CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT Senes edl/ufS RAYMOND GEUSS La/wer In PhilQlQphy, Unreemly Qf CambrIdge QI:ENTIN SK[�NER ReKlus Proj(ssor ofModern History In the Umversity IIf CambridKe Camhridge Texts in the History of Political Thought is now firmly estahlished as the major student textb(Mlk series in political theory. It aims to make available to students all the most important texts in the history of western political thought, from ancient Greece to the early twentieth century. !\ 11 the familiar classic texts will be induded, but the series seeks at the same time to enlarge the conventional canon by incorporating an (xtensive range of less well-known works, mallY of them never before available in a modern Er,glish edition. Wherever possible, texts arc published in complete and unabridged form, and translations are specially commissioned for the series. Each volume contains a critical introduction together with chronologies, biographical sketches., a guide to further reading and any necessary glossaries and textual apparatus. ,,"'hen completed the series will aim to offer line of the entire evolution of western political thought. For a list of tItles publJShed in the $frieS, plwS( on: end of hllllk Contents List of abbcc\iations page vii Chronology � Introduction n" Bibliographical nole ""'" Select bibliography """. xliii Biographical note Ii Editorial note Iii Note on the translation Articles from the Pocket phi/os(JjJiticai dictionory , EtlJts, gouvemements. States, governments 3 Guem. War 7 Lois (Des). Laws '3 Patrie. Homeland '5 Articles from the Questions on the Encyclopaedia 3' Democratic. Democracy 33 Economic. Economy 38 Grnnxrnement. Government Homme. Man 49 63 ImpOt. Tax 76 Po/itiqtle. Politics 8, The ABC, or Dialogues between ABC, translated from the English by Me Huet 85 First conversation. On Hobbes, Grotius and Montesquieu Second conversation. On the soul -.... ---- Contents Third conversation. On whether man was born wicked and the child of the Devil 106 Fourth conversation. On natural law. and on cunosit} I 15 Fifth conversation. On the ways of losing and keeping one's freedom, and on theocracy 120 Sixth conversation. On three systems of government, and a thousand ancient errors 126 Seventh conversation. That modem Europe is better than ancient Europe Eighth conversation. On physical serfuom J 30 Ninth conversation. On the serfdom of minds 134 138 Tenth wRVersation. On religion 142 Eleventh conversation. On the code of war 149 Twelfth conversation. On the code of perfidy 159 164 Thirteenth wnversation. On hasic laws Fourteenth conversation. That every state must be independent 168 Fifteenth conversation. On the best legislation 172 Sixteenth comersation. On abuses 175 179 Seventeenth conversation. On curious malters Oilier wn'tings Republican ideas. By a member of a public body 195 Thoughts on public administration 2 I2 The rights of men and the usurpations of others. Translated from the Italian 225 Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments, by a provinciallav.yer 244 Dialogue between a philosopher and a comptroller-general of finance Index 280 287 Commentary on the b(l()k On crimes and punISh ments. gouvernements. 1877-85) Voltairt Fuundatiun. �}' a provincial law)'er 1766 L /:I B C. The ABC. translated from Les droits des hommes et les usurpations des autres. Condorcet fI al. Louis Moland (Paris: Ciarnier. War Lois (Des). States. Huet."ernml'nl. (Keh!. ed. Keh! !\lo1and Works by Voltaire (with date of first publication) CLDP ABC DH DP E(DP) G(DP) L(DP) P(DP) Commen/Illre sur Ie line de<. ed.' {/Implcus. gm. Traduit de l'itaiien. Laws Patn·e. Homeland '" . dilils 1'1 des peines par un aVl/car de prrnJincc.. Translated from the Italian 1768 Dittionnaire philoslJphique portatif P(}cket phi/r!.mphieal dic tionar'}' 1764 Etats. The rixhts of men and the usurpations of othm. ou Dialogues entre ABC. 1784-9) (hI'fI'.l Guerre. D Voltaire: eorrespotldl'nte lind related dotUmenls. or Dinloxues he/ween ABC. in The complete works ofVoltaire (Geneva: Institut et Musee Voltaire and Ilanbury/Oxford: The J()68-77) Oeuvres romplhl's de Vollaire. ed.Abbreviations Best. Theo dore Besterman. traduits de I'anglais de m. Republican ideas b)' a member o/a public bod)' 1765 LHQE L 'H(lmme aux quarante ems. Economy 1771 G(QE) H(QE) Gouvernement.List of abbreviations DPC Dialogue entre UII phil()50phe et un mntrOleur general des fin ances. The man in the street 1768 PA Pensees sur {.llions sur l'Entydopidie. Qjmtions on the Encyclopaedia 1770--2 D(QE) DtfmrJCratie. Tax 1771-4 P(QE) PoUtique. Man 1771 I(QE) impol.administralioll publique. Dialogue between a philosopher and a comptroller geneml offinance 1750 fR Idies ripublicames par un membrr d'un mrps. Thoughts on public administration QE J 7 51- QUe. Democrat}' 1771 E(QE) Economie. Politics 1774 wn .4 Homme. Gowrnment 1771. who has Voltaire thrashed by his lackeys. Appointed Royal Historiographer to Louis Elected to the French Academy. 1718 Reputation as a dramatist established with the successful to the French ambassador at The Hague. performance of his tragedy. Imprisoned in the Bastille for a scurrilous satire. Flees to Cirey where he stays with Madame Du Cbatelet for the most of the next decade. Exact date of birth unknown. 1726 Quarrels with the chevalier de Rohan-Chabot. Goes to Berlin on a secret mission in connection with negotiations to end the War of the Austrian Succession. where he stays until I 728. he is exiled from Paris.\low signing himself 'Arouet de Voltaire' (Best.ois-Marie Arouet baptised at the church of Saint Anclre-des-arts in Paris on 22 November. 1713 Secretary 17I7 May. Unable to seek redress against this nobleman. Frederick. 1734 Publication of the Philowphical letters.Chronology Fran. D72). working on his transla tion of Newton. . Starts corresponding with the Royal Prince of Prussia. It was condemned by the Paris parlement. 1704-11 Educated at the Jesuit college of Louis-Ie-grand. Oedipus. . according to Gus tave Lanson. In May goes to England.. XV. Publishes Frederick II's Anti-M(J£hiavelli. the 'first bomb to be launched against the ancien regime. 1752 Publication of tirs! edition of PA. An unhappy period of root lessne�s fo!!ows. This is the first ofthe great public causes in which Voltairc challenges the power of the State in the dtfencC" of the individual's right. 1762 The Calas affair starts. . 1764 Puhlication of the first edition of DP. 1750 Publication of The I---oiu of the mise man and of the people. Publication of Candide and the Hist0'J' of RU. In �o\' ember loses his favoured position at the French court.> from now on. and nees to The court ofStani�la& at :'\ancy_ r . falsely accused of the murder of his daughter by the Bi�hop of Castres. \Iove� to Feme�. '7"6 . and which were to inform most of his polemical writing. Publication of the EssoJ' on the custflms and the spirit of nations. 17S7 Acts as diplomatil" intermcdiaI1' in secret negotiations bern-"een France and Prussia after the outbreak of the Sewn Years \Var in 175 9 1756.eaves Alsace after the dt:ath of I\hJamt: ])u Chatekt in I750. 1753 Breah with Frederick. 1754-55 Settles at Les Dclice� in Geneva. By now heavily im'olved in Gene\"an political quarrels. Torrured and e:\. Publication of CLDP. is published. and DPC.ecutcd in July_ Two weeks later dedicates his Account oj the death oj Ih( chevalier de La Barre to Beccaria. ABC. 1768 Publication of LHQE.tice. on the Franco-Swiss bordl. and accepts invitation to frederick the (jreat\ court at Potsdam.·eeks of his life. Zadig.4J!e of Louis XIV. 1763 Publication of the Trl. 175 J Publication of iint edition of The .'atise on tolerance. Condemned b) the Church and placed on the Catholic InJe� of Forbidden Books. Jean Calas was broken on the wheel by order of the Toulouse parlement in 1762."sia under Peter the Greal.Chron%g)' 1747 The first of his satirical tales. DH and JR.'f where he remain� until his rerum to Paris in the last v. Also involvcd in the campaign to rehabilitate Sirven. [766 La Barre comictcd at Abbeville.> to ju. Chronolof!J' 1771 Publication of QE starts. 1777 Publication of the Commentary 1778 Rerurns to Paris. Dies in Paris on 30 May. 1791 II 011 the Spirit of the laws. July: state burial in the Pantheon. . 'we take what we like from Aristotle to Locke. even when we are led to expect one. and as a political thinker he tended to respond to events rather than - met a physical abstractions. and his political writings do not com bine readily to reflect a systematically argued world-view. Le Mercier. to provoke and to inform by means of satirica1 anecdote. Rousseau and Locke although. Hobbes. and often expressed in an ironic.Introduction In politics as in philosophy. astonishin�ly. Hume. as in the case of Beccaria. and he pos sessed the rare gift of distilling from small events those vast implica- . outrageous vulgarisation and lively dialogue. Only with Montesquieu. Voltaire was a politically engaged propagandist. he once informed Jean J a cq ues Rousseau (Best. Mande ville. Machiavelli. treatises on guvern Crocker 1983. Beccaria. evidence suggests he knew little of the latter's Two ment (see Perkins 1965. Among his many gifts as a persuas ive polemicist is his unrival!ed abilit}· to breathe life and a sense of human reality into the driest issue. He wrote to exert pressure for change. and his reading was wide. He drew constantly on this rich hinterland. He was remarkably well-informed. Voltaire's technique is to entertain. Thielemann 1959. Melon. tangential way. Pufen dorf. 'I write to act'. Appendix 2. Bolingbroke. DI 322I). He had a deep suspicion of 'systems'. Buffon. Kona 1966). Montesquieu. Saint·Pierre. and to a lesser extent Rousseau. As he puts it in ABC. but his allusions are deceptively casual. and don't give a damn for the rest'. He knew the work of Grotius. Mably. Quesnay. Voltaire was no system-builder. how ever. does he offer anything like a prolonged commentary on another theorist. d'Argenson. but only one example of a personal commitment to 'republican philosophy' has been found. Power and the state Almost ccnainly the most powerfully formative experience behind the evolution of Voltaire's views on the legitimacy and exercise of power was his brief stay in England between May 17Z6 and I"\ov ember 17z8 (see Pomeau 1985. Voltaire was never an advocate of revolution. or power exercised by the parlements. which was really a court of law. The upheavals of 1789 would have appalled him.Introduction tions for political life whose urgent complexities continue to over whelm us. and as courts of appeal.. as can be seen in his repeated opposition to Montesquieu's famous antithesis between republics and monarchies. In any case. or to the provincial parlements. The post-1688 settlement that gave England constitutional monarchy offered Voltaire a working model of government.. was abysmaL It might seem paradoxical at first glance. Voltaire never envisaged the possibility of simply engin eering a transfer of the English model to France. ch. no equality before the law. The Paris parlement. but Voltaire was sure that the only viable system of government for . was unremitting and unreserved (see Tate 197Z). D303). Perry 1977). More typical are the views expressed by C in ABC: 'The people arc not fit to govern. There was no House of Commons in France. and it is no accident that one of the interlocutors in ABC is an Englishman. He wrote in sympathetic but very general terms about republics. ch. the power of the mob terrifying him as much. Fletcher 1986 ch. was nothing like the English parliament. I.' In France Voltaire saw clearly that the practical alternative lay between power exercised by a monarch. England was to become a repeated point of reference in his political writings. no freedom of speech or of the press. I would prefer never to wear a wig. 24: but see Gay 1988 for the counterview). and that their record as repositories of justice. no possibility of a I 688-style revolu tion. if not more. I could not bear my wig-maker to be a legislator. than that of autocrats. and Voltaire's opposition to any further transfer of power to it. z. It stands alone (Bestennan 1969. He remained very much opposed to any idea of devolving power to the masses. and this is in a letter written to his friend Thieriot in 1726 while he was in England (Best. He thought all the parlements were dangerous to progress and liberty. and C is a Dutchman.'er aT ease personally with monarchs or with their courts.a prospect that Voltaire hoped at one stage would materialise in the person of Frederick the Great (see Besterman 1965. be a 'philosopher king' . 015387). translated from the Ellglish by M. The conversations focus on subjects that could certainly not bc discussed openly in France in a critical way. The absolute monarch mu�t he enlightened and must act within the confines of reason and justice. Vol taire was m:.tion bcnvcen absolute and arbit fary power. Fleis chauer 11. in other words. that the book should be ranked among 'works of genius'. Despite its bland. unpromising tide. It now consists of sel-enteen cunversations between three characters. the boldest and most loquacious being A. Voltaire also crosses swords. The first conver sation is about the respective merits of Hobbes. ABC is one of the most reveal ing and radical works about power and the State that Voltaire wrote. Much of this comersation is in fact a commentary on . with Hobbes. an Englishman. It was first published towards the end of 1768 at one of the most politically active periods in Voltaire's life and was immediately dis owned. namcly politics. Huet. tolerance and. B might well be Voltaire himself. expressed through B.\!1ontesquieu's Spirit ofthe laws. morality and theology. It was placed on the Index in 1776. A mri(}us dialogue. He �aw !:om'.tently that absolutism did not nece<. the absolutism of the monarch being legitimised not through di�ine right but through his ready submission to the rule of law. and Voltaire made great efforts to attribute the work to '\1r Huet's mysterious Englishman. but he maintained firmly and consi. the work was. Grotius and Monte squieu. and it is soon clear that Montesquieu is the real object of Voltaire's analysis. 'an English roast beef.fete advantages a!:cfuing to a �tate ruled by a supreme monarch. about which Voltaire had mixed feelings. as he put it in a letter to Mme Du Deffand in 1768.sarily mean tyranny. provided that this power was tempered by wisdom. very difficult to digest for the many small stomachs at Paris' (Best. the law.Introduction France was that of an absolute monarchy (see Gay Ig88 ch. 7). despite his view. above aU. Voltaire thus made a crucial distim...158). but with the ring of unpalatable truth behind his uncompromising . though nut \'Cry convincingly. This much debated these royale is ex-plored in PA. as well as in ABC. The first edition (with only sixteen conversations) was printed under the title Ine A B C. a 'sad philosopher' with a grim view of human nature. whose views on property. Moland printed this work under the title that Voltaire used in the first edition. and the human implications of the relationship between the two. It was during the composition of this pamphlet that Voltaire started to list his reflections on government and the exercise of power generally. Some of the views on power and the State in ABC had been voiced in a much earlier. In conven. which still owned between a quarter and a fifth of the nation's wealth and about 6 per cent of the land (Lough 1960). are also attacked in IR and other texts. work with a more open title. In preparing this work for re-publication in 1756. although this material was to be deleted later in Kehl. On 2 I May q 5 I it was officially condemned by the government. and particularly England. Conversations 5--t) and 14 range interestingly and provocatively over subjects with a direct bearing on power. and added nine. he cut seven sec tions. man in the state of nature. among other things. serfdom. These have been restored. as el. In 1750 Voltaire had written a pamphlet called The voia ofthe wise man and ofthe people. in which. and the enslave ment of the mind. Voltaire's objections to Hobbes are emotional rather than intellectual. They also illuminate Voltaire's use of anecdotal skills in the advancement of arguments about freedom. PA was wrinen in Paris in 1750. he found Hobbes uncomfortable rather than wrong (see Thielmann 1959).ation 4. the State. though more circumspect. Thoughts on government. the lessons of ancient history in the con sideration of the best forms of government. and in particular the continuing exemp tion of the Church. The pamphlet had caused a furore. and judi ciously hidden away in a collective edition of Voltaire's works. as has me pre-I756 text that Voltaire had himself excised in later editions. Thirteen sections from The voia of the wise man and ofthe people were reprinted as part of the PA.Introduction attitudes. Voltaire resumes hattie with his old enemy Jean Jacques Rousseau. and was placed on the Index. he had attacked the inequities of the tax system. the political advances of modem Europe.:pressed in the Discourse on the origin of inequality among men (q 54) and the Social contract (1762). except to remark that he was a pedant whose compilations have not merited the praise bestowed on them by the ignorant.' This definition enabled . He has little of substance to say about Grotius here. narurallaw and natural equality. In PA Voltaire set oU! his basic position on freedom: 'Freedom consists in being dependent only on the law. published in 1752. I).g. Holland. could the true significance of what it was to be human emcrge. expanded and revised in the context of QE. France's situation in this context is introduced with a piece of verse by Conyers Middleton. This laner work was conceived as a supplement to Diderot's Encyclo paedia. Thus it is that when Louis XV declared to the Paris parlement on 3 March 1766 that he was the sale source of power in the State. Forty-eight of the articles were then combined. and this leads to a series of reflections on the French monarchy. with changes. after which its history becomes a little confused. Geneva. Hamburg) and those that did not (discreet silence on France. The original 1764 DP was thus absorbed to the point of invisibility in the first collective edition of Voltaire's works (see Todd 1980 ch. and published under the title Reason through the alphabet. XVII . DI2331-DI2334. Perkins 1989 section 3). composite seven volume work also entitled the Philosophical dictionary. It followed that the best form of government was the one that guaranteed equal protection for all ranks of citizens before the law. Voltaire approved strongly of the King's statement (Best. other than a gen eral reference to large Christian countries). so defined. The 1769 DP.Intmductiun him to identifY those states and city-states in Europe that enjoyed true freedom (e. Only with the possession of freedom. Bestennan 1965. comairung 118 articles. It was reissued in 1765 and in I767. and again in I769. and many of the articles in DP offer good examples of this. According to one of Voltaire's secretaries. and the benefits of absolutism under the law: 'A king who is not contradicted can hardly be wicked'. the Kehl editors further muddied the waters by adding material from other writings to produce a vast. Collini. was merged with ABC. The fim edition of DP appeared in July 1764. There is a hard-nosed pragmatism about Voltaire's thinking on politics. England. Sweden. had fallen foul of officialdom. while conversely a king who does not enjoy absolute power is com pelled to assert himself. from which Voltaire drew inspiration for his own alphabetical project. causing much public consternation. the idea for DP was bam at a supper party hosted by Frederick the Great at Potsdam on 28 September I7S2 (see Todd 1980). but Voltaire did not start serious work on the articles for his 'pocket philosophical dictionary' until well after 1760. By this time Diderot's great Encyclopaedia. Four texts in this collection are classified as part of DP (see Note on the translation). and Voltaire assembled no less than 423 articles for it. After his death. \1andrin and a Richelieu was ultimately only the difef rence again in G(QE). In L(DP). on the fashion for publishing political 'wills' of five great men: Richelieu. The first six sections of G(QE) ". and not without irony.'\landrin. Charles Y. His respect for the views. Republics on Athenian lines certainly resulted in less crime and less injustice. particularly after his experience of living with the natifi of Geneva (see Gay 1988. The differenct' between a . the notorious brigand Louis . D(QE) was first published in the fourth pan of QE in I 7 7 I . Duke of Lorraine. In D(QE) Voltaire's enthu�iasm for the people's power is considerably less than his enthusiasm for their rights (see Birchall 1990). but these considerable advantages are weighed against 'the real vice of a civilised republic'. In D(QE) his views are more cautiously formulated. together with comment<. of ordinary people certainly increased in his later years. Voltaire had written that democracy was superior to all other sy'. a sixth. It contains Volt aire's acid commcnts on the futility of political theory as an effective means of influencing those: who actually wield power. and certainly for the potential power. namely the tendef1(:y to anarchy and ultimately tyranny. England again shines as a beacon of hope for the future. and on the historical struggle that England endured over the centuries to achieve freedom under the law. he was reminding his reader of a point that he made frequently. Voltaire's ·liiews on democracy are at best ambivalent. and every one works for the happiness of everyone else'. and here Voltaire is thinking almost certainly of the merits of the Genevan Republic. Louvois. To these he adds significantly. In �o doing. Democracy . Section 6 contains a detailed commentary on the merits of the English constitution.·ere published in 1771 in the sixth part of QJ::. and a state in which each citizen had those natural rights restored to him of which mo�t men living under monarchical system� are deprived. ch. 'because there everyone is equal.Introducti(Jn E(DP) was possibly composed as early as '757. Liberty and equal ity are discussed largely in the context of Athenian history in which the definition of what constituted the 'people' is liery specific and restrictive. Alberoni and Belle-Isle. who had been broken on the wheel in 1755. 4). namely that all political power sprang originally from the actions of robbers and the exercise of force.tems of government. and the last section appeared in the seventh part in 1774. As many commentators have pointed out. Introduction was at best suitable only for small countries. whose motive is merely to alter the balance and source of power (but see Gay 19S8). arduous and uncertain. enslave or be enslaved. is r�duced to the pursuit of well-being and the acquisition of defences against omnipresent evil. and starts with speculation on the pre-social .tate of man in nature. Voltaire leaves the final judgement on monarchy open as he looks to the future: mon archies fall because individual monarchs are unfit to govern. But it is the ruler who fails. the system might work (see Riviere 1987). The essence of primitive existence. . and 'in ten or twelve centuries. The political aspiration of Voltaire's natural man was to 'equal the animals'. if the Jews could not succeed with God as their master. but from acts of ambition. Voltaire also examines the origins of political power and social organisation in P(QE) and in H(QE). clothing and shelter afforded to animals by nature. The egalitarianism of democracies is in principle 'natural and wise'. endowed with qualities of natural virtue and happiness. that is. The former was published in 1774. In the second part of this article Voltaire comes back to thf issue of who should govern. not the system. and even then its success could not be guaranteed. if only because it was operated by fallible human beings on whose qualities and talents it was entirely dependent. and Voltaire describes in bleak terms the decisive factors in the evolution of political life: the law of kill or be killed. and cement treaties of expediency between competing carnivores. to become self-suffid�nt in the food. when men are more enlightened'. The picture painted of natural man is very different from that of Rousseau's noble savage.re always to be feared. The climb from the pit of brutality is long. what hope is there for the rest of us! For Voltaire history proved conclusively that Montesquieu was wrong about virme being the dynamic principle of republics. but in practice such systems are rare and fragile. and revolutions a. the people or the King? In aristocracies power can be abused too easily. In real life republic� have never come into being irom acts of virtue. the alliance between religion and politics to legitimise those acts of brigandage that define the frontiers of modern states. Is a republic better than a monarchy? Voltaire's answer in D(QE) is tentative: government is a difficult matter. and indeed the whole of man's story. D8304). The 177 1 text of this article ends after a brief discussion of one of Pasnl's noughts on man. These three causes cilebres were to corne to Voltaire's attention between 1762 and I766. whenever the argument turns xx to an attack . man's instincts incline him towards sociaJ organis ation. enlightened self-interest holding society together. but like the 'mad' Rousseau he had a negative view of human nature and potential. Voltaire always thought that life outside society was what 'degraded' man. 'is the mvnership cry of the English .' of property was for Voltaire one of the major strands in that bond of shared. Nqon 1961). Calas and Sirven (see Bien 1960. The final paragraph of H(QE). in the state of nature.. Man in society is not irredeemably wicked.. celebrating man's thirty-century-long struggle for enlightenment.' The slogan had in fact been suggested to him by Frederick the Great in 1759 (Best. Freedom and humanity The nature of Voltaire's long campaign against the abuses of freedom in France is best encapsulated in his memorable slogan: 'Crush the infamous. anti-progressivist Pascal-Rousseauist thesis. is natural to man. Society. 'Liberty and property' Voltaire countered in rus 1771 article on property in The QE. Voltaire ridicules Rousseau's account of the foundation of modem society in terms of the invention of the false notion of prop erty. was the Church. and in nearly all of Voltaire's political essays. was added in 1774. Without society man has no more resources for survival than an abandoned child. Pascal was an inteUectual adversary of longer standing than Rousseau. and he compares the need for society to the individual's basic need for the family unit. he is a miserable brute. asserts Voltaire. and denying once more the anti-social. The enemy. a 'sublime misanthropist' not without a measure of reluctantly felt appeal for Voltaire. at a political as well as ideological level. Contrary to Rousseau's view. and i t rapidly became his well repeated battlecry throughout the 1760s. it is the cry of narure. as he engaged the authorit ies publicly in combat around the notorious breaches of human rights and freedom that were to occur in France with the cases of La Barre.introduction H(QE) was published in the seventh part of QE in 1771. and to preoccupy him for another decade. so vaunted by the deluded Rousseau. Here Voltaire resumes his attack on Rousseau. social and moral ills he witnessed in the world around him. the history of Christianity and Judaism. in fact. Superstition might be absurd. governs the nature of the institutions they establish. Many of the articles in DP arc concerned with this issue. metaphysical systems and superstitions. as well as torture and kill. A. as in so many of YoItaire's works. it could deny freedom and obliterate ideals of humanity and brotherhood. central to Voltaire's under standing: of political realities. it also surfaces in the IR and elsewhere in ABC (see especially conversations 10. The malignant pre�enee of the Roman Church in the executive and legislative arms of government in Catholic countries constituted for Voltaire the major cause of civil disorder. legal codes. In defence of freedom and humanity. puppets or co-conspirators of ecclesiastical authorities. equality. In conversation I I of ABC he calls this a 'rabid madness' that has soaked the earth in blood with depressing regularity throughout Jewish and Christian history. was almost certainly inspired by a French government pamphlet issued over the nam( of C. more importantly. tyrant� are seen as the willing accomplices. What men believe in. Such di\'Crsions are. kingship. and as a repository of political power. its tenets risible. persuade others to believe in. or what they are persuaded to believe in and. In Voltaire's eyes. 14-16).. It is no coincidence that inABe. and while the main attacks were reserved for Rome. the Church legitimised and sanctified often fra gile claims to power by means of an infernal bargain whereby rulers conceded some or. and elsewhere. E. DH. intolerance. This was 'the infamous'. ever-present tension between the spiritual and temporal powers of the State was to Voltaire a "itally important key to any meaningful political analysis. This dynamic. power.introduction on the tTUel abuse of the gm'erned by those who govern arbitrarily and in ignorance and/or defiance of the law. Pfeffel in the same year. all of their powers to the ever voracious representatives of Rome. statements on freedom. but in eighteenth-century France. the nature of religious belief. its representatives grotesque. in some cases. dated 24June 1768. tyranny and economics are intenningled with diversions on religion.ignon had been sold to Pope Clement VI in 1348 by . and of his diagnosis of the political. Voltaire felt obliged to wage an unremitting war against religion as an instirution of the State. no sect was entirely free of the stains of superstitious intolerance and fanaticism. persecution and judicial corruption. 'er theologians might say to the contrary. It is important to retain . Popes cannot legitimise any action taken in defiance of the law. and in particular the pretenrions of acquisitive popes such as Alexander VI and Julius II in the dynastic upheavals of !\aples. written and circulated against the tumultuous background of the power struggles between the bourgeois represcntants. and reached something of a crescendo in the 17605. sub-titled Historical researches into the rights of the Pope fR. Ferrara. Pfeffel's quasi-official ju�tification for papal occupation. prompted Voltaire to investigate the whole issue of papal involvement in politics. In the case of Italy. such unholy intrigue unleashed the power of the Borgias. Joanna I of Naples. ---- the Countess of Provence. Here Voltaire sharpens the attack on freedom represented by church interference and the Church's manipulation of the forces of superstition. whate. should not be forgotten. The case can also be made that IR has a far wider significance than that afforded b} the 'Genevan bickerings'. Sicily. The unsigned pamphlet IR that Voltaire wrote in October or l\ov ember 1765 (see Gay 1988. and stale IIfArignon. the patrician nigatifi and the natifi. see Gay 1958).------. Ca�tro and Ronciglione. and it has an important general point of principle to make about the rule of law and the overrrughty role of the clergy in affairs of state (for an excellent analysis. and was also subject to a baleful chun:h influence over the conduct of its affairs. It is a powerful defence of free dom and tolerance. Appendix 2). The Genevan context of this work.'er the cit). One of the central statements of this work is to be found in sections Xl-XII (pp. By most criteria IR mus. The lesson for France was clear: 'Popes do not possess an inch of land over which they have sovereign power that has not been acquired through ci\iiuphcaval or through fraud'. 197-8). sprang originally from his involvement ""ith thc politics of Geneva after he took up residence in Les DeJices in the winter of 1754-5. That Avignon is held illegally hy the papacy is the inference running through the concluding paragraphs of DH. It was thu� in a Protestant context that Voltaire fonnu lated one of his most telling treatments of the issue raised "'" by the . that had been intensifYing in that city-state ever since the 1738 settlement. perspective in mind when interpreting IR as a bona fide statement of Voltaire's republicanism and liberalism. and it remained a papal posses�ion until 1791. The city of Calvin also had its fanatics.Introdurtion �. remain one of YoItaire's most important political pronouncements. the legitimacy of papal rights to temporal rulc. In section XI JII (p. 201). Crime and punishment L(DP) started life in the 1764 edition of DP. The case had farcical overtone». Voltaire had quid. the rights of property-owners and the economic advantages of Protestant republi(. whom the Genevan Consistory had wndemned in 1763 to ask God's pardon on his knees for fathering an illegitimate child and who. returning again to a discussion of !\1ontesquieu's theories. Perkins 1962). in refusing to accept the sentence of public genuflection. In a letter written in 17H.:pand'i on what this meant. The case of Robert Covelle. The section dealing with the reforms of XX11l .·e passions they would not need government. had caused a public furore. Rowe 1955. 0738). Voltaire was never to express himself in quite such radical terms again. he e:. and that without it men were simpl" voked animals. Six years later. and the finest of human rights. 207) Voltaire addresses the question of the franchise..""\! on p. In PA he wrote that this was the basis of freedom. also demonstrating once more his skills in drawing out issues of universal importance from the daily ebb and flow of human drama. based on reason and justire. is emphasised again and again in his political ""Titings as the life�source of civil society. he told his friend Argental that he had left France for England in order to enioy in a free country the greatest benefit. and crushed the infamous.. but in Voltairc\ hands the general principle went to the heart of the controwrsial nature of the relation ship of ecclesiastical authority to civil government. and Voltaire e:\:panded it considerably again in 1771 for the fir�t edition of QE.\. which i� to 'depend only on the law and not on men'� whims' (Best. Only when a nation has finally freed itself of fanatil·i�m.!y sprung to 'l'vlr Fornicator's' defence. Th{' eoYCiJe incident reverberates through the JR from �tart tn fini�h. A new section was added in 1767. Perfect government has never been achieved because men have passions. Freedom restores to man his natural rights.. coming back to the fundamental condi tion of freedom that the English n:perience had taught him (\Valclinger 1959.Introduction ecclesiastical abuse of power. Liberty of thought and �peech is the sim? qua non of civil stability and mannit) (set section \:. and if they did not ha. The law.. at the end of conversation 13 in ABC.s. will true humanit) and nationhood emerge. good sense. Voltaire's approoch is again entirely pragmatic. Unfortu nately. has engraved in our hearts'. Appendix I). The laws are seen exclUSively here in tenns of their USEfulness. Natural laws are 'those laws that nature points to in all ages to all men for the maintenance of that sense of justice which nature. but again this is reduced to a single concrete issue: freedom. violence. Often laws have been made in the interests of rulers and legislators and have been suhjected to the pressures of ignorance. place and necd. Men make the law. it's the only law against which nothing can be ordained. Voltaire uses this article to emphasise that while government is a principle of organisation well established in nature. tone that pervades Voltaire's investigation of the origins of law is tempered by the rays of light that shone from the reforms carried out by Catherine II. and blasphemy and heresy are not. In section 14 in the commentary on Beccaria's treatise on crime and punishment Voltaire refines his vicw of natural law. The sceptical. Oq081). and references to it arc scattered through out his writings. but is received with considerable sceptiCism by 1:1 and C. laws are relative to time. The ramifications are not explored further than this somewhat bland assertion of principle. their reie'·ance to soci ety's needs.b. Their evolution through history has owed more to chance than to rationality. and the discussion veers away from the issue more than it confronts it. justice and humanity.t it. In conversation 4 of ABC. treason are true crimes iniringing natural law. uniform and enduring set of laws has nevcr yet been established in any society. There is no serious attempt in this article [Q relate systems of law to abstract concepts of natural law and justice. using abilities gi. Voltaire wrote quite prolifical1y on the question of natural law (�eto Gay 1988. their basis in reason. not quite the same thiag.·en to them by nature. a definition of natural law is offered by A. because it's the law of nature. a perfect. In fact. Freedom is the 'basic law of all nations. those codes would differ profoundly.'en wrote a long poem abou. what ever else one might say about if. Moreover. somewhat pessimistic. perjury. He e. robbery. In conversation 13 in ABC he deals with 'basic laws'. they do not always make good laws. cruelty and superstition. If pigeons and vultures had law-codes. It is on this basis that murder.' .trodudion Catherine II was sent to the Empress for comment prior to publica tion (see Best. \-1a�on 1982. who fought the subsequent case for the rehabilitation of the Calas family without respite until the name of Calas and the iniquities of the French judicial system were the talk of Europe. During the course of 1765 he was study ing in the original Italian a work by Cesare Beccaria. who was by now engaged in another public confrontation with the authorities in France. or to crime and puni�hment in eighteenth-century Russia. 8). had also been falsely accused of murder and sentenced to horrific punishment. and it made a deep impression on Voltaire.whether these relate to incest on desert islands. The event had a profound impact on Voltaire. and like Dr Pangloss' 'cosmo lonogonomy'. In L(DP) the focus is again characteristically on the interface between moral-legal codes and social realities . and a copy had been duly burned with the boy's corpse (see . failed to observe the courtesies when a religious procession passed by. This revolved around the case of the Sirven family who. followed by judicial atrocity. a relatively obscure Milanesc jurist. and was cruelly mutilated and executed in Abbeville in July of that year. entitled Traltalo dei delitti e della pene (On crimes and punishments). Interestingly. which had been published in the previous year. a jury in Toulouse had found the head of a Protestant family. disrespectful teenager. a copy of DP was found among La Barre's possessions. . The verdict was quashed in 1765. the cheva lier de La Barre. and translated into French by Morellet. ch. on the basis of weak evidence and strong religious preju dice. and his interest in the �ubject is tenuous and slightly unconvincing. In 1766 Voltaire was to be affected even more violently by a third case of miscarriage of justice. when a young.Introduction Voltaire was thus no natural law philosopher. and sentenced Calas to be broken on the wheel and strangled. like Calas. Jean Calas. guilty of the murder of his son. It was fresh from this epic struggle that Voltaire came to write one of the most important works of these portentous years from the standpoint of public impact. In 1762. was a distraction from the urgent business of securing justice in the real world in which for Voltaire the need to take action always took precedence over abstract debate. Natural law belonged to the realm of speculative metaphysics. rumoured to be about to convert to Catholicism. Beccaria's treatise was the first attempt by a modern legal expert to formulate a coherent theory of penal policy. was the normal penalty (though not always exacted) for a wide range of offences in mid-eighteenth-century France. Crime for Voltaire was exdusivdy a secular mattl:r. the year hefore his death. The bsue of crime and punishment stayed with Voltaire for many years. The fact that so much of the penal code was linked to non-�e("u!ar mattcrs is a further indication to Voltaire of the perversion of legislative codes that had arisen as a consequence of the intrmion of the ecclcsiastical powers into areas that are properly the concern of ch·il governments alone. and in 1777. The result was the publication in 1766 of his own commentary on the treatise.tice and hljmanj�)'. as Voltaire illustrates graphically in section� 8-9. a pretended entry for an essay o::ompctition announced in Berne. CLDP. which dcal with the place of torture and the death penalty in judicial procedures . and again in 1771 in the article on confiscation in QE. Extreme law tends to de�troy the law (section IS).the epitome of vengeful legal systems. Death. 1\1ercy was cost-etTective . sharpened Voltaire's interest in the issues of crime and punishment as set out in Beccaria's treatist (see Van Den Heuvel 1975). Voltaire also opposed on this basis the laws exacting confiscation of a condemned man's property. puhlishing a complementary work to CLDP in the form of The prize finju. hc was sri!! writing on the subject. Voltaire's arguments against it are both humanitarian and utilitarian. He felt so strongly about the confiscation of property issue that section 2 I of CLDP was reprinted in Ij69 in chapter 42 of the Summary of the age of Louis XV. Sirven and La Barre. a disrroportionate punishment that unjustly affected innocent widows and orphans. Part of the tel.. Onc of the key parts of CLDP is to be found in sections 10-1 Z. Here Voltaire follows Beccaria and Montcsquieu in insisting that severe penalties serve to increase crime levels rather than reduce them. He calls this penalty in section 21 'state robbery' (see Perkins Iq89). It wa� in the conten of crime and punishment that the 'infamous' did i� bloodiest work.re examines what constitutes a criminal act. Calas. It was also an eco nomic irrationality. The death penalty caused surTering for the victim and brutalised society generally. Volta. In ancient Rome citizens were condemned to death only when the security of the State was at stake (section 10). In sections 1-5 of CLDP."t of CLDP was reprinted in section 22 of that work. an act that injures society.Introduction These three tragic casualties of the 'infamous'. often accompanied b)' torture� of Gothic extravagance. not churches. although after 1742.engeance."ithdrawing e. The 1670 Criminal Ordinance was abolished b�· the Revolution. not an instrument of \. and the 1791 code heralded the reforms to be impkmented under the Napoleonic codes of the earl)· nineteenth century . witlle�se� were questioned secretly and separately. lying for months in chained torment. disproportionate penalties. �uch % death for petty theft.an echo of one of the few ubsena tions in Rousseau's Social ((Hllmct of which Voltaire approved . The image of the wretched Cala�.France. The number of death '>entenees passed in France fell noticeably in the 1780S (Mason 1<)82. During the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-8) Voltaire's close relationship with Frederick the Great enabled him to act as an intermediary between Berlin and Paris.\lore over. 8). There had also been a War of the Polish Succession in 1 733-5. could not have been far from Yoltaire's mind when he wrote this angry section on anden rigiml. Voltaire's appeal at the end of his remarkably powerful com menta!)' on Beccaria\ treatise is for urgent reform of the French legal sy�tem (see l\laeSlro 1942.Introductioll in a� much as a living man could do forced labour and benefit society . ch. e�tablished in France �ince the r670 Criminal Ordinance. The penalties for changing or ". and by 1788 the death smtence was becoming relatively rare in French judicial procedures. but this had been a relatively minor affair. Section 22 contaim a lengthy commcntary on the interrogation practices prc\cribed in the 1670 Criminal Ordinance. Punishment �hould be a dctcrrent. when Frederick broke his alliance with . .·idence were ferocious. His play for public opinion in his commentary on Beccaria was to bear fruit quickly. . and if necessary put to the question to extract the 'truth'. and in this uf course Voltaire opposed both the spirit and the lener of legislative procedure. as a confidant of kings and a friend of ministers. XX'ill . whereby ill tfeated prisoners were kept in ignorance of the charge against them. Voltaire was uniquely placed to observe the workings of the diplomatic machinery that accompanied both.· criminal procedures. \Var and peace The international order in eighteenth-century Europe was seriously disrupted by two major wars and.ed �·ictirns of theft to bring the culprit to justice. dis coura!'. and the do�ing paragraph makes this dear.4 dead man was unproductive . Foucault 1975). and again in the 1771 QE. conflict is endemic to the human condition. Stavan ly86).Introduction Fleury had doubts about \'oltairc's trustworthiness as an agent acting on behalf of French interests (see Perkins 1965. and he supported Frederick's own plans to refute Machiavellian rheory. in the aftennath of the Seven Years War. Vol taire 'ovitrtessed and actively participated in the international power brokering that took place not only in the context of France's relations with Prussia. 0 1506). The authenticity of so many of his obsenations on war. In the early phases of his friendship with Frederick. during which he again tried to act as an arbitrator between Louis XV and the Prussian king.o in connection with Franco-Dutch affairs. War for Voltaire was the greatest of all the moral evils. In 1756 Voltaire. In the case of both the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War Voltaire locates their cause in the arbitrary whims and ambitions of 'a few men'. introduction). and the French campaign in the Netherlands. which had triggered XXVIII . human nature and international relations painted by Voltaire after 1756. the Seven Years War. whi. G(DP) was composed for the 1764 edition of DP.h had been brought to a humiliating conclusion for France in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris. his admiration for Machiavelli's style and genius gave way to a dislike for his 'poisonous' precepts (Best. acting as editor of the Prussian king's work on the subject (see Fleis chauer I958. OI476. For international law theorists like Grotius. peace and the contemporary international scene owes as much to this personal engagemenr in events as to rhe many eye-witness accounts and theor ies that he studied. The 'genealogical' justification for the warrior prince to raise an army and declare war. Barbeyrac and Wolll: and pacifist thinkers like the ahbi de Saint-Pierre. found himself embroiled in the diplomacy surrounding the outbreak of the �econd great European war. and as G(DP) makes dear in a number of Hobbesian observations. In PA he sneers at Pufcndorf as a thinker with the foresight of a composer of 'defective almanachs'. Pufcndorf. The fact that Frederick was to turn out to be the most adept Machiavellian of all undoubtedly contributed to the cynicism and disillusionment at the heart of the portrayal of war. Voltaire revised the opening paragraphs and expanded the article in 1765. he had in fact little time (sec Perkins 1961). by then in Geneva. but ab. is a thinly veiled reference to Frederick's rationale for the invasion of Silesia. between the warring parhlcrs."iathall (sec Thielemann 1959). P(DP) first appeared in the 1704 edition of DP. 'each species was born to devour another'. Patriotism becomes a dive rsified form of self intere�t. P(QE) reinforce� that view. e..Introducfioll . He identifies it first with the notion of ownership and prop erty. .'en in the face of the evidence of man's progress in other areas. In other political syHems patriotism was a spurious sentiment that only meant wishing to advance national self-interest at the expense of other countries. There were various projeCl� for world p eace put forward in the eighteenth century. Peace treaties arose from ClI:pediency. as Voltaire's attack on Montesquieu's axiom >lbom the rights of pre to emptive aUal:k at the end of G(DP) indicates. His description of 'the infernal enterprise closely ' echoes the sardonically clinical tableaux of hattie-scenes between the Abar� and the Bulgars portrayed in the third chapter of CandIde (175!)). which meant that the majority of people would have no home land. not good will. again c1o�ely echoing Hobbes' analysis in Part I of the LI'1. meant being a citizen. together with plague. received the most attention from Voltaire (see Perkins 1961). and was revised and e:>.panded for QE in I n ! . and as such fed the psycholog of ". p ublished to coin cide with the Treaty of Utrecht in I 7 ' J . In sp ite of God's gift of reason. and that is only possible in that utopian state. famine and natural disasters. and that for all animals this is in the order of nature. Voltaire's experience �uggested to him that international law and international codes of conduct were illusory concepts without any ba�is in the realities of human bebayiour. and their provisions were contingent and precarious. and to be truly a patriot. war remained irremediably the frightful lot of humanity.'ar that continued to hold the nation-states of Europe in its grip. The opening paragraphs of G{DPJ confirm Voltaire's close . Voltaire goe� on to describe the dame maCl/bre of ever-changing alliances and disagreement. Voltaire attacked all of them as being hopelessly naive about the causes of war. y War was not subject rational or honourable justification. Here Voltaire e":plores one of the most emotionally charged issues in the name of which war is often iustified: patriotism. a republic. of which perhaps the abbe de Saint-Pierre's Project for perpetual peace in Europe. G(DP) presents the reader with the stark Hobbesian view that war is natural to man.--the general conflagration. To have a homeland. and the realities of human nature. 'iathan must remain in the final analy�is a 'prison'. and why 8 would not care to be a citiun of Hobbes' civil commonwealth. and he certainly agrees with Hobbes that on the international lewl the only law is that of national self-interest. In DH and ABC he comments acidly on the moral vacuum in the hearts uf most politicians who know only how to 'cheat at cards'.-alid pom! to make.'olatility of internalional power games. In section 6 of G(QE) Voltaire sees war as the fundamental fact of !ife upon which all else is built. and through whose personal feuds and rivalries thousands of men are persuaded. . The emptiness and hypocrisy of international law codes also prO\·idc the focus for debate in conversation II in ABC. Papal usurpations in DH illustrate the casual. The collap�c of Law's financial system in 1720 had long-lenn repercussions for the French economy. enthusiastic eannon fodder driven by greed. The somewhat mechanistic view of human affairs that predomin ates in Voltaire's writings on international affairs does not mean that he was a pessimist or a determinist. \Vealth and poverty Voltaire was a veT) young man when a Scotsman named John I. despite the fact that by 1726 . Voltaire accepts that Hobbes might have had a . and \cd by amricious statesmen and churchmen. �uperstition and xenophobia. and would he realised through human action�. cspeciall)' when the Vatican is involwd. On the other hand. only too readily. and by which all else is conditillned.aw became Comptroller-General in France after the death of Louis XIV.Introduction alignment with Hobbes on this point. in which force rather than reason or morality dictates the outcome of conflict. and hegan to apply his ideas to the economic life of the Regency period. to march off to battle. As B makes clear in conversa tion I inABe. The peasant soldiers are for Voltaire little more than brutalised automata. This is why in ABC the Lt?!. and in which man is born the enemy of other men. Man's salvation and de�tiny lay in human hands. as his unflagging attack on Leib nizian optimism after the 1755 earthquake in Lisbon amply demon strates. I lobbes is a philosopher for whom society is a 'prison' inhabited bv criminals and slaves. but lethal. Grn?) also underlines the eager willingness with which the masses fight for causes they do not undentand in the interest of rulers who are at best indifferent to their welfare . fntrodUdion the currency had stabilised (see Mason 1982. if the proper restraints were in place.. but rather in produce. ch. While \"oltairc rejected Law's faith in the bene ficial dfects of paper lllone�'. DPC. Following 1\1elon's adaptations of I. Thus the reference to the Spanish arm) in DPC is not incon� sequential. but were rather the means to create wealth. but w·hat is the use of that if they have no shirts . was regularly cited by mercantilists as proof of the validity of their theories. Paper money could therefore be �ubstituted for gold and "aver. introduction). Hown.\telun nevertheless thought that paper money had some use. The example of Spain. and Melon's P{}lirical essay on wmmerce (17. In this dialogue the interlocutors are pl'rSf/NaC representing \'01taire himself and Jean-Baptiste Machault d'Arnouville. and interestingly he never really placed total responsibility for France's financial problems on Law'� policit�. but Law's ideas were recycled in a revised form by Jean-Fran<.)4) influenced Voltaire greatly (see Kotta 11)66. Law believed that precious metals did not in themselves constitute wealth._ On the contrary.u. 1965 ch. and Law· issued large amounts of paper currency in the belief that thi� would improve France's pros peri�' and trading positiun. Voltaire developed a number of theories about national wealth which find their clearest and most engaging exposition in a work published in 1 7 5 1 in the form of a dialogue bet\veen a philosopher and a comptroller-general. introduction). the better placed that state was to pursue its interests at the expense of its neighbours (see Kotta 1966.'e swords made of gold. 8). whom Voltaire wished to influence. . Yoltaire concedes the value of gold and silver in the con text of balance of trade problems and in time� of war (see Perkin� 1962.. The pamphlet i� a direct challenge !o orthodox mercantilist theory which had dominated economic philo.aw's views. The Spanish army might ha. France's Comptroller-General from 1745 to 1754. The n. he insist� that the true wealth of a state does not reside exclusively in its holdings of preciolls metals. references to Law in Yoltair�'s writings are almo'>t always positive and laudatory.oi'i Melon. I). Taylor 19(4).periment failed. Contrary to prevailing theory (see Payne 1976. Voltaire agreed with this. industry and labour.ophies in Europe since the Middle Ages and the collapse of feudalism. The mercantilists believed that the more gold and silver a state possessed. with its ready supply of gold from the South American colonies. sive ministers had been merely ad hoc responses to immediate issues. and the result was absurdity. Quesnay.IlItrodurtwlI and no bread? Wealth lies in commodities. prefiguring in an interesting way the views of Adam Smith. in DPC. composed for . On this point at least.lillC qua nOli of national prosperit}". the importance of agriculture and the need for the free circulation of agricultural produce (see Payne 197() . Voltaire assesses thc balance of inequities in economic life. The circulation of mone� and goods was a .QE in 177 I . "-foumains of inad equately framed legislation had accumulated oYer the years. short-term improvisation rather than long-tenn strategy. and i� the creation of a prooucti\c labour force and a fom'. The physiocrats were a group of mid-century economists led by J\lme de Pompadour's doctor.). accounts of official venality and financial cheating. Voltaire comments astrin gently on the 'shameful and ridiculous' workings of a taxation system that levied duty on produce a� it moved from one province to another within France's borders. and fol lowing Melon. and is thus returned to society through her extravagant purchases. but the rich lady's lackey is also right: his rich mistress's magnificent court pension is spent on conspicuous con sumption of the produce of the labouring dass. the groundwork for Voltaire's later disagree menU. fraud and unnecessary hardship. with its emphasi� on the crucial imporlance of industry and trade. In I(Qt. In DPC an echo of the physiocratic debate is reflected in the discus�ion of what constitutes net produce. . he agreed with physio cratic arguments. By the middle of the eighteenth century fi. 52-4).ct�.od-looking manufacturing sector. illustrated in a typically serious-comic Voltairean way with the anecdote of the 'excess drink' tax. and expanded in I774. and his disciple Le Mercier de La Riviere . and enacted reformist legisla tion to ensure the free circulation of grain and wine. Voltaire always maintained that the pursuit of luxury did not necessarily imply decadence and stasis... Voltaire provides a particularly acute ana lysis of the situation in the third sel:tion of G(QE) (pp. At the same time. The peasant is right to protest against the system that exploits his labour for the benefit of the few. Here he illustrates how the tax policie� followed by �ul. and he was greatly encouraged whcn Turgot became Comptroller-General in 1774.cal disorder had scaled record heights in France. with the physiocrats was also being laid. Tneir taxation philosophy provides the main satirical target in IHQE. complete with credit arrangements and paper money. The soil and its products always return to the centre of Voltaire's considerations on national pro�perity. The reference i� to . E(Qf).Introduction and a telling e:o. In a note added in 1774. and to the re-establishment of those offices by Louis X'·l when he came to the throne in No. and further exemplifies the tech niques of anecdote and analogy that Voltaire deploys to make the most complex technicalirie. an event that shocked Europe but marked the birth of modern France. I). including the detested Bois-Guillebert. and the 'serious fool' Law.' (see Mason 1()82 eh. He reviews the effects on France of the policies of different ministers. in 1 7 J 6 a move resulting in ruin and widespread publie disorder. he wrote in his article on com in QE. and recalled the par/ement. published in I77 I . vi. it would neces sarily have to include a careful assessment of the paradoxes and ambivalences of his position on kings and repuhlic�. When referring to the state bank in the section on public economy. and was accordingly above the law.\laupeou's abolition of venal offices in In I.:posure of the impotence of a theoretically all-powerful government to do an�1hing about dle �ituation. although if he returned four years later he would have �een the abuses re established.. and was to remain so throughout most of the century until the execution of Louis XVI in 17<J3. the much admired Colbert. Voltaire comments that a tia''idlcr returning to the same coun try tvm years later wuuld have seen sume reforms. 'Whoever possesses wheat will always lay the law down to those who need hread'. Voltaire almost cenainly has in mind the damage inflicted by Law's anorti. the purchasing power of money in different parts of Europe. That simple precept informs much of the argument set out in E(Qf). \\'hat ever else might be involved in such a debate. In the section on public economy Voltaire compares the workings of differ ent national economies. and the differing way� of handling national debts.e attempt to establish such a bank. - Voltaire's France was a �tate in which the kin!! ruled as a supreme autocrat by dhine right.·id and readily comprehensible. take� a broader view of the domestic and public sectors of the econumy. The person of the monarch was sacred. XXXIII . however. What Voltaire's reaction to regicide would have been. had he lived to witness it. is a matter for tentative speculation and debate.·ember 1714. no poverty. an icon of the French Revolution. and an ethos of philosophe rationality. Ironically. and the degree to which his sympathies as an idealist reflect a preferencc for republicanism in its modern scme has not yet been resolved in a dear-cut fashion. and scholars remain divided on this very central i��ue of Voltairean politics. the Commentary fin the Spirit of the lams (1777). no privileged power-groups. or democratic proccdure�. A similar picture emerges in the description of William Penn's Pennsylvania in the Philosophim/ Lerters. fulfilled people. . published a quarter uf a century before. it is difficult on presenr evidence to align Voltair� unequivocally with republicanism and democracy in the modem sense of these terms. and is pussibly unresulvable in simplistic terms.l'erienec with kin!!s and courts. egalitarian enterprise. offers tempting evidence of a republican i�m of the mo�t liberal ·variety (see p. equality before the law. the republics portrayed in Candide are noticeably lacking in virtue. But Eldorado is still a discreet!�' absolutl: monarchy. his name and reputation after l789 associated unreservedly in the popular mind with the mission and aspirations uf France's Fir�t Republic. albeit governed under the law on enlightened lines by a philosopher-king. no role for religion in government. a constituent assembly. Eldorado has some virruou� features that are recognisably republican in a vaguely moral way: a happy. but IR remains the exo::cption rather than the rule. and was bv nu mean� Voltaire's final word on the subject. he reiterated hb distrust of republican 'virtue'. and hi� hostility to Rousscauist notions of a social contract is too consistent. in spite of his raJkali�m on moral and social bsues. not citizens participating in a collective. He rerums too frc quenrl)' to the these royale. with it� statement that the most tolerable government of an 'is without any doubt the republican'. along with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. no fao::tions. In one of the last works that he wrote. Conversely. xxii above). IR. The ambiguities of Voltaire's positiun are perhaps !1uwhere bener illustrated than in his de�o::riptiun of the utopian state in Candide. all this did not prevent him from becoming. The Eldoradans are subjects under paternalistic rule.Introduction The problem of measuring the precise degree to which Voltaire retained faith in monarchi�m and the these ro)ale as a pragmatist. There is no hint of a genera! franchise. In spite of his unhappy ell. The philosophical and reprinted in 1767. Bctween I793 and 1852 eight further English translations appeared. !\. A new critical edition of Voltaire's Complete works is currently in progress under the auspices of the Voltaire Foundation at Oxford. with all its defects. Editions of Voltaire's writings are catalogued in G. Benda. with introduction and notes by ]. As far as the works are concerned. some of selected articles only. A 'compendium' of arricles was translated by W. Baslin and published by Peter Owen in 1962. Bengeseo's four-volume bibliography (di82- 90). The latest translation. but none of the works relevant to this collec tion have so far been published. Woolf and published by Allen and Unwin in HI24 (reprinted in 1945).I. Moland in S2 volumes (1877-85). Beuchal in 72 volumes (1829-40). and another selection was translated by H. Naves.lo1and. edited by L.). DP was first translated into English in 1765 as diaionary for the pocket.Bibliographical note There arc three great post 1784 collective editions of Voltaire's works: the 'Kehl' edition. The definitive Bestcrman edition of the correspondence forms part of this new edition (volumes 85-135). edited by A. The best modern edition in French of DP is the 1954 edition established by R. In the same year Peter Gay's two-volume translation. remains the vulgate for the time being. the 'Beuchal' edition. was published by Basic Books in New York. the 'Moland' edition. An unabridged selection in English was published by Pioneer Press in 1919. appeared in 1971 (Penguin). . by Theodore Besterman. edited by Beaumarchais and others in 70 volumes (l785-9). O. and this is still a valuable work of reference. with a preface by Andre Maurois. Florenne published an edition of QE. and illllminates cle arly the additions and changes. H. Rene Pomeau also pub lished an anthology of extracts of Voltaire's political writings in 1963 (Colin). Waldinger's examination of Voltaire and reform in the light of the Revolution is still very informative (Waldinger I959). and another edition \\'a� publbhed in 1964 in the Garnier Flammarion series. On constitutional matters. DP in Il)6z (Club fran�ai.rapiticil/ note Thi� is ba�ed on the 1769 text. including the revisions for the Y. edited by R. of Fletcher's guide to the Lettres phi/oSIJphiques found in chapter impact of England on Voltaire's political attitudes. none of the works in this collection have appeared in separate English translation before. Th� H�nda-�aves edition of DP n:pJains the development of this complex work. du livre). 1991). as is the introduction to J. Bestennan's article on Voltaire and absolute monarchy is well focussed (Besterman read in conjunction 1965). The most comprehensive study in English of Voltaire's political thought is still Peter Gay's book. general introduction is Ira Wade's study of Voltaire's intellectual development (Wade The first two 1969)' chapters of Haydn Mason's survey of French writers and their society 1 7 1 5-1800 offer an excellent assessment of the main socia-political features of eighteenth-century France (Mason 198z). R. if sometimes tendentious study. which establishes Voltaire's credentials as a political historian. IR is probably the most frequently quoted source in assess ment� ofVoltaire\ political ideas. now in its second edition (Gay 1988). though lengthy. and contains an interesting commentary on Voltaire's political thought in chapters and 28 (Besterman 1969). see also A. A well-informed and lucid analysis of Voltaire's views on government and society is 2 (Fletcher and this contains helpful commentaries on the 1986). Pomeau. but should be Viith chapter 7 of Gay's book. and Gay's substantial article is the best analysis of IR's genesis and import (Gay 1958). The most recent biographical study is by a French team of scholars. On English influ ence Perry's study is also essential reading (Perry 1977. 'With me exception of DP. .Bihliofl. Vaillot 1988. and three volumes have been published so far (Pomeau Pomeau and Menaud 1985. Besterman's biography is a lively. A good. 24 For a more neutral account of Voltaire's life Mason's biography should be consulted (Mason 1981). Bntmfitt's edition of La phi/osophie de l'hisloire (Voltaire 1969). Van Den Heu\'el 1975. 8. Perkins 1961) and on the source of national power (Perkins 1962). Gay 1988 chap ter 6. see the introduction to Fleischauer's edition of Frederick's Anti-Machia�'(lIi. 35. Mason 1975 l:hapter 5.Bibliographical note M. Kotta's . and Bestennan 1969 ch. and Crocker's more general study of sources is equally illuminating (Crocker I983. sovereignty and other Voltairean concerns. Birchall 1990). This has very useful chapters on Euro pean politics. Bestennan 1969 chapter 33. Dzwigala I986). Meyer's study of Voltaire's views on war and peace should be consulted (Meyer 1976). Constance Rowe's book on Voltaire and the State offers a general overview (Rowe 1955). On issues relating to freedom. as does Perkins I962. The most detailed analysis of Voltaire's views on international affairs is Perkins' full-length study of Voltaire's concept of interna tional order (Perkins 1965). Tate's closely argued article on Voltaire and the parlements is also relevant to a balanced understanding of Voltaire's criticism of French political institutions (Tate 1972. are also valuable contributions. See also Appendix 2 of Perkins' study for a list of the booh in Voltaire's library Jirecdy relevant to key aspects of his political thought. Of particular relevance to several of the texts in this collection is Thielemann's study of Hobbes' impact on Voltaire (Thielemann 1959). Bien's book is a good place to start with regard to this l:rudal cause dICbre (Bien 1960. With regard to specific controversies. despotism. Maestro's 1942 study of Voltaire and Beccaria is still essential reading for an understanding of Voltaire's thinking on the law and criminal refonn. and Lamm's article on this suhject is also very helpful (Lamm I978). Gay 1988 provides a great deal of information. Rousseau 1976). but for a more up to date analysis of the commentary on Beccaria's treatise. intemationallaw. There is an excellent section on crime and punishment in the introduction to N. see also �ixon 1961. see also Stavan 1986). 1965. On Voltaire's relations with Frederick the Great. Petkins' articles on war and peace (with particular reference to the peace project of the abbi de Saint-Pierre. On influences. see also Dzwigala's article on Voltaire's sources on the Polish question. which also throws light on Voltaire's reaction to Machiavelli (Fleischauer 1958. see Mason 198z ch. most scholars have concen trated on the Calas case. see also Riviere 1 987). section 3 of Perkins' article on the philosophes and human rights should be consulted (Perkins 1989). war. Bibliographical note study of Voltaire's satirical tale. Payne'� article on poverty and the aims of enlightened economics also offers "aluable insights (Pa}ne 1976. For general background on eight eenth-century economics. Melon and I. Michel Fou� cault's study of punishment opens up other fascinating aspects of eighteenth-century penal philosophy (Foucault 1(175). specifically Vigncry 1960. Relatively little has been written on Voltaire's economic theories. mercantilism. . see also Perkins 1989 and Taylor 1964). LHQE (Kotta 1966). Kotta is a mine of infonnation on Voltaire's views on taxation (particularly Law.e \terrier). and the physiocrats. see Taylor Iy64. Vignery has most to say in this area on Voltaire. . and the enlightened monarch'. pp. 13.r-.1errill) Besterman. 1975 Suroeiller et punir: naiEanfe de la prison (Paris: Gallimard) Gay.. Charles.f\Jew York : Bobbs-. 6. Stwljes on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century. 241. 1986 Voltaire: Lettres philowphiques (London: Grant & Cutler) Foucault. British Journal for Eighteenth-CrnJury Studies. Dennis. D. I-I? DzwigaJa. 1965 'Voltaire. 1963 On romes and prmishmenls. H. 1960 The Calas affair: persecution. par Frediric If. Peter..Select bibliography Beccaria. Lester G. pp. 1983 'Voltaire and the political philosophers'.'Anti-Machiavel. 1958 !. 5 Fletcher.. toleration and keres)' in eighteenth-century Toulouse (Princeton: Princeton University Pres�) Birchall. W. pp. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century. 187- '"' Fleischauer. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century. . H. pp. 2Ig. 1990 'Voltaire and collective action'. Cesare. 32. Michel. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Cen tury. 1986 'Voltaire 's sources on the Polish dissident ques tion'. 1958 'Voltaire's Idles ri/lublicaines: A study in bibliography and interpretation'.. 7-21 1969 Voltaire (London: Longmans) Bien. l. and trans. ed. ab solute monarchy. D. 19-29 Crocker. 67-105. Studies on Voltaire and the Ejghteenth Century. Paolucci (Indianapolis. Theodore.. pp. !\'w. Nixon. [52. pp. 36 1989 'Six French philosopkes on human rights.tI l'Ic q llfltidienne WII5 fa rigence (paris: Hachette) Lamm.> of{nm inal law (New York: Columbia Cniversity Press) Mason. 1963 1985 D'Arolle l a Pofitique de Voltaire (Paris: Voltaire 1694-1734 Colin) (Oxford: The Voltaire ((Jur au jardin Foundation) Pomeau. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century. 1977 'Voltaire's view of England'. international rivalry and war: their message today'. 1942 Voltaire (lnd Beccaria as reformer. Pp· 9-34 1962 'Voltaire on the source of national power'. Haydn T. 92. 1976 'Voltaire on war and peace'. 1961 'Voltaire and the abbe de Saint-Pierre on world peace'. pp. A study of Voltairean theme-< (The HaguelParis: i\Iouton) ' Kunstler. 20. Rene. 1949-51 Oeurres completes.Select bibliography 1988 Voltaire s politics: the poel as realist (New Haven/London: Yale ' University Pre�s). Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century'. 44-61 Perry.. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth CentulJ'. pp.. 15-26.. Rn.. 1991 De fa I7SO-S9 (Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation) . H. H. H. 1961 Voltaire and the Calas case (London: Gollancz) Payne. 1975 Voltaire (London: Hutchinson) 1981 Voltaire: a biography (I. Rene and l'vlervaud. 1581-92. 1976 ' Pav:vreti. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century. Montesquieu. c:. 1960 An introdUdion to eighteenth-centu1J! France (London: Longmam) \. Journal ofEuropean Studies. Caillois (Paris: Ga11imard).ondon: Granada Publishing) 1982 French wn'ters and their society 17�'i-18oo (London: Macmillan) Meyer.. 1900 l..- "' . 7.i. pp. Christine. . 1966 L 'Homme aux quaranle (eus. 154. misere and the aims of enlightened economics'. \. Second edition Kona. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century. 262-74 . 260.ue d Histoire D. C. 18. pp. ' Lough. Bibliotheque de la Pleiade. Merle L.plomatique'. R. J(J78 'Voltaire and the idea of peace'. Perkins. John.. Studies on Voltaire and the Eight eenth Century'..1arcello T. ed.1aestro. 141-73 1965 Voltaire's mncept of international order. r\orma.. E. 77-94 Pomeau. pp. 1 5 29-43 Taylor. 1988 Avec Mme Du Chiitelet 1J34-59 (Oxford: The Vol taire Foundation) Van Den Heuvel. 237-58 Todd.es on Voltaire and the /:'ighteenth Century. Rowe. Bestennan (Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation) >Ii cd. French Review.. comprenant les lI8 articles parus SOU5 ce titre du l'imnt de Voltaire avec leurs suppliments pants dam Its Questions sur l'Enryc/apidie. Christopher. 1-18. 1964 'Types of capitalism in eighteenth-century France'. 1987 'Voltaire ana the Fronde'. 478-97 Thielemann. Robert S. PP. ). 1962 Du wl/trat sodal.I\lichel. Leland.. r 959 'Voltaire and Hobbism'. trans.'iew.. Theodore . Molana (Paris: Gamier) 1954 Dictionnaire phi/osophique. Stud. H. 1 97 1 Utopia and refonn in the Enlightenment (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Vigncry. 241. Andrc-. Naves (Paris: Garnier) 1962 Philasophical dictionary. Robert. pp. ed. Diaiannaire philosophique (London: Grant & Curler) Trapnell. A. 79. pp. 26. Jean-Jacques. ou pn'llti. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighleenth Century.. Frano. Analuta romanica. 1960 'Voltaire's economic ideas'. 3 2 Vaillot.pes du droit politique (Paris: Garnier). Marc S. Peter Gay (New York: Basic Books) 1968-77 Correspondence and related dacuments. /'v'ottingham French Studies. Franco. R.. Benda and R. ].. This includes the Discours sur I'origine de l"inigaliti parmi les hommes. Studies on Voltaire lind the Eighteenth Century. pp. William H_. 1976 L 'Angleterre et Valtaire. ]. L. 1986 'Landgraf Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel and Voltaire'. 1 0 1-83 Tate. 1955 Voltaire and the State (l\ew York: Columbia University Press) Stavan. 10. pp. 257-63 Voltaire. Con�tance. ed. Rousseau. V. 1972 Voltaire and his parrable dictiorJary (Frankfurt-am-Main).ois Arouet dt:.Select bibli/Jgraphy Riviere. English Histarical Rf!1. 1980 Valtaire. 33. 145-7 Rousseau. 1975 L'A1faire Galas et autres a1faires (Paris: Gallimard (Folio 672») Venturi. 90. pp. 1877-85 Oeuvres completes. Studies on Vol lair( and the Eighteenth Century. 1972 'Voltaire and the parlemtnts: a reconsideration'. G. 1 969 The intellectual dCl. ed. Theodore Besterman (Harmondsworth: Penguin) \\/ade. The \'oltaire Foundation) 1969 La Philosophie de l'histoire.. (Oxford. Rene. Ira 0. 'A'. ed. 1959 Voltaire and refonn in the light of the French Rer"{){ution (Geneva. 59 J 97 J Philosophical dictionary. H. ed. H. vol. and trans. Brumfitt (Toronto: Uni versity of Toronto Press). Druz/Paris: Minard) H)68. Barber (t al..The complete xlii .'elopment of Voltaire (Princeton: Princeton Cniyersitv Press) Waldinger.Select bibliography /porks of Voltaire. J. Voltaire 1908. (1674-1744)' French Professor of jurisprudence who.I S L E . B u n-a. Scientist and economic theorist. Soldier and military theorist. He was largely responsible for the defeat of Austria in the War of Austrian Succession. and he was dismissed from office by Philip V in '719. Buffoll published a magisterial multi-volumed Natural h. Milanese jurist and author of On m'mes and their punishments (1764). He is the author of an important commentary on the works of Grotius. B E C C. Beccaria was also one of the first economic theorists to analyse questions relating to capital and the division of labour.. CIIARLES-FOUQCET ( 1 684-q61). and reflected many of the humanitarian concerns of the period. as a Calvinist. This seminal work on criminal jurisprudence revitalised thinking on penal codes in the eighteenth cenTUry. and Ambassador to the Diet of Frankfurt. and was the author of xliii . was forced to flee France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1684. B A R B E'YRAr:. His policies to retrie. Spanish cardinal and statesman who became Prime Minister of Spain in 17 I 7. J E A N Df.story (1749-89).Biographical note A L B E R O :-l I . ]L'LIO (1 644-1752). CESARE B O N E S A N A (1738-94). B E L L E .'c Spanish territory lost after the Treaty of Utrecht misfired.".HIA. Belle-Isle became Marshal of France in 1741. G E O R G E S LOUIS L E C L E R C (1707-88). CHARLES v. C A L A S . Voltaire offered shelter to his widow and two of his children. Implacable enemy of Louis XIV who prevented him from ever taking possession of his dukedom. ROBE RT (dates unknoll. thereby deflecting the wrath of the authorities on to himself. and was greatly admired by Voltaire. Persons found guilty by the Consistory Court of Geneva of immorality were obliged to kneel before the court to be reprimanded. through his reforms of the financial system and his taxation policies. The decree of geIlufiection was withdrawn in 1769. As an an economist.ll). He also left his mark on the literary and scientific life of France. CoveUe refused. Merchant and "\-ictim of religious intolerance and judicial error. Calas' son hanged himself and to avoid the indignities reserved by law for suicides and their families Calas and his wife denied that the death resulted from suicide. C O L BERT.'! (1698-1762). He was responsible. The affair led directly to the publication of Voltaire's on tolerance in the same year. but the xliv . C O V E L L E . he is remembered mainly for his Essay on moral arirh mrtic (1777). J E . for building up France's wealth and prestige during the Sun King's reign. Colbert was Louis XIV's great finance minister.Biographical note numerous other works relating to geology and natural history. or tltc lmxs ofRobert Covelle. becoming Comptrol ler-General in 1665.. The family was Calvinist. � BAPTISTE . His son Leopold regained possession of Lorraine in 1697. - (1619-83). Catherine Ferloz. Voltaire wrote a bawdy epic on the affair. he was broken on the wheel in March l76z.. A Genevan watchmaker charged with immoral conduct by the City Fathers of Geneva in 1763 for fathering a child with an unmarried woman. He became a Field-Marsha] in the ser vice of Austria. DUKE O F LORRAINE Treatise (r643-1)o). Follow ing sentence by the Toulouse pariemenl. and Calas was accused of murder to pre\'ent his son's conversion to Rome. Tne civil war of Gena'a. and e\'cntuaily succeeded in obtaining the legal annulment of the Toulouse judgement and the rehabilitation of Calas' name in q6S. lEA. and was imprisoned . In his youth Frederick devoted himself to sci ence and philosophy. Dutch statesman and jurist. FREDERICK I l . An atheist and philosophical determinist. U E :-I ! S (1713-84). in which life was 'nasty. English philosopher. and later in the Seven Years \Var. the Thoughts on the interpretatirm of nature (1754). novelist. . GROTIUS. the first great modem attempt to establish the principles of jurisprudence. encyclopaedisl. best kno�n for his Leviathan. He was the principal editor of the Enrydopaedia. and made a major contribution to the growing military and financial power of Prussia. Author of Of the laws of war and peace (1625). art cnnc and play wright. who edited his Anti-Machiavelli. HUGO (1583-1645). where he was given a pension by Louis XU. D'DEROT. His works include the Leuer on the blind (1 749). A victim of theological disputes in Holland and the Low Countries. French philosopher. and the Supplement to B(Jugain ville's {loyage (1772:). and correspondent ofVoltaire. H O B B E S . A driving force behind the philosophes. and finaily went to Sweden. civilisation being maintained by fear and the calculation of self-interest. two years after the execution of Charl�� 1. brutish and short'. Diderot was always at the forefront of the ideological struggles of the French Enlighten ment. King ofPrussia from 1740. K '< OW'< AS ' T H E GREAT' ( 1 7 1 2-86). was influenced particu larly by Locke and Montesquieu. which led to his temporary imprisonment. On assuming the throne he soon proved himself to be a brilliant strategist in the War of Amtrian Succession. He pursued successful economic policies as well. Hobbes' political analysis was based on a mechanistic psychology of man. THOMAS (1 588-1679). he was deeply interested in questions of moral relativism. without whose iron fist society would degenerate into the lethal anarchy of the state of naNre. published in 1651. Grotius eventually took refuge in Paris. and as a political thinker. Hobbes defended the absolute powers of the sovercign.Biographical note echoes of the case rumbled on for some time in the hitter controver sies about the place of the Church in Genevan judicial procedures and political life. La Barre was arrested with three other young men for showing insufficient respect a� a religious procession passed by. and quickly gained the favour of the Regent. and the Essay concerning human understanding (1690). but the La Barre's name was eventually rehabilitated by the Revolutionary Convention m 1793. and he also wrote on questions of tolerance. PIERRE PAUL (1720--92/3). F . whom he knew well. cornLOCKE.Biographical note HUME. His schemes caused widespread financial devastation and public disorder. (1632-17°4). and thiS enabled him to make contact with leading French writers and intellectuals. his tongue tom out and his body burnt. His empiricism. Voltaire's attempts to have the sentence repealed failed. Scottish philosopher and historian. His Treatise 011 human nature was published in 1739. He worked as a secretary in the British Embassy In Paris in 1763. Son of an Edinburgh goldsmith who fled to France after a duelling incident. He was the author of the The natural alld essential order ofpolitical societies (1767) in which he defended the concept of legal despotism. I . LAW. DAVID ( 1 7 1 1-1776). He showed in his political writ ings how freedom was limited by the nature of political organisation. and he died an impoverished refugee in Venice. Accused of blasphemy and wilful damage to a cross. L '" BARRE. French economic theorist and Counsellor in the Paris parlement. He became Comptroller-General in 17:W. He exercised a deep influence over Kant and Adam Smith. La Barre appealed to the Paris parlement. and his �en tence was commuted to decapitation prior to burning. He became a close associate of Quesnay and the physiocrats.F RAN�'OJS (1747-66). Locke was the author of Two treatises on government (1689). f E H V R F. An influential English philosopher whose ideas dominated the French Enlightenment. He persuaded the French government to adopt a system of paper money. LE M E R C I E R D E LA RIVIERE DE SAINT-MEDARD. J E A N . JOHN (1671-1729). JOHS xlvi . and in his philosophical investigations how human understanding was limited to the world revealed by the senses. He was condemned by the court at Abbeville to have a hand amputated. and to establish a state bank in 1718. he sought to show that without vices. and their attendant economic benefits.IFR (1641---91). An earl)' prophet of the French Re. and with the support of the Medicis became official histori ographer to Florence.-as a diplomat and secretary to Cardinal Tencin. Locke had a deep and lasting influence over Voltaire.Biographical note bined with epistemological humility. including Public law in Europe . working for his own interest. The prince has often been seen as a plea for despotism. The work has given him a reputation for qnicism in the art of government. LOll\'OIS. (1709-85). marked the final break with the medie. Louvois was Louis XIV's great war minister. Dutch doctor and social satirist who lived in England for most of his life. . culminating in the devastation of the Palatinate in 1689. In 1714 he published Thefable ()fthe bees: ar private vices. L'sing the ana10gy of a hive of bees. and Colbert's rival. with minimum intervention on the part of the State. He prepared the draft of the treaty that Voltaire was charged with delivering to Frt:derick the Great in 1743. '\-labl}" v. Thus Mandeville portrayed a society in which each man. The prince (1513).·olu tion.'\1me de Maintenon. would be prosperous and happy. civilisation would wither awa}·. who was greatly influenced by him.'al world-"iew. He was a distinguished military strategist responsible for the complete reorganisation of the French anny. since the Peace af Westphalia (1 748). N [ C C O L O (1479-1527). M A H L Y . F R A N � O I S M I C H E L LE TELI. C I I U V E L L I . publick benefits. xlvii .. and initiated policies of religious intolerance at home.. and the beginning of modemism. in view of its clear separation of politics from moral and religious considerations. BERNARn (1670-1 733). He anticip ated later laissez-faire economists such as Adam Smith. contains perceptive psycho logical and socio-political insights into the exercise of power. He encouraged Louis XIV's war policies. G A B R I E L H O N N O"]. He was an intluential political theorist whose most celebrated work. . having finally alienated .E. Florentine statesman who idealised the rise to power of Cesare Borgia. MANDEVILl. Mably was the author of a number of treatises on government and the moral foundations of international order. M . He died in dis grace. 1\ celebrated French bandit known as the 'Captain-General of smug gler�'. JI::AN-FRAN(.-94). S AM UE L (1632. I. M E L O � . Pufendorf published On tire duty ofman and citizen in 1673 which condensed the main elements of natural law political theory that he had set out in his classic On the nature oflaw and nations in xlviii . a novel containing the seeds of many of the ideas to be developed in his masterpiece. German jurist and historian. M O l'iTESQUIEU. and made a complete conversion to the Christian faith through a mystical experience on the night of 23 November 1654. and for his theory of the separation of powers.:OIS (1 68o-I738). Pascal feU under the influence of the Port-Royal Jansenists. jurisprudence and sociology. He is known particularly for his work on climatic influence. but his apology for the Christian religion remained unfinished at his death. PUFENDOJl. mystic and eloquent apologist for Christianity. Monte squicu was the author of the Persian letters (172 I). His works represent a significant contri bution to political theory. After his arrest and execu tion he was feted as a public hero. and Professor of natural and interna tional law. he is also considered to be a supporter of mercantilist theory. A Bordeaux Lawyer who worked in various government departments concerned \vith financial and economic policy. the Spirit ofthe laws (1 748).OlHS (1]24-55). BLA IS E (1623--62). Melon was an associ ate ofJohn Law and author of A political essay on commerfe (I734). particuLarly as his main victims were the tax-farmers. from then on devoting himself entirely to religious activities. silk and other goods subject to tax into France illegally. He wab the leader of a band of some 200 men bringing tobacco. !\landrin gained widespread popularity with the pubiic. Outstanding French mathematician. PASCAL.L O U I S D E S E C O :-l D A T (1689-1755).F.Biographical note "I ANDRIN. His Provincial letters were published in 1656-57. His notes for this work were first published in 1670 as the Thoughts. for his analysis or different political systems. A precursor of the physiocrats. C H A R L E S . Bordeaux magistrate and imporrant political philosopher. He ruined the Protestant cause. AY.. he was an adversary of Enlightenment faith in progress and science.t. and the most powerful figure in France next to the King. - 1672. the Discourse on the origin oJ inequality among men (1754).. Saint-Pierre published the Plan/or per petual peace in 1 7 1 5 . R ICIIEL lEU. Pufendorf 's �icws on natural law dominated political thought until Kant. FRAl'. rife with plots and ploners such as Cinq-Mars and his friend Thou. Rousseau was a deeply influential writer in the fields of philosophy. His Economic tableau (I7S8) establi�hed him a� the leader of the physiocrats.:OIS ( l 694-I774)· An eminent French surgeon and economic theorist who became per sonal medical ad"iser to Mme de Pompadour and Louis XVI. He suffered from real and imagined persecutions after the condemnation of his educa tional treatise. J E A N .E CASTEL (1658-1743).\l T . developing an economic system based on doctrines of natural order. A R M A N D J E A N Dl}PLESSIS (1582-1642).J A C Q U E S (Ij I 2-'78).. a group of thinkers who became influcntial in France in the 176os. He contributed important articles on economic subjects to Diderot's EtlO'cfopaedia. While he shared a hatred of tyranny with other contemporary thinkers. and was the founder of the French Academy. Author also of the Discourse on the sciences and the arts (1750). The social (()ntract (1762). defending fiercely values that he ascribed to nature and to natural man. Emile.P I E R R E . Statesman and diplomat. music. He survived a period of great turbulence. Political writer and diplomat. ha�ing assisted Cardinal Polignac during the Peace of Utrecht negotiations in 1712. C H A R L E S l R � N�. Cardinal Riche1ieu became chief minister under Louis XIII. and many other political treatises. education. He is known for his advocacy . political theory. autobiography and pre-Romantic fiction. consoliclated the autocratic status of the monarch. and added territory to France at the expense mainly of Austria.Biographical note --------_. and from 17fJ2 nn he led a life of wandering and exile. botany. R O C S S E A lJ . The enmity between Rousseau and Voltaire was particularly bitter. S A l . Son of a Genevan watchmaker. Rich elieu was also interested in literature and the arts. QIHS . Voltaire parlement to rehabilitate them in 1771. A French Protestant whose convent-educated daughter threw herself down a well to avoid a forced conversion to Catholicism in 1762.Biographical note of the modern-sounding notion of a league of sovereign heads of state which would impose peace and settle territorial disputes through its own court and congress. 5irven was accused of her murder and escaped to Switzerland. Smith was an enemy of the mercantilists. . In the field of public finance he established what have now been recognised as the classical principles of taxation theory.'OAM in absentia in 1764. The circumstances of the case echoed closely the Calas affair. of Ihe wealth ofnations (J 726). he and his wife having been condemned to death persuaded the Toulouse SMITH. S I R V E N . Economic theorist and Professor of moral philosophy at the Univer sity of Glasgow. being an advocate of free trade and non-interventionism on the part of the go\emment. (1723-90). . Author of the An inquiry into the nature and cause. P I E R R E PAUL (1709-77). as have Voltaire's own notcs. with the c:\ceprion of minor references. q6S. In the case of Voltaire. artidc� having their prm'cnance in the 1764. first editions do not often offer the mos! appropriate base te�t for modern editorial and scholarl)' purro�es. subsequently suppressed by Voltaire. but which undenvent further change and expansion in QE. DP and QE. In the case of both alphabetical worb. Ii . have been identified and restored. during his lifetim�. 1767 or 1769 editions. hayc been induded. Text added to the original in the interests of clarity ha� been placed within square brackets. In the case of DP. Only articles appearing for the first time in QE have been listed under QE. with or without his per mission. ABC. important areas of text in the first edition of PA. Substantial variants.Editorial note '\lo�t of the texts in this collection were revised frequently by Voltaire. and numerou� editions of each were issued. the French title of articles precedes the English title so that the correct sequence can be maintained. as in the case of PA. However. have been listed under DP.. Currency terms have also been left untranslated. 'See S5. See the Bibliographical note. 124. The translation has benefited from the work of earlier translators.t of Voltaire's works is the 1775 quano collective edition. pp. Better known and morc widely accessible is the 52-volume edition of Voltaire's works by Louis Moland (Paris: Gamier). which waS published by Cramer and Bardin in Geneva (forty-three volumes). The word parlement. cannot be adequately conveyed by the English literal equivalent. vi) for further information on this subject. . the so-called 'encadn!c'.Note on the translation The most dependable contemporalj base [el!. but for reasons of practicality and easy reference. Studies on Voltair( and Ikr Eigktfflllk Cmtury. for example. parliament. essays and pamphlets have been translated. A certain number of specialised terms remain in French to avoid confusion arising from literally translated forms. The French te� in Moland has been checked against the 1775 'encadree' for any major discrepancies. readers are referred for general purposes to this edition.' This is the last edition known to have been revised and corrected by Voltaire. Taylor. Iii 7-132. Titles of French books.B. !g74 'Tile definitiye len of Voltaire's works: tile Leningrad madre-'. In the case ofDP the base text used for the translation is the 1954 Benda-Naves edition. published in 1877-85_ Moland has defects. and is regarded as definitive. and have simply been italicised. and readers are relerred to the note in Pomeau 1985 (p. in particular the English translations of DP by Peter Gay (1962) and Theodore Bestennan (1971). and the Eighum. Titles of French books. essays and pamphlets ha. parliament. The French text in Moland has been checked against the 1775 'encadree' for any major discrepancies. the so-called 'encadree'.B. A certain number of specialised tenns remain in French to avoid confusion arising from literally translated forms. The translation has benefited from the work of earlier translators. O� VO/liJ.l This is the last edition knQWIl to have been revised and corrected by Voltaire. vi) for further information on this subject. 124. and have simply been italicised. See the Bibliographical note. 'S. readers are referred for general purposes to this edition. Better known and more widely accessible is the 52-volume edition of Voltaire's works by Louis Moland (paris: Gamier). pp. T97f 'The definitive lext of Voltaire's works: the Leningud mcaatir'.·e been translated.. Currency terms have also been left untranslated. 7_132.i.h Century.S. Iii .Note on the translation The most dependable contemporary base text of Voltaire's works is the 1775 quarto collective edition.. for example. but for reasons of practicality and easy reference. In the case of DP the base text used for the translation is the 1954 Benda-Naves edition. in particular the English translations of DP by Peter Gay (1962) and Theodore Bestennan (1971). and readers are referred to the nOle in Pomeau 1985 (p. cannot be adequately conveyed by the English literal equivalent. Taylor.. which was published by Cramer and Bardin in Geneva (forty-three volumes). Sn. The word parlement. and is regarded as definitive.. Moland has defects.� S.ii. published in 1877-85. Pocket philosophical dictionary . . ' The abbi Bourzeis had done no travelling. Que! est Ie meilleur? States. me Church. I Richeheu'\ Political will (1088) has been a"ribut�d 10 Paul Hay. some for two or three years. over supper or in meir study. He maintains that 'Provence alone has more good ports than Spain and Italy put together. and to seek to prove this discovery. the law and Jthe world of] finance. abbe Bourzeis set about governing France around [645 in the name of Cardinal Richelieu. He contends in particular that for the sake of economy a hundred thousand men should be raised in order to wage a campaign with fifty thousand. no evidence for Amable de Bourzei. he makes Cardinai Richelieu sign in a way that he never signed. his work teems with anachronisms and mistakes. For the rest. and in their inaugural addresses no academician failed to heap excessive praise upon this political masterpiece.' authorship. others lor six weeks. \Vhich is the best? So far I have not known anyone who has not governed some state. this bastard child of the abbe Bourzeis. I am talking about all those other men who. gou'vernements. just as he made him speak as he never spoke. 3 . Moreover. I am not talking about right honourable ministers. and deprive the king of income from the salt lax. set out their systems of government. make the Audir Office and the parlements pay taxes. he takes a whole chapter to say that 'reason must be a srate's rule of thumb'. was for a long time taken to be Cardinal Richelieu'� legitimate son. governments. There i. others for six months.Etats. who really do govern. This work of darkness. refonn the army. and wrote mat P()litical te5famentl in The which he wants to dralt the nobility into the cavalry for three years. The strengths and weaknesses of all systems of government have been closely examined in recent times. But one must agree that wise men.. promptly bruught out the Testament ofLouvoisl even worse. Eng land and Spain. 4 --. who have read a lot and seen a lor. name unknown.) We have had the Political testaments of Cardinal AlberonV of - Marshal Belle-Isle5 and lastly of Mandrin. Duke of Lorraine. together with a fine lener from . he has no time to listen. Jean-Bapti5t� Ch. So tell me. Another rascal. 1753· 5 By Fran�is-Antoin.--- . leave a testa ment. however. the flow of business carries him along. put forward a financial project in four volumes. Not that when these books appeared they put the ministers in office right.. In 1720 a starving madman named La Jonchere.ole. it would have been necessary to suppress it. J By Th�odor Henri de Strnaunan. A certain abbi Chevremont also made Charles. and the next generation is educated. He has reached the top of his profession. Also bv de Courrilz de Sandra•. in which state. possibly quite worthy to govern. but these good books mould the young men destined for office.·remont prohahly had an editorial . Pub. printed the Testament of Colbert at The Hague.\Ir Colbert to the King. printed in 1 695 . the Head of the Treas ury. • By Ange d� Goudaf. It is obvious thaI if this minister had made such a testament.sible. 1755.. Pub. under the illusion that a treasurer cannot write a had book on finance. for a minister does not and cannot mend his ways. 1 • By Joseph-Marie Dure)· de Morsan Pub. and some idiots have cited this creation as if it were a work by La Jonchere.. 1693. than Colbert's. Several authors have quoted trom this book. no morc instructions. under which type of government would you like to have been born? I imagine that a great landowner in France would not be displeased to have been born in Germany: he would be a sovereign instead of bring a subject. no more advice. author ofthc Detail ({France. seeing the success of Richelieu's Polit icaf testament. Pub.Pocket philosophical didi(mary Master Gatien de Courtilz. Chevner.1> Mr Bois-Guillebert. they mould princes.. 16<}6. Their books have done a lot of good. if that is po. proposed the impractical project of a royal tithe in the name of Mar shal Vauban. 1761 . all you travellers. have written on the subject of publie administration in France. Pub. ' 'You trouble yourselves too much'. asked the counciHor. Greece.'Yer and the financier would be better off in France than anywhere else. Men have rarely deserved to govern themselves. governments A French p�l. Hut what country would a wi'ie and free man. some times by kings.' v. in a little spot called Palestine. GaUl. Asia. 'there isn't a single republic aoy\\-·here in this vast part of the world. said the Brahman 'that very few republics can be ' . said the other. There was another one in the Arabia Petraea area.' I imagine'. governed sometimes by judges. with average means and no prejudices. Spain and the whole of Italy?' 'And it turned itself quickly into a monarchy!' asked the Brahman. choose? .r would be very pleased to have the prjvilege. That happiness can only belong to small nations nidden away on islands. and these miUions of citizens do count. and finally thrown out of the country they had usurped.' The councillor and the Brahman crossed the whole of Upper Asia. said the councillor. 'On reflection'. ensia)·cd seven or eight times. said the Brahman . 'but that monarchy fell. Evel)thing must fall.1\. 'You've guessed right'. and every day we compose fine dissertations to dis cover the causes of its decline and titll. 'do 5 .States. '\\-'hat do you think of the government of the Grand MoguI1'. 'that empire fell because it existed.'hen the two travellers arrived in Asia .� of the English peerage: he would be a legislator.' 'Incidentally'. 'It's awful'. and possessed Asia Minor. sometimes by grand pontiffs. our omras. if yOu can credit with the name of republic a norde of thieves and usurers. but in the end they are discovered and devoured.' 'There was one once in Tyre'. said the European. Africa. answered the Brahman. engaged in continual discussion. said the Indian. but this is hardly the case with the citizens. the councillor said to the Brahman: 'Would you bdieve that a republic was oncc set up in a remote corner of Italy that lasted for more than five hundred years. or in mountains like rabbits hiding from carnivores. The lav. 'but it didn't last long.A quite learned member of the council of Pondicherry returned overland to Europe with a Brahman willi was better educated than your average Brahman. found on earth. 'How can you expect a state to be well governed by Tar tars? Our rajahs. I very much hope that exactly the same thing will happen to the Grand Mogul's empire. our nabobs are very happy.1ioor. " in lh� Er. 'Where is that land?' asked the councillor. climate has nothing to do with them. would you prefer to live?' asked the councillor. '�one the worse for that'. 'For'. The Brahman said: '\Ve have to look for it. said the European. said his companion. he must have neither honour nor humour.' 'Do you think'. said the councillor. Hc has nobody to flatter. 'all physical Jaws are calculated for the meridian where you live: a ueonan needs only one wife. Tongkinese. The virtuous man is much more at home in a republic. " See the article "Genev. having had the meaning of honour explained to him. under what sort of rule. whereas at court he will easily be able to obtain an office. It is the same with religious rites. according to the maxim of a great prince7 that for a courtier 10 succeed.Pocket phil(lsophiutl dictionary you think that a despotic state needs more honour and a republic more virtue?' The Indian. a Per�ian needs three or four. With regard to virtue. hc said. said the Brahman. Persi ans and Turks who said the same thing. the Duke of Orlean. Didn't your religion start in Asia. replied that honour was more necessary in a repub lic. of cuurse'.' 'But once again'. where it was driven out? Doesn't it exist around the Baltic.'s 1 The reference i. and that virtue was needed much more in a monarchy. 6 . you need an awful lot of it to dare to tell the truth at court. said the man from Europe..cyclopaetba· (Voltaire'. 'and I've come across many Siamese. 'which state would you choose?' The Brahman replied: 'The one where people obey only the law. 'a man wishing to be elected by the people won't be if he is dishonoured. If I were a Christian.' 'That's an old answer'. said the Brahman. 'that laws and religions arc made for climates just as furs are needed in Moscow and gaUl}' material in Delhi?' 'Ycs. note). 'Anywhere except my own country'. where it was unknown?' 'In what state. how would you expect me to say mass in my province where there is no bread or wine? As for dogmas. to the reg�nl. that's a different story. nor an instinct to suck their blood. "vith the exception of two or three nations. You can include in the famine category all the bad food to which scarcity reduces us to eat with the effect of shortening our lives in the hope of keeping them going. \Var Famine. which combines the name of princes or minister�. As God has given man reason. The males of the same species fight for the females. which number two to three thousand. But all these gifts.Guerre. Air. and we have seen 7 . comes to us from the imagina tions of three or four hundrt:d people scattered across the world with war. All animals afe perpetually at war with each other. the murderousness of war has been man's horrible lot to such an extent that. In Canada mall and warn·or are synonymous. barely visible creatures. like "-"1enelaus and Paris. Under plague 1 include all contagious diseases. especially when nature has not provided them with the weapons to kill their fellow men. However. earth and water are arenas of destruction. each species was born to devour another. plague and war are the three most famous ingredients of this wretched world. These two gifts come to us from Providence. and it is perhaps for that reason that in several dedications they are called the living images of the Dhinity. This holds true even for sheep and doves which consume an enormous quantity of tiny. you would think that this same reason would warn them not to debase themselves by imitating the animals. there afe none whose early history is not a picture of armies in con flict. It is certainly a fine art that lays waste to the countryside.:t. 8 ---_ . At once he finds a large number of men with nothing to lose. fought on land and sea for a long time. edges their hats with thick white piping. hearing about thi5 escapade.. This province. he dresses them up in blue serge at a hundred and ten sous a yard. -.: and [amint. for example. The assembled Roman people ludged it to be in its interest to go and tight the Veians.:r �t. Manicheans. their coment at least is necessary. or the Voiscians.: ha� t. It is not the same today. A geneaJogist proves to a prince that he is a direct descendant of a count whose relatives had made a family pact. the Greek diet informed the diel of the Phygians and neighbouring peoples that it intended to set out in a thousand fishing boats to exterminate them if it could. . replacing the opening para graph. join in as hest they can.ith more murderous mercenaries than Genghis-Khan. forty thousand men to die out of a hundred thousand. Tamburlaine and Bajazet ever brought along with them. three or four hundred years ago. before the harvest. drills them and marches them off to glory. and passed through a few villages where some great feat of arms had taken place.'fl part of the world thief and soldier were the same thing. The prince and his council conclude without difficulty that this province belongs to him by divine right. which is a few hundred miles away. angered by the Carthaginians. This house had remote claims to a province whose last owner died of a stroke. and occupy a small country ".:vt.Pocket philosophical dictionary that in our ov. of DP that precede it here. protests in vain that it does not know him. and that it has no desire to be ruled by him. And a few years after that all the Romans. in an average year.:n Gt:rman anny hospitals. destroys houses and causes.:. with a house of which not a trace remains in living memory. These speeches do not even reach the ears of the prince with the incontestable rights. Other princes. This invention was first nurtured by nations assembled for their common good. that to impose laws on people.: plagut.! The most determined sycophant will acknowledge readily that war brings in its wakt. if ht. here is your lustification. published in paT! 6 ([ 7 7 !) of Qf. L The above section wa. espccially in a nation most reno'A-ned . The same song is used for marriages and christenings. 9 . sedition. Five or six belligerent powers can be seen at the same moment. These multitudes set upon eat:h other. surprise attacks on towns. othe rs wear shirts over gowns. Each man marches cheerfully off to crime under his own particular saint's bann. ambushes. namely to do each other as much harm as possible. sometimes three against three.e section wos p"hli. stuffed with barbarisms. a tender soul is horrified by them. but without even knowing what it is all about. and that there arc fi\"e or .e ah. then they sing a rather long song in four parts. what is more.2 Everywhere a certain number of tub-thumpers are paid to t:e/ebratc those davs of murder: sume � 1IfC dressed in long. which is unfo rgh able. some town has been totally destroyed. but when there have been about ten thousand exterminated by fire or sword and. composed in a language unknown to the combatants and. some times one agains-t five. he does not give thanks to God. and solemnly invokes God befo re going off to eA1crminate his neighbour.�h: sow a day to be made if they wish to take part.». as well as for murders. robbery. Immedi ately they divide up into two groups like harvester" and off they go to sell their services to anyone who want� to employ them. not only without having any personal interest in the p ruceeding�. A noble soul has no wish to wmmit them.hed onl}' in Kehl. If one leader has the good fortune to butcher only two or three thousand men. sometimes two against four. all agreed on one point. black tight-fitting jackets doubled with shortened cloaks. ' l1. for [its] new songs. murder. looting. On countless occasions natural religion has stopped citizens from committing crimes. fighting in alliance with each other and attacki ng each other in turn.er. bearing in mind a just God of vengeance. But artil1cial religion encourages all those cruelties that people commit together: plots. all detesting eat:h utber equally. The most wonderful [thing] about this hellish enterprise is that each leader of these murderers has his flags blessed.rVar People some di stance away hear that righting i� going to take place. the ultimate in God's grace. and the only way to keep it going. opcning for the last time. and that a poor man who eats nvo and a half sous' worth of mutton 'Nil! go for ever to evet}' devil [there is]. Out of five or six thousand declamations like this. composed by a Gaul named Massillon. and the last sounds in my ears are the crie� of women and children dying in the . on this universal madness that lays waste to the world. All the vices from all ages and all places added together \vi. that p(Jfyeuctus and Athaliah are the works of the Devil. but in all these speeches there are hardly two in which the orator dares say a word against this crime and scourge of"''ar. when half a pound of leadshot fired from six hundred feet shatters my body. Miserable soul-doctors. modesty. burn all your books. they prove that ladies who smear a bit of rouge on their fresh cheeks will be the eternal objects of the eternal vengeance of the Eternal Being.\o\lS born destroyed by sword and fire. see the town where I '. • . For the rest of the year these people declaim against vices \1aking three points and by meam of antithesis.Pocket phi/osllphica/ dictionary some wear two slings made of some mottled material over their shirts. on this pillage. which is the human race's only consolation. there are three or four at most. that an honest man can read without disgust. They say nothing of the abominable efforts that we make to destroy it. that part of the human race devoted to heroism v. You gave a really bad sennon on impurity. \\'hat does the future of humanity. Bourdaloue! But not one on these murders that vary in so many ways. when my eyes. benevolence. and I die at twenty years of age in unspeakable tonnent with five or six thou sand other d)ing men. As long as the whim of a few men causes thousands of our brothers to be loyally butchered. They quote what was done a long time ago in Palestine when talking about a battle in Veteravia.ll never equal the evils that a single campaign prodUl:es. gentleness. and say nothing about the sickness which is tearing us into a thousand pieces! !\loral philosophers.ili be the most frightful thing in the whole of nature. that a man who has m'O hundred eros' worth of fresh fish served at his table in Lent unfailingly ensures his salvation. temper ance. on these acts of brigandf)'. which embraces all scourges and all crimes. The wrctched tub-thumpers speak unceasingly against love. They all talk at length. you rail against a few pin-pricks for fi\'e quarters of an hour. wisdom and piety maner to me. The famous Montesquieu. who is stop ping you from making yourself as powerful as he is? If he has made alliances. thL� would be the State which starts the war. we must write against that truth. unhappily. the one that you propose is it. did say. To be sure of that. . as you know full well. If that is the spirit of the laws.fYar ruins. mad..-ever. because he has fewer prelates. If your neighbour becomes 100 powerful in peacetime.ire"s note). ThaI is surely neither honest nor useful because. you must risk ruining your country in the hope of ruining for no good reason someOne el�e's. If you notice. when a nation sees that to be at peace any longer would place another state in a position to destroy it. then it is the spirit of the laws of Borgia and Machiavelli. In that case. Book X. in other words. J 'SPirit "fthe laws. one is never sure of success. not NU. " . "hapte.'\1ontesquieu says: 'Between societies the right of natural defence implies sometimes the need to attack. If there was ever a dearly unjust war. but in Ilomer Minerva caUs �lars a raging. Your assumption is wrong and contradictory. even though it might be borne out by the facts. that it was a just thing to put one's neighbours to the sword and to the torch to stop them conducting their affairs too well. what he said is true.') How can an attack in peacetime he the only way of preventing this destruction! You would have to he very sure that this neighbour will destroy you if it becomes powerful. Here is what . make some for yourself. train your�. Sabbaoth means the God of anns with the Jews. If. If he trains his sailors bener. who is considered to be a humane man. It amounts to killing your neighbour for fear that your neighbour (who is not attacking you) might he in a position to attack you. and that to anack at that moment is the only way of preventing this destruction. (Yolt.oldiers. hdlish god. it would haw to have made preparations for your ruin. the whole thing for the alleged benefit of a man we do not know? Wbat is worse is that war is an ine\itable scourge. all that is absolutely right. hov. he has more industrialists and '. all men have worshipped the god l\lars. If. copy his wise economic policy. . while the Romans were disem bowelling the Jews. They dragged a lew provisions from the ship as best they could. a son and a daughter. and that you can find there the biggest coconuts and the best pineapples in the world. who knew the Pentateuch ofT by heart. the two eunuchs and the chaplain escaped. The ship was wrecked on one of the !\1aldive islands. a terrible storm blew up which drove this family ofJews towards the coast of India. which is not red at all. one of whom served as the cook. Believe it or not. You know that the island of Padrabranca is fi. A good Essenian. not kno'Wing where it was. called Padrabranca today. Living there at a time when elsewhere the rest of the chosen people were being slaughtered was very nice.e degrees from the equator. All these people embarked at the port of Eziongaber. In his caravan he had m'o eunuchs. and they lived there quite comfortably. but the Essenian wept at the thought that perhaps they were the only Jews left in the world. and took with him his whole family. which at that time was uninhabited.Lois (Des). Laws In the time of Vespasian and Titus. the other was a ploughman and vine-grower. served as his chaplain. and that the seed of Abraham was about to come to an end. to Eziongaber. little hut� were built on the island. who did not wish to be disembowelled. the son. a very rich Israelite. The old moneybags and the old woman drowned. the daughter. fled 'With all the gold he had made from his trade as a usurer. and entered the Persian Gulf in search of the land of Ophir. '3 .. consisting of his elderly wife. crossed the sea called the Red Sea. but I'll certainly not marry your sister. 'that it would be a crime in Jerusalem. and fled. said the chaplain. that would be alright. pineapples and oys ter�. The father said to the chaplain: 'Have you finally got rid of your old prejudices? Do you want to man)" my daughter'? 'May God forbid'.' The Essenian. I'm an Es�enian. he complained very bitterly of the inhospitable way in which he had been welcomed. but I don't want the seed of Abraham to come to nothing.' So the Jew married his sister. my friend. it'� the law that vows must be oheyed. 'marry my sister. but on the island of Padrabranea. ' 'I'd like to very much'. It was the onh fruit of a marriage that one thought perfectly legitimate and the other an abomination. where I would find other girls. said the Essenian. The bridegroom shouted after him in vain: 'Stay. and that ever since the island had been almost taken by surprise by the inhabitants of the island of Addu. well-populated and very civilised: as soon as he got there he was en�laved. 'Whatever happens as a result of this will just have to happen. if that's alright with you. in spite of the prote�ts of the Essenian. if she wa� your half-sister by }. said the father. shocked by this horrible statement. and you'll bless the marriage. After forty years the mother died.Porkel philosophicar difliol1arp 'It's up to you alone to save it'. ' 'I'd prefer to he disembowelled by Roman soldiers a hundred times o. 'Vel}' well.' He was told '4 . replied the young man. He learned to mumble in the Atol1 language. I'm �erving my country. I'm observing natural law.' 'I quite understand'. bur she is your sister by your mother and that is an abominatiun.' ''\1y two eunuchs can't give her any children'. 'but it is against the la"'. it had been the wise mle that al1 foreigners arriving on Atoll �hould be enslaved. where r can see only coconuts.our father. I've taken a YOW never to marry. said the Essenian. let the Jewish race come to an end if it must. pretty as she i�. It was the big island of Atoll. 'for it's not in the Pentateuch. and with his mind srill fixed on the law. answered the Jew. and had a daughter by her. 'than to be the meam of leuing you commit incest. So I'll marry her myself'. said the young Jew. lIe was told it was the law. no longer wished to live with a man who acted against the law. I think that it is permissible. �aid the chaplain. 'That can't be the law'. don't aban don your friends!' The other man left him shouting. 'so I'll give her some. swam off to the neighbouring island.'er'. on the last trip that I made from India back to France.y.aid that on Salie territory a daughter could not inherit a freehold. and that nothing in the world would make him lie. 'That's the King's daughter'.' The ne�1 day my case was heard in one o f the courts of the parfe ment. a different law for another. �aid the slaves. followed by other beautiful women. he said. who had come with me. and if h e had a lot of money. she couldn't inherit her father's kingdom?' 'No'. '\Ve swear to you'. I said to him. 'but it's claimed that an ancient people caUed the Salians.Laws in reply that it was in the wuntry's Book o f Laws. The Essenian said that he had no wish to lie. '\Vhat it amounts to is: one law for one court.'hat!'. 'would break it. you've a�sured me that this princess is charming and kind: thus sht would haw an unquestionable right 10 the ef{)WIl if the unhappy situation arose that she was the only one left of the royal blood. 'Salie law is explicitly opposed to it. he said.' Rut the Essenian said: 'The law does not allow me to lie. had a written law that >.' 'And who made this Salic law" I asked the lawyer. and to whom he became very attached.' So the master was robbed and killed. he had a very good. I swear to you that hes at home. and I never went anywhere without my lav. My mother inherited from her father. said the lav. and that he's got a lot o f money.·yer at my side. 'I've no idea'. 1\1y la"""yer told me I would have won everything by one vote in another court. who could neither read nor write. and he was hanged. '\Vho's that beautiful woman.' 'V\. 'that he has no money and is not at home. they asked the s!a\·es if he was at home. I went to Versailles on business. I was told this story. I want this princess to inherit from hers. Fortunately. 'she's charming and kind. 'That's very funny'.·er. it's a real shame that in no circumstances can she noer be Queen l)f France. very rich master who treated him well. I said to him..' I asked my lawyer. I told him. VVben I arrived.' 'And I for one'. for I had Paris parlement over the clothing made � case [going on] in the for me in India. The slaves accused the Essenian before the judges of having betrayed his master. and many other similar ones. 'there are twenty-five commentaries '5 . he said. 'so i f she was unfortunate enough to lose her parent� and the princes of lhe blood (which God forbid). I saw a beautiful woman pass by. and he stayed a slave. One day some assassins came to murder the master and steal his treasures. and this law was adopted in non-Salie lands.' 'Yes'. and I lost eve1)1hing by one vote. and we strike anjione dO\<. 'Yes'.'as the fact that he had an elder brother. I said. the citizens of London congratulate themselves on having reached a very good agreement with King William of Orange.--- - --- -..- on legal procedure� in Paris. I �aid to him. In Constantin ople I had to wear a dolman.' Full of all these reflections. I went there \vith one of my brothers.' That made me want to see :'\Ionnandy. If all human laws are laws of convention. and whether William the Bastard or the Conqueror had not given the English their orders without having reached an agreement with them.. 'we've a province called :'\Ionnandy where you would have had a completely different judgement to the one you had here. and my neighbour has none over mine. 'What's so bad about having a brother?' I asked him.' 'Alas'. that's to say. and I can see that as with our dnthes so it is with our laws. Fifteen miles from Paris'. I have no rights over my neighbour's life. and we get on very well together. and sometimes brothers don't like each other any more for all that. everyone loyally kil1. and if there were t\venty five judge's chambers. he continued. But when r thought that. there would he twenty-t1\'e different jurispru dences. I ashd him what his trouble was. he said.11 who wants us to work the fields for their own benefit and not for ours. '. etc. A l"ondon citizen once said to me: 'Necessity makes the laws.Pocket philosophital dictionary - -. all that is left [to dol is to make the best of them.\1y brother is older than I am. Since then we have changed into men. '¥ihere I come from. William put a yoke on us and goaded us along. The citizens of Delhi and Agra say that they had a very bad deal vtith Tamburlaine. . He answered that it ". from Chodorlahomor down to the Hussar Colonel ?l-1enzei.' These little adventures made me think deeply about the law. I mu�t honour my father and ill)' mother.' I asked him whether force also made the laws sometimes. but we still have homs. it's been proved twenty-five times that the Paris procedure is equivocal. things are divided up equally. he said.' 'You're right to be upset'. and in Paris a jacket. At the first inn we met a young man in despair. and force ensures that they are kept. 'then we were cattle. 'here the law gives everything to the eldest and nothing to younger one�. 1 took pleasure in the thought that there is a natural law independent of all human conventions: the fruit of my labour must belong to me. with a licence to do so in his pocket.s and robs his neigh bour. I was very upset. about putting villages to the sword and to the ton. I for discovered that there are wise laws by which a shepherd is condemned to nine years galley service for having given a little foreign salt to his sheep.Laws r have been told that there arc laws among thieves. But let Tamburlaine arrive on the scene and enslave India. against a royal anny. that a father must be master in his own house.' 'Great'. but I take strong exception to laws that authorise a hundred thousand men to loyally go and cut the throats of a hundred thousand of their neighbours. that those who work must not deprive themselves of the fruits of their labour in order to finance superstition and idleness. that the currency representing the value of produce must he no more rotten than the fruits of the earth. One will oppre�� a province in order to enrich one of Tamburlaine's tax-gatherers.l!i to have spoken ill of the mistress of '7 .:h who do nut surrender all their posses �ions on the appointed day in accordance with the order of the local gracious sovereign. thout any cannon. about hanging a prisoner if they have hanged one of your [men). they will all agree readily that selling one's surplus corn to one's neighbour must be permitted. 'These'. After ha�ing been well instructed all Spirit ofthe laws the matter. because he had not observed a formality which he could not have known about: his wife died in misery. IV!y neighbour was ruined in a court case involving two oak trees which belonged to him.ers whu hold uut in a bad position. 'are about hanging brave offi(.. I was told. and his son ekes out a life worse than death. and that there are also laws of war. although their implementation is a little hanh. . It seems to me that most men have received from nature enough common sense to pass laws. I admit that these laws arc just.. you.i . but that not evel)'body has enough sense of what is just to make good laws. not to make fanatics and persecutors out uf them. and which he had cut down in his own wood. another will make it a crime of lese-maj(. Bring together simple. then you Viill see nothing but arbitrary laws. that religion must bring men together to unite them.. 'there's the . In an hour they would make thirty Iaw� like this. I said. r asked what these laws of war were. peaceful fanners from all over the world. that a law to the contrary is inhuman and absurd. all of them useful to the human race. so honourable. it is not because of vanity. then he gives it to the first of his suhjects to present herself. and the weaker into a eunuch. by nature they are supposed to be very meek because we cannot see the enormous quantity of living CTeature� that they devour. the superficiality of our ideas. Solomon in his harem has nothing on a farm}ard cock. then that is an even more perfect form of government. which is better . at least judging by their work as builders.\lonkeys are more like knockabout comedians than a ci"ilised people. If the enemy approaches. There will in the end be laws by which some Tartar ofTlcial will come along and take your children from their cradles. In civil society there is nothing so gallant. like the species mentioned above. or a little wonn. so free from self-interest.to be one ofTamburiaine's dogs or one of his subjects? Clearly his dog is much better off. lea. If he has a grain of corn in his royal beak.ill rob a fanner of half of his crop. which have ne\. and everyone works for the happiness of everyone else. \Vith respect to our gift for imitation.8 . fundamental laws. He goes himself.·ing their mother and father without support or consolation. and our fickleness. Now. If he is the victor. lines up his hens behind him. a third ". make the stronger one into a soldier.ling laws. It is superior to all other states because there ewryone is equal. There is no king comparable to a cock. He has all the virtues. Ifit is true that bees are ruled by a queen to whom all of her subjects make love. . Ants are regarded as having an excellent democracy. If he walks proudly among his people. and challenge his right to the rest of it. he is the one who sings the Te Deum. and fights to the death. and the)' do not seem to be united under a system of fixed.er ailowed U� to have uniform. Sheep live together very peacefully. iu�t like we do [when we eat] a Sassen age cheese.. The beaver republic is e. he does not order his subjects to go and get themselves killed for him by \�rtue of his certain knowledge and absolute power. A hen-house is clearly the most perfect monarchical state. we are more like monkeys than any other animal. la.en better than that of the ants. . The republic of sheep is a true image of the Golden Age. In a word.Pocket philosophical didionary the first man-servant of a Rajah. it is even assumed that they eat them innocently and unconsciously. To men's shame. Then the eldest son is captain of the castle which ". the ploughmen the soldiers. But these cases afe rare because nature has combined our instincts and passions in such a way that we feel more horror at the thought of murdering our elder brother than desire to take his place. benevolence for the survival of others. . The law which gives the whole fiefdom to the eldest son is very good in times of anarchy and looting. Now this law. popes wished to brutalise men's minds. unbreakable.'e us a few instincts: self-love for our survival.'antage. There is no good code of laws in any country. she ga. we know that the laws of gambling are every where the only ones that are fair. the Salic lord. is hateful when it comes to the division of income in a town. and gi. and the inexplicable gift of combining more ideas than the rest of the other animals [putl together. abO\'e section "as �dded to '9 DP in !767. the laws which remained became ridiculous. clear.'e them pleasure. \\'ben needs changed. to become in his turn the master of the hovel. \\-'by is the Indian who gave us the rules of chess obeyed cheerfully throughout the whole world.\: been made a� wco went along in accordance with time. All that there is to be feared is that the younger son might murder or poison his elder brother. etc. Orviero and Lorelto where the skinniest little jurist secretly detests and despises them. and the decretals are recognised only in Spolero. are today objects of horror and scorn? It is because the inventor of chess put eveI}thing together \\ith precision for the satis faction of the players.ill be attacked sooner or later by brigands. for e"ample. The reason for this i� ubviuus: the laws hal. which suited the dungeon-uwners in the time of Chilperic.' I Th. Thus the basis of the game of chess has sunived in the same fonn for five thousand years. and needs. she said to us: Get on with it as best you can. Having thus assigned to us our lot. all the world has it in common. place. while popes with their decretals had eyes only for their own ad. The Indian wished to exercise men's minds on an equal basis. Thus the law which forbade the eating of pork and the drinking of 'wine was quite reasonable in Arabia where pork and wine are harm ful. love which is common to all species. and ohserved. while the decretals of popes. It is ridiculous in Constantinople. The younger sons will be the chief officers.Laws --- -- ------ 'When Nature created our species. 'e good laws. at Saint-Pierre-aux-Boeufs. Your procedure in Paris has been interpreted differentlv in twenty four commentaries. or those of the ordinary citizen. for men have done some very good things. it has developed out of all that quite a robust body on which you can still see a lot of handaged wounds. all having the force of law hehind them in the same country. Since that time. It contradicts a hundred and forty other ways of doing things. It is much worse in Germany: there nobody knows what either the leader's rights are. just like they built towns. and having in their freedom retained �everal of the laws once promul gated by great tyrants disputing the throne. but having only emerged from barbarity and scnitude through intermittent upheavals. but who are really foreign to each other.Pocket philosophicol dictionary It is difficult to find a single nation living under good laws. They were obliged to go and ask the Athenians for some. between the Alps and the Pyrenees. or by little tyrants invading prelacies. and al1 mutually contradictory. People made them lip as they went along.s. irregularly. London only became worth Ihing in since it was reduced to ashes. Luok at the Halles distrio:. there are therefore more than a hundred and forty small nations whose people call each other compatn"ots. at Brise-Miche Street. in contrast to the I. Being burnt down madc a city out uf London. . albeit crude.ouvre and the Tuileries: there is the image of our 1a"'5. The only thing that the man who lives on the banks of the Elbe has in conunon with the Swabian fanner is the fact that they speak more or less the same. and create new ones. and the people who invented and perfected the arts could think up a reasonable system of laws. its streets have been \\'idened and straightened. language. How could Athens itself have had good legislation? They were obliged to abolish Draco's legislative code. The Romans were three hundred years without any fixed la". at Pet-au-Diable street. If you want to ha.:t in Paris. it has thus been proved twenty-four times that it is ill-conceived. But in nearly all states the Jaws were established by the self-interest of the legislator. They gave them such had ones that nearly all of them were soon revoked. ignorance and super�tition. burn what you have. short-term need. It is not just because they are the creation of men. just as people in Tonkin are to those in Cochin-China. It is the same with all of Spain's provinces. In a single European prov ince. The English nation has more uniformity about it. haphazardly. and Solon's was short-lived. .- -. the result was this monstrous system of laws of which so many traces still remain. nmeJ_ . Zoroastra. The decretals of popes. etco.Laws - .-1 .-. so that one could say for the second time: Romanos rerum dominos gentemque to gatam1 As nearly all agreement. but it was . ignorant conquerors. everything was under the juris diction of the Church. the Heruli. Fohi. as the capital see.� were accompanied by the sign of the cross and by an oath often made on relics.'S has made . ignorant slaves. from the tar reaches of the Baltic Sea to the Straits of (jibraltar. How is it that the spirit of the !av.. \'irgil. subdued by credulity. This is how th� world goes round: brigands who loot. even Charlemagm:. I. and the majority of unarmed. .lf}' all. except for Greece and what still belonged to the Empire of the East. . J Aeneid. . it came about quite naturally that the Roma'1 Church.. the Visigoths. and the Theaeterus of Egypt. Gradu ally. with its pens and its ceremonies. ho spent their li. [n our corner of Europe. others bla tantly fabricated. felt that they needed something like laws. The bishops of Rome knew how to makc them in I .- -. who were almost totally iHiterate.'es on horseback. the minority being made up of bold. They were wolves who allowed them selves to be chained by faxes They retained their ferocity... became the code for the new king�. farmers who are looted.8.a little: We were all savages fmm the fifth centl. was the supreme judge in the trials of the Cimbrian Chersonese and in the trials in Gascony. armed to the teeth. of the Ostrogoths. After a thousand feudal lords had made their practices fit in with canon law. the Lomhards. The d escendant� of the Sicambri. should rule those . with their lances up and their visors down. found it�e\f under the sway of Rome. They looked in places where they had them. lords and barons who had divided up the land. that is what the human race consisted of. The barbarians adopted them all the more respectfully for not under standing them. of the Burgundians. Rome.atin. Europe..-. 'Sec th� urticle "Ah\l< e " · (Voltaire·. some genuine. and by the fear produced by credulity. and when the Arabs appeared in the south the desolation caused bv these uphea\Oals was world-wide.� The spirit of Europe has made greater progress over the last hun dred years than the whole world has made since the time of l::Irama . because it was punishment before the truth was established. it was casier to erect a building than to repair one who�e ruins would still be respected. for the most part. so that the \luslim would tolerate his pagan brother. The first law to be passed was that of tolerance. forced the Empress to interrupt her law-making in order to fight. North Thesmophoria brought together in r 767 deputies from every province with an area of about tv. were sentenced to !eommulllty] work projects. Christians from about twelve different sects. so that the Greek priest would never forget that the Roman pries! is a man. There were pagans. the son of Mahmoud.' They agreed unanimously that there was only one power.ht. '\luslims from Ali. it was sanctioned by the sovereign and by the nation.4 that it was always necessary to say civil paIVer but ecclesiastical discipline. Prelates and monks were paid from the [state] Treasury. and that the allegory of the nvo . the guilty. and I tried in vain. and because it is absurd to punish in order to estab lish the truth. in view of the fact that dead men are useless. for as everything was yet to be created. and so that the Catholic . Punishments were made to fit crimes.Muslims from Omar. 4 'Sec me article "P()wer"" ' (Voltaire's n()te). Each law was put to this new synod. The sovereign wrote in her own hand in this gr<. because the Romans only tortured slaves.'elve hundred thousand square miles. ' I have tried to discover some ray of light in the mythological age of China before Fohi. the most harmful om�nee would be intolerance. priest would not be tempted to sacrifice his Presbyterian brother.words was the dogma of discord.1u�lapha nI.i in pan 7 (J77I) of QE.] atiYe coun cil: 'Among so many different faiths.. and if it seemed to suit the interests of each province. Things were at that state when 1\. and the punishments were useful. and ruin the innocent.POlkl't phiiosophiml dictionary \Vhat would haye been best: to have no laws at all or to haye had ones like the�e? It has been to the advantage of one empire vaster than the Roman Empire to be in chaos for J long time.at leg. because torture is the way to spare the guilty.'. . . She started by freeing the serfs on her personal estate. ' The ab()ve secti(ln was pnbli. She freed all those on Church estates: in this way she created men. Torture was abolished. 11 "orld "Wnt' had been re-arTanged' (Voltaire·s nore). and kill them without gi\"ing any thought redemption. _- . educated by its emperor in everything that could make them happy. r am then sho\\oTI the code of laws of a little nation from a frightful desert on the banks of the Jordan Which. already I can see mild. I can see nothing in those laws that is not mild. or griffin. ur hare because hare eats grass. animals. they are presented to us every dar as a model of wisdom. and bristling with. ... women. for the greater glory of God. hmng been raped. about music calling men to their various duties [with the usc of] different notes. t\VO thousand years later. wise la\\'s being established by a bene volent king. It is beyond dispute that this Fohi lived five thousand years ago.__ -_ .' 'Exterminate without mercy all the poor inhabitants of the land of Canaan. who was once a missionary with the cannibals in the days when Canada still belonged to the King of France. Juda con" demned her TO he hurnt. t!irectl� from this Juda and Tamar.. domestic economy. had il bem implemenled. cut their Throats. about simple astronomy marking off the �easons. who did not recognise her. . useful and pleasing. Its law� have come down to us. mountains. who 1i1if'd abol1t three thousand years before our own \lllgar modern era in the northern part ofthe western world. once told me " this is whal happened to Tamar who. who did nOT know th{'�e laws. to their ' 'Burn those widows who cannot be remarried [0 their brothers-in law. She became pregnant.Laws But confining myself to Fohi. The sentence wa. unless the order of . IIere arc a few of them: 'Never eat ocreatae. old people. The ancient Hoob of the Five Kings. children.' '\lever sleep with your wife when she is hadng a period under pain of death for both of you. sanctified by so many centuries of respect. or eel._-_. etc. . and does not have cloven fret.e. etc. '3 . would nO! have been born. who descent!.' 'Sacrifice to the Lord e\"Cryone whom you have curseu in the name of the Lord. and might have found consolation with some other Jew in the middle of the street or somewhere. . or ixion. men. arrives in a COuntry hemmed in by. Judge how ancient this huge nation must have been. Our Saviour. or charadridae. tell us about his institutes of agriculture. . all the more cruel becau. about rural eConomy. '0 A Jesuit. massacre the whole lot. sltpt on the open road with Juda her stepfather. wphiwl dictionar)' that as he was explaining these laws to his neophytes. you little idiot.' .Pocket p hilo.ith the Jewish code. you should know that we are honour able people: we have never had laws [ike that. it appears that laws follow the customs of the people who have made them."". a rash little Frenchman. Th< above . And if we were not respectable people. they would no doubt be different. If ."ultures and pigeons had laws. who was present during the catechism. took it into his head to shout out: 'But those are cannibal laws!' One of the citizens replied: 'Look."on was added to Qlo in 1774 '4 . we would give you the Canaan treatment to teach you to mind your tongue.' From a comparison of the first Chinese code of laws ". Patrie. . and to whom. He is watched by inquisitors who "ill haw him burnt if they learn that he does not eat bacon. Homeland We shall limit ourstlves here.J . . scene I. To die for one's country is such a worthy fate That crowds would clamour for �uch a fine death. he would give foolish answers. He has none. and aU that he owns will belong to them. from which the)" get almost nothing-. there is not a square foot of land aOV'o"here on earth that belongs to him. lived in that stony. bounded by an awful desert. Has a Jew got a homeland? If he has been born in Coimbra it is among a herd of ignorant fooh who would argue with him. Jerusalem is not his homeland. sterile land. whoever they were. Is Coimbra his homeland? Can he love Coimbra dear!y� Can he say.' Rubbish! Is his homeland Jerusalem? I Ie has heard vague talk that once upon a time his ancestors. scene '5 . a slave of either the Turks or the Persians or the Grand Mogul. if he dared reply at all. are masters of that little country. count on a few altar-PFes that he raises secretly on mountain-tops as being a sign of his homeland? I Act I. my dear country and my fir�t love . but that today the Turk. to posmg a few questions that we cannot resolve. act II. a� is our custom. Can the Ghebr. a� in Pierre Corneille's Horace: Alba. who is more ancient and a hundrt:d times mort respectable than the Jew. I am part of the whole.hen he feels like it? You ha.e a country under a good king. have a homeland. do all those murderers who hire out their services. you do not have one under a bad king. and which you have never seen again since? Is it the street where your mother and father lived. gather together in pursuit of their common interests I have a vott in that . dear country'? They have no country apart from their stock exchange and thl:ir ledgers. '''."'hat do you mean by your homeland?' asked a neighbour. but I do nut know where their this world. a part of the community. could sar: This field I am cultivating and this house that I have built are mine. 'is it your oven? Is it the village where you were born. who is the slave of a Padishah. was preening himself on loving his homeland. who is the slave of a vizir. who were ruined and who have reduced you to stuffing little pies for a lh-ingi Is it the Town Hall where you will never be a quarter-master's clerk? Is it the church of Our Lady where you have never been able to make it as a choirbuy. Would this word h()me/and bl: suitable homeland is in in the mouth of a Greek.. I live there under the protection of law5 that no tyrant can transgress? \\-'hen people like me. comfortably set up in a well-kept house. who is the slave of an agha. who spend their lives wan dering ail over the East practising the art of braking. Apart frum where men live. who is unaware that there was ever a Miltiades or an AgesiiaL1s. and who only knows that he is a janissary's sla\'e. who own fields and houses. ·Would monks dare to say that they haye a humeland� They sa�· it is in Heaven. assembly. They ha·"e no more homeland than a bird of prey returning each evening to the craggy hollow where ics mother used to nest. a part of the sovereign power: that is my countr)·. and sell their blood to the first king who wants to pay them. and who still knew a few sentences from Cicero. whom we can in Paris the Great Turk? So what is the homeland? Would it not be by any chance a good field whose owner. is it not the case that everywhere else tends to be a stable run by a groom who whips the horses ". good luck to them. say ''\ly dear. Among our European nations. A young apprentice pastr)·-cook. who had been to coUege. who is the slave of a pasha. while a .Pocket philosophical dictionary Can the Banian and the Armenian. You pleasure-lming Parisian. and the pension the Town Hall pays you every six months. Paris.' But the first man to leave his birthplace to look for somewhere else to feel at home said it before he [didj. I beliC'. feel a tender love for the peasants they ruin? \Vhere was the homeland of the Duke of Guise. were published in part � ('77 r) of QE. your box at the Opera. In all conscience. 1tuVTuzoii "(E 1tatQl� '1 ('}6axoUcruyfj. who have travelled onl�' as far as Dieppe for fresh fish.1 A homeland is made up of several families. when there is nu wnflicting interest.'e. and just as you normally stand by your family out of pride. concluded that in a country spread over a fairl)' large area there were often several million people 'o\'ith no homeland.\1adrid. always rushing about. old scar-face? Was it Nancv. Duprat. who speak your mother-tongue so nicely became you don't know any other language. the champagne you get from Reims. A thinker. graze ' The above two section. your pretty country house.Homeland ridiculou� fool i� archbi. never diverged from their pathi I would really like someone to tell me which was Abraham's homeland. 1 1 'As if everywhere was the homeland un "hich [one's] herd. Euripides in his Phaethon: Q<. '7 . and you love even more the girls you entertain.. who will lay waste to their winter quarters if they are allowed to. .�hop and duke. listening to thi� conversatiun. and that of a hundred heros of that ilk who. that's what you 1000e. The first to write that the homeland is the place where one feels at home is. Cardinals La Balue. who know only your painted tmmhouse. you say you love your homeland! You. does a financier truly love his homeland? Do the officer and the soldier. Lor raine and Mazarin? Where was Attila's homeland. where the rest of Europe persists in getting bored. Rome? \\I"hat homelands did you have. with an income of twenty thousand gold louis?' The apprentice pastry-cook did not know what to say in reply. the less you love it. The larger that homeland becomes. their skins clothed them. huts of wood and earth provided them with shelter. towards the North where we live. declares that he loves his country. a Consul. There were only two kingdoms in the whole of that part of the world.ca. a Praetor. Tripoli. Tunis. Ragusa. \Vith everyone thus ha"ing the same desires. Meat from their sheep fed them. They stink worse than any other men. HOlland.ith the ancient \\-urld. Of a thousand nations we found only twO that were enslaved.' Poland. It was the same v.----- . for a love that is divided is a 10'ie that is weakened. we are e}. Switzerland. Sweden and England can be considered repub� " Thj. .. The family which had grain traded it with the family which had only wood. a dictator. It is impossible for any state on earth not to have been governed first of all as a republic. It is impossible to love a family dearly that is too large and whom you hardly know. Everybody wants to be sure of his wealth and his life. equal. Via. without subjects. First a few families got together against the bears and the wolves. without money. You can still see republics today in Africa. Algeria. without needs almost. The man who hums with ambition 10 be an Aedile. Everything was a republic in Europe before the time of the petty kings of Etruria and Rome. Lu(. but are not aware of it. We all want to he sure of being able to sleep in our own beds without �omeone else arrogating to himself the right to tell us to sleep elsewhere. a Tribune. Genoa. they live and die more peacefully than we [do]_ In our Europe there remain eight repuhlics with no monarchs: Venice. Geneva and San Marino. are republics of brigands. it is the natural way forward for human nature. wntten in 1764' (\'oltairo'" note). but he loves only himself. we found all the little tribes there divided into republics.-pressing them for the Republic. which you call your homeland. without masters.Pocket philosophical dictional)' ---- because of that same pride you support your town or )'our "illage. \Vhcn ¥Ie discovered America. it works out that private interest becomes the general interest: when we express our hopes for ourselves. The Hottentots in the South still live as we are told people used to live in the earliest ages of man: free. ask the people. always said when speaking in the senate: 'That's what 1 think. The man who would want his homeland never to be larger. Clearly. Only kings prefer monarchies. Now. they wiU all prefer an aristocratic system.----- --- - --- lics under a king. there fore. but Poland is the only one to call itself a republic. and it cannot conquer without making some people unhappy. Fable. How is it possible. as has been said before. '9 .' But in truth the real reason is. So that is the human condition: to want your own country to be great is to wish your neighbours ill.' To be a good pamot is to want one's city to prosper through trade and be powerful through arm�.. II ('The council of tho rats').Homeland -. or smaller. that good citizen. It is sad that in order to be a good patriot one is vel"}' often the eHemy of the rest of mankind. and let Carthage go hang. for almost the entire world to be ruled by monarchs? Ask the rats who proposed to bell the car. one country cannot win without another losing. If you ask the rich for a solution. is it better for your homeland to be a monarchical state or a republican state? People have been worrying away at that question for four thousand years. J La Fonlaine. The elder Cato. and they will want democracy. that men are very rarely fit to rule themselves. or richer or poorer would be a citizen of the world. " ---- . Questions on the Encyclopaedia . . par ticularly of the one in Athens.:Urately in the scales the iniquities of th� Athenian Republic against those of the . CmJlu.. after a few banalities.ed with his little democratic ('ity at the momml. .\hcedonian court. and probably my republican. one of our askers of questions. ha"ing more than once in his Dictionary argued for and against this. Themistocles. who refutes what he says. is pJea<. 33 . sends us his refutation of Bayie and his defence of Athens.t of all states is the popular �tate. absurd courts. but one is judged oneselfby others. passed arc revised.erne J . who are judged in their turn.'\·lacedonia for as much tyranny as there is in the history of Athens.' Perhaps Bayle was unhappy with Holland when he wrotc like that. says specifically: 'That you would look in vain in the history of .Democratie. But . paints in his article on Periclcs a quite hideous picture of democracy.'\-iaximus also main tains that the worst of all states is the monarchical state. Jct II.. Bayle.! thr judgement. and from one century to the ne:. ' Come.l Thus Cinna justifies himself to Augustus.lle. It is difficult to weigh ac!. \Ve still reproach the Athenians today with the banishment of Cimon. A great republican enthu�iast for democracy. "'/e shall make his arguments public It is the privilege of every writer to judge the living and the dead. Democracy The WOf. A!cibiade" the death sentences pronounced on Phocion and Socrates.. Aris tides. judgemf'nts similar to those passed hy a few of our own cruel. So Bayle. and for having been prevented from doing so by a storm.. etc. \\"hat a terrible thing for the souls of a few Greeks to have to do.-bat is terrihle is to delivcr up living people to executioners. murder. murdering Alex ander. whose virtue Bayle contra�ts with that of Athens. you see nothing but a string of horrible crimes for two hundred successIve years. plunder. who were condemned for not having had the time to bury their dead after victory. his brother. But ambitious grandeur and the mania for power have precipitated all these crimes in every place and every era. We have Philip.. that the souls of the dead always wandered unlc�s they received the honour of burial or the stake: absurdity is no excuse for barbarity. according to Homer.:i{)u� Jullies. 34 . Normally.-hat people do not forgive the Athenians for is the death of their six victorious generals. who are always ambitious. We ha. In Macedonia. Alexander the Great's uncle. v.'ain that they believed. Here we have the Athenians then. and at the same time so barbaric.'e Ptolemy. This "judgement is so ridiculous. to take walks bv the seaside for a week or two! \I. the devastation of one's neighbour's territory. and cannot ever want. an}thing other than liberty and equality.Marshal Anere. She murders Aridai. who never want.0teStions 011 the Enqclopedia L:ltimareiy. spending his life in deception and rape. to usurp the kingdom. convicted of being the most stupid and barbaric judges on earth. and whom you ought to be thanking on your knees. In order to excuse the Athenian> it has heen said in . and the crimes of the people. you ".11 see that this court beats Athens hands down for tyranny and \illainy. poisoning. and moreover Jj. But you must now weigh in the scales the crimes of the Macedon ian court. it is marked so much by supentition and ingratitude. that the judgements of the Inquisition made on urbain Grandier and . etc. his brother. and on so many witches. Olympias has Queen Cleopatra and her son thrown into a vat of molten bronze. These two sentiments !ibert)' and equali�y do not lead directly to calumny. and ending up by being stabbed by Pausanias.ing people who have won a battle for you. are no 1I'0rse a� exaIIlrle� of alro<. on Morin. there is no comparison to be made betwetn the crimes of great men. the fury of despotism turned Macedonia into a theatre of every crime. and ovcr the same period of time you see the popular government or Athens staincd v. five or six atrocious judgements. Small as it is. less abominable than tyrannical power. and raised a statue to him. Republics of bears. no Sicilian Vespers. and for which it made honourable amends. Antigonus Gonatas. for which the people always showed repentance.ith seveul heads and the dragon with several tails. gets rid of her. hi� grandson. The large number of heads harmed each other. there have been some fierce and savage mountain republics. The whole of North America was made up of republics. and the large number of tails obeyed a single head which ate everything up. Thus. no Irish massal. condemned so absurdly. because it is composed of men. and stains the whole of Mllcedonia with murder. and even then the country has to be favourably situated. It asked pardon of Phocion. In what despotic state has the injustice of ill-advised judgements been lamented like this.Democrac}' Antigonus murders Eumenes. Democracv seems to suit only very small countries. Popular government is in itself less iniquitous. poisons the governor of the citadel of Corinth. marries his widow. and poisons his brother.ith only five or six judicial iniquities. Discord will reign there just as it does in a monastery.ameful1y. it will still make many mistakes.:res. Philip. It asked pardon of Socrates after hi� death. Thus this time Bayle was wrong. These perfidies and barbarities are famous historical events. his son. and erected the little temple of the SOi"rateion to him. but it was not the republican spirit that made them thus: it was nature. and executed so sh. who onl} just escaped vengeance at the hands of the people. It asked pardon of the six generals. for two centuries.. poisons Demetrius. and takes pos. They imprisoned the main prosecutor.ession of the citadel. The great vice of democracy is certainly not tyranny and cruelty. The real vice of a civilised republic is to be found in the Turklsh tale of the dragon y. but therc will be no Saint Bartholomew Day.. my republican is therefore right. Perseus kills his wife with his O\\-TI hand�. Thus the natural goodness of the Athenian people matched their rashness. no 35 . when the new republic of the seven United Provinces astonished Europe and India ". absolving and chas tising another Henry. Europe has seen a republic.'er slavery.4 and of those poor inhabitants of a little spOt no-one had ever heard of in the land of poverty and goitres. at a time when Venice still retained its ancient splendour. like the Florentines in the time of the Medicis. nor by the plots of the Vatican which pulled the strings of half of Europe. ' The reference • i.' ten rimes smaller than Athens. That they excelled in all the arts requiring skill of mind and hand. It had the spirit of all those people who had been divided up by the rich pontiffs who succeeded the Scipios.ith its institutions and its trade. sovereign King of France. no sending of people the Encyclopedia to the galleys for having taken water from the sea without paying. with scarcely any territory. it became stronger. After having sided ". I will add: That the Athenians were as warrior-like as the Swiss. has nevertheless surpassed the Roman Empire with the victory of its ancient reputation over time and o. unless you presume that this republic is composed of devils and IS located in some comer of Hell. it triumphed. That they could teach the Romans. the number one man of his age. It could say Rome and 1. with its name placed alongside that of Rome. and having lost everything apart from its name. . '- Philip 286.Questions on Inquisition. A"""d. This nearly invisible anthill could not be crushed by the Demon King of the MidV and ruler of two worlds. a thing or two about the sciences and about orator\'. at a time when Rome was giving kings their orders. and which toda)' is nothing more than a bunch of ignorant slaves. and as refined as the Parisians [were] under Louis XIV. and a small number of Swiss who fought. II. Romanos rerum dominos. C'ien those in the time of Cicero. .ith my Swiss again�t the ambidextrous Bayle. That this little nation. to Virgil. attract attention for a hundred and fifty years. Geneva. It fought back with words and wcapons. and with the help of a Picard who wrote. condemning Henry. a hundred times less numerous than the Jews. and today they make spectacle. "''hell the absurdity of most of the controversial issues that gripped Europe had finally been recognised. Look what happened to them as a result: they have almost always been beaten and enslaveu. and to have been through many testing trials.ed. In Africa the Hottentots. the acquisition of wealth. Several Tartar societies are like this too. Everything that has not been enslaved in that part of the world is still a republic. and that might well prove that republican government is the most naturaL One would have had to become vel)' advanced. Tunis. don't you think? 37 a fine .Democracy Then the issue at stake was what Europe would think about ques tions that nobody understood. If I am not mistaken. In America the Spanish found a very well established republic of TlaxcaJa. The argument always ends with agree ment that men are very difficult to gm·ern. In the whole of that continent there were only two kingdoms when it was discovered. They had [people like] Calvin. the Kaffirs. occupIed with arithmetical problems those unable to m ake a name for themselves in theo-morianics. the little republic turned to what appeared to be more solidly ba. more fantastic and no less deadly than those of the supralap saries and the infralapsarics. There arc similar ones today in India: the Maharashtra. Th ey became rich and nothing more. The Jews had God himself as their ma�ter. the Sikhs. It is claimed that those countries where the most neg roc. People ask every day whether a republican government is prefer able to government by a king. Turretin for their Demosthenes. their Plato and their Aristotle. The Turkish Empire itself was for a long time a republic of janissaries who would often strangle their sultan when their sultan did not make them decimate [other countriesl. are sold arc ruled by kings. Law's system. and I have said this elsewhere. Beze. Tripoli. and several black nations are democracies. in order to submit oneself willingly to government by a single person. It \-vas a time of war for the human mind. have no kings: they elect their leaders when they go off plundering. several hordes of PathallS. Algeria are republics of soldiers and pirates. People think that today there are republics ani" in Europe. that would be a very big lapse of memory. the sword of Themis placed in the hands of e:l. evant to the econom}. is the rural economy. a� I �hould.IlUntI)' in the world. unles� it i� warmth in cold countries. Sometimes country life is called a patriarchal WlI)' rlfiJi'. internal quarrels arc all irrel . .mily has it in common with the Comptroller-General of a kingdom. with my usual resp�ct. clothing shtlter. I annot see a c single house in it. the father of a til. from there he has to take a long journey through arid de'>ert land to . All thrte. Di fferent systems of government.I\lemphis to buy grain. Domestic economy The primary economy. when thev arc wcU manag�d. I put to Oll� sid�. hut in our climate the patriarchal way of life would be impractical. and would cause us to die of cold.ecu tioners to bring death to the innocent. It i� this that provi des the only three things which men really need: food. the one through which aU the rest sun'ivc. the chicanery of families and courts. and without that there is nothin!!". Thert is no fourth need. Economy This word means its normally acceptl'O sen�e the way in which m on� manages one's wealth. Abraham traveb from Chaldea to the land of Shechem. . cveI)thing that is holy ahout the �tor of Abraham and his children. hunger and poverty. unjust and badly conducted wani.Economie. keep lp�opl�J healthy. he leave> thr most fertile !. y I am looking here only at Ahraham's rural economy . This is not about those pronouncements of politicians who rule the State by pamphlet from their offices. -. Thb king of the de.. on the contrary. and for their only sustenance he just gives them a bit of bread and a jug of water. at the age of a hundred and forty. the verv same King of Gerar. it is still in a desen. Hi� wife dies in a place called [Kirjlllh-tArha or Hehron. he has not even got six feet of earth to bury her in. and it is not dear whether or not he possessed a house in his own right. but as these afe consecrated facts. II is not said that Isaac po��e�. Cethura.__. he is obliged to purchase a cave for hi� wife. and that he became extrernely powerful.. \\ho had been in love with his mother. E�au and Jacob. \Vhen he goes off to sacrifice his son to the Lord. Yet he had lnall\' children because. His children. JUSt like Abraham had passed his 'wife Sarah off a� his . and loads it on to the back of the Son who is to be sacrificed. \Vhen he sends Hagar away. he goes off inw the Gemr desert with his wife Rebecca to the country belonging to Abimclech._----- -_. he had with his other wife. He cuts the wood for burning the \'ictim him�clf. Bul it is also �aid that he did not have any water to drink. it is still into a desert. It is somewhat surprising that people are always passing their wives off as their sisters in this family in order to gain something. whom her husband passe� off as his si. which his' futher had left He was in service [there] for �even years in order ot1 one of the daughters of Laban.ere also falls in love with Isaac's wife Rebecca. He goes tram Sodom into the Gerar f. according to accepted calculatlOn�. we must remain respectfully silent. together with the child he had with her. which became fertile for him. had no more of a home than their tather._ and cities where thert art comfortable hausch.Fmnorll)' -. and that is the only piece of ground he ever possessed.ed a single plot of land in the country where his father died. in additiml to Isaac and his line.lesopotamia.- .\.. that he had a great quarrel with the pastors of this petty King of (jerar oyer a well. ---- III go wanLJering off to countries whose language he docs not understand.iSler to this same King Abime1ech forty year� pret'iously.Jacob was obliged to seek his fonunc in . and served for another seven to obtain [th(' hand nil the second daughter. The Scripture� say that he became rich in this awful land. He to obtain {the hand 39 .ter.\icgcvJ desert \\'ithout set tling an:owhere. five male children who went off to Arabia. The son of this venerable patrian. you buy e". the childrcn of Jacob. wu buy almost nothing: the carth produce� ewrything for you. That is the mo�t natural state for man. His land wiU improve day by day..\. Jacob. soon gets fed up with paying the humiliating tithe ta. and confers noble �tatus on his son after a period of t'. He will cope fearlessly with tht upset� of the dilJerent seasons.·anity. like the bedouin Arah�. or owned a plot of land. A good farmer.1akes up for the losses of two bad ones. and unfortunately the rarest.n land with an income of twelve thousand firm will need to be . and you can barely fced five or �ix sen·ant�. for beehives. Cnfortunatcly. If all the�e assets are well-managed.0 . for other kinds of grain and vegetables. much of a wandercr a. Thcfe was nothing thcre to assure him of a secure future. and about fifty acre. have a few acre� of vineyards. about thirty acres of woodland. because one good year r.:h. And the whole lot can come to at least fifty Ihousand jranes in tmlay's money. He sells his land to pay for his . None of the twclw patriarchs.--.]] enjoy rcal sovereignty. �ubject only to the law. If you Jivc on your own land. huge barns. and with the burden of taxes.vcnty year�. you can feed nearlv sixty people almost withnut noticing it.Questions (In the Enl)'dopaditl � ---- .-cry careful if he wanlS to live in Paris at the same standard with an .atin. when he see� that he is rich. and rujn� him. he has learned a little I . The economy of the city is quite different. equally large stable" clean and wdl-maintained l"Owsheds.·(1)1hing at a high pricc. Such is the difference between a rural economy and dle illll�ion� of city life. he will be ahle to provide a large ulmily with the hest of eWf)thing. had a fixed abode. A family man living on his ov. like the Pignoux of the Auvergne.. fields for mulberry trees. Take the same income to the city. In his domain� he \\. turn a� many again into good pasture land. the happiest. • It is clear that this patriarchal way of life would in no way be suited to our temperatures. He dies a beggar. needs a solid house facing east. - -� - -� - -- cscaped with Rachel and the herds belonging to his lathcr-in-law. the most peaceful. Esau is represented as being a. A girl brought up in lm:uf)' marrie� him. for . They slept only in tenr�. di�honours him. . who pursued him. and his son ""ears a servant's !lH:ry in Pari�. he ru�hcs to the city. Each year he must sow a hundred acres of corn.�ilkworms. buys a puhlic office which exempts him from this taX. .\ 3 iiI" J S.1adam haw dhner or supper out.elieeping. you can \erv ea. sOIllctim �� of sausage'>. . It cannot be plaet:d before onc'� eycs too offen: 'You'll n:adily belie. � heen the ratio betwet:n a rural economy and the economv of capital citie�. Fifteen pounds of meal (et SOIl. !\IO coachmen and a valet. Thert: are tv.l!!et that 1 would put into tffl"t"t if 1 lived outside thc court. If }'Oll had wine in your cellar . you w't �h in a pound . it 'I auld nor o::ost you three SOliS.\. hut I've also forgotten boiled fo\\ol for the �oup. - - '1 am ai10wing for four SOliS " sow ---- in wine for your fuur lao::kcyo .eh'c of you: Sir and .. \rithoul �pending more than fifteen liue. one can be �a\'ed when Sir and . 'I c�tim ate f\\'O joints.ily haw an i'II/rie. and twenty fi)r you two who drink more than enough fur three. !\. and you need only a quarter to make stewed fruit. ° nve per pound Fruit 0 \Vax eandlc. three fcmale� 'ien'ant�..>!IllS e�timatc one linc and ten SIlIIS for fruiT. sligar C()�ts only ("lel'en a pound. '0 \Vine . which CO�b one linc and two three d av�. refer to the strange letter trom :\ iadamc dc . q Iii·. '[ . 'I estimate a pound of tallow candles a day.Ilich lasr� tilr only burn il for tl1ree months in the year. This has aj". 4' . I estimate ten -. 'I estimate two firm' for wood.md your two o::oaehmen: that\ what \\adarm: de �lonte�pall gi\e5 tn he r�. whio::h people ha\e talked so much about. w \Vood . and you only nerd two fire'i. W Bread . a.\1aintcnon to her �i�te in-law.ladame J'Aubigny. 0 '0 Tallow candles 0 .bdam.EaJllomJ' income of iorty thousand. 1 e�timate si\ SlIm for your yalet.ey'i.lCfe i� a bw . four lad.om' for wa:\ candles.. . my dear �ister. YOll and ". but SOliS.I"(l/JS Two joints . One should alwa\s . Jlthough only half a pound is lln:essary .·c that I know Paris better than you doJ.\.�har ing that view. \\'e under�tand hou. Five hundred li�'res a month will make a total of: Expenses un food 6.'alue of money was about half that of today's legal tender. ---. In Paris there are three or four hundred families in public senice who have worked in the magistracy for a cenwry. Count d'Aubigny could have lived like a prince on his own land. no longer luxuries. Thosc twenty be worth t\I!iee what they are today. the .000 On scnants' wages and dre�s 1.Questions on the Encyclopaedia sometimes of sheep's tongue or calvcs crow. were three or four times less ex-pensive than they are today. On your dothes 1. whil'h have b�come necessities. 'In tho. and from what 1 learn at court.e d.he.000 fir".. I 'On these assumptions.. At that time.000 Ih·. .ouis XIV's reign. and leg of mutton . your elr.the eternal pyramid.000 On rent 1. so that the trifles that I \-'c forgotten cannot complain that I've not done them justice.! 1 2. which in those days. and normal luxury items.-pendirure should not exceed a hundred llVres a week: that's four hundred livre.ide_cli. the mo.000 Sir's little luxurie�. together with the maintenance of the coaches.ere . my dear child.non has counted In rno coa�hmen. ". musl have co. and the stewed fruit that vou like so much. 'Isn't that all quite straightforward?' etr:. All of the absolutely essential item� were about half as dear. and whose wealth is in the form of pensions from the city.". Let\ assume five hundred. I presume that each one would receive an income of twenty thousand thousand tit'res used to liITes.1 a month.erved onl}" during fnnnal meal. hut has f orgonen f(}ur horses. which in Paris disap pear without trace.t brilliant of l. From that half you can cut another half during the unimaginable time when . 1 '\ladamc de . thus in reality they have less than half of their former income. the opera and 3.000 On Sir's dothes.t about 200c fran" • yeor' (Voltaire'S note). on grand occasions' (Voltaires nOle).-- .\1aim. Thus for his income of twelve thousand livres. they have almost nothing left. Their love of luxury and their carelessness. income from their land rises in proportion. in their turn. But they are vulnerable to another mi�fortune. Thus these families only really enjol' a quarter of the income that they had when Louis XIV came to the throne. from king to labourer.Economy Law's system was in operation. What is a rich. On the public economy The economy of a state is just like that of a large family. All other branches of government are mare like obstacles than aids to the management of the public purse. Jrgades. his limbassadors. excessive taxes complete the misery. It i� a never-ending circle of advancement and decline. the state where the manage ment of financial affairs is the most complicated. and that is what they have done. land) unsuccessful wars. In every Country eveI')' ordinary per�on living on an annuity in a capital city who does not increase his wealth. and whose children. ruin a state for a long time. lose� it in the long run. Even successful wars exhaust it. the whole business results from the absence of a rational economy. The whole of that million is retumed to the people through consumption. All landowners are seClJre in the enjo}ment of tht:ir income. when currency values rise �ith inflation. no less dangerous. leads them to ruin. except 43 . let us take England. well-organised state? It is a state where every working man is sure of having a reward commensurate with his con dition. and that misforrune is in themselves. fritter the lot away. Trade that is interrupted and badly managed impoverish it further. foreign ministers get through their money in London. That is what persuaded the Duke of Sully to call his memoirs Ecortomies. or clandestine activities. his table. unless they have made up far their ruination through rich marriages. And as luxury items have risen in price by three quarters. They sell their land to financiers who amass it. Treaties that sometimes have to be concluded with a price [paid] in gold. Landowners maintain their position because. for if ambassadors spend their emoluments else where. and his pleasures. The King is almost certain to have a million pounds sterling per year ro spend on his household. As an example. which consists soldy in not spending mare than you earn. acres of corn and pasture land. or whether he will be d)ing in the workhouse. The businessman pits hi� wil� against the whole world almost. are in a minor way like shareholders. new debts: the sinking-fund is empty. Those people who are not businessmen. they are told: Do you want your money back.'en mil1ion guinea s in the year I 770 of our vulgar era. imports. \\'hen the time for payment lalls due. except for the farmer. 'A'bat this tax will generate is ca1culaled in round fi!Wres. for the most part leave their money in the government's hands. It must be said in passing that France is more or less in the same JX>sition.t. or wuuld you like to leave it there at three per cent? The creditors. This lund is to be used to pay back cred itors.'Q hundred and fifty-four million gold louis. and invest their fragile wealth in big commercial companies. Those whose only job is to sell and buy promissOI}. of trading on fears and hopes. This same government establishes a �inking-fund from the surplus of what these taxes )"ield. new loans. They are all gamblers. are exactly like those idle people in France who buy ro)"al bonds whose fate depends on the fortunes or misfortunes of the government. for fleets and armies are not paid with promises. notes on the basis of any good or bad news going around. that is to �ay.Questiom 011 the Encyclopaedia for taws le\'ied by their representatives in Parliamer. Now these t\\·o sums. etc. A war come� along. the whole nation is informed: an act of Parliament tells the citizenry: Tho. at the end of which they will be repaid in full. The House of Commons dreams up taxes on beer. fireplaces.---- --- . who think that what is owed to them is safe. and for a long while is unsure of whether he will he marrying his daughter olT to a peer of the realm. amounting to tv. who provides the wherewithal to gamble with. windows. coal. the government has to borrow cash. by them�elves. A new war. amounting to a hundred and rwenty-se. nobody gets an)thing back. it owes to lenders about a hundred and twenty-seven million gold louis. In the end this hear of paper symbolising non-existent silver has risen to one hundred and thirty million pounds sterling. 44 - .'>e who wish to lend to the country will get four per cent back on their money over ten years. cannot be found in the whole of Europe. and because it cannot make more banknotes than ne. always stays rich in tenns of the valuable. 45 -- - - ----- . the whole business becomes clearly impossible without the philosopher's �tone. but the land will remain. If everyone asked for his investment back. OUt of which. It reverts to the same position it was in during the sixteenth ce8tury. absolutely the same case �ith a whole kingdom as with an individual's land: if the basic soil is good. plenty of herds of cattle. te bank. where c"'ery thing is done by virtue of positive law.. England thus sees that its wealth is safe as long as it has fertile land. That is the great adnntage of a trading nation. Whatever one might say.] Three million one hundred thousand pounds sterling are left over to meet the cost of the State's responsib ilities. some of the public debt can be graduall�' wiped out. renewable produce . then a great upheaval in indhddual wealth might take place. thus it is paying out "vith that very reasonable interest alone three million nine hundred thousand pounds sterling every year. is useful to the nation because it pm\ides increased prestige. but the soil will flourish under another family. located in harsh climates. by making savings. or some such miracle of multiplication. which would then be less rich in cash term�. where confidence is established on the basis of calculations made by representatives of the State. indus try will remain. and a favourable balance of trade. -and tip the balance of trade against it. \\ihat is to be done? One part of the nation has lent to the whole nation. Thefe-are other kingdoms that will never be rich. of the soil. while producing immen�e advantages for its dir The sta ectors. If it should happen that other countries have no more need for its grain.?essary without losing that prestige and ruining itself.'oltaire's note). where no transactions are hidden. itA. The family that made money out of it might be reduced to penury. England owes to England a hundred and thirty million pounds sterling at three per cent interest. Taxes amount to about seven million. whatever efforts are made: They are those which. can only " This was written in ' 1770 ('. its transactions are understood.Economy How arc they going to be paid off? Let us take the case of England first. and England. subject to public scrutiny. the land will never be ruined. An angry Louis XII threatened to ruin the Republic: 'I dt:fy you to'. if rou were to have France ruled by a serious madman like Law. A good country always recm"ers by itself. and they haven't been able to finish it off. that is perhaps a little too much. by some of the ministers we have seen now and again. according to anecdotal sources. the general upheaval was as big as it deserved to be. a Duke of Sully or a Colbert for a comptroller-general. For five years my colleagues have made every imaginable effort to destroy it. has a hundred and twenty livres. Everyone screamed that it was the finish of France for ever. France.' There has perhaps never been anything more outrageous than the founding of the imaginary I\. As this height of folly was unparalleled. the Frenchman. the Englishman a hundred and eighty. and to culminate in the prohibi tion of all citizens from holding more. a bad state Can only grow rich by means of intensive and successful ingenuity. now united and with four times the area of Gennany. and a Solon for a legislator. Nichols gives eight to England. If we wished to speak of the Dutchman. said the senator.uyclopaedia possess at most the bare necessities. England and Sweden wili always be the same. for ali their genius. On the other hand. however poorly governed it might be. the Swede fifty. Give to Siberia and Kamchatka. to pay off in fancy paper the State's debts and respensibilities. less than five are attributed to Sweden.Questions on the t. a Cyrus for a sovereign. a Duke of Choiseul for a minister of defence. you could say of them what a Venetian senator said of his colleagues to King Louis XII. and they would starve to death there. to triple immediately the neminal value of mDDey. The Spani ard on average has the equivalent of eighty of our iivres to spend a year. we would find that he only has --- . The so-calied proportional relationship between Spain. being a better fanner. There citizens can only enjoy the comforts of life by importing them from abroad at what is for them an excessive cost. Ustariz accepts only seven for Spain. Twenty million inhab itants is the usual number calculated for France.-1ississippi Company. an Anson for an admiral. After ten years. which was to have given a return of a hundred to one tor ewry participant. by an agreeable fool like Cardinal Dubois.than five hundred francs in gold or silver coinage. 'it doesn't seem possible. that would appear not to be the case. where the rajahs and nabobs amass so much wealth.Economy whar he can earn. because it is not his land that feeds and clothes him: Holland is always a marketplace where nobody gets rich except through his own. the more abuses there arc to be seen. the plaintiff flees protesting to the police that it will take him six weeks to pay. and what makes us superior to all those people is just forty eeus a year. that calculation is shock ing. and his father's. thank God. that die nation is ruined. In general. Books are printed secretly. but which is unan�werable. and that. In India. Those Americans who arc not subjugated. and everyone has had more or less his share. As there is less per mission to think in France. where every citizen is allowed to say what he thinks. people smuggle their complaints in like contraband. man costs nature very little. and of the Saint Bartholomew massacre. saying that never in the reign of Clotaire's children. the state can flourish. What an enormous disproportion there is in people's wealth! An Englishman with an income of seven thousand guineas uses up what a thousand people are worth. These upsets make such an impression on people's minds that in England. that is what covers the earth with fine cities and the sea with ships. Charles VI. but often. but at the end of the year he has distributed his seven thousand guineas throughout the state. If these laments are answered with a warrant for arrest. have the people been as poor and wretched as [they are] today. and as long as each individual on average can be assumed to enjoy an income of forty eros. Friction in big machines is so great that they nearly always break down. Obviously. the common people live on two sous a day at most. every month there is some theori st who kindly gives his compatriots a warning that all is lost. and has no further resources. having nothing more than their bare hands. of civil war. 47 . It is with our forty iem that Louis xrv acquired two hundred ships and built Versailles. spend nothing. in the days of the Battle of Pavia. they will die of hunger like everyone else before them. hard work. which is not a very legitimate reason. but those forty eros make a huge difference. At first glance. nor in the time of King John. the more people and the more wealth there is in a state. Half of Africa has always lived in the same way. 1th the best intentions in the world apparently. In that he appears to have mistakenly undervalued the currency only by about sixteen to twenty hundred million. although he is very keen on everyone getting drunk after mass. you get bank notes or bonds. which are recovering their value.: this game is called a lottery. Your stake is hard cash. who attributed so impudently his Royal tithe to J\1arshaJ Vauban. . It wa�' barely a hundred and thirty year!> ago when this art of making one half of the nation indebted to the other half started. and that he expected the situation was worse than that. These lotteries are made as elaborate as possible in order to baffie and tempt the public. has no concept of that kind of administrative system. are. is like those made in those earth-based calculations in astronomy. and there is a very large number of them. and which constitute the nation's income. And he assures us that tax revenue to pay for the State's responsibilities might only be seventy-five million. but who is clever? Children. It has been refined to the point where a game of chance is set up between the sovereign and his subject. from the Adas mountains to Japan. of turning the State into the State's creditor. by a long way.--- ." . the rate of conversion to cash being forty-nine lit'res and ten sous. which is not enough. All thtse methods have been adopted in Germany and Holland. at a time when it is in the order of three hundred million. The rest of the world. who do not have the power to ruin them£e\ves. A single error in all of this speculation. only amount to about four hundred million. Two coordinates correspond to immense [volumes of] space in the sky. This system has spread to Eng land and to Holland. It is in France and in England that the national economy is most complicated. claims that the bills and �ecurities of France. to pay off annual debts.. the art of passing wealth by means of bits of paper from hand to hand. That is not toO dever. • John r 3" . if you win. the losers are not badly hurt.Questions on the Encyclopaedia Bois-Guillebert. of creating chaos out of what should be subject to consistent regulation.. ---. The government norm ally takes ten per cent for its trouble. claimed in his Detail (IfFrance that the great minister Colbert had alread) impoverished the State to the tune of fifteen hundred million.. A modern-day theorist. nearly every state in tum has been forced into deep debt. the anointed. since so many people want to get involved in it. \Ve have many more books on government than there are princes in the world. Moreover. the 49 . God forbid that I should educate kings. it would be very strange that with three or four thousand volumes on government. Protessor Pufendorf. I respect them all. and how the throne of David is confirmed for ever (though this little stool :ealled a throne is relatively new). who disapproves so loftily of the mental reservations of the Jesuits. and Bossuet's Politics of holy scripture. their esteemed confessors. By virtue of this law.Gouvernement. be anyone left who does not fully understand the duties of kings and the art of being a leader. there should the Financial guide. their esteemed manservants. Government Government must be a very great pleasure. having sworn rrever to threaten the life of Semein. the Dauphin: 'see how royalty is thus con nected by direct line of succession to the house of David and Solo mon. The Baron. etc. Weigh carefully the words of Bossuct in his Politics ofJwfy scripture dedicated to my Lord. to have one here that would not be to th e taste of privy counsellors. and their esteemed tax-collectors! I understand nothing about it. the Means ofenriching the State. It is only for Mr Wilkes to weigh in the balance of his English scales those at the head of the human race. with Machiavelli. their esteemed ministers. allows David. his privy counsel lor. did not betray his oath when (according to Jewish history) he ordered his son Solomon to have Sernein murdered 'because David had committed only himself not to kill Semein'.. said thai King David. or Baron Pufendorf. with the Financier-citizen. '" Adonias' right was irrefutable. but as far as the government of men is concerned. have always been bloody. born of a marriage based on a double act of adultery and on a murder. The Lord has transferrrd is just an everyday exprcssion meaning: I have lost my possessions. Adonias was the offspring of a legitimate wife. In all foreign wars a people's security lies in killing its neighbours. says Bossuct. and then to us. this is the fundamental maxim of nations. Bos suet says as much at the end of this article. the birth of his younger brother was just the fruit of a double crime. Those that have taken place betwecn subjects and their sovereign have sometimes been just as lethal. murdered at the foot of an altar. placing his brothers at a disadvantage: that is why Adonias. or by hiding ourselves away. arithmetic is pcrfect: many professions are practised in ways that are always uniform and always good. and that the whole of Israel recognised me. but the Lord has transferred my king dom to my brother Solomon. but the security of the people is made to consist in all civil wars of the slaughter of one group of citizens. my possessions have been taken away from me. 'Let the supreme law be the security of the people'. said to Bathsheba. between princes. There are very regular geometrical figures that are perfect in their own way. and a way of governing likely to advance the art of thinking and the smooth-running of society. 50 . his legitimate king. and quarrels betwccn nations. Solomon's mother: "You know that the kingdom belonged to me. There are none which do not have quarrels in them. After that. It is difficult to find in all that a right that is very bcneficial to the people. All governments are similar not only to monastcrie�. who was the eldest. for more sublime purposes. handed down to the Jews.Questions on the Encyclopaedia eldest was to succeed. but also to house holds. and taking over their possessions. had his cider brother. can thNe evcr bc a good system when they are all based on conflicting passions? No community of monks has ever existed \\oilhout discord. let us acknowledge that it is more difficult than people think to take lessons on the rights of people and governments from Holy Scripture. whose rights were confirmed by Pontiff Abiathar and General Joab. How must we proceed? Either bJ taking a risk. 'unlcss somcthing extraordinary happened.' :'>Jow that extraordinary something was the fact that Solomon. the eldest would succeed. 'Thus'. it is thus impossible for there not to be any discord in kingdoms. everyone stuck to his 0'Nll view without having any view about which they were very sure. What kind of government lwas it] that banished the just Aristides. but their own were so bad that they changed them continually. but they would not like to change their form of government. They long for the time when apostles walked. Pufendorf promises to examine which form of government is best. put in times of the greatest prosperity they always complained. while travelling together one day about their reasons for preferring their own systems . and an imperial count were arguing. of government. What a destiny then for the human race! Almost no great nation is ruled by itself. but the people would like to be hetter feu and better dressed.Goremment More than one nation wants a new constitution. and that it is outside [the scope of] his subject to examine the latter's reasons. What is sure is that the Greeks would prefer government by Pericles and Demosthenes to government by a pasha. and internally within individual cities. Should any bright reader expect anyone here to tell him more than Pufendorf he will be making a big mistake. who did not yet have any. Fathers offamilies would like the Church to have less gold. that witnessed the Amphiction� ies stupidly surrendering Greece to Philippus because the Phocaeans had ploughed a field that was part of Apollo's domain? But the gov� emment of neighbouring monarchies was worse. 5' . an English peer. Discord and hatred existed externally between cities. and sentiment making them complain about it. a Venetian nobleman. and Roman citizens were carried in litters from palace to palace. even if they had to be less rieh in the way of blessings. he tells you that 'some people are in favour of monarchy and others. Modern Romans are all proud of Saint Peter's Church and their ancient Greek statues. on the contrary. condemned Socrates to drink hemlock after having been mocked by Aristophanes. vanity making each one praise his own country. and they went home without having reached any conclusion. a cardinal. The English would like to change ministers every week. rage furiously against kings'. People never stop singing the praises of those fine Greek republics to us. A Swiss. They gave laws to the ancient Romans. and their granaries to contain more COni. Nobody understood anybody else. put Phocion to death. a Dutchman. "If this traveller had passed through (he countr) just two weeks later. it owes obedience to Tartars who arc half .l What follows was told by a traveller in 1769: I have seen on my travels quite a large and well-populated country in which all public offices afe bought. these Austrians suc ceeded families that boasted that they were Visigoths. idle as an unemployed labourer. The main mystery of their religion is celebrated for three. which had replaced a Nonnan family. rightly fearing a terrible revolution. added in '774)· 1 5' �. which had driven au{ a family of Saxon usurpers. And when one has succeeded in becoming the master. but a Gennan family which succeeded a Dutch prince. after having obeyed Roman prefects. he stays� as. govern. nearly all foreign. The same banks of the Danube have belonge d .' There are very important anny commissions gil'en only to the one who bids the .aw'" . Spain owes obedience to a French family. Romans. Huns and twenty other families. and four years late' he' would have seen i t re-established' (Voltaire's nme. . and so many popes born_ in provinces that are just a s barbaric? Let whoever can govern. to Teutons. Abars. and if the celebrant does not get this fee. A race of English does not rule in England. 'See the article "J. China has had this revolution. the Nile. sesterces. but in public to confonn to the law. India owes obedit:nce to Tartar Moguls.Questions on the Encyclopaedia Let us start with the East on a world tour: Japan has closed its ports to foreigners. Greece and Epirus are still under the yoke of the Turks. from Anjou. the Orontes. The Euphrates.m'ost. Slavs. (Vohaire" note). one governs as best one can. and he succeeded a Scottish family which had succt:tded a fa mily . which succeeded a race of Austrians. Bulgars. For a lopg time these Visigoths had been hounded by Arabs. fortune and life of citizens is auctioned ofT. Gaul obeyed the Franks.\1anchurian and half Hun. .----- . in the same way that you sell a few acres of land.' many emperors born in barbaric provinces. who had driven ofT the Carthaginians. And has anyone seen an}thing stranger in Rome than so. he would have seen that that famous custom had been abolished. not in secret and to cheat the law. after having succeeded the Romans. The right to be the sovereign judge of the honour. he said. to eat. Sumetimes you hear the streets ring with a proposal aimed at anyone with a bit of gold in his piggy-bank with a view to dispos sessing him of it in exchange for a wonderful bit of paper which will allow you to lead a happy. If they win. if they deign to give you [an answer]. and feeling weak with tiredness. which excess dn·nk would ruin me. much better one. what difference does it make whether it's you or me who swallowed this glassful?' 53 ------ . they marry their daughters off to mandarins. and that therefore you must pay the service costs of the transaction. You try in vain to understand how the king dom's prminces can be foreign to the kingdom. and for a hundred thousand crus each a hundred people have the right to receive and pay out money due to these dtizens against the security of this imaginary mansion. The day after that you are deaf ened with another piece of paper that cancels out the first two. I said to him. they disappear. they reply that you come from a province deemed to beforeign. but sharp minds console you by assuring you that within a formight the city's pedlars will be shouting more attractive proposi tions [in your ear]. they get to enter directly into the public service. A considerable number of citizens have all their assets drawn against an institution that has not got any. problem-free life. to drink. comfortable. If you go tothe next province. and by passing these names around. You are ruined. you have to pay duty on all of those items. a right that they never make use ol� being blissfully unaware of what is supposed to haw passed through their hands. who are very numerous and very sober. when I was changing horses. A little while ago. you get no answer. and their sons become mandarins of one sort or another. 'the thirst-tax collectors. If they lose.Fortunes in this country are not the prize of agriculture. I asked the staging-post superintendent for a glass of wine. 'to keep up my strength with a glass of wine. 'I can't give you one'. they return to the gutter whence they came. You ask the reason. they are the result of a game of chance that several people play by signing their names. and.' 'It's not excess drinking'. The next day they shout out an order to you obliging you to change this bit of paper for another. and you buy there the things necessary to clothe yourself. to sleep. You travel around one province in this empire. would make me pay duty. as if you had come from Africa. or. customs. the nation seemed to be in the utmost OOselj'.QuestionI 1m the Encyclopaedia 'Sir'. after having once been crude. it had lost its money. luxury had increased. Laws. 'Our country is �o wise'. I realised that they were all just as badly governed as this country. As soon as we have got the harvest in. I learned from him that the country had as many different on the other side of the stream that he had won the law-codes as it had villages. its trade. and if they judge that we haye exceeded the prescription by one bottle." would not fail to accuse me of having drunk too much. I could not understand this miracle. They called this war the ridiculous war. of puhlic hodies. A man from the provinces in this country I am talking about com plained bitterly one day about all the harassment he was experiencing. he replied. 'our laws on drink are much more subtle than you think. everything is arbitralj'. but that it was more industrious than all of them. the rights and privi1ege<. here is a nation that has been obliterated. He knew his history quite well. everything must pass away. and one breathed in only the scent of pleasure. everything is left to the wisdom of the nation. I went ofT �omewhere else. His conversation pricked my curiosity.' I was totally astonished that within two months its capital and its main towns seemed to me to be more opulent than ever. but I was nonetheless surpriscd to meet a plaintiff in de�pair who told me that he had just lost the same ca�e day before on this side. its fleet. superstitious and barbaric. he was asked if he thought he would have been happier a hundred years ago when. the landlords of the kingdom appoint doctors to come and vi�it our wine-cellars. I saw the reason for it only when I examined the system of government of its neighbours.' I was still in the country when the people had a war with a few neighbours. in his then barbaric 54 . he said. I said: 'Its final hour has come. seniority. On my return. we are sent to Toulon to drink sea-water. the). rank. You see what I would risk with our health-inspectors.' I admired that regime. it's a pity because many of the people were likeable. and if ever we are disobedient. They put to one side as mm:h wine as they judge appropriate to let us drink to keep us healthy. industrious and very cheerful. and only returned after the peace. If I gave you the wine you are asking for. 'that nothing has been regulated there. because there was a lot to lose and nothing to gain. its soldiers. They come back at the end of the vear. they sentence us to pay a hea\"y fine. it's even more horrible to be ruled by blood-thirsty priests.Gf/vernment country. with his solemn features. . he came to the conclusion. that the times in which he lived were the least odious of any.' After that he said: 'Obey the \Illitures. 'than belonging to foreign masters'. tinally referred the matter to the owl who.\lanhew. they had their feathers plucked by the eagle. Qui habet aures audiat.} '1 have a large number of ancient Roman ca tapults and balIistas. We came finally to the question of the druids. �he better to reach agree ment. The eagle and the vultures. all iliings considered. he was attacked by . who had been born in one of the scraggiest thickets in the empire. the vulture. called for a long time lUcifu!{dX. But in the end. or the prolonged disasters of the wars against the English. knew how to impose his authority on the two sides. he said. admittedly worm-eaten. 55 Xl. Then a tawny owl appeared. He shook his head.' Soon he said: 'Obey me and no-one else."Vith each ques tion he was seized with horror. or the age of feudal anarchy and the horrors of the second race. I '. He persuaded the eagle and the vultures to have their nails trimmed and the tip of their beaks cut off. he joined forces with the bats. our owl and his gang entered the area under dispute as peacemakers.ultures hom the far North. but which could still be used for display. a citizen would be sentenced to be hanged for eating meat on a feast-day. he had no right other than the right derived trom beak and talons. Before that the owl had always told the birds: 'Obey the cagle.'5. the tawny owl and the bats. Admittedly. he ruled as well as any other bird of prey. who came and laid waste to all the eagle's provinces. In his old age. and while the vultures fought against the cagle. in spite of himself. when he had made prmision for his meals and hi� pleasures. The rule of the Romans seemed to him to be the most intolerable of alL There's nothing worse'. or the time of the defeats of Saint-Quentin and Pavia. An eagle ruled over all the birds in the land of Omithia. and the barbarities of the tirst?' . 'I was mistaken.tarving . 'Would you prefer the age of civil wars that started with the death of Francis II.' The poor birds did not know who to listen to. 'Ah!' he cried. } Ie was crafty. after having fought a pretty long war.' In the end. He had as much right to that as Saint LOllis had later to Grea ter Cairo. and an old copper model of a quinquereme. and I prefer to examine that system more than the one in India. of this moving sense of our [national] identity . a lot of slaves and very few men. because I do not know exactly what the mystery of the Grand Mogul's govern ment is.Questions on the Encyclopaedia have a lot of water-clocks. It is strange to see how a gowrnment is established. But Saint J . not very well. But we can sec things more clearly in the way England is administered. half of which arc broken. let us look at a �orman bastard who took it into his head to become king of England. and not sla. Pro praetor of the prmince that has come down to us by right of all that is proper. that men's minds and the arts are improving from one day to the next. employed by his ministry to stamp [a seal} on this edict. praetexta. that nobody would set fuot on his Sen�ne Highnes�\ 411inqueremc. or Timur/eng. copied from these ancient monu ments. tomb lamps. lead latidaves. First. and m y predecessor� set up a community of tailors who male robes. we command all these venerable customs to be kept up for ever.ouis had the misfortune not to start by having Eg)Pt legally bestowed upon him . I shall not be talking here about the great Tamburlaine.' It was put to the wax-warmer. The wax-warmer promised to take the matter up with a derk. For the sake of [all] these causes. that men have to be led by the bridles they wear toda}. who promised to have a word with His Serene Highness. and not by those they ware in dars gone by. and havin g listened to our head antiquary's report. that all the de�ices specified in it had become useless. that his tailors make latidaves in one. when the opportunity arose. r also have togas. who promised to explain the matter to the Chief Clerk. and that in India you find. given the fact that I am told there are men in England. and command everybody throughout the length and breadth of our states to wear shoes and to think thoughts exactly like people who wore shoes and thought thoughts in the time of Cnidus Rufillus.-es. and that it befitted His vain: Highness nobody would buy a single to make �ome concession towards the views that the good people of his country hold today. etc. so it is claimed. William the Red. and William the Bastard did not fail to lend sacred legitimacy to his cause by obtaining from Pope Alexander II a decree assuring him of his proper rights without having heard the other side. the Goths and the Lombards in Italy. He saw that he was obliged to share. wanted rewards. the story has just heen one of rich profits.Government in the court of Rome. They were left in their own lands with the digniry of being seigneurial lords. as did Pepin and Clovis in France. He calls him Maher-salal-has-bas. and in the Old Testament the prophet lsiah gives the name of thi�r to the son his wife is to gi. but he would ha. Grand Officers of the Crown. they were given the finest territory. it was very necessary to give them some.Jonnan barons. and this same grace of God belonged after him to Henry. Harold. to make them Grand Vassals. looting. if you like. Clearly. the Vandals in Africa. also became king by the graee of God without any difficulty. and who is to be a major typical example. and cattlc stolen by force of anus. who had come together at their own expense to invade England. thus tied up with a decree emanating from Heaven. William would have preferred to have kept everything for himselt� and to have turned all these lords into his guards [and attendants]. he had no way of killing them all. and ali kings in this world in their turn. the third usurper. We have already noted that the names of soldier and thief were often synonyms. who had one just as valid as that of the Romans. Soon we have William. In the fable. by foxes and ferrets when they make their fannyard conquests.. And the legal entitlement of all these heroes was the one enjoyed by highway robbers or.'e birth to. William added to this yirtue from the centre of the universe a rather stronger virtue. Ali these great men were such perfect highway robbers that. or even of reducing them all to slavery. plunder.. the legitimate king. and simply by virtue of these words: 'Every knot that you tie on earth will be tied in Heaven. the Visigoths and then the Arabs in Spain. king oy the grace of God. It must be further admitted that our bastard had a legal claim that was just a� valid as that of the Saxom and the Danes. He thus ruled by the most powerful right of ali.' With his rival. The . 57 ------- . divide the spoils up quick. who usurped his elder brother's crown. namely victory at the Battle of Hastings.'e risked too much. As far as the Anglo-Saxon lords were concerned. from Romulu� down to the buccaneers. Mercury steals cows from Apollo. readily adopted the practices of the kings to whom they 'Were answer able. the right to demand a subsidy for the marriage of his eldest daughter. did the same thing in order to counterbalance the great power of the barons. It was Out of that dark. sold the feudal serfs. horrible chaos that a feeble glow came that gave light to the commoners. the King of England. The sitting� uf the Commons were like the court of justice in Paris. which became the Excise Board in France. The right of the King of England to have his ransom paid by his subjects ifhe was taken prisoner of war. are all reminiscent of the ancient customs of a kingdom whose first vassal was William. Everywhere the barons were at loggerheads with the king. commoners were given privileges. towns were liberated. up until the fourteenth century. made up of a hundred civil wars. the English system of government followed closely that of France. who were ruined. A dispute became a little internal war. for it was during the reign of that prince that the convening of the House of Commons is clearly recorded. the princes. their freedom. and impro. The English Chancellory court was an imitation of the Coum. of barons and bishops.'ed their lot. everything balanced well until the first quarrel. The kings of England. the States-General was composed. and ".:ii uf State presided over by the Chancellor of France. And what became of the rest of the nation? The same thing that befell almost all the peoples of Europe: they became serfs.ith each other. and then for Guyenne and other provinces. The Exchequer court was like the Comptroller-General's department. The maxim that the royal domains were inalienable was another clear imitation of the French system of governmem. The court of the King's Bench was modelled on the parlement founded by Philippe Ie Bel. men's rights were reborn out of anarchy itself. So we see that. In that way. after the madness of the crusades. villeins. The two churches are 58 ---- .Questions on the Encyclopaedia They were answerable to Norman Grand Vassals. For a long time. and when knighting his son. "'ho were themselves Grand Vassals of France for Nonnandy. as in France. Philippe Ie Bel had only just called the commons to the meeting of the States-General when Edward. who through work and trade had made a bit of money. Finally. who were answer� able to William. Such a system of government could only be created at a fairly late stage because for a long time it was necessary to fig ht powerful forces 59 .ust in accordance with entirely similar customs. n ot given them tougher customs? Has this toughness in their customs. the same mixture of holy pillage. more thoughtful. how is it that these m'o governments became in the end as different from one another as those of Morocco and Venice? Is it not because. the same chaos. poison has been such a common weapon? As they became more enlightened and more wealthy. all the time pretending to laugh about it while they were dancing in chains? Also has the location of their country. with the same subservience to Rome. superstitions and barbarity. but they can all be equally free. because they have created them. they have entirely thrown off that shameful yoke. the same excommunications. not also helped to inspire them with a noble honesty? Is it not their mixrure of contradictory qualities that has led to the spilling of so much royal blood in battles and on scaffolds.GOixnllnent �xactly the same. used as much against the homeland itself as against foreigners? Is it not because in general the English have something more solid. more obstinate about their spirit than certain other peoples? Is it not for this reason. but always ended up paying to that greedy court. which has made their island into a theatre of so many blood-soaked tragedies. namely that having always complained about the court of Rome. in accordance with no principle at all but . and which has never allowed them to use poison in their civil disorders. the same extortions that people complained about. or believe they have created them. Freedom means being dependent only on the law. As France and England were therefore administered so long in accordance with the same principles. the same donations to monks. and this is what the English have gained in the end by their steadfastness. under a priestly �vemment. The English have therefore loved laws as fathers love their children. while a less serious people has carried it. given the fact th at England is an island. which makes sea-faring a necessity for them. has not Im'e of freedom become their dominant characteristic? All citizens cannot be equally powerful. or more precisely. the king has no need to always maintain one of those large land annies. the same fairly serious quarreb. whereas elsewhere. royal power. the right m speak to the nation through the medium of one's pen. always ready to be abuscd. the power of the bishops who.-. The House of Commons is truly the nation because the King. Foolish fanaticism had invaded this vast structure like a raging fire devours a fine building made only of wood. compared to which Plato's republic is but a dream. and which seems to be the invention of Locke. The inevitable grinding friction in this vast machine almost destroyed it in the time of Fairfax and Cromwell. This institution. e�chewing posts available only to anglicans. because each member is the deputy of the people. Those are called prerogatives. Gradually the House of Commons became the dam that held back all these torrential forces. Philosophy destroyed the fanaticism that shakes the most solid of states. acts only for himself. by always mixing the profane with the saCred. wanted to triumph over barons and kings {alike]. because the peers are only in Parliament for themselves. will last as long as human affairs can last. Newton. These rights are: total freedom in matters affecting one's person and one's possessions. to follow peacefully any religion one wishes. to be judged in criminal matters only by a jury of independent men. To the peers and bishops it is at most eight million to two hundred. has given birth to the most frightful abuses that have ever made human nature shudder. And in fact it is a very great 60 ----. and for what is called his prerogative. In the age of William of Orange it was rebuilt in stone. but the House of Commons is there for the people. Now the ratio of this people to the king is ahout eight million to one. the power of the barons. because the bishops similarly are only there for themselves. of the nobility and of the people. And the eight million free citizens are represented in the lower house. which was anarchy. and in which everyone finds security. the most terrible of all since it was based on prejudice and ignorance. . who is its head.Questions on the Encyclopaedia that were respected: the power of the Pope.-. to be judged in all cases only in accordance with the precise wording of the law. It can be assumed that a constirution that has regulated the n'ghts of the king. Halley or Archimedes. and which had to be kept within its limits. In the end this is what English legislation has achieved: the restora tion to all men of all those natural rights of which nearly every mon archy deprives them. It can also be assumed that any state not based on such principles will experience revolutions. near the Malaga coast. but do not do very well in Rome? You answer that coconuts have not always flourished in England. to be sure when you go to bed that you will wake up the next day with the same wealth that you had the day before. people would makc them like that for the sake of their security. how far apart are an Englishman and a Bosnian today! You know. if you are a pasha. a little nation was discovered in the time of Philip II. . you will be judged only in accordance with the law. Remember that the heavier you make the yoke. who were forced into Christianity to make them happy. either for having behaved offensively. Why then are these laws not followed in other countries? Is that not the same as asking why coconuts flourish in India. and they did not do well. and if he is put on trial. among these Moors there was a tiny nation in the reign of Philip II that lived in a valley which could only be reached through caves. that if you are put on trial. hidden in the Alpujarras mountains. who will not all be pashas. dear reader. that they have only been grown there in rela tively recent times. That prerogative extends to everyone arriving in Eng land. will be enslaved. an effendi or a mullah. the inhahit- 6. or written oflensively. or at least into the appearance of Christianity. he can request half of the jury to be made up of foreigners. So try to plant some. the more your chil dren. that in Spain. As I was saying. 1 venture to say that i f the human race were to be assembled to make laws. beyond the reach of so many nations. unknown until then. or spoken ofe f ns ively. do not be so stupidly barbaric as to tighten the chains of your nation. Bosnia and Serbia. that following England's example Sweden grew some for a few years.G01xrnment and very happy prerogative. You will not be unaware that today those valleys arc still cultivated by the descend ants of the Moors. A foreigner enjoys the same freedom in his possessions and in his person. if only you could bring those fruits to other provinces. for example. And above al� poor man. to be taken off waking up you will be able to publish what you think. This valley is bet\veen Pitas and Portugos. You know that this chain of inaccessible rocks is intersected with delightful valleys. What! You wretches! For the pleasure of being a petty tyrant for a few days you wili cause all those who come after you to groan in chains! Oh. that you will not be torn from the anns of your wife and children in the middle of the night. They were declared to be witches and heretics.ent in their history. and ceremonialI:y roasted. This feeble.ague knowledge of Moham med's and did not make much of it.Questions on the EnC)'clopaedia ants of rhi. The sacred reasons fi}r their condemnation were that they had never paid any taxes. Clearly that is how people should be governed. nothing contributes more to the sweet life of society.. was that their neighbour> the Arabs. seeing that they knew no Latin. they had a '. This tribe had not increased very much. .. For the rest. that they had no Bible. these little-known people lived in indolence and innocence. used to come and take the girls away from this lime canton. they spoke a language that was neither Spanish nor Arabic. The Grand Inquisitor burned the lot of them: this was the only e. The reason for this. little people had never heard of the Chris tian religion. In the end. but happy. and that nobody had taken the trouble to baptise them. and they had no knowledge of monel'. and before them the Africans. to be expected in view of the fact that nobody had ever asked them for any. and was thought to be derived from an ancient [form of] Carthaginian.. From time immemorial they had made offerings of milk and fruit to a statue of Hercules: that was their whole religion. nor the Je\\'ish. it was claimed. femote spot wert almost unknown to the 2"loors them selves. they were all dressed in penitential robes. 6. they were discovered by a friend of the inquisition. To understand what is called moral man. Are not all books on morality summed up in these words of Job: 'Homo natus de mulicre. qui quasi flos egreditur et conteritur. et fugit velut umbra. Man To understand th� physical make�up of the human species.. a butterfly. Man was in despair. This came down to five years. he passes like a shadow. . you must read works on anatomy. 'but I've only got a certain number of days to share out among all the beings to whom I've given life. who was destined at first to live a maximum of twenty years. We have already seen that mankind has a life-span of only about twenty-two years. including those who die at their wet-nurse's breast and those who drag out what is left of their foolish. he is full {)f woe. repletur multis miseriis.. close by was a caterpillar. he said to Jupiter.. Mr VeneJ's articles in the Encyclopaedic dictionary or. he is like a jWwer that opens. said Jupiter. withers and is crnshed. That old story of the first man. I can only give to you by taking from others. take a course in anatomy. brevi vivens tempore.' Man that is born of woman does not live long. taking the average life as the basis to the calculation. "" . --�-..- . 'Prolong my life'._. mlserable lives for anything up to a hundred years. a peacock. For don't think that just because f'm -.' 'With pleas ure'. more than anything else it is necessary to have experienced life and to have reflected on it. _. is a fine parable. a horse. a fox and a monkey. 'I'm bctter than all those animals. better still. it's only right that I and my children should live a very long time in order to become the ma�ters of all these beasts.Homme. His face was hidden under his hair. but it has to be reiterated frequently. even when all the compensations have been made. of those seven years at least half will be taken up with various forms of suffering. on condition that you take on their life-forms in turn. Up to fifteen he will be as fragile as a butterfly. The net yield will be seven years. this animal. the fox. the human race would never have dared to show itself in public. burnt and hlotchy. and with a maximum of twenty-two to twenty-three years of life.hall first be a caterpiHar. In adulthood he will have to work like a horse. Assume three and half years for work. which is. I'm very wining to give you a few more years. boredom and frustration. you have to take away a third of that for sleep. and taking his own appearance as the model. by taking those years from these six creatures you are jealous of.Questions on the Encyclopaedia Jupiter I'm infinite and omnipotent. being continually exposed to sun. :'\late also that. poor little animal. rain and hail. in that parable. became cracked. . became even more disgusting and hor rible in old age. God forgot to dress this animal as he had dressed the monkey. the haHway to life. before even learning how to speak. that this animal dared to portray God when. So. right down to the caterpillar. I've gOt my own nature and limitations. the peacock. His chin became a piece of bumpy ground with a forest of tiny stalks with roots on top and branches underneath. Man . during which you are dead. take off at least eight for early childhood. The human race only had its bare skin which. as a youth he will have the vanity of a peacock. ---. In his fifties he win have the cunning of a fox. taking the human race as a whole. fifteen or so years remain. without the help of tailors and dressmakers. of those fifteen. many centuries had to pass. the horse.-_. It was in this state. But before acquiring clothes. On our continent the male was disfigured by sparse body hair that made him hideous. That is a proven fact. the most hideous thing on Earth is a senile old woman. crawling around [like a caterpillar] in early childhood. in spite of Jupiter's kindness. as has been said. The female. being weaker. he learned to paint. in the course of time.' That just about sums up the destiny of man. and how many people have never had any of that! So there w e are. are you still able to give yourself airs? Unfortunately. without covering him. Now. and in old age he will he as ugly and ridiculous as a monkey. It is a little strange that a very respectable comemporary philosopher. left to himself. the good. Adam. What did you do in the Garden of Eden? Did you work for this foolish human race? Did you caress my mother. dark complexion. those who condemned this proposition have the secret of how to cut stone and wood. reviled. I liked the author of the book called On the mind.Man Thi� unciviliscd animal. wanted to legally outlaw this proposition: 'The Turks can be regarded a s deists. I took his side openly when silly people condemned him for those [very same] truths. just shameful need. or work high-warp tapestry. that a fool produces foolishness like wild stock produces bitter fruits. has been harassed. VolTaire's apolog)' for iu){Ury.. my dear glutton. your skin ruddy and tanned. weary of their wonderful adventure. They dined in fine style beneath an oak On water. vou persecute a man because he does not hate you. the happiest love Is no love at all. I There is the state of pure nalUrc for �·OU. \Vhen they had eaten.lm (The mm of the world) (1736) 6S i. birdseed and nuts.' Oh! You wild stock of the schools. 1 cannot put into words the depth of my contempt for those people who. That man is worth more than all his enemies put together. but I have never approved of either the errors in his book or the trivial truths that he utters rather ponderously.1rs Eve? Confess to me that both of you had Long nails. because they worship only one God? You also condemn this proposition: 'An intelligent man knows that men are what they must be. Hair that was pretty untidy. 1\. . rather black and dirty. Without cleanliness. how do you want us to regard them? As atheists. mUst have been the dirtiest and poorest of all the animab. for el(llmple. and do needlework with their feet. ms good father. that all hatred for them is unjust. you ill-bred pedants. hunted down for having said that if men did not have hands they would not have been able to build houses. innocent Helvetius. Appar ently. !\. they slept in the open. Soon.' Come on. I Le mond. gunpowder.\and. note). that is a strange maturity! It is that philosopher's mind that was not mature. and that death is thc moment of maturity. On the different races of men \Ve have 5een elsewhere how this world has in it different races of men. printing. The tallest man is nonnally two or three inches taller than the tallest female. busy hands. and it knows it only through experience. All the arts were invented by him. etc. It is even quite probahle that several species of men and animals that were too weak have perished. Rot and dust. and how surprised the first negro and the first white man must have been when they met each other. 66 . the male lives for a slightly shorter time than the female. and because his organs are all stronger.'. a mind capable of forming ideas. and continue. The human species is the only one that know"S that it must die. How the mania for saying something new makes people say wild things! The main preoccupatiom of our species are shelter. but perseverance of thought processes and the combination of ideas that caused the arts to be invented. and it is these wretched. His strength is almost alwa�"s superior. all the rest are incidental. in the same way as machinery. "Maupertuis' (VohaLe. incidental things that have produced so much murder and devastation. to the exclusion of all other animals. A child raised in solitude. fuud and clothing. and transported to a desert j. a longue supple enough to express them: these are the great benefits granted to man by the Supreme Being. and not by woman. He is always taller. Thus no more murcx are to be found. Reason. he is more agile. this species was probably devoured by other animals appearing after several centuries on the river banks inhabited by this little shellfish. clock-making. A man with a few eccentricities" published a book saying that the human body is a fruit that stays green until old age. relatively speaking.Questions on the Encyclopaedia Let us leave the schools there. would have no more certain know ledge of it than a plant or a cat. It should he noted that it is not the fire of imagination. In general. he is more capable of concentra tion. He then gives an account of a conversation that is much longer than [the one thatl this same Anthony had with a satyr. are as different from us as negroes are. on an island called Tahiti. red and grey races. But we cannot doubt that the insides of a negro are different to those of a white man. in headless people. but in the same way as a pme tree. Men's inclinations and narures differ as much as their climates and their governments. in people with only onc eye or one leg. entitled To his brothm in tlte desert. It is like asking why monkeys have tails. an oak and a pear tree are all equally trees. while Peruvians. except on their eyebruws and their heads. Saint Augustine. the first from Africa. lt would appear that Augustine and Jerome wcrc speaking at the time in tenns of husbandry. There arc yellow. The Albinos and the Darians. to say the least. extremely rare among us [humans]. and the pine does not come from the oak. Mexicans and Canadians are not. with two big eve� in their chests. It has never been possible to make up a J 'See the arock "Econom)'" (Voltaire. J We can be very good Christians without believing in centaurs. the second from central America. speaks of a centaur which had a conversation with Saint Anthony. and why nature has refused us this ornament. in his thirty-third sermon. in his History of the desert folkers. the hermit. They wished to astonish men with fables so that they could make them more submis sive to the yoke of faith. I have already told you that. men have beards? That is like asking why we are bear� ded. But how is it that in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We saw in that country a lot of men and women wimout heads. etc. In countries even further 10 the south we saw a people who had only one eye in their foreheads' etc. says things that are just as extraordinary as those that Saint Jerome said: 'I was already the Bishop of Hippo when I went to Ethiopia with a few servants of Christ to preach the Gospel. which is. they wcrc increasing the works of cre� ation to show to bettcr advamag� the worh of God. note). since the network of mUCOllS or fatty membranes is white in one and black in the other. The pear tree docs not come from the pine.Man Saint Jerome. ------- . but YOll are deaf. We have already seen that all Amer icans are beardless and have no body hair. All are equally men. but it is because their bodie�. as (it does] towards eating and drinking. where people live without families and without any form of sociery. It is as great and as varied as the monkeys. A ff. Each animal has its own instinct. are extremely weak. in solitude the secret resentment at AI! people discovered 68 . and the instinct of man. strengthened by reason. It would be just as valid to say that in the sea herrings were created originally to swim alone. You ". its pride becomes its torture. and that it is society that has depraved his nature. and that through a violation of natural law they decided to travel together. and leaves her out of disgust a moment later. and that it is because of an excess of corruption that they swim in shoals from the polar sea to our coasts. it is that soul that is depraved. Only a blind man. the Siberians.'w practical jokers have abused their minds to the point of advancing the astonishing paradox that man was created originally to live alone like a lynx.Questions on the EnC)'c/opaedia regiment from Laplanders and Samoyeds. could deny the reality of all these different species. as do beavers. and hence their courage. ¥lhoever wants to live completely alone would soon lose his reasoning powers and his ability to express himself. The country has not been seen where people live separately from one another. make fearless �oldier�. he would succeed only in changing himself into an animaL Excess of impotent pride.ill have no more success in making a good grenadier out of a poor Darian or an Albino. whitest silky texture. It punishes itself for this. The need for society has far from degraded man. In that case. he would be a burden to himself. it is not because their hair and e)'ebrows are of the finest. It is not because they have tawny eye�. and an obstinate blind man at that. can incline a melancholy soul to flee the company of men. ants. inclines him towards society. whereas their neighbours. where the male mates with the female only by chance. it is when he moves away from society that he is degraded. which dashes with the pride (If (lthers. where a mother cannot recognise the children she has reared. bees and several other animal species. that long ago cranes flew through the air apart from one another. That all races of men have always lived in society in the most frightful and uncultivated countries live in �ociety. The instinct of the charcoal-burners of the Black Forest speaks to them as loudly. in order to be free it has enslaved itself in the most horrible way . its inconsist encies are very rare. and a more certain food-supply. Fathers would have always abandoned mothers. of the consequence� of his action. for wild beasts. Rousseau. Instinct is unchangeable.4 'the man no longer needs such a woman. and the mother whose love is redoubled for the one from whom she has received in her innermost being the seed of a being similar to herself. . Once their sexual appetite has been satisfied'. bcttcr equipped and better anned. says the author of these paradoxes. Except for a few barbaric and entirely brutalised souls. have a readier instinct. Is not the great fault of all of these paradoxical books to assume always that human nature is different to what it is� If the satires on men and women that Boileau wrotc were not jokes. and motivates them as strongly towards their children. but fortunately. People have really wasted their time therefore writing this abominable twaddle. and it would appear that at the end of nine months they have no memory of ever ha\ing known each other . mothers would have abandoned their children. the child that has not yet been born. \Vhy should he help her after the birth? \\-'by should he help her raise a child whom he does not e.Han being scorned and forgonen gnaws away at it. the sternest of men loves.'en know belongs to him?' All that is revolting. Some people have gone so far beyond their normal foolishness as y that 'it is not natural for a man to sa to stay with a woman during the nine months of her pregnanc). nor the woman such a man. they would fall 4 Jean-Jacque. than the human race. One goes one way. Our nature is very different to the frightful piece of make-believe that this tub-thumper has made out of it. DilCQum on Ihr nngin (1754)· 69 and jimndatj�n of inelfU4liry Ilmrmg mm . or except perhaps for an even more brutalised philosopher. as the instinct of pigeons and of nightingales does towards the feeding of their young. nothing is more wrong. . If this barbaric indifference was a true natural instinct. nor perhaps the slightest idea. the human species would have always exhibited it.. The laner has not the slightest concern.. more cer tain means. and there would be far less people in the world than thcre arc carnivores. the womb that bears it. the other goes another. by an overwhelming instinct. and it would have been necessary to punish the honest man who might have said to his children: Let us imitate our neighbour. his land will become more fertile. The same author. but which we cannot do without. Would that speech not be more sensible and honest than that of the wild lunatic who wished to destroy the fellow's orchard? So what kind of a philosophy is it that makes people say things that common sense rejects from deepest China to Canada? Is it not the philosophy of a tramp who wants all the rich to be robbed by the poor in order to reinforce brotherly union among men? It is true that if all the b. and we will help him. the animals will no longer come and play havoc with it. would have been the human race's benefactor. it would be impossible. and that the earth belongs to no-one. what murders. and we will be worth more than the foxes and the ferrets. who wants all his fellow foxes to cut their tails off. an the plains. less unhappy. But as �oon as we have filled them with people. unjust and ridiculous to keep them for oneself.Questions an the Encyclopaedia into this basic error of presuming all men to be mad. He will help us. plentiful without any problem. away from the hot(. were covered with delicious nourishing fruits. and all women to be wanton. he has fenced off his field. let us work ours like he has worked his. We will try to set up laws of distributive justice for the consolation of our poor species. let us aU go and live there. we will have to get back to the law of what is mine and what is yours. \\'bat crimes. having enclosed a piece of land. and found people simple-minded enough to believe him. an enemy of society. someone had said to his fellow men: Take care not to listen to thlS imposter. ventured to say: This is mine.hpotch of our laws. we will be better fed. all the forests. which this e:\tremist wishes us to resemble. you arc lost if you forget that the fruits of the earth are for everyone.' Thus. tearing up the stakes and filling in the ditches. and aU that is necessary to life. With every family cultivating their own plot. according to this fine philosopher. to those laws which are often very bad.edgerows. was the true founder of civil society. what misen' and horror would have been spared the human race if. who is like the fox without a tail. expresses himself thus in magisterial style: 'The first person who. a ulief. what wars. If there are some islands where nature makes food. . more peaceful. healthier. a destroyer. -icked. or who even understands how he serves the public interest. whoever has just listened to prosecutors arguing infonnally among themselves. He would necessarily resemble little wolf-cubs or faxes.. the system of guvernment into which he finds he has been tossed.. and congratulating each other on the misforrunes of their clients. On thc contrary.ed that women are better than men. are happy only in as much as they make others unhappy. and the money they make out of them. Man could nut always have thoughts that were always wrong. the pain they make them suffer. He would use the first knife he could find to wound whoever displeased him. how they count up their number of victims. the henchman. might have a very poor opinion of human nature.-ise. 7' . There afe profession� which nece��arily make the soul pitiless: that of the soldier. nor thoughts that wefe alway� right. The watchman. It i� particularly strange to hear them talk about their feats of valour. for example. the policeman. education. feelings that were always tender. determine whether he will follow the path of virtue or crime? Perhaps human nature could not be otherv. everywhere in the world his nature is like a lamb's while he is a child. the tricks they use to trap them. and ultimately opportunity. the jailer and all those jobs based on other people's misery. Whoever has got down to examining the min{)f detail of the busi ness of the bar. barbaric deeds as soon as he could walk. he would be committing dark. necessary to combat evil-doers. who bite as soon as they are able to. So why and how does he so often turn into a wolf and a fox? Is it not because. but out of a thousand men of that ilk. having been born neither good nor v. the jailer.' enemies for every one Cl). They are. you can see around you a hundred brother/. It appears to have been pro. the butcher. it is true.umnesrra.-Wan Was man born wicked? Does it not seem to have been proved that man was not born depraved and the child of the Devil? If his nature was like that. and in that way are useful to society. nor feelings that were always cruel. example. there is not one whose acts are motivated by the public interest. 7' ---_. that it is our custom. and make it atrocious. Physical factors combine with moral factors to distance them from great crime�. to putting on blindfolds. I do not believe that in Asia titere arc two examples of women being condemned to a public execution.- . to deluding himself by self-interest and by the vanity of 'itatus. Other trades that are dangerous to morality are not numerous. there are at most nvo hundred thousand soldiers. An obvious proof of this is that out of a thousand victims of the law. to plunge without remor�e the human race into thc dcpths of blind stupidity. and till it with ugly passions. who are continuall} occupied with the education of their children. as we have proved else where. That is one soldier for every two hundred individuals. If the human race had been under the sway of the devil. Among them are very respectable people who go back to their villages to live out their old age as good fathers and husbands. wolves and ferrets are to us. If that was a general truth vrithout any exceptions to it. therefore. you can scarcely count four women. is less than people say. they have less of a liking for strong liquor. artisans.Questions on the Ellcydopaedia There are pf{)fessions that are even more ghastly. and which accustom him. which inspires savagery. wicked men in the world." and practices that have made the male species very wicked. their blood is milder. in spite of himself. and who arc enclosed in la world of] domestic duties. There are some which change an honest man into a rogue. There will always be detestable. Books always exaggerate their number which. It appears. to lying and deceiving almost without his noticing it. Ploughmen. that species would be more horrible than spiders. a thousand executed mur derers. there would be nobody left in the world. are few and far between. and artists are too busy to get involved in crime very often. \\Iomen. But fortunately those professions that harden the heart. Note that in a country of about twenty million people. while it is too big. yet which are prizcd like canonries. Eveljwhere they are less barbaric than men. Those two hundred thousand soldiers are under the strictest control. arc excluded from all of these professions which pervert human nature. the Antonines and Pierre Bayle. the Samoycds.- -- . and on the other side those millions of animals like him who have never heard of the Word. On man in the state of nature What would man be like in the statt: uf what is called nature? An animal far less advanced than the first Iroquois found in North America. In general. are animals living for six months of the year in caves. the inhabitants of Kamchatka. It is amusing to consider on one side Father Malebranche. _. The beavers would be preferable as a species. man's ideas would be focussed on the concern to feed himself. people like Titus. were very decent. Man left in the state of nature would have a� his only language a few badly articulated sounds. where they eat . Many people have been seen in a state not much better than that. and always will be seen. since the latter knew how to ignite fire and to make themselves arrows. the Hottentots are to man in the state of nature what the courts of Cyrus and Semiramis once were compared to the inhabit ants of the Cevennes Mountains. And yet those inhabitants of Kam chatka and today's Hottentots. . at least in some of our more desolate parts of the world. who is on such intimate tenos with the Word.. is in the ratio of at least a hundred to one in many countries. . . Centuries are needed to get to the stage of those twD arts._. nothing more nothing less. The Laplanders. 73 . That is when man would be just a srurdy child.vith their bare hands the vennin by which they are themselves eaten.- "-_. fine men have been seen. the species would be reduced to very small numbers through food problems and lack of shelter. and whatever the academics and theologians might say. He would be far inferior to those Iroquois. . The multitude of dumb animals called men. Trajan. and who do not have a single metaphysical thought in their heads.iWan Let us take consolation. the Kaffirs. compared to the small number of those who think. who are so superior to true savages. from Peking to La Rochelle. There would be no more knowledge of God and of the �oul than there would be of mathematics. the human race is only by two or three notches more civilised than the people of Kamchatka.. . a hovel and a wretched garment. and I would conceive of one without a head. as they would have nothing of what mainly constitutes your esscncei A head counts for something. and in our country the image of God sprinkles the earth with [drops of] his sweat the whole year round to get bread. . barely enjoying the gift of speech. or its equivalent. thought also. Here a musical tragedy is performed. there in another part of the world people are killing each other at sea "ith thousands of bits of bronze. if experience did not tell me that it is with this head that he thinks. would no more resemble a man than a monley or a bear [would) with its head and tail cut off. without hands and without a head? That would be a being as different from a man as from a pumpkin.Questions on the Encyclopaedia Between men or pure instinct and men of genius float that huge number who are preoccupied exclusively with survival. I doubt that one can go further than that on any plane! where land is cultivated. Thus it is thought that constitutes the essence of man. An examination of one of Pascal's thoughts on man 'I can conceive of a man "ithout hands. Tho"ghl. An animal that looked like a man from the nape of the neck clem-'nwards." 74 no. without feet.'ed of. there you have man as he is generally throughout the world. many centuries that he has been able to reach such a high level. barely noticing that the)' are unhappy. after a tew more centuries. Pascal. Finally. how would your head conceive of the fact that they were animals like you. And it is only over many. things have reached the stage we see them now. the five senses are to be found there. 0. An opera and a ship of the line always stretch my imagination. and without it he could not be eoncei. Yet more than half of the habit able world is still populated with m'o-footed animals living in that horrible state near to nature. with barely enough to live on or to clothe themselves. [ [ I. If all men were headless. If you add to that bread. That survival costs such an enormously painful effort that often in North America an image of God has to run five or six miles to lind something for supper. How can you conceive of a man without feet. or like one of those monkeys called orang-utan or forest-men. living and dying almo�t without knowing it. He would be thinking when in a deep.'Wan 'Thus it is thought that constitutes the essence of man. it comes back. just as matter always has mass and density. of eating. in his mother's womb. of sleeping. Essence is something else. to the purely animal state. If I wished to try and define God. A general reflection on man Twenty years are needed to bring a man from the state of a plant in which he exists in his mother's womb. Now. it would follow that God was not able to deprive this anima! of understanding. What is this headless animal postulated by Pascal supposed to be: A creature of reason. but we are not continually making use of these faculties. in as much as feeble creatures like ourselves can define him.. dreamless sleep. it never varies. it re. I would say that thought is his being. it is non-existent. it re\'ives. but man! We have the faculty of thinking. sometimes reasonable. since he cannot deprive matter of mass: for then it would no longer be matter. in a state of lethargy. and I suspect that other people arc like me. it goes away. which is the lot of early childhOOd. Thirt)i centurie� were needed to gain some understanding of how he is constructed. Just an instant is needed to kiIl him.' etc. Is not thought an attribute with u�? And so much of an attribute that it is sometimes weak. sometimes foolish? It conceals itself. as mass is of matter. 75 . If thought was of the essence of man.'e never thought in any of those states. He might just as well have postulated a tree which God had imbued with thought. of speaking. he is therefore a thinking being by virtue of his nature. like they say the Gods had given a voice to the trees of Dodona. in a faint. thought would be his es�ence in the same way that mass and density are the essence of marrero It would be part of the essence of man to he thinking continually. just like God is God by virtue of his nature. of walking. it does not experience any increase or decrease. I am often conscious of this. that is not part of our nature.'eals itself. if understanding is of the essence of man. In that case. I know ful! well that I ha. to the state at which mature reason dawns. An eternity would be needed to understand something of his soul. his essence. sometimes strong. he gets the answer that over . In republics. One cannot see why that tax-collector is cursed. that nothing is less philosophical than this subject. and because everyone must pay. Tax So many philosophical works have heen written on the nature of taxation that I shall have to sa� a few words about it here. It is true . In despotic kingdoms or.ImpOt. and excisemen are cursed in the Gospel. The nation is taxed without being consulted. each individual is taxed according to his means and in accordance "'ith the needs of society. are in effect republics. it is not quite the same situation. it is necessary to have a tax-collector. A farmer ""ith an im.:ome of twelve hundred livres is astonished to receive a demand for four hundred. it must be admitted that it is impossible for a society to survive without each member paying some thing towards its cost. There are even some who are forced to pay more than half of what they earn. when a hundredth would suffice . with the name of kingdom. The fanner asks why half of his wealth is taken away to pay for sol diers. and regarded as an idolater. There is certainly no idolatry about receiving mone}' from fellow guests to pay for their supper. to put it more politely. but it can be included under moral philosophy when suggesting to a comptroller general or to a Turkish teftardar that it is not part of the universal laws of morality to take money from one s neighbour. What is all this money used for? The most decent usc that can be made of it is to give it to other citizem. customs officials. Yet however cursed they might be. in monarchical states. and in those states which. and that all ' tax-collectors. followed by four servants dressed in material costing twenty francs a yard.. he is hanged.Tax and above soldiers the arts and luxury have to be paid for. will also have children. silks from the Levant. in a magnificent carriage drawn by two prize lDrses. So it is necessary for taxation to be used for the support of industry. he might go up to one of this fine lady's servants and say: 'Sir. that he could supply these things much mOre cheaply. 77 . my lady's pension is returned to you and to your comrades. in this wa)". He responds that he knows nothing of the Illstory of Persia. and that the whole thing is daylight robbery. it is clear that within a few years not a sou would be left in the kingdom. the material for my clothing is made in part out of the wool from your sheep. baubles from China. and that what has been paid into the prince's coffers should return to the farmers. Mocha coffee. and that he is very angry that half of his wealth is taken for the sake of a sash. who will still complain. . If a man from the country happens to go to the capital he might look with astonishment on some fine lady dressed in a silken robe with gold brocade. but at the end of the year everyone rurns out to have worked and has lived well or badly. her slippers and her hairpins. says the servant. that nothing is lost. where does this lady get so much money from to buy such expensive things?' 'My friend'. and having his possessions sold olI If he resists the extorters damned by the New Testament. English and Arabian horses. says the servant. says the rustic. _---- . that in the case of the Persians towns and villages are assigned to the Queen to pay for her sash. They suffer. they complain. He is made to listen to reason by being put in a dungeon. 'my village is paying for that pension. 'the King grants her a pension of forty thousand livres. . and that makes all his neighbours highly co-operative. but a proof that there is some truth in his reply lies in the fact that the village survives. hairpins and shoes.' 'Yes'. If all this money was used by the sovereign only to import spices from India. m)' baker has made my bread from your wheat. that people are having children there who. 'the silk that you have harvested and sold is used in the material in which she is dressed. ' The peasant does not quite agree with all the maxims [emanating] from this servant-philosopher. you have sold in the market the fowl that we eat. even while complaining.' 'Alas!'. her son will become a high official in the law.>. that would be an insult to the order of Roman knights. all taxes on imp()rt� are very high. Perhaps the transcriber left out a word like the epithet publicanu. the police or the Treasury.Questions on the Encyclopaedia If we were obliged to possess all the tax edicts. Certainly. that would be the harshest tax of all. A bu�inessman will boast of adding four to five thousand guineas a year to the Treasury. . people e\en take pride in paying them. your sums do not add up. That manufacturer pays nothing. and will increase my taxes in my oid age! Ah! you speculators. the person who collects what is rightfully Caesar'� should not be held in horror. and some big ecus by converting my flax into lace. and to the Emperor himself: nothing would have been more ill-advised. two hundred and forty-eight thousand ern.on point.1ors gave three million. pay for more than thirty per cent before your bill is calculated. to whom the government· contra(. He could have said pravus this word was all the more necessary because the general curse formally contradicts the word� put into Christ's mouth: City IInto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Some speculators would like taxes to fall only on agricultural produce. yet people pay them without complaint. the heavier the taxes. and my land pays for everything because everything comes from the land! The wife of that manufacturer will supply the Queen and the princesses with fine Aleni. The richer a country is. pra7.l. In Spain. the goods for export scnt to Cadiz.'ery high because the responsib illties oftlic State are very heavy."lIs. you are unjust. In England. and all the books written opposing them. The Duke of Sully tells in his Political (mnomies that in 1585 there were just hventy lords with an interest in farming leases.<. We know well enough that taxes are necessary. \\-bat! I grow a field of flax which brings me in two hundred manufacturer earns hvo hundred thousand eeu. and that the curse laid in the Gospel on the tax-gatherers affects only those who abuse their position in order to harass the people. The central issue is that a whole nation should not be robbed by an army of alguazils so that twenty or more bloodsuckers at court or in the city can slake their thirst on its blood. she will receive protection. In all civilised countries taxes are .8 . and from there to America. took in lax a tenth of the income from the h. chapters and all churchmen in general. In the letters patent of Charles V. but if she had not received those wounds. 22 Junt:: [372. the clergy do pay a tax called the tree gift and.. it is mainlr the most llseful and the most impoverished part of the Church. she would be in a better state of health. while so many monstrous customs and blood-soaked decrees have been kept? In truth.. In spite of all its wounds. in this area which seem to serve as an example to the other states of Europe.�ing taxes on the people. pay less than a ploughman. In those days that we call barbaric. France srill lives. who is so necessary? The Republic of Venice has just made rule. Yes. then a fiftieth lnd then a twentieth of their income in tax. King John. It is right for those enjoying state privileges to bear the costs. the great livings and abbeys in France paid a third of their income in tax. But why is there this difference and this inequallty in tax contributions between cit izens in the same state? \Vhy do those who enjoy the greatest privil eges. 79 . the parish priests.. These letters patent were renewed in 1390 by Charles VI. like any other citizcm. with a decree of 1 2 l\larch 1355. Philip It' Bel made the clergy pay a fifth. as everybody knows. The same prince confirmed that tax with tWD other decrees. who posses'i great wealth. it became worse still under Louis XIII. [\jot only do churchmen claim exemption from taxation. Philip-Augustus taxed a tcnth of the income from all livings..Tax It was even worse under Charles IX and Ffancis I. How is it that these laws have been abvlished. it is stipulated that churchmen will pay tithes and other property and personal taxes. one on 3 March. during Louis XIV's minority the level of pillaging was just as high.ings and inherited property of bishops. By means of a decree in the year I l SS. Church men and monks. 1358... the other on 8 December.inces of jmpo. they have even found the means in a number of pro. and to make people par them as jf they had the legal right. should for that reason make tax contributions. who pay that tax. The same is true of several other states. IIbbes. but who are sometimes useless as far as the public good is concerned. and at a time when the influence and violence of monks had taken away pastors' livelihoods. (By Mr Christin. and made the tithe owners responsible for paying them. it seems that peasants should no longer be required to pay a second tithe to their parish priests. The King abolished this second rithe in the province of Poitiers by letters patent in July I76Q.. .\1ajesty to pass a similar law for the other provinces that are in the same position as Poiriers. It would be very worthy of the justice and benevolence of His . and the bushel in others. Since the King ofFrance fixed the appropriate level of emoluments for the clergy with his decree of May 1768. and so in a number of village�. etc. a lawyerfrom BesanfOn) 80 .. especially in Franl:he-Comte. registered with the Paris parlrmrnt on the eleventh day of the same month. It is no doubt right for parish priests !O be well-paid.. but it would be much better to give them back part of the tithe that the monks had taken from them than to place a surcharge on the poor peasants. This lax tax is called the han)(sf tax in sume provinces. as monks had taken over the tithes at the expense of the parish priests. in addition they paid through r eligious ardour three or four measures of corn to their parish priests. apart from the tithe that parishioners paid to monks and chapters. a tax that they had paid only on a voluntary basis.Questions on the Encyclopaedia In some countries. . _ - . the peasants were obliged !O tax them selves to provide for the upkeep of their pastors. such as Franche-Comte. barely one out of five hundred in the case of females. suffering from hunger. How can we secure our welfare and find shelter from evil? That is the story of man in a nutshell. and per ishing miserably. The four elements conspire in its creation. 8. they have no sure instinct to secure for themselves what they need. sometimes they are too few and far between. The barrenness of a quarter of the planet.Politique. he needs help. and even with these advantages a species can still be reduced to walking around naked. clothing and shelter. These preliminaries are long and difficult. lacking in everything. to whom nature has given food. and caused them to multiply in others. It is only with genius that the arts are invented. For a species to multiply. which in the long run secure some of that [sense of] well-being that is the sole purpose of politics. . bee� or silk-worms. everything forces us to work unceasingly to keep evil at bay. Evil is everywhere. Society is thus as old as the world. There are sometimes too many societies. Out of a hundred males you could barely find one with any genius. Upheavals on this planet have often destroyed whole races of men and other animals in many countries. climate and soil must be tolerable. Men are not like beavers. No man [acting] alone can protect himself from evil and secure his welfare. diseases. Politics The politics of man consists first of all in tr}ing to equal the animals. the large number of hostile animals. and roguery that makes you laugh: that complements politics. then they prophesy for themselves. and still is. or into areas surrounded by impassable marshland. hands to help you. or islands. you take them for yuurselves. he adds new discoveries to this nascent art. you kill us. These soothsayers start by prophes}ing for the benefit of the nation's leaders. minds that are reasonably open to understand you. and share in government. . and vou have been born in a climate that has made you strong. Before finding and assembling all that. and enslave them. the victors fight each other with swords over the distribu tion of the spoils. In the end the strongest and cleverest subjugate the rest after centuries of bloodshed that make you tremble. His servants cut off my children's testicles. support is needed. If our wives and daughters are pre�'. or peninsulas. we sing you a few crude song� when you are bored. its oracles. he gives them the honour of guarding his \o\'ives and mistresses. takes advantage of this well-tried policy. each one keeps soothsayers and sacrificial butchers in its pay. and sufficiently docile to obey you. building your houses. Finally an art form takes shape. defend themselves against the mainland tyrants. External politics When a nation discovers metallurgy. In most of Asia this was. \Vhile these scenes of brigandage and fraud are played out in one part oftheworld. or we blow down a few pipes to get clothing and bread from you. who have withdrawn into mountain caves. In the end. ¥/hen several little tribes have subjugated in this way several other little tribes. To encourage and control these soldiers.l1 keeps soldiers in its pay. your son. other little tribes. we afe weak.Questiom (In the Encyclopaedia To pursue these arts. His Lordship. Every little natio. and if you spare our lives it's only for ploughing )'our fields. or into some small habitable territory in the middle of sandy deserts. it will innitably fight its neigh bours. thollsands of attempts prove abortive. if we have good voices. we have only clubs and stones. You have arrows and swords. each one has its gods. thollsands of centuries flow past in ignorance and barbarism. politics. and still mOre thou sands of centuries are needed to perfel:t it. irs prophecies. the great art of making men serve your welfare. Politics when every man has morc or less the same weaponry as the next, blood flows from one end of the world to the other. People cannot go on killing for ever; they make peace with their neighbour, until they believe themselve� to be strong enough to start the war all over again. Those who can write draft these peace treaties, The leaders of each peOple call as witness the gods they have made for themselves, the better to deceive their enemies. Oaths are invented; one promises you in the name of Sammollomdom, another in the name ofJupiter, to live always in close harmony with you; and at the first opporrunity they slaughter )'ou in the name of.1upiter or Sammonocodom. In the most civilised of times, Aesop's lion makes a treaty with three neighbouring animals. It's all about dividing up a prey into four equal parts. The lion, for good reasons that he will explain at a time and in a place yet to be determined, takes three parts for himself and threatens to strangle whoever dares to touch the fourth part. That is politics at its most sublime. Internal politics This is all about h�ing as much power, as many honours and as many pleasures as you can geL To succeed in that, you need a lot of money_ Ali that is very difficult in a democracy; each citizen is your rival. A democracy can only survive in a small terriwry. There is no use in your getting rich through your illicit business, or through your grandfather's; your wealth will make a (ot of people jealuu�, and very few will act as your yes-men. If a rich family does govern in some democracy, it \\ill not be for long. In an aristocracy you can more easily obtain honours, pleasures, power and money for yourself; but great discretion is needed to do it. If you abuse your position too much, revolutions are always to be feared. Thus, in a democracy aU citizens are equal. This type of govern ment today is rare and feeble, albeit natural and wise. In an aristocrat)' inequality and class-consciousness make them selves felt; but the less arrogant it is, the more secure is its {sense of) well-being. 83 Question:; on the Emydopaedia That leaves monarchy. This is where all men have been created for the benefit of one. He accumulates all the honours he wishes to pin on himself, savours all the pleasures he wants to enjoy, exercises absolute power; he does all that provided he has plenty of money. If he lacks money, he will be unsuccessful in domestic and in foreign policy. He will soon lose power, pleasures, honours, and possibly his life. does he enjoy life, but also his relatives and his chief servants enjoy life too. And a crowd of While this man has money, not only mercenaries work all year round for them in the futile hope of one day enjoying in their little cottages the same life of ease that their sultan and their pashas seem to enjoy in their seraglios. But here is roughly what happens. possessed a huge piece of land made up of fields, meadows, vineyards, orchards and forests. A hundred A big fat farmer once labourers worked the land for him; he dined with his family, drank His chief servants, who robbed him, dined in their and ate almost eveI)1hing. The labourers came and ate \'Cry and went to bed. tum, poorly. They grumbled, complained and lost patience. In the end they ate the master's dinner. and kicked him out of the house. The master said that these rascals were rebellious children who had struck their father. The labourers said that they had followed the sacred law of nature that the other man had violated. In the end, they consulted a neighbouring soothsayer who was reputed to be an inspired man. This holy man took the farm over for himself, and starved the servants and the former master to death until he himself was thrown out in his tum. That's internal politics. We have seen this happen more than once, and some of the effects of these politics still sun-lve and are still going strong. We must hope that in another ten or twelve centuries, when men are more enlightened, the great landowners, having become more politically minded, will treat their labourers better, and not allow themselves to be subjugated by soothsayers and wizards. ------ --- The A B C, or Dialogues between A B C, translated from the English by Mr Huet First conversation. On Hobbes, Grotius and Montesquieu A So you've read Gratius, Hobbes and _Montesquieu. \\'oat do you think of these three famous men? B I was often bored by Grocius; but he is "ery learned; apparently he loves reason and virtue; but reason and virtue don't affect you very much when they are boring. What's more, he sometimes seems to me to be wry bad at arguing. l\Iontesquieu is very imaginative on a subject that only appears to require judgement: he is too often mis taken about the facts; but I believe he also makes mistakes in his arguments. Hobbes is very tough, as is his style, but I fear his tough ness often stems from truth. In short, Grotius is an utter pedant, Hobbes a ,ad philosopher and .\lontesquieu a fine wit. c I agree to some extent. Life is too short, and we have too much to do to learn from Grotius that, according to Tertullian, 'cruelty, fraud and injustice are the companions of war'; that 'Carnaedes defended error as much as truth'; that Horace said in a satire: 'Nature cannot tell the just from the unjust';1 that, according to Plutarch, 'children , '.Nee IUItura POiest justo wrrm"' iniq"um. This cruel lin. is 10 be fourul in the third ",tire. Horace wants to prO'.'e, against the view, of the Stoics. that not aU crim�s are equal. The punisbmen� be says, must be proportionate 10 the offence. AdsiIIR,,;uJa. p""�ii.< quaepo."as im;g<f aequas. (!, satire 3, line, [ '7-[8.) TheA B C have compassion'; that Chryssipus said 'the origIn of the law is in Jupiter'; that, if Florentine is to be believed, 'nature has established a kind of kinship between men'; that Carnaedes said that 'usefulness is the mother of justice'. I confess that Grotius gives me great pleasure when he says, at the start of his first chapter in the first book, that 'Jewish law did not bind foreigners.' Like him, I don't think Alexander and Aristotle are damned for having kept their foreskins, and for not having used the sabbath for doing nothing. Gallant theologians have opposed him with their usual absurdities; but as someone who is not, thank God, a theologian, I for one think that Grotius is a very good man. I accept that he doesn't know what he's talking about when he claims that the Jews had taught circumcision to other nations. It's recognised fairly widely nowadays that the little Jewish hordes had taken all their ridiculous customs from the powerful nations surIt is reason, natural law, thaI teaches this justice; nature thus knows whal justice and injustice are. It is perfectly omious that nature leaches .1I mothers that ,t is bener to cmrect their children than kill them; that it is bener to Bi,'e a child bread than poke his eve Out; that it is more iust to help a father than lea". him to be de>-oured by a ferocious beasl, and more just to keep one's promise than to break it. Before tIlli. lin� with such a bad example, Nrc n�lura pOWIJusto Sffem,," iniquum- 1/O.1"T( Ctlnnol distinguish betlnro ",hal is just and ",hal IS unjusl, there is another line in Horace which seems to say exacdy the opposite Jura in.""'ta mnu injusrifataert nemJe 'It 1[ it must /It ackno",ledged that i4ws have bero "'"tnled only Ihrougk jear �jmjustice (line d. Nature had thus distinguished between whal is just and whal is unjust before there Were laws. Why should he have a diff'erent ,�ew to that of Cicero and all the moralists who accept naUtra! law? Horace was a lecher who recommended prostiUttes and little boys. I agree; who made fun of poor old women, agreed; whose cowardly flanery of Octavius exceeded the crueltv of his anacks on ordinary citizens, that is true; who often changed his views, wh;�h is annoying; bUI I suspect that here he said exactly the opposite to what he is made to say. I read: Et natura pmst Sff",,"( mlquum. Let others put a nff instead of an (( if that is their wish. I fino the .sense of the word d mOre straighuol"W3rd as well as being mOre gramrnati�all� correct: et natura Jl<!1('t, t/[, If nature did not distinguish between what is just and what is unjust, there would be no m01'll1 difference belween our actions; ;1 would then seem that the Sloi�s are right to maintain that all crimes against society are equal. Wha! is very' strange is that Saint James seems 10 take the SIPi<; pOSition to extremes ,"'hen he s.id in his epistle (chapler 2, line !o): "Whoever should keep the law, and yet break it in one point, is guilty of ha"ing broken it in all points." Saint Augustine, in a lener to Saint Jerome, gives a little b0061 to Saint Jamn the aposde, and then excuse. him by saying thaI whoc>'er is guilty of one trall5gressiun is guilty of all becau,," he is lacking in charity, which covers everything. Oh Augustine! How hiS a man who has got drunk, who has fornicated, trall5gtessed the role of charity? You are alwa)� abusing words, you old African sophist! Horace had a liner mind, and one thaI was mOre just than yours' (Voltaire's note). 88 Montesquieu isn't pedantic. it hadn't even recognised the immor· tality of the soul. The portrayal of the Inquisition and of negro slaves. brush strokes. whereas. locked away behind the cliffs of Palestine and its own ignorance. especially in France. translated into F�nch by . I find it annoying that this book is a labyrinth ". financiers or public servants.On Hobbes. Grotius and MOlltesquieu rounding them. have been enchanted. whereas the little Jewish nation itself had never made this insolent claim. What do you think of his Spirit ofthe laws? 8 It's given me great pleasure because there are a lot of jokes in it. Grotius's compilations didn't deserve the respect that the forces of ignorance paid to them. skillful few errors in costume.ith no route [through it). Thus he makes a very bad mistake in his book on Tne truth of Christianity by copying Christian authors who said that their Jewish predecessors taught the world. Quoting pros and cons from the thoughts of ancient authors isn't the same as thinking. 10 Grolius' De j�r( belli tI Pllcl$ ([624). depicts financiers as being odious. Thus those who are neither monks. and no method lin it]. I'm even more surprised that a man who writes about the laws should say in his preface that 'no 'The reference ig Barbeyra<:. Chapter 26 of Book XIX is a portrayal of your England. Every· where he fights despotism. or with no aspirations to be. drawn in the style of Paolo Veronese. Thus it is that he proves the truth of Christianity by means of Hystaspes and the Sibyls. But what has circumcision to do with 'the laws of war and peace'?' A You're right. and whole chapters worthy of the Persian letters. Pedantry and intellectual rigour are incompatible. is greatly superior to Callot. and of the adventure of the whale who swallowed Jonah with a passage [taken] from Lycophron. hard·hitring truths. monks ridiculous. a lot of bold. accepted by all its neighbours. court· jers despicable. and a I can see bright colours. 'In Europe'. It's Michel Momaigne as legislator. that she only has about twenty million souls at the most. and it's stranger still that the book should be a collection of witticisms. Arwis. the area around Cambrai.-as from Michel MOfltaigne's part of the country. Pufendorf even goes as far as to say twenty-nine million: he was speaking very much off the lOp of his head. The Zin crosses Isfahan. all the frontier provinces are awash with rivers which help to facilitate trade and make the land fertile. People were too ignorant then to even suspect that you could estimate the number of inhabitants by the number of births and deaths. And then what connection can there be between the Spirit rf the law. for more than five hundred years. France didn't possess Lorraine. that the on1y navigable river in Persia is the little river Cyrus. the Aras joins the Kura. Acham. it has been proved. r can't help laughing when I skip through morc than a hundred chapters containing less than a dozen lines. Chanlin did not make that blunder.' Roman power survived there. on the strength of Chardin's word. Alsace. He tells you.The A B C flashes of wit will be found in his work'. that boats in the central part of the kingdom'. You don't think that you're reading a serious work when. Nobody has ever taken a count of the population in France. the Tigris and thc Indus. following Pufendorf. He mixes up truth and efror too frequently in physics. he continued. that in the age of King Charles IX there were twenty million people in France. morality and history. Borneo. In those days. Cochin-China. He says in chapter 'there is no river open 10 I. seem as wrong as his statements on the rivers of Persia.. and today. Roussillon. 'the reason for the duration of these great empires lies in the fact 9' . Franche-Comte. however. but excluding the Euphrates. from the fairly accurate count of homesteads taken in 1 7 5 1 . he talks about the laws of Bantam. when she possesses all these provinces. and several with only two. after having quoted Grecian and Roman law. Jakarta. he says. half of Flanders. and. The same author assures us. volume II. 'great empires have never been able to survive. and the rivers of Persia? The reasons that he gives for the founding of the great empires of Asia. and for the multitude of small powers in Europe. etc. Tonkin. he v. Formosa as if he had accurate information on the governments of all those countries. and what's more. The author always seems to ha\c wanted to play with the reader when dealing with me most serious subject-matter. It only just failed to reach Rome. forbidden by law. Mount Ararat. It has held sway in Spain. Often he makes them say the opposite to what they did say. His theory of so-called climatic influence on religion is taken from Chardin. and that poverty com pels an officer to pay careful attention to the income [to be gained] from looting a town.quieu that there are great plains'. Thus experience teaches us that rich men are less likely to misappropriate public funds than poor men. born in the hot. Here are its words in chapter 4: 'You can be as bold as to sa)' that of two people of equal merit. The Mohammedan religion. Mount Sharon. which only goes to prove that virtue is not the motivating force of monarchic government'. Greece. Serbia. North Africa. The Christian religion was born in the stony earth ofJerusalem. or rather. in the certainty that a poor magistrate will need to have a very strongly tempered moral conscience if it is not to be weakened by considerations of self-interest. Egypt. and in a land of lepers where pork was an almost lethal food. He claims that in the Testament attributed to Cardinal Richelieu it is said that 'if among the people there is some unfortunate who is an honest man. as in Westphalia. Dalmatia. It did not occur to him that Persia is interspersed with mountains. ' It must be said that Montesquieu is no better at quoting Greek authors than French. Epirus. flourishes today in the beautiful lands of Asia minor. whose branches cover Asia. The wretched Testament. he puts forward the view that with the Greeks 'love took only one form whose name 9' . Syria. promising to talk about it. the one who is more comfortably off is preferable to the other.On Hobbes. you must newr use him. Talking about the condition of women under various systems of government. i\lysia. Today their religion is dominant in countries with lots of mud and dirt where people live on pork alone. and is no truer for that. falsely attributed to Cardinal Richelieu. Bosnia. Jesus never ate pork. says precisely the opposite. yet it's eaten by Christians. he did not remember the Caucasus. What's still more shocking to a reasonably well-educated reader is that nearly all the quotations afe wrong. the Himalayas. nor wrong reasons for the things that do exist. arid earth of Mecca. the Taurus mountains. You would never get to the end ifyou wanted to examine this sort of error with which this book is littered. Grotius and Monte. Thrace. He almost always mistakes his imagination for his memory. One must neither give reasons for things that don't exist. in so doing. Plut� arch decides in favour of Daphneus. If they are promises made to his subjects. to wage an unjust war. it's clear that in the Spirit of the laws Montesquieu has slandered the spirit of Greece by taking an objection that Plutarch refutes for a law that Plutarch recommends. Sabinus' wife. says thai no author has displayed true know9' . in order to fulfil them. he concludes by recording several examples of the faithfulness and courage of women. It is in this dialogue even that the Story of Camma is to be found. bours of the Turks. as several Christian princes have done. In short. on the contrary. as nearly all of them are. to be proofthat he is subject to the laws. He doesn't pause to reflect that Plutarch is putting words into the mouths of several interlocutors: there is Protogenes who rails against women. It's possible that some Muslim scholars have imitated those Catholic scholars who said that one's word of honour need not be kept either with infidels or with heretics. He makes Plutarch say that 'women have no part to play in true love'. since he would have to consult scholars in order to put himselfabove the laws. We are neigh. in order to do evil in good conscience. if they are peace treaties. The author of the Spirit ojthe laws otTers this aUeged decision by the Cadis as proof of the Sultan's despotism. It's possible that. limits must be placed on his authority. who lived so long among them. he composes a very fine eulogy of celestial love and conjugal love. he would restrict his authority. or make war. It would appear. The Sultan of the Turks can only make promises to his subjects or to neighbouring states. He doesn't hesitate to take Plutarch as his authority. and says in a hundred places that it must be kept. The Koran says nowhere that one's oath can be broken. and we do not know them. the Great Turk might assemble a council to guide his conscience. 'Cadis maintained that the Grand Sultan did not have to keep his word or his oath when. Count Marsigli. he has to keep them like any other prince. whose virtues have been used for themes in plays. but whether the Turks have this philosophy of law has �'et to be ascertained. but Daphneus who takes their side. no oath is involved.TheA B C one dare not speak'.' Ricaut. as well as that ofEpponina.' These words are very vague. just says on page IR of the 1671 Arruiterdam edition: 'There are even some people there who maintain that the Grand Sultan can set aside promises made on oath when. who is referred to at this point. let's note that the author condemns an order issued by the Council of Spain forbidding the use of gold and silver in gilding. having no factories. The majority of workers Were foreigners or slaves. We did not even have a toler able translation of the Koran until the Englishman Sale gave us one in 173 4· Nearly everything that has been said about their religion and their system of laws is wrong. 'he would lose the finest attribute of his sovereignty. ''''ben examining laws only laws that are understood should be referred to. Grotius and Montesquieu ledge ofeither their empire or their laws. and the conclusions that are dravm every day to their detriment are too ill-foundcd. Since the subject here is commerce. and that the father of the demagogue Demosthenes was an ironmonger. It would be sheer madness for him to make and unmake his judge ments. and that the Dutch could not buy cinnamon. would have bought gold braid and dress material from abroad.' You will note that Francis I hadn't been born when Columbus discovered the islands of America. Apart from the fact that this would overturn accepted theory. that Plato sold oil. He would not wish 10 be at odds with himself. Who would stop the sovereign from granting mercy after having been himself among the judges? How is one at odds with oneself by judging according 10 the law.' I don't know what l\·lontesquieu means by low commerce. namely that of granting mercy. bur I do know that in Athens every citizen engaged in trade. he says. except in the case of the Spartans. 'Several times I have heard people deplore'. 'With the Greeks all low commerce was vile.' All thai is clearly mistaken. 'Such a decree'.On Hobbes. 'the lack of vision on the part of Francis I's Council. which rebuffed Christopher Columbus. What was quite reasonable in Spain would have been quite ridiculous in Holland.' It doesn't occur to him that the Spanish. and granting pardons in accordance with one's sense of leniency? In what way would accepted theory he overturned? How could you be unaware 93 . It's important for us to note that a trade was not incompatible with high rank in the Greek repub lics. who did not have commercial interests. If a king votes in matters of criminal procedure. he says. 'would resemble one made by the Dutch states if they were to forbid the use of cinnamon. who had proposed the India project to it. you would not know whether a man was being acquitted or whether he was receiving mercy. need only to be well formulated and well printed. who rep resents them. 94 -------� . to encourage liberty. its negligent ways. .Thu l B C that the King had publicly pardoned the man after he had been convicted? In the trial of a French peer. They never stop undennining the power of the Church. edifies and exhorts. Shouldn't we distinguish between political laws and distributive justice? Shouldn't political laws have as their guardians the most important members of the State? The laws of what is mine and what is yours. which ought to be an organisation that prays. in Sweden it's in the Senate which is composed of nobles. have removed all the intennedi ary powers that made up their monarchy. .' However. The natural ignorance of the nobility. the par/ement. and when the laws are bad. They have made their House of Commons into an intermediary power balancing that of the Lords. The breath of the prince alone would he enough to tip the scales. which the King had consulted in order to ascertain whether he had the right to be present at the trial and judgement of a peer of France.on. the repository of the Empire's laws is in the hands of princes at the Diet of Regensberg. the repository for them should be with booksellers. in I45 8. [and] the [r670] decree on criminal procedure. 'The English. in the Senate. The Emperor can be present at the trial of a prince of the Empire. 'It is not enough for a monarchy to have intennediary ranks. This practice has been retained in England. No doubt it's much better for a sovereign not to be present at criminal tria1s: men are too weak and lOa cowardly. but that their presence was necessary in their capadty as first peers [of the realm}. Judges must conform with them. A repository of the laws is also needed. in England this repository is in the Upper Chamber. under her new code. and last but not lea�t Empress Catherine II locates this repository. the Duke of Alem. made up of the great est people in her empire. as is very often the case. its contempt lor civil government necessitate the existence of a body that continually makes laws emerge from the dust in which they would otherwise be buried. and not one that wields power.' It's accepted that the opposite is the case. replied that it had discovered from its records that not only did the kings of France have this right. The kings of England delegate their seat on these occasions to a Grand Steward. then judges must protest to the supreme authority in order to have them changed. . How was it that the Gauls. and in the case of the Lamas the law allows women to have several husbands. What was this abominable law court set up by Charlemagne in Westphalia. by what art and what boldness Gregory VII and his suc cessors crushed the laws of kingdoms and great fiefdoms beneath the fisherman's ring. the reasons for their introduction. and by what anarchical process feudal government over threw it. composed of unknown judges who condemned people to death on the reports of its spies alone. or of the King's bench. the upheavals that succeeded in destroying papal legislation. or of hearings. so what? Would our magistrates want to become eunuchs. I hoped to see the origin of the bailiff's courts that dis pensed justice almost everywhere from the time of the Ottonians. Even if these stories were true. I found only cleverness. Montesquieu does not resolve any of them. Unfortu nately. destruction and renewal. or exchequer. Grotius and Montesquieu The same author claims that in Tonkin aU magistrates and senior military officers are eunuchs. a court even more horrible than the Inquisition. neglect. and whose executioner was the youngest councillor in this little 95 . and about the fanciful voyages from the Red Sea to the Sea of Bayonne. a tribunal stained in blood called the Vehmic Council. I wanted to know the history of the laws under which our forefathers and their children lived.On Hobbes. with what laws Charlemagne governed his empire. and be only the fourth or fifth husband in line for the good lady councillors? Why waste time making errors about the fleets that Solomon is supposed to have sent from Ezion�geber to Africa. witticisms. continued to live under Roman law when they were re conquered and plundered by a horde of Francs? What exactly were the laws and customs of these new brigands? What rights did the Gallic bishops arrogate to themselves when the Francs became their masters? Did they not occasionally have a part to play in public administration before the rebel Pepin made room for them in the nation's parliament? Were there hereditary fiefdoms before Charlemagne? A host of such questions spring to mind. fantasies and errors. conquered and plundered by the Romans. and about the even more fanciful treasures of Sofa/a? \\-'hat is the link between these erroneous digressions and the Spirit I expected to see how the Decretals oj"the laws? changed the whole jurispru dence of the old Roman code. and the origin of the tribunals called pflrlements. Good Grief! Montesquieu talks to me about the laws of Bantam. and he doesn't know the laws of Charlemagne. Lastly. whereas the majority of writers from his country. Things being what they are. triumphal arches: those are marks of preference and distinction well worth the tides of rank often .----. he says in chapter 7. In spite of its faults. this work will aJways be valued by men because the author has said sincerely what he thinks. 'is to ask for marks of preference and distinction. is the principle of republics. He hops rather than walks. and rarely the spirit of the laws. . honour that of monarchies. Public interest opposed rule by a single man. 'The nature of honour'. I'll admit to you how distressed I am that a book that could be so useful should be based on a chimerical principle.Thd B C senate of murderers. I found the spirit of the author. . starting with the great Bossuet have very often said what they were not thinking. people would ask for prae torships. he makes this very clear himself uncon sciously. Book Ill. things being what they are.' Certamly. consulships. This is what establishes a republic. The pride and arrogance of each citizen keeps close watch on the pride and arrog ance of his neighbour. he takes him to be a good legislator! I looked for a guide on a difficult road. . it is thus located in monarchical government. fanatics have insulted him for those very parts that deserve the thanks of the human race. he says. and he makes you wish that such a fine genius had made more attempt to instruct rather than to surprise.-. he inspircs morality. This highly defective book is full of admirable things from which detestable copies have been made. Virtue. the property ethos. the ambition of each individual. You can be sure that republics have never been created by virtue. I found a travelling compan� ion who was hardly any better infonned than r was. and this is what keeps it going. He presents human nature with its rights. acclamations. It's ridiculous to imagine that a Grison needs more virtue than a Spaniard! That honour should be the principle of monarchies alone is an equally chimerical idea. he shines more often than he illuminates. sometimes he satirises more than he assesses. Nobody wished to be the slave of someone else's capricious whims. rights lost in most parts of the world. acted as a curb on the urge to l08t. Everywhere in the book he has reminded men that they are free. who has plenty. He fights superstition. ' Now it's quite wrong to think that such a government exists and. but I've seen mOre than twenty people who have made the journey. I know from the unanimous reports from our missionaries of various sects. monarchies and despotisms. it seems to me. At the start of the second book (ch. with far more certainty than Rollin knew ancient history. quite wrong to think that it could exist. without laws or rules. I know that in Peking there are six supreme courts with jurisdiction over forty-four other courts. Is that an arbitrary and tyrannical government? The Emperor is more revered there than the Pope is in Rome. which reports them to the Emperor. In days gone by. but perhaps we don't know how to trade like that.On Hobbes. Grotius and Montesquieu bought in monarchies at a fixed price. Montesquieu defines despotic government thus: 'A single man. The old officer corps and the lawyers have immense privileges. the Emperor of China. must one reign without the curb of the law? One proof that the laws reign in China is that the country is more heavily populated than the whole of Europe. but to be respected. a disposable vassal. The Koran and the authorised commentaries are the laws of the Muslims. Our authors have been pleased (I don't know why) to call the sovereigns of Asia and Africa despot5. a kind of crowned slave governing other slaves. that China is governed by laws.filther. master oft"e house. Originally this word despot had meant with the Greeks. There is another principle behind his book that's just as misleading: this is the division of gov ernments into republics. who carries everyone along by willpower and impulse. and it's been a failure. it was under stood that by despot was meant a minor European prince. Today we make free with this title for the Emperor of Morocco. or at least solemnly deposed. I've never been to China. . We've transported to China our holy religion. I). 97 . the Great Turk. and when the sultans wished to break those privileges they were all strangled. I know that when these six supreme courts address remonstrations to the Emperor it has the force of law. a vassal of the Turk. I know that at the far outposts of the Empire a street porter or a charcoal-burner are not executed without the trial proceedings having been sent to the supreme court at Peking. the Pope. All monarchs of this religion swear on the Koran to observe these laViS. We might well have taken its laws in exchange. I know. and not by a single arbitrary will. and I think that I\e read all the authors who have spOken about that country. However. rank this book? 98 How would you . he would want everyone to buy cinna mon and nutmeg. Montesquieu does have the weakness to say that the venalit} of offices is good in monarchical states.ith the help of twelve or fifteen thousand erus. It's very difficult for the most philosophical mind not to pay tribute to pride. become ab�olute master of the lives and fortunes of my fellow citizens! I would be called monsieur in acwrdance with the protocol used by my colleagues. I like thinking people who make me think. If a spice mer chant talked about legislation. Despotism is just the abuse of monarchy. this fine trade in the law that only the French in the whole wide world know about.The A B C It's an absolute certainty that the Bishop of Romc is more despotic than the Emperor of China. \. I've never seen a mortar. for he is infalJibie and the Chinese Emperor is nOt. that bishop is still subject to the law. a corruption of a fine system of government.!}pirit ofthe laws from having some excellent bits in it. In addition. I could more easily accept highwaymen in political office than I ("an tyrants a� kings. B True. A You say nothing to me about the venality of judgeships. A All that doesn't stop the . but I imagine that it's a superb adornment. and to be the son of a tax-farmer or royal \·ictuallcr. whether they be Chitillons or !'vlontmorencys and. I would have the pleasure of having every book that displeased me burnt by someone whom Jean-Jacques Rousseau wishes to make the Dauphin's stepfather.'. and I would call litigants by their plain surname�. Devil take it! If r had the honour to have been born in Picardy or in Champagne. of Kings! I would be a Guardian It's an excellent deal. 1 could. What do you expect� He was a high court president complete with mortar. It's a great right. Those people must be the biggest traders in the universe since they sell and buy even the right to judge men. to get m)' money's worth. But how do you find I'd happily spend a the house that Hobbes built in England? B It's a bit too much like a prison. There is of course some truth in a few of these ideas.On Hobbes. but to have gained something from them./ (Voltaire's note). It appears to me to be a building \\-ith poor foundations. that trutk1 has nothing to do with it. but 1 can't stay a moment in the ones belonging to Grotius: they are too well set up. With him force is everything. for he accommodates hardly anyone apart from criminals and slaws. He says that each man is born enemy every other man. well-polished. he should have said jus/. A few hours in these apartments. in which there are a lot of fine. He makes no distinction between kingship and to tyranny. and an irregular struc ture. Grolius and Momesquieu B With works of genius that make you yearn for perfection. nor eaten by his great beast Leviathan. with furniture that is a little toO old-fashioned. we take what we like from Aristotle down to Locke. A Yes. He claims that authority alone constitutes the law. gilded apartments. c Gentlemen.. and don't give a damn for the rest. but his errors have outraged me so much that I've no wish to be either a citizen in his city when 1 read his De ave. 99 . . "The word frll/h is used here f. you seem to me to be very discontented with the books that you've read.ther inappropriately by Hobbes. that the basis of society is the union of all against all. Let's try to sum up simply and straightforwardly this 'nothing very much' that we do know. <00 - _. without any foolish deference to intellectual tyrants or to the views of the t)Tannised man in the street.TheA B C c I'd very much like to know what the results of your reading and your reflections are. in short. B No matter._-- . A Nothing very much. with all the good faith of reason. It seems 10 me thaI in order to discover by oneself whether the soul is immortal. Whatever the ongm and destiny of the soul. and where they are going. and decent in [the world of] human souls.. I. it's a good thing to know where they come from.Second conversation.r� (Of the nature of things). B Let's begin. . But I always like discussing a subject in which Cicero took so much pleas ure. Before being certain of what is just. What do you think. although it hardly matters. you need to have a deep knowledge of the people you are dealing with.m . De mtlm n�t. c That's right. 'For none knows what is the nature of the soul'. Mr C. line Il3. Lucretius. certain first of you must be all thaI it exists. Mr AI Is the soul immortal? A But the question is a little blunt. the essential thing is that it should be just. On the soul. Lucretius said eight een hundred years ago: Ignoratur enim quae sit natura animaL' We don't know what the nature ofthe soul is. He could have said: We . and my only knowledge of that is through faith which cuts through all difficulties. honest. A few wise men perceived that all these imaginary entities are just words invented to bring relief to our understanding. Aristotle reduced the fantasy to a method: hence all those entities. taste. People went as far as to say that life was something that created the living animal. and at the age of eighty I feel that I'm no further forward than on the day I was born. c You're talking non�ense. that the air has fluidity.The A B e don't know whether it exists or not. called philosophy. Ideas. I've absolutely no knowledge of whether or not I have a soul. The whole of me ancient "arid's ignorant science of physics said: fragrance leaves the flowers and goes up my nose. that the animal's . colours leave objects and reach my eyes. had to be consulted. Smell. that plants have [powers of] growth. vision and hearing were given a kind of separate existence. had often said the same thing before him. Here I am answering you in the same way that Saint Augustine answered Saint Jerome. Yet this absurdity has been advanced for centuries. but there is no little secret individual entity in the rose that is growth. Aren't you certain that animals have life. haecceitas. who was a better philosopher than Augustine. It was claimed that an idea was an entity. archeqves existing I know not where. Plato gave full reign to this jargon. The misfortune of the whole ancient world was thus to change words into real entities. quiddities. and much more elegantly. but I see no real entity in the air called wind current. Our young graduates doubtless know more about it. Cicero. I've read two or three hundred dissertations on this vast subject. Augustine said quite franklv that he knew nothing about the soul. that the winds have their currents? Have you any doubt that you have an old soul in control of your old body? A It's precisely because I know nothing of any of the things that you postulate that when I listen onl} to the weak voice of my reason. that would be as absurd as saying that fragrance is in the rose. but I know nothing about it. Philosophically speaking. I can see perfectly well that the air is not still. they've never taught me anything. A rose grows. and all the other barbarisms of the schools. Two thousand years had to pass for wise men to be right. Don't you agree that animals have feelings? B Of course.jty. able tenn soul? or to which you give the vague. as Maleoranche says. and it could well be the case that we afe in Goo. c In that case. that the mm'ement of a ball is nothing more than the ball changing position. if all these metaphysical entities are just words. c But if they are right. I say that [without having recourse to anything] outside myself I know nothing about it. not to accept that would be a denial of common seme. that e\·ery metaphysical entity is just one of our ideas. A Do you think that there's a strange little entity inside them called sensitit. memory. A Not aH that odd. that a plant's powers of growth are just the plant growing. as Aratus and Saint Paul say. I would have thoughts without having a soul: that would be very odd. in short. that its ideas are the animal thinking. and that we �ee things as part of God. which is presumably a metaphysical entity. is your soul. I just think that God has given us five senses and a brain. appetite. inexplic < 03 .On the soul life is nothing more than the animal living. therefore. nothing therefore? Have we really no souli A I don't say that. B You know very little. has detennined it so for ever.t at a time when in his country people dared not think: 'The problem is not just to know whether matter can think. . but to know how a being. because thaI same nature has given th�m all th� organs of feeling. c But how do you have thoughts in your head? A Again. A So! This eternal principle has arranged things in such a wa�' that should I have a well-made head.opkicu/ !f/ters (Letter '3). can have thought. because the Author. One philosopher has been perse cuted for having said forty years ago.' I agree with that philosopher. the principle behind all nature. A Agreed ' The reference is to the Phi!o. and I'll tell you. in the face of persecuting fools. and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for them. I know nothing about that. that I know absolutely nothing of the first principles of things. should my cerebellum not be too moist or too dry. Animals have feelings because that is of their nature. and neither do we. I will have thoughts.The A B e B Of course not. None of us believe any of that. of whatever kind. . . fee! and think. . . and that others should be just towards us so that we can all be on this pile of mud doing as little hann to each other as possible for the time allotted to us by the Being of Beings to grow. It's apparent to us that it's in our interest to be just towards other people.. '05 . but we know very well where our interest lies...On the soul B Wb)' therefore are we discussing things? How will we know what is just or unjust if we don't even know what a soul is? A There's a big difference: we know nothing of the principle of thoughI. -- -_. etc.06 . The .. A 'With pleasure. etc. what he owes. laws. I want everyone to have his prerogative. starting vlith royalty and religion. war. '\-Ir . and I find aUf system ofgovernment to be the best on earth because each man knows what he has. put into eternal effect. Give us your frank opinion on justice and injustice. I only know laws that protect me. and because nothing happens without his divine \vill and without the interaction of divine laws. and what he can do. because God made men. provided that I enjoy my wealth and possessions in my own. On whether man was born wicked and the child of the Devil B You're an Englishman. etc. c Do you not admit the principle of divllle right III societ)'? A Everything goes back to divine right. etc. Eyerything is subject to the law. What I find to be most just is freedom and propert)'. religion. government.Third conversation. peace.\... I'm very happy to make an annual contribution of a million pounds sterling to my king for his household. if you want. Hobbes is just echoing the views of all sensible people. \\Inat hap pened to those men born from Cadmus' dragon-teeth would have happened to us: they fought and not one survived.On whether man was born wicked Archbishop of Canterbury. Everything is either a matter of contractual agree ment or force. but until then I'll believe that his living is very human. B So everything is by agreement with men. c So there's no natural law� A Certainly there is: self-interest and reason. would necessarily fulfil his destiny. for example. Man born to kill his neighbour. just as vultures fulfil theirs by eating pigeons. and to be kitled by him. is archbishop divine right than no more by I am a member of Parliament by right of birt:h. it's pure Hohhes. A As far as that b concerned. It's a long time since we were in that state (thank God). since our self-interest almost always conflicts with the self-interest of our neighbours. all men would slaughter each other. and beech- . then I'll sa�' that this !i-\·ing comes from divine right. \Vhen it pleases God to come down to earth to give a priest a living with tweh'e thousand guineas income. and since our reason is used to support the self-interest driving us? A If man's natural state was war. B So in fact was man born in a state of war. as people say it is. Now the De"il is our master. have never killed anyone as front-line soldiers. Prim itives we call Quakers are starting to set an important country up in Pennsylvania. at least since the time of original sin. but not of me. That is the most foolish blasphemy ever spoken. for our nice theologians assure us that from that moment on the Devil took our whole race over. always supposing that its mother had not spitted it first. whom Christians euerrninatcd. every mother would cat her child. A I grant you that the Devil has taken possession of theologians. as none of that happens. as soon as it had teeth. War is thus not part of the nature of the human species. the Samoyeds. The Lapps. the pleasure of extenninating one's neighbour for minor reasons of self-interest. people are demonstrably pul!ing our legs when they tell us that we are in the power of the Devil. as you know. I confess that the human race is not quite as bad as certain people proclaim loudly in the hope of governing it. B Yet the desire to hurt. There . every son would kill his father.The A B e martens fulfil theirs by sucking the blood from my chickens. So all men are like him. the most horrible wickedness and the blackest perfidy must be the distinctive characteristic of our spe cies. but the whole world is not in the hands of the Faculty of Medicine. dearly every husband would beat his wife senseless. and the first thing a child would do. They are like those surgeons who assume all the ladies of the court have been struck down by that shameful disease that produces a lot of money for those who treat it. not being able to convert them. I assure you. Diseases exist. and they all abhor war. l'iow. of course. If the human species was directly governed by the Devil. c When I look at it closely. and a very wicked master. they say that several tribes in the American islands didn't. We have seen people who have never waged war: they say that Brahmans didn't. would be to bite its mother. My only fear for them is on feast-days. make love on the ashes of the dead which are trampled under foot. dance. 'If evelJthing isn't good. harvest. you will see how he used to put bread in the O\'en' (Voltaire's nOle). the Mary Stewarts and the Charles Is do not recur every day in your country. . no European king has imitated Christian II of Denmark or Louis XI of France. Venice has seen four centuries flow by without the slightest rn'olt taking place within its walls. drink. or with Ramponeau. Farm-workers don't have time to shirk. These epidemics of horror are like those great plagues that some times ravage the earth. weave. There are a thousand villages in Europe where not one murder has been commit ted since the practice of cutting throats for religion fell out of fashion. they sow. The revolting executions of the Jane Greys. which they understand only too well. everything is at least tolerable. or the Opira-Comique.09 . no pope has resembled Pope Alexander \1. if everything isn't good. After what is for them pleasant work.' Take a province like the Touraine. and as a man who has spent his whole life feeling. because they find it necessary. after which people plough. For more than two hundred years. Again. which are devoted so absurdly to singing psalms in harsh discordant voices in a Latin that they don't understand. their wives and daughters help them. but they are rare. you forget that half the nation cut the throats of the other half over theological arguments on what will be soon two hundred years ago to the day. and yield to the need for sleep so that they can start again the next day. whatever abbe Caveyrac says about it. arguing and joking once said. I All these good people are too busy to think of doing wrong. where a major crime hasn't been committed for a hundred and fifty years.\rchbishop of Benevento. or Nicolet's monkey. or with Zaira. I 'Look ar the Caponli bv monsignor La Casa. they have a light meal. without a single rowdy gathering. . for which their appetite provides the best sauce. But when wu see the whole of Paris preoccupied with Rameau's music. and to drinking themselves senseless in a tavern. sow. knead dough. Only one archbishop of Paris has been seen going to the parlement with a dagger in his pocket. The Saint Bartholomew massacre is quite hor rific. PUt the bread in ovcns (not like Archbishop La Casa).On Whether man was born wicked are major crimes. or with art exhibitions. for example. everything is at least tolerable. that they tempt us. The priests . who were a very new nation. B I didn't expect that. had themselves touched by priests. A But you ought to expect it. that he is accompanied by a thousand million imps made like him. a miracle was needed to cure them. got this superstition from the Egyptians. It was also called the haly sIckness. And our ex-King James II. What can be the source of such an extravagant view. evil spirits. that they enter into our bodies and our souls. This superstition spread around the world. In the past all unknown disease was thus a case of possession by an e"il spirit. and since his rime even. ¥/here did grand-mal epilepsy come from. imagined that he was able to cure scrofula sent by the E"il One. and he was sent off to steal a statue in order to be cured. doctors have understood noth ing about diseases. people made pilgrimages. all of them locked away in an under ground fiery furnace. and that they inspire us with all their de\ilish perverseness. It was the same with scrofula. as a holy person. The Greeks. On a trip to Paris I saw epileptics in Ladychapel and Saint J\1aurus scream and writhe about from Maundy Thursday night until Good Friday. four lion-claws and a serpent's tail. all of them ha\ing descended from heaven. for example? From malevolent gods. that ever since they have come out of their dungeon every day. These illnesses were the effects of a miracle. it's still fashionable with the rabble. that Jesus Christ went down into that furnace to chain up all these beasts. of such an absurd tale? A The ignorance of doctors. You know well enough that before Hippocrates. The melancholy Orestes was supposed to be possessed by Megaera. that they're our absolute sovereigns." .The A B C B Vvbat madness alIowed people to imagine that there existed a goblin with gaping mouth. whose daughter had already married seven husbands who had been strangled by the devil Asmo� deu�. it learned there the names of the Devil.On whether man was born wicked and priestesses of Isis went all over the place telling fortunes. had been . Asmodeus. Their holy booh. Debauchees [and] perverts are always called children of Belial in Je'wish scripture. prayers and contortions. the principle of evil. and boasted of driving off the Devil. he took little Tobias to Raguel. Wicked people were considered to be possessed more than the sick were. an abominable idea. by virtue of their office. and for money they rescued fools under the sway of Typhon. They per� formed their exorcisms with tambourines and castanets. who in one day tore the hearts from eighteen supporters of Prince Charles�Edward. They admired an enormous number of devils in a hell about which the laws of the Pentateuch had said not a single word: almost all of their sick people were possessed by the devil. when they had the Chal� dean alphabet. all of them servants of Ariman. \'i-'hen this little horde was enslaved in Babylon. Mammon. Gradually. who are themselves eternally engulfed in torment. a horrible insult to the Divinlt} to imagine that the Divirrity continually creates sensitive. in the depths of its brute ignorance. 'Mitten since then. freshly established in its rocks between Pho� enicia. Ceres. Beelzebub. If the executioner in Carlisle. adopted all the superstitions of its neighbours and. Legend has it that a donkey drove off the devils of Senlis by tracing a cross in the sand with its hoof on Saint Rieule's command. Devil doctrine found great fa"our with the Jews. occasionally speak of devils. rational beings just to be tor� tured forever bv other beings. The wretched Jewish nation. Egypt and Syria. who for a hundred years were just half�Jews. of Satan. got rid of evil spirits with a root called barathrum. You see that when the angel Raphael descended from the Empyr ean specifically to make Gabel the)ew pay a sum of money to Tobias the Jew. Minerva. And it was at that time that the Jews attributed diseases and sudden deaths to devils. added new superstitions to them. took up demorric possession. Christians. Diana to confess that they are devils. it was generally established that all men are born pos sessed by the Devil and damned: without doubt a strange idea. The mad Tertullian carried this insanity to the point of sa}ing that by making the sign of the cross every Christian forced Juno. Instead of doctors they had exorcists who. damnation. On the contra!)'. A By a misleading ambiguity. who had seduced Eve.. this is the one that he would ha.- . he would never have been able to invent in cold blood a system by which so many thousands of infants still at the breast are delivered up to eternal executioners.15.'e chosen. and upon this rock I shall build my church.. for unless he had both the soul of an executioner and that of a theologian.. And how does that come about? Because God condemned the serpent. 'Man shall crush the heads of serpents as much as he is able. . But I'm curious to know how this idea of an infinitely good being creating millions uf peuple every day in order to danm them could have entered people's minds. Adam lived another nine hundred and thirl)' years. to walk on its belly (for previously. ' The pun on PinTdpiem: is lo. B I fear that the Devil will reproach you for being a bad son who rejects his father. _ . XVI. 11. ' Genes[s. and Adam's race is condemned to be bitten on the heel by the serpent. and the heel he bites is our soul. and that you don't want to acknowledge it. ' Gelles"" [[[. who triumphed over the Devil. Now the serpent is obviously the Devil. [8. . we must understand by that the Messiah. Moreover.'2 Here is the ambiguity that damns all infants.'· Clearly. . as you will readily understand. He says to them: 'On the day that you eat from it. . it walked on its legs).The A B C given the responsibility of founding a dogma. God forbids Eve and her husband from eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge that he had planted in his garden. We must therefore understand by that a different kind of death: the death of the soul... .17. just as papal power is based on a play of words: 'Thou art Peter. But it's not said that Adam is damned: therefore it will be his children who are. you will die from death.t in translation. See Matthew. Your outlandish statements \\ill seem to good Roman Catholics to prove that you are possessed by the Devil. it would have been necessary for him to have been drunk on brandy.'J They eat it and don't die from it at all. The Sadducees. in accordance with the custom of a few Jews who looked upon baptism as the cleansing of the soul's stains. his sister. But. it's beyond doubt that the Jews had never heard of original sin. Jesus was circumcised when he was eight days old and baptised as an adult. however much inclined the fanatics are to believe contlicting accounts.On whether man was born wicked But how did he crush the head of the old serpent by delivering up to him alJ unbaptised infants? There's the mystery. by some seneschal from Forca/quier named Rea� in which the law is derived from the town built by our father Cain. who believed in metempsychosis. A It can't be because of Cain. his mother. nor of the eternal damnation of infants who died without being circumcised. Abel and Cain have only ever been known to the little Jewish nation. c I'll stop you there. for it's stated that God protected him and gave him a sign in case he should be beaten or killed. Isn't it because of Cain that we are damned. It's even stated that he founded a town [at a time] when he was still almost alone on the earth with his father. No apostle says that unbaptised infants will be burnt eternally because of Adam's apple. entitled The science of got'emment. could not accept eternal damnation. None of the early fathers of the Church proposed this cruel fantasy. and it seems to make more sense to me to be dalIllled for fratricide than for an apple. if I'm not mistaken. who became his wife. And how is it that children are damned because their first father and mother had eaten of the fruit in their garden? There's another mystery. Eve. This was an old custom of the peoples of the Indus and the Ganges who had been convinced by the Brahmans that water washes sins like it washes clothes. I've even seen one of the most boring books. ---- -- . the Pharisees. given that Abel died unmarried. and not because of Adam? For we look as though we descend from Cain. In short.. . Jesus. however that may be. who didn't believe in the immortality of the soul. . circumcised and baptised. and what's more. and a son named Enoch. doesn't speak of original sin in any of the Gospels. you realise that Adam. and that even children are surely damned if they die without having been rebom in Jesus. anger. asks them whether they renounce the' Devil. a lot of ingenuity. compassion. benevolence. dislike for others. which disarms it.The A B C B So who was the first to say that clearly? A Augustine the African. how ever. by the way. while baptising these small creatures. which is useful to his neighbour. Read especially the second book of the review of his works. affection for several of his companions. Today. reason and passions. that God hurls children who die very young straight down into hell from their mother's breast. I think that man's nature is not completely diabolical. try to make a man based on a better model. in his letters to Evodius and Jerome. c I'm happy with everything that you've said. which is useful to him. which is dangerous. A lot of needs. and the man who changed his view so often does not retract. he says it. sickening the heart of this great talker. The majority of theologians no longer dare accept it.' It's true that nature. But wh�' do people say that man is always inclined towards evil? A He's inclined towards his well-being. However. that's man. instinct. but one who twists the meaning of a few of Saint Paul's texts in order to infer from them. chapter 45: 'The Catholic faith teaches that all men are bom sinful. God has given him pride. So true is this that the priest. is kind enough to say yes. "When you're one of the gods. and the godfather. the reformed churches detest the system. who answers for them. they continue to acknowledge that uur children belong to hell. '" . a respectable man. forces him to flinch at the barbarous sentence. which is only evil when it oppresses his fellow men. The Church asserts the authorit} of this terrible system in order to make its bap tisms more necessary. A That's a misuse of words. \\'hat you call theft was the B It was forbidden to marry your sister in Rome. and even with the Jews you were allowed to marry your half-sister on your father's side. c The world is made up of a lot of people. punishment for greed. for in spite of Leviticus young "5 . but let's come to the point: what do you call just and unjust? A What appears to be so to the whole world. They say that in Sparta people approve of pilfering. the Athenians. and on curiosity B We are quite convinced that man is not an entirely detestable being. for which you are sentenced to the mines in Athens. Among the Egyptians. On natural law. Pilfering cannot be committed in Sparta when everything is held in common .Fourth conversation. to murder. and found people simple-minded enough to believe him.66. what wars. A I just suspect that it was a very lazy beggar. tearing up the stakes and filling in the ditches. was the true founder of civil society. arbitrary customs. p. to tell hannful lies. you would soon have a very pretty village. What is essential stays for ever. who wrote that piece of impertinence. What crimes." c It must have been some highwa)man.6 . to be ungrateful to your benefactor. someone had said to his fellow men: 'Take care not to listen to this imposter." A All that is juSt the law of convention. Show me a country where robbing me of the fruits of my labour is an honest thing to do. . The author of this passage seems to me to be a very unsociable animal. and if the father of [every] family had followed this example. Discourse 0" the I)rigi� ofm'q""iity (pan 2). what misery and horror might have been spared the human race if.Jocques RQus. B This is what I read in a proclamation that was quite well-known in its time. don't be silly. and that the earth belongs to no_one. to strike your father and mother when they ked you. because instead ofspoiling the land of a wise and industrious neighbour. Kings. some clever wit. to poison. what murders. you are lost if you forget that the fruits of the earth are for everyone. . having enclosed a piece of land. I've translated this bit which seemed odd: 'The first person who. where it is honourable to break one's promise.seau. 'Jean.TheA B e Tamar said to her brother Amnon: 'Brother. n" 3. to slander. just ask my father for my hand. . ventured to say This is mine. he won't say no to you. all he had to do was to imitate him. fashions that fade away. or in taking pleasure in their misfotrune. People flock to such. Lucretius tells us the reason why: . A Lucretius doesn't know what he's saying. to save those drowning people. gaping open. and he is quite prone to doing this h. act 111. scene 3. Dr rerum natura (Of the nature of things). II. and there's hardly a man born who doesn't take secret pleasure in wandering along the shore enjoying the sight of a ship battered by the wind. It's this passion alone that brings so many people out to public executions. When small boys and girls pluck feathers from their sparrows. in spite of his fine descriptions. line 4' Voltaire in Tancrd. the author of a tragedy once said. he has failed to meet the first obligations of natural law? A Yes. a sight out of curiosity.On natural law. but there isn't a single one of those spectators who wouldn't make every effort. . Lots of children enjoy plucking feathers from sparrows. There is such a thing as natural law. there are people who say that nothing is more natural than doing harm. while the passengers raise their hands to the heavens and plunge into the watery depths with their wives holding their children in their anns. definitely. . if he could. and it doesn't consist in doing hann to others. just as when they take their petticoats and dolls to bits.imself. Curiosity is a feeling natural to man. c Still. it's purely out of curiosity. l "7 . and being swallowed up gradually by the waves. Quibus ipse malis careas quia cemere suave est. 'The strange urge to see the wretched'. and on curiosity B So you think that by attacking and robbing the fellow who fenced off his garden and chicken run with a quickset hedge.' You Wok with pleasure on roils that M not affict you.4 Lucretius. that molten lead and boiling resin wouldn't really be poured into his wounds.. has flooded the earth with so much blood that when 1 call to mind the horror of all this again. ambition. there are such dreadful examples of it. Vengeance is such a violent passion. so many murders. a Cromwell. ewn mOre deadly. an Alexander VI. etc. whose protection was sought by Cardinal Maza rin. stained with so much incest. like going to observe a physics experiment. that's to say. and that four horses wouldn't reall}' tear apart his dislocated. Louis XIV's first cousins. whom Saint Gregory flatters ·with the most contemptible cowardice. Certainly none of them were consoled by the thought that his breasts wouldn't really be torn iJ)' red-hot pincers. I'm tempted to retract and accept that man is very much like the Devil No matter that I have in my heart a notion of what's just and what's unjust.mine. and was held back b}' the guards. I understand that man onl)' likes and does evil for his ovm advantage. he's just curious. and for whom he drove out of France the descendants of Charles 1. an Anila. known as the good.The A B C I remember being in Paris when Damiens was made to suffer one of the most refined and atrocious deaths you can imagine. A hundred similar examples upset my ideas. and I no longer have my bearings. A Sol Do storms stop us from enjoying the lovely sunshine today? Does the earthquake that destroyed half the city of Lisbon stop you from 'La Cond. he's an ama teur'. . etc.. it's not to do some soul-searching. so many pDisonings. he hasn't come here out of wickedness. to savour the pleasure of not being quartered. with whom the weak Louis XII. a Phocas. for when one of the members of the Paris Academyl wanted tv get into the enclosure to take a closer look. bleeding limbs. R Alright..8 . makes the closest and most unworthy alliance. One of the executiDners made a sounder assessment than Lucretius. but so many people are inclined to seek their advantage in the misfortune of others. he said: 'Let the gentleman enter. etc. to whom Saint Leo pays court. All the windows looking Out over the square were rented out at a high price to ladies. it's simply out of curiosity. without wasting our time probing the nature of man and comparing so-called savages \\-ith so-called civilised people.On natural law. for I see that laws are only made because men are wicked. A I warn you that I can't bear anyone to bridle me without consulting me first. I'm also ready to retract. if Cardinal . you would never put a bridle on them. The Greeks called them kughters of heaven. let's have a look at which bridle suits o ur mouths best. and cast my vote in order to know at least who is going to ride on my back. that I wish to bridle myself. c No marter. c \Ve come more or less from the same stable. "9 . that simply means daughters of nature. If horses were always docile. But. are there no princes and ministers who are honest people? And doesn't the idea of justice always survive? It's un this that all laws are founded. and on curiosity making a very comfortable trip from Madrid to Rome on firm ground? If Attila was a brigand.'\1azarin was a rogue. each cultivating a reasonably good piece of land. because we have no lrue histor ical account. olig archical. imagine all those systems of government. and you can fritter yours away listening to mc. r imagine that first of ali two small neighbouring tribes. I'll fritter my time away talking to you. for if they settled in that particular spot. you seem to me to be a very wise Englishman How do you . a stream. were founded: monarchical. and on theocracy B l\tc A. democratic. diabolical and other combinations of these precedents? c Yes.Fifth conversation. each con sisting of about a hlUldred families. as thesc tribes are separated by legs and a head. two r find it inconceivable that the inhabitants of this little canton were not at first all equal. everybody has his own version. it's because the land is fertile. are separated by a stream. tyrannica1. On the ways of losing and keeping one's freedom. aristocratic. for there would have been necessarily some difference between them ----- . And. despotic. whose names we can hardly remember. I find it equally inconceivable that they were not enemies. As each individual has received equally from nature two arms. A Since you want to. I think that could well be the origin of monarchy. who in fact came from the north and surprised. killing and looting is a most ancient form of heroism. I'll make you masters of the southern village. people get used to obeying him.' He spoke so confidently that he got their vote. that they should get themselves circumcised so that they could all form a single nation. abducted the girls and the rest of the live stock. killed a few sleeping inhabitants.On losing and keeping one's freedom in the way they pronounced the same words. the children ofJacob proposed to the King of Sbechem. set up as commander and judge. I can find no military strategy in Frontin comparable to that of the children ofJacob. The device of taking by surprise. They attacked the southern mob during the night. 'So far you have only fought in daylight. who was already nubile. they refer the issue to the leader whom they chose for this heroic expedition. maimed several (as the noble Ulysses and Rhesus did). 'you must attack your enemies while they are asleep. the man considered to be the strongest and cleverest from the north ern village says to his comrades: 'If you will follow me and do as I tell you. For as the King of Shechem's son was hopelessly in love with Dina. He made them take up better weapons than the opposing village had. and he gets even more used to giving orders. There would have been great rivalry between the two villages. All things being equal up to that point. The new leader is considered a great man throughout the land. the daughter of Jacob the patriarch. some girl or woman would have been abducted. Naturally. and to all the Shechemites. being at least six years old. It's a rare example of sane politics and sublime bravery. with sticks and stones.' he said. So there he is. . looting and killing his neighbours has stamped terror on the south.' This idea seemed like a great [stroke of] genius to the mob from the north. who lived in the south. and as the two lovers had slept together. The young men would have fought frcljuently with their fists. killed and looted the Shechemites. the victorious town-sized village quarrels inevit ably over the sharing of the spoils. The inhabitants south of the stream would certainly have made fun of those living to the north. c It's true that the great art of taking by surprise. to his son the prince. After all this. and respect on the north. and that cannot be excused. had gone to bed. took all the Shechemites by surprise. and the ten other patriarchs plundered them. but the Persians [and] the Medes. As men's minds became more sophisticated. or Romulus. otherwise known as Cyrus. on cliffs. the Grisons. and the murderers and thieves who did not yet have one. design and colour. or Cosmu. XXXIV 15 . and that eventually their leader had become a monarch. in mountain gorges. The Venetian republic is the opposite to the Dutch. were thieving monarchists.TheA B e And as soon as the Shechemites. Nations who live in caves. The Polish bears no resemblance to the English. The Greeks were free for a long time in a country bristling with mountains. the murderer of his brother. I killed them. . A It would appear that the Shechemites had taken some similarly splen� did action before. and that a defensive war created the first republics. the Genoans. two patriarchs. with variations in grounding. within their seven hills the Romans took back their freedom as soon as they could. the Carthaginians and the Rhodians keep theirs as long as no�one had access to them b} sea. And in the end the earth belonged everywhere to the strongest and the cleverest. because it was the ones who were taken by surprise. killing them and looting them. on islands. as has already been said. acting on their own. Without arguing with you further about Shechem's foreskins and thieving Arabs. . Gellesis. were nearly always thieving republicans. . Simeon and Levi. You once saw the Tyrians. The desert Arabs. in marshes. and then took it away from several other nations by taking them by sur prise. Genseric land] Attila all made themselves kings. However. for example. keep their freedom like the Swiss. that does not fit in with your theory. another murderer. the Venetians. I have it [firmly] in my mind that a war of aggression created the first kings. Thus the Spanish monarchy is as different from the English as the climate. or Clovis. systems of govern ment were treated like [pieces of] fabric. and other thieves who didn't. A robber�baron like Dejoces (if he existed). having CUt off their foreskins. killed and looted who had a king. I can understand that there were thieves who had leaders. one bleeds you. has there ever reaUy been a theocracy? A That is proved by the fact that theocracies are �till to be found every where. another one purges you. and that from Japan to Rome you can be shown law� emanat ing from God himself. A So what? Don't dottors recommend complete]} different cures for the same illness? One recommends a cold bath. I would really like to have seen the first impudent fellow to make God speak. they all conflict. B But these laws are all different. confess that I tremble to examine things r too closely. Apart from Moses and other genuinely inspired people. and to leave us with our foreskins and fresh pork. to order the Egyptians and the Jews neyer to eat p()fk. 1 pOIsons your son and becomes your grandson's c That's strange.On losing and keeping orle's /redom c All that is plainly true.eten who was a doctor at the imperial coun in Vi�nna. but among all those types of government. 1 fear of finding some contradictions in them. a third one kills you. lluman reason might very well not understand how God came down to earth to decree what was right and what was wrong. a newcomer soothsayer. 2 The reference is to Gerard Van S". He surely could not have forbidden eds and hares in Palestine while allowing people to eat hares in England and ordering papists to cat eels on fast days.. the other a hot bath. having once cut off their foreskins. and on enemy of en1ightenrn�nl_ "3 . d. the best vintages. GregaI)' VII dethrones Emperor Henry IV. Fraud alone would not be enough. In a war he sees that his count1)'l11en have an advantage of six to one. Henry Fielding 17r. scene 3· . The monarch kicks against this. The priests eat roast beef.] The King of the country first makes a deal with them in order to be bettcr obeyed by the people. Thc dream comes true. In addition to being a brazen fellow and a rogue (two vel)' common things). it seems to me. Probably. the priest strips him of his authority in the name of God. ur the wast lmfofOId England (1748). provided he gets a handsome cut. A man with an inflamed imagination sees his mother and father die in a dream. God reveals to them that the best slices of mutton and beef. but soon the monarchy is duped as a consequence of the deal: the charlatans use the power over the riff raff that the King has delegated to them to enslave the King himself. Samuel dethrones Saul. B No need to have read much to judge that things must ha. and the people stare. as one of my friends says. depriving him of a Christian burial This diabolo theocratic system lasts until reasonably well-educated princes come along with enough intelligence and courage to cut the Samuels and the Gregorys down to size. but fanaticism subjugates.The A B e A I think that he was someone who combined fanaticism with deceit. You only have to look at the half-witted population of a 'Voltaire is quoting in English. It's a good trade. belong to them. that bewitches. and there he is. and they die. he predicts victory for them. Grub Siren opera. Their authority increases with their num bers. convinced that God has spoken to him in a dream.'e happened like that. The source might be Theodos ius Forrest's Thr roast burofOld El1IJu". probably from memory. this profession starts with dreams. Both are old and sick. my little charlatan trains pupils with the same self-interest that he has. the plumpest chickens. That. is the story of the human race. Act 3. a well-known cantata inspired by Hogarth's picture of 'The CaU ofCiliais. he starts making predictions in the llilmc of God. Cf. Sames. "5 XlII. .On losing and keeping one s freedom provincial village where there are a couple of monasteries. The Bishop is e. The people are always ready to flock around the Franciscans and the Capuchins. The magis trate. issues a warrant that deals rather gently with the monks' insolence and the people's credulity. Humani genens mores tibi nos se volenti Suffici! una domus. who is angry with the commander.' • Juvenal. some edu ca[ed magistrates and a sensible [garrison] commander. The commander wants to keep the crowd under control.' 59.'en more angry with the magistrate for having meddled in divine business. and the monks stay powerful un!il a revolution abolishes them. See Plutarcb. but by what right do my fellow citizens belong to me? AlI those with possessions in the same territory have ellual right to the maintenance onaw and order in the territory. and understand the public interest better than the most arrogant Tchaouch in Turkey.. all rise above their trades.Sixth conversation. my children belong to me. . L Lycurgu.. my servants. belong to me. . who all helped me build my house.'1 With all due respect to him. and my friend the mill-owner.My house belongs to me. and a thousand ancient errors B Let's get to the point. just like they have made their houses.ven wi. I confess that I could put up quite well with a democratic government. I did receive a slap in the face from his lordship your Intendant. my dear fellow?' 'Sorry. I think that philosopher was wrong who said to a supporter of a system of government by the people: 'Let's start by tljing it in your own house. No-one is in the position of that hatter who presented his bill to a peer and duke so that he could be paid for his services: 'Have )'ou received nothing on account. No ploughman.( mffl. you'll soon regret it. On three systems of government. Th( nanqu(/ ofII" '. I like to see free men themselves make the laws under which they live. a house and a city are two very different things. my neighbour the farmer. no artisan in a democracy has to fear harassment and contempt. ' It's very nice not to be liable to be dragged off for life to some dungeon for not having paid a man you don't know a tax whose value and reason for existence are unknown to you. my blacksmith. when I pay them. my carpenter. I find it pleasing that my mason. my lord. speaks thus of our system: "7 . could not bear my wig-maker to be a legislator. Only those who have had a very good education are fit to lead those who haven't had any. but I forgive you. there are nations forced to lose both eyes like old nags made to tum the millstone. The people are not fit to govern. Make me a noble Vene tian or a count of the Empire. and til 1 consider my support my case. A You're a rich lord. although I'm just a member of the Parliament of Great Britain. I'll cite irrefutable evidence: that of a Frenchman who. I only like the aristocracy. The Venice system is the best. Mr C. to have only equals. one that of parasite. This aristocracy is the most ancient state in Europe. natural Jife of man. I want to keep my eyes. There were two ways of losing it: either when fools were deceived by rogues. a black comedy in which someone plays the part of the master and someone else the part of the slave. For my part. or when the weak were subjug ated by the strong. After it I would rank the system of government in Germany. This much is clear: people can only have lost their liberty through being unable to defend it. I suppose that you would lose one in a state run by the aristocracy. is the true.On three systems ofg(ll)ernment To he free. I I would prefer never to wear a wig. and I strongly approve of your way of thinking. and both in a monarchical state. You'll agree with me that men can only have left their natural condition through cowardice and stupidity. A You're talking like a citizen of Northern Holland. in a poem devoted to truth ami not to frivolous make-believe. c Me. I tell you. I can only live joyfully in either one of those stations in life. There's talk of some defeated people being forced by some conqueror or other to lose an eye. own constitution to be the best o f all. Anything else is shameful pretence. I see that you would support the Turkish system of govern ment i fyou were Emperor of Constantinople. the other that of pimp. Just as the Romans had. I'll leave to the declaimer Bossuet the politics of the little kings ofJudah and Samaria. It's dangerous to eal too much. astonished at the knot that joins them: The represent3tives of the people.. I. those of an unhappy people who were bloodthirsty without being warlike. from the Chinese Emperor Hiao. start ing with their own David who. united by the law. brigands without being able to hold on to their spoils. having followed the trade of a robber ' Henri4lk. or the Athenians. almost always enslaved and almost always in revolt. and enonnaus abuses. who understood only murder. [down] to the latest disputes in Ragusa and Geneva? A Good Heavens. Bishop of Meaux.8.'e to comb through foreign archives to set the record straight.The A B e ·Within \\'estminster's walls you can see three powers Appear together. . no! I just ha. called The politics of holy scripturr? Nice politics. the nobility. All three sacred menlbers of that invincible body. B Would you like us to examine in depth all the systems of government in the world. Divided by self-interest. Quite a few people who could not govern a maidservant or a valet have undertaken to govern the world with their pens. sold in markets by Titus and Adrian just as the animal called unclean by the Jews is sold. the King. line" . but I still want my table to be well laden. and the Hebrew hordes.8 3'3-. usurious without being commercial. and just as there always will be with men. this is what we have achieved. and which was more useful than they were. Would you like us to waste time reading that book by Bossuet. To itself dangerous. to its enemies terrible' c To itself dangerous! So do you have great abuses in your country? A I expect so. The cubnination of human perfection is to have power and happiness. . the more tolerable life is. there they go. expanding on the laws of Charondas. and that. cutting it into [thin] strips she encircled an immense territory on which she founded Carthage. and with regard to modern history. telling us yet again how a certain Dido. It will be a long lesson. following so many others. And that wise Solomon who started offby murdering his own brother Adonias at the foot of the altar. and about Darius' horse that made its master king of Persia. and about Gyges' magic ring. telling us yet again that the little town of 5ybaris put three hundred thousand men in the field against the little town of Croton. I'm tired of the education of the young being devoted by these ridiculous pedants to the study of the history of such a people.On three systems ()fgrroernmmt in order to become king. there they go. and about Smerdis' ears. murdered Uriah as soon as he was master. the Trojan horse and Jonas' whale. c Let's see then. let everyone try to learn from the mistakes of his own COUntry and from those of his neighbours. I'm no less tired of all those books which repeat the tales of Hero dotus and his ilk about the ancient monarchies of Asia and about republics that have all disappeared. which could only put a hundred thousand men under anns. 50 let's leave the whole of ancient so-called history there. talking about the prophecies fulfilled by Apolio. but let's also look at the fine institutions by which modem nations distinguish themselves: that will be an even longer lesson. We must consign all these stories to the same place as the she-wolf of Romulus and Remus. B And what will we learn from it1 A That the closer the laws of convention are to natural law. There the}' go. these story-telling histor ians. with so many others follo\\oing them. supposedly Pygmalion's sister (not at all African names) escaped from Phoenicia to buy as much land in Africa as a bull's hide could cover. which is only a tenth smaller than London.Seventh conversation. A I make those exceptions as well. and the same goes for the rest of Europe. which obeyed the Great Turk. that your cockfights and gladiatorial combats in rings made of ronen wooden planks surpass the Col iseum? Are the cobblers and clowns who play roles in your tragedies superior to the heroes of Sophocles? Do your orators makes us forget Cicero and Demosthenes? And finally bas London got a better system of law and order than ancient Rome? A No. Amsterdam was just marshland. and from the right bank of the Rhine to the Gulf of Rothnia everything was '30 . Madrid a desert. B Ah! Please make an exception for Greece. That modern Europe is better than ancient Europe c Would you be so bold as to maintain that you English are better than the Athenians and the Romans. but just think that Paris. and Italy which obeyed the Pope . but London is ten thousand times better than Rome was then. was only a little barbarian city then. in Sweden. in ignorance. Good houses. But do all these innovations make people in those countries happier than they were when Julius Caesar landed on your island and found you all running around half-naked? A I firmly believe so. and that the discoveries of our great Newton have become the cate(.anarcs. or crown prerogatives. in Russia. and a shilling on windows. a good standard of living. cut each other's throats for sun-dried fish and a straw hut. Do you place so little value on the fact that today there are philo sophers on thrones in Berlin. Those who recommend it should set us an example. and in barbaritv. Thc inhabitants of those regions lived.hism of the cream of Moscow and Saint Petersburg? c You'll grant me that this is not the ca�e on the banks of the Danube and the Maru. having been born below the forty-fifth parallel. A And what if I said to you that it is the savages who have corrupted nature. you are northern people. as the Tartars have always lived. anarchy and slavery. Pure nature is unaware of parliamentary debates. with good laws and freedom are better than want. in Poland. there they will live as we used to in London in Caesar's time. in want. Those who are unhappy with London just have to go off to the Orkneys. or tax on land at three shillings in me pound. good clothing. for as far as I am concerned.That modern Europe is better than ancient Europe uncivilised. It hasn't been tainted in the Orkneys or in the land of me Topinambous. B But at least they would live in accordance with natural law. they'll eat oat bread. or the East India Company. and mat we are following naturer '3 ' . the light came from the north. You might well have corrupted nature. c You surprise me. What! Consecrating an archbishop of Canterbury is following nature? Calling a transplanted Gennan your majes�y? Only being able to marry one wife, and paying out more than a quarter of your income every year [in tax]? Apart from other transgressions against nature that I won't mention. A Yet I'll prove it to you, unless I'm very much mistaken. Is it not true that instinct and judgement, two of the oldest sons of nature, teach us to seek out our well-being in everything, and to secure that of other people when it is obvious that their well-being makes for ours? Is it not true that if two old fasting cardinals met dying of hunger beneath a plum-tree, automatically they would help each other to climb the tree and pick the plums, and that two little scamps from the Black Forest or from the Chicachas would do the same? B So? What conclusion do you draw from that? A The same one drawn by the two cardinals and the two little wretches, namely that in all such circumstances we must help each other. Those who help society most, therefore, are those who follow nature closest. Those who invent the arts (which is a great gift from God), those who propose laws (which is infinitely easier) are, therefore, those who have obeyed natural law best: thus the more the arts are cultivated and the more people's property is protected, the more natural law will in fact have been observed. So when we all agree to pay tax at three shillings in the pound, when we agree to choose a German to be, with the title of king, the preserver of our freedom, the arbiter between the Lords and the Commons, the Head of the Republic, when we marry only one woman for the sake of economy and to have some peace at home, when (because we are rich) we put up with an archbishop of CanterbulJ' having an income of tweh'e thousand '3' That modern Europe is better than ancient Europe [pounds] in cash to relieve the poor, to preach virtue, if he knows how to preach, to keep the clergy quiet, etc., etc., we are doing more than simply perfecting natural law, we are exceeding the objective. But what does the solitary, wild savage (if there are such animals on the earth, which I very much doubt) do from morning until night but pervert natural law by being useless to himself and to others? A bee that makes neither honer nor wax, a swallow that does not make its nest, a hen that never lay� �ggs, would corrupt their own natural law, which for them is instinct; men who are unsociable cor rupt the instinct of human nature. c So the man who is concealed beneath ,heep's wool and silk-wonn droppings, inventing gunpowder to destroy himself, and travelling two thousand miles from home to find syphilis, is natural man, and the naked Brazilian is artificial man? A No, but the Brazilian is an animal who has not yet reached the full potential of his species. He is a bird with only very late plumage, a caterpillar inside its chrysalis which will not change into a butterfly for a few centuries. One day he will have his Newtons and his Lockes perhaps, and then he will have completed the full course of human de\·elopment, assuming that the Brazilian's physical constitution is sufficiently strong and flexible to reach that point, for everything depends on our physical constitution. But what do I care about the characteristics of a Brazilian and the feelings of a Topinambou? I'm neither one nor the other; I want to be happy in my own way in my own place. We must examine the country in which we live, and not one where we cannot live. '33 Eighth conversation On physical serfdom B It seems to me that Europe today is like a huge bazaar. You find there everything you think is necessary to life; there are guards to watch over the security of shops, rogues winning at dice money [that isJ lost by fools, layabouts asking for charity, and marionette shows, ali in the same marketplace. A All that is by way of convention, as you can see. And these mar ketplace conventions are based on man's needs, on his nature, on the development of his intelligence, on the first cause that drives the mechanism of secondar)" causes. I'm sure that it's like that in a repub lic of ants. We always see them in action without being able to discern very well what they are doing. over the place. They appear to be running around all Possibly they make the same judgement about us. They are holding their market, just like we hold ours. As far as I'm concerned, I'm no! totally unhappy with my little stall. c Among the conventions of this great world market that displease me, there are two in particular that make me angry. [the fact] that slaves are sold there, and [the fact] that there are charlatans for whose quack remedies we pay far too much. I was highly delighted by On physical seifdvm Montesquieu in his chapter on the negroes. He's very amusing; he triumphs by making fun of our injustice. In truth, we don't haw the natural right to go and capture a citizen of Angola, take him off and beat him into working in our sugar plantations in Barbados in the �ame way that we have the natura! right to take a dog we have fed hunting; but we have the right by convention [to do itJ. Why is this negro sold? Or why does he let himself be sold? I bought him; he belongs to me. \\-bar wrong am I doing him? He works like a horse, I feed him badJy, I dress him li.kewise, he is beaten when he disobeys; what's surprising about all that: Do we treat our soldiers any better? The only difference between the negro and the soldier is that the soldier costs a lot less. The going rate for a fine negro currently is at least one hundred and fiftv eros, and a fine soldier costs barely fifty. Neither may leave the place where he is confined; both are beaten for the slightest misde meanour. The wages are more or less the same; and the negro has the advantage over the soldier of not risking his life, and of spending it with his negress and piccaninnies. B 'h'hat! You think that a man can sell his liberty, which is priceless? E,·erything has its price; too bad for him if he sells me sumething so precious cheaply_ You can say that he's a fool, but don't say that I'm a rogue. c It looks as though Grotius, in Hook II, chapter 5, I strongly approves of slavery; he even finds the condition of a slave I De jun' brlli rt paris. '35 to be much more Thd B C advantageous than that of a journeyman, who doesn'l always know where the next meal is coming from. B But Montesquieu look5 upon slavery as a kind of sin against nature. So here we have a free Dutch citizen who wants slaves, and a French man who doesn't want any. He doesn't even believe in the right to wage war. A And what other right can there be then in war other than that of the strongest? Suppose that I find myself in action against the Spanish in America? A Spaniard has wounded me; r am all set to kill him; he says: 'Brave Englishman, don't kiJ! me and 111 serve you.' I accept the proposal, I please him, I feed him garlic and onions; every evening he reads Don Quixote to me at bedtime: what's the harm in that, if you please? If I surrender to a Spaniard under the same conditions, how can I reproach him? All there is in II deal is what you put inlo it, as the Emperor Justinian said. Didn't Montesquieu himself accept that there were nations in Europe where it was quite common to sell oneself, as in the case of the Russians, for example? B It's true, he does say that, and he a[50 quotes Captain John Perry in the Present state ofRussia;2 but he quotes in his usual way. John Perry says exacdy the opposite. Here are his own words: 'The Czar ordained that no-one in future should calJ himself his slave, his kholop, but only rob, which means subject. The truth is that the people gained no real advantage from this, for they are still enslaved today.' In fact, all farmers, all the inhabitants of the lands belonging to Boyars, or to priests, are slaves. If the Empress of Russia is starting to create free men, she will make her name immortal by so doing. 1 Captain John Perry's The 'Iale ofRussia u"aer Ihe presnll Cwr (171&) inOO French ill 1717. See the [77' artide 'Slave.-' in Qt, waS trarulated -,---- --., . On physical serfdom Moreover, to humanity's shame, farmers, artisans, bourgeois who are not citizens of great cities, are still slaves, feudal serfs, in Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, severaJ German provinces, half of Franche Comte, a quarter of Burgundy, and what is something of a contradic lion is that they are slaves of priests. There are some bishops who have hardly anyone except feudal serfs in mortmain on their lands. Such is humanity, such is Christian charity. As for people enslaved in wartime, the only people you can see in the country of the religious Knights of Malta are slaves from Turkey or from the coastal regions of Africa, chained to the oars in Christian galleys. A By God, if bishops and prelates have slaves, I want some too. B It would be better for nobody to have any [at all]. c This will follow as sure as night follows day when the abbe Saint Pierre's perpetual peaceJ is signed by the Great Turk and all the powers, and when Arbitration Village has been built next to the hole that people want to dig down to the centre of the earth in order to know precisely how to conduct themselves on its surface. 'The ah/Ji de Saint-Pierre's Projmfor perpnual ptllCe was published in '7'3· '37 and had then forgotten to feed him. I only say that it's better for the vanquished to be enslaved than to be killed. I say that the negro who sells himself is a fool. for it would be absurd if he had given man the gifts of hunger and a stomach.Ninth conversation. just in case he prefers life to liberty. If God has made man to live a few rrrinutes in the world's stable. I stand in more or less the same relationship to my horse as God does to man. but that I'm a very sensible man to buy that negro and make him work on my sugar plantation. I'll treat him humanely. On the serfdom of minds B If you accept physical slaver]'. and I'll demand no more gratitude from him than from my horse. at least you wouldn't approve of sla\erT of the mind. I don't accept physical slaveIJ' as part of the principles of society. c And what if your slave is of no use to you? . it was clearly necessary for him to provide man with food. and that the negro father who sells his piccaninny is a barbarian. would you? A Please let's not misunderstand each other. to which I'm obliged to give oats if I want him to be of use to me. It's in my interest that he should be in good health so that he can work. or what you say. You should not insult by what you write. those laws under whose protection you enjoy your wealth. your freedom. the practice whereby laws are passed stopping men from writ ing.. whereby their mouths are first of all taught to mumble nonsense which we ourselves ridicule. whereby they are made to believe non sense as soon as they start believing.:<. the practice whereby every care is thus taken to make a nation stupid. I would either hatch a fine plot to get rid of them. scene '39 2.! A If there were such laws in England. .On the set{dom ofminds A I'll give him his freedom unconditionally. act UI. talking and even thinking. Schoolfor lI'it. L Moliere. even jf he has to go off to be a monk. after having first set fire to it. or flee from my island forever. a bit like that play in which Amolphe wants the only desk in the house to be his alone. and to make an imbecile of Agnes in order to take his pleasure with her. c But it's a good thing that everyone does not speak his mind. faint-hearted and barbaric. and al! the comforts of life. B But what do you thinl: about slavery of the mind? A What do you mean by slavery of the mind? B I mean that practice whereby the minds of our children 3re shaped just like Caribbean women knead the heads of their children. lastly. If it finds that you have spoken foolishly. It will be in Switzerland. but must speaking be forbidden? Everybody can write what they think in my country at their own risk. it's the only way to speak to one's country. must they be forbidden from walking in them because of that? People say srupid and insulting things. it loves you and rewards you. must men be forbidden to do it? I would like that no more than if you were tu be made dumb to stop you arguing badly. if �editiously. without it Switzerland does not deserve freedom.vith his dagger in my hand. c And you would have ended up like him. A Perhaps. but because writing can be abused. I was tempted a hundred times to arm a dozen boats at my own . I would have ascended the altar and. it boos YOU. wearing Brutus' hat and . People are robbed in the streets.TheA BC A Of COlme not. I would have re-established the Tribunate. and reckless traitors must be punished. Cicero and Tacirus. Without the freedom to explain what one thinks. Like Nicholas Rienzi. as it is in Poland. but I can't tell you how much horror I felt at the subservi ence of the Romans when I was last there. if wisely and nobly. The freedom to speak to men through one's pen is well-established in England. in the United Prov inces and most recently in Sweden. I would have reminded the people of the natural rights that they have lust. where we are imitated. c And what if you had been born in modem Rome? A I would have raised an altar to those ancient Romans. there is no freedom among men. it punishes you. I shuddered at the sight of recollects at the CapitoL Four of my fellow-countrymen chartered a boat to go off and sketch the useless ruins of Palmyra and Baalbek. ' This monk's palace was on the river Tagos. This prince apologised for not signing because the Grand Inquisitor would not tolerate negotiations with heretics. A Yes. He should have prohibited all inquisitors from ryrannising souls and burning bodies. c But all nations show courage in time of war. The admiral let him have a red-hot broadside. and signed the treaty on his knees. In all that. . A The fault is that of being fools and cowards. Blake told him. My hero is Admiral Blake. the admiral did only half of what he should have done. facing our fleet. A Like a man. 'he'll come to sign the treaty on my ship. and like all men would speak if they dared. I'd like to understand my species. the Inquisitor came to ask for pardon. King of Portugal. prohibited Africans from practising human sacrifice. like horses trembling at the first sound of the drum. 'Leave it to me'. Shall I tell you what the human race's greatest fault is? c Please do. and after them the Greeks and the Romans. and advan cing proudly when under the discipline of a hundred drumbeats and a hundred whip strokes. B You always talk like a true Englishman. He was sent by Cromwell to sign a treaty with John of Braganza. just like the Persians.On the j'erjd()m uf minds expense to lay ruin to the lairs of the Inquisitors in those countries where man is enslaved by these monsters. do you wish to see anything printed about government and religion? A Whoever keeps silent on these two subjects. and my Lord of Canterbury would have whipped us at the door of his cathedral. John. of Christ's childhood. they would never have established their own.Tenth conversation. and Mark. They . If we had not known how to write. If the first Christians had not been free to write against the religion of the Roman Empire. and our sword the second . Our pen is the first weapon against tyranny. Barnabas. whoever cannot look closely at these two polarities of human life. of the Hebrews.1ary. They composed the Gospel of l\. is just a coward. Luke. Matthew. his chancellor. c "''hat! Writing against the religion of your counrry! B Ah! You're not thinking. we would have been oppressed by James II and Jeffreys. Mr C. of James. On religion c Since you believe that the lot of good men is to be able to speak freely what is in their minds. they wrote fifry-four of them. go as far as to corrupt a pure and simple religion. of the acrostic prophecies of the Sybils. but no-one insults the whole company. if Magi and Bonzes happen to add absurd ceremonies to holy laws. should the human race not be grateful to those who are cleansing the temple of God of the dirt that these wretched people have piled up there? B You seem to be very wise.On religion composed Jesus' letters to a little king of Edessa. as in decent conversation. as you know! How can a few black letters traced on paper destroy it? But if fanatics or rogues. impertinent mysteries to the sacred morality of the Zoroastras and Confuciuses. the Book of Enoch. etc.'olumes written against it will do it no more harm than [that done) to rock-solid walls by a hundred thousand snowballs. Wbat didn't they write? My do you want to deprive us of the freedom they had? c God save me from outlawing that precious freedom! But I want to see some tact in it. a hundred thousand . A I'm not asking you to insult society either. the symbol of the nvelve apostlfs. and false apo stolic successions. If a country's religion is sacred (for every country boasts that it is). The gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. or people (ombining the features of both. everyone says what he thinks.. five or six apocalypses. of Paul to Seneca. but to enlighten it. etc. the testament of the twelve patriarchs.' . What are these precepts of Zoroastra and Confucius then? A Confucius did not say: 'Do not do to others what you would not wish them to do to you. the lettfrs of Pilate to Tiberius. TheA B C He said: 'Do what you would want others !O do to you. divine religion. is his country's benefactor. if they introduced superstitious practices which channelled the money of devoted souls into their pockets. or they died upside down. reirain from doing it. It's just too shameful to have made a science out of this . I'll quote only one law from Zoroastra. forget insults./hen you are unsure whether an action is good or bad. miracles. I would like it to have been abolished instead of curbed. if they built their temporal greatness on the foolishness of people with little real reli gion. it is beyond dispute that we must curb these imposters. aftelWards. which contains the essence uf morality. no legislator has ever said. if they claimed knowledge of all the family secre£s of these two great men. and which is for that reason the opposite to the Jesuits' famous probabilism: 'V. if they wanted people to eat certain foods in honour of Zoroastra and Confucius. If. A That's the fault of legislative systems. visions. There have been no more wars of religion since governments have been wise enough to curb theology.' No moralist. and against the abhorrent abuses of the religion of sophists. c These benefactors have often been in-rewarded. no philosopher. B In the name of reason.' He made friendship and humanity into a duty. apparitions. possessions. scapulas. anything better than this maxim. if they argued for three hundred years over whether Confucius was created or born. predic tions. or ever could say. and every reform has produced wars. and remember only favours. They have been burned alive or poisoned. Whoever has written in favour of narural. Persian or Chinese theologians supplemented the worship of a God and the doctrine of virtue with weird fantasies. if finally they anned fanatics to maintain their imaginings by sword and fire. just as judicial astrology. and that there is an essential difference between categoramahc and ryncategoramatic? Don't you just admire a Thomas Aquinas who decides that 'the irascible and concupiscible parts are not part of the intellectual appet ite'? He examines at length whether legal ceremonies are pre-legal. the sister-block. the Cabbala. and those who invented the plough. A thousand pages are devoted to these wonderful issues.On religio1l madness. a friend of reason. when it has been well understood that an angel is infinite. and the saw are unknown. On this point one writer. I fully understand the point of a parish priest who keeps a register of births and deaths. who comfons the sick. and five hundred thousand men study them. you then give it back in the lavatory. after having regurgitated for two year� all the scholastic idiocies. Altars are raised to Thomas and Bonaventure. whether. and the Star Chamber have been destroyed. '45 . We have advanced further than the Greeks and the Romans in severa] arts. that Scipio and Cato are damned because they were never Christians. he hands down decisions. the divining rod. who collects alms (or the poor. Sfcundum quid.! has said several rimes that the main trouble with us is that we still do not know how far below the Hottentots we are in certain subjects. but what is the use of theologians? ¥/hat is the advantage to society. . magic. having received the Eucharist. He struts about like a peacock. Theologians have long enquired into whether God can be a pump kin or a beetle. like those animals on the Nile (made] partly of living matter and partly of mud. Voltaire himself. the plane. These extravaganzas have preoccupied the long-beards in coun tries that have produced great men. who brings peace to families. and we are brute beasts in this area. and this is the school of bedlam that leads to fame and fortune. receives his cap and bells at a ceremony. A Theology must be destroyed absolutely. Who would believe it? A madman. let's preserve what is useful and pleas� ing: that's what man is all about. We are happy only from the moment we are free and tolerant. 1 29"""46. honest religion. a eternal doctrine! France is today your faithful kingdom. linc. like any other). I agree to its extennination. from which God's grace has been withheld (in spite of the fact that your monarch calls himself king by grace of God. this author expresses himself thus in rather flat \'erse: England.TheA B C c Let's destroy these caterpillars in our gardens as much as we can so that only nightingales remain. if you please. clearly dependent on !he sovereign. Today. Lord. . with his seed-bed and bright rays! Frenchman always A thinks that he sets the pace for other nations. . is France the faithful kingdom of rtemal doctrinr? Was it when an absurd bull. c The other day I was reading a French poem on Grace. . Truth ever pure. and let's put up �ith all the others. He pities us for being free! In what way. It is on us that you shine your brightest rays. . by taking in so many religions. but as for everything thaI's disgusting and poisonous. that's what we need. you would think it's all about a minuet or a new fashion. as I live and die! clearly established by act of Parliament. A A good. Speaking of England. Poem 0" gTlU< ('720). concocted in Paris in ' Louis Racine.! A There's an original for you. IV. Yes. a didactic poem that's a bit tedious on account of its monotony. Is nothing more than a sad gathering of mad visions . this island seed-bed of Christians. \\'here once so much light shone. we arc the most precious of your peoples. but also by those who are still burdened with it. Theology has only served to subvert minds. and sometimes states. for the vast majority of minor theologians. He would have done better to wish for enough bright rays to enable his own country to see what it would gain by imitating us.On religion a college of Jesuits-. Theology. Was that when the popes scnt their legates to us to give away our livings to Italians. and that Ang licans. and impose tithes on us to pay for their prostitut��? Was it when our three lcingdoms swarmed with monks and miracles1 This tedious poet is a very bad citizen. that law which governs the universe? It is time for men who are so enlightened to stop being slaves of the blind. These rays male clear that Gallicans should not send twenty thousand pounds sterling to Rome every year. the whole of Europe is crying out for it. who once paid Peter's penCE:' were immersed at the time in the most srapid barbarity. don't know enough about it to replace it with a sane philosophy. Religion is not at all about transferring money to Rome. I laugh every time I see an academy of science forced to defer to the decision of a congregation of the Holy Office. but men are only enlightened gradually. B Well said. if it wishes. divided the whole of France. I for one am certain that none of us will miss those bygone times when so mUfh light shone. A Religion must clearly be purged. according to the meaning of the word. It alone creates atheists. and from that people '47 . and sealed in Rome in a college of cardinals. is the science (Jf God. Now the rascals who have desecrated this science have given people some absurd ideas about God. who are sensible enough to see the sill� side of this fantastical discip line. That truth is recognised not only by those who have broken that yoke. to these rhyrnsters of the Gallican Church. This great work was started almost two hundred and fifty years ago. discover gravity. and made more prisoners and exiles than there were soldiers? 0 faithful kingdom! Let the Anglican Church respond. they say. Who would have believed then that people would analyse the sun's rays. produce elec tricity with lighming. B That's really the faith of all decent people. a false science creates unbelievers. That's exactly the same as saying that you must never take quinine for a fever. That amounts to denying the movement of the planets because there are astrologers. a true science makes man bow down before the Divinity. it makes just and wise what theology makes iniquitous and insane. . are saying: 'Here are bachelors and masters of arts who do not believe in God.The A B C have concluded that the Divinity is a fantasy because theology is fantastical. or be bled when you have a seizure. People in the street. because there are bad doctors. or denying the clear effects of [chemical processes] because charlatan chemists have claimed to make gold. That's more or less what I've just read in that recent little book. or diet when the blood is too rich.] and I've declared my faith in it. why should we?' Friends. even more ignorant than these minor theologians. and people are quite mad to prefer hunting Of playing piquet to educating themselves on such important issues. On the code of war B We have dealt with subjects that concern us all very dosely. we haven't yet talked about this. but as for the code of war. A What do you mean by the code of war? B You put me on the spot there. and eyen Jewish ones. '49 . I don't know what it is. The code of murder seems to me to be a strange concept. A Do you think Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough had studied it when they drove off the French miles away from home? I know a little about the code of peace. it's the code of keeping your word. but de Groot or Grotius has written a fat treatise on it.Eleventh conversation. Our initial plan was to go more deeply into the code of war and peace. in which he quotes more than two hundred Greek or Latin authors. I expect that we'll soon have a jurispru dence for highwaymen. and of allowing all men to enjoy the laws of nature. TheA Be c How then can we reconcile such an ancient and universal abomina tion as war with notions of what is ju�t and unjust. with this compas sion for our fellow men that we daim is born within us. when one has these illnesses. The notions of nobility and beanty are insepa"able in Greek. although i t has almost as much land a� Romulus. This crime that consists of committing so many crimes when called to the colours is not as universal as you say. and massacred the children on their mothers' bellies. there are a few cures. How shall we eqJlain this mad frenzy in [the context of] our principles? A In the same way that wicked people rationalise the plague. slaughtered the women over the dead bodies of their hus bands.� . The peoples of the Indus and the Hydaspes were very surprised to see the first anned thieves coming to take possession of their beautiful country. reduced the [Owns to ashes. Gospel in hand. VIi'e have already noted that Brahman> and the primitives called Quakers have never been guilty of this abomination. and I haven't read that the Republic of San Marino has ever waged war. Nations beyond the Ganges spill blood very rarely. Several Amcric. j beauty and honesty? B Not so fast. the noble'. to anack them. Do you know any for war? "the beautiful. with 'to XUAOV.".m nations had never heard of this horrible sin before the Spaniards came. For rabid madness [0 be communicated in three months [0 four or five hundred thousand men it often only takes one rabid minister of state to bite another. the nvo poxes and madness: these are illnesses linked to our physical make-up. c But.._- . . Stoic usage would prt:f<r 'honourable" to 'nobl. People are not always �truck down by madness or plague.. Nowhere is it said that the Chamani had ever gone to war against anyone when a horde of Jews suddenly appeared. I. if he were to subjugate me. the Tyrians. I would try to kill him as soon as he landed in my country. c That's not much consolation. It is in our interest even to deal mercifully . the Arabs subjugated Spain. which nature has ingrained in us as an antidote to flesh·eating herQism. pretty well the whole world. I would have only two options: to kill myself or to serve him well. for after all nearly all of us have been subjugated. If I'm . the Romans. If he were to kill me. the Saxons and the Danes. that is. and then by a bastard from Normandy. I'm perfecdy well aware that there have been ruthless men who have made subjugated nations feel the full weight of their chains pretty harshly. I slit its throat. A handful of Francs conquered Gaul.""" ad '5' IV. I know of no can· queror who came with his sword in one hand and a book of laws in the other. has belonged to the strongest. I would have no ready response. stops us from treating the vanquished too severely.On the code of war A I know of only two. the Carthaginians.vise. 5C�"e 3. and I mount it. if I am a frenzied maniac. In turn. 'Bcrnanl-J05cph Saurin. and pity. which tragedy has seized upon: fear and pity. from China to Cadiz. You English were by the Romans. To that I can only respond with a line from a tragedy called SpartlJCll. Fear often forces us to make peace. the Goths. I feed it well. laws were made after the conquest. and they made those laws precisely t6 maintain their tyranny. wrinen by one Frenchman who thinks deeply: The law of the universe is: Woe 10 the t'allquished l rile tamed a horse.vith them so that they will serve their new masters without too much loathing. The cradle of our religion is in Turkish hands. Span". In short. after the looring. I pat it. What would you say if some Norman bastard were to take possession of your England so that he could come and impose his laws on you? A I wouldn't say anything. . B And is there no remedy for that? A None. and that's why today in Europe twelve hundred thousand mercenaries parade in peacetime. spend his time reading Grotius. c But what abuut the Romans. apart from preparing yourself to be as unjust as your neigh bours. A I agree. those great legislators. c That would be a great injustice. and only tear at each other when they have prey to quarrel over. let his fortifications crumble. Then equally matched dogs bare their teeth. the Romans? '5' . all ministers think the same way as we do. All kings. Then ambition is contained by ambition. Should a prince dismiss his troops. but mere's nothing else apart from being always on one's guard. What! No code of war? No law of nations? A Sorry.TheA B C B There are some sad alternatives for you. in two or three years you ""ill see whether or not he has lost his kingdom. B Yet people say that in war some laws are observed: for example. If two eager litigants. would you can that agreement a law of the bar? If a horde of theolo gians. and if they reprieve them so that they might be reprieved. the laws of nature. I tell you. on the point of being ruined by their attor neys. reach an agreement that leaves each of them with a little bread. a besieged town is allowed to surrender. War. He crucified two thousand citizens from the Vannes area so that the rest would learn to be more pliant. and if he dies you give him a burial. The evil that war does not do is pre vented by need and self-interest. Circuses. and the subjugated peoples dance in their chains. in spite of theology. but when they fought to reduce nations to slavery. on their way to a ceremonial burning of a few rationalists they call heretics. come the laws and the fine regulations. and wife to so many husbands. they madc laws like the Algerians who subjugate their slaves by regulation. It's the same thing with war. public baths are constructed. they make themselves heard in spite of war. you salute a wounded officer whom you have captured. then the sword was their law. aqueducts are put up. it's stipulated that fighting will not take place in Certain areas. people have a truce for a few days to bury the dead. when the whole nation is well tamed. Look at great Caesar. they are allowed to buy their church bells back. learn that the next day it will be the tum of the heresy party to burn them. War has not dictated them. ampitheatres are built.On the code of war A I tell you. Then. is a horrific disease '53 . would you say that that was a theological law? You'll agree that they have listened to nature and self-interest. and without that three quarters of the globe would just be a desert littered with hones. husband to so many wives. are being applied on a reciprocal basis. pregnant women are not disembowelled when a surrendered town is occupied. primeval laws. A Don't you see that in those cases the laws of peace. while offering oneself against those monsters? A Don't you see that it was those monsters who were waging war? Those defending themselves were keeping i t going. but allowing a whole '54 . their arguments are equally plausible. to me it seems an impossible contradiction. A You're the one making fun. In this world there are certainly only ofe f nsive other than resistance to armed thieves. c What! You don't accept the notion of a just war? A I've never known one of that sort. their rights are a matter of legal dispute. war must necessarily decide the issue: so this war is a just one on both sides. c You're making fun of us. disembowelled and poisoned the whole of that country's nobility. Let them fight each other in judicial combat if they want.TheA Be which infects one nation after the other. and it is absurd and barbaric for whole nations to perish because one of these two princes has argued badly. It's physically impossible for one of them not be wrong. but which nature cures in the long run. Two princes are quarrelling over an inherit� ance. B What! When Pope Alexander "1 and his infamous son Borgia looted Romania. a mixture of good and bad results. weariness. and before a judgement on thc case can be reached it has cost more than four hundred thousand men their lives. Its horrible symptoms last for twelve years. put out this fire that other chance happen ings. c What a disaster man's condition isl '55 -. There are times when wild animals come down from the mountains.- . plots. until the madmen. The Spanish nation said: We want the Duke of Anjou. other plots. expectations had lit._---- . Whoever wishes to oppose a law based on the wishes of the living and the dead is clearly unjust. I ask you if that is justice.On people [0 be sacrificed [0 the code of war their interests. greed. Some other basis of agreement had to be found. we have begged him to leave France and come and govern us. that's what is horrible. Chance happenings. exhausted and unable to do more. the matter had [0 be referred back to the nation over which it was wished to rule. I agree. -. eat some of your produce. War is like Mount Vesuvius. and then return to their lairs. But what if the nation is divided? A Then. c It was found. . has named him in his will as his successor. we have subscribed to that. the King. jealousy. we have recognised him as our king. B Alright. Archduke Charles quarrels \\'ith the Duke of Anjou over the throne of Spain. B No. the nation and those participating in the quarrel are sick with a rabid madness. are forced to reach agreement. his grandfather. For example._. its eruptions swallow up towns. as I told you. and its conflagra tions then stop. poor little would-be barons. Your moralists do well to keep on shouting: 'Wretched mortals. called preachm. rob bery. while a hundred thousand others will not so much as hear them. On the contrary. make the return on your assets double what it used to be. plant mulberry trees. all the horrors of banditry. Stay at home. and do not spill blood on it. and morality doesn't fit in with these maxims. Princes. and on leaving their pulpits. and if neigh bouring peoples want to come and drink your wine against your wishes. Love is anathema to ".TheA B C A That of partridges is worse: foxes. patch up your hovels. where they have been sounding of. cultivate the earth. They shout themselves hoarse proving mysteries about which they haven't got the slightest clue. They rail against sensual appetites. do not lay waste to the inherited land of others in case you are killed in your own territory. hunters kili them. who will never give you a passing glance. homicide. and is not much concerned with individuals. cooks roast them.' these statements will impress three or four clear minds. be just and beneficent. and who treat you like the hunting dogs that they set on the wild boar. they have never dared so much as to preach against war. birds o f prey eat them. these . pillage. defend yourself with courage. it's destiny. fence in your field with quickset hedges. As for the other professional moralists. and then leave to die Perhaps in a kennel. improve your vineyards. devastation and destruction. B You're a hard man. and yet they are still here.ill them. rape. and try hard to become lieutenants in the Hussars. �ature pre serves species.f devout followers. all that is most base in the cowardly racket of anns-dealing. A It's not I who am hard. but don't sell your blood to princes who don't know you. but they take great care not to denounce war which brings together all the most cowardly perfidiousness in proclamations. let your sisters make you silken stockings. after drinking their chocolate. mild Massillon did express some wish for peace. if it is modest .. B In fact. r repeat. and that the Destroying Angel didn't know which regi. were always defeated and enslaved. make victory and death precede it always. it's true. and went on selling their cloves and cinnamon. and became the Angel Destroyed.' I don't know whether victory can precede a regiment. The elegant. while he was blessing the Catinat regiment's flags. you will see that priests have always preached carnage. A Jewish preachers went even further. it is claimed. and the Jews. and smashing against walls children still at their mothers' breasts. They're all about girding on your holy sword.. disembowelling women. . from Aaron. It's edirying to see the humane prayers which fill their psalms. I don't remember ever having read in the works of the wordy. whe> were as sensible as the poor fellow was mad. "Wh. . let him go on talking. hut he authorised ambition: 'This wish'. the first to give sermons the semblance of reason. prophet of Amsterdam. argumentative Bourdaloue. but I do know that the Austrian preachers said the same thing to the Emperor's cuirassiers.n paths of iniquity to achieve your ends . '57 . was the pontiff of a horde of Arabs. to the preacher Jurieu. he asks God to send the Destroying Angel on ahead of the Catina! regiment.' Finally. spread among its enemies spirits of terror and confusion. who. The tradesmen of that town. contains nothing that could be offensive to Christian morality. The Destroying Angel was not happy in his campaigns. for aU the good their psalms did them. if it does not lead you dov. or whether God can spread spirits of confusion around.On the code of war good priests bless ceremonially the banners of murder. he said. 'to see your services rewarded. ever having read a single page against war. 'Please God.ichever way you turn. ment to listen to. and their colleagues sing Jewish songs for money when the earth has been soaked in blood. and let's not get ourselves killed on the off-chance for the sake of money. Let's be happy defending ourselves well against those thieves called conquerors. .TheA B C c Well! Let's not go to war. Twelfth conversation. 'The aUusion is to Mcn:.ury in the Exodus. On the code of perfidy B And what shall we say about the code of perfidy? A By George! What did you say? I've never heard of that code. David. he said.l.!"'bal�m mu�di i. '59 C.2 since he murdered neither his brother nor his father-in-law. are very welI-known.J>. Those of the patriarch Jacob towards his father-in-law and his brother were just [like] master Gonin's [magic] tricks. The first thing that Moses did. went and slaughtered the men. But three cheers for David's perfidy. after having assembled for himself four hundred rogues steeped in debt and debauchery. was by an act of perfidy to borrow valuables from the Egypti ans in order to go off into the desert. ofJudith. Those that are associated with murder are much more admirable. with his holy people. only accompanied by robbery. In which catechism did you read about thaI Christian duty? B I find it everywhere. to make sacrifices. The perfidies of Ehod. and having entered into an alliance with a certain petty king called Achish. . I This act of perfidy was."logur II). it is true. women and children of the villages under the protection of this J XI. King of Le Mans (always suppos ing there was ever a kingdom of Le Mans). first Christian king of the Francs. I agree that a novel is more valuable. Hurrah for the perfidy of the wise Solomon who.3 I could see a dozen popes all equally perfidious. but I confess to wishing that the whole of civil and ecclesiastical history could be thrown on the fire for the moral improvement of the human race. I remember having once read the History ofth e great western schism. com mitted by princes who all built churches and founded monasteries. r respect especially his conduct towards the murderers of a certain Regnomer. and since the records of these horrors have mended the ways of no-one. I conclude that history has no good purpose. had his brother especially for his perfidy Adonias killed. And since the papacy has survived in the middle of such a long. inspired by God. and whether these monsters were anointed or not. Almost all of our history is filled with similar acts of perfidy. vast torrent overflowing with all possible crime. there at least you are free to invent examples of virtue. which could well serve as the perfect example of morality.ThdBC petty king. c Yes. but Horner never dreamed up a single 'By Louis Maimbourg. after having sworn to protect his life. and paid them in false coinage. I can see hardly anything else in it other than the annals of crime. he had them murdered to get his base coins back. all equaJly deserving to be hanged at Tyburn. He struck a deal with these hrave assassins to kill the King from behind. and made him think that he had only slaughtered the men. Now the examples provided by these brave people ought certainly to serve as a lesson for the human race: for from whom should they seek such a lesson other than from the Lord's anointed? A It matters very little to me that Clovis and his ilk were anointed. women and boys belonging to little King Saul! Three cheers towards old Uriah also. but as they grumbled about not having received their due. the only dIeiT history is the example thing [you get] from studying of wickedness. Published in 1678. • 60 . Then we have some very celebrated acts of perfidy by Clovis. But I wonder if it isn't pennissible be a rogue in the interests of the state. as far as I can see. but Telem achus was perfidious. but of a wicked and treacherous man.. I would much prefer Telemadllts4 if the whole thing did not consist of digressions and declamations. B And do you accept that there can be perfidy in treaties? c I assure you. it's very common. to . I would be hard-pressed if I had to decide who were the greatest rogues in negotiations. 'What! Send the poor man back so that he can be given an agonising death. and listening only to the voice of vengeance. the most Christian. Louis XI. This Dioscorus seeks refuge with the Greek princes. in Book XX. bound hand and foot. he offers them.On the code ofpeifidy virtuous. inspired by !\1inen'a. etc. have accepted Diosc orus' proposal. published in [695. Dioscorus was quite vindictive. 'What do you think of this decision of the virtuous Telemachus? A It's horrible. That's not the action of a noble heart. King of the Daunians. etc. Telemaehus. or Ferdinand the Catholic. persuades them not to listen to Dioscorus and to send him back to King Adrastus. rapes the wife of someone called Dioscorus. but I wouldn't have delivered this wretch up to his enemy. I wouldn'. etc. etc. Apparently it was not Minerva but Tisiphone who inspired him. the Romans (Jr the Carthaginians. and so that Adrastus can be completely like David who enjoys a wife while having her husband killed! The greasy author of Teltmachus didn't think. Adrastus. the Iliad... here's a bit of Telemachus about treachery on which I would like to have your view�. honest action in the whole of that monotonous novel. But since you raise me matter. • By Fenelon. In one of the digressions in this nove!. A good politician is one who plays well and wins in the end. take the Italians in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. and who is found out sooner or later. If anyone made that proposal in the House of Commons I would vote (God forgive me!) for him to be poisoned himself. in spite of my horror of drugs. we have nn'er caught anybody. I would very much like to know why what is a heinous crime in the case of one individual is blameless in the case of three hundred senators. or if he is not found out until after he has won all our money [off us] and made himself too powerful for us to force him give it back. Is it the number of guilty people thai changes crime into virtue? . A� far as we English are concerned. If you want some good examples of perfidy.'eots is rare ami that hi�IUry pW\'idcs us with more famous knaves who were punished than famous knaves who were happy. and what if he is not found out. A bad politician is one who can only cheat at cards. c Yery good. Only the weak deceive. B I've just one question to ask you. A I think that turn of e. there are others so crude that they are universally condemned. Do you think it a good thing for a nation to poison a public enemy in accordance with this maxim: Solus republicae suprema lex esto? A Good Heavens! That's a question you should ask casuists. or even three hundred thousand.TheA B C A It seems to me that there are roguish tricks that are so clever that everybody pardons them. • 63 .On the code ofperfidy c I'm happy with your reply. You're a good man. there's the law of justice.1 and who lost. and never was such a basic thing more often shattered. fortunately. On basic laws B I'm always hearing about basic laws. c Not long ago. but are there any? A Yes.on founded in 1576 under Henry.Thirteenth conversation. The L�ague was eventua lly defealed by Hen!) rv in 1589""-90. The law requires that a King of France should be Chris not accept the Catholic. apostolic and Roman faith is not a Christian and cannot believe in God. to defend Ihe Catholic Churd againsl the Cal vinists. thinking that in so doing they will discover the secret of nature. lIen!. thus he cannot he King of France by the basic law of the Church. He tian as well as male. he i� thus leprous. much sought after by the cu rious. how naturalists collect pieces of fossilised animal or vegetable matter. Here are the "\oiews of this legal expert on the basic laws of the Kingdom of France: 'The basic law of the Hebrews was that lepers could not rule. and was brought lU an �n<l with H�nr)"'s conversion to Rome in J 5Y4· . third Duke of Guise.)' IV is a heretic. This book is by a Paris lawyer named Louis Dorleans who pleaded the case against Henry' IV before the League. I read in one of those very rare bad books. Whoever does 'An associal. A The same thing would happen as happened with the basic law estab lishing the number of electors at seven because there are seven heavens and seven branches to a chandelier in a Je".sh temple.. whether they have territory or not.. master Louis Dor/eans. when he seriously violated the oath to surrender Burgundy to him. taking eveJ}thing into consideration. It was a good thing for the territoJ}' of the kings of England. The laws called basic laws are. 'z It's perfectly true that in Rome any man who doesn't believe in the Pope doesn't believe in God. 1av. and it seems to me that..atholiC'! to In ••Miff 10 Engfish . but if Charles V had put the con.'Yer to the Paris parlement. France [and] the Crown when kings lived Spain to remain the property of off the produce of their land. ancient prejudices which change with the rimes.J(/ff'(from Ike crO"'" ofFr"nce (j sHSj. he had his lawyers make the case that the Burgundians were inalienable. on ancient customs. Ask today's Romans if they have kept the basic laws of the old Roman Republic. p. But that's not completely true for the rest of the world: some tiny reservatIon has to be made.Innt. Isn't it the case that a basic law of France is that the Crown's lands are inalienable: And . When Francis J broke his word to his conqueror..Vai. like you and me. just laws based on convention. Charles V.j( French .. etc. not· . King of. for Int excl"'lOn oflh. did not reason quite as well as Cicero and Demosthenes. B It would give me pleasure to see what would happen to the basic law of the Holy Roman Empire if one day the electors took it into their heads to choose a Protestant Caesar in the proud town of Frankfurt-am-Main. when ther live on taxes and duties.'et isn't it almost entirely alienable? You'll acknowledge that all of these basic lav.'S are built on shifting sands.. Response ofr. like all others. But what of today.On basic laws can no more be King of France than the biggest scoundrel in the world.. A If only the grandfathers could have the joy of it too. depends in a close and essential way on the French Crown. c Do we not recognise any other basic law? -------- . and hand out your indulgences in articula mortis somewhere else. B That's because. then to starve under the government of a priest. This freedom is the basic law ofall nations.TheA B C trary case to him at the head of a great ann)'. The Romans can say to the Pope: Our basic law was first of all to have a king who reigned over a few miles of territory. The Swiss have depended essentially on the Empire. Go away. B Amen! c We really must hope that this will happen one day. At last we are returning to the true basic law. The Roman rats still don't know enough to bell the cat. but depend essentially today on freedom. as you say. It will be a fine sight for our grandchildren. whose basic law was to be free under the protec tion of the House of Austria. and leave the Capitol which was not built for you. the Burgundians would have been ver}' alienable. then nvo tribunes. then to be in a state of anarchy. it's the only law against which nothing can be ordained. Of all revolutions. then it was to elect two consuls. the main characteristics of man are fool ishness and cowardice. then devoured b�' northerners. this is the easiest one to accomplish. then our basic law was to be devoured by an emperor. which is to be free. because it's the law of nature. Franche-Comte. yet nobody is thinking about it. not capricious impulse.On basic laws A Freedom covers all of them. Jet priests teach morality and not corrupt it. c The human race is ready to put its name to all that. let the law rule. iet them Set nations an example instead of v.ishing to dominate them while they grow fat on the people's produce. let it not be possible to imprison a citizen lvithout bringing him to trial promptly before his natural judges. who then decide between him and his persecutor. . Let the farmer not be harassed by some petty t)Tant. let a man'5 meadow and vineyard not he taken from him on the preteAl of the public interest without generous compensation. unless thest: statt:� are made up of idiots and cowards. on 15 May IlI3? . Do yOll remember a certain comedian named Pandulf who made your King John kneel before him to receive from him the troth and homage of a liegeman. in the name of the Bishop of Rome. ob. wht:ther republican or monarchical. let's have a little look at what we'll do in peacetime. a legate oj the side. Innocent III. yes. how will states. First of all. .Fourteenth conversation. That every state must be independent B After having talked about the code of killing and poisoning in war� time.iously. God's deputy. . c Thus it was very shameful for England to be under the suzerainty of a legate a laure. without depending for any thing on any foreign power. we remember him so that we can treat this insolent servant as he deserves [to be treated). servant of God's servants. be governed? A They will govern themselves. on the dav before Holy Thursdav. A Yes. exercising his full rights. That descendant of so many sovereigns. declared legitimate. Pipinus. the King of Naples. all the kingdoms in communion with Rome. as your own Eginhard says. God's deputy Silvester ga"c Hungary to Duke Etienne in the year roar to please his wife Giselle. if the writings of this Eginhard have not been faked hy monks. as so many other writings have. and whose vassal is he? For God's sake! A I advise him not to be for very long. in return for fifteen thousand silver marks.Jresented to them? . not only has the servant of God's servants given away. and as I suspect is the case here. forced to ask for pardon. I tell you.69 . Mr C! Let's not give ourselves too many airs. who had a lot of visions. In 1247 God's deputy Innocent IV gave the Kingdom of Norway to a bastard named Haquin whom this same pope. Aragon and Portugal not required to pay an annual tribute of two pounds in gold to God's deputy? We know how many emperors have been deposed. He's still today suzerain of the Kingdom of r\aples. c I'm always dumbfounded when I see the traces of ancient superstition still surviving. And as those fifteen thousand silver marks were not to be had in l\orway. but he has kept for himself the best and most useful land: mere's no kingdom on which he has nut levied tithes and tributes of all kinds. There's not a single kingdom in Europe that the Bishop of Rome has not given away by virtue of his humble and holy power. God's deputy Stephanus took the Kingdom of France from Chilpericus to give it to his head servant. By what strange twist of fate did almost every prince for so many centuries run like this straight into the yoke .That every slate must be independent B For goodness sake. Today the King of Naples is the only vassal-king. it was necessary to borrow in order to pay. without exception. stilI pays him a tribute. or murdered or poisoned by virtue of a papal bull. liege-homage has been paid to him for seven hundred years. For two whole centuries were me kings of Castile. B He has the right to do it. for it wasn't the Pope who gave him the kingdom of Naples. although it's a contemporary work. tied his hands. some trace of which it still retain�. half of Europe paid the servant of servants back 'With atrocity for atrocity. He just needs the will. to dress up what they had usurped.TheA B C B There's a very natural explanation. that alone gave it a huge advantage. Voltaire is referring to hi' UWI1 . . is in n o way obliged (0 be an oblate. See Ch. At least. . but when the barons learned how (0 read and write.-fg" . If Norman murderers. is true and objective. before which they had licked dirt. while still kissing his feet. and the tricksters knew how to rule. straight in the face. made themseh'es into oblates of the Holy Church. The other half.{Louis XlV.l I'm sure that if tomorrow the King of Naples and Sicily wished to renounce this unique prerogative that he has of being the Pope's Hegeman. instead of homage. that's what I read in a history book which. The roughnecks knew how to fight. Kings and barons could neither read nor write.plcr 2. and to be independent from the emperors to whom they paid homage. the King of the two Skilies. he would be applauded by the whole of Europe. when the leprosy of ignorance abated among magis trates and leading citizens. of giving him every year a little horse with two thou sand gold eeus round its neck. the court of Rome could. c And how could free princes and barons surrender in such a cowardly way to a few tricksters? A I can sec quite clearly why. of being the servant of the servant of God's servants. people looked the idol. a direct descendant of Hugh Capet and not of the :'\Iormans. subjects who subject themselves to a foreigner.1 be independent Just one word from the King of France and the Pope would have no more credibility than [he has] in Rus�ia. I want each state to be completely independent. and lo! it was not. as a citizen.' You just need to puff on aU the other monks. it embraced a thousand provinces and held its head high.36. . and that they are starting to enjoy [seeing] with both eyes. That colossus had a foot in Rome and another in Paraguay. those tribunals in France called pariemenfs would register that edict without protest. they will disappear from the surface of the earth. XXXV1. No more annates would be paid to Rome. People don't know their strength.That euery state mw. I don't like citizens who cease to be citizens. Take my word for it. Yet it passed away. but I do dislike the monk's cowl so much that I would prefer seeing variety shows in France rather than religious proces sions. '7' . patriots with no more homeland.. Who do they have to thank for that? Five or six eye surgeons who came on the scene at various times. In short. A It isn't our concern whether or not France has fewer monks and more men. Psolms. You said that men were blind for a long time. A Oh well! Let's give light only to those who ask us to remove their cataracts. but the terrible thing is that there are some blind men who want to fight the very surgeons eager to cure them. then deaf. Fifty years ago whoever proposed getting rid of the Je�uits in so many Catholic states would have been considered one of the biggest drcamer� around. pennission would no longer be purchased there to marry your cousin or your niece. B Ye<. On the best legislation c \\-'bich of all the states is the one which seems to you to have the best laws. who was happy to make usc of this hellish practice in the reign of James II. Every accused pe rson is judged by his peers. that is an old cannibal pr actice. he is only found guilty when they are unanimous. and not a death accompanied by refined tortures. the legal system that aecurds best with the ge neral good. Our criminal system is eq uitable and in no way barbarous: we have abolished torture. and not the arbitrary sentences of judges. the law alone condemns him for the proven crime. this terrible means of making a weak. It: for crimes of high treason. against which the voice of nature is raised in vain in �o many other countrie s. without any doubt. you then tear out the heart of the cu lprit after he is dead. innocent man die and of saving a strong guilty one came to an end with our infamous Lord Chancellor Jeffries. To stretch a man out on a Saint Andrew's cross.Fifteenth conversation. The proof is that with all me differences between us we always speak highly of our happy conslilu firm. seems to us to be a barbarity too offensive to human nature. and then to put him in that state on a carriage wheel. break his arms and thighs. and with the good of individuals? A My own count ry. and that in almost all other kingdoms people want a different one. The death penalty is a straightforward death. an -- . counsel is not refused the defendant. witnesses are not heard in secret . Thus they have not bought the right to judge: magistrates' positions arc not sold in our country like the produce of a smallholding. the only judge is the law. In civil life.old in France. then you appeal to the court of equity. If the law cannot make provision for a particular case that comes up. Almost all official positions and honours arc . it's the reward that comes from a sum of money that a young man's parents have deposited so that he can go and keep an open house for three months of the year in some town in the provinces. with all the estates of the nation assembled. a new law is drafted in Parliament for the future. bought an appointment as master of the rolls. that would amount to saying: I wish to seduce you. as is the ca�c elsewhere.that would make informers of them. In our country the law ordains that nothing but land and the produce of the land will be sold. that is to say. We don't add torment to death. the procedures are public: secret trials have only oeen the invention of tyrannies. they don 't �eek that ridiculou� honour that flatters bourgeois vanity. At home there is nothing arbitrary except for '73 the par- .-c. A judge who receives a . and appointments to the pre�idencies of High Courts called presidencies with mortar. as herbs [are sold] at market. If members of Parliament sell their votcs now and again to the Court. to favouritism and to hatred. without hurting the person executed. A regiment is not a reward for service. vou have to ha. interpreting it is not penni�� ible: that would amount to abandoning the fate of citizens to caprice. The Chan cellor of France is often drawn from the ranks of counsellors of state. That form of erucity. belore the Chancellor and his a(J\<isorsj and if the case raises important is'iUes. You see clearly how happy we are to ha·ve laws that protect us from such abuses.On the best legislation instrument of terror which horrifies the spectator. Litigants never solicit their judges.-isit from a litigant would be dishonoured. a witness who has testified without due consideration is not made to lie by being threatened with punishment if he retracts. but in order to be a counsellor of state. VVe don't have the idiotic barbarity of punishing indecent behaviour with the same penalty used for punishing parricide. is unworthy of us. as stupid as it is abominable. they are like those beauties who sell their favours. and don't tell. wherea� in France the la\\ itself fixes the price of counsellor appointments to the King's Bench that is called parlement. and he pays it.ish to grant. then the law awnges him. but we don't break it. but it's fragile. the minister has to pay an immediate fine to the citizen. Add to all these advantages the right of every man among us to speak to the entire nation through his pen. but they keep the nation on guard.TheA Be dons that the King might ". sort things out with your colonies. But look here. Man was born free: the best form of govemment is the one that preserves this gift of nature for each mortal as far as possible. and compete for the honour of being the guardiam of public freedom. If authority trespasses illegally on the freedom of the least import ant of citizens. and don't let a mother and her daughters come to blows. '74 . The admirable art of printing is as free as talking in our island. 8 Preserve this precious monument built with intelligence and courage: it has cost you too much for you to allow it to be destroyed. How can )'OU not like such a system of law? It's true that we always have two parties. c Your system of government is a tine creation. Blessings emanate from him. but we always bless this happy constitution that brings them about. A We give it some hard blows sometimes. the law does the rest. These two parties keep watch on each other. rather than dividing it. We do haw our quarrels. the barrel of evil was a Heidelberg cask. A \\'by of course! If Jupiter had ty. but to whom shall we appeal against the abuses that reign supreme in the way the world is run? 'A cask h(>lding the equ.conversation. That's what caused the two barrels of Jupiter and the .'o barrels. B Yes. On abuses Sixteenth c People say that the world is ruled only h�' abuses. just as at sea you find over the year a fairly equal distribution of storms and fine weather. There are so many abuses in this world that when I was in Paris in 1751 appeals against abuses were made six times a week throughout the year to the King's Bench they call the parlement.1 the barrel of good was barely a quarter-cask. half unhappiness and half good fonune.valefl( of a hundr�d b"rr�l. '75 .Manichean sect to be dreamed up. is that true? B I think that in the civilised nations half is abuse and half tolerable practice. if you take out the time lost in sleep and the time lost awake. which is just a trans ition from nothingness to a state of heing. and that men kill each other with much greater ferocity without the thought of eating each other even occurring to them? c Oh! Excuse me. A That's a sure way of shortening your life even more. Isn't that an intolerable abuse? I A Eh? What the devil are you getting at? Will you command nature to be organised in a different way? B I would . that of these fifteen years you must exclude childhood.. c Let's leave aside the blunders made by nature: children are often conceived in the womb only to die there and kill their mothers.. that leaves only three years free for the happiest among us. and barely six months for the rest.'ish it so.TheA B C Isn't it an enormous abuse that all animaJs kill each other with savage eagerness to feed themselves. hardly fifteen years are left.. at least.'e did once make war in order to eat each other. B read in one book! that on average we have only twenty*two years to live. and that if you take away the body's sufferings and the tonnents of what is called the soul. the 'LHQ£ . \\. but in the long run all good institutions degenerate. that of those t\venty-two years. A That's all true. people who displease. still survhing in Africa. the poisons covering the earth that are so easily self-generating. but why are men better and a little less unhappy than they were in the time of Alexander VI. the sharpened daggers. B That would be a long list in a society so perfect as ours. half the nation continually engaged in the loyal harassment of the other half. and are beginning to be mitigated in other countries. if I wanted to put all our abuses on the record. lium America to Europe. the art of amassing a whole nation's treasure in the money coffers of five or six hundred people. '77 . a Mary Stuart. Let's just talk about the abuses that we'w introduced ourselves. plague. and Cromwell? c That's because people are starting to think. a Duke of Somerset. the art of killing in public with full cere mony. we have the art of snatching the food and clothing away from those who sow the com and process the wool. the Saint Bartholomew Day mas sacre.On abuses source of life poisoned by a venom passed on from hole to hole plugger. while wheat can only be grown with incredible difficulty. a Field-Marshal Marillac. B Agreed. which we've already discussed. on the authority of half a sheet ofpaper. when he couldn't possibly have had any. the practice of preparing a man for death through torture in order to find out who his associates are. but you must agree that most of these horrible abuses have been abolished in England. for leaving aside the art of regularly murdering the human race through war. smallpox which decimates the human race. like the wife o f a Field-Marshal d'Ancre. incom prehensible arguments. to become enlightened and to write well. the scaffolds erected to settle obscure. the burnings at the stake. I could speak for longer than Esdras. . . superstition raises stonm. and rational thinking abates them.8 .The A B C A I agree. and in this year of grace 1760 all three of us believe sin cerely. made \\-ith water created specially for the purpose. They're of no importance_ They're dreams that the Bible dispels. that from the creation of the world. Now there's only one small step from raw matter to organised matter. that was made out of nothing. to the Great Flood. don't we. B That can be supported by means of h�polhesis. c Hypotheses are very amusing. All the ancient philo sophers believed that matter was eternal. for we must always come back to the Bible. 2309 '79 . Mr A. r656 years passed according to the Vulgate. do think the world is very old? A Mr B. On curious matters H By the way.Seventeenth conversation. I imagine it's eternal. A Certainly. or after him.ith the most despised [branch]. It's funny that our family's title-deeds should have heen deposited only with one branch of our house and. c On what do you base your judgement that Sanchoniathon lh'ed before the time of Moses. he would have mentioned him. and who created his own version of Genesis. called Kirjath-sepher.!\lexandria. later called Debir. But I've always been surprised that Adam and Lve. as did 50 many others. Jewish books acknowledge this in several places. B There's worse to come: Sanchoniathon. City (If Books. were unknO\\'Tl to eyeryone else in the world except for the little horde ofJews. He gives us quite different parents. that is. . who unquestionahly lived before the time in which we locate l\loses. had he been his contemporary or younger brother. The Phoenician language was the country's mother tongue. the Phoenicians had been cultivating the arts for some time. while the Chinese. which were totally unknown to the rest of the world until then. the Persians. Abel. which flourished long before the Jewish horde had acquired a bit ofland near Phoen icia. the Egyptians. such as the ten plagues of Egypt. Sanchoniathon would have certainly spoken of Moses.TheA B C according to the Samaritan text. Mr B? B It's just that if he had lived in the time of Moses. It's said explicitly that Caleb took possession of the city ofletters. Cain and Seth. He was writing in Tyn:. It's not natural for him to ha"e omitted from his history the fantabulous adventures of Moshe or Moses. ". ami 2262 according to that miracu lous translation that we call the Septuagint "ersion. in the reign of Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II. what's more. the Indians. speaks neither of Adam nor Eve. the Greeks and the Romans had never heard of either Adam or Eve. who kept the matter secret until the Jews of . our father and mother. took it upon themselves to translate their absurdities into yery bad Greek. as did Job. as that Jewish turncoat Flm·ius Josephus himself acknowledges.�. Look at the Shasta and the the Veidam of the Indians. c \\-'hat! Do all ancient peoples have origins going back further than those of the Jews. properly speaking. his abridger. It has already been proved that it was there that they learned the names of the angels. and even the name Israel. These wretched Jews came on the scene so recently that they didn't even have in their language a name to signify God. Five Kings of the Chinese. their rime honoured usury.On curious matters -------� . who doesn't speak of him. thus he Jived before Moses. the Theaetetus or MercuIJ! Trismegis/us of the Egyptians. the Zen of the early Persians. are the only things that belong to them. Thus he knew nothing about them. Sanchoniathon does not mention the miraculous feats of Gargantua. their new superstition�. nor did any speak like the Jews. and origins [that are] completely different? A Beyond any doubt. would no! have failed to have availed himself of such brilliant evidence. To them Adam . and the name Jehovah or lao from the Syrians.-- and the waters of the Red Sea suspended in mid-air to the right and to the left in order to let three million fleeing thieves through without getting their feet wet. Those are not obscure little everyday banalities that a serious historian would pass over in silence. And it seems highly likely that these rascals. Eusibius. In earlier times no nation spoke of the Jews. only finally learned to read and "rite when they became slaves in Babylon. to whom the words geometry and astronomJ were totally unknown. Their obstinacy. A That reasoning is irrefutable. none had a cosmogony that had the slightest relation to that of the Jews. and those same waters then falling down again on millions of other men pursuing the thieves. The} were forced to borrow the name Adonai from the Sidonians. c And what do you base your fine hypothesis of an eternal world on? A To explain it to you. When we see a wonderful machine. B $0 are we to assume that i\lr A is pre-Adamite? A I'm pre-Satumian. pre-Osirite. Now. A I don't care how they are calculated. intelligent beings can't have been created by a brutish. All our almanachs are calculated from Adam's time. but I do know that we've argued. The world is certainly an excellent machine. There's certainly some difference between New ton's ideas and donkey droppings. pre-Pandorite. so somewhere or other there's . blind insensitive being." . we say there's a good machine designer. c No Adam! That's really sad.was as unknown as the ancestors of so many of the marquises and barons who swarm over Europe. the pretty Christmas-hoxes are not my archives. Newton's intelligence came there fore from another intelligence. you must listen patiently to a few little preliminaries: I don't know whether we've argued well or badly so far. and that all three of us are intelligent beings. and that this machine-designer has an excellent brain. pre-Abrahamite. to call God the Eternal Geometer. to sense that a creative intelligence existed? B I once amused myself by reading Plato. thus it's possible that move ment alone arranged it.On curious matters an excellent intelligence behind it. who didn't know a single one of these laws. since it exists. who said that the land rested on an equilateral triangle and water on a right-angled triangle. please. Spinoza himself acknowledged it. and presses [in] on us from all sides. Plaw the dreamer. but none the worse for that. have nevertheless the sharp ness of mind. The movement of the planets. Venus. everything works by virrue of the laws of higher mathematics. but what's that got w do with the eternity of the world that you were talking about? A Let's take it step by step. How is it that Plato. c But I've known awkward people who say that there's no creative intelligence. Just take four planets. All living bodies consist of levers and pulleys that work in accord ance with the laws of mechanics. It's impossible to argue against that truth which surrounds us. They'll tell you blundy: The arrangement of the universe was possible. could the ignorant Plato. fluids that are continually circulated by the laws of hydrostatics. one is astonished. We clearly owe him the whole of Christian metaphysics. This is an old argument. that of our little earth around the sun. because there are only five regular forms. all the Greek fathers were unquestionably Platonists. and that movement alone has created everything we see and everything we are. and when one thinks that all these beings have feelings that are entirely separate from their physical make-up. There's an intelligence which anim ates the world. who didn't even know about spherical trigonometry. how. that ridiculous Plato who said that there could only be five worlds. I repeat. the happy instinct. Mars. Mercury . Venus. that is to say. \Vhen you're one against infin ity. all their movements. That's how these gendemen argue. putting everything else to one side._ _. think. Thus it's possible that through all eternity the movement of matter alone could have produced the entire universe as we know it. my dear friend. the odds are infinity to one that an intelligent creative cause animates the universe. you will always have a calculation that favours movement alone having created the world as we know it. And again. It is thus demonstrated that in seven hundred and twenty throws of the dice. if you multiply that number through eternity. up to the number that our limited minds call infinity. all the beings that vegetate. . We have only twenty-four possibilities for this arrangement. as the _ . . there are only odds of twenty-four to one that those planets could be where they are in relation to each other. Mars. Mercury and our planet would be positioned as we see them. as you yourself acknowledge. and that you cannot prove that movement alone can produce intelligence. Why do you want to go further than he did. you're in a really bad way. movement alone could line these major planets up in their order. Add Jupiter to those four planets: there will only be odds of a hundred and twenty to one that Jupiter. Spinoza himself admits the possibility of this intelli gence. and through foolish pride let your feeble mind plunge down an abyss into which Spinoza did not dare to fall? Do you not sense the utter madness of saying that a blind force causes the square of a planet's revolution always to be the square of the revolutions of other planets. Then take all the secondary planets. This theory seems to me to be grot esque and ridiculous for two reasons: the first is because in this universe there are intelligent beings. let's just think about their position first of all. you only have to increase the odds. and let's see how high the probability is for movement alone to have put them in their respective positions. live."" . A Excuse me.TheA B C and Earth. C. The second is that. feel. add Saturn: there will only be odds of seven hundred and twenty to one for those six huge planets to be placed a set distance apart in the relative positions they maintain. act on all those planets. all their combinations. Finally. we're L all emanations of the Divinity? Virgil. How. I will gladly say with Virgil: Mens agitat molem et magna se corpore miscet. vegetation [and] thought are the effects of the throws of a dice.. either the planets are great geometers. men. or the planets have been arranged by the eternal geometer. can you support the hypothesis that the world is eternal? A In the same way that I support by proposition that the sun's rays are as old as this planet. A I'm sorry for getting angry." " . fleas. B Let's get to the point without anger. animals. I was feeling depressed. " _ . c That's a funny idea! What! Dungheaps. c No insults. vl. please. by admitting the existence of a God. monkeys and ourselves..721. bachelors of theology. I agree with you that there is a creative intelligence abroad in this world.1 I'm not one of those people who say that planets. Spinoza didn't say on this issue that it's easier to insult than it is to reason.On curiuus matters cubed root of its distance is to the cubed root of the distance of the others to a common [central] point? Friends. but I was none the less right for all that. Amrid. B What! Fleas have existed throughout all eternity? A Necessarily so. therefore he has always been active. You would . he necessarily exists. it did not give itself that advantage. For if they serve no useful purpose. B What! You believe that the Demi-Ourgos. Man. thus whoever accepts the exist ence of a God must accept the notion of an eternal world. has created everything that there was to create? A I imagine that's how it was. the power of creation.86 tum him into an . because they were possible. Would you wish the eternal geometer to have been in a dumb trance for the whole of eternity? It's not worth the bother of being a geometer and an architect just to spend eternity without arranging and building things. thus the world emanates eternally from him. since they exist today. existed yesterday. the snake. and as soon as a species exists it's impossible to prove that it hasn't always existed. It's of his nature to create. and there's no reason to think that they haven't always existed. God is active. Light rays have been coming from the sun through alI eternity. he would not have been a being who was necessarily creative. the oyster [and] the snail have always existed. the spider. they ought never to exist. the Great Being. and all the patterns of the universe have been coming from the Great Pattem Maker throughout all eternity. thus everything that is in him is a necessary part ofrus essence. Otherwise. since he has created.TneA B C A The divine is certainly present in a flea: it can jump fifty times its height. You cannot strip a being of its essence. because then it wonld cease to exist. c IAbat! Is it likely that other worlds are impossible? A That could well be the case. without scurvy. however. There's enough room to spare there. and ""ithout the Inquisition: It's quite possible that such a world exists. that this eternal cause has chosen this world from all other possible worlds. without the pox. so ifhe hasn't given us this perfect world. we have got the worse one.. being capable of creating them. To say that this perfect world is possible. Wby. it must seem better than ours to the great Demi-Ourgos. if they don't exist. c But many people say.87 . necessary cause. it would appear that it wasn't possible to create it. active by nature. now such a cause without an effect seems as absurd to me as an effect 'without a cause. however. did the unlversal. Othernlse v. nor benevolent nor powerful. A They don't Sl:l:ffi to be possibll:. without the plague. is to say unquestionably that he is neither rational. 8 And who told you that this \\-wld doesn't exist? It's probably on one of the planets circling Sirius. and that he didn't give it to us. eternal. now that's what you just can't say. which. would not have created them. necessary mind that presides over this world reject the notion of a world without poisonous vegetation. The eternal craftsman would have arranged these pos sible worlds in space.On curious matters ineffective or lazy workman who had worked only on a �mall pan of his creation.-e would have an eternal. or Canis minor or in the eye of Taurus. . the Bull. for example. Those gentlemen might just as well have said that God made a choice from all imposs ible worlds. you know. the supreme intelligence has done al1 that it was possible for him to do. and he acted.TheA B C A In that case. That's a wonderful concept. we agree. sort I cannot conceive of any other of freedom. but not a very consoling one. B But in that case. B So in the end you think that everything that exists emanates necessar ily from this eternal creative power. and I stick to my idea that things that don't exist cannot exist. is power. c So the theory is then that space is full of planets that all enter into perfect existence one after the other. are you really sure of your system? . ---- . and that we have necessarily [drawn] one of the poorest prizes. in a word. He had power. was the Great Being free? A Freedom. from the Great Being? A It looks like it to me. Freedom in neutral isolation is a word with no meaning.. as I've told you a hundred times in other conversations. from the universal mind. B In all conscience. I. Telliamed1 laughed at his theory of mountains made by the sea. The author who wrote about organic molecules is wise and honourable enough to laugh about it. and who believes sincerely in God. .On curi(lUS matters A I believe that there's an intelligent being. That's "ery edifYing. . All philosophers of good faith I have seen have confessed to me. for all those people have closed ranks somewhat in wanting people to have adored God only for about the last six thou sand years. . line 26. and I've a linner belief in him than the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. as you know. that Descartes was fully persuaded by his theory of striated matter? Believe me. De nalura Jeorum (Of the nature of the gods}. Do you think that Epicurus always had a very clear view of his variation theory of atoms. and have doubts about it the next. and I want them to have adored him throughout eternity. On evel)thing else I'm feeling my way in the Me! I'm sure of nothing! darkness.3 There's only the Irish Jesuit Needham who doesn't laugh at all at his eels. after a few glasses of wine. Two augurs laugh like mad when they meet. that the Great Being hasn't provided them with a scrap of evidence stronger than mine. a God. and all the priests in my country. a creative force. B It's true that when it comes to systems you must always reserve the right to laugh tomorrow at the ideas you had the night before. A Yes. c I'm very pleased to have found an old English philosopher who can laugh after getting angry.illet speh backwards. ----_.. Leibnitz laughed at his monads and his theory of pre-established harmony.. by Heaven! I believe in God. 1 J De M. J give my support to an idea one day. and every day I could be making a mistake. Ckero. The A B C I know of no master \\ithout servants. who hands out prizes and penalties to creatures who have emanated from him. and I'm not much concerned by it.'out ladies who have given their husbands heirs that don't belong to them. spare them kicks. I know ofnothing more unjust.'en and down on to Earth because Vulcan had a bad limp. my servants. when and by what means will it punish? '9° . and who necessarily are in his hands like clay in the hands of a poner? Don't you find it quite absurd for Jupiter to have kicked Vulcan out ofHea.. c You're making fun of people. put your hand on your heart: do you believe in a God ofVengeance and Retribution.'e had nothing to punish? And. and that's enough for me. A I'm familiar with everything that's been said on this abstruse question. I know of twent)' de. Come on! Are you of the opinion that your twenty sluts would have been more faithful had they been atheists? In short. and I'm a citizen of the world. I want my anorney. But look. even my . to belie. and I fancy that as a result I shall suffer from less theft and less cuckoldry. A And I've known just one whom the fear of God restrained. we agree. no cause without effect.. and not throw them out of the house for having itself caused them to be born \\1th bad legs. B Well done. all civilised nations have accepted gods of vengeance and retribution.'e in God. no father without children. but wouldn't it ha"e been preferable for the creative intelligence to ha.. eternal love must cherish its children. Now the eternal Supreme Intelligence must be just.ife. c Alright. what's more. my tailor. no king without subjects. or whether it dates from the day before yesterday: Let's live peacefully in it. Let intolerant barbarians be detested b}' the human race. Let's raise our glasses. and let everyone think what he wants! c Amen. rejoice and bless the Great Being. I'll concede you my eternal world theory even.On curious matters A I haven't any idea. if you insist. but again. let's adore God. '9' . that's the conclusion to e"ery argument. although I'm very keen on that system. myself. I'll concede you all the rest. what does it matter to us whether the world is eternal. you mustn't shake loose a con� cept that is so useful to the human race. let's be just and let's do good: that's the essential thing. After all. . Other writings . . The enslaved nation has seen in the thief's '95 . II A society of men governed arbitrarily resembles perfectly a herd of cattle yoked in the service of a master. known as a conqueror who. has raken possession of its territory. who has profited from its stupidity or divisiveness. he fattens them up so chat he can obtain nourishment from what their bodies produce. By a member of a public body I Pure despotism is the punishment for men's bad behaviour. and made slaves of the cowards he allows to live. He feeds them only so that they are in a condition to serve him. he uses the skins of some to harness others to the plough. that is clearly because it has not had either the courage or the skill to govern itself. sometimes has altars built to himself.Republican ideas. with other thieves. If a community is governed by a single person or by several. or by a thief. he only tends them when they are ill so that in [good] health they will he useful to him. who deserves to be broken on the wheel. IV This thief. killed chose who resisted. III Thus a nation is subjugated either by a skillful fellow-countryman. who were the first to set this fatal example. made to give relief to the poor and not to devour all they have.) . for Jesus said in twenty places: 'But many that arc first shall be last. . he was obviously guilty of rebellion and tyranny. The valour of conquerors is hated. dared in times of anarchy to give himself the title of prince over a town for which he was just the pastor. made to teach the catechism and not to rule. It is an affront to our Gospels. the son of man came not to be served. the most humiliating for human nature. in this way several bishops in Gennany sometimes became the oppressors of peoples to which they should have been a father. is that of priests. and those who have deceived them have shown only despicable cowardice. John. x>:. VII In this way. that of the priests of the Christian religion is without a doubt the most criminal. made to serve and not to he �erved. . they have viewed any questioning of their authority as blasphemy. Matthew. and the slightest attempt to gain freedom as sacrilege. my kingdom is not of this world.'l VI "''hen our bishop. made their rule and simultaneously their sect into some thing ugly throughout half of Europe. x. but to serve ete.\lark.28. L . the bishops of Rome. v The most absurd of all despotisms. \111 Why is it in man's nature to be mure horrified by those who have subjugated us by trickery than by those who have enslaved us by force of arms? It is because at least tyrants who have subdued men have shown some courage. and of all the priestly empires.Republican ideas children a race of gods. the most contradictory and lethal. nU! )6. . the a/Trant to God of remitting for money the penalties by which God deters crime. when. IX When we have destroyed in our city some papist superstitions like the worship of COrpSeS. but they must not have any claim to law-making. X We have taken up municipal government again such as it was more or less under the Romans. We have never known that odious and humiliating distinction between nobles and commoners.Republican ideas but respected. by throwing off the yoke of these monstrous errors we have sem the papist bishop who dared to call himself our sovereign packing. XI We have set these priests up so that they are no more than what they should be: teachers of moralit. which meant originally lords and slaves. that is to say burdens of public duty. to our children..a of Pierre de La Baume In ' Robert Co'·eiJe. inquisitorial functions or to honours. and so many other inventions that stupe(v human nature. Hatred added to contempt makes all kinds of yokes shake. in no case must magi�tratcs. to those who seem to us the most suitable to hold them. people hate imposture. and despise it. ' The reference is 10 the e�l'ulsioll from Gcne. the tax on sins.. These teachers must be paid and accorded respect. An eccleSI astical assembly that presumed to make a citizen knee! before it.1 they place themselves on the same fooring as would play either the role of a pedant correcting children. Having all been born equal. we have remained so. '97 1534.< all we have done is to re-establish the rights of reason and freedom of which we have been deprived. we have given honours. or a tyrant punishing slaws. and it has been given lustre and solidi[}' by that freedom bought with our blood. . and none of these regulations must be made by anything other than the civil authorities. through divine right. the same power over the whole world that Danish monarchs have over a small piece of territory. in republics. the primary laws regulate the rights of each public body. because . and the Capitol muttered darkly at the Sight of Hildebrand the monk speaking as a ruler in that sanctum of the laws where the Catos. the world has booed them loudly. . but then they are theologians . XIII Civil government is the will of all. by virtue of the law itself. carried out by a single person or by several persons. uncertain. swear to protect the rights of their subjects. . when they are crowned. jurisprudence to put it property. It seems that they foresaw that Denmark would have wise and just kings for more than a century. In Europe there is only the King of Denmark who is above the law. You must say cit'il gm'fmment and ecdtsimtical regulations. evel1where people have given thought to erecting dams to hold back the torrents that would engulf the world. Perhaps in later centuries it will be necessary to change that law. III accordance with laws that have been made by all. . equivocal. XIV The laws pertaining to the constitution of governments are aU made to counter ambition. Thus. Scipios and Ciceros used to speak as citizens.Republican ideas XII It is an insult to reason and to the law to say these words: civil and ecclesiastical government. nave been inadequate. The meeting of the eSbtes�general in 1660 declared him to be the absolute sovereign arbiter. thus kings. XVI Everywhere the laws concerning distributive justice. xv Some theologians have claimed that popes possessed. to which today all courts Jay claim. now that the laity are enlightened. What is true in Aragon becomes false in Castillon. what is just on the banks of the Danube is unjust on the banks of the Elba. XIX The law permitting the imprisonmenr of a citizen without preliminary investigation and without judicial formalities would be tolerable in times of disturbance and war. when Triptolemus brought the plough into use in Athens. Thus. unless they have appointed aftw [men] with the express purpose of interpreting laws. there aTe laws that have to be changed. when academies were made up only of priests. In those times. because evel)'one has passed it. it was necessary to abolish the com regulations. It means be made from the rich. evel)'one has to interpret it. XVII ""ben a law is obscure. becomes absurd when the city has become busy and opulent. XVIII When times have palpably changed. and when they alone knew the jargon of science. but today. In the nvelve great courts of France there are a dozen different judicial systems. it means depriving those who have made their fortunes of the natural depriving artists of the legitimate profits to '99 . in peacetime it would be iniquitous and tyrannicaL xx A sumptuary law. the civil authoritie� must resume their right to appoint to all chairs. have sometimes been contradictOl)'. that is good in a poor republic bereft of the arts.Republican ideas the men who were heads of �tate have always been more concerned about their private interest than about the public interest. Roman laws themseives. it was acceptable faT them alone to appoint professors: it was the corn regulations alJ over again. and homes himself as best he can. you are robbing the poor man who would be keeping his family on the cost of the fowl that he sells to the ril:h man. The citizen who humiliates the poor man by his ostentatious wealth enriches the poor man much more than he humiliates him by means of that very same wealth. But when those dizzy times have passed. and feared that someone might bring the plague in. because it saw itself at the time as a country surrounded by those stricken with plague. Everyone dresses himself. If you do not want the rich man to make his house more ornate. If you forbid the rich man to eat grouse. Poverty must work for opulence in order one day to be its equal XXII A Roman law which had said to LucuJlus: Spend nothing. would in effect have said to Lucullus: Become even ril:her so that your grand son can buy the republic. --- . it means stifling all industry.--- . it means frustrating the rich and the poor [alike). XXIV If a republic has been created during a time of religious war. feeds himself. must be equally free. haughty. who are equally citizens. is it not a ridiculous barbarity to ask a man who has just settled in our country and brought his wealth to '00 . it has behaved wisely. if during these troubles it has removed sects that are hostile to its own from its territory. XXI The clothing of the rich man must be regulated no more than the rags of the poor man.Republican ideas right to enjoy them. jealous pauper who wants neither to work nor to allow those who do work to enjoy the benefits of it. you ruin a hundred artists. XXIII The sumptuary laws can only please the idle. Both. when tolerance has become the dominant dogma of all respectable people in Europe. Thus it would have been very dangerous to wish to rule Venice. Such is the law of England. a�. a monarchical country. XXVII \Vhat j. industry and talents do not belong to any religion. when seeing each other at closer quarters. and when it is in the interests of its neighbours to presene it. and where a more violen! friction interferes with its running. people can hate each other morc. xxv In a republic worthy of the name. as the craze to lord it over one's equals is the dominating pas<. but one where men are fre<'r than elsewhere because they are more enlightened. He can use hIS pen as he uses his voice. and crimes committed with the pen should be punished in the same way as crimes committed by word of mouth. it sometimes happens that a small state is more troubled man a large onc. which makc� itself heard in the end. the freedom to publish one's thoughts is the natural right of the dtlLen. like Saint i\hrtin. when the passions arc weary of �houting. but time is needed. XXVIII In a small republic it seems that the people must be listened to more than in a large one because it is easier to make a thousand people assembled together listen to reason than forty thousand. Then the two sides back off a little for fear of something worsc..'erybody's mind. But as pride enters e. which had waged war for so long against me Ottoman Empire.Republican ideas it: '\\-'hat religion do you belong to?' Gold and silver.. XXVI Of all republics it would seem that the smallest must be the happiest when its freedom is assured by its location. .ion of the human mind. The mechanism is appar entl}' simpler and more regular in a small machine than in a large one whose springs are more complicated. he must no more be forbidden to write than to speak. the Cure for mis evil? Reason. another prcfers to be unknown to them. opulent and cle\·er Athens was a democratic �tate. however.Republican ideas who had only ever been able to conquer a mill. another demands that the people should have bread. and that it �tops aeing free when its right consists of having itself represented in Parliament by deputies. that it was forced to surrender. speaking of different systems of government. and never will be. \\"uuld he like three million citizens to come and vote at Westminster? Are the peas ants of Sweden represented in all) othcr \yay except ay deputies? XXX It is said in this same Socia! conlmet that 'monan. and at the start of the �ixteenth. How can one be unknown to one's neighbours. One person is happy when money circulates.>.: How afe you safe if your neighbours do not know that there is danger in attacking you� And how can this very same state which could make itself feared --- -- . Thc Roman Republic was very rich from the time of Scipio down to Caesar. aristocraq· for states of modest wealth and size. e"Presses himself thus: 'One persun finds it admirable to be fcared bv one's neighbours. XXIX It seems very strange that the author of the Social conlrat/ should take it upon himself to say that the whole English nation should have a seat in Parliament. Thus we must beware of aU of these general rules which only owe their existence to writers' pens. Lucca is small and not \ery rich. democracy for smaU. But in the fourteenth and fifteenth ccnmrie. a monarchy. �xxr The same writer.:hy is suitable only for very rich nations. poor states'. the Venetians wefC the only rich nation.- . they still have a lot of wealth.' The whole uf this article seems to be puerile and contradictory. ·We have ver)" rich citizens. Venice has never been. and we make up our government out of a mixture of democracy and aristocracy. but of obedience. XXXII 'At that moment when the people are legally assembled in a sovereign body. A bridge is to be huilt. teaches him the trade of carpentry. 203 . and in the smallest state. we do not have the right to remove state officials from office when we please. This proposition from the Socia! contracl would be pernicious. This is an idea worthy of a teacher who. . But not every man should be a manual worker. The King of France himself. with a young gentleman to bring up. will it be necessary for magistrates. while the assembly is sitting. \\-'hen we are convened. and nothing with money. Otherwise. businessmen and priests to pave the road and build the bridge? For sure.Republican ideas be unknown? And how can the people have bread without money circulating! The contradiction is obvious. if it were not so obviously false and absurd. the citizens do everything with their hands. that right would be part of the code of anarchy. executive power is suspended' etc. but their officials . a murder or a robbery is committed. the criminal is. it can appoint them and remove them from office when it pleases. when he has commissioned a magistrate. an assembly of the people would be a solemn invitation to commit crimes. XXXIII 'In a state that is truly free. the whole jurisdiction of the government ceases. it is wrong in all states. for them it is a question not of contract. the author would not want to cross a bridge huilt by their hands. no jurisdiction is suspended. . .' It is true that magistrates arc not the ma�ters of the people: the law is master. if. When Parliament assembles in England. a road is to be paved. XXXIV 'The trustees of executive power are not the people's masters. we have the right to reject or approve the magistrates and laws that are proposed to us.' This thesis from the Socia! contract is just foolish. and must be. handed over to law officers. and it is wrong in your own. but the rest is absolutely wrong. What he then says is no more true. have never been I could cite more than fifty who have held the most important positions. which make for promotion to high office in court life. A crowd of pOOr barnabites never got [anywhere] near any magistracy. xxxv 'It is a mistake to consider the government of Venice to be a true aristocracy. namely that: 'our peasants represent the mainland subjects of the Venetian Republic'. whom the author dares magistrates. That is the first rime that anyone has said that the government of Venice ". whose commission can be revoked. is an affront to every educated man. In truth. The lUng of England cannot take away a meadow that he has given to someone. It is no more permissible to demote a magistrate at whim than to imprison a citizen as the fancy takes you. it is a foolish statement. It may be true that the people have no part in government there. titled lords of the most ancient nobility.Republican ideas cannot remove him from office other than by putting him on trial. "When this presumptuous ignorance treats noble Venetians so outrageously. Among these mainland subjects there are in Verona. only serve to reveal to the public their ineptitude once they have achieyed office. in Brescia. to call contemptuously bamabites. or petty plotters. The Emperor cannot dismiss a prince whom he has created when he pleases. one asks who is the potentate who has forgotten himself like this? When you finally learn who the author of these follies is. several of whom h:n'e commanded annies. So much ignorance.as not entirely aristocratic. It is wrong to say that the senators. Magistrates. whose petty talents. petty rogues.' AI! that is revolting error.' . in Vicenza. coupled with so much presumptuousness. can only be removed from office after their period of senice [has endedJ. XXXVI 'Those who succeed in monarchies are more often than not merely petty muddlers. but it wuuld be severely punished in the Venetian state. you just laugh. and in many other towns. but there the aristocracy itself is the people. .Republican ideas This indecent heap of cynical antitheses is in no way appropriate in a book on gm'ernment. but we are compelled to accept that no modern republic can pride itself on having produced ministers like Oxenstiern. this revolution seems to me to be a certainty. There were people like Verres. Colbert and the great men chosen by Elizabeth of England. thinks enough of himself to give lessons on public administration. Clodius and Lepidus in Rome. genius that creates and makes something of nothing. For example. ' It seems certain to him that wretched hordes of Tartars. Thus from national divisiom . in the chapter on civil reli gion: 'Two peoples. We recognise with some distress that in republics as well as mon archies. most were misplaced . he must give the appearance of good sense and impartiality. could never recognise the same god. always alien and hostile tD each other. like the laws themselves which he is invoking. His subjects or neighbours. will become his masters and ours. two armies fighting a battle could never obey the same commander. plotting succeeds where official appoinonents afe concerned. who have sunk to their lowest point. XXXVIII If you trouble yourself to read carefully this book on the Social con tract. the Tartars. A few of the things that he did were fine. . Has the fortune-teller's column in the Old Moores a/mantu:h ever made predictions like that? The Court at Saint Petersburg will consider us great astrologers jf it learns that one of our apprentice c10ckmakcrs has set the hour at which the Russian Empire is to be destroyed. which ought to be written with wisdom and dignity. Sully. whoever he mighr be. XXXVII 'Czar Peter did not have true genius. When a man. Milo. Let us not insult either monarchies or republics. will subjugate in the near future an empire defended by two hundred thousand soldiers who are among the best troops in Europe. there will not be a single page on which you will not find mistakes or contradictions. Citizens will then never have anything to complain about 'with . The process ofbuming it has perhaps been as odious as that of composing it. XXXIX 'A society of true Christians would no longer be a society of men'. the peoples of Greater Greece recognised the same gods while waging war on each other. The polytheism of the Greeks and the Romans did not result from their wars at all: they were all polytheists before they had anything bern'een them to settle. Minerva. Does the author mean that it would be a society of animals or a society of angels? Bayle has treated in some depth the question of whether the Christians of the early Church could have been philosophers. and even less so when it is a matter of honour and life than when the issue is simply about money. it had to be refuted. A bad argu ment is only a crime when it is clearly seditious. Jupiter. There are things that a wise administration will ignore. the Romans. Mercury. XLI A criminal code is absolutely necessary for citizens and for magis trates. and for fear of being just plagiarists. they alI adored the gods majorum gentium. worship the same god. so many errors: The Greeks. which is of course the same thing. If this book was danger ous. politicians and warriors. People want to go one better than Bayle. Nothing must be arbitrary. lastly. Christians. they will always wage war. in their countries there was never civil or religious intolerance. etc.' So many words. The books that should be burned are slanderous books whose authors should be punished severely. Juno. This book has been burned in our country. Mars. Such an assertion is very strange. when they wage war on each other. they use foolhardy terms which basically mean nothing. This issue is a little futile. because slander is a crime. XL A court must have fixed laws for the criminal code as for the civil code. and from that religious and civil intolerance. they repeat what he said. Burning a book containing reasoned argu ments is to say: We have not got enough sense to answer it. etc.Republican ideas results polytheism. For whatever beliefs nations have. because sentences will not be the result of their will. XLII With regard to finance. there would be no need for government. and if they did not have passions. either for having given service. should be richer and more populated than if it were governed by a master. for each person. because men have pas sions. and not in his neighbour's. it is a commonplace thaI it is up to the citizens to rule on what they think they should contribute to the expenses of the State. One power is needed to pass judgement by that law alone. but of the law. XLV That country. On this point there is no cause to reproach our republic at alL XLIII There has never been a perfect gowrnment. Every father must be master in his own house. and magistrates will have nothing to fear from incurring hatred. but they can be honorary members. and bestowed in noble style on grand occasions.Republican Ideas regard to sentences. governed on a common basis. or for havlllg paid for their membership. and another to grant mercy. because that is the one which brings men closer to a state of natural equality. it is a contra diction for one man to be the master of an those houses and all those pieces of land. and it is in nature for each master to have a vote for the good of society. The most tolerable of aU systems is undoubtedly the republican onc. . XLIV Sbould tho>e without land or house in that society be able to vote? They have no more right to that than a clerk paid by merchants has in the running of their business. it is a commonplace that this contribution should be man aged efficiently by those who administer it. As a society is made up of several houses and of several pieces of land attached to them. his income amounted to twenty-t\m million. and according to a revenue return from the single province of Holland. XLVIII Let people compare what we were in our bishop's time with what we are today. we used to eat off wooden platters in our kitchens. and thirty days are a twelfth of the year. secure in his property. assuming that they have an equal amount of equally good territory. with forty horses. XLVI A Protestant republic should be a twelfth richer. That was more Or less what the King of Spain possessed at the beginning of the century. consisting of thirty days of idle ness and debauchery. which he called his states. two hundred and forty-one thou_ sand. and by imprm'ing his own condition improves that of the public as a whole. our bishop was the only one to have silver plate. three hundred and thirty-nine florins.Republiw7I ideas In a true republic. Under one master the contrary can happen. XLVII The accounts of the Treasury in the Low Countries. his possessions and his person. Today we have citizens with three times his income. made out in 1700. of the monks and of the nuns. We used to sleep in hovels. located at pre sent in Lille. eight hundred and eleven lh'res and eighteen SlJIlS. seven hundred and six thousand. which in French cur rency come to fony-six million. record that Philip If did not get eighty thousand (ros from the seven United Provinces. If in this papist country there is a twelfth of the prie5ts. more populated than a papist one. as in Cologne. Sometimes a man can be taken completely by surprise to hear that neither his person nor his property belong to him. and went about his diocese. . more industrious. works confidently for himself. it is obvious that a protestant country of similar sile must have a population that is a twelfth as big again. of the apprentice priests. by reason of the fact that there are thirty feast days in a papist country. and because men need to be watched over. and which we have made into prisons. that proves that there is obstinacy on both sides. because one can keep an eye on the other. and to avert fresh changes as much as possible. The land of the Pope. it would have really surprised him. that the scales must be kept balanced. But where is the fulcrum? Who will detennine it? This will be a masterpiece of feason and impartiality. Had anyone predicted all this to Caesar.Republican ideas and in the city and in the country we have far finer houses than the one he called his palace. It has been said a thousand times that authority always wants to grow. there people hardly eat any bread other than unleavened bread. from Orvieto to Tarracina. . This is the land that in the time of the ancient Romans was covered with opulent towns. In truth. that it is necessary neither to concede all of their representations nor to reject them all. when he passed through and fought nearly four hundred thousand Swiss on the way. splendid houses. that tllt:re must be a curb on authority and on free dom. with roads stretching for more than a hundred and twenty miles. but it also proves that on both sides there is plenty of spirit. XLIX Half of the land in Switzerland is made up of cliffs and precipices. There are more priests than fanners. it flourished. L It is perhaps useful for a republic to have two parties. Let us add to this contrast that fact that six Swiss regiments could rake possession ofthe whole ofthe Pope's estates in two weeks. to change them if need be. uninhabited and [has been made] unhealthy through famine. ampitheatres. plenty of enlightenment. That is when arbiters are needed to illuminate disputed laws. and the other half is not very fertile. cultivated that land. on the contrary. harvests. and the people always want to complain. a great wisdom in the interpretation of laws in different ways. but when free hands. gardens. controlled at last by enlightened minds. It is not perhaps as shameful as one thinks for a republic to need mediators. You can travel for a whole day there without coming across any people or any animals. is uncul tivated. ' The author forgets that in the Roman Republic people asked for consular office. 1. 95. statues. 1. marks of distinction. and when he quotes. he almost always mistakes his imagination for his memory. He tells us that in Bantam 'the king takes the whole of a father's estate.27. He says that this is to be found in a collection of travel tales. A traveller often says things that should never be repeated by a man writing as a legislator. Honour is thus. see p. LII That superb man with his ingenious and profound thoughts shining with a light that dazzled him. located in monarchical government. house.I-6. crowns. The illustrious author of the Spirit ofthe laws often falls into this affectation. Cochin and Borneo to prove to us truths that have no need of such examples. Bago.25 p. But the whole thing is impossible. 'The nature of honour'. I. gI. for within two generations the King would have taken possession of every house and every wife. said Montesquicu. [The rest of this section. [Section LIX has been omitted.] - LVIII It seems to me that it is an even greater abuse to cite the laws of Bantam. the inferences drawn are often badly applied. the quotations to support these inferences arc often wrong.Republican ideas LI Examples are deceptive. was not able to subordinate his genius to the order and method that is necessary.} . ovations. triumphal arches. The fire of his great genius stops objects from being clear and distinct. The missing text is identical to that printed in the First Conversation of ABC. by its very nature. 'is to ask for signs of prefer ence. The missing text is identical to that printed in the First Conversation of ABC. see p. There is no republic so small that people do not look for honours. wife and children'. together with sections LIII-LHI have been omitted. 93. and which make virtue attractive. \\'hat does it matter to our laws. if young people read these books carefull�·. caution. that we will succeed in making men better? Yes. Pride alone is intolerant. nor witticisms. . They will feel that peace is the fruit of toler ance. the Araxes. the Euphrates. bo. see p.] LXIII Will it be through books which destroy superstition. which is a big family. 95. LXIV Tolerance is as necessary in politics as it is in religion. and the true aim of every society. nor examples taken from unknown peoples. 96. But what is the point of displaying such erroneous geographical information when he ought only to tell us about what is important to us? [Sections LXI-LXII have been omitted. 'that the only navigable river in Persia is the Cyrus': No doubt the author should not have left out the Tigris. nor irrelevant digressions are necessary. this is the secret source of all divisiveness. The missing text is identical to that printed in the First Conversation of ABC. our administration.Republican Ideas LX In a work dealing with the law neither off-the-cuff conjecmre. LXV Politeness. the Phasi�. They will have the same effect in a small state. and the O:ms. 1. they will be protected from aU kinds of fanaticism. It is pride that gives men's minds a feeling of revulsion when it makes us want to force them to think as we do. forbearance consolidate that sense of union between friends and within families.6 p. and .:hiayt�lli claimed that the strength of the kings of France lay in their par/emertts.J "Whoever would have said at the Peace of Nijmegen that one day Spain. in the '75. Sicily and Parma would belong to the House of France? III Who would have said in the last century that the Russians would shake the Ottoman Empire. but what its interests and its government are in a given year. and those who write like he does on the interests of princes are making defective almanachs for the current year. 'The above paragraph was printed anJ}. Mexico. he would say: The strength of the kings of France lies in an army of two hundred thousand men. Peru. Naples.2 Pufendorf. a1manachs that are absolutely worthless for the year after. and would send an anny of forty thou' Tbe tide in the first edition was Thoughts on grn. .<. If he was alive today.Thoughts on public administrationI [ I was quite right to suggest n·venty years ago that we must not ask what the nature of a people's government and its interests is. Ma<. and 1754 editions. II Those who wrote fifty years ago that the House of Prussia was des tined always to be attached to the House of Austria would be some what disconcerted today.rnmml. 'The above pacagrapb was printed only in the '75l and '754 editions. Thoughts on puhlic ad. But they need more foreign officers because the country has not yet acquired as much skill as it has courage. it will be by their hands. I do not know who Queen the compiler of the Letters from Christine was� who outraged the human race by justifying the murder ofMonaldeschi. which they carried out themselves in days gone by. and it still knows only how to obey. now they think so highly of themselves that they do not accept foreign soldiers into their annies. on the pretext that this Swedish lady had been a queen.4 When Charles XII was ruling Sweden as a despot. and who would faithfully keep to that oath?5 A century ago the kings of Denmark were doges.-60). 'Johann Arckenholtz. VI Animals accustomed to the yoke present themselves for yoking of their own accord. "3 n. 9. now they are absolute rulers. who despise them. Memoi!':! amtmIing Christine. the Russians themselves were sold like negroes. The disciplined Russians will conquer the undisciplined janissaries. . The only assassins • The above paragraph WIIS in the whole world to claim that it was printed only in the '752 and 1754 editions" ' The above paragraph WIIS printed only in the '7P and 1754 editions. did anyone foresee that his successors would have no more authority than the Polish kings? IV When some Czars in Russia shocked nature with so many terrible tortures. could anyone foresee the advent of an empress who would vow never to condemn anyone to death. they were subjugated by the T attars. and if ever the Empire of Constantinople should fall. p. Queen ofS_den ('75. and they look upon it as a point of honour never to desert. assassinated at Fontainebleau on the orders of a Swedish lady. v Once upon a time.m"nistration sand men against France? Three centuries ago. excommunicated kings. VIII That government which would allow citizens to say: 'The state has given us everything. . we owe it only our demands'. IX In becoming perfect. rt�ason destroys the seed of religious wars. X If Luther and Calvin were to come back. would outrage God and man. "4 /ir. XII There is a certain convent. would be worth� of the Hottentots. which enjoys an income of two hundred thousand ' Paragraphs vii-xix were added in 175b.Thoughts un public administration rennissible for this princess to commit at Fomainebleau what would have been a crime in Stockholm were the ones employed by her. Reason but suppressed in Kehl. possessed people. useless to the world in every respect. they would make no more of an impact than the Scotists and the Thomists. XI It is only in times ofbarbarism that you see witches. subjects absolved from their oaths of loyalty by doctors of theology. 'Ill' The government under which a certain number of men would be allowed to say: 'It's up to those who work to pay.res. we owe nothing because we're idle'. V-lhy? Because they would be born in a time when men are starting to become enlightened. It is the spirit of philosophy that has banished this plague from the world. and they do princes a favour by destroying superstition. and who can spin. wan!. Prussia. This is what everyone. whose interests we normally sacrifice to those of our eldest sons?' the prince will reply: 'They will become what they become in Sweden. and not to recite Latin verse that they do not under stand. and if one were to marry them off. and that there would be more plough men and more soldiers. gives greater service to the State than any convent can ever give. from the princes of the blood down to vine-growers. but reason. must crush superstition. a hundred girls provided for. the Prince can stop people from taking religious \·ows before the age oftwenty. In the past. which is always the enemy of princes. XVI Philosophers love religion.' XIV The Prince and the State are very fortunate to have a lot of philo sophers to instill all these maxims into men's heads.fivc. they will make good citizens.Thoughts on publif administration indicates that if one were to give those two hundred thousand livres to a hundred officers. they would cultivate the soil and populate the land. Denmark. . And if someone says to the sover eign: 'What will become of these girls of quality. a hundred good citizens would be rewarded. Reason indicates that if these fifty idle people were to be returned tn the State. subject to faith. England and Holland. and [there would beJ at least four hundred more people in the State after ten years instead of fifty idle people. XV Philosophers. can only speak for reason and the public good. A women feeding two children. they were born to reproduce. XIII With a single word. who have no private interests to serve. only superstition was opposed to it. bllt as the cenmries pass they will work out that it is very little for a dead • This sentence was printed only in the I 7S 2 and '7H editions. Holland. Geneva and Hamburg. England. it causes them to rise against their prince. William of Orange. It is true that ten eeus is a lot of money for a man bom in a certain part of the world. There is not a single century in which superstition and hysteria have not caused horrifying disturbances. more skillful than the others. XVIII Superstition is the most horrible enemy of the human race. XXI A time will come in these countries when some prince. although what does not fonn part of the sovereign body is not respected there.. when it controls the people. On that basis. will make those who cultivate the land understand that it is not altogether to their advantage for a man with a horse.Thoughts on public administration XVII It is superstition that had Henry III.8 But there are still provinces and huge Christian kingdoms where most of the people are slaves. Switzerland. or several horses. today every man is free in Sweden. People are free in some of the imperial cities of Gennany. XIX There is not a single instance in the world ofphilosophers ever having opposed the Prince's laws. and so many others assassinated. that is to say a nobleman. Henry IV. xx Freedom consists in being dependent only on the law. It is superstition that has made rivers of blood flow since the time of Constantine. . When it controls the Prince. People are even free in Venice and in Genoa.6 - - --- -- . to have the right to kill a peasant by imposing a ten·ecu tax on his ditch. it stops him from seeking the good of his people. xxv People a1ways ask which system of go. a1though on suge they play different roles. Everything that has been written for and against [the best form of government] can be reduced to this: in a mixed state. if you put it to a baron. will want to be consulted. XXIV This equality does not mean the abolition of all subordination. Then it might come about that the commons will play a part in government. he will want the baronage to share in legislative power. as might be expected. in monarchical states it is the abuse of power. The bishops will say the same thing. what is to be feared is confusion. If you put this question to a minister or to his secreUry. we are all equal as men. All natural rights belong equa1ly to a sultan and to a bostandjij both should have the same power over their own persons. The best form of government seems to be the one where an ranks of society are equally protected by the law.9 'The above paragraph Was printed only in the '752 and '7H editions. XXII A citizen of Amsterdam is a man. their possessions. the citizen. their families. and the farmer will not wish to be forgotten. and the English and Swedish style of government will be esublished in Turkey or thereabouts. "7 . XXIII All men were born equa� but a citizen of Morocco does not suspect the existence of that truth.'ernment is preferable. Men are thus equal in essential things.Thoughts on public administration man. a citizen living a few degrees of longitude away is an animal in service. they will no doubt be for a system of absolute power. but not [equa1] as members of society. XXVIII When the lord in his castle or the city-dweller make accusations against the absolute power of the authorities. XXVII What is love of country: An amalgam of self-love and prejudice.Thoughts on public administration XXVI A republican is always more attached to his country than a subject [is]. To serve with pride. except in rimes of civil war. What people hate is absolute power four or five times removed. or the ante-foom of an intend ant's secretary. It is import ant for the vague term. is the thing that makes people mutter under their breath. People hardly ever express sorrow about evils they do not themselves feeL Citizens and gentle men hate even more rarely the person of the sovereign. a clerk's ante-room. the public. Whose nobles born to cringe and to command. XXIX The English reproach the French for cheerfully serving their masters. in which the good of society becomes the greatest of virtues. by reason of the fact that one prefers what belongs to oneself to what belongs to one's master. Here is the finest thing that has been written in England on that subject: A nation here I pity and admire. and boast the yoke they bear. In courts a mean. do not believe them. in camps a gen'rous band From priests and stock-jobbers content receive Those laws their dreaded anns to Europe give: . to make a deep impression. Yet taught by custom's force. and bigot fear. It is because people have been slapped in the face by some insolent valet in a palace that they grumble about the ravaged countryside. and express sorrow for the crushed peasant. Whom noblest sentiments of glory fire. Dans son abaissement que! exces de courage! La tete sous Ie joug. XXXI A few Englishmen from the provinces. and even some English. les lauriers dans les mains.. aveugle par des pretres.ears. Ses exploits et sa honle ont rempli l'univers: Vainqueur dans les combats. The jest and enw of a wiser slate. industrious tho' oppress'd. Tho' plunder'd. Count Maurice of Nassau. who have travelled no further than London. '" You could convey the . sends for a president. pamphlets and sermons are full. XXXII There is hardly a country in the world where the fortunes of indi viduals are more secure than in France.Thoughts on public administration Whose people vain in want.ense of these lines thus: Tel est l'esprit framrais. A number of for eigners. xxx A king who is not contradicted can hardly be wicked. Pille par des traitants. Dans la disette il chante: il dame avec ses fers. heureux dans sa folie. \\-'ilh happ)' follies rise above their fate. have come to settle in France just to lead happy lives there. imagine that the King of France. Here is the answer to all those declamations of which English poetry. je l'admire et Ie plains. ga)'. and for amusement gives his property to a flunkey. in his spare time. It is quite natural to love a house that has reigned for almost eight hundred ). "9 . Ii cherit a la fois la gloire et l'esclavage. Conyer< Midd:elon. De l'Anglais libre et sage il est encore l'envie. Fier dans Ia servitude. in bondage blest. . enchaine par ses maitres. There is no country where the people have said to one man: 'Sire. He was deceitful. he would have raised the Kingdom to a pinnacle of splendour. II despotism has been included among the natural forms of government. to shed blood all over the scaffolds. 11. 'You will be paid'. we give to your Gra cious Majesty the power to take our wives. with nothing to exercise itself on. who is a very amusing fellow. XXXIV In the time of Louis XIII not a year passed without turbulence. . XXXIlI During his reign. our possesII Montesquieu. Louis XI caused about four thousand citizens tu pass through the hands of the executioner: it is because he was not an absolute ruler.1. that is because he was an absolute ruler. In the same circumstances. Louis the Just was cruel. but wanted tu be.' And that was Iiterall)' true. There is no state that is naturally despotic. would have given full sway to the nobility of his genius. He had started at the age of sixteen by having his prime minister assassinated. Spirit of the Ill"" . 'on the same day as Count Maurice of Saxony. xxxv In a book full of deep ideas and clever witticisms. I tuld him. Cardinal Mazarin did not have anybody killed. wanted to have a joke. He allowed Cardinal Richelieu. From the time of the Duke of Lauzun adventure. the commander of the French army. Louis XIV punished nobody in his court severely.Thoughts on public administration when leaving The Hague to take command of the Dutch infantry. who was more cruel than he was. not wicked. which had to do with the haughtiness of his nature. The author. our children. Under Charles II more than fifty important heads were chopped off in London. he would not have been able to maintain himself in power through cruelty. because his cruelty. As he was a foreigner. If Richelieu had not had factions to fight. asked me if the income that he received from the Paris Town Hall would be confiscated. " The above paragraph was printed only in the '752 and '754 editi(}n. to have honour is to d o nothing that makes you unworthy of being honoured.J-6. they used 10 give away fiefdoms.vise people will no longer understand one another. �ow. A prince who. Honour was dependent on a ceremony or on a sprig of laurel or parsley.1J " . is a highway man they call Your Majesty. IlI. Will republican government survi"e in Sweden? Yes. Honour is the desire to be honoured. It is a good thing to agree on terminology. imprisons a citizen or causes him to die.. You would nOI say that a solitary man has honour..\iontesquieu. XXXVI Despotism is the abuse of kingship. He cannot have anyone killed without a warrant from the Divan and a fatwa from the Mufti. there was no more honour of that sort.' The Great Lord swears on the Koran to observe the law. This is reserved for that degree of respect that everyone wishes to be accorded in society. XXXVII A modern authorl1 has said that there is more virtue in republics and more honour in monarchies. just as anarchy is the abuse of republican government. long ago. He is so undespotic that he can neither alter the currency rate nor demote the janissaries. without judicial procedure and .ithout justice. laurel crowns and triumphal arches made the Romans into conquerors of much of the world. It is wrong to say that he is the master of his subjects' property.Thoughts on public administration siom and our lives. Spirit OJthf !awl.. . and to have us impaled in accordance with your own good pleasure and wonderful whim.until another Gustavus Adolphus is born. in the time ofthe Roman Republic this desire to be honoured by statues.. other. Once there was no more republic. yes . He gives away land called timan'ots just as. claimed thac . on pride which curbs pride. protestants have no troops. XXXIX Small machines are not a success on a large scale because friction makes them go wrong. canonries. A Protestant prince turns himself into a Catholic in order to become a bishop or a king in a particular country. It i� a society in which the guests. " bill he changed the wa in 1756 after MontesQuieu's death. The Lutheran religion will survh'c there longer because it is in nobody's interest to change it. which keeps in check the ambition of all the others. Voltaire had originaUy written. it will be by means of the bait of fat livings and through monks. That country is full of great bishoprics. it is founded on the ambi tion of each citizen. " 11 .14 XLI If the Roman religion becomes top-dog again. all of them good for conversions. greedy man comes on the scene who helps himself to every thing. until a powerful.Thoughts on public administration XXXVIII A republic is not founded on virtue at all. just like a princess docs in order to marry. 'In a boo k so appropriately taUed Wit IirI the kill'S. i. leaving them the crumbs. having an equal appetite. on the wish to dominate which does not allow anyone else to dominate. Monks are the troopS who fight without let up. but Chris tianity has reigned for a long time in Asia. It started in Palestine. From all that laws are formed which preserve equality as milch as possible. abbacies with sovereign powers. cat at the same table. XL Calvinism and Lutheranism are in danger in Germany. and l< L< The above paragraph was printed only in the I 752 and 1754 editions. It is the same thing with states: China cannot be ruled in the same way as the Republic of Lucca. XLII It has been claimed'> that religions are made for climates. . XLIII It must be admitted that there are ceremonies and mysteries that can only take place in certain climates. putting an animal's blood into your lett ear:17 these ceremonies are hardly related to a country's temperature.ing the leftovers into the fire.. XLV No religious laws are the result of the nature of a dimate. there would have been no Protestants. If Ann Boleyn had not been pretty. What detennined that Spain did not become completely . Eating lamb cooked with lettuce leaves standing up. XL6. People bathe in the Ganges at [the time of] the new moon.. Spint ofthl fa"" . who controlled the supply of this merchandise.ine because Arabs like water.Thoughts on public administration it came to Norway. XLVI If Leo X had given the sale of indulgences to Augustin friars. and thro. that religious law would not be in force for very long.. XIV_7_ "3 . XIV. If they had to bathe in the Vistula in January. The Englishman who said that religions were born in Asia and found their graves in England made a better guess. V[[[ 23. " Leviticus. Deuteronomy.. because there wine would thicken the blood... etc. and water is more refreshing. MontesGuieu. Mohammed did not forbid . XLIV It has been claimed!o that the Muslim law forbidding the drinking of wine is the law of the climate of Arabia. [0. and that it eats grass. not eating hare because it is said that it does not have a cloven foot. It is said in the Sunna that he forbade it because he witnessed the excesses which drunkenness can make people commit. I could just as well wish for an eleventh commandment to have been made in Spain and Italy regarding iced drinks. England would be Catholic. Thoughts on public administration Aryan. . and subsequently completely Muslim? What detennined that Carthage did not destroy Rome? XLVII To deduce all the events that haw happened in the world from one single event is a good problem [to haveJ to solve. but it is for the master of the universe to solve it. do his father-ill-law. the strongest wins. and lavished contradictions and tedium on the question of what was just and what was unjust. belonged in days gone by to the Moors. after having robbed his own nephews of their herit. in territorial acquisition by negotiation. Should a priest of Christ have sovereign powers? To understand the rights of the human race. Does one territory depend upon another? Is there some physical law that makes the Euphrates flow at China's pleasure or at that of India? Is there some metaphysical concept that makes a Spice Island submit to a piece of marshland formed by the Rhine and the '\leuse? It would appear not. By what right did Charlemagne. born in the barbarous land of the Austrasians. How does it come about that Gibraltar. Didier the Lombard. We have to get down to facts. Translated from the Italian I. and subsequently it was agreed that it should remain theirs: force and agreements make empires. who live on islands in the Atlantic. age? By the same right the Lombards had exercised when they came from the shores of the Baltic to sack the Roman Empire. In anned robbery. there is no need for quotations. The time has gone when people like Grotius and Pufen dorf used to look for what is your right and what is mine in Aristotle and Saint Jerome. out of what belonged to him. the winner is the most skillfuL . Is there a moral law? Just as unlikely. and by the same right the Romans had to lay waste to one country after the other. the northernmost point of which is at about 60 degrees latitude? The reason is that they took Gibraltar. in the Mediterranean.The rights of men and the usurpations of others. and now belongs to the English. Why do they keep it? Because nobody has been able to take it offthem. they only had themselves at their disposal. and a most legitimate one. On the other hand. giving his army ib marching orders. Charlemagne was not so honest. Coun tries from the Euphrates to the Atlantic had become used to looking upon the brigandry of the Holy Roman Empire as a natural right. But those poor people certainly could not do what they wanted ".. Charlemagne came to Rome. The land on this side of Italy? Charles had stolen it from his father-in-law.The n'ghts of men To rule one's brother� (what brothers! what false brothers!) by right. Charlemagne\ father. and we will obey you. after preparing and agreeing everything �ith the bishop. with the mercenary lawyers of the Roman pontifical court (who laugh about it themselves) that Bishop Leo III gave the Western Empire to Charlemagne. In his will. had usurped them from his master. he named Rome and Ravenna as his principaL cities. The Roman people named Charlemagne as their master out of gratitude for deli. It is an established fact that he entrusted the govern� . who do not understand our langnage. The Greek emperors owned the rest. to repeat after so man).ith the Empire. \Vhat province of the Empire could they have giwn away? Spain? That belonged to the Arabs. and the court of Constantinople always looked on the dismemberment of that holy empire as a dear violation of the people's rights. who give us our orders in Greek through eunuchs from Constantinople.' That is undoubtedly a fine right. they did not nave an empire at their disposal.. wicked emperors who do not defend us. Thus the people conferred only a name: that name has become sacred. others that Pepin the Usurper and Charlemagne the Ravager gave the exarchate of Ravenna to the Roman bishops is to advance an obvious falsehood. as he did Rome. and who take our money. and carrying his treasure-chest containing the pre'ients inten ded for that priest. He kept the exarchate for himself. until the Turks came and taught them another set of law'>.ering them from the oppressive rule of the Lombards. we no longer wish to obey stupid. is as ridiculous as saying that the Patriarch of Constantinople gave the Eastern Empire to Mohammed II. \Vell done the Senate and the people for saying to Charles: 'Thank you for the good you have done us. in about the year Roo. Rule us better by pro tecting all our righB. But to say.6 . Gaul and Germany? Pepin. what does one need? The free consent or peoples. Ravenna. Ravenna. There will never be first or las! among you. That those among you . That whoever wishes to raise himself up shall be cast down.ith sudden death for holding on to land that was their livelihood. who want to be the first shall be the last.ignon? It cannot be seen that the Bible has given those lands to the Pope.. \�ith all his distinctions.. the Archbishop of Haec tivitates a Carolo ipm cum unit'ersa Pen/apali mihifuerunt ronressae. as they have caused upheaval and bloodshed in Europe for the last seven hundred years. This grandeur ofpopes and their pretentions. but tu serve. What con nection is there between that institution and Rome's domain.ay. conform no more to politics and reason than they do to God's word. Saint Peter earned a living.. a priest should give away the Empire. the Son of God. Emilia. and someone had put in the margin: thai is to . Saint Paul worked with his hands.The rights of men ment of Ra\'enna and Pentapolis to another Leo. whose letter we still have stating explicitly: However that may be. where it i� said that the bad rich man is condemned solely for being rich. black. Either Chri�tianity should be renounced completely. where Christ. Umbria. Comaccio. A.. unless the Bible is like the Theatine regulation that said that the Theatines should be dressed in white. Pentapolis. Benevento. and that every Slate should be independ- "7 . All over the world. God himself. nor the De"il can find a middle way. [that are] a thousand times bigger. as well as of our politics and our reason. on a hatred of riches and of the rich. a religion in which it is said that it is harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than it is lor a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. where Anananias and Sapphira are punished . here it is simply a question of demonstrating how monsrrous it is that. on equality. in line with the principles of our religion. A religion is founded in Galilee based entirely on poverty. and that of Sabina. and that he should have so. Ferrara. pronounces those terrible oracles against ambition and greed: '} have not come to be served.'ereign territories within the Empire. politics and reason demand that each person should enjoy what they own. where the disciples are commanded never to make pruvisiun for the future. Keither a Jesuit. or observed. 1 The lives of the first disciples conformed to those precepts. Bologna. he could only apply to his so. who had repaid them with ingratitude. Just fort)" to fifty men liberated Salerno when it had been taken by an anny of Saracens. against which there can be no prescription.. who were the main tools of conquest over . but people have never gone hack to the source.The rights of men ent. should get used to obeying them out of admiration and gratefulness. They could not even ha. to drive those same Saracens right out of the country. By doing that he has rendered eternal sen·ice to the kings of that country and. 2. . and to seize it from the Greek Emperur. It is quite natural that nations.'e authorised their investiture if the) had been asked to. to the Jesuits to be persecllted. whose valour these heroes had re-awakened. Much has been written about this alleged us�e1age. The bishq>s of Rome could no more give these states away as fief dams than they could the Kingdom of Bhutan or Kashmir. It took just seven other Norman gentlemen.'apJes and Sicily. as a reward. he was handed over by Emperor Charles VI. Now the Pope was certainly not the sovereign lord of Naples. I dare say that it is as much the fault of all the legal experts as [it is] of the theologians. For good or bad.'\. There we have the first rights to the crown of the Two Sicilies. On Naples The gentlemen from Normandy. performed the finest act of chivalry that has ever been heard of.'ereign lord. They are like our old writers of romances who all assumed that Francus had brought Hector's helmet to Francc. when a lord wished to hold his freehold possessions in fief to have protection. but do those sacristies that boast of possessing half a pint of it really have any? Giannone is the only one to have shed some light on the origin of the supreme domination assumed by popes over the Kingdom of Naples. but is this principle a true one? Is this initial fact on which they arc based irrefutable? That is what they take great care not to examine. the then King of?'\aples. but had Hector in fact worn it? The Virgin's milk is also very respectable. for in the age of feudal anarchy. Let us see how these two natural laws.8 . The helmet was doubtless impenetrable. Apulia or Calabria. everyone draws from an established principle the infe�enees that are most favourable to his own side. all brothers. have been observed. nor the vengeance of pupes. Duke Robert. His lands were then deemed sacred. we were born free. and to buy this protection with some money. The men uf those times. he ended his life in captivily. when regaining their estates from the Saracens. came to promise the Church of Rome two pounds of gold every year. who were more wicked than they were. oblate of the Church. ignorance and superstition. which made them abominable to other people. That city was then ruled by its senate. was no vassal of the Pope either. whoever might wish to take possession of them was excommunicated. without which nobody ever succeeded. but. There is a huge difTerenl:e between being a saint's oblate and a bishop's vassal. and we fear neither the ingratitude of sovereigns. had urged Leo IX to issue the excommunication at the head of an army of Germans. nor Spain. The Pope in Rome was exactly what the Elel:tor is in Cologne. they offered their conquests to the Church under the name of oblata. crime. to place his lands under the protection of the Church. it was the custom for a weak lord. The truth is before us. the conquerors of Apulia and Cala bria. who did not fcar these thunderbolts as much as the princes of Italv did. to stop emperors and popes henceforth from causing upsets in their possessions. The Nonnans. We are writing in a frcc country. in order to be pro tected from the rapaciousness of his neighbours. private wars. the Duke of Apulia and Calabria. and a lot more stupid. and sacrificed to the l'Ourt of Rome. he could not be because the popes were not sovereign in Rome. His eMmple will not discourage us. were not afraid of the greatest crimes. who was displeased with these feudatory conquerors. Baronius reports on the supposed homage given by Robert. beat the Germans and took the Pope prisoner. Robert Guiscard and Richard. but they dreaded excommunication. as wicked as thcy were stupid. the Bishop only had influence. They had declared themselves vassals of the Emperor. this is how the first kings of Spain and Portugal. nor the plOlS ofJesuits. Neither England. to Nicholas 11. but this .The ngh ty ofmen betrayed after that by the most despicable perfidy. This is how England came to pay Peter's pence. In his Acts. were first excommunicated by Pope Leo IX. but Emperor Henry IIi. In those centuries of robbery. nor Portugal ever regarded the Pope as their sovereign lord. and all other considerations are irrelevant. 'e years. There have been more bulls saying. I ask every sensible reader what kind of a right it is that is founded on such clearly confirmed deceptions. and proclaiming that no sovereign under any circumstances can judge clerics or monks. but !here have been far more bulls placing princes under the jurisdiction of the Church. contrary to all the old feudal laws. or to the twelve patriarchs. there for t\o\o·enty-fi. that emperors cannot be created without the consent of the Pope. but that Saint Peter had no more been to Rome than he had to Peking. and that Saint Paul's was to preach that of the circumcised'. r admit that there have been thirty investitures of the Kingdom of Naples granted by popes. you would prove irrefutably that not only was Saint Peter never Bishop of Rome. had been written in Rome. as Nero reigned for ani) thirteen years. At any rate. it would still have to be abolished. and it has never been [held] in any archive. but Saint Peter had certainly not given him anything. and was not the King of Rome. i� such an outrageous theory that you cannot talk about it ""ithout laughing. but even if it had an antiquity of seven hundred thousand. why . It is just an intolerable abuse. whether Robert gave himself to Saint Peter.The rightl (if men ------ --. contrary to the Christian religion. to common sense and to natural law. All of these bulls have met with the contempt that they desel"\'c. nor take a farthing from them for the upkeep of his estates. Saint Paul states specifically that his mission was to preach 'the gospel of the uncircumcised. on behalf of God. at a rime when it is established beyond doubt that no prieM had any particular �eat. This abuse has an antiquity of se\·en hundred years. who was born in Galilee. Saint Peter. is one of the most absurd that has ever been im'ented. and by that Rome stands for Babylon. The assumption that people have presumed to make that a letter from Saint Peter.--- item is wrong. Robert called himself Duke by the grace 0/ God and Saint Peter. that is to say. and that Paul. does not give the Pope any right over a kingdom. sent from Babylon. The fable that tells us that Peter came to Rome in the reign of Nero. If you wanted to go further back. who was born in Tarsus in Karamania. or to the nine choirs of angels. or to the twelve apostles. and when !he rules of the nascent Church were not yet formed. was to preach only to the Jews. and stayed. to the independence of sovereigns. was to preach only to foreigners. r agree. the document has never been seen. they can takc it back [again]. to those of Lucca and Christian power5. the prt:rogath'e of the monarchy of Sicily .itches. we would still have to take to arms every time the Pope announced a crusade. we would all still be required to go to Rome to plead our case over [questions uf] marriage. in magic. in the �ame way as it is to France and Spain. should be independent. wills or tithes. they did in fact strip away the rights of those with legitimate possessiom. This so-called privilege was nothing more than naUlral right. in order '3 ' . The second was to do in his own land what this foreign ambassador used to presume to do. and confirmed and extended by some of the popes who succeeded him. if the popes ga.The rights ofmen should people give any more respect to the supposed suzerainty of the Kingdom of Naples? If antiquity consecrated errors. These privileges were only granted by Urban II. than the supposed vasselage of a kingdom which. to sane politics. to the Ragusa. and made them safe from attack. /\11 that is as old. or older.e that kingdom away. by its naUlrc. we would still believe in ". just as freedoms of the Gallican Church arc simpl}' what all churches the uscd to practise formerly. Certainly. and to reason. and made it Christian. we would still have to pay taxes imposed by legates.. we would still be saving the souls of the dead for money. Every prince who had a quarrel with the Pope would sti ll lose his sovereignty. Every priest would still be able to cast out devils from the bodies of heretics. in the power of relics over devils. It is a continual cause of civil wars. This was reaUy the least that one could do for a man who had freed Sicily from the yoke of the Arabs. we would still be buying indulgences from Rome. i� a right that is linked essentially to all the Republic of Genoa. That papal right is thus in fact contrary to the Christian religion. Quod erat demonstrandum. On the monarchy of Sicily 'vVhat is called the privilege. 3. King of Sicily: The first was to receive no legate a {a/ere with the functions of pope without the consent of the sovereign. In days gone by. It consists of three main points which were granted by Pope eTban II to Roger. The third was to send any bishops or priests that he wanted to the councils in Rome. ' They plunder the cliuntry. Obviously he was wrong. If you want to know one of the reasons why these kings preserved their right not to receive legates. that the com�merchant had his three sous back. the Bishop of Lipari sold a dozen Iitres of peas to a corn� merchant. as they had done in Naples. After centuries of argument. and they had no difficulty in treating all the kings who succeeded Roger as tyrants. In the end. The com�mcrchant sold these peas in the market. so dear to the ancient Romans. . They take away the sptJilsfrom the prorinces as if they wanted to amass the treasure o fCroeslis. The Bishop claimed that this was a sacrilege. It was quite enough for them to have forgotten their dignity to the point of being a mainland vassal. you will find it in the words ofJohn. One day in 171 I. The government thought that the matter was over. but the kings did not allow themselves to fall into that trap. and that it had only been sold to the kings of Sicily by an anti-pope. just like Satan /fogging the Church out olthe Lords sight. The peas might have been sacred when they belonged to him. ac si thesaurus Craosi stude ant comparare. They were never [vassals] on the island. and had so much support from his canons.The rights of men to turn Sicily into an apostolic fiefdom. that these peas belonged [Q him by divine right. but the Bishop of Lapari had aJready left for Rome. It is good to know what pretext the modem Roman court used to overthrow that kingdom. and paid the three SOliS in tax levied by the government on peas. Victor�Amadeus. after having excommu nicated the government of the island and the aldermen. Bishop of Salisbury: 'Legati apostolici . The Bishop maintained that their nature was ineradicable. The popes soon repented of having ceded a natural right to the kings of Sicily: they wanted to retract it. . but they were no longer so once they had been sold. He made so much fuss. and that nothing should be paid on them to a profane court. ac Satan ad Ecc1esiam flagellandam a tacie Domini. and with the kings always holding on to what they possessed. The '3' . when all the other sovereigns in Europe were weak enough to accept them. ita debac chantur in provinciis. became King of that island by virtue of the treaties of Utrecht. the court in Rome thought that it had finall�' found the opportunity to subjugate Sicily when the Duke of Savoy. Provinciarum diripiunt spolia. Baronius main tained that this privilege was a surreptitious one. But Providence does not always make its presence felt through thunderbolts. he had scarcely arrived when Pope Clement XI sent three briefs to the Arch bishop of Palenna ordering the excommunication of the whole king dom on pain of being excommunil:ated himself. Part of his possessions were seized. The boat bearing them was shipwrecked. which you cannot read about today without shrugging your �houlders. interdicted his diucese. The yiccroy. Diyine providence did not grant its protection to those three briefs. set it aside as [being] a challenge to royal authority.T71e nghts . the court lind the whole monarchy. This Bishop of Agrigen tum had three vicars who excommunicated even more people than he did. He did much better than the Bishop of Catania: he excommunicated the Viceroy. Sicily was set on fire. became a very serious i%ue. They were imprisoned. Vietor-Amadeus. _- monarchical court ab�olyed them (llnl reinndentia. The Bishop of Agrigentum did his best to incur a similar order. _ of men . drowned with the bearer. The indignant Viceroy issued an order through two gentlemen to the Bishop of Catania to leaw the kingdom. All the faithful prayed for them. and to refuse to say mass until further orders. he was given one. and these briefs. These trivia.__. which a French parlrmmt would have had burned. suspended the sentence of censure in accordance with their right 10 do so. and left for Rome. together with the monarchical court. that i� to say. When the new king. '33 . The congregation called in Rome the rongregation of immllni�f' immediately sent a circular lener to all the Sicilian hishops stating that the outrage committed by the monan:hical court was even more &acriligious than the one which required payment of three sous for the peas mat came originally from a bbhup's vegetable garden. In J\'ovember the congregation of immunity convened all the bursars of Sicilian monas teries in Rome. The Bishop excommu nicated the two gentlemen. to whom Philip r had just ceded the island. A Bishop of Catania published this declaration. and commanded them to order every monk to obey the interdiction thundered out earlier by the Bishop of Catania. it allowed other briefs to arrive. took possession of it on IO October I 7 1 3 . The Bishop of Catania excommunicated a Baron Figuerazzi and two other officers of the court. among them one which designated the monarchical court as a certain so�(alled (Ourl. he weeps and denies.' 4. daughter the Duke of Urbina.usurpation.ith whom he had this unfortunate Caesar of Este. His successor. with whom he had had three children prior to their marriage. but negotiations did not succeed. like Parma and Pia cenza. who found him in tears because most of the chun:he� were still open in Sicily. if the suzerainty of �aples is just an ancient chimera. not when they arc open. On Ferrara If the rights of Sicily are unshakable. of Francis. Ferrara was a steadfast fiefdom uf the Empire. had married an ordinary citizen of Ferrara named Laura Eustochia. the Pope thought that he could aholish the court of the Sicilian monarchy with a bull. The prete"'! for this act of tyranny wa� very strange for a man who proclaimed himself to be the humble Vicar of Christ. of Carpi.a Tremouille. and pro- '34 . Finally. the incontestable heir to all the family possessions. ". This recognition omitted none of the formalities prescribed by law. France's ambassador to Rome. He married Julia of L:rbino. Cardinal Paulucci commanded all the bishops (still under threat of excommunication) to make none of the payments to the State which they had agreed themselves to pay under the ancient laws of the kingdom.' Maffei. and that nohody should pray to vod. �aid to him: 'Holy Father. the King's envoy to the Pope.ustain. anns Duke Alfonso d'Este. Cardinal I. People said of him: 'He is Jike Saint Peter. the first of that name. acted a� hi� master's mediator between the Holy Spirit and Victor-Amadeus. was recognised as Duke of Ferrara. solemnly recognised by him before the Church. of Modena. and broke just as often the promises that he had made. the sovereign of ferrara. COUllt �laffei. People prayed to God in several towns in spite of the Bi�hop. on 10 February 1 7 1 5. of Rovigo. of Este. i\'othing debases fragile authority more than extreme policies that it cannot . Alfonso of ESle. weep when they are closed. Clement XI wept often.He rights uf men Goud old Clement X l him�df excommunicated by name the wyal judge on 5 January 1 7 1 4. The Holy Father ordered all churches to be clos�d on the island. the invasion of Ferrara is a ne'<l. Pope Clement VIII stripped Caesar of Este 101' it] by force of in 1597 . had an audience with him. The court did not comider itself abolished at all. just a5 he . These troops ". This was the way· that good King Louis XII.The rights of men ������- _ . the people always longed for their old masters.:ateu Cae�ar of Esre. it i� indefensible in all the courts of Europe.ith a thousand horses and five thousand infantry. who entered that prosperous city .. of which it has been stripped in such an undignified way. It is true that the Duke was dismissed. and that the children to whom shc had given birth should he regarded as hastards.·Iodena. __. thought that he was obliged to take the Pope's side in order to counterbalance the influence of Philip II at the court of Rome. its unwlrivated land is eovcred with stagnant marshes. and he was even provided with a few pecks of salt from the shops in Cen·ia. he should keep ferrara. He was gi. Under the House of Este that country had heen one of the most beautiful in Italy. Consequently. Pope Clement VIII. the Pope then had Ferrara invaded by Cardinal Aldobrandino. '35 .·ere beaten.hould keep i\. had dishonoured himself by joining up with the monster Alexander \1 and his execrable bastard. too attractive for the Pope not to take advantage of all the deeretals and all the de<. dared to allege that Caesar of [SIC'S grandmother was not sufficiently nohle. This reason is >eandalous and ridiculous for a bishop.1ied on 27 October 1597. become a desert. but it is no less true that thc House of Modena has inconte�table and indefeasible rights to the Duchy of Ferrara. moreowr. and who came from a family of Florentine traders. friends become cold towards him.'en a nomination to a bishopric and a curacy. who had r. It was ncces sary to give way. "'''hose name wa� Aldobramlino. Duke Borgia. he should also lose Modena and all his other states. The acquisition of Ferrara wa. if the Duke was not legitimate. he first ex<.:ant in order to rob him of hi� heritage in the name of the Church..:isions of those bold theologians who as�urc us that the pope aln make just what is unja>'!.. The most deplorable thing ahout it was that the King of France. Since that time._- claimed heir by the last duke.:ommuni<. and if there was no flaw in hi� birth. but the Duke of '\todcna and Ferrara soon saw his wealth become exhausted. and hi. . Ferrara ha. for whom there is less excuse.. and a� excommunication necessarily depri"vcs a man of everything he pos sesses. Henry rv. the lathcr of all the faithful raist:d an arm) against the cxcom muni<. Rainucc.The rights of men 5. Every year the Duke sold his corn from the Duchy of Castro to the Chamber of the Aposdes to redeem part of his debt. to the young Duke of Parma. owed interest [as well as] the principal sum. and thaI money is lent to those who want to horrow.ere pawnshops too._---_ . wanted to settle the matter by marrying off his niece Barbarini. Barbarini or Barberini. when compelled 10 borrow huge sums. His son. the science of calculating the number of steps that a cardinal and a prefect should take when escorting a duke of Parma. and the Duke of Parma went off to marry a !\lediei. the punri glio.. The Duke went to Rome to see this prefect and these cardinals. Individuals deposit their money there. and who can pro�ide security. Odoardo. :-. The popes tried to wt them out. but the wa} in which it was done was more base and de�picablc. son of the famous Alexander Farncse who raised the siege of Rauen and the siege of Paris against Henn' IV. The Barberinis ur Barbarinis dreamed of vengeance. - . The firSI time that he made an appearance there Sextius Quintus wanted to cut its head off in recompense for the sen-ices that his father had givcn to the Church. who was also a cardinal. they ". and the other was Cardinal Antonio.J"either the deal. All the train-bearers in Rome were stirred up about this quarrel. nor the behaviour of the nephews pleased him. and the Chamber of the Apo�tles resold his corn at a very dear price to the people. He quarrelled with them over the big issue of modem Romans. preferred the mountJ of piet)' to the Jews. but who was nobody's tutor. who was then pope with the name of L'rban nIl. However. there was not much about the court of Rome to recommend it. or Barbarina.. On Castro and Ronciglione The usurpation of Castro and Ronciglione from the HOll�e of Parma is no less unjust. They sel up banks calJed mounts of pieZl'. The " -- . In Rome there arc a lot ofJews who avenge themseh'es on Christians as best they can hy charging high interest rates on things that are pawned. to whom he was to become the brother-in-law on condition that the interest that he owed to the mount ofpietl" was reduced. there was in addition a brother. the prefect of Rome. nor the Pope's niece. He had tv. the Duke of Parma. .-o nephews who used to be the Duke\ tutors: one was Taddeo Barbarini. and only extricated himself with difficulty. but with a much higher interest rate. to appropriate. where Cardinal Antonio became Archbishop of Reims.uke. \Vc are even assured that a few blows were exchanged. as was the custom. X1V. The Barberinis took to arms as welL It i� claimed that on supplying the soldiers with blunderbusses that had heen blessed. and irrespective of the fact that he had been excommunicated. who had been christened Anthony . either from the weather or from other causes. and even less to the morality of Christ. This fracas went on intermittently in 16. The Pope. The latter had nothing to do with either poetry or gov ernment. We will note in passing that there "as a third Cardinal Barberini.0 n:penditure amounting to more than the value of the corn from Castro was allowed.23. who wrote no poetry. '37 . and incamerated the duchy of Caslro. It was not even a matter of compelling them Ir! come inl. -"'. All this has only a faint resemblance to the wars of the Romans of the past. took to arms to disincameraJe his possessions. the Barberinis were not able to take his town with their blunderbusses. harassed them so severely to punish them for all their harassment that they fled to France. excommunicated Odoardo. to seize. and forbade corn from C:a�tro from wming into Rome. and that three or four people died in this war. \:o t having subsequently become wise. Grand Chaplain in charge of priests. In 1 644 the French court secured a hollow peace. to reserve for ourselves what does not belong to us at all. it was enough for him to be a ' I.The rights of men Chamber bought it from somewhere else. The Duke. and to hring them back in the same �tatc that they had been given them. and kept Castro. who was by the way a pretty had poet. but of compelling them to /eau. . Innocent X. The Duke of Panna could not sel! his corn to the Romans. so he sold it elscwhcre as bcst hc could. which is surely the lowest of all. To incamerate is a verh peculiar to the language of the Chamber of the Apostles: each chamber has its own. The Duke of Panna took communion. In his youth he had been mad enough to think that the only way of gaining Paradise was to be a lay-brother in the order of Capuchins He assumed that rank.p and 1643. and who hated the two Barberini cardinals. Cardinal Antonio exhoncd them to always keep them dean. with the help of the ivledicis and a few friends. Pamphylia. He was the brother of Pope Urban VIII. The Duke fortified Castro. It means to take. The epitaph that he ordered to he engraved on his tomb is odd: Hie jaeet pulvi� et cini�. and asked for pardon. and whose greatness he did not understand. Alexander VII. and seized the wunty of Avignon. When the Pope. sent troops to Italy. killing one of the pages at the carriage door. that the Cursican guards of His } Ioliness fired on the carriage uf the ambassador's 'Wife.s bloody than the war of the Barberinis. France's ambassador to Rome. alld tllm nothing. and co-uperating with the Duke in having him pun ished. and the animosity so violent between the Duke of Crequy. This acr of cruelty was attributed to Donna Olimpia. but apparendy their zeal did not displease the Holy Father too much. saw no angels appear. the Pope's brother.The righfs of men cardinal and very rich. and whu made all the citizens of Castro with handsome wives and pretty children 4uake with fear. In T64fi.hes. Louis XIV made hi� vengeance feared. Instead uf having the guilty person found. from 1646 until 1662. The Duchy of Ca�tro and Ronciglione remained confis cated. the differences between the two courts became su extreme.ouis XIV. It is true that they were not authori�ed to do so by any bull. to the financial advantage of the Chamber of the Apostles. and :\Iario Chigi. O"ver more than one issue. had defied I. Qui fiji Thi� happened under Rainuce II. postea nihil. under the pontificate of Chigi. to whom the Duke had neglected to give present� when she was getting them from everybody else. with this inscription: Castro. The King of France parduned him on the condition that he surrendered Ca�tro and Ronciglione to the Duke of Parma. the Pope's sister-in-law and mistress. That nothing is peculiar for a cardinal. and . Here hel pOlVder and a. Pamphylia wanted to give to Castro a bishop who had a very had reputaTion on account of his morals. who had said at first that 'legion� of angel� would come to his aid'. he ate humble pie. He had the papal-nuncio arrested in Paris. Demol ishing a city wa� much worse than incamerating une. The Pope erected a little pyramid on the ruins. whose youthfulne�s he scorned.'i of Parma. the �OIl of Odoardo Faroese. A war started again which was n"en Ie. He liyed the life uf a philo�opher. The bishop was ki!!ed by sumtOlle who was jealous. the Pope sent in the troops and razed the city to the ground. Atter this Alexander VII. But let us return to the aITair. et the matter be referred to ali the courts of iustice from China to Corfu. lt is certain that the possession of thi� dUl:hy has been worth four times as much to the Chamber of the Apostles a� the mount ofpiety can get from capital and interest payments. Julius II. ca�e? It i� just a mattcr of doing a sum. we know how Rovere. in the Famese square. But we have to see how the SePlants of God's servants obtained from Heaven all th� territories that thev possess today. The acquisitions of Julius II I shall not talk here about Comaedo. The Vicar of Christ at least owed a pension to that young Christian's family. How much do I (]we you? How much have you handled? Pay me the surplus and givc me my security back. where the crime of the Pope\ guards had heen committed. There was no mention of the page who had been killed. and I leave that matter with the Verzlar Chamber and the Aulic Council. that is something that concerns the Empire.The rights of men Comaccio to the Duke of "Iodena. Just as Innocent X had had a little pyramid erected in memory of the demolition of Castro.in hi. There has never been a clearer case of usurpation. who on occasion would explode haughtily against the court of Rome. both of whom were linked to his cause. and then make concessions to it. bought his right to the papacy. i� there [a single] one where the Duke would not v. 6. It is highly likely that when the Duke of Parma wishes to institute these proceedings. Through this clewr trick Castro and Ronciglione have always remained incameratcd in spite of Louis XIV. the King of France demanded the erection of a pyramid that was twice as high in Rome. No matter. and he risked being deposed. and both of whom were being oppressed. He had to pay what he had promised. hc will win his case an�'\Vhere else apart from in the Chamber of the Apostles. In order to pay some people he had to take from others. He began by raising an army. The court of Rome had skilful!y inserted into the treaty that Castro and Roncig lione would only be surrendered to the Duke on payment of a sum of money almost equivalent to the sum owed by the House of Farnese to the mount I)fpie�)I. Guichardin and so many others. the apostles are still in possession of it. From Cardinal Bembo. otherwise votes would not have been cast for him. and how he was elected before the conclave of cardinals had even met. I. put '39 . We must always be just to the gentle sex now and again. he could anathematise kings. Italy still speaks of the poison he is supposed to have prepared for a few cardinals. and how he then allied himself with the Venetians against Louis XII. under whose protection they were committed with impunity by these monsters. of the extremes of frenzy and debauchery with which his bastard children stained themselves. who did not have the courage to defend himself. a priest. Thi.. cruel enemy. adopting various postures. Signora Orsini. and whom nations adored as if he were a god. he set a price OIl the heads of at! Flcnchmen in Italy.The rights of men himself at its head. is the man whose feet were kissed by princes. he thought that as Vicar of Christ. 7.. of his incest with his daughter Lucretia. All the crimes of this dreadful family are as familiar as the Bible. What a girl that Lucretia was! We know that she slept with her brother and her father. We know how he armed all the sovereign rulers against Vemce. a weak and timid man.. Nothing of these awful horrors remains except the memory of them. to amuse Her Holi ness. it was called fa cantarrl!a. We know the poison that he used. On the acquisitions of Alexander \. who gave prizes to the most energetic . did not have it.:e are pretty well informed about that wonderful banquet in the course of which fifty naked courtesans picked up chestnuts. he embodied all that is reprehensible about these two professions: deceit and inhu manity. all I know is that his daughter. together with some agnus-dei.. I do not know whether or not he had the pox. He was permitted to leavc only with his furniture.iglios. He surrendered hi� city in r 506. and that �he had bishops for servants. but the heirs of those whom he and his son murdered.. as writers have said. v. and as Vicar of the Devil. As one famous author tells us.'1 The wodd has echoed enough with stories of how much simony the papacy was worth to thi� Borgia.'\. From Perugia Julius marched to Bologna and drm·e out the Benti. and laid siege to Perugia.ictors of those ladies. King of France and father of the nation. The question . which belonged to Lord Baglioni.. This fine fellow dabbled also in excommunications. or poisoned in order to rob them of their inheritance �till survive. or strangled. from which it is believed he died himself. He launched his ridiculous thunderbolt against Louis XII.. a soldier. and that she was a highly respectable lady. a perfidious friend. . ause he was cross eyed. Everyone who can read has seen with horror in Machiavelli how this Caesar Borgia had Vitellozzo Vitelli. unless crimes con stitute a prescription against their adherence to equity. Camerino belongs to them. But if there is one thing established beyond doubt in history. that young man unwisely exploded with rage against the plundering ravisher. he was strangled on the spot. The Pope even took possession of the furniture. and what modern historians teach us. But what Machiavelli did not say. There are still Varanos in the Romagna. a relative of the Duke of Gravina. Lord of Camerino. He was extremely handsomc. There are the Manfredis. the Pope. and because his crimes increased still further the horror that Manfredi had of him. belongs to those descended from the house of Montefeltro. whom Caesar Borgia drove from the city in the name of his father. was captured by Caesar Borgia at the very moment he was signing a capitulation and. The house of Montefeltro is not yet extinct. Lord of . He com plained bitterly of not finding among these effects a large pearl with .The rights of men here is only about the rights of several illustrious houses that sriU survive.. it is the crimes of Alexander VI and his family. murdered. who descend from the daughter ofJohn Sforza.Pesaro. ·was having Cardinal Orsini. Will the Orsinis and the Colonnas always allow the Apostolic Chamber to leep the legacies of their ancient houses? In Venice we have the Tiepolos. arrested. Oliverotto da Fermo. no doubt. the Pope. he then had him thrown in the Tiber along with the wife of a certain Caracciol� whom he had kidnapped from her husband. Duke of Gravina. and Francesco Orsini. but b�(. as all the portraits of him show. The Duchy of Urbina. at the age of eighteen.. and was confiscating all the property of that illustrious house. Caesar Borgia fell hopelessly in love with him. and placed himsclfunder the authority of the Pope's son on condition that he was allowed to enjoy the rest of his fortune. surrendcred Faenza to the Pope. together with his two sons. il signor Pagolo. Borgia could only enjoy him by force. who have rightful claims on Faenza. is that while Borgia was having the Duke of Gravina and his friends strangled in the castle at Sinigaglia. his brother. Julius Varano. which Alexander VI and his son invaded by means of the blackest and most notorious perfidy in the whole of Machiavelli. One can scarcely believe such atrocities. Astor Manfredi. . as was his wont. together with her rings and jewels. The eightv eight year old mother of this unfortunate priest. et extra jus. fearing that Alex ander VI might poison her son. and a casket full of gold that he knew was [somewhere] in the Cardinal's house. that is the view of Bellannino. you have only to take a glance at the donation of Constantine and the decretals. To that we have nu thing to say in response. Conclusion After having reported in the most accurate way all these facts. Vienna. contra jus. that is the opinion of Roman theologians. for the canonisation of Saint Ignatius. for the ability to extract souls from purgatory.wpra jus. brought the pearl and the casket to him. As far as fraud is concerned. that he can make just what is unjust: pOlest de injustitia [acere justitiam. The donation of Countess Mathilda to the mild and modest Gre gory VII is the title-deed that favours the bishops of Rome most. it should in all conscience be given back to the House of Lrhino. the pear! is still in the Pope's treasure-house. trembling with fear.. but her son had already been poisoned. and who might cast their eyes over these pages. that the popes do not po��e�� an inch of land over which they have sovereign power that has not been acquired through civil upheaval or through fraud. and left in her will all the fiefdoms inherited from the male line of the family to her confessor. from which a few implication� can he drawn. But in all honesty. you have only to read the history of the Empire am! the German legal eAllert. as they say. we are indebted to it for indulgences. I shall draw to the attention of all those who are interested. We hold the siege of Rome in reverence. would that wi!! not be broken in accordance with the explicit laws of all those states? We will be told that the Pope is abo\'e all laws. It is certain that if. together with the money That was in the ca�ket. for the certainty of entering Paradise by wearing a scapular. if a woman in Pari�. but these benefits are not perhaps sufficient reason to hold on to other people's property. As far as civil upheaval is concerned. and was breathing his last.'es.The rights of men an estimated value of two thousand ducats. papa est . Madrid or Lisbon disinherited all her reiati. and which can be put to some honest use. fur pennission to marry our -sisters-in-law and our nieces one after the other. if that h so.. and to see if he can find in it a single word authorising even the most minor of the tricks which we have faithfully reported. ----- if every church governed itself by the laws of the State.The rights o/men ------ ----- There are �ome who say that . if a stop were to be put to the simony of paying for a benefice with annates. 2 4 June 1768. who is not normally rich before being nominated. Padua. X.·j 9· '43 . But we shall leave the matter to be discussed by the bankers at the court of Rome. if a bishop. 3 Ah! beatissim() padre. was not obliged to ruin himself and hi� creditors by borrowing money to pay for bulls. Let us end by begging the Christian and well-intentioned reader to read the Bible again. ' Luke.' of the !\-1ammon of iniquity'. then let us have the mone). It is true that we do read there: 'we must make friends with the mone. the State would not be impo.'crished in the long run by the outflow of this money which never returns. and from a very respectable family. 1 By Beccaria. gave her enough strength to return to her father's house. and without help. . by a provincial lawyer I. or should deserve nothing but the protection of the law. The first wrong done by this girl ought either to be covered up in the bosom of her family. she was still more so for having abandoned her child. Shame. This unfortunate girl was surprised by labour pains while fleeing the family home. She left her child exposed. I was hoping for some reform to take place in the human race when I learned that in one province they had just hanged a pretty and shapely young eighteen-year-old girl. She gave birth alone. The mother was disco vered. I imagined fondly that this work would alleviate the barbarities that remain in the jurisprudence of so many nations. and because the difficulty of raising her child is a further misfortune. and it was found dead the next day. with some useful talents. The occasion for the commentary I was immersed in reading the little book On crimes andpunishments. 1 which is [the equivalent] in morality to what the few cures that might relieve our suffering are in medicine. by a fountain. and to conceal her condition there. sentenced to the gallows. because public knowledge of this pregnancy blights her reputation. because every� thing speaks in favour of a girl whose concealed pregnancy often puts her life in danger. because weakness has a right to leniency. which is a "iolent passion in her sex. She was guilty of having allowed herself to get pregnant. because it is up to the seducer to make good the wrong he has done.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments. and executed. It would be much better to make provision for these quite commonplace misfortunes than just to punish them and nothing more. as much as you are able. Charity has not yet set up in this country places of shelter for the destitute. GuarllIltee. sex. resources to whoever is tempted to do wrong. but is this law not unjust. she might well have had it in mind to go and retrieve her child. where children abandoned to the elements might be looked after. and give it the necessary succour. seem to be more the inventions of tyranny than of justice.'e less to punish. because it has not distinguished between the person who kills her child and the person who abandons it. and not in dealing out death to a weak. has made me take a look at national criminal codes. the law is always cruel. 2. she abandons the fruit of her weakness and exposes it to the risk of death. The wheel torture was introduced into Germany in times of anarchy. The humane author of On m'mes and punishments is absolutely right to complain that punishment is too often excessive in relation to the crime. and you will ha. In those areas where charity fails. is it absolutely necessary to make the mother die too? She had not killed it. True juris prudence lies in the prevention of crimes. inhuman and pernicious? Unjust. which has been brought painfully home to me. pernicious in as much as it robs society of a citizen who was destined to give subjects to the State in a province where they are complaining about depopulation. Refined tortures. when it is obvious that her wrong is not accom panied by malice. inhuman in as much as it causes an unfortunate girl to die a cruel death who can only be reproached for her weakness and for her readiness to conceal her misfortune. and that it has caused her heartache . The law acts positively against the girl in this province I am talking about. and sometimes has pernicious effects for the State for whose . when those grabbing the regalia of power wished to . But because a child is dead. in which one can see how the human mind has worn itself out making death frightful. she fondly imagined that some passer-by would take pity on that innocent creature. That feeling is so natural that one must assume it exists in a mother's heart. On torture This wretched law that is so hard.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments The second wrong is of a more criminal nature. benefit it should be working. Being jealous of Thcodosius who. often it eh. Eventually customs grew milder. On the punishments for heretics It was tyranny in particular that was the first limn of government to order the death penalty for those who had a few differences in matters of dogma with the dominant church. but always after the death of the condemned. So Theodos ius opposed him \\-ith other barbarians from Scythia. by means of an unheard-of torllire device. two-faced as he was inhuman. The militia made and unmade emperors. like him. the conqueror of Rome. The apparatus of death is horrific. But what did this crime of high treason often amount to? [t meant. was a Spaniard. Maximinus wished to display the same zeal. they would slap his cheeks with it. his heart was torn out. hc fondly imagined that he could take the Eastern Empire from him in the same way that he had already invaded the \Vestern Empire. it was [all a matter of who) could strengthen the party supporting him the most by any means possible. In England they used to open up the stomach of a man convicted of high treason. or suc ceeded to. and of occasionally asking for the dubious rights of a . but he knew how to get all the religiOUS leaders on his side. he was a man who was a.ictor to be justified. no Christian emperor had thought of condemning a man to be tor tured just because of some controversial issues. as were all those in that period who aspired to. out death is sweet. and who brought up Alaric. and the heart was then thrown in the flames. and enlist the Span ish bishops to the ranks of his bodyguards. This vast area of the world was governed like Algeria is today. Theodosius was hated for his cruelty.Commentary1 on the book On crimes and punishments horrifY.o filled his armies with Goths. 3. It is true. . Before the tyrant Maximinus. that it was two Spanish bi�hops who pushed hard for the death of the Priscillianists with Maximinus. In all that horrible contusion. the Empire. whoever might dare to make an attempt on thcir Jives. in the civil wars. Barbarity and justice left him equally cold.. He flattered both the old and the new religion. as far as it [ever] can be. He was the one wh. ha"ing been loyal to an unlucky king.ose them from nations with a reputation for barbarity. it is true that they still tear hearts OUf. admittedly. but it is nonetheless true that this tyrant wanted to please the dominant parry by spilling the blood of heretics. by the rope and by stoning. But as _\1aximinus was defeated b. As for Priscillian. and still would be if there were any Pri. They were present at this in order to ell�ure that everything proceeded by the book. and hc returned to Tours in case he was put to the question in Trier. every lieutenant of every prince. defender of the faith.�cillianists left. made up of Gauls and Germans. ldacio and Ithacus or Itacius. but the bishops accused him of being a heretic himself. who as a child had been proclaimed Gratian's successor in Rome. but not long after it was imitated and surpassed. It should be noted that Saint . ilnd returned home blessing God and ranking J\1aximinus. He had the death of Valentinian II in mind. were bumt everywhere. he was not canonised. with the saints. A young lady of good family. Maximinw" who was half-pagan and half-Christian. came to a�k him for the blood of Priscillian and all his followers who said that souls emanate from God. who at that time had a lot of influence. He was raising troops in Spain when two Spanish bishops. was only stoned to death in Bordeaux. who took sacrilege as far as fasting on Sundays. who were visibly under the control of the Devil. He assembled a powerful army at Trier. The -Priscillianists had been put to death by the sword. Theodo sius.'\iartin. and then murdered at the feet of his victor. and also the unorthodox who were believed to be more criminal and more dangerous than sorcerers. was quiek to appreciate the enormity of these crimes. I t wa� proved that God required heretics to be slowly roasted.. These tortures seemed to be too mild. The holy bishop� Idacio and Itacius received permission for Priscillian and his followers to be put to the question first before bring put to death. is in the image of God in this world. after having been hanged he had the consolation of being honoured by his sect as a martyr. what is more. The reason given arbitrarily [for this] was that God punishes them in this way in the next world. and that every prince. Theodosius' colleague. begged for mercy for Priscillian. It was on this principle that sorcerers. This example made the whole Church tremble. His feast day was celeb rated. Bishop of Tours. '47 .Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments Maximinus had just murdered the Emperor Gratian. down to the most minor magistrate. a really good man. that the Trinity does not have three h�postases and. suspected of ha"\ing fasted on Sundays. The Achaians opposed the Asiatics. and only differ from you on . will probably last forever. our views do no more harm to }'our State than Judaism does. that is to say. like they do. son of Hugh. stained with the crime of having a wrong "iewpoint have been burnt. for more than seven hundred years. which all came together in recognising him as their leader and master. On the eradication of heresies It seems to me that we must distinguish in a heresy between opinion and faction. You tolerate Christ's enemies. or appear to have been. They can say t[) the nations that gave privileges to the Jews: Treat us like you treat the children of Jacobi let us pray to God. could not persecute and ban each other since they were all equally subject to the authority of Roman magistrates. that he did not wish to. Christians in Alexandria did not think like Christians from Antioch on a number of points. and from then on right up to the present day. they all claimed the same natural right. When the magistrates pursued them. his wife. tolerate us therefore. or which had been hidden from their view. It is to be presumed. From the earliest days of Christianity.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments We do not know exactly what the heresy was of those canons whom King Robert. had burned in their presence when they went to Orleans in 1022. those who have been. and the same sentiments. One of the members of this sect had been Constance's confessor. therefore. do not rob us of the freedom that you give to the Jews. they said: Let us worship God in peace. How could we know? In those times there was only a very small number of clerics and monks who had the writing habit. which the emperors had long tolerated. and Constance. who could have united all of his followers in This diversity has lasted throughout the ages. we adore Christ. and that his purpose was to train all his churches to be kind and charitable by allowing them to have different systems. opinions were divided. All that is recorded is that Robert and his wife feasted their eyes on this abominable spectacle. Jesus Christ. They could only argue. has not done so. according to our conscience. The habit became law. All these sects. that queen could not think of any better way of making up for the misfortune of having made her confession to a heretic than by seeing him swallowed up in the flames. 4. Every sect today can make the same speech to those who oppress them. England and Holland. Mohammed himself only suc ceeded because he had been driven out of Mecca. . had become too numerous and too rich to be exterminated. and even before the Carthaginians. in the cultivation of your land. and there was a complete revolution in the empire. the only position to adopt in politics is either to put to death without mercy the leaders and followers. Small things and large things can he compared when the same spirit is behind them. they went over to Constantius Chlorus. men. in Scotland. a sect has only ever changed the government when desperation provided it with weapons. and it matters little to you tha: the�' should have a few articles of faith that are different from your own. With a new sect. They have more energy to strengthen their cause titan the dominant sect [has] to extenninate it. civil laws come from you to your people. and if they had been able to reach agreement with the Arabs. and necessarily so. A faction is somethlng quite different. not their catechism. having been favoured by Diocletian for eighteen wholr years. �'hen Ferdinand and Isabella drove the Je\\-"S out of Spain. It is important to you that they should work in your factories. Their anns are what you need. but before the Moors and the Goths. the Jews would have had a revolution in �pain.Commenl«ry on the book On crimes and punishments a few theological subtleties. or be crushed. in your navy. That is what happened after the persecution stirred up by Galerius Caesar in 303. Chain to the State all the subjects of the State with self-interest. had they been as warrior-like as they were rich. the second that of a wise man. Do not deprive yourselves of useful subjects. who had settled there not only before the reigning house. that a persecuted sect degenerates into a faction. It always happens. They have to crush. use tolerance. Religion comes from God to man. Imitate the wise polky followed today by Germany. or to tolerate thcm when the sect is a large one. In a word. Let the Quaker and the Turk find it to their advantage to live under your laws. they fought for his son Constantine. during the last two years of Diocletian's empire. A similar revolution occurred in Holland. Oppressed people unite and encourage each other. women and children without exception. The first position is that of a monster. So if you want to prevent a sect from toppling a state. and because a price had been put on his head. The Christians. in Switzerland. and they are right in as much as the word shave. On acts of desecration Louis IX. ventrebleu. Expressions slip OUt in anger. decreed without any discrimination that whoever uttered these indecent terms should have his tongue pierced or his upper lip cut off. and the per deos immortales. It was a kind of law of retaliation: the member that had sinned suffered pain for it.2 The cleverest interpreters believe that this law forbids perjury. The law punishing them appears to have been taken from that of the Jews which says: 'Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain. (Orh/eu. It was an everyday expression. like su many others. the pol and the Mdopol of the Latins. translated as in l. like the sda or the lJah of the Jews. In 1181 Philip-Augustus had condemned noblemen in his country who uttered out loud telebleu. sanghleu. These words. and commoners to be drowned. From then on the King refrained from using this harsh punishment. It was a crime against naNre to drown citizens for the same offence that noblemen paid for with the equivalent in those days of two or three som. It cost one coarse bourgeois his tongue. properly speaking. or in ordinary conversation which are only.. first passed a law agai�t blasphemers. He condemned them to a new torture: their tongues were pierced with a hot iron. corbleu? The Jews swore on God's life: vivit Dominus. Also this strange law was not put into practice. are in most cases vague tenns arhitrarily interpreted. blasphemies. especially when the King was excommunicated and his kingdom interdicted by Pope Celestine III. who is ranked among the saints for his virtues. sangb/eu to pay a fine. which are called swear words. who was called to bear wimess. . Saint Louis. or in joy . Now what relevance can perjury have to those words toned down by cadidi$. The first part of this decree seems puerile. The pontiff advised the King strongly that the punishment was too great for the crime. But it was very difficult to decide what a blasphemy is. expletives. which is used quite normally without actually taking an oath on the immortal gods. So it was only forbidden to lie in the name of God. King of France.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments 5. ventrehIeu. and he complained about it to Pope Innocent IV. in a fit of zeal.!ain. the second abominable. really means perjury. cases.' If the law does not expressly specifY death for this crime. Yet justice should h. These tomes do not elaborate on public impiety. the public's need to exact. . of their scandalous behaviour.' This seems to be a wise and humane law. to have the fine doubled. The punishment for this crime is thus left to the wisdom of judges. because he is a man. proque rei conditione et temp oris et aetitis et serus. 'Pro qualitate personae.f and tongue cut out. who is the judge who feels obliged to pass this sentence? If punishment is necessary.. decrees: 'That those con victed of having sworn and blasphemed on the holy name of God. to wear an iron collar. a terrible punishment. '5' . whose record of decisions must not be taken for laws. if the law is silent. tripled and quadrupled. without any difficulty. in the year 1666. either because such insanities had not been foreseen. on his most holy mother or on the saints. wickedness. vel severius vel demenrius stauendum. or not to exact. for a sixth offence. Wtll you treat a young reprobate' who. our weighty tomes of criminal jurisprudence. speak only of theft committed in churches. thus they are not mature enough to see the consequences of their impious impetuousness. will be sentenced thus: for a first ofe f nce. called sam'lege.Commentaryl on the book On crimes and punishments ._ ---- . for a fifth offence. or because it was too difficult to specify {what they wereJ. what must judges do? Take into consideration the age of the ofe f nder.. and no positive law even mentions punishment by fire. the judge should. {Acts at} sacrilegious desecration are only ever committed by young rakes.ave nothing arbitrary about In such rare it. pass a milder sentence. the upper lip cut of. It would have been a good thing for human society if popes had never had any other kind of victory over kings. Louis XIV's statute. in [an act of] J De L. it inflicts a cruel punish ment only after six successive offences But for more serious acts of desecration. Barre. Will you punish them as severely as jf they had killed their brothers? Their age argues in their favour: they cannot do as they wish with their property because they are not deemed to be mentally mature enough to see the consequences of a bad deal. of their stubbornness. nor a city judge is a Moses or a Joshua. God pardons him. as well as a terrible death? Yes. They mean. UI rerum agendarum. is supposed to have desecrated a holy statue.' Think about those words carefully: they do not mean that the maintenance of public order must be abandoned. P�ny the younger."' Pliny. ' 1\"0 nation was more religious. Livy hear witness to that. but without stealing it. and no doubt very seriously. the subject of conversation among respectable. starts by testit)ling that the Romans never failed to invoke God when beginning their business or their speeches. • Virgil. hut it was also "Bene aC . PlmtK)'ril" rj"Trajan. in his panegyric of the good Trajan. The leniency of the Romans in these matters From one end of Europe to the other. ""l"either a village judge. ita dicenti initium a precationibus capere" elC.. Impose a heavy penitence on him. that it is absurd for an insect to believe he can avenge the Supreme Being. patres conscripti. maim•• insntuerunl. Ifhe does penitence. like garbage covering the ruins of a fine town.Commentary on the brlOk On crimes and punish ments blindness. '5' . in the same way that you treated the Brinvilliers girl. but does he deserve torments that horrify nature.0. 6. Eclogues. he has offended God. and as mueh for the second order of immortal gods as we show towards our saints. note).-. 1][.picnte. and you make one up in order to expose him to the greatest torture! He deserves exemplary punish ment. Act in the same way towards him as God himself [would]. Your illustrious Montesquieu said: 'The Divinity must be hon oured. chapter I' (Vollaire'. not avenged. The Roman senate certainly had as much respect for the Supreme God as we [do]. as the judicious author of On crimes and punishmenfs says. Ab Jove principium was the normal expression. educated people often turns on this enormous difference between the laws of the Romans and so many barbarous practices that have come after them. and pardon him. who had poisoned her father and the rest of her family? There is no explicit law against this unfortunate. Cicero. let us prove to the priests that we are as religious as they [are). Do you ask where the dead are? In the same place they. nor were they any the less the absolute masters of the most beautiful part of the world until the time of Theodosius II. The senate's maxim.' If ever there was a blasphemy. Why then did the Roman senate not suppress them? Because they had no effect whatsoever on the government of the State. !.- . Did Marshal d'Ancre have to be burnt for that? Et modus in rebus. God will punish it.' Through the wisest of insrirutions. by being cruel. ! 08. I . was.1. as did Cicero. because they disturbed no institution fof the State).' Our religion is more holy than that of the ancient Romans.. Now. it is man's job to punish crimes arising from public disorder caused by impiety. senators. because they controJied religion. as has been said elsewhere.undred times or more that the senate allowed the chorus to sing on the Roman stage in the Troad: 'There is nothing after death. The Romans' system of law and order was no less excellent for all that. Impiety with us is a greater crime than with them. sunt certi denique fines. had nothing to fear from a college of priests forCing them to serve its vengeful purpose on the pretext of avenging Heaven. were before being born.. 1. in spite of respect for religion. nor on those who said in the middle of senate philosophical meetings that the gods did not punish men after death. there it is without a doubt. if in an impious act no handkerchief has been stolen. It was incapable of inflicting barbaric tortures on those who had no faith in the auguries. Ne scutica dignum horribili sectere f1agello. It has been noted a h. Salim.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments too great and too wise to lower itself to punish silly statements or views. '53 ---_. if religious rites have not been disturbed.' < Horace. shall we punish (to repeat once more) this impiety as jf it was a parricide? Marshal d'Ancre killed a white cock under a full moon. 'DEORUM OFFENSAE DTIS CURAE: Offences against the gods are a matter finly for the gods. no religious ceremony.' ! 9. and death is nothing. who was himself an augur. They did not say: 'Let us tear the impious limb from limb in case we are considered impious ourselves. And from Ennius to Ausonius blasphemies were everywhere. if no�one has received the slightest injury. and Jehan Calvin had Dr Servet slowly roasted. Antoine was born in Briey in Lorraine of Catholic parents. and Dubourg's friends had Minard assassinated. let us go and serve strange gods . Mauhew. the preacher. Is it God whom people wish to avenge by having that preacher and that Jesuit hanged? Have people on both sides not relied on this law from the Scriptures: '\Vhoever docs not hear the Church. and had the consolation of making a major contribution to the beheading of the Calabrian.. and studied wi£h the Jesuits at Pont-a-Moussolt Ferry. served the same god. "EdICt of I7�4.." and those who have given him food and shelter are sent to the !r"lleys lor life.. from Deuteronomy: 'If there arises a prophet . he was put on trial as if he was a heretic. Canon Jehan Chauvin. known as Calvin. accepted him into £he protestant religion at Metz. and Jehan Calvin's successors had Antoine burnt. and about Antoine A Calvinist preacher who comes to preach secretly to his sheep in certain provinces is punished by death if he is caught. When he returned to r-iancy. and he says to you: Let us follow strange gods . reported in part byJacob Spon. However. or your dose friend says to you: Come. and earlier edicts' (Voltaire's note). Gentilis. kill him immedi ately.aid to you: Come let us follow strange gods.. be the first to strike him down. and if what he predicts comes to pass . and after )'ou let all the people follow suit'? But neither that Jesuit nor that Calvinist .\1inard had Counsellor Dubourg hanged. and if your brother or your son. treated as a pagan and a publican ?7 But the Bible does not order people to kill the pagan and the publican.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments 7· On the crime of preaching. Have people based themselves on these word. Having taken refuge in Sedan. q '54 . Servet the Spanish doctor.. he would have died by the rope. Have all these murders been committed in the name of rea�on. President . X\11!.. piety and justk-e? The story of Antoine is one of the strangest to be remembered and recorded in the annals of insanity. and people wanted to murder him. the Calabrian. let him be . In other countries a Jesuit who mmes to preach is hanged. Gentilis.. he was suspected of being a papist. and if a friend had not rescued him. Dubourg the counsellor. This is what I read about it in a very strange manuscript.. . or )'our dear wife. men he retracted. abolishing it. A minority of priests were of the opinion that pity should be taken on him. and tried to bring him back to his senses. becoming ultimately what is called a minister. The perpetual struggle going on in his heart between Calvin's sect. he was e. He was a madman who thought he had visions. and the Jewish religion. It was in the middle of the celebrations at a brilliant court. he wrote out a profession of faith to escape conviction. that only God himself could have passed a law. it must always be so. and when he wem to Geneva as a preacher. engraved by his own hand. He went down with melancholia and a cruel disease. and that it was impossible for God to have changed. the unfortunate faith of which he was persuaded did not allow him to sign it. and that as it had been so in the past. that it was more necessary to try and cure his mental illness than punish it. he cried out that he was a Jew. and of being joined in Christ. at a time of the greatest freedom even. He did not profess it openly.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments Seeing by what strange turn of events his life was safe neither with the Protestants nor the Catholics. hut after having written it out.'en the first regent of the college there. of love affairs and pleasures. but inside himself he was no less a Jew for that. 8. He spoke against Christianity. The town council called the preachers together to ascertain what was to be done with this wretched man. upset by his pains. and maintained right until the end of his life that the Jewish religion was the only true one. which was the only one in which he believed. and he was. that this unfortunate man was burnt in Paris in r663. A hundred years of reason and virtue were needed to expiate such a sentence. and took his madness to the point of believing himself to have been sent by God. '55 . He told them in reply that he worshipped only the god of Israel. he went off to Venice to become a Jew. The majority decided that he deserved to be burnt. made him ill for a long time. The episode took place in 1632. He persuaded himself very sincerely that he was one. Some ministers came to see him. to which he was obliged to preach. The story of Simon Morin The tragic end of Simon Morin is no less horrifYing than that of Antoine. The Jews did not circumcise him for fear of having problems with the magistrate. Wbat is very strange is that in the same hospital there was another madman who said he was the Eternal Father. his first follies were. ---- -- .as confinned. and the poem entitled Clovis. he set himself up as a prophet. through professional jealousy. in truth. . the key to the treasure of the Apacalypse. a (piece o� paper was found in one of his stockings in which he asked God's pardon for all his mistakes. he moved on to another. and he was executed without mercy. . became his most merciless persecutor. obtained his release. that with that key he would refonn the whole human race. having taken infamy to the point of making himself into an infonner. but the sentence v. This Desmarets was no less of a visionary than Morin. printed next to the Prayer to the Virgin in verse [form]. innocent: these weTe the tragi-comedies called Erigone and Mirame. and that he was going to command an army of a hundred and forty thousand men against the Jansenists. It was his bad fortune to have made the acquaintance of Desmarets de Saim-Sorlin. his fits of madness recurred. He showed repentance to the magis trates and. From this kind of folly. These were dithyrambic poems enriched with invective against Homer and Virgil. more serious kind. who for a few months was his friend.� -----. and after having admitted turning women into atheists. but who soon. printed with a translation of the Psalms. unfortunately. That should have saved him. He was seen hounding Port-Royal. Simon Morin was so impressed by the mad ness of his companion that he recognised his own. Finally.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments The parlement quite righdy sentenced him to be locked up in the madhouse. with his own hand. hard as it is to believe. He appeared to have returned to his senses for a while. the novel called Ariane. He persuaded him that this poor Simon Morin was founding a sect almost as dangerous as Jansenism itself. he obtained from the lieutenant of police a warrant for the arrest of his unfortunate rivaL Dare we say it? Simon Morin was sentenced to be burnt alive. the King's confessor. Nothing would have been more reasonable and more just than to have put him in the same place as Simon Morin bur. He claimed that God had given him. for him. When he was being led out to his torture. he preached dogma. whose madness even became legendary. Some time afterwards. he had a lot of influence over the Jesuit Annat. and that they were possessed. they put her to the question. and which thought finally that they had perfected their powers of reason. and through her cries Michelle made it known that satanic marks do not make you numb. 9. It is a major phenomenon in our century. The Devil kissed her. which produced infallible evidence of the fact. and imprinted on her upper lip and her right teat the mark that he was in the habit of applying to all those people he accepted as his favour ites. The Devil ordered Michelle Chaudron to cast a spell on two girls. They plunged a long needle in. The girls' parents made a legal accusation of Satanism against her. That unfortunate woman. which prided themselves on being refonned. and to have burnt poor women accused of being witches. which in itself constituted a painful torture. or at least people who passed for doctors at that time. to have still believed in sorcery. we must flatter ourselves that those horrible times will not come back. But is it possible for nations. confessed as much as everyone wanted.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments Such tales make your hair stand on end. The girls were' interrogated and confronted with the guilty woman. '57 . and they persecute each other to death. and of trampling superstitions under foot. This seal of the Devil is a small sign which numbs the skin. Doctors were called in. On warlocks In 1749 a woman was burnt in the bishopric ofWurzburg. They visited the girls. For the consolation of the human race. a peasant woman from the little territory of Geneva named Michelle Chaudron met the Devil when she was leaving town. convicted of being a witch. and to have done that a hundred years after the supposed reform of their reason? In the year 1652. She obeyed her lord punctiliously. They testified that they felt con tinuous pins and needles in certain parts of their bodies. giving way to the violence of this tOmlent. As the judges did not see sufficient proof that Michelle Chaudron was a witch. as all the legal expens in the demonography of that period confirm. Blood came out. And in which country have such deplorable events not been seen? Everywhere men forget that they are brothers. They examined Michelle's body for the seal of the devil which court proceedings call the marks of Satan. received homage from her. On the death penalty It was said a long time ago that a hanged man is good for nothing. then this part of the world looks like a huge scaffold covered with executioners and their victims. The same thing was noted in the English colonies. she did not cry out. the crime was thus confirmed. It is obvious that twenty robust thieves. This happy • Voltaire is referring 10 himself. and surrounded by judges. 10. who succeeded her. A man with zcal for the public good. If you add to these legal massacres the infinitely higher number of heretics who have been sacrificed. Being deprived of possessed people was seen as an infallible sign of a false religion. serve the State through their suffering. followed the same maxim. she was burnt only after heing hanged and strangled. _-- . They found it in the form of a little black sign on one of her thighs. sentenced to labour on [public works] projects for the rest of their lives. Catherine II. that Cltnstian courts have sentenced to death more than a hundred thousand so-called warlocks. and that (Ortures invented for the good of society should be useful to that society. has written in one of his publications supporting the cause of the innocent. and that their death will only do good to the executioner. who is paid to kill people in public. Fires were lit everywhere for warlocks in the same way as for heretics.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments The doctors looked again for the mark of Satan. Crimes did not increase as a result of this humane policy. thieves are rarely punished by death. All the courts of Christian Europe then echoed to the sound of similar warrants for arrest. But as customs were beginning to get milder. "" . \\-nat people reproach the Turks most for is for not having had either warlocks or possessed people in their ranks.H for humanity. In England. and it nearly always turned out that convicts transported (0 Siberia became respectable people there. for true reli gion. sbirros and spectators. They plunged the needle in. dying creature hardly felt the needlc. no criminal was executed in the reign of the autocratic Elizabeth. It is the same in the vast territories of Russia. they are transported to the colonies. The torment of being put to the question had been so awful that the poor. and decided that no judge can have dIat right.9 Such men were not born to be magistrates. or linked to circumstances that are so bizarre. in France. A Roman citizen would only be condemned to die for crimes that affected the security of the State. llarure created them to be executioners. which is stronger than the law. they marry. It is carried in its scabbard in the presence of kings to warn us that it should be rarely drawn. On putting warrants into effect Do we have to go to the ends of the earth.Commentary' on the book On crimes and punishments transformation surprises us. to be put to death. Force men to work and you will make them into honest people. We have seen judges who liked to spill blood. I I. or so com plicated. for whom it has no sentence. There are criminal acts that are either so unexpected. was a man to whom they gave the nickname head-chopper. which force a man into idleness. Hut if in fact one case does arise in which the law might permit an accused person. that in more than one eountry the law itself has been forced to leave these strange cases to the wisdom of dIe judges. Jeffreys was such a one. This difficulty was solemnly debated before Emperor Henry VI. but we must blunt it more often than we sharpen it. there are a thousand other cases in which humanity. OUf masters. they multiply. licutenant-giniral of pohce. another one. These con victs are forced into continuous work in order to live. but nothing is more natural. and lead him into debauchery. our first legislators. They lack opportunities for vice. respected the blood of their fenow-countrymen. except perhaps when there arc too many feast days. not wnfused with his son Machault d'i\mouville. The sword of justice is in our hands. He made a judgement. It is weI! known that great crimes are not committed in the country. \Ve squander the blood of ours. should spare the lives of dIose whom the law itself has marked out for death. do we have to have recourse to the laws of China to see how careful we must be with 'The reference is to Jean-Baptiste Machault. the Comptralier-GeneraL '59 to be . For a long time people have worried away at this delicate and grievous issue: whether it is permissible for judges to punish by death when the law does not expressly stipulate the ultimate tonnent. being vulnerable to violent attacks or treachery. seems to ha\'e made a cruel enOr when. and for four thousand years also no villager on the fringe of the empire has been executed without the proceedings of his trial being sent to the Emperor. cabal. On being put to the question All men. it does not follow that China.)' dub. It is the same in Germany. which is to sacrifice men only when it is clearly necessary.re'. from whom people want "The author of the Spin! oJthe Ul1Z'S. The Supreme Council is more accustomed to dealing with cases. the Council mitigates the terms of the warrant in accordance with the spirit of every law. and is less prejudiced. The habit of seeing everything in a broad perspective has made it wiser and more aware of things. who has them examined three times by one of his courts. in order 10 prop up his them) that a vague feeling of honour lies at the basis of monarchies.t vimJe . through a sense of pity that God has placed in our hearts. or a modification to the punishment.. and almost throughout the whole of the North. which can be rigorous. Yet all of them. In England. and from the fact that insolent thugs and rogues are beaten with a heavy dub. hate the crimes of which they might be a victim. from the fact that the populace is kept at bay with a hu. or a complete pardon.!. It can sec far better than a provincia1lower court whether the institution of the State needs to make a severe example of someone or not. and thai this is not an excellem form of government· (Vol!. Such used to be the practice once in France. prejudice and ignorance can dictate the sentence. can make no impres� sian on the court: it is surrounded on all sides by the major is�ut�. ------ . which the court does not know about. Europe is full of them. Those petty intrigues. no criminal is put to death whose sentence has not been signed by Ihe King. Finally.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments men's blood? The courts of that empire have existed for more than four thousand years. and th. the basis of republics. All are united in wishing for the punishment of the main offenders and their accomplices.inly. protest against the tortures that the accused."· Cen. is not governed by courts which watch o'er each other. 12. he said of the Chinese: "I do not know what this honour is among peoples who cannot be made to do anything unless they are beaten with a stick. it should be so in all civilised nations. who has planted so maoy fine truth� in his work. when the lower court has made a judgement according to the letter of the law. nOle). after this he signs the death warrant. IQ Let us not find examples 50 far away. Far from the throne. Good God! I d o not know yet whether you are guilty. . but she is not alone. I shall not compensate you for the thousand deaths that I have made you suffer the single one I had in store for you! Everyone shudders at this idea. If there should be just one nation in the world which has abolished the use of torture. if moreover it has become more enlightened. and if you are innocent.ll Seek out their accomplices. I must confine myself to wishing people would read again and again the work of this lover of humanity. otherwise known as the Vehmic Court. and in the uncertain circumstances of their crime a torture is inflicted on them that is far more frightful than the death they will be given. rejected this barbarity. I shall not mention here that Saint Augustine protested against judicial torture in his City of God. more pros perous since that abolition. is made to suffer. and that this court was set up by Charlemagne? It was the judicial process in Westphalia. . if there are no morc crimes in that nation than in any other. torture has been banned successfully in other kingdoms. Will those nations which pride themselves on being civilised not pride themselves also on being humane? Will they persist with an inhumane practice on the mere pretext that it is the custom? At least keep this cruelty for acknowledged villains who have murdered the father of a family or the father of a country. that is sufficient example for the rest of the entire world. once it is certain that they deserve it. So everything is settled. The law has not yet found them guilty. and I need to tonnent you to enlighten myself. of "The referenct: is possibl)· to Robert·Fran�ois Damiens' attempT on Louis XV's life in '757. The severity. 13. or rather the cruelty. Let England alone educate other nations. but is it not a useless barbarit}' for a young person who has committed a few offences that have no after-effects to suffer the same torture as a parricide? I am ashamed to have brought this subject up after what the author of On crimes and punishmenTS has said about it. On some blood courts Would anyone believe that there was once a high court that was more horrible than the Inquisition.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments to tear a confession.6. I shall not mention the fact that in Rome only slaves were made to sufe f r that slaves are men. you needed to obtain letters of exemption. in the most awful rocky part of the county of Burgundy. Pfdfd. Often even they were useless. on a fast day. whose head was cut off on 28 lui)' r629. judging them without giving them a hearing. That was his crime. by comparison. of having cooked the said meat on Sarurday. he would ha\'e been regarded as a man fulfilling all his duties. If he had been rich. we declare the said Claude Guillon to be duly guilty in fact and in law of having removed meat from a horse killed in one of this to\\"'S fields. etc. The author is C-F. he ate a piece of meat from killed in a a horse that had been neighbouring field. feeling the pressure of a gnawing hunger. the youngest judge carried out the duties of the office by hanging the convicted man himself. This court of murderers was only completely dissolved by rvIaximilian I. contain the sen tence and the minutes for the execution of a poor gentleman named Claude Guillon.lo»' �r Gl71IIan). "'See the excellent Chronologtcal summa»' of Ih. the Tribunal of the Ten in Venice was. under the year 803' (Voltaire'. and often. It secredy delegated commissaries to travel incognito through all the towns in Gennany. Herc is the [judge's] pronouncement of sentence: 'After having seen all the trial papers and heard the views of doctors of law. while leaving thc poor to die of hunger. The archives of a little rural outpost called Saint-Claude. and ofpublic 11l1l!. it should have been dis solved in the blood of the judges. What should we think of these horrors and of so many others? Is it enough just to groan at human narure? There have been cases in which it needed avenging. and of having eaten it'. ---""- . when they were short of executioners. hi. note). 31 March. What wonderful doctors they were..lZ To avoid the assassinations of this Star Chamber. He was con demned as i f f o r sacrilege. an instirution of mercy. and i f h e had ordered himself two hundred ems' worth of supper. getting infonnation from the accused without reporting them to the authorities.Commentary 011 the book On crimes and punishments this court went as far as punishing by death n·cry Saxon who broke his fast during Lent. those doctors of law who gave their opinion! Did these episodes happen among the Topinambous and the Hottentots1 The VehmiC Court was far more horrible. imperial safe guards. The same law was established in Flanders and in Franchc-Comtc at thc beginning of thc seventeenth cenrury. He had been reduced to povcrty and. he was guilty of having written to a friend of the Count of Richmond. murder. and prop up his authority. parading in public its allegiance to the sovereign powers. the murderer of his two nephews. hut always justly. Peopk fear a new sect which. are all ub"ious crimes that are curbed with varying degrees of severit)'. lastly. perjury committed in order to harm rather than help an innocent person. \\'hen Richard III. which preaches that all men arc equal in order to impose its new rites on them all equally. whoever had anything to do with Charles of Lorraine risked being sentenced to death. plotting against one's country. and who has reigned sinee under the name of Henry VH.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments 14" On the difference between political laws and natural laws I call Natural laws those laws that nature points to in an ages to all men for the maintenance of that sense of justice which nature. on the pretext that it is better to Obl"y God than man. drawn and quartered. ingratitude towards benevolent parents.where theft. and people are forbidden to escape over the rampam on pain of death. It is feared that an enemy might obtain information about a town: the gates are closed. by arguing publicly in favour of that sect. The death penalty is stipulated for those who. has engraved in our hearts. either to consolidate power or in anticipation of misfortune. was reco gnised as the King of England. plot� in sel:ret to evade that alJegianl:e. The judges become the instruments of vengeance for the new sover eign. unless he was powerful. vioknce. who was raising an army at the time. the stronger wins it: he uelTees the death penalty for the supporters of the weaker man. wishes to destroy what the State has wnsecrated. . and that the e�tablished sect is overloaded with superstitions and ridiculous ceremonies. two crude and ridiculous lines in his hand were found: they were enough to have the knight killed by means of a horrible torture. which. Two ambitious men argue m'er the throne. what ever one might say. the Grand Jury had Sir William Collingboume hung. Ever). The history books are full of similar examples of justice. I call palitirallarvs those laws that are made for reasons of short term need. Under Hugh Capet. might encourage the people to rebel. All these laws of blood-soaked polirics have their moment in his tory.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments The law of reprisal is another one of those laws accepted by nations. on Titus Oates. In ordinary crimes the law of England favours the accused. IS. and his denunciation was accepted. a son's expletive against his father. having been judicially 'nterrogated in the House of Commons. the secretary was executed. a man who has held off an entire anny for a while in a little ruined castle. but in those involving high treason it is unfavourable towards him. On People call high treason an attack on the country or on the sovereign who represents it. "f high treason. he is a virtuous man whom you respect and like. then he swore that he had seen him. if your enemy has stained himself with a great crime. . First he swore before the King's council that he had not seen this secretary. or even seditious words. A son would no longer look upon his father as being anything other than a terrible master. It is the law. for if you treat robbery from one of the houses belonging to the State. you hang him by way of reprisal. and having given assuranfes on oath that he had nothing more to say. and several others. \:our enemy has had one of your brave captains hanged. you break the ties of tiliaJ love. They are akin to that need to eat other people which you sometimes have in a situation of extreme famine: you eat them no more once you have bread. you say: that is to say. The ex-Jesuit Titus Oates. In spite of these illegalities and contradictions. There must be nothing arbitrary in our understanding of what great crimes are. later James II. the crime of high treason. and one sees clearly that they afe not true laws since they are short-lived. then however accused the secretary of the Duke of York. If you rank theft tram a fathtT by a son. One of his captains falls into your hands. then you diminish the horror that high treason ')r lese-majest! ought to inspire. with acts of parricide. you must commi! another one. It is regarded as a parricide: thus it must nO[ be e�tended to crimes which come nowhere near parricide. misap propriation of public funds. and on the death of Auguste de Thou. as high treason. Everything' that is far-fetched in the law tends to destroy the law. It is quite obvious that if the two most upright magistrates in the Kingdom were to accuse a man of plotting with the Mufti to circum cise the whole of the Privy Council. Louis XI. equal to Guichardin in his enlightened views.ois-Auguste de Thou. These two wit ncsse� werc enough to have thc heart tom from several of the accused. those who know about a plot. passed this law. son of the only good historian that France can boast of. against whom people plotted frequently. at least. is that enough from 1\'10 wittlesses to get those they wish to ruin killed? At the very least. people would he more inclined to think that they had gone mad than to have confidence in their testimony. for it is very easy for the plotters to arrange things in such a way that he caiUlOt convict them. Yet people had the misfortune to believe Titus Oates. It is even more necessary that they should not bear witness to unlikely things. for officer� who were to command an army of rebels. In France. This was precisely the case with the respectable Fram. But. The plot was hatched more against Cardinal Richelieu than against Louis XIII. a Henry IV. the parlement. The laws of England do not regard as being guilty of a plot those who knew about it and did not reveal it. There was no question of delivering France . Counsellor of State. are punished by death. A Louis XII. these two infonners ought not to have been we1l kno\\>TI rascals. and possibly superior to him in his impartiality. and that they had seen commissions from Father Oliva. the Audit Office. and the Archbishop of the Sorbonne. it would be no good those two magistrates swearing that they had seen !etters from the Mufti. It is just as outlandish to suppose that the General of the Jesuits was raising an army in England as it would be to think that the Mufti was sending people to circumcise the French court. and do not report it. so there is no kind of atrocious madness that has not entered men's heads. they assumed that an informer is as infamous as a plotter is guilty. the General of the Jesuits. but it exposes him still further to punishment for calumny. would never have conceived of iL This law not onlv forces a respectable man to inform on a crime that he could prevent by wise advice and finnness.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments This same Oates and another witness gave evidence that fiftyJesu its had plotted to assassinate King Charles II. and their cheeks beaten with it. in all good faith. by that of the King's favourite. that not a day passed when I didn't talk about this treaty to dissuade you from it. summa injuria. The murderous letter of the law was followed precisely..' Cinq-Mars accepted that this was true.1ars. to be . De Thou therefore would deserve a reward rather than death in any humane.' It does not say: 'for not having rt-. and finally by the loathing of the public. of the Duke of Bouillon. One of the agents of Monsieur the King's only brother. If he had at that point denounced the ploner�. could not have aimed to surrender a kingdom to which he still regarded himself as the heir presumptive. The latter went to find Master of the Horse Cinq-. It seems that the crime was to have known about the crime.. by that of a sovereign prince. It is not only up to legal experts. for the King's brother.. De Thou was guilty neither before God nor before men.ealed them'. recorded in the minutes: 'Remember. seeing only a dying elder brother and two children still in the cradle between him and the throne. he had no proof against them. It was during this confronta tion that de Thou said to Cinq-'\lars these very words. At least he deserved to be spared by Cardinal Richelieu. but by commissaries. lie would have becn crushed by the denial of the heir presumptive to the throne.1\. and of the l'viaster of the Horse. had communicated bv [word of) mouth the plan of the plot to the Counsellor of State. sir. It is really a case here of something more than summum jus. It is a sad contradiction that a small group of men should have someone killed as a criminal whom a whole nation judges innocent and worthy of respect. He was eXl'osing himself to punishmcnt as a cowardly slandercr. to declare whether or not the spinl of the law had been twisted. the main instigator of this plot. but to all men. impartial court. and that penple deserve to die for having eyes and ears..Commentary 011 the book On crimes and punishments up to her enemies. he pointed out the difficult ies. Chancellor Segllier himself acknowledged that when he confronted de Thou with the Master of the Horse. The death warrant for this good man bears the words: 'For having known and participated in the said plots. All that one can say about such a warrant perhaps is that it was not issued by justice. d'Effiat Cinq-:\lars. and did what he could to discourage him from the enterprise. sovereign prince of Sedan. but humanity was not the Cardinal'� strength. 4. showed the Jesuit a knife. had gone to the Jesuit d'Aubigny.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments 16. On the 2211d. 2. Strada himself says that Jaurigny 'non ante [acinus aggredi sustin uit. wen! to confession before committing their crimes. whose wounds bled from the heart of every Frenchman. quam expiatam noris animam apud domincanum sacerdotem coelesti pane firmaverit: }aurign. . That a priest who learns about a plot against the King and the state in the confessional must reveal it to the magistrates. Servin. of still illustrious memory. required the Jesuits to sign the following fo ur articles: I. Ravaillac. and he said these very words to the Jesuit: 'This heart indicates that the King must be persuaded in his heart to wage war on the Huguenots.' Perhaps if d'Aubigny had had enough zeal and \\>lsdom to inform the King of these words. on the blade of which were engraved a heart and a cross. That ecclesiastics are entirely subject to the King. the best of kings would not have been assassinated. it became a holy act by virtue of the fal:t that confession is a sacrament. the parlement issued a warrant whereby Jesuits were forbidden to teach the young before they had signed these four art- "Or)nuresuy. That the Pope could not take away from the King any of his righ� through excommunication. that after talking to him about several visions that he had had. like everyone else. In the cross-examination of Ravalllae it was apparent that this unfortunate man. Prince of Orange. Fanaticism in those deplorable centuries had reached �uch excesse� that confession was just one more way of committing themselves to the completion of their villainous act.y did not dare 10 commit this art without haring fortified the heavenb' bread ()f his soul. 3. Chatel. On disclosure by confession Jaurignyll and Balthazar Gerard. the Advocate-General. On 20 August in the year 1 6 1 0. the murderers of William J. Jacques Clement the Dominican. and all the other parricides of those times. That the synod was above the Pope. when he left the Fad/ants and wanted to join the Jesuit�. three months after the death of Henry IV. purged through confessian at thefeet 0/a Dominican'. . and not pennining the revelation of a parricide. must be interdicted and imprisoned for life. who in his tum becomes his penitent. that this warrant was useless. thinking that he is serving God by killing his prince. see the Ecdt"SiasIJea{ mtmoirs by the Jesuit d'Avrigny. The Jews confessed their sins on the day of solemn expiation. obliged confessors to denounce to inquisitors those whom their penitents accused in their confessions of having seduced them.6n.<\ugust . Gregory XV'H ordered the�e revdatilJn�. . One fact that deserves to be noted is that this same court of Rome. and that of France so weak. A penitent chooses his confessor. and the rules of good and evil are shrouded in a chaos from which they have not yet been extricated.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments ides. but the court of Rome was then so powerful. of Isis. unless you prefer to consult the buUarium' (Voltaire's nOle). Paul IV. as a result.68 . that did not wish confessions to be revealed when the lives of sover eigns were at stake. It made a sacrament into a registry of denunciations. and especially by the Lateran Council held under Innocent III. Clement VIII. This horrible and ridiculous contradiction is the unfortunate con sequence of the continual conflict that has existed for so many centur ies between ecclesiastical and ci"il laws. every priest who rewaled a confession. of Samothrace. for. Pius IV. A fanatical assassin. by ancient canon law. During the sacrament before a Carmelite friar. But there is worse to come: here we haw four popes in the six teenth and seventeenth centuries ordering the revelation of a sin of impurity. does not say anything in particular. or thinks. and the)' still have this custom. People accused themselves in the mysteries of Orpheus. 'The constitution of Gregory XV is dared 30 . a woman confesses. The citizen finds himself squeezed on a hundred occasions between sacrilege and the crime of high treason. and one after the other each one receives from his companion thirty-nine lashes while repeating three times the confessional fonnula. which consists only of thirteen words and which. and abused them. whatever its nature. and even of acts of sacrilege. The confession of one's offences has been authorised since time immemorial in almost every nation. It was a very awkward trap for confessors and penitents. that a Franciscan has seduced her: the Carmelite must denounce the Franciscan. of Caes.. consults a confessor on this issue of conscience: the confessor is guilty of sacrilege ifhe saves his sovereign's life. He has made good coins. he is robbing it of the small profit that the King makes on currency. On the contrary. the master horrifie� the whole neighbourhood. So what happens? Those masters who have been robbed. Death is a lot for this. and it is probably for all these reasons that so many Christian societies have abolished a holy practice that seemed to them to be as dangerous as it was useful. none served as a pretext for secret consultations that penitent fanatics have sometimes had in order to have the right to sin with impunity. he has not robbed anybody. to work in the King's mint with his feet shackled. after all. is guilty of high treason.69 . and whether he deserves death. but he is exposing his imitators to the temptation of making bad ones. is this disproportionate punishment not very dangerous to society? Is it not an invitation to petty theft even? For if it is the case that a master brings his servant to justice for a minor act of theft.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments None of these confessions ever went into detail. People ask whether a busi nessman who imports gold bars from America. On household theft In countries where petty household theft is punished by death. and converts them into true currency. People then think that nature and the law are in conflict. and who get used to robbery. do no more than dismiss their servants. I knew one legal expert who wanted to sentence this man. which was the greatest curb on crime. a pernicious practice which corrupts a salutary institution. who was skilled and useful. and that it costs this unfortunate man his life. he is doing the State a favour by achieving an increase in the circulation of cur rency. and the law is worthless as a result. and rightly so: it is a betrayal of the State to rob all the individuals in the State. In nearly all countries he would not suffer the ultimate penalty. has often become an encouragement to crime itself in times of sedition and upheaval. But if he has arrogated to himself the right of the sovereign. who go off to steal elsewhere. Confession. As the death penalty applies equally to petty theft and major robbery. 18. not wish ing to cover themselves in shame. . I 7 . On counterfeit money The crime of making counterfeit money is regarded as a second category of high treason. But he is more difficult to answer when he gets to the explanations and the details. On suicide Thc famous Duverger de Hauranne. There would be no more shame attached to denunciations.. if the petty thief is sentenced to community work.""r. But if the punishment fits the crime. for that of the country. It appears that the murder of oneself is no less part of this precept than the murder of one's neighbour. wrote in about the year 1608 a treatise on suicide. Robbery would become less common. The abbe of Saint-Cyran concluded that what was good enough for someone else was good enough for oneself What is advanced in " 'It was printed .' (Voltaire's note).". which stands for God. 19. One can kill oneself. What am r saying? Not a single one would dare to deny him a reward. It all proves that great truth that a st:vere law sometimes generates crimes.tion hy Touss�jm Duhr. . abbi of Saint-Cyran.'s privilege. nor Bonaventure. .}· in r609. and it can be taken as pure sophism.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments obviously they ""ill try to steal as much as possible. Saint-Cyran develops this argument in a major way. The Decalogue orders us not to kill. Our lives are at the disposal of the State. he says.ith 1he Kin. But we need neither Thomas. You must not make an attempt on your life until you have listened to reason. then his master will report him without any scruples.deeimo ed.15 which became one of the rarest books in Europe. there arc also circumstances in which it is permitted to kill oneself. who is regarded as the founder of Port-Royal. Now if there are circumstances in which it is permit ted to kill one's neighbour. Man's reason can also stand for God's reason: it is a ray of the eternal light. Saint Thomas said the same thing before Saint-Cyran did. It mUSl he in II.. They could even become murderers if they think that it is a way of not being caught. nor Hauranne to know that a man who murders for his country deserves our praises." �ajesty'5lib. There is no sovereign who would dare to punish the family of a man who gave up his life for him. One cannot sec in fact why people like Codrus and Curtius should be punished. for that of one's parents.n a duo. for the sake of the prince. No Roman law condemned the mun.' Things changed under succeeding emperors. This custom. We even confiscate the dead man\ property. which in effect amounts to stealing the inheritance of the living. On a form of mutilation You can find in the Digest one of Adrian's laws which stipulates the death penalty for doctors who create eunuchs. when he inter preted strictly a passage from Saint Matthew: 'There are those who have castrated themselves for the Kingdom of Heaven. or despair. and the . It is a worn�out commonplace. which was never re'ioked: 'If your father or your brother. 20. with the title De poeniteruia assures us that Judas commined a greater crime by strangling himself than hy selling our Lord Jesus Christ. and his heirs inherit by the law of intestacy. we make hi� memury· �hame[ul. \1ontaigne.elf either to escape from pain. who adopted the asi atic luxury. to whom it bc1un�. but neither the Old Testament nor the New has ever forbidden a man from taking his leave of life when he can no longer stand it. I do not claim here to make an apology for an action condemned by the law. In today's Rome the custom is to castrate children to make them worthy of being the Pope's musicians. It is concluded from this that one cannot inherit from a man who supposedly has no inheritance in Heaven. Seneca. in favour of suicide is well known.lcr uf unesclf. either by tearing off testicles or by crushing them. like several others. The property of those who mutilated themselves in this ·way was also confiscated.vidow for heing deprived of her husband. is derived tram our canon law which deprives of burial those who die from an act of suicide. Origen could have been punished for submitting himself to this operation. we punish the sun for having lost his father. or insanity. we dishonour his family as much as we can. ' In spite of this humane law of our masters. and b) a hundred other philosophers. we still drag people through the dirt. let his will remain valid. kills him . The canon law. especially in the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople. so that cdStrato and musica del '7' . this is the law of Emperor Marcus Antonius. we drive a stake through the body of a man who has chosen to die. of seeing eunuchs become patriarchs and commanders of annies. or boredom with life. being accused of no crime.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments Plutarch. On the contrary. On the seizure of property for all of the Crimes discussed A maxim accepted by the Ear is: '\Vboever seizes the body. not being very rich. '7' -. or by the good Emperor Trajan.m' (Voltaire·. the children of those who have brought their sad days to an end by their own hand are made die of hunger there. seem to have sought to increase their wealth by means of the sentences passed on their subjects. With the laws being arbit rary. was not implemented either by Caesar. ' "'See the edict of '4 "lay T724. which consists of stealing food from orphans. under Justinian. or for having listened to his sennon in some cave or in some desert. More over. This system of laws.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments papa have become S}TIonymous. seizure of prop erty took place only for the crime of fese-majesti. But today. It has to be admitted that an act of theft introduced by Sylla was not an example to be followed. In the age of feudal anarchy. and the Roman system unknown. princes and landed lords. Not so long ago. his wife and children are reduced to beg for their bread. this law. --- . Normally these are . as if they were the children to of murderers.' 2 I . secure riches their treasury does not need to be swelled with the feeble [bits and} pieces of a wretched family. Thus when a father is condemned to the galleys for life by an arbitrary sentence. note). a maxim that is still relevant in those countries where custom takes the place oflaw. Thus. whose name is still spoken of with respect and affection by all nations. I" either for having sheltered a preacher in his house. and reviewed try h. as we have jusr said. written in large letters over the doors of certain barbers' shops: Qu i ' si castrano marm:igliosamente i putti. . seizes the property'. Sylla intro duced it with his proscriptions. apparently dictated only by inhumanity and greed. i"ued at the inSTigation of Cardiml Fleury. now that the· power of sovereigns is founded on vast. you could see in Naples. In the end. or by the Antonines. and that people wished to provide them with an income from crime.-. and of giving to onc man the property of another. was unknown throughout the whole period of the Roman Republic. Thus a whole family is punished in every case for the offence of one single man. strange or cruel customs pre vailed. I1. Orner TaJon. After the trial at Naboth. In a word. quia maledixerat regi. King Saul's " Kings. put everyone to the sword with no regard for age. and the English abolished it when they became the masters of the to'Ml.x\'!+ . . and it was taken away from children. King Ahab took posses sion of his inheritance. an abominable act which has become proverbial with a view to filling men with a horror of usurpation. the King was master of property. together with the spoils. Bring all the spoils of the town together in the public squares. property once seized from her father. until all that is left in this place of abomination is a heap of ashes. such as Le Bourbonnais. Brittanv . spoke like this in a full session of the parlement. It is rather strange that the inhabitants of the capital live under laws that are more severe than those of small towns: this shows how true it is that law-systems ha"e often been established by chance. I'vlaine. Who would think that in the year . King of a bit of Palestine. It is not accepted in some places we look on customarily as countries. Naboth's vineyard certainly had nothing to do with Miss Canillac's legacy. Berry. who seized Naboth's vineyards after having murdered the owner with the dagger of justice. then given by the keeper of the royal mint to the testatrix. Poitou. given away by the King to a keeper of the royal mint. or at least it excludes houses and buildings. just like cottages are built in a village. The murder of Miphiboseth. about a Miss Canillac: 'In chapter 13 of Deuteronomy God said: "If you should be in a town or place where idolatry reigns. sex or rank. with the exception of the judicial area of the Toulouse parlement. and let nothing remain in your hands of the property of this accursed thing. and set the town on fire. But is it right for one citizen to get fat on the last drops of blood from another citizen! Seizure of property is not accepted in countries where Roman law is established. having been warned that Miphiboseth had taken part in the rebellion. irregularly and inconsistently. And it was in connection with this case of a girl from the Auvergne that an advocate-general made reference to Ahab. gave all his wealth to Siba who brought him the news: Tua sunt omnia quae fummt Mipkiboseth.673.>l7 It was a question of ascertaining who inherited Miss Canillac's property. the Advocate-General. It was once established in Calais.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments given away to the first person to ask for them." Thus in the crime of lese-ma}est. make a sacrifice of it to the Lord. in France's century of greatness. David. everything is done in secret.This is the onlv uni form law in the whole Kingdom. A brave man is tender-hearted. who could respond to them. but even in war there is such a thing as generosity of spirit and compassion.Reader� are left . to judge for themselves what is superfluous in what is said to them. established by Francis I. On the criminal process and some different versions of it If one day humane laws make some practices that are too severe in France milder. but in France an innocent man who has been flung into dungeons. are no less irrelevant to this lady's will. With us. or confront them with a lawyer. wimesses weTe heard in public. imbued with Roman magnanimit}. men with some reputation in their field. open proced ure. It is with this kind of pedantr}'.The discovery of crimes requires severe measures. This was a noble. this ignorance of human nature. 22. son of Jonathas. can hope for no compensation. was formally sanctioned by the commissaries who drafted the legal . An innocent man branded a. subjected to torture. in the presence of the accused. where the authors seem to havc abandoned themselves to ellces8ive zeal. hears each wimess in tum. Should it not be just as favourable to the innocent as it i� terrible to the guilty? In England. for no damages that can be claimed against anyone. that systems of law have been treated bv . will also be reformed. but \\ithout making crime easier. ask them questions him self. a simple matter of wrongful imprisonment is corrected by the minister who ordered it. it is a war that human justice wages on wickedness. With the Romans. a criminal! And for \\hat? Because he has had his joints dislocated! He should arouse only pity and respect. should a lawyer be barbaric? Let us just compare here il few points in Roman criminal proced ures with our o'o\on. this frenzy of quotations that are beside the point. This practice.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments grandson. these ill-conceived and ill-applied prejudices.A single judge. it is likelv that the procedure {set outl in artick� of legi8lation. and the seizure of his property. Criminal legislation seem� on a number of points to have been drafted only with the ruination of the accused in view. with his clerk. He remains forever branded by society as a criminal. friend and protector of David. that he misunderstood the judge. . should often be accepted a.. _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ . If he disappears. they retract thcir testimony. . he is pun ished like a rogue. he is open to conviction. sometimes cruel. but with a true heart. One single mistake was the cause of this. they arc punished as false witnesses. they thought that these word�. Those giving evidence are normally the dregs of the people. still in secret. It was a solecism that created this part of our legal system. depending on which sect of legal experts the judge might follow. but other experts. except in cases where the '75 _ .". They have presumed to say that the flight of the accused man was proof of the crime. that the contempt he showed for justice. the law.CommC1ltary on the book On crimes and punishments regulations for Louis XIV in 1 670. which regulates criminal proceedings.c. have taken the opposite view. In the reign of Louis XIV. These witnesses are heard for a second time. is a great source of abuse in the French legal s)stem. by refusing to appear.. ' '" . On reading the code de testibus. two ordonnances were issued that were uniform throughout the Kingdom.". In the first. Thus. So that when a simple man. Intrare secretum for 'to speak secredy' would not be Latin. or that the judge misunder stood him. That the fantasies and errors. _ . . some legal experts have assured us that the absconder should not be convicted if the crime has not been dearly proved. . But secretum means here the judge's office. and this is called "mficarion. aimed at civil proceed ings. or if they make major changes to it. when the action is unproved. and possibly more widely followed. testes intrare judicii ucretum meant that witnesses were questioned in secret. and the judge behind dosed doors can make them say anything he wants. unable to express himself. it does not say that when there is a lack of evidence the accused will be released. an innocent man will be either pardoned or condemned. remembering that he said too much or too little._'. after this verification.. In truth. Very strange! The law says that a man from whom you are claiming money will not have judgement passed on him in his absence. deserled the same punishment as he would get if he had been convicted of the crime. it was forbidden for judges to deliver judgement by default in civil matters. whether the crime has been proved or not. less enlightened. retracts what he said on a principle of justice. and he is often forced to bear false wimess simply out of fear of being treated as a false witness." _ _ _ _ _ . And if. in the second. of vagabonds who have passed their feelings off as laws._"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ " . he must bring forward his objections. ifneus'l1ry. that is enough for ignorant or prejudiced judges to condemn an innocent man. After the testimony has been read out. you still do not know whether he is innocent or guilty. with which you are punishing his disobedi ence of the arrest warrant. you first of all shut him up in a frightful dungeon. before hearing their testi mony. he is no longer party to the objections. there is an argument at the Bar to find out whether the absconder should be condemned. you do not allow him to communicate with anyone. The law seems to oblige the magistrate to behave towards the accused more like an enemy than a judge. section 's. or that they have omitted other facts. and the law does not resolve this difficulty. . when the crime has not been proved. The witnesses who testify against him are heard in secret. you say. If the circumstances that the accused man has set out in his interroga tion are different from those reported by the witnesses. or that they have made a mistake in the details. article " . you start by seizing and making an inventory of all his possessions. When the accused has taken flight. " (Voltaire's note). How can such a necessary thing like confrontation be arbitrary? " 'And. You do not even wait until the proceedings are over. This judge has the power to orderls the prisoner to be confronted with the witness.Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments debt is acknowledged. and you start by imposmg immense costs on him! It is a penalty. as if you had alread)' found him guilty. he must give a full account of them. If he demonstrates to the witnesses either that they have exaggerated the facts. he sees them face to face only for a moment. But does not th� extreme severity of your criminal practice force him to be disobedient? If a man is accused of a crime. says the '670 edict. or to keep him away. give him the means to defend himself. you weigh him down with irons. in the same instant he must name all the people who can support these objections. wnfrrml. but if it is a question of life and death. Where is the man who is not horrified by this procedure? Where is the just man who can be sure of not becoming a victim of it? 0 judges! If you want an accused man who is innocent not to take flight. fear of torture makes the witnesses persist with their perjury. You still have no proof. Commentary on the brmk On crimes and punishments On this point custom seems to contradict the law, which is equi vocal; there is always confrontation, but the judge does not always confront the accused with all the witnesses. He often omits those who do not seem to him to have important charges to make, yet such a witness who has said nothing against the accused during the inquiry might testilY in his favour. The witness might have forgotten circum stances that are favourable to the accused; the judge himself might not at first have appreciated the relevance of these circumstances, and might not have recorded them. It is thus very important for all the witnesses to be confronted with the prisoner, and that there should be nothing arbitrary about that in [the process of] confrontation. If it is a question of a crime, the prisoner cannot have a lawyer; so he opts for flight; this is what all the maxims of the Bar advise him to do; but in taking flight, he can be condemned, whether the crime has been proved or not. $0 a man from whom you are claiming money only has judgement passed on him in his absence in cases where the debt is acknowledged; but if his life is at stake, judgement can be passed on him in his absence when the crime has not been established. What! The law places more value on money than on life? Consult pious Antoninus and the good Trajan; they forbid the condemnation of people who are not present. What! your law allows a person who has misappropriated public funds, a fraudulent bankrupt, to have the services of a lawyer, and a man of hOllour is often deprived of this help! If a single occasion can be found when an innocent man would be justified in having the services of a lawyer, is it not obvious that any law depriving him of this is unjust? Lamoignon, the First President of the court, said against this law that 'the lawyer or counsel who has heen customarily given to the accused is not a privilege granted by ordinances or by laws: it is a liberty acquired by natural right, that most ancient of all human laws. Nature teaches every man that he must have recourse to the enlight enment of others when he has not got enough of his own to know how to proceed, and obtain help when he does not feel strong enough to defend himself. Our ordinances have taken away from the accused so many advantages that it is absolutely right to re tain what is left for them, and above all the lawyer, who is the most important part. If you wish to compare our procedures with those of the Romans and Commentary on the book On crimes and punishments of other nations, you will find none more severe than those observed in France, particularly since the 1539 ordinance.' These procedures have become even more severe since the 1670 ordonnance. They would have been much milder, if the majority of commissaries had thought like Mr Lamoignon. The Toulouse parlement has a very strange practice with regard to the evidence of witnesses. Elsewhere half-proofs are accepted, which basically are just doubts: for it is known that there arc no half-truths; but in Toulouse quarters and eighths of proofs are accepted. There, for example, a piece of hearsay can be regarded as a quarter-proof; another, vaguer piece of hearsay as an eighth, so that eighT rumours that arc just the echo of ill-founded tinle-tattle can become a whole proof. This was more or less the principle by which Jean Calas was �ntenced to be broken on the wheel. Roman laws required proof lure meridiana clariores. 2 3 . An idea for reform The magistracy is so worthy of respect that the only country in the world where it is venal19 is vowing to free itself of this practice. People want a lay,yer to succeed through his ability to dispense the justice he has defended with his vigilance by what he says and writes. Then, perhaps, you would wimess the birth of a regular, uniform system of laws from [the doing of] good work. Will judgements on the same issue be delivered that are different in the provinces [0 those delivered in the eapitaP Must the same man be right in Brinany, and wrong in Languedod What am I saying? There are as many legal systems as mere are [Owns; and in the same parlemenl the maxim of one court is not that of the court next door.20 What a monstrous disparity mere is between the laws of the same kingdom! In Paris, a man who has lived in the city for a year and a day is reckoned to be an independent citizen. In Franche-Comte. a free man who has lived a year and a day in a house on land belonging to the Church becomes a slave; his relatives would not inherit what he has acquired elsewhere, and his ovm children are reduced to penury if they have spent a year away from the house where their father died. They call this a fair province, but what fairness! " j,e. Fra,\ce. '" 'On th.t point, see President Bouhier' (Voltaire's note). ,,8 Commentary on the buok On crimes and punishments \\-'nen )'ou want to mark the boundary between civil authority and ecclesiastical custom, what interminable arguments there are! \\'nere is this boundary? \\Ibo will reconcile the eternal contradictions of the Tax Office and the law? Lastly, why are reasons never given for warrants in certain countries? Is there some shame in having to justifY one's judgement? \\-by do thuse who make judgements in the name of the sovereign not presem their death warrants to the sovereign before issuing them? Whichever way you look, you find contradiction, harshness, uncer tainty, arbitrariness. We are seeking to perfect everything in this cen tury; so let us seek to perfect the laws un which our lives and fortunes depend! '79 Dialogue between a philosopher and a comptroller-general of finance The Philosopher Do you know that a finance minister can do a lot of good, and as a result be greater than twenty marshals of France [put together]? The Minister was well aware that a philosopher would like to soften the harsh [image] that people reproach a man in my position for having; but I did not expect him to want 10 give me cause for vanity. I The Philosopher Vanity is not so much of a \�ce as you think. If Louis XIV had not had a bit ofit, his reign would not have been so illustrious. The great Colbert had some; be vain enough to surpass him. You were born in much more favourable times than he [was]. One must rise to one's century. The Minister I agree that those people who farm fertile land have a great ad"antage over those who have done the digging. The Philosopher Believe me, there is nothing useful that cannot be done easily. Colbert found on the one hand a financial administration in all the disorder Dialogue between a philosopher and a comptroller-general offinance into which civil wars and thirty years of plunder had plunged it. On the other hand, he found a nation that was frivolous, ignorant, enslaved to prejudices with the ancient rust of thirteen hundred years (on them]. There wasn't a single man in the council who understood what change meant; there wasn't a single one who understood what the gold ratio wa.'i, not one with a notion of what trade was. Nowadays, the brightest people communicate even more closely with each other. The general population still remains in a state of deep ignorance to which the need to make a lhi.ng condemns it, and in which it has been thought for a long time to be in the interests of the State [Q keep it; but the mlddle class is enlightened. This class i!, very large; it tutors the great who sometimes think, and the small who don't think. It has established itself in the financial [world] since the time of the famous Colbert, and the same thing has happened in music since the time of Lully. Lu11y couid hardly find anyone capable of perfonning his symphonies, although they were very simple. Today the number of artist� who can perfonn the most erudite music has grown as much as the art itself. It's the same with philosophy and with public service. Colbert has done more than the Duke of Sully; we must do more than Colbert. At these words, the minister, noticing that the philosopher had a few papers with him, wanted to see them; it was a collection of a number of ideas that could provide plenty of food for thought. The minister took one of the papers and read: 'The wealth of a state consists in the number of its inhabitants and in their labour. 'Trade onJy serves to make a state more powerful than its neigh bours because after a certain number of years has passed it has a war with its neighbours, just as, after a certain number of years, there's always some public catastrophe. Now in that catastrophe of war the richest nation necessarily triumphs over the others, everything else being equal, because it can buy more allies and more foreign troops. Without the catastrophe of war, increasing the reserves of gold and silver would be pointless; for provi ded that there is sufficient gold and silver for currency circulation purposes, provided the balance of trade was just equa� then it's clear that we lack for nothing. 'If there are two thousand million livres in a kingdom, all commod ity and labour costs will be double what they would be if there were Dialogue between a philosopher and a comptroller-general offinaner only one thousand million. I'm just as rich with an income of fifty thousand livres when I buy meat at four suus per pound as r am with an income of a hundred thousand when I buy it at eight sous per pound, and everything else in the same ratio. Thus the true wealth of a kingdom does not lie in gold and silver; it lies in an abundance of commodities of every kind; it lies in manufacturing and work. Not long ago people saw a Spanish regiment on the River Plate whose officers had golden swords, but they Jacked shirts and bread. 'I suppose that ever since the time of Hugh Capet the amount of money in the kingdom has not increased, but industry has developed a hundred fold in all branches. I say that we are in real terms a hundred times richer than we were in the time of Hugh Capet; for to be rich is to enjoy; now I enjoy a house that is better ventilated, better built, better designed than that of Hugh Capet himself. The vineyards have been better cultivated, and I drink better wine; manu factured goods have been improved, and I am dressed in finer cloth ing. The art of appealing to Ipeople'sJ tastes with a more delicate seasoning enables me to eat as well as at one of Hugh Capet's royal feasts. If, when he was ill, he had himself transported from one house to another, it was in a cart; as for me, I ha,'e myself transported in a comfortable, pleasant coach where I can let in the light without being inconvenienced by the wind. It wasn't necessary to have more money in the kingdom to attach a painted body to leather suspension, only ingenuity was needed: and this is the case with everything else. The stone with which Hugh Capet's house was built is being pm to the same use as {the stone] in houses being built in Paris today. No more money is needed to build an ugly prison than to construct a pleasant house. It costs no more to plant a well-arranged garden than to cut yews into absurd shapes, and turn them into crude representations of animals. Years ago oaks used to rot in the forests; today they are fashioned into parquet flooring. Sand used to lie uselessly on the ground; now glass windows are made out of it. 'Now the man who enjoys all of tht:se advantages is certainly rich. Ingenuity alone has procured them. Thus it's not money that enriches a kingdom; it's intelligence; I mean the intelligence that directs labour. 'Trade has the same effect as manual work. It contributes to life's comforts. If I need something made ill India, some narural product found only in Ceylon or on Temate Island, these needs impoverish ,8, Dialogue between a philosopher and a comptroller-general offinance me. I become rich when they are satisfied through trade. I wasn't short of gold and silver; I was short of coffee and cinnamon. But those who travel sil.: thousand miles, putting their lives at risk, so that I can drink coffee in the morning are just a superfluous bit of the nation's workforce. \Vealth thus consists of great numbers of hard working men. 'The aim, the duty of a wise government, thus relates clearly to the workforce and to employment. 'In our part of the world more males than females arc born; so we mustn't cause females to die. Now it's obvious that it's [social] death lor females to bury themselves alive in cloisters where they are lost to coday's generation, and where they nullity the possibility of creating future gcneratioru;. The money lost in providing dowries tor convents could therefore be very well used to encourage marriage. I compare the fallo\\o land you still find in France to the girls who are left to wither away in a convent; both must be cultivated. There are many ways of forcing farmers to make neglected land productive, but there's one sure way of harming the State, and that is to allow these two abuses, burying girls aJive and iea,ing fields covered in brambles, to survive. Sterility, of whatever sort, is either a vice of nature or an attack on nature. 'The King, who is the nation's treasurer, gives pensions to ladies at hi� court, and that money goes to tradesmen, hair-dressers and embroiderers. But why are there no pensions attached to the encour agement of agriculture? That money would revert to the State as well. but with a greater return on it. 'We know that it's a vice of government for there to be beggars. There are two kinds: those who wander in rags from one end of the kingdom to the other, ripping a few pence for the tocal tavern off passers-by with their pitiable cries; and those who, in uniform dress, oblige the people to make contributions in the name of God, and come back to have supper with them in great houses where they live a life of comfort. The first of these is less pernicious than the other because, as it goes on its way it makes children for the State, and if it produces thieves it also produces masons and soldiers; but both kinds are an evil which everyone complains about, but which nobody tears out by the roots. It's very strange that in a kingdom with uncul tivated land and with colonies inhabitants are tolerated who neither make children nor work. The best system of government is the one Dialogue between a philosopher and a comptroller-general offinance which has the least number of idle people. How is it that there are nations, with less gold and silver than we have, whose memory has been immortalised through public works that we dare not imitate? Obviously their public administration was better than ours since it kept more people in work. 'Taxes are necessary. The best method of raising them is the method which best facilitates work and trade. An arbirrary tax is vicious. Only alms can be arbitrary, but in a well-administered state there shouldn't haye to be any recourse to alms. The great Shah Abbas, when he created in Persia so many useful organisations, did not found any poor-houses. People asked him why. 'I don't want', he said, 'anyone to be in need of a poor-house in Persia.' 'What is a tax? It's a certain amount of corn, cattle, produce that owners of land owe to those who don't own any at all. Money is just the symbol of that produce. So really tax is only on the rich; you can't ask a poor man for some of the bread he earns, or for some of the milk his wifc's breasts give to her children. It's not on the poor, on the unskilled labourer, that a tax must be imposed. \'/hen you make him work you must give him the hope that one day he will be in the happy position of paying taxes. 'In wartime I suppose that fifty million more livrrs are spent each year; of this fifty million, twenty disappear abroad; thirty are used to have people massacred. In peacetime I suppose twenty-five of those fifty million are spent; nothing then disappears abroad; as many cit izens are put to work for the public good as were slaughtered. All kinds of public works are increased; the countryside is cultivated; the towns are improved. Thus people are really rich through paying the State. During the calamity of war taxes musm't be used to provide us with the comforts of life; they must be used to defend life. The happiest nation must be the one that pays most; undoubtedly that's the richest and most hard-working state. 'Currency notes are to money what money is to produce: a symbol, a token of exchange. Money is useful only because it's easier to pay for a sheep with a golden louis than to give four pairs of stockings for one sheep. Similarly, it's easier for a provincial tax-collector send to to the royal treasury four hundred thousand francs in a letter than to have them transported at great expense: thus a bank, a credit note, is useful. In the government of a state, in trade and in the circulation of money credit notes are what winches are to ships in Spain has retained. and this is the first portfolio of a philosopher to have been seen in the portfolio of a minister. A Scotsman. They went into convulsions from it. it's as if I were to station a few of my servants in an ante-room to intercept and eat part of my supper when it's brought to me.Dialogue between a philosopher and a comptroller-general offinance full sail. The only thing that governments can do is always to break that law. the min ister savoured them.' There were many other ideas in the philosopher's papers. this ancient law. does that mean that you have to give it up for ever? From the debris of his system there remains the East India Company which makes foreigners envious. issuing to the public more credit notes than the total amount of money and goods in circulation amounts even more so to making counterfeit money. which is just an ancient misery. making Champagne the enemy of Bur gundy. might have done more good than bad. and to the shame of the human spirit. a man who was both useful and dangerous. but just because some good medicine has upset you. I 'Changing the value of the currency amoums to making counterfeit money. they relieve men of the loads that they wouldn't be able to move with their bare hands. but are themselves commodities. it means loss of trade because gold and silver are not only the price of commodities. it must settle its account with foreign coun tries. kept within appropriate limits. established a system of credit notes in France. 'At that time tht East India Company survi"cd brilliand)'.port of gold and silver materials is a hangover from barbarism and poverty: it's simultaneously a wish not to pay one's debts and to lose trade. Guyenne the enemy of Brittany. if the nation is in debt. he had a copy made of them. It's in effect a wish not to pay since. He was a doctor who gave his patients an emetic that was too strong. 'Charging taxes within one's own territory on one's own country's goods province by province. and there were great hDpts rD' it' (Voltaire's note). "--- . and which might make the nation great So this system. . haven't succeeded. like other nations. 'Forbidding the e:. is another shameful and ridiculous abuse. People have worked towards correcting this abuse. . . In currency. 225-43."1ars. 235. no Cyran). 48. xliv. 69 Boisguilleben. 28o--q' confession. x. xix. xiii Borgias. 155. Tmamt7J1 4 blaspbemy. 253. xiii. Glarles II. >. 22-}. Lucretia 2{O Bossuet. 22. 196-7. 250--57 Boileau. 244-79. 2 q Chaudron. 206-7. politics "}-4. 97--8. "'iii. 258--9. 126 Desnwrets. X. ] 27. 257-8 China. crime and punishment xxiii-=ii.)<Vi. xx-xxi. donation of 242 counterfeit money. '45-8. xliii. evidence 275--{j. 165--6. 222 church. counte. xviii. Cardinal Antonio 23 6-8 Bayle. n] Africa. 266 dimare. 97. 95. xxv->. 136. Cesare 154. 128 Bourdaloue.Index enarle. 253-5 aristocracies. 254-5 Capet. xiii. xxxiii. xliii. Barbeyrac. 83. 26. . xliv. xxiv-xxv.-viii.Montesquieu Clovis.ine). 21. and punishmt7Jls 244-79 Belle-hIe.6. Te<lnmetJI 4 Antoine. v (Duke of Lorr. 3 Buffon. 79. 256 Catherine II.:<Xiii. 278 tax privileges 79-80.enI4. theft 2b<r-80 Cromwell. xliii Cal. 206 Glarlemagne. . 207 death penalty. Testament Adrian. Tma. 160 Colben.67---(j Confucius. 270 . 33-5 Beccaria. 221 Diderot. xliii. xxii. 20. xxii. 37 Alberoni. 236--8 democracy. Ronwn church JO. ". 279 Cinq-. 2 22. 202 Aristotle. xxiii. '43-4 Constantine. 99 .s. see under crime Covetle. 278. xviIi. 269. On crime. 222 .ee unJe. ns. 2.feir money. Delni/ of FrI1nce 4 Bolingbroke.. '95--6. death warrants 259--fJl castration. 282 D'Aubigny. 2 1 . suicide 270-71. xliv. Charles XII. xliv crime. 271-12 Castro} and Roncigiione. sa under economics Calvin. 2.. 253 despot. xlv Doveq!:er de Hauranne (abbe de Saint censorship. xx. 37.4'. xxiv-xxv. XVlii. 49-50. xliii Barbarini. 278. 157 Bourzeis. 33-7. xiii. 4- sumptuary 199"-200 equality. xiii. ix freedom. Gatien de Courtilz. 212-14. 267 Maximilian. xvi--xvii� xxiv. 48. government. 127-8. 34. 220. 218-19. monarcbs 29. xxx-xxxiii. Q. 4 x. z75. 22l-3 24-. xiii. firulnce 1OOci.XViii. xx. .64. 243. 267 Geneva. xviiL. 1 1 5-19. 96: absolute xvii.8 government. ". hsl""'''''1 4 Mabl}" xiii. 94. xiii. Jews. '3': Parliament �iv. 106. xvii. natural xxiv-nov. 65 Henry IV. La Harre. 206 Grotius. xlvii Greeks. xlvi xxxi. 107.lli. 25Z. 212. xviii. xiv. Joh n. Z4-f>--9 Hobbes xiii. " . :tho. 10. 215. xlvi xxx. "7 executions.\. wealth and poverty xxx-xxxiii England. xlviii. xiii. " 9.imbourg. XIll. homeland. 6. 87. 1 6. English economy. x. '40. z65 Louis XIV. '57. 188--<. 4. 277-8 Law. 94-5. xlvii. salte law ' 5 : 285 Le 'VIercier. 8 Gennan stales. 49. .anHlignon. >. '7g--8 " Z36: Jewish code 17. inlemarional XXX. 76. xiii. z47 Mazarin. xiii.1! Machiavelli. 131-3. 20Z. 59. Mandrin. " -. economy 38-48. xxiii. constirution.8. 79. 44. 210. 238. l. xlvi. 235. 236. 235--<. public eccmomy 43-8. 263-5.�ii. 136.85. xiJi. 88. Pmian lettm 89. 51. 20. man.Index economics. xvi. Louis XV. 121-2. Jean-Baptiste. xx-xxiii. xlvi Locke. '30. 40r-62. 210 heresy.1-75. 240 franchise. X>'ii lings. '73.1 Louis XI. 5 2. l5-9 Hume. un. 80 Louis XVI. 20 God. xxiii. 198-9. 93. xx. 157 Maupeou. XIII. 60--'.37. these royaJt xxxiv incest. 250 Fenelon. ix. Kehl. '74. xiv. 216. 8<)-98. Medic. property 272-4. 237 99 Melon. xlv: Anti-Machi4v. " 261 Maximi[]us. z80 x. xxiii. xxxiii Louvois. '3-'4. 102-3 177 hws. 28. legislation 172-4. 87.". xxxiii Helvetius. Mme de.88 . London '0. '42-3 xxii-xxiii. xxviii. 99. xxviii Lully. fanaticism. xlvii Machault d'Amouville. 4'-2 Golden Age. xxiii. '4-'5 independence. Bernard. xv. 43-5. wickedness of man 106- government and morality . 273-5 . 99 Louis IX. Spinl ofII" laws. xxxiIi. xlviii Mola[]d. theory of climate 6. '50. 268. 210. xiv. xlv: �i4Ihan. 281 ro Genghis-Khan. xvi monarcby. 2 '3-24. '" M. 274 Frederick II of Prussia.faintenon. . '3-(5. Loui. I I.66--7. >::lvi. 2 1 I . 183. 221..iii. 207 Francis I. 25.64-7. 14. xxx-xxxi. John. xviii. 84.61-3 " Mandeville. 160 . 168---]. xv-xvi. La Jonchere. xiv-><v. z45. Klviii: Testament 4 135-6 Massillon. xxvii. ><vii mercantilism xxxi-xxxii. ix. 220 Louis XII. '7'-4. 87-9. 69. Montesquieu. xxix. currency 28. . xxxii. 235.. xlvii. X>'. S6--R. 126-7: freedom of speech. xxviii. origin 120--1 . ><v. Ferrara. ". xiii. . papal pow. """ii. 237. xxxii.. 206--lj. foreign relations 82-3 popes.9. 227-3' Penn. Toulouse par/em. 33--7. 3. xlvii.titioo. "" Quakers. '0<).Index Morin. xxxiv perfidy. 155. xxvi-xxv. 107-8 Paris. 267 religion. 67 Saint Peler. . rr8. 282-4 Vehmk council. 60. 233 Vollaire.. 78. xxv-xxvi slavery. 234 Saint-Pierre. drink /. 14(1-1. xxvii. xxxiv Richard IH. 150. '59--{)3 FretTel. 76. 2.irl of intqual. xxix. 28-<).183-S politics. man'" naWTe 68-75. niii. 204. HI-22 revolution. 8'-4. 91 Raben (Duke of Apulia).. Gregory XV 268. Xlii. CLDP . 279. Alexander VII 238. '5<)-60 patriotism. xxxii Turkish empire. French Revolution. �4!I-Q republkanism JOOriv. xxiii. 142-8. 239""40. m--""ii Philip Il. . xvii E(DP) xviii. 79. n9"40 Roman.or XlIX. "".ty xvi. 106. 69-70. '7-18. '9. 276 treason. ' 5 2-3. 266 Servin. 263 Richdieu. xlix-I. xxxi-xxxiii. Projm for perpetual pta« xxix. InnOCenT X 237. 231-34 Sirven. 5--{). . 2 1 1 torture. Julius II xxii. xiv. 236. 221. 207. Paul IV 268. xxxiv. 239. 236. xviii-X»<. Alexander VI xxii. xiii. xxxiv. xlix race. 235. 218. ABC )(V-xvi. 151. 264-6 Turgot. �62. 6f1--73 Rainuce (Duke of Parma). 33. ' 7 ' . 74->. I soul. :6[-2 Venice. 4. 177. wealth of 283-4 lUicide. seizure of 272-4 Pufendorf. 67. xii.. 278 Rousseau. 165. 2. Clement XI 234. 2 I 6 Tamhurlaine. xix. '37 Seguier. Innocent III 268. Adam xxxii. 93.. 271. z73-5. 267 Sicily. Chribnan 227. xlix. see under crime '''per. 76-80. 38-49. xiii. 256. 247 property. . 61-�. 51. 108. Gregory l. 245--{). 26. Tribunal of len 261 Victor-Amadeus (Duke of Savoy). xxi. 267. 285-42. republics. 8. Innocent TV 2S0-6I. 20.. 278. 1 1 4 Saint Jerome. Lrhan II 231. xxii. "".8. IS-!6. !75. 255-7 mounts of piety. 202. 37 uoempJoyment. Testamrnt 3-4.lX xxxii. 202-7 Russia. '30 parlnntnll.1 xliv. 52. 249 <lJ. Sodal [O�lrlJ(/ "" .esnay. 101-5 Spain. Urban VIII 236. xxiv. xlix. 2 l3 Saint Augustine.. xxviii. r54.. 12. xiv. 56 taxation. Clement VI xxi. Dimmrse on rhe origi� andfoundalil. >Xix. '7!. 218. 230. 53-5 theft. xvi.-6 tolerance. xlviii-xlix. Candide x. xxii. xxiii. 249 Naple�. 228-3 ' nahlre. origins (If power 82-3. '72-3. '34-7.: patriarchs. see under crime Thou.. xiv_xx. 49. '77. Paris fJIlrinnrn' ix. z65-{1. F(Qf) . reform 278-<).(is. mental slavery 138-41 Smith. l6o--"]l. Leo IX 229. 73-4. 198-<)./11 242. 239 Muslirm.8. 252-3. 223. Pius IV 268. xxx. 235 plmets. xh'. 96. nahlral man xix. 95--{). 268--7 2 power. Roman eWe 95. 225 PrisdJlian. xx. Clement vm 234.68---7 '. 238 RavaiUac.6 Pascal. 268. xxviii. xx. Xl'i war. PA ". wi" 4111. xxiii.. G(DP) "".) xxxiii. '93-209. Seven rears \Var =-ii-xxviii. ni. War of the A. '43 . history �f 179-82.ii-xxx. WOlrld. War Olf the POllish SUe'cession Xl<vii "arlocb. '36."i!i. P(DP) lIXix.:. G(QE) xviii. 107-H.ustr. P(QE) xix. wi" ma" and uj the .i-"vii. L(DP) niii-xxv. XXX.. LHQE. sources "iii.an Succession "w. ni. 7-12. xxviii. IXQE) l(viii-xix. xxvit. 2HI. nix-xxx. 187-8 Zoroos(ra.Index Voltaire (cont. xxxii-XXI<iii. DPC xxxi-xxxii. DlI xxi-nii. XXII. xxxii. xxxii. xxxiv. 176. ll(QE) ru. �57-8 Wolff.H4. '49-5H. DP Xl'ii. . n. /(Qh) R Xl'i.�ropk �. other world. war and peace "". xxii-niH. Th. .'slell Politi. 1: Griffin and E. and PUlIlShmtlllS lind olher ". and Tlu r:O"-'III�/JOn of Alhms (edited by Stephen Everson) 0 521 48400 6 paperback Arnold Gulture and Alldrchy and olU' IPnlmgs (edited by Stefan Collini) 0 521 37796 X paperback .Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought Tillts published in the smes Ihusfor Aristotle nr Po"'".al Wnlmgs (edited by Patricia Springborg) 0521 42845 9 paperback :\ugustine Tht Gity ofGod againSllhr Paxans (ediled by R. Dyson) 0521 46843 4 paperback Austin The Provlnet ofJunsprudnlet lklermilleJ (edued bJ' Wilfrid E. Franklin) 0 521 34992 3 papcrb�ck Bolingbroke Polilical Wrillngs (edited by David Armitage) o 521 58697 6 paperback Bossuet Po/llics Drll". S.. letzel) 0521 45959 1 paperback (".w. Jenkinson) 0521 47677 I paperback ik<:caria 011 Grim. 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