,by ,fabre d',olivet ,hermeneutic ,interpretation ,the ,golden ,verses of ,pythagoras ,illustration3 ,,fabre ,d',,olivet ,after a miniature by ,augustin #agii ,the ,golden ,verses of ,pythagoras ,explained and ,translated into ,french and ,preceded by a ,discourse upon the ,essence and ,form of ,poetry ,among the ,principal ,peoples of the ,earth ,by ,fabre d',olivet ,done into ,english by ,nayn ,louise ,redfield k ,g4 ,p4 ,putnam's ,sons ,new ,york and ,london ,the ,knickerbocker ,press #aiag ,,copyright1 #aiag ,,by ,,nay,n ,,louise ,,redfield ,to the ,travellers who have turned their ,faces to the ,dawn and their ,steps toward the ,eternal ,hills is offered this rich ,fruit of ,wisdom1 that1 through it1 they may achieve the ,understanding of ,knowledge4 ,,translator',s ,,foreword ,in this twentieth century1 the sacred books of the ancients are undoubtedly better understood than they were even by their contemporaries1 for their authors1 by the greatness of their genius1 are as much nearer to us1 as they were distant from them4 ,at the close of the eighteenth century1 the light which came from the illimitable mind of ,fabre d',olivet shone with solitary splendour and was destined to be seen by only a few devoted followers4 ,but history shows that a great inspirer always appears at the beginning of every great epoch1 and however small the number of his disciples1 these disciples with their pupils form the magnetic chain which1 according to ,plato1 carries his thought out into the world4 ,fabre d',olivet1 born at ,ganges1 ,bas-,languedoc1 ,dec4 #h1 #agfh1 was distinguished even in his own day not only for the extent of his learning but for the rectitude of his judgment and the sublimity of his conceptions4 ,if one can infer from the all too scarce records available since the calamitous fire which destroyed so many of his valued manuscripts1 he evidently suffered keenly from the fetters of mortality1 and sought with unfailing fervour what ,porphyry so aptly called the 8,olympia of the ,soul40 ,saint ,yves d',alveydre1 writing of him in ,la ,france vraie1 says1 that it was in #agij1 while in ,germany1 he received his ,pythagorean initiation1 the profound imprint of which marked all his later productions4 ,after returning to ,paris he applied himself to philological and philosophical studies undisturbed by the terrible revolutionary storm4 ,in obscure seclusion he amassed1 to quote ,sdir1 8a disconcerting erudition40 ,he became familiar with all the ,semitic tongues and dialects1 the ,aryan languages1 and even penetrated the secrets of the ,chinese hieroglyphics4 ,it was during these ten years of retirement that he wrote his ,examinations of the ,golden ,verses which were not published until #ahac1 with its dedication to the ,section of ,literature of the ,imperial ,institute of ,france4 ,it is known that the ,golden ,verses of ,pythagoras were originally transcribed by ,lysis and that it is to ,hierocles we owe the version which has come down to us4 ,fabre d',olivet has translated them into ,french verse1 the style of which he calls eumolpique1 that is1 subject to measure and harmonious cadence but free from rhyme1 with alternate masculine and feminine terminations4 ,in the ,essence and ,form of ,poetry which precedes the ,golden ,verses1 he illustrates this melodious style1 in applying it to the opening lines of some of the well-known classics1 and to others not so well-known4 ,these ,golden ,verses1 so remarkable for their moral elevation1 present the most beautiful monument of antiquity raised in honour of ,wisdom4 ,they formed the credo of the adepts and initiates4 ,in his recondite ,examinations1 ,fabre d',olivet has drawn the metaphysical correlation of ,providence1 ,destiny1 and the ,will of ,man1 in which combined action ,destiny reigns over the past1 the ,will of ,man over the future1 and ,providence over the present1 which1 always existing1 may be called ,eternal4 ,one will find this given at greater length in his ,hermeneutic ,interpretation of the ,origin of the ,social ,state of ,man and the ,destiny of the ,adamic ,race3 admirable work of this little known theosophist1 8to give him the name he loved best to hold10 says ,pierre ,leroux in ,de l',humanit4 ,the inequality of human conditions1 upon which depend the social and political questions1 forms one of the vital subjects of these esoteric teachings4 ,he has also endeavoured to explain the true opinion of ,pythagoras concerning metempsychosis which was his sacred dogma1 and said that the dogma of transmigration of souls1 received by all peoples and revealed in the ancient mysteries1 has been absolutely disfigured in what the moderns have called metempsychosis4 ,his strange death1 which occurred ,march #be1 #ahbe1 is mentioned by des ,essarts in ,les ,hirophantes1 and other authorities including ,pierre ,leroux1 have asserted that he died at the foot of his altar4 ,,nay,n ,,louise ,,redfield4 ,,hartford1 ,,conn41 ,october1 #aiaf4 ,the ,golden ,verses of ,pythagoras ,,discourse ,,upon ,,the ,,essence ,,and ,,form ,,of ,,poetry ,,discourse ,,upon ,,the ,,essence ,,and ,,form ,,of ,,poetry#a ,messieurs3 ,before publishing the translation of the ,golden ,verses of ,pythagoras1 such as ,i have made it1 in ,french verse which ,i have designated by the expression eumolpique1#b ,i would have liked to be able to submit it to you and thus be enlightened by your counsels or sustained by your approbation2 but academic laws and usages1 whose justice ,i have felt1 have prevented my enjoying this advantage4 ,the innovation1 however1 which ,i have endeavoured to make in ,french poetry and the new explanation which ,i have tried to give of one of the most celebrated pieces of ,greek poetry1 have seemed to me to hold too closely to your labours and to enter too deeply into your literary provinces1 for me to believe myself able to dispense with calling your attention to them4 ,i crave your indulgence1 if in the demonstration of a just deference to your judgment ,i involuntarily neglect certain formalities2 and ,i beg you to judge the purity of my intentions4 ,i claim not to be a poet2 ,i had even long ago renounced the art of verse1 but notwithstanding that1 ,i am now presenting myself in the poetic career to solicit the hazardous success of an innovation6 ,is it the love of glory which inspires in me this temerity1 which dazzles me today as my autumn advances1 whereas it was unable to move me when the effervescence of my springtime ought to have doubled its strength8 ,no3 however flattering the wreaths that you award to talent1 they would not concern me2 and if an interest1 as new as powerful1 had not induced me to address you1 ,i would keep silent4 ,this interest1 ,messieurs1 is that which science itself inspires in me1 and the desire1 perhaps inconsiderate but commendable1 of co-operating with my limited ability for the development of a language whose literary and moral influence1 emerging from the bourns of ,europe and the present century1 ought to invade the world and become universal like the renown of the hero who extends his conquests with those of the empire whose foundations he has laid4 ,i feel1 ,messieurs1 that ,i should explain my thought4 ,my assertion1 well founded as it may be1 appears none the less extraordinary1 and ,i am bound to admit this4 ,the disfavour which is attached to all new ideas1 to all innovations1 the just defiance that they inspire1 the element of ridicule that springs from their downfall1 would have arrested my audacity1 if ,i had had audacity alone1 and if the worthy ambition of effecting a general good had not raised me above a particular evil which might have resulted for me4 ,besides ,i have counted upon the judicious good-will of the two illustrious ,academies to which ,i am addressing myself3 ,i have thought that they would distinguish in the verse which ,i am presenting for their examination1 both as a means of execution in ,french poetry and as a means of translation in ancient and foreign poetry1 the real utility that they can offer1 of the fortuitous beauty which they lack1 and which a more capable hand would have been able to give them2 ,i flatter myself1 at length1 that they would grant to the end1 without prejudice1 the attention which is necessary1 and that if they refused an entire approbation to my efforts1 they would at least render justice to my zeal and commend the motives which have made me attempt them4 ,i ,when1 after the revival of letters in ,europe1 ,chancellor ,bacon1 legislator of thought1 sketched with bold strokes the tree of human knowledge1 and brought back each branch of science to that of the moral faculties upon which it depends1 he did not fail to observe sagaciously that it was necessary to distinguish in poetry two things1 its essence and its form#c3 its essence as pertaining wholly to the imagination1 and composing by itself alone one of the principal branches of science#d2 its form1 as making part of the grammar1 and entering thus into the domain of philosophy and into the rational faculty of the understanding4#e ,this celebrated man had borrowed this idea from a man much older and more celebrated than himself1 ,plato4 ,according to this admirable philosopher1 poetry is either a simple talent1 an art which one uses to give to his own ideas a particular form1 or it is a divine inspiration by means of which one clothes in the human language and transmits to men the ideas of the gods4#f ,it is because1 never having felt sufficiently this important distinction and having confused two ideas that ought to be separated1 the essence and the form of poetry1 which are as the soul and body of this science1 that so many men among the modern nations proclaimed themselves poets1 whereas they were1 in strict truth1 only clever versifiers4 ,for it does not suffice1 as ,plato again said1 to have poetic talent1 it does not suffice to make verse and even good verse1 to be called a poet#g2 it is necessary to possess that divine enthusiasm1 that inspiration which elevates the soul1 enlightens it1 transports it1 as it were1 to intellectual regions and causes it to draw from its source the very essence of this science4 ,how they delude themselves1 those who1 habitually deceived1 foolishly imagine that the lofty fame of ,orpheus1 ,homer1 ,pindar1 schylus1 or ,sophocles and the immortality which they enjoy1 belongs only to the plan of their works1 to the harmony of their verse1 and to the happy use of their talent6 ,these flattering appearances which constitute the form of their poetry would have disappeared long ago1 they would have become broken1 like fragile vases1 upon the torrent of centuries1 if the intelligence which animated them had not eternalized their duration4 ,but this secret intelligence does not reside1 as certain other superficial readers persuade themselves1 being still deceived1 in the simple interest that the characters mise en scne inspire2 this interest1 which results from their contrast and from the shock of the passions1 is another sort of form1 more hidden1 and less frail1 than the former1 it is true1 but as variable generally and subject to the great revolution of customs1 laws1 and usages4 ,true poetry does not depend upon that2 it depends upon the primordial ideas which the genius of the poet in his exaltation has seized in the intellectual nature1 and which his talent has shown afterwards in the elementary nature1 thus adapting the simulacra of physical things to the movement inspired by the soul1 instead of adapting this movement to those same simulacra1 as those who write history4 ,this is what ,bacon1 the modern philosopher whom ,i have already cited1 has felt so perfectly4#h ,he says3 ,as the sentient world is inferior to the human soul1 it is for poetry to give to this nature what reality has refused it1 lending to it the faculties of the intellectual world2 and as the acts and events which make the subject of true history have not that grandeur and that sublimity for which the human soul seeks1 it is necessary that poetry create acts and events greater and more heroic4 ,all must be increased and embellished by its voice and receive from it a new existence2 it is necessary even that virtue shine with an clat more pure2 that the veil which covers truth be lifted from its eyes and that the course of ,providence1 better discerned1 be allowed to penetrate into the most secret causes of events4 ,the philosopher who expressed thus his thought regarding the essence of poetry1 was far from believing1 as the vulgar have always believed1 and as certain modern writers have wished to convince the savants1#i that1 of the two parts of poetry1 the positive form might be the only genuine2 that is to say1 that they do not by any means consider that the human characters put upon the stage by the poets whom ,i have just named1 were historic characters4 ,bacon understood well that ,achilles1 ,agamemnon1 ,ulysses1 ,castor and ,pollux1 ,helen1 ,iphigenia1 dipus1 ,phdra1 etc41 are somewhat more than they appear to be1 and that their virtues or their vices1 their heroic actions1 even their crimes1 celebrated by poetry1 contain a profound meaning wherein lie buried the mysteries of religion and the secrets of philosophy4#aj ,it belongs only to the men to whom poetry is known by its exterior forms alone and who have never penetrated as far as its essence1 to imagine that a small city of ,asia1 unknown to all ,asia1 around which the ,king of kings of ,greece waited in vain for ten years to avenge the honour of his brother betrayed by his wife1 should be able during three thousand years to occupy the greatest minds of ,europe1 on account of a quarrel which was raised in the tenth year of the siege1 between this ,king of kings and a petty prince of his army1 angry and sulky1 named ,achilles4 ,it is only permitted to the phlegmatic chronologists1 whom the muses have never visited in their studies1 to seek seriously to fix the year and the day when this quarrel took place4 ,a man1 strongly imbued with the spirit of ,homer or of ,sophocles1 would never see in ,ulysses a real man1 a king who1 returning to his isle after long wanderings1 kills in cold blood a crowd of lovers of his wife and rests confident of the conjugal fidelity of that spouse abandoned for twenty years1 and whom he had won in the course1#aa although1 according to the most common reports1 she was delivered of a son in his absence#ab2 nor in dipus1 another king1 who1 without knowing it1 without wishing it1 always innocent1 kills his father1 espouses his mother and1 driven to parricide and incest by an irresistible destiny1 tears out his eyes and condemns himself to wander over the earth1 to be a frightful example of celestial wrath4 ,the platitudes and ridicule of the deed related by ,homer1 and the horror which resulted from that presented on the stage by ,sophocles1 are sufficient evidence against their reality4 ,if the poem of the one and the tragedy of the other do not conceal1 under the coarse exterior which covers them1 a secret fire which acts unknown to the reader1 never would a sane man tolerate a presentation1 on the one side1 of vice changed into virtue1 and on the other1 virtue changed into vice1 and the gods operating this strange metamorphosis against all the laws of natural justice4 ,he would throw aside the book with disgust1 or1 agreeing with the judicious reflection of an ancient ,greek writer1 exclaim with him#ac3 ,if ,homer had merely thought with respect to the gods what he said1 he would have been an impious1 sacrilegious man1 a veritable ,salmoneus1 a second ,tantalus2 but let us guard against doing him this wrong1 or taking for guides those who1 misunderstanding the allegorical genius of this great poet1 and hesitating before the outer court of his mysterious poetry1 have never succeeded in understanding the sublime philosophy which is enclosed therein4 ,you are not1 ,messieurs1 of those designated by ,heraclides in the words ,i have just quoted4 ,members of these celebrated ,academies where ,homer and ,sophocles have found so many admirers1 defenders1 and illustrious disciples1 you can easily admit that ,i see in these great men more than ordinary poets1 that ,i place their glory elsewhere than in their talent1 and that ,i say1 particularly of ,homer1 that his most just claims to immortality are less in the form than in the essence of his poetry1 because a form1 however admirable it may be1 passes and yields to time which destroys it1 whereas the essence or the spirit which animates it1 immutable as the ,divinity from which it emanates by inspiration1 resists all vicissitudes and seems to increase in vigour and clat1 in proportion as the centuries passing away reveal its force and serve as evidence of its celestial origin4 ,i flatter myself that my sentiments in this regard are not foreign to yours and that the successors of ,corneille1 ,racine1 and ,boileau hear with pleasure these eulogies given to the creator of epopia1 to the founders of dramatic art1 and agree with me in regarding them as particular organs of the ,divinity1 the instruments chosen for the instruction and civilization of men4 ,if you deign1 ,messieurs1 to follow the development of my ideas with as much attention as indulgence1 you already know that what ,i call the essence or spirit of poetry1 and which1 following upon the steps of the founder of the ,academy and of the regenerator of the sciences of ,europe1 ,i distinguish from its form1 is no other thing than the allegorical genius1 immediate production of the inspiration2 you also understand that ,i mean by inspiration1 the infusion of this same genius into the soul which1 having power only in the intellectual nature1 is manifested in action by passing into the elementary nature by means of the inner labour of the poet who invests it with a sentient form according to his talent2 you perceive finally1 how1 following this simple theory1 ,i explain the words of ,plato1 and how ,i conceive that the inspired poet transmits to men the ideas of the gods4 ,i have no need ,i think of telling you that ,i make an enormous difference between this divine inspiration which exalts the soul and fills it with a real enthusiasm1 and that sort of inner movement or disorder which the vulgar also call inspiration1 which in its greatest perfection is only passion excited by the love of glory1 united with a habit of verse making1 which constitutes the talent1 and in its imperfection is only a disordered passion called by ,boileau1 an ardour for rhyming4 ,these two kinds of inspiration in no wise resemble each other2 their effects are as different as their causes1 their productions as different as their sources4 ,the one1 issuing from the intellectual nature1 has its immutability3 it is the same in all time1 among all peoples1 and in the heart of all men who receive it2 it alone produces genius3 its first manifestation is very rare1 but its second manifestation is less so1 as ,i will show later on4 ,the other inspiration1 inherent in sentient nature1 born of passion1 varies with the whim of men and things1 and takes on the hue of the customs and the times2 it can bring forth talent or at least modify it1 and when it is seconded by a great facility1 can go to the extent of feigning genius but never farther3 its real domain is the mind4 ,its possession is not very rare even in its perfection4 ,one can sometimes find it united with the true inspiration1 first as in ,homer1 or second as in ,vergil2 and then the form which it unceasingly works over1 joining its sentient beauties to the intellectual beauties of genius1 creates the monuments of science4 ,it may be that the development which ,i have just given of my ideas on the essence of poetry will appear new1 although ,i must acknowledge that in reality they are not4 ,i am addressing men who are too enlightened to ignore what the ancients have said in this respect4 ,heraclides1 whom ,i have already cited1 is not the only one who has given this impression4 ,strabo assures positively that ancient poetry was only the language of allegory1#ad and he refutes ,eratosthenes who pretended that the aim of ,homer was only to amuse and please4 ,in this he is in accord with ,denys of ,halicarnassus who avows that the mysteries of nature and the most sublime conceptions of morals have been covered with the veil of allegory4#ae ,phurnutus goes farther3 he declares that the allegories used by ,hesiod and by ,homer do not differ from those which other foreign poets have used before them4#af ,damascius said as much of the poems of ,orpheus1#ag and ,plutarch confirms it in a passage which has been preserved to us by ,eusebius4#ah ,in the first ages of ,greece1 poetry1 consecrated to the service of the altars1 left the enclosures of the temples only for the instruction of the people3 it was as a sacred language in which the priests1 entrusted with presiding at the mysteries of religion1 interpreted the will of the gods4 ,the oracles1 dogmas1 moral precepts1 religious and civil laws1 teachings of all sorts concerning the labours of the body1 the operations of the mind1 in fact all that which was regarded as an emanation1 an order1 or a favour from the ,divinity1 all was written in verse4 ,to this sacred language was given the name ,poetry1 that is to say1 the ,language of the ,gods3 a symbolic name which accords with it perfectly1 since it expressed at the same time its origin and its usage4#ai ,it was said to have come from ,thrace1#bj and the one who had invented it and caused its first accents to be heard was called ,olen4#ba ,now these are again two symbolic names perfectly adapted to the idea that one had of this divine science3 it was descended from ,thrace1 that is to say1 from the ,ethereal ,space2 it was ,olen who had invented it1 that is to say1 the ,universal ,being4#bb ,to understand these three etymologies which can be regarded as the fundamental points of the history of poetry1 it is necessary to remember1 first1 that the ,phnicians1 at the epoch when they covered not only ,greece but the coasts of the rest of ,europe with their colonies1 brought there their language1 and gave their names to the countries of which they had taken possession2 secondly1 that these names drawn almost always from objects symbolic of their cult1 constituted for these countries a sort of sacred geography1 which ,greece above all others1 was faithful in preserving4#bc ,it was thus 7for there is nothing under the sun which cannot find either its model or its copy7 when the ,europeans took possession of ,america and colonized it1 and carried to those regions their diverse dialects and covered it with names drawn from the mysteries of ,christianity4 ,one ought therefore1 when one wishes to understand the ancient names of the countries of ,greece1 those of their heroic personages1 those of the mysterious subjects of their cult1 to have recourse to the ,phnician dialect which although lost to us can easily be restored with the aid of ,hebrew1 ,aramaic1 ,chaldean1 ,syriac1 ,arabic1 and ,coptic4 ,i do not intend1 ,messieurs1 to fatigue you with proofs of these etymologies which are not in reality the subject of my discourse4 ,i am content to place them on the margin for the satisfaction of the curious4 ,thus ,i shall make use of them later1 when occasion demands4 ,but to return to ,thrace1 this country was always considered by the ,greeks as the place peculiar to their gods and the centre of their cult2 the divine country1 par excellence4 ,all the names that it has borne in different dialects and which in the course of time have become concentrated in particular regions1 have been synonyms of theirs4 ,thus1 ,get1 ,msia1 ,dacia1 all signify the country of the gods4#bd ,strabo1 in speaking of the ,get1 said that these peoples recognized a sovereign pontiff to whom they gave the title of ,god1 the dignity of which existed still in his time4#be ,this sovereign pontiff resided upon a mountain that d',anville believes he has recognized1 between ,moldavia and ,transylvania4 ,the ,thracians had also a sovereign pontiff instituted in the same manner as that of the ,get1 and residing likewise upon a sacred mountain4#bf ,it was1 no doubt1 from the heights of these mountains that the divine oracles1 the laws and teachings which the great pontiffs had composed in verse1 were at first spread throughout ,greece2 so that it might be said1 literally as well as figuratively1 that poetry1 revered as the language of the gods1 production of an ,eternal ,being1 descended from the ethereal abode and was propagated upon earth for the instruction and delight of mortals4 ,it appears to me very certain that the temple of ,delphi1 erected upon the famous mountain of ,parnassus1 differed not essentially at first from those of ,thrace2 and what confirms me in this idea is that1 according to an ancient tradition1 it was ,olen who1 coming out from ,lycia1 that is to say from the light1 caused all ,greece to recognize the cult of ,apollo and ,diana2 composed the hymns which were chanted at ,delos in honour of these two divinities and established the temple of ,delphi of which he was the first pontiff4#bg ,thus the temple of ,delphi rivalled those of ,thrace4 ,its foundation1 doubtless due to some innovator priest1 was attributed by a poetic metaphor to the divinity which had inspired it4 ,at that time a schism arose and two cults were formed1 that of the ,thracians consecrated to ,bacchus and ,ceres1 or ,dionysus the divine spirit1 and ,demeter the earth-mother#bh2 and that of the ,greeks1 properly speaking1 consecrated to the sun and the moon1 adored under the names of ,apollo and ,diana4 ,it is to this schism that one should ascribe the famous dispute which was raised1 it is said1 between ,bacchus and ,apollo concerning the possession of the tripod of ,delphi4#bi ,the poetic fable woven from this subject was made to preserve the remembrance of the moral incident and not of the physical event2 for at this remote epoch1 when verse only was written1 history1 ever allegorical1 treated only of moral and providential matters1 disdaining all physical details deemed little worthy of occupying the memory of men4 ,however that may be1 it appears certain1 notwithstanding this schism1 that the cult of the ,thracians dominated ,greece for a long time4 ,the new source of poetry opened at ,delphi and on ,mount ,parnassus1 destined in time to become so celebrated1 remained at first somewhat unknown4 ,it is worthy of observation that ,hesiod1 born in the village of ,ascra1 a short distance from ,delphi1 makes no mention either of the oracle or of the temple of ,apollo4 ,all that he said of this city1 which he named ,pytho1 has reference to the stone which ,saturn had swallowed1 believing to devour his son4#cj ,homer does not mention this ,pytho in the ,iliad2 he mentions in the ,odyssey an oracle delivered by ,apollo upon ,parnassus4 ,for a long time1 the peoples of ,greece1 accustomed to receive from the ancient mountains of ,thrace both their oracles and their instructions1 turned toward that country and neglected the new sacred mount4 ,this is why the most ancient traditions place in ,thrace1 with the supremacy of cult and sacerdotalism1 the cradle of the most famous poets and that of the ,muses who had inspired them3 ,orpheus1 ,musus1 ,thamyris1 and ,eumolpus were ,thracians4 ,pieria1 where the ,muses were born1 was a mountain of ,thrace2 and when1 at length1 it was a question of rendering to the gods a severe and orthodox cult1 it was said that it was necessary to imitate the ,thracians1 or1 as one would say in ,french1 thraciser4#ca ,besides it must be observed1 that at the epoch when the temple of ,delphi was founded1 the new cult1 presented to the ,greeks under the name of the universal ,olen1 tended to unite ,apollo and ,diana1 or the sun and the moon1 under the same symbolic figure1 and to make of it only one and the same object of adoration1 under the name of tolinos1 that is to say1 ,sun-moon4#cb ,it was proclaimed that the middle of the earth1 its paternal and maternal umbilicus1 was found placed exactly on the spot where the new sacred city was built1 which was called for this mystical reason ,delphi4#cc ,but it seems that the universality of this tolinos was never well understood by the ,greeks1 who1 in their minds1 united only with difficulty that which custom and their senses had taught them to separate4 ,moreover one can well conjecture that1 as in all religious schisms1 a host of difficulties and contradictory opinions were raised4 ,if ,i can believe the sacerdotal traditions of ,india1 that ,i encounter1 the greatest difficulty was1 not knowing which sex dominated in this mysterious being whose essence was composed of the sun and moon and whose hermaphroditic umbilicus was possessed in ,delphi4 ,this insoluble question had more than once divided mankind and stained the earth with blood4 ,but here is not the place to touch upon one of the most important and most singular facts of the history of man4 ,i have already deviated too much from my subject1 and ,i return to it asking pardon of my judges for this necessary digression4 ,,ii ,poetry1 transported with the seat of religion from the mountains of ,thrace to those of ,phocis1 lost there1 as did religion1 its primitive unity4 ,not only did each sovereign pontiff use it to spread his dogmas1 but the opposed sects born of the rending of the cult1 vying with each other1 took possession of it4 ,these sects1 quite numerous1 personified by the allegorical genius which presided over poetry1 and which1 as ,i have said1 constituted its essence1 were confused with the mind which animated them and were considered as a particular being4 ,thence1 so many of the demi-gods1 and the celebrated heroes1 from whom the ,greek tribes pretended to have descended2 thence1 so many of the famous poets to whom were attributed a mass of works that emanated from the same sanctuary1 or were composed for the support of the same doctrine4 ,for it is well to remember that the allegorical history of these remote times1 written in a different spirit from the positive history which has succeeded it1 resembled it in no way1 and that it is in having confused them that so many grave errors have arisen4 ,it is a very important observation that ,i again make here4 ,this history1 confided to the memory of men or preserved among the sacerdotal archives of the temples in detached fragments of poetry1 considered things only from the moral side1 was never occupied with individuals1 but saw only the masses2 that is to say1 peoples1 corporations1 sects1 doctrines1 even arts and sciences1 as so many particular beings that it designated by a generic name4 ,it is not that these masses were unable to have a chief to direct their movements1 but this chief1 regarded as the instrument of a certain mind1 was neglected by history which attached itself to the mind only4 ,one chief succeeded another without allegorical history making the least mention of it4 ,the adventures of all were accumulated upon the head of one alone4 ,it was the moral thing whose course was examined1 whose birth1 progress1 or downfall was described4 ,the succession of things replaced that of individuals4 ,positive history1 which ours has become1 follows a method entirely different4 ,the individuals are everything for it3 it notes with scrupulous exactitude dates and facts which the other scorns4 ,i do not pronounce upon their common merit4 ,the moderns would mock that allegorical manner of the ancients1 if they could believe it possible1 as ,i am persuaded the ancients would have mocked the method of the moderns1 had they been able to foresee its possibility in the future4 ,how approve of what is unknown8 ,man approves of only what he likes2 he always believes he knows all that he ought to like4 ,i can say1 after having repeated this observation1 that the poet ,linus1 who is regarded as the author of all the melancholy chants of the ancient world1 represents nothing less than lunar poetry detached from the doctrine of tolinos1 of which ,i have spoken1 and considered as schismatic by the ,thracians2 ,i can also say1 that the poet ,amphion1 whose chants were1 on the contrary1 so powerful and so virile1 typifies the orthodox solar poetry1 opposed by these same ,thracians2 whereas the prophet ,thamyris1 who1 it is said1 celebrated in such stately verse the creation of the world and the war of the ,titans1#cd represents quite plainly the universal doctrine of ,olen1 re-established by his followers4 ,the name of ,amphion signifies the orthodox or national voice of ,greece2 that of ,thamyris1 the twin lights of the gods4#ce ,one feels1 accordingly1 that the evils which came to ,linus and to ,thamyris1 one of whom was killed by ,hercules1#cf and the other deprived of sight by the ,muses1#cg are1 in reality1 only some sort of criticism or unfortunate incident sustained by the doctrines which they represented1 on account of the opposition of the ,thracians4 ,what ,i have said concerning ,linus1 ,amphion1 and ,thamyris1 can be applied to the greater part of the poets who preceded ,homer1 and ,fabricius names seventy of these#ch2 one could also extend it to ,orpheus1 but only on a certain side2 for although it may be very true1 that no positive detail is possessed regarding the character of the celebrated man1 founder or propagator of the doctrine which has borne this name2 although it may be very true1 that all that concerns his birth1 his life1 and his death is completely unknown1 it is none the less certain that this man has existed1 that he has been actually the head of a very extended sect1 and that the allegorical fables which remain to us on this subject depict1 more particularly than they have done with any other1 the course of his thoughts and the success of his institutions4 ,orpheus belongs1 on the one side1 to anterior times1 and on the other1 to times merely ancient4 ,the epoch when he appeared is the line of demarcation between pure allegory and mixed allegory1 the intelligible and the sentient4 ,he taught how to ally the rational faculty with the imaginative faculty4 ,the science which was a long time after called philosophy1 originated with him4 ,he laid its first basis4 ,one should guard against believing1 following in the footsteps of certain historians deceived by the meaning of allegorical fables1 that when ,orpheus appeared1 ,greece1 still barbarous1 offered only the traces of a civilization hardly outlined1 or that the ferocious animals1 tamed by the charm of his poetry1 should represent1 in effect1 the inhabitants of this beautiful country4 ,men capable of receiving a cult so brilliant as that of ,orpheus1 a doctrine so pure1 and mysteries so profound2 men who possessed a language so formed1 so noble1 so harmonious as that which served that inspired man to compose his hymns1 were far from being ignorant and savage to this degree4 ,it is not true1 as has been said and repeated without examination1 that poetry had its birth in the forests1 in regions rough and wild1 nor above all1 that it may be the concomitant of the infancy of the nations and the first stammerings of the human mind4 ,poetry1 on the contrary1 having attained its perfection1 indicates always a long existence among the peoples1 a civilization very advanced and all the splendour of a virile age4 ,the sanctuary of the temple is its true cradle4 ,glance over the savage world and see if the ,iroquois or the ,samoyeds have a poetry4 ,have the peoples who were found in their infancy in the isles of the ,pacific shown you hymns like those of ,orpheus1 epic monuments like the poems of ,homer8 ,is it not known that the ,tartars who have subjugated ,asia1 those proud ,manchus who today reign over ,china1 have never been able to derive from their language1 rebellious to all kinds of melody and rhythm1 a single verse1#ci although since their conquests they have felt and appreciated the charms of this art8#dj ,bears and lions1 tamed and brought nearer together by ,orphic poetry1 have no reference to men1 but to things3 they are the symbols of rival sects which1 imbibing their hatred at the very foot of the altars1 diffused it over all that surrounded them and filled ,greece with troubles4 ,for a long time this country was a prey to the double scourge of religious and political anarchy4 ,in detaching herself from the cult of the metropolis1 she also detached herself from its government4 ,once a colony of the ,phnicians1 she had thrown off their yoke1 not however spontaneously and en masse1 but gradually1 over and over again2 so that there were twenty rival temples1 twenty rival cities1 twenty petty peoples divided by rite1 by civil interest1 and by the ambition of the priests and princes who governed them4 ,the ,thracians1 remaining faithful to the ancient laws1 were styled superstitious or enslaved1 whereas the innovators and the insurgents were considered1 by the ,thracians and often by themselves1 schismatics and rebels4 ,phnicia had vainly wished to oppose this general desertion4 ,asia came to experience the most terrible shocks4 ,india1 which had long held the sceptre there1 was buried for fifteen hundred years in her ,kali-youg1 or her age of darkness1 and offered only the shadow of her ancient splendour4#da ,for fifteen centuries she had lost her unity by the extinction of her imperial dynasties4 ,many rival kingdoms were formed1#db whose constant quarrels had left them neither the leisure nor the possibility of watching over and supporting their colonies from afar4 ,the gradual lowering of the ,mediterranean1 and the alluvial deposit of the shores of ,egypt raising the ,isthmus of ,suez1#dc had cut off all communication between this sea and the ,red ,sea1 and1 by barriers difficult to surmount1 separated the primitive ,phnicians1 established upon the shores of the ,indian ,ocean1 from those of ,palestine4#dd ,the meridional ,arabs were separated from the septentrional1 and both had broken with the ,indians to whom they had formerly belonged4#de ,tibet had adopted a particular cult and form of government4#df ,persia had been subject to the empire of the ,assyrians4#dg ,at last the political ties which united all these states1 and which once formed only a vast group under the domination of the ,indian monarchs1 had become relaxed or broken on all sides4 ,egypt1 long subject to the ,philistines1 known under the name of ,shepherds1 came at length to drive them out1 and emerging from her lethargy prepared herself to seize the influence which ,asia had allowed to escape4#dh ,already the most warlike of her kings1 ,sethos1 had extended his empire over both ,libya and ,arabia2 ,phnicia and ,assyria had been subjugated2 he had entered triumphant into ,babylon and was seated upon the throne of ,belus4#di ,he would not have hesitated to attempt the conquest of ,greece1 if he had been able as easily to lead his army there2 but it was difficult for him to create a marine force1 and above all to overcome the invincible repugnance that the ,egyptians had for the sea4#ej ,obliged to employ the ,phnicians1 his ancient enemies1 he was able to draw from them only mediocre service4 ,in spite of these obstacles and the stubborn resistance of the ,greeks1 he succeeded nevertheless in making some conquests and forming some partial settlements4 ,athens1 so celebrated later1 was one of the principal ones4#ea ,these events1 these revolutions1 calamitous in appearance1 were in reality to produce great benefits4 ,greece1 already impregnated with the learning of the ,phnicians1 which she had obtained and elaborated1 afterward received that of the ,egyptians and elaborated it still further4 ,a man born in the heart of ,thrace1 but carried in his childhood into ,egypt through the desire for knowledge1#eb returned to his country with one of the ,egyptian colonies1 to kindle there the new light4 ,he was initiated into all the mysteries of religion and science3 he surpassed1 said ,pausanias1 all those who had preceded him1 by the beauty of his verse1 the sublimity of his chants1 and the profoundness of his knowledge in the art of healing and of appeasing the gods4#ec ,this was ,orpheus3 he took this name from that of his doctrine#ed which aimed to cure and to save by knowledge4 ,i should greatly overstep the limits that ,i have prescribed for this discourse if ,i should recall in detail all that ,greece owed to this celebrated man4 ,the mythological tradition has consecrated in a brilliant allegory the efforts which he made to restore to men the truth which they had lost4 ,his love for ,eurydice1 so much sung by the poets1 is but the symbol of the divine science for which he longed4#ee ,the name of this mysterious spouse1 whom he vainly wished to return to the light1 signified only the doctrine of the true science1 the teaching of what is beautiful and veritable1 by which he tried to enrich the earth4 ,but man cannot look upon the face of truth before attaining the intellectual light1 without losing it2 if he dare to contemplate it in the darkness of his reason1 it vanishes4 ,this is what the fable1 which everyone knows1 of ,eurydice1 found and lost1 signifies4 ,orpheus1 who felt by his own experience1 perhaps1 the great disadvantage that he had here1 of presenting the truth to men before they might be in condition to receive it1 instituted the divine mysteries2 an admirable school where the initiate1 conducted from one degree to another1 slowly prepared and tried1 received the share of light in proportion to the strength of his intelligence1 and gently enlightened1 without risk of being dazzled1 attained to virtue1 wisdom1 and truth4 ,there has been but one opinion in antiquity concerning the utility of the mysteries1 before dissolution had stained its precincts and corrupted its aim4 ,all the sages1 even ,socrates1 have praised this institution1#ef the honour of which has been constantly attributed to ,orpheus4#eg ,it is not improbable that this sage had found the model in ,egypt and that he himself had been initiated1 as ,moses#eh and ,pythagoras#ei had been before and after him2 but in this case an imitation was equivalent to a creation4 ,i have said that after the appearance of ,orpheus1 poetry had lost its unity3 as divided as the cult1 it had sustained its vicissitudes4 ,entirely theosophical in its principle1 and calm as the ,divinity which inspired it1 it had taken in the midst of the opposed sects a passionate character which it had not had previously4 ,the priests1 who used it to uphold their opinions1 had found1 instead of the real inspiration1 that sort of physical exaltation which results from the fire of passions1 whose movement and fleeting splendour entrance the vulgar4 ,vying with each other they had brought forth a mass of theological systems1 had multiplied the allegorical fables concerning the universe1 and had drowned1 as it were1 the unity of the ,divinity in the vain and minute distinction of its infinite faculties2 and as each composed in his own dialect and in pursuance of his own caprice1 each devised unceasingly new names for the same beings1 according as they believed they caught a glimpse of a certain new virtue in these beings that another had not expressed1 it came to pass that not only were the gods multiplied by the distinction of their faculties1 but still more by the diversity of names employed in expressing them4 ,very soon there was not a city nor a town in ,greece1 that did not have1 or at least believed that it had1 its own particular god4 ,if one had carefully examined this prodigious number of divinities1 one would have clearly seen that they could be reduced1 by elimination1 to a small number and would finally end by being mingled in a sole ,universal ,being2 but that was very difficult for people1 flattered1 moreover1 by a system which compared the condition of the gods with theirs1 and offered them thus1 protectors and patrons so much the more accessible as they were less occupied and less powerful4#fj ,vainly1 therefore1 the ,egyptian colony established at ,athens presented to the adoration of this people imbued with the prejudice of polytheism1 the sovereign of the gods under the title of the ,most-,high#fa2 the veneration of this people was turned wholly towards ,minerva1 who became its patron under the name of ,athena1#fb as ,juno was that of ,argos1#fc ,ceres1 that of ,eleusis1 ,phigalia1 ,methydrium1#fd etc4 ,orpheus1 instructed as was ,moses1 in the sanctuaries of ,egypt1 had the same ideas as the legislator of the ,hebrews upon the unity of ,god1 but the different circumstances in which he found himself placed did not permit him to divulge this dogma2 he reserved this for making it the basis of his mysteries1 and continued1 in the meantime1 to personify in his poetry the attributes of the ,divinity4 ,his institutions1 drawn from the same source1 founded upon the same truths1 received the imprint of his character and that of the people to whom he had destined them4 ,as those of ,moses were severe and1 if one must admit1 harsh in form1 enemies of the sciences and arts1 so those of ,orpheus were brilliant1 fitted to seduce the minds1 favourable to all the developments of the imagination4 ,it was beneath the allurements of pleasure1 of joy1 and of ftes1 that he concealed the utility of his lessons and the depth of his doctrine4 ,nothing was more full of pomp than the celebration of its mysteries4 ,whatever majesty1 force1 and grace1 poetry1 music1 and painting had1 was used to excite the enthusiasm of the initiate4#fe ,he found no pretext advantageous enough1 no form beautiful enough1 no charm powerful enough to interest the hearts and attract them toward the sublime truths which he proclaimed4 ,these truths1 whose force the early ,christians have recognized1#ff went much further than those of which ,moses had been the interpreter2 they seemed to anticipate the times4 ,not only did he teach of the unity of ,god1#fg and give the most sublime ideas of this unfathomable ,being#fh2 not only did he explain the birth of the ,universe and the origin of things#fi2 but he represented this unique ,god under the emblem of a mysterious ,trinity endowed with three names#gj2 he spoke of the dogma which ,plato announced a long time after concerning the ,logos1 or the ,divine ,word2 and1 according to ,macrobius1 taught even its incarnation or its union with matter1 its death or its division in the world of sense1 its resurrection or its transfiguration1 and finally its return to the original ,unity4#ga ,this inspired man1 by exalting in ,man the imagination1 that admirable faculty which makes the charm of life1 fettered the passions which trouble its serenity4 ,through him his disciples enjoyed the enthusiasm of the fine arts and he insisted that their customs should be pure and simple4#gb ,the rgime that he prescribed for them was that which ,pythagoras introduced later#gc4 ,one of the most pleasing rewards which he offered to their endeavours1 the very aim of their initiation into his mysteries1 was1 putting themselves in communion with the gods#gd2 freeing themselves from the cycle of generations1 purifying their soul1 and rendering it worthy of projecting itself1 after the downfall of its corporal covering toward its primal abode1 to the realms of light and happiness4#ge ,despite my resolution to be brief1 ,i cannot resist the pleasure of speaking at greater length of ,orpheus1 and of recalling1 as is my custom1 things which1 appearing today wholly foreign to my subject1 nevertheless1 when examined from my viewpoint1 belong to it4 ,poetry was not at all in its origin what it became later1 a simple accomplishment1 regarded by those who profess to be savants as even rather frivolous#gf2 it was the language of the gods1 par excellence1 that of the prophets1 the ministers of the altars1 the preceptors and the legislators of the world4 ,i rejoice to repeat this truth1 after rendering homage to ,orpheus1 to this admirable man1 to whom ,europe owes the clat with which she has shone and with which she will shine a long time4 ,orpheus has been the real creator of poetry and of music1#gg the father of mythology1 of morals1 and of philosophy3 it is he who has served as model for ,hesiod and ,homer1 who has illumined the footsteps of ,pythagoras and ,plato4 ,after having wisely accommodated the outward ceremonies to the minds of the people whom he wished to instruct1 ,orpheus divided his doctrine into two parts1 the one vulgar1 and the other mysterious and secret1 following in this the method of the ,egyptians1 whose disciple he had been#gh2 then1 turning his attention to poetry1 and seeing into what chaos this science had fallen and the confusion that had been made of divine and profane things1 he judiciously separated it into two principal branches1 which he assigned1 the one to theology1 the other to natural philosophy4 ,it can be said that he gave in each the precept and the example4 ,as sublime a theosophist as he was profound as a philosopher1 he composed an immense quantity of theosophical and philosophical verses upon all sorts of subjects4 ,time has destroyed nearly all of them2 but their memory has been perpetuated4 ,among the works of ,orpheus that were cited by the ancients and whose loss must be deplored1 were found1 on the subject of theosophy1 ,the ,holy ,word or ,the ,sacred ,logos1#gi by which ,pythagoras and ,plato profited much2 the ,theogony1 which preceded that of ,hesiod more than five centuries2 ,the ,initiations to the ,mysteries of the ,mother of the ,gods1#hj and ,the ,ritual of the ,sacrifices1 wherein he had recorded1 undoubtedly1 the divers parts of his doctrine#ha3 on the subject of philosophy1 a celebrated cosmogony was found1#hb in which an astronomical system was developed that would be an honour to our century1 touching the plurality of the worlds1 the station of the sun at the centre of the universe1 and the habitation of the stars4#hc ,these extraordinary works emanated from the same genius who had written in verse upon grammar1 music1 natural history1 upon the antiquities of the many isles of ,greece1 upon the interpretation of signs and prodigies1 and a mass of other subjects1 the details of which one can see in the commencement of the ,argonautica of ,onomacritus1 which is attributed to him4 ,but at the same time that ,orpheus opened thus to his successor two very distinct careers1 theosophical and philosophical1 he did not entirely neglect the other parts of this science3 his hymns and his odes assigned him to a distinguished rank among the lyric poets2 his ,dmtrde presaged the beauties of ,epopia1 and the representations full of pomp1 that he introduced into his mysteries1 gave birth to ,greek ,melopia whence sprang dramatic art4 ,he can therefore be regarded1 not only as the precursor of ,hesiod and ,epimenides1 but even as that of ,homer1 schylus1 and ,pindar4 ,i do not pretend1 in saying this1 to take away anything from the glory of these celebrated men3 the one who indicates a course1 yields to the one who executes it3 now this1 especially1 is what ,homer did4 ,,iii ,homer was not the first epic poet in the order of time1 but in the order of things4 ,before him many poets were skilled in ,epopia2 but no one had known the nature of this kind of poetry#hd2 no one had united the opposed qualities which were necessary4 ,there existed at this epoch a multitude of allegorical fables which had emanated at divers times from different sanctuaries4 ,these fables1 committed at first to memory1 had been collected in several sets of works which were called cycles4#he ,there were allegorical1 mythological1 and epic cycles4#hf ,we know from certain precious texts of the ancients1 that these sorts of collections opened generally with the description of ,chaos1 with the marriage of ,heaven and ,earth2 contained the genealogy of the ,gods and the combats of the ,giants2 included the expedition of the ,argonauts1 the famous wars of ,thebes and of ,troy2 extended as far as the arrival of ,ulysses at ,ithaca1 and terminated with the death of this hero1 caused by his son ,telegonus4#hg ,the poets who1 before ,homer1 had drawn from these cycles the subject of their works1 not having penetrated as far as the allegorical sense1 lacking inspiration1 or being found incapable of rendering it1 lacking talent1 had produced only cold inanimate copies1 deprived of movement and grace4 ,they had not1 however1 omitted any of the exploits of ,hercules or of ,theseus1 nor any of the incidents of the sieges of ,thebes or ,troy2 and their muse1 quite lifeless1 fatigued the readers without interesting or instructing them4#hh ,homer came4 ,he1 in his turn1 glanced over this pile of sacerdotal traditions1 and raising himself by the force of his genius alone to the intellectual principle which had conceived them1 he grasped the ensemble1 and felt all its possibilities4 ,the faculties of his soul and the precious gifts which he had received from nature had made him one of those rare men who present themselves1 at long intervals1 upon the scene of the world to enlighten it1 shining in the depths of centuries and serving as torches for mankind4 ,in whatever clime1 in whatever career destiny had placed him1 he would have been the foremost4 ,ever the same1 whether under the thatched roof or upon the throne1 as great in ,egypt as in ,greece1 in the ,occident as in the ,orient of ,asia1 everywhere he had commanded admiration4 ,some centuries earlier this same attribute might have been seen in ,krishna or in ,orpheus1 some centuries later1 in ,pythagoras or in ,cyrus4 ,great men are always great by their own greatness4 ,incidents which depend upon chance can only modify4 ,homer was destined to poetry by favourable circumstances4 ,born upon the borders of the river ,meles1 of an indigent mother1 without shelter and without kindred1 he owed1 to a schoolmaster of ,smyrna who adopted him1 his early existence and his early instructions4 ,he was at first called ,melesigenes1 from the place of his birth4#hi ,pupil of ,phemius1 he received from his benevolent preceptor1 simple but pure ideas1 which the activity of his soul developed1 which his genius increased1 universalized1 and brought to their perfection4 ,his education1 begun with an assiduous and sedentary study1 was perfected through observation4 ,he undertook long journeys for the sole purpose of instructing himself4 ,the political conditions1 contrary to every other project1 favoured him4 ,greece1 after having shaken off the yoke of the ,phnicians and having become the friend of ,egypt rather than her subject1 commenced to reap the fruits of the beautiful institutions that she had received from ,orpheus4 ,powerful metropolises arose in the heart of this country1 long regarded as a simple colony of ,asia1 and her native strength being progressively augmented by the habit of liberty1 she had need of extending herself abroad4#ij ,rich with the increase of population1 she had reacted upon her ancient metropolis1 had taken possession of a great number of cities on the opposite shores of ,asia1 and had colonized them4#ia ,phnicia humiliated1 torn by internal dissensions1#ib tossed between the power of the ,assyrians and that of the ,egyptians1#ic saw this same ,greece that she had civilized and to whom she had given her gods1 her laws1 and even the letters of her alphabet1 ignore1 deny her benefits1#id take up arms against her1 carry away her colonies from the shores of ,italy and of ,sicily1 and becoming mistress of the islands of the ,archipelago1 tear from her her sole remaining hope1 the empire of the sea4#ie ,the people of ,rhodes were overpowered4 ,homer1 of ,greek nationality although born in ,asia1 profited by these advantages4 ,he set sail in a vessel1 whose patron1 ,mentes of ,leucas1 was his friend1 wandered over all the possessions of ,greece1 visited ,egypt1#if and came to settle at ,tyre4 ,this was the ancient metropolis of ,greece1 the source and sacred repository of her mythological traditions4 ,it was there1 in this same temple of the ,master of the ,universe1#ig where twelve centuries before ,sanchoniathon had come to study the antiquities of the world1#ih that ,homer was able to go back to the origin of ,greek cult and fathom the most hidden meanings of its mysteries#ii2 it was there that he chose the first and noblest subject of his chants1 that which constitutes the fable of the ,iliad4#ajj ,if one must believe in the very singular accounts which time has preserved to us1 thanks to the blind zeal of certain ,christians who have treated them as heresies1 this ,helen1 whose name applied to the moon signifies the resplendent1 this woman whom ,paris carried away from her spouse ,menelaus1 is nothing else than the symbol of the human soul1#aja torn by the principle of generation from that of thought1 on account of which the moral and physical passions declare war4 ,but it would be taking me too far away from my subject1 examining in detail what might be the meaning of the allegories of ,homer4 ,my plan has not been to investigate this meaning in particular1 but to show that it exists in general4 ,upon this point ,i have not only the rational proof which results from the concatenation of my ideas1 but also proof of the fact1 which is furnished to me by the testimonials of the ancients4 ,these testimonials are recognized at every step1 in the works of the philosophers and chiefly in those of the ,stoics4 ,only a very superficial erudition is necessary to be convinced of this4#ajb ,but ,i ought to make an observation1 and this observation will be somewhat novel3 it is that1 the poetic inspiration being once received by the poet and his soul finding itself transported into the intelligible world1 all the ideas which then come to him are universal and in consequence allegorical4 ,so that nothing true may exist outside of unity1 and as everything that is true is one and homogeneous1 it is found that1 although the poet gives to his ideas a form determined in the sentient world1 this form agrees with a multitude of things which1 being distinct in their species1 are not so in their genus4 ,this is why ,homer has been the man of all men1 the type of all types1 the faithful mirror1#ajc wherein all ideas becoming reflected have appeared to be created4 ,lycurgus read his works1 and saw there a model of his legislation4#ajd ,pericles and ,alcibiades had need of his counsels2 they had recourse to him as a model of statesmen4#aje ,he was for ,plato the first of the philosophers1 and for ,alexander the greatest of kings2 and what is more extraordinary still1 even the sectarians1 divided among themselves1 were united in him4 ,the ,stoics spoke only of this great poet as a rigid follower of the ,porch#ajf2 at the ,academy he was considered as the creator of dialectics2 at the ,lyceum1 the disciples of ,aristotle cited him as a zealous dogmatist#ajg2 finally1 the ,epicureans saw in him only a man calm and pure1 who1 satisfied with that tranquil life where one is wholly possessed by it1 seeks nothing more4#ajh ,the temples1 which devout enthusiasm consecrated to him1 were the rendezvous for mankind4#aji ,such is the appanage of universal ideas3 they are as the ,divinity which inspires them1 all in all1 and all in the least parts4 ,if1 at the distance where ,i am placed1 ,i should dare1 traversing the torrent of ages and opinions1 draw near to ,homer and read the soul of this immortal man1 ,i would say1 after having grasped in its entirety the allegorical genius which makes the essence of poetry1 in seeking to give to his universal ideas a particular form1 that his intention was to personify and paint the passions1 and that it was from this that epopia had birth4 ,i have not sufficient documents to attest positively that the word by which one characterizes this kind of poetry after ,homer1 did not exist before him2 but ,i have sufficient to repeat that no one had as yet recognized its real nature4#aaj ,the poems of ,corinna1 of ,dares1 or of ,dictys1 were only simple extracts from the mythological cycles1 rude copies from certain theosophical fragments denuded of life2 ,homer was the first who caused the ,voice of ,impulse1 that is to say ,epopia1 to be understood#aaa3 that kind of poetry which results from intellectual inspiration united to the enthusiasm of the passions4 ,in order to attain to the perfection of this kind of poetry1 it is necessary to unite to the imaginative faculty which feeds the genius1 the reason which regulates the impulse1 and the enthusiasm which inflames the mind and supplies the talent4 ,homer united them in the most eminent degree4 ,thus he possessed the first inspiration and the complete science1 as much in its essence as in its form2 for the poetic form is always dependent upon talent4 ,this form was then highly favourable to genius4 ,the ,greek verse1 measured by musical rhythm and filled with a happy blending of long and short syllables1 had long since shaken off the servile yoke of rhyme4 ,now1 by rhythm was understood the number and respective duration of the time of which a verse was composed4#aab ,a long syllable was equal to a time divided in two instants1 and equivalent to two short syllables4 ,a foot was what we name today a measure4 ,the foot contained two times1 made up of two long1 or of one long and two short syllables4 ,the verse most commonly used was the hexameter1 that is1 that in which the extent was measured by six rhythmic feet and of which the whole duration was twelve times4 ,thus poetry received only the laws of rhythm2 it was a kind of music whose particular harmony1 free in its course1 was subject only to measure4 ,i have never found any authentic evidence that the ,greeks had ever used the rhyme in their verse4 ,it is stated1 however1 that they have not differed from other nations in this respect4 ,voltaire said so but without proof4#aac ,what is most certain is that1 taking the word epos1#aad a verse1 in its most restricted acceptance1 expressing a turn1 a turning around again1 the early poets constructed their verse in form of furrows1 going from right to left and returning from left to right4#aae ,happily this bizarrerie did not last long4 ,if the ,greek verses had thus turned one upon another1 or if the rhyme had forced them to proceed in couplets bent beneath a servile yoke1 ,homer would not have created the ,epopia1 or these frivolous obstacles would have vanished before him4 ,his genius1 incapable of enduring chains1 would have refused to clothe itself in a form capable of stifling it4 ,but this celebrated man would no doubt have changed it2 one can judge by the energetic manner with which he attacked that which he found in use4 ,the ,greek language1 which preserved still in his time something of the ,phnician stiffness and the ,celtic roughness1 obliged to adapt itself to all the movements of his imagination1 became the most flexible and the most harmonious dialect of the earth4 ,one is astonished1 in reading his works1 at the boldness of his composition4#aaf ,one sees him without the least effort1 bending words at his pleasure1 lengthening them1 shortening them to produce something new1 reviving those no longer in use1 uniting them1 separating them1 disposing of them in an unaccustomed order1 forcing them to adapt themselves everywhere to the harmony that he wishes to depict1 to sentiments of elevation1 of pleasure or terror1 that he wishes to inspire4 ,thus genius1 dominating form1 creates master-pieces2 form1 on the contrary1 commanding genius1 produces only works of the mind4 ,i must say finally and no longer veil from the attention of my judges1 the aim of this discourse3 whenever rhyme exists in the poetic form1 it renders the form inflexible1 it brings upon it only the effort of talent and renders that of intellectual inspiration useless4 ,never will the people who rhyme their verses attain to the height of poetic perfection2 never will real epopia flourish in their breasts4 ,they will hear neither the accents inspired by ,orpheus1 nor the stirring and impassioned harmonies of ,homer4 ,far from drawing the allegorical genius at its source and receiving the first inspiration1 it will not even recognize the second one4 ,its poets will polish painfully certain impassioned or descriptive verses1 and will call beautiful the works which will only be well done4 ,a rapid glance over the poetic condition of the earth will prove what ,i have advanced4 ,but ,i ought to explain beforehand what ,i understand by first and second inspiration2 the moment has arrived for holding to the promise that ,i made at the beginning of this discourse4 ,,iv ,you recall1 ,messieurs1 that wishing1 with ,chancellor ,bacon1 to distinguish the essence and the form of ,poetry1 ,i have taken my text from the works of ,plato4 ,it is again from this man1 justly called divine even by his rivals1 from the founder of the ,academy1 that ,i have borrowed the germ of my idea4 ,this philosopher compares the effect which the real poets have upon those who hear them1 with the magnetic stone which not only attracts rings of iron1 but communicates to them also the virtue of attracting other rings4#aag ,in order to appreciate well the force of this thought1 and to follow all the inferences1 it is necessary to state a truth de facto3 namely1 that the men destined by ,providence to regenerate the world1 in whatever manner it may be1 to open any sort of a career1 are extremely rare4 ,nature1 docile to the impulse which she has received of bringing all to perfection by means of time1 elaborates slowly the elements of their genius1 places them at great distances upon the earth1 and makes them appear at epochs very far removed one from the other4 ,it is necessary that these events1 which determine these men toward an end1 should be brought about in advance2 that the physical conditions in which they are born coincide with the inspiration which attends them2 and therefore everything prepares1 everything protects1 everything serves the providential design4 ,these men1 thus scattered over the earth1 come among nations to form them1 to give them laws1 to enlighten and to instruct them4 ,they are the beacon-lights of mankind2 these are those to whom ,i attribute the first inspiration4 ,this inspiration is immediate2 it emanates from the first principle of all intelligence1 in the same manner1 to use the comparison of ,plato1 that the magnetic force which animates the loadstone1 emanates from its cause4 ,it is profoundly hidden from our eyes3 it is this which fires the genius of a theosophist such as ,thoth1 ,orpheus1 and ,zoroaster2 the genius of a theocrat1 such as ,krishna1 ,moses1 or ,mohammed2 the genius of a philosopher1 such as ,kong-,tse1 ,pythagoras1 or ,socrates2 the genius of a poet1 such as ,homer or ,valmiki2 and of a triumphant hero1 such as ,cyrus1 ,alexander1 or ,napoleon4 ,those who follow in the footprints of these primordial men1 who allow themselves to be impressed by their genius1 receive what ,i call the second inspiration4 ,they can still be great men2 for those who assist them are very great2 they can also communicate the inspiration1 for it acts in them with an exuberant force4 ,let us confine ourselves to the poetic inspiration and listen to the voice of ,plato3 ,the ,muse inspires the poets directly1 and these1 communicating to others their enthusiasm1 form a chain of inspired men4 ,it is by means of this chain that the ,divinity attracts the souls of men1 and moves them at his pleasure1 causing his virtue to pass from link to link1 from the first inspired poet to the last of his readers or his rhapsodists4#aah ,it is by means of this magnetic chain that one can1 in another sphere of movement1 explain this truth so well known1 that great kings make great men2 it is also in this manner that one can understand how a monarch1 called to found a vast empire1 makes his will penetrate all hearts1 take possession of all souls1 and propagating his valour more and more1 electrify his army and fill it with a multitude of heroes4 ,homer received therefore a first inspiration2 he was created to become the poetic motive of ,europe1 the principle of a magnetized chain which1 appropriating unceasingly new links1 was to cover ,europe with its numberless extensions4 ,his first conquests were in ,greece4 ,his verses1 carried from city to city by actors known under the name of rhapsodists1#aai excited the keenest enthusiasm2 they passed soon from mouth to mouth1 fixed the attention of legislators1 were the ornament of the most brilliant ftes1#abj and became everywhere the basis of public instruction4#aba ,the secret flame which they concealed1 becoming developed in young souls1 warmed there the particular germ which they possessed1 and according to their divers specie and the fertility of the soil1 brought forth many talents4#abb ,the poets who were found endowed with a genius vast enough to receive the second inspiration in its entirety1 imitated their model and raised themselves to epopia4 ,antimachus and ,dicogenes are noticeable1 the one for his ,thebas1 and the other for his cyprien verses4#abc ,those to whom nature had given passions more gentle than violent1 more touching than vehement1 inclinations more rustic than bellicose1 whose souls contained more sensitiveness than elevation1 were led to copy certain isolated groups of this vast tableau1 and placing them1 following their tastes1 in the palace or in the thatched cottage1 caused accents of joy or of sorrow1 the plaints of heroes or the sports of shepherds to be heard1 and thus created elegy1 eclogue1 or idyl4#abd ,others1 on the contrary1 whose too vehement enthusiasm shortened the duration of it1 whose keen fiery passions had left little empire for reason1 who allowed themselves to be drawn easily toward the object of which they were momentarily captive1 created the ode1 dithyramb1 or song1 according to the nature of their genius and the object of their passion4 ,these were more numerous than all the others together1 and the women who were here distinguished1 rivalled and even surpassed the men2 ,corinna and ,myrtis did not yield either to ,stesichorus1#abe or to ,pindar2 ,sappho and ,telesilla effaced ,alcus and ,anacreon4#abf ,it is said that the art with which ,homer had put into action gods and men1 had opposed heaven and earth1 and depicted the combats of the passions2 this art1 being joined to the manner in which the rhapsodists declaimed his poems#abg by alternately relieving one another1 and covering themselves with garments of different colours adapted to the situation1 had insensibly given rise to dramatic style and to theatrical representation4#abh ,this1 true in a sense1 has need of a distinction3 it will serve at the same time to throw light upon what ,i am about to say4 ,one should remember that the intellectual and rational poetry1 or theosophical and philosophical1 illustrated by ,orpheus and which ,homer had united with the enthusiasm of the passions in order to constitute epopia1 although separated from the latter1 existed none the less4 ,whereas the disciples of ,homer1 or the ,homerid1#abi spread themselves abroad and took possession of the laic or profane world1 the religious and learned world was always occupied by the disciples of ,orpheus1 called ,eumolpid4#acj ,the hierophants and philosophers continued to write as formerly upon theology and natural philosophy4 ,there appeared from time to time theogonies and cosmological systems1#aca dionysiacs1 heraclides1#acb oracles1 treatises on nature and moral apologues1 which bore no relation to epopia4 ,the hymns or pans which had emanated from the sanctuaries in honour of the ,divinity1 had in no wise resembled either the odes or the dithyrambs of the lyric poets#acc3 as much as the former were vehement and passionate1 so much the latter affected to be calm and majestic4 ,there existed therefore1 at this epoch1 two kinds of poetry1 equally beautiful when they had attained their respective perfection3 ,eumolpique ,poetry and ,epic ,poetry3 the first1 intellectual and rational2 the other1 intellectual and passionate4 ,however1 the divine mysteries1 hidden from the profane1 manifested to the initiates in the ceremonies and symbolic fables1 had not as yet issued from the sanctuaries3 it had been nearly a thousand years since they had been instituted by ,orpheus#acd when suddenly one saw for the first time certain of these fables and these ceremonies ridiculously travestied1 transpiring among the people and serving them for amusement4 ,the ftes of ,dionysus1 celebrated in the times of vintage1 gave place to this sort of profanation4 ,the grape-gatherers1 besmeared with lees1 giving way in the intoxication of wine to an indiscreet enthusiasm1 began to utter aloud from their wagons the allegories that they had learned in their rural initiations4 ,these allegories1 which neither the actors nor the spectators had comprehended in reality1 appeared1 nevertheless1 piquant to both through the malicious interpretations which they gave them4#ace ,such were the feeble beginnings of dramatic art in ,greece#acf2 there was born the profanation of the ,orphic mysteries1 in the same manner that one see sit reborn among us1 by the profanation of the ,christian mysteries4#acg ,but this art was already old in ,asia when it sprang up in ,europe4 ,i have already said that there was in the secret celebration of the mysteries1 veritable dramatic representations4 ,these mystic ceremonies1 copied from those which had taken place in the celebration of the ,egyptian mysteries1 had been brought into ,egypt by the ,indian priests at a very remote epoch when the empire of ,hindustan had extended over this country4 ,this communication1 which was made from one people to another1 has been demonstrated to the point of evidence by the learned researches of the academicians of ,calcutta1 ,jones1 ,wilford1 and ,wilkin1#ach who have proved what ,bacon had previously said in speaking of the ,greek traditions1 8that it was only a very light air which1 passing by means of an ancient people into the flutes of ,greece1 had been modulated by them into sounds more sweet1 more harmonious1 and more conformable to the climate and to their brilliant imagination40 ,a singular coincidence1 ,messieurs1 which will not escape your sagacity1 is that dramatic art1 whose origin is lost in ,india in the night of time1 has likewise had its birth in the mysteries of religion4 ,it is during the ,ram-,jatra1 a fte celebrated annually in honour of ,rama1 the same as ,dionysus of the ,greeks1 or ,bacchus of the ,latins1 that one still sees theatrical representations which have served as models for the more regular works that have been made in the course of time4#aci ,these representations1 which run through nearly all the exploits of ,rama and through the victory that this beneficent god gained over ,rawhan1 the principle of evil1 are mingled with chants and recitations exactly as were those of the ancient ,greeks4 ,you understand1 ,messieurs1 that the first efforts of tragedy were to celebrate the conquests of ,bacchus and his triumph1 of which that of ,apollo over the serpent ,python1 celebrated by the ,pythian games1 was the emblem4#adj ,those of the ,indians who appear to have preserved the most ancient traditions1 since the sacred books were written in the ,pali language1 considered as anterior to the ,sanskrit by some savants1 the ,burmans1 have from time immemorial recorded the mysteries of ,rama in scenic dramas which are still performed in public on the fte day of this god4#ada ,i do not consider it amiss to mention here that the name of ,rama1 which in ,sanskrit signifies that which is dazzling and beautiful1 that which is sublime and protective1 has had the same signification in ,phnician1#adb and that it is from this same name to which is joined a demonstrative article common to ,aramaic1 ,chaldean1 and ,syriac1 that the word drama#adc is formed1 and which being adopted by the ,greek tongue1 has passed afterwards into the ,latin tongue and into ours4 ,this word has expressed an action1 because1 in truth1 it depicts one in the mysteries and besides its primitive root refers to regular movement in general4 ,but as my purpose is not to follow at present dramatic art in all its ramifications and as it suffices me to have indicated clearly the origin1 ,i return to ,greece4 ,the spectacle of which ,i have spoken1 effect of a ,bacchic enthusiasm1 and at first abandoned to the caprice of certain rustic grape-gatherers whose indiscretions did not appear formidable1 struck so forcibly by its novelty and produced such a marvellous effect upon the people1 that it was not long before certain men of most cultivated minds were seen desirous of taking part either from liking or from interest4 ,thespis and ,susarion appeared at the same time and each seized1 according to his character1 one the noble and serious side and the other the ridiculous and amusing side of the mythological fables2 dividing thus from its birth1 dramatic art and distinguishing it by two kinds1 tragedy and comedy3 that is1 the lofty and austere chant1 and the joyous and lascivious chant4#addade ,in the meantime1 the governments1 until then quite indifferent to these rustic amusements1 warned that certain liberties permitted by ,thespis were becoming too flagrant1 began to see the profanations which had resulted1 and of which the ,eumolpid had no doubt pointed out the consequences4#adf ,they tried to prevent them1 and ,solon even made a law regarding this subject#adg2 but it was too late3 the people attracted in crowds to these representations1 all informal as they were1 rendered useless the foresight of the legislator4 ,it was necessary to yield to the torrent and1 being unable to arrest it1 to strive at least to restrain it within just limits4 ,a clear field was left open for the good that it was able to do1 in fertilizing the new ideas1 and severe rules were opposed to check whatever dangers its invasions might have for religion and for customs4 ,the dramatic writers were permitted to draw the subject of their pieces from the source of the mysteries1 but it was forbidden them1 under penalty of death1 to divulge the sense4 schylus1 first of the dramatic poets1 having involuntarily violated this law1 ran the risk of losing his life4#adh ,discriminating judges were established to pronounce upon the excellency of the works offered in the competition1 and one was very careful not to abandon oneself at first to the passionate acclamations of the people1 and the approbations or disapprobations of the maxims which were therein contained4#a ,these judges1 proficient in the knowledge of music and of poetry1 had to listen in silence until the end1 and maintain all in order and decency4 ,plato attributes to the desuetude into which this law fell1 and to the absolute dominion which the people assumed over the theatre1 the first decadence of the art and its entire corruption4 schylus1 whom ,i have just named1 was the true creator of dramatic art4 ,strong with the inspiration which he had received from ,homer1#aej he transported into tragedy the style of epopia1 and animated it with a music grave and simple4#aea ,not content with the moral beauties with which his genius embellished it1 he wished that music1 painting1 and dancing might lend their aid and contribute to the illusion of the senses4 ,he caused a theatre to be built where the most ingenious devices1 the most magnificent decorations displayed their magic effects4#aeb ,one saw in the tragedy of ,prometheus1 the earth trembling1 clouds of dust rising in the air2 one heard the whistling of wind1 the crash of thunder2 one was dazzled by the lightnings4#aec ,old ,ocean appeared upon the waves1 and ,mercury came from the heights of heaven to announce the commands of ,jupiter4 ,in the tragedy of the ,eumenides1 these infernal divinities appeared upon the scene to the number of fifty1 clothed in black robes2 blood-stained1 the head bristling with serpents1 holding in one hand a torch and in the other a lash4#aed ,they replied to the shade of ,clytemnestra1 who invoked them1 by a choir of music so frightful1 that a general terror having struck the assembly1 certain of the women experienced premature pains of confinement4#aee ,one feels1 after this1 that ,greek tragedy had in its theatrical forms1 much in common with our modern operas2 but what eminently distinguishes it is that1 having come forth complete from the depths of the sanctuaries1 it possessed a moral sense which the initiates understood4 ,this is what put it above anything that we might be able to conceive today2 what gave it an inestimable price4 ,whereas the vulgar1 dazzled only by the pomp of the spectacle1 allured by the beauty of the verse and the music1 enjoyed merely a fleeting gratification1 the wise tasted a pleasure more pure and more durable1 by receiving the truth in their hearts even from the deceitful delusions of the senses4 ,this pleasure was as much greater as the inspiration of the poet had been more perfect1 and as he had succeeded better in making the allegorical spirit felt1 without betraying the veil which covered it4 schylus went further in comprehension of the subject than any of his successors4 ,his plans were of an extreme simplicity4 ,he deviated little from the mythological tradition4#aef ,all his efforts tended only to give light to their teachings1 to penetrate into their hidden beauties4 ,the characters of his heroes1 strongly drawn1 sustained them at heights where ,homer had placed them4 ,he caused terror to pass before them that they might be frightened4#aeg ,his aim was to lead them to virtue by terror1 and to inspire the soul with a force capable of resisting alike the intoxications of prosperity and the discouragements of poverty4 ,sophocles and ,euripides followed closely schylus and surpassed him in certain portions of the art2 the first1 even triumphed over him in the eyes of the multitude#aeh2 but the small number of sages1 faithful to the true principles1 regarded him always as the father of tragedy4#aei ,one can admit that ,sophocles was more perfect in the conduct of his plans1 in the regularity of his style#afj2 that ,euripides was more natural and more tender1 more skilful in arousing interest1 in stirring the passions#afa2 but these perfections1 resulting from the form1 had not been acquired without the very essence of drama being altered2 that is to say1 without the allegorical genius which had presided at the composition of the fables that the poets had always drawn from the religious mysteries1 suffering many deviations1 which rendered it often unrecognizable through the foreign adornments with which it was burdened4 ,sophocles and above all ,euripides1 by devoting themselves to perfecting the form1 really harmed therefore the principle of the art and hastened its corruption4 ,if the laws which had at first been promulgated against those who in treating of the tragic subjects vilified the mysterious sense had been executed1 ,euripides would not have been allowed to depict so many heroes degraded by adversity1 so many princesses led astray by love1 so many scenes of shame1 of scandal1 and of crime#afb2 but the people1 already degraded and bordering upon corruption1 allowed themselves to be drawn along by these dangerous tableaux and hastened half-way to meet the poisoned cup which was offered to them4 ,it must candidly be admitted1 that it is to the very charm of these tableaux1 to the talent with which ,euripides understood how to colour them1 that the decadence of ,athenian manners and the first harm done to the purity of religion must be attributed4 ,the theatre1 having become the school of the passions1 and offering to the soul no spiritual nourishment1 opened a door through which doubt1 contempt1 and derision for the mysteries1 the most sacrilegious audacity1 and utter forgetfulness of the ,divinity1 insinuated themselves even unto the sanctuaries4 schylus had represented in his heroes1 supernatural personages#afc2 ,sophocles painted simple heroes1 and ,euripides1 characters often less than men4#afd ,now these personages were1 in the eyes of the people1 either children of the gods1 or the gods themselves4 ,what idea could be formed then of their weaknesses1 of their crimes1 of their odious or ridiculous conduct1 particularly when these weaknesses or these crimes were no longer represented as allegories from which it was necessary to seek the meaning1 but as historical events or frivolous plays of the imagination8 ,the people1 according to the degree of their intelligence1 became either impious or superstitious2 the savants professed to doubt all1 and the influential men1 by feigning to believe all1 regarded all parties with an equal indifference4 ,this is exactly what happened4 ,the mysteries became corrupt because one was accustomed to regard them as corrupt2 and the people became intolerant and fanatical1 each one cringing with fear1 lest he be judged what he really was1 namely1 impious4 ,such was the effect of dramatic art in ,greece4 ,this effect1 at first imperceptible1 became manifest to the eyes of the sages1 when the people became the dictators of the theatre and ignored the judges named to pronounce upon the works of the poets2 ,when the poets1 jealous of obtaining the approval of the multitude1 consulted its taste rather than truth1 its versatile passions rather than reason1 and sacrificed to its caprices the laws of honesty and excellence4#afd ,as soon as tragedy1 disparaging the mysteries of the fables had transformed them into historical facts1 it needed only a step to raise historical facts to the rank of subjects of tragedy4 ,phrynichus was1 it is said1 the first who had this audacity4 ,he produced in the theatre1 the ,conquest of ,miletus4#aff ,the people of ,athens1 with a whimsicality which is characteristic of them1 condemned the poet to a very heavy fine1 for having disobeyed the law and crowned him because of the tears which they shed at the representation of his work4 ,but this was not enough1 confounding thus reality and allegory2 soon1 sacred and profane things were mingled by forging without any kind of moral aim1 subjects wholly false and fantastic4 ,the poet ,agathon1 who was the author of this new profanation had been the friend of ,euripides4#afg ,he proved thus that he knew nothing of the essence of dramatic poetry and makes it doubtful whether ,euripides knew it any better4 ,thus1 in the space of less than two centuries1 tragedy1 borne upon the car of ,thespis1 elevated by schylus to a nobler theatre1 carried to the highest degree of splendour by ,sophocles1 had already become weakened in the hands of ,euripides1 had lost the memory of its celestial origin with ,agathon1 and abandoned to the caprices of a populace as imperious as ignorant1 inclined toward a rapid degeneration4#afh ,comedy less reserved did not have a happier destiny4 ,after having hurled its first darts upon the heroes and demi-gods of ,greece1 having taken possession of certain very unguarded allegories1 to turn even the gods to ridicule#afi2 after having derided ,prometheus and ,triptolemus1 ,bacchus and the ,bacchantes1 after having made sport of heaven and earth1 of the golden age and the seasons#agj2 it attacked men in general and in particular1 ridiculed their absurdities1 pursued their vices1 real or imaginary1 and delivered them both unsparingly1 without pity1 to derision and contempt4#aga ,epicharmus1 who gave certain rules to the indecent farces of ,susarion1 was followed by ,magnes1 ,cratinus1 ,eupolis1 and a crowd of other comic poets1 until ,aristophanes whose bitter satires no longer finding sufficient influence in certain obscure ridicules1 applied themselves to disparaging science and virtue1 and twenty years beforehand1 prepared and envenomed the hemlock by which ,socrates was poisoned4 ,it is true that some time after1 ,menander tried to reform this terrible abuse and gave to comedy a form less revolting2 but he was only able to do so by detaching it completely from its origin1 that is to say1 by severing it from all that it had preserved1 intellectually and allegorically1 and reducing it to the representation of certain tableaux and certain events of the social life4 ,in going back1 as ,i have just done1 to the origin of poetic science in order to distinguish first1 its essence from its form and afterwards1 to follow its diverse developments1 in genus and in kind1 ,i have related many things and cited a great number of subjects with which you are familiar2 but you will no doubt excuse1 ,messieurs1 these numerous reminiscences and citations1 in reflecting that although but little necessary for you1 they were infinitely so for me1 since presenting myself in the lists and wishing to give an added form to this science which belongs to you1 ,i must prove to you that ,i have at least studied it profoundly4 ,v ,now1 summing up what ,i have said1 it will be found that poetry1 entirely intellectual in its origin and destined only to be the language of the gods1 owed its first developments in ,greece to ,orpheus1 its second to ,homer1 and its last to schylus4 ,these three creative men1 seizing the different germs of this science still shrouded in their formless rudiments1 warmed them with the fire of their genius and according to the particular inspiration of each1 led them to the perfection of which they were susceptible4 ,all three of them were the object of a first inspiration1 although influenced one by the other1 and were able to communicate the magnetic power to new disciples4 ,orpheus possessor of intellectual and rational poetry1 constituted that which ,i call ,eumolpia1 which1 being divided into theosophy and philosophy1 produces all the works which treat of the ,divinity1 of the ,universe1 of ,nature1 and of ,man in general4#agb ,homer1 in joining to this spiritual poetry the enthusiasm of the passions1 created ,epopia1 whose magnificent genus envelops a multitude of specie1 where the intellectual faculty and passion dominate with more or less energy under the influence of imagination4 ,homer rendered sentient that which was intelligible and particularized that which ,orpheus had left universal3 schylus1 trying to bring into action what these two divine men had left with potentiality1 formed the idea of dramatic or active poetry1 in which he claimed to include whatever ,eumolpia and ,epopia had in common1 that was moral1 allegorical1 and passionate4 ,he would have succeeded1 perhaps1 and then would have produced the most perfect work of thought1 passion1 and action possible for men1 conceived by genius and executed by talent2 but ,greece1 exhausted by the abundant harvest obtained by ,orpheus and ,homer1 lacked the sap to give nourishment to this new plant4 ,corrupted in its germ1 this plant degenerated rapidly1 deteriorated1 and put forth only a vain show of branches without elevation and without virtue4 ,the heroes of ,thermopyl succumbed under the burden of their laurels4 ,given over to a foolish arrogance1 they covered with an unjust contempt their preceptors and their fathers2 they persecuted1 they assassinated their defenders and their sages and1 base tyrants of the theatre1 they prepared themselves to bow the head beneath the yoke of the king of ,macedonia4 ,this king1 victor at ,chronea1 became arbiter of ,greece1 and his son1 providential instrument of the ascendancy which ,europe was to have over ,asia1 crossing the ,hellespont at the head of an army that his genius alone rendered formidable1 overthrew the empire of ,cyrus and stood for a moment upon its dbris3 ,i say for a moment1 because it was not here that the new empire was to be established3 ,europe had still obeyed2 she was one day to command4 ,rome was already1 in the thought of the future1 the culminating point of the earth4 ,a few centuries sufficed for this city1 then unknown1#agc to attain to the height of glory4 ,emerging from her obscurity1 conquering ,pyrrhus1 dominating ,italy1 combating and overthrowing ,carthage1 conquering ,greece1 and trampling under foot twenty diadems borne by the successors of ,alexander1 was for this ambitious ,republic the work of a few centuries4 ,but it is not true1 although certain men whose virtue was not enlightened by the torch of experience may have been able to say it2 it is not true that a republic1 already perplexed in governing itself1 can govern the world4 ,it requires an empire1 and this empire is created4 ,csar laid its foundation1 ,augustus strengthened it4 ,the sciences and arts1 brought to ,rome from the heart of ,greece1 came out then from their lethargy and flourished with a new clat4 ,poetry1 especially1 found numberless admirers4 ,vergil1 strongly attracted by the magnetic flame of ,homer1 dared to tread in his light1 overthrew all the obstacles that time had raised1 and drawing near to this divine model1 received from him the second inspiration without intermediary and without rival4 ,ovid1 less determined1 hovering between ,orpheus and ,homer1 succeeded1 however1 in uniting the second inspiration of the one to the third inspiration of the other1 and left in his book of ,metamorphoses a monument not less brilliant and more inimitable than the neid4 ,horace1 little satisfied with succeeding ,pindar1 sought and found the means of uniting to the enthusiasm of the passions the calm of rational poetry1 and1 establishing himself a legislator of ,parnassus1 dictated laws to the poets1 or jeered at the absurdities of men4 ,this poetry of reason had long since fallen into desuetude4 ,the false movement that dramatic poetry had taken in ,greece1 the contempt that it had come to inspire for gods and men1 had reacted upon it4 ,the philosophers1 disdaining a science which1 by its own admission1 was founded upon falsehood1 had driven it from their writings4 ,as much as they searched for it1 when they believed it an emanation of the ,divinity1 so much had they fled from it since they had come to see in it only the vain production of an insensate delirium4 ,here is an observation1 ,messieurs1 somewhat new1 with which ,i may engage your attention3 the first comedies appeared five hundred and eighty years before our era1 which was about twenty years after ,pherecydes wrote the first work in prose4#agd ,this philosopher doubtless1 did not believe that a language prostituted to the burlesque parodies of ,susarion should be useful further to the meditations of the sages4 ,it is not1 however1 that at long intervals certain philosophers such as ,empedocles1 ,parmenides1 and many others of their disciples1 have not written in verse#age2 but the remains of the ancient usage soon gave way1 especially when ,plato had embellished prose with the charm of his captivating eloquence4 ,before this philosopher1 ,herodotus had read in the assembly of the ,olympic games an history of ,greece connected with that of the greater part of the neighbouring nations4#agf ,this work1 written in a fluent style1 clear and persuasive1 had so enchanted the ,greeks1 that they had given to the nine books which he composed1 the names of the nine ,muses4 ,nevertheless1 an observation which will not be wholly foreign here1 is1 that the admission of prose in philosophy1 instead of rational poetry1 produced a style of work hitherto unknown1 and of which the moderns made much2 ,i am speaking of positive history4 ,before this epoch1 history written in verse was1 as ,i have said1 allegorical and figurative1 and was occupied only with the masses without respect to individuals4 ,thus the evil which resulted on the one side1 from the degradation experienced by poetry in one of its branches1 was balanced by the good which was promised on the other1 from the purification of prose for the advancement of exact knowledge4 ,but returning to what ,i said just now on the subject of rational poetry1 joined by the ,romans to the passionate part of that science1 ,i will say that this union created a new style1 of which ,horace was the originator3 this was the didactic style4 ,this style ought not to be confused with rational poetry1 of which ,hesiod has made use in his poem of ,works and ,days1 and which pertains to ,eumolpia2 nor with pure rational poetry1 such as one finds in the writings of ,parmenides and ,empedocles3 it is a sort of poetry which1 attaching itself to form alone1 depends much upon dramatic art4 ,the didactic1 satirical1 or simply descriptive poet is similar to an actor on the stage declaiming a long monologue4 ,rational poetry was welcomed at ,rome1 and drawn from the long oblivion into which it had fallen1 by ,lucretius who1 being inspired by the works of ,leucippus and of ,epicurus#agg wrote a book upon the nature of things1 which has never been as yet well comprehended or well translated1 the language not being understood4 ,comedy1 reformed by ,menander1 was again improved by ,plautus and by ,terence who acquired much reputation in this style2 as to dramatic art in itself1 it remained in its inertia4 ,the ,romans having the same gods and nearly the same mythology as the ,greeks1 were neither sufficiently elevated in intelligence to reinstate this art and make of it the masterpiece of the human mind2 nor sufficiently advanced in exact knowledge to change wholly its forms and make of it1 as we have1 a new art1 whence allegory and the moral part of ,eumolpia have been completely banished4 ,but what the ,romans were unable to do for dramatic art1 they unfortunately were able to do for ,epopia4 ,certain writers1 able versifiers1 but absolutely deprived of intellectual inspiration1 incapable of distinguishing in poetry the essence from the form1 following what the degenerated theatre and the inspired declamations of ,euhemerus#agh had taught them1 imagined foolishly that the gods and heroes of antiquity having been only men stronger and more powerful than the others1 mythology was only a crude collection of historic facts disfigured1 and ,epopia only an emphatic discourse upon these same facts4#agi ,thereupon they believed that it was only a question of taking any historic subject whatever1 and relating it in verse with certain embellishments1 to create an epic poem4 ,lucan and ,silius ,italicus1 in choosing1 the one the misfortunes of ,pompey1 and the other the victories of ,hannibal1 considered themselves superior to ,homer or ,vergil1 as much as they supposed ,rome or ,carthage superior to ,ilium4 ,but a just posterity1 notwithstanding the prejudices of their panegyrists1 has put them in their place4 ,it has considered them merely the inventors of a kind of bastard poetry1 which might be called historic poetry4 ,this poetry1 entirely separated from ,eumolpia1 whose moral essence it is unable to realize1 preserves only the material and physical forms of true ,epopia4 ,it is a body without soul1 which is moved by a mechanical mainspring applied by a skilful workman4 ,as to the poetic form in itself1 its only point of variance with the ,greeks and ,romans was that of elegance4 ,the verses written in the same manner1 depended likewise upon a fixed number of time or of feet regulated by musical rhythm4 ,if rhyme had been admitted there in the first ages1 it had been excluded early enough so that there remained no longer the least trace of it4 ,the ,latin tongue1 very far from the ,greek in flexibility1 variety1 and harmony1 for a long time treated with contempt by the ,greeks who1 regarding it as a barbarous dialect1 only learned it with repugnance#ahj2 the ,latin tongue1 ,i say1 unpleasing1 obscure1 not even supporting the mediocrity of ordinary elocution1 became1 through the laborious efforts of its writers1 a tongue which in the works of ,vergil1 for example1 attained such a perfection1 that it came to be doubted1 owing to the grace1 the justice1 and the force of its expression1 whether the author of the neid did not surpass the author of the ,iliad4 ,such is the empire of forms4 ,they alone make problematical that which1 in its essence1 should not be subject to the least discussion4 ,but at last the ,roman ,eagle1 after having soared some time in the universe and covered with his extended wings the most beautiful countries of ,europe1 ,asia1 and ,africa1 fatigued by its own triumphs1 sank down again1 allowed its power to be divided1 and from the summit of this same ,capitol1 whence it had for such a long time hurled its thunderbolts1 saw the vultures of the ,north divide among them its spoils4 ,the mythological religion1 misunderstood in its principles1 attacked in its forms1 given over to the corruption of things and men1 had disappeared to give place to a new religion1 which born in obscurity1 was raised imperceptibly from the ranks of the humblest citizens to the imperial throne4 ,constantine1 who in embracing the ,christian cult had consolidated that religious revolution1 believed himself able to bring about another in politics1 by transferring the seat of his empire to the ,bosphorus4 ,historians have often blamed this last movement2 but they have not seen that ,providence1 in inspiring this division of the empire1 foresaw that the darkness of ignorance rolling with the waves of the barbarians was about to extend as far as ,rome1 and that it would be necessary to concentrate at one point a part of the learning1 in order to save it from the general ruin4 ,whereas the ,empire of the ,occident1 assailed on all sides by the hordes from the ,north1 was overthrown1 torn1 divided into numberless small sovereignties whose extent was often limited to the donjon where the sovereign resided2 the ,empire of the ,orient sustained the weight of the hordes from the ,south1 nourished continually in its midst certain men1 guardians of the sacred fire of science1 and did not fall until more than nine centuries later2 and learning1 commencing its revival in the ,occident1 put minds in condition there1 to appreciate the models which were about to be presented to them and rendered them capable of receiving their inspiration4 ,it was a very remarkable epoch1 ,messieurs1 which saw grouped about it in the space of less than a half century and coincident with the downfall of the ,empire of the ,orient1 the use of gunpowder1 of the compass1 of the telescope in the ,occident2 the invention of engraving upon copper1 that of movable characters for printing1 the extension of commerce and navigation by the passage around the cape of ,storms1 and finally the discovery of ,america4 ,it was a very extraordinary century1 in which were born ,mohammed ,,ii4 and ,lorenzo de' ,medici1 ,vasco da ,gama and ,christopher ,columbus1 ,theodoros ,gaza and ,pico della ,mirandola1 ,leonardo da ,vinci and ,bojardo1 ,leo ,x4 and ,luther4 ,after the invasion of the barbarians1 ,christian ,europe had lost its political unity3 it was as a great republic whose divided members1 struggling continuously one against the other1 tearing by turn a shadow of supremacy1 were the realms1 the pontifical or laic principalities1 the republics1 the free and commercial cities4 ,the two chiefs of this gigantic and badly organized body1 the ,german ,emperor and the ,pope1 bishop of ,rome1 were vested only with a grandeur of opinion2 their real power was void3 they were nothing more1 in fact1 than that which they appeared in form4 ,since ,charlemagne1 who1 in a century of darkness enlightened with his own genius1 had had the force to grasp the dbris of the empire1 uniting them in his hand and giving them a momentary existence1 it had not had an emperor4 ,the vain efforts of ,hildebrand and of ,charles ,v4 had served only at different times and under different conditions to demonstrate their impotence4 ,it was reserved for a much greater man to dominate ,europe regenerated by violent shocks1 and to show to the universe the legitimate successor of ,augustus wreathed with the imperial crown4 ,but without in any way anticipating time1 without even leaving our subject which is poetry1 let us continue to follow the developments of this science4 ,the original poets of ,greece and ,rome1 brought into ,italy by the savants whom the taking of ,constantinople forced to go back towards the ,occident of ,europe1 brought there an unexpected brilliancy1 which1 with the ancient germs deeply buried in its midst1 soon awakened certain new germs that the peculiar circumstances had also brought there4 ,in explaining what these germs were1 ,i am giving occasion for thinkers to make certain reflections1 and critics to form certain singular conjectures upon works hitherto badly judged4 ,it is necessary at first1 that ,i repeat a truth which ,i have already said3 that intellectual nature is always one and the same1 whereas physical nature varies1 changes unceasingly with time and place1 and is modified in a thousand ways according to circumstances4 ,now1 it is this latter nature which gives the form1 that is to say1 which renders sentient and particular that which the former gives to it as universal and intelligible2 so that its aptitude more or less great1 in receiving and in working upon the intelligence1 can make the things which are more homogeneous in their principle appear more dissimilar in their effect4 ,i will give a proof4 ,whilst the most profound obscurity covered ,europe1 whilst ignorance spread on all sides its baleful veils1 there were found1 however1 at long intervals1 certain privileged men1 who1 raising themselves above these thick vapours1 came to grasp certain faint glimmerings of the light shining always above them4 ,these men possessors of such rare gifts1 would have indeed wished to communicate them to their contemporaries1 but if they imprudently opened their mouths1 the blind and fanatic horde which surrounded them cried out forthwith against the heretic1 the magician1 the sorcerer1 and conducted them to torture as the price of their lessons4#aha ,after several sorry examples1 these men1 having become prudent1 assumed the part of silence by retiring into monasteries or hermitages1 studying ,nature there in quietude1 and profiting alone by their discoveries4 ,if certain ones still dared to speak1 it was by borrowing the style of religion1 or history1 diverting from the ordinary sense certain ideas received1 explaining themselves by enigmas1 or by figures1 which1 when necessary1 they were able to explain as they wished4 ,among this number was a man of strong imagination and of a genius really poetic1 who1 having grasped certain truths of nature1 and judging it proper not to divulge them1 took the expedient of enclosing them in a book which he entitled3 ,les ,faits et ,gestes de ,charles-,magne4 ,this extraordinary man who has1 in these modern times1 obtained an ascendancy greater than one could ever have imagined1 since he is the vital source whence have come all the orders1 all the institutions of chivalry with which ,europe has been inundated2 this man1 ,i say1 was a monk of ,saint-,andr de ,vienne1 living from the tenth to the eleventh century and perhaps a little before4#ahb ,the book that he composed had a success as much the more prodigious as it was misunderstood1 and such was the ignorance not only of the people1 but even of the clergy1 that the most palpable fictions were taken for realities4 ,there are historians even who pretend that the council of ,rheims1 celebrated in #aaai1 declared this work authentic#ahc2 and thence came the habit of attributing it to ,archbishop ,turpin4 ,however that may be1 it is to the allegorical history of ,charlemagne1 to that of his twelve paladins1 called peers of ,france1 to that of the four sons of ,aymon and of ,chevalier ,bayard1 to that of ,renaud1 ,roland1 ,richard1 and the other heroes of the bibliothque bleue1 for a long time our only bibliotheca1 that we owe a new style of poetry1 called ,romanesque1 on account of the ,romance tongue in which it had birth4#ahd ,this style is to the eumolpique style1 as a wild offshoot1 growing laboriously in an arid and bramble-covered land1 is to a cultivated tree which rises majestically in the heart of a fertile country4 ,it was with the chivalrous ideas1 inspired by the book of the monk of ,saint ,andr1 that the first poetic ideas were brought forth in ,france4 ,the ,oscan troubadours seizing these first glimmerings of genius1 threw themselves with enthusiasm into a career which offered at the same time pleasures1 glory1 and the gifts of fortune4#ahe ,they sang of the fair1 of gallants and of kings2 but their verses1 monotonous enough when a real passion did not animate them1 hardly reached above eulogy or satire4 ,but little capable of feeling the moral beauties of poetry1 they stopped at form4 ,the rhyme for them was everything4 ,for them the supreme talent was only rhyming much and with difficulty4 ,one could not imagine to what lengths they went in this style4 ,not content with restricting themselves to follow the same rhyme throughout the entire course of the poem1 they sometimes doubled it at the end of each verse1 rhyming by echo1 or else they made an initial rhyme4#ahf ,these obstacles becoming multiplied stifled their muse in its cradle4 ,all that art owed to these first modern poets was limited to a sort of song1 gay and sprightly1 ordinarily a parody upon a more serious subject1 and which1 because it was quite frequently sung with an air of the dance accompanied by the vielle or hurdy-gurdy1 their favourite instrument1 was called vau-de-vielle1 or as is pronounced today1 vaudeville4#ahg ,the ,italians and ,spaniards1 who received from the ,oscan troubadours their first impulse toward poetry1 would have been perhaps as limited as they1 to composing amorous sonnets1 madrigals or1 at the most1 certain vehement sylves1#ahh if the ,greeks1 driven from their country by the conquests of ,mohammed ,,ii41 had not brought them the works of the ancients as ,i have already said4 ,these works1 explained in the chaire publique1 due to the munificence of the ,medicis1 struck particularly the ,italians3 not however by exciting their poets to take them as models2 the turn of their mind and the form of their poetry1 similar in everything to that of the troubadours1 were opposed too obviously here2 but by giving them that sort of emulation which1 without copying the others1 makes one strive to equal them4 ,at this epoch the book of the monk of ,st4 ,andr1 attributed as ,i have said to ,archbishop ,turpin1 already more than four centuries old1 was known by all ,europe1 whether by itself1 or whether by the numberless imitations of which it had been the subject4 ,not only ,france1 ,spain1 ,italy1 but also ,england and ,germany were inundated with a mass of romances and ballads1 wherein were pictured the knights of the court of ,charlemagne and those of the ,round ,table4#aahi ,all these works were written in verse1 and the greater part1 particularly those composed by the troubadours or their disciples1 intended to be sung1 were cut into strophes4 ,those of the imitator poets1 who had had the force to go back to the allegorical sense of their model1 had only developed and enriched it with their own knowledge2 the others1 following their various methods of considering it1 had chosen subjects real and historical1 or indeed had followed ingenuously without aim or plan1 the impulse of their vagabond imagination4 ,in ,france could be seen represented by the side of the stories of ,tristan1 of ,lancelot1 of the ,grail1 and of ,ogier-le-,danois1 that of ,alexander the ,great and of the ,bible1 that of the ,seven ,sages and of ,judas ,maccabeus1 that of the ,history of the ,normands and the ,bretons1 and finally that of the ,rose1 the most famous of all4 ,a certain ,guilhaume had published a philosophical romance upon the nature of beasts4#aij ,already the ,italian poets1 after having received from the troubadours the form of their verses and that of their works1 had surpassed their masters and had caused them to be forgotten4 ,petrarch in the sonnet and ,dante in the sirvente assumed all the glory of their models1 and left not any for the successors#aia2 already even ,bojardo and some others had attempted1 with the example of ,homer1 to bring back to the unity of epopia1 the incongruous and fantastic scenes of the romance1 when ,ariosto appeared4 ,this man1 gifted with a keen and brilliant imagination1 and possessor of a matchless talent1 executed what no one else had been able to do before him2 he was neither inspired by ,homer1 nor by ,vergil2 he copied no one4 ,he learned from them only to raise himself to the poetic source1 to see it where it was and to draw from it his genius4 ,then he received a first inspiration and became the creator of a particular style of poetry which may be called romantic4 ,undoubtedly this style is greatly inferior to epopia2 but after all it is original3 its beauties as well as its faults belong to him4 ,almost the same moment when ,ariosto enriched ,europe with his new poetry1 ,camons wished to naturalize it in ,portugal2 but the mlange of ,vergil and ,lucan that he essayed to make1 betrayed his lack of understanding and he did not succeed4 ,i mention it only that you may observe1 ,messieurs1 that the form adopted by the ,portuguese poet is exactly the same as the one which ,ariosto1 his predecessors and his successors1 have followed in ,italy3 it is that of the troubadours4 ,the poems of each are long ballads1 intersected by strophes of eight lines of alternate rhymes which1 succeeding one another with the same measure1 can be sung from one end to the other1 with an appropriate air1 and which in fact1 as ,j4 ,j4 ,rousseau has very well remarked1 were sung frequently4 ,in these poems1 the essence is in accord with the form1 and it is this that makes their regularity4 ,it is not the epopia of ,homer drawn from the ,orphic source1 it is the romantic poetry of ,ariosto1 an issue of the fictions attributed to ,archbishop ,turpin1 which is associated with the verses of the troubadours4 ,these verses subjected to rhyme are incapable in any tongue of attaining the sublime heights of ,eumolpia or of ,epopia4 ,the ,french poets soon proved it1 when coming to understand the works of ,homer and ,vergil1 they thought themselves able to imitate them by making use of the same poetic forms by which the authors of ,perceval or ,berthe-au-grand-pied had profited4 ,it was all to no purpose that they worked these forms1 striking them upon the anvil1 polishing them1 they remained inflexible4 ,ronsard was the first who made the fatal experiment2 and after him a crowd of careless persons came to run aground upon the same reef4 ,these forms always called up the spirit with which they were born2 the melancholy and unceasing sound1 sonorous with their rhymes in couplets or alternate1 had something soporific which caused the soul to dream and which allured it in spite of itself1 not into the sublime regions of allegory where the genius of ,eumolpia was nourished1 but into vague spaces of fictions1 where1 under a thousand whimsical forms the romantic mind evaporates4 ,doubtless one would have been able1 in ,france1 to limit the ,italian poets1 as had been done in ,spain and ,portugal2 but besides1 as it would have been necessary to confine itself to the second inspiration in a style already secondary1 the spirit of the nation1 sufficiently well represented by that of ,ronsard1 foreseeing from afar its high destinies1 wished to command the summit of ,parnassus1 before having discovered the first paths4 ,the disasters of the first epic poets did not discourage their successors2 vying with each other they sought to make amends2 but instead of seeing the obstacle where it really was1 that is to say1 in the incompatible alliance of the essence of ,epopia with the form of romance1 they imagined that lack of talent alone had been prejudicial to the success of their predecessors4 ,consequently they devoted themselves to work with an indefatigable ardour1 polishing and repolishing the rhyme1 tearing to pieces and revising twenty times their works1 and finally bringing the form to the highest perfection that they were able to attain4 ,the century of ,louis ,,xiv41 so fertile in able versifiers1 in profound rhymers1 saw1 however1 the dawn of ,epic poems only as a signal of their failure4 ,chapelain had1 nevertheless1 shown talent before his catastrophe2 wishing to interest the ,french nation1 he had chosen in its history the sole epic subject which he found there4 ,why had he not succeeded8 ,this point was considered1 and the truth still lacking1 they went on to imagine that the fault was inherent in the ,french tongue1 and that it was no longer capable of rising to the heights of ,epopia3 deplorable error1 which for a long time has been harmful to the development of a tongue destined to become universal and to carry to future centuries the discoveries of past ones4 ,ronsard had felt the difficulty most4 ,accustomed as he was to read ,greek and ,latin works in the original1 he had seen clearly that what prevented the ,french tongue from following their poetic movement was particularly the restraint of the rhyme2 he had even sought to free it from this servitude1 endeavouring to make the ,french verses scan according to the ancient rhythm2 but1 in another way he had not appreciated the genius of that tongue which refused to follow this rhythm4 ,jodelle1 ,baf1 ,passerat1 ,desportes1 ,henri-,etienne1 and certain other savants1 have made at different times the same attempt1 and always without results4#aib ,each tongue has its own character which it is necessary to know2 ours has not at all the musical prosody of the ,greek and ,latin2 its syllables are not determined1 long and short1 by the simple duration of time1 but by the different accentuation and inflection of the voice4 ,among our writers the one who has best understood the nature of this prosody is certainly the abb d',olivet3 he declared firstly that he did not believe it possible to make ,french verses measured by rhythm2 and secondly1 that even in the case where this might be possible1 he did not see how this rhythm could be conformable to that of the ,greeks and ,latins4#aic ,i am absolutely of his opinion on these two points2 ,i am furthermore1 en partie1 on what he says of the rhyme4 ,i know as he1 that it is not an invention of the barbarous ages2 ,i know even more1 that it is the luxurious production of a very enlightened age2 ,i must say that it has brought forth thousands of beautiful verses1 that it is often to the poet like a strange genius which comes to the assistance of his own4#aid ,god forbid that ,i pretend to separate it from ,french verse of which it is a charm4 ,rhyme is necessary1 even indispensable1 to romantic poetry and to all that is derived from it2 and songs1 ballads1 vaudevilles1 sylves of whatever sort they may be1 whatever form1 whatever length they may have1 cannot pass away4 ,it adds an infinite grace to all that is sung or recited with the chivalrous sentiment4 ,even the lyric style receives from it a romantic harmony which accords with it4 ,all the secondary styles admit of this4 ,it can1 up to a certain point1 embellish descriptive verse1 soften didactic verse1 add to the melancholy of the elegy1 to the grace of the idyl2 it can at last become the ornament of dramatic art such as we possessthat is to say1 chivalrous and impassioned2 but as to real ,eumolpia and ,epopiathat is to say1 as to what concerns intellectual and rational poetry1 pure or mingled with the enthusiasm of the passions2 prophetic verses or hymns1 emanated from the ,divinity or destined to be raised to it2 philosophical verse adapted to the nature of things and developing the diverse moral and physical systems2 epic verses uniting talent to allegorical genius and joining together the intelligible world to the sentient world2 with all these1 rhyme is incompatible4 ,as much as it delights in works of the mind just so much is it rejected by genius4 ,fiction harmonizes with it1 allegory is opposed to it4 ,it is chivalrous and not heroic2 agreeable1 brilliant1 clever1 melancholy1 sentimental1 but it could never be either profound or sublime4 ,let us clear this up with the light of experience1 and now that we can do it to good purpose1 let us make a rapid survey of the poetic condition of the principal nations of the earth4 ,,vi ,the ,greeks and the ,romans1 as guilty of ingratitude as of injustice1 have styled ,asia barbarous1 without thinking that they thus outraged their ,mother1 the one from whom both had their origin and their first instructions4 ,europe1 more impartial today1 begins to feel as she should toward this ancient and noble country1 and rendering to her venerable scars a filial respect1 does not judge her according to her present weakness1 but according to the vigour that she possessed in the age of her strength1 and of which her magnificent productions still bear the imprint4 ,a philosophical observer1 academician of ,calcutta1 turning an investigating eye upon that part of the terrestrial continent1 has recognized there five principal nations1 among which that of the ,indians holds the first rank2 the others are those of the ,chinese1 ,tartars1 ,persians1 and ,arabs4#aie ,according to this able writer1 primitive ,india should be considered as a sort of luminous focus which1 concentrating at a very remote epoch the learning acquired by an earlier people1 has reflected it1 and has dispersed the rays upon the neighbouring nations4#aif ,she has been the source of ,egyptian1 ,greek1 and ,latin theogony2 she has furnished the philosophical dogmas with which the first poets of ,thrace and ,ionia have adorned the beauties of ,eumolpia and ,epopia2 it is she who has polished the ,persians1 ,chaldeans1 ,arabs1 and ,ethiopians2 and who by her numerous colonies has entertained relations with the ,chinese1 ,japanese1 ,scandinavians1 ,celts1 ,etruscans1 and even with the ,peruvians of the other hemisphere4#aig ,if one listens to the discourse of those who have been much inclined to study the savant language of the ,indians1 ,sanskrit1 he will be persuaded that it is the most perfect language that man has ever spoken4 ,nothing1 according to them1 can surpass its riches1 its fertility1 its admirable structure2 it is the source of the most poetic conceptions and the mother of all the dialects which are in use from the ,persian ,gulf to the waters of ,china4#aih ,it is certain that if anything can prove to the eyes of savants the maternal rights that this tongue claims over all the others1 it is the astonishing variety of its poetry3 what other peoples possess in detail1 it possesses in toto4 ,it is there that ,eumolpia1 ,epopia1 and ,dramatic ,art shine with native clat3 it is there that poetry divine and rational1 poetry allegorical and passionate1 poetry stirring and even romantic1 find their cradle4 ,there1 all forms are admitted1 all kinds of verse received4 ,the ,vedas1 pre-eminently sacred books1 are1 like the ,koran of ,mohammed1 written in cadenced prose4#aii ,the ,pouranas1 which contain the theosophy and philosophy of the ,brahmans1 their system concerning ,nature1 their ideas upon morals and upon natural philosophy1 are composed in philosophical verse not rhymed2 they are attributed to ,vyasa1 the ,orpheus of the ,indians4 ,valmiki1 who is their ,homer1 has displayed in the ,ramayana an epopia magnificent and sublime to the highest degree2 the dramas1 which they call ,nataks1 are1 according to their style1 rhymed and not rhymed3 ,bheret is considered as their inventor2 ,kalidasa as their perfecter4#bjj ,the other kinds of poetry are all rhymed2 their number is immense2 their variety infinite4 ,nothing equals the industry and delicacy of the ,indian rhymers in this style4 ,the ,arabs all skilful as they were1 the ,oscan troubadours whose rhyme was their sole merit1 have never approached their models4#bja ,thus1 not only does one find among the ,indians the measured verse of the ,greeks and ,romans1 not only does one see there rhythms unknown to these two peoples1 but one recognizes also there our rhyme with combinations of which we have no idea4 ,i ought to make an important observation here3 it is1 that whereas ,india1 mistress of ,asia1 held the sceptre of the earth1 she still recognized only the eumolpia of the ,vedas and the ,pouranas1 only the epopia of ,maha-,bharata and the ,ramayana2 her poetry was the language of the gods and she gave herself the name of ,ponya-,rhoumi1 ,land of ,virtues4 ,it was only when a long prosperity had enervated her1 that the love for novelty1 the caprice of fashion and perhaps1 as it happened in ,greece1 the deviation of the theatre1 caused her to seek for beauties foreign to veritable poetry4 ,it is not a rare thing to pass the point of perfection when one has attained it4 ,the astonishing flexibility of ,sanskrit1 the abundance of its final consonants opens a double means for corruption4 ,poets multiplied words believing to multiply ideas2 they doubled rhymes2 they tripled them in the same verse believing to increase proportionably its harmony4 ,their imagination bending before an inspiring genius became vagabond2 they thought to rise to the sublime1 and fell into the bombastic4 ,at last1 knowing no longer how to give emphasis and importance to their extravagant thoughts1 they created words of such length that1 in order to contain them1 it was necessary to forge verses of four csuras of nineteen syllables each4#bjb ,it was1 therefore1 at the epoch of the decadence of the ,indian ,empire1 that rhyme usurped poetry4 ,it would be difficult today to say whether it was an innovation or a simple renovation4 ,however it may be1 it is probable that it passed rapidly from the ruling nation to subject nations where it was diversely welcomed according to the language and particular mind of each people4 ,if one can believe the annals of the ,indians1 ,china was one of their colonies for a long time schismatic and rebellious4#bjc ,if one can lend faith to the most ancient tradition of the ,chinese1 they form from time immemorial a body of autochthonous people4#bjd ,the discussion of this historic difficulty would be out of place here4 ,suffice it to say1 that the ,chinese having commenced by having rhymed verses1 and preserving by character and by religion1 with an inviolable respect1 the ancient usages1 have never had but a mediocre poetry1 absolutely foreign to epopia4#bje ,their principal sacred books1 called ,kings1 are composed of symbolic or hieroglyphic characters1 forming by groups sorts of tableaux1 of profound and often sublime conception1 but bereft of what we would call eloquence of language4 ,these are mute images1 incommunicable by means of the voice1 and which the reader must consider with the eyes and meditate long upon in order to comprehend them4 ,the ,tartars who reign today in ,china and who are distinguished from the others by the epithet of ,manchus1 although possessors of a formed tongue whose richness certain authors praise1#bjf have not any kind of poetry as ,i have already remarked4#bjg ,the other ,tartars were hardly more advanced before being placed by their conquests within reach of the learning of the vanquished people4 ,the ,turks had no alphabetical characters4 ,the ,huns were ignorant even of its existence4 ,the proud vanquisher of ,asia1 ,genghis ,khan did not find1 according to the best historians1 a single man among the ,mongolians capable of writing his despatches4 ,the alphabet of fourteen letters that the ,ugurian ,tartars possess1 appears to have been given them by the ancient ,persians1#bjh from whom they also received the little that they knew of poetry4 ,these ,persians1 today imitators of the ,arabs1 were in very remote times disciples of the ,indians4 ,their sacred tongue then called ,zend1 in which are written the fragments that remain to us of ,zoroaster1 was a dialect of ,sanskrit4#bji ,these fragments that we owe to the indefatigable zeal of ,anquetil ,duperron1 appear to be written1 as the ,vedas1 or as all the sacred books of ,india1 in cadenced prose4 ,after the ,zend-,avesta1 the most famous book among the ,parsees is the ,boun-,dehesh1 written in ,pehlevi1 and containing the cosmogony of ,zoroaster4 ,pehlevi1 which is derived from ,chaldaic ,nabatan1 indicates a translation1#baj and testifies that ,persia had already passed from under the dominion of ,india to that of ,assyria4 ,but when1 thanks to the conquests of ,cyrus1 ,persia had become free and mistress of ,asia1 ,pehlevi1 which recalled its ancient servitude1 was banished from the court by ,bahman-,espandiar1 whom we call ,artaxerxes ,longimanus4#baa ,the ,parsee replaced it2 this last dialect1 modified by ,greek under the successors of ,alexander1 mixed with many ,tartar words under the ,parthian kings1 polished by the ,sassanid1 usurped at last by the ,arabs and subjected to the intolerant influence of ,islamism1 had no longer its own character3 it has taken1 in the modern ,persian1 all the movements of the ,arabic1 notwithstanding its slight analogy with it#bab2 following its example1 it has concentrated all the beauties of poetry in rhyme and since then it has had neither ,eumolpia nor ,epopia4 ,as to the ,arab1 no one is ignorant of the degree to which he is a slave to rhyme4 ,already1 by a sufficiently happy conjecture1 a ,french writer had made the first use of rhyme in ,france coincide with the irruption of the ,moors into ,europe at the beginning of the eighth century4#bac ,he has said that ,provence had been the door by which this novelty was introduced into ,france4 ,however difficult it may appear of proving rigorously this assertion1 lacking monuments1 it cannot1 however1 be denied that it may be very probable1 above all considering what influence the ,arabs exercised upon the sciences and arts in the south of ,france after they had penetrated through ,spain4 ,now1 there is no country on earth where the poetry that ,i have called romantic has been cultivated with more constancy and success than in ,arabia2 rhyme1 if she has received it from ,india1 was naturalized there by long usage1 in such a way as to appear to have had birth there4 ,if it must be said1 the ,arab tongue seems more apt at receiving it than the ,sanskrit4 ,rhyme seems more requisite to poetry there1 on account of the great quantity and inflexibility of the monosyllables1 which joining together only with much difficulty to form the numerous and rhythmic combinations1 had need of its assistance to soften their harshness and to supply the harmony which they lacked4 ,neverthless1 whatever may be the pretension of ,arabia to the invention of rhyme1 and even to that of romantic poetry1 one cannot be prevented1 when one possesses without prejudice and to a certain extent the distinguishing character of the ,asiatic languages1 from seeing that there are proofs in the ,arabic itself which give evidence in favour of ,india4 ,such is1 for example1 the word ,diwan1#bad by which the ,arabs designate the collection of their ancient poetries4#bae ,this word1 which is attached to the ,sanskrit expression ,dewa or ,diwa1 designates all that is divine1 celestial2 all that emanates from the ,universal ,intelligence#baf3 it is the poetry of the ,greeks1 the language of the gods1 or the voice of the ,universal ,being of the ,egyptians and the ,phnicians4 ,however1 the ,arabic ,diwanthat is to say1 the poetic collection of that nation1 goes back to most ancient times4 ,one finds in it verses attributed to the first ,hebrew patriarchs and even to ,adam#bag2 for since the introduction of ,islamism1 the cosmogony of ,moses has become that of the ,mussulmans1 as it has been ours since the establishment of ,christianity4 ,it is there1 in this diwan1 that the most authentic traditions are preserved3 they are all in verse and resemble greatly1 as to form and doubtless as to substance1 that which the monk of ,st4 ,andr has transmitted to us through the court of ,charlemagne4 ,it is the same chivalrous spirit and the same romantic fictions4 ,the ,persian poet ,firdausi appears to have followed similar traditions concerning the ancient kings of ,iran1 in his famous poem entitled ,shah-,namah4#bah ,the wonders which reign in these traditions have been transmitted no doubt by the ,arabs1 with the artifice of rhyme3 both have the same spirit4 ,the protecting fairies of the knights1 the giant persecutors of ladies1 the enchanters1 the magic1 and all those illusions are the fruits of that brilliant and dreamy imagination which characterizes the modern ,orientals4 ,we have enthusiastically enjoyed them in the depths of the barbarity where we were plunged2 we have allowed ourselves to be drawn by the charms of rhyme1 like children in the cradle1 whom their nurses put to sleep by the monotonous sound of a lullaby4 ,escaped from that state of languor1 and struck at last with a gleam of real intelligence1 we have compared ,greece and ,arabia1 the songs of epopia and those of the ballads2 we have blushed at our choice2 we have wished to change it2 but owing to the captivating form always more or less the substance1 we have only succeeded in making mixtures more or less happy1 according to the secondary mode that we follow4 ,rhyme1 brought into ,europe by the ,arabs more than a thousand years ago1 spread by degrees among all nations1 in such a way that when one wishes to examine its origin with accuracy1 one no longer knows whether it is indigenous there or exotic4 ,one finds on all sides only rhymed verses4 ,the ,spanish1 ,portuguese1 ,italians1 ,french1 ,germans of all dialects1 ,hollanders1 ,danes1 ,swedes and ,norwegians1 all rhyme4#bai ,the modern ,greeks themselves have forgotten their ancient rhythm in order to assume our style4#bbj ,if anything could1 however1 make one doubt that rhyme may be natural to ,europe1 it is that ancient ,scandinavian1 in which are written the precious fragments which have come down to us concerning the mythological cult of the ,celts1 our ancestors1 does not rhyme2 also it rises often to the sublimity of ,eumolpia4#bba ,this observation1 which makes us reject ,arabia1 will take us back to ,india1 if we consider that there is plausible presumption in believing that the ,phnicians and the ,egyptians who had so much intercourse with the ,arabs1 did not rhyme1 since the sacred book of the ,hebrews1 the ,sepher1 that we call the ,bible1 and which appears to have issued from the ,egyptian sanctuaries1 is written in cadenced rhyme1 as the ,zend-,avesta of the ,parsees and the ,vedas of the ,indians4#bbb ,the outline that ,i have just sketched confirms1 ,messieurs1 what ,i have wished to prove to you and which is the subject of this discourse1 the distinction that should be made between the essence and the form of poetry1 and the reciprocal influence that should be recognized between these two parts of the science4 ,you have seen that wherever rhyme has dominated exclusively1 as in ,asia among the ,chinese1 ,arabians1 ,persians2 as in ,europe among all the modern peoples1 it has excluded epopia and has replaced allegorical genius by the spirit of romantic fictions2 you have seen that wherever eumolpique poetry has wished to appear1 whether moral or rational1 theosophical or philosophical1 it has been obliged to have recourse to a particular prose1 when the form of poetry has resisted it1 as has happened in ,china for the ,kings1 in ,persia for the ,zend-,avesta1 in ,arabia for the ,koran2 you have seen that wherever poetry has been preserved purely rhythmical1 as in ,greece and with the ,romans1 it has admitted eumolpia and epopia without mixture2 and finally1 that wherever the two forms meet each other with all their modifications1 as in ,india1 it gives way in turn to all the different kinds1 intellectual and rational1 epic1 dramatic1 and romantic4 ,now1 what ,hindustan was for ,asia1 ,france should be for ,europe4 ,the ,french tongue1 as the ,sanskrit1 should tend towards universality2 it should be enriched with all the learning acquired in the past centuries1 so as to transmit it to future generations4 ,destined to float upon the dbris of a hundred different dialects1 it ought to be able to save from the shipwreck of time all their beauties and all their remarkable productions4 ,nevertheless1 how will it be done1 if its poetic forms are not open to the spirit of all the poetries1 if its movement1 arrested by obstacles cannot equal that of the tongues which have preceded it in the same career8 ,by what means1 ,i ask you1 will it succeed to the universal dominion of ,sanskrit1 if1 dragging always after it the frivolous jingling of ,arabic sounds1 it cannot even succeed to the partial domination of ,greek or ,latin8 ,must it be necessary then that it betray its high destinies1 and that the providential decree which founds the ,european empire1 exempt it from the glory which it promises to the ,french name8 ,i have told you1 ,messieurs1 in beginning this discourse1 that it was in the interest of science alone1 that ,i entered this career3 it is assuredly not by my poor poetic talent that ,i have aspired to the honour of occupying your attention2 but by a generous instinct1 which1 making me ignore many of the considerations which might have arrested me1 has persuaded me that ,i could be useful4 ,i have dared to conceive the possibility of composing1 in ,french1 eumolpique verse1 which might neither be measured by musical rhythm foreign to our tongue1 nor enchained by rhyme opposed to all intellectual and rational movement1 and which however might have neither the harshness1 nor the discord of that which has been called1 up to this time1 blank verse4 ,many ,french writers have tried to make verse deprived of rhyme4 ,some have sought to imitate the measures of the ancients1 others have satisfied themselves with copying certain moderns who do not rhyme4 ,each of them has misunderstood the essential character of his tongue4 ,vossius alone appears to have foreseen the principles without developing them1 when he has said that ,french verse might be considered as having only one foot4#bbc ,this is exactly true in examining rhythm only in itself1 and giving to each hemistich the name of time3 but if one considers this one foot1 whether hexameter or pentameter1 as formed of two times equal or unequal1 it is perceived that it participates1 through its final1 in two natures3 the one strong and forceful1 that we name masculine2 the other soft and languid1 that we call feminine4 ,therefore1 ,french verse having but one rhythmic foot1 differs1 however1 in the style of this foot and can be considered in two relations4 ,let us take for example the hexameter verse4 ,the rhythmic foot which constitutes it is composed of two equal times distinguished by the csura1 the last of which is masculine or feminine3 ,masculine1 as in3 ,rome1 l'unique objet de mon ressentiment6 ,rome1 qui vient ton bras d'immoler mon amant6 ,feminine1 as in3 ,rome qui t'a vu natre et que ton cur adore6 ,rome enfin que je hais parce qu'elle t'honore6 ,in rhymed verses1 such as these ,i have just cited1 two feet of the same kind are obliged to follow one another on account of the rhyme which links them2 they then form but one whole and1 proceeding abreast without being separated1 they injure by their forced mass the rapidity of expression and flight of thought4 ,if a third foot of the same kind occur with the other two feet1 rhyming together1 it would have to rhyme with them to prevent an insupportable discordance1 which is not tolerated2 a fourth or a fifth foot would submit to the same law1 so that1 if the poet wished to fill his piece with masculine verses alone1 it would be necessary that he should make them proceed upon a single rhyme1 as the ,arabs do today and as our early troubadours did1 following their example4 ,the ,french poet can vary his rhyme only by varying the style of his verses and by mingling alternately together the masculine and feminine finals4 ,as these two kinds of finals are dissimilar without being opposed1 they may be brought together without the need of rhyming2 their meeting1 far from being disagreeable is1 on the contrary1 only pleasing2 two finals of the same kind1 whether masculine or feminine1 can never clash without causing the same soundthat is1 without rhyming2 but it is not thus with the finals of different kinds1 since the rhyme is impossible in this case4 ,so that1 to make what ,i call eumolpique verses1 it suffices to avoid the meeting of finals of the same kind1 whose impact necessitates the rhyme1 by making one kind succeed another continually1 and opposing alternately the masculine and feminine1 the mingling of which is irrelevant to eumolpia4 ,here is all the mechanism of my verses3 they are fluent as to form2 as to the essence which is expedient for themthat is another thing3 for it is rarely encountered4 ,those who have made blank verse in ,french have spoken justly of it with the greatest contempt2 these verses1 miserable as to substance1 without poetic fire1 written as the flattest prose1 lacking movement and grace1 had1 furthermore1 the insupportable fault of not recognizing the genius of the ,french tongue1 by making finals of the same kind clash constantly1 and by not distinguishing that which is called rhyme from that which repels it4 ,now that ,i have made as clear as possible my motives and my means1 there remains only1 ,messieurs1 for me to submit to your judgment the translation that ,i have made1 in eumolpique verse1 of the piece of ,greek poetry which comprises the doctrine of ,pythagoras in seventy-one lines called1 par excellence1 ,golden ,verses4 ,this piece1 venerable by its antiquity and by the celebrated philosopher whose name it bears1 belonging to eumolpia1 without any mixture of passion1 is sufficiently known to savants so that ,i need not speak about what concerns its particular merit4 ,this would mean1 moreover1 a matter of some explanations4 ,at any rate1 ,i believe it advisable before passing to this final subject1 to give you certain examples of the use of my verses as applied to epopia1 so that you may judge1 since they are in hands as incapable as mine1 what they might become when used by men of superior genius and talent4 ,i will choose1 for this purpose1 the exposition and invocation of the principal epic poems of ,europe1 in order to have a fixed subject for comparison4 ,i will translate line by line1 and will imitate1 as well as is possible for me1 the movement and harmony of the poet that ,i may have before me4 ,this labour1 which ,i hope will not be without some interest for the illustrious academicians whom ,i am addressing1 will furnish me the occasion of showing by certain characteristic traits the genius of the language and poetry of the different modern peoples of ,europe2 and ,i will terminate thus the outline that ,i have sketched touching the poetic conditions of the principal nations of the earth4 ,,vii ,i am beginning with the creator of epopia1 with ,homer4 ,it is easy to see by the manner in which this divine man blends1 from the opening lines of the ,iliad1 the exposition and invocation1 that1 full of a celestial inspiration that he was the first to receive1 he seeks to pour forth the superabundant fire which consumes him1 and to throw into the soul of his hearer the impassioned enthusiasm which masters and controls his own4 ,the following lines will suffice to make known the subject of a work which fills twenty-four cantos4 ,desse6 viens chanter la colre d',achille1 ,fatale1 et pour les ,grecs si fertile en malheurs1 ,qui1 d'avance1 aux enfers1 prcipitant en foule ,les mes des hros1 livra leurs corps sanglants ,aux dogues affams3 ainsi ,jupiter mme ,le voulut1 quand la haine eut divis les curs ,du roi des rois ,atride et du divin ,achille4 ,lequel des ,immortels provoqua ce courroux8 ,apollon irrit1 qui1 pour punir ,atride1 ,ravagea son arme3 et les peuples mourraient6 ,o ,goddess6 sing the wrath of ,peleus' son1 ,achilles2 sing the deadly wrath that brought ,woes numberless upon the ,greeks1 and swept ,to ,hades many a valiant soul1 and gave ,their limbs a prey to dogs and birds of air1 ,for so had ,jove appointed1from the time ,when the two chiefs1 ,atrides1 ,king of men1 ,and great ,achilles1 parted first as foes4 ,which of the gods put strife between the chiefs1 ,that they should thus contend8 ,latona's son ,and ,jove's4 ,incensed against the king1 he bade ,a deadly pestilence appear among ,the army1 and the men were perishing4 ,,bryant4 1 1 1 1 ' ' 1 ' 1 7 ' 71 1 1 4 ' 2 4 1 4 ,i dispense with making any reflection upon the charm of the original verses and upon the admirable sentiment which terminates them4 ,it would be a very strange thing not to be impressed by the beauties of this poetry4 ,let us pass on to ,vergil4 ,even though ,i should not say it1 it would suffice now to compare the ,greek poet with the ,latin poet1 in order to perceive that the latter received only a second inspiration1 transmitted by the inspiring power of the former4 ,vergil1 less ardent1 more tender1 more correct1 admits at once the luminous distinction2 far from blending the exposition and invocation1 he separates them1 affects a tone more simple1 promises little1 exposes with timidity the subject of his poem1 summons his ,muse1 and seems to persuade it1 even less than the reader1 to be favourable to him4 ,he employs these lines3 ,je chante les combats1 et ce ,hros troyen1 ,qui1 fuyant ,ilion aborda l',italie ,le premier3 sur la terre errant1 et sur les mers1 ,en butte aux traits cruels de ,junon irrite1 ,il souffrit mille maux2 avant qu'il tablt ,ses ,dieux chez les ,latins1 et fondt une ville1 ,berceau d',albe1 de ,rome et de ses hauts remparts4 ,muse6 rappelle-moi quels motifs de vengeance ,excitaient la ,desse1 et pourquoi son courroux ,s'obstinait poursuive un ,hros magnanime8 ,tant de haine entre-t-elle au cur des ,immortels6 ,arms and the man ,i sing1 who first1 ,by fate of ,ilium realm amerced1 ,to fair ,italia onward bore1 ,and landed on ,lavinium's shore3 ,long tossing earth and ocean o'er1 ,by violence of heaven1 to sate ,fell ,juno's unforgetting hate3 ,much laboured too in battle-field1 ,striving his city's walls to build1 ,and give his ,gods a home3 ,thence come the hardy ,latin brood1 ,the ancient sires of ,alba's blood1 ,and lofty-rampired ,rome4 ,say1 ,muse1 for godhead how disdained1 ,or wherefore worth1 ,heaven's queen constrained ,that soul of piety so long ,to turn the wheel1 to cope with wrong4 ,can heavenly natures nourish hate ,so fierce1 so blindly passionate8 ,,conington4 ,arma virumque cano1 ,troj qui primus ab oris ,italiam1 fato profugus1 ,lavinaque venit ,litora1 multum ille et terris jactatus et alto ,vi superm1 sv memorem ,junonis ob iram1 ,multa quoque et bello passus1 dum conderet urbem ,inferretque deos ,latio3 genus unde ,latinum1 ,albanique patres atque alt mnia ,rom4 ,musa1 mihi causas memora1 quo numine lso1 ,quidve dolens1 regina dem tot volvere casus ,insignem pietate virum1 tot adire labores ,impulerit4 ,tantne animis clestibus ir8 ,it can be observed that ,vergil1 although he places himself foremost and although he says1 ,i sing1 begins nevertheless in a manner much less animated1 much less sure than the ,greek poet1 who1 transported beyond himself1 seems to impose upon his ,muse the subject of his songs1 interrogates her1 and then inspired by her1 responds4 ,the ,latin poet finishes1 like his model1 with a sentence2 but it is easy to feel that this apostrophe1 ,can heavenly natures nourish hate ,so fierce1 so blindly passionate8 although very beautiful1 contains less depth1 less feeling1 and holds less intimately to the subject than this sublime reflection3 444 and the men were perishing6 ,someone has said that ,vergil had imitated in his exposition the commencement of the ,odyssey of ,homer2 this is a mistake4 ,one finds always in the exposition of the ,odyssey the real character of a first inspiration blended with the invocation1 although more calm and less alluring than in the ,iliad4 ,here is the translation3 ,du plus sage ,hros1 ,muse1 dis les traverses ,sans nombre1 aprs qu'il eut triomph d',ilion3 ,rapelle les cits1 les peuples1 les usages1 ,qu'il connut1 et les mers o longtemps il erra3 quels soins dvorants1 quels maux l'exposrent ,l'amour de la patrie et noble dsir ,d'y mener ses guerriers6 ,vain dsir3 ils osrent1 ,insenss6 du ,soleil dvorer les troupeaux2 ,et ce ,dieu1 du retour leur ravit la journe4 ,fais-nous part de ces faits1 fille de ,jupiter4 ,tell me1 ,o ,muse1 of that sagacious man ,who1 having overthrown the sacred town ,of ,ilium1 wandered far and visited ,the capitals of many nations1 learned ,the customs of their dwellers and endured ,great suffering on the deep2 his life was oft ,in peril1 as he laboured to bring back ,his comrades to their homes4 ,he saved them not1 ,though earnestly he strove2 they perished all1 ,through their own folly2 for they banqueted1 ,madmen6 upon the oxen of the ,sun1 ,the all-o'erlooking ,sun1 who cut them off ,from their return4 ,o ,goddess1 virgin-child ,of ,jove1 relate some part of this to me4 ,,bryant4 1 1 1 1 1 ' ' ' 1 4 ' ' 1 1 4 1 1 4 ,the talent of ,homer shows itself completely in the ,odyssey2 it dominates the genius there1 so to speak1 as much as the genius had dominated it in the ,iliad4 ,the fire which animates the ,iliad has been1 with reason1 compared to that of the sun arrived at the height of its course1 and the splendour which shines in the ,odyssey to that with which the occident is coloured on the evening of a fine day4 ,perhaps if we had his ,thebaid1 we would see those brilliant lights which accompany the aurora1 developed there1 and then we would possess in all its shades this immortal genius who depicted all nature4 ,there are people who1 feeling by a sort of intuition that ,homer had been created the poetic incentive of ,europe1 even as ,i have said1 and judging on the other hand that ,ariosto had made an epic poem1 are convinced that the ,italian poet had copied the ,greek2 but this is not so4 ,ariosto1 who has made only a romanesque poem1 has not received the inspiration of ,homer2 he has simply followed the fictions attributed to ,archbishop ,turpin and clothing them with forms borrowed from the ,arabs by the troubadours makes himself creator in this secondary style4 ,the rhyme is as essential to it as it is harmful to veritable epopia2 this is why the eumolpique verses never conform to it in the slightest degree4 ,to apply them to it1 is to make serious what is by nature gay1 it is to give a character of force and of truth to what is only light1 airy1 and fantastic4 ,i am about1 however1 to translate the beginning of his poem1 in order to furnish1 by the shocking disparity which exists between the romantic essence of his poetry and the epic form that ,i here adapt1 a new proof of what ,i have said4 ,je veux chanter les ,dames1 les ,guerriers1 ,l'amour1 l'honneur1 et les jeux et les armes1 ,durant ces temps o les fiers ,sarrasins1 ,des mers d',afrique1 abordrent en ,france1 ,pour seconder les fureurs d',agramant1 ,le jeune roi1 dont l'orgueilleuse audace ,pensait venger la mort du vieux ,trojan1 ,sur l'empereur des ,romains1 ,charlemagne4 ,je veux aussi raconter de ,roland1 ,chose inoue1 autant en vers qu'en prose2 ,dire l'amour qui rendit furieux ,ce paladin1 auparavant si sage2 ,si toutefois celle qui m'a charm1 ,qui va minant ma raison d'heure en heure1 ,m'en laisse assez pour remplir dignement ,mon entreprise et tenir ma promesse4 ,of ,loves and ,ladies1 ,knights and ,arms1 ,i sing1 ,of ,courtesies1 and many a ,daring ,feat2 ,and from those ancient days my story bring1 ,when ,moors from ,afric passed in hostile fleet1 ,and ravaged ,france1 with ,agramant their ,king1 ,flushed with his youthful rage and furious heat2 ,who on ,king ,charles'1 the ,roman emperor's head ,had vowed due vengeance for ,troyano dead4 ,in the same strain of ,roland will ,i tell ,things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme1 ,on whom strange madness and rank fury fell1 ,a man esteemed so wise in former time2 ,if she1 who to like cruel pass has well ,nigh brought my feeble wit which fain would climb ,and hourly wastes my sense1 concede me skill ,and strength my daring promise to fulfil4 ,w4 ,r4 ,,rose4 ,le donne1 i cavalier1 l'arme1 gl'amori ,le cortese1 l'audaci imprese io canto1 ,che furo al tempo che passaro i ,mori ,d',africa il mare1 e in ,francia nocquer tanto1 ,seguendo l'ire e i giovenil furori ,d',agramante lor re1 che si di vanto ,di vendicar la morte di ,troiano ,sopra re ,carlo imperator romano4 ,dir d',orlando in un medesmo tratto ,cosa non detta in prosa mai1 n in rima2 ,che per amor venne in furore e matto1 ,d'uom che si saggio era stimato prima3 ,se da colei che tal quasi m'ha fatto ,che'l poco ingegno ad or ad or mi lima1 ,me ne sar per tanto concesso1 ,che mi basti a finir quanto ho promesso4 ,it is very easy to see1 in reading these two strophes1 that there exists in the exposition no sort of resemblance either with that of ,homer1 or with that of ,vergil4 ,it is a third style1 wholly foreign to the other two4 ,homer mingling the exposition and the invocation1 commands his ,muse to sing what she inspires in him2 ,vergil distinguishing one from the other1 prays his ,muse to acquaint him with what he is about to sing2 whereas ,ariosto1 announcing simply the subject of his songs1 makes no invocation4 ,it is evident that he relies upon himself1 and that in the style that he adopts he understands very well that he has no other ,muse1 no other guide than his imagination4 ,his subject is in accord with his manner of treating it4 ,if one wishes to reflect upon this decisive point1 one will feel and realize1 for the first time perhaps1 why in the opinion of all the world concerning two works from the same hand1 ,la ,pucelle and ,la ,henriade1 the one is a poem1 whereas the other1 composed with a far greater pretension1 is not4 ,voltaire1 in imitating ,ariosto in a subject that he has rendered romanesque and frivolous1 has received the second inspiration2 but in imitating ,lucan in an historic subject he received nothing1 for ,lucan1 creator of a mixed style1 had no inspiration that he could communicate4 ,i have said what ,i thought of ,camoens3 it is useless to quote the exposition of his poem that has nothing remarkable1 particularly since ,tasso has so far surpassed him4 ,tasso was worthy of receiving a veritable inspiration4 ,his lofty genius1 his pure and brilliant imagination brought him nearer to ,vergil than to ,ariosto2 and if he had been inspired even through the ,latin poet1 he would have shown ,europe what the magnetic power of ,homer was1 although acting only in its third degree4 ,but the prejudices of education working in him even without his knowledge1 and the influence that chivalresque poetry had attained in ,italy1 did not permit him either to forsake entirely the chronicles of ,archbishop ,turpin1 or above all1 to make any changes in the consecrated form4 ,all that he could do in a most grave and serious historical subject was to mix a little allegorical genius with a great deal of romanesque fiction2 so that1 becoming inspired at the same time with ,ariosto1 ,lucan1 and ,vergil1 he made a mixed work1 which1 under the form of a lengthy song1 contained the essence of epopia1 of history1 and of romance4 ,this work is one of the most entertaining poems that one can read2 the only one perhaps which a translation in prose can harm but little4 ,the inequality of its texture takes away nothing from the interest that it inspires4 ,it pleases1 but it does not instruct4 ,if the eumolpique lines were applied to it throughout1 it would not sustain them2 for it is in substance only a very beautiful ballad2 nevertheless1 here and there are found parts which could become sublime4 ,his exposition1 imitating ,vergil1 reveals them very well4 ,they are as follows3 ,je chante les combats pieux1 et le ,guerrier ,qui dlivra du ,christ la tombe renomme4 ,combien il dploya de gnie et d'ardeur6 ,combien il supporta de maux dans cette guerre6 ,vainement les enfers s'armrent2 vainement ,les peuples de l',asie aux ,africains s'unirent3 ,favoris du ,ciel1 sous ses drapeaux sacrs1 ,vainqueur1 il ramena ses compagnons fidles4 ,divine ,muse6 toi dont le front radieux ,ne ceint point sur le ,pinde un laurier prissable1 ,mais qui1 parmi les churs des habitants du ,ciel1 ,chantes1 le front orn d'toiles immortelles1 ,viens1 inspire mon sein tes clestes ardeurs2 ,fais briller dans mes vers tes clarts1 et pardonne ,si1 parant quelquefois l'austre vrit1 ,je mle tes attraits des grces trangres4 ,i sing the pious arms and ,chief1 who freed ,the ,sepulchre of ,christ from thrall profane3 ,much did he toil in thought1 and much in deed2 ,much in the glorious enterprise sustain2 ,and ,hell in vain opposed him2 and in vain ,afric and ,asia to the rescue pour'd ,their mingled tribes2,heaven recompensed his pain1 ,and from all fruitless sallies of the sword1 ,true to the ,red-,cross flag his wandering friends restored4 ,o thou1 the ,muse1 that not with fading palms ,circlest thy brows on ,pindus1 but among ,the ,angels warbling their celestial psalms1 ,hast for the coronal a golden throng ,of everlasting stars6 make thou my song ,lucid and pure2 breathe thou the flame divine ,into my bosom2 and forgive the wrong1 ,if with grave truth light fiction ,i combine1 ,and sometimes grace my page with other flowers than thine6 ,,wiffen4 ,canto l'armi pietose1 e'l ,capitano ,che'l gran sepolcro liber di ,christo3 ,molto egli opr col senno e con la mano2 ,molto soffri nel glorioso acquisto3 ,e invano l',inferno a lui s'oppose1 e invano ,s'arm d',asia1 e d ,libia il popol misto2 ,ch il ,ciel di favore1 e sotto ai santi ,segni ridusse i suoi compagni erranti4 ,o ,musa1 tu1 che di caduchi allori ,non circondi la fronte in ,elicona ,ma su nel ,ciel infra i beati cori1 ,hai di stelle immortali aurea corona1 ,tu spira al petto mio celesti ardori1 ,tu rischiara il mio canto1 e tu perdona1 ,s'intesso fregi al ver1 s'adorno in parte ,d'altri diletti1 che de' tuoi1 le carte4 ,the captivating enthusiasm of ,homer1 the majestic simplicity of ,vergil are not there2 there is a sweetness of expression1 a purity of imagery which please4 ,this might be greater1 but then the melancholy of the romance would exclude it and the reader would demand the full force of epopia4 ,besides1 the ,italians have tried1 over and over again1 to vary the form of their verses2 some have wished to measure them by musical rhythm2 others have contented themselves with making blank verse4 ,they have neither succeeded completely nor failed completely4 ,their language sweet and musical lacks force whether in good or in evil4 ,its words might indeed1 strictly speaking1 be composed of long and short syllables2 but as they terminate1 nearly all1 in the soft and languid style that we call feminine1 it results1 therefore1 that in the measured verses the poets lack the long syllables to constitute the last foot and to form the spondee2 and that in the blank verse they are obliged to terminate them all in the same style2 so that with the measure they create only lame verses1 and without the rhyme they make them all equally languid4#bbd ,i recall having sometimes read ,french writers who1 not having investigated the character of their tongue1 have reproached it for its feminine syllables and have believed that their concurrence was harmful to its force and its harmony4 ,these writers have scarcely considered what this language would be1 deprived of its feminine sounds4 ,for with the little force that it would gain on one side1 it would acquire such a harshness on the other1 that it would be impossible to draw from it four consecutive lines that would be endurable4 ,if all its finals were masculine1 and if nothing could change it otherwise1 it would be necessary to renounce poetry1 or like the ,arabs1 be resolved to compose whole poems in the same rhyme4 ,we have just seen that the lack of masculine finals takes away all energy from the ,italian tongue2 a contrary defect would deprive the ,french of this mlange of sweetness and force which makes it the premire langue of ,europe4 ,the ,english language is lacking in precisely what the writers of whom ,i have spoken desired eliminated from the ,french1 without foreseeing the grave disadvantages of their desire3 it has no feminine finals#bbe2 also it is in everything the opposite of the ,italian4 ,it is true that it possesses great energy1 great boldness of expression1 and a grammatical liberty which goes to the full extent2 but deprived of sweetness and softness1 it is1 if ,i may say it1 like those brittle metals whose strength is in stiffness1 and which is broken when one would make them flexible4 ,the poverty of its rhymes1 denuded for the most part of accuracy of accent and of harmony in consonants1 has for a long time engaged the ,english poets in making blank verse2 and it must be admitted that1 notwithstanding the defect inherent in their tongue and which consists1 as ,i have just said1 in the absolute lack of feminine finals1 they have succeeded in this better than any of the poets of other nations4 ,these lines1 all imperfect in their harmony1 are however1 as to form1 the only eumolpique verse that they could make4 ,shakespeare felt it and made use of it in his tragedies4 ,shakespeare with the creative genius with which nature had endowed him1 would have borne dramatic art to its perfection in these modern times1 if circumstances had been as favourable to him as they were adverse4 ,emulator of schylus1 he might have equalled and perhaps surpassed him1 if he had had at his disposal a mine so rich1 so brilliant as that of the mysteries of ,orpheus2 if he had made use of a language so harmonious1 if his taste had been able to be refined at the school of ,pindar or of ,homer4 ,at the epoch of his birth1 ,europe scarcely emerged from the gloom of barbarism2 the theatre1 given over to ridiculous mountebanks1 profaned in indecent farces the incomprehensible mysteries of the ,christian religion1 and the ,english tongue1 still crude and unformed1 had not succeeded in amalgamating in one single body the opposed dialects of which it was successively formed4 ,in spite of these obstacles1 ,shakespeare stamped upon ,england a movement of which ,europe felt the influence4 ,raised by the sole force of his genius to the essence of dramatic poetry1 he dared to seek for his subjects in the mythology of ,odin1 and put upon the stage1 in ,hamlet and in ,macbeth1 tableaux of the highest character4#bbf ,like schylus he conducted one to virtue by terror2 but unfortunately the taste of the spectators1 upon which he was forced to model his1 led him to degrade his tableaux by grotesque figures3 the ,english people were not sufficiently advanced to comprehend the moral end of the tragedy4 ,they must be amused2 and ,shakespeare succeeded only at the expense of the beauties of the art4 ,historic facts and trivial scenes replaced the mysterious and sublime subjects4 ,in ,london1 the dramatic muse was turbulent and licentious2 as in ,madrid it had been chivalrous and gallant4 ,everywhere the theatre had to accommodate itself to the taste of the people4 ,the first regular tragedy which ,pierre ,corneille composed in ,france was derived from a ,spanish ballad4 ,madrid at that time gave the tone to ,europe4 ,it needed much of the time and all the prosperity of ,louis ,,xiv4 to throw off the unseasonable ascendancy that this proud nation had assumed over public opinion4#bbg ,notwithstanding the efforts of ,corneille1 of ,racine1 and of ,molire1 the ,thtre ,franais retained always the romanesque tone that it had originally received4 ,all that these three men could do was1 by lofty sentiments1 by purity of forms1 by regularity of the customs and characters1 to pass over what was1 in reality1 defective4 ,they came thus to give to modern dramatic art all the perfection of which it was susceptible4 ,shakespeare had been in ,london the successor of schylus2 ,corneille received in ,france the inspiration of ,sophocles2 ,racine1 that of ,euripides2 and ,molire united as in a sheaf the spirit of ,menander1 of ,terence1 and of ,plautus4 ,when ,i compare ,shakespeare with schylus1 ,i want to make it clearly understood that ,i regard him as the regenerator of the theatre in ,europe1 and superior to ,corneille and ,racine as to dramatic essence1 although he may be assuredly much inferior to them as to form4 schylus1 in ,greek1 was inspired by ,homer2 while1 on the contrary1 it was ,shakespeare who inspired ,milton4 ,it is known that ,paradise ,lost was at first conceived as the subject of a tragedy1 and that it was only after reflection that the ,english poet saw therein the material for an epic poem4 ,i will tell later on1 in speaking of the ,messiah of ,klopstock1 what has prevented these two subjects1 which appear equally epics1 from attaining wholly to the majesty of epopia4 ,as many of the motives that ,i have to offer apply to the two works1 ,i will thus avoid useless repetition4 ,i shall begin by translating the exposition and invocation of ,milton1 by imitating its movement and its harmony1 as ,i have done with the other poets4 ,de l'homme1 viens chanter la disgrce1 et la fruit ,de cet arbre fatal1 dont le got homicide ,livra le ,monde au crime1 la mort1 aux malheurs1 ,et nous ravit ,eden1 jusqu'au moment qu'un ,homme ,plus grand1 par son trpas1 racheta le sjour ,du bonheur3 viens1 ,muse6 toi qui1 sur la cime ,se ,sina1 d',oreb1 en secret inspiras ,la ,berger d',isral1 quand d'une voix sacre ,il enseignait comment et la terre et des cieux ,sortirent du ,chaos6 ou bien1 si tu prfres ,les sommets de ,sion1 les bords du ,silo1 ,qui1 prs du ,temple saint1 roule ses flots1 ,muse6 ,viens protger de l mes chants audacieux1 ,mes chants qui1 surpassant d'un essor non timide1 ,les monts ,aoniens1 vont raconter des faits ,que n'ont point encor dits la prose ni la rime4 ,of ,man's first disobedience1 and the fruit ,of that forbidden tree1 whose mortal taste ,brought death into the world1 and all our woe1 ,with loss of ,eden1 till one greater ,man ,restore us and regain the blissful seat1 ,sing1 heavenly ,muse1 that1 on the secret top ,of ,oreb or of ,sinai1 didst inspire ,that shepherd1 who first taught the chosen seed1 ,in the beginning how the heavens and earth ,rose out of chaos2 or if ,sion hill ,delight thee more1 and ,siloa's brook that flow'd ,fast by the oracle of ,god2 ,i thence ,invoke thy aid to my adventurous song1 ,that with no middle flight intends to soar ,above the ,aonian mount1 while it pursues ,things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme4 ,this invocation is manifestly in imitation of ,homer1 from whom ,milton has received the second inspiration without the intermediary,vergil4 ,one can observe in the ,english poet the same movement and almost as much force as in the ,greek poet1 but much less clarity1 precision1 and particularly harmony4 ,nearly all of these defects pertain to his subject and his tongue4 ,circumstances were not favourable to ,milton4 ,his lines could not have been better with the elements that he was forced to employ4 ,all imperfect as they are1 they are worth much more than those of ,klopstock2 for at least they are in the character of his tongue1 whereas those of the ,german poet are not4 ,milton is satisfied with throwing off the yoke of rhyme1 and has made eumolpique lines of one foot only1 measured by ten syllables4 ,their defect1 inherent in the ,english idiom1 consists1 as ,i have said1 in having all the lines bearing equally the masculine final1 jarring continually one with the other4 ,klopstock has aspired to make1 in ,german1 verses measured by the musical rhythm of the ,greeks2 but he has not perceived that he took as long and short1 in his tongue1 syllables which were not such in musical rhythm1 but by accent and prosody1 which is quite different4 ,the ,german tongue1 composed of contracted words and consequently bristling with consonants1 bears no resemblance to the ,greek1 whose words1 abounding in vowels1 were1 on the contrary1 made clear by their elongation4 ,the rhythmic lines of ,klopstock are materially a third longer than those of ,homer1 although the ,german poet has aspired to build them on an equal measure4#bbh ,their rhythmic harmony1 if it exists there1 is absolutely factitious2 it is a pedantic imitation and nothing more4 ,in order to make the movement of these lines understood in ,french1 and to copy as closely as possible their harmony1 it is necessary to compose lines of two csuras1 or what amounts to the same1 to employ constantly a line and a half to represent a single one4 ,here are the first fourteen lines which contain the exposition and invocation of the ,messiah3 ,des coupables humains1 clbre1 ,ame immortelle1 l'heureuse dlivrance1 ,que sur terre envoy le ,messie accomplit dans son humanit3 ,dis comment il rendit les fils du premier homme leur ,auteur cleste2 ,souffrant et mis mort1 enfin glorifi4 ,ainsi s'excuta ,le dcret ternel4 ,en vain ,satan rebelle opposa son audace ,a ce ,fils du ,trs-,haut2 et ,judas vainement s'leva contre lui3 ,rconciliateur et ,rdempteur suprme1 il consomma son uvre4 ,mais quoi1 noble action6 que ,dieu seul en son cur misricordieux1 ,connat1 la ,posie1 en son exil terrestre1 pourra-t-elle te suivre8 ,non1 ,esprit crateur1 c'est toi1 devant qui je m'incline en tremblant1 ,a rapprocher de moi cette action divine1 toi-mme semblable4 ,viens donc1 conduis-la-moi dans l'tat immortel de toute sa beaut2 ,remplis-la de ton feu1 toi que1 sondant l'abme du ,trs-,haut1 peux de l'homme ,issu de la poussire1 et fragile et mortel1 te faire un temple saint4 ,my ,soul1 degenerate man's redemption sing1 ,which the ,messiah in his human state ,on earth accomplished1 by which1 suffering slain ,and glorify'd1 unto the ,love of ,god ,the progeny of ,adam he restored4 ,such was the everlasting ,will divine1 ,th' infernal ,fiend opposed him1 ,judah stood ,in opposition proud2 but vain their rage3 ,he did the deed1 he wrought out man's salvation4 ,yet1 wondrous ,deed1 which th' all-compassionate ,jehovah alone completely comprehends1 ,may ,poesy presume from her remote ,obscurity to venture on thy theme8 ,creative ,spirit1 in whose presence here ,i humbly' adore1 her efforts consecrate1 ,conduct her steps and lead her1 me to meet1 ,of transport full1 with glorious charms endow'd ,and power immortal1 imitating ,thee4 7,,egestorff47 ,sing1 unserterbliche ,seele1 der sndigen ,menschen ,erlsung1 ,die der ,messias auf ,erden1 in seiner ,menscheit vollendet2 ,und durch die er ,adams ,geschlecht zu der ,liebe der ,gottheit1 ,leidend1 getdtet und verherlichet1 weider erhhet hat4 ,also geschah des ,ewigen ,wille4 ,vergebens erhub sich ,satan gegen der gttlichen ,sohn2 umsonst stand ,juda ,gegen ihn auf2 er that's1 und wollbrachte die grosse ,vershnung4 ,aber1 o ,that1 die allein der ,albarmherzige kennet1 ,darf aus dunckler ,ferne sich auch dir nahen die ,dichtkunst8 ,weihe sie1 ,geist1 ,schpfer1 vor dem ich hier still anbete1 ,fhre sie mir1 als deine ,nachahmerin1 voiler ,entzckung1 ,voll unsterblicher ,kraft1 in verklrter ,schnheit1 entgegen4 ,rste mit deinem ,feuer sie1 du1 der die ,tiefen des ,gottheit ,schaut und den ,menschen1 aus ,staube gemacht1 zum ,tempel sich heiligt6 ,it is evident that in this exposition the movement of ,homer has been united by ,klopstock to the ideas of ,tasso4 ,the ,german poet claims nevertheless the originality1 and believes that he himself was called to enjoy the first inspiration4 ,in order that this high aspiration might have been realized1 a mass of learning very difficult to find would have been necessary4 ,i will explain briefly this idea4 ,i believe that the one who1 disdaining to follow in the footsteps of ,homer or of ,vergil1 would wish to open another road to epopia1 should be well acquainted with the ground over which he ventures to trace it1 and the goal toward which he aspires to conduct it2 ,i think he should make himself master of his subject so that nothing might remain obscure or unknown to him2 so that if he should choose either the downfall of ,man1 as ,milton1 or his rehabilitation1 after the example of ,klopstock1 he would be able to acquaint himself with the inner meaning of these mysteries1 to explain all the conditions1 to comprehend the beginning and the end1 and1 raising himself to the intellectual nature where they had birth1 to spread light upon physical nature4 ,this is the first attainment that ,i deem indispensable to the epic poet2 ,i say that he should understand what he would sing4 ,homer knew what ,ilium was1 what ,ithaca was2 he could explain to himself the nature of ,achilles and ,helen1 of ,penelope and ,ulysses2 consequently he could depict them4 ,i do not wish to investigate here whether ,milton has understood in the same manner the beginning of the ,world and the nature of ,satan2 nor whether ,klopstock has well understood the mystery of the incarnation of the ,messiah4 ,i only say that if they have not understood these things1 they cannot sing them in a manner really epic4 ,a defect which is common to these two poets1 and which is even noticeable in the ,jerusalem ,delivered of ,tasso1 is1 that everything which does not pertain to the part of the celebrated hero1 is by its impure1 unfaithful1 impious nature1 governed by the ,principle of evil1 and as such consigned to eternal damnation4 ,an insurmountable barrier separates the personages and makes them not alone enemies1 but opposed1 as much as good and evil1 light and darkness4 ,however1 the passions act unknown even to the poet2 the reader is hurried along1 he forgets the fatal line of demarcation1 and is deceived into becoming interested in ,satan1 into finding great1 beautiful1 and terrible1 this enemy of mankind2 he trusts in ,armida1 he is moved by her troubles1 and seconds with his vows those of a notorious magician1 instrument of the ,infernal ,spirit4 ,matters go not thus with ,homer4 ,the ,greeks see in the ,trojans1 enemies1 and not reprobates4 ,paris is culpable but not impious4 ,hector is a hero in whom one can be interested without shame1 and the interest that one devotes to him reflects upon ,achilles and can even be increased4 ,the gods are divided2 but ,venus and ,juno1 ,minerva and ,mars1 ,vulcan and ,neptune are of a like nature2 and although divided in the epic action1 they are none the less venerated by both parties1 equal among each other and all equally subject to ,jupiter1 who excites or checks their resentment4 ,i know not whether any one has already made this observation2 but be that as it may1 it is very important4 ,one can attain to the sublimity of epopia only if like ,homer one knows how to oppose the ,powers which serve the hero with the ,powers which persecute him4 ,for if everything which serves the hero is good1 holy1 and sacred1 and everything which is harmful to him wicked1 impious1 and reprobate1 ,i do not see the glory of his triumph4 ,the principal defect in ,milton's poem is that his hero succumbs1 although he has to combat only the evil things within himself1 whilst everything which is good protects him3 the poem of ,klopstock does not hold the reader's interest1 because the perils of his hero are illusory and as soon as he is represented as ,god1 and when he himself knows his divinity1 his downfall is absolutely impossible4 ,but it is too much to dwell upon points of criticism which do not belong to my subject4 ,i have touched upon them only slightly so that you may feel1 ,messieurs1 notwithstanding the pretensions of three rival peoples1 that the epic career remains none the less wholly open to the ,french nation4 ,some out-of-the-way paths have been traced here and there2 but no poet since ,vergil1 has left the imprint of his steps upon the true path4 ,the moment is perhaps at hand for gathering the palms that time has ripened4 ,must this century1 great in prodigies1 remain without an impassioned and enchanting voice to sing of them8 ,assuredly not4 ,whoever may be the poet whose genius raises itself to this noble task1 ,i have wished from afar to lend him my feeble support2 for ,i have often enough repeated1 that talent alone will aspire to this in vain4 ,epopia will only be the portion of the one who thoroughly understands the essence of poetry and who is able to apply to it a proper form4 ,i have penetrated this essence as far as has been possible for me1 and ,i have revealed my ideas1 ,messieurs1 as clearly as the insufficiency of my means has permitted4 ,i trust that their development may have appeared satisfactory and useful to you2 ,i trust equally that the new form which ,i offer you merits your attention4 ,i have applied it before you1 to ideas1 to intentions and to very different harmonies3 it adapts itself here1 for of itself it is nothing4 ,subject wholly to poetic essence1 it receives therefrom all its lustre4 ,if the ideas that it would render have grandeur and sublimity1 it will easily become grand and sublime2 but nothing would be poorer and more void1 than that it should serve trivial thoughts or that it should conceal an absolute want of ideas4 ,do not imagine1 ,messieurs1 that the absence of rhyme makes easy the ,french verse2 it is precisely this absence which makes the great difficulty3 for there is not then the means of writing without thinking4 ,one can1 with the aid of talent and practice1 compose pleasing rhymed verse1 without a great expenditure of ideas2 the enormous quantity that is made today proves that it is not very difficult4 ,the elegance of form supplies the sterility of substance4 ,but this form becomes at last worn out2 the rhymes are not inexhaustible2 one word attracts another1 forces it to unite with it1 making understood the sounds that one has heard a thousand times1 repeating the pictures which are everywhere2 one repeats unceasingly the same things3 the enjambment which gives so much grace to the ,greek and ,latin verse and without which real epic impulse cannot exist1 is opposed to the rhyme and destroys it4 ,you can see1 ,messieurs1 that it constitutes one of the principal qualities of eumolpique verse2 nothing here constrains the enthusiasm of the poet4 ,after some impassioned verses that ,i have believed necessary for you to hear1 ,i shall now pass on to verses1 philosophical and devoid of passion1 which form the subject of this writing and to which ,i desire above all to call your attention4 ,,the ,,golden ,,verses ,,of ,,pythagoras 4#bbi 1 1 4 ' 4 1 4 4#bcj 1 ' ' 4 ' 4 ' 1 ' 4 ' 1 4 4 ' 1 1 1 4 ' ' 1 ' 4 4 1 4 ' 4 ' 1 ' 4 1 1 ' 4 4 4 ' 1 '1 ' 1 ' ' 4 ' 1 ' 1 4 1 1 ' 1 1 4 1 4 ' 4 ' 1 ' 4 1 4 ' ' 4 1 1 4 '1 ' 4 1 4 1 1 4 ' ' 4 '1 4 4#bca ' ' 1 2 ' 2 2 ' 1 4 ' 4 4 1 4 ' ' 4 1 1 ' 1 1 4 '1 1 ' ' 1 4 ' ' 1 ' ' 4 4 ' ' ' 4 1 4 1 4 4 4 1 1 1 4 ' 1 1 1 1 4 ' ' 1 1 1 4 ,vers ,dors des ,pythagoriciens ,,pr,,paration ,rends aux ,dieux immortels le cult consacr2 ,garde ensuite ta foi3 ,rvre la mmoire ,des ,hros bienfaiteurs1 des ,esprits demi-,dieux4 ,,purification ,sois bon fils1 frre juste1 poux tendre et bon pre4 ,choisis pour ton ami1 l'ami de la vertu2 ,cde ses doux conseils1 instruis-toi par sa vie1 ,et pour un tort lger ne le quitter jamais2 ,si tu le peux du moins3 car une loi svre ,attache la ,puissance la ,ncessit4 ,il t'est donn pourtant de combattre et se vaincre ,tes folles passions3 apprends les dompter4 ,sois sobre1 actif et chaste2 vite la colre4 ,en public1 en secret ne te permets jamais ,rien de mal2 surtout respecte-toi toi-mme4 ,ne parle et n'agis point sans avoir rflchi4 ,sois juste4 ,souviens-toi qu'un pouvoir invincible ,ordonne de mourir2 que les biens1 les honneurs ,facilement acquis1 sont faciles perdre4 ,et quant aux maux qu'entrane avec soi le ,destin1 ,juge-les ce qu'ils sont3 supporte-les2 et tche1 ,autant que tu pourras1 d'en adoucir les traits3 ,les ,dieux1 aux plus cruels1 n'ont pas livr les sages4 ,comme la ,vrit1 l',erreur a ses amants3 ,le philosophe approuve1 ou blme avec prudence2 ,et si ,erreur triomphe1 il s'loigne2 il attend4 ,ecoute1 et grave bien en ton cur mes paroles3 ,ferme l'il et l'oreille la prvention2 ,crains l'exemple d'autrui2 pense d'aprs toi-mme2 ,consulte1 dlibre1 et choisis librement4 ,laisse les fous agir et sans but et sans cause4 ,tu dois dans le prsent1 contempler l'avenir4 ,ce que tu ne sais pas1 ne prtends point le faire4 ,instruis-toi3 tout s'accorde la constance1 au temps4 ,veille sur ta sant3 dispense avec mesure1 ,au corps les aliments1 l'esprit le repos4 ,trop ou trop peu de soins sont fuir2 car l'envie1 ,a l'un et l'autre excs1 s'attache galement4 ,le luxe et l'avarice ont des suites semblables4 ,il faut choisir en tout1 un milieu juste et bon4 ,,perfection ,que jamais le sommeil ne ferme ta paupire1 ,sans t'tre demand3 ,qu'ai-je omis8 qu'ai-je fait8 ,si c'est mal1 abstiens-toi2 si c'est bien1 persvre4 ,mdite mes conseils2 aime-les2 suis-les tous3 ,aux divines vertus ils sauront te conduire4 ,j'en jure par celui qui grava dans nos curs1 ,la ,ttrade sacre1 immense et pur symbole1 ,source de la ,nature1 et modle des ,dieux4 ,mais qu'avant1 ton me1 son devoir fidle1 ,invoque avec ferveur ces ,dieux1 dont les secours ,peuvent seuls achever tes uvres commences4 ,instruit par eux1 alors rien ne t'abusera3 ,des tres diffrents tu sonderas l'essence2 ,tu connatras de ,tout le principe et la fin4 ,tu sauras1 si le ,ciel le veut1 que la ,nature1 ,semblable en toute chose1 est la mme en tout lieu3 ,en sorte qu'clair sur tes droits vritables1 ,ton cur de vains dsirs ne se repatra plus4 ,tu verras que les maux qui dvorent les hommes1 ,sont le fruit de leur choix2 et que ces malheureux ,cherchent loin d'eux biens dont ils portent la source4 ,peu savent tre heureux3 jouets des passions1 ,tour tour ballots par des vagues contraires1 ,sur une mer sans rive1 ils roulent1 aveugls1 ,sans pouvoir rsister ni cder l'orage4 ,dieu6 vous les sauveriez en dsillant leurs yeux4''' ,mais non3 c'est aux humains1 dont la race est divine1 ,a discerner l',erreur1 voir la ,vrit4 ,la ,nature les sert4 ,toi qui l'as pntre1 ,homme sage1 homme heureux1 respire dans le port4 ,mais observe mes lois1 en t'abstenant des choses ,que ton me doit craindre1 en les distinguant bien2 ,en laissant sur le corps rgner l'intelligence3 ,afin que1 t'levant dans l',ether radieux1 ,au sein des ,immortels1 tu sois un ,dieu toi-mme6 ,,examinations ,,of ,,the ,,golden ,,verses3 ,,explanations ,,and ,,developments ,,examinations ,,of ,,the ,,golden ,,verses3 ,,explanations ,,and ,,developments #a4 ,,the ,,golden ,,verses ,,of ,,the ,,pythagoreans ,the ancients had the habit of comparing with gold all that they deemed without defects and pre-eminently beautiful3 thus1 by the ,golden ,age they understood1 the age of virtues and of happiness2 and by the ,golden ,verses1 the verses wherein was concealed the most pure doctrine4#bcb ,they constantly attributed these ,verses to ,pythagoras1 not that they believed that this philosopher had himself composed them1 but because they knew that his disciple1 whose work they were1 had revealed the exact doctrine of his master and had based them all upon maxims issued from his mouth4#bcc ,this disciple1 commendable through his learning1 and especially through his devotion to the precepts of ,pythagoras1 was called ,lysis4#bcd ,after the death of this philosopher and while his enemies1 momentarily triumphant1 had raised at ,crotona and at ,metaponte that terrible persecution which cost the lives of so great a number of ,pythagoreans1 crushed beneath the dbris of their burned school1 or constrained to die of hunger in the temple of the ,muses1#bce ,lysis1 happily escaped from these disasters1 retired into ,greece1 where1 wishing to spread the sect of ,pythagoras1 to whose principles calumnies had been attached1 he felt it necessary to set up a sort of formulary which would contain the basis of morals and the principal rules of conduct given by this celebrated man4 ,it is to this generous movement that we owe the philosophical verses that ,i have essayed to translate into ,french4 ,these verses1 called golden for the reason ,i have given1 contain the sentiments of ,pythagoras and are all that remain to us1 really authentic1 concerning one of the greatest men of antiquity4 ,hierocles1 who has transmitted them to us with a long and masterly ,commentary1 assures us that they do not contain1 as one might believe1 the sentiment of one in particular1 but the doctrine of all the sacred corps of ,pythagoreans and the voice of all the assemblies4#bcf ,he adds that there existed a law which prescribed that each one1 every morning upon rising and every evening upon retiring1 should read these verses as the oracles of the ,pythagorean school4 ,one sees1 in reality1 by many passages from ,cicero1 ,horace1 ,seneca1 and other writers worthy of belief1 that this law was still vigorously executed in their time4#bcg ,we know by the testimony of ,galen in his treatise on ,the ,understanding and the ,cure of the ,maladies of the ,soul1 that he himself read every day1 morning and evening1 the ,verses of ,pythagoras2 and that1 after having read them1 he recited them by heart4 ,however1 ,i must not neglect to say that ,lysis1 who is the author of them1 obtained so much celebrity in ,greece that he was honoured as the master and friend of ,epaminondas4#bch ,if his name has not been attached to this work1 it is because at the epoch when he wrote it1 the ancient custom still existed of considering things and not individuals3 it was with the doctrine of ,pythagoras that one was concerned1 and not with the talent of ,lysis which had made it known4 ,the disciples of a great man had no other name than his4 ,all their works were attributed to him4 ,this is an observation sufficiently important to make and which explains how ,vyasa in ,india1 ,hermes in ,egypt1 ,orpheus in ,greece1 have been the supposed authors of such a multitude of books that the lives of many men would not even suffice to read them4 ,in my translation1 ,i have followed the ,greek text1 such as is cited at the head of the ,commentary of ,hierocles1 commentated on by the son of ,casaubon1 and interpreted into ,latin by ,j4 ,curterius2 ,london edition1 #afgc4 ,this work1 like all those which remain to us of the ancients1 has been the subject of a great many critical and grammatical discussions3 in the first place one must before everything else be assured of the material part4 ,this part is today as authentic and as correct as it is possible to be1 and although there exists still1 several different readings1 they are of too little importance for me to dwell upon4 ,it is not my affair and besides1 chacun doit faire son mtier4 ,that of the grammarian has ended where it ought to end4 ,for how can man ever expect to advance if he never is willing to try some new thing which is offered4 ,i shall not therefore make any criticizing remarks concerning the text1 for ,i consider this text sufficiently examined2 neither will ,i make any notes concerning the ,commentaries1 properly so-called1 on these seventy-one lines1 for ,i think it is sufficient having those of ,hierocles1 of ,vitus ,amerbachius1 ,theodore ,marcilius1 ,henri ,brem1 ,michel ,neander1 ,jean ,straselius1 ,guilhaume ,diezius1 ,magnus-,daniel ,omeis1 ,andr ,dacier1 etc4 ,as ,i stated1 ,i shall make examinations rather than commentaries1 and ,i will give1 regarding the inner meaning of the ,verses1 all the explanations that ,i believe useful for their complete development4 ,,preparation #b4 ,render to the ,immortal ,gods the consecrated cult2 ,guard then thy faith3 ,pythagoras1 of whom a modern savant1 otherwise most estimable1 has rather throughtlessly reproached with being a fanatical and superstitious man1#bci begins his teaching1 nevertheless1 by laying down a principle of universal tolerance4 ,he commands his disciples to follow the cult established by the laws1 whatever this cult may be1 and to adore the gods of their country1 what ever these gods may be2 enjoining them only1 to guard afterwards their faiththat is1 to remain inwardly faithful to his doctrine1 and never to divulge the mysteries4 ,lysis1 in writing these opening lines1 adroitly conceals herein a double meaning4 ,by the first he commended1 as ,i have said1 tolerance and reserve for the ,pythagorean1 and1 following the example of the ,egyptian priests1 established two doctrines1 the one apparent and vulgar1 conformable to the law2 the other mysterious and secret1 analogous to the faith2 by the second meaning1 he reassures the suspicious people of ,greece1 who1 according to the slanders which were in circulation might have feared that the new sect would attack the sanctity of their gods4 ,this tolerance on the one hand1 and this reserve on the other1 were no more than what they would be today4 ,the ,christian ,religion1 exclusive and severe1 has changed all our ideas in this respect3 by admitting only one sole doctrine in one unique church1 this religion has necessarily confused tolerance with indifference or coldness1 and reserve with heresy or hypocrisy2 but in the spirit of polytheism these same things take on another colour4 ,a ,christian philosopher could not1 without perjuring himself and committing a frightful impiety1 bend the knee in ,china before ,kong-,tse1 nor offer incense to ,chang-,ty nor to ,tien2 he could neither render1 in ,india1 homage to ,krishna1 nor present himself at ,benares as a worshipper of ,vishnu2 he could not even1 although recognizing the same ,god as the ,jews and ,mussulmans1 take part in their ceremonies1 or what is still more1 worship this ,god with the ,arians1 the ,lutherans1 or ,calvinists1 if he were a ,catholic4 ,this belongs to the very essence of his cult4 ,a ,pythagorean philosopher did not recognize in the least these formidable barriers1 which hem in the nations1 as it were1 isolate them1 and make them worse than enemies4 ,the gods of the people were in his eyes the same gods1 and his cosmopolitan dogmas condemned no one to eternal damnation4 ,from one end of the earth to the other he could cause incense to rise from the altar of the ,divinity1 under whatever name1 under whatever form it might be worshipped1 and render to it the public cult established by the law4 ,and this is the reason4 ,polytheism was not in their opinion what it has become in ours1 an impious and gross idolatry1 a cult inspired by the infernal adversary to seduce men and to claim for itself the honours which are due only to the ,divinity2 it was a particularization of the ,universal ,being1 a personification of its attributes and its faculties4 ,before ,moses1 none of the theocratic legislators had thought it well to present for the adoration of the people1 the ,supreme ,god1 unique and uncreated in ,his unfathomable universality4 ,the ,indian ,brahmans1 who can be considered as the living types of all the sages and of all the pontiffs of the world1 never permit themselves1 even in this day when their great age has effaced the traces of their ancient science1 to utter the name of ,god1 principle of ,all4#bdj ,they are content to meditate upon its essence in silence and to offer sacrifices to its sublimest emanations4 ,the ,chinese sages act the same with regard to the ,primal ,cause1 that must be neither named nor defined#bda2 the followers of ,zoroaster1 who believe that the two universal principles of good and evil1 ,ormuzd and ,ahriman1 emanate from this ineffable ,cause1 are content to designate it under the name of ,eternity4#bdb ,the ,egyptians1 so celebrated for their wisdom1 the extent of their learning1 and the multitude of their divine symbols1 honoured with silence the ,god1 principle and source of all things#bdc2 they never spoke of it1 regarding it as inaccessible to all the researches of man2 and ,orpheus1 their disciple1 first author of the brilliant mythology of the ,greeks1 ,orpheus1 who seemed to announce the soul of the ,world as creator of this same ,god from which it emanated1 said plainly3 8,i never see this ,being surrounded with a cloud40#bdd ,moses1 as ,i have said1 was the first who made a public dogma of the unity of ,god1 and who divulged what1 up to that time had been buried in the seclusion of the sanctuaries2 for the principal tenets of the mysteries1 those upon which reposed all others1 were the ,unity of ,god and the homogeneity of ,nature4#bde ,it is true that ,moses1 in making this disclosure1 permitted no definition1 no reflection1 either upon the essence or upon the nature of this unique ,being2 this is very remarkable4 ,before him1 in all the known world1 and after him 7save in ,judea where more than one cloud still darkened the idea of divine ,unity1 until the establishment of ,christianity71 the ,divinity was considered by the theosophists of all nations1 under two relations3 primarily as unique1 secondarily as infinite2 as unique1 preserved under the seal of silence to the contemplation and meditation of the sages2 as infinite1 delivered to the veneration and invocation of the people4 ,now the unity of ,god resides in ,his essence so that the vulgar can never in any way either conceive or understand4 ,his infinity consists in ,his perfections1 ,his faculties1 ,his attributes1 of which the vulgar can1 according to the measure of their understanding1 grasp some feeble emanations1 and draw nearer to ,him by detaching them from the universalitythat is1 by particularizing and personifying them4 ,this is the particularization and the personification which constitutes1 as ,i have said1 polytheism4 ,the mass of gods which result from it1 is as infinite as the ,divinity itself whence it had birth4 ,each nation1 each people1 each city adopts at its liking1 those of the divine faculties which are best suited to its character and its requirements4 ,these faculties1 represented by simulacra1 become so many particular gods whose variety of names augments the number still further4 ,nothing can limit this immense theogony1 since the ,primal ,cause whence it emanates has not done so4 ,the vulgar1 lured by the objects which strike the senses1 can become idolatrous1 and he does ordinarily2 he can even distinguish these objects of his adoration1 one from another1 and believe that there really exist as many gods as statues2 but the sage1 the philosopher1 the most ordinary man of letters does not fall into this error4 ,he knows1 with ,plutarch1 that different places and names do not make different gods2 that the ,greeks and ,barbarians1 the nations of the ,north and those of the ,south1 adore the same ,divinity#bdf he restores easily that infinity of attributes to the unity of the essence1 and as the honoured remnants of the ancient ,sramanas1 the priests of the ,burmans1 still do today1 he worships ,god1 whatever may be the altar1 the temple1 and the place where he finds himself4#bdg ,this is what was done by the disciples of ,pythagoras1 according to the commandment of their master2 they saw in the gods of the nations1 the attributes of the ,ineffable ,being which were forbidden them to name2 they augmented ostensibly and without the slightest reluctance1 the number of these attributes of which they recognized the ,infinite ,cause2 they gave homage to the cult consecrated by the law and brought them all back secretly to the ,unity which was the object of their faith4 #c4 ''' ,revere the memory ,of the ,illustrious ,heroes1 of ,spirits demi-,gods4''' ,pythagoras considered the ,universe as an animated ,all1 whose members were the divine ,intelligences1 each ranked according to its perfections1 in its proper sphere4#bdh ,he it was who first designated this ,all1 by the ,greek word ,kosmos1 in order to express the beauty1 order1 and regularity which reigned there#bdi2 the ,latins translated this word by ,mundus1 from which has come the ,french word monde4 ,it is from ,unity considered as principle of the world1 that the name ,universe which we give to it is derived4 ,pythagoras establishes ,unity as the principle of all things and said that from this ,unity sprang an infinite ,duality4#bej ,the essence of this ,unity1 and the manner in which the ,duality that emanated from it was finally brought back again1 were the most profound mysteries of his doctrine2 the subject sacred to the faith of his disciples and the fundamental points which were forbidden them to reveal4 ,their explanation was never made in writing2 those who appeared worthy of learning them were content to be taught them by word of mouth4#bea ,when one was forced1 by the concatenation of ideas1 to mention them in the books of the sect1 symbols and ciphers were used1 and the language of ,numbers employed2 and these books1 all obscure as they were1 were still concealed with the greatest care2 by all manner of means they were guarded against falling into profane hands4#beb ,i cannot enter into the discussion of the famous symbol of ,pythagoras1 one and two1 without exceeding very much the limits that ,i have set down in these examinations#bec2 let it suffice for me to say1 that as he designated ,god by #a1 and ,matter by #b1 he expressed the ,universe by the number #ab1 which results in the union of the other two4 ,this number is formed by the multiplication of #c by #d3 that is to say1 that this philosopher conceived the ,universal world as composed of three particular worlds1 which1 being linked one with the other by means of the four elementary modifications1 were developed in twelve concentric spheres4#bed ,the ineffable ,being which filled these twelve spheres without being understood by any one1 was ,god4 ,pythagoras gave to ,it1 truth for soul and light for body4#bee ,the ,intelligence which peopled the three worlds were1 firstly1 the immortal gods properly so-called2 secondly1 the glorified heroes2 thirdly1 the terrestial demons4 ,the immortal gods1 direct emanations of the uncreated ,being and manifestation of ,its infinite faculties1 were thus named because they could not depart from the divine lifethat is1 they could never fall away from their ,father into oblivion1 wandering in the darkness of ignorance and of impiety2 whereas the souls of men1 which produced1 according to their degree of purity1 glorified heroes and terrestrial demons1 were able to depart sometimes from the divine life by voluntary drawing away from ,god2 because the death of the intellectual essence1 according to ,pythagoras and imitated in this by ,plato1 was only ignorance and impiety4#bef ,it must be observed that in my translation ,i have not rendered the ,greek word by the word demons1 but by that of spirits1 on account of the evil meaning that ,christianity has attached to it1 as ,i explained in a preceding note4#beg ,this application of the number #ab to the ,universe is not at all an arbitrary invention of ,pythagoras2 it was common to the ,chaldeans1 to the ,egyptians from whom he had received it1 and to the principal peoples of the earth#beh3 it gave rise to the institution of the zodiac1 whose division into twelve asterisms has been found everywhere existent from time immemorial4#bei ,the distinction of the three worlds and their development into a number1 more or less great1 of concentric spheres inhabited by intelligences of different degrees of purity1 were also known before ,pythagoras1 who in this only spread the doctrine which he had received at ,tyre1 at ,memphis1 and at ,babylon4#bfj ,this doctrine was that of the ,indians4 ,one finds still today among the ,burmans1 the division of all the created beings established in three classes1 each of which contains a certain number of species1 from the material beings to the spiritual1 from the sentient to the intelligible4#bfa ,the ,brahmans1 who count fifteen spheres in the universe1#bfb appear to unite the three primordial worlds with the twelve concentric spheres which result from their development4 ,zoroaster1 who admitted the dogma of the three worlds1 limited the inferior world to the vortex of the moon4 ,there1 according to him1 the empire of evil and of matter comes to an end4#bfc ,this idea thus conceived has been general2 it was that of all the ancient philosophers#bfd2 and what is very remarkable1 is that it has been adopted by the ,christian theosophists who certainly were not sufficiently learned to act through imitation4#bfe ,the followers of ,basil1 those of ,valentine1 and all the gnostics have imbibed from this source the system of emanations which has enjoyed such a great renown in the school of ,alexandria4 ,according to this system1 the ,absolute ,unity1 or ,god1 was conceived as the spiritual ,soul of the ,universe1 the ,principle of existence1 the ,light of lights2 it was believed that this creative ,unity1 inaccessible to the understanding even1 produced by emanation a diffusion of light which1 proceeding from the centre to the circumference1 losing insensibly its splendour and its purity in proportion as it receded from its source1 ended by being absorbed in the confines of darkness2 so that its divergent rays1 becoming less and less spiritual and1 moreover1 repulsed by the darkness1 were condensed in commingling with it1 and1 taking a material shape1 formed all the kinds of beings that the world contains4 ,thus was admitted1 between the ,supreme ,being and man1 an incalculable chain of intermediary beings whose perfections decreased proportionably with their alienation from the ,creative ,principle4 ,all the philosophers and all the sectarians who admired this spiritual hierarchy considered1 under the relations peculiar to them1 the different beings of which it was composed4 ,the ,persian magians who saw there genii1 more or less perfect1 gave them names relative to their perfections1 and later made use of these same names to evoke them3 from this came the ,persian magic1 which the ,jews1 having received by tradition during their captivity in ,babylon1 called ,kabbala4#bff ,this magic became mixed with astrology among the ,chaldeans1 who regarded the stars as animated beings belonging to the universal chain of divine emanations2 in ,egypt1 it became linked with the mysteries of ,nature1 and was enclosed in the sanctuaries1 where it was taught by the priests under the safeguard of symbols and hieroglyphics4 ,pythagoras1 in conceiving this spiritual hierarchy as a geometrical progression1 considered the beings which compose it under harmonious relations1 and based1 by analogy1 the laws of the universe upon those of music4 ,he called the movement of the celestial spheres1 harmony1 and made use of numbers to express the faculties of different beings1 their relations and their influences4 ,hierocles mentions a sacred book attributed to this philosopher1 in which he called the divinity1 the ,number of numbers4#bfg ,plato1 who1 some centuries later1 regarded these same beings as ideas and types1 sought to penetrate their nature and to subjugate them by dialectics and the force of thought4 ,synesius1 who united the doctrine of ,pythagoras to that of ,plato1 sometimes called ,god1 the ,number of numbers1 and sometimes the ,idea of ideas4#bfh ,the gnostics gave to the intermediary beings the name of ,eons4#bfi ,this name1 which signifies1 in ,egyptian1 a principle of the will1 being developed by an inherent1 plastic faculty1 is applied in ,greek to a term of infinite duration4#bgj ,one finds in ,hermes ,trismegistus the origin of this change of meaning4 ,this ancient sage remarks that the two faculties1 the two virtues of ,god1 are the understanding and the soul1 and that the two virtues of the ,eon are perpetuity and immortality4 ,the essence of ,god1 he said again1 is the good and the beautiful1 beatitude and wisdom2 the essence of ,eon1 is being always the same4#bga ,but1 not content with assimilating beings of the celestial hierarchy to ideas1 to numbers1 or to the plastic principle of the will1 there were philosophers who preferred to designate them by the name of ,words4 ,plutarch said on one occasion that words1 ideas1 and divine emanations reside in heaven and in the stars4#bgb ,philo gives in more than one instance the name of word to angels2 and ,clement of ,alexandria relates that the ,valentinians often called their ,eons thus4#bgc ,according to ,beausobre1 the philosophers and theologians1 seeking for terms in which to express incorporal substances1 designated them by some one of their attributes or by some one of their operations1 naming them ,spirits1 on account of the subtlety of their substance2 ,intelligences1 on account of the thought2 ,words1 on account of the reason2 ,angels1 on account of their services2 ,eons1 on account of their manner of subsisting1 always equal1 without change and without alteration4#bgd ,pythagoras called them ,gods1 ,heroes1 ,demons1#bge relative to their respective elevation and the harmonious position of the three worlds which they inhabit4 ,this cosmogonic ternary joined with ,creative ,unity1 constitutes the famous ,quaternary1 or ,sacred ,tetrad1 the subject of which will be taken up further on4 ,,purification #d4 ,be a good son1 just brother1 spouse tender1 and good father4 ,the aim of the doctrine of ,pythagoras was to enlighten men1 to purify them of their vices1 to deliver them from their errors1 and to restore them to virtue and to truth2 and after having caused them to pass through all the degrees of the understanding and intelligence1 to render them like unto the immortal gods4 ,this philosopher had for this purpose divided his doctrine into two parts3 the purgative part and the unitive part4 ,through the first1 man became purified of his uncleanness1 emerged from the darkness of ignorance1 and attained to virtue3 through the second1 he used his acquired virtue to become united to the ,divinity through whose means he arrived at perfection4 ,these two parts are found quite distinct in the ,golden ,verses4 ,hierocles1 who has clearly grasped them1 speaks of it in the beginning of his ,commentaries and designates them by two words which contain1 he said1 all the doctrine of ,pythagoras1 ,purification and ,perfection4#bgf ,the ,magians and the ,chaldeans1 all of whose principles ,pythagoras had adopted1 were agreed on this point1 and in order to express their idea1 made use of a parabolical phrase very celebrated among them4 8,we consume10 they said1 8the refuse of matter by the fire of divine love40#bgg ,an anonymous author who has written an history of ,pythagoras1 preserved by ,photius1 said that the disciples of this great man taught that one perfects oneself in three ways3 in communing with the gods1 in doing good in imitation of the gods1 and in departing from this life to rejoin the gods4#bgh ,the first of these ways is contained in the first three lines of the ,golden ,verses which concern the cult rendered1 according to the law and according to the faith1 to the ,gods1 to the glorified ,heroes1 and to the ,spirits4 ,the second1 that is1 the ,purification1 begins at the fourth line which makes the subject of this ,examination4 ,the third1 that is1 the union with the ,divinity1 or ,perfection1 begins at the fortieth line of my translation3 ,let not sleep e'er close thy tired eyes4 ,thus the division that ,i have believed ought to be made of this short poem is not at all arbitrary1 as one sees the judicious ,bayle had remarked it before me4#bgi ,it is worthy of observation1 that ,pythagoras begins the purgative part of his doctrine by commending the observance of natural duties1 and that he places in the rank of primary virtues1 filial piety1 paternal and conjugal love4 ,thus this admirable philosopher made it his first care to strengthen the ties of blood and make them cherished and sacred2 he exhorts respect to children1 tenderness to parents1 and union to all the members of the family2 he follows thus the profound sentiment which ,nature inspires in all sentient beings1 very different in this from certain legislators1 blinded by false politics1 who1 in order to conduct men to ,i know not what power and what imaginary welfare1 have wished1 on the contrary1 to break those ties1 annihilate those relationships of father1 son1 and brother1 to concentrate1 they said1 upon a being of reason called ,country the affection that the soul divides among those objects of its first love4#bhj ,if the legislators had cared to reflect a moment1 they would have seen that there existed no country for the one who had no father1 and that the respect and love that a man in his virile age feels for the place of his birth1 holds its principle and receives its force from those same sentiments that he felt in his infancy for his mother4 ,every effect proclaims a cause2 every edifice rests upon a foundation3 the real cause of love of country is maternal love2 the sole foundations of the social edifice are paternal power and filial respect4 ,from this sole power issues that of the prince1 who1 in every well-organized state1 being considered as father of the people1 has right to the obedience and respect of his children4 ,i am going to make here a singular comparison which ,i beg the reader to observe4 ,moses1 instructed in the same school as ,pythagoras1 after having announced the ,unity of ,god in the famous ,decalogue which contains the summary of his law1 and having commanded its adoration to his people1 announces for the first virtue1 filial piety#bha2 8,honour10 he said1 8thy father and thy mother1 that thy days may be multiplied in this country of ,adam1 that ,jhah1 thy ,gods1 has given thee40#bhb ,the theocratic legislator of the ,hebrews in making this commandment places recompense by the side of precept3 he declares formally that the exercise of filial piety draws with it a long existence4 ,now1 it must be remarked that ,moses being content with enclosing in his doctrine the sole purgative part1 doubtless judging his people not in a condition to support the unitive part1 spoke to them nowhere of the immortality which is its consequence2 contenting himself with promising the joys of temporal blessings1 among which he carefully placed in the first rank a long life4 ,experience has proved1 relative to people in general1 that ,moses spoke with a profound understanding of the causes which prolong the duration of empires4 ,filial piety is the national virtue of the ,chinese1 the sacred foundation upon which reposes the social edifice of the greatest and the most ancient people of the world4#bhc ,this virtue has been to ,china1 for more than four thousand years1 what love of country was to ,sparta or to ,rome4 ,sparta and ,rome have fallen notwithstanding the sort of fanaticism with which their children were animated1 and the ,chinese ,empire which existed two thousand years before their foundation1 still exists two thousand years after their downfall4 ,if ,china has been able to preserve herself in the midst of the flux and reflux of a thousand revolutions1 to save herself from her own wrecks1 to triumph over her own defects1 and to subjugate even her conquerors1 she owes it to this virtue which1 raising itself from the humblest citizen to the ,son of heaven seated upon the imperial throne1 animates all the hearts with a sacred fire1 of which ,nature herself provides the nourishment and eternalizes the duration4 ,the ,emperor is the father of the state2 two hundred million men1 who regard themselves as his children1 compose his immense family2 what human effort could overthrow this colossus8#bhd #e4 ,choose for thy friend1 the friend of virtue2 ,yield to his gentle counsels1 profit by his life1 ,and for a trifling grievance never leave him2 ,after the duties which have their source directly in ,nature1 ,pythagoras commends to his disciples those which proceed from the social state2 friendship follows immediately filial piety1 paternal and fraternal love2 but this philosopher makes a distinction full of meaning3 he ordains to honour one's relations2 he says to choose one's friends4 ,this is why3 it is ,nature that presides at our birth1 that gives us a father1 a mother1 brothers1 sisters1 relations of kinship1 a position upon the earth1 and a place in society2 all this depends not upon us3 all this1 according to the vulgar1 is the work of hazard2 but according to the ,pythagorean philosopher these are the consequences of an anterior order1 severe and irresistible1 called ,fortune or ,necessity4 ,pythagoras opposed to this restrained nature1 a free ,nature1 which1 acting upon forced things as upon brute matter1 modifies them and draws as it wills1 good or bad results4 ,this second nature was called ,power or ,will3 it is this which rules the life of man1 and which directs his conduct according to the elements furnished him by the first4 ,necessity and ,power are1 according to ,pythagoras1 the two opposed motives of the sublunary world where man is relegated4 ,these two motives draw their force from a superior cause that the ancients named ,nemesis1 the fundamental decree1#bhe that we name ,providence4 ,thus then1 ,pythagoras recognized1 relative to man1 things constrained and things free1 according as they depend upon ,necessity or the ,will3 he ranked filial piety in the first and friendship in the second4 ,man not being free to give himself parents of his choice1 must honour them such as they are1 and fulfil in regard to them all the duties of nature1 whatever wrong they might do towards him2 but as nothing constrains him from giving his friendship1 he need give it only to the one who shows himself worthy of it by his attachment to virtue4 ,let us observe an important point4 ,in ,china where filial piety is regarded as the root of all virtues and the first source of instruction1#bhf the exercise of the duties which it imposes admits of no exception4 ,as the legislator teaches there that the greatest crime is to lack in filial piety1 he infers that he who has been a good son will be a good father and that thus nothing will break the social tie#bhg2 for he first establishes this virtue which embraces all1 from the emperor to the lowliest of his subjects1 and that it is for the peoples what the regularity of the celestial movements is for the ethereal space3 but in ,italy and in ,greece where ,pythagoras established his dogmas1 it would have been dangerous for him to give the same extension1 since this virtue not being that of the ,state1 would necessarily involve abuses in the paternal authority1 already excessive among certain peoples4 ,that is the reason the disciples of this philosopher1 in distinguishing between forced and voluntary actions1 judged wisely that it would be necessary to apply here the distinction3 therefore they urged to honour one's father and mother and to obey them in all that concerns the body and mundane things1 but without abandoning one's soul to them#bhh2 for the divine law declares free what has not been received from them and delivers it from their power4 ,pythagoras furthermore had favoured this opinion by saying1 that after having chosen a friend from among the men most commended for their virtues1 it was necessary to learn by his actions and to be guided by his discourse3 which testified to the lofty idea that he had of friendship4 8,friends10 he said1 8are like companions of travel who reciprocally assist each other to persevere in the path of the noblest life4#bhi0 ,it is to him that we owe that beautiful expression1 so often quoted1 so little felt by the generality of men1 and which a victorious king1 ,alexander the ,great1 felt so keenly and expressed so felicitously by the following3 8,my friend is another myself40#bij ,it is also from him that ,aristotle had borrowed that beautiful definition3 8,the real friend is one soul that lives in two bodies40#bia ,the founder of the ,lyceum1 in giving such a definition of friendship1 spoke rather by theory than by practice1 he who reasoning one day upon friendship1 cried ingenuously3 8,oh1 my friends6 there are no friends40#bib ,yet ,pythagoras did not conceive friendship as a simple individual affection1 but as an universal benevolence which should be extended to all men in general1 and to all good people4#bic ,at that time he gave to this virtue the name of philanthropy4 ,it is the virtue which1 under the name of charity1 serves as foundation for the ,christian religion4 ,jesus offers it to his disciples immediately after divine love1 and as equal to piety4#bid ,zoroaster places it after sincerity#bie2 he wished that man might be pure in thought1 speech1 and action2 that he might speak the truth1 and that he might do good to all men4 ,kong-,tse as well as ,pythagoras commended it after filial piety4#bif 8,all morals10 he said1 8can be reduced to the observation of three fundamental laws1 of the relations between sovereigns and subjects1 between parents and children1 between husbands and wives2 and to the strict practice of the five capital virtues1 of which the first is humanity1 that is to say1 that universal charity1 that expansion of the soul which binds man to man without distinction40 #f4 ,if thou canst at least3 for a most rigid law ,binds ,power to ,necessity4 ,here is the proof of what ,i said just now1 that ,pythagoras recognized two motives of human actions1 the first1 issuing from a constrained nature1 called ,necessity2 the second emanating from a free nature1 called ,power1 and both dependent upon an implied primordial law4 ,this doctrine was that of the ancient ,egyptians1 among whom ,pythagoras had imbibed it4 8,man is mortal with reference to the body10 they said1 8but he is immortal with reference to the soul which constitutes essential man4 ,as immortal he has authority over all things2 but relative to the material and mortal part of himself1 he is subject to destiny40#big ,one can see by these few words that the ancient sages did not give to ,destiny the universal influence that certain philosophers and particularly the ,stoics gave to it later on2 but they considered it only as exercising its empire over matter4 ,it is necessary to believe that since the followers of the ,porch had defined it as a chain of causes1 by virtue of which the past has taken place1 the present exists1 and the future is to be realized#bih2 or still better1 as the rule of the law by which the ,universe is governed#bii2 one must believe1 ,i say1 that these philosophers confounded ,destiny with ,providence1 and did not distinguish the effect from its cause1 since these definitions conform only with the fundamental law of which destiny is but an emanation4 ,this confusion of words had to produce and in fact did produce1 among the ,stoics1 an inversion of ideas which was the most unfortunate result#cjj2 for1 as they established1 according to their system1 a chain of good and evil that nothing could either alter or break1 one easily inferred that the ,universe being subject to the attraction of a blind fatality1 all actions are here necessarily determined in advance1 forced1 and thereafter indifferent in themselves2 so that good and evil1 virtue and vice1 are vain words1 things whose existence is purely ideal and relative4 ,the ,stoics would have evaded these calamitous results if1 like ,pythagoras1 they had admitted the two motives of which ,i have spoken1 ,necessity and ,power2 and if1 far from instituting ,necessity alone as absolute master of the ,universe1 under the name of ,destiny or ,fatality1 they had seen it balanced by the ,power of the ,will1 and subject to the ,providential ,cause whence all emanates4 ,the disciples of ,plato would also have evaded many errors1 if they had clearly understood this concatenation of the two opposed principles1 from which results universal equilibrium2 but following certain false interpretations of the doctrine of their master regarding the soul of matter1 they had imagined that this soul was no other than ,necessity by which it is ruled#cja2 so that1 according to them1 this soul being inherent in matter1 and bad in itself1 gave to ,evil a necessary existence3 a dogma quite formidable1 since it makes the world to be considered as the theatre of a struggle without beginning or end1 between ,providence1 principle of ,good1 and the soul of matter1 principle of ,evil4 ,the greatest mistake of the ,platonists1 exactly contrary to that of the ,stoics1 was in having confused the free power of the ,will with the divine ,providence1 in having instituted it for the principle of good and thus being put in position of maintaining that there are two souls in the world1 a beneficent one1 ,god1 and a malefic one1 ,matter4 ,this system1 approved of by many celebrated men of antiquity and which ,beausobre assures was the most widely received1#cjb offers1 as ,i have observed1 the very great disadvantage of giving to ,evil a necessary existence1 that is to say1 an independent and eternal existence4 ,now1 ,bayle has very well proved1 by attacking this system through that of ,manes1 that two opposed ,principles cannot exist equally eternal and independent of one another1 because the clearest ideas of order teach us that a ,being which exists by itself1 which is necessary1 which is eternal1 must be unique1 infinite1 all-powerful1 and endowed with all manner of perfections4#cjc ,but it is not at all certain that ,plato may have had the idea that his disciples have attributed to him1 since far from considering matter as an independent and necessary being1 animated by a soul essentially bad1 he seems even to doubt its existence1 going so far as to regard it as pure nothingness1 and calls the bodies which are formed of it1 equivocal beings holding the medium between what is always existing and what does not exist at all#cjd2 he affirms sometimes that matter has been created and sometimes that it has not been#cje2 and thus falls into contradictions of which his enemies have taken advantage4 ,plutarch1 who has clearly seen it1 excuses them by saying that this great philosopher has fallen into these contradictions designedly1 in order to conceal some mystery2 a mind constructed like his not being made to affirm two opposites in the same sense4#cjf ,the mystery that ,plato wished to conceal1 as he makes it sufficiently understood1#cjg was the origin of ,evil4 ,he himself declares that he has never revealed and that he never will reveal1 in writing1 his real sentiments in this respect4 ,thus what ,chalcidius and after him ,andr ,dacier have given concerning the doctrine of ,plato are only conjectures or very remote inferences drawn from certain of his dogmas4 ,one has often made use of this means1 with regard to celebrated men whose writings one comments upon and particularly when one has certain reasons for presenting one's ideas sous un ct which outlines or which favours an opinion either favourable or unfavourable4 ,it is this which happened more to ,manes than to any other2 his doctrine concerning the two ,principles has been greatly calumniated1 and without knowing just what he meant by them1 one hastened to condemn him without investigating what he had said2 adopting as axioms that he had laid down1 inferences the most bizarre and most ridiculous that his enemies had drawn from certain equivocal phrases4#cjh ,what persuades me to make this observation1 is because it has been proved that ,manes had indeed admitted two opposed ,principles of ,good and ,evil1 eternal independents1 and holding of themselves their proper and absolute existence1 since it is easy to see that ,zoroaster1 whose doctrine he had principally imitated1 had not admitted them as such1 but as equally issued from a superior ,cause1 concerning the essence of which he was silent4#cji ,i am very much inclined to believe that the ,christian doctors who have transmitted to us the ideas of this mighty heresiarch1 blinded by their hatred or by their ignorance1 have travestied them as ,i find that the ,platonist philosophers1 bewildered by their own opinions1 have entirely disfigured those of the illustrious founder of the ,academy4 ,the errors of both have been1 taking for absolute beings1 what ,zoroaster and ,pythagoras1 ,plato or ,manes1 had put down as emanations1 results1 forces1 or even the simple abstractions of the understanding4 ,thus ,ormuzd and ,ahriman1 ,power and ,necessity1 the ,same and the ,other1 ,light and ,darkness1 are1 in reality1 only the same things diversely expressed1 diversely sensed1 but always drawn from the same origin and subject to the same fundamental ,cause of the ,universe4 ,it is not true therefore1 as ,chalcidius has stated1 that ,pythagoras may have demonstrated that evil exists necessarily1#caj because matter is evil in itself4 ,pythagoras never said that matter might be an absolute being whose essence might be composed of evil4 ,hierocles1 who had studied the doctrine of this great man and that of ,plato1 has denied that either the one or the other had ever declared matter as a being existing by itself4 ,he has proved1 on the contrary1 that ,plato taught1 following the steps of ,pythagoras1 that the ,world was produced from ,nothing1 and that his followers were mistaken when they thought that he admitted an uncreated matter4#caa ,power and ,necessity 7mentioned in the lines at the head of this ,examination7 are not1 as has been believed1 the absolute source of good and evil4 ,necessity is not more evil in itself than ,power is not good2 it is from the usage that man is called to make of them1 and from their employment which is indicated by wisdom or ignorance1 virtue or vice1 that results ,good or ,evil4 ,this has been felt by ,homer who has expressed it in an admirable allegory1 by representing the god of gods himself1 ,jupiter1 opening indifferently the sources of good and evil upon the universe4 ,beside ,jove's threshold stand two casks of gifts for man4 ,one cask contains the evil1 one the good1444#cab ,those who have rejected this thought of ,homer have not reflected enough upon the prerogatives of poetry1 which are to particularize what is universal and to represent as done what is to be done4 ,good and ,evil do not emanate from ,jupiter in action1 but in potentiality1 that is to say1 that the same thing represented by ,jupiter or the ,universal ,principle of the ,will and the ,intelligence1 becomes good or evil1 according as it is determined by the particular operation of each individual principle of the ,will and the ,intelligence4#cac ,now1 man is to the ,being called ,jupiter by ,homer1 as the particular is to the ,universal4#cad #g4 ,still it is given thee to fight and overcome ,thy foolish passions3 learn thou to subdue them4 ,it seems that ,lysis1 foreseeing the wrong inductions that would be drawn from what he had said1 and as if he had a presentiment that one would not fail to generalize the influence of ,necessity upon the actions of men1 may have wished beforehand to oppose himself to the destructive dogma of fatality1 by establishing the empire of the ,will over the passions4 ,this is in the doctrine of ,pythagoras the real foundation of the liberty of man3 for1 according to this philosopher1 no one is free1 only he who knows how to master himself1#cae and the yoke of the passions is much heavier and more difficult to throw off than that of the most cruel tyrants4 ,pythagoras1 however1 did not1 according to ,hierocles1 prescribe destroying the passions1 as the ,stoics taught in late times2 but only to watch over them and repress excess in them1 because all excess is vicious4#caf ,he regarded the passions as useful to man1 and although produced in principle by ,necessity1 and given by an irresistible destiny1 as nevertheless submissive in their use to the free power of the ,will4 ,plato had well realized this truth and had forcibly indicated it in many passages of his works3 one finds it chiefly in the second dialogue of ,hippias1 where this philosopher shows1 evidently without seeming to have the design1 that man good or bad1 virtuous or criminal1 truthful or false1 is only such by the power of his will1 and that the passion which carries him to virtue or to vice1 to truth or falsehood1 is nothing in itself2 so that no man is bad1 only by the faculty which he has of being good2 nor good1 only by the faculty which he has of being bad4 ,but has man the faculty of being good or bad at his pleasure1 and is he not irresistibly drawn toward vice or virtue8 ,this is a question which has tried all the great thinkers of the earth1 and which according to circumstances has caused storms of more or less violence4 ,it is necessary1 however1 to give close attention to one thing1 which is1 that before the establishment of ,christianity and the admission of original sin as fundamental dogma of religion1 no founder of sect1 no celebrated philosopher had positively denied the free will1 nor had taught ostensibly that man may be necessarily determined to ,evil or to ,good and predestined from all time to vice or virtue1 to wickedness or eternal happiness4 ,it is indeed true that this cruel fatality seemed often to follow from their principles as an inevitable consequence1 and that their adversaries reproached them with it2 but nearly all rejected it as an insult1 or a false interpretation of their system4 ,the first who gave place to this accusation1 in ancient times1 was a certain ,moschus1 a ,phnician philosopher1 who1 according to ,strabo1 lived before the epoch in which the war of ,troy is said to have taken place1 that is to say1 about twelve or thirteen centuries before our era4#cag ,this philosopher detaching himself from the theosophical doctrine1 the only one known at that time1 and having sought the reason of things in the things themselves1 can be considered as the real founder of ,natural ,philosophy3 he was the first who made abstraction from the ,divinity1 and from the intelligence1 and assumed that the ,universe existing by itself was composed of indivisible particles1 which1 endowed with figures and diverse movements1 produced by their fortuitous combinations an infinite series of beings1 generating1 destroying1 and renewing themselves unceasingly4 ,these particles1 which the ,greeks named atoms1#cah on account of their indivisibility1 constituted the particular system which still bears this name4 ,leucippus1 ,democritus1 and ,epicurus adopted it1 adding to it their own ideas2 and ,lucretius having naturalized it among the ,romans1 favoured its passage down to these modern times1 when the greater part of our philosophers have done nothing but renovate it under other forms4#cai ,assuredly there is no system whence the fatal necessity of all things issues more inevitably than from that of atoms2 also it is certain that ,democritus was accused of admitting a compulsory destiny1#cbj although1 like ,leibnitz1 he admitted to each atom an animated and sentient nature4#cba ,it is not known if he replied to this accusation2 but there are certain proofs that ,epicurus1 who had less right than he to reject it1 since he regarded atoms as absolutely inanimate1#cbb rejected it nevertheless1 and not wishing to admit a dogma subversive of all morals1 he declared himself against it1 and taught the liberty of man4#cbc ,a singular thing is1 that this fatality which appears attached to the system of atoms1 whence the materialist promoters1 true to their principle1 banished the influence of ,divine ,providence1#cbd followed still more naturally from the opposed system1 wherein the spiritualist philosophers admitted this ,providence to the full extent of its power4 ,according to this last system1 a sole and same spiritual substance filled the ,universe1 and by its diverse modifications produced there all the phenomena by which the senses are affected4 ,parmenides1 ,melissus1 and ,zeno of ,elea1 who adopted it1 sustained it with great success3 they asserted that matter was only pure illusion1 that there is nothing in things1 that bodies and all their variations are only pure appearances1 and that therefore nothing really exists outside of spirit4#cbe ,zeno of ,elea particularly1 who denied the existence of movement1 brought against this existence some objections very difficult to remove4#cbf ,the ,stoic philosophers became more or less strongly attached to this opinion4 ,chrysippus1 one of the firmest pillars of the ,porch1 taught that ,god is the soul of the world1 and the world1 the universal extension of that soul4 ,he said that by ,jupiter1 should be understood1 the eternal law1 the fatal necessity1 the immutable truth of all future things4#cbg ,now1 it is evident that if1 in accordance with the energetic expression of ,seneca1 this unique principle of the ,universe has ordained once to obey always its own command1#cbh the ,stoics were not able to escape from the reproach that was directed toward them1 of admitting the most absolute fatality1 since the soul of man being1 according to them1 only a portion of the ,divinity1 its actions could have no other cause than ,god ,himself who had willed them4#cbi ,nevertheless ,chrysippus rejected the reproach in the same manner as did ,epicurus2 he always sustained the liberty of man1 notwithstanding the irresistible force that he admitted in the unique ,cause#ccj2 and what seemed a manifest contradiction1 he taught that the soul sins only by the impulse of its own will1 and therefore that the blame of its errors should not be put upon destiny4#cca ,but it suffices to reflect a moment upon the nature of the principles set down by ,epicurus1 by ,chrysippus1 and by all those who have preceded them or followed them in their divergent opinions1 to see that the inferences drawn by their adversaries were just1 and that they could not refute them without contradicting themselves4#ccb ,every time that one has claimed to found the ,universe upon the existence of a sole material or spiritual nature1 and to make proceed from this sole nature the explanation of all phenomena1 one has become exposed and always will be1 to insurmountable difficulties4 ,it is always in asking what the origin of ,good and ,evil is1 that all the systems of this sort have been irresistibly overthrown1 from ,moschus1 ,leucippus1 and ,epicurus1 down to ,spinoza and ,leibnitz2 from ,parmenides1 ,zeno of ,elea1 and ,chrysippus1 down to ,berkeley and ,kant4 ,for1 let there be no misunderstanding1 the solution of the problem concerning free will depends upon preliminary knowledge of the origin of evil1 so that one cannot reply plainly to this question3 ,whence comes ,evil8 ,neither can one reply to this one3 ,is man free8 ,and that one be not still further deceived here1 the knowledge of the origin of evil1 if it has been acquired1 has never been openly divulged3 it has been profoundly buried with that of the ,unity of ,god in the ancient mysteries and has never emerged except enveloped in a triple veil4 ,the initiates imposed upon themselves a rigid silence concerning what they called the sufferings of ,god#ccc3 his death1 his descent into the infernal regions1 and his resurrection4#ccd ,they knew that the serpent was1 in general1 the symbol of evil1 and that it was under this form that the ,python had fought with and been slain by ,apollo4#cce ,the theosophists have not made a public dogma of the ,unity of ,god1 precisely on account of the explanation that it would be necessary to give to the origin of good and evil2 for without this explanation1 the dogma in itself would have been incomprehensible4 ,moses realized it perfectly1 and in the plan which he had conceived of striking the people whose legislator he was1 with a character as extraordinary as indelible1 by founding his cult upon the publicity of a dogma hidden1 until that time in the depths of the sanctuaries and reserved for the initiates alone1 he did not hesitate to divulge what he knew pertaining to the creation of the world and the origin of evil4 ,it is true that the manner in which he gave it1 under a simplicity and apparent clarity1 concealed a profundity and obscurity almost unfathomable2 but the form which he gave to this formidable mystery sufficed to support1 in the opinion of the vulgar1 the ,unity of ,god and this was all that he wished to do4 ,now it is the essence of theosophy to be dogmatic1 and that of natural philosophy to be skeptical2 the theosophist speaks by faith1 the physicist speaks by reason2 the doctrine of the one excludes the discussion that the system of the other admits and even necessitates4 ,up to that time1 theosophy dominating upon the earth had taught the influence of the will1 and the tradition which was preserved in it among all the nations of the earth during an incalculable succession of centuries gave it the force of demonstration4 ,among the ,indians1 ,krishna2 among the ,persians1 ,zoroaster2 in ,china1 ,kong-,tse2 in ,egypt1 ,thoth2 among the ,greeks1 ,orpheus2 even ,odin1 among the ,scandinavians2 everywhere the lawgivers of the people had linked the liberty of man with the consoling dogma of ,divine ,providence4#ccf ,the peoples accustomed to worship in polytheism the ,divine ,infinity and not its ,unity1 did not find it strange to be guided1 protected1 and watched over on the one side1 whereas they remained1 on the other1 free in their movements2 and they did not trouble themselves to find the source of good and evil since they saw it in the objects of their cult1 in these same gods1 the greater part of whom being neither essentially good nor essentially bad were reputed to inspire in them the virtues or the vices which1 gathered freely by them1 rendered them worthy of recompense or chastisement4#ccg ,but when ,natural ,philosophy appeared1 the face of things was changed4 ,the natural philosophers1 substituting the observation of nature and experience for mental contemplation and the inspiration of theosophists1 thought that they could make sentient what was intelligible1 and promised to prove by fact and reasoning whatever up to that time had had only proofs of sentiment and analogy4 ,they brought to light the great mystery of ,universal ,unity1 and transforming this ,intellectual ,unity into corporal substance placed it in water1#cch in infinite space1#cci in the air1#cdj in the fire1#cda whence they draw in turn the essential and formal existence of all things4 ,the one1 attached to the school of ,ionia1 established as fundamental maxim1 that there is but one principle of all2 and the other1 attached to that of ,elea1 started from this axiom that nothing is made from nothing4#cdb ,the former sought the how1 and the latter the why of things2 and all were united in saying that there is no effect without cause4 ,their different systems1 based upon the principles of reasoning which seemed incontestable1 and supported by a series of imposing conclusions1 had1 at first1 a prodigious success2 but this clat paled considerably when soon the disciples of ,pythagoras1 and a little later those of ,socrates and ,plato1 having received from their masters the theosophical tradition1 stopped these sophistical physicists in the midst of their triumphs1 and1 asking them the cause of physical and of moral evil1 proved to them that they knew nothing of it2 and that1 in whatever fashion they might deduce it by their system1 they could not avoid establishing an absolute fatality1 destructive to the liberty of man1 which by depriving it of morality of actions1 by confounding vice and virtue1 ignorance and wisdom1 made of the ,universe no more than a frightful chaos4 ,in vain these had thrust back the reproach and claimed that the inference was false2 their adversaries pursuing them on their own ground cried out to them3 ,if the principle that you admit is good1 whence comes it that men are wicked and miserable8#cdc ,if this unique principle is bad1 whence emerge goodness and virtue8#cdd ,if nature is the expression of this sole principle1 how is it not constant and why does its government sow goodness and evil8#cde ,the materialists had recourse vainly to a certain deviation in atoms1#cdf and the spiritualists1 to a certain adjuvant cause quite similar to efficacious grace#cdg2 the theosophists would never have renounced them if they had not enclosed them in a syllogistic circle1 by making them admit1 sometimes that the unique and all-powerful ,principle cannot think of everything1#cdh sometimes that vice is useful and that without it there would be no virtue#cdi2 paradoxes of which they had no trouble demonstrating the absurdity and the revolting inferences4#cej ,take a survey of all the nations of the world1 peruse all the books that you please1 and you will find the liberty of man1 the free will of his actions1 the influence of his will over his passions1 only in the theosophical tradition4 ,wherever you see physical or metaphysical systems1 doctrines of whatever kind they may be1 founded upon a sole principle of the material or spiritual ,universe1 you can conclude boldly that absolute fatality results from it and that their authors find themselves in need of making two things one3 or of explaining the origin of good and evil1 which is impossible2 or of establishing the free will a priori1 which is a manifest contradiction of their reasonings4 ,if you care to penetrate into metaphysical depths1 examine this decisive point upon this matter4 ,moses founded his cult upon the ,unity of ,god and he explained the origin of evil2 but he found himself forced by the very nature of this formidable mystery to envelop his explanation with such a veil1 that it remained impenetrable for all those who had not received the traditional revelation2 so that the liberty of man existed in his cult only by favour of theosophical tradition1 and that it became weaker and disappeared entirely from it with this same tradition1 the two opposed sects of the ,pharisees and ,sadducees which divided the cult prove this4#cea ,the former1 attached to the tradition and allegorizing the text of the ,sepher1#ceb admitted the free will#cec2 the others1 on the contrary1 rejecting it and following the literal meaning1 established an irresistible destiny to which all was subjected4 ,the most orthodox ,hebrews1 and those even who passed as seers or prophets of the nation1 had no difficulty in attributing to ,god the cause of ,evil4#ced ,they were obviously authorized by the history of the downfall of the first man1 and by the dogma of original sin1 which they took according to the meaning attached to it by the vulgar4 ,it also happened1 after the establishment of ,christianity and of ,islamism1 that this dogma1 received by both cults in all its extent and in all its literal obscurity1 has necessarily drawn with it predestination1 which is1 in other words1 only the fatality of the ancients4 ,mohammed1 more enthusiast than learned1 and stronger in imagination than in reasoning1 has not hesitated a moment1 admitting it as an inevitable result of the ,unity of ,god1 which he announced after ,moses4#cee ,it is true that a few ,christian doctors1 when they have been capable of perceiving the inferences in it have denied this predestination1 and have wished1 either by allegorizing the dogma of original sin1 as ,origen1 or rejecting it wholly1 as ,pelagius1 to establish the free will and the power of the will2 but it is easy to see1 in reading the history of the church1 that the most rigid ,christians1 such as ,saint ,augustine and the ecclesiastical authority itself1 have always upheld predestination as proceeding necessarily from the divine ,prescience and from the ,all-,powerful1 without which there is no ,unity4 ,the length of this examination forces me to suspend the proofs that ,i was going to give regarding this last assertion2 but further on ,i will return to it4 #h4 ,be sober1 diligent1 and chaste2 avoid all wrath4 ,in public or in secret ne'er permit thou ,any evil2 and above all else respect thyself4 ,pythagoras considered man under three principal modifications1 like the ,universe2 and this is why he gave to man the name of the microcosm or the small world4#cef ,nothing was more common among the ancient nations than to compare the ,universe to a grand man1 and man1 to a small ,universe4#ceg ,the ,universe1 considered as a grand and animated ,all1 composed of intelligence1 soul and body1 was called ,pan or ,phanes4#cehcei ,man1 or microcosm1 was composed in the same way but in an inverse manner1 of body1 soul1 and intelligence2 and each of these three parts was1 in its turn1 considered under three modifications1 so that the ternary ruling in the whole ruled equally in the least of its subdivisions4 ,each ternary1 from that which embraced ,immensity1 to that which constituted the weakest individual was1 according to ,pythagoras1 included in an absolute or relative ,unity1 and formed thus1 as ,i have already said1 the ,quaternary or ,sacred ,tetrad of the ,pythagoreans4 ,this ,quaternary was universal or particular4 ,pythagoras was not1 however1 the inventor of this doctrine3 it was spread from ,china to the depths of ,scandinavia4#cfj ,one finds it likewise expressed in the oracles of ,zoroaster4#cfa ,in the ,universe a ,ternary shines forth1 ,and the ,monad is its principle4 ,thus1 according to this doctrine1 ,man1 considered as a relative unity contained in the absolute ,unity of the ,grand ,all1 presents himself as the universal ternary1 under three principal modifications1 of body1 soul1 and spirit or intelligence4 ,the soul1 considered as the seat of the passions1 is presented in its turn1 under the three faculties of the rational1 irascible or appetent soul4 ,now1 in the opinion of ,pythagoras1 the vice of the appetent faculty of the soul is intemperance or avarice2 that of the irascible faculty is cowardice2 and that of the rational faculty is folly4 ,the vice which reaches these three faculties is injustice4 ,in order to avoid these vices1 the philosopher commends four principal virtues to his disciples3 temperance for the appetent faculty1 courage for the irascible faculty1 prudence for the rational faculty1 and for these three faculties together1 justice1 which he regards as the most perfect virtue of the soul4#cfb ,i say the soul1 because the body and the intelligence1 being equally developed by means of three faculties instinctive or spiritual1 as well as the soul1 were susceptible of the vices and the virtues which were peculiar to them4 #i4 ,speak not nor act before thou hast reflected2 ,be just4 ,by the preceding lines1 ,lysis1 speaking in the name of ,pythagoras1 had commended temperance and diligence2 he had prescribed particularly watching over the irascible faculty1 and moderating its excesses2 by these1 he indicates the peculiar character of prudence which is reflection and he imposes the obligation of being just1 by binding1 as it were1 the most energetic idea of justice with that of death1 as may be seen in the subsequent lines3 #aj4 ''' ,remember that a power invincible ,ordains to die2 ''' ,that is to say1 remember thou that the fatal necessity to which thou art subjected in reference to the material and mortal part of thyself1 according to the sentence of the ancient sages1#cfc will strike thee particularly in the objects of thy cupidity1 of thy intemperance1 in the things which will have excited thy folly1 or flattered thy cowardice2 remember thou that death will break the frail instruments of thy wrath1 will extinguish the firebrands that it will have lighted2 remember thou finally1 #aa4 ''' ,that riches and the honours ,easily acquired1 are easy thus to lose4 ,be just3 injustice has often easy triumphs2 but what remains after death of the riches that it has procured8 ,nothing but the bitter remembrance of their loss1 and the nakedness of a shameful vice uncovered and reduced to impotency4 ,i have proceeded rapidly in the explanation of the foregoing lines1 because the morals which they contain1 founded upon the proofs of sentiment1 are not susceptible of receiving others4 ,i do not know if this simple reflection has already been made1 but in any case it ought to draw with it one more complicated1 and serve to find the reason for the surprising harmony which reigns1 and which has always reigned1 among all the peoples of the earth upon the subject of morals4 ,man has been allowed to disagree upon subjects of reasoning and opinion1 to differ in a thousand ways in those of taste1 to dispute upon the forms of cult1 the dogmas of teachings1 the bases of science1 to build an infinity of psychological and physical systems2 but ,man has never been able1 without belying his own conscience1 to deny the truth and universality of morals4 ,temperance1 prudence1 courage1 and justice1 have always been considered as virtues1 and avarice1 folly1 cowardice1 and injustice1 as vices2 and this1 without the least discussion4 ,never has any legislator said that it was necessary to be a bad son1 a bad friend1 a bad citizen1 envious1 ungrateful1 perjured4 ,the men most beset with these vices have always hated them in others1 have concealed them at home1 and their very hypocrisy has been a new homage rendered to morals4 ,if certain sectarians1 blinded by a false zeal and furthermore systematically ignorant and intolerant1 have circulated that the cults differing from theirs lacked morals1 or received impure ones1 it is because they either misunderstood the true principles of morals1 or they calumniated them2 principles are the same everywhere2 only their application is more or less rigid and their consequences are more or less well applied in accordance with the times1 the places1 and the men4 ,the ,christians extol1 and with reason1 the purity and the sanctity of their morals2 but if it must be told them with frankness they have nothing in their sacred books that cannot be found as forcibly expressed in the sacred books of other nations1 and often even1 in the opinion of impartial travellers1 one has seen it much better practised4 ,for example1 the beautiful maxim touching upon the pardon of offences#cfd is found complete in the ,zend-,avesta4 ,it is written3 8,o ,god6 greater than all that which is great6 if a man provoke you by his thoughts1 by his speech1 or by his actions1 if he humbles himself before you1 pardon him2 even so1 if a man provoke me by his thoughts by his speech or by his actions may ,i pardon him40#cfe ,one finds in the same book1 the precept on charity1 such as is practised among the ,mussulmans1 and that of agriculture placed in the rank of virtues1 as among the ,chinese4 8,the ,king whom you love1 what desire you that he shall do1 ,ormuzd8 ,do you desire that1 like unto you1 he shall nourish the poor80#cff 8,the purest point of the law is to sow the land4 ,he who sows the grain and does it with purity is as great before me as he who celebrates ten thousand adorations4'''0#cfg 8,render the earth fertile1 cover it with flowers and with fruits2 multiply the springs in the places where there is no grass40#cfh ,this same maxim of the pardon of offences and those which decree to return good for evil1 and to do unto others what we would that they should do unto us1 is found in many of the ,oriental writings4 ,one reads in the distichs of ,hafiz this beautiful passage3 ,learn of the sea-shell to love thine enemy1 and to fill with pearls the hand thrust out to harm thee4 ,be not less generous than the hard rock2 make resplendent with precious stones1 the arm which rends thy side4 ,mark thou yonder tree assailed by a shower of stones2 upon those who throw them it lets fall only delicious fruits or perfumed flowers4 ,the voice of all nature calls aloud to us3 shall man be the only one refusing to heal the hand which is wounded in striking him8 ,to bless the one who offends him8#cfi ,the evangelical precept paraphrased by ,hafiz is found in substance in a discourse of ,lysias2 it is clearly expressed by ,thales and ,pittacus2 ,kong-,tse taught it in the same words as ,jesus2 finally one finds in the ,arya1 written more than three centuries before our era1 these lines which seem made expressly to inculcate the maxim and depict the death of the righteous man3 ,the duty of a good man1 even at the moment of his destruction1 consists not only in forgiving but even in a desire of benefiting his destroyer2 as the ,sandal-tree1 in the instant of its overthrow sheds perfume on the ax which fells2 and he would triumph in repeating the verse of ,sadi who represents a return of good for good as a slight reciprocity1 but says to the virtuous man1 8confer benefits on him who has injured thee40#cgj ,interrogate the peoples from the ,boreal pole to the extremities of ,asia1 and ask them what they think of virtue3 they will respond to you1 as ,zeno1 that it is all that is good and beautiful2 the ,scandinavians1 disciples of ,odin1 will show you the ,hvaml#cga1 sublime discourse of their ancient legislator1 wherein hospitality1 charity1 justice1 and courage are expressly commended to them3 ,you will know by tradition that the ,celts had the sacred verses of their ,druids1 wherein piety1 justice1 and valour were celebrated as national virtues#cgb2 you will see in the books preserved under the name of ,hermes#cgc that the ,egyptians followed the same idea regarding morals as the ,indians their ancient preceptors2 and these ideas1 preserved still in the ,dharma-,shastra1#cgd will strike you in the ,kings of the ,chinese4 ,it is there1 in those sacred books whose origin is lost in the night of time1#cge that you will find at their source the most sublime maxims of ,fo-,hi1 ,krishna1 ,thoth1 ,zoroaster1 ,pythagoras1 ,socrates1 and ,jesus4 ,morals1 ,i repeat1 are everywhere the same2 therefore it is not upon its written principles that one should judge of the perfection of the cult1 as has been done without reflection1 but upon their practical application4 ,this application1 whence results the national spirit1 depends upon the purity of the religious dogmas1 upon the sublimity of the mysteries1 and upon their more or less great affinity with the ,universal ,truth which is the soul1 apparent or hidden1 of all religion4 #ab4 ,as to the evils which ,destiny involves1 ,judge them what they are2 endure them all and strive1 ,as much as thou art able1 to modify the traits4 ,the ,gods1 to the most cruel1 have not exposed the sage4 ,i have said that ,pythagoras acknowledged two motives of human actions1 the power of the ,will and the necessity of ,destiny1 and that he subjected both to one fundamental law called ,providence from which they emanated alike4 ,the first of these motives was free1 and the second constrained3 so that man found himself placed between two opposed1 but not injurious natures1 indifferently good or bad1 according as he understood the use of them4 ,the power of the ,will was exercised upon the things to be done1 or upon the future2 the necessity of ,destiny1 upon the things done1 or upon the past3 and the one nourished the other unceasingly1 by working upon the materials which they reciprocally furnished each other2 for according to this admirable philosopher1 it is of the past that the future is born1 of the future that the past is formed1 and of the union of both that is engendered the always existing present1 from which they draw alike their origin3 a most profound idea that the ,stoics had adopted4#cgf ,thus1 following this doctrine1 liberty rules in the future1 necessity in the past1 and ,providence over the present4 ,nothing that exists happens by chance but by the union of the fundamental and providential law with the human will which follows or transgresses it1 by operating upon necessity4#cgg ,the harmony of the ,will and ,providence constitutes ,good2 ,evil is born of their opposition4 ,man has received three forces adapted to each of the three modifications of his being1 to be guided in the course that he should pursue on earth and all three enchained to his ,will4 ,the first1 attached to the body1 is instinct2 the second1 devoted to the soul1 is virtue2 the third1 appertaining to intelligence1 is science or wisdom4 ,these three forces1 indifferent in themselves1 take this name only through the good usage that the ,will makes of it2 for1 through bad usage they degenerate into brutishness1 vice1 and ignorance4 ,instinct perceives the physical good or evil resulting from sensation2 virtue recognizes the moral good or evil existing in sentiment2 science judges the intelligible good or evil which springs from assent4 ,in sensation1 good or evil is called pleasure or pain2 in sentiment1 love or hate2 in assent1 truth or error4 ,sensation1 sentiment1 and assent1 dwelling in the body1 in the soul1 and in the spirit1 form a ternary1 which becoming developed under favour of a relative unity constitutes the human quaternary1 or ,man considered abstractly4 ,the three affections which compose this ternary act and react upon one another1 and become mutually enlightened or obscured2 and the unity which binds them1 that is to say1 ,man1 is perfected or depraved1 according as it tends to become blended with the ,universal ,unity or to become distinguished from it4 ,the means that this ternary has of becoming blended with it1 or of becoming distinguished from it1 of approaching near or of drawing away from it1 resides wholly in its ,will1 which1 through the use that it makes of the instruments furnished it by the body1 soul1 and mind1 becomes instinctive or stupefied2 is made virtuous or vicious1 wise or ignorant1 and places itself in condition to perceive with more or less energy1 to understand and to judge with more or less rectitude what there is of goodness1 excellence1 and justice in sensation1 sentiment1 or assent2 to distinguish1 with more or less force and knowledge1 good and evil2 and not to be deceived at last in what is really pleasure or pain1 love or hatred1 truth or error4 ,indeed one feels that the metaphysical doctrine that ,i have just briefly set forth is nowhere found so clearly expressed1 and therefore ,i do not need to support it with any direct authority4 ,it is only by adopting the principles set down in the ,golden ,verses and by meditating a long time upon what has been written by ,pythagoras that one is able to conceive the ensemble4 ,the disciples of this philosopher having been extremely discreet and often obscure1 one can only well appreciate the opinions of their master by throwing light upon them with those of the ,platonists and ,stoics1 who have adopted and spread them without any reserve4#cgh ,man1 such as ,i have just depicted him1 according to the idea that ,pythagoras had conceived1 placed under the dominion of ,providence between the past and the future1 endowed with a free will by his essence1 and being carried along toward virtue or vice with its own movement1 ,man1 ,i say1 should understand the source of the evils that he necessarily experiences2 and far from accusing this same ,providence which dispenses good and evil to each according to his merit and his anterior actions1 can blame only himself if he suffers1 through an inevitable consequence of his past mistakes4#cgi ,for ,pythagoras admitted many successive existences1#chj and maintained that the present1 which strikes us1 and the future1 which menaces us1 are only the expression of the past which has been our work in anterior times4 ,he said that the greater part of men lose1 in returning to life1 the remembrance of these past existences2 but that1 concerning himself1 he had1 by a particular favour of the gods1 preserved the memory of them4#cha ,thus according to his doctrine1 this fatal ,necessity1 of which man unceasingly complains1 has been created by himself through the use of his will2 he traverses1 in proportion as he advances in time1 the road that he has already traced for himself2 and according as he has modified it by good or evil1 as he sows so to speak1 his virtues or his vices1 he will find it again more smooth or laborious1 when the time will come to traverse it anew4 ,these are the dogmas by means of which ,pythagoras established the necessity of ,destiny1 without harming the power of the ,will1 and left to ,providence its universal empire1 without being obliged either to attribute to it the origin of evil1 as those who admitted only one principle of things1 or to give to evil an absolute existence1 as those who admitted two principles4 ,in this1 he was in accordance with the ancient doctrine which was followed by the oracles of the gods4#chb ,the ,pythagoreans1 however1 did not regard pain1 that is to say1 whatever afflicts the body in its mortal life1 as veritable evils2 they called veritable evils only sins1 vices1 and errors into which one falls voluntarily4 ,in their opinion1 the physical and inevitable evils being illustrated by the presence of virtue1 could be transformed into blessings and become distinguished and enviable4#chc ,these last evils1 dependent upon necessity1 ,lysis commended to be judged for what they were2 that is1 to consider as an inevitable consequence of some mistake1 as the chastisement or remedy for some vice2 and therefore to endure them1 and far from irritating them further by impatience and anger1 on the contrary to modify them by the resignation and acquiescence of the will to the judgment of ,providence4 ,he does not forbid1 as one sees in the lines cited1 assuaging them by lawful means2 on the contrary1 he desires that the sage should apply himself to diverting them if possible1 and healing them4 ,thus this philosopher did not fall into the excess with which the ,stoics have been justly reproached4#chd ,he considered pain evil1 not that it was of the same nature as vice1 but because its nature1 a purgative for vice1 makes it a necessary consequence4 ,plato adopted this idea1 and made all the inferences felt with his customary eloquence4#che ,as to what ,lysis said1 always following ,pythagoras1 that the sage was never exposed to the crudest evils1 this can be understood as ,hierocles has understood it1 in a simple and natural manner1 or in a more mysterious manner as ,i stated4 ,it is evident at once1 in following the inferences of the principles which have been given1 that the sage is not1 in reality1 subject to the severest evils1 since1 not aggravating by his emotions those which the necessity of destiny inflict upon him1 and bearing them with resignation1 he alleviates them2 living happy1 even in the midst of misfortune1 in the firm hope that these evils will no more trouble his days1 and certain that the divine blessings which are reserved for virtue1 await him in another life4#chf ,hierocles1 after having revealed this first manner of explaining the verse in question1 touches lightly upon the second1 in saying that the ,will of man can have an influence on ,providence1 when1 acting in a lofty soul1 it is assisted by succour from heaven and operates with it4#chg ,this was a part of the doctrine taught in the mysteries1 whose divulgence to the profane was forbidden4 ,according to this doctrine1 of which sufficiently strong traces can be recognized in ,plato1#chh the ,will1 exerting itself by faith1 was able to subjugate ,necessity itself1 to command ,nature1 and to work miracles4 ,it was the principle upon which was founded the magic of the disciples of ,zoroaster4#chi ,jesus saying parabolically1 that by means of faith one could remove mountains1#cij only spoke according to the theosophical traditions known to all the sages4 8,the uprightness of the heart and faith triumphs over all obstacles10 said ,kong-,tse#cia2 8all men can render themselves equal to the sages and to the heroes whose memory the nations revere10 said ,meng-,tse2 8it is never the power which is lacking1 it is the will2 provided one desire1 one succeeds40#cib ,these ideas of the ,chinese theosophists are found in the writings of the ,indians1#cic and even in those of some ,europeans who1 as ,i have already observed1 had not enough erudition to be imitators4 8,the greater the will10 said ,boehme1 8the greater the being and the more powerfully inspired40#cid 8,will and liberty are the same thing40#cie 8,it is the source of light1 the magic which makes something from nothing40#cif 8,the ,will which goes resolutely forward is faith2 it models its own form in spirit and overcomes all things2 by it1 a soul receives the power of carrying its influence in another soul1 and of penetrating its most intimate essences4 ,when it acts with ,god it can overthrow mountains1 break the rocks1 confound the plots of the impious1 and breathe upon them disorder and dismay2 it can effect all prodigies1 command the heavens1 the sea1 and enchain death itself3 it subjugates all4 ,nothing can be named that cannot be commanded in the name of the ,eternal4 ,the soul which executes these great things only imitates the prophets and the saints1 ,moses1 ,jesus1 and the apostles4 ,all the elect have a similar power4 ,evil disappears before them4 ,nothing can harm the one in whom ,god dwells40#cig ,it is in departing from this doctrine1 taught as ,i have said in the mysteries1 that certain gnostics of the ,alexandrian school assert that evils never attended the true sages1 if there were found men who might have been so in reality2 for ,providence1 image of divine justice1 would never allow the innocent to suffer and be punished4 ,basil1 who was one of those who supported this ,platonic opinion1#cih was sharply reprimanded by the orthodox ,christians1 who treated him as a heretic1 quoting to him the example of the martyrs4 ,basil replied that the martyrs were not entirely innocent1 because there is no man exempt from faults2 that ,god punishes in them1 either evil desires1 actual and secret sins1 or sins that the soul had committed in a previous existence2 and as they did not fail to oppose him again with the example of ,jesus1 who1 although fully innocent1 had1 however1 suffered the torture of the cross1 ,basil answered without hesitation that ,god had been just1 in his opinion1 and that ,jesus1 being man1 was no more than another exempt from sin4#cii #ac4 ,even as ,truth1 does ,error have its lovers2 ,with prudence the ,philosopher approves or blames2 ,if ,error triumph1 he departs and waits4 ,it is sufficiently known that ,pythagoras was the first who used the word ,philosopher to designate a friend of wisdom4#djj ,before him1 the word ,sophos1 sage1 was used4 ,it is therefore with intention that ,i have made it enter into my translation1 although it may not be literally in the text4 ,the portrayal that ,lysis gives of the philosopher represents everything in moderation and in that just mean1 where the celebrated ,kong-,tse placed also the perfection of the sage4#dja ,he commended to him tolerance for the opinions of others1 instilling in him that1 as truth and error have likewise their followers1 one must not be flattered into thinking that one can enlighten all men1 nor bring them to accept the same sentiments and to profess the same doctrine4 ,pythagoras had1 following his custom1 expressed these same ideas by symbolic phrases3 8,exceed not the balance10 he had said1 8stir not the fire with the sword1 all materials are not fitting to make a statue of ,mercury40 ,that is to say1 avoid all excess2 depart not from the golden mean which is the appanage of the philosopher2 propagate not your doctrine by violent means2 use not the sword in the cause of ,god and the truth2 confide not science to a corrupt soul2 or as ,jesus forcibly said3 8,give not that which is holy unto the dogs1 neither cast ye your pearls before swine0#djb2 for all men are not equally fitted to receive science1 to become models of wisdom1 nor to reflect the image of ,god4 ,pythagoras1 it must be said1 had not always entertained these sentiments4 ,while he was young and while he still burned unconsciously with the fire of passions1 he abandoned himself to a blind and vehement zeal4 ,an excess of enthusiasm and of divine love had thrown him into intolerance and perhaps he would have become persecutor1 if1 like ,mohammed1 he had had the weapons at hand4 ,an incident opened his eyes4 ,as he had contracted the habit of treating his disciples very severely1 and as he generally censured men for their vices with much asperity1 it happened one day that a youth1 whose mistakes he had publicly exposed and whom he had upbraided with bitterest reproaches1 conceived such despair that he killed himself4 ,the philosopher never thought of this evil of which he had been the cause without violent grief2 he meditated deeply1 and made from this incident reflections which served him the remainder of his life4 ,he realized1 as he energetically expressed it1 that one must not stir the fire with the sword4 ,one can1 in this regard1 compare him with ,kong-,tse and ,socrates4 ,the other theosophists have not always shown the same moderation4 ,krishna1 the most tolerant among them had nevertheless said1 abandoning himself to thoughtless enthusiasm3 8,wisdom consists in being wholly for ,me ''' in freedom from love of self ''' in loosening all bonds of attachment for one's children1 wife1 and home ''' in rendering to ,god alone a steadfast cult ''' disdaining and fleeing from the society of men0#djc3 words remarkable for the connection that they have with those of ,jesus3 8,if any man come to me and hate not his father1 and mother1 and wife1 and children1 and brethren1 and sisters1 yea1 and his own life also1 he cannot be my disciple40#djd ,zoroaster seemed to authorize persecution1 saying in an outburst of indignation3 8,he who does evil1 destroy him2 rise up against all those who are cruel4''' ,smite with strength the proud ,turanian who afflicts and torments the just40#dje ,one knows to what pitch of wrath ,moses was kindled against the ,midianites and the other peoples who resisted him1#djf notwithstanding that he had announced1 in a calmer moment1 the ,god of ,israel as a ,god merciful and gracious1 long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth4#djg ,mohammed1 as passionate as ,moses1 and strongly resembling the legislator of the ,hebrews by his ability and firmness1 has fallen into the same excess4 ,he has often depicted1 as cruel and inexorable1 this same ,god whom he invokes at the head of all of his writings1 as very good1 very just1 and very clement4#djh ,this proves how rare a thing it is to remain in the golden mean so commended by ,kong-,tse and ,pythagoras1 how difficult it is for any pupil to resist the lure of the passions to stifle utterly their voice1 in order to hear only the voice of the divine inspiration4 ,reflecting upon the discrepancies of the great men whom ,i have just cited1 one cannot refrain from thinking with ,basil1 that1 in effect1 there are no men on earth veritably wise and without sin#dji2 above all when one considers that ,jesus expressed himself in the same details as ,krishna1 ,zoroaster1 and ,moses2 and that he who had exhorted us in one passage to love our enemies1 to do good to those who hate us1 and to pray even for those who persecute and calumniate us1#daj menaces with fire from heaven the cities that recognize him not1#daa and elsewhere it is written3 8,do not think that ,i came to send peace upon earth3 ,i came not to send peace1 but the sword0#dab2 8,for there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided3 three against two1 and two against three4 ,the father shall be divided against the son1 and the son against the father1 the mother against the daughter1 and the daughter against the mother40#dac 8,he that is not with me1 is against me3 and he that gathereth not with me1 scattereth40#dad #ad4 ,listen1 and in thine heart engrave my words2 ,keep closed both eye and ear 'gainst prejudice2 ,of others the example fear2 think for thyself4 ,lysis continues1 in the name of ,pythagoras1 to trace for the philosopher the course that he must follow in the first part of his doctrine1 which is the ,purification4 ,after having commended to him moderation and prudence in all things1 having exhorted him to be as slow to censure as to approve1 he seeks to put him on guard against prejudices and the routine of example1 which are1 in reality1 the greatest obstacles that are encountered by science and truth4 ,this is what ,bacon1 the regenerator of philosophy in modern ,europe1 so keenly felt1 as ,i have already cited with praise at the opening of this work4 ,this excellent observer1 to whom we owe our freedom from scholastic leading-strings whose ignorance had stifled for us the name of ,aristotle1 having formed the difficult enterprise of disencumbering and1 as it were1 clearing the air belonging to the human understanding1 in order to put it in a condition to receive an edifice less barbarous1 remarked1 that one would never attain to establishing there the foundation of true science1 if one did not first labour to set aside prejudices4#dae ,he displayed all his forces against these formidable enemies of human perfectibility1 and if he did not overthrow them all1 at least he indicated them in such a manner as to make it easier to recognize and destroy them4 ,the prejudices which obsess the human understanding and which he calls idols1 are1 according to him1 of four kinds3 these are the idols of the tribe2 the idols of the den2 the idols of society2 and the idols of theories4 ,the first are inherent in human nature2 the second are those of each individual2 the third result from the equivocal definitions attached to words2 the fourth and the most numerous are those that man receives from his teachers and from the doctrines which are current4#daf ,the last are the most tenacious and the most difficult to conquer4 ,it seems even impossible wholly to resist them4 ,the man who aspires to the perilous glory of improving the human mind1 finds himself placed between two formidable dangers1 which1 like those of ,sylla and ,charybdis1 threaten alternately to break his frail bark3 upon one is irresistible routine1 upon the other proud innovation4 ,there is danger alike from both sides4 ,he can save himself only by favour of the golden mean1 so commended by all the sages and so rarely followed even by them4 ,this golden mean must needs be very difficult to hold in the course of life1 since ,kong-,tse himself1 who has made it all his study1 has lacked it in the most important part of his doctrine1 in that concerning human perfectibility4 ,imbued unknowingly with the prejudices of his nation1 he has seen nothing beyond the doctrine of the ancients and has not believed that anything might be added thereunto4#dag ,instead of pushing the mind of the ,chinese forward toward the goal where nature unceasingly tends1 which is the perfection of all things1 he has1 on the contrary1 thrown it backward and1 inspiring it with a fanatical respect for works of the past1 has prevented it from meditating upon anything great for the future4#dah ,filial piety itself1 pushed1 to excess changed to a blind imitation1 has also augmented the evil4 ,so that the greatest people of the world1 the richest in principles of all kinds1 not daring to draw from these same principles any development1 through fear of profaning them1 continually on their knees before a sterile antiquity1 have remained stationary1 whereas all around is progression2 and for nearly four thousand years have really not advanced a step more towards the civilization and perfection of the arts and sciences4 ,the side on which ,bacon has departed from the juste milieu has been precisely the opposite from that which prevented ,kong-,tse from remaining there4 ,the ,chinese theosophist had been led astray by his excessive veneration for antiquity and the ,english philosopher1 by his profound disdain for it4 ,warned against the doctrine of ,aristotle1 ,bacon has extended his prejudice to everything that came from the ancients4 ,rejecting in a moment the labour of thirty centuries and the fruit of the meditation of the greatest geniuses1 he has wished to admit nothing beyond what experience could confirm in his eyes4#dai ,logic to him has seemed useless for the invention of the sciences4#dbj ,he has abandoned the syllogism1 as an instrument too gross to penetrate the depths of nature4#dba ,he has thought that it could be of no avail either in expression of words or in the ideas which flow from it4#dbb ,he has believed the abstract principles deprived of all foundation2 and with the same hand with which he fights these false ideas he has fought the results of these principles1 in which he has unfortunately found much less resistance4#dbc ,filled with contempt for the philosophy of the ,greeks1 he has denied that it had produced anything either useful or good#dbd2 so that after having banished the natural philosophy of ,aristotle1 which he called a jumble of dialectic terms1#dbe he has seen in the metaphysics of ,plato only a dangerous and depraved philosophy1 and in the theosophy of ,pythagoras only a gross and shocking superstition4#dbf ,here indeed is a case of returning again to the idea of ,basil1 and of exclaiming with him1 that no man is without sin4 ,kong-,tse has been unquestionably one of the greatest men who has honoured the earth1 and ,bacon one of the most judicious philosophers of ,europe2 both have1 however1 committed grave mistakes whose effect is more or less felt by posterity3 the former1 filling the ,chinese literati with an exaggerated respect for antiquity1 has made of it an immobile and almost inert mass1 that ,providence1 in order to obtain certain necessary movements1 has had to strike many times with the terrible scourge of revolutions2 the latter1 inspiring1 on the contrary1 a thoughtless contempt for everything that came from the ancients1 demanding the proof of their principles1 the reason for their dogmas1 subjecting all to the light of experience1 has broken the scientific body1 has deprived it of unity1 and has transformed the assemblage of thinkers into a tumultuous anarchy from whose irregular movement has sprung enough violent storms4 ,if ,bacon had been able to effect in ,europe the same influence that ,kong-,tse had effected in ,china1 he would have drawn philosophy into materialism and absolute empiricism4 ,happily the remedy is born of the evil itself4 ,the lack of unity has taken away all force from the anarchical colossus4 ,each supposing to be in the right1 no one was4 ,a hundred systems raised one upon the other clashed and were broken in turn4 ,experience1 invoked by all parties1 has taken all colours and its opposed judgments were self-destructive4 ,if1 after having called attention to the mistakes of these great men1 ,i dared to hazard my opinion upon the point where both of them have failed1 ,i would say that they have confused the principles of the sciences with their developments2 it must be so1 by drawing the principles from the past1 as ,kong-,tse2 by allowing the developments to act throughout the future1 as ,bacon4 ,principles hold to the ,necessity of things2 they are immutable in themselves2 finite1 inaccessible to the senses1 they are proved by reason3 their developments proceed from the power of the ,will2 these developments are free1 indefinite2 they affect the senses and are demonstrated by experience4 ,never is the development of a principle finished in the past1 as ,kong-,tse believed2 never is a principle created in the future1 as ,bacon imagined4 ,the development of a principle produces another principle1 but always in the past2 and as soon as this new principle is laid down1 it is universal and beyond the reach of experience4 ,man knows that this principle exists1 but he knows not how4 ,if he knew1 he would be able to create it at his pleasure2 which does not belong to his nature4 ,man develops1 perfects1 or depraves1 but he creates nothing4 ,the scientific golden mean commended by ,pythagoras1 consists therefore1 in seizing the principles of the sciences where they are and developing them freely without being constrained or driven by any false ideas4 ,as to that which concerns morals1 it is forcibly enough expressed by all that has preceded4 ,the man who recognizes his dignity1 says ,hierocles1 is incapable of being prejudiced or seduced by anything4#dbg ,temperance and force are the two incorruptible guardians of the soul3 they prevent it from yielding to the allurements of things pleasing and being frightened by the horrors of things dreadful4 ,death suffered in a good cause is illustrious and glorious4 #ae4 ,consult1 deliberate1 and freely choose4 ,in explaining this line from a moral standpoint as ,hierocles has done1 one readily feels that to deliberate and choose in that which relates to moral conduct1 consists in seeking for what is good or evil in an action1 and in attaching oneself to it or fleeing from it1 without letting oneself be drawn along by the lure of pleasure or the fear of pain4#dbh ,but if one penetrates still deeper into the meaning of this line1 it is seen that it proceeds from principles previously laid down regarding the necessity of ,destiny and the power of the ,will2 and that ,pythagoras neglected no opportunity for making his disciples feel that1 although forced by ,destiny to find themselves in such or such a condition1 they remained free to weigh the consequences of their action1 and to decide themselves upon the part that they ought to take4 ,the following lines are1 as it were1 the corollary of his counsel4 #af4 ,let fools act aimlessly and without cause1 ,thou shouldst1 in the present1 contemplate the future4 ,that is to say1 thou shouldst consider what will be the results of such or such action and think that these results1 dependent upon thy will 7while the action remains in suspense and free1 while they are yet to be born71 will become the domain of ,necessity the very instant when the action will be executed1 and increasing in the past1 once they shall have had birth1 will coperate in forming the plan of a new future4 ,i beg the reader1 interested in these sorts of comparisons1 to reflect a moment upon the idea of ,pythagoras4 ,he will find here the veritable source of the astrological science of the ancients4 ,doubtless he is not ignorant of what an extended influence this science exercised already upon the face of the globe4 ,the ,egyptians1 ,chaldeans1 ,phnicians1 did not separate it from that which regulated the cult of the gods4#dbi ,their temples were but an abridged image of the ,universe1 and the tower which served as an observatory was raised at the side of the sacrificial altar4 ,the ,peruvians followed1 in this respect1 the same usages as the ,greeks and ,romans4#dcj ,everywhere the grand ,pontiff united the science of genethlialogy or astrology with the priesthood1 and concealed with care the principles of this science within the precincts of the sanctuary4#dca ,it was a ,secret of ,state among the ,etruscans and at ,rome1#dcb as it still is in ,china and ,japan4#dcc ,the ,brahmans did not confide its elements except to those whom they deemed worthy to be initiated4#dcd ,for one need only lay aside an instant the bandage of prejudice to see that an ,universal science1 linked throughout to what men recognize as the most holy1 can not be the product of folly and stupidity1 as has been reiterated a hundred times by a host of moralists4 ,all antiquity is certainly neither foolish nor stupid1 and the sciences it cultivated were supported by principles which1 for us today1 being wholly unknown1 have none the less existed4 ,pythagoras1 if we give attention here1 revealed to us those of genethlialogy and of all the sciences of divination which relate thereunto4 ,let us observe this closely4 ,the future is composed of the pastthat is to say1 that the route that man traverses in time1 and that he modifies by means of the power of his will1 he has already traversed and modified2 in the same manner1 using a practical illustration1 that the earth describing its annual orbit around the sun1 according to the modern system1 traverses the same spaces and sees unfold around it almost the same aspects3 so that1 following anew a route that he has traced for himself1 man would be able not only to recognize the imprints of his steps1 but to foresee the objects that he is about to encounter1 since he has already seen them1 if his memory preserved the image1 and if this image was not effaced by the necessary consequence of his nature and the providential laws which rule him4 ,such is the doctrine of ,pythagoras as ,i have already revealed4#dce ,it was that of the mysteries and of all the sages of antiquity4 ,origen1 who has opposed it1 attributes it to the ,egyptians1 to the ,pythagoreans1 and to the disciples of ,plato4 ,it was contained in the sacred books of the ,chaldeans1 cited by ,syncellus1 under the title of livres gniques4#dcf ,seneca and ,synesius have supported it as wholly in accordance with the spirit of the initiations4#dcg ,what the ancients called the great year1 was a consequence of this doctrine2 for it was taught in the mysteries1 that the ,universe itself traversed1 after a sequence of incalculable centuries1 the same revolutions that it had already traversed1 and brought around in the vast unfolding of its concentric spheres1 as much for it as for the worlds which compose it1 the succession of the four ages1 the duration of which1 relative to the nature of each being1 immense for the ,universal ,man1 is limited in the individual to what is called infancy1 youth1 manhood1 and old age1 and is represented on the earth by the fleeting seasons of spring1 summer1 autumn1 and winter4 ,this great year1 thus conceived1 has been common to all the peoples of the earth4#dch ,cicero has plainly seen that it constituted the veritable basis of genethlialogy or the astrological science4#dci ,indeed if the future is composed of the pastthat is1 a thing already made1 upon which the present is gradually unfolded as upon the circumference of a circle which has neither beginning nor end1 it is evident that one can succeed1 up to a certain point1 to recognize it1 whether by means of remembrance1 by examining in the past1 the picture of the whole revolution2 or by means of prevision carrying the moral sight1 more or less far1 upon the route through which the ,universe is passing4 ,these two methods have grave disadvantages4 ,the first appears even impossible4 ,for what is the duration of the great year8 ,what is the immense period1 which1 containing the circle of all possible aspects and of all corresponding effects1 as ,cicero supposes1 is able1 by observations made and set down in the genethliatic archives1 to foresee1 at the second revolution1 the return of the events which were already linked there and which must be reproduced8#ddj ,plato exacts1 for the perfection of this great year1 that the movement of the fixed stars1 which constitutes what we call the precession of the equinoxes1 should coincide with the particular movement of the celestial bodies1 so as to bring back the heavens to the fixed point of its primitive position4#dda ,the ,brahmans carry the greatest duration of this immense period1 which they name ,kalpa1 to #d1cbj1jjj1jjj of years1 and its mean duration1 which they name ,maha-,youg1 to #d1cbj1jjj4ddb ,the ,chinese appear to restrict it to #dcb1jjj years1#ddc and in this they agree with the ,chaldeans2 but when one reduces it again to a twelfth of this number1 with the ,egyptians1 that is1 to the sole revolution of the fixed stars1 which they made1 according to ,hipparchus1 #cf1jjj years1 and which we make no more than #be1hfg1 according to modern calculations1#ddd we feel indeed that we would be still very far from having a series of observations capable of making us foresee the return of the same events1 and that we could not conceive even1 how men could ever attain to its mastery4 ,as to the second method1 which consists1 as ,i have said1 in carrying forward the moral sight upon the route which one has before him1 ,i have no need to observe that it can be only very conjectural and very uncertain1 since it depends upon a faculty which man has never possessed except as a special favour of ,providence4 ,the principle by which it is claimed that the future is only a return of the past1 did not therefore suffice to recognize even the plan of it2 a second principle is necessary1 and this principle1 openly announced in the ,golden ,verses1 as we shall see farther on1 was that by which it was established that ,nature is everywhere alike1 and1 consequently1 that its action1 being uniform in the smallest sphere as in the greatest1 in the highest as in the lowest1 can be inferred from both1 and pronounced by analogy4 ,this principle proceeded from the ancient dogma concerning the animation of the ,universe1 as much in general as in particular3 a dogma consecrated among all nations1 and following which it was taught that not only the ,great ,all1 but the innumerable worlds which are like its members1 the heavens and the heaven of heavens1 the stars and all the beings who people them even to the plants and metals1 are penetrated by the same ,soul and moved by the same ,spirit4#dde ,stanley attributes this dogma to the ,chaldeans1#ddf ,kircher to the ,egyptians1#ddg and the wise ,rabbi ,maimonides traces it back to the ,sabans4#ddh ,saumaise has attributed to them the origin of astrological science1#ddi and he is correct in one point4 ,but of what use is it to consider the movement of the heavens and the respective position of the stars belonging to the same sphere as the earth1 in order to form the genethliatical theme of the empires of nations1 cities1 and even of simple individuals1 and conclude from the point of departure in the temporal route of existence1 the aim of this route and the fortunate or unfortunate events with which they should be sown1 if one had not established1 primarily1 that this route1 being only some portion of an existing sphere and already traversed1 it belonged thus to the domain of ,necessity and could be known2 and1 secondarily1 that the analogical rapport ruling between the sentient sphere that one examined and the intelligible sphere that one could not perceive1 authorized drawing inferences from both and even deciding from the general to the particular8 ,for1 believing that the stars have an actual and direct influence upon the destiny of peoples and of men1 and that they even determine this destiny by their good or evil aspects1 is an idea as false as ridiculous1 born of the darkness of modern times1 and that is not found among the ancients1 even among the most ignorant masses4 ,the genethliatical science is supported by principles less absurd4 ,these principles1 drawn from the mysteries1 were1 as ,i have explained1 that the future is a return of the past and that nature is everywhere the same4 ,it is from the union of these two principles that resulted genethlialogy1 or the science by which the point of departure being known in any sphere whatever1 they believed they had discovered1 by the aspect and direction of the stars1 the portion of this sphere which must immediately follow this point4 ,but this union1 outside of the enormous difficulty that it presented1 still involved in its execution very dangerous consequences4 ,this is why they concealed in the sanctuaries the science which was its object1 and made of religion a secret and state affair4 ,the prevision of the future1 supposing it possible as the ancients did1 is not1 in effect1 a science that one should abandon to the vulgar1 who1 being unable to acquire previously the learning necessary1 and having but rarely the wisdom which regulates its use1 risked debasing it1 or making use of it wrongfully4 ,furthermore1 the pontiffs1 who were in sole charge1 initiated in the great mysteries and possessing the ensemble of the doctrine1 knew very well that the future1 such even as they could hope to understand it in the perfection of the science1 was never aught but a doubtful future1 a sort of canvas upon which the power of the ,will might exercise itself freely1 in such a manner that1 although the matter might be determined beforehand1 its form was not1 and that such an imminent event could be suspended1 evaded1 or changed by a coperation of the acts of the will1 inaccessible to all prevision4 ,this is what was said with such profoundness by ,tiresias1 the most famous hierophant of ,greece and whom ,homer called the only sage1#dej these words so often quoted and so little understood3 8,whatever ,i may see will come to pass1 or it will not come to pass0#dea2 that is to say1 ,the event that ,i see is in the necessity of ,destiny and it will come to pass1 unless it is changed by the power of the ,will2 in which case it will not come to pass4 #ag4 ,that which thou dost not know1 pretend not that thou dost4 ,instruct thyself3 for time and patience favour all4 ,lysis has enclosed in these two lines the summary of the doctrine of ,pythagoras regarding science3 according to this philosopher1 all science consists of knowing how to distinguish what one does not know and of desiring to learn that of which one knows nothing4#deb ,socrates had adopted this idea1 as simple as profound2 and ,plato has consecrated several of his dialogues to its development4#dec ,but the distinction between what one does not know and the desire to learn that of which one is ignorant1 is a thing much rarer than one imagines4 ,it is the golden mean of science1 as difficult to possess as that of virtue1 and without which it is1 however1 impossible to know oneself4 ,for1 without knowledge of oneself1 how can one acquire knowledge of others8 ,how judge them if one cannot be one's own judge8 ,pursue this reasoning4 ,it is evident that one can know only what one has learned from others1 or what one has found from oneself3 in order to have learned from others1 one must have wished to receive lessons2 in order to have found1 one must have wished to seek2 but one cannot reasonably desire to learn or to seek only for what one believes one does not know4 ,if one imposes upon oneself this important point1 and if one imagines oneself knowing that of which one is ignorant1 one must judge it wholly useless to learn or to seek1 and then ignorance is incurable3 it is madness to style oneself doctor concerning things that one has neither learned nor sought after1 and of which one can consequently have no knowledge4 ,it is ,plato who has made this irresistible reasoning1 and who has drawn this conclusion3 that all the mistakes that man commits come from that sort of ignorance which makes him believe that he knows what he does not know4#ded ,from time immemorial this sort of ignorance has been quite considerable2 but ,i believe that it will never again show itself to the extent it did among us some centuries ago4 ,men hardly free from the mire of barbarism1 without being given the time either to acquire or to seek after any true knowledge of antiquity1 have offered themselves boldly as its judges and have declared that the great men who have made it illustrious were either ignorant1 imposters1 fanatics1 or fools4 ,here1 ,i see musicians who seriously assure me that the ,greeks were rustics in the way of music2 that all that can be said of the wonders effected by this art is idle talk1 and that we have not a village fiddler who could not produce as much effect as ,orpheus1 ,terpander1 or ,timotheus1 if he had similar auditors4#dee ,there1 are the critics who tell me with the same phlegmatic air that the ,greeks of the time of ,homer knew neither how to read nor how to write2 that this poet himself1 assuming that he really existed1 did not know the letters of the alphabet#def2 but that his existence is a fancy1#deg and that the works attributed to him are the crude productions of certain plagiarist rhapsodists4#deh ,further on ,i see1 to complete the singularity1 a research worker who finds1 doubtless to the support of all this1 that the first editor of the poems of ,homer1 the virile legislator of ,sparta1 ,lycurgus in short1 was a man ignorant and unlettered1 knowing neither how to read nor write#dei3 quite an original idea and a comparison wholly bizarre1 between the author and the editor of the ,iliad6 ,but this is nothing4 ,here is an archbishop of ,thessalonica1 who1 animated by a righteous indignation1 declared that ,homer may have been an instrument of the devil1#dfj and that one may be damned in reading him4 ,that one shrugs the shoulders at the allegories of this poet1 that one finds them not in the least interesting1 that one falls asleep even1 let all that pass2 but to be damned6 ,i have said that ,bacon1 drawn along unfortunately by that fatal prejudice which makes one judge without understanding1 had calumniated the philosophy of the ,greeks2 his numerous disciples have even surpassed him upon this point4 ,condillac1 the coryphe of modern empiricism1 has seen in ,plato only delirious metaphysics unworthy of occupying his time1 and in ,zeno only logic deprived of reasoning and principles4 ,i would that ,condillac1 so great an amateur of analysis1 had endeavoured to analyse the metaphysics of the one and the logic of the other1 to prove to me that he understood at least what he found so unworthy of taking up his time2 but that was the thing about which he thought the least4 ,open whatever book you will2 if the authors are theologians1 they will say to you that ,socrates1 ,pythagoras1 ,zoroaster1 ,kong-,tse or ,confucius1 as they call him1 are pagans1#dfa whose damnation is1 if not certain1 at least very probable2 they will treat their theosophy with the most profound contempt3 if they are physicists1 they will assure you that ,thales1 ,leucippus1 ,heraclitus1 ,parmenides1 ,anaxagoras1 ,empedocles1 ,aristotle1 and the others are miserable dreamers2 they will jeer at their systems3 if they are astronomers1 they will laugh at their astronomy3 if they are naturalists1 chemists1 botanists1 they will make jest of their methods1 and will take into consideration their credulity1 their stupidity1 their bad faith1 the numerous wonders that they no longer understand in ,aristotle and in ,pliny4 ,none will take the trouble to prove their assertions2 but1 like people blinded by passion and ignorance1 they state as fact what is in question1 or putting their own ideas in place of those that they do not understand they will create phantoms for the sake of fighting them4 ,never going back to the principles of anything1 stopping only at forms1 adopting without examination the commonest notions1 they will commit on all sides the same mistake that they have committed with respect to the genethliatical science1 the principles of which ,i have shown in my last ,examination2 and confounding this science of the ancients with the astrology of the moderns1 they will consider in the same light ,tiresias and ,nostradamus1 and will see no difference between the oracle of ,ammon1 or of ,delphi1 and the lucky chance of the most paltry fortune-teller4 ,however1 ,i do not pretend to say that all the modern savants indulge1 in this same manner1 in presumption and false notions with regard to antiquity2 there have been many honourable exceptions among them3 even those have been found who1 drawn beyond the golden mean1 by the necessity of effecting a useful reform or of establishing a new system1 have returned there as soon as their passion or their interest have no longer commanded them4 ,such for example is ,bacon1 to whom philosophy has owed enough great favours to forget certain incidental prejudices2 for ,i am1 furthermore1 far from attributing to him the errors of his disciples4 ,bacon1 at the risk of contradicting himself1 yielding to the sentiment of truth1 although he subjected all to the light of experience1 admitted1 however1 positive and real universals1 which1 by his method are wholly inexplicable4#dfb ,forgetting what he had said of ,plato in one book1 he declared in another3 that this philosopher1 endowed with a sublime genius1 turning his attention upon all nature and contemplating all things from a lofty elevation1 had seen very clearly1 in his doctrine of ideas1 what the veritable objects of science are4#dfc ,finally recognizing the principles of physics and the ensemble of things as the foremost to be considered1 he made astrological science1 which he likened to astronomy1 depend upon it1 in such a manner as to show that he did not confound it with vulgar astrology4 ,this philosopher found that before his time1 astronomy1 well enough founded upon phenomena1 utterly lacked soundness1 and that astrology had lost its true principles4 ,to be sure he agreed with astronomy presenting the exterior of celestial phenomena1 that is to say1 the number1 situation1 movement1 and periods of the stars2 but he accused it of lacking in understanding of the physical reasons of these phenomena4 ,he believed that a single theory which contents itself with appearances is a very easy thing1 and that one can imagine an infinity of speculations of this sort2 also he wished that the science of astronomy might be further advanced4 ,instead of revealing the reasons of celestial phenomena he said1 one is occupied only with observations and mathematical demonstrations2 for these observations and these demonstrations can indeed furnish certain ingenious hypotheses to settle all that in one's mind1 and to make an idea of this assemblage1 but not to know precisely how and why all this is actually in nature3 they indicate1 at the most1 the apparent movements1 the artificial assemblage1 the arbitrary combination of all these phenomena1 but not the veritable causes and the reality of things3 and as to this subject he continues1 it is with very little judgment that astronomy is ranked among the mathematical sciences2 this classification derogates from its dignity4#dfd ,regarding astrological science1 ,bacon wished that it might be regenerated completely by bringing it back to its real principles1 that is to say1 that one should reject all that the vulgar had added thereto1 both narrow and superstitious1 preserving only the grand revolutions of the ancients4 ,these ideas1 as is quite obvious1 are not at all in accord with those that his disciples have adopted since2 also the greater part of them refrain from citing similar passages4 #ah4 ,neglect not thy health ''' ,i had at first the intention of making here some allusion to the manner in which ,pythagoras and the ancient sages considered medicine2 and ,i had wished to reveal their principles1 quite different from those of the moderns2 but ,i have realized that an object so important requires developments that this work would not allow and ,i have left them for a time more opportune1 and for a work more suitable4 ,moreover the line of ,lysis has no need of explanation2 it is clear4 ,this philosopher commends each one to guard his health1 to keep it by temperance and moderation1 and if it becomes impaired1 to put himself in condition of not confiding to another the care of its re-establishment4 ,this precept was sufficiently understood by the ancients for it to have become a sort of proverb4 ,the ,emperor ,tiberius1 who made it a rule of conduct1 said that a man of thirty years or more who called or even consulted a physician was an ignoramus4#dfe ,it is true that ,tiberius did not add to the precept the exercise of the temperance that ,lysis did not forget to commend in the following lines1 also he lived only seventy-eight years1 notwithstanding the strength of his constitution promised him a much longer life4 ,hippocrates of ,cos1 the father of medicine in ,greece and strongly attached to the doctrine of ,pythagoras1 lived one hundred and four years2 ,xenophile1 ,apollonius1 ,tyanus1 ,demonax1 and many other ,pythagorean philosophers lived to one hundred and six and one-hundred and ten years2 and ,pythagoras himself1 although violently persecuted towards the end of his life1 attained to nearly ninety-nine years according to some and even to the century mark according to others4#dff #ai4 ''' ,dispense with moderation1 ,food to the body1 and to the mind repose1 ,the body1 being the instrument of the soul1 ,pythagoras desired that one should take reasonable and necessary care of it in order to hold it always in condition to execute the behests of the soul4 ,he regarded its preservation as a part of the purgative virtue4#dfg #bj4 ,too much attention or too little shun2 for envy ,thus1 to either excess is alike attached4 ,the philosopher1 firm in his principle of juste milieu1 wished that his disciples should avoid excess in all things1 and that they should not draw attention to themselves by an unusual way of living4 ,it was a widespread opinion among the ancients1 that envy1 shameful for the one who felt it and dangerous for the one who inspired it1 had fatal consequences for both4#dfh ,for envy is attached to all that tends to distinguish men too ostensibly4 ,thus1 notwithstanding all that has been published of the extraordinary rules and severe abstinences that ,pythagoras imposed upon his disciples and that he made them observe1 it appears indubitable that they were only established after his death1 and that his interpreters1 being deceived regarding the mysterious meaning of these symbols1 take in the literal sense1 what he had said in the figurative4 ,the philosopher blamed only the excess1 and permitted besides1 a moderate usage of all the foods to which men were accustomed4 ,even the beans1 for which his disciples later conceived so much abhorrence1 were eaten frequently4#dfi ,he did not forbid absolutely either wine1 or meat1 or even fish1 whatever may have been asserted at different times#dgj2 though1 indeed1 those of his disciples who aspired to the highest perfection abstained from them#dga2 he represented drunkenness and intemperance only as odious vices that should be avoided4#dgb ,he had no scruples about drinking a little wine himself1 and of tasting the meats set before him at table1#dgc in order to show that he did not regard them as impure1 notwithstanding he preferred the vegetable rgime to all others and that1 for the most part1 he restricted himself to it from choice4#dgd ,further on ,i will return to the mystic meaning of the symbols1 by which he had the appearance of forbidding the use of certain foods and above all beans4 #ba4 ,luxury and avarice have similar results4 ,one must choose in all things a mean just and good4 ,lysis terminates the purgative part of the doctrine of ,pythagoras with the trait which characterizes it in general and in particular2 he has shown the golden mean in virtue and in science2 he has commended it in conduct1 he states in full and says openly that extremes meet2 that luxury and avarice differ not in their effects1 and that philosophy consists in avoiding excess in everything4 ,hierocles adds that1 to be happy1 one must know how1 where1 when1 and how much to take2 and that he who is ignorant of these just limits is always unhappy and he proves it as follows3 ,voluptuousness he said is necessarily the effect of an action3 now1 if the action is good the voluptuousness remains2 if it is evil the voluptuousness passes and is corrupted4 ,when one does a shameful thing with pleasure1 the pleasure passes and the shame remains4 ,when one does an excellent thing with great trouble and labour the pain passes and the excellence alone remains4 ,whence it follows necessarily1 that the evil life is also bitter and produces as much sorrow and chagrin as the good life is sweet and procures joy and contentment4#dge 8,as the flame of a torch tends always upward whichever way one turns it10 said the ,indian sages1 8thus the man whose heart is afire with virtue1 whatever accident befalls him1 directs himself always toward the end that wisdom indicates40#dgf 8,misfortune follows vice1 and happiness virtue10 said the ,chinese1 8as the echo follows the voice and the shadow him who moves40#dgg ,o virtue6 divine virtue6 exclaims ,kong-,tse#dgh a celestial power presents thee to us1 an interior force conducts us toward thee2 happy the mortal in whom thou dwellest6 he strikes the goal without effort1 a single glance suffices for him to penetrate the truth4 ,his heart becomes the sanctuary of peace and his very inclinations protect his innocence4 ,it is granted to the sage only1 to attain to so desirable a state4 ,he who aspires to this must resolve upon the good and attach himself strongly to it2 he must apply himself to the study of himself1 interrogate nature1 examine all things carefully1 meditate upon them and allow nothing to pass unfathomed4 ,let him develop the faculties of his soul1 let him think with force1 let him put energy and firmness into his actions4 ,alas6 how many men there are who seek virtue and science1 and who stop in the middle of their course1 because the goal keeps them waiting6 ,my studies1 they say1 leave me with all my ignorance1 all my doubts2 my efforts1 my labours enlarge neither my views nor my sagacity2 the same clouds hover over my understanding and obscure it2 ,i feel my forces abandoning me and my will giving way beneath the weight of the obstacle4 ,no matter2 guard yourself against discouragement2 that which others have been able to attain at the first attempt1 you may be able at the hundredth2 that which they have done at the hundredth1 you will do at the thousandth4#dgi ,,perfection #bb4 ,let not sleep e'er close thy tired eyes1 ,without thou ask thyself2 ,what have ,i omitted1 and what done8 ,lysis1 after having indicated the route by which ,pythagoras conducted his disciples to virtue1 goes on to teach them the use that this philosopher wished them to make of this celestial gift1 once they had mastered it4 ,up to this point it is confined in the purgative part of the doctrine of his teacher2 he now passes to the unitive part1 that is to say1 to that which has as object the uniting of man to the ,divinity1 by rendering him more and more like unto the model of all perfection and of all wisdom1 which is ,god4 ,the sole instrument capable of operating this union has been placed at his disposition by means of the good usage that he has made of his will3 it is virtue which must serve him at present to attain truth4 ,now1 ,truth is the ultimate goal of perfection3 there is nothing beyond it and nothing this side of it but error2 light springs from it2 it is the soul of ,god1 according to ,pythagoras1#dhj and ,god himself1 according to the legislator of the ,indians4#dha ,the first precept that ,pythagoras gave to his disciples on entering the course of perfection tended to turn their thoughts upon themselves1 to bring them to interrogate their actions1 their thoughts1 their discourse1 to question the motives1 to reflect in short upon their exterior movements and seek thus to know themselves4 ,knowledge of self was the most important knowledge of all1 that which must conduct them to all others4 ,i will not weary my readers by adding anything to what ,i have already said pertaining to the importance of this knowledge1 and the extreme value set upon it by the ancients4 ,they know unquestionably that the morals of ,socrates and the philosophy of ,plato were only the development of it and that an inscription in the temple of ,greece1 that of ,delphi1 commended it1 after that of the golden mean1 as the very teaching of the ,god whom they worshipped there#dhb3 ,nothing in excess1 and know ,thyself1 contained in few words the doctrine of the sages1 and presented for their meditation the principles upon which reposed virtue and wisdom which is its consequence4 ,nothing further was necessary to electrify the soul of ,heraclitus and to develop the germs of genius1 which until the moment when he read these two sentences were buried in a cold inertia4 ,i will not pause therefore to prove the necessity of a knowledge without which all other is but doubt and presumption4 ,i will only examine1 in a brief digression1 if this knowledge is possible4 ,plato1 as ,i have said1 made the whole edifice of his doctrine rest upon it2 he taught1 according to ,socrates1 that ignorance of one's self involves all ignorance1 all mistakes1 all vices1 and all misfortunes2 whereas knowledge of one's self1 on the contrary1 draws all virtue and all goodness#dhc3 so that it cannot be doubted that this knowledge might be considered possible1 since its impossibility merely questioned would render its system null and void4 ,however1 as ,socrates had said that he knew nothing1 in order to distinguish himself from the sophists of his day who pretended to know everything2 as ,plato had constantly used in his teachings that sort of dialectic which1 proceeding toward truth by doubt1 consists in defining things for what they are1 knowing their essence1 distinguishing those which are real from those which are only illusory2 and above all as the favourite maxim of these two philosophers had been that it was necessary to renounce all manner of prejudices1 not pretending to know that of which one is ignorant1 and giving assent only to clear and evident truths2 it came to pass that the disciples of these great men1 having lost sight of the real spirit of their doctrine1 took the means for the end2 and imagining that the perfection of wisdom was in the doubt which leads to it1 established as fundamental maxim1 that the wise man ought neither to affirm nor deny anything2 but to hold his assent suspended between the pro and con of each thing4#dhd ,arcesilaus1 who declared himself the chief of this revolution1 was a man of vast intellect1 endowed with much physical and moral means1 an imposing presence1 and very eloquent1#dhe but imbued with that secret terror which prevents concentrating upon the things that one regards as sacred and forbidden2 audacious and almost impious to all outward appearance1 he was1 in reality1 timid and superstitious4#dhf ,impressed with the inadequacy of his researches to discover the certainty of certain principles1 his vanity had persuaded him that this certainty was undiscoverable1 since he1 ,arcesilaus1 did not find it2 and his superstition acting in accord with his vanity1 he finally believed that the ignorance of man is an effect of the will of ,god2 and that1 according to the meaning of a passage from ,hesiod that he cited unceasingly1 the ,divinity has spread an impenetrable veil between it and the human understanding4#dhg ,also he named the effect of this ignorance1 ,acatalepsy1 that is to say incomprehensibility1 or impossibility to raise the veil4#dhh ,his disciples in great numbers adopted this incomprehensibility and applied it to all sorts of subjects2 now denying1 then affirming the same thing2 placing a principle1 and overthrowing it the next moment2 becoming entangled themselves in captious arguments in order to prove that they knew nothing1 and making for themselves the calamitous glory of ignoring good and evil1 and of being unable to distinguish virtue from vice4#dhi ,dismal effect of an early error6 ,arcesilaus became the convincing proof of what ,i have repeated touching the golden mean and the similitude of extremes3 once having left the path of truth1 he became through weakness and through superstition the head of a crowd of audacious atheists1 who1 after having called in question the principles upon which logic and morals repose1 placed there those of religion and overthrew them4 ,vainly he essayed to arrest the movement of which he had been the cause by establishing two doctrines3 the one public1 wherein he taught skepticism2 the other secret1 wherein he maintained dogmatism#dij3 the time was no longer favourable for this distinction4 ,all that he gained was to let another usurp the glory and to give his name to the new sect of doubters4 ,it was ,pyrrho who had this honour4 ,this man1 of a character as firm as impassive1 to whom living or dying was a matter of indifference1 who preferred nothing to something1 whom a precipice opening beneath his feet would be unable to swerve from his path1 gathered under his colours all those who made a philosophical profession of doubting everything1 of recognizing nowhere the character of truth1 and he gave them a sort of doctrine wherein wisdom was placed in the most complete uncertainty1 felicity in the most absolute inertia1 and genius in the art of stifling all kinds of genius by the accumulation of contradictory reasonings4#dia ,pyrrho had much contempt for men1 as was obvious from the doctrine which he gave them4 ,he had constantly on his lips this line of ,homer3 8,even as are the generations of leaves such are those likewise of men40#dib ,i pause a moment here1 in order that the reader may observe1 that although the thought of ,hesiod1 concerning the veil that the gods had spread between them and men1 and which gave rise to ,arcesilaus establishing his acatalepsy1 had originated in ,india1#dic it had never had the same results there2 and this1 because the ,brahmans1 in teaching that this veil existed and that it even bewildered the vulgar by a series of illusory phenomena1 have never said that it was impossible to raise it2 because this might have been an attack on the power of the will of man and its perfectibility1 to which they put no limit4 ,we shall see further on that such was also the idea of ,pythagoras4 ,let us return to the ,skeptics4 ,the writer to whom we owe a comparative history of the systems of philosophy1 written with thought and impartiality1 has felt keenly that skepticism ought to be considered under two relations3 as skepticism of criticism and reform1 necessary to correct the presumption of the human mind and to destroy its prejudices2 as skepticism absolute and determined1 which confounds in a common proscription both truth and error4#did ,the first1 of which ,socrates gave the example1 and which ,bacon and ,descartes have revived1 is a sort of intellectual remedy that ,providence prepares for healing one of the most fatal maladies of the human mind1 that kind of presumptuous ignorance which makes one believe that he knows that which he does not know3 the second1 which is only the excess and abuse of the first1 is this same remedy transformed into poison by an aberration of the human reason which transports it beyond the circumstances which invoke its action1 and employs it to devour itself and to exhaust in their source all the causes which cooperate in the progress of human understanding4#die ,arcesilaus was the first to introduce it into the ,academy by exaggerating the maxims of ,socrates1 and ,pyrrho made a special system of destruction in it1 under the name of ,pyrrhonism4 ,this system1 welcomed in ,greece1 soon infected it with its venom1 notwithstanding the vigorous resistance of ,zeno the ,stoic1 whom ,providence had raised up to oppose its ravages4#dif ,carried to ,rome by ,carneades1 the head of the third academy1 it alarmed with its maxims subversive of public morals1 ,cato the ,censor1 who confounding it with philosophy conceived for it an implacable hatred4#dig ,this rigid republican1 hearing ,carneades speak against justice1 denying the existence of virtues1 attacking the ,divine ,providence1 and questioning the fundamental verities of religion1 held in contempt a science which could bring forth such arguments4#dih ,he urged the return of the ,greek philosophy1 so that the ,roman youth might not be imbued with its errors2 but the evil was done4 ,the destructive germs that ,carneades had left1 fermented secretly in the heart of the ,state1 developed under the first favourable conditions1 increased and produced at last that formidable colossus1 which1 after taking possession of the public mind1 having obscured the most enlightened ideas of good and evil1 annihilated religion1 and delivered the ,republic to disorder1 civil wars1 and destruction2 and raising itself again with the ,roman ,empire1 withering the principles of the life it had received1 necessitated the institution of a new cult and thus was exposed to the incursion of foreign errors and the arms of the barbarians4 ,this colossus1 victim of its own fury1 after having torn and devoured itself was buried beneath the shams that it had heaped up2 ,ignorance seated upon its dbris governed ,europe1 until ,bacon and ,descartes came and resuscitating1 as much as was possible for them the ,socratic skepticism1 endeavoured by its means to turn minds toward the research of truth4 ,but they might not have done so well1 had they not also awakened certain remnants of ,pyrrhonic skepticism1 which1 being sustained with their passions and their prejudices1 soon resulted in bewildering their disciples4 ,this new skepticism1 nave in ,montaigne1 dogmatic in ,hobbes1 disguised in ,locke1 masterly in ,bayle1 paradoxical but seductive in the greater number of the eighteenth-century writers1 hidden now beneath the surface of what is called ,experimental philosophy1 lures the mind on toward a sort of empirical routine1 and unceasingly denying the past1 discouraging the future1 aims by all kinds of means to retard the progress of the human mind4 ,it is no more even the character of truth2 and the proof of this character that the modern skeptics demand ad infinitum1#dii is the demonstration of the very possibility of understanding this character and of proving it3 a new subtlety that they have deduced from the unfruitful efforts that certain thinkers have made recently in ,germany1 to give to the possibility of the knowledge of self1 a basis which they have not given4 ,i will relate in my next ,examination1 what has hindered these savants from finding this basis4 ,i must1 before terminating this one1 show to my readers how ,i believe one can distinguish the two kinds of skepticism of which ,i have just spoken4 ,a simple question put to a skeptic philosopher will indicate whether he belongs to the school of ,socrates or ,pyrrho4 ,he must before entering into any discussion reply clearly to this demand3 ,do you admit of any difference whatever between that which is and that which is not8 ,if the skeptic belongs to the school of ,socrates1 he will necessarily admit a difference and he will explain it1 which will make him recognized at once4 ,if on the contrary1 he belongs to that of ,pyrrho1 he will respond in one of three ways3 either that he admits a difference1 or that he admits none1 or that he does not know whether one exists4 ,if he admits it without explaining it1 he is beaten2 if he does not admit it1 he falls into absurdity2 if he pretends not to distinguish it1 he becomes foolish and ridiculous4 ,he is beaten1 if he admits a difference between that which is and that which is not2 because that difference1 admitted1 proves the existence of being2 the existence of being proves that of the skeptic who replies2 and that existence proved1 proves all the others1 whether one considers them in him1 or outside of him1 which is the same thing for the moment4 ,he falls into absurdity1 if he does not admit any difference between that which is and that which is not1 for then one can prove to him that #a is equal to #j1 and that the part is as great as the whole4 ,he becomes foolish and ridiculous1 if he dares to say that he does not know whether a difference really exists between that which is1 and that which is not2 for then one asks him what he did at the age of six months1 at one year1 two years1 two weeks ago1 yesterday8 ,whatever he replies1 he will become the object of ridicule4 ,behold the ,pyrrhonian beaten1 that is to say1 the one who professes to doubt everything2 since a single acknowledged difference bringing him irresistibly to a certainty1 and since one certainty militates against all the others1 there is no further doubt2 and since1 doubting no further1 it is only a question then of knowing what he ought1 or ought not to doubt3 this is the true character of the skeptic of the ,socratic ,school4 #bc4 ,abstain thou if 'tis evil2 persevere if good4 ,but although one may bring the absolute skeptic to agree that a difference between good and evil can indeed exist1 as he is forced to agree that one does exist between that which is and that which is not1 just as ,i have demonstrated in my preceding ,examination2 would he not be right in saying1 that to know in general1 that good and evil can differ and consequently exist separately1 does not prevent confounding them in particular2 and that he can doubt that man may be able to make the distinction1 until one may have proved to him that not alone their knowledge1 but that some sort of knowledge is possible8 ,assuredly1 this is pushing doubt very far4 ,one could dispense with replying to this1 since the skeptic already interrogated concerning the difference existing between what is and what is not has been forced to admit it and to acquire thus some sort of knowledge of being2 but let us forget this1 in order to examine why the savants of ,germany have inadequately removed a difficulty which they have imposed upon themselves4 ,it is ,kant1 one of the ablest minds that ,europe has produced since the extinction of learning1 who1 resolved to terminate with a single blow the struggle springing up unceasingly between dogmatism and skepticism1 has been the first to form the bold project of creating a science which should determine1 a priori1 the possibility1 the principles1 and the limits of all knowledge4#ejj ,this science1 which he named ,critical ,philosophy1 or method of judgment1#eja he has developed in several works of considerable length and very difficult of comprehension4 ,i do not intend here to make an explanation of this science2 for this labour1 out of place in these ,examinations1 would carry me too far4 ,my intention is only to show the point wherein it has given way1 and how it has furnished new weapons for the skeptics1 in not holding well to the promise that it had made of determining the principle of knowledge4 ,therefore1 ,i will suppose the doctrine of ,kant understood or partially so4 ,several works1 circulated somewhat extensively in ,france1 have unravelled it sufficiently to the savants4#ejb ,i will only say what the authors of these works have been unable to say1 and this will be the general result of the impression that the study of this doctrine has made upon me3 it is that ,kant1 who pretends to found all his doctrine upon principles1 a priori1 abstraction being made of all the underlying notions of experience1 and who1 rising into an ideal sphere there to consider reason in an absolute way1 independent of its effects so as to deduce from it a theory transcendental and purely intelligible1 concerning the principle of knowledge1 has done precisely the opposite from what he wished to do2 for not finding what he sought1 he has found what he has not sought1 that is to say1 the essence of matter4 ,let the disciples of this philosophy give attention to what ,i say4 ,i have known several systems of philosophy and ,i have put considerable force into penetrating them2 but ,i can affirm that there exists not a single one upon the face of the earth1 wherein the primitive matter of which the ,universe is composed may be characterized by traits as striking as in that of ,kant4 ,i believe it impossible either to understand it better or to depict it better4 ,he uses neither figures1 nor symbols2 he tells what he sees with a candour which would have been appalling to ,pythagoras and ,plato2 for what the ,koenigsberg professor advances concerning both the existence and the non-existence of this matter1#ejc and of its intuitive reality1 and of its phenomenal illusion1 and of its essential forms1 time and space1 and of the labour that the mind exercises upon this equivocal being1 which1 always being engendered1 never1 however1 exists2 all this1 taught in the mysteries1 was only clearly revealed to the initiate4 ,listen a moment to what has transpired in ,india3 it is the fundamental axiom of the ,vedantic school1 the illustrious disciples of ,vyasa and of ,sankarchrya1 an axiom in accordance with the dogmas of the sacred books4 ,matter exists say these philosophers1 but not of an existence such as is imagined by the vulgar2 it exists but it has no essence independent of intellectual perceptions2 for existence and perceptibility are1 in this case1 convertible terms4 ,the sage knows that appearances and their exterior sensations are purely illusory and that they would vanish into nothingness1 if the ,divine energy which alone sustains them was for an instant suspended4#ejd ,i beg the disciples of ,kant to give attention to this passage1 and to remember what ,plato has said of the same1 that1 sometimes matter exists and sometimes it does not exist#eje2 as ,justin the martyr1 and ,cyril of ,alexandria have reproached him for it2 and as ,plutarch and ,chalcidius have strongly remarked it1#ejf in seeking to excuse this apparent contradiction4 ,let us endeavour now to call attention to the point where ,kant is led astray4 ,this point1 in the philosophical course that this savant meant to pursue1 seemed at first of very slight importance2 but the deviation that it causes1 although small and almost imperceptible at the first instant1 determines none the less a divergent line1 which1 turning aside more and more from the right line proportionably as it is prolonged1 is found to strike at an enormous distance from the mark where ,kant hoped it would arrive4 ,this deviating pointwho would have believed itis found in the misinterpretation and the misapplication of a word4 ,all the attention of the reader is required here4 ,what ,i am about to say1 in demonstrating the error of the ,german philosopher1 will serve to supplement all that ,i have said pertaining to the doctrine of ,pythagoras4 ,kant1 whether through imitation of the ancient philosophers or through the effect of his own learning which had made him desirous of knowing the truth1 has considered man under three principal modifications which he calls faculties4 ,in my twelfth ,examination ,i have said that such was the doctrine of ,pythagoras4 ,plato1 who followed in everything the metaphysics of this great genius1 distinguished in ,man as in the ,universe1 the body1 soul1 and spirit2 and placed1 in each of the modifications of the particular or universal unity which constituted them1 the analogous faculties which1 becoming developed in their turn1 gave birth to three new modifications whose productive unity they became#ejg2 so that each ternary is represented in its development1 under the image of the triple ,ternary1 and formed by its union with the ,unity1 first the ,quaternary and afterwards the ,decade4#ejh ,now the ,german philosopher1 without explaining the principle which led him to consider man under three principal faculties1 states them2 without saying to what particular modification he attributes them1 that is1 without foreseeing if these faculties are physical1 animistic or intellectual2 if they belong to the body1 to the soul1 or to the mind3 a first mistake which leads him to a second of which ,i am about to speak4 ,in order to express these three facilities1 ,kant makes use of three words taken from his own tongue and concerning the meaning of which it is well to fix our attention4 ,he has named the first of these faculties ,empfindlichkeit1 the second1 ,verstand1 and the third1 ,vernunft4 ,these three words are excellent2 it is only a question of clearly understanding and explaining them4 ,the word ,empfindlichkeit expresses that sort of faculty which consists in collecting from without1 feeling from within1 and finding good or bad4#eji ,it has been very well rendered in ,french by the word sensibilit4 ,the word ,verstand designates that sort of faculty which consists in reaching afar1 being carried from a central point to all other points of the circumference to seize them4#eaj ,it has been quite well rendered in ,french by the word entendement4 ,the word ,vernunft is applied to that sort of faculty1 which consists in choosing at a distance1 in wishing1 in selecting1 in electing that which is good4#eaa ,it is expressed by the word raison2 but this expresses it very poorly1 whatever may be the real meaning given it by ,kant4 ,this philosopher ought to have realized more fully the origin of this word and he should have made a more just application2 then his system would have taken another direction and he would have attained his goal4 ,he would have made us see1 and he would have seen himself1 the reality1 namely1 intelligence and not reason4 ,one can easily see that the faculty which ,kant designates by the word ,empfindlichkeit1 sense perception1 belongs to the physical part of man2 and that which he expresses by the word ,verstand1 the understanding1 resides in his animistic part2 but one cannot see at all that what he names ,vernunft1 and which he continually confounds with reason1 may be able in any manner to dominate in his intellectual part4 ,for this1 it would be necessary that he should consider it under the relation of the intelligence2 which he has not done4 ,it is very true that he has wished to place it constantly in the mind1 by representing the three faculties of which man is composed as a sort of hierarchy1 of which sense perception occupies the base1 understanding the centre1 and reason the summit2 or as one of his translators said1 imagining this hierarchy under the emblem of an empire1 of which sense perception constitutes the subjects1 understanding the agents or ministers1 and reason the sovereign or legislator4#eab ,i cannot conceive how ,kant1 by giving the word ,vernunft1 the meaning of the ,latin word ratio1 has been able to say that it is the highest degree of the activity of a mind which has the power of all its liberty1 and the consciousness of all its strength#eac3 there is nothing more false4 ,reason does not exist in liberty1 but on the contrary1 in necessity4 ,its movement1 which is geometric1 is always forced3 it is an inference from the point of departure1 and nothing more4 ,let us examine this carefully4 ,the ,latin word ratio1 whose meaning ,kant has visibly followed1 has never translated exactly the ,greek word logos1 in the sense of word2 and if the ,greek philosophers have substituted sometimes the logos for nous1 or the word for the intelligence1 by taking the effect for the cause1 it is wrong when the ,romans have tried to imitate them1 by using ratio1 in place of mens1 or intelligentia4 ,in this they have proved their ignorance and have disclosed the calamitous ravages that skepticism had already made among them4 ,the word ratio springs from the root ra or rat1 which in all the tongues where it has been received1 has carried the idea of a ray1 a straight line drawn from one point to another4#ead ,thus reason1 far from being free as ,kant has pretended1 is what is the most constrained in nature3 it is a geometric line1 always subject to the point whence it emanates1 and forced to strike the point toward which it is directed under penalty of ceasing to be itself2 that is to say1 of ceasing to be straight4 ,now1 reason not being free in its course1 is neither good nor bad in itself2 it is always analogous to the principle of which it is the inference4 ,its nature is to go straight2 its perfection is nothing else4 ,one goes straight in every way1 in every direction1 high1 low1 to right1 to left2 one reasons correctly in truth as in error1 in vice as in virtue3 all depends upon the principle from which one sets out1 and upon the manner in which one looks at things4 ,reason does not give this principle2 it is no more master of the end which it goes to attain1 than the straight line drawn upon the ground is master of the point toward which it tends4 ,this end and this point are determined beforehand1 by the position of the reasoner or by geometry4 ,reason exists alike in the three great human modifications1 although its principal seat is in the soul1 according to ,plato4#eae ,there is a physical reason acting in the instinct1 a moral reason acting in the soul1 and an intellectual reason acting in the mind4 ,when a hungry dog brings to his master a piece of game without touching it1 he obeys an instinctive reason which makes him sacrifice the pleasure of gratifying his appetite1 to the pain of receiving the blow of a stick4 ,when a man dies at his post instead of abandoning it1 he follows a moral reason which makes him prefer the glory of dying to the shame of living4 ,when a philosopher admits the immortality of the soul1 he listens to an intellectual reason which shows him the impossibility of its annihilation4 ,all this1 nevertheless1 takes place only so far as the dog1 the man1 and the philosopher admit the real principles2 for if they admitted false principles1 their reasons1 although equally well deduced1 would conduct them to opposed results2 and the piece of game would be eaten1 the post would be abandoned1 and the immortality of the soul would be denied4 ,one ought to feel now the mistake of ,kant in all its extent4 ,this philosopher having confounded one of the principal modifications of man1 his intelligence1#eaf whose seat is in the soul1 with one of his secondary faculties1 his reason1 finds himself1 in raising this reason outside of its place and giving it a dominance that it has not1 ousting entirely the spiritual part2 so that meditating constantly in the median part of his being1 which he believed to be the superior1 and descending1 he found matter1 understood it perfectly1 and missed absolutely the spirit4 ,what he assumed was1 it was nothing else than the understanding1 a neuter faculty placed between sense perception which is purely passive1 and the intelligence which is wholly active4 ,he had the weakness to fix his thought here and thenceforth was lost4 ,reason which he invoked to teach him to distinguish1 in his ideas1 the part which is furnished by the spirit1 from that which is given by objects1 was only able to show him the straight line that it described in his understanding4 ,this line being buried in matter instead of rising in intelligible regions1 taught him that everything that did not correspond to a possible experience could not furnish him the subject of a positive knowledge1 and thus all the great questions upon the existence of ,god1 the immortality of the soul1 the origin of the ,universe2 all that pertains to theosophy1 to cosmology2 in short1 all that which is intelligible1 cannot take place in the order of his understanding4#eag ,this catastrophe1 quite inevitable as it was1 was none the less poignant4 ,it was odd to see a man who seemed to promise to establish the possibility and the principles of all knowledge upon an incontestable basis1 announce coldly that ,god1 the ,universe1 and the ,soul could not be subjects there1 and soon discover1 pushed by the force of his reasoning1 that even the reality of physical subjects by which the senses are affected is only phenomenal1 that one can in no way know what they are1 but only what they appear to be#eah2 and that even one's own ,self1 considered as a subject1 is also for one only a phenomenon1 an appearance1 concerning the intimate essence of which one can learn nothing4#eai ,kant felt indeed the terrible contradiction into which he had fallen2 but instead of retracing courageously his steps1 and seeking above reason for the principles of knowledge that it did not possess1 he continued his descending movement which he called transcendental1 and finally discovered beneath this pure ,reason1 a certain practical ,reason1 to which he confided the destinies of the greatest subjects with which man can be occupied3 ,god1 nature1 and himself4 ,this practical reason1 which is no other than common sense1 ought1 according to him1 to bring man to believe what is not given him to know1#ebj and to engage him1 through the need of his own felicity1 to follow the paths of virtue1 and to admit the system of recompense which proceeds from the existence of ,god and the immortality of the soul4 ,thus1 this common sense1 already invoked to aid the existence of the physical subjects which ,berkeley reduced to nothingness1 was called1 under another name1 to sustain that of the spiritual beings which ,kant admitted baffling the action of his pure reason2 but this faculty1 vainly proposed by ,shaftesbury1#eba by ,hutcheson1#ebb by ,reid1#ebc by ,oswald1#ebd by the celebrated ,pascal himself1#ebe to give a support to the first truths1 and to furnish the principles of our moral and physical knowledge2 this faculty1 ,i say1 whose seat is in the instinct1 has been easily challenged as incompetent to pronounce upon the subjects which are outside the jurisdiction of its judgments2 for it has been keenly felt that it was abandoning these subjects to the prejudices of the vulgar1 to their erroneous opinions1 to their blind passions2 and that practical philosophy or common sense1 acting in each man according to the extent of his views1 would only embarrass relative truths and would create as many principles as individuals4 ,furthermore was it not to run counter to common sense itself1 to submit intelligence and reason to it8 ,was it not subverting ,nature1 and1 as it were1 causing light to spring upward from below1 seeking in the particular1 the law which rules the ,universal8 ,the skeptics who saw all these things triumphed1 but their triumph only proved their weakness2 for ,reason1 by which they demonstrated nothingness1 is the sole weapon of which they can make use4 ,this faculty overthrown in ,kant1 leaves them powerless1 and delivers them defenceless to the irresistible axioms that the intelligence places a priori upon the primordial truths and the fundamental principles of the ,universe1 even as the sequel of these ,examinations will demonstrate4 #bd4 ,meditate upon my counsels1 love them2 follow them3 ,to the divine virtues will they know how to lead thee4 ,i have spoken at considerable length of the skeptics2 but ,i have believed it necessary in explaining a dogmatic work1 whose esprit is wholly opposed to that of skepticism4 ,when ,lysis wrote in ,greece1 there had been no one as yet who doubted either the existence of the gods1 or that of the ,universe1 or made the distinction between good and evil1 virtue and vice4 ,arcesilaus and ,pyrrho were not born1 and the clouds that they raised afterwards concerning these great subjects of the meditation of the sages were not even suspected4 ,the minds had inclined rather toward credulity than toward doubt2 toward superstition than toward atheism2 it was more necessary to limit their curiosity than to excite their indifference4 ,at that epoch1 the philosophers enveloped the truth with veils1 and rendered the avenues of science difficult1 so that the vulgar might not profane them4 ,they knew what had been too long forgotten3 that all kinds of wood are not fitting to make a ,mercury4 ,also their writers were obscure and sententious3 in order to dishearten1 not those who might be able to doubt1 but those who were not in a condition to comprehend4 ,today1 as the minds are changed1 it is of more importance to attract those who are able to receive the truth1 than to keep at a distance those who are unable to receive it2 the latter1 separating themselves1 are persuaded that they either possess it or have no need of it4 ,i have given the history of skepticism2 ,i have shown its origin and the sorry effects of its absolute and disordered influence2 not in order to bring back the skeptics of the profession1 but to endeavour to prevent the men who are still drifting in uncertainty from becoming so4 ,i have essayed to show them by the example of one of the greatest reasoners of ,germany1 by the example of ,kant1 that reason alone1 with whatever talents it may be accompanied1 cannot fail to lead them to nothingness4 ,i have made them see that this faculty so lauded is nothing of itself4 ,i am content with the example of the ,koenigsberg professor2 but had ,i not feared prolixities1 ,i would have added the example of ,berkeley and that of ,spinoza4 ,the varied catastrophes of these three savants form a striking contrast4 ,kant1 following step by step his pure ,reason1 comes to see that the knowledge of intelligible things is impossible and finds matter2 ,berkeley1 led by the same reason1 proves that the existence of matter is illusory1 and that all is spirit2 ,spinoza1 drawing irresistible arguments from this same faculty1 shows that there exists and can exist only one sole substance and that therefore spirit and matter are but one4 ,and do not think that1 armed with reason alone1 you can combat separately ,spinoza1 ,berkeley1 or ,kant3 their contradictory systems will clash in vain2 they will triumph over you and will push you into the dark and bottomless abyss of skepticism4 ,now1 how can this be done8 ,i have told you3 it is because man is not a simple being4 ,fix this truth firmly4 ,man is triple2 and it is according as his volitive unity operates in one or the other of his modifications that he is led on to see1 in such or such a way4 ,plato has said it1 following ,pythagoras1 and ,i say it to you not only following ,pythagoras and ,plato1 but following all the sages and all the theosophists of the world4 ,plato places in the superior and spiritual modification1 composed of the same1 that is to say of the indivisible substance of the universe1 the hegemonicon1#ebf or the intellectual assent2 in the inferior and material modification1 composed of the other or the diverse1 that is to say1 of the divisible substance1 the physicon1#ebg or the physical sense perception2 in the median modification or the soul1 properly speaking1 composed of essence1 that is to say1 of the most subtle parts of matter elaborated by the spirit1 the logicon1#ebh or the moral1 logical1 or reasonable sentiment4 ,one finds in ,plutarch the rsum of the doctrine of a philosopher named ,sylla1 who1 admitting1 as did ,plato1 that man is composed of spirit1 soul1 and body1 said that the body drew its origin from the earth1 the soul from the moon1 and the spirit from the sun4#ebi ,but without disturbing ourselves for the present1 with the origin of these three parts1 since assuredly the earth1 the moon1 and the sun1 which this philosopher has assigned them for principles1 are things very difficult to understand in themselves1 let us be content with knowing1 as ,i have already said1 that these three great modifications which form the human ,quaternary manifest themselves by sensation1 sentiment1 and assent1 and develop the principal faculties of the instinct1 the understanding1 and the intelligence4 ,the instinct is the seat of common sense2 the understanding is that of reason2 and the intelligence1 that of sagacity or wisdom4 ,men can never acquire any science1 any real knowledge1 if the assent is not determined by favour of the intelligence which elects the principle and places it with sagacity2 for one can really know or understand only that to which the intelligence has given consent4 ,all the results that the understanding1 deprived of intelligence1 can procure by means of reason are only opinions1 those of these results which are rigorously demonstrated in the manner of the geometricians are identities2 common sense transported even into the understanding can give only notions1 the certainty of which1 however founded it may be upon experience1 can never surpass that of physical sensation1 whose transient and limited authority is of no weight in the assent of intelligible truths4 ,let us venture now to divulge a secret of the mysteries to which ,pythagoras made allusion when he said3 that not all kinds of wood are fitting to make a ,mercury2 and notwithstanding the vulgar prejudice which is opposed to this truth1 let us affirm that animistic equality among men is a chimera4 ,i feel that here ,i am about to clash greatly with theological ideas and to put myself in opposition to many brilliant paradoxes that modern philosophers1 more virtuous than wise1 have raised and sustained with more talent and reason than sagacity2 but the force of my subject draws me on and since ,i am explaining the doctrine of ,pythagoras1 it is indeed necessary that ,i should say why ,lysis1 after having examined and commended in detail all the human virtues in the purgative part of his teachings1 begins again a new instruction in the unitive part and promises to lead one to divine virtues4 ,this important distinction that he makes between these two kinds of virtues has been made by ,plato1 ,aristotle1 ,galen1 and many others of the philosophers of antiquity4#ecj ,one of them1 ,macrobius1 to whom we owe the knowledge and explanation of many of the mystic secrets1 which1 notwithstanding the extreme care exercised to conceal them1 were rumoured outside of the sanctuaries1 has made a comparison between the degrees of the initiation and those that one admits in the exercise of the virtues2 and he enumerates four4#eca ,this number1 which is related to the universal ,quaternary1 has been the most constantly followed1 although it may have varied1 however1 from three to seven4 ,the number three was regarded by the ancients as the principle of nature1 and the number seven as its end4#ecb ,the principal degrees of initiation were1 to the number of three1 as the grades of the apprentice1 companion1 and master are in ,free ,masonry today4 ,from this comes the epithet of ,triple1 given to the mysterious ,hecate1 and even to ,mithra1 considered as the emblem of mystic knowledge4#ecc ,sometimes three secondary degrees were added to the three principal ones and were terminated by an extraordinary revelation1 which raising the initiate to the rank of ,epopt1 or seer par excellence1 gave him the true signification of the degrees through which he had already passed#ecd2 showed him nature unveiled1#ece and admitted him to the contemplation of divine knowledge4#ecf ,it was for the ,epopt alone that the last veil fell1 and the sacred vestment which covered the statue of the ,goddess was removed4 ,this manifestation1 called ,epiphany1 shed the most brilliant light upon the darkness which until then had surrounded the initiate4 ,it was prepared1 said the historians1 by frightful tableaux with alternatives of both terror and hope4#ecg ,the grade of ,elect has replaced that of ,epopt among the ,free ,masons1 without in any sense offering the same results4 ,the forms are indeed nearly preserved2 but the substance has disappeared4 ,the ,epopt of ,eleusis1 ,samothrace1 or ,hierapolis was regarded as the foremost of men1 the favourite of the gods1 and the possessor of celestial treasures2 the sun shone1 in his sight1 with a purer brightness2 and the sublime virtue that he had acquired in the tests1 more and more difficult1 and the lessons more and more lofty1 gave him the faculty of discerning good and evil1 truth and error1 and of making a free choice between them4#ech ,but if the various grades of initiation expressed symbolically the different degrees of virtue to which men in general can attain1 the tests that one was made to pass through at each new grade1 made known in particular1 whether the man who presented himself to obtain it1 was worthy or unworthy4 ,these tests were at first sufficiently easy2 but they became increasingly difficult to such an extent that the life of the new member was frequently in danger4 ,one would know in that way to what sort of man this life belonged1 and verify by the crucible of terror and of suffering1 the temper of the soul and the claim of his right to the truth4 ,it is known that ,pythagoras owed to his extreme patience and to the courage with which he surmounted all the obstacles1 his initiation into the ,egyptian mysteries4#eeci ,those who attained as he did the last degree of initiation were very rare2 the greater number went no further than the second grade and very few attained the third4 ,lessons proportionate to their strength and to those of the faculties that had been recognized as dominating in them were given2 for this is the essential point in this ,examination1 one learned in the sanctuaries to divide the mass of humanity into three great classes1 dominated by a fourth more elevated1 according to the relations that were established between the faculties of men and the parts of the ,universe to which they corresponded4 ,in the first were ranged the material or instinctive men2 in the second1 the animistic1 and in the third1 the intellectual men4 ,thus all men were by no means considered as equal among them4 ,the pretended equality which was made on the exterior was mere compliance to the errors of the vulgar1 who1 having seized the authority in most of the cities of ,greece and ,italy1 forced the truth to conceal an exposure which would have injured it4 ,the ,christian cult1 raised upon the extinction of all enlightenment1 nourished in the hearts of slaves and lowly citizens1 sanctified in the course of time a precedent favourable to its growth4 ,those1 however1 among the ,christians who were called gnostics1#edj on account of the particular knowledge that they possessed1 and especially the ,valentinians who boasted that they had preserved the knowledge of the initiation1 wished to make a public dogma of the secret of the mysteries in this respect1 pretending that the corruption of men being only the effect of their ignorance and of their earthly attachment1 it was only necessary in order to save them1 to enlighten them regarding their condition and their original destination#eda2 but the orthodox ones1 who felt the danger into which this doctrine was drawing them1 condemned the authors as heretics4 ,this condemnation1 which satisfied the pride of the vulgar1 did not prevent the small number of sages remaining silent1 faithful to the truth4 ,it is only necessary to open one's eyes1 and detaching them a moment from ,judea1 to see that the dogma of inequality among men had served as basis for the civil and religious laws of all the peoples of the earth1 from the orient of ,asia to the occidental limits of ,africa and ,europe4 ,everywhere1 four great established divisions under the name of ,castes1 recalled the four principal degrees of initiation and retraced upon humanity en masse1 the ,universal ,quaternary4 ,egypt had1 in this respect1 in very ancient times1 given example to ,greece#edb2 for this ,greece1 so proud of her liberty1 or rather of her turbulent anarchy1 had been at first subjected to the common division1 even as it is seen in ,aristotle and ,strabo4#edc ,the ,chaldeans were1 relative to the peoples of ,assyria1#edd only what the ,magi were among the ,persians1#ede the ,druids among the ,gauls1#edf and the ,brahmans among the ,indians4 ,it is quite well known that this last people1 the ,brahmans1 constitute the foremost and highest of the four castes of which the whole nation is composed4 ,the allegorical origin that religion gives to these castes proves clearly the analogy of which ,i have spoken4 ,the following is what is found relative to this in one of the ,shastras4 8,at the first creation by ,brahma1 the ,brahmans sprang from his mouth2 the ,kshatrys issued from his arms2 the ,vaisyas from his thighs1 and the ,soudras from his feet40 ,it is said in another of these books containing the cosmogony of the ,banians1 that the first man1 called ,pourou1 having had four sons named ,brahma1 ,kshetri1 ,vaisa1 and ,souderi1 ,god designated them to be chiefs of the four tribes which he himself instituted4#edg ,the sacred books of the ,burmans1 which appear anterior to those of the other ,indian nations1 establish the same division4 ,the ,rahans1 who fill the sacerdotal offices among these peoples1 teach a doctrine conformable to that of the mysteries4 ,they say that inequality among men is a necessary consequence of their past virtues or past vices1 and that they are born in a nation more or less enlightened1 in a caste1 in a family1 more or less illustrious1 according to their previous conduct4#edh ,this is very close to the thought of ,pythagoras2 but no one has expressed it with greater force and clearness than ,kong-,tse4 ,i think ,i have no need to say that these two sages did not copy each other4 ,the assent that they gave to the same idea had its source elsewhere than in sterile imitation4 ,the ,chinese people1 from time immemorial1 have been divided into four great classes1 relative to the rank that men occupy in society1 following the functions that they execute therein1#edi very nearly as do the ,indians3 but this division1 that long custom has rendered purely political1 is looked upon very differently by the philosophers4 ,man1 according to them1 constitutes one of the three productive powers which compose the median trinity of the ,universe2 for they consider the ,universe1 or the great ,all1 as the expression of a triple ,trinity enveloped and dominated by the primordial ,unity3 which constitutes for them a decade instead of a ,quaternary4 ,this third power called ,yin1 that is to say1 mankind1 is subdivided into three principal classes1 which by means of the intermediary classes admitted by ,kong-,tse1 produces the five classes spoken of by this sage4 ,the first class1 the most numerous1 comprises he said that multitude of men who act only by a sort of imitative instinct1 doing today what they did yesterday1 in order to recommence tomorrow what they have done today2 and who1 incapable of discerning in the distance the real and substantial advantages1 the interest of highest importance1 extract easily a little profit1 a base interest in the pettiest things1 and have enough adroitness to procure them4 ,these men have an understanding as the others but this understanding goes no further than the senses2 they see and hear only through the eyes and the ears of their bodies4 ,such are the people4 ,the second class is composed according to the same sage of men instructed in the sciences1 in letters and in the liberal arts4 ,these men have an object in view in whatever they undertake1 and know the different means by which the end can be accomplished2 they have not penetrated into the essence of things1 but they know them well enough to speak of them with ease and to give lessons to others2 whether they speak or whether they act1 they can give reason for what they say or what they do1 comparing subjects among them and drawing just inferences concerning what is harmful or profitable3 these are the artists1 the literati1 who are occupied with things wherein reasoning must enter4 ,this class can have an influence on customs and even on the government4 ,the third class continues ,kong-,tse comprises those who in their speech1 in their actions1 and in the whole of their conduct1 never deviate from what is prescribed by right reason2 who do good without any pretension whatsoever2 but only because it is good2 who never vary1 and show themselves the same in adversity as in fortune4 ,these men speak when it is necessary to speak1 and are silent when it is necessary to be silent4 ,they are not satisfied with drawing the sciences from the diverse channels destined to transmit them1 but go back to the source4 ,these are the philosophers4 ,those who never digress from the fixed and immutable rule which they have traced out for themselves1 who1 with utmost exactness and a constancy always the same1 fulfill to the very least1 their obligations1 who fight their passions1 observe themselves unceasingly1 and prevent vices from developing2 those finally1 who speak no word which is not measured and that may not be useful for instruction1 and who fear neither trouble nor labour in order to make virtue prosper in themselves and in others1 constitute the fourth class1 which is that of virtuous men4 ,the fifth class1 finally adds ,kong-,tse1 which is the loftiest and sublimest1 comprises the extraordinary men1 who unite in their persons the qualities of the spirit and heart1 perfected by the blessed habit of fulfilling voluntarily and joyfully1 what nature and morals impose jointly upon reasonable beings living in society4 ,imperturbable in their mode of life1 like unto the sun and the moon1 the heavens and the earth1 they never cease their beneficent operations2 they act by intelligence and as spirits see without being seen4 ,this class1 very few in number1 can be called that of the ,perfect ones1 the ,saints4#eej ,i have transcribed what has just been read without changing a single word4 ,if the reader has given to this extract the attention that it merits1 he will have seen the doctrine of ,pythagoras such as ,i have revealed and the important distinction between ,instinct1 ,reason1 and ,intelligence such as ,i have established2 he will have seen the dogma of the mysteries concerning the animistic inequality of men1 of which ,i have spoken1 and will have easily recognized1 in the right reason which constitutes the third class according to the ,chinese theosophist1 the pure reason which has directed the ,german philosopher in the establishment of critical philosophy4 ,this right reason1 being quite near to human virtues1 is still very far from ,wisdom which alone leads to ,truth4 ,nevertheless it can reach there1 for nothing is impossible for the ,will of man1 even as ,i have quite forcibly stated#eea2 but it would be necessary for that1 to make acquisition of the divine virtues1 and in the same manner that one is raised from instinct to understanding by purification1 to pass from understanding to intelligence by perfection4 ,lysis offers the means3 it is by knowledge of oneself that he promises to lead one to this desired end2 he assures it1 he invokes the name of ,pythagoras himself3 #be4 ,i swear it by the one who in our hearts engraved ,the sacred ,tetrad1 symbol immense and pure1 ,source of ,nature and model of the ,gods4 ,drawn on by my subject1 ,i have forgotten to say that1 according to ,porphyry1 there is lacking in the ,golden ,verses as given by ,hierocles1 two lines which ought to be placed immediately before those which open the unitive part of the doctrine of ,pythagoras called perfection2 these are#eeb3 1 ' 4 ,on the moment of awakening1 consider calmly ,what are thy duties1 and what thou shouldst accomplish4 ,these lines1 which express the general outline of this last part1 are remarkable1 and one cannot conceive how ,hierocles could have overlooked or neglected them4 ,although1 it is true1 they add nothing in the literal sense1 they say much1 however1 in the figurative sense2 they serve as proof of the division of this poem1 which ,hierocles himself has adopted without explanation4 ,lysis indicates quite strongly that he is about to pass on to a new teaching3 he calls the attention of the disciple of ,pythagoras to the new career which is opened before him1 and to the means of traversing it and of attaining to the divine virtues which must crown it4 ,this means is the knowledge of oneself1 as ,i have said4 ,this knowledge1 so commended by the ancient sages1 so exalted by them1 which must open the avenues of all the others and deliver to them the key of the mysteries of nature and the doors of the ,universe2 this knowledge1 ,i say1 could not be exposed unveiled at the epoch when ,pythagoras lived1 on account of the secrets that it would of necessity betray4 ,likewise this philosopher had the habit of proclaiming it under the emblem of the sacred ,tetrad or of the ,quaternary4 ,this is why ,lysis1 in invoking the name of his master1 designates it on this occasion with the most striking characteristic of his doctrine4 8,i swear10 he said1 8by the one who has revealed to our soul the knowledge of the ,tetrad1 that source of eternal ,nature03 that is to say1 ,i swear by the one who1 teaching our soul to know itself1 has put it in condition to know all nature of which it is the abridged image4 ,in many of my preceding ,examinations ,i have already explained what should be understood by this celebrated ,tetrad1 and here would perhaps be the time to reveal its constitutive principles2 but this revelation would lead me too far4 ,it would be necessary in order to do this1 to enter into details of the arithmological doctrine of ,pythagoras which1 lacking preliminary data1 would become fatiguing and unintelligible4 ,the language of ,numbers of which this philosopher made use1 following the example of the ancient sages1 seems today entirely lost4 ,the fragments which have come down to us serve rather to prove its existence than to give any light upon its elements2 for those who have composed these fragments wrote in a language that they supposed understood1 in the same manner as our modern writers when they employ algebraic terms4 ,it would be ridiculous if one wished before having acquired any notion concerning the value and use of the algebraic signs1 to explain a problem contained in these signs4 ,this is1 however1 what has often been done relative to the language of ,numbers4 ,one has pretended1 not only to explain it before having learned it1 but even to write of it1 and has by so doing rendered it the most lamentable thing in the world4 ,the savants seeing it thus travestied have justly scorned it2 as their contempt was not unreasonable they have made it reflect1 by the same language upon the ancients who have employed it4 ,they have acted in this as in many other things2 they themselves creating the stupidity of ancient sciences and saying afterwards3 antiquity was stupid4 ,one day ,i shall try1 if ,i find the time and the necessary facilities1 to give the true elements of the arithmological science of ,pythagoras and ,i will show that this science was for intelligible things what algebra has become among us for physical things2 but ,i shall only do so after having revealed what the true principles of music are2 for otherwise ,i should run the risk of not being understood4 ,without perplexing ourselves1 therefore1 with the constitutive principles of the ,pythagorean ,quaternary1 let us content ourselves with knowing that it was the general emblem of anything moving by itself and manifesting by its facultative modifications2 for according to ,pythagoras1 #a and #b represent the hidden principles of things2 #c1 their faculties1 and #d1 their proper essence4 ,these four numbers which1 united by addition produce the number #aj1 constituted the ,being1 as much universal as particular2 so that the ,quaternary1 which is as its virtue1 could become the emblem of all beings1 since there is none which may not recognize the principles1 and which does not manifest itself by faculties more or less perfect1 and which may not enjoy an existence universal or relative2 but the being to which ,pythagoras applied it most commonly was ,man4 ,man1 as ,i have said1 manifests himself as does the ,universe1 under the three principal modifications of body1 soul1 and spirit4 ,the unknown principles of this first ,ternary are what ,plato calls the same1 and the other1 the indivisible and the divisible4 ,the indivisible principle gives the spirit2 the divisible the body2 and the soul has birth from this last principle elaborated by the first4#eec ,such was the doctrine of ,pythagoras which was borrowed by ,plato4 ,it had been that of the ,egyptians1 as can be seen in the works which remain to us under the name of ,hermes4 ,synesius1 who had been initiated into their mysteries1 said particularly1 that human souls emanated from two sources3 the one luminous1 which flows from heaven on high2 the other tenebrous1 which springs from the earth in the abysmal depths of which it finds its origin4#eed ,the early ,christians1 faithful to theosophical tradition1 followed the same teaching2 they established a great difference between the spirit and the soul4 ,they considered the soul as an issue of the material principle1 and in consequence being neither enlightened nor virtuous in itself4 ,the spirit1 said ,basil1 is a gift of ,god3 it is the soul of the soul1 as it were2 it is united to the soul2 it enlightens it1 it rescues it from earth and raises it to heaven4#eee ,beausobre1 who relates these words1 observes that this sentiment was common to several ,fathers of the primitive church1 particularly to ,tatian4#eef ,i have spoken often of this first ,ternary1 and even of the triple faculties which are attached to each of its modifications2 but as ,i have done many times1 ,i believe it useful to present here the ensemble1 so as to have the opportunity of uniting1 under the same viewpoint1 the volitive unity1 from which results the human ,quaternary1 in general1 and in the particular being1 which is man4 ,the three faculties which1 as ,i have said1 distinguish each of the three human modifications are3 sense perception for the body1 sentiment for the soul1 and assent for the spirit4 ,these three faculties develop instinct1 understanding1 and intelligence1 which produce by a common reaction1 common sense1 reason1 and sagacity4 ,instinct1 placed at the lowest degree of the ontological hierarchy1 is absolutely passive2 intelligence1 raised to the summit1 is entirely active1 and understanding placed in the centre1 is neuter4 ,sense perception perceives the sensations1 sentiment conceives the ideas1 assent elects the thoughts2 perception1 conception1 election are modes of acting1 of the instinct1 the understanding1 and the intelligence4 ,the understanding is the seat of all the passions that the instinct feeds continually1 excites1 and tends to make unruly2 and that the intelligence purifies1 tempers1 and seeks always to put in harmony4 ,the instinct1 reacted upon by the understanding1 becomes common sense3 it perceives notions more or less clearly1 following more or less1 the influence that it accords to the understanding4 ,the understanding1 reacted upon by the intelligence1 becomes reason3 it conceives of opinions so much the more just1 as its passions are the more calm4 ,reason cannot by its own movement attain to wisdom and find truth1 because being placed in the middle of a sphere and forced from there1 it describes1 from the centre to the circumference1 a ray always straight and subordinate to the point of departure2 it has against it infinity1 that is to say1 that truth being one1 and residing in a single point of the circumference1 it cannot be the subject of reason1 only as far as it is known beforehand1 and as reason is placed in the direction convenient for its encounter4 ,intelligence1 which can only put reason in this direction by the assent that it gives at the point of departure1 would never know this point only by wisdom which is the fruit of inspiration3 now1 inspiration is the mode of acting of the will1 which joining itself to the triple ,ternary1 as ,i have just described1 constitutes the human ontological ,quaternary4 ,it is the will which envelops the primordial ,ternary in its unity1 and which determines the action of each of its faculties according to its own mode without the will it would have no existence4 ,the three faculties by which the volitive unity is manifested in the triple ,ternary1 are memory1 judgment1 and imagination4 ,these three faculties1 acting in a homogeneous unity1 have neither height nor depth and do not affect one of the modifications of the being1 any more than another2 they are all wherever the will is1 and the will operates freely in the intelligence or in the understanding2 in the understanding or in the instinct3 where it wills to be there it is2 its faculties follow it everywhere4 ,i say that it is wherever it wills to be when the being is wholly developed2 for following the course of ,nature1 it is first in the instinct and only passes into the understanding and into the intelligence successively and in proportion as the animistic and spiritual faculties are developed4 ,but in order that this development may take place1 the will must determine it2 for without the will there is no movement4 ,be assured of this4 ,without the operation of the will1 the soul is inert and the spirit sterile4 ,this is the origin of that inequality among men of which ,i have spoken4 ,when the will does not disengage itself from matter1 it constitutes instinctive men2 when it is concentrated in the understanding1 it produces animistic men2 when it acts in the spirit1 it creates intellectual men4 ,its perfect harmony in the primordial ,ternary1 and its action more or less energetic in the uniformity of their faculties1 equally developed1 constitute the extraordinary men endowed with sublime genius2 but the men of this fourth class which represents the autopsy of the mysteries1#eeg are extremely rare4 ,often it suffices for a powerful will1 acting either in the understanding or in the intelligence and concentrating wholly there1 to astonish men by the strength of reasoning and outbursts of wisdom1 which draws the name of genius without being wholly merited4 ,recently there has been seen in ,germany the most extraordinary reasoning1 in ,kant1 failing in its aim through lack of intelligence2 one has seen in the same country the most exalted intelligence1 in ,boehme1 giving way for want of reason4 ,there have been in all times and among all nations men similar to ,boehme and to ,kant4 ,these men have erred through not knowing themselves2 they have erred1 through a lack of harmony that they might have been able to acquire1 if they had taken the time to perfect themselves2 they have erred1 but their very error attests the force of their will4 ,a weak will1 operating either in the understanding or in the intelligence1 makes only sensible men and men of intellect4 ,this same will acting in the instinct produces artful men2 and if it is strong and violently concentrated through its original attraction in this corporal faculty1 it constitutes men dangerous to society1 miscreants1 and treacherous brigands4 ,after having applied the ,pythagorean ,quaternary to ,man1 and having shown the intimate composition of this ,being1 image of the ,universe1 according to the doctrine of the ancients1 ,i ought perhaps to use all the means in my power1 in order to demonstrate with what facility the physical and metaphysical phenomena which result from their combined action can be deduced2 but such an undertaking would necessarily draw me into details foreign to these examinations4 ,i must again put off this point as ,i have put off many others2 ,i will take them up in another work1 if the savants and the thinkers to whom ,i address myself approve the motive which has put the pen in my hand4 #bf4 ,but before all1 thy soul to its faithful duty1 ,invoke these ,gods with fervour1 they whose aid1 ,thy work begun1 alone can terminate4 ,all the cults established upon the face of the earth have made a religious duty of prayer4 ,this alone would prove1 if it were necessary1 what ,i have advanced concerning the theosophical dogma of the volitive liberty of man2 for if man were not free in his actions1 and if an irresistible fatality led him on to misfortune and to crime1 what use would be invoking the gods1 imploring their assistance1 begging them to turn aside from him the evils which must inevitably overwhelm him8 ,if1 as ,epicurus taught1 an impenetrable barrier separated gods and men2 if these gods1 absorbed in their beatitude and their impassive immortality1 were such strangers to the evils of humanity that they neither troubled to alleviate them nor to prevent them1 for what purpose then the incense burning at the foot of their altars8#eeh ,it was1 he said1 on account of the excellence of their nature that he honoured them thus1 and not from any motive of hope or fear1 not expecting any good from them and not dreading any evil4#eei ,what miserable sophism6 ,how could ,epicurus say such a thing before having explained clearly and without amphibology1 what the origin of good and evil is1 so as to prove that the gods indeed do not cooperate either for the augmentation of the one1 or the diminution of the other8 ,but ,epicurus had never dreamed of giving this explanation4 ,however little he might have considered it1 he would have seen that in whatever fashion he had given it1 it would have overthrown the doctrine of atoms2 for a sole principle1 whatever it may be1 cannot produce at the same time good and evil4 ,nevertheless1 if he has not explained this origin1 and if he has not shown in a peremptory way that we are in a sphere where absolute evil reigns1 and that consequently we can have no sort of communication with that wherein good resides1 it will remain always evident that if we are not in such a sphere1 and if we possess a portion of good1 this good must come to us from the sphere wherein absolute good has its source4 ,now1 this sphere is precisely that in which ,epicurus places the gods4#efj ,but1 perhaps1 a defender of ,epicurus will say1 the good that we possess comes to us only once from the divine sphere and thenceforth it comes to us no more4 ,this is contrary to the most intimate and most general notion that we have of the ,divinity1 to that of its immutability upon which ,epicurus himself leans most1 and from which it results that the gods could never be what they have been1 nor do what they have done4 ,in one word1 just as well as in a thousand1 any maker of a system is obliged to do one of two things1 either to declare himself what the origin is of good and evil1 or to admit a priori the theosophical dogma of the liberty of man4 ,epicurus knew this1 and although this dogma might ruin his system completely1 he preferred to admit it than expose himself to give an explanation beyond his capability and beyond that of all men4 ,but if man is free1 he can be counselled2 if he can be counselled1 it is evident that he can1 even that he must1 demand counsel4 ,this is the rational principle of prayer4 ,now1 common sense is the asking for counsel wiser than its own1 and sagacity shows in the ,gods the source of wisdom4 ,epicurus1 nevertheless1 denied the intervention of divine ,providence and pretended that the ,gods1 absorbed in their supreme felicity1 do not mingle in any affair4#efa ,a single question1 simple and nave1 would overthrow this assertion destitute of proofs1 and besides1 inconsistent with the conduct of ,greek philosophy2 but ,i prefer to leave this question to ,bayle1 who has expended much logic in sustaining this point4 ,this ,french philosopher1 under pretext of making ,epicurus dispute with a polytheistic priest1 advances against ,providence an argument which he believes irresistible1 and which is1 indeed1 one of the most subtle that one could possibly advance4 8,are the gods satisfied with their administration or are they dissatisfied8 ,be mindful10 he says1 8of my dilemma3 if they are satisfied with what comes to pass under their providence1 they are pleased with evil2 if they are dissatisfied1 they are unhappy40#efb ,the manner in which ,bayle throws himself into the midst of the question1 without examining the principles of it1 denounces him as a skeptic2 it is necessary therefore to use against him the weapons that ,i have given against skepticism2 that is1 to bring him back abruptly to the principles1 by interrogating him before replying to him4 ,it is necessary to ask him1 if he admits a difference between that which is and that which is not8 ,he is forced to admit it1 as ,i have said2 for in whatever region of himself his will takes refuge1 whether it exercises its judgment in the instinct1 in the understanding or in the intelligence1 you will pursue it in him opposing1 in the first case1 the axiom of common sense3 nothing is made from nothing2 in the second1 that of reason3 that which is1 is2 in the last1 that of sagacity3 everything has its opposite and can have only one4 ,nothing is made from nothing therefore that which is not1 can never produce that which is4 ,that which is1 is2 therefore1 that which is not1 is not that which is4 ,everything has its opposite and can have only one2 therefore the absolute opposite of that which is1 is that which is not4 ,if the skeptic refuses himself the evidence of common sense1 of reason and of sagacity united1 he lies to his conscience1 or he is mad and then one must leave him4 ,the difference admitted between that which is and that which is not1 proceeds therefore against ,bayle1 or against those who resemble him2 ask them if man is a prey to absolute evil1 whether physical or moral8 ,they will reply to you1 no2 for they will feel that if they should respond otherwise1 you would prove to them that not having the faculty of making a difference between good and evil1 nor of comparing them together1 they could never draw from this comparison their strongest argument against ,providence4 ,they will1 therefore1 reply that man is not a prey to absolute evil1 but to a very great relative evil2 as great as they wish4 ,you1 nevertheless continue thus3 if man is not a prey to absolute evil1 he might be1 since it would suffice for this to take away the sum of good which mitigates the evil1 and which the difference1 previously established between that which is and that which is not1 teaches to distinguish4 ,now1 this sum of good1 whence comes it8 ,who dispenses it8 ,who8 ,if the skeptics are silent1 affirm for them that it emanates from the gods themselves and that ,providence is the dispenser4 ,then reply to their dilemma1 and say that the gods are content with their administration and that they have reason to be1 since by it they procure a sum of good increasing more and more1 for the beings which without ,providence would never know it2 and that their ,providence1 which has mitigated evil from its origin1 mitigates it still and will mitigate it to its end2 and if the astonished skeptics object that ,providence takes a great deal of time to make what should be made in an instant1 reply to them that it is not a question of knowing how nor why it makes things1 but only that it makes them2 which is proved by the overthrow of their dilemma2 and which1 after all1 is saying with more reason in this circumstance than in any other1 that time has nothing to do with the affair1 since it is nothing to ,providence1 although for us it may be much4 ,and if1 continuing to draw inferences from your reasoning1 the skeptics say to you that1 according to the continual effusion of good which you establish1 the sum ought to be daily augmented1 whilst that of evil1 diminishing in the same proportion1 ought at last to disappear wholly1 which they cannot believe2 reply1 that the inferences of a reasoning which confounds theirs are at their disposal2 that they can deduce from them as much as they wish2 without engaging you1 for that matter1 to discuss the extent of their view1 either in the past1 or in the future1 because each one has his own2 that1 besides1 you owe it to truth to teach them that the dogma1 by means of which you have ruined the laborious structure of their logic1 is no other than a theosophical tradition1 universally received from one end of the earth to the other1 as it is easy to prove to them4 ,open the sacred books of the ,chinese1 the ,burmans1 ,indians1 and ,persians1 you will find there the unequivocal traces of this dogma4 ,here1 it is ,providence represented under the traits of a celestial virgin1 who1 sent by the ,supreme ,being1 furnished arms to combat and to subjugate the genius of evil1 and to bring to perfection everything that it had corrupted4#efc ,there1 it is the ,universe itself and the ,worlds which compose it1 which are signalized as the instrument employed by this same ,providence to attain this end4#efd ,such was the secret doctrine of the mysteries4#efe ,good and ,evil were represented in the sanctuaries under the emblems of light and darkness3 the formidable spectacle of the combat between these two opposed principles was given there to the initiate2 and after many scenes of terror1 the most obscure night was insensibly succeeded by the purest and most brilliant day4#eff ,it was exactly this that ,zoroaster had publicly taught4 ,ormuzd said this theosophist knew by his sovereign science that at first he could in no way influence ,ahriman2 but that afterwards he united with him and that at last he finished by subjugating him and changing him to such a degree that the ,universe existed without evil for a duration of centuries4#efg ,when the end of the world comes he said in another place the wickedest of the infernal spirits will be pure1 excellent1 celestial3 yes he adds1 he will become celestial1 this liar1 this evil doer2 he will become holy1 celestial1 excellent1 this cruel one3 vice itself1 breathing only virtue1 will make long offerings of praise to ,ormuzd before all the world4#efh ,these words are the more remarkable when one considers that the dogma relating to the downfall of the rebellious angel has passed from the cosmogony of the ,parsees into that of the ,hebrews1 and that it is upon this dogma alone1 imperfectly interpreted by the vulgar1 that the contradictory doctrine of the eternity of evil and the torments that follow it1 have been founded4 ,this doctrine1 but little understood1 has been sharply attacked4#efi ,simon1 very inappropriately surnamed the ,magician1 forced ,st4 ,peter himself1 disputing with him1 to acknowledge that the ,hebraic writings had said nothing positive on this subject4#egj ,this is certain4 ,these writings1 interpreted as they have been by the ,hellenic ,jews and given out under the name of ,version of the ,septuagint1 shed no light upon this important point2 but it is well to know that these interpreters have designedly concealed this light1 in order not to divulge the meaning of their sacred book4 ,if one understood thoroughly the language of ,moses1 one would see that1 far from setting aside the theosophical traditions which he had received in ,egypt1 this theocratic legislator remained constantly faithful to them4 ,the passage in his ,sepher where he speaks of the annihilation of ,evil1 in the meaning of ,zoroaster1 is in chapter iii41 v4 #ae1 of the part vulgarly called ,genesis1 as ,i hope one day to show4#ega ,but without entering at this time1 into the discussion where the real translation of this passage would lead me1 let it suffice to say that the early ,christians were very far from admitting the eternity of evil2 for without speaking of ,manes and his numerous followers who shared the opinion of ,zoroaster1#egb those who are versed in these sorts of matters know that ,origen taught that torments will not be eternal1 and that demons1 instructed by chastisement1 will be converted at last and will obtain their pardon4#egc ,he was followed in this by a great number of learned men1 by the evidence of ,beausobre who quotes1 on this subject1 the example of a philosopher of ,edessa1 who maintained that after the consummation of the ages1 all creatures would become consubstantial with ,god4#egd ,one thing worthy of notice is that ,zoroaster1 who has made prayer one of the principal dogmas of his religion1 has been imitated in this by ,mohammed1 who1 unknowingly1 perhaps1 has borrowed a great number of things from this ancient legislator of the ,parsees4 ,it is presumable that the followers of ,manes1 having retired to ,arabia1 were responsible for these borrowings1 by the opinions that they circulated there4 ,but1 it must be frankly stated1 this dogma1 quite in its place in the ,zend-,avesta1 does not appear so consistent in the ,koran1 for1 of what use is it in a cult where the predestination of men1 necessitated by the ,prescient and ,all-,powerful ,divine1 delivers irresistibly the greatest part of them to an eternal damnation1 on account of the original stain imprinted upon mankind by the sin of the first man8 ,one cannot be prevented1 in reflecting upon this manifest contradiction1 from believing that the theosophical tradition pertaining to the free will of man1 and the influencing action of ,providence operating the progressive augmentation of good and the gradual diminution of evil1 announced openly by ,zoroaster1 must have acted secretly in the mind of the theocratic legislator of ,arabia4 ,if it had not been thus1 the prayers that he ordered as one of the first and most essential duties of the religion1 would have been without object4 ,according to the doctrine of ,pythagoras revealed by ,hierocles1 two things agree in the efficacy of prayer3 the voluntary movement of our soul1 and aid from heaven4 ,the first of these things is that which seeks goodness2 and the other that which shows it4 ,prayer is a medium between our quest and the celestial gift4 ,one seeks1 one prays in vain1 if one adds not prayer to research and research to prayer4 ,virtue is an emanation from ,god2 it is like a reflected image of the ,divinity1 the resemblance of which alone constitutes the good and the beautiful4 ,the soul which is attached to this admirable type of all perfection is aroused to prayer by its inclination to virtue1 and it augments this inclination by the effusion of the goodness which it receives by means of prayer2 so that it does precisely what it demands and demands what it does4#ege ,socrates was not far from the doctrine of ,pythagoras in this respect2 he added only1 that prayer exacted much precaution and prudence1 lest1 without perceiving it1 one demand of ,god great evils1 in thinking to ask great blessings4 ,the sage he said knows what he ought to say or do2 the fool is ignorant of it2 the one implores in prayer1 what can be really useful to him2 the other desires often things which1 being granted him1 become for him the source of greatest misfortunes4 ,the prudent man he adds1 however little he may doubt himself1 ought to resign himself to ,providence who knows better than he1 the consequences that things must have4 ,this is why ,socrates cited as a model of sense and reason this prayer of an ancient poet3 ,grant us good whether prayed for or unsought by us2 ,but that which we ask amiss1 do thou avert4#egf ,the prayer was1 as ,i have said1 one of the principal dogmas of the religion of ,zoroaster#egg3 the ,persians also had the greatest confidence therein4 ,like the ,chaldeans1 they founded all magical power upon its efficacy4 ,they still possess today certain kinds of prayers for conjuring maladies and driving away demons4 ,these prayers1 which they name tavids1 are written upon strips of paper and carried after the manner of talismans4#egh ,it is quite well-known that the modern ,jews use them in the same way4 ,in this they imitate1 as in innumerable other things1 the ancient ,egyptians whose secret doctrine ,moses has transmitted to them4#egi ,the early ,christians were inclined to theosophical ideas on this subject4 ,origen explains it clearly in speaking of the virtue attached to certain names invoked by the ,egyptian sages and the most enlightened of the magians of ,persia4#ehj ,synesius1 the famous ,bishop of ,ptolemas1 initiated into the mysteries1 declares that the science1 by means of which one linked the intelligible essences to sentient forms1 by the invocation of spirits1 was neither vain nor criminal1 but on the contrary quite innocent and founded upon the nature of things4#eha ,pythagoras was accused of magic4 ,ignorance and weakness of mind have always charged science with this banal accusation4#ehb ,this philosopher1 rightly placed in the rank of the ablest physicians of ,greece1#ehc was1 according to his most devoted disciples1 neither of the number of the gods1 nor even of those of the divine heroes2 he was a man whom virtue and wisdom had adorned with a likeness to the gods1 by the complete purifying of his understanding which had been effected through contemplation and prayer4#ehd ,this is what ,lysis expressed by the following lines3 #bg4 ,instructed by them1 naught shall then deceive thee2 ,of diverse beings thou shalt sound the essence2 ,and thou shalt know the principle and end of ,all4 ,that is to say1 that the true disciple of ,pythagoras1 placed en rapport with the gods through contemplation1 arrived at the highest degree of perfection1 called in the mysteries1 autopsy2 saw fall before him the false veil which until then had hidden ,truth1 and contemplated ,nature in its remotest sources4 ,it is necessary1 in order to attain to this sublime degree1 that the intelligence1 penetrated by the divine ray of inspiration1 should fill the understanding with a light intense enough to dissipate all the illusions of the senses1 to exalt the soul and release it wholly from things material4 ,thus it was explained by ,socrates and ,plato4#ehe ,these philosophers and their numerous disciples put no limit to the advantages of autopsy1 or theophany1 as they sometimes named this highest degree of the telestic science4 ,they believed that the contemplation of ,god could be carried so far during this same life1 that the soul became not only united to this ,being of beings1 but that it was mingled and blended with it4 ,plotinus boasted having experienced the joy of this beatific vision four times1 according to ,porphyry1 who himself claimed to have been honoured with it at the age of sixty-eight4#ehf ,the great aim of the mysteries was to teach the initiates the possibility of this union of man with ,god1 and to indicate to them the means4 ,all initiations1 all mythological doctrines1 tended only to alleviate the soul of the weight of material things1 to purify it1 so that1 desirous of spiritual welfare1 and being projected beyond the circle of generations1 it could rise to the source of its existence4#ehg ,if one examines carefully the different cults which still dominate upon earth1 one will see that they have not been animated by any other spirit4 ,the knowledge of the ,being of beings has been offered everywhere as the aim of wisdom2 its similitude1 as the crown of perfection2 and its enjoyment1 as the object of all desires and the goal of all efforts4 ,the enumeration of its infinite faculties has varied2 but when one has dared fix one's attention upon the unity of its essence1 one has always defined it as has ,pythagoras3 the principle and the end of all things4 ,the ,spirit whence proceed the created beings say the ,brahmans1 by which they live after being emanated from it1 toward which they aspire1 and in which they are finally absorbed1 this ,spirit is that1 to the knowledge of which thou shouldst aspire1 the ,great ,being4#ehh,the ,universe is one of its forms4#ehi;,it is the ,being of beings3 without form1 without quality1 without passion2 immense1 incomprehensible1 infinite1 indivisible1 incorporal1 irresistible3 no intelligence can conceive of its operations and its will suffices to move all intelligences4#eij;,it is the ,truth and the ,science which never perish4#eia;,its wisdom1 its power1 and its plan1 are as an immense and limitless sea which no being is in condition either to traverse or to fathom4 ,there is no other ,god than it4 ,the ,universe is filled with its immensity4 ,it is the principle of all things without having principles4#eib ,god is one1#eic eternal1 like unto a perfect sphere which has neither beginning nor end4 ,he rules and governs all that exists by a general providence1 resultant of fixed and determined principles4 ,man ought not to seek to penetrate the nature or the essence of this ,ineffable ,being3 such a research is vain and criminal4 ,thus do the ,hindu sages express themselves in sundry places4 ,they commend aspiring to the knowledge of the ,being of beings1 making oneself worthy to be absorbed in its bosom2 and forbid1 at the same time1 seeking to penetrate its nature4 ,i have already said that such was the doctrine of the mysteries4 ,i am about to add an important reflection in order to cast some light upon a doctrine which1 at first glance1 appears contradictory4 ,man1 who aspires by the inner movement of his will1 to attain to the highest degree of human perfection1 and who1 by the purification of his understanding1 and the acquisition of celestial virtues1 puts himself in a state to receive the truth1 must observe that the higher he rises in the intelligible sphere1 the nearer he approaches to the unfathomable ,being whose contemplation must make his happiness1 the less he can communicate the knowledge of it to others2 for truth1 coming to him under intelligible forms more and more universalized1 can never be contained in the rational or sentient forms that he might give it4 ,here is the point where many mystic contemplators have gone astray4 ,as they had never adequately fathomed the triple modification of their being1 and as they had not known the intimate composition of the human ,quaternary1 they were ignorant of the manner in which the transformation of ideas was made1 as much in the ascendant progression as in the descendant progression2 so that1 confusing continually understanding and intelligence1 and making no difference between the products of their will according as it acted in one or the other of its modifications1 they often showed the opposite of what they intended to show2 and instead of the seers that they might1 perhaps1 have been1 they became visionaries4 ,i could give a great many examples of these aberrations2 but ,i will limit myself to a single one1 because the man who furnishes it for me1 immeasurably great on the side of intelligence1 lacked understanding and felt keenly himself1 the weakness of his reason4 ,this man1 whose audacious gaze has penetrated as far as the divine sanctuary1 is a ,german shoemaker of obscure birth1 called ,jacob ,boehme4 ,the rusticity of his mind1 the roughness of his character1 and more than all that1 the force and the number of his prejudices1 render his works almost unintelligible and therefore repel the savants4 ,but when one has the patience and talent necessary to separate the pure gold from its dross and from its alloy1 one can find there things which are nowhere else4 ,these things1 which present themselves nearly always under the oddest and most absurd forms1 have taken them by passing from his intelligence to his instinct1 without his reason having had the force to oppose itself4 ,this is how he artlessly expresses this transformation of ideas3 8,now that ,i have raised myself so high1 ,i dare not look back for fear that giddiness may seize me ''' for as long as ,i ascend1 ,i am convinced of my impulse2 but it is not the same when ,i turn my head and when ,i wish to descend2 then ,i am troubled1 ,i am bewildered1 it seems to me that ,i shall fall40#eid ,and in truth he fell so rapidly that he did not perceive1 either the terrible disparity between his ideas and his expressions1 nor the manifest contradictions into which his prejudices had drawn him4 ,these grave disadvantages1 which do not strike the vulgar1 were perfectly understood and appreciated by the sages4 ,the institutors of the mysteries were not ignorant of them and it is for this that they had imposed the most absolute silence upon the initiates and particularly upon the epopts1 to whom they gave their highest teachings4 ,they made them feel readily that intelligible things can only become sentient by being transformed1 and that this transformation requires a talent and an authority even1 which cannot be the appanage of all men4 ,i am now at the close of my reflection4 ,the diverse cults established upon earth are but the transformations of ideas2 that is to say1 particular forms of religion1 by means of which a theocratic legislator or theosophic sage renders sentient that which is intelligible1 and puts within reach of all men what1 without these forms1 would have been only within reach of a very small number2 now1 these transformations can only be effected in three ways1 according to the three faculties of the human ,ternary2 the fourth1 which concerns its ,quaternary or its relative unity1 being impossible4 ,i beg the reader to recall what ,i have said1 touching the intimate composition and movement of this ,quaternary1 and grant me a little attention4 ,the aim of all the cults being to conduct to the knowledge of the ,divinity1 they differ only by the route that they travel in its attainment1 and this route depends always upon the manner in which the ,divinity has been considered by the founder of the cult4 ,if this founder has considered it in his intelligence1 he has seen the ,divinity in its universal modifications1 and1 therefore1 triple1 as the ,universe2 if he has considered it in his understanding1 he has seen it in its creative principles1 and1 therefore1 double as ,nature2 if he has considered it in his instinct1 he has seen it in its faculties and its attributes1 and1 therefore1 infinite1 as ,matter2 if he has considered it1 finally1 in its proper volitive unity1 acting at once in its three modifications1 he has seen this same ,divinity according to the force and movement of his thought1 either in its absolute essence or in its universal essence2 that is1 ,one in its cause1 or ,one in its effects4 ,examine closely what ,i have said and see if there exists a single cult upon the face of the earth that you may not connect with one of the kinds whose origin ,i have indicated4 ,i have said that the ,divinity1 considered in the human intelligence1 is shown under the emblem of the universal ,ternary2 hence all the cults which are dominated by three principal gods as in ,india1#eie in ,greece and in ,italy1#eif three principal modifications in the same ,god1 as in ,china1#eig in ,japan1 in ,tibet and among the considerable followers of ,fo-,hi or ,buddha4#eih ,this cult1 which has been called that of the ,tritheists1 is one of the most widespread on earth1 and one which has mingled most easily with the others4 ,it pleases the imagination and gives to wisdom great power to rise to intelligible truths4 ,i have said that the ,divinity1 considered in the human understanding1 is manifest under the emblem of two natural principles3 hence1 all the cults wherein two opposed beings appear1 as in the cult of ,zoroaster4 ,this cult1 which is rarely encountered as pure as among the ancient ,persians1 or among the followers of ,manes1 mingles readily with tritheism and even polytheism3 it was quite recognizable in ,egypt and among the ,scandinavians1 and much more involved among the ,indians1 ,greeks1 and ,latins4 ,this cult could be considered as a natural ,diarchy1 and those who follow it1 ,diarchists4 ,judgment and reason conform very well in it2 one also sees ordinarily1 profound reasoners and skeptics1 inclining there nolens volens4#eii ,its abuse leads to atheism2 but it offers great means1 when one knows how to make good use of it1 to penetrate the essence of things and succeed to the explanation of natural phenomena4 ,again ,i say1 that the ,divinity considered in the instinct is presented under the emblem of material infinity3 hence1 all cults where1 by a contrary movement1 the intelligible becomes sentient and the sentient intelligible2 as when the attributes and faculties of the ,divinity are particularized and personified1 and as the agents of ,nature1 the parts of the ,universe and the individual beings themselves1 are deified4 ,this cult1 to which ,i have given the name of ,polytheism1 is everywhere1 under different forms and under different names1 the portion of the vulgar4 ,more or less apparent it insinuates itself in the midst of the other two1 multiplies the images of the intellectual modifications and the natural principles1 and whatever attentions the theosophists bring to forestall its invasion1 end by stifling utterly the spirit of it beneath the material covering which envelops them4 ,this cult1 the cradle of all religions1 with which the other two can never entirely dispense1 which nourishes and lives in their life1 is also the tomb4 ,it pleases singularly that faculty of man which is developed first1 sense perception2 it aids the development of instinct and can1 by the sole medium of common sense1 lead to the knowledge of the natural principles4 ,its abuse precipitates peoples into idolatry and superstition2 its good use arouses the talents and gives birth to heroic virtues4 ,one becomes artist or hero through the exaltation of ,polytheism2 savant or philosopher through that of ,diarchy2 and sage or theosophist through that of ,tritheism4 ,these three cults1 whether pure or variously mixed1 are the only ones in which transformation may be possible2 that is to say1 which may be clothed in ostensible forms and enclosed in any sort of ritual4 ,the fourth cult1 which is founded upon the absolute unity of ,god1 is not transformable4 ,this is the reason4 ,the ,divinity considered in the volitive unity of man1 acting at the same time in its principal faculties1 is manifested finally1 in its absolute essence1 or in its universal essence2 ,one in its cause1 or ,one in its effects3 thence1 not only all public cults1 but all secret mysteries1 all doctrines mystic and contemplative2 for how can that which has no likeness to anything be represented8 ,how render sentient that which is beyond all intelligence8 ,what expressions will be consistent with that which is inexpressible1 with that which is more ineffable than silence itself8 ,what temples will one raise to that which is incomprehensible1 inaccessible1 unfathomable8 ,the theosophists and sages have realized these difficulties2 they have seen that it was necessary to suppress all discourse1 to set aside all simulacra3 to renounce all enclosures1 to annihilate finally all sentient objects or to be exposed to give false ideas of the absolute essence of a ,being that neither time nor space can contain4 ,many have dared the undertaking4 ,one knows1 in delving into ages long since past1 that the ancient ,magians of ,persia erected no temple and set up no statue4#fjj ,the ,druids acted in the same manner4#fja ,the former invoked the ,principle of all things upon the summits of mountains2 the latter1 in the depths of the forests4 ,both deemed it unworthy of the divine ,majesty to enclose it within precincts and to represent it by a material image4#fjb ,it even appears that the early ,romans shared this opinion4#fjc ,but this cult1 entirely intellectual and destitute of forms1 could not subsist long4 ,perceptible objects were needed by the people1 on which they might place their ideas4 ,these objects1 even in spite of the legislator who sought to proscribe them1 insinuated themselves4#fjd ,images1 statues1 temples were multiplied notwithstanding the laws which prohibited them4 ,at that time if the cult did not undergo a salutary reform1 it was changed1 either into a gross anthropomorphism1 or into an absolute materialism3 that is to say1 that a man of the people being unable to rise to the divine ,unity1 drew it down to his level2 and the savant1 being unable to comprehend it and believing nevertheless to grasp it1 confused it with ,nature4 ,it was to evade this inevitable catastrophe that the sages and theosophists had1 as ,i have said1 made a mystery of the ,unity of ,god1 and had concealed it in the inmost recesses of the sanctuaries4 ,it was only after many trials1 and not until the initiate was judged worthy to be admitted to the sublime degree of autopsy1 that the last veil was lifted to his gaze1 and the principle and end of all things1 the ,being of beings1 in all its unfathomable ,unity1 was delivered to his contemplation4#fje #bh4 ,if ,heaven wills it1 thou shalt know that ,nature1 ,alike in everything1 is the same in every place4 ,i have already said that the homogeneity of ,nature was1 with the unity of ,god1 one of the greatest secrets of the mysteries4 ,pythagoras founded this homogeneity upon the unity of the spirit by which it is penetrated and from which1 according to him1 all our souls draw their origin4#fjf ,this dogma which he had received from the ,chaldeans and from the priests of ,egypt was admitted by all the sages of antiquity1 as is proved at great length by ,stanley and the astute ,beausobre4#fjg ,these sages established a harmony1 a perfect analogy between heaven and earth1 the intelligible and the sentient1 the indivisible substance and the divisible substance2 in such a manner that that which took place in one of the regions of the ,universe or of the modifications of the primordial ,ternary was the exact image of that which took place in the other4 ,this idea is found very forcibly revealed by the ancient ,thoth1 called ,hermes ,trismegistus1#fjh by the ,greeks1 in the table of ,emerald which is attributed to him4 ,in truth1 and without fiction1 in truth1 in truth1 ,i say to you1 that things inferior are like unto the superior2 both unite their invincible forces to produce one sole thing1 the most marvellous of all1 and as all things are emanated by the will of one unique ,god1 thus all things whatsoever must be engendered by this sole thing1by a disposition of ,universal nature4#fji ,i must say1 however1 that it is upon the homogeneity of ,nature that were founded in the principle all the so-called occult sciences of which the principal four1 relating to the human ,quaternary1 were ,theurgy1 ,astrology1 ,magic1 and ,chemistry4#faj ,i have already spoken of the astrological science1 and ,i have given sufficient evidence of what ,i think regarding the ridiculous and petty ideas concerning it that the modems have conceived4 ,i will refrain from speaking of the other three1 on account of the prolixities into which the discussions that they would provoke might lure me4 ,in another work ,i will endeavour to show that the principles upon which they were supported differed greatly from those which superstition and blind credulity have given them in times of ignorance2 and that the sciences taught to the initiates in the ancient sanctuaries1 under the names of ,theurgy1 ,magic1 or ,chemistry1 differed much from what the vulgar have understood in later times by the same words4 #bi4 ,so that1 as to thy true rights enlightened1 ,thine heart shall no more feed on vain desires4 ,that is to say1 that the disciple of ,pythagoras1 having attained through knowledge of himself to that of truth1 ought to judge sanely of the possibility or impossibility of things1 and to find in wisdom itself that just mean which he has found in virtue and in science4 ,equally distant from that blind credulity which admits and seeks without reflection the things most incompatible with the laws of ,nature1 and from that presumptuous ignorance which rejects and denies without examination all those things which issue from the narrow circle of its empirical notions2 he should understand with exactness the limits and the forces of ,nature1 know instantly what is contained therein or what exceeds them1 and not form any vow1 any project1 or any enterprise beyond his power4 #cj4 ,thou shalt see that the evils which devour men ,are of their choice the fruit4''' ,undoubtedly one of the most important things for man to understand is the nearest cause of his evils1 so that1 ceasing from murmuring against ,providence1 he may blame only himself for the misfortunes of which he is the proper artisan4 ,ignorance1 always weak and presumptuous1 concealing its own mistakes1 holds responsible1 with their consequences1 the things which are most foreign there3 thus the child which hurts itself1 threatens with his voice and strikes with his hand the wall against which he has stumbled4 ,of all errors this is the most common4 ,likewise he acknowledges with as much difficulty his own wrongs as he accuses with ease those of others4 ,this baleful habit of imputing to ,providence the evils which afflict humanity has furnished1 as we have seen1 the strongest arguments to the skeptics to attack its influence1 and to undermine thus in its foundation the very existence of the ,divinity4 ,all peoples have been guilty of this#faa2 but the moderns are1 as ,i believe1 the only ones who coldly and without passion1 in order to sustain certain opinions that they have embraced1 have raised systematically their ignorance concerning the cause of evil1 and made an irresistible fatality proceed from the ,all-,powerful and divine ,prescience1 which drawing man on to vice and misfortune1 damns him by force2 and by a consequence determined by the will of ,god1 delivers him to eternal sufferings4#fab ,such were those among the ,christians of the fifth century1 who were named ,predestinarians on account of their terrible system4 ,their opinion1 it is true1 was condemned by the councils of ,arles and ,lyon#fac2 but they declared that the church fell into inconsistency1 since the sentiment in this respect1 being exactly conformable with that which ,saint ,augustine had advanced against the ,pelagians1 this church could not condemn the one without condemning the other and therefore1 without deciding in favour of the opposed doctrine which they had already condemned4 ,it is certain that the ,predestinarians were right on this last point1 as well as ,gotescalc1 ,baius1 and ,jansenius1 who1 with the book of ,saint ,augustine in hand1 proved it later on1 by causing in this church1 at different times1 troubles more or less violent on the subject4 ,this is the moment to complete the proofs of what ,i advanced in my ,seventh ,examination1 that the liberty of man can be established only by the sole theosophical tradition1 and the assent that all the sages of the earth have given to it2 and that there is no doctrine1 which1 becoming separated1 does not abandon the ,universe to the irresistible impulse of an absolute fatality4 ,i have shown sufficiently the emptiness of all the cosmogonical systems1 whether their authors have founded them upon a sole principle or upon two1 upon spirit or upon matter2 ,i have sufficiently indicated the danger that would have ensued from divulging the secret dogma of divine ,unity1 since this disclosure drew with it the necessity of explaining the origin of ,good and ,evil1 which was impossible2 ,i have cited the example of ,moses1 and ,i have demonstrated as a decisive point in this matter that those of his followers who rejected the oral tradition of this great man1 to attach themselves to the literal meaning only of his ,sepher1 fell into fatalism and were led to make ,god himself the author of ,evil2 finally ,i have announced that ,christianity and ,islamism1 issuing alike from the ,mosaic doctrine1 have not been able to evade the dogma of predestination3 this dogma1 although often repulsed by the ,christian and ,mussulman doctors1 alarmed at its consequences1 is shown1 none the less1 from the facts4 ,the ,koran which teaches it openly exempts me from other proofs in defence of the ,mussulmans4 ,let us turn to the ,christians4 ,it is certain that one of the greatest men of the primitive church1 ,origen1 perceiving to what consequences the explanation of the origin of ,evil led1 by the way in which it was vulgarly understood1 according to the literal translation of the ,sepher of ,moses1 undertook to bring all back to allegory1 recalling ,christianity being born to the theosophical tradition pertaining to the free will of man#fad2 but his books1 wherein he exposed this tradition according to the doctrine of ,pythagoras and ,plato1#fae were burned as heretical1 by the order of ,pope ,gelasius4#faf ,the church at that time paid little attention to the blow dealt by ,origen1 occupied as it was with examining the principal dogmas of incarnation1 of the divinity of ,jesus1 of the consubstantiality of the ,word1 of the ,unity of its person and the duality of its nature2 but when1 following the energetic expression of ,plucquet1 the flame of conflagration had passed over all these opinions1 and when the waves of blood had drenched the ashes1 it was necessary to offer new food for its activity4 ,an ,english monk named ,pelagius1#fag born with an ardent and impetuous mind1 was the foremost to attack this thorny question of the liberty of man1 and1 wishing to establish it1 was led to deny original sin4 ,man he said is free to do good or evil3 he who tries to lay the blame of his vices on the weakness of nature1 is unjust3 for what is sin1 in general8 ,is it a thing that one may evade1 or not8 ,if one cannot evade it1 there is no evil in committing it and then it does not exist3 if one can evade it1 it must be evil to commit it and therefore it exists3 its very existence is born of the free will1 and proves it4#fah ,the dogma of original sin continued ,pelagius is absurd and unjust to ,god2 for a creature which does not exist would not be an accomplice of a bad action2 and it outrages divine justice1 to say that ,god punishes him as guilty of this action4#fai ,man added ,pelagius has therefore a real power of doing good and evil1 and he is free in these two respects4 ,but the liberty of doing a thing supposes necessarily the union of all causes and of all conditions requisite for doing that thing2 and one is not free regarding an effect1 every time that one of the causes or conditions naturally exigent for producing this effect is lacking4 ,therefore1 to have the liberty of seeing the subjects1 it is necessary not only that the sense of sight be well developed1 but also that the subjects be discriminated1 and placed at an equitable distance4#fbj ,this far1 the doctrine of ,pelagius was wholly similar to that of ,pythagoras1 as explained by ,hierocles#fba2 but it differs from it afterwards1 in what the ,english monk asserted1 that since man is born with the liberty of doing good and evil1 he receives from nature and unites in him all the conditions and all the causes naturally necessary for good and evil2 which robs him of his most beautiful prerogative1perfectibility2 whereas ,pythagoras held1 on the contrary1 that these causes and these effects were only accorded to those who1 on their part1 concurred in acquiring them1 and who1 by the work that they have done for themselves in seeking to know themselves1 have succeeded in possessing them more and more perfectly4 ,however mitigated the doctrine of ,pelagius might be1 it appeared still to accord too much with free will and was condemned by the ecclesiastical authorities1 who declared1 through the medium of several councils1 that man can do nothing of himself without the aid of grace4 ,saint ,augustine1 who had been the soul of these councils1 pressed by the disciple of ,pelagius to explain the nature of this grace and to say how ,god accorded it to one man rather than to another without being induced by the difference of their merits1 replied that man being in the masse de perdition1 and ,god having no need of them1 and being furthermore independent and all-powerful1 he gave grace to whom he willed1 without the one to whom he did not give it having the right to complain2 everything coming to pass as a result of his will1 which had foreseen all and determined all4#fbb ,assuredly one could not establish more forcibly the necessity of all things1 nor submit men to a sterner fatality1 since the want of grace deprived them1 not only of virtue in the fleeting course of this life1 but delivered them without hope to the torments of an eternal hell4 ,but ,saint ,augustine1 who obeyed a severe and consistent reason1 felt very well that he could not speak otherwise1 without renouncing the dogma of original sin and overthrowing the foundation of ,christianity4 ,all the rigid ,christians1 all those who1 at different times1 have undertaken to restore ,christianity to its constitutive principles1 have thought as ,saint ,augustine1 and although the church1 alarmed at the terrible inferences that were drawn from the canonical doctrine1 may have essayed to temper it1 by condemning1 as ,i have said1 the ,predestinarians and by approving of the persecutions directed against ,gotescalc2 and1 at the time when ,luther drew in his reform a great part of ,christendom toward the dogma of predestination1 this did not prevent ,baius1 who remained faithful to orthodoxy1 from preaching the same dogma2 nor ,calvin1 soon after1 from adding new lights to what ,luther had left doubtful1 and ,jansenius1 finally1 corroborating what ,baius had only outlined1 from raising in the very midst of the church that formidable faction which all the united efforts of the ,pope and the ,jesuits have been unable to convict of erring in the doctrine of ,saint ,augustine1 which it has sustained with a force worthy of a better cause4 ,according to ,calvin1 who of all of them expresses himself most clearly1 the soul of man1 all of whose faculties are infected with sin1 lacks force to resist the temptation which lures him on toward evil4 ,the liberty of which he prides himself is a chimera2 he confounds the free with the voluntary1 and believes that he chooses freely because there is no constraint1 and that he wills to do the evil that he does4#fbc ,thus following the doctrine of this reformer1 man1 dominated by his vicious passions1 can produce of himself only wicked actions2 and it is to draw him from this state of corruption and impotence that it was necessary that ,god should send his son upon earth to redeem him and to atone for him2 so that it is from the absence of liberty in man that ,calvin draws his strongest proofs of the coming of ,christ3 8,for10 he said1 8if man had been free1 and if he had been able to save himself1 it would not have been needful that ,god should offer up his ,son in sacrifice40#fbd ,this last argument seems irresistible4 ,besides when the ,jesuits had accused ,calvin and his followers of making ,god the author of sin1 and of destroying thus all idea of the ,divinity#fbe they knew better than to say how it can be otherwise accomplished4 ,they would not have been able1 without doing a thing impossible for themthat is1 without giving the origin of evil4 ,the difficulty of this explanation1 which ,moses1 even as ,i have said1 has enveloped with a triple veil1 has in no wise escaped the fathers of the primitive church4 ,they have well felt that it was the important point whereon depended the solution of all other questions4 ,but how can one attempt even the explanation8 ,the most enlightened among them had agreed that it is an abyss of nature that one would not know how to fathom4#fbf #ca4 ''' that these unfortunates ,seek afar the goodness whose source within they bear4 ,the source of all goodness is wisdom1 and wisdom begins with the knowledge of oneself4 ,without this knowledge1 one aspires in vain to real goodness4 ,but how is it obtainable8 ,if you interrogate ,plato upon this important point1 he will respond to you1 that it is in going back to the essence of thingsthat is to say1 in considering that which constitutes man in himself4 8,a workman1 you will say to this philosopher1 is not the same thing as the instrument which he uses2 the one who plays the lyre differs from the lyre upon which he plays4 ,you will readily agree to this1 and the philosopher1 pursuing his reasoning1 will add3 ,and the eyes with which this musician reads his music1 and the hands with which he holds his lyre1 are they not also instruments8 ,can you deny1 if the eyes1 if the hands are instruments1 that the whole body may likewise be an instrument1 different from the being who makes use of it and who commands80 ,unquestionably no1 and you will comprehend sufficiently that this being1 by which man is really man1 is the soul1 the knowledge of which you ought to seek4 8,for10 ,plato will also tell you1 8he who knows his body1 only knows that it is his1 and is not himself4 ,to know his body as a physician or as a sculptor1 is an art1 to know his soul1 as a sage1 is a science and the greatest of all sciences40#fbg ,from the knowledge of himself man passes to that of ,god2 and it is in fixing this model of all perfection that he succeeds in delivering himself from the evils which he has attracted by his own choice4#fbh ,his deliverance depends1 according to ,pythagoras1 upon virtue and upon truth4#fbi ,the virtue1 that he acquires by purification1 tempers and directs the passions2 the truth1 which he attains by his union with the ,being of beings1 dissipates the darkness with which his intelligence is obsessed2 and both of them1 acting jointly in him1 give him the divine form1 according as he is disposed to receive it1 and guide him to supreme felicity4#fcj ,but how difficult to obtain this desired goal6 #cb4 ,for few know happiness3 playthings of the passions1 ,hither1 thither tossed by adverse waves1 ,upon a shoreless sea1 they blinded roll1 ,unable to resist or to the tempest yield4 ,lysis shows in these lines what are the greatest obstacles to the happiness of man4 ,they are the passions3 not the passions in themselves1 but the evil effects that they produce by the disordered movement that the understanding allows them to take4 ,it is to this that the attention must be directed so that one should not fall into the error of the ,stoics4 ,pythagoras1 as ,i have said1 did not command his disciples to destroy their passions1 but to moderate their ardour1 and to guide them well4 8,the passions10 said this philosopher1 8are given to be aids to reason2 it is necessary that they be its servants and not its masters40 ,this is a truth that the ,platonists and even the ,peripatetics have recognized1 by the evidence of ,hierocles4#fca ,thus ,pythagoras regarded the passions as instruments of which the understanding makes use in raising the intellectual edifice4 ,a man utterly deprived of them would resemble a mass inert and immovable in the course of life2 it is true that he might be able not to become depraved1 but then he could not enjoy his noblest advantage1 which is perfectibility4 ,reason is established in the understanding to hold sway over the passions2 it must command them with absolute sovereignty1 and make them tend towards the end that wisdom indicates4 ,if it should not recognize the laws that intelligence gives it1 and if1 presumptuously1 it wishes1 instead of acting according to given principles1 to lay down principles itself1 it falls into excess1 and makes man superstitious or skeptic1 fanatic or atheist2 if1 on the contrary1 it receives laws from the passions that it ought to rule1 and if weak it allows itself to be subjugated by them1 it falls into error and renders man stupid or mad1 brutish in vice1 or audacious in crime4 ,there are no true reasonings except those admitted by wisdom2 the false reasonings must be considered as the cries of an insensate soul1 given over to the movements of an anarchical reason which the passions confuse and blind4#fcb ,pythagoras considered man as holding the mean between things intellectual and sentient1 the lowest of the superior beings and the highest of the inferior1 free to move either toward the heights or the depths1 by means of his passions1 which bring into action the ascending or descending movement that his will possesses with potentiality2 sometimes being united with the immortals and1 through his return to virtue1 recovering the lot which is his own1 and other times plunging again into mortal kind and through transgression of the divine laws finding himself fallen from his dignity4#fcc ,this opinion1 which had been that of all the sages who had preceded ,pythagoras1 has been that of all the sages who have followed him1 even of those among the ,christian theosophists whose religious prejudices have removed them farthest from his doctrine4 ,i shall not stop to give the proofs of its antiquity2 they are to be found everywhere1 and would be superfluous4 ,thomas ,burnet1 having vainly sought for the origin without being able to discover it1 decided that it was necessary that it should descend from heaven4#fcd ,it is certain that one can only with difficulty explain how a man without erudition1 like ,boehme1 never having received this opinion from anyone1 has been able to explain it so clearly4 8,when one sees man existing10 says this theosophist1 8one can say3 ,here all ,eternity is manifested in one image40#fce ,the abode of this being is an intermediate point between heaven and hell1 love and anger2 that1 of the things to which he is attached1 becomes his kind4''' ,if he inclines toward the celestial nature1 he assumes a celestial form1 and the human form becomes infernal if he inclines toward hell2 for as the mind is1 so is the body4 ,in whatever way the mind projects itself1 it shadows forth its body with a similar form and a similar source4#fcf ,it is upon this principle1 which one finds still everywhere diversely expressed1 that the dogma of the transmigration of souls is founded4 ,this dogma1 explained in the ancient mysteries1#fcg and received by all peoples1#fch has been to such an extent disfigured in what the moderns have called ,metempsychosis1 that it would be necessary to exceed considerably the limits of these ,examinations in order to give an explanation which could be understood4 ,later ,i will endeavour to expose my sentiment upon this mystery1 when ,i treat of ,theurgy and other occult sciences to which it is allied4 #cc4 ,god6 ,thou couldst save them by opening their eyes4 ,lysis here approaches openly one of the greatest difficulties of nature1 that which in all time has furnished to the skeptics and to the atheists the weapons that they have believed most formidable4 ,hierocles has not concealed it in his ,commentaries1 and he expresses it in these terms3 8,if ,god is able to bring back all men to virtue and to happiness1 and if he does not will to do so1 is ,god therefore unjust and wicked8 ,or if he wills to bring them back and if he is unable1 is ,god therefore weak and impotent80#fci ,long before ,hierocles1 ,epicurus seized upon this argument to support his system1 and had extended it without augmenting its force4 ,his design had been to prove by its means that1 according as he had advanced it1 ,god does not interfere with the things of this world1 and that there is1 consequently1 no ,providence4#fdj ,lactantius1 thinking that he was answering this1 has quoted from ,epicurus and has afforded ,bayle1 the most learned and the most formidable of modern skeptics1 the occasion for demonstrating that1 until now1 this terrible argument had remained unrefuted notwithstanding all the efforts made for its overthrow4 ,this indefatigable reasoner said3 ,the evil exists2 man is wicked and unhappy3 everything proves this sad truth4 ,history is1 properly speaking1 only a miscellany of the crimes and adversities of mankind4 ,however1 at intervals1 there have been seen shining some examples of virtue and happiness4 ,there is1 therefore1 a mixture of evils and of moral and physical goodness4''' ,now1 if man is the work of a sole principle1 sovereignly good1 sovereignly holy1 sovereignly potential1 how is he exposed to the maladies of cold1 heat1 hunger1 thirst1 pain1 and sorrow8 ,how has he so many wicked inclinations8 ,how does he commit so many crimes8 ,can the sovereign sanctity produce a criminal creature8 ,can the sovereign bounty produce an unfortunate creature8#fda ,bayle1 content with his anti-providential declaration1 believes that he has triumphed over all the dogmatists of the world2 but whilst he recovers his breath1 observe that he admits a mixture of good and evil1 and allow him to continue4 8,origen10 he said1 8asserts that evil has come from the wicked use of the free will4 ,and why has ,god allowed man to have so pernicious a free will80 8,because10 ,origen answers1 8an intelligent creature who had not enjoyed free will would have been immutable and immortal as ,god40 ,what pitiable reason6 ,is it that the glorified souls1 the saints1 are equal to ,god1 being predestined to good1 and deprived of what is called free will1 which1 according to ,saint ,augustine1 is only the possibility of evil when the divine grace does not incline man towards the good8#fdb ,bayle1 after several outbursts of this sort1 finishes by declaring that the way in which evil is introduced under the rule of a sovereign being1 infinitely good1 infinitely potential1 infinitely holy1 is not only inexplicable but even incomprehensible4#fdc ,bayle is right on this point2 also ,i have always said1 in the course of this work1 that the origin of evil1 comprehensible or not1 could never be divulged4 ,but the matter of the origin of evil is not the question here4 ,bayle was too good a reasoner not to have felt it1 not to have seen that the argument of ,epicurus1 and all the elocution with which he furnished it1 did not bear upon the cause of evil itself1 but upon its effects2 which is quite different4 ,epicurus did not demand that the origin of evil be explained to him1 but the local existence of its effectsthat is to say1 one should state clearly to him1 that if ,god was able and willing to take away the evil from the world1 or to prevent it from penetrating there1 why he did not do so4 ,when any one's house is the prey of flames1 one is not so insensate as to be concerned with knowing what the essence of the fire is1 and why it burns in general1 but why it burns in particular2 and why1 being able to extinguish it1 one has not done so4 ,bayle1 ,i repeat1 was too clever a logician not to have perceived this4 ,this distinction was too simple to have escaped him2 but seeing that its very simplicity had concealed it from the doctors of the ,christian church1 he was content to affect an ignorance of it to his adversaries1 to have the pleasure1 so precious to a skeptic such as he1 of seeing them one after another exhaust themselves upon the argument of ,epicurus3 ,god1 whether he wills to take away evil1 and can not2 whether he can and does not will to2 whether he does not will it nor can2 whether he wills it and can4 ,if he wills it and can not1 he is weak2 which does not accord with ,god4 ,if he can and does not will it1 he is wicked2 which accords with him no better4 ,if he does not will it nor can1 he is wicked and weak1 which could not be4 ,if he can and wills it1 that which alone is worthy of his divinity1 whence then come the evils8 ,or why does he not take them away8#fdd ,lactantius1 to whom ,bayle owed his argument1 had thought to overthrow it1 by saying that ,god1 being able to take away evil1 did not will it2 so as to give to men1 by its means1 wisdom and virtue4#fde ,but the skeptic philosopher had no trouble to prove that this answer was worth nothing1 and that the doctrine that it contained was monstrous2 since it was certain that ,god was able to give wisdom and virtue without the means of evil2 since he had even given them1 following the belief of ,lactantius himself1 and that it was because he had renounced them that man had become subject to evil4 ,saint ,basil was no more fortunate than ,lactantius4 ,vainly he asserted that the free will1 whence results evil1 had been established by ,god himself in the design that this ,all-powerful ,being had for being loved and freely served4 ,bayle1 attacking him in his own faith1 asked him1 if ,god is loved and served by force in ,paradise1 where the glorified souls do not enjoy the fatal privilege of being able to sin4#fdf ,and with the same blow with which he struck him1 he brought down ,malebranche who had said the same thing4#fdg ,the downfall of ,malebranche1 and the desire to avenge him1 bestirred in vain a crowd of audacious metaphysicians4 ,bayle pierced them one after another with the weapons of ,epicurus1 whose steel they did not know1 and died with the glory of their having said the greatest piece of stupidity which could be said upon a like matter3 namely1 that it was possible that ,god might prescribe another end1 in creating the world1 than to make his creatures happy4#fdh ,the death of ,bayle did not extinguish the ardour that his works had excited4 ,leibnitz1 justly displeased with all that had been said1 thought he could answer the skeptic philosopher better2 and raising himself with a great force of genius to that pristine moment when ,god formed the decree of producing the world1 he represented the ,being of beings choosing among an infinity of worlds1 all possible1 all present at his thought1 the actual world1 as most conformable to his attributes1 the most worthy of him1 the best finally1 the most capable of attaining to the greatest and most excellent end that this all-perfect ,being may have been able to purpose4#fdi ,but what is this magnificent and worthy end which the ,divinity has chosen1 this goal which not alone constitutes the actual world such as it is1 but which also presents it to the mind1 according to the system of ,leibnitz1 as the best of possible worlds8 ,this philosopher does not know4 ,we are not able he said to penetrate it1 for we are too limited for this2 we can only infer1 by reasoning with the insight that ,god has given us1 that his bounty only has been able to purpose1 by creating the greatest possible number of intelligent creatures1 by endowing them with as much knowledge1 happiness1 and beauty as the ,universe might admit without going away from the immutable order established by his wisdom4#fej ,up to this point1 the system of ,leibnitz sustained itself1 and was able even to lead to a relative truth2 but its work was not accomplished4 ,it was necessary to explain1 following the demand of ,epicurus so much repeated by ,bayle1 how in this immutable order established by the divine ,wisdom in this best of worlds1 that physical and moral evil make felt such severe effects4 ,the ,german philosopher1 instead of stopping at these effects1 and stating the primordial cause1 inaccessible to his researches1 still scorned it1 as had all the adversaries of ,bayle1 and asserted that physical and moral evils were necessary to maintain this immutable order1 and entered into the plan of this best of worlds4 ,fatal assertion which overthrew his system instantly3 for1 how dares one to say that evil is necessary1 and above all necessary not only in what is best1 but in what is the best possible6 ,now1 whatever may be the primordial cause of ,evil1 concerning which ,i can not nor do ,i wish to explain myself1 until the triple veil1 extended over this formidable mystery by ,moses1 may have been raised1 ,i will say1 according to the doctrine of ,pythagoras and ,plato1 that its effects can be neither necessary1 nor irresistible since they are not immutable and ,i will reply to the much-lauded argument of ,epicurus1 that by this very thing they are neither necessary nor irresistible2 ,god can and will remove them and he does remove them4 ,and if certain disciples of ,bayle1 astonished by a reply so bold and so new1 asked me when and how ,god works so great a benefit1 of which they have perceived no traces1 ,i will say to them3 by time and by means of perfectibility4 ,time is the instrument of ,providence2 perfectibility1 the plan of its work2 ,nature1 the object of its labour2 and ,good1 its result4 ,you know1 and ,bayle himself agrees1 that there exists a mixture of good and evil3 and ,i repeat to you here what ,i have already said#fea2 and ,i maintain that this good emanates from ,providence1 and is its work1 and replaces in the sphere where it has been transported1 an equivalent amount of evil which it has transmuted into good2 ,i maintain that this good continues augmenting itself unceasingly and the evil which corresponds to it1 diminishing in an equal proportion2 ,i maintain finally that1 having left absolute evil and having arrived at the point where you now are1 you will arrive by the same road and by the same means1 that is1 by favour of time and of perfectibility1 from the point where you are to absolute ,good1 the crown of perfection4 ,this is the answer to your question1 ,when and how does ,god take away evils8 ,still if you claim you cannot see any of this1 ,i will reply that it is not for you1 arguing with the weakness of your view1 to deny the progress of ,providence1 you whose imperfect senses mistake all the time even the subjects within your range1 and for whom the extremes are touching so forcibly1 that it is impossible for you to distinguish upon the same dial the movement of the needle which traverses it in a cycle1 from the movement of that which traverses it in less than a second2 one of these needles appearing to you immobile and the other not existing for you4#feb ,if you deny what ,i affirm1 bring other proofs of your denial than your weakness and cease1 from the little corner where ,nature has placed you1 presuming to judge its immensity4 ,still if you lack negative proofs1 wait a moment more1 and you shall have from me affirmative proofs4 ,but if1 going back1 and wishing to sustain the argument of ,epicurus which is giving way1 you believe that you will succeed by saying that this philosopher had not asked1 in the case where ,god was able and willed to remove evils1 how he removed them1 but why he did not remove them2 ,i will reply to you that this question is a pure sophism2 that the how is implicitly contained in the why1 to which ,i have replied in affirming that ,god1 being able and willing to remove evils1 removes them4 ,and if you recall an objection that ,i have already overthrown concerning the manner in which he removes them1 and that bringing you to judge of his ways1 you would assume that he ought to remove them1 not in a lapse of time so long that you would be unconscious of it1 but in the twinkling of an eye2 ,i would reply that this way would be to you quite as imperceptible as the other2 and that furthermore1 that which you demand exists1 since the lapse of time of which you complain1 however long it may appear to you1 is less than the twinkling of an eye for the ,being of beings who employs it1 being absolutely nihil compared to ,eternity4 ,and from there ,i will take occasion to tell you that evil1 in the way in which it is manifest in the world1 being a sort of malady1 ,god1 who alone can cure it1 knows also the sole remedy which may be applicable to it and that this sole remedy is time4 ,it seems to me that however little attention you may have given to what ,i have just said1 you ought to be tempted to pass on from the knowledge of the remedy to that of the malady2 but it is in vain that you would demand of me an explanation concerning its nature4 ,this explanation is not necessary to overthrow the argument of ,epicurus and that is all that ,i have wished to do4 ,the rest depends upon you and ,i can only repeat with ,lysis3 8,god6 ,thou couldst save them by opening their eyes40 #cd4 ,but no3 'tis for the humans of a race divine1 ,to discern ,error1 and to see the ,truth4 ,hierocles who1 as ,i have said1 has not concealed the difficulty which is contained in these lines1 has raised it1 by making evident that it depends upon the free will of man1 and by putting a limit upon the evils which he attracts to himself by his own choice4 ,his reasoning coinciding with mine can be reduced to these few words4 ,the sole remedy for evil1 whatever may be the cause1 is time4 ,providence1 minister of the ,most ,high1 employs this remedy2 and by means of perfectibility which results from it1 brings back all to good4 ,but the aptitude of the maladies for receiving it acts in proportion to this remedy4 ,time1 always the same1 and always nihil for the ,divinity is1 however1 shortened or lengthened for men1 according as their will coincides with the providential action or differs therefrom4 ,they have only to desire good1 and time which fatigues them will be lightened4 ,but what if they desire evil always1 will time therefore not be finished8 ,will the evils therefore have no limit8 ,is it that the will of man is so inflexible that ,god may not turn it towards the good8 ,the will of man is free beyond doubt2 and its essence1 immutable as the ,divinity whence it emanates1 knows not how to be changed1 but nothing is impossible for ,god4 ,the change which is effected in it1 without which its immutability may in no wise be altered1 is the miracle of the ,all-,powerful4 ,it is a result of its own liberty1 and if ,i dare to say it1 takes place by the coincidence of two movements1 whose impulse is given by ,providence2 by the first1 it shows to the will1 goodness2 by the second1 it puts it in a fitting position to meet this same goodness4 #ce4 ,nature serves them4''' ,lysis expresses it thus3 ,nature1 by the homogeneity which1 as ,i have stated1 constitutes its essence1 teaches men to see beyond the range of their senses1 transports them by analogy from one region to another and develops their ideas4 ,the perfectibility which is manifested through the grace of time is called perfection2 for the more a thing is perfected the more perfect it becomes4 ,the man who perceives this is struck by it1 and if he reflect he finds truth1 as ,i have openly stated1 and to which ,lysis was content with making allusion1 on account of the secret of the mysteries that he was forced to respect4 ,it is this perfectibility manifested in ,nature1 which gives the affirmative proofs that ,i have promised1 touching the way in which ,providence removes with time the evils which afflict men4 ,these are the proofs de facto4 ,they cannot be challenged without absurdity4 ,i know well that there have been men who1 studying ,nature within four walls1 and considering its operations through the extremely narrow prism of their ideas1 have denied that anything might be perfectible1 and have asserted that the ,universe was immobile because they have not seen it move2 but there does not exist today a genuine observer1 a naturalist whose learning is founded upon ,nature1 who does not invalidate the decision of these pretended savants1 and who does not put perfectibility in the rank of the most rigorously demonstrated truths4 ,i shall not quote the ancients on a subject where their authority would be challenged2 ,i shall even limit myself1 to evade prolixities1 to a small number of striking passages among the moderns4 ,leibnitz1 who ought less than any other to admit perfectibility1 since he had founded his system upon the existence of the best of worlds possible1 has1 however1 recognized it in ,nature1 in advancing that all the changes which are operated there are the consequence of both2 that everything tends toward its improvement1 and that therefore the present is already teeming with the future4#fec ,buffon1 inclining strongly toward the system of atoms1 ought also to be much opposed1 and yet he has been unable to see that ,nature1 in general1 tends far more toward life than toward death1 and that it seems to be seeking to organize bodies as much as is possible4#fed ,the school of ,kant has pushed the system of perfectibility as far as it could go4 ,schelling1 the disciple of most consequence of this celebrated man1 has followed the development of ,nature with a force of thought which has perhaps passed the mark4 ,the former1 has ventured to say that ,nature is a sort of ,divinity in germ1 which tends to apotheosis1 and is prepared for existence with ,god1 by the reign of ,chaos1 and by that of ,providence4#fee ,but those are only speculative opinions4 ,here are opinions founded upon facts4 ,as soon as one considers the ,earth observingly1 the naturalists say1 one perceives striking traces of the revolutions that it has sustained in anterior times4#fef ,the continents have not always been what they are today1 the waters of the globe have not always been distributed in the same manner4 ,the ocean changes insensibly its bed1 undermines the lands1 divides them1 rushes over some1 and leaves others dry4 ,the islands have not always been islands4 ,the continents have been peopled1 with living and vegetating beings1 before the present disposition of the waters upon the globe4#feg ,these observations confirm what ,pythagoras and the ancient sages have taught upon this subject#feh3 ,besides these same naturalists continue1 the greater part of the fossil bones that have been assembled and compared are those of animals different from any of the species actually known2 has the kingdom of life therefore changed8 ,this one cannot refuse to believe4#fei ,as ,nature proceeds unceasingly from the simple to the composite1 it is probable that the most imperfect animals should have been created before the tribes1 higher in the scale of life4 ,it even seems that each of the animal classes indicates a sort of suspension in the creative power1 an intermission1 an era of repose1 during which ,nature prepared in silence the germs of life which should come to light in the course of the cycles4 ,one might thus enumerate the epochs of living ,nature1 epochs remote in the night of ages and which have been obliged to precede the formation of mankind4 ,a time may have been when the insect1 the shell1 the unclean reptile1 did not recognize the master in the ,universe and were placed at the head of the organized bodies4#ffj ,these observers add3 ,it is certain that most perfect beings come from less perfect1 and that they are obliged to be perfected in the sequence of generations4 ,all animals tend towards man2 all vegetables aspire to animality2 minerals seek to draw nearer to the vegetable4''' ,it is evident that ,nature1 having created a series of plants and animals1 and having stopped at man who forms the superior extremity1 has assembled in him all the vital faculties that it had distributed among the inferior races4#ffa ,these are the ideas of ,leibnitz4 ,this celebrated man had said3 8,men hold to animals2 these to plants1 and those to fossils4 ,it is necessary that all the natural orders form only one sole chain1 in which the different classes hold strictly as if they were its links40#ffb ,several philosophers have adopted them1#ffc but none have expressed them with more order and energy than the author of the article ,nature1 in ,le ,nouveau ,dictionnaire d',histoire naturelle4 ,all animals1 all plants are only the modifications of an animal1 of a vegetable origin4''' ,man is the knot which unites the ,divinity to matter1 which links heaven and earth4 ,this ray of wisdom and intelligence which shines in his thoughts is reflected upon all ,nature4 ,it is the chain of communication between all beings4 ,all the series of animals he adds in another place present only a long degradation from the proper nature of man4 ,the monkey1 considered either in his exterior form or in his interior organization1 resembles only a degraded man2 and the same suggestion of degradation is observed in passing from monkeys to quadrupeds2 so that the primitive trend of the organization is recognized in all1 and the principal viscera1 the principal members are identical there4#ffd ,who knows observes elsewhere the same writer who knows if in the eternal night of time the sceptre of the world will not pass from the hands of man into those of a being more worthy of bearing it and more perfect8 ,perhaps the race of negroes1 today secondary in the human specie1 has already been queen of the earth before the white race was created4''' ,if ,nature has successively accorded the empire to the species that it creates more and more perfect1 why should she cease today4''' ,the negro1 already king of animals1 has fallen beneath the yoke of the ,european2 will the latter bow the head in his turn before a race more powerful and more intelligent when it enters into the plans of ,nature to ordain his existence8 ,where will his creation stop8 ,who will place the limits of his power8 ,god alone raises it and it is ,his all-powerful hand which governs4#ffe ,these striking passages full of forceful ideas1 which appear new1 and which would merit being better known1 contain only a small part of the things taught in the ancient mysteries1 as ,i shall perhaps demonstrate later4 #cf4 ''' ,thou who fathomed it4 ,o wise and happy man1 rest in its haven4 ,but observe my laws1 abstaining from the things ,which thy soul must fear1 distinguishing them well2 ,letting intelligence o'er thy body reign4 ,lysis1 speaking always in the name of ,pythagoras1 addressed himself to those of the disciples of this theosophist1 who had reached the highest degree of perfection1 or autopsy1 and the felicity of their welfare4 ,i have said often enough in the course of these ,examinations1 what should be understood by this last degree1 so that ,i need not refer to it here4 ,i shall not even pause upon what has reference to the symbolic teachings of ,pythagoras1 the formularies and dietetics that he gave to his disciples1 and the abstinences that he prescribed for them1 my design being to give incidentally a particular explanation of it1 for the purpose of not further prolonging this volume4 ,it is well known that all of the eminent men1 as many among the ancients as among the moderns1 all the savants commendable for their labours or their learning1 are agreed in regarding the precepts of ,pythagoras as symbolical1 that is1 as containing figuratively1 a very different meaning from that which they would seem to offer literally4#fff ,it was the custom of the ,egyptian priests from whom he had imbibed them1#ffg to conceal their doctrine beneath an outer covering of parables and allegories4#ffh ,the world was1 in their eyes1 a vast enigma1 whose mysteries1 clothed in a style equally enigmatical1 ought never to be openly divulged4#ffi ,these priests had three kinds of characters1 and three ways of expressing and depicting their thoughts4 ,the first manner of writing and of speaking was clear and simple2 the second1 figurative2 and the third1 symbolic4 ,in the first1 they employed characters used by all peoples and took the words in their literal meaning2 in the second1 they used hieroglyphic characters1 and took the words in an indirect and metaphorical meaning2 finally in the third1 they made use of phrases with double meaning of historic and astronomical fables1 or of simple allegories4#fgj ,the chef-d'uvre of the sacerdotal art was uniting these three ways1 and enclosing under the appearance of a clear and simple style1 the vulgar1 figurative1 and symbolic meaning4 ,pythagoras has sought this kind of perfection in his precepts and often he has succeeded2 but the one of all the theosophists instructed in the sanctuaries of ,thebes or of ,memphis1 who has pushed farthest1 this marvellous art1 is beyond doubt ,moses4 ,the first part of his ,sepher1 vulgarly called ,genesis1 and that should be called by its original name of ,bereshith1 is in this style1 the most admirable work1 the most astounding feat of strength that is possible for a man to conceive and execute4 ,this book1 which contains all the science of the ancient ,egyptians1 is still to be translated and will only be translated when one will put oneself in a condition to understand the language in which it has primitively been composed4 #cg4 ,so that1 ascending into radiant ,ether1 ,midst the ,immortals1 thou shalt be thyself a ,god4 ,here1 said ,hierocles1 in terminating his commentaries1 is the blissful end of all efforts3 here1 according to ,plato1 is the hope which enkindles1 which sustains the ardour of him who fights in the career of virtue3 here1 the inestimable prize which awaits him4#fga ,it was the great object of the mysteries1 and so to speak1 the great work of initiation4#fgb ,the initiate1 said ,sophocles1 is not only happy during his life1 but even after his death he can promise himself an eternal felicity4#fgc ,his soul purified by virtue1 said ,pindar1 unfolds in those blessed regions where reigns an eternal springtime4#fgd ,it goes on1 said ,socrates1 attracted by the celestial element which has the greatest affinity with its nature1 to become united with the immortal ,gods and to share their glory and their immortality4#fge ,this deification was1 according to ,pythagoras1 the work of divine love2 it was reserved for him who had acquired truth through his intellectual faculties1 virtue through his animistic faculties1 and purity through his instinctive faculties4 ,this purity1 after the end of his material body1 shone forth and made itself known in the form of a luminous body1 that the soul had been given during its confinement in its gloomy body2 for as ,i finish these ,examinations1 ,i am seizing the only occasion which may still be presented of saying that1 this philosopher taught that the soul has a body which is given according to his good or bad nature1 by the inner labour of his faculties4 ,he called this body the subtle chariot of the soul1 and said that the mortal body is only the gross exterior4 ,he adds1 8,the care of the soul and its luminous body is1 in practicing virtue1 in embracing truth and abstaining from all impure things40#fgf ,this is the veritable aim of the symbolic abstinences that he prescribes1 even as ,lysis insinuates moreover quite clearly in the lines which make the subject of my preceding ,examination1 when he said that it is necessary to abstain from the things which are injurious to the development of the soul and to distinguish clearly these things4 ,furthermore1 ,pythagoras believed that there existed celestial goodness proportionate to each degree of virtue1 and that there is for the souls1 different ranks according to the luminous body with which they are clothed4 ,the supreme happiness1 according to him1 belongs only to the soul which has learned how to recover itself1 by its intimate union with the intelligence1 whose essence1 changing its nature1 has become entirely spiritual4 ,it is necessary that this soul be raised to the knowledge of universal truths1 and that it should have found1 as far as it is possible for it1 the ,principle and the end of all things4 ,then having attained to this high degree of perfection1 being drawn into this immutable region whose ethereal element is no more subjected to the descending movement of generation1 it can be united by its knowledge to the ,universal ,all1 and reflect in all its being the ineffable light with which the ,being of beings1 ,god ,himself1 fills unceasingly the ,immensity4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,address la ,classe de la ,langue et de la ,littrature franaises1 et celle d',histoire et de ,littrature ancienne de l',institut imprial de ,france4 #b ,this expression will be explained in the progress of the discourse4 #c ,de ,dignit4 et ,increment4 ,scient41 l4 ii41 c4 #ac4 #d ,ibid41 l4 ii41 c4 #a4 #e ,ibid41 l4 vi41 c4 #a4 #f ,plat41 ,dial4 ,ion4 ,aristotle1 who was often opposed to ,plato1 did not dare to be on this point4 ,he agrees that verse alone does not constitute poetry1 and that the ,history of ,herodotus1 put into verse1 would never be other than history4 #g ,ibid4 #h ,de ,dignit4 et ,increment4 ,scient41 l4 ii41 c4 #ac4 #i ,leclerc1 known by the multitude of his works2 l'abb ,bannier1 ,warburton1 etc4 #aj ,de ,dignit4 et ,increment4 ,scient41 l4 ii41 c4 #ac4 ,court de ,gbelin cites ,chancellor ,bacon as one of the first defenders of allegory4 7,gnie allg47 #aa ,pausanias1 l4 iii41 p4 #ic4 #ab ,acron1 ,in ,epist4 ,horat41 i41 #b4 ,certain authors say that ,penelope had conceived this son when ,mercury disguised as a goat had forced her virginity4 7,lucian1 ,dialog4 ,deor41 t4 i41 p4 #agf47 #ac ,hraclides1 entre les petits mythologues4 #ad ,geogr41 l4 i4 #ae ,antiq4 rom41 l4 ii4 #af ,in his book entitled 1 ch4 #ag4 #ag ,in his book entitled 1 ch4 #c4 ,court de ,gbelin cites these works4 7,gnie allg47 #ah ,prp4 ,evang41 l4 iii41 c4 #a4 #ai ,court de ,gbelin1 ,gnie allg41 p4 #adi4 #bj ,strabo positively assures it4 ,see ,bannier1 ,mythol41 ii41 p4 #beb4 #ba ,bailly1 ,essai sur les ,fables1 ch4 #ad4 ,pausanias1 l4 ix41 p4 #cjb4 #bb ,poetry1 in ,greek 1 derived from the ,phnician 7phohe71 mouth1 voice1 language1 discourse2 and from 7ish71 a superior being1 a principle being1 figuratively ,god4 ,this last word1 spread throughout ,europe1 is found with certain change of vowels and of aspirates1 very common in the ,oriental dialects2 in the ,etruscan s1 sar1 in the ,gallic s1 in the ,basque ,as1 and in the ,scandinavian ,ase2 the ,copts still say ,os1 the lord1 and the ,greeks have preserved it in 1 the immutable ,being1 ,destiny1 and in 1 ,i adore1 and 1 ,i revere4 ,thrace1 in ,greek 1 derived from the ,phnician 7rakiwha71 which signifies the ethereal space1 or1 as one translates the ,hebrew word which corresponds to it1 the firmament4 ,this word is preceded in the ,dorian 1 by the letter 1 th1 a kind of article which the ,oriental grammarians range among the hmantique letters placed at the beginning of words to modify the sense1 or to render it more emphatic4 ,olen1 in ,greek 1 is derived from the ,phnician 7whlon71 and is applied in the greater part of the ,oriental dialects to all that which is infinite1 eternal1 universal1 whether in time or space4 ,i ought to mention as an interesting thing and but little known by mythologists1 that it is from the word 7ab or ap7 joined to that of whlon1 that one formed ap-whlon1 ,apollon2 namely1 the ,father universal1 infinite1 eternal4 ,this is why the invention of ,poetry is attributed to ,olen or to ,apollo4 ,it is the same mythological personage represented by the sun4 ,according to an ancient tradition1 ,olen was native of ,lycia1 that is to say1 of the light2 for this is the meaning of the ,greek word 4 #bc ,strabo has judiciously observed that in ,greece all the technical words were foreign4 7,voyez ,bailly1 ,essai sur les ,fables1 ch4 #ad1 p4 #acf47 #bd ,the ,get1 in ,greek 1 were1 according to lius ,spartianus1 and according to the author of le ,monde primitif 7t4 ix41 p4 #di71 the same peoples as the ,goths4 ,their country called ,get1 which should be pronounced ,ghtie1 comes from the word ,goth1 which signifies ,god in most of the idioms of the north of ,europe4 ,the name of the ,dacians is only a softening of that of the ,thracians in a different dialect4 ,msia1 in ,greek 1 is1 in ,phnician1 the interpretation of the name given to ,thrace4 ,the latter means1 as we have seen1 ethereal space1 and the former signifies divine abode1 being composed from the word 7ash71 whose rendering ,i have already given1 before which is found placed the letter 7,m71 one of the hmantiques1 which according to the best grammarians serves to express the proper place1 the means1 the local manifestation of a thing4 #be ,voyez ,court de ,gbelin1 ,monde primitif1 t4 ix41 p4 #di4 #bf ,this mountain was called ,k-,kajn1 according to d',anville4 ,this learned geographer has clearly seen that this name was the same as that of ,caucasus1 a generic name given to all the sacred mountains4 ,it is known that ,caucasus was for the ,persians1 what ,mount ,merou had been for the ,indians and what ,mount ,parnassus became afterwards for the ,greeks1 the central place of their cult4 ,the ,tibetans have also their sacred mountain distinct from that of the ,indians1 upon which still resides the ,god-,priest1 or immortal ,man1 similar to that of the ,get4 7,mm4 de l',acad4 des ,inscript41 t4 xxv41 p4 #de47 #bg ,bailly1 ,essai sur les ,fables1 ch4 #ad4 ,confrez avec ,hrodote1 l4 iv42 et ,pausanias1 l4 ix41 p4 #cjb1 l4 x41 p4 #cbj4 #bh ,dionysus1 in ,greek 1 comes from the word 1 irregular genitive of 1 the living ,god1 and of 1 mind or understanding4 ,the ,phnician roots of these words are 1 1 or 7ash1 ish1 or ash71 ,unique ,being1 and 7n7 the motive principle1 the movement4 ,these two roots1 contracted1 form the word ,nos1 which signifies literally the principle of being1 and figuratively1 the understanding4 ,demeter1 in ,greek 1 comes from the ancient ,greek 1 the earth1 united to the word 1 mother4 ,the ,phnician roots are 7dam7 and 7mt71 the former expressing all that which is formed by aggregation of similar parts2 and the latter1 all that which varies the form and gives it generative movement4 #bi ,bailly1 ,essai sur les ,fables1 ch4 #ae4 ,court de ,gbelin expressly says1 that the sacred mountain of ,thrace was consecrated to ,bacchus4 ,monde prim41 t4 ix41 p4 #di4 ,now1 it is generally known that ,parnassus of the ,greeks was consecrated to ,apollo4 #cj ,theog41 v4 #ejj4 #ca ,the ,greek word 1 ,thrace1 in passing into the ,ionian dialect 1 has furnished the following expressions3 1 a devotee1 1 devotion1 1 ,i adore with devotion4 ,these words1 diverted from their real sense and used ironically after the cult of ,thrace had yielded to that of ,delphi1 were applied to ideas of superstition and even of fanaticism4 ,the point of considering the ,thracians as schismatics was even reached1 and the word composed to express a heresy1 a cult particular to those who practised it1 and separated from orthodoxy4 #cb tolinos is composed1 by contraction1 of two words which appear to belong to one of the ,thracian dialects4 to-,kyros signifies the ruling sun1 among the ,scythians1 according to ,herodotus 7l4 iv41 #ei74 ,helena signified the moon1 among the ,dorians4 ,it is from this last word1 deprived of its article he1 that the ,latins have made ,luna4 #cc ,court de ,gbelin1 ,monde primit41 t4 viii41 p4 #aij4 ,pausanias1 l4 x4 ,confrez avec schyl4 ,in ,choephori1 v4 #ajcf2 ,eurip41 ,in ,orest41 v4 #accj2 ,plat411 ,de ,rep41 l4 iv41 etc4 #cd ,plut41 ,de ,music4 ,tzetzes1 ,chiliads1 vii42 ,hist41 #ajh4 #ce ,amphion1 in ,greek 1 comes from the ,phnician words 7am71 a mother-nation1 a metropolis1 7phi71 a mouth1 a voice1 and 7,jn71 ,greece4 ,thence the ,greeks have derived 1 a mother-voice1 that is1 orthodox1 legal1 upon which all should be regulated4 ,thamyris1 in ,greek 1 is composed of the ,phnician words 7tham71 twin1 7aur71 light1 7ish71 of the being4 #cf ,plut41 ,de ,music4 #cg ,diod4 ,sicul41 l4 iii41 #ce4 ,pausan41 ,in ,bot41 p4 #ehe4 #ch ,bibliotheca ,grca1 p4 #d4 #ci ,duhalde1 t4 iv41 in-fol41 p4 #fe4 ,these ,tartars had no idea of poetry before their conquest of ,china2 also they imagined that it was only in ,china where the rules of this science had been formulated1 and that the rest of the world resembled them4 #dj ,kien-long1 one of the descendants of ,kang-hi1 has made good verse in ,chinese4 ,this prince has composed an historical poem on the conquest of the ,eleuth1 or ,oloth people1 who1 after having been a long time tributary to ,china1 revolted4 7,mm4 concernant les ,chin41 t4 i41 p4 #cbi47 #da ,the commencement of the ,indian ,kali-youg is placed #caja or #cajb years before our era4 ,frret has fixed it1 in his chronological researches1 at ,january #af1 #cajb1 a half hour before the winter solstice1 in the colure of which was then found the first star of ,aries4 ,the ,brahmans say that this age of darkness and uncleanness must endure #dcb1jjj years4 ,kali signifies in ,sanskrit1 all that which is black1 shadowy1 material1 bad4 ,from there1 the ,latin word caligo2 and the ,french word galimatias2 the last part of this word comes from the ,greek word 1 a discourse1 which is itself derived from the ,phnician 7mot or myt71 which expresses all that moves1 stirs up2 a motion1 a word1 etc4 #db ,asiat4 ,research41 t4 ii41 p4 #adj4 ,the ,brahmans say that their imperial dynasties1 pontifical as well as laic1 or solar and lunar1 became extinguished a thousand years after the beginning of the ,kali-youg1 about #bjjj ,b4,c4 ,it was at this epoch that ,india was divided into many independent sovereignties and that a powerful reformer of the cult appeared in ,magadha1 who took the surname of ,buddha4 #dc ,herod41 l4 ii4 ,this historian said that in the early times all ,egypt was a morass1 with the exception of the country of ,thebes2 that nothing was seen of the land1 which one saw there at the epoch in which he was writing1 beyond ,lake ,mris2 and that going up the river1 during a seven days' journey1 all seemed a vast sea4 ,this same writer said in the beginning of book i41 and this is very remarkable1 that the ,phnicians had entered from the ,red ,sea into the ,mediterranean1 to establish themselves upon its shores1 which they would have been unable to do if the ,isthmus of ,suez had existed4 ,see what ,aristotle says on this subject1 ,meteorolog41 l4 i41 c4 #ad4 #dd ,asiat4 ,research41 t4 iii41 p4 #cba4 ,the excerpts that ,wilford has made from the ,pourana1 entitled ,scanda1 the ,god of ,war1 prove that the ,palis1 called ,philistines1 on account of their same country1 ,palis-sthan1 going out from ,india1 established themselves upon the ,persian ,gulf and1 under the name of ,phnicians1 came afterwards along the coast of ,yemen1 on the borders of the ,red ,sea1 whence they passed into the ,mediterranean ,sea1 as ,herodotus said1 according to the ,persian traditions4 ,this coincidence is of great historical interest4 #de ,niebuhr1 ,descript4 de l',arab41 p4 #afd4 ,two powerful tribes became divided in ,arabia at this epoch3 that of the ,himyarites1 who possessed the meridional part1 or ,yemen1 and that of the ,koreishites1 who occupied the septentrional part1 or ,hejaz4 ,the capital of the ,himyarites was called ,dhofar2 their kings took the title of ,tobba and enjoyed an hereditary power4 ,the ,koreishites possessed the sacred city of ,arabia1 ,mecca1 where was found the ancient temple still venerated today by the ,mussulmans4 #df ,asiat4 ,research41 t4 iii41 p4 ii4 #dg ,diodorus ,siculus1 l4 ii41 #ab4 ,strabo1 l4 xvi4 ,suidas1 art4 ,semiramis4 #dh ,phot41 ,cod41 #dd4 ,ex4 ,diodor41 l4 xl4 ,syncell41 p4 #fa4 ,joseph41 ,contr4 ,apion4 #di ,hrod41 l4 ii4 ,diod4 ,siculus1 l4 i41 #b4 #ej ,diodor4 ,sicul41 l4 i41 #b4 ,delille-de-,salles1 ,hist4 des ,homm41 ,egypte1 t4 iii41 p4 #agh4 #ea ,plat41 in ,tim4 ,dial4 ,theopomp4 apud ,euseb41 ,prp4 ,evan41 l4 x41 c4 #aj4 ,diod4 ,sicul41 l4 i41 initio4 #eb ,diodor4 ,sicul41 l4 i41 initio4 #ec ,pausan41 ,bot41 p4 #gfh4 #ed ,this word is ,egyptian and ,phnician alike4 ,it is composed of the words 7aur71 light1 and 7roph71 cure1 salvation4 #ee ,eurydice1 in ,greek 1 comes from the ,phnician words 7rohe71 vision1 clearness1 evidence1 and 7dich71 that which demonstrates or teaches3 these two words are preceded by the ,greek adverb 1 which expresses all that is good1 happy1 and perfect in its kind4 #ef ,plat41 ,in ,phdon4 ,ibid41 ,in ,panegyr4 ,aristot41 ,rhet41 l4 ii41 c4 #bd4 ,isocr41 ,paneg4 ,cicero1 ,de ,leg41 l4 ii4 ,plutar41 ,de ,isid4 ,paus41 ,in ,phoc41 etc4 #eg ,thodoret1 ,therapeut4 #eh ,philo1 ,de ,vit ,mosis1 l4 i4 #ei ,jamblic41 ,de ,vit ,pythag41 c4 #b4 ,apul41 ,florid41 ii4 ,diog4 ,lart41 l4 viii4 #fj ,voyage du jeune ,anacharsis1 t4 i41 ,introd41 p4 #g4 #fa ,meurs41 ,de ,relig4 ,athen41 l4 i41 c4 #i4 #fb ,apollon41 l4 iii41 p4 #bcg4 #fc ,hygin41 ,fabl41 #adc4 #fd ,pausan41 ,arcad41 p4 #bff1 #bfh1 etc4 #fe ,strabo1 l4 x2 ,meurs41 ,eleus41 c4 #ba et seq42 ,paus41 ,ath41 c4 #bh2 ,fulgent41 ,myth41 l4 i42 ,philostr41 ,in ,apollon41 l4 ii42 ,athen41 l4 xi42 ,procl41 ,in ,tim4 ,comment41 l4 v4 #ff ,euseb41 ,prp4 ,evang41 l4 xiii41 c4 #ab4 #fg ,the unity of ,god is taught in an ,orphic hymn of which ,justin1 ,tatian1 ,clement of ,alexandria1 ,cyril1 and ,theodore have preserved fragments4 7,orphei ,hymn4 ,edente ,eschenbach41 p4 #bdb47 #fh ,clem4 ,alex41 ,admon4 ad ,gent41 p4 #dh2 ibid41 ,strom41 l4 v41 p4 #fjg4 #fi ,apoll41 ,arg41 l4 i41 v4 #dif2 ,clem4 ,alex41 ,strom41 l4 iv41 p4 #dge4 #gj ,thimothe1 cit par ,bannier1 ,mythol41 i41 p4 #ajd4 #ga ,macrobius1 ,somm4 ,scip41 l4 i41 c4 #ab4 #gb ,eurip41 ,hippol41 v4 #idh4 #gc ,plat41 ,de ,leg41 l4 vi42 ,jambl41 ,de ,vit ,pythag4 #gd ,acad4 des ,insc41 t4 v41 p4 #aag4 #ge ,procl41 ,in ,tim41 l4 v41 p4 #ccj2 ,cicero1 ,somm4 ,scip41 c4 #b1 #c1 #d1 #f4 #gf ,montesquieu and ,buffon have been the greatest adversaries of poetry1 they were very eloquent in prose2 but that does not prevent one from applying to them1 as did ,voltaire1 the words of ,montaigne3 8,we cannot attain it1 let us avenge ourselves by slandering it40 #gg ,horat41 ,de ,arte pot42 ,strab41 l4 x4 #gh ,origen1 ,contr4 ,cels41 l4 i41 p4 #ab2 ,dacier1 ,vie de ,pythagore4 #gi 4 #hj 4 #ha ,fabric41 ,bibl4 grc41 p4 #abj1 #abi4 #hb ,apollon1 ,argon41 l4 i41 v4 #dif4 #hc ,plutar41 ,de ,placit4 philos41 c4 #ac2 ,euseb41 ,prp4 ,evang41 l4 xv41 c4 #cj2 ,stobeus1 ,eclog4 phys41 #ed4 ,proclus quotes the verses of ,orpheus on this subject1 ,in ,tim41 l4 iv41 p4 #bhc4 ,voyez ,la ,biblioth4 grc4 de ,fabricius1 p4 #acb4 #hd ,fabric41 ,bibliot4 grc41 p4 #d1 #bb1 #bf1 #cj1 etc42 ,voyag4 d',anach41 ch4 #hj4 #he ,from the ,greek word 3 as one would say circuit1 the circular envelopment of a thing4 #hf ,court de ,gbelin1 ,gn4 allg41 p4 #aai4 #hg ,casaubon1 ,in ,athen41 p4 #cja2 ,fabric41 ,bibl4 grc4 l4 i41 c4 #ag2 ,voyag4 d',anach41 ch4 #hj2 ,proclus1 cit par ,court de ,gbelin1 ibid4 #hh ,arist41 ,de ,pot41 c4 #h1 #af1 #be1 etc4 #hi ,it is needless for me to observe that the birthplace of ,homer has been the object of a host of discussions as much among the ancients as among the moderns4 ,my plan here is not to put down again en problme1 nor to examine anew the things which have been a hundred times discussed and that ,i have sufficiently examined4 ,i have chosen1 from the midst of all the divergent opinions born of these discussions1 that which has appeared to me the most probable1 which agrees best with known facts1 and which is connected better with the analytical thread of my ideas4 ,i advise my readers to do the same4 ,it is neither the birthplace of ,homer nor the name of his parents that is the important matter3 it is his genius that must be fathomed4 ,those who would1 however1 satisfy their curiosity regarding these subjects foreign to my researches1 will find in ,la ,bibliothque grecque de ,fabricius1 and in the book by ,lon ,allatius entitled ,de ,patri ,homeri1 enough material for all the systems they may wish to build4 ,they will find there twenty-six different locations wherein they can1 at their pleasure1 place the cradle of the poet4 ,the seven most famous places indicated in a ,greek verse by ,aulus ,gellius are1 ,smyrna1 ,rhodes1 ,colophon1 ,salamis1 ,chios1 ,argos1 and ,athens4 ,the nineteen indicated by divers authors1 are ,pylos1 ,chios1 ,cyprus1 ,clazomen1 ,babylon1 ,cum1 ,egypt1 ,italy1 ,crete1 ,ithaca1 ,mycen1 ,phrygia1 ,monia1 ,lucania1 ,lydia1 ,syria1 ,thessaly1 and finally ,troy1 and even ,rome4 ,however1 the tradition which ,i have followed1 in considering ,homer as born not far from ,smyrna1 upon the borders of the river ,meles1 is not only the most probable but the most generally followed2 it has in its favour ,pindar2 the first anonymous ,life of ,homer2 the ,life of this poet by ,proclus2 ,cicero1 in his oration for ,archias2 ,eustathius in his ,prolgomnes sur l',iliade2 ,aristotle1 ,potique1 l4 iii42 ,aulus ,gellius1 ,martial1 and ,suidas4 ,it is known that ,smyrna1 jealous of consecrating the glory that it attributed to itself1 of having given birth to ,homer1 erected to this great genius a temple with quadrangular portico1 and showed for a long time1 near the source of the ,meles1 a grotto1 where a contemporaneous tradition supposes that he had composed his first works4 ,voyez ,la ,vie d',homre1 par ,delille-de-,sales1 p4 #di1 et les ouvrages qu'il cite3 ,voyage de ,chandeler1 t4 i41 p4 #afb1 et ,voyages pittoresques de ,choiseul-,gouffier1 p4 #bjj4 #ij ,hrod41 l4 v41 #db2 ,thucyd41 l4 i41 #ab4 #ia ,marbres de ,paros1 ,epoq4 #bh2 ,hrod41 l4 i41 #adb1 #ade1 #adi2 ,plat41 ,de ,leg41 l4 v42 ,strab41 l4 xiv42 ,pausan41 l4 vii41 #b2 lian41 ,var4 ,histor41 l4 viii41 c4 #e2 ,sainte-,croix1 ,de l'tat des ,colon1 des anc4 ,peuples1 p4 #fe2 ,bourgainville1 ,dissert4 sur les ,mtrop4 et les ,colon41 p4 #ah2 ,spanheim1 ,prst41 num4 p4 #ehj4 #ib ,bible1 ,chron4 ii41 ch4 #ab et suiv4 #ic ,ibid41 ,chron4 ii41 ch4 #cb et #cf4 #id ,pausanias1 passim4 #ie ,strab41 l4 xiv42 ,polyb41 l4 v42 ,aulu-,gell41 l4 vii41 c4 #c2 ,meurs41 ,in ,rhod41 l4 i41 c4 #ah et #ba2 ,hist4 univ4 des ,anglais1 in-#h1 t4 ii41 p4 #dic4 #if ,diod4 ,sicul41 l4 i41 #b4 #ig ,in ,phnician 7,melich-rtz71 in ,greek 3 a name given to the ,divinity whom the ,thracians called ,hercules1 the ,lord of the ,universe3 from or 7harr or shar71 excellence1 dominance1 sovereignty2 and 7col471 ,all4 ,notice that the ,teutonic roots are not very different from the ,phnician3 ,herr signifies lord1 and alles1 all2 so that ,herr-alles is1 with the exception of the guttural inflection which is effaced1 the same word as that of ,hercules1 used by the ,thracians and the ,etruscans4 ,the ,greeks have made a transposition of letters in 7,heracles7 so as to evade the guttural harshness without entirely losing it4 #ih ,goguet1 ,origine des ,lois et des ,arts1 t4 i41 p4 #cei4 #ii ,voyez ,epiphane1 ,hres1 xxvi41 et confrez avec ,beausobre1 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 p4 #cbh4 #ajj ,i have followed the tradition most analogous to the development of my ideas2 but ,i am aware that1 upon this point1 as upon many others1 ,i have only to choose4 ,the historic fact1 in that which relates to the sacerdotal archives which ,homer consulted in composing his poems1 is everywhere the same au fond2 but the accessory details vary greatly according to the writers who relate them4 ,for example1 one reads in a small fragment attributed to ,antipater of ,sidon and preserved in ,greece ,anthology1 that ,homer1 born at ,thebes in ,egypt1 drew his epic subjects from the archives of the temple of ,isis2 from another source1 ,ptolemy ,ephestion1 cited by ,photius1 that the ,greek poet had received from a priest of ,memphis1 named ,thamits1 the original writings of an inspired damsel1 named ,phancy4 ,strabo1 without mentioning any place in particular1 said in general1 speaking of the long journeys of ,homer1 that this poet went everywhere to consult the religious archives and the oracles preserved in the temples2 and ,diodorus of ,sicily gives evidence sometimes that he borrowed many things from a sibyl by the name of ,manto1 daughter of ,tiresias2 and sometimes that he appropriated the verse of a pythoness of ,delphi1 named ,daphne4 ,all these contradictory details prove1 in reality1 the truth2 for whether it be from ,thebes1 ,memphis1 ,tyre1 ,delphi1 or elsewhere that ,homer drew the subject of his chants1 matters not with the subject which occupies me3 the important point1 serving as proof of my assertions1 is1 that they have been1 in fact1 drawn from a sanctuary2 and what has determined me to choose ,tyre rather than ,thebes or ,memphis1 is that ,tyre was the first mother city of ,greece4 #aja ,i have said in the above that the name of ,helena or ,selena was that of the moon in ,greek4 ,the root of this word is alike ,celtic and ,phnician4 ,one finds it in ,teutonic hell1 which signifies clear1 luminous1 and in ,hebrew 7hll71 which contains the same sense of splendour1 glory1 and elevation4 ,one still says in ,german heilig1 holy1 and selig1 blessed2 also selle1 soul1 and sellen1 souls4 ,and this is worthy of the closest attention1 particularly when one reflects that1 following the doctrine of the ancients1 the moon helen or selen was regarded as the reservoir of the souls of those who descend from heaven to pass into bodies by means of generation1 and1 purged by the fire of life1 escape from earth to ascend to heaven4 ,see1 concerning this doctrine1 ,plutarch 7,de ,facie in ,orb4 ,lun471 and confer with ,beausobre 7,histoire du ,manich41 t1 ii41 p4 #caa74 ,the name of ,paris1 in ,greek 1 comes from the ,phnician words or 7bar or phar71 all generation1 propagation1 extension1 and 7ish71 the ,being-principle4 ,the name of ,menelaus1 in ,greek 1 comes from the ,phnician words 7men71 all that which determines1 regulates1 or defines a thing1 properly1 the rational faculty1 the reason1 the measure1 in ,latin mens1 mensura2 and 7ash71 the ,being-principle acting1 before which is placed the prefix 7l71 to express the genitive case1 in this manner1 7meneh-l-ash71 the rational faculty or regulator of the being in general1 and man in particular3 for rlm21 rlm2rlm21 rlm2rlm21 rlm2 7ash1 ash1 ish1 ash71 signifies equally fire1 principle1 being1 and man4 ,the etymology of these three words can1 as one sees1 throw great light upon the fable of the ,iliad4 ,here is another remarkable point on this subject4 ,homer has never used1 to designate the ,greeks1 the name of ,hellenes1 that is to say1 the respondents1 or the lunars3 it was in his time quite a new name1 which the confederated ,greeks had taken to resist foreign attack2 it is only in the ,odyssey1 and when he is already old1 that he employs the name ,hellas to designate ,greece4 ,the name which he gives constantly to this country1 is that of ,achaia 771 and he opposes it to that of ,troy 773 now1 ,achaia signifies the strong1 the igneous1 the spiritual2 and ,troy1 the terrestrial1 the gross4 ,the ,phnician roots are 7ehi71 the exhaling force of fire1 and 7tr7 the balancing power of the earth4 ,refer1 in this regard1 to ,court de ,gbelin 7,mond4 prim41 t4 vi41 p4 #fd74 ,pomponius ,sabinus1 in his ,commentaires sur l',ende1 said that the name of the city of ,troy signified a sow1 and he adds that the ,trojans had for an ensign a sow embroidered in gold4 ,as to the word ,ilion1 which was the sacred name of ,troy1 it is very easy to recognize the name of the material principle1 called 7ul7 by the ,greeks and ylis by the ,egyptians4 ,iamblichus speaks of it at great length in his ,book on the ,mysteries 7 #g71 as the principle from which all has birth3 this was also the opinion of ,porphyry 7,euseb41 ,prp4 ,evang41 l4 ix41 c4 #i and #aa74 #ajb ,metrodorus of ,lampsacus cited by ,tatian 7,adver4 ,gent41 #cg74 ,plato1 ,in ,alcibiad41 ii41 ,cronius1 ,porphyry1 ,phurnutus1 ,iamblichus1 cited by ,court de ,gbelin1 ,gnie allg41 p4 #cf1 #dc2 ,plato1 ,in ,ion42 ,cicero1 ,de ,natur4 ,deor41 l4 ii42 ,strabo1 l4 i42 ,origen1 ,contr4 ,cels4 ,among the moderns can be counted ,bacon1 ,blackwell1 ,basnage1 ,bergier1 and ,court de ,gbelin himself1 who has given a list of eighty writers who have this opinion4 #ajc ,dionys4 ,halic41 ,de ,comp4 verb41 t4 v41 c4 #af1 #bf2 ,quintil41 l4 x41 c4 #a2 ,longin41 ,de ,sublim41 c4 #ac2 lian41 ,var4 ,hist41 l4 viii41 c4 #b2 ,plat41 ,alcibiad41 i4 #ajd ,plat41 ,in ,vit ,lycurg4 #aje ,allat41 ,de ,patr4 ,homer41 c4 #e2 ,meurs41 ,in ,pisist41 c4 #i et #ab2 ,plat41 ,in ,hipparc4 #ajf ,senec41 ,epist41 #aag4 #ajg ,ibidem1 #hh4 #ajh ,dionys4 ,halic41 ,in ,vit ,homer42 ,eustath41 ,in ,iliad1 l4 i4 #aji ,strabo1 l4 xiv41 p4 #fdf4 #aaj ,arist41 ,de ,pot41 c4 #b1 cit4 par ,barth41 ,voyag4 d',anach41 t4 vii41 c4 #hj1 p4 #dd4 #aaa ,the word ,epopia is taken from the ,greek - which designates alike a poet and an epic poem4 ,it is derived from the ,phnician words 7apho7 an impassioned transport1 a vortex1 an impulse1 an enthusiasm2 and 7phohe71 a mouth1 a discourse4 ,one can observe that the ,latin word versus1 which is applied also to a thing which turns1 which is borne along1 and to a poetic verse1 translates exactly the ,greek word 1 whose root 7aph7 expresses a vortex4 ,the ,hebrew 7aphon7 signifies properly a wheel4 #aab ,see in the collection of ,meibomius1 ,aristides1 ,quintilianus1 and ,les ,mm4 de l',acad4 des ,belles-,lettres1 t4 v41 p4 #aeb4 #aac ,voltaire1 ,dict4 philos41 art4 ,,rime4 #aad ,refer to what ,i have already said in last footnote p4 #dj4 #aae ,frret said that the verses of the poet ,eumelus engraven upon the arch of the ,cypselid were thus represented4 ,voyez sa ,dissert4 sur l',art de l',equitation4 ,il cite ,pausanias1 l4 v41 p4 #dai4 #aaf ,court de ,gbelin1 ,mond4 primit41 t4 ix41 p4 #bbb4 ,confrez avec ,aristotle1 ,pot41 p4 #bj1 #ba1 #bb4 #aag ,plat41 ,dial4 ,ion4 #aah ,plat41 ut supr4 #aai lian41 ,var4 ,hist41 l4 xiii41 c4 #ad2 ,diog4 ,lart41 ,in ,solon41 l4 i41 #eg4 #abj ,plat41 ,in ,hipparc42 ,pausan1 l4 vii41 c4 #bf2 ,cicer41 ,de ,orat41 l4 iii4 #aba ,eustath41 ,in ,iliad41 l4 i41 p4 #ade2 l4 ii41 p4 #bfc4 #abb ,dionys4 ,halic41 ,de ,comp4 verb41 t4 v41 c4 #af et #bd2 ,quintil41 ,instit41 l4 x41 c4 #a4 #abc ,athen41 l4 xv41 c4 #h2 ,aristot41 ,de ,pot41 c4 #af2 lian41 ,var4 ,hist41 c4 #ae4 #abd ,barthel41 ,voyag4 d',anarchar41 t4 vii41 ch4 #hj1 p4 #df1 #eb4 #abe ,it can be seen that ,i have placed in the word ,stesichorus1 an accent grave over the consonant c1 and it will be noticed that ,i have used it thus with respect to many similar words4 ,it is a habit ,i have contracted in writing1 so as to distinguish1 in this manner1 the double consonant ch1 in the foreign words1 or in their derivatives1 when it should take the guttural inflexion1 in place of the hissing inflexion which we ordinarily give to it4 ,thus ,i accent the c in ,chio1 chur1 chorus1 cho1 chlorose1 chiragre1 chronique1 etc42 to indicate that these words should be pronounced ,khio1 khur1 khorus1 kho1 khlorose1 khiragre1 khronique1 with the aspirate sound of k1 and not with that of the hissing c1 as in ,chypre1 chaume1 chope1 chaire1 etc4 ,this accentuation has appeared to me necessary1 especially when one is obliged to transcribe in modern characters many foreign words which1 lacking usage1 one knows not1 at first1 how to pronounce4 ,it is1 after all1 a slight innovation in orthography1 which ,i leave to the decision of the grammarians4 ,i only say that it will be very difficult for them1 without this accent1 or any other sign which might be used1 to know how one should pronounce with a different inflexion1 ,achae and ,achen2 ,achille and ,achillede2 ,achron and achrontique2 ,bacchus and bachique1 etc4 #abf ,vossius1 ,de ,inst4 pot41 l4 iii41 c4 #ae2 ,aristot41 ,rhet41 l4 ii41 #bc2 ,max4 ,tyr4 ,orat41 viii41 p4 #hf4 #abg lian41 ,var4 ,hist41 l4 xiii41 c4 #ad1 ,court de ,gbelin1 ,mond4 prim41 t4 viii41 p4 #bjb4 #abh ,plat41 ,in ,thet42 ibid41 ,de ,republ41 l4 x42 ,arist41 ,de ,pot41 c4 #d1 etc4 #abi ,the name of ,homerid1 given at first to all the disciples of ,homer1 was afterwards usurped by certain inhabitants of ,chios who called themselves his descendants 7,strab41 l4 xiv42 ,isocr41 ,hellen4 encom474 ,also ,i should state here that the name of ,homer1 1 was never of ,greek origin and has not signified1 as has been said1 blind4 ,the initial letter ,o is not a negation1 but an article added to the ,phnician word 7mra71 which signifies1 properly speaking1 a centre of light1 and figuratively1 a master1 a doctor4 #acj ,the surname ,eumolpid1 given to the hierophants1 successors of ,orpheus1 comes from the word 1 by which is designated the style of poetry of this divine man4 ,it signifies the perfect voice4 ,it is derived from the ,phnician words 7mola71 perfected1 and 7phoh71 mouth1 voice1 discourse4 ,the adverb 1 which precedes it1 expresses whatever is beautiful1 holy1 perfect4 #aca ,fabric41 ,bibl4 ,grc41 p4 #cf1 #aje1 #bdj1 #dfi1 passim2 ,arist41 ,probl41 xix41 #bh2 ,meurs41 ,bibl4 ,grc41 c4 i4 #acb ,arist41 ,de ,pot41 c4 #h4 #acc ,porphyre1 ,in ,vit ,pythagor41 p4 #ba2 ,clem4 ,alex41 l4 vi41 p4 #feh2 ,plato1 ,de ,leg41 l4 iii42 ,plutar41 ,de ,music41 p4 #aada2 ,poll41 l4 iv41 c4 #i4 #acd ,i have placed the epoch of ,orpheus1 which coincides with that of the arrival of the ,egyptian colony conducted into ,greece by ,cecrops1 at #aehb ,b4,c41 according to the marbles of ,paros4 #ace ,schol4 ,aristoph41 ,in ,nub41 v4 #bie4 #acf ,athen41 l4 ii41 c4 #c4 #acg ,voyez ,l',hist4 du ,thtre ,franais de ,fontenelle4 ,voici les titres des premires pices reprsentes dans le cours du ,,xiv sicle3 ,l',assomption de la glorieuse ,vierge ,marie1 mystre #ch personnages2 ,le ,mystre de la ,sainte ,hostie1 #bf personn42 ,le ,mystre de ,monseigneur ,s4 ,pierre et ,s4 ,paul1 #ajj personn42 ,les ,mystres de la ,conception de la ,passion1 de la ,rsurrection de ,notre ,seigneur ,j4 ,c42 etc4 #ach ,see ,asiatic ,researches1 v4 iii41 p4 #dbg-dca1 and #dfe-dfg4 ,also ,grammar of the ,bengal ,language1 preface1 p4 v4 #aci ,see ,interesting ,historical ,events1 by ,holwell1 ch4 #g4 #adj ,aristot41 ,probl41 #ae1 c4 #ai2 ,pausan41 l4 i41 c4 #g4 #ada ,see ,asiatic ,researches1 vol4 vi41 p4 #cjj-cjh4 #adb ,rama is1 in ,sanskrit1 the name of that which is dazzling1 elevated1 white1 sublime1 protective1 beautiful1 excellent4 ,this word has exactly the same sense in the ,phnician 7ram74 ,its primitive root1 which is universalized by the hmantique letter 7m71 is 7ra71 which has reference to the harmonic movement of good1 of light1 and of sight4 ,the name of the adversary of ,rama1 ,rawhan1 is formed from the root 7rawh7 which expresses1 on the contrary1 the disordered movement of evil and of fire1 and which1 becoming united with the augmentative syllable 7n71 depicts whatever ravages and ruins2 this is the signification which it has in ,sanskrit4 #adc ,from the word 7rama7 is formed in ,phnician the word 7drama7 by the adjunction of the demonstrative article 7d'72 that is to say1 a thing which comes from ,rama3 an action well ordered1 beautiful1 sublime1 etc4 ,notice that the ,greek verb 1 to act1 whence is drawn very inappropriately the word 1 is always attached to the same root 7ra7 which is that of harmonic movement4 #add ,athen41 l4 ii41 c4 #c2 ,arist41 ,de ,pot41 c4 #c1 #d1 #e4 #ade ,tragedy1 in ,greek 1 comes from the words 1 austere1 severe1 lofty1 and chant4 ,comedy1 in ,greek 1 is derived from the words 1 joyful1 lascivious1 and 1 chant4 ,it is unnecessary for me to say that the etymologists who have seen in tragedy a song of the goat1 because signifies a goat in ,greek1 have misunderstood the simplest laws of etymology4 signifies a goat only by metaphor1 because of the roughness and heights which this animal loves to climb2 as caper1 in ,latin1 holds to the same root as caput2 and chvre1 in ,french1 to the same root as chef1 for a similar reason4 #adf ,diog4 ,lart41 l4 i41 #ei4 #adg ,plutar4 ,in ,solon4 #adh ,arist41 ,de ,mor41 l4 iii41 c4 #b2 lian41 ,var4 ,hist41 l4 v41 c4 #ai2 ,clem4 ,alex41 ,strom41 l4 ii41 c4 #ad4 #adi ,plato1 ,de ,legib41l4 iii4 #aej ,athen41 l4 viii41 c4 #h4 #aea ,plutar41 ,de ,music4 #aeb ,horat41 ,de ,art4 pot1 v4 #bgi2 ,vitrav41 ,in ,prefac41 l4 vii41 p4 #abd4 #aec schylus1 ,in ,prometh41 ,act ,i41 ,sc4 #a1 et ,act4 ,v41 ,sc4 ult4 #aed schylus1 ,in ,eumenid41 ,act ,v41 ,sc4 #c4 #aee ,aristoph4 ,in ,plut41 v4 #dbc2 ,pausan41 l4 i41 c4 #bh2 ,vit schyl4 apud41 ,stanley1 p4 #gjb4 #aef ,dionys4 ,chrys41 ,orat41 l4 ii4 #aeg ,aristoph41 ,in ,ran42 ,philostr41 ,in ,vit ,apollon1 l4 vi41 c4 ii4 #aeh ,plutar41 ,in ,cimon42 ,athen41 l4 viii41 c4 #h4 #aei ,philostr41 ,in ,vit ,apoll41 l4 vi41 c4 ii4 #afj ,schol41 ,in ,vit ,sophocl42 ,suidas1 ,in 42 ,plutar41 ,de ,profect4 ,vit4 #afa ,aristot41 ,de ,pot41 c4 #be4 #afb ,aristoph41 ,in ,ran41 v4 #hgd et #ajge4 #afc ,philostr41 ,vit ,apoll41 l4 ii41 c4 #b2 l4 iv41 c4 #af2 l4 vi41 c4 #aa2 ,vit schyl4 apud1 ,robort41 p4 #aa4 #afd ,aristoph41 ,in ,ran42 ,aristot41 ,de ,pot41 c4 #be4 #afe ,plato1 ,de ,legib41 l4 ii4 et iii4 #aff ,hrodot41 l4 vi41 #ba2 ,corsin41 ,fast4 attic41 t4 iii41 p4 #agb2 ,aristot41 ,de ,pot41 c4 #i4 #afg ,aristot41 ,de ,pot41 c4 #i4 #afh ,susarion appeared #ehj ,b4,c41 and ,thespis some years after4 ,the latter produced his tragedy of ,alcestis in #ecf ,b4,c42 and the condemnation of ,socrates occurred in #cii ,b4,c4 ,so that only #aha years elapsed between the initial presentation of comedy and the death of this philosopher4 #afi ,aristot41 ,de ,pot41 c4 #c4 #agj ,aristoph1 ,in ,pac41 v4 #gdj2 ,schol41 ibid42 ,epicharm41 ,in ,nupt4 ,heb4 apud ,athen41 l4 iii41 p4 #he4 #aga ,plat41 ,in ,argum42 ,aristoph4 p4 xi42 ,schol41 ,de ,comd42 ibid41 p4xii4 #agb ,thence arises the epithet of ,eumolpique that ,i give to the verses which form the subject of this work4 #agc ,the proof that ,rome was scarcely known in ,greece1 at the epoch of ,alexander1 is that the historian ,theopompus1 accused by all critics of too much prolixity1 has said only a single word concerning this city1 to announce that she had been taken by the ,gauls 7,pliny1 l4 iii41 c4 #e74 ,bayle observes with much sagacity1 that however little ,rome had been known at that time1 she would not have failed to furnish the subject of a long digression for this historian1 who would have delighted much in it4 7,dict4 crit41 art4 ,,theopompus1 rem4 ,e47 #agd ,diogen4 ,lart41 l4 i41 #aaf4 ,pliny1 l4 v41 c4 #bi4 ,suidas1 ,in 4 #age ,degerando1 ,hist4 des ,systm4 de ,phil41 t4 i41 p4 #abh1 la note4 #agf ,dionys4 ,halic41 ,de ,thucid4 ,judic4 #agg ,the real founder of the ,atomic system such as has been adopted by ,lucretius 7,de ,rerum ,natura1 l4 i471 was ,moschus1 ,phnician philosopher whose works threw light upon those of ,leucippus 7,posidonius cit par ,strabon1 l4 xvi41 ,sext4 ,empiric41 ,adv4 mathem41 p4 #cfg74 ,this system well understood1 does not differ from that of the monads1 of which ,leibnitz was the inventor4 #agh ,frret1 ,mytholog4 ou ,religion des ,grecs4 #agi ,voltaire1 who has adopted this error1 has founded it upon the signification of the word ,epos1 which he has connected with that of ,discourse 7,dictionn4 philos4 au mot ,,epop,e74 ,but he is mistaken4 ,the ,greek word is translated accurately by versus4 ,thence the verb 1 to follow in the tracks1 to turn1 to go1 in the same sense4 #ahj ,the ,greeks looked upon the ,latin authors and artists as paupers enriched by their spoils2 also they learned their language only when forced to do so4 ,the most celebrated writers by whom ,rome was glorified1 were rarely cited by them4 ,longinus1 who took an example of the sublime in ,moses1 did not seek a single one either in ,horace or in ,vergil2 he did not even mention their names4 ,it was the same with other critics4 ,plutarch spoke of ,cicero as a statesman2 he quoted many of his clever sayings1 but he refrained from comparing him with ,demosthenes as an orator4 ,he excuses himself on account of having so little knowledge of the ,latin tongue1 he who had lived so long in ,rome6 ,emperor ,julian1 who has written only in ,greek1 cites only ,greek authors and not one ,latin4 #aha ,voyez l'ouvrage de ,naud1 intitul3 ,apologie des hommes accuss de magie4 ,le nombre de ces hommes est trs-considrable4 #ahb ,allard1 ,bibl4 du ,dauphin1 la fin4 #ahc ,duplessis-,mornai1 ,mystre d'iniquit1 p4 #bgi4 #ahd ,this ,ballad tongue1 or rather ,romance1 was a mixture of corrupt ,latin1 ,teutonic1 and ancient ,gallic4 ,it was called thus1 in order to distinguish it from the pure ,latin and ,french4 ,the principal dialects of the ,romance tongue were the langue d'oc1 spoken in the south of ,france1 and the longue d'ol1 spoken in the north4 ,it is from the langue d'ol that the ,french descend4 ,the langue d'oc1 prevailing with the troubadours who cultivated it1 disappeared with them in the fourteenth century and was lost in numberless obscure provincial dialects4 ,voyez ,le ,troubadour1 posies occitaniques1 la ,dissert41 vol4 i4 #ahe ,fontenelle1 ,hist4 du ,thtre ,franais4 #ahf ,voyez ,sainte-,palaye1 ,mm4 sur l'ancienne ,cheval42 ,millot1 ,hist4 des ,troubad4 ,disc4 prlim41 on ce que j'ai dit moi-mme dans le ,troubadour1 comme ci-dessus4 #ahg ,it is necessary to observe that vau or val1 bau or bal1 according to the dialect1 signifies equally a dance1 a ball1 and a folly1 a fool4 ,the ,phnician1 root 7whal7 expresses all that is elevated1 exalted4 ,the ,french words bal1 vol1 fol1 are here derived4 #ahh ,the sonnets are of ,oscan origin4 ,the word son signifies a song in the ancient langue d'oc4 ,the word sonnet is applied to a little song1 pleasing and of an affected form4 ,the madrigals are of ,spanish origin as their name sufficiently proves4 ,the word gala signifies in ,spanish a kind of favour1 an honour rendered1 a gallantry1 a present4 ,thus ,madrid-gala arises from a gallantry in the ,madrid fashion4 ,the sylves1 called sirves or sirventes by the troubadours1 were kinds of serious poems1 ordinarily satirical4 ,these words come from the ,latin sylva which1 according to ,quintilius1 is said of a piece of verse recited ex-tempore 7l4 x41 c4 #c74 #ahi ,voyez ,laborde1 ,essai sur la ,musique1 t4 i41 p4 #aab1 et t4 ii41 p4 #afh4 ,on trouve1 de la page #adi la page #bcb de ce mme volume1 un catalogue de tous les anciens romanciers franais4 ,on peut voir1 pour les ,italiens1 ,crescembini1 ,della ,volgar ,posia4 #aij ,see ,laborde4 ,it is believed that this ,guilhaume1 bishop of ,paris1 is the author of the hieroglyphic figures which adorn the portal of ,notre-,dame1 and that they have some connection with the hermetic science4 7,biblioth4 des ,phil4 ,chim41 t4 iv4 ,saint-,foix1 ,essai sur ,paris47 #aia ,perhaps one is astonished to see that ,i give the name of sirventes1 or sylves1 to that which is commonly called the poems of ,dante2 but in order to understand me1 it is necessary to consider that these poems1 composed of stanzas of three verses joined in couplets1 are properly only long songs on a serious subject1 which agrees with the sirvente4 ,the poems of ,bojardo1 of ,ariosto1 of ,tasso1 are1 as to form1 only long ballads4 ,they are poems because of the unity which1 notwithstanding the innumerable episodes with which they are filled1 constitutes the principal subject4 #aib ,pasquier1 ,hist4 et ,recherch4 des ,antiq41 l4 vii41 ch4 #ab4 ,henri-,etienne1 ,prcellence du ,lang4 ,fran41 p4 #ab4 ,d',olivet1 ,prosod41 art4 i41 #b4 ,delisle-de-,salles1 ,hist4 de la ,trag41 t4 i41 p4 #aed1 la note4 #aic ,d',olivet1 ,prosod41 art4 ,v41 #a4 #aid ,ibidem4 #aie ,william ,jones1 ,asiatic ,researches1 vol4 i4 #aif ,ibid41 vol4 i41 p4 #dbe4 #aig ,william ,jones1 ,asiatic ,researches1 vol4 i41 p4 #dcj4 #aih ,wilkin's ,notes on the ,hitopadesa1 p4 #bdi4 ,halled's ,grammar1 in the preface4 ,the same1 ,code of the ,gentoo-,laws4 ,asiat4 ,research41 vol4 i41 p4 #dbc4 #aii ,asiat4 ,research41 vol4 i41 p4 #cdf4 ,also in same work1 vol4 i41 p4 #dcj4 #bjj ,w4 ,jones has put into ,english a ,natak entitled ,sakuntala or ,the ,fatal ,ring1 of which the ,french translation has been made by ,brugnires4 ,paris1 #ahjc1 chez ,treuttel et ,wrtz4 #bja ,see ,asiat4 ,research41 vol4 iii41 p4 #db1 #dg1 #hf1 #ahe1 etc4 #bjb ,asiat4 ,research41 vol4 i41 p4 #bgi1 #ceg et #cfj4 #bjc ,institut4 of ,hindus-,laws4 ,w4 ,jones1 ,works1 t4 iii41 p4 #ea4 ,asiat4 ,research41 vol4 ii41 p4 #cfh4 #bjd ,hist4 gnr4 de la ,chine1 t4 i41 p4 #ai4 ,mm4 concern4 les ,chinois1 t4 i41 p4 #i1 #ajd1 #afj4 ,chou-,king4 ,ch4 ,yu-,kong1 etc41 ,duhalde1 t4 i41 p4 #bff4 ,mm4 concern41 etc41 t4 xiii41 p4 #aij4 #bje ,the ,she-,king1 which contains the most ancient poetry of the ,chinese1 is only a collection of odes and songs1 of sylves1 upon different historical and moral subjects4 7,mm4 concer4 les ,chinois1 t4 i41 p4 #ea1 et t4 ii41 p4 #hj47 ,besides1 the ,chinese had known rhyme for more than four thousand years4 7,ibid41 t4 viii41 p4 #acc-ahe474 #bjf ,le ,p4 ,parennin says that the language of the ,manchus has an enormous quantity of words which express1 in the most concise and most picturesque manner1 what ordinary languages can do only by aid of numerous epithets or periphrases4 7,duhalde1 in-fol41 t4 iv41 p4 #fe47 #bjg ,ci-dessus1 p4 #ca4 #bjh ,voyez la traduction franaise des ,rech4 asiatiq41 t4 ii41 p4 #di1 notes a et b4 #bji ,voyez ce que dit de ,zend1 ,anquetil ,duperron1 et l'exemple qu'il donne de cette ancienne langue4 ,zend-,avesta1 t4 i4 #baj ,d',herbelot1 ,bibl4 orient41 p4 #ed4 ,asiat4 ,research41 t4 ii41 p4 #ea4 #baa ,anquetil ,duperron1 ,zend-,avesta1 t4 i4 #bab ,asiat4 ,research41 t4 ii41 p4 #ea4 #bac ,l'abb ,massieu1 ,histor4 de la ,posie fran41 p4 #hb4 #bad ,in ,arabic 7diwan74 #bae ,d',herbelot1 ,bibl4 orient41 au mot ,,divan4 ,asiat4 ,research41 t4 ii41 p4 #ac4 #baf ,it must be remarked that the word ,diw1 which is also ,persian1 was alike applied in ,persia to the ,divine ,intelligence1 before ,zoroaster had changed the signification of it by the establishment of a new doctrine1 which1 replacing the ,diws by the ,iseds1 deprived them of the dominion of ,heaven1 and represented them as demons of the earth4 ,see ,anquetil ,duperron1 ,vendidad-,sad1 p4 #acc1 ,boun-,dehesh41 p4 #cee4 ,it is thus that ,christianity has changed the sense of the ,greek word 7,demon71 and rendered it synonymous with the devil2 whereas it signified in its principle1 divine spirit and genius4 #bag ,asiat4 ,research41 t4 ii41 p4 #ac4 #bah ,voyez ,anquetil ,duperron1 ,zend-,avesta1 t4 iii41 p4 #ebg et suiv4 ,voyez aussi un ouvrage allemand de ,wahl1 sur l'tat de la ,perse3 ,pragmatische-,geografische und ,statische ,schilderung ''' etc4 ,leipzig1 #agie1 t4 i41 p4 #aih #bjd4 #bai ,voyez plusieurs de leurs chansons rapportes par ,laborde1 ,essai sur la ,musique1 t4 ii41 p4 #cih4 #bbj ,laborde1 ibid41 t4 i41 p4 #dbe4 #bba ,i will give1 later on1 a strophe from ,voluspa1 a ,scandinavian ode of eumolpique style1 very beautiful1 and of which ,i will1 perhaps1 one day make an entire translation4 #bbb ,it was said long ago that a great number of rhymed verses were found in the ,bible1 and ,voltaire even has cited a ridiculous example in his ,dictionnaire philosophique 7art4 ,,rime73 but it seems to me that before concerning oneself so much as one still does1 whether the ,hebraic text of the ,sepher is in prose or in verse1 whether or not one finds there rhymed verses after the manner of the ,arabs1 or measured after the manner of the ,greeks1 it would be well to observe whether one understands this text4 ,the language of ,moses has been lost entirely for more than two thousand four hundred years1 and unless it be restored with an aptitude1 force1 and constancy which is nowadays unusual1 ,i doubt whether it will be known exactly what the legislator of the ,hebrews has said regarding the principles of the ,universe1 the origin of the earth1 and the birth and vicissitudes of the beings who people it4 ,these subjects are1 however1 worth the pains if one would reflect upon them2 ,i cannot prevent myself from thinking that it would be more fitting to be occupied with the meaning of the words1 than their arrangements by long and short syllables1 by regular or alternate rhymes1 which is of no importance whatever4 #bbc ,vossius1 ,de ,poematum cantu et viribus rhythmi2 cit par ,j4 ,j4 ,rousseau1 ,dictionnaire de ,musique1 art4 ,,rythme4 #bbd ,nearly all of the ,italian words terminate with one of four vowels1 a1 e1 i1 o1 without accent3 it is very rare that the vowels are accentuated1 as the vowel 4 ,when this occurs as in cit1 perch1 d1 far1 etc41 then1 only1 is the final masculine4 ,now here is what one of their best rhythmic poets1 named ,tolomo1 gives as an hexameter verse3 ,questa1 per affeto1 tenerissima lettera mando ,a te ''' ,to make this line exact1 one feels that the word mando1 which terminates it1 should be composed of two longs1 that is to say1 that it should be written mand1 which could not be without altering the sense entirely4 ,marchetti has translated into blank verse the ,latin poem of ,lucretius4 ,i will quote the opening lines4 ,here is evident the softness to which ,i take exception and which prevents them from being really eumolpique1 according to the sense that ,i have attached to this word4 ,alma figlia di ,giove1 inclita madre ,del gran germe d',enea1 ,venere bella1 ,degli uomini piacere e degli ,dei3 ,tu1 che sotto il volubili e lucenti ,segni del cielo1 il mar profundo1 e tutta ,d'animai d'ogni specie orni la terra3 444 etc4 #bbe ,one must not believe that the mute e with which many ,english words terminate represents the ,french feminine final1 expressed by the same vowel4 ,this mute e is in reality mute in ,english2 ordinarily it is only used to give a more open sound to the vowel which precedes it1 as in tale1 scene1 bone1 pure1 fire4 ,besides it is never taken into account1 either in the measure or in the prosody of the lines4 ,thus these two lines of ,dryden rhyme exactly3 8,now scarce the ,trojan fleet with sails and oars ,had left behind the fair ,sicilian shores4'''0 neid1 b4 i41 v4 #ej4 ,it is the same in these of ,addison3 8,tune ev'ry string and ev'ry tongue1 ,be thou the ,muse and subject of our song4'''0 ,st4 ,cecilia's ,day1 i41 #aj4 or these from ,goldsmith3 8,how often have ,i loiter'd o'er thy green1 ,where humble happiness endeared each scene40 ,the ,deserted ,village1 i41 #g4 #bbf ,there remains to us of this poetry the very precious fragments contained in the ,edda and in ,voluspa4 ,the ,edda1 whose name signifies great-grandmother1 is a collection1 fairly ample1 of ,scandinavian traditions4 ,voluspa is a sort of ,sibylline book1 or cosmogonic oracle1 as its name indicates4 ,i am convinced that if the poets of the north1 the ,danes1 ,swedes1 and ,germans1 had oftener drawn their subjects from these indigenous sources1 they would have succeeded better than by going to ,greece to seek them upon the summits of ,parnassus4 ,the mythology of ,odin1 descended from the ,rhipan mountains1 suits them better than that of the ,greeks1 whose tongue furthermore is not conformable here4 ,when one makes the moon and the wife 7der ,mond1 das ,weib7 of masculine and neuter gender2 when one makes the sun1 the air1 time1 love 7die ,sonne1 die ,luft1 die ,zeit1 die ,liebe7 of feminine gender1 one ought wisely to renounce the allegories of ,parnassus4 ,it was on account of the sex given to the sun and the moon that the schism arose1 of which ,i have spoken1 in explaining the origin of the temple of ,delphi4 ,the ,scandinavian allegories1 however1 that ,i consider a dbris of ,thracian allegories1 furnishing subjects of a very different character from those of the ,greeks and ,latins1 might have varied the poetry of ,europe and prevented the ,arabesque fiction from holding there so much ascendancy4 ,the ,scandinavian verses1 being without rhyme1 hold moreover1 to eumolpia4 ,the following is a strophe from ,voluspa3 8,avant que le temps ft1 ,ymir avait t2 ,ni la mer1 ni nes vents n'existaient pas encore2 ,il n'tait de terre1 il n'tait point de ciel3 ,tout n'tait qu'un abme immense1 sans verdure40 8,in the beginning1 when naught was1 there ,was neither sand nor sea nor the cold waves1 ,nor was earth to be seen nor heaven above4 ,there was a ,yawning ,chasm chaos but grass nowhere4'''0 r vas aida pat-es ekki vas2 vasa sandr n sr n svalar unnir1 irxo fansk va n upp-himinn2 ,gap vas ,ginnunga1 enn gras ekki1 ''' ,voyez ,mallet1 ,monuments celtiques1 p4 #ace2 et pour le texte1 le pome mme de la ,voluspa1 in ,edda islandorum1 ,mallet parat avoir suivi un texte erron4 ,as to the ,gallic poetry of the ,scotch bards1 that ,macpherson has made known to us under the name of ,ossian1 much is needed that they may have a sufficient degree of authenticity for them to be cited as models1 and placed parallel with those of ,homer1 as has been done without reflection4 ,these poems1 although resting for the greater part upon a true basis1 are very far from being veritable as to form4 ,the ,scotch bards1 like the ,oscan troubadours1 must be restored and often entirely remade1 if they are to be read4 ,macpherson1 in composing his ,ossian1 has followed certain ancient traditions1 has put together certain scattered fragments2 but has taken great liberties with all the rest4 ,he was1 besides1 a man endowed with creative genius and he might have been able to attain to epopia if he had been better informed4 ,his lack of knowledge has left a void in his work which demonstrates its falsity4 ,there is no mythology1 no allegory1 no cult in ,ossian4 ,there are some historic or romanesque facts joined to long descriptions2 it is a style more emphatic than figurative1 more bizarre than original4 ,macpherson1 in neglecting all kinds of mythological and religious ideas1 in even mocking here and there the stone of power of the ,scandinavians1 has shown that he was ignorant of two important things3 the one1 that the allegorical or religious genius constitutes the essence of poetry2 the other1 that ,scotland was at a very ancient period the hearth of this same genius whose interpreters were the druids1 bards1 and scalds4 ,he should have known that1 far from being without religion1 the ,caledonians possessed in the heart of their mountains1 the ,gallic ,parnassus1 the sacred mountain of the ,occidental isles2 and that when the antique cult began to decline in ,gaul1 it was in ,albion1 reckoned among the holy isles by even the ,indians1 that the druids went to study4 ,voyez ,les ,commentaires de ,csar1 iv41 #bj2 ,l',introduction de l'histoire de ,danemark1 par ,mallet2 ,l',histoire des ,celtes1 par ,pelloutier2 et enfin les ,recherches asiatiques 7,asiat4 ,research471 t4 vi41 p4 #dij et #ejb4 ,in order to seize the occasion of applying eumolpique lines to a greater number of subjects1 ,i am going to quote a sort of exposition of ,ossian1 the only one ,i believe1 which is found in his poems2 because ,macpherson1 for more originality1 neglected nearly always to announce the subject of his songs4 ,i will not give the text1 because the ,english translation whence ,i obtained it does not give it4 ,it concerns the battle of ,lora4 ,after a kind of exordium addressed to the son of the stranger1 dweller of the silent cavern1 ,ossian said to him3 ,le chant plat-il ton oreille8 ,ecoute le rcit du combat de ,lora4 ,il est bien ancien1 ce combat6 ,le tumulte ,des armes1 et les cris furieux des guerriers1 ,sont couverts par un long silence2 ,ils sont teints depuis longtemps3 ,ainsi sur des rochers retentissants1 la foudre ,roule1 gronde1 clate et n'est plus2 ,le soleil reparat1 et la cime brillante ,des coteaux verdoyants1 sourit ses rayons4 ,son of the secret cell6 dost thou delight in songs8 ,hear the battle of ,lora4 ,the sound of its steel is long since past4 ,so thunder on the darkened hill roars1 and is no more4 ,the sun returns with his silent beams1 ,the glittering rocks1 and green heads of the mountains smile4 ,this example serves to prove that eumolpique lines might easily adapt themselves to the dithyramb4 #bbg ,the tragedy of the ,cid1 given by ,pierre ,corneille in #afbf1 upon which were based the grandeur and dominant character of the ,thtre ,franais1 as well as the renown of the author1 is taken from a ,spanish ballad very celebrated in ,spain4 ,the ,cid1 who is the hero of it1 lived towards the close of the eleventh century4 ,he was a type of the paladins and knights errant of the romanesque traditions4 ,he enjoyed a wide reputation and attained a high degree of fortune4 ,voyez ,monte-,mayor1 ,diana1 l4 ii42 et ,voltaire1 ,essai sur les ,murs1 t4 iii41 strotype1 p4 #hf4 ,in the course of the sixteenth century1 the ,spanish held a marked superiority over the other peoples3 their tongue was spoken at ,paris1 ,vienna1 ,milan1 ,turin4 ,their customs1 their manners of thought and of writing1 subjugated the minds of the ,italians1 and from ,charles ,v4 to the commencement of the reign of ,philip ,,iii41 ,spain enjoyed an importance that the other peoples never had4 ,voyez ,robertson1 ,introduction l',histoire de ,charles-,quint4 ,it would be necessary to overstep considerably the ordinary limits of a footnote1 if ,i should explain how it happens that ,spain has lost this supremacy acquired by her1 and why her tongue1 the only one capable of rivalling and perhaps effacing the ,french1 has yielded to it in all ways1 and by which it was eclipsed4 ,this explanation would demand for itself alone a very lengthy work4 ,among the writers who have sought for the cause of the decadence of the ,spanish monarchy1 some have believed to discover it in the increase of its wealth1 others1 in the too great extent of its colonies1 and the greater part1 in the spirit of its government and its superstitious cult4 ,they have all thought that the tribunal of the ,inquisition alone was capable of arresting the impulse of genius and of stifling the development of learning4 ,in this they have taken effects for causes1 and consequences for principles4 ,they have not seen that the spirit of the government and the cult is always not the motive1 but the result of the national spirit1 and that the wealth and the colonies1 indifferent in themselves1 are only instruments that this spirit employs for good or evil1 according to its character4 ,i can only indicate the first cause which has prevented ,spain from reaching the culminating point which ,france is very near to attaining4 ,this cause is pride4 ,whilst ,europe1 enveloped in darkness1 was1 so to speak1 in the fermentation of ignorance1 ,spain1 conquered by the ,arabs1 received a germ of science which1 developing with rapidity1 produced a precocious fruit1 brilliant1 but like hot-house fruit lacking internal force and generative vigour4 ,this premature production having raised ,spain abruptly above the other ,european nations1 inspired in her that pride1 that excessive amour propre1 which1 making her treat with contempt all that did not belong to her1 hindered her from making any change in her usual customs1 carried her with complacency in her mistakes1 and when other peoples came to bring forth fruits in their season1 corrupted hers and stamped her with a stationary movement1 which becoming necessarily retrogressive1 must ruin her1 and did ruin her4 #bbh ,in comparing the first lines of ,homer with those of ,klopstock1 it is seen that the ,greek contains #bi letters1 #ah of which are vowels2 and the ,german #dh letters1 #ca of which are consonants4 ,it is difficult with such disparity in the elements to make the harmony the same4 #bbi ,,golden ,,verses ,,of ,,the ,,pythagoreans 7#a7 ,,preparation ,render to the ,immortal ,gods the consecrated cult2 ,guard then thy faith 7#b73 ,revere the memory ,of the ,illustrious ,heroes1 of ,spirits demi-,gods 7#c74 #bcj ,,purification ,be a good son1 just brother1 spouse tender and good father 7#d7 ,choose for thy friend1 the friend of virtue2 ,yield to his gentle counsels1 profit by his life1 ,and for a trifling grievance never leave him 7#e72 ,if thou canst at least3 for a most rigid law ,binds ,power to ,necessity 7#f74 ,still it is given thee to fight and overcome ,thy foolish passions3 learn thou to subdue them 7#g74 ,be sober1 diligent1 and chaste2 avoid all wrath4 ,in public or in secret ne'er permit thou ,any evil2 and above all else respect thyself 7#h74 ,speak not nor act before thou hast reflected4 ,be just 7#i74 ,remember that a power invincible ,ordains to die 7#aj72 that riches and the honours ,easily acquired1 are easy thus to lose 7#aa74 ,as to the evils which ,destiny involves1 ,judge them what they are3 endure them all and strive1 ,as much as thou art able1 to modify the traits3 ,the ,gods1 to the most cruel1 have not exposed the ,sage 7#ab74 ,even as ,truth1 does ,error have its lovers3 ,with prudence the ,philosopher approves or blames2 ,if ,error triumph1 he departs and waits 7#ac74 ,listen and in thine heart engrave my words2 ,keep closed thine eye and ear 'gainst prejudice2 ,of others the example fear2 think always for thyself 7#ad73 ,consult1 deliberate1 and freely choose 7#ae74 ,let fools act aimlessly and without cause4 ,thou shouldst1 in the present1 contemplate the future 7#af74 ,that which thou dost not know1 pretend not that thou dost4 ,instruct thyself3 for time and patience favour all 7#ag74 ,neglect not thy health 7#ah73 dispense with moderation1 ,food to the body and to the mind repose 7#ai74 ,too much attention or too little shun2 for envy ,thus1 to either excess is alike attached 7#bj74 ,luxury and avarice have similar results4 ,one must choose in all things a mean just and good 7#ba74 #bca ,,perfection ,let not sleep e'er close thy tired eyes ,without thou ask thyself3 ,what have ,i omitted and what done8 7#bb74 ,abstain thou if 'tis evil2 persevere if good 7#bc74 ,meditate upon my counsels2 love them2 follow them2 ,to the divine virtues will they know how to lead thee 7#bd74 ,i swear it by the one who in our hearts engraved ,the sacred ,tetrad1 symbol immense and pure1 ,source of ,nature and model of the ,gods 7#be74 ,but before all1 thy soul to its faithful duty1 ,invoke these ,gods with fervour1 they whose aid1 ,thy work begun1 alone can terminate 7#bf74 ,instructed by them1 naught shall then deceive thee3 ,of diverse beings thou shalt sound the essence2 ,and thou shalt know the principle and end of ,all 7#bg74 ,if ,heaven wills it1 thou shalt know that ,nature1 ,alike in everything1 is the same in every place 7#bh73 ,so that1 as to thy true rights enlightened1 ,thine heart shall no more feed on vain desires 7#bi74 ,thou shalt see that the evils which devour men ,are of their choice the fruit 7#cj72 that these unfortunates ,seek afar the goodness whose source within they bear 7#ca74 ,for few know happiness3 playthings of the passions1 ,hither1 thither tossed by adverse waves1 ,upon a shoreless sea1 they blinded roll1 ,unable to resist or to the tempest yield 7#cb74 ,god6 ,thou couldst save them by opening their eyes 7#cc74 ,but no3 'tis for the humans of a race divine ,to discern ,error and to see the ,truth 7#cd74 ,nature serves them 7#ce74 ,thou who fathomed it1 ,o wise and happy man1 rest in its haven4 ,but observe my laws1 abstaining from the things ,which thy soul must fear1 distinguishing them well2 ,letting intelligence o'er thy body reign 7#cf72 ,so that1 ascending into radiant ,ether1 ,midst the ,immortals1 thou shalt be thyself a ,god4 #bcb ,hirocl41 ,comment4 in ,aur4 ,carmin4 ,proem4 #bcc ,fabric41 ,bibl4 grc41 p4 #dfj2 ,dacier1 ,remarq4 sur les ,comm4 d',hirocls4 #bcd ,jamblic41 ,de ,vit ,pythag41 c4 #cj et #cc2 ,plutarch1 ,de ,gen4 ,socrat4 #bce ,plutarch1 ,de ,repug4 stoc42 ,diog4 ,lart41 l4 viii41 #ci2 ,polyb41 l4 ii42 ,justin41 l4 xx41 c4 #d2 ,vossius1 ,de ,phil4 sect41 c4 #f4 #bcf ,hirocl41 ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #ga4 #bcg ,voyez ,dacier1 ,rem4 sur le ,comment4 d',hirocl4 #bch ,plut41 ,de ,gen4 ,socr42 lian41 ,var4 ,hist41 l4 ii41 c4 #g4 #bci ,bacon1 ,novum ,organum1 ,aph41 #fe et #ga4 #bdj ,asiat4 ,res41 t4 iii41 p4 #cga #cgd4 #bda ,mm4 concern4 les ,chin41 t4 ii41 p4 #bf4 #bdb ,eulma ,esclam4 ,note du ,boun-,dehesh1 p4 #cdd4 #bdc ,porphyr41 ,de ,antr4 ,nymph41 p4 #abf4 #bdd ' 4 ,voyez ,dacier1 dans ses ,remarques sur les ,comment4 d',hirocl4 #bde ,vit ,pythagor42 ,phot41 ,cod41 #bei2 ,macrob41 ,somn4 ,scip41 l4 i41 c4 #f1 l4 ii41 c4 #ab2 ,august41 ,de ,civit4 ,dei1 l4 iv41 c4 #i et #aa2 ,euseb41 ,prp4 ,evang41 l4 iii41 c4 #i2 ,lactant41 ,de ,fals4 ,relig41 l4 i41 c4 #f et #g2 ,plot41 ,ennead41 iii41 l4 ii4 #bdf ,plutar41 ,de ,isid4 et ,osirid41 p4 #cgg4 #bdg ,the priests of the ,burmans1 called ,rahans1 but whose generic name is that of ,sramana1 whence came to them that of ,sramaneras1 which the ancients gave them1 carry the spirit of tolerance as far as possible4 ,they visit with the same devotion pagodas1 mosques1 and churches2 never does one see them being persecuted1 nor persecuting others in the cause of religion4 ,the ,brahmans1 ,mussulmans1 and ,christians occupy important posts among them without their being scandalized4 ,they regard all men as brothers4 7,asiat4 ,research41 t4 vi41 pp4 #bgd-bgi74 ,the ,brahmans are of the same mind4 ,one reads these wonderful words in the ,bhaghavad ,gita3 8,a great diversity of cults1 similar as to substance but varying in forms1 are manifested by the will of the ,supreme ,being4 ,some follow one cult1 others attach themselves to another3 all of these worshippers are purified from their offences by their particular cult4''' ,god is the gift of charity1 ,god is the offering1 ,god is the fire upon the altar2 it is ,god even1 who makes the sacrifice1 and ,god will be obtained by him who makes ,god the sole object of his labours40 7,lect4 iv47 #bdh ,hirocl41 ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #a4 #bdi ,the ,greek word expresses a thing put in order1 arranged according to a fixed and regular principle4 ,its primitive root is in the ,phnician 7ash7 a principle ,being1 the fire4 ,the ,latin word mundus renders the ,greek sense very imperfectly4 ,it signifies exactly1 that which is made neat and clean by means of water4 ,its nearest root is unda1 and its remotest root is found in the ,phnician 7ad71 an emanation1 a vapour1 a source4 ,one can see1 according to this etymology1 that the ,greeks drew the idea of order and beauty from fire1 and the ,latins from water4 #bej ,diogen4 ,lart41 l4 viii41 #be2 ,plutar41 ,de ,decret4 philos41 ii41 c4 #f2 ,sext4 ,empir41 ,adv4 ,math41 x41 #bdi2 ,stob41 ,eccl4 phys41 p4 #dfh4 #bea ,plutar41 ,in ,numa4 #beb ,jambl41 ,vit ,pythag41 c4 #bh1 #cb et #ce4 #bec 1 4 ,the symbol of ,fo-,hi1 so celebrated among the ,chinese1 is the same and is expressed by a whole line #a1 and a broken line - - #b4 ,i shall make myself better understood upon this subject1 in speaking as ,i intend to do upon music and upon what the ancients understood by the language of ,numbers4 #bed ,vit ,pythag42 ,phot41 ,bibl4 ,codex1 #bei4 #bee ,vie de ,pythag4 par ,dacier4 #bef ,hirocl41 ,aurea ,carmin41 v4 #a4 #beg ,ci-devant1 p4 #ha4 #beh ,time de ,locres1 ch4 #c2 ,edit4 de ,batteux1 #h2 ,diod4 ,sicul41 l4 ii41 p4 #hc2 ,herod41 l4 ii41 c4 #d2 ,hyde1 ,de vet4 ,pers4 ,relig41 c4 #ai2 ,plato1 ,in ,tim41 ,in ,phd41 ,in ,legib41 etc4 #bei ,bailly1 ,hist4 de l',astr4 anc41 l4 iii41 #aj4 #bfj ,pythagoras1 at an early age1 was taken to ,tyre by ,mnesarchus1 his father1 in order to study there the doctrine of the ,phnicians2 later he visited ,egypt1 ,arabia1 and ,babylon1 in which last city he remained twelve years4 ,it was while there that he had frequent conferences concerning the principle of things with a very learned magian whom ,porphyry names ,zabratos2 ,plutarch1 ,zaratas2 and ,theodoret1 ,zaradas4 7,porphyr41 ,vit ,pythag47 ,plutarch is inclined to believe that this magian is the same as ,zardusht1 or ,zoroaster1 and the chronology is not here entirely contrary4 7,plutar41 ,de ,procreat4 anim42 ,hyde1 ,de ,relig4 vet4 ,pers41 c4 #bd1 o4 #cji et c4 #ca1 p4 #cgi47 #bfa ,asiat4 ,research41 t4 vi41 p4 #agd4 #bfb ,holwell's1 ,histor4 ,interest4 ,events1 ch4 iv41 #e4 #bfc ,beausobre1 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 i41 p4 #afd4 #bfd ,macrob41 ,somn4 ,scip41 l4 i41 c4 #aa4 #bfe ,bhme1 ,les ,six ,points1 ch4 #b4 #bff ,the word signifies1 in ,hebrew1 ,arabic1 and ,chaldean1 that which is anterior1 that which one receives from the ancients by tradition4 #bfg ,aurea ,carm41 v4 #dh4 #bfh ,synes1 ,hymn41 iii41 v4 #agd2 ,hymn41 iv41 v4 #fh4 #bfi ,beausobre1 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 i41 p4 #egb4 #bgj ,the word ,eon1 in ,greek 1 is derived from the ,egyptian or ,phnician 7a71 a principle of will1 a central point of development1 and 7ion71 the generative faculty4 ,this last word has signified1 in a restricted sense1 a dove1 and has been the symbol of ,venus4 ,it is the famous ,yoni of the ,indians and even the ,yn of the ,chinese3 that is to say1 the plastic nature of the ,universe4 ,from there1 the name of ,ionia1 given to ,greece4 #bga ,herm4 ,trismg41 c4 #aa4 #bgb ,plutar4 cit par le pre ,petau4 ,notes in ,synes1 p4 #db4 #bgc ,clem4 ,alex41 ,eclog4 ,theod41 #cj4 #bgd ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 i41 p4 #egb4 #bge ,gods1 ,heroes1 and ,demons signify in the ,greek words 1 1 1 whence they are derived1 the ,principle-,beings attained to perfection2 the ruling ,principle-,beings2 ,terrestrial ,existences4 ,the word is formed from the word 7as71 a ,principle-,being1 preceded by the hemantique letter 71 th71 which is the sign of perfection4 ,the word is composed of the same word 7as71 preceded by the word 7herr71 expressing all that rules4 ,the word comes from the ancient word 1 land1 united with the word 1 existence4 #bgf 4 #bgg ,lil4 ,greg4 ,gyral41 ,pythag4 ,symb4 ,interpret41 p4 #ib4 #bgh ,apud ,phot4 ,cod41 #bdi4 #bgi ,dict4 ,crit41 art4 ,,pythagoras1 rem4 ,q4 #bhj ,not long since1 a man rather well organized mentally1 but very slightly enlightened by the true science1 brought out a book entitled ,ruverabhoni1 in which1 heaping up all the ancient and modern sophisms pronounced against the social organization founded upon the establishment of the family1 he aspired to change the instinct of nature1 in this respect1 and to found true happiness upon the dbris of all the ties of blood1 of all the affections of the soul1 and of all the duties of consanguinity4 #bha ,as ,i give the same meaning as did ,moses and not that of the ,septuagint copied by the ,vulgate1 ,i transcribe here the original text1 so that those who understand ,hebrew may see that ,i have not deviated from it4 ,exodus1 ch4 #bj1 v4 #ab4 #bhb ,this country of ,adam1 in ,hebrew 7ha-adamah71 adamenne4 ,this word1 which has been vulgarly translated by the ,earth1 signifies it only by metaphor4 ,its proper sense1 which is very difficult to grasp1 depends always on that which is attached to the name of ,adam1 whence it is derived4 ,jhah1 in ,hebrew 1 pronounced very improperly ,jehovah1 on account of a defective punctuation of the ,masoretes1 is the proper name of ,,god4 ,this name was formed by ,moses in a manner as ingenious as sublime1 by means of the contraction of the three tenses of the verb 7heh71 to be4 ,it signifies exactly will be-being-been2 that which is1 was1 and shall be4 ,one renders it well enough by ,eternal4 ,it is ,eternity1 or the ,time-without-,limit of ,zoroaster4 ,this name is quite generally followed1 as it is here1 with the words 7loh-cha71 thy ,gods1 in order to express that the ,unity contained in ,jhah1 comprehends the infinity of the gods1 and takes the place of it with the people of ,israel4 #bhc ,mmoires concern4 les ,chinois1 t4 iv41 p4 #g4 #bhd ,mm4 concern4 les ,chinois1 ibid4 #bhe ,nemesis1 in ,greek 1 is derived from the ,phnician words 7nam or nm71 expressing every judgment1 every order1 every decree announced by word of mouth2 and 7shish71 all that serves for principle1 as foundation4 ,this last word has root 7as1 os1 or s74 #bhf ,hiao-,king1 ou ,livre de la ,pit filiale4 #bhg ,kong-,tze1 dans le ,hiao-,king qui contient sa doctrine4 #bhh ,hirocl41 ,comment4 ,aurea4 carmin41 v4 #e4 #bhi ,hirocls1 ibid41 v4 #g4 #bij ,porphyr41 in ,vit ,pythag41 p4 #cg4 #bia ,dacier1 ,vie de ,pythag4 #bib ,diog4 ,lart41 l4 v41 #ba4 #bic ,hirocl41 ,aurea4 carm41 v4 #h4 #bid ,evang4 de ,s4 ,math41 ch4 #bb4 #bie ,zend-,avesta1 #cj h1 p4 #afd2 ibid41 #cd h1 p4 #agd2 ibid41 #gb h1 p4 #beh4 #bif ,vie de ,confucius1 p4 #aci4 #big ,herm4 ,trismeg41 ,in ,pmand4 #bih ,senac41 ,de ,sen41 vi41 #b4 #bii ,aul4 ,gell41 l4 vi41 c4 #b4 #cjj ,plutar41 ,de repugn4 ,stoc4 de ,fato4 #cja ,chalcidius1 in ,tim41 not4 #bie1 p4 #chg4 #cjb ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 l4 v41 ch4 #f1 p4 #bej4 #cjc ,dict4 crit41 ,,manicheens1 rem4 ,d4 #cjd ,cicron1 ,tuscul41 l4 i42 ,clem4 ,alex41 ,strom41 l4 v41 p4 #eja4 #cje ,justin41 ,cohort ad ,gent41 p4 #f2 ,cyrill41 ,contr4 ,julien2 ,fabric41 ,bibl4 grc41 t4 i41 p4 #dgb4 #cjf ,plutar41 ,de ,procr4 anim4 #cjg ,plat41 ,epist41 #b et #g1 t4 iii41 p4 #cab1 #cac1 #cda1 etc4 #cjh ,voyez l'excellent ouvrage de ,beausobre ce sujet1 ,l',histoire du ,manichisme4 #cji ,when ,zoroaster spoke of this ,cause1 he gave it the name of ,time without ,limit1 following the translation of ,anquetil ,duperron4 ,this ,cause does not still appear absolute in the doctrine of this theosophist2 because in a passage of the ,zend-,avesta1 where in contemplation of the ,supreme ,being1 producer of ,ormuzd1 he calls this ,being1 the ,being absorbed in excellence1 and says that ,fire1 acting from the beginning1 is the principle of union between this ,being and ,ormuzd 7#cf h du ,vendidad ,sad1 p4 #ahj1 #ai fargard1 p4 #dae74 ,one finds in another book1 called ,sharistha1 that when this ,supreme ,being organized the matter of the ,universe1 he projected his ,will in the form of a resplendent light 7,apud ,hyde1 c4 #bb1 p4 #bih74 #caj ,in ,tim41 not4 #bie4 #caa ,voyez ,photius1 ,cod41 #bea4 ,plotin1 ,porphyre1 ,jamblique1 ,proclus et ,symplicius ont t du mme sentiment qu' ,hirocls1 ainsi que le dit le savant ,fabricius1 ,bibl4 grc41 t4 i41 p4 #dgb4 #cab ,iliad1 ,l4 ult41 v4 #ffc4 #cac ,cicr41 de ,natur4 ,deor41 l4 i41 c4 #ae4 #cad ,cicr41 de ,fato1 c4 #ag4 #cae ,aximes de ,pythagore conservs par ,stobe1 ,serm4 #f4 #caf ,hirocl41 ,aur4 carm41 v4 #aj et #aa4 #cag ,strab41 #a4 xvi41 p4 #eab2 ,sext4 ,empir41 ,adv4 ,mathem41 p4 #cfg4 #cah ,atom1 in ,greek 1 is formed from the word 1 a part1 to which is joined the a privative4 #cai ,huet1 ,cens4 ,phil4 ,cartesian41 c4 #h1 p4 #bac4 ,if one carefully examines the systems of ,descartes1 ,leibnitz1 and ,newton1 one will see that1 after all1 they are reduced either to atoms1 or to inherent forces which move them4 #cbj ,cicr41 de ,fato1 c4 #ag4 #cba ,august41 ,epist41 #ef4 #cbb ,august41 ,epist41 #ef4 #cbc ,cicr41 de ,nat4 ,deor41 l4 i41 c4 #ai2 ,qust4 ,acad41 l4 iv41 c4 #ac2 de ,fato1 c4 #i4 #cbd ,diog4 ,lart41 l4 x41 #abc2 ,cicr41 de ,nat4 ,deor41 l4 i41 c4 #cj4 #cbe ,senec41 ,epist41 #hh2 ,sext4 ,empir41 ,adv4 ,math41 l4 vii41 c4 #b2 ,arist41 ,mtaphys41 l4 iii41 c4 #d4 #cbf ,arist41 ,physic41 l4 vi41 c4 #i2 voyez ,bayle1 ,dict4 crit41 art4 ,,zenon1 rem4 ,f4 #cbg ,cicr41 de ,natur4 ,deor41 l4 i41 c4 #ae4 #cbh ,semel jussit1 semper paret1 ,seneca has said4 8,the laws which ,god has prescribed for ,himself10 he adds1 8,he will never revoke1 because they have been dictated by ,his own perfections2 and that the same plan1 the same design having pleased ,him once1 pleases ,him eternally0 7,senec41 ,prf4 ad ,qust4 nat474 #cbi ,cicer41 ,de ,fato1 cap4 #ag4 #ccj ,cicer41 ibid41 c4 #i4 #cca ,aul4 ,gell41 l4 vi41 c4 #b4 #ccb ,cicer41 ,de ,nat4 ,deor41 l4 i41 c4 #i2 ,plutar41 ,de repug4 ,stoc42 ,diogenian4 ,apud42 ,euseb41 ,prp4 ,evang41 l4 vi41 c4 #h4 #ccc ,herodot41 ,euterp41 #aga2 ,julian ,firm41 ,de ,error1 prof41 p4 #de4 #ccd ,meurs41 ,grc4 ,feriat41 l4 i42 ,plutar41 ,in ,alcibiad42 ,porphyr41 ,de ,abst41 l4 ii41 #cf2 ,euseb41 ,prp4 ,evang41 l4 i41 c4 #a2 ,schol4 ,apoll41 l4 i41 v4 #iag2 ,pausan41 ,corinth1 p4 #gc4 #cce ,porphyr41 ,vit ,pythag41 p4 #aj4 #ccf ,the doctrine of ,krishna is found especially recorded in the ,bhaghavad ,gita1 one of the ,pouranas most esteemed by the ,brahmans2 in the ,zend-,avesta and in the ,boun-,dehesh1 that of ,zoroaster4 ,the ,chinese have the ,tchun-,tsieou of ,kong-,tse1 historic monument raised to the glory of ,providence2 in the ,pmander and sculapius1 the ideas of ,thoth4 ,the book of ,synesius upon ,providence contains the dogmas of the ,mysteries4 ,finally one can consult in the course of the ,edda1 the sublime discourse of ,odin1 entitled ,havaml4 ,the basis of all these works is the same4 #ccg ,this1 as ,i observed in my ,second ,examination1 should be understood only by the vulgar4 ,the savant and the initiate easily restored to ,unity this infinity of gods1 and understood or sought the origin of evil1 without the knowledge of which1 divine ,unity is inexplicable4 #cch ,tals1 cit par ,platon1 ,de ,republ41 l4 x42 ,aristot41 ,metaph41 l4 iii42 ,cicer41 ,acad4 ,qust41 iv41 c4 #cg4 #cci ,anaximandre1 cit par ,aristot41 ,phys41 l4 i42 ,sext4 ,empir41 ,pyrr41 iii4 #cdj ,anaximne1 cit par ,arist41 ,metaph41 l4 i41 c4 #c2 ,plutar41 ,de ,placit4 ,phil41 i41 #c4 #cda ,hraclite1 cit par ,platon1 ,thetet42 ,arist41 ,metaph41 l4 i41 c4 #f2 ,sext4 ,empir41 ,adv4 ,math41 l4 vii4 #cdb ,de ,grando1 ,hist4 des ,syst4 de ,phil41 t4 iii41 p4 #bhc2 ,arist41 ,metaph41 l4 i41 c4 #f2 ,diog4 ,lart41 l4 ix41 c4 #ai4 #cdc ,cicer41 ,de ,nat4 ,deor41 l4 i41 c4 #i4 #cdd ,bot41 ,de ,consol41 l4 i41 prosa #d4 #cde ,plutar41 ,adv4 ,stoc41 p4 #ajge4 #cdf ,cicer41 ,de ,fato1 c4 #aj2 ,lucret41 l4 ii41 v4 #baf1 #bea1 #bhd4 #cdg ,cicer41 ,de ,fato1 c4 #i et #ag2 ,diogenian41 ,apud42 ,euseb41 ,prp4 ,evan41 l4 vi41 c4 #h4 #cdh ,cicer41 ,de ,natur4 ,deor41 l4 iii41 c4 #ch et #ci4 #cdi ,aul4 ,gell41 l4 vi41 c4 #a4 #cej ,plutar41 ,adv4 ,stoc4 #cea ,the name given to the sect of the ,pharisees signifies1 in general1 that which is enlightened1 illumined1 glorified1 illustrious4 ,it is derived from the root 7aor71 the light1 governed by the article 7phe71 which expresses the emphasis2 thence 7phr71 an aureola1 a tiara1 and 7pharethmim71 men illustrious1 sublime4 ,the name given to the sect of the ,sadducees is derived from the word 7shad7 which1 expressing all diffusion1 all propagation1 is applied to productive nature in general1 and in particular to a mammal1 its symbol among the ,egyptians2 it signifies properly the ,physicists1 or the ,naturalists4 #ceb ,the original name of the ,book of ,moses is 7sepher72 the name of the ,bible1 that we attribute to it1 is derived from the ,greek 1 adopted by the so-called translators of the ,septuagint4 #cec ,joseph41 ,antiq41 l4 xii41 c4 #bb2 l4 xiii41 c4 #i et #bc2 l4 xvii41 c4 #c2 ,budd1 ,introd4 ad ,phil4 ,hebr42 ,basnage1 ,histoire des ,juifs1 t4 i4 #ced ,this is founded upon a great number of passages1 of which it will suffice to cite the following4 ,one finds in ,amos1 ch4 iii41 v4 #f3 8,shall there be evil in a city which the ,lord hath not done80 ,and in ,ezekiel1 ch4 xxi41 v4 #c3 8,and say to the land of ,israel1 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god3 ,behold1 ,i come against thee1 and ,i will draw forth my sword out of its sheath1 and will cut off in thee the just1 and the wicked ''' against all flesh1 from the south even to the north4''' ,that all flesh may know that ,i the ,lord have drawn my sword40 #cee ,mohammed said of himself1 that he possessed no heavenly treasures1 that he was ignorant of the mysteries1 that he could say nothing of the essence of the soul 7,koran1 ch4 #f and #ag72 and as he admitted the literal text of the ,sepher1 he could not do otherwise than announce predestination4 8,god10 he said1 8holds in his hands the keys of the future4 ,he alone knows it4''' ,the nations know not how to retard or to hasten the moment of their downfall0 7,koran1 ch4 #f and #bc74 #cef ,vit ,pythag42 ,photius1 ,bibl4 ,cod41 #bei4 #ceg ,kircher1 dip41 t4 i41 p4 #daa2 ,edda ,island ,fabl42 ,macrob41 ,saturn41 l4 i41 c4 #bj4 #ceh ,plotin1 ,ennead41 iii41 #a4 #b2 ,euseb41 ,prp4 ,evan41 l4 iii41 c4 #i2 ,macrob41 ,somn4 ,schip41 l4 ii41 c4 #ab2 ,marc4 ,aurell41 l4 iv41 c4 #cd4 #cei ,pan1 in ,greek 1 signifies the ,all1 and ,phanes is derived from the ,phnician word 7nesh71 man1 preceded by the emphatic article 7ph74 ,it must be observed that these two names spring from the same root 7n71 which1 figuratively1 expresses the sphere of activity1 and literally1 the limitation of the being1 its body1 its capacity4 ,hence 7ni71 me1 and 7aniha71 a vessel4 #cfj ,mm4 concern4 les ,chinois1 t4 ii41 p4 #agd et suiv42 ,edda ,island2 ,beausobre1 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 p4 #ghd2 ,bhme1 ,de la triple ,vie de l',homme1 c4 ix41 #ce et suiv4 #cfa 4 ,zoroast4 ,oracul4 #cfb ,hirocl41 ,aurea ,carmin41 v4 #ad4 #cfc ,herms1 ,in ,pmander4 #cfd ,evang4 ,st4 ,math41 ch4 #ah4 #cfe ,vendidad ,sad1 p4 #hi4 #cff #cd h1 p4 #agd4 #cfg #c fargard41 p4 #bhd4 #cfh ,jeshts ,sads1 p4 #aea4 #cfi ,hafiz1 cit par les auteurs ,des ,recherches asiatiques1 t4 iv41 p4 #afg4 #cgj ,l',arya1 cit comme ci-dessus3 8,l'homme de bien1 paisable au moment qu'il expire1 ,tourne sur ses bourreaux un il religieux1 ,et bnit jusqu'au bras qui cause son martyre3 ,tel l'arbre de ,sandal que frappe un furieux1 ,couvre de ses parfums le fer qui le dechire40 #cga ,edda ,island2 ,hvaml4 #cgb ,diogen4 ,lart41 ,in ,prm41 p4 #e4 #cgc ,pmander et ,asclepius4 #cgd ,this is the vast collection of ,brahmanic morals4 ,one finds there many of the lines repeated word for word in the ,sepher of ,moses4 #cge ,in them1 antiquity goes back three thousand years before our era4 ,there is mention of an eclipse of the sun1 verified for the year #baee ,b4,c4 #cgf ,senec41 ,de ,sen41 l4 vi41 c4 #b4 #cgg ,hirocl41 ,aur4 carmin41 v4 #ah4 #cgh ,jamblic41 ,de ,vit ,pythag42 ,porphyr41 ibid41 et de ,abstin42 ,vit ,pythag4 apud2 ,phot41 ,cod41 #bei2 ,diog4 ,lart41 ,in ,pythag41 l4 viii42 ,hierocl41 ,comment4 in ,aur4 ,carm42 ibid41 ,de ,provident42 ,philost41 ,in ,vit ,apollon2 ,plutar41 ,de ,placit4 philos42 ibid41 ,de ,procreat4 anim42 ,apul41 ,in ,florid42 ,macrob41 ,in ,saturn41 et ,somn4 ,scip42 ,fabric41 ,bibl4 grc4 in ,pythag42 ,clem4 ,alex41 ,strom41 passim41 etc4 #cgi ,hirocl41 ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #ad2 ,phot41 ,cod41 #bdb et #bad4 #chj ,diog4 ,lart41 ,in ,pythag42 ibid41 ,in ,emped4 #cha ,hirocl41 ,pont4 apud ,diog4 ,lart41 l4 viii41 #d4 #chb ,maximus ,tyrius has made a dissertation upon the origin of ,evil1 in which he asserts that the prophetic oracles1 having been consulted on this subject1 responded by these two lines from ,homer3 8,we accuse the gods of our evils1 while we ourselves ,by our own errors1 are responsible for them40 #chc ,hirocl41 ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #ah4 #chd ,plutar41 ,de ,repugn4 ,stoc4 #che ,in ,gorgi4 et ,phileb4 #chf ,hirocl41 ,aur4 ,carmin41 v41 #ah4 #chg ,hirocl41 ,aur4 ,carmin41 v4 #ah1 #di et #fb4 #chh ,in ,phdon2 ,in ,hipp41 ii42 ,in ,thet42 ,de ,rep41 l4 iv41 etc4 #chi ,hyde1 ,de ,relig4 ,vet4 ,pers41 p4 #bih4 #cij ,evan4 ,s4 ,math41 ch4 xvii41 v4 #ai4 #cia ,vie de ,kong-,tze 7,confucius71 p4 #cbd4 #cib ,meng-,tze1 cit par ,duhalde1 t4 ii41 p4 #ccd4 #cic ,krishna1 ,bhagavad-,gita1 lect4 ii4 #cid ,,xl ,questions sur l',ame 7,viertzig ,fragen von der ,sellen ,orstand1 ,essentz1 ,wesen1 ,natur und ,eigenschafft1 etc4 ,amsterdam1 #afhb74 ,quest4 #a4 #cie ,ibid4 #cif ,,ix ,textes1 text4 #a et #b4 #cig ,,xl ,questions1 quest4 #f4 #cih ,plato1 ,in ,theag4 #cii ,clem4 ,alex41 ,strom41 l4 iv41 p4 #ejf2 ,beausobre1 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 p4 #bh4 #djj ,this is the signification of the ,greek word 4 #dja ,dans le ,tchong-,yong1 ou le ,principe central1 immuable1 appel ,le ,livre de la grande ,science4 #djb ,evan4 ,s4 ,math41 ch4 vii41 v4 #f4 #djc ,bhagavad-,gita1 lect4 #h et #ac4 #djd ,evang4 ,s4 ,luc41 ch4 xiv41 v4 #bf4 #dje #ej h ,zend-,avesta1 p4 #bag2 #de h1 ibid41 p4 #aig4 #djf ,nombres1 ch4 xxxi42 ,deutronome1 ch4 iii41 xx41 etc4 #djg ,exode1 ch4 xxxiv41 v4 #f4 #djh ,koran1 i41 ch4 #d1 #bb1 #bc1 #bd1 #be1 #ej1 etc4 #dji ,voyez la fin du dernier ,examen4 #daj ,s4 ,math41 ch4 v41 v4 #dd4 #daa ,ibid41 ch4 xii41 v4 #bj1 etc4 #dab ,ibid41 ch4 x41 v4 #cd4 #dac ,s4 ,luc1 ch4 xii41 v4 #eb1 #ec4 #dad ,s4 ,math41 ch4 xii41 v4 #cj4 #dae ,bacon1 ,novum ,organum4 #daf ,novum ,organ41 ,aphor41 #ch et seq4 #dag ,voyez ,la ,vie de ,kong-,tze et le ,ta-,hio1 cit dans les ,mm4 concern4 les ,chinois1 t4 i41 p4 #dcb4 #dah ,mm4 concern4 les ,chin41 t4 iv41 p4 #bhf4 #dai ,novum ,organum in ,prf4 et ,aph41 #a4 #dbj ,ibid41 ,aph41 #aa4 #dba ,ibid41 ,aph41 #ac4 #dbb ,ibid41 ,aph41 #ad et #ae4 #dbc ,ibid41 ,aph41 #ch et seq4 #dbd ,novum ,organum in ,prf4 et ,aph41 #gc4 #dbe ,ibid41 ,aph41 #fc4 #dbf ,ibid41 ,aph41 #fe4 #dbg ,aurea ,carm41 v4 #be4 #dbh ,aurea ,carm41 v4 #bg4 #dbi ,hermes1 ,in ,asclepio2 ,porphyr41 ,de ,antr4 ,nymph41 p4 #ajf2 ,origen1 ,contr4 ,cels41 #a4 vi41 p4 #bih2 ,hyd41 ,de ,vet4 ,pers4 ,relig41 p4 #af2 ,jamblic41 ,de ,myster-,egypt41 c4 #cg4 #dcj ,hist4 des ,voyag41 t4 lii41 p4 #gb2 ,divd41 #a4 iv41 c4 #gi2 ,plutar41 ,in ,vit ,num4 #dca ,boulanger1 ,antiq4 dvoil41 l4 iii41 ch4 #e1 #c4 #dcb ,mm4 de l',acad4 des ,insc41 t4 i41 p4 #fg2 ,tit4-,liv41 ,decad41 ,i1 l4 ix42 ,aul4 ,gell41 l4 vi41 c4 #i4 #dcc ,duhald41 t4 ii41 p4 #egh2 t4 iii41 p4 #ccf1 #cdb2 ,const4 d',orville1 t4 i41 p4 #c4 #dcd ,philostr41 ,in ,vit ,apoll41 l4 iii41 c4 #ac4 #dce ,dans mon #ba ,examen1 o j'ai cit particulirement ,diogne ,larce1 l4 viii41 #d4 #dcf ,syncell41 p4 #ce4 #dcg ,senec41 ,qust4 ,nat41 l4 iii41 c4 #cj2 ,synes41 ,de ,provid41 l4 ii41 sub fin4 #dch ,plato1 ,in ,tim42 ,ovid1 ,metam41 l4 xv41 fab4 v42 ,senec41 ,epist41 #ce2 ,macrob41 ,in ,somn4 ,scip41 l4 ii41 c4 #b2 ,hist4 des ,voyages1 t4 xii41 p4 #ebi2 ,dupuis1 ,orig4 des ,cultes1 l4 v41 in #ab1 p4 #dgd2 ,bailly1 ,hist4 de l',astr4 ,anc41 l4 ix41 #ae4 #dci ,ciceron1 ,de ,divin41 l4 ii41 c4 #ig4 #ddj ,cicer41 ,de ,natur4 ,deor41 l4 ii41 c4 #bj2 ibid41 ,de ,divin41 l4 ii41 c4 #ig4 #dda ,plato1 ,in ,tim4 #ddb ,soury-,siddhanta4 #ddc ,asiat4 ,research41 t4 ii41 p4 #cgh4 #ddd ,biot41 ,astr4 ,phys41 ch4 xiv41 p4 #bia4 #dde ,vit ,pythag42 ,phot41 ,bibl4 ,cod41 #bei2 ,plato1 ,in ,tim42 ,macrob41 ,in ,somn4 ,scip42 ,virg41 neid1 l4 vi41 v4 #gbd2 ,sevius1 ,comm41 ibid42 ,cicer41 ,de ,nat4 ,deor41 l4 i41 c4 #e1 #aa1 #ad1 et #ae2 ,diog4 ,lart41 ,in ,zon42 ,batteux1 ,causes premires1 t4 ii41 p4 #aaf2 ,beausob41 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 l4 vi41 c4 #f1 #ad4 #ddf ,stanley1 ,de ,phil4 ,chald41 p4 #aabc4 #ddg ,kircher1 dip41 t4 i41 p4 #agb1 et t4 ii41 p4 #bjj4 #ddh ,maimon41 ,more ,nevoch41 i41 part41 c4 #gj4 #ddi ,salmas1 ,ann4 ,climat41 ,prf41 p4 #cb4 #dej ,homer1 ,odyss41 ,k4 v4 #did2 ,diodor4 ,sic41 l4 v41 c4 #f2 ,plin41 l4 vii41 c4 #ef2 ,plutar41 ,de ,oracul4 ,defect41 p4 #dcd4 #dea ,horat41 ,sat41 v41 l4 ii41 v4 #ei4 #deb ,hierocl41 ,in ,aurea ,carm41 v4 #ca4 #dec ,alcibiad41 i4 et ii42 ,lachs1 etc4 #ded ,in ,alcibiad41 i4 #dee ,voyez ,burette1 ,mm4 de l',acad4 des ,belles-,lett41 t4 v42 ,laborde1 ,essai sur la ,musique1 t4 i41 introd41 p4 #bj4 ,our painters have hardly treated ,greek painting better2 and perhaps if the ,pythian ,apollo and the ,chaste ,venus had not again astonished ,europe1 but had disappeared as did the masterpieces of ,polygnotus and of ,zeuxis1 the modern sculptors would have said that the ancients failed as much in pattern as in colouring4 #def ,wood1 ,essai sur le ,gnie orig4 d',homre1 p4 #bbj4 #deg ,bryant1 cit par ,desalles1 ,hist4 d',homre1 p4 #ah4 #deh ,wolf et ,klotz1 cits par le mme4 ,ibid41 p4 #cf et #aag4 #dei ,paw1 ,recherches sur les ,grecs1 t4 ii41 p4 #cee4 #dfj ,c'est un certain ,grgoire1 cit par ,leo ,allazi1 dans son ,livre de ,patri ,homeri4 ,voltaire1 ,dict4 philos41 art4 ,,epop,e4 #dfa ,the name of ,pagan is an injurious and ignoble term derived from the ,latin ,paganus1 which signifies a rustic1 a peasant4 ,when ,christianity had entirely triumphed over ,greek and ,roman polytheism1 and when by the order of the ,emperor ,theodosius1 the last temple dedicated to the gods of the nations had been destroyed in the cities1 it was found that the people in the country still persisted a considerable time in the ancient cult1 which caused them and all their imitators to be called derisively ,pagans4 ,this appellation1 which could suit the ,greeks and ,romans in the fifth century who refused to submit to the dominating religion in the ,empire1 is false and ridiculous when one extends it to other times1 and to other peoples4 ,it cannot be said without at once offending chronology and common sense1 that the ,romans or ,greeks of the time of ,csar1 of ,alexander1 or of ,pericles2 the ,persians1 ,arabs1 ,egyptians1 ,indians1 the ,chinese1 ancient or modern1 were ,pagans2 that is to say1 peasants disobedient to the laws of ,theodosius4 ,these are polytheists1 monotheists1 mythologists1 whatever one wishes1 idolaters perhaps1 but not ,pagans4 #dfb ,novum ,organ41 aph4 #dh4 #dfc ,de ,dign4 et ,increm4 ,science1 l4 iii41 c4 #d4 #dfd ,ut supra4 #dfe ,bacon1 de la ,vie et de la ,mort2 ,sueton41 in ,tiber41 #ff4 #dff ,diogen4 ,lart41 in ,pythag4 #dfg ,hierocles1 ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #cc4 #dfh ,bacon assures1 following the ancients1 that the envious eye is dangerous and that it has been observed that after great triumphs1 illustrious personages having been the object of an envious eye have found themselves ill-disposed for some days following 7,sylva ,sylvarum1 #idd74 #dfi ,aul4 ,gell41 l4 iv41 c4 #aa4 #dgj ,athen41 l4 vii41 c4 #af2 ,jambl41 ,vit ,pythag41 c4 #cj4 #dga ,jambl41 ibid41 c4 #bd4 #dgb ,diog4 ,lart41 l4 viii41 #i2 ,clem4 ,alex41 ,pd41 l4 ii41 p4 #agj4 #dgc ,jambl41 ibid41 c4 #ba2 ,porphyre1 ,vit ,pythag41 p4 #cg2 ,athen41 l4 x41 p4 #dah2 ,aul4 ,gell41 l4 iv41 c4 #aa4 #dgd ,diog4 ,lart41 l4 viii41 #ai4 #dge ,hirocl41 ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #cb4 #dgf ,proverbes du ,brahme ,barthrovhari4 #dgg ,chou-,king1 ch4 ,yu-,mo4 #dgh ,on trouve ce passages dans le ,tchong-,yong1 ou ,livre du ,juste-,milieu2 ouvrage trs clbre parmi les ,chinois4 #dgi ,a la persvrance il n'est rien qui rsiste3 ,quelques soient ses desseins1 si le ,sage y persiste1 ,nul obstacle si grand dont il ne vienne bout3 ,la constance et le temps sont les matres de tout4 #dhj ,porphyr41 ,vit ,pythag41 p4 #bg4 #dha ,institutes of ,manu1 ch4 #a1 v4 #e4 #dhb ,xnophon1 ,mm41 l4 iv41 p4 #gif2 ,plat41 in ,alcib41 i42 ibid41 in ,charm42 ,pausan41 l4 x42 ,plin41 l4 vii41 c4 #cb4 #dhc ,in ,alcibiad41 i4 #dhd ,cicr41 ,acad4 ,qust41 l4 iv41 c4 #bd2 ,sext4 ,empir41 ,hypotyp41 l4 i41 c4 #d et #ab4 #dhe ,diog4 ,lart41 l4 iv41 #aj2 ,cicer41 ,acad4 ,qust41 l4 iv41 c4 #ah4 #dhf ,desland1 ,hist4 ,critiq4 de la ,philosoph41 t4 ii41 p4 #beh4 #dhg ,euseb41 ,prp4 ,evan41 l4 xiv41 c4 #d4 #dhh ,the ,greek word is derived from the verb 1 to cover with a veil4 #dhi ,bayle1 ,dict4 crit41 art4 ,,arc,,silas4 #dij ,sextus ,empiricus1 who was not a man to advance anything thoughtlessly1 alleges that ,arcesilaus was only a skeptic in semblance and that the doubts which he proposed to his listeners had no other aim than that of seeing if they had enough genius to understand the dogmas of ,plato4 ,when he found a disciple who evinced the necessary force of mind1 he initiated him into the true doctrine of the ,academy 7,pyrrh4 hypotyp41 l4 i41 c4 #cc74 #dia ,sext4 ,empir41 ,pyrrh4 hypotyp41 l4 i41 c4 #d1 #ab1 #ae2 l4 ii41 c4 #d1 etc4 #dib 1 4 ,iliad1 l4 vi41 v4 #adf4 #dic ,the ,brahmans call the illusion which results from this veil maya4 ,according to them1 there is only the ,supreme ,being who really and absolutely exists2 all the rest is maya1 that is to say1 phenomenal1 even the trinity formed by ,brahma1 ,vishnu1 and ,rudra4 #did ,de ,grando1 ,hist4 comp4 des ,systmes de philos41 t4 iii41 p4 #cfj4 #die ,de ,grando1 ,hist4 comp4 des ,systmes de philos41 t4 iii41 p4 #cfa4 #dif ,zeno having been thrown by a storm into the port of ,pirus at ,athens1 all his life regarded this accident as a blessing from ,providence1 which had enabled him to devote himself to philosophy and to obey the voice of an oracle which had ordered him to assume 8the colour of the dead02 that is1 to devote himself to the study of the ancients and to sustain their doctrine4 #dig ,plutarch1 in ,catone majore4 #dih ,plutarch1 ibid42 ,cicr41 de ,rep41 l4 ii42 ,apud ,nonium voce ,calumnia4 ,lactant4 l4 v41 c4 #ad4 #dii ,c'tait quoi se bornaient les sceptiques anciens4 ,voyez ,sextus ,empiricus1 ,pyrrh4 hypotyp41 l4 i41 c4 #ae1 et l4 ii41 c4 #d1 #ab1 etc41 cit par ,de ,grando1 ,hist4 ,comp4 des ,syst41 t4 iii41 p4 #cie4 #ejj ,kritik der ,reinen ,vernunft 7,critique de la ,raison pure71 s4 #f4 #eja ,du mot grec 1 celui qui est apt juger4 #ejb ,l',histoire compare des ,systmes de ,philos41 par ,de ,grando1 et des ,mlanges de ,phil41 par ,ancillon de ,berlin4 ,these two writers1 whatever one may say1 have analysed very well the logical part of ,kantism1 and have penetrated1 especially the former1 into the rational part1 as far as it was possible1 for men who write upon the system of a philosopher without adopting the principles and making themselves his followers4 #ejc ,krit4 der ,reinen ,vernunft2 et l1 en plusieurs endroits4 #ejd ,this is taken from the ,vedanta1 a metaphysical treatise attributed to ,vyasa and commented upon by ,sankarchrya4 #eje ,justin1 ,cohort4 ad ,gent41 p4 #f2 ,cyrill41 ,contr4 ,julian4 #ejf ,plutar41 de ,procr4 anim42 ,chalcid41 in ,tim41 n4 #bic4 #ejg ,plato1 in ,tim42 ibid41 in ,theet42 ibid41 de ,rep41 l4 iv4 ,confrez avec ,proclus1 ,comment4 in ,tim41 l4 i42 ,marc-,aurel41 l4 iv41 l4 ix41 et l4 x42 et ,beausobre1 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 p4 #age1 etc4 #ejh ,the idea of making the quaternary spring from the unity1 and the decade from the quaternary is expressed literally in the following lines of ,pythagoras1 preserved by ,proclus3 ''' 1 ' ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ,the ,monad1 of ,number is the sacred source2 ,from it ,number emanates and holds the virtues ,with which shines the ,tetrad1 ,universal ,mother1 ,which produces all things and conceals in its depths ,the immortal ,decade1 honoured in all places4 #eji ,the nearest root of this word is find1 whence is derived finden1 to find2 its remote root is hand1 the seat of touch1 whence comes finger1 that which feels2 its primitive root is or 7d or id71 the hand in ,phnician4 ,this last root1 becoming nasal at the final and aspirate at the initial1 has produced hand2 fang1 a capture1 and find1 a discovery4 ,the syllable emp1 which precedes the root find1 expresses the movement which lifts up from below2 lich designates that which disqualifies by identity1 and keit1 that which substantiates4 #eaj ,the root of this word is stand1 a fixed thing1 a state2 its remote root is stat1 that which is permanent4 ,its primitive root is 7shdad71 firmness1 force1 constancy4 ,the initial syllable ver expresses the movement which carries far away1 which transports from the place where one is1 to that where one is not4 #eaa ,the nearest root of this word1 as well as its remote root1 has disappeared from the modern ,german1 where one finds only its derivatives4 ,its primitive root is in the ,latin word opt1 whence comes opto1 ,i choose3 and optime1 best4 ,this root is attached to the ,phnician 7whph71 anything which is raised above another thing4 ,it becomes nasal in the ,german word and has changed the ph to ft4 ,from it is derived the ,saxon1 ,english1 ,belgian1 and ,danish word up1 which expresses the movement of everything which tends above4 ,also from it1 the ,german word luft1 air1 and the ,english word aloft1 that which is elevated4 ,the preposition ver has taken the final n1 placing it before unft1 as it carries it constantly in its analogue fern1 that which is distant4 ,likewise one says fernglass1 a telescope with which one sees at a distance4 #eab ,de ,grando1 ,hist4 des ,systmes de ,philos41 t4 ii41 p4 #aic4 #eac ,krit4 der ,rein4 ,vernunft1 s4 #bd4 #ead ,in the ,oriental languages 7rou7 indicates the visual ray1 and 7rad71 all movement which is determined upon a straight line4 ,this root1 accompanied by a guttural inflection1 is called recht1 in ,german1 and right in ,english and ,saxon4 ,the ,latins made of it rectum1 that which is straight4 ,in ,french rature and rateau4 ,the ,teutons1 taking right in a figurative sense1 have drawn from this same root1 rath1 a council1 and richter1 a judge4 #eae ,in ,tim41 cit par ,beausobre1 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 p4 #agd4 #eaf ,the word intelligence1 in ,latin intelligentia1 is formed of two words1 inter eligere or elicere1 to choose1 to attract to self interiorly1 and by sympathy4 ,the etymology of the word expresses exactly the use of the faculty4 #eag ,kritik der ,reinen ,vernunft1 s4 #ffb1 #gca2 ,de ,grando1 ,hist4 des ,systm41 t4 ii41 p4 #bcj4 #eah ,krit4 der ,reinen ,vernunft1 s4 #cjf1 #eah1 #ebg1 etc4 #eai ,ibid41 s4 #ace1 #acg4 #cii4 etc4 #ebj ,kritik der praktischen ,vernunft 7,critique de la ,raison pratique71 s4 #e1 #bb1 #bai1 #bcc1 etc4 #eba ,characteristics1 ,london1 #agcg4 #ebb ,a ,system of ,moral ,philosophy1 t4 i41 ch4 #d4 #ebc ,enquiry into the ,human ,mind1 on the ,principle of ,common ,sense4 #ebd ,an ,appeal to ,common ,sense1 etc41 ,edinburgh1 #agfe4 #ebe ,penses1 #ba4 #ebf ,in ,greek 1 that which dominates and rules1 that which is intelligible4 #ebg ,in ,greek 1 that which pertains to generative nature1 that which is physical1 and sentient4 #ebh ,in ,greek 1 that which pertains to reasonable nature1 that which is logical1 the thing which proves that another thing is4 ,voyez ,platon1 in ,tim41 et confrez avec ,beausobre1 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 p4 #agd4 #ebi ,plutar41 de ,facie in ,orb4 lun41 p4 #idc4 #ecj ,the first kind of virtue is called 1 human1 and the second 1 heroic and divine4 ,attention should be given to these epithets which are related to the three principal faculties of man4 ,aristot41 ad ,nicom41 l4 vii41 c4 #a2 ,plato1 in ,thetet42 ,gallien1 in ,cognit et ,curat4 morb4 anim41 l4 i41 c4 #c1 et #f2 ,theod4 ,marcil1 in ,aur4 ,carmin4 #eca ,in ,somn4 ,scip41 c4 #h4 #ecb ,aristot41 de ,clo et ,mundo1 l4 i42 ,philo1 de ,mund4 opific44 #ecc ,pausan41 in ,corinth41 p4 #gb2 ,tzetz41 in ,schol4 #ecd ,suidas1 in 2 ,harpocr41 ibid4 #ece ,clem4 ,alex41 l4 v41 p4 #ehb4 #ecf ,psellus1 ,ad ,oracul4 ,zoroastr4 #ecg ,meurs4 ,eleus41 c4 #ab2 ,dion4 ,chrysost41 ,orat4 xii4 #ech ,sophocl4 apud ,plutar41 ,de ,audiend4 ,poet4 ,schol42 ,aristoph41 ,de ,pace4 #eci ,porphyr41 ,vit ,pythag41 p4 #e4 #edj 1 savant4 #eda ,epiph41 l4 i42 ,plucquet1 ,dictionn4 des ,hrsies1 t4 ii41 p4 #gb4 #edb ,diod4 ,sicul41 l4 i42 ,herodot41 l4 ii4 #edc ,aristot41 ,polit41 l4 ii42 ,strab41 l4 viii4 #edd ,voyez ,,daniel1 et confrez avec ,court de ,gbelin1 ,monde primitif1 t4 viii41 p4 #i4 #ede ,zend-,avesta1 #ad h1 p4 #abg4 #edf ,pomp4 ,mela1 iii41 c4 #b2 ,csar1 l4 vi41 c4 #ad2 ,pelloutier1 ,hist4 des ,celtes1 l4 iv41 ch4 #a1 #bg et #cj4 #edg ,the first ,shastra is entitled ,djatimala4 ,i am ignorant of the title of the other1 that ,i cite from ,henry ,lord3 ,discovery of the ,banian ,religion1 in ,church1 ,collect41 vol4 vi4 #edh ,asiat4 ,research41 tom4 vi41 p4 #bed4 #edi ,mmoir4 concern4 les ,chin41 t4 ii41 p4 #agd et suiv4 #eej ,vie de ,kong-,tze1 p4 #bcg et suiv4 #eea ,voyez le #ab ,examen4 #eeb ,porphyr41 ,vit ,pythag4 #eec ,plato1 ut supr4 #eed ,synes41 ,de ,provident41 c4 #e4 #eee ,beausobre1 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 p4 #cc4 #eef ,tatian1 ,orat4 contr4 ,grc41 p4 #aeb4 #eeg ,plato1 ,in ,gorgia2 ibid41 ,in ,phd42 ibid41 ,de ,rep41 l4 vii42 ,august41 ,de ,civit4 ,dei1 l4 iii41 c4 #a1 et l4 x41 c4 #bi4 #eeh ,diogen4 ,lart41 l4 x41 #abc2 ,cicero1 ,de ,nat4 ,deor41 l4 i41 c4 #cj4 #eei ,cicer41 ibid41 c4 #h et seq4 #efj ,cicer41 ut supr4 #efa ,diogen4 ,lart41 l4 x41 #abc4 #efb ,dict4 critiq41 art4 ,,epicure1 rem4 ,t4 #efc ,mm4 concern4 les ,chin41 t4 i41 p4 #ajb et #ach4 #efd ,asiat4 ,research41 vol4 vi41 p4 #bae4 ,voyez les ,pouranas intituls1 ,bhagavad-,vedam et ,bhagavad-,gita1 et confrez avec les ,recherches asiatiq41 t4 v41 p4 #cej et suiv41 et avec l'ouvrage de ,holwell 7,interest4 ,hist4 ,events71 ch4 #d1 #e1 etc4 #efe ,cicer41 cit par ,s4 ,august41 ,contr4 ,pelag41 l4 iv42 ,pindar1 ,olymp41 ii41 v4 #abb4 #eff ,meurs41 ,eleus41 c4 #aa2 ,dion4 ,chrysost41 ,orat4 #ab4 #efg ,boun-,dehesh1 p4 #cdg4 #efh ,vendidad-,sad1 #cj h4 #efi ,homil4 ,clement41 xix41 #d1 p4 #gdd4 #egj ,ibid41 cit par ,beausobre1 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 i41 p4 #ch4 #ega ,it is necessary before all1 to restore the language of ,moses1 lost1 as ,i have said1 for more than twenty-four centuries2 it must be restored with the aid of ,greek and ,latin which chain it to the illusory versions2 it is necessary to go back to its original source and find its true roots3 this enormous work that ,i have undertaken1 ,i have accomplished4 #egb ,fortun4 apud ,august41 ,disput41 ii42 ,august41 ,contr4 ,faust41 l4 xxi41 c4 ult4 #egc ,origne1 cit par ,beausobre1 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 v41 ch4 #f4 #egd ,beausobre1 ibid41 t4 ii41 p4 #cdf4 #ege ,hierocl41 ,aur4 ,carmin41 v4 #di et #ej4 #egf ,plat41 ,in ,,ii4 ,alcibiad4 8,accordez-moi1 grands ,dieux1 ce qui m'est ncessaire1 ,soit que je pense ou non vous le demander2 ,et si de mes dsirs l'objet m'tait contraire1 ,daignez1 grands ,dieux1 daignez ne pas me l'accorder40 #egg ,vendidad-,sad1 #fh h1 p4 #bdb4 #egh ,zend-,avesta1 ,jeshts-,sads1 p4 #aac4 #egi ,herms1 ,in ,asclep41 c4 #i4 #ehj ,origen41 ,contr4 ,cels41 l4 i41 p4 #ai4 #eha ,synes41 ,de ,insomn41 p4 #acd et seq42 ,niceph4 ,greg41 ,schol4 in ,synes41 p4 #cfj et seq4 #ehb ,voyez ,naud1 ,apolog4 des grands ,hommes accuss de ,magie4 #ehc ,corn4 ,cels41 ,de ,re ,medic41 l4 i41 ,prf4 #ehd ,hirocl41 ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #dh et #di1 et ibid41 v4 #df4 #ehe ,plat41 ,in ,georgi1 ,in ,phd42 ,ibid41 ,de ,rep41 l4 vii42 ,august41 ,de ,civit4 ,dei1 l4 iii41 c4 #a et l4 x41 c4 #bi4 #ehf ,acad4 des ,inscript41 t4 xxxi41 p4 #cai4 #ehg ,procl41 ,in ,tim41 l4 v41 p4 #ccj2 ,cicer41 ,somn4 ,scip41 c4 #b1 #c1 #d1 et #f2 ,hierocl41 ,in ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #gj4 #ehh ,veda1 cit par ,w4 ,jones1 ,asiat4 ,resear41 t4 iv41 p4 #agc4 #ehi ,premier ,pourna1 intitul ,matsya4 #eij ,boushznda-,ramayan4 #eia ,institut4 of ,menou1 ch4 #a1 v4 #a4 #eib ,shanda-,pourna4 #eic ,ekhamesha4 #eid ,aurore naissante 7,morgens rte im ,aufgang3 durch ,jacob ,bhmen zu ,amsterdam1 #afhb71 ch4 #ad1 #da4 #eie ,brahma1 ,vishnu1 and ,rudra4 #eif ,jupiter1 ,neptune1 and ,pluto4 #eig ,in the ,tao-te-,king of ,lao-,tse1 a work which has held a high reputation among the numerous followers of this theosophist1 one finds that the absolute1 universal ,being which he declares can neither be named1 nor defined1 is triple4 8,the first10 he said1 8has engendered the second2 the two have produced the third2 and the three have made all things4 ,that which the mind perceives and the eye cannot see is named ,y1 the absolute ,unity1 the central point2 that which the heart understands and the ear cannot hear is named ,hi1 the universal ,existence2 that which the soul feels and the hand cannot touch is named ,ouei1 the individual ,existence4 ,seek not to penetrate the depths of this ,trinity2 its incomprehensibility comes from its ,unity4 ,this ,unity10 adds ,lao-,tse1 in another passage1 8is named ,tao1 the ,truth2 ,tao is ,life2 ,tao is to itself both rule and model4 ,it is so lofty that it cannot be attained2 so profound that it cannot be fathomed2 so great that it contains the ,universe2 when one looks on high one sees no beginning2 when one follows it in its productions1 one finds in it no end40 #eih ,one of the principal dogmas of ,fo-,hi is the existence of one ,god in three persons1 whose image is man4 ,all his doctrine is limited to leading1 by meditation and repression of the passions1 the human ternary to its perfection4 ,this ternary is composed1 according to him1 of ,ki1 ,tsing1 and ,chen1 that is to say1 of the material1 animistic1 and spiritual principle4 ,it is necessary that1 being joined together1 this ternary should make but ,one4 ,then its duration will have no limit and its faculties will be indestructible4 ,voyez ,duhalde1 t4 iii41 in fol41 p4 #ej4 #eii ,this is noticeable particularly in ,bayle4 #fjj ,herod41 ,in ,clio1 #aca2 ,strab41 l4 xv42 ,boehm41 ,mores ,gentium4 #fja ,pelloutier1 ,hist4 des ,celtes1 t4 v41 c4 #c4 #fjb ,tacit41 ,de ,morib4 ,germ41 c4 #i2 ,lactant41 ,prm41 p4 #e4 #fjc ,august41 ,de ,civit4 ,dei1 l4 iv41 c4 #ca2 ,clem4 ,alex41 l4 i41 p4 #cjd2 ,strom4 #fjd ,plutar41 ,in ,vit ,numa2 ibid41 ,in ,mar42 ,pelloutier1 ,hist4 des ,celt41 l4 iv41 c4 i42 ,lucan41 ,phars41 l4 iii41 v4 #dab2 ,clem4 ,alex41 ,cohort4 ad ,gent41 p4 #eg4 #fje ,euseb41 ,prp4 ,evang41 l4 xiii41 c4 #ab2 ,henric4 ,steph41 ,poes4 philosop41 p4 #gh4 #fjf ,porphyr41 ,sent41 no4 #aj1 p4 #bba2 ,stanl41 ,in ,pythag41 p4 #gge4 #fjg ,stanley1 ,de ,phil4 chald41 p4 #aabc2 ,beausob41 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 l4 ix41 c4 #a1 #aj4 #fjh 1 thrice greatest4 #fji ,it is said that this famous table of ,emerald was found in the valley of ,hebron1 in a sepulchre where it was between the hands of the cadaver of ,thoth himself4 ,krigsmann1 who assures us that this table must have read in ,phnician and not in ,greek1 quotes it a little differently from what one reads in the ordinary versions4 ,voyez ,tabula ,smaragdina1 cite par ,fabric41 ,bibl4 ,grc41 p4 #fh4 #faj ,herms1 ,in ,asclep41 c4 #i2 ,jambl41 ,de ,myst4 ,egypt41 c4 #cj2 ,maimon41 ,mor4 ,nevoch41 part ii41 c4 #aj2 ,origen1 ,contr4 ,cels41 l4 i42 ,beausob41 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 p4 #di4 #faa ,homre1 cit par ,maxime de ,tyr42 ,pline1 l4 ii41 c4 #g2 ,,bible1 psalm4 #gc et #ic2 ,job1 c4 #bc2 ,habacuc1 c4 #a2 ,malach41 c4 #c2 ,balzac1 ,socrate chrtien1 p4 #bcg4 #fab ,plucquet1 ,dict4 des ,hrs41 art4 ,,pr,,destinatiens4 #fac ,noris41 ,hist4 pelag41 l4 ii41 c4 #ae4 #fad ,origen1 ,comment4 in ,psalm41 p4 #ch et #ci4 #fae ,s4 ,lon41 ,epist4 ,decret41 ii42 ,niceph41 l4 xvii41 c4 #bg4 #faf ,conc4 ,rom41 ,gelas41 t4 iii4 #fag ,dict4 des ,hrs41 art4 ,p,,lagiens4 #fah ,plucquet1 comme ci-dessus1 t4 ii41 p4 #ded4 #fai ,pelag41 apud ,s4 ,august41 ,de ,nat4 et ,grat41 l4 iii41 c4 #i4 #fbj ,pelag41 apud ,august41 ,de ,grat4 ,christ41 c4 #d4 #fba ,comment4 in ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #fb4 #fbb ,s4 ,august41 ,de ,grat4 ,christ41 cit par ,plucquet1 ,dict4 des ,hrs41 art4 ,p,,lagiens4 #fbc ,calvin1 ,institut41 l4 ii41 c4 #a et #b4 #fbd ,ibid41 t4 ii4 #fbe ,maimbourg1 ,hist4 du ,calvinisme1 l4 i41 p4 #gc4 #fbf ,origen41 ,contr4 ,cels41 l4 iv41 p4 #bjg4 #fbg ,plato1 ,in ,alcibiad41 ii4 #fbh ,hirocl41 ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #ef4 #fbi ,hirol41 ,in ,prm4 #fcj ,ibid4 #fca ,ut supr1 v4 #aj et #aa4 #fcb ,ut supr1 v4 #bb et #bd4 #fcc ,ut supr1 v4 #ed et #ee4 #fcd ,burnet1 ,archolog41 l4 i41 c4 #ad4 #fce ,de la ,triple ,vie de l',homme1 ch4 vi41 #ec4 #fcf ,ibid41 ch4 v41 #ef4 #fcg ,procl41 ,in ,tim41 l4 v41 p4 #ccj2 ,plethon1 ,schol4 ad4 ,oracl4 magic4 ,zoroast4 #fch ,march41 ,chron4 ,can41 p4 #beh2 ,beausob41 ,hist4 du ,manich41 t4 ii41 p4 #die2 ,huet4 ,origenian1 l4 ii41 q4 #f4 #fci ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #fb-gg4 #fdj ,lactant41 ,de ,ir ,dei1 c4 #ac1 p4 #edh4 #fda ,dict4 crit41 art4 ,,manich,,ens1 rem4 ,d4 #fdb ,dict4 crit4 art4 ,,marcionites1 rem4 ,e et ,g4 #fdc ,ibid41 art4 ,,pauliciens1 rem4 ,e4 #fdd ,bayle1 ,dict4 crit41 art4 ,,pauliciens1 rem4 ,e4 #fde ,de ,ir ,dei1 c4 #ac1 p4 #edh4 #fdf ,basilius1 t4 i41 ,in ,homil4 quod ,deus non sit auctor mali1 p4 #cfi2 ,bayle4 ,dict4 crit41 art4 ,,marcionites1 rem4 ,e et ,g4 #fdg ,trait de ,morale4 #fdh ,rponse deux object4 de ,m4 ,bayle1 par ,delaplacette1 in-#ab1 #agjg4 #fdi ,essai de ,thodice1 part iii41 ,no4 #dje et suiv4 #fej ,essai de ,thodice1 part4 iii41 ,no4 #dje et suiv4 #fea ,ci-dessus1 #be ,examen4 #feb ,mm4 de l',acad4 des ,sciences1 ann41 #agfe1 p4 #dci4 #fec ,cit par ,de ,grando1 ,hist4 des ,systmes1 t4 ii41 p4 #ajj4 #fed ,hist4 des ,animaux1 in-#d1 p4 #cg4 #fee ,system des transcendental ,idalimus1 p4 #dda2 ,zeitschrift fr die speculative ,physick4 #fef ,buffon1 ,thorie de la ,terre2 ,linn1 ,de ,telluris habitab4 ,increment2 ,burnet1 ,archolog41 etc4 #feg ,nouv4 ,dict4 d',hist4 nat41 art4 ,,quadrup,,de4 #feh ,ovid41 ,metamorph41 l4 xv4 #fei ,nouv4 ,dict4 d',hist4 nat41 art4 ,,quadrup,,de4 #ffj ,nouv4 ,dict4 d',hist nat41 art4 ,,animal4 #ffa ,nouv4 ,dict41 art4 ,,nature4 #ffb ,lettre ,hermann4 #ffc ,charles ,bonnet1 ,contempl4 de la ,nat41 p4 #af2 ,lecat41 ,trait du ,mouvement musculaire1 p4 #ed1 art4 iii42 ,robinet1 ,de la ,nature1 t4 iv41 p4 #ag1 etc4 #ffd ,nouv4 ,dict41 art4 ,,quadrup,,de4 #ffe ,nouv4 ,dict41 art4 ,,animal4 #fff ,cicer41 ,de ,finib41 l4 v41 c4 #e2 ,aul4 ,gell41 l4 xx41 c4 #e2 ,clem4 ,alex41 ,strom41 l4 v42 ,hirocl41 ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #fh2 ,lil4 ,gregor4 ,gyrald41 ,pythag4 ,symbol4 ,interpret42 ,dacier1 ,vie de ,pythag42 ,barthelemi1 ,voyage du ,jeune ,anarch41 t4 vi41 ch4 #ge1 etc4 #ffg ,jambl41 ,vit ,pythag41 c4 #bi1 #cd1 et #ce4 #ffh ,porphyr4 apud ,euseb41 ,prp4 ,evang41 l4 iii41 c4 #g2 ibid41 ,de ,abstinent41 l4 iv41 p4 #cjh2 ,jambl41 ,de ,myst4 ,egypt41 c4 #cg4 #ffi ,clem4 ,alex41 ,stromat41 l4 v41 p4 #eef4 #fgj ,hrod41 l4 ii41 #cf2 ,clem4 ,alex41 ut supr2 ,dacier1 ,vie de ,pythag4 #fga ,hirocl41 ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #gj4 #fgb ,procl41 ,in ,tim41 l4 v41 p4 #ccj4 #fgc ,apud ,plutar41 ,de ,audiend4 ,ptis4 #fgd ,pind41 ,olymp41 iii42 ,apud1 ,plutar41 ,consol4 ad ,apoll4 #fge ,plat41 ,in ,phdon4 #fgf ,hirocl41 ,aur4 ,carm41 v4 #fh4 ,transcriber's ,note3 ,words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text4 ,these have been left unchanged unless indicated below4 ,words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores1 like this4 ,footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to the end of the book4 ,obvious printing errors1 such as backwards1 upside down1 or partially printed letters1 were corrected4 ,final stops missing at the end of sentences and abbreviations were added4 ,duplicate letters at line endings or page breaks were removed4 ,minor adjustments to punctuation and diacriticals were made for consistency4 ,the ,golden ,verses1 midway through the book1 were formated in the original on facing pages1 with ,greek1 verso1 and ,french1 recto2 translation in ,english was presented as footnotes4 ,the text of the ,greek and ,french was consolidated as units1 the ,english retained as footnotes4 ,the numbers 7#a7 through 7#cf7 in the ,english footnotes relate to the numbered sections of the discussion of the ,golden ,verses that follow the poem4 ,in footnote #abe1 accent grave over the letter c is noted within brackets1 thus3 c4,in ,footnote #bbf1 the x above the o in the third line of the poem verse in ,icelandic is indicated as xo4 ,anchors were missing to footnotes #cga1 #eci1 and #fef2 they were added where they likely belong4 ,corrections to ,greek3 to to ,corrections to ,phoenician_/,hebrew3 to ,footnote #bhb to