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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:04:11 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:04:11 -0700 |
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diff --git a/35630-h/35630-h.htm b/35630-h/35630-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b83eee --- /dev/null +++ b/35630-h/35630-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10788 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, by Voltaire. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + background: #FAEBD7; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +a:link {color: #0000A0; text-decoration: underline; } + +v:link {color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +.small_2 {font-size: 0.8em; margin-left: 2em;} + +.small {font-size: 0.8em;} + +.dialogue {font-size: 0.8em; text-align: center;} + +.caption_fig {text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em; font-family: arial;} + + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<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—LONDON—NEW YORK—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—VOL. X +</p> +<p class="small_2"> +<a href="#Throned_Upon_The_Ruins_Of_The_Bastille">VOLTAIRE'S REMAINS ON THE BASTILLE—<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."—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—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—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.</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)—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:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Castaneasque nuces me quas Amaryllis amabat.</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 17em;">—<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">—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)—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;">—<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)—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.</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"—<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—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—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—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—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—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—are the many +relics acknowledged to be false—are the many false +miracles—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—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:—</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—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.</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—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.—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 —— 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—monks, who have brutalized her—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;">—<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;">—<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—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—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—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—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—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.</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—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—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"—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?—Qu'il mourût!</i></span><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">What have him do 'gainst three?—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;">—<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—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.</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—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.</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—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—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.</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;">—<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;">—<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—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—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" +(<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—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.</p> + +<p>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.</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—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.</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.......... 1 10</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the betrothing....................... 2 0</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For celebrating the marriage............. 6 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....... 5 0</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the wedding mass..................... 1 10</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the vicar............................ 1 10</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the clerk of the sacrament........... 1 10</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For blessing the bed..................... 1 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........................... 1 10</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each priest.......................... 1 10</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When the clergy go in a body:</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the curial fee....................... 4 0</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the presence of the curate........... 2 0</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each priest.......................... 0 10</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the vicar............................ 1 10</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each singing-boy, when they carry</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">the body............................... 8 0</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And when they do not carry it............ 5 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....................... 6 0</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the curate's attendance.............. 4 0</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each vicar........................... 2 0</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the priest........................... 1 0</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each singing-boy..................... 0 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........... 3 0</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And in the day, each..................... 2 0</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the celebration of the mass.......... 1 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........................ 4 10</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For each of the priests that carry the</span> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">body................................... 1 0</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For carrying the great cross............. 0 10</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the holy water-pot carrier........... 0 5</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For carrying the little cross............ 0 5</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the clerk of the processions......... 0 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............................ 6 10</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the vicar............................. 1 10</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To each priest........................... 0 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—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.</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—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—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—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—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.</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—for whose origin do we +know?—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—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"—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—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!—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;">—<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—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—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.</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;">—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;">—<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—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—." 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—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—act +iv, scene 6—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—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—book i, ode 3—that our folly +extends to heaven itself: "<i>Cœlum 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—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—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!—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—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.</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—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.</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!—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—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—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—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."</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—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—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.</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—"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."</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—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—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.—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—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—"<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>"—the word in thought, and the word +produced—"<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—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—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.</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—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.</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—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.</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—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.</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—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.</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—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.</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.—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—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—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—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.</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—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—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 <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—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?</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—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—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—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—<i>divus</i>—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—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—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—if we dare use the audacious +comparison—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—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 Œdipus, 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.—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>"—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—or animals which swim—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—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—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>—<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;">—<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—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—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—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—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—'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—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—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.</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—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—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.</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—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—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—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.</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—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—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.</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!—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—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.</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—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.</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—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—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—apparently +the <i>loustic</i> 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:</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>"?—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.—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?</p> + +<p>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?</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—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—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.</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—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—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—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.</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?—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—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—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—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.</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—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.</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>—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:</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;">—<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;">—<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—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.</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—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:</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—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!</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 7em;"><i>Pauci quos œquus amavit</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad œthera virtus,</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;"><i>Dis geniti potuere. </i> —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;">—<span class="small">DRYDEN</span>.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<h5>SECTION II.</h5> + +<h4><i>Spirit—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—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."</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—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.—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—</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—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—"<i>pneuma</i>"—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>"—the breath of God—the spirit of God—was +borne on the waters.</p> + +<p>"<i>Spiritus vitæ</i>"—the breath of life—the soul of +life. "<i>Inspiravit in faciem ejus spiraculum</i>" or +"<i>spiritum vitæ</i>"—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>"—Having spoken these +words, he breathed on them, and said: Receive ye +the holy breath—the holy spirit.</p> + +<p>"<i>Spiritus ubi vult spirat, et vocem ejus audis; +sed nescis unde veniat</i>"—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—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"—"<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—the genius +of Bossuet for all auditors—yet more than for people +of expense.</p> + +<p>The wind, which answers to "<i>Spiritus</i>,"—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.</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—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:</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;">—<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;—</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—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":</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;">—<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>—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—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.</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>—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>—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>—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—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>—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;">—<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;">—<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>—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—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—</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;">—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—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—Cæsar himself—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;">—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—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—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—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—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—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—</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!—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.</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.—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—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—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—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—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—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—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—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?</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—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.</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—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—continues Gaguin—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—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—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.</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—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—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?"</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—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—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?"</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"—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—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—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.</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—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—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—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!</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—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.</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—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—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............................... 5,022</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to Les Etrennes Mignonnes.... 5,776</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to Riccioli.................. 5,956</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to Eusebius.................. 6,972</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Alphosine Tables...... 8,707</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Egyptians............. 370,000</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Chaldæans............. 465,102</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Brahmins.............. 780,000</span> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">According to the Philosophers.......... ——</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—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—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—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> diff --git a/35630-h/images/img_01_bastille.jpg b/35630-h/images/img_01_bastille.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bdf999f --- /dev/null +++ b/35630-h/images/img_01_bastille.jpg diff --git a/35630-h/images/img_02_socrates.jpg b/35630-h/images/img_02_socrates.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ec0f8d --- /dev/null +++ b/35630-h/images/img_02_socrates.jpg diff --git a/35630-h/images/img_03_vision.jpg b/35630-h/images/img_03_vision.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..04e5d73 --- /dev/null +++ b/35630-h/images/img_03_vision.jpg diff --git a/35630-h/images/img_04_corneille.jpg b/35630-h/images/img_04_corneille.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..19f64f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/35630-h/images/img_04_corneille.jpg |
