,a ,,philosophical ,,dictionary ,,volume ,,vi ,by ,,voltaire ,,edition ,,de ,,la ,,pacification ,,the ,,works ,,of ,,voltaire ,a ,,contemporary ,,version ,with ,notes by ,tobias ,smollett1 ,revised and ,modernized ,new ,translations by ,william ,f4 ,fleming1 and an ,introduction by ,oliver ,h4,g4 ,leigh ,a ,,critique ,,and ,,biography ,,by ,,the ,,rt4 ,,hon4 ,,john ,,morley ,,forty-,,three ,,volumes ,one hundred and sixty-eight designs1 comprising reproductions of rare old engravings1 steel plates1 photogravures1 and curious fac-similes ,,volume ,x ,e4,r4 ,du,m,o,n,t ,,paris 3 ,,london 3 ,,new ,,york 3 ,,chicago #aija ,the ,,works of ,,voltaire ,between two servants of ,humanity1 who appeared eighteen hundred years apart1 there is a mysterious relation4 99 99 99 99 ,let us say it with a sentiment of profound respect3 ,,jesus ,,wept3 ,,voltaire ,,smiled4 ,of that divine tear and of that human smile is composed the sweetness of the present civilization4 ,,victor ,,hugo4 ,,list ,,of ,,plates--,,vol4 ,,vi4 ,,voltaire',s ,,home ,,in ,,geneva ,frontispiece ,,the ,,acropolis ,,at ,,athens ,,the ,,duke ,,of ,,sully ,,the ,,establishment ,,of ,,the ,,inquisition ,,in ,,portugal 99 99 99 99 99 ,,voltaire ,a ,,philosophical ,,dictionary ,,in ,,ten ,,volumes ,,vol4 ,,vi ,,happy--,,job 99 99 99 99 99 ,,happy--,,happily4 ,what is called happiness is an abstract idea1 composed of various ideas of pleasure2 for he who has but a moment of pleasure is not a happy man1 in like manner that a moment of grief constitutes not a miserable one4 ,pleasure is more transient than happiness1 and happiness than felicity4 ,when a person says--,i am happy at this moment1 he abuses the word1 and only means ,i am pleased4 ,when pleasure is continuous1 he may then call himself happy4 ,when this happiness lasts a little longer1 it is a state of felicity4 ,we are sometimes very far from being happy in prosperity1 just as a surfeited invalid eats nothing of a great feast prepared for him4 ,the ancient adage1 ,no person should be called happy before his death1 seems to turn on very false principles1 if we mean by this maxim that we should not give the name of happy to a man who had been so constantly from his birth to his last hour4 ,this continuity of agreeable moments is rendered impossible by the constitution of our organs1 by that of the elements on which we depend1 and by that of mankind1 on whom we depend still more4 ,constant happiness is the philosopher's stone of the soul2 it is a great deal for us not to be a long time unhappy4 ,a person whom we might suppose to have always enjoyed a happy life1 who perishes miserably1 would certainly merit the appellation of happy until his death1 and we might boldly pronounce that he had been the happiest of men4 ,socrates might have been the happiest of the ,greeks1 although superstitious1 absurd1 or iniquitous judges1 or all together1 juridically poisoned him at the age of seventy years1 on the suspicion that he believed in only one ,god4 ,the philosophical maxim so much agitated1 ,nemo ante obitum felix1 therefore1 appears absolutely false in every sense2 and if it signifies that a happy man may die an unhappy death1 it signifies nothing of consequence4 ,the proverb of being ,happy as a king is still more false4 ,everybody knows how the vulgar deceive themselves4 ,it is asked1 if one condition is happier than another2 if man in general is happier than woman4 ,it would be necessary to have tried all conditions1 to have been man and woman like ,tiresias and ,iphis1 to decide this question2 still more would it be necessary to have lived in all conditions1 with a mind equally proper to each2 and we must have passed through all the possible states of man and woman to judge of it4 ,it is further queried1 if of two men one is happier than the other4 ,it is very clear that he who has the gout and stone1 who loses his fortune1 his honor1 his wife and children1 and who is condemned to be hanged immediately after having been mangled1 is less happy in this world in everything than a young1 vigorous sultan1 or ,la ,fontaine's cobbler4 ,but we wish to know which is the happier of two men equally healthy1 equally rich1 and of an equal condition4 ,it is clear that it is their temper which decides it4 ,the most moderate1 the least anxious1 and at the same time the most sensible1 is the most happy2 but unfortunately the most sensible is often the least moderate4 ,it is not our condition1 it is the temper of our souls which renders us happy4 ,this disposition of our souls depends on our organs1 and our organs have been arranged without our having the least part in the arrangement4 ,it belongs to the reader to make his reflections on the above4 ,there are many articles on which he can say more than we ought to tell him4 ,in matters of art1 it is necessary to instruct him2 in affairs of morals1 he should be left to think for himself4 ,there are dogs whom we caress1 comb1 and feed with biscuits1 and whom we give to pretty females3 there are others which are covered with the mange1 which die of hunger2 others which we chase and beat1 and which a young surgeon slowly dissects1 after having driven four great nails into their paws4 ,has it depended upon these poor dogs to be happy or unhappy8 ,we say a happy thought1 a happy feature1 a happy repartee1 a happy physiognomy1 happy climate1 etc4 ,these thoughts1 these happy traits1 which strike like sudden inspirations1 and which are called the happy sallies of a man of wit1 strike like flashes of light across our eyes1 without our seeking it4 ,they are no more in our power than a happy physiognomy2 that is to say1 a sweet and noble aspect1 so independent of us1 and so often deceitful4 ,the happy climate is that which nature favors3 so are happy imaginations1 so is happy genius1 or great talent4 ,and who can give himself genius8 or who1 when he has received some ray of this flame1 can preserve it always brilliant8 ,when we speak of a happy rascal1 by this word we only comprehend his success4 ,felix ,sulla--the fortunate ,sulla1 and ,alexander ,,vi41 a duke of ,borgia1 have happily pillaged1 betrayed1 poisoned1 ravaged1 and assassinated4 ,but being villains1 it is very likely that they were very unhappy1 even when not in fear of persons resembling themselves4 ,it may happen to an ill-disposed person1 badly educated--a ,turk1 for example1 of whom it ought to be said1 that he is permitted to doubt the ,christian faith--to put a silken cord round the necks of his viziers1 when they are rich2 to strangle1 massacre1 or throw his brothers into the ,black ,sea1 and to ravage a hundred leagues of country for his glory4 ,it may happen1 ,i say1 that this man has no more remorse than his mufti1 and is very happy--on all which the reader may duly ponder4 ,there were formerly happy planets1 and others unhappy1 or unfortunate2 unhappily1 they no longer exist4 ,some people would have deprived the public of this useful ,dictionary--happily1 they have not succeeded4 ,ungenerous minds1 and absurd fanatics1 every day endeavor to prejudice the powerful and the ignorant against philosophers4 ,if they were unhappily listened to1 we should fall back into the barbarity from which philosophers alone have withdrawn us4 ,,heaven 7,,ciel ,,mat,,riel74 ,the laws of optics1 which are founded upon the nature of things1 have ordained that1 from this small globe of earth on which we live1 we shall always see the material heaven as if we were the centre of it1 although we are far from being that centre2 that we shall always see it as a vaulted roof1 hanging over a plane1 although there is no other vaulted roof than that of our atmosphere1 which has no such plane2 that our sun and moon will always appear one-third larger at the horizon than at their zenith1 although they are nearer the spectator at the zenith than at the horizon4 ,such are the laws of optics1 such is the structure of your eyes1 that1 in the first place1 the material heaven1 the clouds1 the moon1 the sun1 which is at so vast a distance from you2 the planets1 which in their apogee are still at a greater distance from it2 all the stars placed at distances yet vastly greater1 comets and meteors1 everything1 must appear to us in that vaulted roof as consisting of our atmosphere4 ,the sun appears to us1 when in its zenith1 smaller than when at fifteen degrees below2 at thirty degrees below the zenith it will appear still larger than at fifteen2 and finally1 at the horizon1 its size will seem larger yet2 so that its dimensions in the lower heaven decrease in consequence of its elevations1 in the following proportions3 ,at the horizon #ajj ,at fifteen degrees above #fh ,at thirty degrees #ej ,at forty-five degrees #dj ,its apparent magnitudes in the vaulted roof are as its apparent elevations2 and it is the same with the moon1 and with a comet4 ,it is not habit1 it is not the intervention of tracts of land1 it is not the refraction of the atmosphere which produces this effect4 ,malebranche and ,rgis have disputed with each other on this subject2 but ,robert ,smith has calculated4 ,observe the two stars1 which1 being at a prodigious distance from each other1 and at very different depths1 in the immensity of space1 are here considered as placed in the circle which the sun appears to traverse4 ,you perceive them distant from each other in the great circle1 but approximating to each other in every circle smaller1 or within that described by the path of the sun4 ,it is in this manner that you see the material heaven4 ,it is by these invariable laws of optics that you perceive the planets sometimes retrograde and sometimes stationary2 there is in fact nothing of the kind4 ,were you stationed in the sun1 we should perceive all the planets and comets moving regularly round it in those elliptical orbits which ,god assigns4 ,but we are upon the planet of the earth1 in a corner of the universe1 where it is impossible for us to enjoy the sight of everything4 ,let us not then blame the errors of our senses1 like ,malebranche2 the steady laws of nature originating in the immutable will of the ,almighty1 and adapted to the structure of our organs1 cannot be errors4 ,we can see only the appearances of things1 and not things themselves4 ,we are no more deceived when the sun1 the work of the divinity--that star a million times larger than our earth--appears to us quite flat and two feet in width1 than when1 in a convex mirror1 which is the work of our own hands1 we see a man only a few inches high4 ,if the ,chaldan magi were the first who employed the understanding which ,god bestowed upon them1 to measure and arrange in their respective stations the heavenly bodies1 other nations more gross and unintelligent made no advance towards imitating them4 ,these childish and savage populations imagined the earth to be flat1 supported1 ,i know not how1 by its own weight in the air2 the sun1 moon1 and stars to move continually upon a solid vaulted roof called a firmament2 and this roof to sustain waters1 and have flood-gates at regular distances1 through which these waters issued to moisten and fertilize the earth4 ,but how did the sun1 the moon1 and all the stars reappear after their setting8 ,of this they know nothing at all4 ,the heaven touched the flat earth3 and there were no means by which the sun1 moon1 and stars could turn under the earth1 and go to rise in the east after having set in the west4 ,it is true that these children of ignorance were right by chance in not entertaining the idea that the sun and fixed stars moved1 round the earth4 ,but they were far from conceiving that the sun was immovable1 and the earth with its satellite revolving round him in space together with the other planets4 ,their fables were more distant from the true system of the world than darkness from light4 ,they thought that the sun and stars returned by certain unknown roads after having refreshed themselves for their course at some spot1 not precisely ascertained1 in the ,mediterranean ,sea4 ,this was the amount of astronomy1 even in the time of ,homer1 who is comparatively recent2 for the ,chaldans kept their science to themselves1 in order to obtain thereby1 greater respect from other nations4 ,homer says1 more than once1 that the sun plunges into the ocean--and this ocean1 be it observed1 is nothing but the ,nile--here1 by the freshness of the waters1 he repairs during the night the fatigue and exhaustion of the day1 after which1 he goes to the place of his regular rising by ways unknown to mortals4 ,this idea is very like that of ,baron ,fneste1 who says1 that the cause of our not seeing the sun when he goes back1 is that he goes back by night4 ,as1 at that time1 the nations of ,syria and the ,greeks were somewhat acquainted with ,asia and a small part of ,europe1 and had no notion of the countries which lie to the north of the ,euxine ,sea and to the south of the ,nile1 they laid it down as a certainty that the earth was a full third longer than it was wide2 consequently the heaven1 which touched the earth and embraced it1 was also longer than it was wide4 ,hence came down to us degrees of longitude and latitude1 names which we have always retained1 although with far more correct ideas than those which originally suggested them4 ,the ,book of ,job1 composed by an ancient ,arab who possessed some knowledge of astronomy1 since he speaks of the constellations1 contains nevertheless the following passage3 ,where wert thou1 when ,i laid the foundation of the earth8 ,who hath taken the dimensions thereof8 ,on what are its foundations fixed8 ,who hath laid the cornerstone thereof8 ,the least informed schoolboy1 at the present day1 would tell him1 in answer3 ,the earth has neither cornerstone nor foundation2 and1 as to its dimensions1 we know them perfectly well1 as from ,magellan to ,bougainville1 various navigators have sailed round it4 ,the same schoolboy would put to silence the pompous declaimer ,lactantius1 and all those who before and since his time have decided that the earth was fixed upon the water1 and that there can be no heaven under the earth2 and that1 consequently1 it is both ridiculous and impious to suppose the existence of antipodes4 ,it is curious to observe with what disdain1 with what contemptuous pity1 ,lactantius looks down upon all the philosophers1 who1 from about four hundred years before his time1 had begun to be acquainted with the apparent revolutions of the sun and planets1 with the roundness of the earth1 and the liquid and yielding nature of the heaven through which the planets revolved in their orbits1 etc4 ,he inquires1 by what degrees philosophers attained such excess of folly as to conceive the earth to be a globe1 and to surround that globe with heaven4 ,these reasonings are upon a par with those he has adduced on the subject of the sibyls4 ,our young scholar would address some such language as this to all these consequential doctors3 ,you are to learn that there are no such things as solid heavens placed one over another1 as you have been told2 that there are no real circles in which the stars move on a pretended firmament2 that the sun is the centre of our planetary world2 and that the earth and the planets move round it in space1 in orbits not circular but elliptical4 ,you must learn that there is1 in fact1 neither above nor below1 but that the planets and the comets tend all towards the sun1 their common centre1 and that the sun tends towards them1 according to an eternal law of gravitation4 ,lactantius and his gabbling associates would be perfectly astonished1 were the true system of the world thus unfolded to them4 ,,heaven ,,of ,,the ,,ancients4 ,were a silkworm to denominate the small quantity of downy substance surrounding its ball1 heaven1 it would reason just as correctly as all the ancients1 when they applied that term to the atmosphere2 which1 as ,m4 de ,fontenelle has well observed in his ,plurality of ,worlds1 is the down of our ball4 ,the vapors which rise from our seas and land1 and which form the clouds1 meteors1 and thunder1 were supposed1 in the early ages of the world1 to be the residence of gods4 ,homer always makes the gods descend in clouds of gold2 and hence painters still represent them seated on a cloud4 ,how can any one be seated on water8 ,it was perfectly correct to place the master of the gods more at ease than the rest2 he had an eagle to carry him1 because the eagle soars higher than the other birds4 ,the ancient ,greeks1 observing that the lords of cities resided in citadels on the tops of mountains1 supposed that the gods might also have their citadel1 and placed it in ,thessaly1 on ,mount ,olympus1 whose summit is sometimes hidden in clouds2 so that their palace was on the same floor with their heaven4 ,afterwards1 the stars and planets1 which appear fixed to the blue vault of our atmosphere1 became the abodes of gods2 seven of them had each a planet1 and the rest found a lodging where they could4 ,the general council of gods was held in a spacious hall which lay beyond the ,milky ,way2 for it was but reasonable that the gods should have a hall in the air1 as men had town-halls and courts of assembly upon earth4 ,when the ,titans1 a species of animal between gods and men1 declared their just and necessary war against these same gods in order to recover a part of their patrimony1 by the father's side1 as they were the sons of heaven and earth2 they contented themselves with piling two or three mountains upon one another1 thinking that would be quite enough to make them masters of heaven1 and of the castle of ,olympus4 ,neve foret terris securior arduus ther1 ,affectasse ferunt regnum celeste gigantes2 ,attaque congestos struxisse ad sidera montes4 --,,ovid',s ,metamorph41 i4 #aea-aec4 ,nor heaven itself was more secure than earth2 ,against the gods the ,titans levied wars1 ,and piled up mountains till they reached the stars4 ,it is1 however1 more than six hundred leagues from these stars to ,mount ,olympus1 and from some stars infinitely farther4 ,virgil 7,eclogue v1 #eg7 does not hesitate to say3 ,sub pedibusque videt nubes et sidera ,daphnis4 ,daphnis1 the guest of heaven1 with wondering eyes1 ,views in the ,milky ,way1 the ,starry skies1 ,and far beneath him1 from the shining sphere ,beholds the morning clouds1 and rolling year4 --,,dryden4 ,but where then could ,daphnis possibly place himself8 ,at the opera1 and in more serious productions1 the gods are introduced descending in the midst of tempests1 clouds1 and thunder2 that is1 ,god is brought forward in the midst of the vapors of our petty globe4 ,these notions are so suitable to our weak minds1 that they appear to us grand and sublime4 ,this philosophy of children and old women was of prodigious antiquity2 it is believed1 however1 that the ,chaldans entertained nearly as correct ideas as ourselves on the subject of what is called heaven4 ,they placed the sun in the midst of our planetary system1 nearly at the same distance from our globe as our calculation computes it2 and they supposed the earth and some planets to revolve round that star2 this we learn from ,aristarchus of ,samos4 ,it is nearly the system of the world since established by ,copernicus3 but the philosophers kept the secret to themselves1 in order to obtain greater respect both from kings and people1 or rather perhaps1 to avoid the danger of persecution4 ,the language of error is so familiar to mankind that we still apply the name of heaven to our vapors1 and the space between the earth and moon4 ,we use the expression of ascending to heaven1 just as we say the sun turns round1 although we well know that it does not4 ,we are1 probably1 the heaven of the inhabitants of the moon2 and every planet places its heaven in that planet nearest to itself4 ,had ,homer been asked1 to what heaven the soul of ,sarpedon had fled1 or where that of ,hercules resided1 ,homer would have been a good deal embarrassed1 and would have answered by some harmonious verses4 ,what assurance could there be1 that the ethereal soul of ,hercules would be more at its ease in the planet ,venus or in ,saturn1 than upon our own globe8 ,could its mansion be in the sun8 ,in that flaming and consuming furnace1 it would appear difficult for it to endure its station4 ,in short1 what was it that the ancients meant by heaven8 ,they knew nothing about it2 they were always exclaiming1 ,heaven and earth1 thus placing completely different things in most absurd connection4 ,it would be just as judicious to exclaim1 and connect in the same manner1 infinity and an atom4 ,properly speaking1 there is no heaven4 ,there are a prodigious number of globes revolving in the immensity of space1 and our globe revolves like the rest4 ,the ancients thought that to go to heaven was to ascend2 but there is no ascent from one globe to another4 ,the heavenly bodies are sometimes above our horizon1 and sometimes below it4 ,thus1 let us suppose that ,venus1 after visiting ,paphos1 should return to her own planet1 when that planet had set2 the goddess would not in that case ascend1 in reference to our horizon2 she would descend1 and the proper expression would be then1 descended to heaven4 ,but the ancients did not discriminate with such nicety2 on every subject of natural philosophy1 their notions were vague1 uncertain and contradictory4 ,volumes have been composed in order to ascertain and point out what they thought upon many questions of this description4 ,six words would have been sufficient--they did not think at all4 ,we must always except a small number of sages2 but they appeared at too late a period1 and but rarely disclosed their thoughts2 and when they did so1 the charlatans in power took care to send them to heaven by the shortest way4 ,a writer1 if ,i am not mistaken1 of the name of ,pluche1 has been recently exhibiting ,moses as a great natural philosopher2 another had previously harmonized ,moses with ,descartes1 and published a book1 which he called1 ,carlesius ,mosaisans2 according to him1 ,moses was the real inventor of ,vortices1 and the subtile matter2 but we full well know1 that when ,god made ,moses a great legislator and prophet1 it was no part of ,his scheme to make him also a professor of physics4 ,moses instructed the ,jews in their duty1 and did not teach them a single word of philosophy4 ,calmet1 who compiled a great deal1 but never reasoned at all1 talks of the system of the ,hebrews2 but that stupid people never had any system4 ,they had not even a school of geometry2 the very name was utterly unknown to them4 ,the whole of their science was comprised in money-changing and usury4 ,we find in their books ideas on the structure of heaven1 confused1 incoherent1 and in every respect worthy of a people immersed in barbarism4 ,their first heaven was the air1 the second the firmament in which the stars were fixed4 ,this firmament was solid and made of glass1 and supported the superior waters which issued from the vast reservoirs by flood-gates1 sluices1 and cataracts1 at the time of the deluge4 ,above the firmament or these superior waters was the third heaven1 or the empyream1 to which ,st4 ,paul was caught up4 ,the firmament was a sort of demi-vault which came close down to the earth4 ,it is clear that1 according to this opinion1 there could be no antipodes4 ,accordingly1 ,st4 ,augustine treats the idea of antipodes as an absurdity2 and ,lactantius1 whom we have already quoted1 expressly says can there possibly be any persons so simple as to believe that there are men whose heads are lower than their feet8 etc4 ,st4 ,chrysostom exclaims1 in his fourteenth homily1 ,where are they who pretend that the heavens are movable1 and that their form is circular8 ,lactantius1 once more1 says1 in the third book of his ,institutions1 ,i could prove to you by many arguments that it is impossible heaven should surround the earth4 ,the author of the ,spectacle of ,nature may repeat to ,m4 le ,chevalier as often as he pleases1 that ,lactantius and ,st4 ,chrysostom are great philosophers4 ,he will be told in reply that they were great saints2 and that to be a great saint1 it is not at all necessary to be a great astronomer4 ,it will be believed that they are in heaven1 although it will be admitted to be impossible to say precisely in what part of it4 ,,hell4 ,infernum1 subterranean2 the regions below1 or the infernal regions4 ,nations which buried the dead placed them in the inferior or infernal regions4 ,their soul1 then1 was with them in those regions4 ,such were the first physics and the first metaphysics of the ,egyptians and ,greeks4 ,the ,indians1 who were far more ancient1 who had invented the ingenious doctrine of the metempsychosis1 never believed that souls existed in the infernal regions4 ,the ,japanese1 ,coreans1 ,chinese1 and the inhabitants of the vast territory of eastern and western ,tartary never knew a word of the philosophy of the infernal regions4 ,the ,greeks1 in the course of time1 constituted an immense kingdom of these infernal regions1 which they liberally conferred on ,pluto and his wife ,proserpine4 ,they assigned them three privy counsellors1 three housekeepers called ,furies1 and three ,fates to spin1 wind1 and cut the thread of human life4 ,and1 as in ancient times1 every hero had his dog to guard his gate1 so was ,pluto attended and guarded by an immense dog with three heads2 for everything1 it seems1 was to be done by threes4 ,of the three privy counsellors1 ,minos1 acus1 and ,rhadamanthus1 one judged ,greece1 another ,asia ,minor--for the ,greeks were then unacquainted with the ,greater ,asia--and the third was for ,europe4 ,the poets1 having invented these infernal regions1 or hell1 were the first to laugh at them4 ,sometimes ,virgil mentions hell in the neid in a style of seriousness1 because that style was then suitable to his subject4 ,sometimes he speaks of it with contempt in his ,georgics 7ii4 #dij1 etc474 ,felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas ,atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum ,subjecit pedibus strepitumque ,acherontis avari6 ,happy the man whose vigorous soul can pierce ,through the formation of this universe1 ,who nobly dares despise1 with soul sedate1 ,the den of ,acheron1 and vulgar fears and fate4 --,,wharton4 ,the following lines from the ,troad 7chorus of act ii471 in which ,pluto1 ,cerberus1 ,phlegethon1 ,styx1 etc41 are treated like dreams and childish tales1 were repeated in the theatre of ,rome1 and applauded by forty thousand hands3 4444 ,tnara et aspero ,regnum sub domino1 limen et obsidens ,custos non facili ,cerberus ostio ,rumores vacui1 verbaque inania1 ,et par solicito fabula somnio4 ,lucretius and ,horace express themselves equally strongly4 ,cicero and ,seneca used similar language in innumerable parts of their writings4 ,the great emperor ,marcus ,aurelius reasons still more philosophically than those ,i have mentioned4 ,he who fears death1 fears either to be deprived of all senses1 or to experience other sensations4 ,but1 if you no longer retain your own senses1 you will be no longer subject to any pain or grief4 ,if you have senses of a different nature1 you will be a totally different being4 ,to this reasoning1 profane philosophy had nothing to reply4 ,yet1 agreeably to that contradiction or perverseness which distinguishes the human species1 and seems to constitute the very foundation of our nature1 at the very time when ,cicero publicly declared that not even an old woman was to be found who believed in such absurdities1 ,lucretius admitted that these ideas were powerfully impressive upon men's minds2 his object1 he says1 is to destroy them3 4444 ,si certum finem esse viderent rumnarum homines1 aliqua ratione valerent ,religionibus atque minis obsistere vatum4 ,nunc ratio nulla est restandi1 nulla facultas2 ternas quoniam poenas in morte timendum4 --,,lucretius1 i4 #ajh4 4444 ,if it once appear ,that after death there's neither hope nor fear2 ,then might men freely triumph1 then disdain ,the poet's tales1 and scorn their fancied pain2 ,but now we must submit1 since pains we fear ,eternal after death1 we know not where4 --,,creech4 ,it was therefore true1 that among the lowest classes of the people1 some laughed at hell1 and others trembled at it4 ,some regarded ,cerberus1 the ,furies1 and ,pluto as ridiculous fables1 others perpetually presented offerings to the infernal gods4 ,it was with them just as it is now among ourselves3 ,et quocumque tamen miseri venere1 parentant1 ,et nigros mactant pecudes1 et ,manibus divis ,inferias mittunt multoque in rebus acerbis ,acrius admittunt animos ad religionem4 --,,lucretius1 iii4 #ea4 ,nay1 more than that1 where'er the wretches come ,they sacrifice black sheep on every tomb1 ,to please the manes2 and of all the rout1 ,when cares and dangers press1 grow most devout4 --,,creech4 ,many philosophers who had no belief in the fables about hell1 were yet desirous that the people should retain that belief4 ,such was ,zimens of ,locris4 ,such was the political historian ,polybius4 ,hell1 says he1 is useless to sages1 but necessary to the blind and brutal populace4 ,it is well known that the law of the ,pentateuch never announces a hell4 ,all mankind was involved in this chaos of contradiction and uncertainty1 when ,jesus ,christ came into the world4 ,he confirmed the ancient doctrine of hell1 not the doctrine of the heathen poets1 not that of the ,egyptian priests1 but that which ,christianity adopted1 and to which everything must yield4 ,he announced a kingdom that was about to come1 and a hell that should have no end4 ,he said1 in express words1 at ,capernaum in ,galilee1 ,whosoever shall call his brother ',raca1' shall be condemned by the sanhedrim2 but whosoever shall call him 'fool1' shall be condemned to ,gehenna ,hinnom1 ,gehenna of fire4 ,this proves two things1 first1 that ,jesus ,christ was adverse to abuse and reviling2 for it belonged only to ,him1 as master1 to call the ,pharisees hypocrites1 and a generation of vipers4 ,secondly1 that those who revile their neighbor deserve hell2 for the ,gehenna of fire was in the valley of ,hinnom1 where victims had formerly been burned in sacrifice to ,moloch1 and this ,gehenna was typical of the fire of hell4 ,he says1 in another place1 ,if any one shall offend one of the weak who believe in ,me1 it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the sea4 ,and if thy hand offend thee1 cut it off2 it is better for thee to enter into life maimed1 than to go into the ,gehenna of inextinguishable fire1 where the worm dies not1 and where the fire is not quenched4 ,and if thy foot offend thee1 cut it off2 it is better for thee to enter lame into eternal life1 than to be cast with two feet into the inextinguishable ,gehenna1 where the worm dies not2 and where the fire is not quenched4 ,and if thine eye offend thee1 pluck it out2 it is better to enter into the kingdom of ,god with one eye1 than to be cast with both eyes into the ,gehenna of fire1 where the worm dies not1 and the fire is not quenched4 ,for everyone shall be burned with fire1 and every victim shall be salted with salt4 ,salt is good2 but if the salt have lost its savor1 with what will you salt8 ,you have salt in yourselves1 preserve peace one with another4 ,he said on another occasion1 on ,his journey to ,jerusalem1 ,when the master of the house shall have entered and shut the door1 you will remain without1 and knock1 saying1 ',lord1 open unto us2' and he will answer and say unto you1 ',nescio vos1' ,i know you not2 whence are you8 ,and then ye shall begin to say1 we have eaten and drunk with thee1 and thou hast taught in our public places2 and he will reply1 ',nescio vos1' whence are you1 workers of iniquity8 ,and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth1 when ye shall see there ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob1 and the prophets1 and yourselves cast out4 ,notwithstanding the other positive declarations made by the ,saviour of mankind1 which assert the eternal damnation of all who do not belong to our church1 ,origen and some others were not believers in the eternity of punishments4 ,the ,socinians reject such punishments2 but they are without the pale4 ,the ,lutherans and ,calvinists1 although they have strayed beyond the pale1 yet admit the doctrine of a hell without end4 ,when men came to live in society1 they must have perceived that a great number of criminals eluded the severity of the laws2 the laws punished public crimes2 it was necessary to establish a check upon secret crimes2 this check was to be found only in religion4 ,the ,persians1 ,chaldans1 ,egyptians1 and ,greeks1 entertained the idea of punishments after the present life1 and of all the nations of antiquity that we are acquainted with1 the ,jews1 as we have already remarked1 were the only one who admitted solely temporal punishments4 ,it is ridiculous to believe1 or pretend to believe1 from some excessively obscure passages1 that hell was recognized by the ancient laws of the ,jews1 by their ,leviticus1 or by their ,decalogue1 when the author of those laws says not a single word which can bear the slightest relation to the chastisements of a future life4 ,we might have some right to address the compiler of the ,pentateuch in such language as the following3 ,you are a man of no consistency1 as destitute of probity as understanding1 and totally unworthy of the name which you arrogate to yourself of legislator4 ,what6 you are perfectly acquainted1 it seems1 with that doctrine so eminently repressive of human vice1 so necessary to the virtue and happiness of mankind--the doctrine of hell2 and yet you do not explicitly announce it2 and1 while it is admitted by all the nations which surround you1 you are content to leave it for some commentators1 after four thousand years have passed away1 to suspect that this doctrine might possibly have been entertained by you1 and to twist and torture your expressions1 in order to find that in them which you have never said4 ,either you are grossly ignorant not to know that this belief was universal in ,egypt1 ,chalda1 and ,persia2 or you have committed the most disgraceful error in judgment1 in not having made it the foundation-stone of your religion4 ,the authors of the ,jewish laws could at most only answer3 ,we confess that we are excessively ignorant2 that we did not learn the art of writing until a late period2 that our people were a wild and barbarous horde1 that wandered1 as our own records admit1 for nearly half a century in impracticable deserts1 and at length obtained possession of a petty territory by the most odious rapine and detestable cruelty ever mentioned in the records of history4 ,we had no commerce with civilized nations1 and how could you suppose that1 so grossly mean and grovelling as we are in all our ideas and usages1 we should have invented a system so refined and spiritual as that in question8 ,we employed the word which most nearly corresponds with soul1 merely to signify life2 we know our ,god and ,his ministers1 ,his angels1 only as corporeal beings2 the distinction of soul and body1 the idea of a life beyond death1 can be the fruit only of long meditation and refined philosophy4 ,ask the ,hottentots and negroes1 who inhabit a country a hundred times larger than ours1 whether they know anything of a life to come8 ,we thought we had done enough in persuading the people under our influence that ,god punished offenders to the fourth generation1 either by leprosy1 by sudden death1 or by the loss of the little property of which the criminal might be possessed4 ,to this apology it might be replied3 ,you have invented a system1 the ridicule and absurdity of which are as clear as the sun at noon-day2 for the offender who enjoyed good health1 and whose family were in prosperous circumstances1 must absolutely have laughed you to scorn4 ,the apologist for the ,jewish law would here rejoin3 ,you are much mistaken2 since for one criminal who reasoned correctly1 there were a hundred who never reasoned at all4 ,the man who1 after he had committed a crime1 found no punishment of it attached to himself or his son1 would yet tremble for his grandson4 ,besides1 if after the time of committing his offence he was not speedily seized with some festering sore1 such as our nation was extremely subject to1 he would experience it in the course of years4 ,calamities are always occurring in a family1 and we1 without difficulty1 instilled the belief that these calamities were inflicted by the hand of ,god taking vengeance for secret offences4 ,it would be easy to reply to this answer by saying3 ,your apology is worth nothing2 for it happens every day that very worthy and excellent persons lose their health and their property2 and1 if there were no family that did not experience calamity1 and that calamity at the same time was a chastisement from ,god1 all the families of your community must have been made up of scoundrels4 ,the ,jewish priest might again answer and say that there are some calamities inseparable from human nature1 and others expressly inflicted by the hand of ,god4 ,but1 in return1 we should point out to such a reasoner the absurdity of considering fever and hail-stones in some cases as divine punishments2 in others as mere natural effects4 ,in short1 the ,pharisees and the ,essenians among the ,jews did admit1 according to certain notions of their own1 the belief of a hell4 ,this dogma had passed from the ,greeks to the ,romans1 and was adopted by the ,christians4 ,many of the fathers of the church rejected the doctrine of eternal punishments4 ,it appeared to them absurd to burn to all eternity an unfortunate man for stealing a goat4 ,virgil has finely said3 4444 ,sedit eternumque sedebit ,infelix ,theseus4 ,unhappy ,theseus1 doomed forever there1 ,is fixed by fate on his eternal chair4 --,,dryden4 ,but it is vain for him to maintain or imply that ,theseus is forever fixed to his chair1 and that this position constitutes his punishment4 ,others have imagined ,theseus to be a hero who could never be seen on any seat in hell1 and who was to be found in the ,elysian ,fields4 ,a ,calvinistical divine1 of the name of ,petit ,pierre1 not long since preached and published the doctrine that the damned would at some future period be pardoned4 ,the rest of the ministers of his association told him that they wished for no such thing4 ,the dispute grew warm4 ,it was said that the king1 whose subjects they were1 wrote to him1 that since they were desirous of being damned without redemption1 he could have no reasonable objection1 and freely gave his consent4 ,the damned majority of the church of ,neufchtel ejected poor ,petit ,pierre1 who had thus converted hell into a mere purgatory4 ,it is stated that one of them said to him3 ,my good friend1 ,i no more believe in the eternity of hell than yourself2 but recollect that it may be no bad thing1 perhaps1 for your servant1 your tailor1 and your lawyer to believe in it4 ,i will add1 as an illustration of this passage1 a short address of exhortation to those philosophers who in their writings deny a hell2 ,i will say to them3 ,gentlemen1 we do not pass our days with ,cicero1 ,atticus1 ,marcus ,aurelius1 ,epictetus1 the ,chancellor de l',hpital1 ,la ,mothe le ,vayer1 ,desyveteaux1 ,ren ,descartes1 ,newton1 or ,locke1 nor with the respectable ,bayle1 who was superior to the power and frown of fortune1 nor with the too scrupulously virtuous infidel ,spinoza1 who1 although laboring under poverty and destitution1 gave back to the children of the grand pensionary ,de ,witt an allowance of three hundred florins1 which had been granted him by that great statesman1 whose heart1 it may be remembered1 the ,hollanders actually devoured1 although there was nothing to be gained by it4 ,every man with whom we intermingle in life is not a des ,barreaux1 who paid the pleaders their fees for a cause which he had forgotten to bring into court4 ,every woman is not a ,ninon de ,l',enclos1 who guarded deposits in trust with religious fidelity1 while the gravest personages in the state were violating them4 ,in a word1 gentlemen1 all the world are not philosophers4 ,we are obliged to hold intercourse and transact business1 and mix up in life with knaves possessing little or no reflection--with vast numbers of persons addicted to brutality1 intoxication1 and rapine4 ,you may1 if you please1 preach to them that there is no hell1 and that the soul of man is mortal4 ,as for myself1 ,i will be sure to thunder in their ears that if they rob me they will inevitably be damned4 ,i will imitate the country clergyman1 who1 having had a great number of sheep stolen from him1 at length said to his hearers1 in the course of one of his sermons3 ',i cannot conceive what ,jesus ,christ was thinking about when he died for such a set of scoundrels as you are4' ,there is an excellent book for fools called ,the ,christian ,pedagogue1 composed by the reverend father d',outreman1 of the ,society of ,jesus1 and enlarged by ,coulon1 cur of ,ville-,juif-les-,paris4 ,this book has passed1 thank ,god1 through fifty-one editions1 although not a single page in it exhibits a gleam of common sense4 ,friar ,outreman asserts--in the hundred and fifty-seventh page of the second edition in quarto--that one of ,queen ,elizabeth's ministers1 ,baron ,hunsdon1 predicted to ,cecil1 secretary of state1 and to six other members of the cabinet council1 that they as well as he would be damned2 which1 he says1 was actually the case1 and is the case with all heretics4 ,it is most likely that ,cecil and the other members of the council gave no credit to the said ,baron ,hunsdon2 but if the fictitious baron had said the same to six common citizens1 they would probably have believed him4 ,were the time ever to arrive in which no citizen of ,london believed in a hell1 what course of conduct would be adopted8 ,what restraint upon wickedness would exist8 ,there would exist the feeling of honor1 the restraint of the laws1 that of the ,deity ,himself1 whose will it is that mankind shall be just1 whether there be a hell or not4 ,,hell 7,,descent ,,into74 ,our colleague who wrote the article on ,hell has made no mention of the descent of ,jesus ,christ into hell4 ,this is an article of faith of high importance2 it is expressly particularized in the creed of which we have already spoken4 ,it is asked whence this article of faith is derived2 for it is not to be found in either of our four gospels1 and the creed called the ,apostles' ,creed is not older than the age of those learned priests1 ,jerome1 ,augustine1 and ,rufinus4 ,it is thought that this descent of our ,lord into hell is taken originally from the gospel of ,nicodemus1 one of the oldest4 ,in that gospel the prince of ,tartarus and ,satan1 after a long conversation with ,adam1 ,enoch1 ,elias the ,tishbite1 and ,david1 hears a voice like the thunder1 and a voice like a tempest4 ,david says to the prince of ,tartarus1 ,now1 thou foul and miscreant prince of hell1 open thy gates and let the ,king of ,glory enter1 etc4 ,while he was thus addressing the prince1 the ,lord of ,majesty appeared suddenly in the form of man1 and ,he lighted up the eternal darkness1 and broke asunder the indissoluble bars1 and by an invincible virtue ,he visited those who lay in the depth of the darkness of guilt1 in the shadow of the depth of sin4 ,jesus ,christ appeared with ,st4 ,michael2 ,he overcame death2 ,he took ,adam by the hand2 and the good thief followed ,him1 bearing the cross4 ,all this took place in hell1 in the presence of ,carinus and ,lenthius1 who were resuscitated for the express purpose of giving evidence of the fact to the priests ,ananias and ,caiaphas1 and to ,doctor ,gamaliel1 at that time ,st4 ,paul's master4 ,this gospel of ,nicodemus has long been considered as of no authority4 ,but a confirmation of this descent into hell is found in the ,first ,epistle of ,st4 ,peter1 at the close of the third chapter3 ,because ,christ died once for our sins1 the just for the unjust1 that ,he might offer us to ,god2 dead indeed in the flesh1 but resuscitated in spirit1 by which ,he went to preach to the spirits that were in prison4 ,many of the fathers interpreted this passage very differently1 but all were agreed as to the fact of the descent of ,jesus into hell after ,his death4 ,a frivolous difficulty was started upon the subject4 ,he had1 while upon the cross1 said to the good thief3 ,this day shalt thou be with ,me in paradise4 ,by going to hell1 therefore1 ,he failed to perform ,his promise4 ,this objection is easily answered by saying that ,he took him first to hell and afterwards to paradise2 but1 then1 what becomes of the stay of three days8 ,eusebius of ,csarea says that ,jesus left ,his body1 without waiting for ,death to come and seize it2 and that1 on the contrary1 ,he seized ,death1 who1 in terror and agony1 embraced ,his feet1 and afterwards attempted to escape by flight1 but was prevented by ,jesus1 who broke down the gates of the dungeons which enclosed the souls of the saints1 drew them forth from their confinement1 resuscitated them1 then resuscitated ,himself1 and conducted them in triumph to that heavenly ,jerusalem which descended from heaven every night1 and was actually seen by the astonished eyes of ,st4 ,justin4 ,it was a question much disputed whether all those who were resuscitated died again before they ascended into heaven4 ,st4 ,thomas1 in his ,summary1 asserts that they died again4 ,this also is the opinion of the discriminating and judicious ,calmet4 ,we maintain1 says he1 in his dissertation on this great question1 that the saints who were resuscitated1 after the death of the ,saviour died again1 in order to revive hereafter4 ,god had permitted1 ages before1 that the profane ,gentiles should imitate in anticipation these sacred truths4 ,the ancients imagined that the gods resuscitated ,pelops2 that ,orpheus extricated ,eurydice from hell1 at least for a moment2 that ,hercules delivered ,alcestis from it2 that sculapius resuscitated ,hippolytus1 etc4 ,let us ever discriminate between fable and truth1 and keep our minds in the same subjection with respect to whatever surprises and astonishes us1 as with respect to whatever appears perfectly conformable to their circumscribed and narrow views4 ,,heresy4 ,,section ,i4 ,a ,greek word1 signifying belief1 or elected opinion4 ,it is not greatly to the honor of human reason that men should be hated1 persecuted1 massacred1 or burned at the stake1 on account of their chosen opinions2 but what is exceedingly little to our honor is that this mischievous and destructive madness has been as peculiar to us as leprosy was to the ,hebrews1 or lues formerly to the ,caribs4 ,we well know1 theologically speaking1 that heresy having become a crime1 as even the word itself is a reproach2 we well know1 ,i say1 that the ,latin church1 which alone can possess reason1 has also possessed the right of reproving all who were of a different opinion from her own4 ,on the other side1 the ,greek church had the same right2 accordingly1 it reproved the ,romans when they chose a different opinion from the ,greeks on the procession of the ,holy ,spirit1 the viands which might be taken in ,lent1 the authority of the pope1 etc4 ,but upon what ground did any arrive finally at the conclusion that1 when they were the strongest1 they might burn those who entertained chosen opinions of their own8 ,those who had such opinions were undoubtedly criminal in the sight of ,god1 since they were obstinate4 ,they will1 therefore1 as no one can possibly doubt1 be burned to all eternity in another world2 but why burn them by a slow fire in this8 ,the sufferers have represented that such conduct is a usurpation of the jurisdiction of ,god2 that this punishment is very hard and severe1 considered as an infliction by men2 and that it is1 moreover1 of no utility1 since one hour of suffering added to eternity is an absolute cipher4 ,the pious inflicters1 however1 replied to these reproaches that nothing was more just than to put upon burning coals whoever had a self-formed opinion2 that to burn those whom ,god ,himself would burn1 was in fact a holy conformity to ,god2 and finally1 that since1 by admission1 the burning for an hour or two was a mere cipher in comparison with eternity1 the burning of five or six provinces for chosen opinions--for heresies--was a matter in reality of very little consequence4 ,in the present day it is asked1 ,among what cannibals have these questions been agitated1 and their solutions proved by facts8 ,we must admit with sorrow and humiliation that it was asked even among ourselves1 and in the very same cities where nothing is minded but operas1 comedies1 balls1 fashions1 and intrigue4 ,unfortunately1 it was a tyrant who introduced the practice of destroying heretics--not one of those equivocal tyrants who are regarded as saints by one party1 and monsters by another1 but one ,maximus1 competitor of ,theodosius ,i41 a decided tyrant1 in the strictest meaning of the term1 over the whole empire4 ,he destroyed at ,trier1 by the hands of the executioner1 the ,spaniard ,priscillian and his adherents1 whose opinions were pronounced erroneous by some bishops of ,spain4 ,these prelates solicited the capital punishment of the ,priscillianists with a charity so ardent that ,maximus could refuse them nothing4 ,it was by no means owing to them that ,st4 ,martin was not beheaded as a heretic4 ,he was fortunate enough to quit ,trier and escape back to ,tours4 ,a single example is sufficient to establish a usage4 ,the first ,scythian who scooped out the brains of his enemy and made a drinking-cup of his skull1 was allowed all the rank and consequence in ,scythia4 ,thus was consecrated the practice of employing the executioner to cut off opinions4 ,no such thing as heresy existed among the religions of antiquity1 because they had reference only to moral conduct and public worship4 ,when metaphysics became connected with ,christianity1 controversy prevailed2 and from controversy arose different parties1 as in the schools of philosophy4 ,it was impossible that metaphysics should not mingle the uncertainties essential to their nature with the faith due to ,jesus ,christ4 ,he had ,himself written nothing2 and ,his incarnation was a problem which the new ,christians1 whom ,he had not ,himself inspired1 solved in many different ways4 ,each1 as ,st4 ,paul expressly observes1 had his peculiar party2 some were for ,apollos1 others for ,cephas4 ,christians in general1 for a long time1 assumed the name of ,nazarenes1 and even the ,gentiles gave them no other appellations during the two first centuries4 ,but there soon arose a particular school of ,nazarenes1 who believed a gospel different from the four canonical ones4 ,it has even been pretended that this gospel differed only very slightly from that of ,st4 ,matthew1 and was in fact anterior to it4 ,st4 ,epiphanius and ,st4 ,jerome place the ,nazarenes in the cradle of ,christianity4 ,those who considered themselves as knowing more than the rest1 took the denomination of gnostics1 knowers2 and this denomination was for a long time so honorable that ,st4 ,clement of ,alexandria1 in his ,stromata always calls the good ,christians true gnostics4 ,happy are they who have entered into the gnostic holiness6 ,he who deserves the name of gnostic resists seducers and gives to every one that asks4 ,the fifth and sixth books of the ,stromata turn entirely upon the perfection of gnosticism4 ,the ,ebionites existed incontestably in the time of the apostles4 ,that name1 which signifies poor1 was intended to express how dear to them was the poverty in which ,jesus was born4 ,cerinthus was equally ancient4 ,the ,apocalypse of ,st4 ,john was attributed to him4 ,it is even thought that ,st4 ,paul and he had violent disputes with each other4 ,it seems to our weak understandings very natural to expect from the first disciples a solemn declaration1 a complete and unalterable profession of faith1 which might terminate all past1 and preclude any future quarrels2 but ,god permitted it not so to be4 ,the creed called the ,apostles' ,creed1 which is short1 and in which are not to be found the consubstantiality1 the word trinity1 or the seven sacraments1 did not make its appearance before the time of ,st4 ,jerome1 ,st4 ,augustine1 and the celebrated priest ,rufinus4 ,it was by this priest1 the enemy of ,st4 ,jerome1 that we are told it was compiled4 ,heresies had had time to multiply1 and more than fifty were enumerated as existing in the fifth century4 ,without daring to scrutinize the ways of ,providence1 which are impenetrable by the human mind1 and merely consulting1 as far as we are permitted1 our feeble reason1 it would seem that of so many opinions on so many articles1 there would always exist one which must prevail1 which was the orthodox1 the right of teaching4 ,the other societies1 besides the really orthodox1 soon assumed that title also2 but being the weaker parties1 they had given to them the designation of heretics4 ,when1 in the progress of time1 the ,christian church in the ,east1 which was the mother of that in the ,west1 had irreparably broken with her daughter1 each remained sovereign in her distinct sphere1 and each had her particular heresies1 arising out of the dominant opinion4 ,the barbarians of the ,north1 having but recently become ,christians1 could not entertain the same opinions as ,southern countries1 because they could not adopt the same usages4 ,they could not1 for example1 for a long time adore images1 as they had neither painters nor sculptors4 ,it also was somewhat dangerous to baptize an infant in winter1 in the ,danube1 the ,weser1 or the ,elbe4 ,it was no easy matter for the inhabitants of the shores of the ,baltic to know precisely the opinions held in the ,milanese and the march of ,ancona4 ,the people of the ,south and of the ,north of ,europe had therefore chosen opinions different from each other4 ,this seems to me to be the reason why ,claude1 bishop of ,turin1 preserved in the ninth century all the usages and dogmas received in the seventh and eighth1 from the country of the ,allobroges1 as far as the ,elbe and the ,danube4 ,these dogmas and usages became fixed and permanent among the inhabitants of valleys and mountainous recesses1 and near the banks of the ,rhne1 among a sequestered and almost unknown people1 whom the general desolation left untouched in their seclusion and poverty1 until they at length became known1 under the name of the ,vaudois in the twelfth1 and that of the ,albigenses in the thirteenth century4 ,it is known how their chosen opinions were treated2 what crusades were preached against them2 what carnage was made among them2 and that1 from that period to the present day1 ,europe has not enjoyed a single year of tranquillity and toleration4 ,it is a great evil to be a heretic2 but is it a great good to maintain orthodoxy by soldiers and executioners8 ,would it not be better that every man should eat his bread in peace under the shade of his own fig-tree8 ,i suggest so bold a proposition with fear and trembling4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,of the ,extirpation of ,heresies4 ,it appears to me that1 in relation to heresies1 we ought to distinguish between opinion and faction4 ,from the earliest times of ,christianity opinions were divided1 as we have already seen4 ,the ,christians of ,alexandria did not think1 on many points1 like those of ,antioch4 ,the ,achaians were opposed to the ,asiatics4 ,this difference has existed through all past periods of our religion1 and probably will always continue4 ,jesus ,christ1 who might have united all believers in the same sentiment1 has not1 in fact1 done so2 we must1 therefore1 presume that ,he did not desire it1 and that it was ,his design to exercise in all churches the spirit of indulgence and charity1 by permitting the existence of different systems of faith1 while all should be united in acknowledging ,him for their chief and master4 ,all the varying sects1 a long while tolerated by the emperors1 or concealed from their observation1 had no power to persecute and proscribe one another1 as they were all equally subject to the ,roman magistrates4 ,they possessed only the power of disputing with each other4 ,when the magistrates prosecuted them1 they all claimed the rights of nature4 ,they said3 ,permit us to worship ,god in peace2 do not deprive us of the liberty you allow to the ,jews4 ,all the different sects existing at present may hold the same language to those who oppress them4 ,they may say to the nations who have granted privileges to the ,jews3 ,treat us as you treat these sons of ,jacob2 let us1 like them1 worship ,god according to the dictates of conscience4 ,our opinion is not more injurious to your state or realm than ,judaism4 ,you tolerate the enemies of ,jesus ,christ2 tolerate us1 therefore1 who adore ,jesus ,christ1 and differ from yourselves only upon subtle points of theology2 do not deprive yourselves of the services of useful subjects4 ,it is of consequence to you to obtain their labor and skill in your manufactures1 your marine1 and your agriculture1 and it is of no consequence at all to you that they hold a few articles of faith different from your own4 ,what you want is their work1 and not their catechism4 ,faction is a thing perfectly different4 ,it always happens1 as a matter of necessity1 that a persecuted sect degenerates into a faction4 ,the oppressed unite1 and console and encourage one another4 ,they have more industry to strengthen their party than the dominant sect has for their extermination4 ,to crush them or be crushed by them is the inevitable alternative4 ,such was the case after the persecution raised in #cjc by the ,csar1 ,galerius1 during the last two years of the reign of ,diocletian4 ,the ,christians1 after having been favored by ,diocletian for the long period of eighteen years1 had become too numerous and wealthy to be extirpated4 ,they joined the party of ,constantius ,chlorus2 they fought for ,constantine his son2 and a complete revolution took place in the empire4 ,we may compare small things to great1 when both are under the direction of the same principle or spirit4 ,a similar revolution happened in ,holland1 in ,scotland1 and in ,switzerland4 ,when ,ferdinand and ,isabella expelled from ,spain the ,jews1--who were settled there not merely before the reigning dynasty1 but before the ,moors and ,goths1 and even the ,carthaginians--the ,jews would have effected a revolution in that country if they had been as warlike as they were opulent1 and if they could have come to an understanding with the ,arabs4 ,in a word1 no sect has ever changed the government of a country but when it was furnished with arms by despair4 ,mahomet himself would not have succeeded had he not been expelled from ,mecca and a price set upon his head4 ,if you are desirous1 therefore1 to prevent the overflow of a state by any sect1 show it toleration4 ,imitate the wise conduct exhibited at the present day by ,germany1 ,england1 ,holland1 ,denmark1 and ,russia4 ,there is no other policy to be adopted with respect to a new sect than to destroy1 without remorse1 both leaders and followers1 men1 women1 and children1 without a single exception1 or to tolerate them when they are numerous4 ,the first method is that of a monster1 the second that of a sage4 ,bind to the state all the subjects of that state by their interest2 let the ,quaker and the ,turk find their advantage in living under your laws4 ,religion is between ,god and man2 civil law is between you and your people4 ,,section ,,iii4 ,it is impossible not to regret the loss of a ,history of ,heresies1 which ,strategius wrote by order of ,constantine4 ,ammianus ,marcellinus informs us that the emperor1 wishing to ascertain the opinions of the different sects1 and not finding any other person who could give correct ideas on the subject1 imposed the office of drawing up a report or narrative upon it on that officer1 who acquitted himself so well1 that ,constantine was desirous of his being honored in consequence with the name of ,musonianus4 ,m4 de ,valois1 in his notes upon ,ammianus1 observes that ,strategius1 who was appointed prefect of the ,east1 possessed as much knowledge and eloquence1 as moderation and mildness2 such1 at least1 is the eulogium passed upon him by ,libanius4 ,the choice of a layman by the emperor shows that an ecclesiastic at that time had not the qualities indispensable for a task so delicate4 ,in fact1 ,st4 ,augustine remarks that a bishop of ,bresse1 called ,philastrius1 whose work is to be found in the collection of the fathers1 having collected all the heresies1 even including those which existed among the ,jews before the coming of ,jesus ,christ1 reckons twenty-eight of the latter and one hundred and twenty-eight from the coming of ,christ2 while ,st4 ,epiphanius1 comprising both together1 makes the whole number but eighty4 ,the reason assigned by ,st4 ,augustine for this difference is1 that what appears heresy to the one1 does not appear so to the other4 ,accordingly this father tells the ,manichans3 ,we take the greatest care not to treat you with rigor2 such conduct we leave to those who know not what pains are necessary for the discovery of truth1 and how difficult it is to avoid falling into errors2 we leave it to those who know not with what sighs and groans even a very slight knowledge of the divine nature is alone to be acquired4 ,for my own part1 ,i consider it my duty to bear with you as ,i was borne with formerly myself1 and to show you the same tolerance which ,i experienced when ,i was in error4 ,if1 however1 any one considers the infamous imputations1 which we have noticed under the article on ,genealogy1 and the abominations of which this professedly indulgent and candid father accused the ,manichans in the celebration of their mysteries--as we shall see under the article on ,zeal--we shall be convinced that toleration was never the virtue of the clergy4 ,we have already seen1 under the article on ,council1 what seditions were excited by the ecclesiastics in relation to ,arianism4 ,eusebius informs us that in some places the statues of ,constantine were thrown down because he wished the ,arians to be tolerated2 and ,sozomen says that on the death of ,eusebius of ,nicomedia1 when ,macedonius1 an ,arian1 contested the see of ,constantinople with ,paul1 a ,catholic1 the disturbance and confusion became so dreadful in the church1 from which each endeavored to expel the other1 that the soldiers1 thinking the people in a state of insurrection1 actually charged upon them2 a fierce and sanguinary conflict ensued1 and more than three thousand persons were slain or suffocated4 ,macedonius ascended the episcopal throne1 took speedy possession of all the churches1 and persecuted with great cruelty the ,novatians and ,catholics4 ,it was in revenge against the latter of these that he denied the divinity of the ,holy ,spirit1 just as he recognized the divinity of the ,word1 which was denied by the ,arians out of mere defiance to their protector ,constantius1 who had deposed him4 ,the same historian adds that on the death of ,athanasius1 the ,arians1 supported by ,valens1 apprehended1 bound in chains1 and put to death those who remained attached to ,peter1 whom ,athanasius had pointed out as his successor4 ,alexandria resembled a city taken by assault4 ,the ,arians soon possessed themselves of the churches1 and the bishop1 installed by them1 obtained the power of banishing from ,egypt all who remained attached to the ,nicean creed4 ,we read in ,socrates that1 after the death of ,sisinnius1 the church of ,constantinople became again divided on the choice of a successor1 and ,theodosius the ,younger placed in the patriarchal see the violent and fiery ,nestorius4 ,in his first sermon he addresses the following language to the emperor3 ,give me the land purged of heretics1 and ,i will give you the kingdom of ,heaven2 second me in the extermination of heretics1 and ,i engage to furnish you with effectual assistance against the ,persians4 ,he afterwards expelled the ,arians from the capital1 armed the people against them1 pulled down their churches1 and obtained from the emperor rigorous and persecuting edicts to effect their extirpation4 ,he employed his powerful influence subsequently in procuring the arrest1 imprisonment1 and even whipping of the principal persons among the people who had interrupted him in the middle of a discourse1 in which he was delivering his distinguishing system of doctrine1 which was soon condemned at the ,council of ,ephesus4 ,photius relates that when the priest reached the altar1 it was customary in the church of ,constantinople for the people to chant3 ,holy ,god1 powerful ,god1 immortal ,god2 and the name given to this part of the service was the trisagion4 ,the priest1 ,peter had added3 ,who hast been crucified for us1 have mercy upon us4 ,the ,catholics considered this addition as containing the error of the ,eutychian ,theopathists1 who maintained that the divinity had suffered2 they1 however1 chanted the trisagion with the addition1 to avoid irritating the emperor ,anastasius1 who had just deposed another ,macedonius1 and placed in his stead ,timotheus1 by whose order this addition was ordered to be chanted4 ,but on a particular day the monks entered the church1 and1 instead of the addition in question1 chanted a verse from one of the ,psalms3 the people instantly exclaimed3 ,the orthodox have arrived very seasonably6 ,all the partisans of the ,council of ,chalcedon chanted1 in union with the monks1 the verse from the ,psalm2 the ,eutychians were offended2 the service was interrupted2 a battle commenced in the church2 the people rushed out1 obtained arms as speedily as possible1 spread carnage and conflagration through the city1 and were pacified only by the destruction of ten thousand lives4 ,the imperial power at length established through all ,egypt the authority of this ,council of ,chalcedon2 but the massacre of more than a hundred thousand ,egyptians1 on different occasions1 for having refused to acknowledge the council1 had planted in the hearts of the whole population an implacable hatred against the emperors4 ,a part of those who were hostile to the council withdrew to ,upper ,egypt1 others quitted altogether the dominions of the empire and passed over to ,africa and among the ,arabs1 where all religions were tolerated4 ,we have already observed that under the reign of the empress ,irene the worship of images was re-established and confirmed by the second ,council of ,nice4 ,leo the ,armenian1 ,michael the ,stammerer1 and ,theophilus1 neglected nothing to effect its abolition2 and this opposition caused further disturbance in the empire of ,constantinople1 till the reign of the empress ,theodora1 who gave the force of law to the second ,council of ,nice1 extinguished the party of ,iconoclasts1 or image-breakers1 and exerted the utmost extent of her authority against the ,manichans4 ,she despatched orders throughout the empire to seek for them everywhere1 and put all those to death who would not recant4 ,more than a hundred thousand perished by different modes of execution4 ,four thousand1 who escaped from this severe scrutiny and extensive punishment1 took refuge among the ,saracens1 united their own strength with theirs1 ravaged the territories of the empire1 and erected fortresses in which the ,manichans1 who had remained concealed through terror of capital punishment1 found an asylum1 and constituted a hostile force1 formidable from their numbers1 and from their burning hatred both of the emperors and ,catholics4 ,they frequently inflicted on the territories of the empire dread and devastation1 and cut to pieces its disciplined armies4 ,we abridge the details of these dreadful massacres2 those of ,ireland1 those of the valleys of ,piedmont1 those which we shall speak of in the article on ,inquisition1 and lastly1 the massacre of ,st4 ,bartholomew1 displayed in the ,west the same spirit of intolerance1 against which nothing more pertinent and sensible has been written than what we find in the works of ,salvian4 ,the following is the language employed respecting the followers of one of the principal heresies by this excellent priest of ,marseilles1 who was surnamed the master of bishops1 who deplored with bitterness the violence and vices of his age1 and who was called the ,jeremiah of the fifth century4 ,the ,arians1 says he1 are heretics2 but they do not know it2 they are heretics among us1 but they are not so among themselves2 for they consider themselves so perfectly and completely ,catholic1 that they treat us as heretics4 ,we are convinced that they entertain an opinion injurious to the divine generation1 inasmuch as they say that the ,son is less than the ,father4 ,they1 on the other hand1 think that we hold an opinion injurious to the ,father1 because we regard the ,father and the ,son equal4 ,the truth is with us1 but they consider it as favoring them4 ,we give to ,god the honor which is due to ,him1 but they1 according to their peculiar way of thinking1 maintain that they do the same4 ,they do not acquit themselves of their duty2 but in the very point where they fail in doing so1 they make the greatest duty of religion consist4 ,they are impious1 but even in being so they consider themselves as following1 and as practising1 genuine piety4 ,they are then mistaken1 but from a principle of love to ,god2 and1 although they have not the true faith1 they regard that which they have actually embraced as the perfect love of ,god4 ,the sovereign judge of the universe alone knows how they will be punished for their errors in the day of judgment4 ,in the meantime he patiently bears with them1 because he sees that if they are in error1 they err from pure motives of piety4 ,,hermes4 ,hermes1 or ,ermes1 ,mercury ,trismegistus1 or ,thaut1 or ,taut1 or ,thot4 ,we neglect reading the ancient book of ,mercury ,trismegistus1 and we are not wrong in so doing4 ,to philosophers it has appeared a sublime piece of jargon1 and it is perhaps for this reason that they believed it the work of a great ,platonist4 ,nevertheless1 in this theological chaos1 how many things there are to astonish and subdue the human mind6 ,god1 whose triple essence is wisdom1 power and bounty2 ,god1 forming the world by ,his thought1 ,his word2 ,god creating subaltern gods2 ,god commanding these gods to direct the celestial orbs1 and to preside over the world2 the sun2 the ,son of ,god2 man ,his image in thought2 light1 ,his principal work a divine essence--all these grand and lively images dazzle a subdued imagination4 ,it remains to be known whether this work1 as much celebrated as little read1 was the work of a ,greek or of an ,egyptian4 ,st4 ,augustine hesitates not in believing that it is the work of an ,egyptian1 who pretended to be descended from the ancient ,mercury1 from the ancient ,thaut1 the first legislator of ,egypt4 ,it is true that ,st4 ,augustine knew no more of the ,egyptian than of the ,greek2 but in his time it was necessary that we should not doubt that ,hermes1 from whom we received theology1 was an ,egyptian sage1 probably anterior to the time of ,alexander1 and one of the priests whom ,plato consulted4 ,it has always appeared to me that the theology of ,plato in nothing resembled that of other ,greeks1 with the exception of ,timus1 who had travelled in ,egypt1 as well as ,pythagoras4 ,the ,hermes ,trismegistus that we possess is written in barbarous ,greek1 and in a foreign idiom4 ,this is a proof that it is a translation in which the words have been followed more than the sense4 ,joseph ,scaliger1 who assisted the lord of ,candale1 bishop of ,aire1 to translate the ,hermes1 or ,mercury ,trismegistus1 doubts not that the original was ,egyptian4 ,add to these reasons that it is not very probable that a ,greek would have addressed himself so often to ,thaut4 ,it is not natural for us to address ourselves to strangers with so much warm-heartedness2 at least1 we see no example of it in antiquity4 ,the ,egyptian sculapius1 who is made to speak in this book1 and who is perhaps the author of it1 wrote to ,ammon1 king of ,egypt3 ,take great care how you suffer the ,greeks to translate the books of our ,mercury1 our ,thaut1 because they would disfigure them4 ,certainly a ,greek would not have spoken thus2 there is therefore every appearance of this book being ,egyptian4 ,there is another reflection to be made1 which is1 that the systems of ,hermes and ,plato were equally formed to extend themselves through all the ,jewish schools1 from the time of the ,ptolemies4 ,this doctrine made great progress in them2 you see it completely displayed by the ,jew ,philo1 a learned man after the manner of those times4 ,he copies entire passages from ,mercury ,trismegistus in his chapter on the formation of the world4 ,firstly1 says he1 ,god made the world intelligible1 the ,heavens incorporeal1 and the earth invisible2 he afterwards created the incorporeal essence of water and spirit2 and finally the essence of incorporeal light1 the origin of the sun and of the stars4 ,such is the pure doctrine of ,hermes4 ,he adds that the word1 or invisible and intellectual thought1 is the image of ,god4 ,here is the creation of the world by the word1 by thought1 by the logos1 very strongly expressed4 ,afterwards follows the doctrine of ,numbers1 which descended from the ,egyptians to the ,jews4 ,he calls reason the relation of ,god4 ,the number of seven is the accomplishment of all things1 which is the reason1 says he1 that the lyre has only seven strings4 ,in a word ,philo possessed all the philosophy of his time4 ,we are therefore deceived1 when we believe that the ,jews1 under the reign of ,herod1 were plunged in the same state of ignorance in which they were previously immersed4 ,it is evident that ,st4 ,paul was well informed4 ,it is only necessary to read the first chapter of ,st4 ,john1 which is so different from those of the others1 to perceive that the author wrote precisely like ,hermes and ,plato4 ,in the beginning was the word1 and the word was with ,god1 and the word was ,god4 ,the same was in the beginning with ,god4 ,all things were made by ,him1 and without ,him was not anything made4 ,in ,him was life2 and the life was the light of man4 ,it is thus that ,st4 ,paul says3 ,god made the worlds by ,his ,son4 ,in the time of the apostles were seen whole societies of ,christians who were only too learned1 and thence substituted a fantastic philosophy for simplicity of faith4 ,the ,simons1 ,menanders1 and ,cerinthuses1 taught precisely the doctrines of ,hermes4 ,their ons were only the subaltern gods1 created by the great ,being4 ,all the first ,christians1 therefore1 were not ignorant men1 as it always has been asserted2 since there were several of them who abused their literature2 even in the ,acts the governor ,festus says to ,st4 ,paul3 ,paul1 thou art beside thyself2 much learning doth make thee mad4 ,cerinthus dogmatized in the time of ,st4 ,john the ,evangelist4 ,his errors were of a profound1 refined1 and metaphysical cast4 ,the faults which he remarked in the construction of the world made him think--at least so says ,dr4 ,dupin--that it was not the sovereign ,god who created it1 but a virtue inferior to this first principle1 which had not the knowledge of the sovereign ,god4 ,this was wishing to correct even the system of ,plato1 and deceiving himself1 both as a ,christian and a philosopher2 but at the same time it displayed a refined and well-exercised mind4 ,it is the same with the primitives called ,quakers1 of whom we have so much spoken4 ,they have been taken for men who cannot see beyond their noses1 and who make no use of their reason4 ,however1 there have been among them several who employed all the subtleties of logic4 ,enthusiasm is not always the companion of total ignorance1 it is often that of erroneous information4 ,,historiographer4 ,this is a title very different from that of historian4 ,in ,france we commonly see men of letters pensioned1 and1 as it was said formerly1 appointed to write history4 ,alain ,chartier was the historiographer of ,charles ,,vii42 he says that he interrogated the domestics of this prince1 and put them on their oaths1 according to the duty of his charge1 to ascertain whether ,charles really had ,agnes ,sorel for his mistress4 ,he concludes that nothing improper ever passed between these lovers2 and that all was reduced to a few honest caresses1 to which these domestics had been the innocent witnesses4 ,however1 it is proved1 not by historiographers1 but by historians supported by family titles1 that ,charles ,,vii4 had three daughters by ,agnes ,sorel1 the eldest of whom1 married to one ,breze1 was stabbed by her husband4 ,from this time there were often titled historiographers in ,france1 and it was the custom to give them commissions of councillors of state1 with the provisions of their charge4 ,they were commensal officers of the king's house4 ,matthieu had these privileges under ,henry ,,iv41 but did not therefore write a better history4 ,at ,venice it is always a noble of the senate who possesses this title and function1 and the celebrated ,nani has filled them with general approbation4 ,it is very difficult for the historiographer of a prince not to be a liar2 that of a republic flatters less2 but he does not tell all the truth4 ,in ,china historiographers are charged with collecting all the events and original titles under a dynasty4 ,they throw the leaves numbered into a vast hall1 through an orifice resembling the lion's mouth at ,venice1 into which is cast all secret intelligence4 ,when the dynasty is extinct the hall is opened and the materials digested1 of which an authentic history is composed4 ,the general journal of the empire also serves to form the body of history2 this journal is superior to our newspapers1 being made under the superintendence of the mandarins of each province1 revised by a supreme tribunal1 and every piece bearing an authenticity which is decisive in contentious matters4 ,every sovereign chose his own historiographer4 ,vittorio ,siri was one2 ,pelisson was first chosen by ,louis ,,xiv4 to write the events of his reign1 and acquitted himself of his task with eloquence in the history of ,franche-,comt4 ,racine1 the most elegant of poets1 and ,boileau1 the most correct1 were afterwards substituted for ,pelisson4 ,some curious persons have collected ,memoirs of the ,passage of the ,rhine1 written by ,racine4 ,we cannot judge by these memoirs whether ,louis ,,xiv4 passed the ,rhine or not with his troops1 who swam across the river4 ,this example sufficiently demonstrates how rarely it happens that an historiographer dare tell the truth4 ,several also1 who have possessed this title1 have taken good care of writing history2 they have followed the example of ,amyot1 who said that he was too much attached to his masters to write their lives4 ,father ,daniel had the patent of historiographer1 after having given his ,history of ,france2 he had a pension of #fjj livres1 regarded merely as a suitable stipend for a monk4 ,it is very difficult to assign true bounds to the arts1 sciences1 and literary labor4 ,perhaps it is the proper duty of an historiographer to collect materials1 and that of an historian to put them in order4 ,the first can amass everything1 the second arrange and select4 ,the historiographer is more of the simple annalist1 while the historian seems to have a more open field for reflection and eloquence4 ,we need scarcely say here that both should equally tell the truth1 but we can examine this great law of ,cicero3 ,ne quid veri tacere non audeat4--,that we ought not to dare to conceal any truth4 ,this rule is of the number of those that want illustration4 ,suppose a prince confides to his historiographer an important secret to which his honor is attached1 or that the good of the state requires should not be revealed--should the historiographer or historian break his word with the prince1 or betray his country to obey ,cicero8 ,the curiosity of the public seems to exact it2 honor and duty forbid it4 ,perhaps in this case he should renounce writing history4 ,if a truth dishonors a family1 ought the historiographer or historian to inform the public of it8 ,no2 doubtless he is not bound to reveal the shame of individuals2 history is no satire4 ,but if this scandalous truth belongs to public events1 if it enters into the interests of the state--if it has produced evils of which it imports to know the cause1 it is then that the maxims of ,cicero should be observed2 for this law is like all others which must be executed1 tempered1 or neglected1 according to circumstances4 ,let us beware of this humane respect when treating of acknowledged public faults1 prevarications1 and injustices1 into which the misfortunes of the times have betrayed respectable bodies4 ,they cannot be too much exposed2 they are beacons which warn these always-existing bodies against splitting again on similar rocks4 ,if an ,english parliament has condemned a man of fortune to the torture--if an assembly of theologians had demanded the blood of an unfortunate who differed in opinion from themselves1 it should be the duty of an historian to inspire all ages with horror for these juridical assassins4 ,we should always make the ,athenians blush for the death of ,socrates4 ,happily1 even an entire people always find it good to have the crimes of their ancestors placed before them2 they like to condemn them1 and to believe themselves superior4 ,the historiographer or historian encourages them in these sentiments1 and1 in retracing the wars of government and religion1 prevents their repetition4 ,,history4 ,,section ,i4 ,definition of ,history4 ,history is the recital of facts represented as true4 ,fable1 on the contrary1 is the recital of facts represented as fiction4 ,there is the history of human opinions1 which is scarcely anything more than the history of human errors4 ,the history of the arts may be made the most useful of all1 when to a knowledge of their invention and progress it adds a description of their mechanical means and processes4 ,natural history1 improperly designated history1 is an essential part of natural philosophy4 ,the history of events has been divided into sacred and profane4 ,sacred history is a series of divine and miraculous operations1 by which it has pleased ,god formerly to direct and govern the ,jewish nation1 and1 in the present day1 to try our faith4 ,to learn ,hebrew1 the sciences1 and history1 says ,la ,fontaine1 is to drink up the sea4 ,si j'apprenois l',hbreu1 les sciences1 l'histoire1 ,tout cela1 c'est la mer boire4 --,,la ,,fontaine1 book viii1 fable #be4 ,the ,foundations of ,history4 ,the foundations of all history are the recitals of events1 made by fathers to their children1 and afterwards transmitted from one generation to another4 ,they are1 at most1 only probable in their origin when they do not shock common sense1 and they lose a degree of probability at every successive transmission4 ,with time the fabulous increases and the true disappears2 hence it arises that the original traditions and records of all nations are absurd4 ,thus the ,egyptians had been governed for many ages by the gods4 ,they had next been under the government of demi-gods2 and1 finally1 they had kings for eleven thousand three hundred and forty years1 and during that period the sun had changed four times from east and west4 ,the ,phnicians1 in the time of ,alexander1 pretended that they had been settled in their own country for thirty thousand years2 and those thirty thousand years were as full of prodigies as the ,egyptian chronology4 ,i admit it to be perfectly consistent with physical possibility that ,phnicia may have existed1 not merely for thirty thousand years1 but thirty thousand millions of ages1 and that it may have endured1 as well as the other portions of the globe1 thirty millions of revolutions4 ,but of all this we possess no knowledge4 ,the ridiculous miracles which abound in the ancient history of ,greece are universally known4 ,the ,romans1 although a serious and grave people1 have1 nevertheless1 equally involved in fables the early periods of their history4 ,that nation1 so recent in comparison with those of ,asia1 was five hundred years without historians4 ,it is impossible1 therefore1 to be surprised on finding that ,romulus was the son of ,mars2 that a she-wolf was his nurse2 that he marched with a thousand men from his own village1 ,rome1 against twenty thousand warriors belonging to the city of the ,sabines2 that he afterwards became a god2 that the elder ,tarquin cut through a stone with a razor1 and that a vestal drew a ship to land with her girdle1 etc4 ,the first annals of modern nations are no less fabulous2 things prodigious and improbable ought sometimes1 undoubtedly1 to be related1 but only as proofs of human credulity4 ,they constitute part of the history of human opinion and absurdities2 but the field is too immense4 ,of ,monuments or ,memorials4 ,the only proper method of endeavoring to acquire some knowledge of ancient history is to ascertain whether there remain any incontestable public monuments4 ,we possess only three such1 in the way of writing or inscription4 ,the first is the collection of astronomical observations made during nineteen hundred successive years at ,babylon1 and transferred by ,alexander to ,greece4 ,this series of observations1 which goes back two thousand two hundred and thirty-four years beyond our vulgar era1 decidedly proves that the ,babylonians existed as an associated and incorporated people many ages before2 for the arts are struck out and elaborated only in the slow course of time1 and the indolence natural to mankind permits thousands of years to roll away without their acquiring any other knowledge or talents than what are required for food1 clothing1 shelter1 and mutual destruction4 ,let the truth of these remarks be judged of from the state of the ,germans and the ,english in the time of ,csar1 from that of the ,tartars at the present day1 from that of two-thirds of ,africa1 and from that of all the various nations found in the vast continent of ,america1 excepting1 in some respects1 the kingdoms of ,peru and ,mexico1 and the republic of ,tlascala4 ,let it be recollected that in the whole of the new world not a single individual could write or read4 ,the second monument is the central eclipse of the sun1 calculated in ,china two thousand one hundred and fifty-five years before our vulgar era1 and admitted by all our astronomers to have actually occurred4 ,we must apply the same remark to the ,chinese as to1 the people of ,babylon4 ,they had undoubtedly1 long before this period1 constituted a vast empire and social polity4 ,but what places the ,chinese above all the other nations of the world is that neither their laws1 nor manners1 nor the language exclusively spoken by their men of learning1 have experienced any change in the course of about four thousand years4 ,yet this nation and that of ,india1 the most ancient of all that are now subsisting1 those which possess the largest and most fertile tracts of territory1 those which had invented nearly all the arts almost before we were in possession even of any of them1 have been always omitted1 down to our time1 in our pretended universal histories4 ,and whenever a ,spaniard or a ,frenchman enumerated the various nations of the globe1 neither of them failed to represent his own country as the first monarchy on earth1 and his king as the greatest sovereign1 under the flattering hope1 no doubt1 that that greatest of sovereigns1 after having read his book1 would confer upon him a pension4 ,the third monument1 but very inferior to the two others1 is the ,arundel ,marbles4 ,the chronicle of ,athens was inscribed on these marbles two hundred and sixty-three years before our era1 but it goes no further back than the time of ,cecrops1 thirteen hundred and nineteen years beyond the time of its inscription4 ,in the history of all antiquity these are the only incontestable epochs that we possess4 ,let us attend a little particularly to these marbles1 which were brought from ,greece by ,lord ,arundel4 ,the chronicle contained in them commences fifteen hundred and seventy-seven years before our era4 ,this1 at the present time1 makes an antiquity of #c1cdh years1 and in the course of that period you do not find a single miraculous or prodigious event on record4 ,it is the same with the ,olympiads4 ,it must not be in reference to these that the expression can be applied of ,grcia mendax 7lying ,greece74 ,the ,greeks well knew how to distinguish history from fable1 and real facts from the tales of ,herodotus2 just as in relation to important public affairs1 their orators borrowed nothing from the discourses of the sophists or the imagery of the poets4 ,the date of the taking of ,troy is specified in these marbles1 but there is no mention made of ,apollo's arrows1 or the sacrifice of ,iphigenia1 or the ridiculous battles of the gods4 ,the date of the inventions of ,triptolemus and ,ceres is given2 but ,ceres is not called goddess4 ,notice is taken of a poem upon the rape of ,proserpine2 but it is not said that she is the daughter of ,jupiter and a goddess1 and the wife of the god of hell4 ,hercules is initiated in the ,eleusinian mysteries1 but not a single word is mentioned of the twelve labors1 nor of his passage to ,africa in his cup1 nor of his divinity1 nor of the great fish by which he was swallowed1 and which1 according to ,lycophron1 kept him in its belly three days and three nights4 ,among us1 on the contrary1 a standard is brought by an angel from heaven to the monks of ,st4 ,denis2 a pigeon brings a bottle of oil to the church of ,rheims2 two armies of serpents engage in pitched battle in ,germany2 an archbishop of ,mentz is besieged and devoured by rats2 and to complete and crown the whole1 the year in which these adventures occurred1 is given with the most particular precision4 ,the abb ,langlet1 also condescending to compile1 compiles these contemptible fooleries1 while the almanacs1 for the hundredth time1 repeat them4 ,in this manner are our youth instructed and enlightened2 and all these trumpery fables are put in requisition even for the education of princes6 ,all history is comparatively recent4 ,it is by no means astonishing to find that we have1 in fact1 no profane history that goes back beyond about four thousand years4 ,the cause of this is to be found in the revolutions of the globe1 and the long and universal ignorance of the art which transmits events by writing4 ,there are still many nations totally unacquainted with the practice of this art4 ,it existed only in a small number of civilized states1 and even in them was confined to comparatively few hands4 ,nothing was more rare among the ,french and ,germans than knowing how to write2 down to the fourteenth century of our era1 scarcely any public acts were attested by witnesses4 ,it was not till the reign of ,charles ,,vii4 in ,france1 in #aded1 that an attempt was made to reduce to writing some of the customs of ,france4 ,the art was still more uncommon among the ,spaniards1 and hence it arises that their history is so dry and doubtful till the time of ,ferdinand and ,isabella4 ,we perceive1 from what has been said1 with what facility the very small number of persons who possessed the art of writing might impose by means of it1 and how easy it has been to produce a belief in the most enormous absurdities4 ,there have been nations who have subjugated a considerable part of the world1 and who yet have not been acquainted with the use of characters4 ,we know that ,genghis ,khan conquered a part of ,asia in the beginning of the thirteenth century2 but it is not from him1 nor from the ,tartars1 that we have derived that knowledge4 ,their history1 written by the ,chinese1 and translated by ,father ,gaubil1 states that these ,tartars were at that time unacquainted with the art of writing4 ,this art was1 unquestionably1 not likely to be less unknown to the ,scythian ,ogus-kan1 called by the ,persians and ,greeks ,madies1 who conquered a part of ,europe and ,asia long before the reign of ,cyrus4 ,it is almost a certainty that at that time1 out of a hundred nations1 there were only two or three that employed characters4 ,it is undoubtedly possible1 that in an ancient world destroyed1 mankind were acquainted with the art of writing and the other arts1 but in our world they are all of recent date4 ,there remain monuments of another kind1 which serve to prove merely the remote antiquity of certain nations1 an antiquity preceding all known epochs1 and all books2 these are the prodigies of architecture1 such as the pyramids and palaces of ,egypt1 which have resisted and wearied the power of time4 ,herodotus1 who lived two thousand two hundred years ago1 and who had seen them1 was unable to learn from the ,egyptian priests at what periods these structures were raised4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,monument ,,of ,,antiquity--,,the ,,acropolis1 ,,athens ,it is difficult to ascribe to the oldest of the pyramids an antiquity of less than four thousand years1 and1 it is necessary to consider1 that those ostentatious piles1 erected by monarchs1 could not have been commenced till long after the establishment of cities4 ,but1 in order to build cities in a country every year inundated1 it must always be recollected that it would have been previously necessary in this land of slime and mud1 to lay the foundation upon piles1 that they might thus be inaccessible to the inundation2 it would have been necessary1 even before taking this indispensable measure of precaution1 and before the inhabitants could be in a state to engage in such important and even dangerous labors1 that the people should have contrived retreats1 during the swelling of the ,nile1 between the two chains of rocks which exist on the right and left banks of the river4 ,it would have been necessary that these collected multitudes should have instruments of tillage1 and of architecture1 a knowledge of architecture and surveying1 regular laws1 and an active police4 ,all these things require a space of time absolutely prodigious4 ,we see1 every day1 by the long details which relate even to those of our undertakings1 which are most necessary and most diminutive1 how difficult it is to execute works of magnitude1 and that they not only require unwearied perseverance1 but many generations animated by the same spirit4 ,however1 whether we admit that one or two of those immense masses were erected by ,mens1 or ,thaut1 or ,cheops1 or ,rameses1 we shall not1 in consequence1 have the slightest further insight into the ancient history of ,egypt4 ,the language of that people is lost2 and all we know in reference to the subject is that before the most ancient historians existed1 there existed materials for writing ancient history4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,as we already possess1 ,i had almost said1 twenty thousand works1 the greater number of them extending to many volumes1 on the subject1 exclusively1 of the history of ,france2 and as1 even a studious man1 were he to live a hundred years1 would find it impossible to read them1 ,i think it a good thing to know where to stop4 ,we are obliged to connect with the knowledge of our own country the history of our neighbors4 ,we are still less permitted to remain ignorant of the ,greeks and ,romans1 and their laws which are become ours2 but1 if to this laborious study we should resolve to add that of more remote antiquity1 we should resemble the man who deserted ,tacitus and ,livy to study seriously the ,thousand and ,one ,nights4 ,all the origins of nations are evidently fables4 ,the reason is that men must have lived long in society1 and have learned to make bread and clothing 7which would be matters of some difficulty7 before they acquired the art of transmitting all their thoughts to posterity 7a matter of greater difficulty still74 ,the art of writing is certainly not more than six thousand years old1 even among the ,chinese2 and1 whatever may be the boast of the ,chaldans and ,egyptians1 it appears not at all likely that they were able to read and write earlier4 ,the history1 therefore1 of preceding periods1 could be transmitted by memory alone2 and we well know how the memory of past events changes from one generation to another4 ,the first histories were written only from the imagination4 ,not only did every people invent its own origin1 but it invented also the origin of the whole world4 ,if we may believe ,sanchoniathon1 the origin of things was a thick air1 which was rarified by the wind2 hence sprang desire and love1 and from the union of desire and love were formed animals4 ,the stars were later productions1 and intended merely to adorn the heavens1 and to rejoice the sight of the animals upon earth4 ,the ,knef of the ,egyptians1 their ,oshiret and ,ishet1 which we call ,osiris and ,isis1 are neither less ingenious nor ridiculous4 ,the ,greeks embellished all these fictions4 ,ovid collected them and ornamented them with the charms of the most beautiful poetry4 ,what he says of a god who develops or disembroils chaos1 and of the formation of man1 is sublime4 ,sanctius his animal1 mentisque capacius alt ,deerat adhuc1 et quod dominari in ctera posset4 ,natus homo est4444 --,,ovid1 ,metam41 i1 v4 #gf4 ,a creature of a more exalted kind ,was wanting yet1 and then was man designed2 ,conscious or thought1 of more capacious breast1 ,for empire formed1 and fit to rule the rest4 --,,dryden4 ,pronaque cum spectent animalia ctera terram2 ,os homini sublime dedit clumque tueri ,jussit1 et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus4 ,,metam41 i1 v4 #hd4 ,thus1 while the mute creation downward bend ,their sight1 and to their earthly mother tend1 ,man looks aloft1 and with erected eyes ,beholds his own hereditary skies4 --,,dryden4 ,hesiod1 and other writers who lived so long before1 would have been very far from expressing themselves with this elegant sublimity4 ,but1 from the interesting moment of man's formation down to the era of the ,olympiads1 everything is plunged in profound obscurity4 ,herodotus is present at the ,olympic games1 and1 like an old woman to children1 recites his narratives1 or rather tales1 to the assembled ,greeks4 ,he begins by saying that the ,phnicians sailed from the ,red ,sea into the ,mediterranean2 which1 if true1 must necessarily imply that they had doubled the ,cape of ,good ,hope1 and made the circuit of ,africa4 ,then comes the rape of ,io2 then the fable of ,gyges and ,candaules2 then the wondrous stories of banditti1 and that of the daughter of ,cheops1 king of ,egypt1 having required a hewn stone from each of her many lovers1 and obtained1 in consequence1 a number large enough to build one of the pyramids4 ,to this1 add the oracles1 prodigies1 and frauds of priests1 and you have the history of the human race4 ,the first periods of the ,roman history appear to have been written by ,herodotus2 our conquerors and legislators knew no other way of counting their years as they passed away1 than by driving nails into a wall by the hand of the sacred pontiff4 ,the great ,romulus1 the king of a village1 is the son of the god ,mars1 and a recluse1 who was proceeding to a well to draw water in a pitcher4 ,he has a god for his father1 a woman of loose manners for his mother1 and a she-wolf for his nurse4 ,a buckler falls from heaven expressly for ,numa4 ,the invaluable books of the ,sibyls are found by accident4 ,an augur1 by divine permission1 divides a large flint-stone with a razor4 ,a vestal1 with her mere girdle1 draws into the water a large vessel that has been stranded4 ,castor and ,pollux come down to fight for the ,romans1 and the marks of their horses' feet are imprinted on the stones4 ,the transalpine ,gauls advanced to pillage ,rome2 some relate that they were driven away by geese1 others that they carried away with them much gold and silver2 but it is probable that1 at that time in ,italy1 geese were far more abundant than silver4 ,we have imitated the first ,roman historians1 at least in their taste for fables4 ,we have our oriflamme1 our great standard1 brought from heaven by an angel1 and the holy phial by a pigeon2 and1 when to these we add the mantle of ,st4 ,martin1 we feel not a little formidable4 ,what would constitute useful history8 ,that which should teach us our duties and our rights1 without appearing to teach them4 ,it is often asked whether the fable of the sacrifice of ,iphigenia is taken from the history of ,jephthah2 whether the deluge of ,deucalion is invented in imitation of that of ,noah2 whether the adventure of ,philemon and ,baucis is copied from that of ,lot and his wife4 ,the ,jews admit that they had no communication with strangers1 that their books were unknown to the ,greeks till the translation made by the order of ,ptolemy4 ,the ,jews were1 long before that period1 money-brokers and usurers among the ,greeks at ,alexandria2 but the ,greeks never went to sell old clothes at ,jerusalem4 ,it is evident that no people imitated the ,jews1 and also that the ,jews imitated or adopted many things from the ,babylonians1 the ,egyptians1 and the ,greeks4 ,all ,jewish antiquities are sacred in our estimation1 notwithstanding the hatred and contempt in which we hold that people4 ,we cannot1 indeed1 believe them by reason1 but we bring ourselves under subjection to the ,jews by faith4 ,there are about fourscore systems in existence on the subject of their chronology1 and a far greater number of ways of explaining the events recorded in their histories2 we know not which is the true one1 but we reserve our faith for it in store against the time when that true one shall be discovered4 ,we have so many things to believe in this sensible and magnanimous people1 that all our faith is exhausted by them1 and we have none left for the prodigies with which the other nations abound4 ,rollin may go on repeating to us the oracles of ,apollo1 and the miraculous achievements of ,semiramis2 he may continue to transcribe all that has been narrated of the justice of those ancient ,scythians who so frequently pillaged ,africa1 and occasionally ate men for their breakfast2 yet sensible and well-educated people will still feel and express some degree of incredulity4 ,what ,i most admire in our modern compilers is the judgment and zeal with which they prove to us1 that whatever happened in former ages1 in the most extensive and powerful empires of the world1 took place solely for the instruction of the inhabitants of ,palestine4 ,if the kings of ,babylon1 in the course of their conquests1 overrun the territories of the ,hebrew people1 it is only to correct that people for their sins4 ,if the monarch1 who has been commonly named ,cyrus1 becomes master of ,babylon1 it is that he may grant permission to some captive ,jews to return home4 ,if ,alexander conquers ,darius1 it is for the settlement of some ,jew old-clothesmen at ,alexandria4 ,when the ,romans join ,syria to their vast dominions1 and round their empire with the little district of ,juda1 this is still with a view to teach a moral lesson to the ,jews4 ,the ,arabs and the ,turks appear upon the stage of the world solely for the correction of this amiable people4 ,we must acknowledge that they have had an excellent education2 never had any pupil so many preceptors4 ,such is the utility of history4 ,but what is still more instructive is the exact justice which the clergy have dealt out to all those sovereigns with whom they were dissatisfied4 ,observe with what impartial candor ,st4 ,gregory of ,nazianzen judges the emperor ,julian1 the philosopher4 ,he declares that that prince1 who did not believe in the existence of the devil1 held secret communication with that personage1 and that1 on a particular occasion1 when the demons appeared to him under the most hideous forms1 and in the midst of the most raging flames1 he drove them away by making inadvertently the sign of the cross4 ,he denominates him madman and wretch2 he asserts that ,julian immolated young men and women every night in caves4 ,such is the description he gives of the most candid and clement of men1 and who never exercised the slightest revenge against this same ,gregory1 notwithstanding the abuse and invectives with which he pursued him throughout his reign4 ,to apologize for the guilty is a happy way of justifying calumny against the innocent4 ,compensation is thus effected2 and such compensation was amply afforded by ,st4 ,gregory4 ,the emperor ,constantius1 ,julian's uncle and predecessor1 upon his accession to the throne1 had massacred ,julius1 his mother's brother1 and his two sons1 all three of whom had been declared august2 this was a system which he had adopted from his father4 ,he afterwards procured the assassination of ,gallus1 ,julian's brother4 ,the cruelty which he thus displayed to his own family1 he extended to the empire at large2 but he was a man of prayer1 and1 even at the decisive battle with ,maxentius1 he was praying to ,god in a neighboring church during the whole time in which the armies were engaged4 ,such was the man who was eulogized by ,gregory2 and1 if such is the way in which the saints make us acquainted with the truth1 what may we not expect from the profane1 particularly when they are ignorant1 superstitious1 and irritable8 ,at the present day the study of history is occasionally applied to a purpose somewhat whimsical and absurd4 ,certain charters of the time of ,dagobert are discovered and brought forward1 the greater part of them of a somewhat suspicious character in point of genuineness1 and ill-understood2 and from these it is inferred1 that customs1 rights1 and prerogatives1 which subsisted then1 should be revived now4 ,i would recommend it to those who adopt this method of study and reasoning1 to say to the ocean1 ,you formerly extended to ,aigues-,mortes1 ,frjus1 ,ravenna1 and ,ferrara4 ,return to them immediately4 ,,section ,,iii4 ,of the ,certainty of ,history4 ,all certainty which does not consist in mathematical demonstration is nothing more than the highest probability2 there is no other historical certainty4 ,when ,marco ,polo described the greatness and population of ,china1 being the first1 and for a time the only writer who had described them1 he could not obtain credit4 ,the ,portuguese1 who for ages afterwards had communication and commerce with that vast empire1 began to render the description probable4 ,it is now a matter of absolute certainty2 of that certainty which arises from the unanimous deposition of a thousand witnesses or different nations1 unopposed by the testimony of a single individual4 ,if merely two or three historians had described the adventure of ,king ,charles ,,xii4 when he persisted in remaining in the territories of his benefactor1 the sultan1 in opposition to the orders of that monarch1 and absolutely fought1 with the few domestics that attended his person1 against an army of janissaries and ,tartars1 ,i should have suspended my judgment about its truth2 but1 having spoken to many who actually witnessed the fact1 and having never heard it called in question1 ,i cannot possibly do otherwise than believe it2 because1 after all1 although such conduct is neither wise nor common1 there is nothing in it contradictory to the laws of nature1 or the character of the hero4 ,that which is in opposition to the ordinary course of nature ought not to be believed1 unless it is attested by persons evidently inspired by the divine mind1 and whose inspiration1 indeed1 it is impossible to doubt4 ,hence we are justified in considering as a paradox the assertion made under the article on ,certainty1 in the great ,encyclopdia1 that we are as much bound to believe in the resuscitation of a dead man1 if all ,paris were to affirm it1 as to believe all ,paris when it states that we gained the battle of ,fontenoy4 ,it is clear that the evidence of all ,paris to a thing improbable can never be equal to that evidence in favor of a probable one4 ,these are the first principles of genuine logic4 ,such a dictionary as the one in question should be consecrated only to truth4 ,uncertainty of ,history4 ,periods of time are distinguished as fabulous and historical4 ,but even in the historical times themselves it is necessary to distinguish truths from fables4 ,i am not here speaking of fables1 now universally admitted to be such4 ,there is no question1 for example1 respecting the prodigies with which ,livy has embellished1 or rather defaced1 his history4 ,but with respect to events generally admitted1 how many reasons exist for doubt6 ,let it be recollected that the ,roman republic was five hundred years without historians2 that ,livy himself deplores the loss of various public monuments or records1 as almost all1 he says1 were destroyed in the burning of ,rome3 ,pleraque interiere4 ,let it be considered that1 in the first three hundred years1 the art of writing was very uncommon3 ,rar per eadem tempora liter4 ,reason will be then seen for entertaining doubt on all those events which do not correspond with the usual order of human affairs4 ,can it be considered very likely that ,romulus1 the grandson of the king of the ,sabines1 was compelled to carry off the ,sabine women in order to obtain for his people wives8 ,is the history of ,lucretia highly probable2 can we easily believe1 on the credit of ,livy1 that the king ,porsenna betook himself to flight1 full of admiration for the ,romans1 because a fanatic had pledged himself to assassinate him8 ,should we not rather be inclined to rely upon ,polybius1 who was two hundred years earlier than ,livy8 ,polybius informs us that ,porsenna subjugated the ,romans4 ,this is far more probable than the adventure of ,scvola's burning off his hand for failing in the attempt to assassinate him4 ,i would have defied ,poltrot to do as much4 ,does the adventure of ,regulus1 inclosed within a hogshead or tub stuck round with iron spikes1 deserve belief8 ,would not ,polybius1 a contemporary1 have recorded it had it been true8 ,he says not a single word upon the subject4 ,is not this a striking presumption that the story was trumped up long afterwards to gratify the popular hatred against the ,carthaginians8 ,open ,morri's ,dictionary1 at the article on ,regulus4 ,he informs you that the torments inflicted on that ,roman are recorded in ,livy4 ,the particular decade1 however1 in which ,livy would have recorded it1 if at all1 is lost2 and in lieu of it1 we have only the supplement of ,freinsheim2 and thus it appears that ,dictionary has merely cited a ,german writer of the seventeenth century1 under the idea of citing a ,roman of the ,augustan age4 ,volumes might be composed out of all the celebrated events which have been generally admitted1 but which may be more fairly doubted4 ,but the limits allowed for this article will not permit us to enlarge4 ,whether ,temples1 ,festivals1 ,annual ,ceremonies1 and even ,medals1 are ,historic ,proofs4 ,we might be naturally led to imagine that a monument raised by any nation in celebration of a particular event1 would attest the certainty of that event2 if1 however1 these monuments were not erected by contemporaries1 or if they celebrate events that carry with them but little probability1 they may often be regarded as proving nothing more than a wish to consecrate a popular opinion4 ,the rostral column1 erected in ,rome by the contemporaries of ,duilius1 is undoubtedly a proof of the naval victory obtained by ,duilius2 but does the statue of the augur ,nvius1 who is said to have divided a large flint with a razor1 prove that ,nvius in reality performed that prodigy8 ,were the statues of ,ceres and ,triptolemus1 at ,athens1 decisive evidences that ,ceres came down from ,i know not what particular planet1 to instruct the ,athenians in agriculture8 ,or does the famous ,laocoon1 which exists perfect to the present day1 furnish incontestable evidence of the truth of the story of the ,trojan horse8 ,ceremonies and annual festivals observed universally throughout any nation1 are1 in like manner1 no better proofs of the reality of the events to which they are attributed4 ,the festival of ,orion1 carried on the back of a dolphin1 was celebrated among the ,romans as well as the ,greeks4 ,that of ,faunus was in celebration of his adventure with ,hercules and ,omphale1 when that god1 being enamored of ,omphale1 mistook the bed of ,hercules for that of his mistress4 ,the famous feast of the ,lupercals was instituted in honor of the she-wolf that suckled ,romulus and ,remus4 ,what was the origin of the feast of ,orion1 which was observed on the fifth of the ides of ,may8 ,it was neither more nor less than the following adventure3 ,hyreus once entertained at his house the gods ,jupiter1 ,neptune1 and ,mercury1 and when his high and mighty guests were about to depart1 the worthy host1 who had no wife1 and was very desirous of having a son1 lamented his unfortunate fate1 and expressed his anxious desire to the three divinities4 ,we dare not exactly detail what they did to the hide of an ox which ,hyreus had killed for their entertainment2 however1 they afterwards covered the well-soaked hide with a little earth2 and thence1 at the end of nine months1 was born ,orion4 ,almost all the ,roman1 ,syrian1 ,grecian1 and ,egyptian festivals1 were founded on similar legends1 as well as the temples and statues of ancient heroes4 ,they were monuments consecrated by credulity to error4 ,one of our most ancient monuments is the statue of ,st4 ,denis carrying his head in his arms4 ,even a medal1 and a contemporary medal1 is sometimes no proof4 ,how many medals has flattery struck in celebration of battles very indecisive in themselves1 but thus exalted into victories2 and of enterprises1 in fact1 baffled and abortive1 and completed only in the inscription on the medal8 ,finally1 during the war in #agdj1 between the ,spaniards and the ,english1 was there not a medal struck1 attesting the capture of ,carthagena by ,admiral ,vernon1 although that admiral was obliged to raise the siege8 ,medals are then unexceptionable testimonies only when the event they celebrate is attested by contemporary authors2 these evidences thus corroborating each other1 verify the event described4 ,should an ,historian ascribe ,fictitious ,speeches to his ,characters1 and sketch ,portraits of them8 ,if on any particular occasion the commander of an army1 or a public minister1 has spoken in a powerful and impressive manner1 characteristic of his genius and his age1 his discourse should unquestionably be given with the most literal exactness4 ,speeches of this description are perhaps the most valuable part of history4 ,but for what purpose represent a man as saying what he never did say8 ,it would be just as correct to attribute to him acts which he never performed4 ,it is a fiction imitated from ,homer2 but that which is fiction in a poem1 in strict language1 is a lie in the historian4 ,many of the ancients adopted the method in question1 which merely proves that many of the ancients were fond of parading their eloquence at the expense of truth4 ,of ,historical ,portraiture4 ,portraits1 also1 frequently manifest a stronger desire for display1 than to communicate information4 ,contemporaries are justifiable in drawing the portraits of statesmen with whom they have negotiated1 or of generals under whom they have fought4 ,but how much is it to be apprehended that the pencil will in many cases be guided by the feelings8 ,the portraits given by ,lord ,clarendon appear to be drawn with more impartiality1 gravity1 and judgment1 than those which we peruse with so much delight in ,cardinal de ,retz4 ,but to attempt to paint the ancients2 to elaborate in this way the development of their minds2 to regard events as characters in which we may accurately read the most sacred feelings and intents of their hearts--this is an undertaking of no ordinary difficulty and discrimination1 although as frequently conducted1 both childish and trifling4 ,of ,cicero's ,maxim ,concerning ,history1 that an ,historian should never dare to relate a ,falsehood or to ,conceal a ,truth4 ,the first part of this precept is incontestable2 we must stop for a moment to examine the other4 ,if a particular truth may be of any service to the state1 your silence is censurable4 ,but ,i will suppose you to write the history of a prince who had reposed in you a secret--ought you to reveal that secret8 ,ought you to say to all posterity what you would be criminal in disclosing to a single individual8 ,should the duty of an historian prevail over the higher and more imperative duty of a man8 ,i will suppose again1 that you have witnessed a failing or weakness which has not had the slightest influence on public affairs--ought you to publish such weakness8 ,in such a case history becomes satire4 ,it must be allowed1 indeed1 that the greater part of anecdote writers are more indiscreet than they are useful4 ,but what opinion must we entertain of those impudent compilers who appear to glory in scattering about them calumny and slander1 and print and sell scandals as ,voisin sold poisons8 ,of ,satirical ,history4 ,if ,plutarch censured ,herodotus for not having sufficiently extolled the fame of some of the ,grecian cities1 and for omitting many known facts worthy of being recorded1 how much more censurable are certain of our modern writers1 who1 without any of the merits of ,herodotus1 impute both to princes and to nations acts of the most odious character1 without the slightest proof or evidence8 ,the history of the war in #agda has been written in ,england2 and it relates1 that at the battle of ,fontenoy the ,french fired at the ,english balls and pieces of glass which had been prepared with poison2 and that the duke of ,cumberland sent to the king of ,france a box full of those alleged poisonous articles1 which had been found in the bodies of the wounded ,english4 ,the same author adds1 that the ,french having lost in that battle forty thousand men1 the parliament issued an order to prevent people from talking on the subject1 under pain of corporal punishment4 ,the fraudulent memoirs published not long since under the name of ,madame de ,maintenon1 abound with similar absurdities4 ,we are told in them1 that at the siege of ,lille the allies threw placards into the city1 containing these words3 ,frenchmen1 be comforted--,maintenon shall never be your queen4 ,almost every page is polluted by false statements and abuse of the royal family and other leading families in the kingdom1 without the author's making out the smallest probability to give a color to his calumnies4 ,this is not writing history2 it is writing slanders which deserve the pillory4 ,a vast number of works have been printed in ,holland1 under the name of history1 of which the style is as vulgar and coarse as the abuse1 and the facts as false as they are ill-narrated4 ,this1 it has been observed1 is a bad fruit of the noble tree of liberty4 ,but if the contemptible authors of this trash have the liberty thus to deceive their readers1 it becomes us here to take the liberty to undeceive them4 ,a thirst for despicable gain1 and the insolence of vulgar and grovelling manners1 were the only motives which led that ,protestant refugee from ,languedoc1 of the name of ,langlevieux1 but commonly called ,la ,beaumelle1 to attempt the most infamous trick that ever disgraced literature4 ,he sold to ,eslinger1 the bookseller of ,frankfort1 in #agea1 for seventeen louis d'or1 the ,history of the ,age of ,louis ,,xiv41 which is not his2 and1 either to make it believed that he was the proprietor1 or to earn his money1 he loaded it with abusive and abominable notes against ,louis ,,xiv41 his son1 and his grandson1 the duke of ,burgundy1 whom he abuses in the most unmeasured terms1 and calls a traitor to his grandfather and his country4 ,he pours upon the duke of ,orleans1 the regent1 calumnies at once the most horrible and the most absurd2 no person of consequence is spared1 and yet no person of consequence did he ever know4 ,he retails against the marshals ,villars and ,villeroi1 against ministers1 and even against ladies1 all the petty1 dirty1 and scandalous tales that could be collected from the lowest taverns and wine-houses2 and he speaks of the greatest princes as if they were amenable to himself1 and under his own personal jurisdiction4 ,he expresses himself1 indeed1 as if he were a formal and authorized judge of kings3 ,give me1 says he1 a ,stuart1 and ,i will make him king of ,england4 ,this most ridiculous and abominable conduct1 proceeding from an author obscure and unknown1 has incurred no prosecution2 it would have been severely punished in a man whose words would have carried any weight4 ,but we must here observe1 that these works of darkness frequently circulate through all ,europe2 they are sold at the fairs of ,frankfort and ,leipsic1 and the whole of the ,north is overrun with them4 ,foreigners1 who are not well informed1 derive from books of this description their knowledge of modern history4 ,german authors are not always sufficiently on their guard against memoirs of this character1 but employ them as materials2 which has been the case with the memoirs of ,pontis1 ,montbrun1 ,rochefort1 and ,pordac2 with all the pretended political testaments of ministers of state1 which have proceeded from the pen of forgery2 with the ,royal ,tenth of ,boisguillebert1 impudently published under the name of ,marshal ,vauban2 and with innumerable compilations of anas and anecdotes4 ,history is sometimes even still more shamefully abused in ,england4 ,as there are always two parties in furious hostility against each other1 until some common danger for a season unites them1 the writers of one faction condemn everything that the others approve4 ,the same individual is represented as a ,cato and a ,catiline4 ,how is truth to be extricated from this adulation and satire8 ,perhaps there is only one rule to be depended upon1 which is1 to believe all the good which the historian of a party ventures to allow to the leaders of the opposite faction2 and all the ills which he ventures to impute to the chiefs of his own--a rule1 of which neither party can severely complain4 ,with regard to memoirs actually written by agents in the events recorded1 as those of ,clarendon1 ,ludlow1 and ,burnet1 in ,england1 and de la ,rochefoucauld and de ,retz in ,france1 if they agree1 they are true2 if they contradict each other1 doubt them4 ,with respect to anas and anecdotes1 there may perhaps be one in a hundred of them that contain some shadow of truth4 ,,section ,,iv4 ,of the ,method or ,manner of ,writing ,history1 and of ,style4 ,we have said so much upon this subject1 that we must here say very little4 ,it is sufficiently known and fully admitted1 that the method and style of ,livy--his gravity1 and instructive eloquence1 are suitable to the majesty of the ,roman republic2 that ,tacitus is more calculated to portray tyrants1 ,polybius to give lessons on war1 and ,dionysius of ,halicarnassus to investigate antiquities4 ,but1 while he forms himself on the general model of these great masters1 a weighty responsibility is attached to the modern historian from which they were exempt4 ,he is required to give more minute details1 facts more completely authenticated1 correct dates1 precise authorities1 more attention to customs1 laws1 manners1 commerce1 finance1 agriculture1 and population4 ,it is with history1 as it is with mathematics and natural philosophy2 the field of it is immensely enlarged4 ,the more easy it is to compile newspapers1 the more difficult it is at the present day to write history4 ,daniel thought himself a historian1 because he transcribed dates and narratives of battles1 of which ,i can understand nothing4 ,he should have informed me of the rights of the nation1 the rights of the chief corporate establishments in it2 its laws1 usages1 manners1 with the alterations by which they have been affected in the progress of time4 ,this nation might not improperly address him in some such language as the following3--,i want from you my own history rather than that of ,louis le ,gros and ,louis ,hutin2 you tell me1 copying from some old1 unauthenticated1 and carelessly-written chronicle1 that when ,louis ,,viii4 was attacked by a mortal disease1 and lay languishing and powerless1 the physicians ordered the more than half-dead monarch to take to his bed a blooming damsel1 who might cherish the few sparks of remaining life2 and that the pious king rejected the unholy advice with indignation4 ,alas6 ,daniel1 you are unacquainted1 it seems1 with the ,italian proverb--,donna ignuda manda l'uomo sotto la terra4 ,you ought to possess a little stronger tincture of political and natural history4 ,the history of a foreign country should be formed on a different model to that of our own4 ,if we compose a history of ,france1 we are under no necessity to describe the course of the ,seine and the ,loire2 but if we publish a history of the conquests of the ,portuguese in ,asia1 a topographical description of the recently explored country is required4 ,it is desirable that we should1 as it were1 conduct the reader by the hand round ,africa1 and along the coasts of ,persia and ,india2 and it is expected that we should treat with information and judgment1 of manners1 laws1 and customs so new to ,europe4 ,we have a great variety of histories of the establishment of the ,portuguese in ,india1 written by our countrymen1 but not one of them has made us acquainted with the different governments of that country1 with its religious antiquities1 ,brahmins1 disciples of ,st4 ,john1 ,guebers1 and ,banians4 ,some letters of ,xavier and his successors have1 it is true1 been preserved to us4 ,we have had histories of the ,indies composed at ,paris1 from the accounts of those missionaries who were unacquainted with the language of the ,brahmins4 ,we have it repeated1 in a hundred works1 that the ,indians worship the devil4 ,the chaplains of a company of merchants quit our country under these impressions1 and1 as soon as they perceive on the coast some symbolical figures1 they fail not to write home that they are the portraits and likenesses of the devil1 that they are in the devil's empire1 and that they are going to engage in battle with him4 ,they do not reflect that we are the real worshippers of the devil ,mammon1 and that we travel six thousand leagues from our native land to offer our vows at his shrine1 and to obtain the grant of some portion of his treasures4 ,as to those who hire themselves out at ,paris to some bookseller in the ,rue de ,st4 ,jacques1 and at so much per job1 and who are ordered to write a history of ,japan1 ,canada1 or the ,canaries1 as the case requires and opportunity suggests1 from the memoirs of a few ,capuchin friars--to such ,i have nothing to say4 ,it is sufficient1 if it be clearly understood1 that the method which would be proper in writing a history of our own country is not suitable in describing the discoveries of the new world2 that we should not write on a small city as on a great empire2 and that the private history of a prince should be composed in a very different manner from the history of ,france and ,england4 ,if you have nothing to tell us1 but that on the banks of the ,oxus and the ,jaxartes1 one barbarian has been succeeded by another barbarian1 in what respect do you benefit the public8 ,these rules are well known2 but the art of writing history well will always be very uncommon4 ,it obviously requires a style grave1 pure1 varied1 and smooth4 ,but we may say with respect to rules for writing history1 as in reference to those for all the intellectual arts--there are many precepts1 but few masters4 ,,section ,v4 ,history of the ,jewish ,kings1 and of the ,paralipomena4 ,every nation1 as soon as it was able to write1 has written its own history1 and the ,jews have accordingly written theirs4 ,before they had kings1 they lived under a theocracy2 it was their destiny to be governed by ,god himself4 ,when the ,jews were desirous of having a king1 like the adjoining nations1 the prophet ,samuel1 who was exceedingly interested in preventing it1 declared to them1 on the part of ,god1 that they were rejecting ,god himself4 ,thus the ,jewish theocracy ceased when the monarchy commenced4 ,we may therefore remark1 without the imputation of blasphemy1 that the history of the ,jewish kings was written like that of other nations1 and that ,god did not take the pains ,himself to dictate the history of a people whom ,he no longer governed4 ,we advance this opinion with the greatest diffidence4 ,what may perhaps be considered as confirming it1 is1 that the ,paralipomena very frequently contradict the ,book of ,kings1 both with respect to chronology and facts1 just as profane historians sometimes contradict one another4 ,moreover1 if ,god always wrote the history of the ,jews1 it seems only consistent and natural to think that ,he writes it still2 for the ,jews are always ,his cherished people4 ,they are on some future day to be converted1 and it seems that whenever that event happens1 they will have as complete a right to consider the history of their dispersion as sacred1 as they have now to say1 that ,god wrote the history of their kings4 ,we may be allowed here to make one reflection2 which is1 that as ,god was for a very long period their king1 and afterwards became their historian1 we are bound to entertain for all ,jews the most profound respect4 ,there is not a single ,jew broker1 or slop-man1 who is not infinitely superior to ,csar and ,alexander4 ,how can we avoid bending in prostration before an old-clothes man1 who proves to us that his history has been written by ,god ,himself1 while the histories of ,greece and ,rome have been transmitted to us merely by the profane hand of man8 ,if the style of the history of the kings1 and of the ,paralipomena1 is divine1 it may nevertheless be true that the acts recorded in these histories are not divine4 ,david murders ,uriah2 ,ishbosheth and ,mephibosheth are murdered2 ,absalom murders ,ammon2 ,joab murders ,absalom2 ,solomon murders his brother ,adonijah2 ,baasha murders ,nadab2 ,zimri murders ,ela2 ,omri murders ,zimri2 ,ahab murders ,naboth2 ,jehu murders ,ahab and ,joram2 the inhabitants of ,jerusalem murder ,amaziah1 son of ,joash2 ,shallum1 son of ,jabesh1 murders ,zachariah1 son of ,jeroboam2 ,menahhem murders ,shallum1 son of ,jabesh2 ,pekah1 son of ,remaliah1 murders ,pekahiah1 son of ,manehem2 and ,hoshea1 son of ,elah1 murders ,pekah1 son of ,remaliah4 ,we pass over1 in silence1 many other minor murders4 ,it must be acknowledged1 that1 if the ,holy ,spirit did write this history1 ,he did not choose a subject particularly edifying4 ,,section ,,vi4 ,of bad ,actions which have been consecrated or excused in ,history4 ,it is but too common for historians to praise very depraved and abandoned characters1 who have done service either to a dominant sect1 or to their nation at large4 ,the praises thus bestowed1 come perhaps from a loyal and zealous citizen2 but zeal of this description is injurious to the great society of mankind4 ,romulus murders his brother1 and he is made a god4 ,constantine cuts the throat of his son1 strangles his wife1 and murders almost all his family3 he has been eulogized in general councils1 but history should ever hold up such barbarities to detestation4 ,it is undoubtedly fortunate for us that ,clovis was a ,catholic4 ,it is fortunate for the ,anglican church that ,henry ,,viii4 abolished monks1 but we must at the same time admit that ,clovis and ,henry ,,viii4 were monsters of cruelty4 ,when first the ,jesuit ,berruyer1 who although a ,jesuit1 was a fool1 undertook to paraphrase the ,old and ,new ,testaments in the style of the lowest populace1 with no other intention than that of having them read2 he scattered some flowers of rhetoric over the two-edged knife which the ,jew ,ehud thrust up to the hilt in the stomach of the king ,eglon2 and over the sabre with which ,judith cut off the head of ,holofernes after having prostituted herself to his pleasures2 and also over many other acts recorded1 of a similar description4 ,the parliament1 respecting the ,bible which narrates these histories1 nevertheless condemned the ,jesuit who extolled them1 and ordered the ,old and ,new ,testaments to be burned3--,i mean merely those of the ,jesuit4 ,but as the judgments of mankind are ever different in similar cases1 the same thing happened to ,bayle in circumstances totally different4 ,he was condemned for not praising all the actions of ,david1 king of the province of ,juda4 ,a man of the name of ,jurieu1 a refugee preacher in ,holland1 associated with some other refugee preachers1 were desirous of obliging him to recant4 ,but how could he recant with reference to facts delivered in the scripture8 ,had not ,bayle some reason to conclude that all the facts recorded in the ,jewish books are not the actions of saints2 that ,david1 like other men1 had committed some criminal acts2 and that if he is called a man after ,god's own heart1 he is called so in consequence of his penitence1 and not of his crimes8 ,let us disregard names and confine our consideration to things only4 ,let us suppose1 that during the reign of ,henry ,,iv4 a clergyman of the ,league party secretly poured out a phial of oil on the head of a shepherd of ,brie2 that the shepherd comes to court2 that the clergyman presents him to ,henry ,,iv4 as an excellent violin player who can completely drive away all care and melancholy2 that the king makes him his equerry1 and bestows on him one of his daughters in marriage2 that afterwards1 the king having quarrelled with the shepherd1 the latter takes refuge with one of the princes of ,germany1 his father-in-law's enemy2 that he enlists and arms six hundred banditti overwhelmed by debt and debauchery2 that with this regiment of brigands he rushes to the field1 slays friends as well as enemies1 exterminating all1 even to women with children at the breast1 in order to prevent a single individual's remaining to give intelligence of the horrid butchery4 ,i farther suppose this same shepherd of ,brie to become king of ,france after the death of ,henry ,,iv42 that he procures the murder of that king's grandson1 after having invited him to sit at meat at his own table1 and delivers over to death seven other younger children of his king and benefactor4 ,who is the man that will not conceive the shepherd of ,brie to act rather harshly8 ,commentators are agreed that the adultery of ,david1 and his murder of ,uriah1 are faults which ,god pardoned4 ,we may therefore conclude that the massacres above mentioned are faults which ,god also pardoned4 ,however1 ,bayle had no quarter given him2 but at length some preachers at ,london having compared ,george ,,ii4 to ,david1 one of that monarch's servants prints and publishes a small book1 in which he censures the comparison4 ,he examines the whole conduct of ,david2 he goes infinitely farther than ,bayle1 and treats ,david with more severity than ,tacitus applies to ,domitian4 ,this book did not raise in ,england the slightest murmur2 every reader felt that bad actions are always bad2 that ,god may pardon them when repentance is proportioned to guilt1 but that certainly no man can ever approve of them4 ,there was more reason1 therefore1 prevailing in ,england than there was in ,holland in the time of ,bayle4 ,we now perceive clearly and without difficulty1 that we ought not to hold up as a model of sanctity what1 in fact1 deserves the severest punishment2 and we see with equal clearness that1 as we ought not to consecrate guilt1 so we ought not to believe absurdity4 ,,honor4 ,the author of the ,spirit of ,laws has founded his system on the idea that virtue is the principle of a republican government1 and honor that of mom archism4 ,is there virtue then without honor1 and how is a republic established in virtue8 ,let us place before the reader's eyes that which has been said in an able little book upon this subject4 ,pamphlets soon sink into oblivion4 ,truth ought not to be lost2 it should be consigned to works possessing durability4 ,assuredly republics have never been formed on a theoretical principle of virtue4 ,the public interest being opposed to the domination of an individual1 the spirit of self-importance1 and the ambition of every person1 serve to curb ambition and the inclination to rapacity1 wherever they may appear4 ,the pride of each citizen watches over that of his neighbor1 and no person would willingly be the slave of another's caprice4 ,such are the feelings which establish republics1 and which preserve them4 ,it is ridiculous to imagine that there must be more virtue in a ,grison than in a ,spaniard4 ,that honor can be the sole principle of monarchies is a no less chimerical idea1 and the author shows it to be so himself1 without being aware of it4 ,the nature of honor1 says he1 in chapter vii4 of book iii41 is to demand preferences and distinctions4 ,it1 therefore1 naturally suits a monarchical government4 ,was it not on this same principle1 that the ,romans demanded the prtorship1 consulship1 ovation1 and triumph in their republic8 ,these were preferences and distinctions well worth the titles and preferences purchased in monarchies1 and for which there is often a regular fixed price4 ,this remark proves1 in our opinion1 that the ,spirit of ,laws1 although sparkling with wit1 and commendable by its respect for the laws and hatred of superstition and rapine1 is founded entirely upon false views4 ,let us add1 that it is precisely in courts that there is always least honor3 ,l'ingannare1 il mentir1 la frode1 il furto1 ,e la rapina di pict vestita1 ,crescer coi damno e precipizio altrui1 ,e fare a se de l'altrui biasmo onore1 ,son le virt di quella gente infid4 --,,pastor ,,fido1 atto v41 scena i4 ,ramper avec bassesse en affectant l'audace1 ,s'engraisser de rapine en attestant les lois1 touffer en secret son ami qu'on embrasse4 ,voil l'honneur qui rgne la suite des rois4 ,to basely crawl1 yet wear a face of pride2 ,to rob the public1 yet o'er law preside2 ,salute a friend1 yet sting in the embrace-- ,such is the honor which in courts takes place4 ,indeed1 it is in courts1 that men devoid of honor often attain to the highest dignities2 and it is in republics that a known dishonorable citizen is seldom trusted by the people with public concerns4 ,the celebrated saying of the regent1 duke of ,orleans1 is sufficient to destroy the foundation of the ,spirit of ,laws3 ,this is a perfect courtier--he has neither temper nor honor4 ,,humility4 ,philosophers have inquired1 whether humility is a virtue2 but virtue or not1 every one must agree that nothing is more rare4 ,the ,greeks called it tapeinosis or tapeineia4 ,it is strongly recommended in the fourth book of the ,laws of ,plato3 he rejects the proud and would multiply the humble4 ,epictetus1 in five places1 preaches humility3 ,if thou passest for a person of consequence in the opinion of some people1 distrust thyself4 ,no lifting up of thy eye-brows4 ,be nothing in thine own eyes--if thou seekest to please1 thou art lost4 ,give place to all men2 prefer them to thyself2 assist them all4 ,we see by these maxims that never ,capuchin went so far as ,epictetus4 ,some theologians1 who had the misfortune to be proud1 have pretended that humility cost nothing to ,epictetus1 who was a slave2 and that he was humble by station1 as a doctor or a ,jesuit may be proud by station4 ,but what will they say of ,marcus ,antoninus1 who on the throne recommended humility8 ,he places ,alexander and his muleteer on the same line4 ,he said that the vanity of pomp is only a bone thrown in the midst of dogs2 that to do good1 and to patiently hear himself calumniated1 constitute the virtue of a king4 ,thus the master of the known world recommended humility2 but propose humility to a musician1 and see how he will laugh at ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,descartes1 in his treatise on the ,passions of the ,soul1 places humility among their number1 who--if we may personify this quality--did not expect to be regarded as a passion4 ,he also distinguishes between virtuous and vicious humility4 ,but we leave to philosophers more enlightened than ourselves the care of explaining this doctrine1 and will confine ourselves to saying1 that humility is the modesty of the soul4 ,it is the antidote to pride4 ,humility could not prevent ,rousseau from believing that he knew more of music than those to whom he taught it2 but it could induce him to believe that he was not superior to ,lulli in recitative4 ,the reverend father ,viret1 cordelier1 theologian1 and preacher1 all humble as he is1 will always firmly believe that he knows more than those who learn to read and write2 but his ,christian humility1 his modesty of soul1 will oblige him to confess in the bottom of his heart that he has written nothing but nonsense4 ,oh1 brothers ,nonnotte1 ,guyon1 ,pantouillet1 vulgar scribblers6 be more humble1 and always bear in recollection the modesty of the soul4 ,,hypatia4 ,i will suppose that ,madame ,dacier had been the finest woman in ,paris2 and that in the quarrel on the comparative merits of the ancients and moderns1 the ,carmelites pretended that the poem of the ,magdalen1 written by a ,carmelite1 was infinitely superior to ,homer1 and that it was an atrocious impiety to prefer the ,iliad to the verses of a monk4 ,i will take the additional liberty of supposing that the archbishop of ,paris took the part of the ,carmelites against the governor of the city1 a partisan of the beautiful ,madame ,dacier1 and that he excited the ,carmelites to massacre this fine woman in the church of ,notre ,dame1 and to drag her1 naked and bloody1 to the ,place ,maubert--would not everybody say that the archbishop of ,paris had done a very wicked action1 for which he ought to do penance8 ,this is precisely the history of ,hypatia4 ,she taught ,homer and ,plato1 in ,alexandria1 in the time of ,theodosius ,,ii4 ,st4 ,cyril incensed the ,christian populace against her1 as it is related by ,damasius and ,suidas1 and clearly proved by the most learned men of the age1 such as ,bruker1 ,la ,croze1 and ,basnage1 as is very judiciously exposed in the great ,dictionnaire ,encyclopdique1 in the article on clectisme4 ,a man whose intentions are no doubt very good1 has printed two volumes against this article of the ,encyclopdia4 ,two volumes against two pages1 my friends1 are too much4 ,i have told you a hundred times you multiply being without necessity4 ,two lines against two volumes would be quite sufficient2 but write not even these two lines4 ,i am content with remarking1 that ,st4 ,cyril was a man of parts2 that he suffered his zeal to carry him too far2 that when we strip beautiful women1 it is not to massacre them2 that ,st4 ,cyril1 no doubt1 asked pardon of ,god for this abominable action2 and that ,i pray the father of mercies to have pity on his soul4 ,he wrote the two volumes against clectisme1 also inspires me with infinite commiseration4 ,,idea4 ,,section ,i4 ,what is an idea8 ,it is an image painted upon my brain4 ,are all your thoughts1 then1 images8 ,certainly2 for the most abstract thoughts are only the consequences of all the objects that ,i have perceived4 ,i utter the word being in general1 only because ,i have known particular beings2 ,i utter the word infinity1 only because ,i have seen certain limits1 and because ,i push back those limits in my mind to a greater and still greater distance1 as far as ,i am able4 ,i have ideas in my head only because ,i have images4 ,and who is the painter of this picture8 ,it is not myself2 ,i cannot draw with sufficient skill2 the being that made me1 makes my ideas4 ,and how do you know that the ideas are not made by yourself8 ,because they frequently come to me involuntarily when ,i am awake1 and always without my consent when ,i dream4 ,you are persuaded1 then1 that your ideas belong to you only in the same manner as your hairs1 which grow and become white1 and fall off1 without your having anything at all to do with the matter8 ,nothing can possibly be clearer2 all that ,i can do is to frizzle1 cut1 and powder them2 but ,i have nothing to do with producing them4 ,you must1 then1 ,i imagine1 be of ,malebranche's opinion1 that we see all in ,god8 ,i am at least certain of this1 that if we do not see things in the ,great ,being1 we see them in consequence of ,his powerful and immediate action4 ,and what was the nature or process of this action8 ,i have already told you repeatedly1 in the course of our conversation1 that ,i do not know a single syllable about the subject1 and that ,god has not communicated ,his secret to any one4 ,i am completely ignorant of that which makes my heart beat1 and my blood flow through my veins2 ,i am ignorant of the principle of all my movements1 and yet you seem to expect how ,i should explain how ,i feel and how ,i think4 ,such an expectation is unreasonable4 ,but you at least know whether your faculty of having ideas is joined to extension8 ,not in the least2 ,it is true that ,tatian1 in his discourse to the ,greeks1 says the soul is evidently composed of a body4 ,irenus1 in the twenty-sixth chapter of his second book1 says1 ,the ,lord has taught that our souls preserve the figure of our body in order to retain the memory of it4 ,tertullian asserts1 in his second book on the soul1 that it is a body4 ,arnobius1 ,lactantius1 ,hilary1 ,gregory of ,nyssa1 and ,ambrose1 are precisely of the same opinion4 ,it is pretended that other fathers of the ,church assert that the soul is without extension1 and that in this respect they adopt the opinion of ,plato2 this1 however1 may well be doubted4 ,with respect to myself1 ,i dare not venture to form an opinion2 ,i see nothing but obscurity and incomprehensibility in either system2 and1 after a whole life's meditation on the subject1 ,i am not advanced a single step beyond where ,i was on the first day4 ,the subject1 then1 was not worth thinking about8 ,that is true2 the man who enjoys knows more of it1 or at least knows it better1 than he who reflects2 he is more happy4 ,but what is it that you would have8 ,it depended not1 ,i repeat1 upon myself whether ,i should admit or reject all those ideas which have crowded into my brain in conflict with each other1 and actually converted my medullary magazine into their field of battle4 ,after a hard-fought contest between them1 ,i have obtained nothing but uncertainty from the spoils4 ,it is a melancholy thing to possess so many ideas1 and yet to have no precise knowledge of the nature of ideas8 ,it is1 ,i admit2 but it is much more melancholy1 and inexpressibly more foolish1 for a man to believe he knows what in fact he does not4 ,but1 if you do not positively know what an idea is1 if you are ignorant whence ideas come1 you at least know by what they come8 ,yes2 just in the same way as the ancient ,egyptians1 who1 without knowing the source of the ,nile1 knew perfectly well that its waters reached them by its bed4 ,we know perfectly that ideas come to us by the senses2 but we never know whence they come4 ,the source of this ,nile will never be discovered4 ,if it is certain that all ideas are given by means of the senses1 why does the ,sorbonne1 which has so long adopted this doctrine from ,aristotle1 condemn it with so much virulence in ,helvetius8 ,because the ,sorbonne is composed of theologians4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,all in ,god4 ,in ,god we live and move and have our being4 --,,st4 ,,paul1 ,acts xvii1 #bh4 ,aratus1 who is thus quoted and approved by ,st4 ,paul1 made this confession of faith1 we perceive among the ,greeks4 ,the virtuous ,cato says the same thing3 ,jupiter est quodcumque vides quocumque moveris4--,lucan's ,pharsalia ix1 #ehj4 ,whate'er we see1 whate'er we feel1 is ,jove4 ,malebranche is the commentator on ,aratus1 ,st4 ,paul1 and ,cato4 ,he succeeded1 in the first instance1 in showing the errors of the senses and imagination2 but when he attempted to develop the grand system1 that all is in ,god1 all his readers declared the commentary to be more obscure than the text4 ,in short1 having plunged into this abyss1 his head became bewildered2 he held conversations with the ,word2 he was made acquainted with what the ,word had done in other planets2 he became1 in truth1 absolutely mad2 a circumstance well calculated to excite apprehension in our own minds1 apt as we some of us are to attempt soaring1 upon our weak and puny opinions1 very far beyond our reach4 ,in order to comprehend the notion of ,malebranche1 such as he held it while he retained his faculties1 we must admit nothing that we do not clearly conceive1 and reject what we do not understand4 ,attempting to explain an obscurity by obscurities1 is to act like an idiot4 ,i feel decidedly that my first ideas and my sensations have come to me without any co-operation or volition on my part4 ,i clearly see that ,i cannot give myself a single idea4 ,i cannot give myself anything4 ,i have received everything4 ,the objects which surround me cannot1 of themselves1 give me either idea or sensation2 for how is it possible for a little particle of matter to possess the faculty of producing a thought8 ,i am therefore irresistibly led to conclude that the ,eternal ,being1 who bestows everything1 gives me my ideas1 in whatever manner this may be done4 ,but what is an idea1 what is a sensation1 a volition1 etc48 ,it is myself perceiving1 myself feeling1 myself willing4 ,we see1 in short1 that what is called an idea is no more a real being than there is a real being called motion1 although there are bodies moved4 ,in the same manner there is not any particular being called memory1 imagination1 judgment2 but we ourselves remember1 imagine1 and judge4 ,the truth of all this1 it must be allowed1 is sufficiently plain and trite2 but it is necessary to repeat and inculcate such truth1 as the opposite errors are more trite still4 ,laws of ,nature4 ,how1 let us now ask1 would the ,eternal ,being1 who formed all1 produce all those various modes or qualities which we perceive in organized bodies8 ,did ,he introduce two beings in a grain of wheat1 one of which should produce germination in the other8 ,did ,he introduce two beings in the composition of a stag1 one of which should produce swiftness in the other8 ,certainly not4 ,all that we know on the subject is that the grain is endowed with the faculty of vegetating1 and the stag with that of speed4 ,there is evidently a grand mathematical principle directing all nature1 and affecting everything produced4 ,the flying of birds1 the swimming of fishes1 the walking or running of quadrupeds1 are visible effects of known laws of motion4 ,mens agitat molem4 ,can the sensations and ideas of those animals1 then1 be anything more than the admirable effects or mathematical laws more refined and less obvious8 ,organisation of the ,senses and ,ideas4 ,it is by these general and comprehensive laws that every animal is impelled to seek its appropriate food4 ,we are naturally1 therefore1 led to conjecture that there is a law by which it has the idea of this food1 and without which it would not go in search of it4 ,the eternal intelligence has made all the actions of an animal depend upon a certain principle2 the eternal intelligence1 therefore1 has made the sensations which cause those actions depend on the same principle4 ,would the author of nature have disposed and adjusted those admirable instruments1 the senses1 with so divine a skill2 would he have exhibited such astonishing adaptation between the eyes and light2 between the atmosphere and the ears1 had it1 after all1 been necessary to call in the assistance of other agency to complete his work8 ,nature always acts by the shortest ways4 ,protracted processes indicate want of skill2 multiplicity of springs1 and complexity of co-operation are the result of weakness4 ,we cannot but believe1 therefore1 that one main spring regulates the whole system4 ,the ,great ,being ,does ,everything4 ,not merely are we unable to give ourselves sensations1 we cannot even imagine any beyond those which we have actually experienced4 ,let all the academies of ,europe propose a premium for him who shall imagine a new sense2 no one will ever gain that premium4 ,we can do nothing1 then1 of our mere selves1 whether there be an invisible and intangible being enclosed in our brain or diffused throughout our body1 or whether there be not2 and it must be admitted1 upon every system1 that the author of nature has given us all that we possess--organs1 sensations1 and the ideas which proceed from them4 ,as we are thus secured under ,his forming hand1 ,malebranche1 notwithstanding all his errors1 had reason to say philosophically1 that we are in ,god and that we see all in ,god2 as ,st4 ,paul used the same language in a theological sense1 and ,aratus and ,cato in a moral one4 ,what then are we to understand by the words seeing all in ,god8 ,they are either words destitute of meaning1 or they mean that ,god gives us all our ideas4 ,what is the meaning of receiving an idea8 ,we do not create it when we receive it2 it is not1 therefore1 so unphilosophical as has been thought1 to say it is ,god who produces the ideas in my head1 as it is ,he who produces motion in my whole body4 ,everything is an operation of ,god upon ,his creatures4 ,how is ,everything an ,action of ,god8 ,there is in nature only one universal1 eternal1 and active principle4 ,there cannot be two such principles2 for they would either be alike or different4 ,if they are different1 they destroy one another2 if they are alike1 it is the same as if they were only one4 ,the unity of design1 visible through the grand whole in all its infinite variety1 announces one single principle1 and that principle must act upon all being1 or it ceases to be a universal opinion4 ,if it acts upon all being1 it acts upon all the modes of all being4 ,there is not1 therefore1 a single remnant1 a single mode1 a single idea1 which is not the immediate effect of a universal cause perpetually present4 ,the matter of the universe1 therefore1 belongs to ,god1 as much as the ideas and the ideas as much as the matter4 ,to say that anything is out of ,him would be saying that there is something out of the vast whole4 ,god being the universal principle of all things1 all1 therefore1 exists in ,him1 and by ,him4 ,the system includes that of physical premotion1 but in the same manner as an immense wheel includes a small one that endeavors to fly off from it4 ,the principle which we have just been unfolding is too vast to admit of any particular and detailed view4 ,physical premotion occupies the great supreme with all the changing vagaries which take place in the head of an individual ,jansenist or ,molinist2 we1 on the contrary1 occupy the ,being of ,beings only with the grand and general laws of the universe4 ,physical premotion makes five propositions a matter of attention and occupation to ,god1 which interest only some lay-sister1 the sweeper of a convent2 while we attribute to ,him employment of the most simple and important description--the arrangement of the whole system of the universe4 ,physical premotion is founded upon that subtle and truly ,grecian principle1 that if a thinking being can give himself an idea1 he would augment his existence2 but we do not1 for our parts1 know what is meant by augmenting our being4 ,we comprehend nothing about the matter4 ,we say that a thinking being might give himself new modes without adding to his existence2 just in the same manner as when we dance1 our sliding steps and crossings and attitudes give us no new existence2 and to suppose they do so would appear completely absurd4 ,we agree only so far in the system of physical premotion1 that we are convinced we give ourselves nothing4 ,both the system of premotion and our own are abused1 as depriving men of their liberty4 ,god forbid we should advocate such deprivation4 ,to do away with this imputation1 it is only necessary to understand the meaning of the word liberty4 ,we shall speak of it in its proper place2 and in the meantime the world will go on as it has gone on hitherto1 without the ,thomists or their opponents1 or all the disputants in the world1 having any power to change it4 ,in the same manner we shall always have ideas1 without precisely knowing what an idea is4 ,,identity4 ,this scientific term signifies no more than the same thing4 ,it might be correctly translated by sameness4 ,this subject is of considerably more interest than may be imagined4 ,all agree that the guilty person only ought to be punished--the individual perpetrator1 and no other4 ,but a man fifty years of age is not in reality the same individual as the man of twenty2 he retains no longer any of the parts which then formed his body2 and if he has lost the memory of past events1 it is certain that there is nothing left to unite his actual existence to an existence which to him is lost4 ,i am the same person only by the consciousness of what ,i have been combined with that of what ,i am2 ,i have no consciousness of my past being but through memory2 memory alone1 therefore1 establishes the identity1 the sameness of my person4 ,we may1 in truth1 be naturally and aptly resembled to a river1 all whose waters pass away in perpetual change and flow4 ,it is the same river as to its bed1 its banks1 its source1 its mouth1 everything1 in short1 that is not itself2 but changing every moment its waters1 which constitute its very being1 it has no identity2 there is no sameness belonging to the river4 ,were there another ,xerxes like him who lashed the ,hellespont for disobedience1 and ordered for it a pair of handcuffs2 and were the son of this ,xerxes to be drowned in the ,euphrates1 and the father desirous of punishing that river for the death of his son1 the ,euphrates might very reasonably say in its vindication3 ,blame the waves that were rolling on at the time your son was bathing2 those waves belong not to me1 and form no part of me2 they have passed on to the ,persian ,gulf2 a part is mixed with the salt water of that sea1 and another part1 exhaled in vapor1 has been impelled by a south-east wind to ,gaul1 and been incorporated with endives and lettuces1 which the ,gauls have since used in their salads2 seize the culprit where you can find him4 ,it is the same with a tree1 a branch of which broken by the wind might have fractured the skull of your great grandfather4 ,it is no longer the same tree2 all its parts have given way to others4 ,the branch which killed your great grandfather is no part of this tree2 it exists no longer4 ,it has been asked1 then1 how a man1 who has totally lost his memory before his death1 and whose members have been changed into other substances1 can be punished for his faults or rewarded for his virtues when he is no longer himself8 ,i have read in a well known book the following question and answer3 ,question4 ,how can ,i be either rewarded or punished when ,i shall no longer exist2 when there will be nothing remaining of that which constituted my person8 ,it is only by means of memory that ,i am always myself2 after my death1 a miracle will be necessary to restore it to me--to enable me to reenter upon my lost existence4 ,answer4 ,that is just as much as to say that if a prince had put to death his whole family1 in order to reign himself1 and if he had tyrannized over his subjects with the most wanton cruelty1 he would be exempted from punishment on pleading before ,god1 ',i am not the offender2 ,i have lost my memory2 you are under a mistake2 ,i am no longer the same person4' ,do you think this sophism would pass with ,god8 ,this answer is a highly commendable one2 but it does not completely solve the difficulty4 ,it would be necessary for this purpose1 in the first place1 to know whether understanding and sensation are a faculty given by ,god to man1 or a created substance2 a question which philosophy is too weak and uncertain to decide4 ,it is necessary in the next place to know whether1 if the soul be a substance and has lost all knowledge of the evil it has committed1 and be1 moreover1 as perfect a stranger to what it has done with its own body1 as to all the other bodies of our universe--whether1 in these circumstances1 it can or should1 according to our manner of reasoning1 answer in another universe for actions of which it has not the slightest knowledge2 whether1 in fact1 a miracle would not be necessary to impart to this soul the recollection it no longer possesses1 to render it consciously present to the crimes which have become obliterated and annihilated in its mind1 and make it the same person that it was on earth2 or whether ,god will judge it nearly in the same way in which the presidents of human tribunals proceed1 condemning a criminal1 although he may have completely forgotten the crimes he has actually committed4 ,he remembers them no longer2 but they are remembered for him2 he is punished for the sake of the example4 ,but ,god cannot punish a man after his death with a view to his being an example to the living4 ,no living man knows whether the deceased is condemned or absolved4 ,god1 therefore1 can punish him only because he cherished and accomplished evil desires2 but if1 when after death he presents himself before the tribunal of ,god1 he no longer entertains any such desire2 if for a period of twenty years he has totally forgotten that he did entertain such2 if he is no longer in any respect the same person2 what is it that ,god will punish in him8 ,these are questions which appear beyond the compass of the human understanding1 and there seems to exist a necessity1 in these intricacies and labyrinths1 of recurring to faith alone1 which is always our last asylum4 ,lucretius had partly felt these difficulties1 when in his third book 7verses #hij-ia7 he describes a man trembling at the idea of what will happen to him when he will no longer be the same man3 ,nec radicitus e vita se tollit et evit2 ,sed facit esse sui quiddam super inscius ipse4 ,but ,lucretius is not the oracle to be addressed1 in order to obtain any discoveries of the future4 ,the celebrated ,toland1 who wrote his own epitaph1 concluded it with these words3 ,idem futurus ,tolandus nunquam--,he will never again be the same ,toland4 ,however1 it may be presumed that ,god would have well known how to find and restore him1 had such been his good pleasure2 and it is to be presumed1 also1 that the being who necessarily exists1 is necessarily good4 ,,idol--,,idolater--,,idolatry4 ,,section ,i4 ,idol is derived from the ,greek word eidos1 figure2 eidolos1 the representation of a figure1 and latreuein1 to serve1 revere1 or adore4 ,it does not appear that there was ever any people on earth who took the name of idolaters4 ,this word is an offence1 an insulting term1 like that of gavache1 which the ,spaniards formerly gave to the ,french2 and that of maranes1 which the ,french gave to the ,spaniards in return4 ,if we had demanded of the senate of the ,areopagus of ,athens1 or at the court of the kings of ,persia3 ,are you idolaters8 they would scarcely have understood the question4 ,none would have answered3 ,we adore images and idols4 ,this word1 idolater1 idolatry1 is found neither in ,homer1 ,hesiod1 ,herodotus1 nor any other author of the religion of the ,gentiles4 ,there was never any edict1 any law1 which commanded that idols should be adored2 that they should be treated as gods and regarded as gods4 ,when the ,roman and ,carthaginian captains made a treaty1 they called all their gods to witness4 ,it is in their presence1 said they1 that we swear peace4 ,yet the statues of these gods1 whose number was very great1 were not in the tents of the generals4 ,they regarded1 or pretended to regard1 the gods as present at the actions of men as witnesses and judges4 ,and assuredly it was not the image which constituted the divinity4 ,in what view1 therefore1 did they see the statues of their false gods in the temples8 ,with the same view1 if we may so express ourselves1 that the ,catholics see the images1 the object of their veneration4 ,the error was not in adoring a piece of wood or marble1 but in adoring a false divinity1 represented by this wood and marble4 ,the difference between them and the ,catholics is1 not that they had images1 and the ,catholics had none2 the difference is1 that their images represented the fantastic beings of a false religion1 and that the ,christian images represent real beings in a true religion4 ,the ,greeks had the statue of ,hercules1 and we have that of ,st4 ,christopher2 they had sculapius and his goat1 we have ,st4 ,roch and his dog2 they had ,mars and his lance1 and we have ,st4 ,anthony of ,padua and ,st4 ,james of ,compostella4 ,when the consul ,pliny addresses prayers to the immortal gods in the exordium of the panegyric of ,trajan1 it is not to images that he addresses them4 ,these images were not immortal4 ,neither the latest nor the most remote times of paganism offer a single fact which can lead to the conclusion that they adored idols4 ,homer speaks only of the gods who inhabited the high ,olympus4 ,the palladium1 although fallen from heaven1 was only a sacred token of the protection of ,pallas2 it was herself that was venerated in the palladium4 ,it was our ampoule1 or holy oil4 ,but the ,romans and ,greeks knelt before their statues1 gave them crowns1 incense1 and flowers1 and carried them in triumph in the public places4 ,the ,catholics have sanctified these customs1 and yet are not called idolaters4 ,the women in times of drouth carried the statues of the ,gods after having fasted4 ,they walked barefooted with dishevelled hair1 and it quickly rained bucketfuls1 says ,pretonius3 ,et statim urceatim pluebat4 ,has not this custom been consecrated2 illegitimate indeed among the ,gentiles1 but legitimate among the ,catholics8 ,in how many towns are not images carried to obtain the blessings of heaven through their intercession8 ,if a ,turk1 or a learned ,chinese1 were a witness of these ceremonies1 he would1 through ignorance1 accuse the ,italians of putting their trust in the figures which they thus promenade in possession4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,examination of the ,ancient ,idolatry4 ,from the time of ,charles ,i41 the ,catholic religion was declared idolatrous in ,england4 ,all the ,presbyterians are persuaded that the ,catholics adore bread1 which they eat1 and figures1 which are the work of their sculptors and painters4 ,with that which one part of ,europe reproaches the ,catholics1 they themselves reproach the ,gentiles4 ,we are surprised at the prodigious number of declamations uttered in all times against the idolatry of the ,romans and ,greeks2 and we are afterwards still more surprised when we see that they were not idolaters4 ,they had some temples more privileged than others4 ,the great ,diana of ,ephesus had more reputation than a village ,diana4 ,there were more miracles performed in the temple of sculapius at ,epidaurus1 than in any other of his temples4 ,the statue of the ,olympian ,jupiter attracted more offerings than that of the ,paphlagonian ,jupiter4 ,but to oppose the customs of a true religion to those of a false one1 have we not for several ages had more devotion to certain altars than to others8 ,has not ,our ,lady of ,loretto been preferred to ,our ,lady of ,neiges1 to that of ,ardens1 of ,hall1 etc48 ,that is not saying there is more virtue in a statue at ,loretto than in a statue of the village of ,hall1 but we have felt more devotion to the one than to the other2 we have believed that she whom we invoked1 at the feet of her statues1 would condescend1 from the height of heaven1 to diffuse more favors and to work more miracles in ,loretto than in ,hall4 ,this multiplicity of images of the same person also proves that it is the images that we revere1 and that the worship relates to the person who is represented2 for it is not possible that every image can be the same thing4 ,there are a thousand images of ,st4 ,francis1 which have no resemblance to him1 and which do not resemble one another2 and all indicate a single ,saint ,francis1 invoked1 on the day of his feast1 by those who are devoted to this saint4 ,it was precisely the same with the pagans1 who supposed the existence only of a single divinity1 a single ,apollo1 and not as many ,apollos and ,dianas as they had temples and statues4 ,it is therefore proved1 as much as history can prove anything1 that the ancients believed not the statue to be a divinity2 that worship was not paid to this statue or image1 and consequently that they were not idolaters4 ,it is for us to ascertain how far the imputation has been a mere pretext to accuse them of idolatry4 ,a gross and superstitious populace who reason not1 and who know neither how to doubt1 deny1 or believe2 who visit the temples out of idleness1 and because the lowly are there equal to the great2 who make their contributions because it is the custom2 who speak continually of miracles without examining any of them2 and who are very little in point of intellect beyond the brutes whom they sacrifice--such a people1 ,i repeat1 in the sight of the great ,diana1 or of ,jupiter the ,thunderer1 may well be seized with a religious horror1 and adore1 without consciousness1 the statue itself4 ,this is what happens now and then1 in our own churches1 to our ignorant peasantry1 who1 however1 are informed that it is the blessed mortals received into heaven whose intercession they solicit1 and not that of images of wood and stone4 ,the ,greeks and ,romans augment the number of their gods by their apotheoses4 ,the ,greeks deified conquerors like ,bacchus1 ,hercules1 and ,perseus4 ,rome devoted altars to her emperors4 ,our apotheoses are of a different kind2 we have infinitely more saints than they have secondary gods1 but we pay respect neither to rank nor to conquest4 ,we consecrate temples to the simply virtuous1 who would have been unknown on earth if they had not been placed in heaven4 ,the apotheoses of the ancients were the effect of flattery1 ours are produced by a respect for virtue4 ,cicero1 in his philosophical works1 only allows of a suspicion that the people may mistake the statues of the gods and confound them with the gods themselves4 ,his interlocutors attack the established religion1 but none of them think of accusing the ,romans of taking marble and brass for divinities4 ,lucretius accuses no person of this stupidity1 although he reproaches the superstitious of every class4 ,this opinion1 therefore1 has never existed2 there never have been idolaters4 ,horace causes an image of ,priapus to speak1 and makes him say3 ,i was once the trunk of a fig tree1 and a carpenter being doubtful whether he should make of me a god or a bench1 at length determined to make me a divinity4 ,what are we to gather from this pleasantry8 ,priapus was one of the subaltern divinities1 and a subject of raillery for the wits1 and this pleasantry is a tolerable proof that a figure placed in the garden to frighten away the birds could not be very profoundly worshipped4 ,dacier1 giving way to the spirit of a commentator1 observes that ,baruch predicted this adventure4 ,they became what the workmen chose to make them3 but might not this be observed of all statues8 ,had ,baruch a visionary anticipation of the ,satires of ,horace8 ,a block of marble may as well be hewn into a cistern1 as into a figure of ,alexander1 ,jupiter1 or any being still more respectable4 ,the matter which composed the cherubim of the ,holy of ,holies might have been equally appropriated to the vilest functions4 ,is a throne or altar the less revered because it might have been formed into a kitchen table8 ,dacier1 instead of concluding that the ,romans adored the statue of ,priapus1 and that ,baruch predicted it1 should have perceived that the ,romans laughed at it4 ,consult all the authors who speak of the statues of the gods1 you will not find one of them allude to idolatry2 their testimony amounts to the express contrary4 ,it is not the workman1 says ,martial1 who makes the gods1 but he who prays to them4 ,qui finxit sacros auro vel marmore vultus ,non facit ille deos1 qui rogat ille facit4 ,it is ,jove whom we adore in the image of ,jove1 writes ,ovid3 ,colitur pro ,jove1 forma ,jovis4 ,the gods inhabit our minds and bosoms1 observes ,statius1 and not images in the form of them3 ,nulla autem effigies1 nulli commissa metallo4 ,forma ,dei1 mentes habitare et pectora gaudet4 ,lucan1 too1 calls the universe the abode and empire of ,god3 ,estne ,dei1 sedes1 nisi terra1 et pontus1 et aer8 ,a volume might be filled with passages asserting idols to be images alone4 ,there remains but the case in which statues became oracles2 notions that might have led to an opinion that there was something divine about them4 ,the predominant sentiment1 however1 was that the gods had chosen to visit certain altars and images1 in order to give audience to mortals1 and to reply to them4 ,we read in ,homer and in the chorus of the ,greek tragedies1 of prayers to ,apollo1 who delivered his responses on the mountains in such a temple1 or such a town4 ,there is not1 in all antiquity1 the least trace of a prayer addressed to a statue2 and if it was believed that the divine spirit preferred certain temples and images1 as he preferred certain men1 it was simply an error in application4 ,how many miraculous images have we8 ,the ancients only boasted of possessing what we possess1 and if we are not idolaters for using images1 by what correct principle can we term them so8 ,those who profess magic1 and who either believe1 or affect to believe it1 a science1 pretend to possess the secret of making the gods descend into their statues1 not indeed1 the superior gods1 but the secondary gods or genii4 ,this is what ,hermes ,trismegistus calls making gods--a doctrine which is controverted by ,st4 ,augustine in his ,city of ,god4 ,but even this clearly shows that the images were not thought to possess anything divine1 since it required a magician to animate them1 and it happened very rarely that a magician was successful in these sublime endeavors4 ,in a word1 the images of the gods were not gods4 ,jupiter1 and not his statue1 launched his thunderbolts2 it was not the statue of ,neptune which stirred up tempests1 nor that of ,apollo which bestowed light4 ,the ,greeks and the ,romans were ,gentiles and ,polytheists1 but not idolaters4 ,we lavished this reproach upon them when we had neither statues nor temples1 and have continued the injustice even after having employed painting and sculpture to honor and represent our truths1 precisely in the same manner in which those we reproach employed them to honor and personify their fiction4 ,,section ,,iii4 ,whether the ,persians1 the ,sabans1 the ,egyptians1 the ,tartars1 or the ,turks1 have been ,idolaters1 and the ,extent of the ,antiquity of the ,images ,called ,idols--,history of ,their ,worship4 ,it is a great error to denominate those idolaters who worship the sun and the stars4 ,these nations for a long time had neither images nor temples4 ,if they were wrong1 it was in rendering to the stars that which belonged only to the creator of the stars4 ,moreover1 the dogma of ,zoroaster1 or ,zerdusht1 teaches a ,supreme ,being1 an avenger and rewarder1 which opinion is very distant from idolatry4 ,the government of ,china possesses no idol1 but has always preserved the simple worship of the master of heaven1 ,kien-tien4 ,genghis ,khan1 among the ,tartars1 was not an idolater1 and used no images4 ,the ,mahometans1 who inhabit ,greece1 ,asia ,minor1 ,syria1 ,persia1 ,india1 and ,africa1 call the ,christians idolaters and giaours1 because they imagine that ,christians worship images4 ,they break the statues which they find in ,sancta ,sophia1 the church of the ,holy ,apostles2 and others they convert into mosques4 ,appearances have deceived them1 as they are eternally deceiving man1 and have led them to believe that churches dedicated to saints who were formerly men1 images of saints worshipped kneeling1 and miracles worked in these churches1 are invincible proofs of absolute idolatry2 although all amount to nothing4 ,christians1 in fact1 adore one ,god only1 and even in the blessed1 only revere the virtues of ,god manifested in them4 ,the image-breakers 7iconoclasts71 and the ,protestants1 who reproach the ,catholic ,church with idolatry1 claim the same answer4 ,as men rarely form precise ideas1 and still less express them with precision1 we call the ,gentiles1 and still more the ,polytheists1 idolaters4 ,an immense number of volumes have been written in order to develop the various opinions upon the origin of the worship rendered to the deity4 ,this multitude of books and opinions proves nothing1 except ignorance4 ,it is not known who invented coats1 shoes1 and stockings1 and yet we would know who invented idols4 ,what signifies a passage of ,sanchoniathon1 who lived before the battle of ,troy8 ,what does he teach us when he says that ,chaos--the spirit1 that is to say1 the breath--in love with his principles1 draws the veil from it1 which renders the air luminous2 that the wind ,colp1 and his wife ,bau1 engendered ,eon2 that ,eon engendered ,genos1 that ,chronos1 their descendant1 had two eyes behind as well as before2 that he became a god1 and that he gave ,egypt to his son ,thaut8 ,such is one of the most respectable monuments of antiquity4 ,orpheus will teach us no more in his ,theogony1 than ,damasius has preserved to us4 ,he represents the principles of the world under the figure of a dragon with two heads1 the one of a bull1 the other of a lion2 a face in the middle1 which he calls the face of ,god1 and golden wings to his shoulders4 ,but1 from these fantastic ideas may be drawn two great truths--the one that sensible images and hieroglyphics are of the remotest antiquity2 the other that all the ancient philosophers have recognized a ,first ,principle4 ,as to polytheism1 good sense will tell you that as long as men have existed--that is to say1 weak animals capable of reason and folly1 subject to all accidents1 sickness and death--these men have felt their weakness and dependence4 ,obliged to acknowledge that there is something more powerful than themselves2 having discovered a principle in the earth which furnishes their aliment2 one in the air which often destroys them2 one in fire which consumes2 and in water which drowns them--what is more natural than for ignorant men to imagine beings which preside over these elements8 ,what is more natural than to revere the invisible power which makes the sun and stars shine to our eyes8 and1 since they would form an idea of powers superior to man1 what more natural than to figure them in a sensible manner8 ,could they think otherwise8 ,the ,jewish religion1 which preceded ours1 and which was given by ,god himself1 was filled with these images1 under which ,god is represented4 ,he deigns to speak the human language in a bush2 ,he appeared once on a mountain2 the celestial spirits which he sends all come with a human form3 finally1 the sanctuary is covered with cherubs1 which are the bodies of men with the wings and heads of animals4 ,it is this which has given rise to the error of ,plutarch1 ,tacitus1 ,appian1 and so many others1 of reproaching the ,jews with adoring an ass's head4 ,god1 in spite of his prohibition to paint or form likenesses1 has1 therefore1 deigned to adapt himself to human weakness1 which required the senses to be addressed by sensible beings4 ,isaiah1 in chapter vi41 sees the ,lord seated on a throne1 and ,his train filled the temple4 ,the ,lord extends ,his hand1 and touches the mouth of ,jeremiah1 in chap4 i4 of that prophet4 ,ezekiel1 in chap4 i41 sees a throne of sapphire1 and ,god appeared to him like a man seated on this throne4 ,these images alter not the purity of the ,jewish religion1 which never employed pictures1 statues1 or idols1 to represent ,god to the eyes of the people4 ,the learned ,chinese1 the ,parsees1 and the ancient ,egyptians1 had no idols2 but ,isis and ,osiris were soon represented4 ,bel1 at ,babylon1 was a great colossus4 ,brahma was a fantastic monster in the peninsula of ,india4 ,above all1 the ,greeks multiplied the names of the gods1 statues1 and temples1 but always attributed the supreme power to their ,zeus1 called ,jupiter by the ,latins1 the sovereign of gods and men4 ,the ,romans imitated the ,greeks4 ,these people always placed all the gods in heaven1 without knowing what they understood by heaven4 ,the ,romans had their twelve great gods1 six male and six female1 whom they called ,dii majorum gentium2 ,jupiter1 ,neptune1 ,apollo1 ,vulcan1 ,mars1 ,mercury1 ,juno1 ,vesta1 ,minerva1 ,ceres1 ,venus1 and ,diana2 ,pluto was therefore forgotten3 ,vesta took his place4 ,afterwards1 came the gods minorum gentium1 the gods of mortal origin2 the heroes1 as ,bacchus1 ,hercules1 and sculapius3 the infernal gods1 ,pluto and ,proserpine3 those of the sea1 as ,tethys1 ,amphitrite1 the ,nereids1 and ,glaucus4 ,the ,dryads1 ,naiads1 gods of gardens2 those of shepherds1 etc4 ,they had them1 indeed1 for every profession1 for every action of life1 for children1 marriageable girls1 married1 and lying-in women3 they had even the god ,peditum2 and finally1 they idolized their emperors4 ,neither these emperors nor the god ,peditum1 the goddess ,pertunda1 nor ,priapus1 nor ,rumilia1 the goddess of nipples2 nor ,stercutius1 the god of the privy1 were1 in truth1 regarded as the masters of heaven and earth4 ,the emperors had sometimes temples1 the petty gods--the penates--had none2 but all had their representations1 their images4 ,there were little images with which they ornamented their closets1 the amusements of old women and children1 which were not authorized by any public worship4 ,the superstition of every individual was left to act according to his own taste4 ,these small idols are still found in the ruins of ancient towns4 ,if no person knows when men began to make these images1 they must know that they are of the greatest antiquity4 ,terah1 the father of ,abraham1 made them at ,ur in ,chalda4 ,rachel stole and carried off the images of ,laban1 her father4 ,we cannot go back further4 ,but what precise notion had the ancient nations of all these representations8 ,what virtue1 what power1 was attributed to them8 ,believed they that the gods descended from heaven to conceal themselves in these statues2 or that they communicated to them a part of the divine spirit2 or that they communicated to them nothing at all8 ,there has been much very uselessly written on this subject2 it is clear that every man judged of it according to the degree of his reason1 credulity1 or fanaticism4 ,it is evident that the priests attached as much divinity to their statues as they possibly could1 to attract more offerings4 ,we know that the philosophers reproved these superstitions1 that warriors laughed at them1 that the magistrates tolerated them1 and that the people1 always absurd1 knew not what they did4 ,in a word1 this is the history of all nations to which ,god has not made himself known4 ,the same idea may be formed of the worship which all ,egypt rendered to the cow1 and that several towns paid to a dog1 an ape1 a cat1 and to onions4 ,it appears that these were first emblems4 ,afterwards1 a certain ox ,apis1 and a certain dog ,anubis1 were adored2 they always ate beef and onions2 but it is difficult to know what the old women of ,egypt thought of the holy cows and onions4 ,idols also often spoke4 ,on the day of the feast of ,cybele at ,rome1 those fine words were commemorated which the statue pronounced when it was translated from the palace of ,king ,attilus3 ,i wish to depart2 take me away quickly2 ,rome is worthy the residence of every god4 ,ipsa peti volui2 ne sit mora1 mitte volentum2 ,dignus ,roma locus quo ,deus omnis eat4 --,,ovid',s ,fasti1 iv1 #bfi-bgj4 ,the statue of ,fortune spoke2 the ,scipios1 the ,ciceros1 and the ,csars1 indeed1 believed nothing of it2 but the old woman1 to whom ,encolpus gave a crown to buy geese and gods1 might credit it4 ,idols also gave oracles1 and priests hidden in the hollow of the statues spoke in the name of the divinity4 ,how happens it1 in the midst of so many gods and different thogonies and particular worships1 that there was never any religious war among the people called idolaters8 ,this peace was a good produced from an evil1 even from error2 for each nation1 acknowledging several inferior gods1 found it good for his neighbors also to have theirs4 ,if you except ,cambyses1 who is reproached with having killed the ox ,apis1 you will not see any conqueror in profane history who ill-treated the gods of a vanquished people4 ,the heathens had no exclusive religion1 and the priests thought only of multiplying the offerings and sacrifices4 ,the first offerings were fruits4 ,soon after1 animals were required for the table of the priests2 they killed them themselves1 and became cruel butchers2 finally1 they introduced the horrible custom of sacrificing human victims1 and above all1 children and young girls4 ,the ,chinese1 ,parsees1 and ,indians1 were never guilty of these abominations2 but at ,hieropolis1 in ,egypt1 according to ,porphyrius1 they immolated men4 ,strangers were sacrificed at ,taurida3 happily1 the priests of ,taurida had not much practice4 ,the first ,greeks1 the ,cypriots1 ,phnicians1 ,tyrians1 and ,carthaginians1 possessed this abominable superstition4 ,the ,romans themselves fell into this religious crime2 and ,plutarch relates1 that they immolated two ,greeks and two ,gauls to expiate the gallantries of three vestals4 ,procopius1 contemporary with the king of the ,franks1 ,theodobert1 says that the ,franks sacrificed men when they entered ,italy with that prince4 ,the ,gauls and ,germans commonly made these frightful sacrifices4 ,we can scarcely read history without conceiving horror at mankind4 ,it is true that among the ,jews1 ,jeptha sacrificed his daughter1 and ,saul was ready to immolate his son2 it is also true that those who were devoted to the ,lord by anathema could not be redeemed1 as other beasts were1 but were doomed to perish4 ,we will now speak of the human victims sacrificed in all religions4 ,to console mankind for the horrible picture of these pious sacrifices1 it is important to know1 that amongst almost all nations called idolatrous1 there have been holy theologies and popular error1 secret worship and public ceremonies2 the religion of sages1 and that of the vulgar4 ,to know that one ,god alone was taught to those initiated into the mysteries1 it is only necessary to look at the hymn attributed to the ancient ,orpheus1 which was sung in the mysteries of the ,eleusinian ,ceres1 so celebrated in ,europe and ,asia3 ,contemplate divine nature2 illuminate thy mind2 govern thy heart2 walk in the path of justice1 that the ,god of heaven and earth may be always present to thy eyes3 ,he only self-exists1 all beings derive their existence from ,him2 ,he sustains them all2 ,he has never been seen by mortals1 and ,he sees all things4 ,we may also read the passage of the philosopher ,maximus1 whom we have already quoted3 ,what man is so gross and stupid as to doubt that there is a supreme1 eternal1 and infinite ,god1 who has engendered nothing like ,himself1 and who is the common father of all things8 ,there are a thousand proofs that the ancient sages not only abhorred idolatry1 but polytheism4 ,epictetus1 that model of resignation and patience1 that man so great in a humble condition1 never speaks of but one ,god4 ,read over these maxims3 ,god has created me2 ,god is within me2 ,i carry ,him everywhere4 ,can ,i defile ,him by obscene thoughts1 unjust actions1 or infamous desires8 ,my duty is to thank ,god for all1 to praise ,him for all2 and only to cease blessing ,him in ceasing to live4 ,all the ideas of ,epictetus turn on this principle4 ,is this an idolater8 ,marcus ,aurelius1 perhaps as great on the throne of the ,roman ,empire as ,epictetus was in slavery1 often speaks1 indeed1 of the gods1 either to conform himself to the received language1 or to express intermediate beings between the ,supreme ,being and men2 but in how many places does he show that he recognizes one eternal1 infinite ,god alone8 ,our soul1 says he1 is an emanation from the divinity4 ,my children1 my body1 my mind1 are derived from ,god4 ,the ,stoics and ,platonics admitted a divine and universal nature2 the ,epicureans denied it4 ,the pontiffs spoke only of a single ,god in their mysteries4 ,where then were the idolaters8 ,all our declaimers exclaim against idolatry like little dogs1 that yelp when they hear a great one bark4 ,as to the rest1 it is one of the greatest errors of the ,dictionary of ,morri to say1 that in the time of ,theodosius the younger1 there remained no idolaters except in the retired countries of ,asia and ,africa4 ,even in the seventh century there were many people still heathen in ,italy4 ,the north of ,germany1 from the ,weser1 was not ,christian in the time of ,charlemagne4 ,poland and all the south remained a long time after him in what was called idolatry2 the half of ,africa1 all the kingdoms beyond the ,ganges1 ,japan1 the populace of ,china1 and a hundred hordes of ,tartars1 have preserved their ancient religion4 ,in ,europe there are only a few ,laplanders1 ,samoyedes1 and ,tartars1 who have persevered in the religion of their ancestors4 ,let us conclude with remarking1 that in the time which we call the middle ages1 we dominated the country of the ,mahometans pagan2 we treated as idolaters and adorers of images1 a people who hold all images in abhorrence4 ,let us once more avow1 that the ,turks are more excusable in believing us idolaters1 when they see our altars loaded with images and statues4 ,a gentleman belonging to ,prince ,ragotski assured me upon his honor1 that being in a coffee-house at ,constantinople1 the mistress ordered that he should not be served because he was an idolater4 ,he was a ,protestant1 and swore to her that he adored neither host nor images4 ,ah6 if that is the case1 said the woman1 come to me every day1 and you shall be served for nothing4 ,,ignatius ,,loyola4 ,if you are desirous of obtaining a great name1 of becoming the founder of a sect or establishment1 be completely mad2 but be sure that your madness corresponds with the turn and temper of your age4 ,have in your madness reason enough to guide your extravagances2 and forget not to be excessively opinionated and obstinate4 ,it is certainly possible that you may get hanged2 but if you escape hanging1 you will have altars erected to you4 ,in real truth1 was there ever a fitter subject for the ,petites-,maisons1 or ,bedlam1 than ,ignatius1 or ,st4 ,inigo the ,biscayan1 for that was his true name8 ,his head became deranged in consequence of his reading the ,golden ,legend2 as ,don ,quixote's was1 afterwards1 by reading the romances of chivalry4 ,our ,biscayan hero1 in the first place1 dubs himself a knight of the ,holy ,virgin1 and performs the ,watch of ,arms in honor of his lady4 ,the virgin appears to him and accepts his services2 she often repeats her visit1 and introduces to him her son4 ,the devil1 who watches his opportunity1 and clearly foresees the injury he must in the course of time suffer from the ,jesuits1 comes and makes a tremendous noise in the house1 and breaks all the windows2 the ,biscayan drives him away with the sign of the cross2 and the devil flies through the wall1 leaving in it a large opening1 which was shown to the curious fifty years after the happy event4 ,his family1 seeing the very disordered state of his mind1 is desirous of his being confined and put under a course of regimen and medicine4 ,he extricates himself from his family as easily as he did from the devil1 and escapes without knowing where to go4 ,he meets with a ,moor1 and disputes with him about the immaculate conception4 ,the ,moor1 who takes him exactly for what he is1 quits him as speedily as possible4 ,the ,biscayan hesitates whether he shall kill the ,moor or pray to ,god for his conversion2 he leaves the decision to his horse1 and the animal1 rather wiser than its master1 takes the road leading to the stable4 ,our hero1 after this adventure1 undertakes a pilgrimage to ,bethlehem1 begging his bread on the way3 his madness increases as he proceeds2 the ,dominicans take pity on him at ,manrosa1 and keep him in their establishment for some days1 and then dismiss him uncured4 ,he embarks at ,barcelona1 and goes to ,venice2 he returns to ,barcelona1 still travelling as a mendicant1 always experiencing trances and ecstacies1 and frequently visited by the ,holy ,virgin and ,jesus ,christ4 ,at length1 he was given to understand that1 in order to go to the ,holy ,land with any fair view of converting the ,turks1 the ,christians of the ,greek church1 the ,armenians1 and the ,jews1 it was necessary to begin with a little study of theology4 ,our hero desires nothing better2 but1 to become a theologian1 it was requisite to know something of grammar and a little ,latin2 this gives him no embarrassment whatever3 he goes to college at the age of thirty-three2 he is there laughed at1 and learns nothing4 ,he was almost broken-hearted at the idea of not being able to go and convert the infidels4 ,the devil1 for this once1 took pity on him4 ,he appeared to him1 and swore to him1 on the faith of a ,christian1 that1 if he would deliver himself over to him1 he would make him the most learned and able man in the church of ,god4 ,ignatius1 however1 was not to be cajoled to place himself under the discipline of such a master2 he went back to his class2 he occasionally experienced the rod1 but his learning made no progress4 ,expelled from the college of ,barcelona1 persecuted by the devil1 who punished him for refusing to submit to his instructions1 and abandoned by the ,virgin ,mary1 who took no pains about assisting her devoted knight1 he1 nevertheless1 does not give way to despair4 ,he joins the pilgrims of ,st4 ,james in their wanderings over the country4 ,he preaches in the streets and public places1 from city to city1 and is shut up in the dungeons of the ,inquisition4 ,delivered from the ,inquisition1 he is put in prison at ,alcala4 ,he escapes thence to ,salamanca1 and is there again imprisoned4 ,at length1 perceiving that he is no prophet in his own country1 he forms a resolution to go to ,paris4 ,he travels thither on foot1 driving before him an ass which carried his baggage1 money1 and manuscripts4 ,don ,quixote had a horse and an esquire1 but ,ignatius was not provided with either4 ,he experiences at ,paris the same insults and injuries as he had endured in ,spain4 ,he is absolutely flogged1 in all the regular form and ceremony of scholastic discipline1 at the college of ,st4 ,barbe4 ,his vocation1 at length1 calls him to ,rome4 ,how could it possibly come to pass1 that a man of such extravagant character and manners1 should at length obtain consideration at the court of ,rome1 gain over a number of disciples1 and become the founder of a powerful order1 among whom are to be found men of unquestionable worth and learning8 ,the reason is1 that he was opinionated1 obstinate1 and enthusiastic2 and found enthusiasts like himself1 with whom he associated4 ,these1 having rather a greater share of reason than himself1 were instrumental in somewhat restoring and re-establishing his own2 he became more prudent and regular towards the close of his life1 and occasionally even displayed in his conduct proofs of ability4 ,perhaps ,mahomet1 in his first conversations with the angel ,gabriel1 began his career with being as much deranged as ,ignatius2 and perhaps ,ignatius1 in ,mahomet's circumstances1 would have performed as great achievements as the prophet2 for he was equally ignorant1 and quite as visionary and intrepid4 ,it is a common observation1 that such cases occur only once3 however1 it is not long since an ,english rustic1 more ignorant than the ,spaniard ,ignatius1 formed the society of people called ,quakers2 a society far superior to that of ,ignatius4 ,count ,zinzendorf has1 in our own time1 formed the sect of ,moravians2 and the ,convulsionaries of ,paris were very nearly upon the point of effecting a revolution4 ,they were quite mad enough1 but they were not sufficiently persevering and obstinate4 ,,ignorance4 ,,section ,i4 ,there are many kinds of ignorance2 but the worst of all is that of critics1 who1 it is well known1 are doubly bound to possess information and judgment as persons who undertake to affirm and to censure4 ,when they pronounce erroneously1 therefore1 they are doubly culpable4 ,a man1 for example1 composes two large volumes upon a few pages of a valuable book which he has not understood1 and in the first place examines the following words3 ,the sea has covered immense tracts4444 ,the deep beds of shells which are found in ,touraine and elsewhere1 could have been deposited there only by the sea4 ,true1 if those beds of shells exist in fact2 but the critic ought to be aware that the author himself discovered1 or thought he had discovered1 that those regular beds of shells have no existence4 ,he ought to have said3 ,the universal ,deluge is related by ,moses with the agreement of all nations4 #a4 ,because the ,pentateuch was long unknown1 not only to the other nations of the world1 but to the ,jews themselves4 #b4 ,because only a single copy of the law was found at the bottom of an old chest in the time of ,king ,josiah4 #c4 ,because that book was lost during the captivity4 #d4 ,because it was restored by ,esdras4 #e4 ,because it was always unknown to every other nation till the time of its being translated by the ,seventy4 #f4 ,because1 even after the translation ascribed to the ,seventy1 we have not a single author among the ,gentiles who quotes a single passage from this book1 down to the time of ,longinus1 who lived under the ,emperor ,aurelian4 #g4 ,because no other nation ever admitted a universal deluge before ,ovid's ,metamorphoses2 and even ,ovid himself does not make his deluge extend beyond the ,mediterranean4 #h4 ,because ,st4 ,augustine expressly acknowledges that the universal deluge was unknown to all antiquity4 #i4 ,because the first deluge of which any notice is taken by the ,gentiles1 is that mentioned by ,berosus1 and which he fixes at about four thousand four hundred years before our vulgar era2 which deluge did not extend beyond the ,euxine ,sea4 #aj4 ,finally1 because no monument of a universal deluge remains in any nation in the world4 ,in addition to all these reasons1 it must be observed1 that the critic did not even understand the simple state of the question4 ,the only inquiry is1 whether we have any natural proof that the sea has successively abandoned many tracts of territory8 and upon this plain and mere matter-of-fact subject1 ,m4 ,abb ,franois has taken occasion to abuse men whom he certainly neither knows nor understands4 ,it is far better to be silent1 than merely to increase the quantity of bad books4 ,the same critic1 in order to prop up old ideas1 now almost universally despised and derided1 and which have not the slightest relation to ,moses1 thinks proper to say3 ,berosus perfectly agrees with ,moses in the number of generations before the ,deluge4 ,be it known to you1 my dear reader1 that this same ,berosus is the writer who informs us that the fish ,oannes came out to the river ,euphrates every day1 to go and preach to the ,chaldans2 and that the same fish wrote with one of its bones a capital book about the origin of things4 ,such is the writer whom the ingenious abb brings forward as a voucher for ,moses4 ,is it not evident1 he says1 that a great number of ,european families1 transplanted to the coasts of ,africa1 have become1 without any mixture of ,african blood1 as black as any of the natives of the country8 ,it is just the contrary of this1 ,m4 l',abb1 that is evident4 ,you are ignorant that the reticulum mucosum of the negroes is black1 although ,i have mentioned the fact times innumerable4 ,were you to have ever so large a number of children born to you in ,guinea1 of a ,european wife1 they would not one of them have that black unctuous skin1 those dark and thick lips1 those round eyes1 or that woolly hair1 which form the specific differences of the negro race4 ,in the same manner1 were your family established in ,america1 they would have beards1 while a native ,american will have none4 ,now extricate yourself from the difficulty1 with ,adam and ,eve only1 if you can4 ,who was this ',melchom1' you ask1 who had taken possession of the country of ,god8 ,a pleasant sort of god1 certainly1 whom the ,god of ,jeremiah would carry off to be dragged into captivity4 ,ah1 ,m4 l',abb6 you are quite smart and lively4 ,you ask1 who is this ,melchom8 ,i will immediately inform you4 ,melek or ,melkom signified the ,lord1 as did ,adoni or ,adonai1 ,baal or ,bel1 ,adad or ,shadai1 ,eloi or ,eloa4 ,almost all the nations of ,syria gave such names to their gods2 each had its lord1 its protector1 its god4 ,even the name of ,jehovah was a ,phoenician and proper name2 this we learn from ,sanchoniathon1 who was certainly anterior to ,moses2 and also from ,diodorus4 ,we well know that ,god is equally the ,god1 the absolute master1 of ,egyptians and ,jews1 of all men and all worlds2 but it is not in this light that he is represented when ,moses appears before ,pharaoh4 ,he never speaks to that monarch but in the name of the ,god of the ,hebrews1 as an ambassador delivers the orders of the king his master4 ,he speaks so little in the name of the ,master of all ,nature1 that ,pharaoh replies to him1 ,i do not know him4 ,moses performs prodigies in the name of this ,god2 but the magicians of ,pharaoh perform precisely the same prodigies in the name of their own4 ,hitherto both sides are equal2 the contest is1 who shall be deemed most powerful1 not who shall be deemed alone powerful4 ,at length1 the ,god of the ,hebrews decidedly carries the day2 he manifests a power by far the greater2 but not the only power4 ,thus1 speaking after the manner of men1 ,pharaoh's incredulity is very excusable4 ,it is the same incredulity as ,montezuma exhibited before ,cortes1 and ,atahualpa before the ,pizarros4 ,when ,joshua called together the ,jews1 he said to them3 ,choose ye this day whom ye will serve1 whether the gods which your father served1 that were on the other side of the flood1 or the gods of the ,amorites in whose land ye dwell2 but as for me and my house1 we will serve the ,lord4 ,the people1 therefore1 had already given themselves up to other gods1 and might serve whom they pleased4 ,when the family of ,micah1 in ,ephraim1 hire a ,levitical priest to conduct the service of a strange god1 when the whole tribe of ,dan serve the same god as the family of ,micah2 when a grandson of ,moses himself becomes a hired priest of the same god--no one murmurs2 every one has his own god1 undisturbed2 and the grandson of ,moses becomes an idolater without any one's reviling or accusing him4 ,at that time1 therefore1 every one chose his own local god1 his own protector4 ,the same ,jews1 after the death of ,gideon1 adore ,baal-berith1 which means precisely the same as ,adonai--the lord1 the protector2 they change their protector4 ,adonai1 in the time of ,joshua1 becomes master of the mountains2 but he is unable to overcome the inhabitants of the valleys1 because they had chariots armed with scythes4 ,can anything more correctly represent the idea of a local deity1 a god who is strong in one place1 but not so in another8 ,jephthah1 the son of ,gilead1 and a concubine1 says to the ,moabites3 ,wilt thou not possess what ,chemosh1 thy god1 giveth thee to possess8 ,so1 whomsoever the ,lord our ,god shall drive out from before us1 them will we possess4 ,it is then perfectly proved1 that the undistinguishing ,jews1 although chosen by the ,god of the universe1 regarded him notwithstanding as a mere local god1 the god of a particular territory of people1 like the god of the ,amorites1 or that of the ,moabites1 of the mountains or of the valleys4 ,it is unfortunately very evident that it was perfectly indifferent to the grandson of ,moses whether he served ,micah's god or his grandfather's4 ,it is clear1 and cannot but be admitted1 that the ,jewish religion was not formed1 that it was not uniform1 till the time of ,esdras2 and we must1 even then1 except the ,samaritans4 ,you may now1 probably1 have some idea of the meaning of this lord or god ,melchom4 ,i am not in favor of his cause--the ,lord deliver me from such folly6--but when you remark1 the god which ,jeremiah threatened to carry into slavery must be a curious and pleasant sort of deity1 ,i will answer you1 ,m4 l',abb1 with this short piece of advice3--,from your own house of glass do not throw stones at those of your neighbors4 ,they were the ,jews who were at that very time carried off in slavery to ,babylon4 ,it was the good ,jeremiah himself who was accused of being bribed by the court of ,babylon1 and of having consequently prophesied in his favor4 ,it was he who was the object of public scorn and hatred1 and who it is thought ended his career by being stoned to death by the ,jews themselves4 ,this ,jeremiah1 be assured from me1 was never before understood to be a joker4 ,the ,god of the ,jews1 ,i again repeat1 is the ,god of all nature4 ,i expressly make this repetition that you may have no ground for pretending ignorance of it1 and that you may not accuse me before the ecclesiastical court4 ,i still1 however1 assert and maintain1 that the stupid ,jews frequently knew no other ,god than a local one4 ,it is not natural to attribute the tides to the phases of the moon4 ,they are not the high tides which occur at the full moon1 that are ascribed to the phases of that planet4 ,here we see ignorance of a different description4 ,it occasionally happens that persons of a certain description are so much ashamed of the part they play in the world1 that they are desirous of disguising themselves sometimes as wits1 and sometimes as philosophers4 ,in the first place1 it is proper to inform ,m4 l',abb1 that nothing is more natural than to attribute an effect to that which is always followed by this effect4 ,if a particular wind is constantly followed by rain1 it is natural to attribute the rain to the wind4 ,now1 over all the shores of the ocean1 the tides are always higher in the moon's syzygies--if you happen to know the meaning of the term--than at its quarterings4 ,the moon rises every day later2 the tide is also every day later4 ,the nearer the moon approaches our zenith1 the greater is the tide2 the nearer the moon approaches its perigee1 the higher the tide still rises4 ,these experiences and various others1 these invariable correspondences with the phases of the moon1 were the foundation of the ancient and just opinion1 that that body is a principal cause of the flux and reflux of the ocean4 ,after numerous centuries appeared the great ,newton--,are you at all acquainted with ,newton8 ,did you ever hear1 that after calculating the square of the progress of the moon in its orbit during the space of a minute1 and dividing that square by the diameter of that orbit1 he found the quotient to be fifteen feet8 that he thence demonstrated that the moon gravitates towards the earth three thousand six hundred times less than if she were near the earth8 that he afterwards demonstrated that its attractive force is the cause of three-fourths of the elevation of the sea by the tide1 and that the force of the sun is the cause of the remaining fourth8 ,you appear perfectly astonished4 ,you never read anything like this in the ,christian ,pedagogue4 ,endeavor henceforward1 both you and the porters of your parish1 never to speak about things of which you have not even the slightest idea4 ,you can form no conception of the injury you do to religion by your ignorance1 and still more by your reasonings4 ,in order to preserve in the world the little faith that remains in it1 it would be the most judicious measure possible to restrain you1 and such as you1 from writing and publishing in behalf of it4 ,i should absolutely make your astonished eyes stare almost to starting1 were ,i to inform you1 that this same ,newton was persuaded that ,samuel is the author of the ,pentateuch4 ,i do not mean to say that he demonstrated it in the same way as he calculated and deduced the power of gravitation4 ,learn1 then1 to doubt and to be modest4 ,i believe in the ,pentateuch1 remember2 but ,i believe1 also1 that you have printed and published the most enormous absurdities4 ,i could here transcribe a large volume of instances of your own individual ignorance and imbecility1 and many of those of your brethren and colleagues4 ,i shall not1 however1 take the trouble of doing it4 ,let us go on with our questions4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,i am ignorant how ,i was formed1 and how ,i was born4 ,i was perfectly ignorant1 for a quarter of my life1 of the reasons of all that ,i saw1 heard1 and felt1 and was a mere parrot1 talking by rote in imitation of other parrots4 ,when ,i looked about me and within me1 ,i conceived that something existed from all eternity4 ,since there are beings actually existing1 ,i concluded that there is some being necessary and necessarily eternal4 ,thus the first step ,i took to extricate myself from my ignorance1 overpassed the limits of all ages--the boundaries of time4 ,but when ,i was desirous of proceeding in this infinite career1 ,i could neither perceive a single path1 nor clearly distinguish a single object2 and from the flight which ,i took to contemplate eternity1 ,i have fallen back into the abyss of my original ignorance4 ,i have seen what is denominated matter1 from the star ,sirius1 and the stars of the milky way1 as distant from ,sirius as that is from us1 to the smallest atom that can be perceived by the microscope2 and yet ,i know not what matter is4 ,light1 which has enabled me to see all these different and distant beings1 is perfectly unknown to me2 ,i am able by the help of a prism to anatomize this light1 and divide it into seven pencillings of rays2 but ,i cannot divide these pencillings themselves2 ,i know not of what they are composed4 ,light resembles matter in having motion and impinging upon objects1 but it does not tend towards a common centre like all other bodies2 on the contrary it flies off by some invincible power from the centre1 while all matter gravitates towards a centre4 ,light appears to be penetrable1 and matter is impenetrable4 ,is light matter1 or is it not matter8 ,what is it8 ,with what numberless properties can it be invested8 ,i am completely ignorant4 ,this substance so brilliant1 so rapid1 and so unknown1 and those other substances which float in the immensity of space--seeming to be infinite--are they eternal8 ,i know nothing on the subject4 ,has a necessary being1 sovereignly intelligent1 created them from nothing1 or has he only arranged them8 ,did he produce this order in time1 or before time8 ,alas6 what is this time1 of which ,i am speaking8 ,i am incapable of defining it4 ,o ,god1 it is ,thou alone by whom ,i can be instructed1 for ,i am neither enlightened by the darkness of other men nor by my own4 ,mice and moles have their resemblances of structure1 in certain respects1 to the human frame4 ,what difference can it make to the ,supreme ,being whether animals like ourselves1 or such as mice1 exist upon this globe revolving in space with innumerable globes around it8 ,why have we being8 ,why are there any beings8 ,what is sensation8 ,how have ,i received it8 ,what connection is there between the air which vibrates on my ear and the sensation of sound8 between this body and the sensation of colors8 ,i am perfectly ignorant1 and shall ever remain ignorant4 ,what is thought8 ,where does it reside8 ,how is it formed8 ,who gives me thoughts during my sleep8 ,is it in virtue of my will that ,i think8 ,no1 for always during sleep1 and often when ,i am awake1 ,i have ideas against1 or at least without1 my will4 ,these ideas1 long forgotten1 long put away1 and banished in the lumber room of my brain1 issue from it without any effort or volition of mine1 and suddenly present themselves to my memory1 which had1 perhaps1 previously made various vain attempts to recall them4 ,external objects have not the power of forming ideas in me1 for nothing can communicate what it does not possess2 ,i am well assured that they are not given me by myself1 for they are produced without my orders4 ,who then produces them in me8 ,whence do they come8 ,whither do they go8 ,fugitive phantoms6 ,what invisible hand produces and disperses you8 ,why1 of all the various tribes of animals1 has man alone the mad ambition of domineering over his fellow8 ,why and how could it happen1 that out of a thousand millions of men1 more than nine hundred and ninety-nine have been sacrificed to this mad ambition8 ,how is it that reason is a gift so precious that we would none of us lose it for all the pomp or wealth of the world1 and yet at the same time that it has merely served to render us1 in almost all cases1 the most miserable of beings8 ,whence comes it1 that with a passionate attachment to truth1 we are always yielding to the most palpable impostures8 ,why do the vast tribes of ,india1 deceived and enslaved by the bonzes1 trampled upon by the descendant of a ,tartar1 bowed down by labor1 groaning in misery1 assailed by diseases1 and a mark for all the scourges and plagues of life1 still fondly cling to that life8 ,whence comes evil1 and why does it exist8 ,o atoms of a day6 ,o companions in littleness1 born like me to suffer everything1 and be ignorant of everything6--are there in reality any among you so completely mad as to imagine you know all this1 or that you can solve all these difficulties8 ,certainly there can be none4 ,no2 in the bottom of your heart you feel your own nothingness1 as completely as ,i do justice to mine4 ,but you are nevertheless arrogant and conceited enough to be eager for our embracing your vain systems2 and not having the power to tyrannize over our bodies1 you aim at becoming the tyrants of our souls4 ,,imagination4 ,,section ,i4 ,imagination is the power which every being1 endowed with perception and reason1 is conscious he possesses of representing to himself sensible objects4 ,this faculty is dependent upon memory4 ,we see men1 animals1 gardens1 which perceptions are introduced by the senses2 the memory retains them1 and the imagination compounds them4 ,on this account the ancient ,greeks called the muses1 the daughters of memory4 ,it is of great importance to observe1 that these faculties of receiving ideas1 retaining them1 and compounding them1 are among the many things of which we can give no explanation4 ,these invisible springs of our being are of nature's workmanship1 and not of our own4 ,perhaps this gift of ,god1 imagination1 is the sole instrument with which we compound ideas1 even those which are abstract and metaphysical4 ,you pronounce the word triangle2 but you merely utter a sound1 if you do not represent to yourself the image of some particular triangle4 ,you certainly have no idea of a triangle but in consequence of having seen triangles1 if you have the gift of sight1 or of having felt them1 if you are blind4 ,you cannot think of a triangle in general1 unless your imagination figures to itself1 at least in a confused way1 some particular triangle4 ,you calculate2 but it is necessary that you should represent to yourself units added to each other1 or your mind will be totally insensible to the operation of your hand4 ,you utter the abstract terms--greatness1 truth1 justice1 finite1 infinite2 but is the term greatness thus uttered1 anything more or less1 than a mere sound1 from the action of your tongue1 producing vibrations in the air1 unless you have the image of some greatness in your mind8 ,what meaning is there in the words truth and falsehood1 if you have not perceived1 by means of your senses1 that some particular thing which you were told existed1 did exist in fact2 and that another of which you were told the same1 did not exist8 ,and1 is it not from this experience1 that you frame the general idea of truth and falsehood8 ,and1 when asked what you mean by these words1 can you help figuring to yourself some sensible image1 occasioning you to recollect that you have sometimes been told1 as a fact1 what really and truly happened1 and very often what was not so8 ,have you any other notion of just and unjust1 than what is derived from particular actions1 which appeared to you respectively of these descriptions8 ,you began in your childhood by learning to read under some master3 you endeavored to spell well1 but you really spelled ill3 your master chastised you3 this appeared to you very unjust4 ,you have observed a laborer refused his wages1 and innumerable instances of the like nature4 ,is the abstract idea of just and unjust anything more than facts of this character confusedly mixed up in your imagination8 ,is finite anything else in your conception than the image of some limited quantity or extent8 ,is infinite anything but the image of the same extent or quantity enlarged indefinitely8 ,do not all these operations take place in your mind just in the same manner as you read a book8 ,you read circumstances and events recorded in it1 and never think at the time of the alphabetical characters1 without which1 however1 you would have no notion of these events and circumstances4 ,attend to this point for a single moment1 and then you will distinctly perceive the essential importance of those characters over which your eye previously glided without thinking of them4 ,in the same manner all your reasonings1 all your accumulations of knowledge are founded on images traced in your brain4 ,you have1 in general1 no distinct perception or recollection of them2 but give the case only a moment's attention1 and you will then clearly discern1 that these images are the foundation of all the notions you possess4 ,it may be worth the reader's while to dwell a little upon this idea1 to extend it1 and to rectify it4 ,the celebrated ,addison1 in the eleven essays on the imagination with which he has enriched the volumes of the ,spectator1 begins with observing1 that the sense of sight is the only one which furnishes the imagination with ideas4 ,yet certainly it must be allowed1 that the other senses contribute some share4 ,a man born blind still hears1 in his imagination1 the harmony which no longer vibrates upon his ear2 he still continues listening as in a trance or dream2 the objects which have resisted or yielded to his hands produce a similar effect in his head or mind4 ,it is true that the sense of sight alone supplies images2 and as it is a kind of touching or feeling which extends even to the distance of the stars1 its immense diffusion enriches the imagination more than all the other senses put together4 ,there are two descriptions of imagination2 one consists in retaining a simple impression of objects2 the other arranges the images received1 and combines them in endless diversity4 ,the first has been called passive imagination1 and the second active4 ,the passive scarcely advances beyond memory1 and is common to man and to animals4 ,from this power or faculty it arises1 that the sportsman and his dog both follow the hunted game in their dreams1 that they both hear the sound of the horn1 and the one shouts and the other barks in their sleep4 ,both men and brutes do something more than recollect on these occasions1 for dreams are never faithful and accurate images4 ,this species of imagination compounds objects1 but it is not the understanding which acts in it2 it is the memory laboring under error4 ,this passive imagination certainly requires no assistance from volition1 whether we are asleep or awake2 it paints1 independently of ourselves1 what our eyes have seen2 it hears what our ears have heard1 and touches what we have touched2 it adds to it or takes from it4 ,it is an internal sense1 acting necessarily1 and accordingly there is nothing more common1 in speaking of any particular individual1 than to say1 he has no command over his imagination4 ,in this respect we cannot but see1 and be astonished at the slight share of power we really possess4 ,whence comes it1 that occasionally in dreams we compose most coherent and eloquent discourses1 and verses far superior to what we should write on the same subject if perfectly awake8--that we even solve complicated problems in mathematics8 ,here certainly there are very combined and complex ideas in no degree dependent on ourselves4 ,but if it is incontestable that coherent ideas are formed within us independently of our will in sleep1 who can safely assert that they are not produced in the same manner when we are awake8 ,is there a man living who foresees the idea which he will form in his mind the ensuing minute8 ,does it not seem as if ideas were given to us as much as the motions of our fibres2 and had ,father ,malebranche merely maintained the principle that all ideas are given by ,god1 could any one have successfully opposed him8 ,this passive faculty1 independent of reflection1 is the source of our passions and our errors2 far from being dependent on the will1 the will is determined by it4 ,it urges us towards the objects which it paints before us1 or diverts us from them1 just according to the nature of the exhibition thus made of them by it4 ,the image of a danger inspires fear2 that of a benefit excites desire4 ,it is this faculty alone which produces the enthusiasm of glory1 of party1 of fanaticism2 it is this which produces so many mental alienations and disorders1 making weak brains1 when powerfully impressed1 conceive that their bodies are metamorphosed into various animals1 that they are possessed by demons1 that they are under the infernal dominion of witchcraft1 and that they are in reality going to unite with sorcerers in the worship of the devil1 because they have been told that they were going to do so4 ,this species of slavish imagination1 which generally is the lot of ignorant people1 has been the instrument which the imagination of some men has employed to acquire and retain power4 ,it is1 moreover1 this passive imagination of brains easily excited and agitated1 which sometimes produces on the bodies of children evident marks of the impression received by the mother2 examples of this kind are indeed innumerable1 and the writer of this article has seen some so striking that1 were he to deny them1 he must contradict his own ocular demonstration4 ,this effect of imagination is incapable of being explained2 but every other operation of nature is equally so2 we have no clearer idea how we have perceptions1 how we retain them1 or how we combine them4 ,there is an infinity between us and the springs or first principles of our nature4 ,active imagination is that which joins combination and reflection to memory4 ,it brings near to us many objects at a distance2 it separates those mixed together1 compounds them1 and changes them2 it seems to create1 while in fact it merely arranges2 for it has not been given to man to make ideas--he is only able to modify them4 ,this active imagination then is in reality a faculty as independent of ourselves as passive imagination2 and one proof of its not depending upon ourselves is that1 if we propose to a hundred persons1 equally ignorant1 to imagine a certain new machine1 ninety-nine of them will form no imagination at all about it1 notwithstanding all their endeavors4 ,if the hundredth imagines something1 is it not clear that it is a particular gift or talent which he has received8 ,it is this gift which is called genius2 it is in this that we recognize something inspired and divine4 ,this gift of nature is an imagination inventive in the arts--in the disposition of a picture1 in the structure of a poem4 ,it cannot exist without memory1 but it uses memory as an instrument with which it produces all its performances4 ,in consequence of having seen that a large stone which the hand of man could not move1 might be moved by means of a staff1 active imagination invented levers1 and afterwards compound moving forces1 which are no other than disguised levers4 ,it is necessary to figure in the mind the machines with their various effects and processes1 in order to the actual production of them4 ,it is not this description of imagination that is called by the vulgar the enemy of judgment4 ,on the contrary1 it can only act in union with profound judgment2 it incessantly combines its pictures1 corrects its errors1 and raises all its edifices according to calculation and upon a plan4 ,there is an astonishing imagination in practical mathematics2 and ,archimedes had at least as much imagination as ,homer4 ,it is by this power that a poet creates his personages1 appropriates to them characters and manners1 invents his fable1 presents the exposition of it1 constructs its complexity1 and prepares its development2 a labor1 all this1 requiring judgment the most profound and the most delicately discriminative4 ,a very high degree of art is necessary in all these imaginative inventions1 and even in romances4 ,those which are deficient in this quality are neglected and despised by all minds of natural good taste4 ,an invariably sound judgment pervades all the fables of sop4 ,they will never cease to be the delight of mankind4 ,there is more imagination in the ,fairy ,tales2 but these fantastic imaginations1 destitute of order and good sense1 can never be in high esteem2 they are read childishly1 and must be condemned by reason4 ,the second part of active imagination is that of detail1 and it is this to which the world distinguishingly applies the term4 ,it is this which constitutes the charm of conversation1 for it is constantly presenting to the mind what mankind are most fond of--new objects4 ,it paints in vivid colors what men of cold and reserved temperament hardly sketch2 it employs the most striking circumstances2 it cites the most appropriate examples2 and when this talent displays itself in union with the modesty and simplicity which become and adorn all talents1 it conciliates to itself an empire over society4 ,man is so completely a machine that wine sometimes produces this imagination1 as intoxication destroys it4 ,this is a topic to excite at once humiliation and wonder4 ,how can it happen that a small quantity of a certain liquor1 which would prevent a man from effecting an important calculation1 shall at the same time bestow on him the most brilliant ideas8 ,it is in poetry particularly that this imagination of detail and expression ought to prevail4 ,it is always agreeable1 but there it is necessary4 ,in ,homer1 ,virgil1 and ,horace1 almost all is imagery1 without even the reader's perceiving it4 ,tragedy requires fewer images1 fewer picturesque expressions and sublime metaphors and allegories than the epic poem and the ode2 but the greater part of these beauties1 under discreet and able management1 produce an admirable effect in tragedy2 they should never1 however1 be forced1 stilted1 or gigantic4 ,active imagination1 which constitutes men poets1 confers on them enthusiasm1 according to the true meaning of the ,greek word1 that internal emotion which in reality agitates the mind and transforms the author into the personage whom he introduces as the speaker2 for such is the true enthusiasm1 which consists in emotion and imagery4 ,an author under this influence says precisely what would be said by the character he is exhibiting4 ,less imagination is admissible in eloquence than in poetry4 ,the reason is obvious--ordinary discourse should be less remote from common ideas4 ,the orator speaks the language of all2 the foundation of the poet's performance is fiction4 ,accordingly1 imagination is the essence of his art2 to the orator it is only an accessory4 ,particular traits or touches of imagination have1 it is observed1 added great beauties to painting4 ,that artifice especially is often cited1 by which the artist covers with a veil the head of ,agamemnon at the sacrifice of ,iphigenia2 an expedient1 nevertheless1 far less beautiful than if the painter had possessed the secret of exhibiting in the countenance of ,agamemnon the conflict between the grief of a father1 the majesty of a monarch1 and the resignation of a good man to the will of heaven2 as ,rubens had the skill to paint in the looks and attitude of ,mary de ,medici the pain of childbirth1 the joy of being delivered of a son1 and the maternal affection with which she looks upon her child4 ,in general1 the imaginations of painters when they are merely ingenious1 contribute more to exhibit the learning in the artist than to increase the beauty of the art4 ,all the allegorical compositions in the world are not worth the masterly execution and fine finish which constitute the true value of paintings4 ,in all the arts1 the most beautiful imagination is always the most natural4 ,the false is that which brings together objects incompatible2 the extravagant paints objects which have no analogy1 allegory1 or resemblance4 ,a strong imagination explores everything to the bottom2 a weak one skims over the surface2 the placid one reposes in agreeable pictures2 the ardent one piles images upon images4 ,the judicious or sage imagination is that which employs with discrimination all these different characters1 but which rarely admits the extravagant and always rejects the false4 ,if memory nourished and exercised be the source of all imagination1 that same faculty of memory1 when overcharged1 becomes the extinction of it4 ,accordingly1 the man whose head is full of names and dates does not possess that storehouse of materials from which he can derive compound images4 ,men occupied in calculation1 or with intricate matters of business1 have generally a very barren imagination4 ,when imagination is remarkably stirring and ardent1 it may easily degenerate into madness2 but it has been observed that this morbid affection of the organs of the brain more frequently attaches to those passive imaginations which are limited to receiving strong impressions of objects than to those fervid and active ones which collect and combine ideas2 for this active imagination always requires the association of judgment1 the other is independent of it4 ,it is not perhaps useless to add to this essay1 that by the words perception1 memory1 imagination1 and judgment1 we do not mean distinct and separate organs1 one of which has the gift of perceiving1 another of recollecting1 the third of imagining1 and the last of judging4 ,men are more inclined1 than some are aware1 to consider these as completely distinct and separate faculties4 ,it is1 however1 one and the same being that performs all these operations1 which we know only by their effects1 without being able to know anything of that being itself4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,brutes possess imagination as well as ourselves2 your dog1 for example1 hunts in his dreams4 ,objects are painted in the fancy1 says ,descartes1 as others have also said4 ,certainly they are2 but what is the fancy1 and how are objects painted in it8 ,is it with the subtle matter8 ,how can ,i tell is the appropriate answer to all questions thus affecting the first principles of human organization4 ,nothing enters the understanding without an image4 ,it was necessary1 in order to our obtaining the confused idea we possess of infinite space1 that we should have an idea of a space of a few feet4 ,it is necessary1 in order to our having the idea of ,god1 that the image of something more powerful than ourselves should have long dwelt upon our minds4 ,we do not create a single idea or image4 ,i defy you to create one4 ,ariosto did not make ,astolpho travel to the moon till long after he had heard of the moon1 of ,st4 ,john1 and of the ,paladins4 ,we make no images2 we only collect and combine them4 ,the extravagances of the ,thousand and ,one ,nights and the ,fairy ,tales are merely combinations4 ,he who comprises most images in the storehouse of his memory is the person who possesses most imagination4 ,the difficulty is in not bringing together these images in profusion1 without any selection4 ,you might employ a whole day in representing1 without any toilsome effort1 and almost without any attention1 a fine old man with a long beard1 clothed in ample drapery1 and borne in the midst of a cloud resting on chubby children with beautiful wings attached to their shoulders1 or upon an eagle of immense size and grandeur2 all the gods and animals surrounding him2 golden tripods running to arrive at his council2 wheels revolving by their own self-motion1 advancing as they revolve2 having four faces covered with eyes1 ears1 tongues1 and noses2 and between these tripods and wheels an immense multitude of dead resuscitated by the crash of thunder2 the celestial spheres dancing and joining in harmonious concert1 etc4 ,the lunatic asylum abounds in such imaginations4 ,we may1 in dealing with the subject of imagination distinguish3 #a4 ,the imagination which disposes of the events of a poem1 romance1 tragedy1 or comedy1 and which attaches the characters and passions to the different personages4 ,this requires the profoundest judgment and the most exquisite knowledge of the human heart2 talents absolutely indispensable2 but with which1 however1 nothing has yet been done but merely laying the foundation of the edifice4 #b4 ,the imagination which gives to all these personages the eloquence or diction appropriate to their rank1 suitable to their station4 ,here is the great art and difficulty2 but even after doing this they have not done enough4 #c4 ,the imagination in the expression1 by which every word paints an image in the mind without astonishing or overwhelming it2 as in ,virgil3 4444 ,remigium alarum4--,,neid1 vi1 #ai4 ,mrentem abjungens fraterna morte juvencum4 --,,georgics1 iii1 #eag4 4444 ,velorum pandimus alas4--,,neid1 iii1 #ebj4 ,pendent circum oscula nati4--,,georgics1 ii1 #ebc4 ,immortale jecur tundens fecundaque pnis ,viscera4--,,neid1 vi1 #eih-eii4 ,et caligantem nigra formidine lucum4 --,,georgics1 iv1 #dfh4 ,fata vocant1 conditque natantia lumina somnus4 --,,georgics1 iv1 #dif4 ,virgil is full of these picturesque expressions1 with which he enriches the ,latin language1 and which are so difficult to be translated into our ,european jargons--the crooked and lame offspring of a well-formed and majestic sire1 but which1 however1 have some merit of their own1 and have done some tolerably good things in their way4 ,there is an astonishing imagination1 even in the science of mathematics4 ,an inventor must begin with painting correctly in his mind the figure1 the machine invented by him1 and its properties or effects4 ,we repeat there was far more imagination in the head of ,archimedes than in that of ,homer4 ,as the imagination of a great mathematician must possess extreme precision1 so must that of a great poet be exceedingly correct and chaste4 ,he must never present images that are incompatible with each other1 incoherent1 highly exaggerated1 or unsuitable to the nature of the subject4 ,the great fault of some writers who have appeared since the age of ,louis ,,xiv4 is attempting a constant display of imagination1 and fatiguing the reader by the profuse abundance of far-fetched images and double rhymes1 one-half of which may be pronounced absolutely useless4 ,it is this which at length brought into neglect and obscurity a number of small poems1 such as ,ver ,vert1 ,the ,chartreuse1 and ,the ,shades1 which at one period possessed considerable celebrity4 ,mere sounding superfluity soon finds oblivion4 ,omne supervacuum pleno depectore manat4 --,,horace1 ,art of ,poetry1 #hcg4 ,the active and the passive imagination have been distinguished in the ,encyclopdia4 ,the active is that of which we have treated4 ,it is the talent of forming new pictures out of all those contained in our memory4 ,the passive is scarcely anything beyond memory itself1 even in a brain under strong emotion4 ,a man of an active and fervid imagination1 a preacher of the ,league in ,france1 or a ,puritan in ,england1 harangues the populace with a voice of thunder1 with an eye of fire1 and the gesture of a demoniac1 and represents ,jesus ,christ as demanding justice of the ,eternal ,father for the new wounds he has received from the royalists1 for the nails which have been driven for the second time through his feet and hands by these impious miscreants4 ,avenge1 ,o ,god the ,father1 avenge the blood of ,god the ,son2 march under the banner of the ,holy ,spirit2 it was formerly a dove1 but is now an eagle bearing thunder6 ,the passive imaginations1 roused and stimulated by these images1 by the voice1 by the action of those sanguinary empirics1 urge the maddened hearers to rush with fury from the chapel or meeting house1 to kill their opponents and get themselves hanged4 ,persons of passive imaginations1 for the sake of high and violent excitement1 go sometimes to the sermon and sometimes to the play2 sometimes to the place of execution2 and sometimes even to what they suppose to be the midnight and appalling meetings of presumed sorcerers4 ,,impious4 ,who is the impious man8 ,it is he who exhibits the ,being of ,beings1 the great former of the world1 the eternal intelligence by whom all nature is governed1 with a long white beard1 and having hands and feet4 ,however1 he is pardonable for his impiety--a weak and ignorant creature1 the sight or conduct of whom we ought not to allow to provoke or to vex us4 ,if he should even paint that great and incomprehensible ,being as carried on a cloud1 which can carry nothing2 if he is so stupid as to place ,god in a mist1 in rain1 or on a mountain1 and to surround him with little round1 chubby1 painted faces1 accompanied by two wings1 ,i can smile and pardon him with all my heart4 ,the impious man1 who ascribes to the ,being of ,beings absurd predictions and absolute iniquities1 would certainly provoke me1 if that ,great ,being had not bestowed upon me the gift of reason to control my anger4 ,this senseless fanatic repeats to me once more what thousands of others have said before him1 that it is not our province to decide what is reasonable and just in the ,great ,being2 that ,his reason is not like our reason1 nor ,his justice like our justice4 ,what then1 my rather too absurd and zealous friend1 would you really wish me to judge of justice and reason by any other notions than ,i have of them myself8 ,would you have me walk otherwise than with my feet1 or speak otherwise than with my mouth8 ,the impious man1 who supposes the ,great ,being to be jealous1 proud1 malignant1 and vindictive1 is more dangerous4 ,i would not sleep under the same roof with such a man4 ,but how will you treat the impious man1 the daring blasphemer1 who says to you3 ,see only with my eyes2 do not think for yourself2 ,i proclaim to you a tyrant ,god1 who ordained me to be your tyrant2 ,i am ,his well-beloved2 ,he will torment to all eternity millions of ,his creatures1 whom ,he detests1 for the sake of gratifying me2 ,i will be your master in this world and will laugh at your torments in the next6 ,do you not feel a very strong inclination to beat this cruel blasphemer8 ,and1 even if you happen to be born with a meek and forgiving spirit1 would you not fly with the utmost speed to the ,west1 when this barbarian utters his atrocious reveries in the ,east8 ,with respect to another and very different class of the impious--those who1 while washing their elbows1 neglect to turn their faces towards ,aleppo and ,erivan1 or who do not kneel down in the dirt on seeing a procession of capuchin friars at ,perpignan1 they are certainly culpable2 but ,i hardly think they ought to be impaled4 ,,impost4 ,,section ,i4 ,so many philosophical works have been written on the nature of impost1 that we need say very little about it here4 ,it is true that nothing is less philosophical than this subject2 but it may enter into moral philosophy by representing to a superintendent of finances or to a ,turkish teftardar that it accords not with universal morals to take his neighbor's money2 and that all receivers and custom-house officers and collectors of taxes are cursed in the gospel4 ,cursed as they are1 it must1 however1 be agreed that it is impossible for society to subsist unless each member pays something towards the expenses of it2 and as1 since every one ought to pay1 it is necessary to have a receiver1 we do not see why this receiver is to be cursed and regarded as an idolater4 ,there is certainly no idolatry in receiving money of guests to-day for their supper4 ,in republics1 and states which with the name of kingdoms are really republics1 every individual is taxed according to his means and to the wants of society4 ,in despotic kingdoms--or to speak more politely--in monarchical states1 it is not quite the same--the nation is taxed without consulting it4 ,an agriculturist who has twelve hundred livres of revenue is quite astonished when four hundred are demanded of him4 ,there are several who are even obliged to pay more than half of what they receive4 ,the cultivator demands why the half of his fortune is taken from him to pay soldiers1 when the hundredth part would suffice4 ,he is answered that1 besides the soldiers1 he must pay for luxury and the arts2 that nothing is lost2 and that in ,persia towns and villages are assigned to the queen to pay for her girdles1 slippers1 and pins4 ,he replies that he knows nothing of the history of ,persia1 and that he should be very indignant if half his fortune were taken for girdles1 pins1 and shoes2 that he would furnish them from a better market1 and that he endures a grievous imposition4 ,he is made to hear reason by being put into a dungeon1 and having his goods put up to sale4 ,if he resists the tax-collectors whom the ,new ,testament has damned1 he is hanged1 which renders all his neighbors infinitely accommodating4 ,were this money employed by the sovereign in importing spices from ,india1 coffee from ,mocha1 ,english and ,arabian horses1 silks from the ,levant1 and gew-gaws from ,china1 it is clear that in a few years there would not remain a single sous in the kingdom4 ,the taxes1 therefore1 serve to maintain the manufacturers2 and so far what is poured into the coffers of the prince returns to the cultivators4 ,they suffer1 they complain1 and other parts of the state suffer and complain also2 but at the end of the year they find that every one has labored and lived some way or other4 ,if by chance a clown goes to the capital1 he sees with astonishment a fine lady dressed in a gown of silk embroidered with gold1 drawn in a magnificent carriage by two valuable horses1 and followed by four lackeys dressed in a cloth of twenty francs an ell4 ,he addresses himself to one of these lackeys1 and says to him3 ,sir1 where does this lady get money to make such an expensive appearance8 ,my friend1 says the lackey1 the king allows her a pension of forty thousand livres4 ,alas1 says the rustic1 it is my village which pays this pension4 ,yes1 answers the servant2 but the silk that you have gathered and sold has made the stuff in which she is dressed2 my cloth is a part of thy sheep's wool2 my baker has made my bread of thy corn2 thou hast sold at market the very fowls that we eat2 thus thou seest that the pension of madame returns to thee and thy comrades4 ,the peasant does not absolutely agree with the axioms of this philosophical lackey2 but one proof that there is something true in his answer is that the village exists1 and produces children who also complain1 and who bring forth children again to complain4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,if we were obliged to read all the edicts of taxation1 and all the books written against them1 that would be the greatest tax of all4 ,we well know that taxes are necessary1 and that the malediction pronounced in the gospel only regards those who abuse their employment to harass the people4 ,perhaps the copyist forgot a word1 as for instance the epithet pravus4 ,it might have meant pravus publicanus2 this word was much more necessary1 as the general malediction is a formal contradiction to the words put into the mouth of ,jesus ,christ3 ,render unto ,csar the things which are ,csar's4 ,certainly those who collected the dues of ,csar ought not to have been held in horror4 ,it would have been1 at once1 insulting the order of ,roman ,knights and the emperor himself2 nothing could have been more ill-advised4 ,in all civilized countries the imposts are great1 because the charges of the state are heavy4 ,in ,spain the articles of commerce sent to ,cadiz1 and thence to ,america1 pay more than thirty per cent4 before their transit is accomplished4 ,in ,england all duty upon importation is very considerable2 however1 it is paid without murmuring2 there is even a pride in paying it4 ,a merchant boasts of putting four or five thousand guineas a year into the public treasury4 ,the richer a country is1 the heavier are the taxes4 ,speculators would have taxes fall on landed productions only4 ,what6 having sown a field of flax1 which will bring me two hundred crowns1 by which flax a great manufacturer will gain two hundred thousand crowns by converting it into lace--must this manufacturer pay nothing1 and shall ,i pay all1 because it is produced by my land8 ,the wife of this manufacturer will furnish the queen and princesses with fine point of ,alenon1 she will be patronized2 her son will become intendant of justice1 police1 and finance1 and will augment my taxes in my miserable old age4 ,ah6 gentlemen speculators1 you calculate badly2 you are unjust4 ,the great point is that an entire people be not despoiled by an army of alguazils1 in order that a score of town or court leeches may feast upon its blood4 ,the ,duke de ,sully relates1 in his ,political ,economy1 that in #aehe there were just twenty lords interested in the leases of farms1 to whom the highest bidders gave three million two hundred and forty-eight thousand crowns4 ,it was still worse under ,charles ,,ix41 and ,francis ,i41 and ,louis ,,xiii4 ,there was not less depredation in the minority of ,louis ,,xiv4 ,france1 notwithstanding so many wounds1 is still in being4 ,yes2 but if it had not received them it would have been in better health4 ,it was thus with several other states4 ,,section ,,iii4 ,it is just that those who enjoy the advantages of a government should support the charges4 ,the ecclesiastics and monks1 who possess great property1 for this reason should contribute to the taxes in all countries1 like other citizens4 ,in the times which we call barbarous1 great benefices and abbeys ,were taxed in ,france to the third of their revenue4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,duke ,,of ,,sully4 ,by a statute of the year #aahh1 ,philip ,augustus imposed a tenth of the revenues of all benefices4 ,philip le ,bel caused the fifth1 afterwards the fifteenth1 and finally the twentieth part1 to be paid1 of all the possessions of the clergy4 ,king ,john1 by a statute of ,march #ab1 #acee1 taxed bishops1 abbots1 chapters1 and all ecclesiastics generally1 to the tenth of the revenue of their benefices and patrimonies4 ,the same prince confirmed this tax by two other statutes1 one of ,march #c1 the other of ,dec4 #bh1 #aceh4 ,in the letters-patent of ,charles ,v41 of ,june #bb1 #acgb1 it is decreed1 that the churchmen shall pay taxes and other real and personal imposts4 ,these letters-patent were renewed by ,charles ,,vi4 in the year #acij4 ,how is it that these laws have been abolished1 while so many monstrous customs and sanguinary decrees have been preserved8 ,the clergy1 indeed1 pay a tax under the name of a free gift1 and1 as it is known1 it is principally the poorest and most useful part of the church--the curates 7rectors7--who pay this tax4 ,but1 why this difference and inequality of contributions between the citizens of the same state8 ,why do those who enjoy the greatest prerogatives1 and who are sometimes useless to the public1 pay less than the laborer1 who is so necessary8 ,the ,republic of ,venice supplies rules on this subject1 which should serve as examples to all ,europe4 ,,section ,,iv4 ,churchmen have not only pretended to be exempt from taxes1 they have found the means in several provinces to tax the people1 and make them pay as a legitimate right4 ,in several countries1 monks having seized the tithes to the prejudice of the rectors1 the peasants are obliged to tax themselves1 to furnish their pastors with subsistence2 and thus in several villages1 and above all1 in ,franche-,comt1 besides the tithes which the parishioners pay to the monks or to chapters1 they further pay three or four measures of corn to their curates or rectors4 ,this tax was called the right of harvest in some provinces1 and boisselage in others4 ,it is no doubt right that curates should be well paid1 but it would be much better to give them a part of the tithes which the monks have taken from them1 than to overcharge the poor cultivator4 ,since the king of ,france fixed the competent allowances for the curates1 by his edict of the month of ,may1 #agfh1 and charged the tithe-collectors with paying them1 the peasants should no longer be held to pay a second tithe1 a tax to which they only voluntarily submitted at a time when the influence and violence of the monks had taken from their pastors all means of subsistence4 ,the king has abolished this second tithe in ,poitou1 by letters-patent1 registered by the ,parliament of ,paris ,july #aa1 #agfi4 ,it would be well worthy of the justice and beneficence of his majesty to make a similar law for other provinces1 which are in the same situation as those of ,poitou1 ,franche-,comt1 etc4 ,by ,m4 ,,chr41 ,advocate of ,besanon4 ,,impotence4 ,i commence by this question1 in favor of the impotent--frigidi et maleficiati1 as they are denominated in the decretals3 ,is there a physician1 or experienced person of any description1 who can be certain that a well-formed young man1 who has had no children by his wife1 may not have them some day or other8 ,nature may know1 but men can tell nothing about it4 ,since1 then1 it is impossible to decide that the marriage may not be consummated some time or other1 why dissolve it8 ,among the ,romans1 on the suspicion of impotence1 a delay of two years was allowed1 and in the ,novels of ,justinian three are required2 but if in three years nature may bestow capability1 she may equally do so in seven1 ten1 or twenty4 ,those called maleficiati by the ancients were often considered bewitched4 ,these charms were very ancient1 and as there were some to take away virility1 so there were others to restore it2 both of which are alluded to in ,petronius4 ,this illusion lasted a long time among us1 who exorcised instead of disenchanting2 and when exorcism succeeded not1 the marriage was dissolved4 ,the canon law made a great question of impotence4 ,might a man who was prevented by sorcery from consummating his marriage1 after being divorced and having children by a second wife--might such man1 on the death of the latter wife1 reject the first1 should she lay claim to him8 ,all the great canonists decided in the negative--,alexander de ,nevo1 ,andrew ,alberic1 ,turrecremata1 ,soto1 and fifty more4 ,it is impossible to help admiring the sagacity displayed by the canonists1 and above all by the religious of irreproachable manners in their development of the mysteries of sexual intercourse4 ,there is no singularity1 however strange1 on which they have not treated4 ,they have discussed at length all the cases in which capability may exist at one time or situation1 and impotence in another4 ,they have inquired into all the imaginary inventions to assist nature2 and with the avowed object of distinguishing that which is allowable from that which is not1 have exposed all which ought to remain veiled4 ,it might be said of them3 ,nox nocti indicat scientiam4 ,above all1 ,sanchez has distinguished himself in collecting cases of conscience which the boldest wife would hesitate to submit to the most prudent of matrons4 ,one query leads to another in almost endless succession1 until at length a question of the most direct and extraordinary nature is put1 as to the manner of the communication of the ,holy ,ghost with the ,virgin ,mary4 ,these extraordinary researches were never made by anybody in the world except theologians2 and suits in relation to impotency were unknown until the days of ,theodosius4 ,in the ,gospel1 divorce is spoken of as allowable for adultery alone4 ,the ,jewish law permitted a husband to repudiate a wife who displeased him1 without specifying the cause4 ,if she found no favor in his eyes1 that was sufficient4 ,it is the law of the strongest1 and exhibits human nature in its most barbarous garb4 ,the ,jewish laws treat not of impotence2 it would appear1 says a casuist1 that ,god would not permit impotency to exist among a people who were to multiply like the sands on the seashore1 and to whom he had sworn to bestow the immense country which lies between the ,nile and ,euphrates1 and1 by his prophets1 to make lords of the whole earth4 ,to fulfil these divine promises1 it was necessary that every honest ,jew should be occupied without ceasing in the great work of propagation4 ,there was certainly a curse upon impotency2 the time not having then arrived for the devout to make themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven4 ,marriage in the course of time having arrived at the dignity of a sacrament and a mystery1 the ecclesiastics insensibly became judges of all which took place between husband and wife1 and not only so1 but of all which did not take place4 ,wives possessed the liberty of presenting a request to be embesognes--such being our ,gallic term1 although the causes were carried on in ,latin4 ,clerks pleaded and priests pronounced judgment1 and the process was uniformly to decide two points--whether the man was bewitched1 or the woman wanted another husband4 ,what appears most extraordinary is that all the canonists agree that a husband whom a spell or charm has rendered impotent1 cannot in conscience apply to other charms or magicians to destroy it4 ,this resembles the reasoning of the regularly admitted surgeons1 who having the exclusive privilege of spreading a plaster1 assure us that we shall certainly die if we allow ourselves to be cured by the hand which has hurt us4 ,it might have been as well in the first place to inquire whether a sorcerer can really operate upon the virility of another man4 ,it may be added that many weak-minded persons feared the sorcerer more than they confided in the exorcist4 ,the sorcerer having deranged nature1 holy water alone would not restore it4 ,in the cases of impotency in which the devil took no part1 the presiding ecclesiastics were not less embarrassed4 ,we have1 in the ,decretals1 the famous head ,de frigidis et maleficiatis1 which is very curious1 but altogether uninforming4 ,the political use made of it is exemplified in the case of ,henry ,,iv4 of ,castile1 who was declared impotent1 while surrounded by mistresses1 and possessed of a wife by whom he had an heiress to the throne2 but it was an archbishop of ,toledo who pronounced this sentence1 not the pope4 ,alfonso1 king of ,portugal1 was treated in the same manner1 in the middle of the seventeenth century4 ,this prince was known chiefly by his ferocity1 debauchery1 and prodigious strength of body4 ,his brutal excesses disgusted the nation2 and the queen1 his wife1 a princess of ,nemours1 being desirous of dethroning him1 and marrying the infant ,don ,pedro his brother1 was aware of the difficulty of wedding two brothers in succession1 after the known circumstance of consummation with the elder4 ,the example of ,henry ,,viii4 of ,england intimidated her1 and she embraced the resolution of causing her husband to be declared impotent by the chapter of the cathedral of ,lisbon2 after which she hastened to marry his brother1 without even waiting for the dispensation of the pope4 ,the most important proof of capability required from persons accused of impotency1 is that called the congress4 ,the ,president ,bouhier says1 that this combat in an enclosed field was adopted in ,france in the fourteenth century4 ,and he asserts that it is known in ,france only4 ,this proof1 about which so much noise has been made1 was not conducted precisely as people have imagined4 ,it has been supposed that a conjugal consummation took place under the inspection of physicians1 surgeons1 and midwives1 but such was not the fact4 ,the parties went to bed in the usual manner1 and at a proper time the inspectors1 who were assembled in the next room1 were called on to pronounce upon the case4 ,in the famous process of the ,marquis de ,langeais1 decided in #afei1 he demanded the congress2 and owing to the management of his lady 7,marie de ,st4 ,simon7 did not succeed4 ,he demanded a second trial1 but the judges1 fatigued with the clamors of the superstitious1 the plaints of the prudes1 and the raillery of the wits1 refused it4 ,they declared the marquis impotent1 his marriage void1 forbade him to marry again1 and allowed his wife to take another husband4 ,the marquis1 however1 disregarded this sentence1 and married ,diana de ,navailles1 by whom he had seven children6 ,his first wife being dead1 the marquis appealed to the grand chamberlain against the sentence which had declared him impotent1 and charged him with the costs4 ,the grand chamberlain1 sensible of the ridicule applicable to the whole affair1 confirmed his marriage with ,diana de ,navailles1 declared him most potent1 refused him the costs1 but abolished the ceremony of the congress altogether4 ,the ,president ,bouhier published a defence of the proof by congress1 when it' was no longer in use4 ,he maintained1 that the judges would not have committed the error of abolishing it1 had they not been guilty of the previous error of refusing the marquis a second trial4 ,but if the congress may prove indecisive1 how much more uncertain are the various other examinations had recourse to in cases of alleged impotency8 ,ought not the whole of them to be adjourned1 as in ,athens1 for a hundred years8 ,these causes are shameful to wives1 ridiculous for husbands1 and unworthy of the tribunals1 and it would be better not to allow them at all4 ,yes1 it may be said1 but1 in that case1 marriage would not insure issue4 ,a great misfortune1 truly1 while ,europe contains three hundred thousand monks and eighty thousand nuns1 who voluntarily abstain from propagating their kind4 ,,inalienation--,,inalienable4 ,the domains of the ,roman emperors were anciently inalienable--it was the sacred domain4 ,the barbarians came and rendered it altogether inalienable4 ,the same thing happened to the imperial ,greek domain4 ,after the re-establishment of the ,roman ,empire in ,germany1 the sacred domain was declared inalienable by the priests1 although there remains not at present a crown's worth of territory to alienate4 ,all the kings of ,europe1 who affect to imitate the emperors1 have had their inalienable domain4 ,francis ,i41 having effected his liberty by the cession of ,burgundy1 could find no other expedient to preserve it1 than a state declaration1 that ,burgundy was inalienable2 and was so fortunate as to violate both his honor and the treaty with impunity4 ,according to this jurisprudence1 every king may acquire the dominions of another1 while incapable of losing any of his own4 ,so that1 in the end1 each would be possessed of the property of somebody else4 ,the kings of ,france and ,england possess very little special domain3 their genuine and more effective domain is the purses of their subjects4 ,,incest4 ,the ,tartars1 says the ,spirit of ,laws1 who may legally wed their daughters1 never espouse their mothers4 ,it is not known of what ,tartars our author speaks1 who cites too much at random3 we know not at present of any people1 from the ,crimea to the frontiers of ,china1 who are in the habit of espousing their daughters4 ,moreover1 if it be allowed for the father to marry his daughter1 why may not a son wed his mother8 ,montesquieu cites an author named ,priscus ,panetes1 a sophist who lived in the time of ,attila4 ,this author says that ,attila married with his daughter ,esca1 according to the manner of the ,scythians4 ,this ,priscus has never been printed1 but remains in manuscript in the library of the ,vatican2 and ,jornandes alone makes mention of it4 ,it is not allowable to quote the legislation of a people on such authority4 ,no one knows this ,esca1 or ever heard of her marriage with her father ,attila4 ,i confess ,i have never believed that the ,persians espoused their daughters1 although in the time of the ,csars the ,romans accused them of it1 to render them odious4 ,it might be that some ,persian prince committed incest1 and the turpitude of an individual was imputed to the whole nation4 ,quidquid delirant reges1 plectuntur ,achivi4 --,,horace1 i1 epistle ii1 #ad4 4444,when doting monarchs urge ,unsound resolves1 their subjects feel the scourge4 --,,francis4 ,i believe that the ancient ,persians were permitted to marry with their sisters1 just as much as ,i believe it of the ,athenians1 the ,egyptians1 and even of the ,jews4 ,from the above it might be concluded1 that it was common for children to marry with their fathers or mothers2 whereas even the marriage of cousins is forbidden among the ,guebers at this day1 who are held to maintain the doctrines of their forefathers as scrupulously as the ,jews4 ,you will tell me that everything is contradictory in this world2 that it was forbidden by the ,jewish law to marry two sisters1 which was deemed a very indecent act1 and yet ,jacob married ,rachel during the life of her elder sister ,leah2 and that this ,rachel is evidently a type of the ,roman ,catholic and apostolic church4 ,you are doubtless right1 but that prevents not an individual who sleeps with two sisters in ,europe from being grievously censured4 ,as to powerful and dignified princes1 they may take the sisters of their wives for the good of their states1 and even their own sisters by the same father and mother1 if they think proper4 ,it is a far worse affair to have a commerce with a gossip or godmother1 which was deemed an unpardonable offence by the capitularies of ,charlemagne1 being called a spiritual incest4 ,one ,andovere1 who is called queen of ,france1 because she was the wife of a certain ,chilperic1 who reigned over ,soissons1 was stigmatized by ecclesiastical justice1 censured1 degraded1 and divorced1 for having borne her own child to the baptismal font4 ,it was a mortal sin1 a sacrilege1 a spiritual incest2 and she thereby forfeited her marriage-bed and crown4 ,this apparently contradicts what ,i have just observed1 that everything in the way of love is permitted to the great1 but then ,i spoke of present times1 and not of those of ,andovere4 ,as to carnal incest1 read the advocate ,voglan1 who would absolutely have any two cousins burned who fall into a weakness of this kind4 ,the advocate ,voglan is rigorous--the unmerciful ,celt4 ,,incubus4 ,have there ever been incubi and succubi8 ,our learned juriconsults and demonologists admit both the one and the other4 ,it is pretended that ,satan1 always on the alert1 inspires young ladies and gentlemen with heated dreams1 and by a sort of double process produces extraordinary consequences1 which in point of fact led to the birth of so many heroes and demigods in ancient times4 ,the devil took a great deal of superfluous trouble3 he had only to leave the young people alone1 and the world will be sufficiently supplied with heroes without any assistance from him4 ,an idea may be formed of incubi by the explanation of the great ,delrio1 of ,boguets1 and other writers learned in sorcery2 but they fail in their account of succubi4 ,a female might pretend to believe that she had communicated with and was pregnant by a god1 the explication of ,delrio being very favorable to the assumption4 ,the devil in this case acts the part of an incubus1 but his performances as a succubus are more inconceivable4 ,the gods and goddesses of antiquity acted much more nobly and decorously2 ,jupiter in person1 was the incubus of ,alcmena and ,semele2 ,thetis in person1 the succubus of ,peleus1 and ,venus of ,anchises1 without having recourse to the various contrivances of our extraordinary demonism4 ,let us simply observe1 that the gods frequently disguised themselves1 in their pursuit of our girls1 sometimes as an eagle1 sometimes as a pigeon1 a swan1 a horse1 a shower of gold2 but the goddesses assumed no disguise3 they had only to show themselves1 to please4 ,it must however be presumed1 that whatever shapes the gods assumed to steal a march1 they consummated their loves in the form of men4 ,as to the new manner of rendering girls pregnant by the ministry of the devil1 it is not to be doubted1 for the ,sorbonne decided the point in the year #acah4 ,per tales artes et ritus impios et invocationes et demonum1 nullus unquam sequatur effectus ministerio demonum1 error4--,it is an error to believe1 that these magic arts and invocations of the devils are without effect4 ,this decision has never been revoked4 ,thus we are bound to believe in succubi and incubi1 because our teachers have always believed in them4 ,there have been many other sages in this science1 as well as the ,sorbonne4 ,bodin1 in his book concerning sorcerers1 dedicated to ,christopher de ,thou1 first president of the ,parliament of ,paris1 relates that ,john ,hervilier1 a native of ,verberie1 was condemned by that parliament to be burned alive for having prostituted his daughter to the devil1 a great black man1 whose caresses were attended with a sensation of cold which appears to be very uncongenial to his nature2 but our jurisprudence has always admitted the fact1 and the prodigious number of sorcerers which it has burned in consequence will always remain a proof of its accuracy4 ,the celebrated ,picus of ,mirandola--a prince never lies--says he knew an old man of the age of eighty years who had slept half his life with a female devil1 and another of seventy who enjoyed a similar felicity4 ,both were buried at ,rome1 but nothing is said of the fate of their children4 ,thus is the existence of incubi and succubi demonstrated4 ,it is impossible1 at least1 to prove to the contrary2 for if we are called on to believe that devils can enter our bodies1 who can prevent them from taking kindred liberties with our wives and our daughters8 ,and if there be demons1 there are probably demonesses2 for to be consistent1 if the demons beget children on our females1 it must follow that we effect the same thing on the demonesses4 ,never has there been a more universal empire than that of the devil4 ,what has dethroned him8 ,reason4 ,,infinity4 ,who will give me a clear idea of infinity8 ,i have never had an idea of it which was not excessively confused--possibly because ,i am a finite being4 ,what is that which is eternally going on without advancing--always reckoning without a sum total--dividing eternally without arriving at an indivisible particle8 ,it might seem as if the notion of infinity formed the bottom of the bucket of the ,danades4 ,nevertheless1 it is impossible that infinity should not exist4 ,an infinite duration is demonstrable4 ,the commencement of existence is absurd2 for nothing cannot originate something4 ,when an atom exists we must necessarily conclude that it has existed from all eternity2 and hence an infinite duration rigorously demonstrated4 ,but what is an infinite past8--an infinitude which ,i arrest in imagination whenever ,i please4 ,behold6 ,i exclaim1 an infinity passed away2 let us proceed to another4 ,i distinguish between two eternities1 the one before1 the other behind me4 ,when1 however1 ,i reflect upon my words1 ,i perceive that ,i have absurdly pronounced the words3 one eternity has passed away1 and ,i am entering into another4 ,for at the moment that ,i thus talk1 eternity endures1 and the tide of time flows4 ,duration is not separable2 and as something has ever been1 something must ever be4 ,the infinite in duration1 then1 is linked to an uninterrupted chain4 ,this infinite perpetuates itself1 even at the instant that ,i say it has passed4 ,time begins and ends with me1 but duration is infinite4 ,the infinite is here quickly formed without1 however1 our possession of the ability to form a clear notion of it4 ,we are told of infinite space--what is space8 ,is it a being1 or nothing at all8 ,if it is a being1 what is its nature8 ,you cannot tell me4 ,if it is nothing1 nothing can have no quality2 yet you tell me that it is penetrable and immense4 ,i am so embarrassed1 ,i cannot correctly call it either something or nothing4 ,in the meantime1 ,i know not of anything which possesses more properties than a void4 ,for if passing the confines of this globe1 we are able to walk amidst this void1 and thatch and build there when we possess materials for the purpose1 this void or nothing is not opposed to whatever we might choose to do2 for having no property it cannot hinder any2 moreover1 since it cannot hinder1 neither can it serve us4 ,it is pretended that ,god created the world amidst nothing1 and from nothing4 ,that is abstruse2 it is preferable to think that there is an infinite space2 but we are curious--and if there be infinite space1 our faculties cannot fathom the nature of it4 ,we call it immense1 because we cannot measure it2 but what then8 ,we have only pronounced words4 ,of the ,infinite in ,number4 ,we have adroitly defined the infinite in arithmetic by a love-knot1 in this manner 2 but we possess not therefore a clearer notion of it4 ,this infinity is not like the others1 a powerlessness of reaching a termination4 ,we call the infinite in quantity any number soever1 which surpasses the utmost number we are able to imagine4 ,when we seek the infinitely small1 we divide1 and call that infinitely small which is less than the least assignable quantity4 ,it is only another name for incapacity4 ,is ,matter ,infinitely ,divisible8 ,this question brings us back again precisely to our inability of finding the remotest number4 ,in thought we are able to divide a grain of sand1 but in imagination only2 and the incapacity of eternally dividing this grain is called infinity4 ,it is true1 that matter is not always practically divisible1 and if the last atom could be divided into two1 it would no longer be the least2 or if the least1 it would not be divisible2 or if divisible1 what is the germ or origin of things8 ,these are all abstruse queries4 ,of the ,universe4 ,is the universe bounded--is its extent immense--are the suns and planets without number8 ,what advantage has the space which contains suns and planets1 over the space which is void of them8 ,whether space be an existence or not1 what is the space which we occupy1 preferable to other space8 ,if our material heaven be not infinite1 it is but a point in general extent4 ,if it is infinite1 it is an infinity to which something can always be added by the imagination4 ,of the ,infinite in ,geometry4 ,we admit1 in geometry1 not only infinite magnitudes1 that is to say1 magnitudes greater than any assignable magnitude1 but infinite magnitudes infinitely greater1 the one than the other4 ,this astonishes our dimension of brains1 which is only about six inches long1 five broad1 and six in depth1 in the largest heads4 ,it means1 however1 nothing more than that a square larger than any assignable square1 surpasses a line larger than any assignable line1 and bears no proportion to it4 ,it is a mode of operating1 a mode of working geometrically1 and the word infinite is a mere symbol4 ,of ,infinite ,power1 ,wisdom1 ,goodness4 ,in the same manner1 as we cannot form any positive idea of the infinite in duration1 number1 and extension1 are we unable to form one in respect to physical and moral power4 ,we can easily conceive1 that a powerful being has modified matter1 caused worlds to circulate in space1 and formed animals1 vegetables1 and metals4 ,we are led to this idea by the perception of the want of power on the part of these beings to form themselves4 ,we are also forced to allow1 that the ,great ,being exists eternally by ,his own power1 since ,he cannot have sprung from nothing2 but we discover not so easily ,his infinity in magnitude1 power1 and moral attributes4 ,how are we to conceive infinite extent in a being called simple8 and if he be uncompounded1 what notions can we form of a simple being8 ,we know ,god by ,his works1 but we cannot understand ,him by ,his ,nature4 ,if it is evident that we cannot understand ,his nature1 is it not equally so1 that we must remain ignorant of ,his attributes8 ,when we say that ,his power is infinite1 do we mean anything more than that it is very great8 ,aware of the existence of pyramids of the height of six hundred feet1 we can conceive them of the altitude of #fjj1jjj feet4 ,nothing can limit the power of the ,eternal ,being existing necessarily of ,himself4 ,agreed3 no antagonists circumscribe ,him2 but how convince me that ,he is not circumscribed by ,his own nature8 ,has all that has been said on this great subject been demonstrated8 ,we speak of ,his moral attributes1 but we only judge of them by our own2 and it is impossible to do otherwise4 ,we attribute to ,him justice1 goodness1 etc41 only from the ideas we collect from the small degree of justice and goodness existing among ourselves4 ,but1 in fact1 what connection is there between our qualities so uncertain and variable1 and those of the ,supreme ,being8 ,our idea of justice is only that of not allowing our own interest to usurp over the interest of another4 ,the bread which a wife has kneaded out of the flour produced from the wheat which her husband has sown1 belongs to her4 ,a hungry savage snatches away her bread1 and the woman exclaims against such enormous injustice4 ,the savage quietly answers that nothing is more just1 and that it was not for him and his family to expire of famine for the sake of an old woman4 ,at all events1 the infinite justice we attribute to ,god can but little resemble the contradictory notions of justice of this woman and this savage2 and yet1 when we say that ,god is just1 we only pronounce these words agreeably to our own ideas of justice4 ,we know of nothing belonging to virtue more agreeable than frankness and cordiality1 but to attribute infinite frankness and cordiality to ,god would amount to an absurdity4 ,we have such confused notions of the attributes of the ,supreme ,being1 that some schools endow ,him with prescience1 an infinite foresight which excludes all contingent event1 while other schools contend for prescience without contingency4 ,lastly1 since the ,sorbonne has declared that ,god can make a stick divested of two ends1 and that the same thing can at once be and not be1 we know not what to say1 being in eternal fear of advancing a heresy4 ,one thing may1 however1 be asserted without danger--that ,god is infinite1 and man exceedingly bounded4 ,the mind of man is so extremely narrow1 that ,pascal has said3 ,do you believe it impossible for ,god to be infinite and without parts8 ,i wish to convince you of an existence infinite and indivisible--it is a mathematical point--moving everywhere with infinite swiftness1 for it is in all places1 and entire in every place4 ,nothing more absurd was ever asserted1 and yet it has been said by the author of the ,provincial ,letters4 ,it is sufficient to give men of sense the ague4 ,,influence4 ,everything around exercises some influence upon us1 either physically or morally4 ,with this truth we are well acquainted4 ,influence may be exerted upon a being without touching1 without moving that being4 ,in short1 matter has been demonstrated to possess the astonishing power of gravitating without contact1 of acting at immense distances4 ,one idea influences another2 a fact not less incomprehensible4 ,i have not with me at ,mount ,krapak the book entitled1 ,on the ,influence of the ,sun and ,moon1 composed by the celebrated physician ,mead2 but ,i well know that those two bodies are the cause of the tides2 and it is not in consequence of touching the waters of the ocean that they produce that flux and reflux3 it is demonstrated that they produce them by the laws of gravitation4 ,but when we are in a fever1 have the sun and moon any influence upon the accesses of it1 in its days of crisis8 ,is your wife constitutionally disordered only during the first quarter of the moon8 ,will the trees1 cut at the time of full moon1 rot sooner than if cut down in its wane8 ,not that ,i know4 ,but timber cut down while the sap is circulating in it1 undergoes putrefaction sooner than other timber2 and if by chance it is cut down at the full moon1 men will certainly say it was the full moon that caused all the evil4 ,your wife may have been disordered during the moon's growing2 but your neighbor's was so in its decline4 ,the fitful periods of the fever which you brought upon yourself by indulging too much in the pleasures of the table occur about the first quarter of the moon2 your neighbor experiences his in its decline4 ,everything that can possibly influence animals and vegetables must of course necessarily exercise that influence while the moon is making her circuit4 ,were a woman of ,lyons to remark that the periodical affections of her constitution had occurred in three or four successive instances on the day of the arrival of the diligence from ,paris1 would her medical attendant1 however devoted he might be to system1 think himself authorized in concluding that the ,paris diligence had some peculiar and marvellous influence on the lady's constitution8 ,there was a time when the inhabitants of every seaport were persuaded1 that no one would die while the tide was rising1 and that death always waited for its ebb4 ,many physicians possessed a store of strong reasons to explain this constant phenomenon4 ,the sea when rising communicates to human bodies the force or strength by which itself is raised4 ,it brings with it vivifying particles which reanimate all patients4 ,it is salt1 and salt preserves from the putrefaction attendant on death4 ,but when the sea sinks and retires1 everything sinks or retires with it2 nature languishes2 the patient is no longer vivified2 he departs with the tide4 ,the whole1 it must be admitted1 is most beautifully explained1 but the presumed fact1 unfortunately1 is after all untrue4 ,the various elements1 food1 watching1 sleep1 and the passions1 are constantly exerting on our frame their respective influences4 ,while these influences are thus severally operating on us1 the planets traverse their appropriate orbits1 and the stars shine with their usual brillancy4 ,but shall we really be so weak as to say that the progress and light of those heavenly bodies are the cause of our rheums and indigestion1 and sleeplessness2 of the ridiculous wrath we are in with some silly reasoner2 or of the passion with which we are enamored of some interesting woman8 ,but the gravitation of the sun and moon has made the earth in some degree flat at the pole1 and raises the sea twice between the tropics in four-and-twenty hours4 ,it may1 therefore1 regulate our fits of fever1 and govern our whole machine4 ,before1 however1 we assert this to be the case1 we should wait until we can prove it4 ,the sun acts strongly upon us by its rays1 which touch us1 and enter through our pores4 ,here is unquestionably a very decided and a very benignant influence4 ,we ought not1 ,i conceive1 in physics1 to admit of any action taking place without contact1 until we have discovered some well-recognized and ascertained power which acts at a distance1 like that of gravitation1 for example1 or like that of your thoughts over mine1 when you furnish me with ideas4 ,beyond these cases1 ,i at present perceive no influences but from matter in contact with matter4 ,the fish of my pond and myself exist each of us in our natural element4 ,the water which touches them from head to tail is continually acting upon them4 ,the atmosphere which surrounds and closes upon me acts upon me4 ,i ought not to attribute to the moon1 which is ninety thousand miles distant1 what ,i might naturally ascribe to something incessantly in contact with my skin4 ,this would be more unphilosophical than my considering the court of ,china responsible for a lawsuit that ,i was carrying on in ,france4 ,we should never seek at a distance for what is absolutely within our immediate reach4 ,i perceive that the learned and ingenious ,m4 ,menuret is of a different opinion in the ,encyclopdia under the article on ,influence4 ,this certainly excites in my mind considerable diffidence with respect to what ,i have just advanced4 ,the ,abb de ,st4 ,pierre used to say1 we should never maintain that we are absolutely in the right1 but should rather say1 such is my opinion for the present4 ,influence of the ,passions of ,mothers upon their ,ftus4 ,i think1 for the present1 that violent affections of pregnant women produce often a prodigious effect upon the embryo within them2 and ,i think that ,i shall always think so3 my reason is that ,i have actually seen this effect4 ,if ,i had no voucher of my opinion but the testimony of historians who relate the instance of ,mary ,stuart and her son ,james ,i41 ,i should suspend my judgment2 because between that event and myself1 a series of two hundred years has intervened1 a circumstance naturally tending to weaken belief2 and because ,i can ascribe the impression made upon the brain of ,james to other causes than the imagination of ,mary4 ,the royal assassins1 headed by her husband1 rush with drawn swords into the cabinet where she is supping in company with her favorite1 and kill him before her eyes2 the sudden convulsion experienced by her in the interior of her frame extends to her offspring2 and ,james ,i41 although not deficient in courage1 felt during his whole life an involuntary shuddering at the sight of a sword drawn from a scabbard4 ,it is1 however1 possible that this striking and peculiar agitation might be owing to a different cause4 ,there was once introduced1 in my presence1 into the court of a woman with child1 a showman who exhibited a little dancing dog with a kind of red bonnet on its head3 the woman called out to have the figure removed2 she declared that her child would be marked like it2 she wept2 and nothing could restore her confidence and peace4 ,this is the second time1 she said1 that such a misfortune has befallen me4 ,my first child bears the impression of a similar terror that ,i was exposed to2 ,i feel extremely weak4 ,i know that some misfortune will reach me4 ,she was but too correct in her prediction4 ,she was delivered of a child similar to the figure which had so terrified her4 ,the bonnet was particularly distinguishable4 ,the little creature lived two days4 ,in the time of ,malebranche no one entertained the slightest doubt of the adventure which he relates1 of the woman who1 after seeing a criminal racked1 was delivered of a son1 all whose limbs were broken in the same places in which the malefactor had received the blows of the executioner4 ,all the physicians at the time were agreed1 that the imagination had produced this fatal effect upon her offspring4 ,since that period1 mankind is believed to have refined and improved2 and the influence under consideration has been denied4 ,it has been asked1 in what way do you suppose that the affections of a mother should operate to derange the members of the ftus8 ,of that ,i know nothing2 but ,i have witnessed the fact4 ,you new-fangled philosophers inquire and study in vain how an infant is formed1 and yet require me to know how it becomes deformed4 ,,initiation4 ,ancient ,mysteries4 ,the origin of the ancient mysteries may1 with the greatest probability1 be ascribed to the same weakness which forms associations of brotherhood among ourselves1 and which established congregations under the direction of the ,jesuits4 ,it was probably this want of society which raised so many secret assemblies of artisans1 of which scarcely any now remain besides that of the ,freemasons4 ,even down to the very beggars themselves1 all had their societies1 their confraternities1 their mysteries1 and their particular jargon1 of which ,i have met with a small dictionary1 printed in the sixteenth century4 ,this natural inclination in men to associate1 to secure themselves1 to become distinguished above others1 and to acquire confidence in themselves1 may be considered as the generating cause of all those particular bonds or unions1 of all those mysterious initiations which afterwards excited so much attention and produced such striking effects1 and which at length sank into that oblivion in which everything is involved by time4 ,begging pardon1 while ,i say it1 of the gods ,cabri1 of the hierophants of ,samothrace1 of ,isis1 ,orpheus1 and the ,eleusinian ,ceres1 ,i must nevertheless acknowledge my suspicions that their sacred secrets were not in reality more deserving of curiosity than the interior of the convents of ,carmelites or ,capuchins4 ,these mysteries being sacred1 the participators in them soon became so4 ,and while the number of these was small1 the mystery was respected2 but at length1 having grown too numerous1 they retained no more consequence and consideration than we perceive to attach to ,german barons1 since the world became full of barons4 ,initiation was paid for1 as every candidate pays his admission fees or welcome1 but no member was allowed to talk for his money4 ,in all ages it was considered a great crime to reveal the secrets of these religious farces4 ,this secret was undoubtedly not worth knowing1 as the assembly was not a society of philosophers1 but of ignorant persons1 directed by a hierophant4 ,an oath of secrecy was administered1 and an oath was always regarded as a sacred bond4 ,even at the present day1 our comparatively pitiful society of ,freemasons swear never to speak of their mysteries4 ,these mysteries are stale and flat enough2 but men scarcely ever perjure themselves4 ,diagoras was proscribed by the ,athenians for having made the secret hymn of ,orpheus a subject for conversation4 ,aristotle informs us1 that schylus was in danger of being torn to pieces by the people1 or at least of being severely beaten by them1 for having1 in one of his dramas1 given some idea of those ,orphean mysteries in which nearly everybody was then initiated4 ,it appears that ,alexander did not pay the highest respect possible to these reverend fooleries2 they are indeed very apt to be despised by heroes4 ,he revealed the secret to his mother ,olympias1 but he advised her to say nothing about it--so much are even heroes themselves bound in the chains of superstition4 ,it is customary1 says ,herodotus1 in the city of ,rusiris1 to strike both men and women after the sacrifice1 but ,i am not permitted to say where they are struck4 ,he leaves it1 however1 to be very easily inferred4 ,i think ,i see a description of the mysteries of the ,eleusinian ,ceres1 in ,claudian's poem on the ,rape of ,proserpine1 much clearer than ,i can see any in the sixth book of the neid4 ,virgil lived under a prince who joined to all his other bad qualities that of wishing to pass for a religious character2 who was probably initiated in these mysteries himself1 the better to impose thereby upon the people2 and who would not have tolerated such a profanation4 ,you see his favorite ,horace regards such a revelation as sacrilege3-- 4444 ,vetabo qui ,cereris sacrum ,fulgarit arcan sub iisdem ,sit trabibus1 vel fragilem que mecum ,solvat phaselum4--,,horace1 book iii1 ode #b4 ,to silence due rewards we give2 ,and they who mysteries reveal ,beneath my roof shall never live1 ,shall never hoist with me the doubtful sail4 --,,francis4 ,besides1 the ,cuman sibyl and the descent into hell1 imitated from ,homer much less than it is embellished by ,virgil1 with the beautiful prediction of the destinies of the ,csars and the ,roman ,empire1 have no relation to the fables of ,ceres1 ,proserpine1 and ,triptolemus4 ,accordingly1 it is highly probable that the sixth book of the neid is not a description of those mysteries4 ,if ,i ever said the contrary1 ,i here unsay it2 but ,i conceive that ,claudian revealed them fully4 ,he flourished at a time when it was permitted to divulge the mysteries of ,eleusis1 and indeed all the mysteries of the world4 ,he lived under ,honorius1 in the total decline of the ancient ,greek and ,roman religion1 to which ,theodosius ,i4 had already given the mortal blow4 ,horace1 at that period1 would not have been at all afraid of living under the same roof with a revealer of mysteries4 ,claudian1 as a poet1 was of the ancient religion1 which was more adapted to poetry than the new4 ,he describes the droll absurdities of the mysteries of ,ceres1 as they were still performed with all becoming reverence in ,greece1 down to the time of ,theodosius ,,ii4 ,they formed a species of operatic pantomime1 of the same description as we have seen many very amusing ones1 in which were represented all the devilish tricks and conjurations of ,doctor ,faustus1 the birth of the world and of ,harlequin who both came from a large egg by the heat of the sun's rays4 ,just in the same manner1 the whole history of ,ceres and ,proserpine was represented by the mystagogues4 ,the spectacle was fine2 the cost must have been great2 and it is no matter of astonishment that the initiated should pay the performers4 ,all live by their respective occupations4 ,every mystery had its peculiar ceremonies2 but all admitted of wakes or vigils of which the youthful votaries fully availed themselves2 but it was this abuse in part which finally brought discredit upon those nocturnal ceremonies instituted for sanctification4 ,the ceremonies thus perverted to assignation and licentiousness were abolished in ,greece in the time of the ,peloponnesian war2 they were abolished at ,rome in the time of ,cicero's youth1 eighteen years before his consulship4 ,from the ,aulularia of ,plautus1 we are led to consider them as exhibiting scenes of gross debauchery1 and as highly injurious to public morals4 ,our religion1 which1 while it adopted1 greatly purified various pagan institutions1 sanctified the name of the initiated1 nocturnal feasts1 and vigils1 which were a long time in use1 but which at length it became necessary to prohibit when an administration of police was introduced into the government of the ,church1 so long entrusted to the piety and zeal that precluded the necessity of police4 ,the principal formula of all the mysteries1 in every place of their celebration1 was1 ,come out1 ye who are profane2 that is1 uninitiated4 ,accordingly1 in the first centuries1 the ,christians adopted a similar formula4 ,the deacon said1 ,come out1 all ye catechumens1 all ye who are possessed1 and who are uninitiated4 ,it is in speaking of the baptism of the dead that ,st4 ,chrysostom says1 ,i should be glad to explain myself clearly1 but ,i can do so only to the initiated4 ,we are in great embarrassment4 ,we must either speak unintelligibly1 or disclose secrets which we are bound to conceal4 ,it is impossible to describe more clearly the obligation of secrecy and the privilege of initiation4 ,all is now so completely changed1 that were you at present to talk about initiation to the greater part of your priests and parish officers1 there would not be one of them that would understand you1 unless by great chance he had read the chapter of ,chrysostom above noticed4 ,you will see in ,minutius ,felix the abominable imputations with which the pagans attacked the ,christian mysteries4 ,the initiated were reproached with treating each other as brethren and sisters1 solely with a view to profane that sacred name4 ,they kissed1 it was said1 particular parts of the persons of the priests1 as is still practised in respect to the santons of ,africa2 they stained themselves with all those pollutions which have since disgraced and stigmatized the templars4 ,both were accused of worshipping a kind of ass's head4 ,we have seen that the early ,christian societies ascribed to each other1 reciprocally1 the most inconceivable infamies4 ,the pretext for these calumnies was the inviolable secret which every society made of its mysteries4 ,it is upon this ground that in ,minutius ,felix1 ,cecilius1 the accuser of the ,christians1 exclaims3 ,why do they so carefully endeavor to conceal what they worship1 since what is decent and honorable always courts the light1 and crimes alone seek secrecy8 ,cur occultare et abscondere quidquid colunt magnopere nituntur8 ,quum honesta semper publico gaudeant1 scelera secreta sint4 ,it cannot be doubted that these accusations1 universally spread1 drew upon the ,christians more than one persecution4 ,whenever a society of men1 whatever they may be1 are accused by the public voice1 the falsehood of the charge is urged in vain1 and it is deemed meritorious to persecute them4 ,how could it easily be otherwise than that the first ,christians should be even held in horror1 when ,st4 ,epiphanius himself urges against them the most execrable imputations8 ,he asserts that the ,christian ,phibionites committed indecencies1 which he specifies1 of the grossest character2 and1 after passing through various scenes of pollution1 exclaimed each of them3 ,i am the ,christ4 ,according to the same writer1 the ,gnostics and the ,stratiotics equalled the ,phibionites in exhibitions of licentiousness1 and all three sects mingled horrid pollutions with their mysteries1 men and women displaying equal dissoluteness4 ,the ,carpocratians1 according to the same father of the ,church1 even exceeded the horrors and abominations of the three sects just mentioned4 ,the ,cerinthians did not abandon themselves to abominations such as these2 but they were persuaded that ,jesus ,christ was the son of ,joseph4 ,the ,ebionites1 in their gospel1 maintain that ,st4 ,paul1 being desirous of marrying the daughter of ,gamaliel1 and not able to obtain her1 became a ,christian1 and established ,christianity out of revenge4 ,all these accusations did not for some time reach the ear of the government4 ,the ,romans paid but little attention to the quarrels and mutual reproaches which occurred between these little societies of ,jews1 ,greeks1 and ,egyptians1 who were1 as it were1 hidden in the vast and general population2 just as in ,london1 in the present day1 the parliament does not embarrass or concern itself with the peculiar forms or transactions of ,mennonites1 ,pietists1 ,anabaptists1 ,millennarians1 ,moravians1 or ,methodists4 ,it is occupied with matters of urgency and importance1 and pays no attention to their mutual charges and recriminations till they become of importance from their publicity4 ,the charges above mentioned1 at length1 however1 came to the ears of the senate2 either from the ,jews1 who were implacable enemies of the ,christians1 or from ,christians themselves2 and hence it resulted that the crimes charged against some ,christian societies were imputed to all2 hence it resulted that their initiations were so long calumniated2 hence resulted the persecutions which they endured4 ,these persecutions1 however1 obliged them to greater circumspection2 they strengthened themselves1 they combined1 they disclosed their books only to the initiated4 ,no ,roman magistrate1 no emperor1 ever had the slightest knowledge of them1 as we have already shown4 ,providence increased1 during the course of three centuries1 both their number and their riches1 until at length1 ,constantius ,chlorus openly protected them1 and ,constantine1 his son1 embraced their religion4 ,in the meantime the names of initiated and mysteries still subsisted1 and they were concealed from the ,gentiles as much as was possible4 ,as to the mysteries of the ,gentiles1 they continued down to the time of ,theodosius4 ,,innocents4 ,of the ,massacre of the ,innocents4 ,when people speak of the massacre of the innocents1 they do not refer to the ,sicilian ,vespers1 nor to the matins of ,paris1 known under the name of ,st4 ,bartholomew2 nor to the inhabitants of the new world1 who were murdered because they were not ,christians1 nor to the auto-da-fs of ,spain and ,portugal1 etc4 ,they usually refer to the young children who were killed within the precincts of ,bethlehem1 by order of ,herod the ,great1 and who were afterwards carried to ,cologne1 where they are still to be found4 ,their number was maintained by the whole ,greek ,church to be fourteen thousand4 ,the difficulties raised by critics upon this point of history have been all solved by shrewd and learned commentators4 ,objections have been started in relation to the star which conducted the ,magi from the recesses of the ,east to ,jerusalem4 ,it has been said that the journey1 being a long one1 the star must have appeared for a long time above the horizon2 and yet that no historian besides ,st4 ,matthew ever took notice of this extraordinary star2 that if it had shone so long in the heavens1 ,herod and his whole court1 and all ,jerusalem1 must have seen it as well as these three ,magi1 or kings2 that ,herod consequently could not1 without absurdity1 have inquired diligently1 as ,matthew expresses it1 of these kings1 at what time they had seen the star2 that1 if these three kings had made presents of gold and myrrh and incense to the new-born infant1 his parents must have been very rich2 that ,herod could certainly never believe that this infant1 born in a stable at ,bethlehem1 would be king of the ,jews1 as the kingdom of ,juda belonged to the ,romans1 and was a gift from ,csar2 that if three kings of the ,indies were1 at the present day1 to come to ,france under the guidance of a star1 and stop at the house of a woman of ,vaugirard1 no one could ever make the reigning monarch believe that the child of that poor woman would become king of ,france4 ,a satisfactory answer has been given to these difficulties1 which may be considered preliminary ones1 attending the subject of the massacre of the innocents2 and it has been shown that what is impossible with man is not impossible with ,god4 ,with respect to the slaughter of the little children1 whether the number was fourteen thousand1 or greater1 or less1 it has been shown that this horrible and unprecedented cruelty was not absolutely incompatible with the character of ,herod2 that1 after being established as king of ,juda by ,augustus1 he could not indeed fear anything from the child of obscure and poor parents1 residing in a petty village2 but that laboring at that time under the disorder of which he at length died1 his blood might have become so corrupt that he might in consequence have lost both reason and humanity2 that1 in short1 all these incomprehensible events1 which prepared the way for mysteries still more incomprehensible1 were directed by an inscrutable ,providence4 ,it is objected that the historian ,josephus1 who was nearly contemporary1 and who has related all the cruelties of ,herod1 has made no more mention of the massacre of the young children than of the star of the three kings2 that neither the ,jew ,philo1 nor any other ,jew1 nor any ,roman takes any notice of it2 and even that three of the evangelists have observed a profound silence upon these important subjects4 ,it is replied that they are nevertheless announced by ,st4 ,matthew1 and that the testimony of one inspired man is of more weight than the silence of all the world4 ,the critics1 however1 have not surrendered2 they have dared to censure ,st4 ,matthew himself for saying that these children were massacred1 that the words of ,jeremiah might be fulfilled4 ,a voice is heard in ,ramah1 a voice of groaning and lamentation4 ,rachel weeping for her children1 and refusing to be comforted1 because they are no more4 ,these historical words1 they observe1 were literally fulfilled in the tribe of ,benjamin1 which descended from ,rachel1 when ,nabuzaradan destroyed a part of that tribe near the city of ,ramah4 ,it was no longer a prediction1 they say1 any more than were the words ,he shall be called a ,nazarene4 ,and ,he came to dwell in a city called ,nazareth1 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets4 ,he shall be called a ,nazarene4 ,they triumph in the circumstance that these words are not to be found in any one of the prophets2 just as they do in the idea that ,rachel weeping for the ,benjamites at ,ramah has no reference whatever to the massacre of the innocents by ,herod4 ,they dare even to urge that these two allusions1 being clearly false1 are a manifest proof of the falsehood of this narrative2 and conclude that the massacre of the children1 and the new star1 and the journey of the three kings1 never had the slightest foundation in fact4 ,they even go much further yet2 they think they find as palpable a contradiction between the narrative of ,st4 ,matthew and that of ,st4 ,luke1 as between the two genealogies adduced by them4 ,st4 ,matthew says that ,joseph and ,mary carried ,jesus into ,egypt1 fearing that he would be involved in the massacre4 ,st4 ,luke1 on the contrary1 says1 ,after having fulfilled all the ceremonies of the law1 ,joseph and ,mary returned to ,nazareth1 their city1 and went every year to ,jerusalem1 to keep the ,passover4 ,but thirty days must have expired before a woman could have completed her purification from childbirth and fulfilled all the ceremonies of the law4 ,during these thirty days1 therefore1 the child must have been exposed to destruction by the general proscription4 ,and if his parents went to ,jerusalem to accomplish the ordinance of the law1 they certainly did not go to ,egypt4 ,these are the principal objections of unbelievers4 ,they are effectually refuted by the faith both of the ,greek and ,latin churches4 ,if it were necessary always to be clearing up the doubts of persons who read the ,scriptures1 we must inevitably pass our whole lives in disputing about all the articles contained in them4 ,let us rather refer ourselves to our worthy superiors and masters2 to the university of ,salamanca when in ,spain1 to the ,sorbonne in ,france1 and to the holy congregation at ,rome4 ,let us submit both in heart and in understanding to that which is required of us for our good4 ,,inquisition4 ,,section ,i4 ,the ,inquisition is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction1 established by the see of ,rome in ,italy1 ,spain1 ,portugal1 and even in the ,indies1 for the purpose of searching out and extirpating infidels1 ,jews1 and heretics4 ,that we may not be suspected of resorting to falsehood in order to render this tribunal odious1 we shall in this present article give the abstract of a ,latin work on the ,origin and ,progress of the ,office of the ,holy ,inquisition1 printed by the royal press at ,madrid in #aehi1 by order of ,louis de ,paramo1 inquisitor in the kingdom of ,sicily4 ,without going back to the origin of the ,inquisition1 which ,paramo thinks he discovers in the manner in which ,god is related to have proceeded against ,adam and ,eve1 let us abide by the new law of which ,jesus ,christ1 according to him1 was the chief inquisitor4 ,he exercised the functions of that office on the thirteenth day after his birth1 by announcing to the city of ,jerusalem1 through the three kings or ,magi1 his appearance in the world1 and afterwards by causing ,herod to be devoured alive by worms2 by driving the buyers and sellers out of the temple2 and finally1 by delivering ,juda into the hands of tyrants1 who pillaged it in punishment of its unbelief4 ,after ,jesus ,christ1 ,st4 ,peter1 ,st4 ,paul1 and the rest of the apostles exercised the office of inquisitor1 which they transmitted to the popes and bishops1 and their successors4 ,st4 ,dominic having arrived in ,france with the bishop of ,osma1 of which he was archdeacon1 became animated with zeal against the ,albigenses1 and obtained the regard and favor of ,simon1 ,count de ,montfort4 ,having been appointed by the pope inquisitor in ,languedoc1 he there founded his order1 which was approved of and ratified1 in #abaf1 by ,honorius ,,iii4 ,under the auspices of ,st4 ,madelaine1 ,count ,montfort took the city of ,gezer by assault1 and put all the inhabitants to the sword2 and at ,laval1 four hundred ,albigenses were burned at once4 ,in all the histories of the ,inquisition that ,i ever read1 says ,paramo1 ,i never met with an act of faith so eminent1 or a spectacle so solemn4 ,at the village of ,cazera1 sixty were burned2 and in another place a hundred and eighty4 ,the ,inquisition was adopted by the count of ,toulouse in #abbi1 and confided to the ,dominicans by ,pope ,gregory ,,ix4 in #abcc2 ,innocent ,,iv4 in #abea established it in the whole of ,italy1 with the exception of ,naples4 ,at the commencement1 indeed1 heretics were not subjected in the ,milanese to the punishment of death1 which they nevertheless so richly deserved1 because the popes were not sufficiently respected by the emperor ,frederick1 to whom that state belonged2 but a short time afterwards heretics were burned at ,milan1 as well as in the other parts of ,italy2 and our author remarks1 that in #acae some thousands of heretics having spread themselves through ,cremasco1 a small territory included in the jurisdiction of the ,milanese1 the ,dominican brothers burned the greater part of them2 and thus checked the ravages of the theological pestilence by the flames4 ,as the first canon of the ,council of ,toulouse enjoined the bishops to appoint in every parish a priest and two or three laymen of reputation1 who should be bound by oath to search carefully and frequently for heretics1 in houses1 caves1 and all places wherever they might be able to hide themselves1 and to give the speediest information to the bishop1 the seigneur of the place1 or his bailiff1 after having taken all necessary precautions against the escape of any heretics discovered1 the inquisitors must have acted at this time in concert with the bishops4 ,the prisons of the bishop and of the ,inquisition were frequently the same2 and1 although in the course of the procedure the inquisitor might act in his own name1 he could not1 without the intervention of the bishop1 apply the torture1 pronounce any definitive sentence1 or condemn to perpetual imprisonment1 etc4 ,the frequent disputes that occurred between the bishops and the inquisitors1 on the limits of their authority1 on the spoils of the condemned1 etc41 compelled ,pope ,sixtus ,,iv41 in #adgc1 to make the ,inquisitions independent and separate from the tribunals of the bishops4 ,he created for ,spain an ,inquisitor-general1 with full powers to nominate particular inquisitors2 and ,ferdinand ,v41 in #adgh1 founded and endowed the ,inquisition4 ,at the solicitation of ,turrecremata 7or ,torquemada71 a brother of the ,dominican order1 and grand inquisitor of ,spain1 the same ,ferdinand1 surnamed the ,catholic1 banished from his kingdom all the ,jews1 allowing them three months from the publication of his edict1 after the expiration of which period they were not to be found in any of the ,spanish dominions under pain of death4 ,they were permitted1 on quitting the kingdom1 to take with them the goods and merchandise which they had purchased1 but forbidden to take out of it any description of gold or silver4 ,the brother ,turrecremata followed up and strengthened this edict1 in the diocese of ,toledo1 by prohibiting all ,christians1 under pain of excommunication1 from giving anything whatever to the ,jews1 even that which might be necessary to preserve life itself4 ,in consequence of these decrees about a million ,jews departed from ,catalonia1 the kingdom of ,aragon1 that of ,valencia1 and other countries subject to the dominion of ,ferdinand2 the greater part of whom perished miserably2 so that they compare the calamities that they suffered during this period to those they experienced under ,titus and ,vespasian4 ,this expulsion of the ,jews gave incredible joy to all ,catholic sovereigns4 ,some divines blamed these edicts of the king of ,spain2 their principal reasons are that unbelievers ought not to be constrained to embrace the faith of ,jesus ,christ1 and that these violences are a disgrace to our religion4 ,but these arguments are very weak1 and ,i contend1 says ,paramo1 that the edict is pious1 just1 and praiseworthy1 as the violence with which the ,jews are required to be converted is not an absolute but a conditional violence1 since they might avoid it by quitting their country4 ,besides1 they might corrupt those of the ,jews who were newly converted1 and even ,christians themselves2 but1 as ,st4 ,paul says1 what communion is there between justice and iniquity1 light and darkness1 ,jesus ,christ and ,belial8 ,with respect to the confiscation of their goods1 nothing could be more equitable1 as they had acquired them only by usury towards ,christians1 who only received back1 therefore1 what was in fact their own4 ,in short1 by the death of our ,lord1 the ,jews became slaves1 and everything that a slave possesses belongs to his master4 ,we could not but suspend our narrative for a moment to make these remarks1 in opposition to persons who have thus calumniated the piety1 the spotless justice1 and the sanctity of the ,catholic king4 ,at ,seville1 where an example of severity to the ,jews was ardently desired1 it was the holy will of ,god1 who knows how to draw good out of evil1 that a young man who was in waiting in consequence of an assignation1 should see through the chinks of a partition an assembly of ,jews1 and in consequence inform against them4 ,a great number of the unhappy wretches were apprehended1 and punished as they deserved4 ,by virtue of different edicts of the kings of ,spain1 and of the inquisitors1 general and particular1 established in that kingdom1 there were1 in a very short time1 about two thousand heretics burned at ,seville1 and more than four thousand from #adhb to #aebj4 ,a vast number of others were condemned to perpetual imprisonment1 or exposed to inflictions of different descriptions4 ,the emigration from it was so great that five hundred houses were supposed to be left in consequence quite empty1 and in the whole diocese1 three thousand2 and altogether more than a hundred thousand heretics were put to death1 or punished in some other manner1 or went into banishment to avoid severer suffering4 ,such was the destruction of heretics accomplished by these pious brethren4 ,the establishment of the ,inquisition at ,toledo was a fruitful source of revenue to the ,catholic ,church4 ,in the short space of two years it actually burned at the stake fifty-two obstinate heretics1 and two hundred and twenty more were outlawed2 whence we may easily conjecture of what utility the ,inquisition has been from its original establishment1 since in so short a period it performed such wonders4 ,from the beginning of the fifteenth century1 ,pope ,boniface ,,ix4 attempted in vain to establish the ,inquisition in ,portugal1 where he created the provincial of the ,dominicans1 ,vincent de ,lisbon1 inquisitor-general4 ,innocent ,,vii41 some years after1 having named as inquisitor the ,minim ,didacus de ,sylva1 ,king ,john ,i4 wrote to that pope that the establishment of the ,inquisition in his kingdom was contrary to the good of his subjects1 to his own interests1 and perhaps also to the interests of religion4 ,the pope1 affected by the representations of a too mild and easy monarch1 revoked all the powers granted to the inquisitors newly established1 and authorized ,mark1 bishop of ,senigaglia1 to absolve the persons accused2 which he accordingly did4 ,those who had been deprived of their dignities and offices were re-established in them1 and many were delivered from the fear of the confiscation of their property4 ,but how admirable1 continues ,paramo1 is the ,lord in all his ways6 ,that which the sovereign pontiffs had been unable effectually to obtain with all their urgency1 ,king ,john granted spontaneously to a dexterous impostor1 whom ,god made use of as an instrument for accomplishing the good work4 ,in fact1 the wicked are frequently useful instruments in ,god's hands1 and he does not reject the good they bring about4 ,thus1 when ,john remarks to our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 ,lord1 we saw one who was not ,thy disciple casting out demons in ,thy name1 and we prevented him from doing so1 ,jesus answered him1 ,prevent him not2 for he who works miracles in ,my name will not speak ill of ,me2 and he who is not against ,me is for ,me4 ,paramo relates afterwards that he saw in the library of ,st4 ,laurence1 at the ,escorial1 a manuscript in the handwriting of ,saavedra1 in which that knave details his fabrication of a false bull1 and obtaining thereby his entre into ,seville as legate1 with a train of a hundred and twenty domestics2 his defrauding of thirteen thousand ducats the heirs of a rich nobleman in that neighborhood1 during his twenty days' residence in the palace of the archbishop1 by producing a counterfeit bond for the same sum1 which the nobleman acknowledged1 in that instrument1 to have borrowed of the legate when he visited ,rome2 and finally1 after his arrival at ,badajoz1 the permission granted him by ,king ,john ,,iii41 to whom he was presented by means of forged letters of the pope1 to establish tribunals of the ,inquisition in the principal cities of the kingdom4 ,these tribunals began immediately to exercise their jurisdiction2 and a vast number of condemnations and executions of relapsed heretics took place1 as also of absolutions of recanting and penitent heretics4 ,six months had passed in this manner1 when the truth was made apparent of that expression in the ,gospel1 ,there is nothing hid which shall not be made known4 ,the ,marquis de ,villeneuve de ,barcarotta1 a ,spanish nobleman1 assisted by the governor of ,mora1 had the impostor apprehended and conducted to ,madrid4 ,he was there carried before ,john de ,tavera1 archbishop of ,toledo4 ,that prelate1 perfectly astonished at all that now transpired of the knavery and address of the false legate1 despatched all the depositions and documents relative to the case to ,pope ,paul ,,iii42 as he did also the acts of the inquisitions which ,saavedra had established1 and by which it appeared that a great number of heretics had already been judged and condemned1 and that the impostor had extorted from his victims more than three hundred thousand ducats4 ,the pope could not help acknowledging in this the finger of ,god and a miracle of ,his providence2 he accordingly formed the congregation of the tribunal of the ,inquisition1 under the denomination of ,the ,holy ,office1 in #aede1 and ,sixtus ,v4 confirmed it in #aehh4 ,all writers but one agree with ,paramo on the subject of the establishment of the ,inquisition in ,portugal4 ,antoine de ,sousa alone1 in his ,aphorisms of ,inquisitors1 calls the history of ,saavedra in question1 under the pretence that he may very easily be conceived to have accused himself without being in fact guilty1 in consideration of the glory which would redound to him from the event1 and in the hope of living in the memory of mankind4 ,but ,sousa1 in the very narrative which he substitutes for that of ,paramo1 exposes himself to the suspicion of bad faith1 in citing two bulls of ,paul ,,iii41 and two others from the same pope to ,cardinal ,henry1 the king's brother2 bulls which ,sousa has not introduced into his printed work1 and which are not to be found in any collection of apostolical bulls extant2 two decisive reasons for rejecting his opinion1 and adhering to that of ,paramo1 ,hiescas1 ,salasar1 ,mendoa1 ,fernandez1 and ,placentinus4 ,when the ,spaniards passed over to ,america they carried the ,inquisition with them2 the ,portuguese introduced it in the ,indies1 immediately upon its being established at ,lisbon1 which led to the observation which ,louis de ,paramo makes in his preface1 that this flourishing and verdant tree had extended its branches and its roots throughout the world1 and produced the most pleasant fruits4 ,in order to form some correct idea of the jurisprudence of the ,inquisition1 and the forms of its proceedings1 unknown to civil tribunals1 let us take a cursory view of the ,directory of ,inquisitors1 which ,nicolas ,eymeric1 grand inquisitor of the kingdom of ,aragon about the middle of the fourteenth century1 composed in ,latin1 and addressed to his brother inquisitors1 in virtue of the authority of his office4 ,a short time after the invention of printing1 an edition of this work was printed at ,barcelona1 and soon conveyed to all the inquisitions in the ,christian world4 ,a second edition appeared at ,rome in #aegh1 in folio1 with scholia and commentaries by ,francois ,pegna1 doctor in theology and canonist4 ,the following eulogium on the work is given by the editor in an epistle dedicatory to ,gregory ,,xiii43 ,while ,christian princes are everywhere engaged in combating with arms the enemies of the ,catholic religion1 and pouring out the blood of their soldiers to support the unity of the ,church and the authority of the apostolic see1 there are also zealous and devoted writers1 who toil in obscurity1 either to refute the opinions of innovators or to arm and direct the power of the laws against their persons1 in order that the severity of punishments1 and the solemnity and torture attending executions1 keeping them within the bounds of duty1 may produce that effect upon them which cannot be produced in them by the love of virtue4 ,although ,i fill only the lowest place among these defenders of religion1 ,i am nevertheless animated with the same zeal for repressing the impious audacity and horrible depravity of the broachers of innovation4 ,the labor which ,i here present to you on the ',directory of ,inquisitions1' will be a proof of my assertion4 ,this work of ,nicolas ,eymeric1 respectable for its antiquity1 contains a summary of the principal articles of faith1 and an elaborate and methodical code of instruction for the tribunals of the ,holy ,inquisition1 on the means which they ought to employ for the repression and extirpation of heretics2 on which account ,i felt it my duty to offer it in homage to your holiness1 as the chief of the ,christian republic4 ,he declares1 elsewhere1 that he had it reprinted for the instruction of inquisitors2 that the work is as much to be admired as respected1 and teaches with equal piety and learning the proper means of repressing and exterminating heretics4 ,he acknowledges1 however1 that he is in possession of other useful and judicious methods1 for which he refers to practice1 which will instruct much more effectually than any lessons1 and that he more readily thus silently refers to practice1 as there are certain matters relating to the subject which it is of importance not to divulge1 and which1 at the same time1 are generally well known to inquisitors4 ,he cites a vast number of writers1 all of whom have followed the doctrine of the ,directory2 and he even complains that many have availed themselves of it without ascribing any honor to ,eymeric for the good things they have in fact stolen from him4 ,we will secure ourselves from any reproach of this description1 by pointing out exactly what we mean to borrow both from the author and the editor4 ,eymeric says1 in the fifty-eighth page1 ,commiseration for the children of the criminal1 who by the severity used towards him are reduced to beggary1 should never be permitted to mitigate that severity1 since both by divine and human laws children are punished for the faults of their fathers4 ,page #abc4 ,if a charge entered for prosecution were destitute of every appearance of truth1 the inquisitor should not on that account expunge it from his register1 because what at one period has not been discovered1 may be so at another4 ,page #bia4 ,it is necessary for the inquisitor to oppose cunning and stratagem to those employed by heretics1 that he may thus pay the offenders in their own coin1 and be enabled to adopt the language of the apostle1 ',being crafty1 ,i caught you with guile4' ,page #bif4 ,the information and depositions 7procs-verbal7 may be read over to the accused1 completely suppressing the names of the accusers2 and then it is for him to conjecture who the persons are that have brought against him any particular charges1 to challenge them as incompetent witnesses1 or to weaken their testimony by contrary evidence4 ,this is the method generally used4 ,the accused must not be permitted to imagine that challenges of witnesses will be easily allowed in cases of heresy1 for it is of no consequence whether witnesses are respectable or infamous1 accomplices in the prisoner's offence1 excommunicated1 heretical1 or in any manner whatever guilty1 or perjured1 etc4 ,this has been so ruled in favor of the faith4 ,page #bjb4 ,the appeal which a prisoner makes from the ,inquisition does not preclude that tribunal from trial and sentence of him upon other heads of accusation4 ,page #cac4 ,although the form of the order for applying the torture may suppose variation in the answers of the accused1 and also in addition sufficient presumptive evidence against him for putting him to the question2 both these circumstances are not necessary1 and either will be sufficient for the purpose without the other4 ,pegna informs us1 in the hundred and eighteenth scholium on the third book1 that inquisitors generally employ only five kinds of torture when putting to the question1 although ,marsilius mentions fifteen kinds1 and adds1 that he has imagined others still--such1 for example1 as precluding the possibility of sleep1 in which he is approved by ,grillandus and ,locatus4 ,eymeric continues1 page #cai3 ,care should be taken never to state in the form of absolution1 that the prisoner is innocent1 but merely that there was not sufficient evidence against him2 a precaution necessary to prevent the prisoner1 absolved in one case1 from pleading that absolution in defence against any future charge that may be brought against him4 ,page #cbd4 ,sometimes abjuration and canonical purgation are prescribed together4 ,this is done1 when1 to a bad reputation of an individual in point of doctrine are joined inconsiderable presumptions1 which1 were they a little stronger1 would tend to convict him of having really said or done something injurious to the faith4 ,the prisoner who stands in these circumstances is compelled to abjure all heresy in general2 and after that1 if he falls into any heresy of any description whatever1 however different from those which may have constituted the matter of the present charge or suspicion against him1 he is punished as a relapsed person1 and delivered over to the secular arm4 ,page #cca4 ,relapsed persons1 when the relapse is clearly proved1 must be delivered up to secular justice1 whatever protestation they may make as to their future conduct1 and whatever contrition they may express4 ,the inquisitor will1 in such circumstances1 inform the secular authorities1 that on such a particular day and hour1 and in such a particular place1 a heretic will be delivered up to them and should provide that notice be given to the public that they will be expected to be present at the ceremony1 as the inquisitor will deliver a sermon on the occasion in defence of the true faith1 and those who attend will obtain the usual indulgences4 ,these indulgences are accordingly detailed3 after the form of sentence given against the penitent heretic1 the inquisitor will grant forty days' indulgence to all persons present2 three years to those who contributed to the apprehension1 abjuration1 condemnation1 etc41 of the said heretic2 and finally1 three years also will be granted by our holy father1 the pope1 to all who will denounce any other heretic4 ,page #ccb4 ,when the culprit has been delivered over to the secular authority1 it shall pronounce its sentence1 and the criminal shall be conveyed to the place of punishment2 some pious persons shall accompany him1 and associate him in their prayers1 and even pray with him2 and not leave him till he has rendered up his soul to his ,creator4 ,but it is their duty to take particular care neither to say or to do anything which may hasten the moment of his death1 for fear of falling into some irregularity4 ,accordingly1 they should not exhort the criminal to mount the scaffold1 or present himself to the executioner1 or advise the executioner to get ready and arrange his instruments of punishment1 so that the death may take place more quickly1 and the prisoner be prevented from lingering2 all for the sake of avoiding irregularity4 ,page #cce4 ,should it happen that the heretic1 when just about to be fixed to the stake to be burned1 were to give signs of conversion1 he might1 perhaps1 out of singular lenity and favor1 be allowed to be received and shut up1 like penitent heretics1 within four walls1 although it would be weak to place much reliance on a confession of this nature1 and the indulgence is not authorized by any express law2 such lenity1 however1 is very dangerous4 ,i was witness of an example in point at ,barcelona3 ,a priest who was condemned1 with two other impenitent heretics1 to be burned1 and who was actually in the midst of the flames1 called on the bystanders to pull him out instantly1 for he was willing to be converted2 he was accordingly extricated1 dreadfully scorched on one side4 ,i do not mean to decide whether this was well or ill done2 but ,i know that1 fourteen years afterwards1 he was still dogmatizing1 and had corrupted a considerable number of persons2 he was therefore once more given up to justice1 and was burned to death4 ,no person doubts1 says ,pegna1 scholium #dg1 that heretics ought to be put to death2 but the particular method of execution may well be a topic of discussion4 ,alphonso de ,castro1 in the second book of his work1 ,on the ,just ,punishment of ,heretics1 considers it a matter of great indifference whether they are destroyed by the sword1 by fire1 or any other method2 but ,hostiensis ,godofredus1 ,covarruvias1 ,simancas1 ,roxas1 etc41 maintain that they ought decidedly to be burned4 ,in fact1 as ,hostiensis very well expressed it1 execution by fire is the punishment appropriate to heresy4 ,we read in ,st4 ,john1 ,if any one remain not in me1 he shall be cast forth1 as a branch1 and wither1 and men shall gather it and cast it into the fire and burn it4 ,it may be added1 continued ',pegna1 that the universal custom of the ,christian republic is in support of this opinion4 ,simancas and ,roxas decide that heretics ought to be burned alive2 but one precaution should always be taken in burning them1 which is tearing out the tongue and keeping the mouth perfectly closed1 in order to prevent their scandalizing the spectators by their impieties4 ,finally1 page #cfi1 ,eymeric enjoins those whom he addresses to proceed in matters of heresy straight forward1 without any wranglings of advocates1 and without so many forms and solemnities as are generally employed in criminal cases2 that is1 to make the process as short as possible1 by cutting off useless delays1 by going on with the hearing and trial of such causes1 even on days when the labors of the other judges are suspended2 by disallowing every appeal which has for its apparent object merely a postponement of final judgment2 and by not admitting an unnecessary multitude of witnesses1 etc4 ,this revolting system of jurisprudence has simply been put under some restriction in ,spain and ,portugal2 while at ,milan the ,inquisition itself has at length been entirely suppressed4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,the ,inquisition is well known to be an admirable and truly ,christian invention for increasing the power of the pope and monks1 and rendering the population of a whole kingdom hypocrites4 ,st4 ,dominic is usually considered as the person to whom the world is principally indebted for this institution4 ,in fact1 we have still extant a patent granted by that great saint1 expressed precisely in the following words3 ,i1 brother ,dominic1 reconcile to the ,church ,roger1 the bearer of these presents1 on condition of his being scourged by a priest on three successive ,sundays from the entrance of the city to the church doors2 of his abstaining from meat all his life2 of his fasting for the space of three ,lents in a year2 of his never drinking wine2 of his carrying about him the 'san benito' with crosses2 of his reciting the breviary every day1 and ten paternosters in the course of the day1 and twenty at midnight2 of his preserving perfect chastity1 and of his presenting himself every month before the parish priest1 etc42 the whole under pain of being treated as heretical1 perjured1 and impenitent4 ,although ,dominic was the real founder of the ,inquisition1 yet ,louis de ,paramo1 one of the most respectable writers and most brilliant luminaries of the ,holy ,office1 relates1 in the second chapter of his second book1 that ,god was the first institutor of the ,holy ,office1 and that he exercised the power of the preaching brethren1 that is of the ,dominican ,order1 against ,adam4 ,in the first place ,adam is cited before the tribunal3 ,adam ubi es8--,adam1 where art thou8 ,and in fact1 adds ,paramo1 the want of this citation would have rendered the whole procedure of ,god null4 ,the dresses formed of skins1 which ,god made for ,adam and ,eve1 were the model of the san benito1 which the ,holy ,office requires to be worn by heretics4 ,it is true that1 according to this argument1 ,god was the first tailor2 it is not1 however1 the less evident1 on account of that ludicrous and profane inference1 that he was the first inquisitor4 ,adam was deprived of the immovable property he possessed in the terrestrial paradise1 and hence the ,holy ,office confiscates the property of all whom it condemns4 ,louis de ,paramo remarks1 that the inhabitants of ,sodom were burned as heretics because their crime is a formal heresy4 ,he thence passes to the history of the ,jews3 and in every part of it discovers the ,holy ,office4 ,jesus ,christ is the first inquisitor of the new law2 the popes were inquisitors by divine right2 and they afterwards communicated their power to ,st4 ,dominic4 ,he afterwards estimates the number of all those whom the ,inquisition has put to death2 he states it to be considerably above a hundred thousand4 ,his book was printed in #aehi1 at ,madrid1 with the approbation of doctors1 the eulogiums of bishops1 and the privilege of the king4 ,we can1 at the present day1 scarcely form any idea of horrors at once so extravagant and abominable2 but at that period nothing appeared more natural and edifying4 ,all men resemble ,louis de ,paramo when they are fanatics4 ,paramo was a plain1 direct man1 very exact in dates1 omitting no interesting fact1 and calculating with precision the number of human victims immolated by the ,holy ,office throughout the world4 ,he relates1 with great navet1 the establishment of the ,inquisition in ,portugal1 and coincides perfectly with four other historians who have treated of that subject4 ,the following account they unanimously agree in3 ,singular4 ,establishment of the ,inquisition in ,portugal4 ,pope ,boniface had long before1 at the beginning of the fifteenth century1 delegated some ,dominican friars to go to ,portugal1 from one city to another1 to burn heretics1 ,mussulmans1 and ,jews2 but these were itinerant and not stationary2 and even the kings sometimes complained of the vexations caused by them4 ,pope ,clement ,,vii4 was desirous of giving them a fixed residence in ,portugal1 as they had in ,aragon and ,castile4 ,difficulties1 however1 arose between the court of ,rome and that of ,lisbon2 tempers became irritated1 the ,inquisition suffered by it1 and was far from being perfectly established4 ,in #aeci1 there appeared at ,lisbon a legate of the pope1 who came1 he said1 to establish the holy ,inquisition on immovable foundations4 ,he delivered his letters to ,king ,john ,,iii4 from ,pope ,paul ,,iii4 ,he had other letters from ,rome for the chief officers of the court2 his patents as legate were duly sealed and signed2 and he exhibited the most ample powers for creating a grand inquisitor and all the judges of the ,holy ,office4 ,he was1 however1 in fact an impostor of the name of ,saavedra1 who had the talent of counterfeiting hand-writings1 seals1 and coats-of-arms4 ,he had acquired the art at ,rome1 and was perfected in it at ,seville1 at which place he arrived in company with two other sharpers4 ,his train was magnificent1 consisting of more than a hundred and twenty domestics4 ,to defray1 at least in part1 the enormous expense with which all this splendor was attended1 he and his associates borrowed at ,seville large sums in the name of the apostolic chamber of ,rome2 everything was concerted with the most consummate art4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,establishment ,,of ,,the ,,inquisition ,,in ,,portugal ,the king of ,portugal was at first perfectly astonished at the pope's despatching a legate to him without any previous announcement to him of his intention4 ,the legate hastily observed that in a concern so urgent as that of establishing the ,inquisition on a firm foundation1 his holiness could admit of no delays1 and that the king might consider himself honored by the holy father's having appointed a legate to be the first person to announce his intention4 ,the king did not venture to reply4 ,the legate on the same day constituted a grand inquisitor1 and sent about collectors to receive the tenths2 and before the court could obtain answers from ,rome to its representations on the subject1 the legate had brought two hundred victims to the stake1 and collected more than two hundred thousand crowns4 ,however1 the marquis of ,villanova1 a ,spanish nobleman1 of whom the legate had borrowed at ,seville a very considerable sum upon forged bills1 determined1 if possible1 to repay himself the money with his own hands1 instead of going to ,lisbon and exposing himself to the intrigues and influence of the swindler there4 ,the legate was at this time making his circuit through the country1 and happened very conveniently to be on the borders of ,spain4 ,the marquis unexpectedly advanced upon him with fifty men well armed1 carried him off prisoner1 and conducted him to ,madrid4 ,the whole imposture was speedily discovered at ,lisbon2 the ,council of ,madrid condemned the legate ,saavedra to be flogged and sent to the galleys for ten years2 but the most admirable circumstance was1 that ,pope ,paul ,,iv4 confirmed subsequently all that the impostor had established2 out of the plenitude of his divine power he rectified all the little irregularities of the various procedures1 and rendered sacred what before was merely human4 ,of what importance the arm which ,god employs in ,his sacred service8--,qu'importe de quel bras ,dieu daigne se servir8 ,such was the manner in which the ,inquisition became established at ,lisbon2 and the whole kingdom extolled the wisdom and providence of ,god on the occasion4 ,to conclude1 the methods of procedure adopted by this tribunal are generally known2 it is well known how strongly they are opposed to the false equity and blind reason of all other tribunals in the world4 ,men are imprisoned on the mere accusation of persons the most infamous2 a son may denounce his father1 and the wife her husband2 the accused is never confronted with the accusers2 and the property of the person convicted is confiscated for the benefit of the judges3 such at least was the manner of its proceeding down to our own times4 ,surely in this we must perceive something decidedly divine2 for it is absolutely incomprehensible that men should have patiently submitted to this yoke4 ,at length ,count ,aranda has obtained the blessings of all ,europe by paring the nails and filing the teeth of the monster in ,spain2 it breathes1 however1 still4 ,,instinct4 ,instinctus1 impulsus1 impulse2 but what power impels us8 ,all feeling is instinct4 ,a secret conformity of our organs to their respective objects forms our instinct4 ,it is solely by instinct that we perform numberless involuntary movements1 just as it is by instinct that we possess curiosity1 that we run after novelty1 that menaces terrify us1 that contempt irritates us1 that an air of submission appeases us1 and that tears soften us4 ,we are governed by instinct1 as well as cats and goats2 this is one further circumstance in which we resemble the mere animal tribes--a resemblance as incontestable as that of our blood1 our necessities1 and the various functions of our bodies4 ,our instinct is never so shrewd and skilful as theirs1 and does not even approach it2 a calf and a lamb1 as soon as they are born1 rush to the fountain of their mother's milk2 but unless the mother of the infant clasped it in her arms1 and folded it to her bosom1 it would inevitably perish4 ,no woman in a state of pregnancy was ever invincibly impelled to prepare for her infant a convenient wicker cradle1 as the wren with its bill and claws prepares a nest for her offspring4 ,but the power of reflection which we possess1 in conjunction with two industrious hands presented to us by nature1 raises us to an equality with the instinct of animals1 and in the course of time places us infinitely above them1 both in respect to good and evil--a proposition condemned by the members of the ancient parliament and by the ,sorbonne1 natural philosophers of distinguished eminence1 and who1 it is well known1 have admirably promoted the perfection of the arts4 ,our instinct1 in the first place1 impels us to beat our brother when he vexes us1 if we are roused into a passion with him and feel that we are stronger than he is4 ,afterwards1 our sublime reason leads us on to the invention of arrows1 swords1 pikes1 and at length muskets1 to kill our neighbors with4 ,instinct alone urges us all to make love--,amor omnibus idem2 but ,virgil1 ,tibullus1 and ,ovid sing it4 ,it is from instinct alone that a young artisan stands gazing with respect and admiration before the superfine gilt coach of a commissioner of taxes4 ,reason comes to the assistance of the young artisan2 he is made a collector2 he becomes polished2 he embezzles2 he rises to be a great man in his turn1 and dazzles the eyes of his former comrades as he lolls at ease in his own carriage1 more profusely gilded than that which originally excited his admiration and ambition4 ,what is this instinct which governs the whole animal kingdom1 and which in us is strengthened by reason or repressed by habit8 ,is it divin particula aur8 ,yes1 undoubtedly it is something divine2 for everything is so4 ,everything is the incomprehensible effect of an incomprehensible cause4 ,everything is swayed1 is impelled by nature4 ,we reason about everything1 and originate nothing4 ,,interest4 ,we shall teach men nothing1 when we tell them that everything we do is done from interest4 ,what6 it will be said1 is it from motives of interest that the wretched fakir remains stark naked under the burning sun1 loaded with chains1 dying with hunger1 half devoured by vermin1 and devouring them in his turn8 ,yes1 most undoubtedly it is2 as we have stated elsewhere1 he depends upon ascending to the eighteenth heaven1 and looks with an eye of pity on the man who will be admitted only into the ninth4 ,the interest of the ,malabar widow1 who burns herself with the corpse of her husband1 is to recover him in another world1 and be there more happy even than the fakir4 ,for1 together with their metempsychosis1 the ,indians have another world2 they resemble ourselves2 their system admits of contradictions4 ,were you ever acquainted with any king or republic that made either war or peace1 that issued decrees1 or entered into conventions1 from any other motive than that of interest8 ,with respect to the interest of money1 consult1 in the great ,encyclopdia1 the article of ,m4 d',alembert1 on ,calculation1 and that of ,m4 ,boucher d',argis1 on ,jurisprudence4 ,we will venture to add a few reflections4 #a4 ,are gold and silver merchandise8 ,yes2 the author of the ,spirit of ,laws does not think so when he says3 ,money1 which is the price of commodities1 is hired and not bought4 ,it is both lent and bought4 ,i buy gold with silver1 and silver with gold2 and their price fluctuates in all commercial countries from day to day4 ,the law of ,holland requires bills of exchange to be paid in the silver coin of the country1 and not in gold1 if the creditor demands it4 ,then ,i buy silver money1 and ,i pay for it in gold1 or in cloth1 corn1 or diamonds4 ,i am in want of money1 corn1 or diamonds1 for the space of a year2 the corn1 money1 or diamond merchant says--,i could1 for this year1 sell my money1 corn1 or diamonds to advantage4 ,let us estimate at four1 five1 or six per cent41 according to the usage of the country1 what ,i should lose by letting you have it4 ,you shall1 for instance1 return me at the end of the year1 twenty-one carats of diamonds for the twenty which ,i now lend you2 twenty-one sacks of corn for the twenty2 twenty-one thousand crowns for twenty thousand crowns4 ,such is interest4 ,it is established among all nations by the law of nature4 ,the maximum or highest rate of interest depends1 in every country1 on its own particular law4 ,in ,rome money is lent on pledges at two and a half per cent41 according to law1 and the pledges are sold1 if the money be not paid at the appointed time4 ,i do not lend upon pledges1 and ,i require only the interest customary in ,holland4 ,if ,i were in ,china1 ,i should ask of you the customary interest at ,macao and ,canton4 #b4 ,while the parties were proceeding with this bargain at ,amsterdam1 it happened that there arrived from ,st4 ,magliore1 a ,jansenist 7and the fact is perfectly true1 he was called the ,abb des ,issarts72 this ,jansenist says to the ,dutch merchant1 ,take care what you are about2 you are absolutely incurring damnation2 money must not produce money1 'nummus nummum non parit4' ,no one is allowed to receive interest for his money but when he is willing to sink the principal4 ,the way to be saved is to make a contract with the gentleman2 and for twenty thousand crowns which you are never to have returned to you1 you and your heirs will receive a thousand crowns per annum to all eternity4 ,you jest1 replies the ,dutchman2 you are in this very case proposing to me a usury that is absolutely of the nature of an infinite series4 ,i should 7that is1 myself and heirs would7 in that case receive back my capital at the end of twenty years1 the double of it in forty1 the four-fold of it in eighty2 this you see would be just an infinite series4 ,i cannot1 besides1 lend for more than twelve months1 and ,i am contented with a thousand crowns as a remuneration4 ,,the ,,abb ,,des ,,issarts4--,i am grieved for your ,dutch soul2 ,god forbade the ,jews to lend at interest1 and you are well aware that a citizen of ,amsterdam should punctually obey the laws of commerce given in a wilderness to runaway vagrants who had no commerce4 ,,the ,,dutchman4--,that is clear2 all the world ought to be ,jews2 but it seems to me1 that the law permitted the ,hebrew horde to gain as much by usury as they could from foreigners1 and that1 in consequence of this permission1 they managed their affairs in the sequel remarkably well4 ,besides1 the prohibition against one ,jew's taking interest from another must necessarily have become obsolete1 since our ,lord ,jesus1 when preaching at ,jerusalem1 expressly said that interest was in his time one hundred per cent42 for in the parable of the talents he says1 that the servant who had received five talents gained five others in ,jerusalem by them2 that he who had two gained two by them2 and that the third who had only one1 and did not turn that to any account1 was shut up in a dungeon by his master1 for not laying it out with the money-changers4 ,but these money-changers were ,jews2 it was therefore between ,jews that usury was practised at ,jerusalem2 therefore this parable1 drawn from the circumstances and manners of the times1 decidedly indicates that usury or interest was at the rate of a hundred per cent4 ,read the twenty-fifth chapter of ,st4 ,matthew2 he was conversant with the subject2 he had been a commissioner of taxes in ,galilee4 ,let me finish my argument with this gentleman2 and do not make me lose both my money and my time4 ,,the ,,abb ,,des ,,issarts4--,all that you say is very good and very fine2 but the ,sorbonne has decided that lending money on interest is a mortal sin4 ,,the ,,dutchman4--,you must be laughing at me1 my good friend1 when you cite the ,sorbonne as an authority to a merchant of ,amsterdam4 ,there is not a single individual among those wrangling railers themselves who does not obtain1 whenever he can1 five or six per cent1 for his money by purchasing revenue bills1 ,india bonds1 assignments1 and ,canada bills4 ,the clergy of ,france1 as a corporate body1 borrow at interest4 ,in many of the provinces of ,france1 it is the custom to stipulate for interest with the principal4 ,besides1 the university of ,oxford and that of ,salamanca have decided against the ,sorbonne4 ,i acquired this information in the course of my travels2 and thus we have authority against authority4 ,once more1 ,i must beg you to interrupt me no longer4 ,,the ,,abb ,,des ,,issarts4--,the wicked1 sir1 are never at a loss for reasons4 ,you are1 ,i repeat1 absolutely destroying yourself1 for the ,abb de ,st4 ,cyran1 who has not performed any miracles1 and the ,abb ,paris1 who performed some in ,st4 ,mdard4444 #c4 ,before the abb had finished his speech1 the merchant drove him out of his counting-house2 and after having legally lent his money1 to the last penny1 went to represent the conversation between himself and the abb1 to the magistrates1 who forbade the ,jansenists from propagating a doctrine so pernicious to commerce4 ,gentlemen1 said the chief bailiff1 give us of efficacious grace as much as you please1 of predestination as much as you please1 and of communion as little as you please2 on these points you are masters2 but take care not to meddle with the laws of commerce4 ,,intolerance4 ,read the article on ,intolerance in the great ,encyclopdia4 ,read the treatise on ,toleration composed on occasion of the dreadful assassination of ,john ,calas1 a citizen of ,toulouse2 and if1 after that1 you allow of persecution in matters of religion1 compare yourself at once to ,ravaillac4 ,ravaillac1 you know1 was highly intolerant4 ,the following is the substance of all the discourses ever delivered by the intolerant3 ,you monster2 you will be burned to all eternity in the other world1 and whom ,i will myself burn as soon as ever ,i can in this1 you really have the insolence to read de ,thou and ,bayle1 who have been put into the index of prohibited authors at ,rome6 ,when ,i was preaching to you in the name of ,god1 how ,samson had killed a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass1 your head1 still harder than the arsenal from which ,samson obtained his arms1 showed me by a slight movement from left to right that you believed nothing of what ,i said4 ,and when ,i stated that the devil ,asmodeus1 who out of jealousy twisted the necks of the seven husbands of ,sarah among the ,medes1 was put in chains in upper ,egypt1 ,i saw a small contraction of your lips1 in ,latin called cachinnus 7a grin7 which plainly indicated to me that in the bottom of your soul you held the history of ,asmodeus in derision4 ,and as for you1 ,isaac ,newton2 ,frederick the ,great1 king of ,prussia and elector of ,brandenburg2 ,john ,locke2 ,catherine1 empress of ,russia1 victorious over the ,ottomans2 ,john ,milton2 the beneficent sovereign of ,denmark2 ,shakespeare2 the wise king of ,sweden2 ,leibnitz2 the august house of ,brunswick2 ,tillotson2 the emperor of ,china2 the ,parliament of ,england2 the ,council of the great ,mogul2 in short1 all you who do not believe one word which ,i have taught in my courses on divinity1 ,i declare to you1 that ,i regard you all as pagans and publicans1 as1 in order to engrave it on your unimpressible brains1 ,i have often told you before4 ,you are a set of callous miscreants2 you will all go to gehenna1 where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched2 for ,i am right1 and you are all wrong2 and ,i have grace1 and you have none4 ,i confess three devotees in my neighborhood1 while you do not confess a single one2 ,i have executed the mandates of bishops1 which has never been the case with you2 ,i have abused philosophers in the language of the fish-market1 while you have protected1 imitated1 or equalled them2 ,i have composed pious defamatory libels1 stuffed with infamous calumnies1 and you have never so much as read them4 ,i say mass every day in ,latin for fourteen sous1 and you are never even so much as present at it1 any more than ,cicero1 ,cato1 ,pompey1 ,csar1 ,horace1 or ,virgil1 were ever present at it--consequently you deserve each of you to have your right hand cut off1 your tongue cut out1 to be put to the torture1 and at last burned at a slow fire2 for ,god is merciful4 ,such1 without the slightest abatement1 are the maxims of the intolerant1 and the sum and substance of all their books4 ,how delightful to live with such amiable people6 ,,inundation4 ,was there ever a time when the globe was entirely inundated8 ,it is physically impossible4 ,it is possible that the sea may successively have covered every land1 one part after another2 and even this can only have happened by very slow gradation1 and in a prodigious number of centuries4 ,in the course of five hundred years the sea has retired from ,aigues-,mortes1 ,frjus1 and ,ravenna1 which were considerable ports1 and left about two leagues of land dry4 ,according to the ratio of such progression1 it is clear that it would require two million and two hundred and fifty thousand years to produce the same effect through the whole circuit of the globe4 ,it is a somewhat remarkable circumstance that this period of time nearly falls in with that which the axis of the earth would require to be raised1 so as to coincide with the equator2 a change extremely probable1 which began to be considered so only about fifty years since1 and which could not be completed in a shorter period of time than two million and three hundred thousand years4 ,the beds or strata of shells1 which have been discovered at the distance of some leagues from the sea1 are an incontestable evidence that it has gradually deposited these marine productions on tracts which were formerly shores of the ocean2 but that the water should have ever covered the whole globe at once is an absurd chimera in physics1 demonstrated to be impossible by the laws of gravitation1 by the laws of fluids1 and by the insufficient quantity of water for the purpose4 ,we do not1 however1 by these observations1 at all mean to impeach the truth of the universal deluge1 related in the ,pentateuch2 on the contrary1 that is a miracle which it is our duty to believe2 it is a miracle1 and therefore could not have been accomplished by the laws of nature4 ,all is miracle in the history of the deluge--a miracle1 that forty days of rain should have inundated the four quarters of the world1 and have raised the water to the height of fifteen cubits above the tops of the loftiest mountains2 a miracle1 that there should have been cataracts1 floodgates1 and openings in heaven2 a miracle1 that all sorts of animals should have been collected in the ark from all parts of the world2 a miracle that ,noah found the means of feeding them for a period of ten months2 a miracle that all the animals with all their provisions could have been included and retained in the ark2 a miracle1 that the greater part of them did not die2 a miracle1 that after quitting the ark1 they found food enough to maintain them2 and a further miracle1 but of a different kind1 that a person1 by the name of ,lepelletier1 thought himself capable of explaining how all the animals could be contained and fed in ,noah's ark naturally1 that is1 without a miracle4 ,but the history of the deluge being that of the most miraculous event of which the world ever heard1 it must be the height of folly and madness to attempt an explanation of it3 it is one of the mysteries which are believed by faith2 and faith consists in believing that which reason does not believe--which is only another miracle4 ,the history of the universal deluge1 therefore1 is like that of the tower of ,babel1 of ,balaam's ass1 of the falling of the walls of ,jericho at the sound of trumpets1 of waters turned into blood1 of the passage of the ,red ,sea1 and of the whole of the prodigies which ,god condescended to perform in favor of his chosen people--depths unfathomable to the human understanding4 ,,jehovah4 ,jehovah1 the ancient name of ,god4 ,no people ever pronounced it ,geova1 as the ,french do2 they pronounced it ,ivo2 you find it so written in ,sanchoniathon1 cited by ,eusebius1 ,prep41 book x42 in ,diodorus1 book ii42 and in ,macrobius1 ,sat41 book i4 ,all nations have pronounced it ie and not g4 ,this sacred name was formed out of the vowels i1 e1 o1 u1 in the east4 ,some pronounced e1 oh1 with an aspirate1 i1 e o1 va4 ,the word was always to be constituted of four letters1 although we have here used five1 for want of power to express these four characters4 ,we have already observed that1 according to ,clement of ,alexandria1 by seizing on the correct pronunciation of this name a person had it in his power to produce the death of any man4 ,clement gives an instance of it4 ,long before the time of ,moses1 ,seth had pronounced the name of ,jehovah1 as is related in the fourth chapter of ,genesis2 and1 according to the ,hebrew1 ,seth was even called ,jehovah4 ,abraham swore to the king of ,sodom by ,jehovah1 chap4 xiv4 #bb4 ,from the word ,jehovah1 the ,latins derived ,jove1 ,jovis1 ,jovispeter1 ,jupiter4 ,in the bush1 the ,almighty says to ,moses1 ,my name is ,jehovah4 ,in the orders which he gave ,him for the court of ,pharaoh1 he says to him3 ,i appeared to ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob1 as the mighty ,god1 only by my name1 ,adonai1' ,i was not known to them1 and ,i made a covenant with them4 ,the ,jews did not for a long time pronounce this name4 ,it was common to the ,phnicians and ,egyptians4 ,it signified1 that which is2 and hence1 probably1 is derived the inscription of ,isis3 ,i am all that is4 ,,jephthah4 ,,section ,i4 ,it is evident from the text of the ,book of ,judges that ,jephthah promised to sacrifice the first person that should come out of his house to congratulate him on his victory over the ,ammonites4 ,his only daughter presented herself before him for that purpose2 he tore his garments and immolated her1 after having promised her to go and deplore in the recesses of the mountains the calamity of her dying a virgin4 ,the daughters of ,israel long continued to celebrate this painful event1 and devoted four days in the year to lamentation for the daughter of ,jephthah4 ,in whatever period this history was written1 whether it was imitated from the ,greek history of ,agamemnon and ,idomeneus1 or was the model from which that history was taken2 whether it might be anterior or posterior to similar narratives in ,assyrian history is not the point ,i am now examining4 ,i keep strictly to the text4 ,jephthah vowed to make his daughter a burnt offering1 and fulfilled his vow4 ,it was expressly commanded by the ,jewish law to sacrifice men devoted to the ,lord3 ,every man that shall be devoted shall not be redeemed1 but shall be put to death without remission4 ,the ,vulgate translates it3 ,he shall not be redeemed1 but shall die the death4 ,it was in virtue of this law that ,samuel hewed in pieces ,king ,agag1 whom1 as we have already seen1 ,saul had pardoned4 ,in fact1 it was for sparing ,agag that ,saul was rebuked by the ,lord1 and lost his kingdom4 ,thus1 then1 we perceive sacrifices of human blood clearly established2 there is no point of history more incontestable3 we can only judge of a nation by its own archives1 and by what it relates concerning itself4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,there are1 then1 it seems1 persons to be found who hesitate at nothing1 who falsify a passage of ,scripture as intrepidly as if they were quoting its very words1 and who hope to deceive mankind by their falsehoods1 knowing them perfectly to be such4 ,if such daring impostors are to be found now1 we cannot help supposing1 that before the invention of printing1 which affords such facility1 and almost certainty of detection1 there existed a hundred times as many4 ,one of the most impudent falsifiers who have lately appeared1 is the author of an infamous libel entitled ,the ,anti-,philosophic ,dictionary1 which truly deserves its title4 ,but my readers will say1 ,do not be so irritated2 what is it to you that a contemptible book has been published8 ,gentlemen1 it is to the subject of ,jephthah1 to the subject of human victims1 of the blood of men sacrificed to ,god1 that ,i am now desirous of drawing your attention6 ,the author1 whoever he may be1 translates the thirty-ninth verse of the first chapter of the history of ,jephthah as follows3 ,she returned to the house of her father1 who fulfilled the consecration which he had promised by his vow1 and his daughter remained in the state of virginity4 ,yes1 falsifier of the ,bible1 ,i am irritated at it1 ,i acknowledge2 but you have lied to the holy spirit2 which you ought to know is a sin which is never pardoned4 ,the passage in the ,vulgate is as follows3 ,et reversa est ad patrem suum1 et fecit ei sicut voverat qu ignorabat virum4 ,exinde mos increbruit in ,israel et consuetudo servata est1 ut post anni circulum conveniant in unum fili ,israel1 et plangant filiam ,jephte ,galaadit1 diebus quatuor4 ,and she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed1 to her who had never known man2 and hence came the usage1 and the custom is still observed1 that the daughters of ,israel assemble every year to lament the daughter of ,jephthah for four days4 ,you will just have the goodness1 ,mr4 ,anti-philosopher1 to tell us1 whether four days of lamentation every year have been devoted to weeping the fate of a young woman because she was consecrated8 ,whether any nuns 7religieuses7 were ever solemnly appointed among a people who considered virginity an opprobrium8 ,and also1 what is the natural meaning of the phrase1 he did to her as he had vowed--,fecit ei sicut voverat8 ,what had ,jephthah vowed8 ,what had he promised by an oath to perform8 ,to kill his daughter2 to offer her up as a burnt offering--and he did kill her4 ,read ,calmet's dissertation on the rashness of ,jephthah's vow and its fulfilment2 read the law which he cites1 that terrible law of ,leviticus1 in the twenty-seventh chapter1 which commands that all which shall be devoted to the ,lord shall not be ransomed1 but shall die the death3 ,non redimetur1 sed morte morletur4 ,observe the multitude of examples by which this most astonishing truth is attested4 ,look at the ,amalekites and ,canaanites2 look at the king of ,arvad and all his family subjected to the law of devotion2 look at the priest ,samuel slaying ,king ,agag with his own hands1 and cutting him into pieces as a butcher cuts up an ox in his slaughter-house4 ,after considering all this1 go and corrupt1 falsify1 or deny holy ,scripture1 in order to maintain your paradox2 and insult those who revere the ,scripture1 however astonishing and confounding they may find it4 ,give the lie direct to the historian ,josephus1 who transcribes the narrative in question1 and positively asserts that ,jephthah immolated his daughter4 ,pile revilings upon falsehoods1 and calumny upon ignorance2 sages will smile at your impotence2 and sages1 thank ,god1 are at present neither few nor weak4 ,oh1 that you could but see the sovereign contempt with which they look down upon the ,rouths1 when they corrupt the holy ,scripture1 and when they boast of having disputed with the president ,montesquieu in his last hour1 and convinced him that he ought to think exactly like the ,jesuits6 ,,jesuits2 ,,or ,,pride4 ,the ,jesuits have been so much a subject of discourse and discussion that1 after having engaged the attention of ,europe for a period of two hundred years1 they at last begin to weary and disgust it1 whether they write themselves1 or whether any one else writes for or against that singular society2 in which it must be confessed there have been found1 and are to be found still1 individuals of very extraordinary merit4 ,they have been reproached1 in the six thousand volumes that have been written against them1 with their lax morality1 which has not1 however1 been more lax than that of the ,capuchins2 and with their doctrine relating to the safety of the person of kings2 a doctrine which after all is not to be compared with the horn-handled knife of ,james ,clement2 nor with the prepared host1 the sprinkled wafer1 which so well answered the purpose of ,ange de ,montepulciano1 another ,jacobin1 and which poisoned the emperor ,henry ,,vii4 ,it is not versatile grace which has been their ruin1 nor the fraudulent bankruptcy of the reverend ,father ,lavalette1 prefect of the apostolic missions4 ,a whole order has not been expelled from ,france and ,spain and the two ,sicilies1 because that order contained a single bankrupt4 ,nor was it affected by the odious deviations of the ,jesuit ,guyot-,desfontaines1 or the ,jesuit ,frron1 or the reverend father ,marsy1 so injurious1 in the latter instance1 to the youthful and high-born victim4 ,the public refused to attend these ,greek and ,latin imitations of ,anacreon and ,horace4 ,what is it then that was their ruin8--pride1 ,what1 it may be asked by some1 were the ,jesuits prouder than any other monks8 ,yes2 and so much so that they procured a lettre de cachet against an ecclesiastic for calling them monks4 ,one member of the society1 called ,croust1 more brutal than the rest1 a brother of the confessor of the second dauphiness1 was absolutely1 in my presence1 going to beat the son of ,m4 de ,guyot1 afterwards king's advocate 7prteur-royal7 at ,strasburg1 merely for saying he would go to see him in his convent4 ,it is perfectly incredible with what contempt they considered every university where they had not been educated1 every book which they had not written1 every ecclesiastic who was not a man of quality4 ,of this ,i have myself1 times without number1 been a witness4 ,they express themselves in the following language1 in their libel entitled ,it is ,time to ,speak ,out3 ,should we condescend even to speak to a magistrate who says the ,jesuits are proud and ought to be humbled8 ,they were so proud that they would not suffer any one to blame their pride6 ,whence did this hateful pride originate8 ,from ,father ,guinard's having been hanged8 which is literally true4 ,it must be remarked that after the execution of that ,jesuit under ,henry ,,iv41 and after the banishment of the society from the kingdom1 they were recalled only on the indispensable condition that one ,jesuit should always reside at court1 who should be responsible for all the rest4 ,coton was the person who thus became a hostage at the court of ,henry ,,iv42 and that excellent monarch1 who was not without his little stratagems of policy1 thought to conciliate the pope by making a hostage of his confessor4 ,from that moment every brother of the order seemed to feel as if he had been raised to be king's confessor4 ,this place of first spiritual physician became a department of the administration under ,louis ,,xiii41 and moreso still under ,louis ,,xiv4 ,the brother ,vadbl1 valet de chambre of ,father ,la ,chaise1 granted his protection to the bishops of ,france2 and ,father ,letellier ruled with a sceptre of iron those who were very well disposed to be so ruled4 ,it was impossible that the greater part of the ,jesuits should not be puffed up by the consequence and power to which these two members of their society had been raised1 and that they should not become as insolent as the lackeys of ,m4 ,louvois4 ,there have been among them1 certainly1 men of knowledge1 eloquence1 and genius2 these possessed some modesty1 but those who had only mediocrity of talent or acquirement were tainted with that pride which generally attaches to mediocrity and to the pedantry of a college4 ,from the time of ,father ,garasse almost all their polemical works have been pervaded with an indecent and scornful arrogance which has roused the indignation of all ,europe4 ,this arrogance frequently sank into the most pitiful meanness2 so that they discovered the extraordinary secret of being objects at once of envy and contempt4 ,observe1 for example1 how they expressed themselves of the celebrated ,pasquier1 advocate-general of the chamber of accounts3 ,pasquier is a mere porter1 a ,parisian varlet1 a second-rate showman and jester1 a journeyman retailer of ballads and old stories1 a contemptible hireling1 only fit to be a lackey's valet1 a scrub1 a disgusting ragamuffin1 strongly suspected of heresy1 and either heretical or much worse1 a libidinous and filthy satyr1 a master-fool by nature1 in sharp1 in flat1 and throughout the whole gamut1 a three-shod fool1 a fool double-dyed1 a fool in grain1 a fool in every sort of folly4 ,they afterwards polished their style2 but pride1 by becoming less gross1 only became the more revolting4 ,everything is pardoned except pride2 and this accounts for the fact that all the parliaments in the kingdom1 the members of which had the greater part of them been disciples of the ,jesuits1 seized the first opportunity of effecting their annihilation2 and the whole land rejoiced in their downfall4 ,so deeply was the spirit of pride rooted in them that it manifested itself with the most indecent rage1 even while they were held down to the earth by the hand of justice1 and their final sentence yet remained to be pronounced4 ,we need only read the celebrated memorial already mentioned1 entitled ,it is ,time to ,speak ,out1 printed at ,avignon in #agfc1 under the assumed name of ,anvers4 ,it begins with an ironical petition to the persons holding the court of parliament4 ,it addresses them with as much superiority and contempt as could be shown in reprimanding a proctor's clerk4 ,the illustrious ,m4 de ,montclar1 procureur-gnral1 the oracle of the ,parliament of ,provence1 is continually treated as ,m4 ,ripert1 and rebuked with as much consequence and authority as a mutinous and ignorant scholar by a professor in his chair4 ,they pushed their audacity so far as to say that ,m4 de ,montclar blasphemed in giving an account of the institution of the ,jesuits4 ,in their memorial1 entitled ,all ,shall be ,told1 they insult still more daringly the ,parliament of ,metz1 and always in the style of arrogance and dictation derived from the schools4 ,they have retained this pride even in the very ashes to which ,france and ,spain have now reduced them4 ,from the bottom of those ashes the serpent1 scotched as it has been1 has again raised its hostile head4 ,we have seen a contemptible creature1 of the name of ,nonnotte1 set himself up for a critic on his masters2 and1 although possessing merely talent enough for preaching to a mob in the church-yard1 discoursing with all the ease of impudence about things of which he has not the slightest notion4 ,another insolent member of the society1 called ,patouillet1 dared1 in the bishop's mandates1 to insult respectable citizens and officers of the king's household1 whose very lackeys would not have permitted him to speak to them4 ,one of the things on which they most prided themselves1 was introducing themselves into the houses of the great in their last illness1 as ambassadors of ,god1 to open to them the gates of heaven1 without their previously passing through purgatory4 ,under ,louis ,,xiv4 it was considered as having a bad aspect1 it was unfashionable and discreditable1 to die without having passed through the hands of a ,jesuit2 and the wretch1 immediately after the fatal scene had closed1 would go and boast to his devotees that he had just been converting a duke and peer1 who1 without his protection1 would have been inevitably damned4 ,the dying man might say3 ,by what right1 you college excrement1 do you intrude yourself on me in my dying moments8 ,was ,i ever seen to go to your cells when any of you had the fistula or gangrene1 and were about to return your gross and unwieldy bodies to the earth8 ,has ,god granted your soul any rights over mine8 ,do ,i require a preceptor at the age of seventy8 ,do you carry the keys of ,paradise at your girdle8 ,you dare to call yourself an ambassador of ,god2 show me your patent and if you have none1 let me die in peace4 ,no ,benedictine1 ,chartreux1 or ,premonstrant1 comes to disturb my dying moments2 they have no wish to erect a trophy to their pride upon the bed of our last agony2 they remain peacefully in their cells2 do you rest quietly in yours2 there can be nothing in common between you and me4 ,a comic circumstance occurred on a truly mournful occasion1 when an ,english ,jesuit1 of the name of ,routh1 eagerly strove to possess himself of the last hour of the great ,montesquieu4 ,he came1 he said1 to bring back that virtuous soul to religion2 as if ,montesquieu had not known what religion was better than a ,routh2 as if it had been the will of ,god that ,montesquieu should think like a ,routh6 ,he was driven out of the chamber1 and went all over ,paris1 exclaiming1 ,i have converted that celebrated man2 ,i prevailed upon him to throw his ',persian ,letters' and his ',spirit of ,laws' into the fire4 ,care was taken to print the narrative of the conversion of ,president ,montesquieu by the reverend father ,routh in the libel entitled ,the ,anti-,philosophic ,dictionary4 ,another subject of pride and ambition with the ,jesuits was making missions to various cities1 just as if they had been among ,indians or ,japanese4 ,they would oblige the whole magistracy to attend them in the streets2 a cross was borne before them1 planted in the principal public places2 they dispossessed the resident clergy2 they became complete masters of the city4 ,a ,jesuit of the name of ,aubert performed one of these missions to ,colmar1 and compelled the advocate-general of the sovereign council to burn at his feet his copy of ,bayle1 which had cost him no less than fifty crowns4 ,for my own part1 ,i acknowledge that ,i would rather have burned brother ,aubert himself4 ,judge how the pride of this ,aubert must have swelled with this sacrifice as he boasted of it to his comrades at night1 and as he exultingly wrote the account of it to his general4 ,o monks1 monks6 be modest1 as ,i have already advised you2 be moderate1 if you wish to avoid the calamities impending over you4 ,,jews4 ,,section ,i4 ,you order me to draw you a faithful picture of the spirit of the ,jews1 and of their history1 and--without entering into the ineffable ways of ,providence1 which are not our ways--you seek in the manners of this people the source of the events which that ,providence prepared4 ,it is certain that the ,jewish nation is the most singular that the world has ever seen2 and although1 in a political view1 the most contemptible of all1 yet in the eyes of a philosopher1 it is1 on various accounts1 worthy consideration4 ,the ,guebers1 the ,banians1 and the ,jews1 are the only nations which exist dispersed1 having no alliance with any people1 are perpetuated among foreign nations1 and continue apart from the rest of the world4 ,the ,guebers were once infinitely more considerable than the ,jews1 for they are castes of the ,persians1 who had the ,jews under their dominion2 but they are now scattered over but one part of the ,east4 ,the ,banians1 who are descended from the ancient people among whom ,pythagoras acquired his philosophy1 exist only in ,india and ,persia2 but the ,jews are dispersed over the whole face of the earth and if they were assembled1 would compose a nation much more numerous than it ever was in the short time that they were masters of ,palestine4 ,almost every people who have written the history of their origin1 have chosen to set it off by prodigies2 with them all has been miracle2 their oracles have predicted nothing but conquest2 and such of them as have really become conquerors have had no difficulty in believing these ancient oracles which were verified by the event4 ,the ,jews are distinguished among the nations by this--that their oracles are the only true ones1 of which we are not permitted to doubt4 ,these oracles1 which they understand only in the literal sense1 have a hundred times foretold to them that they should be masters of the world2 yet they have never possessed anything more than a small corner of land1 and that only for a small number of years1 and they have not now so much as a village of their own4 ,they must1 then1 believe1 and they do believe1 that their predictions will one day be fulfilled1 and that they shall have the empire of the earth4 ,among the ,mussulmans and the ,christians they are the lowest of all nations1 but they think themselves the highest4 ,this pride in their abasement is justified by an unanswerable reason--viz41 that they are in reality the fathers of both ,christians and ,mussulmans4 ,the ,christian and the ,mussulman religion acknowledge the ,jewish as their parent2 and1 by a singular contradiction1 they at once hold this parent in reverence and in abhorrence4 ,it were foreign to our present purpose to repeat that continued succession of prodigies which astonishes the imagination and exercises the faith4 ,we have here to do only with events purely historical1 wholly apart from the divine concurrence and the miracles which ,god1 for so long a time1 vouchsafed to work in this people's favor4 ,first1 we find in ,egypt a family of seventy persons producing1 at the end of two hundred and fifteen years1 a nation counting six hundred thousand fighting men2 which makes1 with the women1 the children and the old men1 upward of two millions of souls4 ,there is no example upon earth of so prodigious an increase of population2 this people1 having come out of ,egypt1 stayed forty years in the deserts of ,stony ,arabia1 and in that frightful country the people much diminished4 ,what remained of this nation advanced a little northward in those deserts4 ,it appears that they had the same principles which the tribes of ,stony and ,desert ,arabia have since had1 of butchering without mercy the inhabitants of little towns over whom they had the advantage1 and reserving only the young women4 ,the interests of population have ever been the principal object of both4 ,we find that when the ,arabs had conquered ,spain1 they imposed tributes of marriageable girls2 and at this day the ,arabs of the desert make no treaty without stipulating for some girls and a few presents4 ,the ,jews arrived in a sandy1 mountainous country1 where there were a few towns1 inhabited by a little people called the ,midianites4 ,in one ,midianite camp1 alone1 they took six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep1 seventy-two thousand oxen1 sixty-one thousand asses1 and thirty-two thousand virgins4 ,all the men1 all the wives1 and all the male children1 were massacred2 the girls and the booty were divided between the people and the sacrificers4 ,they then took1 in the same country1 the town of ,jericho2 but having devoted the inhabitants of that place to the anathema1 they massacred them all1 including the virgins1 pardoning none but ,rahab1 a courtesan1 who had aided them in surprising the town4 ,the learned have agitated the question whether the ,jews1 like so many other nations1 really sacrificed men to the ,divinity4 ,this is a dispute on words2 those1 whom the people consecrated to the anathema were not put to death on an altar1 with religious rites2 but they were not the less immolated1 without its being permitted to pardon any one of them4 ,leviticus 7xxvii41 #bi7 expressly forbids the redeeming of those who shall have been devoted4 ,its words are1 ,they shall surely be put to death4 ,by virtue of this law it was that ,jephthah devoted and killed his daughter1 that ,saul would have killed his son1 and that the prophet ,samuel cut in pieces ,king ,agag1 ,saul's prisoner4 ,it is quite certain that ,god is the master of the lives of men1 and that it is not for us to examine ,his laws4 ,we ought to limit ourselves to believing these things1 and reverencing in silence the designs of ,god1 who permitted them4 ,it is also asked what right had strangers like the ,jews to the land of ,canaan8 ,the answer is1 that they had what ,god gave them4 ,no sooner had they taken ,jericho and ,lais than they had a civil war among themselves1 in which the tribe of ,benjamin was almost wholly exterminated--men1 women1 and children2 leaving only six hundred males4 ,the people1 unwilling that one of the tribes should be annihilated1 bethought themselves of sacking the whole city of the tribe of ,manasseh1 killing all the men1 old and young1 all the children1 all the married women1 all the widows1 and taking six hundred virgins1 whom they gave to the six hundred survivors of the tribe of ,benjamin1 to restore that tribe1 in order that the number of their twelve tribes might still be complete4 ,meanwhile1 the ,phnicians1 a powerful people settled in the coasts from time immemorial1 being alarmed at the depredations and cruelties of these newcomers1 frequently chastised them2 the neighboring princes united against them2 and they were seven times reduced to slavery1 for more than two hundred years4 ,at last they made themselves a king1 whom they elected by lot4 ,this king could not be very mighty2 for in the first battle which the ,jews fought under him1 against their masters1 the ,philistines1 they had1 in the whole army1 but one sword and one lance1 and not one weapon of steel4 ,but ,david1 their second king1 made war with advantage4 ,he took the city of ,salem1 afterwards so celebrated under the name of ,jerusalem1 and then the ,jews began to make some figure on the borders of ,syria4 ,their government and their religion took a more august form4 ,hitherto they had not the means of raising a temple1 though every neighboring nation had one or more4 ,solomon built a superb one1 and reigned over this people about forty years4 ,not only were the days of ,solomon the most flourishing days of the ,jews1 but all the kings upon earth could not exhibit a treasure approaching ,solomon's4 ,his father1 ,david1 whose predecessor had not even iron1 left to ,solomon twenty-five thousand six hundred and forty-eight millions of ,french livres in ready money4 ,his fleets1 which went to ,ophir1 brought him sixty-eight millions per annum in pure gold1 without reckoning the silver and jewels4 ,he had forty thousand stables1 and the same number of coach-houses1 twelve thousand stables for his cavalry1 seven hundred wives1 and three hundred concubines4 ,yet he had neither wood nor workmen for building his palace and the temple2 he borrowed them of ,hiram1 king of ,tyre1 who also furnished gold2 and ,solomon gave ,hiram twenty towns in payment4 ,the commentators have acknowledged that these things need explanation1 and have suspected some literal error in the copyist1 who alone can have been mistaken4 ,on the death of ,solomon1 a division took place among the twelve tribes composing the nation4 ,the kingdom was torn asunder1 and separated into two small provinces1 one of which was called ,judah1 the other ,israel--nine tribes and a half composing the ,israelitish province1 and only two and a half that of ,judah4 ,then there was between these two small peoples a hatred1 the more implacable as they were kinsmen and neighbors1 and as they had different religions2 for at ,sichem and at ,samaria they worshipped ,baal--giving to ,god a ,sidonian name2 while at ,jerusalem they worshipped ,adonai4 ,at ,sichem were consecrated two calves2 at ,jerusalem1 two cherubim--which were two winged animals with double heads1 placed in the sanctuary4 ,so1 each faction having its kings1 its gods1 its worship1 and its prophets1 they made a bloody war upon each other4 ,while this war was carried on1 the kings of ,assyria1 who conquered the greater part of ,asia1 fell upon the ,jews2 as an eagle pounces upon two lizards while they are fighting4 ,the nine and a half tribes of ,samaria and ,sichem were carried off and dispersed forever2 nor has it been precisely known to what places they were led into slavery4 ,it is but twenty leagues from the town of ,samaria to ,jerusalem1 and their territories joined each other2 so that when one of these towns was enslaved by powerful conquerors1 the other could not long hold out4 ,jerusalem was sacked several times2 it was tributary to kings ,hazael and ,razin1 enslaved under ,tiglath-,pileser1 three times taken by ,nebuchodonosor1 or ,nebuchadnezzar1 and at last destroyed4 ,zedekiah1 who had been set up as king or governor by this conqueror1 was led1 with his whole people1 into captivity in ,babylonia2 so that the only ,jews left in ,palestine were a few enslaved peasants1 to sow the ground4 ,as for the little country of ,samaria and ,sichem1 more fertile than that of ,jerusalem1 it was re-peopled by foreign colonies1 sent there by ,assyrian kings1 who took the name of ,samaritans4 ,the two and a half tribes that were slaves in ,babylonia and the neighboring towns for seventy years1 had time to adopt the usages of their masters1 and enriched their own tongue by mixing with it the ,chaldan2 this is incontestable4 ,the historian ,josephus tells us that he wrote first in ,chaldan1 which is the language of his country4 ,it appears that the ,jews acquired but little of the science of the ,magi2 they turned brokers1 money-changers1 and old-clothes men2 by which they made themselves necessary1 as they still do1 and grew rich4 ,their gains enabled them to obtain1 under ,cyrus1 the liberty of rebuilding ,jerusalem2 but when they were to return into their own country1 those who had grown rich at ,babylon1 would not quit so fine a country for the mountains of ,clesyria1 nor the fruitful banks of the ,euphrates and the ,tigris1 for the torrent of ,kedron4 ,only the meanest part of the nation returned with ,zorobabel4 ,the ,jews of ,babylon contributed only their alms to the rebuilding of the city and the temple2 nor was the collection a large one2 for ,esdras relates that no more than seventy thousand crowns could be raised for the erection of this temple1 which was to be that of all the earth4 ,the ,jews still remained subject to the ,persians2 they were likewise subject to ,alexander2 and when that great man1 the most excusable of all conquerors1 had1 in the early years of his victorious career1 begun to raise ,alexandria1 and make it the centre of the commerce of the world1 the ,jews flocked there to exercise their trade of brokers2 and there it was that their rabbis at length learned something of the sciences of the ,greeks4 ,the ,greek tongue became absolutely necessary to all trading ,jews4 ,after ,alexander's death1 this people continued subject in ,jerusalem to the kings of ,syria1 and in ,alexandria to the kings of ,egypt2 and when these kings were at war1 this people always shared the fate of their subjects1 and belonged to the conqueror4 ,from the time of their captivity at ,babylon1 the ,jews never had particular governors taking the title of king4 ,the pontiffs had the internal administration1 and these pontiffs were appointed by their masters2 they sometimes paid very high for this dignity1 as the ,greek patriarch at ,constantinople pays for his at present4 ,under ,antiochus ,epiphanes they revolted2 the city was once more pillaged1 and the walls demolished4 ,after a succession of similar disasters1 they at length obtained1 for the first time1 about a hundred and fifty years before the ,christian era1 permission to coin money1 which permission was granted them by ,antiochus ,sidetes4 ,they then had chiefs1 who took the name of kings1 and even wore a diadem4 ,antigonus was the first who was decorated with this ornament1 which1 without the power1 confers but little honor4 ,at that time the ,romans were beginning to become formidable to the kings of ,syria1 masters of the ,jews2 and the latter gained over the ,roman senate by presents and acts of submission4 ,it seemed that the wars in ,asia ,minor would1 for a time at least1 give some relief to this unfortunate people2 but ,jerusalem no sooner enjoyed some shadow of liberty than it was torn by civil wars1 which rendered its condition under its phantoms of kings much more pitiable than it had ever been in so long and various a succession of bondages4 ,in their intestine troubles1 they made the ,romans their judges4 ,already most of the kingdoms of ,asia ,minor1 ,southern ,africa1 and three-fourths of ,europe1 acknowledged the ,romans as their arbiters and masters4 ,pompey came into ,syria to judge the nation and to depose several petty tyrants4 ,being deceived by ,aristobulus1 who disputed the royalty of ,jerusalem1 he avenged himself upon him and his party4 ,he took the city2 had some of the seditious1 either priests or ,pharisees1 crucified2 and not long after1 condemned ,aristobulus1 king of the ,jews1 to execution4 ,the ,jews1 ever unfortunate1 ever enslaved1 and ever revolting1 again brought upon them the ,roman arms4 ,crassus and ,cassius punished them2 and ,metellus ,scipio had a son of ,king ,aristobulus1 named ,alexander1 the author of all the troubles1 crucified4 ,under the great ,csar1 they were entirely subject and peaceable4 ,herod1 famed among them and among us1 for a long time was merely tetrarch1 but obtained from ,antony the crown of ,juda1 for which he paid dearly2 but ,jerusalem would not recognize this new king1 because he was descended from ,esau1 and not from ,jacob1 and was merely an ,iduman4 ,the very circumstance of his being a foreigner caused him to be chosen by the ,romans1 the better to keep this people in check4 ,the ,romans protected the king of their nomination with an army2 and ,jerusalem was again taken by assault1 sacked1 and pillaged4 ,herod1 afterwards protected by ,augustus1 became one of the most powerful sovereigns among the petty kings of ,arabia4 ,he restored ,jerusalem1 repaired the fortifications that surrounded the temple1 so dear to the ,jews1 and rebuilt the temple itself2 but he could not finish it1 for he wanted money and workmen4 ,this proves that1 after all1 ,herod was not rich2 and the ,jews1 though fond of their temple1 were still fonder of their money4 ,the name of king was nothing more than a favor granted by the ,romans2 it was not a title of succession4 ,soon after ,herod's death1 ,juda was governed as a subordinate ,roman province1 by the proconsul of ,syria1 although from time to time the title of king was granted1 sometimes to one ,jew1 sometimes to another1 for a considerable sum of money1 as under the emperor ,claudius1 when it was granted to the ,jew ,agrippa4 ,a daughter of ,agrippa was that ,berenice1 celebrated for having been beloved by one of the best emperors ,rome can boast4 ,she it was who1 by the injustice she experienced from her countrymen1 drew down the vengeance of the ,romans upon ,jerusalem4 ,she asked for justice1 and the factions of the town refused it4 ,the seditious spirit of the people impelled them to fresh excesses4 ,their character at all times was to be cruel2 and their fate1 to be punished4 ,this memorable siege1 which ended in the destruction of the city1 was carried on by ,vespasian and ,titus4 ,the exaggerating ,josephus pretends that in this short war more than a million of ,jews were slaughtered4 ,it is not to be wondered at that an author who puts fifteen thousand men in each village should slay a million4 ,what remained were exposed in the public markets2 and each ,jew was sold at about the same price as the unclean animal of which they dare not eat4 ,in this last dispersion they again hoped for a deliverer2 and under ,adrian1 whom they curse in their prayers1 there arose one ,barcochebas1 who called himself a second ,moses--a ,shiloh--a ,christ4 ,having assembled many of these wretched people under his banners1 which they believed to be sacred1 he perished with all his followers4 ,it was the last struggle of this nation1 which has never lifted its head again4 ,its constant opinion1 that barrenness is a reproach1 has preserved it2 the ,jews have ever considered as their two first duties1 to get money and children4 ,from this short summary it results that the ,hebrews have ever been vagrants1 or robbers1 or slaves1 or seditious4 ,they are still vagabonds upon the earth1 and abhorred by men1 yet affirming that heaven and earth and all mankind were created for them alone4 ,it is evident1 from the situation of ,juda1 and the genius of this people1 that they could not but be continually subjugated4 ,it was surrounded by powerful and warlike nations1 for which it had an aversion2 so that it could neither be in alliance with them1 nor protected by them4 ,it was impossible for it to maintain itself by its marine2 for it soon lost the port which in ,solomon's time it had on the ,red ,sea2 and ,solomon himself always employed ,tyrians to build and to steer his vessels1 as well as to erect his palace and his temple4 ,it is then manifest that the ,hebrews had neither trade nor manufactures1 and that they could not compose a flourishing people4 ,they never had an army always ready for the field1 like the ,assyrians1 the ,medes1 the ,persians1 the ,syrians1 and the ,romans4 ,the laborers and artisans took up arms only as occasion required1 and consequently could not form well-disciplined troops4 ,their mountains1 or rather their rocks1 are neither high enough1 nor sufficiently contiguous1 to have afforded an effectual barrier against invasion4 ,the most numerous part of the nation1 transported to ,babylon1 ,persia1 and to ,india1 or settled in ,alexandria1 were too much occupied with their traffic and their brokerage to think of war4 ,their civil government1 sometimes republican1 sometimes pontifical1 sometimes monarchial1 and very often reduced to anarchy1 seems to have been no better than their military discipline4 ,you ask1 what was the philosophy of the ,hebrews8 ,the answer will be a very short one--they had none4 ,their legislator himself does not anywhere speak expressly of the immortality of the soul1 nor of the rewards of another life4 ,josephus and ,philo believe the soul to be material2 their doctors admitted corporeal angels2 and when they sojourned at ,babylon1 they gave to these angels the names given them by the ,chaldans--,michael1 ,gabriel1 ,raphael1 ,uriel4 ,the name of ,satan is ,babylonian1 and is in somewise the ,arimanes of ,zoroaster4 ,the name of ,asmodeus also is ,chaldan2 and ,tobit1 who lived in ,nineveh1 is the first who employed it4 ,the dogma of the immortality of the soul was developed only in the course of ages1 and among the ,pharisees4 ,the ,sadducees always denied this spirituality1 this immortality1 and the existence of the angels4 ,nevertheless1 the ,sadducees communicated uninterruptedly with the ,pharisees1 and had even sovereign pontiffs of their own sect4 ,the prodigious difference in opinion between these two great bodies did not cause any disturbance4 ,the ,jews1 in the latter times of their sojourn at ,jerusalem1 were scrupulously attached to nothing but the ceremonials of their law4 ,the man who had eaten pudding or rabbit would have been stoned2 while he who denied the immortality of the soul might be high-priest4 ,it is commonly said that the abhorrence in which the ,jews held other nations proceeded from their horror of idolatry2 but it is much more likely that the manner in which they at the first exterminated some of the tribes of ,canaan1 and the hatred which the neighboring nations conceived for them1 were the cause of this invincible aversion4 ,as they knew no nations but their neighbors1 they thought that in abhorring them they detested the whole earth1 and thus accustomed themselves to be the enemies of all men4 ,one proof that this hatred was not caused by the idolatry of the nations is that we find in the history of the ,jews that they were very often idolaters4 ,solomon himself sacrificed to strange gods4 ,after him1 we find scarcely any king in the little province of ,judah that does not permit the worship of these gods and offer them incense4 ,the province of ,israel kept its two calves and its sacred groves1 or adored other divinities4 ,this idolatry1 with which so many nations are reproached1 is a subject on which but little light has been thrown4 ,perhaps it would not be difficult to efface this stain upon the theology of the ancients4 ,all polished nations had the knowledge of a supreme ,god1 the master of the inferior gods and of men4 ,the ,egyptians themselves recognized a first principle1 which they called ,knef1 and to which all beside was subordinate4 ,the ancient ,persians adored the good principle1 named ,orosmanes2 and were very far from sacrificing to the bad principle1 ,arimanes1 whom they regarded nearly as we regard the devil4 ,even to this day1 the ,guebers have retained the sacred dogma of the unity of ,god4 ,the ancient ,brahmins acknowledged one only ,supreme ,being2 the ,chinese associated no inferior being with the ,divinity1 nor had any idol until the times when the populace were ,jed astray by the worship of ,fo1 and the superstitions of the bonzes4 ,the ,greeks and the ,romans1 notwithstanding the multitude of their gods1 acknowledged in ,jupiter the absolute sovereign of heaven and earth4 ,homer1 himself in the most absurd poetical fictions1 has never lost sight of this truth4 ,he constantly represents ,jupiter as the only ,almighty1 sending good and evil upon earth1 and1 with a motion of his brow1 striking gods and men with awe4 ,altars were raised1 and sacrifices offered to inferior gods1 dependent on the one supreme4 ,there is not a single monument of antiquity in which the title of sovereign of heaven is given to any secondary deity--to ,mercury1 to ,apollo1 to ,mars4 ,the thunderbolt was ever the attribute of the master of all1 and of him only4 ,the idea of a sovereign being1 of his providence1 of his eternal decrees1 is to be found among all philosophers and all poets4 ,in short1 it is perhaps as unjust to think that the ancients equalled the heroes1 the genii1 the inferior gods1 to him whom they called the father and master of the gods1 as it would be ridiculous to imagine that we associate with ,god the blessed and the angels4 ,you then ask whether the ancient philosophers and law-givers borrowed from the ,jews1 or the ,jews from them8 ,we must refer the question to ,philo2 he owns that before the translation of the ,septuagint the books of his nation were unknown to strangers4 ,a great people cannot have received their laws and their knowledge from a little people1 obscure and enslaved4 ,in the time of ,osias1 indeed1 the ,jews had no books2 in his reign was accidentally found the only copy of the law then in existence4 ,this people1 after their captivity at ,babylon1 had no other alphabet than the ,chaldan2 they were not famed for any art1 any manufacture whatsoever2 and even in the time of ,solomon they were obliged to pay dear for foreign artisans4 ,to say that the ,egyptians1 the ,persians1 the ,greeks1 were instructed by the ,jews1 were to say that the ,romans learned the arts from the people of ,brittany4 ,the ,jews never were natural philosophers1 nor geometricians1 nor astronomers4 ,so far were they from having public schools for the instruction of youth1 that they had not even a term in their language to express such an institution4 ,the people of ,peru and ,mexico measured their year much better than the ,jews4 ,their stay in ,babylon and in ,alexandria1 during which individuals might instruct themselves1 formed the people to no art save that of usury4 ,they never knew how to stamp money2 and when ,antiochus ,sidetes permitted them to have a coinage of their own1 they were almost incapable of profiting by this permission for four or five years2 indeed1 this coin is said to have been struck at ,samaria4 ,hence1 it is1 that ,jewish medals are so rare1 and nearly all false4 ,in short1 we find in them only an ignorant and barbarous people1 who have long united the most sordid avarice with the most detestable superstition and the most invincible hatred for every people by whom they are tolerated and enriched4 ,still1 we ought not to burn them4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,the ,jewish ,law4 ,their law must appear1 to every polished people1 as singular as their conduct2 if it were not divine1 it would seem to be the law of savages beginning to assemble themselves into a nation2 and being divine1 one cannot understand how it is that it has not existed from all ages1 for them1 and for all men4 ,but it is more strange than all that the immortality of the soul is not even intimated in this law1 entitled ,vaicrah and ,addebarim1 ,leviticus and ,deuteronomy4 ,in this law it is forbidden to eat eels1 because they have no scales2 and hares1 because they chew the cud1 and have cloven feet4 ,apparently1 the ,jews had hares different from ours4 ,the griffin is unclean1 and four-footed birds are unclean1 which animals are somewhat rare4 ,whoever touches a mouse1 or a mole is unclean4 ,the women are forbidden to lie with horses or asses4 ,the ,jewish women must have been subject to this sort of gallantry4 ,the men are forbidden to offer up their seed to ,moloch2 and here the term seed is not metaphorical4 ,it seems that it was customary1 in the deserts of ,arabia1 to offer up this singular present to the gods2 as it is said to be usual in ,cochin and some other countries of ,india1 for the girls to yield their virginity to an iron ,priapus in a temple4 ,these two ceremonies prove that mankind is capable of everything4 ,the ,kaffirs1 who deprive themselves of one testicle1 are a still more ridiculous example of the extravagance of superstition4 ,another law of the ,jews1 equally strange1 is their proof of adultery4 ,a woman accused by her husband must be presented to the priests1 and she is made to drink of the waters of jealousy1 mixed with worm-wood and dust4 ,if she is innocent1 the water makes her more beautiful2 if she is guilty1 her eyes start from her head1 her belly swells1 and she bursts before the ,lord4 ,we shall not here enter into the details of all these sacrifices1 which were nothing more than the operations of ceremonial butchers2 but it of great importance to remark another kind of sacrifice too common in those barbarous times4 ,it is expressly ordered1 in the twenty-seventh chapter of ,leviticus1 that all men1 vowed in anathema to the ,lord1 be immolated2 they shall surely be put to death2 such are the words of the text4 ,here is the origin of the story of ,jephthah1 whether his daughter was really immolated1 or the story was copied from that of ,iphigenia4 ,here1 too1 is the source of the vow made by ,saul1 who would have immolated his son1 but that the army1 less superstitious than himself1 saved the innocent young man's life4 ,it is then but too true that the ,jews1 according to their law1 sacrificed human victims4 ,this act of religion is in accordance with their manners2 their own books represent them as slaughtering without mercy all that came in their way1 reserving only the virgins for their use4 ,it would be very difficult--and should be very unimportant--to know at what time these laws were digested into the form in which we now have them4 ,that they are of very high antiquity is enough to inform us how gross and ferocious the manners of that antiquity were4 ,,section ,,iii4 ,the ,dispersion of the ,jews4 ,it has been pretended that the dispersion of this people had been foretold1 as a punishment for their refusing to acknowledge ,jesus ,christ as the ,messiah2 the asserters affecting to forget that they had been dispersed throughout the known world long before ,jesus ,christ4 ,the books that are left us of this singular nation make no mention of a return of the twelve tribes transported beyond the ,euphrates by ,tiglath-,pileser and his successor ,shalmaneser2 and it was six hundred years after1 that ,cyrus sent back to ,jerusalem the tribes of ,judah and ,benjamin1 which ,nebuchodonosor had brought away into the provinces of his empire4 ,the ,acts of the ,apostles certify that fifty-three days after the death of ,jesus ,christ1 there were ,jews from every nation under heaven assembled for the feast of ,pentecost4 ,st4 ,james writes to the twelve dispersed tribes2 and ,josephus and ,philo speak of the ,jews as very numerous throughout the ,east4 ,it is true that1 considering the carnage that was made of them under some of the ,roman emperors1 and the slaughter of them so often repeated in every ,christian state1 one is astonished that this people not only still exists1 but is at this day no less numerous than it was formerly4 ,their numbers must be attributed to their exemption from bearing arms1 their ardor for marriage1 their custom of contracting it in their families early1 their law of divorce1 their sober and regular way of life1 their abstinence1 their toil1 and their exercise4 ,their firm attachment to the ,mosaic law is no less remarkable1 especially when we consider their frequent apostasies when they lived under the government of their kings and their judges2 and ,judaism is now1 of all the religions in the world1 the one most rarely abjured--which is partly the fruit of the persecutions it has suffered4 ,its followers1 perpetual martyrs to their creed1 have regarded themselves with progressively increasing confidence1 as the fountain of all sanctity2 looking upon us as no other than rebellious ,jews1 who have abjured the law of ,god1 and put to death or torture those who received it from ,his hand4 ,indeed1 if while ,jerusalem and its temple existed1 the ,jews were sometimes driven from their country by the vicissitudes of empires1 they have still more frequently been expelled through a blind zeal from every country in which they have dwelt since the progress of ,christianity and ,mahometanism4 ,they themselves compare their religion to a mother1 upon whom her two daughters1 the ,christian and the ,mahometan1 have inflicted a thousand wounds4 ,but1 how ill soever she has been treated by them1 she still glories in having given them birth4 ,she makes use of them both to embrace the whole world1 while her own venerable age embraces all time4 ,it is singular that the ,christians pretend to have accomplished the prophecies by tyrannizing over the ,jews1 by whom they were transmitted4 ,we have already seen how the ,inquisition banished the ,jews from ,spain4 ,obliged to wander from land to land1 from sea to sea1 to gain a livelihood2 everywhere declared incapable of possessing any landed property1 or holding any office1 they have been obliged to disperse1 and roam from place to place1 unable to establish themselves permanently in any country1 for want of support1 of power to maintain their ground1 and of knowledge in the art of war4 ,trade1 a profession long despised by most of the nations of ,europe1 was1 in those barbarous ages1 their only resource2 and as they necessarily grew rich by it1 they were treated as infamous usurers4 ,kings who could not ransack the purses of their subjects1 put the ,jews1 whom they regarded not as citizens1 to torture4 ,what was done to them in ,england may give some idea of what they experienced in other countries4 ,king ,john1 being in want of money1 had the rich ,jews in his kingdom imprisoned4 ,one of them1 having had seven of his teeth drawn one after another1 to obtain his property1 gave1 on losing the eighth1 a thousand marks of silver4 ,henry ,,iii4 extorted from ,aaron1 a ,jew of ,york1 fourteen thousand marks of silver1 and ten thousand for his queen4 ,he sold the rest of the ,jews of his country to his brother ,richard1 for the term of one year1 in order1 says ,matthew ,paris1 that this count might disembowel those whom his brother had flayed4 ,in ,france they were put in prison1 plundered1 sold1 accused of magic1 of sacrificing children1 of poisoning the fountains4 ,they were driven out of the kingdom2 they were suffered to return for money2 and even while they were tolerated1 they were distinguished from the rest of the inhabitants by marks of infamy4 ,and1 by an inconceivable whimsicality1 while in other countries the ,jews were burned to make them embrace ,christianity1 in ,france the property of such as became ,christians was confiscated4 ,charles ,,iv41 by an edict given at ,basville1 ,april #d1 #acib1 abrogated this tyrannical custom1 which1 according to the ,benedictine ,mabillon1 had been introduced for two reasons3 ,first1 to try the faith of these new converts1 as it was but too common for those of this nation to feign submission to the gospel for some personal interest1 without internally changing their belief4 ,secondly1 because as they had derived their wealth chiefly from usury1 the purity of ,christian morals appeared to require them to make a general restitution1 which was effected by confiscation4 ,but the true reason of this custom1 which the author of the ,spirit of ,laws has so well developed1 was a sort of droit d'amortissement--a redemption for the sovereign1 or the seigneurs1 of the taxes which they levied on the ,jews1 as mortmainable serfs1 whom they succeeded2 for they were deprived of this benefit when the latter were converted to the ,christian faith4 ,at length1 being incessantly proscribed in every country1 they ingeniously found the means of saving their fortunes and making their retreats forever secure4 ,being driven from ,france under ,philip the ,long1 in #acah1 they took refuge in ,lombardy2 there they gave to the merchants bills of exchange on those to whom they had entrusted their effects at their departure1 and these were discharged4 ,the admirable invention of bills of exchange sprang from the extremity of despair2 and then1 and not until then1 commerce was enabled to elude the efforts of violence1 and to maintain itself throughout the world4 ,,section ,,iv4 ,in ,answer to ,some ,objections4 ,letters to ,joseph1 ,ben1 ,jonathan1 ,aaron1 ,mathatai1 and ,david ,wincker4 ,,first ,,letter4 ,gentlemen3 ,when1 forty-four years ago1 your countryman ,medina became a bankrupt in ,london1 being twenty thousand francs in my debt1 he told me that it was not his fault2 that he was unfortunate2 that he had never been one of the children of ,belial2 that he had always endeavored to live as a son of ,god--that is1 as an honest man1 a good ,israelite4 ,i was affected2 ,i embraced him2 we joined in the praise of ,god2 and ,i lost eighty per cent4 ,you ought to know that ,i never hated your nation2 ,i hate no one2 not even ,frron4 ,far from hating1 ,i have always pitied you4 ,if1 like my protector1 good ,pope ,lambertini1 ,i have sometimes bantered a little1 ,i am not therefore the less sensitive4 ,i wept1 at the age of sixteen1 when ,i was told that a mother and her daughter had been burned at ,lisbon for having eaten1 standing1 a little lamb1 cooked with lettuce1 on the fourteenth day of the red moon2 and ,i can assure you that the extreme beauty that this girl was reported to have possessed1 had no share in calling forth my tears1 although it must have increased the spectators' horror for the assassins1 and their pity for the victim4 ,i know not how it entered my head to write an epic poem at the age of twenty4 7,do you know what an epic poem is8 ,for my part ,i knew nothing of the matter47 ,the legislator ,montesquieu had not yet written his ,persian ,letters1 which you reproach me with having commented on2 but ,i had already of myself said1 speaking of a monster well known to your ancestors1 and which even now is not without devotees3 ,il vient2 le fanatisme est son horrible nom2 ,enfant dnatur de la religion2 ,arm pour la dfendre1 il cherche la dtruire1 ,et reu dans son sein1 l'embrasse et le dchire1 ,c'est lui qui dans ,raba1 sur les bords de l',arnon ,guidait les descendans du malheureux ,ammon1 ,quand ,moloch leur dieu des mres gmissantes ,offraient de leurs enfans les entrailles fumantes4 ,il dicta de ,jepht le serment inhumain2 ,dans le cur de sa fille il conduisait sa main4 ,c'est lui qui1 de ,calchas ouvrant la bouche impie ,demanda par sa voix la mort d',iphignie4 ,france1 dans tes forts il habita long-temps1 l'affreux ,tentats il offrit ton encens4 ,tu n'a point oubli ces sacres homicides1 ,qu' tes indignes dieux prsentaient tes druides4 ,du haut du capitole il criait aux ,paens4 ,frappez1 exterminez1 dchirez les chrtiens4 ,mais lorsqu'au fils de ,dieu ,rome enfin1 fut soumise1 ,du capitole en cendre il passa dans l',eglise2 ,et dans les curs chrtiens inspirant ses fureurs1 ,de martyrs qu'ils taient les fit perscuteurs4 ,dans ,londres il a form la secte turbulente ,qui sur un roi trop faible a mis sa main sanglante2 ,dans ,madrid1 dans ,lisbonne1 il allume ces feux1 ,ces buchers solennels o des ,juifs malheureux ,sont tous les ans en pompe envoys par des prtres1 ,pour n'avoir point quitt la foi de leurs anctres4 ,he comes2 the fiend ,fanaticism comes-- ,religion's horrid and unnatural child-- ,armed to defend her1 arming to destroy-- ,tearing her bosom in his feigned embrace4 ',twas he who guided ,amnion's wretched race ,on ,anion's banks1 where mothers offered up ,their children's mangled limbs on ,moloch's altars4 ',twas he who prompted ,jephthah's barbarous oath1 ,and aimed the poniard at his daughter's heart4 ',twas he who spoke1 when ,calchas' impious tongue ,called for the blameless ,iphigenia's death4 ,france1 he long revelled in thy forest shades1 ,offering thy incense to the grim ,tenttes1 ,whetting the savage ,druid's murderous knife ,to sate his worthless gods with human gore4 ,he1 from the ,capitol1 stirred ,pagan hearts ,to exterminate ,christ's followers2 and he1 ,when ,rome herself had bowed to ,christian truth1 ,quitted the ,capitol to rule the church-- ,to reign supreme in every ,christian soul1 ,and make the ,pagans martyrs in their turn4 ,his were in ,england the fierce sect who laid ,their bloody hands on a too feeble king4 ,his are ,madrid's and ,lisbon's horrid fires1 ,the yearly portion of unhappy ,jews1 ,by priestly judges doomed to temporal flames ,for thinking their forefathers' faith the best4 ,you clearly see1 then1 that even so long ago ,i was your servant1 your friend1 your brother2 although my father and mother had preserved to me my fore-skin4 ,i am aware that virility1 whether circumcised or uncircumcised1 has caused very fatal quarrels4 ,i know what it cost ,priam's son ,paris1 and ,agamemnon's brother ,menelaus4 ,i have read enough of your books to know that ,hamor's son ,sichem ravished ,leah's daughter ,dinah1 who at most was not more than five years old1 but was very forward for her age4 ,he wanted to make her his wife2 and ,jacob's sons1 brothers of the violated damsel1 gave her to him in marriage on condition that he and all his people should be circumcised4 ,when the operation was performed1 and all the ,sichemites1 or ,sechemites1 were lying-in of the pains consequent thereupon1 the holy patriarchs ,simeon and ,levi cut all their throats one after another4 ,but1 after all1 ,i do not believe that uncircumcision ought now to produce such abominable horrors2 and especially ,i do not think that men should hate1 detest1 anathematize1 and damn one another every ,saturday and ,sunday1 on account of a morsel more or less of flesh4 ,if ,i have said that some of the circumcised have clipped money at ,metz1 at ,frankfort on the ,oder1 and at ,warsaw 7which ,i do not remember7 ,i ask their pardon2 for1 being almost at the end of my pilgrimage1 ,i have no wish to embroil myself with ,israel4 ,i have the honor to be 7as they say71 ,yours1 etc4 ,,second ,,letter4 ,antiquity of the ,jews4 ,gentlemen3 ,i have ever agreed1 having read a few historical books for amusement1 that you are a very ancient people1 and your origin may be dated much farther back than that of the ,teutones1 the ,celts1 the ,slavonians1 the ,angles1 and ,hurons4 ,i see you assembling as a people in a capital called1 sometimes ,hershalam1 sometimes ,shaheb1 on the hill ,moriah1 and on the hill ,sion1 near a desert1 on a stony soil1 by a small torrent which is dry six months of the year4 ,when you began to-establish yourselves in your corner1 ,i will not say of land1 but of pebbles1 ,troy had been destroyed by the ,greeks about two centuries4 ,medon was archon of ,athens4 ,echestratus was reigning in ,lacedmon4 ,latinus ,sylvius was reigning in ,latium2 and ,osochor in ,egypt4 ,the ,indies had been flourishing for a long succession of ages4 ,this was the most illustrious period of ,chinese history4 ,the emperor ,tchin-wang was reigning with glory over that vast empire2 all the sciences were there cultivated2 and the public annals inform us that the king of ,cochin ,china1 being come to pay his respects to this emperor1 ,tchin-wang1 received from him a present of a mariner's compass4 ,this compass might have been of great service to your ,solomon1 for his fleets that went to the fine country of ,ophir1 which no one has ever known anything about4 ,thus1 after the ,chaldans1 the ,syrians1 the ,persians1 the ,phoenicians1 the ,egyptians1 the ,greeks1 the ,indians1 the ,chinese1 the ,latins1 and the ,etruscans1 you are the first people upon earth who had any known form of government4 ,the ,banians1 the ,guebers1 and yourselves1 are the only nations which1 dispersed out of their own country1 have preserved their ancient rites2 if ,i make no account of the little ,egyptian troops1 called ,zingari in ,italy1 ,gypsies in ,england1 and ,bohemians in ,france1 which had preserved the antique ceremonies of the worship of ,isis1 the sistrum1 the cymbals1 the dance of ,isis1 the prophesying1 and the art of robbing hen-roosts4 ,these sacred troops are beginning to disappear from the face of the earth2 while their pyramids still belong to the ,turks1 who perhaps will not always be masters of them--the figure of all things on this earth doth so pass away4 ,you say1 that you have been settled in ,spain ever since the days of ,solomon3 ,i believe it1 and will even venture to think that the ,phnicians might have carried some ,jews thither long before1 when you were slaves in ,phnicia1 after the horrid massacres which you say were committed by the robber ,joshua1 and by that other robber ,caleb4 ,your books indeed say1 that you were reduced to slavery under ,chushan-,rashataim1 king of ,mesopotamia1 for eight years2 under ,eglon1 king of ,moab1 for eighteen years2 then under ,jabin1 king of ,canaan1 for twenty years2 then in the little canton of ,midian1 from which you had issued1 and where you dwelt in caverns1 for seven years2 then in ,gilead1 for eighteen years--notwithstanding that ,jair1 your prince1 had thirty sons1 each mounted on a fine ass--then under the ,phnicians 7called by you ,philistines71 for forty years--until at last the ,lord ,adonai sent ,samson1 who tied three hundred foxes1 one to another by the tails1 and slew a thousand ,philistines with the jaw-bone of an ass1 from which issued a fountain of clear water2 which has been very well represented at the ,comdie ,italienne4 ,here are1 by your own confession1 ninety-six years of captivity in the land of promise4 ,now it is very probable that the ,syrians1 who were the factors for all nations1 and navigated as far as the great ocean1 bought some ,jewish slaves1 and took them to ,cadiz1 which they founded4 ,you see that you are much more ancient than you think4 ,it is indeed very likely that you inhabited ,spain several centuries before the ,romans1 the ,goths1 the ,vandals1 and the ,moors4 ,i am not only your friend1 your brother1 but moreover your genealogist4 ,i beg1 gentlemen1 that you will have the goodness to believe1 that ,i never have believed1 ,i do not believe1 and ,i never will believe1 that you are descended from those highway robbers whose ears and noses were cut off by order of ,king ,actisanes1 and whom1 according to ,diodorus of ,sicily1 he sent into the desert between ,lake ,sirbo and ,mount ,sinai--a frightful desert where water and every other necessary of life are wanting4 ,they made nets to catch quails1 which fed them for a few weeks1 during the passage of the birds4 ,some of the learned have pretended that this origin perfectly agrees with your history4 ,you yourselves say1 that you inhabited this desert1 that there you wanted water1 and lived on quails1 which in reality abound there4 ,your accounts appear in the main to confirm that of ,diodorus2 but ,i believe only the ,pentateuch4 ,the author does not say that you had your ears and noses cut off4 ,as far as ,i remember1 7for ,i have not ,diodorus at hand71 you lost only your noses4 ,i do not now recollect where ,i read that your ears were of the party2 it might be in some fragments of ,manetho1 cited by ,st4 ,ephraem4 ,in vain does the secretary1 who has done me the honor of writing to me in your name1 assure me that you stole to the amount of upwards of nine millions in gold1 coined or carved1 to go and set up your tabernacle in the desert4 ,i maintain1 that you carried off nothing but what lawfully belonged to you1 reckoning interest at forty per cent41 which was the lawful rate4 ,be this as it may1 ,i certify that you are of very good nobility1 and that you were lords of ,hershalam long before the houses of ,suabia1 ,anhalt1 ,saxony1 and ,bavaria were heard of4 ,it may be that the negroes of ,angola1 and those of ,guinea1 are much more ancient than you1 and that they adored a beautiful serpent before the ,egyptians knew their ,isis1 and you dwelt near ,lake ,sirbo2 but the negroes have not yet communicated their books to us4 ,,third ,,letter4 ,on a few ,crosses which befell ,god's ,people4 ,far from accusing you1 gentlemen1 ,i have always regarded you with compassion4 ,permit me here to remind you of what ,i have read in the preliminary discourse to the ,essay on the ,spirit and ,manners of ,nations1 and on general history4 ,here we find1 that two hundred and thirty-nine thousand and twenty ,jews were slaughtered by one another1 from the worshipping of the golden calf to the taking of the ark by the ,philistines--which cost fifty thousand and seventy ,jews their lives1 for having dared to look upon the ark1 while those who had so insolently taken it in war1 were acquitted with only the piles1 and a fine of five golden mice1 and five golden anuses4 ,you will not deny that the slaughter of two hundred and thirty-nine thousand and twenty men1 by your fellow-countrymen1 without reckoning those whom you lost in alternate war and slavery1 must have been very detrimental to a rising colony4 ,how should ,i do otherwise than pity you8 seeing that ten of your tribes were absolutely annihilated1 or perhaps reduced to two hundred families1 which1 it is said1 are to be found in ,china and ,tartary4 ,as for the two other tribes1 ,i need not tell you what has happened to them4 ,suffer then my compassion1 and do not impute to me ill-will4 ,,fourth ,,letter4 ,the ,story of ,micah4 ,be not displeased at my asking from you some elucidation of a singular passage in your history1 with which the ladies of ,paris and people of fashion are but slightly acquainted4 ,your ,moses had not been dead quite thirty-eight years when the mother of ,micah1 of the tribe of ,benjamin1 lost eleven hundred shekels1 which are said to be equivalent to about six hundred livres of our money4 ,her son returned them to her2 the text does not inform us that he had not stolen them4 ,the good ,jewess immediately had them made into idols1 and1 according to custom1 built them a little movable chapel4 ,a ,levite of ,bethlehem offered himself to perform the service for ten francs per annum1 two tunics1 and his victuals4 ,a tribe 7afterwards called the tribe of ,dan7 searching that neighborhood for something to plunder1 passed near ,micah's house4 ,the men of ,dan1 knowing that ,micah's mother had in her house a priest1 a seer1 a diviner1 a rho1 inquired of him if their excursion would be lucky--if they should find a good booty4 ,the ,levite promised them complete success4 ,they began by robbing ,micah's chapel1 and took from her even her ,levite4 ,in vain did ,micah and his mother cry out3 ,you are carrying away my gods6 ,you are stealing my priest6 ,the robbers silenced them1 and went1 through devotion1 to put to fire and sword the little town of ,dan1 whose name this tribe adopted4 ,these freebooters were very grateful to ,micah's gods1 which had done them such good service1 and placed them in a new tabernacle4 ,the crowd of devotees increasing1 a new priest was wanted1 and one presented himself4 ,those who are not conversant with your history will never divine who this chaplain was3 but1 gentlemen1 you know that it was ,moses' own grandson1 one ,jonathan1 son of ,gershom1 son of ,moses and ,jethro's daughter4 ,you will agree with me1 that the family of ,moses was rather a singular one4 ,his brother1 at the age of one hundred1 cast a golden calf and worshipped it2 and his grandson turned chaplain to the idols for money4 ,does not this prove that your religion was not yet formed1 and that you were a long time groping in the dark before you became perfect ,israelites as you now are8 ,to my question you answer1 that our ,simon ,peter ,barjonas did as much2 that he commenced his apostleship with denying his master4 ,i have nothing to reply1 except it be1 that we must always distrust ourselves2 and so great is my own self-distrust1 that ,i conclude my letter with assuring you of my utmost indulgence1 and requesting yours4 ,,fifth ,,letter4 ,jewish ,assassinations4 ,were the ,jews ,cannibals8 ,had their ,mothers ,commerce with ,goats8 ,did their ,fathers and ,mothers ,immolate their ,children8 ,with a few other fine ,actions of ,god's ,people4 ,gentlemen1--,i have been somewhat uncourteous to your secretary4 ,it is against the rules of politeness to scold a servant in the presence of his master2 but self-important ignorance is revolting in a ,christian who makes himself the servant of a ,jew4 ,i address myself directly to you1 that ,i may have nothing more to do with your livery4 ,jewish ,calamities and ,great ,assassinations4 ,permit me1 in the first place1 to lament over all your calamities2 for1 besides the two hundred and thirty-nine thousand and twenty ,israelites killed by order of the ,lord1 ,i find that ,jephthah's daughter was immolated by her father4 ,turn which way you please--twixt the text as you will--dispute as you like against the fathers of the ,church2 still he did to her as he had vowed2 and he had vowed to cut his daughter's throat in thanksgiving to ,god4 ,an excellent thanksgiving6 ,yes1 you have immolated human victims to the ,lord2 but be consoled2 ,i have often told you that our ,celts and all nations have done so formerly4 ,what says ,m4 de ,bougainville1 who has returned from the island of ,otaheite--that island of ,cytherea1 whose inhabitants1 peaceful1 mild1 humane1 and hospitable1 offer to the traveller all that they possess--the most delicious of fruits--the most beautiful and most obliging of women8 ,he tells us that these people have their jugglers2 and that these jugglers force them to sacrifice their children to apes1 which they call their gods4 ,i find that seventy brothers of ,abimelech were put to death on the same stone by this ,abimelech1 the son of ,gideon and a prostitute4 ,this son of ,gideon was a bad kinsman1 and this ,gideon1 the friend of ,god1 was very debauched4 ,your ,levite going on his ass to ,gibeah--the ,gibeonites wanting to violate him--his poor wife violated in his stead1 and dying in consequence--the civil war that ensued--all your tribe of ,benjamin exterminated1 saving only six hundred men--give me inexpressible pain4 ,you lost1 all at once1 five fine towns which the ,lord destined for you1 at the end of the lake of ,sodom2 and that for an inconceivable attempt upon the modesty of two angels4 ,really1 this is much worse than what your mothers are accused of with the goats4 ,how should ,i have other than the greatest pity for you1 when ,i find murder and bestiality established against your ancestors1 who are our first spiritual fathers1 and our near kinsmen according to the flesh8 ,for after all1 if you are descended from ,shem1 we are descended from ,japhet4 ,we are therefore evidently cousins4 ,melchim1 or ,petty ,kings of the ,jews4 ,your ,samuel had good reason for not wishing you to have kings2 for nearly all your kings were assassins1 beginning with ,david1 who assassinated ,mephibosheth1 son of ,jonathan1 his tender friend1 whom he loved with a love-greater than that of woman2 who assassinated ,uriah1 the husband of ,bathsheba2 who assassinated even the infants at the breast in the villages in alliance with his protector ,achish2 who on his death-bed commanded the assassination of his general ,joab and his counsel ,shimei--beginning1 ,i say1 with this ,david1 and with ,solomon1 who assassinated his own brother ,adonijah1 clinging in vain to the altar1 and ending with ,herod the ,great1 who assassinated his brother-in-law1 his wife1 and all his kindred1 including even his children4 ,i say nothing of the fourteen thousand little boys whom your petty king1 this mighty ,herod1 had slaughtered in the village of ,bethlehem4 ,they are1 as you know1 buried at ,cologne with our eleven thousand virgins2 and one of these infants is still to be seen entire4 ,you do not believe this authentic story1 because it is not in your canon1 and your ,flavius ,josephus makes no mention of it4 ,i say nothing of the eleven hundred thousand men killed in the town of ,jerusalem alone1 during its siege by ,titus4 ,in good faith1 the cherished nation is a very unlucky one4 ,did the ,jews ,eat ,human ,flesh8 ,among your calamities1 which have so often made me shudder1 ,i have always reckoned your misfortune in having eaten human flesh4 ,you say that this happened only on great occasions2 that it was not you whom the ,lord invited to ,his table to eat the horse and the horseman1 and that only the birds were the guests4 ,i am willing to believe it4 ,were the ,jewish ,ladies ,intimate with ,goats8 ,you assert that your mothers had no commerce with he-goats1 nor your fathers with she-goats4 ,but pray1 gentlemen1 why are you the only people upon earth whose laws have forbidden such commerce8 ,would any legislator ever have thought of promulgating this extraordinary law if the offence had not been common8 ,did the ,jews ,immolate ,human ,victims8 ,you venture to affirm that you have never immolated human victims to the ,lord4 ,what1 then1 was the murder of ,jephthah's daughter1 who was really immolated1 as we have already shown from your own books8 ,how will you explain the anathema of the thirty-two virgins1 that were the tribute of the ,lord1 when you took thirty-two thousand ,midianitish virgins and sixty-one thousand asses8 ,i will not here tell you1 that according to this account there were not two asses for each virgin2 but ,i will ask you1 what was this tribute for the ,lord8 ,according to your ,book of ,numbers1 there were sixteen thousand girls for your soldiers1 sixteen thousand for your priests1 and on the soldiers' share there was levied a tribute of thirty-two virgins for the ,lord4 ,what became of them8 ,you had no nuns4 ,what was the ,lord's share in all your wars1 if it was not blood8 ,did not the priest ,samuel hack in pieces ,king ,agag1 whose life ,king ,saul had saved8 ,did he not sacrifice him as the ,lord's share8 ,either renounce your sacred books1 in which1 according to the decision of the church1 ,i firmly believe1 or acknowledge that your forefathers offered up to ,god rivers of human blood1 unparalleled by any people on earth4 ,the ,thirty-two ,thousand ,virgins1 the ,seventy-five ,thousand ,oxen1 and the ,fruitful ,desert of ,midian4 ,let your secretary no longer evade--no longer equivocate1 respecting the carnage of the ,midianites and their villages4 ,i feel great concern that your butcher-priest ,eleazar1 general of the ,jewish armies1 should have found in that little miserable and desert country1 seventy-five thousand oxen1 sixty-one thousand asses1 and six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep1 without reckoning the rams and the lambs4 ,now if you took thirty-two thousand infant girls1 it is likely that there were as many infant boys1 and as many fathers and mothers4 ,these united amount to a hundred and twenty-eight thousand captives1 in a desert where there is nothing to eat1 nothing to drink but brackish water1 and which is inhabited by some wandering ,arabs1 to the number of two or three thousand at most4 ,you will besides observe1 that1 on all the maps1 this frightful country is not more than eight leagues long1 and as many broad4 ,but were it as large1 as fertile1 and as populous as ,normandy or the ,milanese1 no matter4 ,i hold to the text1 which says1 the ,lord's share was thirty-two maidens4 ,confound as you please ,midian by the ,red ,sea with ,midian by ,sodom2 ,i shall still demand an account of my thirty-two thousand virgins4 ,have you employed your secretary to calculate how many oxen and maidens the fine country of ,midian is capable of feeding8 ,gentlemen1 ,i inhabit a canton which is not the ,land of ,promise2 but we have a lake much finer than that of ,sodom1 and our soil is moderately productive4 ,your secretary tells me that an acre of ,midian will feed three oxen3 ,i assure you1 gentlemen1 that with us an acre will feed but one4 ,if your secretary will triple the revenue of my lands1 ,i will give him good wages1 and will not pay him with drafts on the receivers-general4 ,he will not find a better situation in all the country of ,midian than with me2 but unfortunately this man knows no more of oxen than he does of golden calves4 ,as for the thirty-two thousand maidenheads1 ,i wish him joy of them4 ,our little country is as large as ,midian4 ,it contains about four thousand drunkards1 a dozen attorneys1 two men of sense1 and four thousand persons of the fair sex1 who are not uniformly pretty4 ,these together make about eight thousand people1 supposing that the registrar who gave me the account did not exaggerate by one-half1 according to custom4 ,either your priests or ours would have had considerable difficulty in finding thirty-two thousand virgins for their use in our country4 ,this makes me very doubtful concerning the numberings of the ,roman people1 at the time when their empire extended just four leagues from the ,tarpeian rock1 and they carried a handful of hay at the end of a pole for a standard4 ,perhaps you do not know that the ,romans passed five hundred years in plundering their neighbors before they had any historian1 and that their numberings1 like their miracles1 are very suspicious4 ,as for the sixty-one thousand asses1 the fruits of your conquests in ,midian--enough has been said of asses4 ,jewish ,children ,immolated by their ,mothers4 ,i tell you1 that your fathers immolated their children2 and ,i call your prophets to witness4 ,isaiah reproaches them with this cannibalish crime3 ,slaying the children of the valleys under the clefts of the rocks4 ,you will tell me1 that it was not to the ,lord ,adonai that the women sacrificed the fruit of their womb--that it was to some other god4 ,but what matters it whether you called him to whom you offered up your children ,melkom1 or ,sada1 or ,baal1 or ,adonai8 ,that which it concerns us to know is1 that you were parricides4 ,it was to strange idols1 you say1 that your fathers made their offerings4 ,well1--,i pity you still more for being descended from fathers at once both parricidal and idolatrous4 ,i condole with you1 that your fathers were idolaters for forty successive years in the desert of ,sinai1 as is expressly said by ,jeremiah1 ,amos1 and ,st4 ,stephen4 ,you were idolaters in the time of the ,judges2 and the grandson of ,moses was priest of the tribe of ,dan1 who1 as we have seen1 were all idolaters2 for it is necessary to repeat--to insist2 otherwise everything is forgotten4 ,you were idolaters under your kings2 you were not faithful to one ,god only1 until after ,esdras had restored your books4 ,then it was that your uninterruptedly true worship began2 and by an incomprehensible providence of the ,supreme ,being1 you have been the most unfortunate of all men ever since you became the most faithful--under the kings of ,syria1 under the kings of ,egypt1 under ,herod the ,iduman1 under the ,romans1 under the ,persians1 under the ,arabs1 under the ,turks--until now1 that you do me the honor of writing to me1 and ,i have the honor of answering you4 ,,sixth ,,letter4 ,beauty of the ,land of ,promise4 ,do not reproach me with not loving you4 ,i love you so much that ,i wish you were in ,hershalam1 instead of the ,turks1 who ravage your country2 but who1 nevertheless1 have built a very fine mosque on the foundations of your temple1 and on the platform constructed by your ,herod4 ,you would cultivate that miserable desert1 as you cultivated it formerly2 you would carry earth to the bare tops of your arid mountains2 you would not have much corn1 but you would have very good vines1 a few palms1 olive trees1 and pastures4 ,though ,palestine does not equal ,provence1 though ,marseilles alone is superior to all ,juda1 which had not one sea-port2 though the town of ,aix is incomparably better situated than ,jerusalem1 you might nevertheless make of your territory almost as much as the ,provencals have made of theirs4 ,you might execute1 to your hearts' content1 your own detestable psalmody in your own detestable jargon4 ,it is true1 that you would have no horses2 for there are not1 nor have there ever been1 about ,hershalam1 any but asses4 ,you would often be in want of wheat1 but you would obtain it from ,egypt or ,syria4 ,you might convey merchandise to ,damascus and to ,said on your asses--or indeed on camels--which you never knew anything of in the time of your ,melchim1 and which would be a great assistance to you4 ,in short1 assiduous toil1 to which man is born1 would fertilize this land1 which the lords of ,constantinople and ,asia ,minor neglect4 ,this promised land of yours is very bad4 ,are you acquainted with ,st4 ,jerome8 ,he was a ,christian priest1 one of those men whose books you do not read4 ,however1 he lived a long time in your country2 he was a very learned person--not indeed slow to anger1 for when contradicted he was prodigal of abuse--but knowing your language better than you do1 for he was a good grammarian4 ,study was his ruling passion2 anger was only second to it4 ,he had turned priest1 together with his friend ,vincent1 on condition that they should never say mass nor vespers1 lest they should be too much interrupted in their studies2 for being directors of women and girls1 had they been moreover obliged to labor in the priestly office1 they would not have had two hours in the day left for ,greek1 ,chaldee1 and the ,jewish idiom4 ,at last1 in order to have more leisure1 ,jerome retired altogether1 to live among the ,jews at ,bethlehem1 as ,huet1 bishop of ,avranches1 retired to the ,jesuits1 at the house of the professed1 ,rue ,st4 ,antoine1 at ,paris4 ,jerome did1 it is true1 embroil himself with the bishop of ,jerusalem1 named ,john1 with the celebrated priest ,rufinus1 and with several of his friends2 for1 as ,i have already said1 ,jerome was full of choler and self-love1 and ,st4 ,augustine charges him with levity and fickleness3 but he was not the less holy1 he was not the less learned1 nor is his testimony the less to be received1 concerning the nature of the wretched country in which his ardor for study and his melancholy confined him4 ,be so obliging as to read his letter to ,dardanus1 written in the year #dad of our era1 which1 according to the ,jewish reckoning1 is the year of the world #djjj1 or #djja1 or #djjc1 or #djjd1 as you please4 ,i beg of those who assert that the ,jewish people1 after the coming out of ,egypt1 took possession of this country1 which to us1 by the passion and resurrection of our ,saviour1 has become truly a land of promise--,i beg of them1 ,i say1 to show us what this people possessed4 ,their whole dominions extended only from ,dan to ,beersheba1 about one hundred and sixty miles in length4 ,the ,holy ,scriptures give no more to ,david and to ,solomon4444 ,i am ashamed to say what is the breadth of the land of promise1 and ,i fear that the pagans will thence take occasion to blaspheme4 ,it is but forty-six miles from ,joppa to our little town of ,bethlehem1 beyond which all is a frightful desert4 ,read also the letter to one of his devotees1 in which he says1 that from ,jerusalem to ,bethlehem there is nothing but pebbles1 and no water to drink2 but that farther on1 towards the ,jordan1 you find very good valleys in that country full of bare mountains4 ,this really was a land of milk and honey1 in comparison with the abominable desert of ,horeb and ,sinai1 from which you originally came4 ,the sorry province of ,champagne is the land of promise1 in relation to some parts of the ,landes of ,bordeaux--the banks of the ,aar are the land of promise1 when compared with the little ,swiss cantons2 all ,palestine is very bad land1 in comparison with ,egypt1 which you say you came out of as thieves2 but it is a delightful country1 if you compare it with the deserts of ,jerusalem1 ,sodom1 ,horeb1 ,sinai1 ,kadesh1 etc4 ,go back to ,juda as soon as you can4 ,i ask of you only two or three ,hebrew families1 in order to establish a little necessary trade at ,mount ,krapak1 where ,i reside4 ,for1 if you are 7like us7 very ridiculous theologians1 you are very intelligent buyers and sellers1 which we are not4 ,,seventh ,,letter4 ,charity which ,god's ,people and the ,christians should entertain for each other4 ,my tenderness for you has only a few words more to say4 ,we have been accustomed for ages to hang you up between two dogs2 we have repeatedly driven you away through avarice2 we have recalled you through avarice and stupidity2 we still1 in more towns than one1 make you pay for liberty to breathe the air3 we have1 in more kingdoms than one1 sacrificed you to ,god2 we have burned you as holocausts--for ,i will not follow your example1 and dissemble that we have offered up sacrifices of human blood2 all the difference is1 that our priests1 content with applying your money to their own use1 have had you burned by laymen2 while your priests always immolated the human victims with their own sacred hands4 ,you were monsters of cruelty and fanaticism in ,palestine2 we have been so in ,europe3 my friends1 let all this be forgotten4 ,would you live in peace8 ,imitate the ,banians and the ,guebers4 ,they are much more ancient than you are2 they are dispersed like you2 they are1 like you1 without a country4 ,the ,guebers1 in particular1 who are the ancient ,persians1 are slaves like you1 after being for a long while masters4 ,they say not a word4 ,follow their example4 ,you are calculating animals--try to be thinking ones4 ,,job4 ,good day1 friend ,job6 thou art one of the most ancient originals of which books make mention2 thou wast not a ,jew2 we know that the book which bears thy name is more ancient than the ,pentateuch4 ,if the ,hebrews1 who translated it from the ,arabic1 made use of the word ,jehovah to signify ,god1 they borrowed it from the ,phoenicians and ,egyptians1 of which men of learning are assured4 ,the word ,satan was not ,hebrew2 it was ,chaldan1 as is well known4 ,thou dwelledst on the confines of ,chalda4 ,commentators1 worthy of their profession1 pretend that thou didst believe in the resurrection1 because1 being prostrate on thy dunghill1 thou hast said1 in thy nineteenth chapter1 that thou wouldst one day rise up from it4 ,a patient who wishes his cure is not anxious for resurrection in lieu of it2 but ,i would speak to thee of other things4 ,confess that thou wast a great babbler2 but thy friends were much greater4 ,it is said that thou possessedst seven thousand sheep1 three thousand camels1 one thousand cows1 and five hundred she-asses4 ,i will reckon up their value3 ,,livres ,seven thousand sheep1 at three livres ten sous apiece #bb1ejj ,three thousand camels at fifty crowns apiece #dej1jjj ,a thousand cows1 one with the other1 cannot be valued at less than #hj1jjj ,and five hundred she-asses1 at twenty francs an ass #aj1jjj ,the whole amounts to #efb1ejj without reckoning thy furniture1 rings and jewels4 ,i have been much richer than thou2 and though ,i have lost a great part of my property and am ill1 like thyself ,i have not murmured against ,god1 as thy friends seem to reproach thee with sometimes doing4 ,i am not at all pleased with ,satan1 who1 to induce thee to sin1 and to make thee forget ,god1 demanded permission to take away all thy property1 and to give thee the itch4 ,it is in this state that men always have recourse to divinity4 ,they are prosperous people who forgot ,god4 ,satan knew not enough of the world at that time2 he has improved himself since2 and when he would be sure of any one1 he makes him a farmer-general1 or something better if possible1 as our friend ,pope has clearly shown in his history of the knight ,sir ,balaam4 ,thy wife was an impertinent1 but thy pretended friends ,eliphaz the ,temanite1 ,bildad the ,shuite1 and ,zophar1 the ,naamathite1 were much more insupportable4 ,they exhorted thee to patience in a manner that would have roused the mildest of men2 they made thee long sermons more tiresome than those preached by the knave ,v----e at ,amsterdam1 and by so many other people4 ,it is true that thou didst not know what thou saidst1 when exclaiming--,my ,god1 am ,i a sea or a whale1 to be shut up by ,thee as in a prison8 ,but thy friends knew no more when they answered thee1 that the morn cannot become fresh without dew1 and that the grass of the field cannot grow without water4 ,nothing is less consolatory than this axiom4 ,zophar of ,naamath reproached thee with being a prater2 but none of these good friends lent thee a crown4 ,i would not have treated thee thus4 ,nothing is more common than people who advise2 nothing more rare than those who assist4 ,friends are not worth much1 from whom we cannot procure a drop of broth if we are in misery4 ,i imagine that when ,god restored thy riches and health1 these eloquent personages dared not present themselves before thee1 hence the comforters of ,job have become a proverb4 ,god was displeased with them1 and told them sharply1 in chap1 xlii41 that they were tiresome and imprudent1 and he condemned them to a fine of seven bullocks and seven rams1 for having talked nonsense4 ,i would have condemned them for not having assisted their friend4 ,i pray thee1 tell me if it is true1 that thou livedst a hundred and forty years after this adventure4 ,i like to learn that honest people live long2 but men of the present day must be great rogues1 since their lives are comparatively so short4 ,as to the rest1 the book of ,job is one of the most precious of antiquity4 ,it is evident that this book is the work of an ,arab who lived before the time in which we place ,moses4 ,it is said that ,eliphaz1 one of the interlocutors1 is of ,teman1 which was an ancient city of ,arabia4 ,bildad was of ,shua1 another town of ,arabia4 ,zophar was of ,naamath1 a still more eastern country of ,arabia4 ,but what is more remarkable1 and which shows that this fable cannot be that of a ,jew1 is1 that three constellations are spoken of1 which we now call ,arcturus1 ,orion1 and the ,pleiades4 ,the ,hebrews never had the least knowledge of astronomy2 they had not even a word to express this science2 all that regards the mental science was unknown to them1 inclusive even of the term geometry4 ,the ,arabs1 on the contrary1 living in tents1 and being continually led to observe the stars1 were perhaps the first who regulated their years by the inspection of the heavens4 ,the more important observation is1 that one ,god alone is spoken of in this book4 ,it is an absurd error to imagine that the ,jews were the only people who recognized a sole ,god2 it was the doctrine of almost all the ,east1 and the ,jews were only plagiarists in that as in everything else4 ,in chapter xxxviii4 ,god ,himself speaks to ,job from the midst of a whirlwind1 which has been since imitated in ,genesis4 ,we cannot too often repeat1 that the ,jewish books are very modern4 ,ignorance and fanaticism exclaim1 that the ,pentateuch is the most ancient book in the world4 ,it is evident1 that those of ,sanchoniathon1 and those of ,thaut1 eight hundred years anterior to those of ,sanchoniathon2 those of the first ,zerdusht1 the ,shasta1 the ,vedas of the ,indians1 which we still possess2 the ,five ,kings of ,china2 and finally the ,book of ,job1 are of a much remoter antiquity than any ,jewish book4 ,it is demonstrated that this little people could only have annals while they had a stable government2 that they only had this government under their kings2 that its jargon was only formed1 in the course of time1 of a mixture of ,phnician and ,arabic4 ,these are incontestable proofs that the ,phnicians cultivated letters a long time before them4 ,their profession was pillage and brokerage2 they were writers only by chance4 ,we have lost the books of the ,egyptians and ,phnicians1 the ,chinese1 ,brahmins1 and ,guebers2 the ,jews have preserved theirs4 ,all these monuments are curious1 but they are monuments of human imagination alone1 in which not a single truth1 either physical or historical1 is to be learned4 ,there is not at present any little physical treatise that would not be more useful than all the books of antiquity4 ,the good ,calmet1 or ,dom ,calmet 7for the ,benedictines like us to give them their ,dom71 that simple compiler of so many reveries and imbecilities2 that man whom simplicity has rendered so useful to whoever would laugh at antique nonsense1 faithfully relates the opinion of those who would discover the malady with which ,job was attacked1 as if ,job was a real personage4 ,he does not hesitate in saying that ,job had the smallpox1 and heaps passage upon passage1 as usual1 to prove that which is not4 ,he had not read the history of the smallpox by ,astruc2 for ,astruc being neither a father of the ,church nor a doctor of ,salamanca1 but a very learned physician1 the good man ,calmet knew not that he existed4 ,monkish compilers are poor creatures6 ,,by ,,an ,,invalid1 ,at the ,baths of ,aix-la-,chapelle4