to others, are not to be
+disputed, because there is no correction of a defect of the organs. It
+is not the same with the arts which possess actual beauties, which are
+discernible by a good taste, and unperceivable by a bad one; which last,
+however, may frequently be improved. There are also persons with a
+coldness of soul, as there are defective minds; and in respect to them,
+it is of little use to dispute concerning predilections, as they possess
+none.
+
+Taste is arbitrary in many things, as in raiment, decoration, and
+equipage, which, however, scarcely belong to the department of the fine
+arts, but are rather affairs of fancy. It is fancy rather than taste
+which produces so many new fashions.
+
+Taste may become vitiated in a nation, a misfortune which usually
+follows a period of perfection. Fearing to be called imitators, artists
+seek new and devious routes, and fly from the pure and beautiful nature
+of which their predecessors have made so much advantage. If there is
+merit in these labors, this merit veils their defects, and the public
+in love with novelty runs after them, and becomes disgusted, which makes
+way for still minor efforts to please, in which nature is still more
+abandoned. Taste loses itself amidst this succession of novelties, the
+last one of which rapidly effaces the other; the public loses its
+"whereabout," and regrets in vain the flight of the age of good taste,
+which will return no more, although a remnant of it is still preserved
+by certain correct spirits, at a distance from the crowd.
+
+There are vast countries in which taste has never existed: such are they
+in which society is still rude, where the sexes have little general
+intercourse, and where certain arts, like sculpture and the painting of
+animated beings, are forbidden by religion. Where there is little
+general intercourse, the mind is straitened, its edge is blunted, and
+nothing is possessed on which a taste can be formed. Where several of
+the fine arts are wanting, the remainder can seldom find sufficient
+support, as they go hand in hand, and rest one on the other. On this
+account, the Asiatics have never produced fine arts in any department,
+and taste is confined to certain nations of Europe.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Is there not a good and a bad taste? Without doubt; although men differ
+in opinions, manners, and customs. The best taste in every species of
+cultivation is to imitate nature with the highest fidelity, energy, and
+grace. But is not grace arbitrary? No, since it consists in giving
+animation and sweetness to the objects represented. Between two men, the
+one of whom is gross and the other refined, it will readily be allowed
+that one possesses more grace than the other.
+
+Before a polished period arose, Voiture, who in his rage for
+embroidering nothings, was occasionally refined and agreeable, wrote
+some verses to the great Conde upon his illness, which are still
+regarded as very tasteful, and among the best of this author.
+
+At the same time, L'Etoile, who passed for a genius--L'Etoile, one of
+the five authors who constructed tragedies for Cardinal Richelieu--made
+some verses, which are printed at the end of Malherbe and Racan. When
+compared with those of Voiture referred to, every reader will allow that
+the verses of Voiture are the production of a courtier of good taste,
+and those of L'Etoile the labor of a coarse and unintellectual
+pretender.
+
+It is a pity that we can gift Voiture with occasional taste only: his
+famous letter from the carp to the pike, which enjoyed so much
+reputation, is a too extended pleasantry, and in passages exhibiting
+very little nature. Is it not a mixture of refinement and coarseness, of
+the true and the false? Was it right to say to the great Conde, who was
+called "the pike" by a party among the courtiers, that at his name the
+whales of the North perspired profusely, and that the subjects of the
+emperor had expected to fry and to eat him with a grain of salt? Was it
+proper to write so many letters, only to show a little of the wit which
+consists in puns and conceits?
+
+Are we not disgusted when Voiture says to the great Conde, on the taking
+of Dunkirk: "I expect you to seize the moon with your teeth." Voiture
+apparently acquired this false taste from Marini, who came into France
+with Mary of Medici. Voiture and Costar frequently cite him as a model
+in their letters. They admire his description of the rose, daughter of
+April, virgin and queen, seated on a thorny throne, extending
+majestically a flowery sceptre, having for courtiers and ministers the
+amorous family of the zephyrs, and wearing a crown of gold and a robe of
+scarlet:
+
+     _Bella figlia d'Aprile,_
+     _Verginella e reina,_
+     _Sic lo spinoso trono_
+     _Del verde cespo assisa,_
+     _De' fior' lo scettro in maesta sostiene;_
+     _E corteggiata intorno_
+     _Da lascivia famiglia_
+     _Di Zefiri ministri,_
+     _Porta d'or' la corona et dostro il manto._
+
+Voiture, in his thirty-fifth letter to Costar, compliments the musical
+atom of Marini, the feathered voice, the living breath clothed in
+plumage, the winged song, the small spirit of harmony, hidden amidst
+diminutive lungs; all of which terms are employed to convey the word
+nightingale:
+
+     _Una voce pennuta, un suon' volante,_
+     _E vestito di penne, un vivo fiato,_
+     _Una piuma canora, un canto alato,_
+     _Un spiritel' che d'armonia composto_
+     _Vive in auguste vise ere nascosto._
+
+The bad taste of Balzac was of a different description; he composed
+familiar letters in a fustian style. He wrote to the Cardinal de la
+Valette, that neither in the deserts of Libya, nor in the abyss of the
+sea, there was so furious a monster as the sciatica; and that if
+tyrants, whose memory is odious to us, had instruments of cruelty in
+their possession equal to the sciatica, the martyrs would have endured
+them for their religion.
+
+These emphatic exaggerations--these long and stately periods, so opposed
+to the epistolary style--these fastidious declamations, garnished with
+Greek and Latin, concerning two middling sonnets, the merits of which
+divided the court and the town, and upon the miserable tragedy of "Herod
+the Infanticide,"--all indicate a time and a taste which were yet to be
+formed and corrected. Even "Cinna," and the "Provincial Letters," which
+astonished the nations, had not yet cleared away the rust.
+
+As an artist forms his taste by degrees, so does a nation. It stagnates
+for a long time in barbarism; then it elevates itself feebly, until at
+length a noon appears, after which we witness nothing but a long and
+melancholy twilight. It has long been agreed, that in spite of the
+solicitude of Francis I., to produce a taste in France for the fine
+arts, this taste was not formed until towards the age of Louis XIV.,
+and we already begin to complain of its degeneracy. The Greeks of the
+lower empire confess, that the taste which reigned in the days of
+Pericles was lost among them, and the modern Greeks admit the same
+thing. Quintilian allows that the taste of the Romans began to decline
+in his days.
+
+Lope de Vega made great complaints of the bad taste of the Spaniards.
+The Italians perceived, among the first, that everything had declined
+among them since their immortal sixteenth century, and that they have
+witnessed the decline of the arts, which they caused to spring up.
+
+Addison often attacks the bad taste of the English in more than one
+department--as well when he ridicules the carved wig of Sir Cloudesley
+Shovel, as when he testifies his contempt for a serious employment of
+conceit and pun, or the introduction of mountebanks in tragedy.
+
+If, therefore, the most gifted minds allow that taste has been wanting
+at certain periods in their country, their neighbors may certainly feel
+it, as lookers-on; and as it is evident among ourselves that one man has
+a good and another a bad taste, it is equally evident that of two
+contemporary nations, the one may be rude and gross, and the other
+refined and natural.
+
+The misfortune is, that when we speak this truth, we disgust the whole
+nation to which we allude, as we provoke an individual of bad taste when
+we seek to improve him. It is better to wait until time and example
+instruct a nation which sins against taste. It is in this way that the
+Spaniards are beginning to reform their drama, and the Germans to create
+one.
+
+_Of National Taste._
+
+There is beauty of all times and of all places, and there is likewise
+local beauty. Eloquence ought to be everywhere persuasive, grief
+affecting, anger impetuous, wisdom tranquil; but the details which may
+gratify a citizen of London, would have little effect on an inhabitant
+of Paris. The English drew some of their most happy metaphors and
+comparisons from the marine, while Parisians seldom see anything of
+ships. All which affects an Englishman in relation to liberty, his
+rights and his privileges, would make little impression on a Frenchman.
+
+The state of the climate will introduce into a cold and humid country a
+taste for architecture, furniture, and clothing, which may be very good,
+but not admissible at Rome or in Sicily. Theocritus and Virgil, in their
+eclogues, boast of the shades and of the cooling freshness of the
+fountains. Thomson, in his "Seasons," dwells upon contrary attractions.
+
+An enlightened nation with little sociability will not have the same
+points of ridicule as a nation equally intellectual, which gives in to
+the spirit of society even to indiscretion; and, in consequence, these
+two nations will differ materially in their comedy. Poetry will be very
+different in a country where women are secluded, and in another in
+which they enjoy liberty without bounds.
+
+But it will always be true that the pastoral painting of Virgil exceeds
+that of Thomson, and that there has been more taste on the banks of the
+Tiber than on those of the Thames; that the natural scenes of the Pastor
+Fido are incomparably superior to the shepherdizing of Racan; and that
+Racine and Moliere are inspired persons in comparison with the
+dramatists of other theatres.
+
+_On the Taste of Connoisseurs._
+
+In general, a refined and certain taste consists in a quick feeling of
+beauty amidst defects, and defects amidst beauties. The epicure is he
+who can discern the adulteration of wines, and feel the predominating
+flavor in his viands, of which his associates entertain only a confused
+and general perception.
+
+Are not those deceived who say, that it is a misfortune to possess too
+refined a taste, and to be too much of a connoisseur; that in
+consequence we become too much occupied by defects, and insensible to
+beauties, which are lost by this fastidiousness? Is it not, on the
+contrary, certain that men of taste alone enjoy true pleasure, who see,
+hear, and feel, that which escapes persons less sensitively organized,
+and less mentally disciplined?
+
+The connoisseur in music, in painting, in architecture, in poetry, in
+medals, etc., experiences sensations of which the vulgar have no
+comprehension; the discovery even of a fault pleases him, and makes him
+feel the beauties with more animation. It is the advantage of a good
+sight over a bad one. The man of taste has other eyes, other ears, and
+another tact from the uncultivated man; he is displeased with the poor
+draperies of Raphael, but he admires the noble purity of his conception.
+He takes a pleasure in discovering that the children of Laocoon bear no
+proportion to the height of their father, but the whole group makes him
+tremble, while other spectators are unmoved.
+
+The celebrated sculptor, man of letters and of genius, who placed the
+colossal statue of Peter the Great at St. Petersburg, criticises with
+reason the attitude of the Moses of Michelangelo, and his small, tight
+vest, which is not even an Oriental costume; but, at the same time, he
+contemplates the air and expression of the head with ecstasy.
+
+_Rarity of Men of Taste._
+
+It is afflicting to reflect on the prodigious number of men--above all,
+in cold and damp climates--who possess not the least spark of taste, who
+care not for the fine arts, who never read, and of whom a large portion
+read only a journal once a month, in order to be put in possession of
+current matter, and to furnish themselves with the ability of saying
+things at random, on subjects in regard to which they have only confused
+ideas.
+
+Enter into a small provincial town: how rarely will you find more than
+one or two good libraries, and those private. Even in the capital of the
+provinces which possess academies, taste is very rare.
+
+It is necessary to select the capital of a great kingdom to form the
+abode of taste, and yet even there it is very partially divided among a
+small number, the populace being wholly excluded. It is unknown to the
+families of traders, and those who are occupied in making fortunes, who
+are either engrossed with domestic details, or divided between
+unintellectual idleness and a game at cards. Every place which contains
+the courts of law, the offices of revenue, government, and commerce, is
+closed against the fine arts. It is the reproach of the human mind that
+a taste for the common and ordinary introduces only opulent idleness. I
+knew a commissioner in one of the offices at Versailles, who exclaimed:
+"I am very unhappy; I have not time to acquire a taste."
+
+In a town like Paris, peopled with more than six hundred thousand
+persons, I do not think there are three thousand who cultivate a taste
+for the fine arts. When a dramatic masterpiece is represented, a
+circumstance so very rare, people exclaim: "All Paris is enchanted," but
+only three thousand copies, more or less, are printed.
+
+Taste, then, like philosophy, belongs only to a small number of
+privileged souls. It was, therefore, great happiness for France to
+possess, in Louis XIV., a king born with taste.
+
+     _Pauci, quos aequus amavit_
+     _Jupiter, aut ardens, evexit ad aethera virtus_
+     _Dis geniti, potuere._
+                              --AENEID, b. vi, v. 129 and s.
+
+     To few great Jupiter imparts his grace,
+     And those of shining worth and heavenly race.
+                                        --DRYDEN.
+
+Ovid has said in vain, that God has created us to look up to heaven:
+"_Erectos ad sidera tollere vultus_." Men are always crouching on the
+ground. Why has a misshapen statue, or a bad picture, where the figures
+are disproportionate, never passed for a masterpiece? Why has an
+ill-built house never been regarded as a fine monument of architecture?
+Why in music will not sharp and discordant sounds please the ears of any
+one? And yet, very bad and barbarous tragedies, written in a style
+perfectly Allobrogian, have succeeded, even after the sublime scenes of
+Corneille, the affecting ones of Racine, and the fine pieces written
+since the latter poet. It is only at the theatre that we sometimes see
+detestable compositions succeed both in tragedy and comedy.
+
+What is the reason of it? It is, that a species of delusion prevails at
+the theatre; it is, that the success depends upon two or three actors,
+and sometimes even upon a single one; and, above all, that a cabal is
+formed in favor of such pieces, whilst men of taste never form any. This
+cabal often lasts for an entire generation, and it is so much the more
+active, as its object is less to elevate the bad author than to depress
+the good one. A century possibly is necessary to adjust the real value
+of things in the drama.
+
+There are three kinds of taste, which in the long run prevail in the
+empire of the arts. Poussin was obliged to quit France and leave the
+field to an inferior painter; Le Moine killed himself in despair; and
+Vanloo was near quitting the kingdom, to exercise his talents elsewhere.
+Connoisseurs alone have put all of them in possession of the rank
+belonging to them. We often witness all kinds of bad works meet with
+prodigious success. The solecisms, barbarisms, false statement, and
+extravagant bombast, are not felt for awhile, because the cabal and the
+senseless enthusiasm of the vulgar produce an intoxication which
+discriminates in nothing. The connoisseurs alone bring back the public
+in due time; and it is the only difference which exists between the most
+enlightened and the most cultivated of nations for the vulgar of Paris
+are in no respect beyond; the vulgar of other countries; but in Paris
+there is a sufficient number of correct opinions to lead the crowd. This
+crowd is rapidly excited in popular movements, but many years are
+necessary to establish in it a general good taste in the arts.
+
+
+
+
+TAUROBOLIUM.
+
+
+Taurobolium, a sacrifice of expiation, very common in the third and
+fourth centuries. The throat of a bull was cut on a great stone slightly
+hollowed and perforated in various places. Underneath this stone was a
+trench, in which the person whose offence called for expiation received
+upon his body and his face the blood of the immolated animal. Julian the
+Philosopher condescended to submit to this expiation, to reconcile
+himself to the priests of the Gentiles.
+
+
+
+
+TAX--FEE.
+
+
+Pope Pius II., in an epistle to John Peregal, acknowledges that the
+Roman court gives nothing without money; it sells even the imposition of
+hands and the gifts of the Holy Ghost; nor does it grant the remission
+of sins to any but the rich.
+
+Before him, St. Antonine, archbishop of Florence, had observed that in
+the time of Boniface IX., who died in 1404, the Roman court was so
+infamously stained with simony, that benefices were conferred, not so
+much on merit, as on those who brought a deal of money. He adds, that
+this pope filled the world with plenary indulgences; so that the small
+churches, on their festival days, obtained them at a low price.
+
+That pontiff's secretary, Theodoric de Nieur, does indeed inform us,
+that Boniface sent questors into different kingdoms, to sell indulgences
+to such as should offer them as much money as it would have cost them to
+make a journey to Rome to fetch them; so that they remitted all sins,
+even without penance, to such as confessed, and granted them, for
+money, dispensations for irregularities of every sort; saying, that they
+had in that respect all the power which Christ had granted to Peter, of
+binding and unbinding on earth.
+
+And, what is still more singular, the price of every crime is fixed in a
+Latin work, printed at Rome by order of Leo X., and published on
+November 18, 1514, under the title of "Taxes of the Holy and Apostolic
+Chancery and Penitentiary."
+
+Among many other editions of this book, published in different
+countries, the Paris edition--quarto 1520, Toussaint Denis, Rue St.
+Jacques, at the wooden cross, near St. Yves, with the king's privilege,
+for three years--bears in the frontispiece the arms of France, and those
+of the house of Medici, to which Leo N. belonged. This must have
+deceived the author of the "Picture of the Popes" (_Tableau de Papes_),
+who attributes the establishment of these taxes to Leo X., although
+Polydore Virgil, and Cardinal d'Ossat agree in fixing the period of the
+invention of the chancery tax about the year 1320, and the commencement
+of the penitentiary tax about sixteen years later, in the time of
+Benedict XII.
+
+To give some idea of these taxes, we will here copy a few articles from
+the chapter of absolutions: Absolution for one who has carnally known
+his mother, his sister, etc., costs five drachmas. Absolution for one
+who has deflowered a virgin, six drachmas. Absolution for one who has
+revealed another's confession, seven drachmas. Absolution for one who
+has killed his father, his mother, etc., five drachmas. And so of other
+sins, as we shall shortly see; but, at the end of the book, the prices
+are estimated in ducats.
+
+A sort of letters too are here spoken of, called confessional, by which,
+at the approach of death, the pope permits a confessor to be chosen, who
+gives full pardon for every sin; these letters are granted only to
+princes, and not to them without great difficulty. These particulars
+will be found in page 32 of the Paris edition.
+
+The court of Rome was at length ashamed of this book, and suppressed it
+as far as it was able. It was even inserted in the expurgatory index of
+the Council of Trent, on the false supposition that heretics had
+corrupted it.
+
+It is true that Antoine Du Pinet, a French gentleman of Franche-Comte,
+had an abstract of it printed at Lyons in 1564, under this title:
+"Casual Perquisites of the Pope's Shop" (_Taxes des Parties Casuelles de
+la Boutique du Pape_), "taken from the Decrees, Councils, and Canons,
+ancient and modern, in order to verify the discipline formerly observed
+in the Church; by A.D.P." But, although, he does not inform us that his
+work is but an abridgment of the other, yet, far from corrupting his
+original, he on the contrary strikes out of it some odious passages,
+such as the following, beginning page 23, line 9 from the bottom, in
+the Paris edition: "And carefully observe, that these kinds of graces
+and dispensations are not granted to the poor, because, not having
+wherewith, they cannot be consoled."
+
+It is also true, that Du Pinet estimates these taxes in tournois,
+ducats, and carlins; but, as he observes (page 42) that the carlins and
+the drachmas are of the same value, the substituting for the tax of
+five, six, or seven drachmas in the original, the like number of
+carlins, is not falsifying it. We have a proof of this in the four
+articles already quoted from the original.
+
+Absolution--says Du Pinet--for one who has a carnal knowledge of his
+mother, his sister, or any of his kindred by birth or affinity, or his
+godmother, is taxed at five carlins. Absolution for one who deflowers a
+young woman, is taxed at six carlins. Absolution for one who reveals the
+confession of a penitent, is taxed at seven carlins. Absolution for one
+who has killed his father, his mother, his brother, his sister, his
+wife, or any of his kindred--they being of the laity--is taxed at five
+carlins; for if the deceased was an ecclesiastic, the homicide would be
+obliged to visit the sanctuary. We will here repeat a few others.
+
+Absolution--continues Du Pinet--for any act of fornication whatsoever,
+committed by a clerk, whether with a nun in the cloister or out of the
+cloister, or with any of his kinswomen, or with his spiritual daughter,
+or with any other woman whatsoever, costs thirty-six tournois, three
+ducats. Absolution for a priest who keeps a concubine, twenty-one
+tournois, live ducats, six carlins. The absolution of a layman for all
+sorts of sins of the flesh, is given at the tribunal of conscience for
+six tournois, two ducats.
+
+The absolution of a layman for the crime of adultery, given at the
+tribunal of conscience, costs four tournois; and if the adultery is
+accompanied by incest, six tournois must be paid per head. If, besides
+these crimes, is required the absolution of the sin against nature, or
+of bestiality, there must be paid ninety tournois, twelve ducats, six
+carlins; but if only the absolution of the crime against nature, or of
+bestiality, is required, it will cost only thirty-six tournois, nine
+ducats.
+
+A woman who has taken a beverage to procure an abortion, or the father
+who has caused her to take it, shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight
+carlins; and if a stranger has given her the said beverage, he shall pay
+four tournois, one ducat, five carlins.
+
+A father, a mother, or any other relative, who has smothered a child,
+shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight carlins; and if it has been
+killed by the husband and wife together, they shall pay six tournois,
+two ducats.
+
+The tax granted by the datary for the contracting of marriage out of the
+permitted seasons, is twenty carlins; and in the permitted periods, if
+the contracting parties are the second or third degree of kindred, it
+is commonly twenty-five ducats, and four for expediting the bulls; and
+in the fourth degree, seven tournois, one ducat, six carlins.
+
+The dispensation of a layman from fasting on the days appointed by the
+Church, and the permission to eat cheese, are taxed at twenty carlins.
+The permission to eat meat and eggs on forbidden days is taxed at twelve
+carlins; and that to eat butter, cheese, etc., at six tournois for one
+person only; and at twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins for a
+whole family, or for several relatives.
+
+The absolution of an apostate and a vagabond, who wishes to return into
+the pale of the Church, costs twelve tournois, three ducats, six
+carlins. The absolution and reinstatement of one who is guilty of
+sacrilege, robbery, burning, rapine, perjury, and the like, is taxed at
+thirty-six tournois, nine ducats.
+
+Absolution for a servant who detains his deceased master's property, for
+the payment of his wages, and after receiving notice does not restore
+it, provided the property so detained does not exceed the amount of his
+wages, is taxed in the tribunal of conscience at only six tournois, two
+ducats. For changing the clauses of a will, the ordinary tax is twelve
+tournois, three ducats, six carlins. The permission to change one's
+proper name costs nine tournois, two ducats, nine carlins; and to change
+the surname and mode of signing, six tournois, two ducats. The
+permission to have a portable altar for one person only, is taxed at
+ten carlins: and to have a domestic chapel on account of the distance of
+the parish church, and furnish it with baptismal fonts and chaplains,
+thirty carlins.
+
+Lastly, the permission to convey merchandise, one or more times, to the
+countries of the infidels, and in general to traffic and sell
+merchandise without being obliged to obtain permission from the temporal
+lords of the respected places, even though they be kings or emperors,
+with all the very ample derogatory clauses, is taxed at only twenty-four
+tournois, six ducats.
+
+This permission, which supersedes that of the temporal lords, is a fresh
+evidence of the papal pretensions, which we have already spoken of in
+the article on "Bull." Besides, it is known that all rescripts, or
+expeditions for benefices, are still paid for at Rome according to the
+tax; and this charge always falls at last on the laity, by the
+impositions which the subordinate clergy exact from them. We shall here
+notice only the fees for marriages and burials.
+
+A decree of the Parliament of Paris, of May 19, 1409, provides that
+every one shall be at liberty to sleep with his wife as soon as he
+pleases after the celebration of the marriage, without waiting for leave
+from the bishop of Amiens, and without paying the fee required by that
+prelate for taking off his prohibitions to consummate the marriage
+during the first three nights of the nuptials. The monks of St. Stephen
+of Nevers were deprived of the same fee by another decree of September
+27, 1591. Some theologians have asserted, that it took its origin from
+the fourth Council of Carthage, which had ordained it for the reverence
+of the matrimonial benediction. But as that council did not order its
+prohibition to be evaded by paying, it is more likely that this tax was
+a consequence of the infamous custom which gave to certain lords the
+first nuptial night of the brides of their vassals. Buchanan thinks that
+this usage began in Scotland under King Evan.
+
+Be this as it may, the lords of Prellay and Persanny, in Piedmont,
+called this privilege "_carrajio_"; but having refused to commute it for
+a reasonable payment, the vassals revolted, and put themselves under
+Amadeus VI., fourteenth count of Savoy.
+
+There is still preserved a _proces-verbal_, drawn up by M. Jean Fraguier,
+auditor in the _Chambre des Comptes_, at Paris, by virtue of a decree of
+the said chamber of April 7, 1507, for valuing the county of Eu, fallen
+into the king's keeping by the minority of the children of the count of
+Nevers, and his wife Charlotte de Bourbon. In the chapter of the revenue
+of the barony of St. Martin-le-Gaillard, dependent on the county of Eu,
+it is said: "Item, the said lord, at the said place of St. Martin, has
+the right of 'cuissage' in case of marriage."
+
+The lords of Souloire had the like privilege, and having omitted it in
+the acknowledgment made by them to their sovereign, the lord of
+Montlevrier, the acknowledgment was disapproved; but by deed of Dec.
+15, 1607, the sieur de Montlevrier formally renounced it; and these
+shameful privileges have everywhere been converted into small payments,
+called "marchetta."
+
+Now, when our prelates had fiefs, they thought--as the judicious Fleury
+remarks--that they had as bishops what they possessed only as lords; and
+the curates, as their under-vassals, bethought themselves of blessing
+their nuptial bed, which brought them a small fee under the name of
+wedding-dishes--i.e., their dinner, in money or in kind. On one of these
+occasions the following quatrain was put by a country curate under the
+pillow of a very aged president, who married a young woman named La
+Montagne. He alludes to Moses' horns, which are spoken of in Exodus.
+
+     _Le President a barbe grise_
+     _Sur La Montagne va monter;_
+     _Mais certes il peut bien compter_
+     _D'en descendre comme Moise._
+
+A word or two on the fees exacted by the clergy for the burial of the
+laity. Formerly, at the decease of each individual, the bishops had the
+contents of his will made known to them; and forbade those to receive
+the rights of sepulchre who had died "unconfessed," i.e., left no legacy
+to the Church, unless the relatives went to the official, who
+commissioned a priest, or some other ecclesiastic, to repair the fault
+of the deceased, and make a legacy in his name. The curates also opposed
+the profession of such as wished to turn monks, until they had paid
+their burial-fees; saying that since they died to the world, it was but
+right that they should discharge what would have been due from them had
+they been interred.
+
+But the frequent disputes occasioned by these vexations obliged the
+magistrates to fix the rate of these singular fees. The following is
+extracted from a regulation on this subject, brought in by Francis de
+Harlai de Chamvallon, archbishop of Paris, on May 30, 1693, and passed
+in the court of parliament on the tenth of June following:
+
+                   _Marriages._
+                                             Liv. Sous.
+  For the publication of the bans..........    1   10
+
+  For the betrothing.......................    2    0
+
+  For celebrating the marriage.............    6    0
+
+  For the certificate of the publication of
+    the bans, and the permission given to
+    the future husband to go and be married
+    in the parish of his future wife.......    5    0
+
+  For the wedding mass.....................    1   10
+
+  For the vicar............................    1   10
+
+  For the clerk of the sacrament...........    1   10
+
+  For blessing the bed.....................    1   10
+
+
+              _Funeral Processions._
+
+    Of children under seven years old, when
+      the clergy do not go in a body:
+  For the curate...........................    1   10
+
+  For each priest..........................    1   10
+
+    When the clergy go in a body:
+  For the curial fee.......................    4    0
+
+  For the presence of the curate...........    2    0
+
+  For each priest..........................    0   10
+
+  For the vicar............................    1   10
+
+  For each singing-boy, when they carry
+    the body...............................    8    0
+
+  And when they do not carry it............    5    0
+    And so of young persons from seven to
+      twelve years old.
+
+    Of persons above twelve years old:
+  For the curial fee.......................    6    0
+
+  For the curate's attendance..............    4    0
+
+  For each vicar...........................    2    0
+
+  For the priest...........................    1    0
+
+  For each singing-boy.....................    0   10
+
+  Each of the priests that watch the body
+    in the night, for drink, etc...........    3    0
+
+  And in the day, each.....................    2    0
+
+  For the celebration of the mass..........    1    0
+
+  For the service extraordinary; called the
+    complete service; viz., the vigils and
+    the two masses of the Holy Ghost and
+    the Holy Virgin........................    4   10
+
+  For each of the priests that carry the
+    body...................................    1    0
+
+  For carrying the great cross.............    0   10
+
+  For the holy water-pot carrier...........    0    5
+
+  For carrying the little cross............    0    5
+
+  For the clerk of the processions.........    0    1
+
+    For conveying bodies from one church to
+      another there shall be paid, for each
+      of the above fees, one-half more.
+
+  For the reception of bodies thus conveyed:
+  To the curate............................    6   10
+
+  To the vicar.............................    1   10
+
+  To each priest...........................    0   15
+
+
+
+
+TEARS.
+
+
+Tears are the silent language of grief. But why? What relation is there
+between a melancholy idea and this limpid and briny liquid filtered
+through a little gland into the external corner of the eye which
+moistens the conjunctiva and little lachrymal points, whence it descends
+into the nose and mouth by the reservoir called the lachrymal duct, and
+by its conduits? Why in women and children, whose organs are of a
+delicate texture, are tears more easily excited by grief than in men,
+whose formation is firmer?
+
+Has nature intended to excite compassion in us at the sight of these
+tears, which soften us and lead us to help those who shed them? The
+female savage is as strongly determined to assist her child who cries,
+as a lady of the court would be, and perhaps more so, because she has
+fewer distractions and passions.
+
+Everything in the animal body has, no doubt, its object. The eyes,
+particularly, have mathematical relations so evident, so demonstrable,
+so admirable with the rays of light; this mechanism is so divine, that I
+should be tempted to take for the delirium of a high fever, the audacity
+of denying the final causes of the structure of our eyes. The use of
+tears appears not to have so determined and striking an object; but it
+is probable that nature caused them to flow in order to excite us to
+pity.
+
+There are women who are accused of weeping when they choose. I am not at
+all surprised at their talent. A lively, sensible, and tender
+imagination can fix upon some object, on some melancholy recollection,
+and represent it in such lively colors as to draw tears; which happens
+to several performers, and particularly to actresses on the stage.
+
+Women who imitate them in the interior of their houses, join to this
+talent the little fraud of appearing to weep for their husbands, while
+they really weep for their lovers. Their tears are true, but the object
+of them is false.
+
+It is impossible to affect tears without a subject, in the same manner
+as we can affect to laugh. We must be sensibly touched to force the
+lachrymal gland to compress itself, and to spread its liquor on the
+orbit of the eye; but the will alone is required to laugh.
+
+We demand why the same man, who has seen with a dry eye the most
+atrocious events, and even committed crimes with sang-froid, will weep
+at the theatre at the representation of similar events and crimes? It
+is, that he sees them not with the same eyes; he sees them with those of
+the author and the actor. He is no longer the same man; he was
+barbarous, he was agitated with furious passions, when he saw an
+innocent woman killed, when he stained himself with the blood of his
+friend; he became a man again at the representation of it. His soul was
+filled with a stormy tumult; it is now tranquil and void, and nature
+re-entering it, he sheds virtuous tears. Such is the true merit, the
+great good of theatrical representation, which can never be effected by
+the cold declamation of an orator paid to tire an audience for an hour.
+
+The capitoul David, who; without emotion, saw and caused the innocent
+Calas to die on the wheel, would have shed tears at seeing his own crime
+in a well-written and well-acted tragedy. Pope has elegantly said this
+in the prologue to Addison's Cato:
+
+     Tyrants no more their savage nature kept,
+     And foes to virtue wondered how they wept.
+
+
+
+
+TERELAS.
+
+
+Terelas, Pterelas, or Pterlaus, just which you please, was the son of
+Taphus, or Taphius. Which signifies what you say? Gently, I will tell
+you. This Terelas had a golden lock, to which was attached the destiny
+of the town of Taphia, and what is more, this lock rendered Terelas
+immortal, as he would not die while this lock remained upon his head;
+for this reason he never combed it, lest he should comb it off. An
+immortality, however, which depends upon a lock of hair, is not the most
+certain of all things.
+
+Amphitryon, general of the republic of Thebes, besieged Taphia, and the
+daughter of King Terelas became desperately in love with him on seeing
+him pass the ramparts. Thus excited, she stole to her father in the dead
+of night, cut off his golden lock, and sent it to the general, in
+consequence of which the town was taken, and Terelas killed. Some
+learned men assure us, that it was the wife of Terelas who played him
+this ill turn; and as they ground their opinions upon great authorities,
+it might be rendered the subject of a useful dissertation. I confess
+that I am somewhat inclined to be of the opinion of those learned
+persons, as it appears to me that a wife is usually less timorous than a
+daughter.
+
+The same thing happened to Nisus, king of Megara, which town was
+besieged by Minos. Scylla, the daughter of Nisus, became madly in love
+with him; and although in point of fact, her father did not possess a
+lock of gold, he had one of purple, and it is known that on this lock
+depended equally his life and the fate of the Megarian Empire. To oblige
+Minos, the dutiful Scylla cut it off, and presented it to her lover.
+
+"All the history of Minos is true," writes the profound Bannier; "and
+this is attested by all antiquity." I believe it precisely as I do that
+of Terelas, but I am embarrassed between the profound Calmet and the
+profound Huet. Calmet is of opinion, that the adventure of the lock of
+Nisus presented to Minos, and that of Terelas given to Amphitryon, are
+obviously taken from the genuine history of Samson. Huet the
+demonstrator, on the contrary shows, that Minos is evidently Moses, as
+cutting out the letters _n_ and _e_, one of these names is the anagram
+of the other.
+
+But, notwithstanding the demonstration of Huet, I am entirely on the
+side of the refined Dom Calmet, and for those who are of the opinion
+that all which relates to the locks of Terelas and of Nisus is connected
+with the hair of Samson. The most convincing of my triumphant reasons
+is, that without reference to the family of Terelas, with the
+metamorphoses of which I am unacquainted, it is certain that Scylla was
+changed into a lark, and her father Nisus into a sparrow-hawk. Now,
+Bochart being of opinion that a sparrow-hawk is called "neis" in
+Hebrew, I thence conclude, that the history of Terelas, Amphitryon,
+Nisus, and Minos is copied from the history of Samson.
+
+I am aware that a dreadful sect has arisen in our days, equally detested
+by God and man, who pretend that the Greek fables are more ancient than
+the Jewish history; that the Greeks never heard a word of Samson any
+more than of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, etc., which names are not cited by
+any Greek author. They assert, as we have modestly intimated--in the
+articles on "Bacchus" and "Jew"--that the Greeks could not possibly take
+anything from the Jews, but that the Jews might derive something from
+the Greeks.
+
+I answer with the doctor Hayet, the doctor Gauchat, the ex-Jesuit
+Patouillet, and the ex-Jesuit Paulian, that this is the most damnable
+heresy which ever issued from hell; that it was formerly anathematized
+in full parliament, on petition, and condemned in the report of the
+Sieur P.; and finally, that if indulgence be extended to those who
+support such frightful systems, there will be no more certainty in the
+world; but that Antichrist will quickly arrive, if he has not come
+already.
+
+
+
+
+TESTES.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+This word is scientific, and a little obscure, signifying small
+witnesses. Sixtus V., a Cordelier become pope, declared, by his letter
+of the 25th of June, 1587, to his nuncio in Spain, that he must unmarry
+all those who were not possessed of testicles. It seems by this order,
+which was executed by Philip II., that there were many husbands in Spain
+deprived of these two organs. But how could a man, who had been a
+Cordelier, be ignorant that the testicles of men are often hidden in the
+abdomen, and that they are equally if not more effective in that
+situation? We have beheld in France three brothers of the highest rank,
+one of whom possessed three, the other only one, while the third
+possessed no appearance of any, and yet was the most vigorous of the
+three.
+
+The angelic doctor, who was simply a Jacobin, decides that two testicles
+are "_de essentia matrimonii_" (of the essence of marriage); in which
+opinion he is followed by Ricardus, Scotus, Durandus, and Sylvius. If
+you are not able to obtain a sight of the pleadings of the advocate
+Sebastian Rouillard, in 1600, in favor of the testicles of his client,
+concealed in his abdomen, at least consult the dictionary of Bayle, at
+the article "Quellenec." You will there discover, that the wicked wife
+of the client of Sebastian Rouillard wished to render her marriage void,
+on the plea that her husband could not exhibit testicles. The defendant
+replied, that he had perfectly fulfilled his matrimonial duties, and
+offered the usual proof of a re-performance of them in full assembly.
+The jilt replied, that this trial was too offensive to her modesty, and
+was, moreover, superfluous, since the defendant was visibly deprived of
+testicles, and that messieurs of the assembly were fully aware that
+testicles are necessary to perfect consummation.
+
+I am unacquainted with the result of this process, but I suspect that
+her husband lost his cause. What induces me to think so is, that the
+same Parliament of Paris, on the 8th of January, 1665, issued a decree,
+asserting the necessity of two visible testicles, without which marriage
+was not to be contracted. Had there been any member in the assembly in
+the situation described, and reduced to the necessity of being a
+witness, he might have convinced the assembly that it decided without a
+due knowledge of circumstances. Pontas may be profitably consulted on
+testicles, as well as upon any other subject. He was a sub-penitentiary,
+who decided every sort of case, and who sometimes comes near to Sanchez.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+A word or two on hermaphrodites. A prejudice has for a long time crept
+into the Russian Church, that it is not lawful to say mass without
+testicles; or, at least, they must be hid in the officiator's pocket.
+This ancient idea was founded in the Council of Nice, who forbade the
+admission into orders of those who mutilated themselves. The example of
+Origen, and of certain enthusiasts, was the cause of this order, which
+was confirmed a second time in the Council of Aries.
+
+The Greek Church did not exclude from the altar those who had endured
+the operation of Origen against their own consent. The patriarchs of
+Constantinople, Nicetas, Ignatius, Photius, and Methodius, were eunuchs.
+At present this point of discipline seems undecided in the Catholic
+Church. The most general opinion, however, is, that in order to be
+ordained a priest, a eunuch will require a dispensation.
+
+The banishment of eunuchs from the service of the altar appears contrary
+to the purity and chastity which the service exacts; and certainly such
+of the priests as confess handsome women and girls would be exposed to
+less temptation. Opposing reasons of convenience and decorum have
+determined those who make these laws.
+
+In Leviticus, all corporeal defects are excluded from the service of the
+altar--the blind, the crooked, the maimed, the lame, the one-eyed, the
+leper, the scabby, long noses, and short noses. Eunuchs are not spoken
+of, as there were none among the Jews. Those who acted as eunuchs in the
+service of their kings, were foreigners.
+
+It has been demanded whether an animal, a man for example, can possess
+at once testicles and ovaries, or the glands which are taken for
+ovaries; in a word, the distinctive organs of both sexes? Can nature
+form veritable hermaphrodites, and can a hermaphrodite be rendered
+pregnant? I answer, that I know nothing about it, nor the
+ten-thousandth part of what is within the operation of nature. I
+believe, however, that Europe has never witnessed a genuine
+hermaphrodite, nor has it indeed produced elephants, zebras, giraffes,
+ostriches, and many more of the animals which inhabit Asia, Africa, and
+America. It is hazardous to assert, that because we never beheld a
+thing, it does not exist.
+
+Examine "Cheselden," page 34, and you will behold there a very good
+delineation of an animal man and woman--a negro and negress of Angola,
+which was brought to London in its infancy, and carefully examined by
+this celebrated surgeon, as much distinguished for his probity as his
+information. The plate is entitled "Members of an Hermaphrodite Negro,
+of the Age of Twenty-six Years, of both Sexes." They are not absolutely
+perfect, but they exhibit a strange mixture of the one and the other.
+
+Cheselden has frequently attested the truth of this prodigy, which,
+however, is possibly no such thing in some of the countries of Africa.
+The two sexes are not perfect in this instance; who can assure us, that
+other negroes, mulatto, or copper-colored individuals, are not
+absolutely male and female? It would be as reasonable to assert, that a
+perfect statue cannot exist, because we have witnessed none without
+defects. There are insects which possess both sexes; why may there not
+be human beings similarly endowed? I affirm nothing; God keep me from
+doing so. I only doubt.
+
+How many things belong to the animal man, in respect to which he must
+doubt, from his pineal gland to his spleen, the use of which is unknown;
+and from the principle of his thoughts and sensations to his animal
+spirits, of which everybody speaks, and which nobody ever saw or ever
+will see!
+
+
+
+
+THEISM.
+
+
+Theism is a religion diffused through all religions; it is a metal which
+mixes itself with all the others, the veins of which extend under ground
+to the four corners of the world. This mine is more openly worked in
+China; everywhere else it is hidden, and the secret is only in the hands
+of the adepts.
+
+There is no country where there are more of these adepts than in
+England. In the last century there were many atheists in that country,
+as well as in France and Italy. What the chancellor Bacon had said
+proved true to the letter, that a little philosophy makes a man an
+atheist, and that much philosophy leads to the knowledge of a God. When
+it was believed with Epicurus, that chance made everything, or with
+Aristotle, and even with several ancient theologians, that nothing was
+created but through corruption, and that by matter and motion alone the
+world goes on, then it was impossible to believe in a providence. But
+since nature has been looked into, which the ancients did not perceive
+at all; since it is observed that all is organized, that everything has
+its germ; since it is well known that a mushroom is the work of
+infinite wisdom, as well as all the worlds; then those who thought,
+adored in the countries where their ancestors had blasphemed. The
+physicians are become the heralds of providence; a catechist announces
+God to children, and a Newton demonstrates Him to the learned.
+
+Many persons ask whether theism, considered abstractedly, and without
+any religious ceremony, is in fact a religion? The answer is easy: he
+who recognizes only a creating God, he who views in God only a Being
+infinitely powerful, and who sees in His creatures only wonderful
+machines, is not religious towards Him any more than a European,
+admiring the king of China, would thereby profess allegiance to that
+prince. But he who thinks that God has deigned to place a relation
+between Himself and mankind; that He has made him free, capable of good
+and evil; that He has given all of them that good sense which is the
+instinct of man, and on which the law of nature is founded; such a one
+undoubtedly has a religion, and a much better religion than all those
+sects who are beyond the pale of our Church; for all these sects are
+false, and the law of nature is true. Thus, theism is good sense not yet
+instructed by revelation; and other religions are good sense perverted
+by superstition.
+
+All sects differ, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the
+same because it comes from God. It is asked why, out of five or six
+hundred sects, there have scarcely been any who have not spilled blood;
+and why the theists, who are everywhere so numerous, have never caused
+the least disturbance? It is because they are philosophers. Now
+philosophers may reason badly, but they never intrigue. Those who
+persecute a philosopher, under the pretext that his opinions may be
+dangerous to the public, are as absurd as those who are afraid that the
+study of algebra will raise the price of bread in the market; one must
+pity a thinking being who errs; the persecutor is frantic and horrible.
+We are all brethren; if one of my brothers, full of respect and filial
+love, inspired by the most fraternal charity, does not salute our common
+Father with the same ceremonies as I do, ought I to cut his throat and
+tear out his heart?
+
+What is a true theist? It is he who says to God: "I adore and serve
+You;" it is he who says to the Turk, to the Chinese, the Indian, and the
+Russian: "I love you." He doubts, perhaps, that Mahomet made a journey
+to the moon and put half of it in his pocket; he does not wish that
+after his death his wife should burn herself from devotion; he is
+sometimes tempted not to believe the story of the eleven thousand
+virgins, and that of St. Amable, whose hat and gloves were carried by a
+ray of the sun from Auvergne as far as Rome.
+
+But for all that he is a just man. Noah would have placed him in his
+ark, Numa Pompilius in his councils; he would have ascended the car of
+Zoroaster; he would have talked philosophy with the Platos, the
+Aristippuses, the Ciceros, the Atticuses--but would he not have drunk
+hemlock with Socrates?
+
+
+
+
+THEIST.
+
+
+The theist is a man firmly persuaded of the existence of a Supreme Being
+equally good and powerful, who has formed all extended, vegetating,
+sentient, and reflecting existences; who perpetuates their species, who
+punishes crimes without cruelty, and rewards virtuous actions with
+kindness.
+
+The theist does not know how God punishes, how He rewards, how He
+pardons; for he is not presumptuous enough to flatter himself that he
+understands how God acts; but he knows that God does act, and that He is
+just. The difficulties opposed to a providence do not stagger him in his
+faith, because they are only great difficulties, not proofs; he submits
+himself to that providence, although he only perceives some of its
+effects and some appearances; and judging of the things he does not see
+from those he does see, he thinks that this providence pervades all
+places and all ages.
+
+[Illustration: Death of Socrates]
+
+United in this principle with the rest of the universe, he does not join
+any of the sects, who all contradict themselves; his religion is the
+most ancient and the most extended; for the simple adoration of a
+God has preceded all the systems in the world. He speaks a language
+which all nations understand, while they are unable to understand each
+other's. He has brethren from Pekin to Cayenne, and he reckons all the
+wise his brothers. He believes that religion consists neither in the
+opinions of incomprehensible metaphysics, nor in vain decorations, but
+in adoration and justice. To do good--that is his worship; to submit
+oneself to God--that is his doctrine. The Mahometan cries out to him:
+"Take care of yourself, if you do not make the pilgrimage to Mecca."
+"Woe be to thee," says a Franciscan, "if thou dost not make a journey to
+our Lady of Loretto." He laughs at Loretto and Mecca; but he succors the
+indigent and defends the oppressed.
+
+
+
+
+THEOCRACY.
+
+_Government of God or Gods._
+
+I deceive myself every day; but I suspect that all the nations who have
+cultivated the arts have lived under a theocracy. I always except the
+Chinese, who appear learned as soon as they became a nation. They were
+free from superstition directly China was a kingdom. It is a great pity,
+that having been raised so high at first, they should remain stationary
+at the degree they have so long occupied in the sciences. It would seem
+that they have received from nature an ample allowance of good sense,
+and a very small one of industry. Yet in other things their industry is
+displayed more than ours.
+
+The Japanese, their neighbors, of whose origin I know nothing
+whatever--for whose origin do we know?--were incontestably governed by a
+theocracy. The earliest well-ascertained sovereigns were the "_dairos_,"
+the high priests of their gods; this theocracy is well established.
+These priests reigned despotically about eight hundred years. In the
+middle of our twelfth century it came to pass that a captain, an
+"_imperator_," a "_seogon_" shared their authority; and in our sixteenth
+century the captains seized the whole power, and kept it. The "_dairos_"
+have remained the heads of religion; they were kings--they are now only
+saints; they regulate festivals, they bestow sacred titles, but they
+cannot give a company of infantry.
+
+The Brahmins in India possessed for a long time the theocratical power;
+that is to say, they held the sovereign authority in the name of Brahma,
+the son of God; and even in their present humble condition they still
+believe their character indelible. These are the two principal among the
+certain theocracies.
+
+The priests of Chaldaea, Persia, Syria, Phoenicia, and Egypt, were so
+powerful, had so great a share in the government, and carried the censer
+so loftily above the sceptre, that empire may be said, among those
+nations, to nave been divided between theocracy and royalty.
+
+The government of Numa Pompilius was evidently theocratical. When a man
+says: "I give you laws furnished by the gods; it is not I, it is a god
+who speaks to you"--then it is God who is king, and he who talks thus is
+lieutenant-general.
+
+Among all the Celtic nations who had only elective chiefs, and not
+kings, the Druids and their sorceries governed everything. But I cannot
+venture to give the name of theocracy to the anarchy of these savages.
+
+The little Jewish nation does not deserve to be considered politically,
+except on account of the prodigious revolution that has occurred in the
+world, of which it was the very obscure and unconscious cause.
+
+Do but consider the history of this strange people. They have a
+conductor who undertakes to guide them in the name of his God to
+Phoenicia, which he calls Canaan. The way was direct and plain, from
+the country of Goshen as far as Tyre, from south to north; and there was
+no danger for six hundred and thirty thousand fighting men, having at
+their head a general like Moses, who, according to Flavius Josephus, had
+already vanquished an army of Ethiopians, and even an army of serpents.
+
+Instead of taking this short and easy route, he conducts them from
+Rameses to Baal-Sephon, in an opposite direction, right into the middle
+of Egypt, due south. He crosses the sea; he marches for forty years in
+the most frightful deserts, where there is not a single spring of water,
+or a tree, or a cultivated field--nothing but sand and dreary rocks. It
+is evident that God alone could make the Jews, by a miracle, take this
+route, and support them there by a succession of miracles.
+
+The Jewish government therefore was then a true theocracy. Moses,
+however, was never pontiff, and Aaron, who was pontiff, was never chief
+nor legislator. After that time we do not find any pontiff governing.
+Joshua, Jephthah, Samson, and the other chiefs of the people, except
+Elias and Samuel, were not priests. The Jewish republic, reduced to
+slavery so often, was anarchical rather than theocratical.
+
+Under the kings of Judah and Israel, it was but a long succession of
+assassinations and civil wars. These horrors were interrupted only by
+the entire extinction of ten tribes, afterwards by the enslavement of
+two others, and by the destruction of the city amidst famine and
+pestilence. This was not then divine government.
+
+When the Jewish slaves returned to Jerusalem, they were subdued by the
+kings of Persia, by the conqueror Alexandria and his successors. It
+appears that God did not then reign immediately over this nation, since
+a little before the invasion of Alexander, the pontiff John assassinated
+the priest Jesus, his brother, in the temple of Jerusalem, as Solomon
+had assassinated his brother Adonijah on the altar.
+
+The government was still less theocratical when Antiochus Epiphanes,
+king of Syria, employed many of the Jews to punish those whom he
+regarded as rebels. He forbade them all, under pain of death, to
+circumcise their children; he compelled them to sacrifice swine in their
+temple, to burn the gates, to destroy the altar; and the whole enclosure
+was filled with thorns and brambles.
+
+Matthias rose against him at the head of some citizens, but he was not
+king. His son, Judas Maccabaeus, taken for the Messiah, perished after
+glorious struggles. To these bloody contests succeeded civil wars. The
+men of Jerusalem destroyed Samaria, which the Romans subsequently
+rebuilt under the name of Sebasta.
+
+In this chaos of revolutions, Aristobulus, of the race of the Maccabees,
+and son of a high priest, made himself king, more than five hundred
+years after the destruction of Jerusalem. He signalized his reign like
+some Turkish sultans, by cutting his brother's throat, and causing his
+mother to be put to death. His successors followed his example, until
+the period when the Romans punished all these barbarians. Nothing in all
+this is theocratical.
+
+If anything affords an idea of theocracy, it must be granted that it is
+the papacy of Rome; it never announces itself but in the name of God,
+and its subjects live in peace. For a long time Thibet enjoyed the same
+advantages under the Grand Lama; but that is a gross error striving to
+imitate a sublime truth.
+
+The first Incas, by calling themselves descendants in a right line from
+the sun, established a theocracy; everything was done in the name of the
+sun. Theocracy ought to be universal; for every man, whether a prince or
+a boatman, should obey the natural and eternal laws which God has given
+him.
+
+
+
+
+THEODOSIUS.
+
+
+Every prince who puts himself at the head of a party, and succeeds, is
+sure of being praised to all eternity, if the party lasts that time; and
+his adversaries may be assured that they will be treated by orators,
+poets, and preachers, as Titans who revolted against the gods. This is
+what happened to Octavius Augustus, when his good fortune made him
+defeat Brutus, Cassius, and Antony. It was the lot of Constantine, when
+Maxentius, the legitimate emperor, elected by the Roman senate and
+people, fell into the water and was drowned.
+
+Theodosius had the same advantage. Woe to the vanquished! blessed be the
+victorious!--that is the motto of mankind. Theodosius was a Spanish
+officer, the son of a Spanish soldier of fortune. As soon as he was
+emperor he persecuted the anti-consubstantialists. Judge of the
+applauses, benedictions, and pompous eulogies, on the part of the
+consubstantialists! Their adversaries scarcely subsist any longer; their
+complaints and clamors against the tyranny of Theodosius have perished
+with them, and the predominant party still lavishes on this prince the
+epithets of pious, just, clement, wise, and great.
+
+One day this pious and clement prince, who loved money to distraction,
+proposed laying a very heavy tax upon the city of Antioch, then the
+finest of Asia Minor. The people, in despair, having demanded a slight
+diminution, and not being able to obtain it, went so far as to break
+some statues, among which was one of the soldier, the emperor's father.
+St. John Chrysostom, or golden mouth, the priest and flatterer of
+Theodosius, failed not to call this action a detestable sacrilege, since
+Theodosius was the image of God, and his father was almost as sacred as
+himself. But if this Spaniard resembled God, he should have remembered
+that the Antiochians also resembled Him, and that men formed after the
+exemplar of all the gods existed before emperors.
+
+     _Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum._
+                                      --OVID, _Met._ i, b. 83.
+
+Theodosius immediately sent a letter to the governor, with an order to
+apply the torture to the principal images of God who had taken part in
+this passing sedition; to make them perish under blows received from
+cords terminated with leaden balls; to burn some, and deliver others up
+to the sword. This was executed with all the punctuality of a governor
+who did his duty like a Christian, who paid his court well, and who
+would make his way there. The Orontes bore nothing but corpses to the
+sea for several days; after which, his gracious imperial majesty
+pardoned the Antiochians with his usual clemency, and doubled the tax.
+
+How did the emperor Julian act in the same city, when he had received a
+more personal and injurious outrage? It was not a paltry statue of his
+father which they defaced; it was to himself that the Antiochians
+addressed themselves, and against whom they composed the most violent
+satires. The philosophical emperor answered them by a light and
+ingenious satire. He took from them neither their lives nor their
+purses. He contented himself with having more wit than they had. This is
+the man whom St. Gregory Nazianzen and Theodoret, who were not of his
+communion, dare to calumniate so far as to say that he sacrificed women
+and children to the moon; while those who were of the communion of
+Theodosius have persisted to our day in copying one another, by saying
+in a hundred ways, that Theodosius was the most virtuous of men, and by
+wishing to make him a saint.
+
+We know well enough what was the mildness of this saint in the massacre
+of fifteen thousand of his subjects at Thessalonica. His panegyrists
+reduce the number of the murdered to seven or eight thousand, which is a
+very small number to them; but they elevate to the sky the tender piety
+of this good prince, who deprived himself of mass, as also that of his
+accomplice, the detestable Rufinus. I confess once more, that it was a
+great expiation, a great act of devotion, the not going to mass; but it
+restores not life to fifteen thousand innocents, slain in cold blood by
+an abominable perfidy. If a heretic was stained with such a crime, with
+what pleasure would all historians turn their boasting against him; with
+what colors would they paint him in the pulpits and college
+declamations!
+
+I will suppose that the prince of Parma entered Paris, after having
+forced our dear Henry IV. to raise the siege; I will suppose that Philip
+II. gave the throne of France to his Catholic daughter, and to the young
+Catholic duke of Guise; how many pens and voices would forever have
+anathematized Henry IV., and the Salic law! They would be both
+forgotten, and the Guises would be the heroes of the state and religion.
+Thus it is--applaud the prosperous and fly the miserable! "_Et cole
+felices, miseros fuge._"
+
+If Hugh Capet dispossess the legitimate heir of Charlemagne, he becomes
+the root of a race of heroes. If he fails, he may be treated as the
+brother of St. Louis since treated Conradin and the duke of Austria, and
+with much more reason.
+
+Pepin rebels, dethrones the Merovingian race, and shuts his king in a
+cloister; but if he succeeds not, he mounts the scaffold. If Clovis, the
+first king of Belgic Gaul, is beaten in his invasion, he runs the risk
+of being condemned to the fangs of beasts, as one of his ancestors was
+by Constantine. Thus goes the world under the empire of fortune, which
+is nothing but necessity, insurmountable fatality. "_Fortuna saevo laeta
+negotio._" She makes us blindly play her terrible game, and we never see
+beneath the cards.
+
+
+
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+The theologian knows perfectly that, according to St. Thomas, angels are
+corporeal with relation to God; that the soul receives its being in the
+body; and that man has a vegetative, sensitive, and intellectual soul;
+that the soul is all in all, and all in every part; that it is the
+efficient and formal cause of the body; that it is the greatest in
+nobleness of form; that the appetite is a passive power; that archangels
+are the medium between angels and principalities; that baptism
+regenerates of itself and by chance; that the catechism is not a
+sacrament, but sacramental; that certainty springs from the cause and
+subject; that concupiscence is the appetite of sensitive delectation;
+that conscience is an act and not a power.
+
+The angel of the schools has written about four thousand fine pages in
+this style, and a shaven-crowned young man passes three years in filling
+his brain with this sublime knowledge; after which he receives the
+bonnet of a doctor of the Sorbonne, instead of going to Bedlam. If he is
+a man of quality, or the son of a rich man, or intriguing and fortunate,
+he becomes bishop, archbishop, cardinal, and pope.
+
+If he is poor and without credit, he becomes the chaplain of one of
+these people; it is he who preaches for them, who reads St. Thomas and
+Scotus for them, who makes commandments for them, and who in a council
+decides for them.
+
+The title of theologian is so great that the fathers of the Council of
+Trent give it to their cooks, "_cuoco celeste, gran theologo_." Their
+science is the first of sciences, their condition the first of
+conditions, and themselves the first of men; such the empire of true
+doctrine; so much does reason govern mankind!
+
+When a theologian has become--thanks to his arguments--either prince of
+the holy Roman Empire, archbishop of Toledo, or one of the seventy
+princes clothed in red, successors of the humble apostles, then the
+successors of Galen and Hippocrates are at his service. They were his
+equals when they studied in the same university; they had the same
+degrees, and received the same furred bonnet. Fortune changes all; and
+those who discovered the circulation of the blood, the lacteal veins,
+and the thoracic canal, are the servants of those who have learned what
+concomitant grace is, and have forgotten it.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+I knew a true theologian; he was master of the languages of the East,
+and was instructed as much as possible in the ancient rites of nations.
+The Brahmins, Chaldaeans, Fire-worshippers, Sabeans, Syrians, and
+Egyptians, were as well known to him as the Jews; the several lessons of
+the Bible were familiar to him; and for thirty years he had tried to
+reconcile the gospels, and endeavored to make the fathers agree. He
+sought in what time precisely the creed attributed to the apostles was
+digested, and that which bears the name of Athanasius; how the
+sacraments were instituted one after the other; what was the difference
+between synaxis and mass; how the Christian Church was divided since its
+origin into different parties, and how the predominating society treated
+all the others as heretics. He sounded the depth of policy which always
+mixes with these quarrels; and he distinguished between policy and
+wisdom, between the pride which would subjugate minds and the desire of
+self-illumination, between zeal and fanaticism.
+
+The difficulty of arranging in his head so many things, the nature of
+which is to be confounded, and of throwing a little light on so many
+clouds, often checked him; but as these researches were the duty of his
+profession, he gave himself up to them notwithstanding his distaste. He
+at length arrived at knowledge unknown to the greater part of his
+brethren: but the more learned he waxed, the more mistrustful he became
+of all that he knew. While he lived he was indulgent; and at his death,
+he confessed that he had spent his life uselessly.
+
+
+
+
+THUNDER.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+     _Vidi et crudeles dantem Salmonea poenas_
+     _Dum flammas Jovis et sonitus imitatur Olympia, etc._
+                             --VIRGIL, AEneid, b. vi, 1. 585.
+
+     Salmoneus suffering cruel pains I found,
+     For imitating Jove, the rattling sound
+     Of mimic thunder, and the glittering blaze
+     Of pointed lightnings and their forked rays.
+
+Those who invented and perfected artillery are so many other
+Salmoneuses. A cannon-ball of twenty-four pounds can make, and has often
+made, more ravage than an hundred thunder-claps; yet no cannoneer has
+ever been struck by Jupiter for imitating that which passes in the
+atmosphere.
+
+We have seen that Polyphemus, in a piece of Euripides, boasts of making
+more noise, when he had supped well, than the thunder of Jupiter.
+Boileau, more honest than Polyphemus, says that another world astonishes
+him, and that he believes in the immortality of the soul, and that it is
+God who thunders:
+
+     _Pour moi, qu'en sante meme un autre monde etonne,_
+     _Qui crois l'ame immortelle, et que c'est Dieu qui tonne._
+                                       --SAT. i, line 161,162.
+
+I know not why he is so astonished at another world, since all antiquity
+believed in it. Astonish was not the proper word; it was alarm. He
+believes that it is God who thunders; but he thunders only as he hails,
+as he rains, and as he produces fine weather--as he operates all, as he
+performs all. It is not because he is angry that he sends thunder and
+rain. The ancients paint Jupiter taking thunder, composed of three
+burning arrows, and hurling it at whomsoever he chose. Sound reason does
+not agree with these poetical ideas.
+
+Thunder is like everything else, the necessary effect of the laws of
+nature, prescribed by its author. It is merely a great electrical
+phenomenon. Franklin forces it to descend tranquilly on the earth; it
+fell on Professor Richmann as on rocks and churches; and if it struck
+Ajax Oileus, it was assuredly not because Minerva was irritated against
+him.
+
+If it had fallen on Cartouche, or the abbe Desfontaines, people would
+not have failed to say:
+
+"Behold how God punishes thieves and--." But it is a useful prejudice to
+make the sky fearful to the perverse. Thus all our tragic poets, when
+they would rhyme to "_poudre_" or "_resoudre_," invariably make use of
+"_foudre_"; and uniformly make "_tonnerre_" roll, when they would rhyme
+to "_terre_."
+
+Theseus, in "_Phedre_," says to his son--act iv, scene 2:
+
+     _Monstre, qu'a trop longtemps epargne le tonnerre,_
+     _Reste impur des brigands dont j'ai purge la terre!_
+
+Severus, in "_Polyeucte_," without even having occasion to rhyme, when
+he learns that his mistress is married, talks to Fabian, his friend, of
+a clap of thunder. He says elsewhere to the same Fabian--act iv, scene
+6--that a new clap of "_foudre_" strikes upon his hope, and reduces it
+to "_poudre_":
+
+     _Qu'est ceci, Fabian, quel nouveau coup de foudre_
+     _Tombe sur mon espoir, et le reduit en poudre?_
+
+
+A hope reduced to powder must astonish the pit! Lusignan, in "_Zaire_,"
+prays God that the thunder will burst on him alone:
+
+
+     _Que la foudre en eclats ne tombe que sur moi._
+
+If Tydeus consults the gods in the cave of a temple, the cave answers
+him only by great claps of thunder.
+
+     I've finally seen the thunder and "foudre"
+     Reduce verses to cinders and rhymes into "poudre."
+
+We must endeavor to thunder less frequently.
+
+I could never clearly comprehend the fable of Jupiter and Thunder, in La
+Fontaine--b. viii, fable 20.
+
+     _Vulcain remplit ses fourneaux_
+     _De deux sortes de carreaux._
+     _L'un jamais ne se fourvoie,_
+     _Et c'est celui que toujours_
+     _L'Olympe en corps nous envoie._
+     _L'autre s'ecarte en son cours,_
+     _Ce n'est qu'aux monts qu'il en coute;_
+     _Bien souvent meme il se perd;_
+     _Et ce dernier en sa route_
+     _Nous vient du seul Jupiter._
+
+"Vulcan fills his furnaces with two sorts of thunderbolts. The one never
+wanders, and it is that which comes direct from Olympus. The other
+diverges in its route, and only spends itself on mountains; it is often
+even altogether dissipated. It is this last alone which proceeds from
+Jupiter."
+
+Was the subject of this fable, which La Fontaine put into bad verse so
+different from his general style, given to him? Would it infer that the
+ministers of Louis XIV. were inflexible, and that the king pardoned?
+Crebillon, in his academical discourse in foreign verse, says that
+Cardinal Fleury is a wise depositary, the eagle, using his thunder, yet
+the friend of peace:
+
+     _Usant en citoyen du pouvoir arbitraire,_
+     _Aigle de Jupiter, mais ami de la paix,_
+     _Il gouverne la foudre, et ne tonne jamais._
+
+He says that Marshal Villars made it appear that he survived Malplaquet
+only to become more celebrated at Denain, and that with a clap of
+thunder Prince Eugene was vanquished:
+
+     _Fit voir, qu'a Malplaquet il n'avait survecu_
+     _Que pour rendre a Denain sa valeur plus celebre_
+     _Et qu'un foudre du moins Eugene etait vaincu._
+
+Thus the eagle Fleury governed thunder without thundering, and Eugene
+was vanquished by thunder. Here is quite enough of thunder.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Horace, sometimes the debauched and sometimes the moral, has said--book
+i, ode 3--that our folly extends to heaven itself: "_Coelum ipsum
+petimus stultitia._"
+
+We can say at present that we carry our wisdom to heaven, if we may be
+permitted to call that blue and white mass of exhalations which causes
+winds, rain, snow, hail, and thunder, heaven. We have decomposed the
+thunderbolt, as Newton disentangled light. We have perceived that these
+thunderbolts, formerly borne by the eagle of Jupiter, are really only
+electric fire; that in short we can draw down thunder, conduct it,
+divide it, and render ourselves masters of it, as we make the rays of
+light pass through a prism, as we give course to the waters which fall
+from heaven, that is to say, from the height of half a league from our
+atmosphere. We plant a high fir with the branches lopped off, the top of
+which is covered with a cone of iron. The clouds which form thunder are
+electrical; their electricity is communicated to this cone, and a brass
+wire which is attached to it conducts the matter of thunder wherever we
+please. An ingenious physician calls this experiment the inoculation of
+thunder.
+
+It is true, that inoculation for the smallpox, which has preserved so
+many mortals, caused some to perish, to whom the smallpox had been
+inconsiderately given; and in like manner the inoculation of thunder
+ill-performed would be dangerous. There are great lords whom we can only
+approach with the greatest precaution, and thunder is of this number. We
+know that the mathematical professor Richmann was killed at St.
+Petersburg, in 1753, by a thunderbolt which he had drawn into his
+chamber: "_Arte sua periit._" As he was a philosopher, a theological
+professor failed not to publish that he had been thunderstruck like
+Salmoneus, for having usurped the rights of God, and for wishing to hurl
+the thunder: but if the physician had directed the brass wire outside
+the house, and not into his pent-up chamber, he would not have shared
+the lot of Salmoneus, Ajax Oileus, the emperor Carus, the son of a
+French minister of state, and of several monks in the Pyrenees.
+
+
+
+
+TOLERATION.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+What is toleration? It is the appurtenance of humanity. We are all full
+of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our
+follies--it is the first law of nature.
+
+When, on the exchange of Amsterdam, of London, of Surat, or of Bassora,
+the Gueber, the Banian, the Jew, the Mahometan, the Chinese Deist, the
+Brahmin, the Christian of the Greek Church, the Roman Catholic
+Christian, the Protestant Christian, and the Quaker Christian, traffic
+together, they do not lift the poniard against each other, in order to
+gain souls for their religion. Why then have we been cutting one
+another's throats almost without interruption since the first Council of
+Nice?
+
+Constantine began by issuing an edict which allowed all religions, and
+ended by persecuting. Before him, tumults were excited against the
+Christians, only because they began to make a party in the state. The
+Romans permitted all kinds of worship, even those of the Jews, and of
+the Egyptians, for whom they had so much contempt. Why did Rome tolerate
+these religions? Because neither the Egyptians, nor even the Jews,
+aimed at exterminating the ancient religion of the empire, or ranged
+through land and sea for proselytes; they thought only of money-getting;
+but it is undeniable, that the Christians wished their own religion to
+be the dominant one. The Jews would not suffer the statue of Jupiter at
+Jerusalem, but the Christians wished it not to be in the capitol. St.
+Thomas had the candor to avow, that if the Christians did not dethrone
+the emperors, it was because they could not. Their opinion was, that the
+whole earth ought to be Christian. They were therefore necessarily
+enemies to the whole earth, until it was converted.
+
+Among themselves, they were the enemies of each other on all their
+points of controversy. Was it first of all necessary to regard Jesus
+Christ as God? Those who denied it were anathematized under the name of
+Ebionites, who themselves anathematized the adorers of Jesus.
+
+Did some among them wish all things to be in common, as it is pretended
+they were in the time of the apostles? Their adversaries called them
+Nicolaites, and accused them of the most infamous crimes. Did others
+profess a mystical devotion? They were termed Gnostics, and attacked
+with fury. Did Marcion dispute on the Trinity? He was treated as an
+idolater.
+
+Tertullian, Praxeas, Origen, Novatus, Novatian, Sabellius, Donatus, were
+all persecuted by their brethren, before Constantine; and scarcely had
+Constantine made the Christian religion the ruling one, when the
+Athanasians and the Eusebians tore each other to pieces; and from that
+time to our own days, the Christian Church has been deluged with blood.
+
+The Jewish people were, I confess, a very barbarous nation. They
+mercilessly cut the throats of all the inhabitants of an unfortunate
+little country upon which they had no more claim than they had upon
+Paris or London. However, when Naaman was cured of the leprosy by being
+plunged seven times in the Jordan--when, in order to testify his
+gratitude to Elisha, who had taught him the secret, he told him he would
+adore the god of the Jews from gratitude, he reserved to himself the
+liberty to adore also the god of his own king; he asked Elisha's
+permission to do so, and the prophet did not hesitate to grant it. The
+Jews adored their god, but they were never astonished that every nation
+had its own. They approved of Chemos having given a certain district to
+the Moabites, provided their god would give them one also. Jacob did not
+hesitate to marry the daughters of an idolater. Laban had his god, as
+Jacob had his. Such are the examples of toleration among the most
+intolerant and cruel people of antiquity. We have imitated them in their
+absurd passions, and not in their indulgence.
+
+It is clear that every private individual who persecutes a man, his
+brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster. This
+admits of no difficulty. But the government, the magistrates, the
+princes!--how do they conduct themselves towards those who have a faith
+different from their own? If they are powerful foreigners, it is certain
+that a prince will form an alliance with them. The Most Christian
+Francis I. will league himself with the Mussulmans against the Most
+Catholic Charles V. Francis I. will give money to the Lutherans in
+Germany, to support them in their rebellion against their emperor; but
+he will commence, as usual, by having the Lutherans in his own country
+burned. He pays them in Saxony from policy; he burns them in Paris from
+policy. But what follows? Persecutions make proselytes. France will soon
+be filled with new Protestants. At first they will submit to be hanged;
+afterwards they will hang in their turn. There will be civil wars; then
+Saint Bartholomew will come; and this corner of the world will be worse
+than all that the ancients and moderns have ever said of hell.
+
+Blockheads, who have never been able to render a pure worship to the God
+who made you! Wretches, whom the example of the Noachides, the Chinese
+literati, the Parsees, and of all the wise, has not availed to guide!
+Monsters, who need superstitions, just as the gizzard of a raven needs
+carrion! We have already told you--and we have nothing else to say--if
+you have two religions among you, they will massacre each other; if you
+have thirty, they will live in peace. Look at the Grand Turk: he governs
+Guebers, Banians, Christians of the Greek Church, Nestorians, and Roman
+Catholics. The first who would excite a tumult is empaled; and all is
+tranquil.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+Of all religions, the Christian ought doubtless to inspire the most
+toleration, although hitherto the Christians have been the most
+intolerant of all men. Jesus, having deigned to be born in poverty and
+lowliness like his brethren, never condescended to practise the art of
+writing. The Jews had a law written with the greatest minuteness, and we
+have not a single line from the hand of Jesus. The apostles were divided
+on many points. St. Peter and St. Barnabas ate forbidden meats with the
+new stranger Christians, and abstained from them with the Jewish
+Christians. St. Paul reproached them with this conduct; and this same
+St. Paul, the Pharisee, the disciple of the Pharisee Gamaliel--this same
+St. Paul, who had persecuted the Christians with fury, and who after
+breaking with Gamaliel became a Christian himself--nevertheless, went
+afterwards to sacrifice in the temple of Jerusalem, during his apostolic
+vacation. For eight days he observed publicly all the ceremonies of the
+Jewish law which he had renounced; he even added devotions and
+purifications which were superabundant; he completely Judaized. The
+greatest apostle of the Christians did, for eight days, the very things
+for which men are condemned to the stake among a large portion of
+Christian nations.
+
+Theudas and Judas were called Messiahs, before Jesus: Dositheus, Simon,
+Menander, called themselves Messiahs, after Jesus. From the first
+century of the Church, and before even the name of Christian was known,
+there were a score of sects in Judaea.
+
+The contemplative Gnostics, the Dositheans, the Cerintheins, existed
+before the disciples of Jesus had taken the name of Christians. There
+were soon thirty churches, each of which belonged to a different
+society; and by the close of the first century thirty sects of
+Christians might be reckoned in Asia Minor, in Syria, in Alexandria, and
+even in Rome.
+
+All these sects, despised by the Roman government, and concealed in
+their obscurity, nevertheless persecuted each other in the hiding holes
+where they lurked; that is to say, they reproached one another. This is
+all they could do in their abject condition: they were almost wholly
+composed of the dregs of the people.
+
+When at length some Christians had embraced the dogmas of Plato, and
+mingled a little philosophy with their religion, which they separated
+from the Jewish, they insensibly became more considerable, but were
+always divided into many sects, without there ever having been a time
+when the Christian church was reunited. It took its origin in the midst
+of the divisions of the Jews, the Samaritans, the Pharisees, the
+Sadducees, the Essenians, the Judaites, the disciples of John, and the
+Therapeutae. It was divided in its infancy; it was divided even amid
+the persecutions it sometimes endured under the first emperors. The
+martyr was often regarded by his brethren as an apostate; and the
+Carpocratian Christian expired under the sword of the Roman executioner,
+excommunicated by the Ebionite Christian, which Ebionite was
+anathematized by the Sabellian.
+
+This horrible discord, lasting for so many centuries, is a very striking
+lesson that we ought mutually to forgive each other's errors: discord is
+the great evil of the human species, and toleration is its only remedy.
+
+There is nobody who does not assent to this truth, whether meditating
+coolly in his closet, or examining the truth peaceably with his friends.
+Why, then, do the same men who in private admit charity, beneficence,
+and justice, oppose themselves in public so furiously against these
+virtues? Why!--it is because their interest is their god; because they
+sacrifice all to that monster whom they adore.
+
+I possess dignity and power, which ignorance and credulity have founded.
+I trample on the heads of men prostrated at my feet; if they should rise
+and look me in the face, I am lost; they must, therefore, be kept bound
+down to the earth with chains of iron.
+
+Thus have men reasoned, whom ages of fanaticism have rendered powerful.
+They have other persons in power under them, and these latter again have
+underlings, who enrich themselves with the spoils of the poor man,
+fatten themselves with his blood, and laugh at his imbecility. They
+detest all toleration, as contractors enriched at the expense of the
+public are afraid to render their accounts, and as tyrants dread the
+name of liberty. To crown all, in short, they encourage fanatics who cry
+aloud: Respect the absurdities of my master; tremble, pay, and be
+silent.
+
+Such was the practice for a long time in a great part of the world; but
+now, when so many sects are balanced by their power, what side must we
+take among them? Every sect, we know, is a mere title of error; while
+there is no sect of geometricians, of algebraists, of arithmeticians;
+because all the propositions of geometry, algebra, and arithmetic, are
+true. In all the other sciences, one may be mistaken. What Thomist or
+Scotist theologian can venture to assert seriously that he goes on sure
+grounds?
+
+If there is any sect which reminds one of the time of the first
+Christians, it is undeniably that of the Quakers. The apostles received
+the spirit. The Quakers receive the spirit. The apostles and disciples
+spoke three or four at once in the assembly in the third story; the
+Quakers do as much on the ground floor. Women were permitted to preach,
+according to St. Paul, and they were forbidden according to the same St.
+Paul: the Quakeresses preach by virtue of the first permission.
+
+The apostles and disciples swore by yea and nay; the Quakers will not
+swear in any other form. There was no rank, no difference of dress,
+among apostles and disciples; the Quakers have sleeves without buttons,
+and are all clothed alike. Jesus Christ baptized none of his apostles;
+the Quakers are never baptized.
+
+It would be easy to push the parallel farther; it would be still easier
+to demonstrate how much the Christian religion of our day differs from
+the religion which Jesus practised. Jesus was a Jew, and we are not
+Jews. Jesus abstained from pork, because it is uncleanly, and from
+rabbit, because it ruminates and its foot is not cloven; we fearlessly
+eat pork, because it is not uncleanly for us, and we eat rabbit which
+has the cloven foot and does not ruminate.
+
+Jesus was circumcised, and we retain our foreskin. Jesus ate the Paschal
+lamb with lettuce, He celebrated the feast of the tabernacles; and we do
+nothing of this. He observed the Sabbath, and we have changed it; He
+sacrificed, and we never sacrifice.
+
+Jesus always concealed the mystery of His incarnation and His dignity;
+He never said He was equal to God. St. Paul says expressly, in his
+Epistle to the Hebrews, that God created Jesus inferior to the angels;
+and in spite of St. Paul's words, Jesus was acknowledged as God at the
+Council of Nice.
+
+Jesus has not given the pope either the march of Ancona or the duchy of
+Spoleto; and, notwithstanding, the pope possesses them by divine right.
+Jesus did not make a sacrament either of marriage or of deaconry; and,
+with us, marriage and deaconry are sacraments. If we would attend
+closely to the fact, the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman religion is, in
+all its ceremonies and in all its dogma, the reverse of the religion of
+Jesus!
+
+But what! must we all Judaize, because Jesus Judaized all His life? If
+it were allowed to reason logically in matters of religion, it is clear
+that we ought all to become Jews, since Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was
+born a Jew, lived a Jew and died a Jew, and since He expressly said,
+that He accomplished and fulfilled the Jewish religion. But it is still
+more clear that we ought mutually to tolerate one another, because we
+are all weak, irrational, and subject to change and error. A reed
+prostrated by the wind in the mire--ought it to say to a neighboring
+reed placed in a contrary direction: Creep after my fashion, wretch, or
+I will present a request for you to be seized and burned?
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+My friends, when we have preached toleration in prose and in verse, in
+some of our pulpits, and in all our societies--when we have made these
+true human voices resound in the organs of our churches--we have done
+something for nature, we have reestablished humanity in its rights;
+there will no longer be an ex-Jesuit, or an ex-Jansenist, who dares to
+say, I am intolerant.
+
+There will always be barbarians and cheats who will foment intolerance;
+but they will not avow it--and that is something gained. Let us always
+bear in mind, my friends, let us repeat--for we must repeat, for fear it
+should be forgotten--the words of the bishop of Soissons, not Languet,
+but Fitzjames-Stuart, in his mandate of 1757: "We ought to regard the
+Turks as our brethren."
+
+Let us consider, that throughout English America, which constitutes
+nearly the fourth part of the known world, entire liberty of conscience
+is established; and provided a man believes in a God, every religion is
+well received: notwithstanding which, commerce flourishes and population
+increases. Let us always reflect, that the first law of the Empire of
+Russia, which is greater than the Roman Empire, is the toleration of
+every sect.
+
+The Turkish Empire, and the Persian, always allowed the same indulgence.
+Mahomet II., when he took Constantinople, did not force the Greeks to
+abandon their religion, although he looked on them as idolaters. Every
+Greek father of a family got off for five or six crowns a year. Many
+prebends and bishoprics were preserved for them; and even at this day
+the Turkish sultan makes canons and bishops, without the pope having
+ever made an imam or a mollah.
+
+My friends, there are only some monks, and some Protestants as barbarous
+as those monks, who are still intolerant. We have been so infected with
+this furor, that in our voyages of long duration, we have carried it to
+China, to Tonquin, and Japan. We have introduced the plague to those
+beautiful climes. The most indulgent of mankind have been taught by us
+to be the most inflexible. We said to them at the outset, in return for
+their kind welcome--Know that we alone on the earth are in the right,
+and that we ought to be masters everywhere. Then they drove us away
+forever. This lesson, which has cost seas of blood, ought to correct us.
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+The author of the preceding article is a worthy man who would sup with a
+Quaker, an Anabaptist, a Socinian, a Mussulman, etc. _I_ would push this
+civility farther; I would say to my brother the Turk--Let us eat
+together a good hen with rice, invoking Allah; your religion seems to me
+very respectable; you adore but one God; you are obliged to give the
+fortieth part of your revenue every day in alms, and to be reconciled
+with your enemies on the day of the Bairam. Our bigots, who calumniate
+the world, have said a hundred times, that your religion succeeded only
+because it was wholly sensual. They have lied, poor fellows! Your
+religion is very austere; it commands prayer five times a day; it
+imposes the most rigorous fast; it denies you the wine and the liquors
+which our spiritual directors encourage; and if it permits only four
+wives to those who can support them--which are very few--it condemns by
+this restriction the Jewish incontinence, which allowed eighteen wives
+to the homicide David, and seven hundred, without reckoning concubines,
+to Solomon, the assassin of his brother.
+
+I will say to my brother the Chinese: Let us sup together without
+ceremony, for I dislike grimaces; but I like your law, the wisest of
+all, and perhaps the most ancient. I will say nearly as much to my
+brother the Indian.
+
+But what shall I say to my brother the Jew? Shall I invite him to
+supper? Yes, on condition that, during the repast, Balaam's ass does not
+take it into its head to bray; that Ezekiel does not mix his dinner with
+our supper; that a fish does not swallow up one of the guests, and keep
+him three days in his belly; that a serpent does not join in the
+conversation, in order to seduce my wife; that a prophet does not think
+proper to sleep with her, as the worthy man, Hosea, did for five francs
+and a bushel of barley; above all, that no Jew parades through my house
+to the sound of the trumpet, causes the walls to fall down, and cuts the
+throats of myself, my father, my mother, my wife, my children, my cat
+and my dog, according to the ancient practice of the Jews. Come, my
+friends, let us have peace, and say our _benedicite_.
+
+
+
+
+TOPHET.
+
+
+Tophet was, and is still, a precipice near Jerusalem, in the valley of
+Hinnom, which is a frightful place, abounding only in flints. It was in
+this dreary solitude that the Jews immolated their children to their
+god, whom they then called Moloch; for we have observed, that they
+always bestowed a foreign name on their god. _Shadai_ was Syrian;
+_Adonai_, Phoenician; _Jehovah_ was also Phoenician; _Eloi_,
+_Elohim_, _Eloa_, Chaldaean; and in the same manner, the names of all
+their angels were Chaldaean or Persian. This we have remarked very
+particularly.
+
+All these different names equally signify "the lord," in the jargon of
+the petty nations bordering on Palestine. The word _Moloch_ is evidently
+derived from _Melk_, which was the same as _Melcom_ or _Melcon_, the
+divinity of the thousand women in the seraglio of Solomon; to-wit, seven
+hundred wives and three hundred concubines. All these names signify
+"lord": each village had its lord.
+
+Some sages pretend that Moloch was more particularly the god of fire;
+and that it was on that account the Jews burned their children in the
+hollow of the idol of this same Moloch. It was a large statue of copper,
+rendered as hideous as the Jews could make it. They heated the statue
+red hot, in a large fire, although they had very little fuel, and cast
+their children into the belly of this god, as our cooks cast living
+lobsters into the boiling water of their cauldrons. Such were the
+ancient Celts and Tudescans, when they burned children in honor of
+Teutates and Hirminsule. Such the Gallic virtue, and the German
+freedom!
+
+Jeremiah wished, in vain, to detach the Jewish people from this
+diabolical worship. In vain he reproaches them with having built a sort
+of temple to Moloch in this abominable valley. "They have built high
+places in Tophet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, in
+order to pass their sons and daughters through the fire."
+
+The Jews paid so much the less regard to the reproaches of Jeremiah, as
+they fiercely accused him of having sold himself to the king of Babylon;
+of having uniformly prophesied in his favor; and of having betrayed his
+country. In short, he suffered the punishment of a traitor; he was
+stoned to death.
+
+The Book of Kings informs us, that Solomon built a temple to Moloch, but
+it does not say that it was in the valley of Tophet, but in the vicinity
+upon the Mount of Olives. The situation was fine, if anything can be
+called fine in the frightful neighborhood of Jerusalem.
+
+Some commentators pretend, that Ahaz, king of Judah, burned his son in
+honor of Moloch, and that King Manasses was guilty of the same
+barbarity. Other commentators suppose, that these kings of the chosen
+people of God were content with casting their children into the flames,
+but that they were not burned to death. I wish that it may have been so;
+but it is very difficult for a child not to be burned when placed on a
+lighted pile.
+
+This valley of Tophet was the "Clamart" of Paris, the place where they
+deposited all the rubbish and carrion of the city. It was in this
+valley that they cast loose the scape-goat; it was the place in which
+the bodies of the two criminals were cast who suffered with the Son of
+God; but our Saviour did not permit His body, which was given up to the
+executioner, to be cast in the highway of the valley of Tophet,
+according to custom. It is true, that He might have risen again in
+Tophet, as well as in Calvary; but a good Jew, named Joseph, a native of
+Arimathea, who had prepared a sepulchre for himself on Mount Calvary,
+placed the body of the Saviour therein, according to the testimony of
+St. Matthew. No one was allowed to be buried in the towns; even the tomb
+of David was not in Jerusalem.
+
+Joseph of Arimathea was rich--"a certain rich man of Arimathea,"--that
+the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled: "And he made his grave with
+the wicked, and with the rich in his death."
+
+
+
+
+TORTURE.
+
+
+Though there are few articles of jurisprudence in these honest
+alphabetical reflections, we must, however, say a word or two on
+torture, otherwise called "the question"; which is a strange manner of
+questioning men. They were not, however, the simply curious who invented
+it; there is every appearance, that this part of our legislation owes
+its first origin to a highwayman. Most of these gentlemen are still in
+the habit of screwing thumbs, burning feet, and questioning, by various
+torments, those who refuse to tell them where they have put their money.
+
+Conquerors having succeeded these thieves, found the invention very
+useful to their interests; they made use of it when they suspected that
+there were bad designs against them: as, for example, that of seeking
+freedom was a crime of high treason, human and divine. The accomplices
+must be known; and to accomplish it, those who were suspected were made
+to suffer a thousand deaths, because, according to the jurisprudence of
+these primitive heroes, whoever was suspected of merely having a
+disrespectful opinion of them, was worthy of death. As soon as they have
+thus merited death, it signifies little whether they had frightful
+torments for several days, and even weeks previously--a practice which
+savors, I know not how, of the Divinity. Providence sometimes puts us to
+the torture by employing the stone, gravel, gout, scrofula, leprosy,
+smallpox; by tearing the entrails, by convulsions of the nerves,-and
+other executors of the vengeance of Providence.
+
+Now, as the first despots were, in the eyes of their courtiers, images
+of the Divinity, they imitated it as much as they could. What is very
+singular is, that the question, or torture, is never spoken of in the
+Jewish books. It is a great pity that so mild, honest, and compassionate
+a nation knew not this method of discovering the truth. In my opinion,
+the reason is, that they had no need of it. God always made it known to
+them as to His cherished people. Sometimes they played at dice to
+discover the truth, and the suspected culprit always had double sixes.
+Sometimes they went to the high priest, who immediately consulted God by
+the urim and thummim. Sometimes they addressed themselves to the seer
+and prophet; and you may believe that the seer and prophet discovered
+the most hidden things, as well as the urim and thummim of the high
+priest. The people of God were not reduced, like ourselves, to
+interrogating and conjecturing; and therefore torture could not be in
+use among them, which was the only thing wanting to complete the manners
+of that holy people. The Romans inflicted torture on slaves alone, but
+slaves were not considered as men. Neither is there any appearance that
+a counsellor of the criminal court regards as one of his
+fellow-creatures, a man who is brought to him wan, pale, distorted, with
+sunken eyes, long and dirty beard, covered with vermin with which he has
+been tormented in a dungeon. He gives himself the pleasure of applying
+to him the major and minor torture, in the presence of a surgeon, who
+counts his pulse until he is in danger of death, after which they
+recommence; and as the comedy of the "Plaideurs" pleasantly says, "that
+serves to pass away an hour or two."
+
+The grave magistrate, who for money has bought the right of making these
+experiments on his neighbor, relates to his wife, at dinner, that which
+has passed in the morning. The first time, madam shudders at it; the
+second, she takes some pleasure in it, because, after all, women are
+curious; and afterwards, the first thing she says when he enters is: "My
+dear, have you tortured anybody to-day?" The French, who are considered,
+I know not why, a very humane people, are astonished that the English,
+who have had the inhumanity to take all Canada from us, have renounced
+the pleasure of putting the question.
+
+When the Chevalier de Barre, the grandson of a lieutenant-general of the
+army, a young man of much sense and great expectations, but possessing
+all the giddiness of unbridled youth, was convicted of having sung
+impious songs, and even of having dared to pass before a procession of
+Capuchins without taking his hat off, the judges of Abbeville, men
+comparable to Roman senators, ordered not only that his tongue should be
+torn out, that his hands should be torn off, and his body burned at a
+slow fire, but they further applied the torture, to know precisely how
+many songs he had sung, and how many processions he had seen with his
+hat on his head.
+
+It was not in the thirteenth or fourteenth century that this affair
+happened; it was in the eighteenth. Foreign nations judge of France by
+its spectacles, romances, and pretty verses; by opera girls who have
+very sweet manners, by opera dancers who posssess grace; by
+Mademoiselle Clairon, who declaims delightfully. They know not that,
+under all, there is not a more cruel nation than the French. The
+Russians were considered barbarians in 1700; this is only the year 1769;
+yet an empress has just given to this great state laws which would do
+honor to Minos, Numa, or Solon, if they had had intelligence enough to
+invent them. The most remarkable is universal tolerance; the second is
+the abolition of torture. Justice and humanity have guided her pen; she
+has reformed all. Woe to a nation which, being more civilized, is still
+led by ancient atrocious customs! "Why should we change our
+jurisprudence?" say we. "Europe is indebted to us for cooks, tailors,
+and wig-makers; therefore, our laws are good."
+
+
+
+
+TRANSUBSTANTIATION.
+
+
+Protestants, and above all, philosophical Protestants, regard
+transubstantiation as the most signal proof of extreme impudence in
+monks, and of imbecility in laymen. They hold no terms with this belief,
+which they call monstrous, and assert that it is impossible for a man of
+good sense ever to have believed in it. It is, say they, so absurd, so
+contrary to every physical law, and so contradictory, it would be a sort
+of annihilation of God, to suppose Him capable of such inconsistency.
+Not only a god in a wafer, but a god in the place of a wafer; a thousand
+crumbs of bread become in an instant so many gods, which an innumerable
+crowd of gods make only one god. Whiteness without a white substance;
+roundness without rotundity of body; wine changed into blood, retaining
+the taste of wine; bread changed into flesh and into fibres, still
+preserving the taste of bread--all this inspires such a degree of horror
+and contempt in the enemies of the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman
+religion, that it sometimes insensibly verges into rage.
+
+Their horror augments when they are told that, in Catholic countries,
+are monks who rise from a bed of impurity, and with unwashed hands make
+gods by hundreds; who eat and drink these gods, and reduce them to the
+usual consequences of such an operation. But when they reflect that this
+superstition, a thousand times more absurd and sacrilegious than those
+of Egypt, produces for an Italian priest from fifteen to twenty millions
+of revenue, and the domination of a country containing a hundred
+thousand square leagues, they are ready to march with their arms in
+their hands and drive away this priest from the palace of Caesar. I know
+not if I shall be of the party, because I love peace; but when
+established at Rome, I will certainly pay them a visit.--By M.
+GUILLAUME, a Protestant minister.
+
+
+
+
+TRINITY.
+
+
+The first among the Westerns who spoke of the Trinity was Timaeus of
+Locri, in his "Soul of the World." First came the Idea, the perpetual
+model or archetype of all things engendered; that is to say, the first
+"Word," the internal and intelligible "Word." Afterwards, the unformed
+mode, the second word, or the word spoken. Lastly, the "son," or
+sensible world, or the spirit of the world. These three qualities
+constitute the entire world, which world is the Son of God "Monogenes."
+He has a soul and possessed reason; he is "_empsukos, logikos_."
+
+God, wishing to make a very fine God, has engendered one: "_Touton epoie
+theon genaton._"
+
+It is difficult clearly to comprehend the system of Timaeus, which he
+perhaps derived from the Egyptians or Brahmins. I know not whether it
+was well understood in his time. It is like decayed and rusty medals,
+the motto of which is effaced: it could be read formerly; at present, we
+put what construction we please upon it.
+
+It does not appear that this sublime balderdash made much progress until
+the time of Plato. It was buried in oblivion, and Plato raised it up. He
+constructed his edifice in the air, but on the model of Timaeus. He
+admits three divine essences: the Father, the Supreme Creator, the
+Parent of other gods, is the first essence. The second is the visible
+God, the minister of the invisible one, the "Word," the understanding,
+the great spirit. The third is the world.
+
+It is true, that Plato sometimes says quite different and even quite
+contrary things; it is the privilege of the Greek philosophers; and
+Plato has made use of his right more than any of the ancients or
+moderns. A Greek wind wafted these philosophical clouds from Athens to
+Alexandria, a town prodigiously infatuated with two things--money and
+chimeras. There were Jews in Alexandria who, having made their fortunes,
+turned philosophers.
+
+Metaphysics have this advantage, that they require no very troublesome
+preliminaries. We may know all about them without having learned
+anything; and a little to those who have at once subtle and very false
+minds, will go a great way. Philo the Jew was a philosopher of this
+kind; he was contemporary with Jesus Christ; but he has the misfortune
+of not knowing Him any more than Josephus the historian. These two
+considerable men, employed in the chaos of affairs of state, were too
+far distant from the dawning light. This Philo had quite a metaphysical,
+allegorical, mystical head. It was he who said that God must have formed
+the world in six days; he formed it, according to Zoroaster, in six
+times, "because three is the half of six and two is the third of it; and
+this number is male and female."
+
+This same man, infatuated with the ideas of Plato, says, in speaking of
+drunkenness, that God and wisdom married, and that wisdom was delivered
+of a well-beloved son, which son is the world. He calls the angels the
+words of God, and the world the word of God--"_logon tou Theou_."
+
+As to Flavius Josephus, he was a man of war who had never heard of the
+logos, and who held to the dogmas of the Pharisees, who were solely
+attached to their traditions. From the Jews of Alexandria, this Platonic
+philosophy proceeded to those of Jerusalem. Soon, all the school of
+Alexandria, which was the only learned one, was Platonic; and Christians
+who philosophized, no longer spoke of anything but the _logos_.
+
+We know that it was in disputes of that time the same as in those of the
+present. To one badly understood passage, was tacked another
+unintelligible one to which it had no relation. A second was inferred
+from them, a third was falsified, and they fabricated whole books which
+they attributed to authors respected by the multitude. We have seen a
+hundred examples of it in the article on "Apocrypha."
+
+Dear reader, for heaven's sake cast your eyes on this passage of Clement
+the Alexandrian: "When Plato says, that it is difficult to know the
+Father of the universe, he demonstrates by that, not only that the world
+has been engendered, but that it has been engendered as the Son of God."
+
+Do you understand these logomachies, these equivoques? Do you see the
+least light in this chaos of obscure expressions? Oh, Locke! Locke! come
+and define these terms. In all these Platonic disputes I believe there
+was not a single one understood. They distinguished two words, the
+"_logos endiathetos_"--the word in thought, and the word
+produced--"_logos prophorikos._" They had the eternity from one word,
+and the prolation, the emanation from another word.
+
+The book of "Apostolic Constitutions," an ancient monument of fraud, but
+also an ancient depository of these obscure times, expresses itself
+thus: "The Father, who is anterior to all generation, all commencement,
+having created all by His only Son, has engendered this Son without a
+medium, by His will and His power."
+
+Afterwards Origen advanced, that the Holy Spirit was created by the Son,
+by the word. After that came Eusebius of Caesarea, who taught that the
+spirit paraclete is neither of Father nor Son. The advocate Lactantius
+flourished in that time.
+
+"The Son of God," says he, "is the word, as the other angels are the
+spirits of God. The word is a spirit uttered by a significant voice, the
+spirit proceeding from the nose, and the word from the mouth. It
+follows, that there is a difference between the Son of God and the other
+angels; those being emanated like tacit and silent spirits; while the
+Son, being a spirit proceeding from the mouth, possesses sound and voice
+to preach to the people."
+
+It must be confessed, that Lactantius pleaded his cause in a strange
+manner. It was truly reasoning a la Plato, and very powerful reasoning.
+It was about this time that, among the very violent disputes on the
+Trinity, this famous verse was inserted in the First Epistle of St.
+John: "There are three that bear witness in earth--the word or spirit,
+the water, and the blood; and these three are one."
+
+Those who pretend that this verse is truly St. John's, are much more
+embarrassed than those who deny it; for they must explain it. St.
+Augustine says, that the spirit signifies the Father, water the Holy
+Ghost, and by blood is meant the Word. This explanation is fine, but it
+still leaves a little confusion.
+
+St Irenaeus goes much farther; he says, that Rahab, the prostitute of
+Jericho, in concealing three spies of the people of God, concealed the
+Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; which is strong, but not consistent. On the
+other hand, the great and learned Origen confounds us in a different
+way. The following is one of many of his passages: "The Son is as much
+below the Father as He and the Holy Ghost are above the most noble
+creatures."
+
+What can be said after that? How can we help confessing, with grief,
+that nobody understands it? How can we help confessing, that from the
+first--from the primitive Christians, the Ebionites, those men so
+mortified and so pious, who always revered Jesus though they believed
+Him to be the son of Joseph--until the great controversy of Athanasius,
+the Platonism of the Trinity was always a subject of quarrels. A supreme
+judge was absolutely required to decide, and he was at last found in
+the Council of Nice, which council afterwards produced new factions and
+wars.
+
+EXPLANATION OF THE TRINITY, ACCORDING TO ABAUZIT.
+
+"We can speak with exactness of the manner in which the union of God and
+Jesus Christ exists, only by relating the three opinions which exist on
+this subject, and by making reflections on each of them.
+
+"_Opinion of the Orthodox._
+
+"The first opinion is that of the orthodox. They establish, 1st--A
+distinction of three persons in the divine essence, before the coming of
+Jesus Christ into the world; 2nd--That the second of these persons is
+united to the human nature of Jesus Christ; 3rd--That the union is so
+strict, that by it Jesus Christ is God; that we can attribute to Him the
+creation of the world, and all divine perfections; and that we can adore
+Him with a supreme worship.
+
+"_Opinion of the Unitarians._
+
+"The second is that of the Unitarians. Not conceiving the distinction of
+persons in the Divinity, they establish, 1st--That divinity is united to
+the human nature of Jesus Christ; 2nd--That this union is such that we
+can say, that Jesus Christ is God; that we can attribute to Him the
+creation of the world, and all divine perfections, and adore Him with a
+supreme worship.
+
+"_Opinion of the Socinians._
+
+"The third opinion is that of the Socinians, who, like the Unitarians,
+not conceiving any distinction of persons in the Divinity, establish,
+1st--That divinity is united to the human nature of Jesus Christ;
+2nd--That this union is very strict; 3rd--That it is not such that we
+can call Jesus Christ God, or attribute divine perfections and the
+creation to Him, or adore Him with a supreme worship; and they think
+that all the passages of Scripture may be explained without admitting
+any of these things.
+
+"_Reflections on the First Opinion._
+
+"In the distinction which is made of three persons in the Divinity, we
+either retain the common idea of persons, or we do not. If we retain the
+common idea of persons, we establish three gods; that is certain. If we
+do not establish the ordinary idea of three persons, it is no longer any
+more than a distinction of properties; which agrees with the second
+opinion. Or if we will not allow that it is a distinction of persons,
+properly speaking, we establish a distinction of which we have no idea.
+There is no appearance, that to imagine a distinction in God, of which
+we can have no idea, Scripture would put men in danger of becoming
+idolaters, by multiplying the Divinity. It is besides surprising that
+this distinction of persons having always existed, it should only be
+since the coming of Jesus Christ that it has been revealed, and that it
+is necessary to know them.
+
+"_Reflections on the Second Opinion._
+
+"There is not, indeed, so great danger of precipitating men into
+idolatry in the second opinion as in the first; but it must be confessed
+that it is not entirely exempt from it. Indeed, as by the nature of the
+union which it establishes between divinity and the human nature of
+Jesus Christ, we can call him God and worship him, but there are two
+objects of adoration--Jesus Christ and God. I confess it may be said,
+that it is God whom we should worship in Jesus Christ; but who knows not
+the extreme inclination which men have to change invisible objects of
+worship into objects which fall under the senses, or at least under the
+imagination?--an inclination which they will here gratify without the
+least scruple, since they say that divinity is personally united to the
+humanity of Jesus Christ.
+
+"_Reflections on the Third Opinion._
+
+"The third opinion, besides being very simple, and conformable to the
+ideas of reason, is not subject to any similar danger of throwing men
+into idolatry. Though by this opinion Jesus Christ can be no more than a
+simple man, it need not be feared that by that He can be confounded with
+prophets or saints of the first order. In this sentiment there always
+remains a difference between them and Him. As we can imagine, almost to
+the utmost, the degrees of union of divinity with humanity, so we can
+conceive, that in particular the union of divinity with Jesus Christ
+has so high a degree of knowledge, power, felicity, perfection, and
+dignity, that there is always an immense distance between him and the
+greatest prophets. It remains only to see whether this opinion can agree
+with Scripture, and whether it be true that the title of God, divine
+perfections, creation, and supreme worship, are not attributed to Jesus
+Christ in the Gospels."
+
+It was for the philosopher Abauzit to see all this. For myself I submit,
+with my heart and mouth and pen, to all that the Catholic church has
+decided, and to all that it may decide on any other such dogma. I will
+add but one word more on the Trinity, which is a decision of Calvin's
+that we have on this mystery. This is it:
+
+"In case any person prove heterodox, and scruples using the words
+Trinity and Person, we believe not that this can be a reason for
+rejecting him; we should support him without driving him from the
+Church, and without exposing him to any censure as a heretic."
+
+It was after such a solemn declaration as this, that John Calvin--the
+aforesaid Calvin, the son of a cooper of Noyon--caused Michael Servetus
+to be burned at Geneva by a slow fire with green fagots.
+
+
+
+
+TRUTH.
+
+
+"Pilate therefore said unto him, 'Art thou a king then?' Jesus answered,
+'Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this
+cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto truth:
+every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.' Pilate saith unto him,
+'What is truth?' and when he had said this, he went out," etc.--St.
+John, chap. xviii.
+
+It is a pity for mankind that Pilate went out, without hearing the
+reply: we should then have known what truth is. Pilate was not very
+curious. The accused, brought before him, told him that he was a king,
+that he was born to be a king, and he informs himself not how this can
+be. He was supreme judge in the name of Caesar, he had the power of the
+sword, his duty was to penetrate into the meaning of these words. He
+should have said: Tell me what you understand by being king? how are you
+born to be king, and to bear witness unto the truth? It is said that you
+can only arrive at the ear of kings with difficulty; I, who am a judge,
+have always had extreme trouble in reaching it. Inform me, while your
+enemies cry outside against you; and you will render me the greatest
+service ever rendered to a judge. I would rather learn to know the
+truth, than condescend to the tumultuous demand of the Jews, who wish me
+to hang you.
+
+We doubtless dare not pretend to guess what the Author of all truth
+would have said to Pilate. Would he have said: "Truth is an abstract
+word which most men use indifferently in their books and judgments, for
+error and falsehood"? This definition would be wonderfully convenient to
+all makers of systems. Thus the word wisdom is often taken for folly,
+and wit for nonsense. Humanly speaking, let us define truth, to better
+understand that which is declared--such as it is.
+
+Suppose that six months only had been taken to teach Pilate the truths
+of logic he would doubtless have made this concluding syllogism: A man's
+life should not have been taken away who has only preached a good
+doctrine; now he who is brought before me, according even to his
+enemies, has often preached an excellent doctrine; therefore, he should
+not be punished with death.
+
+He might also have inferred this other argument: My duty is to dissipate
+the riots of a seditious people, who demand the death of a man without
+reason or juridical form; now such are the Jews on this occasion;
+therefore I should send them away, and break up their assembly. We take
+for granted that Pilate knew arithmetic; we will not therefore speak of
+these kinds of truths.
+
+As to mathematical truths, I believe that he would have required three
+years at least before he would have been acquainted with transcendent
+geometry. The truths of physics, combined with those of geometry, would
+have required more than four years. We generally consume six years in
+studying theology; I ask twelve for Pilate, considering that he was a
+Pagan, and that six years would not have been too many to root out all
+his old errors, and six more to put him in a state worthy to receive
+the bonnet of a doctor. If Pilate had a well organized head, I would
+only have demanded two years to teach him metaphysical truths, and as
+these truths are necessarily united with those of morality, I flatter
+myself that in less than nine years Pilate would have become a truly
+learned and perfectly honest man.
+
+_Historical Truths._
+
+I should afterwards have said to Pilate: Historical truths are but
+probabilities. If you have fought at the battle of Philippi, it is to
+you a truth, which you know by intuition, by sentiment; but to us who
+live near the desert of Syria, it is merely a probable thing, which we
+know by hearsay. How can we, from report, form a persuasion equal to
+that of a man, who having seen the thing, can boast of feeling a kind of
+certainty?
+
+He who has heard the thing told by twelve thousand ocular witnesses, has
+only twelve thousand probabilities equal to one strong one, which is not
+equal to certainty. If you have the thing from only one of these
+witnesses, you are sure of nothing--you must doubt. If the witness is
+dead, you must doubt still more, for you can enlighten yourself no
+further. If from several deceased witnesses, you are in the same state.
+If from those to whom the witnesses have only spoken, the doubt is still
+augmented. From generation to generation the doubt augments, and the
+probability diminishes, and the probability is soon reduced to zero.
+
+_Of the Degrees of Truth, According to Which the Accused are Judged._
+
+We can be made accountable to justice either for deeds or words. If for
+deeds, they must be as certain as will be the punishment to which you
+will condemn the prisoner; if, for example, you have but twenty
+probabilities against him, these twenty probabilities cannot equal the
+certainty of his death. If you would have as many probabilities as are
+required to be sure that you shed not innocent blood, they must be the
+fruit of the unanimous evidences of witnesses who have no interest in
+deposing. From this concourse of probabilities, a strong opinion will be
+formed, which will serve to excuse your judgment; but as you will never
+have entire certainty, you cannot flatter yourself with knowing the
+truth perfectly. Consequently you should always lean towards mercy
+rather than towards rigor. If it concerns only facts, from which neither
+manslaughter nor mutilation have resulted, it is evident that you should
+neither cause the accused to be put to death nor mutilated.
+
+If the question is only of words, it is still more evident that you
+should not cause one of your fellow-creatures to be hanged for the
+manner in which he has used his tongue; for all the words in the world
+being but agitated air, at least if they have not caused murder, it is
+ridiculous to condemn a man to death for having agitated the air. Put
+all the idle words which have been uttered into one scale, and into the
+other the blood of a man, and the blood will weigh down. Now, if he who
+has been brought before you is only accused of some words which his
+enemies have taken in a certain sense, all that you can do is to repeat
+these words to him, which he will explain in the sense he intended; but
+to deliver an innocent man to the most cruel and ignominious punishment,
+for words that his enemies do not comprehend, is too barbarous. You make
+the life of a man of no more importance than that of a lizard; and too
+many judges resemble you.
+
+
+
+
+TYRANNY.
+
+
+The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice; who
+takes the property of his subjects, and afterwards enlists them to go
+and take that of his neighbors. We have none of these tyrants in Europe.
+We distinguish the tyranny of one and that of many. The tyranny of
+several is that of a body which would invade the rights of other bodies,
+and which would exercise despotism by favor of laws which it corrupts.
+Neither are there any tyrannies of this kind in Europe.
+
+Under what tyranny should you like best to live? Under none; but if I
+must choose, I should less detest the tyranny of a single one, than that
+of many. A despot has always some good moments; an assemblage of
+despots, never. If a tyrant does me an injustice, I can disarm him
+through his mistress, his confessor, or his page; but a company of
+tyrants is inaccessible to all seductions. When they are not unjust,
+they are harsh, and they never dispense favors. If I have but one
+despot, I am at liberty to set myself against a wall when I see him
+pass, to prostrate myself, or to strike my forehead against the ground,
+according to the custom of the country; but if there is a company of a
+hundred tyrants, I am liable to repeat this ceremony a hundred times a
+day, which is very tiresome to those who have not supple joints. If I
+have a farm in the neighborhood of one of our lords, I am crushed; if I
+complain against a relative of the relatives of any one of our lords, I
+am ruined. How must I act? I fear that in this world we are reduced to
+being either the anvil or the hammer; happy at least is he who escapes
+this alternative.
+
+
+
+
+TYRANT.
+
+
+"Tyrannos," formerly "he who had contrived to draw the principal
+authority to himself"; as "king," "Basileus," signified "he who was
+charged with relating affairs to the senate." The acceptations of words
+change with time. "Idiot" at first meant only a hermit, an isolated man;
+in time it became synonymous with fool. At present the name of "tyrant"
+is given to a usurper, or to a king who commits violent and unjust
+actions.
+
+Cromwell was a tyrant of both these kinds. A citizen who usurps the
+supreme authority, who in spite of all laws suppresses the house of
+peers, is without doubt a usurper. A general who cuts the throat of a
+king, his prisoner of war, at once violates what is called the laws of
+nations, and those of humanity.
+
+Charles I. was not a tyrant, though the victorious faction gave him that
+name; he was, it is said, obstinate, weak, and ill-advised. I will not
+be certain, for I did not know him; but I am certain that he was very
+unfortunate.
+
+Henry VIII. was a tyrant in his government as in his family, and alike
+covered with the blood of two innocent wives, and that of the most
+virtuous citizens; he merits the execrations of posterity. Yet he was
+not punished, and Charles I. died on a scaffold.
+
+Elizabeth committed an act of tyranny, and her parliament one of
+infamous weakness, in causing Queen Mary Stuart to be assassinated by an
+executioner; but in the rest of her government she was not tyrannical;
+she was clever and manoeuvering, but prudent and strong.
+
+Richard III. was a barbarous tyrant; but he was punished. Pope Alexander
+VI. was a more execrable tyrant than any of these, and he was fortunate
+in all his undertakings. Christian II. was as wicked a tyrant as
+Alexander VI., and was punished, but not sufficiently so.
+
+If we were to reckon Turkish, Greek, and Roman tyrants, we should find
+as many fortunate as the contrary. When I say fortunate, I speak
+according to the vulgar prejudice, the ordinary acceptation of the
+word, according to appearances; for that they can be really happy, that
+their minds can be contented and tranquil, appears to me to be
+impossible.
+
+Constantine the Great was evidently a tyrant in a double sense. In the
+north of England he usurped the crown of the Roman Empire, at the head
+of some foreign legions, notwithstanding all the laws, and in spite of
+the senate and the people, who legitimately elected Maxentius. He passed
+all his life in crime, voluptuousness, fraud, and imposture. He was not
+punished, but was he happy? God knows; but I know that his subjects were
+not so.
+
+The great Theodosius was the most abominable of tyrants, when, under
+pretence of giving a feast, he caused fifteen thousand Roman citizens to
+be murdered in the circus, with their wives and children, and when he
+added to this horror the facetiousness of passing some months without
+going to tire himself at high mass. This Theodosius has almost been
+placed in the ranks of the blessed; but I should be very sorry if he
+were happy on earth. In all cases it would be well to assure tyrants
+that they will never be happy in this world, as it is well to make our
+stewards and cooks believe that they will be eternally damned if they
+rob us.
+
+The tyrants of the Lower Greek Empire were almost all dethroned or
+assassinated by one another. All these great offenders were by turns the
+executioners of human and divine vengeance. Among the Turkish tyrants,
+we see as many deposed as those who die in possession of the throne.
+With regard to subaltern tyrants, or the lower order of monsters who
+burden their masters with the execration with which they are loaded, the
+number of these Hamans, these Sejanuses, is infinite.
+
+
+
+
+UNIVERSITY.
+
+
+Du Boulay, in his "History of the University of Paris," adopts the old,
+uncertain, not to say fabulous tradition, which carries its origin to
+the time of Charlemagne. It is true that such is the opinion of Guagin
+and of Gilles de Beauvais; but in addition to the fact that contemporary
+authors, as Eginhard, Almon, Reginon, and Sigebert make no mention of
+this establishment; Pasquier and Du Tillet expressly assert that it
+commenced in the twelfth century under the reigns of Louis the Young and
+of Philip Augustus.
+
+Moreover, the first statutes of the university were drawn up by Robert
+de Coceon, legate of the pope, in the year 1215, which proves that it
+received from the first the form it retains at present; because a bull
+of Gregory IX., of the year 1231, makes mention of masters of theology,
+masters of law, physicians, and lastly, artists. The name "university"
+originated in the supposition that these four bodies, termed faculties,
+constituted a universality of studies; that is to say, that they
+comprehended all which could be cultivated.
+
+The popes, by the means of these establishments, of the decisions of
+which they made themselves judges, became masters of the instruction of
+the people; and the same spirit which made the permission granted to the
+members of the Parliament of Paris to inter themselves in the habits of
+Cordeliers, be regarded as an especial favor--as related in the article
+on "Quete"--dictated the decrees pronounced by that sovereign court
+against all who dared to oppose an unintelligible scholastic system,
+which, according to the confession of the abbe Triteme, was only a false
+science that had vitiated religion. In fact, that which Constantine had
+only insinuated with respect to the Cumaean Sibyl, has been expressly
+asserted of Aristotle. Cardinal Pallavicini supported the maxim of I
+know not what monk Paul, who pleasantly observed, that without Aristotle
+the Church would have been deficient in some of her articles of faith.
+
+Thus the celebrated Ramus, having composed two works in which he opposed
+the doctrine of Aristotle taught in the universities, would have been
+sacrificed to the fury of his ignorant rival, had not King Francis I.
+referred to his own judgment the process commenced in Paris between
+Ramus and Anthony Govea. One of the principal complaints against Ramus
+related to the manner in which he taught his disciples to pronounce the
+letter Q.
+
+Ramus was not the only disputant persecuted for these grave absurdities.
+In the year 1624, the Parliament of Paris banished from its district
+three persons who wished to maintain theses openly against Aristotle.
+Every person was forbidden to sell or to circulate the propositions
+contained in these theses, on pain of corporal punishment, or to teach
+any opinion against ancient and approved authors, on pain of death.
+
+The remonstrances of the Sorbonne, in consequence of which the same
+parliament issued a decision against the chemists, in the year 1629,
+testified that it was impossible to impeach the principles of Aristotle,
+without at the same time impeaching those of the scholastic theology
+received by the Church. In the meantime, the faculty having issued, in
+1566, a decree forbidding the use of antimony, and the parliament having
+confirmed the said decree, Paumier de Caen, a great chemist and
+celebrated physician of Paris, for not conforming to it, was degraded in
+the year 1609. Lastly, antimony being afterwards inserted in the books
+of medicines, composed by order of the faculty in the year 1637, the
+said faculty permitted the use of it in 1666, a century after having
+forbidden it, which decision the parliament confirmed by a new decree.
+Thus the university followed the example of the Church, which finally
+proscribed the doctrine of Arius, under pain of death, and approved the
+word "consubstantial," which it had previously condemned--as we have
+seen in the article on "Councils."
+
+What we have observed of the university of Paris, may serve to give us
+an idea of other universities, of which it was regarded as the model. In
+fact, in imitation of it, eighty universities passed the same decree as
+the Sorbonne in the fourteenth century; to wit, that when the cap of a
+doctor was bestowed, the candidate should be made to swear that he will
+maintain the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary; which he did not
+regard, however, as an article of faith, but as a Catholic and pious
+opinion.
+
+
+
+
+USAGES.
+
+_Contemptible Customs do not Always Imply a Contemptible Nation._
+
+There are cases in which we must not judge of a nation by its usages and
+popular superstitions. Suppose Caesar, after having conquered Egypt,
+wishing to make commerce flourish in the Roman Empire, had sent an
+embassy to China by the port of Arsinoe, the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
+The emperor Yventi, the first of the name, then reigned in China; the
+Chinese annals represent him to us as a very wise and learned prince.
+After receiving the ambassadors of Caesar with all Chinese politeness, he
+secretly informs himself through his interpreter of the customs, the
+usages, sciences, and religion of the Roman people, as celebrated in the
+West as the Chinese people are in the East. He first learns that their
+priests have regulated their years in so absurd a manner, that the sun
+has already entered the celestial signs of Spring when the Romans
+celebrate the first feasts of Winter. He learns that this nation at a
+great expense supports a college of priests, who know exactly the time
+in which they must embark, and when they should give battle, by the
+inspection of a bullock's liver, or the manner in which fowls eat grain.
+This sacred science was formerly taught to the Romans by a little god
+named Tages, who came out of the earth in Tuscany. These people adore a
+supreme and only God, whom they always call a very great and very good
+God; yet they have built a temple to a courtesan named Flora, and the
+good women of Rome have almost all little gods--Penates--in their
+houses, about four or five inches high. One of these little divinities
+is the goddess of bosoms, another that of posteriors. They have even a
+divinity whom they call the god _Pet_. The emperor Yventi began to
+laugh; and the tribunals of Nankin at first think with him that the
+Roman ambassadors are knaves or impostors, who have taken the title of
+envoys of the Roman Republic; but as the emperor is as just as he is
+polite, he has particular conversations with them. He then learns that
+the Roman priests were very ignorant, but that Caesar actually reformed
+the calendar. They confess to him that the college of augurs was
+established in the time of their early barbarity, that they have allowed
+this ridiculous institution, become dear to a people long ignorant, to
+exist, but that all sensible people laugh at the augurs; that Caesar
+never consulted them; that, according to the account of a very great man
+named Cato, no augur could ever look another in the face without
+laughing; and finally, that Cicero, the greatest orator and best
+philosopher of Rome, wrote a little work against the augurs, entitled
+"Of Divination," in which he delivers up to eternal ridicule all the
+predictions and sorceries of soothsayers with which the earth is
+infatuated. The emperor of China has the curiosity to read this book of
+Cicero; the interpreters translate it; and in consequence he admires at
+once the book and the Roman Republic.
+
+
+
+
+VAMPIRES.
+
+
+What! is it in our eighteenth century that vampires exist? Is it after
+the reigns of Locke, Shaftesbury, Trenchard, and Collins? Is it under
+those of d'Alembert, Diderot, St. Lambert, and Duclos that we believe in
+vampires, and that the reverend father Dom Calmet, Benedictine priest of
+the congregation of St. Vannes, and St. Hidulphe, abbe of Senon--an
+abbey of a hundred thousand livres a year, in the neighborhood of two
+other abbeys of the same revenue--has printed and reprinted the history
+of vampires, with the approbation of the Sorbonne, signed Marcilli?
+
+These vampires were corpses, who went out of their graves at night to
+suck the blood of the living, either at their throats or stomachs,
+after which they returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked
+waned, grew pale, and fell into consumption; while the sucking corpses
+grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed an excellent appetite. It was in Poland,
+Hungary, Silesia, Moravia, Austria, and Lorraine, that the dead made
+this good cheer. We never heard a word of vampires in London, nor even
+at Paris. I confess that in both these cities there were stock-jobbers,
+brokers, and men of business, who sucked the blood of the people in
+broad daylight; but they were not dead, though corrupted. These true
+suckers lived not in cemeteries, but in very agreeable palaces.
+
+Who would believe that we derive the idea of vampires from Greece? Not
+from the Greece of Alexander, Aristotle, Plato, Epicurus, and
+Demosthenes; but from Christian Greece, unfortunately schismatic. For a
+long time Christians of the Greek rite have imagined that the bodies of
+Christians of the Latin church, buried in Greece, do not decay, because
+they are excommunicated. This is precisely the contrary to that of us
+Christians of the Latin church, who believe that corpses which do not
+corrupt are marked with the seal of eternal beatitude. So much so,
+indeed, that when we have paid a hundred thousand crowns to Rome, to
+give them a saint's brevet, we adore them with the worship of "_dulia_."
+
+The Greeks are persuaded that these dead are sorcerers; they call them
+"_broucolacas_," or "_vroucolacas_," according as they pronounce the
+second letter of the alphabet. The Greek corpses go into houses to suck
+the blood of little children, to eat the supper of the fathers and
+mothers, drink their wine, and break all the furniture. They can only be
+put to rights by burning them when they are caught. But the precaution
+must be taken of not putting them into the fire until after their hearts
+are torn out, which must be burned separately. The celebrated
+Tournefort, sent into the Levant by Louis XIV., as well as so many other
+virtuosi, was witness of all the acts attributed to one of these
+"_broucolacas_," and to this ceremony.
+
+After slander, nothing is communicated more promptly than superstition,
+fanaticism, sorcery, and tales of those raised from the dead. There were
+"_broucolacas_" in Wallachia, Moldavia, and some among the Polanders,
+who are of the Romish church. This superstition being absent, they
+acquired it, and it went through all the east of Germany. Nothing was
+spoken of but vampires, from 1730 to 1735; they were laid in wait for,
+their hearts torn out and burned. They resembled the ancient
+martyrs--the more they were burned, the more they abounded.
+
+Finally, Calmet became their historian, and treated vampires as he
+treated the Old and New Testaments, by relating faithfully all that has
+been said before him.
+
+The most curious things, in my opinion, were the verbal suits
+juridically conducted, concerning the dead who went from their tombs to
+suck the little boys and girls of their neighborhood. Calmet relates
+that in Hungary two officers, delegated by the emperor Charles VI.,
+assisted by the bailiff of the place and an executioner, held an inquest
+on a vampire, who had been dead six weeks, and who had sucked all the
+neighborhood. They found him in his coffin, fresh and jolly, with his
+eyes open, and asking for food. The bailiff passed his sentence; the
+executioner tore out the vampire's heart, and burned it, after which he
+feasted no more.
+
+Who, after this, dares to doubt of the resuscitated dead, with which our
+ancient legends are filled, and of all the miracles related by
+Bollandus, and the sincere and revered Dom Ruinart? You will find
+stories of vampires in the "Jewish Letters" of d'Argens, whom the Jesuit
+authors of the "Journal of Trevoux" have accused of believing nothing.
+It should be observed how they triumph in the history of the vampire of
+Hungary; how they thanked God and the Virgin for having at last
+converted this poor d'Argens, the chamberlain of a king who did not
+believe in vampires. "Behold," said they, "this famous unbeliever, who
+dared to throw doubts on the appearance of the angel to the Holy Virgin;
+on the star which conducted the magi; on the cure of the possessed; on
+the immersion of two thousand swine in a lake; on an eclipse of the sun
+at the full moon; on the resurrection of the dead who walked in
+Jerusalem--his heart is softened, his mind is enlightened; he believes
+in vampires."
+
+There no longer remained any question, but to examine whether all these
+dead were raised by their own virtue, by the power of God, or by that of
+the devil. Several great theologians of Lorraine, of Moravia, and
+Hungary, displayed their opinions and their science. They related all
+that St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and so many other saints, had most
+unintelligibly said on the living and the dead. They related all the
+miracles of St. Stephen, which are found in the seventh book of the
+works of St. Augustine. This is one of the most curious of them: In the
+city of Aubzal in Africa, a young man was crushed to death by the ruins
+of a wall; the widow immediately invoked St. Stephen, to whom she was
+very much devoted. St. Stephen raised him. He was asked what he had seen
+in the other world. "Sirs," said he, "when my soul quitted my body, it
+met an infinity of souls, who asked it more questions about this world
+than you do of the other. I went I know not whither, when I met St.
+Stephen, who said to me, 'Give back that which thou hast received.' I
+answered, 'What should I give back? you have given me nothing.' He
+repeated three times, 'Give back that which thou hast received.' Then I
+comprehended that he spoke of the credo; I repeated my credo to him, and
+suddenly he raised me." Above all, they quoted the stories related by
+Sulpicius Severus, in the life of St. Martin. They proved that St.
+Martin, with some others, raised up a condemned soul.
+
+But all these stories, however true they might be, had nothing in common
+with the vampires who rose to suck the blood of their neighbors, and
+afterwards replaced themselves in their coffins. They looked if they
+could not find in the Old Testament, or in the mythology, some vampire
+whom they could quote as an example; but they found none. It was proved,
+however, that the dead drank and ate, since in so many ancient nations
+food was placed on their tombs.
+
+The difficulty was to know whether it was the soul or the body of the
+dead which ate. It was decided that it was both. Delicate and
+unsubstantial things, as sweetmeats, whipped cream, and melting fruits,
+were for the soul, and roast beef and the like were for the body.
+
+The kings of Persia were, said they, the first who caused themselves to
+be served with viands after their death. Almost all the kings of the
+present day imitate them; but they are the monks who eat their dinner
+and supper, and drink their wine. Thus, properly speaking, kings are not
+vampires; the true vampires are the monks, who eat at the expense of
+both kings and people.
+
+It is very true that St. Stanislaus, who had bought a considerable
+estate from a Polish gentleman, and not paid him for it, being brought
+before King Boleslaus by his heirs, raised up the gentleman; but this
+was solely to get quittance. It is not said that he gave a single glass
+of wine to the seller, who returned to the other world without having
+eaten or drunk. They afterwards treated of the grand question, whether a
+vampire could be absolved who died excommunicated, which comes more to
+the point.
+
+I am not profound enough in theology to give my opinion on this subject;
+but I would willingly be for absolution, because in all doubtful affairs
+we should take the mildest part. "_Odia restringenda, favores
+ampliandi_."
+
+The result of all this is that a great part of Europe has been infested
+with vampires for five or six years, and that there are now no more;
+that we have had Convulsionaries in France for twenty years, and that we
+have them no longer; that we have had demoniacs for seventeen hundred
+years, but have them no longer; that the dead have been raised ever
+since the days of Hippolytus, but that they are raised no longer; and,
+lastly, that we have had Jesuits in Spain, Portugal, France, and the two
+Sicilies, but that we have them no longer.
+
+
+
+
+VELETRI.
+
+
+_A Small Town of Umbria, Nine Leagues from Rome; and, Incidentally, of
+the Divinity of Augustus._
+
+Those who love the study of history are glad to understand by what title
+a citizen of Veletri governed an empire, which extended from Mount
+Taurus to Mount Atlas, and from the Euphrates to the Western Ocean. It
+was not as perpetual dictator; this title had been too fatal to Julius
+Caesar, and Augustus bore it only eleven days. The fear of perishing like
+his predecessor, and the counsels of Agrippa, induced him to take other
+measures; he insensibly concentrated in his own person all the dignities
+of the republic. Thirteen consulates, the tribunate renewed in his favor
+every ten years, the name of prince of the senate, that of imperator,
+which at first signified only the general of an army, but to which it
+was known how to bestow a more extensive signification--such were the
+titles which appeared to legitimate his power.
+
+The senate lost nothing by his honors, but preserved even its most
+extensive rights. Augustus divided with it all the provinces of the
+empire, but retained the principal for himself; finally, he was master
+of the public treasury and the soldiery, and in fact sovereign.
+
+What is more strange, Julius Caesar having been enrolled among the gods
+after his death, Augustus was ordained god while living. It is true he
+was not altogether a god in Rome, but he was so in the provinces, where
+he had temples and priests. The abbey of Ainai at Lyons was a fine
+temple of Augustus. Horace says to him: "_Jurandasque tuum per nomen
+ponimus aras._" That is to say, among the Romans existed courtiers so
+finished as to have small altars in their houses dedicated to Augustus.
+He was therefore _canonized_ during his life, and the name of
+god--_divus_--became the title or nickname of all the succeeding
+emperors. Caligula constituted himself a god without difficulty, and was
+worshipped in the temple of Castor and Pollux; his statue was placed
+between those of the twins, and they sacrificed to him peacocks,
+pheasants, and Numidian fowls, until he ended by immolating himself.
+Nero bore the name of god, before he was condemned by the senate to
+suffer the punishment of a slave.
+
+We are not to imagine that the name of "god" signified, in regard to
+these monsters, that which we understand by it; the blasphemy could not
+be carried quite so far. "Divus" precisely answers to "sanctus." The
+Augustan list of proscriptions and the filthy epigram against Fulvia,
+are not the productions of a divinity.
+
+There were twelve conspiracies against this god, if we include the
+pretended plot of Cinna; but none of them succeeded; and of all the
+wretches who have usurped divine honors, Augustus was doubtless the most
+unfortunate. It was he, indeed, who actually terminated the Roman
+Republic; for Caesar was dictator only six months, and Augustus reigned
+forty years. It was during his reign that manners changed with the
+government. The armies, formerly composed of the Roman legions and
+people of Italy, were in the end made up from all the barbarians, who
+naturally enough placed emperors of their own country on the throne.
+
+In the third century they raised up thirty tyrants at one time, of whom
+some were natives of Transylvania, others of Gaul, Britain, and Germany.
+Diocletian was the son of a Dalmatian slave; Maximian Hercules, a
+peasant of Sirmik; and Theodosius, a native of Spain--not then
+civilized.
+
+We know how the Roman Empire was finally destroyed; how the Turks have
+subjugated one half, and how the name of the other still subsists among
+the Marcomans on the shores of the Danube. The most singular of all its
+revolutions, however, and the most astonishing of all spectacles, is the
+manner in which its capital is governed and inhabited at this moment.
+
+
+
+
+VENALITY.
+
+
+The forger of whom we have spoken so much, who made the testament of
+Cardinal Richelieu, says in chapter iv.: "That it would be much better
+to allow venality and the '_droit annuel_' to continue to exist, than to
+abolish these two establishments, which are not to be changed suddenly
+without shaking the state."
+
+All France repeated, and believed they repeated after Cardinal
+Richelieu, that the sale of offices of judicature was very advantageous.
+The abbe de St. Pierre was the first who, still believing that the
+pretended testament was the cardinal's, dared to say in his observation
+on chapter iv.: "The cardinal engaged himself on a bad subject, in
+maintaining that the sale of places can be advantageous to the state. It
+is true that it is not possible to otherwise reimburse all the charges."
+
+Thus this abuse appeared to everybody, not only unreformable, but
+useful. They were so accustomed to this opprobrium that they did not
+feel it; it seemed eternal; yet a single man in a few months has
+overthrown it. Let us therefore repeat, that all may be done, all may be
+corrected; that the great fault of almost all who govern, is having but
+half wills and half means. If Peter the Great had not willed strongly,
+two thousand leagues of country would still be barbarous.
+
+How can we give water in Paris to thirty thousand houses which want it?
+How can we pay the debts of the state? How can we throw off the dreaded
+tyranny of a foreign power, which is not a power, and to which we pay
+the first fruits as a tribute? Dare to wish it, and you will arrive at
+your object more easily than you extirpated the Jesuits, and purged the
+theatre of _petits-maitres_.
+
+
+
+
+VENICE.
+
+
+_And, Incidentally, of Liberty._
+
+No power can reproach the Venetians with having acquired their liberty
+by revolt; none can say to them, I have freed you--here is the diploma
+of your manumission.
+
+They have not usurped their rights, as Caesar usurped empire, or as so
+many bishops, commencing with that of Rome, have usurped royal rights.
+They are lords of Venice--if we dare use the audacious comparison--as
+God is Lord of the earth, because He founded it.
+
+Attila, who never took the title of the scourge of God, ravaged Italy.
+He had as much right to do so, as Charlemagne the Austrasian, Arnold the
+Corinthian Bastard, Guy, duke of Spoleto, Berenger, marquis of Friuli,
+or the bishops who wished to make themselves sovereigns of it.
+
+In this time of military and ecclesiastical robberies, Attila passed as
+a vulture, and the Venetians saved themselves in the sea as kingfishers,
+which none assist or protect; they make their nest in the midst of the
+waters, they enlarge it, they people it, they defend it, they enrich it.
+I ask if it is possible to imagine a more just possession? Our father
+Adam, who is supposed to have lived in that fine country of Mesopotamia,
+was not more justly lord and gardener of terrestrial paradise.
+
+I have read the "_Squittinio della liberta di Venezia_," and I am
+indignant at it. What! Venice could not be originally free, because the
+Greek emperors, superstitious, weak, wicked, and barbarous, said--This
+new town has been built on our ancient territory; and because a German,
+having the title of Emperor of the West, says: This town being in the
+West, is of our domain?
+
+It seems to me like a flying-fish, pursued at once by a falcon and a
+shark, but which escapes both. Sannazarius was very right in saying, in
+comparing Rome and Venice: _"Illam homines dices, hanc posuisse deos."_
+Rome lost, by Caesar, at the end of five hundred years, its liberty
+acquired by Brutus. Venice has preserved hers for eleven centuries, and
+I hope she will always do so.
+
+Genoa! why dost thou boast of showing the grant of a Berenger, who gave
+thee privileges in the year 958? We know that concessions of privileges
+are but titles of servitude. And this is a fine title! the charter of a
+passing tyrant, who was never properly acknowledged in Italy, and who
+was driven from it two years after the date of the charter!
+
+The true charter of liberty is independence, maintained by force. It is
+with the point of the sword that diplomas should be signed securing this
+natural prerogative. Thou hast lost, more than once, thy privilege and
+thy strong box, since 1748: it is necessary to take care of both. Happy
+Helvetia! to what charter owest thou thy liberty? To thy courage, thy
+firmness, and thy mountains. But I am thy emperor. But I will have thee
+be so no longer. Thy fathers have been the slaves of my fathers. It is
+for that reason that their children will not serve thee. But I have the
+right attached to my dignity. And we have the right of nature.
+
+When had the Seven United Provinces this incontestable right? At the
+moment in which they were united; and from that time Philip II. was the
+rebel. What a great man was William, prince of Orange: he found them
+slaves, and he made them free men! Why is liberty so rare? Because it is
+the first of blessings.
+
+
+
+
+VERSE.
+
+
+It is easy to write in prose, but very difficult to be a poet. More than
+one "_prosateur_" has affected to despise poetry; in reference to which
+propensity, we may call to mind the bon-mot of Montaigne: "We cannot
+attain to poetry; let us revenge ourselves by abusing it."
+
+We have already remarked, that Montesquieu, being unable to succeed in
+verse, professed, in his "Persian Letters," to discover no merit in
+Virgil or Horace. The eloquent Bossuet endeavored to make verses, but
+they were detestable; he took care, however, not to declaim against
+great poets.
+
+Fenelon scarcely made better verses than Bossuet, but knew by heart all
+the fine poetry of antiquity. His mind was full of it, and he
+continually quotes it in his letters.
+
+It appears to me, that there never existed a truly eloquent man who did
+not love poetry. I will simply cite, for example, Caesar and Cicero; the
+one composed a tragedy on Oedipus, and we have pieces of poetry by the
+latter which might pass among the best that preceded Lucretius, Virgil,
+and Horace.
+
+A certain Abbe Trublet has printed, that he cannot read a poem at once
+from beginning to end. Indeed, Air. Abbe! but what can we read, what can
+we understand, what can we do, for a long time together, any more than
+poetry?
+
+
+
+
+VIANDS.
+
+
+_Forbidden Viands, Dangerous Viands.--A short Examination of Jewish and
+Christian Precepts, and of those of the Ancient Philosophers._
+
+
+"Viand" comes no doubt from "_victus_"--that which nourishes and
+sustains life: from victus was formed _viventia_; from _viventa_,
+"viand." This word should be applied to all that is eaten, but by the
+caprice of all languages, the custom has prevailed of refusing this
+denomination to bread, milk, rice, pulses, fruits, and fish, and of
+giving it only to terrestrial animals. This seems contrary to reason,
+but it is the fancy of all languages, and of those who formed them.
+
+Some of the first Christians made a scruple of eating that which had
+been offered to the gods, of whatever nature it might be. St. Paul
+approved not of this scruple. He writes to the Corinthians: "Meat
+commendeth us not to God: for neither if we eat are we the better;
+neither if we eat not, are we the worse." He merely exhorts them not to
+eat viands immolated to the gods, before those brothers who might be
+scandalized at it. We see not, after that, why he so ill-treats St.
+Peter, and reproaches him with having eaten forbidden viands with the
+Gentiles. We see elsewhere, in the Acts of the Apostles, that Simon
+Peter was authorized to eat of all indifferently; for he one day saw the
+firmament open, and a great sheet descending by the four corners from
+heaven to earth; it was covered with all kinds of four-footed beasts,
+with all kinds of birds and reptiles--or animals which swim--and a voice
+cried to him: "Kill and eat."
+
+You will remark, that Lent and fast-days were not then instituted.
+Nothing is ever done, except by degrees. We can here say, for the
+consolation of the weak, that the quarrel of St. Peter and St. Paul
+should not alarm us: saints are men. Paul commenced by being the jailer,
+and even the executioner, of the disciples of Jesus; Peter had denied
+Jesus; and we have seen that the dawning, suffering, militant,
+triumphant church has always been divided, from the Ebionites to the
+Jesuits.
+
+I think that the Brahmins, so anterior to the Jews, might well have been
+divided also; but they were the first who imposed on themselves the law
+of not eating any animal. As they believed that souls passed and
+repassed from human bodies to those of beasts, they would not eat their
+relatives. Perhaps their best reason was the fear of accustoming men to
+carnage, and inspiring them with ferocious manners.
+
+We know that Pythagoras, who studied geometry and morals among them,
+embraced this humane doctrine, and brought it into Italy. His disciples
+followed it a very long time: the celebrated philosophers, Plotinus,
+Jamblicus, and Porphyry, recommended and even practised it--though it is
+very rare to practise what is preached. The work of Porphyry on
+abstinence from meat, written in the middle of our third century, and
+very well translated into our language by M. de Burigni, is very much
+esteemed by the learned; but it has not made more disciples among us
+than the book of the physician Hequet. It is in vain that Porphyry
+proposes, as models, the Brahmins and Persian magi of the first class,
+who had a horror of the custom of burying the entrails of other
+creatures in our own; he is not now followed by the fathers of La
+Trappe. The work of Porphyry is addressed to one of his ancient
+disciples, named Firmus, who, it is said, turned Christian, to have the
+liberty of eating meat and drinking wine.
+
+He shows Firmus, that in abstaining from meat and strong liquors, we
+preserve the health of the soul and body; that we live longer, and more
+innocently. All his reflections are those of a scrupulous theologian, of
+a rigid philosopher, and of a mild and sensible mind. We might think, in
+reading his work, that this great enemy of the church was one of its
+fathers.
+
+He speaks not of metempsychosis, but he regards animals as our brethren,
+because they are animated like ourselves; they have the same principles
+of life; they have, as well as ourselves, ideas, sentiment, memory, and
+industry. They want but speech; if they had it, should we dare to kill
+and eat them; should we dare to commit these fratricides? Where is the
+barbarian who would roast a lamb, if it conjured him by an affecting
+speech not to become at once an assassin, an anthropophagus?
+
+This book proves, at least, that among the Gentiles there were
+philosophers of the most austere virtue; but they could not prevail
+against butchers and gluttons. It is to be remarked, that Porphyry makes
+a very fine eulogium on the Essenians: he is filled with veneration for
+them, although they sometimes eat meat. He was for whoever was the most
+virtuous, whether Essenians, Pythagoreans, Stoics, or Christians. When
+sects are formed of a small number, their manners are pure; and they
+degenerate in proportion as they become powerful. Lust, gaming, and
+luxury then prevail, and all the virtues fly away:
+
+     La gola, il dado e l'otiose piume
+     Hanno dal' mondo ogni virtu sbandita.
+
+
+
+
+VIRTUE.
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+It is said of Marcus Brutus, that before killing himself, he pronounced
+these words: "Oh, Virtue! I believed that thou wert something, but thou
+art only a vile phantom!"
+
+Thou wast right, Brutus, if thou madest virtue consist in being the
+chief of a party, and the assassin of thy benefactor, of thy father,
+Julius Caesar. Hadst thou made virtue to consist only in doing good to
+those who depended on thee, thou wouldst not have called it a phantom,
+or have killed thyself in despair.
+
+I am very virtuous, says a miserable excrement of theology. I possess
+the four cardinal virtues, and the three theological ones. An honest man
+asks him: What are the cardinal virtues? The other answers: They are
+fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+If thou art just, thou hast said all. Thy fortitude, prudence, and
+temperance are useful qualities: if thou possessest them, so much the
+better for thee; but if thou art just, so much the better for others. It
+is not sufficient to be just, thou shouldst be beneficent; this is being
+truly cardinal. And thy theological virtues, what are they?
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+Faith, hope, and charity.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Is there virtue in believing? If that which thou believest seems to thee
+to be true, there is no merit in believing it; if it seems to thee to be
+false, it is impossible for thee to believe it.
+
+Hope should no more be a virtue than fear; we fear and we hope,
+according to what is promised or threatened us. As to charity, is it not
+that which the Greeks and Romans understood by humanity--love of your
+neighbor? This love is nothing, if it does not act; beneficence is
+therefore the only true virtue.
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+What a fool! Yes, truly, I shall trouble myself to serve men, if I get
+nothing in return! Every trouble merits payment. I pretend to do no good
+action, except to insure myself paradise.
+
+     _Quis enim virtutem amplectitur, ipsam_
+     _Proemia si tolias?
+                      _--JUVENAL, _sat._ x.
+
+     For, if the gain you take away,
+     To virtue who will homage pay!
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Ah, good sir, that is to say, that if you did not hope for paradise, or
+fear hell, you would never do a good action. You quote me lines from
+Juvenal, to prove to me that you have only your interest in view. Racine
+could at least show you, that even in this world we might find our
+recompense, while waiting for a better:
+
+     _Quel plaisir de penser, et de dire en vous-meme,_
+     _Partout en ce moment on me benit, on m'aime!_
+     _On ne voit point le peuple a mon nom s'alarmer;_
+     _Le ciel dans tous leurs pleurs ne m'entend point nommer,_
+     _Leur sombre inimitie ne fuit point mon visage;_
+     _Je vois voter partout les coeurs a mon passage._
+     _Tels etaient vos plaisirs._
+                      --RACINE, _Britannicus_, act iv, sc. ii.
+
+     How great his pleasure who can justly say,
+     All at this moment either bless or love me;
+     The people at my name betray no fear,
+     Nor in their plaints does heaven e'er hear of me!
+     Their enmity ne'er makes them fly my presence,
+     But every heart springs out at my approach!
+     Such were your pleasures!
+
+Believe me, doctor, there are two things which deserve to be loved for
+themselves--God and Virtue.
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+Ah, sir! you are a Fenelonist.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Yes, doctor.
+
+THEOLOGIAN.
+
+I will inform against you at the tribunal of Meaux.
+
+HONEST MAN.
+
+Go, and inform!
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+What is virtue? Beneficence towards your neighbor. Can I call virtue
+anything but that which does good! I am indigent, thou art liberal. I am
+in danger, thou succorest me. I am deceived, thou tellest me the truth.
+I am neglected, thou consolest me. I am ignorant, thou teachest me. I
+can easily call thee virtuous, but what will become of the cardinal and
+theological virtues? Some will remain in the schools.
+
+What signifies it to me whether thou art temperate? It is a precept of
+health which thou observest; thou art the better for it; I congratulate
+thee on it. Thou hast faith and hope; I congratulate thee still more;
+they will procure thee eternal life. Thy theological virtues are
+celestial gifts; thy cardinal ones are excellent qualities, which serve
+to guide thee; but they are not virtues in relation to thy neighbor.
+The prudent man does himself good; the virtuous one does it to other
+men. St. Paul was right in telling thee, that charity ranks above faith
+and hope.
+
+But how! wilt thou admit of no other virtues than those which are useful
+to thy neighbor? How can I admit any others? We live in society; there
+is therefore nothing truly good for us but that which does good to
+society. An hermit will be sober, pious, and dressed in sackcloth: very
+well; he will be holy; but I will not call him virtuous until he shall
+have done some act of virtue by which men may have profited. While he is
+alone, he is neither beneficent nor the contrary; he is nobody to us. If
+St. Bruno had made peace in families, if he had assisted the indigent,
+he had been virtuous; having fasted and prayed in solitude, he is only a
+saint. Virtue between men is a commerce of good actions: he who has no
+part in this commerce, must not be reckoned. If this saint were in the
+world, he would doubtless do good, but while he is not in the world, we
+have no reason to give him the name of virtuous: he will be good for
+himself, and not for us.
+
+But, say you, if an hermit is gluttonous, drunken, given up to a secret
+debauch with himself, he is vicious; he is therefore virtuous, if he has
+the contrary qualities. I cannot agree to this: he is a very vile man,
+if he has the faults of which you speak; but he is not vicious, wicked,
+or punishable by society, to which his infamies do no harm. It may be
+presumed, that if he re-enters society, he will do evil to it; he then
+will be very vicious; and it is even more probable that he will be a
+wicked man, than it is certain that the other temperate and chaste
+hermit will be a good man; for in society faults augment, and good
+qualities diminish.
+
+A much stronger objection is made to me: Nero, Pope Alexander VI., and
+other monsters of the kind, have performed good actions. I reply boldly,
+that they were virtuous at the time. Some theologians say, that the
+divine Emperor Antoninus was not virtuous; that he was an infatuated
+Stoic, who, not content with commanding men, would further be esteemed
+by them; that he gave himself credit for the good which he did to
+mankind; that he was all his life just, laborious, beneficent, through
+vanity; and that he only deceived men by his virtues. To which I
+exclaim: My God! often send us such knaves!
+
+
+
+
+VISION.
+
+
+When I speak of vision, I do not mean the admirable manner in which our
+eyes perceive objects, and in which the pictures of all that we see are
+painted on the retina--a divine picture designed according to all the
+laws of mathematics, which is, consequently, like everything else from
+the hand of the Eternal geometrician; in spite of those who explain it,
+and who pretend to believe, that the eye is not intended to see, the
+ear to hear, or the feet to walk. This matter has been so learnedly
+treated by so many great geniuses, that there is no further remnant to
+glean after their harvests.
+
+I do not pretend to speak of the heresy of which Pope John XXII. was
+accused, who pretended that saints will not enjoy beatific vision until
+after the last judgment. I give up this vision. My subject is the
+innumerable multitude of visions with which so many holy personages have
+been favored or tormented; which so many idiots are believed to have
+seen; with which so many knavish men and women have duped the world,
+either to get the reputation of being favored by heaven, which is very
+flattering, or to gain money, which is still more so to rogues in
+general.
+
+Calmet and Langlet have made ample collections of these visions. The
+most interesting in my opinion is the one which has produced the
+greatest effects, since it has tended to reform three parts of the
+Swiss--that of the young Jacobin Yetzer, with which I have already
+amused my dear reader. This Yetzer, as you know, saw the Holy Virgin and
+St. Barbara several times, who informed him of the marks of Jesus
+Christ. You are not ignorant of how he received, from a Jacobin
+confessor, a host powdered with arsenic, and how the bishop of Lausanne
+would have had him burned for complaining that he was poisoned. You have
+seen, that these abominations were one of the causes of the misfortune
+which happened to the Bernese, of ceasing to be Catholic,
+Apostolical, and Roman.
+
+[Illustration: The Vision.]
+
+I am sorry that I have no visions of this consequence to tell you of.
+Yet you will confess, that the vision of the reverend father Cordeliers
+of Orleans, in 1534, approaches the nearest to it, though still very
+distant. The criminal process which it occasioned is still in manuscript
+in the library of the king of France, No. 1770.
+
+The illustrious house of St. Memin did great good to the convent of the
+Cordeliers, and had their vault in the church. The wife of a lord of St.
+Memin, provost of Orleans, being dead, her husband, believing that his
+ancestors had sufficiently impoverished themselves by giving to the
+monks, gave the brothers a present which did not appear to them
+considerable enough. These good Franciscans conceived a plan for
+disinterring the deceased, to force the widower to have her buried again
+in their holy ground, and to pay them better. The project was not
+clever, for the lord of St. Memin would not have failed to bury her
+elsewhere. But folly often mixes with knavery.
+
+At first, the soul of the lady of St. Memin appeared only to two
+brothers. She said to them: "I am damned, like Judas, because my husband
+has not given sufficient." The two knaves who related these words
+perceived not, that they must do more harm to the convent than good. The
+aim of the convent was to extort money from the lord of St. Memin, for
+the repose of his wife's soul. Now, if Madame de St. Memin was damned,
+all the money in the world could not save her. They got no more; the
+Cordeliers lost their labor.
+
+At this time there was very little good sense in France: the nation had
+been brutalized by the invasion of the Franks, and afterwards by the
+invasion of scholastic theology; but in Orleans there were some persons
+who reasoned. If the Great Being permitted the soul of Madame de St.
+Memin to appear to two Franciscans, it was not natural, they thought,
+for this soul to declare itself damned like Judas. This comparison
+appeared to them to be unnatural. This lady had not sold our Lord Jesus
+Christ for thirty deniers; she was not hanged; her intestines had not
+obtruded themselves; and there was not the slightest pretext for
+comparing her to Judas.
+
+This caused suspicion; and the rumor was still greater in Orleans,
+because there were already heretics there who believed not in certain
+visions, and who, in admitting absurd principles, did not always fail to
+draw good conclusions. The Cordeliers, therefore, changed their battery,
+and put the lady in purgatory.
+
+She therefore appeared again, and declared that purgatory was her lot;
+but she demanded to be disinterred. It was not the custom to disinter
+those in purgatory; but they hoped that M. de St. Memin would prevent
+this extraordinary affront, by giving money. This demand of being
+thrown out of the church augmented the suspicions. It was well known,
+that souls often appeared, but they never demanded to be disinterred.
+
+From this time the soul spoke no more, but it haunted everybody in the
+convent and church. The brother Cordeliers exorcised it. Brother Peter
+of Arras adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring it. He said to it:
+"If thou art the soul of the late Madame de St. Memin, strike four
+knocks;" and the four knocks were struck. "If thou are damned, strike
+six knocks;" and the six knocks were struck. "If thou art still
+tormented in hell, because thy body is buried in holy ground, knock six
+more times;" and the other six knocks were heard still more distinctly.
+"If we disinter thy body, and cease praying to God for thee, wilt thou
+be the less damned? Strike five knocks to certify it to us;" and the
+soul certified it by five knocks.
+
+This interrogation of the soul, made by Peter of Arras, was signed by
+twenty-two Cordeliers, at the head of which was the reverend father
+provincial. This father provincial the next day asked it the same
+questions, and received the same answers.
+
+It will be said, that the soul having declared that it was in purgatory,
+the Cordeliers should not have supposed that it was in hell; but it is
+not my fault if theologians contradict one another.
+
+The lord of St. Memin presented a request to the king against the father
+Cordeliers. They presented a request on their sides; the king appointed
+judges, at the head of whom was Adrian Fumee, master of requests.
+
+The procureur-general of the commission required that the said
+Cordeliers should be burned, but the sentence only condemned them to
+make the "amende honorable" with a torch in their bosom, and to be
+banished from the kingdom. This sentence is of February 18, 1535.
+
+After such a vision, it is useless to relate any others: they are all a
+species either of knavery or folly. Visions of the first kind are under
+the province of justice; those of the second are either visions of
+diseased fools, or of fools in good health. The first belong to
+medicine, the second to Bedlam.
+
+
+
+
+VISION OF CONSTANTINE.
+
+
+Grave theologians have not failed to allege a specious reason to
+maintain the truth of the appearance of the cross in heaven; but we are
+going to show that these arguments are not sufficiently convincing to
+exclude doubt; the evidences which they quote being neither persuasive
+nor according with one another.
+
+First, they produce no witnesses but Christians, the deposition of whom
+may be suspected in the treatment of a fact which tended to prove the
+divinity of their religion. How is it that no Pagan author has made
+mention of this miracle, which was seen equally by all the army of
+Constantine? That Zosimus, who seems to have endeavored to diminish the
+glory of Constantine, has said nothing of it, is not surprising; but the
+silence appears very strange in the author of the panegyric of
+Constantine, pronounced in his presence at Trier; in which oration the
+panegyrist expresses himself in magnificent terms on all the war against
+Maxentius, whom this emperor had conquered.
+
+Another orator, who, in his panegyric, treats so eloquently of the war
+against Maxentius, of the clemency which Constantine showed after the
+victory, and of the deliverance of Rome, says not a word on this
+apparition; while he assures us, that celestial armies were seen by all
+the Gauls, which armies, it was pretended, were sent to aid Constantine.
+
+This surprising vision has not only been unknown to Pagan authors, but
+to three Christian writers, who had the finest occasion to speak of
+them. Optatianus Porphyrius mentions more than once the monogram of
+Christ, which he calls the celestial sign, in the panegyric of
+Constantine which he wrote in Latin verse, but not a word on the
+appearance of the cross in the sky.
+
+Lactantius says nothing of it in his treatise on the "Death of
+Persecutors," which he composed towards the year 314, two years after
+the vision of which we speak; yet he must have been perfectly informed
+of all that regards Constantine, having been tutor to Crispus, the son
+of this prince. He merely relates, that Constantine was commanded, in a
+dream, to put the divine image of the cross on the bucklers of his
+soldiers, and to give up war: but in relating a dream, the truth of
+which had no other support than the evidence of the emperor, he passes,
+in silence over a prodigy to which all the army were witnesses.
+
+Further, Eusebius of Caesarea himself, who has given the example to all
+other Christian historians on the subject, speaks not of this wonder, in
+the whole course of his "Ecclesiastical History," though he enlarges
+much on the exploits of Constantine against Maxentius. It is only in his
+life of this emperor that he expresses himself in these terms:
+"Constantine resolved to adore the god of Constantius; his father
+implored the protection of this god against Maxentius. Whilst he was
+praying, he had a wonderful vision, which would appear incredible, if
+related by another; but since the victorious emperor has himself related
+it to us, who wrote this history; and that, after having been long known
+to this prince, and enjoying a share in his good graces, the emperor
+confirming what he said by oath--who could doubt it? particularly since
+the event has confirmed the truth of it.
+
+"He affirmed, that in the afternoon, when the sun set, he saw a luminous
+cross above it, with this inscription in Greek--'By this sign, conquer:'
+that this appearance astonished him extremely, as well as all the
+soldiers who followed him, who were witnesses of the miracle; that while
+his mind was fully occupied with this vision, and he sought to penetrate
+the sense of it, the night being come, Jesus Christ appeared to him
+during his sleep, with the same sign which He had shown to him in the
+air in the day-time, and commanded him to make a standard of the same
+form, and to bear it in his battles, to secure him from danger.
+Constantine, rising at break of day, related to his friends the vision
+which he had beheld; and, sending for goldsmiths and lapidaries, he sat
+in the midst of them, explained to them the figure of the sign which he
+had seen, and commanded them to make a similar one of gold and jewels;
+and we remember having sometimes seen it."
+
+Eusebius afterwards adds, that Constantine, astonished at so admirable a
+vision, sent for Christian priests; and that, instructed by them, he
+applied himself to reading our sacred books, and concluded that he ought
+to adore with a profound respect the God who appeared to him.
+
+How can we conceive that so admirable a vision, seen by so many millions
+of people, and so calculated to justify the truth of the Christian
+religion, could be unknown to Eusebius, an historian so careful in
+seeking all that could contribute to do honor to Christianity, as even
+to quote profane monuments falsely, as we have seen in the article on
+"Eclipse?" And how can we persuade ourselves that he was not informed
+of it, until several years after, by the sole evidence of Constantine?
+Were there no Christians in the army, who publicly made a glory of
+having seen such a prodigy? Had they so little interest in their cause
+as to keep silence on so great a miracle? Ought we to be astonished,
+after that, that Gelasius, one of the successors of Eusebius, in the
+siege of Caesarea in the fifth century, has said that many people
+suspected that it was only a fable, invented in favor of the Christian
+religion?
+
+This suspicion will become much stronger, if we take notice how little
+the witnesses agree on the circumstances of this marvellous appearance.
+Almost all affirm, that the cross was seen by Constantine and all his
+army; and Gelasius speaks of Constantine alone. They differ on the time
+of the vision. Philostorgius, in his "Ecclesiastical History," of which
+Photius has preserved us the extract, says, that it was when Constantine
+gained the victory over Maxentius; others pretend that it was before,
+when Constantine was making preparations for attacking the tyrant, and
+was on his march with his army. Arthemius, quoted by Metaphrastus and
+Surius, mentions the 20th of October, and says that it was at noon;
+others speak of the afternoon at sunset.
+
+Authors do not agree better even on the vision: the greatest number
+acknowledged but one, and that in a dream. There is only Eusebius,
+followed by Philostorgius and Socrates, who speaks of two; the one that
+Constantine saw in the day-time, and the other which he saw in a dream,
+tending to confirm the first. Nicephorus Callistus reckons three.
+
+The inscription offers new differences: Eusebius says that it was in
+Greek characters, while others do not speak of it. According to
+Philostorgius and Nicephorus, it was in Latin characters; others say
+nothing about it, and seem by their relation to suppose that the
+characters were Greek. Philostorgius affirms, that the inscription was
+formed by an assemblage of stars; Arthemius says that the letters were
+golden. The author quoted by Photius, represents them as composed of the
+same luminous matter as the cross; and according to Sosomenes, it had no
+inscription, and they were angels who said to Constantine: "By this
+sign, gain the victory."
+
+Finally, the relation of historians is opposed on the consequences of
+this vision. If we take that of Eusebius, Constantine, aided by God,
+easily gained the victory over Maxentius; but according to Lactantius,
+the victory was much disputed. He even says that the troops of Maxentius
+had some advantage, before Constantine made his army approach the gates
+of Rome. If we may believe Eusebius and Sosomenes, from this epoch
+Constantine was always victorious, and opposed the salutary sign of the
+cross to his enemies, as an impenetrable rampart. However, a Christian
+author, of whom M. de Valois has collected some fragments, at the end of
+Ammianus Marcellinus--relates, that in the two battles given to Licinius
+by Constantine, the victory was doubtful, and that Constantine was even
+slightly wounded in the thigh; and Nicephorus says, that after the first
+apparition, he twice combated the Byzantines, without opposing the cross
+to them, and would not even have remembered it, if he had not lost nine
+thousand men, and had the same vision twice more. In the first, the
+stars were so arranged that they formed these words of a psalm: "Call on
+me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify
+me;" and the last, much clearer and more brilliant still, bore: "By this
+sign, thou shalt vanquish all thy enemies."
+
+Philostorgius affirms, that the vision of the cross, and the victory
+gained over Maxentius, determined Constantine to embrace the Christian
+faith; but Rufinus, who has translated the "Ecclesiastical History" of
+Eusebius into Latin, says that he already favored Christianity, and
+honored the true God. It is however known, that he did not receive
+baptism until a few days before his death, as is expressly said by
+Philostorgius, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, Socrates,
+Theodoret, and the author of the Chronicle of Alexandria. This custom,
+then common, was founded on the belief that, baptism effacing all the
+sins of him who received it, he died certain of his salvation.
+
+We might confine ourselves to these general reflections, but by
+superabundance of right we will discuss the authority of Eusebius, as an
+historian, and that of Constantine and Arthemius, as ocular witnesses.
+
+As to Arthemius, we think that he ought not to be placed in the rank of
+ocular witnesses; his discourse being founded only on his "Acts,"
+related by Metaphrastus, a fabulous author: "Acts" which Baronius
+pretends it was wrong to impeach, at the same time that he confesses
+that they are interpolated.
+
+As to the speech of Constantine, related by Eusebius, it is indisputably
+an astonishing thing, that this emperor feared that he should not be
+believed unless he made oath; and that Eusebius has not supported his
+evidence by that of any of the officers or soldiers of the army. But
+without here adopting the opinion of some scholars, who doubt whether
+Eusebius is the author of the life of Constantine, is he not an author
+who, in this work, bears throughout the character of a panegyrist,
+rather than that of a historian? Is he not a writer who has carefully
+suppressed all which could be disadvantageous to his hero? In a word,
+does he not show his partiality, when he says, in his "Ecclesiastical
+History," speaking of Maxentius, that having usurped the sovereign power
+at Rome, to flatter the people he feigned at first to profess the
+Christian religion? As if it was impossible for Constantine to make use
+of such a feint, and to pretend this vision, just as Licinius, some time
+after, to encourage his soldiers against Maximin, pretended that an
+angel in a dream had dictated a prayer to him, which he must repeat with
+his army.
+
+How could Eusebius really have the effrontery to call a prince a
+Christian who caused the temple of Concord to be rebuilt at his own
+expense, as is proved by an inscription, which was read in the time of
+Lelio Geraldi, in the temple of Latran? A prince who caused his son
+Crispus, already honored with the title of Caesar, to perish on a slight
+suspicion of having commerce with Fausta, his stepmother; who caused
+this same Fausta, to whom he was indebted for the preservation of his
+life, to be suffocated in an overheated bath; who caused the emperor
+Maximian Hercules, his adopted father, to be strangled; who took away
+the life of the young Licinius, his nephew, who had already displayed
+very good qualities; and, in short, who dishonored himself by so many
+murders, that the consul Ablavius called his times Neronian? We might
+add, that much dependence should not be placed on the oath of
+Constantine, since he had not the least scruple in perjuring himself, by
+causing Licinius to be strangled, to whom he had promised his life on
+oath. Eusebius passes in silence over all the actions of Constantine
+which are related by Eutropius, Zosimus, Orosius, St. Jerome, and
+Aurelius Victor.
+
+After this, have we not reason to conclude that the pretended appearance
+of the cross in the sky is only a fraud which Constantine imagined to
+favor the success of his ambitious enterprises? The medals of this
+prince and of his family, which are found in Banduri, and in the work
+entitled, "_Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum_"; the triumphal arch of
+which Baronius speaks, in the inscription of which the senate and the
+Roman people said that Constantine, by the direction of the Divinity,
+had rid the republic of the tyrant Maxentius, and of all his faction;
+finally, the statue which Constantine himself caused to be erected at
+Rome, holding a lance terminating in the form of a cross, with this
+inscription--as related by Eusebius: "By this saving sign, I have
+delivered your city from the yoke of tyranny"--all this, I say, only
+proves the immoderate pride of this artificial prince, who would
+everywhere spread the noise of his pretended dream, and perpetuate the
+recollection of it.
+
+Yet, to excuse Eusebius, we must compare him to a bishop of the
+seventeenth century, whom La Bruyere hesitated not to call a father of
+the Church. Bossuet, at the same time that he fell so unmercifully on
+the visions of the elegant and sensible Fenelon, commented himself, in
+the funeral oration of Anne of Gonzaga of Cleves, on the two visions
+which worked the conversion of the Princess Palatine. It was an
+admirable dream, says this prelate; she thought that, walking alone in a
+forest, she met with a blind man in a small cell. She comprehended that
+a sense is wanting to the incredulous as well as to the blind; and at
+the same time, in the midst of so mysterious a dream, she applied the
+fine comparison of the blind man to the truths of religion and of the
+other life.
+
+In the second vision, God continued to instruct her, as He did Joseph
+and Solomon; and during the drowsiness which the trouble caused her, He
+put this parable into her mind, so similar to that in the gospel: She
+saw that appear which Jesus Christ has not disdained to give us as an
+image of His tenderness--a hen become a mother, anxious round the little
+ones which she conducted. One of them having strayed, our invalid saw it
+swallowed by a hungry dog. She ran and tore the innocent animal away
+from him. At the same time, a voice cried from the other side that she
+must give it back to the ravisher. "No," said she, "I will never give it
+back." At this moment she awakened, and the explanation of the figure
+which had been shown to her presented itself to her mind in an instant.
+
+
+
+
+VOWS.
+
+
+To make a vow for life, is to make oneself a slave. How can this worst
+of all slavery be allowed in a country in which slavery is proscribed?
+To promise to God by an oath, that from the age of fifteen until death
+we will be a Jesuit, Jacobin, or Capuchin, is to affirm that we will
+always think like a Capuchin, a Jacobin, or a Jesuit. It is very
+pleasant to promise, for a whole life, that which no man can certainly
+insure from night to morning!
+
+How can governments have been such enemies to themselves, and so absurd,
+as to authorize citizens to alienate their liberty at an age when they
+are not allowed to dispose of the least portion of their fortunes? How,
+being convinced of the extent of this stupidity, have not the whole of
+the magistracy united to put an end to it?
+
+Is it not alarming to reflect that there are more monks than soldiers?
+Is it possible not to be affected by the discovery of the secrets of
+cloisters; the turpitudes, the horrors, and the torments to which so
+many unhappy children are subjected, who detest the state which they
+have been forced to adopt, when they become men, and who beat with
+useless despair the chains which their weakness has imposed upon them?
+
+I knew a young man whose parents engaged to make a Capuchin of him at
+fifteen years and a half old, when he desperately loved a girl very
+nearly of his own age. As soon as the unhappy youth had made his vow to
+St. Francis, the devil reminded him of the vows which he had made to his
+mistress, to whom he had signed a promise of marriage. At last, the
+devil being stronger than St. Francis, the young Capuchin left his
+cloister, repaired to the house of his mistress, and was told that she
+had entered a convent and made profession.
+
+He flew to the convent, and asked to see her, when he was told that she
+had died of grief. This news deprived him of all sense, and he fell to
+the ground nearly lifeless. He was immediately transported to a
+neighboring monastery, not to afford him the necessary medical aid, but
+in order to procure him the blessing of extreme unction before his
+death, which infallibly saves the soul.
+
+The house to which the poor fainting boy was carried, happened to be a
+convent of Capuchins, who charitably let him remain at the door for
+three hours; but at last he was recognized by one of the venerable
+brothers, who had seen him in the monastery to which he belonged. On
+this discovery, he was carried into a cell, and attention paid to
+recover him, in order that he might expiate, by a salutary penitence,
+the errors of which he had been guilty.
+
+As soon as he had recovered strength, he was conducted, well bound, to
+his convent, and the following is precisely the manner in which he was
+treated. In the first place he was placed in a dungeon under ground, at
+the bottom of which was an enormous stone, to which a chain of iron was
+attached. To this chain he was fastened by one leg, and near him was
+placed a loaf of barley bread and a jug of water; after which they
+closed the entrance of the dungeon with a large block of stone, which
+covered the opening by which they had descended.
+
+At the end of three days they withdrew him from the dungeon, in order to
+bring him before the criminal court of the Capuchins. They wished to
+know if he had any accomplices in his flight, and to oblige him to
+confess, applied the mode of torture employed in the convent. This
+preparatory torture was inflicted by cords, which bound the limbs of the
+patient, and made him endure a sort of rack.
+
+After having undergone these torments, he was condemned to be imprisoned
+for two years in his cell, from which he was to be brought out thrice a
+week, in order to receive upon his naked body the discipline with iron
+chains.
+
+For six months his constitution endured this punishment, from which he
+was at length so fortunate as to escape in consequence of a quarrel
+among the Capuchins, who fought with one another, and allowed the
+prisoner to escape during the fray.
+
+After hiding himself for some hours, he ventured to go abroad at the
+decline of day, almost worn out by hunger, and scarcely able to support
+himself. A passing Samaritan took pity upon the poor, famished spectre,
+conducted him to his house, and gave him assistance. The unhappy youth
+himself related to me his story in the presence of his liberator. Behold
+here the consequence of vows!
+
+It would be a nice point to decide, whether the horrors of passing every
+day among the mendicant friars are more revolting than the pernicious
+riches of the other orders, which reduce so many families into
+mendicants.
+
+All of them have made a vow to live at our expense, and to be a burden
+to their country; to injure its population, and to betray both their
+contemporaries and posterity; and shall we suffer it?
+
+Here is another interesting question for officers of the army: Why are
+monks allowed to recover one of their brethren who has enlisted for a
+soldier, while a captain is prevented from recovering a deserter who has
+turned monk?
+
+
+
+
+VOYAGE OF ST. PETER TO ROME.
+
+
+Of the famous dispute, whether Peter made the journey to Rome, is it not
+in the main as frivolous as most other grand disputes? The revenues of
+the abbey of St. Denis, in France, depend neither on the truth of the
+journey of St. Dionysius the Areopagite from Athens to the midst of
+Gaul; his martyrdom at Montmartre; nor the other journey which he made
+after his death, from Montmartre to St. Denis, carrying his head in his
+arms, and kissing it at every step.
+
+The Carthusians have great riches, without there being the least truth
+in the history of the canon of Paris, who rose from his coffin three
+successive days, to inform the assistants that he was damned.
+
+In like manner it is very certain that the rights and revenues of the
+Roman pontiff can exist, whether Simon Barjonas, surnamed Cephas, went
+to Rome or not. All the rights of the archbishops of Rome and
+Constantinople were established at the Council of Chalcedon, in the
+year 451 of our vulgar era, and there was no mention in this council of
+any journey made by an apostle to Byzantium or to Rome.
+
+The patriarchs of Alexander and Constantinople followed the lot of their
+provinces. The ecclesiastical chiefs of these two imperial cities, and
+of opulent Egypt, must necessarily have more authority, privileges, and
+riches, than bishops of little towns.
+
+If the residence of an apostle in a city decided so many rights, the
+bishop of Jerusalem would have been, without contradiction, the first
+bishop of Christendom. He was evidently the successor of St. James, the
+brother of Jesus Christ, acknowledged as the founder of this church, and
+afterwards called the first of all bishops. We should add by the same
+reasoning, that all the patriarchs of Jerusalem should be circumcised,
+since the fifteen first bishops of Jerusalem--the cradle of Christianity
+and tomb of Jesus Christ--had all received circumcision. It is
+indisputable that the first largesses made to the church of Rome by
+Constantine, have not the least relation to the journey of St. Peter.
+
+1. The first church raised at Rome was that of St. John; it is still the
+true cathedral. It is evident that it would have been dedicated to St.
+Peter, if he had been the first bishop of it. It is the strongest of all
+presumptions, and that alone might have ended the dispute.
+
+2. To this powerful conjecture are joined convincing negative proofs. If
+Peter had been at Rome with Paul, the Acts of the Apostles would have
+mentioned it; and they say not a word about it.
+
+3. If St. Peter went to preach the gospel at Rome, St. Paul would not
+have said, in his Epistle to the Galatians: "When they saw that the
+gospel of the uncircumcisions was committed unto me, as the gospel of
+the circumcision was unto Peter; and when James, Cephas, and John, who
+seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they
+gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go
+unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision."
+
+4. In the letters which Paul writes from Rome, he never speaks of Peter;
+therefore, it is evident that Peter was not there.
+
+5. In the letters which Paul writes to his brethren of Rome, there is
+not the least compliment to Peter, nor the least mention of him;
+therefore, Peter neither made a journey to Rome when Paul was in prison,
+nor when he was free.
+
+6. We have never known any letter of St. Peter's dated from Rome.
+
+7. Some, like Paul Orosius, a Spaniard of the fifth century, say that he
+was at Rome in the first years of the reign of Claudius. The Acts of the
+Apostles say that he was then at Jerusalem; and the Epistles of Paul,
+that he was at Antioch.
+
+8. I do not pretend to bring forward any proof, but speaking humanly,
+and according to the rules of profane criticism, Peter could scarcely go
+from Jerusalem to Rome, knowing neither the Latin nor even the Greek
+language, which St. Paul spoke, though very badly. It is said that the
+apostles spoke all the languages of the universe; therefore, I am
+silenced.
+
+9. Finally, the first mention which we ever had of the journey of St.
+Peter to Rome, came from one named Papias, who lived about a hundred
+years after St. Peter. This Papias was a Phrygian; he wrote in Phrygia;
+and he pretended that St. Peter went to Rome, because in one of his
+letters he speaks of Babylon. We have, indeed, a letter, attributed to
+St. Peter, written in these obscure times, in which it is said: "The
+Church which is at Babylon, my wife, and my son Mark, salute you." It
+has pleased some translators to translate the word meaning my wife, by
+"chosen vessel": "Babylon, the chosen vessel." This is translating
+comprehensively.
+
+Papias, who was, it must be confessed, one of the great visionaries of
+these ages, imagined that Babylon signified Rome. It was, however, very
+natural for Peter to depart from Antioch to visit the brethren at
+Babylon. There were always Jews at Babylon; and they continually carried
+on the trade of brokers and peddlers; it is very likely that several
+disciples sought refuge there, and that Peter went to encourage them.
+There is not more reason in supposing that Babylon signifies Rome, than
+in supposing that Rome means Babylon. What an extravagant idea, to
+suppose that Peter wrote an exhortation to his comrades, as we write at
+present, in ciphers! Did he fear that his letter should be opened at the
+post? Why should Peter fear that his Jewish letters should be known--so
+useless in a worldly sense, and to which it was impossible for the
+Romans to pay the least attention? Who engaged him to lie so vainly?
+What could have possessed people to think, that when he wrote Babylon,
+he intended Rome?
+
+It was after similar convincing proofs that the judicious Calmet
+concludes that the journey of St. Peter to Rome is proved by St. Peter
+himself, who says expressly, that he has written his letter from
+Babylon; that is to say, from Rome, as we interpret with the ancients.
+Once more, this is powerful reasoning! He has probably learned this
+logic among the vampires!
+
+The learned archbishop of Paris, Marca, Dupin, Blondel, and Spanheim,
+are not of this opinion; but it was that of Calmet, who reasoned like
+Calmet, and who was followed by a multitude of writers so attached to
+the sublimity of their principles that they sometimes neglected
+wholesome criticism and reason. It is a very poor pretence of the
+partisans of the voyage to say that the Acts of the Apostles are
+intended for the history of Paul, and not for that of Peter; and that if
+they pass in silence over the sojourn of Simon Barjonas at Rome, it is
+that the actions and exploits of Paul were the sole object of the
+writer.
+
+The Acts speak much of Simon Barjonas, surnamed Peter; it is he who
+proposes to give a successor to Judas. We see him strike Ananias and his
+wife with sudden death, who had given him their property, but
+unfortunately not all of it. We see him raise his sempstress Dorcas, at
+the house of the tanner Simon at Joppa. He has a quarrel in Samaria with
+Simon, surnamed the Magician; he goes to Lippa, Caesarea, and Jerusalem;
+what would it have cost him to go to Rome?
+
+It is very difficult to decide whether Peter went to Rome under
+Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, or Nero. The journey in the time of
+Tiberius is only founded on the pretended apocryphal fasti of Italy.
+
+Another apocrypha, entitled "Catalogues of Bishops," makes Peter bishop
+of Rome immediately after the death of his master. I know not what
+Arabian tale sent him to Rome under Caligula. Eusebius, three hundred
+years after, makes him to be conducted to Rome under Claudius by a
+divine hand, without saying in what year.
+
+Lactantius, who wrote in the time of Constantine, is the first veracious
+author who has said that Peter went to Rome under Nero, and that he was
+crucified there.
+
+We must avow, that if such claims alone were brought forward by a party
+in a lawsuit, he would not gain his cause, and he would be advised to
+keep to the maxim of "_uti possedetis_"; and this is the part which Rome
+has taken.
+
+But it is said that before Eusebius and Lactantius, the exact Papias had
+already related the adventure of Peter and Simon; the virtue of God
+which removed him into the presence of Nero; the kinsman of Nero half
+raised from the dead, in the name of God, by Simon, and wholly raised by
+Peter; the compliments of their dogs; the bread given by Peter to
+Simon's dogs; the magician who flew into the air; the Christian who
+caused him to fall by a sign of the cross, by which he broke both his
+legs; Nero, who cut off Peter's head to pay for the legs of his
+magician, etc. The grave Marcellus repeats this authentic history, and
+the grave Hegesippus again repeats it, and others repeat it after them;
+and I repeat to you, that if ever you plead for a meadow before the
+judge of Vaugirard, you will never gain your suit by such claims.
+
+I doubt not that the episcopal chair of St. Peter is still at Rome in
+the fine church. I doubt not but that St. Peter enjoyed the bishopric of
+Rome twenty-nine years, a month, and nine days, as it is said. But I may
+venture to say that that is not demonstratively proved; and I say that
+it is to be thought that the Roman bishops of the present time are more
+at their ease than those of times past--obscure times, which it is very
+difficult to penetrate.
+
+
+
+
+WALLER.
+
+
+The celebrated Waller has been much spoken of in France; he has been
+praised by La Fontaine, St. Evremond, and Bayle, who, however, knew
+little of him beyond his name.
+
+He had pretty nearly the same reputation in London as Voiture enjoyed in
+Paris, but I believe that he more deserved it. Voiture existed at a time
+when we were first emerging from literary ignorance, and when wit was
+aimed at, but scarcely attained. Turns of expression were sought for
+instead of thoughts, and false stones were more easily discovered than
+genuine diamonds. Voiture, who possessed an easy and trifling turn of
+mind, was the first who shone in this aurora of French literature. Had
+he come after the great men who have thrown so much lustre on the age of
+Louis XIV., he would have been forced to have had something more than
+mere wit, which was enough for the hotel de Rambouillet, but not enough
+for posterity. Boileau praises him, but it was in his first satires, and
+before his taste was formed. He was young, and of that age in which men
+judge rather by reputation than from themselves; and, besides, Boileau
+was often unjust in his praise as well as his censure. He praised
+Segrais, whom nobody read; insulted Quinault, who everybody repeated by
+heart; and said nothing of La Fontaine.
+
+Waller, although superior to Voiture, was not perfect. His poems of
+gallantry are very graceful, but they are frequently languid from
+negligence, and they are often disfigured by conceits. In his days, the
+English had not learned to write correctly. His serious pieces are
+replete with vigor, and exhibit none of the softness of his gallant
+effusions. He composed a monody on the death of Cromwell, which, with
+several faults, passes for a masterpiece; and it was in reference to
+this eulogy that Waller made the reply to Charles II., which is inserted
+in "Bayle's Dictionary." The king--to whom Waller, after the manner of
+kings and poets, presented a poem stuffed with panegyric--told him that
+he had written more finely on Cromwell. Waller immediately replied:
+"Sire, we poets always succeed better in fiction than in truth." This
+reply was not so sincere as that of the Dutch ambassador, who, when the
+same king complained to him that his masters had less regard for him
+than for Cromwell, replied: "Ah, sire! that Cromwell was quite another
+thing." There are courtiers in England, as elsewhere, and Waller was one
+of them; but after their death, I consider men only by their works; all
+the rest is annihilated. I simply observe that Waller, born to an estate
+of the annual value of sixty thousand livres, had never the silly pride
+or carelessness to neglect his talent. The earls of Dorset and
+Roscommon, the two dukes of Buckingham, the earl of Halifax, and a great
+many others, have not thought it below them to become celebrated poets
+and illustrious writers; and their works do them more honor than their
+titles. They have cultivated letters as if their fortunes depended on
+their success, and have rendered literature respectable in the eyes of
+the people, who in all things require leaders from among the great--who,
+however, have less influence of this kind in England than in any other
+place in the world.
+
+
+
+
+WAR.
+
+
+All animals are perpetually at war; every species is born to devour
+another. There are none, even to sheep and doves, who do not swallow a
+prodigious number of imperceptible animals. Males of the same species
+make war for the females, like Menelaus and Paris. Air, earth, and the
+waters, are fields of destruction.
+
+It seems that God having given reason to men, this reason should teach
+them not to debase themselves by imitating animals, particularly when
+nature has given them neither arms to kill their fellow-creatures, nor
+instinct which leads them to suck their blood.
+
+Yet murderous war is so much the dreadful lot of man, that except two or
+three nations, there are none but what their ancient histories represent
+as armed against one another. Towards Canada, man and warrior are
+synonymous; and we have seen, in our hemisphere, that thief and soldier
+were the same thing. Manichaeans! behold your excuse.
+
+The most determined of flatterers will easily agree, that war always
+brings pestilence and famine in its train, from the little that he may
+have seen in the hospitals of the armies of Germany, or the few villages
+he may have passed through in which some great exploit of war has been
+performed.
+
+That is doubtless a very fine art which desolates countries, destroys
+habitations, and in a common year causes the death of from forty to a
+hundred thousand men. This invention was first cultivated by nations
+assembled for their common good; for instance, the diet of the Greeks
+declared to the diet of Phrygia and neighboring nations, that they
+intended to depart on a thousand fishers' barks, to exterminate them if
+they could.
+
+The assembled Roman people judged that it was to their interest to go
+and fight, before harvest, against the people of Veii or the Volscians.
+And some years after, all the Romans, being exasperated against all the
+Carthaginians, fought them a long time on sea and land. It is not
+exactly the same at present.
+
+A genealogist proves to a prince that he descends in a right line from a
+count, whose parents made a family compact, three or four hundred years
+ago, with a house the recollection of which does not even exist. This
+house had distant pretensions to a province, of which the last possessor
+died of apoplexy. The prince and his council see his right at once. This
+province, which is some hundred leagues distant from him, in vain
+protests that it knows him not; that it has no desire to be governed by
+him; that to give laws to its people, he must at least have their
+consent; these discourses only reach as far as the ears of the prince,
+whose right is incontestable. He immediately assembles a great number of
+men who have nothing to lose, dresses them in coarse blue cloth, borders
+their hats with broad white binding, makes them turn to the right and
+left, and marches to glory.
+
+Other princes who hear of this equipment, take part in it, each
+according to his power, and cover a small extent of country with more
+mercenary murderers than Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, and Bajazet employed
+in their train. Distant people hear that they are going to fight, and
+that they may gain five or six sous a day, if they will be of the party;
+they divide themselves into two bands, like reapers, and offer their
+services to whoever will employ them.
+
+These multitudes fall upon one another, not only without having any
+interest in the affair, but without knowing the reason of it. We see at
+once five or six belligerent powers, sometimes three against three,
+sometimes two against four, and sometimes one against five; all equally
+detesting one another, uniting with and attacking by turns; all agree in
+a single point, that of doing all the harm possible.
+
+The most wonderful part of this infernal enterprise is that each chief
+of the murderers causes his colors to be blessed, and solemnly invokes
+God before he goes to exterminate his neighbors. If a chief has only the
+fortune to kill two or three thousand men, he does not thank God for it;
+but when he has exterminated about ten thousand by fire and sword, and,
+to complete the work, some town has been levelled with the ground, they
+then sing a long song in four parts, composed in a language unknown to
+all who have fought, and moreover replete with barbarism. The same song
+serves for marriages and births, as well as for murders; which is
+unpardonable, particularly in a nation the most famous for new songs.
+
+Natural religion has a thousand times prevented citizens from committing
+crimes. A well-trained mind has not the inclination for it; a tender one
+is alarmed at it, representing to itself a just and avenging God; but
+artificial religion encourages all cruelties which are exercised by
+troops--conspiracies, seditions, pillages, ambuscades, surprises of
+towns, robberies, and murder. Each marches gaily to crime, under the
+banner of his saint.
+
+A certain number of orators are everywhere paid to celebrate these
+murderous days; some are dressed in a long black close coat, with a
+short cloak; others have a shirt above a gown; some wear two variegated
+stuff streamers over their shirts. All of them speak for a long time,
+and quote that which was done of old in Palestine, as applicable to a
+combat in Veteravia.
+
+The rest of the year these people declaim against vices. They prove, in
+three points and by antitheses, that ladies who lay a little carmine
+upon their cheeks, will be the eternal objects of the eternal vengeances
+of the Eternal; that Polyeuctus and Athalia are works of the demon; that
+a man who, for two hundred crowns a day, causes his table to be
+furnished with fresh sea-fish during Lent, infallibly works his
+salvation; and that a poor man who eats two sous and a half worth of
+mutton, will go forever to all the devils.
+
+Of five or six thousand declamations of this kind, there are three or
+four at most, composed by a Gaul named Massillon, which an honest man
+may read without disgust; but in all these discourses, you will scarcely
+find two in which the orator dares to say a word against the scourge and
+crime of war, which contains all other scourges and crimes. The
+unfortunate orators speak incessantly against love, which is the only
+consolation of mankind, and the only mode of making amends for it; they
+say nothing of the abominable efforts which we make to destroy it.
+
+You have made a very bad sermon on impurity--oh, Bourdaloue!--but none
+on these murders, varied in so many ways; on these rapines and
+robberies; on this universal rage which devours the world. All the
+united vices of all ages and places will never equal the evils produced
+by a single campaign.
+
+Miserable physicians of souls! you exclaim, for five quarters of an
+hour, on some pricks of a pin, and say nothing on the malady which tears
+us into a thousand pieces! Philosophers! moralists! burn all your books.
+While the caprice of a few men makes that part of mankind consecrated to
+heroism, to murder loyally millions of our brethren, can there be
+anything more horrible throughout nature?
+
+What becomes of, and what signifies to me, humanity, beneficence,
+modesty, temperance, mildness, wisdom, and piety, while half a pound of
+lead, sent from the distance of a hundred steps, pierces my body, and I
+die at twenty years of age, in inexpressible torments, in the midst of
+five or six thousand dying men, while my eyes which open for the last
+time, see the town in which I was born destroyed by fire and sword, and
+the last sounds which reach my ears are the cries of women and children
+expiring under the ruins, all for the pretended interests of a man whom
+I know not?
+
+What is worse, war is an inevitable scourge. If we take notice, all men
+have worshipped Mars. Sabaoth, among the Jews, signifies the god of
+arms; but Minerva, in Homer, calls Mars a furious, mad, and infernal
+god.
+
+The celebrated Montesquieu, who was called humane, has said, however,'
+that it is just to bear fire and sword against our neighbors, when we
+fear that they are doing too well. If this is the spirit of laws, At is
+also that of Borgia and of Machiavelli. If unfortunately he says true,
+we must write against this truth, though it may be proved by facts.
+
+This is what Montesquieu says: "Between societies, the right of natural
+defence sometimes induces the necessity of attacking, when one people
+sees that a longer peace puts another in a situation to destroy it, and
+that attack at the given moment is the only way of preventing this
+destruction."
+
+How can attack in peace be the only means of preventing this
+destruction? You must be sure that this neighbor will destroy you, if he
+become powerful. To be sure of it, he must already have made
+preparations for your overthrow. In this case, it is he who commences
+the war; it is not you: your supposition is false and contradictory.
+
+If ever war is evidently unjust, it is that which you propose: it is
+going to kill your neighbor, who does not attack you, lest he should
+ever be in a state to do so. To hazard the ruin of your country, in the
+hope of ruining without reason that of another, is assuredly neither
+honest nor useful; for we are never sure of success, as you well know.
+
+If your neighbor becomes too powerful during peace, what prevents you
+from rendering yourself equally powerful? If he has made alliances, make
+them on your side. If, having fewer monks, he has more soldiers and
+manufacturers, imitate him in this wise economy. If he employs his
+sailors better, employ yours in the same manner: all that is very just.
+But to expose your people to the most horrible misery, in the so often
+false idea of overturning your dear brother, the most serene neighboring
+prince!--it was not for the honorary president of a pacific society to
+give you such advice.
+
+
+
+
+WEAKNESS ON BOTH SIDES.
+
+
+Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels. I
+speak not here of those which have caused blood to be shed--the
+Anabaptists, who ravaged Westphalia; the Calvinists, who kindled so many
+wars in France; the sanguinary factions of the Armagnacs and
+Burgundians; the punishment of the Maid of Orleans, whom one-half of
+France regarded as a celestial heroine, and the other as a sorceress;
+the Sorbonne, which presented a request to have her burned; the
+assassination of the duke of Orleans, justified by the doctors; subjects
+excused from the oath of fidelity by a decree of the sacred faculty; the
+executioners so often employed to enforce opinions; the piles lighted
+for unfortunates who persuaded others that they were sorcerers and
+heretics--all that is more than weakness. Yet these abominations were
+committed in the good times of honest Germanic faith and Gallic naivete!
+I would send back to them all honest people who regret times past.
+
+I will make here, simply for my own particular edification, a little
+instructive memoir of the fine things which divided the minds of our
+grandfathers. In the eleventh century--in that good time in which we
+knew not the art of war, which however we have always practised; nor
+that of governing towns, nor commerce, nor society, and in which we
+could neither read nor write--men of much mind disputed solemnly, at
+much length, and with great vivacity, on what happened at the
+water-closet, after having fulfilled a sacred duty, of which we must
+speak only with the most profound respect. This was called the dispute
+of the stercorists; and, not ending in a war, was in consequence one of
+the mildest impertinences of the human mind.
+
+The dispute which divided learned Spain, in the same century, on the
+Mosarabic version, also terminated without ravaging provinces or
+shedding human blood. The spirit of chivalry, which then prevailed,
+permitted not the difficulty to be enlightened otherwise than in leaving
+the decision to two noble knights. As in that of the two Don Quixotes,
+whichever overthrew his adversary caused his own party to triumph. Don
+Ruis de Martanza, knight of the Mosarabic ritual, overthrew the Don
+Quixote of the Latin ritual; but as the laws of chivalry decided not
+positively that a ritual must be proscribed because its knight was
+unhorsed, a more certain and established secret was made use of, to know
+which of the books should be preferred. The expedient alluded to was
+that of throwing them both into the fire, it not being possible for the
+sound ritual to perish in the flames. I know not how it happened,
+however, but they were both burned, and the dispute remained undecided,
+to the great astonishment of the Spaniards. By degrees, the Latin ritual
+got the preference; and if any knight afterwards presented himself to
+maintain the Mosarabic, it was the knight and not the ritual which was
+thrown into the fire.
+
+In these fine times, we and other polished people, when we were ill,
+were obliged to have recourse to an Arabian physician. When we would
+know what day of the moon it was, we referred to the Arabs. If we would
+buy a piece of cloth, we must pay a Jew for it; and when a farmer wanted
+rain, he addressed himself to a sorcerer. At last, however, when some of
+us learned Latin, and had a bad translation of Aristotle, we figured in
+the world with honor, passing three or four hundred years in deciphering
+some pages of the Stagyrite, and in adoring and condemning them. Some
+said that without him we should want articles of faith; others, that he
+was an atheist. A Spaniard proved that Aristotle was a saint, and that
+we should celebrate his anniversary; while a council in France caused
+his divine writings to be burned. Colleges, universities, whole orders
+of monks, were reciprocally anathematized, on the subject of some
+passages of this great man--which neither themselves, the judges who
+interposed their authority, nor the author himself, ever understood.
+There were many fisticuffs given in Germany in these grave quarrels, but
+there was not much bloodshed. It is a pity, for the glory of Aristotle,
+that they did not make civil war, and have some regular battles in favor
+of quiddities, and of the "universal of the part of the thing." Our
+ancestors cut the throats of each other in disputes upon points which
+they understood very little better.
+
+It is true that a much celebrated madman named Occam, surnamed the
+"invincible doctor," chief of those who stood up for the "universal of
+the part of thought," demanded from the emperor Louis of Bavaria, that
+he should defend his pen with his imperial sword against Scott, another
+Scottish madman, surnamed the "subtle doctor," who fought for the
+"universal of the part of the thing." Happily, the sword of Louis of
+Bavaria remained in its scabbard. Who would believe that these disputes
+have lasted until our days, and that the Parliament of Paris, in 1624,
+gave a fine sentence in favor of Aristotle?
+
+Towards the time of the brave Occam and the intrepid Scott, a much more
+serious quarrel arose, into which the reverend father Cordeliers
+inveigled all the Christian world. This was to know if their kitchen
+garden belonged to themselves, or if they were merely simple tenants of
+it. The form of the cowls, and the size of the sleeves, were further
+subjects of this holy war. Pope John XXII., who interfered, found out to
+whom he was speaking. The Cordeliers quitted his party for that of Louis
+of Bavaria, who then drew his sword.
+
+There were, moreover, three or four Cordeliers burned as heretics, which
+is rather strong; but after all, this affair having neither shaken
+thrones nor ruined provinces, we may place it in the rank of peaceable
+follies.
+
+There have been always some of this kind, the greater part of whom have
+fallen into the most profound oblivion; and of four or five hundred
+sects which have appeared, there remain in the memory of men those only
+which have produced either extreme disorder or extreme folly--two things
+which they willingly retain. Who knows, in the present day, that there
+were Orebites, Osmites, and Insdorfians? Who is now acquainted with the
+Anointed, the Cornacians, or the Iscariots?
+
+Dining one day at the house of a Dutch lady, I was charitably warned by
+one of the guests, to take care of myself, and not to praise Voetius. "I
+have no desire," said I, "to say either good or evil of your Voetius;
+but why do you give me this advice?" "Because madam is a Cocceian," said
+my neighbor. "With all my heart," said I. She added, that there were
+still four Cocceians in Holland, and that it was a great pity that the
+sect perished. A time will come in which the Jansenists, who have made
+so much noise among us, and who are unknown everywhere else, will have
+the fate of the Cocceians. An old doctor said to me: "Sir, in my youth,
+I have debated on the _'mandata impossibilia volentibus et conantibus.'_
+I have written against the formulary and the pope, and I thought myself
+a confessor. I have been put in prison, and I thought myself a martyr. I
+now no longer interfere in anything, and I believe myself to be
+reasonable." "What are your occupations?" said I to him. "Sir," replied
+he, "I am very fond of money." It is thus that almost all men in their
+old age inwardly laugh at the follies which they ardently embraced in
+their youth. Sects grow old, like men. Those which have not been
+supported by great princes, which have not caused great mischief, grow
+old much sooner than others. They are epidemic maladies, which pass over
+like the sweating sickness and the whooping-cough.
+
+There is no longer any question on the pious reveries of Madame Guyon.
+We no longer read the most unintelligible book of Maxims of the Saints,
+but Telemachus. We no longer remember what the eloquent Bossuet wrote
+against the elegant and amiable Fenelon; we give the preference to his
+funeral orations. In all the dispute on what is called quietism, there
+has been nothing good but the old tale revived of the honest woman who
+brought a torch to burn paradise, and a cruse of water to extinguish the
+fire of hell, that God should no longer be served either through hope or
+fear.
+
+I will only remark one singularity in this proceeding, which is not
+equal to the story of the good woman; it is, that the Jesuits, who were
+so much accused in France by the Jansenists of having been founded by
+St. Ignatius, expressly to destroy the love of God, warmly interfered
+at Rome in favor of the pure love of Fenelon. It happened to them as to
+M. de Langeais, who was pursued by his wife to the Parliament of Paris,
+on account of his impotence, and by a girl to the Parliament of Rennes,
+for having rendered her pregnant. He ought to have gained one of these
+two causes; he lost them both. Pure love, for which the Jesuits made so
+much stir, was condemned at Rome, and they were always supposed at Paris
+to be against loving God. This opinion was so rooted in the public mind
+that when, some years ago, an engraving was sold representing our Lord
+Jesus Christ dressed as a Jesuit, a wit--apparently the _loustic_ of the
+Jansenist party--wrote lines under the print intimating that the
+ingenious fathers had habited God like themselves, as the surest means
+of preventing the love of him:
+
+     _Admirez l'artifice extreme_
+     _Les ces peres ingenieux:_
+     _Ils vous ont habille comme eux,_
+     _Mon Dieu, de peur qu'on ne vous aime._
+
+At Rome, where such disputes never arise, and where they judge those
+that take place elsewhere, they were much annoyed with quarrels on pure
+love. Cardinal Carpegne, who was the reporter of the affairs of the
+archbishop of Cambray, was ill, and suffered much in a part which is not
+more spared in cardinals than in other men. His surgeon bandaged him
+with fine linen, which is called cambrai (cambric) in Italy as in many
+other places. The cardinal cried out, when the surgeon pleaded that it
+was the finest cambrai: "What! more cambrai still? Is it not enough to
+have one's head fatigued with it?" Happy the disputes which end thus!
+Happy would man be if all the disputers of the world, if heresiarchs,
+submitted with so much moderation, such magnanimous mildness, as the
+great archbishop of Cambray, who had no desire to be an heresiarch! I
+know not whether he was right in wishing God to be loved for himself
+alone, but M. de Fenelon certainly deserved to be loved thus.
+
+In purely literary disputes there is often as much snarling and party
+spirit as in more interesting quarrels. We should, if we could, renew
+the factions of the circus, which agitated the Roman Empire. Two rival
+actresses are capable of dividing a town. Men have all a secret
+fascination for faction. If we cannot cabal, pursue, and destroy one
+another for crowns, tiaras, and mitres, we fall upon one another for a
+dancer or a musician. Rameau had a violent party against him, who would
+have exterminated him; and he knew nothing of it. I had a violent party
+against me, and I knew it well.
+
+
+
+
+WHYS (THE).
+
+
+Why do we scarcely ever know the tenth part of the good we might do?
+Iris clear, that if a nation living between the Alps, the Pyrenees, and
+the sea, had employed, in ameliorating and embellishing the country, a
+tenth part of the money it lost in the war of 1741, and one-half of the
+men killed to no purpose in Germany, the state would have been more
+flourishing. Why was not this done? Why prefer a war, which Europe
+considered unjust, to the happy labors of peace, which would have
+produced the useful and the agreeable?
+
+Why did Louis XIV., who had so much taste for great monuments, for new
+foundations, for the fine arts, lose eight hundred millions of our money
+in seeing his cuirassiers and his household swim across the Rhine in
+_not_ taking Amsterdam; in stirring up nearly all Europe against him?
+What could he not have done with his eight hundred millions?
+
+Why, when he reformed jurisprudence, did he reform it only by halves?
+Ought the numerous ancient customs, founded on the decretals and the
+canon law, to be still suffered to exist? Was it necessary that in the
+many causes called ecclesiastical, but which are in reality civil,
+appeal should be made to the bishop; from the bishop to the
+metropolitan; from the metropolitan to the primate; and from the primate
+to Rome, "_ad apostolos_"?--as if the apostles had of old been the
+judges of the Gauls "_en dernier ressort_."
+
+Why, when Louis XIV. was outrageously insulted by Pope Alexander
+VII.--Chigi--did he amuse himself with sending into France for a legate,
+to make frivolous excuses, and with having a pyramid erected at Rome,
+the inscriptions over which concerned none but the watchmen of Rome--a
+pyramid which he soon after had abolished? Had it not been better to
+have abolished forever the simony by which every bishop and every abbot
+in Gaul pays to the Italian apostolic chamber the half of his revenue?
+
+Why did the same monarch, when still more grievously insulted by
+Innocent XI.--Odescalchi--who took the part of the prince of Orange
+against him, content himself with having four propositions maintained in
+his universities, and refuse the prayers of the whole magistracy, who
+solicited an eternal rupture with the court of Rome?
+
+Why, in making the laws, was it forgotten to place all the provinces of
+the kingdom under one uniform law, leaving in existence a hundred
+different customs, and a hundred and forty-four different measures?
+
+Why were the provinces of this kingdom still reputed foreign to one
+another, so that the merchandise of Normandy, on being conveyed by land
+into Brittany, pays duty, as if it came from England?
+
+Why was not corn grown in Champagne allowed to be sold in Picardy
+without an express permission--as at Rome permission is obtained for
+three giuli to read forbidden books?
+
+Why was France left so long under the reproach of venality? It seemed to
+be reserved for Louis XIV. to abolish the custom of buying the right to
+sit as judges over men, as you buy a country house; and making pleaders
+pay fees to the judge, as tickets for the play are paid for at the
+door.
+
+Why institute in a kingdom the offices and dignities of king's
+counsellors: Inspectors of drink, inspectors of the shambles, registrars
+of inventories, controllers of fines, inspectors of hogs, perequateurs
+of tailles, fuel-measurers, assistant-measurers, fuel-pilers, unloaders
+of green wood, controllers of timber, markers of timber, coal-measurers,
+corn-sifters, inspectors of calves, controllers of poultry, gaugers,
+assayers of brandy, assayers of beer, rollers of casks, unloaders of
+hay, floor-clearers, inspectors of ells, inspectors of wigs?
+
+These offices; in which doubtless consist the prosperity and splendor of
+an empire, formed numerous communities, which had each their syndics.
+This was all suppressed in 1719; but it was to make room for others of a
+similar kind, in the course of time. Would it not be better to retrench
+all the pomp and luxury of greatness, than miserably to support them by
+means so low and shameful?
+
+Why has a nation, often reduced to extremity and to some degree of
+humiliation, still supported itself in spite of all the efforts made to
+crush it? Because that nation is active and industrious. The people are
+like the bees: you take from them wax and honey, and they forthwith set
+to work to produce more.
+
+Why, in half of Europe, do the girls pray to God in Latin, which they do
+not understand? Why, in the sixteenth century, when nearly all the popes
+and bishops notoriously had bastards, did they persist in prohibiting
+the marriage of priests; while the Greek Church has constantly ordained
+that curates should have wives?
+
+Why, in all antiquity, was there no theological dispute, nor any people
+distinguished by a sectarian appellation? The Egyptians were not called
+Isiacs or Osiriacs. The people of Syria were not named Cybelians. The
+Cretans had a particular devotion for Jupiter, but were not called
+Jupiterians. The ancient Latins were much attached to Saturn, but there
+was not a village in all Latium called Saturnian. The disciples of the
+God of Truth, on the contrary, taking the title of their master himself,
+and calling themselves, like him, "anointed," declared, as soon as they
+were able, eternal war against all nations that were not "anointed," and
+made war upon one another for upwards of fourteen hundred years, taking
+the names of Arians, Manichaeans, Donatists, Hussites, Papists,
+Lutherans, Calvinists, etc. Even the Jansenists and Molinists have
+experienced no mortification so acute as that of not having it in their
+power to cut one another's throats in pitched battle. Whence is this?
+
+Why does a bookseller publicly sell the "Course of Atheism," by the
+great Lucretius, printed for the dauphin, only son of Louis XIV., by
+order and under the direction of the wise duke of Montausier, and of the
+eloquent Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, and of the learned Huet, bishop of
+Avranches? There you find those sublime impieties, those admirable
+lines against Providence and the immortality of the soul, which pass
+from mouth to mouth, through all after-ages:
+
+     _Ex nihilo, nihil; in nihilum nil posse reverti._
+     From nothing, nought; to nothing nought returns.
+
+     _Tangere enim ac tangi nisi corpus nulla protest res._
+     Matter alone can touch and govern matter.
+
+     _Nec bene pro meretis capitur, nec tangitur ira (Deus)._
+     Nothing can flatter God, or cause his anger.
+
+     _Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum._
+     How great the evil by religion caused!
+
+     _Desipire est mortale eterno jungere et una_
+     _Consentire putare, et fungi mutua posse._
+     'Tis weak in mortals to attempt to join
+     To transient being that which lasts forever.
+
+     _Nil igitur mors est, ad nos neque pertinet hilum._
+     When death is, we are not; the body dies, and with it all.
+
+     _Mortalem tamen esse animam fatere necesse est._
+     There is no future; mortal is the soul.
+
+     _Hinc Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita._
+     Hence ancient fools are superstition's prey.
+
+And a hundred other lines which charm all nations--the immortal
+productions of a mind which believed itself to be mortal. Not only are
+these Latin verses sold in the Rue St. Jacques and on the Quai des
+Augustins, but you fearlessly purchase the translations made into all
+the patois derived from the Latin tongue--translations decorated with
+learned notes, which elucidate the doctrine of materialism, collect all
+the proofs against the Divinity, and would annihilate it, if it could be
+destroyed. You find this book, bound in morocco, in the fine library of
+a great and devout prince, of a cardinal, of a chancellor, of an
+archbishop, of a round-capped president: but the first eighteen books of
+de Thou were condemned as soon as they appeared. A poor Gallic
+philosopher ventures to publish, in his own name, that if men had been
+born without fingers, they would never have been able to work tapestry;
+and immediately another Gaul, who for his money has obtained a robe of
+office, requires that the book and the author be burned.
+
+Why are scenic exhibitions anathematized by certain persons who call
+themselves of the first order in the state, seeing that such exhibitions
+are necessary to all the orders of the state, and that the laws of the
+state uphold them with equal splendor and regularity?
+
+Why do we abandon to contempt, debasement, oppression, and rapine, the
+great mass of those laborious and harmless men who cultivate the earth
+every day of the year, that we may eat of all its fruits? And why, on
+the contrary, do we pay respect, attention, and court, to the useless
+and often very wicked man who lives only by their labor, and is rich
+only by their misery?
+
+Why, during so many ages, among so many men who sow the corn with which
+we are fed, has there been no one to discover that ridiculous error
+which teaches that the grain must rot in order to germinate, and die to
+spring up again--an error which has led to many impertinent assertions,
+to many false comparisons, and to many ridiculous opinions?
+
+Why, since the fruits of the earth are so necessary for the preservation
+of men and animals, do we find so many years, and so many centuries, in
+which these fruits are absolutely wanting? why is the earth covered with
+poisons in the half of Africa and of America? why is there no tract of
+land where there are not more insects than men? why does a little
+whitish and offensive secretion form a being which will have hard bones,
+desires, and thoughts? and why shall those beings be constantly
+persecuting one another? why does there exist so much evil, everything
+being formed by a God whom all Theists agree in calling good? why, since
+we are always complaining of our ills, are we constantly employed in
+redoubling them? why, since we are so miserable, has it been imagined
+that to die is an evil--when it is clear that not to have been, before
+our birth, was no evil? why does it rain every day into the sea, while
+so many deserts demand rain, yet are constantly arid? why and how have
+we dreams in our sleep, if we have no soul? and if we have one, how is
+it that these dreams are always so incoherent and so extravagant? why do
+the heavens revolve from east to west, rather than the contrary way? why
+do we exist? why does anything exist?
+
+
+
+
+WICKED.
+
+
+We are told that human nature is essentially perverse; that man is born
+a child of the devil, and wicked. Nothing can be more injudicious; for
+thou, my friend, who preachest to me that all the world is born
+perverse, warnest me that thou art born such also, and that I must
+mistrust thee as I would a fox or a crocodile. Oh, no! sayest thou; I am
+regenerated; I am neither a heretic nor an infidel; you may trust in me.
+But the rest of mankind, which are either heretic, or what thou callest
+infidel, will be an assemblage of monsters, and every time that thou
+speakest to a Lutheran or a Turk, thou mayest be sure that they will rob
+and murder thee, for they are children of the devil, they are born
+wicked; the one is not regenerated, the other is degenerated. It would
+be much more reasonable, much more noble, to say to men: "You are all
+born good; see how dreadful it is to corrupt the purity of your being.
+All mankind should be dealt with as are all men individually." If a
+canon leads a scandalous life, we say to him: "Is it possible that you
+would dishonor the dignity of canon?" We remind a lawyer that he has the
+honor of being a counsellor to the king, and that he should set an
+example. We say to a soldier to encourage him: "Remember that thou art
+of the regiment of Champagne." We should say to every individual:
+"Remember thy dignity as a man."
+
+And indeed, notwithstanding the contrary theory, we always return to
+that; for what else signifies the expression, so frequently used in all
+nations: "Be yourself again?" If we are born of the devil, if our origin
+was criminal, if our blood was formed of an infernal liquor, this
+expression: "Be yourself again," would signify: "Consult, follow your
+diabolical nature; be an impostor, thief, and assassin; it is the law of
+your nature."
+
+Man is not born wicked; he becomes so, as he becomes sick. Physicians
+present themselves and say to him: "You are born sick." It is very
+certain these doctors, whatever they may say or do, will not cure him,
+if the malady is inherent in his nature; besides, these reasoners are
+often very ailing themselves.
+
+Assemble all the children of the universe; you will see in them only
+innocence, mildness, and fear; if they were born wicked, mischievous,
+and cruel, they would show some signs of it, as little serpents try to
+bite, and little tigers to tear. But nature not having given to men more
+offensive arms than to pigeons and rabbits, she cannot have given them
+an instinct leading them to destroy.
+
+Man, therefore, is not born bad; why, therefore, are several infected
+with the plague of wickedness? It is, that those who are at their head
+being taken with the malady, communicate it to the rest of men: as a
+woman attacked with the distemper which Christopher Columbus brought
+from America, spreads the venom from one end of Europe to the other.
+
+The first ambitious man corrupted the earth. You will tell me that this
+first monster has sowed the seed of pride, rapine, fraud, and cruelty,
+which is in all men. I confess, that in general most of our brethren can
+acquire these qualities; but has everybody the putrid fever, the stone
+and gravel, because everybody is exposed to it?
+
+There are whole nations which are not wicked: the Philadelphians, the
+Banians, have never killed any one. The Chinese, the people of Tonquin,
+Lao, Siam, and even Japan, for more than a hundred years have not been
+acquainted with war. In ten years we scarcely see one of those great
+crimes which astonish human nature in the cities of Rome, Venice, Paris,
+London, and Amsterdam; towns in which cupidity, the mother of all
+crimes, is extreme.
+
+If men were essentially wicked--if they were all born submissive to a
+being as mischievous as unfortunate, who, to revenge himself for his
+punishment, inspired them with all his passions--we should every morning
+see husbands assassinated by their wives, and fathers by their children;
+as at break of day we see fowls strangled by a weasel who comes to suck
+their blood.
+
+If there be a thousand millions of men on the earth, that is much; that
+gives about five hundred millions of women, who sew, spin, nourish their
+little ones, keep their houses or cabins in order, and slander their
+neighbors a little. I see not what great harm these poor innocents do on
+earth. Of this number of inhabitants of the globe, there are at least
+two hundred millions of children, who certainly neither kill nor steal,
+and about as many old people and invalids, who have not the power of
+doing so. There will remain, at most, a hundred millions of robust young
+people capable of crime. Of this hundred millions, there are ninety
+continually occupied in forcing the earth, by prodigious labor, to
+furnish them with food and clothing; these have scarcely time. In the
+ten remaining millions will be comprised idle people and good company,
+who would enjoy themselves at their ease; men of talent occupied in
+their professions; magistrates, priests, visibly interested in leading a
+pure life, at least in appearance. Therefore, of truly wicked people,
+there will only remain a few politicians, either secular or regular, who
+will always trouble the world, and some thousand vagabonds who hire
+their services to these politicians. Now, there is never a million of
+these ferocious beasts employed at once, and in this number I reckon
+highwaymen. You have therefore on the earth, in the most stormy times,
+only one man in a thousand whom we can call wicked, and he is not always
+so.
+
+There is, therefore infinitely less wickedness on the earth than we are
+told and believe there is. There is still too much, no doubt; we see
+misfortunes and horrible crimes; but the pleasure of complaining of and
+exaggerating them is so great, that at the least scratch we say that the
+earth flows with blood. Have you been deceived?--all men are perjured. A
+melancholy mind which has suffered injustice, sees the earth covered
+with damned people: as a young rake, supping with his lady, on coming
+from the opera, imagines that there are no unfortunates.
+
+
+
+
+WILL.
+
+
+Some very subtle Greeks formerly consulted Pope Honorius I., to know
+whether Jesus, when He was in the world, had one will or two, when He
+would sleep or watch, eat or repair to the water-closet, walk or sit.
+
+"What signifies it to you?" answered the very wise bishop of Rome,
+Honorius. "He has certainly at present the will for you to be
+well-disposed people--that should satisfy you; He has no will for you to
+be babbling sophists, to fight continually for the bishop's mitre and
+the ass's shadow. I advise you to live in peace, and not to lose in
+useless disputes the time which you might employ in good works."
+
+"Holy father, you have said well; this is the most important affair in
+the world. We have already set Europe, Asia, and Africa on fire, to know
+whether Jesus had two persons and one nature, or one nature and two
+persons, or rather two persons and two natures, or rather one person and
+one nature."
+
+"My dear brethren, you have acted wrongly; we should give broth to the
+sick and bread to the poor. It is doubtless right to help the poor! but
+is not the patriarch Sergius about to decide in a council at
+Constantinople, that Jesus had two natures and one will? And the
+emperor, who knows nothing about it, is of this opinion."
+
+"Well, be it so! but above all defend yourself from the Mahometans, who
+box your ears every day, and who have a very bad will towards you. It is
+well said! But behold the bishops of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and
+Morocco, all declare firmly for the two wills. We must have an opinion;
+what is yours?"
+
+"My opinion is, that you are madmen, who will lose the Christian
+religion which we have established with so much trouble. You will do so
+much mischief with your folly, that Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and
+Morocco, of which you speak to me, will become Mahometan, and there will
+not be a Christian chapel in Africa. Meantime, I am for the emperor and
+the council, until you have another council and another emperor."
+
+"This does not satisfy us. Do you believe in two wills or one?"
+
+"Listen: if these two wills are alike, it is as if there was but one; if
+they are contrary, he who has two wills at once will do two contrary
+things at once, which is absurd: consequently, I am for a single will."
+
+"Ah, holy father, you are a monothelite! Heresy! the devil!
+Excommunicate him! depose him! A council, quick! another council!
+another emperor! another bishop of Rome! another patriarch!"
+
+"My God! how mad these poor Greeks are with all their vain and
+interminable disputes! My successor will do well to dream of being
+powerful and rich."
+
+Scarcely had Honorius uttered these words when he learned that the
+emperor Heraclius was dead, after having been beaten by the Mahometans.
+His widow, Martina, poisoned her son-in-law; the senate caused Martina's
+tongue to be cut out, and the nose of another son of the emperor to be
+slit: all the Greek Empire flowed in blood. Would it not be better not
+to have disputed on the two wills? And this Pope Honorius, against whom
+the Jansenists have written so much--was he not a very sensible man?
+
+
+
+
+WIT, SPIRIT, INTELLECT.
+
+
+A man who had some knowledge of the human heart, was consulted upon a
+tragedy which was to be represented; and he answered, there was so much
+wit in the piece, that he doubted of its success. What! you will
+exclaim, is that a fault, at a time when every one is in search of
+wit--when each one writes but to show that he has it--when the public
+even applaud the falsest thoughts, if they are brilliant?--Yes,
+doubtless, they will applaud the first day, and be wearied the second.
+
+What is called wit, is sometimes a new comparison, sometimes a subtle
+allusion; here, it is the abuse of a word, which is presented in one
+sense, and left to be understood in another; there, a delicate relation
+between two ideas not very common. It is a singular metaphor; it is the
+discovery of something in an object which does not at first strike the
+observation, but which is really in it; it is the art either of bringing
+together two things apparently remote, or of dividing two things which
+seem to be united, or of opposing them to each other. It is that of
+expressing only one-half of what you think, and leaving the other to be
+guessed. In short, I would tell you of all the different ways of showing
+wit, if I had more; but all these gems--and I do not here include the
+counterfeits--are very rarely suited to a serious work--to one which is
+to interest the reader. The reason is, that then the author appears, and
+the public desire to see only the hero; for the hero is constantly
+either in passion or in danger. Danger and the passions do not go in
+search of wit. Priam and Hecuba do not compose epigrams while their
+children are butchered in flaming Troy; Dido does not sigh out her soul
+in madrigals, while rushing to the pile on which she is about to
+immolate herself; Demosthenes makes no display of pretty thoughts while
+he is inciting the Athenians to war. If he had, he would be a
+rhetorician; whereas he is a statesman.
+
+The art of the admirable Racine is far above what is called wit; but if
+Pyrrhus had always expressed himself in this style:
+
+     _Vaincu, charge de fers, de regrets consume,_
+     _Brule de plus de feux que je n'en allumai...._
+     _Helas! fus-je jamais si cruel que vous l'etes?_
+
+     Conquered and chained, worn out by vain desire,
+     Scorched by more flames than I have ever lighted....
+     Alas! my cruelty ne'er equalled yours!
+
+--if Orestes had been continually saying that the "Scythians are less
+cruel than Hermione," these two personages would excite no emotion at
+all; it would be perceived that true passion rarely occupies itself with
+such comparisons; and that there is some disproportion between the real
+flames by which Troy was consumed and the flames of Pyrrhus'
+love--between the Scythians immolating men, and Hermione not loving
+Orestes. Cinna says, speaking of Pompey:
+
+     _Le ciel choisit sa mort, pour servir dignement_
+     _D'une marque eternelle a ce grand changement;_
+     _Et devait cette gloire aux manes d'un tel homme,_
+     _D'emporter avec eux la liberte de Rome._
+
+     Heaven chose the death of such a man, to be
+     Th' eternal landmark of this mighty change.
+     His manes called for no less offering
+     Than Roman liberty.
+
+This thought is very brilliant; there is much wit in it, as also an air
+of imposing grandeur. I am sure that these lines, pronounced with all
+the enthusiasm and art of a great actor, will be applauded; but I am
+also sure that the play of "Cinna," had it been written entirely in this
+taste, would never have been long played. Why, indeed, was heaven bound
+to do Pompey the honor of making the Romans slaves after his death? The
+contrary would be truer: the manes of Pompey should rather have
+obtained from heaven the everlasting maintenance of that liberty for
+which he is supposed to have fought and died.
+
+What, then, would any work be which should be full of such far-fetched
+and questionable thoughts? How much superior to all these brilliant
+ideas are those simple and natural lines:
+
+     _Cinna, tu t'en souviens, et veux m'assassiner!_
+                                  --CINNA, act v, scene i.
+     Thou dost remember, Cinna, yet wouldst kill me
+
+     _Soyons amis, Cinna; c'est moi qui t'en convie._
+                                  --ID., act v, scene iii.
+     Let us be friends, Cinna; 'tis I who ask it.
+
+True beauty consists, not in what is called wit, but in sublimity and
+simplicity. Let Antiochus, in "Rodogune," say of his mistress, who quits
+him, after disgracefully proposing to him to kill his mother:
+
+     _Elle fuit, mais en Parthe, en nous percant le coeur._
+
+     She flies, but, like the Parthian, flying, wounds.
+
+Antiochus has wit; he makes an epigram against Rodogune; he ingeniously
+likens her last words in going away, to the arrows which the Parthians
+used to discharge in their flight. But it is not because his mistress
+goes away, that the proposal to kill his mother is revolting: whether
+she goes or stays, the heart of Antiochus is equally wounded. The
+epigram, therefore, is false; and if Rodogune did not go away, this bad
+epigram could not be retained.
+
+I select these examples expressly from the best authors, in order that
+they may be the more striking. I do not lay hold of those puns which
+play upon words, the false taste of which is felt by all. There is no
+one that does not laugh when, in the tragedy of the "Golden Fleece,"
+Hypsipyle says to Medea, alluding to her sorceries:
+
+     _Je n'ai que des attraits, et vous avez des charmes._
+
+     I have attractions only, you have charms.
+
+Corneille found the stage and every other department of literature
+infested with these puerilities, into which he rarely fell.
+
+I wish here to speak only of such strokes of wit as would be admitted
+elsewhere, and as the serious style rejects. To their authors might be
+applied the sentence of Plutarch, translated with the happy naivete of
+Amiot: "_Tu tiens sans propos beaucoup de bons propos_."
+
+There occurs to my recollection one of those brilliant passages, which I
+have seen quoted as a model in many works of taste, and even in the
+treatise on studies by the late M. Rollin. This piece is taken from the
+fine funeral oration on the great Turenne, composed by Flechier. It is
+true, that in this oration Flechier almost equalled the sublime Bossuet,
+whom I have called and still call the only eloquent man among so many
+elegant writers; but it appears to me that the passage of which I am
+speaking would not have been employed by the bishop of Meaux. Here it
+is:
+
+"Ye powers hostile to France, you live; and the spirit of Christian
+charity forbids me to wish your death.... but you live; and I mourn in
+this pulpit over a virtuous leader, whose intentions were pure...."
+
+An apostrophe in this taste would have been suitable to Rome in the
+civil war, after the assassination of Pompey; or to London, after the
+murder of Charles I.; because the interests of Pompey and Charles I.
+were really in question. But is it decent to insinuate in the pulpit a
+wish for the death of the emperor, the king of Spain, and the electors,
+and put in the balance against them the commander-in-chief employed by a
+king who was their enemy? Should the intentions of a leader--which can
+only be to serve his prince--be compared with the political interests of
+the crowned heads against whom he served? What would be said of a German
+who should have wished for the death of the king of France, on the
+occasion of the death of General Merci, "whose intentions were pure"?
+Why, then, has this passage always been praised by the rhetoricians?
+Because the figure is in itself beautiful and pathetic; but they do not
+thoroughly investigate the fitness of the thought.
+
+I now return to my paradox; that none of those glittering ornaments, to
+which we give the name of wit, should find a place in great works
+designed to instruct or to move the passions. I will even say that they
+ought to be banished from the opera. Music expresses passions,
+sentiments, images; but where are the notes that can render an epigram?
+Quinault was sometimes negligent, but he was always natural.
+
+Of all our operas, that which is the most ornamented, or rather the most
+overloaded, with this epigrammatic spirit, is the ballet of the "Triumph
+of the Arts," composed by an amiable man, who always thought with
+subtlety, and expressed himself with delicacy; but who, by the abuse of
+this talent, contributed a little to the decline of letters after the
+glorious era of Louis XIV. In this ballet, in which Pygmalion animates
+his statue, he says to it:
+
+     _Vos premiers mouvemens ont ete de m'aimer._
+
+     And love for me your earliest movements showed.
+
+I remember to have heard this line admired by some persons in my youth.
+But who does not perceive that the movements of the body of the statue
+are here confounded with the movements of the heart, and that in any
+sense the phrase is not French--that it is, in fact, a pun, a jest? How
+could it be that a man who had so much wit, had not enough to retrench
+these egregious faults? This same man--who, despising Homer, translated
+him; who, in translating him, thought to correct him, and by abridging
+him, thought to make him read--had a mind to make Homer a wit. It is he
+who, when Achilles reappears, reconciled to the Greeks who are ready to
+avenge him, makes the whole camp exclaim:
+
+     _Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-meme._
+
+       What shall oppose him, conqueror of himself?
+
+A man must indeed be fond of witticisms, when he makes fifty thousand
+men pun all at once upon the same word.
+
+This play of the imagination, these quips, these cranks, these random
+shafts, these gayeties, these little broken sentences, these ingenious
+familiarities, which it is now the fashion to lavish so profusely, are
+befitting no works but those of pure amusement. The front of the Louvre,
+by Perrault, is simple and majestic; minute ornaments may appear with
+grace in a cabinet. Have as much wit as you will, or as you can, in a
+madrigal, in light verses, in a scene of a comedy, when it is to be
+neither impassioned nor simple, in a compliment, in a "novellette," or
+in a letter, where you assume gayety yourself in order to communicate it
+to your friends.
+
+Far from having reproached Voiture with having wit in his letters, I
+found, on the contrary, that he had not enough, although he was
+constantly seeking it. It is said that dancing-masters make their bow
+ill, because they are anxious to make it too well. I thought this was
+often the case with Voiture; his best letters are studied; you feel that
+he is fatiguing himself to find that which presents itself so naturally
+to Count Anthony Hamilton, to Madame de Sevigne, and to so many other
+women, who write these trifles without an effort, better than Voiture
+wrote them with labor. Despreaux, who in his first satires had ventured
+to compare Voiture to Horace, changed his opinion when his taste was
+ripened by age. I know that it matters very little, in the affairs of
+this world, whether Voiture was or was not a great genius; whether he
+wrote only a few pretty letters, or that all his pieces of pleasantry
+were models. But we, who cultivate and love the liberal arts, cast an
+attentive eye on what is quite indifferent to the rest of the world.
+Good taste is to us in literature what it is to women in dress; and
+provided that one's opinions shall not be made a party matter, it
+appears to me that one may boldly say, that there are but few excellent
+things in Voiture, and that Marot might easily be reduced to a few
+pages.
+
+Not that we wish to take from them their reputation; on the contrary, we
+wish to ascertain precisely what that reputation cost them, and what are
+the real beauties for which their defects have been tolerated. We must
+know what we are to follow, and what we are to avoid; this is the real
+fruit of the profound study of the belles-lettres; this is what Horace
+did when he examined Lucilius critically. Horace made himself enemies
+thereby; but he enlightened his enemies themselves.
+
+This desire of shining and of saying in a novel manner what has been
+said by others, is a source of new expressions as well as far-fetched
+thoughts. He who cannot shine by thought, seeks to bring himself into
+notice by a word. Hence it has at last been thought proper to
+substitute "_amabilites_," for "_agremens_"; "_negligemment_" for "_avec
+negligence_"; "_badiner les amours_," for "_badiner avec les amours_."
+There are numberless other affectations of this kind; and if this be
+continued, the language of Bossuet, of Racine, of Corneille, of Boileau,
+of Fenelon, will soon be obsolete. Why avoid an expression which is in
+use, to introduce another which says precisely the same thing? A new
+word is pardonable only when it is absolutely necessary, intelligible,
+and sonorous. In physical science, we are obliged to make them; a new
+discovery, a new machine, requires a new word. But do we make any new
+discoveries in the human heart? Is there any other greatness than that
+of Corneille and Bossuet? Are there any other passions than those which
+have been delineated by Racine, and sketched by Quinault? Is there any
+other gospel morality than that of Bourdaloue?
+
+They who charge our language with not being sufficiently copious, must
+indeed have found sterility somewhere, but it is in themselves. "_Rem
+verba sequuntur_." When an idea is forcibly impressed on the mind--when
+a clear and vigorous head is in full possession of its thought--it
+issues from the brain, arrayed in suitable expressions, as Minerva came
+forth in full armor to wait upon Jupiter. In fine, the conclusion from
+this is that neither thoughts nor expressions should be far-fetched; and
+that the art, in all great works, is to reason well, without entering
+into too many arguments; to paint well, without striving to paint
+everything; and to be affecting, without striving constantly to excite
+passions. Certes, I am here giving fine counsel. Have I taken it myself?
+Alas! no!
+
+              _Pauci quos aequus amavit_
+     _Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad aethera virtus,_
+     _Dis geniti potuere._--AENEID, b. vi, v. 129.
+
+     To few great Jupiter imparts this grace,
+     And those of shining worth and heavenly race.
+                                        --DRYDEN.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+_Spirit--Wit._
+
+The word "spirit," when it signifies "a quality of the mind," is one of
+those vague terms to which almost every one who pronounces it attaches a
+different sense; it expresses some other thing than judgment, genius,
+taste, talent, penetration, comprehensiveness, grace, or subtlety, yet
+is akin to all these merits; it might be defined to be "ingenious
+reason."
+
+It is a generic word, which always needs another word to determine it;
+and when we hear it said: "This is a work of spirit," or "He is a man of
+spirit," we have very good reason to ask: "Spirit of what?" The sublime
+spirit of Corneille is neither the exact spirit of Boileau, nor the
+simple spirit of La Fontaine; and the spirit of La Bruyere, which is the
+art of portraying singularity, is not that of Malebranche, which is
+imaginative and profound.
+
+When a man is said to have "a judicious spirit," the meaning is, not so
+much that he has what is called spirit, as that he has an enlightened
+reason. A spirit firm, masculine, courageous, great, little, weak,
+light, mild, hasty, etc., signifies the character and temper of the
+mind, and has no relation to what is understood in society by the
+expression "spirited."
+
+Spirit, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, is much akin to wit;
+yet does not signify precisely the same thing; for the term, "man of
+spirit," can never be taken in a bad sense; but that of "a wit," is
+sometimes pronounced ironically.
+
+Whence this difference? It is that "a man of spirit" does not signify
+"superior wit," "marked talent"; and "a wit" does. This expression, "man
+of spirit," announces no pretensions; but "wit" is a sort of
+advertisement; it is an art which requires cultivation; it is a sort of
+profession; and thereby exposes to envy and ridicule.
+
+In this sense, Father Bouhours would have been right in giving us to
+understand that the Germans had no pretensions to wit; for at that time
+their learned men occupied themselves in scarcely any works but those of
+labor and painful research, which did not admit of their scattering
+flowers, of their striving to shine, and mixing up wit with learning.
+
+They who despise the genius of Aristotle should, instead of contenting
+themselves with condemning his physics--which could not be good,
+inasmuch as they wanted experiments--be much astonished to find that
+Aristotle, in his rhetoric, taught perfectly the art of saying things
+with spirit. He states that this art consists in not merely using the
+proper word, which says nothing new; but that a metaphor must be
+employed--a figure, the sense of which is clear, and its expression
+energetic. Of this, he adduces several instances; and, among others,
+what Pericles said of a battle in which the flower of the Athenian youth
+had perished: "The year has been stripped of its spring."
+
+Aristotle is very right in saying that novelty is necessary. The first
+person who, to express that pleasures are mingled with bitterness,
+likened them to roses accompanied by thorns, had wit; they who repeated
+it had none.
+
+Spirited expression does not always consist in a metaphor; but also in a
+new term--in leaving one half of one's thoughts to be easily divined;
+this is called "subtleness," "delicacy"; and this manner is the more
+pleasing, as it exercises and gives scope for the wit of others.
+
+Allusions, allegories, and comparisons, open a vast field for ingenious
+thoughts. The effects of nature, fable, history, presented to the
+memory, furnish a happy imagination with materials of which it makes a
+suitable use.
+
+It will not be useless to give examples in these different kinds. The
+following is a madrigal by M. de la Sabliere, which has always been held
+in high estimation by people of taste:
+
+       _Egle tremble que, dans ce jour,_
+       _L'Hymen, plus puissant que l'Amour,_
+     _N'enleve ses tresors, sans quelle ose s'en plaindre_
+       _Elle a neglige mes avis;_
+       _Si la belle les eut suivis,_
+     _Elle n'aurait plus rien a craindre._
+
+     Weeping, murmuring, complaining,
+       Lost to every gay delight,
+     Mira, too sincere for feigning,
+       Fears th' approaching bridal night.
+
+     Yet why impair thy bright perfection,
+       Or dim thy beauty with a tear?
+     Had Mira followed my direction,
+       She long had wanted cause of fear.--GOLDSMITH.
+
+It does not appear that the author could either better have masked, or
+better have conveyed, the meaning which he was afraid to express. The
+following madrigal seems more brilliant and more pleasing; it is an
+allusion to fable:
+
+     _Vous etes belle, et votre soeur est belle;_
+     _Entre vous deux tout choix serait bien doux_
+       _L'Amour etait blonde comme vous,_
+     _Mais il amait une brune comme elle._
+
+     You are a beauty, and your sister, too;
+     In choosing 'twixt you, then, we cannot err;
+       Love, to be sure, was fair like you;
+     But, then, he courted a brunette like her.
+
+There is another, and a very old one. It is by Bertaut, bishop of Seez,
+and seems superior to the two former; it unites wit and feeling:
+
+     _Quand je revis ce que j'ai tant aime,_
+     _Pen s'en fallut que mon coeur rallume_
+     _N'en fit le charme en mon ame renaitre;_
+     _Et que mon coeur, autrefois son captif,_
+     _Ne ressemblat l'esclave fugitif,_
+     _A qui le sort fit recontrer son maitre._
+
+     When I beheld again the once-loved form,
+     Again within my heart the rising storm
+     Had nearly cast the spell around my soul,
+     Which erst had bound me captive at her feet,
+     As some poor slave, escaped from rude control,
+     His master's dreaded face may haply meet.
+
+Strokes like these please every one, and characterize the delicate
+spirit of an ingenious nation. The great point is to know how far this
+spirit is admissible. It is clear that, in great works, it should be
+employed with moderation, for this very reason, that it is an ornament.
+The great art consists in propriety.
+
+A subtle, ingenious thought, a just and flowery comparison, is a defect
+when only reason or passion should speak, or when great interests are to
+be discussed. This is not false wit, but misplaced; and every beauty,
+when out of its place, is a beauty no longer.
+
+This is a fault of which Virgil was never guilty, and with which Tasso
+may now and then be charged, admirable as he otherwise is. The cause of
+it is that the author, too full of his own ideas, wishes to show
+himself, when he should only show his personages.
+
+The best way of learning the use that should be made of wit, is to read
+the few good works of genius which are to be found in the learned
+languages and in our own. False wit is not the same as misplaced wit. It
+is not merely a false thought, for a thought might be false without
+being ingenious; it is a thought at once false and elaborate.
+
+It has already been remarked that a man of great wit, who translated, or
+rather abridged Homer into French verse, thought to embellish that poet,
+whose simplicity forms his character, by loading him with ornaments. On
+the subject of the reconciliation of Achilles, he says:
+
+     _Tout le camp s'ecria dans une joie extreme,_
+     _Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-meme._
+
+     Cried the whole camp, with overflowing joy--
+     What still resist him? He's o'ercome himself.
+
+In the first place it does not at all follow, because one has overcome
+one's anger, that one shall not be beaten. Secondly, is it possible that
+a whole army should, by some sudden inspiration, make instantaneously
+the same pun?
+
+If this fault shocks all judges of severe taste, how revolting must be
+all those forced witticisms, those intricate and puzzling thoughts,
+which abound in otherwise valuable writings! Is it to be endured, that
+in a work of mathematics it should be said: "If Saturn should one day be
+missing, his place would be taken by one of the remotest of his
+satellites; for great lords always keep their successors at a distance?"
+Is it endurable to talk of Hercules being acquainted with physics, and
+that it is impossible to resist a philosopher of such force? Such are
+the excesses into which we are led by the thirst for shining and
+surprising by novelty. This petty vanity has produced verbal witticisms
+in all languages, which is the worst species of false wit.
+
+False taste differs from false wit, for the latter is always an
+affectation--an effort to do wrong; whereas the former is often a habit
+of doing wrong without effort, and following instinctively an
+established bad example.
+
+The intemperance and incoherence of the imaginations of the Orientals,
+is a false taste; but it is rather a want of wit than an abuse of it.
+Stars falling, mountains opening, rivers rolling back, sun and moon
+dissolving, false and gigantic similes, continual violence to nature,
+are the characteristics of these writers; because in those countries
+where there has never been any public speaking, true eloquence cannot
+have been cultivated; and because it is much easier to write fustian
+than to write that which is just, refined, and delicate.
+
+False wit is precisely the reverse of these trivial and inflated ideas;
+it is a tiresome search after subtleties, an affectation of saying
+enigmatically what others have said naturally; or bringing together
+ideas which appear incompatible; of dividing what ought to be united; of
+laying hold on false affinities; of mixing, contrary to decency, the
+trifling with the serious, and the petty with the grand.
+
+It were here a superfluous task to string together quotations in which
+the word spirit is to be found. We shall content ourselves with
+examining one from Boileau, which is given in the great dictionary of
+Trevoux: "It is a property of great spirits, when they begin to grow old
+and decay, to be pleased with stories and fables." This reflection is
+not just. A great spirit may fall into this weakness, but it is no
+property of great spirits. Nothing is more calculated to mislead the
+young than the quoting of faults of good writers as examples.
+
+We must not here forget to mention in how many different senses the word
+"spirit" is employed. This is not a defect of language; on the contrary,
+it is an advantage to have roots which ramify into so many branches.
+
+"Spirit of a body," "of a society," is used to express the customs, the
+peculiar language and conduct, the prejudices of a body. "Spirit of
+party," is to the "spirit of a body," what the passions are to ordinary
+sentiments.
+
+"Spirit of a law," is used to designate its intention; in this sense it
+has been said: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." "Spirit
+of a work," to denote its character and object. "Spirit of revenge," to
+signify desire and intention of taking revenge. "Spirit of discord,"
+"spirit of revolt," etc.
+
+In one dictionary has been quoted "spirit of politeness"; but from an
+author named Bellegarde, who is no authority. Both authors and examples
+should be selected with scrupulous caution. We cannot say "spirit of
+politeness," as we say "spirit of revenge," of "dissension," of
+"faction"; for politeness is not a passion animated by a powerful motive
+which prompts it, and which is metaphorically called spirit.
+
+"Familiar spirit," is used in another sense, and signifies those
+intermediate beings, those genii, those demons, believed in by the
+ancients; as the "spirit of Socrates," etc.
+
+Spirit sometimes denotes the more subtle part of matter; we say,
+"animal spirits," "vital spirits," to signify that which has never been
+seen, but which gives motion and life. These spirits, which are thought
+to flow rapidly through the nerves, are probably a subtile fire. Dr.
+Mead is the first who seems to have given proofs of this, in his
+treatise on poisons. Spirit, in chemistry, too, is a term which receives
+various acceptations, but always denotes the more subtile part of
+matter.
+
+
+SECTION III.
+
+_Spirit._
+
+Is not this word a striking proof of the imperfection of languages; of
+the chaos in which they still are, and the chance which has directed
+almost all our conceptions? It pleased the Greeks, as well as other
+nations, to give the name of wind, breath--"_pneuma_"--to that which
+they vaguely understand by respiration, life, soul. So that, among the
+ancients, soul and wind were, in one sense, the same thing; and if we
+were to say that man is a pneumatic machine, we should only translate
+the language of the Greeks. The Latins imitated them, and used the word
+"_spiritus_," spirit, breath. "_Anima_" and "_spiritus_" were the same
+thing.
+
+The "_rouhak_" of the Phoenicians, and, as it is said, of the
+Chaldaeans likewise, signified breath and wind. When the Bible was
+translated into Latin, the words, breath, spirit, wind, soul, were
+always used differently. "_Spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas_"--the
+breath of God--the spirit of God--was borne on the waters.
+
+"_Spiritus vitae_"--the breath of life--the soul of life. "_Inspiravit in
+faciem ejus spiraculum_" or "_spiritum vitae_"--And he breathed upon his
+face the breath of life; and, according to the Hebrew, he breathed into
+his nostrils the breath, the spirit, of life.
+
+"_Haec quum dixisset, insufflavit et dixit eis, accipite spiritum
+sanctum_"--Having spoken these words, he breathed on them, and said:
+Receive ye the holy breath--the holy spirit.
+
+"_Spiritus ubi vult spirat, et vocem ejus audis; sed nescis unde
+veniat_"--The spirit, the wind, breathes where it will, and thou hearest
+its voice (sound); but thou knowest not whence it comes.
+
+The distance is somewhat considerable between this and our pamphlets of
+the Quay des Augustins and the Pont-neuf, entitled, "Spirit of
+Marivaux," "Spirit of Desfontaines," etc.
+
+What we commonly understand in French by "_esprit_," "_bel-esprit_,"
+"_trait d'esprit_," are--ingenious thoughts. No other nation has made
+the same use of the word "_spiritus_." The Latins said "_ingenium_"; the
+Greeks, "_eupheuia_"; or they employed adjectives. The Spaniards say
+"_agudo_," "_agudeza_." The Italians commonly use the term "_ingegno_."
+
+The English make use of the words "wit," "witty," the etymology of which
+is good; for "witty" formerly signified "wise." The Germans say
+"_verstaendig_"; and when they mean to express ingenious, lively,
+agreeable thoughts, they say "rich in sensations"--"_sinnreich_." Hence
+it is that the English, who have retained many of the expressions of the
+ancient Germanic and French tongue, say, "sensible man." Thus almost all
+the words that express ideas of the understanding are metaphors.
+
+"_Ingegno_," "_ingenium_," comes from "that which generates";
+"_agudeza_," from "that which is pointed"; "_sinnreich_," from
+"sensations"; "spirit," from "wind"; and "wit," from "wisdom."
+
+In every language, the word that answers to spirit in general is of
+several kinds; and when you are told that such a one is a "man of
+spirit," you have a right to ask: Of what spirit?
+
+Girard, in his useful book of definitions, entitled "French Synonymes,"
+thus concludes: "In our intercourse with women, it is necessary to have
+wit, or a jargon which has the appearance of it. (This is not doing them
+honor; they deserve better.) Understanding is in demand with politicians
+and courtiers." It seems to me that understanding is necessary
+everywhere, and that it is very extraordinary to hear of understanding
+in demand.
+
+"Genius is proper with people of project and expense." Either I am
+mistaken, or the genius of Corneille was made for all spectators--the
+genius of Bossuet for all auditors--yet more than for people of
+expense.
+
+The wind, which answers to "_Spiritus_,"--spirit, wind,
+breath--necessarily giving to all nations the idea of air, they all
+supposed that our faculty of thinking and acting--that which animates
+us--is air; whence our "souls are a subtile air." Hence, manes, spirits,
+ghosts, shades, are composed of air.
+
+Hence we used to say, not long ago, "A 'spirit' has appeared to him; he
+has a 'familiar spirit;' that castle is haunted by 'spirits;'" and the
+populace say so still.
+
+The word "_spiritus_" has hardly ever been used in this sense, except in
+the translations of the Hebrew books into bad Latin.
+
+"_Manes_," "_umbra_," "_simulacra_," are the expressions of Cicero and
+Virgil. The Germans say, "_geist_"; the English, "ghost"; the Spaniards,
+"_duende_," "_trasgo_"; the Italians appear to have no term signifying
+ghost. The French alone have made use of the word "spirit" (esprit). The
+words for all nations should be, "phantom," "imagination," "reverie,"
+"folly," "knavery."
+
+
+SECTION IV.
+
+_Wit._
+
+When a nation is beginning to emerge from barbarism, it strives to show
+what we call wit. Thus, in the first attempts made in the time of
+Francis I., we find in Marot such puns, plays on words, as would now be
+intolerable.
+
+     _Remorentin la parte rememore:_
+     _Cognac s'en cogne en sa poitrine bleme,_
+     _Anjou faict jou, Angouleme est de meme._
+
+These fine ideas are not such as at once present themselves to express
+the grief of nations. Many instances of this depraved taste might be
+adduced; but we shall content ourselves with this, which is the most
+striking of all.
+
+In the second era of the human mind in France--in the time of Balzac,
+Mairet, Rotrou, Corneille--applause was given to every thought that
+surprised by new images, which were called "wit." These lines of the
+tragedy of "Pyramus" were very well received:
+
+     _Ah! voici le poignard qui du sang de son maitre_
+     _Sest souille lachement; il en rougit, le traitre!_
+
+     Behold the dagger which has basely drunk
+     Its master's blood! See how the traitor blushes!
+
+There was thought to be great art in giving feeling to this dagger, in
+making it red with shame at being stained with the blood of Pyramus, as
+much as with the blood itself. No one exclaimed against Corneille, when,
+in his tragedy of "Andromeda," Phineus says to the sun:
+
+     _Tu luis, soleil, et ta lumiere_
+       _Semble se plaire a m'affliger._
+     _Ah! mon amour te va bien obliger_
+       _A quitter soudain ta carriere._
+     _Viens, soleil, viens voir la beaute,_
+     _Dont le divin eclat me dompte,_
+       _Et tu fuiras de honte_
+       _D'avoir moins de clarte._
+
+     O sun, thou shinest, and thy light
+       Seems to take pleasure in my woe;
+     But soon my love shall shame thee quite,
+       And be thy glory's overthrow.
+     Come, come, O sun, and view the face
+     Whose heavenly splendor I adore;
+       Then wilt thou flee apace,
+       And show thy own no more.
+
+The sun flying because he is not so bright as Andromeda's face, is not
+at all inferior to the blushing dagger. If such foolish sallies as these
+found favor with a public whose taste it has been so difficult to form,
+we cannot be surprised that strokes of wit, in which some glimmering of
+beauty is discernible, should have had these charms.
+
+Not only was this translation from the Spanish admired:
+
+     _Ce sang qui, tout verse, fume encor de courroux,_
+     _De se voir repandu pour d'autres que pour vous._
+                                  --CID, act ii, sc. 9.
+
+     This blood, still foaming with indignant rage,
+     That it was shed for others, not for you;--
+
+not only was there thought to be a very spirited refinement in the line
+of Hypsipyle to Medea, in the "Golden Fleece": "I have attractions only;
+you have charms;" but it was not perceived--and few connoisseurs
+perceive it yet--that in the imposing part of Cornelia, the author
+almost continually puts wit where grief alone was required. This woman,
+whose husband has just been assassinated, begins her studied speech to
+Caesar with a "for":
+
+     _Cesar, car le destin que dans tes fers je brave_
+     _M'a fait ta prisonniere, et non pas ton esclave;_
+     _Et tu ne pretends pas qu'il m'abatte le coeur._
+     _Jusqu'a te rendre hommage et te nommer seigneur._
+                        --MORT DE POMPEE, act iii, sc. 4.
+
+     Caesar,
+     For the hard fate that binds me in thy chains,
+     Makes me thy prisoner, but not thy slave;
+     Nor wouldst thou have it so subdue my heart
+     That I should call thee lord and do thee homage.
+
+Thus she breaks off, at the very first word, in order to say that
+which is at once far-fetched and false. Never was the wife of one Roman
+citizen the slave of another Roman citizen: never was any Roman called
+lord; and this word "lord" is, with us, nothing more than a term of
+honor and ceremony, used on the stage.
+
+     _Fille de Scipion, et, pour dire encor plus,_
+     _Romaine, mon courage est encore au-dessus._--ID.
+
+     Daughter of Scipio, and, yet more, of Rome,
+     Still does my courage rise above my fate.
+
+
+[Illustration: PIERRE CORNEILLE]
+
+
+Besides the defect so common to all Corneille's heroes, of thus
+announcing themselves--of saying, I am great, I am courageous, admire
+me--here is the very reprehensible affectation of talking of her birth,
+when the head of Pompey has just been presented to Caesar. Real
+affliction expresses itself otherwise. Grief does not seek after a "yet
+more." And what is worse, while she is striving to say "yet more," she
+says much less. To be a daughter of Rome is indubitably less than to be
+daughter of Scipio and wife of Pompey. The infamous Septimius, who
+assassinated Pompey, was Roman as well as she. Thousands of Romans were
+very ordinary men: but to be daughter and wife to the greatest of
+Romans, was a real superiority. In this speech, then, there is false and
+misplaced wit, as well as false and misplaced greatness.
+
+She then says, after Lucan, that she ought to blush that she is alive:
+
+     _Je dois rougir, partout, apres un tel malheur,_
+     _De n'avoir pu mourir d'un exces de douleur._--ID.
+
+     However, after such a great calamity,
+     I ought to blush I am not dead of grief.
+
+Lucan, after the brilliant Augustan age, went in search of wit, because
+decay was commencing; and the writers of the age of Louis XIV. at first
+sought to display wit, because good taste was not then completely found,
+as it afterwards was.
+
+     _Cesar, de ta victoire ecoute moins le bruit;_
+     _Elle n'est que l'effet du malheur qui me suit._--ID.
+
+     Caesar, rejoice not in thy victory;
+     For my misfortune was its only cause.
+
+What a poor artifice! what a false as well as impudent notion! Caesar
+conquered at Pharsalia only because Pompey married Cornelia! What labor
+to say that which is neither true, nor likely, nor fit, nor interesting!
+
+     _Deux fois du monde entier j'ai cause la disgrace._--ID.
+
+     Twice have I caused the living world's disgrace.
+
+
+This is the "_bis nocui mundo_" of Lucan. This
+line presents us with a very great idea; it cannot
+fail to surprise; it is wanting in nothing but truth.
+But it must be observed, that if this line had but
+the smallest ray of verisimilitude--had it really its
+birth in the pangs of grief, it would then have all
+the truth, all the beauty, of theatrical fitness:
+
+     _Heureuse en mes malheurs, si ce triste hymenee_
+     _Pour le bonheur du monde a Rome m'eut donnee_
+     _Et si j'eusse avec moi porte dans ta maison._
+     _D'un astre envenime l'invincible poison!_
+     _Car enfin n'attends pas que j'abaisse ma haine:_
+     _Je te l'ai deja dit, Cesar, je suis Romaine;_
+     _Et, quoique ta captive, un coeur tel que le mien,_
+     _De peur de s'oublier, ne te demande rien._--ID.
+
+     Yet happy in my woes, had these sad nuptials
+     Given me to Caesar for the good of Rome;
+     Had I but carried with me to thy house
+     The mortal venom of a noxious star!
+     For think not, after all, my hate is less:
+     Already have I told thee I am a Roman;
+     And, though thy captive, such a heart as mine,
+     Lest it forget itself, will sue for nothing.
+
+This is Lucan again. She wishes, in the "Pharsalia," that she had
+married Caesar.
+
+     _Atque utinam in thalamis invisi Caesaris essem_
+     _Infelix conjux, et nulli laeta marito!_
+                                    --_Lib._, viii, v. 88, 89.
+
+     Ah! wherefore was I not much rather led
+     A fatal bride to Caesar's hated bed, etc.
+                                          --ROWE.
+
+
+This sentiment is not in nature; it is at once gigantic and puerile: but
+at least it is not to Caesar that Cornelia talks thus in Lucan.
+Corneille, on the contrary, makes Cornelia speak to Caesar himself: he
+makes her say that she wishes to be his wife, in order that she may
+carry into his house "the mortal poison of a noxious star"; for, adds
+she, my hatred cannot be abated, and I have told thee already that I am
+a Roman, and I sue for nothing. Here is odd reasoning: I would fain have
+married thee, to cause thy death; and I sue for nothing. Be it also
+observed, that this widow heaps reproaches on Caesar, just after Caesar
+weeps for the death of Pompey and promises to avenge it.
+
+It is certain, that if the author had not striven to make Cornelia
+witty, he would not have been guilty of the faults which, after being so
+long applauded, are now perceived. The actresses can scarcely longer
+palliate them, by a studied loftiness of demeanor and an imposing
+elevation of voice.
+
+The better to feel how much mere wit is below natural sentiment, let us
+compare Cornelia with herself, where, in the same tirade, she says
+things quite opposite:
+
+     _Je dois toutefois rendre grace aux dieux_
+     _De ce qu'en arrivant je trouve en ces lieux,_
+     _Que Cesar y commande, et non pas Ptolemee._
+     _Helas! et sous quel astre, o ciel, m'as-tu formee,_
+     _Si je leur dois des voeux, de ce qu'ils ont permis,_
+     _Que je recontre ici mes plus grands ennemis,_
+     _Et tombe entre leurs mains, plutot qu'aux mains d'un prince_
+     _Qui doit a mon epoux son trone et sa province._--ID.
+
+     Yet have I cause to thank the gracious gods,
+     That Caesar here commands--not Ptolemy.
+     Alas! beneath what planet was I formed,
+     If I owe thanks for being thus permitted
+     Here to encounter my worst enemies
+     And fall into their hands, rather than those
+     Of him who to my husband owes his throne?
+
+Let us overlook the slight defects of style, and consider how mournful
+and becoming is this speech; it goes to the heart: all the rest dazzles
+for a moment, and then disgusts. The following natural lines charm all
+readers:
+
+     _O vous! a ma douleur objet terrible et tendre,_
+     _Eternel entretien de haine et de pitie,_
+     _Restes de grand Pompee, ecoutez sa moitie, etc._
+
+     O dreadful, tender object of my grief,
+     Eternal source of pity and of hate,
+     Ye relics of great Pompey, hear me now--
+     Hear his yet living half.
+
+It is by such comparisons that our taste is formed, and that we learn to
+admire nothing but truth in its proper place. In the same tragedy,
+Cleopatra thus expresses herself to her confidante, Charmion:
+
+     _Apprends qu'une princesse aimant sa renommee,_
+     _Quand elle dit qu'elle aime, est sure d'etre aimee;_
+     _Et que les plus beaux feux dont son coeur soit epris_
+     _N'oseraient l'exposer aux hontes d'un mepris._
+                                          --Act ii, sc. 1.
+
+     Know, that a princess jealous of her fame,
+     When she owns love, is sure of a return;
+     And that the noblest flame her heart can feel,
+     Dares not expose her to rejection's shame.
+
+Charmion might answer: Madam, I know not what the noble flame of a
+princess is, which dares not expose her to shame; and as for princesses
+who never say they are in love, but when they are sure of being loved--I
+always enact the part of confidante at the play: and at least twenty
+princesses have confessed their noble flames to me, without being at all
+sure of the matter, and especially the infanta in "The Cid."
+
+Nay, we may go further: Caesar--Caesar himself--addresses Cleopatra, only
+to show off double-refined wit:
+
+     _Mais, o Dieux! ce moment que je vous ai quittee_
+     _D'un trouble bien plus grand a mon ame agitee;_
+     _Et ces soins importans qui m'arrachaient de vous,_
+     _Contre ma grandeur meme allumaient mon courroux;_
+     _Je lui voulais du mal de m'etre si contraire;_
+     _Mais je lui pardonnais, au simple souvenir_
+     _Du bonheur qu'a ma flamme elle fait obtenir._
+     _C'est elle, dont je tiens cette haute esperance,_
+     _Qui flatte mes desirs d'une illustre apparence...._
+     _C'etait, pour acquerir un droit si precieux;_
+     _Que combattait partout mon bras ambitieux;_
+     _Et dans Pharsale meme il a tire l'epee_
+     _Plus pour le conserver que pour vaincre Pompee._
+                                         --Act iv, sc. 3.
+
+     But, O the moment that I quitted you,
+     A greater trouble came upon my soul;
+     And those important cares that snatched me from you
+     Against my very greatness moved my ire;
+     I hated it for thwarting my desires....
+     But I have pardoned it--remembering how
+     At last it crowns my passion with success:
+     To it I owe the lofty hope which now
+     Flatters my view with an illustrious prospect.
+     'Twas but to gain this dearest privilege,
+     That my ambitious arm was raised in battle;
+     Nor did it at Pharsalia draw the sword,
+     So much to conquer Pompey, as to keep
+     This glorious hope.
+
+Here, then, we have Caesar hating his greatness for having taken him away
+a little while from Cleopatra; but forgiving his greatness when he
+remembers that this greatness has procured him the success of his
+passion. He has the lofty hope of an illustrious probability; and it was
+only to acquire the dear privilege of this illustrious probability, that
+his ambitious arm fought the battle of Pharsalia.
+
+It is said that this sort of wit, which it must be confessed is no other
+than nonsense, was then the wit of the age. It is an intolerable abuse,
+which Moliere proscribed in his "_Precieuses Ridicules_."
+
+It was of these defects, too frequent in Corneille, that La Bruyere
+said: "I thought, in my early youth, that these passages were clear and
+intelligible, to the actors, to the pit, and to the boxes; that their
+authors themselves understood them, and that I was wrong in not
+understanding them: I am undeceived."
+
+
+SECTION V.
+
+In England, to express that a man has a deal of wit, they say that he
+has "great parts." Whence can this phrase, which is now the astonishment
+of the French, have come? From themselves. Formerly, we very commonly
+used the word "parties" in this sense. "Clelia," "Cassandra," and our
+other old romances, are continually telling us of the "parts" of their
+heroes and heroines, which parts are their wit. And, indeed, who can
+have _all_? Each of us has but his own small portion of intelligence, of
+memory, of sagacity, of depth and extent of ideas, of vivacity, and of
+subtlety. The word "parts" is that most fitting for a being so limited
+as man. The French have let an expression escape from their dictionaries
+which the English have laid hold of: the English have more than once
+enriched themselves at our expense. Many philosophical writers have been
+astonished that, since every one pretends to wit, no one should dare to
+boast of possessing it.
+
+"Envy," it has been said, "permits every one to be the panegyrist of his
+own probity, but not of his own wit." It allows us to be the apologists
+of the one, but not of the other. And why? Because it is very necessary
+to pass for an honest man, but not at all necessary to have the
+reputation of a man of wit.
+
+The question has been started, whether all men are born with the same
+mind, the same disposition for science, and if all depends on their
+education, and the circumstances in which they are placed? One
+philosopher, who had a right to think himself born with some
+superiority, asserted that minds are equal; yet the contrary has always
+been evident. Of four hundred children brought up together, under the
+same masters and the same discipline, there are scarcely five or six
+that make any remarkable progress. A great majority never rise above
+mediocrity, and among them there are many shades of distinction. In
+short, minds differ still more than faces.
+
+
+SECTION VI.
+
+_Crooked or Distorted Intellect._
+
+We have blind, one-eyed, cross-eyed, and squinting people--visions long,
+short, clear, confused, weak, or indefatigable. All this is a faithful
+image of our understanding; but we know scarcely any _false_ vision:
+there are not many men who always take a cock for a horse, or a
+coffeepot for a church. How is it that we often meet with minds,
+otherwise judicious, which are absolutely wrong in some things of
+importance? How is it that the Siamese, who will take care never to be
+overreached when he has to receive three rupees, firmly believes in the
+metamorphoses of Sammonocodom? By what strange whim do men of sense
+resemble Don Quixote, who beheld giants where other men saw nothing but
+windmills? Yet was Don Quixote more excusable than the Siamese, who
+believes that Sammonocodom came several times upon earth--and the Turk,
+who is persuaded that Mahomet put one-half of the moon into his sleeve?
+Don Quixote, impressed with the idea that he is to fight with a giant,
+may imagine that a giant must have a body as big as a mill, and arms as
+long as the sails; but from what supposition can a man of sense set out
+to arrive at a conclusion, that half the moon went into a sleeve, and
+that a Sammonocodom came down from heaven to fly kites at Siam, to cut
+down a forest, and to exhibit sleight-of-hand?
+
+The greatest geniuses may have their minds warped, on a principle which
+they have received without examination. Newton was very wrong-headed
+when he was commenting on the Apocalypse.
+
+All that certain tyrants of souls desire, is that the men whom they
+teach may have their intellects distorted. A fakir brings up a child of
+great promise; he employs five or six years in driving it into his head,
+that the god Fo appeared to men in the form of a white elephant; and
+persuades the child, that if he does not believe in these metamorphoses,
+he will be flogged after death for five hundred thousand years. He adds,
+that at the end of the world, the enemy of the god Fo will come and
+fight against that divinity.
+
+The child studies, and becomes a prodigy; he finds that Fo could not
+change himself into anything but a white elephant, because that is the
+most beautiful of animals. The kings of Siam and Pegu, say he, went to
+war with one another for a white elephant: certainly, had not Fo been
+concealed in that elephant, these two kings would not have been so mad
+as to fight for the possession of a mere animal.
+
+Fo's enemy will come and challenge him at the end of the world: this
+enemy will certainly be a rhinoceros; for the rhinoceros fights the
+elephant. Thus does the fakir's learned pupil reason in mature age, and
+he becomes one of the lights of the Indies: the more subtle his
+intellect, the more crooked; and he, in his turn, forms other intellects
+as distorted as his own.
+
+Show these besotted beings a little geometry, and they learn it easily
+enough; but, strange to say, this does not set them right. They perceive
+the truths of geometry; but it does not teach them to weigh
+probabilities: they have taken their bent; they will reason against
+reason all their lives; and I am sorry for them.
+
+Unfortunately, there are many ways of being wrong-headed, 1. Not to
+examine whether the principle is true, even when just consequences are
+drawn from it; and this is very common.
+
+2. To draw false consequences from a principle acknowledged to be true.
+For instance: a servant is asked whether his master be at home, by
+persons whom he suspects of having a design against his master's life.
+If he were blockhead enough to tell them the truth, on pretence that it
+is wrong to tell a lie, it is clear that he would draw an absurd
+consequence from a very true principle.
+
+The judge who should condemn a man for killing his assassin, would be
+alike iniquitous, and a bad reasoner. Cases like these are subdivided
+into a thousand different shades. The good mind, the judicious mind, is
+that which distinguishes them. Hence it is, that there have been so many
+iniquitous judgments; not because the judges were wicked in heart, but
+because they were not sufficiently enlightened.
+
+
+
+
+WOMEN.
+
+_Physical and Moral._
+
+Woman is in general less strong than man, smaller, and less capable of
+lasting labor. Her blood is more aqueous; her flesh less firm; her hair
+longer; her limbs more rounded; her arms less muscular; her mouth
+smaller; her hips more prominent; and her belly larger. These physical
+points distinguish women all over the earth, and of all races, from
+Lapland unto the coast of Guinea, and from America to China.
+
+Plutarch, in the third book of his "_Symposiacs_," pretends that wine
+will not intoxicate them so easily as men; and the following is the
+reason which he gives for this falsehood:
+
+"The temperament of women is very moist; this, with their courses,
+renders their flesh so soft, smooth, and clear. When wine encounters so
+much humidity, it is overcome, and it loses its color and its strength,
+becoming discolored and weak. Something also may be gathered from the
+reasoning of Aristotle, who observes, that they who drink great draughts
+without drawing their breath, which the ancients call '_amusisein_' are
+not intoxicated so soon as others; because the wine does not remain
+within the body, but being forcibly taken down, passes rapidly off. Now
+we generally perceive that women drink in this manner; and it is
+probable that their bodies, in consequence of the continual attraction
+of the humors, which are carried off in their periodical visitations,
+are filled with many conduits, and furnished with numerous pipes and
+channels, into which the wine disperses rapidly and easily, without
+having time to affect the noble and principal parts, by the disorder of
+which intoxication is produced." These physics are altogether worthy of
+the ancients.
+
+Women live somewhat longer than men; that is to say, in a generation we
+count more aged women than aged men. This fact has been observed by all
+who have taken accurate accounts of births and deaths in Europe; and it
+is thought that it is the same in Asia, and among the negresses, the
+copper-colored, and olive-complexioned, as among the white. _"Natura est
+semper sibi consona."_
+
+We have elsewhere adverted to an extract from a Chinese journal, which
+states, that in the year 1725, the wife of the emperor Yontchin made a
+distribution among the poor women of China who had passed their
+seventieth year; and that, in the province of Canton alone, there were
+98,222 females aged more than seventy, 40,893 beyond eighty, and 3,453
+of about the age of a hundred. Those who advocate final causes say, that
+nature grants them a longer life than men, in order to recompense them
+for the trouble they take in bringing children into the world and
+rearing them. It is scarcely to be imagined that nature bestows
+recompenses, but it is probable that the blood of women being milder,
+their fibres harden less quickly.
+
+No anatomist or physician has ever been able to trace the secret of
+conception. Sanchez has curiously remarked: _"Mariam et spiritum sanctum
+emisisse semen in copulatione, et ex semine amborum natum esse Jesum."_
+This abominable impertinence of the most knowing Sanchez is not adopted
+at present by any naturalist.
+
+The periodical visitations which weaken females, while they endure the
+maladies which arise out of their suppression, the times of gestation,
+the necessity of suckling children, and of watching continually over
+them, and the delicacy of their organization, render them unfit for the
+fatigue of war, and the fury of the combat. It is true, as we have
+already observed, that in almost all times and countries women have been
+found on whom nature has bestowed extraordinary strength and courage,
+who combat with men, and undergo prodigious labor; but, after all, these
+examples are rare. On this point we refer to the article on "Amazons."
+
+Physics always govern morals. Women being weaker of body than we are,
+there is more skill in their fingers, which are more supple than ours.
+Little able to labor at the heavy work of masonry, carpentering,
+metalling, or the plough, they are necessarily intrusted with the
+lighter labors of the interior of the house, and, above all, with the
+care of children. Leading a more sedentary life, they possess more
+gentleness of character than men, and are less addicted to the
+commission of enormous crimes--a fact so undeniable, that in all
+civilized countries there are always fifty men at least executed to one
+woman.
+
+Montesquieu, in his "Spirit of Laws," undertaking to speak of the
+condition of women under divers governments, observes that "among the
+Greeks women were not regarded as worthy of having any share in genuine
+love; but that with them love assumed a form which is not to be named."
+He cites Plutarch as his authority.
+
+This mistake is pardonable only in a wit like Montesquieu, always led
+away by the rapidity of his ideas, which are often very indistinct.
+Plutarch, in his chapter on love, introduces many interlocutors; and he
+himself, in the character of Daphneus, refutes, with great animation,
+the arguments of Protagenes in favor of the commerce alluded to.
+
+It is in the same dialogue that he goes so far as to say, that in the
+love of woman there is something divine; which love he compares to the
+sun, that animates nature. He places the highest happiness in conjugal
+love, and concludes by an eloquent eulogium on the virtue of Epponina.
+This memorable adventure passed before the eyes of Plutarch, who lived
+some time in the house of Vespasian. The above heroine, learning that
+her husband Sabinus, vanquished by the troops of the emperor, was
+concealed in a deep cavern between Franche-Comte and Champagne, shut
+herself up with him, attended on him for many years, and bore children
+in that situation. Being at length taken with her husband, and brought
+before Vespasian, who was astonished at her greatness of soul, she said
+to him: "I have lived more happily under ground than thou in the light
+of the sun, and in the enjoyment of power." Plutarch therefore asserts
+directly the contrary to that which is attributed to him by Montesquieu,
+and declares in favor of woman with an enthusiasm which is even
+affecting.
+
+It is not astonishing, that in every country man has rendered himself
+the master of woman, dominion being founded on strength. He has
+ordinarily, too, a superiority both in body and mind. Very learned women
+are to be found in the same manner as female warriors, but they are
+seldom or ever inventors.
+
+A social and agreeable spirit usually falls to their lot; and, generally
+speaking, they are adapted to soften the manners of men. In no republic
+have they ever been allowed to take the least part in government; they
+have never reigned in monarchies purely elective; but they may reign in
+almost all the hereditary kingdoms of Europe--in Spain, Naples, and
+England, in many states of the North, and in many grand fiefs which are
+called "feminines."
+
+Custom, entitled the Salic law, has excluded them from the crown of
+France; but it is not, as Mezeray remarks, in consequence of their
+unfitness for governing, since they are almost always intrusted with the
+regency.
+
+It is pretended, that Cardinal Mazarin confessed that many women were
+worthy of governing a kingdom; but he added, that it was always to be
+feared they would allow themselves to be subdued by lovers who were not
+capable of governing a dozen pullets. Isabella in Castile, Elizabeth in
+England, and Maria Theresa in Hungary, have, however, proved the falsity
+of this pretended bon-mot, attributed to Cardinal Mazarin; and at this
+moment we behold a legislatrix in the North as much respected as the
+sovereign of Greece, of Asia Minor, of Syria, and of Egypt, is
+disesteemed.
+
+It has been for a long time ignorantly assumed, that women are slaves
+during life among the Mahometans; and that, after their death, they do
+not enter paradise. These are two great errors, of a kind which popes
+are continually repeating in regard to Mahometanism. Married women are
+not at all slaves; and the Sura, or fourth chapter of the Koran, assigns
+them a dowry. A girl is entitled to inherit one-half as much as her
+brother; and if there are girls only, they divide among them two-thirds
+of the inheritance; and the remainder belongs to the relations of the
+deceased, whose mother also is entitled to a certain share. So little
+are married women slaves, they are entitled to demand a divorce, which
+is granted when their complaints are deemed lawful.
+
+A Mahometan is not allowed to marry his sister-in-law, his niece, his
+foster-sister, or his daughter-in-law brought up under the care of his
+wife. Neither is he permitted to marry two sisters; in which particular
+the Mahometan law is more rigid than the Christian, as people are every
+day purchasing from the court of Rome the right of contracting such
+marriages, which they might as well contract gratis.
+
+_Polygamy._
+
+Mahomet has limited the number of wives to four; but as a man must be
+rich in order to maintain four wives, according to his condition, few
+except great lords avail themselves of this privilege. Therefore, a
+plurality of wives produces not so much injury to the Mahometan states
+as we are in the habit of supposing; nor does it produce the
+depopulation which so many books, written at random, are in the habit of
+asserting.
+
+The Jews, agreeable to an ancient usage, established, according to their
+books, ever since the age of Lameth, have always been allowed several
+wives at a time. David had eighteen; and it is from his time that they
+allow that number to kings; although it is said that Solomon had as
+many as seven hundred.
+
+The Mahometans will not publicly allow the Jews to have more than one
+wife; they do not deem them worthy of that advantage; but money, which
+is always more powerful than law, procures to rich Jews, in Asia and
+Africa, that permission which the law refuses.
+
+It is seriously related, that Lelius Cinna, tribune of the people,
+proclaimed, after the death of Caesar, that the dictator had intended to
+promulgate a law allowing women to take as many husbands as they
+pleased. What sensible man can doubt, that this was a popular story
+invented to render Caesar odious? It resembles another story, which
+states that a senator in full senate formally professed to give Caesar
+permission to cohabit with any woman he pleased. Such silly tales
+dishonor history, and injure the minds of those who credit them. It is a
+sad thing, that Montesquieu should give credit to this fable.
+
+It is not, however, a fable that the emperor Valentinian, calling
+himself a Christian, married Justinian during the life of Severa, his
+first wife, mother of the emperor Gratian; but he was rich enough to
+support many wives.
+
+Among the first race of the kings of the Franks, Gontran, Cherebert,
+Sigebert, and Chilperic, had several wives at a time. Gontran had within
+his palace Venerande, Mercatrude, and Ostregilda, acknowledged for
+legitimate wives; Cherebert had Merflida, Marcovesa, and Theodogilda.
+
+It is difficult to conceive how the ex-Jesuit Nonnotte has been able, in
+his ignorance, to push his boldness so far as to deny these facts, and
+to say that the kings of the first race were not polygamists, and
+thereby, in a libel in two volumes, throw discredit on more than a
+hundred historical truths, with the confidence of a pedant who dictates
+lessons in a college. Books of this kind still continue to be sold in
+the provinces, where the Jesuits have yet a party, and seduce and
+mislead uneducated people.
+
+Father Daniel, more learned and judicious, confesses the polygamy of the
+French kings without difficulty. He denies not the three wives of
+Dagobert I., and asserts expressly that Theodoret espoused Deutery,
+although she had a husband, and himself another wife called Visigalde.
+He adds, that in this he imitated his uncle Clothaire, who espoused the
+widow of Cleodomir, his brother, although he had three wives already.
+
+All historians admit the same thing; why, therefore, after so many
+testimonies, allow an ignorant writer to speak like a dictator, and say,
+while uttering a thousand follies, that it is in defence of religion? as
+if our sacred and venerable religion had anything to do with an
+historical point, although made serviceable by miserable calumniators to
+their stupid impostures.
+
+_Of the Polygamy Allowed by Certain Popes and Reformers._
+
+The Abbe Fleury, author of the "Ecclesiastical History," pays more
+respect to truth in all which concerns the laws and usages of the
+Church. He avows that Boniface, confessor of Lower Germany, having
+consulted Pope Gregory, in the year 726, in order to know in what cases
+a husband might be allowed to have two wives, Gregory replied to him, on
+the 22nd of November, of the same year, in these words: "If a wife be
+attacked by a malady which renders her unfit for conjugal intercourse,
+the husband may marry another; but in that case he must allow his sick
+wife all necessary support and assistance." This decision appears
+conformable to reason and policy; and favors population, which is the
+object of marriage.
+
+But that which appears opposed at once to reason, policy, and nature, is
+the law which ordains that a woman, separated from her husband both in
+person and estate, cannot take another husband, nor the husband another
+wife. It is evident that a race is thereby lost; and if the separated
+parties are both of a certain temperament, they are necessarily exposed
+and rendered liable to sins for which the legislators ought to be
+responsible to God, if--
+
+The decretals of the popes have not always had in view what was suitable
+to the good of estates, and of individuals. This same decretal of Pope
+Gregory II., which permits bigamy in certain cases, denies conjugal
+rights forever to the boys and girls, whom their parents have devoted to
+the Church in their infancy. This law seems as barbarous as it is
+unjust; at once annihilating posterity, and forcing the will of men
+before they even possess a will. It is rendering the children the slaves
+of a vow which they never made; it is to destroy natural liberty, and to
+offend God and mankind.
+
+The polygamy of Philip, landgrave of Hesse, in the Lutheran community,
+in 1539, is well known. I knew a sovereign in Germany, who, after having
+married a Lutheran, had permission from the pope to marry a Catholic,
+and retained both his wives.
+
+It is well known in England, that the chancellor Cowper married two
+wives, who lived together in the same house in a state of concord which
+did honor to all three. Many of the curious still possess the little
+book which he composed in favor of polygamy.
+
+We must distrust authors who relate, that in certain countries women are
+allowed several husbands. Those who make laws everywhere are born with
+too much self-love, are too jealous of their authority, and generally
+possess a temperament too ardent in comparison with that of women, to
+have instituted a jurisprudence of this nature. That which is opposed to
+the general course of nature is very rarely true; but it is very common
+for the more early travellers to mistake an abuse for a law.
+
+The author of the "Spirit of Laws" asserts, that in the caste of Nairs,
+on the coast of Malabar, a man can have only one wife, while a woman may
+have several husbands. He cites doubtful authors, and above all Picard;
+but it is impossible to speak of strange customs without having long
+witnessed them; and if they are mentioned, it ought to be doubtingly;
+but what lively spirit knows how to doubt?
+
+"The lubricity of women," he observes, "is so great at Patan, the men
+are constrained to adopt certain garniture, in order to be safe against
+their amorous enterprises."
+
+The president Montesquieu was never at Patan. Is not the remark of M.
+Linguet judicious, who observes, that this story has been told by
+travellers who were either deceived themselves, or who wished to laugh
+at their readers? Let us be just, love truth, and judge by facts, not by
+names.
+
+_End of the Reflections on Polygamy._
+
+It appears that power, rather than agreement, makes laws everywhere, but
+especially in the East. We there beheld the first slaves, the first
+eunuchs, and the treasury of the prince directly composed of that which
+is taken from the people.
+
+He who can clothe, support, and amuse a number of women, shuts them up
+in a menagerie, and commands them despotically. Ben Aboul Kiba, in his
+"Mirror of the Faithful," relates that one of the viziers of the great
+Solyman addressed the following discourse to an agent of Charles V.:
+
+"Dog of a Christian!--for whom, however, I have a particular
+esteem--canst thou reproach me with possessing four wives, according to
+our holy laws, whilst thou emptiest a dozen barrels a year, and I drink
+not a single glass of wine? What good dost thou effect by passing more
+hours at table than I do in bed? I may get four children a year for the
+service of my august master, whilst thou canst scarcely produce one, and
+that only the child of a drunkard, whose brain will be obscured by the
+vapors of the wine which has been drunk by his father. What, moreover,
+wouldst thou have me do, when two of my wives are in child-bed? Must I
+not attend to the other two, as my law commands me? What becomes of
+them? what part dost thou perform, in the latter months of the pregnancy
+of thy only wife, and during her lyings-in and sexual maladies? Thou
+either remainest idle, or thou repairest to another woman. Behold
+thyself between two mortal sins, which will infallibly cause thee to
+fall headlong from the narrow bridge into the pit of hell.
+
+"I will suppose, that in our wars against the dogs of Christians we lose
+a hundred thousand soldiers; behold a hundred thousand girls to provide
+for. Is it not for the wealthy to take care of them? Evil betide every
+Mussulman so cold-hearted as not to give shelter to four pretty girls,
+in the character of legitimate wives, or to treat them according to
+their merits!
+
+"What is done in thy country by the trumpeter of day, which thou callest
+the cock; the honest ram, the leader of the flock; the bull, sovereign
+of the heifers; has not every one of them his seraglio? It becomes thee,
+truly, to reproach me with my four wives, whilst our great prophet had
+eighteen, the Jew David, as many, and the Jew Solomon, seven hundred,
+all told, with three hundred concubines! Thou perceivest that I am
+modest. Cease, then, to reproach a sage with luxury, who is content with
+so moderate a repast. I permit thee to drink; allow me to love. Thou
+changest thy wines; permit me to change my females. Let every one suffer
+others to live according to the customs of their country. Thy hat was
+not made to give laws to my turban; thy ruff and thy curtailed doublets
+are not to command my doliman. Make an end of thy coffee, and go and
+caress thy German spouse, since thou art allowed to have no other."
+
+_Reply of the German._
+
+"Dog of a Mussulman! for whom I retain a profound veneration; before I
+finish my coffee I will confute all thy arguments. He who possesses four
+wives, possesses four harpies, always ready to calumniate, to annoy, and
+to fight one another. Thy house is the den of discord, and none of them
+can love thee. Each has only a quarter of thy person, and in return can
+bestow only a quarter of her heart. None of them can serve to render thy
+life agreeable; they are prisoners who, never having seen anything, have
+nothing to say; and, knowing only thee, are in consequence thy enemies.
+Thou art their absolute master; they therefore hate thee. Thou art
+obliged to guard them with eunuchs, who whip them when they are too
+happy. Thou pretendest to compare thyself to a cock, but a cock never
+has his pullets whipped by a capon. Take animals for thy examples, and
+copy them as much as thou pleasest; for my part, I love like a man; I
+would give all my heart, and receive an entire heart in return. I will
+give an account of this conversation to my wife to-night, and I hope she
+will be satisfied. As to the wine with which thou reproachest me, if it
+is an evil to drink it in Arabia, it is a very praiseworthy habit in
+Germany.--Adieu!"
+
+
+
+
+XENOPHANES.
+
+
+Bayle has made the article "Xenophanes" a pretext for making a panegyric
+on the devil; as Simonides, formerly, seized the occasion of a wrestler
+winning the prize of boxing in the Olympic games, to form a fine ode in
+praise of Castor and Pollux. But, at the bottom, of what consequence to
+us are the reveries of Xenophanes? What do we gain by knowing that he
+regarded nature as an infinite being, immovable, composed of an infinite
+number of small corpuscles, soft little mounds, and small organic
+molecules? That he, moreover, thought pretty nearly as Spinoza has since
+thought? or rather endeavored to think, for he contradicts himself
+frequently--a thing very common to ancient philosophers.
+
+If Anaximenes taught that the atmosphere was God; if Thales attributed
+to water the foundation of all things, because Egypt was rendered
+fertile by inundation; if Pherecides and Heraclitus give to fire all
+which Thales attributes to water--to what purpose return to these
+chimerical reveries?
+
+I wish that Pythagoras had expressed, by numbers, certain relations,
+very insufficiently understood, by which he infers, that the world was
+built by the rules of arithmetic. I allow, that Ocellus Lucanus and
+Empedocles have arranged everything by moving antagonist forces, but
+what shall I gather from it? What clear notion will it convey to my
+feeble mind?
+
+Come, divine Plato! with your archetypal ideas, your androgynes, and
+your word; establish all these fine things in poetical prose, in your
+new republic, in which I no more aspire to have a house, than in the
+Salentum of Telemachus; but in lieu of becoming one of your citizens, I
+will send you an order to build your town with all the subtle manner of
+Descartes, all his globular and diffusive matter; and they shall be
+brought to you by Cyrano de Bergerac.
+
+Bayle, however, has exercised all the sagacity of his logic on these
+ancient fancies; but it is always by rendering them ridiculous that he
+instructs and entertains.
+
+O philosophers! Physical experiments, ably conducted, arts and
+handicraft--these are the true philosophy. My sage is the conductor of
+my windmill, which dexterously catches the wind, and receives my corn,
+deposits it in the hopper, and grinds it equally, for the nourishment of
+myself and family. My sage is he who, with his shuttle, covers my walls
+with pictures of linen or of silk, brilliant with the finest colors; or
+he who puts into my pocket a chronometer of silver or of gold. My sage
+is the investigator of natural history. We learn more from the single
+experiments of the Abbe Nollet than from all the philosophical works of
+antiquity.
+
+
+
+
+XENOPHON,
+
+AND THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND.
+
+
+If Xenophon had no other merit than that of being the friend of the
+martyr Socrates, he would be interesting; but he was a warrior,
+philosopher, poet, historian, agriculturist, and amiable in society.
+There were many Greeks who united these qualities.
+
+But why had this free man a Greek company in the pay of the young
+Chosroes, named Cyrus by the Greeks? This Cyrus was the younger brother
+and subject of the emperor of Persia, Artaxerxes Mnemon, of whom it was
+said that he never forgot anything but injuries. Cyrus had already
+attempted to assassinate his brother, even in the temple in which the
+ceremony of his consecration took place--for the kings of Persia were
+the first who were consecrated. Artaxerxes had not only the clemency to
+pardon this villain, but he had the weakness to allow him the absolute
+government of a great part of Asia Minor, which he held from their
+father, and of which he at least deserved to be despoiled.
+
+As a return for such surprising mercy, as soon as he could excite his
+satrapy to revolt against his brother, Cyrus added this second crime to
+the first. He declared by a manifesto, "that he was more worthy of the
+throne of Persia than his brother, because he was a better magus, and
+drank more wine." I do not believe that these were the reasons which
+gained him the Greeks as allies. He took thirteen thousand into his pay,
+among whom was the young Xenophon, who was then only an adventurer. Each
+soldier had a daric a month for pay. The daric is equal to about a
+guinea or a louis d'or of our time, as the Chevalier de Jaucourt very
+well observes, and not ten francs, as Rollin says.
+
+When Cyrus proposed to march them with his other troops to fight his
+brother towards the Euphrates, they demanded a daric and a half, which
+he was obliged to grant them. This was thirty-six livres a month, and
+consequently the highest pay which was ever given. The soldiers of
+Caesar and Pompey had but twenty sous per day in the civil wars. Besides
+this exorbitant pay, of which they obliged him to pay four months in
+advance, Cyrus furnished them four hundred chariots, laden with wine and
+meal.
+
+The Greeks were then precisely what the Swiss are at present, who hire
+their service and courage to neighboring princes, but for a pay three
+times less than was that of the Greeks. It is evident, though they say
+the contrary, that they did not inform themselves whether the cause for
+which they fought was just; it was sufficient that Cyrus paid well.
+
+The greatest part of these troops was composed of Lacedaemonians, by
+which they violated their solemn treaties with the king of Persia. What
+was become of the ancient aversion of the Spartans for gold and silver?
+Where was their sincerity in treaties? Where was their high and
+incorruptible virtue? Clearchus, a Spartan, commanded the principal body
+of these brave mercenaries.
+
+I understand not the military manoeuvres of Artaxerxes and Cyrus; I see
+not why Artaxerxes, who came to his enemy with twelve hundred thousand
+soldiers, should begin by causing lines of twelve leagues in extent to
+be drawn between Cyrus and himself; and I comprehend nothing of the
+order of battle. I understand still less how Cyrus, followed only by six
+hundred horse, broke into the midst of six thousand horse-guards of the
+emperor, followed by an innumerable army. Finally, he was killed by the
+hand of Artaxerxes, who, having apparently drunk less wine than the
+rebel, fought with more coolness and address than this drunkard. It is
+clear that he completely gained the battle, notwithstanding the valor
+and resistance of thirteen thousand Greeks--since Greek vanity is
+obliged to confess that Artaxerxes told them to put down their arms.
+They replied that they would do nothing of the kind; but that if the
+emperor would pay them they would enter his service. It was very
+indifferent to them for whom they fought, so long as they were paid; in
+fact, they were only hired murderers.
+
+Besides the Swiss, there are some provinces of Germany which follow this
+custom. It signifies not to these good Christians whether they are paid
+to kill English, French, or Dutch, or to be killed by them. You see them
+say their prayers, and go to the carnage like laborers to their
+workshop. As to myself, I confess I would rather observe those who go
+into Pennsylvania, to cultivate the land with the simple and equitable
+Quakers, and form colonies in the retreat of peace and industry. There
+is no great skill in killing and being killed for six sous per day, but
+there is much in causing the republic of Dunkers to flourish--these new
+Therapeutae on the frontier of a country the most savage.
+
+Artaxerxes regarded the Greeks only as accomplices in the revolt of his
+brother, and indeed they were nothing else. He betrayed himself to be
+betrayed by them, and he betrayed them, as Xenophon pretends; for after
+one of his captains had sworn in his name to allow them a free retreat,
+and to furnish them with food, after Clearchus and five other commanders
+of the Greeks were put into his hands, to regulate the march, he caused
+their heads to be cut off, and slew all the Greeks who accompanied them
+in this interview, if we may trust Xenophon's account.
+
+This royal act shows us that Machiavellism is not new; but is it true
+that Artaxerxes promised not to make an example of the chief mercenaries
+who sold themselves to his brother? Was it not permitted him to punish
+those whom he thought so guilty? It is here that the famous retreat of
+the ten thousand commences. If I comprehend nothing of the battle, I
+understand no more of the retreat.
+
+The emperor, before he cut off the heads of six Greek generals and their
+suite, had sworn to allow the little army, reduced to ten thousand men,
+to return to Greece. The battle was fought on the road to the Euphrates;
+he must therefore have caused the Greeks to return by Western
+Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, and Ionia. Not at all; they were made to
+pass by the East; they were obliged to traverse the Tigris in boats
+which were furnished to them; they returned afterwards by the Armenian
+roads, while their commanders were punished. If any person comprehends
+this march, in which they turn their backs on Greece, they will oblige
+me much by explaining it to me.
+
+One of two things: either the Greeks chose their route themselves--and
+in this case they neither knew where they went, or what they wished--or
+Artaxerxes made them march against their will--which is much more
+probable--and in this case, why did he not exterminate them?
+
+We may extricate ourselves from these difficulties, by supposing that
+the Persian emperor only half revenged himself; that he contented
+himself with punishing the principal mercenary chiefs who sold the Greek
+troops to Cyrus; that having made a treaty with the fugitive troops, he
+would not descend to the meanness of violating it; that being sure that
+a third of these wandering Greeks would perish on the road, he abandoned
+them to their fate. I see no other manner of enlightening the mind of
+the reader on the obscurities of this march.
+
+We are astonished at the retreat of the ten thousand; but we should be
+much more so, if Artaxerxes, a conqueror, at the head of a hundred
+thousand men--at least it is said so--had allowed ten thousand fugitives
+to travel in the north of his vast states, whom he could crush in every
+village, every bridge, every defile, or whom he could have made perish
+with hunger and misery.
+
+However, they were furnished, as we have seen, with twenty-seven great
+boats, to enable them to pass the Tigris, as if they were conducted to
+the Indies. Thence they were escorted towards the North for several
+days, into the desert in which Bagdad is now situated. They further
+passed the river Zabata, and it was there that the emperor sent his
+orders to punish the chiefs. It is clear that they could have
+exterminated the army as easily as they inflicted punishment on the
+generals. It is therefore very likely that they did not choose to do so.
+We should, therefore, rather regard the Greek wanderers in these savage
+countries as wayward travellers, whom the bounty of the emperor allowed
+to finish their journey as they could.
+
+We may make another observation, which appears not very honorable to the
+Persian government. It was impossible for the Greeks not to have
+continual quarrels for food with the people whom they met. Pillages,
+desolations, and murders, were the inevitable consequence of these
+disorders; and that is so true, that in a road of six hundred leagues,
+during which the Greeks always marched irregularly, being neither
+escorted nor pursued by any great body of Persian troops, they lost four
+thousand men, either killed by peasants or by sickness. How did it
+happen, therefore, that Artaxerxes did not cause them to be escorted
+from their passage of the river Zabata, as he had done from the field of
+battle to the river?
+
+How could so wise and good a sovereign commit so great a fault? Perhaps
+he did command the escort; perhaps Xenophon, who exaggerates a little
+elsewhere, passes it over in silence, not to diminish the wonder of the
+"retreat of the ten thousand"; perhaps the escort was always obliged to
+march at a great distance from the Greek troop, on account of the
+difficulty of procuring provisions. However it might be, it appears
+certain that Artaxerxes used extreme indulgence, and that the Greeks
+owed their lives to him, since they were not exterminated.
+
+In the article on "Retreat," in the "Encyclopaedical Dictionary," it is
+said that the retreat of the ten thousand took place under the command
+of Xenophon. This is a mistake; he never commanded; he was merely at the
+head of a division of fourteen hundred men, at the end of the march.
+
+I see that these heroes scarcely arrived, after so many fatigues, on the
+borders of the Pontus Euxinus, before they indifferently pillaged
+friends and enemies to re-establish themselves. Xenophon embarked his
+little troop at Heraclea, and went to make a new bargain with a king of
+Thrace, to whom he was a stranger. This Athenian, instead of succoring
+his country, then overcome by the Spartans, sold himself once more to a
+petty foreign despot. He was ill paid, I confess, which is another
+reason why we may conclude that he would have done better in assisting
+his country.
+
+The sum of all this, we have already remarked, is that the Athenian
+Xenophon, being only a young volunteer, enlisted himself under a
+Lacedaemonian captain, one of the tyrants of Athens, in the service of a
+rebel and an assassin; and that, becoming chief of fourteen hundred men,
+he put himself into the pay of a barbarian.
+
+What is worse, necessity did not constrain him to this servitude. He
+says himself that he deposited a great part of the gold gained in the
+service of Cyrus in the temple of the famous Diana of Ephesus.
+
+Let us remark, that in receiving the pay of a king, he exposed himself
+to be condemned to death, if the foreigner was not contented with him,
+which happened to Major-General Doxat, a man born free. He sold himself
+to the emperor Charles VI., who commanded his head to be cut off, for
+having given up to the Turks a place which he could not defend.
+
+Rollin, in speaking of the return of the ten thousand, says, "that this
+fortunate retreat filled the people of Greece with contempt for
+Artaxerxes, by showing them that gold, silver, delicacies, luxury, and a
+numerous seraglio, composed all the merit of a great king."
+
+Rollin should consider that the Greeks ought not to despise a sovereign
+who had gained a complete battle; who, having pardoned as a brother,
+conquered as a hero; who, having the power of exterminating ten thousand
+Greeks, suffered them to live and to return to their country; and who,
+being able to have them in his pay, disdained to make use of them. Add,
+that this prince afterwards conquered the Lacedaemonians and their
+allies, and imposed on them humiliating laws; add also that in a war
+with the Scythians, called Caducians, towards the Caspian Sea, he
+supported all fatigues and dangers like the lowest soldier. He lived and
+died full of glory; it is true that he had a seraglio, but his courage
+was only the more estimable. We must be careful of college declamations.
+
+If I dared to attack prejudice I would venture to prefer the retreat of
+Marshal Belle-Isle to that of the ten thousand. He was blocked up in
+Prague by sixty thousand men, when he had not thirteen thousand. He took
+his measures with so much ability that he got out of Prague, in the most
+severe cold, with his army, provisions, baggage, and thirty pieces of
+cannon, without the besiegers having the least idea of it. He gained two
+days' march without their perceiving it. An army of thirteen thousand
+men pursued him for the space of thirty leagues. He faced them
+everywhere--he was never cast down; but sick as he was, he braved the
+season, scarcity and his enemies. He only lost those soldiers who could
+not resist the extreme rigor of the season. What more was wanting? A
+longer course and Grecian exaggeration.
+
+
+
+
+YVETOT.
+
+
+This is the name of a town in France, six leagues from Rouen, in
+Normandy, which, according to Robert Gaguin, a historian of the
+sixteenth century, has long been entitled a kingdom.
+
+This writer relates that Gautier, or Vautier, lord of Yvetot, and grand
+chamberlain to King Clotaire I., having lost the favor of his master by
+calumny, in which courtiers deal rather liberally, went into voluntary
+exile, and visited distant countries, where, for ten years, he fought
+against the enemies of the faith; that at the expiration of this term,
+flattering himself that the king's anger would be appeased, he went back
+to France; that he passed through Rome, where he saw Pope Agapetus, from
+whom he obtained a letter of recommendation to the king, who was then at
+Soissons, the capital of his dominions. The lord of Yvetot repaired
+thither one Good Friday, and chose the time when Clotaire was at church,
+to fall at his feet, and implore his forgiveness through the merits of
+Him who, on that day, had shed His blood for the salvation of men; but
+Clotaire, ferocious and cruel, having recognized him, ran him through
+the body.
+
+Gaguin adds that Pope Agapetus, being informed of this disgraceful act,
+threatened the king with the thunders of the Church, if he did not make
+reparation for his offence; and that Clotaire, justly intimidated, and
+in satisfaction for the murder of his subject, erected the lordship of
+Yvetot into a kingdom, in favor of Gautier's heirs and successors; that
+he despatched letters to that effect signed by himself, and sealed with
+his seal; that ever since then the lords of Yvetot have borne the title
+of kings; and--continues Gaguin--I find from established and
+indisputable authority, that this extraordinary event happened in the
+year of grace 539.
+
+On this story of Gaguin's we have the same remark to make that we have
+already made on what he says of the establishment of the Paris
+university--that not one of the contemporary historians makes any
+mention of the singular event, which, as he tells us, caused the
+lordship of Yvetot to be erected into a kingdom; and, as Claude Malingre
+and the abbe Vertot have well observed, Clotaire I., who is here
+supposed to have been sovereign of the town of Yvetot, did not reign
+over that part of the country; fiefs were not then hereditary; acts were
+not, as Robert Gaguin relates, dated from the year of grace; and lastly,
+Pope Agapetus was then dead; to this it may be added that the right of
+erecting a fief into a kingdom belonged exclusively to the emperor.
+
+It is not, however, to be said that the thunders of the Church were not
+already made use of, in the time of Agapetus. We know that St. Paul
+excommunicated the incestuous man of Corinth. We also find in the
+letters of St. Basil, some instances of general censure in the fourth
+century. One of these letters is against a ravisher. The holy prelate
+there orders the young woman to be restored to her parents, the ravisher
+to be excluded from prayers, and declared to be excommunicated, together
+with his accomplices and all his household, for three years; he also
+orders that all the people of the village where the ravished person was
+received, shall be excommunicated.
+
+Auxilius, a young bishop, excommunicated the whole family of Clacitien;
+although St. Augustine disapproved of this conduct, and Pope St. Leo
+laid down the same maxims as Augustine, in one of his letters to the
+bishop of the province of Vienne--yet, confining ourselves here to
+France--Pretextatus, bishop of Rouen, having been assassinated in the
+year 586 in his own church, Leudovalde, bishop of Bayeux, did not fail
+to lay all the churches in Rouen under an interdict, forbidding divine
+service to be celebrated in them until the author of the crime should be
+discovered.
+
+In 1141, Louis the Young having refused his consent to the election of
+Peter de la Chatre, whom the pope caused to be appointed in the room of
+Alberic, archbishop of Bourges, who had died the year preceding,
+Innocent II. laid all France under interdict.
+
+In the year 1200, Peter of Capua, commissioned to compel Philip Augustus
+to put away Agnes, and take back Ingeburga, and not succeeding,
+published the sentence of interdict on the whole kingdom, which had been
+pronounced by Pope Innocent III. This interdict was observed with
+extreme rigor. The English chronicle, quoted by the Benedictine
+Martenne, says that every Christian act, excepting the baptism of
+infants, was interdicted in France; the churches were closed, and
+Christians driven out of them like dogs; there was no more divine
+office, no more sacrifice of the mass, no ecclesiastical sepulture for
+the deceased; the dead bodies, left to chance, spread the most frightful
+infections, and filled the survivors with horror.
+
+The chronicle of Tours gives the same description, adding only one
+remarkable particular, confirmed by the abbe Fleury and the abbe de
+Vertot--that the holy viaticum was excepted, like the baptism of
+infants, from the privation of holy things. The kingdom was in this
+situation for nine months; it was some time before Innocent III.
+permitted the preaching of sermons and the sacrament of confirmation.
+The king was so much enraged that he drove the bishops and all the other
+ecclesiastics from their abodes, and confiscated their property.
+
+But it is singular that the bishops were sometimes solicited by
+sovereigns themselves to pronounce an interdict upon lands of their
+vassals. By letters dated February, 1356, confirming those of Guy, count
+of Nevers, and his wife Matilda, in favor of the citizens of Nevers,
+Charles V., regent of the kingdom, prays the archbishops of Lyons,
+Bourges, and Sens, and the bishops of Autun, Langres, Auxerre, and
+Nevers, to pronounce an excommunication against the count of Nevers, and
+an interdict upon his lands, if he does not fulfil the agreement he has
+made with the inhabitants. We also find in the collection of the
+ordinances of the third line of kings, many letters like that of King
+John, authorizing the bishops to put under interdict those places whose
+privileges their lords would seek to infringe.
+
+And to conclude, though it appears incredible, the Jesuit Daniel relates
+that, in the year 998, King Robert was excommunicated by Gregory V., for
+having married his kinswoman in the fourth degree. All the bishops who
+had assisted at this marriage were interdicted from the communion, until
+they had been to Rome, and rendered satisfaction to the holy see. The
+people, and even the court, separated from the king; he had only two
+domestics left, who purified by fire whatever he had touched. Cardinal
+Damien and Romualde also add, that Robert being gone one morning, as was
+his custom, to say his prayers at the door of St. Bartholomew's church,
+for he dared not enter it, Abbon, abbot of Fleury, followed by two women
+of the palace, carrying a large gilt dish covered with a napkin,
+accosted him, announced that Bertha was just brought to bed; and
+uncovering the dish, said: "Behold the effects of your disobedience to
+the decrees of the Church, and the seal of anathema on the fruit of your
+love!" Robert looked, and saw a monster with the head and neck of a
+duck! Bertha was repudiated; and the excommunication was at last taken
+off.
+
+Urban II., on the contrary, excommunicated Robert's grandson, Philip I.,
+for having put away his kinswoman. This pope pronounced the sentence of
+excommunication in the king's own dominions, at Clermont, in Auvergne,
+where his holiness was come to seek an asylum, in the same council in
+which the crusade was preached, and in which, for the first time, the
+name of pope (papa) was given to the bishop of Rome, to the exclusion of
+the other bishops, who had formerly taken it.
+
+It will be seen that these canonical pains were medicinal rather than
+mortal; but Gregory VII. and some of his successors ventured to assert,
+that an excommunicated sovereign was deprived of his dominions, and that
+his subjects were not obliged to obey him. However, supposing that a
+king can be excommunicated in certain serious cases, excommunication,
+being a penalty purely spiritual, cannot dispense with the obedience
+which his subjects owe to him, as holding his authority from God
+Himself. This was constantly acknowledged by the parliaments, and also
+by the clergy of France, in the excommunications pronounced by Boniface
+VII., against Philip the Fair; by Julius II., against Louis XII.; by
+Sixtus V., against Henry III.; by Gregory XIII., against Henry IV.; and
+it is likewise the doctrine of the celebrated assembly of the clergy in
+1682.
+
+
+
+
+ZEAL.
+
+
+This, in religion, is a pure and enlightened attachment to the
+maintenance and progress of the worship which is due to the Divinity;
+but when this zeal is persecuting, blind, and false, it becomes the
+greatest scourge of humanity.
+
+See what the emperor Julian says of the Christians of his time: "The
+Galileans," he observes, "have suffered exile and imprisonment under my
+predecessor; those who are by turns called heretics, have been mutually
+massacred. I have recalled the banished, liberated the prisoners; I have
+restored their property to the proscribed; I have forced them to live in
+peace; but such is the restless rage of the Galileans, that they
+complain of being no longer able to devour each other."
+
+This picture will not appear extravagant if we attend to the atrocious
+calumnies with which the Christians reciprocally blackened each other.
+For instance, St. Augustine accuses the Manichaeans of forcing their
+elect to receive the eucharist, after having obscenely polluted it.
+After him, St. Cyril of Jerusalem has accused them of the same infamy in
+these terms: "I dare not mention in what these sacrilegious wretches wet
+their ischas, which they give to their unhappy votaries, and exhibit in
+the midst of their altar, and with which the Manichaean soils his mouth
+and tongue. Let the men call to mind what they are accustomed to
+experience in dreaming, and the women in their periodical affections."
+Pope St. Leo, in one of his sermons, also calls the sacrifice of the
+Manichaeans the same turpitude. Finally, Suidas and Cedrenus have still
+further improved on the calumny, in asserting that the Manichaeans held
+nocturnal assemblies, in which, after extinguishing the flambeaux, they
+committed the most enormous indecencies.
+
+Let us first observe that the primitive Christians were themselves
+accused of the same horrors which they afterwards imputed to the
+Manichaeans; and that the justification of these equally applies to the
+others. "In order to have pretexts for persecuting us," said
+Athenagoras, in his "Apology for the Christians," "they accuse us of
+making detestable banquets, and of committing incest in our assemblies.
+It is an old trick, which has been employed from all time to extinguish
+virtue. Thus was Pythagoras burned, with three hundred of his disciples;
+Heraclitus expelled by the Ephesians; Democritus by the Abderitans; and
+Socrates condemned by the Athenians."
+
+Athenagoras subsequently points out that the principles and manners of
+the Christians were sufficient of themselves to destroy the calumnies
+spread against them. The same reasons apply in favor of the Manichaeans.
+Why else is St. Augustine, who is positive in his book on heresies,
+reduced in that on the morals of the Manichaeans, when speaking of the
+horrible ceremony in question, to say simply: "They are suspected
+of--the world has this opinion of them--if they do not commit what is
+imputed to them--rumor proclaims much ill of them; but they maintain
+that it is false?"
+
+Why not sustain openly this accusation in his dispute with Fortunatus,
+who publicly challenged him in these terms: "We are accused of false
+crimes, and as Augustine has assisted in our worship, I beg him to
+declare before the whole people, whether these crimes are true or not."
+St. Augustine replied: "It is true that I have assisted in your worship;
+but the question of faith is one thing, the question of morals another;
+and it is that of faith which I brought forward. However, if the persons
+present prefer that we should discuss that of your morals, I shall not
+oppose myself to them."
+
+Fortunatus, addressing the assembly, said: "I wish, above all things, to
+be justified in the minds of those who believe us guilty; and that
+Augustine should now testify before you, and one day before the tribunal
+of Jesus Christ, if he has ever seen, or if he knows, in any way
+whatever, that the things imputed have been committed by us?" St.
+Augustine still replies: "You depart from the question; what I have
+advanced turns upon faith, not upon morals." At length, Fortunatus
+continuing to press St. Augustine to explain himself, he does so in
+these terms: "I acknowledge that in the prayer at which I assisted I did
+not see you commit anything impure."
+
+The same St. Augustine, in his work on the "Utility of Faith," still
+justifies the Manichaeans. "At this time," he says, to his friend
+Honoratus, "when I was occupied with Manichaeism, I was yet full of the
+desire and the hope of marrying a handsome woman, and of acquiring
+riches; of attaining honors, and of enjoying the other pernicious
+pleasures of life. For when I listened with attention to the Manichaean
+doctors, I had not renounced the desire and hope of all these things. I
+do not attribute that to their doctrine; for I am bound to render this
+testimony--that they sedulously exhorted men to preserve themselves from
+those things. That is, indeed, what hindered me from attaching myself
+altogether to the sect, and kept me in the rank of those who are called
+auditors. I did not wish to renounce secular hopes and affairs." And in
+the last chapter of this book, where he represents the Manichaean doctors
+as proud men, who had as gross minds as they had meagre and skinny
+bodies, he does not say a word of their pretended infamies.
+
+But on what proofs were these imputations founded? The first which
+Augustine alleges is, that these indecencies were a consequence of the
+Manichaean system, regarding the means which God makes use of to wrest
+from the prince of darkness the portion of his substance. We have spoken
+of this in the article on "Genealogy," and these are horrors which one
+may dispense with repeating. It is enough to say here, that the passage
+from the seventh book of the "Treasure of Manes," which Augustine cites
+in many places, is evidently falsified. The arch heretic says, if we can
+believe it, that these celestial virtues, which are transformed
+sometimes into beautiful boys, and sometimes into beautiful girls, are
+God the Father Himself. This is false; Manes has never confounded the
+celestial virtues with God the Father. St. Augustine, not having
+understood the Syriac phrase of a "virgin of light" to mean a virgin
+light, supposes that God shows a beautiful maiden to the princes of
+darkness, in order to excite their brutal lust; there is nothing of all
+this talked of in ancient authors; the question concerns the cause of
+rain.
+
+"The great prince," says Tirbon, cited by St. Epiphanius, "sends out for
+himself, in his passion, black clouds, which darken all the world; he
+chafes, worries himself, throws himself into a perspiration, and that it
+is which makes the rain, which is no other than the sweat of the great
+prince." St. Augustine must have been deceived by a mistranslation, or
+rather by a garbled, unfaithful extract from the "Treasure of Manes,"
+from which he only cites two or three passages. The Manichaean Secundums
+also reproaches him with comprehending nothing of the mysteries of
+Manichaeism, and with attacking them only by mere paralogisms. "How,
+otherwise," says the learned M. de Beausobre--whom we here
+abridge--"would St. Augustine have been able to live so many years among
+a sect in which such abominations were publicly taught? And how would he
+have had the face to defend it against the Catholics?"
+
+From this proof by reasoning, let us pass to the proofs of fact and
+evidence alleged by St. Augustine and see if they are more substantial.
+"It is said," proceeds this father, "that some of them have confessed
+this fact in public pleadings, not only in Paphlagonia, but also in the
+Gauls, as I have heard said at Rome by a certain Catholic."
+
+Such hearsay deserves so little attention that St. Augustine dared not
+make use of it in his conference with Fortunatus, although it was seven
+or eight years after he had quitted Rome; he seems even to have
+forgotten the name of the Catholic from whom he learned them. It is
+true, that in his book of "Heresies," he speaks of the confessions of
+two girls, the one named Margaret, the other Eusebia, and of some
+Manichaeans who, having been discovered at Carthage, and taken to the
+church, avowed, it is said, the horrible fact in question.
+
+He adds that a certain Viator declared that they who committed these
+scandals were called Catharistes, or purgators; and that, when
+interrogated on what scripture they founded this frightful practice,
+they produced the passage from the "Treasure of Manes," the falsehood of
+which has been demonstrated. But our heretics, far from availing
+themselves of it, have openly disavowed it, as the work of some impostor
+who wished to ruin them. That alone casts suspicion on all these acts of
+Carthage, which "_Quod-vult-Deus_" had sent to St. Augustine; and these
+wretches who were discovered and taken to the church, have very much the
+air of persons suborned to confess all they were wanted to confess.
+
+In the 47th chapter on the "Nature of Good," St. Augustine admits that
+when our heretics were reproached with the crimes in question, they
+replied that one of their elect, a seceder from the sect, and become
+their enemy, had introduced this enormity. Without inquiring whether
+this was a real sect whom Viator calls Catharistes, it is sufficient to
+observe here, that the first Christians likewise imputed to the Gnostics
+the horrible mysteries of which they were themselves accused by the Jews
+and Pagans; and if this defence is good on their behalf, why should it
+not be so on that of the Manichaeans?
+
+It is, however, these vulgar rumors which M. de Tillemont, who piques
+himself on his exactness and fidelity, ventures to convert into positive
+facts. He asserts that the Manichaeans had been made to confess these
+disgraceful doings in public judgments, in Paphlagonia, in the Gauls,
+and several times at Carthage.
+
+Let us also weigh the testimony of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, whose
+narrative is altogether different from that of St. Augustine; and let us
+consider that the fact is so incredible and so absurd that it could
+scarcely be credited, even if attested by five or six witnesses who had
+seen and would affirm it on oath. St. Cyril stands alone; he had never
+seen it; he advances it in a popular declamation, wherein he gives
+himself a licence to put into the mouth of Manes, in the conference of
+Cascar, a discourse, not one word of which is in the "Acts of
+Archaelaus," as M. Zaccagni is obliged to allow; and it cannot be alleged
+in defence of St. Cyril that he has taken only the sense of Archaelaus,
+and not the words; for neither the sense nor the words can be found
+there. Besides, the style which this father adopts is that of a
+historian who cites the actual words of his author.
+
+Nevertheless, to save the honor and good faith of St. Cyril, M.
+Zaccagni, and after him M. de Tillemont, suppose, without any proof,
+that the translator or copyist has omitted the passage in the "Acts"
+quoted by this father; and the journalists of Trevoux have imagined two
+sorts of "Acts of Archaelaus"--the authentic ones which Cyril has copied,
+and others invented in the fifth century by some historian. When they
+shall have proved this conjecture, we will examine their reasons.
+
+Finally, let us come to the testimony of Pope Leo touching these
+Manichaean abominations. He says, in his sermons, that the sudden
+troubles in other countries had brought into Italy some Manichaeans,
+whose mysteries were so abominable that he could not expose them to the
+public view without sacrificing modesty. That, in order to ascertain
+them, he had introduced male and female elect into an assembly composed
+of bishops, priests, and some lay noblemen. That these heretics had
+disclosed many things respecting their dogmas and the ceremonies of
+their feast, and had confessed a crime which could not be named, but in
+regard to which there could be no doubt, after the confession of the
+guilty parties--that is to say, of a young girl of only ten years of
+age; of two women who had prepared her for the horrible ceremony of the
+sect; of a young man who had been an accomplice; of the bishop who had
+ordered and presided over it. He refers those among his auditors who
+desire to know more, to the informations which had been taken, and which
+he communicated to the bishops of Italy, in his second letter.
+
+This testimony appears more precise and more decisive than that of St.
+Augustine; but it is anything but conclusive in regard to a fact belied
+by the protestations of the accused, and by the ascertained principles
+of their morality. In effect, what proofs have we that the infamous
+persons interrogated by Leo were not bribed to depose against their
+sect?
+
+It will be replied that the piety and sincerity of this pope will not
+permit us to believe that he has contrived such a fraud. But if--as we
+have said in the article on "Relics"--the same St. Leo was capable of
+supposing that pieces of linen and ribbons, which were put in a box, and
+made to descend into the tombs of some saints, shed blood when they were
+cut--ought this pope to make any scruple in bribing, or causing to be
+bribed, some abandoned women, and I know not what Manichaean bishop,
+who, being assured of pardon, would make confessions of crimes which
+might be true as regarded themselves, but not as regarded their sect,
+from whose seduction St. Leo wished to protect his people? At all times,
+bishops have considered themselves authorized to employ those pious
+frauds which tend to the salvation of souls. The conjectural and
+apocryphal scriptures are a proof of this; and the readiness with which
+the fathers have put faith in those bad works, shows that, if they were
+not accomplices in the fraud, they were not scrupulous in taking
+advantage of it.
+
+In conclusion, St. Leo pretends to confirm the secret crimes of the
+Manichaeans by an argument which destroys them. "These execrable
+mysteries," he says, "which the more impure they are, the more carefully
+they are hid, are common to the Manichaeans and to the Priscillianists.
+There is in all respects the same sacrilege, the same obscenity, the
+same turpitude. These crimes, these infamies, are the same which were
+formerly discovered among the Priscillianists, and of which the whole
+world is informed."
+
+The Priscillianists were never guilty of the crimes for which they were
+put to death. In the works of St. Augustine is contained the
+instructional remarks which were transmitted to that father by Orosius,
+and in which this Spanish priest protests that he has plucked out all
+the plants of perdition which sprang up in the sect of the
+Priscillianists; that he had not forgotten the smallest branch or root;
+that he exposed to the surgeon all the diseases of the sect, in order
+that he might labor in their cure. Orosius does not say a word of the
+abominable mysteries of which Leo speaks; an unanswerable proof that he
+had no doubt they were pure calumnies. St. Jerome also says that
+Priscillian was oppressed by faction, and by the intrigues of the
+bishops Ithacus and Idacus. Would a man be thus spoken of who was guilty
+of profaning religion by the most infamous ceremonies? Nevertheless,
+Orosius and St. Jerome could not be ignorant of crimes of which all the
+world had been informed.
+
+St. Martin of Tours, and St. Ambrosius, who were at Trier when
+Priscillian was sentenced, would have been equally informed of them.
+They, however, instantly solicited a pardon for him; and, not being able
+to obtain it, they refused to hold intercourse with his accusers and
+their faction. Sulpicius Severus relates the history of the misfortunes
+of Priscillian. Latronian, Euphrosyne, widow of the poet Delphidius, his
+daughter, and some other persons, were executed with him at Trier, by
+order of the tyrant Maximus, and at the instigation of Ithacus and
+Idacus, two wicked bishops, who, in reward for their injustice, died in
+excommunication, loaded with the hatred of God and man.
+
+The Priscillianists were accused, like the Manichaeans, of obscene
+doctrines, of religious nakedness and immodesty. How were they
+convicted? Priscillian and his accomplices confessed, as is said, under
+the torture. Three degraded persons, Tertullus, Potamius, and John,
+confessed without awaiting the question. But the suit instituted against
+the Priscillianists would have been founded on other depositions, which
+had been made against them in Spain. Nevertheless, these latter
+informations were rejected by a great number of bishops and esteemed
+ecclesiastics; and the good old man Higimis, bishop of Cordova, who had
+been the denouncer of the Priscillianists, afterwards believed them so
+innocent of the crimes imputed to them that he received them into his
+communion, and found himself involved thereby in the persecution which
+they endured.
+
+These horrible calumnies, dictated by a blind zeal, would seem to
+justify the reflection which Ammianus Marcellinus reports of the emperor
+Julian. "The savage beasts," he said, "are not more formidable to men
+than the Christians are to each other, when they are divided by creed
+and opinion."
+
+It is still more deplorable when zeal is false and hypocritical,
+examples of which are not rare. It is told of a doctor of the Sorbonne,
+that in departing from a sitting of the faculty, Tournely, with whom he
+was strictly connected, said to him: "You see that for two hours I have
+maintained a certain opinion with warmth; well, I assure you, there is
+not one word of truth in all I have said!"
+
+The answer of a Jesuit is also known, who was employed for twenty years
+in the Canada missions, and who himself not believing in a God, as he
+confessed in the ear of a friend, had faced death twenty times for the
+sake of a religion which he preached to the savages. This friend
+representing to him the inconsistency of his zeal: "Ah!" replied the
+Jesuit missionary, "you have no idea of the pleasure a man enjoys in
+making himself heard by twenty thousand men, and in persuading them of
+what he does not himself believe."
+
+It is frightful to observe how many abuses and disorders arise from the
+profound ignorance in which Europe has been so long plunged. Those
+monarchs who are at last sensible of the importance of enlightenment,
+become the benefactors of mankind in favoring the progress of knowledge,
+which is the foundation of the tranquillity and happiness of nations,
+and the finest bulwark against the inroads of fanaticism.
+
+
+
+
+ZOROASTER.
+
+
+If it is Zoroaster who first announced to mankind that fine maxim: "In
+the doubt whether an action be good or bad, abstain from it," Zoroaster
+was the first of men after Confucius.
+
+If this beautiful lesson of morality is found only in the hundred gates
+of the "Sadder," let us bless the author of the "Sadder." There may be
+very ridiculous dogmas and rites united with an excellent morality.
+
+Who was this Zoroaster? The name has something of Greek in it, and it is
+said he was a Mede. The Parsees of the present day call him Zerdust, or
+Zerdast, or Zaradast, or Zarathrust. He is not reckoned to have been the
+first of the name. We are told of two other Zoroasters, the former of
+whom has an antiquity of nine thousand years--which is much for us, but
+may be very little for the world. We are acquainted with only the latest
+Zoroaster.
+
+The French travellers, Chardin and Tavernier, have given us some
+information respecting this great prophet, by means of the Guebers or
+Parsees, who are still scattered through India and Persia, and who are
+excessively ignorant. Dr. Hyde, Arabic professor of Oxford, has given us
+a hundred times more without leaving home. Living in the west of
+England, he must have conjectured the language which the Persians spoke
+in the time of Cyrus, and must have compared it with the modern language
+of the worshippers of fire. It is to him, moreover, that we owe those
+hundred gates of the "Sadder," which contain all the principal precepts
+of the pious fire-worshippers.
+
+For my own part, I confess I have found nothing in their ancient rites
+more curious than the two Persian verses of Sadi, as given by Hyde;
+signifying that, although a person may preserve the sacred fire for a
+hundred years, he is burned when he falls into it.
+
+The learned researches of Hyde kindled, a few years ago in the breast of
+a young Frenchman, the desire to learn for himself the dogmas of the
+Guebers. He traversed the Great Indies, in order to learn at Surat,
+among the poor modern Parsees, the language of the ancient Persians, and
+to read in that language the books of the so-much celebrated Zoroaster,
+supposing that he has in fact written any.
+
+The Pythagorases, the Platos, the Appolloniuses of Thyana, went in
+former times to seek in the East wisdom that was not there; but no one
+has run after this hidden divinity through so many sufferings and perils
+as this new French translator of the books attributed to Zoroaster.
+Neither disease nor war, nor obstacles renewed at every step, nor
+poverty itself, the first and greatest of obstacles, could repel his
+courage.
+
+It is glorious for Zoroaster that an Englishman wrote his life, at the
+end of so many centuries, and that afterwards a Frenchman wrote it in an
+entirely different manner. But it is still finer, that among the ancient
+biographers of the poet we have two principal Arabian authors, each of
+whom had previously written his history; and all these four histories
+contradict one another marvellously. This is not done by concert; and
+nothing is more conducive to the knowledge of the truth.
+
+The first Arabian historian, Abu-Mohammed Mustapha, allows that the
+father of Zoroaster was called Espintaman; but he also says that
+Espintaman was not his father, but his great-great-grandfather. In
+regard to his mother, there are not two opinions; she was named Dogdu,
+or Dodo, or Dodu--that is, a very fine turkey hen; she is very well
+portrayed in Doctor Hyde.
+
+Bundari, the second historian, relates that Zoroaster was a Jew, and
+that he had been valet to Jeremiah; that he told lies to his master;
+that, in order to punish him, Jeremiah gave him the leprosy; that the
+valet, to purify himself, went to preach a new religion in Persia, and
+caused the sun to be adored instead of the stars.
+
+Attend now to what the third historian relates, and what the Englishman,
+Hyde, has recorded somewhat at length: The prophet Zoroaster having come
+from Paradise to preach his religion to the king of Persia, Gustaph, the
+king said to the prophet: "Give me a sign." Upon this, the prophet
+caused a cedar to grow up before the gate of the palace, so large and so
+tall, that no cord could either go round it or reach its top. Upon the
+cedar he placed a fine cabinet, to which no man could ascend. Struck
+with this miracle, Gustaph believed in Zoroaster.
+
+Four magi, or four sages--it is the same thing--envious and wicked
+persons, borrowed from the royal porter the key of the prophet's chamber
+during his absence, and threw among his books the bones of dogs and
+cats, the nails and hair of dead bodies--such being, as is well known,
+the drugs with which magicians at all times have operated. Afterwards,
+they went and accused the prophet of being a sorcerer and a poisoner;
+and the king, causing the chamber to be opened by his porter, the
+instruments of witchcraft were found there--and behold the envoy from
+heaven condemned to be hanged!
+
+Just as they are going to hang Zoroaster, the king's finest horse falls
+ill; his four legs enter his body, so as to be no longer visible.
+Zoroaster hears of it; he promises to cure the horse, provided they will
+not hang him. The bargain being made, he causes one leg to issue out of
+the belly, and says: "Sire, I will not restore you the second leg unless
+you embrace my religion." "Let it be so," says the monarch. The prophet,
+after having made the second leg appear, wished the king's children to
+become Zoroastrians, and they became so. The other legs made proselytes
+of the whole court. The four envious sages were hanged in place of the
+prophet, and all Persia received the faith.
+
+The French traveller relates nearly the same miracles, supported and
+embellished, however, by many others. For instance, the infancy of
+Zoroaster could not fail to be miraculous; Zoroaster fell to laughing as
+soon as he was born, at least according to Pliny and Solinus. There
+were, in those days, as all the world knows, a great number of very
+powerful magicians; they were well aware that one day Zoroaster would be
+greater than themselves, and that he would triumph over their magic. The
+prince of magicians caused the infant to be brought to him, and tried to
+cut him in two; but his hand instantly withered. They threw him into the
+fire, which was turned for him into a bath of rose water. They wished to
+have him trampled on by the feet of wild bulls; but a still more
+powerful bull protected him. He was cast among the wolves; these wolves
+went incontinently and sought two ewes, who gave him suck all night. At
+last, he was restored to his mother Dogdu, or Dodo, or Dodu, a wife
+excellent above all wives, or a daughter above all daughters.
+
+Such, throughout the world, have been all the histories of ancient
+times. It proves what we have often remarked, that Fable is the elder
+sister of History. I could wish that, for our amusement and instruction,
+all these great prophets of antiquity, the Zoroasters, the Mercurys
+Trismegistus, the Abarises, and even the Numas, and others, should now
+return to the earth, and converse with Locke, Newton, Bacon,
+Shaftesbury, Pascal, Arnaud, Bayle--what do I say?--even with those
+philosophers of our day who are the least learned, provided they are not
+the less rational. I ask pardon of antiquity, but I think they would cut
+a sorry figure.
+
+Alas, poor charlatans! they could not sell their drugs on the
+Pont-neuf. In the meantime, however, their morality is still good,
+because morality is not a drug. How could it be that Zoroaster joined so
+many egregious fooleries to the fine precept of "abstaining when it is
+doubtful whether one is about to do right or wrong?" It is because men
+are always compounded of contradictions.
+
+It is added that Zoroaster, having established his religion, became a
+persecutor. Alas! there is not a sexton, or a sweeper of a church, who
+would not persecute, if he had the power.
+
+One cannot read two pages of the abominable trash attributed to
+Zoroaster, without pitying human nature. Nostradamus and the urine
+doctor are reasonable compared with this inspired personage; and yet he
+still is and will continue to be talked of.
+
+What appears singular is, that there existed, in the time of the
+Zoroaster with whom we are acquainted, and probably before, prescribed
+formulas of public and private prayer. We are indebted to the French
+traveller for a translation of them. There were such formulas in India;
+we know of none such in the Pentateuch.
+
+What is still stranger, the magi, as well as the Brahmins, admitted a
+paradise, a hell, a resurrection, and a devil. It is demonstrated that
+the law of the Jews knew nothing of all this; they were behindhand with
+everything--a truth of which we are convinced, however little the
+progress we have made in Oriental knowledge.
+
+
+
+
+DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, INQUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS,
+
+WHO HAVE AMUSED THEMSELVES WITH PROPOSING TO THE LEARNED THE PRECEDING
+QUESTIONS IN THESE VOLUMES.
+
+
+We declare to the learned that being, like themselves, prodigiously
+ignorant of the first principles of all things, and of the natural,
+typical, mystical, allegorical sense of many things, we acquiesce, in
+regard to them, in the infallible decision of the holy Inquisition of
+Rome, Milan, Florence, Madrid, Lisbon, and in the decrees of the
+Sorbonne, the perpetual council of the French.
+
+Our errors not proceeding from malice, but being the natural consequence
+of human weakness, we hope we shall be pardoned for them both in this
+world and the next.
+
+We entreat the small number of celestial spirits who are still shut up
+in the mortal bodies in France, and who thence enlighten the universe at
+thirty sous per sheet, to communicate their gifts to us for the next
+volume, which we calculate on publishing at the end of the Lent of 1772,
+or in the Advent of 1773; and we will pay _forty_ sous per sheet for
+their lucubrations.
+
+We entreat the few great men who still remain to us, such as the author
+of the "Ecclesiastical Gazette"; the Abbe Guyon; with the Abbe Caveirac,
+author of the "Apology for St. Bartholomew"; and he who took the name
+of Chiniac; and the agreeable Larcher; and the virtuous, wise, and
+learned Langleviel, called La Beaumelle; the profound and exact
+Nonnotte; and the moderate, the compassionate, the tender Patouillet--to
+assist us in our undertaking. We shall profit by their instructive
+criticisms, and we shall experience a real pleasure in rendering to all
+these gentlemen the justice which is their due.
+
+The next volume will contain very curious articles, which, under the
+favor of God, will be likely to give new piquancy to the wit which we
+shall endeavor to infuse into the thanks we return to all these
+gentlemen.
+
+Given at Mount Krapak, the 30th of the month of Janus, in the year of
+the world, according to
+
+  Scaliger...............................     5,022
+
+  According to Les Etrennes Mignonnes....     5,776
+
+  According to Riccioli..................     5,956
+
+  According to Eusebius..................     6,972
+
+  According to the Alphosine Tables......     8,707
+
+  According to the Egyptians.............   370,000
+
+  According to the Chaldaeans.............   465,102
+
+  According to the Brahmins..............   780,000
+
+  According to the Philosophers..........     ----
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10
+(of 10), by Francois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
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