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diff --git a/old/35630.txt b/old/35630.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ca7a0b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/35630.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8580 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10 (of +10), by Francois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire) + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10 (of 10) + From "The Works of Voltaire - A Contemporary Version" + +Author: Francois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire) + +Commentator: John Morley + Tobias Smollett + H.G. Leigh + +Translator: William F. Fleming + +Release Date: March 29, 2011 [EBook #35630] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY *** + + + + +Produced by Andrea Ball, Christine Bell & Marc D'Hooghe +at http://www.freeliterature.org (From images generously +made available by the Internet Archive.) + + + + + +A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY + +VOLUME X + +By + +VOLTAIRE + + + + + +EDITION DE LA PACIFICATION + +THE WORKS OF VOLTAIRE + +A CONTEMPORARY VERSION + + + With Notes by Tobias Smollett, Revised and Modernized + New Translations by William F. Fleming, and an + Introduction by Oliver H.G. Leigh + + +A CRITIQUE AND BIOGRAPHY + +BY + +THE RT. HON. JOHN MORLEY + +FORTY-THREE VOLUMES + + + One hundred and sixty-eight designs, comprising reproductions + of rare old engravings, steel plates, photogravures, + and curious fac-similes + + +VOLUME XIV + +E.R. DuMONT + +PARIS--LONDON--NEW YORK--CHICAGO + +1901 + + + +_The WORKS of VOLTAIRE_ + + _"Between two servants of Humanity, who appeared eighteen hundred + years apart, there is a mysterious relation. * * * * Let us say it + with a sentiment of profound respect: JESUS WEPT: VOLTAIRE SMILED. + Of that divine tear and of that human smile is composed the + sweetness of the present civilization."_ + + _VICTOR HUGO._ + + + +LIST OF PLATES--VOL. X + +VOLTAIRE'S REMAINS ON THE BASTILLE--_Frontispiece_ + +THE DEATH OF SOCRATES + +THE VISION + +PIERRE CORNEILLE + + + +[Illustration: Throned Upon The Ruins Of The Bastille. "For one night, +upon the ruins of the Bastille, rested the body of Voltaire, on fallen +wall and broken aroh, above the dungeons where light had faded from the +lives of men, and hope had died in breaking hearts. The conqueror, +resting upon the conquered; throned upon the Bastille, the fallen +fortress of night."--INGERSOLL.] + + + + +VOLTAIRE + +A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY + +IN TEN VOLUMES + +VOL. X + +STYLE--ZOROASTER + +AND DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, INQUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS + + + + +STYLE. + + +It is very strange that since the French people became literary they +have had no book written in a good style, until the year 1654, when the +"Provincial Letters" appeared; and why had no one written history in a +suitable tone, previous to that of the "Conspiracy of Venice" of the +Abbe St. Real? How is it that Pellisson was the first who adopted the +true Ciceronian style, in his memoir for the superintendent Fouquet? + +Nothing is more difficult and more rare than a style altogether suitable +to the subject in hand. + +The style of the letters of Balzac would not be amiss for funeral +orations; and we have some physical treatises in the style of the epic +poem or the ode. It is proper that all things occupy their own places. + +Affect not strange terms of expression, or new words, in a treatise on +religion, like the Abbe Houteville; neither declaim in a physical +treatise. Avoid pleasantry in the mathematics, and flourish and +extravagant figures in a pleading. If a poor intoxicated woman dies of +an apoplexy, you say that she is in the regions of death; they bury her, +and you exclaim that her mortal remains are confided to the earth. If +the bell tolls at her burial, it is her funeral knell ascending to the +skies. In all this you think you imitate Cicero, and you only copy +Master Littlejohn.... + +Without style, it is impossible that there can be a good work in any +kind of eloquence or poetry. A profusion of words is the great vice of +all our modern philosophers and anti-philosophers. The "_Systeme de la +Nature_" is a great proof of this truth. It is very difficult to give +just ideas of God and nature, and perhaps equally so to form a good +style. + +As the kind of execution to be employed by every artist depends upon the +subject of which he treats--as the line of Poussin is not that of +Teniers, nor the architecture of a temple that of a common house, nor +music of a serious opera that of a comic one--so has each kind of +writing its proper style, both in prose and verse. It is obvious that +the style of history is not that of a funeral oration, and that the +despatch of an ambassador ought not to be written like a sermon; that +comedy is not to borrow the boldness of the ode, the pathetic expression +of the tragedy, nor the metaphors and similes of the epic. + +Every species has its different shades, which may, however, be reduced +to two, the simple and the elevated. These two kinds, which embrace so +many others, possess essential beauties in common, which beauties are +accuracy of idea, adaptation, elegance, propriety of expression, and +purity of language. Every piece of writing, whatever its nature, calls +for these qualities; the difference consists in the employment of the +corresponding tropes. Thus, a character in comedy will not utter sublime +or philosophical ideas, a shepherd spout the notions of a conqueror, not +a didactic epistle breathe forth passion; and none of these forms of +composition ought to exhibit bold metaphor, pathetic exclamation, or +vehement expression. + +Between the simple and the sublime there are many shades, and it is the +art of adjusting them which contributes to the perfection of eloquence +and poetry. It is by this art that Virgil frequently exalts the eclogue. +This verse: _Ut vidi ut perii, ut me malus abstulit error!_ (Eclogue +viii, v. 41)--I saw, I perished, yet indulged my pain! (Dryden)--would +be as fine in the mouth of Dido as in that of a shepherd, because it is +nature, true and elegant, and the sentiment belongs to any condition. +But this: + + _Castaneasque nuces me quas Amaryllis amabat._ + --_Eclogue, ii, v. 52._. + + And pluck the chestnuts from the neighboring grove, + Such as my Amaryllis used to love. + --DRYDEN. + +belongs not to an heroic personage, because the allusion is not such as +would be made by a hero. + +These two instances are examples of the cases in which the mingling of +styles may be defended. Tragedy may occasionally stoop; it even ought to +do so. Simplicity, according to the precept of Horace, often relieves +grandeur. _Et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri_ (_Ars Poet._, +v. 95)--And oft the tragic language humbly flows (Francis). + +These two verses in Titus, so natural and so tender: + + _Depuis cinq ans entiers chaque jour je la vois._ + _Et crois toujours la voir pour la premiere fois._ + --BERENICE, acte ii, scene 1. + + Each day, for five years, have I seen her face, + And each succeeding time appears the first. + +would not be at all out of place in serious comedy; but the following +verse of Antiochus: _Dans l'orient desert quel devint mon ennui!_ (Id., +acte i, scene 4)--The lonely east, how wearisome to me!--would not suit +a lover in comedy; the figure of the "lonely east" is too elevated for +the simplicity of the buskin. We have already remarked, that an author +who writes on physics, in allusion to a writer on physics, called +Hercules, adds that he is not able to resist a philosopher so powerful. +Another who has written a small book, which he imagines to be physical +and moral, against the utility of inoculation, says that if the smallpox +be diffused artificially, death will be defrauded. + +The above defect springs from a ridiculous affectation. There is another +which is the result of negligence, which is that of mingling with the +simple and noble style required by history, popular phrases and low +expressions, which are inimical to good taste. We often read in Mezeray, +and even in Daniel, who, having written so long after him, ought to be +more correct, that "a general pursued at the heels of the enemy, +followed his track, and utterly basted him"--_a plate couture_. We read +nothing of this kind in Livy, Tacitus, Guicciardini, or Clarendon. + +Let us observe, that an author accustomed to this kind of style can +seldom change it with his subject. In his operas, La Fontaine composed +in the style of his fables; and Benserade, in his translation of Ovid's +"Metamorphoses," exhibited the same kind of pleasantry which rendered +his madrigals successful. Perfection consists in knowing how to adapt +our style to the various subjects of which we treat; but who is +altogether the master of his habits, and able to direct his genius at +pleasure? + + +VARIOUS STYLES DISTINGUISHED. + +_The Feeble._ + +Weakness of the heart is not that of the mind, nor weakness of the soul +that of the heart. A feeble soul is without resource in action, and +abandons itself to those who govern it. The _heart_ which is weak or +feeble is easily softened, changes its inclinations with facility, +resists not the seduction or the ascendency required, and may subsist +with a strong _mind_; for we may think strongly and act weakly. The weak +mind receives impressions without resistance, embraces opinions without +examination, is alarmed without cause, and tends naturally to +superstition. + +A work may be feeble either in its matter or its style; by the +thoughts, when too common, or when, being correct, they are not +sufficiently profound; and by the style, when it is destitute of images, +or turns of expression, and of figures which rouse attention. Compared +with those of Bossuet, the funeral orations of Mascaron are weak, and +his style is lifeless. + +Every speech is feeble when it is not relieved by ingenious turns, and +by energetic expressions; but a pleader is weak, when, with all the aid +of eloquence, and all the earnestness of action, he fails in +ratiocination. No philosophical work is feeble, notwithstanding the +deficiency of its style, if the reasoning be correct and profound. A +tragedy is weak, although the style be otherwise, when the interest is +not sustained. The best-written comedy is feeble if it fails in that +which the Latins call the "_vis comica_," which is the defect pointed +out by Caesar in Terence: "_Lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta foret +vis comica!_" + +This is above all the sin of the weeping or sentimental comedy +(_larmoyante_). Feeble verses are not those which sin against rules, but +against genius; which in their mechanism are without variety, without +choice expression, or felicitous inversions; and which retain in poetry +the simplicity and homeliness of prose. The distinction cannot be better +comprehended than by a reference to the similar passages of Racine and +Campistron, his imitator. + +_Flowery Style._ + +"Flowery," that which is in blossom; a tree in blossom, a rose-bush in +blossom: people do not say, flowers which blossom. Of flowery bloom, the +carnation seems a mixture of white and rose-color. We sometimes say a +flowery mind, to signify a person possessing a lighter species of +literature, and whose imagination is lively. + +A flowery discourse is more replete with agreeable than with strong +thoughts, with images more sparkling than sublime, and terms more +curious than forcible. This metaphor is correctly taken from flowers, +which are showy without strength or stability. + +The flowery style is not unsuitable to public speeches or addresses +which amount only to compliment. The lighter beauties are in their place +when there is nothing more solid to say; but the flowery style should be +banished from a pleading, a sermon, or a didactic work. + +While banishing the flowery style, we are not to reject the soft and +lively images which enter naturally into the subject; a few flowers are +even admissible; but the flowery style cannot be made suitable to a +serious subject. + +This style belongs to productions of mere amusement; to idyls, eclogues, +and descriptions of the seasons, or of gardens. It may gracefully occupy +a portion of the most sublime ode, provided it be duly relieved by +stanzas of more masculine beauty. It has little to do with comedy, +which, as it ought to possess a resemblance to common life, requires +more of the style of ordinary conversation. It is still less admissible +in tragedy, which is the province of strong passions and momentous +interests; and when occasionally employed in tragedy or comedy, it is in +certain descriptions in which the heart takes no part, and which amuse +the imagination without moving or occupying the soul. + +The flowery style detracts from the interest of tragedy, and weakens +ridicule in comedy. It is in its place in the French opera, which rather +flourishes on the passions than exhibits them. The flowery is not to be +confounded with the easy style, which rejects this class of +embellishment. + +_Coldness of Style._ + +It is said that a piece of poetry, of eloquence, of music, and even of +painting, is cold, when we look for an animated expression in it, which +we find not. Other arts are not so susceptible of this defect; for +instance, architecture, geometry, logic, metaphysics, all the principal +merit of which is correctness, cannot properly be called warm or cold. +The picture of the family of Darius, by Mignard, is very cold in +comparison with that of Lebrun, because we do not discover in the +personages of Mignard the same affliction which Lebrun has so animatedly +expressed in the attitudes and countenances of the Persian princesses. +Even a statue may be cold; we ought to perceive fear and horror in the +features of an Andromeda, the effect of a writhing of the muscles; and +anger mingled with courageous boldness in the attitude and on the brow +of Hercules, who suspends and strangles Antaeus. + +In poetry and eloquence the great movements of the soul become cold, +when they are expressed in common terms, and are unaided by imagination. +It is this latter which makes love so animated in Racine, and so languid +in his imitator, Campistron. + +The sentiments which escape from a soul which seeks concealment, on the +contrary, require the most simple expression. Nothing is more animated +than those verses in "The Cid": "Go; I hate thee not--thou knowest it; I +cannot." This feeling would become cold, if conveyed in studied phrases. + +For this reason, nothing is so cold as the timid style. A hero in a poem +says, that he has encountered a tempest, and that he has beheld his +friend perish in the storm. He touches and affects, if he speaks with +profound grief of his loss--that is, if he is more occupied with his +friend than with all the rest; but he becomes cold, and ceases to affect +us, if he amuses us with a description of the tempest; if he speaks of +the source of "the fire which was boiling up the waters, and of the +thunder which roars and which redoubles the furrows of the earth and of +the waves." Coldness of style, therefore, often arises from a sterility +of ideas; often from a deficiency in the power of governing them; +frequently from a too common diction, and sometimes from one that is +too far-fetched. + +The author who is cold only in consequence of being animated out of time +and place, may correct this defect of a too fruitful imagination; but he +who is cold from a deficiency of soul is incapable of self-correction. +We may allay a fire which is too intense, but cannot acquire heat if we +have none. + +_On Corruption of Style._ + +A general complaint is made, that eloquence is corrupted, although we +have models of almost all kinds. One of the greatest defects of the day, +which contributes most to this defect, is the mixture of style. It +appears to me, that we authors do not sufficiently imitate the painters, +who never introduce the attitudes of Calot with the figures of Raphael. +I perceive in histories, otherwise tolerably well written, and in good +doctrinal works, the familiar style of conversation. Some one has +formerly said, that we must write as we speak; the sense of which law +is, that we should write naturally. We tolerate irregularity in a +letter, freedom as to style, incorrectness, and bold pleasantries, +because letters, written spontaneously, without particular object or +act, are negligent conversations; but when we speak or treat of a +subject formally, some attention is due to decorum; and to whom ought we +to pay more respect than to the public? + +Is it allowable to write in a mathematical work, that "a geometrician +who would pay his devotions, ought to ascend to heaven in a right line; +that evanescent quantities turn up their noses at the earth for having +too much elevated them; that a seed sown in the ground takes an +opportunity to release and amuse itself; that if Saturn should perish, +it would be his fifth and not his first satellite that would take his +place, because kings always keep their heirs at a distance; that there +is no void except in the purse of a ruined man; that when Hercules +treats of physics, no one is able to resist a philosopher of his degree +of power?" etc. + +Some very valuable works are infected with this fault. The source of a +defect so common seems to me to be the accusation of pedantry, so long +and so justly made against authors. "_In vitium ducit culpae fuga._" It +is frequently said, that we ought to write in the style of good company; +that the most serious authors are becoming agreeable: that is to say, in +order to exhibit the manners of good company to their readers, they +deliver themselves in the style of very bad company. + +Authors have sought to speak of science as Voiture spoke to Mademoiselle +Paulet of gallantry, without dreaming that Voiture by no means exhibits +a correct taste in the species of composition in which he was esteemed +excellent; for he often takes the false for the refined, and the +affected for the natural. Pleasantry is never good on serious points, +because it always regards subjects in that point of view in which it is +not the purpose to consider them. It almost always turns upon false +relations and equivoque, whence jokers by profession usually possess +minds as incorrect as they are superficial. + +It appears to me, that it is as improper to mingle styles in poetry as +in prose. The macaroni style has for some time past injured poetry by +this medley of mean and of elevated, of ancient and of modern +expression. In certain moral pieces it is not musical to hear the +whistle of Rabelais in the midst of sounds from the flute of Horace--a +practice which we should leave to inferior minds, and attend to the +lessons of good sense and of Boileau. The following is a singular +instance of style, in a speech delivered at Versailles in 1745: + +_Speech Addressed to the King (Louis XV.) by M. le Camus, First +President of the Court of Aids._ + +"Sire--The conquests of your majesty are so rapid, that it will be +necessary to consult the power of belief on the part of posterity, and +to soften their surprise at so many miracles, for fear that heroes +should hold themselves dispensed from imitation, and people in general +from believing them. + +"But no, sire, it will be impossible for them to doubt it, when they +shall read in history that your majesty has been at the head of your +troops, recording them yourself in the field of Mars upon a drum. This +is to engrave them eternally in the temple of Memory. + +"Ages the most distant will learn, that the English, that bold and +audacious foe, that enemy so jealous of your glory, have been obliged to +turn away from your victory; that their allies have been witnesses of +their shame, and that all of them have hastened to the combat only to +immortalize the glory of the conqueror. + +"We venture to say to your majesty, relying on the love that you bear to +your people, that there is but one way of augmenting our happiness, +which is to diminish your courage; as heaven would lavish its prodigies +at too costly a rate, if they increased your dangers, or those of the +young heroes who constitute our dearest hopes." + + + + +SUPERSTITION. + + +SECTION I. + +I have sometimes heard you say--We are no longer superstitious; the +reformation of the sixteenth century has made us more prudent; the +Protestants have taught us better manners. + +But what then is the blood of a St. Januarius, which you liquefy every +year by bringing it near his head? Would it not be better to make ten +thousand beggars earn their bread, by employing them in useful tasks, +than to boil the blood of a saint for their amusement? Think rather how +to make their pots boil. + +Why do you still, in Rome, bless the horses and mules at St. Mary's the +Greater? What mean those bands of flagellators in Italy and Spain, who +go about singing and giving themselves the lash in the presence of +ladies? Do they think there is no road to heaven but by flogging? + +Are those pieces of the true cross, which would suffice to build a +hundred-gun ship--are the many relics acknowledged to be false--are the +many false miracles--so many monuments of an enlightened piety? + +France boasts of being less superstitious than the neighbors of St. +James of Compostello, or those of Our Lady of Loretto. Yet how many +sacristies are there where you still find pieces of the Virgin's gown, +vials of her milk, and locks of her hair! And have you not still, in the +church of Puy-en-Velay, her Son's foreskin preciously preserved? + +You all know the abominable farce that has been played, ever since the +early part of the fourteenth century, in the chapel of St. Louis, in the +Palais at Paris, every Maundy Thursday night. All the possessed in the +kingdom then meet in this church. The convulsions of St. Medard fall far +short of the horrible grimaces, the dreadful howlings, the violent +contortions, made by these wretched people. A piece of the true cross is +given them to kiss, encased in three feet of gold, and adorned with +precious stones. Then the cries and contortions are redoubled. The devil +is then appeased by giving the demoniacs a few sous; but the better to +restrain them, fifty archers of the watch are placed in the church with +fixed bayonets. + +The same execrable farce is played at St. Maur. I could cite twenty such +instances. Blush, and correct yourselves. + +There are wise men who assert, that we should leave the people their +superstitions, as we leave them their raree-shows, etc.; that the people +have at all times been fond of prodigies, fortune-tellers, pilgrimages, +and quack-doctors; that in the most remote antiquity they celebrated +Bacchus delivered from the waves, wearing horns, making a fountain of +wine issue from a rock by a stroke of his wand, passing the Red Sea on +dry ground with all his people, stopping the sun and moon, etc.; that at +Lacedaemon they kept the two eggs brought forth by Leda, hanging from the +dome of a temple; that in some towns of Greece the priests showed the +knife with which Iphigenia had been immolated, etc. + +There are other wise men who say--Not one of these superstitions has +produced any good; many of them have done great harm: let them then be +abolished. + + +SECTION II. + +I beg of you, my dear reader, to cast your eye for a moment on the +miracle which was lately worked in Lower Brittany, in the year of our +Lord 1771. Nothing can be more authentic: this publication is clothed in +all the legal forms. Read:-- + +"_Surprising Account of the Visible and Miraculous Appearance of Our +Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar; which was worked +by the Almighty Power of God in the Parish Church of Paimpole, near +Treguier, in Lower Brittany, on Twelfth-day._ + +"On January 6, 1771, being Twelfth-day, during the chanting of the +_Salve_, rays of light were seen to issue from the consecrated host, and +instantly the Lord Jesus was beheld in natural figure, seeming more +brilliant than the sun, and was seen for a whole half-hour, during which +there appeared a rainbow over the top of the church. The footprints of +Jesus remained on the tabernacle, where they are still to be seen; and +many miracles are worked there every day. At four in the afternoon, +Jesus having disappeared from over the tabernacle, the curate of the +said parish approached the altar, and found there a letter which Jesus +had left; he would have taken it up, but he found that he could not lift +it. This curate, together with the vicar, went to give information of it +to the bishop of Treguier, who ordered the forty-hour prayers to be said +in all the churches of the town for eight days, during which time the +people went in crowds to see this holy letter. At the expiration of the +eight days, the bishop went thither in procession, attended by all the +regular and secular clergy of the town, after three days' fasting on +bread and water. The procession having entered the church, the bishop +knelt down on the steps of the altar; and after asking of God the grace +to be able to lift this letter, he ascended to the altar and took it up +without difficulty; then, turning to the people, he read it over with a +loud voice, and recommended to all who could read to peruse this letter +on the first Friday of every month; and to those who could not read, to +say five paternosters, and five ave-marias, in honor of the five wounds +of Jesus Christ, in order to obtain the graces promised to such as shall +read it devoutly, and the preservation of the fruits of the earth! +Pregnant women are to say, for their happy delivery, nine paters and +nine aves for the benefit of the souls in purgatory, in order that their +children may have the happiness of receiving the holy sacrament of +baptism. + +"All that is contained in this account has been approved by the bishop, +by the lieutenant-general of the said town of Treguier, and by many +persons of distinction who were present at this miracle." + +"_Copy of the Letter Found Upon the Altar, at the Time of the Miraculous +Appearance of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the +Altar, on Twelfth-day, 1771._ + +"Everlasting life, everlasting punishments, or everlasting delights, +none can forego; one part must be chosen--either to go to glory, or to +depart into torment. The number of years that men pass on earth in all +sorts of sensual pleasures and excessive debaucheries, of usurpation, +luxury, murder, theft, slander, and impurity, no longer permitting it to +be suffered that creatures created in My image and likeness, redeemed by +the price of My blood on the tree of the cross, on which I suffered +passion and death, should offend Me continually, by transgressing My +commands and abandoning My divine law--I warn you all, that if you +continue to live in sin, and I behold in you neither remorse, nor +contrition, nor a true and sincere confession and satisfaction, I shall +make you feel the weight of My divine arm. But for the prayers of My +dear mother, I should already have destroyed the earth, for the sins +which you commit one against another. I have given you six days to +labor, and the seventh to rest, to sanctify My Holy Name, to hear the +holy mass, and employ the remainder of the day in the service of God My +Father. But, on the contrary, nothing is to be seen but blasphemy and +drunkenness; and so disordered is the world that all in it is vanity and +lies. Christians, instead of taking compassion on the poor whom they +behold every day at their doors, prefer fondling dogs and other animals, +and letting the poor die of hunger and thirst--abandoning themselves +entirely to Satan by their avarice, gluttony, and other vices; instead +of relieving the needy, they prefer sacrificing all to their pleasures +and debauchery. Thus do they declare war against Me. And you, iniquitous +fathers and mothers, suffer your children to swear and blaspheme +against My holy name; instead of giving them a good education, you +avariciously lay up for them wealth, which is dedicated to Satan. I tell +you, by the mouth of God My Father and My dear mother, of all the +cherubim and seraphim, and by St. Peter, the head of My church, that if +you do not amend your ways, I will send you extraordinary diseases, by +which all shall perish. You shall feel the just anger of God My Father; +you shall be reduced to such a state that you shall not know one +another. Open your eyes, and contemplate My cross, which I have left to +be your weapon against the enemy of mankind, and your guide to eternal +glory; look upon My head crowned with thorns, My feet and hands pierced +with nails; I shed the last drop of My blood to redeem you, from pure +fatherly love for ungrateful children. Do such works as may secure to +you My mercy; do not swear by My Holy Name; pray to Me devoutly; fast +often; and in particular give alms to the poor, who are members of My +body--for of all good works this is the most pleasing to Me; neither +despise the widow nor the orphan; make restitution of that which does +not belong to you; fly all occasions of sin; carefully keep My +commandments; and honor Mary My very dear mother. + +"Such of you who shall not profit by the warnings I give them, such as +shall not believe My words, will, by their obstinacy, bring down My +avenging arm upon their heads; they shall be overwhelmed by +misfortunes, which shall be the forerunners of their final and unhappy +end; after which they shall be cast into everlasting flames, where they +shall suffer endless pains--the just punishment reserved for their +crimes. + +"On the other hand, such of you as shall make a holy use of the warnings +of God, given them in this letter, shall appease His wrath, and shall +obtain from Him, after a sincere confession of their faults, the +remission of their sins, how great soever they may be. + + "With permission, Bourges, July 30, 1771. + + "DE BEAUVOIR, Lieut.-Gen. of Police. + +"This letter must be carefully kept, in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ." + +N.B.--It must be observed that this piece of absurdity was printed at +Bourges, without there having been, either at Treguier or at Paimpole, +the smallest pretence that could afford occasion for such an imposture. +However, we will suppose that in a future age some miracle-finder shall +think fit to prove a point in divinity by the appearance of Jesus Christ +on the altar at Paimpole, will he not think himself entitled to quote +Christ's own letter, printed at Bourges "with permission"? Will he not +prove, by facts, that in our time Jesus worked miracles everywhere? Here +is a fine field opened for the Houtevilles and the Abadies. + + +SECTION III. + +_A Fresh Instance of the Most Horrible Superstition._ + +The thirty conspirators who fell upon the king of Poland, in the night +of November 3, of the present year, 1771, had communicated at the altar +of the Holy Virgin, and had sworn by the Holy Virgin to butcher their +king. + +It seems that some one of the conspirators was not entirely in a state +of grace, when he received into his stomach the body of the Holy +Virgin's own Son, together with His blood, under the appearance of +bread; and that while he was taking the oath to kill his king, he had +his god in his mouth for only two of the king's domestics. The guns and +pistols fired at his majesty missed him; he received only a slight +shot-wound in the face, and several sabre-wounds, which were not mortal. +His life would have been at an end, but that humanity at length combated +superstition in the breast of one of the assassins named Kosinski. What +a moment was that when this wretched man said to the bleeding prince: +"You are, however, my king!" "Yes," answered Stanislaus Augustus, "and +your good king, who has never done you any harm." "True," said the +other; "but I have taken an oath to kill you." + +They had sworn before the miraculous image of the virgin at Czentoshova. +The following is the formula of this fine oath: "We ---- who, excited +by a holy and religious zeal, have resolved to avenge the Deity, +religion, and our country, outraged by Stanislaus Augustus, a despiser +of laws both divine and human, a favorer of atheists and heretics, do +promise and swear, before the sacred and miraculous image of the mother +of God, to extirpate from the face of the earth him who dishonors her by +trampling on religion.... So help us God!" + +Thus did the assassins of Sforza, of Medici, and so many other holy +assassins, have masses said, or say them themselves, for the happy +success of their undertaking. + +The letter from Warsaw which gives the particulars of this attempt, +adds: "The religious who employ their pious ardor in causing blood to +flow and ravaging their country, have succeeded in Poland, as elsewhere, +in inculcating on the minds of their affiliated, that it is allowable to +kill kings." + +Indeed, the assassins had been hidden in Warsaw for three days in the +house of the reverend Dominican fathers; and when these accessory monks +were asked why they had harbored thirty armed men without informing the +government of it, they answered, that these men had come to perform +their devotions, and to fulfil a vow. + +O ye times of Chatel, of Guinard, of Ricodovis, of Poltrot, of +Ravaillac, of Damiens, of Malagrida, are you then returning? Holy +Virgin, and Thou her holy Son, let not Your sacred names be abused for +the commission of the crime which disgraced them! + +M. Jean Georges le Franc, bishop of Puy-en-Velay, says, in his immense +pastoral letter to the inhabitants of Puy, pages 258-9, that it is the +philosophers who are seditious. And whom does he accuse of sedition? +Readers, you will be astonished; it is Locke, the wise Locke himself! He +makes him an accomplice in the pernicious designs of the earl of +Shaftesbury, one of the heroes of the philosophical party. + +Alas! M. Jean Georges, how many mistakes in a few words! First, you take +the grandson for the grandfather. The earl of Shaftesbury, author of the +"Characteristics" and the "Inquiry Into Virtue," that "hero of the +philosophical party," who died in 1713, cultivated letters all his life +in the most profound retirement. Secondly, his grandfather, +Lord-Chancellor Shaftesbury, to whom you attribute misdeeds, is +considered by many in England to have been a true patriot. Thirdly, +Locke is revered as a wise man throughout Europe. + +I defy you to show me a single philosopher, from Zoroaster down to +Locke, that has ever stirred up a sedition; that has ever been concerned +in an attempt against the life of a king; that has ever disturbed +society; and, unfortunately, I will find you a thousand votaries of +superstition, from Ehud down to Kosinski, stained with the blood of +kings and with that of nations. Superstition sets the whole world in +flames; philosophy extinguishes them. Perhaps these poor philosophers +are not devoted enough to the Holy Virgin; but they are so to God, to +reason, and to humanity. + +Poles! if you are not philosophers, at least do not cut one another's +throats. Frenchmen! be gay, and cease to quarrel. Spaniards! let the +words "inquisition" and "holy brotherhood" be no longer uttered among +you. Turks, who have enslaved Greece--monks, who have brutalized +her--disappear ye from the face of the earth. + + +SECTION IV. + +_Drawn from Cicero, Seneca, and Plutarch._ + +Nearly all that goes farther than the adoration of a supreme being, and +the submission of the heart to his eternal orders, is superstition. The +forgiveness of crimes, which is attached to certain ceremonies, is a +very dangerous one. + + _Et nigras mactant pecudes, et manibu', divis,_ + _Inferias mittunt._ + --LUCRETIUS, b. iii, 52-53. + + _O faciles nimium, qui tristia crimina coedis,_ + _Fluminea tolli posse putatis aqua!_ + --OVID, _Fasti_ ii, 45-46. + +You think that God will forget your homicide, if you bathe in a river, +if you immolate a black sheep, and a few words are pronounced over you. +A second homicide then will be forgiven you at the same price, and so of +a third; and a hundred murders will cost you only a hundred black sheep +and a hundred ablutions. Ye miserable mortals, do better; but let there +be no murders, and no offerings of black sheep. + +What an infamous idea, to imagine that a priest of Isis and Cybele, by +playing cymbals and castanets, will reconcile you to the Divinity. And +what then is this priest of Cybele, this vagrant eunuch, who lives on +your weakness, and sets himself up as a mediator between heaven and you? +What patent has he received from God? He receives money from you for +muttering words; and you think that the Being of Beings ratifies the +utterance of this charlatan! + +There are innocent superstitions; you dance on festival days, in honor +of Diana or Pomona, or some one of the secular divinities of which your +calendar is full; be it so. Dancing is very agreeable; it is useful to +the body; it exhilarates the mind; it does no harm to any one; but do +not imagine that Pomona and Vertumnus are much pleased at your having +jumped in honor of them, and that they may punish you for having failed +to jump. There are no Pomona and Vertumnus but the gardener's spade and +hoe. Do not be so imbecile as to believe that your garden will be hailed +upon, if you have missed dancing the _pyrrhic_ or the _cordax_. + +There is one superstition which is perhaps pardonable, and even +encouraging to virtue--that of placing among the gods great men who have +been benefactors to mankind. It were doubtless better to confine +ourselves to regarding them simply as venerable men, and above all, to +imitating them. Venerate, without worshipping, a Solon, a Thales, a +Pythagoras; but do not adore a Hercules for having cleansed the stables +of Augeas, and for having lain with fifty women in one night. + +Above all, beware of establishing a worship for vagabonds who have no +merit but ignorance, enthusiasm, and filth; who have made idleness and +beggary their duty and their glory. Do they who have been at best +useless during their lives, merit an apotheosis after their deaths? Be +it observed, that the most superstitious times have always been those of +the most horrible crimes. + + +SECTION V. + +The superstitious man is to the knave, what the slave is to the tyrant; +nay more--the superstitious man is governed by the fanatic, and becomes +a fanatic himself. Superstition, born in Paganism, adopted by Judaism, +infected the Church in the earliest ages. All the fathers of the Church, +without exception, believed in the power of magic. The Church always +condemned magic, but she always believed in it; she excommunicated +sorcerers, not as madmen who were in delusion, but as men who really had +intercourse with the devils. + +At this day, one half of Europe believes that the other half has long +been and still is superstitious. The Protestants regard relics, +indulgences, macerations, prayers for the dead, holy water, and almost +all the rites of the Roman church, as mad superstitions. According to +them, superstition consists in mistaking useless practices for necessary +ones. Among the Roman Catholics there are some, more enlightened than +their forefathers, who have renounced many of these usages formerly +sacred; and they defend their adherence to those which they have +retained, by saying they are indifferent, and what is indifferent cannot +be an evil. + +It is difficult to mark the limits of superstition. A Frenchman +travelling in Italy thinks almost everything superstitious; nor is he +much mistaken. The archbishop of Canterbury asserts that the archbishop +of Paris is superstitious; the Presbyterians cast the same reproach upon +his grace of Canterbury, and are in their turn called superstitious by +the Quakers, who in the eyes of the rest of Christians are the most +superstitious of all. + +It is then nowhere agreed among Christian societies what superstition +is. The sect which appears to be the least violently attacked by this +mental disease, is that which has the fewest rites. But if, with but few +ceremonies, it is strongly attached to an absurd belief, that absurd +belief is of itself equivalent to all the superstitious practices +observed from the time of Simon the Magician, down to that of the curate +Gaufredi. It is therefore evident that what is the foundation of the +religion of one sect, is by another sect regarded as superstitious. + +The Mussulmans accuse all Christian societies of it, and are accused of +it by them. Who shall decide this great cause? Shall not reason? But +each sect declares that reason is on its side. Force then will decide, +until reason shall have penetrated into a sufficient number of heads to +disarm force. + +For instance: there was a time in Christian Europe when a newly married +pair were not permitted to enjoy the nuptial rights, until they had +bought that privilege of the bishop and the curate. Whosoever, in his +will, did not leave a part of his property to the Church, was +excommunicated, and deprived of burial. This was called dying +unconfessed--i.e., not confessing the Christian religion. And when a +Christian died intestate, the Church relieved the deceased from this +excommunication, by making a will for him, stipulating for and enforcing +the payment of the pious legacy which the defunct should have made. + +Therefore it was, that Pope Gregory IX. and St. Louis ordained, after +the Council of Nice, held in 1235, that every will to the making of +which a priest had not been called, should be null; and the pope decreed +that the testator and the notary should be excommunicated. + +The tax on sins was, if possible, still more scandalous. It was force +which supported all these laws, to which the superstition of nations +submitted; and it was only in the course of time that reason caused +these shameful vexations to be abolished, while it left so many others +in existence. + +How far does policy permit superstition to be undermined? This is a very +knotty question; it is like asking how far a dropsical man may be +punctured without his dying under the operation; this depends on the +prudence of the physician. + +Can there exist a people free from all superstitious prejudices? This is +asking, Can there exist a people of philosophers? It is said that there +is no superstition in the magistracy of China. It is likely that the +magistracy of some towns in Europe will also be free from it. These +magistrates will then prevent the superstition of the people from being +dangerous. Their example will not enlighten the mob; but the principal +citizens will restrain it. Formerly, there was not perhaps a single +religious tumult, not a single violence, in which the townspeople did +not take part, because these townspeople were then part of the mob; but +reason and time have changed them. Their ameliorated manners will +improve those of the lowest and most ferocious of the populace; of +which, in more countries than one, we have striking examples. In short, +the fewer superstitions, the less fanaticism; and the less fanaticism, +the fewer calamities. + + + + +SYMBOL, OR CREDO. + + +We resemble not the celebrated comedian, Mademoiselle Duclos, to whom +somebody said: "I would lay a wager, mademoiselle, that you know not +your credo!" "What!" said she, "not know my credo? I will repeat it to +you. '_Pater noster qui._' ... Help me, I remember no more." For myself, +I repeat my pater and credo every morning. I am not like Broussin, of +whom Reminiac said, that although he could distinguish a sauce almost in +his infancy, he could never be taught his creed or pater-noster: + + _Broussin, des l'age le plus tendre,_ + _Posseda la sauce Robert,_ + _Sans que son precepteur lui put jamais apprende_ + _Ni son credo, ni son pater._ + +The term "symbol" comes from the word "_symbolein_," and the Latin +church adopts this word because it has taken everything from the Greek +church. Even slightly learned theologians know that the symbol, which we +call apostolical, is not that of all the apostles. + +Symbol, among the Greeks, signified the words and signs by which those +initiated into the mysteries of Ceres, Cybele, and Mythra, recognized +one another; and Christians in time had their symbol. If it had existed +in the time of the apostles, we think that St. Luke would have spoken of +it. + +A history of the symbol is attributed to St. Augustine in his one +hundred and fifteenth sermon; he is made to say, that Peter commenced +the symbol by saying: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty." John +added: "Maker of heaven and earth;" James proceeded: "I believe in Jesus +Christ, His only Son, our Lord," and so on with the rest. This fable has +been expunged from the last edition of Augustine; and I relate it to +the reverend Benedictine fathers, in order to know whether this little +curious article ought to be left out or not. + +The fact is, that no person heard anything of this "creed" for more than +four hundred years. People also say that Paris was not made in a day, +and people are often right in their proverbs. The apostles had our +symbol in their hearts, but they put it not into writing. One was formed +in the time of St. Irenaeus, which does not at all resemble that which we +repeat. Our symbol, such as it is at present, is of the fifth century, +which is posterior to that of Nice. The passage which says that Jesus +descended into hell, and that which speaks of the communion of saints, +are not found in any of the symbols which preceded ours; and, indeed, +neither the gospels, nor the Acts of the Apostles, say that Jesus +descended into hell; but it was an established opinion, from the third +century, that Jesus descended into Hades, or Tartarus, words which we +translate by that of hell. Hell, in this sense, is not the Hebrew word +"_sheol_," which signifies "under ground," "the pit"; for which reason +St. Athanasius has since taught us how our Saviour descended into hell. +His humanity, says he, was not entirely in the tomb, nor entirely in +hell. It was in the sepulchre, according to the body, and in hell, +according to the soul. + +St. Thomas affirms that the saints who arose at the death of Jesus +Christ, died again to rise afterwards with him, which is the most +general sentiment. All these opinions are absolutely foreign to +morality. We must be good men, whether the saints were raised once or +twice. Our symbol has been formed, I confess, recently, but virtue is +from all eternity. + +If it is permitted to quote moderns on so grave a matter, I will here +repeat the creed of the Abbe de St. Pierre, as it was written with his +own hand, in his book on the purity of religion, which has not been +printed, but which I have copied faithfully: + +"I believe in one God alone, and I love Him. I believe that He +enlightens all souls coming into the world; thus says St. John. By that, +I understand all souls which seek Him in good faith. I believe in one +God alone, because there can be but one soul of the Great All, a single +vivifying being, a sole Creator. + +"I believe in God, the Father Almighty; because He is the common Father +of nature, and of all men, who are equally His children. I believe that +He who has caused all to be born equally, who arranges the springs of +their life in the same manner, who has given them the same moral +principles, as soon as they reflect, has made no difference between His +children but that of crime and virtue. + +"I believe that the just and righteous Chinese is more precious to Him +than the cavilling and arrogant European scholar. I believe that God, +being our common Father, we are bound to regard all men as our brothers. +I believe that the persecutor is abominable, and that he follows +immediately after the poisoner and parricide. I believe that theological +disputes are at once the most ridiculous farce, and the most dreadful +scourge of the earth, immediately after war, pestilence, famine, and +leprosy. + +"I believe that ecclesiastics should be paid and well paid, as servants +of the public, moral teachers, keepers of registers of births and +deaths; but there should be given to them neither the riches of +farmers-general, nor the rank of princes, because both corrupt the soul; +and nothing is more revolting than to see men so rich and so proud +preach humility through their clerks, who have only a hundred crowns' +wages. + +"I believe that all priests who serve a parish should be married, as in +the Greek church; not only to have an honest woman to take care of their +household, but to be better citizens, to give good subjects to the +state, and to have plenty of well-bred children. + +"I believe that many monks should give up the monastic form of life, for +the sake of the country and themselves. It is said that there are men +whom Circe has changed into hogs, whom the wise Ulysses must restore to +the human form." + +"Paradise to the beneficent!" We repeat this symbol of the Abbe St. +Pierre historically, without approving of it. We regard it merely as a +curious singularity, and we hold with the most respectful faith to the +true symbol of the Church. + + + + +SYSTEM. + + +We understand by system a supposition; for if a system can be proved, it +is no longer a system, but a truth. In the meantime, led by habit, we +say the celestial system, although we understand by it the real position +of the stars. + +I once thought that Pythagoras had learned the true celestial system +from the Chaldaeans; but I think so no longer. In proportion as I grow +older, I doubt of all things. Notwithstanding that Newton, Gregory, and +Keil honor Pythagoras and the Chaldaeans with a knowledge of the system +of Copernicus, and that latterly M. Monier is of their opinion, I have +the impudence to think otherwise. + +One of my reasons is, that if the Chaldaeans had been so well informed, +so fine and important a discovery would not have been lost, but would +have been handed down from age to age, like the admirable discoveries of +Archimedes. + +Another reason is that it was necessary to be more widely informed than +the Chaldaeans, in order to be able to contradict the apparent testimony +of the senses in regard to the celestial appearances; that it required +not only the most refined experimental observation, but the most +profound mathematical science; as also the indispensable aid of +telescopes, without which it is impossible to discover the phases of +Venus, which prove her course around the sun, or to discover the spots +in the sun, which demonstrate his motion round his own almost immovable +axis. Another reason, not less strong, is that of all those who have +attributed this discovery to Pythagoras, no one can positively say how +he treated it. + +Diogenes Laertius, who lived about nine hundred years after Pythagoras, +teaches us, that according to this grand philosopher, the number one was +the first principle, and that from two sprang all numbers; that body has +four elements--fire, water, air, and earth; that light and darkness, +cold and heat, wet and dry, are equally distributed; that we must not +eat beans; that the soul is divided into three parts; that Pythagoras +had formerly been Atalides, then Euphorbus, afterwards Hermotimus; and, +finally, that this great man studied magic very profoundly. Diogenes +says not a word concerning the true system of the world, attributed to +this Pythagoras; and it must be confessed that it is by no means to an +aversion to beans that we owe the calculations which at present +demonstrate the motion of the earth and planets generally. + +The famous Arian Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, in his "Evangelical +Preparation," expresses himself thus: "All the philosophers declare that +the earth is in a state of repose; but Philolaus, the peripatetic, +thinks that it moves round fire in an oblique circle, like the sun and +the moon." This gibberish has nothing in common with the sublime truths +taught by Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and above all by Newton. + +As to the pretended Aristarchus of Samos, who, it is asserted, developed +the discoveries of the Chaldaeans in regard to the motion of the earth +and other planets, he is so obscure, that Wallace has been obliged to +play the commentator from one end of him to the other, in order to +render him intelligible. + +Finally, it is very much to be doubted whether the book, attributed to +this Aristarchus of Samos, really belongs to him. It has been strongly +suspected that the enemies of the new philosophy have constructed this +forgery in favor of their bad cause. It is not only in respect to old +charters that similar forgeries are resorted to. This Aristarchus of +Samos is also the more to be suspected, as Plutarch accuses him of +bigotry and malevolent hypocrisy, in consequence of being imbued with a +direct contrary opinion. The following are the words of Plutarch, in his +piece of absurdity entitled "The Round Aspect of the Moon." Aristarchus +the Samian said, "that the Greeks ought to punish Cleanthes of Samos, +who suggested that the heavens were immovable, and that it is the earth +which travels through the zodiac by turning on its axis." + +They will tell me that even this passage proves that the system of +Copernicus was already in the head of Cleanthes and others--of what +import is it whether Aristarchus the Samian was of the opinion of +Cleanthes, or his accuser, as the Jesuit Skeiner was subsequently +Galileo's?--it equally follows that the true system of the present day +was known to the ancients. + +I reply, no; but that a very slight part of this system was vaguely +surmised by heads better organized than the rest. I further answer that +it was never received or taught in the schools, and that it never formed +a body of doctrine. Attentively peruse this "Face of the Moon" of +Plutarch, and you will find, if you look for it, the doctrine of +gravitation; but the true author of a system is he who demonstrates it. + +We will not take away from Copernicus the honor of this discovery. Three +or four words brought to light in an old author, which exhibit some +distant glimpse of his system, ought not to deprive him of the glory of +the discovery. + +Let us admire the great rule of Kepler, that the revolutions of the +planets round the sun are in proportion to the cubes of their distances. +Let us still more admire the profundity, the justness, and the invention +of the great Newton, who alone discovered the fundamental reasons of +these laws unknown to all antiquity, which have opened the eyes of +mankind to a new heaven. + +Petty compilers are always to be found who dare to become the enemies of +their age. They string together passages from Plutarch and Athenaeus, to +prove that we have no obligations to Newton, to Halley, and to Bradley. +They trumpet forth the glory of the ancients, whom they pretend have +said everything; and they are so imbecile as to think that they divide +the glory by publishing it. They twist an expression of Hippocrates, in +order to persuade us that the Greeks were acquainted with the +circulation of the blood better than Harvey. Why not also assert that +the Greeks were possessed of better muskets and field-pieces; that they +threw bomb-shells farther, had better printed books, and much finer +engravings? That they excelled in oil-paintings, possessed +looking-glasses of crystal, telescopes, microscopes, and thermometers? +All this may be found out by men, who assure us that Solomon, who +possessed not a single seaport, sent fleets to America, and so forth. + +One of the greatest detractors of modern times is a person named Dutens, +who finished by compiling a libel, as infamous as insipid, against the +philosophers of the present day. This libel is entitled the "Tocsin"; +but he had better have called it his clock, as no one came to his aid; +and he has only tended to increase the number of the Zoilusses, who, +being unable to produce anything themselves, spit their venom upon all +who by their productions do honor to their country and benefit mankind. + + + + +TABOR, OR THABOR. + + +A famous mountain in Judaea, often alluded to in general conversation. It +is not true that this mountain is a league and a half high, as +mentioned in certain dictionaries. There is no mountain in Judaea so +elevated; Tabor is not more than six hundred feet high, but it appears +loftier, in consequence of its situation on a vast plain. + +The Tabor of Bohemia is still more celebrated by the resistance which +the imperial armies encountered from Ziska. It is from thence that they +have given the name of Tabor to intrenchments formed with carriages. The +Taborites, a sect very similar to the Hussites, also take their name +from the latter mountain. + + + + +TALISMAN. + + +Talisman, an Arabian word, signifies properly "consecration." The same +thing as "telesma," or "philactery," a preservative charm, figure, or +character; a superstition which has prevailed at all times and among all +people. It is usually a sort of medal, cast and stamped under the +ascendency of certain constellations. The famous talisman of Catherine +de Medici still exists. + + + + +TARTUFFE--TARTUFERIE. + + +Tartuffe, a name invented by Moliere, and now adopted in all the +languages of Europe to signify hypocrites, who make use of the cloak of +religion. "He is a Tartuffe; he is a true Tartuffe." _Tartuferie_, a new +word formed from Tartuffe--the action of a hypocrite, the behavior of a +hypocrite, the knavery of a false devotee; it is often used in the +disputes concerning the Bull Unigenitus. + + + + +TASTE. + + +SECTION I. + +The taste, the sense by which we distinguish the flavor of our food, has +produced, in all known languages, the metaphor expressed by the word +"taste"--a feeling of beauty and defects in all the arts. It is a quick +perception, like that of the tongue and the palate, and in the same +manner anticipates consideration. Like the mere sense, it is sensitive +and luxuriant in respect to the good, and rejects the bad spontaneously; +in a similar way it is often uncertain, divided, and even ignorant +whether it ought to be pleased; lastly, and to conclude the resemblance, +it sometimes requires to be formed and corrected by habit and +experience. + +To constitute taste, it is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty +of a work. We must feel and be affected by it. Neither will it suffice +to feel and be affected in a confused or ignorant manner; it is +necessary to distinguish the different shades; nothing ought to escape +the promptitude of its discernment; and this is another instance of the +resemblance of taste, the sense, to intellectual taste; for an epicure +will quickly feel and detect a mixture of two liquors, as the man of +taste and connoisseur will, with a single glance, distinguish the +mixture of two styles, or a defect by the side of a beauty. He will be +enthusiastically moved with this verse in the Horatii: + + _Que voulez-vous qu'il fit contre trois?--Qu'il mourut!_ + + What have him do 'gainst three?--Die! + +He feels involuntary disgust at the following: + + _Ou qu'un beau desespoir alors le secourut._ + --ACT iii, sc. 6. + + Or, whether aided by a fine despair. + +As a physical bad taste consists in being pleased only with high +seasoning and curious dishes, so a bad taste in the arts is pleased only +with studied ornament, and feels not the pure beauty of nature. + +A depraved taste in food is gratified with that which disgusts other +people: it is a species of disease. A depraved taste in the arts is to +be pleased with subjects which disgust accomplished minds, and to prefer +the burlesque to the noble, and the finical and the affected to the +simple and natural: it is a mental disease. A taste for the arts is, +however, much more a thing of formation than physical taste; for +although in the latter we sometimes finish by liking those things to +which we had in the first instance a repugnance, nature seldom renders +it necessary for men in general to learn what is necessary to them in +the way of food, whereas intellectual taste requires time to duly form +it. A sensible young man may not, without science, distinguish at once +the different parts of a grand choir of music; in a fine picture, his +eyes at first sight may not perceive the gradation, the chiaroscuro +perspective, agreement of colors, and correctness of design; but by +little and little his ears will learn to hear and his eyes to see. He +will be affected at the first representation of a fine tragedy, but he +will not perceive the merit of the unities, nor the delicate management +that allows no one to enter or depart without a sufficient reason, +nor that still greater art which concentrates all the interest in a +single one; nor, lastly, will he be aware of the difficulties overcome. +It is only by habit and reflection, that he arrives spontaneously at +that which he was not able to distinguish in the first instance. In a +similar way, a national taste is gradually formed where it existed not +before, because by degrees the spirit of the best artists is duly +imbibed. We accustom ourselves to look at pictures with the eyes of +Lebrun, Poussin, and Le Sueur. We listen to musical declamation from the +scenes of Quinault with the ears of Lulli, and to the airs and +accompaniments with those of Rameau. Finally, books are read in the +spirit of the best authors. + +If an entire nation is led, during its early culture of the arts, to +admire authors abounding in the defects and errors of the age, it is +because these authors possess beauties which are admired by everybody, +while at the same time readers are not sufficiently instructed to detect +the imperfections. Thus, Lucilius was prized by the Romans, until Horace +made them forget him; and Regnier was admired by the French, until the +appearance of Boileau; and if old authors who stumble at every step +have, notwithstanding, attained great reputation, it is because purer +writers have not arisen to open the eyes of their national admirers, as +Horace did those of the Romans, and Boileau those of the French. + +It is said that there is no disputation on taste, and the observation is +correct in respect to physical taste, in which the repugnance felt to +certain aliments, and the preference given to others, are not to be +disputed, because there is no correction of a defect of the organs. It +is not the same with the arts which possess actual beauties, which are +discernible by a good taste, and unperceivable by a bad one; which last, +however, may frequently be improved. There are also persons with a +coldness of soul, as there are defective minds; and in respect to them, +it is of little use to dispute concerning predilections, as they possess +none. + +Taste is arbitrary in many things, as in raiment, decoration, and +equipage, which, however, scarcely belong to the department of the fine +arts, but are rather affairs of fancy. It is fancy rather than taste +which produces so many new fashions. + +Taste may become vitiated in a nation, a misfortune which usually +follows a period of perfection. Fearing to be called imitators, artists +seek new and devious routes, and fly from the pure and beautiful nature +of which their predecessors have made so much advantage. If there is +merit in these labors, this merit veils their defects, and the public +in love with novelty runs after them, and becomes disgusted, which makes +way for still minor efforts to please, in which nature is still more +abandoned. Taste loses itself amidst this succession of novelties, the +last one of which rapidly effaces the other; the public loses its +"whereabout," and regrets in vain the flight of the age of good taste, +which will return no more, although a remnant of it is still preserved +by certain correct spirits, at a distance from the crowd. + +There are vast countries in which taste has never existed: such are they +in which society is still rude, where the sexes have little general +intercourse, and where certain arts, like sculpture and the painting of +animated beings, are forbidden by religion. Where there is little +general intercourse, the mind is straitened, its edge is blunted, and +nothing is possessed on which a taste can be formed. Where several of +the fine arts are wanting, the remainder can seldom find sufficient +support, as they go hand in hand, and rest one on the other. On this +account, the Asiatics have never produced fine arts in any department, +and taste is confined to certain nations of Europe. + + +SECTION II. + +Is there not a good and a bad taste? Without doubt; although men differ +in opinions, manners, and customs. The best taste in every species of +cultivation is to imitate nature with the highest fidelity, energy, and +grace. But is not grace arbitrary? No, since it consists in giving +animation and sweetness to the objects represented. Between two men, the +one of whom is gross and the other refined, it will readily be allowed +that one possesses more grace than the other. + +Before a polished period arose, Voiture, who in his rage for +embroidering nothings, was occasionally refined and agreeable, wrote +some verses to the great Conde upon his illness, which are still +regarded as very tasteful, and among the best of this author. + +At the same time, L'Etoile, who passed for a genius--L'Etoile, one of +the five authors who constructed tragedies for Cardinal Richelieu--made +some verses, which are printed at the end of Malherbe and Racan. When +compared with those of Voiture referred to, every reader will allow that +the verses of Voiture are the production of a courtier of good taste, +and those of L'Etoile the labor of a coarse and unintellectual +pretender. + +It is a pity that we can gift Voiture with occasional taste only: his +famous letter from the carp to the pike, which enjoyed so much +reputation, is a too extended pleasantry, and in passages exhibiting +very little nature. Is it not a mixture of refinement and coarseness, of +the true and the false? Was it right to say to the great Conde, who was +called "the pike" by a party among the courtiers, that at his name the +whales of the North perspired profusely, and that the subjects of the +emperor had expected to fry and to eat him with a grain of salt? Was it +proper to write so many letters, only to show a little of the wit which +consists in puns and conceits? + +Are we not disgusted when Voiture says to the great Conde, on the taking +of Dunkirk: "I expect you to seize the moon with your teeth." Voiture +apparently acquired this false taste from Marini, who came into France +with Mary of Medici. Voiture and Costar frequently cite him as a model +in their letters. They admire his description of the rose, daughter of +April, virgin and queen, seated on a thorny throne, extending +majestically a flowery sceptre, having for courtiers and ministers the +amorous family of the zephyrs, and wearing a crown of gold and a robe of +scarlet: + + _Bella figlia d'Aprile,_ + _Verginella e reina,_ + _Sic lo spinoso trono_ + _Del verde cespo assisa,_ + _De' fior' lo scettro in maesta sostiene;_ + _E corteggiata intorno_ + _Da lascivia famiglia_ + _Di Zefiri ministri,_ + _Porta d'or' la corona et dostro il manto._ + +Voiture, in his thirty-fifth letter to Costar, compliments the musical +atom of Marini, the feathered voice, the living breath clothed in +plumage, the winged song, the small spirit of harmony, hidden amidst +diminutive lungs; all of which terms are employed to convey the word +nightingale: + + _Una voce pennuta, un suon' volante,_ + _E vestito di penne, un vivo fiato,_ + _Una piuma canora, un canto alato,_ + _Un spiritel' che d'armonia composto_ + _Vive in auguste vise ere nascosto._ + +The bad taste of Balzac was of a different description; he composed +familiar letters in a fustian style. He wrote to the Cardinal de la +Valette, that neither in the deserts of Libya, nor in the abyss of the +sea, there was so furious a monster as the sciatica; and that if +tyrants, whose memory is odious to us, had instruments of cruelty in +their possession equal to the sciatica, the martyrs would have endured +them for their religion. + +These emphatic exaggerations--these long and stately periods, so opposed +to the epistolary style--these fastidious declamations, garnished with +Greek and Latin, concerning two middling sonnets, the merits of which +divided the court and the town, and upon the miserable tragedy of "Herod +the Infanticide,"--all indicate a time and a taste which were yet to be +formed and corrected. Even "Cinna," and the "Provincial Letters," which +astonished the nations, had not yet cleared away the rust. + +As an artist forms his taste by degrees, so does a nation. It stagnates +for a long time in barbarism; then it elevates itself feebly, until at +length a noon appears, after which we witness nothing but a long and +melancholy twilight. It has long been agreed, that in spite of the +solicitude of Francis I., to produce a taste in France for the fine +arts, this taste was not formed until towards the age of Louis XIV., +and we already begin to complain of its degeneracy. The Greeks of the +lower empire confess, that the taste which reigned in the days of +Pericles was lost among them, and the modern Greeks admit the same +thing. Quintilian allows that the taste of the Romans began to decline +in his days. + +Lope de Vega made great complaints of the bad taste of the Spaniards. +The Italians perceived, among the first, that everything had declined +among them since their immortal sixteenth century, and that they have +witnessed the decline of the arts, which they caused to spring up. + +Addison often attacks the bad taste of the English in more than one +department--as well when he ridicules the carved wig of Sir Cloudesley +Shovel, as when he testifies his contempt for a serious employment of +conceit and pun, or the introduction of mountebanks in tragedy. + +If, therefore, the most gifted minds allow that taste has been wanting +at certain periods in their country, their neighbors may certainly feel +it, as lookers-on; and as it is evident among ourselves that one man has +a good and another a bad taste, it is equally evident that of two +contemporary nations, the one may be rude and gross, and the other +refined and natural. + +The misfortune is, that when we speak this truth, we disgust the whole +nation to which we allude, as we provoke an individual of bad taste when +we seek to improve him. It is better to wait until time and example +instruct a nation which sins against taste. It is in this way that the +Spaniards are beginning to reform their drama, and the Germans to create +one. + +_Of National Taste._ + +There is beauty of all times and of all places, and there is likewise +local beauty. Eloquence ought to be everywhere persuasive, grief +affecting, anger impetuous, wisdom tranquil; but the details which may +gratify a citizen of London, would have little effect on an inhabitant +of Paris. The English drew some of their most happy metaphors and +comparisons from the marine, while Parisians seldom see anything of +ships. All which affects an Englishman in relation to liberty, his +rights and his privileges, would make little impression on a Frenchman. + +The state of the climate will introduce into a cold and humid country a +taste for architecture, furniture, and clothing, which may be very good, +but not admissible at Rome or in Sicily. Theocritus and Virgil, in their +eclogues, boast of the shades and of the cooling freshness of the +fountains. Thomson, in his "Seasons," dwells upon contrary attractions. + +An enlightened nation with little sociability will not have the same +points of ridicule as a nation equally intellectual, which gives in to +the spirit of society even to indiscretion; and, in consequence, these +two nations will differ materially in their comedy. Poetry will be very +different in a country where women are secluded, and in another in +which they enjoy liberty without bounds. + +But it will always be true that the pastoral painting of Virgil exceeds +that of Thomson, and that there has been more taste on the banks of the +Tiber than on those of the Thames; that the natural scenes of the Pastor +Fido are incomparably superior to the shepherdizing of Racan; and that +Racine and Moliere are inspired persons in comparison with the +dramatists of other theatres. + +_On the Taste of Connoisseurs._ + +In general, a refined and certain taste consists in a quick feeling of +beauty amidst defects, and defects amidst beauties. The epicure is he +who can discern the adulteration of wines, and feel the predominating +flavor in his viands, of which his associates entertain only a confused +and general perception. + +Are not those deceived who say, that it is a misfortune to possess too +refined a taste, and to be too much of a connoisseur; that in +consequence we become too much occupied by defects, and insensible to +beauties, which are lost by this fastidiousness? Is it not, on the +contrary, certain that men of taste alone enjoy true pleasure, who see, +hear, and feel, that which escapes persons less sensitively organized, +and less mentally disciplined? + +The connoisseur in music, in painting, in architecture, in poetry, in +medals, etc., experiences sensations of which the vulgar have no +comprehension; the discovery even of a fault pleases him, and makes him +feel the beauties with more animation. It is the advantage of a good +sight over a bad one. The man of taste has other eyes, other ears, and +another tact from the uncultivated man; he is displeased with the poor +draperies of Raphael, but he admires the noble purity of his conception. +He takes a pleasure in discovering that the children of Laocoon bear no +proportion to the height of their father, but the whole group makes him +tremble, while other spectators are unmoved. + +The celebrated sculptor, man of letters and of genius, who placed the +colossal statue of Peter the Great at St. Petersburg, criticises with +reason the attitude of the Moses of Michelangelo, and his small, tight +vest, which is not even an Oriental costume; but, at the same time, he +contemplates the air and expression of the head with ecstasy. + +_Rarity of Men of Taste._ + +It is afflicting to reflect on the prodigious number of men--above all, +in cold and damp climates--who possess not the least spark of taste, who +care not for the fine arts, who never read, and of whom a large portion +read only a journal once a month, in order to be put in possession of +current matter, and to furnish themselves with the ability of saying +things at random, on subjects in regard to which they have only confused +ideas. + +Enter into a small provincial town: how rarely will you find more than +one or two good libraries, and those private. Even in the capital of the +provinces which possess academies, taste is very rare. + +It is necessary to select the capital of a great kingdom to form the +abode of taste, and yet even there it is very partially divided among a +small number, the populace being wholly excluded. It is unknown to the +families of traders, and those who are occupied in making fortunes, who +are either engrossed with domestic details, or divided between +unintellectual idleness and a game at cards. Every place which contains +the courts of law, the offices of revenue, government, and commerce, is +closed against the fine arts. It is the reproach of the human mind that +a taste for the common and ordinary introduces only opulent idleness. I +knew a commissioner in one of the offices at Versailles, who exclaimed: +"I am very unhappy; I have not time to acquire a taste." + +In a town like Paris, peopled with more than six hundred thousand +persons, I do not think there are three thousand who cultivate a taste +for the fine arts. When a dramatic masterpiece is represented, a +circumstance so very rare, people exclaim: "All Paris is enchanted," but +only three thousand copies, more or less, are printed. + +Taste, then, like philosophy, belongs only to a small number of +privileged souls. It was, therefore, great happiness for France to +possess, in Louis XIV., a king born with taste. + + _Pauci, quos aequus amavit_ + _Jupiter, aut ardens, evexit ad aethera virtus_ + _Dis geniti, potuere._ + --AENEID, b. vi, v. 129 and s. + + To few great Jupiter imparts his grace, + And those of shining worth and heavenly race. + --DRYDEN. + +Ovid has said in vain, that God has created us to look up to heaven: +"_Erectos ad sidera tollere vultus_." Men are always crouching on the +ground. Why has a misshapen statue, or a bad picture, where the figures +are disproportionate, never passed for a masterpiece? Why has an +ill-built house never been regarded as a fine monument of architecture? +Why in music will not sharp and discordant sounds please the ears of any +one? And yet, very bad and barbarous tragedies, written in a style +perfectly Allobrogian, have succeeded, even after the sublime scenes of +Corneille, the affecting ones of Racine, and the fine pieces written +since the latter poet. It is only at the theatre that we sometimes see +detestable compositions succeed both in tragedy and comedy. + +What is the reason of it? It is, that a species of delusion prevails at +the theatre; it is, that the success depends upon two or three actors, +and sometimes even upon a single one; and, above all, that a cabal is +formed in favor of such pieces, whilst men of taste never form any. This +cabal often lasts for an entire generation, and it is so much the more +active, as its object is less to elevate the bad author than to depress +the good one. A century possibly is necessary to adjust the real value +of things in the drama. + +There are three kinds of taste, which in the long run prevail in the +empire of the arts. Poussin was obliged to quit France and leave the +field to an inferior painter; Le Moine killed himself in despair; and +Vanloo was near quitting the kingdom, to exercise his talents elsewhere. +Connoisseurs alone have put all of them in possession of the rank +belonging to them. We often witness all kinds of bad works meet with +prodigious success. The solecisms, barbarisms, false statement, and +extravagant bombast, are not felt for awhile, because the cabal and the +senseless enthusiasm of the vulgar produce an intoxication which +discriminates in nothing. The connoisseurs alone bring back the public +in due time; and it is the only difference which exists between the most +enlightened and the most cultivated of nations for the vulgar of Paris +are in no respect beyond; the vulgar of other countries; but in Paris +there is a sufficient number of correct opinions to lead the crowd. This +crowd is rapidly excited in popular movements, but many years are +necessary to establish in it a general good taste in the arts. + + + + +TAUROBOLIUM. + + +Taurobolium, a sacrifice of expiation, very common in the third and +fourth centuries. The throat of a bull was cut on a great stone slightly +hollowed and perforated in various places. Underneath this stone was a +trench, in which the person whose offence called for expiation received +upon his body and his face the blood of the immolated animal. Julian the +Philosopher condescended to submit to this expiation, to reconcile +himself to the priests of the Gentiles. + + + + +TAX--FEE. + + +Pope Pius II., in an epistle to John Peregal, acknowledges that the +Roman court gives nothing without money; it sells even the imposition of +hands and the gifts of the Holy Ghost; nor does it grant the remission +of sins to any but the rich. + +Before him, St. Antonine, archbishop of Florence, had observed that in +the time of Boniface IX., who died in 1404, the Roman court was so +infamously stained with simony, that benefices were conferred, not so +much on merit, as on those who brought a deal of money. He adds, that +this pope filled the world with plenary indulgences; so that the small +churches, on their festival days, obtained them at a low price. + +That pontiff's secretary, Theodoric de Nieur, does indeed inform us, +that Boniface sent questors into different kingdoms, to sell indulgences +to such as should offer them as much money as it would have cost them to +make a journey to Rome to fetch them; so that they remitted all sins, +even without penance, to such as confessed, and granted them, for +money, dispensations for irregularities of every sort; saying, that they +had in that respect all the power which Christ had granted to Peter, of +binding and unbinding on earth. + +And, what is still more singular, the price of every crime is fixed in a +Latin work, printed at Rome by order of Leo X., and published on +November 18, 1514, under the title of "Taxes of the Holy and Apostolic +Chancery and Penitentiary." + +Among many other editions of this book, published in different +countries, the Paris edition--quarto 1520, Toussaint Denis, Rue St. +Jacques, at the wooden cross, near St. Yves, with the king's privilege, +for three years--bears in the frontispiece the arms of France, and those +of the house of Medici, to which Leo N. belonged. This must have +deceived the author of the "Picture of the Popes" (_Tableau de Papes_), +who attributes the establishment of these taxes to Leo X., although +Polydore Virgil, and Cardinal d'Ossat agree in fixing the period of the +invention of the chancery tax about the year 1320, and the commencement +of the penitentiary tax about sixteen years later, in the time of +Benedict XII. + +To give some idea of these taxes, we will here copy a few articles from +the chapter of absolutions: Absolution for one who has carnally known +his mother, his sister, etc., costs five drachmas. Absolution for one +who has deflowered a virgin, six drachmas. Absolution for one who has +revealed another's confession, seven drachmas. Absolution for one who +has killed his father, his mother, etc., five drachmas. And so of other +sins, as we shall shortly see; but, at the end of the book, the prices +are estimated in ducats. + +A sort of letters too are here spoken of, called confessional, by which, +at the approach of death, the pope permits a confessor to be chosen, who +gives full pardon for every sin; these letters are granted only to +princes, and not to them without great difficulty. These particulars +will be found in page 32 of the Paris edition. + +The court of Rome was at length ashamed of this book, and suppressed it +as far as it was able. It was even inserted in the expurgatory index of +the Council of Trent, on the false supposition that heretics had +corrupted it. + +It is true that Antoine Du Pinet, a French gentleman of Franche-Comte, +had an abstract of it printed at Lyons in 1564, under this title: +"Casual Perquisites of the Pope's Shop" (_Taxes des Parties Casuelles de +la Boutique du Pape_), "taken from the Decrees, Councils, and Canons, +ancient and modern, in order to verify the discipline formerly observed +in the Church; by A.D.P." But, although, he does not inform us that his +work is but an abridgment of the other, yet, far from corrupting his +original, he on the contrary strikes out of it some odious passages, +such as the following, beginning page 23, line 9 from the bottom, in +the Paris edition: "And carefully observe, that these kinds of graces +and dispensations are not granted to the poor, because, not having +wherewith, they cannot be consoled." + +It is also true, that Du Pinet estimates these taxes in tournois, +ducats, and carlins; but, as he observes (page 42) that the carlins and +the drachmas are of the same value, the substituting for the tax of +five, six, or seven drachmas in the original, the like number of +carlins, is not falsifying it. We have a proof of this in the four +articles already quoted from the original. + +Absolution--says Du Pinet--for one who has a carnal knowledge of his +mother, his sister, or any of his kindred by birth or affinity, or his +godmother, is taxed at five carlins. Absolution for one who deflowers a +young woman, is taxed at six carlins. Absolution for one who reveals the +confession of a penitent, is taxed at seven carlins. Absolution for one +who has killed his father, his mother, his brother, his sister, his +wife, or any of his kindred--they being of the laity--is taxed at five +carlins; for if the deceased was an ecclesiastic, the homicide would be +obliged to visit the sanctuary. We will here repeat a few others. + +Absolution--continues Du Pinet--for any act of fornication whatsoever, +committed by a clerk, whether with a nun in the cloister or out of the +cloister, or with any of his kinswomen, or with his spiritual daughter, +or with any other woman whatsoever, costs thirty-six tournois, three +ducats. Absolution for a priest who keeps a concubine, twenty-one +tournois, live ducats, six carlins. The absolution of a layman for all +sorts of sins of the flesh, is given at the tribunal of conscience for +six tournois, two ducats. + +The absolution of a layman for the crime of adultery, given at the +tribunal of conscience, costs four tournois; and if the adultery is +accompanied by incest, six tournois must be paid per head. If, besides +these crimes, is required the absolution of the sin against nature, or +of bestiality, there must be paid ninety tournois, twelve ducats, six +carlins; but if only the absolution of the crime against nature, or of +bestiality, is required, it will cost only thirty-six tournois, nine +ducats. + +A woman who has taken a beverage to procure an abortion, or the father +who has caused her to take it, shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight +carlins; and if a stranger has given her the said beverage, he shall pay +four tournois, one ducat, five carlins. + +A father, a mother, or any other relative, who has smothered a child, +shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight carlins; and if it has been +killed by the husband and wife together, they shall pay six tournois, +two ducats. + +The tax granted by the datary for the contracting of marriage out of the +permitted seasons, is twenty carlins; and in the permitted periods, if +the contracting parties are the second or third degree of kindred, it +is commonly twenty-five ducats, and four for expediting the bulls; and +in the fourth degree, seven tournois, one ducat, six carlins. + +The dispensation of a layman from fasting on the days appointed by the +Church, and the permission to eat cheese, are taxed at twenty carlins. +The permission to eat meat and eggs on forbidden days is taxed at twelve +carlins; and that to eat butter, cheese, etc., at six tournois for one +person only; and at twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins for a +whole family, or for several relatives. + +The absolution of an apostate and a vagabond, who wishes to return into +the pale of the Church, costs twelve tournois, three ducats, six +carlins. The absolution and reinstatement of one who is guilty of +sacrilege, robbery, burning, rapine, perjury, and the like, is taxed at +thirty-six tournois, nine ducats. + +Absolution for a servant who detains his deceased master's property, for +the payment of his wages, and after receiving notice does not restore +it, provided the property so detained does not exceed the amount of his +wages, is taxed in the tribunal of conscience at only six tournois, two +ducats. For changing the clauses of a will, the ordinary tax is twelve +tournois, three ducats, six carlins. The permission to change one's +proper name costs nine tournois, two ducats, nine carlins; and to change +the surname and mode of signing, six tournois, two ducats. The +permission to have a portable altar for one person only, is taxed at +ten carlins: and to have a domestic chapel on account of the distance of +the parish church, and furnish it with baptismal fonts and chaplains, +thirty carlins. + +Lastly, the permission to convey merchandise, one or more times, to the +countries of the infidels, and in general to traffic and sell +merchandise without being obliged to obtain permission from the temporal +lords of the respected places, even though they be kings or emperors, +with all the very ample derogatory clauses, is taxed at only twenty-four +tournois, six ducats. + +This permission, which supersedes that of the temporal lords, is a fresh +evidence of the papal pretensions, which we have already spoken of in +the article on "Bull." Besides, it is known that all rescripts, or +expeditions for benefices, are still paid for at Rome according to the +tax; and this charge always falls at last on the laity, by the +impositions which the subordinate clergy exact from them. We shall here +notice only the fees for marriages and burials. + +A decree of the Parliament of Paris, of May 19, 1409, provides that +every one shall be at liberty to sleep with his wife as soon as he +pleases after the celebration of the marriage, without waiting for leave +from the bishop of Amiens, and without paying the fee required by that +prelate for taking off his prohibitions to consummate the marriage +during the first three nights of the nuptials. The monks of St. Stephen +of Nevers were deprived of the same fee by another decree of September +27, 1591. Some theologians have asserted, that it took its origin from +the fourth Council of Carthage, which had ordained it for the reverence +of the matrimonial benediction. But as that council did not order its +prohibition to be evaded by paying, it is more likely that this tax was +a consequence of the infamous custom which gave to certain lords the +first nuptial night of the brides of their vassals. Buchanan thinks that +this usage began in Scotland under King Evan. + +Be this as it may, the lords of Prellay and Persanny, in Piedmont, +called this privilege "_carrajio_"; but having refused to commute it for +a reasonable payment, the vassals revolted, and put themselves under +Amadeus VI., fourteenth count of Savoy. + +There is still preserved a _proces-verbal_, drawn up by M. Jean Fraguier, +auditor in the _Chambre des Comptes_, at Paris, by virtue of a decree of +the said chamber of April 7, 1507, for valuing the county of Eu, fallen +into the king's keeping by the minority of the children of the count of +Nevers, and his wife Charlotte de Bourbon. In the chapter of the revenue +of the barony of St. Martin-le-Gaillard, dependent on the county of Eu, +it is said: "Item, the said lord, at the said place of St. Martin, has +the right of 'cuissage' in case of marriage." + +The lords of Souloire had the like privilege, and having omitted it in +the acknowledgment made by them to their sovereign, the lord of +Montlevrier, the acknowledgment was disapproved; but by deed of Dec. +15, 1607, the sieur de Montlevrier formally renounced it; and these +shameful privileges have everywhere been converted into small payments, +called "marchetta." + +Now, when our prelates had fiefs, they thought--as the judicious Fleury +remarks--that they had as bishops what they possessed only as lords; and +the curates, as their under-vassals, bethought themselves of blessing +their nuptial bed, which brought them a small fee under the name of +wedding-dishes--i.e., their dinner, in money or in kind. On one of these +occasions the following quatrain was put by a country curate under the +pillow of a very aged president, who married a young woman named La +Montagne. He alludes to Moses' horns, which are spoken of in Exodus. + + _Le President a barbe grise_ + _Sur La Montagne va monter;_ + _Mais certes il peut bien compter_ + _D'en descendre comme Moise._ + +A word or two on the fees exacted by the clergy for the burial of the +laity. Formerly, at the decease of each individual, the bishops had the +contents of his will made known to them; and forbade those to receive +the rights of sepulchre who had died "unconfessed," i.e., left no legacy +to the Church, unless the relatives went to the official, who +commissioned a priest, or some other ecclesiastic, to repair the fault +of the deceased, and make a legacy in his name. The curates also opposed +the profession of such as wished to turn monks, until they had paid +their burial-fees; saying that since they died to the world, it was but +right that they should discharge what would have been due from them had +they been interred. + +But the frequent disputes occasioned by these vexations obliged the +magistrates to fix the rate of these singular fees. The following is +extracted from a regulation on this subject, brought in by Francis de +Harlai de Chamvallon, archbishop of Paris, on May 30, 1693, and passed +in the court of parliament on the tenth of June following: + + _Marriages._ + Liv. Sous. + For the publication of the bans.......... 1 10 + + For the betrothing....................... 2 0 + + For celebrating the marriage............. 6 0 + + For the certificate of the publication of + the bans, and the permission given to + the future husband to go and be married + in the parish of his future wife....... 5 0 + + For the wedding mass..................... 1 10 + + For the vicar............................ 1 10 + + For the clerk of the sacrament........... 1 10 + + For blessing the bed..................... 1 10 + + + _Funeral Processions._ + + Of children under seven years old, when + the clergy do not go in a body: + For the curate........................... 1 10 + + For each priest.......................... 1 10 + + When the clergy go in a body: + For the curial fee....................... 4 0 + + For the presence of the curate........... 2 0 + + For each priest.......................... 0 10 + + For the vicar............................ 1 10 + + For each singing-boy, when they carry + the body............................... 8 0 + + And when they do not carry it............ 5 0 + And so of young persons from seven to + twelve years old. + + Of persons above twelve years old: + For the curial fee....................... 6 0 + + For the curate's attendance.............. 4 0 + + For each vicar........................... 2 0 + + For the priest........................... 1 0 + + For each singing-boy..................... 0 10 + + Each of the priests that watch the body + in the night, for drink, etc........... 3 0 + + And in the day, each..................... 2 0 + + For the celebration of the mass.......... 1 0 + + For the service extraordinary; called the + complete service; viz., the vigils and + the two masses of the Holy Ghost and + the Holy Virgin........................ 4 10 + + For each of the priests that carry the + body................................... 1 0 + + For carrying the great cross............. 0 10 + + For the holy water-pot carrier........... 0 5 + + For carrying the little cross............ 0 5 + + For the clerk of the processions......... 0 1 + + For conveying bodies from one church to + another there shall be paid, for each + of the above fees, one-half more. + + For the reception of bodies thus conveyed: + To the curate............................ 6 10 + + To the vicar............................. 1 10 + + To each priest........................... 0 15 + + + + +TEARS. + + +Tears are the silent language of grief. But why? What relation is there +between a melancholy idea and this limpid and briny liquid filtered +through a little gland into the external corner of the eye which +moistens the conjunctiva and little lachrymal points, whence it descends +into the nose and mouth by the reservoir called the lachrymal duct, and +by its conduits? Why in women and children, whose organs are of a +delicate texture, are tears more easily excited by grief than in men, +whose formation is firmer? + +Has nature intended to excite compassion in us at the sight of these +tears, which soften us and lead us to help those who shed them? The +female savage is as strongly determined to assist her child who cries, +as a lady of the court would be, and perhaps more so, because she has +fewer distractions and passions. + +Everything in the animal body has, no doubt, its object. The eyes, +particularly, have mathematical relations so evident, so demonstrable, +so admirable with the rays of light; this mechanism is so divine, that I +should be tempted to take for the delirium of a high fever, the audacity +of denying the final causes of the structure of our eyes. The use of +tears appears not to have so determined and striking an object; but it +is probable that nature caused them to flow in order to excite us to +pity. + +There are women who are accused of weeping when they choose. I am not at +all surprised at their talent. A lively, sensible, and tender +imagination can fix upon some object, on some melancholy recollection, +and represent it in such lively colors as to draw tears; which happens +to several performers, and particularly to actresses on the stage. + +Women who imitate them in the interior of their houses, join to this +talent the little fraud of appearing to weep for their husbands, while +they really weep for their lovers. Their tears are true, but the object +of them is false. + +It is impossible to affect tears without a subject, in the same manner +as we can affect to laugh. We must be sensibly touched to force the +lachrymal gland to compress itself, and to spread its liquor on the +orbit of the eye; but the will alone is required to laugh. + +We demand why the same man, who has seen with a dry eye the most +atrocious events, and even committed crimes with sang-froid, will weep +at the theatre at the representation of similar events and crimes? It +is, that he sees them not with the same eyes; he sees them with those of +the author and the actor. He is no longer the same man; he was +barbarous, he was agitated with furious passions, when he saw an +innocent woman killed, when he stained himself with the blood of his +friend; he became a man again at the representation of it. His soul was +filled with a stormy tumult; it is now tranquil and void, and nature +re-entering it, he sheds virtuous tears. Such is the true merit, the +great good of theatrical representation, which can never be effected by +the cold declamation of an orator paid to tire an audience for an hour. + +The capitoul David, who; without emotion, saw and caused the innocent +Calas to die on the wheel, would have shed tears at seeing his own crime +in a well-written and well-acted tragedy. Pope has elegantly said this +in the prologue to Addison's Cato: + + Tyrants no more their savage nature kept, + And foes to virtue wondered how they wept. + + + + +TERELAS. + + +Terelas, Pterelas, or Pterlaus, just which you please, was the son of +Taphus, or Taphius. Which signifies what you say? Gently, I will tell +you. This Terelas had a golden lock, to which was attached the destiny +of the town of Taphia, and what is more, this lock rendered Terelas +immortal, as he would not die while this lock remained upon his head; +for this reason he never combed it, lest he should comb it off. An +immortality, however, which depends upon a lock of hair, is not the most +certain of all things. + +Amphitryon, general of the republic of Thebes, besieged Taphia, and the +daughter of King Terelas became desperately in love with him on seeing +him pass the ramparts. Thus excited, she stole to her father in the dead +of night, cut off his golden lock, and sent it to the general, in +consequence of which the town was taken, and Terelas killed. Some +learned men assure us, that it was the wife of Terelas who played him +this ill turn; and as they ground their opinions upon great authorities, +it might be rendered the subject of a useful dissertation. I confess +that I am somewhat inclined to be of the opinion of those learned +persons, as it appears to me that a wife is usually less timorous than a +daughter. + +The same thing happened to Nisus, king of Megara, which town was +besieged by Minos. Scylla, the daughter of Nisus, became madly in love +with him; and although in point of fact, her father did not possess a +lock of gold, he had one of purple, and it is known that on this lock +depended equally his life and the fate of the Megarian Empire. To oblige +Minos, the dutiful Scylla cut it off, and presented it to her lover. + +"All the history of Minos is true," writes the profound Bannier; "and +this is attested by all antiquity." I believe it precisely as I do that +of Terelas, but I am embarrassed between the profound Calmet and the +profound Huet. Calmet is of opinion, that the adventure of the lock of +Nisus presented to Minos, and that of Terelas given to Amphitryon, are +obviously taken from the genuine history of Samson. Huet the +demonstrator, on the contrary shows, that Minos is evidently Moses, as +cutting out the letters _n_ and _e_, one of these names is the anagram +of the other. + +But, notwithstanding the demonstration of Huet, I am entirely on the +side of the refined Dom Calmet, and for those who are of the opinion +that all which relates to the locks of Terelas and of Nisus is connected +with the hair of Samson. The most convincing of my triumphant reasons +is, that without reference to the family of Terelas, with the +metamorphoses of which I am unacquainted, it is certain that Scylla was +changed into a lark, and her father Nisus into a sparrow-hawk. Now, +Bochart being of opinion that a sparrow-hawk is called "neis" in +Hebrew, I thence conclude, that the history of Terelas, Amphitryon, +Nisus, and Minos is copied from the history of Samson. + +I am aware that a dreadful sect has arisen in our days, equally detested +by God and man, who pretend that the Greek fables are more ancient than +the Jewish history; that the Greeks never heard a word of Samson any +more than of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, etc., which names are not cited by +any Greek author. They assert, as we have modestly intimated--in the +articles on "Bacchus" and "Jew"--that the Greeks could not possibly take +anything from the Jews, but that the Jews might derive something from +the Greeks. + +I answer with the doctor Hayet, the doctor Gauchat, the ex-Jesuit +Patouillet, and the ex-Jesuit Paulian, that this is the most damnable +heresy which ever issued from hell; that it was formerly anathematized +in full parliament, on petition, and condemned in the report of the +Sieur P.; and finally, that if indulgence be extended to those who +support such frightful systems, there will be no more certainty in the +world; but that Antichrist will quickly arrive, if he has not come +already. + + + + +TESTES. + + +SECTION I. + +This word is scientific, and a little obscure, signifying small +witnesses. Sixtus V., a Cordelier become pope, declared, by his letter +of the 25th of June, 1587, to his nuncio in Spain, that he must unmarry +all those who were not possessed of testicles. It seems by this order, +which was executed by Philip II., that there were many husbands in Spain +deprived of these two organs. But how could a man, who had been a +Cordelier, be ignorant that the testicles of men are often hidden in the +abdomen, and that they are equally if not more effective in that +situation? We have beheld in France three brothers of the highest rank, +one of whom possessed three, the other only one, while the third +possessed no appearance of any, and yet was the most vigorous of the +three. + +The angelic doctor, who was simply a Jacobin, decides that two testicles +are "_de essentia matrimonii_" (of the essence of marriage); in which +opinion he is followed by Ricardus, Scotus, Durandus, and Sylvius. If +you are not able to obtain a sight of the pleadings of the advocate +Sebastian Rouillard, in 1600, in favor of the testicles of his client, +concealed in his abdomen, at least consult the dictionary of Bayle, at +the article "Quellenec." You will there discover, that the wicked wife +of the client of Sebastian Rouillard wished to render her marriage void, +on the plea that her husband could not exhibit testicles. The defendant +replied, that he had perfectly fulfilled his matrimonial duties, and +offered the usual proof of a re-performance of them in full assembly. +The jilt replied, that this trial was too offensive to her modesty, and +was, moreover, superfluous, since the defendant was visibly deprived of +testicles, and that messieurs of the assembly were fully aware that +testicles are necessary to perfect consummation. + +I am unacquainted with the result of this process, but I suspect that +her husband lost his cause. What induces me to think so is, that the +same Parliament of Paris, on the 8th of January, 1665, issued a decree, +asserting the necessity of two visible testicles, without which marriage +was not to be contracted. Had there been any member in the assembly in +the situation described, and reduced to the necessity of being a +witness, he might have convinced the assembly that it decided without a +due knowledge of circumstances. Pontas may be profitably consulted on +testicles, as well as upon any other subject. He was a sub-penitentiary, +who decided every sort of case, and who sometimes comes near to Sanchez. + + +SECTION II. + +A word or two on hermaphrodites. A prejudice has for a long time crept +into the Russian Church, that it is not lawful to say mass without +testicles; or, at least, they must be hid in the officiator's pocket. +This ancient idea was founded in the Council of Nice, who forbade the +admission into orders of those who mutilated themselves. The example of +Origen, and of certain enthusiasts, was the cause of this order, which +was confirmed a second time in the Council of Aries. + +The Greek Church did not exclude from the altar those who had endured +the operation of Origen against their own consent. The patriarchs of +Constantinople, Nicetas, Ignatius, Photius, and Methodius, were eunuchs. +At present this point of discipline seems undecided in the Catholic +Church. The most general opinion, however, is, that in order to be +ordained a priest, a eunuch will require a dispensation. + +The banishment of eunuchs from the service of the altar appears contrary +to the purity and chastity which the service exacts; and certainly such +of the priests as confess handsome women and girls would be exposed to +less temptation. Opposing reasons of convenience and decorum have +determined those who make these laws. + +In Leviticus, all corporeal defects are excluded from the service of the +altar--the blind, the crooked, the maimed, the lame, the one-eyed, the +leper, the scabby, long noses, and short noses. Eunuchs are not spoken +of, as there were none among the Jews. Those who acted as eunuchs in the +service of their kings, were foreigners. + +It has been demanded whether an animal, a man for example, can possess +at once testicles and ovaries, or the glands which are taken for +ovaries; in a word, the distinctive organs of both sexes? Can nature +form veritable hermaphrodites, and can a hermaphrodite be rendered +pregnant? I answer, that I know nothing about it, nor the +ten-thousandth part of what is within the operation of nature. I +believe, however, that Europe has never witnessed a genuine +hermaphrodite, nor has it indeed produced elephants, zebras, giraffes, +ostriches, and many more of the animals which inhabit Asia, Africa, and +America. It is hazardous to assert, that because we never beheld a +thing, it does not exist. + +Examine "Cheselden," page 34, and you will behold there a very good +delineation of an animal man and woman--a negro and negress of Angola, +which was brought to London in its infancy, and carefully examined by +this celebrated surgeon, as much distinguished for his probity as his +information. The plate is entitled "Members of an Hermaphrodite Negro, +of the Age of Twenty-six Years, of both Sexes." They are not absolutely +perfect, but they exhibit a strange mixture of the one and the other. + +Cheselden has frequently attested the truth of this prodigy, which, +however, is possibly no such thing in some of the countries of Africa. +The two sexes are not perfect in this instance; who can assure us, that +other negroes, mulatto, or copper-colored individuals, are not +absolutely male and female? It would be as reasonable to assert, that a +perfect statue cannot exist, because we have witnessed none without +defects. There are insects which possess both sexes; why may there not +be human beings similarly endowed? I affirm nothing; God keep me from +doing so. I only doubt. + +How many things belong to the animal man, in respect to which he must +doubt, from his pineal gland to his spleen, the use of which is unknown; +and from the principle of his thoughts and sensations to his animal +spirits, of which everybody speaks, and which nobody ever saw or ever +will see! + + + + +THEISM. + + +Theism is a religion diffused through all religions; it is a metal which +mixes itself with all the others, the veins of which extend under ground +to the four corners of the world. This mine is more openly worked in +China; everywhere else it is hidden, and the secret is only in the hands +of the adepts. + +There is no country where there are more of these adepts than in +England. In the last century there were many atheists in that country, +as well as in France and Italy. What the chancellor Bacon had said +proved true to the letter, that a little philosophy makes a man an +atheist, and that much philosophy leads to the knowledge of a God. When +it was believed with Epicurus, that chance made everything, or with +Aristotle, and even with several ancient theologians, that nothing was +created but through corruption, and that by matter and motion alone the +world goes on, then it was impossible to believe in a providence. But +since nature has been looked into, which the ancients did not perceive +at all; since it is observed that all is organized, that everything has +its germ; since it is well known that a mushroom is the work of +infinite wisdom, as well as all the worlds; then those who thought, +adored in the countries where their ancestors had blasphemed. The +physicians are become the heralds of providence; a catechist announces +God to children, and a Newton demonstrates Him to the learned. + +Many persons ask whether theism, considered abstractedly, and without +any religious ceremony, is in fact a religion? The answer is easy: he +who recognizes only a creating God, he who views in God only a Being +infinitely powerful, and who sees in His creatures only wonderful +machines, is not religious towards Him any more than a European, +admiring the king of China, would thereby profess allegiance to that +prince. But he who thinks that God has deigned to place a relation +between Himself and mankind; that He has made him free, capable of good +and evil; that He has given all of them that good sense which is the +instinct of man, and on which the law of nature is founded; such a one +undoubtedly has a religion, and a much better religion than all those +sects who are beyond the pale of our Church; for all these sects are +false, and the law of nature is true. Thus, theism is good sense not yet +instructed by revelation; and other religions are good sense perverted +by superstition. + +All sects differ, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the +same because it comes from God. It is asked why, out of five or six +hundred sects, there have scarcely been any who have not spilled blood; +and why the theists, who are everywhere so numerous, have never caused +the least disturbance? It is because they are philosophers. Now +philosophers may reason badly, but they never intrigue. Those who +persecute a philosopher, under the pretext that his opinions may be +dangerous to the public, are as absurd as those who are afraid that the +study of algebra will raise the price of bread in the market; one must +pity a thinking being who errs; the persecutor is frantic and horrible. +We are all brethren; if one of my brothers, full of respect and filial +love, inspired by the most fraternal charity, does not salute our common +Father with the same ceremonies as I do, ought I to cut his throat and +tear out his heart? + +What is a true theist? It is he who says to God: "I adore and serve +You;" it is he who says to the Turk, to the Chinese, the Indian, and the +Russian: "I love you." He doubts, perhaps, that Mahomet made a journey +to the moon and put half of it in his pocket; he does not wish that +after his death his wife should burn herself from devotion; he is +sometimes tempted not to believe the story of the eleven thousand +virgins, and that of St. Amable, whose hat and gloves were carried by a +ray of the sun from Auvergne as far as Rome. + +But for all that he is a just man. Noah would have placed him in his +ark, Numa Pompilius in his councils; he would have ascended the car of +Zoroaster; he would have talked philosophy with the Platos, the +Aristippuses, the Ciceros, the Atticuses--but would he not have drunk +hemlock with Socrates? + + + + +THEIST. + + +The theist is a man firmly persuaded of the existence of a Supreme Being +equally good and powerful, who has formed all extended, vegetating, +sentient, and reflecting existences; who perpetuates their species, who +punishes crimes without cruelty, and rewards virtuous actions with +kindness. + +The theist does not know how God punishes, how He rewards, how He +pardons; for he is not presumptuous enough to flatter himself that he +understands how God acts; but he knows that God does act, and that He is +just. The difficulties opposed to a providence do not stagger him in his +faith, because they are only great difficulties, not proofs; he submits +himself to that providence, although he only perceives some of its +effects and some appearances; and judging of the things he does not see +from those he does see, he thinks that this providence pervades all +places and all ages. + +[Illustration: Death of Socrates] + +United in this principle with the rest of the universe, he does not join +any of the sects, who all contradict themselves; his religion is the +most ancient and the most extended; for the simple adoration of a +God has preceded all the systems in the world. He speaks a language +which all nations understand, while they are unable to understand each +other's. He has brethren from Pekin to Cayenne, and he reckons all the +wise his brothers. He believes that religion consists neither in the +opinions of incomprehensible metaphysics, nor in vain decorations, but +in adoration and justice. To do good--that is his worship; to submit +oneself to God--that is his doctrine. The Mahometan cries out to him: +"Take care of yourself, if you do not make the pilgrimage to Mecca." +"Woe be to thee," says a Franciscan, "if thou dost not make a journey to +our Lady of Loretto." He laughs at Loretto and Mecca; but he succors the +indigent and defends the oppressed. + + + + +THEOCRACY. + +_Government of God or Gods._ + +I deceive myself every day; but I suspect that all the nations who have +cultivated the arts have lived under a theocracy. I always except the +Chinese, who appear learned as soon as they became a nation. They were +free from superstition directly China was a kingdom. It is a great pity, +that having been raised so high at first, they should remain stationary +at the degree they have so long occupied in the sciences. It would seem +that they have received from nature an ample allowance of good sense, +and a very small one of industry. Yet in other things their industry is +displayed more than ours. + +The Japanese, their neighbors, of whose origin I know nothing +whatever--for whose origin do we know?--were incontestably governed by a +theocracy. The earliest well-ascertained sovereigns were the "_dairos_," +the high priests of their gods; this theocracy is well established. +These priests reigned despotically about eight hundred years. In the +middle of our twelfth century it came to pass that a captain, an +"_imperator_," a "_seogon_" shared their authority; and in our sixteenth +century the captains seized the whole power, and kept it. The "_dairos_" +have remained the heads of religion; they were kings--they are now only +saints; they regulate festivals, they bestow sacred titles, but they +cannot give a company of infantry. + +The Brahmins in India possessed for a long time the theocratical power; +that is to say, they held the sovereign authority in the name of Brahma, +the son of God; and even in their present humble condition they still +believe their character indelible. These are the two principal among the +certain theocracies. + +The priests of Chaldaea, Persia, Syria, Phoenicia, and Egypt, were so +powerful, had so great a share in the government, and carried the censer +so loftily above the sceptre, that empire may be said, among those +nations, to nave been divided between theocracy and royalty. + +The government of Numa Pompilius was evidently theocratical. When a man +says: "I give you laws furnished by the gods; it is not I, it is a god +who speaks to you"--then it is God who is king, and he who talks thus is +lieutenant-general. + +Among all the Celtic nations who had only elective chiefs, and not +kings, the Druids and their sorceries governed everything. But I cannot +venture to give the name of theocracy to the anarchy of these savages. + +The little Jewish nation does not deserve to be considered politically, +except on account of the prodigious revolution that has occurred in the +world, of which it was the very obscure and unconscious cause. + +Do but consider the history of this strange people. They have a +conductor who undertakes to guide them in the name of his God to +Phoenicia, which he calls Canaan. The way was direct and plain, from +the country of Goshen as far as Tyre, from south to north; and there was +no danger for six hundred and thirty thousand fighting men, having at +their head a general like Moses, who, according to Flavius Josephus, had +already vanquished an army of Ethiopians, and even an army of serpents. + +Instead of taking this short and easy route, he conducts them from +Rameses to Baal-Sephon, in an opposite direction, right into the middle +of Egypt, due south. He crosses the sea; he marches for forty years in +the most frightful deserts, where there is not a single spring of water, +or a tree, or a cultivated field--nothing but sand and dreary rocks. It +is evident that God alone could make the Jews, by a miracle, take this +route, and support them there by a succession of miracles. + +The Jewish government therefore was then a true theocracy. Moses, +however, was never pontiff, and Aaron, who was pontiff, was never chief +nor legislator. After that time we do not find any pontiff governing. +Joshua, Jephthah, Samson, and the other chiefs of the people, except +Elias and Samuel, were not priests. The Jewish republic, reduced to +slavery so often, was anarchical rather than theocratical. + +Under the kings of Judah and Israel, it was but a long succession of +assassinations and civil wars. These horrors were interrupted only by +the entire extinction of ten tribes, afterwards by the enslavement of +two others, and by the destruction of the city amidst famine and +pestilence. This was not then divine government. + +When the Jewish slaves returned to Jerusalem, they were subdued by the +kings of Persia, by the conqueror Alexandria and his successors. It +appears that God did not then reign immediately over this nation, since +a little before the invasion of Alexander, the pontiff John assassinated +the priest Jesus, his brother, in the temple of Jerusalem, as Solomon +had assassinated his brother Adonijah on the altar. + +The government was still less theocratical when Antiochus Epiphanes, +king of Syria, employed many of the Jews to punish those whom he +regarded as rebels. He forbade them all, under pain of death, to +circumcise their children; he compelled them to sacrifice swine in their +temple, to burn the gates, to destroy the altar; and the whole enclosure +was filled with thorns and brambles. + +Matthias rose against him at the head of some citizens, but he was not +king. His son, Judas Maccabaeus, taken for the Messiah, perished after +glorious struggles. To these bloody contests succeeded civil wars. The +men of Jerusalem destroyed Samaria, which the Romans subsequently +rebuilt under the name of Sebasta. + +In this chaos of revolutions, Aristobulus, of the race of the Maccabees, +and son of a high priest, made himself king, more than five hundred +years after the destruction of Jerusalem. He signalized his reign like +some Turkish sultans, by cutting his brother's throat, and causing his +mother to be put to death. His successors followed his example, until +the period when the Romans punished all these barbarians. Nothing in all +this is theocratical. + +If anything affords an idea of theocracy, it must be granted that it is +the papacy of Rome; it never announces itself but in the name of God, +and its subjects live in peace. For a long time Thibet enjoyed the same +advantages under the Grand Lama; but that is a gross error striving to +imitate a sublime truth. + +The first Incas, by calling themselves descendants in a right line from +the sun, established a theocracy; everything was done in the name of the +sun. Theocracy ought to be universal; for every man, whether a prince or +a boatman, should obey the natural and eternal laws which God has given +him. + + + + +THEODOSIUS. + + +Every prince who puts himself at the head of a party, and succeeds, is +sure of being praised to all eternity, if the party lasts that time; and +his adversaries may be assured that they will be treated by orators, +poets, and preachers, as Titans who revolted against the gods. This is +what happened to Octavius Augustus, when his good fortune made him +defeat Brutus, Cassius, and Antony. It was the lot of Constantine, when +Maxentius, the legitimate emperor, elected by the Roman senate and +people, fell into the water and was drowned. + +Theodosius had the same advantage. Woe to the vanquished! blessed be the +victorious!--that is the motto of mankind. Theodosius was a Spanish +officer, the son of a Spanish soldier of fortune. As soon as he was +emperor he persecuted the anti-consubstantialists. Judge of the +applauses, benedictions, and pompous eulogies, on the part of the +consubstantialists! Their adversaries scarcely subsist any longer; their +complaints and clamors against the tyranny of Theodosius have perished +with them, and the predominant party still lavishes on this prince the +epithets of pious, just, clement, wise, and great. + +One day this pious and clement prince, who loved money to distraction, +proposed laying a very heavy tax upon the city of Antioch, then the +finest of Asia Minor. The people, in despair, having demanded a slight +diminution, and not being able to obtain it, went so far as to break +some statues, among which was one of the soldier, the emperor's father. +St. John Chrysostom, or golden mouth, the priest and flatterer of +Theodosius, failed not to call this action a detestable sacrilege, since +Theodosius was the image of God, and his father was almost as sacred as +himself. But if this Spaniard resembled God, he should have remembered +that the Antiochians also resembled Him, and that men formed after the +exemplar of all the gods existed before emperors. + + _Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum._ + --OVID, _Met._ i, b. 83. + +Theodosius immediately sent a letter to the governor, with an order to +apply the torture to the principal images of God who had taken part in +this passing sedition; to make them perish under blows received from +cords terminated with leaden balls; to burn some, and deliver others up +to the sword. This was executed with all the punctuality of a governor +who did his duty like a Christian, who paid his court well, and who +would make his way there. The Orontes bore nothing but corpses to the +sea for several days; after which, his gracious imperial majesty +pardoned the Antiochians with his usual clemency, and doubled the tax. + +How did the emperor Julian act in the same city, when he had received a +more personal and injurious outrage? It was not a paltry statue of his +father which they defaced; it was to himself that the Antiochians +addressed themselves, and against whom they composed the most violent +satires. The philosophical emperor answered them by a light and +ingenious satire. He took from them neither their lives nor their +purses. He contented himself with having more wit than they had. This is +the man whom St. Gregory Nazianzen and Theodoret, who were not of his +communion, dare to calumniate so far as to say that he sacrificed women +and children to the moon; while those who were of the communion of +Theodosius have persisted to our day in copying one another, by saying +in a hundred ways, that Theodosius was the most virtuous of men, and by +wishing to make him a saint. + +We know well enough what was the mildness of this saint in the massacre +of fifteen thousand of his subjects at Thessalonica. His panegyrists +reduce the number of the murdered to seven or eight thousand, which is a +very small number to them; but they elevate to the sky the tender piety +of this good prince, who deprived himself of mass, as also that of his +accomplice, the detestable Rufinus. I confess once more, that it was a +great expiation, a great act of devotion, the not going to mass; but it +restores not life to fifteen thousand innocents, slain in cold blood by +an abominable perfidy. If a heretic was stained with such a crime, with +what pleasure would all historians turn their boasting against him; with +what colors would they paint him in the pulpits and college +declamations! + +I will suppose that the prince of Parma entered Paris, after having +forced our dear Henry IV. to raise the siege; I will suppose that Philip +II. gave the throne of France to his Catholic daughter, and to the young +Catholic duke of Guise; how many pens and voices would forever have +anathematized Henry IV., and the Salic law! They would be both +forgotten, and the Guises would be the heroes of the state and religion. +Thus it is--applaud the prosperous and fly the miserable! "_Et cole +felices, miseros fuge._" + +If Hugh Capet dispossess the legitimate heir of Charlemagne, he becomes +the root of a race of heroes. If he fails, he may be treated as the +brother of St. Louis since treated Conradin and the duke of Austria, and +with much more reason. + +Pepin rebels, dethrones the Merovingian race, and shuts his king in a +cloister; but if he succeeds not, he mounts the scaffold. If Clovis, the +first king of Belgic Gaul, is beaten in his invasion, he runs the risk +of being condemned to the fangs of beasts, as one of his ancestors was +by Constantine. Thus goes the world under the empire of fortune, which +is nothing but necessity, insurmountable fatality. "_Fortuna saevo laeta +negotio._" She makes us blindly play her terrible game, and we never see +beneath the cards. + + + + +THEOLOGIAN. + + +SECTION I. + +The theologian knows perfectly that, according to St. Thomas, angels are +corporeal with relation to God; that the soul receives its being in the +body; and that man has a vegetative, sensitive, and intellectual soul; +that the soul is all in all, and all in every part; that it is the +efficient and formal cause of the body; that it is the greatest in +nobleness of form; that the appetite is a passive power; that archangels +are the medium between angels and principalities; that baptism +regenerates of itself and by chance; that the catechism is not a +sacrament, but sacramental; that certainty springs from the cause and +subject; that concupiscence is the appetite of sensitive delectation; +that conscience is an act and not a power. + +The angel of the schools has written about four thousand fine pages in +this style, and a shaven-crowned young man passes three years in filling +his brain with this sublime knowledge; after which he receives the +bonnet of a doctor of the Sorbonne, instead of going to Bedlam. If he is +a man of quality, or the son of a rich man, or intriguing and fortunate, +he becomes bishop, archbishop, cardinal, and pope. + +If he is poor and without credit, he becomes the chaplain of one of +these people; it is he who preaches for them, who reads St. Thomas and +Scotus for them, who makes commandments for them, and who in a council +decides for them. + +The title of theologian is so great that the fathers of the Council of +Trent give it to their cooks, "_cuoco celeste, gran theologo_." Their +science is the first of sciences, their condition the first of +conditions, and themselves the first of men; such the empire of true +doctrine; so much does reason govern mankind! + +When a theologian has become--thanks to his arguments--either prince of +the holy Roman Empire, archbishop of Toledo, or one of the seventy +princes clothed in red, successors of the humble apostles, then the +successors of Galen and Hippocrates are at his service. They were his +equals when they studied in the same university; they had the same +degrees, and received the same furred bonnet. Fortune changes all; and +those who discovered the circulation of the blood, the lacteal veins, +and the thoracic canal, are the servants of those who have learned what +concomitant grace is, and have forgotten it. + + +SECTION II. + +I knew a true theologian; he was master of the languages of the East, +and was instructed as much as possible in the ancient rites of nations. +The Brahmins, Chaldaeans, Fire-worshippers, Sabeans, Syrians, and +Egyptians, were as well known to him as the Jews; the several lessons of +the Bible were familiar to him; and for thirty years he had tried to +reconcile the gospels, and endeavored to make the fathers agree. He +sought in what time precisely the creed attributed to the apostles was +digested, and that which bears the name of Athanasius; how the +sacraments were instituted one after the other; what was the difference +between synaxis and mass; how the Christian Church was divided since its +origin into different parties, and how the predominating society treated +all the others as heretics. He sounded the depth of policy which always +mixes with these quarrels; and he distinguished between policy and +wisdom, between the pride which would subjugate minds and the desire of +self-illumination, between zeal and fanaticism. + +The difficulty of arranging in his head so many things, the nature of +which is to be confounded, and of throwing a little light on so many +clouds, often checked him; but as these researches were the duty of his +profession, he gave himself up to them notwithstanding his distaste. He +at length arrived at knowledge unknown to the greater part of his +brethren: but the more learned he waxed, the more mistrustful he became +of all that he knew. While he lived he was indulgent; and at his death, +he confessed that he had spent his life uselessly. + + + + +THUNDER. + + +SECTION I. + + _Vidi et crudeles dantem Salmonea poenas_ + _Dum flammas Jovis et sonitus imitatur Olympia, etc._ + --VIRGIL, AEneid, b. vi, 1. 585. + + Salmoneus suffering cruel pains I found, + For imitating Jove, the rattling sound + Of mimic thunder, and the glittering blaze + Of pointed lightnings and their forked rays. + +Those who invented and perfected artillery are so many other +Salmoneuses. A cannon-ball of twenty-four pounds can make, and has often +made, more ravage than an hundred thunder-claps; yet no cannoneer has +ever been struck by Jupiter for imitating that which passes in the +atmosphere. + +We have seen that Polyphemus, in a piece of Euripides, boasts of making +more noise, when he had supped well, than the thunder of Jupiter. +Boileau, more honest than Polyphemus, says that another world astonishes +him, and that he believes in the immortality of the soul, and that it is +God who thunders: + + _Pour moi, qu'en sante meme un autre monde etonne,_ + _Qui crois l'ame immortelle, et que c'est Dieu qui tonne._ + --SAT. i, line 161,162. + +I know not why he is so astonished at another world, since all antiquity +believed in it. Astonish was not the proper word; it was alarm. He +believes that it is God who thunders; but he thunders only as he hails, +as he rains, and as he produces fine weather--as he operates all, as he +performs all. It is not because he is angry that he sends thunder and +rain. The ancients paint Jupiter taking thunder, composed of three +burning arrows, and hurling it at whomsoever he chose. Sound reason does +not agree with these poetical ideas. + +Thunder is like everything else, the necessary effect of the laws of +nature, prescribed by its author. It is merely a great electrical +phenomenon. Franklin forces it to descend tranquilly on the earth; it +fell on Professor Richmann as on rocks and churches; and if it struck +Ajax Oileus, it was assuredly not because Minerva was irritated against +him. + +If it had fallen on Cartouche, or the abbe Desfontaines, people would +not have failed to say: + +"Behold how God punishes thieves and--." But it is a useful prejudice to +make the sky fearful to the perverse. Thus all our tragic poets, when +they would rhyme to "_poudre_" or "_resoudre_," invariably make use of +"_foudre_"; and uniformly make "_tonnerre_" roll, when they would rhyme +to "_terre_." + +Theseus, in "_Phedre_," says to his son--act iv, scene 2: + + _Monstre, qu'a trop longtemps epargne le tonnerre,_ + _Reste impur des brigands dont j'ai purge la terre!_ + +Severus, in "_Polyeucte_," without even having occasion to rhyme, when +he learns that his mistress is married, talks to Fabian, his friend, of +a clap of thunder. He says elsewhere to the same Fabian--act iv, scene +6--that a new clap of "_foudre_" strikes upon his hope, and reduces it +to "_poudre_": + + _Qu'est ceci, Fabian, quel nouveau coup de foudre_ + _Tombe sur mon espoir, et le reduit en poudre?_ + + +A hope reduced to powder must astonish the pit! Lusignan, in "_Zaire_," +prays God that the thunder will burst on him alone: + + + _Que la foudre en eclats ne tombe que sur moi._ + +If Tydeus consults the gods in the cave of a temple, the cave answers +him only by great claps of thunder. + + I've finally seen the thunder and "foudre" + Reduce verses to cinders and rhymes into "poudre." + +We must endeavor to thunder less frequently. + +I could never clearly comprehend the fable of Jupiter and Thunder, in La +Fontaine--b. viii, fable 20. + + _Vulcain remplit ses fourneaux_ + _De deux sortes de carreaux._ + _L'un jamais ne se fourvoie,_ + _Et c'est celui que toujours_ + _L'Olympe en corps nous envoie._ + _L'autre s'ecarte en son cours,_ + _Ce n'est qu'aux monts qu'il en coute;_ + _Bien souvent meme il se perd;_ + _Et ce dernier en sa route_ + _Nous vient du seul Jupiter._ + +"Vulcan fills his furnaces with two sorts of thunderbolts. The one never +wanders, and it is that which comes direct from Olympus. The other +diverges in its route, and only spends itself on mountains; it is often +even altogether dissipated. It is this last alone which proceeds from +Jupiter." + +Was the subject of this fable, which La Fontaine put into bad verse so +different from his general style, given to him? Would it infer that the +ministers of Louis XIV. were inflexible, and that the king pardoned? +Crebillon, in his academical discourse in foreign verse, says that +Cardinal Fleury is a wise depositary, the eagle, using his thunder, yet +the friend of peace: + + _Usant en citoyen du pouvoir arbitraire,_ + _Aigle de Jupiter, mais ami de la paix,_ + _Il gouverne la foudre, et ne tonne jamais._ + +He says that Marshal Villars made it appear that he survived Malplaquet +only to become more celebrated at Denain, and that with a clap of +thunder Prince Eugene was vanquished: + + _Fit voir, qu'a Malplaquet il n'avait survecu_ + _Que pour rendre a Denain sa valeur plus celebre_ + _Et qu'un foudre du moins Eugene etait vaincu._ + +Thus the eagle Fleury governed thunder without thundering, and Eugene +was vanquished by thunder. Here is quite enough of thunder. + + +SECTION II. + +Horace, sometimes the debauched and sometimes the moral, has said--book +i, ode 3--that our folly extends to heaven itself: "_Coelum ipsum +petimus stultitia._" + +We can say at present that we carry our wisdom to heaven, if we may be +permitted to call that blue and white mass of exhalations which causes +winds, rain, snow, hail, and thunder, heaven. We have decomposed the +thunderbolt, as Newton disentangled light. We have perceived that these +thunderbolts, formerly borne by the eagle of Jupiter, are really only +electric fire; that in short we can draw down thunder, conduct it, +divide it, and render ourselves masters of it, as we make the rays of +light pass through a prism, as we give course to the waters which fall +from heaven, that is to say, from the height of half a league from our +atmosphere. We plant a high fir with the branches lopped off, the top of +which is covered with a cone of iron. The clouds which form thunder are +electrical; their electricity is communicated to this cone, and a brass +wire which is attached to it conducts the matter of thunder wherever we +please. An ingenious physician calls this experiment the inoculation of +thunder. + +It is true, that inoculation for the smallpox, which has preserved so +many mortals, caused some to perish, to whom the smallpox had been +inconsiderately given; and in like manner the inoculation of thunder +ill-performed would be dangerous. There are great lords whom we can only +approach with the greatest precaution, and thunder is of this number. We +know that the mathematical professor Richmann was killed at St. +Petersburg, in 1753, by a thunderbolt which he had drawn into his +chamber: "_Arte sua periit._" As he was a philosopher, a theological +professor failed not to publish that he had been thunderstruck like +Salmoneus, for having usurped the rights of God, and for wishing to hurl +the thunder: but if the physician had directed the brass wire outside +the house, and not into his pent-up chamber, he would not have shared +the lot of Salmoneus, Ajax Oileus, the emperor Carus, the son of a +French minister of state, and of several monks in the Pyrenees. + + + + +TOLERATION. + + +SECTION I. + +What is toleration? It is the appurtenance of humanity. We are all full +of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our +follies--it is the first law of nature. + +When, on the exchange of Amsterdam, of London, of Surat, or of Bassora, +the Gueber, the Banian, the Jew, the Mahometan, the Chinese Deist, the +Brahmin, the Christian of the Greek Church, the Roman Catholic +Christian, the Protestant Christian, and the Quaker Christian, traffic +together, they do not lift the poniard against each other, in order to +gain souls for their religion. Why then have we been cutting one +another's throats almost without interruption since the first Council of +Nice? + +Constantine began by issuing an edict which allowed all religions, and +ended by persecuting. Before him, tumults were excited against the +Christians, only because they began to make a party in the state. The +Romans permitted all kinds of worship, even those of the Jews, and of +the Egyptians, for whom they had so much contempt. Why did Rome tolerate +these religions? Because neither the Egyptians, nor even the Jews, +aimed at exterminating the ancient religion of the empire, or ranged +through land and sea for proselytes; they thought only of money-getting; +but it is undeniable, that the Christians wished their own religion to +be the dominant one. The Jews would not suffer the statue of Jupiter at +Jerusalem, but the Christians wished it not to be in the capitol. St. +Thomas had the candor to avow, that if the Christians did not dethrone +the emperors, it was because they could not. Their opinion was, that the +whole earth ought to be Christian. They were therefore necessarily +enemies to the whole earth, until it was converted. + +Among themselves, they were the enemies of each other on all their +points of controversy. Was it first of all necessary to regard Jesus +Christ as God? Those who denied it were anathematized under the name of +Ebionites, who themselves anathematized the adorers of Jesus. + +Did some among them wish all things to be in common, as it is pretended +they were in the time of the apostles? Their adversaries called them +Nicolaites, and accused them of the most infamous crimes. Did others +profess a mystical devotion? They were termed Gnostics, and attacked +with fury. Did Marcion dispute on the Trinity? He was treated as an +idolater. + +Tertullian, Praxeas, Origen, Novatus, Novatian, Sabellius, Donatus, were +all persecuted by their brethren, before Constantine; and scarcely had +Constantine made the Christian religion the ruling one, when the +Athanasians and the Eusebians tore each other to pieces; and from that +time to our own days, the Christian Church has been deluged with blood. + +The Jewish people were, I confess, a very barbarous nation. They +mercilessly cut the throats of all the inhabitants of an unfortunate +little country upon which they had no more claim than they had upon +Paris or London. However, when Naaman was cured of the leprosy by being +plunged seven times in the Jordan--when, in order to testify his +gratitude to Elisha, who had taught him the secret, he told him he would +adore the god of the Jews from gratitude, he reserved to himself the +liberty to adore also the god of his own king; he asked Elisha's +permission to do so, and the prophet did not hesitate to grant it. The +Jews adored their god, but they were never astonished that every nation +had its own. They approved of Chemos having given a certain district to +the Moabites, provided their god would give them one also. Jacob did not +hesitate to marry the daughters of an idolater. Laban had his god, as +Jacob had his. Such are the examples of toleration among the most +intolerant and cruel people of antiquity. We have imitated them in their +absurd passions, and not in their indulgence. + +It is clear that every private individual who persecutes a man, his +brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster. This +admits of no difficulty. But the government, the magistrates, the +princes!--how do they conduct themselves towards those who have a faith +different from their own? If they are powerful foreigners, it is certain +that a prince will form an alliance with them. The Most Christian +Francis I. will league himself with the Mussulmans against the Most +Catholic Charles V. Francis I. will give money to the Lutherans in +Germany, to support them in their rebellion against their emperor; but +he will commence, as usual, by having the Lutherans in his own country +burned. He pays them in Saxony from policy; he burns them in Paris from +policy. But what follows? Persecutions make proselytes. France will soon +be filled with new Protestants. At first they will submit to be hanged; +afterwards they will hang in their turn. There will be civil wars; then +Saint Bartholomew will come; and this corner of the world will be worse +than all that the ancients and moderns have ever said of hell. + +Blockheads, who have never been able to render a pure worship to the God +who made you! Wretches, whom the example of the Noachides, the Chinese +literati, the Parsees, and of all the wise, has not availed to guide! +Monsters, who need superstitions, just as the gizzard of a raven needs +carrion! We have already told you--and we have nothing else to say--if +you have two religions among you, they will massacre each other; if you +have thirty, they will live in peace. Look at the Grand Turk: he governs +Guebers, Banians, Christians of the Greek Church, Nestorians, and Roman +Catholics. The first who would excite a tumult is empaled; and all is +tranquil. + + +SECTION II. + +Of all religions, the Christian ought doubtless to inspire the most +toleration, although hitherto the Christians have been the most +intolerant of all men. Jesus, having deigned to be born in poverty and +lowliness like his brethren, never condescended to practise the art of +writing. The Jews had a law written with the greatest minuteness, and we +have not a single line from the hand of Jesus. The apostles were divided +on many points. St. Peter and St. Barnabas ate forbidden meats with the +new stranger Christians, and abstained from them with the Jewish +Christians. St. Paul reproached them with this conduct; and this same +St. Paul, the Pharisee, the disciple of the Pharisee Gamaliel--this same +St. Paul, who had persecuted the Christians with fury, and who after +breaking with Gamaliel became a Christian himself--nevertheless, went +afterwards to sacrifice in the temple of Jerusalem, during his apostolic +vacation. For eight days he observed publicly all the ceremonies of the +Jewish law which he had renounced; he even added devotions and +purifications which were superabundant; he completely Judaized. The +greatest apostle of the Christians did, for eight days, the very things +for which men are condemned to the stake among a large portion of +Christian nations. + +Theudas and Judas were called Messiahs, before Jesus: Dositheus, Simon, +Menander, called themselves Messiahs, after Jesus. From the first +century of the Church, and before even the name of Christian was known, +there were a score of sects in Judaea. + +The contemplative Gnostics, the Dositheans, the Cerintheins, existed +before the disciples of Jesus had taken the name of Christians. There +were soon thirty churches, each of which belonged to a different +society; and by the close of the first century thirty sects of +Christians might be reckoned in Asia Minor, in Syria, in Alexandria, and +even in Rome. + +All these sects, despised by the Roman government, and concealed in +their obscurity, nevertheless persecuted each other in the hiding holes +where they lurked; that is to say, they reproached one another. This is +all they could do in their abject condition: they were almost wholly +composed of the dregs of the people. + +When at length some Christians had embraced the dogmas of Plato, and +mingled a little philosophy with their religion, which they separated +from the Jewish, they insensibly became more considerable, but were +always divided into many sects, without there ever having been a time +when the Christian church was reunited. It took its origin in the midst +of the divisions of the Jews, the Samaritans, the Pharisees, the +Sadducees, the Essenians, the Judaites, the disciples of John, and the +Therapeutae. It was divided in its infancy; it was divided even amid +the persecutions it sometimes endured under the first emperors. The +martyr was often regarded by his brethren as an apostate; and the +Carpocratian Christian expired under the sword of the Roman executioner, +excommunicated by the Ebionite Christian, which Ebionite was +anathematized by the Sabellian. + +This horrible discord, lasting for so many centuries, is a very striking +lesson that we ought mutually to forgive each other's errors: discord is +the great evil of the human species, and toleration is its only remedy. + +There is nobody who does not assent to this truth, whether meditating +coolly in his closet, or examining the truth peaceably with his friends. +Why, then, do the same men who in private admit charity, beneficence, +and justice, oppose themselves in public so furiously against these +virtues? Why!--it is because their interest is their god; because they +sacrifice all to that monster whom they adore. + +I possess dignity and power, which ignorance and credulity have founded. +I trample on the heads of men prostrated at my feet; if they should rise +and look me in the face, I am lost; they must, therefore, be kept bound +down to the earth with chains of iron. + +Thus have men reasoned, whom ages of fanaticism have rendered powerful. +They have other persons in power under them, and these latter again have +underlings, who enrich themselves with the spoils of the poor man, +fatten themselves with his blood, and laugh at his imbecility. They +detest all toleration, as contractors enriched at the expense of the +public are afraid to render their accounts, and as tyrants dread the +name of liberty. To crown all, in short, they encourage fanatics who cry +aloud: Respect the absurdities of my master; tremble, pay, and be +silent. + +Such was the practice for a long time in a great part of the world; but +now, when so many sects are balanced by their power, what side must we +take among them? Every sect, we know, is a mere title of error; while +there is no sect of geometricians, of algebraists, of arithmeticians; +because all the propositions of geometry, algebra, and arithmetic, are +true. In all the other sciences, one may be mistaken. What Thomist or +Scotist theologian can venture to assert seriously that he goes on sure +grounds? + +If there is any sect which reminds one of the time of the first +Christians, it is undeniably that of the Quakers. The apostles received +the spirit. The Quakers receive the spirit. The apostles and disciples +spoke three or four at once in the assembly in the third story; the +Quakers do as much on the ground floor. Women were permitted to preach, +according to St. Paul, and they were forbidden according to the same St. +Paul: the Quakeresses preach by virtue of the first permission. + +The apostles and disciples swore by yea and nay; the Quakers will not +swear in any other form. There was no rank, no difference of dress, +among apostles and disciples; the Quakers have sleeves without buttons, +and are all clothed alike. Jesus Christ baptized none of his apostles; +the Quakers are never baptized. + +It would be easy to push the parallel farther; it would be still easier +to demonstrate how much the Christian religion of our day differs from +the religion which Jesus practised. Jesus was a Jew, and we are not +Jews. Jesus abstained from pork, because it is uncleanly, and from +rabbit, because it ruminates and its foot is not cloven; we fearlessly +eat pork, because it is not uncleanly for us, and we eat rabbit which +has the cloven foot and does not ruminate. + +Jesus was circumcised, and we retain our foreskin. Jesus ate the Paschal +lamb with lettuce, He celebrated the feast of the tabernacles; and we do +nothing of this. He observed the Sabbath, and we have changed it; He +sacrificed, and we never sacrifice. + +Jesus always concealed the mystery of His incarnation and His dignity; +He never said He was equal to God. St. Paul says expressly, in his +Epistle to the Hebrews, that God created Jesus inferior to the angels; +and in spite of St. Paul's words, Jesus was acknowledged as God at the +Council of Nice. + +Jesus has not given the pope either the march of Ancona or the duchy of +Spoleto; and, notwithstanding, the pope possesses them by divine right. +Jesus did not make a sacrament either of marriage or of deaconry; and, +with us, marriage and deaconry are sacraments. If we would attend +closely to the fact, the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman religion is, in +all its ceremonies and in all its dogma, the reverse of the religion of +Jesus! + +But what! must we all Judaize, because Jesus Judaized all His life? If +it were allowed to reason logically in matters of religion, it is clear +that we ought all to become Jews, since Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was +born a Jew, lived a Jew and died a Jew, and since He expressly said, +that He accomplished and fulfilled the Jewish religion. But it is still +more clear that we ought mutually to tolerate one another, because we +are all weak, irrational, and subject to change and error. A reed +prostrated by the wind in the mire--ought it to say to a neighboring +reed placed in a contrary direction: Creep after my fashion, wretch, or +I will present a request for you to be seized and burned? + + +SECTION III. + +My friends, when we have preached toleration in prose and in verse, in +some of our pulpits, and in all our societies--when we have made these +true human voices resound in the organs of our churches--we have done +something for nature, we have reestablished humanity in its rights; +there will no longer be an ex-Jesuit, or an ex-Jansenist, who dares to +say, I am intolerant. + +There will always be barbarians and cheats who will foment intolerance; +but they will not avow it--and that is something gained. Let us always +bear in mind, my friends, let us repeat--for we must repeat, for fear it +should be forgotten--the words of the bishop of Soissons, not Languet, +but Fitzjames-Stuart, in his mandate of 1757: "We ought to regard the +Turks as our brethren." + +Let us consider, that throughout English America, which constitutes +nearly the fourth part of the known world, entire liberty of conscience +is established; and provided a man believes in a God, every religion is +well received: notwithstanding which, commerce flourishes and population +increases. Let us always reflect, that the first law of the Empire of +Russia, which is greater than the Roman Empire, is the toleration of +every sect. + +The Turkish Empire, and the Persian, always allowed the same indulgence. +Mahomet II., when he took Constantinople, did not force the Greeks to +abandon their religion, although he looked on them as idolaters. Every +Greek father of a family got off for five or six crowns a year. Many +prebends and bishoprics were preserved for them; and even at this day +the Turkish sultan makes canons and bishops, without the pope having +ever made an imam or a mollah. + +My friends, there are only some monks, and some Protestants as barbarous +as those monks, who are still intolerant. We have been so infected with +this furor, that in our voyages of long duration, we have carried it to +China, to Tonquin, and Japan. We have introduced the plague to those +beautiful climes. The most indulgent of mankind have been taught by us +to be the most inflexible. We said to them at the outset, in return for +their kind welcome--Know that we alone on the earth are in the right, +and that we ought to be masters everywhere. Then they drove us away +forever. This lesson, which has cost seas of blood, ought to correct us. + + +SECTION IV. + +The author of the preceding article is a worthy man who would sup with a +Quaker, an Anabaptist, a Socinian, a Mussulman, etc. _I_ would push this +civility farther; I would say to my brother the Turk--Let us eat +together a good hen with rice, invoking Allah; your religion seems to me +very respectable; you adore but one God; you are obliged to give the +fortieth part of your revenue every day in alms, and to be reconciled +with your enemies on the day of the Bairam. Our bigots, who calumniate +the world, have said a hundred times, that your religion succeeded only +because it was wholly sensual. They have lied, poor fellows! Your +religion is very austere; it commands prayer five times a day; it +imposes the most rigorous fast; it denies you the wine and the liquors +which our spiritual directors encourage; and if it permits only four +wives to those who can support them--which are very few--it condemns by +this restriction the Jewish incontinence, which allowed eighteen wives +to the homicide David, and seven hundred, without reckoning concubines, +to Solomon, the assassin of his brother. + +I will say to my brother the Chinese: Let us sup together without +ceremony, for I dislike grimaces; but I like your law, the wisest of +all, and perhaps the most ancient. I will say nearly as much to my +brother the Indian. + +But what shall I say to my brother the Jew? Shall I invite him to +supper? Yes, on condition that, during the repast, Balaam's ass does not +take it into its head to bray; that Ezekiel does not mix his dinner with +our supper; that a fish does not swallow up one of the guests, and keep +him three days in his belly; that a serpent does not join in the +conversation, in order to seduce my wife; that a prophet does not think +proper to sleep with her, as the worthy man, Hosea, did for five francs +and a bushel of barley; above all, that no Jew parades through my house +to the sound of the trumpet, causes the walls to fall down, and cuts the +throats of myself, my father, my mother, my wife, my children, my cat +and my dog, according to the ancient practice of the Jews. Come, my +friends, let us have peace, and say our _benedicite_. + + + + +TOPHET. + + +Tophet was, and is still, a precipice near Jerusalem, in the valley of +Hinnom, which is a frightful place, abounding only in flints. It was in +this dreary solitude that the Jews immolated their children to their +god, whom they then called Moloch; for we have observed, that they +always bestowed a foreign name on their god. _Shadai_ was Syrian; +_Adonai_, Phoenician; _Jehovah_ was also Phoenician; _Eloi_, +_Elohim_, _Eloa_, Chaldaean; and in the same manner, the names of all +their angels were Chaldaean or Persian. This we have remarked very +particularly. + +All these different names equally signify "the lord," in the jargon of +the petty nations bordering on Palestine. The word _Moloch_ is evidently +derived from _Melk_, which was the same as _Melcom_ or _Melcon_, the +divinity of the thousand women in the seraglio of Solomon; to-wit, seven +hundred wives and three hundred concubines. All these names signify +"lord": each village had its lord. + +Some sages pretend that Moloch was more particularly the god of fire; +and that it was on that account the Jews burned their children in the +hollow of the idol of this same Moloch. It was a large statue of copper, +rendered as hideous as the Jews could make it. They heated the statue +red hot, in a large fire, although they had very little fuel, and cast +their children into the belly of this god, as our cooks cast living +lobsters into the boiling water of their cauldrons. Such were the +ancient Celts and Tudescans, when they burned children in honor of +Teutates and Hirminsule. Such the Gallic virtue, and the German +freedom! + +Jeremiah wished, in vain, to detach the Jewish people from this +diabolical worship. In vain he reproaches them with having built a sort +of temple to Moloch in this abominable valley. "They have built high +places in Tophet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, in +order to pass their sons and daughters through the fire." + +The Jews paid so much the less regard to the reproaches of Jeremiah, as +they fiercely accused him of having sold himself to the king of Babylon; +of having uniformly prophesied in his favor; and of having betrayed his +country. In short, he suffered the punishment of a traitor; he was +stoned to death. + +The Book of Kings informs us, that Solomon built a temple to Moloch, but +it does not say that it was in the valley of Tophet, but in the vicinity +upon the Mount of Olives. The situation was fine, if anything can be +called fine in the frightful neighborhood of Jerusalem. + +Some commentators pretend, that Ahaz, king of Judah, burned his son in +honor of Moloch, and that King Manasses was guilty of the same +barbarity. Other commentators suppose, that these kings of the chosen +people of God were content with casting their children into the flames, +but that they were not burned to death. I wish that it may have been so; +but it is very difficult for a child not to be burned when placed on a +lighted pile. + +This valley of Tophet was the "Clamart" of Paris, the place where they +deposited all the rubbish and carrion of the city. It was in this +valley that they cast loose the scape-goat; it was the place in which +the bodies of the two criminals were cast who suffered with the Son of +God; but our Saviour did not permit His body, which was given up to the +executioner, to be cast in the highway of the valley of Tophet, +according to custom. It is true, that He might have risen again in +Tophet, as well as in Calvary; but a good Jew, named Joseph, a native of +Arimathea, who had prepared a sepulchre for himself on Mount Calvary, +placed the body of the Saviour therein, according to the testimony of +St. Matthew. No one was allowed to be buried in the towns; even the tomb +of David was not in Jerusalem. + +Joseph of Arimathea was rich--"a certain rich man of Arimathea,"--that +the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled: "And he made his grave with +the wicked, and with the rich in his death." + + + + +TORTURE. + + +Though there are few articles of jurisprudence in these honest +alphabetical reflections, we must, however, say a word or two on +torture, otherwise called "the question"; which is a strange manner of +questioning men. They were not, however, the simply curious who invented +it; there is every appearance, that this part of our legislation owes +its first origin to a highwayman. Most of these gentlemen are still in +the habit of screwing thumbs, burning feet, and questioning, by various +torments, those who refuse to tell them where they have put their money. + +Conquerors having succeeded these thieves, found the invention very +useful to their interests; they made use of it when they suspected that +there were bad designs against them: as, for example, that of seeking +freedom was a crime of high treason, human and divine. The accomplices +must be known; and to accomplish it, those who were suspected were made +to suffer a thousand deaths, because, according to the jurisprudence of +these primitive heroes, whoever was suspected of merely having a +disrespectful opinion of them, was worthy of death. As soon as they have +thus merited death, it signifies little whether they had frightful +torments for several days, and even weeks previously--a practice which +savors, I know not how, of the Divinity. Providence sometimes puts us to +the torture by employing the stone, gravel, gout, scrofula, leprosy, +smallpox; by tearing the entrails, by convulsions of the nerves,-and +other executors of the vengeance of Providence. + +Now, as the first despots were, in the eyes of their courtiers, images +of the Divinity, they imitated it as much as they could. What is very +singular is, that the question, or torture, is never spoken of in the +Jewish books. It is a great pity that so mild, honest, and compassionate +a nation knew not this method of discovering the truth. In my opinion, +the reason is, that they had no need of it. God always made it known to +them as to His cherished people. Sometimes they played at dice to +discover the truth, and the suspected culprit always had double sixes. +Sometimes they went to the high priest, who immediately consulted God by +the urim and thummim. Sometimes they addressed themselves to the seer +and prophet; and you may believe that the seer and prophet discovered +the most hidden things, as well as the urim and thummim of the high +priest. The people of God were not reduced, like ourselves, to +interrogating and conjecturing; and therefore torture could not be in +use among them, which was the only thing wanting to complete the manners +of that holy people. The Romans inflicted torture on slaves alone, but +slaves were not considered as men. Neither is there any appearance that +a counsellor of the criminal court regards as one of his +fellow-creatures, a man who is brought to him wan, pale, distorted, with +sunken eyes, long and dirty beard, covered with vermin with which he has +been tormented in a dungeon. He gives himself the pleasure of applying +to him the major and minor torture, in the presence of a surgeon, who +counts his pulse until he is in danger of death, after which they +recommence; and as the comedy of the "Plaideurs" pleasantly says, "that +serves to pass away an hour or two." + +The grave magistrate, who for money has bought the right of making these +experiments on his neighbor, relates to his wife, at dinner, that which +has passed in the morning. The first time, madam shudders at it; the +second, she takes some pleasure in it, because, after all, women are +curious; and afterwards, the first thing she says when he enters is: "My +dear, have you tortured anybody to-day?" The French, who are considered, +I know not why, a very humane people, are astonished that the English, +who have had the inhumanity to take all Canada from us, have renounced +the pleasure of putting the question. + +When the Chevalier de Barre, the grandson of a lieutenant-general of the +army, a young man of much sense and great expectations, but possessing +all the giddiness of unbridled youth, was convicted of having sung +impious songs, and even of having dared to pass before a procession of +Capuchins without taking his hat off, the judges of Abbeville, men +comparable to Roman senators, ordered not only that his tongue should be +torn out, that his hands should be torn off, and his body burned at a +slow fire, but they further applied the torture, to know precisely how +many songs he had sung, and how many processions he had seen with his +hat on his head. + +It was not in the thirteenth or fourteenth century that this affair +happened; it was in the eighteenth. Foreign nations judge of France by +its spectacles, romances, and pretty verses; by opera girls who have +very sweet manners, by opera dancers who posssess grace; by +Mademoiselle Clairon, who declaims delightfully. They know not that, +under all, there is not a more cruel nation than the French. The +Russians were considered barbarians in 1700; this is only the year 1769; +yet an empress has just given to this great state laws which would do +honor to Minos, Numa, or Solon, if they had had intelligence enough to +invent them. The most remarkable is universal tolerance; the second is +the abolition of torture. Justice and humanity have guided her pen; she +has reformed all. Woe to a nation which, being more civilized, is still +led by ancient atrocious customs! "Why should we change our +jurisprudence?" say we. "Europe is indebted to us for cooks, tailors, +and wig-makers; therefore, our laws are good." + + + + +TRANSUBSTANTIATION. + + +Protestants, and above all, philosophical Protestants, regard +transubstantiation as the most signal proof of extreme impudence in +monks, and of imbecility in laymen. They hold no terms with this belief, +which they call monstrous, and assert that it is impossible for a man of +good sense ever to have believed in it. It is, say they, so absurd, so +contrary to every physical law, and so contradictory, it would be a sort +of annihilation of God, to suppose Him capable of such inconsistency. +Not only a god in a wafer, but a god in the place of a wafer; a thousand +crumbs of bread become in an instant so many gods, which an innumerable +crowd of gods make only one god. Whiteness without a white substance; +roundness without rotundity of body; wine changed into blood, retaining +the taste of wine; bread changed into flesh and into fibres, still +preserving the taste of bread--all this inspires such a degree of horror +and contempt in the enemies of the Catholic, apostolic, and Roman +religion, that it sometimes insensibly verges into rage. + +Their horror augments when they are told that, in Catholic countries, +are monks who rise from a bed of impurity, and with unwashed hands make +gods by hundreds; who eat and drink these gods, and reduce them to the +usual consequences of such an operation. But when they reflect that this +superstition, a thousand times more absurd and sacrilegious than those +of Egypt, produces for an Italian priest from fifteen to twenty millions +of revenue, and the domination of a country containing a hundred +thousand square leagues, they are ready to march with their arms in +their hands and drive away this priest from the palace of Caesar. I know +not if I shall be of the party, because I love peace; but when +established at Rome, I will certainly pay them a visit.--By M. +GUILLAUME, a Protestant minister. + + + + +TRINITY. + + +The first among the Westerns who spoke of the Trinity was Timaeus of +Locri, in his "Soul of the World." First came the Idea, the perpetual +model or archetype of all things engendered; that is to say, the first +"Word," the internal and intelligible "Word." Afterwards, the unformed +mode, the second word, or the word spoken. Lastly, the "son," or +sensible world, or the spirit of the world. These three qualities +constitute the entire world, which world is the Son of God "Monogenes." +He has a soul and possessed reason; he is "_empsukos, logikos_." + +God, wishing to make a very fine God, has engendered one: "_Touton epoie +theon genaton._" + +It is difficult clearly to comprehend the system of Timaeus, which he +perhaps derived from the Egyptians or Brahmins. I know not whether it +was well understood in his time. It is like decayed and rusty medals, +the motto of which is effaced: it could be read formerly; at present, we +put what construction we please upon it. + +It does not appear that this sublime balderdash made much progress until +the time of Plato. It was buried in oblivion, and Plato raised it up. He +constructed his edifice in the air, but on the model of Timaeus. He +admits three divine essences: the Father, the Supreme Creator, the +Parent of other gods, is the first essence. The second is the visible +God, the minister of the invisible one, the "Word," the understanding, +the great spirit. The third is the world. + +It is true, that Plato sometimes says quite different and even quite +contrary things; it is the privilege of the Greek philosophers; and +Plato has made use of his right more than any of the ancients or +moderns. A Greek wind wafted these philosophical clouds from Athens to +Alexandria, a town prodigiously infatuated with two things--money and +chimeras. There were Jews in Alexandria who, having made their fortunes, +turned philosophers. + +Metaphysics have this advantage, that they require no very troublesome +preliminaries. We may know all about them without having learned +anything; and a little to those who have at once subtle and very false +minds, will go a great way. Philo the Jew was a philosopher of this +kind; he was contemporary with Jesus Christ; but he has the misfortune +of not knowing Him any more than Josephus the historian. These two +considerable men, employed in the chaos of affairs of state, were too +far distant from the dawning light. This Philo had quite a metaphysical, +allegorical, mystical head. It was he who said that God must have formed +the world in six days; he formed it, according to Zoroaster, in six +times, "because three is the half of six and two is the third of it; and +this number is male and female." + +This same man, infatuated with the ideas of Plato, says, in speaking of +drunkenness, that God and wisdom married, and that wisdom was delivered +of a well-beloved son, which son is the world. He calls the angels the +words of God, and the world the word of God--"_logon tou Theou_." + +As to Flavius Josephus, he was a man of war who had never heard of the +logos, and who held to the dogmas of the Pharisees, who were solely +attached to their traditions. From the Jews of Alexandria, this Platonic +philosophy proceeded to those of Jerusalem. Soon, all the school of +Alexandria, which was the only learned one, was Platonic; and Christians +who philosophized, no longer spoke of anything but the _logos_. + +We know that it was in disputes of that time the same as in those of the +present. To one badly understood passage, was tacked another +unintelligible one to which it had no relation. A second was inferred +from them, a third was falsified, and they fabricated whole books which +they attributed to authors respected by the multitude. We have seen a +hundred examples of it in the article on "Apocrypha." + +Dear reader, for heaven's sake cast your eyes on this passage of Clement +the Alexandrian: "When Plato says, that it is difficult to know the +Father of the universe, he demonstrates by that, not only that the world +has been engendered, but that it has been engendered as the Son of God." + +Do you understand these logomachies, these equivoques? Do you see the +least light in this chaos of obscure expressions? Oh, Locke! Locke! come +and define these terms. In all these Platonic disputes I believe there +was not a single one understood. They distinguished two words, the +"_logos endiathetos_"--the word in thought, and the word +produced--"_logos prophorikos._" They had the eternity from one word, +and the prolation, the emanation from another word. + +The book of "Apostolic Constitutions," an ancient monument of fraud, but +also an ancient depository of these obscure times, expresses itself +thus: "The Father, who is anterior to all generation, all commencement, +having created all by His only Son, has engendered this Son without a +medium, by His will and His power." + +Afterwards Origen advanced, that the Holy Spirit was created by the Son, +by the word. After that came Eusebius of Caesarea, who taught that the +spirit paraclete is neither of Father nor Son. The advocate Lactantius +flourished in that time. + +"The Son of God," says he, "is the word, as the other angels are the +spirits of God. The word is a spirit uttered by a significant voice, the +spirit proceeding from the nose, and the word from the mouth. It +follows, that there is a difference between the Son of God and the other +angels; those being emanated like tacit and silent spirits; while the +Son, being a spirit proceeding from the mouth, possesses sound and voice +to preach to the people." + +It must be confessed, that Lactantius pleaded his cause in a strange +manner. It was truly reasoning a la Plato, and very powerful reasoning. +It was about this time that, among the very violent disputes on the +Trinity, this famous verse was inserted in the First Epistle of St. +John: "There are three that bear witness in earth--the word or spirit, +the water, and the blood; and these three are one." + +Those who pretend that this verse is truly St. John's, are much more +embarrassed than those who deny it; for they must explain it. St. +Augustine says, that the spirit signifies the Father, water the Holy +Ghost, and by blood is meant the Word. This explanation is fine, but it +still leaves a little confusion. + +St Irenaeus goes much farther; he says, that Rahab, the prostitute of +Jericho, in concealing three spies of the people of God, concealed the +Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; which is strong, but not consistent. On the +other hand, the great and learned Origen confounds us in a different +way. The following is one of many of his passages: "The Son is as much +below the Father as He and the Holy Ghost are above the most noble +creatures." + +What can be said after that? How can we help confessing, with grief, +that nobody understands it? How can we help confessing, that from the +first--from the primitive Christians, the Ebionites, those men so +mortified and so pious, who always revered Jesus though they believed +Him to be the son of Joseph--until the great controversy of Athanasius, +the Platonism of the Trinity was always a subject of quarrels. A supreme +judge was absolutely required to decide, and he was at last found in +the Council of Nice, which council afterwards produced new factions and +wars. + +EXPLANATION OF THE TRINITY, ACCORDING TO ABAUZIT. + +"We can speak with exactness of the manner in which the union of God and +Jesus Christ exists, only by relating the three opinions which exist on +this subject, and by making reflections on each of them. + +"_Opinion of the Orthodox._ + +"The first opinion is that of the orthodox. They establish, 1st--A +distinction of three persons in the divine essence, before the coming of +Jesus Christ into the world; 2nd--That the second of these persons is +united to the human nature of Jesus Christ; 3rd--That the union is so +strict, that by it Jesus Christ is God; that we can attribute to Him the +creation of the world, and all divine perfections; and that we can adore +Him with a supreme worship. + +"_Opinion of the Unitarians._ + +"The second is that of the Unitarians. Not conceiving the distinction of +persons in the Divinity, they establish, 1st--That divinity is united to +the human nature of Jesus Christ; 2nd--That this union is such that we +can say, that Jesus Christ is God; that we can attribute to Him the +creation of the world, and all divine perfections, and adore Him with a +supreme worship. + +"_Opinion of the Socinians._ + +"The third opinion is that of the Socinians, who, like the Unitarians, +not conceiving any distinction of persons in the Divinity, establish, +1st--That divinity is united to the human nature of Jesus Christ; +2nd--That this union is very strict; 3rd--That it is not such that we +can call Jesus Christ God, or attribute divine perfections and the +creation to Him, or adore Him with a supreme worship; and they think +that all the passages of Scripture may be explained without admitting +any of these things. + +"_Reflections on the First Opinion._ + +"In the distinction which is made of three persons in the Divinity, we +either retain the common idea of persons, or we do not. If we retain the +common idea of persons, we establish three gods; that is certain. If we +do not establish the ordinary idea of three persons, it is no longer any +more than a distinction of properties; which agrees with the second +opinion. Or if we will not allow that it is a distinction of persons, +properly speaking, we establish a distinction of which we have no idea. +There is no appearance, that to imagine a distinction in God, of which +we can have no idea, Scripture would put men in danger of becoming +idolaters, by multiplying the Divinity. It is besides surprising that +this distinction of persons having always existed, it should only be +since the coming of Jesus Christ that it has been revealed, and that it +is necessary to know them. + +"_Reflections on the Second Opinion._ + +"There is not, indeed, so great danger of precipitating men into +idolatry in the second opinion as in the first; but it must be confessed +that it is not entirely exempt from it. Indeed, as by the nature of the +union which it establishes between divinity and the human nature of +Jesus Christ, we can call him God and worship him, but there are two +objects of adoration--Jesus Christ and God. I confess it may be said, +that it is God whom we should worship in Jesus Christ; but who knows not +the extreme inclination which men have to change invisible objects of +worship into objects which fall under the senses, or at least under the +imagination?--an inclination which they will here gratify without the +least scruple, since they say that divinity is personally united to the +humanity of Jesus Christ. + +"_Reflections on the Third Opinion._ + +"The third opinion, besides being very simple, and conformable to the +ideas of reason, is not subject to any similar danger of throwing men +into idolatry. Though by this opinion Jesus Christ can be no more than a +simple man, it need not be feared that by that He can be confounded with +prophets or saints of the first order. In this sentiment there always +remains a difference between them and Him. As we can imagine, almost to +the utmost, the degrees of union of divinity with humanity, so we can +conceive, that in particular the union of divinity with Jesus Christ +has so high a degree of knowledge, power, felicity, perfection, and +dignity, that there is always an immense distance between him and the +greatest prophets. It remains only to see whether this opinion can agree +with Scripture, and whether it be true that the title of God, divine +perfections, creation, and supreme worship, are not attributed to Jesus +Christ in the Gospels." + +It was for the philosopher Abauzit to see all this. For myself I submit, +with my heart and mouth and pen, to all that the Catholic church has +decided, and to all that it may decide on any other such dogma. I will +add but one word more on the Trinity, which is a decision of Calvin's +that we have on this mystery. This is it: + +"In case any person prove heterodox, and scruples using the words +Trinity and Person, we believe not that this can be a reason for +rejecting him; we should support him without driving him from the +Church, and without exposing him to any censure as a heretic." + +It was after such a solemn declaration as this, that John Calvin--the +aforesaid Calvin, the son of a cooper of Noyon--caused Michael Servetus +to be burned at Geneva by a slow fire with green fagots. + + + + +TRUTH. + + +"Pilate therefore said unto him, 'Art thou a king then?' Jesus answered, +'Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this +cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto truth: +every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.' Pilate saith unto him, +'What is truth?' and when he had said this, he went out," etc.--St. +John, chap. xviii. + +It is a pity for mankind that Pilate went out, without hearing the +reply: we should then have known what truth is. Pilate was not very +curious. The accused, brought before him, told him that he was a king, +that he was born to be a king, and he informs himself not how this can +be. He was supreme judge in the name of Caesar, he had the power of the +sword, his duty was to penetrate into the meaning of these words. He +should have said: Tell me what you understand by being king? how are you +born to be king, and to bear witness unto the truth? It is said that you +can only arrive at the ear of kings with difficulty; I, who am a judge, +have always had extreme trouble in reaching it. Inform me, while your +enemies cry outside against you; and you will render me the greatest +service ever rendered to a judge. I would rather learn to know the +truth, than condescend to the tumultuous demand of the Jews, who wish me +to hang you. + +We doubtless dare not pretend to guess what the Author of all truth +would have said to Pilate. Would he have said: "Truth is an abstract +word which most men use indifferently in their books and judgments, for +error and falsehood"? This definition would be wonderfully convenient to +all makers of systems. Thus the word wisdom is often taken for folly, +and wit for nonsense. Humanly speaking, let us define truth, to better +understand that which is declared--such as it is. + +Suppose that six months only had been taken to teach Pilate the truths +of logic he would doubtless have made this concluding syllogism: A man's +life should not have been taken away who has only preached a good +doctrine; now he who is brought before me, according even to his +enemies, has often preached an excellent doctrine; therefore, he should +not be punished with death. + +He might also have inferred this other argument: My duty is to dissipate +the riots of a seditious people, who demand the death of a man without +reason or juridical form; now such are the Jews on this occasion; +therefore I should send them away, and break up their assembly. We take +for granted that Pilate knew arithmetic; we will not therefore speak of +these kinds of truths. + +As to mathematical truths, I believe that he would have required three +years at least before he would have been acquainted with transcendent +geometry. The truths of physics, combined with those of geometry, would +have required more than four years. We generally consume six years in +studying theology; I ask twelve for Pilate, considering that he was a +Pagan, and that six years would not have been too many to root out all +his old errors, and six more to put him in a state worthy to receive +the bonnet of a doctor. If Pilate had a well organized head, I would +only have demanded two years to teach him metaphysical truths, and as +these truths are necessarily united with those of morality, I flatter +myself that in less than nine years Pilate would have become a truly +learned and perfectly honest man. + +_Historical Truths._ + +I should afterwards have said to Pilate: Historical truths are but +probabilities. If you have fought at the battle of Philippi, it is to +you a truth, which you know by intuition, by sentiment; but to us who +live near the desert of Syria, it is merely a probable thing, which we +know by hearsay. How can we, from report, form a persuasion equal to +that of a man, who having seen the thing, can boast of feeling a kind of +certainty? + +He who has heard the thing told by twelve thousand ocular witnesses, has +only twelve thousand probabilities equal to one strong one, which is not +equal to certainty. If you have the thing from only one of these +witnesses, you are sure of nothing--you must doubt. If the witness is +dead, you must doubt still more, for you can enlighten yourself no +further. If from several deceased witnesses, you are in the same state. +If from those to whom the witnesses have only spoken, the doubt is still +augmented. From generation to generation the doubt augments, and the +probability diminishes, and the probability is soon reduced to zero. + +_Of the Degrees of Truth, According to Which the Accused are Judged._ + +We can be made accountable to justice either for deeds or words. If for +deeds, they must be as certain as will be the punishment to which you +will condemn the prisoner; if, for example, you have but twenty +probabilities against him, these twenty probabilities cannot equal the +certainty of his death. If you would have as many probabilities as are +required to be sure that you shed not innocent blood, they must be the +fruit of the unanimous evidences of witnesses who have no interest in +deposing. From this concourse of probabilities, a strong opinion will be +formed, which will serve to excuse your judgment; but as you will never +have entire certainty, you cannot flatter yourself with knowing the +truth perfectly. Consequently you should always lean towards mercy +rather than towards rigor. If it concerns only facts, from which neither +manslaughter nor mutilation have resulted, it is evident that you should +neither cause the accused to be put to death nor mutilated. + +If the question is only of words, it is still more evident that you +should not cause one of your fellow-creatures to be hanged for the +manner in which he has used his tongue; for all the words in the world +being but agitated air, at least if they have not caused murder, it is +ridiculous to condemn a man to death for having agitated the air. Put +all the idle words which have been uttered into one scale, and into the +other the blood of a man, and the blood will weigh down. Now, if he who +has been brought before you is only accused of some words which his +enemies have taken in a certain sense, all that you can do is to repeat +these words to him, which he will explain in the sense he intended; but +to deliver an innocent man to the most cruel and ignominious punishment, +for words that his enemies do not comprehend, is too barbarous. You make +the life of a man of no more importance than that of a lizard; and too +many judges resemble you. + + + + +TYRANNY. + + +The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice; who +takes the property of his subjects, and afterwards enlists them to go +and take that of his neighbors. We have none of these tyrants in Europe. +We distinguish the tyranny of one and that of many. The tyranny of +several is that of a body which would invade the rights of other bodies, +and which would exercise despotism by favor of laws which it corrupts. +Neither are there any tyrannies of this kind in Europe. + +Under what tyranny should you like best to live? Under none; but if I +must choose, I should less detest the tyranny of a single one, than that +of many. A despot has always some good moments; an assemblage of +despots, never. If a tyrant does me an injustice, I can disarm him +through his mistress, his confessor, or his page; but a company of +tyrants is inaccessible to all seductions. When they are not unjust, +they are harsh, and they never dispense favors. If I have but one +despot, I am at liberty to set myself against a wall when I see him +pass, to prostrate myself, or to strike my forehead against the ground, +according to the custom of the country; but if there is a company of a +hundred tyrants, I am liable to repeat this ceremony a hundred times a +day, which is very tiresome to those who have not supple joints. If I +have a farm in the neighborhood of one of our lords, I am crushed; if I +complain against a relative of the relatives of any one of our lords, I +am ruined. How must I act? I fear that in this world we are reduced to +being either the anvil or the hammer; happy at least is he who escapes +this alternative. + + + + +TYRANT. + + +"Tyrannos," formerly "he who had contrived to draw the principal +authority to himself"; as "king," "Basileus," signified "he who was +charged with relating affairs to the senate." The acceptations of words +change with time. "Idiot" at first meant only a hermit, an isolated man; +in time it became synonymous with fool. At present the name of "tyrant" +is given to a usurper, or to a king who commits violent and unjust +actions. + +Cromwell was a tyrant of both these kinds. A citizen who usurps the +supreme authority, who in spite of all laws suppresses the house of +peers, is without doubt a usurper. A general who cuts the throat of a +king, his prisoner of war, at once violates what is called the laws of +nations, and those of humanity. + +Charles I. was not a tyrant, though the victorious faction gave him that +name; he was, it is said, obstinate, weak, and ill-advised. I will not +be certain, for I did not know him; but I am certain that he was very +unfortunate. + +Henry VIII. was a tyrant in his government as in his family, and alike +covered with the blood of two innocent wives, and that of the most +virtuous citizens; he merits the execrations of posterity. Yet he was +not punished, and Charles I. died on a scaffold. + +Elizabeth committed an act of tyranny, and her parliament one of +infamous weakness, in causing Queen Mary Stuart to be assassinated by an +executioner; but in the rest of her government she was not tyrannical; +she was clever and manoeuvering, but prudent and strong. + +Richard III. was a barbarous tyrant; but he was punished. Pope Alexander +VI. was a more execrable tyrant than any of these, and he was fortunate +in all his undertakings. Christian II. was as wicked a tyrant as +Alexander VI., and was punished, but not sufficiently so. + +If we were to reckon Turkish, Greek, and Roman tyrants, we should find +as many fortunate as the contrary. When I say fortunate, I speak +according to the vulgar prejudice, the ordinary acceptation of the +word, according to appearances; for that they can be really happy, that +their minds can be contented and tranquil, appears to me to be +impossible. + +Constantine the Great was evidently a tyrant in a double sense. In the +north of England he usurped the crown of the Roman Empire, at the head +of some foreign legions, notwithstanding all the laws, and in spite of +the senate and the people, who legitimately elected Maxentius. He passed +all his life in crime, voluptuousness, fraud, and imposture. He was not +punished, but was he happy? God knows; but I know that his subjects were +not so. + +The great Theodosius was the most abominable of tyrants, when, under +pretence of giving a feast, he caused fifteen thousand Roman citizens to +be murdered in the circus, with their wives and children, and when he +added to this horror the facetiousness of passing some months without +going to tire himself at high mass. This Theodosius has almost been +placed in the ranks of the blessed; but I should be very sorry if he +were happy on earth. In all cases it would be well to assure tyrants +that they will never be happy in this world, as it is well to make our +stewards and cooks believe that they will be eternally damned if they +rob us. + +The tyrants of the Lower Greek Empire were almost all dethroned or +assassinated by one another. All these great offenders were by turns the +executioners of human and divine vengeance. Among the Turkish tyrants, +we see as many deposed as those who die in possession of the throne. +With regard to subaltern tyrants, or the lower order of monsters who +burden their masters with the execration with which they are loaded, the +number of these Hamans, these Sejanuses, is infinite. + + + + +UNIVERSITY. + + +Du Boulay, in his "History of the University of Paris," adopts the old, +uncertain, not to say fabulous tradition, which carries its origin to +the time of Charlemagne. It is true that such is the opinion of Guagin +and of Gilles de Beauvais; but in addition to the fact that contemporary +authors, as Eginhard, Almon, Reginon, and Sigebert make no mention of +this establishment; Pasquier and Du Tillet expressly assert that it +commenced in the twelfth century under the reigns of Louis the Young and +of Philip Augustus. + +Moreover, the first statutes of the university were drawn up by Robert +de Coceon, legate of the pope, in the year 1215, which proves that it +received from the first the form it retains at present; because a bull +of Gregory IX., of the year 1231, makes mention of masters of theology, +masters of law, physicians, and lastly, artists. The name "university" +originated in the supposition that these four bodies, termed faculties, +constituted a universality of studies; that is to say, that they +comprehended all which could be cultivated. + +The popes, by the means of these establishments, of the decisions of +which they made themselves judges, became masters of the instruction of +the people; and the same spirit which made the permission granted to the +members of the Parliament of Paris to inter themselves in the habits of +Cordeliers, be regarded as an especial favor--as related in the article +on "Quete"--dictated the decrees pronounced by that sovereign court +against all who dared to oppose an unintelligible scholastic system, +which, according to the confession of the abbe Triteme, was only a false +science that had vitiated religion. In fact, that which Constantine had +only insinuated with respect to the Cumaean Sibyl, has been expressly +asserted of Aristotle. Cardinal Pallavicini supported the maxim of I +know not what monk Paul, who pleasantly observed, that without Aristotle +the Church would have been deficient in some of her articles of faith. + +Thus the celebrated Ramus, having composed two works in which he opposed +the doctrine of Aristotle taught in the universities, would have been +sacrificed to the fury of his ignorant rival, had not King Francis I. +referred to his own judgment the process commenced in Paris between +Ramus and Anthony Govea. One of the principal complaints against Ramus +related to the manner in which he taught his disciples to pronounce the +letter Q. + +Ramus was not the only disputant persecuted for these grave absurdities. +In the year 1624, the Parliament of Paris banished from its district +three persons who wished to maintain theses openly against Aristotle. +Every person was forbidden to sell or to circulate the propositions +contained in these theses, on pain of corporal punishment, or to teach +any opinion against ancient and approved authors, on pain of death. + +The remonstrances of the Sorbonne, in consequence of which the same +parliament issued a decision against the chemists, in the year 1629, +testified that it was impossible to impeach the principles of Aristotle, +without at the same time impeaching those of the scholastic theology +received by the Church. In the meantime, the faculty having issued, in +1566, a decree forbidding the use of antimony, and the parliament having +confirmed the said decree, Paumier de Caen, a great chemist and +celebrated physician of Paris, for not conforming to it, was degraded in +the year 1609. Lastly, antimony being afterwards inserted in the books +of medicines, composed by order of the faculty in the year 1637, the +said faculty permitted the use of it in 1666, a century after having +forbidden it, which decision the parliament confirmed by a new decree. +Thus the university followed the example of the Church, which finally +proscribed the doctrine of Arius, under pain of death, and approved the +word "consubstantial," which it had previously condemned--as we have +seen in the article on "Councils." + +What we have observed of the university of Paris, may serve to give us +an idea of other universities, of which it was regarded as the model. In +fact, in imitation of it, eighty universities passed the same decree as +the Sorbonne in the fourteenth century; to wit, that when the cap of a +doctor was bestowed, the candidate should be made to swear that he will +maintain the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary; which he did not +regard, however, as an article of faith, but as a Catholic and pious +opinion. + + + + +USAGES. + +_Contemptible Customs do not Always Imply a Contemptible Nation._ + +There are cases in which we must not judge of a nation by its usages and +popular superstitions. Suppose Caesar, after having conquered Egypt, +wishing to make commerce flourish in the Roman Empire, had sent an +embassy to China by the port of Arsinoe, the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. +The emperor Yventi, the first of the name, then reigned in China; the +Chinese annals represent him to us as a very wise and learned prince. +After receiving the ambassadors of Caesar with all Chinese politeness, he +secretly informs himself through his interpreter of the customs, the +usages, sciences, and religion of the Roman people, as celebrated in the +West as the Chinese people are in the East. He first learns that their +priests have regulated their years in so absurd a manner, that the sun +has already entered the celestial signs of Spring when the Romans +celebrate the first feasts of Winter. He learns that this nation at a +great expense supports a college of priests, who know exactly the time +in which they must embark, and when they should give battle, by the +inspection of a bullock's liver, or the manner in which fowls eat grain. +This sacred science was formerly taught to the Romans by a little god +named Tages, who came out of the earth in Tuscany. These people adore a +supreme and only God, whom they always call a very great and very good +God; yet they have built a temple to a courtesan named Flora, and the +good women of Rome have almost all little gods--Penates--in their +houses, about four or five inches high. One of these little divinities +is the goddess of bosoms, another that of posteriors. They have even a +divinity whom they call the god _Pet_. The emperor Yventi began to +laugh; and the tribunals of Nankin at first think with him that the +Roman ambassadors are knaves or impostors, who have taken the title of +envoys of the Roman Republic; but as the emperor is as just as he is +polite, he has particular conversations with them. He then learns that +the Roman priests were very ignorant, but that Caesar actually reformed +the calendar. They confess to him that the college of augurs was +established in the time of their early barbarity, that they have allowed +this ridiculous institution, become dear to a people long ignorant, to +exist, but that all sensible people laugh at the augurs; that Caesar +never consulted them; that, according to the account of a very great man +named Cato, no augur could ever look another in the face without +laughing; and finally, that Cicero, the greatest orator and best +philosopher of Rome, wrote a little work against the augurs, entitled +"Of Divination," in which he delivers up to eternal ridicule all the +predictions and sorceries of soothsayers with which the earth is +infatuated. The emperor of China has the curiosity to read this book of +Cicero; the interpreters translate it; and in consequence he admires at +once the book and the Roman Republic. + + + + +VAMPIRES. + + +What! is it in our eighteenth century that vampires exist? Is it after +the reigns of Locke, Shaftesbury, Trenchard, and Collins? Is it under +those of d'Alembert, Diderot, St. Lambert, and Duclos that we believe in +vampires, and that the reverend father Dom Calmet, Benedictine priest of +the congregation of St. Vannes, and St. Hidulphe, abbe of Senon--an +abbey of a hundred thousand livres a year, in the neighborhood of two +other abbeys of the same revenue--has printed and reprinted the history +of vampires, with the approbation of the Sorbonne, signed Marcilli? + +These vampires were corpses, who went out of their graves at night to +suck the blood of the living, either at their throats or stomachs, +after which they returned to their cemeteries. The persons so sucked +waned, grew pale, and fell into consumption; while the sucking corpses +grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed an excellent appetite. It was in Poland, +Hungary, Silesia, Moravia, Austria, and Lorraine, that the dead made +this good cheer. We never heard a word of vampires in London, nor even +at Paris. I confess that in both these cities there were stock-jobbers, +brokers, and men of business, who sucked the blood of the people in +broad daylight; but they were not dead, though corrupted. These true +suckers lived not in cemeteries, but in very agreeable palaces. + +Who would believe that we derive the idea of vampires from Greece? Not +from the Greece of Alexander, Aristotle, Plato, Epicurus, and +Demosthenes; but from Christian Greece, unfortunately schismatic. For a +long time Christians of the Greek rite have imagined that the bodies of +Christians of the Latin church, buried in Greece, do not decay, because +they are excommunicated. This is precisely the contrary to that of us +Christians of the Latin church, who believe that corpses which do not +corrupt are marked with the seal of eternal beatitude. So much so, +indeed, that when we have paid a hundred thousand crowns to Rome, to +give them a saint's brevet, we adore them with the worship of "_dulia_." + +The Greeks are persuaded that these dead are sorcerers; they call them +"_broucolacas_," or "_vroucolacas_," according as they pronounce the +second letter of the alphabet. The Greek corpses go into houses to suck +the blood of little children, to eat the supper of the fathers and +mothers, drink their wine, and break all the furniture. They can only be +put to rights by burning them when they are caught. But the precaution +must be taken of not putting them into the fire until after their hearts +are torn out, which must be burned separately. The celebrated +Tournefort, sent into the Levant by Louis XIV., as well as so many other +virtuosi, was witness of all the acts attributed to one of these +"_broucolacas_," and to this ceremony. + +After slander, nothing is communicated more promptly than superstition, +fanaticism, sorcery, and tales of those raised from the dead. There were +"_broucolacas_" in Wallachia, Moldavia, and some among the Polanders, +who are of the Romish church. This superstition being absent, they +acquired it, and it went through all the east of Germany. Nothing was +spoken of but vampires, from 1730 to 1735; they were laid in wait for, +their hearts torn out and burned. They resembled the ancient +martyrs--the more they were burned, the more they abounded. + +Finally, Calmet became their historian, and treated vampires as he +treated the Old and New Testaments, by relating faithfully all that has +been said before him. + +The most curious things, in my opinion, were the verbal suits +juridically conducted, concerning the dead who went from their tombs to +suck the little boys and girls of their neighborhood. Calmet relates +that in Hungary two officers, delegated by the emperor Charles VI., +assisted by the bailiff of the place and an executioner, held an inquest +on a vampire, who had been dead six weeks, and who had sucked all the +neighborhood. They found him in his coffin, fresh and jolly, with his +eyes open, and asking for food. The bailiff passed his sentence; the +executioner tore out the vampire's heart, and burned it, after which he +feasted no more. + +Who, after this, dares to doubt of the resuscitated dead, with which our +ancient legends are filled, and of all the miracles related by +Bollandus, and the sincere and revered Dom Ruinart? You will find +stories of vampires in the "Jewish Letters" of d'Argens, whom the Jesuit +authors of the "Journal of Trevoux" have accused of believing nothing. +It should be observed how they triumph in the history of the vampire of +Hungary; how they thanked God and the Virgin for having at last +converted this poor d'Argens, the chamberlain of a king who did not +believe in vampires. "Behold," said they, "this famous unbeliever, who +dared to throw doubts on the appearance of the angel to the Holy Virgin; +on the star which conducted the magi; on the cure of the possessed; on +the immersion of two thousand swine in a lake; on an eclipse of the sun +at the full moon; on the resurrection of the dead who walked in +Jerusalem--his heart is softened, his mind is enlightened; he believes +in vampires." + +There no longer remained any question, but to examine whether all these +dead were raised by their own virtue, by the power of God, or by that of +the devil. Several great theologians of Lorraine, of Moravia, and +Hungary, displayed their opinions and their science. They related all +that St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and so many other saints, had most +unintelligibly said on the living and the dead. They related all the +miracles of St. Stephen, which are found in the seventh book of the +works of St. Augustine. This is one of the most curious of them: In the +city of Aubzal in Africa, a young man was crushed to death by the ruins +of a wall; the widow immediately invoked St. Stephen, to whom she was +very much devoted. St. Stephen raised him. He was asked what he had seen +in the other world. "Sirs," said he, "when my soul quitted my body, it +met an infinity of souls, who asked it more questions about this world +than you do of the other. I went I know not whither, when I met St. +Stephen, who said to me, 'Give back that which thou hast received.' I +answered, 'What should I give back? you have given me nothing.' He +repeated three times, 'Give back that which thou hast received.' Then I +comprehended that he spoke of the credo; I repeated my credo to him, and +suddenly he raised me." Above all, they quoted the stories related by +Sulpicius Severus, in the life of St. Martin. They proved that St. +Martin, with some others, raised up a condemned soul. + +But all these stories, however true they might be, had nothing in common +with the vampires who rose to suck the blood of their neighbors, and +afterwards replaced themselves in their coffins. They looked if they +could not find in the Old Testament, or in the mythology, some vampire +whom they could quote as an example; but they found none. It was proved, +however, that the dead drank and ate, since in so many ancient nations +food was placed on their tombs. + +The difficulty was to know whether it was the soul or the body of the +dead which ate. It was decided that it was both. Delicate and +unsubstantial things, as sweetmeats, whipped cream, and melting fruits, +were for the soul, and roast beef and the like were for the body. + +The kings of Persia were, said they, the first who caused themselves to +be served with viands after their death. Almost all the kings of the +present day imitate them; but they are the monks who eat their dinner +and supper, and drink their wine. Thus, properly speaking, kings are not +vampires; the true vampires are the monks, who eat at the expense of +both kings and people. + +It is very true that St. Stanislaus, who had bought a considerable +estate from a Polish gentleman, and not paid him for it, being brought +before King Boleslaus by his heirs, raised up the gentleman; but this +was solely to get quittance. It is not said that he gave a single glass +of wine to the seller, who returned to the other world without having +eaten or drunk. They afterwards treated of the grand question, whether a +vampire could be absolved who died excommunicated, which comes more to +the point. + +I am not profound enough in theology to give my opinion on this subject; +but I would willingly be for absolution, because in all doubtful affairs +we should take the mildest part. "_Odia restringenda, favores +ampliandi_." + +The result of all this is that a great part of Europe has been infested +with vampires for five or six years, and that there are now no more; +that we have had Convulsionaries in France for twenty years, and that we +have them no longer; that we have had demoniacs for seventeen hundred +years, but have them no longer; that the dead have been raised ever +since the days of Hippolytus, but that they are raised no longer; and, +lastly, that we have had Jesuits in Spain, Portugal, France, and the two +Sicilies, but that we have them no longer. + + + + +VELETRI. + + +_A Small Town of Umbria, Nine Leagues from Rome; and, Incidentally, of +the Divinity of Augustus._ + +Those who love the study of history are glad to understand by what title +a citizen of Veletri governed an empire, which extended from Mount +Taurus to Mount Atlas, and from the Euphrates to the Western Ocean. It +was not as perpetual dictator; this title had been too fatal to Julius +Caesar, and Augustus bore it only eleven days. The fear of perishing like +his predecessor, and the counsels of Agrippa, induced him to take other +measures; he insensibly concentrated in his own person all the dignities +of the republic. Thirteen consulates, the tribunate renewed in his favor +every ten years, the name of prince of the senate, that of imperator, +which at first signified only the general of an army, but to which it +was known how to bestow a more extensive signification--such were the +titles which appeared to legitimate his power. + +The senate lost nothing by his honors, but preserved even its most +extensive rights. Augustus divided with it all the provinces of the +empire, but retained the principal for himself; finally, he was master +of the public treasury and the soldiery, and in fact sovereign. + +What is more strange, Julius Caesar having been enrolled among the gods +after his death, Augustus was ordained god while living. It is true he +was not altogether a god in Rome, but he was so in the provinces, where +he had temples and priests. The abbey of Ainai at Lyons was a fine +temple of Augustus. Horace says to him: "_Jurandasque tuum per nomen +ponimus aras._" That is to say, among the Romans existed courtiers so +finished as to have small altars in their houses dedicated to Augustus. +He was therefore _canonized_ during his life, and the name of +god--_divus_--became the title or nickname of all the succeeding +emperors. Caligula constituted himself a god without difficulty, and was +worshipped in the temple of Castor and Pollux; his statue was placed +between those of the twins, and they sacrificed to him peacocks, +pheasants, and Numidian fowls, until he ended by immolating himself. +Nero bore the name of god, before he was condemned by the senate to +suffer the punishment of a slave. + +We are not to imagine that the name of "god" signified, in regard to +these monsters, that which we understand by it; the blasphemy could not +be carried quite so far. "Divus" precisely answers to "sanctus." The +Augustan list of proscriptions and the filthy epigram against Fulvia, +are not the productions of a divinity. + +There were twelve conspiracies against this god, if we include the +pretended plot of Cinna; but none of them succeeded; and of all the +wretches who have usurped divine honors, Augustus was doubtless the most +unfortunate. It was he, indeed, who actually terminated the Roman +Republic; for Caesar was dictator only six months, and Augustus reigned +forty years. It was during his reign that manners changed with the +government. The armies, formerly composed of the Roman legions and +people of Italy, were in the end made up from all the barbarians, who +naturally enough placed emperors of their own country on the throne. + +In the third century they raised up thirty tyrants at one time, of whom +some were natives of Transylvania, others of Gaul, Britain, and Germany. +Diocletian was the son of a Dalmatian slave; Maximian Hercules, a +peasant of Sirmik; and Theodosius, a native of Spain--not then +civilized. + +We know how the Roman Empire was finally destroyed; how the Turks have +subjugated one half, and how the name of the other still subsists among +the Marcomans on the shores of the Danube. The most singular of all its +revolutions, however, and the most astonishing of all spectacles, is the +manner in which its capital is governed and inhabited at this moment. + + + + +VENALITY. + + +The forger of whom we have spoken so much, who made the testament of +Cardinal Richelieu, says in chapter iv.: "That it would be much better +to allow venality and the '_droit annuel_' to continue to exist, than to +abolish these two establishments, which are not to be changed suddenly +without shaking the state." + +All France repeated, and believed they repeated after Cardinal +Richelieu, that the sale of offices of judicature was very advantageous. +The abbe de St. Pierre was the first who, still believing that the +pretended testament was the cardinal's, dared to say in his observation +on chapter iv.: "The cardinal engaged himself on a bad subject, in +maintaining that the sale of places can be advantageous to the state. It +is true that it is not possible to otherwise reimburse all the charges." + +Thus this abuse appeared to everybody, not only unreformable, but +useful. They were so accustomed to this opprobrium that they did not +feel it; it seemed eternal; yet a single man in a few months has +overthrown it. Let us therefore repeat, that all may be done, all may be +corrected; that the great fault of almost all who govern, is having but +half wills and half means. If Peter the Great had not willed strongly, +two thousand leagues of country would still be barbarous. + +How can we give water in Paris to thirty thousand houses which want it? +How can we pay the debts of the state? How can we throw off the dreaded +tyranny of a foreign power, which is not a power, and to which we pay +the first fruits as a tribute? Dare to wish it, and you will arrive at +your object more easily than you extirpated the Jesuits, and purged the +theatre of _petits-maitres_. + + + + +VENICE. + + +_And, Incidentally, of Liberty._ + +No power can reproach the Venetians with having acquired their liberty +by revolt; none can say to them, I have freed you--here is the diploma +of your manumission. + +They have not usurped their rights, as Caesar usurped empire, or as so +many bishops, commencing with that of Rome, have usurped royal rights. +They are lords of Venice--if we dare use the audacious comparison--as +God is Lord of the earth, because He founded it. + +Attila, who never took the title of the scourge of God, ravaged Italy. +He had as much right to do so, as Charlemagne the Austrasian, Arnold the +Corinthian Bastard, Guy, duke of Spoleto, Berenger, marquis of Friuli, +or the bishops who wished to make themselves sovereigns of it. + +In this time of military and ecclesiastical robberies, Attila passed as +a vulture, and the Venetians saved themselves in the sea as kingfishers, +which none assist or protect; they make their nest in the midst of the +waters, they enlarge it, they people it, they defend it, they enrich it. +I ask if it is possible to imagine a more just possession? Our father +Adam, who is supposed to have lived in that fine country of Mesopotamia, +was not more justly lord and gardener of terrestrial paradise. + +I have read the "_Squittinio della liberta di Venezia_," and I am +indignant at it. What! Venice could not be originally free, because the +Greek emperors, superstitious, weak, wicked, and barbarous, said--This +new town has been built on our ancient territory; and because a German, +having the title of Emperor of the West, says: This town being in the +West, is of our domain? + +It seems to me like a flying-fish, pursued at once by a falcon and a +shark, but which escapes both. Sannazarius was very right in saying, in +comparing Rome and Venice: _"Illam homines dices, hanc posuisse deos."_ +Rome lost, by Caesar, at the end of five hundred years, its liberty +acquired by Brutus. Venice has preserved hers for eleven centuries, and +I hope she will always do so. + +Genoa! why dost thou boast of showing the grant of a Berenger, who gave +thee privileges in the year 958? We know that concessions of privileges +are but titles of servitude. And this is a fine title! the charter of a +passing tyrant, who was never properly acknowledged in Italy, and who +was driven from it two years after the date of the charter! + +The true charter of liberty is independence, maintained by force. It is +with the point of the sword that diplomas should be signed securing this +natural prerogative. Thou hast lost, more than once, thy privilege and +thy strong box, since 1748: it is necessary to take care of both. Happy +Helvetia! to what charter owest thou thy liberty? To thy courage, thy +firmness, and thy mountains. But I am thy emperor. But I will have thee +be so no longer. Thy fathers have been the slaves of my fathers. It is +for that reason that their children will not serve thee. But I have the +right attached to my dignity. And we have the right of nature. + +When had the Seven United Provinces this incontestable right? At the +moment in which they were united; and from that time Philip II. was the +rebel. What a great man was William, prince of Orange: he found them +slaves, and he made them free men! Why is liberty so rare? Because it is +the first of blessings. + + + + +VERSE. + + +It is easy to write in prose, but very difficult to be a poet. More than +one "_prosateur_" has affected to despise poetry; in reference to which +propensity, we may call to mind the bon-mot of Montaigne: "We cannot +attain to poetry; let us revenge ourselves by abusing it." + +We have already remarked, that Montesquieu, being unable to succeed in +verse, professed, in his "Persian Letters," to discover no merit in +Virgil or Horace. The eloquent Bossuet endeavored to make verses, but +they were detestable; he took care, however, not to declaim against +great poets. + +Fenelon scarcely made better verses than Bossuet, but knew by heart all +the fine poetry of antiquity. His mind was full of it, and he +continually quotes it in his letters. + +It appears to me, that there never existed a truly eloquent man who did +not love poetry. I will simply cite, for example, Caesar and Cicero; the +one composed a tragedy on Oedipus, and we have pieces of poetry by the +latter which might pass among the best that preceded Lucretius, Virgil, +and Horace. + +A certain Abbe Trublet has printed, that he cannot read a poem at once +from beginning to end. Indeed, Air. Abbe! but what can we read, what can +we understand, what can we do, for a long time together, any more than +poetry? + + + + +VIANDS. + + +_Forbidden Viands, Dangerous Viands.--A short Examination of Jewish and +Christian Precepts, and of those of the Ancient Philosophers._ + + +"Viand" comes no doubt from "_victus_"--that which nourishes and +sustains life: from victus was formed _viventia_; from _viventa_, +"viand." This word should be applied to all that is eaten, but by the +caprice of all languages, the custom has prevailed of refusing this +denomination to bread, milk, rice, pulses, fruits, and fish, and of +giving it only to terrestrial animals. This seems contrary to reason, +but it is the fancy of all languages, and of those who formed them. + +Some of the first Christians made a scruple of eating that which had +been offered to the gods, of whatever nature it might be. St. Paul +approved not of this scruple. He writes to the Corinthians: "Meat +commendeth us not to God: for neither if we eat are we the better; +neither if we eat not, are we the worse." He merely exhorts them not to +eat viands immolated to the gods, before those brothers who might be +scandalized at it. We see not, after that, why he so ill-treats St. +Peter, and reproaches him with having eaten forbidden viands with the +Gentiles. We see elsewhere, in the Acts of the Apostles, that Simon +Peter was authorized to eat of all indifferently; for he one day saw the +firmament open, and a great sheet descending by the four corners from +heaven to earth; it was covered with all kinds of four-footed beasts, +with all kinds of birds and reptiles--or animals which swim--and a voice +cried to him: "Kill and eat." + +You will remark, that Lent and fast-days were not then instituted. +Nothing is ever done, except by degrees. We can here say, for the +consolation of the weak, that the quarrel of St. Peter and St. Paul +should not alarm us: saints are men. Paul commenced by being the jailer, +and even the executioner, of the disciples of Jesus; Peter had denied +Jesus; and we have seen that the dawning, suffering, militant, +triumphant church has always been divided, from the Ebionites to the +Jesuits. + +I think that the Brahmins, so anterior to the Jews, might well have been +divided also; but they were the first who imposed on themselves the law +of not eating any animal. As they believed that souls passed and +repassed from human bodies to those of beasts, they would not eat their +relatives. Perhaps their best reason was the fear of accustoming men to +carnage, and inspiring them with ferocious manners. + +We know that Pythagoras, who studied geometry and morals among them, +embraced this humane doctrine, and brought it into Italy. His disciples +followed it a very long time: the celebrated philosophers, Plotinus, +Jamblicus, and Porphyry, recommended and even practised it--though it is +very rare to practise what is preached. The work of Porphyry on +abstinence from meat, written in the middle of our third century, and +very well translated into our language by M. de Burigni, is very much +esteemed by the learned; but it has not made more disciples among us +than the book of the physician Hequet. It is in vain that Porphyry +proposes, as models, the Brahmins and Persian magi of the first class, +who had a horror of the custom of burying the entrails of other +creatures in our own; he is not now followed by the fathers of La +Trappe. The work of Porphyry is addressed to one of his ancient +disciples, named Firmus, who, it is said, turned Christian, to have the +liberty of eating meat and drinking wine. + +He shows Firmus, that in abstaining from meat and strong liquors, we +preserve the health of the soul and body; that we live longer, and more +innocently. All his reflections are those of a scrupulous theologian, of +a rigid philosopher, and of a mild and sensible mind. We might think, in +reading his work, that this great enemy of the church was one of its +fathers. + +He speaks not of metempsychosis, but he regards animals as our brethren, +because they are animated like ourselves; they have the same principles +of life; they have, as well as ourselves, ideas, sentiment, memory, and +industry. They want but speech; if they had it, should we dare to kill +and eat them; should we dare to commit these fratricides? Where is the +barbarian who would roast a lamb, if it conjured him by an affecting +speech not to become at once an assassin, an anthropophagus? + +This book proves, at least, that among the Gentiles there were +philosophers of the most austere virtue; but they could not prevail +against butchers and gluttons. It is to be remarked, that Porphyry makes +a very fine eulogium on the Essenians: he is filled with veneration for +them, although they sometimes eat meat. He was for whoever was the most +virtuous, whether Essenians, Pythagoreans, Stoics, or Christians. When +sects are formed of a small number, their manners are pure; and they +degenerate in proportion as they become powerful. Lust, gaming, and +luxury then prevail, and all the virtues fly away: + + La gola, il dado e l'otiose piume + Hanno dal' mondo ogni virtu sbandita. + + + + +VIRTUE. + + +SECTION I. + +It is said of Marcus Brutus, that before killing himself, he pronounced +these words: "Oh, Virtue! I believed that thou wert something, but thou +art only a vile phantom!" + +Thou wast right, Brutus, if thou madest virtue consist in being the +chief of a party, and the assassin of thy benefactor, of thy father, +Julius Caesar. Hadst thou made virtue to consist only in doing good to +those who depended on thee, thou wouldst not have called it a phantom, +or have killed thyself in despair. + +I am very virtuous, says a miserable excrement of theology. I possess +the four cardinal virtues, and the three theological ones. An honest man +asks him: What are the cardinal virtues? The other answers: They are +fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice. + +HONEST MAN. + +If thou art just, thou hast said all. Thy fortitude, prudence, and +temperance are useful qualities: if thou possessest them, so much the +better for thee; but if thou art just, so much the better for others. It +is not sufficient to be just, thou shouldst be beneficent; this is being +truly cardinal. And thy theological virtues, what are they? + +THEOLOGIAN. + +Faith, hope, and charity. + +HONEST MAN. + +Is there virtue in believing? If that which thou believest seems to thee +to be true, there is no merit in believing it; if it seems to thee to be +false, it is impossible for thee to believe it. + +Hope should no more be a virtue than fear; we fear and we hope, +according to what is promised or threatened us. As to charity, is it not +that which the Greeks and Romans understood by humanity--love of your +neighbor? This love is nothing, if it does not act; beneficence is +therefore the only true virtue. + +THEOLOGIAN. + +What a fool! Yes, truly, I shall trouble myself to serve men, if I get +nothing in return! Every trouble merits payment. I pretend to do no good +action, except to insure myself paradise. + + _Quis enim virtutem amplectitur, ipsam_ + _Proemia si tolias? + _--JUVENAL, _sat._ x. + + For, if the gain you take away, + To virtue who will homage pay! + +HONEST MAN. + +Ah, good sir, that is to say, that if you did not hope for paradise, or +fear hell, you would never do a good action. You quote me lines from +Juvenal, to prove to me that you have only your interest in view. Racine +could at least show you, that even in this world we might find our +recompense, while waiting for a better: + + _Quel plaisir de penser, et de dire en vous-meme,_ + _Partout en ce moment on me benit, on m'aime!_ + _On ne voit point le peuple a mon nom s'alarmer;_ + _Le ciel dans tous leurs pleurs ne m'entend point nommer,_ + _Leur sombre inimitie ne fuit point mon visage;_ + _Je vois voter partout les coeurs a mon passage._ + _Tels etaient vos plaisirs._ + --RACINE, _Britannicus_, act iv, sc. ii. + + How great his pleasure who can justly say, + All at this moment either bless or love me; + The people at my name betray no fear, + Nor in their plaints does heaven e'er hear of me! + Their enmity ne'er makes them fly my presence, + But every heart springs out at my approach! + Such were your pleasures! + +Believe me, doctor, there are two things which deserve to be loved for +themselves--God and Virtue. + +THEOLOGIAN. + +Ah, sir! you are a Fenelonist. + +HONEST MAN. + +Yes, doctor. + +THEOLOGIAN. + +I will inform against you at the tribunal of Meaux. + +HONEST MAN. + +Go, and inform! + + +SECTION II. + +What is virtue? Beneficence towards your neighbor. Can I call virtue +anything but that which does good! I am indigent, thou art liberal. I am +in danger, thou succorest me. I am deceived, thou tellest me the truth. +I am neglected, thou consolest me. I am ignorant, thou teachest me. I +can easily call thee virtuous, but what will become of the cardinal and +theological virtues? Some will remain in the schools. + +What signifies it to me whether thou art temperate? It is a precept of +health which thou observest; thou art the better for it; I congratulate +thee on it. Thou hast faith and hope; I congratulate thee still more; +they will procure thee eternal life. Thy theological virtues are +celestial gifts; thy cardinal ones are excellent qualities, which serve +to guide thee; but they are not virtues in relation to thy neighbor. +The prudent man does himself good; the virtuous one does it to other +men. St. Paul was right in telling thee, that charity ranks above faith +and hope. + +But how! wilt thou admit of no other virtues than those which are useful +to thy neighbor? How can I admit any others? We live in society; there +is therefore nothing truly good for us but that which does good to +society. An hermit will be sober, pious, and dressed in sackcloth: very +well; he will be holy; but I will not call him virtuous until he shall +have done some act of virtue by which men may have profited. While he is +alone, he is neither beneficent nor the contrary; he is nobody to us. If +St. Bruno had made peace in families, if he had assisted the indigent, +he had been virtuous; having fasted and prayed in solitude, he is only a +saint. Virtue between men is a commerce of good actions: he who has no +part in this commerce, must not be reckoned. If this saint were in the +world, he would doubtless do good, but while he is not in the world, we +have no reason to give him the name of virtuous: he will be good for +himself, and not for us. + +But, say you, if an hermit is gluttonous, drunken, given up to a secret +debauch with himself, he is vicious; he is therefore virtuous, if he has +the contrary qualities. I cannot agree to this: he is a very vile man, +if he has the faults of which you speak; but he is not vicious, wicked, +or punishable by society, to which his infamies do no harm. It may be +presumed, that if he re-enters society, he will do evil to it; he then +will be very vicious; and it is even more probable that he will be a +wicked man, than it is certain that the other temperate and chaste +hermit will be a good man; for in society faults augment, and good +qualities diminish. + +A much stronger objection is made to me: Nero, Pope Alexander VI., and +other monsters of the kind, have performed good actions. I reply boldly, +that they were virtuous at the time. Some theologians say, that the +divine Emperor Antoninus was not virtuous; that he was an infatuated +Stoic, who, not content with commanding men, would further be esteemed +by them; that he gave himself credit for the good which he did to +mankind; that he was all his life just, laborious, beneficent, through +vanity; and that he only deceived men by his virtues. To which I +exclaim: My God! often send us such knaves! + + + + +VISION. + + +When I speak of vision, I do not mean the admirable manner in which our +eyes perceive objects, and in which the pictures of all that we see are +painted on the retina--a divine picture designed according to all the +laws of mathematics, which is, consequently, like everything else from +the hand of the Eternal geometrician; in spite of those who explain it, +and who pretend to believe, that the eye is not intended to see, the +ear to hear, or the feet to walk. This matter has been so learnedly +treated by so many great geniuses, that there is no further remnant to +glean after their harvests. + +I do not pretend to speak of the heresy of which Pope John XXII. was +accused, who pretended that saints will not enjoy beatific vision until +after the last judgment. I give up this vision. My subject is the +innumerable multitude of visions with which so many holy personages have +been favored or tormented; which so many idiots are believed to have +seen; with which so many knavish men and women have duped the world, +either to get the reputation of being favored by heaven, which is very +flattering, or to gain money, which is still more so to rogues in +general. + +Calmet and Langlet have made ample collections of these visions. The +most interesting in my opinion is the one which has produced the +greatest effects, since it has tended to reform three parts of the +Swiss--that of the young Jacobin Yetzer, with which I have already +amused my dear reader. This Yetzer, as you know, saw the Holy Virgin and +St. Barbara several times, who informed him of the marks of Jesus +Christ. You are not ignorant of how he received, from a Jacobin +confessor, a host powdered with arsenic, and how the bishop of Lausanne +would have had him burned for complaining that he was poisoned. You have +seen, that these abominations were one of the causes of the misfortune +which happened to the Bernese, of ceasing to be Catholic, +Apostolical, and Roman. + +[Illustration: The Vision.] + +I am sorry that I have no visions of this consequence to tell you of. +Yet you will confess, that the vision of the reverend father Cordeliers +of Orleans, in 1534, approaches the nearest to it, though still very +distant. The criminal process which it occasioned is still in manuscript +in the library of the king of France, No. 1770. + +The illustrious house of St. Memin did great good to the convent of the +Cordeliers, and had their vault in the church. The wife of a lord of St. +Memin, provost of Orleans, being dead, her husband, believing that his +ancestors had sufficiently impoverished themselves by giving to the +monks, gave the brothers a present which did not appear to them +considerable enough. These good Franciscans conceived a plan for +disinterring the deceased, to force the widower to have her buried again +in their holy ground, and to pay them better. The project was not +clever, for the lord of St. Memin would not have failed to bury her +elsewhere. But folly often mixes with knavery. + +At first, the soul of the lady of St. Memin appeared only to two +brothers. She said to them: "I am damned, like Judas, because my husband +has not given sufficient." The two knaves who related these words +perceived not, that they must do more harm to the convent than good. The +aim of the convent was to extort money from the lord of St. Memin, for +the repose of his wife's soul. Now, if Madame de St. Memin was damned, +all the money in the world could not save her. They got no more; the +Cordeliers lost their labor. + +At this time there was very little good sense in France: the nation had +been brutalized by the invasion of the Franks, and afterwards by the +invasion of scholastic theology; but in Orleans there were some persons +who reasoned. If the Great Being permitted the soul of Madame de St. +Memin to appear to two Franciscans, it was not natural, they thought, +for this soul to declare itself damned like Judas. This comparison +appeared to them to be unnatural. This lady had not sold our Lord Jesus +Christ for thirty deniers; she was not hanged; her intestines had not +obtruded themselves; and there was not the slightest pretext for +comparing her to Judas. + +This caused suspicion; and the rumor was still greater in Orleans, +because there were already heretics there who believed not in certain +visions, and who, in admitting absurd principles, did not always fail to +draw good conclusions. The Cordeliers, therefore, changed their battery, +and put the lady in purgatory. + +She therefore appeared again, and declared that purgatory was her lot; +but she demanded to be disinterred. It was not the custom to disinter +those in purgatory; but they hoped that M. de St. Memin would prevent +this extraordinary affront, by giving money. This demand of being +thrown out of the church augmented the suspicions. It was well known, +that souls often appeared, but they never demanded to be disinterred. + +From this time the soul spoke no more, but it haunted everybody in the +convent and church. The brother Cordeliers exorcised it. Brother Peter +of Arras adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring it. He said to it: +"If thou art the soul of the late Madame de St. Memin, strike four +knocks;" and the four knocks were struck. "If thou are damned, strike +six knocks;" and the six knocks were struck. "If thou art still +tormented in hell, because thy body is buried in holy ground, knock six +more times;" and the other six knocks were heard still more distinctly. +"If we disinter thy body, and cease praying to God for thee, wilt thou +be the less damned? Strike five knocks to certify it to us;" and the +soul certified it by five knocks. + +This interrogation of the soul, made by Peter of Arras, was signed by +twenty-two Cordeliers, at the head of which was the reverend father +provincial. This father provincial the next day asked it the same +questions, and received the same answers. + +It will be said, that the soul having declared that it was in purgatory, +the Cordeliers should not have supposed that it was in hell; but it is +not my fault if theologians contradict one another. + +The lord of St. Memin presented a request to the king against the father +Cordeliers. They presented a request on their sides; the king appointed +judges, at the head of whom was Adrian Fumee, master of requests. + +The procureur-general of the commission required that the said +Cordeliers should be burned, but the sentence only condemned them to +make the "amende honorable" with a torch in their bosom, and to be +banished from the kingdom. This sentence is of February 18, 1535. + +After such a vision, it is useless to relate any others: they are all a +species either of knavery or folly. Visions of the first kind are under +the province of justice; those of the second are either visions of +diseased fools, or of fools in good health. The first belong to +medicine, the second to Bedlam. + + + + +VISION OF CONSTANTINE. + + +Grave theologians have not failed to allege a specious reason to +maintain the truth of the appearance of the cross in heaven; but we are +going to show that these arguments are not sufficiently convincing to +exclude doubt; the evidences which they quote being neither persuasive +nor according with one another. + +First, they produce no witnesses but Christians, the deposition of whom +may be suspected in the treatment of a fact which tended to prove the +divinity of their religion. How is it that no Pagan author has made +mention of this miracle, which was seen equally by all the army of +Constantine? That Zosimus, who seems to have endeavored to diminish the +glory of Constantine, has said nothing of it, is not surprising; but the +silence appears very strange in the author of the panegyric of +Constantine, pronounced in his presence at Trier; in which oration the +panegyrist expresses himself in magnificent terms on all the war against +Maxentius, whom this emperor had conquered. + +Another orator, who, in his panegyric, treats so eloquently of the war +against Maxentius, of the clemency which Constantine showed after the +victory, and of the deliverance of Rome, says not a word on this +apparition; while he assures us, that celestial armies were seen by all +the Gauls, which armies, it was pretended, were sent to aid Constantine. + +This surprising vision has not only been unknown to Pagan authors, but +to three Christian writers, who had the finest occasion to speak of +them. Optatianus Porphyrius mentions more than once the monogram of +Christ, which he calls the celestial sign, in the panegyric of +Constantine which he wrote in Latin verse, but not a word on the +appearance of the cross in the sky. + +Lactantius says nothing of it in his treatise on the "Death of +Persecutors," which he composed towards the year 314, two years after +the vision of which we speak; yet he must have been perfectly informed +of all that regards Constantine, having been tutor to Crispus, the son +of this prince. He merely relates, that Constantine was commanded, in a +dream, to put the divine image of the cross on the bucklers of his +soldiers, and to give up war: but in relating a dream, the truth of +which had no other support than the evidence of the emperor, he passes, +in silence over a prodigy to which all the army were witnesses. + +Further, Eusebius of Caesarea himself, who has given the example to all +other Christian historians on the subject, speaks not of this wonder, in +the whole course of his "Ecclesiastical History," though he enlarges +much on the exploits of Constantine against Maxentius. It is only in his +life of this emperor that he expresses himself in these terms: +"Constantine resolved to adore the god of Constantius; his father +implored the protection of this god against Maxentius. Whilst he was +praying, he had a wonderful vision, which would appear incredible, if +related by another; but since the victorious emperor has himself related +it to us, who wrote this history; and that, after having been long known +to this prince, and enjoying a share in his good graces, the emperor +confirming what he said by oath--who could doubt it? particularly since +the event has confirmed the truth of it. + +"He affirmed, that in the afternoon, when the sun set, he saw a luminous +cross above it, with this inscription in Greek--'By this sign, conquer:' +that this appearance astonished him extremely, as well as all the +soldiers who followed him, who were witnesses of the miracle; that while +his mind was fully occupied with this vision, and he sought to penetrate +the sense of it, the night being come, Jesus Christ appeared to him +during his sleep, with the same sign which He had shown to him in the +air in the day-time, and commanded him to make a standard of the same +form, and to bear it in his battles, to secure him from danger. +Constantine, rising at break of day, related to his friends the vision +which he had beheld; and, sending for goldsmiths and lapidaries, he sat +in the midst of them, explained to them the figure of the sign which he +had seen, and commanded them to make a similar one of gold and jewels; +and we remember having sometimes seen it." + +Eusebius afterwards adds, that Constantine, astonished at so admirable a +vision, sent for Christian priests; and that, instructed by them, he +applied himself to reading our sacred books, and concluded that he ought +to adore with a profound respect the God who appeared to him. + +How can we conceive that so admirable a vision, seen by so many millions +of people, and so calculated to justify the truth of the Christian +religion, could be unknown to Eusebius, an historian so careful in +seeking all that could contribute to do honor to Christianity, as even +to quote profane monuments falsely, as we have seen in the article on +"Eclipse?" And how can we persuade ourselves that he was not informed +of it, until several years after, by the sole evidence of Constantine? +Were there no Christians in the army, who publicly made a glory of +having seen such a prodigy? Had they so little interest in their cause +as to keep silence on so great a miracle? Ought we to be astonished, +after that, that Gelasius, one of the successors of Eusebius, in the +siege of Caesarea in the fifth century, has said that many people +suspected that it was only a fable, invented in favor of the Christian +religion? + +This suspicion will become much stronger, if we take notice how little +the witnesses agree on the circumstances of this marvellous appearance. +Almost all affirm, that the cross was seen by Constantine and all his +army; and Gelasius speaks of Constantine alone. They differ on the time +of the vision. Philostorgius, in his "Ecclesiastical History," of which +Photius has preserved us the extract, says, that it was when Constantine +gained the victory over Maxentius; others pretend that it was before, +when Constantine was making preparations for attacking the tyrant, and +was on his march with his army. Arthemius, quoted by Metaphrastus and +Surius, mentions the 20th of October, and says that it was at noon; +others speak of the afternoon at sunset. + +Authors do not agree better even on the vision: the greatest number +acknowledged but one, and that in a dream. There is only Eusebius, +followed by Philostorgius and Socrates, who speaks of two; the one that +Constantine saw in the day-time, and the other which he saw in a dream, +tending to confirm the first. Nicephorus Callistus reckons three. + +The inscription offers new differences: Eusebius says that it was in +Greek characters, while others do not speak of it. According to +Philostorgius and Nicephorus, it was in Latin characters; others say +nothing about it, and seem by their relation to suppose that the +characters were Greek. Philostorgius affirms, that the inscription was +formed by an assemblage of stars; Arthemius says that the letters were +golden. The author quoted by Photius, represents them as composed of the +same luminous matter as the cross; and according to Sosomenes, it had no +inscription, and they were angels who said to Constantine: "By this +sign, gain the victory." + +Finally, the relation of historians is opposed on the consequences of +this vision. If we take that of Eusebius, Constantine, aided by God, +easily gained the victory over Maxentius; but according to Lactantius, +the victory was much disputed. He even says that the troops of Maxentius +had some advantage, before Constantine made his army approach the gates +of Rome. If we may believe Eusebius and Sosomenes, from this epoch +Constantine was always victorious, and opposed the salutary sign of the +cross to his enemies, as an impenetrable rampart. However, a Christian +author, of whom M. de Valois has collected some fragments, at the end of +Ammianus Marcellinus--relates, that in the two battles given to Licinius +by Constantine, the victory was doubtful, and that Constantine was even +slightly wounded in the thigh; and Nicephorus says, that after the first +apparition, he twice combated the Byzantines, without opposing the cross +to them, and would not even have remembered it, if he had not lost nine +thousand men, and had the same vision twice more. In the first, the +stars were so arranged that they formed these words of a psalm: "Call on +me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify +me;" and the last, much clearer and more brilliant still, bore: "By this +sign, thou shalt vanquish all thy enemies." + +Philostorgius affirms, that the vision of the cross, and the victory +gained over Maxentius, determined Constantine to embrace the Christian +faith; but Rufinus, who has translated the "Ecclesiastical History" of +Eusebius into Latin, says that he already favored Christianity, and +honored the true God. It is however known, that he did not receive +baptism until a few days before his death, as is expressly said by +Philostorgius, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, Socrates, +Theodoret, and the author of the Chronicle of Alexandria. This custom, +then common, was founded on the belief that, baptism effacing all the +sins of him who received it, he died certain of his salvation. + +We might confine ourselves to these general reflections, but by +superabundance of right we will discuss the authority of Eusebius, as an +historian, and that of Constantine and Arthemius, as ocular witnesses. + +As to Arthemius, we think that he ought not to be placed in the rank of +ocular witnesses; his discourse being founded only on his "Acts," +related by Metaphrastus, a fabulous author: "Acts" which Baronius +pretends it was wrong to impeach, at the same time that he confesses +that they are interpolated. + +As to the speech of Constantine, related by Eusebius, it is indisputably +an astonishing thing, that this emperor feared that he should not be +believed unless he made oath; and that Eusebius has not supported his +evidence by that of any of the officers or soldiers of the army. But +without here adopting the opinion of some scholars, who doubt whether +Eusebius is the author of the life of Constantine, is he not an author +who, in this work, bears throughout the character of a panegyrist, +rather than that of a historian? Is he not a writer who has carefully +suppressed all which could be disadvantageous to his hero? In a word, +does he not show his partiality, when he says, in his "Ecclesiastical +History," speaking of Maxentius, that having usurped the sovereign power +at Rome, to flatter the people he feigned at first to profess the +Christian religion? As if it was impossible for Constantine to make use +of such a feint, and to pretend this vision, just as Licinius, some time +after, to encourage his soldiers against Maximin, pretended that an +angel in a dream had dictated a prayer to him, which he must repeat with +his army. + +How could Eusebius really have the effrontery to call a prince a +Christian who caused the temple of Concord to be rebuilt at his own +expense, as is proved by an inscription, which was read in the time of +Lelio Geraldi, in the temple of Latran? A prince who caused his son +Crispus, already honored with the title of Caesar, to perish on a slight +suspicion of having commerce with Fausta, his stepmother; who caused +this same Fausta, to whom he was indebted for the preservation of his +life, to be suffocated in an overheated bath; who caused the emperor +Maximian Hercules, his adopted father, to be strangled; who took away +the life of the young Licinius, his nephew, who had already displayed +very good qualities; and, in short, who dishonored himself by so many +murders, that the consul Ablavius called his times Neronian? We might +add, that much dependence should not be placed on the oath of +Constantine, since he had not the least scruple in perjuring himself, by +causing Licinius to be strangled, to whom he had promised his life on +oath. Eusebius passes in silence over all the actions of Constantine +which are related by Eutropius, Zosimus, Orosius, St. Jerome, and +Aurelius Victor. + +After this, have we not reason to conclude that the pretended appearance +of the cross in the sky is only a fraud which Constantine imagined to +favor the success of his ambitious enterprises? The medals of this +prince and of his family, which are found in Banduri, and in the work +entitled, "_Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum_"; the triumphal arch of +which Baronius speaks, in the inscription of which the senate and the +Roman people said that Constantine, by the direction of the Divinity, +had rid the republic of the tyrant Maxentius, and of all his faction; +finally, the statue which Constantine himself caused to be erected at +Rome, holding a lance terminating in the form of a cross, with this +inscription--as related by Eusebius: "By this saving sign, I have +delivered your city from the yoke of tyranny"--all this, I say, only +proves the immoderate pride of this artificial prince, who would +everywhere spread the noise of his pretended dream, and perpetuate the +recollection of it. + +Yet, to excuse Eusebius, we must compare him to a bishop of the +seventeenth century, whom La Bruyere hesitated not to call a father of +the Church. Bossuet, at the same time that he fell so unmercifully on +the visions of the elegant and sensible Fenelon, commented himself, in +the funeral oration of Anne of Gonzaga of Cleves, on the two visions +which worked the conversion of the Princess Palatine. It was an +admirable dream, says this prelate; she thought that, walking alone in a +forest, she met with a blind man in a small cell. She comprehended that +a sense is wanting to the incredulous as well as to the blind; and at +the same time, in the midst of so mysterious a dream, she applied the +fine comparison of the blind man to the truths of religion and of the +other life. + +In the second vision, God continued to instruct her, as He did Joseph +and Solomon; and during the drowsiness which the trouble caused her, He +put this parable into her mind, so similar to that in the gospel: She +saw that appear which Jesus Christ has not disdained to give us as an +image of His tenderness--a hen become a mother, anxious round the little +ones which she conducted. One of them having strayed, our invalid saw it +swallowed by a hungry dog. She ran and tore the innocent animal away +from him. At the same time, a voice cried from the other side that she +must give it back to the ravisher. "No," said she, "I will never give it +back." At this moment she awakened, and the explanation of the figure +which had been shown to her presented itself to her mind in an instant. + + + + +VOWS. + + +To make a vow for life, is to make oneself a slave. How can this worst +of all slavery be allowed in a country in which slavery is proscribed? +To promise to God by an oath, that from the age of fifteen until death +we will be a Jesuit, Jacobin, or Capuchin, is to affirm that we will +always think like a Capuchin, a Jacobin, or a Jesuit. It is very +pleasant to promise, for a whole life, that which no man can certainly +insure from night to morning! + +How can governments have been such enemies to themselves, and so absurd, +as to authorize citizens to alienate their liberty at an age when they +are not allowed to dispose of the least portion of their fortunes? How, +being convinced of the extent of this stupidity, have not the whole of +the magistracy united to put an end to it? + +Is it not alarming to reflect that there are more monks than soldiers? +Is it possible not to be affected by the discovery of the secrets of +cloisters; the turpitudes, the horrors, and the torments to which so +many unhappy children are subjected, who detest the state which they +have been forced to adopt, when they become men, and who beat with +useless despair the chains which their weakness has imposed upon them? + +I knew a young man whose parents engaged to make a Capuchin of him at +fifteen years and a half old, when he desperately loved a girl very +nearly of his own age. As soon as the unhappy youth had made his vow to +St. Francis, the devil reminded him of the vows which he had made to his +mistress, to whom he had signed a promise of marriage. At last, the +devil being stronger than St. Francis, the young Capuchin left his +cloister, repaired to the house of his mistress, and was told that she +had entered a convent and made profession. + +He flew to the convent, and asked to see her, when he was told that she +had died of grief. This news deprived him of all sense, and he fell to +the ground nearly lifeless. He was immediately transported to a +neighboring monastery, not to afford him the necessary medical aid, but +in order to procure him the blessing of extreme unction before his +death, which infallibly saves the soul. + +The house to which the poor fainting boy was carried, happened to be a +convent of Capuchins, who charitably let him remain at the door for +three hours; but at last he was recognized by one of the venerable +brothers, who had seen him in the monastery to which he belonged. On +this discovery, he was carried into a cell, and attention paid to +recover him, in order that he might expiate, by a salutary penitence, +the errors of which he had been guilty. + +As soon as he had recovered strength, he was conducted, well bound, to +his convent, and the following is precisely the manner in which he was +treated. In the first place he was placed in a dungeon under ground, at +the bottom of which was an enormous stone, to which a chain of iron was +attached. To this chain he was fastened by one leg, and near him was +placed a loaf of barley bread and a jug of water; after which they +closed the entrance of the dungeon with a large block of stone, which +covered the opening by which they had descended. + +At the end of three days they withdrew him from the dungeon, in order to +bring him before the criminal court of the Capuchins. They wished to +know if he had any accomplices in his flight, and to oblige him to +confess, applied the mode of torture employed in the convent. This +preparatory torture was inflicted by cords, which bound the limbs of the +patient, and made him endure a sort of rack. + +After having undergone these torments, he was condemned to be imprisoned +for two years in his cell, from which he was to be brought out thrice a +week, in order to receive upon his naked body the discipline with iron +chains. + +For six months his constitution endured this punishment, from which he +was at length so fortunate as to escape in consequence of a quarrel +among the Capuchins, who fought with one another, and allowed the +prisoner to escape during the fray. + +After hiding himself for some hours, he ventured to go abroad at the +decline of day, almost worn out by hunger, and scarcely able to support +himself. A passing Samaritan took pity upon the poor, famished spectre, +conducted him to his house, and gave him assistance. The unhappy youth +himself related to me his story in the presence of his liberator. Behold +here the consequence of vows! + +It would be a nice point to decide, whether the horrors of passing every +day among the mendicant friars are more revolting than the pernicious +riches of the other orders, which reduce so many families into +mendicants. + +All of them have made a vow to live at our expense, and to be a burden +to their country; to injure its population, and to betray both their +contemporaries and posterity; and shall we suffer it? + +Here is another interesting question for officers of the army: Why are +monks allowed to recover one of their brethren who has enlisted for a +soldier, while a captain is prevented from recovering a deserter who has +turned monk? + + + + +VOYAGE OF ST. PETER TO ROME. + + +Of the famous dispute, whether Peter made the journey to Rome, is it not +in the main as frivolous as most other grand disputes? The revenues of +the abbey of St. Denis, in France, depend neither on the truth of the +journey of St. Dionysius the Areopagite from Athens to the midst of +Gaul; his martyrdom at Montmartre; nor the other journey which he made +after his death, from Montmartre to St. Denis, carrying his head in his +arms, and kissing it at every step. + +The Carthusians have great riches, without there being the least truth +in the history of the canon of Paris, who rose from his coffin three +successive days, to inform the assistants that he was damned. + +In like manner it is very certain that the rights and revenues of the +Roman pontiff can exist, whether Simon Barjonas, surnamed Cephas, went +to Rome or not. All the rights of the archbishops of Rome and +Constantinople were established at the Council of Chalcedon, in the +year 451 of our vulgar era, and there was no mention in this council of +any journey made by an apostle to Byzantium or to Rome. + +The patriarchs of Alexander and Constantinople followed the lot of their +provinces. The ecclesiastical chiefs of these two imperial cities, and +of opulent Egypt, must necessarily have more authority, privileges, and +riches, than bishops of little towns. + +If the residence of an apostle in a city decided so many rights, the +bishop of Jerusalem would have been, without contradiction, the first +bishop of Christendom. He was evidently the successor of St. James, the +brother of Jesus Christ, acknowledged as the founder of this church, and +afterwards called the first of all bishops. We should add by the same +reasoning, that all the patriarchs of Jerusalem should be circumcised, +since the fifteen first bishops of Jerusalem--the cradle of Christianity +and tomb of Jesus Christ--had all received circumcision. It is +indisputable that the first largesses made to the church of Rome by +Constantine, have not the least relation to the journey of St. Peter. + +1. The first church raised at Rome was that of St. John; it is still the +true cathedral. It is evident that it would have been dedicated to St. +Peter, if he had been the first bishop of it. It is the strongest of all +presumptions, and that alone might have ended the dispute. + +2. To this powerful conjecture are joined convincing negative proofs. If +Peter had been at Rome with Paul, the Acts of the Apostles would have +mentioned it; and they say not a word about it. + +3. If St. Peter went to preach the gospel at Rome, St. Paul would not +have said, in his Epistle to the Galatians: "When they saw that the +gospel of the uncircumcisions was committed unto me, as the gospel of +the circumcision was unto Peter; and when James, Cephas, and John, who +seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they +gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go +unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision." + +4. In the letters which Paul writes from Rome, he never speaks of Peter; +therefore, it is evident that Peter was not there. + +5. In the letters which Paul writes to his brethren of Rome, there is +not the least compliment to Peter, nor the least mention of him; +therefore, Peter neither made a journey to Rome when Paul was in prison, +nor when he was free. + +6. We have never known any letter of St. Peter's dated from Rome. + +7. Some, like Paul Orosius, a Spaniard of the fifth century, say that he +was at Rome in the first years of the reign of Claudius. The Acts of the +Apostles say that he was then at Jerusalem; and the Epistles of Paul, +that he was at Antioch. + +8. I do not pretend to bring forward any proof, but speaking humanly, +and according to the rules of profane criticism, Peter could scarcely go +from Jerusalem to Rome, knowing neither the Latin nor even the Greek +language, which St. Paul spoke, though very badly. It is said that the +apostles spoke all the languages of the universe; therefore, I am +silenced. + +9. Finally, the first mention which we ever had of the journey of St. +Peter to Rome, came from one named Papias, who lived about a hundred +years after St. Peter. This Papias was a Phrygian; he wrote in Phrygia; +and he pretended that St. Peter went to Rome, because in one of his +letters he speaks of Babylon. We have, indeed, a letter, attributed to +St. Peter, written in these obscure times, in which it is said: "The +Church which is at Babylon, my wife, and my son Mark, salute you." It +has pleased some translators to translate the word meaning my wife, by +"chosen vessel": "Babylon, the chosen vessel." This is translating +comprehensively. + +Papias, who was, it must be confessed, one of the great visionaries of +these ages, imagined that Babylon signified Rome. It was, however, very +natural for Peter to depart from Antioch to visit the brethren at +Babylon. There were always Jews at Babylon; and they continually carried +on the trade of brokers and peddlers; it is very likely that several +disciples sought refuge there, and that Peter went to encourage them. +There is not more reason in supposing that Babylon signifies Rome, than +in supposing that Rome means Babylon. What an extravagant idea, to +suppose that Peter wrote an exhortation to his comrades, as we write at +present, in ciphers! Did he fear that his letter should be opened at the +post? Why should Peter fear that his Jewish letters should be known--so +useless in a worldly sense, and to which it was impossible for the +Romans to pay the least attention? Who engaged him to lie so vainly? +What could have possessed people to think, that when he wrote Babylon, +he intended Rome? + +It was after similar convincing proofs that the judicious Calmet +concludes that the journey of St. Peter to Rome is proved by St. Peter +himself, who says expressly, that he has written his letter from +Babylon; that is to say, from Rome, as we interpret with the ancients. +Once more, this is powerful reasoning! He has probably learned this +logic among the vampires! + +The learned archbishop of Paris, Marca, Dupin, Blondel, and Spanheim, +are not of this opinion; but it was that of Calmet, who reasoned like +Calmet, and who was followed by a multitude of writers so attached to +the sublimity of their principles that they sometimes neglected +wholesome criticism and reason. It is a very poor pretence of the +partisans of the voyage to say that the Acts of the Apostles are +intended for the history of Paul, and not for that of Peter; and that if +they pass in silence over the sojourn of Simon Barjonas at Rome, it is +that the actions and exploits of Paul were the sole object of the +writer. + +The Acts speak much of Simon Barjonas, surnamed Peter; it is he who +proposes to give a successor to Judas. We see him strike Ananias and his +wife with sudden death, who had given him their property, but +unfortunately not all of it. We see him raise his sempstress Dorcas, at +the house of the tanner Simon at Joppa. He has a quarrel in Samaria with +Simon, surnamed the Magician; he goes to Lippa, Caesarea, and Jerusalem; +what would it have cost him to go to Rome? + +It is very difficult to decide whether Peter went to Rome under +Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, or Nero. The journey in the time of +Tiberius is only founded on the pretended apocryphal fasti of Italy. + +Another apocrypha, entitled "Catalogues of Bishops," makes Peter bishop +of Rome immediately after the death of his master. I know not what +Arabian tale sent him to Rome under Caligula. Eusebius, three hundred +years after, makes him to be conducted to Rome under Claudius by a +divine hand, without saying in what year. + +Lactantius, who wrote in the time of Constantine, is the first veracious +author who has said that Peter went to Rome under Nero, and that he was +crucified there. + +We must avow, that if such claims alone were brought forward by a party +in a lawsuit, he would not gain his cause, and he would be advised to +keep to the maxim of "_uti possedetis_"; and this is the part which Rome +has taken. + +But it is said that before Eusebius and Lactantius, the exact Papias had +already related the adventure of Peter and Simon; the virtue of God +which removed him into the presence of Nero; the kinsman of Nero half +raised from the dead, in the name of God, by Simon, and wholly raised by +Peter; the compliments of their dogs; the bread given by Peter to +Simon's dogs; the magician who flew into the air; the Christian who +caused him to fall by a sign of the cross, by which he broke both his +legs; Nero, who cut off Peter's head to pay for the legs of his +magician, etc. The grave Marcellus repeats this authentic history, and +the grave Hegesippus again repeats it, and others repeat it after them; +and I repeat to you, that if ever you plead for a meadow before the +judge of Vaugirard, you will never gain your suit by such claims. + +I doubt not that the episcopal chair of St. Peter is still at Rome in +the fine church. I doubt not but that St. Peter enjoyed the bishopric of +Rome twenty-nine years, a month, and nine days, as it is said. But I may +venture to say that that is not demonstratively proved; and I say that +it is to be thought that the Roman bishops of the present time are more +at their ease than those of times past--obscure times, which it is very +difficult to penetrate. + + + + +WALLER. + + +The celebrated Waller has been much spoken of in France; he has been +praised by La Fontaine, St. Evremond, and Bayle, who, however, knew +little of him beyond his name. + +He had pretty nearly the same reputation in London as Voiture enjoyed in +Paris, but I believe that he more deserved it. Voiture existed at a time +when we were first emerging from literary ignorance, and when wit was +aimed at, but scarcely attained. Turns of expression were sought for +instead of thoughts, and false stones were more easily discovered than +genuine diamonds. Voiture, who possessed an easy and trifling turn of +mind, was the first who shone in this aurora of French literature. Had +he come after the great men who have thrown so much lustre on the age of +Louis XIV., he would have been forced to have had something more than +mere wit, which was enough for the hotel de Rambouillet, but not enough +for posterity. Boileau praises him, but it was in his first satires, and +before his taste was formed. He was young, and of that age in which men +judge rather by reputation than from themselves; and, besides, Boileau +was often unjust in his praise as well as his censure. He praised +Segrais, whom nobody read; insulted Quinault, who everybody repeated by +heart; and said nothing of La Fontaine. + +Waller, although superior to Voiture, was not perfect. His poems of +gallantry are very graceful, but they are frequently languid from +negligence, and they are often disfigured by conceits. In his days, the +English had not learned to write correctly. His serious pieces are +replete with vigor, and exhibit none of the softness of his gallant +effusions. He composed a monody on the death of Cromwell, which, with +several faults, passes for a masterpiece; and it was in reference to +this eulogy that Waller made the reply to Charles II., which is inserted +in "Bayle's Dictionary." The king--to whom Waller, after the manner of +kings and poets, presented a poem stuffed with panegyric--told him that +he had written more finely on Cromwell. Waller immediately replied: +"Sire, we poets always succeed better in fiction than in truth." This +reply was not so sincere as that of the Dutch ambassador, who, when the +same king complained to him that his masters had less regard for him +than for Cromwell, replied: "Ah, sire! that Cromwell was quite another +thing." There are courtiers in England, as elsewhere, and Waller was one +of them; but after their death, I consider men only by their works; all +the rest is annihilated. I simply observe that Waller, born to an estate +of the annual value of sixty thousand livres, had never the silly pride +or carelessness to neglect his talent. The earls of Dorset and +Roscommon, the two dukes of Buckingham, the earl of Halifax, and a great +many others, have not thought it below them to become celebrated poets +and illustrious writers; and their works do them more honor than their +titles. They have cultivated letters as if their fortunes depended on +their success, and have rendered literature respectable in the eyes of +the people, who in all things require leaders from among the great--who, +however, have less influence of this kind in England than in any other +place in the world. + + + + +WAR. + + +All animals are perpetually at war; every species is born to devour +another. There are none, even to sheep and doves, who do not swallow a +prodigious number of imperceptible animals. Males of the same species +make war for the females, like Menelaus and Paris. Air, earth, and the +waters, are fields of destruction. + +It seems that God having given reason to men, this reason should teach +them not to debase themselves by imitating animals, particularly when +nature has given them neither arms to kill their fellow-creatures, nor +instinct which leads them to suck their blood. + +Yet murderous war is so much the dreadful lot of man, that except two or +three nations, there are none but what their ancient histories represent +as armed against one another. Towards Canada, man and warrior are +synonymous; and we have seen, in our hemisphere, that thief and soldier +were the same thing. Manichaeans! behold your excuse. + +The most determined of flatterers will easily agree, that war always +brings pestilence and famine in its train, from the little that he may +have seen in the hospitals of the armies of Germany, or the few villages +he may have passed through in which some great exploit of war has been +performed. + +That is doubtless a very fine art which desolates countries, destroys +habitations, and in a common year causes the death of from forty to a +hundred thousand men. This invention was first cultivated by nations +assembled for their common good; for instance, the diet of the Greeks +declared to the diet of Phrygia and neighboring nations, that they +intended to depart on a thousand fishers' barks, to exterminate them if +they could. + +The assembled Roman people judged that it was to their interest to go +and fight, before harvest, against the people of Veii or the Volscians. +And some years after, all the Romans, being exasperated against all the +Carthaginians, fought them a long time on sea and land. It is not +exactly the same at present. + +A genealogist proves to a prince that he descends in a right line from a +count, whose parents made a family compact, three or four hundred years +ago, with a house the recollection of which does not even exist. This +house had distant pretensions to a province, of which the last possessor +died of apoplexy. The prince and his council see his right at once. This +province, which is some hundred leagues distant from him, in vain +protests that it knows him not; that it has no desire to be governed by +him; that to give laws to its people, he must at least have their +consent; these discourses only reach as far as the ears of the prince, +whose right is incontestable. He immediately assembles a great number of +men who have nothing to lose, dresses them in coarse blue cloth, borders +their hats with broad white binding, makes them turn to the right and +left, and marches to glory. + +Other princes who hear of this equipment, take part in it, each +according to his power, and cover a small extent of country with more +mercenary murderers than Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, and Bajazet employed +in their train. Distant people hear that they are going to fight, and +that they may gain five or six sous a day, if they will be of the party; +they divide themselves into two bands, like reapers, and offer their +services to whoever will employ them. + +These multitudes fall upon one another, not only without having any +interest in the affair, but without knowing the reason of it. We see at +once five or six belligerent powers, sometimes three against three, +sometimes two against four, and sometimes one against five; all equally +detesting one another, uniting with and attacking by turns; all agree in +a single point, that of doing all the harm possible. + +The most wonderful part of this infernal enterprise is that each chief +of the murderers causes his colors to be blessed, and solemnly invokes +God before he goes to exterminate his neighbors. If a chief has only the +fortune to kill two or three thousand men, he does not thank God for it; +but when he has exterminated about ten thousand by fire and sword, and, +to complete the work, some town has been levelled with the ground, they +then sing a long song in four parts, composed in a language unknown to +all who have fought, and moreover replete with barbarism. The same song +serves for marriages and births, as well as for murders; which is +unpardonable, particularly in a nation the most famous for new songs. + +Natural religion has a thousand times prevented citizens from committing +crimes. A well-trained mind has not the inclination for it; a tender one +is alarmed at it, representing to itself a just and avenging God; but +artificial religion encourages all cruelties which are exercised by +troops--conspiracies, seditions, pillages, ambuscades, surprises of +towns, robberies, and murder. Each marches gaily to crime, under the +banner of his saint. + +A certain number of orators are everywhere paid to celebrate these +murderous days; some are dressed in a long black close coat, with a +short cloak; others have a shirt above a gown; some wear two variegated +stuff streamers over their shirts. All of them speak for a long time, +and quote that which was done of old in Palestine, as applicable to a +combat in Veteravia. + +The rest of the year these people declaim against vices. They prove, in +three points and by antitheses, that ladies who lay a little carmine +upon their cheeks, will be the eternal objects of the eternal vengeances +of the Eternal; that Polyeuctus and Athalia are works of the demon; that +a man who, for two hundred crowns a day, causes his table to be +furnished with fresh sea-fish during Lent, infallibly works his +salvation; and that a poor man who eats two sous and a half worth of +mutton, will go forever to all the devils. + +Of five or six thousand declamations of this kind, there are three or +four at most, composed by a Gaul named Massillon, which an honest man +may read without disgust; but in all these discourses, you will scarcely +find two in which the orator dares to say a word against the scourge and +crime of war, which contains all other scourges and crimes. The +unfortunate orators speak incessantly against love, which is the only +consolation of mankind, and the only mode of making amends for it; they +say nothing of the abominable efforts which we make to destroy it. + +You have made a very bad sermon on impurity--oh, Bourdaloue!--but none +on these murders, varied in so many ways; on these rapines and +robberies; on this universal rage which devours the world. All the +united vices of all ages and places will never equal the evils produced +by a single campaign. + +Miserable physicians of souls! you exclaim, for five quarters of an +hour, on some pricks of a pin, and say nothing on the malady which tears +us into a thousand pieces! Philosophers! moralists! burn all your books. +While the caprice of a few men makes that part of mankind consecrated to +heroism, to murder loyally millions of our brethren, can there be +anything more horrible throughout nature? + +What becomes of, and what signifies to me, humanity, beneficence, +modesty, temperance, mildness, wisdom, and piety, while half a pound of +lead, sent from the distance of a hundred steps, pierces my body, and I +die at twenty years of age, in inexpressible torments, in the midst of +five or six thousand dying men, while my eyes which open for the last +time, see the town in which I was born destroyed by fire and sword, and +the last sounds which reach my ears are the cries of women and children +expiring under the ruins, all for the pretended interests of a man whom +I know not? + +What is worse, war is an inevitable scourge. If we take notice, all men +have worshipped Mars. Sabaoth, among the Jews, signifies the god of +arms; but Minerva, in Homer, calls Mars a furious, mad, and infernal +god. + +The celebrated Montesquieu, who was called humane, has said, however,' +that it is just to bear fire and sword against our neighbors, when we +fear that they are doing too well. If this is the spirit of laws, At is +also that of Borgia and of Machiavelli. If unfortunately he says true, +we must write against this truth, though it may be proved by facts. + +This is what Montesquieu says: "Between societies, the right of natural +defence sometimes induces the necessity of attacking, when one people +sees that a longer peace puts another in a situation to destroy it, and +that attack at the given moment is the only way of preventing this +destruction." + +How can attack in peace be the only means of preventing this +destruction? You must be sure that this neighbor will destroy you, if he +become powerful. To be sure of it, he must already have made +preparations for your overthrow. In this case, it is he who commences +the war; it is not you: your supposition is false and contradictory. + +If ever war is evidently unjust, it is that which you propose: it is +going to kill your neighbor, who does not attack you, lest he should +ever be in a state to do so. To hazard the ruin of your country, in the +hope of ruining without reason that of another, is assuredly neither +honest nor useful; for we are never sure of success, as you well know. + +If your neighbor becomes too powerful during peace, what prevents you +from rendering yourself equally powerful? If he has made alliances, make +them on your side. If, having fewer monks, he has more soldiers and +manufacturers, imitate him in this wise economy. If he employs his +sailors better, employ yours in the same manner: all that is very just. +But to expose your people to the most horrible misery, in the so often +false idea of overturning your dear brother, the most serene neighboring +prince!--it was not for the honorary president of a pacific society to +give you such advice. + + + + +WEAKNESS ON BOTH SIDES. + + +Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels. I +speak not here of those which have caused blood to be shed--the +Anabaptists, who ravaged Westphalia; the Calvinists, who kindled so many +wars in France; the sanguinary factions of the Armagnacs and +Burgundians; the punishment of the Maid of Orleans, whom one-half of +France regarded as a celestial heroine, and the other as a sorceress; +the Sorbonne, which presented a request to have her burned; the +assassination of the duke of Orleans, justified by the doctors; subjects +excused from the oath of fidelity by a decree of the sacred faculty; the +executioners so often employed to enforce opinions; the piles lighted +for unfortunates who persuaded others that they were sorcerers and +heretics--all that is more than weakness. Yet these abominations were +committed in the good times of honest Germanic faith and Gallic naivete! +I would send back to them all honest people who regret times past. + +I will make here, simply for my own particular edification, a little +instructive memoir of the fine things which divided the minds of our +grandfathers. In the eleventh century--in that good time in which we +knew not the art of war, which however we have always practised; nor +that of governing towns, nor commerce, nor society, and in which we +could neither read nor write--men of much mind disputed solemnly, at +much length, and with great vivacity, on what happened at the +water-closet, after having fulfilled a sacred duty, of which we must +speak only with the most profound respect. This was called the dispute +of the stercorists; and, not ending in a war, was in consequence one of +the mildest impertinences of the human mind. + +The dispute which divided learned Spain, in the same century, on the +Mosarabic version, also terminated without ravaging provinces or +shedding human blood. The spirit of chivalry, which then prevailed, +permitted not the difficulty to be enlightened otherwise than in leaving +the decision to two noble knights. As in that of the two Don Quixotes, +whichever overthrew his adversary caused his own party to triumph. Don +Ruis de Martanza, knight of the Mosarabic ritual, overthrew the Don +Quixote of the Latin ritual; but as the laws of chivalry decided not +positively that a ritual must be proscribed because its knight was +unhorsed, a more certain and established secret was made use of, to know +which of the books should be preferred. The expedient alluded to was +that of throwing them both into the fire, it not being possible for the +sound ritual to perish in the flames. I know not how it happened, +however, but they were both burned, and the dispute remained undecided, +to the great astonishment of the Spaniards. By degrees, the Latin ritual +got the preference; and if any knight afterwards presented himself to +maintain the Mosarabic, it was the knight and not the ritual which was +thrown into the fire. + +In these fine times, we and other polished people, when we were ill, +were obliged to have recourse to an Arabian physician. When we would +know what day of the moon it was, we referred to the Arabs. If we would +buy a piece of cloth, we must pay a Jew for it; and when a farmer wanted +rain, he addressed himself to a sorcerer. At last, however, when some of +us learned Latin, and had a bad translation of Aristotle, we figured in +the world with honor, passing three or four hundred years in deciphering +some pages of the Stagyrite, and in adoring and condemning them. Some +said that without him we should want articles of faith; others, that he +was an atheist. A Spaniard proved that Aristotle was a saint, and that +we should celebrate his anniversary; while a council in France caused +his divine writings to be burned. Colleges, universities, whole orders +of monks, were reciprocally anathematized, on the subject of some +passages of this great man--which neither themselves, the judges who +interposed their authority, nor the author himself, ever understood. +There were many fisticuffs given in Germany in these grave quarrels, but +there was not much bloodshed. It is a pity, for the glory of Aristotle, +that they did not make civil war, and have some regular battles in favor +of quiddities, and of the "universal of the part of the thing." Our +ancestors cut the throats of each other in disputes upon points which +they understood very little better. + +It is true that a much celebrated madman named Occam, surnamed the +"invincible doctor," chief of those who stood up for the "universal of +the part of thought," demanded from the emperor Louis of Bavaria, that +he should defend his pen with his imperial sword against Scott, another +Scottish madman, surnamed the "subtle doctor," who fought for the +"universal of the part of the thing." Happily, the sword of Louis of +Bavaria remained in its scabbard. Who would believe that these disputes +have lasted until our days, and that the Parliament of Paris, in 1624, +gave a fine sentence in favor of Aristotle? + +Towards the time of the brave Occam and the intrepid Scott, a much more +serious quarrel arose, into which the reverend father Cordeliers +inveigled all the Christian world. This was to know if their kitchen +garden belonged to themselves, or if they were merely simple tenants of +it. The form of the cowls, and the size of the sleeves, were further +subjects of this holy war. Pope John XXII., who interfered, found out to +whom he was speaking. The Cordeliers quitted his party for that of Louis +of Bavaria, who then drew his sword. + +There were, moreover, three or four Cordeliers burned as heretics, which +is rather strong; but after all, this affair having neither shaken +thrones nor ruined provinces, we may place it in the rank of peaceable +follies. + +There have been always some of this kind, the greater part of whom have +fallen into the most profound oblivion; and of four or five hundred +sects which have appeared, there remain in the memory of men those only +which have produced either extreme disorder or extreme folly--two things +which they willingly retain. Who knows, in the present day, that there +were Orebites, Osmites, and Insdorfians? Who is now acquainted with the +Anointed, the Cornacians, or the Iscariots? + +Dining one day at the house of a Dutch lady, I was charitably warned by +one of the guests, to take care of myself, and not to praise Voetius. "I +have no desire," said I, "to say either good or evil of your Voetius; +but why do you give me this advice?" "Because madam is a Cocceian," said +my neighbor. "With all my heart," said I. She added, that there were +still four Cocceians in Holland, and that it was a great pity that the +sect perished. A time will come in which the Jansenists, who have made +so much noise among us, and who are unknown everywhere else, will have +the fate of the Cocceians. An old doctor said to me: "Sir, in my youth, +I have debated on the _'mandata impossibilia volentibus et conantibus.'_ +I have written against the formulary and the pope, and I thought myself +a confessor. I have been put in prison, and I thought myself a martyr. I +now no longer interfere in anything, and I believe myself to be +reasonable." "What are your occupations?" said I to him. "Sir," replied +he, "I am very fond of money." It is thus that almost all men in their +old age inwardly laugh at the follies which they ardently embraced in +their youth. Sects grow old, like men. Those which have not been +supported by great princes, which have not caused great mischief, grow +old much sooner than others. They are epidemic maladies, which pass over +like the sweating sickness and the whooping-cough. + +There is no longer any question on the pious reveries of Madame Guyon. +We no longer read the most unintelligible book of Maxims of the Saints, +but Telemachus. We no longer remember what the eloquent Bossuet wrote +against the elegant and amiable Fenelon; we give the preference to his +funeral orations. In all the dispute on what is called quietism, there +has been nothing good but the old tale revived of the honest woman who +brought a torch to burn paradise, and a cruse of water to extinguish the +fire of hell, that God should no longer be served either through hope or +fear. + +I will only remark one singularity in this proceeding, which is not +equal to the story of the good woman; it is, that the Jesuits, who were +so much accused in France by the Jansenists of having been founded by +St. Ignatius, expressly to destroy the love of God, warmly interfered +at Rome in favor of the pure love of Fenelon. It happened to them as to +M. de Langeais, who was pursued by his wife to the Parliament of Paris, +on account of his impotence, and by a girl to the Parliament of Rennes, +for having rendered her pregnant. He ought to have gained one of these +two causes; he lost them both. Pure love, for which the Jesuits made so +much stir, was condemned at Rome, and they were always supposed at Paris +to be against loving God. This opinion was so rooted in the public mind +that when, some years ago, an engraving was sold representing our Lord +Jesus Christ dressed as a Jesuit, a wit--apparently the _loustic_ of the +Jansenist party--wrote lines under the print intimating that the +ingenious fathers had habited God like themselves, as the surest means +of preventing the love of him: + + _Admirez l'artifice extreme_ + _Les ces peres ingenieux:_ + _Ils vous ont habille comme eux,_ + _Mon Dieu, de peur qu'on ne vous aime._ + +At Rome, where such disputes never arise, and where they judge those +that take place elsewhere, they were much annoyed with quarrels on pure +love. Cardinal Carpegne, who was the reporter of the affairs of the +archbishop of Cambray, was ill, and suffered much in a part which is not +more spared in cardinals than in other men. His surgeon bandaged him +with fine linen, which is called cambrai (cambric) in Italy as in many +other places. The cardinal cried out, when the surgeon pleaded that it +was the finest cambrai: "What! more cambrai still? Is it not enough to +have one's head fatigued with it?" Happy the disputes which end thus! +Happy would man be if all the disputers of the world, if heresiarchs, +submitted with so much moderation, such magnanimous mildness, as the +great archbishop of Cambray, who had no desire to be an heresiarch! I +know not whether he was right in wishing God to be loved for himself +alone, but M. de Fenelon certainly deserved to be loved thus. + +In purely literary disputes there is often as much snarling and party +spirit as in more interesting quarrels. We should, if we could, renew +the factions of the circus, which agitated the Roman Empire. Two rival +actresses are capable of dividing a town. Men have all a secret +fascination for faction. If we cannot cabal, pursue, and destroy one +another for crowns, tiaras, and mitres, we fall upon one another for a +dancer or a musician. Rameau had a violent party against him, who would +have exterminated him; and he knew nothing of it. I had a violent party +against me, and I knew it well. + + + + +WHYS (THE). + + +Why do we scarcely ever know the tenth part of the good we might do? +Iris clear, that if a nation living between the Alps, the Pyrenees, and +the sea, had employed, in ameliorating and embellishing the country, a +tenth part of the money it lost in the war of 1741, and one-half of the +men killed to no purpose in Germany, the state would have been more +flourishing. Why was not this done? Why prefer a war, which Europe +considered unjust, to the happy labors of peace, which would have +produced the useful and the agreeable? + +Why did Louis XIV., who had so much taste for great monuments, for new +foundations, for the fine arts, lose eight hundred millions of our money +in seeing his cuirassiers and his household swim across the Rhine in +_not_ taking Amsterdam; in stirring up nearly all Europe against him? +What could he not have done with his eight hundred millions? + +Why, when he reformed jurisprudence, did he reform it only by halves? +Ought the numerous ancient customs, founded on the decretals and the +canon law, to be still suffered to exist? Was it necessary that in the +many causes called ecclesiastical, but which are in reality civil, +appeal should be made to the bishop; from the bishop to the +metropolitan; from the metropolitan to the primate; and from the primate +to Rome, "_ad apostolos_"?--as if the apostles had of old been the +judges of the Gauls "_en dernier ressort_." + +Why, when Louis XIV. was outrageously insulted by Pope Alexander +VII.--Chigi--did he amuse himself with sending into France for a legate, +to make frivolous excuses, and with having a pyramid erected at Rome, +the inscriptions over which concerned none but the watchmen of Rome--a +pyramid which he soon after had abolished? Had it not been better to +have abolished forever the simony by which every bishop and every abbot +in Gaul pays to the Italian apostolic chamber the half of his revenue? + +Why did the same monarch, when still more grievously insulted by +Innocent XI.--Odescalchi--who took the part of the prince of Orange +against him, content himself with having four propositions maintained in +his universities, and refuse the prayers of the whole magistracy, who +solicited an eternal rupture with the court of Rome? + +Why, in making the laws, was it forgotten to place all the provinces of +the kingdom under one uniform law, leaving in existence a hundred +different customs, and a hundred and forty-four different measures? + +Why were the provinces of this kingdom still reputed foreign to one +another, so that the merchandise of Normandy, on being conveyed by land +into Brittany, pays duty, as if it came from England? + +Why was not corn grown in Champagne allowed to be sold in Picardy +without an express permission--as at Rome permission is obtained for +three giuli to read forbidden books? + +Why was France left so long under the reproach of venality? It seemed to +be reserved for Louis XIV. to abolish the custom of buying the right to +sit as judges over men, as you buy a country house; and making pleaders +pay fees to the judge, as tickets for the play are paid for at the +door. + +Why institute in a kingdom the offices and dignities of king's +counsellors: Inspectors of drink, inspectors of the shambles, registrars +of inventories, controllers of fines, inspectors of hogs, perequateurs +of tailles, fuel-measurers, assistant-measurers, fuel-pilers, unloaders +of green wood, controllers of timber, markers of timber, coal-measurers, +corn-sifters, inspectors of calves, controllers of poultry, gaugers, +assayers of brandy, assayers of beer, rollers of casks, unloaders of +hay, floor-clearers, inspectors of ells, inspectors of wigs? + +These offices; in which doubtless consist the prosperity and splendor of +an empire, formed numerous communities, which had each their syndics. +This was all suppressed in 1719; but it was to make room for others of a +similar kind, in the course of time. Would it not be better to retrench +all the pomp and luxury of greatness, than miserably to support them by +means so low and shameful? + +Why has a nation, often reduced to extremity and to some degree of +humiliation, still supported itself in spite of all the efforts made to +crush it? Because that nation is active and industrious. The people are +like the bees: you take from them wax and honey, and they forthwith set +to work to produce more. + +Why, in half of Europe, do the girls pray to God in Latin, which they do +not understand? Why, in the sixteenth century, when nearly all the popes +and bishops notoriously had bastards, did they persist in prohibiting +the marriage of priests; while the Greek Church has constantly ordained +that curates should have wives? + +Why, in all antiquity, was there no theological dispute, nor any people +distinguished by a sectarian appellation? The Egyptians were not called +Isiacs or Osiriacs. The people of Syria were not named Cybelians. The +Cretans had a particular devotion for Jupiter, but were not called +Jupiterians. The ancient Latins were much attached to Saturn, but there +was not a village in all Latium called Saturnian. The disciples of the +God of Truth, on the contrary, taking the title of their master himself, +and calling themselves, like him, "anointed," declared, as soon as they +were able, eternal war against all nations that were not "anointed," and +made war upon one another for upwards of fourteen hundred years, taking +the names of Arians, Manichaeans, Donatists, Hussites, Papists, +Lutherans, Calvinists, etc. Even the Jansenists and Molinists have +experienced no mortification so acute as that of not having it in their +power to cut one another's throats in pitched battle. Whence is this? + +Why does a bookseller publicly sell the "Course of Atheism," by the +great Lucretius, printed for the dauphin, only son of Louis XIV., by +order and under the direction of the wise duke of Montausier, and of the +eloquent Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, and of the learned Huet, bishop of +Avranches? There you find those sublime impieties, those admirable +lines against Providence and the immortality of the soul, which pass +from mouth to mouth, through all after-ages: + + _Ex nihilo, nihil; in nihilum nil posse reverti._ + From nothing, nought; to nothing nought returns. + + _Tangere enim ac tangi nisi corpus nulla protest res._ + Matter alone can touch and govern matter. + + _Nec bene pro meretis capitur, nec tangitur ira (Deus)._ + Nothing can flatter God, or cause his anger. + + _Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum._ + How great the evil by religion caused! + + _Desipire est mortale eterno jungere et una_ + _Consentire putare, et fungi mutua posse._ + 'Tis weak in mortals to attempt to join + To transient being that which lasts forever. + + _Nil igitur mors est, ad nos neque pertinet hilum._ + When death is, we are not; the body dies, and with it all. + + _Mortalem tamen esse animam fatere necesse est._ + There is no future; mortal is the soul. + + _Hinc Acherusia fit stultorum denique vita._ + Hence ancient fools are superstition's prey. + +And a hundred other lines which charm all nations--the immortal +productions of a mind which believed itself to be mortal. Not only are +these Latin verses sold in the Rue St. Jacques and on the Quai des +Augustins, but you fearlessly purchase the translations made into all +the patois derived from the Latin tongue--translations decorated with +learned notes, which elucidate the doctrine of materialism, collect all +the proofs against the Divinity, and would annihilate it, if it could be +destroyed. You find this book, bound in morocco, in the fine library of +a great and devout prince, of a cardinal, of a chancellor, of an +archbishop, of a round-capped president: but the first eighteen books of +de Thou were condemned as soon as they appeared. A poor Gallic +philosopher ventures to publish, in his own name, that if men had been +born without fingers, they would never have been able to work tapestry; +and immediately another Gaul, who for his money has obtained a robe of +office, requires that the book and the author be burned. + +Why are scenic exhibitions anathematized by certain persons who call +themselves of the first order in the state, seeing that such exhibitions +are necessary to all the orders of the state, and that the laws of the +state uphold them with equal splendor and regularity? + +Why do we abandon to contempt, debasement, oppression, and rapine, the +great mass of those laborious and harmless men who cultivate the earth +every day of the year, that we may eat of all its fruits? And why, on +the contrary, do we pay respect, attention, and court, to the useless +and often very wicked man who lives only by their labor, and is rich +only by their misery? + +Why, during so many ages, among so many men who sow the corn with which +we are fed, has there been no one to discover that ridiculous error +which teaches that the grain must rot in order to germinate, and die to +spring up again--an error which has led to many impertinent assertions, +to many false comparisons, and to many ridiculous opinions? + +Why, since the fruits of the earth are so necessary for the preservation +of men and animals, do we find so many years, and so many centuries, in +which these fruits are absolutely wanting? why is the earth covered with +poisons in the half of Africa and of America? why is there no tract of +land where there are not more insects than men? why does a little +whitish and offensive secretion form a being which will have hard bones, +desires, and thoughts? and why shall those beings be constantly +persecuting one another? why does there exist so much evil, everything +being formed by a God whom all Theists agree in calling good? why, since +we are always complaining of our ills, are we constantly employed in +redoubling them? why, since we are so miserable, has it been imagined +that to die is an evil--when it is clear that not to have been, before +our birth, was no evil? why does it rain every day into the sea, while +so many deserts demand rain, yet are constantly arid? why and how have +we dreams in our sleep, if we have no soul? and if we have one, how is +it that these dreams are always so incoherent and so extravagant? why do +the heavens revolve from east to west, rather than the contrary way? why +do we exist? why does anything exist? + + + + +WICKED. + + +We are told that human nature is essentially perverse; that man is born +a child of the devil, and wicked. Nothing can be more injudicious; for +thou, my friend, who preachest to me that all the world is born +perverse, warnest me that thou art born such also, and that I must +mistrust thee as I would a fox or a crocodile. Oh, no! sayest thou; I am +regenerated; I am neither a heretic nor an infidel; you may trust in me. +But the rest of mankind, which are either heretic, or what thou callest +infidel, will be an assemblage of monsters, and every time that thou +speakest to a Lutheran or a Turk, thou mayest be sure that they will rob +and murder thee, for they are children of the devil, they are born +wicked; the one is not regenerated, the other is degenerated. It would +be much more reasonable, much more noble, to say to men: "You are all +born good; see how dreadful it is to corrupt the purity of your being. +All mankind should be dealt with as are all men individually." If a +canon leads a scandalous life, we say to him: "Is it possible that you +would dishonor the dignity of canon?" We remind a lawyer that he has the +honor of being a counsellor to the king, and that he should set an +example. We say to a soldier to encourage him: "Remember that thou art +of the regiment of Champagne." We should say to every individual: +"Remember thy dignity as a man." + +And indeed, notwithstanding the contrary theory, we always return to +that; for what else signifies the expression, so frequently used in all +nations: "Be yourself again?" If we are born of the devil, if our origin +was criminal, if our blood was formed of an infernal liquor, this +expression: "Be yourself again," would signify: "Consult, follow your +diabolical nature; be an impostor, thief, and assassin; it is the law of +your nature." + +Man is not born wicked; he becomes so, as he becomes sick. Physicians +present themselves and say to him: "You are born sick." It is very +certain these doctors, whatever they may say or do, will not cure him, +if the malady is inherent in his nature; besides, these reasoners are +often very ailing themselves. + +Assemble all the children of the universe; you will see in them only +innocence, mildness, and fear; if they were born wicked, mischievous, +and cruel, they would show some signs of it, as little serpents try to +bite, and little tigers to tear. But nature not having given to men more +offensive arms than to pigeons and rabbits, she cannot have given them +an instinct leading them to destroy. + +Man, therefore, is not born bad; why, therefore, are several infected +with the plague of wickedness? It is, that those who are at their head +being taken with the malady, communicate it to the rest of men: as a +woman attacked with the distemper which Christopher Columbus brought +from America, spreads the venom from one end of Europe to the other. + +The first ambitious man corrupted the earth. You will tell me that this +first monster has sowed the seed of pride, rapine, fraud, and cruelty, +which is in all men. I confess, that in general most of our brethren can +acquire these qualities; but has everybody the putrid fever, the stone +and gravel, because everybody is exposed to it? + +There are whole nations which are not wicked: the Philadelphians, the +Banians, have never killed any one. The Chinese, the people of Tonquin, +Lao, Siam, and even Japan, for more than a hundred years have not been +acquainted with war. In ten years we scarcely see one of those great +crimes which astonish human nature in the cities of Rome, Venice, Paris, +London, and Amsterdam; towns in which cupidity, the mother of all +crimes, is extreme. + +If men were essentially wicked--if they were all born submissive to a +being as mischievous as unfortunate, who, to revenge himself for his +punishment, inspired them with all his passions--we should every morning +see husbands assassinated by their wives, and fathers by their children; +as at break of day we see fowls strangled by a weasel who comes to suck +their blood. + +If there be a thousand millions of men on the earth, that is much; that +gives about five hundred millions of women, who sew, spin, nourish their +little ones, keep their houses or cabins in order, and slander their +neighbors a little. I see not what great harm these poor innocents do on +earth. Of this number of inhabitants of the globe, there are at least +two hundred millions of children, who certainly neither kill nor steal, +and about as many old people and invalids, who have not the power of +doing so. There will remain, at most, a hundred millions of robust young +people capable of crime. Of this hundred millions, there are ninety +continually occupied in forcing the earth, by prodigious labor, to +furnish them with food and clothing; these have scarcely time. In the +ten remaining millions will be comprised idle people and good company, +who would enjoy themselves at their ease; men of talent occupied in +their professions; magistrates, priests, visibly interested in leading a +pure life, at least in appearance. Therefore, of truly wicked people, +there will only remain a few politicians, either secular or regular, who +will always trouble the world, and some thousand vagabonds who hire +their services to these politicians. Now, there is never a million of +these ferocious beasts employed at once, and in this number I reckon +highwaymen. You have therefore on the earth, in the most stormy times, +only one man in a thousand whom we can call wicked, and he is not always +so. + +There is, therefore infinitely less wickedness on the earth than we are +told and believe there is. There is still too much, no doubt; we see +misfortunes and horrible crimes; but the pleasure of complaining of and +exaggerating them is so great, that at the least scratch we say that the +earth flows with blood. Have you been deceived?--all men are perjured. A +melancholy mind which has suffered injustice, sees the earth covered +with damned people: as a young rake, supping with his lady, on coming +from the opera, imagines that there are no unfortunates. + + + + +WILL. + + +Some very subtle Greeks formerly consulted Pope Honorius I., to know +whether Jesus, when He was in the world, had one will or two, when He +would sleep or watch, eat or repair to the water-closet, walk or sit. + +"What signifies it to you?" answered the very wise bishop of Rome, +Honorius. "He has certainly at present the will for you to be +well-disposed people--that should satisfy you; He has no will for you to +be babbling sophists, to fight continually for the bishop's mitre and +the ass's shadow. I advise you to live in peace, and not to lose in +useless disputes the time which you might employ in good works." + +"Holy father, you have said well; this is the most important affair in +the world. We have already set Europe, Asia, and Africa on fire, to know +whether Jesus had two persons and one nature, or one nature and two +persons, or rather two persons and two natures, or rather one person and +one nature." + +"My dear brethren, you have acted wrongly; we should give broth to the +sick and bread to the poor. It is doubtless right to help the poor! but +is not the patriarch Sergius about to decide in a council at +Constantinople, that Jesus had two natures and one will? And the +emperor, who knows nothing about it, is of this opinion." + +"Well, be it so! but above all defend yourself from the Mahometans, who +box your ears every day, and who have a very bad will towards you. It is +well said! But behold the bishops of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and +Morocco, all declare firmly for the two wills. We must have an opinion; +what is yours?" + +"My opinion is, that you are madmen, who will lose the Christian +religion which we have established with so much trouble. You will do so +much mischief with your folly, that Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and +Morocco, of which you speak to me, will become Mahometan, and there will +not be a Christian chapel in Africa. Meantime, I am for the emperor and +the council, until you have another council and another emperor." + +"This does not satisfy us. Do you believe in two wills or one?" + +"Listen: if these two wills are alike, it is as if there was but one; if +they are contrary, he who has two wills at once will do two contrary +things at once, which is absurd: consequently, I am for a single will." + +"Ah, holy father, you are a monothelite! Heresy! the devil! +Excommunicate him! depose him! A council, quick! another council! +another emperor! another bishop of Rome! another patriarch!" + +"My God! how mad these poor Greeks are with all their vain and +interminable disputes! My successor will do well to dream of being +powerful and rich." + +Scarcely had Honorius uttered these words when he learned that the +emperor Heraclius was dead, after having been beaten by the Mahometans. +His widow, Martina, poisoned her son-in-law; the senate caused Martina's +tongue to be cut out, and the nose of another son of the emperor to be +slit: all the Greek Empire flowed in blood. Would it not be better not +to have disputed on the two wills? And this Pope Honorius, against whom +the Jansenists have written so much--was he not a very sensible man? + + + + +WIT, SPIRIT, INTELLECT. + + +A man who had some knowledge of the human heart, was consulted upon a +tragedy which was to be represented; and he answered, there was so much +wit in the piece, that he doubted of its success. What! you will +exclaim, is that a fault, at a time when every one is in search of +wit--when each one writes but to show that he has it--when the public +even applaud the falsest thoughts, if they are brilliant?--Yes, +doubtless, they will applaud the first day, and be wearied the second. + +What is called wit, is sometimes a new comparison, sometimes a subtle +allusion; here, it is the abuse of a word, which is presented in one +sense, and left to be understood in another; there, a delicate relation +between two ideas not very common. It is a singular metaphor; it is the +discovery of something in an object which does not at first strike the +observation, but which is really in it; it is the art either of bringing +together two things apparently remote, or of dividing two things which +seem to be united, or of opposing them to each other. It is that of +expressing only one-half of what you think, and leaving the other to be +guessed. In short, I would tell you of all the different ways of showing +wit, if I had more; but all these gems--and I do not here include the +counterfeits--are very rarely suited to a serious work--to one which is +to interest the reader. The reason is, that then the author appears, and +the public desire to see only the hero; for the hero is constantly +either in passion or in danger. Danger and the passions do not go in +search of wit. Priam and Hecuba do not compose epigrams while their +children are butchered in flaming Troy; Dido does not sigh out her soul +in madrigals, while rushing to the pile on which she is about to +immolate herself; Demosthenes makes no display of pretty thoughts while +he is inciting the Athenians to war. If he had, he would be a +rhetorician; whereas he is a statesman. + +The art of the admirable Racine is far above what is called wit; but if +Pyrrhus had always expressed himself in this style: + + _Vaincu, charge de fers, de regrets consume,_ + _Brule de plus de feux que je n'en allumai...._ + _Helas! fus-je jamais si cruel que vous l'etes?_ + + Conquered and chained, worn out by vain desire, + Scorched by more flames than I have ever lighted.... + Alas! my cruelty ne'er equalled yours! + +--if Orestes had been continually saying that the "Scythians are less +cruel than Hermione," these two personages would excite no emotion at +all; it would be perceived that true passion rarely occupies itself with +such comparisons; and that there is some disproportion between the real +flames by which Troy was consumed and the flames of Pyrrhus' +love--between the Scythians immolating men, and Hermione not loving +Orestes. Cinna says, speaking of Pompey: + + _Le ciel choisit sa mort, pour servir dignement_ + _D'une marque eternelle a ce grand changement;_ + _Et devait cette gloire aux manes d'un tel homme,_ + _D'emporter avec eux la liberte de Rome._ + + Heaven chose the death of such a man, to be + Th' eternal landmark of this mighty change. + His manes called for no less offering + Than Roman liberty. + +This thought is very brilliant; there is much wit in it, as also an air +of imposing grandeur. I am sure that these lines, pronounced with all +the enthusiasm and art of a great actor, will be applauded; but I am +also sure that the play of "Cinna," had it been written entirely in this +taste, would never have been long played. Why, indeed, was heaven bound +to do Pompey the honor of making the Romans slaves after his death? The +contrary would be truer: the manes of Pompey should rather have +obtained from heaven the everlasting maintenance of that liberty for +which he is supposed to have fought and died. + +What, then, would any work be which should be full of such far-fetched +and questionable thoughts? How much superior to all these brilliant +ideas are those simple and natural lines: + + _Cinna, tu t'en souviens, et veux m'assassiner!_ + --CINNA, act v, scene i. + Thou dost remember, Cinna, yet wouldst kill me + + _Soyons amis, Cinna; c'est moi qui t'en convie._ + --ID., act v, scene iii. + Let us be friends, Cinna; 'tis I who ask it. + +True beauty consists, not in what is called wit, but in sublimity and +simplicity. Let Antiochus, in "Rodogune," say of his mistress, who quits +him, after disgracefully proposing to him to kill his mother: + + _Elle fuit, mais en Parthe, en nous percant le coeur._ + + She flies, but, like the Parthian, flying, wounds. + +Antiochus has wit; he makes an epigram against Rodogune; he ingeniously +likens her last words in going away, to the arrows which the Parthians +used to discharge in their flight. But it is not because his mistress +goes away, that the proposal to kill his mother is revolting: whether +she goes or stays, the heart of Antiochus is equally wounded. The +epigram, therefore, is false; and if Rodogune did not go away, this bad +epigram could not be retained. + +I select these examples expressly from the best authors, in order that +they may be the more striking. I do not lay hold of those puns which +play upon words, the false taste of which is felt by all. There is no +one that does not laugh when, in the tragedy of the "Golden Fleece," +Hypsipyle says to Medea, alluding to her sorceries: + + _Je n'ai que des attraits, et vous avez des charmes._ + + I have attractions only, you have charms. + +Corneille found the stage and every other department of literature +infested with these puerilities, into which he rarely fell. + +I wish here to speak only of such strokes of wit as would be admitted +elsewhere, and as the serious style rejects. To their authors might be +applied the sentence of Plutarch, translated with the happy naivete of +Amiot: "_Tu tiens sans propos beaucoup de bons propos_." + +There occurs to my recollection one of those brilliant passages, which I +have seen quoted as a model in many works of taste, and even in the +treatise on studies by the late M. Rollin. This piece is taken from the +fine funeral oration on the great Turenne, composed by Flechier. It is +true, that in this oration Flechier almost equalled the sublime Bossuet, +whom I have called and still call the only eloquent man among so many +elegant writers; but it appears to me that the passage of which I am +speaking would not have been employed by the bishop of Meaux. Here it +is: + +"Ye powers hostile to France, you live; and the spirit of Christian +charity forbids me to wish your death.... but you live; and I mourn in +this pulpit over a virtuous leader, whose intentions were pure...." + +An apostrophe in this taste would have been suitable to Rome in the +civil war, after the assassination of Pompey; or to London, after the +murder of Charles I.; because the interests of Pompey and Charles I. +were really in question. But is it decent to insinuate in the pulpit a +wish for the death of the emperor, the king of Spain, and the electors, +and put in the balance against them the commander-in-chief employed by a +king who was their enemy? Should the intentions of a leader--which can +only be to serve his prince--be compared with the political interests of +the crowned heads against whom he served? What would be said of a German +who should have wished for the death of the king of France, on the +occasion of the death of General Merci, "whose intentions were pure"? +Why, then, has this passage always been praised by the rhetoricians? +Because the figure is in itself beautiful and pathetic; but they do not +thoroughly investigate the fitness of the thought. + +I now return to my paradox; that none of those glittering ornaments, to +which we give the name of wit, should find a place in great works +designed to instruct or to move the passions. I will even say that they +ought to be banished from the opera. Music expresses passions, +sentiments, images; but where are the notes that can render an epigram? +Quinault was sometimes negligent, but he was always natural. + +Of all our operas, that which is the most ornamented, or rather the most +overloaded, with this epigrammatic spirit, is the ballet of the "Triumph +of the Arts," composed by an amiable man, who always thought with +subtlety, and expressed himself with delicacy; but who, by the abuse of +this talent, contributed a little to the decline of letters after the +glorious era of Louis XIV. In this ballet, in which Pygmalion animates +his statue, he says to it: + + _Vos premiers mouvemens ont ete de m'aimer._ + + And love for me your earliest movements showed. + +I remember to have heard this line admired by some persons in my youth. +But who does not perceive that the movements of the body of the statue +are here confounded with the movements of the heart, and that in any +sense the phrase is not French--that it is, in fact, a pun, a jest? How +could it be that a man who had so much wit, had not enough to retrench +these egregious faults? This same man--who, despising Homer, translated +him; who, in translating him, thought to correct him, and by abridging +him, thought to make him read--had a mind to make Homer a wit. It is he +who, when Achilles reappears, reconciled to the Greeks who are ready to +avenge him, makes the whole camp exclaim: + + _Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-meme._ + + What shall oppose him, conqueror of himself? + +A man must indeed be fond of witticisms, when he makes fifty thousand +men pun all at once upon the same word. + +This play of the imagination, these quips, these cranks, these random +shafts, these gayeties, these little broken sentences, these ingenious +familiarities, which it is now the fashion to lavish so profusely, are +befitting no works but those of pure amusement. The front of the Louvre, +by Perrault, is simple and majestic; minute ornaments may appear with +grace in a cabinet. Have as much wit as you will, or as you can, in a +madrigal, in light verses, in a scene of a comedy, when it is to be +neither impassioned nor simple, in a compliment, in a "novellette," or +in a letter, where you assume gayety yourself in order to communicate it +to your friends. + +Far from having reproached Voiture with having wit in his letters, I +found, on the contrary, that he had not enough, although he was +constantly seeking it. It is said that dancing-masters make their bow +ill, because they are anxious to make it too well. I thought this was +often the case with Voiture; his best letters are studied; you feel that +he is fatiguing himself to find that which presents itself so naturally +to Count Anthony Hamilton, to Madame de Sevigne, and to so many other +women, who write these trifles without an effort, better than Voiture +wrote them with labor. Despreaux, who in his first satires had ventured +to compare Voiture to Horace, changed his opinion when his taste was +ripened by age. I know that it matters very little, in the affairs of +this world, whether Voiture was or was not a great genius; whether he +wrote only a few pretty letters, or that all his pieces of pleasantry +were models. But we, who cultivate and love the liberal arts, cast an +attentive eye on what is quite indifferent to the rest of the world. +Good taste is to us in literature what it is to women in dress; and +provided that one's opinions shall not be made a party matter, it +appears to me that one may boldly say, that there are but few excellent +things in Voiture, and that Marot might easily be reduced to a few +pages. + +Not that we wish to take from them their reputation; on the contrary, we +wish to ascertain precisely what that reputation cost them, and what are +the real beauties for which their defects have been tolerated. We must +know what we are to follow, and what we are to avoid; this is the real +fruit of the profound study of the belles-lettres; this is what Horace +did when he examined Lucilius critically. Horace made himself enemies +thereby; but he enlightened his enemies themselves. + +This desire of shining and of saying in a novel manner what has been +said by others, is a source of new expressions as well as far-fetched +thoughts. He who cannot shine by thought, seeks to bring himself into +notice by a word. Hence it has at last been thought proper to +substitute "_amabilites_," for "_agremens_"; "_negligemment_" for "_avec +negligence_"; "_badiner les amours_," for "_badiner avec les amours_." +There are numberless other affectations of this kind; and if this be +continued, the language of Bossuet, of Racine, of Corneille, of Boileau, +of Fenelon, will soon be obsolete. Why avoid an expression which is in +use, to introduce another which says precisely the same thing? A new +word is pardonable only when it is absolutely necessary, intelligible, +and sonorous. In physical science, we are obliged to make them; a new +discovery, a new machine, requires a new word. But do we make any new +discoveries in the human heart? Is there any other greatness than that +of Corneille and Bossuet? Are there any other passions than those which +have been delineated by Racine, and sketched by Quinault? Is there any +other gospel morality than that of Bourdaloue? + +They who charge our language with not being sufficiently copious, must +indeed have found sterility somewhere, but it is in themselves. "_Rem +verba sequuntur_." When an idea is forcibly impressed on the mind--when +a clear and vigorous head is in full possession of its thought--it +issues from the brain, arrayed in suitable expressions, as Minerva came +forth in full armor to wait upon Jupiter. In fine, the conclusion from +this is that neither thoughts nor expressions should be far-fetched; and +that the art, in all great works, is to reason well, without entering +into too many arguments; to paint well, without striving to paint +everything; and to be affecting, without striving constantly to excite +passions. Certes, I am here giving fine counsel. Have I taken it myself? +Alas! no! + + _Pauci quos aequus amavit_ + _Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad aethera virtus,_ + _Dis geniti potuere._--AENEID, b. vi, v. 129. + + To few great Jupiter imparts this grace, + And those of shining worth and heavenly race. + --DRYDEN. + + +SECTION II. + +_Spirit--Wit._ + +The word "spirit," when it signifies "a quality of the mind," is one of +those vague terms to which almost every one who pronounces it attaches a +different sense; it expresses some other thing than judgment, genius, +taste, talent, penetration, comprehensiveness, grace, or subtlety, yet +is akin to all these merits; it might be defined to be "ingenious +reason." + +It is a generic word, which always needs another word to determine it; +and when we hear it said: "This is a work of spirit," or "He is a man of +spirit," we have very good reason to ask: "Spirit of what?" The sublime +spirit of Corneille is neither the exact spirit of Boileau, nor the +simple spirit of La Fontaine; and the spirit of La Bruyere, which is the +art of portraying singularity, is not that of Malebranche, which is +imaginative and profound. + +When a man is said to have "a judicious spirit," the meaning is, not so +much that he has what is called spirit, as that he has an enlightened +reason. A spirit firm, masculine, courageous, great, little, weak, +light, mild, hasty, etc., signifies the character and temper of the +mind, and has no relation to what is understood in society by the +expression "spirited." + +Spirit, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, is much akin to wit; +yet does not signify precisely the same thing; for the term, "man of +spirit," can never be taken in a bad sense; but that of "a wit," is +sometimes pronounced ironically. + +Whence this difference? It is that "a man of spirit" does not signify +"superior wit," "marked talent"; and "a wit" does. This expression, "man +of spirit," announces no pretensions; but "wit" is a sort of +advertisement; it is an art which requires cultivation; it is a sort of +profession; and thereby exposes to envy and ridicule. + +In this sense, Father Bouhours would have been right in giving us to +understand that the Germans had no pretensions to wit; for at that time +their learned men occupied themselves in scarcely any works but those of +labor and painful research, which did not admit of their scattering +flowers, of their striving to shine, and mixing up wit with learning. + +They who despise the genius of Aristotle should, instead of contenting +themselves with condemning his physics--which could not be good, +inasmuch as they wanted experiments--be much astonished to find that +Aristotle, in his rhetoric, taught perfectly the art of saying things +with spirit. He states that this art consists in not merely using the +proper word, which says nothing new; but that a metaphor must be +employed--a figure, the sense of which is clear, and its expression +energetic. Of this, he adduces several instances; and, among others, +what Pericles said of a battle in which the flower of the Athenian youth +had perished: "The year has been stripped of its spring." + +Aristotle is very right in saying that novelty is necessary. The first +person who, to express that pleasures are mingled with bitterness, +likened them to roses accompanied by thorns, had wit; they who repeated +it had none. + +Spirited expression does not always consist in a metaphor; but also in a +new term--in leaving one half of one's thoughts to be easily divined; +this is called "subtleness," "delicacy"; and this manner is the more +pleasing, as it exercises and gives scope for the wit of others. + +Allusions, allegories, and comparisons, open a vast field for ingenious +thoughts. The effects of nature, fable, history, presented to the +memory, furnish a happy imagination with materials of which it makes a +suitable use. + +It will not be useless to give examples in these different kinds. The +following is a madrigal by M. de la Sabliere, which has always been held +in high estimation by people of taste: + + _Egle tremble que, dans ce jour,_ + _L'Hymen, plus puissant que l'Amour,_ + _N'enleve ses tresors, sans quelle ose s'en plaindre_ + _Elle a neglige mes avis;_ + _Si la belle les eut suivis,_ + _Elle n'aurait plus rien a craindre._ + + Weeping, murmuring, complaining, + Lost to every gay delight, + Mira, too sincere for feigning, + Fears th' approaching bridal night. + + Yet why impair thy bright perfection, + Or dim thy beauty with a tear? + Had Mira followed my direction, + She long had wanted cause of fear.--GOLDSMITH. + +It does not appear that the author could either better have masked, or +better have conveyed, the meaning which he was afraid to express. The +following madrigal seems more brilliant and more pleasing; it is an +allusion to fable: + + _Vous etes belle, et votre soeur est belle;_ + _Entre vous deux tout choix serait bien doux_ + _L'Amour etait blonde comme vous,_ + _Mais il amait une brune comme elle._ + + You are a beauty, and your sister, too; + In choosing 'twixt you, then, we cannot err; + Love, to be sure, was fair like you; + But, then, he courted a brunette like her. + +There is another, and a very old one. It is by Bertaut, bishop of Seez, +and seems superior to the two former; it unites wit and feeling: + + _Quand je revis ce que j'ai tant aime,_ + _Pen s'en fallut que mon coeur rallume_ + _N'en fit le charme en mon ame renaitre;_ + _Et que mon coeur, autrefois son captif,_ + _Ne ressemblat l'esclave fugitif,_ + _A qui le sort fit recontrer son maitre._ + + When I beheld again the once-loved form, + Again within my heart the rising storm + Had nearly cast the spell around my soul, + Which erst had bound me captive at her feet, + As some poor slave, escaped from rude control, + His master's dreaded face may haply meet. + +Strokes like these please every one, and characterize the delicate +spirit of an ingenious nation. The great point is to know how far this +spirit is admissible. It is clear that, in great works, it should be +employed with moderation, for this very reason, that it is an ornament. +The great art consists in propriety. + +A subtle, ingenious thought, a just and flowery comparison, is a defect +when only reason or passion should speak, or when great interests are to +be discussed. This is not false wit, but misplaced; and every beauty, +when out of its place, is a beauty no longer. + +This is a fault of which Virgil was never guilty, and with which Tasso +may now and then be charged, admirable as he otherwise is. The cause of +it is that the author, too full of his own ideas, wishes to show +himself, when he should only show his personages. + +The best way of learning the use that should be made of wit, is to read +the few good works of genius which are to be found in the learned +languages and in our own. False wit is not the same as misplaced wit. It +is not merely a false thought, for a thought might be false without +being ingenious; it is a thought at once false and elaborate. + +It has already been remarked that a man of great wit, who translated, or +rather abridged Homer into French verse, thought to embellish that poet, +whose simplicity forms his character, by loading him with ornaments. On +the subject of the reconciliation of Achilles, he says: + + _Tout le camp s'ecria dans une joie extreme,_ + _Que ne vaincra-t-il point? Il s'est vaincu lui-meme._ + + Cried the whole camp, with overflowing joy-- + What still resist him? He's o'ercome himself. + +In the first place it does not at all follow, because one has overcome +one's anger, that one shall not be beaten. Secondly, is it possible that +a whole army should, by some sudden inspiration, make instantaneously +the same pun? + +If this fault shocks all judges of severe taste, how revolting must be +all those forced witticisms, those intricate and puzzling thoughts, +which abound in otherwise valuable writings! Is it to be endured, that +in a work of mathematics it should be said: "If Saturn should one day be +missing, his place would be taken by one of the remotest of his +satellites; for great lords always keep their successors at a distance?" +Is it endurable to talk of Hercules being acquainted with physics, and +that it is impossible to resist a philosopher of such force? Such are +the excesses into which we are led by the thirst for shining and +surprising by novelty. This petty vanity has produced verbal witticisms +in all languages, which is the worst species of false wit. + +False taste differs from false wit, for the latter is always an +affectation--an effort to do wrong; whereas the former is often a habit +of doing wrong without effort, and following instinctively an +established bad example. + +The intemperance and incoherence of the imaginations of the Orientals, +is a false taste; but it is rather a want of wit than an abuse of it. +Stars falling, mountains opening, rivers rolling back, sun and moon +dissolving, false and gigantic similes, continual violence to nature, +are the characteristics of these writers; because in those countries +where there has never been any public speaking, true eloquence cannot +have been cultivated; and because it is much easier to write fustian +than to write that which is just, refined, and delicate. + +False wit is precisely the reverse of these trivial and inflated ideas; +it is a tiresome search after subtleties, an affectation of saying +enigmatically what others have said naturally; or bringing together +ideas which appear incompatible; of dividing what ought to be united; of +laying hold on false affinities; of mixing, contrary to decency, the +trifling with the serious, and the petty with the grand. + +It were here a superfluous task to string together quotations in which +the word spirit is to be found. We shall content ourselves with +examining one from Boileau, which is given in the great dictionary of +Trevoux: "It is a property of great spirits, when they begin to grow old +and decay, to be pleased with stories and fables." This reflection is +not just. A great spirit may fall into this weakness, but it is no +property of great spirits. Nothing is more calculated to mislead the +young than the quoting of faults of good writers as examples. + +We must not here forget to mention in how many different senses the word +"spirit" is employed. This is not a defect of language; on the contrary, +it is an advantage to have roots which ramify into so many branches. + +"Spirit of a body," "of a society," is used to express the customs, the +peculiar language and conduct, the prejudices of a body. "Spirit of +party," is to the "spirit of a body," what the passions are to ordinary +sentiments. + +"Spirit of a law," is used to designate its intention; in this sense it +has been said: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." "Spirit +of a work," to denote its character and object. "Spirit of revenge," to +signify desire and intention of taking revenge. "Spirit of discord," +"spirit of revolt," etc. + +In one dictionary has been quoted "spirit of politeness"; but from an +author named Bellegarde, who is no authority. Both authors and examples +should be selected with scrupulous caution. We cannot say "spirit of +politeness," as we say "spirit of revenge," of "dissension," of +"faction"; for politeness is not a passion animated by a powerful motive +which prompts it, and which is metaphorically called spirit. + +"Familiar spirit," is used in another sense, and signifies those +intermediate beings, those genii, those demons, believed in by the +ancients; as the "spirit of Socrates," etc. + +Spirit sometimes denotes the more subtle part of matter; we say, +"animal spirits," "vital spirits," to signify that which has never been +seen, but which gives motion and life. These spirits, which are thought +to flow rapidly through the nerves, are probably a subtile fire. Dr. +Mead is the first who seems to have given proofs of this, in his +treatise on poisons. Spirit, in chemistry, too, is a term which receives +various acceptations, but always denotes the more subtile part of +matter. + + +SECTION III. + +_Spirit._ + +Is not this word a striking proof of the imperfection of languages; of +the chaos in which they still are, and the chance which has directed +almost all our conceptions? It pleased the Greeks, as well as other +nations, to give the name of wind, breath--"_pneuma_"--to that which +they vaguely understand by respiration, life, soul. So that, among the +ancients, soul and wind were, in one sense, the same thing; and if we +were to say that man is a pneumatic machine, we should only translate +the language of the Greeks. The Latins imitated them, and used the word +"_spiritus_," spirit, breath. "_Anima_" and "_spiritus_" were the same +thing. + +The "_rouhak_" of the Phoenicians, and, as it is said, of the +Chaldaeans likewise, signified breath and wind. When the Bible was +translated into Latin, the words, breath, spirit, wind, soul, were +always used differently. "_Spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas_"--the +breath of God--the spirit of God--was borne on the waters. + +"_Spiritus vitae_"--the breath of life--the soul of life. "_Inspiravit in +faciem ejus spiraculum_" or "_spiritum vitae_"--And he breathed upon his +face the breath of life; and, according to the Hebrew, he breathed into +his nostrils the breath, the spirit, of life. + +"_Haec quum dixisset, insufflavit et dixit eis, accipite spiritum +sanctum_"--Having spoken these words, he breathed on them, and said: +Receive ye the holy breath--the holy spirit. + +"_Spiritus ubi vult spirat, et vocem ejus audis; sed nescis unde +veniat_"--The spirit, the wind, breathes where it will, and thou hearest +its voice (sound); but thou knowest not whence it comes. + +The distance is somewhat considerable between this and our pamphlets of +the Quay des Augustins and the Pont-neuf, entitled, "Spirit of +Marivaux," "Spirit of Desfontaines," etc. + +What we commonly understand in French by "_esprit_," "_bel-esprit_," +"_trait d'esprit_," are--ingenious thoughts. No other nation has made +the same use of the word "_spiritus_." The Latins said "_ingenium_"; the +Greeks, "_eupheuia_"; or they employed adjectives. The Spaniards say +"_agudo_," "_agudeza_." The Italians commonly use the term "_ingegno_." + +The English make use of the words "wit," "witty," the etymology of which +is good; for "witty" formerly signified "wise." The Germans say +"_verstaendig_"; and when they mean to express ingenious, lively, +agreeable thoughts, they say "rich in sensations"--"_sinnreich_." Hence +it is that the English, who have retained many of the expressions of the +ancient Germanic and French tongue, say, "sensible man." Thus almost all +the words that express ideas of the understanding are metaphors. + +"_Ingegno_," "_ingenium_," comes from "that which generates"; +"_agudeza_," from "that which is pointed"; "_sinnreich_," from +"sensations"; "spirit," from "wind"; and "wit," from "wisdom." + +In every language, the word that answers to spirit in general is of +several kinds; and when you are told that such a one is a "man of +spirit," you have a right to ask: Of what spirit? + +Girard, in his useful book of definitions, entitled "French Synonymes," +thus concludes: "In our intercourse with women, it is necessary to have +wit, or a jargon which has the appearance of it. (This is not doing them +honor; they deserve better.) Understanding is in demand with politicians +and courtiers." It seems to me that understanding is necessary +everywhere, and that it is very extraordinary to hear of understanding +in demand. + +"Genius is proper with people of project and expense." Either I am +mistaken, or the genius of Corneille was made for all spectators--the +genius of Bossuet for all auditors--yet more than for people of +expense. + +The wind, which answers to "_Spiritus_,"--spirit, wind, +breath--necessarily giving to all nations the idea of air, they all +supposed that our faculty of thinking and acting--that which animates +us--is air; whence our "souls are a subtile air." Hence, manes, spirits, +ghosts, shades, are composed of air. + +Hence we used to say, not long ago, "A 'spirit' has appeared to him; he +has a 'familiar spirit;' that castle is haunted by 'spirits;'" and the +populace say so still. + +The word "_spiritus_" has hardly ever been used in this sense, except in +the translations of the Hebrew books into bad Latin. + +"_Manes_," "_umbra_," "_simulacra_," are the expressions of Cicero and +Virgil. The Germans say, "_geist_"; the English, "ghost"; the Spaniards, +"_duende_," "_trasgo_"; the Italians appear to have no term signifying +ghost. The French alone have made use of the word "spirit" (esprit). The +words for all nations should be, "phantom," "imagination," "reverie," +"folly," "knavery." + + +SECTION IV. + +_Wit._ + +When a nation is beginning to emerge from barbarism, it strives to show +what we call wit. Thus, in the first attempts made in the time of +Francis I., we find in Marot such puns, plays on words, as would now be +intolerable. + + _Remorentin la parte rememore:_ + _Cognac s'en cogne en sa poitrine bleme,_ + _Anjou faict jou, Angouleme est de meme._ + +These fine ideas are not such as at once present themselves to express +the grief of nations. Many instances of this depraved taste might be +adduced; but we shall content ourselves with this, which is the most +striking of all. + +In the second era of the human mind in France--in the time of Balzac, +Mairet, Rotrou, Corneille--applause was given to every thought that +surprised by new images, which were called "wit." These lines of the +tragedy of "Pyramus" were very well received: + + _Ah! voici le poignard qui du sang de son maitre_ + _Sest souille lachement; il en rougit, le traitre!_ + + Behold the dagger which has basely drunk + Its master's blood! See how the traitor blushes! + +There was thought to be great art in giving feeling to this dagger, in +making it red with shame at being stained with the blood of Pyramus, as +much as with the blood itself. No one exclaimed against Corneille, when, +in his tragedy of "Andromeda," Phineus says to the sun: + + _Tu luis, soleil, et ta lumiere_ + _Semble se plaire a m'affliger._ + _Ah! mon amour te va bien obliger_ + _A quitter soudain ta carriere._ + _Viens, soleil, viens voir la beaute,_ + _Dont le divin eclat me dompte,_ + _Et tu fuiras de honte_ + _D'avoir moins de clarte._ + + O sun, thou shinest, and thy light + Seems to take pleasure in my woe; + But soon my love shall shame thee quite, + And be thy glory's overthrow. + Come, come, O sun, and view the face + Whose heavenly splendor I adore; + Then wilt thou flee apace, + And show thy own no more. + +The sun flying because he is not so bright as Andromeda's face, is not +at all inferior to the blushing dagger. If such foolish sallies as these +found favor with a public whose taste it has been so difficult to form, +we cannot be surprised that strokes of wit, in which some glimmering of +beauty is discernible, should have had these charms. + +Not only was this translation from the Spanish admired: + + _Ce sang qui, tout verse, fume encor de courroux,_ + _De se voir repandu pour d'autres que pour vous._ + --CID, act ii, sc. 9. + + This blood, still foaming with indignant rage, + That it was shed for others, not for you;-- + +not only was there thought to be a very spirited refinement in the line +of Hypsipyle to Medea, in the "Golden Fleece": "I have attractions only; +you have charms;" but it was not perceived--and few connoisseurs +perceive it yet--that in the imposing part of Cornelia, the author +almost continually puts wit where grief alone was required. This woman, +whose husband has just been assassinated, begins her studied speech to +Caesar with a "for": + + _Cesar, car le destin que dans tes fers je brave_ + _M'a fait ta prisonniere, et non pas ton esclave;_ + _Et tu ne pretends pas qu'il m'abatte le coeur._ + _Jusqu'a te rendre hommage et te nommer seigneur._ + --MORT DE POMPEE, act iii, sc. 4. + + Caesar, + For the hard fate that binds me in thy chains, + Makes me thy prisoner, but not thy slave; + Nor wouldst thou have it so subdue my heart + That I should call thee lord and do thee homage. + +Thus she breaks off, at the very first word, in order to say that +which is at once far-fetched and false. Never was the wife of one Roman +citizen the slave of another Roman citizen: never was any Roman called +lord; and this word "lord" is, with us, nothing more than a term of +honor and ceremony, used on the stage. + + _Fille de Scipion, et, pour dire encor plus,_ + _Romaine, mon courage est encore au-dessus._--ID. + + Daughter of Scipio, and, yet more, of Rome, + Still does my courage rise above my fate. + + +[Illustration: PIERRE CORNEILLE] + + +Besides the defect so common to all Corneille's heroes, of thus +announcing themselves--of saying, I am great, I am courageous, admire +me--here is the very reprehensible affectation of talking of her birth, +when the head of Pompey has just been presented to Caesar. Real +affliction expresses itself otherwise. Grief does not seek after a "yet +more." And what is worse, while she is striving to say "yet more," she +says much less. To be a daughter of Rome is indubitably less than to be +daughter of Scipio and wife of Pompey. The infamous Septimius, who +assassinated Pompey, was Roman as well as she. Thousands of Romans were +very ordinary men: but to be daughter and wife to the greatest of +Romans, was a real superiority. In this speech, then, there is false and +misplaced wit, as well as false and misplaced greatness. + +She then says, after Lucan, that she ought to blush that she is alive: + + _Je dois rougir, partout, apres un tel malheur,_ + _De n'avoir pu mourir d'un exces de douleur._--ID. + + However, after such a great calamity, + I ought to blush I am not dead of grief. + +Lucan, after the brilliant Augustan age, went in search of wit, because +decay was commencing; and the writers of the age of Louis XIV. at first +sought to display wit, because good taste was not then completely found, +as it afterwards was. + + _Cesar, de ta victoire ecoute moins le bruit;_ + _Elle n'est que l'effet du malheur qui me suit._--ID. + + Caesar, rejoice not in thy victory; + For my misfortune was its only cause. + +What a poor artifice! what a false as well as impudent notion! Caesar +conquered at Pharsalia only because Pompey married Cornelia! What labor +to say that which is neither true, nor likely, nor fit, nor interesting! + + _Deux fois du monde entier j'ai cause la disgrace._--ID. + + Twice have I caused the living world's disgrace. + + +This is the "_bis nocui mundo_" of Lucan. This +line presents us with a very great idea; it cannot +fail to surprise; it is wanting in nothing but truth. +But it must be observed, that if this line had but +the smallest ray of verisimilitude--had it really its +birth in the pangs of grief, it would then have all +the truth, all the beauty, of theatrical fitness: + + _Heureuse en mes malheurs, si ce triste hymenee_ + _Pour le bonheur du monde a Rome m'eut donnee_ + _Et si j'eusse avec moi porte dans ta maison._ + _D'un astre envenime l'invincible poison!_ + _Car enfin n'attends pas que j'abaisse ma haine:_ + _Je te l'ai deja dit, Cesar, je suis Romaine;_ + _Et, quoique ta captive, un coeur tel que le mien,_ + _De peur de s'oublier, ne te demande rien._--ID. + + Yet happy in my woes, had these sad nuptials + Given me to Caesar for the good of Rome; + Had I but carried with me to thy house + The mortal venom of a noxious star! + For think not, after all, my hate is less: + Already have I told thee I am a Roman; + And, though thy captive, such a heart as mine, + Lest it forget itself, will sue for nothing. + +This is Lucan again. She wishes, in the "Pharsalia," that she had +married Caesar. + + _Atque utinam in thalamis invisi Caesaris essem_ + _Infelix conjux, et nulli laeta marito!_ + --_Lib._, viii, v. 88, 89. + + Ah! wherefore was I not much rather led + A fatal bride to Caesar's hated bed, etc. + --ROWE. + + +This sentiment is not in nature; it is at once gigantic and puerile: but +at least it is not to Caesar that Cornelia talks thus in Lucan. +Corneille, on the contrary, makes Cornelia speak to Caesar himself: he +makes her say that she wishes to be his wife, in order that she may +carry into his house "the mortal poison of a noxious star"; for, adds +she, my hatred cannot be abated, and I have told thee already that I am +a Roman, and I sue for nothing. Here is odd reasoning: I would fain have +married thee, to cause thy death; and I sue for nothing. Be it also +observed, that this widow heaps reproaches on Caesar, just after Caesar +weeps for the death of Pompey and promises to avenge it. + +It is certain, that if the author had not striven to make Cornelia +witty, he would not have been guilty of the faults which, after being so +long applauded, are now perceived. The actresses can scarcely longer +palliate them, by a studied loftiness of demeanor and an imposing +elevation of voice. + +The better to feel how much mere wit is below natural sentiment, let us +compare Cornelia with herself, where, in the same tirade, she says +things quite opposite: + + _Je dois toutefois rendre grace aux dieux_ + _De ce qu'en arrivant je trouve en ces lieux,_ + _Que Cesar y commande, et non pas Ptolemee._ + _Helas! et sous quel astre, o ciel, m'as-tu formee,_ + _Si je leur dois des voeux, de ce qu'ils ont permis,_ + _Que je recontre ici mes plus grands ennemis,_ + _Et tombe entre leurs mains, plutot qu'aux mains d'un prince_ + _Qui doit a mon epoux son trone et sa province._--ID. + + Yet have I cause to thank the gracious gods, + That Caesar here commands--not Ptolemy. + Alas! beneath what planet was I formed, + If I owe thanks for being thus permitted + Here to encounter my worst enemies + And fall into their hands, rather than those + Of him who to my husband owes his throne? + +Let us overlook the slight defects of style, and consider how mournful +and becoming is this speech; it goes to the heart: all the rest dazzles +for a moment, and then disgusts. The following natural lines charm all +readers: + + _O vous! a ma douleur objet terrible et tendre,_ + _Eternel entretien de haine et de pitie,_ + _Restes de grand Pompee, ecoutez sa moitie, etc._ + + O dreadful, tender object of my grief, + Eternal source of pity and of hate, + Ye relics of great Pompey, hear me now-- + Hear his yet living half. + +It is by such comparisons that our taste is formed, and that we learn to +admire nothing but truth in its proper place. In the same tragedy, +Cleopatra thus expresses herself to her confidante, Charmion: + + _Apprends qu'une princesse aimant sa renommee,_ + _Quand elle dit qu'elle aime, est sure d'etre aimee;_ + _Et que les plus beaux feux dont son coeur soit epris_ + _N'oseraient l'exposer aux hontes d'un mepris._ + --Act ii, sc. 1. + + Know, that a princess jealous of her fame, + When she owns love, is sure of a return; + And that the noblest flame her heart can feel, + Dares not expose her to rejection's shame. + +Charmion might answer: Madam, I know not what the noble flame of a +princess is, which dares not expose her to shame; and as for princesses +who never say they are in love, but when they are sure of being loved--I +always enact the part of confidante at the play: and at least twenty +princesses have confessed their noble flames to me, without being at all +sure of the matter, and especially the infanta in "The Cid." + +Nay, we may go further: Caesar--Caesar himself--addresses Cleopatra, only +to show off double-refined wit: + + _Mais, o Dieux! ce moment que je vous ai quittee_ + _D'un trouble bien plus grand a mon ame agitee;_ + _Et ces soins importans qui m'arrachaient de vous,_ + _Contre ma grandeur meme allumaient mon courroux;_ + _Je lui voulais du mal de m'etre si contraire;_ + _Mais je lui pardonnais, au simple souvenir_ + _Du bonheur qu'a ma flamme elle fait obtenir._ + _C'est elle, dont je tiens cette haute esperance,_ + _Qui flatte mes desirs d'une illustre apparence...._ + _C'etait, pour acquerir un droit si precieux;_ + _Que combattait partout mon bras ambitieux;_ + _Et dans Pharsale meme il a tire l'epee_ + _Plus pour le conserver que pour vaincre Pompee._ + --Act iv, sc. 3. + + But, O the moment that I quitted you, + A greater trouble came upon my soul; + And those important cares that snatched me from you + Against my very greatness moved my ire; + I hated it for thwarting my desires.... + But I have pardoned it--remembering how + At last it crowns my passion with success: + To it I owe the lofty hope which now + Flatters my view with an illustrious prospect. + 'Twas but to gain this dearest privilege, + That my ambitious arm was raised in battle; + Nor did it at Pharsalia draw the sword, + So much to conquer Pompey, as to keep + This glorious hope. + +Here, then, we have Caesar hating his greatness for having taken him away +a little while from Cleopatra; but forgiving his greatness when he +remembers that this greatness has procured him the success of his +passion. He has the lofty hope of an illustrious probability; and it was +only to acquire the dear privilege of this illustrious probability, that +his ambitious arm fought the battle of Pharsalia. + +It is said that this sort of wit, which it must be confessed is no other +than nonsense, was then the wit of the age. It is an intolerable abuse, +which Moliere proscribed in his "_Precieuses Ridicules_." + +It was of these defects, too frequent in Corneille, that La Bruyere +said: "I thought, in my early youth, that these passages were clear and +intelligible, to the actors, to the pit, and to the boxes; that their +authors themselves understood them, and that I was wrong in not +understanding them: I am undeceived." + + +SECTION V. + +In England, to express that a man has a deal of wit, they say that he +has "great parts." Whence can this phrase, which is now the astonishment +of the French, have come? From themselves. Formerly, we very commonly +used the word "parties" in this sense. "Clelia," "Cassandra," and our +other old romances, are continually telling us of the "parts" of their +heroes and heroines, which parts are their wit. And, indeed, who can +have _all_? Each of us has but his own small portion of intelligence, of +memory, of sagacity, of depth and extent of ideas, of vivacity, and of +subtlety. The word "parts" is that most fitting for a being so limited +as man. The French have let an expression escape from their dictionaries +which the English have laid hold of: the English have more than once +enriched themselves at our expense. Many philosophical writers have been +astonished that, since every one pretends to wit, no one should dare to +boast of possessing it. + +"Envy," it has been said, "permits every one to be the panegyrist of his +own probity, but not of his own wit." It allows us to be the apologists +of the one, but not of the other. And why? Because it is very necessary +to pass for an honest man, but not at all necessary to have the +reputation of a man of wit. + +The question has been started, whether all men are born with the same +mind, the same disposition for science, and if all depends on their +education, and the circumstances in which they are placed? One +philosopher, who had a right to think himself born with some +superiority, asserted that minds are equal; yet the contrary has always +been evident. Of four hundred children brought up together, under the +same masters and the same discipline, there are scarcely five or six +that make any remarkable progress. A great majority never rise above +mediocrity, and among them there are many shades of distinction. In +short, minds differ still more than faces. + + +SECTION VI. + +_Crooked or Distorted Intellect._ + +We have blind, one-eyed, cross-eyed, and squinting people--visions long, +short, clear, confused, weak, or indefatigable. All this is a faithful +image of our understanding; but we know scarcely any _false_ vision: +there are not many men who always take a cock for a horse, or a +coffeepot for a church. How is it that we often meet with minds, +otherwise judicious, which are absolutely wrong in some things of +importance? How is it that the Siamese, who will take care never to be +overreached when he has to receive three rupees, firmly believes in the +metamorphoses of Sammonocodom? By what strange whim do men of sense +resemble Don Quixote, who beheld giants where other men saw nothing but +windmills? Yet was Don Quixote more excusable than the Siamese, who +believes that Sammonocodom came several times upon earth--and the Turk, +who is persuaded that Mahomet put one-half of the moon into his sleeve? +Don Quixote, impressed with the idea that he is to fight with a giant, +may imagine that a giant must have a body as big as a mill, and arms as +long as the sails; but from what supposition can a man of sense set out +to arrive at a conclusion, that half the moon went into a sleeve, and +that a Sammonocodom came down from heaven to fly kites at Siam, to cut +down a forest, and to exhibit sleight-of-hand? + +The greatest geniuses may have their minds warped, on a principle which +they have received without examination. Newton was very wrong-headed +when he was commenting on the Apocalypse. + +All that certain tyrants of souls desire, is that the men whom they +teach may have their intellects distorted. A fakir brings up a child of +great promise; he employs five or six years in driving it into his head, +that the god Fo appeared to men in the form of a white elephant; and +persuades the child, that if he does not believe in these metamorphoses, +he will be flogged after death for five hundred thousand years. He adds, +that at the end of the world, the enemy of the god Fo will come and +fight against that divinity. + +The child studies, and becomes a prodigy; he finds that Fo could not +change himself into anything but a white elephant, because that is the +most beautiful of animals. The kings of Siam and Pegu, say he, went to +war with one another for a white elephant: certainly, had not Fo been +concealed in that elephant, these two kings would not have been so mad +as to fight for the possession of a mere animal. + +Fo's enemy will come and challenge him at the end of the world: this +enemy will certainly be a rhinoceros; for the rhinoceros fights the +elephant. Thus does the fakir's learned pupil reason in mature age, and +he becomes one of the lights of the Indies: the more subtle his +intellect, the more crooked; and he, in his turn, forms other intellects +as distorted as his own. + +Show these besotted beings a little geometry, and they learn it easily +enough; but, strange to say, this does not set them right. They perceive +the truths of geometry; but it does not teach them to weigh +probabilities: they have taken their bent; they will reason against +reason all their lives; and I am sorry for them. + +Unfortunately, there are many ways of being wrong-headed, 1. Not to +examine whether the principle is true, even when just consequences are +drawn from it; and this is very common. + +2. To draw false consequences from a principle acknowledged to be true. +For instance: a servant is asked whether his master be at home, by +persons whom he suspects of having a design against his master's life. +If he were blockhead enough to tell them the truth, on pretence that it +is wrong to tell a lie, it is clear that he would draw an absurd +consequence from a very true principle. + +The judge who should condemn a man for killing his assassin, would be +alike iniquitous, and a bad reasoner. Cases like these are subdivided +into a thousand different shades. The good mind, the judicious mind, is +that which distinguishes them. Hence it is, that there have been so many +iniquitous judgments; not because the judges were wicked in heart, but +because they were not sufficiently enlightened. + + + + +WOMEN. + +_Physical and Moral._ + +Woman is in general less strong than man, smaller, and less capable of +lasting labor. Her blood is more aqueous; her flesh less firm; her hair +longer; her limbs more rounded; her arms less muscular; her mouth +smaller; her hips more prominent; and her belly larger. These physical +points distinguish women all over the earth, and of all races, from +Lapland unto the coast of Guinea, and from America to China. + +Plutarch, in the third book of his "_Symposiacs_," pretends that wine +will not intoxicate them so easily as men; and the following is the +reason which he gives for this falsehood: + +"The temperament of women is very moist; this, with their courses, +renders their flesh so soft, smooth, and clear. When wine encounters so +much humidity, it is overcome, and it loses its color and its strength, +becoming discolored and weak. Something also may be gathered from the +reasoning of Aristotle, who observes, that they who drink great draughts +without drawing their breath, which the ancients call '_amusisein_' are +not intoxicated so soon as others; because the wine does not remain +within the body, but being forcibly taken down, passes rapidly off. Now +we generally perceive that women drink in this manner; and it is +probable that their bodies, in consequence of the continual attraction +of the humors, which are carried off in their periodical visitations, +are filled with many conduits, and furnished with numerous pipes and +channels, into which the wine disperses rapidly and easily, without +having time to affect the noble and principal parts, by the disorder of +which intoxication is produced." These physics are altogether worthy of +the ancients. + +Women live somewhat longer than men; that is to say, in a generation we +count more aged women than aged men. This fact has been observed by all +who have taken accurate accounts of births and deaths in Europe; and it +is thought that it is the same in Asia, and among the negresses, the +copper-colored, and olive-complexioned, as among the white. _"Natura est +semper sibi consona."_ + +We have elsewhere adverted to an extract from a Chinese journal, which +states, that in the year 1725, the wife of the emperor Yontchin made a +distribution among the poor women of China who had passed their +seventieth year; and that, in the province of Canton alone, there were +98,222 females aged more than seventy, 40,893 beyond eighty, and 3,453 +of about the age of a hundred. Those who advocate final causes say, that +nature grants them a longer life than men, in order to recompense them +for the trouble they take in bringing children into the world and +rearing them. It is scarcely to be imagined that nature bestows +recompenses, but it is probable that the blood of women being milder, +their fibres harden less quickly. + +No anatomist or physician has ever been able to trace the secret of +conception. Sanchez has curiously remarked: _"Mariam et spiritum sanctum +emisisse semen in copulatione, et ex semine amborum natum esse Jesum."_ +This abominable impertinence of the most knowing Sanchez is not adopted +at present by any naturalist. + +The periodical visitations which weaken females, while they endure the +maladies which arise out of their suppression, the times of gestation, +the necessity of suckling children, and of watching continually over +them, and the delicacy of their organization, render them unfit for the +fatigue of war, and the fury of the combat. It is true, as we have +already observed, that in almost all times and countries women have been +found on whom nature has bestowed extraordinary strength and courage, +who combat with men, and undergo prodigious labor; but, after all, these +examples are rare. On this point we refer to the article on "Amazons." + +Physics always govern morals. Women being weaker of body than we are, +there is more skill in their fingers, which are more supple than ours. +Little able to labor at the heavy work of masonry, carpentering, +metalling, or the plough, they are necessarily intrusted with the +lighter labors of the interior of the house, and, above all, with the +care of children. Leading a more sedentary life, they possess more +gentleness of character than men, and are less addicted to the +commission of enormous crimes--a fact so undeniable, that in all +civilized countries there are always fifty men at least executed to one +woman. + +Montesquieu, in his "Spirit of Laws," undertaking to speak of the +condition of women under divers governments, observes that "among the +Greeks women were not regarded as worthy of having any share in genuine +love; but that with them love assumed a form which is not to be named." +He cites Plutarch as his authority. + +This mistake is pardonable only in a wit like Montesquieu, always led +away by the rapidity of his ideas, which are often very indistinct. +Plutarch, in his chapter on love, introduces many interlocutors; and he +himself, in the character of Daphneus, refutes, with great animation, +the arguments of Protagenes in favor of the commerce alluded to. + +It is in the same dialogue that he goes so far as to say, that in the +love of woman there is something divine; which love he compares to the +sun, that animates nature. He places the highest happiness in conjugal +love, and concludes by an eloquent eulogium on the virtue of Epponina. +This memorable adventure passed before the eyes of Plutarch, who lived +some time in the house of Vespasian. The above heroine, learning that +her husband Sabinus, vanquished by the troops of the emperor, was +concealed in a deep cavern between Franche-Comte and Champagne, shut +herself up with him, attended on him for many years, and bore children +in that situation. Being at length taken with her husband, and brought +before Vespasian, who was astonished at her greatness of soul, she said +to him: "I have lived more happily under ground than thou in the light +of the sun, and in the enjoyment of power." Plutarch therefore asserts +directly the contrary to that which is attributed to him by Montesquieu, +and declares in favor of woman with an enthusiasm which is even +affecting. + +It is not astonishing, that in every country man has rendered himself +the master of woman, dominion being founded on strength. He has +ordinarily, too, a superiority both in body and mind. Very learned women +are to be found in the same manner as female warriors, but they are +seldom or ever inventors. + +A social and agreeable spirit usually falls to their lot; and, generally +speaking, they are adapted to soften the manners of men. In no republic +have they ever been allowed to take the least part in government; they +have never reigned in monarchies purely elective; but they may reign in +almost all the hereditary kingdoms of Europe--in Spain, Naples, and +England, in many states of the North, and in many grand fiefs which are +called "feminines." + +Custom, entitled the Salic law, has excluded them from the crown of +France; but it is not, as Mezeray remarks, in consequence of their +unfitness for governing, since they are almost always intrusted with the +regency. + +It is pretended, that Cardinal Mazarin confessed that many women were +worthy of governing a kingdom; but he added, that it was always to be +feared they would allow themselves to be subdued by lovers who were not +capable of governing a dozen pullets. Isabella in Castile, Elizabeth in +England, and Maria Theresa in Hungary, have, however, proved the falsity +of this pretended bon-mot, attributed to Cardinal Mazarin; and at this +moment we behold a legislatrix in the North as much respected as the +sovereign of Greece, of Asia Minor, of Syria, and of Egypt, is +disesteemed. + +It has been for a long time ignorantly assumed, that women are slaves +during life among the Mahometans; and that, after their death, they do +not enter paradise. These are two great errors, of a kind which popes +are continually repeating in regard to Mahometanism. Married women are +not at all slaves; and the Sura, or fourth chapter of the Koran, assigns +them a dowry. A girl is entitled to inherit one-half as much as her +brother; and if there are girls only, they divide among them two-thirds +of the inheritance; and the remainder belongs to the relations of the +deceased, whose mother also is entitled to a certain share. So little +are married women slaves, they are entitled to demand a divorce, which +is granted when their complaints are deemed lawful. + +A Mahometan is not allowed to marry his sister-in-law, his niece, his +foster-sister, or his daughter-in-law brought up under the care of his +wife. Neither is he permitted to marry two sisters; in which particular +the Mahometan law is more rigid than the Christian, as people are every +day purchasing from the court of Rome the right of contracting such +marriages, which they might as well contract gratis. + +_Polygamy._ + +Mahomet has limited the number of wives to four; but as a man must be +rich in order to maintain four wives, according to his condition, few +except great lords avail themselves of this privilege. Therefore, a +plurality of wives produces not so much injury to the Mahometan states +as we are in the habit of supposing; nor does it produce the +depopulation which so many books, written at random, are in the habit of +asserting. + +The Jews, agreeable to an ancient usage, established, according to their +books, ever since the age of Lameth, have always been allowed several +wives at a time. David had eighteen; and it is from his time that they +allow that number to kings; although it is said that Solomon had as +many as seven hundred. + +The Mahometans will not publicly allow the Jews to have more than one +wife; they do not deem them worthy of that advantage; but money, which +is always more powerful than law, procures to rich Jews, in Asia and +Africa, that permission which the law refuses. + +It is seriously related, that Lelius Cinna, tribune of the people, +proclaimed, after the death of Caesar, that the dictator had intended to +promulgate a law allowing women to take as many husbands as they +pleased. What sensible man can doubt, that this was a popular story +invented to render Caesar odious? It resembles another story, which +states that a senator in full senate formally professed to give Caesar +permission to cohabit with any woman he pleased. Such silly tales +dishonor history, and injure the minds of those who credit them. It is a +sad thing, that Montesquieu should give credit to this fable. + +It is not, however, a fable that the emperor Valentinian, calling +himself a Christian, married Justinian during the life of Severa, his +first wife, mother of the emperor Gratian; but he was rich enough to +support many wives. + +Among the first race of the kings of the Franks, Gontran, Cherebert, +Sigebert, and Chilperic, had several wives at a time. Gontran had within +his palace Venerande, Mercatrude, and Ostregilda, acknowledged for +legitimate wives; Cherebert had Merflida, Marcovesa, and Theodogilda. + +It is difficult to conceive how the ex-Jesuit Nonnotte has been able, in +his ignorance, to push his boldness so far as to deny these facts, and +to say that the kings of the first race were not polygamists, and +thereby, in a libel in two volumes, throw discredit on more than a +hundred historical truths, with the confidence of a pedant who dictates +lessons in a college. Books of this kind still continue to be sold in +the provinces, where the Jesuits have yet a party, and seduce and +mislead uneducated people. + +Father Daniel, more learned and judicious, confesses the polygamy of the +French kings without difficulty. He denies not the three wives of +Dagobert I., and asserts expressly that Theodoret espoused Deutery, +although she had a husband, and himself another wife called Visigalde. +He adds, that in this he imitated his uncle Clothaire, who espoused the +widow of Cleodomir, his brother, although he had three wives already. + +All historians admit the same thing; why, therefore, after so many +testimonies, allow an ignorant writer to speak like a dictator, and say, +while uttering a thousand follies, that it is in defence of religion? as +if our sacred and venerable religion had anything to do with an +historical point, although made serviceable by miserable calumniators to +their stupid impostures. + +_Of the Polygamy Allowed by Certain Popes and Reformers._ + +The Abbe Fleury, author of the "Ecclesiastical History," pays more +respect to truth in all which concerns the laws and usages of the +Church. He avows that Boniface, confessor of Lower Germany, having +consulted Pope Gregory, in the year 726, in order to know in what cases +a husband might be allowed to have two wives, Gregory replied to him, on +the 22nd of November, of the same year, in these words: "If a wife be +attacked by a malady which renders her unfit for conjugal intercourse, +the husband may marry another; but in that case he must allow his sick +wife all necessary support and assistance." This decision appears +conformable to reason and policy; and favors population, which is the +object of marriage. + +But that which appears opposed at once to reason, policy, and nature, is +the law which ordains that a woman, separated from her husband both in +person and estate, cannot take another husband, nor the husband another +wife. It is evident that a race is thereby lost; and if the separated +parties are both of a certain temperament, they are necessarily exposed +and rendered liable to sins for which the legislators ought to be +responsible to God, if-- + +The decretals of the popes have not always had in view what was suitable +to the good of estates, and of individuals. This same decretal of Pope +Gregory II., which permits bigamy in certain cases, denies conjugal +rights forever to the boys and girls, whom their parents have devoted to +the Church in their infancy. This law seems as barbarous as it is +unjust; at once annihilating posterity, and forcing the will of men +before they even possess a will. It is rendering the children the slaves +of a vow which they never made; it is to destroy natural liberty, and to +offend God and mankind. + +The polygamy of Philip, landgrave of Hesse, in the Lutheran community, +in 1539, is well known. I knew a sovereign in Germany, who, after having +married a Lutheran, had permission from the pope to marry a Catholic, +and retained both his wives. + +It is well known in England, that the chancellor Cowper married two +wives, who lived together in the same house in a state of concord which +did honor to all three. Many of the curious still possess the little +book which he composed in favor of polygamy. + +We must distrust authors who relate, that in certain countries women are +allowed several husbands. Those who make laws everywhere are born with +too much self-love, are too jealous of their authority, and generally +possess a temperament too ardent in comparison with that of women, to +have instituted a jurisprudence of this nature. That which is opposed to +the general course of nature is very rarely true; but it is very common +for the more early travellers to mistake an abuse for a law. + +The author of the "Spirit of Laws" asserts, that in the caste of Nairs, +on the coast of Malabar, a man can have only one wife, while a woman may +have several husbands. He cites doubtful authors, and above all Picard; +but it is impossible to speak of strange customs without having long +witnessed them; and if they are mentioned, it ought to be doubtingly; +but what lively spirit knows how to doubt? + +"The lubricity of women," he observes, "is so great at Patan, the men +are constrained to adopt certain garniture, in order to be safe against +their amorous enterprises." + +The president Montesquieu was never at Patan. Is not the remark of M. +Linguet judicious, who observes, that this story has been told by +travellers who were either deceived themselves, or who wished to laugh +at their readers? Let us be just, love truth, and judge by facts, not by +names. + +_End of the Reflections on Polygamy._ + +It appears that power, rather than agreement, makes laws everywhere, but +especially in the East. We there beheld the first slaves, the first +eunuchs, and the treasury of the prince directly composed of that which +is taken from the people. + +He who can clothe, support, and amuse a number of women, shuts them up +in a menagerie, and commands them despotically. Ben Aboul Kiba, in his +"Mirror of the Faithful," relates that one of the viziers of the great +Solyman addressed the following discourse to an agent of Charles V.: + +"Dog of a Christian!--for whom, however, I have a particular +esteem--canst thou reproach me with possessing four wives, according to +our holy laws, whilst thou emptiest a dozen barrels a year, and I drink +not a single glass of wine? What good dost thou effect by passing more +hours at table than I do in bed? I may get four children a year for the +service of my august master, whilst thou canst scarcely produce one, and +that only the child of a drunkard, whose brain will be obscured by the +vapors of the wine which has been drunk by his father. What, moreover, +wouldst thou have me do, when two of my wives are in child-bed? Must I +not attend to the other two, as my law commands me? What becomes of +them? what part dost thou perform, in the latter months of the pregnancy +of thy only wife, and during her lyings-in and sexual maladies? Thou +either remainest idle, or thou repairest to another woman. Behold +thyself between two mortal sins, which will infallibly cause thee to +fall headlong from the narrow bridge into the pit of hell. + +"I will suppose, that in our wars against the dogs of Christians we lose +a hundred thousand soldiers; behold a hundred thousand girls to provide +for. Is it not for the wealthy to take care of them? Evil betide every +Mussulman so cold-hearted as not to give shelter to four pretty girls, +in the character of legitimate wives, or to treat them according to +their merits! + +"What is done in thy country by the trumpeter of day, which thou callest +the cock; the honest ram, the leader of the flock; the bull, sovereign +of the heifers; has not every one of them his seraglio? It becomes thee, +truly, to reproach me with my four wives, whilst our great prophet had +eighteen, the Jew David, as many, and the Jew Solomon, seven hundred, +all told, with three hundred concubines! Thou perceivest that I am +modest. Cease, then, to reproach a sage with luxury, who is content with +so moderate a repast. I permit thee to drink; allow me to love. Thou +changest thy wines; permit me to change my females. Let every one suffer +others to live according to the customs of their country. Thy hat was +not made to give laws to my turban; thy ruff and thy curtailed doublets +are not to command my doliman. Make an end of thy coffee, and go and +caress thy German spouse, since thou art allowed to have no other." + +_Reply of the German._ + +"Dog of a Mussulman! for whom I retain a profound veneration; before I +finish my coffee I will confute all thy arguments. He who possesses four +wives, possesses four harpies, always ready to calumniate, to annoy, and +to fight one another. Thy house is the den of discord, and none of them +can love thee. Each has only a quarter of thy person, and in return can +bestow only a quarter of her heart. None of them can serve to render thy +life agreeable; they are prisoners who, never having seen anything, have +nothing to say; and, knowing only thee, are in consequence thy enemies. +Thou art their absolute master; they therefore hate thee. Thou art +obliged to guard them with eunuchs, who whip them when they are too +happy. Thou pretendest to compare thyself to a cock, but a cock never +has his pullets whipped by a capon. Take animals for thy examples, and +copy them as much as thou pleasest; for my part, I love like a man; I +would give all my heart, and receive an entire heart in return. I will +give an account of this conversation to my wife to-night, and I hope she +will be satisfied. As to the wine with which thou reproachest me, if it +is an evil to drink it in Arabia, it is a very praiseworthy habit in +Germany.--Adieu!" + + + + +XENOPHANES. + + +Bayle has made the article "Xenophanes" a pretext for making a panegyric +on the devil; as Simonides, formerly, seized the occasion of a wrestler +winning the prize of boxing in the Olympic games, to form a fine ode in +praise of Castor and Pollux. But, at the bottom, of what consequence to +us are the reveries of Xenophanes? What do we gain by knowing that he +regarded nature as an infinite being, immovable, composed of an infinite +number of small corpuscles, soft little mounds, and small organic +molecules? That he, moreover, thought pretty nearly as Spinoza has since +thought? or rather endeavored to think, for he contradicts himself +frequently--a thing very common to ancient philosophers. + +If Anaximenes taught that the atmosphere was God; if Thales attributed +to water the foundation of all things, because Egypt was rendered +fertile by inundation; if Pherecides and Heraclitus give to fire all +which Thales attributes to water--to what purpose return to these +chimerical reveries? + +I wish that Pythagoras had expressed, by numbers, certain relations, +very insufficiently understood, by which he infers, that the world was +built by the rules of arithmetic. I allow, that Ocellus Lucanus and +Empedocles have arranged everything by moving antagonist forces, but +what shall I gather from it? What clear notion will it convey to my +feeble mind? + +Come, divine Plato! with your archetypal ideas, your androgynes, and +your word; establish all these fine things in poetical prose, in your +new republic, in which I no more aspire to have a house, than in the +Salentum of Telemachus; but in lieu of becoming one of your citizens, I +will send you an order to build your town with all the subtle manner of +Descartes, all his globular and diffusive matter; and they shall be +brought to you by Cyrano de Bergerac. + +Bayle, however, has exercised all the sagacity of his logic on these +ancient fancies; but it is always by rendering them ridiculous that he +instructs and entertains. + +O philosophers! Physical experiments, ably conducted, arts and +handicraft--these are the true philosophy. My sage is the conductor of +my windmill, which dexterously catches the wind, and receives my corn, +deposits it in the hopper, and grinds it equally, for the nourishment of +myself and family. My sage is he who, with his shuttle, covers my walls +with pictures of linen or of silk, brilliant with the finest colors; or +he who puts into my pocket a chronometer of silver or of gold. My sage +is the investigator of natural history. We learn more from the single +experiments of the Abbe Nollet than from all the philosophical works of +antiquity. + + + + +XENOPHON, + +AND THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND. + + +If Xenophon had no other merit than that of being the friend of the +martyr Socrates, he would be interesting; but he was a warrior, +philosopher, poet, historian, agriculturist, and amiable in society. +There were many Greeks who united these qualities. + +But why had this free man a Greek company in the pay of the young +Chosroes, named Cyrus by the Greeks? This Cyrus was the younger brother +and subject of the emperor of Persia, Artaxerxes Mnemon, of whom it was +said that he never forgot anything but injuries. Cyrus had already +attempted to assassinate his brother, even in the temple in which the +ceremony of his consecration took place--for the kings of Persia were +the first who were consecrated. Artaxerxes had not only the clemency to +pardon this villain, but he had the weakness to allow him the absolute +government of a great part of Asia Minor, which he held from their +father, and of which he at least deserved to be despoiled. + +As a return for such surprising mercy, as soon as he could excite his +satrapy to revolt against his brother, Cyrus added this second crime to +the first. He declared by a manifesto, "that he was more worthy of the +throne of Persia than his brother, because he was a better magus, and +drank more wine." I do not believe that these were the reasons which +gained him the Greeks as allies. He took thirteen thousand into his pay, +among whom was the young Xenophon, who was then only an adventurer. Each +soldier had a daric a month for pay. The daric is equal to about a +guinea or a louis d'or of our time, as the Chevalier de Jaucourt very +well observes, and not ten francs, as Rollin says. + +When Cyrus proposed to march them with his other troops to fight his +brother towards the Euphrates, they demanded a daric and a half, which +he was obliged to grant them. This was thirty-six livres a month, and +consequently the highest pay which was ever given. The soldiers of +Caesar and Pompey had but twenty sous per day in the civil wars. Besides +this exorbitant pay, of which they obliged him to pay four months in +advance, Cyrus furnished them four hundred chariots, laden with wine and +meal. + +The Greeks were then precisely what the Swiss are at present, who hire +their service and courage to neighboring princes, but for a pay three +times less than was that of the Greeks. It is evident, though they say +the contrary, that they did not inform themselves whether the cause for +which they fought was just; it was sufficient that Cyrus paid well. + +The greatest part of these troops was composed of Lacedaemonians, by +which they violated their solemn treaties with the king of Persia. What +was become of the ancient aversion of the Spartans for gold and silver? +Where was their sincerity in treaties? Where was their high and +incorruptible virtue? Clearchus, a Spartan, commanded the principal body +of these brave mercenaries. + +I understand not the military manoeuvres of Artaxerxes and Cyrus; I see +not why Artaxerxes, who came to his enemy with twelve hundred thousand +soldiers, should begin by causing lines of twelve leagues in extent to +be drawn between Cyrus and himself; and I comprehend nothing of the +order of battle. I understand still less how Cyrus, followed only by six +hundred horse, broke into the midst of six thousand horse-guards of the +emperor, followed by an innumerable army. Finally, he was killed by the +hand of Artaxerxes, who, having apparently drunk less wine than the +rebel, fought with more coolness and address than this drunkard. It is +clear that he completely gained the battle, notwithstanding the valor +and resistance of thirteen thousand Greeks--since Greek vanity is +obliged to confess that Artaxerxes told them to put down their arms. +They replied that they would do nothing of the kind; but that if the +emperor would pay them they would enter his service. It was very +indifferent to them for whom they fought, so long as they were paid; in +fact, they were only hired murderers. + +Besides the Swiss, there are some provinces of Germany which follow this +custom. It signifies not to these good Christians whether they are paid +to kill English, French, or Dutch, or to be killed by them. You see them +say their prayers, and go to the carnage like laborers to their +workshop. As to myself, I confess I would rather observe those who go +into Pennsylvania, to cultivate the land with the simple and equitable +Quakers, and form colonies in the retreat of peace and industry. There +is no great skill in killing and being killed for six sous per day, but +there is much in causing the republic of Dunkers to flourish--these new +Therapeutae on the frontier of a country the most savage. + +Artaxerxes regarded the Greeks only as accomplices in the revolt of his +brother, and indeed they were nothing else. He betrayed himself to be +betrayed by them, and he betrayed them, as Xenophon pretends; for after +one of his captains had sworn in his name to allow them a free retreat, +and to furnish them with food, after Clearchus and five other commanders +of the Greeks were put into his hands, to regulate the march, he caused +their heads to be cut off, and slew all the Greeks who accompanied them +in this interview, if we may trust Xenophon's account. + +This royal act shows us that Machiavellism is not new; but is it true +that Artaxerxes promised not to make an example of the chief mercenaries +who sold themselves to his brother? Was it not permitted him to punish +those whom he thought so guilty? It is here that the famous retreat of +the ten thousand commences. If I comprehend nothing of the battle, I +understand no more of the retreat. + +The emperor, before he cut off the heads of six Greek generals and their +suite, had sworn to allow the little army, reduced to ten thousand men, +to return to Greece. The battle was fought on the road to the Euphrates; +he must therefore have caused the Greeks to return by Western +Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, and Ionia. Not at all; they were made to +pass by the East; they were obliged to traverse the Tigris in boats +which were furnished to them; they returned afterwards by the Armenian +roads, while their commanders were punished. If any person comprehends +this march, in which they turn their backs on Greece, they will oblige +me much by explaining it to me. + +One of two things: either the Greeks chose their route themselves--and +in this case they neither knew where they went, or what they wished--or +Artaxerxes made them march against their will--which is much more +probable--and in this case, why did he not exterminate them? + +We may extricate ourselves from these difficulties, by supposing that +the Persian emperor only half revenged himself; that he contented +himself with punishing the principal mercenary chiefs who sold the Greek +troops to Cyrus; that having made a treaty with the fugitive troops, he +would not descend to the meanness of violating it; that being sure that +a third of these wandering Greeks would perish on the road, he abandoned +them to their fate. I see no other manner of enlightening the mind of +the reader on the obscurities of this march. + +We are astonished at the retreat of the ten thousand; but we should be +much more so, if Artaxerxes, a conqueror, at the head of a hundred +thousand men--at least it is said so--had allowed ten thousand fugitives +to travel in the north of his vast states, whom he could crush in every +village, every bridge, every defile, or whom he could have made perish +with hunger and misery. + +However, they were furnished, as we have seen, with twenty-seven great +boats, to enable them to pass the Tigris, as if they were conducted to +the Indies. Thence they were escorted towards the North for several +days, into the desert in which Bagdad is now situated. They further +passed the river Zabata, and it was there that the emperor sent his +orders to punish the chiefs. It is clear that they could have +exterminated the army as easily as they inflicted punishment on the +generals. It is therefore very likely that they did not choose to do so. +We should, therefore, rather regard the Greek wanderers in these savage +countries as wayward travellers, whom the bounty of the emperor allowed +to finish their journey as they could. + +We may make another observation, which appears not very honorable to the +Persian government. It was impossible for the Greeks not to have +continual quarrels for food with the people whom they met. Pillages, +desolations, and murders, were the inevitable consequence of these +disorders; and that is so true, that in a road of six hundred leagues, +during which the Greeks always marched irregularly, being neither +escorted nor pursued by any great body of Persian troops, they lost four +thousand men, either killed by peasants or by sickness. How did it +happen, therefore, that Artaxerxes did not cause them to be escorted +from their passage of the river Zabata, as he had done from the field of +battle to the river? + +How could so wise and good a sovereign commit so great a fault? Perhaps +he did command the escort; perhaps Xenophon, who exaggerates a little +elsewhere, passes it over in silence, not to diminish the wonder of the +"retreat of the ten thousand"; perhaps the escort was always obliged to +march at a great distance from the Greek troop, on account of the +difficulty of procuring provisions. However it might be, it appears +certain that Artaxerxes used extreme indulgence, and that the Greeks +owed their lives to him, since they were not exterminated. + +In the article on "Retreat," in the "Encyclopaedical Dictionary," it is +said that the retreat of the ten thousand took place under the command +of Xenophon. This is a mistake; he never commanded; he was merely at the +head of a division of fourteen hundred men, at the end of the march. + +I see that these heroes scarcely arrived, after so many fatigues, on the +borders of the Pontus Euxinus, before they indifferently pillaged +friends and enemies to re-establish themselves. Xenophon embarked his +little troop at Heraclea, and went to make a new bargain with a king of +Thrace, to whom he was a stranger. This Athenian, instead of succoring +his country, then overcome by the Spartans, sold himself once more to a +petty foreign despot. He was ill paid, I confess, which is another +reason why we may conclude that he would have done better in assisting +his country. + +The sum of all this, we have already remarked, is that the Athenian +Xenophon, being only a young volunteer, enlisted himself under a +Lacedaemonian captain, one of the tyrants of Athens, in the service of a +rebel and an assassin; and that, becoming chief of fourteen hundred men, +he put himself into the pay of a barbarian. + +What is worse, necessity did not constrain him to this servitude. He +says himself that he deposited a great part of the gold gained in the +service of Cyrus in the temple of the famous Diana of Ephesus. + +Let us remark, that in receiving the pay of a king, he exposed himself +to be condemned to death, if the foreigner was not contented with him, +which happened to Major-General Doxat, a man born free. He sold himself +to the emperor Charles VI., who commanded his head to be cut off, for +having given up to the Turks a place which he could not defend. + +Rollin, in speaking of the return of the ten thousand, says, "that this +fortunate retreat filled the people of Greece with contempt for +Artaxerxes, by showing them that gold, silver, delicacies, luxury, and a +numerous seraglio, composed all the merit of a great king." + +Rollin should consider that the Greeks ought not to despise a sovereign +who had gained a complete battle; who, having pardoned as a brother, +conquered as a hero; who, having the power of exterminating ten thousand +Greeks, suffered them to live and to return to their country; and who, +being able to have them in his pay, disdained to make use of them. Add, +that this prince afterwards conquered the Lacedaemonians and their +allies, and imposed on them humiliating laws; add also that in a war +with the Scythians, called Caducians, towards the Caspian Sea, he +supported all fatigues and dangers like the lowest soldier. He lived and +died full of glory; it is true that he had a seraglio, but his courage +was only the more estimable. We must be careful of college declamations. + +If I dared to attack prejudice I would venture to prefer the retreat of +Marshal Belle-Isle to that of the ten thousand. He was blocked up in +Prague by sixty thousand men, when he had not thirteen thousand. He took +his measures with so much ability that he got out of Prague, in the most +severe cold, with his army, provisions, baggage, and thirty pieces of +cannon, without the besiegers having the least idea of it. He gained two +days' march without their perceiving it. An army of thirteen thousand +men pursued him for the space of thirty leagues. He faced them +everywhere--he was never cast down; but sick as he was, he braved the +season, scarcity and his enemies. He only lost those soldiers who could +not resist the extreme rigor of the season. What more was wanting? A +longer course and Grecian exaggeration. + + + + +YVETOT. + + +This is the name of a town in France, six leagues from Rouen, in +Normandy, which, according to Robert Gaguin, a historian of the +sixteenth century, has long been entitled a kingdom. + +This writer relates that Gautier, or Vautier, lord of Yvetot, and grand +chamberlain to King Clotaire I., having lost the favor of his master by +calumny, in which courtiers deal rather liberally, went into voluntary +exile, and visited distant countries, where, for ten years, he fought +against the enemies of the faith; that at the expiration of this term, +flattering himself that the king's anger would be appeased, he went back +to France; that he passed through Rome, where he saw Pope Agapetus, from +whom he obtained a letter of recommendation to the king, who was then at +Soissons, the capital of his dominions. The lord of Yvetot repaired +thither one Good Friday, and chose the time when Clotaire was at church, +to fall at his feet, and implore his forgiveness through the merits of +Him who, on that day, had shed His blood for the salvation of men; but +Clotaire, ferocious and cruel, having recognized him, ran him through +the body. + +Gaguin adds that Pope Agapetus, being informed of this disgraceful act, +threatened the king with the thunders of the Church, if he did not make +reparation for his offence; and that Clotaire, justly intimidated, and +in satisfaction for the murder of his subject, erected the lordship of +Yvetot into a kingdom, in favor of Gautier's heirs and successors; that +he despatched letters to that effect signed by himself, and sealed with +his seal; that ever since then the lords of Yvetot have borne the title +of kings; and--continues Gaguin--I find from established and +indisputable authority, that this extraordinary event happened in the +year of grace 539. + +On this story of Gaguin's we have the same remark to make that we have +already made on what he says of the establishment of the Paris +university--that not one of the contemporary historians makes any +mention of the singular event, which, as he tells us, caused the +lordship of Yvetot to be erected into a kingdom; and, as Claude Malingre +and the abbe Vertot have well observed, Clotaire I., who is here +supposed to have been sovereign of the town of Yvetot, did not reign +over that part of the country; fiefs were not then hereditary; acts were +not, as Robert Gaguin relates, dated from the year of grace; and lastly, +Pope Agapetus was then dead; to this it may be added that the right of +erecting a fief into a kingdom belonged exclusively to the emperor. + +It is not, however, to be said that the thunders of the Church were not +already made use of, in the time of Agapetus. We know that St. Paul +excommunicated the incestuous man of Corinth. We also find in the +letters of St. Basil, some instances of general censure in the fourth +century. One of these letters is against a ravisher. The holy prelate +there orders the young woman to be restored to her parents, the ravisher +to be excluded from prayers, and declared to be excommunicated, together +with his accomplices and all his household, for three years; he also +orders that all the people of the village where the ravished person was +received, shall be excommunicated. + +Auxilius, a young bishop, excommunicated the whole family of Clacitien; +although St. Augustine disapproved of this conduct, and Pope St. Leo +laid down the same maxims as Augustine, in one of his letters to the +bishop of the province of Vienne--yet, confining ourselves here to +France--Pretextatus, bishop of Rouen, having been assassinated in the +year 586 in his own church, Leudovalde, bishop of Bayeux, did not fail +to lay all the churches in Rouen under an interdict, forbidding divine +service to be celebrated in them until the author of the crime should be +discovered. + +In 1141, Louis the Young having refused his consent to the election of +Peter de la Chatre, whom the pope caused to be appointed in the room of +Alberic, archbishop of Bourges, who had died the year preceding, +Innocent II. laid all France under interdict. + +In the year 1200, Peter of Capua, commissioned to compel Philip Augustus +to put away Agnes, and take back Ingeburga, and not succeeding, +published the sentence of interdict on the whole kingdom, which had been +pronounced by Pope Innocent III. This interdict was observed with +extreme rigor. The English chronicle, quoted by the Benedictine +Martenne, says that every Christian act, excepting the baptism of +infants, was interdicted in France; the churches were closed, and +Christians driven out of them like dogs; there was no more divine +office, no more sacrifice of the mass, no ecclesiastical sepulture for +the deceased; the dead bodies, left to chance, spread the most frightful +infections, and filled the survivors with horror. + +The chronicle of Tours gives the same description, adding only one +remarkable particular, confirmed by the abbe Fleury and the abbe de +Vertot--that the holy viaticum was excepted, like the baptism of +infants, from the privation of holy things. The kingdom was in this +situation for nine months; it was some time before Innocent III. +permitted the preaching of sermons and the sacrament of confirmation. +The king was so much enraged that he drove the bishops and all the other +ecclesiastics from their abodes, and confiscated their property. + +But it is singular that the bishops were sometimes solicited by +sovereigns themselves to pronounce an interdict upon lands of their +vassals. By letters dated February, 1356, confirming those of Guy, count +of Nevers, and his wife Matilda, in favor of the citizens of Nevers, +Charles V., regent of the kingdom, prays the archbishops of Lyons, +Bourges, and Sens, and the bishops of Autun, Langres, Auxerre, and +Nevers, to pronounce an excommunication against the count of Nevers, and +an interdict upon his lands, if he does not fulfil the agreement he has +made with the inhabitants. We also find in the collection of the +ordinances of the third line of kings, many letters like that of King +John, authorizing the bishops to put under interdict those places whose +privileges their lords would seek to infringe. + +And to conclude, though it appears incredible, the Jesuit Daniel relates +that, in the year 998, King Robert was excommunicated by Gregory V., for +having married his kinswoman in the fourth degree. All the bishops who +had assisted at this marriage were interdicted from the communion, until +they had been to Rome, and rendered satisfaction to the holy see. The +people, and even the court, separated from the king; he had only two +domestics left, who purified by fire whatever he had touched. Cardinal +Damien and Romualde also add, that Robert being gone one morning, as was +his custom, to say his prayers at the door of St. Bartholomew's church, +for he dared not enter it, Abbon, abbot of Fleury, followed by two women +of the palace, carrying a large gilt dish covered with a napkin, +accosted him, announced that Bertha was just brought to bed; and +uncovering the dish, said: "Behold the effects of your disobedience to +the decrees of the Church, and the seal of anathema on the fruit of your +love!" Robert looked, and saw a monster with the head and neck of a +duck! Bertha was repudiated; and the excommunication was at last taken +off. + +Urban II., on the contrary, excommunicated Robert's grandson, Philip I., +for having put away his kinswoman. This pope pronounced the sentence of +excommunication in the king's own dominions, at Clermont, in Auvergne, +where his holiness was come to seek an asylum, in the same council in +which the crusade was preached, and in which, for the first time, the +name of pope (papa) was given to the bishop of Rome, to the exclusion of +the other bishops, who had formerly taken it. + +It will be seen that these canonical pains were medicinal rather than +mortal; but Gregory VII. and some of his successors ventured to assert, +that an excommunicated sovereign was deprived of his dominions, and that +his subjects were not obliged to obey him. However, supposing that a +king can be excommunicated in certain serious cases, excommunication, +being a penalty purely spiritual, cannot dispense with the obedience +which his subjects owe to him, as holding his authority from God +Himself. This was constantly acknowledged by the parliaments, and also +by the clergy of France, in the excommunications pronounced by Boniface +VII., against Philip the Fair; by Julius II., against Louis XII.; by +Sixtus V., against Henry III.; by Gregory XIII., against Henry IV.; and +it is likewise the doctrine of the celebrated assembly of the clergy in +1682. + + + + +ZEAL. + + +This, in religion, is a pure and enlightened attachment to the +maintenance and progress of the worship which is due to the Divinity; +but when this zeal is persecuting, blind, and false, it becomes the +greatest scourge of humanity. + +See what the emperor Julian says of the Christians of his time: "The +Galileans," he observes, "have suffered exile and imprisonment under my +predecessor; those who are by turns called heretics, have been mutually +massacred. I have recalled the banished, liberated the prisoners; I have +restored their property to the proscribed; I have forced them to live in +peace; but such is the restless rage of the Galileans, that they +complain of being no longer able to devour each other." + +This picture will not appear extravagant if we attend to the atrocious +calumnies with which the Christians reciprocally blackened each other. +For instance, St. Augustine accuses the Manichaeans of forcing their +elect to receive the eucharist, after having obscenely polluted it. +After him, St. Cyril of Jerusalem has accused them of the same infamy in +these terms: "I dare not mention in what these sacrilegious wretches wet +their ischas, which they give to their unhappy votaries, and exhibit in +the midst of their altar, and with which the Manichaean soils his mouth +and tongue. Let the men call to mind what they are accustomed to +experience in dreaming, and the women in their periodical affections." +Pope St. Leo, in one of his sermons, also calls the sacrifice of the +Manichaeans the same turpitude. Finally, Suidas and Cedrenus have still +further improved on the calumny, in asserting that the Manichaeans held +nocturnal assemblies, in which, after extinguishing the flambeaux, they +committed the most enormous indecencies. + +Let us first observe that the primitive Christians were themselves +accused of the same horrors which they afterwards imputed to the +Manichaeans; and that the justification of these equally applies to the +others. "In order to have pretexts for persecuting us," said +Athenagoras, in his "Apology for the Christians," "they accuse us of +making detestable banquets, and of committing incest in our assemblies. +It is an old trick, which has been employed from all time to extinguish +virtue. Thus was Pythagoras burned, with three hundred of his disciples; +Heraclitus expelled by the Ephesians; Democritus by the Abderitans; and +Socrates condemned by the Athenians." + +Athenagoras subsequently points out that the principles and manners of +the Christians were sufficient of themselves to destroy the calumnies +spread against them. The same reasons apply in favor of the Manichaeans. +Why else is St. Augustine, who is positive in his book on heresies, +reduced in that on the morals of the Manichaeans, when speaking of the +horrible ceremony in question, to say simply: "They are suspected +of--the world has this opinion of them--if they do not commit what is +imputed to them--rumor proclaims much ill of them; but they maintain +that it is false?" + +Why not sustain openly this accusation in his dispute with Fortunatus, +who publicly challenged him in these terms: "We are accused of false +crimes, and as Augustine has assisted in our worship, I beg him to +declare before the whole people, whether these crimes are true or not." +St. Augustine replied: "It is true that I have assisted in your worship; +but the question of faith is one thing, the question of morals another; +and it is that of faith which I brought forward. However, if the persons +present prefer that we should discuss that of your morals, I shall not +oppose myself to them." + +Fortunatus, addressing the assembly, said: "I wish, above all things, to +be justified in the minds of those who believe us guilty; and that +Augustine should now testify before you, and one day before the tribunal +of Jesus Christ, if he has ever seen, or if he knows, in any way +whatever, that the things imputed have been committed by us?" St. +Augustine still replies: "You depart from the question; what I have +advanced turns upon faith, not upon morals." At length, Fortunatus +continuing to press St. Augustine to explain himself, he does so in +these terms: "I acknowledge that in the prayer at which I assisted I did +not see you commit anything impure." + +The same St. Augustine, in his work on the "Utility of Faith," still +justifies the Manichaeans. "At this time," he says, to his friend +Honoratus, "when I was occupied with Manichaeism, I was yet full of the +desire and the hope of marrying a handsome woman, and of acquiring +riches; of attaining honors, and of enjoying the other pernicious +pleasures of life. For when I listened with attention to the Manichaean +doctors, I had not renounced the desire and hope of all these things. I +do not attribute that to their doctrine; for I am bound to render this +testimony--that they sedulously exhorted men to preserve themselves from +those things. That is, indeed, what hindered me from attaching myself +altogether to the sect, and kept me in the rank of those who are called +auditors. I did not wish to renounce secular hopes and affairs." And in +the last chapter of this book, where he represents the Manichaean doctors +as proud men, who had as gross minds as they had meagre and skinny +bodies, he does not say a word of their pretended infamies. + +But on what proofs were these imputations founded? The first which +Augustine alleges is, that these indecencies were a consequence of the +Manichaean system, regarding the means which God makes use of to wrest +from the prince of darkness the portion of his substance. We have spoken +of this in the article on "Genealogy," and these are horrors which one +may dispense with repeating. It is enough to say here, that the passage +from the seventh book of the "Treasure of Manes," which Augustine cites +in many places, is evidently falsified. The arch heretic says, if we can +believe it, that these celestial virtues, which are transformed +sometimes into beautiful boys, and sometimes into beautiful girls, are +God the Father Himself. This is false; Manes has never confounded the +celestial virtues with God the Father. St. Augustine, not having +understood the Syriac phrase of a "virgin of light" to mean a virgin +light, supposes that God shows a beautiful maiden to the princes of +darkness, in order to excite their brutal lust; there is nothing of all +this talked of in ancient authors; the question concerns the cause of +rain. + +"The great prince," says Tirbon, cited by St. Epiphanius, "sends out for +himself, in his passion, black clouds, which darken all the world; he +chafes, worries himself, throws himself into a perspiration, and that it +is which makes the rain, which is no other than the sweat of the great +prince." St. Augustine must have been deceived by a mistranslation, or +rather by a garbled, unfaithful extract from the "Treasure of Manes," +from which he only cites two or three passages. The Manichaean Secundums +also reproaches him with comprehending nothing of the mysteries of +Manichaeism, and with attacking them only by mere paralogisms. "How, +otherwise," says the learned M. de Beausobre--whom we here +abridge--"would St. Augustine have been able to live so many years among +a sect in which such abominations were publicly taught? And how would he +have had the face to defend it against the Catholics?" + +From this proof by reasoning, let us pass to the proofs of fact and +evidence alleged by St. Augustine and see if they are more substantial. +"It is said," proceeds this father, "that some of them have confessed +this fact in public pleadings, not only in Paphlagonia, but also in the +Gauls, as I have heard said at Rome by a certain Catholic." + +Such hearsay deserves so little attention that St. Augustine dared not +make use of it in his conference with Fortunatus, although it was seven +or eight years after he had quitted Rome; he seems even to have +forgotten the name of the Catholic from whom he learned them. It is +true, that in his book of "Heresies," he speaks of the confessions of +two girls, the one named Margaret, the other Eusebia, and of some +Manichaeans who, having been discovered at Carthage, and taken to the +church, avowed, it is said, the horrible fact in question. + +He adds that a certain Viator declared that they who committed these +scandals were called Catharistes, or purgators; and that, when +interrogated on what scripture they founded this frightful practice, +they produced the passage from the "Treasure of Manes," the falsehood of +which has been demonstrated. But our heretics, far from availing +themselves of it, have openly disavowed it, as the work of some impostor +who wished to ruin them. That alone casts suspicion on all these acts of +Carthage, which "_Quod-vult-Deus_" had sent to St. Augustine; and these +wretches who were discovered and taken to the church, have very much the +air of persons suborned to confess all they were wanted to confess. + +In the 47th chapter on the "Nature of Good," St. Augustine admits that +when our heretics were reproached with the crimes in question, they +replied that one of their elect, a seceder from the sect, and become +their enemy, had introduced this enormity. Without inquiring whether +this was a real sect whom Viator calls Catharistes, it is sufficient to +observe here, that the first Christians likewise imputed to the Gnostics +the horrible mysteries of which they were themselves accused by the Jews +and Pagans; and if this defence is good on their behalf, why should it +not be so on that of the Manichaeans? + +It is, however, these vulgar rumors which M. de Tillemont, who piques +himself on his exactness and fidelity, ventures to convert into positive +facts. He asserts that the Manichaeans had been made to confess these +disgraceful doings in public judgments, in Paphlagonia, in the Gauls, +and several times at Carthage. + +Let us also weigh the testimony of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, whose +narrative is altogether different from that of St. Augustine; and let us +consider that the fact is so incredible and so absurd that it could +scarcely be credited, even if attested by five or six witnesses who had +seen and would affirm it on oath. St. Cyril stands alone; he had never +seen it; he advances it in a popular declamation, wherein he gives +himself a licence to put into the mouth of Manes, in the conference of +Cascar, a discourse, not one word of which is in the "Acts of +Archaelaus," as M. Zaccagni is obliged to allow; and it cannot be alleged +in defence of St. Cyril that he has taken only the sense of Archaelaus, +and not the words; for neither the sense nor the words can be found +there. Besides, the style which this father adopts is that of a +historian who cites the actual words of his author. + +Nevertheless, to save the honor and good faith of St. Cyril, M. +Zaccagni, and after him M. de Tillemont, suppose, without any proof, +that the translator or copyist has omitted the passage in the "Acts" +quoted by this father; and the journalists of Trevoux have imagined two +sorts of "Acts of Archaelaus"--the authentic ones which Cyril has copied, +and others invented in the fifth century by some historian. When they +shall have proved this conjecture, we will examine their reasons. + +Finally, let us come to the testimony of Pope Leo touching these +Manichaean abominations. He says, in his sermons, that the sudden +troubles in other countries had brought into Italy some Manichaeans, +whose mysteries were so abominable that he could not expose them to the +public view without sacrificing modesty. That, in order to ascertain +them, he had introduced male and female elect into an assembly composed +of bishops, priests, and some lay noblemen. That these heretics had +disclosed many things respecting their dogmas and the ceremonies of +their feast, and had confessed a crime which could not be named, but in +regard to which there could be no doubt, after the confession of the +guilty parties--that is to say, of a young girl of only ten years of +age; of two women who had prepared her for the horrible ceremony of the +sect; of a young man who had been an accomplice; of the bishop who had +ordered and presided over it. He refers those among his auditors who +desire to know more, to the informations which had been taken, and which +he communicated to the bishops of Italy, in his second letter. + +This testimony appears more precise and more decisive than that of St. +Augustine; but it is anything but conclusive in regard to a fact belied +by the protestations of the accused, and by the ascertained principles +of their morality. In effect, what proofs have we that the infamous +persons interrogated by Leo were not bribed to depose against their +sect? + +It will be replied that the piety and sincerity of this pope will not +permit us to believe that he has contrived such a fraud. But if--as we +have said in the article on "Relics"--the same St. Leo was capable of +supposing that pieces of linen and ribbons, which were put in a box, and +made to descend into the tombs of some saints, shed blood when they were +cut--ought this pope to make any scruple in bribing, or causing to be +bribed, some abandoned women, and I know not what Manichaean bishop, +who, being assured of pardon, would make confessions of crimes which +might be true as regarded themselves, but not as regarded their sect, +from whose seduction St. Leo wished to protect his people? At all times, +bishops have considered themselves authorized to employ those pious +frauds which tend to the salvation of souls. The conjectural and +apocryphal scriptures are a proof of this; and the readiness with which +the fathers have put faith in those bad works, shows that, if they were +not accomplices in the fraud, they were not scrupulous in taking +advantage of it. + +In conclusion, St. Leo pretends to confirm the secret crimes of the +Manichaeans by an argument which destroys them. "These execrable +mysteries," he says, "which the more impure they are, the more carefully +they are hid, are common to the Manichaeans and to the Priscillianists. +There is in all respects the same sacrilege, the same obscenity, the +same turpitude. These crimes, these infamies, are the same which were +formerly discovered among the Priscillianists, and of which the whole +world is informed." + +The Priscillianists were never guilty of the crimes for which they were +put to death. In the works of St. Augustine is contained the +instructional remarks which were transmitted to that father by Orosius, +and in which this Spanish priest protests that he has plucked out all +the plants of perdition which sprang up in the sect of the +Priscillianists; that he had not forgotten the smallest branch or root; +that he exposed to the surgeon all the diseases of the sect, in order +that he might labor in their cure. Orosius does not say a word of the +abominable mysteries of which Leo speaks; an unanswerable proof that he +had no doubt they were pure calumnies. St. Jerome also says that +Priscillian was oppressed by faction, and by the intrigues of the +bishops Ithacus and Idacus. Would a man be thus spoken of who was guilty +of profaning religion by the most infamous ceremonies? Nevertheless, +Orosius and St. Jerome could not be ignorant of crimes of which all the +world had been informed. + +St. Martin of Tours, and St. Ambrosius, who were at Trier when +Priscillian was sentenced, would have been equally informed of them. +They, however, instantly solicited a pardon for him; and, not being able +to obtain it, they refused to hold intercourse with his accusers and +their faction. Sulpicius Severus relates the history of the misfortunes +of Priscillian. Latronian, Euphrosyne, widow of the poet Delphidius, his +daughter, and some other persons, were executed with him at Trier, by +order of the tyrant Maximus, and at the instigation of Ithacus and +Idacus, two wicked bishops, who, in reward for their injustice, died in +excommunication, loaded with the hatred of God and man. + +The Priscillianists were accused, like the Manichaeans, of obscene +doctrines, of religious nakedness and immodesty. How were they +convicted? Priscillian and his accomplices confessed, as is said, under +the torture. Three degraded persons, Tertullus, Potamius, and John, +confessed without awaiting the question. But the suit instituted against +the Priscillianists would have been founded on other depositions, which +had been made against them in Spain. Nevertheless, these latter +informations were rejected by a great number of bishops and esteemed +ecclesiastics; and the good old man Higimis, bishop of Cordova, who had +been the denouncer of the Priscillianists, afterwards believed them so +innocent of the crimes imputed to them that he received them into his +communion, and found himself involved thereby in the persecution which +they endured. + +These horrible calumnies, dictated by a blind zeal, would seem to +justify the reflection which Ammianus Marcellinus reports of the emperor +Julian. "The savage beasts," he said, "are not more formidable to men +than the Christians are to each other, when they are divided by creed +and opinion." + +It is still more deplorable when zeal is false and hypocritical, +examples of which are not rare. It is told of a doctor of the Sorbonne, +that in departing from a sitting of the faculty, Tournely, with whom he +was strictly connected, said to him: "You see that for two hours I have +maintained a certain opinion with warmth; well, I assure you, there is +not one word of truth in all I have said!" + +The answer of a Jesuit is also known, who was employed for twenty years +in the Canada missions, and who himself not believing in a God, as he +confessed in the ear of a friend, had faced death twenty times for the +sake of a religion which he preached to the savages. This friend +representing to him the inconsistency of his zeal: "Ah!" replied the +Jesuit missionary, "you have no idea of the pleasure a man enjoys in +making himself heard by twenty thousand men, and in persuading them of +what he does not himself believe." + +It is frightful to observe how many abuses and disorders arise from the +profound ignorance in which Europe has been so long plunged. Those +monarchs who are at last sensible of the importance of enlightenment, +become the benefactors of mankind in favoring the progress of knowledge, +which is the foundation of the tranquillity and happiness of nations, +and the finest bulwark against the inroads of fanaticism. + + + + +ZOROASTER. + + +If it is Zoroaster who first announced to mankind that fine maxim: "In +the doubt whether an action be good or bad, abstain from it," Zoroaster +was the first of men after Confucius. + +If this beautiful lesson of morality is found only in the hundred gates +of the "Sadder," let us bless the author of the "Sadder." There may be +very ridiculous dogmas and rites united with an excellent morality. + +Who was this Zoroaster? The name has something of Greek in it, and it is +said he was a Mede. The Parsees of the present day call him Zerdust, or +Zerdast, or Zaradast, or Zarathrust. He is not reckoned to have been the +first of the name. We are told of two other Zoroasters, the former of +whom has an antiquity of nine thousand years--which is much for us, but +may be very little for the world. We are acquainted with only the latest +Zoroaster. + +The French travellers, Chardin and Tavernier, have given us some +information respecting this great prophet, by means of the Guebers or +Parsees, who are still scattered through India and Persia, and who are +excessively ignorant. Dr. Hyde, Arabic professor of Oxford, has given us +a hundred times more without leaving home. Living in the west of +England, he must have conjectured the language which the Persians spoke +in the time of Cyrus, and must have compared it with the modern language +of the worshippers of fire. It is to him, moreover, that we owe those +hundred gates of the "Sadder," which contain all the principal precepts +of the pious fire-worshippers. + +For my own part, I confess I have found nothing in their ancient rites +more curious than the two Persian verses of Sadi, as given by Hyde; +signifying that, although a person may preserve the sacred fire for a +hundred years, he is burned when he falls into it. + +The learned researches of Hyde kindled, a few years ago in the breast of +a young Frenchman, the desire to learn for himself the dogmas of the +Guebers. He traversed the Great Indies, in order to learn at Surat, +among the poor modern Parsees, the language of the ancient Persians, and +to read in that language the books of the so-much celebrated Zoroaster, +supposing that he has in fact written any. + +The Pythagorases, the Platos, the Appolloniuses of Thyana, went in +former times to seek in the East wisdom that was not there; but no one +has run after this hidden divinity through so many sufferings and perils +as this new French translator of the books attributed to Zoroaster. +Neither disease nor war, nor obstacles renewed at every step, nor +poverty itself, the first and greatest of obstacles, could repel his +courage. + +It is glorious for Zoroaster that an Englishman wrote his life, at the +end of so many centuries, and that afterwards a Frenchman wrote it in an +entirely different manner. But it is still finer, that among the ancient +biographers of the poet we have two principal Arabian authors, each of +whom had previously written his history; and all these four histories +contradict one another marvellously. This is not done by concert; and +nothing is more conducive to the knowledge of the truth. + +The first Arabian historian, Abu-Mohammed Mustapha, allows that the +father of Zoroaster was called Espintaman; but he also says that +Espintaman was not his father, but his great-great-grandfather. In +regard to his mother, there are not two opinions; she was named Dogdu, +or Dodo, or Dodu--that is, a very fine turkey hen; she is very well +portrayed in Doctor Hyde. + +Bundari, the second historian, relates that Zoroaster was a Jew, and +that he had been valet to Jeremiah; that he told lies to his master; +that, in order to punish him, Jeremiah gave him the leprosy; that the +valet, to purify himself, went to preach a new religion in Persia, and +caused the sun to be adored instead of the stars. + +Attend now to what the third historian relates, and what the Englishman, +Hyde, has recorded somewhat at length: The prophet Zoroaster having come +from Paradise to preach his religion to the king of Persia, Gustaph, the +king said to the prophet: "Give me a sign." Upon this, the prophet +caused a cedar to grow up before the gate of the palace, so large and so +tall, that no cord could either go round it or reach its top. Upon the +cedar he placed a fine cabinet, to which no man could ascend. Struck +with this miracle, Gustaph believed in Zoroaster. + +Four magi, or four sages--it is the same thing--envious and wicked +persons, borrowed from the royal porter the key of the prophet's chamber +during his absence, and threw among his books the bones of dogs and +cats, the nails and hair of dead bodies--such being, as is well known, +the drugs with which magicians at all times have operated. Afterwards, +they went and accused the prophet of being a sorcerer and a poisoner; +and the king, causing the chamber to be opened by his porter, the +instruments of witchcraft were found there--and behold the envoy from +heaven condemned to be hanged! + +Just as they are going to hang Zoroaster, the king's finest horse falls +ill; his four legs enter his body, so as to be no longer visible. +Zoroaster hears of it; he promises to cure the horse, provided they will +not hang him. The bargain being made, he causes one leg to issue out of +the belly, and says: "Sire, I will not restore you the second leg unless +you embrace my religion." "Let it be so," says the monarch. The prophet, +after having made the second leg appear, wished the king's children to +become Zoroastrians, and they became so. The other legs made proselytes +of the whole court. The four envious sages were hanged in place of the +prophet, and all Persia received the faith. + +The French traveller relates nearly the same miracles, supported and +embellished, however, by many others. For instance, the infancy of +Zoroaster could not fail to be miraculous; Zoroaster fell to laughing as +soon as he was born, at least according to Pliny and Solinus. There +were, in those days, as all the world knows, a great number of very +powerful magicians; they were well aware that one day Zoroaster would be +greater than themselves, and that he would triumph over their magic. The +prince of magicians caused the infant to be brought to him, and tried to +cut him in two; but his hand instantly withered. They threw him into the +fire, which was turned for him into a bath of rose water. They wished to +have him trampled on by the feet of wild bulls; but a still more +powerful bull protected him. He was cast among the wolves; these wolves +went incontinently and sought two ewes, who gave him suck all night. At +last, he was restored to his mother Dogdu, or Dodo, or Dodu, a wife +excellent above all wives, or a daughter above all daughters. + +Such, throughout the world, have been all the histories of ancient +times. It proves what we have often remarked, that Fable is the elder +sister of History. I could wish that, for our amusement and instruction, +all these great prophets of antiquity, the Zoroasters, the Mercurys +Trismegistus, the Abarises, and even the Numas, and others, should now +return to the earth, and converse with Locke, Newton, Bacon, +Shaftesbury, Pascal, Arnaud, Bayle--what do I say?--even with those +philosophers of our day who are the least learned, provided they are not +the less rational. I ask pardon of antiquity, but I think they would cut +a sorry figure. + +Alas, poor charlatans! they could not sell their drugs on the +Pont-neuf. In the meantime, however, their morality is still good, +because morality is not a drug. How could it be that Zoroaster joined so +many egregious fooleries to the fine precept of "abstaining when it is +doubtful whether one is about to do right or wrong?" It is because men +are always compounded of contradictions. + +It is added that Zoroaster, having established his religion, became a +persecutor. Alas! there is not a sexton, or a sweeper of a church, who +would not persecute, if he had the power. + +One cannot read two pages of the abominable trash attributed to +Zoroaster, without pitying human nature. Nostradamus and the urine +doctor are reasonable compared with this inspired personage; and yet he +still is and will continue to be talked of. + +What appears singular is, that there existed, in the time of the +Zoroaster with whom we are acquainted, and probably before, prescribed +formulas of public and private prayer. We are indebted to the French +traveller for a translation of them. There were such formulas in India; +we know of none such in the Pentateuch. + +What is still stranger, the magi, as well as the Brahmins, admitted a +paradise, a hell, a resurrection, and a devil. It is demonstrated that +the law of the Jews knew nothing of all this; they were behindhand with +everything--a truth of which we are convinced, however little the +progress we have made in Oriental knowledge. + + + + +DECLARATION OF THE AMATEURS, INQUIRERS, AND DOUBTERS, + +WHO HAVE AMUSED THEMSELVES WITH PROPOSING TO THE LEARNED THE PRECEDING +QUESTIONS IN THESE VOLUMES. + + +We declare to the learned that being, like themselves, prodigiously +ignorant of the first principles of all things, and of the natural, +typical, mystical, allegorical sense of many things, we acquiesce, in +regard to them, in the infallible decision of the holy Inquisition of +Rome, Milan, Florence, Madrid, Lisbon, and in the decrees of the +Sorbonne, the perpetual council of the French. + +Our errors not proceeding from malice, but being the natural consequence +of human weakness, we hope we shall be pardoned for them both in this +world and the next. + +We entreat the small number of celestial spirits who are still shut up +in the mortal bodies in France, and who thence enlighten the universe at +thirty sous per sheet, to communicate their gifts to us for the next +volume, which we calculate on publishing at the end of the Lent of 1772, +or in the Advent of 1773; and we will pay _forty_ sous per sheet for +their lucubrations. + +We entreat the few great men who still remain to us, such as the author +of the "Ecclesiastical Gazette"; the Abbe Guyon; with the Abbe Caveirac, +author of the "Apology for St. Bartholomew"; and he who took the name +of Chiniac; and the agreeable Larcher; and the virtuous, wise, and +learned Langleviel, called La Beaumelle; the profound and exact +Nonnotte; and the moderate, the compassionate, the tender Patouillet--to +assist us in our undertaking. We shall profit by their instructive +criticisms, and we shall experience a real pleasure in rendering to all +these gentlemen the justice which is their due. + +The next volume will contain very curious articles, which, under the +favor of God, will be likely to give new piquancy to the wit which we +shall endeavor to infuse into the thanks we return to all these +gentlemen. + +Given at Mount Krapak, the 30th of the month of Janus, in the year of +the world, according to + + Scaliger............................... 5,022 + + According to Les Etrennes Mignonnes.... 5,776 + + According to Riccioli.................. 5,956 + + According to Eusebius.................. 6,972 + + According to the Alphosine Tables...... 8,707 + + According to the Egyptians............. 370,000 + + According to the Chaldaeans............. 465,102 + + According to the Brahmins.............. 780,000 + + According to the Philosophers.......... ---- + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10 +(of 10), by Francois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire) + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY *** + +***** This file should be named 35630.txt or 35630.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/6/3/35630/ + +Produced by Andrea Ball, Christine Bell & Marc D'Hooghe +at http://www.freeliterature.org (From images generously +made available by the Internet Archive.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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