,a ,,philosophical ,,dictionary ,,volume ,x ,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 ,,xiv ,e4,r4 ,du,m,o,n,t ,,paris--,,london--,,new ,,york--,,chicago #aija ,,list ,,of ,,plates--,,vol4 ,x ,,voltaire',s ,,remains ,,on ,,the ,,bastille--,frontispiece ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,socrates ,,the ,,vision ,,pierre ,,corneille ,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 ,illustration3 ,throned ,upon ,the ,ruins ,of ,the ,bastille4 ,for one night1 upon the ruins of the ,bastille1 rested the body of ,voltaire1 on fallen wall and broken aroh1 above the dungeons where light had faded from the lives of men1 and hope had died in breaking hearts4 ,the conqueror1 resting upon the conquered2 throned upon the ,bastille1 the fallen fortress of night4--,,ingersoll4 ,,voltaire ,a ,,philosophical ,,dictionary ,,in ,,ten ,,volumes ,,vol4 ,x4 ,,style--,,zoroaster ,,and ,,declaration ,,of ,,the ,,amateurs1 ,,inquirers1 ,,and ,,doubters ,,style4 ,it is very strange that since the ,french people became literary they have had no book written in a good style1 until the year #afed1 when the ,provincial ,letters appeared2 and why had no one written history in a suitable tone1 previous to that of the ,conspiracy of ,venice of the ,abb ,st4 ,ral8 ,how is it that ,pellisson was the first who adopted the true ,ciceronian style1 in his memoir for the superintendent ,fouquet8 ,nothing is more difficult and more rare than a style altogether suitable to the subject in hand4 ,the style of the letters of ,balzac would not be amiss for funeral orations2 and we have some physical treatises in the style of the epic poem or the ode4 ,it is proper that all things occupy their own places4 ,affect not strange terms of expression1 or new words1 in a treatise on religion1 like the ,abb ,houteville2 neither declaim in a physical treatise4 ,avoid pleasantry in the mathematics1 and flourish and extravagant figures in a pleading4 ,if a poor intoxicated woman dies of an apoplexy1 you say that she is in the regions of death2 they bury her1 and you exclaim that her mortal remains are confided to the earth4 ,if the bell tolls at her burial1 it is her funeral knell ascending to the skies4 ,in all this you think you imitate ,cicero1 and you only copy ,master ,littlejohn4444 ,without style1 it is impossible that there can be a good work in any kind of eloquence or poetry4 ,a profusion of words is the great vice of all our modern philosophers and anti-philosophers4 ,the ,systme de la ,nature is a great proof of this truth4 ,it is very difficult to give just ideas of ,god and nature1 and perhaps equally so to form a good style4 ,as the kind of execution to be employed by every artist depends upon the subject of which he treats--as the line of ,poussin is not that of ,teniers1 nor the architecture of a temple that of a common house1 nor music of a serious opera that of a comic one--so has each kind of writing its proper style1 both in prose and verse4 ,it is obvious that the style of history is not that of a funeral oration1 and that the despatch of an ambassador ought not to be written like a sermon2 that comedy is not to borrow the boldness of the ode1 the pathetic expression of the tragedy1 nor the metaphors and similes of the epic4 ,every species has its different shades1 which may1 however1 be reduced to two1 the simple and the elevated4 ,these two kinds1 which embrace so many others1 possess essential beauties in common1 which beauties are accuracy of idea1 adaptation1 elegance1 propriety of expression1 and purity of language4 ,every piece of writing1 whatever its nature1 calls for these qualities2 the difference consists in the employment of the corresponding tropes4 ,thus1 a character in comedy will not utter sublime or philosophical ideas1 a shepherd spout the notions of a conqueror1 not a didactic epistle breathe forth passion2 and none of these forms of composition ought to exhibit bold metaphor1 pathetic exclamation1 or vehement expression4 ,between the simple and the sublime there are many shades1 and it is the art of adjusting them which contributes to the perfection of eloquence and poetry4 ,it is by this art that ,virgil frequently exalts the eclogue4 ,this verse3 ,ut vidi ut perii1 ut me malus abstulit error6 7,eclogue viii1 v4 #da7--;,i saw1 ,i perished1 yet indulged my pain6 7,dryden7--would be as fine in the mouth of ,dido as in that of a shepherd1 because it is nature1 true and elegant1 and the sentiment belongs to any condition4 ,but this3 ,castaneasque nuces me quas ,amaryllis amabat4 --,eclogue1 ii1 v4 #eb44 ,and pluck the chestnuts from the neighboring grove1 ,such as my ,amaryllis used to love4 --,,dryden4 belongs not to an heroic personage1 because the allusion is not such as would be made by a hero4 ,these two instances are examples of the cases in which the mingling of styles may be defended4 ,tragedy may occasionally stoop2 it even ought to do so4 ,simplicity1 according to the precept of ,horace1 often relieves grandeur4 ,et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri 7,ars ,poet41 v4 #ie7--;,and oft the tragic language humbly flows 7,francis74 ,these two verses in ,titus1 so natural and so tender3 ,depuis cinq ans entiers chaque jour je la vois4 ,et crois toujours la voir pour la premire fois4 --,b,r,,nice1 acte ii1 scene #a4 ,each day1 for five years1 have ,i seen her face1 ,and each succeeding time appears the first4 would not be at all out of place in serious comedy2 but the following verse of ,antiochus3 ,dans l'orient desert quel devint mon ennui6 7,id41 acte i1 scene #d7--,the lonely east1 how wearisome to me6--would not suit a lover in comedy2 the figure of the lonely east is too elevated for the simplicity of the buskin4 ,we have already remarked1 that an author who writes on physics1 in allusion to a writer on physics1 called ,hercules1 adds that he is not able to resist a philosopher so powerful4 ,another who has written a small book1 which he imagines to be physical and moral1 against the utility of inoculation1 says that if the smallpox be diffused artificially1 death will be defrauded4 ,the above defect springs from a ridiculous affectation4 ,there is another which is the result of negligence1 which is that of mingling with the simple and noble style required by history1 popular phrases and low expressions1 which are inimical to good taste4 ,we often read in ,mzeray1 and even in ,daniel1 who1 having written so long after him1 ought to be more correct1 that a general pursued at the heels of the enemy1 followed his track1 and utterly basted him-- plate couture4 ,we read nothing of this kind in ,livy1 ,tacitus1 ,guicciardini1 or ,clarendon4 ,let us observe1 that an author accustomed to this kind of style can seldom change it with his subject4 ,in his operas1 ,la ,fontaine composed in the style of his fables2 and ,benserade1 in his translation of ,ovid's ,metamorphoses1 exhibited the same kind of pleasantry which rendered his madrigals successful4 ,perfection consists in knowing how to adapt our style to the various subjects of which we treat2 but who is altogether the master of his habits1 and able to direct his genius at pleasure8 ,,various ,,styles ,,distinguished4 ,the ,feeble4 ,weakness of the heart is not that of the mind1 nor weakness of the soul that of the heart4 ,a feeble soul is without resource in action1 and abandons itself to those who govern it4 ,the heart which is weak or feeble is easily softened1 changes its inclinations with facility1 resists not the seduction or the ascendency required1 and may subsist with a strong mind2 for we may think strongly and act weakly4 ,the weak mind receives impressions without resistance1 embraces opinions without examination1 is alarmed without cause1 and tends naturally to superstition4 ,a work may be feeble either in its matter or its style2 by the thoughts1 when too common1 or when1 being correct1 they are not sufficiently profound2 and by the style1 when it is destitute of images1 or turns of expression1 and of figures which rouse attention4 ,compared with those of ,bossuet1 the funeral orations of ,mascaron are weak1 and his style is lifeless4 ,every speech is feeble when it is not relieved by ingenious turns1 and by energetic expressions2 but a pleader is weak1 when1 with all the aid of eloquence1 and all the earnestness of action1 he fails in ratiocination4 ,no philosophical work is feeble1 notwithstanding the deficiency of its style1 if the reasoning be correct and profound4 ,a tragedy is weak1 although the style be otherwise1 when the interest is not sustained4 ,the best-written comedy is feeble if it fails in that which the ,latins call the vis comica1 which is the defect pointed out by ,csar in ,terence3 ,lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta foret vis comica6 ,this is above all the sin of the weeping or sentimental comedy 7larmoyante74 ,feeble verses are not those which sin against rules1 but against genius2 which in their mechanism are without variety1 without choice expression1 or felicitous inversions2 and which retain in poetry the simplicity and homeliness of prose4 ,the distinction cannot be better comprehended than by a reference to the similar passages of ,racine and ,campistron1 his imitator4 ,flowery ,style4 ,flowery1 that which is in blossom2 a tree in blossom1 a rose-bush in blossom3 people do not say1 flowers which blossom4 ,of flowery bloom1 the carnation seems a mixture of white and rose-color4 ,we sometimes say a flowery mind1 to signify a person possessing a lighter species of literature1 and whose imagination is lively4 ,a flowery discourse is more replete with agreeable than with strong thoughts1 with images more sparkling than sublime1 and terms more curious than forcible4 ,this metaphor is correctly taken from flowers1 which are showy without strength or stability4 ,the flowery style is not unsuitable to public speeches or addresses which amount only to compliment4 ,the lighter beauties are in their place when there is nothing more solid to say2 but the flowery style should be banished from a pleading1 a sermon1 or a didactic work4 ,while banishing the flowery style1 we are not to reject the soft and lively images which enter naturally into the subject2 a few flowers are even admissible2 but the flowery style cannot be made suitable to a serious subject4 ,this style belongs to productions of mere amusement2 to idyls1 eclogues1 and descriptions of the seasons1 or of gardens4 ,it may gracefully occupy a portion of the most sublime ode1 provided it be duly relieved by stanzas of more masculine beauty4 ,it has little to do with comedy1 which1 as it ought to possess a resemblance to common life1 requires more of the style of ordinary conversation4 ,it is still less admissible in tragedy1 which is the province of strong passions and momentous interests2 and when occasionally employed in tragedy or comedy1 it is in certain descriptions in which the heart takes no part1 and which amuse the imagination without moving or occupying the soul4 ,the flowery style detracts from the interest of tragedy1 and weakens ridicule in comedy4 ,it is in its place in the ,french opera1 which rather flourishes on the passions than exhibits them4 ,the flowery is not to be confounded with the easy style1 which rejects this class of embellishment4 ,coldness of ,style4 ,it is said that a piece of poetry1 of eloquence1 of music1 and even of painting1 is cold1 when we look for an animated expression in it1 which we find not4 ,other arts are not so susceptible of this defect2 for instance1 architecture1 geometry1 logic1 metaphysics1 all the principal merit of which is correctness1 cannot properly be called warm or cold4 ,the picture of the family of ,darius1 by ,mignard1 is very cold in comparison with that of ,lebrun1 because we do not discover in the personages of ,mignard the same affliction which ,lebrun has so animatedly expressed in the attitudes and countenances of the ,persian princesses4 ,even a statue may be cold2 we ought to perceive fear and horror in the features of an ,andromeda1 the effect of a writhing of the muscles2 and anger mingled with courageous boldness in the attitude and on the brow of ,hercules1 who suspends and strangles ,antus4 ,in poetry and eloquence the great movements of the soul become cold1 when they are expressed in common terms1 and are unaided by imagination4 ,it is this latter which makes love so animated in ,racine1 and so languid in his imitator1 ,campistron4 ,the sentiments which escape from a soul which seeks concealment1 on the contrary1 require the most simple expression4 ,nothing is more animated than those verses in ,the ,cid3 ,go2 ,i hate thee not--thou knowest it2 ,i cannot4 ,this feeling would become cold1 if conveyed in studied phrases4 ,for this reason1 nothing is so cold as the timid style4 ,a hero in a poem says1 that he has encountered a tempest1 and that he has beheld his friend perish in the storm4 ,he touches and affects1 if he speaks with profound grief of his loss--that is1 if he is more occupied with his friend than with all the rest2 but he becomes cold1 and ceases to affect us1 if he amuses us with a description of the tempest2 if he speaks of the source of the fire which was boiling up the waters1 and of the thunder which roars and which redoubles the furrows of the earth and of the waves4 ,coldness of style1 therefore1 often arises from a sterility of ideas2 often from a deficiency in the power of governing them2 frequently from a too common diction1 and sometimes from one that is too far-fetched4 ,the author who is cold only in consequence of being animated out of time and place1 may correct this defect of a too fruitful imagination2 but he who is cold from a deficiency of soul is incapable of self-correction4 ,we may allay a fire which is too intense1 but cannot acquire heat if we have none4 ,on ,corruption of ,style4 ,a general complaint is made1 that eloquence is corrupted1 although we have models of almost all kinds4 ,one of the greatest defects of the day1 which contributes most to this defect1 is the mixture of style4 ,it appears to me1 that we authors do not sufficiently imitate the painters1 who never introduce the attitudes of ,calot with the figures of ,raphael4 ,i perceive in histories1 otherwise tolerably well written1 and in good doctrinal works1 the familiar style of conversation4 ,some one has formerly said1 that we must write as we speak2 the sense of which law is1 that we should write naturally4 ,we tolerate irregularity in a letter1 freedom as to style1 incorrectness1 and bold pleasantries1 because letters1 written spontaneously1 without particular object or act1 are negligent conversations2 but when we speak or treat of a subject formally1 some attention is due to decorum2 and to whom ought we to pay more respect than to the public8 ,is it allowable to write in a mathematical work1 that a geometrician who would pay his devotions1 ought to ascend to heaven in a right line2 that evanescent quantities turn up their noses at the earth for having too much elevated them2 that a seed sown in the ground takes an opportunity to release and amuse itself2 that if ,saturn should perish1 it would be his fifth and not his first satellite that would take his place1 because kings always keep their heirs at a distance2 that there is no void except in the purse of a ruined man2 that when ,hercules treats of physics1 no one is able to resist a philosopher of his degree of power8 etc4 ,some very valuable works are infected with this fault4 ,the source of a defect so common seems to me to be the accusation of pedantry1 so long and so justly made against authors4 ,in vitium ducit culp fuga4 ,it is frequently said1 that we ought to write in the style of good company2 that the most serious authors are becoming agreeable3 that is to say1 in order to exhibit the manners of good company to their readers1 they deliver themselves in the style of very bad company4 ,authors have sought to speak of science as ,voiture spoke to ,mademoiselle ,paulet of gallantry1 without dreaming that ,voiture by no means exhibits a correct taste in the species of composition in which he was esteemed excellent2 for he often takes the false for the refined1 and the affected for the natural4 ,pleasantry is never good on serious points1 because it always regards subjects in that point of view in which it is not the purpose to consider them4 ,it almost always turns upon false relations and equivoque1 whence jokers by profession usually possess minds as incorrect as they are superficial4 ,it appears to me1 that it is as improper to mingle styles in poetry as in prose4 ,the macaroni style has for some time past injured poetry by this medley of mean and of elevated1 of ancient and of modern expression4 ,in certain moral pieces it is not musical to hear the whistle of ,rabelais in the midst of sounds from the flute of ,horace--a practice which we should leave to inferior minds1 and attend to the lessons of good sense and of ,boileau4 ,the following is a singular instance of style1 in a speech delivered at ,versailles in #agde3 ,speech ,addressed to the ,king 7,louis ,,xv47 by ,m4 le ,camus1 ,first ,president of the ,court of ,aids4 ,sire--,the conquests of your majesty are so rapid1 that it will be necessary to consult the power of belief on the part of posterity1 and to soften their surprise at so many miracles1 for fear that heroes should hold themselves dispensed from imitation1 and people in general from believing them4 ,but no1 sire1 it will be impossible for them to doubt it1 when they shall read in history that your majesty has been at the head of your troops1 recording them yourself in the field of ,mars upon a drum4 ,this is to engrave them eternally in the temple of ,memory4 ,ages the most distant will learn1 that the ,english1 that bold and audacious foe1 that enemy so jealous of your glory1 have been obliged to turn away from your victory2 that their allies have been witnesses of their shame1 and that all of them have hastened to the combat only to immortalize the glory of the conqueror4 ,we venture to say to your majesty1 relying on the love that you bear to your people1 that there is but one way of augmenting our happiness1 which is to diminish your courage2 as heaven would lavish its prodigies at too costly a rate1 if they increased your dangers1 or those of the young heroes who constitute our dearest hopes4 ,,superstition4 ,,section ,i4 ,i have sometimes heard you say--,we are no longer superstitious2 the reformation of the sixteenth century has made us more prudent2 the ,protestants have taught us better manners4 ,but what then is the blood of a ,st4 ,januarius1 which you liquefy every year by bringing it near his head8 ,would it not be better to make ten thousand beggars earn their bread1 by employing them in useful tasks1 than to boil the blood of a saint for their amusement8 ,think rather how to make their pots boil4 ,why do you still1 in ,rome1 bless the horses and mules at ,st4 ,mary's the ,greater8 ,what mean those bands of flagellators in ,italy and ,spain1 who go about singing and giving themselves the lash in the presence of ladies8 ,do they think there is no road to heaven but by flogging8 ,are those pieces of the true cross1 which would suffice to build a hundred-gun ship--are the many relics acknowledged to be false--are the many false miracles--so many monuments of an enlightened piety8 ,france boasts of being less superstitious than the neighbors of ,st4 ,james of ,compostello1 or those of ,our ,lady of ,loretto4 ,yet how many sacristies are there where you still find pieces of the ,virgin's gown1 vials of her milk1 and locks of her hair6 ,and have you not still1 in the church of ,puy-en-,velay1 her ,son's foreskin preciously preserved8 ,you all know the abominable farce that has been played1 ever since the early part of the fourteenth century1 in the chapel of ,st4 ,louis1 in the ,palais at ,paris1 every ,maundy ,thursday night4 ,all the possessed in the kingdom then meet in this church4 ,the convulsions of ,st4 ,mdard fall far short of the horrible grimaces1 the dreadful howlings1 the violent contortions1 made by these wretched people4 ,a piece of the true cross is given them to kiss1 encased in three feet of gold1 and adorned with precious stones4 ,then the cries and contortions are redoubled4 ,the devil is then appeased by giving the demoniacs a few sous2 but the better to restrain them1 fifty archers of the watch are placed in the church with fixed bayonets4 ,the same execrable farce is played at ,st4 ,maur4 ,i could cite twenty such instances4 ,blush1 and correct yourselves4 ,there are wise men who assert1 that we should leave the people their superstitions1 as we leave them their raree-shows1 etc42 that the people have at all times been fond of prodigies1 fortune-tellers1 pilgrimages1 and quack-doctors2 that in the most remote antiquity they celebrated ,bacchus delivered from the waves1 wearing horns1 making a fountain of wine issue from a rock by a stroke of his wand1 passing the ,red ,sea on dry ground with all his people1 stopping the sun and moon1 etc42 that at ,lacedmon they kept the two eggs brought forth by ,leda1 hanging from the dome of a temple2 that in some towns of ,greece the priests showed the knife with which ,iphigenia had been immolated1 etc4 ,there are other wise men who say--,not one of these superstitions has produced any good2 many of them have done great harm3 let them then be abolished4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,i beg of you1 my dear reader1 to cast your eye for a moment on the miracle which was lately worked in ,lower ,brittany1 in the year of our ,lord #agga4 ,nothing can be more authentic3 this publication is clothed in all the legal forms4 ,read3-- ,surprising ,account of the ,visible and ,miraculous ,appearance of ,our ,lord ,jesus ,christ in the ,holy ,sacrament of the ,altar2 which was worked by the ,almighty ,power of ,god in the ,parish ,church of ,paimpole1 near ,trguier1 in ,lower ,brittany1 on ,twelfth-day4 ,on ,january #f1 #agga1 being ,twelfth-day1 during the chanting of the ,salve1 rays of light were seen to issue from the consecrated host1 and instantly the ,lord ,jesus was beheld in natural figure1 seeming more brilliant than the sun1 and was seen for a whole half-hour1 during which there appeared a rainbow over the top of the church4 ,the footprints of ,jesus remained on the tabernacle1 where they are still to be seen2 and many miracles are worked there every day4 ,at four in the afternoon1 ,jesus having disappeared from over the tabernacle1 the curate of the said parish approached the altar1 and found there a letter which ,jesus had left2 he would have taken it up1 but he found that he could not lift it4 ,this curate1 together with the vicar1 went to give information of it to the bishop of ,trguier1 who ordered the forty-hour prayers to be said in all the churches of the town for eight days1 during which time the people went in crowds to see this holy letter4 ,at the expiration of the eight days1 the bishop went thither in procession1 attended by all the regular and secular clergy of the town1 after three days' fasting on bread and water4 ,the procession having entered the church1 the bishop knelt down on the steps of the altar2 and after asking of ,god the grace to be able to lift this letter1 he ascended to the altar and took it up without difficulty2 then1 turning to the people1 he read it over with a loud voice1 and recommended to all who could read to peruse this letter on the first ,friday of every month2 and to those who could not read1 to say five paternosters1 and five ave-marias1 in honor of the five wounds of ,jesus ,christ1 in order to obtain the graces promised to such as shall read it devoutly1 and the preservation of the fruits of the earth6 ,pregnant women are to say1 for their happy delivery1 nine paters and nine aves for the benefit of the souls in purgatory1 in order that their children may have the happiness of receiving the holy sacrament of baptism4 ,all that is contained in this account has been approved by the bishop1 by the lieutenant-general of the said town of ,trguier1 and by many persons of distinction who were present at this miracle4 ,copy of the ,letter ,found ,upon the ,altar1 at the ,time of the ,miraculous ,appearance of ,our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 in the ,most ,holy ,sacrament of the ,altar1 on ,twelfth-day1 #agga4 ,everlasting life1 everlasting punishments1 or everlasting delights1 none can forego2 one part must be chosen--either to go to glory1 or to depart into torment4 ,the number of years that men pass on earth in all sorts of sensual pleasures and excessive debaucheries1 of usurpation1 luxury1 murder1 theft1 slander1 and impurity1 no longer permitting it to be suffered that creatures created in ,my image and likeness1 redeemed by the price of ,my blood on the tree of the cross1 on which ,i suffered passion and death1 should offend ,me continually1 by transgressing ,my commands and abandoning ,my divine law--,i warn you all1 that if you continue to live in sin1 and ,i behold in you neither remorse1 nor contrition1 nor a true and sincere confession and satisfaction1 ,i shall make you feel the weight of ,my divine arm4 ,but for the prayers of ,my dear mother1 ,i should already have destroyed the earth1 for the sins which you commit one against another4 ,i have given you six days to labor1 and the seventh to rest1 to sanctify ,my ,holy ,name1 to hear the holy mass1 and employ the remainder of the day in the service of ,god ,my ,father4 ,but1 on the contrary1 nothing is to be seen but blasphemy and drunkenness2 and so disordered is the world that all in it is vanity and lies4 ,christians1 instead of taking compassion on the poor whom they behold every day at their doors1 prefer fondling dogs and other animals1 and letting the poor die of hunger and thirst--abandoning themselves entirely to ,satan by their avarice1 gluttony1 and other vices2 instead of relieving the needy1 they prefer sacrificing all to their pleasures and debauchery4 ,thus do they declare war against ,me4 ,and you1 iniquitous fathers and mothers1 suffer your children to swear and blaspheme against ,my holy name2 instead of giving them a good education1 you avariciously lay up for them wealth1 which is dedicated to ,satan4 ,i tell you1 by the mouth of ,god ,my ,father and ,my dear mother1 of all the cherubim and seraphim1 and by ,st4 ,peter1 the head of ,my church1 that if you do not amend your ways1 ,i will send you extraordinary diseases1 by which all shall perish4 ,you shall feel the just anger of ,god ,my ,father2 you shall be reduced to such a state that you shall not know one another4 ,open your eyes1 and contemplate ,my cross1 which ,i have left to be your weapon against the enemy of mankind1 and your guide to eternal glory2 look upon ,my head crowned with thorns1 ,my feet and hands pierced with nails2 ,i shed the last drop of ,my blood to redeem you1 from pure fatherly love for ungrateful children4 ,do such works as may secure to you ,my mercy2 do not swear by ,my ,holy ,name2 pray to ,me devoutly2 fast often2 and in particular give alms to the poor1 who are members of ,my body--for of all good works this is the most pleasing to ,me2 neither despise the widow nor the orphan2 make restitution of that which does not belong to you2 fly all occasions of sin2 carefully keep ,my commandments2 and honor ,mary ,my very dear mother4 ,such of you who shall not profit by the warnings ,i give them1 such as shall not believe ,my words1 will1 by their obstinacy1 bring down ,my avenging arm upon their heads2 they shall be overwhelmed by misfortunes1 which shall be the forerunners of their final and unhappy end2 after which they shall be cast into everlasting flames1 where they shall suffer endless pains--the just punishment reserved for their crimes4 ,on the other hand1 such of you as shall make a holy use of the warnings of ,god1 given them in this letter1 shall appease ,his wrath1 and shall obtain from ,him1 after a sincere confession of their faults1 the remission of their sins1 how great soever they may be4 ,with permission1 ,bourges1 ,july #cj1 #agga4 ,,de ,,beauvoir1 ,lieut4-,gen4 of ,police4 ,this letter must be carefully kept1 in honor of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,n4,b4--,it must be observed that this piece of absurdity was printed at ,bourges1 without there having been1 either at ,trguier or at ,paimpole1 the smallest pretence that could afford occasion for such an imposture4 ,however1 we will suppose that in a future age some miracle-finder shall think fit to prove a point in divinity by the appearance of ,jesus ,christ on the altar at ,paimpole1 will he not think himself entitled to quote ,christ's own letter1 printed at ,bourges with permission8 ,will he not prove1 by facts1 that in our time ,jesus worked miracles everywhere8 ,here is a fine field opened for the ,houtevilles and the ,abadies4 ,,section ,,iii4 ,a ,fresh ,instance of the ,most ,horrible ,superstition4 ,the thirty conspirators who fell upon the king of ,poland1 in the night of ,november #c1 of the present year1 #agga1 had communicated at the altar of the ,holy ,virgin1 and had sworn by the ,holy ,virgin to butcher their king4 ,it seems that some one of the conspirators was not entirely in a state of grace1 when he received into his stomach the body of the ,holy ,virgin's own ,son1 together with ,his blood1 under the appearance of bread2 and that while he was taking the oath to kill his king1 he had his god in his mouth for only two of the king's domestics4 ,the guns and pistols fired at his majesty missed him2 he received only a slight shot-wound in the face1 and several sabre-wounds1 which were not mortal4 ,his life would have been at an end1 but that humanity at length combated superstition in the breast of one of the assassins named ,kosinski4 ,what a moment was that when this wretched man said to the bleeding prince3 ,you are1 however1 my king6 ,yes1 answered ,stanislaus ,augustus1 and your good king1 who has never done you any harm4 ,true1 said the other2 but ,i have taken an oath to kill you4 ,they had sworn before the miraculous image of the virgin at ,czentoshova4 ,the following is the formula of this fine oath3 ,we ---- who1 excited by a holy and religious zeal1 have resolved to avenge the ,deity1 religion1 and our country1 outraged by ,stanislaus ,augustus1 a despiser of laws both divine and human1 a favorer of atheists and heretics1 do promise and swear1 before the sacred and miraculous image of the mother of ,god1 to extirpate from the face of the earth him who dishonors her by trampling on religion4444 ,so help us ,god6 ,thus did the assassins of ,sforza1 of ,medici1 and so many other holy assassins1 have masses said1 or say them themselves1 for the happy success of their undertaking4 ,the letter from ,warsaw which gives the particulars of this attempt1 adds3 ,the religious who employ their pious ardor in causing blood to flow and ravaging their country1 have succeeded in ,poland1 as elsewhere1 in inculcating on the minds of their affiliated1 that it is allowable to kill kings4 ,indeed1 the assassins had been hidden in ,warsaw for three days in the house of the reverend ,dominican fathers2 and when these accessory monks were asked why they had harbored thirty armed men without informing the government of it1 they answered1 that these men had come to perform their devotions1 and to fulfil a vow4 ,o ye times of ,chtel1 of ,guinard1 of ,ricodovis1 of ,poltrot1 of ,ravaillac1 of ,damiens1 of ,malagrida1 are you then returning8 ,holy ,virgin1 and ,thou her holy ,son1 let not ,your sacred names be abused for the commission of the crime which disgraced them6 ,m4 ,jean ,georges le ,franc1 bishop of ,puy-en-,velay1 says1 in his immense pastoral letter to the inhabitants of ,puy1 pages #beh-i1 that it is the philosophers who are seditious4 ,and whom does he accuse of sedition8 ,readers1 you will be astonished2 it is ,locke1 the wise ,locke himself6 ,he makes him an accomplice in the pernicious designs of the earl of ,shaftesbury1 one of the heroes of the philosophical party4 ,alas6 ,m4 ,jean ,georges1 how many mistakes in a few words6 ,first1 you take the grandson for the grandfather4 ,the earl of ,shaftesbury1 author of the ,characteristics and the ,inquiry ,into ,virtue1 that hero of the philosophical party1 who died in #agac1 cultivated letters all his life in the most profound retirement4 ,secondly1 his grandfather1 ,lord-,chancellor ,shaftesbury1 to whom you attribute misdeeds1 is considered by many in ,england to have been a true patriot4 ,thirdly1 ,locke is revered as a wise man throughout ,europe4 ,i defy you to show me a single philosopher1 from ,zoroaster down to ,locke1 that has ever stirred up a sedition2 that has ever been concerned in an attempt against the life of a king2 that has ever disturbed society2 and1 unfortunately1 ,i will find you a thousand votaries of superstition1 from ,ehud down to ,kosinski1 stained with the blood of kings and with that of nations4 ,superstition sets the whole world in flames2 philosophy extinguishes them4 ,perhaps these poor philosophers are not devoted enough to the ,holy ,virgin2 but they are so to ,god1 to reason1 and to humanity4 ,poles6 if you are not philosophers1 at least do not cut one another's throats4 ,frenchmen6 be gay1 and cease to quarrel4 ,spaniards6 let the words inquisition and holy brotherhood be no longer uttered among you4 ,turks1 who have enslaved ,greece--monks1 who have brutalized her--disappear ye from the face of the earth4 ,,section ,,iv4 ,drawn from ,cicero1 ,seneca1 and ,plutarch4 ,nearly all that goes farther than the adoration of a supreme being1 and the submission of the heart to his eternal orders1 is superstition4 ,the forgiveness of crimes1 which is attached to certain ceremonies1 is a very dangerous one4 ,et nigras mactant pecudes1 et manibu'1 divis1 ,inferias mittunt4 --,,lucretius1 b4 iii1 #eb-ec4 ,o faciles nimium1 qui tristia crimina cdis1 ,fluminea tolli posse putatis aqua6 --,,ovid1 ,fasti ii1 #de-df4 ,you think that ,god will forget your homicide1 if you bathe in a river1 if you immolate a black sheep1 and a few words are pronounced over you4 ,a second homicide then will be forgiven you at the same price1 and so of a third2 and a hundred murders will cost you only a hundred black sheep and a hundred ablutions4 ,ye miserable mortals1 do better2 but let there be no murders1 and no offerings of black sheep4 ,what an infamous idea1 to imagine that a priest of ,isis and ,cybele1 by playing cymbals and castanets1 will reconcile you to the ,divinity4 ,and what then is this priest of ,cybele1 this vagrant eunuch1 who lives on your weakness1 and sets himself up as a mediator between heaven and you8 ,what patent has he received from ,god8 ,he receives money from you for muttering words2 and you think that the ,being of ,beings ratifies the utterance of this charlatan6 ,there are innocent superstitions2 you dance on festival days1 in honor of ,diana or ,pomona1 or some one of the secular divinities of which your calendar is full2 be it so4 ,dancing is very agreeable2 it is useful to the body2 it exhilarates the mind2 it does no harm to any one2 but do not imagine that ,pomona and ,vertumnus are much pleased at your having jumped in honor of them1 and that they may punish you for having failed to jump4 ,there are no ,pomona and ,vertumnus but the gardener's spade and hoe4 ,do not be so imbecile as to believe that your garden will be hailed upon1 if you have missed dancing the pyrrhic or the cordax4 ,there is one superstition which is perhaps pardonable1 and even encouraging to virtue--that of placing among the gods great men who have been benefactors to mankind4 ,it were doubtless better to confine ourselves to regarding them simply as venerable men1 and above all1 to imitating them4 ,venerate1 without worshipping1 a ,solon1 a ,thales1 a ,pythagoras2 but do not adore a ,hercules for having cleansed the stables of ,augeas1 and for having lain with fifty women in one night4 ,above all1 beware of establishing a worship for vagabonds who have no merit but ignorance1 enthusiasm1 and filth2 who have made idleness and beggary their duty and their glory4 ,do they who have been at best useless during their lives1 merit an apotheosis after their deaths8 ,be it observed1 that the most superstitious times have always been those of the most horrible crimes4 ,,section ,v4 ,the superstitious man is to the knave1 what the slave is to the tyrant2 nay more--the superstitious man is governed by the fanatic1 and becomes a fanatic himself4 ,superstition1 born in ,paganism1 adopted by ,judaism1 infected the ,church in the earliest ages4 ,all the fathers of the ,church1 without exception1 believed in the power of magic4 ,the ,church always condemned magic1 but she always believed in it2 she excommunicated sorcerers1 not as madmen who were in delusion1 but as men who really had intercourse with the devils4 ,at this day1 one half of ,europe believes that the other half has long been and still is superstitious4 ,the ,protestants regard relics1 indulgences1 macerations1 prayers for the dead1 holy water1 and almost all the rites of the ,roman church1 as mad superstitions4 ,according to them1 superstition consists in mistaking useless practices for necessary ones4 ,among the ,roman ,catholics there are some1 more enlightened than their forefathers1 who have renounced many of these usages formerly sacred2 and they defend their adherence to those which they have retained1 by saying they are indifferent1 and what is indifferent cannot be an evil4 ,it is difficult to mark the limits of superstition4 ,a ,frenchman travelling in ,italy thinks almost everything superstitious2 nor is he much mistaken4 ,the archbishop of ,canterbury asserts that the archbishop of ,paris is superstitious2 the ,presbyterians cast the same reproach upon his grace of ,canterbury1 and are in their turn called superstitious by the ,quakers1 who in the eyes of the rest of ,christians are the most superstitious of all4 ,it is then nowhere agreed among ,christian societies what superstition is4 ,the sect which appears to be the least violently attacked by this mental disease1 is that which has the fewest rites4 ,but if1 with but few ceremonies1 it is strongly attached to an absurd belief1 that absurd belief is of itself equivalent to all the superstitious practices observed from the time of ,simon the ,magician1 down to that of the curate ,gaufredi4 ,it is therefore evident that what is the foundation of the religion of one sect1 is by another sect regarded as superstitious4 ,the ,mussulmans accuse all ,christian societies of it1 and are accused of it by them4 ,who shall decide this great cause8 ,shall not reason8 ,but each sect declares that reason is on its side4 ,force then will decide1 until reason shall have penetrated into a sufficient number of heads to disarm force4 ,for instance3 there was a time in ,christian ,europe when a newly married pair were not permitted to enjoy the nuptial rights1 until they had bought that privilege of the bishop and the curate4 ,whosoever1 in his will1 did not leave a part of his property to the ,church1 was excommunicated1 and deprived of burial4 ,this was called dying unconfessed--i4e41 not confessing the ,christian religion4 ,and when a ,christian died intestate1 the ,church relieved the deceased from this excommunication1 by making a will for him1 stipulating for and enforcing the payment of the pious legacy which the defunct should have made4 ,therefore it was1 that ,pope ,gregory ,,ix4 and ,st4 ,louis ordained1 after the ,council of ,nice1 held in #abce1 that every will to the making of which a priest had not been called1 should be null2 and the pope decreed that the testator and the notary should be excommunicated4 ,the tax on sins was1 if possible1 still more scandalous4 ,it was force which supported all these laws1 to which the superstition of nations submitted2 and it was only in the course of time that reason caused these shameful vexations to be abolished1 while it left so many others in existence4 ,how far does policy permit superstition to be undermined8 ,this is a very knotty question2 it is like asking how far a dropsical man may be punctured without his dying under the operation2 this depends on the prudence of the physician4 ,can there exist a people free from all superstitious prejudices8 ,this is asking1 ,can there exist a people of philosophers8 ,it is said that there is no superstition in the magistracy of ,china4 ,it is likely that the magistracy of some towns in ,europe will also be free from it4 ,these magistrates will then prevent the superstition of the people from being dangerous4 ,their example will not enlighten the mob2 but the principal citizens will restrain it4 ,formerly1 there was not perhaps a single religious tumult1 not a single violence1 in which the townspeople did not take part1 because these townspeople were then part of the mob2 but reason and time have changed them4 ,their ameliorated manners will improve those of the lowest and most ferocious of the populace2 of which1 in more countries than one1 we have striking examples4 ,in short1 the fewer superstitions1 the less fanaticism2 and the less fanaticism1 the fewer calamities4 ,,symbol1 ,,or ,,credo4 ,we resemble not the celebrated comedian1 ,mademoiselle ,duclos1 to whom somebody said3 ,i would lay a wager1 mademoiselle1 that you know not your credo6 ,what6 said she1 not know my credo8 ,i will repeat it to you4 ',pater noster qui4' 444 ,help me1 ,i remember no more4 ,for myself1 ,i repeat my pater and credo every morning4 ,i am not like ,broussin1 of whom ,reminiac said1 that although he could distinguish a sauce almost in his infancy1 he could never be taught his creed or pater-noster3 ,broussin1 ds l'ge le plus tendre1 ,possda la sauce ,robert1 ,sans que son prcepteur lui pt jamais apprende ,ni son credo1 ni son pater4 ,the term symbol comes from the word symbolein1 and the ,latin church adopts this word because it has taken everything from the ,greek church4 ,even slightly learned theologians know that the symbol1 which we call apostolical1 is not that of all the apostles4 ,symbol1 among the ,greeks1 signified the words and signs by which those initiated into the mysteries of ,ceres1 ,cybele1 and ,mythra1 recognized one another2 and ,christians in time had their symbol4 ,if it had existed in the time of the apostles1 we think that ,st4 ,luke would have spoken of it4 ,a history of the symbol is attributed to ,st4 ,augustine in his one hundred and fifteenth sermon2 he is made to say1 that ,peter commenced the symbol by saying3 ,i believe in ,god1 the ,father ,almighty4 ,john added3 ,maker of heaven and earth2 ,james proceeded3 ,i believe in ,jesus ,christ1 ,his only ,son1 our ,lord1 and so on with the rest4 ,this fable has been expunged from the last edition of ,augustine2 and ,i relate it to the reverend ,benedictine fathers1 in order to know whether this little curious article ought to be left out or not4 ,the fact is1 that no person heard anything of this creed for more than four hundred years4 ,people also say that ,paris was not made in a day1 and people are often right in their proverbs4 ,the apostles had our symbol in their hearts1 but they put it not into writing4 ,one was formed in the time of ,st4 ,irenus1 which does not at all resemble that which we repeat4 ,our symbol1 such as it is at present1 is of the fifth century1 which is posterior to that of ,nice4 ,the passage which says that ,jesus descended into hell1 and that which speaks of the communion of saints1 are not found in any of the symbols which preceded ours2 and1 indeed1 neither the gospels1 nor the ,acts of the ,apostles1 say that ,jesus descended into hell2 but it was an established opinion1 from the third century1 that ,jesus descended into ,hades1 or ,tartarus1 words which we translate by that of hell4 ,hell1 in this sense1 is not the ,hebrew word sheol1 which signifies under ground1 the pit2 for which reason ,st4 ,athanasius has since taught us how our ,saviour descended into hell4 ,his humanity1 says he1 was not entirely in the tomb1 nor entirely in hell4 ,it was in the sepulchre1 according to the body1 and in hell1 according to the soul4 ,st4 ,thomas affirms that the saints who arose at the death of ,jesus ,christ1 died again to rise afterwards with him1 which is the most general sentiment4 ,all these opinions are absolutely foreign to morality4 ,we must be good men1 whether the saints were raised once or twice4 ,our symbol has been formed1 ,i confess1 recently1 but virtue is from all eternity4 ,if it is permitted to quote moderns on so grave a matter1 ,i will here repeat the creed of the ,abb de ,st4 ,pierre1 as it was written with his own hand1 in his book on the purity of religion1 which has not been printed1 but which ,i have copied faithfully3 ,i believe in one ,god alone1 and ,i love ,him4 ,i believe that ,he enlightens all souls coming into the world2 thus says ,st4 ,john4 ,by that1 ,i understand all souls which seek ,him in good faith4 ,i believe in one ,god alone1 because there can be but one soul of the ,great ,all1 a single vivifying being1 a sole ,creator4 ,i believe in ,god1 the ,father ,almighty2 because ,he is the common ,father of nature1 and of all men1 who are equally ,his children4 ,i believe that ,he who has caused all to be born equally1 who arranges the springs of their life in the same manner1 who has given them the same moral principles1 as soon as they reflect1 has made no difference between ,his children but that of crime and virtue4 ,i believe that the just and righteous ,chinese is more precious to ,him than the cavilling and arrogant ,european scholar4 ,i believe that ,god1 being our common ,father1 we are bound to regard all men as our brothers4 ,i believe that the persecutor is abominable1 and that he follows immediately after the poisoner and parricide4 ,i believe that theological disputes are at once the most ridiculous farce1 and the most dreadful scourge of the earth1 immediately after war1 pestilence1 famine1 and leprosy4 ,i believe that ecclesiastics should be paid and well paid1 as servants of the public1 moral teachers1 keepers of registers of births and deaths2 but there should be given to them neither the riches of farmers-general1 nor the rank of princes1 because both corrupt the soul2 and nothing is more revolting than to see men so rich and so proud preach humility through their clerks1 who have only a hundred crowns' wages4 ,i believe that all priests who serve a parish should be married1 as in the ,greek church2 not only to have an honest woman to take care of their household1 but to be better citizens1 to give good subjects to the state1 and to have plenty of well-bred children4 ,i believe that many monks should give up the monastic form of life1 for the sake of the country and themselves4 ,it is said that there are men whom ,circe has changed into hogs1 whom the wise ,ulysses must restore to the human form4 ,paradise to the beneficent6 ,we repeat this symbol of the ,abb ,st4 ,pierre historically1 without approving of it4 ,we regard it merely as a curious singularity1 and we hold with the most respectful faith to the true symbol of the ,church4 ,,system4 ,we understand by system a supposition2 for if a system can be proved1 it is no longer a system1 but a truth4 ,in the meantime1 led by habit1 we say the celestial system1 although we understand by it the real position of the stars4 ,i once thought that ,pythagoras had learned the true celestial system from the ,chaldans2 but ,i think so no longer4 ,in proportion as ,i grow older1 ,i doubt of all things4 ,notwithstanding that ,newton1 ,gregory1 and ,keil honor ,pythagoras and the ,chaldans with a knowledge of the system of ,copernicus1 and that latterly ,m4 ,monier is of their opinion1 ,i have the impudence to think otherwise4 ,one of my reasons is1 that if the ,chaldans had been so well informed1 so fine and important a discovery would not have been lost1 but would have been handed down from age to age1 like the admirable discoveries of ,archimedes4 ,another reason is that it was necessary to be more widely informed than the ,chaldans1 in order to be able to contradict the apparent testimony of the senses in regard to the celestial appearances2 that it required not only the most refined experimental observation1 but the most profound mathematical science2 as also the indispensable aid of telescopes1 without which it is impossible to discover the phases of ,venus1 which prove her course around the sun1 or to discover the spots in the sun1 which demonstrate his motion round his own almost immovable axis4 ,another reason1 not less strong1 is that of all those who have attributed this discovery to ,pythagoras1 no one can positively say how he treated it4 ,diogenes ,laertius1 who lived about nine hundred years after ,pythagoras1 teaches us1 that according to this grand philosopher1 the number one was the first principle1 and that from two sprang all numbers2 that body has four elements--fire1 water1 air1 and earth2 that light and darkness1 cold and heat1 wet and dry1 are equally distributed2 that we must not eat beans2 that the soul is divided into three parts2 that ,pythagoras had formerly been ,atalides1 then ,euphorbus1 afterwards ,hermotimus2 and1 finally1 that this great man studied magic very profoundly4 ,diogenes says not a word concerning the true system of the world1 attributed to this ,pythagoras2 and it must be confessed that it is by no means to an aversion to beans that we owe the calculations which at present demonstrate the motion of the earth and planets generally4 ,the famous ,arian ,eusebius1 bishop of ,csarea1 in his ,evangelical ,preparation1 expresses himself thus3 ,all the philosophers declare that the earth is in a state of repose2 but ,philolaus1 the peripatetic1 thinks that it moves round fire in an oblique circle1 like the sun and the moon4 ,this gibberish has nothing in common with the sublime truths taught by ,copernicus1 ,galileo1 ,kepler1 and above all by ,newton4 ,as to the pretended ,aristarchus of ,samos1 who1 it is asserted1 developed the discoveries of the ,chaldans in regard to the motion of the earth and other planets1 he is so obscure1 that ,wallace has been obliged to play the commentator from one end of him to the other1 in order to render him intelligible4 ,finally1 it is very much to be doubted whether the book1 attributed to this ,aristarchus of ,samos1 really belongs to him4 ,it has been strongly suspected that the enemies of the new philosophy have constructed this forgery in favor of their bad cause4 ,it is not only in respect to old charters that similar forgeries are resorted to4 ,this ,aristarchus of ,samos is also the more to be suspected1 as ,plutarch accuses him of bigotry and malevolent hypocrisy1 in consequence of being imbued with a direct contrary opinion4 ,the following are the words of ,plutarch1 in his piece of absurdity entitled ,the ,round ,aspect of the ,moon4 ,aristarchus the ,samian said1 that the ,greeks ought to punish ,cleanthes of ,samos1 who suggested that the heavens were immovable1 and that it is the earth which travels through the zodiac by turning on its axis4 ,they will tell me that even this passage proves that the system of ,copernicus was already in the head of ,cleanthes and others--of what import is it whether ,aristarchus the ,samian was of the opinion of ,cleanthes1 or his accuser1 as the ,jesuit ,skeiner was subsequently ,galileo's8--it equally follows that the true system of the present day was known to the ancients4 ,i reply1 no2 but that a very slight part of this system was vaguely surmised by heads better organized than the rest4 ,i further answer that it was never received or taught in the schools1 and that it never formed a body of doctrine4 ,attentively peruse this ,face of the ,moon of ,plutarch1 and you will find1 if you look for it1 the doctrine of gravitation2 but the true author of a system is he who demonstrates it4 ,we will not take away from ,copernicus the honor of this discovery4 ,three or four words brought to light in an old author1 which exhibit some distant glimpse of his system1 ought not to deprive him of the glory of the discovery4 ,let us admire the great rule of ,kepler1 that the revolutions of the planets round the sun are in proportion to the cubes of their distances4 ,let us still more admire the profundity1 the justness1 and the invention of the great ,newton1 who alone discovered the fundamental reasons of these laws unknown to all antiquity1 which have opened the eyes of mankind to a new heaven4 ,petty compilers are always to be found who dare to become the enemies of their age4 ,they string together passages from ,plutarch and ,athenus1 to prove that we have no obligations to ,newton1 to ,halley1 and to ,bradley4 ,they trumpet forth the glory of the ancients1 whom they pretend have said everything2 and they are so imbecile as to think that they divide the glory by publishing it4 ,they twist an expression of ,hippocrates1 in order to persuade us that the ,greeks were acquainted with the circulation of the blood better than ,harvey4 ,why not also assert that the ,greeks were possessed of better muskets and field-pieces2 that they threw bomb-shells farther1 had better printed books1 and much finer engravings8 ,that they excelled in oil-paintings1 possessed looking-glasses of crystal1 telescopes1 microscopes1 and thermometers8 ,all this may be found out by men1 who assure us that ,solomon1 who possessed not a single seaport1 sent fleets to ,america1 and so forth4 ,one of the greatest detractors of modern times is a person named ,dutens1 who finished by compiling a libel1 as infamous as insipid1 against the philosophers of the present day4 ,this libel is entitled the ,tocsin2 but he had better have called it his clock1 as no one came to his aid2 and he has only tended to increase the number of the ,zoilusses1 who1 being unable to produce anything themselves1 spit their venom upon all who by their productions do honor to their country and benefit mankind4 ,,tabor1 ,,or ,,thabor4 ,a famous mountain in ,juda1 often alluded to in general conversation4 ,it is not true that this mountain is a league and a half high1 as mentioned in certain dictionaries4 ,there is no mountain in ,juda so elevated2 ,tabor is not more than six hundred feet high1 but it appears loftier1 in consequence of its situation on a vast plain4 ,the ,tabor of ,bohemia is still more celebrated by the resistance which the imperial armies encountered from ,ziska4 ,it is from thence that they have given the name of ,tabor to intrenchments formed with carriages4 ,the ,taborites1 a sect very similar to the ,hussites1 also take their name from the latter mountain4 ,,talisman4 ,talisman1 an ,arabian word1 signifies properly consecration4 ,the same thing as telesma1 or philactery1 a preservative charm1 figure1 or character2 a superstition which has prevailed at all times and among all people4 ,it is usually a sort of medal1 cast and stamped under the ascendency of certain constellations4 ,the famous talisman of ,catherine de ,medici still exists4 ,,tartuffe--,,tartuferie4 ,tartuffe1 a name invented by ,molire1 and now adopted in all the languages of ,europe to signify hypocrites1 who make use of the cloak of religion4 ,he is a ,tartuffe2 he is a true ,tartuffe4 ,tartuferie1 a new word formed from ,tartuffe--the action of a hypocrite1 the behavior of a hypocrite1 the knavery of a false devotee2 it is often used in the disputes concerning the ,bull ,unigenitus4 ,,taste4 ,,section ,i4 ,the taste1 the sense by which we distinguish the flavor of our food1 has produced1 in all known languages1 the metaphor expressed by the word taste--a feeling of beauty and defects in all the arts4 ,it is a quick perception1 like that of the tongue and the palate1 and in the same manner anticipates consideration4 ,like the mere sense1 it is sensitive and luxuriant in respect to the good1 and rejects the bad spontaneously2 in a similar way it is often uncertain1 divided1 and even ignorant whether it ought to be pleased2 lastly1 and to conclude the resemblance1 it sometimes requires to be formed and corrected by habit and experience4 ,to constitute taste1 it is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work4 ,we must feel and be affected by it4 ,neither will it suffice to feel and be affected in a confused or ignorant manner2 it is necessary to distinguish the different shades2 nothing ought to escape the promptitude of its discernment2 and this is another instance of the resemblance of taste1 the sense1 to intellectual taste2 for an epicure will quickly feel and detect a mixture of two liquors1 as the man of taste and connoisseur will1 with a single glance1 distinguish the mixture of two styles1 or a defect by the side of a beauty4 ,he will be enthusiastically moved with this verse in the ,horatii3 ,que voulez-vous qu'il ft contre trois8--,qu'il mourt6 ,what have him do 'gainst three8--,die6 ,he feels involuntary disgust at the following3 ,ou qu'un beau dsespoir alors le secourt4 --,,act iii1 sc4 #f4 ,or1 whether aided by a fine despair4 ,as a physical bad taste consists in being pleased only with high seasoning and curious dishes1 so a bad taste in the arts is pleased only with studied ornament1 and feels not the pure beauty of nature4 ,a depraved taste in food is gratified with that which disgusts other people3 it is a species of disease4 ,a depraved taste in the arts is to be pleased with subjects which disgust accomplished minds1 and to prefer the burlesque to the noble1 and the finical and the affected to the simple and natural3 it is a mental disease4 ,a taste for the arts is1 however1 much more a thing of formation than physical taste2 for although in the latter we sometimes finish by liking those things to which we had in the first instance a repugnance1 nature seldom renders it necessary for men in general to learn what is necessary to them in the way of food1 whereas intellectual taste requires time to duly form it4 ,a sensible young man may not1 without science1 distinguish at once the different parts of a grand choir of music2 in a fine picture1 his eyes at first sight may not perceive the gradation1 the chiaroscuro perspective1 agreement of colors1 and correctness of design2 but by little and little his ears will learn to hear and his eyes to see4 ,he will be affected at the first representation of a fine tragedy1 but he will not perceive the merit of the unities1 nor the delicate management that allows no one to enter or depart without a sufficient reason1 nor that still greater art which concentrates all the interest in a single one2 nor1 lastly1 will he be aware of the difficulties overcome4 ,it is only by habit and reflection1 that he arrives spontaneously at that which he was not able to distinguish in the first instance4 ,in a similar way1 a national taste is gradually formed where it existed not before1 because by degrees the spirit of the best artists is duly imbibed4 ,we accustom ourselves to look at pictures with the eyes of ,lebrun1 ,poussin1 and ,le ,sueur4 ,we listen to musical declamation from the scenes of ,quinault with the ears of ,lulli1 and to the airs and accompaniments with those of ,rameau4 ,finally1 books are read in the spirit of the best authors4 ,if an entire nation is led1 during its early culture of the arts1 to admire authors abounding in the defects and errors of the age1 it is because these authors possess beauties which are admired by everybody1 while at the same time readers are not sufficiently instructed to detect the imperfections4 ,thus1 ,lucilius was prized by the ,romans1 until ,horace made them forget him2 and ,regnier was admired by the ,french1 until the appearance of ,boileau2 and if old authors who stumble at every step have1 notwithstanding1 attained great reputation1 it is because purer writers have not arisen to open the eyes of their national admirers1 as ,horace did those of the ,romans1 and ,boileau those of the ,french4 ,it is said that there is no disputation on taste1 and the observation is correct in respect to physical taste1 in which the repugnance felt to certain aliments1 and the preference given to others1 are not to be disputed1 because there is no correction of a defect of the organs4 ,it is not the same with the arts which possess actual beauties1 which are discernible by a good taste1 and unperceivable by a bad one2 which last1 however1 may frequently be improved4 ,there are also persons with a coldness of soul1 as there are defective minds2 and in respect to them1 it is of little use to dispute concerning predilections1 as they possess none4 ,taste is arbitrary in many things1 as in raiment1 decoration1 and equipage1 which1 however1 scarcely belong to the department of the fine arts1 but are rather affairs of fancy4 ,it is fancy rather than taste which produces so many new fashions4 ,taste may become vitiated in a nation1 a misfortune which usually follows a period of perfection4 ,fearing to be called imitators1 artists seek new and devious routes1 and fly from the pure and beautiful nature of which their predecessors have made so much advantage4 ,if there is merit in these labors1 this merit veils their defects1 and the public in love with novelty runs after them1 and becomes disgusted1 which makes way for still minor efforts to please1 in which nature is still more abandoned4 ,taste loses itself amidst this succession of novelties1 the last one of which rapidly effaces the other2 the public loses its whereabout1 and regrets in vain the flight of the age of good taste1 which will return no more1 although a remnant of it is still preserved by certain correct spirits1 at a distance from the crowd4 ,there are vast countries in which taste has never existed3 such are they in which society is still rude1 where the sexes have little general intercourse1 and where certain arts1 like sculpture and the painting of animated beings1 are forbidden by religion4 ,where there is little general intercourse1 the mind is straitened1 its edge is blunted1 and nothing is possessed on which a taste can be formed4 ,where several of the fine arts are wanting1 the remainder can seldom find sufficient support1 as they go hand in hand1 and rest one on the other4 ,on this account1 the ,asiatics have never produced fine arts in any department1 and taste is confined to certain nations of ,europe4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,is there not a good and a bad taste8 ,without doubt2 although men differ in opinions1 manners1 and customs4 ,the best taste in every species of cultivation is to imitate nature with the highest fidelity1 energy1 and grace4 ,but is not grace arbitrary8 ,no1 since it consists in giving animation and sweetness to the objects represented4 ,between two men1 the one of whom is gross and the other refined1 it will readily be allowed that one possesses more grace than the other4 ,before a polished period arose1 ,voiture1 who in his rage for embroidering nothings1 was occasionally refined and agreeable1 wrote some verses to the great ,cond upon his illness1 which are still regarded as very tasteful1 and among the best of this author4 ,at the same time1 ,l'toile1 who passed for a genius--,l'toile1 one of the five authors who constructed tragedies for ,cardinal ,richelieu--made some verses1 which are printed at the end of ,malherbe and ,racan4 ,when compared with those of ,voiture referred to1 every reader will allow that the verses of ,voiture are the production of a courtier of good taste1 and those of ,l'toile the labor of a coarse and unintellectual pretender4 ,it is a pity that we can gift ,voiture with occasional taste only3 his famous letter from the carp to the pike1 which enjoyed so much reputation1 is a too extended pleasantry1 and in passages exhibiting very little nature4 ,is it not a mixture of refinement and coarseness1 of the true and the false8 ,was it right to say to the great ,cond1 who was called the pike by a party among the courtiers1 that at his name the whales of the ,north perspired profusely1 and that the subjects of the emperor had expected to fry and to eat him with a grain of salt8 ,was it proper to write so many letters1 only to show a little of the wit which consists in puns and conceits8 ,are we not disgusted when ,voiture says to the great ,cond1 on the taking of ,dunkirk3 ,i expect you to seize the moon with your teeth4 ,voiture apparently acquired this false taste from ,marini1 who came into ,france with ,mary of ,medici4 ,voiture and ,costar frequently cite him as a model in their letters4 ,they admire his description of the rose1 daughter of ,april1 virgin and queen1 seated on a thorny throne1 extending majestically a flowery sceptre1 having for courtiers and ministers the amorous family of the zephyrs1 and wearing a crown of gold and a robe of scarlet3 ,bella figlia d',aprile1 ,verginella e reina1 ,sic lo spinoso trono ,del verde cespo assisa1 ,de' fior' lo scettro in maest sostiene2 ,e corteggiata intorno ,da lascivia famiglia ,di ,zefiri ministri1 ,porta d'or' la corona et dostro il manto4 ,voiture1 in his thirty-fifth letter to ,costar1 compliments the musical atom of ,marini1 the feathered voice1 the living breath clothed in plumage1 the winged song1 the small spirit of harmony1 hidden amidst diminutive lungs2 all of which terms are employed to convey the word nightingale3 ,una voce pennuta1 un suon' volante1 ,e vestito di penne1 un vivo fiato1 ,una piuma canora1 un canto alato1 ,un spiritel' che d'armonia composto ,vive in auguste vise ere nascosto4 ,the bad taste of ,balzac was of a different description2 he composed familiar letters in a fustian style4 ,he wrote to the ,cardinal de la ,valette1 that neither in the deserts of ,libya1 nor in the abyss of the sea1 there was so furious a monster as the sciatica2 and that if tyrants1 whose memory is odious to us1 had instruments of cruelty in their possession equal to the sciatica1 the martyrs would have endured them for their religion4 ,these emphatic exaggerations--these long and stately periods1 so opposed to the epistolary style--these fastidious declamations1 garnished with ,greek and ,latin1 concerning two middling sonnets1 the merits of which divided the court and the town1 and upon the miserable tragedy of ,herod the ,infanticide1--all indicate a time and a taste which were yet to be formed and corrected4 ,even ,cinna1 and the ,provincial ,letters1 which astonished the nations1 had not yet cleared away the rust4 ,as an artist forms his taste by degrees1 so does a nation4 ,it stagnates for a long time in barbarism2 then it elevates itself feebly1 until at length a noon appears1 after which we witness nothing but a long and melancholy twilight4 ,it has long been agreed1 that in spite of the solicitude of ,francis ,i41 to produce a taste in ,france for the fine arts1 this taste was not formed until towards the age of ,louis ,,xiv41 and we already begin to complain of its degeneracy4 ,the ,greeks of the lower empire confess1 that the taste which reigned in the days of ,pericles was lost among them1 and the modern ,greeks admit the same thing4 ,quintilian allows that the taste of the ,romans began to decline in his days4 ,lope de ,vega made great complaints of the bad taste of the ,spaniards4 ,the ,italians perceived1 among the first1 that everything had declined among them since their immortal sixteenth century1 and that they have witnessed the decline of the arts1 which they caused to spring up4 ,addison often attacks the bad taste of the ,english in more than one department--as well when he ridicules the carved wig of ,sir ,cloudesley ,shovel1 as when he testifies his contempt for a serious employment of conceit and pun1 or the introduction of mountebanks in tragedy4 ,if1 therefore1 the most gifted minds allow that taste has been wanting at certain periods in their country1 their neighbors may certainly feel it1 as lookers-on2 and as it is evident among ourselves that one man has a good and another a bad taste1 it is equally evident that of two contemporary nations1 the one may be rude and gross1 and the other refined and natural4 ,the misfortune is1 that when we speak this truth1 we disgust the whole nation to which we allude1 as we provoke an individual of bad taste when we seek to improve him4 ,it is better to wait until time and example instruct a nation which sins against taste4 ,it is in this way that the ,spaniards are beginning to reform their drama1 and the ,germans to create one4 ,of ,national ,taste4 ,there is beauty of all times and of all places1 and there is likewise local beauty4 ,eloquence ought to be everywhere persuasive1 grief affecting1 anger impetuous1 wisdom tranquil2 but the details which may gratify a citizen of ,london1 would have little effect on an inhabitant of ,paris4 ,the ,english drew some of their most happy metaphors and comparisons from the marine1 while ,parisians seldom see anything of ships4 ,all which affects an ,englishman in relation to liberty1 his rights and his privileges1 would make little impression on a ,frenchman4 ,the state of the climate will introduce into a cold and humid country a taste for architecture1 furniture1 and clothing1 which may be very good1 but not admissible at ,rome or in ,sicily4 ,theocritus and ,virgil1 in their eclogues1 boast of the shades and of the cooling freshness of the fountains4 ,thomson1 in his ,seasons1 dwells upon contrary attractions4 ,an enlightened nation with little sociability will not have the same points of ridicule as a nation equally intellectual1 which gives in to the spirit of society even to indiscretion2 and1 in consequence1 these two nations will differ materially in their comedy4 ,poetry will be very different in a country where women are secluded1 and in another in which they enjoy liberty without bounds4 ,but it will always be true that the pastoral painting of ,virgil exceeds that of ,thomson1 and that there has been more taste on the banks of the ,tiber than on those of the ,thames2 that the natural scenes of the ,pastor ,fido are incomparably superior to the shepherdizing of ,racan2 and that ,racine and ,molire are inspired persons in comparison with the dramatists of other theatres4 ,on the ,taste of ,connoisseurs4 ,in general1 a refined and certain taste consists in a quick feeling of beauty amidst defects1 and defects amidst beauties4 ,the epicure is he who can discern the adulteration of wines1 and feel the predominating flavor in his viands1 of which his associates entertain only a confused and general perception4 ,are not those deceived who say1 that it is a misfortune to possess too refined a taste1 and to be too much of a connoisseur2 that in consequence we become too much occupied by defects1 and insensible to beauties1 which are lost by this fastidiousness8 ,is it not1 on the contrary1 certain that men of taste alone enjoy true pleasure1 who see1 hear1 and feel1 that which escapes persons less sensitively organized1 and less mentally disciplined8 ,the connoisseur in music1 in painting1 in architecture1 in poetry1 in medals1 etc41 experiences sensations of which the vulgar have no comprehension2 the discovery even of a fault pleases him1 and makes him feel the beauties with more animation4 ,it is the advantage of a good sight over a bad one4 ,the man of taste has other eyes1 other ears1 and another tact from the uncultivated man2 he is displeased with the poor draperies of ,raphael1 but he admires the noble purity of his conception4 ,he takes a pleasure in discovering that the children of ,laocoon bear no proportion to the height of their father1 but the whole group makes him tremble1 while other spectators are unmoved4 ,the celebrated sculptor1 man of letters and of genius1 who placed the colossal statue of ,peter the ,great at ,st4 ,petersburg1 criticises with reason the attitude of the ,moses of ,michelangelo1 and his small1 tight vest1 which is not even an ,oriental costume2 but1 at the same time1 he contemplates the air and expression of the head with ecstasy4 ,rarity of ,men of ,taste4 ,it is afflicting to reflect on the prodigious number of men--above all1 in cold and damp climates--who possess not the least spark of taste1 who care not for the fine arts1 who never read1 and of whom a large portion read only a journal once a month1 in order to be put in possession of current matter1 and to furnish themselves with the ability of saying things at random1 on subjects in regard to which they have only confused ideas4 ,enter into a small provincial town3 how rarely will you find more than one or two good libraries1 and those private4 ,even in the capital of the provinces which possess academies1 taste is very rare4 ,it is necessary to select the capital of a great kingdom to form the abode of taste1 and yet even there it is very partially divided among a small number1 the populace being wholly excluded4 ,it is unknown to the families of traders1 and those who are occupied in making fortunes1 who are either engrossed with domestic details1 or divided between unintellectual idleness and a game at cards4 ,every place which contains the courts of law1 the offices of revenue1 government1 and commerce1 is closed against the fine arts4 ,it is the reproach of the human mind that a taste for the common and ordinary introduces only opulent idleness4 ,i knew a commissioner in one of the offices at ,versailles1 who exclaimed3 ,i am very unhappy2 ,i have not time to acquire a taste4 ,in a town like ,paris1 peopled with more than six hundred thousand persons1 ,i do not think there are three thousand who cultivate a taste for the fine arts4 ,when a dramatic masterpiece is represented1 a circumstance so very rare1 people exclaim3 ,all ,paris is enchanted1 but only three thousand copies1 more or less1 are printed4 ,taste1 then1 like philosophy1 belongs only to a small number of privileged souls4 ,it was1 therefore1 great happiness for ,france to possess1 in ,louis ,,xiv41 a king born with taste4 ,pauci1 quos quus amavit ,jupiter1 aut ardens1 evexit ad thera virtus ,dis geniti1 potuere4 --,,neid1 b4 vi1 v4 #abi and s4 ,to few great ,jupiter imparts his grace1 ,and those of shining worth and heavenly race4 --,,dryden4 ,ovid has said in vain1 that ,god has created us to look up to heaven3 ,erectos ad sidera tollere vultus4 ,men are always crouching on the ground4 ,why has a misshapen statue1 or a bad picture1 where the figures are disproportionate1 never passed for a masterpiece8 ,why has an ill-built house never been regarded as a fine monument of architecture8 ,why in music will not sharp and discordant sounds please the ears of any one8 ,and yet1 very bad and barbarous tragedies1 written in a style perfectly ,allobrogian1 have succeeded1 even after the sublime scenes of ,corneille1 the affecting ones of ,racine1 and the fine pieces written since the latter poet4 ,it is only at the theatre that we sometimes see detestable compositions succeed both in tragedy and comedy4 ,what is the reason of it8 ,it is1 that a species of delusion prevails at the theatre2 it is1 that the success depends upon two or three actors1 and sometimes even upon a single one2 and1 above all1 that a cabal is formed in favor of such pieces1 whilst men of taste never form any4 ,this cabal often lasts for an entire generation1 and it is so much the more active1 as its object is less to elevate the bad author than to depress the good one4 ,a century possibly is necessary to adjust the real value of things in the drama4 ,there are three kinds of taste1 which in the long run prevail in the empire of the arts4 ,poussin was obliged to quit ,france and leave the field to an inferior painter2 ,le ,moine killed himself in despair2 and ,vanloo was near quitting the kingdom1 to exercise his talents elsewhere4 ,connoisseurs alone have put all of them in possession of the rank belonging to them4 ,we often witness all kinds of bad works meet with prodigious success4 ,the solecisms1 barbarisms1 false statement1 and extravagant bombast1 are not felt for awhile1 because the cabal and the senseless enthusiasm of the vulgar produce an intoxication which discriminates in nothing4 ,the connoisseurs alone bring back the public in due time2 and it is the only difference which exists between the most enlightened and the most cultivated of nations for the vulgar of ,paris are in no respect beyond2 the vulgar of other countries2 but in ,paris there is a sufficient number of correct opinions to lead the crowd4 ,this crowd is rapidly excited in popular movements1 but many years are necessary to establish in it a general good taste in the arts4 ,,taurobolium4 ,taurobolium1 a sacrifice of expiation1 very common in the third and fourth centuries4 ,the throat of a bull was cut on a great stone slightly hollowed and perforated in various places4 ,underneath this stone was a trench1 in which the person whose offence called for expiation received upon his body and his face the blood of the immolated animal4 ,julian the ,philosopher condescended to submit to this expiation1 to reconcile himself to the priests of the ,gentiles4 ,,tax--,,fee4 ,pope ,pius ,,ii41 in an epistle to ,john ,peregal1 acknowledges that the ,roman court gives nothing without money2 it sells even the imposition of hands and the gifts of the ,holy ,ghost2 nor does it grant the remission of sins to any but the rich4 ,before him1 ,st4 ,antonine1 archbishop of ,florence1 had observed that in the time of ,boniface ,,ix41 who died in #adjd1 the ,roman court was so infamously stained with simony1 that benefices were conferred1 not so much on merit1 as on those who brought a deal of money4 ,he adds1 that this pope filled the world with plenary indulgences2 so that the small churches1 on their festival days1 obtained them at a low price4 ,that pontiff's secretary1 ,theodoric de ,nieur1 does indeed inform us1 that ,boniface sent questors into different kingdoms1 to sell indulgences to such as should offer them as much money as it would have cost them to make a journey to ,rome to fetch them2 so that they remitted all sins1 even without penance1 to such as confessed1 and granted them1 for money1 dispensations for irregularities of every sort2 saying1 that they had in that respect all the power which ,christ had granted to ,peter1 of binding and unbinding on earth4 ,and1 what is still more singular1 the price of every crime is fixed in a ,latin work1 printed at ,rome by order of ,leo ,x41 and published on ,november #ah1 #aead1 under the title of ,taxes of the ,holy and ,apostolic ,chancery and ,penitentiary4 ,among many other editions of this book1 published in different countries1 the ,paris edition--quarto #aebj1 ,toussaint ,denis1 ,rue ,st4 ,jacques1 at the wooden cross1 near ,st4 ,yves1 with the king's privilege1 for three years--bears in the frontispiece the arms of ,france1 and those of the house of ,medici1 to which ,leo ,n4 belonged4 ,this must have deceived the author of the ,picture of the ,popes 7,tableau de ,papes71 who attributes the establishment of these taxes to ,leo ,x41 although ,polydore ,virgil1 and ,cardinal d',ossat agree in fixing the period of the invention of the chancery tax about the year #acbj1 and the commencement of the penitentiary tax about sixteen years later1 in the time of ,benedict ,,xii4 ,to give some idea of these taxes1 we will here copy a few articles from the chapter of absolutions3 ,absolution for one who has carnally known his mother1 his sister1 etc41 costs five drachmas4 ,absolution for one who has deflowered a virgin1 six drachmas4 ,absolution for one who has revealed another's confession1 seven drachmas4 ,absolution for one who has killed his father1 his mother1 etc41 five drachmas4 ,and so of other sins1 as we shall shortly see2 but1 at the end of the book1 the prices are estimated in ducats4 ,a sort of letters too are here spoken of1 called confessional1 by which1 at the approach of death1 the pope permits a confessor to be chosen1 who gives full pardon for every sin2 these letters are granted only to princes1 and not to them without great difficulty4 ,these particulars will be found in page #cb of the ,paris edition4 ,the court of ,rome was at length ashamed of this book1 and suppressed it as far as it was able4 ,it was even inserted in the expurgatory index of the ,council of ,trent1 on the false supposition that heretics had corrupted it4 ,it is true that ,antoine ,du ,pinet1 a ,french gentleman of ,franche-,comt1 had an abstract of it printed at ,lyons in #aefd1 under this title3 ,casual ,perquisites of the ,pope's ,shop 7,taxes des ,parties ,casuelles de la ,boutique du ,pape71 taken from the ,decrees1 ,councils1 and ,canons1 ancient and modern1 in order to verify the discipline formerly observed in the ,church2 by ,a4,d4,p4 ,but1 although1 he does not inform us that his work is but an abridgment of the other1 yet1 far from corrupting his original1 he on the contrary strikes out of it some odious passages1 such as the following1 beginning page #bc1 line #i from the bottom1 in the ,paris edition3 ,and carefully observe1 that these kinds of graces and dispensations are not granted to the poor1 because1 not having wherewith1 they cannot be consoled4 ,it is also true1 that ,du ,pinet estimates these taxes in tournois1 ducats1 and carlins2 but1 as he observes 7page #db7 that the carlins and the drachmas are of the same value1 the substituting for the tax of five1 six1 or seven drachmas in the original1 the like number of carlins1 is not falsifying it4 ,we have a proof of this in the four articles already quoted from the original4 ,absolution--says ,du ,pinet--for one who has a carnal knowledge of his mother1 his sister1 or any of his kindred by birth or affinity1 or his godmother1 is taxed at five carlins4 ,absolution for one who deflowers a young woman1 is taxed at six carlins4 ,absolution for one who reveals the confession of a penitent1 is taxed at seven carlins4 ,absolution for one who has killed his father1 his mother1 his brother1 his sister1 his wife1 or any of his kindred--they being of the laity--is taxed at five carlins2 for if the deceased was an ecclesiastic1 the homicide would be obliged to visit the sanctuary4 ,we will here repeat a few others4 ,absolution--continues ,du ,pinet--for any act of fornication whatsoever1 committed by a clerk1 whether with a nun in the cloister or out of the cloister1 or with any of his kinswomen1 or with his spiritual daughter1 or with any other woman whatsoever1 costs thirty-six tournois1 three ducats4 ,absolution for a priest who keeps a concubine1 twenty-one tournois1 live ducats1 six carlins4 ,the absolution of a layman for all sorts of sins of the flesh1 is given at the tribunal of conscience for six tournois1 two ducats4 ,the absolution of a layman for the crime of adultery1 given at the tribunal of conscience1 costs four tournois2 and if the adultery is accompanied by incest1 six tournois must be paid per head4 ,if1 besides these crimes1 is required the absolution of the sin against nature1 or of bestiality1 there must be paid ninety tournois1 twelve ducats1 six carlins2 but if only the absolution of the crime against nature1 or of bestiality1 is required1 it will cost only thirty-six tournois1 nine ducats4 ,a woman who has taken a beverage to procure an abortion1 or the father who has caused her to take it1 shall pay four tournois1 one ducat1 eight carlins2 and if a stranger has given her the said beverage1 he shall pay four tournois1 one ducat1 five carlins4 ,a father1 a mother1 or any other relative1 who has smothered a child1 shall pay four tournois1 one ducat1 eight carlins2 and if it has been killed by the husband and wife together1 they shall pay six tournois1 two ducats4 ,the tax granted by the datary for the contracting of marriage out of the permitted seasons1 is twenty carlins2 and in the permitted periods1 if the contracting parties are the second or third degree of kindred1 it is commonly twenty-five ducats1 and four for expediting the bulls2 and in the fourth degree1 seven tournois1 one ducat1 six carlins4 ,the dispensation of a layman from fasting on the days appointed by the ,church1 and the permission to eat cheese1 are taxed at twenty carlins4 ,the permission to eat meat and eggs on forbidden days is taxed at twelve carlins2 and that to eat butter1 cheese1 etc41 at six tournois for one person only2 and at twelve tournois1 three ducats1 six carlins for a whole family1 or for several relatives4 ,the absolution of an apostate and a vagabond1 who wishes to return into the pale of the ,church1 costs twelve tournois1 three ducats1 six carlins4 ,the absolution and reinstatement of one who is guilty of sacrilege1 robbery1 burning1 rapine1 perjury1 and the like1 is taxed at thirty-six tournois1 nine ducats4 ,absolution for a servant who detains his deceased master's property1 for the payment of his wages1 and after receiving notice does not restore it1 provided the property so detained does not exceed the amount of his wages1 is taxed in the tribunal of conscience at only six tournois1 two ducats4 ,for changing the clauses of a will1 the ordinary tax is twelve tournois1 three ducats1 six carlins4 ,the permission to change one's proper name costs nine tournois1 two ducats1 nine carlins2 and to change the surname and mode of signing1 six tournois1 two ducats4 ,the permission to have a portable altar for one person only1 is taxed at ten carlins3 and to have a domestic chapel on account of the distance of the parish church1 and furnish it with baptismal fonts and chaplains1 thirty carlins4 ,lastly1 the permission to convey merchandise1 one or more times1 to the countries of the infidels1 and in general to traffic and sell merchandise without being obliged to obtain permission from the temporal lords of the respected places1 even though they be kings or emperors1 with all the very ample derogatory clauses1 is taxed at only twenty-four tournois1 six ducats4 ,this permission1 which supersedes that of the temporal lords1 is a fresh evidence of the papal pretensions1 which we have already spoken of in the article on ,bull4 ,besides1 it is known that all rescripts1 or expeditions for benefices1 are still paid for at ,rome according to the tax2 and this charge always falls at last on the laity1 by the impositions which the subordinate clergy exact from them4 ,we shall here notice only the fees for marriages and burials4 ,a decree of the ,parliament of ,paris1 of ,may #ai1 #adji1 provides that every one shall be at liberty to sleep with his wife as soon as he pleases after the celebration of the marriage1 without waiting for leave from the bishop of ,amiens1 and without paying the fee required by that prelate for taking off his prohibitions to consummate the marriage during the first three nights of the nuptials4 ,the monks of ,st4 ,stephen of ,nevers were deprived of the same fee by another decree of ,september #bg1 #aeia4 ,some theologians have asserted1 that it took its origin from the fourth ,council of ,carthage1 which had ordained it for the reverence of the matrimonial benediction4 ,but as that council did not order its prohibition to be evaded by paying1 it is more likely that this tax was a consequence of the infamous custom which gave to certain lords the first nuptial night of the brides of their vassals4 ,buchanan thinks that this usage began in ,scotland under ,king ,evan4 ,be this as it may1 the lords of ,prellay and ,persanny1 in ,piedmont1 called this privilege carrajio2 but having refused to commute it for a reasonable payment1 the vassals revolted1 and put themselves under ,amadeus ,,vi41 fourteenth count of ,savoy4 ,there is still preserved a procs-verbal1 drawn up by ,m4 ,jean ,fraguier1 auditor in the ,chambre des ,comptes1 at ,paris1 by virtue of a decree of the said chamber of ,april #g1 #aejg1 for valuing the county of ,eu1 fallen into the king's keeping by the minority of the children of the count of ,nevers1 and his wife ,charlotte de ,bourbon4 ,in the chapter of the revenue of the barony of ,st4 ,martin-le-,gaillard1 dependent on the county of ,eu1 it is said3 ,item1 the said lord1 at the said place of ,st4 ,martin1 has the right of 'cuissage' in case of marriage4 ,the lords of ,souloire had the like privilege1 and having omitted it in the acknowledgment made by them to their sovereign1 the lord of ,montlevrier1 the acknowledgment was disapproved2 but by deed of ,dec4 #ae1 #afjg1 the sieur de ,montlevrier formally renounced it2 and these shameful privileges have everywhere been converted into small payments1 called marchetta4 ,now1 when our prelates had fiefs1 they thought--as the judicious ,fleury remarks--that they had as bishops what they possessed only as lords2 and the curates1 as their under-vassals1 bethought themselves of blessing their nuptial bed1 which brought them a small fee under the name of wedding-dishes--i4e41 their dinner1 in money or in kind4 ,on one of these occasions the following quatrain was put by a country curate under the pillow of a very aged president1 who married a young woman named ,la ,montagne4 ,he alludes to ,moses' horns1 which are spoken of in ,exodus4 ,le ,prsident barbe grise ,sur ,la ,montagne va monter2 ,mais certes il peut bien compter ,d'en descendre comme ,mose4 ,a word or two on the fees exacted by the clergy for the burial of the laity4 ,formerly1 at the decease of each individual1 the bishops had the contents of his will made known to them2 and forbade those to receive the rights of sepulchre who had died unconfessed1 i4e41 left no legacy to the ,church1 unless the relatives went to the official1 who commissioned a priest1 or some other ecclesiastic1 to repair the fault of the deceased1 and make a legacy in his name4 ,the curates also opposed the profession of such as wished to turn monks1 until they had paid their burial-fees2 saying that since they died to the world1 it was but right that they should discharge what would have been due from them had they been interred4 ,but the frequent disputes occasioned by these vexations obliged the magistrates to fix the rate of these singular fees4 ,the following is extracted from a regulation on this subject1 brought in by ,francis de ,harlai de ,chamvallon1 archbishop of ,paris1 on ,may #cj1 #afic1 and passed in the court of parliament on the tenth of ,june following3 ,marriages4 ,liv4 ,sous4 ,for the publication of the bans4444444444 #a #aj ,for the betrothing44444444444444444444444 #b #j ,for celebrating the marriage4444444444444 #f #j ,for the certificate of the publication of the bans1 and the permission given to the future husband to go and be married in the parish of his future wife4444444 #e #j ,for the wedding mass444444444444444444444 #a #aj ,for the vicar4444444444444444444444444444 #a #aj ,for the clerk of the sacrament44444444444 #a #aj ,for blessing the bed444444444444444444444 #a #aj ,funeral ,processions4 ,of children under seven years old1 when the clergy do not go in a body3 ,for the curate444444444444444444444444444 #a #aj ,for each priest44444444444444444444444444 #a #aj ,when the clergy go in a body3 ,for the curial fee44444444444444444444444 #d #j ,for the presence of the curate44444444444 #b #j ,for each priest44444444444444444444444444 #j #aj ,for the vicar4444444444444444444444444444 #a #aj ,for each singing-boy1 when they carry the body4444444444444444444444444444444 #h #j ,and when they do not carry it444444444444 #e #j ,and so of young persons from seven to twelve years old4 ,of persons above twelve years old3 ,for the curial fee44444444444444444444444 #f #j ,for the curate's attendance44444444444444 #d #j ,for each vicar444444444444444444444444444 #b #j ,for the priest444444444444444444444444444 #a #j ,for each singing-boy444444444444444444444 #j #aj ,each of the priests that watch the body in the night1 for drink1 etc44444444444 #c #j ,and in the day1 each444444444444444444444 #b #j ,for the celebration of the mass4444444444 #a #j ,for the service extraordinary2 called the complete service2 viz41 the vigils and the two masses of the ,holy ,ghost and the ,holy ,virgin444444444444444444444444 #d #aj ,for each of the priests that carry the body44444444444444444444444444444444444 #a #j ,for carrying the great cross4444444444444 #j #aj ,for the holy water-pot carrier44444444444 #j #e ,for carrying the little cross444444444444 #j #e ,for the clerk of the processions444444444 #j #a ,for conveying bodies from one church to another there shall be paid1 for each of the above fees1 one-half more4 ,for the reception of bodies thus conveyed3 ,to the curate4444444444444444444444444444 #f #aj ,to the vicar44444444444444444444444444444 #a #aj ,to each priest444444444444444444444444444 #j #ae ,,tears4 ,tears are the silent language of grief4 ,but why8 ,what relation is there between a melancholy idea and this limpid and briny liquid filtered through a little gland into the external corner of the eye which moistens the conjunctiva and little lachrymal points1 whence it descends into the nose and mouth by the reservoir called the lachrymal duct1 and by its conduits8 ,why in women and children1 whose organs are of a delicate texture1 are tears more easily excited by grief than in men1 whose formation is firmer8 ,has nature intended to excite compassion in us at the sight of these tears1 which soften us and lead us to help those who shed them8 ,the female savage is as strongly determined to assist her child who cries1 as a lady of the court would be1 and perhaps more so1 because she has fewer distractions and passions4 ,everything in the animal body has1 no doubt1 its object4 ,the eyes1 particularly1 have mathematical relations so evident1 so demonstrable1 so admirable with the rays of light2 this mechanism is so divine1 that ,i should be tempted to take for the delirium of a high fever1 the audacity of denying the final causes of the structure of our eyes4 ,the use of tears appears not to have so determined and striking an object2 but it is probable that nature caused them to flow in order to excite us to pity4 ,there are women who are accused of weeping when they choose4 ,i am not at all surprised at their talent4 ,a lively1 sensible1 and tender imagination can fix upon some object1 on some melancholy recollection1 and represent it in such lively colors as to draw tears2 which happens to several performers1 and particularly to actresses on the stage4 ,women who imitate them in the interior of their houses1 join to this talent the little fraud of appearing to weep for their husbands1 while they really weep for their lovers4 ,their tears are true1 but the object of them is false4 ,it is impossible to affect tears without a subject1 in the same manner as we can affect to laugh4 ,we must be sensibly touched to force the lachrymal gland to compress itself1 and to spread its liquor on the orbit of the eye2 but the will alone is required to laugh4 ,we demand why the same man1 who has seen with a dry eye the most atrocious events1 and even committed crimes with sang-froid1 will weep at the theatre at the representation of similar events and crimes8 ,it is1 that he sees them not with the same eyes2 he sees them with those of the author and the actor4 ,he is no longer the same man2 he was barbarous1 he was agitated with furious passions1 when he saw an innocent woman killed1 when he stained himself with the blood of his friend2 he became a man again at the representation of it4 ,his soul was filled with a stormy tumult2 it is now tranquil and void1 and nature re-entering it1 he sheds virtuous tears4 ,such is the true merit1 the great good of theatrical representation1 which can never be effected by the cold declamation of an orator paid to tire an audience for an hour4 ,the capitoul ,david1 who2 without emotion1 saw and caused the innocent ,calas to die on the wheel1 would have shed tears at seeing his own crime in a well-written and well-acted tragedy4 ,pope has elegantly said this in the prologue to ,addison's ,cato3 ,tyrants no more their savage nature kept1 ,and foes to virtue wondered how they wept4 ,,terelas4 ,terelas1 ,pterelas1 or ,pterlaus1 just which you please1 was the son of ,taphus1 or ,taphius4 ,which signifies what you say8 ,gently1 ,i will tell you4 ,this ,terelas had a golden lock1 to which was attached the destiny of the town of ,taphia1 and what is more1 this lock rendered ,terelas immortal1 as he would not die while this lock remained upon his head2 for this reason he never combed it1 lest he should comb it off4 ,an immortality1 however1 which depends upon a lock of hair1 is not the most certain of all things4 ,amphitryon1 general of the republic of ,thebes1 besieged ,taphia1 and the daughter of ,king ,terelas became desperately in love with him on seeing him pass the ramparts4 ,thus excited1 she stole to her father in the dead of night1 cut off his golden lock1 and sent it to the general1 in consequence of which the town was taken1 and ,terelas killed4 ,some learned men assure us1 that it was the wife of ,terelas who played him this ill turn2 and as they ground their opinions upon great authorities1 it might be rendered the subject of a useful dissertation4 ,i confess that ,i am somewhat inclined to be of the opinion of those learned persons1 as it appears to me that a wife is usually less timorous than a daughter4 ,the same thing happened to ,nisus1 king of ,megara1 which town was besieged by ,minos4 ,scylla1 the daughter of ,nisus1 became madly in love with him2 and although in point of fact1 her father did not possess a lock of gold1 he had one of purple1 and it is known that on this lock depended equally his life and the fate of the ,megarian ,empire4 ,to oblige ,minos1 the dutiful ,scylla cut it off1 and presented it to her lover4 ,all the history of ,minos is true1 writes the profound ,bannier2 and this is attested by all antiquity4 ,i believe it precisely as ,i do that of ,terelas1 but ,i am embarrassed between the profound ,calmet and the profound ,huet4 ,calmet is of opinion1 that the adventure of the lock of ,nisus presented to ,minos1 and that of ,terelas given to ,amphitryon1 are obviously taken from the genuine history of ,samson4 ,huet the demonstrator1 on the contrary shows1 that ,minos is evidently ,moses1 as cutting out the letters n and e1 one of these names is the anagram of the other4 ,but1 notwithstanding the demonstration of ,huet1 ,i am entirely on the side of the refined ,dom ,calmet1 and for those who are of the opinion that all which relates to the locks of ,terelas and of ,nisus is connected with the hair of ,samson4 ,the most convincing of my triumphant reasons is1 that without reference to the family of ,terelas1 with the metamorphoses of which ,i am unacquainted1 it is certain that ,scylla was changed into a lark1 and her father ,nisus into a sparrow-hawk4 ,now1 ,bochart being of opinion that a sparrow-hawk is called neis in ,hebrew1 ,i thence conclude1 that the history of ,terelas1 ,amphitryon1 ,nisus1 and ,minos is copied from the history of ,samson4 ,i am aware that a dreadful sect has arisen in our days1 equally detested by ,god and man1 who pretend that the ,greek fables are more ancient than the ,jewish history2 that the ,greeks never heard a word of ,samson any more than of ,adam1 ,eve1 ,cain1 ,abel1 etc41 which names are not cited by any ,greek author4 ,they assert1 as we have modestly intimated--in the articles on ,bacchus and ,jew--that the ,greeks could not possibly take anything from the ,jews1 but that the ,jews might derive something from the ,greeks4 ,i answer with the doctor ,hayet1 the doctor ,gauchat1 the ex-,jesuit ,patouillet1 and the ex-,jesuit ,paulian1 that this is the most damnable heresy which ever issued from hell2 that it was formerly anathematized in full parliament1 on petition1 and condemned in the report of the ,sieur ,p42 and finally1 that if indulgence be extended to those who support such frightful systems1 there will be no more certainty in the world2 but that ,antichrist will quickly arrive1 if he has not come already4 ,,testes4 ,,section ,i4 ,this word is scientific1 and a little obscure1 signifying small witnesses4 ,sixtus ,v41 a ,cordelier become pope1 declared1 by his letter of the #beth of ,june1 #aehg1 to his nuncio in ,spain1 that he must unmarry all those who were not possessed of testicles4 ,it seems by this order1 which was executed by ,philip ,,ii41 that there were many husbands in ,spain deprived of these two organs4 ,but how could a man1 who had been a ,cordelier1 be ignorant that the testicles of men are often hidden in the abdomen1 and that they are equally if not more effective in that situation8 ,we have beheld in ,france three brothers of the highest rank1 one of whom possessed three1 the other only one1 while the third possessed no appearance of any1 and yet was the most vigorous of the three4 ,the angelic doctor1 who was simply a ,jacobin1 decides that two testicles are de essentia matrimonii 7of the essence of marriage72 in which opinion he is followed by ,ricardus1 ,scotus1 ,durandus1 and ,sylvius4 ,if you are not able to obtain a sight of the pleadings of the advocate ,sebastian ,rouillard1 in #afjj1 in favor of the testicles of his client1 concealed in his abdomen1 at least consult the dictionary of ,bayle1 at the article ,quellenec4 ,you will there discover1 that the wicked wife of the client of ,sebastian ,rouillard wished to render her marriage void1 on the plea that her husband could not exhibit testicles4 ,the defendant replied1 that he had perfectly fulfilled his matrimonial duties1 and offered the usual proof of a re-performance of them in full assembly4 ,the jilt replied1 that this trial was too offensive to her modesty1 and was1 moreover1 superfluous1 since the defendant was visibly deprived of testicles1 and that messieurs of the assembly were fully aware that testicles are necessary to perfect consummation4 ,i am unacquainted with the result of this process1 but ,i suspect that her husband lost his cause4 ,what induces me to think so is1 that the same ,parliament of ,paris1 on the #hth of ,january1 #affe1 issued a decree1 asserting the necessity of two visible testicles1 without which marriage was not to be contracted4 ,had there been any member in the assembly in the situation described1 and reduced to the necessity of being a witness1 he might have convinced the assembly that it decided without a due knowledge of circumstances4 ,pontas may be profitably consulted on testicles1 as well as upon any other subject4 ,he was a sub-penitentiary1 who decided every sort of case1 and who sometimes comes near to ,sanchez4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,a word or two on hermaphrodites4 ,a prejudice has for a long time crept into the ,russian ,church1 that it is not lawful to say mass without testicles2 or1 at least1 they must be hid in the officiator's pocket4 ,this ancient idea was founded in the ,council of ,nice1 who forbade the admission into orders of those who mutilated themselves4 ,the example of ,origen1 and of certain enthusiasts1 was the cause of this order1 which was confirmed a second time in the ,council of ,aries4 ,the ,greek ,church did not exclude from the altar those who had endured the operation of ,origen against their own consent4 ,the patriarchs of ,constantinople1 ,nicetas1 ,ignatius1 ,photius1 and ,methodius1 were eunuchs4 ,at present this point of discipline seems undecided in the ,catholic ,church4 ,the most general opinion1 however1 is1 that in order to be ordained a priest1 a eunuch will require a dispensation4 ,the banishment of eunuchs from the service of the altar appears contrary to the purity and chastity which the service exacts2 and certainly such of the priests as confess handsome women and girls would be exposed to less temptation4 ,opposing reasons of convenience and decorum have determined those who make these laws4 ,in ,leviticus1 all corporeal defects are excluded from the service of the altar--the blind1 the crooked1 the maimed1 the lame1 the one-eyed1 the leper1 the scabby1 long noses1 and short noses4 ,eunuchs are not spoken of1 as there were none among the ,jews4 ,those who acted as eunuchs in the service of their kings1 were foreigners4 ,it has been demanded whether an animal1 a man for example1 can possess at once testicles and ovaries1 or the glands which are taken for ovaries2 in a word1 the distinctive organs of both sexes8 ,can nature form veritable hermaphrodites1 and can a hermaphrodite be rendered pregnant8 ,i answer1 that ,i know nothing about it1 nor the ten-thousandth part of what is within the operation of nature4 ,i believe1 however1 that ,europe has never witnessed a genuine hermaphrodite1 nor has it indeed produced elephants1 zebras1 giraffes1 ostriches1 and many more of the animals which inhabit ,asia1 ,africa1 and ,america4 ,it is hazardous to assert1 that because we never beheld a thing1 it does not exist4 ,examine ,cheselden1 page #cd1 and you will behold there a very good delineation of an animal man and woman--a negro and negress of ,angola1 which was brought to ,london in its infancy1 and carefully examined by this celebrated surgeon1 as much distinguished for his probity as his information4 ,the plate is entitled ,members of an ,hermaphrodite ,negro1 of the ,age of ,twenty-six ,years1 of both ,sexes4 ,they are not absolutely perfect1 but they exhibit a strange mixture of the one and the other4 ,cheselden has frequently attested the truth of this prodigy1 which1 however1 is possibly no such thing in some of the countries of ,africa4 ,the two sexes are not perfect in this instance2 who can assure us1 that other negroes1 mulatto1 or copper-colored individuals1 are not absolutely male and female8 ,it would be as reasonable to assert1 that a perfect statue cannot exist1 because we have witnessed none without defects4 ,there are insects which possess both sexes2 why may there not be human beings similarly endowed8 ,i affirm nothing2 ,god keep me from doing so4 ,i only doubt4 ,how many things belong to the animal man1 in respect to which he must doubt1 from his pineal gland to his spleen1 the use of which is unknown2 and from the principle of his thoughts and sensations to his animal spirits1 of which everybody speaks1 and which nobody ever saw or ever will see6 ,,theism4 ,theism is a religion diffused through all religions2 it is a metal which mixes itself with all the others1 the veins of which extend under ground to the four corners of the world4 ,this mine is more openly worked in ,china2 everywhere else it is hidden1 and the secret is only in the hands of the adepts4 ,there is no country where there are more of these adepts than in ,england4 ,in the last century there were many atheists in that country1 as well as in ,france and ,italy4 ,what the chancellor ,bacon had said proved true to the letter1 that a little philosophy makes a man an atheist1 and that much philosophy leads to the knowledge of a ,god4 ,when it was believed with ,epicurus1 that chance made everything1 or with ,aristotle1 and even with several ancient theologians1 that nothing was created but through corruption1 and that by matter and motion alone the world goes on1 then it was impossible to believe in a providence4 ,but since nature has been looked into1 which the ancients did not perceive at all2 since it is observed that all is organized1 that everything has its germ2 since it is well known that a mushroom is the work of infinite wisdom1 as well as all the worlds2 then those who thought1 adored in the countries where their ancestors had blasphemed4 ,the physicians are become the heralds of providence2 a catechist announces ,god to children1 and a ,newton demonstrates ,him to the learned4 ,many persons ask whether theism1 considered abstractedly1 and without any religious ceremony1 is in fact a religion8 ,the answer is easy3 he who recognizes only a creating ,god1 he who views in ,god only a ,being infinitely powerful1 and who sees in ,his creatures only wonderful machines1 is not religious towards ,him any more than a ,european1 admiring the king of ,china1 would thereby profess allegiance to that prince4 ,but he who thinks that ,god has deigned to place a relation between ,himself and mankind2 that ,he has made him free1 capable of good and evil2 that ,he has given all of them that good sense which is the instinct of man1 and on which the law of nature is founded2 such a one undoubtedly has a religion1 and a much better religion than all those sects who are beyond the pale of our ,church2 for all these sects are false1 and the law of nature is true4 ,thus1 theism is good sense not yet instructed by revelation2 and other religions are good sense perverted by superstition4 ,all sects differ1 because they come from men2 morality is everywhere the same because it comes from ,god4 ,it is asked why1 out of five or six hundred sects1 there have scarcely been any who have not spilled blood2 and why the theists1 who are everywhere so numerous1 have never caused the least disturbance8 ,it is because they are philosophers4 ,now philosophers may reason badly1 but they never intrigue4 ,those who persecute a philosopher1 under the pretext that his opinions may be dangerous to the public1 are as absurd as those who are afraid that the study of algebra will raise the price of bread in the market2 one must pity a thinking being who errs2 the persecutor is frantic and horrible4 ,we are all brethren2 if one of my brothers1 full of respect and filial love1 inspired by the most fraternal charity1 does not salute our common ,father with the same ceremonies as ,i do1 ought ,i to cut his throat and tear out his heart8 ,what is a true theist8 ,it is he who says to ,god3 ,i adore and serve ,you2 it is he who says to the ,turk1 to the ,chinese1 the ,indian1 and the ,russian3 ,i love you4 ,he doubts1 perhaps1 that ,mahomet made a journey to the moon and put half of it in his pocket2 he does not wish that after his death his wife should burn herself from devotion2 he is sometimes tempted not to believe the story of the eleven thousand virgins1 and that of ,st4 ,amable1 whose hat and gloves were carried by a ray of the sun from ,auvergne as far as ,rome4 ,but for all that he is a just man4 ,noah would have placed him in his ark1 ,numa ,pompilius in his councils2 he would have ascended the car of ,zoroaster2 he would have talked philosophy with the ,platos1 the ,aristippuses1 the ,ciceros1 the ,atticuses--but would he not have drunk hemlock with ,socrates8 ,,theist4 ,the theist is a man firmly persuaded of the existence of a ,supreme ,being equally good and powerful1 who has formed all extended1 vegetating1 sentient1 and reflecting existences2 who perpetuates their species1 who punishes crimes without cruelty1 and rewards virtuous actions with kindness4 ,the theist does not know how ,god punishes1 how ,he rewards1 how ,he pardons2 for he is not presumptuous enough to flatter himself that he understands how ,god acts2 but he knows that ,god does act1 and that ,he is just4 ,the difficulties opposed to a providence do not stagger him in his faith1 because they are only great difficulties1 not proofs2 he submits himself to that providence1 although he only perceives some of its effects and some appearances2 and judging of the things he does not see from those he does see1 he thinks that this providence pervades all places and all ages4 ,illustration3 ,death of ,socrates4 ,united in this principle with the rest of the universe1 he does not join any of the sects1 who all contradict themselves2 his religion is the most ancient and the most extended2 for the simple adoration of a ,god has preceded all the systems in the world4 ,he speaks a language which all nations understand1 while they are unable to understand each other's4 ,he has brethren from ,pekin to ,cayenne1 and he reckons all the wise his brothers4 ,he believes that religion consists neither in the opinions of incomprehensible metaphysics1 nor in vain decorations1 but in adoration and justice4 ,to do good--that is his worship2 to submit oneself to ,god--that is his doctrine4 ,the ,mahometan cries out to him3 ,take care of yourself1 if you do not make the pilgrimage to ,mecca4 ,woe be to thee1 says a ,franciscan1 if thou dost not make a journey to our ,lady of ,loretto4 ,he laughs at ,loretto and ,mecca2 but he succors the indigent and defends the oppressed4 ,,theocracy4 ,government of ,god or ,gods4 ,i deceive myself every day2 but ,i suspect that all the nations who have cultivated the arts have lived under a theocracy4 ,i always except the ,chinese1 who appear learned as soon as they became a nation4 ,they were free from superstition directly ,china was a kingdom4 ,it is a great pity1 that having been raised so high at first1 they should remain stationary at the degree they have so long occupied in the sciences4 ,it would seem that they have received from nature an ample allowance of good sense1 and a very small one of industry4 ,yet in other things their industry is displayed more than ours4 ,the ,japanese1 their neighbors1 of whose origin ,i know nothing whatever--for whose origin do we know8--were incontestably governed by a theocracy4 ,the earliest well-ascertained sovereigns were the dairos1 the high priests of their gods2 this theocracy is well established4 ,these priests reigned despotically about eight hundred years4 ,in the middle of our twelfth century it came to pass that a captain1 an imperator1 a seogon shared their authority2 and in our sixteenth century the captains seized the whole power1 and kept it4 ,the dairos have remained the heads of religion2 they were kings--they are now only saints2 they regulate festivals1 they bestow sacred titles1 but they cannot give a company of infantry4 ,the ,brahmins in ,india possessed for a long time the theocratical power2 that is to say1 they held the sovereign authority in the name of ,brahma1 the son of ,god2 and even in their present humble condition they still believe their character indelible4 ,these are the two principal among the certain theocracies4 ,the priests of ,chalda1 ,persia1 ,syria1 ,phnicia1 and ,egypt1 were so powerful1 had so great a share in the government1 and carried the censer so loftily above the sceptre1 that empire may be said1 among those nations1 to nave been divided between theocracy and royalty4 ,the government of ,numa ,pompilius was evidently theocratical4 ,when a man says3 ,i give you laws furnished by the gods2 it is not ,i1 it is a god who speaks to you--then it is ,god who is king1 and he who talks thus is lieutenant-general4 ,among all the ,celtic nations who had only elective chiefs1 and not kings1 the ,druids and their sorceries governed everything4 ,but ,i cannot venture to give the name of theocracy to the anarchy of these savages4 ,the little ,jewish nation does not deserve to be considered politically1 except on account of the prodigious revolution that has occurred in the world1 of which it was the very obscure and unconscious cause4 ,do but consider the history of this strange people4 ,they have a conductor who undertakes to guide them in the name of his ,god to ,phnicia1 which he calls ,canaan4 ,the way was direct and plain1 from the country of ,goshen as far as ,tyre1 from south to north2 and there was no danger for six hundred and thirty thousand fighting men1 having at their head a general like ,moses1 who1 according to ,flavius ,josephus1 had already vanquished an army of ,ethiopians1 and even an army of serpents4 ,instead of taking this short and easy route1 he conducts them from ,rameses to ,baal-,sephon1 in an opposite direction1 right into the middle of ,egypt1 due south4 ,he crosses the sea2 he marches for forty years in the most frightful deserts1 where there is not a single spring of water1 or a tree1 or a cultivated field--nothing but sand and dreary rocks4 ,it is evident that ,god alone could make the ,jews1 by a miracle1 take this route1 and support them there by a succession of miracles4 ,the ,jewish government therefore was then a true theocracy4 ,moses1 however1 was never pontiff1 and ,aaron1 who was pontiff1 was never chief nor legislator4 ,after that time we do not find any pontiff governing4 ,joshua1 ,jephthah1 ,samson1 and the other chiefs of the people1 except ,elias and ,samuel1 were not priests4 ,the ,jewish republic1 reduced to slavery so often1 was anarchical rather than theocratical4 ,under the kings of ,judah and ,israel1 it was but a long succession of assassinations and civil wars4 ,these horrors were interrupted only by the entire extinction of ten tribes1 afterwards by the enslavement of two others1 and by the destruction of the city amidst famine and pestilence4 ,this was not then divine government4 ,when the ,jewish slaves returned to ,jerusalem1 they were subdued by the kings of ,persia1 by the conqueror ,alexandria and his successors4 ,it appears that ,god did not then reign immediately over this nation1 since a little before the invasion of ,alexander1 the pontiff ,john assassinated the priest ,jesus1 his brother1 in the temple of ,jerusalem1 as ,solomon had assassinated his brother ,adonijah on the altar4 ,the government was still less theocratical when ,antiochus ,epiphanes1 king of ,syria1 employed many of the ,jews to punish those whom he regarded as rebels4 ,he forbade them all1 under pain of death1 to circumcise their children2 he compelled them to sacrifice swine in their temple1 to burn the gates1 to destroy the altar2 and the whole enclosure was filled with thorns and brambles4 ,matthias rose against him at the head of some citizens1 but he was not king4 ,his son1 ,judas ,maccabus1 taken for the ,messiah1 perished after glorious struggles4 ,to these bloody contests succeeded civil wars4 ,the men of ,jerusalem destroyed ,samaria1 which the ,romans subsequently rebuilt under the name of ,sebasta4 ,in this chaos of revolutions1 ,aristobulus1 of the race of the ,maccabees1 and son of a high priest1 made himself king1 more than five hundred years after the destruction of ,jerusalem4 ,he signalized his reign like some ,turkish sultans1 by cutting his brother's throat1 and causing his mother to be put to death4 ,his successors followed his example1 until the period when the ,romans punished all these barbarians4 ,nothing in all this is theocratical4 ,if anything affords an idea of theocracy1 it must be granted that it is the papacy of ,rome2 it never announces itself but in the name of ,god1 and its subjects live in peace4 ,for a long time ,thibet enjoyed the same advantages under the ,grand ,lama2 but that is a gross error striving to imitate a sublime truth4 ,the first ,incas1 by calling themselves descendants in a right line from the sun1 established a theocracy2 everything was done in the name of the sun4 ,theocracy ought to be universal2 for every man1 whether a prince or a boatman1 should obey the natural and eternal laws which ,god has given him4 ,,theodosius4 ,every prince who puts himself at the head of a party1 and succeeds1 is sure of being praised to all eternity1 if the party lasts that time2 and his adversaries may be assured that they will be treated by orators1 poets1 and preachers1 as ,titans who revolted against the gods4 ,this is what happened to ,octavius ,augustus1 when his good fortune made him defeat ,brutus1 ,cassius1 and ,antony4 ,it was the lot of ,constantine1 when ,maxentius1 the legitimate emperor1 elected by the ,roman senate and people1 fell into the water and was drowned4 ,theodosius had the same advantage4 ,woe to the vanquished6 blessed be the victorious6--that is the motto of mankind4 ,theodosius was a ,spanish officer1 the son of a ,spanish soldier of fortune4 ,as soon as he was emperor he persecuted the anti-consubstantialists4 ,judge of the applauses1 benedictions1 and pompous eulogies1 on the part of the consubstantialists6 ,their adversaries scarcely subsist any longer2 their complaints and clamors against the tyranny of ,theodosius have perished with them1 and the predominant party still lavishes on this prince the epithets of pious1 just1 clement1 wise1 and great4 ,one day this pious and clement prince1 who loved money to distraction1 proposed laying a very heavy tax upon the city of ,antioch1 then the finest of ,asia ,minor4 ,the people1 in despair1 having demanded a slight diminution1 and not being able to obtain it1 went so far as to break some statues1 among which was one of the soldier1 the emperor's father4 ,st4 ,john ,chrysostom1 or golden mouth1 the priest and flatterer of ,theodosius1 failed not to call this action a detestable sacrilege1 since ,theodosius was the image of ,god1 and his father was almost as sacred as himself4 ,but if this ,spaniard resembled ,god1 he should have remembered that the ,antiochians also resembled ,him1 and that men formed after the exemplar of all the gods existed before emperors4 ,finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum4 --,,ovid1 ,met4 i1 b4 #hc4 ,theodosius immediately sent a letter to the governor1 with an order to apply the torture to the principal images of ,god who had taken part in this passing sedition2 to make them perish under blows received from cords terminated with leaden balls2 to burn some1 and deliver others up to the sword4 ,this was executed with all the punctuality of a governor who did his duty like a ,christian1 who paid his court well1 and who would make his way there4 ,the ,orontes bore nothing but corpses to the sea for several days2 after which1 his gracious imperial majesty pardoned the ,antiochians with his usual clemency1 and doubled the tax4 ,how did the emperor ,julian act in the same city1 when he had received a more personal and injurious outrage8 ,it was not a paltry statue of his father which they defaced2 it was to himself that the ,antiochians addressed themselves1 and against whom they composed the most violent satires4 ,the philosophical emperor answered them by a light and ingenious satire4 ,he took from them neither their lives nor their purses4 ,he contented himself with having more wit than they had4 ,this is the man whom ,st4 ,gregory ,nazianzen and ,theodoret1 who were not of his communion1 dare to calumniate so far as to say that he sacrificed women and children to the moon2 while those who were of the communion of ,theodosius have persisted to our day in copying one another1 by saying in a hundred ways1 that ,theodosius was the most virtuous of men1 and by wishing to make him a saint4 ,we know well enough what was the mildness of this saint in the massacre of fifteen thousand of his subjects at ,thessalonica4 ,his panegyrists reduce the number of the murdered to seven or eight thousand1 which is a very small number to them2 but they elevate to the sky the tender piety of this good prince1 who deprived himself of mass1 as also that of his accomplice1 the detestable ,rufinus4 ,i confess once more1 that it was a great expiation1 a great act of devotion1 the not going to mass2 but it restores not life to fifteen thousand innocents1 slain in cold blood by an abominable perfidy4 ,if a heretic was stained with such a crime1 with what pleasure would all historians turn their boasting against him2 with what colors would they paint him in the pulpits and college declamations6 ,i will suppose that the prince of ,parma entered ,paris1 after having forced our dear ,henry ,,iv4 to raise the siege2 ,i will suppose that ,philip ,,ii4 gave the throne of ,france to his ,catholic daughter1 and to the young ,catholic duke of ,guise2 how many pens and voices would forever have anathematized ,henry ,,iv41 and the ,salic law6 ,they would be both forgotten1 and the ,guises would be the heroes of the state and religion4 ,thus it is--applaud the prosperous and fly the miserable6 ,et cole felices1 miseros fuge4 ,if ,hugh ,capet dispossess the legitimate heir of ,charlemagne1 he becomes the root of a race of heroes4 ,if he fails1 he may be treated as the brother of ,st4 ,louis since treated ,conradin and the duke of ,austria1 and with much more reason4 ,pepin rebels1 dethrones the ,merovingian race1 and shuts his king in a cloister2 but if he succeeds not1 he mounts the scaffold4 ,if ,clovis1 the first king of ,belgic ,gaul1 is beaten in his invasion1 he runs the risk of being condemned to the fangs of beasts1 as one of his ancestors was by ,constantine4 ,thus goes the world under the empire of fortune1 which is nothing but necessity1 insurmountable fatality4 ,fortuna svo lta negotio4 ,she makes us blindly play her terrible game1 and we never see beneath the cards4 ,,theologian4 ,,section ,i4 ,the theologian knows perfectly that1 according to ,st4 ,thomas1 angels are corporeal with relation to ,god2 that the soul receives its being in the body2 and that man has a vegetative1 sensitive1 and intellectual soul2 that the soul is all in all1 and all in every part2 that it is the efficient and formal cause of the body2 that it is the greatest in nobleness of form2 that the appetite is a passive power2 that archangels are the medium between angels and principalities2 that baptism regenerates of itself and by chance2 that the catechism is not a sacrament1 but sacramental2 that certainty springs from the cause and subject2 that concupiscence is the appetite of sensitive delectation2 that conscience is an act and not a power4 ,the angel of the schools has written about four thousand fine pages in this style1 and a shaven-crowned young man passes three years in filling his brain with this sublime knowledge2 after which he receives the bonnet of a doctor of the ,sorbonne1 instead of going to ,bedlam4 ,if he is a man of quality1 or the son of a rich man1 or intriguing and fortunate1 he becomes bishop1 archbishop1 cardinal1 and pope4 ,if he is poor and without credit1 he becomes the chaplain of one of these people2 it is he who preaches for them1 who reads ,st4 ,thomas and ,scotus for them1 who makes commandments for them1 and who in a council decides for them4 ,the title of theologian is so great that the fathers of the ,council of ,trent give it to their cooks1 cuoco celeste1 gran theologo4 ,their science is the first of sciences1 their condition the first of conditions1 and themselves the first of men2 such the empire of true doctrine2 so much does reason govern mankind6 ,when a theologian has become--thanks to his arguments--either prince of the holy ,roman ,empire1 archbishop of ,toledo1 or one of the seventy princes clothed in red1 successors of the humble apostles1 then the successors of ,galen and ,hippocrates are at his service4 ,they were his equals when they studied in the same university2 they had the same degrees1 and received the same furred bonnet4 ,fortune changes all2 and those who discovered the circulation of the blood1 the lacteal veins1 and the thoracic canal1 are the servants of those who have learned what concomitant grace is1 and have forgotten it4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,i knew a true theologian2 he was master of the languages of the ,east1 and was instructed as much as possible in the ancient rites of nations4 ,the ,brahmins1 ,chaldans1 ,fire-worshippers1 ,sabeans1 ,syrians1 and ,egyptians1 were as well known to him as the ,jews2 the several lessons of the ,bible were familiar to him2 and for thirty years he had tried to reconcile the gospels1 and endeavored to make the fathers agree4 ,he sought in what time precisely the creed attributed to the apostles was digested1 and that which bears the name of ,athanasius2 how the sacraments were instituted one after the other2 what was the difference between synaxis and mass2 how the ,christian ,church was divided since its origin into different parties1 and how the predominating society treated all the others as heretics4 ,he sounded the depth of policy which always mixes with these quarrels2 and he distinguished between policy and wisdom1 between the pride which would subjugate minds and the desire of self-illumination1 between zeal and fanaticism4 ,the difficulty of arranging in his head so many things1 the nature of which is to be confounded1 and of throwing a little light on so many clouds1 often checked him2 but as these researches were the duty of his profession1 he gave himself up to them notwithstanding his distaste4 ,he at length arrived at knowledge unknown to the greater part of his brethren3 but the more learned he waxed1 the more mistrustful he became of all that he knew4 ,while he lived he was indulgent2 and at his death1 he confessed that he had spent his life uselessly4 ,,thunder4 ,,section ,i4 ,vidi et crudeles dantem ,salmonea pnas ,dum flammas ,jovis et sonitus imitatur ,olympia1 etc4 --,,virgil1 neid1 b4 vi1 #a4 #ehe4 ,salmoneus suffering cruel pains ,i found1 ,for imitating ,jove1 the rattling sound ,of mimic thunder1 and the glittering blaze ,of pointed lightnings and their forked rays4 ,those who invented and perfected artillery are so many other ,salmoneuses4 ,a cannon-ball of twenty-four pounds can make1 and has often made1 more ravage than an hundred thunder-claps2 yet no cannoneer has ever been struck by ,jupiter for imitating that which passes in the atmosphere4 ,we have seen that ,polyphemus1 in a piece of ,euripides1 boasts of making more noise1 when he had supped well1 than the thunder of ,jupiter4 ,boileau1 more honest than ,polyphemus1 says that another world astonishes him1 and that he believes in the immortality of the soul1 and that it is ,god who thunders3 ,pour moi1 qu'en sant mme un autre monde tonne1 ,qui crois l'me immortelle1 et que c'est ,dieu qui tonne4 --,,sat4 i1 line #afa1afb4 ,i know not why he is so astonished at another world1 since all antiquity believed in it4 ,astonish was not the proper word2 it was alarm4 ,he believes that it is ,god who thunders2 but he thunders only as he hails1 as he rains1 and as he produces fine weather--as he operates all1 as he performs all4 ,it is not because he is angry that he sends thunder and rain4 ,the ancients paint ,jupiter taking thunder1 composed of three burning arrows1 and hurling it at whomsoever he chose4 ,sound reason does not agree with these poetical ideas4 ,thunder is like everything else1 the necessary effect of the laws of nature1 prescribed by its author4 ,it is merely a great electrical phenomenon4 ,franklin forces it to descend tranquilly on the earth2 it fell on ,professor ,richmann as on rocks and churches2 and if it struck ,ajax ,oileus1 it was assuredly not because ,minerva was irritated against him4 ,if it had fallen on ,cartouche1 or the abb ,desfontaines1 people would not have failed to say3 ,behold how ,god punishes thieves and--4 ,but it is a useful prejudice to make the sky fearful to the perverse4 ,thus all our tragic poets1 when they would rhyme to poudre or resoudre1 invariably make use of foudre2 and uniformly make tonnerre roll1 when they would rhyme to terre4 ,theseus1 in ,phdre1 says to his son--act iv1 scene #b3 ,monstre1 qu' trop longtemps pargn le tonnerre1 ,reste impur des brigands dont j'ai purg la terre6 ,severus1 in ,polyeucte1 without even having occasion to rhyme1 when he learns that his mistress is married1 talks to ,fabian1 his friend1 of a clap of thunder4 ,he says elsewhere to the same ,fabian--act iv1 scene #f--that a new clap of foudre strikes upon his hope1 and reduces it to poudre3 ,qu'est ceci1 ,fabian1 quel nouveau coup de foudre ,tombe sur mon espoir1 et le rduit en poudre8 ,a hope reduced to powder must astonish the pit6 ,lusignan1 in ,zare1 prays ,god that the thunder will burst on him alone3 ,que la foudre en clats ne tombe que sur moi4 ,if ,tydeus consults the gods in the cave of a temple1 the cave answers him only by great claps of thunder4 ,i've finally seen the thunder and foudre ,reduce verses to cinders and rhymes into poudre4 ,we must endeavor to thunder less frequently4 ,i could never clearly comprehend the fable of ,jupiter and ,thunder1 in ,la ,fontaine--b4 viii1 fable #bj4 ,vulcain remplit ses fourneaux ,de deux sortes de carreaux4 ,l'un jamais ne se fourvoie1 ,et c'est celui que toujours ,l',olympe en corps nous envoie4 ,l'autre s'carte en son cours1 ,ce n'est qu'aux monts qu'il en cote2 ,bien souvent mme il se perd2 ,et ce dernier en sa route ,nous vient du seul ,jupiter4 ,vulcan fills his furnaces with two sorts of thunderbolts4 ,the one never wanders1 and it is that which comes direct from ,olympus4 ,the other diverges in its route1 and only spends itself on mountains2 it is often even altogether dissipated4 ,it is this last alone which proceeds from ,jupiter4 ,was the subject of this fable1 which ,la ,fontaine put into bad verse so different from his general style1 given to him8 ,would it infer that the ministers of ,louis ,,xiv4 were inflexible1 and that the king pardoned8 ,crbillon1 in his academical discourse in foreign verse1 says that ,cardinal ,fleury is a wise depositary1 the eagle1 using his thunder1 yet the friend of peace3 ,usant en citoyen du pouvoir arbitraire1 ,aigle de ,jupiter1 mais ami de la paix1 ,il gouverne la foudre1 et ne tonne jamais4 ,he says that ,marshal ,villars made it appear that he survived ,malplaquet only to become more celebrated at ,denain1 and that with a clap of thunder ,prince ,eugene was vanquished3 ,fit voir1 qu' ,malplaquet il n'avait survcu ,que pour rendre ,denain sa valeur plus clbre ,et qu'un foudre du moins ,eugne tait vaincu4 ,thus the eagle ,fleury governed thunder without thundering1 and ,eugene was vanquished by thunder4 ,here is quite enough of thunder4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,horace1 sometimes the debauched and sometimes the moral1 has said--book i1 ode #c--that our folly extends to heaven itself3 ,clum ipsum petimus stultitia4 ,we can say at present that we carry our wisdom to heaven1 if we may be permitted to call that blue and white mass of exhalations which causes winds1 rain1 snow1 hail1 and thunder1 heaven4 ,we have decomposed the thunderbolt1 as ,newton disentangled light4 ,we have perceived that these thunderbolts1 formerly borne by the eagle of ,jupiter1 are really only electric fire2 that in short we can draw down thunder1 conduct it1 divide it1 and render ourselves masters of it1 as we make the rays of light pass through a prism1 as we give course to the waters which fall from heaven1 that is to say1 from the height of half a league from our atmosphere4 ,we plant a high fir with the branches lopped off1 the top of which is covered with a cone of iron4 ,the clouds which form thunder are electrical2 their electricity is communicated to this cone1 and a brass wire which is attached to it conducts the matter of thunder wherever we please4 ,an ingenious physician calls this experiment the inoculation of thunder4 ,it is true1 that inoculation for the smallpox1 which has preserved so many mortals1 caused some to perish1 to whom the smallpox had been inconsiderately given2 and in like manner the inoculation of thunder ill-performed would be dangerous4 ,there are great lords whom we can only approach with the greatest precaution1 and thunder is of this number4 ,we know that the mathematical professor ,richmann was killed at ,st4 ,petersburg1 in #agec1 by a thunderbolt which he had drawn into his chamber3 ,arte sua periit4 ,as he was a philosopher1 a theological professor failed not to publish that he had been thunderstruck like ,salmoneus1 for having usurped the rights of ,god1 and for wishing to hurl the thunder3 but if the physician had directed the brass wire outside the house1 and not into his pent-up chamber1 he would not have shared the lot of ,salmoneus1 ,ajax ,oileus1 the emperor ,carus1 the son of a ,french minister of state1 and of several monks in the ,pyrenees4 ,,toleration4 ,,section ,i4 ,what is toleration8 ,it is the appurtenance of humanity4 ,we are all full of weakness and errors2 let us mutually pardon each other our follies--it is the first law of nature4 ,when1 on the exchange of ,amsterdam1 of ,london1 of ,surat1 or of ,bassora1 the ,gueber1 the ,banian1 the ,jew1 the ,mahometan1 the ,chinese ,deist1 the ,brahmin1 the ,christian of the ,greek ,church1 the ,roman ,catholic ,christian1 the ,protestant ,christian1 and the ,quaker ,christian1 traffic together1 they do not lift the poniard against each other1 in order to gain souls for their religion4 ,why then have we been cutting one another's throats almost without interruption since the first ,council of ,nice8 ,constantine began by issuing an edict which allowed all religions1 and ended by persecuting4 ,before him1 tumults were excited against the ,christians1 only because they began to make a party in the state4 ,the ,romans permitted all kinds of worship1 even those of the ,jews1 and of the ,egyptians1 for whom they had so much contempt4 ,why did ,rome tolerate these religions8 ,because neither the ,egyptians1 nor even the ,jews1 aimed at exterminating the ancient religion of the empire1 or ranged through land and sea for proselytes2 they thought only of money-getting2 but it is undeniable1 that the ,christians wished their own religion to be the dominant one4 ,the ,jews would not suffer the statue of ,jupiter at ,jerusalem1 but the ,christians wished it not to be in the capitol4 ,st4 ,thomas had the candor to avow1 that if the ,christians did not dethrone the emperors1 it was because they could not4 ,their opinion was1 that the whole earth ought to be ,christian4 ,they were therefore necessarily enemies to the whole earth1 until it was converted4 ,among themselves1 they were the enemies of each other on all their points of controversy4 ,was it first of all necessary to regard ,jesus ,christ as ,god8 ,those who denied it were anathematized under the name of ,ebionites1 who themselves anathematized the adorers of ,jesus4 ,did some among them wish all things to be in common1 as it is pretended they were in the time of the apostles8 ,their adversaries called them ,nicolaites1 and accused them of the most infamous crimes4 ,did others profess a mystical devotion8 ,they were termed ,gnostics1 and attacked with fury4 ,did ,marcion dispute on the ,trinity8 ,he was treated as an idolater4 ,tertullian1 ,praxeas1 ,origen1 ,novatus1 ,novatian1 ,sabellius1 ,donatus1 were all persecuted by their brethren1 before ,constantine2 and scarcely had ,constantine made the ,christian religion the ruling one1 when the ,athanasians and the ,eusebians tore each other to pieces2 and from that time to our own days1 the ,christian ,church has been deluged with blood4 ,the ,jewish people were1 ,i confess1 a very barbarous nation4 ,they mercilessly cut the throats of all the inhabitants of an unfortunate little country upon which they had no more claim than they had upon ,paris or ,london4 ,however1 when ,naaman was cured of the leprosy by being plunged seven times in the ,jordan--when1 in order to testify his gratitude to ,elisha1 who had taught him the secret1 he told him he would adore the god of the ,jews from gratitude1 he reserved to himself the liberty to adore also the god of his own king2 he asked ,elisha's permission to do so1 and the prophet did not hesitate to grant it4 ,the ,jews adored their god1 but they were never astonished that every nation had its own4 ,they approved of ,chemos having given a certain district to the ,moabites1 provided their god would give them one also4 ,jacob did not hesitate to marry the daughters of an idolater4 ,laban had his god1 as ,jacob had his4 ,such are the examples of toleration among the most intolerant and cruel people of antiquity4 ,we have imitated them in their absurd passions1 and not in their indulgence4 ,it is clear that every private individual who persecutes a man1 his brother1 because he is not of the same opinion1 is a monster4 ,this admits of no difficulty4 ,but the government1 the magistrates1 the princes6--how do they conduct themselves towards those who have a faith different from their own8 ,if they are powerful foreigners1 it is certain that a prince will form an alliance with them4 ,the ,most ,christian ,francis ,i4 will league himself with the ,mussulmans against the ,most ,catholic ,charles ,v4 ,francis ,i4 will give money to the ,lutherans in ,germany1 to support them in their rebellion against their emperor2 but he will commence1 as usual1 by having the ,lutherans in his own country burned4 ,he pays them in ,saxony from policy2 he burns them in ,paris from policy4 ,but what follows8 ,persecutions make proselytes4 ,france will soon be filled with new ,protestants4 ,at first they will submit to be hanged2 afterwards they will hang in their turn4 ,there will be civil wars2 then ,saint ,bartholomew will come2 and this corner of the world will be worse than all that the ancients and moderns have ever said of hell4 ,blockheads1 who have never been able to render a pure worship to the ,god who made you6 ,wretches1 whom the example of the ,noachides1 the ,chinese literati1 the ,parsees1 and of all the wise1 has not availed to guide6 ,monsters1 who need superstitions1 just as the gizzard of a raven needs carrion6 ,we have already told you--and we have nothing else to say--if you have two religions among you1 they will massacre each other2 if you have thirty1 they will live in peace4 ,look at the ,grand ,turk3 he governs ,guebers1 ,banians1 ,christians of the ,greek ,church1 ,nestorians1 and ,roman ,catholics4 ,the first who would excite a tumult is empaled2 and all is tranquil4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,of all religions1 the ,christian ought doubtless to inspire the most toleration1 although hitherto the ,christians have been the most intolerant of all men4 ,jesus1 having deigned to be born in poverty and lowliness like his brethren1 never condescended to practise the art of writing4 ,the ,jews had a law written with the greatest minuteness1 and we have not a single line from the hand of ,jesus4 ,the apostles were divided on many points4 ,st4 ,peter and ,st4 ,barnabas ate forbidden meats with the new stranger ,christians1 and abstained from them with the ,jewish ,christians4 ,st4 ,paul reproached them with this conduct2 and this same ,st4 ,paul1 the ,pharisee1 the disciple of the ,pharisee ,gamaliel--this same ,st4 ,paul1 who had persecuted the ,christians with fury1 and who after breaking with ,gamaliel became a ,christian himself--nevertheless1 went afterwards to sacrifice in the temple of ,jerusalem1 during his apostolic vacation4 ,for eight days he observed publicly all the ceremonies of the ,jewish law which he had renounced2 he even added devotions and purifications which were superabundant2 he completely ,judaized4 ,the greatest apostle of the ,christians did1 for eight days1 the very things for which men are condemned to the stake among a large portion of ,christian nations4 ,theudas and ,judas were called ,messiahs1 before ,jesus3 ,dositheus1 ,simon1 ,menander1 called themselves ,messiahs1 after ,jesus4 ,from the first century of the ,church1 and before even the name of ,christian was known1 there were a score of sects in ,juda4 ,the contemplative ,gnostics1 the ,dositheans1 the ,cerintheins1 existed before the disciples of ,jesus had taken the name of ,christians4 ,there were soon thirty churches1 each of which belonged to a different society2 and by the close of the first century thirty sects of ,christians might be reckoned in ,asia ,minor1 in ,syria1 in ,alexandria1 and even in ,rome4 ,all these sects1 despised by the ,roman government1 and concealed in their obscurity1 nevertheless persecuted each other in the hiding holes where they lurked2 that is to say1 they reproached one another4 ,this is all they could do in their abject condition3 they were almost wholly composed of the dregs of the people4 ,when at length some ,christians had embraced the dogmas of ,plato1 and mingled a little philosophy with their religion1 which they separated from the ,jewish1 they insensibly became more considerable1 but were always divided into many sects1 without there ever having been a time when the ,christian church was reunited4 ,it took its origin in the midst of the divisions of the ,jews1 the ,samaritans1 the ,pharisees1 the ,sadducees1 the ,essenians1 the ,judaites1 the disciples of ,john1 and the ,therapeutae4 ,it was divided in its infancy2 it was divided even amid the persecutions it sometimes endured under the first emperors4 ,the martyr was often regarded by his brethren as an apostate2 and the ,carpocratian ,christian expired under the sword of the ,roman executioner1 excommunicated by the ,ebionite ,christian1 which ,ebionite was anathematized by the ,sabellian4 ,this horrible discord1 lasting for so many centuries1 is a very striking lesson that we ought mutually to forgive each other's errors3 discord is the great evil of the human species1 and toleration is its only remedy4 ,there is nobody who does not assent to this truth1 whether meditating coolly in his closet1 or examining the truth peaceably with his friends4 ,why1 then1 do the same men who in private admit charity1 beneficence1 and justice1 oppose themselves in public so furiously against these virtues8 ,why6--it is because their interest is their god2 because they sacrifice all to that monster whom they adore4 ,i possess dignity and power1 which ignorance and credulity have founded4 ,i trample on the heads of men prostrated at my feet2 if they should rise and look me in the face1 ,i am lost2 they must1 therefore1 be kept bound down to the earth with chains of iron4 ,thus have men reasoned1 whom ages of fanaticism have rendered powerful4 ,they have other persons in power under them1 and these latter again have underlings1 who enrich themselves with the spoils of the poor man1 fatten themselves with his blood1 and laugh at his imbecility4 ,they detest all toleration1 as contractors enriched at the expense of the public are afraid to render their accounts1 and as tyrants dread the name of liberty4 ,to crown all1 in short1 they encourage fanatics who cry aloud3 ,respect the absurdities of my master2 tremble1 pay1 and be silent4 ,such was the practice for a long time in a great part of the world2 but now1 when so many sects are balanced by their power1 what side must we take among them8 ,every sect1 we know1 is a mere title of error2 while there is no sect of geometricians1 of algebraists1 of arithmeticians2 because all the propositions of geometry1 algebra1 and arithmetic1 are true4 ,in all the other sciences1 one may be mistaken4 ,what ,thomist or ,scotist theologian can venture to assert seriously that he goes on sure grounds8 ,if there is any sect which reminds one of the time of the first ,christians1 it is undeniably that of the ,quakers4 ,the apostles received the spirit4 ,the ,quakers receive the spirit4 ,the apostles and disciples spoke three or four at once in the assembly in the third story2 the ,quakers do as much on the ground floor4 ,women were permitted to preach1 according to ,st4 ,paul1 and they were forbidden according to the same ,st4 ,paul3 the ,quakeresses preach by virtue of the first permission4 ,the apostles and disciples swore by yea and nay2 the ,quakers will not swear in any other form4 ,there was no rank1 no difference of dress1 among apostles and disciples2 the ,quakers have sleeves without buttons1 and are all clothed alike4 ,jesus ,christ baptized none of his apostles2 the ,quakers are never baptized4 ,it would be easy to push the parallel farther2 it would be still easier to demonstrate how much the ,christian religion of our day differs from the religion which ,jesus practised4 ,jesus was a ,jew1 and we are not ,jews4 ,jesus abstained from pork1 because it is uncleanly1 and from rabbit1 because it ruminates and its foot is not cloven2 we fearlessly eat pork1 because it is not uncleanly for us1 and we eat rabbit which has the cloven foot and does not ruminate4 ,jesus was circumcised1 and we retain our foreskin4 ,jesus ate the ,paschal lamb with lettuce1 ,he celebrated the feast of the tabernacles2 and we do nothing of this4 ,he observed the ,sabbath1 and we have changed it2 ,he sacrificed1 and we never sacrifice4 ,jesus always concealed the mystery of ,his incarnation and ,his dignity2 ,he never said ,he was equal to ,god4 ,st4 ,paul says expressly1 in his ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 that ,god created ,jesus inferior to the angels2 and in spite of ,st4 ,paul's words1 ,jesus was acknowledged as ,god at the ,council of ,nice4 ,jesus has not given the pope either the march of ,ancona or the duchy of ,spoleto2 and1 notwithstanding1 the pope possesses them by divine right4 ,jesus did not make a sacrament either of marriage or of deaconry2 and1 with us1 marriage and deaconry are sacraments4 ,if we would attend closely to the fact1 the ,catholic1 apostolic1 and ,roman religion is1 in all its ceremonies and in all its dogma1 the reverse of the religion of ,jesus6 ,but what6 must we all ,judaize1 because ,jesus ,judaized all ,his life8 ,if it were allowed to reason logically in matters of religion1 it is clear that we ought all to become ,jews1 since ,jesus ,christ1 our ,saviour1 was born a ,jew1 lived a ,jew and died a ,jew1 and since ,he expressly said1 that ,he accomplished and fulfilled the ,jewish religion4 ,but it is still more clear that we ought mutually to tolerate one another1 because we are all weak1 irrational1 and subject to change and error4 ,a reed prostrated by the wind in the mire--ought it to say to a neighboring reed placed in a contrary direction3 ,creep after my fashion1 wretch1 or ,i will present a request for you to be seized and burned8 ,,section ,,iii4 ,my friends1 when we have preached toleration in prose and in verse1 in some of our pulpits1 and in all our societies--when we have made these true human voices resound in the organs of our churches--we have done something for nature1 we have reestablished humanity in its rights2 there will no longer be an ex-,jesuit1 or an ex-,jansenist1 who dares to say1 ,i am intolerant4 ,there will always be barbarians and cheats who will foment intolerance2 but they will not avow it--and that is something gained4 ,let us always bear in mind1 my friends1 let us repeat--for we must repeat1 for fear it should be forgotten--the words of the bishop of ,soissons1 not ,languet1 but ,fitzjames-,stuart1 in his mandate of #ageg3 ,we ought to regard the ,turks as our brethren4 ,let us consider1 that throughout ,english ,america1 which constitutes nearly the fourth part of the known world1 entire liberty of conscience is established2 and provided a man believes in a ,god1 every religion is well received3 notwithstanding which1 commerce flourishes and population increases4 ,let us always reflect1 that the first law of the ,empire of ,russia1 which is greater than the ,roman ,empire1 is the toleration of every sect4 ,the ,turkish ,empire1 and the ,persian1 always allowed the same indulgence4 ,mahomet ,,ii41 when he took ,constantinople1 did not force the ,greeks to abandon their religion1 although he looked on them as idolaters4 ,every ,greek father of a family got off for five or six crowns a year4 ,many prebends and bishoprics were preserved for them2 and even at this day the ,turkish sultan makes canons and bishops1 without the pope having ever made an imam or a mollah4 ,my friends1 there are only some monks1 and some ,protestants as barbarous as those monks1 who are still intolerant4 ,we have been so infected with this furor1 that in our voyages of long duration1 we have carried it to ,china1 to ,tonquin1 and ,japan4 ,we have introduced the plague to those beautiful climes4 ,the most indulgent of mankind have been taught by us to be the most inflexible4 ,we said to them at the outset1 in return for their kind welcome--,know that we alone on the earth are in the right1 and that we ought to be masters everywhere4 ,then they drove us away forever4 ,this lesson1 which has cost seas of blood1 ought to correct us4 ,,section ,,iv4 ,the author of the preceding article is a worthy man who would sup with a ,quaker1 an ,anabaptist1 a ,socinian1 a ,mussulman1 etc4 ,i would push this civility farther2 ,i would say to my brother the ,turk--,let us eat together a good hen with rice1 invoking ,allah2 your religion seems to me very respectable2 you adore but one ,god2 you are obliged to give the fortieth part of your revenue every day in alms1 and to be reconciled with your enemies on the day of the ,bairam4 ,our bigots1 who calumniate the world1 have said a hundred times1 that your religion succeeded only because it was wholly sensual4 ,they have lied1 poor fellows6 ,your religion is very austere2 it commands prayer five times a day2 it imposes the most rigorous fast2 it denies you the wine and the liquors which our spiritual directors encourage2 and if it permits only four wives to those who can support them--which are very few--it condemns by this restriction the ,jewish incontinence1 which allowed eighteen wives to the homicide ,david1 and seven hundred1 without reckoning concubines1 to ,solomon1 the assassin of his brother4 ,i will say to my brother the ,chinese3 ,let us sup together without ceremony1 for ,i dislike grimaces2 but ,i like your law1 the wisest of all1 and perhaps the most ancient4 ,i will say nearly as much to my brother the ,indian4 ,but what shall ,i say to my brother the ,jew8 ,shall ,i invite him to supper8 ,yes1 on condition that1 during the repast1 ,balaam's ass does not take it into its head to bray2 that ,ezekiel does not mix his dinner with our supper2 that a fish does not swallow up one of the guests1 and keep him three days in his belly2 that a serpent does not join in the conversation1 in order to seduce my wife2 that a prophet does not think proper to sleep with her1 as the worthy man1 ,hosea1 did for five francs and a bushel of barley2 above all1 that no ,jew parades through my house to the sound of the trumpet1 causes the walls to fall down1 and cuts the throats of myself1 my father1 my mother1 my wife1 my children1 my cat and my dog1 according to the ancient practice of the ,jews4 ,come1 my friends1 let us have peace1 and say our benedicite4 ,,tophet4 ,tophet was1 and is still1 a precipice near ,jerusalem1 in the valley of ,hinnom1 which is a frightful place1 abounding only in flints4 ,it was in this dreary solitude that the ,jews immolated their children to their god1 whom they then called ,moloch2 for we have observed1 that they always bestowed a foreign name on their god4 ,shadai was ,syrian2 ,adonai1 ,phnician2 ,jehovah was also ,phnician2 ,eloi1 ,elohim1 ,eloa1 ,chaldan2 and in the same manner1 the names of all their angels were ,chaldan or ,persian4 ,this we have remarked very particularly4 ,all these different names equally signify the lord1 in the jargon of the petty nations bordering on ,palestine4 ,the word ,moloch is evidently derived from ,melk1 which was the same as ,melcom or ,melcon1 the divinity of the thousand women in the seraglio of ,solomon2 to-wit1 seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines4 ,all these names signify lord3 each village had its lord4 ,some sages pretend that ,moloch was more particularly the god of fire2 and that it was on that account the ,jews burned their children in the hollow of the idol of this same ,moloch4 ,it was a large statue of copper1 rendered as hideous as the ,jews could make it4 ,they heated the statue red hot1 in a large fire1 although they had very little fuel1 and cast their children into the belly of this god1 as our cooks cast living lobsters into the boiling water of their cauldrons4 ,such were the ancient ,celts and ,tudescans1 when they burned children in honor of ,teutates and ,hirminsule4 ,such the ,gallic virtue1 and the ,german freedom6 ,jeremiah wished1 in vain1 to detach the ,jewish people from this diabolical worship4 ,in vain he reproaches them with having built a sort of temple to ,moloch in this abominable valley4 ,they have built high places in ,tophet1 which is in the valley of the children of ,hinnom1 in order to pass their sons and daughters through the fire4 ,the ,jews paid so much the less regard to the reproaches of ,jeremiah1 as they fiercely accused him of having sold himself to the king of ,babylon2 of having uniformly prophesied in his favor2 and of having betrayed his country4 ,in short1 he suffered the punishment of a traitor2 he was stoned to death4 ,the ,book of ,kings informs us1 that ,solomon built a temple to ,moloch1 but it does not say that it was in the valley of ,tophet1 but in the vicinity upon the ,mount of ,olives4 ,the situation was fine1 if anything can be called fine in the frightful neighborhood of ,jerusalem4 ,some commentators pretend1 that ,ahaz1 king of ,judah1 burned his son in honor of ,moloch1 and that ,king ,manasses was guilty of the same barbarity4 ,other commentators suppose1 that these kings of the chosen people of ,god were content with casting their children into the flames1 but that they were not burned to death4 ,i wish that it may have been so2 but it is very difficult for a child not to be burned when placed on a lighted pile4 ,this valley of ,tophet was the ,clamart of ,paris1 the place where they deposited all the rubbish and carrion of the city4 ,it was in this valley that they cast loose the scape-goat2 it was the place in which the bodies of the two criminals were cast who suffered with the ,son of ,god2 but our ,saviour did not permit ,his body1 which was given up to the executioner1 to be cast in the highway of the valley of ,tophet1 according to custom4 ,it is true1 that ,he might have risen again in ,tophet1 as well as in ,calvary2 but a good ,jew1 named ,joseph1 a native of ,arimathea1 who had prepared a sepulchre for himself on ,mount ,calvary1 placed the body of the ,saviour therein1 according to the testimony of ,st4 ,matthew4 ,no one was allowed to be buried in the towns2 even the tomb of ,david was not in ,jerusalem4 ,joseph of ,arimathea was rich--a certain rich man of ,arimathea1--that the prophecy of ,isaiah might be fulfilled3 ,and he made his grave with the wicked1 and with the rich in his death4 ,,torture4 ,though there are few articles of jurisprudence in these honest alphabetical reflections1 we must1 however1 say a word or two on torture1 otherwise called the question2 which is a strange manner of questioning men4 ,they were not1 however1 the simply curious who invented it2 there is every appearance1 that this part of our legislation owes its first origin to a highwayman4 ,most of these gentlemen are still in the habit of screwing thumbs1 burning feet1 and questioning1 by various torments1 those who refuse to tell them where they have put their money4 ,conquerors having succeeded these thieves1 found the invention very useful to their interests2 they made use of it when they suspected that there were bad designs against them3 as1 for example1 that of seeking freedom was a crime of high treason1 human and divine4 ,the accomplices must be known2 and to accomplish it1 those who were suspected were made to suffer a thousand deaths1 because1 according to the jurisprudence of these primitive heroes1 whoever was suspected of merely having a disrespectful opinion of them1 was worthy of death4 ,as soon as they have thus merited death1 it signifies little whether they had frightful torments for several days1 and even weeks previously--a practice which savors1 ,i know not how1 of the ,divinity4 ,providence sometimes puts us to the torture by employing the stone1 gravel1 gout1 scrofula1 leprosy1 smallpox2 by tearing the entrails1 by convulsions of the nerves1-and other executors of the vengeance of ,providence4 ,now1 as the first despots were1 in the eyes of their courtiers1 images of the ,divinity1 they imitated it as much as they could4 ,what is very singular is1 that the question1 or torture1 is never spoken of in the ,jewish books4 ,it is a great pity that so mild1 honest1 and compassionate a nation knew not this method of discovering the truth4 ,in my opinion1 the reason is1 that they had no need of it4 ,god always made it known to them as to ,his cherished people4 ,sometimes they played at dice to discover the truth1 and the suspected culprit always had double sixes4 ,sometimes they went to the high priest1 who immediately consulted ,god by the urim and thummim4 ,sometimes they addressed themselves to the seer and prophet2 and you may believe that the seer and prophet discovered the most hidden things1 as well as the urim and thummim of the high priest4 ,the people of ,god were not reduced1 like ourselves1 to interrogating and conjecturing2 and therefore torture could not be in use among them1 which was the only thing wanting to complete the manners of that holy people4 ,the ,romans inflicted torture on slaves alone1 but slaves were not considered as men4 ,neither is there any appearance that a counsellor of the criminal court regards as one of his fellow-creatures1 a man who is brought to him wan1 pale1 distorted1 with sunken eyes1 long and dirty beard1 covered with vermin with which he has been tormented in a dungeon4 ,he gives himself the pleasure of applying to him the major and minor torture1 in the presence of a surgeon1 who counts his pulse until he is in danger of death1 after which they recommence2 and as the comedy of the ,plaideurs pleasantly says1 that serves to pass away an hour or two4 ,the grave magistrate1 who for money has bought the right of making these experiments on his neighbor1 relates to his wife1 at dinner1 that which has passed in the morning4 ,the first time1 madam shudders at it2 the second1 she takes some pleasure in it1 because1 after all1 women are curious2 and afterwards1 the first thing she says when he enters is3 ,my dear1 have you tortured anybody to-day8 ,the ,french1 who are considered1 ,i know not why1 a very humane people1 are astonished that the ,english1 who have had the inhumanity to take all ,canada from us1 have renounced the pleasure of putting the question4 ,when the ,chevalier de ,barre1 the grandson of a lieutenant-general of the army1 a young man of much sense and great expectations1 but possessing all the giddiness of unbridled youth1 was convicted of having sung impious songs1 and even of having dared to pass before a procession of ,capuchins without taking his hat off1 the judges of ,abbeville1 men comparable to ,roman senators1 ordered not only that his tongue should be torn out1 that his hands should be torn off1 and his body burned at a slow fire1 but they further applied the torture1 to know precisely how many songs he had sung1 and how many processions he had seen with his hat on his head4 ,it was not in the thirteenth or fourteenth century that this affair happened2 it was in the eighteenth4 ,foreign nations judge of ,france by its spectacles1 romances1 and pretty verses2 by opera girls who have very sweet manners1 by opera dancers who posssess grace2 by ,mademoiselle ,clairon1 who declaims delightfully4 ,they know not that1 under all1 there is not a more cruel nation than the ,french4 ,the ,russians were considered barbarians in #agjj2 this is only the year #agfi2 yet an empress has just given to this great state laws which would do honor to ,minos1 ,numa1 or ,solon1 if they had had intelligence enough to invent them4 ,the most remarkable is universal tolerance2 the second is the abolition of torture4 ,justice and humanity have guided her pen2 she has reformed all4 ,woe to a nation which1 being more civilized1 is still led by ancient atrocious customs6 ,why should we change our jurisprudence8 say we4 ,europe is indebted to us for cooks1 tailors1 and wig-makers2 therefore1 our laws are good4 ,,transubstantiation4 ,protestants1 and above all1 philosophical ,protestants1 regard transubstantiation as the most signal proof of extreme impudence in monks1 and of imbecility in laymen4 ,they hold no terms with this belief1 which they call monstrous1 and assert that it is impossible for a man of good sense ever to have believed in it4 ,it is1 say they1 so absurd1 so contrary to every physical law1 and so contradictory1 it would be a sort of annihilation of ,god1 to suppose ,him capable of such inconsistency4 ,not only a god in a wafer1 but a god in the place of a wafer2 a thousand crumbs of bread become in an instant so many gods1 which an innumerable crowd of gods make only one god4 ,whiteness without a white substance2 roundness without rotundity of body2 wine changed into blood1 retaining the taste of wine2 bread changed into flesh and into fibres1 still preserving the taste of bread--all this inspires such a degree of horror and contempt in the enemies of the ,catholic1 apostolic1 and ,roman religion1 that it sometimes insensibly verges into rage4 ,their horror augments when they are told that1 in ,catholic countries1 are monks who rise from a bed of impurity1 and with unwashed hands make gods by hundreds2 who eat and drink these gods1 and reduce them to the usual consequences of such an operation4 ,but when they reflect that this superstition1 a thousand times more absurd and sacrilegious than those of ,egypt1 produces for an ,italian priest from fifteen to twenty millions of revenue1 and the domination of a country containing a hundred thousand square leagues1 they are ready to march with their arms in their hands and drive away this priest from the palace of ,csar4 ,i know not if ,i shall be of the party1 because ,i love peace2 but when established at ,rome1 ,i will certainly pay them a visit4--,by ,m4 ,,guillaume1 a ,protestant minister4 ,,trinity4 ,the first among the ,westerns who spoke of the ,trinity was ,timus of ,locri1 in his ,soul of the ,world4 ,first came the ,idea1 the perpetual model or archetype of all things engendered2 that is to say1 the first ,word1 the internal and intelligible ,word4 ,afterwards1 the unformed mode1 the second word1 or the word spoken4 ,lastly1 the son1 or sensible world1 or the spirit of the world4 ,these three qualities constitute the entire world1 which world is the ,son of ,god ,monogenes4 ,he has a soul and possessed reason2 he is empsukos1 logikos4 ,god1 wishing to make a very fine ,god1 has engendered one3 ,touton epoie theon genaton4 ,it is difficult clearly to comprehend the system of ,timus1 which he perhaps derived from the ,egyptians or ,brahmins4 ,i know not whether it was well understood in his time4 ,it is like decayed and rusty medals1 the motto of which is effaced3 it could be read formerly2 at present1 we put what construction we please upon it4 ,it does not appear that this sublime balderdash made much progress until the time of ,plato4 ,it was buried in oblivion1 and ,plato raised it up4 ,he constructed his edifice in the air1 but on the model of ,timus4 ,he admits three divine essences3 the ,father1 the ,supreme ,creator1 the ,parent of other gods1 is the first essence4 ,the second is the visible ,god1 the minister of the invisible one1 the ,word1 the understanding1 the great spirit4 ,the third is the world4 ,it is true1 that ,plato sometimes says quite different and even quite contrary things2 it is the privilege of the ,greek philosophers2 and ,plato has made use of his right more than any of the ancients or moderns4 ,a ,greek wind wafted these philosophical clouds from ,athens to ,alexandria1 a town prodigiously infatuated with two things--money and chimeras4 ,there were ,jews in ,alexandria who1 having made their fortunes1 turned philosophers4 ,metaphysics have this advantage1 that they require no very troublesome preliminaries4 ,we may know all about them without having learned anything2 and a little to those who have at once subtle and very false minds1 will go a great way4 ,philo the ,jew was a philosopher of this kind2 he was contemporary with ,jesus ,christ2 but he has the misfortune of not knowing ,him any more than ,josephus the historian4 ,these two considerable men1 employed in the chaos of affairs of state1 were too far distant from the dawning light4 ,this ,philo had quite a metaphysical1 allegorical1 mystical head4 ,it was he who said that ,god must have formed the world in six days2 he formed it1 according to ,zoroaster1 in six times1 because three is the half of six and two is the third of it2 and this number is male and female4 ,this same man1 infatuated with the ideas of ,plato1 says1 in speaking of drunkenness1 that ,god and wisdom married1 and that wisdom was delivered of a well-beloved son1 which son is the world4 ,he calls the angels the words of ,god1 and the world the word of ,god--logon tou ,theou4 ,as to ,flavius ,josephus1 he was a man of war who had never heard of the logos1 and who held to the dogmas of the ,pharisees1 who were solely attached to their traditions4 ,from the ,jews of ,alexandria1 this ,platonic philosophy proceeded to those of ,jerusalem4 ,soon1 all the school of ,alexandria1 which was the only learned one1 was ,platonic2 and ,christians who philosophized1 no longer spoke of anything but the logos4 ,we know that it was in disputes of that time the same as in those of the present4 ,to one badly understood passage1 was tacked another unintelligible one to which it had no relation4 ,a second was inferred from them1 a third was falsified1 and they fabricated whole books which they attributed to authors respected by the multitude4 ,we have seen a hundred examples of it in the article on ,apocrypha4 ,dear reader1 for heaven's sake cast your eyes on this passage of ,clement the ,alexandrian3 ,when ,plato says1 that it is difficult to know the ,father of the universe1 he demonstrates by that1 not only that the world has been engendered1 but that it has been engendered as the ,son of ,god4 ,do you understand these logomachies1 these equivoques8 ,do you see the least light in this chaos of obscure expressions8 ,oh1 ,locke6 ,locke6 come and define these terms4 ,in all these ,platonic disputes ,i believe there was not a single one understood4 ,they distinguished two words1 the logos endiathetos--the word in thought1 and the word produced--logos prophorikos4 ,they had the eternity from one word1 and the prolation1 the emanation from another word4 ,the book of ,apostolic ,constitutions1 an ancient monument of fraud1 but also an ancient depository of these obscure times1 expresses itself thus3 ,the ,father1 who is anterior to all generation1 all commencement1 having created all by ,his only ,son1 has engendered this ,son without a medium1 by ,his will and ,his power4 ,afterwards ,origen advanced1 that the ,holy ,spirit was created by the ,son1 by the word4 ,after that came ,eusebius of ,csarea1 who taught that the spirit paraclete is neither of ,father nor ,son4 ,the advocate ,lactantius flourished in that time4 ,the ,son of ,god1 says he1 is the word1 as the other angels are the spirits of ,god4 ,the word is a spirit uttered by a significant voice1 the spirit proceeding from the nose1 and the word from the mouth4 ,it follows1 that there is a difference between the ,son of ,god and the other angels2 those being emanated like tacit and silent spirits2 while the ,son1 being a spirit proceeding from the mouth1 possesses sound and voice to preach to the people4 ,it must be confessed1 that ,lactantius pleaded his cause in a strange manner4 ,it was truly reasoning a la ,plato1 and very powerful reasoning4 ,it was about this time that1 among the very violent disputes on the ,trinity1 this famous verse was inserted in the ,first ,epistle of ,st4 ,john3 ,there are three that bear witness in earth--the word or spirit1 the water1 and the blood2 and these three are one4 ,those who pretend that this verse is truly ,st4 ,john's1 are much more embarrassed than those who deny it2 for they must explain it4 ,st4 ,augustine says1 that the spirit signifies the ,father1 water the ,holy ,ghost1 and by blood is meant the ,word4 ,this explanation is fine1 but it still leaves a little confusion4 ,st ,irenus goes much farther2 he says1 that ,rahab1 the prostitute of ,jericho1 in concealing three spies of the people of ,god1 concealed the ,father1 ,son1 and ,holy ,ghost2 which is strong1 but not consistent4 ,on the other hand1 the great and learned ,origen confounds us in a different way4 ,the following is one of many of his passages3 ,the ,son is as much below the ,father as ,he and the ,holy ,ghost are above the most noble creatures4 ,what can be said after that8 ,how can we help confessing1 with grief1 that nobody understands it8 ,how can we help confessing1 that from the first--from the primitive ,christians1 the ,ebionites1 those men so mortified and so pious1 who always revered ,jesus though they believed ,him to be the son of ,joseph--until the great controversy of ,athanasius1 the ,platonism of the ,trinity was always a subject of quarrels4 ,a supreme judge was absolutely required to decide1 and he was at last found in the ,council of ,nice1 which council afterwards produced new factions and wars4 ,,explanation ,,of ,,the ,,trinity1 ,,according ,,to ,,abauzit4 ,we can speak with exactness of the manner in which the union of ,god and ,jesus ,christ exists1 only by relating the three opinions which exist on this subject1 and by making reflections on each of them4 ,opinion of the ,orthodox4 ,the first opinion is that of the orthodox4 ,they establish1 #ast--,a distinction of three persons in the divine essence1 before the coming of ,jesus ,christ into the world2 #bnd--,that the second of these persons is united to the human nature of ,jesus ,christ2 #crd--,that the union is so strict1 that by it ,jesus ,christ is ,god2 that we can attribute to ,him the creation of the world1 and all divine perfections2 and that we can adore ,him with a supreme worship4 ,opinion of the ,unitarians4 ,the second is that of the ,unitarians4 ,not conceiving the distinction of persons in the ,divinity1 they establish1 #ast--,that divinity is united to the human nature of ,jesus ,christ2 #bnd--,that this union is such that we can say1 that ,jesus ,christ is ,god2 that we can attribute to ,him the creation of the world1 and all divine perfections1 and adore ,him with a supreme worship4 ,opinion of the ,socinians4 ,the third opinion is that of the ,socinians1 who1 like the ,unitarians1 not conceiving any distinction of persons in the ,divinity1 establish1 #ast--,that divinity is united to the human nature of ,jesus ,christ2 #bnd--,that this union is very strict2 #crd--,that it is not such that we can call ,jesus ,christ ,god1 or attribute divine perfections and the creation to ,him1 or adore ,him with a supreme worship2 and they think that all the passages of ,scripture may be explained without admitting any of these things4 ,reflections on the ,first ,opinion4 ,in the distinction which is made of three persons in the ,divinity1 we either retain the common idea of persons1 or we do not4 ,if we retain the common idea of persons1 we establish three gods2 that is certain4 ,if we do not establish the ordinary idea of three persons1 it is no longer any more than a distinction of properties2 which agrees with the second opinion4 ,or if we will not allow that it is a distinction of persons1 properly speaking1 we establish a distinction of which we have no idea4 ,there is no appearance1 that to imagine a distinction in ,god1 of which we can have no idea1 ,scripture would put men in danger of becoming idolaters1 by multiplying the ,divinity4 ,it is besides surprising that this distinction of persons having always existed1 it should only be since the coming of ,jesus ,christ that it has been revealed1 and that it is necessary to know them4 ,reflections on the ,second ,opinion4 ,there is not1 indeed1 so great danger of precipitating men into idolatry in the second opinion as in the first2 but it must be confessed that it is not entirely exempt from it4 ,indeed1 as by the nature of the union which it establishes between divinity and the human nature of ,jesus ,christ1 we can call him ,god and worship him1 but there are two objects of adoration--,jesus ,christ and ,god4 ,i confess it may be said1 that it is ,god whom we should worship in ,jesus ,christ2 but who knows not the extreme inclination which men have to change invisible objects of worship into objects which fall under the senses1 or at least under the imagination8--an inclination which they will here gratify without the least scruple1 since they say that divinity is personally united to the humanity of ,jesus ,christ4 ,reflections on the ,third ,opinion4 ,the third opinion1 besides being very simple1 and conformable to the ideas of reason1 is not subject to any similar danger of throwing men into idolatry4 ,though by this opinion ,jesus ,christ can be no more than a simple man1 it need not be feared that by that ,he can be confounded with prophets or saints of the first order4 ,in this sentiment there always remains a difference between them and ,him4 ,as we can imagine1 almost to the utmost1 the degrees of union of divinity with humanity1 so we can conceive1 that in particular the union of divinity with ,jesus ,christ has so high a degree of knowledge1 power1 felicity1 perfection1 and dignity1 that there is always an immense distance between him and the greatest prophets4 ,it remains only to see whether this opinion can agree with ,scripture1 and whether it be true that the title of ,god1 divine perfections1 creation1 and supreme worship1 are not attributed to ,jesus ,christ in the ,gospels4 ,it was for the philosopher ,abauzit to see all this4 ,for myself ,i submit1 with my heart and mouth and pen1 to all that the ,catholic church has decided1 and to all that it may decide on any other such dogma4 ,i will add but one word more on the ,trinity1 which is a decision of ,calvin's that we have on this mystery4 ,this is it3 ,in case any person prove heterodox1 and scruples using the words ,trinity and ,person1 we believe not that this can be a reason for rejecting him2 we should support him without driving him from the ,church1 and without exposing him to any censure as a heretic4 ,it was after such a solemn declaration as this1 that ,john ,calvin--the aforesaid ,calvin1 the son of a cooper of ,noyon--caused ,michael ,servetus to be burned at ,geneva by a slow fire with green fagots4 ,,truth4 ,pilate therefore said unto him1 ',art thou a king then8' ,jesus answered1 ',thou sayest that ,i am a king4 ,to this end was ,i born1 and for this cause came ,i into the world1 that ,i should bear witness unto truth3 every one that is of the truth heareth my voice4' ,pilate saith unto him1 ',what is truth8' and when he had said this1 he went out1 etc4--,st4 ,john1 chap4 xviii4 ,it is a pity for mankind that ,pilate went out1 without hearing the reply3 we should then have known what truth is4 ,pilate was not very curious4 ,the accused1 brought before him1 told him that he was a king1 that he was born to be a king1 and he informs himself not how this can be4 ,he was supreme judge in the name of ,csar1 he had the power of the sword1 his duty was to penetrate into the meaning of these words4 ,he should have said3 ,tell me what you understand by being king8 how are you born to be king1 and to bear witness unto the truth8 ,it is said that you can only arrive at the ear of kings with difficulty2 ,i1 who am a judge1 have always had extreme trouble in reaching it4 ,inform me1 while your enemies cry outside against you2 and you will render me the greatest service ever rendered to a judge4 ,i would rather learn to know the truth1 than condescend to the tumultuous demand of the ,jews1 who wish me to hang you4 ,we doubtless dare not pretend to guess what the ,author of all truth would have said to ,pilate4 ,would he have said3 ,truth is an abstract word which most men use indifferently in their books and judgments1 for error and falsehood8 ,this definition would be wonderfully convenient to all makers of systems4 ,thus the word wisdom is often taken for folly1 and wit for nonsense4 ,humanly speaking1 let us define truth1 to better understand that which is declared--such as it is4 ,suppose that six months only had been taken to teach ,pilate the truths of logic he would doubtless have made this concluding syllogism3 ,a man's life should not have been taken away who has only preached a good doctrine2 now he who is brought before me1 according even to his enemies1 has often preached an excellent doctrine2 therefore1 he should not be punished with death4 ,he might also have inferred this other argument3 ,my duty is to dissipate the riots of a seditious people1 who demand the death of a man without reason or juridical form2 now such are the ,jews on this occasion2 therefore ,i should send them away1 and break up their assembly4 ,we take for granted that ,pilate knew arithmetic2 we will not therefore speak of these kinds of truths4 ,as to mathematical truths1 ,i believe that he would have required three years at least before he would have been acquainted with transcendent geometry4 ,the truths of physics1 combined with those of geometry1 would have required more than four years4 ,we generally consume six years in studying theology2 ,i ask twelve for ,pilate1 considering that he was a ,pagan1 and that six years would not have been too many to root out all his old errors1 and six more to put him in a state worthy to receive the bonnet of a doctor4 ,if ,pilate had a well organized head1 ,i would only have demanded two years to teach him metaphysical truths1 and as these truths are necessarily united with those of morality1 ,i flatter myself that in less than nine years ,pilate would have become a truly learned and perfectly honest man4 ,historical ,truths4 ,i should afterwards have said to ,pilate3 ,historical truths are but probabilities4 ,if you have fought at the battle of ,philippi1 it is to you a truth1 which you know by intuition1 by sentiment2 but to us who live near the desert of ,syria1 it is merely a probable thing1 which we know by hearsay4 ,how can we1 from report1 form a persuasion equal to that of a man1 who having seen the thing1 can boast of feeling a kind of certainty8 ,he who has heard the thing told by twelve thousand ocular witnesses1 has only twelve thousand probabilities equal to one strong one1 which is not equal to certainty4 ,if you have the thing from only one of these witnesses1 you are sure of nothing--you must doubt4 ,if the witness is dead1 you must doubt still more1 for you can enlighten yourself no further4 ,if from several deceased witnesses1 you are in the same state4 ,if from those to whom the witnesses have only spoken1 the doubt is still augmented4 ,from generation to generation the doubt augments1 and the probability diminishes1 and the probability is soon reduced to zero4 ,of the ,degrees of ,truth1 ,according to ,which the ,accused are ,judged4 ,we can be made accountable to justice either for deeds or words4 ,if for deeds1 they must be as certain as will be the punishment to which you will condemn the prisoner2 if1 for example1 you have but twenty probabilities against him1 these twenty probabilities cannot equal the certainty of his death4 ,if you would have as many probabilities as are required to be sure that you shed not innocent blood1 they must be the fruit of the unanimous evidences of witnesses who have no interest in deposing4 ,from this concourse of probabilities1 a strong opinion will be formed1 which will serve to excuse your judgment2 but as you will never have entire certainty1 you cannot flatter yourself with knowing the truth perfectly4 ,consequently you should always lean towards mercy rather than towards rigor4 ,if it concerns only facts1 from which neither manslaughter nor mutilation have resulted1 it is evident that you should neither cause the accused to be put to death nor mutilated4 ,if the question is only of words1 it is still more evident that you should not cause one of your fellow-creatures to be hanged for the manner in which he has used his tongue2 for all the words in the world being but agitated air1 at least if they have not caused murder1 it is ridiculous to condemn a man to death for having agitated the air4 ,put all the idle words which have been uttered into one scale1 and into the other the blood of a man1 and the blood will weigh down4 ,now1 if he who has been brought before you is only accused of some words which his enemies have taken in a certain sense1 all that you can do is to repeat these words to him1 which he will explain in the sense he intended2 but to deliver an innocent man to the most cruel and ignominious punishment1 for words that his enemies do not comprehend1 is too barbarous4 ,you make the life of a man of no more importance than that of a lizard2 and too many judges resemble you4 ,,tyranny4 ,the sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice2 who takes the property of his subjects1 and afterwards enlists them to go and take that of his neighbors4 ,we have none of these tyrants in ,europe4 ,we distinguish the tyranny of one and that of many4 ,the tyranny of several is that of a body which would invade the rights of other bodies1 and which would exercise despotism by favor of laws which it corrupts4 ,neither are there any tyrannies of this kind in ,europe4 ,under what tyranny should you like best to live8 ,under none2 but if ,i must choose1 ,i should less detest the tyranny of a single one1 than that of many4 ,a despot has always some good moments2 an assemblage of despots1 never4 ,if a tyrant does me an injustice1 ,i can disarm him through his mistress1 his confessor1 or his page2 but a company of tyrants is inaccessible to all seductions4 ,when they are not unjust1 they are harsh1 and they never dispense favors4 ,if ,i have but one despot1 ,i am at liberty to set myself against a wall when ,i see him pass1 to prostrate myself1 or to strike my forehead against the ground1 according to the custom of the country2 but if there is a company of a hundred tyrants1 ,i am liable to repeat this ceremony a hundred times a day1 which is very tiresome to those who have not supple joints4 ,if ,i have a farm in the neighborhood of one of our lords1 ,i am crushed2 if ,i complain against a relative of the relatives of any one of our lords1 ,i am ruined4 ,how must ,i act8 ,i fear that in this world we are reduced to being either the anvil or the hammer2 happy at least is he who escapes this alternative4 ,,tyrant4 ,tyrannos1 formerly he who had contrived to draw the principal authority to himself2 as king1 ,basileus1 signified he who was charged with relating affairs to the senate4 ,the acceptations of words change with time4 ,idiot at first meant only a hermit1 an isolated man2 in time it became synonymous with fool4 ,at present the name of tyrant is given to a usurper1 or to a king who commits violent and unjust actions4 ,cromwell was a tyrant of both these kinds4 ,a citizen who usurps the supreme authority1 who in spite of all laws suppresses the house of peers1 is without doubt a usurper4 ,a general who cuts the throat of a king1 his prisoner of war1 at once violates what is called the laws of nations1 and those of humanity4 ,charles ,i4 was not a tyrant1 though the victorious faction gave him that name2 he was1 it is said1 obstinate1 weak1 and ill-advised4 ,i will not be certain1 for ,i did not know him2 but ,i am certain that he was very unfortunate4 ,henry ,,viii4 was a tyrant in his government as in his family1 and alike covered with the blood of two innocent wives1 and that of the most virtuous citizens2 he merits the execrations of posterity4 ,yet he was not punished1 and ,charles ,i4 died on a scaffold4 ,elizabeth committed an act of tyranny1 and her parliament one of infamous weakness1 in causing ,queen ,mary ,stuart to be assassinated by an executioner2 but in the rest of her government she was not tyrannical2 she was clever and manuvering1 but prudent and strong4 ,richard ,,iii4 was a barbarous tyrant2 but he was punished4 ,pope ,alexander ,,vi4 was a more execrable tyrant than any of these1 and he was fortunate in all his undertakings4 ,christian ,,ii4 was as wicked a tyrant as ,alexander ,,vi41 and was punished1 but not sufficiently so4 ,if we were to reckon ,turkish1 ,greek1 and ,roman tyrants1 we should find as many fortunate as the contrary4 ,when ,i say fortunate1 ,i speak according to the vulgar prejudice1 the ordinary acceptation of the word1 according to appearances2 for that they can be really happy1 that their minds can be contented and tranquil1 appears to me to be impossible4 ,constantine the ,great was evidently a tyrant in a double sense4 ,in the north of ,england he usurped the crown of the ,roman ,empire1 at the head of some foreign legions1 notwithstanding all the laws1 and in spite of the senate and the people1 who legitimately elected ,maxentius4 ,he passed all his life in crime1 voluptuousness1 fraud1 and imposture4 ,he was not punished1 but was he happy8 ,god knows2 but ,i know that his subjects were not so4 ,the great ,theodosius was the most abominable of tyrants1 when1 under pretence of giving a feast1 he caused fifteen thousand ,roman citizens to be murdered in the circus1 with their wives and children1 and when he added to this horror the facetiousness of passing some months without going to tire himself at high mass4 ,this ,theodosius has almost been placed in the ranks of the blessed2 but ,i should be very sorry if he were happy on earth4 ,in all cases it would be well to assure tyrants that they will never be happy in this world1 as it is well to make our stewards and cooks believe that they will be eternally damned if they rob us4 ,the tyrants of the ,lower ,greek ,empire were almost all dethroned or assassinated by one another4 ,all these great offenders were by turns the executioners of human and divine vengeance4 ,among the ,turkish tyrants1 we see as many deposed as those who die in possession of the throne4 ,with regard to subaltern tyrants1 or the lower order of monsters who burden their masters with the execration with which they are loaded1 the number of these ,hamans1 these ,sejanuses1 is infinite4 ,,university4 ,du ,boulay1 in his ,history of the ,university of ,paris1 adopts the old1 uncertain1 not to say fabulous tradition1 which carries its origin to the time of ,charlemagne4 ,it is true that such is the opinion of ,guagin and of ,gilles de ,beauvais2 but in addition to the fact that contemporary authors1 as ,eginhard1 ,almon1 ,reginon1 and ,sigebert make no mention of this establishment2 ,pasquier and ,du ,tillet expressly assert that it commenced in the twelfth century under the reigns of ,louis the ,young and of ,philip ,augustus4 ,moreover1 the first statutes of the university were drawn up by ,robert de ,coceon1 legate of the pope1 in the year #abae1 which proves that it received from the first the form it retains at present2 because a bull of ,gregory ,,ix41 of the year #abca1 makes mention of masters of theology1 masters of law1 physicians1 and lastly1 artists4 ,the name university originated in the supposition that these four bodies1 termed faculties1 constituted a universality of studies2 that is to say1 that they comprehended all which could be cultivated4 ,the popes1 by the means of these establishments1 of the decisions of which they made themselves judges1 became masters of the instruction of the people2 and the same spirit which made the permission granted to the members of the ,parliament of ,paris to inter themselves in the habits of ,cordeliers1 be regarded as an especial favor--as related in the article on ,qute--dictated the decrees pronounced by that sovereign court against all who dared to oppose an unintelligible scholastic system1 which1 according to the confession of the abb ,triteme1 was only a false science that had vitiated religion4 ,in fact1 that which ,constantine had only insinuated with respect to the ,cuman ,sibyl1 has been expressly asserted of ,aristotle4 ,cardinal ,pallavicini supported the maxim of ,i know not what monk ,paul1 who pleasantly observed1 that without ,aristotle the ,church would have been deficient in some of her articles of faith4 ,thus the celebrated ,ramus1 having composed two works in which he opposed the doctrine of ,aristotle taught in the universities1 would have been sacrificed to the fury of his ignorant rival1 had not ,king ,francis ,i4 referred to his own judgment the process commenced in ,paris between ,ramus and ,anthony ,govea4 ,one of the principal complaints against ,ramus related to the manner in which he taught his disciples to pronounce the letter ,q4 ,ramus was not the only disputant persecuted for these grave absurdities4 ,in the year #afbd1 the ,parliament of ,paris banished from its district three persons who wished to maintain theses openly against ,aristotle4 ,every person was forbidden to sell or to circulate the propositions contained in these theses1 on pain of corporal punishment1 or to teach any opinion against ancient and approved authors1 on pain of death4 ,the remonstrances of the ,sorbonne1 in consequence of which the same parliament issued a decision against the chemists1 in the year #afbi1 testified that it was impossible to impeach the principles of ,aristotle1 without at the same time impeaching those of the scholastic theology received by the ,church4 ,in the meantime1 the faculty having issued1 in #aeff1 a decree forbidding the use of antimony1 and the parliament having confirmed the said decree1 ,paumier de ,caen1 a great chemist and celebrated physician of ,paris1 for not conforming to it1 was degraded in the year #afji4 ,lastly1 antimony being afterwards inserted in the books of medicines1 composed by order of the faculty in the year #afcg1 the said faculty permitted the use of it in #afff1 a century after having forbidden it1 which decision the parliament confirmed by a new decree4 ,thus the university followed the example of the ,church1 which finally proscribed the doctrine of ,arius1 under pain of death1 and approved the word consubstantial1 which it had previously condemned--as we have seen in the article on ,councils4 ,what we have observed of the university of ,paris1 may serve to give us an idea of other universities1 of which it was regarded as the model4 ,in fact1 in imitation of it1 eighty universities passed the same decree as the ,sorbonne in the fourteenth century2 to wit1 that when the cap of a doctor was bestowed1 the candidate should be made to swear that he will maintain the immaculate conception of the ,virgin ,mary2 which he did not regard1 however1 as an article of faith1 but as a ,catholic and pious opinion4 ,,usages4 ,contemptible ,customs do not ,always ,imply a ,contemptible ,nation4 ,there are cases in which we must not judge of a nation by its usages and popular superstitions4 ,suppose ,csar1 after having conquered ,egypt1 wishing to make commerce flourish in the ,roman ,empire1 had sent an embassy to ,china by the port of ,arsino1 the ,red ,sea and ,indian ,ocean4 ,the emperor ,yventi1 the first of the name1 then reigned in ,china2 the ,chinese annals represent him to us as a very wise and learned prince4 ,after receiving the ambassadors of ,csar with all ,chinese politeness1 he secretly informs himself through his interpreter of the customs1 the usages1 sciences1 and religion of the ,roman people1 as celebrated in the ,west as the ,chinese people are in the ,east4 ,he first learns that their priests have regulated their years in so absurd a manner1 that the sun has already entered the celestial signs of ,spring when the ,romans celebrate the first feasts of ,winter4 ,he learns that this nation at a great expense supports a college of priests1 who know exactly the time in which they must embark1 and when they should give battle1 by the inspection of a bullock's liver1 or the manner in which fowls eat grain4 ,this sacred science was formerly taught to the ,romans by a little god named ,tages1 who came out of the earth in ,tuscany4 ,these people adore a supreme and only ,god1 whom they always call a very great and very good ,god2 yet they have built a temple to a courtesan named ,flora1 and the good women of ,rome have almost all little gods--,penates--in their houses1 about four or five inches high4 ,one of these little divinities is the goddess of bosoms1 another that of posteriors4 ,they have even a divinity whom they call the god ,pet4 ,the emperor ,yventi began to laugh2 and the tribunals of ,nankin at first think with him that the ,roman ambassadors are knaves or impostors1 who have taken the title of envoys of the ,roman ,republic2 but as the emperor is as just as he is polite1 he has particular conversations with them4 ,he then learns that the ,roman priests were very ignorant1 but that ,csar actually reformed the calendar4 ,they confess to him that the college of augurs was established in the time of their early barbarity1 that they have allowed this ridiculous institution1 become dear to a people long ignorant1 to exist1 but that all sensible people laugh at the augurs2 that ,csar never consulted them2 that1 according to the account of a very great man named ,cato1 no augur could ever look another in the face without laughing2 and finally1 that ,cicero1 the greatest orator and best philosopher of ,rome1 wrote a little work against the augurs1 entitled ,of ,divination1 in which he delivers up to eternal ridicule all the predictions and sorceries of soothsayers with which the earth is infatuated4 ,the emperor of ,china has the curiosity to read this book of ,cicero2 the interpreters translate it2 and in consequence he admires at once the book and the ,roman ,republic4 ,,vampires4 ,what6 is it in our eighteenth century that vampires exist8 ,is it after the reigns of ,locke1 ,shaftesbury1 ,trenchard1 and ,collins8 ,is it under those of d',alembert1 ,diderot1 ,st4 ,lambert1 and ,duclos that we believe in vampires1 and that the reverend father ,dom ,calmet1 ,benedictine priest of the congregation of ,st4 ,vannes1 and ,st4 ,hidulphe1 abb of ,senon--an abbey of a hundred thousand livres a year1 in the neighborhood of two other abbeys of the same revenue--has printed and reprinted the history of vampires1 with the approbation of the ,sorbonne1 signed ,marcilli8 ,these vampires were corpses1 who went out of their graves at night to suck the blood of the living1 either at their throats or stomachs1 after which they returned to their cemeteries4 ,the persons so sucked waned1 grew pale1 and fell into consumption2 while the sucking corpses grew fat1 got rosy1 and enjoyed an excellent appetite4 ,it was in ,poland1 ,hungary1 ,silesia1 ,moravia1 ,austria1 and ,lorraine1 that the dead made this good cheer4 ,we never heard a word of vampires in ,london1 nor even at ,paris4 ,i confess that in both these cities there were stock-jobbers1 brokers1 and men of business1 who sucked the blood of the people in broad daylight2 but they were not dead1 though corrupted4 ,these true suckers lived not in cemeteries1 but in very agreeable palaces4 ,who would believe that we derive the idea of vampires from ,greece8 ,not from the ,greece of ,alexander1 ,aristotle1 ,plato1 ,epicurus1 and ,demosthenes2 but from ,christian ,greece1 unfortunately schismatic4 ,for a long time ,christians of the ,greek rite have imagined that the bodies of ,christians of the ,latin church1 buried in ,greece1 do not decay1 because they are excommunicated4 ,this is precisely the contrary to that of us ,christians of the ,latin church1 who believe that corpses which do not corrupt are marked with the seal of eternal beatitude4 ,so much so1 indeed1 that when we have paid a hundred thousand crowns to ,rome1 to give them a saint's brevet1 we adore them with the worship of dulia4 ,the ,greeks are persuaded that these dead are sorcerers2 they call them broucolacas1 or vroucolacas1 according as they pronounce the second letter of the alphabet4 ,the ,greek corpses go into houses to suck the blood of little children1 to eat the supper of the fathers and mothers1 drink their wine1 and break all the furniture4 ,they can only be put to rights by burning them when they are caught4 ,but the precaution must be taken of not putting them into the fire until after their hearts are torn out1 which must be burned separately4 ,the celebrated ,tournefort1 sent into the ,levant by ,louis ,,xiv41 as well as so many other virtuosi1 was witness of all the acts attributed to one of these broucolacas1 and to this ceremony4 ,after slander1 nothing is communicated more promptly than superstition1 fanaticism1 sorcery1 and tales of those raised from the dead4 ,there were broucolacas in ,wallachia1 ,moldavia1 and some among the ,polanders1 who are of the ,romish church4 ,this superstition being absent1 they acquired it1 and it went through all the east of ,germany4 ,nothing was spoken of but vampires1 from #agcj to #agce2 they were laid in wait for1 their hearts torn out and burned4 ,they resembled the ancient martyrs--the more they were burned1 the more they abounded4 ,finally1 ,calmet became their historian1 and treated vampires as he treated the ,old and ,new ,testaments1 by relating faithfully all that has been said before him4 ,the most curious things1 in my opinion1 were the verbal suits juridically conducted1 concerning the dead who went from their tombs to suck the little boys and girls of their neighborhood4 ,calmet relates that in ,hungary two officers1 delegated by the emperor ,charles ,,vi41 assisted by the bailiff of the place and an executioner1 held an inquest on a vampire1 who had been dead six weeks1 and who had sucked all the neighborhood4 ,they found him in his coffin1 fresh and jolly1 with his eyes open1 and asking for food4 ,the bailiff passed his sentence2 the executioner tore out the vampire's heart1 and burned it1 after which he feasted no more4 ,who1 after this1 dares to doubt of the resuscitated dead1 with which our ancient legends are filled1 and of all the miracles related by ,bollandus1 and the sincere and revered ,dom ,ruinart8 ,you will find stories of vampires in the ,jewish ,letters of d',argens1 whom the ,jesuit authors of the ,journal of ,trvoux have accused of believing nothing4 ,it should be observed how they triumph in the history of the vampire of ,hungary2 how they thanked ,god and the ,virgin for having at last converted this poor d',argens1 the chamberlain of a king who did not believe in vampires4 ,behold1 said they1 this famous unbeliever1 who dared to throw doubts on the appearance of the angel to the ,holy ,virgin2 on the star which conducted the magi2 on the cure of the possessed2 on the immersion of two thousand swine in a lake2 on an eclipse of the sun at the full moon2 on the resurrection of the dead who walked in ,jerusalem--his heart is softened1 his mind is enlightened2 he believes in vampires4 ,there no longer remained any question1 but to examine whether all these dead were raised by their own virtue1 by the power of ,god1 or by that of the devil4 ,several great theologians of ,lorraine1 of ,moravia1 and ,hungary1 displayed their opinions and their science4 ,they related all that ,st4 ,augustine1 ,st4 ,ambrose1 and so many other saints1 had most unintelligibly said on the living and the dead4 ,they related all the miracles of ,st4 ,stephen1 which are found in the seventh book of the works of ,st4 ,augustine4 ,this is one of the most curious of them3 ,in the city of ,aubzal in ,africa1 a young man was crushed to death by the ruins of a wall2 the widow immediately invoked ,st4 ,stephen1 to whom she was very much devoted4 ,st4 ,stephen raised him4 ,he was asked what he had seen in the other world4 ,sirs1 said he1 when my soul quitted my body1 it met an infinity of souls1 who asked it more questions about this world than you do of the other4 ,i went ,i know not whither1 when ,i met ,st4 ,stephen1 who said to me1 ',give back that which thou hast received4' ,i answered1 ',what should ,i give back8 you have given me nothing4' ,he repeated three times1 ',give back that which thou hast received4' ,then ,i comprehended that he spoke of the credo2 ,i repeated my credo to him1 and suddenly he raised me4 ,above all1 they quoted the stories related by ,sulpicius ,severus1 in the life of ,st4 ,martin4 ,they proved that ,st4 ,martin1 with some others1 raised up a condemned soul4 ,but all these stories1 however true they might be1 had nothing in common with the vampires who rose to suck the blood of their neighbors1 and afterwards replaced themselves in their coffins4 ,they looked if they could not find in the ,old ,testament1 or in the mythology1 some vampire whom they could quote as an example2 but they found none4 ,it was proved1 however1 that the dead drank and ate1 since in so many ancient nations food was placed on their tombs4 ,the difficulty was to know whether it was the soul or the body of the dead which ate4 ,it was decided that it was both4 ,delicate and unsubstantial things1 as sweetmeats1 whipped cream1 and melting fruits1 were for the soul1 and roast beef and the like were for the body4 ,the kings of ,persia were1 said they1 the first who caused themselves to be served with viands after their death4 ,almost all the kings of the present day imitate them2 but they are the monks who eat their dinner and supper1 and drink their wine4 ,thus1 properly speaking1 kings are not vampires2 the true vampires are the monks1 who eat at the expense of both kings and people4 ,it is very true that ,st4 ,stanislaus1 who had bought a considerable estate from a ,polish gentleman1 and not paid him for it1 being brought before ,king ,boleslaus by his heirs1 raised up the gentleman2 but this was solely to get quittance4 ,it is not said that he gave a single glass of wine to the seller1 who returned to the other world without having eaten or drunk4 ,they afterwards treated of the grand question1 whether a vampire could be absolved who died excommunicated1 which comes more to the point4 ,i am not profound enough in theology to give my opinion on this subject2 but ,i would willingly be for absolution1 because in all doubtful affairs we should take the mildest part4 ,odia restringenda1 favores ampliandi4 ,the result of all this is that a great part of ,europe has been infested with vampires for five or six years1 and that there are now no more2 that we have had ,convulsionaries in ,france for twenty years1 and that we have them no longer2 that we have had demoniacs for seventeen hundred years1 but have them no longer2 that the dead have been raised ever since the days of ,hippolytus1 but that they are raised no longer2 and1 lastly1 that we have had ,jesuits in ,spain1 ,portugal1 ,france1 and the two ,sicilies1 but that we have them no longer4 ,,veletri4 ,a ,small ,town of ,umbria1 ,nine ,leagues from ,rome2 and1 ,incidentally1 of the ,divinity of ,augustus4 ,those who love the study of history are glad to understand by what title a citizen of ,veletri governed an empire1 which extended from ,mount ,taurus to ,mount ,atlas1 and from the ,euphrates to the ,western ,ocean4 ,it was not as perpetual dictator2 this title had been too fatal to ,julius ,csar1 and ,augustus bore it only eleven days4 ,the fear of perishing like his predecessor1 and the counsels of ,agrippa1 induced him to take other measures2 he insensibly concentrated in his own person all the dignities of the republic4 ,thirteen consulates1 the tribunate renewed in his favor every ten years1 the name of prince of the senate1 that of imperator1 which at first signified only the general of an army1 but to which it was known how to bestow a more extensive signification--such were the titles which appeared to legitimate his power4 ,the senate lost nothing by his honors1 but preserved even its most extensive rights4 ,augustus divided with it all the provinces of the empire1 but retained the principal for himself2 finally1 he was master of the public treasury and the soldiery1 and in fact sovereign4 ,what is more strange1 ,julius ,csar having been enrolled among the gods after his death1 ,augustus was ordained god while living4 ,it is true he was not altogether a god in ,rome1 but he was so in the provinces1 where he had temples and priests4 ,the abbey of ,ainai at ,lyons was a fine temple of ,augustus4 ,horace says to him3 ,jurandasque tuum per nomen ponimus aras4 ,that is to say1 among the ,romans existed courtiers so finished as to have small altars in their houses dedicated to ,augustus4 ,he was therefore canonized during his life1 and the name of god--divus--became the title or nickname of all the succeeding emperors4 ,caligula constituted himself a god without difficulty1 and was worshipped in the temple of ,castor and ,pollux2 his statue was placed between those of the twins1 and they sacrificed to him peacocks1 pheasants1 and ,numidian fowls1 until he ended by immolating himself4 ,nero bore the name of god1 before he was condemned by the senate to suffer the punishment of a slave4 ,we are not to imagine that the name of god signified1 in regard to these monsters1 that which we understand by it2 the blasphemy could not be carried quite so far4 ,divus precisely answers to sanctus4 ,the ,augustan list of proscriptions and the filthy epigram against ,fulvia1 are not the productions of a divinity4 ,there were twelve conspiracies against this god1 if we include the pretended plot of ,cinna2 but none of them succeeded2 and of all the wretches who have usurped divine honors1 ,augustus was doubtless the most unfortunate4 ,it was he1 indeed1 who actually terminated the ,roman ,republic2 for ,csar was dictator only six months1 and ,augustus reigned forty years4 ,it was during his reign that manners changed with the government4 ,the armies1 formerly composed of the ,roman legions and people of ,italy1 were in the end made up from all the barbarians1 who naturally enough placed emperors of their own country on the throne4 ,in the third century they raised up thirty tyrants at one time1 of whom some were natives of ,transylvania1 others of ,gaul1 ,britain1 and ,germany4 ,diocletian was the son of a ,dalmatian slave2 ,maximian ,hercules1 a peasant of ,sirmik2 and ,theodosius1 a native of ,spain--not then civilized4 ,we know how the ,roman ,empire was finally destroyed2 how the ,turks have subjugated one half1 and how the name of the other still subsists among the ,marcomans on the shores of the ,danube4 ,the most singular of all its revolutions1 however1 and the most astonishing of all spectacles1 is the manner in which its capital is governed and inhabited at this moment4 ,,venality4 ,the forger of whom we have spoken so much1 who made the testament of ,cardinal ,richelieu1 says in chapter iv43 ,that it would be much better to allow venality and the 'droit annuel' to continue to exist1 than to abolish these two establishments1 which are not to be changed suddenly without shaking the state4 ,all ,france repeated1 and believed they repeated after ,cardinal ,richelieu1 that the sale of offices of judicature was very advantageous4 ,the abb de ,st4 ,pierre was the first who1 still believing that the pretended testament was the cardinal's1 dared to say in his observation on chapter iv43 ,the cardinal engaged himself on a bad subject1 in maintaining that the sale of places can be advantageous to the state4 ,it is true that it is not possible to otherwise reimburse all the charges4 ,thus this abuse appeared to everybody1 not only unreformable1 but useful4 ,they were so accustomed to this opprobrium that they did not feel it2 it seemed eternal2 yet a single man in a few months has overthrown it4 ,let us therefore repeat1 that all may be done1 all may be corrected2 that the great fault of almost all who govern1 is having but half wills and half means4 ,if ,peter the ,great had not willed strongly1 two thousand leagues of country would still be barbarous4 ,how can we give water in ,paris to thirty thousand houses which want it8 ,how can we pay the debts of the state8 ,how can we throw off the dreaded tyranny of a foreign power1 which is not a power1 and to which we pay the first fruits as a tribute8 ,dare to wish it1 and you will arrive at your object more easily than you extirpated the ,jesuits1 and purged the theatre of petits-matres4 ,,venice4 ,and1 ,incidentally1 of ,liberty4 ,no power can reproach the ,venetians with having acquired their liberty by revolt2 none can say to them1 ,i have freed you--here is the diploma of your manumission4 ,they have not usurped their rights1 as ,csar usurped empire1 or as so many bishops1 commencing with that of ,rome1 have usurped royal rights4 ,they are lords of ,venice--if we dare use the audacious comparison--as ,god is ,lord of the earth1 because ,he founded it4 ,attila1 who never took the title of the scourge of ,god1 ravaged ,italy4 ,he had as much right to do so1 as ,charlemagne the ,austrasian1 ,arnold the ,corinthian ,bastard1 ,guy1 duke of ,spoleto1 ,berenger1 marquis of ,friuli1 or the bishops who wished to make themselves sovereigns of it4 ,in this time of military and ecclesiastical robberies1 ,attila passed as a vulture1 and the ,venetians saved themselves in the sea as kingfishers1 which none assist or protect2 they make their nest in the midst of the waters1 they enlarge it1 they people it1 they defend it1 they enrich it4 ,i ask if it is possible to imagine a more just possession8 ,our father ,adam1 who is supposed to have lived in that fine country of ,mesopotamia1 was not more justly lord and gardener of terrestrial paradise4 ,i have read the ,squittinio della libert di ,venezia1 and ,i am indignant at it4 ,what6 ,venice could not be originally free1 because the ,greek emperors1 superstitious1 weak1 wicked1 and barbarous1 said--,this new town has been built on our ancient territory2 and because a ,german1 having the title of ,emperor of the ,west1 says3 ,this town being in the ,west1 is of our domain8 ,it seems to me like a flying-fish1 pursued at once by a falcon and a shark1 but which escapes both4 ,sannazarius was very right in saying1 in comparing ,rome and ,venice3 ,illam homines dices1 hanc posuisse deos4 ,rome lost1 by ,csar1 at the end of five hundred years1 its liberty acquired by ,brutus4 ,venice has preserved hers for eleven centuries1 and ,i hope she will always do so4 ,genoa6 why dost thou boast of showing the grant of a ,berenger1 who gave thee privileges in the year #ieh8 ,we know that concessions of privileges are but titles of servitude4 ,and this is a fine title6 the charter of a passing tyrant1 who was never properly acknowledged in ,italy1 and who was driven from it two years after the date of the charter6 ,the true charter of liberty is independence1 maintained by force4 ,it is with the point of the sword that diplomas should be signed securing this natural prerogative4 ,thou hast lost1 more than once1 thy privilege and thy strong box1 since #agdh3 it is necessary to take care of both4 ,happy ,helvetia6 to what charter owest thou thy liberty8 ,to thy courage1 thy firmness1 and thy mountains4 ,but ,i am thy emperor4 ,but ,i will have thee be so no longer4 ,thy fathers have been the slaves of my fathers4 ,it is for that reason that their children will not serve thee4 ,but ,i have the right attached to my dignity4 ,and we have the right of nature4 ,when had the ,seven ,united ,provinces this incontestable right8 ,at the moment in which they were united2 and from that time ,philip ,,ii4 was the rebel4 ,what a great man was ,william1 prince of ,orange3 he found them slaves1 and he made them free men6 ,why is liberty so rare8 ,because it is the first of blessings4 ,,verse4 ,it is easy to write in prose1 but very difficult to be a poet4 ,more than one prosateur has affected to despise poetry2 in reference to which propensity1 we may call to mind the bon-mot of ,montaigne3 ,we cannot attain to poetry2 let us revenge ourselves by abusing it4 ,we have already remarked1 that ,montesquieu1 being unable to succeed in verse1 professed1 in his ,persian ,letters1 to discover no merit in ,virgil or ,horace4 ,the eloquent ,bossuet endeavored to make verses1 but they were detestable2 he took care1 however1 not to declaim against great poets4 ,fnelon scarcely made better verses than ,bossuet1 but knew by heart all the fine poetry of antiquity4 ,his mind was full of it1 and he continually quotes it in his letters4 ,it appears to me1 that there never existed a truly eloquent man who did not love poetry4 ,i will simply cite1 for example1 ,csar and ,cicero2 the one composed a tragedy on dipus1 and we have pieces of poetry by the latter which might pass among the best that preceded ,lucretius1 ,virgil1 and ,horace4 ,a certain ,abb ,trublet has printed1 that he cannot read a poem at once from beginning to end4 ,indeed1 ,air4 ,abb6 but what can we read1 what can we understand1 what can we do1 for a long time together1 any more than poetry8 ,,viands4 ,forbidden ,viands1 ,dangerous ,viands4--,a short ,examination of ,jewish and ,christian ,precepts1 and of those of the ,ancient ,philosophers4 ,viand comes no doubt from victus--that which nourishes and sustains life3 from victus was formed viventia2 from viventa1 viand4 ,this word should be applied to all that is eaten1 but by the caprice of all languages1 the custom has prevailed of refusing this denomination to bread1 milk1 rice1 pulses1 fruits1 and fish1 and of giving it only to terrestrial animals4 ,this seems contrary to reason1 but it is the fancy of all languages1 and of those who formed them4 ,some of the first ,christians made a scruple of eating that which had been offered to the gods1 of whatever nature it might be4 ,st4 ,paul approved not of this scruple4 ,he writes to the ,corinthians3 ,meat commendeth us not to ,god3 for neither if we eat are we the better2 neither if we eat not1 are we the worse4 ,he merely exhorts them not to eat viands immolated to the gods1 before those brothers who might be scandalized at it4 ,we see not1 after that1 why he so ill-treats ,st4 ,peter1 and reproaches him with having eaten forbidden viands with the ,gentiles4 ,we see elsewhere1 in the ,acts of the ,apostles1 that ,simon ,peter was authorized to eat of all indifferently2 for he one day saw the firmament open1 and a great sheet descending by the four corners from heaven to earth2 it was covered with all kinds of four-footed beasts1 with all kinds of birds and reptiles--or animals which swim--and a voice cried to him3 ,kill and eat4 ,you will remark1 that ,lent and fast-days were not then instituted4 ,nothing is ever done1 except by degrees4 ,we can here say1 for the consolation of the weak1 that the quarrel of ,st4 ,peter and ,st4 ,paul should not alarm us3 saints are men4 ,paul commenced by being the jailer1 and even the executioner1 of the disciples of ,jesus2 ,peter had denied ,jesus2 and we have seen that the dawning1 suffering1 militant1 triumphant church has always been divided1 from the ,ebionites to the ,jesuits4 ,i think that the ,brahmins1 so anterior to the ,jews1 might well have been divided also2 but they were the first who imposed on themselves the law of not eating any animal4 ,as they believed that souls passed and repassed from human bodies to those of beasts1 they would not eat their relatives4 ,perhaps their best reason was the fear of accustoming men to carnage1 and inspiring them with ferocious manners4 ,we know that ,pythagoras1 who studied geometry and morals among them1 embraced this humane doctrine1 and brought it into ,italy4 ,his disciples followed it a very long time3 the celebrated philosophers1 ,plotinus1 ,jamblicus1 and ,porphyry1 recommended and even practised it--though it is very rare to practise what is preached4 ,the work of ,porphyry on abstinence from meat1 written in the middle of our third century1 and very well translated into our language by ,m4 de ,burigni1 is very much esteemed by the learned2 but it has not made more disciples among us than the book of the physician ,hquet4 ,it is in vain that ,porphyry proposes1 as models1 the ,brahmins and ,persian magi of the first class1 who had a horror of the custom of burying the entrails of other creatures in our own2 he is not now followed by the fathers of ,la ,trappe4 ,the work of ,porphyry is addressed to one of his ancient disciples1 named ,firmus1 who1 it is said1 turned ,christian1 to have the liberty of eating meat and drinking wine4 ,he shows ,firmus1 that in abstaining from meat and strong liquors1 we preserve the health of the soul and body2 that we live longer1 and more innocently4 ,all his reflections are those of a scrupulous theologian1 of a rigid philosopher1 and of a mild and sensible mind4 ,we might think1 in reading his work1 that this great enemy of the church was one of its fathers4 ,he speaks not of metempsychosis1 but he regards animals as our brethren1 because they are animated like ourselves2 they have the same principles of life2 they have1 as well as ourselves1 ideas1 sentiment1 memory1 and industry4 ,they want but speech2 if they had it1 should we dare to kill and eat them2 should we dare to commit these fratricides8 ,where is the barbarian who would roast a lamb1 if it conjured him by an affecting speech not to become at once an assassin1 an anthropophagus8 ,this book proves1 at least1 that among the ,gentiles there were philosophers of the most austere virtue2 but they could not prevail against butchers and gluttons4 ,it is to be remarked1 that ,porphyry makes a very fine eulogium on the ,essenians3 he is filled with veneration for them1 although they sometimes eat meat4 ,he was for whoever was the most virtuous1 whether ,essenians1 ,pythagoreans1 ,stoics1 or ,christians4 ,when sects are formed of a small number1 their manners are pure2 and they degenerate in proportion as they become powerful4 ,lust1 gaming1 and luxury then prevail1 and all the virtues fly away3 ,la gola1 il dado e l'otiose piume ,hanno dal' mondo ogni virt sbandita4 ,,virtue4 ,,section ,i4 ,it is said of ,marcus ,brutus1 that before killing himself1 he pronounced these words3 ,oh1 ,virtue6 ,i believed that thou wert something1 but thou art only a vile phantom6 ,thou wast right1 ,brutus1 if thou madest virtue consist in being the chief of a party1 and the assassin of thy benefactor1 of thy father1 ,julius ,csar4 ,hadst thou made virtue to consist only in doing good to those who depended on thee1 thou wouldst not have called it a phantom1 or have killed thyself in despair4 ,i am very virtuous1 says a miserable excrement of theology4 ,i possess the four cardinal virtues1 and the three theological ones4 ,an honest man asks him3 ,what are the cardinal virtues8 ,the other answers3 ,they are fortitude1 prudence1 temperance1 and justice4 ,,honest ,,man4 ,if thou art just1 thou hast said all4 ,thy fortitude1 prudence1 and temperance are useful qualities3 if thou possessest them1 so much the better for thee2 but if thou art just1 so much the better for others4 ,it is not sufficient to be just1 thou shouldst be beneficent2 this is being truly cardinal4 ,and thy theological virtues1 what are they8 ,,theologian4 ,faith1 hope1 and charity4 ,,honest ,,man4 ,is there virtue in believing8 ,if that which thou believest seems to thee to be true1 there is no merit in believing it2 if it seems to thee to be false1 it is impossible for thee to believe it4 ,hope should no more be a virtue than fear2 we fear and we hope1 according to what is promised or threatened us4 ,as to charity1 is it not that which the ,greeks and ,romans understood by humanity--love of your neighbor8 ,this love is nothing1 if it does not act2 beneficence is therefore the only true virtue4 ,,theologian4 ,what a fool6 ,yes1 truly1 ,i shall trouble myself to serve men1 if ,i get nothing in return6 ,every trouble merits payment4 ,i pretend to do no good action1 except to insure myself paradise4 ,quis enim virtutem amplectitur1 ipsam ,prmia si tolias8 --,,juvenal1 sat4 x4 ,for1 if the gain you take away1 ,to virtue who will homage pay6 ,,honest ,,man4 ,ah1 good sir1 that is to say1 that if you did not hope for paradise1 or fear hell1 you would never do a good action4 ,you quote me lines from ,juvenal1 to prove to me that you have only your interest in view4 ,racine could at least show you1 that even in this world we might find our recompense1 while waiting for a better3 ,quel plaisir de penser1 et de dire en vous-mme1 ,partout en ce moment on me bnit1 on m'aime6 ,on ne voit point le peuple mon nom s'alarmer2 ,le ciel dans tous leurs pleurs ne m'entend point nommer1 ,leur sombre inimitie ne fuit point mon visage2 ,je vois voler partout les curs a mon passage4 ,tels taient vos plaisirs4 --,,racine1 ,britannicus1 act iv1 sc4 ii4 ,how great his pleasure who can justly say1 ,all at this moment either bless or love me2 ,the people at my name betray no fear1 ,nor in their plaints does heaven e'er hear of me6 ,their enmity ne'er makes them fly my presence1 ,but every heart springs out at my approach6 ,such were your pleasures6 ,believe me1 doctor1 there are two things which deserve to be loved for themselves--,god and ,virtue4 ,,theologian4 ,ah1 sir6 you are a ,fnelonist4 ,,honest ,,man4 ,yes1 doctor4 ,,theologian4 ,i will inform against you at the tribunal of ,meaux4 ,,honest ,,man4 ,go1 and inform6 ,,section ,,ii4 ,what is virtue8 ,beneficence towards your neighbor4 ,can ,i call virtue anything but that which does good6 ,i am indigent1 thou art liberal4 ,i am in danger1 thou succorest me4 ,i am deceived1 thou tellest me the truth4 ,i am neglected1 thou consolest me4 ,i am ignorant1 thou teachest me4 ,i can easily call thee virtuous1 but what will become of the cardinal and theological virtues8 ,some will remain in the schools4 ,what signifies it to me whether thou art temperate8 ,it is a precept of health which thou observest2 thou art the better for it2 ,i congratulate thee on it4 ,thou hast faith and hope2 ,i congratulate thee still more2 they will procure thee eternal life4 ,thy theological virtues are celestial gifts2 thy cardinal ones are excellent qualities1 which serve to guide thee2 but they are not virtues in relation to thy neighbor4 ,the prudent man does himself good2 the virtuous one does it to other men4 ,st4 ,paul was right in telling thee1 that charity ranks above faith and hope4 ,but how6 wilt thou admit of no other virtues than those which are useful to thy neighbor8 ,how can ,i admit any others8 ,we live in society2 there is therefore nothing truly good for us but that which does good to society4 ,an hermit will be sober1 pious1 and dressed in sackcloth3 very well2 he will be holy2 but ,i will not call him virtuous until he shall have done some act of virtue by which men may have profited4 ,while he is alone1 he is neither beneficent nor the contrary2 he is nobody to us4 ,if ,st4 ,bruno had made peace in families1 if he had assisted the indigent1 he had been virtuous2 having fasted and prayed in solitude1 he is only a saint4 ,virtue between men is a commerce of good actions3 he who has no part in this commerce1 must not be reckoned4 ,if this saint were in the world1 he would doubtless do good1 but while he is not in the world1 we have no reason to give him the name of virtuous3 he will be good for himself1 and not for us4 ,but1 say you1 if an hermit is gluttonous1 drunken1 given up to a secret debauch with himself1 he is vicious2 he is therefore virtuous1 if he has the contrary qualities4 ,i cannot agree to this3 he is a very vile man1 if he has the faults of which you speak2 but he is not vicious1 wicked1 or punishable by society1 to which his infamies do no harm4 ,it may be presumed1 that if he re-enters society1 he will do evil to it2 he then will be very vicious2 and it is even more probable that he will be a wicked man1 than it is certain that the other temperate and chaste hermit will be a good man2 for in society faults augment1 and good qualities diminish4 ,a much stronger objection is made to me3 ,nero1 ,pope ,alexander ,,vi41 and other monsters of the kind1 have performed good actions4 ,i reply boldly1 that they were virtuous at the time4 ,some theologians say1 that the divine ,emperor ,antoninus was not virtuous2 that he was an infatuated ,stoic1 who1 not content with commanding men1 would further be esteemed by them2 that he gave himself credit for the good which he did to mankind2 that he was all his life just1 laborious1 beneficent1 through vanity2 and that he only deceived men by his virtues4 ,to which ,i exclaim3 ,my ,god6 often send us such knaves6 ,,vision4 ,when ,i speak of vision1 ,i do not mean the admirable manner in which our eyes perceive objects1 and in which the pictures of all that we see are painted on the retina--a divine picture designed according to all the laws of mathematics1 which is1 consequently1 like everything else from the hand of the ,eternal geometrician2 in spite of those who explain it1 and who pretend to believe1 that the eye is not intended to see1 the ear to hear1 or the feet to walk4 ,this matter has been so learnedly treated by so many great geniuses1 that there is no further remnant to glean after their harvests4 ,i do not pretend to speak of the heresy of which ,pope ,john ,,xxii4 was accused1 who pretended that saints will not enjoy beatific vision until after the last judgment4 ,i give up this vision4 ,my subject is the innumerable multitude of visions with which so many holy personages have been favored or tormented2 which so many idiots are believed to have seen2 with which so many knavish men and women have duped the world1 either to get the reputation of being favored by heaven1 which is very flattering1 or to gain money1 which is still more so to rogues in general4 ,calmet and ,langlet have made ample collections of these visions4 ,the most interesting in my opinion is the one which has produced the greatest effects1 since it has tended to reform three parts of the ,swiss--that of the young ,jacobin ,yetzer1 with which ,i have already amused my dear reader4 ,this ,yetzer1 as you know1 saw the ,holy ,virgin and ,st4 ,barbara several times1 who informed him of the marks of ,jesus ,christ4 ,you are not ignorant of how he received1 from a ,jacobin confessor1 a host powdered with arsenic1 and how the bishop of ,lausanne would have had him burned for complaining that he was poisoned4 ,you have seen1 that these abominations were one of the causes of the misfortune which happened to the ,bernese1 of ceasing to be ,catholic1 ,apostolical1 and ,roman4 ,illustration3 ,the ,vision4 ,i am sorry that ,i have no visions of this consequence to tell you of4 ,yet you will confess1 that the vision of the reverend father ,cordeliers of ,orleans1 in #aecd1 approaches the nearest to it1 though still very distant4 ,the criminal process which it occasioned is still in manuscript in the library of the king of ,france1 ,no4 #aggj4 ,the illustrious house of ,st4 ,memin did great good to the convent of the ,cordeliers1 and had their vault in the church4 ,the wife of a lord of ,st4 ,memin1 provost of ,orleans1 being dead1 her husband1 believing that his ancestors had sufficiently impoverished themselves by giving to the monks1 gave the brothers a present which did not appear to them considerable enough4 ,these good ,franciscans conceived a plan for disinterring the deceased1 to force the widower to have her buried again in their holy ground1 and to pay them better4 ,the project was not clever1 for the lord of ,st4 ,memin would not have failed to bury her elsewhere4 ,but folly often mixes with knavery4 ,at first1 the soul of the lady of ,st4 ,memin appeared only to two brothers4 ,she said to them3 ,i am damned1 like ,judas1 because my husband has not given sufficient4 ,the two knaves who related these words perceived not1 that they must do more harm to the convent than good4 ,the aim of the convent was to extort money from the lord of ,st4 ,memin1 for the repose of his wife's soul4 ,now1 if ,madame de ,st4 ,memin was damned1 all the money in the world could not save her4 ,they got no more2 the ,cordeliers lost their labor4 ,at this time there was very little good sense in ,france3 the nation had been brutalized by the invasion of the ,franks1 and afterwards by the invasion of scholastic theology2 but in ,orleans there were some persons who reasoned4 ,if the ,great ,being permitted the soul of ,madame de ,st4 ,memin to appear to two ,franciscans1 it was not natural1 they thought1 for this soul to declare itself damned like ,judas4 ,this comparison appeared to them to be unnatural4 ,this lady had not sold our ,lord ,jesus ,christ for thirty deniers2 she was not hanged2 her intestines had not obtruded themselves2 and there was not the slightest pretext for comparing her to ,judas4 ,this caused suspicion2 and the rumor was still greater in ,orleans1 because there were already heretics there who believed not in certain visions1 and who1 in admitting absurd principles1 did not always fail to draw good conclusions4 ,the ,cordeliers1 therefore1 changed their battery1 and put the lady in purgatory4 ,she therefore appeared again1 and declared that purgatory was her lot2 but she demanded to be disinterred4 ,it was not the custom to disinter those in purgatory2 but they hoped that ,m4 de ,st4 ,memin would prevent this extraordinary affront1 by giving money4 ,this demand of being thrown out of the church augmented the suspicions4 ,it was well known1 that souls often appeared1 but they never demanded to be disinterred4 ,from this time the soul spoke no more1 but it haunted everybody in the convent and church4 ,the brother ,cordeliers exorcised it4 ,brother ,peter of ,arras adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring it4 ,he said to it3 ,if thou art the soul of the late ,madame de ,st4 ,memin1 strike four knocks2 and the four knocks were struck4 ,if thou are damned1 strike six knocks2 and the six knocks were struck4 ,if thou art still tormented in hell1 because thy body is buried in holy ground1 knock six more times2 and the other six knocks were heard still more distinctly4 ,if we disinter thy body1 and cease praying to ,god for thee1 wilt thou be the less damned8 ,strike five knocks to certify it to us2 and the soul certified it by five knocks4 ,this interrogation of the soul1 made by ,peter of ,arras1 was signed by twenty-two ,cordeliers1 at the head of which was the reverend father provincial4 ,this father provincial the next day asked it the same questions1 and received the same answers4 ,it will be said1 that the soul having declared that it was in purgatory1 the ,cordeliers should not have supposed that it was in hell2 but it is not my fault if theologians contradict one another4 ,the lord of ,st4 ,memin presented a request to the king against the father ,cordeliers4 ,they presented a request on their sides2 the king appointed judges1 at the head of whom was ,adrian ,fume1 master of requests4 ,the procureur-general of the commission required that the said ,cordeliers should be burned1 but the sentence only condemned them to make the amende honorable with a torch in their bosom1 and to be banished from the kingdom4 ,this sentence is of ,february #ah1 #aece4 ,after such a vision1 it is useless to relate any others3 they are all a species either of knavery or folly4 ,visions of the first kind are under the province of justice2 those of the second are either visions of diseased fools1 or of fools in good health4 ,the first belong to medicine1 the second to ,bedlam4 ,,vision ,,of ,,constantine4 ,grave theologians have not failed to allege a specious reason to maintain the truth of the appearance of the cross in heaven2 but we are going to show that these arguments are not sufficiently convincing to exclude doubt2 the evidences which they quote being neither persuasive nor according with one another4 ,first1 they produce no witnesses but ,christians1 the deposition of whom may be suspected in the treatment of a fact which tended to prove the divinity of their religion4 ,how is it that no ,pagan author has made mention of this miracle1 which was seen equally by all the army of ,constantine8 ,that ,zosimus1 who seems to have endeavored to diminish the glory of ,constantine1 has said nothing of it1 is not surprising2 but the silence appears very strange in the author of the panegyric of ,constantine1 pronounced in his presence at ,trier2 in which oration the panegyrist expresses himself in magnificent terms on all the war against ,maxentius1 whom this emperor had conquered4 ,another orator1 who1 in his panegyric1 treats so eloquently of the war against ,maxentius1 of the clemency which ,constantine showed after the victory1 and of the deliverance of ,rome1 says not a word on this apparition2 while he assures us1 that celestial armies were seen by all the ,gauls1 which armies1 it was pretended1 were sent to aid ,constantine4 ,this surprising vision has not only been unknown to ,pagan authors1 but to three ,christian writers1 who had the finest occasion to speak of them4 ,optatianus ,porphyrius mentions more than once the monogram of ,christ1 which he calls the celestial sign1 in the panegyric of ,constantine which he wrote in ,latin verse1 but not a word on the appearance of the cross in the sky4 ,lactantius says nothing of it in his treatise on the ,death of ,persecutors1 which he composed towards the year #cad1 two years after the vision of which we speak2 yet he must have been perfectly informed of all that regards ,constantine1 having been tutor to ,crispus1 the son of this prince4 ,he merely relates1 that ,constantine was commanded1 in a dream1 to put the divine image of the cross on the bucklers of his soldiers1 and to give up war3 but in relating a dream1 the truth of which had no other support than the evidence of the emperor1 he passes1 in silence over a prodigy to which all the army were witnesses4 ,further1 ,eusebius of ,csarea himself1 who has given the example to all other ,christian historians on the subject1 speaks not of this wonder1 in the whole course of his ,ecclesiastical ,history1 though he enlarges much on the exploits of ,constantine against ,maxentius4 ,it is only in his life of this emperor that he expresses himself in these terms3 ,constantine resolved to adore the god of ,constantius2 his father implored the protection of this god against ,maxentius4 ,whilst he was praying1 he had a wonderful vision1 which would appear incredible1 if related by another2 but since the victorious emperor has himself related it to us1 who wrote this history2 and that1 after having been long known to this prince1 and enjoying a share in his good graces1 the emperor confirming what he said by oath--who could doubt it8 particularly since the event has confirmed the truth of it4 ,he affirmed1 that in the afternoon1 when the sun set1 he saw a luminous cross above it1 with this inscription in ,greek--',by this sign1 conquer3' that this appearance astonished him extremely1 as well as all the soldiers who followed him1 who were witnesses of the miracle2 that while his mind was fully occupied with this vision1 and he sought to penetrate the sense of it1 the night being come1 ,jesus ,christ appeared to him during his sleep1 with the same sign which ,he had shown to him in the air in the day-time1 and commanded him to make a standard of the same form1 and to bear it in his battles1 to secure him from danger4 ,constantine1 rising at break of day1 related to his friends the vision which he had beheld2 and1 sending for goldsmiths and lapidaries1 he sat in the midst of them1 explained to them the figure of the sign which he had seen1 and commanded them to make a similar one of gold and jewels2 and we remember having sometimes seen it4 ,eusebius afterwards adds1 that ,constantine1 astonished at so admirable a vision1 sent for ,christian priests2 and that1 instructed by them1 he applied himself to reading our sacred books1 and concluded that he ought to adore with a profound respect the ,god who appeared to him4 ,how can we conceive that so admirable a vision1 seen by so many millions of people1 and so calculated to justify the truth of the ,christian religion1 could be unknown to ,eusebius1 an historian so careful in seeking all that could contribute to do honor to ,christianity1 as even to quote profane monuments falsely1 as we have seen in the article on ,eclipse8 ,and how can we persuade ourselves that he was not informed of it1 until several years after1 by the sole evidence of ,constantine8 ,were there no ,christians in the army1 who publicly made a glory of having seen such a prodigy8 ,had they so little interest in their cause as to keep silence on so great a miracle8 ,ought we to be astonished1 after that1 that ,gelasius1 one of the successors of ,eusebius1 in the siege of ,csarea in the fifth century1 has said that many people suspected that it was only a fable1 invented in favor of the ,christian religion8 ,this suspicion will become much stronger1 if we take notice how little the witnesses agree on the circumstances of this marvellous appearance4 ,almost all affirm1 that the cross was seen by ,constantine and all his army2 and ,gelasius speaks of ,constantine alone4 ,they differ on the time of the vision4 ,philostorgius1 in his ,ecclesiastical ,history1 of which ,photius has preserved us the extract1 says1 that it was when ,constantine gained the victory over ,maxentius2 others pretend that it was before1 when ,constantine was making preparations for attacking the tyrant1 and was on his march with his army4 ,arthemius1 quoted by ,metaphrastus and ,surius1 mentions the #bjth of ,october1 and says that it was at noon2 others speak of the afternoon at sunset4 ,authors do not agree better even on the vision3 the greatest number acknowledged but one1 and that in a dream4 ,there is only ,eusebius1 followed by ,philostorgius and ,socrates1 who speaks of two2 the one that ,constantine saw in the day-time1 and the other which he saw in a dream1 tending to confirm the first4 ,nicephorus ,callistus reckons three4 ,the inscription offers new differences3 ,eusebius says that it was in ,greek characters1 while others do not speak of it4 ,according to ,philostorgius and ,nicephorus1 it was in ,latin characters2 others say nothing about it1 and seem by their relation to suppose that the characters were ,greek4 ,philostorgius affirms1 that the inscription was formed by an assemblage of stars2 ,arthemius says that the letters were golden4 ,the author quoted by ,photius1 represents them as composed of the same luminous matter as the cross2 and according to ,sosomenes1 it had no inscription1 and they were angels who said to ,constantine3 ,by this sign1 gain the victory4 ,finally1 the relation of historians is opposed on the consequences of this vision4 ,if we take that of ,eusebius1 ,constantine1 aided by ,god1 easily gained the victory over ,maxentius2 but according to ,lactantius1 the victory was much disputed4 ,he even says that the troops of ,maxentius had some advantage1 before ,constantine made his army approach the gates of ,rome4 ,if we may believe ,eusebius and ,sosomenes1 from this epoch ,constantine was always victorious1 and opposed the salutary sign of the cross to his enemies1 as an impenetrable rampart4 ,however1 a ,christian author1 of whom ,m4 de ,valois has collected some fragments1 at the end of ,ammianus ,marcellinus--relates1 that in the two battles given to ,licinius by ,constantine1 the victory was doubtful1 and that ,constantine was even slightly wounded in the thigh2 and ,nicephorus says1 that after the first apparition1 he twice combated the ,byzantines1 without opposing the cross to them1 and would not even have remembered it1 if he had not lost nine thousand men1 and had the same vision twice more4 ,in the first1 the stars were so arranged that they formed these words of a psalm3 ,call on me in the day of trouble3 ,i will deliver thee1 and thou shalt glorify me2 and the last1 much clearer and more brilliant still1 bore3 ,by this sign1 thou shalt vanquish all thy enemies4 ,philostorgius affirms1 that the vision of the cross1 and the victory gained over ,maxentius1 determined ,constantine to embrace the ,christian faith2 but ,rufinus1 who has translated the ,ecclesiastical ,history of ,eusebius into ,latin1 says that he already favored ,christianity1 and honored the true ,god4 ,it is however known1 that he did not receive baptism until a few days before his death1 as is expressly said by ,philostorgius1 ,st4 ,athanasius1 ,st4 ,ambrose1 ,st4 ,jerome1 ,socrates1 ,theodoret1 and the author of the ,chronicle of ,alexandria4 ,this custom1 then common1 was founded on the belief that1 baptism effacing all the sins of him who received it1 he died certain of his salvation4 ,we might confine ourselves to these general reflections1 but by superabundance of right we will discuss the authority of ,eusebius1 as an historian1 and that of ,constantine and ,arthemius1 as ocular witnesses4 ,as to ,arthemius1 we think that he ought not to be placed in the rank of ocular witnesses2 his discourse being founded only on his ,acts1 related by ,metaphrastus1 a fabulous author3 ,acts which ,baronius pretends it was wrong to impeach1 at the same time that he confesses that they are interpolated4 ,as to the speech of ,constantine1 related by ,eusebius1 it is indisputably an astonishing thing1 that this emperor feared that he should not be believed unless he made oath2 and that ,eusebius has not supported his evidence by that of any of the officers or soldiers of the army4 ,but without here adopting the opinion of some scholars1 who doubt whether ,eusebius is the author of the life of ,constantine1 is he not an author who1 in this work1 bears throughout the character of a panegyrist1 rather than that of a historian8 ,is he not a writer who has carefully suppressed all which could be disadvantageous to his hero8 ,in a word1 does he not show his partiality1 when he says1 in his ,ecclesiastical ,history1 speaking of ,maxentius1 that having usurped the sovereign power at ,rome1 to flatter the people he feigned at first to profess the ,christian religion8 ,as if it was impossible for ,constantine to make use of such a feint1 and to pretend this vision1 just as ,licinius1 some time after1 to encourage his soldiers against ,maximin1 pretended that an angel in a dream had dictated a prayer to him1 which he must repeat with his army4 ,how could ,eusebius really have the effrontery to call a prince a ,christian who caused the temple of ,concord to be rebuilt at his own expense1 as is proved by an inscription1 which was read in the time of ,lelio ,geraldi1 in the temple of ,latran8 ,a prince who caused his son ,crispus1 already honored with the title of ,csar1 to perish on a slight suspicion of having commerce with ,fausta1 his stepmother2 who caused this same ,fausta1 to whom he was indebted for the preservation of his life1 to be suffocated in an overheated bath2 who caused the emperor ,maximian ,hercules1 his adopted father1 to be strangled2 who took away the life of the young ,licinius1 his nephew1 who had already displayed very good qualities2 and1 in short1 who dishonored himself by so many murders1 that the consul ,ablavius called his times ,neronian8 ,we might add1 that much dependence should not be placed on the oath of ,constantine1 since he had not the least scruple in perjuring himself1 by causing ,licinius to be strangled1 to whom he had promised his life on oath4 ,eusebius passes in silence over all the actions of ,constantine which are related by ,eutropius1 ,zosimus1 ,orosius1 ,st4 ,jerome1 and ,aurelius ,victor4 ,after this1 have we not reason to conclude that the pretended appearance of the cross in the sky is only a fraud which ,constantine imagined to favor the success of his ambitious enterprises8 ,the medals of this prince and of his family1 which are found in ,banduri1 and in the work entitled1 ,numismata ,imperatorum ,romanorum2 the triumphal arch of which ,baronius speaks1 in the inscription of which the senate and the ,roman people said that ,constantine1 by the direction of the ,divinity1 had rid the republic of the tyrant ,maxentius1 and of all his faction2 finally1 the statue which ,constantine himself caused to be erected at ,rome1 holding a lance terminating in the form of a cross1 with this inscription--as related by ,eusebius3 ,by this saving sign1 ,i have delivered your city from the yoke of tyranny--all this1 ,i say1 only proves the immoderate pride of this artificial prince1 who would everywhere spread the noise of his pretended dream1 and perpetuate the recollection of it4 ,yet1 to excuse ,eusebius1 we must compare him to a bishop of the seventeenth century1 whom ,la ,bruyre hesitated not to call a father of the ,church4 ,bossuet1 at the same time that he fell so unmercifully on the visions of the elegant and sensible ,fnelon1 commented himself1 in the funeral oration of ,anne of ,gonzaga of ,cleves1 on the two visions which worked the conversion of the ,princess ,palatine4 ,it was an admirable dream1 says this prelate2 she thought that1 walking alone in a forest1 she met with a blind man in a small cell4 ,she comprehended that a sense is wanting to the incredulous as well as to the blind2 and at the same time1 in the midst of so mysterious a dream1 she applied the fine comparison of the blind man to the truths of religion and of the other life4 ,in the second vision1 ,god continued to instruct her1 as ,he did ,joseph and ,solomon2 and during the drowsiness which the trouble caused her1 ,he put this parable into her mind1 so similar to that in the gospel3 ,she saw that appear which ,jesus ,christ has not disdained to give us as an image of ,his tenderness--a hen become a mother1 anxious round the little ones which she conducted4 ,one of them having strayed1 our invalid saw it swallowed by a hungry dog4 ,she ran and tore the innocent animal away from him4 ,at the same time1 a voice cried from the other side that she must give it back to the ravisher4 ,no1 said she1 ,i will never give it back4 ,at this moment she awakened1 and the explanation of the figure which had been shown to her presented itself to her mind in an instant4 ,,vows4 ,to make a vow for life1 is to make oneself a slave4 ,how can this worst of all slavery be allowed in a country in which slavery is proscribed8 ,to promise to ,god by an oath1 that from the age of fifteen until death we will be a ,jesuit1 ,jacobin1 or ,capuchin1 is to affirm that we will always think like a ,capuchin1 a ,jacobin1 or a ,jesuit4 ,it is very pleasant to promise1 for a whole life1 that which no man can certainly insure from night to morning6 ,how can governments have been such enemies to themselves1 and so absurd1 as to authorize citizens to alienate their liberty at an age when they are not allowed to dispose of the least portion of their fortunes8 ,how1 being convinced of the extent of this stupidity1 have not the whole of the magistracy united to put an end to it8 ,is it not alarming to reflect that there are more monks than soldiers8 ,is it possible not to be affected by the discovery of the secrets of cloisters2 the turpitudes1 the horrors1 and the torments to which so many unhappy children are subjected1 who detest the state which they have been forced to adopt1 when they become men1 and who beat with useless despair the chains which their weakness has imposed upon them8 ,i knew a young man whose parents engaged to make a ,capuchin of him at fifteen years and a half old1 when he desperately loved a girl very nearly of his own age4 ,as soon as the unhappy youth had made his vow to ,st4 ,francis1 the devil reminded him of the vows which he had made to his mistress1 to whom he had signed a promise of marriage4 ,at last1 the devil being stronger than ,st4 ,francis1 the young ,capuchin left his cloister1 repaired to the house of his mistress1 and was told that she had entered a convent and made profession4 ,he flew to the convent1 and asked to see her1 when he was told that she had died of grief4 ,this news deprived him of all sense1 and he fell to the ground nearly lifeless4 ,he was immediately transported to a neighboring monastery1 not to afford him the necessary medical aid1 but in order to procure him the blessing of extreme unction before his death1 which infallibly saves the soul4 ,the house to which the poor fainting boy was carried1 happened to be a convent of ,capuchins1 who charitably let him remain at the door for three hours2 but at last he was recognized by one of the venerable brothers1 who had seen him in the monastery to which he belonged4 ,on this discovery1 he was carried into a cell1 and attention paid to recover him1 in order that he might expiate1 by a salutary penitence1 the errors of which he had been guilty4 ,as soon as he had recovered strength1 he was conducted1 well bound1 to his convent1 and the following is precisely the manner in which he was treated4 ,in the first place he was placed in a dungeon under ground1 at the bottom of which was an enormous stone1 to which a chain of iron was attached4 ,to this chain he was fastened by one leg1 and near him was placed a loaf of barley bread and a jug of water2 after which they closed the entrance of the dungeon with a large block of stone1 which covered the opening by which they had descended4 ,at the end of three days they withdrew him from the dungeon1 in order to bring him before the criminal court of the ,capuchins4 ,they wished to know if he had any accomplices in his flight1 and to oblige him to confess1 applied the mode of torture employed in the convent4 ,this preparatory torture was inflicted by cords1 which bound the limbs of the patient1 and made him endure a sort of rack4 ,after having undergone these torments1 he was condemned to be imprisoned for two years in his cell1 from which he was to be brought out thrice a week1 in order to receive upon his naked body the discipline with iron chains4 ,for six months his constitution endured this punishment1 from which he was at length so fortunate as to escape in consequence of a quarrel among the ,capuchins1 who fought with one another1 and allowed the prisoner to escape during the fray4 ,after hiding himself for some hours1 he ventured to go abroad at the decline of day1 almost worn out by hunger1 and scarcely able to support himself4 ,a passing ,samaritan took pity upon the poor1 famished spectre1 conducted him to his house1 and gave him assistance4 ,the unhappy youth himself related to me his story in the presence of his liberator4 ,behold here the consequence of vows6 ,it would be a nice point to decide1 whether the horrors of passing every day among the mendicant friars are more revolting than the pernicious riches of the other orders1 which reduce so many families into mendicants4 ,all of them have made a vow to live at our expense1 and to be a burden to their country2 to injure its population1 and to betray both their contemporaries and posterity2 and shall we suffer it8 ,here is another interesting question for officers of the army3 ,why are monks allowed to recover one of their brethren who has enlisted for a soldier1 while a captain is prevented from recovering a deserter who has turned monk8 ,,voyage ,,of ,,st4 ,,peter ,,to ,,rome4 ,of the famous dispute1 whether ,peter made the journey to ,rome1 is it not in the main as frivolous as most other grand disputes8 ,the revenues of the abbey of ,st4 ,denis1 in ,france1 depend neither on the truth of the journey of ,st4 ,dionysius the ,areopagite from ,athens to the midst of ,gaul2 his martyrdom at ,montmartre2 nor the other journey which he made after his death1 from ,montmartre to ,st4 ,denis1 carrying his head in his arms1 and kissing it at every step4 ,the ,carthusians have great riches1 without there being the least truth in the history of the canon of ,paris1 who rose from his coffin three successive days1 to inform the assistants that he was damned4 ,in like manner it is very certain that the rights and revenues of the ,roman pontiff can exist1 whether ,simon ,barjonas1 surnamed ,cephas1 went to ,rome or not4 ,all the rights of the archbishops of ,rome and ,constantinople were established at the ,council of ,chalcedon1 in the year #dea of our vulgar era1 and there was no mention in this council of any journey made by an apostle to ,byzantium or to ,rome4 ,the patriarchs of ,alexander and ,constantinople followed the lot of their provinces4 ,the ecclesiastical chiefs of these two imperial cities1 and of opulent ,egypt1 must necessarily have more authority1 privileges1 and riches1 than bishops of little towns4 ,if the residence of an apostle in a city decided so many rights1 the bishop of ,jerusalem would have been1 without contradiction1 the first bishop of ,christendom4 ,he was evidently the successor of ,st4 ,james1 the brother of ,jesus ,christ1 acknowledged as the founder of this church1 and afterwards called the first of all bishops4 ,we should add by the same reasoning1 that all the patriarchs of ,jerusalem should be circumcised1 since the fifteen first bishops of ,jerusalem--the cradle of ,christianity and tomb of ,jesus ,christ--had all received circumcision4 ,it is indisputable that the first largesses made to the church of ,rome by ,constantine1 have not the least relation to the journey of ,st4 ,peter4 #a4 ,the first church raised at ,rome was that of ,st4 ,john2 it is still the true cathedral4 ,it is evident that it would have been dedicated to ,st4 ,peter1 if he had been the first bishop of it4 ,it is the strongest of all presumptions1 and that alone might have ended the dispute4 #b4 ,to this powerful conjecture are joined convincing negative proofs4 ,if ,peter had been at ,rome with ,paul1 the ,acts of the ,apostles would have mentioned it2 and they say not a word about it4 #c4 ,if ,st4 ,peter went to preach the gospel at ,rome1 ,st4 ,paul would not have said1 in his ,epistle to the ,galatians3 ,when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcisions was committed unto me1 as the gospel of the circumcision was unto ,peter2 and when ,james1 ,cephas1 and ,john1 who seemed to be pillars1 perceived the grace that was given unto me1 they gave to me and ,barnabas the right hand of fellowship1 that we should go unto the heathen1 and they unto the circumcision4 #d4 ,in the letters which ,paul writes from ,rome1 he never speaks of ,peter2 therefore1 it is evident that ,peter was not there4 #e4 ,in the letters which ,paul writes to his brethren of ,rome1 there is not the least compliment to ,peter1 nor the least mention of him2 therefore1 ,peter neither made a journey to ,rome when ,paul was in prison1 nor when he was free4 #f4 ,we have never known any letter of ,st4 ,peter's dated from ,rome4 #g4 ,some1 like ,paul ,orosius1 a ,spaniard of the fifth century1 say that he was at ,rome in the first years of the reign of ,claudius4 ,the ,acts of the ,apostles say that he was then at ,jerusalem2 and the ,epistles of ,paul1 that he was at ,antioch4 #h4 ,i do not pretend to bring forward any proof1 but speaking humanly1 and according to the rules of profane criticism1 ,peter could scarcely go from ,jerusalem to ,rome1 knowing neither the ,latin nor even the ,greek language1 which ,st4 ,paul spoke1 though very badly4 ,it is said that the apostles spoke all the languages of the universe2 therefore1 ,i am silenced4 #i4 ,finally1 the first mention which we ever had of the journey of ,st4 ,peter to ,rome1 came from one named ,papias1 who lived about a hundred years after ,st4 ,peter4 ,this ,papias was a ,phrygian2 he wrote in ,phrygia2 and he pretended that ,st4 ,peter went to ,rome1 because in one of his letters he speaks of ,babylon4 ,we have1 indeed1 a letter1 attributed to ,st4 ,peter1 written in these obscure times1 in which it is said3 ,the ,church which is at ,babylon1 my wife1 and my son ,mark1 salute you4 ,it has pleased some translators to translate the word meaning my wife1 by chosen vessel3 ,babylon1 the chosen vessel4 ,this is translating comprehensively4 ,papias1 who was1 it must be confessed1 one of the great visionaries of these ages1 imagined that ,babylon signified ,rome4 ,it was1 however1 very natural for ,peter to depart from ,antioch to visit the brethren at ,babylon4 ,there were always ,jews at ,babylon2 and they continually carried on the trade of brokers and peddlers2 it is very likely that several disciples sought refuge there1 and that ,peter went to encourage them4 ,there is not more reason in supposing that ,babylon signifies ,rome1 than in supposing that ,rome means ,babylon4 ,what an extravagant idea1 to suppose that ,peter wrote an exhortation to his comrades1 as we write at present1 in ciphers6 ,did he fear that his letter should be opened at the post8 ,why should ,peter fear that his ,jewish letters should be known--so useless in a worldly sense1 and to which it was impossible for the ,romans to pay the least attention8 ,who engaged him to lie so vainly8 ,what could have possessed people to think1 that when he wrote ,babylon1 he intended ,rome8 ,it was after similar convincing proofs that the judicious ,calmet concludes that the journey of ,st4 ,peter to ,rome is proved by ,st4 ,peter himself1 who says expressly1 that he has written his letter from ,babylon2 that is to say1 from ,rome1 as we interpret with the ancients4 ,once more1 this is powerful reasoning6 ,he has probably learned this logic among the vampires6 ,the learned archbishop of ,paris1 ,marca1 ,dupin1 ,blondel1 and ,spanheim1 are not of this opinion2 but it was that of ,calmet1 who reasoned like ,calmet1 and who was followed by a multitude of writers so attached to the sublimity of their principles that they sometimes neglected wholesome criticism and reason4 ,it is a very poor pretence of the partisans of the voyage to say that the ,acts of the ,apostles are intended for the history of ,paul1 and not for that of ,peter2 and that if they pass in silence over the sojourn of ,simon ,barjonas at ,rome1 it is that the actions and exploits of ,paul were the sole object of the writer4 ,the ,acts speak much of ,simon ,barjonas1 surnamed ,peter2 it is he who proposes to give a successor to ,judas4 ,we see him strike ,ananias and his wife with sudden death1 who had given him their property1 but unfortunately not all of it4 ,we see him raise his sempstress ,dorcas1 at the house of the tanner ,simon at ,joppa4 ,he has a quarrel in ,samaria with ,simon1 surnamed the ,magician2 he goes to ,lippa1 ,csarea1 and ,jerusalem2 what would it have cost him to go to ,rome8 ,it is very difficult to decide whether ,peter went to ,rome under ,tiberius1 ,caligula1 ,claudius1 or ,nero4 ,the journey in the time of ,tiberius is only founded on the pretended apocryphal fasti of ,italy4 ,another apocrypha1 entitled ,catalogues of ,bishops1 makes ,peter bishop of ,rome immediately after the death of his master4 ,i know not what ,arabian tale sent him to ,rome under ,caligula4 ,eusebius1 three hundred years after1 makes him to be conducted to ,rome under ,claudius by a divine hand1 without saying in what year4 ,lactantius1 who wrote in the time of ,constantine1 is the first veracious author who has said that ,peter went to ,rome under ,nero1 and that he was crucified there4 ,we must avow1 that if such claims alone were brought forward by a party in a lawsuit1 he would not gain his cause1 and he would be advised to keep to the maxim of uti possedetis2 and this is the part which ,rome has taken4 ,but it is said that before ,eusebius and ,lactantius1 the exact ,papias had already related the adventure of ,peter and ,simon2 the virtue of ,god which removed him into the presence of ,nero2 the kinsman of ,nero half raised from the dead1 in the name of ,god1 by ,simon1 and wholly raised by ,peter2 the compliments of their dogs2 the bread given by ,peter to ,simon's dogs2 the magician who flew into the air2 the ,christian who caused him to fall by a sign of the cross1 by which he broke both his legs2 ,nero1 who cut off ,peter's head to pay for the legs of his magician1 etc4 ,the grave ,marcellus repeats this authentic history1 and the grave ,hegesippus again repeats it1 and others repeat it after them2 and ,i repeat to you1 that if ever you plead for a meadow before the judge of ,vaugirard1 you will never gain your suit by such claims4 ,i doubt not that the episcopal chair of ,st4 ,peter is still at ,rome in the fine church4 ,i doubt not but that ,st4 ,peter enjoyed the bishopric of ,rome twenty-nine years1 a month1 and nine days1 as it is said4 ,but ,i may venture to say that that is not demonstratively proved2 and ,i say that it is to be thought that the ,roman bishops of the present time are more at their ease than those of times past--obscure times1 which it is very difficult to penetrate4 ,,waller4 ,the celebrated ,waller has been much spoken of in ,france2 he has been praised by ,la ,fontaine1 ,st4 vremond1 and ,bayle1 who1 however1 knew little of him beyond his name4 ,he had pretty nearly the same reputation in ,london as ,voiture enjoyed in ,paris1 but ,i believe that he more deserved it4 ,voiture existed at a time when we were first emerging from literary ignorance1 and when wit was aimed at1 but scarcely attained4 ,turns of expression were sought for instead of thoughts1 and false stones were more easily discovered than genuine diamonds4 ,voiture1 who possessed an easy and trifling turn of mind1 was the first who shone in this aurora of ,french literature4 ,had he come after the great men who have thrown so much lustre on the age of ,louis ,,xiv41 he would have been forced to have had something more than mere wit1 which was enough for the hotel de ,rambouillet1 but not enough for posterity4 ,boileau praises him1 but it was in his first satires1 and before his taste was formed4 ,he was young1 and of that age in which men judge rather by reputation than from themselves2 and1 besides1 ,boileau was often unjust in his praise as well as his censure4 ,he praised ,segrais1 whom nobody read2 insulted ,quinault1 who everybody repeated by heart2 and said nothing of ,la ,fontaine4 ,waller1 although superior to ,voiture1 was not perfect4 ,his poems of gallantry are very graceful1 but they are frequently languid from negligence1 and they are often disfigured by conceits4 ,in his days1 the ,english had not learned to write correctly4 ,his serious pieces are replete with vigor1 and exhibit none of the softness of his gallant effusions4 ,he composed a monody on the death of ,cromwell1 which1 with several faults1 passes for a masterpiece2 and it was in reference to this eulogy that ,waller made the reply to ,charles ,,ii41 which is inserted in ,bayle's ,dictionary4 ,the king--to whom ,waller1 after the manner of kings and poets1 presented a poem stuffed with panegyric--told him that he had written more finely on ,cromwell4 ,waller immediately replied3 ,sire1 we poets always succeed better in fiction than in truth4 ,this reply was not so sincere as that of the ,dutch ambassador1 who1 when the same king complained to him that his masters had less regard for him than for ,cromwell1 replied3 ,ah1 sire6 that ,cromwell was quite another thing4 ,there are courtiers in ,england1 as elsewhere1 and ,waller was one of them2 but after their death1 ,i consider men only by their works2 all the rest is annihilated4 ,i simply observe that ,waller1 born to an estate of the annual value of sixty thousand livres1 had never the silly pride or carelessness to neglect his talent4 ,the earls of ,dorset and ,roscommon1 the two dukes of ,buckingham1 the earl of ,halifax1 and a great many others1 have not thought it below them to become celebrated poets and illustrious writers2 and their works do them more honor than their titles4 ,they have cultivated letters as if their fortunes depended on their success1 and have rendered literature respectable in the eyes of the people1 who in all things require leaders from among the great--who1 however1 have less influence of this kind in ,england than in any other place in the world4 ,,war4 ,all animals are perpetually at war2 every species is born to devour another4 ,there are none1 even to sheep and doves1 who do not swallow a prodigious number of imperceptible animals4 ,males of the same species make war for the females1 like ,menelaus and ,paris4 ,air1 earth1 and the waters1 are fields of destruction4 ,it seems that ,god having given reason to men1 this reason should teach them not to debase themselves by imitating animals1 particularly when nature has given them neither arms to kill their fellow-creatures1 nor instinct which leads them to suck their blood4 ,yet murderous war is so much the dreadful lot of man1 that except two or three nations1 there are none but what their ancient histories represent as armed against one another4 ,towards ,canada1 man and warrior are synonymous2 and we have seen1 in our hemisphere1 that thief and soldier were the same thing4 ,manichans6 behold your excuse4 ,the most determined of flatterers will easily agree1 that war always brings pestilence and famine in its train1 from the little that he may have seen in the hospitals of the armies of ,germany1 or the few villages he may have passed through in which some great exploit of war has been performed4 ,that is doubtless a very fine art which desolates countries1 destroys habitations1 and in a common year causes the death of from forty to a hundred thousand men4 ,this invention was first cultivated by nations assembled for their common good2 for instance1 the diet of the ,greeks declared to the diet of ,phrygia and neighboring nations1 that they intended to depart on a thousand fishers' barks1 to exterminate them if they could4 ,the assembled ,roman people judged that it was to their interest to go and fight1 before harvest1 against the people of ,veii or the ,volscians4 ,and some years after1 all the ,romans1 being exasperated against all the ,carthaginians1 fought them a long time on sea and land4 ,it is not exactly the same at present4 ,a genealogist proves to a prince that he descends in a right line from a count1 whose parents made a family compact1 three or four hundred years ago1 with a house the recollection of which does not even exist4 ,this house had distant pretensions to a province1 of which the last possessor died of apoplexy4 ,the prince and his council see his right at once4 ,this province1 which is some hundred leagues distant from him1 in vain protests that it knows him not2 that it has no desire to be governed by him2 that to give laws to its people1 he must at least have their consent2 these discourses only reach as far as the ears of the prince1 whose right is incontestable4 ,he immediately assembles a great number of men who have nothing to lose1 dresses them in coarse blue cloth1 borders their hats with broad white binding1 makes them turn to the right and left1 and marches to glory4 ,other princes who hear of this equipment1 take part in it1 each according to his power1 and cover a small extent of country with more mercenary murderers than ,genghis ,khan1 ,tamerlane1 and ,bajazet employed in their train4 ,distant people hear that they are going to fight1 and that they may gain five or six sous a day1 if they will be of the party2 they divide themselves into two bands1 like reapers1 and offer their services to whoever will employ them4 ,these multitudes fall upon one another1 not only without having any interest in the affair1 but without knowing the reason of it4 ,we see at once five or six belligerent powers1 sometimes three against three1 sometimes two against four1 and sometimes one against five2 all equally detesting one another1 uniting with and attacking by turns2 all agree in a single point1 that of doing all the harm possible4 ,the most wonderful part of this infernal enterprise is that each chief of the murderers causes his colors to be blessed1 and solemnly invokes ,god before he goes to exterminate his neighbors4 ,if a chief has only the fortune to kill two or three thousand men1 he does not thank ,god for it2 but when he has exterminated about ten thousand by fire and sword1 and1 to complete the work1 some town has been levelled with the ground1 they then sing a long song in four parts1 composed in a language unknown to all who have fought1 and moreover replete with barbarism4 ,the same song serves for marriages and births1 as well as for murders2 which is unpardonable1 particularly in a nation the most famous for new songs4 ,natural religion has a thousand times prevented citizens from committing crimes4 ,a well-trained mind has not the inclination for it2 a tender one is alarmed at it1 representing to itself a just and avenging ,god2 but artificial religion encourages all cruelties which are exercised by troops--conspiracies1 seditions1 pillages1 ambuscades1 surprises of towns1 robberies1 and murder4 ,each marches gaily to crime1 under the banner of his saint4 ,a certain number of orators are everywhere paid to celebrate these murderous days2 some are dressed in a long black close coat1 with a short cloak2 others have a shirt above a gown2 some wear two variegated stuff streamers over their shirts4 ,all of them speak for a long time1 and quote that which was done of old in ,palestine1 as applicable to a combat in ,veteravia4 ,the rest of the year these people declaim against vices4 ,they prove1 in three points and by antitheses1 that ladies who lay a little carmine upon their cheeks1 will be the eternal objects of the eternal vengeances of the ,eternal2 that ,polyeuctus and ,athalia are works of the demon2 that a man who1 for two hundred crowns a day1 causes his table to be furnished with fresh sea-fish during ,lent1 infallibly works his salvation2 and that a poor man who eats two sous and a half worth of mutton1 will go forever to all the devils4 ,of five or six thousand declamations of this kind1 there are three or four at most1 composed by a ,gaul named ,massillon1 which an honest man may read without disgust2 but in all these discourses1 you will scarcely find two in which the orator dares to say a word against the scourge and crime of war1 which contains all other scourges and crimes4 ,the unfortunate orators speak incessantly against love1 which is the only consolation of mankind1 and the only mode of making amends for it2 they say nothing of the abominable efforts which we make to destroy it4 ,you have made a very bad sermon on impurity--oh1 ,bourdaloue6--but none on these murders1 varied in so many ways2 on these rapines and robberies2 on this universal rage which devours the world4 ,all the united vices of all ages and places will never equal the evils produced by a single campaign4 ,miserable physicians of souls6 you exclaim1 for five quarters of an hour1 on some pricks of a pin1 and say nothing on the malady which tears us into a thousand pieces6 ,philosophers6 moralists6 burn all your books4 ,while the caprice of a few men makes that part of mankind consecrated to heroism1 to murder loyally millions of our brethren1 can there be anything more horrible throughout nature8 ,what becomes of1 and what signifies to me1 humanity1 beneficence1 modesty1 temperance1 mildness1 wisdom1 and piety1 while half a pound of lead1 sent from the distance of a hundred steps1 pierces my body1 and ,i die at twenty years of age1 in inexpressible torments1 in the midst of five or six thousand dying men1 while my eyes which open for the last time1 see the town in which ,i was born destroyed by fire and sword1 and the last sounds which reach my ears are the cries of women and children expiring under the ruins1 all for the pretended interests of a man whom ,i know not8 ,what is worse1 war is an inevitable scourge4 ,if we take notice1 all men have worshipped ,mars4 ,sabaoth1 among the ,jews1 signifies the god of arms2 but ,minerva1 in ,homer1 calls ,mars a furious1 mad1 and infernal god4 ,the celebrated ,montesquieu1 who was called humane1 has said1 however1' that it is just to bear fire and sword against our neighbors1 when we fear that they are doing too well4 ,if this is the spirit of laws1 ,at is also that of ,borgia and of ,machiavelli4 ,if unfortunately he says true1 we must write against this truth1 though it may be proved by facts4 ,this is what ,montesquieu says3 ,between societies1 the right of natural defence sometimes induces the necessity of attacking1 when one people sees that a longer peace puts another in a situation to destroy it1 and that attack at the given moment is the only way of preventing this destruction4 ,how can attack in peace be the only means of preventing this destruction8 ,you must be sure that this neighbor will destroy you1 if he become powerful4 ,to be sure of it1 he must already have made preparations for your overthrow4 ,in this case1 it is he who commences the war2 it is not you3 your supposition is false and contradictory4 ,if ever war is evidently unjust1 it is that which you propose3 it is going to kill your neighbor1 who does not attack you1 lest he should ever be in a state to do so4 ,to hazard the ruin of your country1 in the hope of ruining without reason that of another1 is assuredly neither honest nor useful2 for we are never sure of success1 as you well know4 ,if your neighbor becomes too powerful during peace1 what prevents you from rendering yourself equally powerful8 ,if he has made alliances1 make them on your side4 ,if1 having fewer monks1 he has more soldiers and manufacturers1 imitate him in this wise economy4 ,if he employs his sailors better1 employ yours in the same manner3 all that is very just4 ,but to expose your people to the most horrible misery1 in the so often false idea of overturning your dear brother1 the most serene neighboring prince6--it was not for the honorary president of a pacific society to give you such advice4 ,,weakness ,,on ,,both ,,sides4 ,weakness on both sides is1 as we know1 the motto of all quarrels4 ,i speak not here of those which have caused blood to be shed--the ,anabaptists1 who ravaged ,westphalia2 the ,calvinists1 who kindled so many wars in ,france2 the sanguinary factions of the ,armagnacs and ,burgundians2 the punishment of the ,maid of ,orleans1 whom one-half of ,france regarded as a celestial heroine1 and the other as a sorceress2 the ,sorbonne1 which presented a request to have her burned2 the assassination of the duke of ,orleans1 justified by the doctors2 subjects excused from the oath of fidelity by a decree of the sacred faculty2 the executioners so often employed to enforce opinions2 the piles lighted for unfortunates who persuaded others that they were sorcerers and heretics--all that is more than weakness4 ,yet these abominations were committed in the good times of honest ,germanic faith and ,gallic naivete6 ,i would send back to them all honest people who regret times past4 ,i will make here1 simply for my own particular edification1 a little instructive memoir of the fine things which divided the minds of our grandfathers4 ,in the eleventh century--in that good time in which we knew not the art of war1 which however we have always practised2 nor that of governing towns1 nor commerce1 nor society1 and in which we could neither read nor write--men of much mind disputed solemnly1 at much length1 and with great vivacity1 on what happened at the water-closet1 after having fulfilled a sacred duty1 of which we must speak only with the most profound respect4 ,this was called the dispute of the stercorists2 and1 not ending in a war1 was in consequence one of the mildest impertinences of the human mind4 ,the dispute which divided learned ,spain1 in the same century1 on the ,mosarabic version1 also terminated without ravaging provinces or shedding human blood4 ,the spirit of chivalry1 which then prevailed1 permitted not the difficulty to be enlightened otherwise than in leaving the decision to two noble knights4 ,as in that of the two ,don ,quixotes1 whichever overthrew his adversary caused his own party to triumph4 ,don ,ruis de ,martanza1 knight of the ,mosarabic ritual1 overthrew the ,don ,quixote of the ,latin ritual2 but as the laws of chivalry decided not positively that a ritual must be proscribed because its knight was unhorsed1 a more certain and established secret was made use of1 to know which of the books should be preferred4 ,the expedient alluded to was that of throwing them both into the fire1 it not being possible for the sound ritual to perish in the flames4 ,i know not how it happened1 however1 but they were both burned1 and the dispute remained undecided1 to the great astonishment of the ,spaniards4 ,by degrees1 the ,latin ritual got the preference2 and if any knight afterwards presented himself to maintain the ,mosarabic1 it was the knight and not the ritual which was thrown into the fire4 ,in these fine times1 we and other polished people1 when we were ill1 were obliged to have recourse to an ,arabian physician4 ,when we would know what day of the moon it was1 we referred to the ,arabs4 ,if we would buy a piece of cloth1 we must pay a ,jew for it2 and when a farmer wanted rain1 he addressed himself to a sorcerer4 ,at last1 however1 when some of us learned ,latin1 and had a bad translation of ,aristotle1 we figured in the world with honor1 passing three or four hundred years in deciphering some pages of the ,stagyrite1 and in adoring and condemning them4 ,some said that without him we should want articles of faith2 others1 that he was an atheist4 ,a ,spaniard proved that ,aristotle was a saint1 and that we should celebrate his anniversary2 while a council in ,france caused his divine writings to be burned4 ,colleges1 universities1 whole orders of monks1 were reciprocally anathematized1 on the subject of some passages of this great man--which neither themselves1 the judges who interposed their authority1 nor the author himself1 ever understood4 ,there were many fisticuffs given in ,germany in these grave quarrels1 but there was not much bloodshed4 ,it is a pity1 for the glory of ,aristotle1 that they did not make civil war1 and have some regular battles in favor of quiddities1 and of the universal of the part of the thing4 ,our ancestors cut the throats of each other in disputes upon points which they understood very little better4 ,it is true that a much celebrated madman named ,occam1 surnamed the invincible doctor1 chief of those who stood up for the universal of the part of thought1 demanded from the emperor ,louis of ,bavaria1 that he should defend his pen with his imperial sword against ,scott1 another ,scottish madman1 surnamed the subtle doctor1 who fought for the universal of the part of the thing4 ,happily1 the sword of ,louis of ,bavaria remained in its scabbard4 ,who would believe that these disputes have lasted until our days1 and that the ,parliament of ,paris1 in #afbd1 gave a fine sentence in favor of ,aristotle8 ,towards the time of the brave ,occam and the intrepid ,scott1 a much more serious quarrel arose1 into which the reverend father ,cordeliers inveigled all the ,christian world4 ,this was to know if their kitchen garden belonged to themselves1 or if they were merely simple tenants of it4 ,the form of the cowls1 and the size of the sleeves1 were further subjects of this holy war4 ,pope ,john ,,xxii41 who interfered1 found out to whom he was speaking4 ,the ,cordeliers quitted his party for that of ,louis of ,bavaria1 who then drew his sword4 ,there were1 moreover1 three or four ,cordeliers burned as heretics1 which is rather strong2 but after all1 this affair having neither shaken thrones nor ruined provinces1 we may place it in the rank of peaceable follies4 ,there have been always some of this kind1 the greater part of whom have fallen into the most profound oblivion2 and of four or five hundred sects which have appeared1 there remain in the memory of men those only which have produced either extreme disorder or extreme folly--two things which they willingly retain4 ,who knows1 in the present day1 that there were ,orebites1 ,osmites1 and ,insdorfians8 ,who is now acquainted with the ,anointed1 the ,cornacians1 or the ,iscariots8 ,dining one day at the house of a ,dutch lady1 ,i was charitably warned by one of the guests1 to take care of myself1 and not to praise ,voetius4 ,i have no desire1 said ,i1 to say either good or evil of your ,voetius2 but why do you give me this advice8 ,because madam is a ,cocceian1 said my neighbor4 ,with all my heart1 said ,i4 ,she added1 that there were still four ,cocceians in ,holland1 and that it was a great pity that the sect perished4 ,a time will come in which the ,jansenists1 who have made so much noise among us1 and who are unknown everywhere else1 will have the fate of the ,cocceians4 ,an old doctor said to me3 ,sir1 in my youth1 ,i have debated on the 'mandata impossibilia volentibus et conantibus4' ,i have written against the formulary and the pope1 and ,i thought myself a confessor4 ,i have been put in prison1 and ,i thought myself a martyr4 ,i now no longer interfere in anything1 and ,i believe myself to be reasonable4 ,what are your occupations8 said ,i to him4 ,sir1 replied he1 ,i am very fond of money4 ,it is thus that almost all men in their old age inwardly laugh at the follies which they ardently embraced in their youth4 ,sects grow old1 like men4 ,those which have not been supported by great princes1 which have not caused great mischief1 grow old much sooner than others4 ,they are epidemic maladies1 which pass over like the sweating sickness and the whooping-cough4 ,there is no longer any question on the pious reveries of ,madame ,guyon4 ,we no longer read the most unintelligible book of ,maxims of the ,saints1 but ,telemachus4 ,we no longer remember what the eloquent ,bossuet wrote against the elegant and amiable ,fnelon2 we give the preference to his funeral orations4 ,in all the dispute on what is called quietism1 there has been nothing good but the old tale revived of the honest woman who brought a torch to burn paradise1 and a cruse of water to extinguish the fire of hell1 that ,god should no longer be served either through hope or fear4 ,i will only remark one singularity in this proceeding1 which is not equal to the story of the good woman2 it is1 that the ,jesuits1 who were so much accused in ,france by the ,jansenists of having been founded by ,st4 ,ignatius1 expressly to destroy the love of ,god1 warmly interfered at ,rome in favor of the pure love of ,fnelon4 ,it happened to them as to ,m4 de ,langeais1 who was pursued by his wife to the ,parliament of ,paris1 on account of his impotence1 and by a girl to the ,parliament of ,rennes1 for having rendered her pregnant4 ,he ought to have gained one of these two causes2 he lost them both4 ,pure love1 for which the ,jesuits made so much stir1 was condemned at ,rome1 and they were always supposed at ,paris to be against loving ,god4 ,this opinion was so rooted in the public mind that when1 some years ago1 an engraving was sold representing our ,lord ,jesus ,christ dressed as a ,jesuit1 a wit--apparently the loustic of the ,jansenist party--wrote lines under the print intimating that the ingenious fathers had habited ,god like themselves1 as the surest means of preventing the love of him3 ,admirez l'artifice extrme ,les ces pres ingnieux3 ,ils vous ont habill comme eux1 ,mon ,dieu1 de peur qu'on ne vous aime4 ,at ,rome1 where such disputes never arise1 and where they judge those that take place elsewhere1 they were much annoyed with quarrels on pure love4 ,cardinal ,carpegne1 who was the reporter of the affairs of the archbishop of ,cambray1 was ill1 and suffered much in a part which is not more spared in cardinals than in other men4 ,his surgeon bandaged him with fine linen1 which is called cambrai 7cambric7 in ,italy as in many other places4 ,the cardinal cried out1 when the surgeon pleaded that it was the finest cambrai3 ,what6 more cambrai still8 ,is it not enough to have one's head fatigued with it8 ,happy the disputes which end thus6 ,happy would man be if all the disputers of the world1 if heresiarchs1 submitted with so much moderation1 such magnanimous mildness1 as the great archbishop of ,cambray1 who had no desire to be an heresiarch6 ,i know not whether he was right in wishing ,god to be loved for himself alone1 but ,m4 de ,fnelon certainly deserved to be loved thus4 ,in purely literary disputes there is often as much snarling and party spirit as in more interesting quarrels4 ,we should1 if we could1 renew the factions of the circus1 which agitated the ,roman ,empire4 ,two rival actresses are capable of dividing a town4 ,men have all a secret fascination for faction4 ,if we cannot cabal1 pursue1 and destroy one another for crowns1 tiaras1 and mitres1 we fall upon one another for a dancer or a musician4 ,rameau had a violent party against him1 who would have exterminated him2 and he knew nothing of it4 ,i had a violent party against me1 and ,i knew it well4 ,,whys 7,,the74 ,why do we scarcely ever know the tenth part of the good we might do8 ,iris clear1 that if a nation living between the ,alps1 the ,pyrenees1 and the sea1 had employed1 in ameliorating and embellishing the country1 a tenth part of the money it lost in the war of #agda1 and one-half of the men killed to no purpose in ,germany1 the state would have been more flourishing4 ,why was not this done8 ,why prefer a war1 which ,europe considered unjust1 to the happy labors of peace1 which would have produced the useful and the agreeable8 ,why did ,louis ,,xiv41 who had so much taste for great monuments1 for new foundations1 for the fine arts1 lose eight hundred millions of our money in seeing his cuirassiers and his household swim across the ,rhine in not taking ,amsterdam2 in stirring up nearly all ,europe against him8 ,what could he not have done with his eight hundred millions8 ,why1 when he reformed jurisprudence1 did he reform it only by halves8 ,ought the numerous ancient customs1 founded on the decretals and the canon law1 to be still suffered to exist8 ,was it necessary that in the many causes called ecclesiastical1 but which are in reality civil1 appeal should be made to the bishop2 from the bishop to the metropolitan2 from the metropolitan to the primate2 and from the primate to ,rome1 ad apostolos8--as if the apostles had of old been the judges of the ,gauls en dernier ressort4 ,why1 when ,louis ,,xiv4 was outrageously insulted by ,pope ,alexander ,,vii4--,chigi--did he amuse himself with sending into ,france for a legate1 to make frivolous excuses1 and with having a pyramid erected at ,rome1 the inscriptions over which concerned none but the watchmen of ,rome--a pyramid which he soon after had abolished8 ,had it not been better to have abolished forever the simony by which every bishop and every abbot in ,gaul pays to the ,italian apostolic chamber the half of his revenue8 ,why did the same monarch1 when still more grievously insulted by ,innocent ,,xi4--,odescalchi--who took the part of the prince of ,orange against him1 content himself with having four propositions maintained in his universities1 and refuse the prayers of the whole magistracy1 who solicited an eternal rupture with the court of ,rome8 ,why1 in making the laws1 was it forgotten to place all the provinces of the kingdom under one uniform law1 leaving in existence a hundred different customs1 and a hundred and forty-four different measures8 ,why were the provinces of this kingdom still reputed foreign to one another1 so that the merchandise of ,normandy1 on being conveyed by land into ,brittany1 pays duty1 as if it came from ,england8 ,why was not corn grown in ,champagne allowed to be sold in ,picardy without an express permission--as at ,rome permission is obtained for three giuli to read forbidden books8 ,why was ,france left so long under the reproach of venality8 ,it seemed to be reserved for ,louis ,,xiv4 to abolish the custom of buying the right to sit as judges over men1 as you buy a country house2 and making pleaders pay fees to the judge1 as tickets for the play are paid for at the door4 ,why institute in a kingdom the offices and dignities of king's counsellors3 ,inspectors of drink1 inspectors of the shambles1 registrars of inventories1 controllers of fines1 inspectors of hogs1 prquateurs of tailles1 fuel-measurers1 assistant-measurers1 fuel-pilers1 unloaders of green wood1 controllers of timber1 markers of timber1 coal-measurers1 corn-sifters1 inspectors of calves1 controllers of poultry1 gaugers1 assayers of brandy1 assayers of beer1 rollers of casks1 unloaders of hay1 floor-clearers1 inspectors of ells1 inspectors of wigs8 ,these offices2 in which doubtless consist the prosperity and splendor of an empire1 formed numerous communities1 which had each their syndics4 ,this was all suppressed in #agai2 but it was to make room for others of a similar kind1 in the course of time4 ,would it not be better to retrench all the pomp and luxury of greatness1 than miserably to support them by means so low and shameful8 ,why has a nation1 often reduced to extremity and to some degree of humiliation1 still supported itself in spite of all the efforts made to crush it8 ,because that nation is active and industrious4 ,the people are like the bees3 you take from them wax and honey1 and they forthwith set to work to produce more4 ,why1 in half of ,europe1 do the girls pray to ,god in ,latin1 which they do not understand8 ,why1 in the sixteenth century1 when nearly all the popes and bishops notoriously had bastards1 did they persist in prohibiting the marriage of priests2 while the ,greek ,church has constantly ordained that curates should have wives8 ,why1 in all antiquity1 was there no theological dispute1 nor any people distinguished by a sectarian appellation8 ,the ,egyptians were not called ,isiacs or ,osiriacs4 ,the people of ,syria were not named ,cybelians4 ,the ,cretans had a particular devotion for ,jupiter1 but were not called ,jupiterians4 ,the ancient ,latins were much attached to ,saturn1 but there was not a village in all ,latium called ,saturnian4 ,the disciples of the ,god of ,truth1 on the contrary1 taking the title of their master himself1 and calling themselves1 like him1 anointed1 declared1 as soon as they were able1 eternal war against all nations that were not anointed1 and made war upon one another for upwards of fourteen hundred years1 taking the names of ,arians1 ,manichans1 ,donatists1 ,hussites1 ,papists1 ,lutherans1 ,calvinists1 etc4 ,even the ,jansenists and ,molinists have experienced no mortification so acute as that of not having it in their power to cut one another's throats in pitched battle4 ,whence is this8 ,why does a bookseller publicly sell the ,course of ,atheism1 by the great ,lucretius1 printed for the dauphin1 only son of ,louis ,,xiv41 by order and under the direction of the wise duke of ,montausier1 and of the eloquent ,bossuet1 bishop of ,meaux1 and of the learned ,huet1 bishop of ,avranches8 ,there you find those sublime impieties1 those admirable lines against ,providence and the immortality of the soul1 which pass from mouth to mouth1 through all after-ages3 ,ex nihilo1 nihil2 in nihilum nil posse reverti4 ,from nothing1 nought2 to nothing nought returns4 ,tangere enim ac tangi nisi corpus nulla protest res4 ,matter alone can touch and govern matter4 ,nec bene pro meretis capitur1 nec tangitur ira 7,deus74 ,nothing can flatter ,god1 or cause his anger4 ,tantum religio potuit suadere malorum4 ,how great the evil by religion caused6 ,desipire est mortale eterno jungere et una ,consentire putare1 et fungi mutua posse4 ',tis weak in mortals to attempt to join ,to transient being that which lasts forever4 ,nil igitur mors est1 ad nos neque pertinet hilum4 ,when death is1 we are not2 the body dies1 and with it all4 ,mortalem tamen esse animam fatere necesse est4 ,there is no future2 mortal is the soul4 ,hinc ,acherusia fit stultorum denique vita4 ,hence ancient fools are superstition's prey4 ,and a hundred other lines which charm all nations--the immortal productions of a mind which believed itself to be mortal4 ,not only are these ,latin verses sold in the ,rue ,st4 ,jacques and on the ,quai des ,augustins1 but you fearlessly purchase the translations made into all the patois derived from the ,latin tongue--translations decorated with learned notes1 which elucidate the doctrine of materialism1 collect all the proofs against the ,divinity1 and would annihilate it1 if it could be destroyed4 ,you find this book1 bound in morocco1 in the fine library of a great and devout prince1 of a cardinal1 of a chancellor1 of an archbishop1 of a round-capped president3 but the first eighteen books of de ,thou were condemned as soon as they appeared4 ,a poor ,gallic philosopher ventures to publish1 in his own name1 that if men had been born without fingers1 they would never have been able to work tapestry2 and immediately another ,gaul1 who for his money has obtained a robe of office1 requires that the book and the author be burned4 ,why are scenic exhibitions anathematized by certain persons who call themselves of the first order in the state1 seeing that such exhibitions are necessary to all the orders of the state1 and that the laws of the state uphold them with equal splendor and regularity8 ,why do we abandon to contempt1 debasement1 oppression1 and rapine1 the great mass of those laborious and harmless men who cultivate the earth every day of the year1 that we may eat of all its fruits8 ,and why1 on the contrary1 do we pay respect1 attention1 and court1 to the useless and often very wicked man who lives only by their labor1 and is rich only by their misery8 ,why1 during so many ages1 among so many men who sow the corn with which we are fed1 has there been no one to discover that ridiculous error which teaches that the grain must rot in order to germinate1 and die to spring up again--an error which has led to many impertinent assertions1 to many false comparisons1 and to many ridiculous opinions8 ,why1 since the fruits of the earth are so necessary for the preservation of men and animals1 do we find so many years1 and so many centuries1 in which these fruits are absolutely wanting8 why is the earth covered with poisons in the half of ,africa and of ,america8 why is there no tract of land where there are not more insects than men8 why does a little whitish and offensive secretion form a being which will have hard bones1 desires1 and thoughts8 and why shall those beings be constantly persecuting one another8 why does there exist so much evil1 everything being formed by a ,god whom all ,theists agree in calling good8 why1 since we are always complaining of our ills1 are we constantly employed in redoubling them8 why1 since we are so miserable1 has it been imagined that to die is an evil--when it is clear that not to have been1 before our birth1 was no evil8 why does it rain every day into the sea1 while so many deserts demand rain1 yet are constantly arid8 why and how have we dreams in our sleep1 if we have no soul8 and if we have one1 how is it that these dreams are always so incoherent and so extravagant8 why do the heavens revolve from east to west1 rather than the contrary way8 why do we exist8 why does anything exist8 ,,wicked4 ,we are told that human nature is essentially perverse2 that man is born a child of the devil1 and wicked4 ,nothing can be more injudicious2 for thou1 my friend1 who preachest to me that all the world is born perverse1 warnest me that thou art born such also1 and that ,i must mistrust thee as ,i would a fox or a crocodile4 ,oh1 no6 sayest thou2 ,i am regenerated2 ,i am neither a heretic nor an infidel2 you may trust in me4 ,but the rest of mankind1 which are either heretic1 or what thou callest infidel1 will be an assemblage of monsters1 and every time that thou speakest to a ,lutheran or a ,turk1 thou mayest be sure that they will rob and murder thee1 for they are children of the devil1 they are born wicked2 the one is not regenerated1 the other is degenerated4 ,it would be much more reasonable1 much more noble1 to say to men3 ,you are all born good2 see how dreadful it is to corrupt the purity of your being4 ,all mankind should be dealt with as are all men individually4 ,if a canon leads a scandalous life1 we say to him3 ,is it possible that you would dishonor the dignity of canon8 ,we remind a lawyer that he has the honor of being a counsellor to the king1 and that he should set an example4 ,we say to a soldier to encourage him3 ,remember that thou art of the regiment of ,champagne4 ,we should say to every individual3 ,remember thy dignity as a man4 ,and indeed1 notwithstanding the contrary theory1 we always return to that2 for what else signifies the expression1 so frequently used in all nations3 ,be yourself again8 ,if we are born of the devil1 if our origin was criminal1 if our blood was formed of an infernal liquor1 this expression3 ,be yourself again1 would signify3 ,consult1 follow your diabolical nature2 be an impostor1 thief1 and assassin2 it is the law of your nature4 ,man is not born wicked2 he becomes so1 as he becomes sick4 ,physicians present themselves and say to him3 ,you are born sick4 ,it is very certain these doctors1 whatever they may say or do1 will not cure him1 if the malady is inherent in his nature2 besides1 these reasoners are often very ailing themselves4 ,assemble all the children of the universe2 you will see in them only innocence1 mildness1 and fear2 if they were born wicked1 mischievous1 and cruel1 they would show some signs of it1 as little serpents try to bite1 and little tigers to tear4 ,but nature not having given to men more offensive arms than to pigeons and rabbits1 she cannot have given them an instinct leading them to destroy4 ,man1 therefore1 is not born bad2 why1 therefore1 are several infected with the plague of wickedness8 ,it is1 that those who are at their head being taken with the malady1 communicate it to the rest of men3 as a woman attacked with the distemper which ,christopher ,columbus brought from ,america1 spreads the venom from one end of ,europe to the other4 ,the first ambitious man corrupted the earth4 ,you will tell me that this first monster has sowed the seed of pride1 rapine1 fraud1 and cruelty1 which is in all men4 ,i confess1 that in general most of our brethren can acquire these qualities2 but has everybody the putrid fever1 the stone and gravel1 because everybody is exposed to it8 ,there are whole nations which are not wicked3 the ,philadelphians1 the ,banians1 have never killed any one4 ,the ,chinese1 the people of ,tonquin1 ,lao1 ,siam1 and even ,japan1 for more than a hundred years have not been acquainted with war4 ,in ten years we scarcely see one of those great crimes which astonish human nature in the cities of ,rome1 ,venice1 ,paris1 ,london1 and ,amsterdam2 towns in which cupidity1 the mother of all crimes1 is extreme4 ,if men were essentially wicked--if they were all born submissive to a being as mischievous as unfortunate1 who1 to revenge himself for his punishment1 inspired them with all his passions--we should every morning see husbands assassinated by their wives1 and fathers by their children2 as at break of day we see fowls strangled by a weasel who comes to suck their blood4 ,if there be a thousand millions of men on the earth1 that is much2 that gives about five hundred millions of women1 who sew1 spin1 nourish their little ones1 keep their houses or cabins in order1 and slander their neighbors a little4 ,i see not what great harm these poor innocents do on earth4 ,of this number of inhabitants of the globe1 there are at least two hundred millions of children1 who certainly neither kill nor steal1 and about as many old people and invalids1 who have not the power of doing so4 ,there will remain1 at most1 a hundred millions of robust young people capable of crime4 ,of this hundred millions1 there are ninety continually occupied in forcing the earth1 by prodigious labor1 to furnish them with food and clothing2 these have scarcely time4 ,in the ten remaining millions will be comprised idle people and good company1 who would enjoy themselves at their ease2 men of talent occupied in their professions2 magistrates1 priests1 visibly interested in leading a pure life1 at least in appearance4 ,therefore1 of truly wicked people1 there will only remain a few politicians1 either secular or regular1 who will always trouble the world1 and some thousand vagabonds who hire their services to these politicians4 ,now1 there is never a million of these ferocious beasts employed at once1 and in this number ,i reckon highwaymen4 ,you have therefore on the earth1 in the most stormy times1 only one man in a thousand whom we can call wicked1 and he is not always so4 ,there is1 therefore infinitely less wickedness on the earth than we are told and believe there is4 ,there is still too much1 no doubt2 we see misfortunes and horrible crimes2 but the pleasure of complaining of and exaggerating them is so great1 that at the least scratch we say that the earth flows with blood4 ,have you been deceived8--all men are perjured4 ,a melancholy mind which has suffered injustice1 sees the earth covered with damned people3 as a young rake1 supping with his lady1 on coming from the opera1 imagines that there are no unfortunates4 ,,will4 ,some very subtle ,greeks formerly consulted ,pope ,honorius ,i41 to know whether ,jesus1 when ,he was in the world1 had one will or two1 when ,he would sleep or watch1 eat or repair to the water-closet1 walk or sit4 ,what signifies it to you8 answered the very wise bishop of ,rome1 ,honorius4 ,he has certainly at present the will for you to be well-disposed people--that should satisfy you2 ,he has no will for you to be babbling sophists1 to fight continually for the bishop's mitre and the ass's shadow4 ,i advise you to live in peace1 and not to lose in useless disputes the time which you might employ in good works4 ,holy father1 you have said well2 this is the most important affair in the world4 ,we have already set ,europe1 ,asia1 and ,africa on fire1 to know whether ,jesus had two persons and one nature1 or one nature and two persons1 or rather two persons and two natures1 or rather one person and one nature4 ,my dear brethren1 you have acted wrongly2 we should give broth to the sick and bread to the poor4 ,it is doubtless right to help the poor6 but is not the patriarch ,sergius about to decide in a council at ,constantinople1 that ,jesus had two natures and one will8 ,and the emperor1 who knows nothing about it1 is of this opinion4 ,well1 be it so6 but above all defend yourself from the ,mahometans1 who box your ears every day1 and who have a very bad will towards you4 ,it is well said6 ,but behold the bishops of ,tunis1 ,tripoli1 ,algiers1 and ,morocco1 all declare firmly for the two wills4 ,we must have an opinion2 what is yours8 ,my opinion is1 that you are madmen1 who will lose the ,christian religion which we have established with so much trouble4 ,you will do so much mischief with your folly1 that ,tunis1 ,tripoli1 ,algiers1 and ,morocco1 of which you speak to me1 will become ,mahometan1 and there will not be a ,christian chapel in ,africa4 ,meantime1 ,i am for the emperor and the council1 until you have another council and another emperor4 ,this does not satisfy us4 ,do you believe in two wills or one8 ,listen3 if these two wills are alike1 it is as if there was but one2 if they are contrary1 he who has two wills at once will do two contrary things at once1 which is absurd3 consequently1 ,i am for a single will4 ,ah1 holy father1 you are a monothelite6 ,heresy6 the devil6 ,excommunicate him6 depose him6 ,a council1 quick6 another council6 another emperor6 another bishop of ,rome6 another patriarch6 ,my ,god6 how mad these poor ,greeks are with all their vain and interminable disputes6 ,my successor will do well to dream of being powerful and rich4 ,scarcely had ,honorius uttered these words when he learned that the emperor ,heraclius was dead1 after having been beaten by the ,mahometans4 ,his widow1 ,martina1 poisoned her son-in-law2 the senate caused ,martina's tongue to be cut out1 and the nose of another son of the emperor to be slit3 all the ,greek ,empire flowed in blood4 ,would it not be better not to have disputed on the two wills8 ,and this ,pope ,honorius1 against whom the ,jansenists have written so much--was he not a very sensible man8 ,,wit1 ,,spirit1 ,,intellect4 ,a man who had some knowledge of the human heart1 was consulted upon a tragedy which was to be represented2 and he answered1 there was so much wit in the piece1 that he doubted of its success4 ,what6 you will exclaim1 is that a fault1 at a time when every one is in search of wit--when each one writes but to show that he has it--when the public even applaud the falsest thoughts1 if they are brilliant8--,yes1 doubtless1 they will applaud the first day1 and be wearied the second4 ,what is called wit1 is sometimes a new comparison1 sometimes a subtle allusion2 here1 it is the abuse of a word1 which is presented in one sense1 and left to be understood in another2 there1 a delicate relation between two ideas not very common4 ,it is a singular metaphor2 it is the discovery of something in an object which does not at first strike the observation1 but which is really in it2 it is the art either of bringing together two things apparently remote1 or of dividing two things which seem to be united1 or of opposing them to each other4 ,it is that of expressing only one-half of what you think1 and leaving the other to be guessed4 ,in short1 ,i would tell you of all the different ways of showing wit1 if ,i had more2 but all these gems--and ,i do not here include the counterfeits--are very rarely suited to a serious work--to one which is to interest the reader4 ,the reason is1 that then the author appears1 and the public desire to see only the hero2 for the hero is constantly either in passion or in danger4 ,danger and the passions do not go in search of wit4 ,priam and ,hecuba do not compose epigrams while their children are butchered in flaming ,troy2 ,dido does not sigh out her soul in madrigals1 while rushing to the pile on which she is about to immolate herself2 ,demosthenes makes no display of pretty thoughts while he is inciting the ,athenians to war4 ,if he had1 he would be a rhetorician2 whereas he is a statesman4 ,the art of the admirable ,racine is far above what is called wit2 but if ,pyrrhus had always expressed himself in this style3 ,vaincu1 charg de fers1 de regrets consum1 ,brl de plus de feux que je n'en allumai4444 ,hlas6 fus-je jamais si cruel que vous l'tes8 ,conquered and chained1 worn out by vain desire1 ,scorched by more flames than ,i have ever lighted4444 ,alas6 my cruelty ne'er equalled yours6 --if ,orestes had been continually saying that the ,scythians are less cruel than ,hermione1 these two personages would excite no emotion at all2 it would be perceived that true passion rarely occupies itself with such comparisons2 and that there is some disproportion between the real flames by which ,troy was consumed and the flames of ,pyrrhus' love--between the ,scythians immolating men1 and ,hermione not loving ,orestes4 ,cinna says1 speaking of ,pompey3 ,le ciel choisit sa mort1 pour servir dignement ,d'une marque ternelle ce grand changement2 ,et devait cette gloire aux manes d'un tel homme1 ,d'emporter avec eux la libert de ,rome4 ,heaven chose the death of such a man1 to be ,th' eternal landmark of this mighty change4 ,his manes called for no less offering ,than ,roman liberty4 ,this thought is very brilliant2 there is much wit in it1 as also an air of imposing grandeur4 ,i am sure that these lines1 pronounced with all the enthusiasm and art of a great actor1 will be applauded2 but ,i am also sure that the play of ,cinna1 had it been written entirely in this taste1 would never have been long played4 ,why1 indeed1 was heaven bound to do ,pompey the honor of making the ,romans slaves after his death8 ,the contrary would be truer3 the manes of ,pompey should rather have obtained from heaven the everlasting maintenance of that liberty for which he is supposed to have fought and died4 ,what1 then1 would any work be which should be full of such far-fetched and questionable thoughts8 ,how much superior to all these brilliant ideas are those simple and natural lines3 ,cinna1 tu t'en souviens1 et veux m'assassiner6 --,,cinna1 act v1 scene i4 ,thou dost remember1 ,cinna1 yet wouldst kill me6 ,soyons amis1 ,cinna2 c'est moi qui t'en convie4 --,,id41 act v1 scene iii4 ,let us be friends1 ,cinna2 'tis ,i who ask it4 ,true beauty consists1 not in what is called wit1 but in sublimity and simplicity4 ,let ,antiochus1 in ,rodogune1 say of his mistress1 who quits him1 after disgracefully proposing to him to kill his mother3 ,elle fuit1 mais en ,parthe1 en nous perant le cur4 ,she flies1 but1 like the ,parthian1 flying1 wounds4 ,antiochus has wit2 he makes an epigram against ,rodogune2 he ingeniously likens her last words in going away1 to the arrows which the ,parthians used to discharge in their flight4 ,but it is not because his mistress goes away1 that the proposal to kill his mother is revolting3 whether she goes or stays1 the heart of ,antiochus is equally wounded4 ,the epigram1 therefore1 is false2 and if ,rodogune did not go away1 this bad epigram could not be retained4 ,i select these examples expressly from the best authors1 in order that they may be the more striking4 ,i do not lay hold of those puns which play upon words1 the false taste of which is felt by all4 ,there is no one that does not laugh when1 in the tragedy of the ,golden ,fleece1 ,hypsipyle says to ,medea1 alluding to her sorceries3 ,je n'ai que des attraits1 et vous avez des charmes4 ,i have attractions only1 you have charms4 ,corneille found the stage and every other department of literature infested with these puerilities1 into which he rarely fell4 ,i wish here to speak only of such strokes of wit as would be admitted elsewhere1 and as the serious style rejects4 ,to their authors might be applied the sentence of ,plutarch1 translated with the happy naivete of ,amiot3 ,tu tiens sans propos beaucoup de bons propos4 ,there occurs to my recollection one of those brilliant passages1 which ,i have seen quoted as a model in many works of taste1 and even in the treatise on studies by the late ,m4 ,rollin4 ,this piece is taken from the fine funeral oration on the great ,turenne1 composed by ,flchier4 ,it is true1 that in this oration ,flchier almost equalled the sublime ,bossuet1 whom ,i have called and still call the only eloquent man among so many elegant writers2 but it appears to me that the passage of which ,i am speaking would not have been employed by the bishop of ,meaux4 ,here it is3 ,ye powers hostile to ,france1 you live2 and the spirit of ,christian charity forbids me to wish your death4444 but you live2 and ,i mourn in this pulpit over a virtuous leader1 whose intentions were pure4444 ,an apostrophe in this taste would have been suitable to ,rome in the civil war1 after the assassination of ,pompey2 or to ,london1 after the murder of ,charles ,i42 because the interests of ,pompey and ,charles ,i4 were really in question4 ,but is it decent to insinuate in the pulpit a wish for the death of the emperor1 the king of ,spain1 and the electors1 and put in the balance against them the commander-in-chief employed by a king who was their enemy8 ,should the intentions of a leader--which can only be to serve his prince--be compared with the political interests of the crowned heads against whom he served8 ,what would be said of a ,german who should have wished for the death of the king of ,france1 on the occasion of the death of ,general ,merci1 whose intentions were pure8 ,why1 then1 has this passage always been praised by the rhetoricians8 ,because the figure is in itself beautiful and pathetic2 but they do not thoroughly investigate the fitness of the thought4 ,i now return to my paradox2 that none of those glittering ornaments1 to which we give the name of wit1 should find a place in great works designed to instruct or to move the passions4 ,i will even say that they ought to be banished from the opera4 ,music expresses passions1 sentiments1 images2 but where are the notes that can render an epigram8 ,quinault was sometimes negligent1 but he was always natural4 ,of all our operas1 that which is the most ornamented1 or rather the most overloaded1 with this epigrammatic spirit1 is the ballet of the ,triumph of the ,arts1 composed by an amiable man1 who always thought with subtlety1 and expressed himself with delicacy2 but who1 by the abuse of this talent1 contributed a little to the decline of letters after the glorious era of ,louis ,,xiv4 ,in this ballet1 in which ,pygmalion animates his statue1 he says to it3 ,vos premiers mouvemens ont t de m'aimer4 ,and love for me your earliest movements showed4 ,i remember to have heard this line admired by some persons in my youth4 ,but who does not perceive that the movements of the body of the statue are here confounded with the movements of the heart1 and that in any sense the phrase is not ,french--that it is1 in fact1 a pun1 a jest8 ,how could it be that a man who had so much wit1 had not enough to retrench these egregious faults8 ,this same man--who1 despising ,homer1 translated him2 who1 in translating him1 thought to correct him1 and by abridging him1 thought to make him read--had a mind to make ,homer a wit4 ,it is he who1 when ,achilles reappears1 reconciled to the ,greeks who are ready to avenge him1 makes the whole camp exclaim3 ,que ne vaincra-t-il point8 ,il s'est vaincu lui-mme4 ,what shall oppose him1 conqueror of himself8 ,a man must indeed be fond of witticisms1 when he makes fifty thousand men pun all at once upon the same word4 ,this play of the imagination1 these quips1 these cranks1 these random shafts1 these gayeties1 these little broken sentences1 these ingenious familiarities1 which it is now the fashion to lavish so profusely1 are befitting no works but those of pure amusement4 ,the front of the ,louvre1 by ,perrault1 is simple and majestic2 minute ornaments may appear with grace in a cabinet4 ,have as much wit as you will1 or as you can1 in a madrigal1 in light verses1 in a scene of a comedy1 when it is to be neither impassioned nor simple1 in a compliment1 in a novellette1 or in a letter1 where you assume gayety yourself in order to communicate it to your friends4 ,far from having reproached ,voiture with having wit in his letters1 ,i found1 on the contrary1 that he had not enough1 although he was constantly seeking it4 ,it is said that dancing-masters make their bow ill1 because they are anxious to make it too well4 ,i thought this was often the case with ,voiture2 his best letters are studied2 you feel that he is fatiguing himself to find that which presents itself so naturally to ,count ,anthony ,hamilton1 to ,madame de ,svign1 and to so many other women1 who write these trifles without an effort1 better than ,voiture wrote them with labor4 ,despraux1 who in his first satires had ventured to compare ,voiture to ,horace1 changed his opinion when his taste was ripened by age4 ,i know that it matters very little1 in the affairs of this world1 whether ,voiture was or was not a great genius2 whether he wrote only a few pretty letters1 or that all his pieces of pleasantry were models4 ,but we1 who cultivate and love the liberal arts1 cast an attentive eye on what is quite indifferent to the rest of the world4 ,good taste is to us in literature what it is to women in dress2 and provided that one's opinions shall not be made a party matter1 it appears to me that one may boldly say1 that there are but few excellent things in ,voiture1 and that ,marot might easily be reduced to a few pages4 ,not that we wish to take from them their reputation2 on the contrary1 we wish to ascertain precisely what that reputation cost them1 and what are the real beauties for which their defects have been tolerated4 ,we must know what we are to follow1 and what we are to avoid2 this is the real fruit of the profound study of the belles-lettres2 this is what ,horace did when he examined ,lucilius critically4 ,horace made himself enemies thereby2 but he enlightened his enemies themselves4 ,this desire of shining and of saying in a novel manner what has been said by others1 is a source of new expressions as well as far-fetched thoughts4 ,he who cannot shine by thought1 seeks to bring himself into notice by a word4 ,hence it has at last been thought proper to substitute amabilits1 for agrmens2 ngligemment for avec ngligence2 badiner les amours1 for badiner avec les amours4 ,there are numberless other affectations of this kind2 and if this be continued1 the language of ,bossuet1 of ,racine1 of ,corneille1 of ,boileau1 of ,fnelon1 will soon be obsolete4 ,why avoid an expression which is in use1 to introduce another which says precisely the same thing8 ,a new word is pardonable only when it is absolutely necessary1 intelligible1 and sonorous4 ,in physical science1 we are obliged to make them2 a new discovery1 a new machine1 requires a new word4 ,but do we make any new discoveries in the human heart8 ,is there any other greatness than that of ,corneille and ,bossuet8 ,are there any other passions than those which have been delineated by ,racine1 and sketched by ,quinault8 ,is there any other gospel morality than that of ,bourdaloue8 ,they who charge our language with not being sufficiently copious1 must indeed have found sterility somewhere1 but it is in themselves4 ,rem verba sequuntur4 ,when an idea is forcibly impressed on the mind--when a clear and vigorous head is in full possession of its thought--it issues from the brain1 arrayed in suitable expressions1 as ,minerva came forth in full armor to wait upon ,jupiter4 ,in fine1 the conclusion from this is that neither thoughts nor expressions should be far-fetched2 and that the art1 in all great works1 is to reason well1 without entering into too many arguments2 to paint well1 without striving to paint everything2 and to be affecting1 without striving constantly to excite passions4 ,certes1 ,i am here giving fine counsel4 ,have ,i taken it myself8 ,alas6 no6 ,pauci quos quus amavit ,jupiter1 aut ardens evexit ad thera virtus1 ,dis geniti potuere4 --,,neid1 b4 vi1 v4 #abi4 ,to few great ,jupiter imparts this grace1 ,and those of shining worth and heavenly race4 --,,dryden4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,spirit--,wit4 ,the word spirit1 when it signifies a quality of the mind1 is one of those vague terms to which almost every one who pronounces it attaches a different sense2 it expresses some other thing than judgment1 genius1 taste1 talent1 penetration1 comprehensiveness1 grace1 or subtlety1 yet is akin to all these merits2 it might be defined to be ingenious reason4 ,it is a generic word1 which always needs another word to determine it2 and when we hear it said3 ,this is a work of spirit1 or ,he is a man of spirit1 we have very good reason to ask3 ,spirit of what8 ,the sublime spirit of ,corneille is neither the exact spirit of ,boileau1 nor the simple spirit of ,la ,fontaine2 and the spirit of ,la ,bruyre1 which is the art of portraying singularity1 is not that of ,malebranche1 which is imaginative and profound4 ,when a man is said to have a judicious spirit1 the meaning is1 not so much that he has what is called spirit1 as that he has an enlightened reason4 ,a spirit firm1 masculine1 courageous1 great1 little1 weak1 light1 mild1 hasty1 etc41 signifies the character and temper of the mind1 and has no relation to what is understood in society by the expression spirited4 ,spirit1 in the ordinary acceptation of the word1 is much akin to wit2 yet does not signify precisely the same thing2 for the term1 man of spirit1 can never be taken in a bad sense2 but that of a wit1 is sometimes pronounced ironically4 ,whence this difference8 ,it is that a man of spirit does not signify superior wit1 marked talent2 and a wit does4 ,this expression1 man of spirit1 announces no pretensions2 but wit is a sort of advertisement2 it is an art which requires cultivation2 it is a sort of profession2 and thereby exposes to envy and ridicule4 ,in this sense1 ,father ,bouhours would have been right in giving us to understand that the ,germans had no pretensions to wit2 for at that time their learned men occupied themselves in scarcely any works but those of labor and painful research1 which did not admit of their scattering flowers1 of their striving to shine1 and mixing up wit with learning4 ,they who despise the genius of ,aristotle should1 instead of contenting themselves with condemning his physics--which could not be good1 inasmuch as they wanted experiments--be much astonished to find that ,aristotle1 in his rhetoric1 taught perfectly the art of saying things with spirit4 ,he states that this art consists in not merely using the proper word1 which says nothing new2 but that a metaphor must be employed--a figure1 the sense of which is clear1 and its expression energetic4 ,of this1 he adduces several instances2 and1 among others1 what ,pericles said of a battle in which the flower of the ,athenian youth had perished3 ,the year has been stripped of its spring4 ,aristotle is very right in saying that novelty is necessary4 ,the first person who1 to express that pleasures are mingled with bitterness1 likened them to roses accompanied by thorns1 had wit2 they who repeated it had none4 ,spirited expression does not always consist in a metaphor2 but also in a new term--in leaving one half of one's thoughts to be easily divined2 this is called subtleness1 delicacy2 and this manner is the more pleasing1 as it exercises and gives scope for the wit of others4 ,allusions1 allegories1 and comparisons1 open a vast field for ingenious thoughts4 ,the effects of nature1 fable1 history1 presented to the memory1 furnish a happy imagination with materials of which it makes a suitable use4 ,it will not be useless to give examples in these different kinds4 ,the following is a madrigal by ,m4 de la ,sablire1 which has always been held in high estimation by people of taste3 gl tremble que1 dans ce jour1 ,l',hymen1 plus puissant que l',amour1 ,n'enlve ses trsors1 sans quelle ose s'en plaindre ,elle a nglig mes avis2 ,si la belle les et suivis1 ,elle n'aurait plus rien craindre4 ,weeping1 murmuring1 complaining1 ,lost to every gay delight1 ,mira1 too sincere for feigning1 ,fears th' approaching bridal night4 ,yet why impair thy bright perfection1 ,or dim thy beauty with a tear8 ,had ,mira followed my direction1 ,she long had wanted cause of fear4--,,goldsmith4 ,it does not appear that the author could either better have masked1 or better have conveyed1 the meaning which he was afraid to express4 ,the following madrigal seems more brilliant and more pleasing2 it is an allusion to fable3 ,vous tes belle1 et votre sur est belle2 ,entre vous deux tout choix serait bien doux ,l',amour tait blonde comme vous1 ,mais il amait une brune comme elle4 ,you are a beauty1 and your sister1 too2 ,in choosing 'twixt you1 then1 we cannot err2 ,love1 to be sure1 was fair like you2 ,but1 then1 he courted a brunette like her4 ,there is another1 and a very old one4 ,it is by ,bertaut1 bishop of ,sez1 and seems superior to the two former2 it unites wit and feeling3 ,quand je revis ce que j'ai tant aim1 ,pen s'en fallut que mon coeur rallum ,n'en ft le charme en mon me renatre2 ,et que mon cur1 autrefois son captif1 ,ne ressemblt l'esclave fugitif1 qui le sort fit recontrer son matre4 ,when ,i beheld again the once-loved form1 ,again within my heart the rising storm ,had nearly cast the spell around my soul1 ,which erst had bound me captive at her feet1 ,as some poor slave1 escaped from rude control1 ,his master's dreaded face may haply meet4 ,strokes like these please every one1 and characterize the delicate spirit of an ingenious nation4 ,the great point is to know how far this spirit is admissible4 ,it is clear that1 in great works1 it should be employed with moderation1 for this very reason1 that it is an ornament4 ,the great art consists in propriety4 ,a subtle1 ingenious thought1 a just and flowery comparison1 is a defect when only reason or passion should speak1 or when great interests are to be discussed4 ,this is not false wit1 but misplaced2 and every beauty1 when out of its place1 is a beauty no longer4 ,this is a fault of which ,virgil was never guilty1 and with which ,tasso may now and then be charged1 admirable as he otherwise is4 ,the cause of it is that the author1 too full of his own ideas1 wishes to show himself1 when he should only show his personages4 ,the best way of learning the use that should be made of wit1 is to read the few good works of genius which are to be found in the learned languages and in our own4 ,false wit is not the same as misplaced wit4 ,it is not merely a false thought1 for a thought might be false without being ingenious2 it is a thought at once false and elaborate4 ,it has already been remarked that a man of great wit1 who translated1 or rather abridged ,homer into ,french verse1 thought to embellish that poet1 whose simplicity forms his character1 by loading him with ornaments4 ,on the subject of the reconciliation of ,achilles1 he says3 ,tout le camp s'cria dans une joie extrme1 ,que ne vaincra-t-il point8 ,il s'est vaincu lui-mme4 ,cried the whole camp1 with overflowing joy-- ,what still resist him8 ,he's o'ercome himself4 ,in the first place it does not at all follow1 because one has overcome one's anger1 that one shall not be beaten4 ,secondly1 is it possible that a whole army should1 by some sudden inspiration1 make instantaneously the same pun8 ,if this fault shocks all judges of severe taste1 how revolting must be all those forced witticisms1 those intricate and puzzling thoughts1 which abound in otherwise valuable writings6 ,is it to be endured1 that in a work of mathematics it should be said3 ,if ,saturn should one day be missing1 his place would be taken by one of the remotest of his satellites2 for great lords always keep their successors at a distance8 ,is it endurable to talk of ,hercules being acquainted with physics1 and that it is impossible to resist a philosopher of such force8 ,such are the excesses into which we are led by the thirst for shining and surprising by novelty4 ,this petty vanity has produced verbal witticisms in all languages1 which is the worst species of false wit4 ,false taste differs from false wit1 for the latter is always an affectation--an effort to do wrong2 whereas the former is often a habit of doing wrong without effort1 and following instinctively an established bad example4 ,the intemperance and incoherence of the imaginations of the ,orientals1 is a false taste2 but it is rather a want of wit than an abuse of it4 ,stars falling1 mountains opening1 rivers rolling back1 sun and moon dissolving1 false and gigantic similes1 continual violence to nature1 are the characteristics of these writers2 because in those countries where there has never been any public speaking1 true eloquence cannot have been cultivated2 and because it is much easier to write fustian than to write that which is just1 refined1 and delicate4 ,false wit is precisely the reverse of these trivial and inflated ideas2 it is a tiresome search after subtleties1 an affectation of saying enigmatically what others have said naturally2 or bringing together ideas which appear incompatible2 of dividing what ought to be united2 of laying hold on false affinities2 of mixing1 contrary to decency1 the trifling with the serious1 and the petty with the grand4 ,it were here a superfluous task to string together quotations in which the word spirit is to be found4 ,we shall content ourselves with examining one from ,boileau1 which is given in the great dictionary of ,trvoux3 ,it is a property of great spirits1 when they begin to grow old and decay1 to be pleased with stories and fables4 ,this reflection is not just4 ,a great spirit may fall into this weakness1 but it is no property of great spirits4 ,nothing is more calculated to mislead the young than the quoting of faults of good writers as examples4 ,we must not here forget to mention in how many different senses the word spirit is employed4 ,this is not a defect of language2 on the contrary1 it is an advantage to have roots which ramify into so many branches4 ,spirit of a body1 of a society1 is used to express the customs1 the peculiar language and conduct1 the prejudices of a body4 ,spirit of party1 is to the spirit of a body1 what the passions are to ordinary sentiments4 ,spirit of a law1 is used to designate its intention2 in this sense it has been said3 ,the letter killeth1 but the spirit giveth life4 ,spirit of a work1 to denote its character and object4 ,spirit of revenge1 to signify desire and intention of taking revenge4 ,spirit of discord1 spirit of revolt1 etc4 ,in one dictionary has been quoted spirit of politeness2 but from an author named ,bellegarde1 who is no authority4 ,both authors and examples should be selected with scrupulous caution4 ,we cannot say spirit of politeness1 as we say spirit of revenge1 of dissension1 of faction2 for politeness is not a passion animated by a powerful motive which prompts it1 and which is metaphorically called spirit4 ,familiar spirit1 is used in another sense1 and signifies those intermediate beings1 those genii1 those demons1 believed in by the ancients2 as the spirit of ,socrates1 etc4 ,spirit sometimes denotes the more subtle part of matter2 we say1 animal spirits1 vital spirits1 to signify that which has never been seen1 but which gives motion and life4 ,these spirits1 which are thought to flow rapidly through the nerves1 are probably a subtile fire4 ,dr4 ,mead is the first who seems to have given proofs of this1 in his treatise on poisons4 ,spirit1 in chemistry1 too1 is a term which receives various acceptations1 but always denotes the more subtile part of matter4 ,,section ,,iii4 ,spirit4 ,is not this word a striking proof of the imperfection of languages2 of the chaos in which they still are1 and the chance which has directed almost all our conceptions8 ,it pleased the ,greeks1 as well as other nations1 to give the name of wind1 breath--pneuma--to that which they vaguely understand by respiration1 life1 soul4 ,so that1 among the ancients1 soul and wind were1 in one sense1 the same thing2 and if we were to say that man is a pneumatic machine1 we should only translate the language of the ,greeks4 ,the ,latins imitated them1 and used the word spiritus1 spirit1 breath4 ,anima and spiritus were the same thing4 ,the rouhak of the ,phnicians1 and1 as it is said1 of the ,chaldans likewise1 signified breath and wind4 ,when the ,bible was translated into ,latin1 the words1 breath1 spirit1 wind1 soul1 were always used differently4 ,spiritus ,dei ferebatur super aquas--the breath of ,god--the spirit of ,god--was borne on the waters4 ,spiritus vit--the breath of life--the soul of life4 ,inspiravit in faciem ejus spiraculum or spiritum vit--,and he breathed upon his face the breath of life2 and1 according to the ,hebrew1 he breathed into his nostrils the breath1 the spirit1 of life4 ,hc quum dixisset1 insufflavit et dixit eis1 accipite spiritum sanctum--,having spoken these words1 he breathed on them1 and said3 ,receive ye the holy breath--the holy spirit4 ,spiritus ubi vult spirat1 et vocem ejus audis2 sed nescis unde veniat--,the spirit1 the wind1 breathes where it will1 and thou hearest its voice 7sound72 but thou knowest not whence it comes4 ,the distance is somewhat considerable between this and our pamphlets of the ,quay des ,augustins and the ,pont-neuf1 entitled1 ,spirit of ,marivaux1 ,spirit of ,desfontaines1 etc4 ,what we commonly understand in ,french by esprit1 bel-esprit1 trait d'esprit1 are--ingenious thoughts4 ,no other nation has made the same use of the word spiritus4 ,the ,latins said ingenium2 the ,greeks1 eupheuia2 or they employed adjectives4 ,the ,spaniards say agudo1 agudeza4 ,the ,italians commonly use the term ingegno4 ,the ,english make use of the words wit1 witty1 the etymology of which is good2 for witty formerly signified wise4 ,the ,germans say verstndig2 and when they mean to express ingenious1 lively1 agreeable thoughts1 they say rich in sensations--sinnreich4 ,hence it is that the ,english1 who have retained many of the expressions of the ancient ,germanic and ,french tongue1 say1 sensible man4 ,thus almost all the words that express ideas of the understanding are metaphors4 ,ingegno1 ingenium1 comes from that which generates2 agudeza1 from that which is pointed2 sinnreich1 from sensations2 spirit1 from wind2 and wit1 from wisdom4 ,in every language1 the word that answers to spirit in general is of several kinds2 and when you are told that such a one is a man of spirit1 you have a right to ask3 ,of what spirit8 ,girard1 in his useful book of definitions1 entitled ,french ,synonymes1 thus concludes3 ,in our intercourse with women1 it is necessary to have wit1 or a jargon which has the appearance of it4 7,this is not doing them honor2 they deserve better47 ,understanding is in demand with politicians and courtiers4 ,it seems to me that understanding is necessary everywhere1 and that it is very extraordinary to hear of understanding in demand4 ,genius is proper with people of project and expense4 ,either ,i am mistaken1 or the genius of ,corneille was made for all spectators--the genius of ,bossuet for all auditors--yet more than for people of expense4 ,the wind1 which answers to ,spiritus1--spirit1 wind1 breath--necessarily giving to all nations the idea of air1 they all supposed that our faculty of thinking and acting--that which animates us--is air2 whence our souls are a subtile air4 ,hence1 manes1 spirits1 ghosts1 shades1 are composed of air4 ,hence we used to say1 not long ago1 ,a 'spirit' has appeared to him2 he has a 'familiar spirit2' that castle is haunted by 'spirits2' and the populace say so still4 ,the word spiritus has hardly ever been used in this sense1 except in the translations of the ,hebrew books into bad ,latin4 ,manes1 umbra1 simulacra1 are the expressions of ,cicero and ,virgil4 ,the ,germans say1 geist2 the ,english1 ghost2 the ,spaniards1 duende1 trasgo2 the ,italians appear to have no term signifying ghost4 ,the ,french alone have made use of the word spirit 7esprit74 ,the words for all nations should be1 phantom1 imagination1 reverie1 folly1 knavery4 ,,section ,,iv4 ,wit4 ,when a nation is beginning to emerge from barbarism1 it strives to show what we call wit4 ,thus1 in the first attempts made in the time of ,francis ,i41 we find in ,marot such puns1 plays on words1 as would now be intolerable4 ,remorentin la parte rememore3 ,cognac s'en cogne en sa poitrine blme1 ,anjou faict jou1 ,angoulme est de mme4 ,these fine ideas are not such as at once present themselves to express the grief of nations4 ,many instances of this depraved taste might be adduced2 but we shall content ourselves with this1 which is the most striking of all4 ,in the second era of the human mind in ,france--in the time of ,balzac1 ,mairet1 ,rotrou1 ,corneille--applause was given to every thought that surprised by new images1 which were called wit4 ,these lines of the tragedy of ,pyramus were very well received3 ,ah6 voici le poignard qui du sang de son matre ,sest souill lchement2 il en rougit1 le tratre6 ,behold the dagger which has basely drunk ,its master's blood6 ,see how the traitor blushes6 ,there was thought to be great art in giving feeling to this dagger1 in making it red with shame at being stained with the blood of ,pyramus1 as much as with the blood itself4 ,no one exclaimed against ,corneille1 when1 in his tragedy of ,andromeda1 ,phineus says to the sun3 ,tu luis1 soleil1 et ta lumire ,semble se plaire m'affliger4 ,ah6 mon amour te va bien obliger quitter soudain ta carrire4 ,viens1 soleil1 viens voir la beaut1 ,dont le divin clat me dompte1 ,et tu fuiras de honte ,d'avoir moins de clart4 ,o sun1 thou shinest1 and thy light ,seems to take pleasure in my woe2 ,but soon my love shall shame thee quite1 ,and be thy glory's overthrow4 ,come1 come1 ,o sun1 and view the face ,whose heavenly splendor ,i adore2 ,then wilt thou flee apace1 ,and show thy own no more4 ,the sun flying because he is not so bright as ,andromeda's face1 is not at all inferior to the blushing dagger4 ,if such foolish sallies as these found favor with a public whose taste it has been so difficult to form1 we cannot be surprised that strokes of wit1 in which some glimmering of beauty is discernible1 should have had these charms4 ,not only was this translation from the ,spanish admired3 ,ce sang qui1 tout vers1 fume encor de courroux1 ,de se voir rpandu pour d'autres que pour vous4 --,,cid1 act ii1 sc4 #i4 ,this blood1 still foaming with indignant rage1 ,that it was shed for others1 not for you2-- not only was there thought to be a very spirited refinement in the line of ,hypsipyle to ,medea1 in the ,golden ,fleece3 ,i have attractions only2 you have charms2 but it was not perceived--and few connoisseurs perceive it yet--that in the imposing part of ,cornelia1 the author almost continually puts wit where grief alone was required4 ,this woman1 whose husband has just been assassinated1 begins her studied speech to ,csar with a for3 ,csar1 car le destin que dans tes fers je brave ,m'a fait ta prisonnire1 et non pas ton esclave2 ,et tu ne prtends pas qu'il m'abatte le cur4 ,jusqu' te rendre hommage et te nommer seigneur4 --,,mort ,,de ,,pomp,e1 act iii1 sc4 #d4 ,csar1 ,for the hard fate that binds me in thy chains1 ,makes me thy prisoner1 but not thy slave2 ,nor wouldst thou have it so subdue my heart ,that ,i should call thee lord and do thee homage4 ,thus she breaks off1 at the very first word1 in order to say that which is at once far-fetched and false4 ,never was the wife of one ,roman citizen the slave of another ,roman citizen3 never was any ,roman called lord2 and this word lord is1 with us1 nothing more than a term of honor and ceremony1 used on the stage4 ,fille de ,scipion1 et1 pour dire encor plus1 ,romaine1 mon courage est encore au-dessus4--,,id4 ,daughter of ,scipio1 and1 yet more1 of ,rome1 ,still does my courage rise above my fate4 ,illustration3 ,pierre ,corneille4 ,besides the defect so common to all ,corneille's heroes1 of thus announcing themselves--of saying1 ,i am great1 ,i am courageous1 admire me--here is the very reprehensible affectation of talking of her birth1 when the head of ,pompey has just been presented to ,csar4 ,real affliction expresses itself otherwise4 ,grief does not seek after a yet more4 ,and what is worse1 while she is striving to say yet more1 she says much less4 ,to be a daughter of ,rome is indubitably less than to be daughter of ,scipio and wife of ,pompey4 ,the infamous ,septimius1 who assassinated ,pompey1 was ,roman as well as she4 ,thousands of ,romans were very ordinary men3 but to be daughter and wife to the greatest of ,romans1 was a real superiority4 ,in this speech1 then1 there is false and misplaced wit1 as well as false and misplaced greatness4 ,she then says1 after ,lucan1 that she ought to blush that she is alive3 ,je dois rougir1 partout1 aprs un tel malheur1 ,de n'avoir pu mourir d'un excs de douleur4--,,id4 ,however1 after such a great calamity1 ,i ought to blush ,i am not dead of grief4 ,lucan1 after the brilliant ,augustan age1 went in search of wit1 because decay was commencing2 and the writers of the age of ,louis ,,xiv4 at first sought to display wit1 because good taste was not then completely found1 as it afterwards was4 ,csar1 de ta victoire coute moins le bruit2 ,elle n'est que l'effet du malheur qui me suit4--,,id4 ,csar1 rejoice not in thy victory2 ,for my misfortune was its only cause4 ,what a poor artifice6 what a false as well as impudent notion6 ,csar conquered at ,pharsalia only because ,pompey married ,cornelia6 ,what labor to say that which is neither true1 nor likely1 nor fit1 nor interesting6 ,deux fois du monde entier j'ai caus la disgrce4--,,id4 ,twice have ,i caused the living world's disgrace4 ,this is the bis nocui mundo of ,lucan4 ,this line presents us with a very great idea2 it cannot fail to surprise2 it is wanting in nothing but truth4 ,but it must be observed1 that if this line had but the smallest ray of verisimilitude--had it really its birth in the pangs of grief1 it would then have all the truth1 all the beauty1 of theatrical fitness3 ,heureuse en mes malheurs1 si ce triste hymne ,pour le bonheur du monde ,rome m'et donne ,et si j'eusse avec moi port dans ta maison4 ,d'un astre envenim l'invincible poison6 ,car enfin n'attends pas que j'abaisse ma haine3 ,je te l'ai dj dit1 ,csar1 je suis ,romaine2 ,et1 quoique ta captive1 un cur tel que le mien1 ,de peur de s'oublier1 ne te demande rien4--,,id4 ,yet happy in my woes1 had these sad nuptials ,given me to ,csar for the good of ,rome2 ,had ,i but carried with me to thy house ,the mortal venom of a noxious star6 ,for think not1 after all1 my hate is less3 ,already have ,i told thee ,i am a ,roman2 ,and1 though thy captive1 such a heart as mine1 ,lest it forget itself1 will sue for nothing4 ,this is ,lucan again4 ,she wishes1 in the ,pharsalia1 that she had married ,csar4 ,atque utinam in thalamis invisi ,csaris essem ,infelix conjux1 et nulli lta marito6 --,lib41 viii1 v4 #hh1 #hi4 ,ah6 wherefore was ,i not much rather led ,a fatal bride to ,csar's hated bed1 etc4 --,,rowe4 ,this sentiment is not in nature2 it is at once gigantic and puerile3 but at least it is not to ,csar that ,cornelia talks thus in ,lucan4 ,corneille1 on the contrary1 makes ,cornelia speak to ,csar himself3 he makes her say that she wishes to be his wife1 in order that she may carry into his house the mortal poison of a noxious star2 for1 adds she1 my hatred cannot be abated1 and ,i have told thee already that ,i am a ,roman1 and ,i sue for nothing4 ,here is odd reasoning3 ,i would fain have married thee1 to cause thy death2 and ,i sue for nothing4 ,be it also observed1 that this widow heaps reproaches on ,csar1 just after ,csar weeps for the death of ,pompey and promises to avenge it4 ,it is certain1 that if the author had not striven to make ,cornelia witty1 he would not have been guilty of the faults which1 after being so long applauded1 are now perceived4 ,the actresses can scarcely longer palliate them1 by a studied loftiness of demeanor and an imposing elevation of voice4 ,the better to feel how much mere wit is below natural sentiment1 let us compare ,cornelia with herself1 where1 in the same tirade1 she says things quite opposite3 ,je dois toutefois rendre grce aux dieux ,de ce qu'en arrivant je trouve en ces lieux1 ,que ,csar y commande1 et non pas ,ptoleme4 ,hlas6 et sous quel astre1 ciel1 m'as-tu forme1 ,si je leur dois des vux1 de ce qu'ils ont permis1 ,que je recontre ici mes plus grands ennemis1 ,et tombe entre leurs mains1 plutt qu'aux mains d'un prince ,qui doit mon poux son trne et sa province4--,,id4 ,yet have ,i cause to thank the gracious gods1 ,that ,csar here commands--not ,ptolemy4 ,alas6 beneath what planet was ,i formed1 ,if ,i owe thanks for being thus permitted ,here to encounter my worst enemies ,and fall into their hands1 rather than those ,of him who to my husband owes his throne8 ,let us overlook the slight defects of style1 and consider how mournful and becoming is this speech2 it goes to the heart3 all the rest dazzles for a moment1 and then disgusts4 ,the following natural lines charm all readers3 ,o vous6 ma douleur objet terrible et tendre1 ternel entretien de haine et de piti1 ,restes de grand ,pompe1 coutez sa moiti1 etc4 ,o dreadful1 tender object of my grief1 ,eternal source of pity and of hate1 ,ye relics of great ,pompey1 hear me now-- ,hear his yet living half4 ,it is by such comparisons that our taste is formed1 and that we learn to admire nothing but truth in its proper place4 ,in the same tragedy1 ,cleopatra thus expresses herself to her confidante1 ,charmion3 ,apprends qu'une princesse aimant sa renomme1 ,quand elle dit qu'elle aime1 est sure d'tre aime2 ,et que les plus beaux feux dont son cur soit pris ,n'oseraient l'exposer aux hontes d'un mpris4 --,act ii1 sc4 #a4 ,know1 that a princess jealous of her fame1 ,when she owns love1 is sure of a return2 ,and that the noblest flame her heart can feel1 ,dares not expose her to rejection's shame4 ,charmion might answer3 ,madam1 ,i know not what the noble flame of a princess is1 which dares not expose her to shame2 and as for princesses who never say they are in love1 but when they are sure of being loved--,i always enact the part of confidante at the play3 and at least twenty princesses have confessed their noble flames to me1 without being at all sure of the matter1 and especially the infanta in ,the ,cid4 ,nay1 we may go further3 ,csar--,csar himself--addresses ,cleopatra1 only to show off double-refined wit3 ,mais1 ,dieux6 ce moment que je vous ai quitte ,d'un trouble bien plus grand a mon me agite2 ,et ces soins importans qui m'arrachaient de vous1 ,contre ma grandeur mme allumaient mon courroux2 ,je lui voulais du mal de m'tre si contraire2 ,mais je lui pardonnais1 au simple souvenir ,du bonheur qu' ma flamme elle fait obtenir4 ,c'est elle1 dont je tiens cette haute esprance1 ,qui flatte mes dsirs d'une illustre apparence4444 ,c'tait1 pour acqurir un droit si prcieux2 ,que combattait partout mon bras ambitieux2 ,et dans ,pharsale mme il a tir l'pe ,plus pour le conserver que pour vaincre ,pompe4 --,act iv1 sc4 #c4 ,but1 ,o the moment that ,i quitted you1 ,a greater trouble came upon my soul2 ,and those important cares that snatched me from you ,against my very greatness moved my ire2 ,i hated it for thwarting my desires4444 ,but ,i have pardoned it--remembering how ,at last it crowns my passion with success3 ,to it ,i owe the lofty hope which now ,flatters my view with an illustrious prospect4 ',twas but to gain this dearest privilege1 ,that my ambitious arm was raised in battle2 ,nor did it at ,pharsalia draw the sword1 ,so much to conquer ,pompey1 as to keep ,this glorious hope4 ,here1 then1 we have ,csar hating his greatness for having taken him away a little while from ,cleopatra2 but forgiving his greatness when he remembers that this greatness has procured him the success of his passion4 ,he has the lofty hope of an illustrious probability2 and it was only to acquire the dear privilege of this illustrious probability1 that his ambitious arm fought the battle of ,pharsalia4 ,it is said that this sort of wit1 which it must be confessed is no other than nonsense1 was then the wit of the age4 ,it is an intolerable abuse1 which ,molire proscribed in his ,prcieuses ,ridicules4 ,it was of these defects1 too frequent in ,corneille1 that ,la ,bruyre said3 ,i thought1 in my early youth1 that these passages were clear and intelligible1 to the actors1 to the pit1 and to the boxes2 that their authors themselves understood them1 and that ,i was wrong in not understanding them3 ,i am undeceived4 ,,section ,v4 ,in ,england1 to express that a man has a deal of wit1 they say that he has great parts4 ,whence can this phrase1 which is now the astonishment of the ,french1 have come8 ,from themselves4 ,formerly1 we very commonly used the word parties in this sense4 ,clelia1 ,cassandra1 and our other old romances1 are continually telling us of the parts of their heroes and heroines1 which parts are their wit4 ,and1 indeed1 who can have all8 ,each of us has but his own small portion of intelligence1 of memory1 of sagacity1 of depth and extent of ideas1 of vivacity1 and of subtlety4 ,the word parts is that most fitting for a being so limited as man4 ,the ,french have let an expression escape from their dictionaries which the ,english have laid hold of3 the ,english have more than once enriched themselves at our expense4 ,many philosophical writers have been astonished that1 since every one pretends to wit1 no one should dare to boast of possessing it4 ,envy1 it has been said1 permits every one to be the panegyrist of his own probity1 but not of his own wit4 ,it allows us to be the apologists of the one1 but not of the other4 ,and why8 ,because it is very necessary to pass for an honest man1 but not at all necessary to have the reputation of a man of wit4 ,the question has been started1 whether all men are born with the same mind1 the same disposition for science1 and if all depends on their education1 and the circumstances in which they are placed8 ,one philosopher1 who had a right to think himself born with some superiority1 asserted that minds are equal2 yet the contrary has always been evident4 ,of four hundred children brought up together1 under the same masters and the same discipline1 there are scarcely five or six that make any remarkable progress4 ,a great majority never rise above mediocrity1 and among them there are many shades of distinction4 ,in short1 minds differ still more than faces4 ,,section ,,vi4 ,crooked or ,distorted ,intellect4 ,we have blind1 one-eyed1 cross-eyed1 and squinting people--visions long1 short1 clear1 confused1 weak1 or indefatigable4 ,all this is a faithful image of our understanding2 but we know scarcely any false vision3 there are not many men who always take a cock for a horse1 or a coffeepot for a church4 ,how is it that we often meet with minds1 otherwise judicious1 which are absolutely wrong in some things of importance8 ,how is it that the ,siamese1 who will take care never to be overreached when he has to receive three rupees1 firmly believes in the metamorphoses of ,sammonocodom8 ,by what strange whim do men of sense resemble ,don ,quixote1 who beheld giants where other men saw nothing but windmills8 ,yet was ,don ,quixote more excusable than the ,siamese1 who believes that ,sammonocodom came several times upon earth--and the ,turk1 who is persuaded that ,mahomet put one-half of the moon into his sleeve8 ,don ,quixote1 impressed with the idea that he is to fight with a giant1 may imagine that a giant must have a body as big as a mill1 and arms as long as the sails2 but from what supposition can a man of sense set out to arrive at a conclusion1 that half the moon went into a sleeve1 and that a ,sammonocodom came down from heaven to fly kites at ,siam1 to cut down a forest1 and to exhibit sleight-of-hand8 ,the greatest geniuses may have their minds warped1 on a principle which they have received without examination4 ,newton was very wrong-headed when he was commenting on the ,apocalypse4 ,all that certain tyrants of souls desire1 is that the men whom they teach may have their intellects distorted4 ,a fakir brings up a child of great promise2 he employs five or six years in driving it into his head1 that the god ,fo appeared to men in the form of a white elephant2 and persuades the child1 that if he does not believe in these metamorphoses1 he will be flogged after death for five hundred thousand years4 ,he adds1 that at the end of the world1 the enemy of the god ,fo will come and fight against that divinity4 ,the child studies1 and becomes a prodigy2 he finds that ,fo could not change himself into anything but a white elephant1 because that is the most beautiful of animals4 ,the kings of ,siam and ,pegu1 say he1 went to war with one another for a white elephant3 certainly1 had not ,fo been concealed in that elephant1 these two kings would not have been so mad as to fight for the possession of a mere animal4 ,fo's enemy will come and challenge him at the end of the world3 this enemy will certainly be a rhinoceros2 for the rhinoceros fights the elephant4 ,thus does the fakir's learned pupil reason in mature age1 and he becomes one of the lights of the ,indies3 the more subtle his intellect1 the more crooked2 and he1 in his turn1 forms other intellects as distorted as his own4 ,show these besotted beings a little geometry1 and they learn it easily enough2 but1 strange to say1 this does not set them right4 ,they perceive the truths of geometry2 but it does not teach them to weigh probabilities3 they have taken their bent2 they will reason against reason all their lives2 and ,i am sorry for them4 ,unfortunately1 there are many ways of being wrong-headed1 #a4 ,not to examine whether the principle is true1 even when just consequences are drawn from it2 and this is very common4 #b4 ,to draw false consequences from a principle acknowledged to be true4 ,for instance3 a servant is asked whether his master be at home1 by persons whom he suspects of having a design against his master's life4 ,if he were blockhead enough to tell them the truth1 on pretence that it is wrong to tell a lie1 it is clear that he would draw an absurd consequence from a very true principle4 ,the judge who should condemn a man for killing his assassin1 would be alike iniquitous1 and a bad reasoner4 ,cases like these are subdivided into a thousand different shades4 ,the good mind1 the judicious mind1 is that which distinguishes them4 ,hence it is1 that there have been so many iniquitous judgments2 not because the judges were wicked in heart1 but because they were not sufficiently enlightened4 ,,women4 ,physical and ,moral4 ,woman is in general less strong than man1 smaller1 and less capable of lasting labor4 ,her blood is more aqueous2 her flesh less firm2 her hair longer2 her limbs more rounded2 her arms less muscular2 her mouth smaller2 her hips more prominent2 and her belly larger4 ,these physical points distinguish women all over the earth1 and of all races1 from ,lapland unto the coast of ,guinea1 and from ,america to ,china4 ,plutarch1 in the third book of his ,symposiacs1 pretends that wine will not intoxicate them so easily as men2 and the following is the reason which he gives for this falsehood3 ,the temperament of women is very moist2 this1 with their courses1 renders their flesh so soft1 smooth1 and clear4 ,when wine encounters so much humidity1 it is overcome1 and it loses its color and its strength1 becoming discolored and weak4 ,something also may be gathered from the reasoning of ,aristotle1 who observes1 that they who drink great draughts without drawing their breath1 which the ancients call 'amusisein' are not intoxicated so soon as others2 because the wine does not remain within the body1 but being forcibly taken down1 passes rapidly off4 ,now we generally perceive that women drink in this manner2 and it is probable that their bodies1 in consequence of the continual attraction of the humors1 which are carried off in their periodical visitations1 are filled with many conduits1 and furnished with numerous pipes and channels1 into which the wine disperses rapidly and easily1 without having time to affect the noble and principal parts1 by the disorder of which intoxication is produced4 ,these physics are altogether worthy of the ancients4 ,women live somewhat longer than men2 that is to say1 in a generation we count more aged women than aged men4 ,this fact has been observed by all who have taken accurate accounts of births and deaths in ,europe2 and it is thought that it is the same in ,asia1 and among the negresses1 the copper-colored1 and olive-complexioned1 as among the white4 ,natura est semper sibi consona4 ,we have elsewhere adverted to an extract from a ,chinese journal1 which states1 that in the year #agbe1 the wife of the emperor ,yontchin made a distribution among the poor women of ,china who had passed their seventieth year2 and that1 in the province of ,canton alone1 there were #ih1bbb females aged more than seventy1 #dj1hic beyond eighty1 and #c1dec of about the age of a hundred4 ,those who advocate final causes say1 that nature grants them a longer life than men1 in order to recompense them for the trouble they take in bringing children into the world and rearing them4 ,it is scarcely to be imagined that nature bestows recompenses1 but it is probable that the blood of women being milder1 their fibres harden less quickly4 ,no anatomist or physician has ever been able to trace the secret of conception4 ,sanchez has curiously remarked3 ,mariam et spiritum sanctum emisisse semen in copulatione1 et ex semine amborum natum esse ,jesum4 ,this abominable impertinence of the most knowing ,sanchez is not adopted at present by any naturalist4 ,the periodical visitations which weaken females1 while they endure the maladies which arise out of their suppression1 the times of gestation1 the necessity of suckling children1 and of watching continually over them1 and the delicacy of their organization1 render them unfit for the fatigue of war1 and the fury of the combat4 ,it is true1 as we have already observed1 that in almost all times and countries women have been found on whom nature has bestowed extraordinary strength and courage1 who combat with men1 and undergo prodigious labor2 but1 after all1 these examples are rare4 ,on this point we refer to the article on ,amazons4 ,physics always govern morals4 ,women being weaker of body than we are1 there is more skill in their fingers1 which are more supple than ours4 ,little able to labor at the heavy work of masonry1 carpentering1 metalling1 or the plough1 they are necessarily intrusted with the lighter labors of the interior of the house1 and1 above all1 with the care of children4 ,leading a more sedentary life1 they possess more gentleness of character than men1 and are less addicted to the commission of enormous crimes--a fact so undeniable1 that in all civilized countries there are always fifty men at least executed to one woman4 ,montesquieu1 in his ,spirit of ,laws1 undertaking to speak of the condition of women under divers governments1 observes that among the ,greeks women were not regarded as worthy of having any share in genuine love2 but that with them love assumed a form which is not to be named4 ,he cites ,plutarch as his authority4 ,this mistake is pardonable only in a wit like ,montesquieu1 always led away by the rapidity of his ideas1 which are often very indistinct4 ,plutarch1 in his chapter on love1 introduces many interlocutors2 and he himself1 in the character of ,daphneus1 refutes1 with great animation1 the arguments of ,protagenes in favor of the commerce alluded to4 ,it is in the same dialogue that he goes so far as to say1 that in the love of woman there is something divine2 which love he compares to the sun1 that animates nature4 ,he places the highest happiness in conjugal love1 and concludes by an eloquent eulogium on the virtue of ,epponina4 ,this memorable adventure passed before the eyes of ,plutarch1 who lived some time in the house of ,vespasian4 ,the above heroine1 learning that her husband ,sabinus1 vanquished by the troops of the emperor1 was concealed in a deep cavern between ,franche-,comt and ,champagne1 shut herself up with him1 attended on him for many years1 and bore children in that situation4 ,being at length taken with her husband1 and brought before ,vespasian1 who was astonished at her greatness of soul1 she said to him3 ,i have lived more happily under ground than thou in the light of the sun1 and in the enjoyment of power4 ,plutarch therefore asserts directly the contrary to that which is attributed to him by ,montesquieu1 and declares in favor of woman with an enthusiasm which is even affecting4 ,it is not astonishing1 that in every country man has rendered himself the master of woman1 dominion being founded on strength4 ,he has ordinarily1 too1 a superiority both in body and mind4 ,very learned women are to be found in the same manner as female warriors1 but they are seldom or ever inventors4 ,a social and agreeable spirit usually falls to their lot2 and1 generally speaking1 they are adapted to soften the manners of men4 ,in no republic have they ever been allowed to take the least part in government2 they have never reigned in monarchies purely elective2 but they may reign in almost all the hereditary kingdoms of ,europe--in ,spain1 ,naples1 and ,england1 in many states of the ,north1 and in many grand fiefs which are called feminines4 ,custom1 entitled the ,salic law1 has excluded them from the crown of ,france2 but it is not1 as ,mzeray remarks1 in consequence of their unfitness for governing1 since they are almost always intrusted with the regency4 ,it is pretended1 that ,cardinal ,mazarin confessed that many women were worthy of governing a kingdom2 but he added1 that it was always to be feared they would allow themselves to be subdued by lovers who were not capable of governing a dozen pullets4 ,isabella in ,castile1 ,elizabeth in ,england1 and ,maria ,theresa in ,hungary1 have1 however1 proved the falsity of this pretended bon-mot1 attributed to ,cardinal ,mazarin2 and at this moment we behold a legislatrix in the ,north as much respected as the sovereign of ,greece1 of ,asia ,minor1 of ,syria1 and of ,egypt1 is disesteemed4 ,it has been for a long time ignorantly assumed1 that women are slaves during life among the ,mahometans2 and that1 after their death1 they do not enter paradise4 ,these are two great errors1 of a kind which popes are continually repeating in regard to ,mahometanism4 ,married women are not at all slaves2 and the ,sura1 or fourth chapter of the ,koran1 assigns them a dowry4 ,a girl is entitled to inherit one-half as much as her brother2 and if there are girls only1 they divide among them two-thirds of the inheritance2 and the remainder belongs to the relations of the deceased1 whose mother also is entitled to a certain share4 ,so little are married women slaves1 they are entitled to demand a divorce1 which is granted when their complaints are deemed lawful4 ,a ,mahometan is not allowed to marry his sister-in-law1 his niece1 his foster-sister1 or his daughter-in-law brought up under the care of his wife4 ,neither is he permitted to marry two sisters2 in which particular the ,mahometan law is more rigid than the ,christian1 as people are every day purchasing from the court of ,rome the right of contracting such marriages1 which they might as well contract gratis4 ,polygamy4 ,mahomet has limited the number of wives to four2 but as a man must be rich in order to maintain four wives1 according to his condition1 few except great lords avail themselves of this privilege4 ,therefore1 a plurality of wives produces not so much injury to the ,mahometan states as we are in the habit of supposing2 nor does it produce the depopulation which so many books1 written at random1 are in the habit of asserting4 ,the ,jews1 agreeable to an ancient usage1 established1 according to their books1 ever since the age of ,lameth1 have always been allowed several wives at a time4 ,david had eighteen2 and it is from his time that they allow that number to kings2 although it is said that ,solomon had as many as seven hundred4 ,the ,mahometans will not publicly allow the ,jews to have more than one wife2 they do not deem them worthy of that advantage2 but money1 which is always more powerful than law1 procures to rich ,jews1 in ,asia and ,africa1 that permission which the law refuses4 ,it is seriously related1 that ,lelius ,cinna1 tribune of the people1 proclaimed1 after the death of ,csar1 that the dictator had intended to promulgate a law allowing women to take as many husbands as they pleased4 ,what sensible man can doubt1 that this was a popular story invented to render ,csar odious8 ,it resembles another story1 which states that a senator in full senate formally professed to give ,csar permission to cohabit with any woman he pleased4 ,such silly tales dishonor history1 and injure the minds of those who credit them4 ,it is a sad thing1 that ,montesquieu should give credit to this fable4 ,it is not1 however1 a fable that the emperor ,valentinian1 calling himself a ,christian1 married ,justinian during the life of ,severa1 his first wife1 mother of the emperor ,gratian2 but he was rich enough to support many wives4 ,among the first race of the kings of the ,franks1 ,gontran1 ,cherebert1 ,sigebert1 and ,chilperic1 had several wives at a time4 ,gontran had within his palace ,venerande1 ,mercatrude1 and ,ostregilda1 acknowledged for legitimate wives2 ,cherebert had ,merflida1 ,marcovesa1 and ,theodogilda4 ,it is difficult to conceive how the ex-,jesuit ,nonnotte has been able1 in his ignorance1 to push his boldness so far as to deny these facts1 and to say that the kings of the first race were not polygamists1 and thereby1 in a libel in two volumes1 throw discredit on more than a hundred historical truths1 with the confidence of a pedant who dictates lessons in a college4 ,books of this kind still continue to be sold in the provinces1 where the ,jesuits have yet a party1 and seduce and mislead uneducated people4 ,father ,daniel1 more learned and judicious1 confesses the polygamy of the ,french kings without difficulty4 ,he denies not the three wives of ,dagobert ,i41 and asserts expressly that ,theodoret espoused ,deutery1 although she had a husband1 and himself another wife called ,visigalde4 ,he adds1 that in this he imitated his uncle ,clothaire1 who espoused the widow of ,cleodomir1 his brother1 although he had three wives already4 ,all historians admit the same thing2 why1 therefore1 after so many testimonies1 allow an ignorant writer to speak like a dictator1 and say1 while uttering a thousand follies1 that it is in defence of religion8 as if our sacred and venerable religion had anything to do with an historical point1 although made serviceable by miserable calumniators to their stupid impostures4 ,of the ,polygamy ,allowed by ,certain ,popes and ,reformers4 ,the ,abb ,fleury1 author of the ,ecclesiastical ,history1 pays more respect to truth in all which concerns the laws and usages of the ,church4 ,he avows that ,boniface1 confessor of ,lower ,germany1 having consulted ,pope ,gregory1 in the year #gbf1 in order to know in what cases a husband might be allowed to have two wives1 ,gregory replied to him1 on the #bbnd of ,november1 of the same year1 in these words3 ,if a wife be attacked by a malady which renders her unfit for conjugal intercourse1 the husband may marry another2 but in that case he must allow his sick wife all necessary support and assistance4 ,this decision appears conformable to reason and policy2 and favors population1 which is the object of marriage4 ,but that which appears opposed at once to reason1 policy1 and nature1 is the law which ordains that a woman1 separated from her husband both in person and estate1 cannot take another husband1 nor the husband another wife4 ,it is evident that a race is thereby lost2 and if the separated parties are both of a certain temperament1 they are necessarily exposed and rendered liable to sins for which the legislators ought to be responsible to ,god1 if-- ,the decretals of the popes have not always had in view what was suitable to the good of estates1 and of individuals4 ,this same decretal of ,pope ,gregory ,,ii41 which permits bigamy in certain cases1 denies conjugal rights forever to the boys and girls1 whom their parents have devoted to the ,church in their infancy4 ,this law seems as barbarous as it is unjust2 at once annihilating posterity1 and forcing the will of men before they even possess a will4 ,it is rendering the children the slaves of a vow which they never made2 it is to destroy natural liberty1 and to offend ,god and mankind4 ,the polygamy of ,philip1 landgrave of ,hesse1 in the ,lutheran community1 in #aeci1 is well known4 ,i knew a sovereign in ,germany1 who1 after having married a ,lutheran1 had permission from the pope to marry a ,catholic1 and retained both his wives4 ,it is well known in ,england1 that the chancellor ,cowper married two wives1 who lived together in the same house in a state of concord which did honor to all three4 ,many of the curious still possess the little book which he composed in favor of polygamy4 ,we must distrust authors who relate1 that in certain countries women are allowed several husbands4 ,those who make laws everywhere are born with too much self-love1 are too jealous of their authority1 and generally possess a temperament too ardent in comparison with that of women1 to have instituted a jurisprudence of this nature4 ,that which is opposed to the general course of nature is very rarely true2 but it is very common for the more early travellers to mistake an abuse for a law4 ,the author of the ,spirit of ,laws asserts1 that in the caste of ,nairs1 on the coast of ,malabar1 a man can have only one wife1 while a woman may have several husbands4 ,he cites doubtful authors1 and above all ,picard2 but it is impossible to speak of strange customs without having long witnessed them2 and if they are mentioned1 it ought to be doubtingly2 but what lively spirit knows how to doubt8 ,the lubricity of women1 he observes1 is so great at ,patan1 the men are constrained to adopt certain garniture1 in order to be safe against their amorous enterprises4 ,the president ,montesquieu was never at ,patan4 ,is not the remark of ,m4 ,linguet judicious1 who observes1 that this story has been told by travellers who were either deceived themselves1 or who wished to laugh at their readers8 ,let us be just1 love truth1 and judge by facts1 not by names4 ,end of the ,reflections on ,polygamy4 ,it appears that power1 rather than agreement1 makes laws everywhere1 but especially in the ,east4 ,we there beheld the first slaves1 the first eunuchs1 and the treasury of the prince directly composed of that which is taken from the people4 ,he who can clothe1 support1 and amuse a number of women1 shuts them up in a menagerie1 and commands them despotically4 ,ben ,aboul ,kiba1 in his ,mirror of the ,faithful1 relates that one of the viziers of the great ,solyman addressed the following discourse to an agent of ,charles ,v43 ,dog of a ,christian6--for whom1 however1 ,i have a particular esteem--canst thou reproach me with possessing four wives1 according to our holy laws1 whilst thou emptiest a dozen barrels a year1 and ,i drink not a single glass of wine8 ,what good dost thou effect by passing more hours at table than ,i do in bed8 ,i may get four children a year for the service of my august master1 whilst thou canst scarcely produce one1 and that only the child of a drunkard1 whose brain will be obscured by the vapors of the wine which has been drunk by his father4 ,what1 moreover1 wouldst thou have me do1 when two of my wives are in child-bed8 ,must ,i not attend to the other two1 as my law commands me8 ,what becomes of them8 what part dost thou perform1 in the latter months of the pregnancy of thy only wife1 and during her lyings-in and sexual maladies8 ,thou either remainest idle1 or thou repairest to another woman4 ,behold thyself between two mortal sins1 which will infallibly cause thee to fall headlong from the narrow bridge into the pit of hell4 ,i will suppose1 that in our wars against the dogs of ,christians we lose a hundred thousand soldiers2 behold a hundred thousand girls to provide for4 ,is it not for the wealthy to take care of them8 ,evil betide every ,mussulman so cold-hearted as not to give shelter to four pretty girls1 in the character of legitimate wives1 or to treat them according to their merits6 ,what is done in thy country by the trumpeter of day1 which thou callest the cock2 the honest ram1 the leader of the flock2 the bull1 sovereign of the heifers2 has not every one of them his seraglio8 ,it becomes thee1 truly1 to reproach me with my four wives1 whilst our great prophet had eighteen1 the ,jew ,david1 as many1 and the ,jew ,solomon1 seven hundred1 all told1 with three hundred concubines6 ,thou perceivest that ,i am modest4 ,cease1 then1 to reproach a sage with luxury1 who is content with so moderate a repast4 ,i permit thee to drink2 allow me to love4 ,thou changest thy wines2 permit me to change my females4 ,let every one suffer others to live according to the customs of their country4 ,thy hat was not made to give laws to my turban2 thy ruff and thy curtailed doublets are not to command my doliman4 ,make an end of thy coffee1 and go and caress thy ,german spouse1 since thou art allowed to have no other4 ,reply of the ,german4 ,dog of a ,mussulman6 for whom ,i retain a profound veneration2 before ,i finish my coffee ,i will confute all thy arguments4 ,he who possesses four wives1 possesses four harpies1 always ready to calumniate1 to annoy1 and to fight one another4 ,thy house is the den of discord1 and none of them can love thee4 ,each has only a quarter of thy person1 and in return can bestow only a quarter of her heart4 ,none of them can serve to render thy life agreeable2 they are prisoners who1 never having seen anything1 have nothing to say2 and1 knowing only thee1 are in consequence thy enemies4 ,thou art their absolute master2 they therefore hate thee4 ,thou art obliged to guard them with eunuchs1 who whip them when they are too happy4 ,thou pretendest to compare thyself to a cock1 but a cock never has his pullets whipped by a capon4 ,take animals for thy examples1 and copy them as much as thou pleasest2 for my part1 ,i love like a man2 ,i would give all my heart1 and receive an entire heart in return4 ,i will give an account of this conversation to my wife to-night1 and ,i hope she will be satisfied4 ,as to the wine with which thou reproachest me1 if it is an evil to drink it in ,arabia1 it is a very praiseworthy habit in ,germany4--,adieu6 ,,xenophanes4 ,bayle has made the article ,xenophanes a pretext for making a panegyric on the devil2 as ,simonides1 formerly1 seized the occasion of a wrestler winning the prize of boxing in the ,olympic games1 to form a fine ode in praise of ,castor and ,pollux4 ,but1 at the bottom1 of what consequence to us are the reveries of ,xenophanes8 ,what do we gain by knowing that he regarded nature as an infinite being1 immovable1 composed of an infinite number of small corpuscles1 soft little mounds1 and small organic molecules8 ,that he1 moreover1 thought pretty nearly as ,spinoza has since thought8 or rather endeavored to think1 for he contradicts himself frequently--a thing very common to ancient philosophers4 ,if ,anaximenes taught that the atmosphere was ,god2 if ,thales attributed to water the foundation of all things1 because ,egypt was rendered fertile by inundation2 if ,pherecides and ,heraclitus give to fire all which ,thales attributes to water--to what purpose return to these chimerical reveries8 ,i wish that ,pythagoras had expressed1 by numbers1 certain relations1 very insufficiently understood1 by which he infers1 that the world was built by the rules of arithmetic4 ,i allow1 that ,ocellus ,lucanus and ,empedocles have arranged everything by moving antagonist forces1 but what shall ,i gather from it8 ,what clear notion will it convey to my feeble mind8 ,come1 divine ,plato6 with your archetypal ideas1 your androgynes1 and your word2 establish all these fine things in poetical prose1 in your new republic1 in which ,i no more aspire to have a house1 than in the ,salentum of ,telemachus2 but in lieu of becoming one of your citizens1 ,i will send you an order to build your town with all the subtle manner of ,descartes1 all his globular and diffusive matter2 and they shall be brought to you by ,cyrano de ,bergerac4 ,bayle1 however1 has exercised all the sagacity of his logic on these ancient fancies2 but it is always by rendering them ridiculous that he instructs and entertains4 ,o philosophers6 ,physical experiments1 ably conducted1 arts and handicraft--these are the true philosophy4 ,my sage is the conductor of my windmill1 which dexterously catches the wind1 and receives my corn1 deposits it in the hopper1 and grinds it equally1 for the nourishment of myself and family4 ,my sage is he who1 with his shuttle1 covers my walls with pictures of linen or of silk1 brilliant with the finest colors2 or he who puts into my pocket a chronometer of silver or of gold4 ,my sage is the investigator of natural history4 ,we learn more from the single experiments of the ,abb ,nollet than from all the philosophical works of antiquity4 ,,xenophon1 ,,and ,,the ,,retreat ,,of ,,the ,,ten ,,thousand4 ,if ,xenophon had no other merit than that of being the friend of the martyr ,socrates1 he would be interesting2 but he was a warrior1 philosopher1 poet1 historian1 agriculturist1 and amiable in society4 ,there were many ,greeks who united these qualities4 ,but why had this free man a ,greek company in the pay of the young ,chosroes1 named ,cyrus by the ,greeks8 ,this ,cyrus was the younger brother and subject of the emperor of ,persia1 ,artaxerxes ,mnemon1 of whom it was said that he never forgot anything but injuries4 ,cyrus had already attempted to assassinate his brother1 even in the temple in which the ceremony of his consecration took place--for the kings of ,persia were the first who were consecrated4 ,artaxerxes had not only the clemency to pardon this villain1 but he had the weakness to allow him the absolute government of a great part of ,asia ,minor1 which he held from their father1 and of which he at least deserved to be despoiled4 ,as a return for such surprising mercy1 as soon as he could excite his satrapy to revolt against his brother1 ,cyrus added this second crime to the first4 ,he declared by a manifesto1 that he was more worthy of the throne of ,persia than his brother1 because he was a better magus1 and drank more wine4 ,i do not believe that these were the reasons which gained him the ,greeks as allies4 ,he took thirteen thousand into his pay1 among whom was the young ,xenophon1 who was then only an adventurer4 ,each soldier had a daric a month for pay4 ,the daric is equal to about a guinea or a louis d'or of our time1 as the ,chevalier de ,jaucourt very well observes1 and not ten francs1 as ,rollin says4 ,when ,cyrus proposed to march them with his other troops to fight his brother towards the ,euphrates1 they demanded a daric and a half1 which he was obliged to grant them4 ,this was thirty-six livres a month1 and consequently the highest pay which was ever given4 ,the soldiers of ,csar and ,pompey had but twenty sous per day in the civil wars4 ,besides this exorbitant pay1 of which they obliged him to pay four months in advance1 ,cyrus furnished them four hundred chariots1 laden with wine and meal4 ,the ,greeks were then precisely what the ,swiss are at present1 who hire their service and courage to neighboring princes1 but for a pay three times less than was that of the ,greeks4 ,it is evident1 though they say the contrary1 that they did not inform themselves whether the cause for which they fought was just2 it was sufficient that ,cyrus paid well4 ,the greatest part of these troops was composed of ,lacedmonians1 by which they violated their solemn treaties with the king of ,persia4 ,what was become of the ancient aversion of the ,spartans for gold and silver8 ,where was their sincerity in treaties8 ,where was their high and incorruptible virtue8 ,clearchus1 a ,spartan1 commanded the principal body of these brave mercenaries4 ,i understand not the military manoeuvres of ,artaxerxes and ,cyrus2 ,i see not why ,artaxerxes1 who came to his enemy with twelve hundred thousand soldiers1 should begin by causing lines of twelve leagues in extent to be drawn between ,cyrus and himself2 and ,i comprehend nothing of the order of battle4 ,i understand still less how ,cyrus1 followed only by six hundred horse1 broke into the midst of six thousand horse-guards of the emperor1 followed by an innumerable army4 ,finally1 he was killed by the hand of ,artaxerxes1 who1 having apparently drunk less wine than the rebel1 fought with more coolness and address than this drunkard4 ,it is clear that he completely gained the battle1 notwithstanding the valor and resistance of thirteen thousand ,greeks--since ,greek vanity is obliged to confess that ,artaxerxes told them to put down their arms4 ,they replied that they would do nothing of the kind2 but that if the emperor would pay them they would enter his service4 ,it was very indifferent to them for whom they fought1 so long as they were paid2 in fact1 they were only hired murderers4 ,besides the ,swiss1 there are some provinces of ,germany which follow this custom4 ,it signifies not to these good ,christians whether they are paid to kill ,english1 ,french1 or ,dutch1 or to be killed by them4 ,you see them say their prayers1 and go to the carnage like laborers to their workshop4 ,as to myself1 ,i confess ,i would rather observe those who go into ,pennsylvania1 to cultivate the land with the simple and equitable ,quakers1 and form colonies in the retreat of peace and industry4 ,there is no great skill in killing and being killed for six sous per day1 but there is much in causing the republic of ,dunkers to flourish--these new ,therapeut on the frontier of a country the most savage4 ,artaxerxes regarded the ,greeks only as accomplices in the revolt of his brother1 and indeed they were nothing else4 ,he betrayed himself to be betrayed by them1 and he betrayed them1 as ,xenophon pretends2 for after one of his captains had sworn in his name to allow them a free retreat1 and to furnish them with food1 after ,clearchus and five other commanders of the ,greeks were put into his hands1 to regulate the march1 he caused their heads to be cut off1 and slew all the ,greeks who accompanied them in this interview1 if we may trust ,xenophon's account4 ,this royal act shows us that ,machiavellism is not new2 but is it true that ,artaxerxes promised not to make an example of the chief mercenaries who sold themselves to his brother8 ,was it not permitted him to punish those whom he thought so guilty8 ,it is here that the famous retreat of the ten thousand commences4 ,if ,i comprehend nothing of the battle1 ,i understand no more of the retreat4 ,the emperor1 before he cut off the heads of six ,greek generals and their suite1 had sworn to allow the little army1 reduced to ten thousand men1 to return to ,greece4 ,the battle was fought on the road to the ,euphrates2 he must therefore have caused the ,greeks to return by ,western ,mesopotamia1 ,syria1 ,asia ,minor1 and ,ionia4 ,not at all2 they were made to pass by the ,east2 they were obliged to traverse the ,tigris in boats which were furnished to them2 they returned afterwards by the ,armenian roads1 while their commanders were punished4 ,if any person comprehends this march1 in which they turn their backs on ,greece1 they will oblige me much by explaining it to me4 ,one of two things3 either the ,greeks chose their route themselves--and in this case they neither knew where they went1 or what they wished--or ,artaxerxes made them march against their will--which is much more probable--and in this case1 why did he not exterminate them8 ,we may extricate ourselves from these difficulties1 by supposing that the ,persian emperor only half revenged himself2 that he contented himself with punishing the principal mercenary chiefs who sold the ,greek troops to ,cyrus2 that having made a treaty with the fugitive troops1 he would not descend to the meanness of violating it2 that being sure that a third of these wandering ,greeks would perish on the road1 he abandoned them to their fate4 ,i see no other manner of enlightening the mind of the reader on the obscurities of this march4 ,we are astonished at the retreat of the ten thousand2 but we should be much more so1 if ,artaxerxes1 a conqueror1 at the head of a hundred thousand men--at least it is said so--had allowed ten thousand fugitives to travel in the north of his vast states1 whom he could crush in every village1 every bridge1 every defile1 or whom he could have made perish with hunger and misery4 ,however1 they were furnished1 as we have seen1 with twenty-seven great boats1 to enable them to pass the ,tigris1 as if they were conducted to the ,indies4 ,thence they were escorted towards the ,north for several days1 into the desert in which ,bagdad is now situated4 ,they further passed the river ,zabata1 and it was there that the emperor sent his orders to punish the chiefs4 ,it is clear that they could have exterminated the army as easily as they inflicted punishment on the generals4 ,it is therefore very likely that they did not choose to do so4 ,we should1 therefore1 rather regard the ,greek wanderers in these savage countries as wayward travellers1 whom the bounty of the emperor allowed to finish their journey as they could4 ,we may make another observation1 which appears not very honorable to the ,persian government4 ,it was impossible for the ,greeks not to have continual quarrels for food with the people whom they met4 ,pillages1 desolations1 and murders1 were the inevitable consequence of these disorders2 and that is so true1 that in a road of six hundred leagues1 during which the ,greeks always marched irregularly1 being neither escorted nor pursued by any great body of ,persian troops1 they lost four thousand men1 either killed by peasants or by sickness4 ,how did it happen1 therefore1 that ,artaxerxes did not cause them to be escorted from their passage of the river ,zabata1 as he had done from the field of battle to the river8 ,how could so wise and good a sovereign commit so great a fault8 ,perhaps he did command the escort2 perhaps ,xenophon1 who exaggerates a little elsewhere1 passes it over in silence1 not to diminish the wonder of the retreat of the ten thousand2 perhaps the escort was always obliged to march at a great distance from the ,greek troop1 on account of the difficulty of procuring provisions4 ,however it might be1 it appears certain that ,artaxerxes used extreme indulgence1 and that the ,greeks owed their lives to him1 since they were not exterminated4 ,in the article on ,retreat1 in the ,encyclopdical ,dictionary1 it is said that the retreat of the ten thousand took place under the command of ,xenophon4 ,this is a mistake2 he never commanded2 he was merely at the head of a division of fourteen hundred men1 at the end of the march4 ,i see that these heroes scarcely arrived1 after so many fatigues1 on the borders of the ,pontus ,euxinus1 before they indifferently pillaged friends and enemies to re-establish themselves4 ,xenophon embarked his little troop at ,heraclea1 and went to make a new bargain with a king of ,thrace1 to whom he was a stranger4 ,this ,athenian1 instead of succoring his country1 then overcome by the ,spartans1 sold himself once more to a petty foreign despot4 ,he was ill paid1 ,i confess1 which is another reason why we may conclude that he would have done better in assisting his country4 ,the sum of all this1 we have already remarked1 is that the ,athenian ,xenophon1 being only a young volunteer1 enlisted himself under a ,lacedmonian captain1 one of the tyrants of ,athens1 in the service of a rebel and an assassin2 and that1 becoming chief of fourteen hundred men1 he put himself into the pay of a barbarian4 ,what is worse1 necessity did not constrain him to this servitude4 ,he says himself that he deposited a great part of the gold gained in the service of ,cyrus in the temple of the famous ,diana of ,ephesus4 ,let us remark1 that in receiving the pay of a king1 he exposed himself to be condemned to death1 if the foreigner was not contented with him1 which happened to ,major-,general ,doxat1 a man born free4 ,he sold himself to the emperor ,charles ,,vi41 who commanded his head to be cut off1 for having given up to the ,turks a place which he could not defend4 ,rollin1 in speaking of the return of the ten thousand1 says1 that this fortunate retreat filled the people of ,greece with contempt for ,artaxerxes1 by showing them that gold1 silver1 delicacies1 luxury1 and a numerous seraglio1 composed all the merit of a great king4 ,rollin should consider that the ,greeks ought not to despise a sovereign who had gained a complete battle2 who1 having pardoned as a brother1 conquered as a hero2 who1 having the power of exterminating ten thousand ,greeks1 suffered them to live and to return to their country2 and who1 being able to have them in his pay1 disdained to make use of them4 ,add1 that this prince afterwards conquered the ,lacedmonians and their allies1 and imposed on them humiliating laws2 add also that in a war with the ,scythians1 called ,caducians1 towards the ,caspian ,sea1 he supported all fatigues and dangers like the lowest soldier4 ,he lived and died full of glory2 it is true that he had a seraglio1 but his courage was only the more estimable4 ,we must be careful of college declamations4 ,if ,i dared to attack prejudice ,i would venture to prefer the retreat of ,marshal ,belle-,isle to that of the ten thousand4 ,he was blocked up in ,prague by sixty thousand men1 when he had not thirteen thousand4 ,he took his measures with so much ability that he got out of ,prague1 in the most severe cold1 with his army1 provisions1 baggage1 and thirty pieces of cannon1 without the besiegers having the least idea of it4 ,he gained two days' march without their perceiving it4 ,an army of thirteen thousand men pursued him for the space of thirty leagues4 ,he faced them everywhere--he was never cast down2 but sick as he was1 he braved the season1 scarcity and his enemies4 ,he only lost those soldiers who could not resist the extreme rigor of the season4 ,what more was wanting8 ,a longer course and ,grecian exaggeration4 ,,yvetot4 ,this is the name of a town in ,france1 six leagues from ,rouen1 in ,normandy1 which1 according to ,robert ,gaguin1 a historian of the sixteenth century1 has long been entitled a kingdom4 ,this writer relates that ,gautier1 or ,vautier1 lord of ,yvetot1 and grand chamberlain to ,king ,clotaire ,i41 having lost the favor of his master by calumny1 in which courtiers deal rather liberally1 went into voluntary exile1 and visited distant countries1 where1 for ten years1 he fought against the enemies of the faith2 that at the expiration of this term1 flattering himself that the king's anger would be appeased1 he went back to ,france2 that he passed through ,rome1 where he saw ,pope ,agapetus1 from whom he obtained a letter of recommendation to the king1 who was then at ,soissons1 the capital of his dominions4 ,the lord of ,yvetot repaired thither one ,good ,friday1 and chose the time when ,clotaire was at church1 to fall at his feet1 and implore his forgiveness through the merits of ,him who1 on that day1 had shed ,his blood for the salvation of men2 but ,clotaire1 ferocious and cruel1 having recognized him1 ran him through the body4 ,gaguin adds that ,pope ,agapetus1 being informed of this disgraceful act1 threatened the king with the thunders of the ,church1 if he did not make reparation for his offence2 and that ,clotaire1 justly intimidated1 and in satisfaction for the murder of his subject1 erected the lordship of ,yvetot into a kingdom1 in favor of ,gautier's heirs and successors2 that he despatched letters to that effect signed by himself1 and sealed with his seal2 that ever since then the lords of ,yvetot have borne the title of kings2 and--continues ,gaguin--,i find from established and indisputable authority1 that this extraordinary event happened in the year of grace #eci4 ,on this story of ,gaguin's we have the same remark to make that we have already made on what he says of the establishment of the ,paris university--that not one of the contemporary historians makes any mention of the singular event1 which1 as he tells us1 caused the lordship of ,yvetot to be erected into a kingdom2 and1 as ,claude ,malingre and the abb ,vertot have well observed1 ,clotaire ,i41 who is here supposed to have been sovereign of the town of ,yvetot1 did not reign over that part of the country2 fiefs were not then hereditary2 acts were not1 as ,robert ,gaguin relates1 dated from the year of grace2 and lastly1 ,pope ,agapetus was then dead2 to this it may be added that the right of erecting a fief into a kingdom belonged exclusively to the emperor4 ,it is not1 however1 to be said that the thunders of the ,church were not already made use of1 in the time of ,agapetus4 ,we know that ,st4 ,paul excommunicated the incestuous man of ,corinth4 ,we also find in the letters of ,st4 ,basil1 some instances of general censure in the fourth century4 ,one of these letters is against a ravisher4 ,the holy prelate there orders the young woman to be restored to her parents1 the ravisher to be excluded from prayers1 and declared to be excommunicated1 together with his accomplices and all his household1 for three years2 he also orders that all the people of the village where the ravished person was received1 shall be excommunicated4 ,auxilius1 a young bishop1 excommunicated the whole family of ,clacitien2 although ,st4 ,augustine disapproved of this conduct1 and ,pope ,st4 ,leo laid down the same maxims as ,augustine1 in one of his letters to the bishop of the province of ,vienne--yet1 confining ourselves here to ,france--,pretextatus1 bishop of ,rouen1 having been assassinated in the year #ehf in his own church1 ,leudovalde1 bishop of ,bayeux1 did not fail to lay all the churches in ,rouen under an interdict1 forbidding divine service to be celebrated in them until the author of the crime should be discovered4 ,in #aada1 ,louis the ,young having refused his consent to the election of ,peter de la ,chtre1 whom the pope caused to be appointed in the room of ,alberic1 archbishop of ,bourges1 who had died the year preceding1 ,innocent ,,ii4 laid all ,france under interdict4 ,in the year #abjj1 ,peter of ,capua1 commissioned to compel ,philip ,augustus to put away ,agnes1 and take back ,ingeburga1 and not succeeding1 published the sentence of interdict on the whole kingdom1 which had been pronounced by ,pope ,innocent ,,iii4 ,this interdict was observed with extreme rigor4 ,the ,english chronicle1 quoted by the ,benedictine ,martenne1 says that every ,christian act1 excepting the baptism of infants1 was interdicted in ,france2 the churches were closed1 and ,christians driven out of them like dogs2 there was no more divine office1 no more sacrifice of the mass1 no ecclesiastical sepulture for the deceased2 the dead bodies1 left to chance1 spread the most frightful infections1 and filled the survivors with horror4 ,the chronicle of ,tours gives the same description1 adding only one remarkable particular1 confirmed by the abb ,fleury and the abb de ,vertot--that the holy viaticum was excepted1 like the baptism of infants1 from the privation of holy things4 ,the kingdom was in this situation for nine months2 it was some time before ,innocent ,,iii4 permitted the preaching of sermons and the sacrament of confirmation4 ,the king was so much enraged that he drove the bishops and all the other ecclesiastics from their abodes1 and confiscated their property4 ,but it is singular that the bishops were sometimes solicited by sovereigns themselves to pronounce an interdict upon lands of their vassals4 ,by letters dated ,february1 #acef1 confirming those of ,guy1 count of ,nevers1 and his wife ,matilda1 in favor of the citizens of ,nevers1 ,charles ,v41 regent of the kingdom1 prays the archbishops of ,lyons1 ,bourges1 and ,sens1 and the bishops of ,autun1 ,langres1 ,auxerre1 and ,nevers1 to pronounce an excommunication against the count of ,nevers1 and an interdict upon his lands1 if he does not fulfil the agreement he has made with the inhabitants4 ,we also find in the collection of the ordinances of the third line of kings1 many letters like that of ,king ,john1 authorizing the bishops to put under interdict those places whose privileges their lords would seek to infringe4 ,and to conclude1 though it appears incredible1 the ,jesuit ,daniel relates that1 in the year #iih1 ,king ,robert was excommunicated by ,gregory ,v41 for having married his kinswoman in the fourth degree4 ,all the bishops who had assisted at this marriage were interdicted from the communion1 until they had been to ,rome1 and rendered satisfaction to the holy see4 ,the people1 and even the court1 separated from the king2 he had only two domestics left1 who purified by fire whatever he had touched4 ,cardinal ,damien and ,romualde also add1 that ,robert being gone one morning1 as was his custom1 to say his prayers at the door of ,st4 ,bartholomew's church1 for he dared not enter it1 ,abbon1 abbot of ,fleury1 followed by two women of the palace1 carrying a large gilt dish covered with a napkin1 accosted him1 announced that ,bertha was just brought to bed2 and uncovering the dish1 said3 ,behold the effects of your disobedience to the decrees of the ,church1 and the seal of anathema on the fruit of your love6 ,robert looked1 and saw a monster with the head and neck of a duck6 ,bertha was repudiated2 and the excommunication was at last taken off4 ,urban ,,ii41 on the contrary1 excommunicated ,robert's grandson1 ,philip ,i41 for having put away his kinswoman4 ,this pope pronounced the sentence of excommunication in the king's own dominions1 at ,clermont1 in ,auvergne1 where his holiness was come to seek an asylum1 in the same council in which the crusade was preached1 and in which1 for the first time1 the name of pope 7papa7 was given to the bishop of ,rome1 to the exclusion of the other bishops1 who had formerly taken it4 ,it will be seen that these canonical pains were medicinal rather than mortal2 but ,gregory ,,vii4 and some of his successors ventured to assert1 that an excommunicated sovereign was deprived of his dominions1 and that his subjects were not obliged to obey him4 ,however1 supposing that a king can be excommunicated in certain serious cases1 excommunication1 being a penalty purely spiritual1 cannot dispense with the obedience which his subjects owe to him1 as holding his authority from ,god ,himself4 ,this was constantly acknowledged by the parliaments1 and also by the clergy of ,france1 in the excommunications pronounced by ,boniface ,,vii41 against ,philip the ,fair2 by ,julius ,,ii41 against ,louis ,,xii42 by ,sixtus ,v41 against ,henry ,,iii42 by ,gregory ,,xiii41 against ,henry ,,iv42 and it is likewise the doctrine of the celebrated assembly of the clergy in #afhb4 ,,zeal4 ,this1 in religion1 is a pure and enlightened attachment to the maintenance and progress of the worship which is due to the ,divinity2 but when this zeal is persecuting1 blind1 and false1 it becomes the greatest scourge of humanity4 ,see what the emperor ,julian says of the ,christians of his time3 ,the ,galileans1 he observes1 have suffered exile and imprisonment under my predecessor2 those who are by turns called heretics1 have been mutually massacred4 ,i have recalled the banished1 liberated the prisoners2 ,i have restored their property to the proscribed2 ,i have forced them to live in peace2 but such is the restless rage of the ,galileans1 that they complain of being no longer able to devour each other4 ,this picture will not appear extravagant if we attend to the atrocious calumnies with which the ,christians reciprocally blackened each other4 ,for instance1 ,st4 ,augustine accuses the ,manichans of forcing their elect to receive the eucharist1 after having obscenely polluted it4 ,after him1 ,st4 ,cyril of ,jerusalem has accused them of the same infamy in these terms3 ,i dare not mention in what these sacrilegious wretches wet their ischas1 which they give to their unhappy votaries1 and exhibit in the midst of their altar1 and with which the ,manichan soils his mouth and tongue4 ,let the men call to mind what they are accustomed to experience in dreaming1 and the women in their periodical affections4 ,pope ,st4 ,leo1 in one of his sermons1 also calls the sacrifice of the ,manichans the same turpitude4 ,finally1 ,suidas and ,cedrenus have still further improved on the calumny1 in asserting that the ,manichans held nocturnal assemblies1 in which1 after extinguishing the flambeaux1 they committed the most enormous indecencies4 ,let us first observe that the primitive ,christians were themselves accused of the same horrors which they afterwards imputed to the ,manichans2 and that the justification of these equally applies to the others4 ,in order to have pretexts for persecuting us1 said ,athenagoras1 in his ,apology for the ,christians1 they accuse us of making detestable banquets1 and of committing incest in our assemblies4 ,it is an old trick1 which has been employed from all time to extinguish virtue4 ,thus was ,pythagoras burned1 with three hundred of his disciples2 ,heraclitus expelled by the ,ephesians2 ,democritus by the ,abderitans2 and ,socrates condemned by the ,athenians4 ,athenagoras subsequently points out that the principles and manners of the ,christians were sufficient of themselves to destroy the calumnies spread against them4 ,the same reasons apply in favor of the ,manichans4 ,why else is ,st4 ,augustine1 who is positive in his book on heresies1 reduced in that on the morals of the ,manichans1 when speaking of the horrible ceremony in question1 to say simply3 ,they are suspected of--the world has this opinion of them--if they do not commit what is imputed to them--rumor proclaims much ill of them2 but they maintain that it is false8 ,why not sustain openly this accusation in his dispute with ,fortunatus1 who publicly challenged him in these terms3 ,we are accused of false crimes1 and as ,augustine has assisted in our worship1 ,i beg him to declare before the whole people1 whether these crimes are true or not4 ,st4 ,augustine replied3 ,it is true that ,i have assisted in your worship2 but the question of faith is one thing1 the question of morals another2 and it is that of faith which ,i brought forward4 ,however1 if the persons present prefer that we should discuss that of your morals1 ,i shall not oppose myself to them4 ,fortunatus1 addressing the assembly1 said3 ,i wish1 above all things1 to be justified in the minds of those who believe us guilty2 and that ,augustine should now testify before you1 and one day before the tribunal of ,jesus ,christ1 if he has ever seen1 or if he knows1 in any way whatever1 that the things imputed have been committed by us8 ,st4 ,augustine still replies3 ,you depart from the question2 what ,i have advanced turns upon faith1 not upon morals4 ,at length1 ,fortunatus continuing to press ,st4 ,augustine to explain himself1 he does so in these terms3 ,i acknowledge that in the prayer at which ,i assisted ,i did not see you commit anything impure4 ,the same ,st4 ,augustine1 in his work on the ,utility of ,faith1 still justifies the ,manichans4 ,at this time1 he says1 to his friend ,honoratus1 when ,i was occupied with ,manichism1 ,i was yet full of the desire and the hope of marrying a handsome woman1 and of acquiring riches2 of attaining honors1 and of enjoying the other pernicious pleasures of life4 ,for when ,i listened with attention to the ,manichan doctors1 ,i had not renounced the desire and hope of all these things4 ,i do not attribute that to their doctrine2 for ,i am bound to render this testimony--that they sedulously exhorted men to preserve themselves from those things4 ,that is1 indeed1 what hindered me from attaching myself altogether to the sect1 and kept me in the rank of those who are called auditors4 ,i did not wish to renounce secular hopes and affairs4 ,and in the last chapter of this book1 where he represents the ,manichan doctors as proud men1 who had as gross minds as they had meagre and skinny bodies1 he does not say a word of their pretended infamies4 ,but on what proofs were these imputations founded8 ,the first which ,augustine alleges is1 that these indecencies were a consequence of the ,manichan system1 regarding the means which ,god makes use of to wrest from the prince of darkness the portion of his substance4 ,we have spoken of this in the article on ,genealogy1 and these are horrors which one may dispense with repeating4 ,it is enough to say here1 that the passage from the seventh book of the ,treasure of ,manes1 which ,augustine cites in many places1 is evidently falsified4 ,the arch heretic says1 if we can believe it1 that these celestial virtues1 which are transformed sometimes into beautiful boys1 and sometimes into beautiful girls1 are ,god the ,father ,himself4 ,this is false2 ,manes has never confounded the celestial virtues with ,god the ,father4 ,st4 ,augustine1 not having understood the ,syriac phrase of a virgin of light to mean a virgin light1 supposes that ,god shows a beautiful maiden to the princes of darkness1 in order to excite their brutal lust2 there is nothing of all this talked of in ancient authors2 the question concerns the cause of rain4 ,the great prince1 says ,tirbon1 cited by ,st4 ,epiphanius1 sends out for himself1 in his passion1 black clouds1 which darken all the world2 he chafes1 worries himself1 throws himself into a perspiration1 and that it is which makes the rain1 which is no other than the sweat of the great prince4 ,st4 ,augustine must have been deceived by a mistranslation1 or rather by a garbled1 unfaithful extract from the ,treasure of ,manes1 from which he only cites two or three passages4 ,the ,manichan ,secundums also reproaches him with comprehending nothing of the mysteries of ,manichism1 and with attacking them only by mere paralogisms4 ,how1 otherwise1 says the learned ,m4 de ,beausobre--whom we here abridge--would ,st4 ,augustine have been able to live so many years among a sect in which such abominations were publicly taught8 ,and how would he have had the face to defend it against the ,catholics8 ,from this proof by reasoning1 let us pass to the proofs of fact and evidence alleged by ,st4 ,augustine and see if they are more substantial4 ,it is said1 proceeds this father1 that some of them have confessed this fact in public pleadings1 not only in ,paphlagonia1 but also in the ,gauls1 as ,i have heard said at ,rome by a certain ,catholic4 ,such hearsay deserves so little attention that ,st4 ,augustine dared not make use of it in his conference with ,fortunatus1 although it was seven or eight years after he had quitted ,rome2 he seems even to have forgotten the name of the ,catholic from whom he learned them4 ,it is true1 that in his book of ,heresies1 he speaks of the confessions of two girls1 the one named ,margaret1 the other ,eusebia1 and of some ,manichans who1 having been discovered at ,carthage1 and taken to the church1 avowed1 it is said1 the horrible fact in question4 ,he adds that a certain ,viator declared that they who committed these scandals were called ,catharistes1 or purgators2 and that1 when interrogated on what scripture they founded this frightful practice1 they produced the passage from the ,treasure of ,manes1 the falsehood of which has been demonstrated4 ,but our heretics1 far from availing themselves of it1 have openly disavowed it1 as the work of some impostor who wished to ruin them4 ,that alone casts suspicion on all these acts of ,carthage1 which ,quod-vult-,deus had sent to ,st4 ,augustine2 and these wretches who were discovered and taken to the church1 have very much the air of persons suborned to confess all they were wanted to confess4 ,in the #dgth chapter on the ,nature of ,good1 ,st4 ,augustine admits that when our heretics were reproached with the crimes in question1 they replied that one of their elect1 a seceder from the sect1 and become their enemy1 had introduced this enormity4 ,without inquiring whether this was a real sect whom ,viator calls ,catharistes1 it is sufficient to observe here1 that the first ,christians likewise imputed to the ,gnostics the horrible mysteries of which they were themselves accused by the ,jews and ,pagans2 and if this defence is good on their behalf1 why should it not be so on that of the ,manichans8 ,it is1 however1 these vulgar rumors which ,m4 de ,tillemont1 who piques himself on his exactness and fidelity1 ventures to convert into positive facts4 ,he asserts that the ,manichans had been made to confess these disgraceful doings in public judgments1 in ,paphlagonia1 in the ,gauls1 and several times at ,carthage4 ,let us also weigh the testimony of ,st4 ,cyril of ,jerusalem1 whose narrative is altogether different from that of ,st4 ,augustine2 and let us consider that the fact is so incredible and so absurd that it could scarcely be credited1 even if attested by five or six witnesses who had seen and would affirm it on oath4 ,st4 ,cyril stands alone2 he had never seen it2 he advances it in a popular declamation1 wherein he gives himself a licence to put into the mouth of ,manes1 in the conference of ,cascar1 a discourse1 not one word of which is in the ,acts of ,archlaus1 as ,m4 ,zaccagni is obliged to allow2 and it cannot be alleged in defence of ,st4 ,cyril that he has taken only the sense of ,archlaus1 and not the words2 for neither the sense nor the words can be found there4 ,besides1 the style which this father adopts is that of a historian who cites the actual words of his author4 ,nevertheless1 to save the honor and good faith of ,st4 ,cyril1 ,m4 ,zaccagni1 and after him ,m4 de ,tillemont1 suppose1 without any proof1 that the translator or copyist has omitted the passage in the ,acts quoted by this father2 and the journalists of ,trvoux have imagined two sorts of ,acts of ,archlaus--the authentic ones which ,cyril has copied1 and others invented in the fifth century by some historian4 ,when they shall have proved this conjecture1 we will examine their reasons4 ,finally1 let us come to the testimony of ,pope ,leo touching these ,manichan abominations4 ,he says1 in his sermons1 that the sudden troubles in other countries had brought into ,italy some ,manichans1 whose mysteries were so abominable that he could not expose them to the public view without sacrificing modesty4 ,that1 in order to ascertain them1 he had introduced male and female elect into an assembly composed of bishops1 priests1 and some lay noblemen4 ,that these heretics had disclosed many things respecting their dogmas and the ceremonies of their feast1 and had confessed a crime which could not be named1 but in regard to which there could be no doubt1 after the confession of the guilty parties--that is to say1 of a young girl of only ten years of age2 of two women who had prepared her for the horrible ceremony of the sect2 of a young man who had been an accomplice2 of the bishop who had ordered and presided over it4 ,he refers those among his auditors who desire to know more1 to the informations which had been taken1 and which he communicated to the bishops of ,italy1 in his second letter4 ,this testimony appears more precise and more decisive than that of ,st4 ,augustine2 but it is anything but conclusive in regard to a fact belied by the protestations of the accused1 and by the ascertained principles of their morality4 ,in effect1 what proofs have we that the infamous persons interrogated by ,leo were not bribed to depose against their sect8 ,it will be replied that the piety and sincerity of this pope will not permit us to believe that he has contrived such a fraud4 ,but if--as we have said in the article on ,relics--the same ,st4 ,leo was capable of supposing that pieces of linen and ribbons1 which were put in a box1 and made to descend into the tombs of some saints1 shed blood when they were cut--ought this pope to make any scruple in bribing1 or causing to be bribed1 some abandoned women1 and ,i know not what ,manichan bishop1 who1 being assured of pardon1 would make confessions of crimes which might be true as regarded themselves1 but not as regarded their sect1 from whose seduction ,st4 ,leo wished to protect his people8 ,at all times1 bishops have considered themselves authorized to employ those pious frauds which tend to the salvation of souls4 ,the conjectural and apocryphal scriptures are a proof of this2 and the readiness with which the fathers have put faith in those bad works1 shows that1 if they were not accomplices in the fraud1 they were not scrupulous in taking advantage of it4 ,in conclusion1 ,st4 ,leo pretends to confirm the secret crimes of the ,manichans by an argument which destroys them4 ,these execrable mysteries1 he says1 which the more impure they are1 the more carefully they are hid1 are common to the ,manichans and to the ,priscillianists4 ,there is in all respects the same sacrilege1 the same obscenity1 the same turpitude4 ,these crimes1 these infamies1 are the same which were formerly discovered among the ,priscillianists1 and of which the whole world is informed4 ,the ,priscillianists were never guilty of the crimes for which they were put to death4 ,in the works of ,st4 ,augustine is contained the instructional remarks which were transmitted to that father by ,orosius1 and in which this ,spanish priest protests that he has plucked out all the plants of perdition which sprang up in the sect of the ,priscillianists2 that he had not forgotten the smallest branch or root2 that he exposed to the surgeon all the diseases of the sect1 in order that he might labor in their cure4 ,orosius does not say a word of the abominable mysteries of which ,leo speaks2 an unanswerable proof that he had no doubt they were pure calumnies4 ,st4 ,jerome also says that ,priscillian was oppressed by faction1 and by the intrigues of the bishops ,ithacus and ,idacus4 ,would a man be thus spoken of who was guilty of profaning religion by the most infamous ceremonies8 ,nevertheless1 ,orosius and ,st4 ,jerome could not be ignorant of crimes of which all the world had been informed4 ,st4 ,martin of ,tours1 and ,st4 ,ambrosius1 who were at ,trier when ,priscillian was sentenced1 would have been equally informed of them4 ,they1 however1 instantly solicited a pardon for him2 and1 not being able to obtain it1 they refused to hold intercourse with his accusers and their faction4 ,sulpicius ,severus relates the history of the misfortunes of ,priscillian4 ,latronian1 ,euphrosyne1 widow of the poet ,delphidius1 his daughter1 and some other persons1 were executed with him at ,trier1 by order of the tyrant ,maximus1 and at the instigation of ,ithacus and ,idacus1 two wicked bishops1 who1 in reward for their injustice1 died in excommunication1 loaded with the hatred of ,god and man4 ,the ,priscillianists were accused1 like the ,manichans1 of obscene doctrines1 of religious nakedness and immodesty4 ,how were they convicted8 ,priscillian and his accomplices confessed1 as is said1 under the torture4 ,three degraded persons1 ,tertullus1 ,potamius1 and ,john1 confessed without awaiting the question4 ,but the suit instituted against the ,priscillianists would have been founded on other depositions1 which had been made against them in ,spain4 ,nevertheless1 these latter informations were rejected by a great number of bishops and esteemed ecclesiastics2 and the good old man ,higimis1 bishop of ,cordova1 who had been the denouncer of the ,priscillianists1 afterwards believed them so innocent of the crimes imputed to them that he received them into his communion1 and found himself involved thereby in the persecution which they endured4 ,these horrible calumnies1 dictated by a blind zeal1 would seem to justify the reflection which ,ammianus ,marcellinus reports of the emperor ,julian4 ,the savage beasts1 he said1 are not more formidable to men than the ,christians are to each other1 when they are divided by creed and opinion4 ,it is still more deplorable when zeal is false and hypocritical1 examples of which are not rare4 ,it is told of a doctor of the ,sorbonne1 that in departing from a sitting of the faculty1 ,tournly1 with whom he was strictly connected1 said to him3 ,you see that for two hours ,i have maintained a certain opinion with warmth2 well1 ,i assure you1 there is not one word of truth in all ,i have said6 ,the answer of a ,jesuit is also known1 who was employed for twenty years in the ,canada missions1 and who himself not believing in a ,god1 as he confessed in the ear of a friend1 had faced death twenty times for the sake of a religion which he preached to the savages4 ,this friend representing to him the inconsistency of his zeal3 ,ah6 replied the ,jesuit missionary1 you have no idea of the pleasure a man enjoys in making himself heard by twenty thousand men1 and in persuading them of what he does not himself believe4 ,it is frightful to observe how many abuses and disorders arise from the profound ignorance in which ,europe has been so long plunged4 ,those monarchs who are at last sensible of the importance of enlightenment1 become the benefactors of mankind in favoring the progress of knowledge1 which is the foundation of the tranquillity and happiness of nations1 and the finest bulwark against the inroads of fanaticism4 ,,zoroaster4 ,if it is ,zoroaster who first announced to mankind that fine maxim3 ,in the doubt whether an action be good or bad1 abstain from it1 ,zoroaster was the first of men after ,confucius4 ,if this beautiful lesson of morality is found only in the hundred gates of the ,sadder1 let us bless the author of the ,sadder4 ,there may be very ridiculous dogmas and rites united with an excellent morality4 ,who was this ,zoroaster8 ,the name has something of ,greek in it1 and it is said he was a ,mede4 ,the ,parsees of the present day call him ,zerdust1 or ,zerdast1 or ,zaradast1 or ,zarathrust4 ,he is not reckoned to have been the first of the name4 ,we are told of two other ,zoroasters1 the former of whom has an antiquity of nine thousand years--which is much for us1 but may be very little for the world4 ,we are acquainted with only the latest ,zoroaster4 ,the ,french travellers1 ,chardin and ,tavernier1 have given us some information respecting this great prophet1 by means of the ,guebers or ,parsees1 who are still scattered through ,india and ,persia1 and who are excessively ignorant4 ,dr4 ,hyde1 ,arabic professor of ,oxford1 has given us a hundred times more without leaving home4 ,living in the west of ,england1 he must have conjectured the language which the ,persians spoke in the time of ,cyrus1 and must have compared it with the modern language of the worshippers of fire4 ,it is to him1 moreover1 that we owe those hundred gates of the ,sadder1 which contain all the principal precepts of the pious fire-worshippers4 ,for my own part1 ,i confess ,i have found nothing in their ancient rites more curious than the two ,persian verses of ,sadi1 as given by ,hyde2 signifying that1 although a person may preserve the sacred fire for a hundred years1 he is burned when he falls into it4 ,the learned researches of ,hyde kindled1 a few years ago in the breast of a young ,frenchman1 the desire to learn for himself the dogmas of the ,guebers4 ,he traversed the ,great ,indies1 in order to learn at ,surat1 among the poor modern ,parsees1 the language of the ancient ,persians1 and to read in that language the books of the so-much celebrated ,zoroaster1 supposing that he has in fact written any4 ,the ,pythagorases1 the ,platos1 the ,appolloniuses of ,thyana1 went in former times to seek in the ,east wisdom that was not there2 but no one has run after this hidden divinity through so many sufferings and perils as this new ,french translator of the books attributed to ,zoroaster4 ,neither disease nor war1 nor obstacles renewed at every step1 nor poverty itself1 the first and greatest of obstacles1 could repel his courage4 ,it is glorious for ,zoroaster that an ,englishman wrote his life1 at the end of so many centuries1 and that afterwards a ,frenchman wrote it in an entirely different manner4 ,but it is still finer1 that among the ancient biographers of the poet we have two principal ,arabian authors1 each of whom had previously written his history2 and all these four histories contradict one another marvellously4 ,this is not done by concert2 and nothing is more conducive to the knowledge of the truth4 ,the first ,arabian historian1 ,abu-,mohammed ,mustapha1 allows that the father of ,zoroaster was called ,espintaman2 but he also says that ,espintaman was not his father1 but his great-great-grandfather4 ,in regard to his mother1 there are not two opinions2 she was named ,dogdu1 or ,dodo1 or ,dodu--that is1 a very fine turkey hen2 she is very well portrayed in ,doctor ,hyde4 ,bundari1 the second historian1 relates that ,zoroaster was a ,jew1 and that he had been valet to ,jeremiah2 that he told lies to his master2 that1 in order to punish him1 ,jeremiah gave him the leprosy2 that the valet1 to purify himself1 went to preach a new religion in ,persia1 and caused the sun to be adored instead of the stars4 ,attend now to what the third historian relates1 and what the ,englishman1 ,hyde1 has recorded somewhat at length3 ,the prophet ,zoroaster having come from ,paradise to preach his religion to the king of ,persia1 ,gustaph1 the king said to the prophet3 ,give me a sign4 ,upon this1 the prophet caused a cedar to grow up before the gate of the palace1 so large and so tall1 that no cord could either go round it or reach its top4 ,upon the cedar he placed a fine cabinet1 to which no man could ascend4 ,struck with this miracle1 ,gustaph believed in ,zoroaster4 ,four magi1 or four sages--it is the same thing--envious and wicked persons1 borrowed from the royal porter the key of the prophet's chamber during his absence1 and threw among his books the bones of dogs and cats1 the nails and hair of dead bodies--such being1 as is well known1 the drugs with which magicians at all times have operated4 ,afterwards1 they went and accused the prophet of being a sorcerer and a poisoner2 and the king1 causing the chamber to be opened by his porter1 the instruments of witchcraft were found there--and behold the envoy from heaven condemned to be hanged6 ,just as they are going to hang ,zoroaster1 the king's finest horse falls ill2 his four legs enter his body1 so as to be no longer visible4 ,zoroaster hears of it2 he promises to cure the horse1 provided they will not hang him4 ,the bargain being made1 he causes one leg to issue out of the belly1 and says3 ,sire1 ,i will not restore you the second leg unless you embrace my religion4 ,let it be so1 says the monarch4 ,the prophet1 after having made the second leg appear1 wished the king's children to become ,zoroastrians1 and they became so4 ,the other legs made proselytes of the whole court4 ,the four envious sages were hanged in place of the prophet1 and all ,persia received the faith4 ,the ,french traveller relates nearly the same miracles1 supported and embellished1 however1 by many others4 ,for instance1 the infancy of ,zoroaster could not fail to be miraculous2 ,zoroaster fell to laughing as soon as he was born1 at least according to ,pliny and ,solinus4 ,there were1 in those days1 as all the world knows1 a great number of very powerful magicians2 they were well aware that one day ,zoroaster would be greater than themselves1 and that he would triumph over their magic4 ,the prince of magicians caused the infant to be brought to him1 and tried to cut him in two2 but his hand instantly withered4 ,they threw him into the fire1 which was turned for him into a bath of rose water4 ,they wished to have him trampled on by the feet of wild bulls2 but a still more powerful bull protected him4 ,he was cast among the wolves2 these wolves went incontinently and sought two ewes1 who gave him suck all night4 ,at last1 he was restored to his mother ,dogdu1 or ,dodo1 or ,dodu1 a wife excellent above all wives1 or a daughter above all daughters4 ,such1 throughout the world1 have been all the histories of ancient times4 ,it proves what we have often remarked1 that ,fable is the elder sister of ,history4 ,i could wish that1 for our amusement and instruction1 all these great prophets of antiquity1 the ,zoroasters1 the ,mercurys ,trismegistus1 the ,abarises1 and even the ,numas1 and others1 should now return to the earth1 and converse with ,locke1 ,newton1 ,bacon1 ,shaftesbury1 ,pascal1 ,arnaud1 ,bayle--what do ,i say8--even with those philosophers of our day who are the least learned1 provided they are not the less rational4 ,i ask pardon of antiquity1 but ,i think they would cut a sorry figure4 ,alas1 poor charlatans6 they could not sell their drugs on the ,pont-neuf4 ,in the meantime1 however1 their morality is still good1 because morality is not a drug4 ,how could it be that ,zoroaster joined so many egregious fooleries to the fine precept of abstaining when it is doubtful whether one is about to do right or wrong8 ,it is because men are always compounded of contradictions4 ,it is added that ,zoroaster1 having established his religion1 became a persecutor4 ,alas6 there is not a sexton1 or a sweeper of a church1 who would not persecute1 if he had the power4 ,one cannot read two pages of the abominable trash attributed to ,zoroaster1 without pitying human nature4 ,nostradamus and the urine doctor are reasonable compared with this inspired personage2 and yet he still is and will continue to be talked of4 ,what appears singular is1 that there existed1 in the time of the ,zoroaster with whom we are acquainted1 and probably before1 prescribed formulas of public and private prayer4 ,we are indebted to the ,french traveller for a translation of them4 ,there were such formulas in ,india2 we know of none such in the ,pentateuch4 ,what is still stranger1 the magi1 as well as the ,brahmins1 admitted a paradise1 a hell1 a resurrection1 and a devil4 ,it is demonstrated that the law of the ,jews knew nothing of all this2 they were behindhand with everything--a truth of which we are convinced1 however little the progress we have made in ,oriental knowledge4 ,,declaration ,,of ,,the ,,amateurs1 ,,inquirers1 ,,and ,,doubters1 ,,who ,,have ,,amused ,,themselves ,,with ,,proposing ,,to ,,the ,,learned ,,the ,,preceding ,,questions ,,in ,,these ,,volumes4 ,we declare to the learned that being1 like themselves1 prodigiously ignorant of the first principles of all things1 and of the natural1 typical1 mystical1 allegorical sense of many things1 we acquiesce1 in regard to them1 in the infallible decision of the holy ,inquisition of ,rome1 ,milan1 ,florence1 ,madrid1 ,lisbon1 and in the decrees of the ,sorbonne1 the perpetual council of the ,french4 ,our errors not proceeding from malice1 but being the natural consequence of human weakness1 we hope we shall be pardoned for them both in this world and the next4 ,we entreat the small number of celestial spirits who are still shut up in the mortal bodies in ,france1 and who thence enlighten the universe at thirty sous per sheet1 to communicate their gifts to us for the next volume1 which we calculate on publishing at the end of the ,lent of #aggb1 or in the ,advent of #aggc2 and we will pay forty sous per sheet for their lucubrations4 ,we entreat the few great men who still remain to us1 such as the author of the ,ecclesiastical ,gazette2 the ,abb ,guyon2 with the ,abb ,caveirac1 author of the ,apology for ,st4 ,bartholomew2 and he who took the name of ,chiniac2 and the agreeable ,larcher2 and the virtuous1 wise1 and learned ,langleviel1 called ,la ,beaumelle2 the profound and exact ,nonnotte2 and the moderate1 the compassionate1 the tender ,patouillet--to assist us in our undertaking4 ,we shall profit by their instructive criticisms1 and we shall experience a real pleasure in rendering to all these gentlemen the justice which is their due4 ,the next volume will contain very curious articles1 which1 under the favor of ,god1 will be likely to give new piquancy to the wit which we shall endeavor to infuse into the thanks we return to all these gentlemen4 ,given at ,mount ,krapak1 the #cjth of the month of ,janus1 in the year of the world1 according to ,scaliger4444444444444444444444444444444 #e1jbb ,according to ,les ,etrennes ,mignonnes4444 #e1ggf ,according to ,riccioli444444444444444444 #e1ief ,according to ,eusebius444444444444444444 #f1igb ,according to the ,alphosine ,tables444444 #h1gjg ,according to the ,egyptians4444444444444 #cgj1jjj ,according to the ,chaldans4444444444444 #dfe1ajb ,according to the ,brahmins44444444444444 #ghj1jjj ,according to the ,philosophers4444444444 ----